The Three Nephites
It feels like it's been forever since I last sent an
email. Sorry I missed last week, but transfers were hectic!
To catch you all up, I am in the craziest trio ever. We've
been referred to as the three Nephites more than once.
Sister P is actually
one of the prettiest humans on planet earth. When we got the news that I would
be staying in the northern part of the mission and began the debate about who I
could be going to, it was pointed out
that Sister P and I could go to a new area together. I said no thanks because then I would always feel ugly.
And now we're companions, and I might as
well not shower. Although she has this weird
magical power to somehow not make you feel like a frumpy mushroom. I
don't know how she does it. I am grateful to be her companion at this time; she has a lot of gumption for the work.
Sister H is like a cartoon character and makes me laugh all
day long. We bring out the crazy in each other. Between the three of us, it's
quite the party.
The main highlights of the week were Nina*, Lucas*, Gary*
and the Reed* family. (*names have been changed.)
Nina is our main investigator in the area. Poor Nina had two
types of cancer raging in her body, so
she's just finished going through chemo. Her's is quite the story.
Having lived around Mormons her whole life (she's about
45ish now), she assumed that she knew
what we believed in and didn't really
care to think about our religion further. When she was diagnosed with cancer,
she really started asking questions about
general religious truths. One day she was driving by one of our chapels and was
prompted to pull into the parking lot. There she met a random man and ended up
asking him to send the missionaries to her home. A request that he promptly
fulfilled.
Sister P and I met her
on Tuesday. She has a weak immune system, and
so we taught with doctor masks on. She is in great need of comfort at
this time. Something that the Savior and the scriptures can certainly
provide.
Lucas is a referral from some other missionaries who stopped
to talk to him. We met him yesterday, and
he is super open, so we are super
excited.
Gary. Freaking Gary. One of the most awkward encounters. And
so so funny. He was outside in his garage so we stopped to talk to him, and he made it quite clear that he was very
uncomfortable. He kept purposely doing this weird twitchy rolling thing with
his eyes and was so vague with everything he said. He was such a crackup. We
left him with a copy of the Book of
Mormon and told him we would come back another time.
The Reeds are an awesome family in one of the wards. Their son just came home early from his
mission in Peru because he caught some weird stomach thing and needed more care
than he was getting there. Our Bishop told us that it would probably do the boy
some good to talk with some fellow missionaries, so we stopped by and introduced ourselves. It turns out the whole family is T A L E N T E D in the music
department. We had a spontaneous jam session
and were then serenaded by this boy, and now we all have lock it problems.
Maybe you don't understand what I mean by a "lock it
problem." Let me explain. There was a talk given to missionaries in the
MTC that we all read when we get there. The basic idea of the talk is to lock
your heart away, keep your hormones to yourself, and focus on the work. A lock
it problem is when some member of the opposite sex makes it really hard to do all of those things. As in
the Reed boy, who is very attractive and has a pretty smooth voice. We left
that house and decided that none of us could ever go back in, it was way too
treacherous.
SOS everyone. SOS. It's been almost 11 months since I danced
with a cute boy. And it will be at least seven
more.
Anyways....
Back to the work.
The work rolls forth. Slowly, but still rolling. One of the hardest
things for me when it comes to being a missionary is to keep up the faith. The days are so long, and it's hard to keep working
with faith. But God always provides some sort of faith promoting miracle
exactly when I need it. How grateful I am for His perfect awareness of us
all.
Much love,
Sister Barlow
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