Hey! Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving this next week!
We had a really great week!
We met a few times with our friend Shon. He met the missionaries when he was living here in Rapid City and he went to church but then he started to travel for work and the past missionaries lost track of him. Well a week or so ago we gave him a call and he wants to keep learning! We have been having lessons with him a few times a week. Let me tell you, Shon is every missionaries dream investigator. He always shows up when he says he will, he does his homework before we meet, and he always comes with questions! We LOVE teaching him! He is super open to everything we talk about! He made his first goal after our first lesson, and it was to pray 5 times a day (mornings, every meal, and night) and he's doing it! We have been teaching him over zoom (so thankful for technology!) But we are hoping to put him on a date to be baptized this next week, but when we do, we will have to pass him off to the missionaries in his home town in Chicago. :( But I am SO excited for him. Shon is the BEST!
Quotes from Shon:
S: "So repentance is like a Mulligan?"
Us: a what?
S: Like in Golf if you miss a shot they give you another try and its called a Mulligan
us: OH! yes it is!
S: you guys are my Mulligan!
us: umm.. kind of.. Jesus is your Mulligan
S: But he sent you to me so I think you are
Joke from Shon:
What is the perfect gift for a Chinese Mob-boss?
- A basket of fruit
*does this make sense to anyone? We were so lost when he told us this and we don't know what it means..* mob
I have met the most incredible people this week! Let's start with Heather! Heather is someone we are teaching. I haven't met her till this week but she invited us over for dinner and we ate with her two daughters (Maple and Aspen, she calls herself a tree mom). But our whole dinner conversation was about the family and what they believed in and their family goal is to be friends with all Christians. I have never met a family who is 100% wanting to support other Christ believing people! Like I am truly amazed! Heather has been taught for forever but there is something holding her back from baptism. But she loves the influence missionaries have had on her family. But get this, she has spoken in sacrament meetings, one year she hosted all the missionaries for thanksgiving, and loves the Book of Mormon! So why isn't she baptized you ask? We are wondering too. She basically is a member. But after our lesson we were leaving their property and Aspen ran out and they gave us these medals that say "Champion of Christ" and then these cute little girls prayed for our safe travels and asked that our families be blessed for letting us come out here! This prayer was given by a 6 year old! Anyways, we are shook as can be. This family is amazing
We spent most of our day up in Hill City this week. Our hope was to visit all of our members and less active members but we forgot about travel time and we were only able to visit 2 out of the 10 families up there. I love these small towns though. People up here are SO KIND! We visited a member family up there but I guess they really don't like missionaries. So when they answered the door the father politely said they were always busy and they didn't have a good time for us to come back, and then gave us INSTRUCTIONS on how to leave their property without damaging our car (there were car parts and gardening tools everywhere). But they really are so nice!
The Mascot for the Hill City High School is the Rangers. As in Forrest Ranger, as in Smokey the Bear. And everything in this town has Smokey the Bear on it! SAVE THE FORESTS!
Hermosa is another cute town! We helped Sister Pillen put up her Christmas Decorations and WOW did this woman have a lot of Christmas decor! She started earlier that morning and by the time we drove out there she only had a few more things to put up. She easily could have done it by herself but she was kind enough to include us! One of my favorite things about these small towns is how BIG they go for holidays! Every home is decorated! Even their backyards! But it's a big community event! Utah, I love you, but South Dakota is wearing off on me. Forgive me if I move to the middle of nowhere and tend orchards and honey bees. Because I very likely will do that very thing.
Sister DuPaix flew to chicago for her consulate appt so she can get her visa for France. So I stayed with the Canyon Lake sisters for a day. It was fun to be in that old area of mine again. I love that ward. We spent a few hours in Star Village (sketchy trailer park where all of our Native members live) and we did lots of service! I definitely saw a rat in this lady's kitchen and she then told us that there are LOTS of rats that come in and eat her cheetos during the night...
I hit a big realization this week: remember the quote they said like 4 times in conference: "the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives."
yeah.. I do too. I finally took it to heart this week and MY GOODNESS what a change it made in my missionary service. We can focus on our struggles or we can focus on our blessings. Whichever we choose we will see more of.
the NDBM has finally uploaded some of our mission made songs: These are free to share and download so take a look if you'd like! (ALL SONGS ARE DOWN BELOW BUT I LOVE THEM)
I love you all and God is so good!
Sister Barlow
1823 Moon Meadows #723
Rapid City, SD 57702
pictures:
Rapid City YSA posing for a picture around the piano
Heather and her cute girls!
Pday Cornstarch Four-Square
Smokey the bear
Taxidermy
Sister DuPaix!
Beanie Party with the District
A text from Heather cuz she is just so cool
A pancaked beaver
I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON
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