6/6/21 Family Letter

EVE!

SUMMER!!!

 Field day was a blast !!!!! We had a live concert and a mosh pit with all my friends! It was soooo fun!!!

I love Idaho!!!!! It's such a small town and it's so cute!

Also in the women's conference I had a prompting that I need to serve a mission.

The VRBO that we stayed in was really nice and new. The beds were super comfy and they gave us little gift bags.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE TRUST TEENAGERS WITH ENERGY DRINKS!!!

 I went to an end of year party and they had energy drinks there. IT WAS CRAZY. idiot guys were throwing shoes at people. The friend that invited me forgot her name. She had 2 sprites,3 coca cola and an energy drink.  people were making crazy inappropriate jokes and all that crap, so Cece and I just left.

Anyway, that was my week! LOVE YOU TONS !

 MARI BARLOW

 

Henlo

My war wound is healing, but it's still pretty painful sometimes, so that makes going back to work tomorrow a drag. But summer is finally here? I meant to put an ! there, but i realized that made sense. I'm just as busy as I was before, and I'm always having to prepare for the next thing I don't want to do. If that's just adulting, then growing up is even worse than I thought it was. So on that downer note, how are you? We keep seeing your work popping up here and there, so at least we know you're productive! Well, I don't know what else to write about, so have a chicken nugget cheese stick based biological bombardment of jelly bean flavored bananas with a side of pepperoni popcorn.

confusion from

 

Hyrum

 

Sweet Eve,

As we were driving north to Idaho, I was thinking of you driving south to Nebraska...all because we love our Savior and can do music!  How was your fireside?  How was the trip, drive, scenery etc?  Idaho was much greener than Utah.  The drought is prevalent here. Governor Cox asked people of any or no religion to pray for rain this entire weekend.  We also fasted for rain today.  Our lawn is not as green/lush as usual.  We've cut back water (for the greater good).  But, on a better note, most places don't require masks!  It's so good to see people's faces again!

 

The Women's Conference in Idaho was great!  They had the program set up like a "Time Out for Women".  As the program started, they invited all of us presenters up on the stage to introduce us and read our bio.  The theme was "Faith-Filled Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things" so they asked us what was ordinary about us.  My reply was "EVERYTHING is ordinary!"  (laugh, ha ha) then I shared our family rule "When anyone sings or dances at the dinner table, they have to do the dishes".  Yep, dishes are VERY ordinary!

 

There were 2 Mission Presidents (and companion) who spoke and a few others besides us.  One of the mission presidents was from the Pocatello, ID mission.  He mentioned how the North America Central Region was leading in baptisms and they attribute that to members and the high success of social media.  Dad and I thought, "Hey!  He's also talking about Eve's mission!"  It was fun to be in your region for a bit!  

 

Our family's program was:  "Nearer My God to Thee" (4 part acapella),  my talk was about "the joy/importance of Sisterhood, especially relating to the necessity of church attendance to strengthen and attend to the welfare of each other's souls".  Then we sang "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today"  4 part acapella then instruments (fiddle, ukulele, melodica, cajon drum)  It was a bop!  At the end of my talk I introduced our song as one we chose because of our family motto "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy"  and I hoped it wasn't too irreverent.  (We were in a school auditorium, not the chapel).  They applauded after!  (Surprise because it wasn't the kind of program where clapping is typical).  

 

Our family team is awesome!  About 15 minutes before the conference started, we were asked to change our song "I Need Thee Every Hour" to something else because someone else was going to use that song (they changed theirs last minute).  We went in between some outside doors and quickly learned "Nearer My God to Thee".  Heavenly Father was helping us BIG TIME!  The people who changed their song came and apologized afterward.  Luckily, we did it just fine.  Musicians are flexible!

 

As Mari mentioned, our VRBO was sweet (other than it had no TV- weird!)  We didn't have much time for tv anyway because we went to help my friend, Natasha, set up for the conference.  Dad was amazing, giving up his weekend to drive, drive, drive!

 

It was interesting as I was up there speaking, as I looked out into the audience, my heart swelled with love for those sisters.  I could feel Heavenly Father's love for them, their joy, their trials, their worries.  I wanted to know each of their stories.  

 

As I've had time to think about our experience, my heart is filled with HUGE love and gratitude for Heavenly Father caring about us enough to bless us with so many incredible, taylor-made experiences for our learning and growth.  Often, throughout our marriage, Dad and I look at each other and say, "How did we get here?"  Experiences like before each  "Joseph and Emma" presentation (for 8 years!), Youth Conferences and Trainings, JRT, and this.  Now, for our anniversary, we've been blessed to book a trip to Independence, Missouri!  In 2 weeks, Dad and I will be visiting Adam-ondi-Ahmen, Liberty Jail, Haun's Mill, the Far West Temple site and the future site of the New Jerusalem!  It's a dream come true!  My whole life I've wanted to visit these places!  As we were deciding where to book our trip, the Spirit whispered, "Why don't you go where you've always wanted to go?"  I felt joyful to know that Heavenly Father knew my desire and showed me how/when I could make it happen!  It feels like we are supposed to go there!

 

I've also been thinking about all the custom-made experiences that you are having.  YOU ARE SO BLESSED!  God is good!

 

I am  very proud of you!  I know Heavenly Father is blessing you.  You are sharing your light and leading people to HIM!

I love you!

💜 Mom

 

 

Millie,

 

We got a little taste of your driving experience this weekend.  We drove up to Idaho to support your Mom's college roommate in a Time Out for Women.  When she asked us to go to Idaho I asked Mom to make sure they knew what we did.  I didn't think we would be traveling to do what we do.  It was a good experience.  We had a chance to show love to an old friend and had an opportunity to prove our love to Jesus.  We passed a lot of farms and cows and thought of our traveling missionary who was likely seeing a similar scene.  We stayed in a town called Gooding.  It is a one stoplight town.  The homes we saw going in were nice trailer homes.  It had me a little nervous.  The GPS took us to a new development and we stayed in a nice newer home.  It felt like someone lives there and vacated for us.  It was clean and comfortable but no TV.  How does a VRBO not have a TV during the NBA Playoffs.  Ugh!  We had really good pizza in Gooding.  I was surprised.  We woke early and had breakfast in a nearby diner.  We kept getting looks during our whole meal.  We were not locals and everyone kept checking us out.  It became obvious that this diner was where old men went to talk about old women.  I overheard many conversations about their old women or lack of them.  It was entertaining.  The conference was at a High School in nearby Wendell, another one stoplight town.  The towns there all had their own school districts so their student body was very small.  Our host's son said he has a graduating class of 22.  He is starting to date the only active member of the church in the school and is nervous that if things end badly it will make church and school very uncomfortable.  We sang two songs.  One of them we had to make up on the fly.  Another family decided at the last second to sing the same hymn we had been practicing.  Your Mom gave an excellent talk about reaching out and serving.  Filling your bucket and then finding a way to serve.  She then apologized for our less than reverent version of "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today".  Mari on the ukulele, Tiffany on the violin, Hyrum on the Melodica, and I was on the box drum.  We got an applause afterwards,  the only applause of the conference.  I asked our host if that meant we won the $100 prize money.  As soon as we could we left for the drive home.  I found that driving two days in a row is not good for me.  Hyum got along so well with the son of our host that we have arranged for a trade off so Hyrum and live in a small town for a few days and Hyrum can host their son for a few days.  

 

The school year has ended.  We got stuck behind the High School Graduating Class parade.  They had another parade for the Seniors.  We assumed that was unique for COVID but maybe it is now a tradition.  Lauren Orsmby had a party to celebrate her graduation.  We were all surprised when Eric walked out of the house.  It took us all a few minutes to realize what had just happened.  He was one medication that was either going to make him better or worse.  It made him worse and he had a major seizure so they sent him home.  He was all smiles and doing well.  He will be speaking at the end of the month.  It is on the same day as a talk I need to give.  We will have to make time for both.

 

We are eager to hear how the devotional in Nebraska went.  I'm glad you are getting as many experiences as you have been getting so far.  What a unique experience you are having.  I'm also eager to hear if you have been able to overcome the challenges you shared with us about teaching.  Keep trying to build your faith and magic will happen.  We are very proud of your Sister Barlow!

 

Love,

 

Dad

 

D&C 60:7

D&C 62:3