3/7/22 My Army of Converts

Hey! I hope you all had a great week! Stay safe in those hail storms!

We had a fun week here in Grand Forks! You last heard from me on Tuesday so I only have updates since then. But on Wednesday, I had to say bye to Sister Gibbs because they were banishing her to Montana. She will be wonderful over there, but I'm going to miss gibsie ;( she was the best! When they sent out transfer announcements they said that my companion wasn't coming till this next week. But when the transfer train hit Grand Forks they had my companion. I guess the spirit told Pres camp to send me Sister Haufa (pronounced How-fa) from Coalville UT! It's crazy to be able to train again. She's a sweetheart and its going to be a good transfer!

On Sister Haufe's first day in the field we had an appointment in Portland ND, which is about an hour drive from Grand Forks. Welcome to a road trip mission hahah! Last week Sister Gibbs had the thought to call a former named Lois (Low-is) and she invited us to come by this week. We get there, and like all homes in North Dakota, GoogleMaps takes you to an empty field, and so we called her and they tell us, "drive down highway 20 until you hit the 3rd bend and on your right they'll be a single pine tree and its the home just behind it". By God's grace we did find the pine tree and her home. Luckily it was only about 10 minutes from where we were. We get there and her neighbor who is a member, Brother Stordahl, gives us a tour of his shop and my goodness that man is long winded. These people who live in the middle of nowhere, don't get the opportunity to meet new people so when they get the chance they can talk for HOURS! Which is exactly what happened. Eventually that man paused for a breath and we got to talk to Lois. She was besties with Brother Stordahl and he has joined all her lessons with the missionaries. Lois is very hard of hearing and her hearing aids don't do much. She told us to talk louder, so we are yelling questions to her across the table, it worked, but it must have caused a scene haha! She has been taught off and on since 2017 and loves the Book of Mormon. She believes in modern day prophets but she hasn't quite understood why this is the church she needs to be baptized in. We are working on that part. We gave her an Restoration lesson and the spirit told us to ask her about baptism. She wants to learn more first, but after 5 years, she absolutely knows enough and is just scared. We weren't planning on putting her on date but the spirit said to. We invited her to baptized on March 27th (its my sister Mari's bday that day and it was the only day in March I could think of) and she accepted working towards that date. So SUPER EXCITING! I'm not sure how likely it will be that she gets baptized on that date, but faith without works is dead.

We were going though our ward list of less actives and unbaptized children and this name popped out to us. We went to go find the home but it was locked so we called them and a lady answered and invited us to come by a few days later. Friday arrives and we find her actual apartment and she opens the door. Her name is Jacquelyn and she and her daughter are members but her son isn't. They just moved from NYC to Grand Forks sully for the reason that God told them to come here. (that's a lot of the peoples stories who live in ND). The ward in NYC wasn't friendly and since she wasn't a native to NY she got treated differently and so she is here. She had some salty feelings to the members in NY and was scared to meet the ward here, so since October, when she moved in, she has wanted to come to church but was scared to find another click-ish ward. We promised her that if she came she would find lifelong friends and that was good enough for her. Sunday roles around and she wasn't able to attend sacrament meeting but walks into the church right before Sunday school. The only open seats was the back row so we sit with her and about half way though Jacqulyn stands up and introduces herself to the ward and gives a bit of her story. All about how God sent her here and she is a convert and how she's super nervous but knows that God loves all of us and how we are all brothers and sisters no matter our skin color. It was the sweetest testimony! Then the lesson gets totally interrupted by everyone there and they all go one by one introducing themselves to Jacqulyn and sharing a bit of their conversion story! I had no idea before today that almost half of the members in my ward are converts! After the class she got swarmed by members introducing her to their kids and made sure she was all settled in her home. THIS! This made me tear up a bit watching it happen. I have never seen a ward so welcoming to a stranger who they brought into their midst without any questions. It was just amazing. I love my ward. My army of converts all ready with open arms to bring more people into the gospel. God is just so good.

This was most of my week. By I am just on cloud9 thinking about how cool my ward is here. I love you all and God is so good!

xoxo Sister Barlow

3750 Garden View Drive

#211 Grand Forks, ND 58201

pics!

- the doggies love me

- the Masseys! We went to go watch Emma's Vex Robot competition (Emma is in the jack Skellington sweater)

- the Robot competition

- The Blue head of Grand Forks

- a meme for your day

- Good ole Elder Cook

- Bye Gibbsie ;(