October 28, 2013

Happy Fall, Family!

SHOUT OUT: Barlow family hellllllooo in Church News?! Look it up people!

What a happy week! Our schedule has been so full! Rockin sister barney asked someone to be baptized on the first lesson to someone this week. I was so proud of her. They said not right now, but i know she was meant to say it and it gets people thinking. we also set up a competition of who can give away the most pass along cards. 1 point for a give away, 2 points if you get a number in return. Whoever has the most points at the end of the week gets a reward. we confirmed that we could only do this if it was poistive and built zion..and we both agreed. and guess what? of course sister barney won this week because shes awesome! its actually working really well..getting me to talk to people i normally probably wouldnt go out of my way to talk to.

We had the best lesson with Gary on Friday. i wish we could take a fraction of the credit.Love him so so much. it kills me to think i may not be here for his baptism. KILLS ME.  We invited a couple to come to the lesson which we had at the church to give a tour so he'd know what to expect on sunday. he was so excited. We ended in the chapel of course to talk about the most important reason why we come to church and how this is a time of revelation, just like how he received revelation during general conference. The entire time though I was trying to figure out how we'd extend the invitation to set a date for baptism, because it wasn't flowing there...but at the same time we knew it had to mentioned. The entire time I was praying in my mind for the spirit to give me the courage to just do it and say it how it needed to be said. The topic got on faith, and taking steps of faith and so we were able to lead it in by inviting him to take the next step of faith to progress and set a date. It was perfect because it turned very real for him. His parents are hard catholic and said they would roll over and die. Other family members he know would not be of mental approval which is concerning but we had a really good chat and told him that he didnt have to set a date then, but it would be something to pray about this week. Sunday comes:

It's 10:01 and Gary is nowhere to be seen. We asked the couple that came with us to the lesson to save him a seat next to them. We see bro. singer walk out and the opening hymn starts. My favorite hymn - The Spirit of God. 10:03 - in walks Gary with Bro. Singer. You see them on the pew and hes scooting all the kids over for them and gary. The spirit hit me so strong. it's amazing how i am slowly being able to recognize it more and more. We are sitting a few rows behind Gary and I see Bro Singer's arm on the pew around Gary sharing the hymn book. I look over to the left and Al is sitting with the Rowlands whom we asked to save a seat for. He thought he would never make it in an actual pew. Beside me sister barney is grabbing a hymn book and sharing it with a less active and i look behind me and the cute tongan family gives up their hymn book to the less active that just walked in and sat on their row. As I looked around I felt such a strong spirit of love. Water filled my eyes and I couldn't not smile as I kept looking around at these individuals. It was amazing how tangible the feeling was. It was a good realizion to me that we always teach that yes the spirit teaches and confirms truth, the spirit comforts...etc but I didnt really feel any of those feelings....i simply just felt HAPPY. Not the kind of happiness that you feel when you open the christmas present you wanted or the happiness of winning a rugby game (as happy as that is)....but a different kind of happiness. The kind only the gospel can offer. So when people ask what we do and we say we show people how they can be happy...they think theyre all set because theyre already happy. If they would only feel the happiness i felt in sacrament meeting, they would feel that theyre not truly happy. The spirit brings happiness. Even when the talks are quote "awful" - its amazing the spirit can still teach you something.

We taught sharing time in primary which was fun and had to leave our precious investigator in the hands of our trustworthy membres. we had to make sure we had people connect him from gospel principles to priesthood. we texted him (yes we TEXT our investigators all the time and they love it :) ) that evening and he said that he loved it and that he felt so welcome. "2 thumbs up" he said. he also said he's already looking forward to next sunday. phew.

For dinner we went to the tongan family's home. You know the boy in the Other Side of Heaven that fell out of the mango tree? That boy(not the actor) is their nephew or somethin. crazy. They are an amazing humble family. They feed us like 3 portions worth and they dont eat while we are eating. Its cultural to let us eat first and they eat whatever is left over after we leave. Theyre our favorite because you feel so much love. and the husband speaks hardly any english which ends up being HILARIOUS but we always ask them if he can say the closing prayer because he says it in their native language. Best experience is hearing him pray. You can feel the spirit just by the way they change their tone of voice - very sincere, with the upmost reverence tone. It's an amazing experience. 

Hope you have a stelllllarr week everyone. Hope everyone has a family mission plan like we've been ask to set up in general conference. What a great family home evening idea. remember to post it!

Love you all!

Sister Bell

Keepin it real...because it is real.

Want to know whats even more real? The fact that we had to move our ice scraper from the trunk officially to the back seat as this morning was the first morning i've had to do that so far. Greeeeeaaaattttt - hold our breath, here comes winter.