Second Transfer!

Heeeeeellllloooo!
I hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas!!! :D
I definitely did here in Brasil and while speaking with my family!

I have started my second transfer here in the field. I am still in Santa Gertrudes, but I have a new companion!
Her name is Sister Tirrell and she is frrrrrrrooooooommmmm..........

Provo, Utah!
She is about the complete opposite personality wise from Sister LeBaron, but still hard working. :)
During our first two transfers in the field we are trained. Usually we stay with the same trainer, but we got a little switch up.
I love them both!  I´m excited to experience two trainers and two different outlooks.

I don´t have much to say this week, it´s been a little crazy because of Christmas, but if nothing else... the gospel is still true!
And the Book of Mormon can answer ANY question that we have. We just need to be willing to find it :)

I love you all! Happy New Year!!!

Feliz Natal!

FELIZ NATAL everyone!
 
So I´ve been thinking a little about the Savior´s birth and all the things that surrounded it.
Can you imagine how Mary felt?
Out of nowhere this Angel who appears whose glory is so great that she is frightened for condemnation. (why else would there be an angel?)
But who, at once, gives comfort unto her and says that she is pure and worthy to carry the Son of God.
With certainty, I´m sure she was doubtful. Me? But how could she deny the glory of a mesenger of the Lord?
And how did she reply even through her insecurities?: I will do God´s will.Besides Mary, many marvelous accounts happened around the Savior´s birth.
An angel appeared to the shepherds as well. Who also were frightened. But...
Luke Chapter 2
10: And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. Which shall be to all people.
11: For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
I can´t even imagine hearing these words. A savior? Christ the Lord?
They had waited for this day for so long. And finally here was the day.
The idea that he was just a baby, and so sacred. So pure. I feel this has more symbolism than I can even comprehend.
And I don´t think these people could even comprehend exactly what it meant that Christ was there. What he would do for all of us.
13: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying
14: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.The birth of Christ was such a miraculous moment not just for the people who could witness his life, not even just for us who are living today, but for every soul. So much that the heavenly host shout out in praise! Because they too, knew that the son of God was here to redeem us from our weaknesses. To fulfill our Father´s plan so that we can return!

I am so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. For his life. For his birth. For his choice to be our mediator.
I pray for all of you everyday, but especially this Christmas season that you can feel the love the Savior has for you.

Thank you for the letters and the emails through my mom! They really do help everyday!
Have a wonderful and a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas in Brazil!

I hope all of you are doing so well and enjoying the Christmas season! I definitely am. And it´s definitely different than in the states. Besides the fact that it´s Summer here... weird.

They don´t have very many Christmas songs so we listen to the ones from the states and we´re totally content with that. :D  Also.. we made a Christmas tree. Out of paper and taped it to our wall. It´s pretty much the grandest Christmas tree of all time. I will send pictures of him another week because they are on Sister LeBaron´s camera.

Also... everyone here has stuffed Santa´s hanging out of their windows by themselves or on ladders. We thought this was sooo weird, but it turns out they don´t have chimneys here, so how does Santa get in??? yep! He climbs through the window!!! ahhh! So great!

 

I don´t have a quote this week. But I have learned that reliance on the Lord is key. This week has been the fastest week of my mission so far. But these past couple days I think have been the most trying. The Lord has made many promises to me in return for the promises I´ve made to him. I just need to rely on him. And trust him that he will strengthen me and will comfort me when I need it. FAITH is key. If I don´t truly believe it, how can the Lord show me?

 

During this week I really want to remember why we have Christmas. What was so special about that night? What was special about this baby? What built their faith that this was the son of God?

 

I love you all. I pray that you have happiness everyday.

And that´s all God wants also: for us to be happy here.

P-Day again!

And it´s P-day again. :D I like this fact... a lot.
This week went by A LOT faster than the first week did. Which I´m happy about because that first week was really testing.
This past week was exhausting though (though good) and we are really happy to have a p-day in our house to just relax. :)
Sister LeBaron and I get along really well. I have a feeling we´re going to be friends for a long time. :)... if not eternity. I feel like I teach that every day or something... haha
I´m grateful that she is my trainer. I am learning soooo much. About our mission and about myself.

She gave me this great quote. Many people think that Sisters serve missions for various reasons and everyone has their own opinion.
All we know is that we listened to the spirit and that we´re supposed to be here. But this quote gave me a lot of strength this past week:

Many young women are serving missions or are preparing to serve,
not because they aren´t married or have nothing better to do,
but because they have a desire to serve and therefore are being called to the work.
The reason so many are going is because in the next generation,
Heavenly Father will be sending his priesthood army to the earth.
He wants to send them to mothers who have been trained and taught the gospel.
And what better training can a young woman have than that of serving a mission?
-President Gordon B. Hinckely

I made the choice to be here. And I put aside a few other big choices for this one.
 All I want to do is serve the Lord. I also want to be a mother.
And sometimes I´ve wondered if I should be home doing that instead, but this has helped me understand my choice and has strengthened my desire to be here.

So we had lunch with a member this past week and afterwards when Sister LeBaron and I were washing dishes we broke a cup. Oh my goodness it was sadly funny. So we showed her and said sorry and she just took it and said it was no big deal and threw it away and asked if we were hurt. It was not a problem at all and was a really small experience. But it made me think about all the things in my life that i´ve lost or have been broken and how i´ve reacted. I don´t remember everything, but I know that i´ve not always been happy slappy about it. This taught me a great lesson about how I want to be. Things are just things. People matter more. And it´s important to act like that. Lunches with members teach me so much!

Our investigators are amazing. I have met so many different people.
Over and over again our investigators tell us about their pain.
About their relationships.
About their pasts.
And all they want is relief. Some days they feel so low.
And some of them think they are not good enough or their faith in the Lord isn´t strong enough.
But everytime I think of what the Lord has done so that they can feel peace even through hard times and I just ache for them.
If only they knew.
We are here serving missions to bring the gospel to the world, yes, but more importantly to help people.
Through the savior we have the only relief that lasts if we will only use it. This is why we are here.
The Lord has said:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Then ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me,and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me and find me,when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
And I will be found of you, saith the Lord. And I will turn away your captivity.
-Jeremiah 29: 11-14

Love you all!

Quick weekly update!

Alrighty! This week has been so great and so exhausting.

I´m tired all the time.. but it is in a good way. :)

I love Brasil. I love the people. I love my companion. And I´m learning EVEN more.

Annnnnd my Portuguese is gettting beeeettter.

Here is the quote I promised (I love it!):

You and I are engaged in this work. It is either true or false, there is no gray area. If it is false, we are engaged in a fraud. If it is true, it is the most precious thing on earth. - President Gordon B. Hinckley.

I will write more next week! Today we have an activity with our zone so I don´t have much time.

I love you all!

My First Area!

I am officially in Brasil now. For real this time.

My area is so so so small! We have a branch of about 20-40 people who come every week and about 15 streets.
We live in this cute little house. Seriously. It is probably about as big as our Family room alone and I love it!
We live on a hill and everyone else lives on different hills so we walk up and down a lot.
So anyone who says I´m going to gain weight here... I will prove you wrong! ;)

My companion is Sister LeBaron. She is an American, amazing and dedicated.
We have plans to work really hard this transfer and I am more than ready.
We talked about all of our investigators last night and it was an incredible feeling to know that these are real people. I´m not just practicing anymore. And that thought filled me with so much joy and fear.
What they learn about the gospel and about Christ is in our hands.
...Let´s just say this is putting the urgency of a lifetime in me to become more fluent in Português really quickly.

So mom asked me about our showers... and they are fine. Definitely not like in the states though. The temperature can be warm, but how warm it gets depends on how warm it is outside. haha It´s really not that bad though. It´s the cleanliness of the water that we are more concerned about. But we have great water bottles that sanitize everything. So it´s all good. :) Needless to say though.. I will still enjoy showering again back in the states. :)

Alrighty... I don´t have many specifics to write today because I´m getting in the grove of things.
We don´t have library´s to email at here so we use basically internet cafés. It´s weird because most Brazilians listen to American music. And most of the time they have no idea what they are saying... but they like it so... they listen! The reason I bring this up is because they have it playing here at the café. It´s really weird because I´m hearing songs that are already new since I´ve been here! And by artists that I love! It feels weird to listen... and I have excitement for when I come home and get to hear all this new music that will be new to me. It will be like Christmas! haha But for now... I´m good holding off.
I´m engaged in an elevated work and I cannot come down. -that´s a quote from someone but I don´t have quotation marks here...

Know that I have a firm conviction of this gospel. I will share a quote from President Hinckley next week. I don´t have it with me, but I love it! So I will for sure share next Wednesday.

I love you all! I miss you all! And Brazil is beautiful. I wish I could share every moment with you!

Love, Sister Barlow :D

Repentance is a gift!

Here are a few things I´ve been thinking about this past week:

(okay... there are no quotation marks on this keyboard...)

-You get what you go for.

-Sometimes the thing we need to change is ourselves.

This week the topic of repentance has come up in almost every meeting and lesson we´ve had with investigators.

It´s an interesting thing... repentance. A lot of people view repentance as a bad or scary  thing. And at times.. it seems that way.. But repentance is a gift!

And repentance is noble. For someone to say that they want to be better and actually make actions to do it is very respectful and admirable.

The biggest thing I can associate to repentance is relief. Relief that comes that there aren´t secrets. Relief from knowing you could´ve done better. Relief from guilt in any form that it may come.  I am awed by those people who know they want to make a change and do it.

I shared my testimony this past Sunday. The last time in English for 16 months! Wow that´s so crazy!

Hey guess what?? I go to the field this Tuesday. Yep! That is definitely what´s up!

Can I tell you how nervous, yet how incredibly excited and ready I am!? I will never know enough to be completely ready... but I know this it is my time. :)

There are 2 Germans here learning Português. One of them speaks English really fluently and the other knows enough to get by. The latter is Elder Ermler and he is the most giving person I have ever met. He bore his testimony on Sunday as well. It was the  most humbly powerful testimony I have ever heard. In broken English he shared the experience he had with a couple of his friends before he flew to Brasil. His friends are not members and they don´t completely understand why he is taking 2 years of his life to follow rules and teach people about something he can´t see.

They would say: I believe there is a God, but I don´t know it. How can you know it? I can feel it, but I don´t know it. Why are you doing this?

His reply was: Don´t be afraid to say what you feel... and follow it.

This was amazing to me. How incredibly simple was this conversation and yet he was able to express to his friends that because he knows what he feels, nobody and no one can take out what is in his heart.

I LOVE the book of Mormon. Something incredible about it is that if you pray with real desire to know if it is true, you will receive an answer. And God will help you to understand all the questions we have about everything else because of it. Moroni´s promise is not a one time thing. If you want to know if that book is true, read those verses and do what it says! :) Moroni 10:3-6

I will write again on my next p-day in the field! Whenever that is... haha

I love you all! But remember that God loves you more.

First week in Brazil!

Hello family and friends!

Okay..... these português keyboards are kind of a challenge... but we´ll make it work because we are smarter than the board.

So! I have officially been in Brasil for ONE WHOLE WEEK. Craaaaazy I knooooow.

Brazil is really different than the states. And I have fallen in love.

Brazilians are the nicest, most loving people you will EVER meet by the way.

...Brazilian men loooove American women. And they are not shy about it either. When they see us they will do anything to get our attention. It´s pretty funny... and yet sometimes awkward. But great all the same.

Yes. The food is pretty different. Which can be a great thing and... a not so great thing... But you learn gratitude.

They eat A LOT of meat... which most people already know... but really... it´s pretty much all they eat besides rice and beans. People aren´t exaggerating when they say that. But it is quite delicious! Dad, you would love it!

The weather here is a lot colder than i thought it was going to be. I wish i didn´t send my sweatpants and sweater home now... but it´s okay! maybe i´ll find some that double task as souvenirs!

This CTM is really different than the Provo MTC. In about every way. And I really don´t think I´m exaggerating that at all. It is incredibly different and that has been a trial in and of itself. But I´m learning every day and I´m finding my weaknesses really quickly.

ESPECIALLY with the language! Because so many visas are coming through right now there are more Americans here than Brazilians but our teachers and staff are Brazilian and there are still many here so we get to use the language so much more. It has been a scary, yet amazing awakening.

Next Monday we get to go proselyting! In São Paulo! Crazy! Yeah... i´m terrified. You can be rest assured that I will be relying on the Lord every step of the way. oh! cool fact... during p-day we get to walk around the city. yeah... pretty cool.. i know! This morning we went to the temple and it is gorgeous. Brasil is unlike any place you could ever think of. It is not a 3rd world country... just to clear that up, but there is poverty. And in the most content way I have ever seen. I am seriously in love with the country and these people. It is how I´ve always imagined life and people should be.

Alright! I´m almost out of time! Today is a holiday. Day of the Dead. Noooot like Halloween. They don´t celebrate Halloween here. It´s a big thing here and in Mexico also. It´s kind of like Memorial day, but bigger. Which also means the post office is closed. So I can´t send out any letters this week. But I have some written to send out next week on P-day.

Remember that the Lord will always bless you if you put him first. He will never, ever, ever let you down. Just trust him. He has more power to do all that you need more than you can do for yourself or anyone else can also.

And remember, what is written in your heart, nobody can take out.

I love you all! Until next week!

I'm off to Brazil!

Hello!

 

So I'm off to Brasil! Can you believe it!? I can't.... I'm still in a little bit of shock. Okay... a lot a bit of shock.

But, Eu estou muito animado!!! ( I am so excited!)

 

Scripture for this week:

"If God be for us, who can go against us?" - Romans 8:31

Think about it. Who is more powerful than God? Only our agency allows us to choose not to accept his help.

 

Enduring often times sounds painful to me. "Endure to the End." It makes me think of a passive life. Or a passive mission.

We are going to, and maybe even already have had some of the hardest experiences in our lives.

And they aren't going to get easier.

Our missions will be hard. Our lives will be hard.

It is our mindsets that make the difference.

We can think, "6 more months! I can make it 6 more months!" or "just another Sunday... I can make it through church one more time", and we will be enduring.

And yes, the work will continue, our investigators will progress because of our endurance, and our lives will be blessed because we are holding.

But how much more would the work prosper and our lives be blessed if we persevere!

Faith is ACTION! And so should our work and our lives be.

Do not only endure to the end. Persevere to the End! My Preach my Gospel teacher encouraged this in all of us in all that we did.

There will be times though, that it is all we can do to hold on and just endure.

I have no doubt that we will each experience this in our missions and in our lives.

But it will be okay. We will be okay.

 

Even Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail wondered about his captivity and wanted to get back to work, "Oh God, where art thou?"

To his pain the Lord said this:

"And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep;

if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way;

and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

-Doctrine and Covenants 122:7

 

What a poetic scripture and verse from the Lord. I can't imagine anything more terrifying and yet, the Lord knows all.

And is preparing us each individually with what we need to face what is to come.

We often times ask for a sign. We often times don't realize that it came in a trial and we are still standing with more wisdom.

 

We must remember that God is with us.

There will be times we will feel forsaken by others. By our familes. By our friends.

Maybe our significant other. And maybe even we will feel as though God has done the same.

In times such as these we should remember and turn to our savior.

Remember! That he endured all the pains that we have on top of his own.

When his own friends betrayed him or couldn't stay awake in his very hour of need and support.

When the people killed him for fear of their own pride. He walked through the very hour of death and never look back.

All of this for you. For me. And for our eternal salvation and happiness. I owe him everything.

He endured. He persevered. And look at how much he accomplished!

The salvation of every single life that was, is, and will ever be!

 

I will write again next week! When I am in BRASIL!

"I love you all! God loves you more!"

 

MTC investigators

Alrighty! So all the Brasil-headed missionaries are in a frenzy here! Our visas have been on hold for so long, but now there has been a dramatic number that has been accepted! Everyone wants to know who got there's and even if it is you!... there's hope!!!  I have mixed feelings about it. I think it would be really cool to be called somewhere in the states first, but the Lord needs me where he needs me so I'll be happy with whatever happens with my visa. :D Plus I absolutely love my companion and district right now and I can't imagine having gone through these last 5 weeks without them. I know that my visa was delayed for this purpose.

 

My mom asked me how we get investigators here in the MTC. Did I ever mention Hugo? Hugo was our first investigator and we created a wonderful bond with him. We had our doubts that he was real, but we bonded so well and created such a relationship that we truely believed. After our 3rd lesson though, we found out he was one of our professors. I cried. Now I know that seems a little dramatic, but missionary work is hard. Portuguese is hard. And the spirit is strong.

Even though Hugo wasn't real as we knew him (he was portraying a real person), I will always remember him as my first investigator.

Now with that said... we have 3 professors in total. And each companionship teaches two of them as someone different and then we teach eachother as well. So at the moment we have 4 investigators. And we play the roles as seriously as we can. It's an incredible experience and amazing how the spirit helps us to differentiate between who they are in real life to who they are as investigators during the lessons. One of our investigators has a wife too, so we teach her sometimes! It's fun to teach a female!

 

Okay! I need to go! My time is up! I will have more stories next week!

Remember that I love you all! But the Lord loves you more in a way that I can't even comprehend.

Wow! I have been out on my mission for a month!

Wow. This month has passed by faster than any time frame in my entire life. But I feel like I have also accomplished almost more than any time period in my entire life as well. And I know this is because of the blessings of the Lord and his spirit. I have come to realize the divine relationship I have with the Holy Spirit. He is one of my best friends and I have realized how much I have relied on him as such my entire life. Often we take our friends for granted and we forget that they are there for us so I have made an effort to realize his help, his comfort, his companionship, and the strength he gives me. I am trying to communicate with him the best I possibly can. I think that sometimes it's easy to forget that he is a member of the godhead. He was given and accepted the calling to be without a body so that he can guide us and support us. I am forever grateful.

The scripture of note this week is from Doctrine and Covenants. Section 88, verse 63.

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you."

Simple and direct. If we want to know the truths of The Book of Mormon. Of the church. Of the gospel. If we need help understanding or comfort the Lord wants nothing more than to give us our answers and help us. But he won't do that unless he know how much you truly desire to know. When we go to him in prayer, when we take the effort and time to search in the scriptures the Lord knows we're not just looking for the easy way out. As we draw near to him, he will draw near to us and reach the rest of the way that we cannot.

Our investigators have jumped from 1 to 5 this week! It has been crazy, yet so incredible.

Seeing the spirit of the Lord touch the hearts of these people is an amazing experience and has taught me what is most important.

The MTC truly is the Lord's university. He will teach you what you want to learn. This is true in life as well.

I love you all! Pray to our Father. He wants to hear from you. :)

Conference was amazing!

So conference has been amazing! It's really cool to have conference in the MTC with so many priesthood holders and missionaries going out to do this great work. Everyone was thinking about how we could apply what was said to our work and it is an incredible feeling. Another cool thing about conference in the MTC is that it is basically a 3 day weekend! Because we have no classes on Saturday and Sunday and Monday is p-day! So it's pretty cool.

 

Also... Every Sunday night we get to watch a movie after our devotional. This week was "The Testaments" which I didn't realize was just one movie.   ...haha...

It was so cheesy, but so wonderful! I realized that it is where basically all the clips of our Savior come from in Mormon messages and such. The best part was when the two leads would kiss or touch hands..... oooohhhhh boy! There was a riot of missionary "hoorahs"!  Poor deprived missionaries is what it is.

Elder Bruce in my district whispers "ahhh... 2 years" so I leaned over and whispered "18 months!" hahaha okay so it wasn't very nice, but it was so perfect!

 

Something I find really interesting here at the MTC is the agency we have. We don't have teachers or chaperons walking us around or checking up on us. Everything we do is by our own choice. I was thinking about it today as we were sitting outside the temple after having done some ordinances. We get to visit the temple every P-day and we just walk there from the MTC by ourselves. I hadn't realized it, but if I wanted to instead of going back to the MTC or going to the temple in the first place I could just walk down the street. See a movie. Use the phone. Go all the way home! And nobody would know besides my companion until somebody realized I was missing.

The MTC is not a jail. It is not a boarding school. It is an opportunity. We only have to be here if we want to be here. We only have to work if we want to work.

This is such an incredible knowledge. Our district works off the theme, "Pray as if it is all up to the Lord, work as if it is all up to you."

How much I progress here is up to me. The Lord blesses us with as many miracles as we want. It has been amazing to see the miracles come from this! My goal this week has been to work as much as I possibly can! And study as hard as I can! I have never studied so much in my life!.. But guess what... The Lord has helped me accomplish things that I didn't know I could. And when I have been completely exhausted thinking I can't cram anything else in my brain today.... I am able to teach a lesson as if I've always known those words.

 

My companion, Sister Bierman and I, have made friends here at the MTC who is actually FROM Sao Paulo Brasil! He is so kind and just wants to help us learn the language! He has been here 7 weeks and didn't know any English before he came and can speak to us fluently in English! It reminded me how trust and humility before the Lord can make all things possible... in only 7 weeks!

 

Out of all the things I got out of conference, and trust me... i have about 12 pages of notes... yowza! The most significant theme I found was that God loves us.

God loves me. He loves you.

He does NOT want you to go through this world alone.

 He misses you and he wants you to succeed! He wants you to be happy.

He would do everything and anything for you if only he could! But he doesn't so that we can grow.

So that we can be independent. So that you can use your agency. And so that you can feel free.

 

Many know the scripture from 1 Nephi. "I will go and do the things the Lord commands. I know the Lord provides a way, he wants me to obey." 

If nothing else this week I have learned, and I want you to remember to not look over a keep part of this phrase.

"I know the Lord provides a way."  He does. If only we will trust him.  His plan is so much better than we think ours is.

 

I love you all! Thank you again for your support! It keeps me going when I don't think I can say even one more word in Portuguese.

2nd week at MTC

*Okay this last week has been so amazing. It has been the hardest yet most rewarding week of my life.

I can only email once a week and that is Monday for me and when I do I only have 30 minutes. So I pretty much write everything before I get on and then just type it up. On that note, I can only write letters on Monday as well. So I write everyone back on that day. :) thank you for all the letters, dearElders, and notes I have received so far! It really brightens my day and helps me realize how much support and love I have. Thank you so much! :D

 

*Food for thought:

Doctrine and Covenants 76:69

"These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus Christ the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of blood."

In this scripture the phrase "just men" often is referred to as men who are good. Who are just in their dealings. But as I read it recently I viewed the phrase "just men" as people who are just human. We make mistakes. We are not perfect yet. We are just men.

This gospel is FULL of just men who have the opportunity to become better and be forgiven for our mistakes because of the love of our savior shown through his sacrifice for us.

 

*Another scripture that stood out to me this week is Doctrine and Covenants 3:3, "Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men."

I feel that scripture speaks for itself. Please don't over look it.

 

*President Boyd K Packer said this, "The spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand. Rather it whispers. It caresses so gently that if we are preoccupied we may not feel it at all."  This is amazing. How can we even begin to think that we are not receiving answers from the Lord before we stop to think if we are actually listening. I am trying ever so hard to be less "preoccupied".

 

*Yesterday and today have been really healing days for me. I have regrets about my past and it's hard to let go. It's hard when you have sinned, when you have made a mistake and other people still remember it. When other's thoughts interfere. For me it has been hard to forgive myself when others have their own perception. But I have learned that it's okay to let go.

Let it go. Accept that you made errors. Accept that you're not perfect and that people have been hurt because of you. Repent. Do right. Forgive. Then let it go. Let go of what people think of you and move forward. Promise yourself to do better - then do. The Lord's atonement is useless if we do not accept what he has done.

 

*I have learned so much this week and I again am humbled by the healing power of the Atonement.

1st week @ MTC

Something that is interesting to me is something President Welton (my branch president) said:

"This is where you are suppposed to be. You are not meant to be anywhere else."

This stung my heart because even though I have some really hard moments, I know that it is true.

 

Wow! Where to start!?!?  I have timed e-mail time. The countdown is at 28 minutes so I'm going to try to get this all in. :)

The MTC is different than I had expected. But I don't really know what I expected so it isn't good or bad.  I feel so blessed to be here.

I have two companions. Sister Pederson and Sister Beirman. We're the only Sisters going to Brazil right now so we are in a tri-companionship.

I have learned soooo much. I can already put sentences together in Portuguese! Isn't that crazy?? The language is hard and it's really frustrating at times, but we've bonded because of it. We've already been teaching an investigator, Hugo (you-goo) and he doesn't speak any english. He knows a few words, but not really. So we've had to teach him portugese by the 2nd day. Is that insane? No need to think about it... the answer is yes. The biggest thing I've learned with teaching in new language though is that we are not preparing our lessons to teach Hugo about the gospel. We are preparing the Lord's lesson's to testify of simple truth's to Hugo. We had a fireside last night in which the speaker stated, "The most importamnt 2nd language you can have is the language of the spirit." 90% of all the missionaries here are learning another language for there missions and we are all going through the same trials but the most important thing to remember is that my Portuguese may not be good enough, but the spirit IS.

Hugo is not going to understand the gospel by the facts we put into his head, but by the spirit we bring in to put in his heart.

 

We directed not to listen to personal music while at the MTC. This is because we learn so much that when we have personal time we need silence to help it sink in and feel promptings of revaltion by the spirit. And it is so true. But because of this when we sing hymns in meetings and such it is such a special experience.

Yesterday we sang "All is Well". Is that the title?

"Why should we think to earn a great reward? If we now shun the fight." This line knocked the wind out of me. Heaven is a great reward. Eternity is a great reward. How can I say I deserve any of it in times of selfishness or causual behavior about the Lord's commandments.

 

I don't know if my visa is coming soon. :( But I am content where I am if I need to stay here the full 9 weeks. Visa's are backed up to Brazil like CRAZY. Please write me!

I miss everyone!

 

Love Sister Barlow

Today is the Day

I can't believe it's here! Thank you to everybody who has supported me and shown me the love I have needed to get to this point. I am so blessed to have so many people in my life who are forgiving and caring for the mistakes I make. The gospel has given me the gift of repentance, understanding, comfort, and a plan. I cannot wait to share the restoration and proclaim the message, "He lives!".
I will post again as soon as I can!
Have a wonderful 18 months! I love you all! :D

The Night Before

Tomorrow I enter the MTC which is a nerve racking and exciting idea.

Sometimes I get really nervous, but then I think about why I am going.

For me it is in 1 Peter 3:15.

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."

We have Christ's restored gospel here on the earth and I am blessed to share it.

Christ lives.