Prayers and pepto-bismol

Hey family and friends!

This week was wonderful and exhausting!

I'll begin with yesterday, church day! I have a new record for number of investigators at church. I will begin with them and talk about their progress this week:
1&2- J&M! They were new investigators when I got here and we taught them for a few weeks until she got pneumonia then they got busy and we had to pause the visits. We stopped by this week and we were able to find out that they discussed it and want to begin meeting with us again!! She shared some funny comments she made to him that are giving us and idea of what's up. She told him, "maybe I'll just have to wait until you die to become a Mormon!" So we think he is more hesitant but she is all in. They came to church and sat near Marsha and were taking notes and told some of the members how much they enjoyed it. We are meeting with them tomorrow and will pick up where we left off.
3- S. She is on date for June 10th. She had to cancel our lesson this week and is hard to get ahold of to set up additional lessons. We stopped by her work this week to set up a time and to see if she would be coming to church. She's kinda odd and suuuper funny. We asked what her schedule was like this weekend and she said, "I'm off Sunday, wanna hang out?" I said, "yeah, wanna come to church?" She said, "yeah, but I need a ride." So we got her a ride and she came.
4- Th!! I met her on exchanges a few weeks ago. She's the fuuuunnny lady who said "Jesus should be black!" So she had to postpone our return appointment and we were finally able to get back to see her. She is super blunt and a little stubborn but we tried anyway. We taught her the plan of salvation on Saturday night and she committed to work towards being baptized on June 24th. She told us she didn't really want to come to church so that was a concern. We told her we'd call her in the morning. We called Sunday morning and she answered the phone suuuper happy and said, "I'm coming to church!" She came and loved it. We're seeing her Tuesday morning.
5- D! He was taught a little by previous sisters but apparently they were too pushy and scared him away. He's the one who's brother asked Sister Hall if we believe in marriage. He said he didn't have a car but he wanted to get himself to church. He rolled up on his bike and stayed the whole time. Go D!
6- Faithful V. We didn't see them this week, but we will be dropping them next week. He comes to church and pays his tithing but isn't willing to get baptized or become a member. His wife refuses to come to church. No progress so no more visits.
7- M is a member family's friend. She is 14 years old and adorable. She's been coming to church for a few months and going to activities. I thought she was another daughter, I had no idea she wasn't a member. Through the ward council, they were selected to be one of the families we would be teaching all the lessons to. We arranged for her to be there. We had a great restoration lesson and she was excited to get her own Book of Mormon. We set up our next appointment and she whispered to her member friend that she "better be here." Sister H is going to talk to her mom this week and get permission for us to be meeting with her!! I love member missionary work. And lessons in members homes... to member's friends!!
 
Sister Hall met R. on exchanges a few weeks ago. She was doing yardwork and they offered to help. She said, "thank you, god!" Raising her hands in the air. We went back a few times and she took us to dinner. We were talking about our missions and she told us she wants a church tour and to take all of the lessons. Service softens hearts, folks.

Other eventful things MLC was Tuesday. I love MLC. I learned a lot about some of the basics of things we are expected to do as leaders and as missionaries. It was awesome.

I was a little under the weather this week. Tuesday I had terrible terrible allergies. Wednesday it turned into an awful sinus infection. Thursday was a really bad cold. Friday was still a bad cold and I had no energy. Saturday I woke up so sick and I think I had the flu. Only problem was we were stacked with lessons back to back literally all day, including dinner with an investigator. I wasn't about to let Satan take over the day! So I prayed a ton and took a giant nap during lunch. Between every lesson I took some Pepto-Bismol and made it through alive! It was a little miserable but I would've felt sick at home or felt sick doing the Lord's work so I chose the Lord's work! Sorry mom, I'll rest after my mission 😏

Thursday we had exchanges and I was with my grand baby Sister Mayhew! She's been out about 3 months and finishes her training next week. We had lots of fun!

We went to drug court again this week and we are becoming really good friends with the Staff. When we were in the elevator to leave when one guy sees us. He goes "Wait!" Puts his arm in the elevator so it stops, and comes at Sister Hall to give her a HUG goodbye. She got super awkward, squished her body in the back corner of the elevator, stuck her arm out as far as she could, closed her eyes, and said, "WE CAN'T GIVE HUGS!!!" And he was super confused. It all happened so fast, and then we felt super awkward... But, then she pulled herself together, gave him a normal explanation of why she got way weird, and then gave him a firm handshake. Hopefully he understood. This Wednesday might be a little awkward, but that's okay, because we embrace it! I was just dying laughing the whole time, sorry I didn't help 😂😂😂

We met with the less active who stopped us in the parking lot and asked us to meet with him. We went over with him, his crazy 3 year old son, his non member mom and her non member bf. We taught them the restoration and it was really good. He came back to church!! Huge thing for him.

That's just a few of the awesome things, I'll share more on Sunday when we FaceTime!! We will be facetiming at Marsha's and I'll probably call around 7:45 pm my time. Love you and talk to you then!

Next week is transfer week already!! Sister Hall and I are 95% sure we are staying. How do we know? I'll share a few things. So just barely I asked her what percentage we're sure we're staying together. I wrote 95 down and she said hmm, 95! Then earlier this week I made some banana muffins and we were eating them during our companion Study yesterday and out of nowhere we both say something like "we should put chocolate chips in these next time." And we looked at each other and just laughed because we have the exact same thought process about 100% of the time. Oh also after MLC we were talking to President Daines and he told us that we have a great companionship that it did not begin here. Whaaat!!! We were probably bffs in the pre earth life so THAT’S COOL!!!

Bye! I'll be emailing next week on Wednesday.

Love,
Sister Barnes