We do not care about rich/poor, famous/unknown. We do care about Christ, life eternal, resurrection......

Moral of the story: Always be on your best behavior. You never know if an apostle of the Lord will be in the car next to you!

What an awesome week! The highlight of the week was, of course, Elder Anderson coming! (an Apostle in the LDS church) We had a 2 hour mission conference with him, and we all got to shake his hand. Elder Hallstrom (who spoke in conference) and Elder Wild (the area seventy) were there also. What a blessing! Elder Anderson and Elder Hallstrom thanked us multiple times for deciding to serve missions. They made us missionaries feel very loved and important. 

I LOVED what Elder Anderson taught us. He talked about things unseen. This is the scripture he quoted:

2 Corinthians 4:18

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

He talked about how the world (especially California) loves the seen. Movies, music, celebrities, scandal, he told us about how Prince died and it has been all over the news. Most of us did not know he died! The news drew a few gasps from the audience haha...but as missionaries our job is the testify of the unseen. We do not care about rich/poor, famous/unknown. We DO care about the decisions between right and wrong. We care about Christ, life eternal, the spirit, faith, resurrection, repentance. The unseen is very real. 

He also urged us to believe deeply in Jesus Christ. He and Elder Hallstrom explained that they do not just want us for 18 months or 2 years. They want us forever. They want us to be righteous parents, co-workers, friends, and neighbors. Elder Anderson challenged us to memorize 10 scriptures where the Lord is speaking. He told us that in order to truly know the Savior, we must know His words. So I am working on memorizing 10 scriptures!

Tricked you! This is me and Elder Anderson (not the apostle

Here is the funny story :) so Hermana Salazar and I left the church, where we had the meeting, kind of late because we had to help some sisters. We were stopped at a red light just outside the church and Hermana Salazar was wearing a snapback hat that another missionary had given her at the meeting. Our windows were rolled down and just as the light turns green I look over and Elder Anderson was driving the car right next to us! I yelled, "Hermana is that Elder Anderson???" She looked over, ripped her hat off, rolled up her window, and I sped away. hahaha I am not sure why I drove away so quickly...I don't think he noticed we were missionaries. Probably because my companion had a snapback on :) I laughed and laughed and laughed. Moral of the story: Always be on your best behavior. You never know if an apostle of the Lord will be in the car next to you!

Random Stuff from the week

1. I totally Sherlocked my way into an apartment complex this week. I looked at the buttons on the door, chose the buttons that looked the most worn out, and MAGIC the door opened on my first try...#missionmiracles

2. This week was the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival! There were old Cowboys everywhere! Mom you would have loved it :) Everyone was dressed up, they had country music, and it smelt like BBQ. I will send some pics!

3. Elder Anderson spoke in the other valley on Sunday. He spoke in the Spanish Stake. We were not allowed to go, but I would have loved to hear him speak Spanish!

4. I went on an exchange with Sister Lyman from Texas. She told me I was an "old soul" Jordan Blad will think that is funny...

5. Last night at 11:30 pm we got a phone call from some sisters in our zone. They got a little spooked in their apartment, so they asked if they could come stay with us. Thankfully we have 4 bunk beds in our apartment, so it worked out. What made me laugh was that being awake at 11:30 was miserable. I was so stinkin' tired! I was so confused when the phone starting ringing...at that point we had only been asleep for an hour. I don't know how I stayed up so late in college...10 is a good time to be asleep hahaa

Alright that's all folks. Shout out to Katelyn and Todd for all their hard work and sacrifice studying at BYU. I am so proud of them! Oh and FELIZ CUMPLEANOS to Calvin!!!

I love you Mom.

Hermana Moo

Story of my life

 We found this AWESOME gellato place in town. It is gellato with a mexican twist. Hermana Salazar and I shared Horchata, Cherry Chocolate, Avocado, Queso Fresco, Chocolate Habanero. It was soooooo yummy!

 Pretty lights around town

They have these Cowboy walk of fame saddles all around town!

"Love people and you will not fear them."

This has been a great week! 

I went on my first full exchange of the transfer with Sister Brumbles from Boise, Idaho. She is on her 3rd week on the mission, so it was a super fun experience. She had a lot of questions, and it was great to realize that I could answer her questions using personal experience and reading from Preach My Gospel. It was cool to reflect back over the past 10 plus months and see all the awesome experiences that the Lord has blessed me with! I am starting to feel old in the mission though...

It is getting very hot here in sunny california. It is starting to get in the 90s. The city has signs everywhere urging people to save water. They have a "water wasting" hotline that you can call if you see anyone wasting water, so anytime I see anyone wasting water I (jokingly) tell them I am going to call the water police on them. Well this week I was helping a member wash her dishes after we ate and I kept the water running as I washed them. She ran over to the sink and said, "Sister. You need to turn off the water. We are in a drought you know!?" I apologized and told her I didn't know what I was thinking, and she responded, "You weren't thinking. Keep that water off." Then she walked away. Hahahaa I deserved it! That's what I get for trolling people all the time :) 

Good news! Elder Anderson is coming to our mission this Satuday! We have a conference with him and possibly Elder Hallstrom! Sweet. It is a blessing to be taught by servants of God!

     This week I had one of the most interesting Knock-Out conversations of my career ;) We sat and talked with 4 born-again Christians for an hour! Thankfully we were not called to damnation once during that hour.

     I have had a lot of questions about all these different Christian faiths that call us a non-christian cult. I have been wondering what doctrinal differences we have that make them Christians and us not, and this week we found 4 people out having a BBQ that were willing to talk with us! 

     I will be honest, 90% of the convos we have with the born again Christians are us getting chewed out for worshiping a false Christ and then they tell us we will go to hell. Usually the convos are very harsh and tense. I am not one to fight, be sassy, or bash (Maybe my family would say differently... :) I have learned from all of these convos that the only effective thing to do is testify of how the gospel and my faith has blessed my life. Simple testimony can soften hearts. They cannot attack my testimony because it's mine. It is my experiences between me and my Father in Heaven. 

      Anyway...these four people were kind enough to answer our questions. Our questions went from the Trinity, to baptism, to even asking them why they see us as a cult. They asked us questions about how we believe we have the potential to become gods and goddesses, how Mormons believe they are saved, and what we believe about heaven and hell.

      A lot of my misconceptions were cleared up, and I feel like I understand where they are coming from better. I won't be so frustrated the next time I'm called to damnation. We were blessed with many opportunities to testify of the truths of the restored gospel, and I walked away from the conversation with a stronger testimony.

       There are many truths that have come from the restoration of the gospel that I have taken for granted like:

 Our purpose on Earth

 The knowledge of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ being separate beings

 The knowledge that our families can be together forever. 

Hna Salazar sneaked a picture of me and Sister Groberg knocking doors!

All in all, missions are awesome. The mission has been the most culturally, religiously, and socially eye opening experience I have ever had!

"STIUPID"

Quote of the week:

"Love people and you will not fear them."

"Happiness leaves no bad after-taste, it is followed by no depressing reaction; it calls for no repentance, brings no regret, entails no remorse..."

So what makes you all truly happy!? Let me know :)

Love you Mama!

Hermana Moo

let it rip!

Ok...THIS IS AWESOME!

 I am going to hang this picture on my wall! 

 Sister Clara Preece, Sister Marysa Barfuss, and Hermana Barfuss preaching the gospel to California!

(Great Grandma Clara Preece - 1923 - CA Mission - 2nd row, right end)

This week was great. Elder Zeballos and his wife came and did a mission tour. Elder and Sister Zeballos are from Chilie, so I was able to talk to them for a few minutes in Spanish. They are both very humble and their focus is on LOVE. Elder Zeballos bore his testimony many times on how the very essence of the gospel is love. Here are some nuggets of wisdom from the meetings I had with him:

   1. Faith summons the heart to engage

   2. Recuerde quien eres. Which means "Remember who you are" (that is a quote from Hermana Zeballos) She would tell that to her kids every day before they left for school. She would give them a kiss and whisper in their ear, "Recuerde quien eres!" I am working on remembering my first identity and the identity of everyone that surrounds me. We are children of God! Treat them like that!

   3. When we are filled with the spirit, we are filled with love.

   4. Elder Zeballos has the awesome opportunity to do a temple/testimony meeting with the prophet and the 12 every month. He says that President Monson has a list of the general authorities and he randomly selects 5 or 6 to bear their testimonies (that would get my heart pumpin') anyway...Elder Zeballos says President Monson always ends the meeting with his testimony and he always ends his testimony the same way. He says, "Whom the Lord calls he prepares and qualifies." I know that to be true! The Lord has called each one of us to use our special talents, personalities, and resources to serve others. Don't be afraid to reach out. The Lord will sustain you!

Pretty sunrise from our apartment!

We had a mission leadership meeting on Friday in the San Fernando valley. It takes about 20 minutes to drive down there, but our meeting ended at 5:00 and I experienced traffic on the 405 for the first time. It took us an hour to get home! The funny thing was that the other missionaries that serve in the Santa Clarita valley were stuck right next to us, so we just rolled our windows down and chatted with them hahaa.

Hermana Salazar and I qualified for free tee-shirts this week! We do service for the community clearing hiking trails (I will send a pic of the tee-shirts) We clear trails with these 3 older gentlemen :) and I have made it a goal to have a gospel conversation with Steve Martin every week (yes...his name is Steve Martin) I usually end up next to him chatting about his grand kids and about outdoorsy stuff, but he will always ask questions about the church. Last week we talked about the word of wisdom because he makes his own wine and he wanted to know if I was 21 yet and if I had a favorite wine. This week we talked about marriage, agency, and stem cell research. Good times. I love being a missionary!

Funny story. So we were waiting outside an apartment building for a member to meet up with us for a lesson, and we ran into L's dad (he lives with her) Anyway we talked with him for a little bit and then we went around the corner to wait. I think he thought we walked farther away because Grandpa F let it rip! I have never heard such loud toots! Hahahaaa I was crying I was laughing so hard. I guess it doesn't matter if you are a Grandpa from Peru or a Grandpa from Idaho...they are all the same :)

I love you Mom. I hope you have a great week! I love, love, love you!

Hermana Moo 

we slept in until 7:30.........I felt like a sinner

Another wild week in Santa Clarita! 

Transfer day is always pretty hectic. Because we are Sister Training Leaders we help the other sisters get moved and settled in. This transfer we had two sets of sisters who are all new to the area. Plus two of the sisters are completely new to the mission! So we were running all over the place (in the rain) trying to help the sisters out, and get done in time for L's baptism. I am not sure why we planned the baptism on the day of transfers hahaa. 

 

We also got the news that we had to move apartments. Now we live in Stevenson Ranch. I forgot to write down the address, but I will send it next week. Our new apartment is super nice. We are spoiled! We live in the "departing missionary" apartment, so whenever sisters are going home, they stay at our apartment for the night. Our apartment has 4 bunk beds in it and two bathrooms...which means for every other day of the transfer Hermana Salazar and I have our own bathrooms! The departing missionaries that stayed with us this transfer were Hermana Day (my trainer) and Hermana Woods (another Hna I served around) plus two other Hermanas. It was fun to see them right before they left! We had to wake them up at 4:20 am and make sure they were out the door by 5:20. I was exhausted. It was hard to go back to bed after all the excitement of them going home, but we were told we should make up on our lost sleep, so we slept in until 7:30. That was weird. I felt like a sinner sleeping in... 

 

(we shouldn't post names or pics of anyone besides missionaries - I'm breaking a rule - this is a wonderful picture!)

Anyway! Let's move on to the highlight of the week. L's baptism!!!! It was perfect. So many people came out and supported her. She was so happy to talk to her son, and he was thrilled to see her be baptized. At the end of the baptism, he got to share his testimony over skype. But here is the best story. Fast forward to Sunday morning. Hermana Salazar and I went early to conference so we could watch the Spoken Word (I love the Motab). 15 minutes before conference, in walks Hermana L. She was sweating and her church shoes were covered in dirt. She had walked 1 hour to the stake building to watch conference! Majority of the branch members drove to SLC to watch conference, so Lidia was nervous no one would be able to give her a ride so she decided to walk. She walked in the chapel and said,

 "I took the whole day off work. I was NOT going to miss this."

 I sat next to L with a very happy and humbled heart. I felt the spirit so strongly as we sang the "halftime hymn" (which they do not translate into spanish) and I could hear her quiet voice singing "Rejoice the Lord is King" and pronouncing the words that she could. Then to turned to us and said, "Are you fasting too? It's the first Sunday of the month right?" I. Love. Her. And I know Heavenly Father had the biggest smile on His face to see His daughter being so faithful. A scripture came into my head: Alma 48:17

 

17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Lidia Flores, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men. 

 

I love being a missionary! Conference was awesome. Our Heavenly Father loves us very much. He sends many voices to call us, beckon us, plead with us, direct us to repent, change, reach our eternal potential, and keep our families safely on the path back home. God is not silent!

 

Random Stuff:

1. I hit my 10 month mark!

2. We had carne asada after conference yesterday...I think that should be a new family tradition! Forget the ice cream :)

3. I thought I saw Brennan running by my apartment yesterday. Pretty much whenever I see a tall bearded man I think It is Brennan hahaa. You would be shocked how many times I've had to do a double take because I thought I saw Brennan. Love you Brennan!

4. The Zone Leaders I work with are from Shelley, Idaho and some other random town 30 minutes from Rexburg. So life is good. Idaho missionaries are the best ;)

5. Thanks for sending Grandma Hedges funeral stuff. I really enjoyed reading it all!

 

Love you Mom.

 

Hermana Moo

View from my apartment

weird flowers!

We bought some Mexican candies at the food truck. This is called Pelon: Pelo Rico. It is supposed to look like hair! I love these candies. They are made with tamarindo and chili powder. Yummmm

 We found a punching bag during Knock Out (when we knock doors from 4-6) We had to take a pic!

Here is a photo to remind you that I am a goober

 We found some random outfits as we cleaned our old apartment

These nasty lizard's are everywhere! Why does something so little scare me so much!?