it was raining ashes!

Hola Mom!

It is hot, hot, hot here in sunny Sun Valley. There are fires all around us. Saturday it was raining ashes, and the smoke was so thick the sun was just a red circle. Our Mission President has asked us to not exercise outside and avoid outside activities, but nothing will stop us from doing Knock-Out!!!

Cucuracha (Cockroach) Update: We are still finding them in the apartment. Last week we cleared out our cupboards, and had to leave the apartment for 4 hours, but we are still having problems. We asked our members, and they all gave us their Latino home remedies. My favorite was spraying vinegar in all the cracks of our kitchen. It was stinky, but it seemed to work for a little bit! We are going to talk to our manager today :)

Broken Bone Update: Miracle! Our District Leader is healed. The first x-ray they took his elbow was fractured. A week later the x-ray showed no sign of a fracture! Here's the bad news...we were playing flag football last Pday, and our district leader's companion broke his wrist. Crazy, right??? For a week, one of them had a sling and the other a cast. Don't worry...there will be no broken bones in our companionship (knock on wood)

 The Missionaries were here!

I definitely think the road of conversion is the best path to walk. It may not be the easiest path to walk at first, but with time we will form healthy, righteous habits that will bless our own lives and our families lives for eternity! We have to be converted to the gospel not convinced. Converted vs. Convinced. Converted does not mean perfection! Converted is persistence and consistency in living the gospel of Jesucristo. Give it our best effort then try a little harder the next day. Enduring to the end really just means: Make it to Sunday! What a blessing that we can take the sacrament weekly and renew our covenants and efforts for the coming week. Grab the hands of your family and friends and help them walk the path of conversion with you!

This week we were asked to speak at a missionary's farewell fiesta. We were asked to share our testimonies, our experiences, and how the mission has blessed us. I could have spoken for hours, but they only gave us 5 minutes each hahaa. In true hispanic fiesta fashion, they had a big sound system, music, and party lights. While we were speaking they had the party lights flashing, so it was probably the most exciting testimony I have ever shared. Everyone's faces were flashing neon green, pink, and blue! Maybe we could invest in some strobe lights for our chapels :)  

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Love you Mom. Love, love, love ya!

Hna Moo

we keep finding pea sized cockroaches

This nice lady took our picture while we were out knocking doors and emailed it to us...

hola!hola!hola!

This week FLEW by. I cannot believe it is Monday!

This week we had zone conference with the Canoga Park zone. I was in that zone for my first 5 months, so I loved talking with them about my old investigators. AND GUESS WHAT!?!?!?!?! I had a dream a few weeks ago (stay with me here) I had a dream that Hna M.....(remember them???) told me she was getting married at the end of July, so just for laughs, I sent them a letter asking them if they were really getting married. Turns out they are getting married in NOVEMBER! I was just a few months off ;) I AM SO EXCITED! This is a huge step for their family. This is a huge obstacle that has kept them from being baptized. That will be the best way to end my mission. Seeing Hna M.....  get married. Hopefully Presidente Henrie will give me permission to go. The next step will be baptism and being sealed in the temple. (the LA temple is in Santa Monica. That is why I said Santa Monica)

OTHER RANDOM STUFF:

1. Our mission is getting the black boxes for the cars in October! I am pretty sure Marysa had them in San Diego. They are the boxes that record reckless driving and tell us to SLOW DOWN! Thankfully my drivers license expires in October hahaa  (unless you can renew it mom)

2. Our apartment is getting fumigated on Wednesday. It is not a gross apartment, but we keep finding pea sized cockroaches around our kitchen. GROSS! Every night we sneak into the apartment, I grab a shoe, and we hurry and flip on the lights. Then I go to town killing the cockroaches. That got pretty old, so we finally went and told our apartment manager!

(The church played a trick on us. They gave us these booklets, but we are still not getting Ipads! At this point I do not want an ipad...I have made it this far without one.)

( i heard Finding Dory came out. Here is our version. )                                                                                                                             3. Zone conference was all about faith. Here are                                                                                           my favorite quotes:

    Miracles are the fruits of faith- Jose Smith.

    "The word hope is sometimes misunderstood. In our everyday language, the word often has a hint of uncertainty. In the language of the gospel however, the word hope is SURE, UNWAVERING, and ACTIVE."-True to the Faith. 

4. Brother and Sister Crow took us out to dinner again. They are great!

5. On Fridays we do a district workout at the church gym. We were playing Sharks and Minnows,a child's game, but apparently everything has to be super competitive, so district workout ended with our district leader breaking his elbow. Thankfully he doesn't have to go home for surgery! Hna Gomez and I bought him some cool socks and some elbow noodles to make him feel better hahhahaa

Alright I am running out of time. I love you mama! We are seeing many miracles in our area. Our ward is starting to catch fire...we hopefully will have a mission leader soon. We are seeing a lot of success with less active work. One of my favorite feelings is seeing a less active family walk into church, and then seeing the ward being so welcoming and supportive!

I LOVE YOU MOM!

     Hna Moo

 hahha I told Elder Nielson to not get too close to me, so this is what he did :)

Sometimes we have to use a back scratcher to ring door bells (which begs the question, why do you need to use a back scratcher, and why do you have one with you?)

bathroom selfie with the other Hermanas!

If it isn't awkward, you aren't doing it right.

we may have found a mirror on the side of the street and put it in our car for our apartment....

 Car Selfie

 Thanks for the decorations mom!

a member gave us a bunch of passion fruits from her tree, so we could make a drink. It was very yummy!

 One more car selfie!

Hola Mom!

  I loved all the throw back pictures hahaa. The 80s/90s was a goofy time :) We loved the package mom! It was lots of fun decorating the apartment and eating the treats!

We had a pretty super duper great week! Here are some of the super duper great things that happened:

1. A few years back there was some confusion on where the ward boundaries were, so there are around 10 families that are going to North Hollywood 5th that should be in our ward. We have been working with the S..... family to get them coming to our ward. They finally committed to coming to our ward, and the first week they came they called Hermano S...... to be the second counselor in the bishopric. Also the ward secretary has started coming back to church after being less active/sick for a while. Now we have a full bishopric, so they can focus on getting us a ward mission leader!

2. They are starting the temple classes next Sunday, and we have two families that are working to be sealed in the temple!!! It would be a dream come true to see a family be sealed in the Santa Monica Temple!

3. I have been looking for this less active family (familia C......) since I came to this area. I met Hno C......... once a few weeks back, but he could only talk for about 5 minutes. Obispo Jacome asked us to talk with him, and when the bishop asks the missionaries to do something, you better believe we do it, and we do it fast!! Anyway...we have tried so many times to find him, and one day we were outside his apartment complex, and I caught a glimpse of him through the locked gate, so I started yelling, "HNO C............!! HNO!!!" hahaa I think my companion thought I was crazy, but it got his attention and we finally got to have a quick lesson with him! Like I always say, If it isn't awkward, you aren't doing it right.

We have zone conference this week which I am very excited for. I have been asked to lead the music. The assistants trolled me at first, and said I was assigned to sing a musical number... NO WAY! hahaa but I just have to lead the music, phew. The theme of this zone conference is Faith to Reap. Presidente Henrie gave us a talk to read called "Faith to Reap" by Elder Wilford W. Anderson. Elder Anderson teaches that there are 2 levels of faith. 

Level one: faith to try, faith to enroll, and the faith to thrust in our sickles (d&c 4)

Level two: faith to do, faith to graduate, faith to reap!

I know that if we are persistent, not perfect, we will have faith to reap! We will be able to reach our goals and reach our potential as we align our will with God's! Faith+Persistence the most powerful formula out there!

I love you Mom :) I hope you have a great week. 

love, love, love you!

   Hna Moo

"De sour wine at the pharmacy."

Feliz 4to de Julio!

 Sorry I forgot to tell you that pday was moved to Tuesday. I will get your package today mom! I am very excited :) Here is my random memory I had while watching the fireworks. Remember when we went to Disneyland and watched the World of Color water show they do? I loved it so much, but you were the only one willing to go with me a second time. The 2nd time we had to watch it from the opposite side, but I remember being so happy! I love you Mom!

Random matter of business: Is there any way for you to get me a new license before Oct 13th? Or do I have to be there because I am turning 21? Just wondering. Worst case scenario is I can't drive the last two months of my mission...maybe they will put me on bike again...or my comp will drive

It has been a great week. The fourth of July was lots-o-fun. We started the day with a ward breakfast. They said we would be eating an "english breakfast" so we ate pancakes, eggs, sausage, donuts, and fruit :) they planned water activities for the kids, so my companion and I filled about 100 water balloons! It is always fun to sit and chat with the ward members. After the breakfast we visited a couple less active families, knocked some doors, and were in the apartment buy 7. We had an early curfew, but thankfully we live on the third floor so we could see the fireworks! 

I celebrated with Mango and tajin yummmmm

This week we also got to help the Hermanas in the ward make TAMALES!!! They are planning to sell them to raise money for the boy scouts. You better believe this Christmas we will be making tamales :) it will be a new Barfuss tradition...Homemade spudnuts and tamales! Feliz Navidad! Ok...enough of this Christmas talk. Christmas talk gives me anxiety. The other day an ice cream truck drove past us playing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"?!? Come on!?

This week we met a Vietnamese man. He tried to use google translate to talk with us. Here is how the convo went.

    Us: "Can we give you a card about Jesus Christ?"

    Vietnamese Man: "De sour wine at the pharmacy."

    Us: "Have a good day!" hahhahaha

Spiritual/Motivational Stuff From the Week:

1. During Knockout I told a man that I had a dream of writing a book (he is a writer) He told me, "Wake up and do it." #realtalk

2. God has always commanded people to do things that we feel are beyond our capability. Have you ever felt this way? I HAVE! Read Exodus 4:10-12; Jeremiah 1:6-9; Alma 17:10-12 and 26:27; Ether 12:23-27; Moses 6:31-32.

God always provides a way. 

I love you Mom. I hope you have a great week. I am praying for the health of you, Aunt April, and Grandma. Don't worry about me. I mentally prepared myself for Grandma to pass away before I got home from my mission. I will be ok! 

LOVE, Hna Moo                         I just took off an inch :) 

   

 Cheesin' with Wonder Woman!
                                                                         Pupusas!