Sunday, September 28, 2014

91st Letter: "Better late than never!"

Dear Family,
Well I will muster all of the brain power that I have to write you what has been going on over this last week. I am super sorry that I haven't been able to write you sooner. As you know it is transfer week and we have been running all over the place! Transfers went incredibly smooth which was such a blessing! It was the biggest transfer in the history of the mission as well, so its a miracle that nothing really went wrong. I can say though that I have never been more tired in my life! And you have heard me say that many times before in my letters, but this definitely tops them all. You could never believe what all goes into transfers, especially when you have over 230 missionaries in a mission. Along with the stress of missionaries going all over the place, this transfer definitely had its flow of emotions. It was super hard to believe that Elder Lish was going home! It seemed like yesterday that he picked me up when I first came into the mission and took me to Alamo. Time does fly bye!! Both him and Elder Black gave powerful departing testimonies at the transfer site, both served incredible missions and are great examples to me! 

Well with transfers behind us, we are looking ahead to a very very busy couple of months! Starting off tomorrow I am going out to Alamo for a couple of days to try to help those missionaries pick up the work. It has really slowed down over the last year... I am going to take them to the whole Res. and really try to help strengthen the relationship with the missionaries out there. I am super excited! Most all of my recent converts out there are remaining active and are progressing towards the temple. It will be great to see them all again! 

Then on Monday will be my last temple trip before I go home! I am really looking forward to that, I sure miss going to the temple! It is going to be great being able to go whenever I want. For sure at least once a week! Last temple trip President Miller promised us in the temple that if we make the temple a priority in our life, then we will have greater direction on where happiness lies for us as we come upon important decisions. I think that promise is true for all of us!
 
Recently we have been planning zone conference with President it is going to be great! Also my last zone conference in the mission as well... thats hard to believe, I sure love zone conferences! We are going to be watching the church film that is premiering in October called "Meet the Mormons" I am sure some of you have heard about it, but its suppose to be a film about a bunch of different Mormons and their lives and why they are members. The Brethren are expecting us to use it as a finding tool, as it will be viewed in most theaters throughout the country. You should see if you could find a non-member or less-active to take with you to watch it! I already checked and it is going to be filmed in Idaho Falls, Mesa, and Las Vegas! :) And dont worry in Albuquerque as well! I am not exempt, but I cant go to the theatre! But anyways with Zone Conference comes allot of traveling and allot of time out of our area... which is sad because we have so much going for us! Devin is back on track and seems to be doing well to be baptized, along with Josh and couple of our other investigators in the near future. 

Real quick though I want to share some cool things that have been happening lately, definitely we have seen miracles in our area, but I have seen tons of miracles lately as I have followed up on my recent converts throughout my mission just in the last couple of weeks! First off I have been so blessed to have had such solid converts that are mostly remaining active in the church, if not coming semi-actively. But since I left Alamo I was extremely concerned about Norna and Hilbert Apachito, a couple that was baptized in June of 2013. They were super solid, and I got so so close to them, they were doing super well after they were baptized until about 2 weeks before I left the reservation. They had a series of traumatic events happen for a period of time and I didn't seem them or hear from them for a while, I was scared that they fell away from the church and were possibly divorced. I had been praying for them, and that I would be blessed to have a way to get in contact with them since I left Alamo. Then the miracle happened this last week as I called Anita and talked to her for a while, she is Norna's aunt and I figured she might have an idea where they are. She told me that they moved to Socorro with their two kids (1st miracle they are all still together). She didnt have a phone number or any way to contact her though. So I thought that I would as the Socorro elders if they by any random chance might have heard of a Norna or Hilbert Apachito, they said that just a week earlier they received a media referral from Lds.org for a Hilbert Apachito that said he was requesting missionaries. They mentioned that they had been trying to contact him every day, but whenever they call they get no answer, and said that they were about ready to throw the referral away. I asked for the phone number and gave it a call this last Monday before the arriving missionaries came. I don't think words or anything I could type could put into feeling the experience that happened when I called. Norna answered the phone on about the second ring and I could immediately tell it was her, I said Yah'teh Norna its Elder Y'aansin (my nickname out there, means em"barrus" in Navajo). I couldnt hear a response for about 30 seconds but I could tell that she was crying... She went on to tell me that she had been praying that there would be some way that she could get back in contact with me, she knew that if they sent for help on LDS.org that it would get to me somehow. She then told me that they went to church a couple of weeks in Socorro, but nobody said hi to them and they felt uncomfortable. She also said that Shant'e there little 8 year old girl came up to them as soon as she turned 8 and said now I can get baptized Mom! So I eventually got their address and gave it to the missionaries in Socorro, they have since gone over and visited with them. Norna and Hilbert said that they want to go through the temple and get sealed before I go home. It sounds like Shat'e will be getting baptized in the next couple weeks too! I am just so amazed at how The Lord works! He definitely is mindful of our prayers, and He will always grant our righteous desires! :) 

Love you tons family, I hope all is going well for you! :) Take Care! 
Elder Barrus

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