Lessons From the Porch

Apparently, Sister Barclay's computer wasn't letting her do photo uploads so those will be on next week... maybe... but my dad got an email this week that he thought he'd share. So without further ramblings from this sister of Sister Barclay, here ya go:

Email to dad:

"It (this last week) has been so crazy...I don't even know where to begin! We locked ourselves out of our car and our apartment; we had to have the office elders come unlock it for us... three hours later! But we still managed to teach two lessons from our porch! haha! They went so good.

Sister Carpenter was helping this guy we were supposed to teach with directions to our house, so she left me to teaching Arielle, who makes me really nervous because she is very logical and likes to question everything. Which is good, but it makes me nervous... but I just went with it and I was just feeling the spirit so strong and I just bore my testimony with my whole heart to her about this gospel. It was one of the most spiritual moments of my whole mission thus far! We talked about the Atonement and how only through the gospel and Jesus Christ can we be clean and forgiven. She started crying and the spirit was so strong! I know that the Lord has been speaking through my words! I know that the Atonement is real and Christ really did die for us, because he loves us! This gospel can truly bless lives!

AND that guy getting directions showed up. He's in the military... he's a lil' guy but tough. He's been investigating the church for almost a year! He's been struggling with a little bit of depression, so I've been having him send us one thing he is grateful for everyday and it has really been working. He has received so many blessings! I told him that that was the Lord's hand in his life and he got the biggest smile on his face! My ultimate goal with him is to make him happy and I think it's working. Every day I ask him if he's smiling! haha I think I was called to Baton Rouge to make others happy! I love to smile! He didn't know who the current prophet was so we showed him a video that mom sent me from the stake challenge on the attitude of gratitude with President Monson and I think he really liked it!

So the next crazy thing that happened... Sister Carpenter's GPS broke so we got soooo lost! We were 30 minutes late for a dinner appointment and missed correlation meeting because we were so lost that we had to stop at a Lowe's to ask someone where we were! We are space cases lately!

So I'm in two wards, ya know? So for the Baton Rouge 2nd Ward, we found the cutest lil' family! Josh and Daisy and their two kids! They are the best! They are really progressing and they are so excited to learn more and find out for themselves! Josh is awesome. He's such a great dad and he does all he can to provide for his family even when nothing seems to be going right. He wants to come unto Christ and he has said that when we left his house last week, he could feel the spirit drift away and he wanted that good feeling in his house all the time... he's just not sure how to get it! He's a little nervous about coming to church with us, but he'll come around! Man, we are so excited for this family! We love teaching them! I'll keep ya updated!

Also, I'm pretty sure my name tag just says 'Feed me' on it! Everyone keeps feeding us; I think I've gained like 15 pounds since being here! hahahaha I can't even! Louisiana food is just too amazing!!"

And that's all for this week! Isn't she great? We absolutely love our missionary mail days! Hopefully next week, I can add some pictures! AND let's all pray that they don't get lost or locked out again... haha