Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Tempe YSA Zone
Wow. What a week. New area, new companion, new responsibilities, pretty much everything is new since the last time you heard from me. So, I was serving in Tempe on ASU campus, and now I am serving in South Phoenix in a family ward! My new companion is Elder Francis, and he is super awesome. He and I are very, very alike, and he and Elder Grigsby are dopplegangers, so it is pretty hilarious. And the area is super awesome. It is pretty big, and we have lots of interactions with weird people. The environment is a lot like Casa Grande but there are more crazy people...so that's fun. There were some pretty awesome experiences from this week too, so let me tell you!

#HouseSwag
Wednesday was crazy, I packed up and left and had just gotten to the area and was trying to figure out how to be a Zone Leader, the new responsibility I talked about, which means me and another missionary lead over about 16 other missionaries, so yeah that was a change. I was pretty stressed and didn't have much time for anything, but we went to the Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant, which is an annual live-action celebration of Christ, which was pretty awesome. It was so cool. There were thousands of people there, and the performance just helped me forget about all of my worries. It was such a testimony to me that when we focus on what really matters...Christ...we won't need to worry. He will take the worry from us. Focus on Christ everyone! 

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, which was awesome. Church was great! We got to interact with all the members of the new ward, and life is so good. Easter is so cool, we get to focus on Christ and think about his sacrifice. Again, it was so awesome to feel the stress lifted off of my shoulders as I relied on him and forgot about myself. That is the key! Try it!!

Elder Francis likes Willy Wonka...
Also, last night we got to go give Easter baskets to a home full of foster children who we got permission to teach. We showed up, showed them the baskets, and the smiles on their faces were priceless. We taught them about the sacrifice that Christ made and what it means for us, and it was great. It was so awesome to see how happy they were, and made me think about how grateful I am for where I am. God gives all of us blessings, no matter who we are, where we are, we are all given blessings, we just need to look for them. I invite all of you to look for blessings you have been given this week, and to write down at least 3 of them! Share them with me next week! Love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Barlow

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