Inferno Week #5

What a week. Crazy stuff was happening all week, I don't even know where to start. But I have to start somewhere. 

So, since the last time I have emailed, I have had 4 different companions, covered 2 areas, and had 3 conversations with people in French. How does that make sense?/ Buckle up. 

Elder Francis, my companion for the last few months, got a call on Tuesday night to become the new assistant to our mission president, so he packed up that night and left Wednesday morning. I was absorbed into a Spanish companionship for a day and a half, and you know how fluent I am in Spanish, so that was an adventure. Then on Thursday we drove to our mission home in Tempe to pick up my new companion, Elder Saulle, who is actually from France!!! He has a pretty awesome accent, and is headed home in a few weeks so they brought him closer to the mission home to make things easier. However, I was only with him until this afternoon, so now I do not have a companion until Wednesday, so I basically get to pick which companion ship I go out with tonight and tomorrow. Weird stuff. How was this for me this week? Good in some ways, stressful in others. Usually there are two leaders in the zone, but since Elder Francis left I was leading the zone on my own for a whole week, which was pretty intense. Lots of responsibility to put onto one person, but it was chill, Elder Saulle helped out a lot. 

Cool experience this week, we were out on visits with Fred, a pretty awesome member, and we stopped by a less-active member of our congregation to see if we could make contact with her. We had a pretty long conversation, she has been dealing with lots of health problems, so we left her with a prayer and she really appreciated it. We were on our way out when a lady walks up to us and asks us if we are the Jesus people, which our answer to that question is always "Yes!" Then she told us that she wants to have a stronger relationship with God to help her overcome the addiction she has in her life. So we went by the day after and taught her about the plan that God has for us, and she is super excited! We meet with her again tomorrow and will hopefully help her progress towards baptism. 

Funny experience, also with our awesome member Fred. We were leaving the church parking lot in his car, and he pulls up behind this car with its hazard lights on, and asks what is wrong with the car. It was overheated, so he told her to put it in neutral and so I figured we were going to get out and push her, but Fred had another idea. He turned the car around twice to pull up behind her again, and used his CAR to push her through a busy intersection turning left, all with us being really stressed out in the backseat wondering what was going on. That gives you an idea of what kind of people we work with here. Its awesome. 

Have a great week everyone!! God loves you all and has a plan for you!! You are the best. Love you all!

Elder Barlow

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