4/2/18 - Family to Emma

Emma,

We were so excited to hear that one of the new Apostles is from Sao Paulo!  Everyone says that the Church in Brazil is mature.  This proves it!  I bet there was a lot of celebrating!  How was Conference in the CTM?  Did you get to watch it live?  Did anything stand out to you? I am so excited for all the changes/announcements.  I am mostly excited that Visiting Teaching is now officially "Ministering".  I tried to approach VT as that anyway, but now it's official!  I'm also excited that Eve gets to participate in "Ministering"!  These YW have so much to offer and so much good to do! We did our usual traditions:  The tent, fruit loop bracelets, baby food, picture wall/sticky notes.  Brennan came over.  He had dinner with us and then watched the last session with us.  He made a fruit loop necklace thing.  After conference we got the instruments out and jammed.  We went through our usual:  Barlow Family Band, Rocky Top etc.  Brennan joined in on Uke as he could figure things out.  Most of the songs were new to him.  He was a good sport.

This weekend we also dyed eggs with Grandma Charlene and Grandma Shea.  I was able to have a heart-to-heart with my mom.  We really communicated.  Things are so much better now!  I see this as a direct blessing of your service as a missionary.  Thank you Emma!  We also spent Priesthood session girls night at Grandma Barlows.  Instead of doing crafts, we transcribed Grandma Mildred's personal history from her hand-written pages.  Carrie, Eve, Jennie, and I were all on laptops typing away...and giggling as we came to funny parts of her history.  It was awesome having Grandmother sit by us as we typed.  She answered questions and clarified spelling of names/southern places etc.  At one point, Grandmother excused herself because she had to take a bathroom break.  Eve, being Eve, said, "Don't fall in!"  Grandmother laughed and said she would try.  When she came back, Eve asked her how it went.   Grandmother  said, "I thought about what you said and I held on!" Everyone was laughing!

Please remember that we love you and are praying for you ALL DAY LONG.  We miss you but are so happy that you are there, serving the Lord.  You have so much good in your heart.  Heavenly Father loves you and will take care of you.  We don't have to be perfect for Him to love us.  He loves us ALWAYS! 

I love you!

💜Mom

p.s.  I LOVE those new garments you suggested.  I will be replacing all my old ones with those.  You are the best!  Thanks for the recommendation!😊

Hy, Emma. Hyrum here. We've missed you soooooo much! I hope its really sunny down there! How did you like Conference? Everyone here is so exited for all the new changes that are coming around!

(And for you)

 I really hope you enjoy it there. Remember, your on the lords errand. You are his humble servant, and his friend as well. keep up the good work!

Dear Sister Barlow,

this is Mari.THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR THE IPOD!!!! The games you put

on there are amazing!My  favorite one is the count down. How is life in Brazil? Was I Right on your companion? Are you excited for the new Apostles?If you were here in Riverton I'd give you a BIG HUG! you are in the lords errand you will be protected.I am soo happy for you! we miss you😊

M,

What an exciting Conference!  I hope you were able to see some of it.  If you did we were concerned it would all be in Portuguese.  How did everyone respond to Elder Soares's call?  We were very excited.  We had a lot of changes with this Conference.  It will be interesting to see how quickly and smoothly they will be implemented.  We did our normal Conference traditions.  Brennan came over for the last session.  he was picking up someone from Herriman after the last session.  He could not remember what Herriman was called.  He attempted a lot of made up cities that started with H before Hyrum corrected him.

We still have your flag in the window and use it as a "bat signal" to the ward to keep you in their prayers.  We turn the light on at night to make it glow.  We pary for you many times a day.  We hope the language is coming and hope your first week in the CTM is filled with great memories.

Love ya kid

Dad