Family! I only have like five minutes so I apologize. Yesterday was a holiday so the library was closed! But I am here today. I can't believe Autumn is going home!!!! I am so happy for her. I didn't realize how hard this would be. I love my sister so much and she is an amazing example to me.. But there's no place I would rather be...no matter what happens...I am grateful that I am here. And my companion reminds me so much of Autumn it's insane! Maybe we are companions so I could have a little piece of my sister since I won't be seeing her when she comes home. :) Ha ha

Emily Long is a lovely 17 year old that we will be baptizing in the next couple of weeks here. We also have some investigators where I've really learned that God truly does love everyone. We are ALL children of God...no matter who we are. He loves us. I have learned patience and charity. You learn a lot as a missionary. :)

Okay, what is it with Texans and not wearing clothes. I can't count how many times people come to the door with very minimal clothing on! I have to really restrain myself from laughing sometimes. But ya'll know how I am...I'm working on it K? ;)

Did Amber move? I sent her a letter but I sent it to her old address. If she has a new one, will you please send it to me?

Just so you know...you NEVER have to worry about me. There is always a member family who I become so close to and they really help us with whatever we need. This time it's the Blankenships...so if you ever get an email from them, you'll know who it is! :)

Andy is in my prayers. I love my brother so much!

Sorry this email is sooo lame but there is work to be done!

The church is true. The gospel is true. I love my family.

PEACE!

Love,

Sister Barnes JR (almost not JR anymore!!!)

ARLINGTON!

I can't believe you'll be here tomorrow! Just know...that I will LITERALLY be like ten minutes away in Hurst tomorrow for Zone Conference. Don't try to track me down. But weird.

So I am training in a new area! Talk about longest days of my life. Our first day I had no phone, no GPS, no food, a brand new companion straight from the MTC, no knowledge of the people or area, and appointments to go to. Talk about stressful. Just think about it...we were very lost. This whole week we've been lost! But it's getting better. Sister Meiners is awesome! She's almost exactly my age and went to BYU as well. She has a very rock solid testimony and is very teachable. I loved my trainer but I just felt like we got nothing done...but I am now the trainer. Mwuahahah! We eat, sleep, and breathe missionary work. There's no time to even think about anything else. I put Sister Meiners right to work. She is very teachable. but I love to work. We've been a good companionship. We are exactly obedient and teach well together. We are constantly trying to improve our knowledge and our skills as missionaries. I am determined to be a good missionary and turn this area around because this ward is struggling. STRUGGLING. Of course we will always be looking for new investigators and baptisms, but we will be focusing a lot on members and less actives. Most of the members ARE less actives. A lot of the less actives are recent converts. Sigh. There's a lot of work to do and that's what I do best. There may not be very many baptisms, but hopefully a lot of reactivation...then maybe the baptisms will follow.  This week has by far been the hardest on the mission, but I know God is with me. As long as I am following Him, it will all be okay. Which reminds me! There was a tornado our first day! Don't even worry Mom but maybe you should be because we thought the siren was a vacuum. A VACUUM! Yeah, we'd be toast. Then our District Leader called and said that there was a tornado warning. So what did we do? We went to bed and slept through the whole thing! We had no idea it was so bad until the morning! The tornado didn't touch the ground here...It did pull a lot of trees down. It hit it Granbury which is less than an hour away. People lost their lives and it sounds like it was a bad tornado. But all the missionaries down there weren't hurt.

So about Arlington. Just wow. I think it's funny how I want to go to the country so bad and I go to Flower Mound and then Arlington. But this city is so diverse. There's people in our ward who have grills! How cool is dat? There's people with Texan accents, people with black people talk, black people, hispanics, white, hicks...It's just cray cray. But ya got to love it! :) I hope for this place!

I love ya'll and I'm so excited for my sister! This church is so true!

Love,

Sister Barnes JR

Granbury Tornado

You may of heard a tornado touched down in our mission last night and caused considerable damage in the Granbury area.  Within minutes, all missionaries were accounted for and all are fine. None of their apartments sustained any damage.

Joseph M. Sagers
President, Texas Fort Worth Mission

Happy Mother's Day. :) and New Address

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!! :) Okay, so it was so amazing to talk to you yesterday! Sorry I'm such a rambling spaz attack..HA! But really...I am. I mean...who runs down the halls of the church when a twelve apostle is RIGHT THERE! Ha! But I'm so glad we got to talk and laugh! but 40 minutes over the phone definitely goes by supes fast. Maybe I'll call again...how bout in 7 months? But I feel like we talked about everything...so maybe I'll just send pictures!

Oh and this is my new address:

3740 Little Road #1217

Arlington, TX 76016

This sure is going to be an adventure and I'm actually really excited!! :) And good thing I'm leaving because the Gaylord Hotel is LITERALLY like fifteen minutes away! You can so visit Flower Mound because I won't be here anymore! and I can't believe you've been to Arlington! Why have you been everywhere in my mission?! It's weird! Ha ha.

So I told you about the district drama. How awko taco is that?! No worries... I just want to serve the Lord.

AUTUMNAH goes home in like two weeks!!!! I can't believe it! It was just yesterday when we were swish and flicking our magic wands at pizza factory, mom was laughing/crying and yelling "We love Autumn!!!" out the window, and I was trying to text Autumn and ran right into a tree. Remember all those when we dropped her off at the MTC? Man oh man! Those were the days! I'm so excited for her! Remember to get a cute cardboard cutout of me at the wedding. Winkedy wink wink.

I'm rambling. I'll just send pictures!!! :) But I love ya'll so much! This gospel is so true and is the only thing that will bring us true and everlasting happiness with our family forevs and EVS!

Love,

Sista Barnes Jr

 

Here's just a couple of pictures! Woot woot!

One of them is with Jimmy boy...who is getting baptized this Saturday!

One of them is with my little Mary.

And at the temple!

WE GO BEAST MODE! WE ARE LIONS! ELDERS OF JUSTICE AND SISTERS OF MERCY!

Where to even begin.... So much has happened since my last p day! Okay...first of all...my p day got switched to today because I am going to the temple with my companions right after I get done emailing! WWOOOOOHHH!!! I am so excited!!!! It's only been twelve weeks since I've been but that is just too long! The temple is just so peaceful and I am stoked.

Second of all...guess. what. So President Sagers told me last transfer that I would be staying in Flower Mound and finish training my companion Sister Robinson....Well President Sagers is a liar because he called me last night and told me I'm training a brand new missionary...and I am also opening a new area. HA HA HA! How funny is that? The Lord must trust me because yeah... I'm gonna have no idea where to even start. Thank goodness we're not doing this alone! Because that would be a very scary thought indeed! I'm actually waaaay excited. This is gonna be an adventure! But poor Sister Robbi sobbed all night long because she thought we were going to be together next transfer. Sister Perkins, Sister Robbinson, and I have been best friends and shared lots of laughs. But this is what the Lord wants to happen! :) It's funny because before I got the phone call, I was telling Sister Robinson about all the things I have planned for this next transfer. NEVER SAY THAT!...because the Lord likes to change our plans so we can do what He's planned for us. So my address will be changing again next wednesday! So just start sending things to the mission office again! If you're not sure where to send it, just send it there, because I keep losing letters because of my constantly changing address. The mission office address is 1331 Airport Freeway Suite #305 Euless, TX 76040. Thank you! I'll let you know my new address in a couple of weeks! I do know that I am going to Arlington. Apparently it's super ghetto and I'll be the only white person amongst black people. Okay...How cool is dat?! YEAH! But another sad thing...I'm going to miss Jim's baptism by a few days. :( That's sad but as long as it happens, I'm happy. He is such a good guy! We've all become such good friends!

So we finally got moved a couple days ago. It's a lot more work than a transfer that's for sure! We had to get the furniture and take care of everything. We moved even farther out of our area...we aren't even in Flower Mound anymore but are in Lewisville. I'm not sure what we'll do on no drive days but it will probably take a couple hours on our bikes. This new apartment is even niiiiicer! How is that even possible?! But they said it's basically the nicest apartment in the mission. I'm glad I'll be able to enjoy it for this next week. :) But yeah...it's so nice that we take our shoes off before we get inside.

More connections? I met a family who knows Rachel Johnson and Alec Fairbanks. I also met a teenage girl who knows Chelsea Fairbourn. How small is our world? But it's gets smaller. Okay...Jim's girlfriend's brother's wife (heh) was the Riviera manager last summer! She was at church and I heard someone calling out "LISA!" I forget my first name sometimes but I finally realized and turned around! I'm surprised she still remembers my name! That was so long ago...but yeah. She was the nice one that worked there. Anywho...That was exciting.

OKAY. GUESS WHO CAME TO THE TEXAS FORT WORTH MISSION!!! Quentin L. Cook!!!! We got the whole mission together...All 255 missionaries came to our stake center here in Lewisville and heard Quentin L Cook and three other general authorities speak to us. Best day EVS. Guess who is such a spaztic person...THIS GIRL. I was super excited to get a good seat... I mean...this is a twelve apostle! So we get into the church and I just take off because I wanted front row! So I'm galloping down the hall and my companions are far behind me and then Quentin L Cook comes out of the chapel and sees me being so dorky. Agh. I wonder about myself sometimes. I had a mini heart attack....But I got to shake his hand! He truly is called of God. It was a very sweet experience to hear him speak to us. And I also got to see all my mission buddies! I saw my MTC district, and MTC companion, Elder Briggs (Amber and Derek), and Elder Daniel (we worked at Philmont together!) Elder Daniel only has two transfers left and told me to go to BYU Hawaii with him when I get home. That's a missionary's way of proposing. Joke. But seriously... We're going to avoid him.

WOOOH! I'm just so happy right now! Life is good in da neighborhood. Oh yeah. My birthday. Twenty. How gross is that? I just...dislike my birthday. But thanks so much for the package Mom! I LOVED IT! I have missed my Chansity!!! Except you are trying to make me obesa larnes! That's okay...I can eat whatever I want on my birthday right? My district and I went out to eat so that was cool. Agh! I have the best district. I'm gonna miss them! But funny story about my district and the drama thereof once upon a time. Ask me about it someday.

This past couple of weeks have been crazy and I've had a missionary meeting/gathering almost every day. I also had interviews with President Sagers! I love that man. He was so kind and gave me lots of compliments that has motivated me even more. It was just what I needed. I sure am gonna miss him.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY on Sunday! Expect a card Mommy! I will be calling on Sunday evening! We go to a straight nine hours of church/three wards so it won't be til later but I'm not positive on the time. It will just be a phone call for about 40 minutes. No friends or siblings allowed. Just my parentals. I'm SO EXCITED to talk to you!!! :)

Okay...could I talk anymore? I love ya'll so much and I love this gospel. I love home and miss home but this is where I ought to be. Keep being strong and endure to the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Barnes JR.

New Address

Here is Lisa's new address since she will be moving apartments on May 7th:
1204 College Pkwy Apt #814
Lewisville, TX 75077
Her P-day this week will be Friday.

Pictures!

Feeding the ducks at Grapevine Lake!

Eating at Chili's.

Red Hot and Blue for dinner. Bro. Fierro in the back.

 

Service project. 

Conference. 

Face painting. :)