I don't know why my email is titled this...I thought people might be more excited about reading my update...
First
of all...I had two epiphanies...Peter in the Bible Videos is Joseph
Smith in the Joseph Smith movie! That one was a big one for me. Also,
the dad in Everything You Want (Maybe only Aut knows what I'm talking
about...) is in the mormon message Enduring Love and is also Governor
Boggs in the Joseph Smith movie! Okay...really not cool...but I'm proud
of myself. Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Dun dun dunn...
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
TEMPLE!
I got to go to the temple AGAIN! I am so lucky. Some
missionaries from the mission don't even get to go once! It was amazing
as usual. I hope y'all make the temple a priority in your lives because
wow...just wow. But that is why I didn't email yesterday...sorry!
We had interviews with our new president this past week!
Wow. He is a truly inspired man and very excited about the work. His
goal is to eventually do away with tracting. Woah. That's kind of a big
deal! He wants us to be so busy that we don't have time to tract! MAN!
Sister Meiners rubbed that one in my face! I just think it's fun
sometimes.... Ha ha but members members members. If the members AND the
missionaries were doing this together, the work would soar! That is
President Ames's vision. Now we just need to motivate the members! :)
You truly do come to love a lot of people on your
mission...especially your investigators. You love with them, you cry
with them, and sometimes you cry for them. I think it gives me just a
slight taste of how Heavenly Father feels about me. Sometimes love
really hurts! You truly are devastated when your investigator/friend
chooses wrong. It just tears you apart. If that's how my human heart
feels, can you imagine how Heavenly Father feels about us?! It's mind
blowing. I've learned a lot out here, but love is definitely a big one.
I love this gospel oh so much. I wish people could and
would understand just how truly important it is. Can't we just like take
away their agency? Oh wait.....awkward. Ha ha! Joke. Agency is
wonderful! :) But I am still coming to a better understand of just HOW
important it is. It is EVERYTHING. The Doctrine of Christ is EVERYTHING.
It is beautiful and it is true.
I'm sorry this is so short! Just know how much I love y'all and how much I love this gospel!
Love,
Sister Barnes
P.S. Mom...have you by chance watched the Walking Dead at all lately?
Monday, July 15, 2013
Missing Scrunchee...
So missions are kind of hard sometimes. There are a lot of unhappy
people who give you the bird, slam doors in your face, or curse at
you...and I've been totally fine! I've been completely happy! But
then...I lose my scrunchee...and THAT's when I almost cry. I am "THAT
SISTER." How embarrassing. But it's fine because I said a prayer
and.....scrunchee and Lisa REUNITE! :) But I didn't really cry...just so
you know... cough cough moving on...
Miracle story for the week. A husband and wife just moved in,
they showed up to church in a different ward...the lady walks up to the
ward secretary and asks him how she can become a member of the church.
Yes ladies and gents...that is how easy missionary work is. HA! I wish!
But turns out they went to the wrong ward on accident and she's really
in OUR area. She is amazing and has truly been prepared by God! Her
baptism is just in 2 weeks. I know that we are being blessed for our
obedience.
Also Emily Long was finally baptized! It's been a loooong
time coming...but it's moments like these when I understood why God sent
me to Arlington 2nd Ward North. I love her and I know she will make it
to the end! Favorite part as a missionary, watching the smile on my
friend's face as they make those sacred covenants with God. I can't help
but to smile as well. It's contagious. This gospel is soooo happy! It's
just pure happiness! I wish more people could understand that! But how
great is my calling.
We couldn't make it to the temple this week...but will hopefully go in two weeks! I'll let ya know.
FUNNY
experience. So this is the bible belt right? So people are fully
willing to pray with us. I don't even know what religion this lady
was...but we were all holding hands in a circle and she was flailing our
arms around and chanting "Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus! THANK YOU
JESUS!" I'm sorry...I lost it. I couldn't help it okay! You know how
weak I am when it comes to holding in laughter! But I was laughing so
hard I was crying. But it's fine because I think she assumed I was
crying because I was touched. HALELUJAH! AMEN!
As a missionary, you are not allowed to hold children. This
is painful. The cuties here love "da sisto mishinaries". They reach out
to us and they try and sit on our laps. We painfully have to scoot them
aside. :( They are soooo cute!!!! If I didn't love kids before, I LOVE
kids now!
Another funny story, the Bishop yelled and said that if me or
my companion get transferred, he's going straight to the president of
the church! He's skipping the stake president and mission president and
is going to go straight to the Prophet! Well...you had to be there. He's
this really sweet, old man...and he was very animated when he said
that. Ha ha oh Bishop. We have fallen in love with the members here.
It's going to be hard to leave.
Mom, the demon dog hasn't gotten me in awhile..he snaps at
me, but I have learned his devilish ways. He is now a 100 pound puppy
and still growing. Sigh. But no more blood! BUT...my legs have literally
fifty scars on them each from all the mosquito bites I receive daily.
It's kind of disgustingly gross how disgustingly gross my legs are.
Family and friends...this church is SOOO true! If you have
any doubts, read the Book of Mormon and pray. It is true. I KNOW for
myself that it is true. and I love it. I simply love it. Nothing gives
me greater happiness than this gospel. And if that's in this life? Can
you imagine what joy we will receive in the eternities? Wowzer. I love
y'all so much. SO SO MUCH. I only have a little over a year left. Where
has the time gone?! But I know that I have stretched. It sometimes
hurts, but I have felt the changes within me. God can not ONLY change
behaviors, but he can change natures. How great is our God!
LOVES.
Sister Barnes
Monday, July 8, 2013
I love fourth of July. It's hard to
believe that it was a whole year ago that I was sitting on a boat in
Lake Powell watching the fireworks. The time has flown. I have been out
for 5 months already. Umm...weird. That means I have only a little over a
year left and that kind of freaks me out because...THEY'RE IS STILL SO
MUCH TO DO! You asked me what I did on the fourth. Well...we painted a
house all afternoon and then we went out and did missionary work for the
rest of the day! :) Ha ha I feel so guilty about celebrating anything
when we could be working instead.
My new mission president. WOW. What an amazing and inspired man. I
love him. I got slapped in the face by the spirit. This work is sooo
important! We have no idea! We are not here to keep the ball rolling, we
are here to push this work forward! Something that hit me so hard was
when he told us what L. Tom Perry had shared with him and all the other
new mission presidents. These new mission changes are as important as
the first vision, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and all worthy
males receiving the priesthood. Umm...woah. I think we have no idea how
important missionary work is right now. But this has inspired to be
more bold. I KNOW why I'm here. I KNOW my purpose! I am here to help
people come closer to Christ and make everlasting changes in their lives
that will last through the eternities. I am here to help truly convert
people to the Gospel by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is why I am on
a mission...no more beating around the bush. Every one NEEDS this
gospel! I will do all I can so I can be an instrument in the Lord's
hands so I can effectively be His proxy. I love this gospel and I love
this work so much! Only the gospel can give us everlasting happiness! If
we have any doubts, trials, worries...the gospel is the answer to all
of these questions. Trust in the Lord and everything will be okay.
And the demon puppy that I have talked about before?
Yeah...it drew blood again... and slammed me against the wall. But NBD
right?
AHHHH!!! There's so much more I want to say but I'm out
of time. Just know that I love this gospel so much and I'm so glad I'm
here. And know that I love y'all so much. And you better love me too or
I'd be very upset. Thanks. Peace. Love. Harmony. Save the whales. All
that good stuff. Monday, July 1, 2013
A brraaannnddd neeewww caaarrrr!!!
The
mini van is gone. Tear drop. They just came by one night and took it
away from us. :( How I am going to miss that good ole party bus.
BUT...what did they give us instead? A brand. new. car. Like...it had a
few miles on it. It's REALLY nice and I'm scared to touch it let alone
drive it. Just pray for me. Thanks. It's really nice and people ooh and
awe when we drive by. We're kind of a big deal.
So I wrote everything down that I was going to write about and I
forgot the piece of paper....so this may be very vague. Sorry bout that
one.. "We are the Church of Jesus Christ. This is the truth. He is our great eternal head. Why would we believe, why would we think that it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him. In turn, how could we possibly bear any moving, lasting testimony of the Atonement if we have never known or felt anything of such an experience? As missionaries we are proud to say that we are Disciples of Christ and we are, but mark my word; that means that you must be prepared to walk something of the path He walked, to feel something, something a little of the pain He felt. To at least occasionally, sometime during your mission, shed one of the tears or sorrow that He shed. Presidents, if the missionaries can come to love and appreciate it, the atonement will carry them, perhaps even more important than it will carry their investigators. You let them know when they struggle, when they are rejected, when they are spit upon and and cast out, and made a hiss and a byword, they are standing shoulder to shoulder with the best life that this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect missionary that ever lived. They have every reason to stand tall and to be grateful that the Savior and Redeemer of the world knows all about their sorrows and their afflictions and that for a moment or two in their lives they will understand what He went through for them. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane. The only victory is the victory of the summit of Calvary. Welcome to the journey of the Disciples of Christ." Elder Holland, New MIss. Pres. Seminar June 2007
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