One Fantastic Week

Sorry for freaking you out mom. P-day is on Tuesday this week because we had a super awesome, super spiritual mission conference yesterday. I'm glad you get to meet the Beals and Sister Smyth! It's kinda weird to think that they are with you guys but hey it's whatever. My worlds are meshing :) Grandma I feel so bad I didn't thank you last week for the frog! I opened it at district meeting and the whole district thought it was so fun! It's on my desk. The box smelled like your Bear Lake store and I was just in heaven smelling it....kinda weird but hey that's the missionary life. OH by the way. We have a pet scorpion. His name is Joe Junior and we love him. He eats the cockroaches and glows in the dark. Pretty legit. He would be my mom's favorite pet because we really don't have to feed him or clean up after him. He has lasted 3 weeks on one cockroach. I'm getting attached. Yesterday, Elder Malm came from the 70. He is from Sweden and is just a very inspired man. He talked a lot about what it means to be a successful missionary. Throughout the 6 hour conference he would randomly select people to stand in front of everyone and give a talk on certain topics. SCARY! I was worried the entire time. Hermana Lunquest was one of the first ones to get called up. She was sitting right next to me. I was so happy that he picked the tall ginger hermana and not me :) Hermana Lunquest is fantastic. I've gotten really close with the Hermanas. We go on runs twice a week and they are so nice about giving us rides to all the zone meetings that are in Thatcher. Elder Malm also talked about using all the "tools in your tool box". He was referring to letting our talents be a part of our missionary work. I've been thinking a lot about that. The more I'm myself the better our lessons always go. I love getting to know people and showing them who I am. Everyone relates better to Sister Barton then they do a robot missionary. Alright so I know ya'll want to know about the new companion so here's the schpeal. Sister Rhodes is 19 years old and from Morgan, Utah. Everyone thinks I'm 15 and she is 21 which kinda is getting old but whatever I'll get over it. It's probably because she is way more mature than I am. In our lesson the other day someone told us that I am a type 1 and she is a type 2. If that helps anyone picture her then there ya go. She loves to sing and always wears the color pink. We are getting a ton better at teaching together. It's fun to see how differently she teaches than Sister Smyth did. Since I'm leading the area I've been leading a lot of the lessons until she gets the hang of where everyone is at. I LOVE it. I've decided to embrace this new responsibility. It's fun to be the one pointing out who lives where and who is who. I'm finally understanding what leading by the spirit means. This week we had 3 days in a row where everything went according to our plans. WHAT!?!? That is pretty much unheard of. It was cool though. Along with that we also had so many people tell us that they felt like our lessons were exactly what they needed to hear. I was in heaven! That was the greatest reward ever! We also have 5 new investigators! AHHHHHH All those prayers ya'll have been saying are coming in handy! One of the new investigators is named Derek. He is 14 years old and just super cool. He has been going to church with his grandma and told us we need to get him baptized as soon as possible.....okay we love this kid. Bikes: It feels so good to be back on bikes! Holy Cow! Sister Rhodes isn't used to the extra work and having to schedule in extra time for travel but she is getting the hang of it. On our 2nd day of bikes I decided it was time to show her the 4th ward hill :) Half of the 4th ward is up a pretty significant hill. It's not super steep but it sure is long. haha I have kinda grown to love the hill because it's fun to see how hard you can push yourself/work off the ice cream and jello that members are constantly feeding us. Sister Rhodes didn't like that hill very much but she'll get the hang of it. Once we got to the top we went right to an appointment....We were both drench and the woman that we had gone to visit wasn't home. Typical. After trying to find someone to teach up there Sister Rhodes got a flat tire. Also typical. We decided to use this as an opportunity to go to a less actives house. He was home and fixed our bikes for us. We taught him a little lesson and then he sent us on our marry way. THEN he was a church on Sunday for the first time since I've been here! Whaooo! That flat tire is also the reason we found one of our investigators. The lord works in mysterious ways. A girl named Cassady has been coming with us to lessons lately. She has been debating whether or not to go on a mission. She's 19 and has a missionary out right now. Wednesday was the first time she has ever joined us for a lesson. It was also our first lesson with Derek when he accepted the invitation to get baptized! Cassady was in shock and was clearly feeling the spirit. Since then she is always texting us questions and asking if she could do a mini mission with us for like a week or something! I'm so excited to see what she decides to do. It's really fun to take her to lessons. That's one thing that I really wish I had done before coming out. On Sunday we got to go to a fireside with Sister Stevens (General Relief Society Presidency). She talked a ton about dealing with the pressures of the world and how much stronger we are when we are spiritually full. After a little while of speaking she noticed Sister Rhodes and I with our missionary tags. She had us go up and talk about missionary work and the responsibilities that we all have as sisters to lift each other up. haha I can't even remember what I said but that happened and it was awesome. Super intimidating but awesome. I'm trying to think of what else happened this week but my mind is going blank. I hope you all are loving life and feeding your spirit daily! Follow up: (because what's an assignment without following up) How did ya'll like the last assignment. I know Heather enjoyed Peter. He is so awesome! Reading Assignment: Preach my Gospel page 126. It's kinda a big assignment so just pick one attribute that you want to work on and do it :) Other favorites of the week: Moroni 7:33 and 47-48, 2 Chronicles 20:17, Psalms 116:1-2 enjoy! It sounds like everyone is loving life and still doing the same old crazy stuff. Yesterday was my 2 month mark. So weird. I feel like I've been here forever yet i just got here. I love the everything about Safford! The members here have my heart. They are all so amazing. I have learned such beautiful things from all of them. Above all I love my savior. It's incredible how he understands my potential way more than I ever will. He keeps putting things in front of me that I can't do without his help and I'm grateful for that. My savior has become my very best friend and constant companion. I have definitely felt his impact in everything that I do. The more that I give to him the more he gives to me. It's amazing how much I've learned and grown in the past 2 months. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! Thanks again for everything. I love you all! Your prayers are being felt. -Sister Barton