A gagster named Elmo

I've got so much to talk about! Being in New Mexico has been an interesting experience. I honestly feel like I'm in a whole different mission. We are the first sisters that silver city has had in a while so the members were shocked when we showed up. We pretty much live on western New Mexico university campus which is fun. Nobody is really here because it's summer break but I'm hoping I'll still be here for the school year. I thought I was completely exhausted in my last area but this transfer is taking even more out of me! Pink washing and being an stl has proven to be a lot of work! The members here are incredible. We've spent a lot of time trying to get to know the recent converts. We had to stop asking people what the fun thing is to do around here is because everyone kept giving us the same response, "hmmmm drugs". Then we had to prepare ourselves for a story about the crazy life of parties until they found the church and completely changed their lives forever. It's pretty cool to hear such drastic conversion stories but it usually includes way too much info!!! Sister Reid's and I are working on our poker face! Tuesday was zone meeting so I gave a training on how we can help people keep commitments. We set some pretty high goals as a zone this transfer so we have to work extra hard to help people make and keep commitments. It's kinda essential! Some of the hermanas in the zone have been really struggling this week so almost every night I've tried to do daily nourishment with them and help them stay strong! Dad- I totally used your advice about how this work isn't meant to be frustrating. It's meant to be exhausting, hard, and stretching but not frustrating. If it's frustrating you're not relying on your Heavenly Father enough. That seemed to hit the sisters hard. Thanks dad :) you da bomb. The elders that were here before us left us with one investigator named Michael. He is a super awesome guy who really wants to be better! He's had a hard hard life and is just a super humble guy. He was nervous about sister missionaries at first but it's all good now. Michael came to church for the first time this week and loved it! Please keep him in your prayers! The ward has a handful of widows that the elders weren't able to go see so the bishop sent us over there first thing! We try to see at least one or two every couple of days. The sweet old ladies always get emotional when they find out sisters are in the ward because it means they can get visits. It's been so tender to see these old ladies get so excited to do scripture study because they haven't been able to go to church in a really long time. One woman makes temple cloths for the goal valley temple and was so proud to show is her work. We haven't had a free second since we got here. We are planning on getting their visiting teachers to go with us so that we can make a smooth transition to the ward helping them out. Everyone keeps handing us lists of people to go see! Between the old ladies, part member families, recent converts, Less actives, and a few referrals- we never stop running! I am so grateful! It's made pink washing so much easier! The bishop was called only 3 weeks ago. Before that he was the ward mission leader. I've decided every bishop should be a wml right before being a bishop! It's the best. This week we had a huge miracle. Well, we had lots of miracles but this was the cherry on top. The elders had street contacted into a man that lived in our area. His name is Elmo (pronounced almo). We went to try to find the house and could not find the street! We were searching for it with the help of the church wifi when the bishop just so happened to come by and was able to find it! We went over to Elmo's house to find the most intimidating gangster I've ever seen! This guy was awesome! I didn't know gangsters could be named Elmo but whatever! We started talking to him and he said he was super busy but we could come back next week. We asked if he had any friends that could use a message about Christ. He referred us over to his neighbor, Aaron. I've been working on the Christlike attribute of hope this transfer so sister Reid's looked at me and said, "You got hope Sister Barton?" We went over to talk to Aaron and found out he was raised catholic but has recently decided he's Christian. At first his friend did all the talking and said he had already been saved. We kinda ignored him and moved on to chatting with Aaron. He said he was busy then but we could come back the next evening. We taught him the restoration last night! He loves the principle of modern day prophets! Aaron and his wife are now investigating the church and have already begun reading the Book of Mormon as a family and have baptism dates! We couldn't believe it! It's amazing how the lord led us to this amazing young family! We pretty much get lost everywhere we go. I'm exhausted 99% of the time. People here are not always nice to us. Yet I've never been happier! This tiny little city is full of miracles and some amazing people! I love this work. Do I say that enough? I know this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know we are all god's sons and daughters. Thank you all for everything you do. I love you :) have the greatest week ever! Don't forget about the little New Mexican missionary trying her best to scatter sunshine! -Sister Barton. Ps I believe a pretty fantastic woman is officially 22 as of yesterday! Remember when we would play house and we always said we were 22 years old?? We never really put together the fact that most 22 year olds don't have 5 kids but that was the prime age in our minds plus my lucky number! I hope you have the greatest birthday ever! Love you Sarah B!

June 9- Rincon to New Mexico

I've been transferred to the tiny little town of silver city New Mexico! We are pink washing which means once again I've kicked elders out and taking over! My companion is sister Reid! She's from Oklahoma and has been out for 4 1/2 months. She seems really chill and down to earth. I'm pretty excited about working with her for a little bit. More big news in that I'm the New Mexico sister training leader! I have no clue what that all entails but I got to go to MLC meeting on Friday and loved it! Being able to get training from president and sister passed once a month is going to be amazing! I have already set so many goals about how I can improve my efforts to serve the lord. I've got high hopes for this transfer. We are in charge of one family ward and a ysa branch (5 active members according to the elders). Saying goodbye to my Rincon family was a little rough. Last night I came home to an apartment full of sweet notes/hearts. I feel like the most spoiled missionary in the whole world. This past week has been amazing. We saw sandy almost every single day between lessons, relief society activities, and going to witness a baptism together. She is truly converted to the gospel that was by far one of the hardest goodbyes. Being able to watch sandy's light grow brighter and brighter each day has brought me so much joy! Our last lesson was about the temple. As we were able to teach sandy that she will be able to be sealed to her husband in a year the spirit flooded the room. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever been a part of. It was incredible to get that confirmation that the sealing powers of the temple are real. The goal is not baptisms or getting people to come to church. The goal is helping people come until Christ and be receive eternal life with their Heavenly Father and with their family forever! Nothing could possibly replace that blessing. We don't have a whole lot of time today but I'm grateful for the people that I was able to get to know in Rincon. I love them so much. Every single person that I came across helped play a part of my conversion. Conversion isn't an event. It's a continual process. The atonement makes it possible for all of is to change and become better each and every day. Repenting daily is essential for growth. Without the atonement we would have nothing. I love knowing that God had given us so many opportunities to change and become better. I lobe this gospel. I love my savior. I love being a missionary. And I have a pretty good feeling that I'm going to love my little town of silver city New Mexico. It freaks me out that there is not a cactus in sight but we'll get through this! As hard as goodbyes were I'm really excited to be in this area. Have the greatest week ever! I love you! Sister Barton

June 1- Week of Work

This was another AMAZING week in the boonies of Tucson! Let's first talk about Sandy because I love her! We went to teach Sandy this week but before we started the lesson she froze and asked, "If Jesus was perfect and baptism is for cleansing all your sins...Why did he get baptized?" Weeeeelll. That is the most fantastic question I've ever heard. We rushed to 2 nephi 31. She asked a lot of questions about baptism and then she said, "Well that's the next step for me then. What do I have to do to prepare?" I love this woman! She has so much faith! In just 6 weeks she has grown to love the Book of Mormon, she says the most sincere prayers I've ever heard, and she LOVES relief society. I've never met someone who loves relief society so much! Her mom is really old and sick right now so right after church on Sunday she went to go visit her. She always texts us updates on how her mom is doing. Yesterday she told us that her mom had a little bit of a step back but she is doing alright. She also added in there that her mom noticed that Sandy is happier than she has been in a long time. Ever since she started reading the Book of Mormon her sick 83 year old mother has seen "the light" that comes from doing the small and simple things. Sandy has started reading the Book of Mormon to her mom. It's incredible how as soon as she got a testimony for herself she instantly wanted to share it! Cassandra and Rudy: We had a lesson with them this week about keeping the Sabbath day holy. Cassandra has been to church twice but Rudy has never been able to get work off. This week he told us that he had requested as many Sundays off as he could for the rest of the year. Every single one all the way back to December was denied. He tried the same thing with a Thursday and was granted mostly all of them! We fasted with them to soften his bosses heart and to find some way of getting a Sunday off. They didn't last the full 24 hours but they were proud of the 19 hours that they did do! Either way their showed Heavenly Father their faith. I know they will be blessed for it! If you could keep him in your prayers that would be wonderful! One of my favorite days this week was Saturday. Sister Cowley called us and said she needed help with her missionary work. We didn't hesitate to run over! 1. Because that Sister makes the best chocolate chip cookies ever 2. Because she is fantastic and always has a good idea. We race over to find her with lots of shovels and rakes. We put on some pants and went to work pulling all of her neighbors weeds, helping people move out, move it, paint their fence, etc! We were exhausted but Sister Cowley was determined to serve everyone on her street and introduce them to the missionaries! Seriously this woman is incredible! That same day the Franklin's told us that they want to be missionaries but they are really nervous about it so they decided that they wanted to take us to dinner with a prayer asking that someone will see the name tags and ask us a question.....Within 10 minutes the waitress asked what the special occasion was for eating out. Sister Franklin proudly said that she was feeding the missionaries from her church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! The waitress asked what a missionary was and once again Sister Franklin was thrilled to answer her questions. It was fun to see this woman be so excited about being a missionary in her own special way! To finish off the week we came home last week to find the Priest family making s'smores in their backyard! We hurried and finished our planning then went out to join them! It was the perfect way to end an amazing week! I love it here so much! I love being part of the Corona and Cienega wards. I love missionary work. I love my investigators so much! They have such a special place in my heart! We are also still teaching the Epperson Family. Their daughter just got home from her mission so having her teach with us has been so fun! The adoption should be final in the next couple of weeks and then we can set dates for them! Teaching younger humans has really made us get creative but I've loved it! Thank you for all the prayers! We are being swarmed with blessings every single day. Heavenly Father has prepared so many people here. I feel blessed to be a part of it all! Have an awesome week! Don't forget to wear sunblock ;) and someone please take the boat out for me! Isn't that what summer is all about?? Bear Lake?

We found a dome house and had to knock on it! Then we found a snake and had to freak out and throw rocks at it to make it move so we wouldn't run over it. Arizona life for you!

May 26 A Birthday Reminder

Hello Family! Wanna hear about some miracles?? READY SET GO! 1. Here's the deal. Anyone that says they like tracting is really pulling your chain. I avoid tracting like the plague. Well we had a random name in our area book of a couple that used to meet with the missionaries. They had a street but no house number. Well, the first logical thing to do is ask the members on the street if they knew them. Our one member on that street said they didn't. Which means it was time to tract. We started/parked our car at a house that had like a bazillion dogs. Nobody came to the door other than the dogs so we quickly moved onto the next house. After knocking and knocking we couldn't find these people. We even went over to the members house and asked who everyone was on the street. No luck. We were walking back to our car when I noticed that the garage door of the first house was open. We decided to try again! As we walked up those dogs started yapping again. In two minutes a cute little old lady came out with a cute southern accent and everything! She looked at my name tag, signed, and said, "Well girls I was hoping you would finally show up!" WHAT?!?! She asked us to come inside then had lots of questions for us. Mae explained that she had gone to the church open house back in January and really wanted to attend a service. The only problem was her recently converted mormon friend told her that you have to be a member to go into the church. FALSE DOCTRINE! We invited her to church and asked her if we could start teaching her. She said wants to go to church one time and then we can start teaching her! MIRACLE! 2. We had so many good lessons with investigators this week! Sandy is back from vacation so we got to meet with her. As soon as we walked into her house she proudly told us all about how she was in 2 nephi and showed us all of her notes and questions! She came to church on Sunday for the first time and LOVED IT! She was only able to go to the last half of sunday school and then relief society but next week she plans of being at all three hours. As we were walking her to her car she told us that being in Relief Society gave her the best feeling she has felt in a long time! THIS WOMAN WAS GLOWING! I love the spirit! Watching Sandy progress this past month has been one of the greatest blessings. She told us that she hates going a day without reading the Book of Mormon. She bore her testimony about how it brings her peace. Testifying about the power of the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost was incredible! Sandy is too perfect! We got to go on exchanges this week! The really fun part was I got to go with Sister Harrington to Tucson. Remember her? The good old MTC companion? Yes, we spent the entire day reminiscing on the good old days! The MTC feels like it was yesterday but we are both completely different people. The first thing she asked me was if I remember her philosopy on eating a cookie "You can be sad or mad before eating a cookie. You can be sad or mad after eating a cookie. BUT there is no way you can be mad while you're eating a cookie." I was pretty proud that I remembered that! I passed the test! Teaching with Sister Harrington was kinda weird but it was fun to see how much we really have grown and changed. Mission Birthdays. Well, I'll be honest, I didn't tell anyone about my birthday. The plan was to make it just another amazing day of mission life....Sister Dominguez didn't like that idea. She told every member she could behind my back! As soon as I wasn't looking she told someone else! I went into my birthday thinking nobody knew...by the end of the night we had eaten 1 lemon cake, 3 cheese cakes, 2 chocolate cakes (one with vanilla frosting one with chocolate), 3 ice cream cones, 1 pineapple Popsicle (Sister Priest knows me too well), 1 fried/jellied thingy, 1 boston cream pie, and 10 big candy bars. Woof! All throughout the day members would call us asking to come over or randomly showed up in our apartment or brought cakes to lessons that we had with investigators. I felt so spoiled and kinda like a balloon at the same time! My birthday was wonderful and I'm so grateful for everyone that was so nice to us. The members hear spoil us so much! I feel blessed to be so close to so many people here! How could I ask for anything more?!?! To top the whole week off we had our new investigator Dave come to church! It was a week full of miracles and blessings. I know that the Lord is aware of us. I know that he loves us. I an coming to realize more and more that he has it figured out way before we do. He has a plan for us. He knows what we need and exactly how to bless us. I hope you are all able to see that! Thank you so much for your birthday wishes and mail! That music is much appreciated! We are in heaven! Have a good week! -Sister Barton

May 18 Going Digital....

> Sorry about emailing a day late! We had a surprise mission conference yesterday so p-day is today instead. For the conference a member of the quarum of the 70 came down and talked to us about technology and how we will all be receiving ipads this next week. At first I was completely against this but as Elder Evans talked to us about how our mission is the MTC for the rest of our life. We are being prepared to be future leaders, parents, and eternal companions. In order to realistically do that we aren't going to be able to avoid using technology. The new digital program for missionaries is supposed to prepare us for using technology for the rest of our lives. Slowly I opened my mind to the idea that ipads could be a good thing. I'm just excited to get to do family history during lunch breaks.... > > When I called on Mother's Day Dad asked me what is the biggest lesson my mission has taught me....well we had interviews with President Passey this week and he asked me the exact same question. It's been on my mind a lot and the list never ends. > > Here's what I've got to far..My mission has taught me: > > 1.How simple the Gospel is meant to be > 2. It's so important to show gratitude for ALL THINGS. Not just the good stuff. We need to be grateful for EVERYTHING, in ALL times, ALL things, and ALL places. > 3. We are so very loved! > 4. Commandments aren't rules. They are reasons for God to bless us. > 5. How to feast on the words of Christ. Words cannot express how much I love the Book of Mormon! > 6. The difference between a testimony and conversion > 7. how to work and work and then work some more. > 8. What I want to be as an eternal companion and what I want in my future eternal companion. > 9. Pray- never stop praying > 10. Family History is incredible, addicting, and can bring us so much closer to our Heavenly Father > 11. PATIENTS with myself, others, and the Lord > 12. Sometimes you just have to kill them with kindness. > 13. I am so very blessed/the lord is just waiting to bless us > 14. How important it is to set goals and make plans, work until you've accomplished them, then set the bar that much higher. > 15. What is means to bare my testimony > 16. Communication is everything! If you can't communicate with someone nothing is going to happen. > 17. 2 nephi 4:34-35- During my interview I was talking to President Passey about how I just want to be better at showing my faith. We are fasting sometimes multiple times a week, working as hard as we can, studying as much as we can, using members and trying to do service ever day. How can I show more faith?!?! He asked me what I want for the rest of my mission. After hearing my schpeal about wanted to show more faith so that we can see more success he handed my this scripture. The next lesson I want to learn is how to completely trust in my Heavenly Father. I want to be 100% reliant and loyal to him. I know he wants to bless us. I just need to have faith that he is blessing us. "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass". > 18. I've learned how blessed I am to be in an eternal family, to have grown up so close to temples, have the priesthood in my home, have the greatest parents in the world, have the opportunity to be doing the greatest work in the whole world. I am more blessed then I will ever realize. > > My mission is teaching me new things everyday. I'm learning that I will never be a singer, a chef, or a "perfect missionary". But I'm working on it! I know This is God's work. I know he is molding me into who he wants me to be. I can't express enough gratitude for that! > > > A quick update on Cassandra and Rudy. We got pretty bold with them this week. We haven't been able to teach them very consistently so on Wednesday we went over to find Rudy just getting home from work. We asked him if we could come by and have a discussion. He started making excuses. Half way through his excuses we cut him off, set an alarm on our phone, and said he could kick us out in 20 minutes! He paused let us in. In no time we were having the most spirit filled lesson with them that I have ever experienced. We taught lesson three- Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ever since then we have been meeting with them every other day. Last night Rudy told us that he feels peace when he reads the Book of Mormon. He feels peace when he meets with us. He feels peace when he prays. Then as soon as he "unplugs" the peace is replaced by the world. He knows these things are true. He told us about how when we first came over there was no way he was going to let us in and talk to us. He has changed so much! He is so much closer to his Heavenly Father. He is beginning to understand his purpose as a husband and father. He is THE BEST! In your prayers this week please pray for Cassandra and Rudy. They are so close to accepting the truth. > > There is no greatest joy than being in the service of the Lord. I love it so much! Thank you for everything! I couldn't do this without you! I love you all and love hearing about all the adventures. Have an amazing week and don't forget to let missionary work be a part of it. > D&C 115:4-5 4 For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. > > 5 Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations; > > > Sister Barton > > p.s. Do 20 year olds have to be mature? I don't know if I can do that....

May 11

Well I pretty much spilled all my good stories to you yesterday but here we go again! This week went by sooo fast! I can hardly remember what even happened. First Miracle: One of our investigators has been really hard to consistently meet with. They often cancel appointments and are hard to get a hold of. The husband (who didn't want anything to do with us at first) has been listening to the Book of Mormon on the gospel library app for about a month now. He listens to about 5 chapters a day. The times that we do get to meet with him he is always excited to tell us about what he has learned. He told us that he decided to put himself in the writer's shoes. He told us about how he would have gotten rid of Lamen and Lemual long before Nephi did if he had to be stuck with them in the wilderness. It's amazing to see him change before our eyes. The Book of Mormon is helping him change in ways that he doesn't even realize. The first time I met this man he told me about growing up in the Ghetto of Mexico. He had been involved in gangs and has lost a lot of his friends and family because of it. He has given up on God time and time again because he doesn't feel like God cares about him. Now this man can't stop reading the Book of Mormon. He told us about how he feels like God is taking away so many of his burdens as he listens to the Spirit through the Book of Mormon. He has decided that he is doing this whole faith thing in steps. He wants to ready, pray, then go to church. No exceptions. A month and a half ago he wouldn't even touch the Book of Mormon so we have high hopes for him! Even though we haven't been able to teach him very often, it's clear that the spirit has! We keep trying to tell him that he can pray about the Book of Mormon's truthfulness before finishing it. This man is stuborn. I know that he will eventually come through. Second Miracle: A family in our ward is in the process of adopting 3 of their foster kids. Last Monday we got the okay to start teaching them! They have been going to church for a while now. 2 of the girls are dead set of getting baptized asap. The teenage son is struggling a little bit. We asked him if he believed that he was a Child of God. He almost looked ashamed as he shook his head no. We are working on helping him recognize his answers as he begins to pray. I'm really excited to start teaching these kids! The girls pretty much teach us the lessons and are really proud to know the share how much they already know. I love being a missionary. I love being able to see God's hand in people's lives. Being a missionary has completely changes who I am. He knows exactly what we can all become. It's just a matter of trusting in him. -Sister Barton Mom requested a poem so here ya go: Because of Him It is because of him, I'll give up part of my life The one who has brought me bright hope through great strife Because of His mercy, because of His grace I find inner strength, no matter the race Because of HIm, the dark becomes light The haze becomes clear and the future is bright Because of Him, I can find joy With my family forever, death will not annoy Because of Him, my soul can find rest As He dwells in my heart, there He is no guest Because of His love, I'll say goodbye to my mom For a few short months, though at times it seems long To share this glad message and help others to see How much He can bless them, just like He has me Because through life may be hard and the road may be dim There is peace, hope and light, all because of him. :)

May 4 Big plans and a short email

This week we've been trying really hard to make goals. Goals for the day. Goals for the week. Goals for the transfer. Goals for the rest of our missions. Goals for life. We do our best to keep each other accountable for the goals that we set. It's been fun to see how much growth you can measure by setting goals. With summer coming quick a lot of the boarder patrol and air force people are moving out which gives us an opportunity to meet more/new people! We are praying that someone will come to the area prepared and ready for the gospel. That is one huge blessing/curse of the area. People are always coming and going. I have been with Crazy Sister Dominguez for 7 weeks and I don't think I've really told you about her...She is 20 years old, born on the boarder of Texas/Mexico but currently is from Utah. She loves taking pictures of flowers and attempting to teach me how to speak Spanish. (It doesn't work) The mornings are not her best friend but that's okay because if I do language study then she does insanity workouts with me :). She's a super talented singer (That's singer companion number 5 out of 6). She's been out for 9 months. Has 7 siblings. Loves anything cute/fluffy/pink. Went to hair school before her mission. She can't pass someone with high heals without complimenting them and she is absolutely hilarious. We have a nice time :). We are complete opposites 90% of the time but somehow we are always laughing and always making it work. I love serving with her. She has completely converted me to Mexican food! I'll be calling ya'll in 6 days so we'll just talk then. :) Have a good week! Happy Mothers Day! I love you all and am so grateful for all the incredible Mothers that have been a part of my life- on the mission and off the mission. The past 10 months has opened my eyes a little big wider to everything that mothers do. I am eternally grateful to be part of the greatest family in the world and get to have the very best mother in the world as my best friend! -Sister Barton

April 28 Staying in Rincon!

Well, prayer works. I'm staying in my beautiful home for another 6 weeks! Oh this is going to be too great! Sooooo because Tyler went to the YSA missionaries, Naomi is strictly texting only, and Ronaldo moved to Florida we don't have very many progressing investigators at the moments! We are working on it though! There are a few others that we are teaching but they are a little slower than we would like. Patients is a virtue! This week we really wanted to focus on finding new investigators, involving members, and serving as many people as we possibly could. Then we had the brilliant idea to combine them all together. We set to work trying to find as many people as we possibly could to serve. The first one we found was the Stake Primary President, she was working in her yard and told us about how all of her neighbors we were worried about her because her yard looked not so great. Without asking we put on some pants and went to work! About half way through finishing weeding her yard, she stopped us and said we needed to go do her neighbors hard as well. She asked if we would rather call or just do it. The quote "first observe, then serve" came into my head. We went straight over there, knocked on her door with all of our gear in hand, and asked her where she wanted us to start. The family was shocked. They put us to work and a few minutes later the whole family was outside helping us pull weeds. It was really fun to get to know this family. They are really strong in their beliefs and are some one the most obedient people I've ever met. They may not be interesting in learning about the church right now but it was very rewarding to see this families reaction to our desire to serve them. This week we also painted a house, pruned a fancy garden, planted trees (5 feet is a lot when the ground is Arizona red rock), decorated for a mother's day party, helped teach young womens, helped a couple move out/clean out their apartment, and a few other good old projects on the side! We hit the pillows pretty hard this week! I've never been so tired! I've learned that you can't ask people for help. That never works. If you want to help people you can't give them a choice! You just have to pick a project, put on some pants, and get to work! I love service projects! One of my favorite families that we get to teach is the Sanchez family. The mother is Catholic and the father is a less-active member. When they got married they decided that they could meet in the middle and go to a very popular Christian church in Tucson. This week we decided to teach them the Plan of Salvation. The mom never joins us but as we were teaching the kids Brother Sanchez really got excited and took over the whole lesson. If was fun to watch this father remember his testimony as he taught his kids about the war in heaven, about how important this life is, about why we need a spirit world, and about how amazing it will be to live with our Heavenly Father again some day. I pretty much sat there is amazement the whole time. His older kids were asking a million amazing questions and you could slowly see light bulbs getting brighter and brighter! Ahhh I love watching testimonies grow right before my eyes! The next miracles of the week was when we were teaching a family. Remember the family with the pet pig? Well we went over and it was obvious they were having a tough time. They told us all about how the weight of the world was on their shoulders and they didn't have much hope left. We sat there not having any idea what to teach. Our plans were thrown out the window as soon as we walked into the house. I was praying and praying that Heavenly Father would help us. A chapter came to my mind. As soon as it did I stopped the conversation and we started reading. The spirit filled the room as we read John 14. We testified of the atonement and how our Savior knows exactly what they are going through. I was so grateful for the convincing power of the scriptures and the spirit. The situation of this family didn't change but everything else did! Being a missionary is the greatest thing ever! Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. I love you so much -Sister Barton