Week on my knees

Family!! What's been going on?!? > > I just decided it's time for some pit and peaks. > > Pit: we weren't able to teach very many investigator lessons this week > because they were either out of town, they have decided not to "choose > joy"/ aren't ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ or they randomly > decided to move to Arizona and Michigan! > > Peak: That means we did a whole lot of time to search for new people..... > > Peak: Saturday night we decided to try one last less active ysa girl > before going home. Her boyfriend, David, answered the door and said > she couldn't come to the door and that he was leaving. We walked him > to his car and found out he had met with missionaries a few years ago. > After a little bit of chit chat he let us show him the "because he > lives" video! We bore testimony and invited him again to learn more > but he said no. Then yesterday before our dinner appointment we > decided to try one more former investigator. We had tried a house a > few weeks ago but the ysa boy we were looking for wasn't home. We > knock on the door and guess who answer!!! David!!! We were all > shocked! After a few seconds he decided that running into us again > must be a sign and told us to come back Tuesday at noon. MIRACLE!! > Coincidence? I think not!! > > Peak: I've got the greatest companion! Sister Reid is really hard > working and knows exactly why she's here! She has so much charity for > the people we teach! I love learning from her. We are the best of > friends. This transfer has flown by WAY too fast. > > Peak: We did exchanges this week!! All went well in the Spanish world! > Learning from the other hermanas during exchanges is such a blessing! > At our dinner appointment the member gave us a bowl and scissors then > sent us to his garden. Meanwhile, he gave the elders all the supplies > for the meat and sent them to the chicken coop..yikes!! He didn't give > us any instruction just gave us tools and asked that dinner be ready > quick. He was hungry. We went to work and made a pretty decent meal. > He started eating and gave us some random thingy that looked like a > dog treat! Turns out it was deep fried pig skin!!!!!!! We each had a > few bites then after like 10 minutes he let us eat what we had > prepared. Everything was in Spanish so I had no clue what was > happening. At the end he told us about growing up in Ecuador with > nothing but deep fried pig skin to eat. He asked us to think about all > of our blessings and how much work it takes to provide for a family. > He's a farmer so pretty much 99% of what they eat started out as a > seed that he grew or an egg that he raised. It was one memorable > dinner. > > Peak: We walked out of ward council to find a less active man waiting > for us. We had visited him early in the week and taught his nonmember > grandson about the plan of salvation. Brother Franks had told us about > how he stopped going to church when his wife died. We invited him to > come to church with a knowledge that his home teacher had been > extending the same invitation for the past 3 years. Well, this week > Brother Franks had a change of heart. His grandson had somehow talked > his grandfather into coming to church! It was so fun to watch him > proudly take the sacrament and renew his baptism covenants for the > first time in 15 years. > > In the moment, this week was honestly really rough. By the time we got > home last night we were exhausted in every way! Even with our most > promising investigators dropping us I know that we were very blessed > this week!! The peaks greatly outnumber the heart break of losing some > investigators. I'm grateful for the pits that remind me to get on my > knees over and over and over again. I'm grateful for the peaks that > remind me how much we are loved. I'm grateful for the amazing work > that I get to be a part of. I'm grateful for deep fried pig skin that > Toby would have loved! I'm grateful for David, Brother Franks and the > missionaries that I get to learn from. I'm grateful for all of you. > Every prayer was very much felt this week! I love you! Have a good > week! > > -Sister Barton

July 6 America!

> This fourth if July was a bit different than the mtc one...The > beginning of the week was crazy with trying to fit a weeks worth of > appointments into 3 days. We were all over the place! Aaron is doing > super good! We discovered that his wife is really his fiancé which > means we are planning a wedding!!! Yay! Now is baptismal date is > actually his wedding date. They for sure didn't teach me this one in > the mtc!! His fiancé isn't necessarily our bbf yet but we are really > trying to kill her with kindness- prayers would be much appreciated. > > Another favorite family that we are teaching his Tino and Vanessa. > This people are hilarious! They were both raised as very strong > Christians. They love the bible and have an amazing foundation of > Jesus Christ. Elders have been teaching them off and on for about a > year but they never understood why baptism was so important. The first > time we met Vanessa asked us if they could just go to church for as > long as they want and never get baptized. Well...technically yes but > this week we taught me the plan of salvation.(still my favorite > lesson) We talked all about how families can be together forever when > we are baptized and then sealed with the priesthood. LIGHT BULB. They > instantly started asking questions like crazy. They are praying about > being baptized late August. Then a wedding the following year. It was > the greatest. The best part is we took the primary president with us. > Her husband isn't a member. On the drive to the lesson she was telling > us all about how she feels like a bad missionary because she doesn't > talk to her husband about the church. She doesn't want to cause any > tension or "make things awkward". At the end of the lesson she bore > her testimony and thanked Tino and Vanessa for being such great > examples. The whole drive back she could hardly stay still and focus > on driving. She was so excited/nervous/determined to be her husbands > missionary! It was the greatest/scariest car ride of my life!! > > Our trip to Tucson was so fun! Sister Reid went on exchanges and I > stayed at the passey's home with 7 other sisters. Thursday night we > had a sister leadership training. I love spending time and learning > from the passey's! Getting to spend time with sisters that I've served > with and grow close to was a pretty good perk as well :). Friday was > mlc. Saturday we were ready to feel American cute little city of New > Mexico! There was a parade and the ward had a little softball and bbq. > Saturday night we attempted to catch up on planning while listening to > fireworks through the trees! It was a week full of so many miracles > and blessings. I love being a New Mexican missionary :) this weird > little city is growing on me, hippies, gangsters, burritos, and all! > > > > Quote of the week- "The tree of life isn't a drive thru snack bar! > It's a continual feast. It's the source of everything worth having in > life!" -President Passey

June 29 5 second rule

> Having one less day between emailing made this week 2 seconds long. In > this area I feel like I always have the same thing to tell ya'll > about- Miracles and work!! That's my life right now and I couldn't be > happier. :) sister Reid promised to make her mom's famous pumpkin > pancakes for me this week so things literally couldn't be better in my > world! > > Our all-star investigator at the moment is Aaron! He has had a really > hard life and has just seen a lot of rough stuff. We got to teach him > a ton this week. The turning point was the plan of salvation. Aaron's > family is super important to him. He wants his 4 kids to grow up to be > good successful Christian people. He works so hard to provide the best > life in the world for them. As we taught him the plan of salvation he > kept saying things like- "I don't really believe in a heaven or hell. > I wish there was like a good, better, best kind of a thing." or "I > know after we die out bodies become part of the earth...but I haven't > figured out where our spirits go.." COULD HE BE ANY MORE PERFECT!?!? > At the end of the lesson Aaron talked about how he doesn't think he > can get to the highest kingdom because he has messed up too many > times. The spirit was incredible as we testified of the atoning > sacrifice of Jesus Christ. After that lesson Aaron started keeping his > commitments to read the Book of Mormon! He's committed to get married > to his fiancé before his baptism and he has completely given up > smoking! The atonement is real! We met him a week into the transfer > and he's already changing before our eyes. > > This week we also got to go on exchanges. I went into the Spanish > world again. I love Spanish exchanges because the culture is so much > friendlier and nicer than American culture. Even if they don't want to > listen they are still super nice! The hard part is figuring out what > they are saying! One day I will figure out Spanish. Kinda lost hope > but that's okay. I went to Deming with hermana Beatty. She has been > out for 2 months and was super nervous about taking over the area. It > was another successful exchange though. She was struggling with a few > things. I did my best to help. When President Passey told me I was > going to be an stl I was worried I wouldn't know what to say or how to > be a leader. My day with Hermana Beatty reminded me once again that I > just have to do my best and the spirit will do the rest. > > Spanish exchanges gave me an idea. I've decided to use the 5 second > rule in my life! Here's what that means. Every time that i get a > spiritual prompting I'm giving myself 5 seconds to act. While Hermana > Beatty was struggling a little bit to fully communicate in Spanish, I > sat there trying the think of something I could do to help. That's > when I decided to let the scriptures do the talking. All throughout > lessons I would have no clue what anyone was talking about. From the > second we got in the house i started to pray that i would be able to > share a scripture verse that would somehow answer a question the > person had. 5 SECOND RULE! Even if it meant cutting someone off, I > went for it the second someone stopped for a breath. IT WAS SOOOOOO > COOL! Every time the whole room would look at me like I was crazy. I'd > hold my breath and pray really hard that I wasn't throwing out some > random verse. As they read I watched faces light up and I knew the > spirit hard done it's job. I love the spirit! The whole hope and trust > thing just keeps coming up! Alma 26:12 > > This next week is full of back to back appointments. We spent every > free second at church asking people if they could come out with us to > certain lessons. The ward and branch are really starting to trust us > and recognize that there is work in our area! The miracles and > blessings just keep coming! I couldn't be more grateful. Alma 7:7-17 > we are spending Thursday and Friday at the Passey house for a sister > training leader training and Mlc. I'm pretty excited to go back to the > cactus for a quick trip! Plus president and sister Passey always have > something incredible to teach. Nobody knows how we are going to get > everything done the rest of the week though! It's going to be crazy > busy that's for sure! > > Have an amazing week! I love you all and am excited to hear that all > of you are living summer life up to the fullest! Keep it real in the > 801. > > Love, > > Your Silver City Sister.

June 23 We can't be afraid to shine

This week was insane!!!! Every transfer I've tried to work on a Christlike attribute. Sometimes I repeat the same one over and over again but that's okay! This transfer I picked hope. To me, hope and trust go and in hand. In order to exercise more hope we set super high goals this week!!! We planned on finding, teaching, and committing like never before! After we set goals we went to work! The lord didn't hold anything back!!! Blessings and miracles were being dumped on us left and right! We were barely able to stay awake to plan for the coming day. It was awesome! It all started when Michael (investigator) came to fhe. He has never had a positive social life so we were a little nervous about how it would go but after 10 minutes he was leading the whole branch in ultimate frisbee and making sure everyone else was included!! What?!? We were a little happy he got there right after we played "speed conversation" (speed dating isn't allowed at fhe). Michael has pretty much been in survival mode his whole life. We got rid of all of the temptations that he had with him. Then we had a lesson about the power of prayer. Michael has never really understood why people need to pray. We had him keep a rock in his shoe and pray every time he felt the rock move. We went by every day after that to make sure he was still praying. At first he said "Sisters, this thing was driving me crazy!" But he endured the annoyance. By the third day he started to change! He was completely sober for the first time since I've met him and by church on Sunday he said felt something new. I loved watching how a small and simple thing like prayer become so meaningful to him. It all started with a rock in his shoe! All weekend we were sprinting from lesson to lesson. This silver city 3rd ward was never had sisters so even less actives are hearing the roomer. The sisters have arrived. We finally have figured out where we are going and we've finally started to get to know people. We have a few new investigators that i couldn't be more excited to teach. For the ysa branch there are a ton of names with no faces since people are endlessly moving in and out each semester. As Heavenly Father has helped us find a handful of these lost sheep we have figured out how much people just want to be loved and missed. Each time we visit a less active we tell them about how missed they are. Every time without fail I see their faces light up! We've been killing them with kindness and trying our best to figure out what's keeping them away. We are loving these people like crazy! It's the best. It makes me wish I had done so much for in my ysa ward back home. Serving in ysa really keeps us on our toes! Yesterday we had a mission conference. Elder corbridge of the 70 came to train us on ways we can be more effective and consecrated missionaries. He talked all about how we can't be the best missionaries if we are afraid to shine. We have a light that is meant to be shared. It has to be shared. Every lesson that we teach needs to be centered around that atonement of our savior Jesus Christ. It all goes back to that. ALWAYS. Trainings and conferences always make me think of a million things that I want to do to be better. They always get me so pumped to go out and work. I've got 6 months to be a representative of Jesus Christ with nothing else in the way. The last year has been incredible. I'm determined to work even harder and be so much better! I know that's possible through the with the help on my savior. This tiny little city of Silver City, New Mexico has been beyond prepared to be harvested. I feel so blessed to be serving here. The best half hour of the whole week was skyping Sandy. She was baptized this Saturday. I got to skype her that morning. She shared with me her testimony and how happy she really is. One of my investigators had a tattoo that said "choose joy" that is what sandy was able to do. She choose to follow the example of Jesus Christ. She chose to shine. She decided to choose joy! Thank you for everything! I love you all. Don't forget to choose joy! -Sister Barton

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!