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| Hermana Walter and Sister Barnes |
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| Apartment in Oro Valley, Arizona |
Dear family and friends!!!!
Thank you all for the emails and
letters I love them! But I am realizing how little time I have on the computer, so unless you're out of the country, it would be better to mail me a letter - I can read and write letters a little everyday. I really do love mail!
The ward I am in - La Canada is so
great, it is a very rich and hilly area and we are in the North Tucson Stake!!!
The members are all so amazing. Most of our work as missionaries is what I like
to call detective work. We try to figure out what happened to the former
investigators, and we do a ton of work with less actives. There is, not even
joking, 1/2 of the ward less active. Hopefully this will change very soon :).
But I love them all, especially the less actives, they are so super duper
amazing, just need to go to a certain building, once a week for like three
hours to show their commitment to God. The bikes are going pretty well, it hasn’t
been to hot here yet, hasn’t even broke 100, but it is hot, and going to get
hotter. Luckily there is a law here that if someone answers the door and you
ask for water, they have to give you some, unfortunately this is not a good
door approach. I love it here in Arizona!!! It is strangely beautiful for being
so dead. We have some beautiful mountains and the most beautiful sunsets!!! I
love the lizards, and rocks and even the heat, I am getting so tan and putting
on plenty of sunscreen everyday (don’t worry mom :))
Ok I only have a few more minutes so I am
going to write really fast, hope you like the pictures, there are tons more.
The biggest miracle of the week was only a few hours after my last email. On my
first day, first dinner appointment and first lesson. We met two twins who are
friends of the family we had dinner at. Their names are Cheyenne and Austin.
They are graduating this week from HS and are so awesome!!! Our dinner message
turned into the first lesson and we committed them to read, pray, come to
church and get baptized!!! They were so excited, and really embraced the
gospel. They didn’t come to church because they had something come up, but they
are super excited to learn more and are SOOO ready to accept this church.
One of our investigators name is Thea
(Taya). She is super awesome!!! She is committed to baptism, but is
encountering a lot of hard things. Number one is her son age two with
cerebral palsy who she is devoted to getting better. They are taking a trip to
go to a doctor so she will be out of town for a while; we need to see her more
to be helping her progress. But she is still super excited and I am excited for
a miracle that is going to happen in her life with her getting baptized.
We have several other potential
investigators that I am super excited about. Karen is married to a LA and was
already reading the BOM when we found her; she just had surgery so we haven’t
got to meet with her yet, but she wants to meet with us, cant wait! The other
is Jim who is kind of stubborn old guy, very scientific and wants just a head
testimony. It will be difficult but if he can choose and really have the
desire, I know he will be able to feel the spirit.
We made our goal of 21 lessons this
week!!!! It has been really hot and especially hard on bikes. But I am learning
to love the Lord so much more!!! I know that my efforts will be way worth it
even if I can only bring one soul unto Christ. I am learning so much and I am
especially learning so many ways I can improve and get better. I love it here
and am learning to love it more every day. What kills me is that every time I
see someone I love them and want them to accept the gospel, but then they say
no and close the door. But I know that even just being there is making a
difference and that the Lord is so merciful and will provide a way! The members
are so good to feed us every dinner; I am always so hungry from being on bikes.
I have loved studying the gospel for a long time everyday. We have 1 hour of
person, 1 hour of comp, then because I am new 1 more hour of comp, then one
more hour of personal because sister Walter is a language missionary. So we get
a lot of studying in and it is great!!! I love the scriptures so much and am
learning so much from them. Nephi is a boss missionary! Also I am loving
learning about Christ in the NT. It is also great to be able to share the
scriptures I am reading with members or La everyday when we go visit them. I
also LOVE church and sacrament meeting!!! It is such a great opportunity to get
reenergized and feel the spirit! The Lord is so great and can give us strength
and power to repent! I love Alma 26, that is how I feel so read it! I know that
this is where I am supposed to be and doing the greatest work in the world!!!
It is such an amazing opportunity to be here, and I love Sister Walter, we are
pretty tight! The Lord really is SO loving and merciful and I love being on His
team!!! I invite all of you to pray for a missionary opportunity and to try to
be a missionary this week, because we need all the help we can get. This is the
greatest work, under the greatest God! I love you all!!!!! a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Sister Barnes
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