Hello from Sierra Vista! (July 29th)

Dearest friends, family, and any others

Thanks for checking out my blog, sometimes I wish I could just mail you my journal, but that would be WAY too much information. Here are the miracles of the week!

Monday: We stopped by a less active’s house, and she let us in! Actually we are really close to her so she always lets us in. Well we talked for a while and then shared a message with her. The message was really powerful. I felt prompted by the spirit to ask her if she had ever taken Moroni's challenge, and she had never done it! I was a little shocked, but we invited her to do so. I was amazed that we were able to discover that about her, I know that as she does this she will have a desire to go to church and help her non-member husband be more interested. But bad news is we were late, we missed curfew by a lot. Being disobedient is the worst feeling ever!!!! But repentance is real and forgiveness is so real! Here are some things I learned about them...

Repentance is first a change in your mind, then a change in your actions. If your actions don’t change, then you have not repented. -Something like that from Neal A. Maxwell.

God will let us go for a while on our own because he likes to help us grow. He is a "fourth watch" (won’t come until we really need him and have grown through the hard times) God all of the time. But there is something that He responds to us immediately for, every time. That is forgiveness. When we sincerely repent and ask for forgiveness He will give it to us immediately! He will remember our sins no more! That is such an amazing thing to me! The Atonement of Jesus Christ is so real, and the power of forgiveness is amazing, I LOVE IT!!!!

Tuesday: We went with a member for part of the day and we had some amazing lessons with her. But what was cool was that we were able to see a lot of people that we needed to see that day and we had 6 lessons!!!!! That doesn’t sound like much, but it is a ton! We usually average 3. Members bring miracles and I hope to be using them more and more in my teaching and missionary work so we can have the blessings dumped down from heaven!

The coolest miracle of that day and of the week was the D. Family. They are the cutest little family. They have the dad, mom, girls 12 and 9, and a boy 6. They are non-members :). We met them a few weeks ago. And they came to church last week. We decided to go by on Tuesday and ask them if they wanted to learn more, because we knew if we pushed they would be gone forever. So we went over and they treated us like old friends. When we asked they said they were open and that they would be interested in learning more! So we are officially teaching a whole family, which has very high hopes!!!!! I can’t wait to start teaching them this week! :) I just love them so much!!!

The less active we have been working with a lot has been progressing so much!!! She is turning her life around and is doing great! She is stopping smoking more and more everyday. She is able to see her son more and more also! She has been praying and you can see the light and hope that is entering her life! It is so amazing! Also the ward has just opened up their arms of love and accepted her! She is doing amazing and we are so happy!!!! She is making such great progress, I love her!

Ok I give up on the days, anyway.

We had an exchange this week; I went with my Sister Training leader, Hermana Hallet. I asked her to pray in Spanish because I missed Hermana Walter always praying in Spanish, it was great!!!! We had some great miracles, because miracles always come from exchanges. We found people that are never home, home! Also we met a new family who Sister Hallet reminded them of their granddaughter, we also got to meet their super less active son! It was a miracle! All the miracles were great, but that day was hard. To stay positive, I love Sister Dente and it was great to be back with her at the end. We had to take our car up to Tucson and back both days to make the exchange happen. Because Sister Dente and Sister Hallet are not allowed to drive, I had to drive the whole way, which ended up at 6 hours in two days! I was super blessed to stay awake :) and stay alert :). I could feel the prayers of all of you especially during that time, so thank you!!!!

We have been working with the greatest family in the whole world!!!! I love them so much, they are turning their life around and are continually relying more and more on the Lord. They are doing so great! I seriously love them so much!!!!!!!!!!

Another miracle, V. Family  promised to come to church, and actually came. They never make promises and have only been to church once (a few weeks ago) in the last three weeks they came and had a great time! It was amazing to see them! I will also be giving a talk in a few weeks, if I make it through the transfer. I am speaking on the character of Heavenly Father. I am pretty excited, that is the best topic ever. Also with transfers, please write to the mission office, not mine, in case I get transferred. The Lord will do what is best for us and I am trying hard to have faith that the right thing will happen. :)

Sister Dente, has continued to be sick almost every night, but we can make it through most of the day. She is such a trooper and by no less than a miracle we accomplished 20 lessons again! Also we were the only car in our zone to stay under miles even though we took 3 trips to Tucson! Basically we are awesome!!!! I love her so much, like she is my sister or best friend. We have so much fun together and have had some amazing spiritual experiences together! I love her so much!!!!! We are also leading the zone in active member lessons, which is great!

Anyway, I LOVE the Lord, I love being a missionary so much! I know that hard times come so we can grow and so we can find more joy and happiness in our life!!! I know that God has sent the Holy Ghost to guide and direct us. When we have the Holy Ghost we will not be confounded, what an amazing promise! I also love the Book of Mormon and the gospel. It truly brings the most happiness!

Also one more cool story, a non-member this week that has been coming to our ward said that I have a light in my eyes. I do not share this to be prideful, but as Alma says to boast of my God! God is the one who can fill us with light and hope and I know that all my hope, light, and goodness comes from God! He truly is the light and the life and the hope of the world!

I love you all so much; your letters and emails mean SOOO much to me! They always put me in the perfect mood. So thank you!

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

Love, Sister Barnes/Sister Sunshine!!! :)