ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY!!

Hola!!!
So this week was a week filled with fun news!! Matt and Charlene first and foremost... Happy Birthday Matt.. Can't believe you are so old. Sounds like Charlene went way out of her way to make it a GREAT day for you! hope you gave her lots of kisses. And secondCharlene...CONGRATS!!! I was so excited i was screaming in the computer lab and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I have been putting your name on the prayer roll at the temple every week since I have been here... didn't know why and now I do!! I'll keep praying for the little GUY!! I'm calling a boy... please let me know as soon as you find out. You don't even know how excited I am! Mike and Kara thanks for the picture... Kara you are the cutest pregnant little lady ever... Stewart really is growing I bet you guys are so excited and can't wait! How is school going Mike and Kara?? finals are coming up i'm guess and Kara's boards.. STRESSFUL!! i'll pray for ya! Mindy and Tales when am i getting the news on your new little Barbacoa Brurrito?? huh Britos?? ha ha I think i'm so funny!! Oh thanks for the package Mindy for Easter.. but have you ever heard of cruel and unusual punishment.. MAKING ME WAIT TIL EASTER!! but i am.. you should be proud of me. Brad...still haven't heard anything about your life...are you alive? Well your friend Nate Harris is on my floor in the same building as me in the MTC so i run into him all the time.. he told me to give you a shout out and would love your address... now that i think about it I would love your address too!! Love you bubbie! Mom and Dad... I love all your letters, e-mails and support. You sound like life isn't changing much other than having to buy new appliances.. hope you find that dryer for a good price. Mom thanks for having Grandma write me on your last letter.. just seeing that little bit made me cry... give her a kiss for me. How is she hanging in there? So General Conference here at the MTC was amazing!! I can't believe Neil is an apostle!! I wanted to call all of you so bad you don't even know... it was hard but he will do so great! And then when he said his mom was there in his talk I could just see Aunt Kay's smiling face and Uncle Lyle smiling from above. He is gonna need a lot of prayers in his new calling! Also I did hear President Munday get called as an area authority.. where over?? That is so exciting and he is a such a great man. That is cool about Benj Munday getting to sit in on the setting apart of Elder Andersen. Conference in the MTC was a very needed break from spanish classes. I took 26 pages of notes- they could just print the ensign out of my notes!! I got so much out of it and i swear every talk was written for me especially Elder Hollands talk about the Savior being completely alone. I bawled... i think that was the best talk I have ever heard on the Savior. I also loved Elder Perry's talk about how Members should do the finding so missionaries could spend more of their time teaching... lets hope some members in Texas heard that talk! The Friday before conference for our challenge at the teaching center we had to talk to someone on the bus about the gospel in spanish for fifteen minutes and I actually did really really well!! Sometime i feel like I know nothing here and I should know more.. but i have to remember I have only been here for a month.. it is coming so pray for me. We also for our challenge had to teach the second lesson in english thank goodness. But we changed our teaching style so we were having more of a gospel conversation then a lesson... it is more geared towards the investigator and less of a "I'm just here to teach you and don't care what your questions are." It is actually a lot harder but the spirit is so strong and completely guides you. Our companionship is like one when we teach and we are all getting so so so close! I had a cool experience while we were teaching... I felt impressed to share a scripture about the celestial kingdom but i was looking and looking for it and couldn't remember the reference and then in my head i said, "Oh well i'll paraphrase it"... then i looked down and my scriptures were openned right to the scripture. It is so true that without the spirit there is no power in this work. Just as Neil said we are nothing and as soon as we forget that the Lord will remind us and usually it is not so pleasant... here i have really realized I am nothing without the Lord walking right beside me and the spirit filling my mouth with the right words. Not this Friday but next Friday we have to teach the first lesson entirely in spanish for our teaching challenge... please pray for me!! This place is really overwhelming and exhausting- physically, mentally, and spiritually. I got sick like two weeks ago and my body just is not bouncing back.. I think I have streap... but i'll get better soon
hopefully! On Monday my favorite district in my zone left.... that was Hermana Porter's district. They left for Argentina.. that was really hard for me to say good-bye to them because first off Hermana Porter was my angel in disguse and became my sister.. and the Elders were completely my brothers... They made this MTC home. Watching them walk away and not having them anymore makes the MTC unfamiliar again, but the same will continue to happen I'm guessing every transfer so I'm trying
not to let it get to me... the day after they left I got a letter we got letters from the Elders in the mail... ha ha made my day! I am making so many amazing friends here that I can't even imagine not knowing now!! Even me and Hermana Christensen are 100% great friends and I actually vent and cry to her now... My companionship actually gets along great with no drama what so ever! This week my coordinating sister responsibilities really took over when a new district came in of 12... four sisters! All the sisters actually leave in 3 weeks for the Spain MTC... so pretty much they get here before me and leave before me.. NOT COOL!! ha ha but they are sweethearts and hilarious.. one of them went to Dixie State and actually was in Landrea's singles ward which is fun. This world is so small... one of Hermana Porter's companions in my zone grew up with Amber Varley Every.. weird and small world. Well yesterday in the RC (call center) I talked to five different people... from LA, NY, SC, TN, and VA and I got missionary referrals to alll of them.. they all accepted to listen to the missionaries. It is such an amazing feeling to be able to bear sweet testimony and actually hear the spark ignite in these people as they are seaching for the truth. It makes your testimony feel like it actually matters!! Last night we had a fireside by Vaughn J. Featherstone and it was an amazing fireside but he talked really really fast that it was hard to get notes. One thing he said was BE CAREFUL YOU DONT KNOW WHO YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO BECOME!! I have no clue who I am suppose to be in this life but all i know is my decisions now are influencing that! He also read a poem and at the end it said, "Thank God, Thank God they thought it worth the price they paid." And all i could think about is my ancestors who crossed the plans and gave up so much so I could have this gospel.. and my parents who sacrificed so much to have me... and also My savior who loved me enough to pay the ultimate price. Then I asked my self if all those people looked at my life today and my choices would they still think it was worth the price they paid!! I hope after my mission someone looks back and is thankful that I served... I think it is worth it to bring this gospel to even one person in Texas.. Pray for me!! I love you all and miss you so much... WRITE ME LETTERS!!! They are Gold in the
MTC!! I love you all and hope you have a HAPPY HAPPY EASTER!! My first holiday from home... PRAY FOR ME and I pray for each of you always... con amor- Hermana Katie Barber!! love you all!!! MISS YOUR FACES!!! The church is so true... and I love it!!