Leaving In Three!

Hola mi familia!! como estan? I am so good and so happy here at the MTC but very ready to leave! Thank you for all your letters and everyone sounds WONDERFUL!! Kara your belly is so cute and my nephew stewart is going to be the BOMB!! Happy Birthday and I'm sorry I missed it.. Mike said you had a great day though. Good luck putting together the stoller Mike and I better get a letter on your four week break!! Mindy and Tales I love you both and thanks for all yoru letters and support. Matt and Charlene.. WHAT ARE YOU HAVING!! when do you find out? Please give Jules a big kiss and hug for me and send me pictures when you get a chance I WOULD LOVE THEM!! Mom and Dad i'm so excited for you new gas stove I know you have always wanted one and that will be a nice up grade.. man do i miss your cooking!! I need to real food if anyone wants to pull some magic.. HINTHINT!! but i'm out of here in three weeks and I am eating to my hearts content at the airport. Dont worry about me anymore i finally went to the doctors after being sick for three weeks and the doctor got made at me cause i guess i had the starts of bronchitis or something.. but they gave me an
antibiotic and i feel like 100%... on Friday last week we taught our first lesson in pure espanol.. can you believe it?? i can't!! the spirit was so strong.. what we do is teach a volunteer the first lesson and they pretend to be an investigator.. well you can imagine how taken back we were when our PRETEND investigator started bawling so hard she couldn't talk.. our teach stopped our lesson and asked her if she was
okay.. well i guess everythign we shared with her made her think of when she was meeting with the sister missionaries and brough back tender feelings and tender moments.. and the cool things was that i had told my companions that mornign that i thought we needed to change the scripture we shared with her and it ended up being exactly what she needed.. man the spirit really guides you when you stop to listen!! The gift of tongues is so real when you have faith, listen to the investigator and
really listen to what they need. My companion Hermana Christensen has really been struggling with spanish and she only spoke a little but what she did say astounded me!! the gift of tongues is REAL.. the Lord helps us every step of the way. As long as I study my guts out and do all i can do he will help me in my hour of need. Another cool thing was on Sunday for Relief Society Sister Sheri Dew came to speak with us and brought along with her, her friend who is Elder Nelson's wife!! So i got
to meet them both. Sheri Dew is such a woman of power. She talked to us abou the need for purity and cleanliness.. she told us a couple cool stories one about how she was cleaning in the Bountiful Temple and they gave her a tiny brush and asked her to make sure there was NO DUST on the alters... she said as she rain this tinie brush on the alters she realized just as the temple gets maticulously cleaned every night we must do the same.. if we are pure we will stand out from the world. she told another story about VIP week at the Manhatten Temple open house and there was a well known journalist that went through and was talking to someone as he left asking why are your girls so much pretty then all the other girls in the world.. and the man just looked at him and said becasue they are pure and clean... it makes such a difference.. then she asked a question that i never thought about in my life.. she said, "what if it was your assignment to distract your fellow missionaries or to distract the next generation.. what would you do? Satan is so good at his job.. he tries to distract missionaries with the things of the world.... she said that he 1. tries to get us to forget who we are literal sons and daughters of god.. 2 forget the power of the atonement and what our savior did for us...3 tries to make it so we never realize how to obtain personal revelation.. NEVER FORGET ANY OF THOSE!! Monday some more elders left for Mexico and I lost another couple brothers... but I am getting better at saying goodbye. Tuesday in the Resource center where we call people about the stuff they ordered i sent out three missionaries with Book of Mormons.. then a lady called in named Tamara.. and i asked her why she felt prompted to call in and get the DVD finding Faith in Christ and she said that she just feels liek she need to COME UNTO CHRIST!! ha ha in my head I just laughed becasue here is an investigator stating my very missionary purpose in the front of Preach My Gospel.. INVITE OTHERS TO COME UNTO CHRIST!! she said in her own words that she FIERCELY needed the truth. I bore testimony to her about the hope and the answers the gospel brings in a troubles world and I asked her if i could send missionaries and the next day wasn't soon enough for her!! ha ha.. she asked me to call her back so I'll call her next week to make sure she is doing good.. there are such chosen people out there just SEARCHING for the truth all we have to do is open our mouths and the spirt will fill them... once you get someone to open up to you and start talking about there life you can ALWAYS find some reason they need the gospel. Well last night we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Craig Zwick and he dear wife... and it just brought me back to memories of Mindy's wedding and seeing him in white. something awesome that Sister Zwick said was a story about a people in mexico who still spoke an ancient dialect of Myan and when they greet each other translated they asked, "How is your heart?" then she had us do a self examination of our heart and talked about how we need to say , Lord her is my heart and my will!! let it be swallowed up in yours. I really feel like when i first got here the only thing keeping me was the will of the Lord but now I REALLY LOVE IT HERE!! I love what i'm doing.. i love what i'm learning.. don't get me wrong it is the hardest thing i've ever done.. but also the most rewarding.. I think of my dreams of someday getting married in the temple and having little kids and living together with my family forever... I am giving other people in Texas my dream!! Without the gospel they can't even dream the things i get to dream.. through this experience not only am i making it so i can be a better mom and wife.. i've giving other families the opportunity to have a better life!! awesome to think about!! Elder zwick gave an amazing talk but a couple things i loved from his talk was he said the lord will prepare you as you put your willing hand into his. he then said that so many times poeple fail to unwrap the gift of the holy ghost because they fail to listen. Another cool thing he said is when he quoted Elder Eyrings dad who was a well known scientist and a very smart man and he said, "I can learn something from everyone, they have all experienced soemthing i never have!" Man i found another weakness with his talk on LISTENING!! i talk to much.. everyone knows that but i have to learn to listen.. that is my goal! Also something cool about the fireside last night was that one of the counselors in the MTC Presidency's daughter was my relief society president in my BYU singles ward... sooooo my best friend/roommate from last sememster is one of her counselors her name is Lizzy Henderson.. well she came last night to the fireside so i got to see her!! I ran up after the fireside and gave her a HUGE hug and started bawling.. it was so nice to see a familiar face espeically a
face that other than Mindy's example was a huge example to get me here to serve!! Also this week Hermana Christensen and i talked out of differneces one on one and now she is actually turning into one of my best friends.. sometimes it just takes getting to know the other persons side.. Thanks for all yoru support and i love you all!! i miss you but I'm doing a great work.. so keep praying for my spanish!! miss you mommy and daddy and all my brothers and sisters and freinds.. but i am doing great so no worries about me!!
con amor!!
Hermana Barber

OVER THE ONE MONTH HUMP!!!

Hola!!!
So I love Wednesday's and getting fun family updates... especially want to give Brad a shout out for his effort!! ha ha... I loved your letter Brad.. you make my day! About getting anything to me well you know if you can think of a way to get me any kind of real food namely cafe rio pork salad black beans with only lettuce and chips i would owe you for the rest of my life!! I have lost over seven pounds in here in the last month just 'cause the food doesn't agree with me.. i'm a little picky.. okay a lot picky!! your weekend with Matt, Charlene, Jules and Branen sounds like a blast and i'm not gonna lie.. i'm super jealous. I heard it is amazing weather in St. George and it is cold and rainy up here. But i Love it! My week was full of ups and downs actually but for the most part AMAZING!! On Easter I woke up all by myself and openned the packages I had saved from Mom, Mindy, Lacee, and Tia!! I got a bunch of candy which is all very YUMMY and exciting so muchas gracias! And then i got the
cutest robe ever!! (nice work mom.. you're the best!) then i got nylons.. i never thought i would ever be so excited for nylons in my life but they made my day a whole lot better! Easter Sunday was kinda like every other sunday here... very spiritual and very focused on Christ.. we had another district leave for Mexico this Monday so of course i cried during testimony meeting.. one elder bore his testimony for 35 minutes and it was ridiculous actually. I am offically Coordinating Sister now so I got to go to Branch Council which was fun and there is a new district coming in tonight.. ten elders going to Mexico... It is hard mom to get to close to them and then say goodbye but I just remember they are about a greater work!! and they are all going to be amazing missionaries. Yesterday was one of my best days at the MTC so far! I was in the RC (call center) and call this man to see if he had his Book of Mormon delievered yet. His name was Arnold and he told me he has read it and
felt a feeling he had never felt before. I of course explain to him it was the holy ghost and asked him if he would like to learn more.. he said he was really depressed with the passing of his wife and didn't feel like talkign to anyone... it is so weird how the opportunties to share the gospel always arise... i bore testimony of the peace and faith and joy the gospel brings especially with the knowledge of where our loved ones have gone and testified he can live with his wife again through the gospel and told him how i longed for him to hear the message of the gospel... he accepted to talk to the missionaries and then i challenged him to continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know the truth.. then he said, "Oh there is no doubt in my mind it is true!!" GOLDEN!! ha ha it made my day! Then we had a day of studying and the last couple days i have been struggling. I have been really sick the past week and have gotten really frustrated with myself because i haven't been at the top of my game. My mind has felt blurry and like nothing in espanol is sticking. I honestly just wanted my mommy to care for me, my dad's chicken noodle soup, and to sit on the couch eating popsicles with grandma. Then on Monday night
i was laying in bed and just looking at the pictures i brought with me of my familiy and friends and i kept lookin gat my giant smile... and me being the whiner i am got n my knees and asked my Heavenly Father why he would take me from a life of such happiness to a place that is filled with such ups and downs... a place where my face is always plastered with a smile but not alwasy followed up by my heart and head!! then I got the most chastising answer i have ever received in my life. An anwser that trulyl humbled me... all i heard was, "Katie your life has been so selfish." It hurt to hear but then i looked at my life of ease.. mainly because of the love and sacrifices of my parents... i have done a lot of amazing things with my life and had amazing opportunity but every thing i have done has benefited me in somehow... even if for the good or the gospel. .. i have never served someone else 100 % of even a day!! Well then last night we had the amazing opportunity of hearing at our Tuesday night devotional from an apostle of the Lord... probably my favorite apostles if you are allowed to have favorites... Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and he spoke straight to me. I took pages of notes but i am going to try and address the most amazing parts of the talk... the part he said for me was, "You are his disciple and maybe for the first time in your life you're going to do somethign for someone else 24/7. you are disciples of Christ the second you open your eyes to the second you close them at night." Then he told us an amazing story about how on his way to speak with us he got a call from a couple who needed him to go bless their baby at the ICU at primary children's hospital.. he was so tender and he talk of the innocent babies suffering on tables and the morning parents.. all needed healing in somewya. Then he said... why are you here and what are you doing? He said, you have been called and sent to answer the prayers like the families in the ICU all over the world-in need and needing to be healds. yo uhave come to savior's on mount zion. yo uhave come to preach safety, hope and future to a world who doesn't have that. THE WHOLE WORLD IS A HOSPITAL: and we are sending you with first aid training- scout's knives, turnicates, and first-aid kits. You are not surgeons, bu tyou go in the name of the greatest, most seasoned surgeon. Go in his name- remember you were set apart by someone who was set apart by someone (etc.) who was set apart by the hands of God. You are called to save the world. You can't do it, but you can go with someone who can. Hit the ground running and run until they carry you home. You have never done anything as important as you are doing now. He continued to tell us that everythign good in his life has stemed from his mission ... it changed his life and his heart. He owes everything to his measely, homely GESTURE I gave to the Lord for 24 months and he has blessed my life forever. Don't miss it.. Don't miss nay of it.. good or bad! This is the great, grand right of passage for our church... lvoe every second of it snow rain, rejection, flat tire. Show God your growing up from a boy and a girl into men and women of god! I plead with you to stay a missionary the rest of your life...being a missionary is the closest thing to REAL LIFE. This isn't about you! This about God, Christ, angels, heavens, my grandchildren and your grandchildren. YOU OWE THIS.. you owe this to Heaven, you owe this to eternity, you owe genereation that come tha tyou will never meet. Be persistant- at least as persistant as an Avon lady- yo uare selling more than mascara!!(that is pretty persistant!! ha ha) .. then the last closing remark that I love tha the said was, "You will come to know Christ if you will venture into Gethsamane with him. The road to salvation ALWAYS goes through Gethsamane.. take a step or two to calvary.. I pray yo uwill feel what it feels to have a cross on your back and feel loneliness. You can not know him if you don't go to Gethsamane because tha tis where he is. He is still out there somewhere between Gethsamane adn Calvary working.. he won't be happy until all who will receive him have.!!" The talk was amazing and really changed my entire attitude and how I will serve this amazing gift I have been given to serve a mission.. This is not my time it is the Lord.. I am 100% his disciple... thank you for your prayers your support and especially mom and dad for raising me in this amazing, true gospel and helping me find my true father in Heaven and feel his love.. i owe everything to you!! i love you all!! pray for me and learning spanish!!
con amor- Hermana Barber

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!!

Third Week Mark!!

Hola mi familia, como estan? I hope all is well with each of you!! Happy Birthday Matt on the 6th!! I can't believe you are gonna be thirty.. super old! I love you and wish i could celebrate with you but i'll sing you happy birthday from the MTC. Charlene thanks for updating my blog.. i can't see it but i got your mom's comment from my dad.. i have met your cousin he is in the zone next to me so we have like gym, meals and stuff together.. he is a sweetheart. Mike and Kara!! how are you?? I
never saw the picture of stewart and don't really have time to look at them on the internet!! you should send me pictures of Kara's pregnant belly!! Miny and Tales thanks for all your e-mails, letters and support!! i love you both!!! Brad thanks for the little e-mail write me a letter though so I have more details about your and landrea's marriage!! ha ha.. and if packages only cost you two dollars why don't you send me more somoas and taglog girl scout cookies!!! I love you all so much family!! mom yes i want you to forward my e-mails to all those people i said and greg and melissa would be great!! Thanks for looking for a robe for me.. it will come in handy!! Just a lite weight cute one will work wonders!! Mom can you also send me a letter like today with my mission home address in Texas on it.. i have my favorite district leaving on monday and we are switching addresses on sunday so if you e-mail it to me i won't get it till next wednesday..but if you send it in a letter i get it in like two days!! thanks!! Tell Lisseth that i did get both her e-mails and love love love hearing from her!! Tell Mary hi!! the language is definitely coming and i can't wait to talk to her and her mother in spanish when i get back!! My week has been crazy as always!! i can't believe i have been here for three weeks already but at sometimes it feel like i have been in the MTC for a year!! I am learning so much and i would never give up this experience for anything. I can't even believe how three weeks can change a person and the rest of their life!! I have such a solid foundation of the gospel and an unwavering testimony that will just continue to grow
everyday!! I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it is to learn here in the MTC.. the spirit is so strong and you learn more about the scriptures, doctrines, and language than you would anywhere else and all the credit has to go to Heavenly Father. Truly who he calls he also qualifies! We have had the opportunity to hear from a couple from the seventy this week in the Sunday and Tuesday fireside.. and then we had mission conference on Sunday which means all of the elders and sisters in the MTC sit in a 2 hour meeting with the MTC president.. it was actually amazing and all about teaching with the spirit and constantly having the spirit with you... we have the power to convince but only the spirit has the power to convert.. also our purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto christ by helping them recieve a testimony in Jesus christ and his atonement.. and they made a really interesting point that the reason we are in the MTC is not to invite others to come
unto christ but ot come unto christ ourselves so we can show others where to go... how can we invite others to go to a place we have never been!! during one of the firesides a seventy talked about the plan of salvation and talked about the premortal life and how we chose to come and faught for our agency... then he said you also faught for the agency of the people you are going to teach where ever you go... you faught so they could reject your message... you faught so they could accept there message.. so i guess when i get to dallas when the doors are shut in my
face i better just smile because they are exercising their agency right?? ha ha... another speaker last night was an ameritis of the seventy or however you spell it and first off he told us something really cool!! right now as missionaries and a church we use the spanish bible translated by the queen or something so not the king james version but this seventy was the head to the committee who translated a new bible in spanish for the church and he said it is going to be out for our use before fall conference!! so i will be able to switch bibles on my mission.. it will be more true!! i am so excited!! he also said that with the same assurity that i know the sun will rise quietly each morning that i can have the same assurity that the lord knows me... he knows me by name.. and he is guiding my life.. and i know he is. This
decision to serve a mission has been the best decision i have made in a long time.. yes it has been super hard and exhausting and somedays i really wonder why i am here... but only here...pushed beyond myself and i going to find myself.. and find the person my Heavenly Father wants me to be!!! I had a very touching moment this week that is pretty personal... I was reading with my district and my teacher in Alma 18:32 that says, "Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men, and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning." I just started crying... i guess my whole life i have known that i was created after the image of Heavenly Father but i always kinda had this assembly line product mentality in my head....but at the moment it clicked.. i was created by him to be like him. I was created by my father who is perfect and makes no mistakes. It was funny that i was in a room with my entire district but my mind wondered to an image of me standing in front of my father in heaven and he held my arms looking in my eyes.. he kissed my forehead and said, "Here is your body, my gift for you... you are perfect and beautiful and I love you!" All i could do was bawl and i have never in my life felt my Fathers love so much as in that moment.. it was like no one else was in the room with me. I know that i am perfect in his sight... i have the body i was suppose to.. the personality i was suppose to have... and he makes no mistakes! He loves me so much and he knows each one of us!! ( that was a really personal story... please just forward to like family and my close friends.. not on my blog!! thanks!!) Even since that experience i have not had a doubt that he is here with me pushing me along.. i know i have a great work to do and that there are people in Dallas only I can touch.. I just hope i will be able to
communicate my personality over ot spanish!! pray for me! About the lady in the call center that is homebound that i was suppose to call back and teach.. i called her back yesterday and she was on her way to the hospital.. the doctors told her they think it is her time to go so i don't know if i will ever talk to her again but she begged me to try and told me to pray for her and that she loved me.. i told her i
loved her back.. Then i had two more calls.. one from a man in new jersey and another for a lady in California names Carolina and i got both of them to agree to meet with the missionaries so i sent a referral to the missionaries in their areas!! it is so funny how you can care so much for complete strangers and ache for their acceptance of your simply testimony you bear!! I pray that they actually listen.. i am having some amazing experiences in here and my companions and i are geting along
great.. me and Hermana Christensen are like best friends now and have worked out most of our differences i can see us staying in touch after the mission... Hermana Crandell's sweetness has kinda turned into a "mom" and she constantly tries to tell us what to do... but i just hold everything in and not try to cause any kind of drama!! my district is amazing and last night after the fireside we all had a district meeting and bore our testimonies and all bawled.. we are all so close already..like brother and sisters and it killed me that i couldn't hug them when
they were crying! My favorite district in the zone leaves on Mondy to Argentina including Hermana Porter my tender mercy from the lord is leaving me.. but we also got a new district today with 12 people in it!! there are four sisters so that will be fun to get to know them.. they all seem really really cute, but they will only be here for 3 weeks then they head off to the MTC in spain.. so you will be hearing about them next week more!! Well to close this is for Matt and Mike to be really proud of me.. ha ha in gym i have been shooting alot and i beat a guy in around the world this week in gym!! just showing my skills!! ha ha..but then he beat me and then beat me twice in HORSE!! but hey at least i won once right!! ha ha.. i love you all!!! write me please!! If i think of anything else i will write it in a letter so my siblings don't have to complain about my letters being too long!! glad you guys like hearing from me so much!! ha ha.. i can't help it if i type fast and have lots
to say!! i miss you guys more than you know but i'm happy to be here!
!love you mom and dad!! you are the best parents ever!!
MUAH!! Hermana Barber

Week Two!

Hola Mi Familia...
Wow did i have a lot of e-mails to read when i got on here this morning..luckily i just printed them off so it didn't run out all my time. about the letters or e-mail factor i like getting letters because i get them on other days other than wednesday.. but either one is great.. i love hearing from you guys.. i got a letter from you on Tuesday the one you sent monday and it was exactly what i needed to hear and gives me the spiritual boost.. i got fun leters from tales and mindy also but mindy's letters always make me cry.. i dont know why.. but they do! I miss you guys and love hearing from you... luckly everyday i have been in the MTC which has been 14 days now i have gotten at least two letters everyday!! So i am loved! ha ha..but i get really behind writing people back and that is why i just write you an e-mail.. ill be better at writing more letter letters! So after p-day last wednesday we had class as usual. then on Thursday we had class and study time all day again but we were really nervous because our companionship had to go teach the first lesson on Friday and we had to contact someone in Spanish at the Teaching Center here at the MTC... they are just volunteers from BYU but they still try to act like investigators.. so on thursday we were pretend teaching our teacher Hermano Cave and i was telling him we were missionaries from the church and that we had a message for him... but instead of saying message... i said we had a massage for him.. ya don't worry about it.. i was dying laughing and so was he. Then on thursday i was feeling really really nervous with my spanish and we went to a language study workshop and it was amazing what i got out of it... the only thing holding me back from learning this language is my unbelief... faith is a gift.. faith had always come so natural to me before but now i am praying for it and working for it. I have had some great conversations with my Heavenly Father this week and man is he blessing me. On Friday we had our teaching appointment and contacted three people in spanish...even though it was pretend i still felt the spirit there and afterwards our teacher Hermano Cave said we did the best of all the sisters he has ever had... so we felt pretty confident.. then he told me that instead of saying the Atonement of Jesus christ with is expiacion.. i said the expiration date of Jesus Christ... expiracion!! so ya.. i'm doing great... people will think i want to give them massages and expiration
dates!! ha ha.. but we taught the first lesson for the first time and i said joseph smiths first vision from memory and the spirit was so strong... the investigators told our teacher afterwards that they gave us an 8 out of 10! For our first time.. I'll take it!! Sunday we got to hear from Elder D. Todd Christoffersen's wife during Relief Society which was amazing and she talked to us on faith going right along with what i was striving to work on for the week! Then after relief society the branch president asked to talk to me and called me as the cooridinating sister for the zone when the old one leaves in two weeks.. so i get to go to branch meetings and stuff so it will be fun to get to know the presidency more! But he told me not to tell my companions or anyone in our zone yet.. so that is under wraps but exciting!! The old coordinating sister that is leaving in Hermana porter the one who has become like my best friend here and i am so depressed she leaves so soon.. but it is so funny because she was in my room the other night and saw the picture i had up of me and Nikki Anderson Mahoney.. and she was like NOWAY!! Her cousin is my ex-fiance... ha ha.. then we figured otu that i have hung out with ehr before at the
anderson's house and in california before!! The lord truely loves me and constantly blesses me with such tender mercies.. On sunday at Four we did get to go to the Draper Temple Dedication which was amazing to me.. i started bawling when i saw the brethern especially the Prophet in white and it reminded me about the first time i went through the temple and saw my whole family in white!!... the prophet is my brother.. and he loves me like his sister and guides me today!! i know he is a true prophet.. then when he prayed for the missionaries in the dedicatory prayer all i could do was bawl.. there is something unreal that happens inside of you... such a peace when you know people are praying for you.. especially the prophet.... That night for devotional we had the coordinating director for all of misisonary work and he just went over all the rules and being obedient.. it is all kinda getting repeatitous but it is good!! 100% obedience here!! On Monday's we have service, gym and normal classes... then yesterday on Tuesday we had Gym, classes then we had another devotional from a elder in the seventy named Kenneth Johnson.. he is from England and did an incredible job.. hereminded us that we can never get burned out on the mission only on fire by the spirit!! he also told us that here we discover who we are.. it is amazing that i am 21 and through this experience i am finally seeing who i am, what i want to be, and what the lord wants and expects me to accomplish in my life! Then we had district meeting which is always a treat since our
district is so close and the boys are like spiritual, funny giants.. it is like hanging out with Brad, Smalls, and scano again.. great fun.. but one of the elders said, "if you are having a bad day, or discouraged the only people you are hurting are the people you didn't teach!! " I think that is will stick with me the rest of my mission.. i am trying to loose myself in this work.. i struggle with it a little since i love all my friends and fmailiy and loved my life before the mission... but it is slowly coming.. i can't believe i have been here for two weeks but at the same time i can't believe it has only been two weeks!! Some times time flies other times it drags on.. I really like it here and i am doing so good and have such a spiritual high!! i love all of you and miss you so much.. please keep writing me.. especially letters.. thanks for the e-mail mike, kara, mindy, and kinda matt!! ha ha!! I love you all!!! Mom i am happy so don't worry about me.. dad thanks for your sweet e-mail... i love you and you are truly in my head always telling me to chill!! and you would be proud of me i have been quite relaxed! !ha ha.. the language will come with the help of Heavenly Father!! Love you!! my time is blinking at me so i better sendthis!!
Love you,
Hermana Barber!

My First Email

Hola mi familia!!!
So i only have 28 minutes left to write you guys and there is an annoying red number count down on the corner so i'm gonna try to write everything since I have no more time to write a letter today. So this experience has definitely been a roller coaster ride of emotions. I cried on Saturday and at least of a couple of times asked why am i here...but everyone said to wait till Sunday and it gets better and they were right! My first day and a half here we had already learned to bear a simple testimony and prayer in spanish. They really push us here and it is hard but great!! I have two companions... Hermana Crandell who is going to the New York, New York south spanish speaking mission and Hermana Christsensen is going to Texas with me. Hermana Crandell is a sweet heart that is always working and constantly pushes me to be better. Hermana Christensen makes our companionship more of a competition and loves talking about herself... i definitely think this is the quietest I have ever been.. but i am striving to get along with them and love this opportunity. We have fun and laugh together most the time though! I have two teachers that go to BYU named hermano cave and hermana evans and they are great and really fun teachers. My district is actually great and there are four elders all going to New York, New York spanish and they are so funny and spiritual giants... love them! To answer some questions mom asked me.... the food here is alright i mainly eat the salads or the wraps from the bar... we can make our own!! I eat the ice cream from the BYU creamery on Wednesday and Sunday though!! YUMMY!!! Yes i am so happy i brought my seseme street blanket and my max a million teddy bear... they have helped the homesickness... I'm not gonna lie i miss my family and my freedom! I miss being ALONE and not having a companion stuck to your hip but i also know that i was suppose to come on this mission... I was suppose to come spanish speaking it has truly humbled me...made me see my weaknesses and realize i need to relie on God more!! It is amazing the spirit here at the MTC... i think i have prayed more in the last week than i have in my entire life, but during personal and companionship study i almost feel like Heavenly Father is sitting right next to me explaining the scriptures and doctrine to me himself!! My understanding of the scriptures and applying them to myself have been drastically changed and I feel the strength of this
knowledge already. About the gym time we get to go five times a week and there are basketball courts, track, volleyball courts.. i usually go run or bike for twenty minutes, do Charlene's ab routine, then shoot the basketball around.. my first gym was on Saturday and I know it saved me.. i was getting so restless in this place. We also get to go to a place called the RC where we get to make outbound calls to real people to ask them if they have recieved the videos or books they have requested. I talked to a handicap guy on the phone for ten minutes while he just kept telling me he doesn't want anything but the word of God and that our religion was just man made!! All i could do was bear sweet testimony but he wouldn't listen to me or let me
go!! I guess I just got a taste of Texas...but i felt so bad for him.. i wish he would soften his heart and just listen! On Sunday's and on Tuesday nights we have devotionals and on Sunday it was just a guy from the Presidency at the MTC...but they don't tell us who is going to be speaking on Tuesday night devotional.. but guess who it was? ELDER L.TOM PERRY!!! I got to hear from an apostle of the Lord.. i was singing in the choir so I had good seats. It is amazing the feeling of the spirit so strong when they walk into the room... our branch president related it later to how investigators or non members will feel when we as missionaries walk into their house..we must alway stay worthy of that spirit. I definitely got a rebuke though when Elder Perry started talking about the importance of loving and unifying your companionship...since then our companionship has had a complete change of heart and are having a blast and working hard together. My district had a meeting right after the devotional and all our Elder's bore their testimonies and were crying.. they are spiritual giants... They don't even annoy me at all!!ha ha... Brad so i found the perfect girl for you.. her name is Hermana Porter.. 23 and going to Argentina... so i show her a picture of you and Benj from my Homecoming... what a small world she went out with Benj right before she went on her mission!! ask Benj about a Lauren Porter.. she is my coordinating sister here in my zone and she has been my lifesaver and tender mercies. she is just like me and we laugh together and vent to each other... so nice!! oh and by the way anyone can e-mail me i just can only e-mail you guys back!! well i have to run! love you guys so much and i miss you more than you will ever know!! PLEASE WRITE!! Love you!
Hermana Barber

Mission Pics

Katasha Cox took a bunch of Pre-Mish pics and it was so much fun!