Week 43: Oh my goodness...I am training!

And I'm still not over it. But that's okay, hopefully by the end of the twelve weeks I'll realize that I'm training.

This week was insane! I'm pretty sure that my new missionary had one of the most eventful first weeks of any missionary! Not only were we busy, we were being entertained :)

So, Tuesday was mostly preparing for the new missionary to come in, as well as district meeting and normal visits to investigators and less actives and such. (Crazy busy)

Wednesday was the moment of truth! Transfer meeting. A wonderful member drove us there and back, the full three hour drive. :P We got there at 9:15, because I had to go to extra trainer meetings. What was fun is that my mission mom, Sister Richardson, is training too!

​Traditional mother/daughter picture taken at transfers. 

We got to eye the new missionaries before we found out who they would be. I had no clue who I would get, no revelation stating for sure either way here!

In transfer meeting, the new missionaries stand up, say where they're from and their name, and then read their trainer and where they'll serve. There were five new sisters... And mine was the fifth to go up, so I was pretty sure by then who I'd be training ;)

Sister Edgel! From Las Vegas!

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And here's a posterity photo of me, my trainer, her new missionary, and my new missionary:

​Yeah, I know, I'm the only one looking at the camera. Oh well. 

Anyway, Sister Edgel is great! I am so excited to be with her for the next three months. 

Wednesday is mostly an adjusting day... Then Thursday we actually go out and she taught her first lessons! We saw mostly members on Thursday, and there were some hilarious moments... Let's just say 90+ year old women don't always find it necessary to keep it completely missionary appropriate... But it was really good! We picked some wildflowers, and Sister Edgel arranged them (she took a Flower Arranging class at BYU).

The next day, we saw some investigators. This was fantastic! The Spirit was super strong in many of our lessons, and we invited one investigator to be baptized and she said yes! Now, she has a lot of things to work on before she'll be quite prepared for baptism, but that's normal! We also did weekly planning, which is always fun. I really love weekly planning, it's so important to have a good, organized week!

Saturday we also invited an investigator to be baptized and she said yes! Sister Edgel and I joked that she's 2 for 2 :) It was a really good day though, we visited three investigators and found one new. We even tracted for the first time for Sister Edgel! Tracting is one of those things that sounds intimidating before you actually get started, but once you get going it's really not that bad. And it's a great way to get out and meet a lot of new people.

Sunday, I substituted as chorister in sacrament meeting and pianist in Primary... and I did surprisingly ok! Probably helped that the only full song she had me play was "I am a Child of God" and the other one was melody only :)

Spiritual thought for the week: Holy cow, it is so true that the Lord can take our weaknesses and make them strengths. When I first came out, I wasn't too nervous about the possibility of training. The longer I've been out, and the more missionaries I've met, the more I've come to realize how important training is, and how much I have to learn. But the Lord doesn't ever as us to do more than we can, and most importantly, He will strengthen us to be capable of handling whatever He sends our way. I am definitely far from a perfect missionary, or a perfect teacher, but this is what the Lord has called me to do, and He will make a way for it to happen. Also, miracles happen during training! Already seeing the truth of that :)

Also, can I just say that almost all my companions have had unique first names (plus me)? Devynne, Nakelle, Saisha, Shylie, Sinaretta, Taran, Janea... Elizabeth...Good thing we go by last names, we don't have to worry so much about having people pronounce our first names!

Love you all! Weather isn't looking too bad this week :)

Sister Barret

Week 42

I am staying in Paris! And I am training!!! I am quite nervous, I'm not going to lie. And excited. Training is a big responsibility. I'm going to have to shape up :)

But really, I am excited to be with a brand-new missionary. At the beginning of a mission, missionaries have a lot of fire. Hopefully we'll get to set this area on fire!

This week was very good though. Sister Reed and I have been keeping busy. A cool experience: on Thursday, we generally try to spend time in a town called Marshall. We started the day by visiting a member's home. They're a couple with their own online business. Well, they had a friend over. I had met their friend once before when the member had a birthday party. On Thursday though the friend said, "So, how can I have missionaries come and visit me?" I don't know how much he knows about what we do, but we talked to the members and we're going to start teaching him in their home! Apparently they've already talked about religion with him before and he's interested in our church.

We had some very good lessons with investigators as well. Two of them who have been meeting with us for a while definitely opened up a lot. It's amazing to be a missionary. It is amazing how much inspiration comes. People talk to us about things, and intellectually I think, "Why are you asking us? We're a couple of 20 somethings who don't know much at all! Why are you telling us your life story?!?!" But then I open my mouth, or my companion opens her mouth, and something completely inspired comes out and touches the other person's life. And I know that it's nothing that I could have thought of on my own to say.

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This bird stayed freakishly still for the whole time that we walked to a door, knocked on it three times, and took a bunch of pictures. I think it was because there was a lot of rain, and the poor bird looked rather miserable.

We are also teaching the son of a less active member. She's mostly less active due to her health (she has a lot of health issues); she definitely has a very strong testimony. Her son is 18, and going through a lot... and he has a lot of questions about religion. We taught the plan of salvation to him this week, and had one of the young men from the branch who is preparing for a mission come with us. It went quite well! I think that a big thing that is helping us teach him is that we have made it clear that we are there to answer HIS questions, not to preach to him. That opens a lot of hearts and increases people's trust, to know that we don't have a hidden agenda to baptize X number of people. 

We did a lot of service this week... Carrying/moving/cleaning :) The service at the food pantry here is great, the people are very nice who work there. 

I forget most of the rest of the week, because of the big transfer news! The weird thing was that I wasn't even anticipating too much from this transfer call... Usually, I am wondering and thinking quite a bit before the call on Saturday nights, but not this week! It snuck up on me. 

This week in my personal study, I got to read some of my favorite scriptures. It's in 3 Nephi, chapter 22, and it is the Savior quoting from Isaiah: 

7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. 

8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. 

9 For this, the waters of Noah unto me, for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee. 

10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

Of course, being from Isaiah, there are a lot of layers of meaning/interpretation. But I love these scriptures as they apply to me on a personal basis. There are times when we can all feel as though we are abandoned, or forgotten. "Many of us, in moments of personal anguish, feel that God is far from us. The pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God but occasionally covers us. God is never hidden, yet sometimes we are, covered by a pavilion of motivations that draw us away from God and make Him seem distant and inaccessible." (President Eyring, "Where Is the Pavilion?")

God is always there for us! He will always care for us and help us to return to Him. His work and glory are to help each of us, on an individual basis, to live with Him, and He will always be there for us. 

Love you all! 

Sister Barret

Week 41

So, there was a bit of a surprise last Monday at four o'clock... We got the news that I would go from being companions with this awesome sister:

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...to this awesome sister!:

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For you "long-time followers" of my blog (aka family ;) you may recognize this face as Sister Reed! From way back when in Poplar Bluff.

The news of this switch was unexpected for Sister Schwenke and I, since transfers for the mission aren't until July 16, but when the Lord (or the mission president) calls, we answer! So, Sister Schwenke packed up her bags and the next day, after district meeting, we made the switch. Sister Reed and I, reunited once again... Could be dangerous ;)

On Wednesday, we were supposed to do a normal exchange with the Sister Training Leaders, but the switch made some changes in the plans. Instead, the STLs came down and spent a couple of hours on exchanges with us and then with the other sisters.

It was a fun exchange though! We tracked down a woman who moved without leaving an address. We knocked on her old house's door, and met her old roommate, who directed us to her mom's house... They weren't very good directions, so we knocked on a couple of houses and then came to one that had a sign that said "NO SOLICITORS. NO BIBLE THUMPERS" on it, which made us crack up. We knocked anyway, and that turned out to be the mom's house! She directed us to the gas station where the woman works, so it all worked out eventually and we were able to meet her!

On Thursday, we spent the day in Marshall (that's where the picture of Sister Reed and I is located). We saw quite a few less active members, which was good. Hopefully we can help them to come back to church sometime soon!

Friday was the Fourth! Happy Independence Day! We were invited by our investigator Annie to come to her house and have a barbecue and then go watch the fireworks. It was really neat to see the fireworks show because it felt like most of the town had gathered together to watch. It was a pretty good show, and I think that I only got one bug bite (miracles do happen!).

Saturday was busy as well. We have two part-member families that we are teaching right now, which is awesome. I love teaching part-member families because the member is being bolstered as well. It's amazing to see someone's testimony being reignited by sharing it.

Sunday, we didn't have any investigators at church. That's definitely the biggest struggle we are having right now to help people progress in the gospel. I have a very strong testimony now that church IS necessary! We aren't really living our religion unless we gather together and partake of the sacrament. I love the weekly opportunity to renew our promises to God and to be blessed as we learn together as a people.

Fun link for the church: https://history.lds.org/section/women-of-conviction?lang=eng I like all the articles about the first sister missionaries. They've been out and about for more than 100 years! There's a long tradition of sister missionaries for the church.

Our mission has been reading the Gospels this transfer, and I've also been spending some of my personal study in the New Testament. I really love these books. These, the teachings of Jesus Christ, are the fundamental principles of our religion. I love reading His words and His interactions with the people. One thing that I've really noticed is how different the style of each of the gospels is. Matthew focuses on the history and the fulfilling of scripture; Mark is very straightforward and shows Jesus Christ as a man of action; Luke likes to give more details about the individuals so you really get to know the people; and John has so many of the words of Christ and His conversations. So good! But as I study these, I can really feel my testimony of Christ growing, and I feel like I am getting to know Him better.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week. Summer is moving quick! Missionary work is the best! :)

Devynne

Week 40

Heading into July! We're ending June with a thunderstorm. I love the thunder here, the sky rumbles for the whole time. I forget that at home we don't really get thunderstorms!

This week was busy busy busy again. Both this week and last week, we have taught twenty-five lessons, and at least half of those are with investigators (awesome!). 

Let's see... Monday, we had P-Day of course. Nothing super exciting happened during actual P-day. I took a nap! That was great. After P-day ended, we had two good lessons with investigators. We taught the two girls, Annie's daughters. That was great. They are so excited about learning. And we're still teaching their mom. We went there three times this week, and they are doing great. I have a lot of hope for them. I can see their great potential. It's really amazing how much you come to love the people that you meet on the mission. It feels like they become part of you because you're sharing the things that are most important to you. After Annie and her daughters, we went to see Rhonda. 

Tuesday, we did a lot of driving. We had district meeting in Effingham, and we went through Mattoon. Hour and a half there, hour and a half back. Driving is so much fun! It wasn't that bad. 

We taught a family that the mom has been wavering with less activity and bad health. It was nice to visit them, and hear some fun stories about other missionaries. Sometimes you hear some...interesting stories! Haha.

Oh! And Sunday... we had a baptism! Yay! 

It was nice, because it was a kind of low-missionary-involvement baptism (he's the 10 year old son of the Primary president). We were hoping that we would have some investigators there, but that fell through. We'll keep trying :)

​We helped a less active move and the back of my neck got really sunburned. Ouch. I didn't think about putting sunscreen there...

​The first firefly I caught! Don't know if you can see it...

​My companion and a machete... yeah, I sleep well at night. Apparently in Samoa they use the machetes to cut grass and do other yard work (?!).

Anyway... life in Paris is wonderful :) Keeping busy, working hard, serving the Lord...

Spiritual thought: The Lord gives us tender mercies all the time! Thanks to the Forest Home Beehives for the care package they sent... We had a referral from the Book of Mormon musical (haha) and I gave her one of the copies of the Book of Mormon that they sent.

 Alma 7:11-12: "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how succor his people according to their infirmities." 

Getting kicked off...Love you all!

Sister Devynne Barret