Week 60: Longest Email Ever

Hello everyone! So, I am actually typing this on a Word document, because surprise! It snowed in November! And apparently, there was a power outage at the library, which knocked out their Internet, which… is still down. That is a real bummer. Obviously. But I hopefully can save myself some time now by typing this up.

This was a crazy eventful week! I don’t even know where to start. So, on Tuesday, it was my 14 month mark! Crazy. Every time the 11^th of a month rolls by, I am always surprised. It’s strange how quickly the months have been ticking by. And someone just warned me yesterday that your third-to-last transfer is “Wow, that was the fastest transfer of my mission!” And then your second-to-last transfer is “Wow, that was even faster than last transfer!” And then your last transfer is “What just happened?” When I think that I have four and a half months left on my mission, it feels like I’ve still got quite a bit of time left. When I think of it in terms of three transfers… Um, that’s how long I spent in Paris. That’s less time than I spent in Poplar Bluff. Anyway, Tuesday was also awesome because we did the funeral for Elder Smith and Elder Locklear! Yeah, not going to lie, we threw an amazing funeral for those two elders. 

Family, don’t expect much of a letter this week. Sorry! But this is going to be really long, so hopefully that will make up for some of it. Oh, before I forget, my new address: 120 Springcreek Dr. Springfield, IL 62702.

We tracted for most of the day Wednesday. You know what I don’t like about tracting? I try to have a positive attitude about it overall, and really, it’s the best thing that we could be doing in this area to get some investigators and to get things moving forward. But it’s also demonstrably the least effective way to do missionary work. And that’s tough. I like to be effective, and I don’t feel as effective as I could be when I spend a whole day tracting. It’s a building thing, which is alright, but it’s emotionally (and physically) exhausting.

Thursday was a pretty good day. We were able to see our investigator Mary. She wanted it to be very clear that “I am a Catholic!” We’re like, “Okay! Can we still share the things we know?” :) Most of the rest of the day we spent contacting less active members. Which is still one of the things that I was surprised about with missionary work. I did not know how much work the missionaries did visiting and helping less active members! But it is as important to help less active members find their conversion as it is to help non-members. And often, it can lead to other missionary experiences. Look at the Hardens in Paris!

We had dinner with a way sweet less active family. They made lasagna. It was good, but not as delicious as ours ;) I just definitely prefer cottage cheese.

Friday, we did our weekly planning. Always an interesting thing when you’re waiting for transfer calls, since you have no clue where you’ll be by the next week. It was good though. I love weekly planning, because it is really able to set the tone for your week. If you’re thorough and follow the instructions in Preach My Gospel, the weekly planning session can make your area so organized and so prepared for the next week. If you don’t… let’s just say, you won’t be as effective as you could be.

Sister Auble received a blessing for her knee. It was another cool experience with the priesthood. She has tendonitis and it had been giving her a lot of pain. Well, after she received that blessing, she started feeling way better and she hasn’t had the same pain.

That evening was probably the busiest four hours we’ve had as companions! We had an appointment with a recent convert and an active member who are sisters, and we talked with them about missionary work. Then we went to visit a less active member and invited her to church. Then we went to a part-member family’s house for dinner and shared a message about the Atonement. Then we went to a less active family’s house (where we hadn’t been able to get in before!) and shared a message about obedience. They have a hairless cat. It’s the ugliest thing. They named him “Jafar Voldemort.” Phew! It was awesome. I love being busy, and I love when we get to teach! Definitely it’s my favorite.

Saturday we had a lot of fun. The branch president and his wife invited us to their house for lunch and for the elders to bring up their Christmas trees. We had toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, and while the elders carried up and set up the Christmas trees (they have two, and one was a 12 footer), I made fudge again. And it turned out perfect again :) which made me really happy. Then it started snowing. It felt like Christmas. We haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet!

Well! Then at about 3 pm, Sister Auble checks the phone and says, “Hey! President Morgan called! And he left a message!” That almost never happens… President Morgan calling, that is. We listen to the message, and he says, “Could Sister Barret call me back?” And my heart starts pounding. See, here’s the thing. Our district leader was an office elder and a zone leader before he came to our district for his last transfer, so he thought that he was “in the know.” So, he’d been telling me for the last couple weeks that I’d become a sister training leader next transfer. I usually just rolled my eyes. So… yeah, when I got that phone call, I was pretty sure that that was what was happening. I call President back. No answer. He calls us back. I answer. And basically, he said, “I just wanted to tell you that you are being assigned as a sister training leader.” Okay, there was more than that. Before he told me that, he asked me, “Sister Barret, do you support me fully as your mission president?”

That caused a minor panic attack… I thought he was going to tell me that he was giving me some awful assignment next transfer! Ha. But no, he told me that I was going to be an STL!

Well, that kind of blew my mind. Yup. I was a little distracted the rest of the day.

We didn’t get official transfer calls until later that evening. We are being whitewashed out of Columbia, which means both of us are leaving and two new sisters are being put in (one of them is Sister Esterholdt!). Sister Auble is going to St Louis Hills, in the city. I’m going to Lincoln, Illinois and I’m going to be with Sister Martinez. Which means a) I might finish out my mission in Illinois! And b) I’m going to be the sister training leader over Paris! So I might be able to go on exchanges there :D which would be amazing. We’ll see what happens though!

Unbelievable. I feel very humbled. I didn’t think that I would become an STL. I thought I’d be move somewhere and maybe train my last two transfers. Guess my baby will be an only child!

Sunday then was the last Sunday in the Waterloo Branch for me, Sister Auble, and one of the elders. The branch was pretty sad about that, especially the branch mission leader and the branch president. We had some good things that started happening really in the last six weeks. The three of us who are leaving were asked to share a brief testimony. And Sister Auble and I did a musical number… the same one we did for the funeral. We did an acapella mash of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy.” And she sang soprano and I sang alto. Again, not going to lie… It was pretty amazing. I saw at least five or six people crying, and we got so many compliments. Someone said it’s the best musical number they’ve ever heard in sacrament meeting, and our branch president said he’s pretty sure he heard angels singing with us.

Sister Auble and I did Singing Time in Primary because the normal music person wasn’t there. That was fun! We just did all the fun songs… and Christmas songs!

After church, I got a blessing because I was feeling (I AM feeling) pretty nervous about my new assignment. In fact, I hardly slept Saturday night, so I figured that I should probably get some sleep between Saturday and Wednesday if I wanted to not be in a complete fog for the first week of the transfer. But it was another great experience. I always work myself up about asking for a blessing… I worry “Should I? Is it weird? Is it necessary?” etc. But I have never regretted asking for a blessing, and I’ve had some very special experiences receiving blessings, especially since I’ve started recording the things I remember about the blessing afterwards. Then I’m able to go back and reflect on that, reflect on the things that I’ve learned since then, and I’m able to see promises being fulfilled. For example, I remember a blessing I received way back when in Poplar Bluff. I had been feeling pretty discouraged and down for a week or two, so I asked my district leader to give me a blessing. One of the things I remember was the promise, “This experience is helping you prepare for even more difficult things to come.”

Well, who wants to hear that when they’re feeling depressed?! But really, I have definitely seen that blessing be fulfilled on my mission. The things I learned from that experience, I have been able to apply to help me when I was struggling a lot more than I did in Poplar Bluff.

We had lunch with a member, and then we had a great lesson with a man named Gary. We brought a member with us, and it went really well! We taught him about what the Book of Mormon is and why it’s important, and invited him to pray about it.

Then we had dinner with some more members! Seriously, we have been fed the most I’ve ever been fed on my mission over the last couple of weeks. It’s ridiculous. I’m not going to complain, I think it’s hilarious! Right after Sister Auble and I have a great shopping trip to Aldi… Anyway. The member taught us all how to cure our own bacon, which was pretty neat! And we had homemade bacon and pancakes from scratch. Yum. They are a super cute family; they have four little girls and a boy on the way.

Yup. Great week. Sorry about the massive email! Okay, not really. You all don’t have to read them if you don’t want. I’m just adding lots of details, because we’ve been here now for almost an hour and forty-five minutes, and the Internet has still not been turned on. And I still don’t know the transfer results for the people I know!!!

Sister Richardson, my trainer, and our district leader go home today. She’s my last senior companion to go. Every other companion I have had goes home after me. Crazy. It’s tough to see people go. Even though we don’t really get to talk much or see each other often, you know that they are out there in the mission field with you… and now, they’re going home!

The good news is that there are no real good-byes in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are only “See you laters”! That’s definitely a comfort on a mission. It’s so difficult to say good-bye to some people that you’ve come to love, and then not know if you are ever going to see them again. But we are going to see each other again! I’ve been reflecting a lot on my testimony this week, because whenever you’re leaving as a missionary, people ask you for your testimony a ton. And I realized that a lot of my testimony is centered on the plan of salvation, because the plan of salvation is the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! It’s the way that God implemented for us to return to live with Him, with our heavenly family, and with our earthly family, in perfect joy forever. I am so grateful for a sure knowledge that I can be with my family forever. I know that the sealing power is real. I know it!

Alright, the Internet just got back on, so I’m going to wrap this up. Love you all! I’ll send pictures on a later email.

Sister Devynne Barret

Week 58

Alright, Mom requested that I give a little more detail this week about what we've been up to here in Columbia. I'll try :) 

Monday: P-Day! Haha. I love P-Day. After P-Day, we had a family home evening with a member. We taught about the plan of salvation, the spirit world, and then about ghosts (Halloween themed!). We then made ghosts out of tissues and Tootsie Pops. Very fun.

Tuesday, we had our district meeting. It was a good one. We had a training on accountability, and were challenged to try to be more accountable for our missionary efforts. I love the aspect of accountability in missionary work. We report our key indicators every week, we report on our stewardship (investigators and the area) every week at district meeting, and we report to the mission president every Monday. Not only that, but we have president interviews every three months. Most importantly, we report to the Lord every evening. 

In the evening, since we had plenty of miles left for the month, we headed down to the small town of Red Bud, and met a less active member who was very sweet.

Wednesday, we spent a lot of time tracting. This is the area where I have tracted the most! It's definitely interesting. I'm grateful for the experience! We found a new investigator: he's an ordained minister, a former engineer for the government, and also totally won the lottery. Yep, you meet some interesting people on your mission! 

Thursday, we also did a lot of driving :) We met with one of our investigators, and had a good talk with her. She's very sweet, but also quite nuts. It's not a good sign when you mention her to a neighbor and they say, "Oh. Her?"

Oh well! Everyone gets a chance to receive the gospel!

Friday, we had weekly planning, and went tracting before we were parked for Halloween. It was a good tracting session, we set two return appointments! And one of the people that we met had gone to the church for about a year earlier in her life, and she said that she'd definitely be interested in coming back! We're excited for that :)

Halloween was pretty great. A family invited both sets of missionaries over for the evening, and we had pizza and birthday cake, and played pool. Guess what: I stink at pool. No surprise there!

Sister Auble and I dressed up:

​Can you guess what we went as?

If you guessed hipster missionaries, you're right! haha.

We cultivated those bored expressions. 

Saturday was interesting. The highlight was the branch activity, it was a Trunk or Treat/Chili Cook-off. For the second time on my mission, I judged a chili cook off. Which was fun. I dressed up as a hipster again--different outfit--but I don't have a picture of it. I'll try to get it from one of the members who took pictures.

Sunday, Church! We had a good time there, of course. We spent the day contacting potential investigators, and set a return appointment. Dinner was with the branch mission leader's family, which is actually the first time that I've had dinner at my mission leader's house while I've been on my mission! Fun fact :)

In my personal study, I've been studying a lot in the first lesson, the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the first lesson. Really, the first lesson has parts from all of the lessons in it. Because of the Restoration, we have knowledge of God's plan for us, the plan of salvation. Because of the Restoration, we know the way that Jesus Christ has laid out for us. We know the proper manner of baptism. We know the commandments God has give us. We can go to the temple and be further instructed. I'm so grateful for the message of the Restoration, and I'm so lucky to be out here sharing it! I think I've been more reflective over my mission since my year mark, because I'm finally realizing how rapidly it goes, and I can see more and more distinctively the ways that I've changed and grown. I love sharing the gospel.

Hope you are all doing well! Oh, a highlight from this morning: I got to call Sister Edgel because it was her birthday and I wanted to surprise her :) She got to fill me in on Paris, and how she's been doing. There have been great things happening there, which is so much fun to hear about! 

Love

Sister Barret

Week 57: We've Been Walking

A lot.

Anyway, we've been walking a lot because we've been tracting, street contacting, and contacting our little hearts out! This area doesn't have very many investigators, so we're doing out best to find the people that the Lord is preparing to receive the restored gospel. It's fun stuff. And good exercise! And who doesn't like a little sunshine?

It's actually been beautiful this past week, which is definitely a plus when you're talking about tracting.

Let's see... This week felt like it went by way fast, but then again, I look back and Tuesday feels like it was forever ago!

So, Tuesday, Sister Auble and I went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I went with Sister Firestone, who was trained by Sister Reed! We had a blast. We had a crazy busy day, and it was so much fun going out and contacting and visiting people. Plus, she had just been down in Poplar Bluff, so I was able to quiz her down on who she had visited.

Wednesday, we had our zone leader training, which was also a lot of fun. I love meetings like this, because they really rejuvenate you and help you to feel the Spirit. And help you to know what to focus on and how to set goals! The program our zone leaders introduced is a "Staircase to the Perfect Day" as I call it. Week 1: Focus on getting up and exercising well. Week 2: Have a super effective personal study. Week 3: Have a super effective comp study. Week 4: Get out of the apartment on time and stay out for the time you're supposed to. This is week 1, and I've already definitely seen positive effects spread to the rest of our day.

After that? Finding! Contacting! Visiting less active members! We found a new investigator, Mary. She's just a wee bit crazy, but she seemed interested in reading with us! 

We've seen some really great miracles, though. Even when it seems like nothing exciting is happening, you'll get to talk to someone who says, "Yeah, maybe I'm interested!" or "Sure, you can stop by again!" Little miracles, but they definitely help.

In my personal study, and just in my day to day life, I've really been reflecting on the talk "Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence," by Elder Jorg Klebingat. I jotted down on a notecard the six ways to increase your confidence before God, and I keep it in my planner so I can reference it:

1. Take responsibility for your own spiritual well-being. 2. Take responsibility for your own physical well-being. 3. Embrace voluntary, wholehearted obedience as part of your life. 4. Become really, really good at repenting thoroughly and quickly. 5. Become really, really good at forgiving. 6. Accept trials, setbacks, and “surprises” as part of your mortal experience. 

I think I've talked about this talk before, but it really stood out to me as something that I could work on. This week, I've focused on my physical well-being, with the challenge to really exercise well. Yay! Exercise! It's fun :) But the one I like the most, and the one that I'm going to really try to work on, is embracing obedience. It's not enough to begrudgingly do what you're told. It's all about your attitude!

​We organized our supplies and discovered that we had a ridiculous amount of everything...

​Having a hairdresser for a companion has definitely increased my adventurousness with my hair...

Lots of love to everyone!

Sister Barret

Week 56: I Ate an Eyeball

​Made of cake.

Anyway, as you may have noticed from this last picture, I also did something crazy, and allowed Sister Auble to color and cut my hair. ​Yep. It's different alright. I told Sister Auble she had free rein, and she sure took it. It's fun though, I figured it was time I was a little adventurous.... and she really didn't give me an option ;)

Highlight of the week was probably that we found two new investigators this week! Two men, actually, which is a little unusual for me. Usually I teach women. But hey, I'm not going to argue with new investigators! 

The branch president and branch mission leader here are excellent. They know exactly whom they want us to focus on, and how we can best use our time. I've never had such an engaged mission leader. It's great.

There were some really cool, random run ins this week with people that hopefully will move forward. One of our new investigators actually was driving past us in a parking lot as we were getting into our car, and rolled down his window and asked us, "Hey, where are you guys from? What are you doing?" And we were able to explain our purpose and why we were in the area. Another time, we were walking with the elders in the branch on our way to contact people, and we ran into a woman on the street who had had elders help her with stuff when she was a young single mother, and we had a great discussion about seeking truth and the Book of Mormon.

But really, I had an amazing spiritual experience this week. I had been dealing with some feelings of discouragement, and they were really weighing me down. Preach My Gospel warns against discouragement: "You should not, however, become discouraged; discouragement will weaken your faith. If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit." Well, knowing and doing are different things, as we all know. But I was trying to stay motivated, and be happy. But Sunday, I decided that I wanted to ask one of the elders in the branch for a priesthood blessing. And it was incredible. It was literally like I had given the elder a list of my concerns, and he went down the list and addressed each one. With the actual words I used. Except he had no clue about any of them; Heavenly Father did. The power of the priesthood is so real! And blessings can really bring that counsel and peace that you need. I wish I could adequately describe how comforted I felt afterwards.

Columbia is a great town, there's a lot of potential and work to do here, and it's going to be awesome! 

Pray for missionary opportunities.

Lots of love,

Sister Barret

Week 55: Some Highlights...

What a busy busy week. It was one of those weeks when P-day to P-day feels a lot longer than a week. Part of that may be that it was actually longer than a week. But hey, who's counting?

I don't even know where to start. I almost want to go backwards in time, it's been so exciting the last few days. But I'll restrain myself. 

Tuesday: We saw some of the most amazing people in Paris before I headed out. 

The photos here are mostly from transfer meeting on Wednesday, some past and current companions :) Sister Edgel, Sister Richardson, Sister Reed (who finished her mission! She was going on a mission tour and stopped in at transfers), and Sister Auble.

Transfer meeting was great Wednesday. Then got to go to my area, Columbia. It's very pretty, lots of trees changing colors. I got to unpack and get to know the area a little. 

The members here are great! Very welcoming. They take care of us :)

The highlights of the week were definitely stake conference and mission conference. Yep, lots of conferences in a row! Stake conference, we got to hear from two members of the Seventy, Elder Deschler and Elder Sitati, because the O'Fallon IL Stake was getting a new stake president. 

Saturday was all about hastening the work, especially through the use of social media. Everyone was challenged to share the "Because of Him" video on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Sunday was the announcement of the new stake president. It was amazing to see all the stake sustain the new president. He was way young, and people kept commenting on how despite his youth, they know that this was the Lord's choice.

Then! Monday! All 240+ missionaries in the Missouri St Louis mission gathered together for an amazing, spiritual mission conference. We heard from President and Sister Morgan, Elder and Sister Sitati, and from the other members of our mission presidency. The messages were awesome. Elder Sitati counseled us on the Atonement, on following the Spirit, and being a great missionary. Sister Sitati kind of emphasized how relationships here on the mission help us to learn how to have good relationships in the future. I liked her counsel on after you have a disagreement, bear your testimonies to each other.

The surprise of the conference? President Morgan got a copy of "Meet the Mormons" and let us watch it! Us missionaries were so excited, we all cheered. The movie was so good! The stories were all uplifting and you could definitely feel the Spirit. It's cliche, but seriously. I laughed, I cried, I felt the Spirit... Haha. I think I wasn't expecting it to be so funny, but it was! I would recommend it for sure.

Anyway, I am running out of things to say. It was so much fun to see all the missionaries. The socializing was intense :)

I've started the Book of Mormon again, and this time I am focusing on studying the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love marking the effects the Atonement can have on us (the strength, peace, and forgiveness that flows into our lives).

Lots of love to everyone,

Sister Barret

Week 54: It's Been a Happy-Sad Week

​This week was Carol's baptism, and it was amazing. She was so ready for this.  Her husband was less active, but because she's been coming to church, so has he. And really, the miracles that have happened. They are some of the sweetest, most service oriented people I've ever met, and I have no doubt that they will do wonders. I'm so grateful that I had the blessing, the privilege to be here in Paris. 

The baptismal service was lovely. Fifty members of the branch came! Which was really a witness to me that miracles do happen! It was in between Conference sessions on Sunday. 

And General Conference was a huge highlight too! Wow. Saturday especially stood out to me, where every talk seemed to answer my questions. I wish I could have the whole Conference printed out already so I could review it! Oh well, I'll just have to read my notes :)

Of course, like I said at the top, there's also been the sad parts of this week. We struggled with finding new investigators, we had to drop several investigators, and some of our investigators didn't keep some very important commitments. But that's the balancing act of missionary work. There will always been highlights and lowlights, daily it seems. When you're participating in the work of salvation, I guess that shouldn't be a surprise.

Dude! Family! I am on the Meet the Mormon film website, and it's coming to Vancouver! You have to go see it! Or at least Lyvia, take one of your friends with you and go see it! I'm so jealous. It looks awesome! (Meetthemormons.com for more details!)

Sorry about that sidenote! Haha. 

Another sad part is that Sister Edgel and I's time together (I know, my grammar is :P but we went to seminary this morning, so I'm sleepy) is coming to an end. 

I'm heading to Columbia, Illinois! Funny story time... so one of the confusing things about Missouri and Illinois is that there are several places that are in both states... Springfield IL and MO, there's more but I'm forgetting, COLUMBIA... so when we got transfer calls, I asked which area I was actually going to, because Columbia is the name of a zone, a city in MO with three+ sets of missionaries, and a city in IL. No one knew. But I found out last night that it is actually Illinois, haha. My new companion is Sister Auble.

Should be fun!

I'll definitely miss Paris though. I'll miss this branch. What I really admire is that the people here really are family. The branch supports and lifts one another. Everyone pitches in to help with events or other things. The parade? Group effort. The baptism? So much support from the branch. They're really amazing. I'll miss these people!

I hope you all enjoyed Conference also! Prayer works, miracles happen, and missionary work is so rewarding. 

Also, before I forget again: Next week we're having a mission conference with Elder Satati of the Seventy, so we won't be emailing on MONDAY but Tuesday, because the conference is an all day thing on Monday.

Lots of love! Have a great week!

Devynne

Week 53: Don't Rain on Our Parade!

Good news: It didn't! And we were in a parade, and it was awesome.

Also, I tried to take more photos this week, so:

​So during Honeybee Festival, we may have eaten not the best... the first was a funnel cake, and the second is fried cookie dough. DELICIOUS, by the way.

​

Us making bees out of balloons for the float, and waiting for Carol to finish her interview! It went great, she's set for baptism on the fifth! YAY!

​A picture of our float! It was so cute, the little kids all dressed up like honeybees... Our baskets have cards that had the church address, our phone number, and the six "Be's" on them, plus a little "Bit-O-Honey" candy. The elders are from Effingham, they had to come up to interview Carol, so then they came and helped pass out cards during the parade. Enjoy our color coordination :)

I'll leave off there. It was so much fun! We gave away ~1250 cards, and the image of the church, hopefully, was very positive! How many missionaries get to say that they walked in a parade on their mission? I'm pretty sure not that many! 

Between the parade and preparing Carol for her baptismal interview, it's been a pretty crazy week! And it's not looking to slow down any-- next week is General Conference, then her baptism (yay!) and then after that--transfers! And then in Paris, there'll be a big hayride, but it's the 11th... so I probably won't be here for that :( Which stinks, but what can you do?

The General Women's Meeting was awesome! I loved the emphasis on temples. It's tough not getting to go to the temple, but it's definitely helping me to appreciate them more! Also, cool experience with the broadcast: I like having questions before a session begins, so that I can look for answers. Well, Saturday was a busy day, so I kind of forgot... So I jotted down two questions right as the session began. Well, the first two talks answered my first question, the third talk answered my second question, and President Uchtdorf's talk answered the questions I didn't even know that I had! It was a great session, I enjoyed all the talks. And the little girls from Korea singing were super cute. Oh my goodness.

Hope you all have a great General Conference week! Lots of love!

Sister Barret