Monday, August 1, 2016

Love Everything





Hey family and friends!!!
My last week at the MTC was awesome. I learned so much! I told you a little about it when I called but it was just great. I was definitely ready to move on after the New Mexico missionaries left on Monday, but we still learned so much and had some awesome smaller group things with our wonderful teachers. Ah I love love love our teachers!! I learned so much from them.
Traveling was great! We had a lot of fun and made it quick and safe. All 26 of us :). I told you a little about the Daines, they are great. Super fun and friendly but also very obedient and wants us all to be obedient. It's perfect!! I love Ohio and the humidity (I know it's weird but I love love love the humidity. It's great for my hair and skin and nails too woot woot!)

We went straight to the OSU campus and did some tracting. I placed a Book of Mormon wahoo!! We spent a night at the mission home, Sister Laidlaw and I slept in the "general authority room" which is where they have general authorities stay when they come. It was way nicer than the MTC ;).
The next morning we got up, did some more mission home stuff, then went to the church by the temple (the temple is baby but beautiful ah I love it). We did more training stuff! I got to see Remi Nelson and gave her a big hug. That was way fun. Then I met my trainer, Sister Nicole Blaser. She's from Mesa AZ and is so awesome. We get along great and both just really want to work hard and be obedient. It's great! She's been out for 8 months and this is her second time training. Yay! We're in Athens. Basically as far south and east as you can go in our mission. It's great, the area is all of Athens county and we cover the top half, elders on bottom. The ward is super fun and open and loving, reminds me of the ward back home! We live in The Plains, a small town outside of Athens. Our apartment address is
36 Poston Rd.
Apt 49
The Plains, OH 45780
anyone can send mail, just make sure it's not around transfer time. You're welcome to see if you can see it on google maps. Our apartment is nice. Just enough space for us and everything we need. And a washer and dryer yay! We have a car to drive most places but we want to ride our bikes a lot more. There are lots of contacting opportunities lost if we just drive. We live close to the church which is nice, that's where we go for wifi :). There are so many bugs here. We got eaten alive the first night. We've been smarter about bug spray so don't worry. It reminds me a lot of Nauvoo here. Everything is just more spread out and it's way green. Love it.

The area is great. I love the members and all the people! Everyone is so friendly and open to talk with us. One night we were tracting at an apartment complex after we visited somebody in our area book. Oh really quickly, as we were tracting that complex we found a less active family that are so inactive they haven't even transferred their records to Athens. They were putting kids to bed but want us to come back. We're planning on going back soon! We met a lot of people that night and it was almost time to head home. We had like 3 minutes when I saw a tow truck on the other side of the parking lot. It had just started raining but we weren't going to give up yet. We ran over to the truck and the driver was happy to talk with us. He was impressed with our determination and knew we had something important to share. He travels a lot and is rarely home, but we got his phone number to figure something out. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was very excited to read it. I extended soft baptism and he isn't sure yet, but he really is considering it and wants to know more. Before we left, he told us he was having a tough day and we were angels sent from God. This was a true manifestation that the Spirit prepares both us and others to be in the right place at the right time and saying the right things. Tender mercies everywhere!

Saturday we went tracting on OU campus. There shouldn't have been many people, but thanks to Pokemon Go there were people ALL OVER! I have no idea what that game is but I love it because people are always out and walking around. We talked to a lot of people, taught quite a few lessons, and got a bunch of potential investigators. It was wonderful! We met a guy that is the basic campus hippie and says he's "spiritual" but looking for the truth. We talked with him a while about lots of things and invited him to church. And guess what... He came!!! We were so surprised and excited. He really liked it but wasn't able to stay the full time. He's meeting with us this week and will probably come to church again on Sunday! He's so cool.

Sister Blaser is wonderful. We don't settle for anything less than exact obedience. We are both super determined to pick up on the work here in Athens! I'm excited to tell you more about our work as it goes on.

Sounds like everyone had a good week this week and last in California! Congrats Sarah on getting your permit, that's awesome. Hm so much happened but I can't even think of it. I just love being here in Ohio! I still don't really feel like a real missionary. I thought it would hit but it still hasn't, oh well. Well, if you have any more questions let me know! Can't believe I'll hit my 1 month mark this week ;)
Much love! 
Sister Barnes

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