Wow it's been a great week and a half. I don't even know where
to begin..
S. and M.!! Last week on Monday we had a lesson scheduled
with them. M. ended up having strep but we didn't want to give up that
easily. We went to a member's house and had a lesson over facetime! It was
kinda silly but it was great. We talked about the priesthood and prophets and
stuff. M. requested a blessing. Thursday we went over with a few people from the ward
to give her a blessing and it went great! Spirit was strong and they're
starting to get their priorities figured out. Then Sunday..S. CAME TO CHURCH! Holy
moly this was so exciting, it was the first time an investigator has been to
church since I got to Powell... finally after two transfers it happened!
Hallelujah! M. was still not feeling well and was pretty nervous, but S.
said she is working on her to get her to come next week. S. had a great
experience and felt the spirit so strong and cried during the whole testimony
meeting. Yay! They will be coming to the relief society activity tonight and we will have another
lesson tomorrow
probably. Slowly but surely, they're progressing! They won't be ready for
baptism on the 21st but we'll try to set a new date this week. Hoping for Feb 4th!
L!!!!!! So a few weeks ago we biked to this one LOONG
street that's kinda been a joke that we talk about tracting all the time. We
were there for quite a few hours and met J. She was headed out the door but
she let us in for a second to hear what we had to say. She was fascinated by
the restoration and asked us to come back a few days later. We went back for
the return appointment and she was SO excited to see us. She let us in
and it seemed like she was a member already. She remembered that we shared
something that stood out to her. As we taught the restoration, the spirit was
so strong. She had many great questions that showed her understanding and
desire to learn. She said she wants these things to be true and be baptized and
come to church. She is SOLID. She said her family usually isn't interested in
"people like us" but when we knocked and talked for a few minutes the
first time, she felt the spirit so strongly and was prompted to listen to what
we have to say. Such a tender mercy, I'm thankful for the spirit! She's out of
town this week but will hopefully be at church this Sunday. Another cool tender mercy that ties in with J. We had dinner
with a member last week and their daughter doesn't have any girls in her age
group and feels kind of alone. We told them that we would find an 11 year old
who can be her friend. At our return appointment with J, we found out her
daughter is 11!!!. We told the family and they were so excited that their faith
is helping!
Okay this story is sick. So remember back in the middle of
December when we biked a butt ton to save miles and stuff? Well it paid off. On Monday
we got a text from this dude we met while we were biking. He was walking his
parents dog and actually let us out of the gated community we were kinda stuck
in. We introduced
ourselves and he said we could call him Brother B. We talked for just a
second and gave him our card. So Tuesday. A month minus a day later, B texts us. He
said "Hi! I met you whole walking my parents dog before Christmas. I was
wondering how long you'd be here? -B." we FREAKED OUT and responded
saying hi and there will always be missionaries and asked what we could do for
him. He said "My Christmas was great, thank you. I don't need anything,
but I have an open mind and since you were riding bikes in the freezing weather
I thought I'd might like to hear what you had to say?" THEN WE SET UP A
LESSON AND HE CAME TO THE CHURCH AND IT WAS SO GREAT. He wants to know that
this is true. He's going to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. Now the
sad thing is he actually lives in Delaware so we had to refer him to the elders
there.. tender mercy, we were in a trio for a few hours with one of the
Delaware sisters while her companion was in a trainer meeting! She was able to
meet him and get him the church address and everything he needed for Delaware.
Sad that we had to refer him but so awesome that biking pays off. I want to
bike everywhere now!!!!
So R. is this FUNNY FUNNY old man that I adore. Haha
he's great. We met him tracting before Christmas and showed him the light the
world video. He loves it and we were sure he'd want a return appointment. He
ended up saying no and we were bummed. Last week we had a YW with us and we
tried back. He was pumped to see us and let us in. We taught the restoration
and he loved every part of it. He was so excited to have the Book of Mormon! At
the end, we taught him how to pray. We told him he could ask Heavenly Father
any question he wants. The things he asked in his prayer went like this: how
much is it going to snow tomorrow? Is the Book of Mormon true? .. that's it!
Haha it was so funny. We had a lesson with him last night and he did his
"homework" of reading in the Book of Mormon. Oh yeah he showed us his
"man cave" and it is the most OSU stuff I've seen in my life. Will
take a picture next time! We taught the plan of salvation with some awesome
members and he loved it. His wife recently passed away so this hit home for
him. We asked questions throughout and at the end asked what questions he had.
He sat for a second then said "what's me homework??" He loved he Book
of Mormon and is just the coolest haha. Working on getting him to come to
church.
Some other missionaries tracted this guy. He was just a
potential in our area Book so we followed up with him. He played pro soccer for
REAL salt lake for 2 years and met with missionaries there!! He was busy at the
time but we have a return appointment for tomorrow. Yay! I guess he plays for a
team in Columbus now? Somebody look him up?
We've been making progress with quite a few less actives in the
ward! One came to church last week that hasn't been in ages. We invite her
every time we see her but we never knew she actually would come! She was there
and it surprised us both haha. Another couple is awesome. They used to be
pretty active but the wife got a weird disease thing that makes her really
tired always. They stopped coming. We would meet with her every once in a while
but her husband would never be there. We finally got him to come to a lesson
and it was great. They're working in getting back to church! One more. We were
going to challenge him to read he Book of Mormon, but right before we did he
told us about a goal he set to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon daily. He
bore his testimony of it and it was so awesome we didn't even know what to do!!
Friday I hit my 6 month mark!! Woot
woot! I can't believe I've been a missionary for over six months. Feels good!
Sad that I have less than a year left though.. time goes by real
quick when you're having fun.
Last week was COLD. idk how I'll survive this winter. I already
caught a cold and have been dying. People we talk to
before they shut the door in our face say "stay warm" and I'm like..
we will, maybe if you let us in your home we'd be warm!! Haha whatever, people
are funny. We have enough hand warmers to heat an army so we're set.
There's this awesome member who joined a few years ago. We did
service for her on
Monday and helped clean out her basement. There was a bunch of
dust and I sneezed at least 400 times in the 3 hours we were there. Haha. She
is also super duper into biking and my bike was having troubles. I asked her to
take a look at it and she replaced the breaks and has been going a major tune
up. She's awesome and says it makes her feel like a hero :')
Life is good. I'm pumped about the work. Had interviews and
loved it. Learning lots. Church is true. Joseph Smith was the prophet of the
restoration. Thomas S Monson is God's prophet today. Powell is awesome and way
fun still. I think I'll just stay the rest of my mission. Sister Flora is still
my home girl and we're having loads of fun. I've been so blessed with
companions my whole mission.
Yay just got transfer news and we're
staying!!!!!!!!!!!! Wahoo!! Longest time in an area.
Love you all.
Sister Barnes
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