"Live How You Want Others to Live"

The note we sent to the sisters in our zone!

Rain and humidity ... love my hair?!

Read the story below about the gum...

Hello!

Today we are going to the zoo. I am very excited! This week was great. We have been busy with more lessons...what a good problem to have! We also got our area books fixed and have spent some time re entering everything. We are almost caught up which is a giant relief!

J&M are finally working towards being baptized on July 1st. We are excited! We had some good lessons with them this week. He asks a lot of really deep questions like, "where did the horses come from that were on the promised land when Lehi's family arrived?" We have been able to simply answer some and direct him to articles and things on LDS.org. One time we tried to answer a question that we didn't know much about. Let's just say we have decided to only teach what we know... preach my gospel!

My favorite moment of the week was when we were teaching C&C. We were going through the plan of salvation and had the 7 years old read the words to "I am a Child of God." The Spirit filled my heart and gave me a glimpse of how much better their lives are getting because of the gospel. Although they've been kind of flakey lately and haven't been to church the past few weeks, we can really see the light of Christ entering their eyes.

One funny thing. We wave at everyone we drive by, walk by, bike by, or anything. We drove past this little girl who was walking down the road eating some pizza. She waved back and something flew out of her hand and hit our car. We thought it was just a pizza crust or something. We forgot about it and later Sister Hall said "she didn't throw pizza" and we found a glob of gum on our car. Sister Hall started to pull it off but it just kept going and going and it is still on the car. Ew. We will scrub it today.

Oh yeah, the subject line. There is a funny funny guy who we are teaching. He said "live how you want others to live" and I really liked that. It's like the golden rule but just for life in general.

That's all for this week, love you all!

Sister Barnes

God is Good, Life is Good

Mother's Day facetime is the BEST!!

This week and a half was incredible and very exhausting!

Because of how tired we are, we are taking lots of this day to rest. So, this email may be kinda short and lame, I apologize.

Our area book apps broke almost 2 weeks ago and finally Monday they got fixed. The high up guy in the IT office in salt lake says it best, "sorry you are experiencing every known issue on the books right now." Basically we couldn't sync and 2 weeks worth of stuff got erased but we took screenshots before so it's not a huge deal.. just taking ages to put back together. At one point we had 38 unreported lessons 😅

Busy. We have been booked back to back almost all day every day. So many awesome people have been willing to visit with us and make and keep commitments. It's wonderful. Highlight story... Sister Hall was backing the car and this dad was just watching. He calls his 15 yr old son and 7 yr old daughter over to watch. So they stared at her for a while. She got in and said "um, I think they want to talk to us" so we pulled up and talked. They want to come to church and are so prepared for the gospel. We are teaching them again on Friday!

God's timing this week has been amazing. One example: we called this guy that I met on exchanges a few weeks ago. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he gave us his number. We called a few days ago and asked if he's read from it yet. He said something like, "wow, that's crazy! I just opened it right before you called!" Tender mercies.

Interviews with President Daines. Let's just say President loves us. When I sat down he was commenting about how long I've been in the North 1 Zone (Over 7 months). He said that he really wants to put either me or Sister Hall on OSU campus because we have the perfect personalities and it would be natural for us. Then he said "but, it's not worth it to separate you two." YES! So we think we are staying together another transfer. A few weeks ago we asked him if he would give us blessings before he leaves. He said he promises to do it after the next interviews if I promised to do something. What? Visit them when I get home! I said it's a done deal. I love the Daines.

Mother's Day was fun! Sister Hall and I went over to Marsha's and all 3 of us were together for the call to Sister Hall's family and my family. I love my mom! She's the best mom ever and I hope to be even half as great as she is some day.

Hm, that's enough for this week. Just know it was really really good. Transfer calls will come probably in a few hours so I'll email again when they come.

Lots of love!
Sister Barnes

Transfer news.. we are BOTH STAYING!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!! also I FORGOT THE BEST PART OF THE WEEK! So PMG says that we are supposed to ask for referrals from everyone. We both were pretty bad at this. Until... we came up with a solution. A referral asking "incentive." It's between me and Sister Hall. Here are the rules. First person that asks 100 people for referrals wins. You have to win by 5. Loser has to buy the other frozen custard from Whit's. It doesn't seem like that much fun but oh man it is. I don't think we've let a single person slip by without asking them! The current score is 29-23. I'm up 😏 So this was a very inspired incentive because a majority of the people we ask give us at least 1 or 2! And, when we go to contact the referrals they usually give us another. It's a big chain that I think will go on forever. It's great and it's how we are finding the elect.

Prayers and pepto-bismol

Hey family and friends!

This week was wonderful and exhausting!

I'll begin with yesterday, church day! I have a new record for number of investigators at church. I will begin with them and talk about their progress this week:
1&2- J&M! They were new investigators when I got here and we taught them for a few weeks until she got pneumonia then they got busy and we had to pause the visits. We stopped by this week and we were able to find out that they discussed it and want to begin meeting with us again!! She shared some funny comments she made to him that are giving us and idea of what's up. She told him, "maybe I'll just have to wait until you die to become a Mormon!" So we think he is more hesitant but she is all in. They came to church and sat near Marsha and were taking notes and told some of the members how much they enjoyed it. We are meeting with them tomorrow and will pick up where we left off.
3- S. She is on date for June 10th. She had to cancel our lesson this week and is hard to get ahold of to set up additional lessons. We stopped by her work this week to set up a time and to see if she would be coming to church. She's kinda odd and suuuper funny. We asked what her schedule was like this weekend and she said, "I'm off Sunday, wanna hang out?" I said, "yeah, wanna come to church?" She said, "yeah, but I need a ride." So we got her a ride and she came.
4- Th!! I met her on exchanges a few weeks ago. She's the fuuuunnny lady who said "Jesus should be black!" So she had to postpone our return appointment and we were finally able to get back to see her. She is super blunt and a little stubborn but we tried anyway. We taught her the plan of salvation on Saturday night and she committed to work towards being baptized on June 24th. She told us she didn't really want to come to church so that was a concern. We told her we'd call her in the morning. We called Sunday morning and she answered the phone suuuper happy and said, "I'm coming to church!" She came and loved it. We're seeing her Tuesday morning.
5- D! He was taught a little by previous sisters but apparently they were too pushy and scared him away. He's the one who's brother asked Sister Hall if we believe in marriage. He said he didn't have a car but he wanted to get himself to church. He rolled up on his bike and stayed the whole time. Go D!
6- Faithful V. We didn't see them this week, but we will be dropping them next week. He comes to church and pays his tithing but isn't willing to get baptized or become a member. His wife refuses to come to church. No progress so no more visits.
7- M is a member family's friend. She is 14 years old and adorable. She's been coming to church for a few months and going to activities. I thought she was another daughter, I had no idea she wasn't a member. Through the ward council, they were selected to be one of the families we would be teaching all the lessons to. We arranged for her to be there. We had a great restoration lesson and she was excited to get her own Book of Mormon. We set up our next appointment and she whispered to her member friend that she "better be here." Sister H is going to talk to her mom this week and get permission for us to be meeting with her!! I love member missionary work. And lessons in members homes... to member's friends!!
 
Sister Hall met R. on exchanges a few weeks ago. She was doing yardwork and they offered to help. She said, "thank you, god!" Raising her hands in the air. We went back a few times and she took us to dinner. We were talking about our missions and she told us she wants a church tour and to take all of the lessons. Service softens hearts, folks.

Other eventful things MLC was Tuesday. I love MLC. I learned a lot about some of the basics of things we are expected to do as leaders and as missionaries. It was awesome.

I was a little under the weather this week. Tuesday I had terrible terrible allergies. Wednesday it turned into an awful sinus infection. Thursday was a really bad cold. Friday was still a bad cold and I had no energy. Saturday I woke up so sick and I think I had the flu. Only problem was we were stacked with lessons back to back literally all day, including dinner with an investigator. I wasn't about to let Satan take over the day! So I prayed a ton and took a giant nap during lunch. Between every lesson I took some Pepto-Bismol and made it through alive! It was a little miserable but I would've felt sick at home or felt sick doing the Lord's work so I chose the Lord's work! Sorry mom, I'll rest after my mission 😏

Thursday we had exchanges and I was with my grand baby Sister Mayhew! She's been out about 3 months and finishes her training next week. We had lots of fun!

We went to drug court again this week and we are becoming really good friends with the Staff. When we were in the elevator to leave when one guy sees us. He goes "Wait!" Puts his arm in the elevator so it stops, and comes at Sister Hall to give her a HUG goodbye. She got super awkward, squished her body in the back corner of the elevator, stuck her arm out as far as she could, closed her eyes, and said, "WE CAN'T GIVE HUGS!!!" And he was super confused. It all happened so fast, and then we felt super awkward... But, then she pulled herself together, gave him a normal explanation of why she got way weird, and then gave him a firm handshake. Hopefully he understood. This Wednesday might be a little awkward, but that's okay, because we embrace it! I was just dying laughing the whole time, sorry I didn't help 😂😂😂

We met with the less active who stopped us in the parking lot and asked us to meet with him. We went over with him, his crazy 3 year old son, his non member mom and her non member bf. We taught them the restoration and it was really good. He came back to church!! Huge thing for him.

That's just a few of the awesome things, I'll share more on Sunday when we FaceTime!! We will be facetiming at Marsha's and I'll probably call around 7:45 pm my time. Love you and talk to you then!

Next week is transfer week already!! Sister Hall and I are 95% sure we are staying. How do we know? I'll share a few things. So just barely I asked her what percentage we're sure we're staying together. I wrote 95 down and she said hmm, 95! Then earlier this week I made some banana muffins and we were eating them during our companion Study yesterday and out of nowhere we both say something like "we should put chocolate chips in these next time." And we looked at each other and just laughed because we have the exact same thought process about 100% of the time. Oh also after MLC we were talking to President Daines and he told us that we have a great companionship that it did not begin here. Whaaat!!! We were probably bffs in the pre earth life so THAT’S COOL!!!

Bye! I'll be emailing next week on Wednesday.

Love,
Sister Barnes

"Do You Believe in Marriage?"

Sis Gibson. Ohio is covered in dandelions!

A reformed dead cherry tree. The guy that lives here wants a Book of Mormon.

Matching night gowns and cool hats

I've been out longer than all three of these sisters combined. Yikes I'm old!

It's been raining for three days straight, we have to wear rain boots.

We drove up to a house and this guard dog was out. Sister Hall told me to unroll the window to see if he bites. He jumped up to the window and licked me a lot. Haha, nice dog.

Hello everyone!

This week was really good and unbelievably fast. I'll share a few things.

We had exchanges on Tuesday and Thursday. Exchange days bring miracles! Tuesday I was with Sister Gibson who came out a transfer after me. She's an incredible missionary! Her goal for the day was to be obedient to her first spiritual promptings. On the way to first person of the day we drove past a park. Sister Gibson said, "there are people at that park, we should stop and talk to them." So we pulled into the parking lot and embraced all sorts of awkward situations and talked to a few people anyway. The first was a photographer for a Columbus newspaper. He was here on business and we were able to share the Prince of Peace video. He doesn't like talking about his feelings
or beliefs but we could tell he was touched and that was needed. Then there was a dad watching his son play on the playground. The 4 year old son started talking to us so we worked our way over to his dad. We ended up teaching him a fair amount of the restoration and committing him to read from the Book of Mormon and allow the Elders to come to his home to teach his whole family. It was a miracle and he's a new investigator for the elders! Thursday I was with Sister Horne who came
out just a few weeks ago. Her goal was to talk with everyone. We were on bikes and went a few miles to contact some potentials. We saw a lady in her parked car with the window open. We met her and instantly started teaching the restoration using the pamphlet. We taught her the whole thing and extended baptism. She said yes. I felt strongly to extend a date for June 17th which she accepted! Sister Horne was so exited that someone accepted a date on the first contact and that we
met her because of our extra effort to talk with everyone. Sister Hall had a dream the night before that I put someone on date for baptism. She told me that morning and said she didn't know who I would extend to. I guess it was a prophesy!

Last night we had a lot of extra miles and had a feeling to go to the tippy top of our area to a certain street. It was wayyy up in the boonies and there were only like 4 houses on the long street so we
drove up to each of them. A cute old couple were in one of the houses. They let us right in and started by saying they didn't want to disappoint us but they weren't interested. We taught
the restoration with the pamphlet. The whole time we kept getting the feeling to tie it back to eternal families, so we did. The spirit was so strong and throughout the lesson you could see them locked into the discussion. It was amazing. We are going back this week!

The ward council started a thing a few years ago called the rolling 15. Basically there's a consistent 15 families in the ward that the missionaries will be teaching. It's a combination of less active,
active, and part member families. One family we will be teaching have a daughter who has a friend who has been coming to church and mutual for a while. We are working with them to have the friend join in on the lessons. Another family has a 9 year old daughter who hasn't been baptized and we will be helping her progress towards that! I love this ward.

Oh yeah! The subject line! We were talking to this one guy. His brother came out and was quite tipsy. He said to Sister Hall "you are sooooo beautiful" and stared at her for like 2 mins. Then turned to me and said "you have beauuuutiful eyes" then when we left he asked sis hall "do you believe in marriage?" She said "uh, yeah." Then I said "k bye!!!" And we left real quick. HAAH I saved her
life.

That's about it! This week will be crazy again. MLC and more exchanges! I love the gospel. I love Sister Hall! I love Marysville.

Love,
Sister Barnes

I am Happy!

The district. Don't worry, we didn't swim...

Columbus North 1 and 2 zones

On exchanges, "My Girls!"

Earth day - planted 50 trees

Hello!! This week was wonderful. I'll share just a few of the coolest things. 

We had zone conference and it was super awesome. Lots of focus on the simplicity of the gospel and how we can teach more simply. President gave an awesome training on using pamphlets in our teaching and we've been applying it. We also talked about faith in Jesus Christ and how simple but necessary it is. I love Christ!

We were doing some finding in an apartment complex on Wednesday. Our primary fell through and we were walking to our backup when a 14 year old girl sees us and says, "Hi! Can I talk to you?" We say "uh..yes!!!" and introduce ourselves. When she realized we were from a church she asks if we had a paper or pamphlet she could have to give to her parents who are looking for a church. We say "uh..yes!!!!" and give her a pamphlet. We talked to her about the front cover and asked how it made her feel. She said, "happy, just happy!" We talked about the joy that comes from Christ. We asked if she would show us where her family lives and she took us to meet her parents. As soon as the mom recognized our name tags she tells us about an experience she had when she was 5 years old. Her best friend was a member of the church, and when she got deathly ill she was in the hospital and two Elders came and gave her a blessing with oil. She perfectly describes a priesthood blessing and explained how she woke up the next morning and was healed. She remembered that experience vividly. We begin talking about Christ. We showed them the pamphlet and talked about the Savior and the feelings they had as they looked at the picture. They said "safe," "happy," and "warm." We taught the restoration as we practiced in Zone Conference. It was so powerful and they were able to make the connection of authority the Elders had to the authority that Christ had. When we got to the Book of Mormon, she said she used to study it with her LDS friend but sadly didn't have a copy anymore. We gave them one and they were SO thankful and excited. The spirit was so strong as we taught simply using the pictures in the pamphlet. We extended baptism and they agreed to pray about it and the Book of Mormon. Go!!!!

Some Sisters in our zone got information for a community service project that we were able to participate in. We were planting trees at a local park and were asked to pair up with other people. We met a lady named Val who gladly helped us. We spent a good three hours with her and got to know her pretty well. We talked about our missions and what we do. At one point, she said "I love that your name tags say Jesus Christ." Her friend in college was a member and set a really good example for her by keeping the Sabbath day holy. She let us know that this past Sunday she remembered her friend and decided to keep her Sabbath day holy. She loved the peace that she felt. She began asking us a lot of questions and we were able to answer. We invited her to church and she said that she has actually been looking for a church to attend. We introduced her to the missionaries serving in her area and they were able to exchange contact info. We're excited to hear about her progression in the gospel! We are grateful for this service activity where we were able to see promises from preach my gospel fulfilled: Through service, you and those who are prepared for the restored gospel come together in a powerful, inspiring way. Your good works will help people recognize you as a servant of God and will lead to opportunities to teach the restored gospel.

Thursday we had exchanges! I was with Sister Vickery from Idaho. She's an incredible missionary and we had a ton of fun. We met some cool people and had lots of opportunities to teach. We met P. and had a good time with her. She's an older black lady who wasn't super interested at first but let us in anyway. We taught the restoration using the pamphlet like we learned in zone conference. This time wasn't as successful at first. We showed her the restoration pamphlet and asked how the front cover made her feel. She said "nothing." We asked if she know who it was and she said, "Jesus is supposed to be black." I couldn't control it and laughed for a sec but then we talked about the artists rendition and began flipping through the pamphlet and teaching the restoration. It got better when we talked about the Priesthood and explained the restoration of it. We got to Joseph Smith and she asked where he got the last name Smith. I said with a straight face "from his dad." She laughed but kept asking. So I asked what her last name was. Then asked where she got it. She said "my husband" then I said "right, and Joseph Smith got his name from his dad." Hahahahahaha it was so funny. Her heart opened a lot and she's now a new investigator and is coming to church next week. She also is having us over for dinner so lots of wins. 

Marsha is on fire as usual. On Friday night we brought up patriarchal blessings and invited her to do some research on LDS.org. When we asked about it on Sunday she told us she's already set up a time to meet with bishop to get an interview for a recommend. She is so awesome and asked us to bring her out with us even more. Her testimony is continuing to grow and she inspires me. I love Marsha. 

C is a cool guy who's looking for structure in his life. He was in the Elders old area and is now in ours. We almost dropped him because he was being weird and we could never get ahold of him. Our "last try" visit he was there and were now teaching him and his niece. He came to stake conference yesterday and we're teaching them both tonight. They both want to get baptized!

We're working on finding a lot of new people! We've been having really good first contacts and getting return appointments but somewhere between our first visit and the follow up lesson Satan attacks them. It's really sad but we've been working harder to make sure they have a spiritual experience and a trusting relationship with us so we can address the concerns. We had ward Coordination yesterday and our ward mission leader proposed a special fast for the ward. We will be fasting to find those prepared to receive and act upon our message. It was a really spiritual experience deciding what specific thing we needed to fast for. We're looking forward to seeing the ward come together with faith to find these people. 

A lot more happened but that's all I can remember. We just had a district activity and we went ice blocking at this reservoir place. It was cool  

Love you all!!

Sister Barnes

#FINDMILES

Our friend the judge and drug court

This week was one for the books!!!!! Old man played the guitar, drug court with our friend the judge, chapel tour with 5 old ladies, went to church at the Bible baptist church.

Where do I begin?

Monday night we met with an investigator. Beginning of the lesson she was like I'm agnostic don't really want change. By the end she prayed and told Heavenly Father she knows he wants her to be baptized. Woot woot! She's 21 and awesome. Lives in Milford Center, part of our new area. Phones don't really work there and it's hard to get a hold of her, but she is cool.

Tuesday we were challenged by our district leader to extend baptism before district meeting the next morning. Last contact at 8:30 pm was pretty kind and we extend and he began to bash hard listing off all these bible references and asked us if we even knew what they said. A goal we had this week was to diffuse angry people by being nice. Sister Hall said, "thanks so much for caring about us." It was hard not to laugh. We also had to run through some streets and backyards to make it to our car so we could get home on time. Oh also we met this cool guy who played the guitar for us. He played us some gospel music and one of his originals.

Wednesday was incredible. Rewind to last Sunday night. We met a potential that is super cool. We talked to him a bit about his life and his career. He is a judge for the county drug court. After talking a bit, he told us he would love to have us come to a session of drug court to meet some people who are working on making changes in their lives. We felt strongly that we should go and were confirmed by Preach My Gospel, "be creative in your finding." So we went. He introduced us as the Sisters all the way from Utah. During drug court, people stand before the Judge and tell him about their week and how the progress of overcoming their addiction is coming along. One guy was up there and everyone was impressed with his progress. He had just gotten his own place and is providing for his needs. He told the judge where his place was and the Judge says, "if the Sisters knock on your door, listen to them." And he said okay. So, we only had the street name and had to leave before it was over. Fast forward to the next day. We put some potentials and formers in that live on his street. We get to the street and there are lots of people outside because it's finally getting warm. We talk to the first guy and he wasn't interested and was from out of town but points us toward a house. We meet a lady in this house! She let us in to show the Prince of Peace video. We tie it into the restoration and teach her a lot about the Book of Mormon. Our zone focus this month is baptismal extensions and the spirit prompted me strongly to extend. So I did. Then she says that this is something her and her daughter have been wanting to do together. She explained that she has been waiting until her daughter is old enough to choose for herself and she feels like she's ready now. (She's 8 😊). We set up a time to come back to teach them more. Oh, and we asked if she knew the guy we met at drug court and she totally does, he asked her out a few weeks ago and she pointed us in a closer direction toward his house. We still haven't found him but we will keep searching. #FINDMILES.

Thursday was exchange day! I was with Sister Kraus. She went to Davis High School! This is her second transfer and she's hilarious. We had lots of fun! We met some really cool people, including the lady I mentioned earlier. Highlight. So a little while back we met this older lady. We met her and talked to her about the church. She was very comfortable with her faith. We kept talking. We offered a simple chapel tour and told her she could invite her friends! So she did! 5 ladies rolled up to the church for a chapel tour. They all came as part of her birthday celebration, she just turned 80 and she's the youngest one out of the 5!! The tour lasted longer than planned because of all the questions they had! We gave them each a Book of Mormon and got contact info for them all. We have started meeting with two of them and are still working on getting a time set up with the other 3. The spirit is present in the church building :)

Friday was weekly planning day.  We went to the library so we could focus. It was exhausting but we cranked it out. We saw a lady who came to church last week. She opened up a lot and expressed some of her concerns. We will adjust teaching and help her continue to progress. She quit the job that she had that disabled her to come to church and is planning on coming more regularly!

Saturday I convinced Sister Hall to bike. We met some really cool people outside. Highlight people were a cute young couple who recently got married. We showed the Prince of Peace video and they told us we could share more right then. We taught the whole restoration and they were super excited about the Book of Mormon. We're going back this week! We've finally been having more success in our finding! So many cool people I can't even tell about them all. We took a bathroom break at Kroger and there were free sushi samples on our way out. We got some and realized neither of us had ever had sushi and neither of us liked sea food. But we tried it anyway. It was gross.

EASTER SUNDAY! We invited J&M to join us next week and they invited us to go with them this week. So we went to the Baptist service. It was really weird. Lots of music and it felt more like a concert than church. 45 minutes of this band called "Sold Out" from Illinois. They were actually really good, just not for a church service haha. Preacher started his sermon but we had to leave part way through to make it to our church. Apparently after we left he explained that two Mormon missionaries were led to his house last night (we definitely got his address on white pages and referred him hahaha). He shared that they were led to him so he could try to convert them. He went on bashing the church and the truths of the gospel. We heard people were pretty upset and it ruined the Easter service. We felt bad, but one of our investigators said it's pushing her further away from that church and closer to ours. So that's good! And J&M are still planning on coming with us next week. I'm thankful for the true church, Christ's church, and the reverence and spirit you can feel there. Wow, you could FEEL the difference. (A little more about the preacher. He's a really nice guy. The elders went by last night, as he mentioned in his sermon, and got bashed a little. They set up a time to go back and share more. We warned them of the bashing and deep doctrine questions he'll bring up. Poor guy.) Our church was amazing, awesome focus on the Atonement. Sunday night we had a lesson with Marsha, her son, and her grandson, around a fire. It was a fun and memorable Easter 🐣.

Life is good. I love Marysville. I love Sister Hall. Hahaha oh man we get along so well and have SO much fun. This week we have some conference, more exchanges, lots of service, and lots of lessons. Yay!

Until next week,

Sister Barnes

#BibleBrawl2k17

New companion in Marysville, Sister Hall

Hey everyone!

It's been a quick few days! My new companion is Sister Morgan Hall. She's from Alpine, UT and is awesome. This is her 4th transfer, she came out the same time as Sister Flora! She was serving in Hilliard where she was trained then trained a new missionary for a transfer. Now, she's here with me! She graduated 2016 and lived in Provo for a few months before her mission. She's going to play tennis at BYU and we've already decided to be pals. She's a super hard worker and is super real with everyone. We're going to have a good transfer! Or maybe 2? Or maybe 3?! We're thinking we'll be together a while. We had a new leader training at the mission home and President Daines looked at us and said, "this is a good companionship." He is correct!

I'll start with the craziest thing. So there is a senior in high school that got baptized a little over a year ago. He's waiting on his mission call! He goes to this bible study thing every Monday at his school. The facilitator guy goes to the bible Baptist church, which just happens to be the church that one of our members came from, that another investigator is fighting between, that others we teach often attend, and that most of ours and the Elder's investigators are coming from. So one day C. asked the youth pastor, if he could bring a few friends and discuss beliefs. He said yes. C. called up the missionaries. So Saturday at 10 am us and the Elders and C. meet at the Bible baptist church for a discussion on beliefs. We didn't have a clue what to expect. We all go in and meet the youth pastor. We sit down and list out a few subjects that we want to discuss including the godhead, priesthood, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, etc. The discussions begin. Here are a few funny highlights: So we were talking about baptism and how the Bible says we all need to be born of water. He said that was true, and said baptism by water could mean when you're born. He mentioned that there is water involved, because the water breaks when you're giving birth! Haha not quite, sir. Later on we were talking about the spirit and how we feel it. We read in Galatians 5 about the fruits of the spirit. He was saying that all those things were just choices, not feelings. He expounded and said that love is not a feeling it's a choice. We then were talking about things that were feelings. He gave an example and said that lust is a feeling and we shouldn't trust it. He went off about how all teenagers do is lust and Sister Hall said "well, I don't lust my parents." And we all laughed and he didn't know what to say. He talked about only trusting God's word, which he believes is ONLY the Bible. We asked how he knew it was God's word and he said because it says it in the Bible. Then Elder Vance with the straightest face ever says "I'm the president of the United States" then pastor will says what then he says it again. Hahahahahaha it was so funny. This showed that we can't just trust something that says they're something...We taught that God is the only source for truth and we need to turn to him for the truth of all things! One of the last things we were talking about was the Godhead. He tried to explain why the trinity should make sense. He said that he's a father and he's a son and he's a pastor.. three in one. We turned to Genesis 1:26 where it says "we" and "our" (referring to Christ and Heavenly Father) and I asked if he says "we're going to go store" when he's going alone. Haha we had a good chuckle and he changed the topic so he wouldn't have to answer. By the end we were all having a good time and we invited him to read the Book of Mormon to see for himself what it's all about. Haha that whole situation was a first and probably last. It wasn't bashy but the elders gave it a funny name: #BibleBrawl2k17.

Here's another funny thing that happened on Sister Hansen's last night. We set up a time to meet with a part member family in the new area. We showed up at the designated time and the wife, who's the less active member, invited us in and told us to sit down and talk to her father in law while she finished stuff up. We chatted for a little while. Then he told us to move the car off the road because he didn't want it to get hit. So we did. Then when we come back, the whole dinner table is set with 2 open spots for us. We're invited to sit down and we start to eat. Haha we're still not sure what previous elders did when they asked if they could come over for a visit, but we got a nice meal out of it. We shared a quick impromptu dinner message using the Prince of Peace video. Haha super awkward situation and now we're worried that when we ask to come over they assume we're asking for them to make us food 😂😂

M. is awesome. We had a few lessons this week and she came down to Milford Center with us to see a few people. Turns out she knew almost everyone we were trying! She grew up in Milford Center and showed us her old house and told us about some people and relatives that still live there. She's the best! She got set apart as a ward missionary yesterday!

J&M are still dying. Just kidding not dying but basically. Michelle is finally on antibiotics and is on the road to recovery but still can't meet. They're anxious to have us over again soon!

We met a sister who is a less active in our new area boundaries. She has some crazy health issues which supposedly prevent her from being active. We went over and decided to start teaching her. We taught the restoration and asked why she doesn't come to church. She told us that it's because he piano is too loud and it gives her really bad headaches (she has chronic headaches of some sort and they get really bad.) So we decided to help her come to church!. We bought some earplugs that she can put in during the hymns and take out during the talks. She was super excited. We called her Sunday morning but she didn't pick up. We tried stopping by after church to see why she wasn't at church but we think she had one of her bad headaches because she didn't even open up. We'll keep working with her to help her receive the blessings of coming to church.

Yeah this week was a good one. Lots of people tried to convince us our church was not true but it just made our testimonies even stronger. I love the church and know it's true!

That's all!
Love, Sister Barnes