Month: August 2018

Okay, this email will be quick!

We had an amazing lesson about the Atonement of Jesus Christ with a lady named Anangeli this week. She is best friends with our branch president and his wife, so they came to the lesson as well. They are amazing, I love the Cartagenas so much!

We taught a new lady this week, her name is Dominga and she has a really fat chihuahua named Canela. I felt so bad for her dog. She pierced her ears! And she is scared of dogs with teeth, so she had all of hers ripped out. Crazy stuff.

ALSO, we received the amazing news that the prophet, President Nelson, is coming to speak to Puerto Rico this week! My companion and I both started tearing up when we heard the news. I am so excited to hear what he has to say to our little island. Our branch is renting a bus to take to San Juan for the occasion haha.

This week we had a PPP night, a night all about Personal Progress for las mujeres jovenes. It was so much fun and we had one of the people we are teaching working on Personal Progress! We also had food that all started with the letter p, so there was lots of pizza, popcorn, pie, etc. We ended the night by having them watch Once I Was a Beehive.

I finally saw some iguanas in the finca this week! Those guys are huge! Also, it has been raining here a TON. It was the first time I got to see lightning and hear thunder my whole mission, and I was so happy!!

One last thing (I am trying to include a few more funny details of my life as a missionary) is that we got to hear hermana Cartagena tell us the saga of Brida vs. Georgia. Brida is their dog, but their neighbors keep trying to call her Georgia and basically steal her haha. Poor Brida, she is so confused. It was a hilarious story, and while they told us, they made me try Malta! It is basically non-alcoholic beer, and Boricuas love it. I will probably never drink it again haha. But, they hate root beer and Dr. Pepper! I don’t drink soda often, but those two are usually the only ones and I can’t find them anywhere here haha.

Anyway, I love you all so much! I hope you enjoy the billion pictures I finally got around to sending haha. A quick reminder that I felt inspired to share after a sacrament meeting talk this Sunday–don’t overlook the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy! Choose activities that are worthwhile and honor the Lord’s holy day. I promise you will be blessed for setting that day apart from the others and spending time with your family or helping others!

Have a great week!
Hermana O’Barr

I have a billion more pictures, but I am having a really hard time getting them to upload. I promise to send the rest next week!

It’s been a good week! Here is a quick rundown.

We had a good district meeting, although it’s weird to adjust to the mission culture here because the hermanas don’t really like spending time with the elders, whereas we were all good friends in the WVM. It’s kind of sad not getting to see other missionaries very often. Anyway, we had a district lunch at Wendy’s afterwards and that felt super surreal because I’ve had so many district lunches at Wendy’s before. Everything was familiar, but also super different, being in Puerto Rico and speaking in Spanish to people I don’t know. But, I think I will like my district.

We also had a really fun mutual with the jovenes this week. We had a Just Dance competition! Hermana Rollins and I fasted with one of them this week, Irelyn, because her mom won’t let her get baptized or come to church anymore. It’s really sad because Irelyn is just amazing and every time I see her I just picture her as a missionary.

We met a lot of really amazing, miraculous people this week! It has been a really good week for finding and we have been so blessed to get to share our testimonies with these people. I am excited to meet with all of them again!

I hit my 10-month mark this week. For some reason, 9 months didn’t hit me quite as hard. 10 months feel strange and I don’t like it haha. I am scared about how fast the time is going! But sometimes it’s also hard to realize that I still won’t see my family for another 8 months.

Anyway, I realize that I still haven’t been able to describe much about Puerto Rico. There’s just so much, I don’t really know where to start. If you send me questions, I will answer them next week. I am also allowed to use Google hangouts in this mission, so feel free to message me if you want a reply right away!

I love you all! Espero que tengan una semana fantastica! Don’t forget the importance of being a good example to those around you through your actions of charity and love, and keeping the commandments! You do make a difference through righteous living!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Hi everyone! I sent a letter home last week since I didn’t get a p-day, so hopefully my family gets that and uploads it soon! It has been a crazy, crazy week for me, but I’m doing well here in Puerto Rico. I am in Aibonito, which is high up in the mountains and one of the least hot areas of the mission. It is MUY BONITO and I love our cute little branch. They are very excited that I can play piano for them on their tiny keyboard. My companion is Hermana Rollins and that is really cool, because we actually emailed a bit before the mission, and President Smart received super last-minute revelation to put us together! She is awesome and has been out one transfer less than me, but came to PR two months ago.

Anyway, I’ll tell you a little bit more about what it’s like here. We live in a member’s basement. It’s hot and humid here but like I said, I could be somewhere much hotter. I love the short rain storms! There are lots of dogs, cats, and chickens wandering around without owners, they have fleas and sometimes missionaries here get attacked by them. It’s also really sad when you see them dead on the side of the street. But, some of them are really cute! It’s kind of really sketch in some parts of our area, but we try to stay safe and follow the Spirit. We had to walk through el pueblo last night at dark which is like where all the bars and stuff are, but we kept our metal water bottles at the ready in case we needed to fend anyone off haha. I do think it’s more dangerous than Portland, but I actually feel calmer because we are out in the countryside and not right in the middle of the city like I was before.

Some of the great food I’ve has here so far is limber (yummy shaved ice stuff), tostones (fried plantains), pina coladas, and pastalillos (fried dough filled with different meats/seafood and cheese, served with fry sauce). The Utahans are happy because they eat lots of fry sauce here, they just call it mayo-ketchup haha.

Anyway, a cool miracle from this week was when a man we are teaching named Jose brought his girlfriend and his buddy to our lesson! It went super great, and they all want to come to church and keep learning more. We have a goal of helping this branch become a ward, and it was great to see 2 of our investigators and 2 less-actives come to church and stay for all 3 hours this week! We also have 2 youth that should be on-date for baptism after we meet with them this week!!!

Today we had a great hermanas activity in Guayama close to the beach. We painted rocks, tried but failed to hang hammocks, took cool pictures, and went out to lunch for pastalillos!

This is a very big adjustment for me, but also a wonderful adventure. I know that I can do anything with the Lord’s help, and that He has sent me here at this time for a reason. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

I have lots of pics but I will figure out how to send them all next week!