Month: March 2019

We had some wonderful miracles this week! Lizzet is on date for baptism and is almost finished reading the Book of Mormon! I am amazed by her and so grateful that we get to teach her! We also got to see the Lord answering many of our prayers of faith this week and even though we have faced a lot more tough rejection, those little moments make everything worth it. There is nothing like knowing that you are being guided by the Spirit to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands and bring other people to a knowledge of the truth. 

Also, Elizabeth came to church on Sunday! We are hoping to help her set a baptismal date the next time we visit her! Another cool miracle came on Sunday afternoon. We had faced a lot of rejection and it was really frustrating. Finally we just sat down and said another prayer and I prayed fervently that God would help lead us to just ONE person that would receive us that day. We kept going down the street and contacting the houses where people were home without any luck. But finally, at the end of the street, we found Tanaysha! I am so grateful that He answered our prayers and guided us to the ONE person on that street who was willing to listen!

I also had my second-to-last interview with my mission president this week, so he gave me some things I need to think about to prepare me for real life. Gross, haha. Also, today I hit 17 months in the mission! How time flies! I remember remember meeting someone who had been out for like 7 or 8 months at the beginning of my mission and I thought they were ancient, so I can’t even imagine how I seem to the young missionaries now hahaha.

Anyway, I am still living it up and loving Puerto Rico! This is an amazing island full of hilarious people that I have come to love dearly. I have one more month in full-time service to the Lord but I know I will be back here many times in my life, and I will continue to make my life revolve around furthering the work of the Lord! Have a great week and pray for my family full of gringos going to Mexico!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

I found my street!

Hm, well, I really don’t know what to put in this week’s email haha. There has been so much that has happened, but also not a whole lot. We found and taught cool people, we got a lot of rejection, and we sweated buckets like usual. I love Ponce a lot! It is weird and hilarious and we are constantly laughing here!

This week Lizzet came to church, which was amazing! She is already reading in Mosiah 4 and I am so happy that we found her! We have had a lot of people fall off-date for baptism recently though, which is pretty sad.

Also this week, I ate empanadillas stuffed with seafood while looking at an amazing view of the ocean! Doesn’t sound like me, but it’s the truth! I hope you are proud of me for eating fish, dad!

I just wanted to conclude with a quick thought about the priesthood. I had several opportunities to teach and testify of the priesthood this week, and it was amazing! A lot of people on my mission have asked me if I feel oppressed as a woman or if I am angry because I don’t have the priesthood. And let me tell you, my answer is NO! This week people were celebrating the day of the woman (idk what exactly it’s called in English) and I can tell you, that nothing empowers me more as a woman than being a member of the true, restored church of Jesus Christ. I know that His priesthood authority was restored on the earth to worthy men and that it is only to be used for the blessing people’s lives and helping them achieve eternal life! I am so grateful for the priesthood and for the priesthood holders that have helped prepare me for my mission, set me apart with specific blessings to do well out here, and then have continued to support me in my time as a missionary. The priesthood is necessary for saving ordinances such as baptism and I know I would be nowhere without it! I do not need the priesthood to be blessed by it or to feel that I have worth and a special role in the kingdom of God. We may not understand all things now, but I do know that God restored his priesthood through Joseph Smith so that we may one day live with Him and our families forever!

Have a lovely week!
Hermana O’Barr

View from the roof!

Wow, so much happened this week that I’m not even sure where to start! This has been one of the best weeks of my entire mission!

We read the whole Book of Mormon in 28 days as a zone and then this fast Sunday we asked all of the wards and branches to fast with us for the progression of the missionary work in our areas. And let me tell you, the miracles from these sacrifices came flooding in!

We were walking around this area called Ferran which is crazy and has these really interesting side roads/paths. We ended up at just the right place at the right time after a few minutes of tracting through there. This young teenager walking past asked if we wanted to come visit her aunt with her. Of course, we said yes! She asked us if we were “llevando la palabra” (sharing the word of God) and we answered that we were. She said, perfect, my aunt will love you! And off we went on an adventure through Ferran. We arrived at her aunt’s house, and, long story short, ended up teaching the lady and her daughter, and we committed them to baptism on March 23rd! Rosa and Ashley are SO prepared for the gospel. They cried and I cried as we shared our testimonies and they told us we brought them the light they had been searching for!

We had another amazing miracle yesterday. We were walking towards Jardines del Caribe to try to visit some people, which is a really long walk. We were tired and we thought about turning into a street and contacting instead of going as far as we had planned. We prayed and felt that we should keep going, so we rounded the corner and took the next street after that. The FIRST house that we contacted turned out to be an amazing lady named Lizzet who was immediately interested in our message. She let us in and we taught her and testified and she told us that she had never felt quite right in any church. It was so cool because she agreed with what we shared and her boyfriend told us that the feeling he had was better than ANY feeling he had ever had in any church. We helped him recognize that is was the Spirit and it was a very special moment.

We also received transfer news last night, and we found out that Hna Branham and I are staying here in Ponce 1, but that we will be taking over the entire area of Ponce 1 and the other hermanas will take over Ponce 2. I am so happy! We get to stay together in our area and we get even more amazing people to teach! Things really couldn’t have worked out any better and I know I am going to have a wonderful and busy last transfer, which is exactly what I want.

I feel slightly panicked now that everything is coming to an end but I am going to give the Lord all I’ve got while I am still out here and then I know there will be good things coming my way after this experience ends. I am eternally grateful for my mission.

Love you all!
Hermana O’Barr