Hermana O’Barr – Page 8

2018-06-052018-06-05

Transfer 6, take 2

What a week!!! Stay tuned to the very end for the crazy-surprise news we received!

First of all, this week started on a great note because Sister Hansen taught me how to properly throw a scatterball at P-day! Watch out, because I am fearless, armed, and ready to scatter some brains! I am finally starting to match the intensity of the game haha. It’s the only way to play, really.

We also had zone conference this week, which was awesome. Sometimes I let myself get really down about these types of meetings because I just focus on how much I need to improve and how many mistakes I’m still making. But I came at this zone conf with a really good attitude and a lot of prayer, and it really was a good experience. I left feeling really motivated and excited to keep working my tail off!!! It was also interesting to see how many friends I have in the mission now, and just how much I love all of them! One of the other hermanas waiting to go to PR actually joined the missionaries giving their departing testimonies because she found out that she is leaving this week. I thought I would be a little bitter, but I’m honestly not. I’m really happy for her, and I know that the Lord is in charge of things and will put me where I can grow the most, and help the most people. I looked around at all of my friends, and thought about how much I’ve changed in the WVM, and then realized that if and when the call comes for me to go to PR, I’ll probably be equal parts happy and sad. I’ve also been thinking a lot about those ways that I’ve changed here, and dang, I’m so different now compared to the person I was at the beginning of my mission! If that isn’t a true measure of my success, then I don’t know what is. I think I can be happy just knowing that I myself am more deeply converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ than ever before.

Anyway, I’ll tell ya a little bit more about what went down this week. We did tons more yard service! It was super fun and people are always so impressed and grateful for what we can do with 8 missionaries in just a few short hours. We also had a fun lesson with a lady named Pam this week. She likes us to stand out in her garden and sing hymns and primary songs to her. She is so sweet, and I enjoyed being with her, even though we got funny looks from everyone walking by. We also did a lot of service for this less-active member by helping clean up her super crammed apartment. She really appreciated it and it was amazing to see how much more cheerful she got!

Another favorite part of my week was when a member gave us money for dinner. I picked where we went, and it was this legit pizza place with a bike park inside of it! We got to watch all these awesome people doing tricks and flips and stuff while we ate our amazing pizza and drank our strawberry-mango lemonades. It was pretty much one of the best hours of my life and I’m so glad Sis Burton is chill enough to go on little adventures with me!

Anyway, here’s one cool miracle for you before I divulge the crazy news! We got a referral in our area book for this lady, so we called her up. We found out that she had really wanted to get baptized, but just had to wait until she got off probation to do so! She is so pumped to meet with missionaries again and I really hope she is able to get on-date for baptism soon!

Alright, now that I’ve tortured you enough, I’ll tell you all what’s going on. Sister B-town and I are getting emergency-transferred!!! *sobbing noises in the background* I already love her and this area so much, but we are officially out of here Wednesday morning. Our mission president called us right after church on Sunday (so basically, right after we told everyone that we would probably be here until at least the end of June). I feel so bad, because the ward was super excited to have us! Our previous ward members were happy we were staying, and the ward that we got combined with was so pumped to have sisters since they’ve had elders since forever. I feel kind of bad leaving the elders here because not a single member we’ve talked to wants elders in the ward haha.

Things are crazy right now for us. I just packed 3 weeks ago, and now here I am, frantically trying to shove all my stuff back into my suitcases, let Sister Burton say goodbye to everyone (she’s been here a long time), clean out our apartment, and make sure the elders know everything they need to know to take care of our investigators. President was kind enough to give us one more p-day with our zone, and we are going on a hike today, so that will be fun. The reason we are getting ET’d is because Hna Daniels is leaving for PR today, and now our ward has 2 sets of missionaries from the combination last week. Sis Burton is going to be companions with Hna Daniels’ companion in the Vancouver Central stake, and I’m going to the Van 6th ward in the Vancouver West stake. The bright spot in all of this is that I’m going back Spanish-speaking!!! And I’m going to a whole big Spanish ward! I’ll be in a tri-pan with Hna Hindmarsh and Hna Jessop. I don’t really know either of them, but I’m sure it will be great. Hna Jessop is my mission sister (meaning she was trained by my trainer, right after me).

Anyway, I love you all! I hope you remember that God truly does love you and wants the best for you! ALSO, WATCH THE YOUTH DEVOTIONAL THAT WAS GIVEN THIS WEEK! Holy cow, it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, and I definitely encourage everyone to take President Nelson’s invitations, youth or not. Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

We received a training about keeping our nametags uncovered and they even told us we could wear them in the middle like this, so you know we just had to go home and try it haha. Don’t worry, we are not ever going to actually wear them like that!

Our first and last district pic. I’m gonna miss them!

We tracted the strangest street. I got pictures of some other funny signs there as well, but I didn’t exactly find them to be appropriate for a missionary email haha

What happens when Elder Shah’s soccer ball gets stuck…believe it or not, no one got hurt

Pictures from the awesome pizza place we went to!

2018-05-292018-05-29

Are we going to church, or going golfing?

Hola! I hope everyone is having a fantastic Tuesday! This week has been wild but I’m loving every moment!

On Wednesday we held a district fast for each companionship’s progressing and on-date investigators. It was great to fast for these people, even though our investigator who was on-date for baptism ended up telling us that she will never become a Mormon ahahaha. However, we did have a really good time finding new people this week! We have set a lot of really good goals as a companionship and although we weren’t able to reach them all, we have been blessed with a lot of success and good experiences. And also some not-so-great experiences, which I’m grateful for as well. Like when we talked with an old Italian guy who strongly encouraged us to go to the apartment complex next to him because “they need Jesus.” And then when he saw 3 cops cars pull up, he said, “But maybe you should come back a different day.” Ahahaha. So we walked back to our car, past the apartment complex, and saw one of our investigators surrounded by police. As you can imagine, our lesson with her for the next day never got to happen.

That was just one of many similar stories from this week, but I love the adventure of it all! You never know what you’re going to find here! I’m glad that Sister Burton and I can handle it and know how to laugh about all the crazy experiences, because we’re having a grand old time. Every day is something new, especially because we are almost out of our allotted miles for this month so we’ve been walking the streets quite a bit.

Let’s, see, what else did we do this week? Oh, we did a ton of service pulling weeds in an investigator’s yard! We got dirty and had a lot of fun. We also met her ex-husband/roommate (?) and his whole garage band. We went back there yesterday night as well, because he and our investigator had a little barbeque for us. We got to talk with him for an hour, and he had a ton of great questions for us! I can honestly say it was one of the most interesting ways I’ve ever spent my Memorial Day, sitting in a skirt and answering questions about what I believe to a man drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette in our faces, while our on-date/no-longer-on-date investigator talks to us about socialism and her birds. I love these people! How great is it that I was still able to have a Memorial Day barbeque while finding a new potential investigator? It was a nice way to spend the evening as a missionary, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other experience.

I think the last crazy thing to mention about my week was what happened to our ward on Sunday. The Columbia River and Rocky Butte wards got completely dissolved, to make the new Glendoveer ward! We’ve been making a lot of jokes about the new ward because it was named after a golf course in the area. And the elders are sad because they can no longer makes jokes about Rocky Butt. (Don’t be fooled by their suits and ties into thinking they’re more mature than any other 18 to 20-year-olds haha). Anyway, so I am back in a ward with multiple missionaries because our mission president said we would all stay at least until the end of the transfer. It’s gonna be fun! Our area is huge now, and we have a lot more members to get to know and to work with. This week will be pretty crazy, trying to meet the new bishopric and coordinate with the elders, but I think it will be good.

One last thing I wanted to say, in regards to general conference talks. I’ve been re-reading through a lot of them, but this week we were challenged to go back through all of the most recent ones, make notes of all the commitments and invitations to act contained in them, and then prayerfully choose a few to work on right now. I would invite you to do the same! Each one of who are members should be ready at any moment to tell others what things our living prophet and apostles have taught us and asked us to do. What good is the wonderful knowledge that God’s mouthpieces are on the earth if we don’t even know what they’re saying? I promise that as you read through these talks, both members of the church and those who are less familiar with it, you can find more peace and guidance for your life and for your families. I love all of you and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Also, I want to start including some weekly quotes from my quote book so you can die laughing with me.

“I’m short and fat and I smell like Doritos, why would she be interested in me?”
-Elder Shah

“Awkward conversations are my bread and butter.”
-Sister Burton

“I call this my polygamist hairdo.”
-Sister Burton

“He’s a sly cat, ya know? Ya neva know when you gonna catch him around here.”
-Guy who opened the door when we were trying to find our investigator

This old guy was cruising down the side of the road! He’s definitely livin’ his best life.

Pic from when we got Dutch Bros to celebrate 7 and 9 months

All the missionaries from the new Glendoveer ward!

“It’s so pretty over there! Follow me!” -Sister Burton

We had to take more comp pics because we tried to look cute for Memorial Day and because we both knew our moms would be mad without more pics from this week haha

2018-05-222018-05-22

#RIPColumbiaRiver

Well, we had transfers this week, and I’m now in my third area! It was super sad to say goodbye to Prune Hill and Sister Schott, but I am sooo excited to be back in Portland, to be with Sister Burton, and to have the chance to actually find people to teach and do missionary work! I’ve also gotten to speak Spanish a lot here. Sister Burton is really awesome and chill and I love her lots! We already have great comp unity and a desire to work hard, and we’ve been able to see many miracles come from that.

I’ve been having a lot of fun in my new zone this week! We have zone workout every other day, and I’ve actually been killing it in the games we play, and really enjoying myself. Do any of you remember when I was legit terrified of things like scatterball and talking to new missionaries?? I’ve changed so much and now I’m really loving the time I get to talk with new people and put myself out there.

Another crazy thing about this week was that I hit my 7-month mark! Sister Burton also hit her 9-month mark and she likes to celebrate by going to Dutch Bros, so I got to go for the first time!

We also had a sweet zone service this week. We tore up asphalt to save the salmon haha. It was a lot of fun, and we got to talk with a bunch of people who wanted to know what organization we were from and why we are out here doing what we’re doing. It can be a little scary when you hand sharp tools to elders, but the whole thing actually went really well and helped us become more established and well-known in the community. I love doing service for many reasons, but one being that it shows everyone that we’re not just the people who knock on your door at really inconvenient times–we’re representatives of Jesus Christ who are going around trying to live and serve as He did.

Another fun time this week was when I had a really great chance to get to know the ward members in Columbia River. They held a ward potluck and talked about emergency preparedness. It was the smallest ward activity I’ve ever attended, but it was entertaining and I got to meet our investigator who is on-date for baptism!

On Sunday, Sister Burton and I gave talks about the new ministering effort! I actually hadn’t given a talk as missionary yet, and so it was great to get up there and speak! I ended up having to talk for almost 25 minutes but I loved every second of it! I was so excited to talk about something I’m so passionate about, and it was another good way for me to make myself known among the ward members. They are so key to the success of missionary work, so I love getting to build good relationships with them. However, the ward received a special announcement on Sunday that next week will be just an hour-long meeting with the Rocky Butte ward, and it seems pretty likely that the two wards will be combined. Sister Burton and I are really upset because we already love serving with each other and don’t want anything to happen that could mess that up. She also ended up down in this ward a couple of transfers ago because she was emergency-transferred when the ward she was serving in got dissolved, and now she might get ET’d out haha.

But anyway, we are trying not to think of the potential disasters and just focus on how much good we can do while we’re here! We found and taught a lot of new people this week and it felt so great! I am so grateful for the success we’ve seen, and it was a huge blessing to have these opportunities to share the gospel.

We ended Monday night (I forgot to mention, my p-days are all on Tuesdays now) with a zone bonfire with President and Sister McAteer. Those of us who have served around the missionaries who will go home at the end of this transfer were assigned to talk about what we learned from them. I got to talk about Sister Hansen! Most of you know, I don’t cry very easily. But as I talked about how much I’ve learned from her, I just couldn’t help it! Sister Hansen is the reason I’m able to let my faith overcome my fear. I’m a much more confident and happier missionary, and I’m doing and saying things that I never thought I could before, just because of the things she’s taught me. I’m glad I still get to serve around her for her last transfer!

To end this email, I just want to share a quick thought with you about prayer. There is a paragraph in the Bible Dictionary about prayer that I really love, and has begun to change the way I think about prayer, and the way I pray.

“As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.”

This contains a lot of powerful info, but I just love that it talks about how willing God is to bless us! We just have to work hard to obtain those blessings through obedience and any of our own efforts that we can contribute, and then pray specifically for those righteous things that we desire! Take your doubts, needs, wants, questions, desires, and problems to the Lord. I promise that He wants to talk to you! What can it hurt to try spending just a few minutes on your knees?

I hope you all have a fantastic week! Congratulations to all of my friends who graduated this week, especially my little (or not-so-little) brother, Tanner!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

I miss Sister Davis!! We had to take one last pic on p-day

Two of my favorite elders haha. It was so great to see lots of my friends again on transfer day!

Sister Burton and I spent some time in sweet yellow vests directing traffic at our service

I missed Portland!!! We routinely walk up and down this trashed street which is where we found this. We are also always supposed to drive around the whole church building to check for transients every time we go.

2018-05-17

Chugging Hot Sauce

Got this gem from December (The week I chugged hot sauce):

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Pictures for this week’s group email

Dad’s note: These came in a day or two later and with Mom out of town I haven’t gotten around to posting them!

Elder Bryan and Elder LeSueur were so proud of the pretzels our district made for our ward council members haha

Sister Hansen tried to learn how to skateboard from one of our awesome youth

We love Quiara!!! She’s working on her mission papers!

We had one last dinner with the Tumanuvaos

Somehow we do manage to get work done during district service haha

2018-05-142018-05-14

Peace Out, Prune Hill

Not a whole lot happened this week, as far as missionary work goes. That’s always disappointing, but I know Sister Hansen and I have tried our best this transfer, and I’ve seen reasons for why I needed to be here. And, I’m really going to miss the ward here. But I am excited to move on! We received transfer news this Saturday and I’m going to Gresham! I’m going to be in the Columbia River ward with Sister Burton. I don’t know her or the area, but I can’t wait to see what’s in store for this next transfer!

Here’s a little bit more about what happened this week…

We had a fun dinner and FHE with a family this week! They are one of my favorites and I am definitely going to miss them.

We also had a game night with a bunch of youth, which ended with them dumping water on all the missionaries because we lost hahaha. It was so much fun and a great way to get the youth closer with the missionaries!

Another great part of my week was a district lunch we had at Sister Schott’s house! She is sooo awesome and made a ton of food for us, and then we surprised her with a district t-shirt! Our district t-shirts are so legit, and I’ll have to get pictures today! I’m really going to miss this district, and I think they’ve been my favorite one so far.

ALSO, I got to talk to my family this week for Mother’s Day!!! I miss and love them so much and it was good to see that they are just as crazy as ever! Just 7 more months until I get talk to them ahahaha. Being a missionary is so worth it, but I definitely miss my family.

Anyway, that’s pretty much all I’ve got for you all this week! The last thing I wanted to share with you is a talk that I’ve been studying, which really struck me as I read it. It’s from Elder Holland (my favorite!) in October 1999, called “An High Priest of Good Things to Come.” He discusses how we can have joy in Christ, that our efforts will be recognized even if we can do no more than to desire and to try to be better, and that there is always something wonderful in the future to fix our eyes upon and look forward to! I love this quote at the very end where he says,

“Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.”

What a marvelous promise! I can testify that God does desire to bless us, and that we can trust in Him to remember perfectly all of the good deeds we have done, the commandments we’ve kept, and the service we’ve rendered. And just as perfectly, we can expect Him to forget all of our sins if we choose to repent.

Have a good week, and happy late Mother’s Day to all of the wonderful women who have impacted my life, especially my own mom!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

I will try to scrounge up some more pictures from this week. Until then, enjoy this picture of my companion “studying.” Ahahaha I love her! (But she did not love me after I accidentally knocked this down.) 🤣

2018-05-072018-05-07

Do We Trust Him? Hard Is Good

We had a pretty great week here in Prune Hill!

We taught two different seminary classes, which was super fun! I always loved seminary, so it’s awesome to be able to go back. I think the teachers really appreciated us as well, because they are struggling keeping the attention of the kids this late in the year, and we were able to get them energized and laughing early in the morning.

We also finally taught a lesson to one of our new investigators this week! It was probably the most meta conversation I’ve ever had, though. This guy is an awesome, super deep thinker. He studies a bunch of philosophers and has lots of questions, which we did our best to answer. We’ll see what happens when we go back to teach him next week!

Another fun thing that happened this week was going to a Relief Society activity, where we did speed friendshsipping! I love the sweet sisters in this ward and it was a really great way for us as missionaries to get to know them in an informal setting. Sometimes missionaries come across as intimidating even to members of the church, so it’s nice when we can befriend the members and show them that we’re just normal people and that they can trust us. Member trust is huge because people aren’t going to trust us with their friends to teach if they don’t trust us!

Anyway, we were supposed to have a lesson with another new investigator this week but he wasn’t home, so that was a pretty big bummer.

But it’s okay, because our weekend was super awesome! Elder Finley organized a huge service for one of his investigators on Friday night! The zone worked with a bunch of non-members to clear trails on her horse ranch, and then we had a bonfire with hot dogs and s’mores. He also organized a fireside of sorts, so we had musical numbers (I did one, of course haha) interspersed with spiritual thoughts and conversion stories. It went together really well and I hope all of the other people there could feel the Spirit! If nothing, it was a welcome break from the insane amount of finding time we have per day. It is really hard for us to think of new ways to find when nearly every door has been knocked and there is only one tiny park and zero stores in our area.

Anyway, Saturday was a wonderful day as well. We went to Luz and Anthony’s baptism!!! I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to teach them and I know their lives are going to be so blessed by this next step they are taking. I got to see Ali again at the baptism, and he just told me all about how much better his life is! He found the connection with God that he was missing and longing for, and I can see how much it’s changed him and given him a happier perspective on life. That eternal perspective changes everything! It doesn’t mean that things won’t still be hard and painful sometimes. But when we know that a loving Heavenly Father sent us here to learn, that He sent His son and the Holy Ghost to guide us and allow to return back home one day after everything that we have learned, life seems so much easier to bear and so much more joyful! We are not meant to be downtrodden and miserable. Heavenly Father only wants us to learn and build relationships as we help others, then we can go home to Him and live with our families forever! That knowledge has blessed my life for as long as I can remember, and only does so more the more I learn about God’s plan for us.

I had a great Sunday as well. I always love fast Sundays and I felt the Spirit testify to me often throughout the meetings. I also met a returned missionary from PR who was visiting the ward! It was so cool to talk to her! Sister Schott is convinced it was a sign that I’ll be going soon, I honestly have no idea what will happen haha. All I know is that I’m trusting Heavenly Father to put me where He needs me to be. I decided a LONG time ago that I would serve Him anywhere and in any capacity, so I will go where He wants me to go. Something that’s helped me a lot during my mission is the talk, Do We Trust Him? Hard Is Good. I’ll attach a link because I think everyone should read It! I testify that as we continue trusting in God, He will help us become who we are meant to be through all of our trials. Have a fabulous week!

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2017/11/sunday-afternoon-session/do-we-trust-him-hard-is-good?lang=eng

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Elder Hall got buried at District service haha

Me, Sister Hansen, and Sister Rugg riding on a scary cart thing at the horse ranch

2018-04-302018-04-30

Proud to Me

This week was full of lots of ups and downs, just like usual! But as you all know, I like to focus on the ups!

Monday was super awesome. We played lots of sports as a zone, and when we got home that night, I discovered that Sister Schott, the member that we live with, had gone and bought me a bunch of flute music because she wanted to hear me play! She is literally the best!!!

We also had a great time going to mutual with the youth this week. The ward mission leader from another ward came and taught self-defense! He is the top volcano scientist in the world and is a 5th degree black belt. He’s like the most legit old guy I’ve ever met!

Anyway, we also had exchanges this week! The STLs slept over at Sister Schott’s and then I spent the day in our area with Sister Proctor, which was fun because then I got to know her a lot better and we spent time heart-attacking more members with cookies.

Another cool part of our week was that we finally got a new investigator! You all know those are few and far between here…

I think the best part of my week though was that I found out that Luz and Anthony are both getting baptized next week!!! I am so so excited for them and I hope I’ll be able to go back to Portland next Saturday to see them! What an incredible privilege it is to see two more of the people I taught decide to make covenants with God!!!

Also, Ali messaged and told me about going to the temple visitors center! He loved it and said it was really special when he went. He is working on finding a few names to actually take and do baptisms, and then I should be able to go with him! For those of you who don’t know what that means, we believe that anyone who didn’t accept the gospel in this life will have the chance to learn and accept it in the spirit world after they die. We perform things like baptism and other saving ordinances for those who have passed on so that they can accept the gospel and make covenants with God. We believe that we have a special responsibility to do this for our family members who came before us, so we use websites like familysearch.org to find their records and take them to the temple. Pretty neat, no?

Anyway, here’s your little dose of funny for the week. I normally don’t like fish, but Sister Schott was determined to have us all eat salmon for lunch yesterday. So I tried it, and it was actually pretty good haha. The first thing she said to me was, “Proud to you!” It’s so funny because my comp does this thing where she says stuff wrong to bother people (i.e. proud to you, mean at you, scared from you, etc.) and now Sister Schott and I have started to pick up on it. This isn’t good for someone who is planning on becoming an English teacher haha.

I hope you all have a good week! Try something new, or do something out of your comfort zone. Mine was just a stupid little example, but I’ve been so blessed by the number of times I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone on my mission! I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Sis Hansen is always freezing in our house haha

We chalked the Plan of Salvation with our phone number everywhere!

When the only day we try really hard to look cute for is Sunday

2018-04-232018-04-23

6 months down, 1 year to go

Hello, happy Monday, I hope everyone is doing well! Here is how my week went down (I’d love to hear about yours!).

We had a super fun P-day last week. This indoor soccer stadium let us in to play for free if we washed their windows, and I got to spend a bunch of time playing ultimate frisbee!

We also had a GREAT time that night, because we had a Family Home Evening with a 12-year-old that we’re teaching, and two of her fellowshipper families. We watched Meet the Mormons (which I had actually never seen) and had a really good time showing her what FHE is like.

We also had a good lesson with a recent convert this week, and we reviewed the Restoration with her using Enos 1, which actually worked super well. I have had a goal for a long time to use the scriptures in my teaching more, and I can testify that reading from and pulling apart the scriptures is one of the best ways to invite the Spirit into any lesson!

Another cool thing about this week is that we had dinner with a fun family with a bunch of little boys (If you know my family, you know that’s different for me!). But the best part was that the mom served her mission in Columbus, and even served a transfer or two in Powell! And, the family is thinking about moving to PR later in the year, so we had lots of cool connections to talk about!

Anyway, we did have one day this week that honestly was just super depressing and difficult. For some reason, our zone conference was the opposite of uplifting. I think it was mostly just because we are having a hard time finding lots of people to teach in this area, and so many of the messages we heard just felt difficult to swallow because we felt that we weren’t doing enough in our area. I know it was just Satan getting us down, but it was pretty rough because zone conference lasts nearly the entire day. It was all okay in the end, though. We got some suggestions of things we can try and are going to keep working hard this week.

Also, on that day, I hit my 6-month mark! Holy cow, I can’t believe I’ve already been out for so long! I’m a third of the way done with my mission! Some days that seems like not enough, and other days I freak out because I don’t want to be that far into my mission! No matter how hard things get, I truly do love this experience and the way I am changing because of it. I’ll never truly know how much of an impact I’m having on my mission, but I CAN see how much I have changed and grown, and that is so important to me. I still have a long ways to go, but I’m glad I have seen positive changes in myself as I’ve tried to follow my Savior’s example.

Anyway, here’s a funny little story for you…

We were trying to knock on the door of a potential on like Friday, but no one answered. I felt like trying the next door over, so we knock, and…one of our members opens the door! He just nodded at us and was like, “Hey, what’s up Sisters?” We died laughing and felt so embarrassed (Sister Hansen has even been to their house before!), but luckily they thought it was pretty funny as well. It made for a good topic of conversation when we had dinner at their house yesterday!

Sorry, I know this email is long, but I just have a little bit more!

We had a miracle this week! A bunch of members of our district and zone came to help us blitz our area, and now we have two new investigators!!!

I love this work and the privilege I have to be here. Even though I’m not where I expected to serve, and even though pretty much nothing has worked out the way I expected it do, I don’t regret coming out here and I know I will always be grateful for the experiences I’m having. Nothing is more rewarding than serving the Lord! Be happy, be grateful, and constantly be asking what you can do next! I promise that will bring you blessings and incredible experiences!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Me with a cute member who comes with us to teach sometimes

Sis Hansen jumped over a pond and then scaled the fence for this picture

We picked up garbage! I should have put myself into that bag too hahaha. Also, note Mt. Hood in the background! I could finally see it since we had nice weather this week.

Sis Hansen and Dezzie (We had to go outside because it finally got warm!)

Pretty views # 1. We were trying to figure out how to get to the river from our area, but everyone just hogs all the access with their back yards!

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My First Baptism!!!

This has been a great week! My new area is tough, but a lot of our hard work and faith was rewarded by miracles!

This week we also had a super great district meeting about happiness, which I think did a lot to pump us up to continue working. A scripture that our district leader shared and asked us to study is Mosiah 4:9-12, and I would definitely recommend studying it because it’s one of my favorites!

After district meeting we had our first miracle of the week! We found a new investigator named Dave and then taught him the next day with an awesome young woman from our ward!

The next day was pretty great as well, because we went on a mini exchange with the STLs to help them get to all of their appointments on time. It was super fun to spend some time with Sister Davis (She was my STL in Portland, and she followed me here to Vancouver!). After we got home, Sister Hansen and I were exhausted and really hungry for some reason haha. So the member we live with, Sister Schott, drove to Chick-Fil-A for us (She’s the bomb!) and we used our personal time before bed to hang out and play card games with her.

The next day was nuts, though! We blamed it on it being Friday the 13th, but all of the times we tried to talk to people, they were in awkward or weird situations! It was okay though haha, it’s good for us to be able to work through the awkward and keep trying to teach people!

And, the rest of the weekend was full of miracles! We got a call from a lady who was visiting her non-member friend and wanted to bring her to church! We informed her that it was stake conference, but they came anyway and her friend had a great time! Last night we brought her a Book of Mormon, and we’re going to start meeting with her every Friday! That means we got TWO new investigators this week, in an area where everyone is seemingly happy with their lives. What a miracle to see our hard work paying off already.

The other awesome thing that happened this week was, drumroll……………………..
ALI GOT BAPTIZED!!!! It was such a special moment and I am so so grateful for the privilege I had to find and teach him while I was serving in Alameda. He is going to be an incredible member of the church, and I can tell that his life has truly been changed. If I don’t have any more success the whole rest of my mission, all of it would be worth it, just to see that one special soul join the church and bear his testimony of all that that means to him. I cannot adequately describe just how fulfilling and joyful it is to see one of your best friends join the covenant path!

The rest of the weekend was just so good as well. I loved getting to see Hermana Vazquez and members from the Spanish group at the baptism. AND, we had stake conference! I learned a lot, but I just wanted to share one simple thought with all of you. One sister got up and talked about how to help families study the BoM and learn from it. She said:
1) Read it
2) Liken it
3) Live it

I LOVED her message because as we like the BoM to ourselves, or in other words, think about how it applies to us, it becomes so much more real and interesting, and so much easier to apply its teachings in our lives. Hold tight to the scriptures, brothers and sisters, they are the foundation of our testimonies and they contain the sure and certain way to return to our Heavenly Father. Have a fabulous week!!!!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Hopefully people will send me more pictures from the baptism soon.