Category: Alameda

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

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

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!

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

Whoa, what a week! I received transfer news, we celebrated Easter, and there were some crazy-awesome announcements in General Conference! But, I’ll go back and start from the beginning.

Monday–I found out that Hna Vazquez had never been to IKEA, so of course, we had to go! We had a blast and spent way too much time there haha. Another great thing about Monday was that we had dinner with Ali and the other side of his family, the one he lives with! It was SO sweet and even though we were a little bit nervous about what they were going to say, they were super kind to us and asked a bunch of good questions.

Tuesday–We had a new zone meeting thing and it was incredible! We had four different discussions and we all counseled together to help each other. I am so amazed by the other missionaries and the things I’ve been able to learn from them, especially during this transfer.

Wednesday–We helped some members move, and then they fed us pizza!

Thursday–Nothing too exciting happened, except that we got fantastic Peruvian food for dinner!

Friday–Valeria, one of the youth who is planning on serving a mission, came with us to teach Ali! She is sooo sweet and she also brought us stuff back from her trip to FL! I am going to miss her SO much and I promised I would come back and visit. We are going to get froyo with her today to say one last goodbye.

Saturday–We went to Valeria’s house early in the morning to go for a hike, then us and the elders helped make breakfast before watching conference. It was really cool getting to watch in Spanish and realize that I actually understand a lot more than I thought I would! It was also an incredible experience to have the privilege of sustaining Russell M. Nelson as the new president of the church. As I raised my hand in unison with millions of other saints around the world, the Spirit truly testified to me that he is a prophet of God. I have no doubt in my mind that President Nelson was called to lead this church and that his words are the words of the Lord. The sustaining was truly a special moment that I never want to forget.

After both sessions of conference, we had dinner with another member family, and then afterwards, Hna Vazquez and I stayed to help make tamales for the next day! It was super fun and I got lots of pictures (you’re welcome, Mom).

After we got home, we received transfer news! I’m going to the Prune Hill ward, which is in the Vancouver East stake. And I’m going to be speaking English! I’ll admit, leaving is going to be really hard. The people here, including members, investigators, and my companion, have truly become my family. I love them more than I ever thought possible and leaving them is going to be super difficult. I’m also super sad that I won’t be teaching in Spanish anymore. But, I KNOW that God has a plan, and that things always work out better than I ever could have imagined. I’m willing and excited to see what’s in store in my new area.

Sunday–We watched Conference at church with members and investigators, and then had a fun potluck! Everyone was really upset about me leaving and I couldn’t go until I promised every one of them that I would come back! I am so grateful for the true friendship and love I’ve developed with all of them this transfer.

After that, we went home and watched the rest of conference alone in our apartment haha. And there was a super cool announcement made! I am so happy to see the more personal, Christlike ministering that will be taking place in our church, and I am grateful for the continued revelation our prophet will receive as we get closer and closer to the Second Coming. Also, SEVEN new temples were announced, including one in RUSSIA! What an exciting time to be alive!

I love you all, and I love our dear prophet. Remember to stay close to him, follow his counsel and his direction, and I promise you will be better protected from the chaos of this world. Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

So. I wrote y’all a bomb email TWICE this morning but my email freaked out and didn’t work! So now, you get what you get haha. It’s not going to be as good as the first two, but it’ll have to do.

Monday–We ended up having a really long P-day because a guy backed into us at a gas station and then drove away yelling at us. We had to file a report to SLC and everything, but thankfully the damage wasn’t bad enough for them to take our car to get it fixed. We cover one whole stake and part of another, so there’s no way we could have gotten everything done on foot! We also got to end the night by having dinner with Ali and his brother and sister-in-law, who are both members! We had a good time, and Ali’s brother is getting really excited to be able to baptize him!

Tuesday–It wasn’t a super exciting day because I was still tired and recovering from being sick. However, we did have a fun new finding activity! We joined Elder Johnson with singing while he played hymns on his guitar in a park! We weren’t able to find any new investigators because we didn’t see any Hispanics there, but it was really cool to help the English missionaries find new people to teach through music. Elder Johnson is really good and plans to get famous, so Hna Vazquez and I told him that we will have to get his signature before transfers haha.

Wednesday–Our district meeting was ON FIRE!!! Holy cow, what an answer to my prayers. I am so grateful for my district and all of the things I have learned from them this transfer. We also had a great time after district meeting, because we all ran to grab some Little Caesar’s! Our district is made up of all elders so I shouldn’t have been shocked, but never have I seen that much pizza disappear so quickly! We have fun together chowing down on pizza, and then we headed right back out to work!

Also on Wednesday, my mission president let me know that I will probably be in this mission for at least another two transfers. Honestly, I feel pretty okay about it. I will kind of be getting the best of both worlds, because that would mean I’ll spend roughly half of my mission here, and the other half in Puerto Rico. I just have to come to accept that my answer to “Where did you serve your mission?” will never be a simple one haha.

Thursday–We taught Ali about el sacerdocio (the priesthood) because he is super solid in his knowledge and testimony of all of the missionary lessons. I am so grateful for the privilege I have of teaching him and for the things I have learned as a missionary so far. I know that these precious experiences are preparing me to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ in everything that I will do in my life.

Friday–Hna Vazquez and I had an experience that was literally insane!!! We tried to teach a former investigator, but it devolved into one of the worst bashes in history. She told us terrible things about us, our church, the Book of Mormon, and basically everything else that we believe in and hold dear. It was pretty awful, and all we could do was share some solid scriptures, bear our testimonies de la verdad, and invite her to truly read and pray with a sincere heart. It was extra scary because we both felt that it was more than just this woman bashing us, there were real and sinister forces of the adversary there, trying to tear down our testimonies in any way possible. However, we were bearing such powerful testimonies by the Spirit that it was almost like her words were being deflected around us, unable to harm us or our testimonies. It was a very memorable experience for sure. I know I experienced the gift of tongues because I was bearing testimony of things I don’t know how to say in Spanish on my own. I know that the things Hna Vazquez and I testified of are true–The Book of Mormon is the word of God, we do have a loving Father in Heaven, and He does answer our prayers. Never ever hesitate to take your questions to Him–I promise He will answer because He loves you!

Saturday–Thankfully, Saturday was much less eventful. I did receive some mail from my family, which was a bright spot in my day!

Sunday–Well, last night was pretty creepy because we came home and our lights were on! We never leave the apartment without turning all the lights off, so we were a little freaked out. Our district leader came and checked it out but he didn’t find anything. So we were probably just being paranoid. But, we decided that it is better to be safe than sorry when something seems amiss. The rest of our day was pretty great, though. I played a musical number on my flute in sacrament meeting, three investigators came to church, and Ali told us he’s finally really confident that he’s received an answer about being baptized! He is so so awesome, and really prepared to be a member of this church. I know that the decision he’s making is going to change his life, and I am so happy to see him take this step.

Have a great April Fools Day and Easter! And get super pumped for General Conference! Also, please don’t ever hesitate if you have any questions for me, about the gospel, about life, or just what I’m doing out here in general!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

1. My cute companion at Hna Sanchez’s house
2. Random creepy wig hanging from a sign. Why? Because we’re in Portland. #keepPortlandweird
3. Elder Hall got a little…stuck
4. Look how cute this new portrait of the first presidency is! Watch General Conference to hear these awesome men speak!
5. Some of the elders hiding the evidence of how much pizza we devoured haha
6. Miss me yet?
7. The scratch in our pretty little Toyota Corolla
8. Elder Hall likes to take over our district video calls haha
9. Ali gave us Oreos and hot chocolate (because he’s no longer drinking coffee!)
10. All of the Alameda missionaries! The English missionaries wanted a picture because they’re going to run an ad in the newspaper!

Wow, this week was rough. It involved a lot of trials and crying and did not go as planned. However, I’m really grateful for all of the miracles that we were still able to have, and the way I was able to feel Heavenly Father’s love for me.

Also, on a side note, what is with members trying to set all the missionaries up for when they go home?? According to them, I have about 5 or 6 future spouse options already picked out hahaha. And we seemed to get an inordinate amount of marriage advice this week. I think it’s hilarious because as missionaries we can’t be focused on that right now! But, I will tuck all of their sage advice away for later, when I will actually need it. Anyway, on to the rest of what happened this week.

Monday–We had a SUPER great P-day playing soccer and being match-y and cute like all good companionships. I finally have a few pictures from that to share. Also on Monday night, we had a video call lesson with Ali to read the scriptures and we all just about started crying! He was bearing his testimony to us and talking about how much the stuff we taught him has blessed his life! I can’t wait until this guy gets baptized! Hna Vazquez and I both feel like we have gained an eternal friend, and it’s so cool to continue to see Ali’s progression in the gospel.

Tuesday–We dropped off a present and heart-attacked a member’s door for her birthday! She called us on the phone crying and said it was the best birthday present she got! We also had a GREAT lesson with Maria about setting goals and making plans, which comes from our new chapter of Preach My Gospel that we have here in this mission.

Wednesday–We had another amazing district meeting! Here are some of the highlights of things I learned:
*There is no one right way or best way to do missionary work (this includes member missionary work!). When we commit to give it our all, and act out of love and by the Spirit, then the rest is in the Lord’s hands.
*”The more we understand, the more under we stand.” -Wise words from Elder Fouts. We truly become more humble the more we understand the nature of God and all that He has done for us. But the good thing is, we can glory in His greatness instead of wallowing in our own imperfection (something I do too often). I am so grateful for a knowledge of my Savior, and a knowledge that though sometimes I can barely do anything on my own, I can do ANYTHING through Him.
After District Meeting, we had lunch with the Sister Training Leaders at a Korean BBQ place, which was super fun. Portland is strange and sometimes scary but boy, does it have good food.

Thursday–Thursday was nuts! We were trying to organize a temple trip and we had to make about a thousand calls (My mom knows how much I hate those haha. It’s even worse in Spanish!)! But eventually we got everything organized, with the promise of more cookies to our ward mission leader haha.

We also had a GREAT lesson with Ali. He decided he wants to move his baptismal date to April 15th because he just wants to strengthen his testimony of prophets first, but he says he’s for sure going through with it! If I’m not here after transfers, hopefully I either get to come or see pictures! He’s already talked to his brother about baptizing him, and tonight we’re having dinner with Ali, his brother, and his sister-in-law, so we’re super excited to finally meet them.

Friday–We took Maria and Maricela to the temple visitors center!!! It was a very special and spiritual experience and there was lots more crying involved (those of you who know me well, know that all of this crying is very strange for me). But, I’m so glad that our investigators felt the Spirit touch their hearts. Also, Maria came because of our lesson about setting goals and making plans! And because Maricela is her friend, she encouraged her the whole week. It was awesome!

Saturday–Saturday was where things started going really downhill fast. I woke up with the stomach flu and a fever of 100.5. So basically, I felt like death. We also had to cancel EVERYTHING we had planned, which made me feel even worse. What are you as a missionary, if you can’t even do any missionary work?? I felt so bad having to neglect our investigators for a day. I’m so glad that I have an awesome companion, though. She contacted basically every one of our investigators, to send them scriptures, invite them to church, and let some of them know that we couldn’t meet. And then because we couldn’t make it to our member dinner, Hna Sanchez sent home a ton of food, including pozole (It’s sooo good!). Eventually, by like 8:30 pm, some elders were also able to make their way over to our apartment and give me a priesthood blessing, which I was grateful for. Other than that, I don’t remember a whole lot about Saturday. Just that everything was awful haha.

Sunday–I still didn’t feel all that great on Sunday morning, so the STLs came and did an exchange with us so that Hna Vazquez could go to the first 2 hours of church and support all of our members and investigators. Then later, I decided I felt well enough to go to Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with the Spanish group, but apparently I didn’t look well enough haha. They were all so worried about me and it was really sweet and made me feel super loved. I was also uncomfortable, because as many of you know, I really don’t like anyone to worry about me. But, it was also a really nice confirmation that the ward does love me and care about me. They are the best! When we got home, I started crying because of how nice everyone had been (I know, more crying. What the even heck.). But anyway, I’m just so grateful to have the opportunity to serve here with such great people!

Today I’m still not feeling one hundred percent but I’m much, much better. Hopefully I will be able to go participate in P-day activities with the other missionaries. I love you all, thanks for reading my emails! Trust that Heavenly Father loves you and will answer your prayers, sometimes through the other people around you! If you reach out to Him, He will reach out to you! It may not always be in the way you expect, but make sure to watch out for those little miracles that surround us every day. And have a great week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

1. and 2. Portland temple!!!
3. Cookies are the best way to show your appreciation. Just saying.
4. People in Portland have slowly been doing this to all of the stop signs in the area haha
5. The day before I almost died! Look how happy I was! I didn’t know what was about to hit me!
6. Soccer last week
7. Koreannn…yummm

Another incredible, yet incredibly hard week! I am so grateful for all of the challenges I have the opportunity to face on my mission because I can see myself growing through each one. Anyway, here’s the rundown of what happened this week.

Monday–We went to the funeral I mentioned last week. It was difficult to keep tears out of my eyes to play Be Still, My Soul at the service, but I’m so grateful I had the privilege of playing for the family. The service was beautiful and full of the Spirit, which hopefully all of the non-members were able to feel. Many powerful testimonies of the Plan of Salvation were shared, and it definitely strengthened my testimony of it. For those of you who don’t know what the Plan of Salvation is, we believe that God has a loving plan for each of us, and part of that plan is that we can live with our families forever if we make sacred covenants in the temple and then try to live righteously.

Tuesday–The day didn’t start off great because we were supposed to have a trip to the temple visitors center with 3 people, and they all ended up canceling on us. But, we ended up having 3 great lessons during the day. On Tuesday I also received a package from my wonderful mother!

Wednesday–We had an fantastic district meeting! We all counseled together to see if we could come up with some solutions to problems we are facing in our areas, and it was so helpful! Hna Vazquez and I received lots of revelation for how to help our investigators and members.

Oh, one more thing about Wednesday–I had one of the scariest moments of my life! I was baking cookies for a member (that’s how I thank them for doing things for us haha) and I used a kitchen rag to pull the pan out of the oven, since we don’t have oven mitts or anything. I don’t know why, but it immediately went up in flames!!! Luckily I was able to toss it in the sink and turn on the water fast enough to keep it from spreading anywhere else or burning me. Hna Vazquez was in the bathroom when this happened, so she came out to see me frantically opening all the windows to let all the smoke out. Boy, was she confused. The parts of the rag that got burned completely crumbled into ash! But mom, you’ll be happy to know that we are planning on buying oven mitts today haha.

Thursday–Thursday was great!!! We helped out at a food bank, committed Maricela to come to church, ate copy-cat Cafe Rio at a members’ house, and then brought one of our new ward missionaries to a lesson with Ali! He is getting so close to baptism and when he shared his testimony with us, it was so powerful! I can’t even begin to describe what a privilege it is to teach God’s children and watch them grow.

Friday–It was a pretty hard day. I started to feel pretty inadequate as a missionary and was wondering what I could do to be better. But mi querida compañera reminded me that just as we can’t lower the Lord’s standards, we’re not authorized to raise them either. By holding myself to a higher standard than the Lord, I’m being prideful and putting my will above His. All He asks of us each day is that we try a little harder to be a little better. I’m going to try really hard to report my effort to the Lord through prayer and ask for His help to see my progress, not in comparison to anyone else’s.

Saturday–It was a long but really good day. We ate some amazing food, talked with a bunch of potential investigators, and taught Anthony and Luz.

Sunday–Sunday was fun and productive! Maricella came to church for the first time, and she brought her daughter and the two kids she babysits! All of them loved church and want to come back! Sunday was also good because the weather is getting really nice, and we had an AMAZING dinner with a family from the ward (SPICY Indian food!!!).

Thanks for reading yet another email from me! I miss everyone so much. If you feel like it, please send me pictures of home and your cute families so I can continue bragging about you! Remember that I love you, and that your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you. Have a great week, and please serve someone around you if you get the chance! Spread the light!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Snow, transfers, and conference, oh my! It’s been quite the week here in Portland. I’ll give ya the rundown.

Tuesday–It snowed a good 4 or 5 inches! We also had to carpool with elders to dinner (40 minutes away) and that was quite the experience. Thankfully Elder Tenney didn’t kill us. We were able to arrive safely and just in time to have a little snowball fight! That was a first for Hna Vazquez so we had a lot of fun. On the way back home our cars got grounded, so we had to spend the rest of the night inside.

Wednesday–We had transfers which almost got canceled because we got more snow. Hna Cornwall left for Vancouver West, and now it’s just me and Hna Vazquez! We are SO excited for this transfer and we have a lot of really great goals! We also just got new Spanish elders in our ward! One of them was just assistant to the president and he served here a year ago, so he’s really excited to be back in a Spanish area. Him and his trainee are both great! And the good thing is, he’s our district leader now, so we can do our nightly phone calls and parts of our district meetings in Spanish!

Thursday–We had zone conference and Elder Carl B. Cook came to visit! It was insanely spiritual and he just asked what our questions were and then answered all of them! During the conference Hna Vazquez and I both received revelation for one of our investigators at the same time! We learned so much and hopefully we’ll be able to apply what we learned into the work here in Portland. Also, we got even more snow on Thursday!

Also on Thursday, we had a lesson with Ali, and now he’s on date for baptism!!!

Friday–Some of the sweet elders made breakfast for the the whole zone! It was good to talk to some people I’ve been with for two transfers, and then start to get to know the ones who are new.

We also spent a good portion of our time in the hospital with a family in our ward. They are probably going to lose their 3-year-old soon and it was such a difficult moment for them to fully realize that. However, I think many people will be impacted by the strong faith they have. A really sweet social worker came in and passed out “prayer rocks” so that when they bury their daughter they can leave one with her and have one with them. That way they can always have a “connection.” It was so kind of her to offer support in this way, but I just couldn’t help but think that what the hospital could offer was so little in comparison to what a knowledge of God’s plan can offer. They already received the best comfort one can have when the missionaries knocked on their door a few years ago. How grateful I am that this amazing family has a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation to carry them through this life, that they know they will see their little girl again. And yet, how sad it is to think that others don’t have this knowledge. They may only have a prayer stone clutched in their hands, when they could be reaching up and taking the hand of the Lord. That’s why I’m out here, so that I can help people gain a testimony of this knowledge and develop a hope and a joy that shines bright, no matter the circumstance.

Saturday–We had our weekly lesson with Luz, which we were actually kind of nervous for this time. She left church in tears last week, and this week she gave us the news that her job is trying to make her work on Sundays. We weren’t sure what we were going to do or say to help her with this problem, or the other difficulties she is facing right now. But, the lesson was actually perfect and so spiritual! Life is just really tough for her right now, but she has developed a strong faith in her Heavenly Father! We assured her that things are going to work out if she keeps acting in faith and doing the daily “small and simple” things God has asked her to do. Then she told us she’s been thinking about how she’d love to have the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide her through difficulties like this! So of course, we asked her if she’s still been thinking and praying about the decision to be baptized. Luz said that she has, and that she wants us to teach her son more so that they can both get baptized together! What a special moment. I love this little family and I really hope we can continue guiding them towards the goal of getting baptized and entering the holy temple.

Oh, by the way, the headline is a direct quote from Dorothy, a hilarious primary child that loves the missionaries. I hope everyone decides to heed Dorothy’s advice! Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana O’Barr

Not pictured: the completely naked guy that we saw on the way home from church!!! In case you ever start to think Portland isn’t as weird as people say it is, I have plenty of stories to change your mind. 😂