Tuesday, October 28, 2014

I'm back home 10-15-14

Dear family and friends,
                 What a wonderful week we had last week! We were able to prepare Janessa for her baptism. She was excited all the way to the day of Saturday! And on Saturday we were blessed to see her enter into the waters of baptism. It was a very spiritual experience! I was then able to confirm Janessa in sacrament meeting in the Casper 5th ward on Sunday. I will never forget the wonderful experiences I had in the Casper 5th ward. I had a lot of great memories serving in the 5th ward. I loved serving with the member. I loved the investigators and the less actives I served with. But like all great things they have to end. On Saturday I was anticipating a call from the Assistants. As we were about to head out to go try some less actives I received a call from the assistant to the President Elder Kirton. We had a little bit of small talk about the District meeting of mine that he attended. He told me that on behalf of President Anderson he wanted to thank me for the hard work I had put into the District and the area. I then asked him the exciting question of "Well, where am I going?" He told me I would be serving in the Grand Forks Second Ward. My jaw almost hit the floor with shock and extreme excitement. I have been longing to come back to the Devils Lake/Grand Forks area for a long time. He told me I will be serving as a Zone Leader, and opening up the Grand Forks Zone!! He then told me my companion would be Elder Cannon. Elder Cannon and I served here this time last year when I was in Devils Lake. He was my District Leader in Grand Forks for two transfers and then I became a District Leader following him. When I heard it was Elder Cannon I might have caused Elder Kirton to lose his hearing. As I said goodbye to all those in Casper it still wasn't easy. But when I got on that train I was more stoked than I have ever been! I got to ride with my favorite Zone Leader Elder Parrish pretty much the whole way. He was my Zone Leader for a total of 9 transfers. Which is a year in the mission field. It was like saying goodbye to a best friend you know you wont see for 8 months! It was very hard. But Elder Cannon and I were together all the way from Rapid City to Grand Forks. As we both pulled into this familiar area it was fun to see all the billboards we recognized all the stores. I got to see the Devils Lake Highway sign which excited me to get out there some day. But we got here and it turns out the Elders who have the super nice apartment with two bathrooms want to be placed in another apartment closer to their area. So we get the super nice apartment! But for now were sharing the super nice apartment and sleeping on the rock hard floor. We are now very motivated to find them a new apartment. There are a lot of things I would rather do than sleep on that rock hard floor again. But I will probably have to spend the night on it tonight. On the transfer van I was talking to an Elder who had served in Devils Lake after me and he said Donnada might be getting baptized here pretty soon. Bruce is getting close to marrying her! So you can almost guarantee I will be there! Even if I have to walk the 90 miles to Devils Lake. I am excited to serve here as a Zone Leader. Elder Kirton told us we were making history by opening up this zone, and I believe him. We got a lot of things to do to get this organized but Elder Cannon is an awesome Leader and I have learned well from the Zone Leaders my whole mission. I am also excited to be travelling to Rapid City once a month for Missionary Leadership Conference (MLC). Well I hope all is well at home! I am sorry I had to leave you hanging a few days! Just know that I'm doing fine, and I'm back in my beloved area of North Eastern North Dakota. I love you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Barber 

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