Eternal progression. 2-17-15

Dear family and friends,

                 Happy late Presidents day to all! We should always take a moment to honor those great Presidents of our Nations History. And we should keep in our prayers the current President, and future Presidents to come! The work has really been picking up here in Grand Forks. This week we hit a personal record of receiving 5 referrals (that's what we get when Sisters accidentally "poach" our area." But it was still a personal record for Elder Smith and I! We contacted one of the referrals named Collin. He is in his 20's and studying to become a leader of a Non-Profit organization. He knew members growing up, and he felt he should learn more! So we are excited to continue working with him! It will be awesome! This past week we met with Randall. We have been working with Randall for about 2 months now, and it has been on and off. He contacted the To our surprise he contacted the first Ward Sisters that originally taught him, and told them he "knows the church is true, wants to be taught everything, and get baptized." We were very shocked at this! I think he knows these things our true by the fruits of the Gospel. He has really seen a change in himself for the better. And he feels that God is lining things up for him. It was awesome, and we had a very spiritual lesson with him on Valentines Day. And we were able to set him on date for March 21st! We are so excited!! We even told him that God will help him make that date, but Satan will do everything he can to make it so you can't get baptized. So we warned him in a way. Johnathan's baptism is this upcoming Saturday!! His family confirmed they are flying in from Sunny Florida to Frozen Tundra North Dakota this weekend. So we are very excited it will be an awesome day! His Father is baptizing him, and Elder Smith and I are giving talks. We are really looking forward to it! It will be an awesome week! Were hoping Randall can attend the baptism! Well another Transfer has gone and I am staying in Grand Forks at least until March 31st (That is the next transfer van day.) I get to be with Elder Smith! He is a good missionary, and fun to be around! He is from the Castle Rock, and Parker area of Colorado. So he kind of lives near Cheryl and Glade. But there are a lot of great changes happening in our Zone this time around! 

                Yesterday we got it approved to go tour through the aviation center at U.N.D. And take a tour with some members who are currently studying there. It was awesome!! Recently I have been praying about, and taking interest in the Aviation field. I am not sure what section of Aviation I would like to go into just yet. But the member here in town plans to hook me up with a pamphlet or two on the program and different things I could Major in. As we walked through I thought to myself "This is going to take a lot of work." Here I am just a normal person who plans to tackle this huge degree. When I looked at the real life simulators I only knew the basic instruments and that's it. The rest of everything else was a blur. But I thought to myself schooling for anything is not going to be fun. I believe that aviation is the funnest degree you can chase after. But the schooling and the work to get there is not going to be fully enjoyable. But then I thought to myself the college degree for anything is not going to be fully enjoyable either. In that moment I took a thought on the eternal progression of us all. Here we are as normal humans some more educated and capable than others. But we are all shooting for the same thing. To live with God again and the chance to become like him. Right now nobody would be capable of becoming like God. But as we go line upon line and precept upon precept. We will reach our goal, and our eternal reward. It was a great lesson I learned. Well I hope you all have an excellent week! I love you all!

Elder Corey Barber