LaborDay Delay

Dear Family,

                It has been a great week up here and a bit faster of a pace as far as lessons go. This has by far been the most spiritual week of my mission so far! We have an investigator named Patrick who is seventeen and in High School up here in Devils Lake. We have been teaching him and his family for quite some time now! Patrick is a great kid and honestly if I was still in high school and not on a mission he is the kind of kid you would want to hang out with! But we got the inspiration from our branch president to ask Patrick what he thinks of missionary work. He has always been asking us questions like "What did you have to do to be a missionary?" and things like that. So we finally talked to him this last week, and we figured out that he is actually has an interest in serving a mission! And it was a real testimony builder to me that an investigator who is seventeen doesn't just want to get baptized, but he is actually considering serving a mission. This kind of situation is very rare, and doesn't happen very often. But I really hope he can progress and serve a mission, because I know that this kid would be an amazing missionary! I have heard and seen the wonderful pictures of the new house! I don't know what I am planning to do as far as living goes. I would still like to give my homecoming talk in Kaysville if at all possible. But I can definitely support you all moving down there. I feel as though the Lord has been preparing me for this moment, I don't know if I will attend Utah State or go south, but I don't have to worry about that for a while either. I want to apologize for my letter coming a day late! The library was closed yesterday for Labor Day. The new house looks nice, and it has a fence so the dog can stay in the yard. Just make sure there is no way for the dog to escape! The house looks really nice and I can't wait to come see it. We will need to inform the mission office of its new address! I hope that it at least has a community pool. I will miss our house, and the wonderful memories that I will always have there. No matter what Kaysville will always be my home, and very possibly the place where I will live when I am older. Saint George is a very nice community, and it is where God needs Dad at this moment. And I will definitely be staying down there quite often! I know that God had his hand in this decision and I will support it fully! It is amazing to see the hand of God, and as a missionary especially last week I got to witness the hand of God first hand. We got a referral out in New Rockford, and we spared the miles to drive out there. We got out there and found the address of the referral, but nobody answered the door. So we visited this less active couple who are getting older so it is hard to get to church. We stayed there for about an hour and a half maybe longer. The husbands name is Wade, and he later told us that he was prompted to keep us there for as long as he did. He told us that if we were to leave his house when we were going to we would hit a deer on the way home and suffer severe injuries. He then told us that the timeline for that happening had passed and we were now safe to leave. So before heading out of town we headed back over to our referral for one last try. We knocked and got nothing and the car that was once there was now gone. We decided to try the neighbor and had a good talk with the neighbor. But then suddenly the car had pulled back in and we were able to contact our referral. Our referral was very interested and wondering if we would every stop by. We finished the night driving home safely. From this experience I learned that God has his hand in everything and he really did prompt Wade to keep us at his house for that time. It was really cool to see that God has a deep interest in everyone's life and he will help his children at all times and in all places. I know that for some reason God needs Dad down in Saint George. God has been very generous in letting me grow up with such wonderful parents. Where my parents are my home is, and if you are down in St. George then that is where my home is. Even though my hometown will always be Kaysville, my home is in Saint George. I love you all and I can't wait to receive another package! I hope you can send me some Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD's. Anything EFY or upbeat such as Nashville Tribute Band, or Mormon Tabernacle Choir America edition. I would really appreciate the CD of Called to Serve by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I may be purchasing some things in the coming week. I may need to buy a cheep GPS system so I can navigate these plains without getting lost. And I will also need to buy a bike trainer so my cardio can stay up in the winter months. If you want you can send me a cheep GPS or I can possibly buy one here. I love you all and I wish you the best this week. Make sure the dog goes with you to Saint George!

Love,

Elder Barber