Service in the community 10/21/13

Dear Family and Friends,

                                   This week has been great! It started off last week on P-day! We went fishing out in Devils Lake! It was really cold, and really windy out there! But luckily we were fishing under the bridge so we could leave our poles mounted in the rocks, and go hide under there! We went back and checked the poles and we both caught a fish! We both caught these perfect sized Walleye! Which Walleye fresh out of the lake is really delicious. After we froze for about forty five minutes we drove back and cleaned the fish and ate them! They were really delicious! Walleye is a lot like Halibut. It's a white fish, and it tastes really good! On Wednesday we got to meet with Donnada, and we had a great opportunity to do family history work with her at the library! We met a great guy named Paul this week when we were out tracting! Him and his family do a lot of service and are active in a christian church just outside of town. But his wife asked us if we could get her a Bible in Spanish. And Paul asked us if he could read the Book of Mormon! So we have great potentials in this area. This week we got to help the Perisho family move to Washington. On our way out to there house our "Change Engine Oil Soon" light came on. So on Friday when we went to Grand Forks to carpool to Fargo we dropped the Cruze off at the Chevrolet dealership to get fixed. We had our ZTM in Fargo, and it was very fun to see all the missionaries again! They gave us great council and help on how to improve our areas! We also got to hear from a member of the Seventy Elder Watson. He gave us great insight on how to become better missionaries, and how we can improve our lives when we get off our mission! We have been really blessed in our area this past week with service! We have been helping a lot around the community and asking people if we can help serve them. And many doors have been open to us because of service. When people see us in service clothes they aren't as intimidated by us. And I can truly testify that service is a wonderful gateway into the hearts of those around us. It will open doors and hearts that cannot be opened any other way. On Sunday it actually SNOWED for the first time of the year! It snowed in the morning, but it was all melted in the afternoon! I got to practice singing with the kids for their primary program next Sunday! It was really a lot of fun! That is all that has been happening in the field this week! I hope you all are doing well, and keeping safe! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barber

Luau 10/14/13

Dear Family and friends,

                                   This week has been pretty good! The lessons haven't been as consistent as I like them, but this upcoming week holds great potential for this area! Elder Anderson, and I are still getting along pretty well! We have definitely been feeling the fall air come down from Canada! Donnada is still on Date for November 16th, but we don't have any other investigators on date this week! But we will try to continue to work hard to change that! This week we were biking our way to an appointment and I hit a pot hole, and it popped my tube in my tire! So it was great to get that fixed in Grand Forks this week! As I said it is cold but it is also rainy today! This week has been a great week for doing service! We got to go over to Darlene's house and stain her deck on one of the clear days! I have never done that before either, but it was a fun service project! We also got to go over to Brother Marshall's house, and help him do some house projects! I really think that service is the way to some of the people here! I have noticed that finding and door approaches yield very little success. But when we serve those around us, they tend to be more open to us. 

                                  We got the cool opportunity to go to a Luau this week out in Fort Totten! Brother Story texted us and wondered if we would like to come and help them prepare a luau pig in Fort Totten. It was really fun! We showed up, and they had a big pit dug out for where they were going to cook the pig. We laid rocks down in the hole (the rocks help hold the heat) and put wood over the top of them. We then laid more rocks and another layer of wood. We started to build the fire,and that was a challenge for us. But when we finally got the big fire going it burnt really well. We then went and hooked the chicken wire together so we could wrap the pig. And covered him in lettuce. We returned the next day and had a lot of pork! And our freezer is now full of pork ribs, and we have a ton of pork chops in the fridge! But that is all that is going on this week! I hope everything is well at home!

Love, Elder Barber 

A new beginning 10/7/13

Dear Family and friends,

                                 Thank you all for the love, and support that you have truly shown this week! What a good week it has been up here! Well on Tuesday me and Elder Garfield drove our way to Fargo, North Dakota. He had to say goodbye to a lot of good friends of his that he has made here in Devils Lake, and the surrounding towns. We made our way to Fargo and waited about an hour and a half the first bus came and took Elder Salmon to be a zone leader down in Rapid City! We will miss him as our district leader here in the Grand Forks District. We then waited about another hour and a half for the other bus to make its way in. It was funny because it had my trainee on the bus and Elder Smith who trained Elder Garfield. So we had to take a posterity line picture! But I am training Elder Anderson. He is from Rexburg, Idaho! He likes to go fishing, and worked up at the Snake River last summer. He is a great Elder, and I hope I can train him to the best of my ability. My knowledge of missionary work may not be worth to much right now, but I will try to train to the best of my ability. So far training has been going pretty well! I try to help him understand things pretty simply out here. Being out in the field is worlds different than being in the MTC. So far we have been doing pretty well with being out of the house when we should, and working hard until the end of the day! Training has really helped me to break out of my MTC shell, and be a real missionary. With lessons they have been really spiritual, I have noticed that when you share experiences with people, the spirit really comes into the lesson a lot more! We met with Michael this week, and shared with him why we have prophets! And we of course invited him to watch General Conference! 

                                General Conference was great this time around! It is always great to hear from the first presidency, and the quorum of the twelve apostles. It always is good to hear their messages that seem like they are directed to you! I really enjoyed hearing Dallin H. Oaks talk this time around. I hope its not causing to much fuss in Salt Lake. One thing that I got out of his talk was "Whose on the Lords side?" I absolutely loved that talk, and it is a talk that many members of the church need to hear! Of course it does make any missionary homesick to see Salt Lake, and the temple. And one of the choirs had families from Kaysville in it! They did a great job! I can't wait for next General Conference in April! Well that's about all for the week! I hope moving to St. George has been an easy move! I know that it must be hard to leave the Kaysville home. I love you, and pray for you! And thank you for the prayers you all have given! 

love Elser Barber

A New Beginning First transfer after Training

Dear Family and friends,

                                 Thank you all for the love, and support that you have truly shown this week! What a good week it has been up here! Well on Tuesday me and Elder Garfield drove our way to Fargo, North Dakota. He had to say goodbye to a lot of good friends of his that he has made here in Devils Lake, and the surrounding towns. We made our way to Fargo and waited about an hour and a half the first bus came and took Elder Salmon to be a zone leader down in Rapid City! We will miss him as our district leader here in the Grand Forks District. We then waited about another hour and a half for the other bus to make its way in. It was funny because it had my trainee on the bus and Elder Smith who trained Elder Garfield. So we had to take a posterity line picture! But I am training Elder Anderson. He is from Rexburg, Idaho! He likes to go fishing, and worked up at the Snake River last summer. He is a great Elder, and I hope I can train him to the best of my ability. My knowledge of missionary work may not be worth to much right now, but I will try to train to the best of my ability. So far training has been going pretty well! I try to help him understand things pretty simply out here. Being out in the field is worlds different than being in the MTC. So far we have been doing pretty well with being out of the house when we should, and working hard until the end of the day! Training has really helped me to break out of my MTC shell, and be a real missionary. With lessons they have been really spiritual, I have noticed that when you share experiences with people, the spirit really comes into the lesson a lot more! We met with Michael this week, and shared with him why we have prophets! And we of course invited him to watch General Conference! 

                                General Conference was great this time around! It is always great to hear from the first presidency, and the quorum of the twelve apostles. It always is good to hear their messages that seem like they are directed to you! I really enjoyed hearing Dallin H. Oaks talk this time around. I hope its not causing to much fuss in Salt Lake. One thing that I got out of his talk was "Whose on the Lords side?" I absolutely loved that talk, and it is a talk that many members of the church need to hear! Of course it does make any missionary homesick to see Salt Lake, and the temple. And one of the choirs had families from Kaysville in it! They did a great job! I can't wait for next General Conference in April! Well that's about all for the week! I hope moving to St. George has been an easy move! I know that it must be hard to leave the Kaysville home. I love you, and pray for you! And thank you for the prayers you all have given! 

Love, Elder Barber