Far away in the West 2-3-14

Dear family and friends,

                                 It has been such a great week out here in Devils Lake. We have truly been staying busy for our last week of the transfer. It was a pretty decent teaching week. We got to have a great lesson with Michael and Samantha. Michael had been doing some soul searching about out church. We went over not knowing what to really say or do. But as we listened to Michael and his concerns we were able to answer his concerns. Me and Elder Anderson were certain he was going to drop us and tell us to hit the road. When we went to the lesson he told us he hadn't gotten an answer yet. His girlfriend Samantha was sitting in the room with us. We turned the focus on her and we started asking her questions. Before the end of the lesson the spirit was strong, and Samantha agreed to learn with Michael. It truly turned that whole lesson around. I am so thankful for the spirit and the aid it gives us missionaries. We were going to meet with Donnada this past week, but a sickness prevented it. As far as lessons go it was a pretty good week to end the transfer on. We also got to visit a new less-active member that we found named Omar. We gave him a Book of Mormon and every Sunday we plan to meet with him. 

                                 Friday was a great day. It started off with area calls from our Zone Leaders. Right as I hung up the phone and got my tie on the phone began to ring. It was a call from the Assistants to the President Elder Cunningham. Well I knew a transfer would most likely come this time around. And he asked me all the typical questions. After that he told me that I am being transferred. I didn't want to ask where but I finally did. He told me that I am being transferred to Casper, Wyoming to be a district leader in the 5th ward! He told me I am going to be in the most LDS populated area in the mission. I was really excited to be out in a town full of missionaries and members again. Mostly my number one question to him was "Do they have mountains in Casper?". He then asked me where I was from. I told him Kaysville, Utah. Then he told me that compared to what your used to Casper has "hills" At this point and time I will have to take whatever I can get! It will be nice to shed some layers and go down to the warmth of the high thirties. Yesterday was hard we had dinner appointments where the Super Bowl was going on in the other room. It was very tempting for me to not go in and watch my team beat up on the Broncos. But I knew that if I didn't watch it would be a secured victory! And it was! I would like you to send me a Seahawks CHAMPIONS hat. Mainly because I predicted this coincidence years ago. But not only that I want the world to know. THAT IS MY TEAM. It was kind of hard to celebrate my companion is a hard core Broncos fan. He had been giving me a hard time the whole week. I chose not to return the trash talk. My team did that for me. But sadly with a huge victory I can't celebrate too much. I will have to focus on it when I get home. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Barber 

Fun week In Casper 2-10-14

Dear Family and Friends,

                       Well it was a great, long, hectic, and chaotic week in the mission field this past week. Of course last P-day was spent packing all of my stuff and trying to fit in the new stuff. I actually ended up putting all of my bedding and some other miscellaneous items in a trash bag. So seeing that I am in Casper, Wyoming I will be buying a small suit case at Ross. We made our way to Fargo on Tuesday Afternoon to meet the "transfer train" (AKA: Big Mormon Mover Vans) I remember a feeling of relief as I put all my stuff in the trailer and we sped off to Sioux Falls. It was fun because Elder Cannon my old District Leader in Grand Forks is the Zone Leader in Sioux Falls. So we packed about fourteen missionaries in the Zone Leaders apartment that night to sleep. It was a long night of sleep on a rock hard floor. But early in the Morning we made our way from Sioux Falls all the way to Rapid City. We had to stop for gas probably five times in between. But the transfer train was a lot of fun. Their was some Elders going home and they were all really funny. I felt extreme joy as the landscape around me turned from flat plains to hills to small mountains of the black hills. My old District leader Elder Salmon (who is a zone leader in Rapid City) got to drive us the whole way to Casper in another van. And I was even more excited when we started driving through actual Canyons! I was happy when I could finally get to Casper and get off. I met my companion Elder Hardman. He is from Ibapah, Utah. He is an obedient missionary who likes to work hard. So I can't complain about that. He has a total different personality from my last jokester companion Elder Anderson. But I don't see any conflict in him. It is funny because every time he tells someone where he is from they always reply with "Where is that?" But we share a car with Elder Guyman, and Elder Heninger. And they are really funny missionaries and we always have a good time being around them. Me and Elder Hardman met with the Dickerson family when we first got here. They had three boys who were on date for baptism the upcoming Saturday. It was a spiritual experience for me to see their recent convert father baptize the three of them. Even though I only taught them two lessons I was just as happy if I had taught them from the beginning. I absolutely love our ward. They remind me of the Webster Meadows Ward of Casper. All the members are really nice and they fill our meal calendar every week. Well I love you all, and I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love, Elder Barber  

Finishing up 1-27-14

Dear Family and Friends,

                                    It has been an awesome week up here in Devils Lake. Not too much has really happened this week but it was a good teaching week! We got to teach Michael this week. It was a really hard lesson because we visited him, and he is wondering if this is the right path for him. So we will be meeting with him this week to address any concerns he has. I hope and pray that it can go well! It really makes me realize that there are some people truly prepared for this Gospel and others need time. We weren't able to meet with Donnada this week because she had surgery. We did get to meet with Bruce and we are going to continue to work with him. We did get a new investigator! Her name is Bernie. Me and Elder Pawlenchuk tracted into her house during a blizzard on an exchange. We finally got into her house when she could meet with us. She committed to learning more and says she feels our message is true. So we hope to continue to work with her. It has been an awesome week! It is funny to think that this is the 6th week of the transfer but we still are going one more! But I will enjoy this week. It might just be my last week serving here in Devils Lake. 

                                    This week ends the transfer. We are finishing up this transfer and who knows if I will go or stay. It is really suspenseful to be a missionary and waiting for a transfer call. You don't know if they will call or not. And if they do call you don't know where you will be going or what you will be doing. But I have enjoyed my time in this transfer. It was fun to experience and serve the calling as a District Leader in Grand Forks. I have truly been blessed on my mission with opportunities of growth. It is amazing to me how you can grow in such a little amount of time. Even though I am just barely seven months out I can truly say the mission has flown by. Yesterday we had a terrible blizzard blow through with winds up to 40 miles an hour, and windchill's as low as -35. But it comforted me to know that they predict that, that was the worst storm of the season. I am hoping they're right! Now that the worst blizzard of the season is behind us I hope for a sunny future in the summer time. And by the time summer gets here time really will have flown by. I love you all and I hope that you are doing great this week!

Love, Elder Barber 

Heat wave 1-13-14

Dear family and friends,

                     It was an awesome week up here in Devils Lake! It was also a really super busy week up here! It was an awesome teaching week for me and Elder Anderson. We have had barely any time to go out tracting. We truly have been blessed by Heavenly Father with lessons this week. We got to meet with Michael. A really good thing that happened with that meeting was his girlfriend Samantha sat in on the lesson. It is the first time she actually sat in for months! So that was awesome progress! Hopefully we can get them both on board to being baptized. We will have to push Michael's baptismal date back unfortunately. We got to meet with Donnada this week! She is doing great but we will have to push her date back as well. One thing that I learned this week is that we are on a seven week transfer cycle for this transfer. So I will at least be here until February 3rd. We have been experiencing a very well needed heat wave up here. Yesterday it was 33 degrees outside and I could feel spring in the air. It was one of those days you just wear a light coat. Any day above 0 is a warm day. And it looks like this week we will still be in the heat wave. But pretty soon it will drop back down to the negative thirties. So I will enjoy this while it lasts!

                   This week we had a wonderful experience with teaching an investigator named Dina and her son Tanner. Something cool about Tanner is he has hearing loss and is completely deaf. So we got to do a lesson with Tanner and we showed him the restoration in American Sign Language. It was a really spiritual lesson and the spirit was indescribable. The coolest part of the lesson was when we could talk to Tanner with his mother translating. It was amazing because we had to speak really simple with him. It was amazing to watch the spirit speak through us to his mother, and from his mother to him. Dina translated the words with tears in her eyes, and you could tell the spirit was in the room. It was probably one of the coolest experiences on my mission so far. I can truly testify of the spirit. And the remarkable way that it can touch the hearts of men, and even change hard hearts to soft hearts. It is by the power of the Holy Ghost that we may know the truth of all things (Moroni 10:5). I hope you are all having a wonderful week I love you all! 

Love, Elder Barber 

Miracles. 1-21-14

Dear family and friends,

                                    It has been another great week up here in Devils Lake. Not so much of a good teaching week, but not terrible either. We got to meet with our investigators Tanner and Dina again! We taught them the Plan of Salvation. At first the lesson wasn't going so great, but as we listened to the spirit it went better. We committed them to come to church. We even told them we would drop by in the morning to have them follow us to the building. And that is what we did the next day and they came to church! We haven't been able to meet with Michael lately, because every time we go over it's a bad time for them. So this week has been humbling but also a great week! On Friday after District Meeting we got to go on exchanges with the Grand Forks Elders. I was on exchange with Elder Allred and my companion was on exchanges with Elder Dibble. We had a lot of fun. They have this guy in their ward who is less active and his name is John. He can be a bit wild at times. But he shops at the Thrift Stores all day to buy ties. And I have some unattractive thrift store ties that I bought recently so I got some good trades with him. But a bad blizzard blew through on Friday night! Good thing we were staying in Grand Forks!

                                   We had an awesome miracle that happened to us on Sunday. We just got to church with Tanner and Dina, and about five minutes later Bruce walked through the door (Bruce is Donnada's less active boyfriend who hasn't been to church in years). It was an awesome miracle to see! I never thought I would ever live to see the day. But the ward gave him some awesome fellowship. He told us he wants to get sober and has been sober for five days. Donnada also came to Church that Sunday and was super happy to see him actually at Church. It was one of those Sundays where your heart is so full that tears are in your eyes the whole meeting. As I sat there I couldn't help but say silent prayers of thanks the whole time to God for this wonderful miracle. I can truly testify that God is hastening his work. He is a God of miracles. We have been so blessed here in Devils Lake these past few weeks. If this is the end of the story for me in Devils Lake at the end of this transfer I can truly say that it couldn't have ended in a better way. I will try and survive through this arctic blast! Yesterday we got stuck in the church parking lot because the snow was so thick. So for thirty minutes our P-Day activity was trying to get the car un-stuck from the drift it was in. I love you all, and I hope you are having an awesome week!

Love Elder Barber

Happy New Year 1-6-14

                                     Happy New Year to you all! I hope you are all having a wonderful New Year! I hope that you all have made some awesome goals this year to bring you and your lives in closer harmony with his teachings. It has been a much better teaching week for us. We got to meet with our investigator Michael. We have discovered some new struggles that he has. So his baptismal date might be pushed back. But he did commit to seek strength from God to overcome his weaknesses. And he is still currently not married to Samantha. So we will be pushing his date back to a more realistic date. We haven't gotten to meet with Donnada for the past few weeks, but we do have an appointment with her tomorrow on Tuesday. We met with an investigator named AJ. We don't really know hsi true interest in the Church. So we will be working on finding that out. We finally got in with an investigator named Michelle and we showed her the restoration video and she said that truly helped her put Joseph Smith into a visual aspect. She told us that she believes God could call another Prophet to the Earth. So those are the successes we have had this week! We went to District Meeting this past week, we were blessed to have the Zone Leaders from Fargo attend. They were there to come on exchanges with me and Elder Anderson. I gave a training on how we as missionaries can find service opportunities. I mainly focused on finding those "un-planned" opportunities. For example helping an old lady you see put groceries away. The training and the role play definitely went well. And afterwards I had the opportunity to do a baptismal interview for an investigator for Elder Cloward and Elder Pawlenchuk in Grand Forks. He was a pretty solid and very smart investigator so of course he passed the interview. It was a really cool experience for me. Afterwards we got a call from our Branch Mission Leader warning us to stay in Grand Forks for the night. He told us that there was a terrible blizzard blowing in. But for our exchange we still headed back to Devils Lake. It was pretty scary you can only see the highway reflectors to guide you in some parts. But we made it safely home. We definitely will be more safe next time a blizzard comes through, I can promise you that!

It was also cool to learn how to be a better district leader from our Zone Leaders and get pointers and tips!

                                    Yesterday temperatures hit -55 with windchill. Obviously we stayed inside due to cold temperatures. We did walk across the street to Peter and Cindy's house just to get out of the apartment. It was so cold that your face was numb by the time you were across the street. But we had dinner with them that night and visited. Cindy got a call telling her to look at the Co-Op Bean Plant (which is the street just West of us.) We all went to the window and the Bean Plant had spiraling flames shooting out of it. So of course an event that big in Devils Lake attracts the whole entire town. We all went outside and took pictures. You could see it outside our bedroom window. So whenever I would wake up in the night I would sit up and look out the window to see if it was still blazing. It burnt until like four A.M. It is still smoking right now but you can tell it burnt the whole thing. And they shut down College Drive (the main highway that runs North.) So now 3rd Ave. NE is the new highway detour. So our boring little street is now a crazy highway. I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love Elder Barber

Have a Happy New Year with New Beginnings 12-30-13

Dear Family and Friends,

                                  We had a great Christmas up here in Devils Lake! It was great to see all of your faces and to talk to each one of you! It was definitely a good rejuvenation for me to talk to all of you! I miss each one of you very much. But I know that my time out in the field is being shortened. This last week I got to burn a tie the day after Christmas! I have officially been out for six months! And I think if that quarter of my mission went by that fast, I fear how fast it is going to go by once the work gets moving into the New Year! It is really weird it feels like it was an eternity ago that I was at the MTC being dropped off. And now I am six months out and it doesn't feel that long. So the mission time is slow but fast at the same time! It is crazy that at the end of tomorrow we will be beginning a new year and leaving an old year. This week was pretty slow with teaching lessons. We only taught one lesson due to the holiday and everybody being busy! We did get to teach Joyce who is a new investigator. If I remember right I have a written about her before. We had another lesson with her and showed her the restoration movie. It really helped put a lot of things in perspective for her. Our next lesson we will be bringing Sister Mitchell to fellowship her! And we are really excited about that! Me and Elder Anderson are now working on gaining the members trust in this area. We spent the rest of Christmas driving around trying to get a hold of less active members in the far away towns. This was an assignment given to us by our Branch President Christensen. It was really fun to drive around and try these people (even though we didn't get in with any of them). But I feel like we are now using the Branch better to help us with this area and our investigators. 

                                  It is exciting that 2014 will be here before the end of the week. I know that new years resolutions are something that almost everyone makes, but forgets. I think we should re-name new years resolutions as "The first two weeks of the year resolutions". But I hope that we all can make one change in our lives this new years. I hope that we can all resolve to make the Savior Jesus Christ the center of our new year. And by doing this I hope we can become more bold with those around us. To share the gospel with those who need it. To have a love for everyone around us, and help as many people as we can. I know that as each and every one of us are to center this next year on our Savior we will feel his love. It will strengthen our testimonies along with the testimonies of those around us. We all can make this the best year of our lives! I hope you all are doing well this week! I love you all and stay strong!

Love, Elder Barber