Dear family and friends,
It is that wonderful time of year again! The time where the Nation comes together, and realizes the things that they are thankful for. I know one thing that I am thankful for is to have a great family at home who supports me. I am thankful for the missionary work world wide that is taking place. I am thankful for the churches growth in my area, and also the world. I am thankful to be a missionary. I am thankful for all of the things that I have learned in the field. I am thankful for the next 7 1/2 months I still have to be a missionary. I am also thankful that I will have the privilege of returning and seeing you all once more. There are many things to be thankful for every day. This week was a slower week. The work is getting a bit more difficult with Winter coming into play. It is also more difficult because we are currently trying our hardest to find this upcoming week. It is hard to find up in North Dakota. There are a lot of great religious people here. But not many of them care to hear the message. So it was one of those weeks where we knocked a lot of doors and not too much has come from it. But we do have some people that have told us we can come back! We were able to get a new investigator his name is Bob! He is an older man, but a super nice man! When we offered him a copy of The Book of Mormon he said "I gladly accept." So we are very excited to teach him! We also just experienced transfer calls. This week in weekly planning I had a very tender yet weird moment. In the front of your missionary daily planner you put the months the transfer will go through. I put 11/14 and the ending will be in 1/15. It made this whole mission feel like she was slowly but quickly getting closer to the end. By the end of this transfer I will have a little under 6 months to go. I hope at the end of this transfer I can hang on to Elder Cannon for one more. He goes home in the middle of February. So if he stays at the end of this one he gets to end his mission in Grand Forks. And that means I will be a Zone Leader up here until my last transfer. And I will probably just go to Rapid City to end the mission. This very day my trainer is home! He and the missionaries such as Elder Parrish flew home today to be with there families for the Holidays. It is weird to think he is home. When I came out he seemed to me to be a younger missionary. As I watch my friends I knew at the beginning of my mission go home each transfer. It makes me want to keep pushing to the end. I am doing well up here. It has been a pretty warm winter so far! This time last year the temperature was dwelling in the negatives! So I am thankful we are still in the 30's! Well I hope you all enjoy your wonderful Holiday this week! Just know that I am thankful for you all this year. I am thankful for the examples you all have been to me! I hope the Lord touches all of your hearts as you list the things you are thankful for this year! I love you all, and have a great week!
Love, Elder Barber
Dear family and friends,
Hello! I hope you are all doing well this week! I write to you from this frozen plane of North Dakota! It has been getting colder every day! Yesterday we hit 10 degrees with a windchill of -6. We then went tracting out in it! That was cold! But I am excited for my blood to get thicker! This way when those twenty degree days come back it will be like summer again! We had a great Zone Conference come through on Wednesday! It was so great to see President and Sister Anderson! They showed us the Meet the Mormons movie! That was an awesome movie! I really enjoyed it! I loved the candy bomber! That was one of my favorite! It brought me back to that Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas celebration we all went to. Where he made a special appearance! That was really fun! And I think the missionary mom always tugs everyone's heart strings. That was really good! I enjoyed the whole movie! I hope soon that it becomes available to missionaries! From Wednesday all the way to Friday was meeting with our Sister Training Leader Sister Eaton at the church. We had to plan very carefully our Zone Training Meeting! It was awesome to just see the meeting grow as we planned it out! The meeting went over super well! Us as the Zone Leadership were very excited to see the excitement and inspiration in the missionaries. We trained on "talking with everyone." That is probably the biggest missionary fear of just opening your mouth and speaking. After the meeting we could feel that the fear was diminishing. We got reports from Sister Eaton after the conference from the First Wards Sisters. They had found someone by talking to them on the street! It is cool to see our training going into effect! We had the baptism of Maliya and Tito! That was awesome! The funny thing is, is they are moving to the first ward out by the air base. So we baptized them and now first ward takes on the responsibility of helping them remain active! They were really excited! And I got to confirm them in sacrament meeting! So that was really cool! It was an all around exciting week! We got in with Elaina again. It turns out when she didn't answer the last time she was called into work! She says her boyfriend doesn't like the whole Mormon thing, but she says that's okay it doesn't take away her interest! So that was really awesome! We look forward to meeting with her tomorrow! Elder Cannon and I are doing great! I really love having him as a companion. I have to admit we get along really well, and he is just a fun guy to be around. But he keeps things obedient as well! Well I love you all I hope you have a great week!
Love, Elder Barber
Dear family and friends,
How are you all doing? I hope you have had a great week! The reason I am happy to be here is because I am not supposed to be writing you today as usual. Today was supposed to be MLC through tomorrow but they cancelled it this week due to the Meet the Mormons Zone Conference. This week we have plenty of Zone Meetings to host here in Grand Forks. We have the Meet the Mormons Zone Conference on Wednesday, and Zone Training Meeting on Friday! So we will have quite a busy week! I was sad that they cancelled MLC. I here that they are a lot of fun! But that's okay. The next MLC will be held on December 1st. So we have quite a while now. But that will come before we know it! It seems like time keeps on flying faster and faster! This past week we taught Maliya and Tito! They are all ready for their baptisms on this upcoming Saturday! So this will be a busy week with the Zone meetings, and the baptism coming up! But when it is all over hopefully it will be a good week! We got in with Roxanne, and that lesson was okay. But when we tried her back her church was at her house doing a study group, and her female pastor dropped us for her. But we will probably still try back. I'm not sure if it was her decision or her female pastors decision. So we will probably try back. Either that or ask her member friend what really went down. We are hoping we can make it back in with her, but if not she's just not prepared. We found a good new investigator! Her name is Elaine and she lives with her boyfriend and just had a new born baby. But she has been religious her whole life, and disagrees with those churches she has previously been in. And she was interested in hearing our message! So we can't wait to get her coming to church we know she will love it! We are really excited! It has just been a LONG week. Honestly. We have been dealing with people who are interested in our message, but all they want to do is ask a million questions and try and get you to doubt your faith. Which is stupid I already know I have the truth and I can back EVERYTHING we believe in the Bible. So far they have all failed to silence or stump Elder Cannon and I. Which I attribute all of that to the promise of the spirit that we shall not be confounded before men. But hopefully this week will be better, and we will have more success! In our area we are having a lot of success with re-activation of less actives. We have been working with Brother Mackillop and he is doing awesome! Every day at 8 in the morning we send him a text to read his scriptures and he does! And he loves to come to P-day activities if he has work off! Which is a good surrounding for him to be a part of! We got in with a less active named Brother Moore. And the first time we dropped by we could tell he had a testimony of the Church. He is just scared of being the center of attention at Church if he comes back. But yesterday we got in with him and he said he would come to Church again! We just got to make sure people don't overwhelm him. Well I am doing good we are still pushing along out here, and there is plenty of work to be done! I hope you all have a great week!
Love, Elder Barber
Dear family and friends,
How are you all doing? I hope you have had a great week! The reason I am happy to be here is because I am not supposed to be writing you today as usual. Today was supposed to be MLC through tomorrow but they cancelled it this week due to the Meet the Mormons Zone Conference. This week we have plenty of Zone Meetings to host here in Grand Forks. We have the Meet the Mormons Zone Conference on Wednesday, and Zone Training Meeting on Friday! So we will have quite a busy week! I was sad that they cancelled MLC. I here that they are a lot of fun! But that's okay. The next MLC will be held on December 1st. So we have quite a while now. But that will come before we know it! It seems like time keeps on flying faster and faster! This past week we taught Maliya and Tito! They are all ready for their baptisms on this upcoming Saturday! So this will be a busy week with the Zone meetings, and the baptism coming up! But when it is all over hopefully it will be a good week! We got in with Roxanne, and that lesson was okay. But when we tried her back her church was at her house doing a study group, and her female pastor dropped us for her. But we will probably still try back. I'm not sure if it was her decision or her female pastors decision. So we will probably try back. Either that or ask her member friend what really went down. We are hoping we can make it back in with her, but if not she's just not prepared. We found a good new investigator! Her name is Elaine and she lives with her boyfriend and just had a new born baby. But she has been religious her whole life, and disagrees with those churches she has previously been in. And she was interested in hearing our message! So we can't wait to get her coming to church we know she will love it! We are really excited! It has just been a LONG week. Honestly. We have been dealing with people who are interested in our message, but all they want to do is ask a million questions and try and get you to doubt your faith. Which is stupid I already know I have the truth and I can back EVERYTHING we believe in the Bible. So far they have all failed to silence or stump Elder Cannon and I. Which I attribute all of that to the promise of the spirit that we shall not be confounded before men. But hopefully this week will be better, and we will have more success! In our area we are having a lot of success with re-activation of less actives. We have been working with Brother Mackillop and he is doing awesome! Every day at 8 in the morning we send him a text to read his scriptures and he does! And he loves to come to P-day activities if he has work off! Which is a good surrounding for him to be a part of! We got in with a less active named Brother Moore. And the first time we dropped by we could tell he had a testimony of the Church. He is just scared of being the center of attention at Church if he comes back. But yesterday we got in with him and he said he would come to Church again! We just got to make sure people don't overwhelm him. Well I am doing good we are still pushing along out here, and there is plenty of work to be done! I hope you all have a great week!
Love, Elder Barber
Dear family and friends,
Thank you all for the wonderful Birthday emails!! I had a great birthday here in Grand Forks! I went to church yesterday and the Weber State Cross Country team came in and sat in front of us. And included with that team was some kids I knew in High School and graduated with! So it was quite a surprise and a pretty fun random birthday present. It was a lot of fun to see them! Something I have definitely noticed on my mission is the longer you go the harder it is to be homesick. When I said goodbye to these two they left, and I wasn't homesick one bit. It is almost as if the mission is home to me. I'm sure I will be 100% excited to see home, and see all of the family again. But right now I know this is where I need to be! I had a wonderful Birthday Dinner over at the Musgrove home afterwards! That is an awesome family! I actually ate at their house with Elder Salmon back when I was being trained. So I have known them for quite some time. That was good! And the missionaries around me all wished me Happy Birthday and had some pretty funny gifts. They gave me a box full of random things. Such as tiny foam football, mento breath mints (they swore they weren't implying anything), reeses peanut butter cups. Random things like that! It was definitely a good day all in all! Last Monday we thought it would be a good idea to go on exchanges with the Devils Lake Elders. The Elder that I was with Elder Wolfgramm forgot his suit back in Devils Lake. The next day was zone conference and we couldn't just let him go to a Zone Conference with a General Authority present without a suit. So Elder Wolfgramm and I had the great privilege of driving back to Devils Lake! I only had literally an hour to say hello to whoever I wanted to. I called Donnada on the way into town. She was working with Janet at the time, but she made an exception for me to come visit her. We then ran over to the apartment! That was a little bit weird! My nice Ashley Furniture couch is still there! I'm thinking of coming back after the mission and kidnapping that couch! I then went down to visit the Landlord who I became friends with and his wife. They have that Dog named Trump that used to hate me in my early days of Devils Lake. But then became a good friend of mine. When that front door opened you could definitely tell that dog remembered me. He was jumping all over the place and you could tell he was excited I was back! Sadly I only had fifteen minutes with each visit! But it was good to be back! And then I walked across the street to Peter and Cindy's! Cindy was the only one home. But it was funny I knocked on the door and she looked at me and came over to the window and you could hear her say "oh my gosh!" She then opened the door surprised that I was back. Jim and Roxanne weren't home sadly they were busy that night! But perhaps another time! It was a lot of fun to go back for an hour! I felt that, that was a tender mercy alone. It has been a great week! Hopefully I can have another week this good! We were able to teach Maliya and Tito! We taught them about obeying and honoring the law, and teaching and learning in the Church. We invited them to church but sadly they did not come this week! Which was hard to see! We still weren't able to get in with Roxanne this week! But we have an appointment for tonight! So lets cross our fingers! Well that is about it for this week! I hope you all have a great and safe week! I love you! It feels good to be 20 :)
Dear family and friends,
This has been another great and busy week up here in Grand Forks! The work really is booming up here. Mostly with Less Active and Recent Convert lessons! But they need saving too! This week I had the privilege to go on exchanges with the Assistants to the President. Elder Salmon and Elder Kirton. I went with Elder Salmon (my first District Leader in Grand Forks). And Elder Cannon went with Elder Kirton. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. While we were out we contacted this lady named Roxanne. She is a pretty young mother and has a few boys. Her cousin is a less active member, and has tried sharing the Gospel with her before! We haven't been able to get in with her yet, but we were able to contact her last night and set up a time to meet with her on Wednesday! So we are looking forward to that meeting! We got permission from the Sisters that we share a ward with to have "full reign" on their area that night so Elder Salmon could contact some Less Active and Recent Converts. It was really fun to see him reunite with some people he once taught! But I also got to see the sadness and depression as he saw people who were not embracing the Gospel. It almost makes me nervous to go back to Devils Lake. But it sounds like the people in Devils Lake are doing good from reports! It was a very fun exchange and I learned a lot! This week we got a referral to teach this single male less active in their area. His name is Brother McKillup. He is an awesome guy! He once served a mission and went through some rough patches. Needless to say he went Less Active, but now feels like he should go back. We were able to show him the "new and returning progress record." This record ultimately helps those who are Recent Converts or Returning Less Active Members get temple worthy. It is almost a divine step by step program. It was cool because Brother McKillup said "wow, this is exactly what I need right now!" And he was amazed with this record! He also came and sat with us at Church and was able to fellowship with the members! So he is doing well! He is an awesome guy and he gets along with Elder Cannon and I very well! It is amazing to see the Lords hand in this work!
Dear family and friends,
This has been a great start to this transfer, and also a great a start to this Zone. I explained a little bit in my last letter of the night we arrived. But on that night we met with our ward mission leader at his home. He set his expectations for us, and to paraphrase his message to us he basically told us "get ready to go to work." And he has lived up to that since. The other sisters in the ward have been giving us names of people to go try such as less active or inactive families. The ward mission leader has been bringing us names to go find and contact as well. We have been trying to contact less actives and inactives all week. So the ward definitely started us at a fast pace! We have also in our free time been trying to organize the zone such as assigning miles to areas, bridge calls with District Leaders, Bridge call with the Assistants and the other Zone Leaders, and trying to find in our spare time. I guess it would be an understatement saying we are "busy." But I am thankful to be this busy in this part of the mission. It is for sure a lot more hectic than Devils Lake. But I am enjoying being back in North Dakota. For some time in Casper I was getting a little North Dakota home sick so I am happy to be back. This week I came to the knowledge that the Elders in Devils Lake are working with a lot of the same investigators I once taught. It is hard not to call them every night and ask them how they are all doing. But I have set a personal goal to focus on Grand Forks and the Zone. So I don't associate much with the Devils Lake Elders. I figure the Lord is working and guiding them in that area, and I shouldn't try to micromanage their area. Donnada might get set on a date this week, and if she does you can bet I'm going to that baptism! But we will see what happens. We have been seeing some success in finding. If we are out trying less actives and we get into their apartment we usually end up finding in their apartment. And we have been seeing a lot of success with that. Just yesterday we found a guy named Jameson while we were out knocking doors. He invited us in and we shared the Restoration with him! He is like 21 years old and living with his parents. He told us his parents wouldn't be too interested in having the discussions go on in their home. So we are meeting him tomorrow at the Church! So cross our fingers that it goes over well!! We also went finding last night around 8:30 and we were seeing great success in the apartments we were tracting. There was a lot of promising people we found. So we are being blessed by the hand of the Lord out here. It is amazing to see such progress in the Grand Forks area! When I first got here back in July of 2013 there was only two sets in all of Grand Forks now there is 4 in the city alone. So the Lord is hastening his work in this region of the mission. And I am thankful to be on the front lines of that work. Well I am glad to hear that all is well at home! Thank you so much for your letters!
