ALOHA!

 This week was a very VERY good week! We had Zone Conference (the Warner's last zone conference). It was really emotional for a lot of us. A lot of us are going home in the next few months, so we had the Warners for almost our whole missions. We sang "Aloha Oe" at the end of the conference and we all brought leis for the Warners. They were completely covered up to their chins. That was the last time that I will probably see them. It is so crazy to me that we are going to have a new mission president. I feel like as soon as I start to get to know them, I will be going home. Oh well. I will just continue to do what I have, I suppose. :) 

  We were able to set a couple more baptismal dates this week. We are really seeing so many miracles in this area every day. I have really gained a testimony that, if you put your all into serving the Lord, He will put his all into blessing you. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that He will bless you the way that you expect or want, but He will bless you. 

  In one of our lessons, we were talking about counseling with the Lord. What a great privilege it is to be able to counsel with the most powerful being in the universe. Not only that, but He wants us to counsel with Him. Not only that, but He wants us to counsel with Him because He loves us. How amazing is that? We may be insignificant in many aspects, but to Him, we are absolutely priceless. 

  The strength of our relationship with God is up to us. He will love us no matter what, but we must show and develop our love for Him if we are to receive the blessings He wants, so badly, to give us. 

   I love you all so much! Thank you again for your love and your prayers! 

 Aloha nui loa!

Sister Barber

ALOHA!

   Once again, I am very limited in my time, but here are some highlights:

1. We are in charge of the song for Zone Conference. We will be singing the Emily Brown version of "I'm Trying to be like Jesus." I thought it was a good idea, until I found out that I would be doing most of the singing. Pray for me and wish me luck.
2. Tomorrow is Pres. & Sis. Warner's last Zone Conference. So strange... I'll have a new President for the last 5 months of my mission. It will for sure be an adjustment, but it will be good. I guess we all get to teach a part of the restoration when we meet him. Should be fun.
3. We have a lot of new investigators from this week 6 of them have committed to dates. We just need to help them come to church regularly and help them to continue to grow in their testimonies. 
4. Sister Ogawa is still amazing. Not much news there.

Love you all! Hopefully I'll be able to explain about the investigators in more detail next week! 

Sister B

ALOHA!

 Oh my.... I have so much to tell you... This week we:

1. Had a lesson with a drunk Chuukese man. We didn't actually realize that he was drunk until halfway through the lesson, when he started hiccuping and burping a lot and repeating the same thing over and over. Oh.. and when he started blasting a mix of Justin Beiber and Carly Rae Jepson on his stereo... yeah... we realized then that it was probably time to leave. So, we testified, said a prayer and started to leave. 
2. Had my shoes stolen after a lesson with a drunk Chuukese man. After we walked out the door, I noticed that my shoes were no longer outside their door.... Yeah. We looked for a few minutes and then I gave up. So, I walked back to the car barefoot.
3. Lost Sister Ogawa's wallet. Well, the next morning, Sister Ogawa and I were getting ready to leave the house and she couldn't find her wallet. So, we looked in the house, the car, the various areas we visited the day before. We even went back to the drunk Chuukese man's house. No wallet.. We still haven't found it, so if you happen to see a rectangular wallet with pink pineapples on it, please let us know.
4. Met a deaf Chuukese girl. You know, I have always kind wondered why the Micronesian branch and ASL ward were sharing missionaries. It just seemed like there would be an easier option. Well, I think I got my answer this week. We were trying to kidnap a LA member to come to church, but he wasn't home. Iolani, however, was home. Iolani is Chuukese and she is deaf. We communicated by writing in my journal. She told us we can come back on Tuesday. What a miracle! Hopefully she will be receptive to the signing member we bring and also, we hope that MI, the less-active member, will come back as a result. 
5. Met an apostle of the Lord. Elder Renlund came and spoke to us on Saturday. He is such an inspirational man. He spoke with complete confidence, but also with great humility. It really strengthened my testimony that our church leaders are called of God. 

Well, I am just about out of time. I hope that you are all doing well and that you enjoy this week. I love you all!

Love, Sister Barber

ALOHA!

ALOHA!

   

   This week was something else. 

1. Sister Whipple and I worked really hard all the way to the end. She is such an amazing missionary. It was so strange to see her leave. It was SO strange to see her & Sister Jolley leave. I didn't cry (which is a miracle ;)) but it did kind of break my heart to see so many of my good friends leave the mission. It is going to be so different without them here. I know that they are needed back home though. I'll be alright. 
2. My new Companion, Sister Ogawa, was sent to me straight from heaven... oh! I mean the MTC... haha she is seriously such an angel though. She is the most consecrated missionary I have ever met. I hope to be half the missionary she is by the end of my mission. I am so excited to work with her. One of the first things she said to me was, "Even though I am just a greenbean (greenie) I want to be good missionary for the Heavenly Father." I knew right then that my mission will never be the same. It's going to be a great couple of transfers.
3. So, I got the flu.... like.. really bad.. so we were stuck in the house for a few days. I felt so bad for Sister Ogawa! I kept getting up and saying that we should go work and she would walk me back to bed and say, "Sister, I think you need rest." So I would walk back to bed and be out for another hour or two. The same thing would happen over and over all day. I probably exhausted her. Poor thing. I feel much better now though, so we are back to work! 
4. Sister Ogawa is already loved by both of our wards. She is just so sweet and innocent that people are drawn to her. She is going to do such incredible things for our areas. I am excited and honored to be a part of it. 

Things are good overall. I have been learning so much about humility and recognizing the direction that Heavenly Father is leading me in my life. I am so blessed. Thank you for all of your love and your prayers. 

   Love, Sister Sydney Barber