New Companion

Hello!! This week was crazy busy! We had transfers, so my new companion is Sister Blackner! She is amazing! She has really taught me so much since we have been together. We have been meeting with a ton of people from our area book, so that has been interesting. We met with some former investigators and a lot of less-active members. They were all really nice. We are hoping that something will workout with them. I know that if we continue to do what the Lord asks of us, we will be able to accomplish all that He has in store for us. I have learned a lot about patience this week. I am not a very patient person by nature, but I know that it is one of the Christlike attributes that I need to develop in order to help those who I am meant to. I also know that it will help this experience mean so much more to me. Which is kind of mind-blowing, because I love the mission so much! Today we played basketball with the Elders. It was a lot of fun! My team won, of course. ;) Well, this week will be interesting. We have a lot of appointments this week, so we are hoping that they will be good. I am excited to tell you about it next week. I love you all!!!

Sister Sydney Barber

I'm having a baby!!

So, this week was super crazy! On Monday, I caught two fish from the ocean! They were pretty good size too! I'll try to send some pictures.. 

We visited a lot of people this week, so we were super super busy. This week flew by. On Thursday, Sister Soriao and I were planning, and we got a phone call from President Warner. Sister Soriao is training in Kaneohe and I am training here in Ewa. I will be training Sister Blackner from Cedar City Utah. I am so excited! I was not expecting to be training this quickly, but I am really excited to meet her and learn from her, and hopefully teach her a little bit from my experiences so far. I am going to miss Sister Soriao, but I am so grateful for the time we were able to serve together. They call the new missionaries babies, so that is why I said I am having a baby.. I don't really care for the whole baby thing really, but I thought it was an exciting way to head the email... anywho..

This week I have been thinking a lot about the Sabbath-day. I think I have talked about it before, but I am so amazed at the difference that Sabbath-day observance can make in the life of every individual and in the life of every family. If families and individuals are keeping the Sabbath-day holy, they are choosing to take a whole day out of their busy schedule to dedicate to Heavenly Father. We should always remember Heavenly Father every day, but I believe that if we choose to really honor the Sabbath-day, our families will be strengthened, and we will have the spirit in our homes. The home should be a place where the spirit can always dwell. If the spirit is always dwelling in our home, there will be no room for anger and contention. I am so blessed to be able to see the difference that Sabbath-day observance has in the different families in our ward. 

I am also grateful for the opportunity that I have to get to know every woman in the ward so well. I was sitting in Relief Society this Sunday, and I was thinking howblessed  I am to be able to attend Relief Society with such incredible women each week. There is one Sister who's family is faced with a new extremely difficult challenge every week, it seems. Even though her trials only seem to get bigger every week, her faith gets bigger right along with them. She is a recent convert and she has such an amazing and strong testimony of this Gospel. She loves Heavenly Father with her whole heart, and she would do anything for Him. She is such an example to me. Whenever we go visit her, I learn so much from her. She has an incredible understanding of the gospel, and of Heavenly Father's plan for her and her family. 

I am truly blessed to be serving in this area. I am so excited to introduce Sister Blackner to the area, so that she can share in my love for it. I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for your love and support! Aloha!!

Love, Sister Sydney Barber

Obedience

Hello!! So sorry that I am a day late! My companion and I had something come up yesterday, so we didn't have much of a P-day. We got to email today though, so that is good! The internet here is really bad though, so I am sorry for not responding to individual emails!

Next week I will!

 So there is not a whole lot to update other than we have a new investigator from China! She is super sweet and seems very receptive.

I am excited to continue to meet with her. She is wonderful! Anyways, this week, something that I have really come to realize, is that obedience is so much more important than I ever thought before. I read an article in the Ensign about how the people who eventually leave the church usually end up leaving because they have stopped doing the small things, like scripture study, prayer and attending church. If you are struggling with your testimony, the last thing you should do is to stop living the gospel. The first thing you should do is make sure that you are living the gospel. If you aren't, then start living it. If you are, as far as you can tell, look for ways that you can live it even more.

I have also been thinking about how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, because if the Book of Mormon is true, that means that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, which means that the church is true. If you stop reading the Book of Mormon, you will lose your testimony of it, and you will eventually question the church as a whole. In order to stay converted, you must constantly study the Book of Mormon as if you were reading it for the first time. Continue to gain new knowledge and understanding from it. That is something that I am trying to do. I have started the Book of Mormon over again, and I am reading a chapter every night. Before I start each chapter, I take a sticky note and write down a question that I have. Then, as I read, I answer the question. After I read the chapter, I write down how I can apply the answer that I received to my missionary work. I have seen a difference as I have really tried to apply every chapter of the Book of Mormon to my life. It's amazing to see what I have overlooked every time I have read it.

We have been given so much from our Heavenly Father. The steps to living the gospel are simple and plain. We just need to make sure that we are always keeping them fresh in our minds. The little things are important. Pray always, read the scriptures and go to church. Keep looking for further knowledge and light as you do those things, and I promise you will receive it. I love you all and I hope that you have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Sydney Barber

                                       P-day picture with Sister Soriao and Elder Mabey

Service

This week we had a lot of service! Lots of people moving! We went to one investigators house, thinking that we were going to be washing windows, but we found out that we were going to rearrange her whole kitchen and then paint pots for her. It was really fun, but also not quite what we expected.. I had a blouse on and everyone else had tshirts on, so she called me rich girl the whole time.. yeah. She's fun. ;) Anyways, we had another lesson with another one of our investigators on Thursday. He has some interesting ideas about organized religion. He is having a hard time believing in the Book of Mormon. He is very interested in how the Book of Mormon and the Bible are connected. Sister Soriao and I are trying to be very careful though about how we answer his questions. We don't want to ignore his questions, but we also don't want to allow our lesson time to be filled with questions that, even if answered, just lead to more questions. We have just been trying to focus on helping him to keep an open mind and heart while reading the Book of Mormon, and then praying about it. During our lesson, Sister Soriao bore this beautiful testimony about the Book of Mormon and her conversion (She was converted from Catholicism 5 years ago, and is the only member of her family). When she finished, I had tears in my eyes, because of how strongly I felt the spirit. When I looked at our investigator, he said: "Sister Soriao, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but listening to you just now was like listening to a recording or a pre-programmed robot." My hear sank when he said that. I don't know where to go with him, yet. It will be interesting to see what happens. 

We were also able to go visit the Racoma family on Saturday. Brother Racoma is determined to read the whole Book of Mormon before he will discuss baptism, but he is very slow at reading. He doesn't really prioritize it throughout his day. We talked with him about the Plan of Salvation though, and we answered a lot of questions that he has had, apparently, for a really long time. He told us at the end of the lesson that he really appreciated what we had said, and that he feels very motivated to speed up his reading. To us, that was very encouraging. I really hope that he sticks to that desire to prioritize his Book of Mormon reading higher up. 

That's all I have time for this week! I hope that you are all doing well, and that you continue to keep the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the center of your lives!!

Love, Sister Sydney Barber

Well, this week was interesting

Well, this week was interesting. Our ward mission leader, Brother Iosefa, had us over for dinner on Monday night, and we had a great time. We always have such great spiritual discussions over there, as well as some good laughs. They are so much fun! Brother and Sister Iosefa are like family. They are the best. 

Tuesday we had zone conference all day. It was really great! President and Sister Warner spoke, and then the new/dying(departing) missionaries all bore their testimonies. It was wonderful. 

Wednesday we had a lot of lessons. We were all over the place. It was a great day! We weren't having too much luck with new investigators, but then Thursday, we received a referral. His name is Junior. He was studying to be a minister, but then he has been studying some other christian faiths. He is a very sweet man, and he is very humble. He is engaged to a member of the church, so she is bringing him to the ward on Sunday. I am excited for him and for those that will be able to meet him! 

Friday morning I woke up with a bad stomach ache, which led to throwing up all day, which led to staying in bed for two days. It wasn't fun, and it set us back quite a bit, but luckily I am now fully recovered.

 On Sunday, the Suaava family spoke about ordinances and covenants. It was really neat! All five kids and both parents spoke. It was cool to see them all get up and speak. Rachel was there with her two kids and her husbands two kids (her husband was out of town). It was so wonderful to see her there. She is great! Junior and his fiance were there as well. We sat by the Dortch family in sacrament meeting. Lana, the youngest, sat by Sister Soriao and me. During the sacrament, I had my eyes closed, and I heard her whisper to Sister Soriao, "Is she sleeping? Why is she sleeping?" She's just super adorable. I can't say much more. :)

I am so excited for another week! Time has been going by so quickly! I hope that this week will be more productive. I'm sure it will. :) We have exchanges tomorrow, so that will be fun, and then we have service too. I am learning so much! I love this gospel! I love the change I have seen in people as they have accepted it and started living it. I love you all! I hope that you have a wonderful week and stay safe!!

Aloha!

Sister Sydney Barber 

 Zone Confernce

 Companions

 Prayers

Exhausted

Wild Boar

Roller Coaster

This week was such a roller coaster ride! Lots of ups and downs! 

I was reading in 2 Nephi and I read 33:2-4. It says, "But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught. But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry. And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal." I thought a lot about this scripture, and how much Nephi was troubled over the wickedness of men. Then I thought about all of the prophets, and how they felt the same way throughout their lives. Then i thought of the Savior. I thought about how he loves each of us with a perfect love that we cannot even begin to comprehend. My mind then went to the atonement. I can only imagine that part of what made the atonement so painful for Jesus Christ was that he had that perfect love for us as he was atoning for our sins. He thought of each one of us, with all of the love that he has for us, and he felt the pain that we each have felt, do feel and will feel. I thought of those times that I have seen someone I love in pain, and how i wished that I could take that pain from them onto myself, because it was painful to see them go through it. The Savior actually did that for each of us. I am so amazed by that. It was very hard for me to think about, but the love that I have for the people here grew so much because of it. 

Rachel was baptized and confirmed yesterday! There was such a strong spirit there. The program all went smoothly. Sister Soriao and I sang "The Olive Tree" for the special musical number. I was shaking like a leaf when I sat down after, but it was a good experience. I'm glad we did it. Rachel was glowing the whole night. I can already see the difference it has made in her life to be a member. She is going to make such an impact on the lives of so many. She is wonderful. 

We are working right now with a young couple. The man is a less-active member, and the woman is not a member. They are not married, and they are living together. She has a desire to be baptized, but she has a lot to do before that can happen. Today we talked with them about the law of chastity. We told them that they either needed to get married or he was going to need to move out, before she could be baptized. We asked them to take it to the Lord, so that they could make the best decision. They are young, but seem like they are really taking it seriously. We are praying that they will make the right decision. They are really great people. 

Well, that is all I have time for this week. I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you all! 

Love, Sister Sydney Barber

Sister Barber

Hi, I just wanted to let you know what a great daughter you have raised. We had Sister Barber and her companion over for dinner last week and she was so sweet. My 4 daughters fought over her attention most of the night, And then begged them to sit by us in sacrament meeting:) it is good for my girls (and their cousins pictured) to see sister missionaries and talk with them about the work they do. Thank you for sharing her.

Hollie Dortch & family