Month: July 2024

Monday was a blast!! We went to Florence and met up with the Springfield zone. We explored a bunch of beaches and Heceta Head Lighthouse, which was so cool! We went to lunch afterwards. We hustled back to Roseburg for a zone potluck. Then we had district council!

On Tuesday, we had a bunch of lessons with major talkers. It was like everyone we visited just wanted to talk. So we had like four 1 hour lessons with people. It was funny! Also, we found out that we were getting 2 sets of sisters in Roseburg!!

Wednesday morning, we decided to stop by the elders apartment that was going to become sisters. We knew it was gonna be a disaster. We ended up cleaning out a bunch of random stuff and trash. We took out 3 giant bags of trash. We definitely made it livable. We ran back to our area and had a lesson with kinda a basher. It was interesting. We called all our sisters today and got to know them a bit. Both areas are training brand new sisters, so thats fun!

We visited a ton of people on Thursday! We were able to get in contact with so many people. We had dinner with an old couple. We were supposed to have a lesson with one friend but he canceled so we decided to stop by another friends house and we had a cool little lesson! She told us that she really needed us to come over that day. 

Friday was fun! We had a bunch of lessons with some old people. They are so funny! We had dinner with one of the funniest old couples. They are snowbirds so they live in Arizona for half the year. We stopped by and had a good lesson with one of our friends. Then we went to a church because we were supposed to have a lesson with a guy. We had asked one of our members to come. Shes 22 and served a mission and is just home for the summer. We just ended up talking with her for a bit. It was fun!

On Saturday we had a long service project that we got permission for. We were at an elementary school with a bunch of our ward. We pulled weeds and helped paint a mural. It was so fun! Then we had a ward bbq. We went and visited more people. Then had dinner with a member at a mexican place. I don't know why mexicain food is so popular here but it is! We were then able to have an awesome lesson with one of our friends and we put him on date for baptism! It was so cool!

Sunday was fun as well. On Saturday, we got asked to speak, which was annoying but all good. It was also a mission homecoming so that was cool. We then met up with all our sisters for the first time and had lunch together! It was so fun to get to know all of them! We met with the relief society president and talked about the people we had visited. We did weekly planning for the rest of the time. 

I have has so much zucchini this week. Airfried zucchini, zucchini in spaghetti and the weirdest one, zucchini pie. It tastes just like apple pie, which is so odd! 

I also got to go to lunch with my aunt and uncle today and it was so fun! I love the so much!

I hope you all have a great week! Remember how much God loves each one of you! Love you all!

Love

Sister O'Barr 

On monday, we went up to Springfield and had some fun shopping with the sisters. Sister Chatwin and I got matching dresses! We all stayed the night in Springfield. It was fun! 

Tuesday was a party! I was in Springfield with Sister Flake. It was just like old times! We did some visits and had some lessons. It was so gross and humid out. We were supposed to get a storm that night and we could just see the clouds rolling in. That night, we got some a thunderstorm!! I was so happy! Except for there was lightning and started more fires… some missionaries had to be evacuated on the California border. 

Wednesday was good. We drove halfway to Roseburg to exchange back with the sisters. We had a busy rest of our evening. We ripped out blackberries for 2 hours, so that was fun! If you didn't know, blackberry bushes are considered weeds here because they grow so fast and everywhere. There are so many wild blackberries! We'll just randomly stop and pick some for a snack. Its awesome! 

Thursday was also good! We had some lessons with some members. We stopped by this ladies house who just lost her husband last week. She needed help moving a shelf. We thought she just meant a shelf in a cabinet or something with the pegs that you move, but it wasn't. It had a ton of screws. We moved all the screws and wall ancors. It was fun! She had no level or any way to measure. She just took a piece of paper, drew how far down she wanted it, and we marked every hole off of that. It worked out fine! We had dinner with a sweet old lady, then went to a relief society activity.

We worked hard on Friday and Saturday. We visited a ton of people, went tracting, called so many people! We worked our butts off! But to no avail. We did not find much success this week. But we had a good member dinner on Friday and a super fun member dinner on Saturday. We had authentic Mexican food and sang hymns in Spanish. It was a good time! It was also so smokey here on Friday morning from all the wild fires.

Sunday was a good day! We went to church, then did some weekly planning. We also made cinnamon rolls for a zone potluck on Monday. We had dinner with this awesome member couple. It was a party because they are both major talkers!

We found out transfer news… Sister Chatwin and I are staying!!! Its crazy!! We are so excited! 

Even though we didn't find a bunch of success this week, we still had a ton of joy. I think that is something that Sister Chatwin and I have learned since being together is finding joy, even when things aren't always going well. We watched this video by Joseph B Worthlin and he gives some great advice on how to find joy in the hard times. Hope you get a chance to watch it!

Come What May, and Love It

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

Monday evening was a blast! We went up to President Hopkins house. He's in the mission presidency. Sister Chatwin and I convinced him to take us around to see his cows! It was so fun! They fed us dinner, then we had district council at their house. It was a party!

Tuesday was hot! I think it was the hottest its been so far. We went and visited people, then decided we needed a drink so we got some blended lemonades. Then we visited more people. We had dinner with the sweetest lady. She was so excited to have us over. The problem is that she is known for having expired food. She had salads and the dressing expired in 2021 and did not taste the best. She loved having us over and she is just so sweet. We then drove out to this lesson. This lady lives in the middle of nowhere on this dirt road in the mountains. It was awesome but kinda scary because this super old member wanted to drive us and she drove so slow. It took us almost 30 minutes to get there. We had an awesome lesson with the lady! She comes to church every week and we are going to try to get her on date for baptism!

Wednesday was so fun! We went over to a members house and spent the morning making cookies to drop off to people. The member has a super cute toddler and so we were hanging out with him while our cookies baked. Then we had a lesson with this sweet old couple. They had lemonade and vanilla wafers for us. It was so cute! We went and dropped cookies off to a bunch of people. We had a lesson with Grandpa Jim and Jeanne. We played dice with them and I won! We didn't have time for lunch and only like 30 minutes for dinner. It was a wild day. We went to the youth activity and they had a water balloon fight. We got soaked and it was so fun!

Thursday was crazy! We went to Costco with Sister Cornelius and Sister Petersen and got some fun stuff. Then we had interviews with President. We are getting so many sisters! My interview was good, nothing crazy happened. We went to lunch with a senior couple at Mod Pizza and taught them how to use the missionary app. It was fun! We ran back to Winston, had a lesson and visited some people. We ate an early dinner, then ran back to Roseburg for the restoration devotional. It went well! 

Friday was good. We went over and helped a member sort Legos. It was a pretty basic day, lots of visits and tons of lessons!

Saturday was wild! We went and visited people, had lunch, then one of our members took us on visits. We went to visit our one friend and she was drunk! I had never seen her like that. It was kinda sad. Our member was amazing and so kind. We had a few other awesome lessons. We had to do all our weekly planning on Saturday because we had a ton of meetings on Sunday. We had dinner with this adorable member family!

We had so many meetings on Sunday! We started off with church, then we had lunch and did our personal studies. Then we had a meeting with the stake presidency of Springfield and then Roseburg. They were an hour long each and we drove up to Roseburg for that one. Then we had dinner with a sweet member. 

We have transfers next week! I really hope I stay with Sister Chatwin. I love her a lot and we work so hard together! Guess we'll see next week! 

Hope you all have a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Monday night, Sister Chatwin decided we should rearrange our entire apartment so we switched the study room and our bedroom. It was a lot of effort but fun! Sister Palmer and Sister Sterzer, some sisters serving in Eugene, came and stayed the night becausetheyvhad to present at zone conference in Medford. It was so much fun! We stayed up way too late talking. We just were having such a good time! 

On Tuesday, the sisters had to leave pretty early to get to Medford so we didn't get to hangout much. We went and vacuumed our car at a members house. Our car was so clean! We went and contacted a bunch of people! We had an awesome lesson with a lady who we just met. She has 4 daughters and loves the bible. We had a really good study and hopefully she'll come to the restoration devotional this week! We had dinner with some members at subway. Sister Palmer and Sister Sterzer met us at Grandpa Jims and Jeanies, a member and her husband who we are teaching. They are the funniest and some of my favorite people! We played a round of dice and laughed so hard. We were making so many jokes and just having fun! We stayed a little longer than we should have. Oh well, it was totally worth it! The sisters came back to our apartment and stayed the night again! We were up talking for a long time again. 

Wednesday was wild! We got up and made crepes for everyone. Then we left early to go get a carwash on our way to zone conference. We made sure our car was super clean because Elder Barker said whoever had the cleanest car would get a brand new truck. We got to zone conference early so we talked with Sister Cornelius for a bit and she is gonna take us to Costco next week after interviews! We had zone conference, which I played the organ for. It went well! Then we had car inspections and guess who had the cleanest car?? We did!! So guess who now has a brand new Ford Maverick? The elders were so mad! We are the only ones in our zone with a truck and the only sisters in the entire mission driving a truck. Its so fun! A member couple picked us up and we went to mutual which was at a gorgeous park! We had some good burgers and it was a party! 

We had so much fun on the 4th of July! We started off by making jewlery with a member. She is the sweetest lady on the planet! Afterwards, we went to a BBQ at another members house and they invited all the old people! It was too hot outside but they were keeping their house at 67 and all the old people were freezing! They had some good food and we played corn hole! We also got so many comments on our truck. Everyone likes it! We then went to another members house for dinner pt 2. It was fun to hangout with everyone! One member liked our truck so much, he asked if he could sit in it and had us open the trunk and everything. It was kinda funny! We came home and texted people. Then I did probably one of the most disobedient things I'll ever do on my mission. Some members came and picked us up at 9pm and took us to go see fireworks. We didn't get home till close to 11! It was so fun though! Definitely a party and probably not nearly as disobedient as some of the elders! 

Friday was good! So hot though! This whole week has been a furnace. It was 108 on Friday and it was so gross! When its that hot out, you have no motivation to do anything! But we still worked hard. We went and visited some people and had some awesome little lessons. We were standing outside talking to this guy for and hour and we were drenched in sweat afterwards! We had a meeting with some elders that night.

Saturday was so fun! We got up and went to help clean the church. Then Winston was doing a parade so we walked over and found a spot. We watched the parade, which was fun! Then we went down to the park where they were having this big festival with food trucks and booths. I got some lemonade and we shared some nachos. It was so fun! We went and visited some people, then had an awesome lesson with Grandpa Jim. Jeanie took us out to visit people. She took us for ice cream too because it was so hot. We came home and made some dinner, then did our personal study. Thats how crazy our morning was! We weren't able to do our personal study till just before bed! 

Sunday was good! We went to church and then did some weekly planning. Overall it was a good wind down from the busy week! I'm really tired of the hot weather so I hope it cools down a bit this week! 

This week has really grown my testimony of the power of fasting. One of our new members daughter just had triplets and one of them had been really struggling in the hospital. We decided we should talk ahout fasting with her and do a fast all together. We fasted on a Friday, then things seemed to just go downhill. Another one of the babies had to be hospitalized. But, a couple days later, both babies were doing so much better and both were able to return home! All three babies are healthy and at home and our member bore her testimony of fasting during sacrament meeting. It was so cool to see how fasting for others can impact them! If you didn't get an opportunity to fast this sunday, I'd encourage you to fast next Sunday! Prayer and fasting have so much power!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we went and visited with quite a few members. We were all over the place. We also met this guy who is going through such a rough time. He asked us why God lets bad things happen to good people. We had a good discussion on it and he said we could come back and talk more!

Wednesday was fun. We had some extra miles so we decided to go out to one of the small towns we cover called Looking Glass. We visited some of the memebers we have out there as well as some previously contacted people. We were able to share a lesson with someone and she said we could come back and share another! Satan was definitely working hard though because it took us 4 wrong turns down other driveways and knocking on the wrong door before we finally found her house. We then had dinner with sweetest couple! They joined the church a couple years ago and are the sweetest ever! They want to be so involved with the gospel and help us. For dessert, she had these awesome little blackberry sorbet bars and they were awesome! Sis Wilbur told us to stop by whenever and snag an ice cream bar. I love her so much! Then we went to the elders quorum presidents house. We meet with the relief society president and the elders quorum president every week. He is known for giving what the sisters call a Bro Averett Ted Talk. We definitely got one and it was awesome! He is super smart and he definitely gave me some good insight on the gospel. He talked about how we need to come to our own knowledge of the gospel and that it's true. When we fully commit to our Heavenly Father, He can help us more and more. It's us that prevent the help we need!

Thursday was so fun and a little stressful. So we are doing another Restoration devotional in Roseburg so now I have so speak again. We also found out that we need to figure out musical numbers and the elders put us in charge of that. So we spent our morning trying to get another musical number set up. We had a fun lesson with a new member named Melanie. She is the sweetest! Her daughter just had triplets and 2 of them weren't doing so good. So we talked about the power of fasting and we all fasted on Friday for her grandkids. We then went to the Family history center to help our friend Tami do some family history. She loved it so much! 

Friday was busy but awesome! We decided we were going to hit the furthest town in our area, so we spent all day in Camas Valley and Tenmile. It was so pretty out there! We were there visiting people from 1 to 6! I was so tired afterwards. We were in the middle of the woods with no one around for quite a few contacts. It was fun! We then had dinner with this super nice old couple. It was one of their birthdays and they had an awesome cake! So fun! We were able to have an awesome lesson with Andy and the Wilburs were awesome! After everyone left, Sister Wilbur comes out with a box of those blackberry sorbet bars and gave it to us! She is the best!

Saturday was good. We were both so tired after our busy week. We contacted more people, then went to visit a bunch. We decided we needed a little treat so we stopped at dutch bros. We then went to this trailer park where we had quite a few contacts for people there. It was awesome because we were able to have a ton of nonmember lessons. We even found a guy who wants us to come back, and a cute family that we gave a Book of Mormon to and they want us to come back as well! So awesome! We then had a really wild lesson with this lady who lives in the middle of nowhere. She's a really old member who definitely has some memory problems. We had texted her and set up a time to vist, then when we showe up, she said that she didn't remember texting us or calling with us. Oh well, we were able to have a little lesson with her. We went to the church and I practiced piano because I was asked to play for zone conference next week.

Sunday was good! We went to church, then they had a ward potluck, which was fun. We did some weekly planning and had dinner with a nice family!

This week is going to be a blast! We have pday, then some sisters are going to stay the night with us on Tuesday. We have zone conference on Wednesday! Thursday is the Fourth of July, which should be fun!

I hope you all have a great week! Have a great fourth of July!! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr