Month: October 2024

On Tuesday, we went to MLC in Roseburg. I miss Roseburg! The Medford STLs drove us so I napped the entire ride both ways. It was nice. MLC was good. We talked about we can help the missionaries increase their spirituality. Overall, it was a really good discussion! We had a dinner with a fun member family.

Wednesday was my first adventure biking in the rain. It wasn’t bad! We visited with some older members. They were funny! We had an awesome lesson with a less engaged member! She was so sweet and you could see she had a genuine interest in coming back! We then helped a less engaged member who was trying to figure out a website for her work. We came home and ate dinner, then we got to drive to our last lesson because they were so far and we had exchanges right after that. We exchanged with the Sisters in Gold Hill, Sister Bean and Sister Blake. Sister Blake came with me back to Medford 3rd. I was Sister Blakes STL when she first came to the mission in Roseburg.

Our exchange was fun on Thursday but I might have killed Sister Blake on the bike. We had a busy day, and we biked pretty far. We started out at the top of our area and visited a ton of people there. Then we had a lesson at the bottom of our area, so we biked down there. We stopped at Wendys for a frosty and fries to refuel. We were able to visit with some older members. We exchanged back, then Sister Eubanks and I headed to Young Womans. We carved pumpkins with the youth and got to talk to all of them. It was fun! What wasn’t fun was trying to bike home with a pumpkin in one hand.

We had a long missionwide broadcast with Elder McKay of the Seventy. He talked a lot about Joseph Smith and it was a cool little broadcast. We were finally able to meet one of our friends! We did some tracting and actually found a really cool guy that was looking for a church! We had been knocking for like 30 minutes and no one was answering so we were going to leave. But we felt like we should keep going for a few more minutes. And I’m glad we did! Its cool how the Spirit guides us to those that are prepared to hear the gospel!! We should always listen to the Spirit! We had a lesson with a cool newer member. She’s a single mom of 3. She told us her story and how she couldn’t deny the gospel. It was awesome!

Saturday was so fun! We had an awesome lesson with a guy named Jeremy. It was a pass off lesson with some elders in the Medford zone. We rode down to the park for it, then back to the church to help set up for the ward trunk or treat. Our building has 3 wards in it so they did a massive combined trunk or treat and it was so fun! We got to see all the other missionaries from thise wards and just have a blast. There was so much good food and stuff. We came home and contacted a bunch of people!

Sunday was good! We went to church and our friend Jeremy came! We had a couple different lessons and dinner with an adorable member family! They are such good cooks!

Today, we are carving pumpkins with everyone! It should be lots of fun!

We have interviews and zone conference this week! Zone conference is on Halloween so that’ll be fun! We are also going on exchanges and I’m going into a spanish area, so that’ll be a blast!

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister O’Barr

On Tuesday, we went to the transfer spot and off I went down to Medford/ Central Point. When we got there, I found out I was actually pink washing, so taking over from elders! My new companion is Sister Eubanks. We got to the apartment and it was pretty typical of and elder apartment. The beds were on the floor in the living room. We are on bikes, but have a car that we share with another set of sisters. We have very few miles though so we've been biking a ton. We went to a member dinner with a sweet member who was so happy to have sister!! We rode the bikes there, but they started to fall apart on us so we had to walk the back. Overall a good first day. We are in the Medford 3rd ward, which is in the Central Point stake, which is odd. 

Wednesday we walked everywhere! And texted like the entire ward. We set up a bunch of member messages and visited some people that live around us. We went over to our bishops house and they fed us dinner. We met with the district and zone leaders at the stake center. We also had our district leader fix up our bikes, which was so kind of them! 

We went full force on Thursday with bike riding! We cover downtown Medford and luckily they have some awesome bike paths. We had a lesson with a less engaged member who lives downtown so we rode down to visit with her. She is so cool! That was a long ride though and we are so slow. We had a lesson with the sweetest old lady in a nursing home. We were supposed to have a member dinner but they were sick. They still wanted us to have dinner so they had us go to Chickfila and they did an online order. Chickfila is not close. We were so tired afterwards. Chickfila was so good though! We biked back to the church because we thought there was young womans, but they weren't there, which was sad. We biked home and texted a bunch of people.

Friday was a whole lot more biking. We are learning that we need to plan things better because we just don't have the time to bike between things. We had to drop the car off to the other sisters, then we biked home. They live really close though. We went and visited with this awesome member who just moved here from Peru. She is so kind and she made us muffins! We then had a super long ride to the other side of town to visit with some members. They have 4 little boys and are so fun! As we were riding, we ran into some more members who were so excited to have sisters. We visited with an older couple then biked home for dinner. We went to the church and had a lesson with a new member. She was super sweet! 

Saturday had a lot of ups and downs. We got up and a member picked us up for breakfast! They are so fun! They dropped us off at home and we had to book it to our next lesson. We were still pretty late but we couldn't find the apartment and the lady wasn't answering her phone! I felt so bad. We went to our next lesson, with this less engaged member and her caregiver. We had an amazing restoration lesson with this guy. He wants to keep learning. We then visited a ton of people in the area. We had dinner with this really cool couple. She is blind and he has some health challenges but they have such strong testimonies. We then went to another lesson with a less engaged member. She is struggling with a lot but was so sweet. She got us a pumpkin, which was fun to bike home with.

Sunday was awesome! The ward was so excited to have sisters. We had some awesome member messages and a member dinner with a ton of kids! We got our car back for a bit so that was nice!

Alright, thats about it from this week! I know that God is very aware of our situations and will put people in our paths to help us. There have been so many generous and kind members that have made us feel welcomed and loved here! 

I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you all!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we finished planning out our week, then had a lesson with Michelle, our friend who got baptized this week! We showed her the font and found a jumpsuit for her! Then we got some awesome pizza from this cute little shop called Bluebird pizza. It was so good! We contacted a bunch of people, then had dinner with a part member family.

We went on exchanges on Wednesday! Sister Bills came with me and we had so much fun! She's so sweet and has just been struggling a lot so we just decided to work hard and have fun. She helped me make a bunch of homemade applesauce. Its so good! We also visited with some people, had some lessons and a dinner. We went to young womens and played mafia with them. It was a blast!

Thursday was so good! We got up and helped rip out some blackberries for a member. Then we had to do all of Sister Bills studies, spanish study, new missionary training stuff. We were supposed to have a lesson but the member canceled because she forgot she was doing a famers market. So we decided to go and check it out since its in my area. It was so small and cute! We ended up talking with this one lady who sells soap. I was gonna buy a thing of soap and she tells me I don't need to pay her and she let Sister Bills pick out a soap too. It was so kind of her! We exchanged back, contacted a bunch of people and went to dinner with some awesome members. 

Friday was a bit more relaxed but good. We spent the morning making cookies to bring to people. Then we had a lesson with one of our friends and we put him on date for baptism! And his aunt that we are also teaching is thinking about being baptized as well! It was such a good lesson! We visited with a bunch of ladies in the ward and had dinner with a fun couple. 

Saturday was amazing!! Michelle got baptized! It was so cool to see her finally make that commitment to God! Elder Mortensen of the Seventy said that recieving the Holy Ghost is one of the most precious gifts you can recieve! We then went out to Olalla and Camas Valley and went on the prettiest drive ever! The fall leaves were so bright! We visited with some people and were put there for a while. We went to the adult session of stake conference. Elder Mark A Mortensen spoke and we heard some good stuff from him. 

Sunday was pretty chill. We got up and went to a session for ysa of stake conference, then the general session. Elder Mortensen is a cool guy! He talked a ton about missionary work. We came home and planned. And we got transfer news!! I'm leaving and I'm on a bike! I hope that goes well! I'm headed to Central Point! 

I love you all lots and I'm excited for my next area. I'm down to 3 transfers, which is wild!! Its gonna go by so fast!

Hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we went and helped a less engaged member pick tomatoes. She had so many!! It was a fun time. Then we had lunch and we contacted a bunch of people. We had dinner with a sweet couple, then a lesson and went to the addiction recovery class with her. 

We had follow up MLC on Wednesday. We had an awesome lesson with our friend Michelle who is getting baptized next week! Then we visited some people and invited a ton of people to watch conference. We had a lesson with a less engaged member, then had dinner with a couple. We went to young womans and painted aprons! 

Thursday was full of member messages and it was a fun! We went and visited this couple, they are both 90! Someone had said something rude to the husband and he wanted our opinion on how he should react. Old people are so funny! They asked if we'd had lunch yet, then made us ham sandwiches. We had a meeting with the zone leaders, then met with a less engaged member. She is pretty funny. She asked if we had seen this video on YouTube about how the second coming is almost here. We told her we didn't have access to youtube and she proceeded to turn it on and had us watch the entire 30 minute video. The guy is just quoting President Nelson the entire time so it was fine. Pretty funny though. We had a few good little stop by lessons and then a super fun dinner! We have an amazing returning member who has been coming to church and is working with bishop to get her temple recommend. She is the sweetest and she invited us over for dinner. We had so much fun and the food was delicious! We went on exchanges! I went to Sutherlin with Sister Budge! 

Sutherlin is a fun little area. But I really love Winston! We had a good day though! We had a lesson with a guy who was an aircraft mechanic, so we had a cool conversation about that. Then we got lunch at the cutest hawaiian place! They had the best shaved ice I've ever had! Then we visited some people, invited a bunch of people to watch conference and then exchanged back! We had an amazing dinner with some more returning members! The wife grew up in the gospel but her husband did not. He joined for her and they both said that he did not join for the right reasons. He asked if we could start the lessons over and he had some good questions. Its so cool to see all these people wanting to come back to church! 

Saturday was a blast! We got up and went to a members house for breakfast and the first session of conference. Then we came home and did our studies really fast, then went to another members home for lunch and the second session. We visited a few people and dropped off cookies to them. Then we went some of tmy favorite members for dinner and the final session of conference! All the talks were so good! I loved Elder Hirsts talk focused on love and Elder Kearon's talk on joy! 

On Sunday, we went to the Bishop's house for cinnamon rolls and bacon and watched the first session. Then we ate lunch, did some studies and then went to one of our new members for the second session. It was so fun! I love hearing from everyone! President Nelson is so cool! I definitely dont wanna live till 100 though. We had dinner with our ward mission leader. We figured out all the details for the baptism happening on Saturday. We also met with our relief society president. 

I'm not sure what we're doing for pday. It should be pretty chill and relaxed. Hopefully it'll be fun!

General Conference was a big reminder that I should focus on becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ first and everything else will get figured out. It also reminded me that this is a gospel of joy!! I hope you were all able to get answers to your questions during conference!

I love you all!hope you have a great week! Find a way to share something from conference with someone😁

Love,

Sister O'Barr