Month: November 2024

Tuesday was super windy but we visited a bunch of people and had some good lessons. I also figured out how to replace break pads on our bikes. We had a good member dinner too!

Wednesday was pouring rain but we went out in it anyways. We visited with this less engaged member and she gave us lemon bars. We also had a meeting with some of the other missionaries.

We were able to go help the ladies quilt on Thursday! They are so excited that we want to learn! We then visited a bunch of people, then had a lesson with a couple who are both powerlifters and have a giant gym in their garage. Its awesome! We had another lesson with the guy who speaks Hindi. Its so hard to tell what he's understanding. We tried using google translate but it doesn't work the same. 

We biked downtown on Friday and visited a bunch of people. We also knocked on a ton of doors. We did so much tracting this week. We had dinner with a returning member and it was fun! She has the cutest cat and dog that are best friends. 

We spent so much time biking on Saturday. Someone that we had knocked on their door on Friday told us to come back in the morning, so we did and he didn't answer. So we biked back to our apartment. We were trying to figure out where we should go tract and we felt like we should go to this one apartment complex. The first door we knocked on was a member couple who just moved in that week and hadn't gotten their records moved. They didn't know what time church would be and so we were able to talk to them. It was awesome! We had a good dinner with another returning member! 

Sunday was pretty chill. We went to church and had a bunch of meetings and planning stuff. We had a lesson with one of our friends! 

It was so cool that we were able to follow a prompting of the Spirit and were led to some amazing people! I've definitely learned that the Spirit is one of the best gifts that we have! 

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving! Don't forget to show gratitude to others and to God! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we had MLC over zoom. It was pretty good. Nothing crazy this time. We called a bunch of people, then we got to go to the temple! It was awesome to get to go. We got to visit with a sweet less engaged family who lives up on a hill and you can see all of Medford. 

Wednesday was fun! We went and got donuts for my 100 days left! Sister Eubanks bishop from home was in town and she got permission for us to go to lunch with him. It was fun! It was cold and pouring rain though, which wasn't very fun to bike in. We visited with a couple other people. Then we had a meeting with the Stake president. We had a fun dinner with a member. Her grandson is so funny!

We were on exchanges on Thursday! I went with Sister Martinez into her area. We had a couple lessons, some spanish stuff. We got the best mexican food around. It was so good! We exchanged back that evening. We had a church tour with a man who was a social media referral. He's from India and speaks very limited English. He's super interested but it'll be hard to teach him because of the language barrier. 

Friday was definitely interesting but good. We had a couple lessons with some members. Then, we tried to visit this one lady that we had set a lesson up with when a security guy came up to us as we walked to her door and told us that people here weren't allowed visitors and we weren't even allowed to knock on her door. He was super nice about it though so not a big deal. We tried to call her and she didn't answer so we left. We had an awesome member message though with this single mom and her kid. He loves to bake and wanted to make us cookies. It was so fun! 

On Saturday, we had a funky day but it was super fun! One of our sisters was sick but they really wanted to go to this lesson with a new guy they were teaching. So we met up with them and I went with Sister Bean to their lesson. The guy was an hour and a half late… but it was a great lesson! Sister Eubanks and I then went to the Quackenbush's for some sewing and dinner! Sister Quackenbush has a whole shop for sewing. She helped me made this cute tote bag and Sister Eubanks made a scripture case. It was so fun! Then they fed us bangers and mash for dinner. It was a party! They also invited us over for Thanksgiving, which is going to be awesome! Then, I accidentally got us locked out of the apartment… We were going to visit some people and as we left, I soon realized that I had left the keys hanging up instead of putting them back in my bag. After a couple calls, we figured out who the housing people in Medford were and they came and unlocked the apartment for us. The wife was so funny because she just kept commending us for how much cleaner it was! They are getting us new blinds too and were super kind! 

Sunday was good! We went to church, then had a few lessons. We have a member family who adopted a 10 year old girl and she wants to be baptized so thats exciting! We had a fun dinner too!

I studied a lot about prayer this week and I really liked this quote from President Russell M Nelson: 

“Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work.” 

I hope you all have a great week! Don't forget to pray! I love you all!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On pretty much every day but Friday, we had 3 or 4 lessons planned. The people texted us back in the morning, then we’d bike to their house and they wouldn’t be home or were sick. Or they would cancel in the morning and we’d have to replan our entire day because we had planned it around those lessons. We used so much time biking to and from places. But other than that, the week went well! We had dinners almost every night with some fun members. We have such a young ward!

We went on exchanges. Sister Bean came with me to my area. She hasn’t been out very long but is super sweet. While walking around a neighborhood, this lady started talking with us. She told us she has some really good friends who are members. She was pretty set in her church but she told us that she could see the light of Christ in us and in our smiles, so that was cool.

We had some fun services. We had emailed a less engaged member and she invited us to come help her and a bunch of older women quilt. They meet at the church every week and help pin quilts, then when they are done sewing them, they donate them to the church. It was fun and the ladies thought it was so fun that we came! We also helped pull weeds for this less engaged member. I guess I should say, we dug out giant 5 foot tall weeds from her lawn. They were massive and required we used a shovel to dig out the roots. It was fun!

On Friday, everything went through! We had 5 lessons, we were able to find a family that wants to learn more about the gospel. They are so cool! An awesome member picked us up for dinner. We had a good time with them!

Saturday was interesting. We decided we should go downtown and do some public contacting since we have downtown Medford in our area. I had done it in Corvallis and there were tons of people out. But there was no one! We were so confused because we were passing all the shops and just no one was there. We walked around a ton, visited some people.

Sunday was good. We were both asked to speak. It went pretty good. I’ve spoken in every ward I’ve served in! We had ward council and a couple lessons that went really well! We had a fun dinner too.

I spoke on personal revelation and there’s a quote a I really liked that I used from President Nelsons talk, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives.” I hope you all enjoy it:

“Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work.”

I miss you all lots! Hope that you have a great week!

Love,

Sister O’Barr

On Monday, I got permission to drive the mini van with all the sisters so we went to lunch and Target! It was so much fun!! 

Tuesday was pretty good. We went to help this member in our ward who broke her wrist do some cleaning. We got a call from our landlord because they wanted to send someone to come fix our leaky sink immediately. That totally changed our plans so we biked back to our apartment to let the guy in. He fixed our sink, which is so good! We then biked to a further out part of our area and spent the entire afternoon contacting out there. We visited with lots of members. Our last appointment offered to give us a ride home because they had a bike rack. We were so grateful! 

We had interviews with President Cornelius on Wednesday. It was pretty chill. Afterwards, we had 2 friend lessons. Both of the guys were a little interesting and I'm not sure they will progress. We biked to this cute family's house. 

We had zone conference on Thursday! We learned lots of good things, like how to run a council properly, how to be dignified. It was some good conversations. We came home, did some study stuff. Then we had dinner with such a fun member! She gave us little Halloween goodie bags. We had such a fun conversation. Then we asked if she needed any help and she had me remove some arms off a chair.

Friday was fun! We went on exchanges with the Spanish Sisters. I went to their area and I felt so bad for Sister Martinez and Sister Eubanks. It poured rain, all day long. Literally everything canceled on them so Sister Eubanks and I spent some time replanning our day before we went on exchanges. I was with Sister Kukahiko and we had a blast! Lots of lessons, and a super fun dinner. I got to have some good conversations with her and get to know her. It was fun! 

We exchanged back the next morning. We had a great day planned, we were going to get lunch downtown and then public contact and visit a bunch of people we have not been able to. Well, Sister Eubanks' bike broke on the way there. So we had to figure out what to do. Dairy Queen was close so we got lunch and sat for a minute to replan our day. We ended up ditching our bikes at a members house who lived nearby. We walked around the entire area and visited a bunch of people. We had some great member visits. Then we had dinner with a couple and helped build a couch for them. And a table. We did a ton of church invites and wrote cute thank you cards to all our members who have fed us or come to lessons. It was good! 

Sunday was pretty chill. We went to church and we had a lesson. The guy was nice but I don't think he's gonna progress. We had dinner with some awesome members. They are so kind. We also did some planning for the week! 

In my studies this week, I spent some time studying my identity as a child of God and stumbled across this quote from Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: 

   “I believe the Savior Jesus Christ would want you to see, feel, and know that He is your strength. That with His help, there are no limits to what you can accomplish. That your potential is limitless. He would want you to see yourself the way He sees you. And that is very different from the way the world sees you. The Savior would declare, in no uncertain terms, that you are a daughter or son of the Almighty God. Your Heavenly Father is the most glorious being in the universe, full of love, joy, purity, holiness, light, grace, and truth. And one day He wants you to inherit all He has.”

I hope you all recognize your true identity as a child of God. This truth gives you so much power and strength, especially during rough times! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr