Month: January 2025

Hello! I hope you've had an amazing week! My week was pretty good! 

On Tuesday, we went and helped an older member figure out her wifi and help her sign into the church website. We visited a bunch of people, then had a good lesson with one of our new members and her roommate. Her roommate is so funny! 

Wednesday was good! We made snickerdoodles to give to some people. We visted with a member who was in the hospital. We dropped off cookies to people, then had a member message with the Stubbs! They loaded us up with a bunch of snacks. Then we had a member dinner. The husband is from the Philippines and made some good food. We had another member message with an older couple.

We had zone conference on Thursday! It was my last one!! It was pretty good, just the usual instruction. I had to film my departing testimony too! We got some good asada fries from a food truck, then we went to young mens. We were asked to teach them how to teach a lesson. And bishop wanted it to be over the plan of salvation. Its cool to see how much my knowledge has grown of some of these gospel things! 

We had a busy day on Friday! And the weather was amazing! It was sunny and almost 60°. We went to a couple member messages, then we had an awesome pass off lesson. We taught the plan of salvation to our friend Daniel and he loved it! Too bad we had to give him to the ysa elders. But the Spirit was really strong in the lesson and Daniel's excited to hangout with some people his age. We visited some people, then had a fun member dinner. We did a bunch of calls and facebook stuff afterwards. 

Saturday was also good! Some elders had texted us the night before saying they had set up a church tour with this lady but she lives in our area. Luckily we were available and found a member to come as well! It was awesome! She loved the church and said she was going to read the Book of Mormon. We texted a bunch of people about church and had a few member messages. Then we had another church tour with a guy named Jack. He was a social media referral and wants to come to church as well! 

Sunday was awesome! Our friend Danielle came to church! We visited with some members who just got back from Arizona and they loaded us up with fresh oranges and grapefruit! We had dinner with a super fun family. They made amazing steak. It was honestly one of the best meals I've had! 

This week I've really seen how much joy comes from teaching others about the gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Plan of Salvation. I am so blessed to know these eternal truths. They bring me so much peace and joy!

I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we went to MLC. We met up with the Spanish sisters and the Ashland STLs, Sister Kukahiko and I hopped in their car and Sister Richey and Sister Martinez hungout for the day. I had full intentions of napping that whole car ride, but Sister Chatwin is in Ashland so we ended up chatting the whole drive, which was so fun! I love her so much! MLC was good. Lots of random things. We are supposed to refer to the temple as the House of the Lord now. We drove back, then Sister Richey and I had a dinner with a family with some fun kids. 

We walked a ton on Wednesday. We visited a bunch of people, then visited with a less engaged member. Then we had dinner with a super sweet couple. They live up on the hill in a giant house on 50 acres. They had a fire going and I could just sit at their house for hours. It was so fun! 

We got to go to the House of the Lord today! I really love going there. We then went to chickfila with our district and they all came into our area to try to help us find some people to teach. We spent a lot of time tracting and visiting people. We had a fun member dinner with a sweet lady. She's fiesty and its so fun to talk to her! 

I was so excited for Friday because we had so many lessons planned. 3 with less engaged members and 4 lessons with friends. Unfortunately, all 4 of our friend lessons canceled, which was so frustrating because we had found members for all of them. All of our member lessons went through though! We went to this part members house for dinner and they live up on this hill with an amazing view! We saw an amazing sunset! 

Saturday was funky. We did some social media stuff. I wasn't feeling very good but we went to a lesson. We came home afterwards and I fell asleep on the floor for 2 hours. When I got up, I felt so much better. We visited with some members, then some referrals we had gotten, then home for dinner. We started playing monopoly, which has been fun! 

Sunday was good! We went to church, then did some visits. We had dinner with some fun members and did some planning.

I really liked this quote from President Russell M. Nelson that I found during my study of Come Follow Me this week: 

“In like manner, what will your seeking open for you? What wisdom do you lack? What do you feel an urgent need to know or understand? Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph. Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.”

I miss you guys lots! I hope you all have an amazing 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we had transfers! We also got a car full-time and I'm still an STL. Sister Kukahiko, one of the spanish sisters, is the other STL. I've never done split STLs so it'll be an adjustment. Sister Richey and I went grocery shopping so now we actually have good food. We did a bunch of visits. Then we went to dinner at the Quackenbush's! I love them so much!

Everything canceled on Wednesday, which kinda sucked. But we did a bunch of visits. A member gave us a gift card to a sandwich shop so we got sandwiches for dinner. We had a stake meeting that I had to be at. Then we had a member message. It was actually pretty cold that day so I was glad we had the car!

The rest of the week was decent but we both have colds and that kinda sucked a lot. We visited a bunch of people and did some texting. We had some wild things happen this week. While walking around downtown, a giant mattress factory was on fire and the whole block was blocked off by police and such. Also while walking downtown, we ran into this random guy on a skateboard who I guess goes to a different ward and he asked if we could pray with him. He kneels down and is praying while holding this random cat. He starts meowing to the cat in the middle of his prayer, praying to the god of the burning bush. It was a wild prayer and he never finished because he got distracted meowing to the cat. Sister Richey and I were trying so hard to keep it together. We laughed so hard once he was out of sight. Another day we saw this giant knife just laying on the ground, then we saw some homeless people walk past and pick it up, so that was fun. We also had a weird homeless guy walk right in between us. He was coming towards us and we went to one side of the sidewalk, he went to the same side walking straight at us, so we went to the other side, same thing, then he goes, “Sorry you gotta split” and walks right in between us. It was an odd week.

We got asked on Friday afternoon if we would speak on Sunday. So we did. It went decently, except for the fact that I had to cough like every could of paragraphs. Bro Quackenbush gave me a water bottle while I was speaking and another member gave me a handfull of cough drops after. I was a disaster. I also played the piano for primary since the pianist was out sick. We had dinner with a fun family. I found out that the ward members refer to me as the happy missionary, which is so fun! We walked around in the rain, then did some planning for the week. 

I hope you all have a great rest of your week! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we had MLC and President is making more changes in the mission. We are doing a whole lot more facebook work. We visited a bunch of people. I had to fix a flat tire on Sister Eubanks bike. We had dinner with the Stubbs and it was fun! They have a 7 year old daughter and every time we go over, she calls us the sister mary's in a british accent and its the cutest thing! They gave us some little confetti poppers and we drank sparkling cider. We biked home, then texted some more people. We went on exchanges that night and I went to Gold Hill with Sister Blake! 

It was fun to be in Gold Hill. Its out in the country and so pretty! We visited a bunch of people. We also had some fire lessons. One was with a less engaged member and we taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation! I love actually teaching the lessons so much!! The Spirit was so strong and the lady was crying. We had another lesson, then visited more people. We went to In n Out for shakes and some random member payed for us. That was super kind! We exchanged back.

Thursday was busy! Sister Eubanks had a doctor's appointment so we went to that. We ate lunch, then went to a lesson with a guy named Jay. Then we had a good lesson with our friend Joyce. We texted a bunch of people. Then we went to one of our new members. She just got a new roommate and he is the funniest guy ever! He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he wants to come to church! 

We biked so much on Friday. We had to stop at Walmart so Sis Eubanks could pick up a prescription. We biked across town to have lunch with a member. She was baptized about 4 years ago and is a returning member. We talked about the temple and she started crying when we talked about doing work for her family. She is the sweetest!! I spent some time trying to fix Sister Eubanks bike breaks. They are rubbing on her tires. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fix them. We went over to this super funny member. She needed some help putting a water fountain for her cat. She also fed us dinner, which was sweet. We went to our second dinner with another member.

On Saturday, we texted and invited a ton of people to church. Then we visited a bunch of people and had a couple good lessons with some less engaged members. We did more visits, then came home and made some dinner. Also, our mission is switching to more facebook work and I had to post a video of myself. 

Sunday was pretty decent. Church is at noon now. Our friend Daniel came and said he'll be back next week! We had a pretty early dinner with some members, then visited a bunch of people. We did some facebook stuff and watched the departing devotional. Its crazy that I'll be in the next one!!! We also found out transfer news! I'm staying and getting a new companion!! It'll be fun to end here!

One of the members here sent me a card thanking me for playing the flute in church. It was sweet! I love all the members. I have loved all the wards I've served in. The members are awesome!! 

I miss you all so much! Its crazy that I'm down to my last transfer! I only have 6 weeks left, then I'm home! I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr