Author: Sister O'Barr

On Tuesday, we had MLC on zoom, then we finished planning our week. We visited with a sweet lady, then went downtown to visit some people. Somehow we are always drawn to the crazy things happening downtown. We get close to one of the houses, but all the surrounding streets are blocked off by police. So many police. We park and are visiting some other people around there when we see an officer standing of the back of a truck with a big gun aimed at this house. It was definitely a fun experience. We always seem to run into something downtown. We had a super fun dinner that night! 

Wednesday was funny! This one member also gave us a gallon of milk so we ran over to the church to put it in the fridge for later. We ran into 4 different sets of elders there, so that was fun! We visited a few more people, then came back to the church for a meeting with the stake president. The we had dinner with the Quacks. We were there for way too long but it was so fun! We had a blast! 

On Thursday, a member taught us how to crochet! We had run to Walmart before visitinh her and grabbed crochet hooks and yarn. It is so addicting! Sister Richey and I spent any free time doing it. We joked that we had officially become old ladies. We heart attacked a bunch of doors, then we went to young womens.

We visited a ton of members on Friday! We had a blast talking with them. Then we had dinner with the Stubbs and they did a valentine's themed tea party! They had a bunch of little food, like mini heart shaped cucumber sandwiches, little cream puffs, spring rolls, some strawberry things, it was so much fun! And they gave us chocolates for valentines day. It was so sweet of them! I'm gonna miss the Stubbs!

Saturday was good! We cleaned the church, then had a lesson, then did a bunch of visits and church invites. We had dinner with a family who are newer to the church and had a good conversation. 

Its crazy that Sunday was my final Sunday in Oregon! We had a couple lessons with members and I did some packing! We also had a super fun dinner! They had 4 kids and adopted 5 more and they live on a farm. We got to hold some baby goats and they were absolutely adorable! 

Over the course of my mission, my testimony of Jesus Christ has been strengthened and I am excited to apply what I've learned at home. I will see you all on Friday!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, it was dumping snow all day. I just wanted to go play in it. We visited with a member. We then worked on cuttting out a bunch of hearts because we plan to heart attack doors next week! We had an early dinner because our members didn't want us to drive home in the dark. 

We spent so much time at interviews on Wednesday but it was fun! It was my final transfer interview with President. I'll have a departing interview right before I leave next week. We had a lesson with a returning member, then visited a bunch of people. We had dinner with some super funny members. We laughed a lot!

Thursday was pretty good. We made some cookies to drop off to people. Then we had a member message with a fun couple. They made us pumpkin bread and it was so good! We had dinner with a fun family! 

Friday was full of lessons. We had a friend lesson, then 2 member messages. We had dinner with a member. It was her birthday so we got cake! 

We spent 3 hours doing a serviceon Saturday. We cleaned this kitchen and it looked so much better when we were done! We visited with a member and she tried to teach us how to crochet. We had a fun member dinner. She always makes good food! 

Sunday was good. We went to church. We originally didn't have any lessons planned, but a member offered to have us over for dinner, then we ended up visiting with 2 other members! We also planned out our week.

I hope you all like this verse from Doctrine and Covenants section 6:36: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we went and visited a bunch of people. We had some fun lessons with some less engaged members. We texted a bunch of people, then had dinner with a member family! They are so fun! We did some more texting and some social media.

We had a couple member messages on Wednesday. We walked around and saw a bunch of people. This older couple took us out to dinner, which was fun! 

We were busy on Thursday! We didn't have any lessons but we made sure to use our time. We visited a bunch of people and texted a ton of people to invite them to stake conference. We went to young womans and we also went on exchanges. Sister Lefler came with me in my area.

Exchanges were fun! We had a friend lesson, then ate lunch, then had a couple member messages. We were going to bike but it was pouring rain and Sister Lefler didn't bring a rain jacket, so we drove instead. We had a super fun member dinner. Its a single mom and her 10 year old son loves to cook! So he got a cookbook from his school library and made all these fun Chinese dishes. It was good! We exchanged back!

We had a pretty good Saturday. We went to help clean the church. Then we ran home to change, then returned to the church for a lesson. We came home to do personal study, ate lunch, then invited more people to stake conference. We had a fun lesson with a member, then visited a few people. We had a good member dinner. We then went over to the adult session of stake conference. 

We had the general session of stake conference. It was good except for the hard chairs. The cool thing was that a media referral that we got pulled up to church! We had never met him before and got the referral the night before. He came, we got members to sit with him and he said he'll be back next week! We visited with some people, ate dinner, then went to bed!

It's snowing all day today and will be tomorrow as well! It's been super fun! 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

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 

On Tuesday, we fixed a members cat hut thing. Then we had some awesome lessons with some sweet members! They gave us homemade granola and it is so good! We then had Christmas eve dinner with some members! Afterwards, we all sat around their piano and sang Christmas hymns. It was so fun! They also got us some comfy sweatshirts and peppermint bark! 

Christmas was so fun! We had breakfast with the Quacks and they made ævleskivvers, which are a danish round pancake thing. It was so fun! We spent the rest of the day bouncing from members houses. We had some good food and some amazing conversations! I also got to call my family, which was so fun! I miss them lots! 

Thursday was good! We went to visit with one of our friends. We grabbed lunch, then went to another lesson with another friend. We taught a super spiritual lesson on the Restoration of the Church. It was awesome! We visited with a couple members and it was fun! A member dropped of cinnamon rolls to us and it was so kind. We also went on exchanges with the Spanish sisters. Sister Kukahiko was with me! 

We biked so much on Friday. We got a call from some elders, asking if we could help a member move into our ward. She was moving into this far corner of the ward, so we hopped on our bikes and made it there! I might have killed Sister Kukahiko with all the biking. We biked back into town for a lesson with a mother and daughter. They are so sweet and we had an awesome discussion about the Priesthood!! We tracted a bit, had some good member messages, then walked home because one of the bikes got a flat tire! But overall it was a good day! We exchanged back that night.

We had our car on Saturday and I was so grateful because it was pouring rain all day. We had a lesson with a less engaged member who is working on coming back to church. We also had a friend lesson and another member message. Some fun members had us over for dinner.

Sunday was pretty chill. We went to church and had a good time! We had ward council, did some planning and tracted a bit. It was a good day!

Our mission president has asked that we invite members to read the first 2 pages in Preach My Gospel and to see how they can apply it in their lives. Sharing the gospel is every members responsibility and Preach my Gospel has some awesome insight! Read through it if you get a chance! 

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas! I miss you all!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we had some good lessons and found a guy named Jay. We visited with a crazy less active lady. We helped her wrap some presents. We had dinner with the Stubbs, some of my favorite people! 

We had a super busy day planned and we just happen to have bike issues in the morning. We stopped by the bishops house and used a wrench and I fixed it! We had a couple lessons with some less engaged people. Then, we were in the middle of a lesson with a friend and our member finally showed up. We went outside to get her and Sister Eubanks threw up in the bushes…. So that was the end of our day. We came home and she slept for like 5 hours straight. We had to cancel a service and our dinner. I did an entire puzzle and chilled.

We did nothing on Thursday either. We had an apartment inspection. Then Sister Eubanks slept for like another 4 hours. I made muffins and worked on another puzzle. We texted a ton of people, then we went caroling with all the youth! One of the members was very impressed that I knew where everyone lived.

We got to doing things on Friday! We had a mission wide call with President. Then we visited with a less engaged member. We did lots of walking all around downtown. We made a bunch of chocolate covered pretzels for the missionaries and some of our friends. 

Saturday was pretty fun! We went to a relief society white elephant gift exchange and brunch. We had a blast with all the women. We ended up with a chocolate fondue pot! We are going to do it with all the sisters when they sleep over! We had some good lessons, then we went tracting. We were not having fun, but the very last door, a guy named Casey was down! It was awesome!

Sunday was awesome! I played in sacrament meeting and our friend Suzy came! We went out and visited a bunch of people and found 3 more people that were so open to the gospel! It was such a miracle! We had a fun dinner, then came home and had all the sisters over for a sleepover it. We have chocolate fondue with things to dip. It was so fun!

Today is pretty chill. We got up and ready for the day. We made overnight cinnamon rolls, so that was a blast!

Hopefully Christmas will be good! It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas but it'll still be good! I miss you guys! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we were on exchanges and Sister Martinez was with me. She's so fun! We spent so much time walking. We visited some people, and had such a fun dinner! These members have 4 girls and they are so funny. We also practiced the musical number I'm doing because the mom is accompaning me. We went out and visited a few more people. Then we exchanged back! 

Wednesday was all walking. We visited with this one sweet old member We visited with a new lady named Suzy. Suzy is 75 and super funny. She loves to talk. It was an interesting conversation about her life. We had a meeting with the stake president to talk about all the missionaries. It was pretty good!

We were at zone conference all day on Thursday!! We had lots of good instruction, then after lunch, we had some fun activities. Last year, we decorated gingerbread houses and played a bunch of games. This year, the activities related to missionary work. We had one where we talked about table manners and about trying everything. Then they had a food tasting thing and they had different rounds with really odd food (quail eggs in a brine, herring, dried shredded squid). It smelled so bad. Another game was budgeting and spending our money wisely. There was also a bike one. We were there for so long! We also got our Christmas packages. We went to young womans and played some Christmas games with them. 

We could finally bike on Friday! We visited with some sweet members. It was so windy though. I didn't realize how much wind affects you while you're biking. We visited some people, had a couple good lessons with some less engaged ladies. I made us some good dinner, then we called a bunch of people.

Saturday was a blast! We helped set up for the ward Christmas party! Afterwards we went out and tracted for a while. We came the church for the party! It was so fun! They asked me to play a couple hymn for everyone to sing to. I'm glad I have these skills. It was fun! We helped clean up afterwards. I was exhausted!! We had 7 less engaged members and 1 friend show up so we were busy talking to people the whole time. 

Sunday was also good! We went to church and tracted. Then we had dinner with a super fun family with 6 crazy kids. They make amazing food though and are so fun to hangout with. We went to drop the car off and the sisters downstairs neighbor is a member. The sisters usually go and sing with him every Sunday night but they hadn't shown up yet. He asked if we wanted too but we said we couldn't, walked away, then came back to sing with him. It was pretty fun. And the sisters eventually showed up after 30 minutes. The guy said we sing with more gusto than the other sisters. It was pretty funny! We all sang a couple songs together. Then we walked home in the rain.

We've been sharing this video with some members recently and it so simply demonstrates how we can love our neighbors. Hopw you get a chance to love your neighbors!

I hope you all have an amazing week! I can't believe Christmas is in a week! December is going by so fast!

Love,

Sister O'Barr