Author: Sister O'Barr

Being a STL is super fun! We get to help uplift the entire zone and help keep the motivation up! Its been so fun getting to know everyone in the zone. I don't know anyone here! I went from the most north of the mission in Corvallis to the most south area in Klamath. It'll take some time to adjust but I know I'm going to have a blast! And I know the Lord has given me a lot of strength during this time! He is aware of all of us and I know God wants to help us grow. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

1 Nephi 3:7

“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” 

Tuesday and Wednesday were busy with lessons and service! We went on exchanges on Wednesday night and I went to the college ward with Sister Huffaker.

Thursday was fun! I wasn't in my area so its almost like a bit of break. It was weird to be on campus. We just talked to everyone. We went up to this dude who was playing this cool instrument called a didgeridoo. He said his religion was psychedelic mushrooms. Sister Huffaker and I were laughing so hard afterwards. Our goal was to find 5 new people and the morning had not been successful. So we tried again and we were able to get 3 new people! It was cool. I definitely don't like talking to random people and it would take some getting used to. But Sister Huffaker is awesome at it! We switched back that night.

Friday was chill. We had NMT and district counsel and a meeting for the whole mission. Then we went and helped some members clean up tree branches. They had a ton of trees break because of the ice storm. 

Saturday was also so fun! We got up early to go play soccer. A friend of ours showed up and we had so much fun. The sun was out and it was awesome! A member taught us how to make sourdough bread! We made 4 loafs of sourdough and 3 loafs of whole wheat bread. We ground the wheat too. We had a blast! She gave us some of the starter so now I need to figure out how to make this last for my entire mission. We had a zoom lesson with our friend, then had an adult session of stake conference. 

Sunday was also good! We had stake conference. All the speakers really focused on missionary work. We had dinner with a member family and it was a blast. Overall the week has been so fun! I really enjoyed it. We have transfers this week and you never know what happened. My mission president said that the Lord is control and I couldn't agree more! The Lord knows whats best and I'm just here to do His will! 

I hope you all have a great week! Don't forget that the Lord is aware of you and your needs.

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we helped clean thus lady's house. We changed, then had a lesson with a new guy, then went to dinner. Probably one of the worst dinners with the food.

On Wednesday, we contacted a ton. Then we went to our lesson with a less engaged member. She is a super sweet lady who loves when I braid her hair. We had a lesson with Dorinda, who was just baptized. We asked her how she felt at her baptism and she said she felt so content. She said she had never felt that at peace in her life!We contacted more, then had dinner with a member family who just decided to come back to church. They were so sweet and had good food. 

Thursday was fun. I got to call my dad for his birthday! We went to the church for this Book of Mormon class. Our friend Donna showed up. We had this lesson with a less engaged member and he was so old. He was not interested in coming back but he was super nice and gave us cookies. We ate dinner, then went to this Restoration devotional in Eugene. One of our members drove us and Dorinda. She is just the best! She had a whole bag of snacks in her car for us. We had a blast. 

On Friday, we had District Counsel and NMT. We went to the Institute for lunch. We went to the church and did some facebook, then had a zoom lesson with a new guy. We invited him to come to this ward potluck and he said he would come! We then had dinner with a member family. They have us over almost every week. We had a super fun dinner with them, then had lesson with another family. Overall the lesson was fine. 

Saturday was fun! We got up and played soccer in the pouring rain. We weren't sure if anyone would show up, but they did. We came home and changed, then went to our wards potluck. The elders quorum bought 40lbs of meat for it. Our friend Matt showed up too. We had a ton of fun talking to people and eating good food. We then went to this service. It was probably the worst one yet. This lady had us outside in the rain, scrubbing these muddy mats. I think we were just spreading the mud around but we tried. We got so muddy and gross.

Sunday was good. The weather has been soooo nice! It had been sunny in the mornings, then just a decent temperature all day. Today's high was 62. I was loving it! We had church, then ate lunch, then did some weekly planning. We went and visited with the sweetest lady. We had dinner with a member family who has 2 little boys. One is obsessed with dinosaur and kept bringing them to us. It was overall a good day.

This week was good and I count the sunshine as a miracle! Definitely helped to brighten my day and to remember the Lord. Hope you all have a great week!

Love, 

Sister O'Barr 

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we were still stuck inside because of the ice. On Thursday, we finally were able to drive! We had district counsel. It was fun. On Friday, we had zone conference in Eugene. 

Sunday was amazing! Our friend Dorinda was finally able to be baptized after it was recheduled because of the ice. She texted us that morning saying she was nervous so we sent her a few scriptures and a song and she said she felt so much better. Her baptism was so good! So many members showed up to support her. She just kept saying wow and that she was so happy. It was a super cool experience for me because I put her on date for baptism in my first transfer and I got to be here for her baptism. I will never forget it! We also had an awesome member dinner but they live super far in the middle of nowhere and there were fallen trees all over the road. It was an obstacles course in the dark and with the rain.

This week was awesome and I will never forget it! Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday, we had essentially a sister trainer leader over all the sisters in the mission, Sister Crouch. She is such a diligent missionary. Overall I learned a lot on how to be a good missionary. 

Wednesday was odd. Sister Crouch had to meet back up with her companion, who was with the STLs. So we drove her over to their apartment. We had a lesson with a member. We met the sisters for lunch, then had a lesson with our friend Dorinda who was supposed to be baptized on Sunday. We also met with a member of our ward.

On Thursday, we had a mentoring session with a new mentor. It was fine, a little awkward. We met with the sisters for lunch again. It was fun! We had a meeting with our ward mission leader to make sure everything was good for Dorinda's baptism. We've been looking for some new ways to find and we decided to post on Facebook in a a Corvallis group. We did an ad for free service and everyone loved it! We've gotten so many responses. Several people are interested in lessons, more people would like help. Its been crazy all the responses we've gotten. 

We had NMT and district counsel on Friday. We ate lunch at the Institute with the zone. We had fun playing pool. Then we knocked on some doors and spent some time responding to all the facebook messages we received. We had dinner with a member family. Everyone is preparing for this ice storm. We've gotten a ton of messages from members telling us to stay safe and to not go out.

Saturday was cold! We got a big ice storm. President didn't want any of us driving. It limited what we could do. We had a service in the morning and they lived close enough that we walked. Then we came home and ate lunch. We decided to go back out and knock on a few doors that lived by us. We came home, had a cool zoom lesson, then made dinner. Sister Flake and I decided to play some card games, then the power went out in the middle of it. We decided that we would stay at our apartment and hope we didn't freeze. It came back on about an hour later so we were all good.

On Sunday, everything was cancelled. Church and our friend's baptism was cancelled. We rescheduled it for next week. President still doesn't want anyone driving. We got even more ice and snow overnight so we decided to walk to the sisters apartment. It was a 2 1/2 mile walk on straight ice. We planned on staying the night with the sisters so we packed the stuff we would need. We kinda looked homeless, lol. It was so fun! Definitely an experience I won't forget. We ate lunch with the sisters, then walked to the Institute for Come Follow Me with the YSA. We definitely could have been more productive but we also couldn't go anywhere. 

I hope everything is going well for everyone! Stay warm and safe. I know the Lord watches over us and can help keep us safe during this bad weather! Love you all!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

Monday was so much fun! We ended up going to the coast again and the weather was so sunny and nice! We did this “hike” that an elder recommended and it was straight down a waterfall. Would not recommend but it was a good zone bonding experience as everyone helped each other down and then back up the waterfall.

On Tuesday, we ended up contacting a ton of people and knocked on a ton of doors. Our dinner cancelled so we met with the sister for dinner. 

Wednesday was busy. We had a lesson with a friend, then walked this lady's dog. We also had a lesson with our friend who is getting baptized next Sunday!! The lesson went really well and I think she is prepared to be baptized. We had dinner with a member family.

On Thursday, we had an awesome lesson with a less engaged member. She is older and has a learning disability. She wanted us to explain the Chosen. So we sat and watched and episode of the Chosen and paused it every few minutes to explain. We met the sisters at the church to eat lunch, then we had interviews with President. He is such an intense guy. We had a meeting with our ward mission leader to help make sure that everything is set for our friend's baptism! We had dinner with some members who are just the sweetest. She loves to cook and is so excited to have people to cook for. 

Friday was interesting. We had NMT and district counsel. We all went to the Institute for lunch. We had a lesson at the furtherest south you can go in our area so it was like a 20 minute drive. The lady lives in a 100 year old house that hasn't really changed since it was built. It was odd. Sister Flake wasn't feeling well so we came home. She was feeling better later that day so we went to our member dinner. 

On Saturday, we played soccer in the morning. It wasn't raining when we showed up but it started pouring freezing rain and we just kept playing. It was so much fun!

Sunday was pretty chill. We had dinner with a member family that is just awesome. I really do love this ward. 

I hit 4 months on Thursday! Crazy to think how fast my mission is going by! I am so excited that we get to study the Book of Mormon in Come Follow Me this year. I've definitely seen the importance of having a testimony of the Book of Mormon in my missionary work! I hope you all get a chance to study it! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr

Helaman 5:12

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

On Tuesday we had the first half of the day to do laundry and grocery shopping. So we did that, had a lesson with a less engaged member, then met the sisters for lunch at the Institute. We had dinner with a member. It was so fun! We then all went to the church to open transfer news. Neither one of us got a call so we knew we weren't going STL or training, but we could have gone anywhere in the mission. But we didn’t! We will both be here for another 6 weeks. 

Wednesday was fun. The young women decided to do a 12 hour BOM reading challenge and they invited different people to come share testimonies of the BOM throughout the day. So we were invited to come share and they fed us lunch as well, which was nice. We went to different addresses to attempt to get in contact with some less engaged members. It had been pouring rain but we had still decided to walk to save miles. As soon as we left the house, it got super sunny and there was a rainbow! 

On Thursday, we had super good lessons with both of our friends who are getting baptized. One of our friends isn't going to let anything stop her from getting baptized and its so cool to see her devoption!

Friday was odd because we usually have NMT and district counsel on Friday but we didn’t because of transfers. We ended up helping a member clean her house that she's moving out of. She was so appreciative and insisted on taking us out to dinner. We had a few other lessons and a mentoring session, then we went to dinner. 

On Saturday, we went and played soccer. Then we had NMT and district counsel. We had a cool lesson with a friend and a member who came. We kocked on a few doors, then got dinner.

Sunday was fun! We went to church, then came home, ate lunch, and did some planning. The sisters came over for dinner and we made tacos and played games. We had some sparkling cider to celebrate the new year. 

A funny story from this week was this super old guy kinda threatening to shoot us if we ever told him what to do. He's a less engaged member and we went to visit with him. We tried to tell him that he could watch church on zoom. He's super old and I think he just didn't understand. He told us he didn't like the elders at all. He said “if anyone tries to tell me what to do, I'll shoot them.” We probably wont go back, lol.

Its so cool to see how the Lord is in every aspect of my life and is always looking out for me! I definitely couldn't do this on my own! Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Monday, we went to the coast and it was so fun! The weather couldn't have been better!

On Tuesday, We invited one of our friends to be baptized and she accepted! She is so excited to be baptized. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson and it was cool to see that she felt the Spirit as well. We had dinner with a member and it was fun. Then we met up with the sisters to do exchanges. I went to the YSA ward with Sister Chaddock. 

On Wednesday, I was in the YSA ward. We went and knocked on a few doors, then went to the Chick-fil-A truck for lunch. We then walked around campus. We had a lesson with a YSA member who actually helped change a tire for the lady who we just put on date for baptism. I told him that his willingness to serve made such a big impact on her and now she is on date to be baptized. Afterwards, Sister Chaddock told me that she had never seen him look so happy. It was cool to tell him how he is influencing others. We had dinner at our bishops house. It was so fun! Their son just got home from his mission in Ghana a month ago and he wanted to make us all Ghanaian food. The YSA elders and the other sisters were there too. It was so much fun! The food was interesting. There was some sort of chicken rice dish that I would say was similar to Indian food. He had made fried plantains, some sort of bread thing and fufu. It was odd. It was a good time. We switched back companions as well.

On Thursday, a cool miracle that happened was that we were able to find someone to come to our lesson with our friend that day. We had reached out to so many people during the week to see if they could come to this guys lesson. Since he is a single man, we can't go into his house unless we have another woman with us. We called probably 10 more women that morning and everyone was either out of town or busy. We had one lady say she would try to be free by then but we weren't sure. So we just decided that we would still good and we could always teach on the front porch. About an hour before the lesson, a member texts us and said she could come! We were so grateful! And the lesson went to really well. We gave him a Book of Mormon! 

Friday was so weird. We had NMT, my last one! I graduated from training! We also had District Counsel, which was good. We had a funeral for Elder Anderson, the only elder in our zone going home. Then we ate lunch at the Institute. We then went to help a member move. So we helped her for a few hours, then she fed us dinner. 

On Saturday, we went and playes soccer with a bunch of people from our ward. They do it every Saturday. We came home, got ready, and went to a less engaged members home. We had a good lesson with her. Then we walked downtown. We met up with the sisters for lunch. We went and helped our member move. We then went to dinner at a members. We came home and deep cleaned the apartment. We had sleepover with the sisters for Christmas eve and I wanted the apartment clean. 

On Sunday, we went to church. They had a ton of musical numbers, including me. I played a piano solo. We talked with a bunch of members. We came home, did some planning, then went to a memebers house from another ward. They invited all the missionaries to come over at some point during the day. Then we had dinner with a member family. They are so fun and I greatly appreciate them. We made gingerbread houses with the kids and it was a blast. We ended the day at our bishop's house. We played a bunch of games and acted out the nativity. It was such a good night! The sisters slept over, we made gingerbread cookies and decorated a gingerbread house.

Today, we went on a hike at Mary's Peak, then did a big potluck breakfast. We are hanging out at the church all day. We are going to a few members houses today for Christmas.

I hope you all have an awesome Christmas! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

This week was so fun! And it helped me to realize the Lord is aware of the people we are teaching.

On Tuesday, we did exchanges. Another Sister came to my area. We went to a service. We had a lesson with a lady and it kinda turned into a bash. We had dinner at a members. They have a son on a mission in Spain. They are the best! We had so much fun. The mom kept saying to call her if we ever needed anything. She even offered toliet paper, which resulted in me telling about how when we first showed up at our apartment, there was no toliet paper and the other set of sisters had to bring us a roll.

On Wednesday, we got to go to the temple! It was pouring rain the entire time. The Portland temple is so pretty! I always leave the temple feeling so peaceful and happy! We took photos even though it was raining. We came back to the church and played volleyball and chair soccer. 

Thursday was crazy! We went to this Christmas potluck. Our friend showed up and all the members were so welcoming! We contacted a bunch of people and set up lessons. We met with a member who is from England but got married and has lived here ever since. We then went to the church for a lesson for our friend. She didn't show up so we decided to go practice for a musical number in the chapel. The Lord was in every interaction that night. She showed up just as some elders were leaving and they were able to bring her to us. Then, she had a flat tire so we said a prayer to help calm her down, then went out to her car. Apparently she had run over a curb while coming to the church. Neither Sister Flake or I had ever changed a tire so we tried calling the elders that had just left. They had an appointment so they couldn't. The other set of elders that live across from the church weren't home so they couldn't help either. Then, a member from the YSA ward pulled up. He was going to play basketball. We asked him if he could help and he said he could! He put on the spare and our friend was able to get home safely! We made sure to point out to our friend that the Lord is aware of our needs and will help us through our hard times!

Friday was fun! We had NMT and district counsel. We had lunch at the Institute and played games. We had a super good lesson with our friend who's on date for baptism. And dinner with the member family that I actually had dinner with my very first night of the mission. It was fun and they sent us home with a bunch of pizza. 

We had so much fun on Saturday! We signed up to help with our ward Christmas party so we had to be there at 8am. We went and got to decorate the gym. The theme was Christmas in the Southwest and we put the cutest pepper lights on the tree. They had breakfast burritos and all sorts of fun stuff. We had a friend come and she loved it! We then went to the Institute for lunch and we played pool. Sister Huffaker and I crushed Sister Flake and Chaddock. It was fun! Then we had a lesson with a guy and we might start teaching him. We had a few other lessons with members that day and a member dinner. 

Sunday was also super cool! We had church and the lesson in Relief Society was awesome. Then we met with a member who just moved in. She was super cool. Then we had to drive about 10 miles south into the middle of the woods to this members house. Everything was so green! They have a really cool house in the middle of the woods. It was fun to talk to them. They were cool people. We then had dinner with a member family. They are just the best! They invited us over for Christmas Eve!

I'm excited for Christmas! It has been cool to help others remember the reason behind Christmas and to help them share the Light of Christ as well! How can you help other's feel loved this week?

We are just chugging along, doing the work and having a ton of fun while doing so! I hope you guys have a great week! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr