Category: Uncategorized

We went to Bandon on Monday. We had so much fun! We went to the Coquille River Lighthouse, then walked old town Bandon and got some lunch. Then we played games on a beach for a couple hours. It was so fun! 

I didn't get to do a lot of missionary work on Tuesday because we were tied up with interviews all day. It was also Sister Cornelius birthday, so we got a cake and sang her happy birthday. My interview with President was pretty chill. I did tell him I wanted to be on a bike so guess we'll see next transfer! Us and the zone leaders loaded up into Presidents car and he drove us to President and Sister Hopkins house for a late lunch! The new mission nurse is so funny and she insisted on getting in the back. We tried to stop her and she goes, “Too late, I already farted on the seat.” We were all laughing so hard! Lunch was super fun! President drove us all back, then we came back to Winston and went to an early dinner. We had a lesson, then went on exchanges. I went with Sister Maile to their area. I definitely got the short end of the stick because their ac was broken and it was 100° that day, so their apartment was hot! And they had run out of toliet paper and had been using paper towels. I don't know why they didn't just stop and buy some toliet paper. But that was interesting!

Wednesday was good. I was with Sister Maile in Roseburg. We did some stuff, lots of studies and prep and contacting people. Also our app that we do all of our missionary work on was down all day Wednesday, Thursday and half of Friday, so that was frustrating. We got some really good tacos for dinner! We exchanged back and I was glad to be back at my apartment with actual toliet paper.

Thursday was fun! We went out to one of the little towns in our area. We visited some people, then went up to our friends house. She lives on this not well maintained road but it is so pretty! We helped her make some bake apples for a relief society activity that night. We went to a members for dinner, then to the relief society activity. 

I had a good day on Friday too! We visited with a lot of members and shared a ton of messages about conference. We went on visits with a member of our ward. We had dinner with a sweet lady.

We helped clean the church on Saturday. We invited a ton of people to church, then got lunch at a little local place. We visited some members who haven't been to church in 30 years. Super nice, they gave us homemade grape jelly from grapes they had grown. We had a couple good lessons, had dinner with a super funny member of the ward. Then we had another lesson. We had an awesome little miracle happen on Saturday night! A lady had called us asking for some help mowing her lawn. She also said that she was lonely and wanted to make friends. So we invited her to church and she said she'd be there!! 

Sunday was good! We went to church and had several friends show up! They had a linger longer, so that was fun! We came home and did some planning, visited some people and had a fun dinner!

General conference is this weekend! I love hearing the prophets and apostles speak and testify of Jesus Christ. Hope you are able to watch some of it!

I miss you all! Hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

Tuesday was the day to feed the missionaries Dominos pizza. We had lunch with a less engaged member and she got dominos pizza. We also had it for dinner at a different members house. We had a bit of a slower day, visited some people and had a good lesson with one of our friends. Dinner was with one of my favorite member families! Their family is just so cool and focused on Christ! They build a giant fort for general conference! 

Wednesday was good too! We went and visited with this lady. We've tried to get in contact with her daughter and we finally caught her! We had a good little lesson with them. Then we went to an old couple who love to talk and they are everyones grandparents. They are so sweet! They have a candy bowl on their coffee table and always tell us to take whatever we want. They gave us watermelon too. Its so hard to get out of there because they just talk a ton but its fun! We had dinner with another sweet old couple. Sister Maile and Sister Bills came and stayed the night with us since we had to leave early for zone conference. We made apple crisp out of some apples a member let us pick from their yard. It was delicious!

We had zone conference on Thursday! We left bright and early so we could get chickfila for breakfast! It made me so happy! Zone conference was good too. Lots of good instruction and things to apply in my missionary work. They focused a lot of being righteous leaders and making sure our motives when correcting others is good. We had car inspections, then headed back to Winston. Our members who were gonna have us over have a sick kid, so guess what they dropped off? Dominos pizza! It was a good day overall.

Friday started off good! We helped a lady in our ward pack up a trailer. Then we had a good lesson with a friend named Austin. There are always a bunch of little kids running around during the lesson. We contacted a bunch of people, then went to a mexican restaurant with one of our friends. It was some good food! 

We had a blast on Saturday! We started off by going to the melon festival they held here in Winston. They had a parade and it was so fun! We helped a member staple some netting stuff on a fence, then went out to Camas Valley to do some contacting. Camas is about a 20 minute drive from Winston and it is gorgeous! We visited with the coolest member ever! We visited a few less engaged members out there. A huge miracle was that every door we knocked on, we got a positive response! We had dinner with some converts and it was so fun! Then we had a very interesting lesson with a guy and we've decided that we won't continue to teach him.

Sunday was good except for Sister Lunt wasn't feeling well. I was asked to play organ and it went well. We ate lunch, did our studies and planned. We had dinner with a family that has 6 crazy kids. They live in a really pretty area too.

Overall, this week was pretty good and we had some awesome lessons! There were so many little miracles that I saw. I recently read Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf's latest talk, “A Higher Joy” and I love what he says about finding joy: 

“If we seek reasons to be angry, to doubt, to be bitter or alone, we will find them too. However, if we seek joy—if we look for reasons to rejoice and to happily follow the Savior, we will find them. We rarely find something we are not looking for. Are you looking for joy? Seek, and ye shall find.”

Hope you find ways to look for the joy this week! Love you all!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

Monday was a blast! We went to President and Sister Hopkins house and watched the thing for President Nelsons birthday. Then President Hopkins told us about one of his brand new baby cows and told us to take our truck out on their property to see it. So we loaded the truck up with sisters and drove over to see the calf. It was so cute! We had dinner there. They make the best burgers! Then we had district council. It was a fun evening.

Tuesday we had a leadership meeting. It was in Roseburg this time, which was so nice! I saw Sister Chatwin, which made me so happy!! She brought me flowers and candy corn for my birthday, which was so sweet of her. I miss her so much! Just a few more changes and such. A big push for obedience. Sister Chatwin and I cannot sit next to each other. We are terrible and laugh at everything! 

Wednesday and Thursday were busy and a little stressful. The elders in a different ward were teaching a lady and she was supposed to get baptized this week. But they found out she lives in our ward and wanted to get some lessons scheduled with us. We had to find members for those last minute lessons they scheduled and all of it was stressful. But we had some awesome dinners both nights! And everything got figured out for the baptism!

We had a funeral on Friday for a lady in the ward. I think I've been to more funerals here in Winston than I have in my entire life! A member gave us a 25lbs watermelon they grew in their garden. It is so good! We had some good lessons, helped decorate the church for a dance and went on exchanges. Sister Lefler came with me in Winston!

I was so tired on Saturday. And it was just one of those days where no one was home or wanted to visit and everything canceled. So I had to figure that out. But we did some good stuff. We went to an awesome stake relief society event. We had a couple friends come and they loved it!

Sunday was good! We went to church, then visited with some super fun members who likes to sing hymns with us. We did some planning, then had dinner with some members. 

I've been watching the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square world tour and it is so good! The songs are all focused on finding hope in Christ. You should definitely try to watch one! 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

This week was good but also an adjustment. 

Tuesday was busy. We finished getting Sister Chatwin all packed up. Then we drove to Roseburg and worked on a report for the stake president. Then we went to the transfer spot! I found out I was companions with Sister Lunt! I served with her down in Klamath for 2 transfers. She goes home a transfer before me. We did some quick grocery shopping, then some planning. We had a lesson, then had dinner with a fun member couple. 

Wednesday was good. We went back to Roseburg to work on that report again. Then back to Winston for a couple lessons. We went and visited a bunch of people and had some good lessons. We went to Young Womans and introduced Sister Lunt to them.

Thursday was so hot! I think it got up to 107! We were melting. We visited some people, then decided it was too hot so we chilled at the church and contacted for an hour. It was good! We went and visited more people, then had a little lesson with our new member. 

Friday was still too hot but it was good! We had a member message, then went to Roseburg to have lunch with all of our Sisters. We only had one other Sister change so we met her. We had another member message. Then a little miracle happened. We were supposed to go visit with another member, but they texted us and canceled last minute. As we were trying to figure out what to do, one of our friends texted us and asked if we could come visit right then. It was awesome that she texted us and we were able to have a great visit! We had some great visits and contacts, then a member dinner!

We had a good Saturday. We got up and went and helped clean the church. We had an awesome lesson with one of our friends. We also had an amazing lesson with our friend Jackie. She has been taught for 6 years and just an addiction she is working on overcoming. We brought a different member to the lesson and it was just what she needed! She is thinking about setting a date for her baptism! But then we had an awesome dinner with the Barrs! Some of my favorite members! We had another member message after that.

Sunday was my birthday!! I made zucchini pancakes. I've learned you can stick zucchini in anything. We had a meeting at 7:30am, which was fine. We had church, Sister Lunt spoke. Then we had to go to Roseburg for a meeting with the stake president. Then we did our studies and planning stuff. We had dinner with the bishop and his family. She made homemade mac and cheese, my request. And we had brownie sundaes. It was so fun! I appreciated all the birthday wishes from everyone! Thank you!!

I hope you all get a chance to watch President Russell M Nelsons birthday broadcast today and have been ministering to the one!

I hope that you all are having a great week! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

 On Tuesday we met with a less engaged member who's working on getting back to the temple. We met up with Sister Bills and Sister Maile to go on our last exchanges of the transfer. I went with Sister Bills in her area! It was fun! Sister Bills and I had a good conversation and talked a lot about some of the struggles she is having. 

The next day was fun! We had so much study time with new missionary training and spanish study. We went and had a lesson with this one lady and I've realized how much I've grown as a teacher. We switched back! Sister Chatwin and I drove all the way back to Winston when we realized that Sister Maile didn't grab her stuff out of the car so we called them and drove all the way back. We had dinner with a super sweet couple. The members always have a giant garden. The ward came and helped them plant this year. They took us out to the garden and they have giant dahlias! They were gorgeous!! He walked around and cut us a whole bunch so we have a beautiful bouquet in our house. They also gave us a ton of veggies, zucchini, lemon cucumbers and tomatoes. We went to young womans and we were playing volleyball. I accidentally hit a ball right into a girls face but she was fine. Everyone was laughing so hard!!

Thursday was good! We went and visited people, had lunch, then went on visits with a member in our ward. We visited with a sweet lady who gave us more tomatoes! Then we had dinner with a super funny lady who lives on a ranch. She has sheep, cows and horses. She had us help feed her sheeps and horses.

Friday was also so good! We went and visited with a member and a friend. We were supposed to have a lesson with another friend but he didnt answer his door. We decided we needed to order a custom cake for Monday so we ran inside a little grocery store and did that. We had dinner with a newer member. Her husband is in culinary school and made scallops! We had two more lessons after that! 

We had such a good day on Saturday! We first went to a funeral for lady in the ward. We then had a lesson at the church with a memeber who hasn't been to church in about 10 years. But he was so genuine and really wanted to come back to church. We then had a lesson with a member referral! He is the grandson of a member in our ward. His grandma has been inviting him to church every week and he's come twice now! We drove to Roseburg and work on the stake monthly report on the computers at the stake center. Then we went and visited people, then had dinner at home. We went and helped another member move some furniture and did a little lesson with them.

Sunday was chill! We went to church and then some planning. We visited some people. We were just waiting for transfer news all day! We made zucchini bread and I helped Sister Chatwin pack.

Today is gonna be fun! We are running some errands, sending a package home, and picking up our cake. We are planning on going to the u-pick farm with our district, getting lunch and going thrifting. Sister Chatwin and I are wearing our matching dresses and it'll be a fun last day together!

I came across this poem this week and I has helped me understand how I can measure my success, especially on a mission! Its from Ralph Waldo Emerson: 

On Tuesday, we had a lesson with our friend Andy and finished up the lessons he needed before baptism. We had a lesson with our friend Jackie, who's a funny lady! Then we went on exchanges! Sister Budge came with me to Winston and Sister Chatwin went with Sister Blake to Sutherlin. 

Wednesday was fun! Sister Budge is so sweet and genuine. We had some lessons with some members and visited people. Then we invited a ton of people to Andy's baptism on Saturday! We went to Young Womans and played a game with some chairs in a circle. My shoes have no grip and a kid ran into me as I was about to sit down. This dad did a total dad move and grabbed my chair and my arm so I didn't fall over. Everyone was laughing so hard! 

Thursday was fantastic! I got to be back with Sister Chatwin!! I honestly don't know how I'll every be able to have another companion. We got up and went to interviews. My interview with President was really chill. Then Sister Chatwin and I got some BBQ for lunch. We headed back to Winston and went on visits with a member. We had a lesson with Andy to introduce him to the bishop. Then we went to a relief society potluck. 

Friday was pretty good too! We went and helped a member pack up. We went to a less engaged members house and had a good little lesson. We also went to a friends house. It poured rain all day too and it was so nice! 

 On Saturday, we went and visited people. Then we went to the stake center for Andy's baptism!! His baptism went smoothly. He looked so happy when he came out of the water and the Spirit was so strong. He texted us afterwards and told us that he was so happy that he was baptized! 

Sunday was awesome too! Andy got confirmed at church. It was so sweet! We did some weekly planning and had dinner with some members. It was fun! 

It was so cool to see the Lord helping us this week! Every roadblock and thing that could go wrong in preparation for Andy's baptism seemed to go wrong! It was in my moments of frustration that I turned to the Lord in lots of prayer. We were able to get everything figured out and he was baptized! The Lord will make things happen when you put in your every effort!

Love,

Sister O'Barr

On Tuesday, we started off by making cookies for a bunch of our friends. Then, we went to a members house and had a good lesson. We had dinner with this sweet lady. She made tuna melts and put extra cheese on it. Sister Chatwin doesn't like cheese so while our member was in the kitchen doing something, she pulled the cheese off and me, being the kind companion that I am, stuck it on my sandwich and ate it. We were laughing so hard! It was hilarious! We then had a good lesson with our friend Jackie. She is so funny!

Wednesday was a party! We had Sister Lyons with us. She is a service a missionary in Sutherlin but she really likes us and wanted to come spend the day with us. We went to drop off the cookies we made. We visited with one less-engaged member who has a bunch of puppies. We had a good time playing with the puppies. We had a few good interactions and little lessons. We had a lesson with our friend Andy. We are meeting with him 3 times this week because he's getting baptized next week and we needed to cover a few things. The lesson went really well! We dropped Sister Lyons off and headed home!

Thursday was a blast! We got to go to the temple in Medford! I love the temple! I love how much joy and peace I feel while I'm there and afterwards! Medford has quite a bit more shopping there as well so all of us sisters went to REI, Trader Joes, Bath and Body Works and Target! It was so much fun! We also went to Chickfila! The whole day was a party. We drove back to Winston and had a lesson with Andy. He is so ready to be baptized, its awesome!

On Friday, we got to visit with a ton of members since a lot of our lessons canceled. One member had chickens and gave us eggs. They even let Sister Chatwin hold a chicken! It was so funny to watch! Its funny how it seems like there is always some member in every ward I've served in that has chickens and gives us eggs. We were feeling a little discouraged since so many lessons with our friend had fallen through but on the last house we visited, we were finally able to catch these less engaged members at home and had an awesome little lesson with them! 

It rained all day on Saturday!! We needed the rain so bad. There have been so many fires and its been so hot. The rain cooled everything off. We went and helped a member pack up her house. One of our favorite members has been sick for the past month so we really haven't been able to see her. But we finally were able to go over! She is doing so much better! They invited us over for dinner and we were there for way too long but we were laughing so much and having a good time. They gave us blackberry pie and it was so good! We had another lesson with Andy and finished planning a few things for his baptism. 

Sunday was good! We went to church, then did some planning and such. We had dinner with a fun member family! We were there for way too long but its so hard to leave when you are having a good time! 

Something that stuck out from my personal study was in 2 Nephi 5:27

“And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.”

The Nephites were happy because they followed the commandments and loved God! We can be happy too when we keep our covenants and continue to follow the Savior! I hope you all have a great week and are able to find happiness!

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

On Tuesday we had zone conference in Medford. We carpooled with Sister Maile and Sister Bills. The drive was fun. The sisters slept in the back and Sister Chatwin and I just had a blast talking. Zone conference was really good! We had some good instruction. We ran to Chickfila and got frosted lemonade! Then we drove home and went to a lesson. It was a super fun day!

On Wednesday, we were busy. We went and visited with a couple of our friends. We had a lesson with some old ladies from the ward that can talk for hours. I was trying so hard to stay awake. We had dinner with the sweetest old lady. She's a widow and lives by herself. She made so much food! She said it was a salad type of day so she made macaroni salad, regular salad, and coleslaw with marshmallows in it. It was a fun time! We went over to Young Womans and a member in the ward who's a doctor told us all about first aid. We met up with Sister Bills and Sister Maile for exchanges. I went with Sister Maile to Garden Valley, which is right in Roseburg. 

Thursday was wild. Garden Valley is a spanish area so the sisters have been working on their spanish and trying to find spanish speakers to teach. We spent our morning doing language study, then we went to a bunch of different grocery stores to put up flyers for an English class they do. We stopped at Chipotle for lunch, then went and visited some members. We had dinner with some of their members. We went to the english class and no one showed up but this one guy. He only spoke Spanish so him and Sister Maile had a whole lesson in Spanish and I just sat there. We exchanged back that night!

Friday was good! We had a couple lessons fall through but we were able to meet with one of our new members and one of our friends.We visited a bunch of records we had. We had dinner with some members and they made what they call Big Mac tacos. I've had so many random foods on my mission. Its so fun!

Saturday was pretty good too. We went and visited a bunch of less-engaged members and had a couple little lessons. We had a super early dinner with some members, then we went to this less engaged members house. She is the sweetest lady ever!! She was telling us all about these duplexes she had built, hoping that missionaries would be able to live in them, but they were too big. She was so kind and we had such a good conversation with her. 

Sunday was pretty chill. We had church, then did our personal studies and planned the week. Then we went to Roseburg and met with Sister Maile and Sister Bills to do an NMT split. We had a meeting with the stake president, then back home for dinner. We met with our relief society president too.

Today is interesting. We had to do missionary work all morning, then at 1, we were able to do pday stuff. We are going to the temple on Thursday, so that'll be fun! We are going to hit up Chick-fil-a again and Trader Joe's. I'm so excited!! 

In my studies this week, this quote stood out to me from President Ezra Taft Benson:

“Daily, constantly, we choose by our desires, our thoughts, and our actions whether we want to be blessed or cursed, happy or miserable”

Heavenly Father's plan of happiness gives us the choice to choose! Happiness is our choice! How can you choose more happiness this week?

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

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

Tuesday was Sister Chatwins birthday!! We went and visited with one of our favorite couples, the Wilburs. They are so cool and so sweet! We had dinner with the bishop and his family. His wife made a strawberry shortcake and it was so good! We had another little lesson with a super sweet lady who we've been trying to get baptized for so long! She's adorable though. 

Wednesday was crazy! We had MLC in Eugene. One of our sets of sisters needed a new car so we went and exchanged cars in a parking lot so we could drive their car up to Eugune and trade it in for a new one. We also met with some STLs coming up from Grants Pass and they hopped in our car to carpool up. MLC was good! We drove back to Roseburg but stopped in Sutherlin to go on exchanges with those sisters. So we dropped Sister Chatwin off and picked up one of the sisters, Sister Blake. We dropped the Grants Pass sisters off at their car, then ran to Winston for a quick lesson, then back to Roseburg to exchange cars back with the other set of sisters. I got to drive our truck and it was so fun! I really liked it. We came home and ate dinner, then met with the elders quorum president to talk about the less engaged members we are working with.

Thursday was good. I was on exchanges with Sister Blake in my area. She is brand new to the mission. We went and visited some members and had some little lessons. We exchanged back, then Sister Chatwin and I went to dinner with the coolest lady. She was a member, her husband wasn't. He wouldn't let her go to church for 30 years. But he died a couple years ago and she said she tries to never miss a Sunday now. She told us all about how she kept growing her faith and trusting the Lord. It was so cool to hear her story! She took us to feed her sheep and cows afterwards and it was a party! We then had a lesson with our friend. 

Friday was crazy! Everything we had planned fell through. Our 2 hour service and every lesson canceled except for dinner. We had to completely replan our day. We went over to a less engaged members house because she is amazing! She is working on coming back to church and she was telling us that she just ordered a new temple dress and using it as motivation to overcome some addictions. She also just got two adorable puppies! We sat and played with them for a bit and it was so fun. We had a lesson with one of our new members. She is so fun! We were visiting people in this gated community and this car rolls up next to us and we both thought we were able to be kicked out. Turns out it was a members husband and he said his wife would love a visit from us, so we went to their house and had a fun little visit with her! 

Saturday wasn't the best. We both kinda lacked motivation and the smoke was so bad. It was also so muggy out. Everything we tried to do and everyone we tried to visit didn't go through. We were able to visit a member who's 80th birthday it happened to be! That was awesome! We also visited with a super sweet less engaged member who lived in Alaska for 10 years. She has a bear skin in her house and it was awesome! We had a good little lesson with her. We went to dinner at this cute diner and got some good burgers. 

Sunday was decent. We went to church and met with our relief society president. We then visited with the basher guy. We probably aren't going to continue to teach him. We had dinner with a wild family with a ton of kids! Then we planned the week and hada couple calls.

Even though part of this week was a little rough, I've still been able to find so much joy and am growing from all these experiences! I've been reading in 2 Nephi 2:2 and this verse stuck out to me: 

“Nevertheless, Jacob, my firstborn in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.”

Everything works out in the end and will help us grow! I hope you all have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Sister O'Barr 

Monday was a blast!! We went to Florence and met up with the Springfield zone. We explored a bunch of beaches and Heceta Head Lighthouse, which was so cool! We went to lunch afterwards. We hustled back to Roseburg for a zone potluck. Then we had district council!

On Tuesday, we had a bunch of lessons with major talkers. It was like everyone we visited just wanted to talk. So we had like four 1 hour lessons with people. It was funny! Also, we found out that we were getting 2 sets of sisters in Roseburg!!

Wednesday morning, we decided to stop by the elders apartment that was going to become sisters. We knew it was gonna be a disaster. We ended up cleaning out a bunch of random stuff and trash. We took out 3 giant bags of trash. We definitely made it livable. We ran back to our area and had a lesson with kinda a basher. It was interesting. We called all our sisters today and got to know them a bit. Both areas are training brand new sisters, so thats fun!

We visited a ton of people on Thursday! We were able to get in contact with so many people. We had dinner with an old couple. We were supposed to have a lesson with one friend but he canceled so we decided to stop by another friends house and we had a cool little lesson! She told us that she really needed us to come over that day. 

Friday was fun! We had a bunch of lessons with some old people. They are so funny! We had dinner with one of the funniest old couples. They are snowbirds so they live in Arizona for half the year. We stopped by and had a good lesson with one of our friends. Then we went to a church because we were supposed to have a lesson with a guy. We had asked one of our members to come. Shes 22 and served a mission and is just home for the summer. We just ended up talking with her for a bit. It was fun!

On Saturday we had a long service project that we got permission for. We were at an elementary school with a bunch of our ward. We pulled weeds and helped paint a mural. It was so fun! Then we had a ward bbq. We went and visited more people. Then had dinner with a member at a mexican place. I don't know why mexicain food is so popular here but it is! We were then able to have an awesome lesson with one of our friends and we put him on date for baptism! It was so cool!

Sunday was fun as well. On Saturday, we got asked to speak, which was annoying but all good. It was also a mission homecoming so that was cool. We then met up with all our sisters for the first time and had lunch together! It was so fun to get to know all of them! We met with the relief society president and talked about the people we had visited. We did weekly planning for the rest of the time. 

I have has so much zucchini this week. Airfried zucchini, zucchini in spaghetti and the weirdest one, zucchini pie. It tastes just like apple pie, which is so odd! 

I also got to go to lunch with my aunt and uncle today and it was so fun! I love the so much!

I hope you all have a great week! Remember how much God loves each one of you! Love you all!

Love

Sister O'Barr