I LOVE THIS WORK !!!!

WEEK #30

Well family, 

Looks like all of us had kinda a slow week this week. I was in the piso (apartment) a lot because Hermana Tyler was sick. Poor girl, her first week here and she's in bed sick. She was so out of it and trying to meet everyone at the same time. I felt so bad. Now she is getting better though, so this week should be good. I had a lot of time to read and study and stare at the walls though, so that was fun!

Even though we spent a lot of time in the piso, The Lord still blessed us with miracles. Matthew is preparing to be baptized in March. We don't have a set date, but slowly and surely he is gaining a strong testimony. We also were able to set two dates with Eugenia and Manuel! I'm going to make you wait for their stories though and I'll tell you about all the rest first.

So this week I was talking to Elder Moreno (my district leader) and he told me that my spanish was great. I was so honored. He doesn't speak English, so I'm hoping I heard him right and that's actually what he said haha! Finally though I am feeling strong and confident in my Spanish. I am finally feeling like I really do live here now and I'm not just on vacation. I still have a hard time with certain accents, but for the most part I am doing really well. I love learning new words every day. 

I love Martorell. The people here are amazing. We have such a strong relationship with the members and I know we are going to see miracles from it. We are going to focus a lot this transfer on missionaries and members working together. The members are going to catch the fire, I know it. I have a lot of people who call me their daughter. Also, I feel like a part of the branch and not just a missionary. It's amazing. It's definitely different from my relationship with the missionaries at home. I decided that when I get back, I am going to make sure the missionaries feel welcome. It makes such a difference when we can trust the members with our precious investigators. I know that the members here are always going to welcome our investigators.

Okay so now for the fecha (baptism date) stories. Manuel is an older man (and I mean OLDER) from Spain. He met with Elders a long time ago. One day when we were knocking doors, we found him and he told us he didn't have time, but he would come to English class. When they say that it usually doesn't happen. However, the next week there he was in class. We started to meet with him. He has a hard time with his faith because he is very alone. His children don't talk to him and his brother and mom are both dead, so he has no one. He comes to all the activities and he hasn't missed church in 4 weeks. He even came to the baptism that we had. He is so sad and lonely, but he says he feels like he has a family in the church and people who care. This last week we made a fecha for him for the 8th of March! Yesterday, he came up to me and said, "maybe we can change the baptism to the summer, because it's cold right now" haha. It was so cute. I told him the water was warm and that we would make sure the heat was on in the church. He agreed. He is so cute, and he's Spanish! (Rachel doesn't get to teach many Spanish people because her areas are filled with people from different parts of Africa.)

Eugenia is from Columbia. I met her my first week here in Martorell. She is a friend of a woman in our ward. Hermana Oli (the friend) asked if we could help Eugenia move into her new apartment. So we moved her in and she made us dinner. The next week we had a bbq with Oli and Eugenia. We were a little hesitant to start teaching her though because she would always talk about how people from another religions pushed her so much and they would always call and bother her and she hated it. We weren't sure what the good balance was between pushing and teaching. Anyway, we finally started teaching her last week and we had another cita with her on Saturday. She has come to church twice, and she accepted a fecha for the 15th of March! I was shocked at how easily she accepted. She told us though that everything we teach is exactly what she believes. She said it's like she has heard it before. She is perfect!! She's so happy and bubbly too. She comments in church and loves the ward! So now we have two fechas for the month of March!

Well we had a good week even though we were in piso. It just shows that the Lord still will bless us as long as we are doing all we can. My testimony of prayer has grown as well. Before the citas with Manuel and Eugenia, I asked the Lord to help us in our plans to set fechas, and it happened. I know the Lord listens and answers prayers. We just need to search and be ready for the answers. I LOVE THIS WORK!!

Well I'm glad you're all doing well. I miss you all. I'm glad you're safe and I hope everyone is feeling better. Looks like this week was a week of being sick for everyone. Well, get better and have an amazing week. Love you all!!

con amor

Hermana Barker

DEFINITELY A GOOD/EMOTIONALLY DRAINING WEEK .......

WEEK #29
TRANSFERS!!

This email is probably going to be a little short. I'm sorry. Today has been crazy and I don't have a lot of time to email. I will hit the highlights though. So first some notes. Mom if you haven't sent a birthday thing yet, send it to the mission home instead of my piso because then I won't have to worry about paying for it. Also tell Grandma and Grandpa thank you for the Valentines card! It was so nice and so fun to get!!!

Taylor, Mormal looked so fun. That's so cute that the boys cooked for you all! And Kendall I loved the Mormon dress! She looked so cute!. That's amazing at how many nonmember kids went! That's awesome though!!! I'm glad you had a good time. I'm glad you're enjoying the little things.

Dad I laughed and felt sorry for your flower spilling story!! It's the thought that counts though right? We had Valentine's day here. It's not super popular, but some people did it. As for me... none this year haha!

As for this week in my life...It's been an emotional rollercoaster. So first the fun stuff. We had fu-fu three times this week. Fu-fu is an African dish. I don't really know how to explain it. It's a dough kind of thing with a soup of all different stuff like fish, peppers, chicken, mushrooms and all this other stuff. You take some of the dough in your hand and dip it into the soup. All of it is eaten with your hands. It was a cultural experience that's for sure. I don't know if I will make it at home, but it was fun to try.

As for the things you really want to know, we had a baptism of Kingsley this weekend. Cristina cancelled a few nights before because she said she didn't feel ready. Matthew didn't show up....it was a heart breaker for sure. We have a cita with him tonight to figure out what happened. Hopefully he still wants to be baptized and it'll happen this weekend. Just keep him in your prayers. Kingsley was awesome though. He was so excited, but he tried to hide it. He was smiling the whole time and looked so happy.

Baptismal font

Kingsley's baptism with Hermana Barker and Hermana Porter

Christina (holding the baby) and the family she lives with.

Today we had transfers. Hermana Porter left :( and hermana Tyler came to Martorell. She has about 9 months in the mission and she is from Benicia.  I think we are going to get along just fine. I know we are going to see a lot of miracles too. The area right now has so much potential and I am excited to see what is going to happen. I am exhausted right now from all that has been happening. My emotions from the baptisms and transfers have drained me. I'm excited though to get new ideas and a fresh face to spice things up. It was definitely a good/emotionally draining week.

I would write more but I don't have a lot of time. I'm sorry!! I promise next week will be more. I love you all and I'm so glad to hear all is well. Keep doing work in the mission world and being examples to all. Tell Kendall I say wassup sista! haha love you all!!!

con amor

hermana barker

THIS TRANSFER HAS BEEN A TRANSFER OF MIRACLES ......

Week # 28
What a week this was! I feel like we had no time to work! On Tuesday and Wednesday we had  a special conference training with the mission president and our zone. We had to travel 45 minutes to Hospitalet (a city) both days so we lost a lot of time. The conference was amazing though. We learned a lot and it was so spiritual. An elder told us that we are the most unified companionship he has ever seen. I am praying that Herman Porter will stay one more with me...but I think that my prayers are not with the will of the Lord. I can try though right? This is Hermana Porters 1st and only city she has been in since leaving the Madrid MTC in September 2013.  This transfer has been a transfer of miracles. I am amazed every day at all the amazing things that we see. We really have been blessed and I know it's because I have changed my outlook on missionary work. I know now that it is the Lord's work and I just need to have faith in Him and everything will happen.

Right now we have three people getting baptized on Saturday. Kingsley is African and he has come every week for the last 4 weeks. The problem is he has no time to meet so we still have to teach him a lot before Saturday. The other is Cristina. Cristina is the woman who has been an investigator for 6 years. She is scared, but I know she is just making excuses now. I told her yesterday that she is getting baptized even if I have to push her in the water...she thought that was funny. The funny thing is she doesn't know that I'm serious! We talked about how she is her own worst enemy and she just has to let herself get out of the way. I have faith that she can do it though. I know she is ready and I know we are going to see the miracle of her baptism this saturday.

The other one is MATTHEW!! yes Matthew is the 18 year old. He had a a lot of doubts about Joseph Smith so that's what we have been focusing on. It's been hard though, because he always brings his friend with him. Saturday though we had a lesson with just him. We talked about how Joseph Smith didn't have the intelligence to translate a book like the Book of Mormon. Matthew agreed with that and then related it to himself by saying that he remembers trying to read when he was younger and he could never have translated a book like this. He said, "i believe. I'm ready. Lets do it". Hermana Porter and I just stared at each other and then tried not to cry. It has been a long road with him, but I know he is ready. I know he will be a strong member if he truly puts his heart and mind into it. 

We hit pautas (goals) again this week! An elder in the office told us we are on fire. It's nice to feel like we are doing something right. I know it's because I have changed my mindset on the work though. 

So funny story for the week. There is a girl named Mercé in the ward. She is a little punk, but we are best friends. Yesterday we were at her house for lunch, and she looked at me and told me I needed to marry her brother. Her brother is on a mission right now too and she told me I needed to wait for him. She said that usually she doesn't like church girls, but she said I was different. Her mom thanked me for doing what I am doing with Mercé. Really though, I'm just being my sassy self. It was nice to hear that I was making a difference. I also challenged Mercé to give a Book of Mormon to a friend and she accepted the challenge! I was shocked haha. Hopefully I will change her for the better.

Well I don't have much else. This is our last preparation day in this transfer. The time is flying!! Soon I'm going to be 22! ew gross!!!! Keep praying for miracles of baptisms for me! They need all the faith and help they can get. I love you all and I'm so glad you are all doing well. I pray and think about all of you every day. That's so cute that Miranda included me in her email. I hope she is doing so well. Keep supporting her and showing her that she has people rooting for her. You are all the best. Send me pictures of Mormal!! GOOD LUCK KEL WITH WORK!!! You're amazing!!!

oh ps mom. the piso is just hermana Porter and I. We are about 15 minutes from any other sisters. the rama (branch) just has us and two elders. It's very different from Valencia. 

con amor

hermana barker

(Pictures from Martorell coming soon)

This week has been INCREIBLE ! ..........

Week #27

I don't even know where to begin! This week has been incredible...and I mean INCREÍBLE! I am going to squeeze it all in real fast though so sorry about the scatterbrain that's about to happen. First of all it sounds like you all are doing great!! That's awesome that Tay and Court both had good semesters! So jealous about the cruise! Look at the fun life you have Kel and Mark living it up while you can haha. That's so cool though. I'm glad you liked it. If it's anything like Spain (Puerto Rico) then of course it was beautiful! Spain has so much history and so many cool places to see. Some of the streets are just the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life. I'm glad people liked the good cop/bad cop thing. It's worked this week though...More to come about that later. Mom I'm glad you liked the song (Bless My Son). I want that CD! It's so good. A lot of the missionaries have it. I really do love hearing what is going on at home. Hermana Porter and I swap stories every week after email. So keep the good stories coming so I have good things to share! Cause my family is the BEST!

So to start out this week we had zone enfoque (conference). It was awesome. Hermana Porter and I were asked to share how to have companion unity. We also won the game "who knows their comp". We sang a song as well. It was a really good enfoque. At the end, I got a package from someone in Valencia. It was an African dress that Princess from my ward made me!! It's so cool. I will have pictures to come next week. I told Princess that I wanted an African dress so she made me one and surprised me! so cute! haha. 

That night we had a practice for the stake choir for stake conference last weekend. When we went in, it was all sunny and beautiful. When we came out it was POURING RAIN!! To top it off, we had no umbrellas and we were late so we had to run! By the time I got home, I was soaked from head to toe. It was fun after the fact. 

The real reason this week has been so amazing is that the Lord has really blessed Hermana Porter and I. We have seen so many miracles in this area. Every day we are blessed with a miracle whether it is meeting someone new, or just making the train on time. This week we even had a train stop for us after it had started leaving! I think that´s a first in the history of Spain! I tried really hard this week to not focus on the work, but really focus on the people. I decided that I needed more faith too. This week I really tried to remember every day that this is the Lord's work and we are nothing without Him. We talk, but He does the work. It brought about great miracles.

As a mission we have this thing called pautas (or standards). They are different goals that we try to reach as companionship every week. I have never reached more than two of the five pautas. This week Hermana Porter and I reached 4 of the 5! The only one we didn't get was a baptism this week. It was truly amazing! I know that it had something to do with the faith that we showed. Also, we never stop working. If we don't have a cita or anything going on, we go knock doors or talk to people in the street. We are always talking about the gospel in one way or another. 

One of the goals that we had was to help Eva, Michella (10yrs), and Anahi (8yrs) commit to a baptism date. They have been investigating for a few months now. We were both a little hesitant, but we went in with faith knowing that the Lord would provide a way if it was right for them. We set goals with them as a family having the grand meta (goal) as baptism on the 22 of February. They accepted and even made short term goals in order to reach that goal!! it was a miracle. The girls are the cutest! I am so excited to really work with them. 

I am really amazed at how much this mission has changed me. I have so much more love and patience for everyone. I don't know how I ever even questioned coming on a mission. It's hard to be away from the people I care about, but it if it means helping others to be together forever, then I think I can spare a little bit of time.

So I can't leave without a funny story so here you go. I have now had 4 people in Martorell tell me I'm a little bit loca! (crazy) When I ask why they say that, they say it's because I have a personality and they aren't used to missionaries who have a strong personality. One woman in the ward told me it was about time that someone showed a "real" personality. haha  I guess I am a little loca! But a little loca never hurt anyone!

Well that's about it right now. I love you all and I hope that you took the reading challenge I sent. I know it can really help your testimonies. Oh and dad I really liked your idea about the gospel conversations. We are going to try that in our ward this week.

We'll be safe keep praying and have faith that things are going to work out for the best. I love you all and I pray for every single one of you every day. Keep being un faro en el oscuro! (light in the darkness)

con amor

Hermana Barker