Sant Jordi .......

WEEK #39

It's almost May??? Where is the time going? Seriously, I feel like I've only been here for 3 months. It's crazy how fast time is moving now. I only have 2 more weeks of this transfer and then I think I'm heading to another city. We will see though. I'm excited and sad to leave, but anything can happen so I guess I'll just have to be patient.  

I can't believe Court is already done with freshman year pretty much! What the heck?? Stop growing up please because I want to be a part of your high school experience and don't even get me started on Taylor that she's going to be a senior!!! I can't even imagine that! Time just needs to freeze back in California for a little bit haha. I just am trying to make the best of my time here while I have the chance. This week was a full week of fun activities and lots of lessons. 

Let's see, first of all I got the package (Easter package) and let's just say that the Peeps were a huge hit!  The Spaniard missionaries loved them! Don't worry, of course I didn't share all of them. I saved plenty for myself. Every time I eat American chocolate, I try to savor it because it's sooo good. We had a good Easter. On Monday we went to Carolina's house (she is a woman from the ward who pretty much is my adopted family of Spain). They let us look for eggs with the kids and we ate a lot of chocolate. It was fun. 

Also mom, we have shared that "Because of Him" video that you put on the blog, with so many people. I love it! It's so short, but so powerful! The people here really like it as well. 

Also this week was Sant Jordi (St. Georges Day in Barcelona) . It's like the Valentine's Day of Catalonia. Apparently Sant Jordi was a warrior who slew a dragon. The blood of the dragon formed a rose and Sant Jordi gave it to the princess. In return the princess wrote the story of Sant Jordi and gave him the book. Now for Sant Jordi, the men give women a rose and the women give the men a book. There were little rose and book stands all over the place that day. It was so cute. I picked a rose off a bush and gave it to Hermana Tyler haah. It's better than buying it?

We also went to a zumba class that the missionaries of Hospitalet do every week. We took Angie and Natalia. They are investigators of the Elders, but we are super close to them as well. It was so fun. Afterwards we stayed for a baptism. One of the Elders asked me to play piano...ew ahha. President Pace showed up though and walked over to me and said, "hiding your talents under a bushel? That's no good" and then he just laughed. I better not have to play at any conference or anything now.

On Saturday we had a primary activity and we took Michelle and Anahi (the daughters of Eva our investigator). They loved it! They had so much fun. It was an activity for parents and children, so we acted as their parents. I think that the conversion of Eva is going to start with her children. Anahi is a great example to her mom. It might just have to start with an 8 year old for the mom to accept the truth. I love those little girls though.

The young women had New Beginnings on Sunday and it made me so homesick!! They did the part where the parents go up and talk about their daughters and almost every one of the dads cried...I missed you both a lot at that moment! There was a girl whose parents aren't members so her aunt came. It made me grateful that I have strong parents in the gospel to love and support me! thank you!!

We did get some bad news this week though. Ray had to go out of town for a conference or something and won't be back until after transfers! That means he can't be baptized on the 10th anymore and I probably won't be here for his baptism. It's ok though as long as he gets baptized. 

Not much else is going on. It's finally warm here and it's beautiful! Hopefully that means that we will be able to find more people because everyone here comes out when it's warm. One of the coolest things about Spain is that they have parks everywhere!! After school, everyone is out and playing with their kids. Hopefully we can talk to a lot of people and find the ones who are prepared. 

Have a great week and I can't wait to talk to you in 2 weeks (Mother's Day)!! I don't know details yet, but of course I'll let you know. What time is your church, just in case I get to call on that Sunday?

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Hermana Barker

ps: tell Jessie congratulations for me and Mikey as well! That's so awesome!

So here in the Barcelona mission they have a tradition of celebrating the 9 month mark!

It looks like I beat you Kel!

HALFWAY .......

WEEK #38

 HALFWAY!!!!!

Can you believe that I'm already halfway in my mission!?? The time has gone sooo fast and they say it only goes faster from here! That means I'm going to be home in no time! These last two transfers combined have gone faster than my first transfer alone. The time just seems to be speeding up every day. It's crazy! It's good and bad. I mean I'm obviously not ready to leave yet, but I miss all of you mucho!

That's cool you got to see Les Mis. It's playing here in Barcelona as well. I wish we could go see it. Hopefully you liked it though. and mom I'm so jealous that you made home made rolls. I miss American food!! This week we had paella with seafood....ITS SO WEIRD! The gambas (shrimp) are huge! You have to peel them and pull off the legs and clean out the...poop! It's a little gross. There are also squid rings and sticks.  Not sure its ever going to be my favorite. Don't worry though, I'll make sure you get to try it when you come :) haha. 

I hope you all had a great Easter.  Mine was super quiet as well. Here it's not celebrated as much. Yesterday no one did anything. Today they celebrate it more...idk why but then again I don't know why Spain does a lot of things the way they do. Today we are going to Carolina's  house (the cook for the mission home) to hunt for eggs and eat. She is awesome and her family is amazing as well. We are definitely coming here when you all get here in January.  Carolina and I have already made plans. Last night the four of us (the elders and me and my companion) went around and did an "Easter drop". We made oreo balls and put a scripture on them and dropped them off at investigators houses and members and all the rest. It was fun and the people really enjoyed it. 

I'm glad to hear that you still decorated Easter eggs...that will never die no matter how old we are getting!! That's awesome that you all sang in church. I wish iIcould have been there to hear it. And that's hilarious that Tay had to point out the words. Don't worry mom, you can't be perfect every time!! I have had my share of singing in the mission. I definitely didn't think I would sing as much as I do. But its nice to get to share my testimony that way. 

As for this week...it was a good one. We started out by going to Montserrat. It is apparently a very well known mountain here in Catalunya (aka Barcelona area). There is a monastery and places to hike and look over all of everything. It was beautiful. We had Godson, our investigator come with us and a bunch of members. The hikes here are amazing! I love all the castles and churches and things that are up in the mountains...too bad America is a little boring in that sense. It was beautiful and reminded me of how lucky we are to have such beautiful things in our lives. It also reminded me that even though we are just a speck of dust in this huge world, our Heavenly Father knows and loves us no matter what. He knows our strengths and weakness and will never let us down as long as we show Him that we will remember Him even while we live in this huge world. It was a testimony builder of God that I will never forget.

Also this week, we were able to set a fecha (an appointment) with Ray.  Ray is the 20 year old whose dad is a member. He is amazing. He has such a desire to learn and to grow. His only problem now is he needs to come to church. But we are hoping to help him reach his goal to be baptized in May. Keep him in your prayers. 

We also got to spend a lot of time with Eva, Michelle, and Anahi. They are soooo cute!! we had a picnic with them and then played games outside with some kids from the ward. We played for like 4 hours! We were pooped after that's for sure. Yesterday, Eva the mom couldn't come to church because she worked, but Anahi (the 8 year old) came with us and loved it. She is going to the primary activity this week and wants to come to church again with us next week. It's amazing how sometimes the work starts with the youngest one in the family. Hopefully Anahi can help her family come closer to God as well. She is such an example for her sister and family. She so awesome. 

I am so grateful for this chance I have to be on a mission. I never realized how much it would change my life. My perspective on so many things has changed for the better. I am much stronger and I know who I am and what I want in life. It's amazing to see changes people make in their lives once they find God and Christ. To be able to help people find joy in the journey of life is the greatest blessing I will ever have in my life. Of course there are hard times, but life wasn't meant to be easy. The hard times are only to make us stronger. I hope you all had a chance this week to reflect on Christ and think about the things He has done for all of us. I hope you all can feel His love and hand in your life every day. Remember that you all are children of God and he is watching out for you in every aspect of life. I love you all and so does He. 

Have a great week and enjoy life!!

Con amor

Hermana Barker

HAPPY PASCUAL .......

WEEK #37

Happy Pascua!!

I know that it's a week early, but if I don't say happy Easter now I will forget, so FELIZ PASCUA!!! It's super weird though because here in Spain, Easter really isn't that big of a holiday for people who aren't Catholic. We had an easter egg hunt though the other day for noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) in our ward. It was really fun and we shared a clip of the Resurrection of Christ after. They all loved it.

As for you all, sounds like you are just having the time of your lives!!! The beach and grandparents and `parties and Nashville!! Thanks for waiting until I leave to do all the fun things!! I know it's cheaper with less kids, but please! Save some good things for me! I'm glad though that the party was fun! I hope that Grandpa Flenniken had a great time. He looks great!! Still looking young and happy!! Everyone is amazed when I tell them I have a grandpa who is 100 years old! They don't believe me! It's awesome!

Ron's grandfather Thomas Flenniken turned 100 years old on April 10th.
He writes letters to Rachel in Spanish.

Also sorry dad I didn't really respond last week. I was a little bit out of it. But your hair is super short! It looks like an army guy! I like it, and mom you look HOT!! Keep working hard. Of course Kel and Court look good too don't worry. But dad I really do like the short hair.

I'm still always shocked at how many people are out in the mission world right now. (There are 83,035 missionaries serving all over the world as of April 1st, 2014).  I'm glad that Miranda is doing well and Bracken and Josh and Jake. I read about Grant being a  district leader! That's awesome! The force is strong right now!  I'm honored to be in the field with people like them. I'm glad as well that they are all seeing success! It's crazy how fast everyone is going to be home though. I'm going to be home sooner than you know it. In a week I hit my halfway! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!??? I seriously can't! I can't believe 9 months is already come and gone. The time is just going to fly now. Also random note,  there are no new girls coming into the mission until JULY! 

As for me I'm doing better. I still have a little bit of a cough, but I have medicine and poco a poco (little by little) it's getting better. My strength is back though and I'm working hard again. Speaking of working hard, I think I told you about Rai. He is an investigator who seriously is amazing! We had the most amazing lesson with him the other day. He is so prepared. He just needs to come to church. I know though that he will be baptized one day. He is incredible. The spirit was so strong at his lesson. I couldn't help but smile like a fat kid at a candy store. Get this...the day we contacted him, his dad had told him that he needed to talk to the missionaries. Also, the morning we found him, he had decided to walk a different way home than normal. He told us he never takes the way he did that morning, but for some reason he felt he needed to take that route. If he hadn't followed that feeling (the spirit!!!), we would have never found him. It is incredible what the Lord can do if someone is prepared to hear the gospel.

Also, we hiked up to a super old castle here in Martorell last week. It's super small, but it was realy cool to see. The history in Spain is amazing. 

Tomorrow we are going to Monserrat. It's a mountain here that has a Monastery and castles and a town and everything. It's super popular here in Catalunya.  Mom and dad get ready to meet the people here in Martorell and eat a ton of food. We already have plans with certain families to come back and see them! 

I just want you all to know that I know that Christ lives. I hope you all can take the time to remember this weekend the things that Christ did for us. I am so grateful to have this chance to help others have the happiness that I have because of this gospel and my faith. I know the Lord knows and loves every single one of you and with His help, anything is possible. Never forget that His hand is always extended towards us. We just need to be humble enough to reach out for it. He is our Lord and Savior and He died and was resurrected so that one day we can live with Him and our Father once again. I love you all and hope that you have an amazing Easter with lots of love and CHOCOLATE!!!  (Because of Him video)

Con Mucho Amor,

Hermana Barker

(Go to Mormonchannel.org to view more videos on the life of Jesus Christ)

a few more photos:

There was a Taco Bell!  Of course I couldn't pass that up.

These characters were at a child's bday party.

A cemetery out side of Barcelona.

I HAVE HAD SUCH A TESTIMONY BUILDING OF PERSONAL REVELATION .........

WEEK #36

Hello again family,

I am doing better. I have been trying to rest a little more. Some days are better than others, but it's what it is right? Nothing I can't handle. Mom taught me to suck it up and don't go to the doctor until I'm dying...hehe love ya mom! It was a little bit of a slow week, but everyone is taking good care of me. 

The house looks beautiful. I'm not going to even recognize it when I get home if you keep changing everything! Feel free to change the colors of the bunk bed room though :) I wouldn't mind that. And I'm glad you all enjoyed conference. It really means so much more to me now. I have had such a testimony building of personal revelation. I recieved so many answers both personally and for the people here. It's amazing what we can learn. The only problem was that my head was pounding so I didn't hear all of every piece. We don't get to see the Sunday afternoon session because it starts at 10pm here. We see the other sessions live, but we are a session behind you all. The sister conference was so great though. I loved the video clips that they showed. Super powerful. We also had to watch one session in Spanish. It's not too bad because I can understand it all, but it's just not as powerful because I am concentrating on the translation. It's ok though. It was a good experience. We had two investigators come to conference and it was 45 minuts away! That's true faith on their part. 

As for this last month, March was a little slow in terms of work. All of our investigators decided to go out of town at the same time. This week though, was a week of miracles. Jackeline (the one from brazil) called and said she was back in town and would love to feed us dinner. We went over the other day and she is sooooo prepared for this message! She is amazing. The funny thing was we walked in to her new piso and there wre alcohol bottles EVERYWHERE!!! Hermana Tylers face was like OH MY GOSH WHAT DO WE DO!  I could tell though that they were super expensive looking and still in their boxes. I told Hermana Tyler that I think she collects them. Anyway, she was giving us a tour of her piso and she said, "By they way, don't freak out. I don't drink. I just collect them. It was a hobby of mine and my husband" (her husband passed away about 3 months ago). Hermana Tylers face was just like, thank goodness. It was funny. 

Anyway, we ate with her and just caught up with her. Before we left she just looked at me and said thank you. I didn't really understand so I asked for what. She said that right before she left we had dropped off a little goody bag for her trip and I had said something that really touched her. At that time she was looking for a piso and she really didn't have much. I had told her that the Lord was watching out for her and that she would find a piso and a job and her family would be ok. To be honest I dont even remember saying that. She told me now that she has a piso and a job she finally has hope again that life will be ok. She told me because of what I had said, she was able to travel without worry and she knew the Lord was wathcing over her with her husband to make sure she was safe. It was a very spiritual moment and one I will never forget. 

As for the rest of the week, not much happened. We are slowly seeing people come out of the woodwork and the work is growing again. I have been a little boring this week so I feel a little bad for my companion. Hopefully though I am finally getting over my sickness and I will have my full strength back. I am so glad to hear you are all doing well. I wish I could come along to Grandpas birthday!! (Ron's Grandfather is turning 100 years old on April 10th).  I hope Tay has fun in Nashville! That sounds so cool. She still hasn't told me about prom or anything! I dont know anything that's going on with her...so mysterious...so teen :). Well, love you all and hope you all have a great week. Travel safe and give all the family my love!!

Also tell Brynne congrats on her call! Thats so awesome! She is going to love it!! Go Alamo Sisters!!! 

Con amor,

Hermana Barker

STAY STRONG AND KEEP BEING YOU .....

WEEK #35
OH MY GOSH THAT ANNOUNCEMENT (Facebook announcement)!!! You are just so crafty and cute aren't you Kelli?! That's really so cute though and I'm soooooooo excited for you. I tell everyone here that you are going to have a baby. So the Spaniards knew that I was going to be an aunt before the Americans hehe. I hope you're feeling better though.

As for me there are good days and bad days with my health. I am going to the office today to talk to one of the women about what medicine I need to get. It just keeps changing. One day is a cough the next is the stomach and the next is a fever. This week may be a week in piso to rest and get better. hopefully it all passes soon though.

TAY!!! congrats on chambers!! You're going to love it! It's super fun. I miss choir... Don't tell anyone I said that though hah. Chambers really was so fun though. Congratulations T! I knew you would make it.

I hope you all had a good time with grandma. I wish I could have been there for the girls night! We have the General Women's Conference this Saturday before the main session. Our sessions are one session behind so when you are watching the afternoon session we are still watching the morning session. We don't get to see the Sunday afternoon session unless we watch it online a different day. The only downside of conference is it's broadcast from the stake center which is about 45 minutes from Martorell. The problem with that is that a lot of people can't afford to get there so a lot of investigators and members wo'nt be able to come. Hopefully some of our investigators will be able to make it though. I am super excited for conference. It just means so much more to me now then it ever did. Pay attention all  of you, ok?  That's my missionary advice for the week.

To view both conferences,  or to learn more about them,click the links below:

General Women's Conference

General Conference 

This week has flown by. The time really is flying so fast. Hermana Tyler and I are staying together in Martorell for one more transfer. That's a good thing. We have found our flow. . There weren't very many changes this transfer to the mission. No new sisters came in this transfer. Super weird, but that's how it is I guess. I know the summer is going to be big transfers with lots of new missionaries coming inl. Summer will be a fun time in the mission. 

This week we had district meeting at a bridge called the Puente del Diablo. It's the only thing that Martorell is known for. The story goes that the devil made a deal with an old woman that he would build a bridge for her to get water if one person would sacrifice their soul to the devil. The devil said the first person to cross the new bridge would be the sacrifice. So after the bridge was finished, the old woman went to cross the bridge with a basket. The devil thought that she was going to be the sacrifice. Just before she crossed the bridge, she pulled a cat out of the basket and it crossed first. So the devil got the soul of the cat and now it's safe to cross the bridge. Elder Moreno, my district leader, likened this bridge to the gospel. The devil is always around the corner waiting for us to make a mistake. If we have the gospel though, like the cat, we are safe from the temptations of the devil. Also the bridge was like the door of baptism. It was a super good lesson and very interesting to listen to. Elder Moreno is a really good district leader. 

Also this week we met with a new investigator named Rai. He is from Ecuador and his dad is a member but lives in Miami. He promised his dad that if missionaries ever stopped to talk to him that he would listen to what they had to say. So we contacted him one day and now we are meeting with him. He is 21 years old and believes there is something out there but isn't sure what. He has had a lot of trials in his life and it's hard for him to find his faith. He is so real and so honest though. I know that he will find his faith again. He is one of those people who is prepared to hear this gospel.

Also one more miracle was that Lucresia, a menos activo of about 2 years.  She  finally came to church. We try to meet with her all the time, but she always gives us excuses not to come. The other day though, we had a great lesson with her and she finally came back to church. Now she has made the goal to go through the temple soon. It's amazing how people change just from one time of feeling the spirit again. 

Other than that, this week has just been contacting and finding new people. It got really cold again this week, but we are hoping spring is somewhere around the corner! I still love this work. I just hope I get over whatever this is so that I can work harder. It's not fun to try to teach when my head is so foggy. It's ok though I'm strong.  Nothing I can't handle. Speaking of health. How are you feeling mom?? Are you feeling better? Have you heard anything about whats going on? I hope you're getting strength back.

And of course the most important thing this week .....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BESTEST MOM IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND AM THE PERSON I AM TODAY BECAUSE OF YOU. Thank you for everything you have done for me. You should be getting a little something in the mail soon. I hope you don't think I forgot. I wasn't sure if it was better early or late, so I'm saying it late haha. I hope you were spoiled and had the best birthday!!

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA BOB!! You also should be getting a little something in the mail. I hope you are doing well and all is good with the family. Know That you are in my thoughts and prayers always!

Love you all so much. I hope this week brings lots of happiness and smiles!!! Stay strong and keep being you!

Con mucho amor

Hermana Barker