Little Miracles Here and There .........

Week #16

I JUST LOVE YOUR EMAILS!!! The pictures literally make me so happy! The one with the Sunbeams made me tear up a little bit! Thank you for that mom! 

I took a picture of Rachel's primary class this past Sunday.
They are holding her Missionary Plaque.

Also dads birthday looked like a hit. The 50 sign was so cool! That was a great idea! I hope everyone had fun! I can't believe my dad is so old now :)  Just kidding dad, you're still so young.

 Also, I loved the picture in front of the tree. It's beautiful! Christmas is coming so soon. 

1st Christmas tree sighting, Nov. 11th, 2013
Stanford Shopping Center
Couldn't resist taking a picture.

We're already planning for baptisms in December...that is if we get any. We have to plan two weeks ahead for the date because investigators have to come to church at least twice. So the next baptism date for new investigators is now in December! I honestly can't believe its already December. The time is flying by! We have a little christmas tree in our piso...of course...  (Like father, like daughter.  Rons favorite holiday is Christmas. There have been many road trips in July with Christmas music blasting from the speakers)

(Merry Christmas con Amor, Hermana Barker Y Walker)

We found this Christmas tree under my bed!

Mom to answer your questions...if there's any way to hold out shipping your package until next Monday, I will know if I will be staying or not. We find out about transfers on sunday night. Most likely I am staying, but there's always a chance that could change. If you need to send it this week though, i would say send it to the mission home just to be safe. also, if you haven't sealed the box yet, could you possibly throw some floss in there? Weird request I know, but the floss here is the worst thing I've ever seen!  I would just love some nice floss.

We don't really have thanksgiving here, but we might be going to the Wardells. She is the lady you met through the mission moms page. She really is the best! She is so awesome and loves having us over...or at least we think she does. It's hard though because they now have sisters in their ward, so she is supposed to invite them over instead. 

 I had to send a picture of the "poop" that is all over the streets in this city.  It smells so bad here in Orriols.

I wish pictures had a smell!

This is a hallway in an apartment complex that we went to.
As we walked in we saw "gypsies" trying to break into an
apartment that had a chain on the door.
"Gypsies" are everywhere.  You have to be careful that
they don't rob you.  Crazy!      

Well this week is the same as always. Little miracles here and there, Lots of turn downs on the metros, and great members! A little miracle that we witnessed this week is named Delfina. There is this little old woman named Antonia who can't come to church because she can't walk very well. We go visit her often becasue she loves to sing hymns with us. So this week we went to visit her. The problem was, no one was answering the outside door. Side note: the pisos work like this. There is one main door and you have to ring the door you want and they have to open the main door. So anyway, no one was answering the main door. we pushed the door and it happened to be opened. when we walked in, Antonia was sitting on the stairs outside of her piso (more like slouching against a wall in a ball). We asked her what happend and she said she forgot her keys and the lady that takes care of her wasn't home. So we decided to sit and sing with her on the stairs. We sang Christmas songs and hymns with her. Then we called the lady that takes care of her and she said she was going to send someone over to pick her up. So after about 3 songs, Delfina walked in. She asked if we would sing one more song with her. We then shared a little message and left our name and got her name and number. She said she would love if we could come sing at her house sometime because she liked the way that our songs made her feel. Who knows what is going to happen with Delfina, but we saw a small miracle just from the hymns and helping someone in need. It was amazing.

So now for a funny story....We have a lot of Nigerian people that we work with. The problem is, they don't always understand or retain the information we give them. There is this one however named Wisdom. Wisdom is the best. He teaches the English Gospel Principles class for all the Nigerians. Anyway, we met with him this week to help him with his lesson. His lesson was about family history and genealogy. He starts of by telling us, "I am supposed to teach about family history and gynocology..." Hermana Walker and I almost lost it!!! He said gynocology about 15 more times throughout our lesson and we didnt know how to correct him! We just hope he didn't say it during his lesson on Sunday! It was hilarious though! It definitely made us laugh so hard after!  (I cant believe they didn't correct him.)

Well its finally starting to get cold here. I love it all.  I love everything about the mission. Slowly things are happening. I can't believe it has already been almost 4 months. The time really does fly here. I hope you are all having as much fun as we are having. The old men here are the nicest. They always kiss our hands and call us guapas, so dont worry, my self esteem is still good haha. We did get called Amish again today but thats ok. It makes for a good laugh. We also went to a flee market today. They are everywhere and they are the best!!!

Hermana Barker Y Nakken.  Hermana Nakken
serves in Ward 3

Well I love you all! I think abou you all every day! I hope you are doing well and loving life and making the best of every situation. Remember, there are no ordinary situations or ordinary people!  

Con amor,  Hermana Barker

Herman Barker Y Hermana Walker working hard.

Traditional Spanish Attire

Dad 'm so gald you got my package! I didn´t know what to get you for your birthday and I found it and thought of you. Also it was cheap to send so that was a plus! Im glad you liked my letter. I'm sorry it took me 21 years to actually talk to you and write you. I'm sorry that I'm a girl and I let it get the best of me hah. But I really am grateful for all you have done for me. I hope your surprise party was the best ever! 

Don't worry about me. I'm doing great. We have a few investigators every now and then. Usually they just don´t progress, or they just kindof disappear. I am teaching though and we are having a good time doing it. I'm still learning every day. I promise I am doing well though so don't worry about me. I'm getting my spiritual fill, and I am helping people. I know I havent had much sucess in terms of baptisms or investigators, but im having a lot of success in terms of learning and helping and growing. We are having a lot of chances to serve and make the relationship between members and missionaries strong for the next group of missionaries in this area. I love my mission so don't worry :)

Love you dad! I pray about you every day and you're always in my heart. Our picture is on my wall that I look at every morning while I study. Thanks for your email answering my questions. There will definitely be more coming. I am learning a lot I never knew before...so I hope you're ready. By the way, your spanish was awesome! Bien hecho por un hombre viejo. :) 

te amo! 

hermana barker