I honestly can't wait to see your faces on Sunday!! (Rachel gets to skype with us for mother's day). Yesterday we were at a member's house and her son who is on a mission called! She started crying and I almost cried too. I just imagined hearing your voices again! I can't wait! Also FELIZ DIA DE LA MADRE to all the moms out there...especially wonder woman aka Heidi Barker!! Yesterday was mother's day in Spain. Let me tell you, it was an emotional day. In Relief Society the lesson was about families. Hermana Oli who was teaching asked me to share a story about you mom. I couldn't even get a word out. I choked on my tears. Hermana Carolina, my favorite woman ever!, just hugged me and gave me a kiss and said she can only picture how great of a mom my mom is because of how great of a girl I am. I love you mom!! Just know that this week I will be thinking about you every day. You are amazing and you have made me who I am today (with the help of dad of course). Thank you for always supporting me and loving me even with my flaws.
Enough about you mom, It's my turn! I'm so glad you got to see Tiffany Van Berklom...who would have thought that I actually miss her...BROMA (that means joke)! I miss her mucho and I'm jealous that she got to have dinner with my family! That's crazy about the Oakland mission ( the missionaries in Danville, California will no longer knock on people's doors uninvited). That's going to be so hard for the missionaries, but so good for the members! You better believe I am going to help the missionaries so much when I get home. I want to be that member of the ward that the missionaries write home about. I hope they find success this way though. And I love what you do with my blog mom. You are spreading the word and letting me do missionary work for my friends and family back home as well as here in Spain. Thank you mom.
As for us this week, it was a good week of fun. We went to Monserrat again with Hermana Oli for her birthday. It was super nice to just relax and look at all that God has given us. The mountains here are so peaceful and make me grateful for what I have and the beautiful earth that we have been given.
Later in the week, we were teaching our muslim mom (Dhakvia) how to speak Spanish. She is so cute. She always cooks us a ton of food. And they have the best herbal tea I have ever had in my entire life. Anyway, her daughter was here from France and she asked if we wanted Henna tattoos....so we let her do a henna tattoo. I got a real henna with real paint and a real muslim woman...another cultural experience for the books I think!
Also a fun story from the week: we were at Hermana Oli's house for lunch yesterday. her dad (Yayo...that's abuelo in Spain) isn't a member of our church, but he loves the missionaries. Yesterday, I was waiting for Oli to finish doing something so she could drive us back home and I was talking to Yayo. I was asking him about all the missionaries that have passed by and he was telling me story after story. He was telling me about all the missionaries that made big impacts on him and who were his favorites from the past. After he told me a story, he paused and looked at me. He then said, "You know what, in 10 years when another missionary comes to my house and asked about my preferred missionaries, you better believe that I am going to talk about Hermana Raquelin Barker". He had a big smile on his face and it touched me a lot! He calls me Raquelin because I'm little and I guess that's the way to say Raquel for little girls. It was so cute though. I told him the day he finally gets baptized, I better get an invite. He just laughed and went back to smoking his cigarette.
Although the number of baptisms we see here in Spain isn't huge, I feel like I have touched people and made memories and relationships that will go far beyond this life. I am grateful every day for the little testimony builders that happen in my life. I am grateful for the knowledge i have the the Lord loves me and I truly believe that He places people in our lives for a reason. I know all the people I have met here on my mission have changed my life and hopefully I have changed theirs. I love the people of Spain!
I hope you all have a great week and are as excited as I am to see your faces and to talk to you all!! I love you all and hope you have a great mother's day mom! I hope you all remember that you are important no matter what passes in life. I know that families are forever and that God gave us families so we would always have a support group. I am so grateful for the family I have and every day I am more aware of how blessed I truly am. Thank you for everyone who is in my life and has impacted me in one way or another. Keep letting your light shine and being a FARO (lighthouse) to the world!
MUCHO AMOR,
Hermana Barker
ps I'm pretty sure I'm getting transferred so don't send any more letters to this address. Use the mission address or wait till I get my new one. Thanks!
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