Week 6: Diamonds not Coral

June 14, 2016

Hey everyone! 

Guess what! Today is my last week at the MTC!! I leave tomorrow morning in the early AM of 3:50. Should be joyous fun. 

The last couple days have been rough for me as I have been saying goodbye too and watching my district leave and saying goodbye to my teachers. Some of the hardest things I think I have done since I have been here. I have really come to love each and everyone one of them with each of their little quirks. But I know we are here to do the Lords work and there will be time later to catch up. 

I am so excited to get to Oregon and meet my mission president and my companion. I have been praying to have a companion that will help me the most (yes, I know that can be a risky thing to ask for, but I know in the long run it will be worth it). 

So funny experience for this week: Since my companion Hna Oliphant was leaving Monday morning she had to wash her laundry on Saturday, plus we still had class on top of that and so needless to say she had a million things going through her head and she was stressed. So as we were sitting there and she was emailing and I was studying, I looked up and happened to notice that her clothes were in the dryer and not the washer. 

"Uh Hermana... Your clothes are in the dryer, not the washer."

"Well isn't that just great. If I were a coral, I'd be dead."

"Well it’s a good thing you are coal then because that means you’re in the works of becoming a diamond"

With only 3 minutes left on the cycle she just let it finish and then opened it and had a lot of powdered detergent fly into her face. And of course I couldn't stop laughing. So from that experience we now have the term "I am on the struggle bus today." (Also for those that may not know when corals get under stress they die, and when coal is under stress it becomes a diamond).

We also had the opportunity to hear from Elder Bednar this week. It was a really good talk about how God knows us one by one and how as missionaries we need to be teaching our investigators and getting to know them one by one because they are more than just a number on the list. Heavenly Father cares about us one by one, which means that we should do the same.

Also the song by him that we sang called "One by One" will also be aired in the New Era this coming month and there might be a video of it as well, so if there is go and look for me!  

I hope you are all doing well! I would love to hear from you! 

Thank you so much for the support and prayers.

I love you all! 

Love,

Your Sister Rebecca Barnes 

Pictures:

1. Look who I ran into! Elder Bob Holbrook

2. Scooping ice cream out with a plastic bag, because why not?

3.Saying goodbye to Hermano Santillan 

4.Goodbyes with Hermano Hood

5. Packing ft. Hermana Grover

6. Goodbyes with Hermano Franco

Itineraries and Bouncy Balls

June 7, 2016

Hey everyone!! 

Well here I am and another week has come and gone. Time is really a crazy thing, but I am loving (almost) every minute of it. I now only have a week left in the MTC and I am so excited. I am ready to get out to the field and serve. 

So we all received our itineraries on Friday. It was a bitter sweet moment. It was great to know the time to get out of here is almost upon us, but the realization that we are all going to be separated hit us. My district has become family to me over the past 6 weeks, and it's going to be hard to go our separate ways.

Also I will be the last one out of here. Everyone leaves either Monday or Tuesday next week except for me, I don't leave until Wednesday. Which isn't really all that bad since Tuesday is Pday and I will have all day to pack and get ready.

So we finished teaching our investigator, Diana, on Friday. We didn't realize it was our last time so we didn't get to say goodbye or anything which was really sad. She was such a sweetheart. She is starting to go to church with one of our teachers though, so hopefully she will continue to go.

Teaching at the MTC is interesting because you really don't do much. They just give you a paper each week telling you who, where, and when you will be teaching and then you just show up. 

So the Elders in my district found bouncy balls and have been going crazy with them. They have started playing this new game where they go in one of the small 7x5 rooms, shut the door, turn off the lights and start throwing 4 balls against the walls as hard as they can. Needless to say they have come out with many welts haha. 

Oh so exciting news!! Elder Bednar is coming to speak to us tonight and I am singing in the choir and we are singing the song he wrote which is so cool! I am super excited! 

Well this is all I have for this week! The MTC is just so routine that it doesn't really leave room for anything too exciting. But next week! 

I hope you all have a fantastic week! And thank you all so much for the letters, emails, packages, love, and prayers! 

Love,

Your Sister Rebecca Lynn Barnes 

1. Last district temple trip

2. New Zealand friends

3. Travel Itinerary! 

4. My wonderful Spanish teachers Hermano Hood (left) and Hermano Santillan (Right)

FBI, Spanish, and Blessings

May 31, 2016 

Hey Everyone! 

So this week has been a good one. It's crazy how fast this week has gone by. Well the whole last month actually. I can now say I have 17 months left not 18 which is the strangest thing. It's weird to know I only have 2 weeks left in the MTC (Missionary Training Center), however, I am very excited to get out to the field. 

My Spanish is coming along nicely I think, although I defiantly am a gringo haha. Also I am a little overwhelmed about going into the field because the other day our teacher, Hermano Santillan, FaceTimed one of his investigators from Chile that got baptized (keep in mind that Chilean's speak extremely fast compared to most Spanish speakers), and WOW. I could not understand one thing that sister said. It was slightly terrifying.

Apparently the FBI have been trying to get the MTC to "share their secrets" on how they teach us languages so fast, but there is really nothing we can do to help with that because the only secret is that we have God on our side helping us. 

So nothing super eventful happened this week except that Elder Dale G. Renlund from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and spoke to us last week on Tuesday. It was an awesome talk about developing faith in Jesus Christ and in His Atonement.

Awesome Quote: "Faith isn't by chance, it's by choice."

Also I am in the MTC Choir and we are premiering a new song next week written by Elder David A. Bednar called One By One, and we are singing it with 5 of his adorable grandchildren. 

Thank you all so much for the love, prayers and support. I really appreciate it. 

I hope y'all have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Your Sister Rebecca Lynn Barnes 

Sleep talking and the Power of the Spirit

May 24, 2016

Hey y'all! 

So this week has been pretty great! My head is finally doing better (Thank Goodness!), and so classes and teaching has gone a LOT better this week.

I am finally getting Spanish down. It has definitely not been easy but it is getting better, I no longer feel like I have 2 fire hydrants down my throat, it's more like 1 now haha. 

So I'm sure your all wondering what I mean by sleep talking. Haha thankfully it's not about me, but it's still worth sharing. So the other night Hermana Grover (a sister in my residence) and I were almost asleep and the other 2 Hermanas were asleep, and all of a sudden my Hermana, Hermana Oliphant flipped over in bed and yelled "BOO!" at the top of her lungs, and then it was dead silent for a second and Hermana Gover and I busted up laughing and the other Hermanas awoke, also laughing. Long story short, Hermana Oliphant thought that Hermana Grover was coming over to talk to her (this was in her dreams) and she thought it would be funny to scare the pants off of her, so she flipped over and yelled boo and woke herself and the rest of the dorm up. Needless to say we were up a little late that night laughing.

So the MTC food is still not the grandest, however we do have connections so we got to have some cookies n' cream milk shakes the other day which were fabulous! 

So to finish off, yesterday my companion and I met with our investigator, Diana. She is such a sweetheart, we started teaching her last week, which is crazy because it feels so much longer. But yesterday when we went and taught her we were talking to her about the Book of Mormon and she asked us what our favorite stories are in the Book of Mormon and my companion felt prompted to share the story of Nephi getting the brass plates, which is kind of a strange one to share because she told her that Nephi cut of Laban's head and she said that she doesn't think that God would help man kill another man, and then I had a scripture pop into my head 1 Nephi 4:13 which talks about how God would rather one man die instead of a whole Nation parish and we related it to Noah's ark, and the spirit was just so strong, it was incredible. She also prayed for us and we committed her to pray about being baptized, so that was pretty cool. It was a great lesson.

So unfortunately, no Jeffrey R. Holland yet, but we are expecting him soon, so hopefully it will be within the next 3 weeks! 

I hope you are all having a fantastic week! I love and miss you all so much! I'd love to hear from you! 

Love,

Your Sister Rebecca Lynn Barnes 

1.MTC President and his wife

2. Tie signed by David Archuleta- MTC Spanish pass around tie

3. Zone leaders last day at MTC

So volleyballs....

May 17, 2016

Hey Ya'll! 

So this week has been pretty eventful. Last week on Monday I got hit in the face with a volleyball and I didn't really think anything of it because it isn't really uncommon with me haha, but Tuesday night I started to feel sick and Wednesday was even worse. Turns out I got a concussion! 

So that's been great. Class has been basically nonexistent for me which is not good. But by some miracle I have still been able to function enough to speak enough Spanish to help with the lessons. The spirit is seriously an amazing thing.

Most of this last week has been a bit of a blur because of my concussion, but turns out our first investigator is actually our second teacher, so that was a fun and slightly intimidating surprise. 

Even with my concussion, it is crazy how much I have learned with both Spanish and the gospel. 

I am having so much fun here and I love all the people around me. I think the fact that we all have the same goal in mind really helps. 

So I am really excited because Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (who is my favorite Apostle and speaker) is apparently due to be speaking here at the MTC this month!!!!! I am for real freaking out. So ya'll could be getting an excited email next week if he speaks tonight. I am hoping and praying we get to hear from him while we are here, he has such an amazing testimony and has helped me strengthen my own testimony and faith. 

So next week the district above me in my zone will be leaving, which makes me really sad. That also means that my district will be the oldest district here in our zone, which is kind of terrifying to think about. It seems like we just got here, but really we have been here for 2 weeks. Time flies. The days are excruciatingly long and the weeks are extremely short. Not sure that really makes sense but it is defiantly true. 

Well I'm sorry for a short letter but being on the computer to long is hurting my head. I love you all! 

Oh and if anyone wants to send me letters here at the MTC you can send them through Dear Elder.com and they will print them off and put them in my box. Free of charge to you! I would love you hear from you! My address for the MTC is down below! If you send me a letter, I will try to get back to you whether through email next week or through snail mail. 

Thank you all for your love and support! Please keep my bruised brain in your prayers! 

Love,

Your Sister Rebecca Lynn Barnes 

Week 1 at the MTC

May 10, 2016

​Hey everyone! 

I want to start out by saying happy mother's day to all you mother’s out there! You are amazing and I hope you know how much of an incredible example you are to your children! 

Anyways, this week has been incredible! I can't believe it has already been a week since I've gotten here. We have been CRAZY busy. We have been going all day from 6:30am-10:30pm with our only breaks being at meal times. It is starting to calm down a bit, but WOW I am exhausted. 

Learning a new language has been like having 2 fire hoses down my throat at full pressure. It is crazy how much I have learned though. I am starting to be able to speak in full sentences without too many issues. We have had 3 lessons with our first investigator already and it has been incredible. The gift of tongues is real. 

So my companions name is Hermana Oliphant. She is incredible. I love her so much.

(Left) Elder Ducher, Hermana Oliphant, Hermana Barnes, Hermana
Peery, Hermana Grover. (Right, front) Elder Stolk, Elder Cluff,
Elder Berrett, Elder Christiansen

We share a room with 2 other hermanas in our district as well and they are awesome too. I love my district. They are the best. The other day we were all feeling really worn down and so the elders in our district took turns giving us all blessings and it was amazing. The power of the priesthood is real. It helped us to be calm, at peace and to be able to focus. I am so grateful to have been able to be raised with the priesthood in my life, and thank you daddy for being worthy to hold it, it means more to me than you know. 

Sunday night we had a devotional and it was amazing. The speaker talked to us about the importance of being converted and not just having a testimony. A testimony of the gospel won’t keep us from falling away from the gospel, we must be converted. If anyone is interested in learning more about that, you can study about the character of Christ. 

Man, I am seriously so grateful to be out serving a mission for the Lord. It is by far the best decision I have made. It has not been easy and I know it for sure won't get any easier, but I know without a doubt in my mind that it will be worth it, because this gospel is beautiful and I love it and my Heavenly Father. 

If you want to know how you can help me, please keep me in your prayers. They would be much appreciated, especially to learn Espanol. 

I love you all so much! I hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Your Sister Rebecca Lynn Barnes 

1. My friend Vance from Alaska

2. My Williamsburg friend, Sister Sanneke Quinton :)

3. First time eating Chick-fil-a! :) 

4. Me and my companion, Hermana Oliphant 

5. My district at the Provo Temple

6. And Me at the temple! 

Sister Barnes...

Dear Sister Barnes,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Oregon Salem Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.
You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish Language.

I am overly thrilled to be serving a mission for my Heavenly Father. I love this gospel and the joy that it has brought to my life over the years and I cannot wait to share that same joy with others and bring them to the straight and narrow path back to their Father in Heaven.