Christmas Time!!!

Family!!

How blessed I am to have you guys as my family! Annnnnnnd I got to talk to you on Christmas! Yay!! That made my whole life. You guys have no idea. Sorry if i'm weird... This week has been so good because of the fact that it was Christmas! I already told you guys a lot about what has happened throughout my mission and throughout the week, but i'll just expand on what Christmas is like here.

First off, It is honestly a party! Hahah Christmas here is so different and unique. Since it is super warm here everyone is just outside having fun and drinking and doing karaoke and things haha it's so fun! Christmas Eve was especially fun just because of the excitement knowing Christmas is the next day. Everyone was shopping and getting there stuff together and ahhh it was just fun. Everyone is out on the streets and roaming around and just happy (i don't know if it was because of the alcohol or because of the Christmas Season) haha but everyone was so merry and joyful haha It was wonderful. We taught quite a bit of lessons on Christmas Eve and it was hilarious because during every lesson we got fed. Like not just drinks and crackers or something, but like feasts... we had spaghetti, pizza, rice, all sorts of meats that I had no idea what they were, potatoes, and more meat and rice. It was so good and so fun just to be around these great people and there families. We ate at 4 different houses and the thing about Filipinos is they are very hospitable. They will not let you leave until you've had at least 3 plates full of food... It's great cuz yay food, but it's terrible when you have to do that 4 different times... hahah or when the food isn't what you expect when you put it into your mouth... haha It was such a good experience tho! It's weird I thought I was going to come to the Philippines and loose all this weight and get way skinny, but if anything its the opposite. Everyone loves "the white one" so they give me drinks and food all the time. Even when we are proselyting or just walking the streets, people will just come up to me and give me food or grab my hand and put it to their forehead (that's what they do here to show they respect the person).. usually you are just suppossed to do it to old people, but all the little kids do it to me haha it's funny. But yeah Christmas Eve was really good here. The night was so good because it was joyful and fun and the whole night was lit up with Christmas lights and people were lighting off fireworks, and wow it was just amazing. It was almost like walking around and feeling like you were at a festival or carnival or something, it was just so fun. Very different than the Christmas Eve I am used to in Utah, but not a bad kind of different, just different. 

Christmas tho was so so so so good. Obviously because I got to skype you guys! That made me so happy. I honestly can't express how happy I was when I saw your faces. Ahhhh it was just so good to see you and talk to you and realize that you guys are still real people. Honestly when I email I just feel like I'm talking to a computer or journal or something haha not actual people. So it's nice to know you guys are still alive haha :) but after that we ate more food from some members and went to more people to teach and ate some more food. The whole day was just full of teaching about Jesus Christ and eating. Haha it was so good. It was awesome getting my last gifts as well these last two days because like I said during skype, when I saw the christmas gift that said open on Christmas Eve I knew it had to be Pajamas. So when I opened it I was so excited. haha like who would've thought I would've been so excited to get pajamas, but I was! haha I was so happy. Then the next day on Christmas when I opened my last present and got a skirt ahhhhhh I was even more full of joy. So thank you so much family for sending me that Christmas package. It made my whole Christmas. I look forward to getting the letters you sent. I sent some letters to you guys, so hopefully you'll get them in the next couple of months haha. 

Anyway, that was my Christmas. It is really different being away from home and not being able to got to all the family parties and opening a bunch of gifts and things, but it's awesome being a missionary during the Christmas season. I'm happy I get to do it twice! haha I love you guys and I so much appreciate you all in my life. I'm so happy here. It's so hard and sometimes I get really discouraged, but I know that I am suppossed to be here serving the Lord. There are so many more things I want to say, but just remember to always say your prayers and read the Book of Mormon. It is so important to pray and to communicate to our Father in Heaven and share with him all the feelings we have everyday. He really cares for us and wants to know how we feel. And it is so so so important to read the Book of Mormon. I know it is true with my whole heart and I know by reading it, you can feel so happy and you can feel that peace that Jesus Christ is our savior and knows everything we are going through. All our thought all our trials and feelings he has experienced. So those our my words of wisdom for now haha I love you all so much. Do these two things and i promise you, you will receive so many blessings you had no idea you could receive. We are so lucky to have the gospel and to lean on it at all times to bless our life. I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Mahal ko kayo,

Sister Barton 

 

CHRISTmas

Hello!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are all doing good. As for me, mission is honestly the hardest thing ive ever done in my life, but its also so good. Hard to explain unless you've done it yourself. haha I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to the temple this morning which was so good. I honestly gain so much strength through attending the temple. I love the temple. I am so blessed to have one in my mission. So yay for temples! haha as for the week... so much happens just in one day so it is really hard to share everything in one email that I have to write super fast. haha but i'll try my best to share with you what I am feeling and seeing.

First off, thank you to all the youth in my ward!! I loved the cute messages you gave me! I got the letter last week at our mission christmas party! (which was the highlight of chrismas so far) haha but I honestly appreciate it so much! I love letters! Thank you thank you! And Mom, you are the cutest person ever. I love the present thing. Opening one everyday is the highlight of my day! Even if some of them are silly gifts, I LOVE THEM! So thanks!

It has been raining a lot the past couple of days, and when it rains here it really really rains. Like it'll rain for like 72 hrs. straight. I asked an Elder what the longest time is that it will just non stop rain and he said it can rain non stop for like 4 months straight. Are you kidding me?! haha that's freaking nuts. Just in the little 3 days that it rained the roads were flooding and houses were getting ruined and man the rain here is crazy! haha 

This week I really want to focus on the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my letter. I have been studying the Atonement just a little bit this past week, but I feel like i've deepened my knowledge greatly. A mission is a huge struggle. It is an emotional roller coaster. Somedays I feel like yes yes I love missionary work, I love being a missionary, I never want to leave, I love this!! Then the next day I am really struggling with everything that we do and with what is going on and it is just terrible. So to say a mission is hard is the biggest understatement that i have ever heard. It is so much more than hard. A mission is physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting. I can't even begin to express the hardships that come with serving a mission and i've only been out in the field for 3 weeks. Like oh my heck i have so much that awaits me. 

One thing that I absolutely love tho is something that Sister Coombs shared with me. (A sister in my district from Australia, we bond cuz she speaks English haha) but anyway she said God gives us hard time so we can find more joy. Obviously if he wants us to experience the fullest joy we can experience on earth he needs us to experience the fullness of hardships, pains, and trials. I love that. It's hard to feel like no one is listening and around to help you in your trials and afflictions, but I can truly testify to you that if you ever feel weak, sad, or discouraged in anything in life you can litterally just go in your room and kneel. Praying to our Heavenly Father to feel the comfort of Jesus's Christ is remarkable. Jesus Christ knows what each and everyone of us feel and so much more. We cannot comprehend what Jesus Christ went through and he went through it because he loves God and he loves each and everyone of us. He overcame not only physical, but spiritual death so that we can each return back to our loving Heavenly Father and one day be like him. I am so grateful for our savior Jesus Christ. It gives me so much comfort to know he is always with me. Every step I take as a missionary and just in life in general he is with me and will comfort me in times of need. I feel so humbled that someone would go what Jesus Christ went through for me. I love the song "I Stand All Amazed" It really shares how great our savior Jesus Christ is. So as we enjoy this happy holiday of Christmas lets always remember Jesus Christ and how his sweet mother Mary endured all the pains of persecution and sadness, but brought our amazing Reedemer Jesus Christ into this world. I love Christmas time and I love Christ. What better way to show Christ you love him during CHRISTmas, then to be serving him. And that's what I get to do everyday. Is share this beautiful gospel with the beautiful people of the Philippines. I love you all so much and I'm so excited to talk to my family on Friday (Thursday for you) lol. I LOVE YOU ALL AND HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Love,

Sister Barton

Tender Mercies of the Lord

Fam!

I love you all so much and I feel so blessed to have the support I have from all of you guys. MOM, THANK YOU so much for the Christmas package! I opened it today and it is the cutest thing ive ever seen so thank you thank you thank you. Also I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to a lot of your emails.. We have an hour and 20 min to email the president and everyone and it's no time at all So i'm really sorry if i don't have the time to respond. Know I print off a lot of the emails and read them and I truly am grateful for each and every email each of you write to me so thank you.

Man this week has been such an emotional roller coaster. I have up and down emotions and when Jensen said the  mission was going to be hard like yes it is HARD. I never would've dreamed a mission would be like this. This week especially was hard for me being that it is around Christmas time and we go to Christmas parties seeing all the people with their families having fun and I litterally can't even communicate with anyone because I don't know how to speak the language. It is so frusterating, but the Lord has shown me so many tender mercies this week. 

Monday was the first tender mercy that really touched me. We were working all night after a great Pday and I was dying because It was SO HOT and there was no water anywhere. I also had huge cuts on my feet from my shoes just because I haven't worn them in yet so my feet were aching. We sat down to rest by a water refill station, but had no money so we couldn't buy any water and It was just a really rough day, but the cutest old man came out from the water station and gave us two water bottles and sat down to talk to us. We were able to use that opportunity to not only recieve great water, but teach him. He was so receptive and wanted to know more about what we were saying so we told him we would come back and teach him. Wow, such a blessing. 

Thursday was the day I was really struggling with fitting in and I was feeling terrible about the Language. I was so sad and while proselyting was just trying to think positive and hold in my feelings. We had an appointment with a member and as we were teaching her again, I had no idea what was going on. Sister Tiongco told me to bear my testimony and I just started crying. I felt like such an idiot, but honestly I didn't care. I was so sick of not knowing what was going on all the time and I just honestly wanted to go home. The little old lady member was so cute and fed us and let us go on our way. I finally got myself together to go to the next appointment and in that appointment it was CRAZY. I spoke so much Tagalog and the investigators aknowledged me and told me how great I was especially for being out for only one week at the time. I felt so blessed and reasured the the Lord really is looking over me in everything I do. 

Friday was the next great time. Me and Sister Tiongco decided to OYM a ton of people that day and she said I had to start with everyone. I was so nervous considering I don't speak Tagalog, but the Lord was soooooo good to me. He helped me so much and I really started communicating with the people! I was able to OYM 30 people that day and a lot of them were so open and willing to accept us and the Gospel so now we have a ton of lessons this week! IM SO EXCITED!! Also Friday I realized that I am in the same area I went to when I did MTC Transfers in the Manila area. So the I realized OMG SISTER ELANIA IS IN THIS AREA!! So on Friday I told Sister Tiongco that we have to find her and literally baptize her because the feeling I had the first time we taught her was unreal. So we set out to find her. It took a long time because the Philippines is a very confusing place. Everything looks the same. haha but we were finally, after about an hour and a half of looking, able to find her food stand that she worked at. A little old lady was there and it was HER MOM! So we talked to her about who we are and what we are all about and they were all so receptive. The whole family lives over there so we are going to teach them this week. I've never been so excited in my life. I remember praying in the MTC about wanted to go back to the same area sister Elania was in and now that i'm back I am really wanting to teach her. Now I can. I know I have a purpose here and I know God has put me in the Pina D area for a reason. I love this work and I feel so blessed to be apart of it. This was honestly  such a testimony builder for me that revelation is real and that prayers can really be answered if you have that sincere heart and pure desire. I feel so blessed to be in this area and I know it was a huge tender mercy from the Lord. 

God has given me so many tender mercies this week and I feel so blessed. A mission is by far the hardest thing i've ever done in my life, but I can already see how it is blessing me. I hope you all know how important you are to me and how much I love each and everyone of you and how much I truly love and know this Gospel to be the true Gospel of Jesus Christ on this earth today. Thank you everyone for all your love and support and HOLLA cuz I get to talk to my beautiful family in a week and a half and I AM SO EXCITED!! I love you guys and I will talk to you soon! 

XOXO,

Gossip Girl

(Kels Bels that was for you...) Jokelang haha Im stupid okay... bye haha

Love you,

Sister Barton

First week In the Manila Mission!

Hello Family,

Oh my gosh I don't even know where to begin. I feel so humbled and blessed to be serving in the Philippines. I can't even begin to explain how amazing it is to know these people really need me here and they REALLY need God. I wish you guys were here just to see for yourselves what I'm doing and what it looks like. Poverty is an understatement. It is crazy, but I love it so much and I truly love these people. I don't even know where to begin so much has happened and I don't have a ton of time. Also sorry.. no pictures this week because I didn't take any lol we aren't aloud to take pictures while proselyting and I see why because these people have nothing if I whipped out my nice camera.. ahhhh just no. I'll probably secretly take some this week just so you guys can have a little glimps of what I am talking about! :)

Sooooo Wednesday: Today was the day we left the MTC and went out to the field. It was heartbreaking saying goodbye to my MTC batch and just all the people in the MTC. It was so sad because you leave your family and kind of make a new family in the MTC and then you say bye to that family and make a new family in your mission. So it was sad, but I came on a mission to serve the people of the Philippines Manila Mission, not the people of the MTC. haha So i guess I should always keep that in mind. Anyway we woke up at 5am and the AP came to get us to take us to the Mission home. I had so many mixed emotions leaving the MTC. Mostly excited, but a lot of sad and terrifying emotions as well. It took about 45 min to get there cuz there is so much traffic here. We got to the mission home and wow there home is sooooo nice! I was shocked thinking it would be some rundown place. No It was beautiful. Haha I just wanted to stay at the mission home haha, but anyway we were recieving a bunch of papers and having meetings and things while each person interviewed with President Ostler. After a while, I was able to interview with him and I honestly love him. Just by the way he presents himself and talks personally to each and every missionary, you can truly tell he is a disciple of Christ. He is an amazing Man and I feel so blessed to have him as my mission president. I was feeling very scared in the Mission home to have to leave Sister Holzworth and go with a completely new person in a new place and learn a new language. Man I was freaking out, but It's all good, cuz I had President Ostler and he truly comforted me. I feel so blessed to have him as my Mission President. He helped strengthen me and made me feel so much better with the problems I have facing and will face. I was so emotional the whole time speaking to him. After the interview we were able to eat the best lunch of our lives haha but really! And then we got our new Companion assigned to us. I was freaking out all day for that moment, because I really just wanted a good trainer. I was so beyond blessed by God to get the trainer I got. Her name is Sister Tiongco. She is Filipino and is one of the sweetest people i've ever met. She is so humble, patient, faithful, and really hard working. I got so lucky to be able to have her be my trainer. She has been out for 9 months and was a convert to the church when she turned 11 years old. After I met her and we said our goodbyes to everyone we headed out to our zone Pina D. It took us 3 hours from the mission home to get to our apartment. In Utah it would take like 25-30 min, but the roads are so crazy here and there is so much traffic that it took so long. We reached the apartment and it is actually way nicer than I thought it was gonna be. It is still gross and in a very poverty area, but it is not that bad. I live with two Filipino's and one from idk India or something haha so I guess that a good way to get and embrace their culture with the language and food. I'm lucky tho because Sister Tiongco is actually really good at English. Also When we got to the mission home I GOT MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGE!! I'm waiting to open it on Dec 14, but THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU MOM!!! :))))

Thursday: I woke up from a terrible nights sleep lol, It is so hard to sleep because we are in the city and it is just SO LOUD. All you hear all night long is cars and horns and it is just super loud. But we got up and we do tons of study until 12pm then eat lunch and head out to teach/proselyte at 1pm. We are in a fresh area, which means both me and sister Tiongco are new to the area. It's hard both being new to the area especially with me training as well. Sister Tiongco studied the area book all morning, but when we went out we still got so lost. haha It was hilarious, but terrible. It is so hot here! I honestly feel like I'm going to die all the time from heat exahustion haha I drink SO much water! haha man this place is crazy. It's awesome tho! Later that night, we went to a less actives home and oh my gosh you guys would've died to see their house. It litterally was maybe the size of Courtney's room. There whole house. And they had 5 kids. So 7 people living all together in this tiny home and to get there we went through this tiny alley way like three feet wide full of trash, mud, and water. It was quite the experience. And once you got into their home I couldn't even stand up... Thats how low the celing was. I cannot express how blessed I feel to be who i am, know what i know about the gospel, and to live in America. I literally can't even express the emotions I feel here.

Friday: Today we studyed and did weekly planning all day... but when we finally went out we were walking down the street and the people here love White people. Haha so all the people love me and say hello and just try to get my attention! haha We were walking down this one street trying to find a less active members home and as we were walking a bunch of the little kids called me Elsa and would follow us around trying to ask me questions in Tagalog. haha they are so cute! I honestly love the kids the most here! They would grab my hair and touch my hands and wow I just kinda feel like a celebrity here. Which has its good and bad perks to it. But I truly do love the kids.

Saturday: After studying we went out to teach and ALL of our appointments weren't home.. SO ANNOYING. So we went to a members home the Artales family and I honestly had no idea what was going on the whole time. I couldn't understand what anyone was saying and I was feeling so discouraged. Honestly just wanted to pack up right then and there and go home. I kept thinking to myself, is this really worth it? But I decided to say a little prayer and keep saying to myself Courtney's moto: I can do hard things. After my prayer truly a miracle happened. We went OYMing and stopped to talk to a women named Sister Jenny. She was working at a nut stand, but anyway we just started talking with her, then introduced ourselves and asked if we could share a message. She said yes, so we just sat down right then and there and taught her. She told us she is catholic, but is open to religion. She also said she was seeking for truth so of course I was freaking out like OMG WE HAVE THE TRUTH FOR YOU!!! Hahah, but I was so happy with myself. I prayed, testified, and asked if she would pray to know the truthfullness of our message would she be baptized and she said YES!! haha We get to follow up with her next week to teach her more of the lessons and commit her to a baptismal date. This experience just really shows that God is wathcing over me and knows what im going through and knows how I feel. I am so blessed to know what I know and to be able to share It with the people of the Philippines. 

Sunday: Was church day which is always really good. This sunday was a little different tho, because It was fast sunday and we were new to the ward. Honestly fast sunday is so much more meaningful when you are on a mission or fast for an actual person or purpose. I challenge all of you next fast sunday to fast for an answer or person or purpose, and I promise you. Your answer will come. Fasting is truly amazing. I was able to have the opportunity to share my testimony to the Tagalog ward and say the closing prayer. It's crazy how much you can feel the spirit in church even when you don't have a clue as to what the people are saying. It is truly a testimony builder.

Monday: As for today ITS PDAY! Haha so I get to write you guys. We only have an hour tho and my trainer is super obedient (which is good, but kinda annoying) haha but mostly good. I can learn a lot from her. So I don't have a ton of time, but luckily I get to speak to you on Christmas! :) I also learned how to hand wash my clothes today so that was neat! We also got amazing news! We have a Christmas party on the 14 so I will be able to see everyone from my batch and we get to go to the temple on the 22nd. 

I feel so humbled to be a missionary and I love serving God. I promise you I am doing great even though this is definetly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. The Lord is blessing me and you. Thank you for everything and the wonderful christmas package and just always being here for me. I love you all!!

Love, 

Sister Barton

Welcome Letter from her Mission President

THE CHURCH OF

JESUS CHRIST

OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

PHILIPPINES MANILA MISSION

P.O. BOX 1997

Makati Central Post Office

0714 Makati, Metro Manila

Philippines

4 December 2015

Dear Brother and Sister Barton,

Great news!  Your daughter arrived in the Philippines Manila Mission last Wednesday morning!  We picked up all the new missionaries at 6 AM from the Manila MTC.  Your missionary looks great!  Each of the missionaries expressed enthusiasm and excitement to begin their work.  We fed them well, trained them with all the health, financial, and mission things they needed to know to get started.  We also taught them how much Heavenly Father loves them and how He expects them to do their best, but that He is also a wise, loving Father. We showed a video of our one year old grandson, Ryan, learning to walk.  They saw how Ryan’s parents encouraged and cheered him on as he was taking his first steps.  We discussed how they were never upset with him if he wobbled or fell because they understood he was learning to do something new and that he would need practice to be able to do it well.  That is the same type of experience your missionary will be having.  We hope you will support and encourage her during this big transition time.  Help her realize it is natural to feel “wobbly”, but as she keeps trying, she will find her abilities growing until her confidence and enjoyment increases.  Soon, she will love the work and the people with all her heart.

We are so very grateful to you and your family for sharing your missionary with us and the wonderful people of Manila.  We hope that you will be able to enjoy the wonderful growth that your missionary will be experiencing during her mission. We encourage you to email her weekly and share the positive things happening in your family.  If you have serious concerns or worries about your missionary, do not hesitate to email or call us.  You can reach us via email at 2018209@ldschurch.org or by phone at 011632-836-4963.  We or our office staff would be glad to help you.

Your missionary has been given one of the best missionaries of our mission, Sister Tiongco, to be her trainer. They will be serving in the Pina District of the Manila Zone.  We expect great things from them. Please see the enclosed pictures for your enjoyment.  We love your daughter, and we again express our appreciation for your willingness to share her with us.  We will do all in our power to help her have a happy and successful experience here on her mission.  May Our Heavenly Father bless you and your family.

Sincerely,

Creg D. Ostler, President

Philippines Manila Mission

Almost outta the MTC

Yay, I get to leave the MTC on Wednesday morning! I'm soooo excited to leave. I love the MTC, but it is too much of a comfort bubble. It doesn't even feel like I am in the Philippines. So I cannot wait until I'm out and get to actually experience the Philippines and bring souls unto Christ. As for this week. A lot of the same things happened, and a lot of the days just kinda blend together now. Some days are definitely more fun than others tho. Sooooo starting with...

Friday: WE GOT TO SEE THE APOSTLE ELDER RENLUND SPEAK!! He did an amazing job. He spoke about 3 main things. First off, he just started out by saying how much the Lord, prophet, and Quorum of the 12 thanks each and every one of us for coming on missions. He said he thanks us for accepting our calls and we will be blessed in so many ways for serving our master. Secondly, he talked about how we have the right and obligation to know our mission we have been assigned to was for us specifically and came through revelation. It's crazy to think Manila needs me. I am needed the most in the world in the one place where I am, in the Manila Philippines. It's such an amazing blessing to feel like I am a missionary who could touch even just one person's life so much that the Lord would send me here to do his work. Lastly, he talked about was to always yield your will to the will of Heavenly Father. He did such a good job and it was so good to see have an Apostle of the Lord talk to us all the way here in the Philippines.

Saturday: WAS MY MONTH MARK!!!!! I've been gone for a month & I still have 17 more to go... haha no but really I'm so happy to be here and to be doing the Lords work. There is nothing more i'd rather be doing than to be here and sharing this amazing gospel with the beautiful people of the Philippines.

Sunday: Soooo on sunday.. for sacrament on sundays they have 4 random talks and right before they start sacrament meeting they assign the four talks to random people to talk on that particular topic, and guess who got assigned to speak... me. I was asked to speak on the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. Before my mission I knew the things and basic stuff about the Restoration of the Gospel, but now that i'm a missionary I feel like a whole new set of eyes and mind are on me. I've come to truly know the prophet Joseph Smith for myself. I've come to know that he was called to be a prophet of God. Through his confusion about the gospel and his pure heart and sincere faith, he had one question, gave one prayer, and changed the world. Through one single prayer, Joseph Smith restored the original gospel of Jesus Christ here on Earth. He had so many opportunities to reject or pretend like nothing happened, but no, he sacrificed his whole life for this gospel and this church. He is one of the most faithful people i've ever known of. Without Joseph Smith I wouldn't be a missionary. Without Joseph Smith I wouldn't have the true gospel of Jesus Christ in my life that bring me so much happiness. Without Joseph Smith and I wouldn't be the person i am today, and I wouldn't be here. So I thank God, for restoring this great gospel through the amazing prophet Joseph Smith. I truly admire him.

Monday: We pretty much studied all day like we usually do. Sister Holzworth's mom sent me some pictures and chocolate in a card and it was really nice haha I love Sister Holzworth, honestly I don't think I could've had a better first companion. I will be so lucky if I get anyone half as good as her in the field. Since she is going to Manila as well hopefully we can talk the mission president into letting us be companions at the end of our mission! haha I also found out, I'm the only American sister in the Manila Mission.. the only other one is a girl who is leaving in December I think... haha soooo Yay for America.. hahah

Tuesday: We had Elder Allen D. Haynie came and talked to us. He honestly was the best speaker i've ever listened to. He talked all about Obedience and the importance of being obedient and honestly he nailed it. I can't express how I have realized the importance of being obedient on this mission. I'm lucky because i'm kind of a natural obedient person, but I've notice it really is a struggle to be obedient. There are just so many rules you have to follow, but I know the Lord will bless you SO MUCH if we are obedient in everything we do. So I will keep striving to be as obedient as I can. 

Wednesday: Maligayang Pasko! (Merry Christmas one month early) LOL we celebrated christmas with our batch. Everyone in our batch drew names last week to do secret santa and we all had to buy a gift for 200 peso's aka like $4. Anyway, It was super fun! I made a video so i'll have to send it to you once I get out of the MTC. I got lucky because I drew Elder Zesiger, the one from Centerville who flew here with me! We have become super good friends here at the MTC and it was just fun to buy a present for someone! Sister Critchton had me! haha she is Samoan and she is just the cutest. She just gave me the money and wrote me the nicest card. Anyway that was a good, cute, little early christmas. But the main part of today, was we got to go proselyting in Manila! One of our goals as a district was to OYM and give away 2 restoration pamphlets and place one Book of Mormon. (Which is super hard considering we don't know the language real well, but it was good) Anyway, we met with the training companions we were going to go out with and I went with Sister Terabwena. She has been on her mission for about 9 months and is super good with the language. So i went with her and sister cortado, our teacher, wanted to join us. SO she was just with us the whole time being a member, which was good. She helped out a lot. We first started around 1:30 pm and our first appointment was at 2 pm. Since we still had 30 min I decided to start doing my goals. So on our way to the appointment i just decided i would smile and say hello to everyone and if it felt right i would go over and talk to them. So that is what i did. We saw the poorest, cutest old man sitting on a bucket. So we decided to say hello and introduce ourselves. He said he was catholic, loved God, and was very blessed. He told us a story about how he got in an accident and half of his body was paralized. He was still so happy. He had no teeth and could hardly talk, but it was amazing because even tho this guy was really old and speaking really fast and softy, I could still understand most of the Tagalog he was speaking. It was amazing. So we shared with him a little bit about the restoration and gave him a restoration pamphlet. He just took it and smiled. Haha with his no teeth! He was such a cute guy tho. Then we just kept walking down this poor as can be street. Honestly, google poor areas in Manila and that is exactly what it was like. It is so crazy! We are so blessed to live where we live. These people have life so rough, but are as happy as can be. But we got to this little, i don't even know what to call it. I guess you could say apartment, but it was more like little rooms stacked on top of eachother made out of left over garbage, with no windows or doors. There was a sheet hanging to see if anyone was home. We knocked (as best as we could) and yelled Tao Po and no one was inside. Apparently a lot of people aren't there when you are supposed to teach them... So we just left and went to do OYM some more. We saw this lady, probably about 35 years old, working at a little food stand right outside the apartments. She was just sitting in a chair to the side of the stand reading and Sister Cortado had a prompting that we should go talk to her. We introduced ourselves and asked her a little bit about herself, just trying to get to know her. She was catholic, had a 16 year old girl, her and her husband both worked two jobs, and she had a love for God that was remarkable. Her name was Sister Elania and we asked her if we could share a message with her about God and his son Jesus Christ. She was very interested and said yes! So right then and there we sat down by this cute lady and sang "I am a child of God" in Tagalog and I opened the lesson with an opening prayer. My companion then started teaching her about the Gospel and how it blesses families. We askedd her how the Lord blesses her in her life and she began to tell us how she knows God answers prayers and we have challenges and trials to make us stronger. You could tell she could feel the spirit really strong and she just started crying. After, I asked her if I could share a story about a boy who had his prayer answered by God. I then taught her about Joseph Smith, the first vision, and the Book of Mormon all in Tagalog. It was amazing, but definetly the hardest thing i've ever done.. I asked her if she would pray to know the truthfullness of the story about the prophet Joseph Smith and if she would read the Book of Mormon. She said yes and said she would aslo come to church on sunday. Man, I was so excited. I never would have thought that in just 5 short weeks I could teach these amazing people. I just wish I was in this zone and could come back to teach Sister Elania, so fingers crossed. You can just tell her heart is open to the gospel and she is ready and well prepared. Her testimony in God and Jesus Christ was amazing. She was amazing. We then ended with a prayer and headed back to the meeting spot for all the missionaries. As we were walking back everyone kept saying hello to us and would shake our hands, but the cutest little girl came up to me, hugged me, pointed and started yelling BARBIE!! haha It was so cute! I wish you guys were here to experience what I am experiencing. A mission is hard, but so rewarding. Im so blessed to be a missionary here in the philippines and in a week, I get to change lives everyday with this amazing gospel.

Thursday: it was Thanksgiving, So HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Hahaha we had burgers and fries for dinner so I guess that just shows how great my thanksgiving was. Jk it really was way good cuz no rice! haha 

This week was a really good week. Starting in the field my Pday's are on Monday. So I won't be able to talk to you for like a week and a half, but it's probably for the best because I feel like I might complain a whole lot the first week in the field. It is going to be so hard. I know that the Lord will help me and bless me for my work. I love you all so much and think about you guys everyday. Thanks for everything. And Mom Happy Birthday tomorrow! I hope you got or get my letter soon! I hope it's a wonderful day for you! I love you so much & I thank God everyday for giving me such a Christlike mother. Thank you for everything! I'll talk to you guys soon. Remember to stay happy :)

Love,

Sister Barton

Practically 1 month down

This week has been soooo good & sooooo bad... i'm going to start off with the good. First of all, yesterday we got to go proselyting!! Oh my gosh it was amazing and terrifying. I got to be an actual missionary! haha Of course we are missionaries here in the MTC, but the MTC is definitely like a safe zone. The Philippines outside of the MTC is honestly nuts, but i'll get more into detail later. The bad part about this last week was that I got super sick for like 3 days. I honestly think it's just because of the whole new environment. New food, new climate, new everything pretty much. A lot of the missionaries got sick tho so maybe it was just something going around.. who knows? I'm better now tho so it's all good :) so to start off what happened this week...

Friday: Was just same old  same old Pday.. haha nothing way exciting happened. I decided I was going to try to fast from rice.. (that literally lasted 2 days because I WAS STARVING) haha 

Saturday: Sister Cortado, (one of our teachers) made us a deal that if everyone in our district memorized a scripture in Tagalog in 20 min then that Wednesday when we go proselyting she would get us McDonalds! I like McDonalds before the mission, but now it's like the biggest treat anyone can get you here haha! So of course our whole district learned a scripture & we met our goal! Saturday night was the night I started to feel pretty sick tho..

Sunday: Of course on Sunday it was the best day of the week. I love Sunday's here. It was crazy because all of the topics in devotionals and at church we talked about how important it is to listen and  to be guided by the Holy Ghost. It is so important to be obedient and strive to be worthy to have the companionship of the Spirit. I've even noticed when me and Sister Holzworth teach, it goes so much better when we prepare and pray specifically to invite the spirit to be with us, we have so much more power when we teach and the spirit is just so strong. Another thing we talked a lot about was the love of Christ. We talked a lot about having charity and being humble in everything we do and say. We watched a devotional by Elder David Bednar and he talked about how the Savior's Ministry is always "one by one" -3 Nephi 11. The Lord always took the time to show the people one by one  who he was and taught them one by one and let the people touch him one by one. As a missionary one of my goals is to love the people with a sincere heart, be Christlike towards everyone, and teach each individual one by one. 

Monday: I was really sick on Monday. I kept going to see the nurse to get medicine or really just anything she had because I was in so much pain. My stomach felt like it was going to jump out of my body. I can't even express how awful I felt. Also with my stomach pain came homesickness. I don't like being sick, but it doesn't help being sick in the Philippines. All day I was just really struggling to be positive and I couldn't just lay in bed. haha It was terrible, because I have this amazing companion who is here to learn and to grow as a missionary. So I really realized I needed to just not think of myself and I needed to just suck it up and go to class. It was a good experience for me to just keep working hard and not let pain or sickness get in the way. I talked to our teacher Sister Cortado later that night and she really helped comfort me. It's amazing how wonderful and nice the people are here. They are super Christlike and I just love them.

Tuesday: I started feeling a little bit better luckily. My guro Sister Cortado also coached me a little bit and told me about how I can improve with the language. I sometimes feel really discouraged with the language. A lot of the people in my district are from Australia and have Australian accents so when they speak Tagalog the accent just kind of comes naturally for them. For me and the other American in my district it is not like that. We really struggle with the Filipino accent. So learning the language is extremely difficult. They have so many weird ways they pronounce words and man, let me just say.. IT IS HARD. but anyway it was nice to have Sister Cortado there because she shared with me the scripture Moses 6:31-32 and its pretty much talking about Enoch the Prophet and how he can't speak the language of the people, but it goes on saying that he had so much Faith that the Lord would help him and he ended up speaking so fluently and powerfully, "the rivers turned out of their courses". I don't know if that will happen to me that greatly, but I'm going to try to have as much faith as I can so I can learn this crazy Filipino language. 

Wednesday: Wednesday was the best day on the mission so far. So much happened. We finally got to go out in the field and see what it is actually going to be like! We drove out to the Quezon City North mission to proselyte. On the drive there I had SO many emotions. There was so much poverty everywhere. Poverty like i've never seen. Poverty I could never imagine. It was so humbling to me to see such amazing happy people who live in such poor conditions. It is inspiring and heart-breaking. I don't even know how to express my feelings on what I saw and how I felt. We ended up driving to a chapel to meet our trainer for the day. Sister Holzworth and I were able to get our trainer and her name was  Sister McCarthy. She has been out for 15 months and is from New Zealand. She was super nice and gave us some really good advice about the mission and language. We started off by riding a Jeepney to this super nice area (for the Philippines) and went to a new investigators home. She ended up not being there, so we couldn't teach her.. but luckily we had an appointment scheduled to just visit with a member down the street. We got to her house and holy it was so nice for a Filipino home. Sister McCarthy said it was the nicest home she has been to during her  whole mission. It had tile floors, a couch, and even a table. We got in there and taught about faith and It was so cool to speak to her the little Tagalog I know and recite the memorize scripture I had learned. (Moroni 7:33) It is so odd communicating in a different language, but it is amazing that even tho you can't understand perfectly what the  people are saying the spirit is still the same. Still  that amazing, powerful, undeniable, peaceful feeling. The member, Sister Sabado was so sweet and bore her testimony to us at the end of the lesson as well. So powerful. Wow, I just don't think I will ever get over how amazing the people are here. After the lesson, Sister Sabado got up and went to the back where her kitchen was and was gone for like 10 min... I didn't know if we were supposed to leave or what was going on, but she came back with food. American food!! She brought out turkey hot dogs, ketchup, mustard, and this amazing juice. I felt so blessed and just amazed at how giving and selfless the people are here. She was a very sweet lady and I just am so blessed to have been called to serve here in the Philippines. After teaching Sister Sabado, our trainer gave me and Sister Holzworth contact cards to give out to random people. She said we would tract for a little bit and if no one answered we would just do street contacting. It was kinda hard, considering im not the most outgoing person... I think that'll slowly change out here tho. Getting out of my comfort zone and kinda forcing myself to talk to people is kind of one of the main  things you do on a mission. Once I started to talk to people it was crazy. Everyone was so nice and so friendly and it helps a lot that I am American haha they really like American's here, especially if you are white. We talked to so many people and I realized how accepting these people were toward us and the gospel. We only went tracting for like an hour and we got two people's contact info. I don't know if that's normal other places, but I just felt like it was really good. They were so open to the gospel they wanted us to share our message right then  and there. We obviously didn't have any time so we just set up appointments, but man it was awesome. I just can't get over how nice these people are living in such harsh conditions. It strengthens my testimony so much to see how the Lord has opened their hearts to hear our message and I know God loves each and everyone of us. I feel extremely honored to be here in the Philippines and to know the Lord trusts me this much to send me here to teach these beautiful people. I get to help bless the lives of his children. I know I still have so much more to learn, and it will these last two weeks in the MTC will hopefully get me a little bit more prepared, but I cannot wait to go out in the field and to start making a difference in the lives of these people. Man, these next 17 months are going to be crazy. IM SO EXCITED!!!! haha also we got mcdonalds after on Wednesday, so that was just a bonus. 

I am so happy to be serving. It is hard not being able  to really talk to any of you, but in 1 month we get to skype and I can't wait! Again, i'm sorry my emails are so long. If you don't read the whole thing I don't blame you haha, but just know i'm doing well and I love my mission, I love the people and I love being an instrument in the hands of God. I know this mission is going to be so hard and extremely hot. Wow, I can't even begin to explain how hot it is here. I have never felt anything like it. Youd think it would be better when it rains, but its not. It just gets more humid and awful ahha everyone has like little towels they carry around and just wipe their sweat on. It's disgusting, but its a way good idea. hahah I can't wait to see the adventure that lies ahead of me. I love you all and thank you so much for all the support and all the prayers. 

Love,

Sister Barton

P.S. I forgot to tell you, we aren't aloud to send pictures  home anymore... I don't know why so I'll just have  to send them all to you when we get out of the MTC. We leave to go out in the field on December 2!  

Study, Study, Study

I swear all we do here is study... and I am probably one of the most distracted person anyone has ever met. haha I will start studying the language or doctrine and then all of a sudden i'm doodling on the whiteboard.. ahhhh it's terrible. I keep thinking Tagalog is coming along pretty well and then it's Pday and we go to the temple and the Filipino's try to talk to me and I can't talk back because I don't know what they are saying.. haha and I only have 3 weeks left soooooo that's a little discouraging, but to think i've only been here 3 weeks and i've learned so much already is pretty exciting. As for this week... nothing really has happened.. it's been pretty much same old, same old.

Thursday: Was Pday again.. I have a love hate relationship with Pday because I just feel so homesick after writing you guys.. haha but I also love Pday because we get to leave the MTC and go to the store and things. Me and Sister Holzworth also found some time to sleep on Pday so That's awesome! hahah 

Friday: I recited the whole first vision in Tagalog, which is a huge accomplishment considering I don't even know it in English. It is so hard to actually learn the meaning of the words.. I'll just memorize everything, but have no idea what it means... So I can speak a lot of Tagalog, but I have no idea what i'm saying.. if that makes sense? haha idk i'm weird. One thing that is awesome about my district tho is that we sing Tagalog hymns all the time! We sang I need thee every hour and OH MY GOSH the spirit was so strong! I love singing in Tagalog, idk what it is it's just awesome (and probably because all the Filipino's tell me I have a good singing voice lol) They are so nice to me. I love them all so much.

Saturday: We taught more investigators, which is kind of rough considering they speak so fast. So Me and Sister Holzworth were teaching our investigator Malou and she was speaking such fast Tagalog we ended up just staring at eachother and laughing.. haha It took the spirit away, but it was honestly hilarious. (Our Teachers are our investigators just so ya know) Man, it's hard teaching when you have so much to say, but you don't know how to say it...

Sunday: Sunday's are my favorite days, they are just so relaxing and so chill, I LOVE THEM. We had an amazing lesson in Relief society on Virtue. It's weird because I always knew what virtue was, but not really. When Sister Chantry was giving the lesson she really went in debt on virtue and how important it is to be a virtuous woman. It was such an impactful lesson and I really understand the power woman have. God loves us so much and he gives so much power and respect to women. We just have to know when and how to use it. 

Monday: We found out that on Wednesday we get to go proslyting in Manila for 4 hours!!! I'm so excited, but so nervous. I get to go teach in my mission! It will be such an amazing and humbling experience. I'm so ready to see what the mission life is actually going to be like. In the MTC we are kind of just in a little shelter bubble.. It's good, but I also want to see what the actual Philippines is like. So i'm excited to go out and practice talking to people (even tho A LOT of people are going to laugh) LOL. 

Tuesday: I DRANK MY FIRST DIET COKE HERE!! It's actually not really even diet coke tho.. it's called Diet Coke lite... but who cares it's close enough. So that was probably the highlight of my day! haha the low part of my day was eating rice (of course) and I ate liver... without knowing. haha that worst part was it actually wasn't even that gross.. haha but anyway i'm finally starting to get used to the food here. It get's better and better everyday, so that's good. 

Wednesday: We had that disgusting fish again.. this time I took a picture to show you guys because ew it is so gross looking haha We asked our investigator Ian to be baptized tho. It was the first time we ever asked one of our investigators to be baptized. The lesson was on Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and Enduring to the end. It was such a powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong. We just felt like it was right to ask him if he wanted to get baptized... and he said YES! Oh my gosh you guys don't even know how excited I got and he's not even a real investigator haha man it was the best day! I was just smiling from ear to ear! haha

Thursday: We played a prank on one of the elders in our district (cuz that's the only fun you can really have here in the MTC), but he lost his markers so we were making fun of him because he was freaking out. haha he's probably one of the most dramatic Elders ive ever met.. haha but anyway to be funny we wrote "We have you markers -go to the next slide" on a powerpoint slide. So when he came in and saw it he was freaking out at us like "whoever has my markers better give them to me NOW." And he was just really having a hard time hahaha so anyway the next slide said JOKELANG :) (which just means kidding, obviously) with a  picture of a Koala bear in the back and oh my gosh he was so mad! I honestly thought he was gonna kill someone hahah it was hilarious!! but anyway we also played Bad-mitten at gym later that night, We played with some tongans. Sister Holzworth was on a team with Sister Loelea, and i was on a team with Sister Toa. They are violent Tongan girls haha. Sister Toa kept trying to kill Sister Holzworth with the ball thing! Hahaha man it was funny! We have some pretty good times here at the MTC. Spiritual and just fun! :)

Friday: Today, we went to the temple super early which is always so good. I'm going to miss the temple so much when we actually go to leave. We can only go to the temple every other (maybe) transfer once we are in the actual mission field. So that's kind of a bummer. On the way back to the MTC from the temple I saw someone who knew Jannett and Quinn Pinson. I think their names were Elder and Sister Anderson? I'm not sure, but they were really nice. I love seeing really anyone who knows someone I know haha It just makes me feel like I already know them. haha 

Anyway, know I'm doing really well. I love the MTC and I love being a missionary. I love getting everyone's emails so thank you all! Everyone is so nice to me and I am so blessed to have you guys to support me. Know I pray for you all and I hope everyone is doing well. I love you all so much!

Mahal,

Sister Barton 

Week Dalawa

Yooooooooooo. hahaha I'm just gonna start with saying... IM SO SICK OF RICE. We have it for every meal and it's not even good. haha i used to live for eating and now I eat to live. haha but anyway on a positive note, this week was really good. It's weird i've only been gone for 2 weeks.. I feel like it's already been like 2 months.. haha the language is coming a long slowly, but we are starting to learn like verbs and all the annoying stuff. I'm not even good at English so I don't know how i'm supposed to learn this hard language, but I know with my whole heart with God I can do anything. The best part about the MTC and just being a missionary in general is honestly just how much you feel the spirit all the time. I love it. To start off my week...

Last Friday: when we had P-day I spent so much money on candy (M&M's) just cuz im starving all the time haha so I made a big candy drawer in my room so I can have all the candy I want whenever I want it :) and that was the highlight of P-day. I  didn't know we didn't get the whole day off on P-day so i was kinda disappointed.. but whatever we have until like 3 so it's fine. 

Saturday: It was Halloween, so i got to eat even more candy! haha jokelang. No one even cared it was halloween besides me... It was so sad. Thanks for sneaking in that Halloween candy package for me Mom, it made my whole life! Also Courtney you looked so cute in the pictures Mom sent me. I can't even begin to express how much I miss you. I hope you got a lot of candy. Also the Provo batch came to stay for five days and then leave for the mission field on Wednesday and KAELIN TUMBLIN was part of the batch who came! I saw a picture of her and tried to look for her everywhere and then on Sunday I finally found her! Ahhhhhh you guys have no idea how good it  was to see someone from back home. 

Sunday: Was the longest day of my life...... Fast Sunday. Oh my gosh THEY DON'T EVEN FEED YOU. hahah We had to fast until 5:30 and I was starving. I literally thought I was gonna die.. and apparently you can't drink water when you fast, but I did cuz I always have and I feel like you can do what you want. It's between you and the Lord & I don't think the Lord will care if I drink water while fasting. but anyway I also got to see Kaelin like a mentioned and that was great! I took a lot of pictures Sunday cuz everyone leaves.. and a bunch of the Filipino's kept coming up to me and Sister Holzworth asking if we could take a picture with them. haha I felt like a celebrity! It was so great! Also, I found my companion Sister Vaosea who was suppossed to be my first companion.. haha I guess she did show up we just couldn't find eachother haha but I think she really wants to switch and  be companions with me. She is Tongan and she keeps bringing me food as a friendly gesture and keeps telling me how much she loves me and wishes we were companions. haha it's so funny! I love it tho cuz she brings me good food like sandwiches and cookies and things. 

Monday: was a pretty boring day. We just studied and taught... but here in the Philippines everyone in the MTC makes a book of remembrance, just so they can have everyone sign it and have memories I guess.. So this Filipino came to sign mine and he had it for 2 days.. When he gave it back he wrote this love note in it and oh my gosh it was the cutest thing. haha the Filippinos are so funny. He always tells me how beautiful I am and how I am so nice to him. haha man it was sad to say bye to everyone. 

Tuesday: ME AND MY COMPANIONS GOT CALLED AS SISTER TRAINING LEADERS!!! Can you believe it? haha I'm a sister training leader in the second week of my mission. Sister Holzworth and I were jumping around in the girls bathroom for a solid 10 min! We were so excited. Sister Thatcher is super humble so she didn't, but YAY WE ARE SISTER TRAINING LEADERS. :) And to top off the day we got a way good dinner because the provo batch, older batch before us, and our Filipino batch all left  the next day. So it was kind of a goodbye dinner. We got the most amazing spaghetti, pizza, salad, and cake and ice cream. It was so good and the best part, was there was no rice!! haha but that night we had to say goodbye to everyone. Literally like 175 missionaries left. I said goodbye to my little Filipino friend who has a cute little crush on me and he gave me his Moroni pin as a goodluck present. It was so sad cuz his sister had been here in the MTC as well so they had to say goodbye to eachother and they both were crying and hugging and I guess that made me kinda homesick watching them say goodbye. I feel like I had to say goodbye to my family all over again when I said goodbye to everyone. (maybe not that dramatic) but it was really sad.

Wednesday: Now there is just 18 of us in the whole MTC.. but the bad news. Is we changed companions again. I was in a totlo with Sister Holzworth, and Sister Thatcher, but Thatcher got changed with another girl who is having a really hard time so now i'm just with Sister Holzworth which is fine cuz I love her!! It was super sad tho because I feel like Sister Holzworth and Sister Thatcher are like my close friends now.. and we all just started crying when they said we were splitting. It was super sad. We will still see her luckily because there is like no one in the MTC, but still. It's hard to explain, but since us sisters all came from foreign places. We all kinda grouped together and now our whole district is like a family. So when they said we had to split up it was just super emotional. I don't know how i'm going to actually say goodbye to everyone in 4 weeks. But on a positive note, I got Rachel Anderson's letter! (Mom keep that in mind how long it took when you send my christmas package ;)) I was so excited to get a letter! haha It's so weird how little things mean so much to me now. haha I also saw the video my Mom, Kelsey, and Jensen put on my camera. I was looking through my pictures and saw it and it made me so happy. So thank you. I love you guys.

Today: We just went to the temple and man can I just say what a blessing It is that we get to go to the temple every week. Ahhhhh best part of the mission. haha but really I love the temple. And now I get to go take a nap, cuz i'm so tired all the time. 

Sorry this email is years long. I just have so much to tell you guys and this is hardly anything haha. I love you all so much and I feel so blessed to have the friends and family that I do. The spirit here in the MTC is amazing. I know the gospel is the center of my happiness and I love sharing it with other people. It's a challenge and I get discouraged a lot, but I know I can do it. I love you all so much and if any of you are ever bored WRITE ME LETTERS!! Cuz I love them. :) 

Mahal,

Sister Barton

FIRST WEEK DOWN!!!

FAMILY!!! Oh my gosh I have so much to tell you and I have like no time... haha but to first start out, I’m doing great!! I love the Philippines! The people are sooooo nice! haha :) Second, I can't press enter on my computer... so Mom, if you could edit it that would be great! haha Soooooo to start off, the plane ride was soooo long. I thought i was gonna die and when I got off the plane from Tokyo to the Philippines, you could just tell how hot and humid it was.. It's like walking outside, but youre walking out to a sauna everyday.. hahaha WE EAT RICE EVERYDAY... it is terrible hahaha and oh my gosh... The food is absolutely disgusting.. even here in the MTC.. haha but i'll talk about that later...

Okay, soooo Friday: I'm now in a totlo, trio because my companion was a no show.. haha So i'm companions with Sister Holzworth and Sister Thatcher. They are so great! I love them so much. Both of them are super chill and just positive and it makes adjusting sooo much easier! They are both from Australia. Sister Holzworth is from Brisbane and Sister Thatcher is from Melbourne. Jens you are right tho, they think Australia is the most amazing place on earth and its just like no. America is. hahaha but on the car ride from the hotel to the MTC it was so humbling. We went from first class city area, to low low low class ghetto terrible area. It is so sad to see how these people live. We are so blessed to live in America. I'm slowly starting to speak in an Australian accent tho hahaha its terrible. soooo that's kinda  weird..  also on Friday, we sang called to serve as a missionary batch and OH MY GOSH. The spirit was so strong seeing all these missionaries sing called to serve. Wow. I was just so filled with spirit I started to tear a up a little bit. Also when i received my sister Barton name tag I started balling. I am so happy to be a  missionary, and i absolutely love the MTC. It's hard having a 16 hour day and such a go go go schedule, but its also so amazing. I can already see so many blessing I’m receiving from being a missionary. The Filipinos also love me here because i am American haha i love it.

Okay so then on Saturday: We just studied all day. The Tagalog is coming along really well. It's hard, but apparently we are the fastest learning batch so that's awesome! :) My district is awesome and I love everyone in it. I am the only American girl which is kinda weird... I thought there would be at least one more haha but everyone is super chill I love it. Also I was assigned group leader for companionship so that's super cool! We taught our first investigator in Tagalog on Friday and oh my gosh we did sooo bad. Haha we went in there only knowing the basic words and we just killed it. Like literally. we did terrible. hahaha it was hilarious.. we just came out laughing so hard haha but as the week went on we got way better. 

Sunday: The food was still gross haha and it sucks so bad not getting Sunday naps. They just expect you to adjust to the time difference so fast and it is so hard. But i'm used to it now so it is good. Sunday night, Elder Schwitzer came and spoke to us and he did so good. When he walked into the room he just had such an amazing spirit about him and you knew he was just full of love. He gave some really good missionary advice and It was so nice getting positive thoughts on a mission, cuz for some reason when you’re in the MTC you get discouraged a lot... I haven't gotten homesick yet.. only the first night, but I’ve been good since then so don't get me homesick with your letters please haha.

Monday: I ate all of lunch! And that was the highlight of my day... hahha just kidding. we taught our first investigator again and Oh my gosh we did so good. She reminded me so much of Mom I actually cried in the lesson. She had been having problems with her marriage and just didn't know what to do, and I testified of the Faith my mom had when she went through almost the same thing and how strong she was in the gospel and how loving she is to her children and man that i guess made me kinda homesick just wanting to hug my mom cuz she is just such an amazing lady. I LOVE YOU MOM!!!! 

Tuesday: We taught again, but this time it was a lot harder, honestly just because of the language barrier... It is so frustrating not being able to speak to the people because you don't speak the same language.. but we still got gross food and rice sooooo ya... and mom the ice cream machine you talked about... We only get it once a week so that was a big let down.. hahaha.

Wednesday: We watched the Provo devotional in the morning where Elder Neil L Anderson spoke and he did such a good job. I also saw Rachel Anderson (Sister Anderson) Singing on TV in the Provo MTC so that was a cool considering i'm halfway around the world and I saw one of my best friends haha but Wednesday night was the night we had the fish. Literally the fish was just cooked and slapped on our plate. I had to cover the face cuz it grossed me out so bad.. haha and my MTC president's wife saw my face (cuz i make faces with my emotions lol) and came and brought me some chicken instead soooo that was the nicest thing I think anyone could’ve done for me at that moment in time haha. 

Thursday: WE GOT FRIES AND BURGERS FOR DINNER!!! OMG IT WAS AMAZING!!! I went back for seconds and thirds and oh my gosh that was definitely an answer to my prayers haha and obviously that was the highlight of my day on Thursday  haha just kidding, another thing was that was the last time teaching our first investigator, and it was one of the most spiritual things that has happened to me this far on the mission. We were teaching and asked a question. Our investigator answered in Tagalog and I could understand every word she was saying. Knowing I had no idea what the words were. It was crazy. The gift of interpretation is real. It was honestly amazing how the spirit works. 

Friday (today) is finally P-day and we got to go to the temple this morning. And oh my gosh that was the most spiritual experience. I love the temple so much. It brings so much peace. We are lucky here in the MTC because we look out our window and you can just see the beauty of the temple. I wish we were able to go to the temple every day, but that's just not how it works.. instead we just study haha I did get really lucky with my district tho because all the guys are super funny and just crack jokes so we don't feel like stressed. It's just good. I haven't felt really way overwhelmed with the language or anything yet. It is frustrating when trying to teach an investigator and they can't understand you.. but we have learned so much of the Tagalog language and it has only been a week. I can pray, testify, ask someone to be baptized, and have quite a bit of vocabulary I know already. It's cool knowing another language... also sorry this email is so long.. it's just been like a week and a half since I’ve seen you guys so i wanted to tell you everything. I honestly thought it would be weird for me being a missionary and doing church things all the time, but the spirit I have with me and the spirit of my companions and the whole MTC is just unreal. I love being a missionary and I love the MTC. I'm so blessed to have what I have. When we first got to the MTC on Friday, some Filipino sisters were freaking out about how there was a washing machine and I was just like well duh... how else would we do our wash? But then i just thought like wow I'm such a spoiled brat. haha we have so much back in Utah and America and the people here do everything just to survive. We are so blessed. I now understand just a little bit how Jensen felt. Anyway I'm running out of time, but I love you all so much. Know I’m doing well and i love getting your emails. You are all so great to me. Thank you Thank you Thank you. I hope you all have a good week. My P-days are on Friday in the MTC and when i get out in the field it will be on Monday.

Love you guys!  Sister Barton :)

ps. I'll try to send photos, but I don't know how to do it on the MTC computers cuz we are like really restricted haha

Made it to Manila

This is just supposed an email about how we are safe and here and things, but i'm gonna count it as my first official letter :) It has to be quick tho! I arrived in Manila and wow it is crazy!  The people are honestly sooooo nice, but they drive so wacky... I flew with Elder Zasliger until tokyo and then we slowly picked up like 7 Elders, but no sisters. No one ever picked us up from the airport either... so we had to find a ride to the Hotel we were staying at and I was all alone with no Sister companion... haha it was terrifying, but luckily Sister Henzlinger came from Australiia to stay with me at like 2am. Then we had to wake up at 5am, which I got no sleep anyway so it's fine.. Now i'm in the MTC and wow I swear everyone knows Tagalog... haha this is going to be crazy. I'm out of time, but just know im doing good. It is very hot and humid here, but the people are awesome. My first companion is Sister Vaoesea. I'll tell you more about her next time. My Pday is Friday soooooo write me. I love you all so much. :)

Love, 

Sister Barton