Here we go...

Family!

So this week was awesome, as you know I was able to fly to Manila thursday to fridayand skype you! It was so awesome to talk to you guys even for just a little bit. To actually see that you are real life people. So thanks, I really enjoyed it and it was awesome (sorry Im weird.. it just happens being a missionary) Anyway, being in Manila was wonderful because I got to talk to President Ostler and receive revelation. Wow he is such an inspired man and I feel so lucky that he is my Mission President. 

This week a miracle happened. We have been teaching this teenage girl named Aprilyn and she is so great. She commited for baptism on June 25 and is really progressing. Im so excited for her! On Saturday we went to teach her and she had 2 other friends with her and said that her friends wanted to be taught as well. We taught them all the restoration and the lesson was so powerful and spiritual. One of the girls named Sister Cristina actually started crying and told us she felt something she has never felt before. Ahhhh she is so prepared and soooo good. It was such a spiritual lesson and our area is really started to progress. It's taken a while, but it is finally growing! :)

The next day, Sunday, we were greeting everyone who was coming in the church doors just like missionaries do and BOOM in walk these three girls ready for church to hear the word of God. It was amazing. Aprilyn isn't even a member, yet she is already doing missionary work. It is so cool to see how the Lord uses people to make miracles happen. OUR AREA IS GETTING SO GOOD. The Members are gaining so much more faith and slowly less actives are coming back to church and investigators are coming as well. I'm so happy with the way Coron is going. We also were so lucky to see the Basilan family walk into church again! The second Sunday in a row. They are a miracle and I will forever be grateful for their faithfulness and willingness to come to church, partake of the Sacrament, and renew their covenants with Heavenly Father. 

Missionary work is so cool. Kelsey I heard about you teaching Relief Society and killing it! Talking about missionary work. For living in Utah and there being so many members it would be easy to just push aside missionary work, but I say to you UTAH NEEDS IT. Not necessarily for finding new members to baptize, but for finding those who need to continue to hold onto the iron rod, or those who accidentally let go and need to find there way back to hold onto it again. I love love love missionary work. It is what keeps the church going. 

Now for some big NEWS!! If you got this far into my email, congrats cuz now you getta hear the news. Everyone's prayers didn't work. I'm leaving Coron. I found out Last night that I am leaving my little, beautiful island and im going to another little bit bigger, beautiful island called Puerto Princessa, Palawan. I am sad that I have to leave my people. Especially right when the area is starting to progress. This seems to always happen to me, but hey if its what the Lord wants, I will do His will. So I'm headed out on Wednesday. I'm very sad, but at least im just going to a different island, not back to the Mainland (the mainland gives me anxiety, I don't like it) but anyway Im excited to see what adventures are in store for me. I also heard they have good internet, electricity, and water! So im excited about that. It will be awesome being able to finally send you pictures again. haha Anyway I love you all and I love missionary work. Continue onward and upward. CTR.

Mahal ko kayo lahat!

Sister Barton 

7 MONTHS!!

Hello Everyone!

Guess who hit their 7 month mark this week? MEEEEE. Yay! Also this week has been one of the best weeks on the mission so far. So so so many spiritual experiences happened. So first off this week I saw my nanay, SISTER TIONGCO! ahhh it was so so awesome seeing her. I actually cried (I can't imagine what it is going to be like when I see my actual nanay in 11 months) haaha but It was so good having her come do exchanges with us. Then we had the biggest miracle happen yesterday at church. Wow. All I can say is Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. 

So exchanges with the STL's were awesome first off because of course it was with Sister Tiongco and second because we got to hike Mt. Tapyas again. Ahhh I love hiking it, but for some reason all the sisters hate hiking so we only get to do it when the STL's come... lame. But it was awesome. The view from the top is indescribable. Ahhh I love love love it. All I can say Is i really hope i don't get transferred next week because I love it here in Coron so much. It is so hard, but my relationship with my Savior and Heavenly Father is growing so much and I couldn't be more grateful. Also, after working so hard, being so obedient and trying are very best everyday to the point where we literally have body aches from working so hard, IT ALL PAID OFF.

This week we hit every single goal we made. Ahhh I love mission. But a huge miracle happened this week. They are the Basilan family. They are amazing. So Sister Vaka and I found them her last week with me clear out in a place called Bayo Bayo. It is super far, the farthest barangay in our whole area. So we ride there in a trike and it takes like 20 minutes and then we usually walk back cuz no trikes usually go there. So anyway when we found them we taught and realized that they were members of the church! So of course we weren't planning on really going back like maybe once every two or three weeks, but since they are members (less active) we were determined to go every week to visit them. So we have been going there for the last 5 or 6 weeks and they commit to coming to church everytime, but dont. They haven't partaken of the sacrament in 5 years so it is like crucial for them to come to church so that they can renew their covenants and be able to feel the spirit there again. So disappointment happens every week cuz they never come. 

This sunday we are sitting in church and we had quite a bit of less actives and investigators there, but again no basilan family. Later on during church we are sitting in gospel principles and the Branch President's wife comes in saying, "Sister Barton, Sister Lubrico, quick come here and look!" So we rush out of the class and tears came to my eyes because the Basilan family was there. Ahhh it filled my whole heart with joy. I can't express how happy I felt at that moment. They told us that they had WALKED all the way from their home just to come to church and partake of the sacrament. wow. talk about their faith. I honestly can't express how grateful I am for the Basilan family and for their example to me. So of course we got special permission from the Branch President and had Sacrament blessed just for them. After 5 years of not partaking of the sacrament, they were able to. Five years. Wow, my whole soul is filled with joy. I can't even explain it. That is what a mission is. I am feeling emotions I have never felt before. 

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am for the opportunity I had to come on this misson. I am finally realizing what it is to serve with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. All I ever think about is my investigators and how I can be better to help them. Ahhh I love my people here in Coron. Miracles are happening because of obedience and I couldn't be more thrilled. I love love love my mission. I can't wait to see what other miracles Heavenly Father has instore for me for the rest of the 11 months I am here. 

I know the church is true. I know that the gospel is the one and only way that will bring true happiness to our lives. If any of you have forgotten what it is like to have true happiness remember that it all stems from living the gospel. Giving your whole soul to God. Giving your whole self to Him and letting Him change you one day at a time. Line you will with Heavenly Fathers will and you will be changed forever. I promise. I love you all with my whole heart and I hope you have a great week. (If you don't, well you will cuz I get to talk to you on THURSDAY!!!) remember CTR and do what the Savior would want you to do.

Mahal na mahal ko kayo!

Sister Barton 

Change of Heart

Family!!

This week has been so good. I am working harder than I ever have on my mission and I can feel a difference inside of me. We are really taking "serve Him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength" literally. I LOVE WORKING. It is so rewarding to go home at the end of the night and know that you did everything you can for the Lord that day. 

The work is definitely hard here in Coron, sometimes I feel like we work so hard everyday and nothing happens.. but no effort is wasted. It is so true, we worked so hard this week. SO HARD. I can't even express how hard I feel like we worked to really get Coron started again. We planned, prayed, and worked. We worked and worked and worked. Most of the days we had 5-7 lessons and would OYM 30 to 40 people. I felt like, "Man we are really accomplishing what we are supposed to be" and it was an awesome feeling. Then it came around to being Saturday night and all of a sudden everyone (like all of our less actives and investigators) started to bail on going to church. They had so so so many excuses. It was so hard. To feel like you have been giving the Lord everything you have for the past three, four, five weeks and especially this last week and there won't be any action from the work that you have done.. I honesty just felt so sad and so bad like maybe we didn't do everything we could have. 

Then on Sunday morning we were sitting in the meeting house and no one. No less actives, no investigators, nothing. We had no one coming to church that day. Coron A had like 6 or 7 investigators at church and we had nothing. It was so heart breaking. As I was sitting thinking about everything I just realized. I did everything I could. I do not regret anything. I gave everything I had this week. After I had those thoughts I turn around and a family that we had just found and taught that week was walking in the door. My heart was so full of joy. I can't even express how happy I was to see this beautiful family walking in to observe our church and feel the Spirit. Oh the tender mercies of the Lord are so real. I can't even begin to express how much joy I felt just for knowing the Lord knows the desires of our hearts and we will be rewarded for our works. 

I love this gospel and this work more than anything. I love being a missionary. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love it. It is hard. It is the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life, but it is so awesome. I have already seen the changes in myself and i'm so excited to continually let the Lord change me into who he wants me to become. Change is not easy, but it is worth it. 

This week we had the opportunity of having Zone meeting with the four Coron sisters. It honestly was one of the most spiritual meetings ive had on my mission this far. It was about a change of heart. I always ask myself why I served a mission or why did I decide to come. I decided to go on a mission because I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ more than words can express, but I came on a mission because I was called to come. I have a very distinct moment of when I decided to come on a mission and I know that I am supposed to be here. Oh how blessed I feel that I acted on the revelation I received to come on a mission. I know my life would've been so much different if I would have ignored it and stayed home. I know Heavenly Father loves me because he sent me here. He is changing me into who he wants me to become and I love Him even more for it. It is so hard, but when I come home next year I know that my mission will have been the turning point for my mission. I love love love being here.

 In a talk we received to prepare for zone conference I read by President Ezra Taft Benson in 1989 it says, "no one is more anxious to see us change our lives than the Father and the Savior... The Lord is pleased with ever effort, even the tiny, daily ones in which we strive to be more like Him." I love love that. It's not like we are going to change everything about us in one day, one year, or even 18 months here on a mission. It is by the little steps. Day by day choices that make us change. That make us better. I want to be the best person I can be. I am striving to change my heart and to really serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. It is hard, but changing isn't easy. 

I want to let all of you know how much I love you. I love you so so so much. It's crazy how much is changing back over there in Utah, but i'm so excited to see what is to come of everything by the time I am home in a years time. I love my mission. I love serving here in the Philippines. It is definetly a one of a kinda place, and I wouldn't trade going anywhere else in the world, because I know I was called to come here. I love you all and I am so excited to talk to you in a week and a half!! MAGIGING SOBRANG MASAYA PO AKO!! 

Mahal ko kayo lahat!

Sister Barton 

More about Coron

Family!

Can I just say I AM SO HAPPY PRESIDENT OSTLER LOVES ME AND LET ME TALK TO YOU FOR A LITTLE BIT TODAY!!!! Ah that made my whole life and in just a couple weeks I get to see your beautiful faces!! I'm so excited! So you guys seemed to have loads of questions about Coron. So i'm just gonna give you a brief summary.

Coron Palawan is beautiful. My area is awesome because it has the mountains as well as the ocean. Im pretty sure I have the most beautiful area in the whole mission. It is one of a kind. So here in Coron it is the Summer season so it is blazing hotttttt... like so so so hot. I can' t even express how hott it is here. haha so anyway we do studies in the middle of the day and proselyte in the morning and night because it is too hot to go out in the middle of the day... we litterally like die if we go out during the hottest time haha but anyways so my area has mountains... like legit so we have to hike straight up mountains to get to houses as well as we have to walk on dirt roads and walk like 2 or 3 kilometers to get to other houses... we walk a ton. It's awesome haha there are tricycles, but taking them to every appointment gets really expensive so we don't take them much. In our area we also have what is called Bakawan and it is tulay which are like boards that are man made so that you can walk on them to get to the houses in the middle of the ocean haha It's so thrilling and an adventure. The funniest part is apparently Elders have fallen (which is disgusting cuz they all throw their garbage in there and use it as a bathroom and things.. so yuck) but so far none of the Sisters have fallen in.. so needless to say, we are better than the Elders. Hahaha Nah im just kidding, but it is fun to walk on it. I've almost fallen numerous times, but havent yet. It's so adventurous. I love it.

The people are super nice and I blow them away when I speak Tagalog cuz they never woulda thought a white foreigner girl could speak their language. So I love talking to them... Even if im not awesome at Tagalog I can still talk and blow their minds so it's cool. Haha We have a huge area and there are so many people so we are always teaching, always busy, and it's really awesome! I love being here cuz we don't have to worry about meetings or going to the mission home or office or anything all we have to worry about is working. 

My companion is awesome! She works so hard and is so diligent even tho she is going home in July. She is so Christ like its unbelievable. I can't even imagine being the way she is. Hahah She's so wonderful. I got super lucky, I'm really praying that in three weeks one of us doesn't get transferred cuz I really like our companionship and we teach really well together and everything is just going great. But anyway, she's the best so pray we will both stay here.

Anyway, there is so much to say about Coron and my area and I don't really know what else haha but I LOVE IT HERE!! It's probably the hardest area I have ever and will ever have, but it's so good. I love it. I remember reading the other day a scripture (I can't remember what one it is) but it says something like "we find our life by loosing it for the Savior's sake" I love love love that and I testify. At the beginning of my mission it was hard to feel like I was helping and I kinda just felt like I was wasting my time a little, but now being out for almost 7 months I can really testify that every little thing you do on a mission and in your life by giving service is not wasted. It's awesome to feel like I really am loosing myself in this work. I love each of the people we talk to each day and I feel like I truly am helping them even if they reject us or mock us. I love it. You may think i'm just trying to be positive, and I am, but I also know that by going through this hard, painful, wonderful, joyous mission I am growing more than I ever have in my life. I love my mission words can express. I love being here and I truly feel like I am finding my "new life" because I am working and serving the savior. I love missionary work and I love being apart of the 75,000 other missionaries serving in the world right now. 

I love you all with my whole heart and I feel blessed to have each one of you supporting me and being in my life. Thanks for all you do! CTR and I can't wait to talk to you in a short couple of weeks! 

Mahal ko kayo!

Sister Barton

sorry the internet really hasn't been working the past couple of weeks soooo no pics... but that's okay cuz i'll see ya soon and you can take pics then haha love you!!

Back At It

Family!!

Sorry to break it to you, but it's gonna be a while until I get to skype you cuz we can't skype until we go to Manila which will be I think the end of May... but it's okay cuz it'll make it that much more exciting when we do get to skype! :) But HAPPY EARLY MOTHERS DAY MOM!! I love you!! This week has been awesome! My companion Sister Lubrico is awesome too! We hit all of our goals and have been working so hard to get Coron up and going again. Yes it has been so good! I'm so happy talaga. I can't express how amazing it is to serve in Coron. It will probably be my hardest area ever, but I love it and I wouldn't want to serve anywhere else. I love it here. 

This last week I had the coolest experience. I'm finally starting to catch onto Tagalog a little more everyday. So this week we really tried to find new investigators who are true seekers so we walked a lot and talked to a lot of people to try and teach them and see if they were interested. We came across one particular family this week who seemed interested and wanted to hear what our message was all about. This women who was the main one interested is part of the Iglesia ni Cristo church. Many of you probably haven't heard of it, but it's kinda a run off religion of our church. It has many similarities, but many differences as well. One big difference it has is that they believe Jesus Christ is our Savior but he is just a person. I didn't know that they believed that until we taught this lady. So we were teaching more about who missionaries are and what we do everyday and what we teach. I asked her who Jesus Christ is to her and then she told me, "he is just a man" (in Tagalog of Course) and honestly it kind of stunned me. I just was staring at her like... are you serious? I obviously didn't want to offend her, but I needed to defend my Savior Jesus Christ. It was amazing. Boldly, but lovingly I told her who Jesus Christ was. I was able to testify of my Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ. I was able to explain to her that he is the Son of God. He is apart of the God Head and is perfect. It was one of the most powerful experiences on my mission. Even tho I didn't know how to speak really in depth about how I knew Jesus Christ was my Savior and who he is in Tagalog, in my simple clear words she knew that I KNEW who Jesus Christ was. The Spirit was so strong and I really felt the conviction of the Holy Ghost testify that what I was saying was true. It was amazing. 

I feel so so so extremely blessed to have the true Gospel of Jesus Christ here on Earth once more. It blesses my life immensely and I feel so grateful to be a Missionary and am able to serve the Lord with all of my heart. I was always scared to see what I would say if someone ever tried to Bible bash me or try to convince me of something I knew was wrong. It's awesome how the Spirit can work through you and truly just testify of what I know to be true. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I know that through accepting and living the Gospel is the only way to return back to our Heavenly Father. I know that Jesus Christ is perfect and he was our only hope in returning back to our Father in Heaven. I believe in Christ. 

I love being on a mission. Everyday we get to study more and more about this perfect gospel and about our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I love being here in the Philippines helping my brothers and sisters use their agency to choose to return back to our Heavenly Fathers presence. Oh how much I love this gospel and how much I love God's plan for us. I came on a mission to help people change their lives. Of course it is hard, but when you are trying your best and you feel the blessings coming from working hard and doing what the Lord wants you to do, that is when you know everything you are going through is worth it. 

I love you all. I thank you for supporting and loving me. Wow it's crazy how many things are changing back at home. It's good though. I hope everyone is doing well and reading the Book of Mormon everyday, even for just 5 min. I promise that Book, if it hasn't already will change your life. I love you all. Choose The Right. 

Mahal ko kayo,

Sister Barton