The Work for the Other Side

Family!

Oh how much I love you all. Slowly but surely things are starting to improve. We were able to have a returning less active become fully active this week. Ahhh it was such a cool experience being able to help her build her faith, reteach her, and bring her back to her loving Heavenly Father once more. Her name is Sister Jaylo and I honestly am obsessed with her (in the least creepy way possible) I really love her. Everytime we teach and share with her the spirit is so strong. I honestly feel like we were like really good friends in the premortal life. (Even tho she's like 60) ahhh I love her. One thing we had to do in order for her to become fully active was... FAMILY HISTORY. To be honest before this experience I kinda thought Family history was lame and pointless, but it's not. Family History is so important. 

Nanay Jaylo is really interested in her family's history. Like so interested. Everytime we would visit her she would ask if I could teach her how to do family history and everytime I would just kinda shrug it off and be like, "nay if ya wanna learn family history ask the family history consultant" (cuz honestly, i didn't really know how to do it...) So anyway then on Wednesday I get this text from our district leader telling us we were going to have a family history activity on Saturday to help our recent converts and less actives do family history to become fully active. So from Wednesday to SaturdaySister Tekanene and I told all our RC's and LA's about the activity.. I wasn't super thrilled about it cuz I thought it sounded kinda boring... but anyway so we of course invited nanay Jaylo and she was jumping off the walls with excitement, the way a 60 year old can jump off the walls... haha but really she was happy so I was like okay.. maybe it'll be fun... like who knows? 

So Saturday comes a long and we went to the Church to start our Family History activity. It started at 9am.. but with Filipino time people didn't show up until about 10 or 10:30am. So anyway we are waiting for everyone and for some reason Nanay Jaylo wasn't there. She just didn't show up. We kept texting her, but no reply. Then her daughter Lorita comes in and so we ask where her Mom was and she said she was wondering the same thing. So anyway we start the Family History Activity and start going on the computers and then in walks Nanay Jaylo with her family booklet in hand, ready to go. 

I can't express to you how excited she was to do Family History Work. I asked why she was late and she told me that she had walked all the way from her house to the church.. which was probably a good 3 or 4 km which is really far. She doesn't have much money so she said she had to walk.. She has a big concern about not having enough money for the things she needs. She was sealed and endowed in the temple in 2003, but afterwards became less active and her husband had died and she hasn't been to the temple since. One thing that is really cool tho is that the we have a temple day where a bunch of members from our branch are sailing (by boat) to Manila to go to the temple. And being apart of the beautiful church we are apart of Nanay Jaylo and her daughter were invited. The ticket paid for and everything. TALK ABOUT A BLESSING. I have been praying like crazy for something like this to happen to Nanay Jaylo. Not only to strengthen her faith, but to help her understand the importance of the temple. 

So anyway she gets to go to the temple in July! But back to the original story, we were getting her names so she could take them to the temple to do proxi for them. As we started, I was helping her find her ancestors and what they need to get done in the temple and all that great stuff. As we started it was kind of hard because not only was I helping her when I didn't really know what I was doing, but she had so many questions.. So I just had to wing it... As she was so excited and so interested though it kind of made me really excited and interested. So we got started doing her family history and we found so many of her ancestors who haven't gotten any ordinances done inside of the temple. As we were researching and looking for her ancestors, I don't know how to quite explain the feelings I had. The spirit was so strong. I could literally feel her ancestors in Spirit there in the room. It was the neatest experience for me. I really felt like her ancestors were in the room with us in spirit and they were just saying thank you and literally leading us to find more and more of her ancestors. It was the coolest thing.  I really can't quite explain it. We were researching them for like 2 hours just researching and printing and researching and printing and it was awesome. 

I really have much more of an appreciation for family history work as well as for temple work. It is amazing to see how much happiness you can feel by doing the work for those you love who have already passed onto the other side. It is especially cool when you know they are with you, blessing you, and helping you every step of the way. It's crazy because there are only 2 temples in all of the Philippines and being from Utah we have what like 15 temples... in just 1 state. I feel so blessed to be from a place that has so many temples. So many sacred places where we can go to feel the closest to Heaven. Honestly this experience with Nanay Jaylo probably changed my whole outlook and perspective when it comes to Family History work. It is so cool and it is a whole other way to do missionary work, just the work for those on the other side. 

I love you all so much and I'm grateful for your examples to me in my life. I hope you all have a beautiful week full of happiness. Know I am doing well and Im still going. One day at a time. One experience at a time. I love my mission. All members are missionaries so continue to share the gospel with EVERYONE cuz everyone needs to be as happy as us and with the restored gospel they can. I love you all. Be happy and chose the right. 

Love,
Sister Barton 

8 MONTHS

WOW I've made it! 8 months!! :) Can you believe it? FINALLY! Ahhh this week has been something else. It's so funny cuz in Coron no one ever fed us cuz they didn't have any food to give us, but here we eat at someones house everyday... SO HERE WE GO.. im gonna get fat again. hahah we had 2 dinners yesterday. AHHH I love it. It's so funny to try to stuff your face with food cuz it's rude if you don't eat everything on your plate and get more. haha 

But really this week has been a lot better than the previous weeks. We are finally finding people in our area and where are area is and all of that great stuff. Minus getting lost for a couple hours this week things are looking good. We were able to have a one day mission on Saturday. Not a lot of women showed up to be a part of if, but we were able to work with the Branch President, President Somara and his Daughter Joann. It was really good because we were able to visit some less actives and I think that they feel a lot more valued when the President himself came to visit them. We were able to share John 6 with them and Jesus asks a really good question to his apostles. Many of the people took what Jesus said about partaking of His body and blood literally and it offended them so they left Jesus and departed. After this happened Jesus turned to the twelve and says, "Will ye also go away?" The twelve reply and say, "We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." I love this. If we have a firm testimony of Jesus Christ we will never leave Him. We will never go astray or fall away, but we will be faithful to Him forever. 

 I really love focusing on the Less Actives because I honestly think the core is bringing back the ones who are already members and who already have or had a testimony. I just want to show them how much I love them and how much our Heavenly Father loves them. It's so hard to want something so badly, but know they have their agency to chose. I can't imagine how it would be to be Heavenly Father and just watch your children make choices. Even for myself.. I've probably frustrated Heavenly Father too many times to count. haha 

We are also trying to find new investigators. We try our best to OYM as many people as we can everyday, but it's a little rough considering we got lots of buisnesses in our area... This week I wanted to try something new so we actually went tracting. It was really a cool experience. We got punted all day so instead of just walking around hoping someone would be interested as we talked to them on the street, we went on this one street and literally went door to door knocking and asking them if they were interested in a message that could change their lives. It was really cool because not only did it take great courage, but also great faith. I've never actually tried going from door to door knocking, but it was neat to see the Lord working through us. We actually were able to find people who were interested. It just shows that if you really want to work and find those people who are waiting for the gospel, you just go out and find them. Knock and try your best. Of course there was many rejections, but the ones who didn't reject and who were open to the message, they were the ones when I knew this is what missionary work is. 

I absolutely love being a missionary. I feel grateful to be here. It is hard, but it is worth it. I can do it with the Lord I can do anything. It is cool to see how much I have grown in these last 8 months on MY mission. That's what I have realized, also from the great advice of Jens. But that this is my Mission and I can have it be anyway I want it. It's all about my attitude. I just need to have a positive attitude and a heart full of gratitude everyday. I am really starting to love it here. And I feel like Heavenly Father put me here for a reason. Things are looking up and time is flying. 8 months down.. and in 10 i'll be right back in good old Utah doing whatever you guys do over there. Haha

I love you all so much and I'm so happy that I have a wonderful family and amazing friends to help support me in this crazy amazing adventure of mine. Remember to be happy and to chose the right everyday. It's all about the simple choices and the simple things. 

Mahal ko kayo,

Sister Barton 

Slowly but Surely

Fam!

Sorry I don't have a ton of time this week. We had a branch activity so our email time is a little less and I also spent a lot of time looking and Jens and Quincie's engagement photos. AHHHH THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. Wow congrats talaga. :)

This week... you know I got through it and that is that. haha I've never felt so much hardship on my mission before, but thats okay because I am doing it. One day, one step, one trial at a time. I am doing it. I know the Lord has called me to serve in puerto princesa branch one for a reason. I may not know the particular reason, but i know he wants me to learn and to grow, as well as to help others come unto Him and His Son Jesus Christ. It is hard and it is going to continue to be hard, but I realized that if I really want to truly change into the person Heavenly Father wants me to become I need to have faith, have trust, and endure, not only endure, but endure well. I know with His help I will be strong and I will be able to do everything He wants me to do in this part of His vineyard. 

On Sunday I had the wonderful opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting about a change of heart and true conversion. It was really awesome because not only was I able to share how the Branch can change their hearts and come closer to Christ, but I learned what I need to do to come closer to Christ. I feel like whenever I have to prepare a talk, the topic is way more for me, rather than for the people I am speaking to. It's weird how that works. I also was able to say my talk and everything in Tagalog. I was able to express myself in TAGALOG. Ahhhh wow, how blessed I feel for the gift of tongues. I remember just a few months ago when I had to write a talk to give in Coron and how hard it was. I stayed up all night trying to figure out what to say and how to say it and now I prepared it and was able to say it and express what I wanted to from my heart. The feelings I had after I gave my talk were indescribable. Of course I still have a lot to work on to become really good at Tagalog, but it was nice to see that all the hardships I had at the beginning of my mission with the language are starting to pay off. 

I know this area might be a struggle, but we were working with Sister Gladys (one of the members in our branch) this week and she told me about one of her experiences on her mission and said that she had a really hard area once while she was training. She cried all the time and it was really hard, but she said that she learned to truly trust that this is where the Lord wanted her to be. She was able to visit members and create long-lasting relationships. She then told me, that out of all her areas that one was her favorite. The one that caused her the most heartache and pain. The hardest one on her mission. That was her area where she felt she learned the most and grew the most. 

It is always nice to think, the hardships I am having right now are all temporal hardships. They will be worth it to be refrained and become who I need to be. Looking back on my mission already I've seen myself grow so much. I know I can do this, with the strength of the Lord. It is going to be hard, but I am just going to have to work really hard and try my very best everyday. Because that is all I can do. I can do my best and give the rest to the Lord. So that's what I'm going to do. 

We've already started to see miracles tho. All week we were looking for an investigator named Jessa. We couldn't find her anywhere. We literally looked for her for so long. Then BAM guess who was in sacrament meeting.. JESSA. I think I just needa chill and not stress out so much. Just enjoy my mission and be faithful even when I don't see any progress. 

I love you all and I thank you for the words of encouragement. Salamat po para sa lahat. You are all my favorite and don't worry about me.. Im just gonna keep on going. Slowly but surely just like the turtle in that one funny story. haha Everyone be happy, ctr, and share the gospel because we know the truth.

Mahal ko kayo,

Sister Barton 

Here we go

Family...

Wow has this week been interesting. So as I said last Monday I was transferred to Puerto Princesa. Little did I know it was going to be like this.. So on Wednesday I went from Coron, flew to Manila, and then flew to Puerto Princesa. As I was in Manila I was alone for probably like 5 hours.. So that was weird NO COMPANION. And I had to take a taxi by myself from one terminal to the other and anyway it's weird being alone, but anyway so I am sitting in the airport reading the scriptures, oyming, doing what missionaries do haha idk. Then I see all these Sisters and Elders walking in and I was like ahhhh yeah MORMONS! Hahaha so I start talking to all of them and I see the girl I did MTC exchanges with. (Idk if you remember but when I almost got out of my training and I did exchanges with people from the MTC) yeah so her. Anyway we get talking and she is like "Oh by the way we are companions"... (in her broken english cuz she's from Kirabis and doesn't quite know english that well.. or tagalog) So anyway I was like AHHH YAY REALLY!?! But in my heart I was freaking out.. Then I get a call from the Office Elders just making sure I'm okay and I made it safely and everything so I ask them who my companion is and what's going on and everything... And that is when I freaked out. 

Needless to say. My companion is Sister Tekanene (formerly known as Sister Kamoa, don't ask me why cuz idk) She is from Kirabis idk where that is, but somewhere by guam. She just got out of training and she doesn't know English or Tagalog very well. So it's awesome. So I am the follow up trainer, Senior companion, and we are fresh starting in Palawan. Palawan doesn't have addresses. It has street names and that's about as good as it gets. So lets just say this last week has been the hardest week of my whole mission. This transfer will probably be the hardest transfer of my whole mission. I feel like I always say that, but my mission is just getting harder and harder... Ahhhh I think Heavenly Father is just waiting to see if I'm going to kill over and die. 

So we arrived at our apartment late in the evening on wednesday night, so while my companion did Personal Study I studied the area book. I tried my very best to memorize people and do things that I have done before while fresh starting, but It's a lot different in Palawan and being the Senior companion. Anyway we finally grabbed some food and then went to bed. Thursday before we went out I texted all the branch missionaries but not one texted back.. so i was just like okay cool. Here we go. So we literally walked around all day trying to find all these less active families in our branch and just do the best that we could. We have SO many less active families in our area and we have NO progressing investigators. So it's awesome. Not to mention we are two foreigners and I can teach and do things like that, but I don't understand everything and I can't say everything I want to say in Tagalog, so it's a little bit rough... 

Friday again... no member works with us. We literally couldn't find any of the people we were trying to find. We walked SO MUCH. Wow, I have never walked so much in my entire life (even on trek) we walked all day and tried to find people or just anyone to listen to us and wala. nothing. It was so hard. Saturday was the same. No members worked with us again. 

Then on Sunday (new missionaries/fast and testimony meeting) we go up to bear our testimonies and we have SO MANY PEOPLE in our branch, yet no one wants to work. They all just wanna eat and laugh. Like don't get me wrong I love eating and laughing, but come on this is the Lord's work we are talking about. Ahhh so I bore my testimony and told them how wonderful they all are and how excited I am to work with all of them because I know they are all very diligent and hard working. Then on Sunday in Coordination meeting I really just told them how much we really need members to work with us. (in a really nice and loving manner) and BOOM Sunday night we had a member work with us! She toured us  around our whole area and helped us find the people we weren't able to and it was awesome. Like wow what a miracle from the Lord. 

As hard as it is follow up training, fresh starting, and all with a foreigner companion, I am actually really grateful for this opportunity. It is really hard, but I have already seen what the Lord can do through me to this area. It's so cool to see things happen and people understand and just being able to really feel the Holy Ghost work through you. This is one of the hardest things i've ever done in my entire life (i've cried like 7 times in the last three days in the bathroom of course so no one sees) haha but really It is cool to see the tender mercies and the little signs Heavenly Father shows us to say like keep going. You can do it.

Some of those signs this week were: We were able to find 2 families to teach through Oyming because we couldn't find the people we actually wanted to find, we are able to rely more fully on the spirit to help us understand what people are saying as well as to reply. Friday was also really cool, because I had the impression to go this random house and ask if they knew someone we were looking for and turns out they were actually investigators that we had been looking for the previous day. They were busy so we weren't able to teach them, but just to see that we were led by the spirit to go to that house was really cool. I think this transfer will really change me and will really help me not only grow closer to Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ, but it will also show me what I am capable of doing. I am grateful for this opportunity and to be able to be here. in the Philippines serving the Lord and doing his work. I love missionary work. It may be the hardest thing I will ever do in my life, but that's okay. It is a little price to pay compared to the price Jesus Christ paid for our Salvation.

I love you all. I thank you for the support and for the prayers. Please continue to pray haha cuz im going to need it. Maybe if ya want you can send me like motivational quotes or stories or something to keep me going. hahah LIFE AS A MISSIONARY IS ... indescribable. I love you all. Chose the Right and be happy!

Love,

Sister Barton