17 Months

Family,

Hello everyone!! So guess how old I will be turning in the mission tomorrow.. 17 months. Ahhh time is flying and it's insane weird for me to understand. I'm absolutely loving my mission though. Wow, the things I am learning are such a benefit to me right now and I know they will be for the rest of my life. This week was amazing. On Tuesday I attended Finish strong... meaning i'm gonna go home soon so I gotta finish strong as a missionary haha, then we had exchanges with sisters, and I went with Sister Tekanene again, she is probably so sick of me, but that's okay cuz we had a great time. Then on Saturday Ronilo Mesa Jr. was able to GET BAPTIZED!! It was an amazing experience.. a little stressful, but amazing. 

So to start off, I just wanna tell you a little bit about finish strong cuz it was really really good. All my sisters batch was there and then of course we had a different elders batch with us. It was really weird cuz I've always heard of finish strong and how the "dying missionaries" go there, but I never thought I would ever attend. It was honestly a very inspired meeting though. We learned so much about "the after life" or what we will do after our missions as well as we talked about finishing strong. One thing that really touch me while I had attended the meeting was when we talked about finishing strong Sister Ostler showed a video of a track race. It was 4 girls running the 400. About half way through the race one of the girls totally biffed it and fell on her face. When she fell the other girls were running way fast and were way ahead of her, but the girl who fell got up and started running faster than anyone I've ever seen. She passed up the girl in the back then the girl in second place, then as she was getting closer to the finish line she gave it all her might and won the race. Ahhhhh it was incredible. I literally was just in awe while watching this race and watching this girl who fell so hard and had little to no chance of winning the race come back full throttle and win. It was amazing. 

After watching this I was pondering how much I feel like I am the girl who fell. I feel like at the beginning of my mission I had so much energy, I was so alive, and I just was ready to go on this mission with everything in my heart. Then, I fell, I got dengue and it literally took a lot out of me. I fell flat on my face. Then, with the help and love of companions, senior couples, other leaders, and the mission president, I was able to get up again and run. I still feel like I am not the same person I used to be, but It's nice to know that I can run. I can still give it MY all. Even if MY all isn't as much as someone elses, I know that the Lord knows that that is what I can give. And as long as I am giving MY best, he will accept it. I'm grateful for the chance I have to continue to try and work and give my whole heart to this work. 

On Saturday I got to see the rewards of giving all I have to this work. Ronilo Mesa Jr. got baptized. He is literally like one of my favorite people ever! As the days were coming close to his baptism we were trying to get everything prepared, on Friday we had Norman get interviewed for his upcoming baptism and borrowed the key to the church. Then on Saturday we showed up to the church around 5pm and the baptism starts at 6pm. When we walked in everyone was freaking out telling us there was no water for the font... So we started to fill up buckets from the bathroom sinks to fill up the font. After about 20 or 30 min of doing this, they finally told me they needed the key that another member had. I explained to them that because of the interview I had the key. Apparently they needed the key to turn on the water for the font.. nobody told us that... hahaha so it was a little bit of a fail. Then we had to wait for the font to fill up and it took like an hour and a half.. so we weren't able to actually start the baptism until 7pm. But even though things were a little rough getting started, I feel like this was one of the greatest baptisms I've ever been too. Ronilo brought 2 of his friends who got to witness him get baptized, a couple days before his baptism Ronilo introduced these two friends to us and we were actually able to teach them. It was a really wonderful experience both for us and Ronilo himself. He is already such a good missionary. 

But during the baptism we had some youth who are friends with Ronilo speak and the spirit was so strong. Then we had a member from the bishopric, who has worked with us many times in teaching the Mesa family, baptize Ronilo. As brother Umalia said the ending words to baptize Ronilo, Ronilo then descended into the water and afterwards once he came up he just looked at everyone sitting down and watching him and smiled the biggest smile I had ever seen him smile. He was so happy. It just goes to show the "joy" that comes from bring just one soul unto Christ. I felt such extreme joy and happiness that Ronilo had chosen to get baptized and follow the example of Jesus Christ. Even with a lot of challenges with the Mesa family, they are each decided for themselves to change and to be a little better and try a little harder to make a much greater difference in their lives. It's truly amazing to see them grow and to see them, one by one, accept the gospel. 

I feel so grateful to be a missionary for my savior Jesus Christ. I'm grateful to be able to say, "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." -3 Nephi 5:13. 

I love this work, I love this gospel, I am grateful to be able to do what is right always and to be an example and a light to the world. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to search for those who are waiting for me to find them so that they can hear the truth. I love being a disciple of Jesus Christ and I am grateful for all my mission has brought me. Thank you for being you and for helping others grow in ways you couldn't imagine. I know each one of you has helped me grow and develop my skills and attributes to become a better person. So thanks for being so great, I really do love you all.

Mahal ko kayo,

Sister Barton