I Love my Mission

In the New Testament there is a story that is told in Mark 6:30-44
about Jesus Christ. Many people know it as the feeding of the 5
thousand, the Saviour and His apostles have been teaching people far
out in the desert and there comes a time when the apostles look around
them and ask if they should send all of the people back out to the
towns to buy bread and sustenance for themselves. When the Saviour
hears this, all that He asks of the apostles is to bring him what they
have. It happens to be just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, definitely
not enough to feed 5 thousand people! At least, that's what they
thought.
They give their offering to Jesus Christ and in turn He blesses it and
prays over the meager 5 loaves and 2 fish. The apostles, who each have
a basket to distribute to the people now are able to feed 5 thousand
people from the small offering they made to the Saviour. Christ was
able to take what they had and expand it into something useful to help
others.
I share that because that is how I feel about my mission. Harley
Barnes from Utah, with all of her shortcomings and imperfections was
blessed by the Saviour. My mission has taught me that it doesn't
matter what we have to give, all that matters is that we give. Christ
makes up the rest. I am so thankful for Him. I love Him so much.

I love England. I truly love this country and these people. They are
apart of who I am and I will always treasure my experiences I had. My
mission was better than I ever could have imagined, I am thankful for
my wards, my companions, and my investigators. I am so thankful for
President and Sister Stevens, they have helped me to feel the spirit
so strong and to have a clear vision of Eternity.


I have a testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints is the church that was established by the Lord Jesus Christ. I
know that the power and authority of God has been restored to the
earth and I want to scream it from every rooftop! The Heavens are
open. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that the
Book of Mormon is indeed true. If it wasn't I would not have stayed
out here for 18 months. The Book of Mormon has helped me in powerful
and personal ways each day of my mission. I know that we have 12
modern day Apostles and a prophet on earth today named Russell M.
Nelson, he has surely been called by God. I know that our Father In
Heaven loves us tremendously and has a plan for us. I know that Jesus
Christ is our Brother, Our Friend, Our Saviour. I love Him SO much.

My mission has been the best experience of my life and nothing can
take that away from me!

See you soon!

XOXO
Sister Barnes

The Best People in the World

I have often wondered on my mission how is it that I get to teach the
BEST people on Earth? That's really how I feel. Luke was baptised and
confirmed this weekend as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints. It was a beautiful baptism! He shared his testimony
at it and everything. The ward is so happy and excited for him.
Serving a mission is just one giant miracle, I remember stopping Luke
in the street one of our first days in Northampton and then just one
month later, sitting in sacrament meeting and sustaining him as the
newest member of the church. He is a diamond.
It was also cool because William, my recent convert from Hayes who is
a diamond himself, came to visit us on Saturday up in Northampton. He
got to meet Luke and we had dinner with them and I honestly felt like
I was in Heaven. It was so good to catch up with William and to hear
about all of the good that he is doing. That man has progressed so
much in the Gospel and is planning to receive his endowment in June! I
just love them both SO MUCH. Two of the most amazing people I have
ever taught in one room was just too much joy!
I had a wonderful week here with Sister Moraes and Tivaganon and I
can't wait to start the next one:) I know that this Gospel is true, it
gives me strength every single day.

Love you lots!


XOXO
Sister Barnes

Here Comes the Sun

The sun has been shining in England! For once. We have been spending

every moment of the day outside, the weather has been so nice!
On Thursday we went into London for Zone conference, we drove in with
the zone leaders and we got a flat tire on the way so we had to make
a detour. It was fun to be there for my greenies' first zone
Conference and my last. One thing that really stood out to me was from
a little devotional that Elder Rees gave. He talked about how the
Saviour didn't volunteer to fulfill His role but was chosen by the
Father because God knew that Jesus was the one who could do it. I love
Jesus Christ so much. As much as I loved Him before my mission that
has expanded to AT LEAST 70 times 7. We are so blessed to have the
fullness of the everlasting Gospel in our lives!
Yesterday our investigator passed his baptismal interview!! We are so
happy for him! He just has so much faith and willingness to do what is
right. We are all so thrilled:)
That is a brief summary of the week, I love you all and hope you are
doing amazing.


 XOXO
Sister Barnes

The Heavens are Open

 This week I found myself face to face with Russell M. Nelson's kind
eyes. He took my hand in his and said, "Sister Barnes. It's nice to
meet you!" So needless to say, Sister Barnes is doing pretty good. The
England London Mission had a celestial visit from our dear prophet,
accompanied by Jeffrey R. Holland and their wives. It was good to
shake hands with Elder Holland again. He came back for round 2! Before
I even talk about the magnificent messages that they shared with us, I
just have to say one thing:
Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God. Rarely in my life have I felt
the spirit testify to my heart so strongly. Meeting him and being able
to look into his eyes was such a spiritual experience. There is such a
bright light in his eyes! Elder Holland has the same sparkle in his
eyes. They are living, re-affirming witnesses this church is led by
Jesus Christ Himself.
It was the most amazing meeting! Sister Holland talked to us about the
power of prayer and shared her powerful witness that when we pray and
visually imagine every detail of the Saviour's face and pour out our
hearts with great energy it changes our lives. I loved her message.

Sister Nelson told us something that has changed my entire mission.
She told us that instead of praying to be led to those that are
prepared to receive the restored Gospel, to pray instead for those
whose ancestors have already accepted the Gospel and who are fervently
praying for their family member to accept the Gospel too so that they
can perform ordinances for them. We have been praying in that way all
week and it has changed the way I look at people so much. We have seen
miracles from it. People have been walking up to us (a man just barely
did his today) and saying that they have family members who have
passed on that were Mormon. Our friend we met today stopped us and
told us he remembers being a little boy and seeing his dad reading the
Book of Mormon. He never quite knew what it was and his father passed
away, he has always looked out for Mormons but never seen them until
today. Miracles like this are happening here now.
Elder Holland shared his majestic powerful witness of Jesus Christ and
our duty as missionaries.
President Nelson just got up and slammed us all with the spirit. He
talked about so many things that I could never sum up but I'll just
say that I am a better missionary now that I have heard what he had to
say to us. Seriously I have never applied counsel so quickly and seen
immediate and miraculous results. He is so wonderful!
The day after our big meeting, our investigator came to meet with us
and told us he wanted to be a member. Um ok! It was so awesome. We
were also able to bring a lot of really amazing people to church this
week, the ward was so welcoming and they loved the service! It has
been a heavenly week.


Sending all my love!

XOXO
Sister Barnes

Mama Barnes

Hahaha oh I am laughing so hard at this subject line. Anyways. This
week has been challenging and super rewarding. I received my new
daughter (this sounds so weird, I know) she is from Thailand and her
name is Sister Tivaganon and she is SO tiny and has the cutest Asian
accent ever. Like I die every day, these two are so cute. They don't
speak very much English and have just barely learned in the MTC and so
it is so funny for all of us to communicate together. They are so
cute. I just can't get over how cute they are. I feel like a
legitimate mother. I love seeing them work every day, they go all in
and just try their best and when they don't know something they both
just look at me. . . It's just adorable and so fun!
We had a pretty hard week but so many good things happened as well.
Our investigators progressing towards baptism are doing incredible! I
am so thankful for that! We have some really good investigators in
Northampton right now. Yesterday one of them couldn't make it to
church for the 1st time because he got called into work early, as soon
as he got off he sent us a text saying that he still really wanted to
come see the church and so he came on the bus and walked forever with
us so that we could give him a chapel tour. And as we were street
contacting this week it was pretty rocky because a lot of our
appointments fell through so we basically just lived on the streets,
during one of our finding sessions we ran into one of our
investigators progressing towards baptism, and she came up and hugged
us and told us her phone had broke! (I could literally hear Angels
singing hallelujah. . . .I had been so worried about her) And she was
standing outside of a phone repair shop and so that's just how you
know it's real. She was so happy to see us! Oh it was so good. We are
excited to see her his week.
I have attached photos of my two foreign hooligans so you can admire
them like I do! Have an awesome week!

I love you!

XOXO
Sister Barnes

He is Risen!

Our 2nd week in Northampton was one for the books! We had the biggest
miracle of my life. We were able to extend some baptismal dates this
week and our investigators are SO awesome. Sister Moraes extended her
first baptismal date on Tuesday to the coolest guy ever, he is now
preparing for baptism on April 28th and is loving the Gospel!! Also on
Tuesday we had a random call from an old investigator in the phone, he
just said "hey, I'm at the library, want to meet?" And so we rushed to
the library and we met with this guy from Moldova and he brought his
wife. They have met missionaries before in Moldova and knew all about
General Conference, Joseph Smith, missionary English class, and sports
night! They gave us their address and we went to visit them the next
day. We taught them about the Restoration and at the end, C, the wife,
gets up and shows us a video she found on the website we gave her. It
was the Hope of God's Light! Such a powerful video, and she loved it
so much! We then went into the next room and they had prepared a
traditional Moldovan meal for us. It was the sweetest thing ever. Also
since she was working morning, C was able to come to Bishop's and
watch General Conference with us! It has been so amazing to teach
them. I am loving it here!
General conference was the most amazing experience. I can't even
gather my thoughts about it because it was that incredible. I sure
love Russell M. Nelson, I know that he is a prophet of God.

Transfer news, there will be a new addition to the party, President
has asked that in addition to Sister Moraes, I also train a new sister
from Thailand. Yay for double training! We are all so excited!

XOXO
Sister Barnes

I Heart Northampton

Wow sometimes I promise, I feel like I am living the dream. The
missionary life dream. Our new area, Northampton is gorgeous. I
thought that it would be hard to adjust from being in London, but it
is so posh here. It's so nice!! And my new companion is so amazing.
Sister Moraes (pronounced like More eyes:) She is from the North of
Brazil (just like my other daughter!) We understand each other 50% of
the time. I love being with language missionaries, the spirit always
surrounds them so strong and it helps so much to be able to focus on
what is really important in missionary work and that is the spirit.
Basically we just Proselyte around all these posh streets and let the
spirit guide. I've never had more fun in my life! The members here are
incredible and gave us a huge, warm welcome. They are excited to have
sisters back in the area.
Our first day here, as we were speaking with people we found a girl
that came and sat right down in the library with us and had a lesson
right then and there. The next day, we had interviews in Bedford and
so we had a Skype lesson with her and she accepted a date to be
baptised! We also met a wonderful guy, S, this week who has been a
huge blessing! He gave us chocolate when we met him and was so excited
to come to church. He came yesterday and absolutely loved it! I was so
humbled and grateful for these miracles.
The work is going well here and I am super excited to continue all of
these good things in Northampton. I know that there are so many
blessings that Heavenly Father is just waiting to give us, all we need
to do is to simply ask. I am so thankful for his truth and I am
thankful to be a missionary!


Christ has no hands but our hands
To do His work today
He has no feet but our feet
To lead men in His way
He has no tongue but our tongues
To tell men how He died
He has no help but our help
To lead men to His side

-author unknown

XOXO

Sister Barnes