Oh Come all ye be Full

I would like to take a minute to talk about British Christmas Dinner.
Sister Barnes might come home weighing a thousand pounds because,
well, England does it right. Take into account the awesomeness of the
ward I'm serving in and you have a recipe for a perfect Christmas. We
had a wonderful time!! Also, let's talk about how Christmas was on
Sunday this year. Such a fantastic time to be a missionary I'm telling
you, it was absolutely unforgettable.
We spent Christmas Eve at a member's house as they had a little party.
It was straight up magical! We found a new investigator on high street
like an hour before we arrived so we were in such high spirits! Ahhh
it was wonderful, they had their house decorated so festive and it was
the funnest time. The next morning we took one of our investigator to
the Christmas Day church service. It was one of the happiest times in
my life being able to take the sacrament on Christmas Sunday as a
missionary and with an investigator by my side. Magical.
Christmas Day was spent with the Thorpe family who are some of my
favourite people known to man. We had the best time with them!! The
ward really spoiled us with presents and love! I am truly blessed to
be here.
We did Skype calls to our families too! I cried the minute their faces
came on the screen because it was just so good to see them. It gave me
such a boost! I sure love my family!
The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day in Great Britain, and
it's a holiday in itself, I don't know why but it has been awesome. We
had breakfast this morning with Bishop's family, who we love and adore
dearly. (We also got a picture with their two boys who are my
favourite British children oh my gosh they are adorable) And we spent
the day at the Brown's! They made us another Christmas dinner and let
us watch a movie at their house since we were allowed to watch one on
Boxing Day, it was awesome!! It's been a wonderful week!
We also had our 3 week meeting on Thursday and I got to go to London
and be reunited with my MTC family and my forever friend, Sister
Abeling. It was wonderful!! Good stuff all around!
Love you all lots❤️
XOXO
Sista Bahhhhns

Away In a Manger

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Christmas in England has
been wonderful!! We had our mission Christmas Conference and it was
such a party! President Stevens used to be in the Mormon Tabernacle
Choir and he sang a beautiful song for us. And Sister Stevens is a
legend. I love that woman. It was so good to spend the day being
surrounded by some of the kindest and best people on earth, I love the
missionaries I get to serve with. We also had a fun Christmas Dinner
with the Gillingham 2nd ward relief society. It was so much fun! I
love the area I'm serving in so much. And church on Sunday was the
best because they did the nativity and you have not lived until you
watch a nativity put on by little British children. It was so
precious, I was dying. It's fun to see that Christmas spirit is
worldwide and that anywhere can feel like home when you have that
feeling. It was also a good week spent with our progressing
investigators who are doing so well! We have seen a lot of miracles
and I'm thankful to be a missionary during this season. This has
always been a very sacred time to me and I've spent more time thinking
about Christ than I ever have before, one of the scriptures we have
been sharing a lot lately is found in Alma:
10 And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the
land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen
vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the
Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and
temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled
which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his
people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of
death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their
infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to
the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his
people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7)

It talks about Christ and all that was made possible by Him. I love
Christmas and the Nativity so very much, but I love the Savior most of
all. I hope you have the Merriest Christmas!❤️
XOXO
Sister Barnes

A Child's Storybook

This week was one for the books! I traveled all around England for a
bunch of different mission meetings. As of now we have two wonderful
gentlemen on date for baptism and I love them dearly. We have a great
moment with one of our investigators this week as we showed him the
baptismal font and all kneeled down in prayer to ask if baptism was
right for him. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!
We also have two great new investigators who have been coming to
church regularly, we love them!
We had our first exchange with the Sister Training Leaders in Ilford.
It is a lot bigger than Sittingbourne and right outside of London! I
went finding with Sister Soulier and she bought me corn in a cup from
this weird street vendor. It was one of the highlights of my week and
I really don't know why. It was so random. And delicious. We had a
party lesson that night as well with a golden investigator and two
wonderful members!
We also had zone training meeting and sheesh. It was so much fun and
soooo spiritual. I have made so many lifelong friends here! We
travelled to Canterbury for that and it is the most beautiful town! We
had the funniest time!Our district walked down this historical street
down the centre of town and said "merry Christmas" to every single
person who passed. I couldn't stop laughing it was just the happiest
time. Me and Sister Chiping spend a lot of time on trains travelling
to and fro. I feel like I'm in Harry Potter or the Polar Express or
something. I love the train!
We have also been spending a lot of time in a town called
Sheerness-on-sea on the Isle of Sheppey! It is so fun to be next to
the ocean! We were in sheerness last night at sunset and it is the
most whimsical little place, so many colours and lights I felt like I
was in rainbow land:)
We had a Christmas Party with our Gillingham 2nd ward and bore our
testimonies on Sunday. This ward is definitely becoming my home away
from home. I love these members and they make me feel like family.
We meet amazing people every day and I'm thankful to be representing
Christ every minute of every day. God is so good. I hope we can all
remember how blessed we are because of Him. My eyes have definitely
been opened to that more than ever❤️
Happy Holidays!!
XOXO
Sister Barnes

Fwd: Sittingbourne

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: Harley Taniel Barnes <harley.barnes@myldsmail.net>
To: "chelbarnes@q.com" <chelbarnes@q.com>
Subject: Sittingbourne

This week has been weirdly perfect. I arrived in London and President
and Sister Stevens are beyond amazing! London is the most amazing
place. BUT I have been transferred to an even better place,
Sittingbourne! It is a small perfect English town. We also cover an
area called the Isle of Sheppey that is right on the ocean. It is
seriously gorgeous. My trainer is Sister Chiping from Malaysia! Man oh
man, she is great!! We are whitewashing the area so she has been in
the area either! She is approaching her 9 month mark! We do A LOT of
finding every day and we have met some really cool people. It is
definitely an adventure!
We brought an investigator to stake conference this week that the
other sisters here before us left behind. I sat next to him and spent
the entire meeting just praying and praying and praying for him. It's
crazy how much live I have as a missionary for people that I've never
met. It's unreal.
We had dinner with Bishop Bartling yesterday and I live his family! He
has two little boys who are like little mini British gentlemen. They
are the cutest things! We have great members here in the ward!
The mission has definitely been harder than I thought, not many people
want to here our message, but that does not stop us! I love this
work!!
XOXO
Sister Barnes

#districtdab

Something I failed to mention last time is that the night we arrived to the MTC my companion and I were called as Sister Training Leaders over the entire MTC, it was so overwhelming but it has been the biggest blessing to be able to just focus on all of the girls here. Makes me a lot less homesick! My companion is the greatest person, me and Sister Abeling will be friends forever. Like literally. I feel like she is my sister in every way! I could go on and on about how amazing she is. I just love her so much! 

This week we had our first missionary experience and went finding in Manchester! We were out in the big shopping center they have in the POURING RAIN and we just walked up to people and started telling them all about the book of Mormon. It was quite the experience. Me and my companion handed out 7 Book of Mormons and got one contact! We met so many amazing people in just 2 hours. There are so many people who are ready to receive the Gospel. People are definitely a lot harder on the Elders though haha! God bless these poor Elders, they had a rough time! 

Me and Sister Abeling are also in charge of the England MTC Choir. like dang. We may not be as big as the Provo choir but we are ten times bigger in spirit. I got to be the chorister for the practices and it was so fun, on Sunday we sang Nearer My God To Thee and there were only about 5 people in the audience since almost everyone in the MTC sings in the choir.

           Really there are only about 60 missionaries here, it's awesome:)

We are also able to attend the Preston England Temple on P-Day. MY NEW FAVORITE TEMPLE. I can't even express how beautiful it is inside. It's very simple on the outside but the minute I walked in I was in complete awe. It is so gorgeous. All the missionaries were able to attend with Elder Rocco from Madagascar and Sister Sun from China. It was their first time ever going through the temple so it was a very special day. 

I love England so much. The toilets here are so much better than in America. 

Another random thing, my district is obsessed with dabbing ( the dab dance move or whatever) and so we call ourselves District Dab. We dab constantly and we even but dab in front of all of our last names, hence the nickname dabarnes. We are so dumb but I love it. Our teachers are Brother Nolan and Sister Barrett and they are so amazing. I have just learned so much!! God is real! Have a great week everyone!

XOXO

Dabarnes

P.S if you ever visit England NEVER try "mango chutney" it is the most horrible thing you can imagine​​​​​​​​​​​​

--
Sister Barnes                             

Ello!!

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Well hey. I'm in England. Let me repeat that: I AM IN ENGLAND. Imagine like a fairytale land or the prettiest place you've ever seen and there you go. That's where I am:) The England MTC has been the most amazing place this week! It is so beautiful here! cold, wet, and rainy, but so greeen and gorgeous! I have the most amazing companion, her name is Sister Abeling, and we've been rocking our lessons. I have learned and grown so much in just 6 days. Our district is probably the most diverse one that is here right now, we are the only Americans and the rest of the missionaries in our district are from Lithuania, France, Australia, Canada, Belgium, and Tahiti. It's pretty amazing! I have made so many friends here! They feed us like Queens at the mtc right now, and we eat potatoes everyday in some form, so I'm very happy about that! I just feel like I'm living in a fairytale honestly. There is no other way to describe it. We are right next to the beautiful Preston Temple and just tucked away into a spiritual england fortress:) I will try to attach pictures to this but no guarantees! Thank you to everyone who has thought of me and prayed for me because I have definitely felt that! I feel your prayers every day and it is what keeps me going! I have never been healthier or happier and my most favourite part of all of it is how everyone calls me Sista Bahhhns with  their British accents!:) I love it here.

XOXO

Sister Barnes

Farewell

I gave my farewell talk on October 30th, 2016! (The day before Halloween, my most favourite holiday of all time:) It really shook me to see so many of my family members travel a long distance to be there that morning. I gave my talk at 11 a.m in the Meadow Lane Ward. The other speakers were my Young Women Leader, Amie Leonhardt, and the cutest girl from my ward, Marlo Caudle. It was so funny because just the night before I had been telling my mom how I wished Amie would be speaking too, and when I got to the church that morning, there she was! I just love her! I didn't write my talk down, I really just wanted it to be from the heart, but what I spoke about was the love of God, something has been really inspiring to me has been the take on 1 Corinthians:

Love is patient, love is kind

It does not envy, it does not boast

It is not proud

It does not dishonor others

It is not self seeking

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth

It always protects

Always trusts

Always hopes

Always perseveres

Love never fails

I know that this is the kind of perfect love that Heavenly Father blesses us with. It is the love that I feel for the people of England, and the love that has been shown to me by my friends and family. If there was anything to be taken from my farewell talk, it was just the unchangeable fact that perfect love exists!


After I spoke, we had a luncheon at my grandparents house that was SO FUN. It was amazing to see everyone there! I have the most amazing family and friends ever, seriously. It meant so much to me to be able to see so many people that I love before I left, and I can't believe how much support I have been given in serving a mission. It is truly an amazing thing.


At the end of the day, there were some hard goodbyes. Harder than I thought it'd be. But I got home, and had a good cry, and moved forward with the happy knowledge that this is what I was always meant to do and London, England is the place where everyone I love wants me to be. I can't wait to get there❤️

Mission Call Opening

I opened my mission call on June 17th, 2016 and boy was it a day! Seriously one of the very best days of my life. I was so nervous that night and had absolutely no idea where I would be serving. I remember so clearly the moment when I read ENGLAND LONDON, I felt like I had won the lottery! And basically I did:) So thankful to have been called to this mission, I could go on and on about how perfect it is for me, but I'll spare the details. Let's just say Heavenly Father definitely gave me more than I deserve, I've truly never felt so blessed