Email #3

Hey all, I've been a little busy. I got this email from Sister Barnum on June 21st.
I am slow getting it on, but I'm sure you'll all enjoy it anyhow!!!!

June 21, 2011

Hello Family and Friends,

Well this week has been the most changing week i have had since being at the MTC, i couldn't have predicted the stuff to happen that did!! I honestly still cant believe it. I was going to try and type and the details, but that stupid red countdown is making me keep it short and sweet.

Last Tuesday my companion Sister Beutler got sick. She has extreme fears of getting sick. This led to her being really anxious and uptight (understandably) about it. I had some of our elders give her a blessing. Which was AMAZING. But the next day things were not getting better. So we went to the health clinic, which sent us to Urgent Care, which sent us back to the Doctors on campus. This all happened Wednesday. Thursday Sister Beutler had several appointments, she was gone most of the day and i was without a companion which was even more weird. By the end of Thursday both me and here were sitting in the District Presidents Secretary office crying, as the conclusion had been decided that she needed to go home on medical release. I was sooo heart broken, HEART BROKEN. But i know that Sister Beutler needed to go home to take care of her health and get on track, hopefully she can return to the mission field in a couple months. But we'll see!!

So needless to say that was an EMOTIONAL 3-4 days. I could not believe what was happening. And all the sudden I'm in a trio, with 3 of us as companions WHICH I HATE!! LOVE THE SISTERS, BUT HATE THE TRIO!!! So that has been quite the adjustment. The weekend went on. On Friday the day sister Beutler left i was struggling deeply with some emotions going on. I knew HF was teaching me some serious lesson, i just didn't know what to do with it. I wasn't even struggling with sister Beutler being gone, as much as i was struggling with myself and accepting what HF was telling me. Through the spirit's guidance i talked to our amazing teacher. Brother Kearns. I knew his words were guided by our HF, he said exactly what i needed to hear and i felt an instant peace. I knew it was going to be okay. The weekend went good. We had our last 2....3 HOUR classes on Saturday. I love our teachers so it was great. Our last class sat night was THE MOST SPIRITUAL THING EVER!!! ohhh the spirit was BOOMING out of that room and i LOVED IT!!!

Sunday was great, i had my last interview with President Seamons our Branch President, he expressed his confidence in me and i felt great. i also knew his words were guided by HF. I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD!!!! Yesterday MONDAY was our In field training day. It was a overwhelming day, we were all going through all sorts of emotions, anxiety, fear, faith, crying, laughing, anxiety, laughing, crying, nauseous. It was great. lol. But the best part was Monday morning. We had our elders give us blessings before we all left. Elder Watson (my eternal BFF) gave me mine. Again I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD. I felt his words so strong, and i know he is a great priesthood holding and going to be an AMAZING MISSIONARY!! The blessings really helped us all as sisters feel better, and feel that lift before we leave. Monday night at the end of our In Field training our Elder Stevens wasn't' there. I asked the elders where he was and they informed us that he was at the room packing, he was going home. I felt like i got HIT by a BUS!!! I struggled to believe that our district, the district everyone was like wow look at you, had 2 people go home. What an amazing change.

As sisters we all felt extremely overwhelmed, and emotional. Our great elders walked us to our room(building) last night to say goodbye. As the 2 elders i was closest with Elder Edmunds and Watson left way early this morning. Its so weird to say goodbye to them. And i cant wait for in 2 years to get those hugs we all wanted to give!!!

I've felt changes happen this last week that i never saw coming. I've felt myself HAVE to rely on my HF in ways i never thought. I thought i was relying on him enough, but he taught me quick that it wasn't enough. I pray every day and remind myself that HE is my strength, and HE is the one that is going to carry me through this 18 months. I thought i wouldn't change on my mission, I'd come out and I'd work and I'd go home. But something happens. The spirit makes you be a better person, and you never want to loose that. EVER! I cant imagine what changes i have yet to make, but i just know its going to keep happening. During my blessing Elder Watson reminded me to keep that relationship with my heavenly father, that he is my strength, and i KNOW THAT. I know he is going to carry me. And it is my goal that i never lose that. I want to always be humble enough to know that HE is my strength, i am NOTHING without it. What an amazing feeling i tell you. I know that as i live to his words, i follow his spirit and i let myself be HIS mouth piece that i CAN bring miracles to happen in lives of others. I KNOW that i can change lives, because i am HIM! I feel so many emotions towards leaving tomorrow, but i know that if i let myself be him, that i will be fine! I feel the spirit so strong and i don't ever want to let my heavenly father down, i want to hit Missouri running, i want to show people the gospel and i want to find those, that our heavenly father has prepared!! I love this gospel so much and I'm so thankful for this opportunity!!

Now that I'm done crying it all out. A few things.....
Do not write me on dear elder anymore, including today, because it usually doesn't print until the next day, and i wont be here tomorrow, i leave at 6 in the morning.
another thing, please write letters, i only have a half hour on email, and i don't want to be stuck reading emails and not be able to email. So if at all possible write more letters rather than email.
Send me mail, i have a feeling that once i get out of Utah the missing my family might hit a little harder! So i need to hear from you. I love that support and i need it. Plus it feels like Christmas every day i get a letter.
I want to thank everyone for their support through dear elder while I've been here. Its makes my day.

I am going to be sending my memory card home soon. So hopefully you can put up some pictures of me and my eternal BFF and the rest of the district of course. Oh and the one of me and Sister Snodgress, and Elder Anderson.

I cant believe i am leaving tomorrow. I haven't started packing and my time is almost up. So off i run.

I love and miss you all so much!!!!!!

Sister Brookie Barnum


End of the email joke.

In our VERY FIRST lesson we were teaching our teacher who was playing an investigator. Well, it was our first time teaching we are talking about Joseph Smith and when he read if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of god, and WE COULDN'T REMEMBER WHERE THE SCRIPTURE WAS!!! it was SOOO EMBARRASSING!!! the rest of my life i will KNOW that scripture!! HAHAHA. Oh that day Sister Beutler and i laughed at ourselves so hard. I guess that's what the MTC is for. :)

Sorry if that didn't make sense. and sorry i never spell check. I run out of time and don't care about spelling.

LOVE EVERYONE!!!!

Some fun things from Sister Barnum

We got a couple of fun pictures from Sister Barnum!!!!

This is one she took with her missionary name badge with the Provo Temple in the background!!! LOVE IT!!!!


And here is Brooke with Sister Pierce in their MTC sweats!!! Anyone who knows Brookie knows that she is probably LOVING those sweats and hoodie!!!



And then we have THIS...... a room inspection form from the MTC. When her mother got this in the mail, she KNEW it was not really Brooke's room. There's no way she was able to pass with flying colors!!!! hehehe!!!!!
I have another e-mail to add to the blog when I get a few minutes. She flew out to Missouri today from the MTC and she is so excited to get out there and start working!!! Don't send e-mails to dearelder.com anymore. In her e-mail she just sent, she also said to send her letters in the mail instead of e-mails. She is limited with the time she gets on the computer, so she would rather have letters sent in the mail. Her mission address is on the right side of the blog. She LOVES getting letters and looks forward to any she will get in the future. It is helping her a lot with being home sick.

I will post her e-mail later. Have a good day!!!!!

Hopie

Email #2

June 14, 2011

Hey everyone!!

Sorry for waiting until the afternoon to email, its been a busy morning, we rushed through laundry and then off to the temple. But i doooo loooove PDAYS, because i can email you!!!

I partially hate writing these emails because i have SO MUCH to say and i never remember all of it, and there are these evil numbers in the corner counting down my time to email you all!

Well this week, as both weeks so far has had its ups and downs, but i am hanging in there, and its had more ups than downs which is nice. We are teaching this lady named Hely in the TRC, its been a struggle to teach her, every other progressing 'investigator' (which are really actors) we have had me and sister Beutler have done well with, but Hely, its been a struggle. I do love her lots and i know her heavenly father loves her, and to be honest i think Hely is a real investigator, but i am not sure. I leave the MTC next Wednesday, we have to be to the travel office in the MTC on Wednesday morning at 6 in the morning, which means we will be getting up WAY early to pack and say goodbye to our roommates who have to be there at 4!! I am NOT READY to say goodbye to my district, i love these people SO MUCH, we are such a bonded family, and i don't know what to do without them. I am our travel group leader for the travel on the 22nd, so basically I'm in charge of everybody, INTIMIDATING!!! As long as they behave like missionaries i will be glad, but if i have to keep someone in line I'm going to be super annoyed, they are representing Christ, and they all know it, so they better be good. I am so nervous about getting in the field, i question if I'm ready, but i just have to have faith! My companion and i have gotten to know each other better this week and its been great, she balances me out very well, and i know heavenly father put us together for a reason!

This week we have learned a lot in our classes, we learned how to teach people not lessons, we learned the chastity talk, we learned about prayed and inviting the spirit, we learned about the holy ghost' and its influence in conversion. Its so fun to learn all these things and then to PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE them, we do LOTS of role plays. They tell us when we are playing an investigator to play like someone we know who is not a member. I always play Lacey and Danielle (if your reading this i hope you know i love you! and that's why i play you!) Our teacher brother Kearns tell us everyday we are his favorite district since he's been teaching at the MTC, none of us believed him, we thought he said that to everyone, but it has been confirmed, he doesn't and we really are his favorite!!! I love brother Kearns and i love his teaching methods. Our district was selected to be taught as other teachers watched and observed, I'm not really sure why, but it was pretty cool. AND we keep having teachers pop into our classroom and are always like, so your the district everyone is talking about. I guess we really are that great!! I don't know what we are doing to be so unique but i do know that i love our district and i think we are meant to be together!! We laugh and have fun, and we work hard, i think that's the best part! I still keep coming back to that i don't know what to do without them! IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY!!

Side note: if you are sending a package, wait a couple days and just send it to my mission field, because i don't want to worry about getting stuff from here to there, and we leave in a week, so it'd just be easier if it goes there. ALSO......certs spearmint mints.....i love them!!! SO feel free to send me those, since we cant chew gum, basically any mind, but i really like spearmint.

I have taken lots of pictures and i cant wait for my camera card to get full so i can send it home and you all see the pictures I've taken. I did print some and will be mailing a few of them, to those select few! ;)

Ohhhh, what else to say, i feel like there is so much to remember, and yet i forget it all!!!!!
I'll just share how things have been for me, duh....well its been great, i really do love it here and i LOVE my district(as if i haven't said that a million times) I get super overwhelmed at times and feel very incapable of doing this, of being a missionary and being able to teach lessons, that i feel like i don't know, even though i do. I struggle with Satan getting me down, but i have great sisters who lift me up when I'm feeling down. I have asked elder Edmonds our district leader to give me a blessing before i leave for the field, that will probably happen on Sunday, i think a few of the sisters want a blessing. I am so excited to get a blessing from these elders who I've grown to love so dearly. I cant imagine saying goodbye to them and not being able to hug them. Me and elder Watson dream of the day 2 years from now when we can HUG!!!!! He has become my bff for the MTC. Other than the sisters of course. Sister pierce is like all of my family wrapped into one, i laugh SO HARD all the time when she is around, it makes me feel better, and less homesick. i wish you all could meet her. We plan on after the 18 months doing a switch-a-roo she's says at my house with my family, i stay with hers.

SO time for a funny story. So one day, we are getting ready to go to gym, i was running behind, i come out to go and sister F is missing, as we go to the door she JUMPS out of this HUGE laundry bin, i about said some bad things!! They got me good. So we decided to rush back from class before everyone else was coming back to the residents hall and she hid in the basket again. I pretended i was ironing, and sister pierce pretended like she was reading and we scared about 4 different companionships, its was AWESOME!!

Another side note, Sherrell Snogress, her classroom is 3 doors up from my class so we see each other every day, and her bedroom is 5 doors up from mine! I love seeing someone i know. Oh and elder Anderson, i see him every couple days during meal times, he's always speaking another language and confusing me, but its good to see him. There are a few people from hurricane here, Elder rich, one of Jody's boys is here, and and Elder Hinton, who i don't really know, but he knows Matt.

I honestly don't know what else to say, but I'll think of a hundred more things tonight when i cant get back on and add it.
Thank you to everyone who has been writing me so diligently, mail makes me SO HAPPY!! Don't forget once i leave the MTC dear elder wont work anymore so you'll have to still write me!
I love this gospel so much and I'm so thankful to be serving the lord for the next 18 months, it will be great!! My estimated(??) date to come home is December 19 2012. I don't know if that will change, but that's when I'll be coming home, around then. So it will be a great Christmas present for you guys. :)

Well i love you all so much and keep writing, its like Christmas when i get letters! NO LIE!!!!

Love you so much, thanks for all the prayers and the support you have been giving me, it really helps me want to serve the lord and be okay with being away from home. I cant believe how different things will be when i come home, but so will i, so i guess its not that bad! I honestly cant wait to meet up with my district in 2 years/18 months and be able to HUG EVERYONE!! I know i sound crazy talking about them so much, but they become your family when you're away from your family, and they are one great family!!

PS happy fathers day to all!!!! (I'll be putting cards in the mail today)
and another PS shoes were made by the DEVIL, my feet hurt so bad ALL THE TIME!!

Sister Brookie Barnum

In ending, i have an MTC pick up line for you 'is your name virtue, because you garnish my thoughts unceasingly!"

Oh and if you ever want entertainment watch a bunch of people in the MTC watch church movies, its HYSTERICAL!!

LOVE YOU!!!
BYE!

Email #1...

HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!

I cant even express my excitement as i type this email!!! AHHH!!!!!!!! I must openly admit that has been the HARDEST PART, i want to write a letter everyday, call everyday, tell everyone whats happening, now, and now, and now!! Yep, i am emailing at 6 in the morning. We got up at 515 to do our laundry. I don't even know where to start, and they have a little timer in the corner that tells me i only have 24 minutes to get this email sent!!

Okay, so lets start off at day 1. :)
Well there was tearful goodbyes as mom and dad can attest too. Then off i was, with some elders, who took me to the sisters, who then took me to a million buildings that I'm still not sure i know where they are at! Its okay though. At the end of the tour i was taken to my jail cell, (JUST KIDDING) but kinda not.....when i say jail sell it means its the room that I'm going to be stuck in for the next 2 weeks. It can get a little crazy in there at times. I met my district, which is the people we spend ALL of our time with. The elders.....well they are 19 year old boys, but i love them!! they make me laugh, and some of them are admittedly cute. I'm going to test myself on my districts names

Elder Wilkins
Elder Clay
Elder Stevens
Elder Hall
Elder Christensen
Elder Edmunds
Elder Watson
Sister Pierce
Sister Froisland
Sister Buetler(my companion)
AND ME!!

I did it!!

Okay, so day one, we met all of them, we met our teachers, and watched some weird video that was never ending. Then we went to this teaching lesson, were it was like we watched missionaries give a lesson as if there weren't 20 something other missionaries watching them do it, then we got to pretend like we knew what we were doing and talk to the 'investigator' I cant remember much more about day one, all i know is i had a THROBBING headache and just wanted the day to be over!!!

Day 2!! Much better day, i woke up without a headache so that was nice. I cant really remember to much, i know we did a ton of personal study time, in the jail cell, but that's all i can remember.

Okay, well i cant remember each day, they have all blurred so I'm going to stop with the day to day stuff. All i know is i wish that i could tell everyone what I'm doing when I'm doing it. So far in the MTC i have only had a few freak out crying incidents, the 3rd day, when they THREW us into teaching and i freaked out because i didn't feel capable, then i started crying, then the elders were looking at me, and i cried harder because i was embarrassed!! So i had to RUN! Just kidding, but i did run to the bathroom! :) I really am loving it here, i am surprised at myself that i haven't cried everyday about missing you guys!! I miss that love that our family has, that support we have for one another, and i just miss that soooo much, its amazing how weird it is to be with people you don't know after being around such a close family all the time! Saturday night was pretty rough, after i got back from classes and all of this stuff, i realized that Brittney you had said goodbye to your hubby, and i started bawling, that is the one thing that my heart still hurts so much about, i just knew, you were in your room, crying your eyes out and i wish i could be there for you, and i wish i could call you, or text you and just tell you i love you!!!! So here it is too many days later, but just know i was thinking about you and praying SO HARD for you to just feel my love, and i did fast for you on Sunday!!! I LOVE YOU BRITTNEY!!!!! Sunday was so fun, it was a relaxing day, as relaxed as it gets at the MTC. We had a fireside Sunday night and go to sing called to serve, SERIOUSLY THE COOLEST THING EVER!!! when you have that many missionaries singing that, oooohhhhh SOOO COOOLLL, you should YouTube it and see if they have a video of it, because its AWESOME!!! The talks were good, but I'm not going to lie, i was dozing off a lot of it! (GUILTY AS CHARGED)

Yesterday was a seriously up and down day. I felt soooo good in the morning, was ready to give my first lesson at the TRC(which is a place where its like a really missionary tracting situation, and you have to get in the door, and answer questions and give your first lesson) I was so excited for it. I struggled a lot through the day, because me and my companion are not connecting as i wish we were. She is very quiet and a lot of the time i feel like she is just down right mad at me. At the TRC though, she did SOOO AMAZING, she let the spirit come so quickly and quoted Joseph Smith perfectly, it was SOO BEAUTIFUL!! I loved it! I am the senior companion so tonight we are going to talk and i hope to find a way for us to feel closer to one another. Last night i had a little bit of a breaking point, my heart was just so overwhelmed, i didn't know how to let out all the emotions i was feeling and i was just CRYING and doing my hair, and CRYING, anyways, the point is sister pierce is so sweet, she reminds me of you all at home and she made me feel SOO MUCH BETTER!!!

Less than 10 minutes so i better wrap it up!

I am so thankful to be here, I am learning SOOO MUCH!! i am sooo excited to get to Missouri and meet the people there, and CHANGE LIVES!! I am loving being a missionary and i am LOVING the TAG!!! SO AWESOME!! Its crazy how the spirit blesses your life here. I know this gospel is true and i know what i am here to do, and i am excited for heavenly father to mold me into the missionary he wants me to be!! I want to be EXACTLY OBEDIENT to him, and the rules, because the truth is, when you are EXACTLY OBEDIENT you are BLESSED beyond our capacity, and lets just admit, i need it!!

I want to thank EVERYONE for the letters, it was soooo great to get mail the first couple days!! but i didn't get any yesterday, so GET ON TOP OF IT PEOPLE, mail always makes me feel better, i swear!!!!!!

I love you all so much and i cant wait until next Tuesday to send a HUGE email to you again and tell you what happened! I didn't even get into the details of my TRC stuff, and the teaching moments i had, but i have ALL day to write letters, so i will send some in there.

SHOUT OUT: to my adorable nephew BLAKE!!! ONE YEARS OLD!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH BLAKE!!!! maybe you'll walk on your birthday instead of be scared. and shout out to BRANDY whose birthday is today, if i wrote it down right. I love you so much sister!!!

I LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (not sure i could EVER put enough exclamation marks)

WRITE ME!!!

LOVE
SISTER BARNUM!!!

Don't forget to put this on my blog!

LOVE YOU!!

The first word!!!

So, Blanche got the first letter in the mail from Sister Barnum today!! YEA!!!! She's doing great. That was a long few days for the family. When Blanche gets a minute, she will post the letter on here.

Dear Elder.... I mean SISTER!!!!!!

Hopie here again!!! Ok, Brookie has talked about dearelder.com and as I read it, honestly, in my head, all I heard was "blah, blah, blah". I don't know why I didn't really care when she was telling us about it. Maybe because she was still here!?! Anyhow, dearelder.com is SO COOL!!!! It is such an easy, super easy way to write her a letter while she's in the MTC.

1-Go to dearelder.com
2-Select the mission (PROVO MTC)
3-Write a letter
4- Send letter

THAT'S IT!!!!

It's free (while she's at the MTC) and convenient!!!

When you use dearelder.com, she gets the letter the same day!!! They print your letter, put it in an envelope and deliver it right to her!!! SUPER DUPER EASY and it's a great way to show her you care. If you're her Facebook friend, just even give her your last day or 2 of Facebook updates, let her know what you've been doing and that you care. It will mean the world to her.

This first week is brutal when it comes to being home sick. Let's rally around her and let her know we're here for her!!!! COME ON EVERYONE!!!! It's so easy, my 11 year old did it!!!! Thanks for supporting our beautiful missionary!!!!

The setting apart.

May 31, 2011

It's Hopie again. We went last night to the official setting apart for Sister Barnum. It was such an amazing experience. The men she has in her life are so strong. She is lucky to be so blessed and supported by the priesthood!!!! Brooke was given some great advise. Some of it that I remember was that she "has the next 18 months to LIVE her mission, and the rest of her life to remember it". I LOVED that!!! Simply put, don't mess it up, this is your one chance!!!!

There were a few tears shed along with jokes about more water not being needed right now in that flood torn area!!! haha!!! It was quite the spiritual experience. Her Stake President, Jason Gubler, did the setting apart. It was a prefect blessing!!!! Some testimonies were born and then the well wishes!!!




The men who stood in her blessing circle were:

Troy Jolley, College Bishop Dale Johnson, Grandpa Pete Memmott, Dad Michael Barnum, Sis. Brooke Barnum, Uncle Randy Clyde, Stake President Jason Gubler and President David Hirschi.


Also in attendance was her Mom, her little brother, Matt, her Grandma Memmott, me, my kids, Maddison, Tyler, Cambelle and Harper and a family friend Alex Johnson.








We ended the night with having rootbeer floats and giggles at Blanche and Mike's house!!! Just the way we like it!!!!

June 1st, 2011

Today, Sister Barnum arrived at the Provo MTC right on time!!! Anxious to get to the real work she's been preparing for. Her mom might have cried a little on the way up. Then she might have cried a little on the way back, but no doubt, seeing her sweet daughter walk towards those MTC doors would have been a bitter/sweet moment. We will all miss her like crazy, but she is SO ready!!! She is so excited and we are excited to be a part of her missionary support group!!!

That's all the updates for now. I will post them as I hear things and Blanche and Brittney will be contributing also!!!

Keep Sis. Barnum in your prayers!!!!