Updated and Big Apologies

OK Everyone we have the blog up to date...I am so so so sorry we have neglected it, life has just been crazy in the family and we just didn't get to this like we should have...so so sorry...the last time we posted was September 19th, 2011-Email #16 so anything after that is the up to date stuff...again so sorry and we will try to be better but no guarantees...
Hopefully some of the extra pictures I share will make up for it...
Thanks everyone for you support and love for Brooke...she really feels it and is so Thankful.
Thanks from her sister Brittney :)

(My boys and I made some craft animals with our hands and feet and she took a picture with them and sent it to the boys...they loved doing the craft and they loved seeing Aunt Brookie with them...and she said "I crossed my eyes on purpose...I am not a retard...lol")

Here are a couple of videos she has e-mailed us that she loves...Enjoy!
(they are in the following 2 posts)

 

Another Video I Love

Sanctify Yourselves

Video I Love

Opportunites to do Good

Email #21

 E-Mail #21

October 24th, 2011

 

 

Hello all!!

 

It is TRANSFER WEEK!!! woohoo! We will get the 'phone call' tomorrow saying if i am staying, or if sister dent is staying or if we are BOTH staying. I'm pretty sure I'll be staying, at least i hope so. I really want to be here through Christmas. But i guess its what the Lord has planned not me right?! So make sure if you send any mail today until next week that it goes to the mission office address in independence, so that way it doesnt' come to Junction City if I'm not here.

 

 

 

 

 

This week has been good. We had our two that got baptized last week get confirmed this week. It is so fun to have people baptized and then receive the gift of the holy ghost. That is such a AMAZING and precious gift, i am so excited for them to receive that!!! Anthony has left for a month to go to Texas for a army training, which is a bummer, but we are glad he got the holy ghost before he left. Lee Ann is just doing great, she came to the super Saturday on Saturday and had a blast making crafts, she is starting to get more comfortable in the ward, all sorts of good stuff. On of our other investigators who hasn't came to church or anything yet came to super Saturday, IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! she got to meet our amazing women in the ward and get to know people and make some crafts, which she LOVES to do. So it was fun to have her there. Now when she does come to church there will be people who she knows and she will feel more comfortable. So we are way excite for her. This week we got surprised and have another district meeting, which we usually don't have on transfer week, but we do this week!!! so i am excited for that.

 

 

OH AND THE BIG NEWS.....our zone leader Elder Seely is the NEW ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT!!!! We totally knew he was going to be the new AP, because the AP's came out to Manhattan for a like 4 day long exchange. So Elder Seely is the big guy in town now. It will be fun to see him at zone conferences and all that. He will be a great AP.

 

 

 

 

This week was fun on Saturday night we had dinner at the FAMOUS Humbard home. And the sisters from Manhattan surprised us and showed up!!!! so it was a BIG PARTY!!! we had SO MUCH FOOD....i totally over-ate....but it was AMAZING. it was this total breakfast buffet.Biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, muffins, fruit, Cinnamon rolls....oh it was AMAZING!!! we really enjoyed it. and of course the AMAZING Humbard family provided the best comedy of the night. we were all laughing so hard the entire time!!! I will attach a picture we took with Brother Humbard, he cracks me and everyone else up. He is awesome! Last night we had FHE at the pace's which is another AMAZING family in our ward, we had 3 families all together and had a great family home evening, and they made some amazing cookies, i will not admit how many i ate.....they were SMALL OKAY?!!? ;)

 

 

 

So yea, things are going pretty good. I am excited to see what changes happen this week and hope that whatever happens I'll be happy, personally i would love it if everything stayed the same, i love this area and our district. But i doubt that will happen.

 

Love you all lots!!

Sister Barnum

Email #20

E-Mail #20

October 17th, 2011

 

 

 

Hello Everyone.

 

This weeks email will be super short because they needed us to take a survey which unfortunately took up most of my time on the computer.

 

But yesterday we had 2 baptisms, and it was GREAT!!!! it was my first baptism that i taught the person from beginning to end!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! Anthony and Lee Ann. They are two amazing people and i am super excited for them. So it was a GREAT SUNDAY. also in the Spanish branch we had a Spanish investigator show up, which was a big deal, because we haven't been able to get our Spanish investigators to church at all! Transfers are coming up a week from Thursday, so that will be exciting! we will see what happens.

 

I hope you all are doing well. Shout out to my sunrise people, and to Matthew!

 

i attached a picture of the baptism.

 

 

Have a good week!

 

Sister Barnum

Email #19

E-Mail #19

October 10th, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

Well hello everyone.

 

Well i didn't put together a plan of what i wanted to write about this week, so i don't know what to say. Its been a good week. We have a ton of investigators right now and we have had so many appointments it has been great. I have really enjoyed having our days already planned out because we have so many appointments. But unfortunately the problem with that is, if we get to one appointment late, then ALL of our appointments are late.....which is not fun, because i always feel bad for those that are waiting on us. Thankfully that hasn't been too bad this week. I went on exchanges again to Lawrence this week with Sister Harroll. She is a great sister, she is one of the older sisters in the mission but you would never guess because she is so short and tiny, and looks 21. I feel like a giant next to her, always a bonus for self esteem. lol. But while we were there we had an appointment with a girl that we met and became a new investigator when i was on exchanges there a couple transfers ago. It was so great to see her again. I really enjoyed this girl the first time we taught her and it was super nice to see her again and talk to her about the gospel and help her recognize Heavenly Father's hand in her life. IT WAS GREAT! Thursday was great. We drove almost 100 miles Thursday because we went EVERYWHERE!!! We had back to back appointments all across the place. We had our district meeting which is usually on Tuesdays on Thursday and we had the honor of our AP's (assistant to the president) there. We did some fun practices and i learned some great things from it. I love our AP's they are really inspired elders, and very helpful! But i haven't even gotten to the best part yet. One of our amazing and GREAT and WONDERFUL investigators has been super nervous about baptism. we've been talking with her, teaching her, helping her feel more comfortable with it. And finally we prayed with her, right then right there and asked HF if that is what she needed to do, and she decided to go for it!!! so this weekend we will have 2 BAPTISMS!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday we will have a combined baptism for Anthony and Lee Ann!!! WOO HOO!!! We met them both on the same day also, which i think is pretty cool, and now they will get baptized together. It is going to be the MOST AMAZING SUNDAY EVER!!!!! I am super excited for both of these people. We have taught them, gotten to know them, help them feel the spirit and grow and learn, and they both are so ready for baptism!! Now we just gotta keep Satan out of the way!

 

Well i hope everything is going well at home. I love you all and miss you all!!

Don't forget to share the gospel!!!

 

p.s. i woke MYSELF up sleep praying last night....isn't that GREAT?!!?....you know your a missionary when.....you sleep pray instead of talk!!

 

Peace Out

Sister Barnum

Email #18

E-Mail #18

October 3rd, 2011

 

 

 

 

Hello all!

well this weekend hit the 4 month mark since becoming a missionary. Who knew i could do it?! because i didn't think so. This weekend was great with conference. I am so thankful for conference and for what a great opportunity we have to listen to our leaders of our church. Isn't our prophet just the most adorable man ever?! i think he is super cute! This week we have been blessed to find 6 new investigators again, its great! and we have some baptisms that are going to be happening in the next 2 weekends which we are super excited for. Thanks for everyone who has said prayers for me to get some better sleep. The nights that i haven't been sick, or woken up by annoying people outside our apartment have been great sleep. I hope you all had a great time listening to conference, i really enjoyed it. I also hope you are all doing well.

love,

Sister Barnum.

EMail #17

 E-Mail #17

Sept. 26th, 2011

Well hello everyone!!!

 

 

This week has been a CRAZY but awesome week!!! We had zone conferences, we had lots of appointments, we had exchanges, and of course the AMAZING relief society broadcast!!!

 

 

First off, zone conference was GREAT!!! i loved loved loved it. We started this new system at zone conferences, which i didn't notice because it was only my second one....lol....but it was great, lots of moving around and doing things so you don't fall asleep sitting there listening to people, which could happen super easy, because as missionaries we GO GO GO....so when we sit....we fall ASLEEP!!! But we did this practice thing, where there were two rows of chairs facing each other, and you practiced commitments and teaching people, like super fast and short and then we would rotate like every 2 minutes. It was fun, you learned how other people do it, and how you can do it better, and how to apply it to your life as a missionary and when you are teaching others. I really enjoyed it, because elders out number sisters big time i got to meet some awesome elders who are AMAZING teachers!!! it was fun to see how they taught and testified and helped others learn! i really enjoyed it. I forgot my journal that had some great quotes in it from zone conference, so unfortunately i don't have any words of inspiration, so you'll just have to believe me when i say it was GREAT! This week we also had exchanges, i was on exchanges with Sister Lund still in Junction City though. It was a good exchange, its always fun to spend a day with another sister and see how they work, and the things they do as missionaries to learn from. I just started this email and i already cant remember what all i was going to say, i guess that just is what i get for not writing a list like i usually do of the weeks events to make sure i write about.

For those of you who went to the relief society broadcast, wasn't it AMAZING?!!!? i seriously love the church and the amazing leaders we have, they are so inspired and say the GREATEST things ever. President Utchdorf IS GREAT!!!! his talk is going to lead me to always have 'forget me not' flowers in my yard the rest of my life!!! He is such a talented speaker, always has been and always will be. I was so thankful that we had some of our investigators come to that broadcast, I'm SURE they felt the spirit and enjoyed it as much as me!! I cant wait for next week when they get to hear our prophet and apostles speak it will be AMAZING!! October is here, which means our goal of 4 baptisms is right around the corner. We have 2 with a baptismal date....one with a goal for baptism, and one praying about baptism. I am super excited to see where this goes and i know heavenly father will help these people get the answers they need and feel prepared to make those wonderful promises with him, and REAP the blessings from it!!!! I am so thankful to serve these people and to share the gospel with them. For them to find the happiness and peace it brings SO MANY people. What better thing can a person do for 18 months?! I was thinking this week how crazy, this week i will hit 4 months since being a missionary....4 months!!!! before i know it, it will be 6 months and i will only have a year left....which sometimes feels like i am going to die before that ever happens, and sometimes feels like it will be tomorrow. I cant believe September is over, where on earth did that month go?!!??

 

 

Whelp.....that is all i have got to say for now.

Those of you who are sweet enough to keep me in their prayers, throw a little shout out for me to get some sleep, this week was SUPER hard sleep wise.....and when a missionary doesn't sleep, it isn't pretty....but even more than that....when BROOKE doesn't sleep it IS NOT PRETTY!!!! :) lol.

 

 

I love you all!!!

 

 

Sister Barnum