E-Mail #29

E-Mail #29

December 27th, 2011

Hello everyone!!

 

 

I hope you all had a GREAT CHRISTMAS!!! i know i did!!!!!! Man, this week has been crazy intense and super AWESOME! Things just keep getting better and better, so this email might seem all over the place, but just hang in there, hopefully it all makes sense. So first off, this week the WONDERFUL GREAT....AHHHMAZING......char and family have set a BAPTISM DATE!!!! WOOHOOO......Jan 14th, is the DAY!!!!! IT is so great to see a family prepare for baptism together and then to see them all baptized TOGETHER......and i know I'm being a little selfish when i say this, but i am SO THANKFUL i got to teach them from the beginning....all the way to their baptism day! The best part is, char's husband returns home from his deployment TOMORROW!!!! so he will be here to support them, and if its the lords will, and the timing is right, we have hopes that he will join the family in being baptized.....but we wont get ahead of our selves, right now we just want to get to know the great guy of this amazing family! So, we are super excited, it will be Sister Fie'eiki's last weekend in the mission field, and what better note to end it on, than to see a family baptized! we are super excited, can you tell by how many times i keep saying that?! SUPER EXCITED!!! HAHAHA. Well also this week there was some CRAZY snow in Kansas, thankfully junction city didn't get the crazy part of the snow, we got snow....but nothing crazy. The sisters in great bend and hays, got stuck up there, they were trying to come down for zone conference, but the snow was so bad that the freeway was closed....it was a bit scary, thankfully they got it all cleared up and the sisters were able to come down, but it was a bit scary that day, i guess there were over 100 accidents from the snow. :/ not good! But all was well, we got up at 3 o'clock on Wednesday morning to get ready and prepared for zone conference, and somehow....at my fault calculated how long it would take to get there, and was off by and hour, so we were there an hour early.....haha, that was GREAT!! hahah. Zone conference was the most amazing zone conference i have ever had! Oh man was it life changing. I don't feel like that spiritual experience is appropriate to share over an email, but it was so good, i am so thankful for the savior, i am so thankful for his awareness of me, and what he does to show that he is aware of me, and that he cares about me, and he knows me personally. THANKFUL!!!!! It was kinda a crazy zone conference, even though it was amazing it was also kinda crappy, because i woke up with a cold that morning, and i felt SO ICKY all of zone conference, so that part was kinda stinky, but other than that.... AHHMMAZING!!! So yea, this week i have had a cold....that is ALWAYS fun as a missionary, both me and my companion have not felt good for about a week now. But that's okay, we just keep trying to rest where we can, and it is helpful. Thursday was fun, we went and did our usual service at the food pantry, and then went caroling at a senior residence home with some members, that was pretty fun.....especially with a cold....haha, i'm sure we sounded GREAT! Friday was fun, we went to sticky note attack the GREAT CHAR's door......haha, but the wind kept blowing our sticky notes off the door, so we would get things sticky noted, and then it would fall off, so we went to her neighbor, a member and borrowed some tape, and taped it all to the door, it was the ugliest thing i have ever seen, but still funny! The best part was, even though char was gone and 2 of her boys were, 1 was still home, so he caught us.....hahaha, it was great! We totally failed, but i mean, whats life without failed pranks.....lame i tell you! So then the GREAT Saturday came!!! CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!! I loved it, it was such a fun day. We went and visited some members that morning, and then we went to Manhattan to go caroling with the other missionaries down there. So that was fun. There was a very cute and grumpy old man that was yelling at us when we were caroling, it was a memory i will never forget! Then after that we went to decorate some other doors. This time the wind did not interfere and we were able to make it look much prettier! hahaah. Then we went back to Manhattan and had dinner with the sisters down there at a members home, and then we came all the way across to the other side, to Milford to have dinner with our members up there.....and then we rushed off to 2 more dinners after that. It was wayyy to much food, but it was fun. I didn't realize as a missionary how sweet members are, we got so many Christmas presents from members, they are all so awesome, we are so thankful for them! I particularly love one present, it is a picture of the salt lake city temple and it says.....if this isn't your castle, then you aren't my prince!! HAHAHAH. ISN'T THAT AWESOME! I loved it! Christmas eve, me and sister fie'eiki had a slumber party in the living room.....why? because we can!! The next morning we got up and got ready for the best day EVER. We had a WHITE CHRISTMAS, Donna got baptized! It was so awesome, i waited until 630 to open all my presents, i tried to contain myself, but i was too excited. I love all the things everyone sent me, thank you all so much! The baptism was great, we had a good turn out, and it was so spiritual. Me and sister Fie'eiki sang at the baptism, that was my first time singing at something like that, so that was fun....kinda.Between the baptism and the Spanish branch we went to another members home and had some cookies and hot chocolate, and spent time with them. After the Spanish branch we went to the FAMOUS the GREAT....CAPRON family.....to have dinner and skype home, they were so sweet to have 2 laptops so we can both skype home. I was so thankful to talk to my family and see everyone. Especially you Kristen......ms.....I'm going to get married! haha. :) and Charity! I love you girls so much!!! I enjoyed talking to my family so much. We talked for a long time, i didn't even cry......until it was time to say goodbye. haha. I was able to call my brother also and talk with him, and i really was glad to talk to you AMY!!!! LOVE YOU!!! It was nice to hear every ones voice and see everyone. I love you all so much. Yesterday was a fun p-day. We went and played volleyball with some members, and i actually did pretty good, so that was fun! then we went to manhattan, i went shopping, and got me 3 new cardigans (thanks amy!!!) and went and got me some KSTATE sweats.....love them! We played basketball with the other missionaries....i feel bad for those that had me on thier team, i was not very good at all.....i'm never good at it! Maybe one day.....but not likely. We had dinner with some senior missionaries at HUHOT....which is an amazing mongolian grill down here. I love it.....i ate way to much, but it was so great! And now here we are today. I am getting ready to go to district meeting, and to go on exchanges. I'll be staying in manhattan today and some of tomorrow. So that will be fun, i love it down there. Well....i think that is all i have for now. I love you all and hope you had a great christmas!

Love

Sister Barnum

ps. to all those who got to see my music video...hope you loved it!!!