Week 53- Angels of the Lord

 To celebrate our year mark, Sister Steagall and I (We were in the MTC together) burned an old dress during our devision to celebrate the milestone!

 Being together was the perfect one year celebration. It was great to talk about MTC fun and how much we have changed since we came out here. I love her so much and have so much respect for her. PLUS, we now both speak Portuguese! Weeeeee........

 One year as missionaries. Hard to believe. 

It's been amazing.

 Today we went with a huge group of missionaries to see the site where the country of Portugal was dedicated by Thomas S. Monson. It was very special and they picked me to offer a prayer. Haha I felt a little pressure to offer a prayer on such holy ground but it was really cool. =) 

I was happy to do it.

 ME AND SISTER BAKKER REUNITED!!!

 I didn't get the memo to be gangster in this pic...

 Sister Aiono threw her bread at the ducks. 

She truly is my daughter. :)

 We like adventures for P-day. We also had a picnic and played soccer. It was cool and fun.

 A few more pics of us last P-day at Devils Mouth.

 My Letter Home:

This week I have been thinking a lot about some of the things my parents did for me that I never really realized how awesome they were. For example, when I was a little girl my dad signed us up to be in a community play together so we could spend time together. It was Annie Warbucks or something. (Annie Part 2) I ended up getting the part of orphan number 234 and he got the part as the main villain!!! ( Haha he had to wear a mustache and pull a gun out on us at the end. How funny!) But we had to go to practices almost everyday and only now do I realize what a huge sacrifice that was for my father to give up so much time to be with me. I will forever be grateful for the sacrifices they made  for me, especially in my youth. I am who I am today because of them and their willingness to love me.

This Sunday we had soooo many investigators in church. With our combined efforts, ours and the Elders, we seriously had like 10 investigators in church! Tania, Henriques wife, and Catarina came. The gospel principles teacher was freaking out. She was giddy with joy. The Elders have a bunch of people planned to be baptized next Sunday and we hope to add one, too. A man named Paulo came to church and he is so cool! He said that he usually goes to the church across the street and that he just felt that Sunday that he should go to our church. He lives in our area and is so cool. He has "THUG" tattooed on his knuckles. Hehe..He said that he is ready to change his life and he is veryyyy curious about how our church works. I saw him looking at the wall with all the baptism pictures and I took the moment to explain to him that when he learns more and if he truly feels that this church is true he could be baptized. He looked very interested and tonight we have an appointment with him with a member! I hope everything goes well and he accepts our invitation to be baptized! 

This week we invited at least 3 people a day to be baptized.

We had a wonderful experience. We accidently ran into a member at the bus stop. She is from another ward and she stopped us. She told us that she was there to visit her sick husband that was currently in the hospital. They are a very old couple, ancient members of the church here in Portugal. So we asked her for the address of the hospital and we went there to visit him. As soon as we came in the room he saw us and said "Sisters!" and started crying. He said that the Sisters had never come to visit him before and that we truly were angels from the Lord sent to him in this time of difficulty. We said a prayer and I opened my mouth, not knowing what I would say. I truly tried to say what the Spirit was telling me in that moment and I said "We were sent to you at this hard time to tell you that you need to use the Atonement." The man just lost it. It was so cute and sad. We promised him we would come back to visit again. I’m not sure why I said that to him, but I truly do believe that that was what Heavenly Father wanted to say to him that day in that moment. 

I love you all so much and I love my mission!

Sister Barron

Week 52: The Lord Is With Me

Today on our Prep day we went to a place called Devils Mouth. It was so cool. Luckily we didn't fall in....

Havin fun!

 Not sure what happened here...

My Letter Home:

This week was a little crazy. A lot of our commitments fell through and we struggled to find some new people to teach. But that is how missions are a lot of the time. I know my pictures portray a lot of fun and good times but truth is we work hard and it is not easy searching for those that want to know the things of God. We are starting a new system of asking the members for references. It is very effective and has already given some fruits. It involves saying a prayer to ask for inspiration, and then asking the members really specific questions to help prompt people to come to their minds. The questions help them think of people in their lives that have had big changes, because usually those people are the most ready for the hopeful message of The Gospel.

Henrique and his daughter came to church again this week.  He is about to have a big surgery on his back, so he won’t be able to leave his house for a month. This might just be the big change that will open his heart and help him on the path, including quitting smoking and just plain believing in God.

We had a really fun activity with the church members this week. We did a bunch of Minute to Win it games. It ended up being really fun, well attended and a huge success! The Elders were a half an hour late so we decorated their car to get them back. ;)

I love you all so much! I love this gospel and I know it is true! My heart goes out to my friend Drew <3 that had to go home early from her mission because of a sickness. I am praying for you and I hope you get better fast!

Love you all!

<3 Sister Barron

WEEK 51-Feeling Blessed!

We visited some incredible places on our preparation day this week.

Sintra is so beautiful. 

This palace is called Quinta Da Regaleira.

 We had fun playing with the billions of cats everywhere.

This amazing well is located on the property.

Our District

 We went to the place in the woods where the country of Portugal was dedicated to the Lord.

My Letter Home:

This week was so fun! Life is great with Sister Aiono. Together while working hard being missionaries we write raps, dance, preach, and get lost. But every moment is amazing!

Last district meeting we were practicing being bold and therefore I had to eat a skunk-spray flavored jelly bean? DISGUSTING. At least it was a creative object lesson. =/ =)

There was one day this week where it rained BUCKETS. It was insanity. We were soaking wet. It was completely obsolete to use the umbrella because the rain was flying at an angle. I have never been so soaked in my mission. There was a river in the street. We didn’t go home, the work of the Lord never stops!

We had a division with some Sisters from Mafra. I went with Sister Tilton. She is a really good missionary and I have a lot of respect for her. They came to our area and she helped in a lesson to Henrique, our most progressing investigator right now. He is progressing really well. He is still having trouble believing in God, but he really has the desire to believe. And like it says in Alma 32, that is enough. Him and his daughter Catarina came to church with us this Sunday. I really had a lot of respect for him because he works all night Saturday night and then he came straight to church with us. Catarina loved Primary they had treats that day and as she was stuffing her face full of cake, she was saying "We have to come here every Sunday!" Haha! I really hope they continue. We need to talk with them about how they can start getting on track to get married. It’s pretty complicated, but I have heard of a lot of missionaries doing it. Let’s have a wedding! *squeeeeel*

Also, I wanted to write a shout-out to my cousin Madi Sarager! She has been meeting with the Sister missionaries in Arizona and this weekend got baptized! I love her so much and am so happy for this life changing decision she has made! You are amazing! Never forget these precious days when your testimony has begun growing! You will remember your baptism your whole life! What a blessing! 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderfulllll week

Sister Barron