The Pure Love of Christ

Hello my lovely family!!

QUICK UPDATES!!!!!!!

1. Yes. I have hit my 6 month mark and no, I don't want to talk about it. However, I STILL HAVE ONE MORE YEAR AS A FULL-TIME MISSIONARY!!!! And THAT is something to celebrate. 

2. My Spanish is where I wanted it to be at 6 months! I understand about 95% of everything being said these days and I am still learning more and more each day!!!!!! 

3. Yesterday we had dinner with President Payne's family and some of our investigators... Erin & her family.. And Sister Payne was translating my Spanish for President when I was sharing our message... Never had my words be translated into ENGLISH before... Pretty cool.

4. We invited Lorenza to be baptized and she said, "POSSIBLY" which is a HUGE step... Keep praying for her. She knows, she just needs to take a leap of faith and ACT.

5. I got a package from both Jess & Brad... I am so spoiled!!!!! Thank YOU you two. 

6. One night Hermana Piggott and I DYED Lorenza's hair for her hahaha we went over to teach her and she needed help so we did that as some nice service, still have some brown dye on my fingy.

7. We ate the SCARIEST soup the other night at the Rodriguez's. It was Idalia's FAVORITE and it was the scariest!!!!! It had straight up COW STOMACH, hoof, and TONGUE in it!!! Tons of pieces of all that in it!! Worst flavor and before I started eating I thought I was going to hurl. The tongue looked like a LITERAL tongue, taste buds and all, and when I took a bit it felt and tasted EXACTLY like how you'd imagine it to if you were to cut off your own tongue and start chewing it. I guess I can now say I've had 2 tongues in my mouth at once!!! Ahhhhh. I can't explain how terrible it was. And COW STOMACH!!! Menudo or something??? Ralph, I have to ask what the name of the meal was again. See if you've had it. Yikes. Haha and Hermana Richards was dyyyyying too. The second we were alone in the room for a minute, we both immediately pulled out napkins and started piling on the tongue, stomach, and hoof. And then the rest... We had to EAT. AHHHHHHHH. IT WAS SOOOO BAD!!!!! I would even try to swallow it HOLE. AHHHH hahahaha. Oh, and I even tried to load on the hot sauce but the texture was what KILLED ME. ABBY YOU WOULD HAVE DIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahaha OHHH man.......... Fun fun times, kinda haha. I know dad, it's part of the experience haha. 

8. MIRACLE!!!!!! California is in a huge drought, so last Sunday the church in the entire state of California supposedly, fasted for rain... We need it soo bad here for the crops, orchards, etc. so we fasted and this ENTIRE past week has been ALL RAIN!!!!!! Not a BLUE sky in SIGHT all week, just pure RAIN CLOUDS!!!! So it has poured and poured and FASTING IS TRUE!!!!!!!!! HEAVENLY FATHER ANSWERED OUR PRAYERS AND FASTING WORKS!!!!!!! Hahaha I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! I have been the happiest kid all week because of the rain haha I love it so much.

How is everyone?? From what I've read in my emails it sounds like everyone is doing very well. I heard some very heart breaking news though. Regarding Rory and his newly discovered cancer. This news made my stomach drop and truly breaks my heart but I am so happy everyone is staying positive and full of hope. Please give the Hackett's my love and let them know that I will be praying for them constantly and keeping them in my thoughts. I am sure all they are in need of right now as well is love so I am so happy, my dear family, that you are able to give them that. And also, please give the Gardiner's my love regarding this because it is, of course, Maria's father-in-law. Oh it hurts my heart. 

Something this automatically makes me think of is the love I know our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ have for them. The love they have for all of us. I know I cannot fully comprehend how much love they have for each and everyone of us but how lucky are we to be able to feel and witness it in our every day lives. I know that I feel my Heavenly Father and Savior's love for me constantly. This love is what gets me through each day. It's what comforts me, inspires me, wakes me up every morning at 6:30 sharp with a smile on my face and a feeling of gratitude in my heart, it's what gives me strong & unshakeable faith, hope of and in all things, patience in myself, others & this work.. is what gives me peace in my heart, a desire to be better, a desire to constantly change & become perfected, the desire and yearn to grow closer to Him, to share His love with all those around me, to serve others, work my hardest every single day wearing the Savior's name on my chest, it's what lifts me up when I am feeling the slightest bit discouraged, what helps me truly love and accept others, have the desire to obedient and diligent.... etc. The love of God is everything to me. 

In the scriptures we read a lot about the pure love of Christ. Imagine that... Christ's love for us is completely pure. When I think of the word pure I think of several other things. I think of baptism... how when one is baptized they are completely pure and cleansed of sin... They are clean, without spot, blemish. I think about how in order to live in God's presence we must be pure and perfect, even as He is. I think of the Savior and our Father in Heaven, how they are completely pure and perfect. I think of the temple.. White, pure, peaceful. You get where I am going with this. The word pure is an example of cleanliness and perfection. With Christ having a pure love for us, He has a PERFECT and completely flawless love for us. It is hard to exactly fathom this but he truly loves us PERFECTLY. Each and every one of us. 

He loves us so much that when He was on the earth He lived a perfect life so that we could have a perfect example to follow. So that we could live this life in happiness and have the ability to live in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father again one day. He loves us so much that He accepted the role as our Savior and Redeemer. To save us and redeem us from all of our sins, weaknesses, mistakes, shortcomings, problems, temptations, sicknesses, sorrows, etc. He suffered so terribly in the Garden of Getsemani for us, His fellow brothers and sisters, so that He could know how we felt, relate to us, save us and change us. As was said by Elder Holland in a powerful conference talk (I suggest you all watching the Mormon Message titled: None Were with Him) .... "this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind, us, all of us, would feel." ... "For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone." The Savior who is PERFECT suffered all of this, even bled from every pore, because He loves us THAT much. He took upon himself the sins of the world.. All who have once lived, are living and will live in this life.. because He simple LOVES us! He then allowed himself to be spit upon, mocked, tortured, and eventually crucified.. So that again, we could be forgiven, cleansed and perfected through Him. As was said by Elder Holland, "Because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path, utterly alone, we do not have to do so." The Savior is by our side at all times with open arms. Already loving us infinitely and ready to comfort us as long as we seek after Him. So again, why did the Savior do all of this??? BECAUSE HE LOVES US. Why did our God, our Heavenly Father send His only begotten Son to the earth to perform such an act?? BECAUSE HE LOVES US. Our Father in Heaven and Savior of the world obtain that PERFECT and PURE love. Don't you think to show even just the slightest bit of our gratitude and love back we should 

FOLLOW THE SAVIOR, ACCEPT HIS LOVE, ACCEPT HIS INFINITE ATONEMENT

 and do all we possibly can to be the best we can be, follows His commandments, love God with all of our heart, might, mind and strength LITERALLY and serve Him?! Big reasons why we are here on this earth is TO repent, SEEK after our Savior and His mercy and love not only God, our Savior but all of God's children?? And with that, not only serve God but all of our brothers and sisters??? 

As is said in Moroni 7:47, " 47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

So, with Valentine's Day coming up this week... May we all try even harder to obtain that pure love of Christ in our hearts. May we look for every way possible to serve and love those around us. It's the least we can do after the love God and our Savior have for us. And may we love ALL those around us. 

As is said in Matthew 22:37-39 ... "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

We must love everyone. Even those who are harder to love. If these are God's first two commandments they must be of great importance right?? And we have to remember that Heavenly Father loves ALL of His children, all of us with our imperfections, faults, etc. So we must do the same. How could we not?? We must try our hardest every single day to show our Heavenly Father our love by following & keeping His commandments, following His ways, growing closer to Him, seeking after Him, serving Him and all those around us and trying to become perfected in Him through the Savior's sacrifice.

I know that everyday as I focus on the pure love of Christ, my heart is overflowing with love for all those around me and all those I know. When focusing on this I am never thinking about what I don't like about other people, never focusing on their weaknesses, etc. I am not criticizing others but feeling such a great amount of love for them. I love this and I love nothing more than meeting people, loving them so much and getting a small taste of how God must love them. We must always try to see and love others as God and our Savior love and see them. I LOVE love!!!! 

And not just in the romantic, cheesy way like you all assume I do................. Hahahaha

Ohhhhh I truly love everyone sooo so much. My heart is so full even just thinking of everyone in my life. But especially those that are closest and dearest to me, I love you all so much and you all have the biggest places in my heart. I LOVE YOU. 

HAPPY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!! How could there be a better Holiday then one all about LOVE!?!? 

Con mucho amor, Hermana Barth 

Okay, no time left. MORE UPDATES LATER!!!!! I love you all!! Oh and mom, I always forget to respond to this.... I keep in touch with Marissa & Cassidi!! It's so fun to be serving missions at the same time. But okay, ADIOS!!!!!!! 

Patience

Hello my lovelies!!!!

Weird facts about me these days hahaha

1. I craved flamin hot Cheetos the other day, bought them, and loved

them. Enough said. Everyone LOVES them here and it's not weird to go

to be teaching someone with red stained fingertips hahaha

2. I put hot sauce on EVERYTHING. And love things to be super spicy. I

used to be a mild kid (haha Hermana Piggott) but the other day we had

breakfast at a less-actives and I loaded my eggs and potatoes with hot

sauce. I all of the sudden realized what was happening and was weirded

out by myself. Haha

3. I am obsessed with top sheets on my bed. Haha mom, you'll

understand this change

4. I love doing laundry and am obsessed with my clothes when they

first come out of the drier... The smell... I feel like Caroline.

Hello most beautiful people. Every single person I sent this email

to... I love you all SOO much and you are all so wonderful and special

to me. But so where to begin. I do not know. This week has been

amazing!! And I have been thinking and pondering A LOT. I wish so

badly I could share with you every thought that has come into my mind,

all of the inspiration, personal revelation, etc. I have received...

But something I have been pondering a lot about has been what Brad

told me to think more deeply about. That being PATIENCE. Brad shared

with me James 1:4 (not 1:5 hahaha) and I want to share what my

thoughts originally were regarding this scripture and then want to

share Bradley's as well.

"But let patience have her perfect work. That you may be perfect and

entire. Wanting nothing." James 1:4

I have pondered over this for weeks now and I still have many many

thoughts on it. What does it truly mean to let patience have her

perfect work, being perfect and entire... Wanting NOTHING? Well...

Let's start with patience. Patience is something very fascinating to

ponder about. What it truly means to be patient and what all we need

to be patient with. Well, for me personally.. I have to be patient

with many things. I have to have patience in myself, my teaching

abilities, my Spanish speaking, my knowledge of the gospel.. I have to

be patient in those I teach.. patient in them receiving their answers

from Heavenly Father, them gaining a true desire to be baptized,

changing their habits (often addictive ones), changing their

lifestyles, cultural backgrounds, etc. I have many things to have

patience with. But as I have been serving my mission I truly have come

to learn how IMPORTANT be patient truly is. When we are patient we are

able to sincerely obtain greater faith, hope and PEACE. When someone

is patient they are able to hold their peace and with that, be

completely content, perfect and entire... WANTING nothing. And who are

the most peaceful beings? God, our Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ, our

Savior. They are also absolutely perfect and entire, without flaw.

This means the only way we can become patient, full of peace, perfect

and entire.. We must be LIKE them. We must follow the example of our

Savior, Jesus Christ and try our hardest every single day to be like

Him.

Along with obtaining this sense of peace in our hearts, we must TRUST

in our Savior and in Heavenly Father, knowing that things will happen

according to their will. People will change, we will change, blessings

and miracles will be poured out... According to the will of God. This

is something that I have thought much about as well. What it means to

align our will with the will of God. Because that is what we must

truly do. When we align our will with the will of God, we WILL be

patient... letting God's work take place.. and with that, while

waiting, we will be trying our best to be perfect and entire. WANTING

NOTHING but KNOWING and TRUSTING that whatever happens is according to

God's will. I love this scripture Cynthia Haller wrote down somewhere

for me....

"Wait on The Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy

heart. Wait, I say, on The Lord." Psalms 27:14

I love that so much. We must obtain that courage and trust in The

Lord, and WAIT on Him. But be completely content and happy waiting.

This also makes me think of prayer. Often when we pray we expect

direct and immediate answers. Well, this isn't how it works out.

Always at least. God works in mysterious ways, as we often read in the

scriptures and will grant unto us our desires according to his own

will. It says in the bible dictionary under prayer...

"Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the

child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of

prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves

and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that

are made conditional on our asking for them."

Also, after James 1:4 it talks about praying in faith, as we all know

from James 1:5 being the well known scripture our wonderful Joseph

Smith read before praying to God about his significant question...

However, after it talks about praying in faith and having enough faith

in receiving A answer it says....

"For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the

Lord." James 1:7

That is so profound to me. When we pray, even in faith, we should be

humble and meek enough to not expect the exact answer we want to come

to us.. Of course we have to have very strong faith that we will

receive A answer but that doesn't always mean we will receive THE

answer. THE exact answer we're looking for. What I am saying is that

we need to have enough faith to know that God will grant unto us what

we NEED according to His will. God knows what we need and he will give

us all that we need as long as we have FAITH in Him, TRUST in Him, and

FOLLOW Him.. As goes with our Beloved Savior. This takes me to another

scripture...

"And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me,

according to the workings of the spirit of the Lord which is in me.

And now, I do not know all things; but The Lord knoweth all things

which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his

will." Mormon 1:7

As a full-time missionary I am a servant of The Lord. This is His work

I am doing and He is working through me every single day to teach

Heavenly Father's children and bring them unto Him. How does He work

through us? Through the spirit. I know for a fact that I could not do

this work without His help, without the spirit. And I love how it

says, "I do not know all things; but The Lord knoweth all things which

are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to HIS will."

It's all about aligning our will with God's. And we must be patient

while doing so. Brad mentions this in his thoughts.. But perfection

and patience appear to work alongside one another. So on top of that,

perfection takes time however we must be patient in the process.

And we must be patient in the process of others perfection and

progression as well. I know as I have strived to be more patient in my

life, in this work, I am having a greater sense of peace inside of me,

inside my heart... I am watching my own faith grow exceedingly, I am

trusting my Savior and God with ALL of my heart and I am becoming

completely content and entire while waiting for the will of God to

take place. I am trying my best every single day to align my will with

His and do all I can to become as He is. Even perfect.

I want to share with you a piece of Michael's email from last week...

I hope he doesn't mind that I am sharing it but it inspired me A LOT.

And what made me just think of it is that we must

"We are changed people when we feel the love the Lord has for us

through the Holy Ghost.  I believe in change very much. Constant

change is something that comes from obedience, diligence and offerings

of charity.  We are all in need of change and if we don´t believe that

we are able to change, then we don´t believe in the Atonement of Jesus

Christ. I love so much when the Lord asked, (I don´t have it down

perfectly in English) What kind of men should you be?  Many of us have

our role models or people we look up to and admire. However, even

these great people have faults. The Savior who doesn´t have faults and

has never sinned answered His own question by saying that we must be

like Him. This is a commandment!  Did he really mean it? With all of

our shortcomings, weaknesses and sins how can we possibly be like him?

Yes there is a way! What does Nephi say about fulfilling the Lords

commandments? He never gives a commandment to us without preparing a

way for it to be achieved. Alone we cannot be perfect.  But the Lord

has shown and given us a way through the Atonement. It is the only

way.  The gospel is true! We must recognize our many weaknesses but

not accept them. Some people say, I am just not a good test taker or I

just am not a patient person and never will be. I can´t forgive her

after what she did or that is just the way I am. NONSENSE! We must

change our nature and become as Christ is. Only then may we live in

His presence for eternity.  We will be like Him and see Him as he

really is. Allow your weaknesses to make you humble enough to rely on

Christ because you know you can´t do it alone. Only then can your

weaknesses become strengths. With our faith and humility he can change

us." - Elder Haller (haha)

I love that so much. He talks all about change and how in order to be

changed, we must rely wholly on our Savior, Jesus Christ and His

Atonement. We must also have faith and PATIENCE that that CHANGE will

come with time. I know I need to have more patience and trust in this

and also in those I teach. Change is REAL and POSSIBLE. Through and

ONLY THROUGH our Savior, Jesus Christ. And even when we don't see

these changes happening right away.. Within ourselves or other

people.. We must continue to press forward, be PATIENT and allow the

will of God to take place. We must have faith, patience, humility,

peace... Etc. Which all compliment one another.

So anyways, I am truly working on being more patient with this work,

with myself and with everyone I am teaching. I know on Christmas when

we skyped I got a little teary eyed when I talked about how I am often

hard on myself.... I sometimes am not PATIENT enough with myself,

wanting to be better at this or that, or expecting things to happen a

certain way.. But I have truly been having a different mindset on

everything and it is bringing so much peace into my heart. I also

could get frustrated all of the time because of people not keeping

commitments, not acting on things, not progressing at a quick pace,

etc. but I KNOW that all will happen how they should. According to

God's will. And as long as I do my very best, am obedient and diligent

at that... I have nothing to worry about. I can be perfect and entire,

wanting nothing. Knowing that God's will will take place.

I also want to share Brad's thoughts.... They are so brilliant.

......."Something I've noticed in the scriptures is that there's a

relationship between patience and perfection, a theme that is

highlighted not only in the New Testament, but also in both The Book

of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants (if you look up patience in

the glossaries, you'll find the verses I'm talking about). "...Let

patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,

wanting nothing." That last part of the verse - "wanting nothing" - is

a phrase I've thought about a lot. I think it reveals what patience

really is - the absence of anxiety. Anxiety comes from temptation, but

becoming "perfect and entire" means that temptation no longer has

power over you, that you are "wanting nothing" or 'anxious about

nothing' or 'tempted by nothing' - make sense? In this context, I

think perfection is worked toward very similarly to how maturity is

worked toward - becoming more and more and more patient, or "wanting"

less and less and less.

Another way to think about this is a framework Michael's late grandpa

used: he talked about agency or free will being the space between

stimulus and response. Every day, throughout the day, we are the

recipients of all sorts of stimuli. Most people forego that

intervening space and proceed straight to response. Over time, they

develop strong emotional habits that correspond to the many stimuli

they experience on a recurring basis. For example, getting cut off

automatically corresponds to a honk and the bird. Getting stressed out

automatically corresponds to a bad mood and a night in the bar.

Hearing a companion eat cereal disgustingly automatically corresponds

to annoyance and being cold toward her. Being called in to a meeting

with a boss automatically corresponds to fear, paranoia and dread. The

space, on the other hand, represents the capacity to deliberately,

thoughtfully choose your response to the given stimulus. Being patient

- "wanting nothing" - is what enables the utilization of the

space."........

- Bradley C. Barth (An ORIGINAL Brodle quote)

So I know this may have made zero sense and I have typed my thoughts

out so quickly that even I don't know if I understand all that I said

or not.. Haha I don't have time to look over what I have read. But

what I am trying to get at here, is that we all must be patient in our

lives and in the lives of others. We must have faith in change and

have faith that WE can change as well as OTHERS. And while we wait for

these things to happen we must be PATIENT and whole heartedly trust in

The Lord, the Atonement, and the will of God. We must all work every

day on aligning our will with His. Wanting nothing yet having strong

enough faith to know that He is aware of every detail of our lives,

this work and all of His children. I know that the Lord is involved

with every detail of His work as well and we must keep putting our

trust in Him.

Con amor,

Hermana Barth

Also.... For QUICK UPDATES!!!!!!!!!!

1. Raquel's baptism date is unknown at the moment because he husband

is being hard (more details later)

2. MyGabriel her son is progressing a ton and is old enough to do what

he wants haha

3. Lorenza is progressing a ton and LOVES Joseph Smith, says she knows

everything we teach her is true but now we just have to get her to ACT

and move on from her Catholic upbringing

4. MARGARITO CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!! He hasn't come the entire time I

have been here and HE CAME!!! It's a miracle and I know Hermana

Piggott is going to die when she finds out. More info on him later but

we should have him on date this week. He's SO ready. Also, we had a

breakfast with his wife whom I had never met and all of her sisters...

Are you shocked Hermana Piggott????? Haha I'll write more about it to

you in my letter today my ebbp.

5. Jesus was called to be 1st counselor in the Elder's Quorum and is

SO honored and excited for the responsibility. He's adorable. Also, he

went camping with the young men and it was his first time ever

camping... LOVED it. Also, Brother Orme took him to Wendy's on the way

up.. Said he went inside and Jesus didn't know how to order and said

it all looked so expensive..... He had never been there before....

REAL LIFE. My heart is so touched by that boy.

6. The Elizondo's keep saying how they cannot wait to come to my

wedding and are already planning out how they will come.... Who knows,

they may forget about it if I don't get married for years hahaha but

they think I am going to have such a fun wedding and they say I am

part of their family so they're already planning on how they can see

me after my mission haha. Also, Brother Orme is already planning a

trip to Utah to bring Yamara with him to visit Hermana Piggott and I.

And we want Yamara to go to BYU. She's dreaming about it.

More to come next week... Hahaha

Okay... OFFICIALLY OUT OF TIME!!!!

¡ADIOS!

I love this work!!

Hello my ohh so darling and lovely family of mine!!

How are you all!? My beautiful family. Mm I love you all so much.

Okay, so I honestly don't know where to begin but I am going to make

this a bullet point email so I can make what I say a bit more simple

and clear.....

1. My new companion. Haha I know you are all DYING to hear about her.

Every one of you has asked about her and us as a companionship!! Soo..

Her name is Hermana Richards. Nicole Richards to be exact. She was

born in London, England (Brad & Britt ... woot woot) so her mother is

British and her dad is from Canada. So she was born there and then

when she moved to the U.S. she lived in parts of California and then

good ol' Texas. She went to BYU for two years just like me and

ACTUALLY we both lived in Helaman Halls together our freshman year and

then BOTH lived in King Henry our sophomore year!! Soo we haves lived

in the same places at the same time yet never met! We know we've seen

each other a million times before though because especially with

Helaman Halls and the Cannon Center... there is not a chance we

haven't. But pretty crazy huh!? Okay, and she is AWESOME!!! She is

flawless. Soo pretty and just such an incredible person. I seriously

love her soo much. I know it is a little nerve wracking getting a new

companion and all but again, I am SO lucky!!!! Haha ahhh she really is

the best!! We have already had some of the best times together and

have spent so much time just laughing our heads off. But as for the

mission work, we work SO WELL together! All of the lessons we have had

have been sooo good and we seem to really feed off of each other

nicely. Also, her Spanish is AMAZING!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!!! She

talks like a native! She has SUCH a nice accent and everyone

compliments her on it. Hahahaha I still sound like such a GRINGO I

just know it. But she is helping me A TON. We have already made some

nice plans for language study and learning/speaking the language

better. I feel sooo blessed and lucky to have her as my companion

though. I already feel like I have learned a ton more Spanish and

overall she has already taught me SO MUCH!! I love watching the

teaching tactics of people and learning from them. It's awesome!!

Also, everyone already loves her here and she fits in so nicely. She

has already grown such a great love for our recent converts, the

members and our investigators as well. I am so excited! We have REALLY

gotten to work on some of the people to and we're trying our best to

make things happen. I love it and love her!! Also, she is the most

down to earth, nicest, coolest, person ever. I love just chatting with

her and the more I've gotten to know her the more I love her. Also, I

have been more of a listener this past week because she loves talking

almost as much as I do haha. But I love it and she has a crazy life

story, with her parents and everything... So I have loved hearing

everything about her and her life. I love getting to know people and

hearing their story. It's the best. Also, our first day together she

got bit by a dog (full on attacked her leg and bit it HARD..) and we

got offered beer by some drunk men who followed to be very

disrespectful, and she never once complained about her leg or even

flinched about it and we were able to laugh off the happening with the

drunk men so I definitely have a KEEPER. She makes this work so fun.

While also being super obedient, having direct goals in mind at all

time, getting work DONE and just doing the best we can. I am so happy.

But so anyways, sorry for everyone who wanted me to get a crazy

companion haha. Hermana Richards is THE BEST!!!!!! However, I still

miss and love my dearest Hermana Piggott soooo very much. Nobody will

ever replace her and our friendship is far to unique, special, and

close to ever compare to. We definitely shed some tears when we had to

hug and say goodbye.... But she's my best girl and this has only been

the beginning of our friendship. I am happy as ever!!!!!! And on to a

new adventure!!!! Even though I am still in Gridley it's a different

feel with a new companion. Especially with the area and people being

completely new and fresh to her. It's great!!!!

2. Elizondo family. First off, on Wednesday they had YW Recognition

night and we went for our dinner and then watched it with Lorenza and

Antonio. Yamara sang in a trio in Spanish and then bore her testimony

in Spanish so her parents could understand, for part of the program.

It was amazing!!! I was watching her and had tears come to my eyes and

multiple times. I felt like a proud MOM watching her haha. And I felt

as though I could see exactly how our Heavenly Father sees her. As his

precious daughter. I could feel that PURE love of Christ for her. She

really is my little angel and I couldn't have felt happier or more

impressed with her. She has the most sincere, strong and powerful

testimony. She is wise beyond her years (President Lopez and Brother

Orme always say that about her). I cannot wait till you all can meet

her and know exactly what we're taking about. But the program was

amazing and Lorenza and Antonio were super touched by it as well. They

both felt the spirit and were super happy. So that leads me to

LORENZA.. She is progressing sooo much!!! So updates: she told Yamara

she knows everything we're teaching her is the truth, she believes in

Joseph Smith whole heartedly along with the Book of Mormon and she is

reading it!! I also challenged Yamara to start reading with her mom

every night. They both said they want to do it so I will keep up on

them. Lorenza really is progressing so much though and impressing her

more and more each day. Last night we were at their house and I felt

inspired to ask Lorenza what she wanted to learn more about and she

said without hesitating and with a smile on her face, "José Smith."

Best answer! I was super excited and we got teaching her but Antonio

would interrupt a ton and go off on things that didn't have to do with

the lesson. We were asking Lorenza what all she knew about Joseph

Smith and we got to where he was killed and martyred. Antonio then

went on and on about the killings in Mexico and our time was getting

lost. So he can make it difficult sometimes, still love him, but so we

want to continue the lesson with her alone. We need to teach her alone

sometimes. But we want to get her on date this week it's just what has

been keeping her from getting on date is the fact that she's still

stuck on her Catholic upbringing. She's super attached to it. Which

makes complete sense. But she has a lot of problems with the Catholic

religion as well. She'll be baptized. And soon I hope! I love it too

because Yamara used to never think her mom would be baptized and now

she'll say, "WHEN my mom is baptized...." I love it! Also, she says

she is saving up her money to serve a mission. She will be an

incredible missionary one day. And she already loves talking about the

generations following her that will have the church in their lives...

She's amazing.

2. We taught Rosa and Maggie again and it was amazing! We taught them

the Plan of Salvation and Maggie remembered a ton! We also had Yamara

there which was amazing. But the lesson was sooo good and we were able

to really go into depth about it all. Rosa is SERIOUSLY GOLDEN. She

said she already asked her dad what he thought about her being

baptized a Mormon and he is being taught by the Elders right now so

it's perfect! But he just asked her why and she went into a ton of

things.. She said she told him she thinks what we are teaching her is

true and then she also said how there are a lot of things about the

Catholic religion she doesn't like. Such as, she asked him why they

don't have missionaries preaching the gospel to the world like we do

because that's what we're supposed to do. It says it in the Bible

even. So she loves how we have 80,000 missionaries in the world and

says that's how it's supposed to be. She said she doesn't like how

Catholics go to church but will swear in the church and then leave the

building and not follow any of God's commandments.. Etc. She

completely agrees that babies should not be baptized, they are

innocent and don't need that ordinance yet.. She completely

understands why we have a Prophet and even said that the Pope must

have been from one of those churches that branched off from Christ's

church... Etc. I can't remember everything but she's SMART. And really

GETS it. I love it!! So we're super excited about her and her dad is

being taught and apparently has a great interest in the Book of

Mormon. Said it really must be either completely TRUE or completely

FALSE. So he's really reading it and I know he'll study it out... And

find out it is TRUE. Which is EVERYTHING. And Rosa said she saw her

mom reading from the Book of Mormon the other day as well... This

whole family will be baptized!!! Ahhhhh oh and one thing Rosa said she

liked about the Catholic Church is how they take the sacrament every

Sunday and we said we do too and she loved it!!! She's perfect. I have

strong FAITH. I will give more updates next week.

3. So Living Legends from BYU is coming to Oroville, a town in our

area, and Brother Orme bought Yamara and Lorenza both tickets. And now

Yamara is going to be in it!! Apparently they are going to be calling

her up onto the stage at the beginning and end. They needed a Lamanite

looking girl and Brother Orme is friends with someone who asked him to

find a girl and so waaaalaa!! Yamara!! So awesome. She has to go to

both performances and I wish soo badly I could go watch her!

4. We had dinner at some English members house the other night and

when I walked in I saw all these German mugs (those cool fancy ones

dad has.. don't know what they're called) and I saw on one it said

Rothenburg... I got super excited, started rambling about Germany, our

family, the dad Brother Sheyer's family is from there, can't remember

where... She had a German exchange student, we got talking and they

said Montpelier! Sister Sheyer's sister lives there! So they knew all

about Bear Lake, knew of Fish Haven... I told them to look for our

place next time they're there... They started telling Hermana Richards

all about the beautiful, ocean like aqua blue water... Etc. so we had

those two things in common!! And then they both do sign language! They

adopted a deaf boy!! So I had fun doing some signs with them as well.

We got a long great and they are just the cutest old folks. I looooove

meeting new people and getting to know them! Also, making connections

with people is one of my favorite things to do. The Hermanas in the

MTC used to make fun of me for it but I love it. I feel like you mom

haha. Also, speaking of Germany. Grandma Barth wrote half of the last

letter to me in German!! I loved it so much. Have I ever told you she

is my #1 writer?? As in handwritten letters? I hear from her about

every other week if not more and I love it!!! We are pen pals and I

couldn't think of someone I'd rather be pen pals with!!! She is the

BEST and I love the letters we send back and forth. She is so darling.

Dad, you have the most incredible mother in the world. Next to G-MA

Call who is equally as amazing. I love her sooo much too. I am

obsessed with my grandmas!! Tell them I love them for me and give them

both the BIGGEST hugs for me as well. Mm I love them so much. Warms my

heart. Also, I WILL learn German someday. If not in this life, in the

next. But as of now I'll try to learn one new language at a time.....

Hahaha

5. Random stuff... The Mexican ladies are still on the streets walking

around with their carts and rainbow umbrellas. We got full mangoes on

sticks the other day and she cut them into flowers! Reminded me of

when you were in Mexico Abs. Soo we keep seeing people just riding

horses on the streets. Totally normal. Reminds me of when we were in

Itajuba (can't remember how to spell it) in Brazil haha and we saw

that. That is SOO amazing that so many people are getting called to be

Mission Presidents or to serve missions!! All of the couples! Such as

mom's relatives, the Dunn's, the Carter's, Robynn and Eric Rasmussen

(I got the BEST envelope of a letter from Robynn with Haley's emails

as well from Robynn this week... She's the BEST!!!! Tell her I LOVED

it) and also... Tell Cynthia and Robynn I am sending them both letters

today so hopefully they get them by the time you three go out to lunch

this week mom. I love those two woman. They feel like my other moms

hahaha. Oh and Barb, can you please somehow get me Berkeley's

address???? I need to write my sweetie. I miss her.

Okay, I am out of time but thank you for all the letters!!!!! I'll

write more next week!!! And hopefully send some handwritten letters

today too. Oh! And Brodles!!! I have been pondering and pondering over

the scripture you sent me and started writing my thoughts down on it

in a letter for you. I don't have time in email to really write out my

deep thoughts and go into depth.. So a letter is coming your way this

week. And I LOVED all that you said about it in your last weeks email.

I will write more in my letter... Also, Britt doggg I love you and

miss your beautiful face more than you know!! Ralphonzo I love and

miss your bum!!!! Scooter... I am writing you a handwritten letter as

well, just need your ADDRESS!!! But don't feel like I am not going to

respond to your emails that I love so very much. Because I AM. And my

sweeeet sweeeet gayyyyorg MRS. GOCHNOUR ... I will send you a letter

responding to your email as well. Dad & Mom... I will send you letters

too!!! Dad, did you get my little package!?!?!? And I love hearing

about how the work is hastening in your stake!!!! I love it!!!! And

that your theme is about the snares of Satan. Satan really is the

WORST!!!!! He is my worst enemy and sometimes frustrates me sooo

bad!!!!! He is trying to work on my investigators and I am not okay

with it!!! Haha okay. I have to go. Also, Mads sent me a LOVELY

package and I've gotten some awesome letters as well. I love everyone

soooo much!!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Con mucho amor y un gran abrazo,

Hermana Barth