Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Hello my lovely family!! 

HAPPY HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you all are having the best and LUCKIEST day!!! And wearing lots of GREEN!!! Also, I was thinking about it this morning.... we have the BEST "pot of gold" to look forward to at the end of this "rainbow" haha "our time here on this earth" .... that being ETERNAL LIFE and hopefully the CELESTIAL KINGDOM!!!!!! I can't think of a better pot of gold or reward to look forward to. Hahaha I am trying to embrace the holiday spirit right now. Also, speaking of LUCKY ... I truly AM the LUCKIEST to be a full-time missionary of the Lord and feel soo so blessed every single day. Also, aren't we ALL sooo LUCKY to be children of our Heavenly Father and to have the RESTORED GOSPEL in our lives!?!? Haha I am beyond happy about it!!!!

But okay. And before anything else, nobody in our family has emailed me yet and I know it is because you think I won't be e-mailing till much later... but from now on I will be e-mailing this early again. I used to have wifi at my house and so we could do our e-mailing at whatever time we wanted. But now I don't have wifi so we are needing the internet access from the church. I would rather type on a computer (even with just my two pointer fingers haha) than type on my little ipad too so we're going to e-mail at the family history center again. So anyways, that's what we're going to be doing!! And we will probably e-mail around 10 again like I used to... so that we can get everything else done that we need to for the rest of our p-day. So e-mail me earlier if you can please!! E-mail me Sunday nights!! But anyways... as for the real stuff haha .....

First off, it's official..... WE MOVED. It has been a CRAZY last week too but such an exciting one!!! Soo... after waiting just a little while... the housing department from the mission, Elder Bell & Elder Falls, told us about a little house a counselor in the Stake Presidency, Brother Leichman, owns that's in the middle of an orchard. When we first heard about it they said it would most likely be a "temporary house" because they didn't know what condition the place was in, what the location was like, etc. With it being a vacant house... in the middle of an orchard.. you can imagine how we were all picturing it. So anyways, the next day Elder Bell & Elder Falls came down and met with us to go check out the place. Well, I was picturing it to be a total run down shack with cracking wood floors, cobwebs, dust & dirt everywhere, etc. and these men told us they would bring us mattresses to sleep on until we found our actual new place and so again, I felt like we were going on an adventure! Camping more like. Haha and actually, Hermana Richards and I were ecstatic about all of this and kept saying, "we get to sleepover in an orchard house!!!" Haha it sounds soo fun and like a thrill. But anyways, we finally got to drive out to the place and we literally drove right through an orchard to get to our little place. Our excitement was growing and then we walked in the little place!! Oh my goodness!! It looked PERFECT. Supposedly Brother Leichman had fixed up the inside, remodeled it a little bit, for his newlywed daughter and her husband to live their during harvest season... but it is so perfect!! We instantly fell in love and said, "WE'LL TAKE IT!!!" Haha we were the giddiest kids and kept saying over and over how we wanted to make this place our permanent home. It is very small, only two rooms, that being our bedroom and the kitchen/family roomis kinda, and then the bathroom is attached to the bedroom... but there is a couple of steps and a door that lead from the bedroom to the kitchen and anyways, it's all very clean, white and roomy. The ceilings are pretty high and anyways... it is still a tiny orchard house but we LOVE IT. And it has now become OUR orchard house!!!!!! We talked with Elder Falls & Elder Bell about staying and then we talked to President Payne who talked to Brother Liechman and anyways.... we get to stay for good!!! It's the best!!!!! I will send pictures asap. But we love it so much!! It is in the middle of a walnut orchard and it is so beautiful, peaceful and ahhh I am so happy. Oh yeah, and after we checked out the place and found out we could stay, that day, they told us we were moving in TOMORROW. The girlfriend of Jeff's son and her baby had already moved into our current home and so Elder Bell wanted us moved out immediately. So we did just that. The next day we were completely moved out and moved into our darling place! It was quite crazy as well because we had to pack and move out in between teaching appointments but we made it all work and we were soooo excited about our new place that we were just as happy as ever and made it so much fun. Haha you should have seen us when we got our key and were first alone in our new house. We were both all smiles, dancing around the house (literally) and just on cloud 9. I loved living with members but I am so happy to have our own place and it is just in the middle of an ORCHARD so it's sooo peaceful, quiet and amazing. Also, we actually have another house in the orchard with us. And they are members. This is actually why we are able to stay. Because we have the Smith's next door. Haha funny fact: Brother Smith was the Santa Claus at our Branch Christmas fiesta so that Christmas card I sent out to you was with him (not the one of me dressed up as Santa haha) but so we have these neighbors and they haven't had neighbors in so long so they are so excited as well. Haha our first actual day living there they had us over for biscuits in the morning, took us out to dinner that night and then had us walk over after we got home to have ice cream sandwiches and hear about our day/lesson. So cute!!! They are awesome!!! Our little place is right next to them too so it's like we are still receiving the benefits from living with members yet have our own private place. It honestly could not be more perfect!!! ALSO, Elder Bell & Elder Falls brought us brand new everything for our home!!! They brought us these new wood beds (which they had the Elders come help us put together, etc.), we got brand new mattresses!! Which is our favorite thing. They bought us the thickest, comfiest, fluffliest and most amazing mattresses I have ever seen. They are so thick and comfy and they said they are only buying these super nice ones when they get new mattresses now. So we are sleeping on CLOUDS. Haha the Elders were sooo mad though because they have bad mattresses and couldn't get over how well they were treating us. With the house and everything. The mission really treats us Sisters far too well. It's pretty ridiculous. So on top of the beds, they got us a dresser, tables, new comfy chairs for studying and then after all of that... they went shopping for three hours for us and came back with a microwave, blender, toaster, ironing board, iron, vacuum, rice cooker, pots and pans, bookshelf, everything you could possibly need in a kitchen or home!!! It's crazy!!! I will send you a picture. But yeah so we felt soooo so blessed and spoiled. I still cannot get over all they have done for us/given us. Wow. Haha they said we were like a newlywed couple and it honestly feels like that!! Haha Hermana Richards and I keep talking about how it's like we are a newlywed couple getting our first little home, with all our wedding gifts, etc. It's hilarious. Elder Falls also told me, after we couldn't stop thanking them and were soo excited, to bring my husband back here in 10 years and see if I would STILL be as excited about living here. Hahaha well anyways, it is PERFECT. And it gives me a similar feeling as to how I feel in Bear Lake. We are in a little home (much smaller than Bear Lake), it's all white inside and clean, cozy, away from everything, peaceful... I wake up (we currently have bunkbeds and I am on the top) and every morning wake up to watch the sunrise (sooo beautiful) and I can't fully describe it but I am so happy. I couldn't feel more blessed. It's also the perfect place to live here in Gridley. This place is ALL orchards so it only makes sense to live in one! My last place was suuuuper nice but wasn't the Gridley feel. Wasn't Gridley. Haha so now I feel right at home and it just fits. I can't remember if I told you this already but it's a walnut orchard too and the trees are starting to bloom!! Also, right now ALL of the orchard trees are blooming so they are so pretty!!!! We have tons of trees that look as though they must be apricot trees as well because they look like the ones from "popcorn popping on the apricot tree" .... they look like they grow popcorn haha. In a pretty way. I'll send pictures. But yeah..... so that's an idea for where I am now living!!! Oh, and the address is now 

1498 Kirk Road, Gridley, CA 95948

I LOVE IT!!!!!

But okay, and as for everything else... the IMPORTANT stuff haha... although we were super busy with moving, etc. we still were super busy with lessons and had a successful week. We had MORE we needed to do though so this next week is going to be crazy busy!!!!!!!! I CANNOT WAIT. Our progressing investigators are all still progressing soo much too and we are so excited to see what happens in these next couple of weeks. Also, BIG NEWS!! Dalia AND Elvira both came to church for the first time yesterday!!! They BOTH came and it was amazing!! They came to Relief Society even and we were celebrating the anniversary of Relief Society so we had mexican food, etc. and everyone was greeting them, eating together, etc. it was PERFECT. And they both figured out it was each of their first time so they kinda stuck together and were sooo darling!!! We want them to both be baptized on the same day and now I can truly see it happening!! They are soooo cute!! And we all sat together during Sacrament meeting, including Hermana Ceja and Yamara, and it was so perfect. Hermana Richards spoke too so it was even better and they both loved it!!!!! Also, came to find out that Elvira is 75!! She asked me how old I thought she was at FHE (she came!!) and I said 57... she really looks SO good and is beautiful... and she is 75!!! Or turning 75. CRAZY!!! You would NEVER know it. But I have no idea how old Dalia is but she is soooo precious too. I love these ladies!!!!

Also, we found a new GOLDEN investigator!! Through TRACTING!!! We have been having the best luck with tracting!!!!! It is NOT a waste of time! We found dweet Dalia through tracting and she is one of our most progressing investigators!! And then we found ANY!! Her name is Annie in English but Any in Spanish. I know... Any is an actual English word but just think of Any. Hope it doesn't get confusing. But we went tracting through an apartment complex (which is where we found Dalia too) and we knocked on this door. A darling lady (younger) came to the door and after I introduced us she immediately had us come in and sit down. She didn't know anything about the church but wanted to listen to us. Well, right off the bat I knew something was different. She was different, there was a different spirit and feeling about her and I could feel it in the house. Different in a WONDERFUL way and the feeling I felt in her house was sooo good. It was very peaceful and warm. Well, we got to know her a little bit, she is a single mother with a 9 year old daughter, Maria, and they came from Mexico only 2 years ago. She grew up not learning about Christ or any specific religion and she wants to learn!!! We asked her how much time she had for us too and she said as much as we needed.. she was fully ready to learn and hear our messages. So, we were super excited and taught the Restoration. It went more than perfect and she had all the right questions, etc. It was the best!!! After teaching about the Book of Mormon she also even said, "How can I get one of these books?? I want to read from it." And we excitedly, gave her her very own copy!!! THE BEST. Her daughter also joined us for the entire lesson and was soo quiet, attentive and cute!! It was the best!!! We even invited her to be baptized and she said YESSS!!! She nodded like crazy and was soo happy. Of course, we will be teaching her much more and will continue to invite her, hopefully set a date next lesson but it was PERFECT. And on top of that, as we were leaving we asked her if there was ANYTHING we could do for her, service, cleaning, etc. and she said.... well, I would like it if someone could help me translate my daughter's homework. She doesn't know any English and wants to be able to help her daughter but can't... so we said we'd love to help her translate and even learn English!!! And she said we can come over as much as we wanted so we are going to have DAILY CONTACT. Even if it's a short visit. We told her this and she was so happy about it!!! Amazing. MIRACLE right??? Well anyways, more to come about Any but we are sooo excited about her. So many things are happening here in Griddles!!!!! I AM THE HAPPIEST MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!

Also, I don't know if I ever told you but Marcella is pregnant.... she was pregnant when she got baptized, don't worry it happened before we started teaching her, etc. and we got it all approved from the Zone Leaders, etc. but so she has been pregnant, the cutest pregnant girl, and is due July 24th!!! (only cool for us Utahn's haha) and she just found out she is having a little BOY!!!!!! Estrella was sad at first but now she is excited haha. And Oscar (the father) is being awesome so we're happy..... we're now just trying to get them MARRIED!!!! Which is being talked about. And we need him BAPTIZED!!! More to come on that later. Then, Yamara is as cute as ever. She is honestly one of my best friends and her and Brother Orme are already planning out their road trip to Utah when Hermana Piggott and I are both home from our missions... Antonio & Lorenza said they are fine with it as long as she stays with one of us. Haha it will be so fun!!!!! And then Jesus is still the cutest little guy. 16 and just growing up!!!! He also was able to go to the TEMPLE for his first time last weekend and he did baptisms for the dead!!!! SO AWESOME and he absolutely LOVED IT. He said it was such a special experience, opportunity and he cannot wait to go again. Also, he told me he KNOWS he is serving a mission. I cannot wait to see that boy be a missionary serve himself!!! He will be incredible!!!!

Okay, well I have to go. We're going on a hike with our Zone!!! It's called Bald Rock?? We don't know exactly what or where it is but we're excited. The weather is PERFECT too so it is going to be so much fun!!! I am excited. My zone is crazy too but I love them all. Okay, well I am going to come back and see if I have any emails after we get back!!! So still send me something!! I'll hurry and come get them once we're back. Okay, love you all soooo much!!!!!!

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!!!!!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Barth