Hello, October

Hello my lovely family!!

    So I am the absolute happiest person alive right now! For many
reasons that I am about to list off ... but also, we just had the best
p-day ever! We went to a corn maze & picked pumpkins in giant pumpkin
patch!! It was incredible, beautiful & sooo much fun!!! We went with
our tiny district of 4 sisters and 2 elders and it was honestly the
best time. I was in Heaven. Haha the corn maze definitely worked for
us as well .. due to the fact that we got super lost. Haha and don't
worry, we stayed with our companions & got lost together ... "sight &
sound" always! Haha ... Oh, but really, it was so amazing. I love the
Fall!!! Hey Abigail & Ralph, "Don't you just love New York in the
fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I'd send you a bouquet
of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." - best
movie in the world. Good thing you both are in New York City right now
and Abigail already is on top of things and sent me a beautiful
bouquet of newly sharpened pencils!!! Abs, that package was beyond
darling and I loved it sooo so much. You are the best sissy in the
world & make me so happy. I love you! Thank you for always thinking of
me. Also, please embrace New York and Washington D.C for me. Two of my
favorite places. And at this time of the year, magical. Also ... it
has almost been a year since you two got engaged in Central Park!!! So
so special. Tell Michael & the Sobota's hello from me as well and tell
them I love them! We are so lucky to have cousins that live in the
coolest places. Well again, today has been incredible and my overall
mission is making me happier than I can express!!!! How can life be
this good!?! So here are some updates!!!
 1. Mercedes is still on date for October 25th! We have the font
reserved & everything ... we're all so excited! Also, it's her
Birthday that day so it is going to be even more special!
 2. We were able to see Lorena & the boys a couple of times this past
week but we still are yet to meet Alfredo! He has been out working
every time we have gone over. However, we were able to teach Roberto
(Lorena's dad - I accidentally called him José in previous emails
haha) yesterday and it was awesome! Then when her mom and sister got
home from work, they joined us as well! And we even got her sister,
Adrian (who is muy rebelde) to pray out loud with us! It was
wonderful. I love the Campos family!
 3. Ana, Maria's mom, I can't remember if I told you ... moved back in
with Maria and she completely despises us. She is so mad Maria got
baptized while she was gone and now whenever we see her she makes a
funny face at us, gives us the most disgusted look, shakes her head
and waves her arms at us as if she is shooing us away .. it's super
sad. Ana used to love us! She made us dollies, we dyed her hair, she'd
listen to us and laugh with us, get excited when we'd come over, etc.
and now she can't even stand the sight of us. She just cannot believe
we allowed Maria to be baptized while she was away. But Maria is the
same age as you mom & dad! So she is definitely old enough to make her
own decisions & not have someone controlling her life. Yesterday she
expressed to us how Ana is very manipulating & mean and ahh, we don't
know why she puts up with it. Ohh we just love her so so much and want
to help her get out of this situation. She deserves so much more and
doesn't need someone ragging on her & her church anymore. It's not
okay!
 4. We are going to start teaching a recent convert, Martina's (the
one with 14 cats) son Israel this week! In this family, the mom & dad,
Martina y Jorge, were recently baptized and then their 8 year old
adorable adorable daughter whom I am obsessed with, Nelida, was
baptized with them and then their oldest son Adrian, was baptized
first a few years ago ... and now one of their twin sons, Israel,
wants to start taking the lessons. He has come to church a bunch of
times but now we get to start teaching him and I am super excited!
Then his twin, Ismael (I know - the names are two good ... and they
are identical!) just got out of Prison but he came to Stake Conference
yesterday so we're hoping to start teaching him too! Part-member
families are incredible! Ps. When we taught them the other night we
joked afterwards saying we just picked up a bunch of new investigators
because for our lesson, along with teaching Martina & Jorge, we had
with us ...14 cats & 2 chihuahua's (who were wearing velvet dog
sweatsuits & sweaters might I add) haha it was amazing. Or more so,
memorable.
 5. We got to help with New Beginnings for our recent convert Ana on
Tuesday and that was a lot of fun! I got to represent faith which was
the color white and Emma Smith! I was so honored. I respect that woman
so much.
 6.  On Tuesday we got to watch a premier of "Meet the Mormons" at the
Chico stake center with President Paulson and our entire Chico Zone!!
We were all soo excited and it was incredible!!!!! I loved it so much
and already am so excited to watch it again. I hope you all have seen
it in the Theater by now! If not, GO SEE IT. I could not be more proud
to be a member of our Church ... to be a Mormon! Ps. Dad, when
watching the story of the Costa Rican MMA fighter, when it shows clips
of them zip-lining in the tropical forests of Costa Rica, I swear it
was the exact same place we went to for our Humanitarian trip!! It
took me back to that wonderful experience. I love Costa Rica! What an
incredible trip that was. Also, I will never forget how you gave your
cab driver from the airport to our living quarters all of the
missionary discussions! That's what I am talking about! I love it. I
love you!
 7. Last P-DAY for our weekly dinner at President Halladay's (Branch
President) ... we made a campfire, roasted marshmallows and made
s'mores! Hermana Piggott & I were in Heaven! And of course I thought
of you Abs. Your favorite dessert. Excellent taste you have. Haha
 8. We had interviews with President Marston this past week! We ended
up being his last interviews for the day though and since he was
running over an hour behind, we didn't get to meet with him until
about 8:30 PM! And he took Hermana Piggott & I into the interview
together - he made our interview combined due to lack of time ... but
because we were the very last ones, he ended up having us in there for
over 30 min anyways and just chatted with the both of us about so so
much. Haha there are no secrets with that man. He started pulling out
the transfer board on his iPad, told us some of his future plans,
asked for our suggestions, told us about some of his surprises & plans
for the Holiday's (including Christmas ones ... I am so excited) and
then he just talked about all sorts of things. Haha it was too good.
Not the most spiritual interview but it was a wonderful time
nonetheless. Clearly we were his last interview too because he wasn't
holding back with anything. Ohh, I love my President. He is such a
loving, easy going, friendly and trusting man. It's crazy how
comfortable I feel around him and he always wants our input on things
regarding the mission as a whole. It's quite an honor, really. So that
was wonderful. Oh, and we got to see him this weekend two nights in a
row for Stake Conference so that was even more exciting! I love
President Marston so much. I still think about a President Weston all
of the time, that man has permanently & majorly impacted my life, and
I often miss him a lot - I miss his presence in the mission ... but I
feel so blessed to have two incredible men be my mission presidents. I
really am the luckiest.
 9. Last night we had FHE with the Whitaker family after eating dinner
with them and it was the cutest thing in the entire world. My heart
was so so touched and it was such a testimony builder to me how
important & precious family home evening is. Ever since I received my
Patriarchal Blessing and it mentioned me having faithful family home
evenings when I have a darling family of my own, I have been thinking
tons about them. I have always been certain I will do them and then it
seems as though the church brings up the crucial importance of them
all of the time as well. So anyways, it is on my mind often and being
apart of one last night with the most adorable family ... I cannot
wait to have them with my own little family one day! Oh, I wish you
all could have been there. It was seriously the most heart warming
experience. We sang primary songs while Ian, who's only 5, conducted
the music in his cowboy attire ... Eric - who's 7, said the most
sincere and loving prayer to Heavenly Father and then Hermana Piggott
and I taught the lesson on baptism. It was soo so spiritual and the
little boys answers to everything were so so cute and I truly felt the
entire time as if Heavenly Father was smiling from above. Little kids
are so innocent, believing and sweet and it is so easy to feel the
Savior's presence when they're around. The veil always feels a little
bit thinner. I love it so much! Also, after our lesson & cool little
baptism visual (water, pepper (sins) finger soaked in dish soap, etc.)
Eric asked if he could tell a story. He ended up telling us the most
adorable & hilarious story ever about a little boy and him learning
that coffee & alcohol was bad. Hahaha I wish I could tell you his
whole story because you would all love it so much. Us adults were
biting our tongues from laughing at parts because it was so adorable
and cute!!!! And afterwards he even said, "Now what did you learn from
my story??" Haha and then he told us what we were supposed to learn.
It was soooo cute!!!! My heart was completely melted at this point and
again, I cannot wait to have little kids to have FHE with one day!
This family is the perfect example of how to do it too. They have
taught their little ones soo much! I love it.
 10. We went to a wedding the other night for an inactive member of
the Spanish Branch. He married a girl from Vietnam and anyways, it was
a very nice wedding but it was very eye opening for me as well. As
lovely as a civil wedding is, there is absolutely nothing like a
wedding & sealing in the temple & House of The Lord. There is just no
comparison. No matter how beautiful a wedding outside the temple can
be, when the Holy Ghost isn't present like it is in the temple ...
it's just not the same. I was immediately taken back to watching Abby
& Ralph's sealing and I just felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the
temples and the opportunity & great privilege I will have to be
married inside one (the Salt Lake Temple to be exact) one day. There
is nothing I look forward to more than getting married to my
sweetheart in the beautiful temple & house of The Lord and being
sealed for all of time & eternity!

And I hope you all have a wonderful week!
I am thinking of & praying for you every single day. I love you all so
so much!!!!

Con un gran cantidad de amor,

Hermana Barth

Ps. This is a scripture that has come up a lot this past week. The
General Authority that came to our Stake Conference, an awesome guy
from Sweden, quoted it as well and it's a wonderful one to ponder
about ....

      "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all
things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the
utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be
revealed." - D&C 123:17

Let us CHEERFULLY do all things that lie in our power ... this is the
KEY to a happy & fulfilling life.