I Am a Child of God

My loveliest & most beautiful family!!

     This has been a very crazy week!! I cannot even fully explain why
but a lot has happened and my mind is all over the place!! But here
are a few main highlights!
     1. We had our first zone blitz! It was crazy but such a fun
experience! We tracted, did "tableing" in a shopping outlet for family
history and did visiting teaching of less-actives with ladies from the
Chico 3rd area (where we did the blitz) and overall it was such an
adventure! Every companionship was assigned a specific area to tract
too and in 3 hours, Hermana Piggott & I knocked on 85 doors. We then
did a new door approach called, "the Harvest" where we express how we
are representatives of Jesus Christ and ask if they would like to have
blessing of peace placed upon their home. So, with that ... we ended
up blessing 10 homes and it was a wonderful & very memorable
experience. We also encountered many many different things haha which
will be told at a later time. Oh, tracting. There is absolutely
nothing like it.
     2. Our car ended up having a lot more damage done than was
expected so we have been on bikes for a week now and are still on
them! This has been such an adventure as well. Especially on Halloween
when nobody seemed to be home or available and we had to bike for
hours in the pouring rain!!! We joked that we should have attached
brooms to our bikes and worn black cloaks & witch hats. With the
stormy dark sky, it would have been too perfect! Haha no but we have
had a lot of fun. Also, today after church a bunch of our members were
getting a kick out of watching us ride away on bikes in our Sunday
best. Haha they all whipped out there cameras, etc. We felt so goofy
yet like such classic missionaries. I love it!
     3. Halloween was a wonderful day! Again, we weren't able to meet
with many people but we had a lot of fun in the rain and then we did
service, helped decorate for a Halloween party haha and then we had to
be in for the night at 6 and were told to weekly plan. So we planned
for a couple of hours, made a delicious dinner (sweet potatoes,
quinoa, homemade biscuits ... ) and then carved pumpkins!! I'll send
you a picture. I wanted to be creative and do something different then
a jack-o-lantern face so you'll get to see my attempt ... hopefully
you can tell what I tried to create! It was a great day though and I
am so happy I was able to spend it with Hermana Piggott. Also, we got
your incredible & cutest Halloween package mom!! Thank you so so
much!!!! We love all of it.
     4. On Saturday night we got to go to Yuba City for a combined
Spanish Branch fiesta called, "Salsa y Salsa." There was a salsa
making contest along with salsa music & dancing! Hermana Richards &
Hermana Lee made it happen and it ended up being so much fun! There
was a great turn out and I loved seeing so many members from my Yuba
City Branch, some from Gridley and then lots came from Lincoln. It was
great! I love the incredible people we associate with and the Hispanic
culture!! It is the best and they are such fun people. I can't say I
didn't get a little dance bug in me when they were all salsa dancing
... it looked so so fun! Los Latinos pueden bailar!!
     5. We were able to have some wonderful lessons this past week
including some with new investigators ... one with Ismael & Israel -
the twins - and then one with Mercedes & her boyfriend, Tristen! He
has been coming to our lessons lately, has a ton of interest and we
just found out his grandma & dad are (inactive) members!! I have a
feeling he will be baptized in the near future. Pretty awesome. We are
in need of new investigators so I am very happy.
     6. Yesterday I had my very first experience translating!! We have
some English speakers in our branch (Senior Missionaries, etc.) and
our usual translator for Sacrament Meeting, Brother Whitaker, didn't
show and so Hermana Piggott & I, on the spot, had to do the job. She
translated the beginning and then she was the first to bear her
testimony and so I translated for her and all who followed. It was soo
much fun! I actually absolutely loved it and loved being able to see
my two languages intertwine. What a blessing to be able to do such a
thing. I hope to have more opportunities in the future to translate
more. Primary was a lot of fun yesterday as well and Hermana Piggott
joked how we have literally become the primary presidency. Us &
Hermana Arevalo do it all, every week. I love it though! I love the
primary children so much. They are so innocent, full of faith &
darling. Also, some of there comments & questions are hilarious. Oh,
they are so stinkin cute. I am so excited to have my own little
darlings one day and to teach them the gospel!!

     Also, in primary yesterday we sang the all-time favorite and
worldwide classic primary song & hymn, "I am a child of God." As I was
playing it on the piano, while the little ones sang and Hermana
Piggott directed them ... I all of the sudden had chills come over me
as I realized the beautiful message this song gives. I also thought
about how important it is for every person to come to realize &
recognize their true identity; which is a child of our loving Heavenly
Father. This recognition completely changes people and is what
ultimately leads them back to their Father above. That is one of my
absolute favorite parts of being a missionary is helping people
realize how special, unique, infinitely loved and divine they are.
Helping them truly see themselves as important & precious children of
God, our Heavenly Father. There is nothing like it and as soon as
people start to recognize this, a light enters into them, they begin
to beam and you can see it truly start to radiate off of them. It is
so special and I love it so so much.
     Also, this upcoming week is going to be extremely eventful and
definitely one I will never forget. It is my best friend & compañera
Hermana Piggott's last week in the mission field. Our last week
serving & doing the work of the Lord side by side and her last week
doing the work full-time altogether. It is quite emotional for me
actually and I think is going to be harder than I am anticipating. I
cannot believe this time has already come and that I am actually
saying goodbye to her for her to go home!! I never thought the day
would come. However, this week is going to be full of wonderful
lessons & events including a temple trip with all of the other
departing missionaries and President & Sister Marston (President asked
me if I would like to go too!) and then next week we will see what the
future has in store for me and she will be flying home! Ps. I will
give you more information of her homecoming next week but it will be
on the 17th in Provo. I would love it so much if any of you who can
will go to support & love her! It will pretty much be like you will be
seeing me too haha because we have spent 7 1/2 months together and
literally have morphed into one another. She has become my other half
and I don't know if it would be possible for us to be more similar.
Oh, words cannot describe how much I love & adore my Hermana
Piggott!!! Okay. I am not going to think about it too much more for
now. But anyways ... we have another crazy week ahead of us!!

    I love you all so much & hope you have a wonderful week as well!!

Con mucho amor,

    Hermana Barth

Ps. the first video gives you a tiny glimpse of Hermana Piggott & I
together ... I randomly started filming us the other night after
nightly planning and then I will send the beginning of our spontaneous
singing along to "I am a child of God" from a Mormon message. I will
send the rest of the video in another email. Haha we are such weirdos
but have too much fun together. I love her.