Thanksgiving

Transfer #5
Happy thanksgiving!!!!!!
I hope everyone has a great week and remembers to be thankful for everything they've got! I am grateful for so many things right now in my life... but I will spare you of the entire list :)
I have a new companion, her name is Sister Nielsen and she is a great woman! I actually knew her before because she has been serving in the same zone as me in the Lost Mountain Ward (my last area) We went on exchanges with each other a few weeks ago. She is from Pueblo Colorado and she also went to BYU for 2 years before the mission. She is a very kind, loving, strong individual and I feel very strongly that she has a lot to give to this little branch :) I am excited for this transfer!
So do you remember me telling you about Lily last week? well she is doing awesome and is set to be baptized on the 6th of December :) I honestly feel like she is a tender mercy of the Lord, she doesn't need me but I need her! I need to see success and so I am being blessed with this privilege :)
Things without sister Diehl is kind of weird.... I miss her a lot but she is doing great things I am sure of that!
This next week for thanksgiving we will be going to a few of the members homes who I have gotten very close with- it will be a great day and I will probably be really really full!
Also in the next week or so we will be moving into a new apartment but If there is mail that accidentally gets sent to the old apartment I will get it because my district leader is going to be living there and he will give it to me. but I will let you know what my new address is when I get it!
This week I have been reading a lot about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, I am really growing to love the bible as I have never before. I could study it all day long but unfortunately we have other things that we must be doing. While reading this I have received an additional witness through prayer that Jesus Christ truly is my Savior and Redeemer- He is my mediator. Through him all is okay :)
Today I am thankful for Jesus Christ and his gospel, I am thankful for my family and friends who love and support me, I am so thankful to be here in Georgia, and I am thankful for all that my future has in store!
I hope ya'll have a great thanksgiving :) and a blessed week!
Love,
Sister Em Barnett

Another late one

Hey Family,

Things are going well, this next week I will be getting a new companion. The days of the big diehl are over and I will be the senior companion for the first time on my mission! I am stoked!!!!!

We may be moving apartments as well but I am not sure what is going on yet, I will let ya'll know the deal next week.

I am so excited for the work that we have to do here in this area the next six weeks, we have an amazing new investigator named lily (she is about six feet and 2 inches tall- funny how that works) i really am so excited about her and the potential she has.

I am so glad that things are going well at home. continue to keep going forward.

I am sure ya'll are wondering about Mark. It was one of the craziest experiences of my life, and it brought up a lot more emotions and feelings than i thought it would have. It was hard not having the immediate support from my family and friends but some how I did it. I am grateful that I had the support around me that I did. These people here in Georgia are my family and I love them all dearly.

Mark is a really good guy, he is a great father and a hard worker. It makes me happy to know that he turned out just fine.

I am really going to miss sister diehl, she changed my life in which I will forever be grateful for. She was there for me through so many hard times and she watched me grow in so many ways. She is a good woman and I know she will continue to change lives :) I will make sure she comes and visits ya'll at home in 7 months when her mission is over.

Well family- there is much to be done!

I love you so much and you are all constantly in my prayers! I can't wait to talk to you in 37 days!!!!
love,

Sister Emily Barnett

Few weeks late... Sorry

Dearest Family!

Can  you believe that it has been six months this Wednesday since we have seen each other? I feel like so much has changed and it has been such a crazy few months since the moment I said goodbye at the gates of the MTC.

33% completed with a full time mission- that's pretty cool huh? I never thought I could do it!

Also don't get too excited but..... Christmas is coming so soon and we will be able to talk to each other!

Woohoo!!!!!!

Oh also some very exciting news..... This Friday I will hopefully be meeting my half brother, I was able to get permission from my president and so it is happening!

I am so excited to see him :) I feel so blessed that I get this opportunity!

This last week has been really good,  we went on two exchanges and I was able to stay in my area for both of them. it was really cool because I finally felt for the first time on my mission that I was a missionary and that I could do this by myself.... I guess that 's what you get after 6 months right? haha

We also had zone training this last week, we were able to go to the temple and then we were taught by our mission president and other local leaders of our mission, we talked a lot about faith in the work... I definitely need to work more on having faith in the Lord.

Heleman 11:10-19 in this scripture Nephi is recording his prayer to the Lord.... I want to be better at praying like Nephi- persuasive and humble.

I realize there is so much I want to change in my life and about myself in the next year. I want it to go fast but at the same time I am so excited for all the miracles and the amazing blessing this next year will be for the rest of eternity!

I truly believe that this last six months has been the best for my life. I love this work and I love the Lord! I am so excited for my future and for the amazing life I have ahead of me :)

I love you all so much! have a great week and I shall talk to you next Monday!

Love,

Sister Emily Barnett

Fall

In my last letter I made mention that the fall wasn't as beautiful as I was expecting... Well that changed! The falls in this place are amazing! I guess I just wasn't patient enough :) That's something I am working on!
Things have been well this week, I am not feeling sick any more and things have been happy! We had Mission leadership council on wednesday, it was a great council in which we talked about a lot of different things pertaining to the mission and the work in this part of the lords vineyard. President really stressed the importance of obedience to the mission rules to bring about miracles in this work, I know I still have a long way to go but I know that as we are obedient that we do see miracles. I have seen miracles from being obedient on my mission.
It's crazy to say but I am creeping up on six months in the next week... I can't believe how fast the time has gone and I can't believe that in a short year I will be on my way home- maybe already home depending on the transfers and where they hit. In a way it is kind of a sobering fact, I don't know how I will be able to leave this place but mostly the people that I love. I thought 18 months was a lot longer than it actually is when I started out.
I know that this is the work of God, I can not deny it at all. I know and I have had unmistakable experiences to know that the Book of Mormon is true and that the church it is espoused to is the Lords kingdom on the earth. I know that families can be together forever becasue of the binding priesthood power. I know that Christ lives. I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God.
I desire all to know these things as well, that is why I am here serving a mission.
This coming week we will be going to the Temple for zone training meeting, it will be an amazing experience because it always is. I miss the Temple because that is where I feel at home. I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to go so often while on my mission, not everyone has the blessing of this on their mission. The Temple will always be the focus in my life.
We are working on building our teaching pool back up again after it fell apart a few weeks ago- we have been able to find a lot of people to talk to through the members and also other missionaries! We have been asking most of the members who they know who would be interested in recieving the gospel- this method is working really well world wide and they are trying to impliment it even more among the missions in the united states!
Oh also did I tell ya'll that in the next few months our mission will be getting IPads and facebook! I am not sure what the stipulations will be but we are excited to use these tools in our teaching and finding efforts.
oh I forgot to tell ya'll the other week... but I bought some boots that are really cute and they were on sale, I got them half off. (that was random but maybe you wanted to know)
we went of exchanges with some sisters down in timbuk2- it was really fun :) I am sending a few pictures of that exchange! The sister I was with cooked for me twice that day! she is amazing!
Have I ever mentioned that I love food? because I do- I want to cook a lot more when I get home one day, that is a goal of mine!
okay I think I have talked enough.
I love you guys and I miss you so very much :)
53 days until christmas!!!!!!
love,
Em