TTTTTTRRRRRAAAANNNNSSSSFFFFEEEEERRR WEEK

Sorry for the annoying subject line of this email... But this is about how I feel right now.
I was expecting to stay a little longer in the Lost Mountain Ward, but that isn't in the plans for me! I will be heading off to my new area on Wednesday. I am a little bit sad because I grew quite attached to this ward. I am going to miss the Johnson family and the other people I have come to love. I know that my work and purpose in this area has been completed and I am a much better person for it. Hallelujah
Often while I have been on my mission I have wondered why I felt so prompted to do this when there are countless others who I know could have been ten times the missionary I am. But then I realize that Miss Emily Katherine Louise really really really needed a mission more than she even knew. I know the Lord is shaping me into the person that I need to be and I am grateful. I am pretty sure my future family is really grateful I decided to do this as well.
Do ya'll remeber the investigator that tried to "drop us" well.... She came to a baptism we had on saturday and she brought her son who then came to church the following day! They are both going to get baptized, I know it :)
It's amazing to see things come out of the wood work! I know that as I am obedient and diligent great miracles happen.
On Saturday night the Nashville Tribute Band came to our area and performed a show for everyone in the powder spring and neighboring stakes, it was an amazing missionary opportunity for members to invite their friends and neighbors. The coolest part of the whole thing was when the band had all the full time missionaries come up to the stage, they sang a song and we stood there while everyone in the audience applauded for us! The band then told everyone there to be nice to missionaries :) Ya'll should check out their CD's because they are awesome and the music is all about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!
I am trying to think of what else to write about in this email...
Oh! I wanted to tell ya'll about all of the road kill! I have seen my fill of dead things on the side of the road... Luckily I haven't killed anything yet, I probably would be very upset if I did. Anyways that is a random weird/gross thing about Georgia.
The weather this last week has been a little cooler, which has been wonderful! I think Georgia has stranger weather than Utah sometimes. One minute it will be all sunshiney and then the next you look up in the sky and giant drops of water are about to fall on you without any notice of little rain drops first... I have almost given up having a strong aversion to umbrellas but I am still holding strong... I refuse to use them.
I am going to leave ya'll a verse of one of my favorite songs... I Believe in Christ by Bruce R. McConkie
I know that as we trust in the Lord we will be able to do all things! This I know!
I love ya'll
I believe in Christ- my Lord, my God! My feet he plants on gospel sod... He is the source of truth and light!
Sister Emily Barnett

p.s Give the Barney family my love! I am so sorry to hear about the sudden death of Gweny but I know she is in the rest of the Lord and she will come again with a perfect body because Christ broke the bands of death, what glorious news! God be with her till we meet again.

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Three Months!

Three months.
Oh how fast time flies... days are long weeks are short and months are even shorter. Next week is transfer week again. I am not sure what will happen but I know that what happens will be what is right. I will let ya'll know in my next email on Monday if I am leaving or if I am going!
This last week was wonderful! The Baptism went so well, everything flowed perfectly and the spirit was so strong. I don't think there was a dry eye in the whole room. I feel so blessed that the Lord allowed me the wonderful opportunity to get to know this beautiful family and to teach them, it has been such a privilege. Everyday I grow closer and closer to my Heavenly Father in a way that I believe only this mission could do for me. As hard as it was to leave on a mission I am so grateful to be here and I realize now that it wasn't really a sacrifice at all. I have been blessed far more than I have given, the Lord loves us all. This I know!
To tell ya'll  a little bit more about the ward I am serving in... In the northern part of the ward there is quite a bit of wealth but as you go more south it gets more into the sticks and the people who don't have has much money. I am serving in the south part of the ward right now so we work with a lot of people struggling financially, I feel a little bit more comfortable with this group of people for some reason, they are humble and they know that they must rely on God to keep them going.

 We work with a lot of African Americans, people I have come to love dearly. The problem we are facing is the lack of diversity of the individuals who are active members of the church, most of the people are wealthier white folks. When we do get people to church they are often upset because of the lack of outward diversity, then they struggle to come back again. This is a huge reason why this baptism we just had was so important and will dramatically help the missionary efforts in the ward... The family we just baptized is of African American descent. Because of the increasing diversity of the ward, all will feel welcome! The work will continue to go forward and less people will feel uncomfortable. We have already seen such a huge change in this ward as this family has come into the gospel, some of the less active members have already started to come back. It is so beautiful to watch!
This last week I have been trying to memorize the story of Joseph Smith found in JSH... I have never been super good at memorization but I almost have it down. I love being able to study and pray about the Book of Mormon over and over again. I have felt in my heart that it is true and that Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet of God in this dispensation.
I love you all so much. Thank you for your love, kindness and support. I have truly been blessing with some amazing people in my life. I miss you all so much but I know that we will all meet again soon enough.
God be with you!
Love Sister Emily Barnett

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What a week

I often struggle to begin these letters, starting things has always been a difficult thing for me to comprehend I guess. I remember when I was little and I would watch movies, I had the hardest time figuring out how the heck people ever knew how to start a movie, It's a hard task if you think about it. Anyways, this week has been good here in the life of Sister Emily Barnett.
Each week in the mission field I learn so many things about myself as an individual and every week my love for other people grows a little bit more. I had an amazing experience with a receent convert the other day. We talked about trials and how God has literally delivered her out of bondage so many times, she reminded me a lot of my mom and similar struggles she has gone through. As I see other people in situations that I am so familiar with, the Lord allows me to recognize that change is possible. We are Human and we can change. Each and every one of us. The atonement is so real and I am grateful for this opportunity that I have to witness it in peoples life, and especially my own and my family.
I am so happy to hear that everyone is doing well, I pray for each of you like a million times a day. I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you all.
We were able to go to the Altanta temple this week for zone training, it was a wonderful experience and I can't wait to go again. My heart aches to be back within the walls of the temple. At sone training we talked a lot about the vision to baptize- as we view all people as they can become, dressed in white in the water of baptism! I left that day feeling edified and wonderful about the work of the Lord.  
We have had some wonderful lessons with the Johnson family this week! They will be getting baptized on Saturday!!!!! I get emotional just thinking about them and the changes we have seen with in them the last few weeks. They are amazing and I hope to be like them some day! I have loved watching their family grow closer through the gospel, they comment every day how much happier their life is now. Tonight we will be attending the 3 FHE with them, I am so excited :)
I know the gospel brings families closer together, and I know that the Gospel can bring my family closer together as well... It already has in so many ways.
I love family!
I should probably get going so I can write a few more emails... just know that I love all of you more than anything but more importantly I hope you know how much Heavenly Father loves all of you. Find ways to have missionary experiences!
Love,
Sister Emily Barnett

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August

Hello! How is everyone?
This last week was a very bitter sweet. We have an awesome family on date for baptism on the 17th of August but we also had one of our investigators "drop" us, which was super sad and hard to swallow. We pray that she will find happiness in her life and with the jehovah's witnesses that she worships with.
We have been a crazy kind of busy here in the lost mountain ward trying to find people to teach. I've got to admit... tracting isn't may favorite past time... Does this make me a horrible missionary? I hope not! I just know there are better ways to find people to teach and that is through memebers! The only success we have had with our investigators are ones who the memebers refer to us. If anything I think this mission will make me a better memeber of the Church, I have learned so much about how it works and every little thing that goes into making it run. It really is so wonderful, I am so happy that I have the opportunity to be a disciple of Jesus Christ my whole life, not just on my mission.
Today we are having zone p-day and we are going to play kick ball with all of the elders and sisters in our area. Later this week I get to go to the Temple with my zone as well for zone training. I am so excited! I miss the Temple so much because I do not get to attend as often as I did at home. I am grateful for the opportunities I get to attend when I do. It is my goal that when I get home I will go to the Temple every week. 
This week I was reading a lot in the Book of Mormon, in Mosiah 2-4 I love these scriptures and king benjamin. Ya'll should check out Mosiah 4:9... I know that I have a Father in Heaven who knows everything and who loves me just the same. I know that the Lord has a plan for all of us and that if we trust in him everything will be okay... That is somthing I have learned this week. Everything will be okay when we trust in God.
I am sorry this is so short today. I will have more things to write about next week. I love you all and I am so grateful for all of you!
Have a great week.
Love, Sister Barnett

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Sorry! A week late

Hello!
Another week has come and gone and here I am again sitting on the computer in the library writing a letter to all of you! How is everyone? Can ya'll believe that July is over?
This was a really great week for me, I feel like there was a lot of personal growth that happened for me. The lord allowed me to see so many miracles!
I want to tell you about a family who we have been teaching this last week, Shay and Rob. In the Lost Mountain Ward they have a history of really good key indicator numbers (how many lessons we teach each week, new investigators, baptisms, etc) except for three... Baptism, confirmation and investigators to sacrament meeting. This week our President promised us that as we refocused that we would be able to get two people on date for baptism. With this promise Sister Mataele and I got to work. We worked and we worked and we worked. Late last night we had one more appointment with Shay and Rob before we had to report our numbers, we just prayed that they would be the ones who the lord promised us we could get on date for baptism! We already had Shay on baptism but we were still waiting on Rob, he is such a strong man but he always tells us that he is just trying to figure everything out before he commits to baptism.
We finished the lesson with the family and then we again invited Rob to be baptized, he told us that he really wasn't thinking about baptism but he was just trying to live right and be obedient in keeping the sabbath day holy. We shared 3 Nephi 27:20 with him "Now this is THE commandment, repent all ye ends of the earth and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day." we then explained to Rob that being baptized is a commandment and that we must do it to live with our Father again. During this discussion the spirit was so strong in the room there was no doubt that it was there and Rob turned to us and said "well I guess this is really what I should be focusing on as I pray." We asked him that when he receives an answer for himself if he would be Baptized with his wife on the 17th. He said yes!
Through this experience I know that as we are patient that the Lord will allow us to see miracles. I know that the Spirit was the one speaking to Rob and that the things that came out of my mouth as I spoke to him were not my own. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here on a mission. These haven't been the best two months of my life but they have already been the best two months for my life. The Lord is blessing me in so many ways, I truly believe that I will be a better person because of this mission.
I am trying harder to give my whole heart to this mission and to the will of the Lord, I figured out that I am kind of a stubborn person and that I like to do things my way. I am learning to do things a little differently now and man is it hard!
I would like to share a scripture with you guys before I close up this letter. Heleman 5:12- "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
I know and I have felt that as I have built my foundation on the Lord that I am strenghtened and that I can do anything, this has been so evident to me as I have been serving a mission. I promise you that if you trust the lord and build on him you will be blessed beyond belief and most of all you will find Joy.
I am finding Joy in the Journey! This week I recieved the Song Book I asked for from Barbara Leary. There is a song in it called "Misty's song" I want to share a part of it that I love because I feel that as life gets us down we always need to remember to find Joy in the Journey, Joy isn't something for the future it is for us to experience now!
"tell me the reason I was born to roam, telll me the reason I am so far from home. How many mountains will have to climb, how many memories will I leave behind. There is a valley called Peace of Mind, there is a river running right by it's side, there is a moment of glory so new."
I want you all to know how much I love you! Thank you for everything :)
Grandma, thank you for getting that package together for me! I love you.
Sister Barnett

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2 months!

Okie dokie! Here we go again!
First I want to say thanks for not forgetting me! At transfer meeting I had 7 letters waiting there for me :) Love ya'll! I hope to have time to write a lot of letters today!
I am now in the "Lost" Mountain ward, these people are crazy and they think they have a mountain. They don't really know what mountains are. My new companion is Sister Mataele! She is AWESOME! I already love her so much, and guess what? she too is from Hawaii and she is a Polynesian. I don't know if it is coincidence or not but I guess I just give off that sort of vibe. Maybe I should be a Polynesian when I get home, I will move to Hawaii (family, don't get me wrong... I don't want to go and live with you know who) and eat their food all day.
It has been a little difficult for me integrating into this new mission, they do things a lot differently than GANM did them. Also all the Elders and Sisters in this area are close with each other because they have all been here for a long time, so I feel like an outcast in a way. hopefully all of this will change soon and we can have more unity and love in our district.
The Lost Mountain ward is a lot different from Jonesboro, I guess I didn't realize that the last area I was in was pretty ghetto... but it was and now I am in a super wealthy ward, I feel like it might be a little bit harder to connect with people here... But so far we have had quite a bit of success! We have a wonderful African American woman on date for baptism at the end of August! Her daughter and hopefully her husband will be baptized at the same time as well! This morning we taught her the second lesson and it went really well.
Also this week I had my first bible bashing experience... It was crazy! We tracted into a pastor and he invited us in and just started bashing with us, I eventually had to tell him that we weren't there to fight with him about anything and that we had to leave. Honestly it was a really hard experience at first, but then I remembered what ya'll have told me... That people may not accept the things that we teach but that I should not get too upset about it, thank you for those words of advice and love, they sure come in handy!
So currently all the bugs are winning the game, on my legs alone I have 22 mosquito bites! It's a little hard to shave your legs when there are so many bites so if I come home looking like a hairy mammoth then ya'll can blame the bugs! (just kidding)
Our new apartment is in the middle of a forrest basically so at night you hear all kinds of critters making sounds, especially the cicadas, those things are nasty! I actually started collecting all of the dead bugs I find in our apartment. I plan on sending them to someone but I don't know to whom quite yet. All ya'll know that I am crazy so you shouldn't be too weirded out when you recieve a box full of bugs. Be prepared!
So Pa wanted a run down of what a day in the life of a missionary usually consists of so I am going to explain that a little bit right now.
6:30 Wake up, pray, make bed, exercise (running around the neighborhood usually)
7:00 get ready, eat, etc

8:00 Personal Study! The best part of the day.
9:00 Companion Study
10:00 12 week training program (only for the first two transferrs)
11:00 lunch
12:00 Be out of the house meeting people on the streets, appointments, lessons, tracting, etc
6ish- dinner
9-Be back in our apartments to plan for the following day.

9:30 call in for a conference call with our district, which consists of 6 missionaries total- report miracles, numbers and certifications
10:00 get ready for bed, write in journal or just pass out if you are already too tired.
10:30 lights out.
On certain days these things are a little different. On monday we have P-day so we email, go to the store, etc. on tuesdays we have district meeting in the morning so things are a little different and things are pushed back a little bit. On sunday we obviously have all of our church meetings and what not so that day is different.
Anyways this is what I do day after day!
I hope you are all having a wonderful week and that the weather isn't too hot! It has been raining quite a bit here in Georgia, which I am so grateful for because it gets really hot and humid. I miss my dry heat!
Oh did I mention that this wednesday will be my 2 month mark? Crazy how fast time goes, so much has happened in the past two months but it also feels like it has been no time at all. The days are really really long but the time goes by fast. I really do love my mission, I feel like I am changing a lot but still staying the same. I miss home a majority of the time but I am really doing my best to focus on the work and what I am doing. I honestly could not do this with out all of you! Thank you.
I know that I my redeemer lives. I know the Book of Mormon is true, a power like none other comes into my life ever time I read it. I know that through prayer we can know of the truthfulness of all things!
Love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Emily Barnett (I miss being called by my first name a lot!)

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Goodbye Jonesboro!

Hello! 
It's so good to hear from all of you, it has been a quite week because my mail is starting to thin out. Maybe it's because no one loves me anymore? I sure hope not! (I learned my amazing guilt tripping skills from my grandmother) I bet it is because next week is transfers and they have been holding my mail at the mission office :) 
So guess what! I am being transferred to a new area with a new companion on Wednesday, I am a little nervous but I was also grateful for this opportunity. This transfer is an answer to my prayers.
Also other exciting news! This Saturday... KENNEDY IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My first baptism and I might not even be able to go since I am being transferred... nonetheless I am so excited for Kennedy!!!!! Everyone is so excited for dear Kennedy! She will be entering into the gate back to her loving Father in Heaven. She is following her Savior Jesus Christ and it will bless her life and her families life so much! We will be teaching her every day this week so she can have all her lessons in before her baptism.

Tonight we are teaching The Gospel of Jesus Christ, teaching is beginning to come a little bit more natural for me. I love sitting in a lesson without really knowing what to say but then some how words start flowing from my mouth. It really is a miracle because when I first got here somehow I had forgotten how to speak, it was the strangest thing. 
Another amazing miracle that happened to us this week... Sister Larsen got sick and had to go to the doctors, we were out a little later than normal trying to get her prescription filled so we were trying to hurry home. We went to the Kroger across the street from where we live and as we were walking in one of the employees who was on his break started talking to us. Long story short... We gave him a Book of Mormon and gave him a place to start reading. As we got back into our car and started driving away we could see him sitting on the bench reading the Book of Mormon. It was an amazing experience for me especially because I was able to watch someone have faith and begin to have a spiritual experience! I was so excited, I think my companions thought I was a little crazy though because I was so ding dang excited! Times like that I love being a missionary :) 
On Friday we went and visited a less active member, he really likes philosophy and his wife is apparently a Witch. We spent a little while talking with him, deep down I think he knows the church is true but he doesn't want to admit it. He made an interesting comment about the Book of Mormon that I has kept thinking about after it was said. He said that the Book of Mormon is just another set of guidelines...
 A few weeks ago I had finished reading the Book of Mormon again and, like I have done every time, I did what it says to do in Moroni 3:3-5 I knelt down and I asked if the book was true. This time I did it I didn't get an answer right away, I kept waiting and still nothing happened. After this conversation with the less active Brother I kept  thinking about and studying more in my mind to know if this book really is true, although I have received the answer before I wanted to know again. The next day I was sitting and studying and in my heart I knew!  I came to a peaceful conclusion that The Book of Mormon isn't just another set of guidelines. There is absolutely no way that a man with very little schooling could have written that book, there is no way that I can deny the things that I have felt and learned while reading this book. I know from the bottom of my heart that the Book of Mormon is true and that it comes from God, by reading and following the precepts it contains we will be able to live again with our families and our Father forever. I know that Joseph Smith is the prophet of this dispensation sent to restore Christ's Church on this Earth. I know that Jesus is the Chirst, he is my Brother and my best friend.I am so grateful for this knowledge that I have received. 

I love being a missionary, although things are tough and sometimes I just want to quit I know that this is the Lords work and I am doing exactly what I need to be doing in my life. Because of this I will be a better Wife, Mother and leader in the Church. I am so grateful the Lord has given me this opportunity to stand as a witness for him. I invite ya'll to do the same, I promise you that as you come unto him you will find so much more joy and fulfillment in your lives. 
I love ya'll so much! Thank you for all of your love and prayers :) 
This time as a missionary is going by so fast! I have almost been out for two months and I can hardly believe it! Soon enough I will be back home with all of you wonderful people, don't miss me too much until then! 
Next week I will let you know about the new area I am in :) 
What can I do for all ya'll? 
(I am working hard on my southern talkin') 
Have a fantastic week! 
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo 
Sister Emily Barnett 
p.s Grandma, give Park City lots of lovins from me :) I sure miss my mountains and the beautiful dry air! Tell the condo I will be seeing it two summers from now (unless you sell it or something, which is perfectly fine if you decided that is what you need to do)! 

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