9-19-16

What a week it has been! We traveled up to Fairbanks on Monday for a
Zone Conference on Tuesday. We stopped off and Santa's house to show

Elder Semadeni so that was awesome. There was a pretty cool miracle on Monday that happened. We were playing ping pong and pool at the Institute building for P-day when a member from the YSA branch came walking in and asked us if we had any dinner plans for that night. We didn't because we were 2 hours away from our area so she took us to McDonald's with her less-active dad. It was pretty cool because even though we were so far away from our area the Lord still puts people in our path to talk too. Anyway on Tuesday we had a really great Zone Conference. The spirit taught me a lot and gave me a lot to work on.  We had our Stake President speak to us and he said something that
really hit me. He said, "you are only as spiritual as you are humble." That is something I really need to work on it's being humble and knowing Father in Heaven enough to trust him. 

Everything will work out as you put that trust into the Lord.

So Sunday was crazy! We show up to church and there is all these members from Tok which is 2 hours away. The Stake Presidency was also there. With the Branch President moving from Tok and talking his family, which is about half the congregation, the Branch is no longer a Branch. The members down there are now members of the Delta Junction Ward and all the members in the far out places Tok covered. Now the Delta Junction Ward boundaries are just about the size of the Philippines haha! It will be very very interesting to see how this all plays out. It was a pretty good shock to everyone there but it was okay because we had the best pot luck I have ever tasted after church! The members make the best food around out here! We have one sister who use to run her own  restaurant so we love when she signs up for dinner!
Oh and just to make my dad jealous, we had home made Butterfingers ice cream topped with a home made chocolate sauce made with chocolate from Madagascar!!! All over my body!!!! That was some dang good ice cream! Anyway back to the pot luck, we also had a pot luck because one of the coolest families of all time are moving to Burley Idaho.  They have lived her over 35 years! The Wrigley family is just the best people around! There son Steven who has Downs syndrome is the nicest guy I've ever met! I will miss his big hugs and joke! It's okay though because we will be like neighbors in Idaho.

Well that's my week! Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Barney

                                                    P.S. Those are Santa's reindeer

9-12-16

Hey there friends and family!

Seems like the weeks are getting shorter and shorter! This week flew by! We had a very awesome week! Last P-day we went to go on a hike but we got lost but we did see a lot of cool sights.  We came acros the famous Alaska Pipe Line!  That was pretty cool. 

So last P-day was pretty fun. This P-day we are going to Fairbanks because we have Zone Conference tomorrow so we just decided to head up today. I'm pretty excited to go see other missionaries! It can get kinda boring after you have done everything Delta has to offer twice haha. So this P-day should be pretty fun!

Anyway this week we had some awesome lessons! We have been meeting with one of those families from Idaho. They are 2 sisters who have a bunch of kids they are raising together. They are really cool. It was so awesome because they came to church Sunday!!! I was so pumped to see them. It was quite the sacrifice because one of them is a Packers fan and they were playing during church. She almost didn't go but I told her if I could miss the game so could she. It was so funny because every time the was a quiet moment she leaned over and told me updates from her phone haha. They both loved church and so did their kids. On top of that Sunday we had some other investigators come to church too! We have been teaching them forever and they finally committed to coming!  I was a little nervous because one of them was raised southern baptist

and I've learned on my mission pretty quick that they are not to fond of Mormons 

All went well though. Her and her Aunt both came and seemed to love it. They answered questions and gave great impute so it was a great Sunday. It was pretty crazy because we haven't had investigators at church for over a month and a half. It has been a struggle getting people there but this week we had a ton of new faces! We were expected at least 6 that told us a definite yes and we even met with all of them the day before to remind them. We were pretty excited. We were telling our Ward Council and everyone that there is going to be lots of people so be ready. As we were waiting at the door no one was showing up and sacrament was starting. I started to have a lack of faith and got frustrated, then out of no where in walked the investigators.

So then I quickly repented and then in walked the sister family. Man prayer works!
Awesome miracles this week.

So we did have a crazy part of the week. We were helping one of our

investigators take down a tree and it was awesome. I never done that before so it was pretty sweet taking down a huge tree! Then we went and totally destroyed this tree house he wanted taken down with a hammer and crowbar. It was a lot of fun! Anyway that was my exciting week!
Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for your emails and stay safe!

-Elder Barney

9-5-16

Hey everyone!

What a week it has been!!! I really do hope you all had as an awesome
week as I had! We saw sooo many miracles this week! Oh man I first
have to tell everyone the coolest thing of all time!! I SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!

Ya you read that right the Northern Lights! So we were in Fairbanks for Zone Meeting staying with the Zone Leaders when in the middle of the night I get woken up by Elder Davis telling me I have to go outside. So we went out and we could barely see them. We sat there really excited because even though they were faint it was better then nothing. Then out of the middle of now where, right when we were taking pictures, the sky just exploded with the Northern Lights! It was bright green, pink, white, and purple! We all just dropped out cameras and jaws and just stared! It was so amazing!
 All 4 of us just sat there dead quite staring at the most beautiful thing ever!!! It was so bright it lit up everything!! I'm so sorry I didn't get any awesome pictures of that for you guys, I was just in to much shock! As it was quite one of my Zone Leaders said something very profound.

He said, "I can't believe anyone can see this and not believe in God." That is sooo true! God is so amazing! He has created the most beautiful sights to see on this Earth! It was just a tender mercy to be able to see the Northern Lights this week!

We saw so many other blessings as well. Earlier this week we went to a dinner when I felt prompted to knock on three doors we previously knocked on that didn't answer. So the first door we knock on this lady answers and starts laughing at us. We were pretty confused. Then she stopped and smiled and said "I'm Mormon I'm Mormon!" She told us how she just moved up here a couple months ago from Idaho and how she has been less active for a long time, but 2 days prior she was just talking to her sister saying she wanted to contact some Mormon Missionaries to come over. How crazy is that!? We set up an appointment and came back the next day. At the appointment we taught one of her friends the first lesson and he was super interested! Now we are going back for family home evening tonight! How awesome is that!? Man God works some great miracles. Okay one more miracle!

So we were talking to this less active and asked her for some referrals and she gave us this name and address of a lady she met the other day who she thinks would "make a good Mormon." So we went and stopped by and the lady laughed at us too! Turns out that she is also Mormon and less active from Idaho as well! And actually her 9 year old son just took the missionary lessons in Idaho and got baptized a month ago. They didn't think that there was a church all the way out here. So now we are helping them move in and getting them set up with the Ward! They are so awesome! Man what great things the Lord does just amazes me! I
love this work!



Also we got transfer calls this week. Since I am training we will both
be staying. 6 months in Delta Junction! Bring it on!

-Elder Barney