11-30-15

Hey Everyone!!!

It's honestly been one of the best weeks yet! I'm loving it here in San Francisco!  This is truly an amazing city!  I swear, there are not two houses that look even close to alike.  Every house is different and it's the same for the people.  We are meeting so many different kinds of people and what's especially funny is how literally probably one in every three people does not speak english as their native language and the ones who do, wouldn't dare take out their headphones... so yeah, that makes talking to people hard but the people who have been willing to talk to us have been so awesome!!! I love it!

We have an investigator named Reza. He's from the Middle East and he came into contact with the church when he went to Salt Lake City on a business trip.  After his meeting he saw the temple and decided to try to find out more.  He had a really awesome experience and he said, "I just felt like there might be something true about this." It was really amazing.  I'm tellin ya, God works in mysterious but definitely mighty ways.  The hearts of men are truly being turned. We have to always be ready for the amazing things he has planned for us. He is always working in people's hearts and as we strive to do our best he will give us opportunities to share our testimonies and truly change lives.

In Alma 34:32 it says that our purpose in this life is to prepare to meet God.  Sometimes the world can get a little overwhelming but when we truly focus on that we find that we don't have to get sucked up into the things of the world and as we focus on the things of God, he will help us be strong when Satan attacks us.  So, in the spirit of Christmas, I invite you to think of ways that you can focus on the spirit of Christmas and less on the worldly things of Christmas like the shopping and partying.  This is the celebration of the time that our Savior Jesus Christ was born and as we focus on that we find the peace and happiness in life that God wants us to find.

I love you all.  You are all amazing sons and daughters of God.  Keep up the great work of building the Lord's kingdom here on the earth.

With Love,

Elder Barnett

11-23-15 San Fran---the city of independence

Hello Everyone!!

So we're officially in the heart of San Francisco!  Our area includes all of the famous places in San Francisco-Pier 39, Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, and cable cars!!  We're replacing sisters in the area and so we're both new to the area.  It's really cool.  Our ward is so awesome!  Almost everyone in our ward are young couples who are really smart and successful with very young children.  They are all really awesome and are all really excited about doing missionary work so we have a lot of support. It's going to be an awesome six weeks.

Elder Lemon is my companion.  He's from Naperville, Illinois.  He's been out for six weeks. He's got a great sense of humor and so I'm excited to work with him.  We're using public transportation so that's been a lot of fun to try to figure out.  On our first day we got to our apartment and just started trying to figure it out.  It was crazy.  We had to start by trying to find our dinner appointment.  Luckily, the sisters were awesome and they gave us some directions so with the help of some kind people and our little map we were able to make it.  It was a great, exciting, introduction to the mission. The family that we met with was a young family named the Alvords.  They have three girls all in elementary school.  It was a great day and it really set the awesome tone for how this transfer will go.

We are going to have a great six weeks.  I'm already loving San Francisco.  I love missionary work.  I love you all.  Have a wonderful week!

With Love,

Elder Barnett