Goodbye Radford

Hey There

I’m out of Radford!!! Can you believe it? Now I’m serving in Parkersburg West Virginia. New Address is 1107 32nd St Apt # 2 Parkersburg WV, 26101 with Sister Ryder from British Columbia Canada. I’m excited for this, we both just killed our other companions and are ready to put the petal to the metal and get some work done.

Just to let up know we sat down for dinner last night to mash potatoes, peas, 7 fried squirrels, and some squirrel gravy. Mmmmmm.? Well it wasn’t as bad as I thought but I probably will never eat it again. I kept looking down at the little piece of fried meat on these little bones. I think the biggest problem was the calf muscles of the poor little guy’s bones. I just got a little gross out when I thought of him jumping and climbing on things, so then I had to stop. I will tell you this. It kind of looked like the gross stuff that you pull out of a turkey and throw away but more bony and tasted like the dark meat of a turkey with no flavor. It’s kind of sick to hunt theses poor little creatures. I don’t think I will be requesting any more squirrel.

I hope Travis in Radford will be taken care of by the ELDERS. Yes that’s right I opened that area and closed Radford. He was Golden. We were sad to let him go. I had fasted for him on Sunday for everything to go smoothly. Fast and Testimony meeting perfect thye even included him in their testimonies and he was impressed. It was one of the best I been to. Sunday school was on the gift of the Holy Ghost, also great. He had some great probing question about being saved and we excitedly got into the plan of salvation. Before the lesson he did think he came from any where and that there was just heaven and hell. Oh boy did the spirit enlighten him. He now has a testimony of the plan of salvation, like pre earth life, the veil, spirit world, and the kingdoms of glory. He said he loves meeting with us cause he realizes more and more how he is becoming closer to Christ. And with out fail he tell us how organized our church is. He even wants to check out General Conference and hear the Prophets word. Which by the way I’m so excited that it is so close, I can’t wait. I know that prayers will be answered and everything that needs to be said will be felt by the spirit. Is that not amazing or what.I love you allSister Barrand

For St. Patty's day we're blowing a bubble kiss to Catilin Caitlin and Angel had to shave off their beautiful curly hair to not chatch lice again
A lady in the ward made me take a picture of this heart spud so she could sell it on ebay
Travis offered to help brother hill after we had taught him a lesson

Families are Forever

Ok alright I was wondering when you were going to say something about my letter writing cause it can get pretty boring, I would think. Last night we went and delivered a Pizza to an investigator Sean Carvalho (Where do you think that last name is from?) We were driving over to his house, and my brilliant spectacular, fantastic, beautiful, smart, witty companion, Sister Young suggested that we take each take a piece of the pizza out of the box, and deliver it with a message that said, "Sean, what is missing in your life?" But as it turned out, we only took out one slice and wrote, "Sean, Hello! Guess What!? Your Favorite ;)Sisters got you a little something.. Look inside. What is missing?" (because we were working under pressure) He pulled up right as we were taking the slice of pizza. He came to the car, and we told him to open the box. He had a big grin on his face when he saw that there were only 7 slices of pizza instead of 8. It made him smile. Our purpose for doing this was so that he could feel the love of the Lord. However, we wish that we would have written this message instead, "Sean, we saw that your pizza was a little crispy. So tell us home slice, what is missing in your life? Could it be a piece of peace-A? Look inside! To find the missing peace come on Sunday. 900 Pendleton St. at 10:00. "

Well this trio has been a trip. We all can talk the investigators ears off. I believe lessons are only suppose to be at the most 45 minutes and some times we just go out of control and talk for three and a half hours just for one lesson!! We are working real hard to cut down the lessons. Poor Laura Hull she had to listens to us for that long. Although she’s incredible happy now cause she feels clean and all warm inside. Steak Conference was one of the best talks I’ve ever heard. President Samples talk about not taking offence; he said that he shared the same talk to another ward and renamed it “sit down, shut-up and shake it off.” It was funny talking to a member that clams to be atheist was offended that we call it THE church. It just made me realize more how it is THE church and how my heaven Father loves me and the its Jesus Christ’s church. It was the best turn out for the potluck after that, there is nothing like some good old southern cook’n. Just like you will always have a pan of green jello at a Mormon function there will always have Mac and cheese here. Oh I just had Corn beef and cabbage for the first time. Sister Campbell warned me that the corn beef is still pink after you cook it (she did eat it the first time cause she thought it wasn’t cooked).

We got our car back from the shop and we were driving and saw that a kid fell down off of his skateboard and spilled his drink. Don’t worry we got him a new Dr. Pepper and told him he should go to the steak dance. He said he was really a dancer (like most boys). Interviews were great I finally felt like president and I could talk for hours. He seemed more relaxed but did bring up something I could help him with and that was to be careful around the elders and let him know it there was any thing that was up. He said that not only the sisters wanted to serve with me. One of our investigators is praying about baptism, Robbie believes in Joseph Smith and the BOM but is not willing to change his life style. He did say “ I know the Church is true cause everyone that goes gets sucked in.” Travis on the other hand is progressing he is a thinker. He was fascinated that THE church is a worldwide church and that we would give up our lives (and love lives) to serve the lord. He said he wanted to do that but thinks he wouldn’t be able to give up so much. It made me feel so privileged to be severing the lord. And know that I did make the best choice. Shavon had us present Mormonism in her Counseling class. We basically sat around and taught this class of eleven the lessons and how they can counsel their LDS clients. Their feedback was good and not challenging. It was the neatest part when we talked about families and Shavon back us up.

She explained that when she went over to a Mormons house for the interview, that the family was unified and how they did everything as a family. I told the class how special my family is to me and how we had family prayer, scripture study, dinner, Sunday Dates, salsa Saturdays and Family Home Evening together. Truly I’m so grateful that I was blessed with such an amazing family how taught me all those wonderful lesson at such a young age. I told my companions that I will make sure I will teach my kids all these great lesson. It really is a testimony to me how it all start within the walls of our own homes. So thank you for being such a wonderful family.Dad and mom thanks for have a bone to pick with me. I will even enjoy them more.Can you do one thing for me and get the addresses of all the missionaries serving the whole steak like (Rachel and Rebecca Hill).
Love you allSister Barrand

Last day with Laura Hull
College Town

Tomorrow

I‘ve been here in Radford for away now and had the feeling that I might be leaving this area next transfer.
A couple days later President Cowley called, he asked how I was doing,I said “good” He then added “well don’t worry we will get cha’ out of Radford soon, cause I don’t want you to become mayor”I replied back, “How did you know I was running for mayor?”He said laughing “because I know your personality!”So I don’t know if this is a good thing or not, but we will see.At Last Zone Conference I went up to President very seriously and said “I‘ve got this man I have been writing for about 13 weeks and he hasn’t written be back”President said “How old is this man?”“Well… he is …older.”“Is he romantic?”

I could hold it in any more and had to tell president that the man I was writing was him and I didn’t know if he was romantic or not. He laughed and pulled one on me. He asked me how my trip was after I had tripped over a bag, so we’re even now ..but who’s counting?!Well we have been praying and fasting about what we can do for Laura Hull. She was struggling in school because of getting sick and all stressed out over that, that it caused her to get even sicker. She prayed and decided to withdraw and go home to Prince George, (Richmond, Va). We helped her pack half of her stuff and she was off. She came up the next day to finish packing and have a baptism interview. I was rainy alright but that didn’t stop us. She called us on Sunday and was excited to tell us she had bore her testimony. In her testimony she said “If this is what the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost feels like, then I want to be baptized right now.” Her knees were shaking so much the bishop thought he was going to have to catch her. The Elders there in the Richmond Mission are going to be able to experience her getting baptized and confirmed, but we were so lucky to share this gospel with her, see her grow, and progress. She will be baptized tomorrow the 8th at 7.

A good thing about being baptized at her home in Richmond is that her mom would have a better chance of attending. Laura had a concern for her mom not wanting to attend; we fasted for Laura’s mom. When Laura got home to Richmond she found a note from her mom saying she didn’t know if she could plan on making it to her baptism. Laura on her own fasted about her mom’s attendance and when she came home from work, there she found another note saying she would attend. Fasting is such a powerful experience of faith and love. How can we not know that our Father in Heaven loves us. Laura is now planning to go out to Washington for general conference and pick out where she want to go to school with Sister Campbell. She wants a good up lifting life style and knows she can find it in a LDS environment. She’s thinking about BYUI and BYU. She is one of the strongest people I have seen. She is not timid about sharing the gospel with anyone. I’m so glad we were a part of her life. I know she will spread this gospel like wildfire.

I love you all,Sister Barrand

"i wish... Just kidding" President and the "three amigases" (president Cowley is not a spanish speaking mission President)
i'm the one in the middle

High Five

So you know how we ran into that deer and we gave some BOM's and DVDs away. Last Sunday Brother Hales came up to us and said he was working the same night that we had are little accident and Perry one of the officers came up to brother Hales( cause he knew he was LDS) later that week and said he was very impressed by us sisters, and was curious in the way we dress. Perry also told Brother Hale that he would be watching the DVDs. By small and simple things are great thing brought to pass. Alma 36:6.

We are still working with Laura making sure timing is right. She is coming along and making the right choices. We are proud of her.So the other week we had asked a Student to come teach with us. Tyler cancelled his plan to do so. He lives about 20 mins away. Our original plans got cancelled but Tyler still wanted to help out and had already made plan to come teach with us so we said that he could come down to Radford and we would find some people to go visit. I was having a hard time cause I felt bad to make him drive all the way down to knock on empty apartments. After we had ended that conversation, we started calling some less Active member that we could go visit, Sister Campbell added that we had a cookies for them also. In the back of my mind I was thinking we don't have time to make cookies, but remembered that she was prompted to by some marshmallows at the store. While whipping up some homemade rice crispy’s. Sister Campbell was a busy bee on the phone trying to figure how and where we are going to do this. A little bit later Laura called and needed a blessing. We wanted another priesthood holder so we called up Mitch a recent convert who’s never given a blessing before but was excited to take part. Sister Campbell called her ear off and we ended up with four of our fairly new investigators, two of our less active/recent converts, two strong members, three lovely sister missionaries and a pan of rice crispys. All there to participate in a priesthood blessing. The spirit was strong and we couldn't have done it with out faith and the guidance of the spirit. It was combobulated in like 30 minutes and taught them all the 10 commandments in sign language. and note that this is not the sign language that i learned from Celeste.

I am loving my companions. The other day when I was reading in Alma Chapter 31. I got to verse 36 that reads: "Now it came to pass that when Alma had said these words, that he clapped his hands upon all them who were with him. And behold, as he clapped his hands upon them, they were filled with the Holy Spirit". After I read that verse, I looked up at my Companion and said all excited "did you know that they gave High-fives in the Book of Mormon." I had written it in my study journal that it is cool to give high-fives. Excited to use the high-five method for awkward situations. This is no lie. I'm glad i had my companion there to point out footnote b, which reads "The laying on of hands", so I learned quickly what Alma was doing, how they received Holy Ghost, and not giving high fives, but just how we do it today. Now you see the importance of having a prophet, seer, and revelator who is given the keys to interpret the scriptures? If I were to organize a church without having the authority from God to do so, I would probably start a church that administers the Holy Ghost by giving high-fives. I will still continue to give high-five but, know that Alma wouldn't have given me a high-five just for good measures.
I love you allSister Barrand

The Three......... Sister

Thursday our new companion, Sister Emily Young arrived in our 5th avenue apartment. Sister Young is from the Salt Lake area. We met with Samson and Zack. We covered lesson three: The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Surprisingly, we taught well together for a trio. We were bold with them, and laid it out as best as we could. However, they may be better taught individually. Perhaps it will help them so that they can better accept commitments, and keep them! Saturday Sister Young’s bed arrived! For the past couple nights, we have been sleep overs in the front room, with one on the couch. Party!!! J/k.

With permission, we have been able to support Shavon Earp, at her Basketball games. She is a classy player, so it’s neat to watch her. No matter what calls are made- her reactions are steady and becoming. She exemplifies many Christ-like attributes, making it even more of a joy to watch the game.Sunday we taught Sean Carvalho before church, and then he stayed for Sacrament meeting. To his surprise he didn’t plan on staying for as long as He did… but the speakers talked about specific topics that we had addressed prior to.Monday we met with Jason Dobbins, a RC/LA. We talked about strong foundations and how to build them. We also shared some parts of a talk given by Bishop Dallas B. Clark last year in Buena Vista, VA. The point was that we often have more gas in our tanks than we may think. It was than compared to how we actually have more testimony of principles than we sometimes realize. [This part of Bishop Clarks’ talk entitled, ‘Testimony’ he had adapted from a C.E.S. fireside.] I found it encouraging not only for Jason but for me too, because it helps us see more of what we are doing right, instead of how far we have left to go.

Tuesday we had another uplifting Zone Conference at the Stake Center in Pembroke. We talked about the tree of life and were we need to be.Nephi 8:11 And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof ; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.

I think of every time we get to share this sweet gospel I’m bringing someone else closer to partaking of that same sweet gospel. What a privilege I have to be out here right now and how much the lord trusts me with his children. It makes me just want to chuck the fruit to everyone coming along so they don’t have to go through the hard times but I know it’s the hard times that makes us stronger.
I love you all Sister Barrand"

Laura Hull ,Darbey, Me and Sister Campbell"Staying inside the lines and putt'n our manicure skills to the test"
Devin Stanley (our Walmart referal)
Teaching the Wadells Sister Geter's Family and all her Sista's

Happy Valentines!!!!!

Love is in the Air and so is an ice storm. It’s a beautiful valentines day with every glistening tree branch covered in ice. I love you all. Thursday afternoon, we met with Laura, & her roommate, Darbey at the top of Muse hall, a 14-story dorm at Radford University. There we gave them manicures, and shared the wonderful message of the Restoration! A message that never gets old, because you can learn something new every time you share it! It is the best!That evening we ran into an unplanned service opportunity on our way out of our dinner appointment. We nearly passed it up, as we were on the move to get to the church for our regular Muay Thai class. Instead, we parked, and headed for the last of the groceries left in the minivan. It wasn’t much, but inside awaited a huge family! The hardest part was stopping to help. We have found that doing the harder thing is usually the better thing.

A highlight for Friday was meeting up with Jerry & Peggy Waddell, a couple that has been meeting with the missionaries for about two years. We invited them to join our army, the Army of God.;)Saturday was a special day, because we taught Samson and Zack again! It went really well, and of course they are also praying about baptism! Since Friday was Zack’s birthday, we brought along a birthday card that said, “We hope your birthday is the bomb! Emphasizing ‘bomb’- in which we added Book of Mormon Baby! Not only that, but we also included a little stick figure drawing of a kid doing a canon ball into the water! Hopefully, they caught on, & will both be fully submerging into the living waters soon. We have been meeting up at the Radford City Library, which is excellent because it’s somewhat quiet, and there are opportunities for referrals. One man listened to the whole lesson on Saturday, and just happened to be there again when we showed for our next appointment, Monday. Monday fell through with Zack and Samson, and there we were waiting. We ended up visiting with the man, (yes that one, dear Mr. Rowell) from Saturday. It turns out his sister is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and is currently residing in PRO-VO, Utah. He is in the Elders area.

The Sabbath was wonderful. Well as usual in the beginning we pray and stress about our investigators being there. Laura was sick again and went home to Richmond which is not in our mission and wasn’t able to make it to the new singles ward that we wanted her to get acquainted with, but it’s all good. The talks given were on the Sabbath and magnifying your calling. They speakers were inspired and our less active crew was very impressed to push forward. Summer Evans a young adult even showed up for the first time since I have been here. We know that the spirit had directed her to do so but the heart-a-tack that we left on her door for Valentines might of help. But who knows? Sometimes you have to do the harder thing cause it’s the best thing. We are rebels and skipped out on Sunday school. …to help a Sister, she is struggling with her non member husband that doesn’t even want to spend this life with her, a teenager granddaughter, and a daughter that is going through a divorce and dating a non member, that’s not allowing her to keep her commitments to the lord. That night we went over the ward list to make sure we knew of everyone. We had a couple people with only P.O.Box’s, Brother fisher explain how he went up to one of them and no one was home. We all pictured this grown man at the Post office knocking on P.O.Box 92 to see if anyone was home. We gave him a hard time about that one. He thought it was pretty funny as well.

We also stopped and talked to a young lady named Ashley at the Library, because we saw an unplanned service opportunity to help her stuff envelopes. It turns out she was just about finished, and she was sending out a little something for all forty something Churches in the area to put on their bulletins. We invited her to church, and she seemed excited about coming this Sunday."

We have an investigator Sean that received a BOM a while ago from us that we haven’t been able to get a hold of. We sought to find him at Wal-Mart where he works. We pulled up and what do you know there he is pushing the carts. We honked and to say hello. Sean apologized for not getting back to us because he dropped his phone in the toilet but then introduced us to his friend/ co-worker Devin Stanley. We made them sign their lives away with pen in our planner to meet with them. We also invited them to church. Devin said he would come and seem impressed. Sean said he would come next week and then invited us to go to a party with him. Sadly we declined the party. We found out that Devin just took the spot of Emmett (who came home to months shy of completing his mission to live with his girlfriend) What a blessing to have him move in the same apartment with the less active son of the bishop’s and a former investigator (Kevin). We know that we were suppose to meet Devin and he was suppose to take the spot of Emmett. Now Mike can grow stronger and Devin can help him by learning together. Devin was into the restoration and wanted to know more. He was excited to finally have some questions answered that he didn’t even bring up. He told us he felt good about everything and could see radiance about us. He explained how he doesn’t see the same morally as his friends do. We meet with Devin again and Mike had been encouraging him. Devin told us that he feels right about meeting with us and is intrigued about everything new. He kept saying, “A lot of decisions have to be made.” And he is exactly right we just pray that Devin will truly study and desire it out on his own and Mike can be a good example. We also stopped and talked to a young lady named Ashley at the Library, because we saw an unplanned service opportunity to help her stuff envelopes. It turns out she was just about finished, and she was sending out a little something for all forty something Churches in the area to put on their bulletins. We invited her to church, and she seemed excited about coming this Sunday.

There’s not going to be a lot of hot shower but it will all work out. Sad to say but our amazing District leader is leaving. Can’t wait to welcome sister Young into such a wonderful place at such a loving time of year. This Valentines show the pure love of Christ, which is charity. I love you all. Happy Valentines!!!Mom: Thanks so much for the package that was so loveing of you!!!Parents:I bet it feels so empty in that big old house of your now that all the kids are gone. But i know that you will love working in the Temple it will bring happiness into the home with out the smell clothes all over.Other:It was also great to hear from Elder Barrand he is amazing already!!Love Sister Barrand"

Oh boy

I love you all so much and do I have some news for you all. Our investigator Laura hull was set for Feb 10 & 11 to be Baptized and confirmed. We were worried about this date because it was so soon. She hadn’t talked to her mother yet and she had only been to the single’s ward once. We didn’t want her to feel like she had to wait until she could be baptized but we didn’t feel good about the date and neither did President Cowley.

We prayed and fasted that everything would work out. When we went to go finish up the commandments we asked her how she was feeling about the date she said “ oh I guess you haven’t heard but I was praying about the date and I just didn’t feel right about it but I was praying about the weekend of the 24 and it feels right.” Oh boy we were so happy to see the lord working out the rough spots and answering prays. Were so proud of Laura for praying it out, figuring it out on her own and coming to do the lords will. We would have had to tell her that she had to wait until she attended the singles ward more than once, even though she had been attending her home ward for about a year. She is Amazing. She is telling her boyfriend what to do. She has great questions and wears the scripture sock that we made for her. We are looking forward to hearing all about the baptism in two week cause we will not be able to leave our mission to go down to Richmond where she is from. She wanted to have the baptism close to her house so it will be easier for her mom to decide to come. Plus she knows that ward. It’s her day and we are just so happy that she is making the greatest choice ever!!

We are now teaching Samson and his best friend Zack. They were telling us about how we came to their lives at this time for a reason. It was so neat to hear that. We shared the Restoration! It went extremely well. They grasped the material. We really stressed the priesthood and how important it was to restore the full gospel and not try to put pieces here and there, they were devouring it. We invited them to be baptized, they said that they will read and pray. They were soaked everything up.My companion and I are helping out a young lady in our ward with her prom dress… We saw a dress at a little shop on Main. (Where people will bring in their old clothing to be sold, and then once it is sold, they will receive a portion of the sale.) Anyways, we went in there on one afternoon, near the beginning of the transfer. There was this one dress in particular that caught our eye. I would guess it was from the 1950’s. The fabric is a heavier material, and is a crème, with ultra thin, light gold stripes. They give it a slight shimmer, and it is gorgeous! It has a V-neck, with a fitted upper waist, followed with a princess skirt. It is a timeless piece, and we hope that it will fit Jane perfectly!Working on campus with the students has been a blast!

Laura is set for baptism on the 24th! She says she can’t stop smiling. Laura is an incredible friend and missionary to her roommate, Darbey. Darbey asks questions; Laura listens, and then finds her the answer! Darbey now has her own copy of The Book of Mormon! Accentuating the positive, and blessing others by our words of encouragement are key, in helping others come closer to the Savior.We told Laura in one of our lessons about President Hinckley, and his encouragement for us to smile. Elder Tauteoli, another amazing missionary shared the following scripture with us in a joint meeting with Miss Laura, it is in 2 Nephi 9:39. ...Remember to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal. It spells out S-M-I-L-E. See! I know that we can decide be a happy people today!Last night, because of the weather conditions, but Brother Cramer brought dinner over to our apartment instead of us trying to drive over in the ice, it wasn’t delivery it was brother Cramer!I am so grateful for the wonderful work! I am pleased to be a part of it, and I am grateful for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We are so blessed!

It’s the weirdest thing 5 months ago I would not put any spaghetti sauce on my noodles, dip my chips in salsa, drink soy milk, wear a jumper, or have nails longer then a millimeter on all ten fingers, blush and turn my head away from a kissing scene, not like loud rap music, decline dessert, want to study, want to read, want to be on time, and want to go to bed at 9:00. But it has happened…I’m officially weird!
I love you all
Sister Barrand

Laura Hull Exciting Obituaries at the Libaray
This is a highly well known Hookie ( A genderless bird) and you might take a gander at the jummper Sister Barrand is wearing.( who said she would never in her life wear such a thing) missions change ya!
2 new investigators that are pumped to pray about whether they should get baptized by the correct authority!!!! Samson and Zack
see ,hear, speak and smell no evil! I added that last one Me, Stephaine, Becky, and Titus. In this lesson Becky asked " what would it change if i believed in Joseph Smith? " if you could only imagine what we said afterwards.
Intense church taboo for district meeting. thanks to danica
first timer here for giving blood....16 mins to pump a pint, and they consider that slow...going going gone!

"Oh Deer"Sister Campbell climbing over my seat to get in.What we look like when we open our mailbox

Twinners!
Choose the RightClean Linen is the best car freshner....Ever!
Excited to go eat some Pumpkin chocolate chip muffinsYou have got to be creative on a Mission

Oh Deer

Well well well. I Can’t believe it’s finally here my little bro and I out on Missions together just as we had always dreamed of. I always knew this day would come, where we could share this time together but be so far apart. He is going to love this work and you will be so surprised on how much he will learn and grow. He will be an amazing Elder Barrand.

It’s been crazy here. We went to Shavon’s basketball game. It was weird to here that loud music. She was an amazing basketball player, she was the team. After the game we met this retired religion teacher and one his old students (Brittany). Brittany had the light in her eyes; you could tell that she was doing something right. We have met with her three times since then and are continuing meeting with her. She takes us out to lunch with her. She has a lot of questions and is very open to learn more. She is a student at Radford University.

As we were driving to one of our dinner appointment when a big old buck ran out in front of us and made a big boo boo in the front. It was pretty neat to see how many people were willing to stop to make sure we were ok. The buck was down and couldn’t get back up. We prayed to thank our heavenly father that we were ok and let the buck go back to his family. As soon as we opened our eyes the buck ran off. The cop was about to give it a shot but the buck ran off before he could get to him. We handed out Books of Mormon and shared a message with everyone. At church Brother Hill came up to us and said. “You prayed for the deer? Do you know we eat road kill? Do you know that we would have had a full freezer by now?” He said it sarcastically but he totally meant every word. You know I’ve always wanted an excuse to say “Or Deer” if I ever ran into one, but this phrase did not cross my mind when all this was happening. Oh well better luck next time. The cop said they have deer accident every other day on that road. Sister Campbell has to climb over my seat to get to hers seat in a skirt cause her side door will not open. We called the president to let him know what was going on. He was sure glad that we were ok and he made sure that we did not climb in and out of the window.

We had an ice storm and Church was cancelled. It was frustrating because Shavon was planning on going to church with us for the first time. It was also important to me to take the sacrament. You realize what an incredible remembrance you receive when you partake of the sacrament, when you are not able to. We weren’t aloud to got out and work so we spend the day with the Zisette and worked what we could from their home.

Laura Hull is coming right along we taught her another lesson and set a baptism date for February 10. She is sad that her mom doesn’t want to go but she wants to do it anyways because she knows how important it truly is. We are praying and fasting for comfort in her heart weather her mom and dad come. But everything will work out. The lord only wants the best for her.

Sister Campbell keeps us reminded to accentuate the positive. She’s amazing and would go through anything for anyone. She is a great example to me of faith. I’m learning tons from her on how to become more charitable and personable. We also have fun as we are doing it. For the ward game night we dressed up as twinners. We said that we wanted to be like the elders, so the next day they wore the same ties so they could be like us. You have to find the joy in life in the simple things. For example we don’t have a lot of food but we get creative and try meals out from what we have. Like the fudge that sis Campbell made from hot Chocolate mix. (Mom you got to get this recipe) Or the cobbler for jam, canned peaches, cookie mix and granola bars. Or the other day we made a fabulous appetizer from asparagus and cheese. No recipes included. I’m thinking I’m going to go into cooking. j/k. Life is great here.

We just had President Interviews and I think I will be staying here in Radford for at least another two transfers. It’s all good to me because I love it here and I don’t know any better. Sister Campbell will be leaving me soon to go home in the end March. So we want to make this last little bit for her the best. We are working hard and receiving the blessings. You all are lucky to be able to go to the temple so often. There is a lot of important work to be done. I know you all are amazing examples. Keep up the wonderful work and keep helping the missionaries.

I love you all
Sister Barrand

Out Kock'n doors
Tak'n a rest after some service at the Millers
Our apartment door
Too many bags.. so we filled the suitcase

Hip Hip

Talofa Lava… that means hello in Samoan
Well this companionship is going great and we are making a lot of progress. We were to meet with the Stiltners that we found two months ago. Cute family. He almost didn’t let us in cause he thought we were trying to convert him and he was going to stick to his church. But we got in and talked about eternal families and the three kingdoms, cause he had always been wondering about good people that don’t get baptized. I have to let you know that Noah just walked into the library. Sorry that was random.Over dinner Sunday we kind of got into a heated discussion over dinner with sister Kirby’s nonmember husband. He talked about how he would hate to live for eternity with his family cause he can’t even stand them now. It was pretty sad to have their daughter who is a member also agreeing that she is suck with her x-husband cause she is getting out of a messy divorce.

On the Sunday Sister Montgomery taught our lesson in Relief Society. She is the most entertaining person to watch. Her lesson was on repentance. She said “Repentance is like your behind, just leave it behind.”Pam Saheem (old referral) was having a hard time and we were able to give her an Ensign and some up lifting articles to read.This week we got a hold of Shavon (she had ordered a BOM) She was kind of avoiding us for a while and not showing up for our appointments. However this week she said that she got the assignment for the semester to research Mormonism. So we will be giving her a whole bunch of great stuff and the rest of the lessons. Hip hip Hurray. We taught her lesson two and she said that she would pray about it. She is a big timer into the bible, like knows it back and forth. Shavon is on the Radford University Girls Basketball team. I think that we will be able to go support her this Saturday at one of her games. She is also coming to Thai Chi at the church this Thursday. We will be attending to learn some self-defense moves for scary men that look into our window and to let our investigator know that we are normal.We do service at the library and the Clothing bank. Entering obituaries data into the computer is great fun when we get to talk to all the people that sit by us and read the 1965’s jokes (they don’t make any sense, and not funny at all.)

I’m so proud of Don he is being such a member missionary and blessing other lives. I’m glad to here that things are going well there. I pray for you all everyday. There is a lady in the ward that served a mission and knows how much time doing your laundry take so in return I will do her hair. I can’t tell you how much I love this work and the people here. As I was studying in Alma on: change of heart. I was reminded of my freshman year in my Book of Mormon class when my teacher taught about “ Change of heart”. I had one of my own changes. I went to all my roommates and the girls above me and taught them. That was the greatest feeling. And know I get that feeling everyday where I can share this gospel and feel true happiness. I’m so lucky to have had such a wonderful family who were loving examples to me. You all have been so good to me and I am so privileged to be apart of this family.Alofa Atu….Love you
Sister Barrand

Money might grow on trees there, but it grows on bushes here

Long day


Lydia Carden
My new comp

Happy New Year

Happy New Year
I loved talking to all of you over the late Christmas season. Man it was fun to talk to all of you. For the New Years we went to bed and that was my first New Years sleeping, oh and that first day of the year was even better sleeping. On Monday night I found out that Sister Quinton would be transferred to media as one of the media sisters. And I would be getting Sister Campbell. I really didn’t know how to react cause I would have to know everything here in this area and pass that on to my new comp. I also knew that sis. Quinton would be an excellent media sister with all the paper work and stuff. So I was up and down about this whole transfer thing. Sister Quinton reassured me that I would be ok. So the morning of transfers I was pumped to learn and grow from another comp just as I had done before. A new year and a new companion, things are great. Sister Campbell and I click right away. That night we got right to work and I started introducing her to the people of Radford. She fit right in and I was surprised on how much I new about this town. The spirit really does help you out in times like these.

Some exciting things are happening I’m suddenly more Red you know like taking charge and stepping up to the plate. It’s great I didn’t know I was capable. Sister Campbell and I work together and give the lessons. We were finally able to teach Caitlin in her home and her mom was there!! This has never happened before. Plus the mom wanted her own copy of the BOM cause she would like to know what her daughter up to. Caitlin’s mom Jane is not interested in the church but it is still exciting that she want to be a part of Caitlin’s conversion. Exciting! For the first time in two and half years we taught Annette the Plan of Salvation. She had been getting feeling that her deceased grandmother wanted her to pray for her. It didn’t make since to her mind until after we taught about the spirit world. She seam like it made since and she needed to do something about it. Her two kids were there for a little bit and enjoyed talking about Christ. Exciting!

We had a great lesson with the Lawson’s Pam is not a member and was asking questions. I feel I can teach with out holding back. For some reason as a greenie you just feel like the trainer know and has better promptings. Come to find out that I have those prompting also and I need to act upon them or I won’t receive them. On Sunday the testimonies were uplifting. After sacrament we were told that there was a lady in the foyer for us. She was about 4’9” and weighing about 70 lbs. She was in her 60’s with a big ol’ wig on. Her skin was way beyond wrinkly probably from the smoking and her clothes were three sizes to big. She was crying about how she wouldn’t know what to do if her brother died. She pulled out a folder and told me to take a look. There was a picture of him in his 40’s and a recent picture of him in his 60’s, with the end of his nose cut off. She seamed very down trodden and lost. We could barely understand her. Sister Campbell had a feeling like she hadn’t eaten in days. She was right so we took her to the kitchen to whip her up something, only to find that the Kitchen was empty. We searched for anything to feed this lady (Lydia Carden). We found a can of tuna and some frozen corn. We made a tuna sandwich with the bread from the sacrament and some ranch instead of mayo. Sister Campbell thought it would be nice with some specialty hot chocolate. She grabbed everything that she could and threw it on the stove. It contained water, vanilla, chocolate syrup, butter, cinnamon, powdered dream whip, and some cookies and cream ice cream. It looked poisonous. We didn’t even get to taste is cause we were fasting. Sister Campbell said she wouldn’t have tried it if she wasn’t fasting. We tried to find a strainer to get rid of the floating chunks of cookies but Lydia said, “It’s ok, more the merrier.” Lydia drank in and she said it was the best hot chocolate she had ever had. We asked her if we could get a picture with her and she started cried cause she felt so loved. We gave her a purse to put her stuff in and she said that she wanted to come back for the youth activity cause it would give her something to do. I don’t know if we will see her for that youth activity or at church but we are looking forward to helping her out in any way.

Zone Conference was another inspiring experience. We are doing better as a mission and have some more we can work on. Our zone is working a lot with the members rather than tracking. I’m glad for that cause tracking is not very effective (it even says that in Preach my Gospel). It great when everyone can be member missionary.

I love you all
Sister Barrand

Our Coloring Book from the Elders

Our killer sweet Nerf Guns. (Brother Buchinsky said these are for when we get bored in the apt, Little does he know, we don't have any extra time)
Christmas dinner at the Zisettes
Nativity at the Davis's

Oh I just love you all so much. My Christmas was wonderful. I hope all yours was also. Sharing the true meaning of Christmas was the best kind of Christmas. We were able to teach and talk to a lot people. We started off the week caroling to people member, less-actives and non-members. The non-member were the funniest, you just never knew how they would react. We had a great experience going to a less active family trying to teach the wife Sister Reed but ending up sharing the message with her husband Brother Reed. He opened up to us and became a chatterbox. He came to church that Sunday (I know it was Christmas but it was still good to see him there. He even showed us all the old cars he restored they were a beauty. Nicole is coming back to church and loving it, she wants the best for her 4 kids and knows she will find true happiness here. She has had a really tough life from drugs, abusive husband to exotic dancing. She was baptized at the age eight but was never active. It is neat to see how the church can turn your life around for the better. She only wants her kids life to be better than hers. They are living in a transitional home and doing so well. She’s attending church and brings her kids. We watched Work in the Glory with Josh Mompower (Invest.) and Jason Dobbins (member). Josh enjoyed understanding more about the life of Joseph Smith. On the 23rd we celebrated Joseph Smith Birthday and opened a Christmas gift. Ryan got me a necklace of a widow’s mite with the engraving of Mark 12:14 on the back (around the time of Christ, it was like pocket change) (its purr-de). We had a great Sabbath, the music was all centered on Christ and we sang in the choir. There were a couple of special numbers they were all so beautiful. A ward member told us that every Sunday should be Christmas. That night we went over to have Christmas Eve dinner and we did the nativity with their family and the other Elders. It brought me back to the good old times we when use to do the nativity. We should try doing that again. On Christmas we opened our present underneath our tree. I got some of the most wonderful gifts that were very thoughtful and that I will never forget. I was so proud that I didn’t pick anything out and I got everything I wanted and needed it was just fabulouso!!!! I knew that I would have a Christmas with out knowing all my gifts. It was just great to know that I was loved. I feel so bad that I didn’t get the family anything. I know its not about the gifts but I didn’t get to give to my family members. I missed trying to think about each person and what they would need. Oh and see all your faces. Well I hope I gave enough to the people out here. Thanks to mom we were able to hand out a lot of Christmas Cards and share a message. We had Christmas breakfast with the Buchinskys and they gave us nerf guns so we had a little bit of fun shooting their son. It was a good work out. We had brunch with the Burkes and family who loves the missionaries but won’t come to church because of health reasons and their grandbaby died. But they were so kind. Sister Quinton and I made the other Elders some stockings and hung them up. They were out of my knee-high nylons. Ha Ha. They were filled with packing peanuts and ties that we got at the clothing bank where we do service. The Elders got us a huge princess coloring book. For lunch we ate at the hills we played some games just like our family would do. That’s when Brother hill called dad and what I wanted to say was that “I love you” not “where’s my package.” Whoops. Don’t worry I got it and opened it right in front of the mailman that we gave a book of Mormon to. John the mailman already read some and is asking a lot of question. He does a lot of favors for us in delivering the mail and we return the favor in teaching him the gospel. Christmas dinner was great with the Zisettes. He cooks the best turkey I have ever had and Sister Zisette make the best heavenly Chocolate pie. I will have to send the recipes. Sister Quinton and I were both given blessing by the elder for our companionship. The blessing was really good and it made me think about this amazing gospel we have on the earth. And how the priesthood is the true authority from God. I’m so blessed to be out here teaching this message.
AHHHHHHHHHH I get to talk to all of y’all on Friday!!! I’m so excited!!! I Love you all. Thank you all for the wonderful gifts, they were perfect.
P.S. Ha Ha. That Nashville tribute to Joseph Smith CD is not country dad, and I was serious. Its amazing music.

Love Sister Barrand