Can I get a halleluhah? (I still haven't learned how to spell that word. Maybe I'll get the hang of it before I die). The Lord has been blessing us with cloudy skies and wind! Yeah......wind and skirts aren't the best combination in the world, but I prefer an occasional Marilyn Monroe moment over being fried like a french fry every day.

Right now we are teaching a woman named Georgia. One day a week or so ago, I had the feeling that I should knock the door of a house. We met Georgia and she let us in. She told us that she has a friend from work that is a member, so she already knew a little bit about the church. We had an amazing first lesson with her. We gave her a Book of Mormon as well. I would have to say that this time as I was bearing my testimony about the Book of Mormon, something was different. I felt a confirmation SO STRONGLY in my heart that the Book of Mormon really is the word of God. I was holding it my hands as I was explaining and testifying and it was as if a tangible power was radiating from it. I always testify from the bottom of my heart, but this tangible force I felt was different, amazing. We have taught Georgia a couple times since then. She has read the Book of Mormon and has felt good doing it, but she is afraid to pray about it. Why, you may ask? Because she knows that if she prays about it, she WILL receive an answer. She knows that means commitment and change. How can I help her know that the things she will gain as she follows this answer will be a million times greater than anything she has to give up. I already have a hugeeeee love for this woman.....I hope I can help her trust the Lord enough to enter into the waters of baptism. I know it won't be easy.

Oh yeah.....right now..........Brazil's famous CARNAVAL. What wickedness. An opportunity to party, drink, traffic drugs, watch almost naked women dance and parade through the town......sounds like fun, right? No. This week has been super hard. Holiday here. No one is at home. Everyone is vacationing for Carnaval. We also have to be at home earlier every night because the roads get more dangerous. I can't believe the contrast between my missionary life and the stuff that goes on during Carnaval.

I KNEW IT!!!!! I knew Lisa would compare the MTC to Hogwarts! I am so glad that she is having fun.

12 words. I got two packages and about a billion letters the other day! I am pretty sure that I died and went to heaven!

Love you all!

You better love me too..........

Sister Barnes Sr.

Today is transfer day!!! I only have 3 transfers left!!!!!! WHAT?? I will be staying here in my area. It will be my fourth transfer here. I was a little disappointed because this area is super small and I am already really sick of it, but I know that President wants me to stay here with Sister Araujo for a reason. 

So, out of all the 150 missionaries in my mission, I will be leaving at the very beginning of June ALONE!!! No one else from the mission is leaving the same day! Normally a day before going home, those leaving have a dinner and testimony meeting and go to the temple with President and Sister Wright. Because I will be leaving ALONE, I was invited to join the group that will leave one transfer before me................................................................................................................................just for the dinner, testimony meeting, and temple session. Hahahaha GOTCHA!!...I will come home when I am assigned to come home in June, I will just participate in the temple, dinner, and testimony meeting in April. Sister Wright is kinda worried about me flying home alone, hahahaha so she is working on finding me a direct flight home instead of a flight with the usual connections in Sao Paulo and Atlanta. Bless her heart....I love her. But wow......trunky. I saw President the other day and the first thing he said was, "You don't have much time left, Sister Barnes." Then Sister Wright told me that they are already working on buying my plane ticket and everything. I have 4 months to work my heart out!!!! 

This week we taught a gay couple. That is something I have never done before. A couple days ago, 2 men stopped us on the street asking for a  Book of Mormon. One of these men is a member that moved here to the Rio Grande do Sul a year ago and hasn't been to church since......because he found a boyfriend, is what I am thinking. The member seems totally normal but his "friend" acts, talks, looks gay. BUT he is really interested in the church as well. We taught him the Restoration and he understood everything. It was a great lesson in fact. They have kind of been skirting around the whole "gay" thing and have just referred to each other as "great friends." Pray for me as I follow the spirit to know how to approach this! How do you ask two men if they are gay? Anyway.....it is really complicated, but I know that everyone deserves a chance to accept the gospel.........so wish me luck!!

Today we had a P-Day with the whole Zone. We went to a park and played basketball, volleyball, soccer, frisbee. Then we went to a member's house and ate churrasco! It was super fun! I will send pictures. I will be sore tomorrow.....it has been awhile since I have played sports! 

I love you all. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ, restored and perfect. At times I get frustrated because I can't express how special the gospel is in words when I bear testimony to people here. It really is something you need to live. As you live it, you will see the countless blessings that it brings into your life. You will see that it really is the path that gives us happiness in this life and leads us to eternal happiness in the world to come. The mission is the best thing I have EVER done in my life. Best decision I have ever made in my life up until this point. So grateful that my little sis will be able to share in this priceless opportunity as well. 

LOVE YOU ALL! LOVE THIS GOSPEL!

Sister Barnes (I will be Sister Barnes Sr. tomorrow!)

 

Zone P-Day

My zone

Espero que todos vocês estejam bem!

Yesterday was pretty awesome. So I guess the missionaries aren't cool enough to have a special conference with Elder Bednar. (He is here in Porto Alegre), but yesterday our stake had a special conference with Elder Gary Stevenson, the Presiding Bishop of the church. He talked about how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is different from every other church.....authority. Because of priesthood authority the church isn't just true, it is living!!!!!! He also talked about his love for missionaries, so I of course felt super special. I was able to talk to him and his wife for a second after the meeting. I was one of the few there that was able to communicate with him. (He doesn't speak Portuguese, so he had a translator.) He said that they have property in Morgan because they like to hunt. Small world. 

This will be the last week of this transfer. It is a transfer of 7 weeks to make up for the transfer of 5 weeks that we had right before Christmas. I only have 3 transfers left!!!!!!! 

This week was good. We found a few people these days that have a ton of potential. The work has been really hard these days because everyone is at the beach or vacationing for the famous Brazilian Carnival! But......the work must go on!

I am sure Lisa's farewell was amazing, because she was amazing! I am super proud of her and this desire to serve!

I love you all and I love this gospel. I LOVE being a missionary!

Sister Autumn Barnes

Ola!

Today is one of those days when I am brain dead! I can't even think about what happened this week! I am super tired! But, I am grateful to be tired because it means that I am putting all my energies into what I am doing. 

I took a shower with a lizard today! My companion (the Brazilian of the bunch, mind you) thought that was super gross. I thought it was super cool! I will miss Brasil! 

This week we experienced more rejection than normal. I know it is because I am training!! Thank you Heavenly Father for giving me this challenge when I already feel this huge responsibility on my shoulders!!! 

One thing I have been amazed with here on the mission is how the Spirit works. Sometimes, most of the time, we do things without knowing why. Sometimes we do what the spirit tells us to do, and things don't go right. But the Lord leads us on a wild goose chase of sorts........that thing that didn't go right, but put us in a position for something else to happen. I feel like that has happened with me these past weeks. Sister Araujo hurt her ankle so I went on divisions with a lady in my ward. While I was walking with her on the street, I had the strong impression to talk to a lady walking past. The spirit pretty much pushed me to do it. I didn't even have time to mentally prepare myself, so I pretty much attacked the lady and made just about the ugliest contact a missionary can make. (All with the member right there with me. How embarrassing. But the important thing is that I listened to the spirit and opened my mouth). Turns out the this lady and the member I was with knew each other a bit. Because of the member, I was able to make an appointment with this lady. Long story short, we weren't able to make it to the appointment when we had scheduled, so we went to her house yesterday. She was at home, but was hiding. I saw her, but she didn't come to the fence to us. So, I decided that because we were there and our appointment fell through, I would knock the door of the house next door. We knocked and out came this man and his girlfriend. Yeah.........super interested. Super cool! Thank you Heavenly Father! 

I love you all and hope you have a great week! The church is more than true!

Sister Autumn Barnes

 

It rained SOOOO hard the other day!

Leticia! She is an angel!

Sister Araujo and Sister Barnes

Da Mish

Hahahahahahahahaha got snow?

I bet you are all super jealous of me right now! 

But you shouldn't be! Because as cold as it is there.......is as hot as it is here! 

Can I get a Halleleluia? (Don't judge me.....I know I didn't spell that right at all!) Sister Araujo is walking on her ankle now! Oh yeah! I was dying! It was good to hit the pavement again! However, I realized that being cooped up in my apartment for a couple days gave me a special energy boost! 

Because I hadn't been able to share the gospel for a couple of days, the second I stepped outside, I couldn't help but talk to everyone that I saw! At the beginning of my mission, I was super afraid to make contacts with people on the streets or in the park or whatever. I have really grown to love it though. My companion thinks I am super crazy because I stop people on the sidewalk, talk to punk teenage boys, anyone and everyone. Sister Araujo is new on the mission, so she is super afraid of rejection. Yeah, of course it is sad when someone rejects your message because you know how much it could bless them, but even when I am rejected I AM SO HAPPY because I know I put the message out there. I am SPREADING the gospel. I am doing my part by informing everyone and letting them exercise their agency. My missionary advice of this week: Don't be afraid to open your mouth and share the gospel! You NEVER know who will be receptive! 

Yesterday, we made a contact with a man in a park. I was really wanting to give a Book of Mormon to someone, but didn't want to give it someone who would just throw it in the trash afterwards. We started talking to a man named Luciano who was sitting on a bench watching his kids play soccer. We talked with him a bit and asked us if we were "Mormons." We explained that Mormon is a nickname we have. He asked where this nickname came from. Booyah. Perfect lead in to talk about the Book of Mormon. I whipped out my Book and Mormon and said, "Because of this book right here." I explained a bit about it, testified about it, and gave him the Book of Mormon. He took it and was looking at it with so much admiration and hunger to know more. He said, "Thank you so much for coming to talk to me today. I was really needing this." Because I am the most unlucky human being on this planet, he doesn't live in my area, but we passed his address on to  some Elders that will teach him. I am disappointed that it won't be me that will teach him, but I am grateful to have been an instrument in the Lord's hands to find this special son of God. 

Word is going around that Elder Bednar and Elder Oaks will be here in Porto Alegre this month. Pray that they will call a meeting with the missionaries here!!!!!! 

I love you all so much! There is no greater call in which to be engaged than that of the Lord's!!! 

Sister Autumn Barnes

Feliz Ano Novo!

I can't believe that it is 2013! I can't believe that I left for the mission in 2011! Whoa. 

I am so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I was thinking about this last year that I spent as a missionary, and I realized that I could have been so much better. Thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I can put this in the past and resolve to have a better year this year. I can repent and be forgiven. One of the things I have learned here on the mission is the beauty of repentance. I have seen unhappy, sinful people turn their entire lives around. I have seen them apply the Lord's sacrifice in their life and turn a new page. 

This week at church we had a special fast. We fasted as a ward that our ward would be able to grow and that we would do everything necessary to make that happen. Yesterday at church as we were all fasting, two couples showed up at church saying that they had just moved in. I am convinced that prayer coupled with fasting is so powerful! I knew that before.....but this strengthened my testimony of the fact. 

I am getting so good at teaching classes at the last minute!!!! If someone doesn't show up to teach or to give a talk during sacrament meetings......"Ask the Sisters.They will do it."

Sister Araujo is still in the boot. We have been working a and walking a little bit, but we aren't able to do a full day's work yet. 

I got my Christmas package, Mom and Dad! Oh yeah! Loved it! Sister Araujo LOVED the stocking. 

I love you all!

 

Sister Autumn Barnes

Because I spent forever writing an email to congratulate my little sis on receiving her mission call to TEXAS.......I don't have much time to write much in this email!

But, I am super proud of my little sister, Lisa, for her desire to serve the Lord! I know she will be a great missionary and will represent Jesus Christ, the church, and the Barnes Family fabulously!

This week has been kinda hard. Christmas Day, Sister Araujo fell and twisted her ankle. It got super swollen and she couldn't walk on it. The next day, we went to the hospital. She sprained it. The doctor told her that she was supposed to stay off of her ankle for TWO WEEKS, and they would have to put a cast on. We negotiated a little bit and she was able to  put on a boot and a promise to stay off of it for one week. Wow.....it is like the worst thing to stay at home all day on the mission. You can't watch TV, movies, play around on the internet. I asked pretty much all the members to go on splits with me, but everyone is traveling for the New Year, works during the day, or can't be exposed to the sun. Yep........sitting at home is THE WORST on the mission. I couldn't take it the other day, so I made Sister Araujo walked to the town square to make contacts. Her ankle hurt afterward, so we can't really even do that. Ahhhh.....pray for me and my companion! It has been rough!

Other than that, I am great! Learning and growing everyday! I loved being able to talk with the fam on Christmas Day!!!! I am so blessed to have such wonderful, supportive, and sarcastic people in my life!

Love you all and Happy New Years! May we all set good goals to live more fully in accordance with God's will for us!

Sister Aut Barnes