HAPPY NEW YEEEAAAR!!

Hey everyone!

We had such an amazing week!

On Monday we had a Zone FHE with an awesome family from the Springfield Ward. Well, it wasn't just our zone, it was the Hartford Zone and New Haven Zone too! So there was like..60 missionaries there! President and Sister Packard came too will all the family. It was really nice. We all sang Christmas hymns together, and the Packards shared some spiritual thoughts, which was amazing.

I went on exchanges to North Brookfield this week, and LOVED it! I was with ma guurl Sister Lewis!

Christmas was amazing! The family that we spent Christmas with, The Caputo's, are so awesome! They invited our investigator, Keith over for Christmas dinner, and they invited 2 recent converts over too! It was great getting to spend Christmas with all of those amazing people.

Awesome story of the week: We got a text on Friday from the Worcester sisters telling us that a recent convert, who is 10 years old, just moved into our area. None of her family are members. She was living with a family in Worcester who were members, but now she's back living here with her own family. We went to visit, and there were so many people living in that tiny house! She was really happy to see us though! Her Grandma, Denise, listened in while we were talking to her, and we asked her if she'd like to learn about what her granddaughter has been taught. She said she really wants to! Then she offered to take her to church on Sunday! Long story short...they came to church, she loved it,and we're going to start teaching her on Thursday!

We got to go to the temple with one of the recent converts here on Saturday! There were SO many people there! The mission goal is to get 100 people to the temple by the end of December. I think we're at 97 so far...so there's 2 more days left! While we were walking out of the temple I got the best surprise EVER! I got to see Peggy going into the temple. She was with her sister, and the Norwich Sisters :) My day was made!!!

Being hot with Sister Haws!!

Looking cute with Sister Haws

It was such an amazing week! I hope all of you have a wonderful week!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Barrett

Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone!

It's been a REALLY exciting week! Lot's of good things are happening here!

Last week we decided to text a bunch of former investigators in our area book and 1 person responded!! (It's better than none!) Her name is Alyssa and she's 17. We met up with her this week and she basically just said to us "I was going to call you, but you texted me first! I'm ready to take the lessons again." She wants to turn her life around and come closer to Christ. She's a really sweet girl and we're really excited to teach her :)

Another miracle of this week: A new lady and her 2 kids just moved into the branch, but they live about 45 minutes from the church building, and they have no car. They are really poor, and are just trying to get back on their feet. We went to visit them this week to introduce ourselves and get to know them a little bit, and she is SUCH a sweet lady! She has been through a lot! Her boyfriend, Gary was there when we visited, and he has had a lot of exposure to the church. He's been to church multiple times and LOVES it! He's all about families, and he said that whenever he goes to church there's a wonderful feeling there. We straight up invited him to take the lessons and he was like "Yeah I'd love that!." It was so awesome! And then when we were leaving he said "Thank you so much for coming today. You've really lifted us up, and it's been a great day because of you." We are SO excited to teach him!

When we were driving to an appointment this week, we found THIS!

So something great that's happening throughout the whole mission...as you all know, there were 100 people baptised last month. Well our new goal is to have 100 people at the temple doing baptisms next Saturday, the 27th. Satan is working DOUBLE TIME so all our people have been experiencing huge opposition, but we're also working double time, and praying double time, so we know that they'll make it :) It's so important for all of these people to go, and experience the amazing work that they can do in the temple!

Speaking of the temple...we had our Christmas program this week so we got to go to the temple on Wednesday afternoon, which was amazing. Then we had a Christmas musical fireside, which was beyond incredible! And then we had dinner, and did our Zone skits and songs, and we opened presents! It was so fun! :) We also got to go to Boston early that morning!

Me and Sister Haws in Boston

Sister Sutherland, Sister Haws, me and Sister Buttars

I am getting SUPER excited for Christmas now! I hope you all have an amazing week, and eat your weight in food, and remember Christ as we celebrate his birth :)

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Rebekah Barrett

Christmas is Coming!

"Hey everyone!!

This week has been great! I'm still adjusting to Greenfield, but things are progressing here and we're keeping busy :)

Highlight of my week: On Saturday I got to go to the temple with Roxanne! I cried the whole time because it was literally the happiest time of my life! Also, I thought it was just going to be Roxanne and the Sisters there...but pretty much the whole Norwich ward was there, so it made me weep with happiness to see everyone again! :) The best part was seeing Roxanne get baptised for her Grandma! I asked her afterwards "How do you feel now that you actually get to go inside the temple?" And she said "I just don't want to leave. It's so different to the world out there. It's so peaceful." It was an amazing day!

And I'm so excited because I get to go to the temple twice again this month! I get to go this week!!

Another cool thing..It's been snowing a lot and it's really pretty so I have photos! :)

Things are going so good here! Sister Haws is the greatest! We get on so well! :D  It's wonderful! We made these cute little presents with "He is the Gift" cards in them, and gave them to our neighbours! And we found out that some of our neighbours are really nice and want to learn more!

Well, sorry this is the shortest email ever!

But I love you all! :) Hope you have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Rebekah Barrett"

Just a reminder to everyone that even though Sister Barrett is back on Facebook, she is online to do missionary work and she can't talk to any friends or family. She loves you all and really appreciates your support! But if you want to contact her, you can email her or you can write to her at flat. Just message me or her mom for the address! :)

A New Beginning

Hey Everyone!!!

This week has been craaaazyy!!

On Wednesday we had to say goodbye to Sister Blair and Elder Sutherland, which was really sad. I cried...a lot. They're home now so that's insane! I also said goodbye to Sister Morgan and Elder Ching as they went on their way back to Norwich, and I came here to Greenfield. It's really hard saying goodbye to people that I've served with. They have seriously all become my best friends, and we have so many amazing memories together, even in the short space of time that we have known each other. But thankfully, I can still talk to Sister Morgan on the phone..which we do..a lot!

Sister Barrett's last district in Norwich

So Greenfield has been good so far. It's waaaaayy different to Norwich though. It's a tiny branch in the middle of nowhere with about 50 people at church every week. Norwich was a big ward in the middle of nowhere with about 150 people at church every week..so it's certainly different! But I'm so ready to do the work here. I know I'm meant to be here for a reason so I'm excited to work with the people here and build up this branch!

Sister Haws is awesome! She's the sweetest person ever, and we get along SO well!

Sister Barrett and Sister Haws

So another thing that's different about here is that I'm a digital missionary now! So that means that I'll be doing missionary work online for a few hours a day. We teach people online through Skype and Facebook, and we teach people from ALL over the world! I was talking to someone from Brazil yesterday...yes..Brazil. He seems super interested in learning more about the gospel, so we're going to be Skyping him on Wednesday to teach him more. Being a digital missionary is so different and it's weird to get used to but I'm really starting to like it! Also, just warning you..if you see that I'm online on Facebook, don't be alarmed. I'm not being apostate...I'm doing missionary work. I'll be on there to talk to people about learning more about the gospel. I can talk to anyone as long as I'm teaching them about the gospel...so my parents, and any friends of mine that are members of the church are out...sorry. That might change when everyone in the mission gets Facebook and iPads, but for now, that's the rules :)

So something SUPER exciting about being in Massachusetts is that there's waaaaayyy more snow here! This place is covered in snow. There was a huge snowstorm here just before I came so it's beautiful! But it hasn't snowed recently...it's just all still there from last week!

Oh and last, but DEFINITELY not least. I got a text from Sister Morgan yesterday telling me that Roxanne and Peggy are both going to the temple on Saturday!! I am so excited for them! I'm hoping I'll be able to go so I can be there with them :) If I do go..it'll be the best day of my mission so far for sure!!!!

I love you all :) I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Rebekah Barrett

P.S. Watch this awesome video!

Goodbye Norwich, Hello Greenfield!

"Hey everyone!

Yes.....I'm leaving Norwich. It has been an INCREDIBLE 4 months here. This place is amazing, and I just LOVE the people here. They are really special to me and I'll never forget them, but I have a work to do in Greenfield and I'm really excited! Greenfield is a little branch in West Massachusetts, and it was my Dad's first area on his mission! I'm really excited to serve there. I know that the Lord needs me there, and I'm ready to do the work. My new companion has only been out for 6 weeks so this is a completely new experience. Her name is Sister Haws and she's from Utah!! :)

My last Sunday in Norwich was an emotional one! I wept like a child! I got to bear my testimony and I was just crying and trying to get words out. So emotional. But what a day it was! 

So as you all know, we had a goal within the mission to baptize 70 people in the month of November. Well, we got the news that as of last night, the Massachusetts Boston Mission baptized 100 people in the month of November! What a miracle! We far exceeded our goal and it has just been such an amazing month.

Speaking of baptisms...Roxanne's baptism was incredible! In the days leading up to her baptism she was SO excited and we got texts from her everyday telling us how excited she was! Her husband came, one of her sons came, her parents came AND one of her sisters came! After her baptism I gave her a hug and she said "I've never felt this way before". She is just so incredible!

I love Roxanne so much! Telling her that I was leaving was so hard! But I'll be back to visit her for sure! 

It was also SO great to see my Mama, Sister Blair! :) I was a happy child!!

Oh also, Thanksgiving was fabulous! We ate food! It was so good!

I love you all :) I hope you're all doing well!

Love,

Sister Barrett"

This coming Saturday, December 6th is the final posting date for packages to the US for anyone wishing to send something to Sister Barrett, final date for letters is December 11th.

"Let Your Soul Delight in Fatness"

Hey everyone!

I thought that title would be appropriate because Thanksgiving is this week! My first Thanksgiving! Sister Morgan is super excited to be spending my first Thanksgiving with me. I thought that one dinner would be nice, but Sister Morgan insisted on 3. So we have 3 Thanksgiving dinners. I'll definitely be pacing myself...otherwise I'll be waddling out of appointments. But I'm really excited to be celebrating this joyous American holiday! Haha

So, this week was INCREDIBLE!! Saturday was Peggy's baptism and it was SO great!! Elder Ching baptised her, and all her sons (there's 4 of them) came to the baptism! Roxanne was also at the baptism, so she got to see what this Saturday will be like. After the baptism, Peggy's sons all asked "So, when can we be baptised?" This is a huge miracle! We're going to start teaching them asap! Everything about her baptism was just incredible. Myself and Elder Sutherland did a musical number. I was super nervous, but it was good, and we get to do it all over again at Roxanne's baptism, with the addition of Sister Blair :) I cannot wait!

Peggy's baptism!

This week we get Transfer texts and I REEEAAALLLLY don't wait to leave Norwich! But, wherever the Lord needs me I'll go. Hopefully he still needs me here in Norwich! :)

The mission continues to experience many miracles, and we are at 63 baptisms so far this month. The previous record was 59 baptisms in a month so we have beat the previous record and the month isn't even over! We are SO excited!!

Sorry this is super short, but I love you all! :)"

Thank you ALL as always for all the emails, letters and packages and love and support! Sister Barrett really appreciates all the wonderufl things you all do for her and so do her family! Just to remind you that if you want to send something to Sister Barrett for Christmas, the final posting date for letters is December 11th, and for packages (standard packets and parcels) is December 6th. You can send letters to her flat, the address of which you can get from Maria, or myself (Aisling) or you can send them to the mission home; the address is on the side of the page! :)

Baptisms & Farewells

"Hey everyone!

This week has been wonderful as always! Lots of great stuff happening here :)

We got to go to a missionary farewell thingy for a girl in our ward who's going to the France, Paris mission. Pretty cool, huh? It was so fun! It's really cool to see things from the other side. I got to experience all of this myself before I came on my mission, but it's cool seeing everything from a missionary's point of view. I want to be a good role model for her as she is preparing for her mission. It wasn't long ago that I was in the exact same position as her, so it's really great to be able to help someone prepare. She comes teaching with us all the time! She'll be a great missionary :)

Sister Barrett, Melina and Sister Morgan at Melina's farewell.

We are still experiencing great miracles within the mission! Peggy is getting baptised this Saturday, and Roxanne's baptism is next Saturday! There were 19 baptisms within the mission just yesterday! That is INSANE!!! So there's been 39 altogether this month. We are getting there with our goal of 70! It WILL happen!

So this week we had a really cool dinner appointment with an AMAZING lady in the ward, Miriam. She's a recent convert and she's SO awesome! All four of us went over to her house to have dinner with her family, and Elder Ching prepared a Hawaiian dinner and dessert for us! It was SO much fun! And Hawaiian food is delicious.

I have a GREAT story from this week! So on Wednesday evening, myself and Sister Morgan were at the church updating some stuff and we knew the Elders would be coming in a few minutes. So Sister Morgan suggested that we scare them when they get there. We had to move our car because if we didn't, they'd know we were there...so we drove onto the grass at the back of the church. We RAN back into the church and watched out for them. So a few minutes later, they pulled up into the parking lot and they came into the dark church, and when they walked in the door, we SCREAMED! And they DIED! Elder Sutherland fell to the ground because he was so scared...so this is his reaction. It was REALLY funny, and we got it on video. The whole ward has now seen it.

I love you ALL!!! Have an incredible week and keep the faith! :)

Love,

Sister Rebekah Barrett"

A November to Remember

"Hey everyone!!!

So this week has been INCREDIBLE!! We have seen so many miracles as we've been praying to achieve this goal of 70 baptisms.

I have an AMAZING miracle story from this week!! Buckle up, because this one made me WEEP!! So this week we went to see Roxanne, and as you all know she's been investigating the church for over a year, and she's been praying about a baptismal date for a while now. So we went there and we asked her how she's feeling about baptism. She asked us "Well, does it have to be on a Sunday?" so we told her that it doesn't have to be on a Sunday, it can be any day. Then we continued on with what we had planned for our lesson. Then later on, Sister Morgan asked "So why did you ask if it had to be a Sunday?" and she said "Well I really want it to be a Saturday so my husband can be there", so I told her that the date we originally extended to her, November 29th is actually a Saturday! And she just lit up and said "Oh really?! Well let's do that then!" So Roxanne is getting baptised on November 29th!!!!! We are all SO excited!! Pretty much everyone in the ward knows her and everyone is SO happy for her and so excited! Her husband, Steve is SUPER supportive. He's so good to her. There are tons of missionaries in the mission coming for this because so many of them taught her! This is the biggest miracle ever!!

We had Stake Conference this weekend and it was amazing! It was all about Hastening the work of Salvation. A topic that all missionaries LOVE! Something INCREDIBLE happened at Stake Conference though...well it was incredible for me... So this older man came up to me and said "Are you Sister Barrett from Ireland?" so I told him I am indeed. And he introduced himself to me as Brother Dannecker. His Dad was my Dad's bishop when he was serving in this stake on his mission. His Dad is now serving in the Preston temple with his wife, and I met him when I was there in June. I have had a lot of experiences like that ever since I got here and it just makes me feel so at home here. I dread leaving the Providence Rhode Island Stake!!

Funny story of the week, we got to hold baby turkeys at a members house this week! My life is now complete! I can die happy now.

Baby Turkey!

Then later, we were at an investigators home, reading Book of Mormon stories to the kids.....their kitten REAAALLY likes Book of Mormon stories! 

This place is my home and I love it SO Much! Norwich ward is constantly growing and the Lord is hastening his work. We are experiencing miracles on a day to day basis, and it's not just us, it's the entire mission. I LOVE THIS PLACE!

I hope you've all had a great week :)

Love,

Sister Rebekah Barrett"

Winter Miracles & Missionary Birthdays

"Hey everyone!

It's been a busy day. I was out buying winter clothes. Apparently it has already started snowing in Massachusetts! So I had to prepare myself for that. Also, we went bowling.

So anyway, this week was INCREDIBLE!! Amazing things are happening in the Massachusetts Boston Mission right now. We had an amazing Zone Conference with Elder Larry R. Lawrence (of the Seventy) on Friday. We are all PUMPED for November because we've set a mission goal to have 70 baptisms within the mission (even though 115 people have baptismal dates). The whole mission is going craaaazyy!! We're so excited! During the Zone Conference, Sister Lawrence gave an amazing talk about children of the house of Israel. She talked about the lost tribes, and at one point she got everyone who is in the tribe of Ephraim to stand. Myself and 5 other people awkwardly sat there while EVERYONE else stood up. Then she got the rest of us to stand! We had to say which tribe we were from. It was really cool. I'm the only one in Benjamin!

We have seen SO many miracles this week. Roxanne came to church for the first time in a year! She's getting closer and closer to baptism. She said "It feels right". So, we'll see!!! I just LOVE Roxanne. She's like a mother to me. She was concerned for myself and Sister Morgan yesterday because we weren't wearing coats (don't kill me Mom and Dad), but I informed her today that I bought a nice Winter coat and she said "Your American Mum is happy!". She's the best! :)

So, fun news of the week. It was Elder Sutherland's 21'st birthday on Saturday so we had to make it one to remember! We started off the day by giving him a wake up call at 6:30am and singing "Happy Birthday", then for lunch we bought the Elders some Wendy's...which is fast food for those of you who don't know. And THEN later on we dropped off a nice birthday present at their apartment. We got him a picture frame with a picture of the 4 of us, a tiara, peanut butter cups, a face cloth with batman on it etc. All the stuff any 21 year old would want really! But this picture just shows the fabulous tiara! Isn't it wonderful?!

The photo they got framed for Suthy

Tiara!!

I'll be singing in the Norwich Ward Primary Presentation on Sunday the 23rd! I am pumped! It's going to be so fun. There's a huge Primary in this ward so it'll be great :P

Anyways, I love you all! Stay safe and stay strong :)

Love,

Sister Rebekah Barrett"

Remember if you want to send Sister Barrett something for Christmas the final posting date is the 1st of December. Thank you all for your love and support!

New Companion, Technology & General Authorities

Hey Everyone!!!!

This week has been both fabulous and sad. Fabulous because I have an awesome new companion, Sister Morgan. She's from Arizona, and we are very similar! :P But sad because I had to say goodbye to Sister Blair :( And I send her my weekly email now so she's going to be super embarrassed by this. But I love Sister Blair and it was hard to say goodbye to my mission momma.

Sister Barrett with Kassy, her friend Courtney, Oreo the cat and her new companion, Sister Morgan

I was super nervous taking over the area but it's actually going really well. We're working hard and Norwich continues to progress. We went to see Peggy this week to plan her baptismal service and she's feeling really good about it. She told her whole family about her baptism so that is good news!

So we found out this week that we'll be getting iPads in either January or February. That's going to be SO different. But everyone is excited. It'll be a big change, but a much needed change!

We have a big meeting this Friday (yes, Halloween) with Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy. The whole mission is prepping for his arrival. It's going to be GOOOOOOD!

Oh! Also! In the book I'm ALWAYS talking about, The Power of Everyday Missionaries, it mentions the Terenure Ward. You have all GOT to read it!! The Dublin, Ireland Stake is famous! More specifically, the Terenure ward, more specifically Gerry Doran!

The pink sky this week!

I love you all!!

Sister Barrett

Norwich = Home

Sister Barrett will be staying in Norwich so you can continue to send letters to her flat address. Just message me or her mom on facebook if you need it! Here is her email for this week.

"So here's the big news...I'm not leaving Norwich, but Sister Blair is :( She's getting transferred to the Longfellow Park 1st and 2nd Wards in Boston for her last transfer. She goes home in 6 weeks so it was quite a shocker when we found out she was getting transferred. I'm going to miss her SO much, but I'll always keep with me the things I learned from her. She'll always be my mission Momma :) And for the next 6 weeks I can call her whenever I like! We have Transfer meeting on Wednesday so I'll meet my new companion, Sister Morgan, there! She's serving in Greenfield Massachusetts at the moment :) I'm really excited to work with her.

Our district with our zone leaders

I have SO much exciting news this week! So I don't know if any of you remember me telling you about our investigator in the MTC, John? Well I was talking to Sister Jessop recently and she said that he got baptised!! He sent a picture of him on his baptism day and  he looks SO happy!

Next piece of exciting news..we had a training in District meeting a few weeks ago about extending baptism dates because we've been really bad at that lately as a Zone. We set monthly goals to extend baptism dates, but then don't do it, and it makes absolutely no sense. So we talked about what's holding us back, and really it all came down to fear. Fear of rejection, and lack of faith. BUT the training got us all really pumped about extending dates and it gave us the push that we all needed. So we looked at our monthly goals to see the people we had set goals for to have a baptismal date and we said "Okay..let's do this!" This week we extended a date to our investigator, Peggy. We felt like she was the least likely to accept, but we still took the leap of faith and she accepted! She's getting baptised on November 22nd. She still has a long way to go but we're here to help her get there :) 

ANOTHER amazing thing that happened this week...so this movie, "Meet the Mormons' is changing people's lives! A couple of youth in the ward brought their friend to see it and after the movie she walked out and said "I want to be baptised and convert my family." WHAAATT?! The youth texted us STRAIGHT away! So we'll be meeting with her parents soon to get their permission. We are SO excited about this!! 

We drove into the church car park one evening and we saw a possum running through the bushes! So we got out of the car and we searched for it, and then we saw him running, and he ran behind this fence and just looked at us. He was like this for about 10 minutes, just completely standing still. I think we scared him to death. But we named him Gavin!

Sister Blair teaching Gavin the possum the gospel!

The work continues to progress here in Norwich! This is a blessed land!! This place is ON FIRE! Now that Sister Blair is leaving, that means I'm taking over the area, so the pressure is on. But I'm determined to keep the work progressing here in Norwich. I love this place. It's home now. I've been here for 3 months! And I'll be here for another month and a half AT LEAST!

Being a missionary is THE BEST!! I love you all and I hope you all have an amazing week :)"

A Busy Week!

This week Sister Barrett had a really busy p-day as she got to visit the Boston Temple! Here are some snippets from her emails.

"I had a really good week! Zone Conference was AMAZING and "Meet The Mormons" was the most incredible movie EVER!! Transfer texts are this Friday so let's hope I stay in Norwich..and let's hope Sister Blair stays here too for her last transfer! She goes home in 7 weeks :'(  But we went to the temple today and it was amazing :) 

The work is progressing here in Norwich and the ward members are still as amazing as ever!

I LOVE YOU ALL! Have an amazing week!"

I asked Sister Barrett if she had any hilarious or exciting stories for me, and this was her response:

"Hmm....hilarious or exciting...well yes..ALWAYS!! Oh I have something good!! So last P-day Elder Ching bought wool!!! WOOL!! So in Weekly planning on Tuesday he brought the wool and we knitted for hours!! we made freakishly long skinny scarves so Elder Sutherland was like "We're making scarves for the homeless midgets!!" I CRIED laughing!!!"

As we are nearing the end of Sister Barrett's SECOND TRANSFER in the mission field!! You can send letters to the mission home address which you can find on the side of the page. For anyone who wants to send Sister Barrett a package for Christmas, please be aware the final posting date for the US is December 6th for standard packet/parcels, or December 16th for Courier Post.

Thank you once again for your love, support, prayers, emails and letters!

ALL the Conferences!

So did you all LOVE General Conference as much as I did?! My personal favourites were...nope I loved too many of them. Okay so myself and Sister Blair LOVED David A. Bednar's talk because he directed it to people who are not members of the church and it was a fantastic talk. I also loved the talk by the guy with the very German sounding name that I can't remember (not Dieter F. Uchtorf) who talked about spiritual confidence and talked about his counsel that he gave to a Sister Missionary..I LOVED that talk! 

So my first General conference on a mission was amazing. I'm really looking forward to April now!

So this Thursday I'll be going to my first Zone Conference of my mission! I'm really excited about it. We're going to be watching a movie that's out in the cinemas here called "Meet the Mormons". I don't know if they're showing it in Ireland or the UK. It's basically like a longer version of the "I'm a Mormon" videos, it follows the lives of 6 different people. We're all really excited to see it. We've been told to invite all of our investigators to watch it in the cinema. So it MUST be good!

So we had a traumatizing (but kinda funny-ish experience last Monday! We were in the car with the Elders, and Elder Sutherland was driving and everything was calm.I had to get something from my bag so I reached down to get it and then all I hear is everyone scream and Elder Sutherland jammed on the breaks and I heard a big bang! I looked up and everyone was in shock but I didn't have a clue what just happened. So I asked what happened and everyone was silent but then Elder Sutherland just said "I hit a deer". Apparently the deer just walked away, and when we checked the car there was no damage so we were definitely blessed!

The work is hastening on in Norwich! This is a blessed land and the people here are amazing. This ward is so excited about missionary work. The members are so fantastic. They're like family :) This is myself and Sister Blair with an AMAZING family, the Mecham's. They're moving out of the ward and we're SO sad to see them leave :(

I love you all :) Have a fantastic week!

A Fab Week!

Hey everyone!

It's been a crazy week but it's been amazing!

So yesterday we got the Elders to drop us off NEAR where our dinner appointment was, so we could walk down the street. Well we had an interesting experience! We came across a house with a horse in the garden and we wanted to pet it so we knocked on the door, but there was no answer so we just went to pet the horse anyway. But then an elderly woman came out of the house and was like "who's that?" and we were like "Oh sorry we just LOVE your horse and we wanted to pet him!" and she was like "oh yeah he's Irish!"...so I was like "Ummm...what?!" The horse's name was Irish! So I told her tat I'm Irish too! We told her we're missionaries, but she was not interested AT ALL. But she was really nice and she let us feed 'Irish'! So this is me and Irish!

Also, a few days ago we were in the apartment and it was about 9:15pm. The doorbell rang and myself and Sister Blair were SO confused! Like who would come to our apartment at that time? So anyways I went down to answer the door, and there was nobody there, so I looked down and there was this basket on the doorstep! It had loads of sweets and chocolates and it had rocks with prayers written on them! The Elders made it and dropped it off for us! It made us so happy!!

The General Women's broadcast was incredible. And I'm getting REEEAAALLY excited for General Conference! One thing I loved about the Women's broadcast was something that President Uchtorf said. He talked about obedience to God's commandments and said that sometimes we tend to ask "do we really need to obey ALL of His commandments?", and then he said that Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us, and when we choose not to obey His commandments, it's like we are putting up an umbrella, and blocking the blessings. I LOVE analogies! 

Another amazing thing about that broadcast is that our investigator, Roxanne came to watch it and she LOVED it!! I don't know if I mentioned this before, but she's currently praying about a baptism date. She's been investigating for over a year and she's SO ready! She's an amazing woman and we love her so much! 

So General Conference is this weekend and all of us missionaries are SOOOOOOOOO excited!!! So many people have told me that General Conference is THE BEST when you're on a mission! One of the Sisters said that it's just SO good because as a missionary, you're constantly giving giving giving, teaching teaching teaching, so General Conference is the one time you just get to sit and listen and take things in and be taught. I can't wait to hear the Prophet speak! And also..Jeffrey R. Holland! I hope he speaks! He came to this mission about 2 months before I got here and it kills me anytime anyone talks about it. Even our investigator, Roxanne met him!!

Anyway, hope y'all have a great week! And enjoy General Conference!!!

Love you all!

Sister Barrett

Love for Norwich

"Hey Everyone!

So this week was really great! We played disc golf for P-day last week and I was SO bad at it! What's new?...I'm bad at yet another sport! But it was really fun! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures there :( 

We've been talking about the book "Power of Everyday Missionaries" a lot lately and it is seriously the best! Every member needs this book! I know all of you would love it. President Packard went through a lot to get that book approved for us to read. Other missions are not allowed to read it but we got permission from the First Presidency so it's all good! 

I got the opportunity to use my Spanish skills this week! We were on our way to an appointment and we started talking to this woman on the street but she literally speaks NO English so I said that we're missionaries from "La Iglesia de Jesu Christo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias"..and then we gave her our card with our number on it. Unfortunately in that moment, that was literally the only Spanish I could remember. I'm definitely not good enough to teach this woman, but that's why we have Spanish missionaries serving nearby. It was a cool experience! She didn't call us, but it was still a good experience. :)

So we had a really fun Ward activity this week and SO many people brought non member friends and family :) Everyone had an amazing time. It was a Fall Festival. Everyone is REALLY into the Autumn season here!! It was a very successful activity! There was over 110 people there :) 

The 4 companioneros! Elder Sutherland, Sister Blair, Sister Barrett (obviously) and behind me is Elder Ching.

We took that photo about 3 minutes ago so that is what I look like RIGHT NOW! Also..sorry it's blurry.

Myself and Sister Blair on Feline Friday ... that cat clearly didn't like us.

The work is continually progressing here in Norwich and I am loving every minute of it. This place is amazing!

I love you all! Hope you have a great week :)

Love,

Sister Rebekah Barrett

2 MONTHS!

"Yes...I have been on my mission for exactly 2 months today!! It feels like I've been here for 2 weeks! It's going SO fast! I'm just having the most amazing time ever! 

So as you all know, we moved house this week! We now live in a fancy house with a basement! We were looking for storage space and we found a basement, and it's super creepy! But it's home! We love it :) We struggled being in our new house for the first few hours because we had NOTHING in the house! We had no cups or ANYTHING! So this is Sister Blair drinking Orange juice from a bowl.

So we are now settled in, and the Elders are settled into our old apartment! So we have Elder Sutherland from Utah/Idaho and Elder Ching from Hawaii!! So I'm still the only European around here! But the Elders are really good! We all get along very well..we don't hate each other at all! :P We made them banana bread and cookies and left them in the apartment for them, we also bought them a load of cereal...and we bought a load of cards and left them around the apartment for them to read. We wanted them to feel welcome...so I think that did the job! Also..we photocopied our entire area book and member book for them so they're very well informed of everything here!

So the members here in Norwich are AMAZING! They're very missionary minded and that's what we want! The ward mission leader and his wife are the nicest people EVER! We LOVE Brother and Sister Lewis! We were in Relief Society yesterday, and one woman made a comment about how she didn't let her son go on a mission because she didn't want him to be away from her for 2 years because she'd be worried about him, but now he's inactive, and she knows if he went on a mission things would probably be different. So Sister Lewis made a comment about that..she said that we should encourage our children to serve missions, and they'll always be looked after.She said "My kids are grown up and they've moved out, but I'm still a mom!" and then she pointed at me and Sister Blair and said "I'm their Mom!" She's the sweetest person ever! ALSO...we were at their house for dinner about a month ago, and they were asking me about the food in Ireland and they asked if we eat Shepherd's Pie a lot..and I was like "actually I haven't had that in a LOOOONG time but I LOVE it!"..so yesterday when we were talking to her she told me that she's making Shepherd's pie for dinner this week when we come over! They're the nicest family ever! We are VERY well looked after here. No need to worry about me while I'm here!

Sister Lewis is also really good friends with one of our investigators, Roxanne, who we LOVE! She's been investigating the church for a LONG time! She went to Transfer meeting this week and got to see all the new missionaries coming in, and she got to hear all the departing missionaries bear their testimonies. She LOVED it! We went to visit her this week and we asked her how she felt about it and we read the Book Of Mormon with her. She loves the Book of Mormon! She's totally ready to be baptised! But she just hasn't made the commitment yet. We love her SO much though! She's an amazing woman! :)

This is the AMAZING sunset in Norwich! This is 5 minutes from our house!

Sister Barrett & Sister Blair at sunset

Well, that's all for this week! We're going to play Disc golf for P-day today! Yes that does exist. I'm pretty excited about it! 

Love, Sister Barrett".

If you want to write to Sister Barrett at her flat, just message me or her mom on Facebook for the new address. Thank you as always for your love & support!

Staying in Norwich!

"Yep! That is correct! I'll be here in Norwich for another 6 weeks at least! And Sister Blair is staying with me!!!! We are SO delighted to be staying here and getting to be companions for another transfer!! This is her second last transfer though so we'll have to say goodbye soon :( NOT GOOD!

Also, we found out what Elders will be coming here! We're getting a greenie Elder straight from the MTC so I won't be the baby anymore! We don't know who he is yet though..we just know there'll be a greenie here, and then Elder Sutherland will be coming here..who I have also never met. But Sister Blair said we'll all be best friends in no time!...Or we could all hate each other..it could go either way! Nahh I'm just kidding! Haha

So another awesome thing about this week..Ryan got baptised!!! Saturday was the big day!! He was SO delighted!! And he's going to the temple to do baptisms with his wife, Angela this Saturday! They are both so excited! 

I have no crazy stories this week! And we didn't burn any rice! So that's very good news!

We went to a cool place for P-day last week though! All of our zone went. We went to this really beautiful place and we hiked through the woods up a mountain! It was torture in the humid weather..and there were SO MANY BUGS! But it was still beautiful! And we had a barbecue so that was really fun!!!

I love you all :) Thank you for all being amazing!!"

Sister Barrett will be moving apartments this week, and she will send us her new address next Monday. In the meantime, if you are just DYINGG to send her a letter, you can send it to her flat address as the Elders in her ward will be moving in there so she'll still get it, or you can send it to her mission home address.

Big Changes are Coming!

Sister Barrett is already nearing the end of her first transfer!! If you want to write to her this week, you can send letters to her flat until Wednesday, and then send them to the mission home. Here is her weekly email.

"Lots of changes are happening for us in the Norwich Ward as transfer week is approaching! We found out that we're getting Elders in the ward which is a big change! At the moment it's just me and Sister Blair, and The Bernards, our missionary couple. So the ward is really excited for this big change. Also, because we're getting Elders...we're moving apartments! They're going to take our apartment and we're moving to a town house! Super fancy! It's just down the road from our apartment now so we're not moving far. Our new house has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and it has a stairs! 2 FLOORS! We are blessed! They REALLY take care of the Sisters! We always get the nicer apartments.

Oh, and yes, I did say transfer week is approaching, transfer texts are this Friday, moves are next Wednesday. I'm REALLY hoping I don't get transferred! But we shall see.

So more cool news, a girl in our ward got her mission call this week and she's going to the Paris, France mission! She's super excited! And we're SO excited for her! She comes out with us ALL the time so she'll be well prepared. And she'll be closer to my home than I am! CRAZY!

Anyway, success story of the week, Ryan is getting baptised on Saturday!!! We're so excited, and so is he! And he's working on some family names to bring to the temple too! He's doing really well and we're just SO excited for him!

Anyways I love you all!!

Have an amazing week!"

Sister Barrett also sent these photos of her and Sister Blair celebrating Feline Friday, where they take pictures with cats every Friday ........ at least we know Sister Barrett is still as crazy as ever!