Final Days in the MTC

Sister Barrett just has a few days left in the MTC, and she is still having such a fabulous time! She has been really busy so hasn't had much time to email or write letters but loves hearing from everyone! Here is her email for this week. 

"THIS PLACE IS THE BEST! I'm having SUCH an amazing time here! My companions and I have literally become best friends and my district is amazing! We all get along so well! I'm so glad we're all going to the same mission! There'll be 21 of us flying to Boston on Tuesday so that's pretty crazy! 21 missionaries on one plane! Safest plane in the world!

I'm learning SO much here! I've said SO many times that I've learned more here in 2 weeks than I did in 13 years of school. The teachers are amazing! 

We had In-field orientation yesterday so we learned how to work with members and learned how to properly use our daily planner and how to successfully street contact so it was really good! It was a really looong day but it was really effective.

We're teaching a real investigator as a district and he's amazing! His name is John and he's really excited about learning more. He loves the Book of Mormon so far and we've been reading it with him too so that any questions he has can be answered there and then. We've actually already invited him to be baptised on the 22nd of August and he said that he's going to work towards that date and he's going to church this Sunday! It's really great to see his progression!

This photo is of our tri-panionship pointing at our mission!!!

Headed to the Massachusetts Boston mission this Tuesday!

Aaaand this one is of me and the water fountain...I discovered that the water fountain has good WiFi signal :P

I love you all so much and I look forward to being able to email you ALL individually! Next time I email won't be next Friday..it'll be the Monday after that because it'll be the real deal then!!

Talk to you all soon!"

Sister Barrett will leave the MTC on Tuesday and flies to the Massachusetts Boston mission! Her next p-day will be Monday the 4th of August when we will get to hear all about her very first area and her trainer! If you want to write to her, you can use Dear Elder until the 29th, and you can email her on her ldsmail account.

Officially a Missionary!

Sister Barrett has been in the MTC for a few days now and is absolutely having a wonderful time! She attended a devotional given by a General Authority with the 4,000 other missionaries currently in the MTC! Here is her email for this week.

"I'm SO excited to email you all!! MY FIRST EMAIL AS A MISSIONARY!

The MTC is AMAZING! I love my companions! Yes...I did say companionS!! I'm in a trio and it's so great because the three of us get along so well. We all admit we were so scared about getting companions but we became great friends instantly.

I had the opportunity to go to Temple Square today. Only international missionaries get to go so I'm so grateful that I'm foreign here! We got a tour of Temple Square from the sisters that are serving there. It was cool to see what the Temple Square sisters do. They're basically just tour guides so that's definitely different!

Obviously I'm the only Irish missionary in the MTC so everyone thinks that's really cool! They put up an Irish flag out the front of the MTC just for me!! I felt so special when I saw it!! Also..randomers keep coming up to me like "Oh hey! You're the Irish sister! Can I get a picture with you?" So I'm definitely not used to all this attention but it's fun being the only one!

I've learned so much just in the 3 days that I've been here. I love it so much and I just can't wait to go out and serve the people of the Massachusetts Boston Mission! My whole district is going to the same mission and there's a whole other district going there too so we'll all be flying to Boston together on the 29th of this month (I still get my birthday in the MTC!!). My district is so great! We all get along so well. It's just us 3 sisters and 6 elders so it's a lot of fun and we work really well together.

This is me at the Provo Temple. The international missionaries all got to go there to see some baptisms.

Real sister missionary badge!

This is my district!

(L-R) Elder Warren, Elder Kelley, Sister Zickella, Sister Jessop, Sister Barrett, Elder Jones, Elder Burnett, Elder Heflin and Elder Miller.

I love you all! Don't forget to write to me! I LOVE getting letters and I promise I'll write back to them all..it'll be so much easier when I'm in the mission field.

Love

Sister Rebekah Barrett

xxxxxxxxx"

Sister Barrett's birthday is coming up on the 26th of July! There's just enough time to send her a birthday card, as she will be leaving the MTC on the 29th of July. Don't forget you can also write to her on www.dearelder.com or email her at her ldsmail account!

Time to Say Goodbye

Sister Barrett's report date has finally arrived! Her final weekend in Ireland was busy and emotional, with lots of bittersweet goodbyes. Now that she is on her mission, I will be posting photos and updates from her weekly emails and letters.

Her farewell on Saturday evening was a huge success, with about 100 people coming to wish her well on her mission. There were special performances from "Right Direction" and the wonderful Alex Sharpe, as well as a slideshow of photos from her life and a huuuuuge cake!

"Right Direction", some of our very talented YSA

On Sunday evening, Sister Barrett was set apart by the stake president, assisted by her dad and her bishop. 

I had the great (dis)pleasure of turning off her iPod for the last time!

She flew out of Dublin Airport Monday morning, and after about 15 hours of travelling, she arrived safely in Salt Lake City and was picked up by the wonderful Connolly family, who she will be staying with until she reports to the Provo Missionary Training Center early tomorrow afternoon.

Final goodbyes in the airport!

With her latest companion, Sister Connolly in Utah.

Sister Barrett will be in the MTC for two weeks. If you want to write to her, you can have letters delivered to her free of charge by using www.dearelder.com.

Pre-Mission Photos!

Soooo, myself and my best friend got some cute pre-mission photos taken! We went to the Phoenix Park with our friends Joe (who took the deadly photos) and Paolo. and had the craic taking pictures. (PS if you don't know what deadly/craic mean, look 'em up. Yay Ireland.)