Warm Fuzzies

Kathi received this email from Michelle's Bishop, in Anchorage:

Thank you for sending your daughter on a mission. We are very fortunate to have her assigned to our ward. She is doing wonderfully well. She looks great and works hard and is having success with families that we have not been able to reach in years. We are looking out after her the best we can; by making sure she has meals and stays as warm as possible. She has a maturity and spiritually of a seasoned missionary.

She has a very pleasing personality add manner and is effective in teaching the gospel. I would be please to have her serve her entire mission in our ward. We have grown to love her in these few short weeks and feel of her love for us.

But I guess you already know how good she is. Thanks for sharing her with us.

Bishop Smith

Mail Call!

I received an email from Michelle on Monday. Here are some excerpts:

I am having a great time up here and I have grown so much! I love going to the temple! I love being able to go once a transfer, but I miss going once a week like in the MTC. Zone Conference was awesome...I love Zone Conference!

Here are some of Michelle's current favorite scriptures:

Alma 26:11-12
11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

That's it for now.

Mail Call!

Here the latest from the frozen north.

Daddy,

Things are going well here in the frozen north. Temperatures have been hanging out between -10 and 10 for the past couple of days so it's kind of chilly here, but Mum sent me a bunch of handwarmers in my Christmas/Valentine's package so I'm doing okay. :D Plus, when Sister Sloan came over here from Eagle River she found my fleece lined hat in the trunk of her car so that makes me happy. :D

We had a Zone breakfast and then went to the Temple. That's why I'm emailing today; when we go to the temple we move our pday to whatever day we go. We also just had Zone Conference on Tuesday - it was SO GOOD! :D It was all about the Book of Mormon, it was GREAT! Sister Sloan was asked to arrance a musical number for it so we grabbed the Zone Leaders and the sisters out in Eagle River to come do it with us. Elders Cope and Maddern and Sister Sloan and I sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and Sister Mu'a played the piano and her companion, Sister Judd, turned the pages for her. lol, it was a group effort. It was really good though! I'll have to get us together to sing it again and record it to send home.

Bonnie D. Parkins, in last Conference's Releif Society session, said something that Sister Sloan and I say alot;"I can do hard things!" That's my motto now for my mission. It's hard work, but I've got God and Christ on my side so..."I can do hard things!"

I'm getting along great with Sister Sloan! We have so much fun together! We both love tracting so we should do alot of that in the next couple of weeks - yay! I met Sister Sloan my first transfer because her companion finished her mission half-way through the transfer and went home so we were in a trio there for a couple of days. During this time as a trio, and afterwards when our companionships would spend Pday together, we determined that we should never be companions because we've both seen too many of the same movies and musicals and we would just have too much fun together. So, the Monday before transfer calls we went into the office to get some things and Sister Sloan and I popped our heads into the Assistant's office to say hello and offer them some advice.

Sisters: So, we know trasnfers are in a week so we wanted to let you know that we've come to the realization that we can never be companions.

Elder Lyman: Why? Do you not like each other?

Sisters: No! We love eachother, that's why we can't be companions - we'd have too much fun and end up being apostate!

Elder Callister: (scrutinizing gaze) There's something shady going on here...

Sisters: We're serious, we just thought we should warn you so the mission will still succeed....

Then came transfer calls on Saturday...

President Lewis: Sister Barrett, you're staying in Chugach Foothills and Sister Sloan is coming to be your companion.

Me: ...are you serious?...(the Assistants are laughing in the background at this point..)President: Dead serious Sister Barrett.

Oh man...that was the greatest thing ever, lol.
So, anyways. Sister Sloan is from the Downtown Avenues area of Salt Lake City She's awesome! I love my new companion! Of course I miss Sister Hubbard, but it's not like she's really that far away and I just saw her at Zone Conference since we joined with the South Anchorage Zone for our conference.

The have a set of sisters in the South Zone in Rabbit Creek, they have a set in North Zone in Turnagin, They have to in the Chugach Zone in my area and in Eagle River, they have one set in the Wasilla Zone, one set in the Fairbanks Zone, and one in the Juneau Zone in Ketchikan. So, there are 7 companionships of Sisters in Alaska right now.

Well, I've got to go finish my emailing. Have a fabulous day! I love you!

Love,'chelle

Bullwinkle?

Imagine coming home to this in your front yard! This pictures was taken by Sue Dickson. Sister Dickson and her husband are in the ward where Michelle is currently serving.

Surprise!

I did end up getting an email from Michelle. Here's what's going on...

Daddy,

The week has been good here as well. :D We had our second baptism on Saturday and it was so good! Tracie has been working with the missionaries since before I got to Alaska and it's been a rollercoaster ride. We were so excited to see her baptized on Saturday and then confirmed yesterday. It was wonderful! :D

Things are going very well here. We got our transfer calls on Saturday and I am staying here. Sister Hubbard is going to Rabbit Creek to be with my MTC companion, Sister Pedersen. Sister Sloan is coming from Eagle River to be my companion. I'm way excited! Sister Sloan is awesome and we get along very well! I'll miss Sister Hubbard but she's not that far away and I know that she and Sister Pedersen will get along well.

I got the Valentine's package from you and Bug! Thanks! The macadamia nuts are gone and I'll start in on those Andes Mints tonight. :D Thanks for the teddy bear too, it's very cute and TRAVEL SIZED! :D

Well, have a fabulous week!

Love,'chelle

Staying Put

I received the following email from a member of the ward where Michelle is living. Since it's a Holiday, I'm guessing that's why I didn't get an email from Michelle. They have to use the public library to email and they're closed today.

Chris,

Sister Barrett asked me to let you know she did not get transferred and will remain in her current location for another 6 weeks….yay! We are glad to keep her.

Sue Dickson

On a bumper sticker: "If you're living like there is no God, you'd better be right"

Mail Call!

Here's the latest from Michelle. Short but sweet. Just a reminder... Transfers are Monday, Feb 19th. Plan your mail and packages accordingly. She has a hunch she'll be moving.

Daddy,

I love Sundays too! :D It's amazing to get people there and see them soak everything in. We had 4 people at church yesterday, but only 3 of them are baptismal age...but still - YAY! :

I'll send my camera card soon, I promise...along with the audio tape...I completely forgot to include that in the package I sent you...Yep, Saturday is Transfer Calls. We're going to have a Zone activity. We'll play Volleyball from 7 - 11:30 and the APs and President Lewis will call us on the ZLs cell phone and then we'll all go to lunch and then go do a zone tract! Yay fun!

I love you too!

Love,'chelle

Why we do what we do

"Some Christians carry their religion on their backs. It is a packet of beliefs and practices which they must bear. At times it grows heavy and they would willingly lay it down, but that would mean a break with old traditions, so they shoulder it again. But real Christians do not carry their religion, their religion carries them. It is not weight; it is wings. It lifts them up, it sees them over hard places, it makes the universe seem friendly, life purposeful, hope real, sacrifice worth while. It sets them free from fear, futility, discouragement, and sin--the great enslavers of men's souls. You can know a real Christian, when you see him, by his buoyancy"

-Harry Emerson Fosdick

Mail Call?

Things must be busy up there. Here's the whole of her letter this week.

So, I got [your] email, but I don't have time to reply to it so I'm
just going to print it out and write you a real letter...CRAZY! love you!

Love,'chelle

So, more later...

Mail Call!

Sorry for the delay. I received an email from Michelle last Monday, but have been so busy at work, I haven't had a chance to update this.

Actually, her email was short and sweet. She's doing great! They are going through a bit of a warm spell up there. It's been above freezing a couple of times!

Just a heads up... Transfers are February 19th. Michelle will find out on the 17th if she'll be moving.

Here's a great quote that I hope you all enjoy, and in fact, is one of the reasons Michelle is serving a mission:

The Great Plan of Happiness
"To be without God in the world--in other words, to refuse to live His gospel and therefore lack the companionship of the Spirit--is to be in a state contrary to the nature of happiness. The gospel of Jesus Christ is, in fact, the--note that this is singular, meaning it is the only--'great plan of happiness' (Alma 42:8). If you opt for any other way of life or try to live only the parts of the gospel that seem convenient, such a choice will cheat you of the full, resplendent joy and happiness for which you were designed by our loving Father in Heaven and His Son."
(Marcus B. Nash, "The Great Plan of Happiness," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 49)