Feb 23

Snow, Snow, Go Away, 

After being told daily that a huge winter storm was going to hit us, we were prepared to endure the arctic tundra not too commonly found in North Western Georgia. We hunkered down, awaiting the impact of the snow. And it totally missed us. We had a little bit of snow, not enough to make a snow angel or have a snow ball fight, but technically it snowed. It didn’t really derail us at all though, the work of the Lord must move forth! Thankfully we were blessed to have the car this week. Let me give you the saucey details! 

One of the many miracles this past week happened at church. It’s a part member family named the Quick’s. Their daughter, Holly, hasn’t been baptized and is 12 years old. The Mom was raised in the church, but is not supportive of it currently. Bro Quick invited us and the young men to fast and pray for Holly. Just yesterday in the hall, Bro Quick told us, with a few tears in his eyes, that Holly decided that she wants to be baptized here in the coming weeks. It was a testimony strengthening experience for him, but for me also! Prayer and fasting works mighty miracles! 

I will be spending another transfer with Elder Terhufen out here in the grand land of Cassville! I am really excited for that! It has taken us a whole transfer to get someone to church! Yesterday we were able to have four! Tribulation works patience, and patience works hope! 

Another miracle was to see our investigator Todd come to church again! He had his house burnt down and he also is going through a messy divorce with his wife. He has a lot on his plate but we set up a meeting with him and Bishop yesterday, and he gave him a blessing. We also prayerfully picked someone to help fellowship him. We chose the Anglin Family. Come to find out that Bro. Anglin already knew him. Bro Anglin’s parents took care of Todd’s kids as babysitters. Bro Anglin also is a handy man and will be helping him piece the house together! Prayerfully planning brings miracles! 

The Sutton’s had another thing come up that prevented them from coming to church. However, they will be coming this week! Every time we go over there, I can’t help but see them in the temple. It is going to happen! We will do any and everything to get them there! The intermediate step is going to be having them in a members home for a meal, it’s game over at that point! It is so amazing what the Gospel does to families! It is tangible and evident and I know that everyone really desires the peace and happiness it truly brings! 

We had a miracle in finding a family of five. They are married and have three boys, ages nine, seven, and five. We were led there after everything managed to fall through (or as I have come to realize, the Lord rescheduling our days. At least we tried to do our best, right? Sometimes I think the Lord gets a good laugh out of us and our feeble attempts.) We had no luck in this neighborhood, but we persisted, and asked everyone if they knew someone. We found Jen and her boys, she then expressed how in the past she had found Christ, but had since drifted from Him. She wanted her whole family to be baptized, and even picked her birthday for a date to aim for! It was truly amazing to see the Lord leading us! If a GPS can guide us, God can definitely do so, even more precisely!  

That’s all for today, folks! Thanks again for all that you do for me! Thanks for the love and letters! I really and truly appreciate it all so much! I love you all! Please keep fighting the good fight! Have a blessed up week!

 Love,

Elder Dallan Barnes

Feb 16th

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The essence of the Gospel is Love! I hope it was a wonderful day back home! We did all the assorted activities that were expedient on Valentine’s. Well, just about all we did was look good with some matching ties and testify of God’s love for all of us! I was meaning to share Roman’s 8:35-39 with someone, but I think I need to share it with y’all! Absolutely nothing will separate us from the Love of Christ! Our task is to abide in that love and then to go into all the world and help others experience it too! What a great day to be alive! Thanks for the kind letters and the packages! I felt well loved by y’all and my Heavenly Father! It’s been a most excellent week! Let me fill you in on all the details!

The miracle this week has to be from just yesterday! We prayed about where we needed to go, as our appointments fell through with our team up. We felt inspired to go see a lady named Ginger. As we pulled up, we noticed that they were moving things out of the home. On further discussion with Ginger, we discovered that her husband is leaving her for all sorts of awful reasons. In that very moment of need I turned to Acts 17:27-28 and testified with all the energy of my soul that God loved her, and that he was within arm’s reach, even now more so than ever and that she was His choice daughter. Tears filler her eyes and she reassured us that it would all work out. The Spirit carried our words and the words of the Apostle Paul unto and into her heart, because she was open. We will be seeing her at the end of this week as she will be putting her life back in order. God loves all of us, and He loves us so much that he chastens us! 

Our investigator family, the Sutton’s are moving along super well! They are always so excited to see us when we come by! They have been reading and praying as a family now! The Book of Mormon is becoming an anchor in their lives. It is the most incredible thing to see people change and come closer! They have been through a rough patch in the past, and the most important thing they can do is to have the welding bond of being sealed in the Temple for time and all eternity! Labron committed us that if they came to church, we would have to watch a UGA game with him. You can count me in! The next step is having them come to church! They will make it! I know they will! They wanted to come see us speak, but things got in the way, as the adversary tends to do! 

We survived giving our talks! I did something different by not writing any of it out. I prepared an awful lot, don’t get me wrong. But when I stepped up to the plate, I didn’t know what I was exactly going to say. The Spirit guided my talk and it was an amazing feeling. I felt like I did really well, but once again it, it is nothing of my own doing. I was merely the instrument! I ended up speaking for twenty five minutes and it flew by! Truly the Lord does inspire men in these days! The greatest gift we can receive here is the gift of the Holy Ghost! 

The other pinnacle of the week was the fact that we had the privilege to do baptisms for the dead in the temple on Wednesday! That is an experience that most missionaries cannot say that they have done. We got caught in traffic and missed the endowment session. We live in the sticks! As we stormed into the temple, we mentioned we were late. He kindly corrected us saying, “You are never late in the Temple. This is the Lord’s Work.” That hit me with some profound force. If we are doing the Lord’s work, the Lord’s way, we can believe that we are being led to do exactly what he needs us to do. Besides, the Lord’s work is all about others, not ourselves!

It is threatening to snow out here Mom! Something is backwards about that whole picture! Let me explain the hair in the photos on the mission facebook page, we did baptisms at the temple unexpectedly. So I had no gel to put it all back in order. I still do cut my hair, I can do it in 30 minutes now! With a price of Free.99, you can’t top that kind of hair do! 

That is about all I have to say about that! It has been an excellent one! I am glad to hear all is well out in Utah! Please keep fighting the good fight of faith! I love you all so very much! Thanks again for all that you do for me! I hope y’all have another blessed up week!

Love,

Elder Dallan Barnes

Your life depends on your obedience!

Feb 9th

Febru-whyisitsohot-ary! 

It is crazy to hear that it is warm on all fronts! It has been a killer week out here. I almost even ran this morning in shorts and a shirt. The rain has come in, and it appears that maybe some spring weather will be hitting us soon. Who knows, maybe a super massive snow storm is right around the corner too. You can never tell these days! Let me tell you about this week though, because it has been most excellent!

The miracle this week has to be the amazing Sutton family, whom we found early on this week. We were out and about, we had some good contacts planned to go see. They didn’t end up being home, but we knew there was a reason we were at that place. We saw a lady pull up in her truck and we had to go speak with her. Brandy has three kids, a 2 week old, a 3 year old, and a 7 year old. She invited us to step in, but we told her that out of respect for her and her husband that we wouldn’t step in. We came back when her husband was home, and they let us right in! They explained how none of the churches they were raised in had the Spirit. They also explained how they wanted to be closer as a couple and family. We even got to help them say a prayer for the first time together. They accepted to be baptized, and expressed how they felt like Joseph Smith. They are sinking their teeth into the Book of Mormon and we will be seeing them on Saturday! It was an amazing day! We found a family I know we were supposed to find out here in Cassville! Labron, the Husband mentioned how much he already respected us because of us not stepping into his home without him there! Obedience brings blessings!! 

My name tag totally broke as I put it on one day. I lost my other one helping our investigator move back in Kennesaw Mountain. Might I say, super glue works miracles! It has held up pretty well since though!

We were able to meet again with our investigator Rosie. She totally opened up even more, we even got to see pictures of her recently passed away husband. I looked at him and I knew that she needs to get baptized and start her temple work. I think that would bring her more peace than anything in this world. She was in tears as we discussed the Gospel and how it brings us together for eternities. We just need to get her to church now. Her life will be forever changed!

That is about all I can muster up today! Thanks for all the time and effort spent in emailing! I love you all so much! I wish a most miraculous and amazing week for everyone of you! Have a blessed up one! Fight the good fight of faith! I will look forward to hearing from everyone in a week’s time!

Love,

Elder Dallan Barnes

                                Elder Barnes and Elder Terhufen's new place in Cartersville

Feb 2

The Super Bowl

The way I would describe the cereal I didn’t have on Sunday Morning because it was Fast Sunday. What a day and week to be alive though! Miracles are happening all around us! Of all the times that we could be here, we have all the essentials, the Gospel, electricity, running water, etc. I certainly stand all amazed at the love our Heavenly Father has for us! My first question, is everyone now conscious from their super food coma? Were the commercials super? Or were you super knocked out? Did the Super Sandwich come out? Was there a super supper? It sufficeth me to say that it was a super day and week for us, and it appears so for y’all as well! Let met run through the Super Ups and Downs! 

The biggest miracle that we had this week was divinely orchestrated by the Lord. It was on Wednesday night, our team up called in sick with the flu. We scrambled to gather a team up because we were going to see our top investigator, and we needed someone that could help him come to church. We felt inspire to call our Elders Quorum President. As a presidency they meet every Wednesday and go out on visits. One of his counselors was able to go out with us, who is a Recent Convert of about a year. He was the perfect team up. He lived in south Chicago, grew up in a gang, and totally flipped his life around with the Gospel, and now he is preparing to go and be sealed in the temple. He was in tears sharing his story with Will, and then boldly and powerfully proclaimed, “That Book will change your life, its true!” Will was certainly touched and is ready to come to church this week. God will always give the increase! Will is still moving towards his baptismal date! 

We had an awesome training out in Dallas (not Texas), with the Powder Springs Zone and Cartersville Zone. I got some intel on the happenings in Kennesaw Mountain that made me so happy. Diane is moving towards baptism, as is David here in the next week. It seems like things are going well! It was really good to see many familiar faces too! The training was great, and President Harding is one very inspired man! This is certainly a gospel of grand expectations! I wouldn’t have it any other way! High expectations are the only way to go in this life! 

We are pleased to say that our coats are still rain proof! 

We were able to meet with an incredible lady named Rosie. I don’t remember if I mentioned her in last week’s email, but she has lost her husband recently and moved two weeks ago to escape it. She was totally led here to meet us. She actually explained how the desire of her heart is to be free of guilt and shame from the decisions of her past. She set her own baptismal date even. She even recounted Moroni’s promise to us, and firmly committed to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. God works in mysterious ways! Many are prepared and stand in need of what we have! 

Well that is a wrap! Thanks for the email and the joy that I felt hearing about y’alls week! Keep up the good work! Fight the good fight! Finish the course! Love you all so very much! Please let me know what I can do to best help! Have a blessed up week!

Love,

Elder Dallan Barnes

Believe the Lord is molding you!