I, Becca, having been born of goodly parents...

Mi hermosa familia,

What is up?!? Life is great, the sun is shining, and the trees are beginning to change color!! Sister Barney and I are soooo incredibly stoked. Holy moly cow. In other news, how about that lunar eclipse last night? Eh? We took some chairs outside on our little 5'x3' patio and did nightly planning and watched it all unfold. So. Rad. WICKED rad, for lack of better words. 

I LOVE NATURE

Whenever I am able to take a few minutes to appreciate nature, it helps me remember the enormity of the universe, the grandeur of God, my insignificance and yet exceeding import in His eyes. It's wild. Also, more exciting news! I've started the Book of Mormon again from page numero uno! I just LOVE that book. In honor of 4 months left of full-time missionary work, I've decided to read the entire Book of Mormon with the focus on God's plan specifically for me. It has been a great read so far. I love the first few words. They are so familiar and precious to me. And it makes me realize and appreciate my own goodly parents. Shout out to Lynn and Tammy! You guys rock! 

More exciting things from this past week: We set a baptismal date with our good friend Juan! He's 12 years old and super awesome. He does origami as a hobby and I've never seen so much hardcore origami in my life. He made a 3 headed dragon. We were blown away. Also, we were blown away when he accepted baptism! In the past he always said that he wasn't ready yet, and then this week when we were asking him how he was doing he was all, "I think I'm ready to be baptized." Just all calm and stuff. We were all, "whaaaaaaat?" So yeah, super stoked. 

Also, last p-day we got together with the zone and had the most awesome ultimate frisbee game I've ever played. Dude. And I've played a lot of ultimate frisbee in my time. So I had Elder Perkes and Elder Asay on my team who are my homies from Washington and those guys are like 6'5". It literally doesn't matter what you throw at them... They just catch it. And then I got to play basketball for the first time on the mish, because I finally found another sister that plays! So fun! 

Anyways, life is good. This week has been so joyful and so fun! I have stretched and learned so much. Sister Barney is the best companion in the whole world. I love being able to serve with my homies. I am so grateful for the power of prayer! I know that He is listening. It truly is a form of work, but it is the best kind of work! I loved the General Women's Conference when they called us all to repentance- to return to the basics of prayer and scripture study. (Also, Elder Uchtdorf literally just told a story, bore his testimony, and then dropped the mic and walked away... He is the coolest) I love this gospel! I love God! I love you all! You're pretty cool people.

Con amor,

Hermana Libre

Well folks, here we are again! At this point you're probably wondering, "Why is she still writing?" Sorry if my letters are redundant sometimes. BUT! This week was super great! Let me tell you about the adventures of Barney&Frei:

We got so many members involved in the work! The reason for the title of my email this week is that we had a musical fireside that we as missionaries affectionately nick-named (fun fact: nick-name in spanish is "sobre nombre" rhyme-o!) "Jammin' 4 Jesus". Unfortunately it didn't fly with the local leadership, but we do what we want (kind of). The fireside was a hit! I was able to get one of my digi gators from Venezuela to skype in and he LOVED it. We talked to him afterwards and he told us he was jammin out on his guitar with Bro. Ferrin and he learned some new songs. Rad stuff. We had him skype in on the Bishop's phone who served in Venezuela! (The Bishop not the iPhone...) So they had a nice chat and it was cool. It's not every day that you have an international musical fireside, you know what I'm saying? 

More exciting stories from the week: the other day we were teaching a lesson with our good Puerto Rican friend and he has had a lot of doubts about Joseph Smith and he was just going off on us. Finally I just couldn't stand it anymore. The Spirit wasn't present and I was ready to walk out of his apartment. I demanded his respect and said, basically, "HEY! Listen!" I got in his face, and I told him about how precious our time is and told him to look at my nametag. I told him that I have 4 months left to be a full-time representative of Jesus Christ and if he didn't want to hear it then I wasn't going to waste mine or the Lord's time. Tears were streaming down my face as I bore witness of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and asked him if he would allow us to speak and share the message we have been called to share. It really humbled him and he apologized up and down and we will continue to teach him. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon and find out for himself, and he said that if he receives a witness then he will be willing to be baptized. So that was cool :) Idk, I guess it has really hit me these past few weeks that my days are numbered as a full-time missionary. Everyday is a precious gift. 

Yesterday we went with our good friend, German to go teach a lady that he ran into at Dunkin Doughnuts. The result of that visit was 2 more potential investigators, a LOT of Bachata music, a few selfies, and all sorts of good times. German is hilarious. We were taking the selfie and he was all, "Wait! Let me make my face beautiful!" Just so you are all aware, I sent the selfie with his "beautiful" face. You're welcome. 

Haha, anyways, I can't stress to you all enough how important members are! This week I had an epiphany! It is SO important that I learn how to help members to share the gospel, because the more I learn how to teach them, the easier it will be for me to share the gospel for the rest of my life. I love being a full-time missionary, but also I'm excited to be a member missionary! Right now is just the training grounds. If you want to learn how to share the gospel.... ASK THE MISSIONARIES!

Lol.

I love you all! I love my savior, and I am grateful for his sacrifice. Keep the faith! 

Con amor,

Hermana Frei

Querida familia!

Yo, what's up? This week has been a blast. I am pleased to report that the Redsox won last Monday. Boston is still the most beautiful city in the world, and I didn't get sunburned! It was blazing hot, our tickets were VERY cheep, so naturally we were sitting in direct sunlight. But we found pieces of cardboard to shade ourselves, and I am not a prized New England lobster. Sweet mercy! There were a lot of VERY drunk people at the game, and one kind sir approached Sister Barney and I and said some very unpleasant things to us... lol. It's cool. Coming out of that experience I just want you all to know that I have a very strong testimony of the Word of Wisdom. Drunk people really aren't that bright, btw. 

This week we had some AWESOME lessons! We had a little "uncovering the iceberg" session with our good friend Juan, and we found out what has been holding him back from baptism all these years. The kid has been scarred by the example of his parents! They've been in and out of activity and in and out of churches and he knows it's all true but he doesn't want to be like them. He realizes the gravity and seriousness of the covenant, but doesn't completely understand the atonement of Christ. We all make mistakes, we all have our doubts. And hopefully it doesn't seem like I'm condemning his parents- his mom is the sweetest lady and one of our strongest members now. What I'm trying to get at I guess, and what we need to help Juan understand is that baptism isn't an end point. The atonement of Jesus Christ is very much real. Dad referred me to a really cool talk by Dallin H. Oaks that also talks about this subject. He states: 

"Every follower of Jesus Christ knows that the most powerful ideas of the Christian faith are the resurrection and the atonement of Jesus Christ. Because of him we can be forgiven of our sins and we will live again. Those powerful ideas have been explained in countless sermons from this pulpit and a million others. They are well known but not well applied in the lives of most of us." 

I'm thankful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and the role it has played in my life, and the role it will continue to play. I don't claim to understand this powerful idea fully yet, but I plan on studying it and learning about it for the rest of my life. Also, I plan on helping others begin their own journey unto Christ. Please pray for our good friend Juan as he is trying to sort things out in his mind and striving to become a dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ. He's an amazing kid and a really deep thinker. He will make a wonderful missionary one day! 

I love this gospel and the hope and happiness that it brings into our lives each and every day. I love you all and have a great and blessed week! 

Con amor,

Hermana Frei

Happy Labor Day

Hey folks, just a quick update this morning that yes, I am indeed still alive, and that we are gonna go hard this labor day! Can anyone say REDSOX GAME??? I can. I'm super excited. It's been on my mission bucket list since the beginning. Also we get to go to the temple this morning, so there is even more cause to rejoice! Haha! 

Everything is peachy here in New England and it's beginning to cool down a lil' bit. As in it's not 90 degrees every day. So it's great. What's even more great is that God is hastening His work! I LOVE being a missionary and striving to share what I know and love with others. I love handing people a Book of Mormon for the first time-- It just gets my blood pumping. I LOVE that book. And whenever I get to hand it to someone I feel like I just gave them my heart and soul. I want to implore them to be careful with it, to treat it like their most prized possession. Because truly that is what it is to me. 

Serving a mission is hard. But at the same time it isn't. I feel like I've been preparing to serve ever since I began running. The comparison is mad real. Every obstacle is more or less a mind battle. And all you really need to do is keep running through the pain, keep moving forward, keep progressing. Stopping to walk just slows you down and you would never turn around and run back to the start... So that's why I keep running, that's why I keep serving. The end goal is so achievable, and the journey is glorious and beautiful. 

Something that I learned from one of our digi mish gators is that "you choose who you want to be and you choose to believe." Those words are so wise. If you aren't sure who you are then CHOOSE who you want to become. If you aren't sure what you believe in or if you believe at all, CHOOSE to believe. The rest will follow. 

Highlights of this week: 

• We found Yonis on the digi mish. He just popped out of nowhere! Like daisies! And he is soooooo prepared
• We gave Reymand a Book of Mormon even after he said he wouldn't read anything but the Bible... haha lol
• We knocked a few doors and a group of nice college kids let us in and listened to our message and invited us to come back this upcoming week
• We worked at a soup kitchen and Sister Barney gave out all of the salad.... Wooooooow :)
• God answered our prayers on numerous occasions. 

I love you all! Keep the faith! Remember: It's all true. All of it.

Con amor, 

Hermana Frei