I ( afton her sister) have now changed the location of her blog. This blog will not be udated. here is the link to the new one. It's so much cuter! (she said I could do it so I did)
http://sisterbarberinthailand.weebly.com/index.html

(Side note made by Afton.) I don't like how impossible this program is to add to the blog and make it look pretty. So I'm going to change the blog site, but I will make sure to post the new link everywhere when I do change it. (And yes, Kenna gave me permission to do that.) Until then enjoy this site.

Alright here is the blow by blow first day. We got to the MTC about 45 minuets late because of the HUGE amount of traffic. It seemed like the whole world was trying to get in to the MTC. I got out said good bye to drew and Cassi, and yes I do think Drew told me to give them he... you know. My host (the sister that helps you when you first get there) showed me to the bookstore where I got my books, and they are not kidding when they say they give you a truck load of stuff. I have three dictionaries at least and that's just the beginning, I was going to send you a pic of them all, but I can't find my cord so I'll do it latter. The she showed my to my room and from there I went to my Thai class (no time to unpack) and jumped right in. there was already a couple people there when I got there and the teacher was speaking only in Thai. It was crazy. We learned how to say hello how are you and introduce our selves. then we went to a new missionary meeting where we were told there were 886 missionaries that had come in just that day! from 32 different countries. then we had supper ( the food is tolerable, but not something I would call "good". then we taught people acting as investigators. and then it was personal time to unpack and journal and sleep.

There are 6 elders in my district and the three of us sisters. I sent you a letter you may not have gotten, that told you I have two companions. It's actually not that uncommon here. Sister Peterson, and sister Ellis. Sister Ellis is 23 and probably 6 ft. she is supper nice and mature. sister Peterson is a little shorter than me, and nice as well. I love them already! there is another district of Thai elder and sisters, they are even 4 and 4 sisters and elders. We had 4 elders learning Location in our zone, but they left yesterday. So unless we get more people in our zone today, it will just be us Thai's in our zone.

They are going head spinningly fast in Thai. the second day they had taught us how to bear our testimonies, and the third we knew how to say a prayer and ask someone to read a scripture, and we taught an "investigator" la pasa thai (or in thia). He really is a volunteer at the MTC, but it is very easy to forget that. he acts well, and I truly think of him as an investigator. his name is Txg (pronounced like dug... kinda). The only easy thing about Thai is that the grammar is almost identical to English. go figure. But a lot of the words we are learning are LOOOOONG because there isn't a word for it in Thai, so they mash small words together like savior in thai literally is "someone who helps save us" it's kind of poetic, or how you say I'm disappointed is "my hopes were not fulfilled".

We met a Sister from Thai land and she was over the moon that we are going there. when she saw me she grabbed my hand and was like "you're going to the best place on earth! i will tell my family you are coming they will make you the best Thai food!" she was so cute. The elders are.. well 18-19 year old boys. they are charming some of the time and other times you are like BE QUIET AND STUDY! if it gets too bad we usually go out side. we basically live in our class room. we figured it our, even with sleeping in there we spend more time in the class room than we do in our dorm room.  our teacher is sister Hersey (like the chocolate bar) she served in Thailand. She is sweet and spiritual, and just as nice as can be, she speaks almost entirely in thai, except when we are learning out of preach my gospel.

Sunday was incredible. it wasn't exactly relaxing, but it was instructive. we had some excellent speakers. and we listened to an MTC devotional by elder Bednar that... I don't even know if I can describe it. it was life changing. he talked about the character of Christ. I don't think they release MTC devotionals, but if they do you have to look it up.

Oh I forgot! we (my companions and I ) sang in the missionary choir, and we sang the most beautiful version of blessed savior, Dear redeemer. It was fantastic. It's really easy to get down on your self here. I feel like I should know Thai already, but I'm working on keeping things positive.

love sister Barber 

 

The first post

 I thought a lot about whether or not to have a blog, but let's be real: I am terrible at keeping in contact with people even when I am not busy teaching the gospel in the oddest language in the world. So you get a blog. Let's hope I can convince one of my family members to update it for me. I may come back and find out my brother has posted Yoshi pictures where I'm planning to put the Thai flag but, oh well. I am Sister Barber, I am going to the Bangkok Thailand mission and I report august 14th. (and I'm a Mormon.) I am writing this blog so people I know and love can know what is going on in my life. I expect I will find missionary work hard, I expect my language will blow my mind, but I expect it to be worth it as I see people come to know that Christ is their savior and that God knows them.