November 1, 2010.

Hello from the big city of Brampton!

Wow, what a week so far. White-washing an area is definitely a lot of work! Sister Stanbrough and I have hardly had time to make phone calls with everything we have to do. I'm not quite sure where to start, so I will just talk about our investigator Sandra first. The sisters before us were teaching Sandra for a few weeks. She is from an island in the Indian Ocean (starts with an M...don't know how to spell it). Sister Stanbrough and I have met with her twice and she came to church yesterday! She has a baptismal date for November 14! She is so great. She often worries and wonders if she should know more before making this big step. I assured her that Heavenly Father is pleased with her decision. It is a step of faith, but she will only gain a testimony of it if she takes it. I am excited to keep teaching her. We will see her again on Wednesday.

It was nice going to my ward for the first time. It is a unique ward because it is actually made up of two different cities, covering about a 45 minute area. There are two missionaries from the Toronto East mission that cover the Toronto side of the ward, and Sister S and I cover the Brampton side. So we travel out of our area for church! Yesterday after church, there were two baptisms for the East mission and I was so happy Sandra could attend. I sang with a few other people and we didn't even have time to practice! Then Sister S and I did a little presentation and shared our testimonies while the two people who got baptized were changing. It was a pretty hectic day. We got home a little before 6:00 pm and had to stay in the rest of the night because it was Halloween. Sister S carved a pumpkin and we ate a lot of candy. We have a whole pecan pie in the fridge that the senior couple missionaries gave us!

Something happens to me when I am in Brampton. All of the sudden, I am able to talk to everyone I see with no fear and the Spirit tells me what to say. It is really amazing. Heavenly Father is helping me to see how I have improved since I came out here. There are always challenges though and I will continue to learn each day. One of the hardest things right now is just that Sister S and I don't know anyone. We are learning the streets, but we don't know most of the members or the investigators right now. There is lots to learn here!

I was sad to say goodbye to Sister Evanson, but I am happy for her and her new companion. I met the new sister, Sister Hodgkin, when I slept at the mission home on Monday night. She is SO prepared and is already an amazing missionary. I hope to be able to serve with her someday. We really are so lucky to have such amazing sisters in this area.

Hmm...that's about all I can think of to write at the moment. My brain is still scattered and I can't exactly think straight yet haha. One funny thing happened on Saturday night. Our ward mission leader had called us earlier this week and told us that when we meet with him he usually feeds us (we meet at his fiance's house). He said he had to work on Saturday so we decided to meet at 7:30 pm. Well, I figured that since we were meeting so late, Sister S. and I should probably eat dinner. We went out to eat and filled up. When we got to the house for our meeting, there was a whole dinner on the table. I guess 7:30 pm isn't too late for dinner! So...I ate a whole other meal and could barely get it down. I know I eat a lot, but I was not prepared for that! Haha. Only on a mission...

Well, I hope you are all doing well! I can hardly believe it is already November. Christmas is almost here! I hear it's the greatest to have Christmas on a mission. It's a great season to celebrate even more fully the life of the Savior. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about Helaman 5:12, which talks about building our foundations on Jesus Christ. When everything else in life fails us, He will not. He is the way. The only way. I want to focus on always remembering Him this week. I love you all! Thank you for your support and for your love. It is so great to hear from many of you and I always look forward to it. Heavenly Father loves you :)

Love,

Sister Barton