WEEK 15: CHANGE IS IN THE AIR!

What a rollercoaster of a week... There were some amazing things and some not so amazing things but hey, that's how every week is right??

ALPHORN ANYONE?   THIS WAS SOOOOO COOL!  (See my pics at the end!:) 

On Tuesday this week we had Zone Training and it was incredible. I had some questions answered and the Spirit was so strong! I love being able to talk about the work going on in our zone and how other missionaries are finding success. It is an amazing way to learn! After the conference we went with our zone leaders and donated blood for a service project haha it was crazy!! But the sad thing was they wouldn't let me donate because I haven't lived in the country long enough so that sucked. Whatever--- their loss -- I have amazing blood sooo...  (She kills me! :)

Wednesday was great, we made some calls and Jennifer  (the woman who commented on my tag on the bus who we haven't been able to get in touch with for a month) answered and she has been having some issues with her daughter, so she's been busy with that - but we set up an appointment for tomorrow! Tender mercies, I love that woman and I want to see her happy with this gospel!! After that we went finding and people were SO NICE. Yes you read correctly, NICE. We spoke to a man who's name I don't remember but I kid you not I have never felt the spirit stronger when talking to someone on the street. He was just glowing idk how to explain it! He is very interested about the church and wants to meet with us but is out of the country for a bit visiting family. Then all of the sudden people started gathering around and there were some people playing Alphorn's so we stopped and listened to them and I GOT TO PLAY ONE!! Coolest thing ever.

Thursday I went on an exchange to Zürich and it was AWESOME!! I was with sister Pascale from Denmark and holy cow this girl is a beast!! haha She talks to everyone!! And she is so happy doing it! I look up to her so much! We went finding for like 4 hours and she dared me to stop a man on a bike and I did it hahaha it was the greatest!! (He took our card :) We spoke to everyone about Christmas and told them about our new Christmas Video (btw go watch it its the bomb) and the 4 hours of finding flew by! it was a lot of fun!

On exchanges in Zurich with Sister Pascale

Your fav german sista in Zürich

View from Sis Pascale's apartment!

Christmas is EVERYWHERE!

Aaaaand then there was Friday. The day where everything changed. Sister Pascale and I were doing studies and President calls us and says he needs to talk to me. My heart sank... long story short there are problems with our american visas and I am getting transferred 2 weeks early to make sure I don't get kicked out of Europe. Sooo I will be going to an area called Tübingen which is in Germany (south of Stuttgart) this Wednesday!   The rest of that day was kind of a blur, my mind was all over the place. I was in shock, and still am. I am so sad to be honest, but I am excited to grow because I feel myself getting comfortable here in St. Gallen. No matter how much I want to stay, I know that it's for the best and that I will learn so much!  My new companion is Sister Hofmockel from France, and she has 2 transfers left so her German is boss- so I'm so excited to learn from her!!!! Thankfully, I do have time to get things together, but not really!! The thing is you cant just drop everything and pack and stuff cuz you're being transferred, you still have to do ahhhhh missionary work hello!!! So we've had some time today to pack- and then we'll have like 2 hours ish tomorrow and that's it!! So stressed.... I HATE PACKING!


Saturday we got to go to the Bern Temple for my last time and it was so comforting. Lots of prayers answered that day, including running into Sister Jensen (from the England MTC) AGAIN without her even knowing we were coming to the temple. Seriously the best thing ever, I got to say goodbye to her before I left :)

LAST TEMPLE TO TRIP TO BERN SWITZERLAND W SISTER STAMP

Sunday was emotional to say the least... My last Sunday in St. Gallen and lots of goodbyes. Especially saying goodbye to the Eggenbergers last night... I don't even want to talk about it-  it was the hardest thing i think I've ever done. All of their kids drew me things and gave me things and the oldest who is turning 8 tomorrow came up to me and said Will you ever forget us??? I think I would've been better off taking my heart out and stomping on it. I am crushed. I love it here... I have left such a huge chunk of my heart here and I am so sad I'm leaving. I do not feel ready to leave, but I know that everything will work out I just have to have faith! (aka the hardest thing ever lol.) But like I said before, I am excited to see what growth lies ahead and what the Lord  I cant stop thinking about the picture of the little girl with God asking her for her teddy bear saying but I love it God.  And Him having a bigger teddy bear behind his back saying just Trust Me. Because this is how my mission has been. Leaving you guys was so hard, but I was so blessed with everyone at the MTC and I never wanted to leave there, so coming to St. Gallen was SO hard, but I was blessed so much here!  So I know the same thing will happen now and throughout the rest of my Misison its just hard right in this moment.......Ahhhhh!


I gotta go were having our dinner at the Bäcks for the last time and fondue babaayyyy. Haha!!! I really hope you know how much I love you guys and how grateful I am to get you all for eternity. Have the best week ever and the next time you talk to me I'll be a real German Sister because ..... Deutschlaaaaannnddddd!!

Love you with all my heart❤❤


Sister Samantha Barnett
Ackerstrasse 5,
9000 St. Gallen
Switzerland

btw, Countdown till Christmas in my new area!!!  And the skype call will be 45 minutes and I'm going to be pretty strict on it cuz I know how blessed I am when I am obedient!! 

A city called Brunnen (where we made swiss army knives last week)

OK, are you ready for these??? Playing the Alphorn!!! (The sweet old man put his hat on my head lol)

WEEK 14: I UNDERSTOOD!

Wow what a week... It has definitely been a harder week, but looking back on it so many great things happened and i am so glad we were able to push through and work hard!! It literally rained every day this week and i swear something was in the water because people were sooo not in the mood....


Tuesday we had a district finding day in Kreuzlingen and it was good.  We spoke to some pretty cool people and got a potential for the elders in that area!! Later that day one of our members is filipino and she gave us 3 kilos of chicken hearts and stomach soooo that was extremely interesting hahaha!

Wednesday we had an appointment with one of the members in our ward named Sister Schmid. She is a chef and made us some super good looking food! (pics below) we spoke to her about how Christ is the center of our church. In that lesson I spoke more than I have in any other lesson which was pretty cool! I just didnt really care about saying things wrong because she corrected me all the time haha. I was able to bear a very simple testimony with her and it brought the spirit!!

Thursday was my 3 MONTH MARK!!! It was funny though because it was the worst day of the week lol. Starting at 6:30 am people were calling us and cancelling our appointments. We had all 3 of our appointments fall out for the day so we had to change all of our plans around and figure out what we were going to do instead. We taught Abraham (our potential from last week) about the book of mormon and he said he would pray about it and call us when he had questions. That night we had a lesson with our recent converts and it was a very frustrating lesson. They were asking extremely deep questions and I had NO idea how to answer any of them. It really made me doubt myself and get frustrated. I left that appointment really down and confused. it was just kind of a mess of a day...

Friday wasn't a whole lot better either- haha! We woke up and went finding and people were so rude to us. There was a man who was really racist and told us we dont belong here and because we don't speak swiss german that we shouldnt be in Switzerland... That night we had a meeting with some members and the husband speaks extremely fast so I was exhausted by the time we were done with the lesson. But I got really good sleep that night so I guess thats a plus side to being completely lost in and stressed beyond belief about this language hahaha.

Saturday more appointments fell out, and more people were rude to us while finding and at this point we were pretty discouraged. It felt like we were doing nothing and making no difference after a week of complete rejection. We went to visit an older woman in our ward in a nursing home and while we were walking,  we stopped on the sidewalk to find a scripture. An older couple walked passed us and the woman just freaks out and says how beautiful my hair wa!!- hahaha.  I almost started crying it was the best thing ever. I thanked her and her husband hard core started staring at our tags and so I said we were missionaries and we started talking about church. except heres the catch... He wouldn't speak high german - he would only speak to us in Swiss German. So for anyone who doesn't know, german and swiss german are literally 2 different languages. I don't understand nor can i speak ANY swiss german. but i understood exactly what this man was saying to us!!!! It was an absolute miracle... gift of tongues again is so real. We talked about prophets and apostles and the priesthood. The conversation didnt really go anywhere, we offered him a book but he didnt want anything but I UNDERSTOOD!!!! I counted that as a win :)) It was so cool.

Sunday was so fun - we practiced with the little kids for the primary program. It was a hard realization though cuz 4 year olds can speak better german than me!  hahahaha! I've never been the jealous type buuuuut yeah that was hard hahaha! It was the cutest thing ever though to hear them sing primary songs in german, it melted my heart. ALSO our excommunicated member sister lutz came to church and brought her boyfriend so that was way cool!! we will be meeting with both of them this week :)

Today we went and made swiss army knives so yes it was a day very much needed after this week lol.

During my personal study this week my testimony of the Atonement grew so much. After this week I really needed some comfort and I read in Alma 36 and a few verses really stood out to me. This chapter is speaking about Alma's conversion story. it reads...
17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.

Growing up when I was going through hard times, my mom would always remind me that "sometimes we have to taste the bitter in order to know the sweet." sometimes we have to go through our own personal conversion stories and go through hard times so we can know the sweetness and joy that comes from the atonement. Words cannot express how grateful I am for the Savior's sacrifice. I know that no matter how hard our trials may be, the comfort that comes from the atonement can heal even the deepest of wounds. I know that sometimes life is hard, but I also know that because of the atonement, we dont have to go through those hard times alone. I love my savior, I love this gospel, and I love being a missionary. Have an amazing week everybody and remember that you are never alone!!!
Sister Samantha Barnett
Ackerstrasse 5,
9000 St. Gallen
Switzerland

1.Its been raining all week so lets go back to a couple weeks ago shall we??

2. cool tower at the Nunnery in St Gallen - I just may become a Nun if it means I can play BASKETBALL!!!

OH MY HEART!!!!!!!

3. i love this woman

Momma Sister Stamp

4. our lunch with sister schmid (the appetizer. And no thats not wine lol)

5. a view of the bahnhof (train)

6. our citaayyy st gallen :))

7. KÜHE (Cows)

WEEK 13: THIS BOOK HAS ALL THE ANSWERS!

This week absolutely FLEW!  I guess you could say it was the best week I've had on my mission so far because it was absolutely amazing! So many things happened....


Tuesday we went finding after an appointment of ours fell out and we taught this man on the street named Oliver. He said that his life was okay without God and that he was happy. We explained to him what our Church has to offer and talked about the book of Mormon a lot with him. There was a distinct point in our discussion when the Spirit touched him and you could see it in his eyes. He told us that he keeps running into the missionaries and that it may be a sign haha! He took the book and said he would read and call us when he wants to learn more :)

Wednesday started out interesting -haha during personal study our neighbor started BLASTING Eminem songs (which i knew every word to...)  I literally prayed to forget the lyrics of the song so I could focus on my studies hahaha a mission changes people man lol. Later that day it started raining and we had about 20 minutes until our next appointment with some members so we went finding! I stopped a man and introduced us as missionaries and asked him if he believed in God. His response was..... I actually have no idea because I didn't understand a word of what he was saying. He had an extremely thick Swiss accent and he just kept rambling on and on -- I had NO idea what he was saying. I was so nervous because he was talking directly to me and not Sister Stamp and I didn't know what to do, He looked pretty angry. I felt the Book of Mormon I was holding in my hands and I felt prompted to just say "this book has all of your answers. we believe it is the word of God and that it can help your life." He kept angrily speaking to us and we had to catch our bus so I just said please take this book its a gift and he did! After the conversation I started laughing and told Sister Stamp I had NO idea what just happened and that I didn't understand a word of what he said.  Sister Stamp said "are you serious??? your answer was perfect, it lined up with exactly what he was saying... thats why he took the book!" I couldn't believe it... the holy ghost is so real I cannot even express it enough!!! Such a cool experience.


Thursday we had an appointment with an excommunicated woman and it was intense... she is a great woman and says she would love to come back to church it just has to be the right time. But when we walked in I literally couldn't breathe because of how strong the smoke smell was.  After our appointment we had to change and hang our clothes up outside because we smelled like an ash tray lol it was horendeous. super funny though, the adventures of a mission!!

Friday we had interviews with president and oh my goodness how I love that man. He is so amazing and says everything you need to hear. I left that meeting feeling like i could take on the world haha! President Kohler is the besssttt!!

Saturday and Sunday were stake conference and we had the opportunity to go to Zürich! I fell in love... It is so unbelievably beautiful! Stake Conference was great, our whole zone was there and it was so fun to see all the other missionaries!! I ran into sister church (my other mtc comp) and it was so great to catch up with her :) also i saw one of my mtc teachers Brother Robertson (shout out to you) haha he is the greatest! So yeah it was an awesome couple of days :)

Today we spent all morning hiking in the Alps with a member and she is so great. she is so sweet and she walks as a hobby so she invited us to go with her!!  I still can't feel my toes but hey, it was super fun lol ;)

I love being a missionary. I am so grateful to be able to represent my Savior each and every day. I am so grateful for this amazing gospel and i know that it is the only way to true happiness. I know that this church is true with all my heart and I love spreading it with those whom the Lord has prepared to receive it. I hope everyone is doing well I miss you all and love you lots! I would love to hear how everyone is doing! Thank you for all the support and prayers, You have no idea how much they help keep me going. 

Have an amazing week!!!

Sister Samantha Barnett
Ackerstrasse 5,
9000 St. Gallen
Switzerland

PS:  I LOVE MY PACKAGE THAT WAS THE BEST DAY EVERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!! I  love how everything was so neatly packed!  Sis Stamp even commented and I'm like yup, That's my mom hahaha!! Nothing was smashed it was perfect!!! ahhh you have no idea how much packages and post mean to a missionary.... by the way, speaking of which..... MY COVERT OP CONTINUES!!!!!!!!!! have you by any chance checked your mail box lately?????????? Do not open it until your birthday day!

OUR VERY OWN SWISS MISS :)

1. Our hike with Judith!

THE ALPS!

2. Thuggin I guess..

3. Wursts are apparently hilarious? Lol

4. Hochzeit means wedding in german😂❤❤

RANDOM PICS:

I'M ASSUMING PIZZA?

A 50 FRANC NOTE - SHE LOVES THE BEAUTIFUL COLORFUL MONEY THERE

SHE'S OBSESSED WITH THIS CHAIR

THE DYNAMIC DUO IN ST GALLEN - WITH SISTER STAMP

WEEK 11: BERN TEMPLE, KEBABS AND BOWLING

10-31-2016

Another week already gone! I cant believe how fast time is flying... This week was great!!

One Monday we went to a personal trainer guy in our ward with the elders and he had us do a "natural work out" meaning that we do work outs that our bodies are designed to do I guess... lets just say that we were sore until Friday hahaha it was so much fun to get back in a gym!! We went to a family named the Back's that night and had family home evening with them. We taught them about how Christ should be the center of our lives and when we put him first, everything else will fall into place! It was a great lesson, I loved teaching that and remembering how important that is!

Tuesday wasn't the best day ever... haha we went finding pretty much all day and maybe spoke to 2 people. Not a whole bunch happened but it was another day as a missionary so all in all it was good :)
Wednesday was INCREDIBLE! We met with Jennifer (the amazing woman who commented on my tag on the bus.) We taught her the 1st lesson about the Restoration. She was very receptive to everything we were saying, It's so nice how open she is. She was telling us how it all made sense and how she loved the book of mormon and felt good when reading it. The spirit was so strong in that lesson and I know that she could feel it. at the end of the lesson we asked her to be baptized when she knows that our message is true and she said YES!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh it was amazing... I am so excited to see her grow in the gospel and gain a testimony! We are praying for a date for her now. She has problems with smoking and knows its bad and really wants to quit, so we taught her a little bit about the word of wisdom and are going to help her quit smoking too! Ahhh I love this work!!!

Thursday was TEMPLE DAY!!!!

BERN SWITZERLAND TEMPLE!!!

SISTER STAMP & SISTER BARNETT

We went to the Bern Switzerland temple and I cant put into words how amazing it was. we have to ride a train 3 hours to get there so its an all day thing. If you are serving in Switzerland you get to go to the temple once a transfer so it is a HUGE privledge that we got to go! I was hoping the session would be in German so I could hear the English translation and try and pick up the German vocab, but the session was in French so that was interesting... haha still so amazing though. Aaaaannnddd guess who we ran into..... SISTER JENSEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (my mtc comp from germany) haha I bawled my eyes out when I saw her we probably hugged for 2 minutes straight!! I love that girl to pieces it was so nice to see a familiar face and get to catch up about the last month!

SISTER JENEN - MTC COMP!

 After that we got kababs which is a tradition apparently and they were delish. then we sprinted to catch our train because we were late, but seriously one of the best days ever!!

KEBABS!! :)

Friday we met with a ward member named Judith. she has had a rough year, her husband passed away from cancer. we showed her the Mormon Message called The Will of God about how Heavenly Father is our gardener and sometimes he needs to chop us down in order for us to grow into what he needs us to be. I love that video.... it was really perfect to share with her and she got teary watching it. She has such a sweet spirit and it was so great to visit with her and remind her how much her Heavenly Father loves her. After that though we went finding and talked to a Russian man who believes that he is the only perfect person on the planet so that was just great :)))) haha I couldn't understand a whole lot of the conversation but I just kind of stood there and smiled and giggled when I did understand something because it was pretty funny.

Saturday we spent the whole day doing service at a ward members house (the eggenbergers :) in their garden and it was so much fun!!

Sunday was crazy good.... President Uchtdorf's son came and spoke to us!!!!!!! So amazing. His name is Guido Uchtdorf and he definitely has the power of an uchtdorf.... his talk was insane the whole room just felt intense hahaha. His talk really hit home for me, he spoke about how sometimes we don't need to know the why to everything, we just do it becuase we know it's right. To stop questioning everything about the gospel, to just live it because we know it's true and to break it down to the bare essentials. I can't do it justice by summarizing it, but it truly was so amazing and I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to hear it... and in german!! Haha :) 

With Guido Uchtdorf and Sister Stamp

This week my testimony of personal scripture study really grew. I absolutely love the scriptures, and before my mission to be completely honest, I didn't. But because I have read in them every day for 9 weeks straight, I feel like I couldn't go a day without them. It truly is putting on the whole armor of God each day, and it is so important for us to have that. I feel such a power when I start my day reading the Book of Mormon, there is nothing like it! I have such a strong testimony of the book of mormon IT IS TRUE!

I love you all and appreciate all the prayers and support they are truly felt! Have an amazing week! :) AND A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!! (enjoy it for me, they don't celebrate it in Switzerland😣) 


Sister Samantha Barnett
Ackerstrasse 5,
9000 St. Gallen
Switzerlandonth!!

Pday Gorgeousnes!  :)  High Bun, so fun!

Bowlin and Mickey D's after!

JUDTH HAS A HAMPSTER - SAM IS IN HEAVEN!  SUCH AN ANIMAL LOVER!

SAM SAYS SHE FEELS LIKE A GIANT EVER SINGLE DAY SO FAR

THEY HAVE WIFI ON THE TRAINS, READING EMAILS FROM HOME!!!!!

SHE FEELS BAD BEING IN THE "LAND OF HEAVENLY CHOCOLATE" BECAUSE SHE'S NOT THAT INTO IT. BUT THIS TOBLERONE CAUGHT HER EYE!