Sister Barnett On The Mish: Week 4: ROLLER COASTER

I can't believe that I've been out 4 weeks.... what in the world.... it doesn't seem real -hahaha It feels like I've been gone for years but at the same time these past 4 weeks have flown looking back on it!

Ahhhh 2 weeks until Germany!!!

SISTER SAM SELFIES never get old! :)

So this week was an absolute ROLLER COASTER to say the least... on Wednesday all the English speaking missionaries left and holy cow was it hard to see them go. We were all a big family going through the same things together and then more than half of the MTC left and it just felt empty. It was a really hard day because it felt SO weird not to see all the familiar faces in the hallways. It was just silent... but then we got the new batch of 3 week missionaries and it was even weirder haha! It was crazy to be the "older/more experienced" missionaries that they all looked to for answers after only being here for 3 weeks..

So we got 13 native German speaking missionaries and wow they are intimidating haha. It's crazy to hear them talk, and a little disheartening to be honest. I don't feel like I'll ever be able to talk that fast! We got 2 new sisters in our room, sister Jensen from Hannover Germany and Sister Church from Lindon Utah. They were companions for the first day...And then, the real craziness set in.....

One of the head teachers came into our classroom and asked if me, sister McClellan, and sister Leonard could go to President Preston's office. We all looked at each other like "uhhh, what did you do?!" Like the way siblings look at each other when their parents call a "family meeting." We walked to presidents office and we saw sister church talking with him. We walked in and sat down and president explained to us that sister church was unaware that she would be in a class that is all native German speaking missionaries and class would be taught in German and she couldn't understand what was going on. She needed to be in an english-speaking class so she could learn more german. She took 5 years pre mish, but she's no where near fluent.
And then it hit me... we were going to be split.

It was in that moment that I realized how scared I was that I was going to be pulled and put with Sister Church. Things were FINALLY getting better in our trio and the past couple days had been great. And then President Preston said, "Sister Barnett, we feel that it would be best to pull you from the trio and you and Sister Church will be companions. And outside of class, you, Sister Church, and Sister Jensen will be a trio." I honestly didn't know what to think... I was happy, but I was also so sad that I wouldn't have sister McClellan as my comp anymore. That girl is my "ride or die." I had a lump in my throat the entire meeting and after the meeting because I didn't know what to think or feel. There was such a mix of emotions and I kept asking the question "Why!? Right as things are going well, WHY does this happen??" I had my mind set on being companions with Sister McClellan and Sister Leonard for another 3 weeks and I HATE when plans change - as most of you know haha. And then I had such an overwhelming feeling of peace come over me. I thought back to moments in my life where I thought I knew what would be the right thing for me and my path, and the Lord had a completely different idea. I thought about how many times the Lord has steered me in the wrong direction... ZERO. Every time I have put my faith and trust in Him, I've always ended up okay. Better than okay. I've always ended up so so happy. I decided right then that this was going to be a positive experience, no matter what. I didn't allow myself to be negative (shocking I know) and I got really excited for this new adventure. The 3 of us get along soooo well. Sister Jensen is fluent in German so we try and speak to her as much as we can and ask her questions. That in itself is like the biggest blessing ever haha. Its so awesome. Sister Church and I teach amazingly together- we just mesh. So once again, something that I thought wasn't going to be "the right thing for me" turned out to be perfect because of Him.

My testimony of faith was strengthened so much this week. Sometimes our plan doesn't correspond with his plan, but you know what? That's okay. I can promise each of you that 100% of the time His plan works out better than ours. Sister Church and Sister Jensen have been SUCH a blessing in my life and my time here at the MTC. I know they were put here for a reason and I'm grateful for challenging times because they make us strong.

I love this gospel, with all my heart. It as brought me such happiness in my life.
I love being a missionary :)
Love,
Sister Barnett

1. THE NEW TRI-PANIONSHIP (left: Sister Church - middle: Sister Jensen)