98th Letter: "Hey November!"

Dear Family!
With the change of weather happiness has filled my soul! I absolutely love New Mexico falls, it is so nice not sweating every time we leave the appartment too! And I am beginning to feel the magic of Christmas in the air, I think everyone else is feeling it as well! People are definitley in alot better of moods this time of year!! :) Well things are going great for Elder Snyder and I here in the great land of New Mexico. We have been having a great time lately, and it doesnt seem like we are ever together since we have so many exchanges to do throughout the mission. Since last tuesday we have done 2 and have at least 9 more to go! :) It was great I was able to go on exchanges with 2 past companions of Elder Hicken and Elder Doutre. It is always fun to reunite and serve together and see how much we both have grown.

The work seems to be going great! We have been really busy with tons of administrative work lately but have stayed really busy teaching as well. Our Irish investigator Kevin has been causing us allot of grief lately and is the king of being flaky! Thats just YSA's in general though! It definitley hasnt been easy to meet with people consisitantly, their schedules are just so crazy! Kevin has a reset baptismal date of the 22nd of Nov. Same with our other investigator Josh who is projected for that date as well. He looks a little more solid, but hopefully they will both make it! Our big miracle came yesterday as we had a YSA passed off to us that was being taught by some family ward missionaries (poaching...we caught them) his name is Kimball and guess what?! He is Navajo! And is super solid and very very interested! He currently has a baptismal date for the 15th and we are praying that he makes that date. We have only met with him once.

This next week is looking pretty busy as we have MLC, and zone training and we will be going up to Espanola, NM for exchanges! I love being busy! I hate how fast it makes time go bye too! The following week we will be going to El Paso and then back to El Paso for the next two weeks after that! One of those times will be whille we are on the mission tour with Elder Corbridge of the 70. We are super super excited for that! Its going to be great being able to spend so much time with him! I pray that I wont screw up conducting! haha

So on Monday I set some personal goals for the remainder of my mission, and one of those is sharing 8 principles, one a week till I go home that I have learned throughout my mission with you all.

#1 "That God is absolutely mindful of ALL of His children"  
This knowledge is something that I cherish and love more than anything. There have been many different experiences throughout the mission that have absolutely borne testimony to me that this is true. I remember within my first couple transfers in the misson, Dad wrote me and shared an experience that he had in the Rexburg temple with me where he said that he had a powerful personal witness that God knew each of us individually and by name. I remember my thoughts earlier that same week was how that was possible, I definitley didnt doubt that God was there, but I questioned wether or not he cared for me individually. I remember reading that email and just having a powerful confirmation that God did know Elder Nic Barrus and that he was very mindful of what I was doing and what struggles I was going through. Every single convert that I have been blessed to be apart of their conversion has absolutely just reconfirmed this principle to me. I have learned that there are no such things as coincidences, that God is in control of all things, that He knows exactly what His children need in order to progress towards their divine potential! What an amazing blessing it is to me to understand this! This knowledge drives me to be a better person! It drives me to get through difficult experiences and to remain humble. I pray that everone will come to know if they havent already, that God knows him/her!

I love you all! Please share with me things that you have come to know! They strengthen my testimony!
Elder Nic Barrus