Monday, May 27, 2013

Bom dia!

Good to here from you as always! I picked up the package from the mission office this last week. It was awesome! I loved it. And everything was perfect for Elder Ribeiro. He was definitely excited. He says that you´re going to the Celestial Kingdom for sure, Mom. I already knew that. You´re an angel. Getting a package makes me feel a little bit like I´m in the Hunger Games when the little parachutes come floating down from the outside world. It´s a good feeling ;) I loved the letter from Mia. I´ll send her one this week.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, the day after Mother´s day I saw a monkey. Kenzee had asked the day before. It was just a little guy, almost like a Lemur. I got some pictures of it. It just came jumping out of a tree and was sitting on a wall in the street. It was pretty cool :)

Our investigators our doing well. This is the last week of the transfer, which is crazy. I think we´ll have one baptism before the transfer. His name is Guilherme and he´s 18. He has family in the church and says that he received an answer that it´s true. He´s a really good guy.

I can´t believe that school is ending already. Kenzee is too young to graduate! And Jesse already has 8th grade Promotional? What in the world? 

Anyway, I love you all. The Lord is hastening is work, share the gospel with Everyone. I know that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer.

Elder Barker

Monday, May 20, 2013

Gee wiz, I love you all so much!

Another week already! Sounds like State Track was fun. Congrats to Kenz, She´s awesome! Was the weather good? Did you get my card/letter yet? The weather is pretty good right now, It got a little bit chilly and we had to wear our suits coats one day. Everyone was complaining how cold it was, and I was just thinking if this is cold than I think I´m going to be just fine this 'winter'. I was reading a talk by Elder Uchtdorf from the conference in October 'Of Regrets and Resolutions' I think... Anyway, one thing he said really stuck out to me. He was talking about enjoying our time and making the most of life. He says, I try to imagine the Savior bustling and hurrying around trying to get a long list of things done, and I can´t see it.  How true is that. I think we all just need to slow down sometimes. Life is super good. Appreciate the little things of life. Remember it´s a journey, not a race ;)

I made German pancakes and Buttermilk (magic) syrup last night, it was awesome. Elder Ribeiro didn´t know what hit him. Thanks for the recipe! P.S. that syrup can´t be very healthy

Hey! Watch out for crazy people with guns in Evanston! What´s that all about? 

Anyway, I love you all. Thanks for your support and love! Feast upon the Words of Christ, the Book of Mormon is true!

Love, Elder Barker

May 13, 2013 The day after Mother's Day

We got to SKYPE with Elder Barker yesterday.  It was so great! It was all that I hoped for and more.  He has been out 5 months, and this is the first time we've really got to chat for more than 5 minutes.  It made me miss him a little more, but at the same time I feel like it was some fuel to get through until Christmas!

Mother, 

You are honestly incredible. I hope that Mother´s Day was wonderful. I didn´t express my feelings well enough yesterday that you are the best Mom in the world. I love you so much and sometimes don´t feel like I deserve you. You are truly amazing. Thank you for everything. Thank you for the love and the support, the letters and packages and especially the prayers. You don´t have to worry about us missionaries getting discouraged. We are truly blessed when we do the Lord´s work, and I have seen great blessings already in my life. I´ve already learned and grown a lot. 

     Sorry, if the phone call wasn´t all you´d hoped it would be. I was kind of lame and couldn´t think of a whole lot to tell you guys. For me it was awesome just to see your faces. I love you all so much. Seriously, I´m so blessed to have the siblings and parents I have. It gives me strength to know I have you rooting for me back home. Tell Zoe that I need her, too! ;)

     I´m really excited for this week. We´re teaching some great people and the ward is really excited about missionary work right now. We´re going to have a lot of lessons with members this week, it´s going to be great. One man that we´re helping right now is named Nilson. He has cancer right now and he´s not in super good shape. He´s had all the missionary lessons before, his wife is a convert and one of his daughters, too. One day his wife called and said that he wants to be baptized. It was a testament to me that all missionary work is important. The missionaries that worked with him in the past helped prepare him to be baptized in the future. It doesn´t always happen all at once. (It also helps that he can´t smoke or drink coffee now). But he´ll probably be baptized this week, or next.

     Work to improve the missionary work in Evanston. I don´t know the missionaries there, but try to help them out. Pray and give them referrals of the people you feel are prepared for the gospel. 

      Eu sei que Jesus Cristo vive. A igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias é o reino do Senhor na Terra. Eu amo meu Salvador. Eu sei que a Expiação de Jesus Cristo é real. Nos podemos viver com nossa família para eternidade. Sou muito grato por isso. Eu amo vocês!

Elder Barker

May 6, 2013

Hello Everyone!

Another week has come and gone. Crazy how that goes. This picture is of our baptism on Saturday. Vitor is 13, but he looks like he´s 16. He´s seriously amazing. He´s so solid and can´t wait to serve a mission one day. His step dad, Milton, is next to me. He´s inactive, but a super good guy. His mom is on the left. She was very skeptical at first, but the more we talk with her, the more she wants to know. It won´t be long until she´s dressed in white and Milton is active again ;). They´re feeding us lunch sometime this week. In front is Marcelo. He´s a member in the ward, great guy. It was definitely a special experience. Victoria (also 13) was baptized as well, along with her 8 year old brother. Their dad baptized them and that was really cool too. Victoria just never had a desire to be baptized before, and decided last week that she wanted to be baptized with her brother. We taught her all the lessons in like four days. 

Debora and Bruno still didn´t come to church, chato. But we´re still working with them and I think they´ll come around. I´m excited for Mother´s Day, and I think 100 o´clock your time will work perfectly. I´ll Skype from Guilherme´s house, so it´ll all be good ;)

Love you all! Thanks for the support and love.

Elder Barker