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