"Let my servant William go and proclaim my everlasting gospel with a loud voice, and with great joy.............."
Doctrine & Covenants 124:88

Monday, December 30, 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013


Querida Familia,

Man, it was really great to talk with you all. You´re all looking great! And Jesse´s voice is sounding manly. Everyone talked about how beautiful you are, Mom. They always say, she looks so young! 

 It was great! I´m sorry for my lack of tact and awkwardness. I was struggling a little bit. I´ll brush up on the English before Mother´s day. And tell Zoe I miss her too!

Christmas was awesome. We went caroling at the Bus Station (Terminal Grajau) with our zone and one other zone. And then we went walking down the streets giving pass a long cards and singing. It was a good time. The only down side was the heat and I was wearing a suit and a santa hat. It was rough. 

We had 3 baptisms and confirmations this weekend. It was a very special experience and a great way to close out 2013.Their names are Katherine, Nick and Elisa. Eliza´s baptism was really a miracle. There was an incident on the day of the baptism and I thought that there was no way she would be baptized. Her family is basically anti mormon, but all was well in the end. I´m so happy for the decision they made.

What?? Matt´s engaged? He didn´t say anything to me yet. I just knew that they were dating. But I´m happy for him and it sounds like he is doing well.

Have fun in St. George! and Happy New Year! 2014 is gonna be a good one.

Thank you for all you do for me and all of your support!

 

Transfer this week, never know what´s going to happen... Parelheiros is going to have 6 missionaries now. 

 

Love, Elder Barker




Monday, December 16, 2013


Dear Family,

So good to see all the pictures and hear from you! Except about Zoe´s accident, that´s so sad. I can´t believe Christmas is coming. Time flies. 

One year has come and gone. That is insane. It just so happened that I got to go to the temple on my mission birthday and it was awesome. Elder Steadman is the only other American in my group and he was at the temple too. So we celebrated with the Shurrascaria, The rodizio grill close to the temple. We even bought the expensive drinks and dessert. Mango with milk (rocks), and the dessert was ice cream and fried banana. Worth it.

And I did burn some shirts. Not because I hit one year, but becuase the mold is attacking from every direction in my wardrobe. A problem I never dealt with in dry Wyoming. But I´m learning how to counter attack it now. 

I spoke in church yesterday about being perfect like Christ is perfect. I love the scripture in Moroni 10:32-33. Perfection is a process. It doesn´t happen all at once. I like the example of learning to play the piano. Nobody can play a song on the piano perfectly without a lot of practice. We practice, make a lot of mistakes, but we get better. We progress and one day we will be perfect. 

Remember that we are living in a magic time! The hastening is happening. Now is the moment for missionaries and members to work together!
We´re seeing miracles here in Parelheiros because the ward is excited about missionary work!

Love you all and I´ll be seeing you soon! 

Elder Barker

Ps- Everybody will receive packages at the christmas meeting next week. But I´m excited! Thank you so much.


Monday, December 9, 2013

Monday, December 9, 2013


Dearly beloved family,

Happy birthday for Jesse this week! He´s getting old... is he getting any bigger? Hope you all celebrate well.

How are things back in the cold? It´s super nice here. About 80 degrees today. Had one day that it got up to 100 last week, and it was one the hardest days on the mission. All of my short sleeve shorts were washing or very dirty, so I was in a long sleeved shirt in the hottest day of my mission so far. Every single appointment fell through, so we were in the street the whole day (we entered into one house the whole day). And to top it all off we had a zone fast. It was a struggle. But the Lord really blessed us for our efforts and this last week was full of miracles. We had 4 baptisms in the ward, between the two companionships, and many more people with potentiel for this next week. 

The ward is getting more excited about missionary work and everyone is giving referrals and sharing the gospel. 

I haven´t heard anything about Christmas yet, but I´m sure I´ll be able to Skype. It will probably be in the afternoon.

Another blessing this week is that I get to go to the temple again. I don´t know why, usually it[s every three months, but I´ve been able to go a bunch lately. 

Elder Steadman got transfered to my zone now, I´m excited about that. I think we´ll get to work together a little bit. 

Love you all and hope you are all healthy and happy. And if you aren´t happy, just share the gospel with someone and you´ll cheer right up! 

Something that we learned with Elder Mazzagardi is that angels are always with us. And they record our testimonies. In DC it also says that our sins will be forgiven when we bear our testimony. I think it´s DC 63:2 or 62:3. So, I bear my witness that this church is the kingdom of God on the earth. I know that this church was really established by Jesus Christ and the Joseph Smith was called as a prophet. Let´s share it with everyone!

Love, Elder Barker

Give Jesse a big hug for me and tell him that I´m very proud of him and so happy to have him as a brother

Monday, December 2, 2013

Monday, December 2, 2013


Dear Family,

So Thanksgiving was this last week... I was confused and thought that it had already passed. I got Dean´s package, by the way. It was great! 

This Thanksgiving we had a mission tour with Elder Jairo Mazzagardi, from the 2nd quorum of the 70 and the Area Presidencia of Brasil (you can find him in the Liahona). The meeting was from 8 in the morning until about 3 o´clock. It was an amazing experience.

 At about 7:55 I was getting off the train in Santo Amaro (a little bit tardy). I was with E. Pereira, my zone leader, and he said, I will not be late for this meeting. So, we started running for the church, which is  about a mile from the train station. I wish someone would have got my mile time, because I PR´d. When we got there it was just a bit after 8, I was sweating and dying. So we went to the bathroom to wash up really fast. When I got out the Assistents were talking on the phone with Pres. Pinho and said Elder Barker, come with us. I thought I was going to get in trouble for running to the meeting. It was like getting called to the Principal´s office. They said, just wait here, You´re going to be interviewed by Elder Mazzardi. Luckily, I caught my breath a little bit before the interview and it was a really great experience. He asked if I was worthy of a temple recommend first, and then about my family, my companion, area, mission president, and a lot of other questions. He asked if I was having success on my mission and about goals after the mission. It was really cool, I just wish I would have taken advantage of the opportunity and asked more questions, but I was caught off-guard. I think what impressed me most about the interview was how humble he was. When he sat down, he almost slouched and just talked to me like we were long time friends. He said that he´s been to Evanston, Star Valley and Jackson. He said he went there with Elder Anderson, of the 12, and that he went fishing and snowmobiling. His life is amazing. I wrote a bunch in my journal, but one of the coolest things he said was that when he has meetings with the 1st pres. and 12 in the temple, they bare their testimonies much more ´openly´. He bore his testimony that Christ lives, and it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. I learned so much. I was one of about 10 or 12 missionaries to be interviewed. I don´t know why Pres. Pinho picked me, but I´m glad I had the opportunity, and also that I got to the meeting on time.

 I also had the opportunity of meeting Elder João Grau, an Area 70 that was here for stake conference. Also an amazing man. This week was a spiritual feast. At stake conference, I also saw some of the recent converts that I taught from Cipó, super cool.

 I don´t know if you remember Nelson from my last area, but I also heard that he was baptized recently and that he´s going to be baptizing his son this next week. It´s really amazing to be a part of this work. To at least be a part of the conversion of these people is a special experience. 

Love you all! and remember to extend a hand for at least one person before Christmas! Missionary work is the best kind of work.

Love, Elder Barker

 

P.S. Duck Dynasty arrived in Brasil. The Brasilians get a kick out of it.