Monday, June 9, 2014

Dear Family,

 I´m trying to send pictures, but you can never trust the Lan House. Let me know if you get them.

My week was good. We had the mission conference and Pres. Pinho gave like a three hour training. It was awesome. We also watched Ephraim´s Rescue, which I really liked as well. Have you already seen it? The meeting was really good. They had a clip of Pres. and Sis. Dalton talking to us, so that was neat to see them, too. 

Someone told me that Hollywood is making a Book of Mormon movie, is that true? You´ll have to check it out, because Mormon rumors are so distorted by the time they get to São Paulo. 

We also had a stake conference this last weekend. It was a transmission for 101 stakes and 13 districts in Sâo Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake by Elder Ballard, Elder Scott, Carol Stevens and Ulysses Soares. Very good. We took some investigators and they really felt the spirit. They slept a little bit as well, but at least they felt the spirit. The theme was basically Hastening the work and the Work of Salvation, but what impresses me more and more is that the Prophet and Apostles aren´t as worried about bringing in new members as they are about protecting and saving the very members of the church. The work of salvation is not just to baptize more people. It is about that, but it also includes saving the families that we already have and getting them to the temple. That is why `Now is the time for members and missionaries to work together` because members need the spiritual protection that comes from missionary work. Family History is the same thing. When we´re anxiously engaged in a good cause we don´t have time to sin. Everyone was talking about missionary work the whole weekend, and then when Elder Scott got up to talk (In Portuguese) he spoke about prayer, our family relationships and the temple. Elder Ballard talked about technology, pornography, family, and the temple. They stressed that the laws of the land will never change the laws of God. The family is under attack and we´re going to have to bear down and protect our beliefs. It was very edifying.

 Oh yeah, I got transferred. I´ll be leaving Elder Schleiger tomorrow morning. I still don´t know where I´m going. We´ll see tomorrow!

 Love you all so much. I´m grateful that our family can be eternal.

 Elder Barker