Happy Birthday to me.....September 23, 2013

Nossa!

I´m very blessed for all of the great people in my life. Thank you so much for the Birthday wishes! It´s going to be great day! B-day on P-day is a blessing. I´m gonna buy some groceries and clean the house a little bit and take a little nap. What more could I ask for? I opened the package, it was great. The Brasileiro, Chileno, e Peruano gostam de Oreos, Skittles and Beef Jerky haha My housemates are happy too! I haven´t gotten the other yet.

Thank you very, very much. I feel so old. Since when does 20 years pass by so fast? Fazer o qué, né?

Sounds like it was a good week, too bad for the Cougs. How´s Wyoming this year?

I love you all and so grateful for the positive influences I have in my life. I´m so grateful for everything the Lord has given me. I´m happy to give a little bit of my time in His service. President Pinho says that these 2 years are 2 seconds in the eyes of God. I´m seeing how true that is. Love you all, let´s take advantage of everyday that we live!

Elder Barker

 

Monday, September 16, 2013

Hey Family!

Thanks for the emails! Mom, don´t worry, the first email with Bridger and Mia worked. But it was nice to get the other too :)

Mavis flew home?! I don´t believe it! Que maravilhosa hahah I´m happy for Zozo.

Sounds exciting, football and hunting season. That hunt that Ben went to sounds pretty cool. Kayden was saying that there were some big time hunters there recently and they were pulling huge elk. That has to be hard for Kayden to see!

I had some great experiences this week. We worked really hard. We decided to raise our vision. We talked with EVERYONE in the streets. Saturday night I was exhausted and it was like 800 at night. It was a rough day and we were heading back to the house, and it was just like those stories you hear. We wanted to try one more house. It was a referral from the other missionaries. It was a family of four and the accepted the baptismal invitation. It really was a special experience. It reminded me that the Lord is in charge of the work and we are just instruments in his hands. I love you all and I´ll talk to you soon!

 

Monday, September 9, 2013

Hey Family!

Good to hear from you! Não esquenta sobre a email semana passada. Tudo tranquilo. Don´t worry about the email last week, I know that you guys are busy. I´m doing really well. There´s not really a whole lot to report on. I still don´t have an iPad... I think it´ll be a while until we get them. But that´s super cool. I have a referral for Meg already. 

Good to hear about football and hunting season! I think it´s my favorite part of the year. Go Red Devils. And that was a sweet win Cougs.

I´m excited to hear about Grandma and Grandpa´s mission call. The more missionaries in the family, the better. Right?

I´m glad your birthday was good Mom. Sorry I couldn´t be there...;)

My testimony gets stronger everyday here. I really am gaining a testimony of our Savior. I know that Jesus is the Christ. He really lived a perfect life and He still lives today. His sacrifice was perfect and it is infinite. The atonement is sufficient for all of our weaknesses and faults and sins. All of our problems can be solved through him.

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Barker

 

Monday, September 2, 2013

Hey family,

Hope all is going well back home. How was the first week of school? Jesse liking High School? How was your birthday mom? I heard that the U.S. is going to attack Syria or something? What´s that all about? I´m just happy that I´m a missionary and don´t even have to worry about all that stuff.
    

This week was really awesome. We had a Mission Conference, Multi-zone conference and a meeting with all of the Bishops and Ward mission leaders too. It was a full week of meetings and activities. President Pinho said that our mission is one of the smallest in size now, but we have more than 6 million people in our mission still. That´s a lot of lost sheep. I´m learning so much lately and I think I´m really improving as a missionary and as a person. The water ran out on our street on Saturday, so that´s been humbling. It still hasn´t come back, so we might have to go to the other Elders´ house and take a shower. I don´t know, we´ll see.

I had a cool experience yesterday. We were teaching a family and talking a lot about receiving an answer from the Holy Ghost. We´ve been teaching them for a couple weeks now. We were really trying to help them realize that they had already received an answer that the church was true because they are keeping commitments and liking church and everything. Anyway, we bore testimony and there was a little pause. And then Leticia, she´s 14, said, I think I just got my answer... It was super cool. The two girls want to be baptized now, but the parents are still a little bit resistent. I´ll keep you updated on them.

Love you all and hope that you have a great week! The time always flies by fast, but remember that it´s always flying by with opportunities. Stay close to the scriptures and Preach My Gospel. PMG is not just for missionaries! The chapters can be applied in any part of life. Use the sections for anything and everything.

Até Mais!!! Elder Barker

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Hey family,

All is going well here in São Paulo. I have a new companion. His name is Elder Cerda. He´s 25 and he´s from Chile. He has about 5 months on the mission. He´s really cool and I think we´re going to work well together. He says he´s from Viña del Mar which is pretty close to Santiago I guess. Three of my companions are going home either today or tomorrow. (Laughlin, Nazareth and Nogeuira). It´s pretty crazy how the time passes.

Before I forget Mom, Happy Birthday this week! I love you and hope that everyone treats you super great. Are you and Dad going to go anywhere or do anything special? Anyway, I´m so grateful for everything you have done for me and continue to do for me. You´re amazing. I know how blessed I am to have you as my Mother. I got the package you sent for my birthday. I think I´ll save it until my birthday. Does it have anything that I would need to open earlier than that? Thank you so much! I´m almost as excited as the other Elders to open it.

I went to the temple earlier this month, but it was still the same. I had heard that there was a new video, but I won´t know for another couple months if it´s here in Brasil.

Sounds like everyone´s doing well with school starting up. All three of them look very grown up! What is happening?...

Karina had her baby this last week. Have I told you about her? Her and Jefferson are brother and sister in law to Gabriel and Carol. They´re not married yet, but I think they´re ready now. They both want to be baptized too. We´re super excited for them.

Well that´s about it for me, our activity yesterday was awesome. We had a barbeque as a mission, that´s why I didn´t email. We played volleyball, ping pong, and had a few card games. President Pinho is really good at volleyball, and he got a little bit competitive. It was really funny. He told us it was a day to relax and not think about missionary work. Everyone really enjoyed it.

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. The more I learn about Him the more I want to live and share His gospel. I´m so happy that we have the gospel in our family and I know that it will bless us for eternities. I love you all and I´ll talk to you soon!

Elder Barker

Monday, August 19, 2013

Hey family,

Another great week has come and gone. I didn´t email earlier because Elder Nogueira had a meeting for all of the missionaries that are leaving next week. It was a training about life after the mission so they don´t go home AS awkward. The mission really is a different life. So I´ll be getting a new companion next week. It will be my ninth if you count trios and the MTC. 

     I got your pictures mom, but the video didn´t work. And thank you for the Priesthood line of Authority. It´s awesome. How´s Kenzee liking college? Football season already, que bom. 

 

I don´t remember Uncle Bud really well. I think I remember visiting him once. I´m glad you got to go see some of his family. The plan of salvation is real.

 

I ate Subway last week. It was awesome. We did a ´blitz´ in the area of the sisters (Interlagos) and they have Subway and McDonalds. Blitz just means we worked in their area one day. The people there are super wealthy, it´s alot different from where I´m at.

 

I´ve been thinking a lot about Family History work lately. I have a feeling that there is still some work to be done for our ancestors. There are people waiting for us to do their work. Help the ward get excited about it, and take advantage of having temples so close to our house. The temple is a blessing that we take for granted some times. I read in the Topical Guide, I think it was, that Temples are the most sacred places on Earth, and the Lord visits His temples. If we have a recommend why wouldn´t we want to be there?

 

I love you all! Talk to ya soon,

Elder Barker

 

Monday, August 5, 2013

Good Day Everyone!

Tudo está tranquilo aqui. Nossa área realmente está fazendo muito bem. We have a really good ward here and we´re working with the members a lot better now. The pictures are Gabriel and Carol with me and my companion. The other is a family home evening and I made pancakes again. And the last one is with my zone leader, Elder Fernandes in our house. I´ll try to get better pictures of what my area is like here soon. 

Kenzee had a good birthday? That´s awesome, and fair week too! Good times. Now it´s already time to wish Courtney a Happy Birthday! S/O to her ;) Love her so much. 

We had a good Sacrament meeting yesterday. Something that´s cool here is there´s never a pause in the testimony meeting. There´s always a line to bear your testimony. And usually if a woman bears her testimony, the husband does too. It´s always a really good meeting.

Oh, I´ll try to answer your questions better. You asked about my release date, and it´s looking like it´ll be Jan. 3, 2015 or around there. But that´s a long ways off mother ;)

Oh, I have to tell you Mom that when people ask to see pictures of my family they always say how young and beautiful you look. A family yesterday couldn´t believe you were my mom, they insisted that you looked more like my sister. You´re the best.

I liked a scripture that I read in DC 50 today. It´s verses 41 and 42 I think. It is just a great reminder that the Lord is looking over us and He loves us. We have no need to fear anything.

Love you all! 

Elder Barker