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

Monday, July 29, 2013

Hey hey,

How´s everyone doing? Man this last week was super good. Carol was baptized Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. Gabriel, her brother baptized her. He´s 16 and she´s 18. Gabriel blessed the Sacrament too, it was super cool. They´re awesome. They´re both going to be great missionaries here in a couple years. Their other brother is ready to be baptized too. He´s 20 and he´s living with his girlfriend right now, but we have a Family Night there tonight and we´re going to help them mark a date for marriage. His girlfriend wants to be baptized too! 

    Man the Buckner Reunion sounds like it was a blast. I want that video that Uncle Jimmy made ;). Summer sounds like it´s a bunch of fun, and that´s exciting all the new stuff with the house and the trailer. Does Grandpa have a lot of hay this year? And how does the barn look?

I spoke in church yesterday. I spoke about love and charity and how it is at the heart of missionary work. I was feeling pretty good about it, but then afterwards I realized that no one really understood what I was saying... It was a shame. But I think the main message got across ;) Oh! It´s Kenzee´s birthday this week! Happy birthday gizmo. Holy smokes, 18? Hope she has a good one, even though she already got a car.

   I love you all. I´m so grateful for all of your support and love. The Lord really has a plan for us, isn´t that amazing? He knows us personally and he knows exactly what we need to experience in order to reach our potential. I had a really special experience this week with an inactive woman. We just taught the Restoration and bore testimony of the first vision. Her attitude changed a lot by the end of the lesson. She started to cry and told us that she knew she needed to come back to church. There are so many members that are just waiting for someone to call them back church. Join in the Rescue like Presidente Monson says! 

Love you all, Elder Barker

P.S. Don´t hack my email MoM! 

Hahahaha jk You can look all you want. But really, don´t worry about me, I´m doing great.

Pictures next week I promise.... I´ll try.

 

Hey Everyone!

Are my emails really that weak? I just got some rebuking reading your emails. ;) I´ll try to do better. I´ll send pictures next week... I need to take some pictures. So... Lorena didn´t get baptized yet. She is doing everything right, already a member basically, but she says she just doesn´t have a desire to be baptized. Strange isn´t it? We think it might have something to do with her family, but we´re not sure. We have some good ward missionaries that I think will help her out.

 Have I already told you about Gabriel? Well he was baptized about a month ago and he´s awesome. He does visits with us almost every day. He´s 16 and he can´t wait for his mission. Anyway, his sister Carol is going to baptized this week. She was very hesitant and then one day she just came out and told us that she got an answer to her prayers! She had a really cool experience and asked a very specific question, and she got a clear answer. We´re excited for her. Just need to help their parents get married now.

   So my area is really cool. It´s a lot closer to everything than Cipó, so that´s nice. We have a some little favellas here, but they´re all really safe. Our house is really cool. We have an awesome view of the Repreza de Guarapiranga. My companion is Elder Nogueira. He´s from Minas Gerais. It´s a big state up North a little bit. His family has a farm there and he really likes horses. He says it´s more like the Wyoming of Brasil. He speaks English really well.

Did you have other questions? I forget. Yeah Mom, you can send me those recipes, that would be awesome;). Kenzee got a car? Que Bolsta. Jesse is liking golf huh? I remember I went quite a bit with Isaac and Matt when I was his age.

Life is good, it feels like yesterday that I was emailing you, but another week já passou. Love you all. I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves us. We are so lucky to have the gospel in our lives. The gospel and the sacrifice of Christ are the solution to all of the world´s problems.

I´ll talk to you soon! Elder Barker



Favellas (slums or shantytown)

Repreza de Guarapiranga

Monday, July 15, 2013

Hey Everyone!

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad! You are the best parents in the world. Did you go anywhere cool this weekend?

And Happy Birthday Dad! Love you and hope it´s a good one! And for Amber too!

Things are good here. Elder Nazareth was transfered so I´ll have a new companion tomorrow here in my same area. It´ll be my 8th already. I´m really excited to work here in this ward. There are some great people here and we have a lot of potential to grow. We´re working with a lot of less active families and families where not everyone is a member. I´m learning a lot about the love of the Lord. He never gives up on us, no matter how far we think we´ve strayed. I´ve had some great experiences here already. We´re going to continue to build Zion here in São Paulo ;) Love you all, and I´ll talk to you soon!

Elder Barker

Monday, July 8,2013

Hey!

Good to hear from you as always! Sounds like 4th of July was a blast. I heard some fireworks but I think it was still about Brasil soccer. But I was on an exchange with an American named Elder Baisden. We celebrated with a pizza. And you can´t email Isaac. He´s in the wild. He can email at the end of the 6 weeks is what he told me. OH! I got the Barker Reunion package! It came pretty fast, 2 weeks? Man, it was Awesome! A whole lot of sunshine for sure. I loved everything, especially the letters, it was great to hear from everyone. Can´t believe Kenzee and JJ ate at Elements, they don´t deserve it. 

 

Desculpa, mandei errado. Foi mal. 

Anyway, we had a mission conference this last week. It was sweet. We have 105 missionaries now instead of 205. Both of my companions from the MTC are in other missions now, it´s crazy. I´m glad I stayed in Interlagos with President Pinho. Our mission has a great reputation, and Pres. Pinho has a lot to do with it. He is a great motivator and he talks to us all personally. You wouldn´t think that he has 100 other missionaries and things to worry about. The ward I´m in now is really good. We have a baptism this week, her name is Lorena.  She was Adventista, but when she moved to São Paulo she moved in with her Aunt that is a member. She´s 17 and she´s already in the middle of Alma in the Book of Mormon. We´re also going to get to couples married this week, well that´s the plan. The process here is a little bit more difficult. They have to marry in what´s called the Cartorio. It delays a lot and in some places it´s really expensive. But it should work out good this week, it´s going to be a great blessing for their families. I love you all. I´m so grateful for this work and for our Savior.

Love, Elder Barker

 

P.S. Evanston didn´t Burn Down on the 4th?