Monday, August 11, 2014

Dear family,

Life is so good. I love hearing from you all. I am happily working and life is flying. I´m constantly tired, but really happy. It´s a different feeling, that I think we only have when we are serving the Lord. Elder Cole is doing great, he loves McDonalds. I think I eat more fast food now than I did in the U.S. It´s pretty sad. There´s a Burger King here in Santo Amaro as well, so it´s pretty hard to avoid. We have an elevator in our apartment, too, so I´m a little bit concerned with my weight. Gotta keep doing exercises.

 I have learned a lot about faith these last few weeks. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel for a reason. When we have faith, anything is possible! Sometimes it takes time, but our faith really brings miracles. We just have to act, or exercise our faith. Think about Peter. All of the other Apostles stayed in the boat, but when he saw the Lord he took a few small steps onto the water. He felt a solid surface walking on water! That´s incredible. But when he fell, Christ called him a "man of little faith". If Peter is a man of little faith, what am I? Sometimes people criticize Peter, but he is the only one that had the faith to leave the boat. It´s hard for me to leave the comfort zone sometimes, but the miracles happen when we "leave the boat". 

Things in the area are great and there are so many cool things going on in the mission. 

Oh by the way, I got my birthday package this last week! That was very fast. Thank you very much! I´m stoked to make the cake. And it was perfect mom, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Have a great football season! Go Red Devils!

Love you all,

Elder Barker

 

Monday, August 4, 2014

Dear Family,

I love you all and I´m grateful for all of you! This week was great. A man named Eduardo was baptized on Saturday. His family was baptized a few weeks ago, but he had to stop smoking. His son, Bruno baptized him and it was really, really cool. This is a special family. They now have a picture of the temple in their front room with the date of one year from the baptism as a goal to be sealed. They are incredible! We´re also teaching some of their friends in the same neighborhood. The other missionaries are some that taught him before the transfer. I´m loving my new area and my companion. It´s been really great. Thanks for the pictures and updates. 

So, I don´t have much news. The days are blurring together and the time is flying by even faster. Sounds like you had a good reunion! Too bad that everyone got sick... Don´t worry about the emails mom. You are the best. Tell Hailey happy birthday for me. She´s getting old! I know that this work is true and that the Lord works with us according to our faith. Faith is truly a principle of power. I´ve seen that so much is possible when I just believe and ask for specific blessings. The Lord wants to bless us! He just wants us to ask Him and show that we are dependent on Him. Love you all! 

Mormon 9:21

 

Monday, July 28, 2014

Dear Family,

I hope all is well with you. How was the 24th? Is Kenzee going to do anything cool for her birthday? 

This was a very hectic week. I got transferred to one of the best areas in the mission. It´s called Campo de Fora. It is really great. My new companion´s name is Elder Cole. He´s lived in many places, but his family is currently in St. George. He will be going home in October. He was a skater before the mission. He skated with a lot of pros, he also likes wake boarding and his dad is a brain surgeon. He is a great missionary, I´ve already learned a lot with him. I got called as an assistant as well, so we´ve had a lot of meetings and trainings to prepare. It´s been cool to work with Pres. Dalton a little bit more. I was hoping to be able to train a new missionary to finish, but I´m happy wherever the Lord wants me. I love being a missionary.

So is Preston Pace home? And how´s the summer going? Has it been hot? It´s been pretty cold here lately.

I really know that these things are true. I love the Savior and I love serving Him. I´ve seen so many things in these last few weeks, I couldn´t write half of them. The gospel changes lives. We are so blessed, and we don´t realize it sometimes. We have Temples that are so precious. Families really can be together forever. God is our loving heavenly father, and he really knows us personally. I love you all!

Elder Barker

Monday, July 21, 2014

 

This was our temple trip that we made with investigators and recent converts. It was a classy bus. 

The other is The Ranieri Zone. It´s missing a couple of missionaries, because it´s always like hearding cats trying to take pictures. The Chilean in the front is a cool guy, he is a surfer. He surfed with Jack Johnson! He was sponsored by Billabong and his name is Pablo Córdova. We also have a couple of Valedictorians, a genius, a dancer and a lot of other talents. Very cool people.

This was President Pinho´s last meeting with us. I´ll send a new picture with Pres. Dalton soon. You´ll see the height difference!

Dear Will,

First of all I believe that you can NOT beat up Brad. Because he works out everyday. And even Kenzee can not. Our Kenzee. Are there any animals in Brazil? Because I heard there are monkeys😱. I need to be working more this summer, because mom says I work 100 hours I will get an iPod 6 or 5. I'm so exited!!!  I love you please please PLEASE write back soon.

                             Love, Mia.

 

Hey! I work out everyday too, ya know. I´m a pretty physically impressive missionary... Okay, maybe not impressive. There are all kinds of animals here! Sooo many dogs and cats and rats and possums and owls and cool birds and monkeys too ;)

Keep working hard. You´re the best!

Love,

 Elder Barker

 

Dear Family,

Thanks for the email.  Very good to hear from you.  How was the week?  Did you go on a trip?  Pioneer Days this week too.  Fun Stuff. I like the family history stuff, keep sending it!

Well, I got transferred again.  I don’t know where I’m headed now, but I’m sure that there are great things in store.

The zone took 28 recent converts and investigators to the temple garden on Saturday!  The stake rented a bus for us to take.  It was really cool.  We taught in the garden and went to the temple store to buy things.  It was a very good experience.  And it helped the investigators understand that baptism isn’t the end, it’s just the first step.  Well, not much to say this week.  I sure do love you all.  Hope that everything is well and that you all keep writing me ;).  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barker

 

 

 

Monday, July 14, 2014

Dear Family,

How was your week? Mine was fantastic! Happy anniversary Mom and Dad. And Happy Birthday for you Dad. Hope you have a good.... 50th? Not yet. But I love you both and hope you have a great week!

We had interviews with Pres. Dalton this last week. It was a very good experience. We talked about the mission, family, goals for after the mission and everything. Transfers are next week, I´ll let you know of any changes. 

 We had a baptism this last week. His name is Darius. He´s dating a member of the ward and had been going to church on his own. He said that last week at church he received an answer. He felt peace. His baptism was very special. We´re taking them to visit the temple this weekend, to start thinking about the next steps. He´s anxious to take the name of his grandparents to do baptisms. He is a great guy.

The world cup is over, so that´s nice. Not as many distractions now. And things are basically back to normal. 

 It´s incredible to think that I´m never alone on the mission, well I´ll always have my companion, but in DC 84:88 it says that there are angels round about us to bear us up. I learned recently that those angels are not necessarily strangers. Why would the Lord send angels that didn´t have anything to do with our lives? I believe that they are the people we love. Our ancestors, descendents and the family of our investigators.  

 

Alma 13:24

 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our  land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive
 his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

 Love you all!

 Elder Barker

Monday, July 7, 2014

Dear Family,

How was your week? Mine was great! We had the first leadership council with Pres. Dalton and then another meeting with all of the zones. Sister Dalton is great too. She doesn´t speak Portuguese, which is kind of nice. I like speaking english sometimes. Pres. Dalton showed a slide show of his life. I was impressed. He´s very humble for the kind of success he´s had. He played basketball in Powell, Wyoming. He said the coaches didn´t want him anywhere, but it was one of his goals, so he did it. Then he said that one of his goals was to graduate from Harvard. After being rejected once, he got in. THEN, he decided he wanted to graduate in the top 10 percent of the class. And he did it. He´s been the president of three companies and has given speeches in many parts of the U.S. He is a Huge (almost 7 foot), happy man. He has enough energy for the whole mission to feed off. We have a strong focus on the temple now. We´re going to take everyone to the temple. Investigators, Recent Converts and Less Actives. Everyone will be doing Family History and taking their own family names to the temple. Very cool.

 Speaking of family history. In my zone there´s an Elder Hardman. He´s from Liverpool, England. And I remember that story of our ancestor Margaret Hardman also from Liverpool. Maybe we have ancestors in common. Do you think Grandma Lynn could send me her generation chart and Grandpa Jess? 

 We´re teaching a lot about the temple. It´s a new rule for missionaries everywhere to teach the 5th lesson before and after the baptism. It´ll be very good.

 Woohoo! I got accepted to BYU. Thanks Uncle Jimmy. Now, I just need to make a final decision. 

 I love you all and I know that families can be eternal. I also know that there are many people in our family on the other side of the veil waiting for their work to be done. Keep up the great work with family history, because it truly is missionary work.

 Love you all!

Elder Barker  Vai Brasil!!!!!!

Monday, June 30, 2014

Dear family,

I´m doing very well. Missionary life is the best life, because you can´t go wrong serving the Lord. Life is good, can´t complain... just that my sister is getting married in October. So much for waiting. I´m just kidding, I´m happy for them and hope all goes well in preparation for the wedding. I used to think that a month was a long time. I now realize that as fast as you count them, they´re gone. We have a ward activity on Friday (4th of July). Maybe we´ll make hamburgers and light of fireworks... Oh wait, they´ll be doing that anyway for the Brasil game. It´ll be perfect. 

How´s Grandma Barker doing? Tell her that I love her and am praying for her. I´m sure that everything will be alright. 

President and Sister Dalton got here on Friday. We have a meeting with him tomorrow and then another one with the zones on Friday. He sounds like a really good guy. He said in his letter that they were trained by all 15 of the Apostles these last few weeks, so he´s definitely excited. The zone is making progress and we´re excited for July. 

Have I told you about Robson? He´s a cool guy. He´s been to church the last few weeks and he´s preparing for baptism. He was just a street contact that was really needing spiritual help. He showed up at church all by himself (we didn´t follow up) and he said, `told you I would come`. Pretty cool. He participates in protests and movements of some sort. He doesn´t like the government, but he really likes the Book of Mormon, so that´s good. He will serve well in the church.

 Love you all. Being a missionary is the best. We don´t have problems, only solutions. Jesus Christ is our captain and master. He is leading this work and I know it. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it will draw us nearer to God than any other book on earth. I love it. Have a great week!

 Elder Barker