BRAZIL IS LUCKY!

Hey Mom! Just thought I'd let you know that my Visa has arrived :). President Vellinga called me last night right before I went to bed and said that all three of us Brazil Visa waiters had received them. So, all three of us will be flying down on Monday the 18th. It's a long flight :/. We leave Cleveland at 4:00 P.M. and arrive in Brazil at 6:15 A.M. on the 19th. I'm not sure if I'll be able to call or not. I think I will, but we'll see. I just do what they tell me. There are certainly a lot of emotions mixing, but I'm mostly excited. I definitely felt comfortable here, and would have been happy to serve here for the full two years. It's a great mission, and I love all of the people I've met. I'm excited to start my mission in Brazil :) I know that wherever I go is where the Lord wants me. He's the Master and He's in charge. I'm so grateful to be a part of his work and will gladly labor in whatever part of the vineyard he wants me to. I love you and all the family! I should be in touch again within the next week, but I never know.

Love you to the moon and back, Elder Barker.

Tudo Bem?!

Man, sounds like an exciting weekend! It brought back a lot of memories and emotions, I can't believe it has already been a year since I was playing. I'm proud to be a Red Devil! I'm so happy for my team mates and for Roy and Fess. Sounds like they did awesome! I'm so proud of all of them. There's a little bit of magic going on with Evanston right now. And Gizmo did awesome too! That's sweet that she beat Laramie, I remember watching them lose to Laramie in Cheyenne at the beginning of the season. Goes to show that Pre-season and even regular season games aren't about wins and losses, it's about getting better. I'm Stoked for everyone! I wish I could have been there! Anything can happen at the State Tournament. March Madness is the best. I'm looking forward to watching Jess in a couple of years, he better be working hard.

Can you believe I've already been out three months? It's ridiculous. I've been in Sandusky for a month already and it feels like it's been a week. Time is flying.

Well Kyle David (Shaggy) comitted to baptism in April. We're really excited for him. He quit drinking and is still working on giving up the smoking. He can do it though, he's really trying. We have some other investigators who have been making great progress too! Panzie Hunter is a single mother of 5 kids, and she's doing great. It's just really hard to get an appointment with her, because she's so busy, but she's really solid. I love her family. There's a really cool family here called the Villareals. They basically make up half of the town of Sandusky. There's only a couple of them that are really active, so we see someone from that family almost everyday. I love them so much. The grand parents had like 9 kids and each of their kids have like 10 kids so it's crazy. I am barely starting to get all their names straight. The kids are so funny and they all love the 'Elders'. One of the little girls' name is Melayna, she's three and always says that she loves me :). She's almost as cute as Zo.

The weather is starting to warm up, it's really nice. The lake is mostly thawed out by now and all the dead fish float up on the shores. It adds to the 'Sandusky Stench' a little bit, but you can only smell it sometimes. The Glass family are members that joined the church almost 20 years ago and they fed us Perch this last week. He fishes a lot, so he makes SO much of it and tries to make us eat it all. He breads it and deep fries it and it's super good, but he makes like 10 pounds of it for five people, it's ridiculous. They're great people.

Yesterday was ward conference and we talked a lot about Family History. I'm sure you all have talked about the same letter from the first presidency, but the church really wants us to be doing temple work for our own families. It will really bless your life and people on the other side of the veil, so I encourage you to start doing it. It's pretty easy to get started, just a matter of doing it, so I think it would be a good FHE activity for a while.

I tried to send pictures so let me know if it works. I love you all. I'm learning a lot everyday in my studies. I know that Christ is our Redeemer and I love him. The worth of all souls is great in the sight of God. He loves all of his children. I can testify that he will never leave us comfortless. Joseph B. Wirthin said, “The Lord will never forsake or abandon anyone.  You may abandon him, but he will not abandon you.  You never need to feel that you are alone.” I promise that's true.

John 16:33

Love, Elder Barker

 

 

Sandusky Pictures

 

 

District Family Picture

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Hey Everyone!

How are all of you doing? Life's Good. We're so blessed. I'm doing well in Sandusky, Ohio. It's transfer week, but I'm not going anywhere. All of my District is staying put. I have a few more pictures, but I don't have an SD card reader, so next time I will ;). Ohio is pretty neat. It's really flat and there are a lot of trees, so it will be cool when the leaves come back, because apparantly it's really green. Milan, Ohio is in my area and it has the birthplace of Thomas Edison. They have a little museum thing so that's cool. The house from A Christmas Story is also in my mission, it's in Cleveland. This area is all called the Firelands because I guess in like 1812 a lot of property got burned up back East so they set aside this area for all the people that had to leave their homes. They don't have Fry Sauce here, so that's kind of a bummer. I was surprised, apparently it hasn't spread to Ohio yet. A bunch of the people in Seminary wrote me letters this last week. It was really fun to hear from them, and I loved reading their testimonies. It was a good pick-me-up and meant a lot to me. So Happy Birthday to all the birthdays recently. Grandma and Grandpa Barker and April Stacia? Hope that's right... Well anyway tell them all that I love them and Happy Birthday! Basketball sounds exciting. I love March Madness so much, it's going to be a little bit tough for me to miss it haha. Congrats to Kenzee on making it to State. I'm proud of her. I knew she'd make it. She's going to do awesome this weekend too, I know it! Good Luck to her and the boys team! They will represent Evanston well. Isaac emailed me. He's doing awesome in Panama, I'm happy for him. I got word that a sister from my old zone got her Visa, so that's exciting.

We have a few investigators that are really progressing! We don't have any baptismal dates, but we're really close. We met some really great people this week, so we're excited. One guy's name is Kyle David. He's 37 and he really likes to have us over. Imagine Shaggy from Scooby-doo and that's what he's like. He's been baptized into a different church so we had a good lesson about the Priesthood. He also has doubts about why the Book of Mormon is necessary, so we're going to talk to him about that next time and hopefully help him gain a testimony of it. He quit drinking since the last time we met with him, so for about a week and a half. He's making great progress with quitting smoking too. It's amazing that I've already seen a change in him since he's started trying to live the Word of Wisdom. He's really close to getting a baptismal date.

We're setting up a Kirtland trip for our investigators. It's going to be awesome. I'm really excited to go. We're really fortunate to have such cool history in our mission. There is a lot I have learned about the Church history and I want you all to look more into it too!

Well love you all. If there's anything you could send me, some pictures would be nice and maybe some music just like on a CD or something. Maybe like some of the Vocal Point stuff or something. As long as it is uplifting and gospel related, it's okay.

The Church is true. Jesus Christ lives. He is at the head of this Church and he loves every one of us.

Love, Elder Barker

 

Monday, February 25, 2013

Oi de Sandusky, Ohio!

I'm trying to still use my Portuguese as much as I can ;). I still get an hour of language study a day, so that's good. There's one guy in the ward that served in Brazil, but I haven't been able to talk to him yet. Sounds like basketball is going fairly well. Gizmo needs to get that Win this weekend! Whatever it takes. There's nothing like the State Tournament. But she knows that I guess. I'm glad you got to see the Hamblins! Love those guys so much. How are the Varsity Boys doing? I guess Bridger is tearin' it up a little in basketball, huh? And Jesse's still doing alright? Is Mia all done?

I'm stoked for Justin Cowan. Didn't Jake serve in the Carlsbad mission too? The new missions are exciting! I think that the Cincinatti mission is going to affect me. We might get our boundaries changed and lose some missionaries to it, but we'll see.

Sandusky is as good as ever. I went on my first exchange with our District Leader this last weekend. His name is Elder Jarvis, he's from Arizona. He's an awesome guy and a really good missionary. So I went and stayed the night in Norwalk on Saturday. It's a lot like Sandusky, they're just cool, old Lake towns.

One of my companions has a bunch of music and talks on an MP3 player and he loves J. Golden Kimball. His talks are pretty funny. He wasn't afraid to swear at the pulpit apparently. One thing he talks about is that nobody is perfect. He was a general authority, Heber C. Kimball's son and he admits to a couple things that are pretty funny. But the point is that we shouldn't expect ourselves to be perfect. We need to repent everyday and strive to be more like Jesus Christ, but EVERYONE has things that they need to work on.

I wish you could see some of the places I've been last week. An old widow let us go eat at her club house and it was awesome. It's right on the lake and it was really fancy. Don't worry we were dressed for the occasion ;). Her house is amazing too. It's huge, and apparently the land she's on is worth even more than the house. Her name is Sister Bearce, she's about 80 years old, but you wouldn't be able to guess it by how much energy she has. There's a bunch of people that feed us and we eat right on the lake, it's sweet.

Thanks for sending me those addresses, I'll be sure to write those guys. If I send a letter to Ty can I just send it to our house and you can get it to him, or what? That cruise sounds like it's going to be fun. I agree, people do over react. Carnival is going to be solid right now, they're going to make sure everything is perfect. You're going to have some really cool missionary opportunities ;). Where are you cruising again? Sorry I haven't taken any pictures yet. I promise I will...
Sounds like it was awesome to see the Fertigs too. They're such a cool family. I love them and I'm really excited for Dakota, he's gonna love it.

I'm all good on immunizations... I'm eating very well, and I always have Top Ramen and Frosted Flakes as a back up. I haven't gained or lost any weight or anything. I think I'm good on everything else.

I'll just share my testimony really fast that I know that Christ lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer. The Holy Ghost can be our constant companion, it's up to us. I had an opportunity to share my testimony with a less active member last night. He is going through a really tough time, things that I hope I never have to experience, and I was able to tell him with all confidence that God loves him. I also told him that the Holy Ghost is called the Comforter for a reason. That is one of His great roles. No matter what is going on in our lives or trial it may be, we can pray for the Comfort of the Holy Ghost. All we have to do is ask.

I love you all SO much. I have the best family in the world! Work hard. Get better every day. DC 82:3... Spiderman scripture.

Tchau!!!

Elder Barker

 

 

Missions to Be Created to Accommodate
Influx of New Missionaries

Salt Lake City —

Thousands of young prospective missionaries have responded enthusiastically to the October 2012 announcement by President Thomas S. Monson that lowered the age requirement for missionary service. As was indicated at the time of the announcement and reiterated later, the Church is working to accommodate the increase in the number of new missionaries who have made plans to serve.

In addition to the previously announced changes in time spent at the missionary training center (MTC) and a new MTC in Mexico, some of the 347 existing missions will be divided to form an additional 58 missions. The Church periodically opens, closes and divides missions around the world to accommodate increases and decreases in missionary numbers and other needs. The new missions will function in the same areas covered by existing missions. No new countries or territories are opening to missionary work. These creations will bring the total number of Church missions to 405.

“The enthusiastic response to the change in missionary age requirements has given thousands of young people more options to serve and they have responded with incredible faith,” said Elder Russell M. Nelson, Chairman of the Missionary Executive Council.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' missionary program is one of its most recognized characteristics. Missionaries can be seen on the streets of hundreds of major cities in the world as well as in thousands of smaller communities. The missionary effort is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believers in the name of Jesus Christ.

List of 58 Additional Missions Being Created

With the influx of new missionaries, some existing missions will be divided to form these additional missions:

Angola Luanda
Argentina Comodoro Rivadavia
Argentina Posadas
Arizona Gilbert
Arizona Scottsdale
Australia Sydney North
Bolivia Santa Cruz North
Botswana Gaborone
Brazil Curitiba South
Brazil Fortaleza East
Brazil Juiz de Fora
Brazil Natal
Brazil Piracicaba
Brazil Santos
Brazil São Paulo West
California Bakersfield
California Irvine
California Rancho Cucamonga
Chile Santiago South
Colorado Fort Collins
Ecuador Guayaquil West
Ecuador Quito North
El Salvador San Salvador East
Georgia Macon
Ghana Accra West
Guatemala Cobán
Honduras San Pedro Sula West
Idaho Nampa
Idaho Twin Falls
Illinois Chicago West
Japan Tokyo South
Kansas Wichita
Korea Seoul South
Liberia Monrovia
México Cancún
México Ciudad Juarez
México Ciudad Obregón
México México City Chalco
México Pachuca
México Queretaro
México Reynosa
México Saltillo
New Zealand Hamilton
Nigeria Benin City
Ohio Cincinnati
Oregon Salem
Papua New Guinea Lae
Perú Huancayo
Perú Iquitos
Philippines Cavite
Philippines Cebu East
Philippines Legaspi
Philippines Urdaneta
Ukraine L'viv
Utah Salt Lake City East
Virginia Chesapeake
Washington Federal Way
Washington Vancouver

 

Wednesday February 20, 2013

Hey everyone!

All is going well in old Sandusky. Life is so good and we're very blessed. I'm thinking that this will be a pretty good vacation after the mission, we can go see Kirtland and all that stuff and then go hit the Roller Coasters at Cedar Pointe. We have a car, so that's pretty nice. I don't have to freeze on a bike. Can I get Matt or Rocco's address please? Our apartment is pretty sweet, but we have a really creepy basement that I have to do laundry in. I got a new camera and it's sweet, it wasn't too expensive. I'll normally be writing on Mondays from now on. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you I finished the BoM again before I left the MTC, so I think I lapped you. I know that it's true and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It was so good to see the pictures and here about Meg. I'm so excited for her. She's going to be great! We just had zone conference yesterday, so that was fun. I'm working hard and teaching quite a bit. We just are having a hard time getting anyone to really progress and work towards baptism. One of our investigators is so cool. His name is Tony and he's been a correctional officer for 15 years, he has 5 kids. He's a black guy that I know could kick my butt. We also have Shawnee. She used to be a firewoman and she smokes and drinks and stuff, but we're working on her... she might also be able to kick my butt. Well I love you all, and I'll talk to you soon! Please be member missionaries!!! You can make a huge difference!

Elder Barker