Hurrah for Israel!

Some times you win sometimes you 'lose'.

 

we had a pretty amazing week.

 

Kaylee (thirteen year old genius) Is doing very well! We had some great lessons and we brought a few young women. Wow! those girls have testimonies the size of skyscrapers! They seriously need to be missionaries (well, technically they already are member missionaries, but 'Full time set-apart door knocking life rocking missionaries' is what I meant).

And this one gal who had come to church a couple times with her friend asked if we could get her a bible. we said, sure! and when we brought it over she was like, do you have a book of Mormon too? OF course we do! So we have been teaching her a bunch too. How cool?! I'm telling you, missionary work is so fun! :D

 

Hmmm.... OH we had this one lady who was CRAZY like 'hootch is crazy' kind of crazy. We knocked on her door and she was all like, "WHAT do you WaNT?" -Well, we're in the neighborhood and we're meeting new people and sharing a scripture with them. Can we share one with you? "As a MAtter OF FacT I Had Bible Study THIS morning!" -That's wonderful! We were actually going to share one with you from the Book of Mor- "NO! Don't YOU Read THAT BoOk!" -What? It's another testament of Christ. "THOSE AREN'T THE WORDS OF CHRIST!!!" -hmm... But- "DON"T HARASS MEEE!!!" -whoa! we weren't trying to harass you. have a good night. (SLAM*)

Great stuff huh?!

 

Sunday was good, testimony meeting is always good. (Most times) It's always fun to sort of see how the testimonies all have an underlining theme. The theme was how the gospel is exciting. Really cool meeting. a bunch of youth got up and bore their testimonies and it was just really great.

 

Speaking of great, HEATHER!!! What amazing news! I hope you are reading this, because if you aren't then... this would be silly, but Wow. I am so happy for you! This is such a wonderful step in your life. But remember that it is only the first step. keep on enduring.

WOW!!!

 

well, that's all for me right now I think... yes.

 

So! thank you for your letters and emails and prayers and well wishes. I love you all!

 

Be well.

 

Have fun!

 

Follow Heather's example!

 

I love you!

 

-Elder Barker

ROLLERCOASTER!!!!

Whew... That was a week and a day if I ever saw one.

 

We worked pretty hard this past week.

 

Tuesday we did quite a bit of tracting and the area that we are in is soooooo amazingly diverse. One door is a Buddhist, the next is catholic, next atheist, next anti-Mormon, next ex-Mormon, next anti everything! It's insane. The place is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're gonna get. then we had a lesson with one of our less active youth, and man... the poor kid. His whole family used to be members of the church but then some decided to become atheist, and others decided to stop going to church. Oy... so the kid is trying to make it out but is being pulled away by his family, and when we asked him what was keeping him from coming to sacrament meeting he said, "Sacrament meeting is about being with family," and then he broke down in tears. It was a rough lesson, but I think we can work on helping him.

 

Wed. Elder Saxton got hit by a car. Wait... scratch that. Reverse it. A car got hit by Elder Saxton. And the punch line is that it was a parked car! It seriously appeared out of nowhere and he just smashed into it. Funny and sad at the same time. Later we had a lesson with a guy who was really hard to teach. He didn't want to listen to learn he was only listening to bring up beliefs that he had that didn't match what we were teaching, and frankly, his were downright lame. I'm sorry but they were.

 

Thursday we almost got dropped by our most progressing investigator. Oy... that was a really rough day. We thankfully were able to talk to her (Kaylee) and address her concerns and salvage that, and then later we had an amazing experience!!! We decided to try knocking an apartment complex and we started with a prayer to be led to those who were prepared to listen to our message, and the first door we knocked let us in and we taught him about the restoration of the gospel and about how God and Jesus Christ appeared to a fourteen year old boy who prayed in faith to know what to do. And it was sooo cool, because the guy we were teaching related so much to Joseph Smith. Awesome!

 

Friday We had a couple more lessons from just knocking on the door and they let us in. Cool!

 

Saturday we had a Tour of the Newport Beach temple grounds! Very cool. And Kaylee, and her mother (who is a member of the church but way inactive) and her grandmother (Member also but not as inactive as mom) Came! WOW! and Kaylee's mom was actually thinking about coming back to church by the end of the tour. The spirit at the temple is so strong. Great stuff.

 

Sunday, was Sunday.

 

Monday, L. Whitney Clayton of the presidency of the seventy came and spoke to the whole mission! VERY cool! He spoke to us when I was at the MTC and then in the November conference too. He's so inspirational.

 

Like I said, this week has been a roller coaster.

 

SO! It is sooo good to hear from all of you. KJ sent me a few messages from face book. It's good to hear from you all and I love you all too!

 

Thank you all for your letters and emails and love and support.

 

I love you all and I think of you often.

 

Be well and happy and all that good stuff.

 

-Elder Barker

Hmmm, what to write?

Monday April 12, 2010

This week was "pretty blooty good." (Did you get the referrence? Kj? anyone? I hope so.) [ It's from "Watership Down" btw-Kj]

What a awesome Spiritual High. So last weekend with general conference, and then Wed. we had interviews with President. I seriously love that man! He always has the right words and good spirit. Great man. And then we taught that amazing teenage girl I think I wrote about a few weeks ago. It's been a while since we were able to teach her, and even this last time we were only able to talk a little bit and share about how when we have a question we can answer it through applying the Book of Mormon to our lives.

She was having trouble knowing how to trust a friend who she and her friends had forgiven for stupid things before and he kept repeating the same things, so we had her read about how the lord forgives as many times as the people repent with real intent. and she was like, "OH I get it! So when we really mean it then we are really repenting and we get forgiveness, and when he really means it and truly stops doing stupid things then we can trust him again." awesome!

-Oh and then some dude pulled over and flagged us down and wanted us to answer all of his rapid fire questions about all of this crazy stuff. It was crazy! He wouldn't even let us try to answer his questions because then he'd fire in another one on top of that one. HOLD ON DUDE! Let me address your question. What ever. People are NUTS out here. Maybe everywhere people are nuts- but it's especially apparent here.

Then on Thursday we had exchanges and I got to meet a bunch of fun characters in Elder Oliphant's area. Sooooo fun! So, we stopped by this 101 year old lady and MAN she was so cool! She had these BEAUtiFUL paintings on the wall and she was like Do you like my paintings and i was like yeah, and she was like I did them. WOW! amazing! And she was just so sweet. a true example of enduring to the end in faith. She was great.

And I finished my first Journal! WOOOT I don't think I've ever done that before! oh wait... yes I have. BUT this one was a consistent journal not a journal of scattered consistency. So I'm well pleased with myself. and I have started on the second plates of Barker.

Friday we had a couple lessons with some people. A couple less actives. Man they really are difficult to work with. It's like they don't want to progress. They want to hold themselves back from receiving blessings and added guidance in their lives. Ok go for it! I can't force you, even God won't force you, all he can do is invite.

Saturday was interesting we had a couple investigators drop us. Oy... and we had a door contact with one of our investigators and taught her about the word of wisdom. And we invited her to church. She said she'd "try" to get to church and "try" to stop he word of wisdom issue. So we pointed out to her that "I'll try" means I'm not going to do it. She wanted to convince us otherwise, but Sunday rolled around and what do you know- She didn't make it. "Do, or Do Not- there is no Try."

Oh this one guy pulled a, "What are your names? Oh I just want to write them down so that we can pray for you so that some day you will find that Jesus is your personal lord and saviour." DUDE! We already believe in Jesus! And we Already know that! Come on! We tried to explain that to him but he wouldn't listen. Man. when people say that we're not christian It really makes me upset. Arrrrrgh! ok.... I'm over it.

SUNDAY we had an investigator at church! WOOO HOOOO!!! that hasn't happened for at least 7 weeks! Wow- that awesome teenage girl came with her less active grandmother. How about that?! Great stuff. And the sisters in our district had a baptism and it was sooooooooo great! The lady was just so excited to be baptized and she was all aglow and clapping her hands with joy and amazing.

Funny character: return missionary at the baptism, "So, I just got back from my mission in Mexico. we had a theme 'dos por dios' that means 'two for God' and our goal was to have two people baptized every week. and I finished off my mission as an assistant to the president, and we were the highest baptizing mission in Mexico and I'm better than you'll ever be and you all are lame and I"M big and you're small I'm right you're wrong and Smart and you're dumb and there's nothing you can do about it!" ... ok maybe I exaggerated a bit, but Dude! Work on being a little humble. what ever...

SO! Thank you soooooooo much for your emails and letters and love and support! I love you all soooo much!

Oh next week P-day will be on Tuesday so, mother dear do not worry about not hearing from me next Monday, all is well.

It's so interesting, every time we testify and invite people to act and to move forward in the gospel, I feel more and more converted to the gospel. I love it! It's great!

I LOVE YOU!!!

I love hearing from you!!!

Be well!

catch you on the flip side laters!

-Elder barker

I'm late! I'm late!

TUESDAY, April 6th, 2010

Sorry bout that mum. P-Day got switched up on us this week at the last second. No joke. 10:29:59 PM we got a call from the Zone leaders telling us that instead of having Pday on Monday we would be switching to Tuesday this week so we could attend the Temple. YAY! Temple! It was such a good session. I'm telling you. I learn new things every time! I just wish that I had the schedule to go weekly. Oh well, that'll just have to wait for the future!

Anyways. Guess what?! Easter Sunday WE HAD CONFERENCE!!!! Ok... yes I know you knew that but What made it especially cool was, Hmm.... I think it was Elder Cook who talked about how we don't know exactly when the Saviour will come again but that earthquakes and the sea over stepping it's bounds are signs; well, after conference, WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE!!!! BA HA HA HA! And I was awake for this one! :) It was pretty cool. And the epicenter was so far away that all it did was shake things up but WOW! it was cool. It was like being on a boat but then looking around and seeing that you are inside. It made me miss being out on the water. Oh well, that'll just have to wait for the future! (wait a second... that phrase sounds familiar... I should stop repeating my self. Oh well that'll just have to wait for the future! )

SO! let me see what else happened this week. Well it was a week where I was well fed spiritually. Wed. Zone conference. Sat + Sun General conference. Today the temple! WOW can life get any better? I submit that it cannot!

Hmmm... (I'm looking over my journal for the past week) OH! wow.. that was this past week wasn't it? yes yes it was. Ok so the 30th we did some tracting and we decided to go back and visit this one lady that we had met a couple weeks ago. So we biked up to her trailer and looked for the door... and we looked some more... and- we couldn't find it. Seriously. You know that criss crossy thing that trailer people use for the skirting stuff around the bottom? Well she had that up over the windows and the doors and everything. Talk about barricading yourself in. So we kocked on the wall. and Gene (that's her name) popped her little face out through the curtains behind this crisscross skirting thing. and so we chatted for a bit and then we asked if we could talk more. she said, "Well, right nows not a good time, You see I'm doing my laundry and I'm kind of busy right now, But if you have any literature you see that mail box behind you? Get the mail out and roll it up and pass it through to me and you can put your stuff in there too." Um ok... so there we were. Two missionaries rolling up junk mail and passing it through these little holes in the wall of this trailer to this woman, and that's not the end of the joke. as I got closer I could see her a little bit better through the skirting and the curatin. and from what I could see- she was naked as the day she was born. I guess when she said she was doing her laundry she meant it. So... that was a crazy experience that I thought you might enjoy.

So, for April fools the only joke we got was that all of our set appointments with people turned out to not happen. Ha ha! What a great joke to play on the missionaries!

Wasn't general conference wonderful? I loved it! I'm just in awe of the blessing it is to have a modern day prophet and apostles who receive revelation for the world. HOW AWESOME! and the best part is that I don't have to believe what they say just because they said it. I can receive personal revelation when I ask God if what they are saying is true. AWESOME!

Easter was lovely. Isn't it great to have a holiday set aside to remember that Jesus is ALIVE. He is risen! What a wonderful time of year. It made me wonder, you know how we say, "I want to have the spirit of Christmas with me throughout the year." Well I love that the sacrament allows us to have the spirit of Easter-Christmas-life-joy-love with us all year through.

Jesus Lives! The Scriptures are true! The heavens are open and I'm so grateful to be able to represent Jesus Christ in this corner of the world. Hurrah for Israel!

Further up and further in!

I love you all! Thank you ever so much for your emails and letters and Love and all that good stuff!

Be well.

catch you sooner than later!

-Elder Barker

I am not a stranger-to the wind

Monday March 29, 2010

What a wind! goodness. I know- I know. "Elder Barker, all you do is complain about the weather." But come on! seriously? When you're peddling forever and you get nowhere then there is something wrong.

Well the new transfer started off with five referrals that came via text within a minute of each other. So that was cool! Sadly only two of those referrals were actually interested in talking with us. But hey! that's better than none.

We talked with this one guy who is 97 years old. Wow! And he looks like he's a mere shmere lad of seventy. I don't know what his secret is but he was up and about and talking and chatting and he just HAD to give us the grand tour of his home and yadda yadda yadda. He was nice but he wasn't interested in talking much about the gospel.

Oh on wed we had a crazy long "Discussion" with these "Gentlemen" ugh. They made me sick. all they wanted to do was argue. Come on guys. If you don't want to hear our message, let us go talk to people who do. Oy... It was probably partially a bit my fault that we didn't leave sooner. Ok it was my fault, I shouldn't have fallen for their tricks and sat there and tried to reason with them. When all they want to do is fight you can never get to a point where they will listen. Oh well.

On Saturday we taught this amazing lesson to this couple who had ordered a Bible and a Book of Mormon, like a month ago and we couldn't get a hold of them until now. They were listening so intently and He was like, "well it makes sense. If God spoke to Noah and Moses and to prophets in the old testament, why wouldn't he do the same today?" AWESOME!

Speaking of Prophets and apostles, I am SUPER excited for General Conference this Sat and Sun. So excited to hear what direction and advice they have for us. AND it's on EASTER Sunday! WOOT!

How cool is that? I mean really.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KJ! and happy passover! Next year in the holy land! (or more like, next year in southern California, for me)

Thank you for all of your letters, tapes and t-shirts (yes I did get the package, thanks em and brett) and emails! I love LOVE hearing from you all.

Talk to you later!

I love you all.

-Elder barker