Did we just do this? (Jan 24)

Well hello again!

It's good to talk to you again. Even though it's just been a few days. We had some wonderful things happen!

Wed. We had two meetings at the same time: So we had to split up with members to cover more ground.

I went to this one gal who had met with missionaries in the past but because of family tradition (We'll call her "Traditionnnnnnnn____ TRADITION!"), she hadn't really been able to progress in the gospel very much. She feels that it is the right thing for her to do though, and when she reads in the Book of Mormon she feels the peace it brings. So, our meeting was fun. We talked about a bunch of things and answered a lot of questions she had, and yeah... it was great.

Thursday. We had a meeting with that one guy who I can't remember what I called him last week... Beanie? Ski Cap? Yeah that was it! Well we met with Ski Cap and talked about the ten commandments and it went OK. I think. Afterwards we stopped by and talked to our Wolverine Paul Revere Friend and he made us such wonderful limeade. We invited him to come to the tour of the temple on Saturday and he said he would! Woo Hoo! He's been struggling for the past few weeks with his testimony.

Friday was planning... and we met with Traditionnnnn___ TRADITION!!! and we were able to bring a couple members to the appointment and she was very well fellowshipped! One of the members is trying as best as she can to come back to activity, but she's so darn busy.

Saturday we had an amazing meeting as Zone Leaders. This up coming week we are going to work extra hard to help place the Book of Mormon into the hearts of 1,000 people in orange county! That works out to 13 people per companionship! How exciting! It was a very spiritual meeting and I'm so stoked to start and meet people and introduce this precious volume of scripture to them!

We met with Ski Cap and talked about Church and he was excited to come! YAY! Then we rushed over to Wolverine/Paul Revere's and he made us pancakes and we got stuff straightened out to get him to the temple tour. And the tour was wonderful! There were familiar faces from past areas: the best was to see this man we taught in the waiting room of Pep-Boys when I was on exchanges. What a great blessing to see him still learning! Wow... Good day.

Sunday was good. We talked to Bloomingdale's and she is soooo excited to be baptized. TODAY (Monday evening) she said, "My main goal is to help others who are learning now. Maybe I can help someone who is in a position I was in when I was learning. I just want to be a 'Mini-Missinoary!' " Woo Hoo!

And that brings us to today!

I love you all so much!

Thank you all for your cards, letters, Prayers, love, and all those other good things you're sending my way.

Catch you next time!

-Elder Barker

Boy! That felt like a week and a half! (Jan 19)

IT WAS!

Hello! Whew...

This week has been a good one. we had wonderful meetings with faith-filled persons and great answers to prayers and We are SO BUSY!

Last Monday night Jan 10 after we got all of our missionaries in their new areas and snug and happy and all that jazz We had a wonderful lesson with this Gal that missionaries had been trying to get a hold of for months and We finally did! She is pretty cool. Think Tonks from Harry Potter. Pink hair and all. She has so much faith. Like in her prayer at the end of the lesson she asked for God to let her know if the Book of Mormon is true in a dream. Yes, she requested a vision. Hello Nephi! So cool.

Last Tuesday Jan 11 we played Bus driver and got some missionaries to meetings and then we had a great meeting with a guy who I think I mentioned last week. He's on probation and he is overcoming some stuff BUT he has one of the greatest desires to change that I've ever seen. (Ya know one thing I've learned out here is not to judge. I look back at how I viewed people a couple years ago And hearing the word "Probation" was an instant Judge reflex. Same with Hearing "L.A.'s most wanted" But now I've learned that some of the greatest hearts and nicest people have gang tattoos and are trying to make changes) SO we met with him and we had a great lesson with our friend from Bloomingdale's. (she called us Sunday night at 12:00am With all these questions about "How do we KNOW that Mary was a virgin, and how we KNOW that Christ wasn't just Joseph's son?" and stuff like that. That really comes down to reading the account in the Scriptures and asking God if it's true. Asking if What the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenents, Modern day Prophets, and all that Jazz is saying is TRUE.) So we talked about faith and prayer and a lot about Christ. I mean this gal comes from no religious background so it's understandable that she has questions and doubts. But she is standing strong and she's progressing so well. (IN FACT I'm going to spoil the ending of the email [mostly because I'm already writing a lot and I'm sure you'll get tired if you read through this whole thing {you can thank me later ;) } ] SHE PASSED HER BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW Last night [Tuesday Jan 18] AND SHE'S GETTING BAPTIZED THIS NEXT MONDAY!!!!!!!) So that was our Tuesday.

Wednesday last we knocked on a door of some potentials that were super drunk last time we saw them BUT they wanted us to come back, and when we did none of them were home BUT this other guy (Ski Cap) was. AND he wanted to learn more! Sweet! So we talked with him about God and how he could strengthen his faith and it was a really good meeting.

Thursday we met with Ski Cap again and invited him to be baptized in Feb. He is willing to prepare! Wow! and we met with our Probation friend (gotta think of a better way to remember him...He highlighted the book of Mormon according to what he would want to read when he's in a particular mood e.g. blue when he's sad and yellow when he wants to be happy etc. so We'll call him "mood book") So we met with Mood Book and he's doing pretty good. He has like a million things he's working on. His back got all messed up in an car accident so he's on meds, he's getting his wisdom teeth out soon so his jaw hurts, he's got to go to addiction recovery classes so getting transportation to those is tricky-so pretty much we talk with him and he vents and we help him realize that God is there.

Fri we had a couple good meetings one with Mood Book and another with this busy member who is SUPER cool but super busy too so she doesn't always make it to church. We talked about a lot with her-- mostly about how wonderful it is to live in a time with a Prophet and the Church. Good stuff.

Sat We met with Ski Cap and talked about the plan of salvation and where we came from before this life. He is really grabbing onto the things he learn and reads. Like he totally read and understood the first few pages of the book of Mormon (which we don't see in people very often so this is a nice surprise). In the evening we met with Tonks and her Friend and we talked about the importance of reading a praying to know that our message is true.

Sunday was great! Before church we met with Ski Cap and because he lives/supervises at a home for guys who are trying to change their lives around our lesson turned into a sort of group therapy session, which is good I guess. Church was great and Bloomingdale's made it to church. And after church we watched Finding Faith in Christ (Soooo good! I totally recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. It helps explain Christ's ministry from the viewpoint of one of his apostles [Thomas] and he's talking about it with his friends. Cool way to tell the story) and then we went to a member's home and ate dinner and taught some more! Woot!

Monday was fun! We met with Ski Cap and it was fun. We talked about part two of the plan of salvation and he really understands and stuff. So that was cool. We knocked on a door and were welcomed in by some Spanish people and they fed us and a half hour later we realized that we don't understand Spanish as well as we thought we did. Wow... they talked fast. They weren't mean or anything; it was just that we couldn't understand them. ha ha. oh well.

Tuesday we trained the zone on how to make our companionship studies more effective. Mostly involving the spirit more. And we met with this cool black guy from Mississippi and we had Bloomingdale's's baptismal interview (Which took a really long time 1 1/2 hours and we were hoping that she was ready and feeling confidant. But really it's nothing to worry about) and she PASSED! Woot!

So that was my week.

long stuff.

THANK you for your love and support

AND HERE'S A SHOUT OUT TO BARKER COUSIN HEATHER! CONGRATS ON YOUR UP COMING WEDDING! Thanks for the wedding announcement. You have my best wishes and my blessing and may you both live a long and fruitful life in joy and happiness. mazltoff!

I love you all!

Be well!

be good!

Be better!

-Elder barker

One more go around (Jan 10)

Another week gone and that's also the mark of another transfer. Elder Reidhead and I were a bit nervous when the transfer calls came, after all We've been together for two transfers now and he's been in the branch for three. BUT we're still together! WOO HOO!!! Fun stuff!

Dang it! I left my old planner in the apartment so... I'll do my best to remember Good stories from the week.

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Schweinkie! He's such a great Missionary! He's Samoan, but obviously his name is German (His dad is half). Anyways, we had a wonderful day finding people and talking to everyone we came in contact with. We met some interesting people: One guy looked like he just got in a scuffle with a werewolf, and he was going on about how "we're all one and part of the whole... Pass it on," and how creation came from an atom that had an imbalance and then expanded and la-dee-da-dee-doo. So I interrupted him and asked a question that i thought was rather obvious, "What or who created the Atom? Where did it come from?" He stood there for a second, and then acknowledged the existence of a supreme being. YAY!

We knocked on this one door and when they opened it up, there was this Spanish woman and her four CRAZY daughters (maybe they weren't all hers... I never could get a straight answer from her... "something about their teeth falling out...") And when we asked if we could come in and bless her and her home and pray with the family, she said yes, BUT because there wasn't a man home, we couldn't go in (Darn politics). BUT she said we could come back in an hour, so we did.

We talked with some other great people and then we came back and there was a man home! YAY! So we went in, sat down and began with a prayer- BAM- Right when we lifted our heads up from the prayer, they shot all of this anti-Mormon stuff at us. And to make it even better IT WAS IN SPANISH! So although the things they were throwing at us were nothing difficult at all and could be answered really simply, I couldn't form the sentences to sound intelligent in Spanish! So, it was an interesting experience. All we could do was tell them that we know that the book of Mormon is a true record of the word of God that he revealed to the ancient inhabitants of the Americas, and that Joseph Smith truly was called by God to be the prophet of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, And that Jesus truly is the son of God and our saviour and redeemer. That's all we could do, and they didn't even listen. OY! Oh well...

We met with this one guy who's 19 and has gone through ALOT! Like... near death, on the streets, crazy life, bunch of madness stuff. and He has the greatest desire to change and become clean. We were able to help him get to church this Sunday and one of the members was talking to him and right before the third hour was like, "hey elders! Let's have a lesson right now!" so we skipped Sunday school and talked about God's plan of Happiness for all of us and how Jesus makes salvation possible. Great stuff.

That's all I can remember. Sorry.

This truly is a great work! wow!

I Have to apologize now. I'm going to be cutting back the frequency of letters out. I don't have time to write what I would like and I really need to devote more attention to the work. I'll still be writing the weekly email, but I don't have time to write all the letters I have been writing in the past. Sorry for the cut backs.

I love you all soooo much! You are so wonderful and you keep me afloat! Stay strong in the Gospel and Be wise!

Love,

Elder barker

Another Week in Paradise (Jan 3)

Happy new year everyone!

Wow... 2011. What a year this will be, eh? I'm excited to see what'll happen. Hopefully all of your new years resolutions will come to fruition. The rain is calming down a bit and my voice is back, so that's good. This week I learned a lot. I learned that answers truly come from prayer and the scriptures. I learned that a person's faith needs to have the confirming feelings and thoughts of the spirit to keep it alive. I learned that Fasting for others and asking that their faith and testimony might be bolstered is more strengthening to my own testimony and faith than I thought it would be. I learned a lot of things. Isn't it nice to know a lot?... and a little bit not.

Monday: Was loverly. We had a meeting with our friend from Bloomingdale's who is doing great! She said that she really wanted to make it to church and, " The holidays are over and God is more important than Bloomingdale's!" Great stuff. After her lesson we moved the rest of our stuff from the old apartment and Now we are Officially moved out! ha ha ha.

Tuesday: We had an awesome day! All of our appointments fell though so we knocked- a lot. We started in one apartment complex and we knocked a few doors and talked with some people and then this golf cart with two Manager dressed ladies drove up. "Oh hey guys!" -Hi. "We're sorry but we're going to have to have you stop knocking in here. It's a private community." -Oh... OK. so we headed out and went to another complex and we met some interesting people: This catholic priest who was getting his new plasma screen put up and who was nice but not interested in learning more about Christ (I can't imagine why. ;-) ),and some people from Iran, and others from India and other places that I couldn't understand. Anyways We were there for quite some time and we were about to head out when this golf cart with two Manager dressed ladies drove up, "We heard that you've been knocking doors around here, Can we help you?" -We're just out talking with people about God and how they can strengthen their faith in him. "Do you have a licence to be here?" -We have a clerical document that was signed by the prophet. "No no. Like a licence." (Are you kidding me?... A prophet of God authorized me and my companion to be here... what more do you want?) So we were cast out of that complex too. Later that evening we went to another complex and the first door we knocked on the lady said, "Are you supposed to be here?" -Yes, we are inviting people to learn more about God. "Well, I'm not sure you're aloud in here." Ha ha! Three Complexes in one day! wow...

Wed: We Had two wonderful lessons! And the second was awesome! They both were awesome, but we didn't have an extra guy to come with us to the second appointment and because she's a single girl we can't meet with her by herself (.....politics) BUT, shortly before the appointment we got a call from Nate Malm (Blast from the past Missionary in Damariscotta back in '05) inviting us to go out to dinner with him. We asked if he'd come to the lesson and everything worked out perfectly. She pretty much is living the gospel even before she knew what it was. Cool beans.

Thurs: We had exchanges and I was on bike! It's been a while since I've been on Bike... at the end of the day I was puffing. Oh well. Fun stuff. Um... yeah it was a good day.

Fri: We had Zone Leader Council and talked and talked and talked about upcoming changes in the mission and about expectations and implementation and goals and it was great! I love meeting with the leaders in the mission. (Sometimes i feel a little intimidated that I rub shoulders with such great Missionaries) we stayed up till 10:30 and said happy new year and then fell asleep.

Sat: We planned and planned. And we met a really nice Hispanic man and we talked about prayer and how he could strengthen his relationship with god though reading the book of Mormon and praying about it.

Sunday: Was great! I love fast Sundays and i love it when investigators are there for great meetings. And it was great. after church there was a baptismal ceremony and it as also wonderful to have an investigator attend. Huzzah!

And in a reader's digest nut shell that was my week.

Thank you soooooooo much for your prayers and love and letters and such. I love you all.

Be well.

-Elder barker

Launchpad! Launchpad! I've lost my voice! (Dec 27)

CAN YOU NAME IT!??? (besides immediate family of course and Kj if you didn't catch it I WIN I WIN!!!)

So! Hey It's another Monday! Woooo hoooo! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Thank you for your gifts and letters and Updates about stuff. I sure had a wonderful time Christmas morning tearing through letters and cards and yummy food. Awww...

SO! The week! The week! There were wonderful things that happened during the week! Last Monday we had a great lesson with that girl who's been attending institute and works at Bloomingdale's (I hope she can get me a discount--JK). The lesson went really really well. We talked about the scriptures and praying and the Word of Wisdom!

She is so great.

We said, "So, Now that you know about the Word of Wisdom are you willing to follow it?"

Her response "I'll try."

"What would be the hardest for you to over come? Alcohol? Tobacco? Drug---"

"I like meat!"

"What?" "It says to eat meat sparingly... and... I like meat... But I'll try to cut down."

Isn't that great?!

After the lesson we had an exchange with one of the District Leaders. [ this means Soren and his companion switched things up for a bit and taught lessons with the District Leader and his companion ].

Tuesday we met with this one guy who was baptized almost two years ago, who has drifted away from the church. Mostly he stopped believing in a God. He said after his friend's mom died he had to question why. And it's sad to think what the world is like for those who don't believe in a loving God who wants us to return to his presence. It's Not the End! There's more! Your friend's Mom isn't gone forever: We will still exist when we pass on. There were more miracles that happened on Tuesday, mostly with perfect timing and meeting people and showing up on their door and all that jazz at EXACTLY the right time.

Wednesday we were able to meet with this cool gal. She's awesome! She's been going to church with her friend and now she wants to meet with us and come to our congregation. YAY!

Thursday we had district meeting and then we MOVED TO OUR NEW APARTMENT!!! It was like the city of Enoch... except... not quite.

elder griffin says hi!!!!! e. barker is awesome!!!

on Friday we did planning and then we moved more stuff to the apartment! AND we had the most wonderful Christmas eve dinner! Rice Ala-mond! and HAM and then after dinner we had a white elephant exchange! I got a pen... Not too too crazy. But I was able to give it to a poor elder who didn't receive much for Christmas. AND we delivered last-minute packages to the missionaries and Caroled our way home!

Christmas I talked to my FAMILY!!!! YAYAYAYAY!!! And opened packages and letters! AND we had dinner with some members! TAMALES! YUM! and then we caroled with the district and that's when I lost my voice!

Sunday was great! We were able to meet with this great guy who's been coming to church with us for a few weeks but has been hesitant to really meet with us. It was wonderful! He's so curious and eager to learn more!

And we caroled (a day late) and my voice left even more!

Today... is today!

We just watched the video: "How Rare a Possession" SO good.

I love you all!

I hope the New Year brings true happiness and great resolutions to be Marvelous!

I love you!!!

_elder barker

And a partridge in a palm tree... (Dec 20)

Hello, Hello Hello HELLO!

How are you all on this fine blustery misty moisty morning? Things are going pretty great out here. It's only a few more days till Christmas! WHAT?!?! Where did the time go? It seems like yesterday it was August. wow...

This week was a pretty good one. I missed Santa Lucia... Mostly because there isn't a girl in the apartment who could bring cookies to the household and welcome in the solstice ;-)

So, Monday we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned our apartment 'Cause we're moving soon. This Thursday to be precise. Merry Christmas to us! We'll be in a new home for Christmas! We were able to meet with a wonderful Girl that we met last Sunday. I can't remember if I told you about her BUT she is awesome! She has been going to Institute (Scripture studies) for a few weeks and has been loving it and her friend said, "Hey why don't you meet with the missionaries?" And so we met up Sunday evening and then we met with her again Monday Night. Woot! It was after the Multi Stake Family Home evening Activity Ginger Bread house making contest which she won! The lesson was great. and her prayer at the end was priceless: "Thank you Father for my friends and for My Elders and helping me to learn more about you and where I came from and I'm excited to learn more and to be baptized." She is super cool.

Tuesday we had a cool meeting with a man on a park bench who was watching his friend doing some Jackson Pollack-style painting. Is that the right guy? Splatter paint Dribble Master mess madness? It was a good talk though.

Wed. We got to inspect the missioinaries' cars that were at a Zone conference. Fun stuff! After that we me with this one guy who is kind of out there in his beliefs, but It was a really fun discussion. And that was it. We did some knocking and that was fun. We met this guy who talked to us for about 45 min about how the Lord healed him in multiple occasions and it was fun. Fun!

Thursday WE GOT TO HAVE ZONE CONFERENCE! And we acted out the nativity scene, and sang and had a great spiritual meeting. I WAS THE ANGEL!!! Afterwards I got to interview an amazing woman for baptism. Wow. What a wonderful experience. She is recognizing blessings and great stuff. AND we met with our friend from Monday night and it went great.

Friday we planned forever and then we had a couple meetings.

Saturday we had exchanges with the Assistants. It went great. We followed so many promptings and knocked on doors of people that needed us there to brighten their days and it was wonderful!

And Sunday was good too. Church was the Christmas program and it was lovely.

And now it's today! yay!

I'm soooo excited to call home! YAY! I love you all sooo mcuh!

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR your cards and notes. I love My Christmas gifts! It's the best to hear about your missionary efforts or Church investigating.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Love ya,

-Elder Barker

WHY DO I NEVER HAVE TIME! (NOV 29)

So this week was a wonderful mixmaster of miracles and fun.

Thanksgiving I was able to go on exchanges with one of the district leaders and have two thanksgiving dinners! One was Mexican! YAY! Pavo con chile! Wondrous!

Saturday we had an amazing lesson with a family that we knocked into. AMAZING! And to add on to it, it was in Spanish! WOW. So we talked about God and Prophets and Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith and Modern Prophets and The Book of Mormon, and they prayed about the Book of Mormon. It was such a powerful prayer. Like at the end we invited them to prepare for baptism and they were all stoked! And at the end we asked the Father who he'd like to say the prayer and he said his wife and so we taught her and she at first wasn't able to start... So he held her hand and prayed, "Heavenly Father, my wife isn't able to pray right now. So I'll pray for her..." So he went on for a bit, then she started up and then prayed for a bit then she broke into tears cause she was feeling the spirit and then they ended the prayer and embraced! Great! Beautiful! Most amazing experience I've been able to be a tiny part of!

Sorry I don't have time to write much. We had transfers and because of all the madness and such I have 6 minutes left to email. YAY!

So. I love you all!

Thanks for being so good. I wish I had time to tell you all how much I love you, but this will have to do.

Have a great week!

Merry Christmas!!!

-Elder Barker