FOR ISRAEL, HURRAH!

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray-'ooray-'ooray-'ooray-'ooray!

I just love Baptisms! Ooops, I've gotten ahead of myself and ruined the ending... Oh well, surprise or not This week was GREAT!

So, Monday we had to go to the mission office and pay our fine from the towing incident. Oy... Ah well, I didn't want that money anyways (SOUR GRAPES!) But in the evening we met with Joseph Leocadio And had a wonderful lesson. It was two hours long. Oy! Long time I know. But he has so many good questions and side stories. The funniest part was that we didn't have all that much to cover, just the ten commandments and the importance of prophets, and yet it was two hours long. Whatever; it was worth it!

Tuesday was an interesting day. We met with The Espinozas. Wonderful people. Sister Espinoza is a member of the church and Brother Espinoza has been attending for 36 years but... isn't a member... yeah I'm confused too. And what makes it harder to understand is that he speaks only Spanish. SO! I could barley understand anything besides "Comme mas tortillas." Good food.

Wed we met with Joseph and he was able to meet with Bishop Rodgers and it was a great meeting. I love bishop Rodgers. He's soo cool. He's got the good laid back Polly attitude. Anywho.

Thurs. Joseph Met with Elder Soffe and passed the Baptismal interview - which really isn't like an interview-interview-interview. It's pretty cool. Like, "Do you believe that God is our loving heavenly father? Do you believe that the church has been restored? What does that mean to you?" So We weren't worried about Joseph passing. so we worked out some of the stuff for the service and yeah...

Friday, Joseph gave us this funky Filipino drink called Halo-halo. It's more like a meal than a drink. It's got like... rice and beans and fruit and ice and milk and this weird purple stuff.

Saturday JOESPH GOT BAPTIZED! Wooot! And his brother and sister came and his wife and kids and his father in law and a bunch of people from the ward and it was soo great! the spirit was so strong and it was so great to see him make this first step and to set the example for his family. MAN i love the gospel!

Sunday He got confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was wonderful. So peaceful. and at the end of sacrament meeting he was like, "You know that feeling of being a part of the 'ward family' and being accepted and unity that you mentioned- you could have at least told me that it was literal!" Ha ha. So great!

Anyways enough about that GREAT news.

Thank you all for you emails and letters and love and stuff.

Things are going great. We are starting a new transfer (six week span) and I am still in this great area! But our teaching pool just went down so, we are going to do a lot of finding people to teach. after all nothing can be accomplished in missionary work until we find someone to teach.

SO! I love you all! and I miss you. and I love you. In that order ;)

Catch you next time!

-Elder Barker

August 30th --WHERE IS OUR CAR!??!!

Another week another adventure!

The week was an interesting one.

Monday we had a cool experience. We got a media referral telling us that there was a lady in the hospital with a life threatening case of tetanus and that she wanted us to come and give her a blessing. Ok. So we went over and checked in and went to her room and- She wasn't there. Yeah... So we asked the guy who was standing outside the door if he knew about her, and he didn't know her but he thought that she had been allowed to go home that day. ...ok... So we talked to him for a bit and it turns out that he had spoken with Elders in the past. I was like- whoa- This is not a coincidence, we are here for a reason and that reason is to talk to you. Unfortunately Some people can't see Divine intervention if it smacked them upside the head. But cool experience.

Tuesday was Tuesday. We had an appointment set with Joseph Leocadio But he was apparently sleeping during said appointment time.

Wed. We had a couple lessons with some great people. And I learned to play a couple chords on the ukulele. We went by Joesph's to reschedule (Man, i wish he'd get a phone already!) But he was- Sleeping! So we talked to his youngest son through the screen door and committed him to put on some pants before we came back, and he committed us to coming back. But things didn't turn out so well. After checking on a family that we've been trying to work with we went back to our car and- it wasn't there. Which is king of funny when you realize that I sometimes try to pull elder ortiz' leg by saying, "Where's our car?!" But this time it was for reals. So while we were looking under the rocks and behind the bushes for a sign of the thief this mean old lady with a wall eye and sharp nasty teeth pulls up and asks if we had a car on the premises and wheat we were doing there and was just really... rude. So I tried to be polite and ask if she knew where it had been towed and stuff and she wasn't helpful at all and then she went on to tell us that we were wasting our time and that we should be finishing school and that you can worship god at home and that she has zero respect for us and yadda yadda yadda. So I told her to have a nice day, and after some crazy finagling found where our car was and arranged for us to pick it up and long story even longer we picked it up but it cost us double because it was after hours. (Well, if you hadn't towed it at 6:22 it wouldn't have been after hours so who's really at fault here? You.) Oh well. All's well that ends better.

Thursday I went on exchanges with one of the elders in my district and it was so fun! we were on bike and we taught this one guy that we met after knocking the first door, and it was cool.

Friday, Ron (The Samoan Midget who is super cool) Got his mission call! So we went over and had a "Call-opening party!" He was called to billings Montana. Fun Fun!

Saturday is a special day, and we were actually able to teach Joseph Leocadio! yay! He's sooo cool. And he had just gotten a hair cut so the pony tail is gone and the cool short hair is in. Man. He's like a super sponge and everything we teach him he already has kind of a basic knowledge of it but when we teach it he's like, "Wow! i had never thought of it like that! Fasting isn't just a cleansing healthy thing to do- but it also allows your spirit to not be subject to your physical needs and helps you draw closer to God! I'm just blown away by this." So cool. And he likes James Taylor. Like I said, Super cool.

Sunday He came to Church and brought, Not one of his sons, not two of his sons- but ALL THREE OF HIS SONS! Sooooooo cool! They all loved it! So great! Man I just love teaching people who love to learn. Anyways, we had dinner with some members and tried to contact some people and yeah. It was a good day.

So that's my week. i hope you had fun reading about it.

Thanks for your emails and letters and love. I really appreciate it.

I hope everything is well with you.

I love you all so much.

Be well!

Catch you next time.

-Elder barker

August 16th - Ahem...

What a great week!

In the mission we had a four day long meeting about how we can be more effective missionaries! man it was good. So much to learn! and so much to teach. It was a meeting with the leaders and the trainers and so now our job is to relate it to the rest of the missionaries. Man it was good though.

President Watrous taught us the new simplified curriculum for the MTC and it's amazing. It focuses on the doctrine of Christ (Repentance and baptism) The role of the Holy Ghost in conversion, Revelation through prayer; through the Book of Mormon; and through church attendance, Focusing on teaching people not lessons, The importance of commitments and How to begin teaching. MAN It was a feast of knowledge and spiritual food. Yum!

But because we had that big amazing meeting all week there wasn't much time for teaching and stuff.

We had a couple opportunities to meet with some less active members and strengthen them, and those went really well.

Let me see what to report... I'm not sure.

I don't know what the deal was with some of our investigators. Every appointment they were either sick, asleep, in the shower, or gone. So... Unfortunately none of them made it to church this week. But after church we stopped by Joe Leocadio's and talked and ended up playing guitar a little bit and we'll be meeting up tonight so that's good. Hopefully we can teach him a few principles before it turns into a jam session. ;)

Anywho... Life is good. The carpet is clean! (just cleaned it this morning- yuk) and... yeah.

I love you all!

Be well! Yes, I mean you.

Thank you for all your emails and letters and goodness.

Catch you latter!

-Elder barker

August 9th Lesson, Chemo, Spiritual feasts, and Feasts.

What a week. And to make it even more fun I think I will start at the end of the week and work backwards!

So! Sunday was Excellent! In sacrament meeting we had a billion Pollys all there to say goodbye to our departing missionary (Alfred) from the ward. It was a wonderful meeting full of love and song and tears. Good stuff. And the Alfred family was there, who are pretty much all inactive members. so that was cool to see. After church we were invited to be a part of the Feast! It was sooo good. And the cool part was when we were looking for a place to sit Alfred's dad was like, "Elders, you sit over there." (over there was next to Alfred at the head of the feast.) It was an honor to be there. Plus the food was super good. Yumm Pig! And taro and a bunch of other things that I can't pronounce let alone write and which they didn't have a translation into English so we just ate it and didn't ask any questions. We had a couple lessons after that and then we crashed another party! This one was a birthday party of a member in the ward. So it was a fun day.

Saturday Was long. we had a couple lessons fall through but we were able to teach a less active member, and the husband of a member. Crazy story. So this guy has been coming to church for 30 years and he's still not baptized. Crazy. Anyways they fed us a bunch of tacos and then moments after that meeting we had a dinner appointment. Ha ha ha! Man... So much food.

Friday we had the opportunity to watch the new Preach my Gospel DVDs (It's where cameras follow 8 missionaries around for six weeks and then they compile it into a cool thing that we get to watch and learn from and adapt our styles to what we like) So that was awesome! Then we met with a less active member and talked about some good stuff. He is from Maine! Whoa! But I guess the nearest chapel was like in Canada, so he had to cross the border every week to go to church. And he's out here doing art school and stuff. So we had lots to talk about. ;)

Thursday we had a good district meeting. on how we can improve ourselves as executives in the lord's kingdom. Good stuff. Later we taught a couple less actives (man it was a less active week wasn't it?) Good stuff. I think we are making progress with one in particular. good stuff. Hooray for repentance!

Wed was a long day But we had a great evening. We split up with some of the leaders in the ward went out to visit people. The high Priest's group leader and I visited a Sister who is battling cancer and her husband. It was great to see that her spirits were up and plus she had the knowledge that Heavenly father loves her and that she only had one more treatment left. I shared a thought from the old testament about when the Israelites were just about to get to the promised land and then because the people who lived there were soo big and scary they doubted that they could make it. And then God was like, "Hey! Did you already forget that I delivered you out of Egypt and parted the red sea? This isn't a big deal. Have faith!" So I drew the connection that we need to remember that With God nothing is impossible and that miracles do happen everyday (if you saw a miracle would you recognize it?)

Tuesday we met with Joseph Leocadio and it was a super good lesson! We taught about Obedience to the commandments and the importance of prayer and we also talked about keeping the sabbath day holy. It was good. When we asked him if he would be able to attend church this week he said that he'd be out of town but then asked if there was a way for him to attend a church where he was going to be at. YAY! super cool.

And Monday was Monday.

So that's my week in review.

Man, i love you guys. I miss you like... a fat kid misses (Klee-Shay! [ yes my spelling is off, and the computer wouldn't recognize the way I was trying to spell it so... Hooray for phonics!]) um like a flower misses the sun (Klee- Shay) Like... You know what I mean. I miss you guys.

Thank you for your letters and emails and love and everything! I take them all and put them into an IV drip that keeps me alive.

Be well!

Catch you next time!

-Elder Barker

July 19th- Hello again!

So this past weeks was fun!

We had exchanges with the zone leaders and that went really well. It was fun being in their area and working with them. We knocked this one area that had a super big house and to top it off it even had a moat. Ha ha. So fun.

On wed we taught this one guy who pretty weird. First of all he lives in one of those one bedroom trailers/ you know the kind that are more like campers or a tent on wheels. It was so funny, he'd say "Jesus-Christ-the-son-of-the-living-god-the-living-god-and-the-holy-spirit" and since he's from South Africa his accent is pretty funny too. crazy lesson. Anywho, later we had dinner with Cheyenne. and we taught one of his friends. Cool stuff.

We had a great weekend, a couple investigators in our district were baptized! So cool.

Um... Oh yeah! We had an investigator at church this week! Woot! It was so great. He brought his 7 yr old son and they both enjoyed it. That's so cool.

Well, that's the long and short of it.

Thank you sooo much for your letters, Emails, and love.

I love you all!

Be well.

Catch you next week!

July 12th- The following is mine and I wrote it and so it is mine

Ahem.

So! another week! Woo and such fun stuff to report on.

Like on Tuesday when we got lost on the way to interviews. How we got lost, I'm not sure, as we drive to that chapel every week. BUT that's all part of the adventure!

Wed we had an earthquake! And the best part was Elder Robertson and I were walking up the steps to Chyenne's place and the guy who lives across the way (down-da-road-down-da-way) was like, "The Building is shaking! THE BUILDING IS SHAKING!!!!!!!!! IT'S AN EaRTHqUAkE!!!" and we looked at each other and were like... there is? so we looked around and yeah the bushes we shaking a little bit but nothing serious. Chyenne ran into the house and was like, "Get the BABY! Quick!" So he comes bustling out of the house and everyone is in a panic, except us, and he's like, "Is it Still Shaking?" "....um... nope." ha ha. Funny funny.

We were able to bring Bradley to the temple tour. So cool. He's a great kid. I can't remember if I told you this before, BUT I'll tell you again! He's twelve and his dad is a member but his mom and step dad aren't, and the two aren't so psyched about him wanting to be baptized. The reason being they don't want him to be different from the rest of the family. ...um step dad is catholic and mom is a born again christian... I'm confused. BUT he's really a sweet kid. I wish opposition wasn't so popular.

We weren't able to meet with Cheyenne much this week. he's been heading out of town a lot trying to scrap up work and stuff. But we were able to meet with a friend of a less active who we are teaching and he's doing really well! He's reading in the Book of Mormon and doing great.

Yesterday at church we had this guy named Jerry just show up. It was interesting to say the least. He said that he was just lead to come to church and so there he was! So, we'll see what happens. But it was so funny, after Sunday school he was like, "Is there more?" all excited and we were like, "um.. no." and he was like, "Aww man." ha ha.

Anyways, It's been a long and busy week teaching and finding and teaching some more! Fun fun!

THANKYOU Soooooo much for your letters and emails!

I love you all and you are ever in my thoughts and prayers!

Be well.

July 5th -Long time no... Nope it hasn't been that long.

So. HAPPY FOURTH!!!

Fun Fun Fun. So last night the streets were full of people lighting those screaming fireworks and their sparklers and their fountain thingys and all that jazz. So needless to say- driving was eventful. AAAHHH We're under Fire!...works. hee hee hee.

So the week was a good one. We got a referral and when we went to the address to meet the person They were THERE! Wow! and the guy gathered his family around to listen and it was great! just one small hitch in the story. The dad didn't speak English too well. When we were talking about the Period of time after Jesus Christ when the church that he organized fell and we were talking about how that was the dark ages and people were confused, he said, "Oh yeah. Like when it's 2 o'clock in the morning and you try to wake up. Man, I get confused easily during that time of day when it's dark." ha ha.

We also taught Cheyenne a few time this week. It's always funny how our conversations go. He'll get on a tangent and then he'll be telling us how to break into a house. ha ha. The great line of the week from him is, "Man, when i used to loan out money to people- If your late on paying me back, after two weeks You owe me fifty more, after a month it's a hundred, and another two weeks- I shoot you with my sleeper dart take you back to my place, beat you up, take what I want, and then you pay me what you owe me. that was my three strike program." ha ha. Fun fun.

Sunday was a crazy meeting at church. A family that had moved away six years ago was visiting and the mom was playing the organ in sacrament meeting and Belting away America the beautiful over the congregation. ha ha. And there was a baby blessing and the kid started screaming his head off half-way through the blessing. ha ha. I love this church.

But really i do love the church. man, what a great thing that God would do, to organize the church so that we can increase our talents and serve those around us and be supported in our growth as well. Man.

I don't think I write this enough but i know that the book of Mormon is truly a volume of holy scripture. We've been re-reading it as a mission and MAN It is so TRUE! I just can't get over it. Every time I hear an investigator pray to know if it is true the spirit tells me so strongly that it is.

I love you all! Thank you for your support and your love. Man, i need it. Your letters and emails are like those pools of water in the desert that I have just enough strength to get to and then I fill up and keep going on till the next oasis. Thanks for keeping me going.

You all rock!

Be well.

I mean it.

Love you!

-Elder barker