Pictures!

 

 

Elder Barker in front of the big world map!

 

 

Buddies in the MTC.

Too hot outside!

Soren by the statue of the 1st missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, Samuel H. Smith (Joseph Smith's younger brother)

The lavish California apartment....

Now, lest you think that Soren has gotten all serious and studious on us while hard at work, you can BET he's still the hilarious guy we all know and love. HA!

Christmas in California will certainly be different for him this year. Traded palm trees for evergreens...

"After all there's only one more sleep till Christmas..."

Tis the season to be jolly and joyious! FA-La-La!

hee hee hee.

Wow. Crazy week. I can hardly believe that Christmas is already here.

So this past week has been crazy fun rollercoaster of insanity! But thankfully a new week of pandemonium has begun.

The weather has decided to be kind to us this week. Ahhh.. Lovely walks in the park and sunny strolls down the lane. It was funny- the other day we were in the park and we saw this guy and we walked up to him and introduced ourselves as missionaries and he was like, "I'm sorry but I'm going for a run right now." And I was like, "Can we run with you?" And he was like," sure!" So we ran and talked with this guy. Fun stuff. He wasn't all that interested but we got some exercise out of it.

Man this week has been a crazy battle. Lot's of people who just wanted to bash. All I could say was, "I'm not here to bash with you. I'm just here to invite you to read and pray and find out for yourself if what I'm telling you and what you are reading is true." I think it's so funny that people have all of these assumptions about us and they don't really know because they've never taken the time to find out what we believe.

Oh well.

One of our investigators, Darla, Got baptized yesterday! It was so great. All week she was so excited and at the baptismal program she was just beaming. It has been really cool to see her progression and her enthusiasm about the gospel. It was a real battle for her to quit smoking but She DID IT! (if you can't tell I'm really excited) YAYAYAYAYAY! Cool stuff.

Um... what else... OH! Right! MOM DAD KJ MAREN! I will call you guys Christmas day at approximately 9:30am your time. Which means that it will be 6:30am my time, so if I'm a bit groggy please forgive me. But I'm sure that once I hear your voices I'll wake right up. OOOOOOOooooo I'm sooo excited! I can't wait to talk to you and tell you about all the fun things that are happening that i don't have time to write about.

Thank you all for your letters and cards and emails and packages! I truly appreciate all of your love and support. You are always in my thoughts.

Merry Christmas! I'm so happy to be a missionary at this time of my life, and at this time of year. What greater gift can I bring someone than the news that Christ Lives and that he personally directs his church today through a living prophet. I love this time of year. and i love you all.

I'll be home for christmas if only in my dreams. I miss you all. and i love you all. and I'll seee you all in less than two years! Hey where is the time going?

Cat chew later.

-Elder Barker

Mormon Missionaries

Here's a video from Mormons made simple

-Posted by Kaje

HEEEELLLLOOOO!!!! oh sorry deary I must look like a yeti in this face mask.

So! How did it go?
-I think she took it rather well. ;)

Wow what a week. I think that the holidays are going to kill me. Nobody was home all week. It's like it's thanksgiving weekend or something. Shiesh. Anywho... It was a long week of knocking on doors and nobody being there. But the miracle of it was that sometimes when we'd go try to find someone who had talked with the missionaries in the past and see how they are doing, we'd run into someone else who wants to hear more. Cool stuff.

Wow, mom. I'm so sorry that you've been ill. It's no fun being the director from the sick bed, in the best christmas pagent ever.

Hoorray! for Dan! He's home safe and sound and it feels like he left only yesterday. fun stuff.

I haven't recieved any thing from BYU-I yet. (o_0) I hope I get to go back...

Mi companero es muy asombros! And as far a food goes, Mother, you need not worry. The branch is crazy about feeding us. we have meals every night. most nights. ok once a week. alright we don't even have dinner. We're starving! I'm wasting a way with no room to play. I'm stuck in a zoo With- well you know the rest of the story. JUST KIDDING! I'm getting lots of food. Perhaps too much... Oh well.

our apartment is right next to the train tracks so that's always fun to hear the whistle go off at 10:45pm. Ha ha. I feel a little like Jake and Elwood- except we have a lot more room. We have a couch and one of those awsome velvity chairs with those metal tack thingys that I love that go up and around the front of the arm rests. AND we just got the gas turned on so we can cook! Hurray!

as far as the work goes: It is work. I am exausted everyday. But yesterday we had a miricle. This new guy just showed up at church and was really excited about learning more and he is just awsome! I mean it's his first day at church and he was activly participating in sunday school! CRAZY!!! So we're hoping that he will progress. That's was so cool. So more updates on him later.

Other than that. THANKSGIVING was great! We ate with the branch presiddent and his family. SO funny! Oh man. And the food was so good! Not as good as you make mom but mmmm still good.

OH! Dad! I have a makeup book somewere in the madness that is my room that you should look at! It might bee with my school stuff or on the book shelf or in the vortex of doom under my bed or Heaven forbid in the closet. BUT! It would have info for ya. and if you can find my make up folder it has tips on how to do facial hair. and on the book shelf is my make up kit. SO Have at it! It's there to be used! I know it'll turn out great!

Um.... let's see what else. Oh funny thing for the week. We knocked on this house and this guy comes out. "Hey-y-y-y..." Hi we're missionaries, have you ever talked with missionaries before? "Um... I don't know maybe." Cool, Well I'm elder barker and this is my companion elder Summers. Good to meet you. "Yeah same." Well, as missionaries what we do is we go around seeing if there's anything we can do tohelp people out and maybe share a message about christ too. "Who do you guys work for?" Um... God. "Whoa that's tight man." Yeah it is. "Hey I'd love to talk more But I'm stoned out of my mind right now and I'm just gona chill in my house for a while. But Good luck to ya!" ha ha ok. Thanks.

Maybe you had to be there...

Any ways. Thank you for you letters and DAD thank you for that picture and the story. I had forgoton about that them. Great stuff. thank you thank you thank you. My companion says that I look just like you Dad. I was like. Yeah we do. (Oh am I mistaken or have I seen that suit that you are wearing in the picture before?)

Kj- Keep on keeping on! I love your guts! I love hearing from you ya know. OH! I got a christmas cd an it has that one song that's like Dum dee diddle de dum Isabella. ya know? And there's another song on it that is... Oh I can't remember what it is right now. But I keeps reminding me of our christmas parties! Ha ha. Fun times great oldies. I love you! I miss you piggy. It's MY PILLOW! Dunnie...

Mom- I hope you feel better. And I hope the show goes well. and I hope the chickens start laying again. That post fox atack scare can last for a while.

Dad- I hope you can find the make up stuff. And I Love hearing from you. Do you realize what an example you are in my life? You are a giant. I love you so much.

Maren- Happy BIRTHDAY!!!!! i love you!

Abby- Stop running away! You have to stay home. You can't pull a homeward bound and come out here with me. (although that would be rocking cool!)

Em- Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh chinese people and that fun language barrier. Wow. That's all I can say wow.

Grand-ma-ma- I love you!

Grand ma and Grand pa- I love you!

Amanda- You rock my socks!

Everyone else that I don'tt have time to comment on individualy- YOU ARE AWSOME! I love you all and I think about you often.

Well. Further up and further in!

Keep your stick on the ice. Remeber I'm pulling for ya.

-Elder Barker

Hit the ground running!

Wow! I'm here! I made it! I'm really out here! Ok so update: my new P-Day is Monday so Email will be coming out on Monday. And mail goes to the mission home and I get it on Thursday. So yeah.

Wow. That is all I can say. WOW! (how much is wow? A little between ouch and BOING! WOW!)

Oh another update: I'm not able to respond to emails that aren't from family. I can still receive them But I'll have to use the good ol' snail mail. Please don't let that hinder you from sending them. I love hearing from you. It'll just take me a little bit of time to respond.

Well, California is beautiful. The palm trees are beautiful. The sky is beautiful. Even the garbage on the side of the road is Beautiful. ( ;-) kj please tell me you got that one.)

So We flew in and got to the mission home and met president Watrous and his wife. Such good people. I love them to death. We talked a lot and then we all got split up into new companionships. My new companion is Elder Sumers. He's from Hyrum Utah and has been on his mission for a year. He's pretty cool. And we both got White washed! (aka sent into an area that neither of us are familiar with! Wow! this is so intense!) So we're both trying to get familiar with the area and the people. We are the missionaries for the Singles Ward out here. THEY ARE SO GREAT! they are all fun and nice and come to lessons with us and just strong members. Love all of them.

We've been teaching a lot of lessons and Dad it's kind of like your mission was towards the end. We challenge them to prepare for baptism on the first visit. Woah talk about being bold. But the amazing thing is that Being Bold works. We challenged an investigator who had met with the missionaries a lot before us to be baptized this weekend, and she said yes! Wooo hooo!!! It's so bold. We talk about the Book of Mormon and then we ask them to pray about it right then. Not later, not after we leave. Now! Then we ask if they will prepare to be baptized in two weeks. No messing around. I don't have time to dilly dally- are you ready to accept the gospel? No? Ok then have a nice day....goodbye I've got people to find.

In other news, we've been tracting a lot and knocking on doors and my knuckles are going to have calluses on them like hooves after two years of this.  ha ha. At the end of the day I am exhausted. We plan what we are going to do for the next day and then I write a bit in the ol' journal and then Phiit I'm out.

It was so good to talk to you on Tuesday. I love hearing your voices. JUST think Two months and a week done! Wow it's already going by too fast.

Oh mom! Did you get the photo that Sean-Paul Carrillo's mom sent you.
That's ME! and my companion Elder Sumers and Sean-Paul in the middle. Sean is a great guy! He's so cool and nice and his mom is wonderful!

In other news I met... Oh what is her name... Well anyways I met her. She works in the mission office. and we're related somehow... Yeah we met.

Unfortunately I'm not in Placentia so I couldn't meet up with my other "Mother" there. So maybe in future transfers.

Yeah, so we've done a lot of work out here already. It's sad because most people won't even give us the time of day, let alone talk to us. Ok that's not true. They talk a bit but they aren't interested, or they don't have time.

it's so cool. The area that we are in is really close to two college campuses so we wander around there all the time. It's cool talking to peers about the gospel.

What else...?  WHAT ELSE IS THERE? you should write a book "how to insult women in three syllables or less". ha ha.

Oh CD's, Mom Dad if you could, please send music. I have two cd's and don't get me wrong- they're good- but I only have two cd's. So music would be nice. Christmas stuff, good stuff, Motab stuff -I already have something like a star-, but I would be much obliged.

The Gospel is true. God truly is our loving heavenly father. He has a plan for us all. And the way we can return to our father in heaven and be with our families forever is through the atonement of Jesus Christ and through the covenants and promises we make with God. I'm so blessed to be a missionary. It is a unique time in my life where I can study and work and be a partner with God by bringing to pass the eternal life and immortality of everyone.

I love you all very much. Oh how I love you. Please write. I love hearing about what is going on in your lives.

te amo mama. te amo papa. te amo kj. te amo maren.

ustedes son me gozo.

adios.

-Elder Barker

Dear Families of Elder Summers and Elder Barker

We just had dinner with these two delight Elders. Elder Summers bore a sweet and powerful testimony of the Savior and Elder Barker talked with us about 1Nephi 12 and the Lehi's Vision of the tree of life. He did a great job! No one would know he has only been in the field for three days! They appear to be a good team and they both send their love! We have invited them to share Thanksgiving with us, that is my son Sean-Paul in the middle. He attends the singles branch in the Fullerton Stake where these two have been assigned. Wishing you well, your sons are healthy and happy! Sister Jill Hendrickson

Map of the "mish"