29 Aug 2010 and more to come

Your week was hilarious... here's mine.

Monday...
Me and comp. tract for a little bit on the way to N´s house. N is this crazy lady we teach, she is nuts. We talked about the restoration a little, and then about Jehovah being Christ. Then we buys lunch, TUNA!!! Study a little bit of Spanish, and we´re off to work, more tracting... then we visited our baptism kids L, M, A and the M family. The M family are super funny, the mom is teaching me to sew :) Then at 10 the assistants call and we find out that P is getting changed the next day. Bummer for him.

Tuesday...
Morning we cleaned up, my comp packed, and we waited for the van to come and take us to the bus station for transfers. It came 2 hours late. So I got there, chilled with all my missionary buddies. Then we go back to the area and chill with my new comp Elder P. Then I had to rehearse with the ward for the stake activity, I played guitar. We also had some lessons.

Wednesday...
Had a meeting with the ward mission leader to set up the baptism. then the stake activity, I rocked it up on guitar, one song I played simple chords and the other I played guitar drum hehe like the red hot chili peppers. Then we rushed around from lesson to lesson to set up interviews for the baptisms. (hahahaha I'm sitting in an internet cafe and an Abba song just came on the radio)

Thursday...
Talked to N again, still crazy. Then we had an awesome lesson with C. She is 11 years old and a friend of a recent convert, P. We had a lesson with P's family(all members but the mom, but the mom is getting baptized soon, se llama D)

Friday...
Planning in the morning... kinda. Mostly we just updated our whiteboard with investigators names. Then i had an exchange with elder S, the district leader, and he had interviews with our future baptism candidates. They all passed, woo!

Saturday...
The most stressful day of my whole life.
We had to fill up the font, it takes 6 hours, but every 40 minutes the water heater shuts off, so we were running all over town from 9am until the baptism at 430 getting things ready. We had to go across town to get white pants, do contacts, get lunch, go to the store, talk to a million people about stuff, and do everything for the baptism. and every 40 minutes we had to run back to the church to restart the water heater. But it all worked out, there was like 60 people that came to the baptism, I was so happy I could have cried, almost did from the nervous breakdown I had getting it all ready.

Best baptism ever!!!

Sunday...
We had to get 48 contacts and 1 lesson with member so I was nervous, but we finished with that before 530 came around, so then we visited some families and had dinner with the P family. Got home and relaxed.... only 10 minutes late.

There you go, the week flew past. Love you a butt load.
Elder Barry

24 Aug. 2010 New Compy

Hey Pops

Wassup
Glad you made it home, I got a new compy today, his name is Elder P, a Mexican American, with a soninlaw named Jeff haha

My new comp is a stud. Same age in the mish as I am, but he was only in the MTC 3 weeks. So I rode to Argentina on the plane with him.

The work is FLYING!!!! We had 8 investigators in church last week, and 5 get baptized this Saturday at 430, you are invited haha. Only 3 of them are technically converts, because their families are members, just we are helping out the ward to get them ready, but 3 baptizms, stoked I am. Then we have 2 people with baptismal dates in September already, I am so excited

Well, be excellent to each other, NO STAIRWAY!!!!

Sorry this has got to be short today we are late late late.
I have to go practice guitar with the ward for the activity for Independence day tomorrow. You should probably listen to the Uruguay Himno Nacional tomorrow to celebrate with me.

I am so excited for C
That is so cool you went to Great America, lucky.

I love you
I wrote Chris an email, make sure he reads it.

My new comp came to South America with me in the plane, Elder P, he is awesome.
I love you
I wish I could've gone to Corvallis with yáll.
I am learning how to tejer, I think that is knit in English, from a sister in the ward, it's the one with yarn but 2 needle things.

Life is good here in the hood
I love you

One of our baptisms is named L, he is 28 and used to smoke weed. He didn´t used to want anything to do with the church, but now is pretty into it. He is the guy who will just tell you what he thinks, and always has an opinion. But he is awesome, next week I´ll send a pic of his graffiti he does hehe, his graffiti is Malon, or like superbad in Spanish. the best.

We have a six elder district, and all of us are under a year in the mission, we met our district leader in the MTC, he is only one change older than us.
I am so excited for this transfer, its nuts.

I love you tons mom
Talk to you next week.

16 August 2010

Hey Mom,

So this last 3 weeks there has been this less active guy who has come to church, named P. he speaks English, therefore fell in love with me. He had his arm around me almost all of Sunday School and was just talking talking talking during the sacrament. Then some lady turned around and in English said, let him partake of the sacrament in peace! I was so proud of her and so relieved.

Well there goes the random story for the week hahaha.

That's super fun about Cali.

Well I have like no time today sorry, but life is a lot better than a week ago. Thank you for your words. We found this guy in the rain this week named A. he is so cool, I started to talk to him and he was just like "Come in." Then he turned on a bible movie and we gave him the restoratioon lesson, completely ignoring his movie haha. But he is legitamately interested, the only problem is that he has like n0 time. He even told us he doesn´t know where to find the true church, so of course we shared Joseph Smith and it was super spiritual. we ended with a song, "Families can be together forever," and he brought out his guitar and I played it (decently, I only messed up like 5 times.) sweet. Pray for him prease.

I love you mom

Elder B

Thank you a ton for that email Dad.

But... this week was a million times better than last week. We had good numbers, found 4 people who are ready for baptism, and got along for a good 75 percent of the time.

Sorry I unloaded on you last week, I am doing fine now, the pictures are getting sent today!!!! Hopefully they don´t get stolen in the mail. I still have to copy the recent ones onto a cd, but the package will be sent off today or tomorrow.

Sounds like Cali is super fun, wish I could be there. Its still cold here... woo.

On the 28th we have 2 baptisms, L and R, R is 8 and super awesome, his family minus father are all members and his brother is going to baptize him, I am super excited.

Well, I love yáll have a great time in California.

ps We usually get introduced in church, but never like new members, and then usually we have to go up front as the new missionary and tell about ourselves and bear our testimony. Super scary on my first week in Uruguay.

Love you

Barry

August 9, 2010

Yay JJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That kid is a stud!!!

Rush concert, lucky... moving pictures is by far the best album I say, its got all the classics, I´m just surprised that all three of them can keep going like this, without heart attacks or killing each other, but they are pretty holy guys, maybe the 3 nefites hehe.

I can´t believe 20 years is so close, I don´t want to be old, I'd rather just still be 19 after the mission too. Thanks for sending packages, you guys are great.

That's so cool that my friends are leaving for the mission so soon, but then again, I hit 10 months soon, that's nuts, I guess we had to grow up at some point, we were like the three amigos for years.

We played soccer on a full-sized field today, it might have been the first time I have enjoyed soccer since elementary school, but it was actually fun.

So with the whole obedience thing, its a fight against the natural man, its a rule that we can´t open letters until pday, Monday, and they were given to us on Tuesday, before I always just opened them, no biggie, but last week I waited, torture. Pure torture, I hated us but it made the letters 10 times better. Obedience pays, often it sucks, but it pays, we are supposed to obey because we want to, rough, so I am faking it until I make it, we´ll see what happens.

Me and my comp are doing good, I am learning to just try to show patience, hopefully the Lord will help me because I have issues.

As for the area, we just found out that these two daughters of an inactive member come to primary on their own, and they are over 8 and not baptized, so hopefully we can help the family out. This week we are going to visit the family with the primary president. Also, our bud who dances break dance is getting baptized the 28th. He is so cool, and knows all about American rap, so I gave him names of Seattle rappers to you tube haha. He is super cool and has beastie boys.

love you
Barry

Mama,

yyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited to email today because I was so excited to hear about the triathlon!!!
you did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is so awesome mom!!! I was cheering you on like a mad man!

That is so cool about J, he is a super cool kid. I loved working with that fellow.

I love hearing about people back home doing missionary work.

That is so nuts that my friends are all leaving, it makes me so excited, and I know that C will do just fine, he was always an example for me in everything.

That would be so cool to play the efy medly with S when I get home.

So this week was pretty good, our numbers were bad, but I am going to push this week, either way, i am working on improving...

Our awesome investigator D is getting a wedding date this week!! She lives with her boyfriend for now, but once they get married she can get baptized, her kids got baptized, and her testimony is awesome, I am stoked to see her swimming, haha. She is so ready, minus the marriage it is ridiculous, she has come to church for a while now...

Well i love you...

peace out girl scout,
Barry

August 2, 2010 Interchanges...

Mother of mine,

Elder Y loves you guys.

I would like to start off by saying that that was probably the longest email I have ever received in my whole life. But it was a good one... I can´t believe you are almost at the triathlon, that's nuts!!!!

So we had a pretty good week this week, I had an interchange in my area with Elder Y on Tuesday, it was rough, because I was super newish so I really didn´t know where I was going, but it all worked out, and it helped me unwind to be able to speak English. I didn´t realize it, but it is really stressful to speak another language all the time. But after the interchange me and my comp got along a lot better.

We got new ward missionaries this last week, two young adults, and they are both studs!!! I am so excited, on Saturdays we get together with them and teach them the lessons, and now I want to take them out with us so they can learn what we do all day long, plus the investigators will have a friend too. Its a pretty cool thing, it would have been awesome to have been a ward missionary before.

I found shoes in my house!!!! They fit too! They are flipping gnarly slip on churchy shoes, think Michael Jackson, but with black socks. They are my Wednesday shoes now hehe.

For pants, just working pants because I wear the whole suit to church, unless you find a super cheap suit, but I doubt that. my suit pants are good, I just need more to work in, and the same size is perfect still, I am not as fat as i was in 33. I saw a picture of me and I was so marshmallow club.

I am so proud of Chris i could jump up for joy and shout so loud he´ll hear me.

I love you so much you are the best mama eva

Elder B

Hey Pops,

Me and my comp are doing quite a bit better now, we had an interchange this week, so I got to speak English for a day, and he got to be with his MTC comp, that really de-stressed things a lot.

Speaking of patience, the other day in a lesson I was starting to get peeved at this investigator´s mom, so I asked to go to the bathroom. I said a prayer in the bathroom to be able to not explode. She had been rambling about the United States, usually that stuff doesn´t bother me at all, I just say to myself, "Self, this person is talking just to talk, to make Guay sound better and I just agree with them to save my neck. Because if I get pro-America I am a punk with a big ego. So after the prayer I was able to just sit down and take it.

Traffic laws don´t get followed here for anything its a little freaky sometimes but you get used to it.

I am so proud that he jumped off the bridge, I actually wimped out when I went on that trip.

That is so cool that you guys are helping the missionaries out, I wish I had done more of that, and I definitely will when I get home, it was super fun the couple times that I did.

I am totally seeing ways that the mission is helping me grow up (a little) and how it will help me out, but I am sure I don´t even know the half of it.

Thanks for the letter

peace love and granola

Elder Barry

July 26, 2010 Pushing through

Hey Bro,
C is already leaving?!?!?! holy cow!!! I feel so old!!! It's so weird to have everyone over there be growing up because for me its still October over there... but C and A already finished a year of school, the kids a year younger are going off to college, dang, so weird... where is C going???

Yep, Montevideo is the capital, its huge... my area is kinda in the outskirts, but innercity pressure baby (PS flight of the concords has a song called intercity pressure) being in the city is a little different, but our ward is pretty big, there are a lot of people and lots want to help us out with the work.

Its so different from Treinta y Tres, my first area, there, some of the kids had never even seen an airplane, except the one time an emergency one flew over, but here we see planes, big jetters fly by all day long hahaha.

My comp is pretty cool, he is super proud of being from Ecuador, its funny, he always points out cool things about his country. He has said multiple times while showing me pictures (in Spanish haha) that he doesn´t have to be jealous of Uruguay because they have just as cool stuff in Ecuador, I just laugh to myself.

I can´t believe the parental units let you watch a whole season of 24, that is so crazy, I am so jealous. Its awesome to hear that you and T are still tight, he is a good friend to all. The canoe trip should be awesome, I loved mine, are you doing it at Lake Ross? That place was super tight...

Talk at you later.
elder B

Hey Parents,
I would like to start this email off with a grand idea... some of my pants are beginning to wear out, because we do a buttload of walking, so I was thinking, could you guys go thriftstore shopping (they don´t have those here) and send me some pants. I don´t need amazing suit pants any day other than Sunday, because only like half the roads are paved in some areas, and I am really bored of the same 5 pairs of pants I wear every day.

Now, story time... this last Saturday my companion and I were out tracting, doing contacts, and he was like, man, I have no urge to work at all today. Everyone was just kinda being bummerlike, basically life was going badly... but I said, something that I learned from my trainer is that when you have no urge to work, it means that you need to work harder, and something else I learned, with my last companion is that when the work is the hardest, that is when the best people are found, he once told me, investigators found on rainy days are always the best new investigators. The day he told me that we found two amazing investigators... so then me and my comp kept working, knocking doors, and then we decided to knock a house and this lady just came out and invited us in... I thought she was a member, she was so excited to see the missionaries. Turns out she was an old investigator who had just never progressed, we had such a spiritual lesson, talking about the restoration of the fullness of the truth and authority, she started to get emotional in the end, and I am so excited to go back now, it was just what we needed in my comps time of depression. We were given a little push to keep us going. my comp later told me that he had been praying for help when she came out.

The church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a bum that Contador, he should feel like garbage for winning like that, but if he had stopped he would have felt bad too, if he had let another guy win because he was too nice, that is a situation number 1, lose lose situation.

That is so cool about girls camp, I just figured anyone could duct tape, but it must be a family gift, that's what I´ll do for a living! Sell duct tape stuff at Folk Life Festival!!! Talk about living the high life. I could buy myself a big two bedroom tent to live under the bridge with!!!

Me and my comp, well, most of the time we get along, the only thing is that Latinos as a whole, tend to be suuuuper blunt. If you do something stupid, they let you know, it is going to take me awhile to get used to. We pretty much always speak Spanish, like 99.9% of the time, so I´ll probably leave this area thinking all in Spanish, right now i am kinda 50/50 in between the two. like today we talked to an English teacher, and doing a contact in English was hard... but I guess that's good, Spanish is what is important right now. haha

Well, love you a lot
have a great week

19 July 2010 Why I'm here

Dad,

So my new area is Montevideo, the real stuff, in the intercity, pretty tight stuff. We are in a specific area, whatever it is, but its legit Montevideo, all of the addresses are Montevideo, not even a suburb, woohoo?

I have heard the people are really rough here, but we already had a baptism on Saturday and have one other guy with a baptismal date but they only had like 3 investigators when I got here, so we´ll see how it works. We did find 5 new people to teach last week, and one more this morning, so we might just blow the area up. Look out world... so far I like this place a lot, they have lots of activities, with treats, we even had treats after the baptism. but the font took 6 hours to fill up, because its winter time I guess the water heater is super slow. Lucky the lady, is really short haha, just kidding.

Aww you get to go to girls camp, that's cute... I love duct tape bag making, I have taught a few missionaries how in my time, the only thing is the lack of duct tape in this country, hint hint?

Way to go on the STP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sounds like it was pretty painful, 12.5 hours is a long time for one butt to sit. Were you alone most of the time, or did you suck wheel? I loved hooking on to groups last time. I better start training to be able to keep up with you in 2 years.

Whoa Mom got the cool kid class calling in Sunday School, I was in that class for almost 4 whole years, I got put in early and then held back I guess, but it was awesome, and Mom will do great. Kids love Mom.

Its so awesome that you guys are sharing the gospel, especially with D, he is awesome and would make a great member of the church, hopefully the missionaries can handle him hehe.

The church es verdadero dad, I know it.
I love you
Barry

Hi mom

The new area is way cool, but super confusing, its huge, and the blocks aren´t square so I am lost a good amount of the time, good thing its not another whitewash... but the members are awesome, now that we are in the real city, Deo, the contacts are rather rough, but the members are cool and want to help, so I´m pretty stoked. this ward has a few places we go when we have nothing else, but so far I have no mother, but LP kinda mothered me out a little bit, oh yeah, P says hi. the baptism was really good on Saturday, the only issue was that it took 6 hours to fill the font, so we did our weekly planning session in the chapel.

Thanks for the warning on the rules, here the rule is that it has to be a priest to go on exchanges, but an adult to go into the house of a woman, does that make sense? Like to have dinner they need the Dad or we need to bring an adult member with us.

One day STP, that is insane, I don´t know if I could ever do that. when I get back, we should do it with the Brother F, that would be way fun.

JJ is going to church!?! I love that kid soooo much, we were buds at work, I hope he likes it, what a stud. Thanks for telling me. That is so cool that people are starting to be interested at work, I mean I knew people loved me, but not that much hahahaha jk

Yeah I am pretty bad at the Bible too, but I started to read the New Testament, its interesting, but I know what you mean, its rough to be outscriptured by someone from another faith and its easy to doubt, but a prophet once said that the most powerful answer is one from the Spirit, and all they have is logic, and the Bible is rather unclear at times, so logic only takes you so far. Without answers to prayers and miracles we are lost in the dark...

The time when I officially decided to go on a mission, I always knew I was going to go on a mission since forever, but I think Camp Helaman was really the time in which it all became real, they better keep doing that, that's really what brought our stake´s priests together, and it was super fun too.

I have had a few experiences when I have KNOWN that the church was true, one, I remember, was at youth conference, when we sang the EFY medley I almost started balling, because I just knew it, I felt the Spirit so strong that I couldn´t deny it... I have loved that song ever since,,,

Well, i love you lots, I turned 9 months old this week :) have an awesome week

Barry

13 July 2010 Changes

Hey mom, hahaha you are my real mom

Sounds like trek was a blast, I'm so jealous... well, I got changed. Pretty exciting, but it was rough saying goodbye to everyone yesterday. It was my goal to still do 20 contacts during the day, because that is the mission goal, and we did it, so I was happy, because usually change day we just go around and say goodbye to everyone without tracting. I am trying to work hard, so it was a good day.

My new comp is from Ecuador, he seems really cool and we have a baptism this Saturday. the area seems like it should be pretty sweet, but it is known for being kind of dangerous.

Elder T, my brother in the mission, is training, he meets his greeny today, that is so crazy!

Thank you for passing that reference, hopefully she will be receptive, or even live at that same house.

That is so awesome that you are working with the missionaries, that takes guts, but families that are friends with and help the missionaries are super awesome so keep it up mama.

So thanks for the recipes, I am excited to try them out. I heard that the blog has had a long time of nothingness, could you please copy over a couple emails, I´ll try to write better in the future.

I love you ton
Elder Barry

be excellent to each other

Hey C, I wrote you a big long one last week, but I don´t think it worked, here it is.

Wow CH leaves really soon, and DL right afer my one year birthday haha. That is so awesome that you went all out for EFY, I wish I had payed more attention, but hey, I got the CWA from EFY so i am pretty stoked about that. I loved it when my company was close like that, it made EFY 10 times funner.

I´ll look up the Mosiah verse, I love the Mosiah 18 though, we found it in the mtc and all fell in love with it, I have totally used it in lessons here, the best eva.

How was the 4th? We had a bbq in our house and watched my illegal copy of toy story 3 that I bought on the street a few days ago. It was in Spanish, but all the words on signs and subtitles when buzz speaks Spanish were in Russian, super funny, and I totally understood all the Spanish, it was funny because the whole movie was in Spanish, so that part didn´t change.

Well, love you tons, tell kessin I love him
Elder Barry

Well it wasn´t that long, but have a great week kiddo, also, look up La Zorra on you tube, its what all the kids listen to here, all the songs are really similar, the music style is called cumbia.

love you

Hey Dad

Ahh!!! the STP is this week that is so crazy!!!! Sounds like trek was the cats pajamas.

We have to pay utilities on the apartment, but the are reimbursable, and we are in charge of finding a house, but prez has to approve it.

but.....

I got transferred. Sounds pretty awesome, my comp is a kid from Ecuador. my area is supposed to be pretty successful, which should be nice, because the people were pretty harsh here in my last area.

Utah and Colorado in the PAC10, haha that's hilarious, I hope they get stomped on, it's funny how BYU stayed, they are going to kick butt in the mtn west, slaughterhouse...

That is so cool to be sharing the gospel, that is something I really wish I would have done more of back home, its super awesome for you guys to do that, and blessings come when you share the gospel, I have seen that sooo much on the mission, obviously that's not why you do it, but it's definitely worth it.

I love you dad

elder Barry

July 5, 2010 Winter holidays in Uruguay

Hey Dad

The game was super intense at the end, was the hand ball to save the goal all over ESPN, or was it just like always where nobody cares about the world cup? That was insane... people went so crazy after the game, it was getting dark, and everyone was in the streets yelling, parading, and honking horns, and everyone had firecrackers. It was so crazy outside that we went in our house to hide from it for a little bit because it was just all a big party. Now Guay plays against Holland tomorrow, we´ll see what happens, should be quite the match.

Also, everyone was pretty stoked that Argentina got schooled the other day 4 to 0, and their star player was clowning Uruguay before the game, it was a proud moment for Uruguayans everywhere.

I´m glad you went to boom city, that is an important tradition to have with the family... also good to get way more than your moneys worth as well, makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside...

Lately my health has been great, I think all it took was for me to get really sick to be able to be healthy. The only thing is that I have allergies, but I always have allergies. Spanish is coming along pretty well, it really helps to have a Latino comp, but I think that we´ll probably get separated next week in changes because we have been together for two changes already, that was fast. But we pretty much always speak Spanish in the streets and even the members have told me my Spanish has gotten better, mostly it has just gotten easier to say what i want to say... sometimes I still get tripped up, but that happens in English too.

Thats so cool that K and D get to chill this week, and that its the trek; that should be pretty tight.

So I have news. we officially got kicked out of our house. we have been looking for a new house for a while but on Saturday we got a call from the zone leaders saying that we had to get out on Monday, so today we got up and moved out all of our stuff to the other elders` house, so now we are living with 6 elders in a 4 elder house, and the other two went farther across town. the agency for renting houses is closed until the seventh, so we are stuck here at least until then... awesome!!! Right now we take a bus into our area in the morning and back at night, woohoo.

Well that is what is going on in the life of Elder Barry, they are in their 2 week winter vacation, so no one was home this week, we walked a looooooot. I came home wiped out a few times this week.

Love you
Elder Barry

Hey Mama

Yesterday we had a Guayan asado, bbq, in our house... so delicious, I bought just over 1 kilogram of meat and it was only like 4 dollars, I was so stuffed.. no fireworks, but we had a blast. then this morning we had to move out of our house, because the landlady is lame so we are living with other missionaries for now, 6 in a house. cool beans. so I got a letter today from AH, i was like NO WAY!!!!! Super cool, but I don´t remember how old she is. So it was pretty fun, good thing we got a good member with a huge truck.

That is so cool that S is like Barry, because Barry is a good person to be, nah, I am proud to look like S does, he is a cool dude.

So I have a request... could you give me the recipes for crepes, Rhonda's chocolate sauce and whipped cream? I feel like I need more sugar hahaha, just kidding they sounded good. I checked my weight and I am back down to about where I was, or wanted to be, when I left, so I feel good again.

Also, my bday is coming soon... this is awkward, but what about an English hymnal, new tennies, or Christmas music? umm, they don´t have root beer, mountain dew, or cream soda here, and American candy!!!!!!! Also my poor tennis racket has no strings in my closet, and I feel its pain... that's random. I flipping don´t know what to say because I don´t like asking for stuff that much. I love you!!!

I am super excited for C too, he is going to be an amazing missionary! What a lucky kid hehehe.

The work is moving, just very slowly... we had a hard week, it's vacations here and nobody is home, so we just had to do a lot of contacts, but we found a way cool 18 year old kid, J, he is so awesome. Well I love you a ton mom

Elder Barry

28 June 2010

Hey Dad!
There was a tie break in Wimbledon that went to 80 78?!?!?! That is insane, once I had a match go almost 4 hours and I wanted to die, I can´t even imagine 11 hours, what studs. that is a mental and physical feat I would not be able to endure, flip son... I don´t think it was even fun at that point, just kind of torture, man they would have had to put me into the hospital after that long. it would be a mental breakdown fo sho.

These members had us over for the guay game, and dang she was a nailbiter for sure, towards the end Uruguay was getting outplayed, flipping koreans run fast. when they added 3 minutes of stoppage time at the end, the hermano swore, he was so nervous, when uruguay scored that second time the family went crazy, their son couldn´t even sit down out of anticipation, being in South America makes futbol 30 times more exciting, I used to think it was soooo boring.

BOOOOOOM CITY!!!! I miss illegal fireworks. They have some good ones here, but no one is going to celebrate the 4th, but since three of us in our house are gringos, we are having a cookout in our fireplace on Sunday, should be pretty awesome and patriotic.

That scripture was super powerful, thank you for sharing with me... general conference is a lot more powerful now that I am focused on the gospel. (Mike shared a story from Elder Bednar in his letter:

As I walked out of the Church Administration Building after my interview with President Hinckley on Friday afternoon, I recalled the words of Enoch:

"And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?

"And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good" (Moses 6:31–32).

For all of us who feel unprepared and overwhelmed and unequal to a new calling or responsibility, the promise of the Lord to Enoch is equally applicable. The promise was true in Enoch's day, and it is true today.)

We are teaching this awesome guy who is the husband of a member who was inactive, they both went to both sessions of stake conference, and stake conference was super powerful, like the spirit was so strong it was amazing. He is so getting baptized, his wife is awesome, and they have a little kid... but sadly i don´t know his name.

Well i love you a lot,

Elder Barry

Hey Momma!!!
People went absolutely crazy when Guay won, we were lucky this time to be out in the neighborhood, because in town there is like a huge parade of cars and everyone yelling stuff like crazy, the only thing that can get Americans to be this patriotic, sadly, is a terrorist attack... wow that was morbid. but I'm glad that dad got excited about it, its good to be into soccer, its a lot more exciting for me now that I am out on the mission. Its rough for my comp to be a missionary right now because he was already super into soccer, and now he has to work, but during Guay games the whole country shuts down, so we've tried to work, but with zero success, so our neighbors invited us over for the last game. Its awesome to have Mormon neighbors, they give us food all the time, and the dad came over and fixed our water heater for free the other day, the besst.

Hopefully they can beat Ghana, it should be rough though, because Ghana runs like crazy, they´re speedsters is what I heard.

One crazy thing I learned in my reading of the new testament is that Jesus is from the line of David right? But he is through the line of Bathsheba... I was so surprised to find that out, but I guess God´s plan is perfect right?

You will be awesome in the triathlon mom, I would absolutely die if I tried to do that, I stink at swimming.

Dang you have a quiet house this week, have fun with it!!

I love you,
Elder Barry

Letters with the siblings 28 June

(Letter from Barry's younger brother)
Hey Bernard!!!
Whats up?? Well it's summer, it has been for a week or so. so far in the summer I have...
-gone to 1 stake dance and 1 epicenter dance
-swam a buttload in our new pool
-watched Star Wars with a bunch of friends hehe it was funny we pretty much made fun of it the whole time...
-hung out with my buds
-went on facebook a lot
-today C and I went to the Spanish branch it is sooo fun to sing in Spanish
AND TOMORROW IS THE START OF E.F.Y.!!!!!!!!!! WOOOO HOOOOO
-C and I both did the random roommate thing soo... idk
Hope you're not kissing any ugly girls down there
Bondi

-I don´t kiss any girls here, hahaha,
-I miss efy you are a lucky dog to be able to go...
So far this winter I have
-gotten sick and had to stay home for 2 days
-bought a guay jersey
-tried chicken hearts, delicious
-done hundreds of street contacts
-been rejected almost that many times
-learned Colombian slang, lampara is a stupid person in Colombia, but everywhere else it just means lamp, they also say man, for man.

Have a great efy hope you find a cute cow (side note from Jenny: EFY is a summer camp for youth called Especially for Youth and COW is your crush of the week at EFY)
love you
Elder Barry

(Letter from younger sister)
hihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihihi Barry!!
ok so this week is efy so I'm the only kid home!!! Which can be a good thing but it can be a bad thing it all depends on my mood. Oh! WE FINALLY GOT A BIG POOL!!!4 feet (tall) by 16 feet (wide)!!!!!I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!!!
I got my hair cut so i now have chin length hair I LOVE IT!!!! Trivia question:What was Getty Lee`s ORIGINAL first name?
D
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::-----------------------------))))))))))))

I don´t remember Geddy´s name, but I think I knew it at one point, shoot.
That is a huge pool!!!! lucky..
Being the only kid home means that you control the tv and the parents, that will be awesome...
We have a cool new investigator guy, but I don't remember his name, he is the husband of a member lady, and is super awesome, we went over to their house and they gave us cookies, and he went to the Saturday and Sunday sessions of stake conference. shveeeet!

I love ya kid
ppppppppppppppppppp eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Letter from the other sister)
Hey hermano!

Guess what!! Chicken butt(: and C and D got their mission calls...
D is going to Mexico and C is going to Atlanta Georgia North
Mission! I was there for C's opening. It was so cool!

This week was fun. This week for mutual we washed cars and it was awesome! Even though it was the MIA maids and laurels combined and I was the only one there with 4
leaders! Hahaha!

Oh another thing is I went to an EPICenter dance(: super
fun! So I went to a dance last week and this week and I am going to efy this
week so that's another 2 dances(: which equals 4 just in case you forgot how
to do math just like you forgot how to spell(: jk!

Well have a wonderful week! Keep that spirit up just remember all the good times you had at efy when your down in the dumps about another slammed door in your face. You are on the Lords errand(: I miss you a lot. Everyone here does.

Love
C

THATS SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love missionary friends!!!! When do they leave?

I never went to an epicenter dance, but they sound super fun, but efy dances are the bees knees!!!!!

You were the only one there?? hahahaha that is crazy!!!

Dang Atlanta Georgia, that's bible belt territory, he is going to have to know the bible backwards and forwards, I still kinda stink at the bible, but i´m learning... have a great week at efy kid!!! I miss everyone too!

chao,
love Elder B

21 June 2010 Sick in bed

Hey Dad,

Well, the week started out awesome, I was sick in bed for 2 and a half days...

I think I had strep. I had to call the area doctor in Argentina and he prescribed me these weird pills, and I had to gargle Listerine, I wanted to punch someone that stuff is evil.

But, the next door neighbors are members, so they let us come over and watch the guay game while I was sick and they gave us food too. Best ever. It was a good game, but a couple of the guayans are bigtime actors, C was getting really excited, but I kinda just wanted to sleep, or die.

But we still got our 140 contacts for the week, that was a miracle. Also i got a jersey, it was only like 10 bucks, and a backpack, that was a little more, but it will last, its a jansport, and it has a guarantee.I think I am always sick because... hmmm I have no idea, it might just be our freezing cold house or the crappy water, or a couple people have cats, but its not allergies, its like a constant cold and sore throat.

Ohh well, we found a lady who is way cool, her name is N and she looks just like Sister T, she is pretty excited about the whole thing, but still hasn´t made it out to church...

Hey i also have a reference for missionaries in our area, she is my friend from work, I don´t know if she still lives there, but if she does awesome. She might not be super open, but if they say Barry sent her she´ll definitely listen... she had a bunch of questions about the church and I figured it would be better if she got a live person to answer them... could you give that to the missionaries to pass over? thank you

I love you a ton.

Elder Barry

P is alright, she didn´t get operated on yet, but she is awesome. We visited her Sunday morning, and she was sewing away, so I stole her sewing stick thing and she whacked me with it. I love that lady. It had been like a week since I saw her and she was like, yay! I thought you had died! And she calls the bug in her stomach her little baby, hahaha.

I don´t think we have mold, it might just be that we live in a cave, and its super cold at night, I have a million blankets, but I still have to breath the air in... I don´t know, I was just in bed for 2 days last week and felt like crap again today, hopefully my body will adjust.

That is so cool that the kids had a pool party, I miss the group, but the mission is better so ha!

So we have an investigator who shared the Book of Mormon with her friend, it was a super cool thing, because her friend wanted to know if little kids should get baptized (no!!) and so, the investigator showed her in Moroni 8 where it answers that, super exciting..

Well, I gotta go I love you. peace

Elder Barry

14 June 2010

Hey Momma

The boys came to church yesterday, they are so funny. One of them got there part way through sacrament meeting super sweaty, I think he rode his bike, sprinting all the way. Then he kept asking me questions, but we would have to shhh him every 10 seconds because his voice would keep getting louder and louder. They just come, and it is like 2 milesish from their house, their grandma is a member but has only come the week they got ordained. but they and they´re 12 year old sister always come, knock on wood.Hey, for the missionaries, I want to know lingo. What do they call a missionary who just does whatever, who doesn´t follow the rules for anyone (Screw)... Also, a girl that flirts with missionaries (snake). If they are under 15 they are a worm hahaha... What about a really boring elder who just works super hard and has no personality (robot)... Also tell them the church is true.

I can´t believe you guys got a pool! That is crazy..

Oh yeah, P, she gets stomach surgery this week, could you keep her in your prayers. but she was pretty excited to have you on facebook, the thing is that hardly anyone has internet in their own house, they have to go to a cafe place, so there are lots here.

Hey, I feel like garbage today, so I kinda just wanna go home and sleep, sorry. pretty much the whole time I have been here I have been at least kind of sick, it really stinks, I would blame my last comp, elder B 2 but he was way too cool to blame for something so lame, I miss that kid...

I love you

elder Barry

Dad,
Almost everything was closed during the game, and tracting was hopeless. we ended up having a lesson with an investigator lady, because she doesn´t like futbol, but her husband and son were watching it in the same room, therefore, we got to see the final minutes, super intense... guay got outplayed, but were able to hold them back, I was pretty impressed, France is way good...

Sorry, I feel like crap, this is going to be short today... in the pictures with the latinos,I was on my tiptoes, hahaha, but they are suuuuper short. My comp is like the shortest in the mish, we converted it the other day and he is 5 foot 2, almost. Also, i am just under 5 foot 11, yeah baby.

For food, an elder in my house buys a buttload of alfajores because they come with world cup cards, so we get to eat them, also, I am on a big oatmeal kick, super easy and way cheap. good thing I had mom´s recipe for it!!!

Me and my companion are pretty close, sometimes our humor doesn´t click, but we get over it. He is hilarious, mostly we´re happy together, I am not looking forward to change day, so I guess that's a good thing.

I love you tons, sorry my emails stunk today

peace love and toaster streudel

Elder B

Overall, like the best day ever. 7 June 2010

Title of email from home: Haven't you ever gotten the Led out? Robert Plant, AC/DC, Motorhead, ahhh what do they teach you in this place?

School of Rock School of Rock School of Rock!!!!!

Best movie ever, I heard that they are making a sequel....

It was really hard to hear D and J, especially since we had brought an hermana with us to all of the visits and the kids were becoming friends and all was fine and dandy and perfect, but es lo que hay. That's what Guayans say for it is what it is.

We found this super awesome investigator recently named G, and he is legit. He was just kinda always searching for religion, because he believed in God, but never really joined up anywhere. It sounds like he has had it kind of rough lately, but he is super nice and interested. We found him on a Saturday night at like 7:00 or 7:30 in the pouring rain. It was already dark, and freezing cold, basically at that point, life stunk. We really had nowhere else to go, so we were knocking doors down the street when we clapped outside of a house on the corner. Turns out we were at the back door, but he came out and directed us around and just let us right in, so awesome. We talked about the Restoration for like 30 minutes, and he had tons of questions, not just random stupid questions, but questions that were important, so we taught; thought, he is cool, then left.

Then last Saturday I came by, because he had been busy all week, with our district leader Elder H, and we just talked with him. It started with asking if he read the pamphlet, and then he just started talking about it. It was super spiritual, we explained the importance of the Book of Mormon, and the fall of Adam and Eve. I taught about the fall, and explained it more clearly than I ever had before, even in English, and as we were talking, all four of us were learning through the spirit, and dang, I didn't want to leave... but we did and you could tell it really meant something to him. i felt great, then we had interviews for B and G, they both passed, and while H did those I played computer with all the little cousins. He finished and came in and was like, Elder, how old are you!!?? I was like "callate la boca que el juego es divertido". But he just laughed and we went on our way. Super great night...

Overall, like the best day ever. (translation from Jenny: Shut your mouth that game is fun.)

Love ya

Peace

Elder Barry

The baptisms went through and it was way tight. The bishop baptized one of them and the young men's president the other. My comp is sending a pic I hope. One of the kids B didn´t show up until like 625 and the baptism started at 6. His grandma was like, oh he probably just forgot. ahhh! Not what I wanted to hear. But he was just late he had to take the bus...

Yesterday our next door neighbor received his mission call to Ecuador! He was super excited, he has waited like 2 or 3 months to recieve his call, he cried in sacrament meeting. He said in his testimony that everyone has their time, and everyone has their angel, and he hopes to be the angel for many people these two years. That hit me hard, he is so pumped, I think I was more excited for him than I was for myself. He leaves in August.

Anyways, alls well here, sending picture cards home this week I promise.

love you

elder barry

June 1, 2010

Wow girl pants!!!!!

Thats amazing that you're going to hi-cap, tell Mrs. S. hi for me!!!

I am doing awesome, those two boys we were teching, G and B are ready for baptism and we are going to visit to have the baptism this Saturday at 6 my time. One of them is 14 and the other is 12. They are super cool, also I get to stay with the Elder C for 6 more weeks!

Hey parents!

This is to both cuz the computer is stupid and freaking out so now I have no time.

Soooo, last night something not so great happened. my comp and I fasted during this last week so that D and J could receive an answer if the Book of Mormon is true, and so yesterday we went to their house and they came out to meet us instead of just letting us in.

They broke up with us. They said that we can come over any time, like we're great friends, but they donｴt want to talk about the church any more. He felt like he just couldnｴt keep steadily doing the commitments and she had quite the story. She read on saturday night, and then woke up Sunday with the urge, the big urge to go to church. Way cool right? But she interpreted it as the community church around the corner. I didn't think that could happen. She got her answer, she knew the gospel was true, but she totally took it wrong and now our way cool family isn't interested in the true church. At least she got her answer, and I know sometime in the future they'll realize, but for now, they invited us to their little girls baptism in 2 weeks...

On a happy note B and G, the kids are way ready and their baptism is on Saturday, wooo

and my bank card works again, I got a scarf and a beanie today.

Love you tons

Elder Barry

24 May 2010

Hey Mamma!
That's so cool about DC it sounds like it was a ton of fun!

This week was way awesome. We walked soooo much though. the goal for the zone was to get lessons with a member present, so every night we called members in the ward to come out with us to our lessons the next day. It was so much fun, and now lots of our investigators have a friend. I also doubled my old record of lessons with a member present in one week.

There is this family in our ward the R's, who are way cool. They all live in the same area too. They have just like half a block of houses of just them. They are on two different streets with all of the back yards connected if that makes sense. But they are all so cool. I was on exchanges with the district leader and we walked down their street and all of the kids ran up to say hi and shake our hands, it was so cool. they have like a huge army of children, so the kids are never bored, they just play with each other. The other day we played tag with them for a second, and i swear there was like 25 kids!!!

Also, the two kids didn´t come to church this week so we have to postpone the baptism, I don´t think they are ready, they are good kids, so they´ll get there, we just need to work with them more...

Well i love you tons mom.

peace

elder b

Hey Pops,

I was teaching my comp some Ebonics this week, must have been some kind of brain connection thing we have.

This week was a lot better than last one, we had 16 discussions with a member present. it was the goal for the zone to get lots, so we called members every night to help us the next day. It was way cool working with members, and it also helped the investigators to realize that Mormons are normalish people, sometimes. We had an investigator lady come to church today who is super awesome, her name is L, and she is basically already a member, just she has to get married. but she said that she went to Deo to do the papers this week, so things are rolling, I am way pumped to see her baptized, because she will be an awesome member in our ward. we also had a lesson with her in the chapel after church yesterday, with a member lady, and the member lady kinda laid it out flat on her the importance of getting married, and the importance of being baptized and a member, it was so awesome, and having it come from a member was so much more meaningful, I think it actually might happen.

Also our other unmarried investigator A has a marriage date set up with the court for I think June 16th, wooyeah, I think we'll baptize her around the 25th.

But our superstar investigators are D and J, they ARE married and way accepting to the gospel, could you guys please keep them in your prayers, we talked about baptism with them during this last week and they totally seemed down with it. The only thing is that she smokes, so we have to work on that, but I have faith in her, but more in the power of God.

yay mission!

love you a lot.

barry

hey C, I haven´t written K yet, but just you wait...

Elder C is way cool, I love him and its totally cool if you marry him I think he sent you a pic. Anyways, I am super out of time today sorry(canadian accent)... tell K I'm working on a super good letter for her this week, so just prepare yourself...

I love you tons, sorry you have rabies hahaha. Myth, 4 people die every year of rabies in the US, fact, 5 people die every year of rabies in the US. look out crazy. dude school is almost out that is so crazy, tell folks hi!!

peace out

love

Elder Bronson