Aug 31, 2010 - From the CTM - It's hot but that's okay, I'm sitting in class all day

So it´s been another week. Another week that flew by on the wings of the Spirit. I think now I´ve started to get into the rhythm of things here at the MTC. First off, Learning a language at the MTC is like a roller coaster as maybe Jessica or David would know. One day you feel great and on the top but when you´re at the top it´s one quick descent to the bottom. Then you start flying all over the place and change ever second. Then you hit bottom again and have to start the long journey back to the top. Everytime it happens it´s a totally different experience too. That´s one big roller coaster. To top that off you´re riding two roller coasters simutaniously. So on one you´re up but down on the other... It´s one hard experience. But it´s still fun to do it everyday.

So last week I bought a little book that I can put in my back pocket and write things in. Like a little thought book. This is the first week I´ve been using it and wow. I have so many random thoughts that have come to my head that I write down. First off though I want to share a word my companion Elder Robinson found last week. It´s "Enforcar-se" and it means (Drum Roll Please) 1) To hang oneself by the neck 2) To lose money... and also 3) To get Married. Wow, what a great word. Love it. Moving on.

This week I realized that my mission is like a tithing for my life up till know. By the end of my mission I´ll be 20 and I would have paid 2 years to the Lord. It´s such a weird thought. I guess everyone pays a tithe on their life through callings, missions and service. It´s one strange thought. And by the way I´m still the same person.

I read and finished "Our Search for Happiness" by Elder Ballard in two days. Well, I said I was going to explain what I learned about "The Good Samaritin" Parable. A man goes from Jerusalem to Jericho. If you know anything about how high those places are above sea level, Jerusalem is way high and Jericho is really low. So this man goes from a high to a low place and is robbed or striped of his raiment. Basically he is striped of all knowledge if it works in the sense I am saying it. First a Rabbi passes on the way. This shows us that other religions can´t help this man. Then a Levite passes by. This signifies the Aaronic Priesthood. Even though it is vital for us, it can´t always help us. Then last a Samaritin comes. Samaritins in that time were people most hated by the Jews. Who else was most hated of the Jews? I wonder... maybe Christ. So this man takes us to an inn and PAYS for our stay and says he will return later to see how we are doing. So not only is "The Good Samaritin" about being kind to everyone, it´s also telling us about the Plan of Salvation.

Remember that Christ loves you and that I love you. Have a wonderful week. I would like to challenge you this week to read the parable of "The Good Samaritin" and share it with your family in some way or the other. Have a wonderful time. The Lord loves you all. Endure to the End. Stay Strong. Signing Out Elder Barry

Mission Post (Don't Worry)

 Ha ha, So what doing here is scheduling a post to post on August 27th 2010. Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm in the MTC. You're probably thinking why is there a post on his blog. Well today is really June 20th, 2010. I'm just giving you a little somethin' somethin' to look forward to while i'm gone. I know, a little strange, but keep checkin the blog to see if somethings strange happens. I think I'll be giving my mom my blog stuff and she'll post letters on here. Hopefully it'll work and we'll both remember. I'm sure this wont have any meaning to some of you but IF you receive a mission call or get married while i'm gone... I better get a letter or an email to whatever email I have then. That too will most likely be posted in the blog somewhere. Oh, Check out the pages too. I think i'll put things there for you to look at and behold the awesomeness... Probably just contact info and other stuff like the email i'm supposed to give you or something... But please do check and have a wonderful 2 years. I'll hopefully see you later... unless you randomly fall off the face of the earth.

I wonder if I can get that now?
 Well now meaning June 20th 2010

Signing Out
Elder Barry

August 24, 2010 - From the CTM

Hello from Brazil the most beautiful place on earth with the friendliest people I think I have ever met. Seriously. I think I've hugged more missionaries here or hugged more males than I have ever in my entire life. And I´ve only been here for about 3 weeks. It´s really crazy and I love them so much. One thing, if you ever come to Brazil soccer is huge here. I´ve learned about 3 or 4 different teams and I think I´m going to be buying jerseys of random teams I find. I´m pretty darn excited. I have this paper I carry around in my pocket and I write down thoughts that I want to send home to my Family and Friends. So here they come. First. Brazilians see Americans and jump to all the American movies they´ve seen and match famous actors, artists and stuff to American missionaries. In my district apparently we have David Beckham, Johnny Depp, Jack Johnson, Clark Kent, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Multiple others too. Apparently I look like Johnny Depp... Kinda weird. One of the Brazilians was joking around with me and asked me when I was going to shoot the Fourth Pirates of the Caribbian movie. I thought it was funny. My response to him was I´m setting my movie career aside for now. Next thing I learned this last week is there is no connection between ASL and Portuguese. I´ve tried to find something but I think ASL was stuck in a box when all the languages chose teams. Poor poor Sign Language. When I want to say a word and and don´t know it in Portuguese, I start to sign the word. Then remember no one here knows anything about sign language... so I have to actually use my voice. It´s kinda difficult sometimes. So another thing is that when I left home I thought I´d be setting aside all music when coming on a mission. That´s a totally different story here. I´m in the Choir, my district likes to sing, we are going to do prelude to some meeting and I´m singing/Playing the piano for them and the lady here who is in charge of the music has given me music to practice. So now I need to to find time to do that. It´s crazy. Crazy fun though. I also have decided this last week the Elder Holland is probably one of my favorite apostles. He´s so strong and if you don´t want to listen to him. He won't care. But his message will break down the wall you tried to build. So you might as well listen to him on your own free will. This last week I also learned something really cool about the parable of the Good Samaritan. For everyone it is saying be kind to everyone. But if you read it very carefully you´ll learn it has a deeper meaning. Read it. Study it this week. Next week I´ll tell you what I learn from that story. I have about 7 minutes left to write a letter. and I don´t know what to say. I´m sure by now you´ll have a headache from reading this letter as it crammed together cause I have no 'Enter' button to make it look any nicer. Oh the language here is difficult. As you can already tell I´ve tired to find a medium between English and Portuguese and I haven´t found anything. I´m pretty sure I´ll learn this language before I leave the mission in two years. But right now I only can follow a little. Literally follow... almost. The word ´To Speak´ in portuguese is 'Falar". Almost sounds like follow. The hardest part right now is congugations and spelling if you haven´t noticed. I think my spelling is deterioating. so... yeah. Not much to say here.
Signing Out Elder Barry

#2 from the CTM - written without an Enter button

Hello everybody. It´s me again. Surprised? I am. I felt like yesterday that I was writing this letter back home. Literally it was yesterday. It´s amazing how fast time flies when you´re studying the gospel and language. It´s very fun. So if my letter looks weird it´s cause the Enter button doesn´t work here and some of the buttons of these keyboards are in a very weird place. So I have a couple of new things that happened this week and I think I wrote all of them down so I could tell you but if I forgot one don´t hate me, ok? So first of all I learned this week that the hardest part about the mission... Well the hardest part for me is figuring out my companion and figuring out how he works. It was really hard to talk to him and to study. We finally worked it out though so we´ll see how this goes. Next. I was in this choir for a dedications of a new Chapel that is just up the street from here. It was really, really fun and I was asked to sing a small tiny solo in one of the songs. It was really tiny and I didn´t do all that good but it was a fun choir thing. Something to keep me singing. I love singing. Ok next. The coldest it´s gotten here is a balmy/warm low 60 degrees. It wasn´t that cold and while all the missionaries from the USA had short sleeved shirts, all the Braziladoes had on about 3 jackets/sweaters. It was really really funny. We all liked it and it was just fine. AAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNDDDDDD next. My regular day starts at about 6:20 in the morning. I wake up. Take a shower and get ready for breakfast at 7:00. I eat, like usual, really fast and me and my whole district get up to our classroom before 7:30. From 7:30 to 8:30 we have personal study. Then we have class from 8:30 to 12:15. Then we go eat Lunch. Companion study is from 1:15 - 2:15 then we have MDT (Missionary Directed Time). Then GYM time which is one of the best times of the day. Then we have MDT again. At 4:45 till 5:45 we have dinner. Then more classroom from 5:45 - 9 o clock. At 9:00 we do our daily planning for the next day, have a snack, write in my journal, floor, district, companion and personal oração (Prayer). Then it lights out at 10:30 which I am the king of the light switch. My room might be a little annoyed about it though. Right at 10:30 our lights go out give or take a minute. It´s pretty epic and pretty fun day. But today (Tuesday) is my P Day so I write a letter. Get up at 6 o clock to go to the temple and do whatever I want till 4. Then we have more stuff we need to do. I love going to the temple everyweek. It´s one of the highlights of the week. The other highlight is GYM time which we play Volleyball. We can´t play soccer down here because the Braziladoes get too competitive. So the things we can do are volleyball, basketball, running, and a couple of other things which are pretty cool... (Not really much more to do). But I love being busy here at the CTM because I don´t have to worry about what I need to fill my day. It´s all planned for me. I just need to decide if I´m going to follow that plan. Which I do. And I need to choose what to study for Personal, Companionship study and MDT. But other than that it´s a simple amazing spirit filled life. One word of advice to everyone who hasn´t gone out yet. Label all your clothes. You´ll throw them in the wash with everyone in your room usually cause it´s easier and if they are marked then it makes life so much easier. "My life flows on in endless song above earths´ tempations". So think about that. Have a wonderfull week cause I will. Endure to the End. Let the Holy Spirit guide. Go to the temple as much as possible. Study hard. Be kind to everyone. Read the most amazing book on earth "The Book of Mormon ". I love you. Signing Out Elder Barry

The 1st letter from Brazil

Picture of everyone who entered the CTM with Matt. He is the back row 3rd from the left.


"Hello everybody, How is everybody doing? I hope you´re pretty good. Personally I´m doing wonderful. So the computer I´m typing on is kinda weird. Like there are too many buttons and I keep hitting the wrong ones for the ones I want. So I know you want to hear about Brazil. It´s a country that´s bigger that the United States. So it´s pretty amazing. Huge. The CTM (MTC) is pretty good and honestly the food isn´t all that bad. I do have a lot of gas though but I guess that´s just my body getting used to what i´m eating... which is a lot. I wish I could say that I´ve gained weight like the rest of my district but unfortunately I´ve preobably lost a pound. Which just doesn´t make sense. I eat so much here. I´m full almost all day and I still lose pounds. It´s a curse. But I think it´s a curse I´ll live with. This place is pretty amazing. Something I thought was cool is the sidewalks. Every store and every house is in charge of their own side walk. So there are side walks that look horrible then the next moment there is one that is tiled. Then you trip because the next on goes up three feet like it´s a driveway. It´s pretty intense and pretty freaking awesome. Also the Motor cyclists are crazy here. They go on the lines of the highway and go anywhere they want. I heard a story from my teacher that sometimes the motor cyclists will put out their legs and kick of side view mirrors. I don´t know if that´s true of not but that´s what I´ve heard. My companions name is Elder Robinson. He´s short and is totally opposite than me. I´m spratic and kinda laid back where he´s more strict about rules. When the rules don´t say about a certain thing he worries about it. But it´s a good thing right. I´m tall and skinny and he´s shorter and broad. He wears glasses and I don´t. He has wonderful nice handwriting where as mine looks horrible. My district is amazing. We are learning pretty fast and I´m pretty sure everyone else is learning slightly faster than me. But it´s nice to have people who know what they are doing. The language is hard. But I´m pretty sure I´ll get it eventually. Before I go I want to share something I thought about. So when mirrors are across from each other it looks like they go on forever and the thought hit me today that it shows so much how our life is. We can see to a certain point but the farther you go the more blurry it gets and the harder it is to see whatever you´re looking at. Finally you can´t see anymore cause it´s so blurry. We can´t see around that bend on the mirrors. But God can. So trust in him and he will help you. He will be with you always and her loves you. Too find out if he does love you pray to his with faith. James 1:5 says "ask and ye shall receive". Just ask him with faith. Nothing wavering. The gospel is true. I love you. Stay strong. Endure to the End.
Signing Out Elder Barry"

The Lost Posts... or Last Post(s)... same thing right?

So this is being posted right about the time I'm being set apart.
Pretty Cool eh?

But I just want you all to know that I love you so very very much. You're probably thinking "How can he love everyone?" Three words "Gospel of Christ".

It true that when you live the gospel of Christ that you love everyone and want to share the gospel with everyone. "Be not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." Share it because it's the most amazing feeling when the spirit takes over and you feel amazing. (Hello, Department of Redundancy Department... I've got a friend... yes I actually do have friends.) It's amazing how just opening your mouth and talking can help any situation.

Story time.
So this past weekend I went to Flo-rida ok just Florida but that's not important. The important part is that I flew to Jacksonville. (On a plane you silly.) The best part about being on planes is they shove you in this tiny seat with a tiny back with a tiny table in a tiny row on a tiny plane. (Who came up with that plan?) As you're on this plane they don't let you sit by yourself. Oh no no no. They shove twelve more people into the same row where only 2 people could fit comfortable. So you get to by "happen chance" meet people.
Hey how is you?
Is this your foot?
Mind if i sleep on it for a while?
Ok so they aren't THAT small but anyways. I got to meet some wonderful people. (Yes there is a point to this story) I met 3 on the way out and their names are Val, Bob and Kenny. Val and Bob are husband and wife and they live in South Carolina working for Michelin Tire company. It was pretty cool eh. Me and Val talked while her husband sat... and sat... and sat some more (What else can you do? You're sleeping on someones foot.) Me and Val sat and talked about everything and I told her about missions and unfortunately I didn't think about getting their address and sending missionaries over. But I'm hoping I sparked her interest cause we talked a lot about Brazil and Missionary work. She was pretty awesome
Next I talk to Kenny... Not much to report except he's awesome. Him and some other guys are trying to start a resort in the Bahamas. Really cool. He also is starting something called "High Life" They are bumper stickers. Look it up... but I don't know if he has something up yet. It's basically  talking about "High life" Meaning Camping and hiking and stuff like that. He got the idea from people who do something called "Sea Life". Sea life is about oceans. So he does mountains. I thought it was pretty darn awesome. He was a cool guy.
But the important part about this story was coming home. I met a Lady name Joyce Donning. She was the coolest old Lady I have ever met outside my family and Spencer Thomas's Great-Grandma. We talked about religion about half of a 3 hour plane ride which ended up in getting her address. Her getting a little small copy of the Book of Mormon (that thank goodness someone one one row up had and gave to her.) She was interested which was really cool considering that I was Crammed in the seat beside her.

The moral of this story is don't give up. Open up your Mouth. The Spirit will help. The Gospel is True.

*This has not be an advertisement for any company, group or name... or maybe it has*

I just want to let you know I love you and I hope the best for you. All of you in High School, live strong in an environment where it is kinda hard to live so. Whatever you are in, excel and strive to be YOUR very best in it. Have a wonderful time and make the most of it. College buckos... College is amazing and you are going to love it so much. Just like high school live strong even though everyone around you will be living the way you are. Well most of every body depending on where you are going. Strive to do your best in your classes because statistics show... when who cares what they show. Just do your best because the transition into college is pretty hard. All males, I hope to see you out in the mission field. Live worthily so you can be out there for the best years of your life. I expect a letter telling me where you're going. Females, live strong and be an example to the males around you. Help them out as they strive to go on a mission and return with honor. If you get married while I'm gone it better be to an amazing guy because I wont be able to inspect him. Live worthy to enter the temple because it is the most amazing place on this earth and strive to always have the spirit in your lives.

Try to apply principles into your week that you find in the scriptures and write down your experiences.

I love you all so very much

Signing Out
Elder Barry