One Week Left!

Another week. Another awesome week. And it flew by. So what to write about? I´m not sure. Proselyting was way fun (noticed I spelt it right?) (NOTICE WHAT HE MISSPELLED! SO FUNNY.) Yes, I could understand mostly what people said and we did pretty good. We are pretty sure that two people are going to read the Book of Mormon and 1 might. So. I think all in all it was a mission complete. Nothing else to say though. Kinda awesome. I really don´t have much to send this week. Except that I only have a week left here at the CTM. You might not get a letter from me next week cause I´m flying to the best mission ever. My district would disagree though. They all are going to Curitiba. But mine is better and I´m so excited to go and so ready to go, too. I´m going to leave you with something that I wrote down in my LSJ1. (Little Study Journal 1) On Sunday we had a fast and testimony meeting and one of the Elders said something that really hit me. Usually when people talk about missions they say we are giving up two years of our lives. Well he said `We aren´t giving up two years, we are still living (and enjoying) life.´ It´s so true. I´m not giving up anything. So when you are going on a mission. Enjoy it. Because really you aren´t giving up anything. You´re gaining more. Becoming better and stronger. Endure to the End Signing Out Elder Barry

Can you pick out Elder Barry?

Every Tuesday morning Elder Barry and his district go to the Sao Paulo Temple. We received the picture from his District President with this note:

Dear Missionary Parents,
We are delighted to send you these photos that we took with your missionary and his district at the São Paulo Temple last week on their P-day. Sister Pratt and I are privileged to work with your son at the São Paulo MTC where I serve as his branch president. Thank you for sending such a wonderful young man to do the Lord’s work here in Brazil. We can assure that he is healthy, happy, making amazing progress, and becoming an even better young man than the one you sent only a few weeks ago. You would be astounded by his progress in such a short time. It is miraculous. We love serving with him.

Warmest Regards,

Elder Pratt

Then we received a second more personal note:
Dear President and Sister Barry,

Elder Barry is great. We especially love his music. It is wonderful to have someone who can play the piano and sing so well. Thank you for teaching him and preparing him in every other way to serve. He played some of the accompaniment music for the entire MTC in our mission conference last Sunday, and always either plays or leads the music in our branch. His district is remarkable. They have such a wonderful spirit about them. They are all trying so very hard to do everything that the Lord would have them do. Working with them and the many others like them at the MTC is truly one of the highlights of our mission here in Brazil.

Of all the mission rules we have, not hugging the elders is THE hardest for Sister Pratt to keep, so I will just have to hug him for both of us and both of you (I think that’s four). That should be a very easy assignment even though – as you can see from the pictures – I will have to hug upJ
Elder Pratt

Trying to spell Proselyte

Wow, it´s another week already. I really don´t know what to say this week that is much different than last week. I don´t know if I told you that prosilyting or however you spell it, was really really cool. It was an awesome experience. I´m excited for everyone that we were able to give a Book of Mormon to and hope that they read it. It´s a big trusting experience when you don´t know the language all that well and you are teaching other people why it´s so important. It´s hard to change exactly what I want to say form English to Portuguese. But really that´s when I step back and think. It´s not what I have to say, it´s what the Lord wants to say. So then with that thought I´m going to prosylite (Tried to spell it different, still doesn´t look right) this Friday again but this time we are going in to the Big City, Literally, we are going into downtown São Paulo to try to talk to people. I´ve heard there is a bridge that over 1 million people walk over it in a day, so pretty much I think I´ll be on that bridge... the whole time. I´ve got 1 million people to talk to. Well today, The 21st of September or Vinte e Um de Setebro is our district leader´s birthday. He´s 21, yeah, kinda old, but I´m probably the closest with him. His name is Elder Dohrman if you wanted to know. But the real reason I told you this is so I can tell you that we went to a place called "Churrascaria" and it was the best thing ever. You know those "Brazilian" places that they serve the meat and walk around from table to table and stuff... yep. Went there, did that, be jealous, so good. I must tell you that I went in bravely and came out feeling great. Also I must tell you that I had cow hoof which tasted like beef roast (roast beef?) and then had a chicken heart which tasted more like sea food then chicken. So I´m working on being awesome in Brazil. I don´t know what else to say though, hmmm... I must say that a mission has been the best experience of my life so far, I´m so glad that I´m here. It definitely changes how you see things. Brasil is definitely not the USA but it definitely is just so awesome. It´s a different beauty here. Well, I want to leave with saying, be strong like unto Moroni. Shake the very foundations of Hell. Be like Joseph Smith and be a disturber and an annoyance of the "Kingdom" (If you can call it that) of the Devil.
Endure to the End. (Perserverar Até o Fim.)
Signing Out, Elder Barry

Holiday in Brazil

So another week has come by and you´re probably thinking why there wasn´t a letter on tuesday... let me splain. Tuesday or 7th of September or Sete de Setembro is Independance here in Brasil. So they moved my P day to Wednesday because the temple is closed and all the shops were closed and it would of been a pretty lame P day if I didn´t have anywhere to go. So that is the reason you are getting this letter a day late. So a couple weeks ago we had a district meeting and my district leader gave us amazing counsel. His name is Elder Dohrman and he is 20 and turning 21 on the 21st of September (Remind anyone of divine comedy?) and he just plain awesome. But the counsel he game us is more like a phrase that can be used for many different things. The phrase goes like "As a disciple of Christ I AM _______, No longer ______" So using this phrase I just want to say that as a disciple of Christ I AM Elder Barry serving in the Brasil, Brasilia mission and learning portugues in the CTM, No longer Matthew John Barry who composes music and plays frisbee all the time. This is good advice for anything. This of how this could help you in your life. Not just as a disciple of Christ but as a student in college i am, or as a mission president I am. This phrase could be used to set goals and figure out what you can do to change your life just for the better. Well before my time is up i want to talk about my District just so you know who is all there. As i said there is our district leader and his name is Elder Dohrman. He´s from Washington and his town is in the Kennewick mission :). He´s 20 and turning 21 soon and is just like an older brother. He wants to own his own restaurant and he loves to cook and sing. His companion is Elder Stevenson. Elder Stevenson is also from Washington. Just barely off of Seattle. He pretty tall and has a blonde small mowhawk. He wants to be an engineer when he grows up and build things. He´s not exactly sure what though. He wants to build the next big thing. Then the next person is our AP, His name is Elder Burright. Elder Burright is from Oregon boardering washington. He´s very very into music and knows literally everything. He loves all types of music and can talk about anything forever. He want to do Law and actually went to BYU right before he left. He plays the guitar and loves to sing. He´s a really cool person and is just so funny. His companion is Elder Croskrey. Elder Croskrey is from Washington as well. He wants to be a photographer. He loves art stuff and has red hair. He also went to BYU right before he left and didn´t know his companion before he cam out but by happen chance Elder Burright and Elder Croskrey know that same person. They just never met each other before they left. My Companion is Elder Robinson and he is the oldest kid out of 13. He´s from missouri and we home schooled his whole life. He´s very patriotic and wants to build and sell weapons after his mission. He sticks strong to his opinions and is pretty steadfast and immovable. He´s the shortest of everyone in the district I´m pretty sure and has glasses. This is my district. My family here in the CTM and they are all totally different people. We all work so hard to be able to work together and get along. I think we might be the tightest knit district here at the CTM cause we always do everything together. Unfortunately this friday we can´t. We are going out into Sao Paulo and handing out Books of Mormon to the people. Pretty much contacting. Kinda crazy and I´m freaking scared. Endure to the End. Signing Out