So yes. This letter has come early. Do you wanna know why? Do ya? I´m not sure if you really want to know so I´ll save this one... for... later...
This week has been awesome. Ok, so that is a bit of a overstatement. For me it has been awesome but for our area it was a so-so week. So-so because our investigators have been mole (look it up, in Português.) We would invite people to church and we had no investigators come. It was really sad to see these people forget. But what made our week really good is we got 2 less actives to church. One was a baptism of my trainer and she kinda fell but she came last week and LOVED it. Then the other person we got to come to church was a man who has been out of the church for 6 years. He´s pretty old, maybe 60 or 70. He was drinking and smoking but we kept trying to help him. He hasn´t drunk for 2-ish weeks now and he wants to stop smoking and he came to church last Sunday. Man!!! It was awesome to see him there. He loved it and when we went to his house later he looked so much better than the first time we met him.
I bet you still want to know why this is on Monday.
Então... Alma 29:9 probably is one scripture that really hit me this week. Look it up. It´s really good.
So I have a question...I´ve been hearing rumors... well... I don´t know exactly so I´ll ask straight up... I heard they changed the age that young men can go on missions to 18... is this true in the USA? Cause my companion said our bishop said that young men now can go when they are 18. I´m wondering if this is only Brasil or the whole world...
Story time. This week I got bit by a dog. Yes... not bad and not bleeding. We went to an investigator's house to talk to him. His door was closed and so we were knocking. Well, outside his door there was a dog. This dog was barking up a storm at us. (Yes a storm.) so I knocked once and we waited while this dog 'storm' barked at us. This 'lightning' dog was probably mad because we were on "his" property. So we waited... Bark bark bark... man, it was pretty annoying. So we still waited. Then I decided to knock again. That´s when thunder bark here made his move. He basically jumped at my leg... it felt so weird. I wasn´t expecting this so it was a surprise. Both my legs went numb for 3 seconds... just weird. But there was no wound. And there goes thurder bark... barking away... again. We finally just left lightning there to his pride. But that is the story of my first dog attack. That´s when I learn that most dogs here are all bark... not bite. The End.
The best experiences I´ve had happen when I study the Book of Mormon. I love this book so much and you should see my scriptures. Holy cow... the Book of Mormon is pure gold and full of such amazing words of wisdom. Man. If I could say anything to everyone it is to get a new Book of Mormon from a distibution center, a really cheap one. Then pick a word to look for while you study. Right now I look for the word faith or faithful or faithfulness. Everytime I come across this word I mark it in green. I like the green because faith is like a seed. So it´s in green. Then of course I have a red pencil and mark the other things I like in that color. My understanding and comprehension of the Book of Mormon has sky rocketed. I know it´s hard to always study everyday but I know it will bless your life. No one is too busy to study. You can study for at least 15 mins a day. I probably do 30 mins a day or more depending on the day. But it is so worth the time.
Ok, so this letter is on a Monday because tomorrow we have a general authority coming to our mission. Elder David A. Bednar is coming to our mission. I´m so excited. Way excited. Excited because we have gotten talks from him to read before he comes and they are about faith. And just by happen chance that is what my Book of Mormon study has been about, faith. It´s so cool to mix both of them together and learn more.
So that´s it for my week.
Endure to the End
Signing Out
Elder Barry
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Happy in Brasilia
(I decided to ask Matt lots of questions in my last letter to him because of the woefully lack of information in his last week's letter. He delivered! - Mom Barry)
I like having questions to respond to. Because I really don´t know what to talk about. So here we go
My apartment is actually a small house. There are 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms and 4 missionaries. I´m probably being spoiled for my first transfer but it´s awesome. It literally is a house and it´s pretty good. We are only there really in the morning and at night. Then on P day it´s almost all day we are there.
My living conditions are fine. I´m not complaining. It´s simple and basic and I like it that way. I´m pretty sure when I get home that I´ll be fine with anything because being a missionary really helps you learn the basics. It´s like that talk by, I think, President Uchtdorf. Back to the Basics. I´m learning what a basic living standard is and living off it. It´s great and I really love it.
My working area is Sobradinho 1. I think it is that place with the most hills. We walk up and down hills all day and my legs are going to be beasts by the end of this transfer. I do have a picture of some of these things but the computers we email on are unreliable and last time my companion got a virus on his camera card. So I think I´m going to wait until I get a reliable computer.
The food is great, rice and beans usually every meal and it is way good. Every lunch is usually provided by a member or less active and other than that we are on our own. Oh, and P Day´s we need to find our own food. Usually for breakfast I don´t eat or I have a bowl of oatmeal with bananas, milk and chocolate. Just healthy awesome.
We have a washing machine that we throw our clothes into and it does an awesome job. Then we hang clothes out to dry. Just so cool. It shows that you don´t really need a dryer. Actually you don´t really need a washer either but it takes too much time to wash our clothes so we have a machine.
Yes, we are teaching people. We found someone named Ludimar and he is just golden. We taught him everything in four days straight and he´s accepted everything. Then yesterday we started teaching Sebastian and he seems golden too. We don´t have any baptisms yet and I probably would not tell you when I do. Just cause the baptisms don´t matter. What matters is if they stay firm in the church. I really wouldn´t mind getting only 1 baptism and having it be ther strongest member ever. That´s all I really want.
My Companion has been out for about a year and 5 or 6 months. He´s way good at the language and I´m just following him around trying to teach when he tells me to. He´s going to go to BYU Idaho after his mission.
My mission president is awesome. Basically he told me that he is my Dad now. (Sorry, dad just got kicked out for 2 years) He is, from what i´ve heard, the most strict mission president here. We have the missionary handbook which he´s changed some of it for our mission and then we have another page of rules for our mission that we carry around in our little book. But as we follow these we do a lot better. So I´m glad we have them. But I can tell you it will be weird to have a different mission president in a year.
The ward is pretty great. Just a wonderful welcome. Right now we are working on reactivating people. We´re working on the members too.
People always ask how tall I am and I am almost 2 meters tall. Freak, it´s tall and weird to be able to see all the way down a hall with no problems.
The City I am in is a semi-rich area. It´s a wonderful area. I love it and when it rains... is pours, holy cow. If it rains during the day and stops then it´s really, really hot. I don´t know why really.
So I wanted to tell you that there are awesome talks by Elder David A. Bednar. Look up his talk named "Ask in Faith". I´m pretty sure it´s the name. It has one point I want to tell about. It talks about people praying for the missionaries to have people to teach. Well if you are asking in Faith and faith is a principle of action. Then do it. Find those people for the missionaries. I know the mission has changed my view a lot about missionary work. I know it will help us so much and help this church grow if the members start doing the finding. The Missionaries are called to be full time teachers. The members are called to be full-time finders. It´s something that will help this work along. Honestly if people start finding people for the missionaries, we would have so many people in this church because when a friend asks a friend to start learning then the people probably will. If a missionary stops by and asks them about it they probably won't listen because the missionary is someone they don´t know. So like every good missionary I want to invite you to find someone you can share this Gospel with. It really isn´t that hard. Everyone knows at least one non-member and if everyone invited that one friend then we would have so many more people to teach. Please take this and do it. I know before my mission I didn´t think much about missionary work but now I´m realizing how much members have a role. Right now I´m pretty much begging you to help the missionaries.
I love you all.
Endure to the End
Signing Out
Elder Barry
I like having questions to respond to. Because I really don´t know what to talk about. So here we go
My apartment is actually a small house. There are 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms and 4 missionaries. I´m probably being spoiled for my first transfer but it´s awesome. It literally is a house and it´s pretty good. We are only there really in the morning and at night. Then on P day it´s almost all day we are there.
My living conditions are fine. I´m not complaining. It´s simple and basic and I like it that way. I´m pretty sure when I get home that I´ll be fine with anything because being a missionary really helps you learn the basics. It´s like that talk by, I think, President Uchtdorf. Back to the Basics. I´m learning what a basic living standard is and living off it. It´s great and I really love it.
My working area is Sobradinho 1. I think it is that place with the most hills. We walk up and down hills all day and my legs are going to be beasts by the end of this transfer. I do have a picture of some of these things but the computers we email on are unreliable and last time my companion got a virus on his camera card. So I think I´m going to wait until I get a reliable computer.
The food is great, rice and beans usually every meal and it is way good. Every lunch is usually provided by a member or less active and other than that we are on our own. Oh, and P Day´s we need to find our own food. Usually for breakfast I don´t eat or I have a bowl of oatmeal with bananas, milk and chocolate. Just healthy awesome.
We have a washing machine that we throw our clothes into and it does an awesome job. Then we hang clothes out to dry. Just so cool. It shows that you don´t really need a dryer. Actually you don´t really need a washer either but it takes too much time to wash our clothes so we have a machine.
Yes, we are teaching people. We found someone named Ludimar and he is just golden. We taught him everything in four days straight and he´s accepted everything. Then yesterday we started teaching Sebastian and he seems golden too. We don´t have any baptisms yet and I probably would not tell you when I do. Just cause the baptisms don´t matter. What matters is if they stay firm in the church. I really wouldn´t mind getting only 1 baptism and having it be ther strongest member ever. That´s all I really want.
My Companion has been out for about a year and 5 or 6 months. He´s way good at the language and I´m just following him around trying to teach when he tells me to. He´s going to go to BYU Idaho after his mission.
My mission president is awesome. Basically he told me that he is my Dad now. (Sorry, dad just got kicked out for 2 years) He is, from what i´ve heard, the most strict mission president here. We have the missionary handbook which he´s changed some of it for our mission and then we have another page of rules for our mission that we carry around in our little book. But as we follow these we do a lot better. So I´m glad we have them. But I can tell you it will be weird to have a different mission president in a year.
The ward is pretty great. Just a wonderful welcome. Right now we are working on reactivating people. We´re working on the members too.
People always ask how tall I am and I am almost 2 meters tall. Freak, it´s tall and weird to be able to see all the way down a hall with no problems.
The City I am in is a semi-rich area. It´s a wonderful area. I love it and when it rains... is pours, holy cow. If it rains during the day and stops then it´s really, really hot. I don´t know why really.
So I wanted to tell you that there are awesome talks by Elder David A. Bednar. Look up his talk named "Ask in Faith". I´m pretty sure it´s the name. It has one point I want to tell about. It talks about people praying for the missionaries to have people to teach. Well if you are asking in Faith and faith is a principle of action. Then do it. Find those people for the missionaries. I know the mission has changed my view a lot about missionary work. I know it will help us so much and help this church grow if the members start doing the finding. The Missionaries are called to be full time teachers. The members are called to be full-time finders. It´s something that will help this work along. Honestly if people start finding people for the missionaries, we would have so many people in this church because when a friend asks a friend to start learning then the people probably will. If a missionary stops by and asks them about it they probably won't listen because the missionary is someone they don´t know. So like every good missionary I want to invite you to find someone you can share this Gospel with. It really isn´t that hard. Everyone knows at least one non-member and if everyone invited that one friend then we would have so many more people to teach. Please take this and do it. I know before my mission I didn´t think much about missionary work but now I´m realizing how much members have a role. Right now I´m pretty much begging you to help the missionaries.
I love you all.
Endure to the End
Signing Out
Elder Barry
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Week 1
Entâo,
This week has been interesting. There really isn´t much I can say about it. There is this scripture that says beautiful are the feet of them that spread the gospel. Let me tell you. They don´t look all that beautiful. They are really really ugly, blisters and such, but that´s what you get from walking around all day. It actually isn´t all that bad though. It´s way fun to do this work.
Also I get hit with saudade every once in a while. Saudade is like a missing of something. For example I could be walking around and I´ll smell something that reminds me of somthing or someone or a fun experience. That´s saudade. It happens throughout the day and it can waste a day if you aren´t careful
My companion´s name is Elder Kirkham from Blackfoot Idaho. He´s pretty cool and we teach and stuff. I really don´t know what to say. We walk. And Teach. Then Walk... Then we... teach. Nothing really more.
Holy cow this language is crazy. I don´t understand most of the time what people are saying. So that´s why elder Kirkham is here to save the day. I´m working on the language as much as possible and right now that includes reading "O Livro De Mórmon". It´s pretty slow and really hard but I´m in Alma right now and just chugging through it as much as I can. I wish I had more to say but the work is good.
I love this place.
For all of my friends who are planning to go on missions, I have one suggestion. Read the Book of Mormon in your mission language as many times as you can before you go. Even though you won't under stand it when you start. You´ll see your own progress near the end. I´ve been doing this and I can tell the basic idea of a verse. It´s pretty interesting. So try it.
I love you all and I hope you stay strong. The Gosple of Jesus Christ is true. I love you so much and I hope you are doing well
Endure to the End
Signing Out
Elder Barry
P.S. If anyone gets a call. I better get a letter.
This week has been interesting. There really isn´t much I can say about it. There is this scripture that says beautiful are the feet of them that spread the gospel. Let me tell you. They don´t look all that beautiful. They are really really ugly, blisters and such, but that´s what you get from walking around all day. It actually isn´t all that bad though. It´s way fun to do this work.
Also I get hit with saudade every once in a while. Saudade is like a missing of something. For example I could be walking around and I´ll smell something that reminds me of somthing or someone or a fun experience. That´s saudade. It happens throughout the day and it can waste a day if you aren´t careful
My companion´s name is Elder Kirkham from Blackfoot Idaho. He´s pretty cool and we teach and stuff. I really don´t know what to say. We walk. And Teach. Then Walk... Then we... teach. Nothing really more.
Holy cow this language is crazy. I don´t understand most of the time what people are saying. So that´s why elder Kirkham is here to save the day. I´m working on the language as much as possible and right now that includes reading "O Livro De Mórmon". It´s pretty slow and really hard but I´m in Alma right now and just chugging through it as much as I can. I wish I had more to say but the work is good.
I love this place.
For all of my friends who are planning to go on missions, I have one suggestion. Read the Book of Mormon in your mission language as many times as you can before you go. Even though you won't under stand it when you start. You´ll see your own progress near the end. I´ve been doing this and I can tell the basic idea of a verse. It´s pretty interesting. So try it.
I love you all and I hope you stay strong. The Gosple of Jesus Christ is true. I love you so much and I hope you are doing well
Endure to the End
Signing Out
Elder Barry
P.S. If anyone gets a call. I better get a letter.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
A new missionary in Brasilia
Hey, I´m safe and sound in Brasilia. I´ll talk to you next week when I have a P day. Endure to the End.
Signing Out
Elder Barry
We assume this is his new companion.
This makes Elder Barry look really tall. This is his mission president.
Signing Out
Elder Barry
We assume this is his new companion.
This makes Elder Barry look really tall. This is his mission president.
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