Hello Fam, How are you doing today. I'm doing pretty fine myself. Thanks for asking.

This week has been pretty good. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Mom. I think I just answered all your questions in the first paragraph. I am pretty sure I have calculated that right... gained 20 pounds.


So I have noticed that my sentence structure has changed a little. Sometimes when I speak in English or write in English I move some words around in a weird way. Like I was writing 'service project' but in Português you'd say project of service (projeto de serviço). So every once in a while... it's crazy.

Another thing I've noticed is I love English. Sometimes when talking to a Brasilian I might slip into English without noticing. I don't know how to split the two languages right now. That is something I'm working on. It's pretty hard tough. Sometime the words come easier in Português and other times in English.

(These are questions that I asked Matt to answer. I've noticed he tells more in his letters if I ask questions. These are questions that we ask the missionaries and we ask them to ask themselves after each teaching visit.)

1. Tell me what evidence you have that your faith is increasing

I feel more inclined to work right now. I'm pretty sure that when your faith increases you want to do missionary work more. We strive to work hard, fast, pray and sacrifice our time for this work.
In Brasil there was a giant natural disaster in (man I can't remember the name right now, but it's pretty big.) Many are dead, they are looking for the missing and there are many who have lost everything. So... today we have a service project. Today was P-Day. We sacrificed our P-Day to serve. Basically all the "P-Day" I'm getting right now is writting e-mails to the president and home. But it definately feels so good. We are all so tired but honestly... I don't feel tired. I'm just ready to go work today. We put together kits and things to send and it was a giant effort. We had 2 zones of missionaires there, about 40 missionaries helping in this service project. It was really amazing. Service is really a good way to feel closer to the spirit.

2. Tell me what evidence you have that the faith of your investigators is increasing.

We had an investigator that was just golden from the start. She has two neices who are members. So we started teaching her and she just asked questions and accepted baptism right in the first lesson. We invite to baptism in the first visit and mark a date in the second. But usually we strive to do both in the first. I really can tell that a mission here is really different than the states because we go through investigators really fast. If they don't accept baptism on the first visit right now, we don't go back. If we do go back it's because we have a really good reason to do so. Like they will go to church or a really good person who is just golden and just needs another lesson to feel the spirit.


3. Tell me what evidence is there that your investigators are keep commitments and repenting.

We see that investigators are keeping commitments and repenting when they come to church and when they say we can come back and teach them. We strive to always help someone even if they don't want anything to do with the church. For example we had an investigator who was just golden. Well he didn't come to church in three weeks so we cut him. But we strived to help him stop drinking and he thanked us for being there and helping him.

4. Tell me what evidence is there that you felt the Holy Ghost this week.

I'd have to say read # 1 again. That was amazing.

5. Tell me the evidence of God’s love for you.

God loves me because I am here. I feel the evidence in how I learn and the things that I do and the miracles that happen here.


I love you all.

Serve

Endure to the End

Signing Out
Elder Barry

P.S. This is Mom Barry. I just went online and found out about the disaster in Brazil. It was a terrible mudslide. Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/2011/01/110124_outlook_brazil_mudslide.shtml

It has pictures and a story. It's pretty major. Mom Barry


This is my companion today. We were writing emails and he fell asleep. So I just had to snag a picture.



I drew this picture. It says "Bem-Vindo" Which means Welcome. But literally translated it means Well-Coming. And if you shorten Well-Coming by taking off one 'l' and replacing 'ing' with an 'e'. You have Welcome. So that's kinda cool

I thought this looked beautiful. This is outside of a member's house. This place is so beautiful. I love my first área.

This was a P-day we had this transfer. I thought it was funny how they all were sleeping. I can't sleep on P-Days. I don't like to sleep in P-Day. My bed is the empty one. My companion is on the blue bed sheets and the other two are the Zone Leaders.

See you better?

Matt knows he will have to wear glasses sometime in his life. He's trying these on for size.

Elder Barry's little ducks

HELLO!!!!

Wow, another week has already gone by... I don't believe it. I really think I'm going to be home tomorrow... well if 2012 is tomorrow... then I will be.

I just wanted to share something weird that I learned. It's just about how they say good-bye here. I just learned this. In Spanish I think you spell good-bye like this -- Cião -- I thought it would be the same thing here. Man was I wrong. You spell it like this -- Tchou -- It's the only way to get the 'ch' sound in português at the beginning of a word. I think it looks kinda crazy.

Before I move onto my favorite part of the letter I just want to tell you really fast about the week

Segunda-Feira -- This day was just a little normal day.
Terça-Feira -- This is P-Day, it was not normal. The Zone Leaders lost our letters... Or forgot them at the mission office. The was a bummer. But other than that... we made some really really really good noddles. Wow... really really good. I really want the recipe
Quarta-Feira -- We started an english class here. It was pretty cool. Luckly I have a Brasilian who knows English really really well to help me because I don't know how Brasilians learn English.
Quinta-Feira -- I want to tell you about one of my new best friends here. His name is Elder Startup. He's from (I think) Spanish Fork. We did a trade and I got to be with him for about 2 days. Talk about really really fun. We have the same time in the mission so we are going to come home the same time. He's going to be going to UVU and I'm so excited.
Sexta-Feira -- Still in a trade... was awesome
Sabado -- This day was really cool and kinda funny. Saturday night we had an intergration night. It's were we get the investigators and members together and have an activity. Well we had a treasure hunt and it was absolutely awesome... People were running everywhere, I was running everywhere... It was really fun. In my group for the scavenger hunt it was me, the bishop and one other adult and a lot of little kids. The whole night I was being followed by little kids. It was funny. I had my little ducks. It was really fun. I love intergration nights. They are such a good idea for missionaries.
Domingo -- Just church. Then worked like we do everyday. I really do love working. It started to make me wonder how missions were for Dave, Mark, Vaughn, Jason and Brian. What did they do different than me and how have the missions changed.

I just have a little encouragement for my wonderful beautiful family the lives about 15 minutes or less from the temple. GO. It's so important. I really have been feeling a fault without a temple here. To think that I lived 15 minutes from the temple and didn't go and take opportunity of it. It's so important. If you don't have time... make time. It's just that simple.

Hey mom. Do you know an Elder Michael Johnson? I heard he is in your mission from my first companion here in Brasilia. My trainer, Elder Kirkham, just wanted for you to have a connection to here.

I want to share something I learned today in my study. It's simple and clear. IT IS A COMMANDMENT TO SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY. Check it out. D&C 84:61 and I think the other is in D&C 100:5ish. Check it out. The Lord wants us to bear our testimonies and let others feel the spirit. It really is important especially in these last days. Bear your testimony and help others come unto Christ. ]

Matt Fat? Just taller!

Hello again, it's me... way down here... in Brasil. Still alive.

Wow, it feels like this email comes every week. It's amazing. It's cool.

So Brasil is amazing still. I love it here. Especially in my first area. I've been here for about 3 months and will stay here for at least 4 and a half months. It's really cool. I've experienced so much in these three months that I couldn't learn anywhere else. No where else has the things of a mission. The mission really has been difficult. But it's totally worth everything that happens. I love it here.

Funny experience... Ok maybe not all that funny. But I think it is. I've gained weight... Yes... I can hardly believe it myself. I have gained weight. I've gained almost 20 pounds on the mission. I don't know where it is going... But I now have about 180 pounds instead of 160. It doesn't make and sense to me either. I walk all day, sweating like a pig (or like dad (I've realized I'm more like dad then I thought)) I literally only have been eating lunch. Breakfast is a tiny snack and so is dinner. Lunch in the big meal... and still... I've gained weight... All the logic in my head has exploded. I don't know what is going on here. I was scared of coming on the mission and losing weight and the opposite has happened. Also, I think I'm still growing... How do I know you might ask... my pants. I'm pretty sure they were longer when I got here... Also they are getting kinda tight... so I'm growing in all directions. Don't be surprised if I come home and my pants are at my knee caps and I had to sew my pants together because they ripped around the waist.

Moving on.

So, today I studied... Big surprise :D ok not really big surprise... I study everyday but today was really really good. I was studying about Ammon and King Lamoni. But my favorite character in this story isn't mentioned as much. My new favorite character is the wife of King Lamoni. She doesn't even have a name but she is my new favorite especially at one point in the story... wait rewind. So I really like faith. The conscepte of fé is really interesting how it works, stories about it, things like that. I've really learned a lot about fé and how it works by studying it. So with that intro I want to say that the wife of King Lamoni is my favorite because she has sooooo much fé. She believes the words of Ammon with not very much proof only the testimony of the servants but she believes. It kind of reminds me of the people here in Brasil. I hear so many stories about the people in the ward and how they came to know the church and it's amazing. The Lamanite people (Brasilian People) have so much fé. I really don't know how they do it and how some of them continued in the church. Some of them had really really hard lives. If I had had the same expeiences deles (sorry that means "of them" or that they had) I don't know how I would of taken it. They are just so strong.

I really don't have a lot more to write right now. I can't think of what to write.

Eu sei que esta Igreja é verdadeira e que os missionarios estão fazendo o trabalho do Senhor. Eu sei que nós possamos aprender maís todo dia. Eu amo a missão. Esta expereincia é bom de maís.

Com Amore
Endure to the End

Signing Out
Elder Barry

Hello Familia,
Wow, It's been a while. It's been a while since I have been in the Good ol' USA. But I love this area. The Good ol' Brazil is amazing and I love this place. The city that I'm in is the same one I've been in since I arrived. It is Brasilia. But it only feels like I've been here for 2 months. 1 and a half with my first companion and a half with the second companion. But in reality. It was 1 and a half with my first and about 2 months with the second. We really work hard everyday and just go at it. He doesn't complain and neither do I so we just go at it. The work is fun and hard. But right now hard is fun.
So I want to say that I love the piano music that I got for Christmas. I'm pretty sure it was the most exciting thing I got. Thank you so much.
Thanks for the questions. I usually don't know what to write to I just start writing and usually weird things come out. So the questions help to stay focused.
1. What was the most spiritual experience you had last week?
This last week I had an experience to do a split with some members in our ward and wow, that was amazing. I was really scared because my Portuguese isn't amazing but I knew that if I just went for it and opened my mouth that the Lord would fill it. Well, we went to a less active and recent convert family who has been having troubles coming to church because of the rain and they have started smoking and drinking again. Me and a member went there to leave a message, the first lesson in the Gospel Principles book. I have no clue what I was doing. The member companion at this point said he'll give a prayer and I'll give the message. I was really freaking scared. But I just went at it. When I opened my mouth everything that I needed to say just came out. It just flowed out and they understood and I really feel like it will help them. It was really amazing.
2. Tell us about each of your investigators and the lessons you have taught this week.
We actually don't have many investigators right now because we just cut a whole bunch who weren't progressing. But... My favorite ones to teach are 2 kids, ages 8 and 11, who have been baptized but not confirmed yet. I just love going there because I really do think I'm just a kid in missionary clothes. The last time we were there we helped them with their "Faith in God" award. We set goals and told them how important it was to get this. They are so excited and in 1 week they already have 2 Articles of Faith memorized.
3. Tell us about street contacting and people that you meet on the street.
One thing I learned is street contacting and talking about religion is just common here. People are almost always willing to talk. The only thing we have to do is get the courage to talk. Wait rephrase, all I have to do is get the courage to talk. It's really hard sometimes to talk to people in a language you don't know but I know I can do it. I just need to try.
4. What is the ward like? Is it a branch or a large ward.
Right now I'm in a ward. It was really hard to work with them when I started in this area but now, we have new leadership who is really excited to work. Honestly I'm sure the work here is going to explode. We already have seen a miracle because of the excitement.
5. What did you learn in your personal study this morning. What did you study? Personal study was 1 chapter of the Bible, 2 chapters of D&C and chapter 5 and 6 of Alma. In the Bible I learned that some people really have hard hearts. But we really can't change them and that all we do is invite them to change or to do something. Even with miracles of God some people won't change, like Pharaoh of Egypt. He saw amazing things, but he kept on hardening his heart and it took the death of his son to let the people of Israel go. In D&C I studied sections 3 and 4. I learned that we must repent and be clean to work the Lord's work. Even a prophet of God can sin, and if he can sin, him being a giant man of faith and almost perfectness, how much more do I need to repent? Then in D&C 4 it talks about the field being white. It really is. I really love how it says how we can be qualified for the work. All we need to do is work and be qualified. Then in Alma I learned that we need to have a change of heart to become part of the people of the Lord. So if you put them all together (which I didn't see until just now) we have Pharaoh who didn't change his heart and what happened because he didn't? How we need to repent and be qualified for the work and how we need to change our hearts to become part of the People of God. That is what I studied today.
So I'm learning everyday how to become a better missionary. It's been really fun. I started with memorizing scriptures (thanks Mom and Dad) and I have about 5 memorized in Portuguese. My mission president is really big on planning. So I have planned out of what I'm going to memorize and that things that I'm going to do. Just a little side note that I thought was funny. Our mission president is so big on planning that we have what is called a Trunky Planner. It's a regular planner that missionaries receive on the mission during their last transfer. They basically plan the next six weeks after their mission there. That's how big of a planner our president is. Our president is really famous and rich too... just look up Pizzirani on google and I'm pretty sure you will find him. He just tells us that to make him happy, give him a problem that he can solve. If he can't solve it, he'll invent something that can solve it.
My companion and I have been working on planning better. Literally we try to fill our planner and not have one blank spot in there. We always are going somewhere and trying to do something. It's been really, really good on staying focused on the mission. We also try to always talk about what we can do better or how we can help our district or zone. It's been really really fun.

Enduring to the End
Signing Out Elder Barry

Past pictures

It's been a little crazy here in Florida and I have neglected Matt's blog. The following are pictures he sent in December.

He fell asleep praying. His companions thought it was funny of course. When they woke him up he had been dreaming that he was praying and he was upset that they interrupted his prayer. He fell in love this this car, a mini cooper. It belongs to a member. It's his dream car.


This is his Christmas from the family. Merry Christmas, Elder

Pictures of Sobradinho

This is a picture of Sobradinho 1 at the top of one of the hills. I just want to swat the idea that Brasil is a Jungle. It's really quite normal and not as dangerous as people think. I really do like this city though. It's so beautiful. I really hope I can come back to just visit someday. Like in 2014 when the World Cup happens here in Brasil. I would love to come back and visit. Actually I would love to come back and visit anyday. This is usually how I look at night when we get home. I think it's funny that my legs are hanging off the bed... (Unfortunately I posed for this one too.)
This is our chapel that we go to church every Sunday. It's so beautiful and amazing. It's actually quite old. It's been here for about 30 years I think.
This is me and my companion. Yes, we did pose for this picture.