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