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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Teaching in Goias

Holy canoly... If you can believe it, it's been another week already. It's so crazy how fast time moves.


If you can believe it, too, I am leaving my area on another trade. I am going to be on a bus for about 6 hours today going to a place called "Posse" that is in our district with a zone leader so he can do an interview. How crazy is that... I don't think I've had a normal week this transfer where I stay in my area the whole week.

Well, the language is fine. I'm not scared about it anymore because I know that if I teach with the spirit, the Lord will guide my words. There are some times that I don't know the word that I said or I just felt like I needed that word. It's so amazing how much a mission can change a life.


We are teaching a good teaching group right now. We have worked it up from almost scratch. The other missionaries didn't leave much because one was dying in the mission (not dying but one was in his last transfer and the his companion was a newbee in the mission. So, I bet it was hard for them to stay focused)

So we found a lady named Inácia. She is just golden. She has just been prepared for this moment and I'm pretty sure she will baptize. She has a little trouble understanding everything but we are teaching really, really slow and simple (like we are supposed to with everyone) and it's been working out awesome. She is so great and just an amazing lady. We have had sooooo many spiritual experiences with her.


Our best way to find people (in this area) is through contacts and just knocking doors and asking for water (really simple) Then we start a conversastion with them and ask if we can enter and leave a message with them. Elder Young and I have really changed how we talk to people. We are being more simple and just straight out telling them why the church is true. Usually in contacts with people on the street we just introduce ourselves, what we do and then ask them if we can help them prepare to be baptized. It's amazing. Really it narrows people out so much faster. I've only been doing contacts with men because this area really needs men. We also invite people to be baptized in the first lesson and mark a date with them in that first lesson. If they don't accept, we need a really good reason to go back to them. That's how the work is going here with me and Elder Young.
I don't have time to write any more right now. Our bus is leaving in a half hour and we still need to buy tickets. We will talk next week.

Endure to the End

Signing Out
Elder Barry

Friday, February 18, 2011

Transfered

Oh my goodness... it was Valentine's day and I didn't even know it. That is literally the first time that has ever happened in my life... Well, with that beginning. Oi minha familia

Wow, I don't know what to write but let me tell you. This week went by so fast but it feels like it went slow. First time that has happened to me. I can't believe the week has already gone by... but it feels like and enternity since I last wrote home. It feels crazy.

So I am not in Brasilia anymore. I'm in a state called Goias. Actually i'm in an area called planaltina Goais. It is so different than Sobradinho 1. Sobradinho is a kind or a rico (rich) area. Now, it's pretty much so much different. There is a lot of dirt. It's everywhere in the house. It even was resting on my soap one morning. That was weird. Well this area is really different. There are 4 of us here and honestly, there are 4 new guys here. They took out all the people who were here and put in 4 completely new missionaries. Holy Cow. It's kinda stressful. We worked our first couple days without knowing where we were going. That was pretty interesting. Also, It's not a neat and nice organzied city. I'm still a little confused where to go and how to work. But my and my companion have finally picked an area we will start working in. It's going to be great. My companion's name is Elder Young. He's from Provo, Ut and went to Provo High. (kinda sounds like me). But it's kinda interesting talking about areas we remember. It was really strange and still is strange to be able to say a name of a place in Provo and he knows where it is too. Well we have been working of tearing up roads... but that's already been done. The roads here literally potholes which makes me really glad that I don't have to drive. This week i'm actually really excited because we will actually work in our area most of the time. Last week Elder Young had a meeting (Wednesday) then on Thursday I had a meeting. Then on Friday we actually got to work in our area. So this week is going to be so much fun. We are going to work so freaking hard.


I don't know why but one of my favorite types of members to talk to are the wives who give us lunch. They are so cool. They remind me of mom a little bit. We really have had some very espiritual experiences with them.


I read a scripture today in Doctrine and Covenants. But I can't remember exactly where. I think it's D&C 107: 99-100. It's pretty amazing. It talks about a slothful servant and how they wont be worthy to stand at the last day. So don't be slothful. It's important. Diligence is a key to missionary work. It's also a key to our salvation and our happiness on this earth.

I don't know what else to write so I'll just close this letter now.

Endure to the End

I Love You

Signing Out
Elder Barry

Monday, February 07, 2011

Transfered!

Wow, the days have really flown by... by the way. Hello my dear family.

So as you can probably read in the heading... I'm getting transfered... dang. It's a good thing because I know I've done all I can for the people in Sobradinho 1 but it has come to a point that I think I'm going to cry if I leave... or when I leave. It's not even a question if I leave and if I cry. It's when I leave and I already have cried and will probably do it again. This area is so amazing. Not because we have a lot of results or because we are helped a lot of people get baptized. That isn't what makes an area awesome. What makes an area awesome is loving and serving. Wow. I'm going to start crying just typing this. I love the house, the members, the recent converts, the streets, the houses, the lunches, the church, the squeaky annoying little chairs, my companions squeaky shoes, my companion, the young men, the young women, the ward, the missionaries, the food, the beautiful sunrise, the buses, the people we contact, my friends and my family.

Last night the ward had a sending away party for a missionary who worked here during his mission. He came back for the last day to say goodbye. During the party we received transfers and we learned that I was leaving. Wow, I was so bummed out. I love this area. We just sat a talked with the members and they wanted us to speak. I started to cry trying to speak to them. It's even harder because getting emotional and speaking in another language doesn't mix. Well, I told them that I left a family back in the USA with friends and family members. But when I got here, I gained another family. I'm really excited to move on and meet other people but I don't want to leave this area. It's so crazy hard. I'm so excited for some of these young men, I hope I got them excited to serve missions. I have their emails for after the mission. (<----- Português sentence structure)

Side note, we are in a Lan house (where we write and send emails on the computers) and they are playing "It's you and me and all other people... And I don't know why, I can't take my eyes off of you." It just reminds me high school dances. Wow... Flashback and side track. Moving on.

So if you haven't realized, they really do play a lot of American music down here. Everyone thinks "other countries listen to other music in their own language." Well they do do that... but they really do listen to a lot of american music too.

Man, today is trunky music in the Lan House. Now they are playing "She will be Loved" By Maroon 5. Wow. Another one "You change your mind, like a girl, changes clothes." Man I can't wait to get out of this Lan House. I'm hearing a whole bunch of American music.

I was studying today in 3 Nephi about Nephi and how awesome he is or was. He had so much faith and so much power. He preached the gospel so much and with so much power and authority that the people couldn't not not (not?) believe in his words. And they didn't like it. They knew he was right but chose not to follow. So choose to follow. Also open your mouth. It's a commandment. And when you open your mouth, don't let it just hang there. Talk to people about the gospel. It's so important. It will help the missionary work soooooo much. Wow. If everyone who is a member would talk to one other person and invite them to church the church would grow so amazingly fast. So this is my challenge for you this week my family. Find someone to invite to church. And help them.

Endure to the End

Signing Out
Elder Barry

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Hello again?
Wow... time just has been flying. Can you believe that I've already been out for about 6 months... 6 freaking months... that's kind of crazy. The crazy part is that I still have music pop into my mind just by little words like Crazy. That's just crazy. I thought the Music Veil would have taken full effect by now. Man was I wrong.

So P-Day. Basically we do everything. We like to sleep if we have time. Just by happen chance we had time that week. Except I don't like to. So I write letters and today we cleaned the apartment for 4 hours. That was crazy. We shop. But usually not much. Usually if we get hungry we go the the padaria. That doesn't look like the right spelling. Let me try again. Paudaria. Dang... not sure how to spell that. But it's the bread store. It's like a bread store and a gas station convenience store mix. It's pretty great because we have one really, really close to our house. When I tell Brasilians we don't have these in the USA they ask where we buy our bread and basically live. Everyone here uses the Padaria. Everyone.

So we eat (in my area) with members every day except P-Day. So it's pretty nice. We basically don't need to cook anything here. If we do, one of the elders here is a really pretty good cook. We have our own washing machine but we hang our clothes out to dry. If we didn't have a washing machine we would have to wash them by hand on P-Day, but we have a washing machine... and we can throw in anything anytime we want. It's pretty nice.

Companion study. We do everything we really want. Basically we first share what we studied in personal study, study something else really fast together and then do "role-playing". That's a weird word. We say "práticas" which means practises.

Planning sessions here... well the 3 hour one... is not as what I expected. We can try to plan but literally we can't... it's so hard because we could plan a perfect plan, or what we think is perfect and the next day it will be the worst plan. A lesson appointment here with some people is "if you can catch me in my house" lesson appointment. It's pretty crazy. Also we go through Pesquisadores (Investigators) so fast. We pass by there maybe 2 times and they don't want more. We could be teaching 20 people and only keep 2 or 3 of them. It's hard to explain how it goes here. I wish I could explain it. I just had an idea. We can plan things but people have their agency. So they might not be in the house or they will learn at a slower pace or they have work and don't arrive till 8:30 at night. Many different things could happen. So I'll leave that subject with that.

We plan every night for 30 mins. Well we try. Sometimes it's an hour or 10 minutes. Every day is different. Like last night we planned in 5 minutes. It was really easy. But other days we have no idea who to teach... so we sit there for a while. Also my companion is the District Leader so he has other things to do too.

I have something for you... It's called A DESAFIO!!!!! (Challenge)
---Take a habit that you have and try not to do it for 1 day, Then try a week, Then a month.---

It does seem random, but once you try that you'll be closer to feeling how hard it is for someone to overcome bad habits like drinking, smoking, taking drugs and more. I started this and have been trying to not pop my knuckles... wow... it's really hard because I start doing it without noticing. It's really, really crazy. Really Hard too. So try it. Understand a little how it feels to overcome an addiction.

This is a commitment. It's kind of what I studied today. Preach my Gospel says that we always need to invite people to do something to change. To become better. So I have the DESAFIO for you. Also it's a good idea to study the scriptures every day. I wrote a letter to a friend and I asked them about their scripture study. They wrote back and said that they realized they weren't really having a scripture study. It was usually "What I can get in at 12:30 PM after I do all my Homework". They said that they realized they weren't putting God in primeiro lugar (First place). Scripture study is really important. Colocar Deus em primeiro lugar e estudar. (Put God in First Place and Study). So basically I have dois DESAFIOS pra vocês. (two Challenges for you). Estudar as escrituras todo dia antes todo e parar um habito por um dia, uma semana e um mes. (Study the scriptures every day before everything and stop a habit for a day, a week and a month)

Perseverar até o Fim (Endure to the End)

Signing Out
Elder Barry

This is of a baptism we had here. It wasn't me and my companion's baptism. In this area we have 4 missionaries. So it was the other dupla (companionship) baptism. But all four of us baptized 1 person. Also that day when the meeting started, the chapel lost all power. So we did the baptism in the dark. My companion was talking with one of the people being baptized and my companion said something along the lines that it was too bad that we didn't have power. The person then replied along the lines of "We don't have electricity but there is an energy in the building." It was amazing.

Mission Post (Check Up)

Hey, this is a mission post. Just sayin write me or email me or something. It would be cool to hear from my friends. Write about school either high school or college. Tell me about missionaries going out and coming in. Tell me about you and new stuff. I know this is weird but tell me if you get married... cause that would be really awesome and really weird at the same time. This a short future post. This was written on June 25th, 2010.

Singing Out
Elder Barry