Music and the spoken word

My lovely family.
Well, It's been another week me dear family. Another week... I wish it would really slow down. There isn't enough time to change. Wow. I learned something really cool about a mission. "It's not bad to have bad results, it's only bad to not change yourself." (President Pizzirani) Then I was thinking, When we change ourselves, we will have the results we need.

Well, this last week we found an investigator that is just gold. It's was so cool to see how they accepted the Book of Mormon and were even excited for us to return today. We are going back tonight to help them again. I'm sure they are going to be baptized. We just need to do our part. I also learned that with every investigator, we need to introduce the Book of Mormon as fast as possible. It will be the base of their testimony. I love reading the Book of Mormon. I'm learning so many things. Learning about the Diligence of Moroni, The knowledge of Helaman, The Faith of Enos, The Hope of Lehi, The Love of Alma and the sons of Mosiah, The Patience of Alma and Amulek, The Obedience of the Stripling Warriors, The Humilty of Ammon and The Virtue of Nephi. It's amazing to see how the Christ-Like attributes are in every chapter. Then we need to apply everything we learn. It's really amazing to see the differences.

I had an amazing experience. On my mission I haven't been baptizing all that much. But I love helping the other missionaries baptize. My District Leader had a baptism lined up but because of a death in the Branch, we had to postpone it. But we knew we couldn't postpone it for another week because this man, named gilbertos, needed the baptism. We couldn't leave him for another week with temptations. So on Sunday we basically had a district effort to help this baptism go. My companion and one of the other missionaries started cleaning the baptism font and My district leader and me went to work. We went to the house of this investigator and we helped him have faith to go to the chapel. The chapel is about 45 mins away on foot from his house. So what we did, we ran all the way to the chapel while he was on his bike. The members couldn't help us this day. So we just ran while the other two missionaries at the chapel filled up the baptism font with buckets of water, going up and down stairs for about 1 hour. This baptism was so spiritual. It was amazing. Me and my companion had the opportunity to do a musical Number... It was so spiritual. The baptism ended at 9:10pm. So we had to run to our house. But I must say it was amazing.

Also, I'm going to send you a song, well a recording of the song my and my companion did. I hope you like it.

Endure to the End

I Love you Signing Out

Elder Barry

Changing

Well, today I don't have a lot of time to write.

Dear Family
I love you
The mission conference was amazing... unfourtunatly, this was the last meeting we will have with President Pizzirani. He has 1 more Sunday before he leaves and we get a new Mission President.
I'm learning that I love to teach. I love adapting the lesson to our investigator. I had a cool experience to adapt the lesson to a child that was disrupting the lesson. We taught about how children are pure and what we need to do to be pure too.
It's srange to think that it's been about 10 months since I've left the USA. It seems so short but so long.I am loving the mission. I have changed so much and I'm so glad for the opportunity to change and be a better person. I'm learning how to focus and just work. Get in a mood to work. I'm learning how to work with companions that don't want to work. I'm learning how to study and even how to sleep. Do excerises everyday, have more self-control. I understand more doctrine and how it will change my life. I'm so grateful for the mission
I love you
Endure to the End
Signing Out
Elder Barry

Hibbie Jibbies

So It's been another week and I can't believe it. It's all going by so very fast. wow.

Hello my family.
So Yes, I've been in this area for about 5 months now... I'm getting the idea that God wants me to learn something while I'm here. I'm still trying to figure out what it is but concerteza (certantly) I will learn what I need to this week. We will be having a Conferencia da zona com Presidente. It's going to be great. They want us to come to the conference with questions about being a better missionary and the things we need to do. I'm pretty sure that we are going to have fun.

I'm sending some pictures from a service project that we did today. Yes... that thing on the blade is a giant spider, and the service project was full of them hanging from the trees... I had the hibby jibbies during the service project but in the end the members there took us to a little beautiful stream. It was wonderful.

I don't really have any juicy stuff. Everything that I would want to tell you, I don't feel comfortable telling because they involve experiences that lets me know that satan is working overtime to knock the missionaries out one by one. It comforting to know that I have God on my side and the I have been "set apart", Set apart from the world and everything that goes with it. I'm learning how to be better and work better this week.

This week the zone put a challenge up. Do 25 contacts everyday for the rest of the transfer. It's been pretty cool to see the people that we meet. We are changing and opening up to all the chances we have to talk with everyone. It's been so great. I'm sure that I'm changing. Actually I know that I'm changing. I'm glad I'm changing. I'm working better, working harder and being a better missionary.

Today I was studying about how we need to be devastated when an investigator doesn't read the Book of Mormon. I learned that I need to help them realize that they are doing this to their own souls. Everything that they choose is either for their salvation or the other way around.

Endure to the End
Te Amo
Signing Out
Elder Barry

Rowing

Dear Family,

We had a transfer... and nothing changed. I'm staying with my companion in the same area... I'm way excited because we are learning the things we need to do to help people be baptized.

I have not received the shoes yet but I bet they are coming. Today is transfers and when the other dupla gets back from ASA Norte (where they have transfers) I bet they will bring them... I hope they will bring them :D

Nice Juicy Letter... I'm actually scared to write a nice juicy letter... because I don't want it to turn into pride, with an attitude of look at me and the things I'm doing. I've been keeping my letters a little stripped of this... because I'm scared of the things I'll say. Does that make sense? But I'll try to show you stuff that's going on.

But I'll put it at the end... because I like to end with a bang.

Thank you for the companion study paper... I will start to put that into play... talk with my companion... maybe translate it because my companion doesn't know English.

Mom, I'm guessing that phrase that you "dominate their faces off" means that you just are amazing and really know how you teach and let them know what they need to do.

Well, lets start with an experience I had about baptism. Last week me and my companion didn't have anyone that could baptize, no one was progressing and all of our investigators had fallen through. One day we decided to do the Challenge of the mission... It was simple. Mark three appointments with people that have already been taught for the next day and mark three appointments with families. We started this and it didn't turn out good. We only marked one with an investigator and one with a family. Well we returned the next day to the investigator that was already taught. Her name is Amanda. We returned and just started to talk to her. We asked why the missionaries stopped visiting her. She said "Eu acha que eu parei indo pra a Igreja" Which means in English that she stopped going to church. We started teaching her, marked a date with her for the weekend. We found her on Wednesday and she was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was an amazing experience because I can see how following our leaders and doing the things they ask will help us find more people. Also... In our mission we need to do 10 contacts per day. This day I just decided to do 30. So when I did thirty... we found someone to get baptized... Because of this and some other stories that have happened to other missionairies... we have decided to just do a whole lot of contacts every single day.

So I want to tell a story that I heard that has really changed the way I think of things... This story... I have named it... The Rower's wish.

On a ship there was a rower. He had been working on the ship for about 2 years as a rower. One of his friends named John started working the same day. But after two years, this rower was still a rower and John was an assitant to the Captain. The rower was wondering why he didn't have a position like John so he went to the captain to ask. He said, "Captain, John and I have been here working for you for 2 years. With the same amount of time, why is John your assistant and I'm just a rower? I want to do something bigger to help the ship."
The captain stopped and thought a little and said "Ok, If you want to prove yourself, I need someone to row over to that land to see what is going on there. Can you do that?"
The rower agreed to do this, left the ship on a little canoe went to the land. When he arrived there he saw a giant building in the middle of the island being built. So he rowed his little boat back to the Captain and told him about the giant building.
The captain said "Thanks, but what is this giant building going to be?"
The rower said "Let me go check, I'll be right back"
The rower left and rowed his way back to the land and started to ask the people what the building would be. He learned that it would be a palace. So he rowed his way back to the ship to tell the captain.
When he returned, he told the captain the information he found out.
"Thanks" the captain replied "But why are they building a new palace? Who is the king? And what happend to the old palace?"
The rower, feeling really tired but anxious to show that he can work, left on the instant to the land. He arrived there and found out the information the captian wanted. He learned that they were building a new palace because the old palace was just too small to fit all of the king's court and the king's name was James.
The rower, really tired, slowly made his way back to the ship. When he arrived, he told the captain all the information that he knew.
The captain thanked the rower for his efforts and called his assistant named John.
The captain told John to go to the land and see what was going on.
John left on his way. When John arrived at the land he saw the giant construction, asked if he could talk to the man in charge and found his way to the king of the land. When John returned he told that captian that there was a giant building that way going to be a palace because the old palace was too small to fit all of the king's subjects. This palace will be done in 3 months and to top it off John had marked, for the next day, dinner for the captain with the king.
The captain thanked John for his help and returned to the rower and said "This is why John is my assistant and you are just a rower."

I told this story because it helped me realize that I need to work more than what is asked. If we only do what we are told to do, we will only receive the minimal blessing, But when we do more than what is asked of us, The Lord will bless us more and more. Bless us with more opportunites to work and more miracles.

I have decided that I want to see miracles in my mission. I know that I need to work a lot to reach that goal.

I love you

Endure to the End

Signing Out
Elder Barry

Funny Story. I have a photo of our ninja show. We did this on P-Day. It's the missionaries I live with and the Zone Leaders are there too. We had a District Study with the Zone Leaders. They came on P-Day... so... before they left... after study... We had some fun.