Dear Family,

Well, I'm here. I'm alive. I'm pretty happy. Excited. Great. I'm pretty sure that these last few day have been wonderful days. I love to think of it that way. I've been learning that a bad attitude won't help anyone and that we need to always be happy.

Wow, the world is going by so fast. Things are moving so fast. Mom, I agree, when will this slow down or in other words when will this speed up, too. I feel that everything is going by so fast but then everything is going so slow. There was a poem that our last Mission presidents wife sent that left these same feelings. Things are moving so fast when you want them to go slow. It's a little bit confusing but Mom, I understand the feeling.

Ashlyn Ann Barry!!!! WOO HOO!!! Para Bens!!! Para bens pra você minha querida. O batismo é um da coisas mais importante. Continua lendo O Livro de Mormon e confia em seus pais aqui na terra e lá no céu. I love you so much. Gain a strong testimony about the Book of Mormon and never leave it. Build it up so that no one can ever try to take it down. Eu Te AMO!!

Wow, 21 Sobrinhos that's crazy awesome. I tell members and pesquisadores (Investigators) about this and they just flip out. It's not very common here in Brasil to have a giant family. Well at least in the area that I'm working in. When I tell people about my family and show them pictures, they think we are crazy, amazing, heros e down right strange. Mom, I have heard that you are such a hero from so many women here in Brasil. Same with all my sisters. All 8 of you women are down right heros. (and down right strange too, but hey, who isn't in our family.)

Eu Amo Vocês

One thing I'm happy about the mission is that I can learn to be like Elder Haw. Mom, I really need to do better. A lot better, I need to stop using the personal account for stuff. I need to organize everything and plan everything out so that I can live with a lot less than what I'm using. I'm not the best, but I'm trying.

Elder Allred sounds like an amazing missionary. I can improve so much, I can do things a whole lot better.

So here in our area right now, we are planning a treinamento or a training in English for the ward about how to talk to people . We are going to plan an activity so that they can invite friends and everyone to come to church. It's something that I'm excited to get going. We also are planning that church tour, This week we are going to really focus on that and plan everything with the LMA (WML or Ward Mission Leader). Also our LMA is amazing. He's so excited about the work and has this amazing idea to put on an expo in the Shopping Mall here with giant pictures and missionaries and put down all the chapels in this region. That's more of a problem here, people want to go to church but don't know where it is or we never find them or they just have never seen it. There really are a lot of people who really know nothing about the church here, so we are going to start the planning of this giant expo.

So yeah. Our week was pretty good. I felt like there was more improvment in our work. The people we met, taught and invited and everything. I really am pretty happy about our work and I know that I'm here so that I can grow and learn from my companion and from the investigatos and from the members too. I love this area.

This last week we met some new people and we actually marked 4 dates this week which was a giant miracle. A really, really big miracle here in our area. Some of course have fallen since but the ones that we are still working with are amazing, Golden and just perfect. I can't believe it. I have never seen so many people who want to learn more and progress to being baptized. I honestly never thought it would happen, but as Elder Holland once said about the blessings from the Lord "Some may come now, Some may come later and some won't come until Heaven" I'm sure that there are things waiting for me to do and people that are waiting for me to talk to them.

We have three maybe four people who we are looking as possibles to get baptized this month.

Tião (and his mom Raimunda)

Fatima

Tania

Tião is amazing and a little crazy, but his crazyness is just from his love about the gospel. When we were teaching him, he said that this church is probably the most correct church or the Correct church. He's really excited to get to know the church. His mom, we have only met once but we have great hopes for her because she said (Translating from portugues to English) "This church has the name of Jesus Christ so it must be his church and the only true church" So we are going to work that one out and help them go to church this sunday. I'm excited.

Fatima we actually met about 2 weeks ago but she is loving the church and is going to all the activities of the women. She just loves it. I heard that she actually taught the Plan of Salvation about the Three Kingdoms and who goes to all the Kingdoms. Fatima actually doesn't want us to walk past her house to get her to go to church because she said that if she gets used to it and only goes for us, she wont stay strong. She wants to go because she wants to go.

Tania is a cousin of one of the members in a different area but she is golden too. She loved church, already has a testimony about the church and knows that this is the only one and true church. She just has some questions about the Book of Mormon so we are going to help her with that. Tania also wants to stay firm. She doesn't want to get baptized and fall away. That's her biggest fear (Because that basically happened to someone she knows.) She want to be firm forever.

We have other amazing people that we have met. Brasil is just amazing actually and I'm so happy that I'm here.

Our Recent convert Renan wants to serve a mission but unfortunally can't because he will turn 26 in 2 weeks. But he is studying a lot. He's read the Bible and is reading the Book of Mormon. We got in contact with the bishop and he is going to give all the "Teachings of the prophets" books to Renan. Renan is just amazing.

I understand with everything there is an opposite. It even says that in 2 Nephi 2. I'm pretty sure that everything that happens in our missions is suppost to make us stronger and help us grow. So when I find the harder things, I know I'm doing the right things. Pray so that I will have the hardest mission ever. I want to grow. I don't want to stay the same. I have learned that the best things in life are the hardest. Bring It.

I love you

Endure to the End (which doesn't mean just sitting until the end because people say endure and think "Oh I will endure it and not like it, it's more like Work to the End, Work until the end... then work a little bit more and love it. You'll be a whole lot more happy.)

Signing Out (with Love)
Elder Barry