Letter 48: Transfer

Dear mom,

Hey! Well you heard correctly, I was transfered on Wednesday. I`m now in the zone Valparaiso Oeste in an area called Quebrada Verde. I like it so far, the members are pretty great from what I can tell so far. Yesterday I was able to know several of them and see more or low how the branch is functioning. My new companion is from Argentina and is named Elder Correa. We get along pretty well,he kind of reminds me of a mix between Seth and Daniel Ockey hahah. He`s a little weird though...he randomly moons me in the pension. All in all it seems like it`s going to be a good transfer. This area though has so many DOGS!! And I have a bunch of flea bites, so i`m going to have to go buy a bunch of bug spray and start a flea massacre.

Well as the new year has arrived i`ve been thinking of goals and things that I can change to do better. As i`ve been thinking the things that come to mind is to really live the two greatest commandments. Love God above all else and love my neighbor as myself. There are a few other things I want to do but all in all I think that they all revolve around these two. My new companion is good, he is a hard worker and wants to do things well. I feel like these transfers were a little extra inspired for some reason, I guess we`ll find out in another month or so. 

Leaving my old area was a little hard but it was time. Of course is hard to say goodbye to everyone and all but it`s always good to have a change and recharge the batteries so to speak. OH and you`ll never guess what! Elder Holmes, the elder that finished training me is now Elder Canales´s companion and is finishing to train him hahah. I actually feel pretty good about how things ended with Elder Canales, we ended the last couple weeks on really good terms and I felt that we were both able to progress a lot. ALejandro and Lorena continue with their baptismal and marriage date for March. I`m sure they`ll send me pictures when it happenes. I feel geniunely good about the work I did there and I can see the areas where I need to do better and I plan to apply it in this new area.

I know, talking to you guys was amazing! I loved it. I`m glad you`re all doing so good and not to mention Trevor was able to be there. I like your goals as well. I know for a fact that i`m going to take advantage of the temple when I get home. It`s so weird not being able to go. You`ll have to share with me from time to time the stuff you are learning in the BOM andI will too. We started reading it again on the 1st. 

The pants that you sent me are a little to long but there is someone here that can hem them. A couple of shirts would be nice, maybe just like 2 long sleeve and 2 short sleeve.Hahah gel would be awesome! (i`m almost out). I know it`s crazy how fast time is passing by, it makes me want to give all I have even more in the mission. It looks like we are going to have interviews next week and i`ll be able to talk with President then. We`ll see what happens. But all in all I feel optomistic. There are a couple of things that kind of get me down from time to time (more than anything personal weaknesses or stuff like that), but I know that I just have to keep working on those things and doing better. I love you so much mom, thanks for ALL you do! You`re the best mom in the world, just so you know. I hope you have a great week and you enjoy the new year

LOVE YOU!

Elder Barton

Letter 47: Last Thanksgiving

Dear mom,

Man I'm so hungry now after seeing the pictures of chuck-a-rama and everything haha seriously! I miss the cousins and all too haha but it`s all good, next year. I always hated the endings of holidays when everyone went back to the same old. Being together with the family and the cousins was always the best. Then again...I was never the one preparing all of the food and all haha so I`d imagine you`re a little relieved now! Haha to be honest I didn`t even realize Thanksgiving had passed by until Friday...it was just another normal day. :)

I wasn`t able to read dad`s response but I read it today and it`s true. The update with my companion is the today we have interviews with President Kahnlein. We write him a weekly letter every week and he ended up calling me on Thursday and asking me what was going on with my companion, so I told him. He told me that he had put this Elder with me because he knew it was going to be difficult. He also said that he trusted me completly and that he wanted to interview my companion and I. So that`s what we will be doing today! Basically it`s been one of the harder weeks of my mission, oh man. I know that deep down he has good desires to serve but he just isn`t prepared. He comes from a small town in the Amazon and has some challenges with social skills. This week i`ve seen that he is always either very serious or laughs at everything. It makes it difficult to teach to work but that`s what i`m going to have to work on this change is to help him. My leaders know and i`ll see what president says but it`s just something I have to pass for. It`s interesting because we talked yesterday in church about crisis or trials and how they are what help us to grow. Really it depends on how we react, we have to rely upon the Lord but I know that he expects us to use our mind as well and do works. This would be the example of a mini ¨crisis¨, but my goal is to keep going and hopefully help my companion. 

I really like that qoute. It`s amazing how much can change with attitude or with a kind action or word. Sometimes we don`t even realize how much we have helped someone. It`s like you say, the day to day determines who we will become. I`ve found the the bigger events or the ¨once in a whiles¨ really don`t change who we are inside. Our choices on how to act everyday will determine who we become. President Monson said ¨A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, watch your step¨. We should always be aware of what we`re doing. Sometimes it`s so hard to let the saviour into our lives completely and it`s because we don`t trust or we have trouble giving up worldly things but I know that the more we let Him in our life the happier we become. Sacrifice will ALWAYS bring a blessing. I`ll try to stay positive and grateful I promise, i hope that you can do the same. Know that you and the family are in my prayers and that I love you all! I know i`ve said it before but I really do have the best family, (and you have the best son ever, me) haha but seriously, I miss you all. Thanks for all you do mom, enjoy the rest after a busy Thanksgiving!

Love, Elder Barton

Post 46: Trainer

Dear mom!

Oh how good it is to hear from you. Honestly sometimes I just need to hear from you and the family to feel a bit better. So the transfers came and.............I didn`t get transfered! Elder Huertas ended up getting transfered can you believe that?? Hahah By the end of this transfer I`ll have been here for 6 months. So my new companion is Elder Canales from Peru and I`m training him. He just got here and this is his first area. To be honest when I got the call I was pretty dang excited and a little nervous too. But....complications appeared out of the nowhere haha as always. When you think about a new missionary you think of someone who is ready to go to work and be obedient, well that`s not the case with my new companion. Gahhhh why?? My first son is so hard already -Sighh-. It`s weird because every single day i`ve had to tell him to get up over and over, he arrives to studies late everyday, doesn`t want to help plan, doesn`t like to stay focused in studies etc. I think you get the point. I`ve tried to be all nice and use please and everything and then I went to being more serious and firm but his reaction is the same for everything he just kind of laughs and basically says stuff like ¨no elder hahah it`s okay....or Elder don`t be a ruler/square (someone who is ¨overly¨ obedient) etc. Needless to say it drives me insane and were not even a week into the transfer. So THAT`s the bad news but the good news is that...hmm what  is the good news? Our investigators are progressing slowly but surly. Elder Morales my DL stayed too, so hopefully he can help me out a bit as well. Anyway that`s kind of the update of the situation in the mission. I MISS ELDER HUERTAS! Elder Huertas and I got along so well. But what`s done is done I just have to accept it and do my best. It`s the hardest thing to try and teach someone or be the example for someone who doesn`t want to listen. I`ll keep you updated on how it all goes.

Wow Thanksgiving already!..You`ll have to save me some apple pie. Seriously I`m getting pretty hungry just thinking about all the thanksgiving food. That`s awesome that Steve and his family are going to go up there though, that means...CHUCKARAMA! Two thanksgivings are always better than one. But all in all sounds like things are going really well there. Work is busy and the family is all doing great. Trevor arrived at this base and all. Plus the most important thing is that it`s Nichole`s and Bridger`s birthdays!! Give them a hug from me. :)

I can`t believe all of them are already returning home? I didn`t even realize either that so many left right around the same time. I`m really excited to talk with you guys next month too, it`s going to be the best! It`s lame that Trevor won`t be there though (or will he?). But for real i`m going to have to practice my English a little bit before with the other Gringo elder in my district. I have been with latinos since MARCH. I don`t know whats up haha, Nichole asked me if I was the only Gringo in my mission. You`re right though, even though right now is pretty hard I need to be grateful and keep working. Yesterday during church it was awesome because I felt really down because of all that is happening and the lesson that was given in priesthood helped so much. They talked about faith in Jesus Christ, works, and tribulations. Just keep me in your prayers please, I`m going to need a lot of patience and faith to keep working hard and truly trying to help my companion.

I love you so much! Miss you a ton as always but I know you`re in good hands as well as the family. Thanks for all you do and enjoy Thanksgiving! I`ll be sure to get the things I need. Thanks mom!

Love Elder Barton

Post 45: Benjamin's Baptism

Madre,

So sounds like your trip to Georgia went really well and that the weather cooperated. I loved to see those pictures! Haha especially of Bridger dressed up his army get-up. You all looked so snazzy too in the pictures, I come from an attractive family, just sayin. I`m jealous you got to visit that museum seeing as how I love history. I feel like learning about the wars we have had and the sacrifices that were made really make me appreciate our country more. Sounds like the best part of all is that Trevor is home with you guys right now. You should just have a Thanksgiving feast early before he goes, haha I agree that`s lame he leaves right before thanksgiving but it`s true, we have no control over that. Take advantage of your time with him!

Well as you know transfers are a week from Wednesday on the 19th. I honestly have no idea what will happen but it`s probable that I'll be heading out. What I`m hoping...I don`t know, I love it here and I love the people I`ve come to know. This area has had so many trials and things that have happened but through it all my companion and I have overcome them and stayed strong I feel really good about that. I`m hoping that I stay, but it`s like that whole thing with Trevor, I have no control haha. 

Yesterday Benjamin got baptized and it was an interesting experience that`s for sure! So we arrived at the church an hour early to start the baptismal font and the church was FILTHY! No one had cleaned it on Saturday so we went to work cleaning everything and I had a feeling to call Benjamin so I called him and he was in a pretty bad mood. He lives by a building that is a place for dances and they had been playing music all night long and he hadn`t slept. Long story short he wasn`t very happy and we went to his house to see what we could do. On the way we were really doubting ourselves like if we should go through with the baptism and everything. Everything seemed to be going wrong and Benjamin didn`t seem so excited for his baptism. So we stopped an prayed basically asking for guidance and saying that we were going to try and go through with the baptism but if it wasn`t supposed to be then let us know. We arrived at his house and got everything ready and as we walked with him back to the church we listened. He was able to vent to us and we started to ask him how he felt about his baptism and all. We ended up arriving at church about 15 minutes late. During the sacrament my companion and I were able to both receive the answer ¨yes¨ to go through with the baptism. During the course of the classes Benjamin`s attitude changed completely and he said that he was so sure of what he was doing and he knew it was right. Right before his service his mom and aunt showed up (beforehand he had said they didn`t want to come seeing as how they were catholic). They arrived and you could see that Benjamin was happy that they had come. After he was baptized he was able to have a few minutes to talk in front of everyone about his experience. He said that he had never felt anything like what he had felt in the church and that was ready to make any sacrifice necessary to continue. His mom and aunt were able to feel the spirit as well and we gave his mom a book of Mormon. All in all it turned out to be a wonderful day. :) There is always SOMETHING that happens before a baptism like the last trial before the blessing. Alejandro and Lorena attended his baptism and loved it too. We were able to visit with them yesterday and during this past week and they want to get married and baptized. It`s amazing because they have felt in their hearts that it`s true and now without us even having to say anything or motivate them to do things they just do them. We went to their house this past week and  sat down and we had planned to talk about temple marriage and before we said anything they both said ¨okay, lets talk about marriage!¨...hahah my companion and I just looked at each other like...yeah! 

So things are going well here in San Franscisco de Limache. The members are starting to help more and more and I feel happy. I know that there are still a lot of things I can do better and that I need to learn but I feel really blessed to have the Spirit in my life always guiding me. In this moment God doesn`t expect any of his children to be perfect, he just expects us to keep going, to keep trying. I think that`s why so many people get discouraged, it`s easy to focus on all of our faults and weaknesses. But it`s like we talked about weeks ago, if we only focus on those things that`s what our life will be. We should focus more on the love of our Father in Heaven and the power of his son`s sacrifice for us. With them everything is possible.

Well to answer some of your questions...they don`t decorate a lot here for Christmas (it kills me!), and it`s super hot during Christmas so I don`t ever actually feel like it`s Christmas time haha. I`m feeling healthy for the most part. Something weird happens with my vision. Sometimes there is a black dot there but it only appears when I moved my eyes from one side to the other and the dot appears and fades away....soooo I have no idea what that means? Plus I found a brown fleck in the blue of my eye..don`t know if that`s related or if I just never noticed it.  My tooth is fine but one of my molars has been hurting a bit. One of the most interesting things I have ate lately is a whole artichoke...leaves and all. I thought they were joking but nope. You dip the leaves in limon juice and then eat the heart too, that was pretty weird. Oh how I miss your food!  

I love you so much! Thanks for the email and for the pictures, I love to see them. Have a great week with Trev!

Letter 44: Investigators

Dear...recipient :p

And October is.....almost over! Time is kind of a weird thing in the mission, the months just seem to keep passing by. Yeah I`ve heard that the weather is really nice there. Here it is getting pretty hot now. On Friday we had a day of about 34 degrees C...I forgot how much that is in Farenheit, but it feels so heavy with the humidity! Can`t same i`m terribly excited for summer but hey, I can`t change it so I`ll just have to accept it. Yeah the interview went really well and the next time I talk with him will be in December. I email him every week and could mention something but I don`t know I think in an interview would be better, what do you think? I promise to let him know!

That`s so exciting about Trevor, I bet he`ll be happy to finally see you all again! He told me that word has it his first assignment is going to be in South Korea WHAT! That would be pretty crazy. But anyway tell Bridger flying is awesome. Did he come with us when Uncle Monty let me and Brock fly the airplane? I don`t remember, but that was the coolest thing! Then when he told me that I was going to land it, I thought we all were going to die. Good thing we didn`t eh? Haha.

Man I wish I could have seen his superbowl! That`s too bad they lost by just a touchdown but I bet they played hard. Tell Bridger congrats! I bet that he is going to be taller than all of us kids when he gets older. Everyone here says that if you play basketball you grow...I don`t know what happened to me.

Esther`s story is a good one. It would take some serious courage and trust in God. You`re in the primary right? What age do you teach? Job another extreme story, it`s interesting how God teaches us with extremes. I think that it`s to leave out all doubt or leave out the question ¨to what point?¨. I`m just grateful that i`m not asked to pass through what Job passed through. Good luck with your class this week! Yeah we have been giving him scriptures to read and calling him for a few minutes everyday. He is a lot more motivated. His family keeps going to church on Sundays and all. Actually they said something really interesting. His wife said ¨I just want a miracle, I know God is a God of miracles and I need a miracle now. I told my husband that if God saves him i`ll give myself in service to the church and stop holding back¨. I hope that in our service to God and the church we never find ourselves in a moment of crisis regretting not having given our time and attention to God and the church. It doesn`t matter if the leaders aren`t ideal or if someone offends us, we know our responsibilities. It made me said to hear her say that but at the same time sometimes it takes thigns really big like this crisis to make people realize what they need to do.

This week has been really good. Alejandro and Lorena came to church again yesterday! We are so excited and happy for them, honestly they already share a lot of the standards we have and participate a lot in the classes. We only teach them on weekends because of their work but this Friday we are going to extend the invitation to be baptized. He is a phycologist and she is a nutritionist. They both are really good people and have sincere desires to know the truth. It`s been a great opportunity to teach them and hear and answer some of their questions. Pray that all goes well :). We have done alot of walking lately haha, but that`s nothing new. We have found a couple of new people to teach, one guy named Miguel that has millions of questions! Hahah we taught a lesson and it was basically just asking and answering questions, but the good thing that it`s a real desire to learn, not just questions to make a conflict. 

My suits are navy and gray. I still haven`t been able to get new shoes but i`m going to look again today, no worries. The chips did just find in my last package surprisingly haha, just a little smashed. Yeah Trevor is awesome! 

I love you guys so much. I hope you know that. I hope that this week goes great for you all and that you keep enjoying the good weather! Thanks for all of your support and love. I love being able to hear from you all every week. It`s true that life has a lot of unexpecteds, i`m sorry to hear about Bryce. Love you mom!

Love, Elder Barton

Letter 43: Staying in San Fransico de Limanache

Dear mother of mine,

Well it`s great to hear from you! I seriously love Mondays because I can always count on hearing from you and the family. I did get Trevor`s email and man did he get me laughing with the qoutes he gave me (my companion probably thinks i`m weird hahah...nah impossible). But more than that he is still killing it out there. Everyone now saluting him as ¨Sir¨, haha dang. It`s good to know how he is doing AND that he will be home for Christmas, the best part!

So transfers happened and my companion and I are both staying here in San Francisco de Limache! I get along really well with Elder Huertas. Honestly this past transfer has been a bit harder in terms of ¨success¨ and sometimes it`s makes me ask why? But as Trevor was telling me we just have to keep working and making ourselves better during these times and I feel that that`s true. I`m excited for this transfer and hope that it`ll go well! We actually didn`t have interviews with President just yet, we will have them on Thursday and i`ll be able to talk with him then.

So this past week has been pretty good. We were able to teach a lot of less active members and find a few new people to teach. It`s crazy because some days we have like 5 appointments set and one by one they don`t work out. Hahah but that`s just part of the mission. This past Sunday we had Stake conference and our stake President was changed. Elder Zeballos of the seventy and Pres. Kahnlein attended and both spoke. It was a really good conference and something that they said really stuck with me. They said that our job and priviledge as members of the church is to invite...that`s it. It`s so easy. We aren`t exactly responsible for if they accept or not but we have to at least invite others to come unto Christ. Other than that i`ve been thinking about conference still, I think i`m going to start listening to talks every Monday as I write so I can keep them fresh in my mind. An elder with about 4 months in the mission arrived in our district and Elder Silva (the brazilian), left. I was able to do an interchange with the new elder (Elder Henderson), and guess what?? He`s from Mapleton! Hahah it was pretty great. He is seriously one of the nicest people I`ve ever met. I sat there thinking wow...this kid is too nice and says thanks for EVERYTHING. I don`t know him super well but I do know that he has a love for others and it`s a great example for me. It will be good to get to know him and have a great transfer. But that`s about it for this week, my companion and I have been talking a lot about what we can do better and about the things that we can improve and how we can better follow the spirit. I think that really striving more to hear the spirit we will be able to be guided more in this work and be led to the chosen of the Lord.

I was thinking the same thing mom, time really is going by fast. In a several weeks i`ll be able to count the months on my fingers...wow! Not to mention i`m really excited to talk with you all on Skype for Christmas. It will be a great time. What do I want for Christmas? Hmm. That`s kind of hard, I have been thinking about a new camara because mine is kind of...lame haha. Some new ties?..umm socks. What else could a missionary in chile need? Maybe if you find something awesome to repel fleas (seeing as how summer is arriving here we are going to have a lot more of those). Obviously delicious treats :) annnd I will keep thinking. Do you have any ideas? Either way, the best part will be talking to you all!

I still have never had to speak in sacrament meeting at church while i`ve been here (so no, i`m not going to return an awesome sacrament speaker haha), but yes I do teach a lot. The second hour we have a class called Prinicples of the Gospel and for some reason, it doesn`t matter what ward i`m in, the person who has the calling to teach it doesn´t show up often, so we end up teaching it. :) But I like to teach. 

I`m going to go look around today for some new shoes and all. Thank you! But anyway time is running low so I just want you to know that I love you so much! I`m so grateful for you and the family. the support that you have given me has helped me so much. I miss you all! I hope you have a great week and I can´t wait to hear from you again!

Love Elder Barton
P.S. Tell Bridger GOOD LUCK with his superbowl! ;) haha

 

 

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Letter 41: Rubi Staying Strong

Whuttup momm, Jk, Dearest mother,

Hahah hey! I have to agree General Conference was amazing. More than anything it recharges the the batteries and gives me a ton of motivation and inspiration, it definitely is a blessing to have a living prophet, apostles, an inspired men and women. I think one of my favorite talks was Elder Bednar at the end. Talk about how it applies to me now, sometimes as missionaries I think that we have a lot of pressures and things that they require of us and it can be overwhelming but in reality I just have to remember why I`m here...I want to give to those what has saved and healed me. There were a lot of good talks and it seems like this conference they were all pretty clear and direct.

Jazmin went over? That`s awesome! Yeah she has been writing me too and it seems like she is doing really well, she is happy and I know that she is being blessed.

Well the situation here in San Francisco de Limache is a little hard at the moment for a few reasons. My companion is pretty discouraged because he has had much success in about 5 months. He feels pretty discouraged too that he will be 24 this month and he thought that by now he would be a super good missionary that good basically do everything. In other words I think it has to do with what we talked about a little while ago, the things we focus on will be bigger. I told him that this morning that we need to look at all the good that is happening, especially after this general conference. He feels a little blah also because we have interviews next week I think and President isn`t usually very ¨soft¨ on those who haven`t baptized. I explained that hey, that`s his job, is to make sure that the work of salvation continues. Maybe he doesn`t do it the way that we like but he shouldn`t worry. Success will come as we are faithful. Yesterday my companion and I received a call from a lady named Rubi who got baptized in July. I answered her call and she was in tears. She had arrived at the chapel and no one was there, no one had explained that the conference would take the place of regular church. She began to say how alone she felt and how her financial situation was so tight that she just couldn`t continue on. She then said that it would be better if she just went home and didn`t go to church anymore. As you can imagine at that moment I was praying that I would say the right thing and I told her to stay there and that we would go and meet with her right now. So we left and went to a little park by the church and began to talk to her. I prayed along the way that we would be able to say the right things to her. When we arrived we talked for a few minutes casually and I was able to share an experience with her that made us both cry a bit ( i honestly don`t normally cry when I`m teaching, but this time was different), I was able to understand how she felt and I don`t know, I just felt compassion. My companion shared Joseph Smith`s experience in jail where he spent the winter and endured a lot of affliction and how the Lord says that our afflictions will be but a small moment, and if we endure them well, God shall exalt thee on high. Long story short she was able to trust in the Lord and go to the conference and continue on. I made the point to my companion that what he shared with Rubi is exactly what he needs in this moment. I know that it`s hard when things don`t work out the way you want (trust me! I know!), but in the end we just have to keep being faithful and strive to be happy.

Speaking of which we have transfers this Wednesday! I`ll be sure to let you know what happens of course. I have no idea what will happen so it should be interesting. 3 short months and we will talking on SKYPE, don`t worry i`ll practice my English this time so that I can speak more fluidly haha. I will look around her for some shoe shops, I have found a few but i`ll look more into it and if I find a good pair ill get it. I think it will be better too rather than risk them getting stolen. As for starting school in August I really do think it would be a good idea as well and I`ll talk with President about it and tell him all the information. Obviously it`s not something of having everyone just wanting me home but several months of idle time isn`t a great idea, i`m pretty sure he`ll be supportive about it. 

Trevor emailed me but it was short. His training looks so awesome though! I`m happy he could watch the Conference too. Speaking of which MAN I miss the crepes! Hahah i`m going to eat so many when I get home, seriously. Well mom, I sure do miss you and the family. I love you guys so much and have really thought and acknowledged how much of a blessing it is to have such a loving and supportive family.
You are the best! Love you!