cool title

I knew coming out here I would gain a testimony, but I didn’t think I would gain as much weight. During district meeting I ripped my suit pants which really was just so sad because they were my favorite pants and is also a sign I’m getting fat. Other than that it was a pretty great week out here. Monday we had a pretty relaxed p-day, and after p-day we visited with people and saw some less-actives. We got a call from the AP's and they told us we had to move out of the apartment that night so that wasn’t fun. We had to move back to the super ghetto cigarette apartment.

Tuesday we had an awesome lesson with one of our less-active families who are trying to go to the temple. We talked about the temple and the priesthood, and the dad got pretty excited about it. 

Wednesday, we had a really good time at food bank and talked to a lot of people. We talked to this husband and wife and they said we could come by and visit the next day. We were on exchanges so I was with Elder McGill. We biked all over and had a lesson with one of our investigators Maria, we talked about prophets and invited her to watch conference and she said she would if she didn’t have work. We then were leaving and saw these two white people so of course we had to talk to them and they said "hey our vice principal is a Mormon" so we went and talked to him, he was a really cool guy. We then went over to a member’s house for dinner, she can only feed two of us, we had an amazing dinner and it was fun. We then went to the church and found out we weren’t supposed to eat with her this week but next week ahahha. We played volleyball with all the youth and members it was super fun. We had a less active family come and play which was awesome to see them. 

Thursday, we had a long day of planning, during planning we got a call from the AP's in Mexico telling us about a member who is about to move here. She then called us and asked us to go and visit her son in jail. We spent a good hour driving in the wrong direction hahaha. We didn’t get to visit him. We then went and tried one of our new investigators named Norma, she was outside and said she was busy but we talked with her anyways and we talked about the Plan of Salvation, she loved it. We went to visit the family from the food bank and the house they told us was empty so we were walking around and we saw this old guy and asked if they still lived there and he just got mad at us and told us we shouldn’t be there and that he was going to call the comps and then started waving his bat at us. 

Friday, we had a pretty good district meeting, and then after we had lots of time which is nice, we got to ride bikes around and tried all of our investigators and tried talking to people. No one was home but we got to talk to a lot of people which was really nice. It was super hot though which wasn’t fun.

Saturday, we did service all day for this one lady, she has a son who is in high school that is a super cool kid and a super good member missionary, we got to talk to him and do service. We then went and visited a couple people till dinner.  We ate at the church, and while we were there they were watching the women’s session but only 3 people were there, and two were the missionaries. 

Sunday, bladdimir texted us again with a lame excuse saying he couldn’t come again. We had pretty good lessons, we had to watch a couple of little kids so the parents could go to gospel principals, and it was pretty fun. We went out with a member and tried tons of people but no one was home, we then tried the Vargas family and they were home. We talked to them, and mid-lesson a mouse trap goes off and the mouse got away and I had to step on it. Well good week out here. Love everyone. 

Pics of us just being boys.

OKC Animal Rescue

This week was super fun, and exciting. We had lots of fun this week. I don’t remember too much of the beginning of the week, but I remember a lot of the end. On Wednesday, we got to talk to bladdimir about baptism and asked him if he still wanted to be baptized, he has been having some doubts. I was really stressing about what we could say to help him and what would make him want to be baptized but we can’t make people do anything they have to do it on their own. He told us that he wants to still be baptized but wants to wait till he is 16 in November. We have been able to talk to some of the other friends of bladdimir and are going to try and start teaching some of them, there are some pretty nice ones and then others who aren’t the nicest kids yet. 

Thursday we had zone conference, it was super helpful and awesome, super long too. President talked about how to work better with members, and how to work with different personalities. He also put some new things in that we are supposed to do, one of them is called lightening visits. All we are supposed to do is go to a member’s house and tell them about a miracle and we can’t go in and can’t be longer than 5 minutes. So after zone conference, elder Q figured we would go try it, we went to a members house and they tried to invite us in a good 10 times but we kept turning down and finally we had the whole family outside and we told them about a guy we find, they didn’t have much to say hahah. It was really awkward and I felt weird knocking on someone’s door and kinda bragging about something we did hahaha. 

Friday we had a super strange day, it was district meeting and half the district was sick so there were only a couple of us. We then just visited people until we had to go to the church to help set up for the Mexican Independence day fiesta. The party was sooo fun, we had 2 Spanish branches come so there was a ton of people. Everyone brought food from where they are from, we got to eat some super good food, I felt super fat after and my shirt felt really tight. The members all did these dances and sang songs it was really funny. It was super cool to see and be a part of the culture. 

Saturday we did service all morning, service is really fun always, we helped clean out sheds for the mission. We then went on exchanges because all the leaders of the mission had a meeting with Elder Pearson of the 70, I got to be with elder Rost, who is a Cali boy. As soon as we started the exchange it started to rain extremely hard, we were lucky to be in the car, but couldn’t see anything so we had to pull over and watch the storm. In 10 minutes all the streets were flooded, it started hailing super big hail haha. We sat in the car for about an hour, watching the storm. We then drove to bladdimirs and on the way there we almost got the car stuck in water, all the streets had flooded and had huge puddles of water, it was super fun. We went to dinner with a member and we had the dinner message, and I’m still kinda new so in my terrible Spanish I said "when you eat us, you’re helping god" the guy just looked at me and all the other missionaries just laughed. We then came back to the church to pick up some elders and we found a stray dog so we started playing with it and put it in the car, and then put some killer shades on it. 

Sunday was awesome, but none of our investigators came to church which was super lame. We had a really good dinner and had an amazing dinner message with a member. We went to visit one of my favorite families. La familia Vargas, they are a less active family, they are super kind and funny. We went over and visited and talked about getting them to the temple, they are working soo hard and Hermana is doing all she can to get there. She was telling us how hard she tries to get to church. It made me soo happy to see how strong her desire to attend church and read was. She knows and wants the blessing that come from going to church and wants those blessing for her and her family. 

Today we woke up and went and tried to do laundry at another missionary apartment but couldn’t so we called a member and she said we could come over so we were driving over to her house and we say this little puppy running in the street almost getting hit, so we stopped the car and the traffic and elder Q ran around in the street trying to catch this dog, Hahah he finally caught it and we brought it in the car and took it to the members house and played with it as we did laundry.

The cool down

This week was a super fast and fun week. The weather has finally started to cool down and has made it fun and enjoyable to be outside. With the weather we have been out biking and walking tons which has just been sooo much fun and awesome. We are always talking to people and always finding people to talk to but, everyone says they have their own church and don’t want to change. It’s been really hard for me, we have been finding people and have been giving them to other people and we hear about their awesome stories and how they are having so much luck and we aren’t having too much success. It kinda brought me down and I thought I wasn’t a good teacher and I didn’t feel like I was doing a very good job.

One morning I said and pray and asked for help and realized that I was comparing myself to others and it was bringing me down, so I had to stop comparing and think of all the thinks I’m doing right. It’s been a challenge but it’s been good and I have been much happier. This week was really fun, we had lots of fun, I love being able to walk around and just talk to people, even though some of them aren’t the nicest or want to listen, we do find people who will listen. This week we found lots of interesting people which is my favorite part about the area I live in, we have so many unique people. One day we were walking around and talked to this lady who had 4 inch long finger nails. Not too much long later we knocked this door and we talked to this really nice lady who said she was read the BOM and so we asked if we could come back and talk to her about it, and she said "no I don’t need you guys to, I’ll just ask god" it was kinda strange but cool.

We talked to this old guy, who was super nice and gave us a cantaloupe and said to come back the next day so we did and we were talking to him and he starts eating these chili peppers, He had tons of them growing in his front yard. He was growing the 4 hottest peppers in the world in his front yard, we started talking about them with him and then he says he always has fighting chickens in the backyard ahahah. We went back there and there were hundreds of chickens, I loved it, I was chasing them around trying to catch them. We also had some rough days this week, we finally got to talk to bladdimirs dad, and he said he just wants to make sure bladdimir is ready, so we were super stoked about that. We then talked to bladdimir and he goes I’m not sure if I want to be baptized!! Like what the heck, it was sooo hard for me so we invited him to pray about it. We also got a new branch presidency which is awesome and is going to be sooo good. 

Well I’m loving it out here, there are so much ups and downs but it is soo much fun. Thank you for everything.

STRESS!!!!

This is has been one of the most stressful but fun weeks of my life, but the lord is always there. He is there to support and lift us up in those hard times and he was there for me this week. Usually transfers are really hard for me and I get homesick but the lord kept me busy and helped me through it.

Monday- we just had the classic pday we didn’t do much for pday. I don’t remember anything from Monday haha

Tuesday- Today was the day for Kevin’s baptism, I was soo excited all day. All day we were just preparing stuff for the baptism and getting everything all ready. We went to the church to fill up the font but we didn’t have keys so we had to call someone to run them to us and we were already running late getting it filled, but good things hispanic time is different than our because it was supposed to start at 7 but started at 7:45so we had plenty of time to fill it up. It went really well and it was cool to see how excited he was to be baptized.

Wednesday- We had transfers today which was really fun but soooo stressful, we changed comps. My new comp is elder quinones from Las Vegas. He is awesome, we got put right to work after transfers moving people into new apartments, that’s what we did all day. We went to one of the new apartments for the sisters and it just reeked of weed it was bad ahahah. We have 6 missionaries in a 5 person car so it was really stressful trying to figure out how to get people places. We then went to the church for dinner and sports and it was awesome we got to see bladdimir and he was excited and we had his interview and he is ready. 

Thursday- we wake up to a text from bladdimir saying he can’t get baptized, so I started to freak out and he told us his dad thinks he’s too young to be baptized so we went over to try and talk to his dad but he wasn’t home. We had to call everyone and cancel the baptism it was really sad. Things happen on the lord’s time not ours and it’s been a challenge for me to except that.  We had to help move the elders’ apartment today which was also really stressful, they are a huge apartment with 3 bedrooms for only two of them. We will probs be moving in with them thought so that will be really fun. We didn’t get to do anything other than help move the elders today.

Friday- we woke up to gun shots outside the apartment last night ahahah. One of the elders heard it and just shot up and made sure the door was locked ahahha. We had our first district meeting with the new district and it went really well, we have 8 of us in the district and it’s all Spanish so we do it in Spanish. We then had to move more missionaries and that’s again what we did all day ahhaha. We haven’t been able to visit anyone so hopeful everyone is doing ok. We had to walk and hour in the dark and rain in a sketchy area but it was really fun.​​

Saturday- today we finally got to do some studies which was nice, but we still didn’t have much time to do stuff, we finally got to visit a less-active which was great, his mom who isn’t a member was there and she wants to go to church but he says she isn’t ready ahhaha. We then had to go to the church and help with a baby shower, it was pretty fun hahah.

Sunday- we had church and instead of having us go to class some lady told us we needed to help her clean out the library, we got in the and there were algebra books everywhere and all these love books and Budweiser boxes ahahah. We were at dinner and I was sitting on my chair and it slipped out from underneath me and launched across the room and knocked the family’s plants down I felt soo bad, there was dirt everywhere. We then got to visit cecilio and talk to him, he will be moving for a little which is really sad.\

Sorry this isn’t a very good email but don’t have a ton of time, still stressing ahhaha. Thanks for the love and support.

Elder Barrett

Transfers

This week was pretty sweet, the weather has been cooling down it went from 107 to 89 pretty quick so it’s felt really good outside. I will be staying here in okc for another transfer and will be getting a new comp. Elder quinones, he is an English elder but knows Spanish so I’m excited.

Monday p-day was fun, after p-day we got to visit with Maria who is progressing tons the lesson was soo peaceful and the spirit was so strong. Not much else happened. 

Tuesday the hermanas went to the doctor because one of them has been really sick, they came back and she has mono really bad. They said she will have to stay inside for a month, or might have to go home. We got to give her a priesthood blessing, they are always soo powerful. We then got to visit the Perez family who has an 8 year old son who we were teaching so he can get baptized. The lesson was so hard, I struggled so hard to teach simple principals to this kid and my comp didn’t help me at all. I felt so bad I felt like I had failed the little kid and I felt like the parents didn’t want me to teach him again. It was really hard for me but, the lord was there to comfort me.

Wednesday- I felt my first earthquake during studies on Wednesday. My whole desk shook really hard it was weird, at first I wasn’t sure if I was crazy or if I had just felt an earthquake. All the other missionaries felt it too. We got to visit with a couple people, and then we went on exchanges with the AP's which was soo fun. I got to be with elder maughan from Cali. He played basketball for byui before the mission way cool kid. We taught a couple lesson which was awesome.

Thursday- we had a really good day so today we had a couple of good lessons which was fun and got to see our investigators who we didn’t see last week. so after dinner we decided we would go to bladdimirs and talk to his mom and see if he could be baptized, we got there and it was like oh man here it come so we started and talking and asked if he could be baptized and she goes "yeah" we were like well wow ok, bladdimir had been telling us she had said no to him. Bladdimir is getting baptized on Saturday sooo stoked for him.

Friday- not much happened today sadly we tried seeing lots of people but no one was home, we got to visit Kevin again and I was able to teach a little better, he will be getting baptized on Tuesday.

Saturday- We were on exchanges all day, I got a new elder and we went out and talked to people, it was hard I was struggling to talk to the people and it wasn’t normal for me. I usually can talk and know what to say, but I just couldn’t talk it was soo hard.

Sunday- I love Sundays sooo much, they are so peaceful and I love being able to go to church.

Sorry not much to write about this week. Next week we will have more.

Love,

Elder Barrett

cool beans

This week went sooo fast I really don’t remember too much.

Monday for pday activity we went and had a water fight and played football which was pretty fun, we then got to visit this family who just had two kids baptized and we are working on the parents, it was our first lesson with them and I love them soo much, we were able to connect and have a great lesson. 

Tuesday we had a great language study then got to eat at golden corral with a member, after we went to visit one of our investigators and every time we go we get attack by their little rat dogs, we spend a good 10 minutes trying to get to the door I finally just walked up and had to just scare them off it was kinda fun. We were walking back to the car and they were attacking us again, I’m almost to the car and see two huge pit bulls running at me so I jump on the car ahahah but they were super nice and scared the little dogs off so my comp could get to the car.  We went to cheesecake factory for one of the Hermana’s last days, it was really fun. It was cool to see white people again. We were able to see cecilio which was awesome, he has finished the book of Mormon which is sooo cool. He knows so much, he is still waiting for papers so he can get baptized.

Wednesday we dropped one of the hermanas off at the mission home, it was weird seeing people going home. We got to go to the food bank and do service which is always my favorite, I love doing service. It makes me so happy to serve others! We got to have a lesson with bladdimir, his mom won’t let him get baptized which is really sad. We will try and talk to her and see why she won’t let him.

Thursday we had a normal day just tried lots of people and a couple lesson with less actives.

Friday we had a really good district meeting on using the book of Mormon more and how important it is. We then had the chance to talk to Omar again who we hadn’t been able to see, he is doing good said he would come to church but didn’t. Saturday we had a day full of talking to people and visiting which was awesome we had lesson with a guy and it was sooo peaceful and I could feel the spirit the man was sooo kind and willing to listen I loved it. 

Sunday was great, so half the attendance at church was English people from the stake ahahha. Me and elder Barry got to teach primary again, I loved it but elder Barry didn’t ahahah. The kids were really smart and awesome. We had a great dinner with a member, and she told me to put lime in my eyes because it helps them so I did and it was a terrible idea my eyes hurt so bad but then felt better after ahah. We were visiting with one of our less actives, and she has this chubby little son who is my favorite kid. So we are talking and he walks up to his mom and goes mom “feel my panza I’ve been riding my bike, does it feel smaller" aahhaha PANZA is belly in Spanish. I’ve never laughed soo hard, the kid is soo funny.

love,

Elder Barrett

Changes

This week was really a different week for me, I had lots of struggles, new experiences and changes. this week my comp was sick so we had to stay in for three days and if you know me I can’t sit still for longer than an hour so being inside with not much to do, was sooo hard. I started to get really sad and started to get scared it was so strange. Before the mission that was the one thing that I had worried so much about and it was here and it was happening and it was sooo hard. After three days I couldn’t do it anymore and broke down and just had to plead with the lord to help me, I couldn’t do it anymore. The lord came in and helped me so much, he comforted me and blessed my comp with strength so that we could go out. The lord was there for me and he showed me his love and comfort. 

The next day I was still kinda struggling and I decided to study a little different and it was amazing I was able to feel the spirit and learn and understand more in the scriptures, it was such a blessing. This week we were able to visit with a couple of our investigators, we finally got to see bladdimir after he didn’t come to church last week, he still wants to get baptized so we are working hard on getting him there. He didn’t come to church this week again so have to keep changing his dates. 

We have been visiting Benjamin who is one of our investigators who says he wants to be baptized but won’t read. He says he wants to learn more before he gets baptized and we tell him the way he will learn more is by reading then he keeps telling us he doesn’t need to know the whole book. It’s this cycle of excuses its makes me laugh. 

We got to visit cecilio and hermana salgado last night and hermana just broke down and started crying. She is so sad because we teach about how families are so important and make us so happy but her kids don’t treat her very well. I almost started cry, I took me so long to realize how much my parents did for me and I feel so bad about it. Family is the greatest thing in the world and I’m so grateful for my family. I’m so thankful for a father in heaven that loves me so much that he gave his only son who was perfect to atone for our sins. We need to appreciate our families more, I wish I had before the mission. Thank you for all the love and support.

And yes I’m gaining some weight but I lost some the other day from riding bikes all day in the 105 degree weather.