I made it

hey i made it. it is sooo flat and strange here, but i love it i think. president walkenhorst is a giant and is the coolest guy ever. he is super chill, we are currently at the church fixing our bikes and stuff. 

In the blink of an eye

 

It’s crazy to think that my time in the mtc is almost up. I leave next Tuesday at 7 in the morning and will be in OKC by 3. It feels like I just got here, my time here has been soo fun and I have learned so much. 

 Tuesday: we dropped off the district that was leaving and that was super sad because we got really close to them and they were super funny and great examples. We then went to the temple, I look forward to the temple all week. I love going to the temple, it is soo peaceful and such an amazing place. We then came back and elder iongis mom had send him the biggest box ever. It was filled with chips and candy and we got lava lavas so I wear mine every day at night. Elder Iongi shared the whole box with everyone and has been a great example on how to share.

 Wednesday: I woke up sick and really tired and couldn’t stay awake during class or anything it was really bad ahahah. We got to host the new missionaries again and that is my favorite I didn’t see anyone I knew but it was still fun. We did meet this little girl names Addie that we talked to and she was really funny. She was only three but we asked her if she was being dropped off for here mission and she said not yet I’m not old enough but said she would go on one. We then got to teach people on skype which was pretty fun but hard because the computer kept cutting out so we couldn’t hear what the person was saying ahaha. I weighed myself today and I almost cried because in the blink of an eye I went from 175 to 190 ahhaha but I’m back down to 185 now so I’m trying to lose weight ahah. 

 Thursday: I woke up still sick but had energy to do stuff and it was great. I was able to focus and study in class. Not much happened Wednesday, I saw one of my friends from high school. 

Friday: Today I went to the doctor because everyone in our district was sick and one of the Hermanas had some sickness so I and Elder Iongi went to just make sure we didn’t have anything. I felt like a total softy for going. I was clean but Elder Iongi had to go get meds so we got to leave campus!!!! Man the real world is crazy jk, we just walked down the street to the pharmacy. We got our travel plans and it was so exciting! That’s all we talked about during class ahahah. 

Saturday: we had service today and we had to vacuum the stairs again. I don’t mind service I’m excited to serve out in the field. We then taught our fake investigator and it was so hard for some reason. I knew how to answer his question but just couldn’t. One of the sister across the hall looked really familiar so I started talking to here and we had hung out before the mission ahah I find all these weird connections all over the place. We made a 4 square court in the dorms so we play that at night ahah it’s really fun.

Sunday: Sundays are always the best not only because it’s Sunday and p-day is soon but we all get to take the sacrament and have a devotional. Every Sunday at church we have to write a talk and the branch presidency chooses a Hermana and an elder to speak and nobody knows who it is until after the sacrament, I thought it was going to be me this week but it wasn’t ahahha so maybe next week. We had a great devotional by some guy who is just forgot his name but he did really good ahahh. I then watched the Missions are forever by Elder Holland and it was amazing. I met Zach Selyss from the BYU basketball team. He is super cool and really nice.

Monday: I just love Mondays because p-day is the next day ahahh. Today was great we asked one of our teachers all class about the field and stuff like that and it got me so excited to go serve and teach people, I finally get to do what I came here for and I can’t wait. Today at lunch I asked Elder Selyss for some fries and he said “anything for you" I guess you could say we are bffs. He looks up to me figuratively but looks down to me literally. so at the end of the day, my district and this district next to us who has an elder that was on American idol who is amazing at singing, got together and started singing hymns and then all of a sudden everyone on the whole bottom floor was around us and we all started singing hymns and the spirit was soo strong and it was sooo coool. 

Banana Phone

Wow what a week, I don’t even know where to start. so last Wednesday we got to host the new missionaries and the night before I was thinking about my friend Bryce who I hadn’t seen in such a long time, well I’m seeing all the kids I know while hosting and then I’m taking one of them to get to his stuff and the book store and I’m waiting for him to come out and I look to my left and see my friend Bryce who I hadn’t seen in such a long time. It was a blessing to me and the lord blesses us for doing his work.

I have soo many new friends here and I’m finding connections all over the place and it is crazy. There is another Elder Barrett (spelled Berrett) but he is my new pal and he is awesome. We got a new district this week and they are soo cool there are 6 elders and 2 sisters. We all get along so well most the time. There has already been some problems with people getting mad at each other for little things so other than that everyone has been great. We have this joke where everyone talks on their banana phone, it’s really funny to us.

On Sunday going to the temple walk I saw this little kid with these wheel things on his shoes and I started to sing some song but changed the lyrics to sing about his shoes and one of the members of the branch presidency came out of nowhere and got really mad, kinda weird.

I am the new district leader, and have a lot of responsibility, but it is awesome and I love it. I love learning Spanish it is soo fun but so hard at the same time. During one of our lessons the other day I was trying to say you need to "practice" I accidentally said you need to "sports" but it’s a good thing our investigator is super funny and just laughed about it. He is really funny and loves reading the book of Mormon which is just awesome. During our lesson on Monday, there was a bug flying around distracting everyone so I saw it in front of my face stood up mid-sentence and smacked it down, sat back down and continued to teach the lesson.

I’m having so much fun and I know this church is true and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.

Much love, Elder Barrett

Noice.

 

Time is going sooo fast, I can’t believe I am about to start my 4th week here. I finally had some hard days, the Hermanas in my district get mad and frustrated with each other all the time and this one always gets mad at us. It causes lots of contention. Contention is the worst, it’s from the devil. It’s so hard to work when you have contention haha. Me and Elder Iongi were get frustrated at Elder Pulice because he kept saying "uplift elders" after anything we said, I was getting so mad and that was the first time I’ve been mad since I got here. But we talked about it and there is no more saying that so that is nice. 

Not much happens really, we do the same thing every day ahha. We were playing volleyball and of course we were winning, but then I jammed my fingers blocking my zone leader. We lost after I left the game jkjk. Gym time is so nice. 

I’ve not only being growing spiritual but I have physically. I keep gaining and losing weight like it's nothing and it’s also of the devil. The food still isn’t very good so I eat salad every meal. 

We know all the elders in the building because every night we go around and meet everyone. That is my fav part of the day, I love meeting people and hearing their stories there are some amazing people here. We just said bye to our friends who we did everything with it was sad. Me and Elder Iongi are always talking to people and its super fun, me and him get along so well. He is me but Tongan. 

We have been teaching this 62 year old man from Peru, his name is Marcos and he is sooo funny and the best. He committed to being baptized. Too bad he is already baptized ahah. He said to us the first time we met with him "I’m your friend, so don’t worry about your Spanish, I’m not rating you” he obviously said it in Spanish. He is super funny and I love him. The Spanish is awesome I love learning it and it is sooo fun, it is so hard at times. There are times I think I know it and get confident but the Lord is quick to humble me ahah. 

As always thanks for the letters and stuff. Thanks for the love and support. Keep writing I love hearing from everyone. 

Much love,

Elder Barrett. 

Week Two

Sorry about last week’s email it was all over the place. This week was awesome!!! Tuesday night we had a devotional and Elder Oaks spoke and it was amazing. Unfortunately I feel asleep and I feel really bad about that.

This week has been so much different, I have felt the spirit so much and it has been a blessing. The lord has been pouring blessing down on me ever since I got here. Without the Lord and the Spirit nothing is possible, it is so true and the Lord does so much for all of us.

We finished teaching our first investigator, his name was Ricardo and he was actually our teacher so that was cool. He is a super great teacher, and brings the spirit every time he teaches. The MTC is super fun, and I’m always happy here. I love being able to go to the temple every week and it has blessed me. My Tongan comp talks to everyone so we meet tons of amazing people and I love it. I have made so many new friends. Every night we go and meet new people and hang with them and get to know them.

My district is awesome, we do have a problem with talking too much during studying but we have gotten much better ahah. There are so many funny things that happen but of course I can’t remember them right now. There is this elder that doesn’t like me for some reason and I was trying to be nice and I said "I like your shoes" and he goes “thanks, I know how to shop unlike you, who dressed you, your grandma?" I was just like nice and kinda felt bad for him that he is here at the MTC the happiest place and he can’t be happy.

We got to help the new senior missionaries come in. It was super fun and one of the elders I met used to live in the same stake as me so that was cool. Yesterday we got to teach our first real investigator and it was the greatest thing ever, his name is Marcos and he is a 60 year old Peruvian man. He was sooo funny and the spirit was so strong in the lesson. He was so kind and just wanted the best for his family and himself, he was really interested in the church.

The Spanish is awesome I still can’t speak very well but it is so fun learning even though it is hard. We always play games to learn our Spanish and they are super fun games.

I just want to thank everyone for the love and support. The letters and dear elders are amazing keep them coming they make me so happy. And I kinda look cool when I get them too. Through Christ anything is possible and if we do what we need to he will help us succeed.