Miracles

There are 5 ways to identify a Hispanic house here in okc:

1. they have a virgin mary statue.

2. exotic plants

3. type of car, or rims

4. colored house

5. lawns mower outside

6. bounce house.

Sorry I didn’t have time to right much last week we had to hurry and shop and stuff.

We had a way fun p-day we had our zone p-day so we played sports at the church with 20 other missionaries, it was soo fun. We then had a zone training that was really great.

Tuesday- one of the best days on the mission. We read with hrma quiros and she is really sick and its super sad but she is staying strong. After that we went to the trailer parks to try some potentials and I was thinking about the stories about missionaries who knock doors and the people say they were praying for them to come. so we are knocking doors and the second door we knock some girl opens the door and I ask for the guy who lives there in Spanish and she replies in English he’s not here but are you the missionaries and we say yes. She starts to cry and says I was on my knees praying for help from someone. We started talking and she really wants to change. She is sooo ready and wanted to come to church sooo bad. We then went to visit some less-actives and one had puppies and let us hold them and one of them almost pooped on my soo that was a close one. 

Wednesday- we had morning sports again which was always fun. There are sooo many donuts shops here and I love donuts soo we always get donuts after morning sports. today we went to visit amber the girl from yesterday but she was busy so we went and visited other potentials and one of them answered and we had an amazing lesson with her and we asked if she would be baptized and she said yes and said she wants to on here birthday and she wants to come to church on Sunday. We then went to the church for reymundos farewell party. Reymundo served here a year ago and lives here but is moving to Hawaii for school. The food was sooo good usual.

Thursday- today we had vets meeting so I got to see all the people I came out with which was soo nice and got to see president again. We then went and visited amber and she is doing great we had a great lesson and set up a baptismal date with her. We had dinner with Rosa and Miguel who are my favorite people ever. We then went to visit some less actives and we saw a cop car at the light with a guy in it we rolled up and me and the guy in the back had a staring contest it was kinda scary. We then met with celilio and the lesson was soooo strange soo stressful at the beginning then so spiritual he said he was worried about the papers and moving out. So we talked to him and stuff and at the end he said he would move out and we got to plan his baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a miracle.

Friday- we had a goood day we taught bladdimir who is 15 and he is super interested and said he would read to scriptures. We then had the father’s day party. The fooood was soooo goood. We had some good music and stuff and there was a lot of people I learned how to dance and everyone loved watching me dance ahah. 

Saturday- we got to teach Sergio who is our neighbor who was in a really bad accident and he doesn’t remember much so we keep teaching the same things. He was almost baptized at one point. But during the lesson his grandson was messing around ahahh he is two and super funny. He walked out of a room with ice cream and it started melting and getting everywhere he also had my name tag and got ice cream allll over my name tag then walked over to me and got chocolate and ice cream on my pants ahahahha.

Smokelahoma

What another sweet week. Things out here are getting much better, the weather is still super hot and I’m not used to it. It got up to 107 this week and on that day we were riding bikes and had to ride to one of furthest members houses. Our area is pretty big its 60 streets long by 30 wide. We don’t get to visit most of our area because it’s too far away.

MONDAY- Monday was the bomb because of pday and getting to see pics and talk to everyone. We went shopping all day ahhah. Elder Barry needed new shirts and stuff. We went to the nice part of okc and so that was cool. We then went shopping and I had run out of money on my card so I bought apples for the week ahahh. We then went and taught the Vargas family the plan of salvation and at the end of the lesson they asked us to help them to get there temple recommends so they can go to the temple and take out there endowments!!! Yessss!!!!! How cool is that, they know that being sealed in the temple is the right thing to do and want to be able to be a family forever. We then went to golden corral for dinner which was not the best but the members who took us were just great and way cool. We then got to teach efrai who is a less active who has started coming back to church.

TUESDAY-`we got to teach Maria who is our investigator, she is awesome I fell asleep during the lesson and felt bad. We went to teach this lady and the front of her house makes it look abandoned and stuff but we went around back and I could smell the house from the outside and there were bugs everywhere. She answered and we walked in and the smell and the bugs just attacked me we talked to here for a really long time and I could feel bugs crawling on me the whole time. 

I don’t have much time left so I’ll just throw some highlights in ahhaha

WEDNESDAY-We had service at the food bank again which I love. We rode our bikes 15 miles in the 105 degree weather. I talked to some of the young kids at sports they were dope and we will be teaching them soon.

THURSDAY- today was my first zone conference

Friday-another day

Another Week

I figured I would start off with cool facts about okc.

-everyone is always mowing there lawn.

-they have squirrels the size of dogs.

-the weather is really a.d.d

-everyone belongs to a church.

-everyone owns at least 6 dogs

-everyone has stuff in there yard.

I ripped my pants last week on the first day so that was really disappointing but other than that my clothes have been great.

Monday- we had a great p-day we play sports with missionaries from all over so that is always way. Fun it was super hot so we played basketball inside. I had braums for the first time which was really good. We then went and got ready for the day and went to give this girl a blessing who takes care of all these little kids and they are sick and stuff and there mom doesn’t help much but she was way nice and kind. We then went to dinner at a less-actives house and she made homemade tortillas that were amazing. We then taught cecilio who is about to get baptized once his divorce papers come.

Tuesday- we have a lady in the branch who has us over every Tuesday for language study so we went and did that with here she was way cool and nice and I learned a lot. She will get mad if you say something wrong so she helps me a lot. During the lesson her dog came over to us and she grabbed it and threw it ashahhahahah. We then taught a lesson with the sisters and that was a good lesson. We got a sweet tour of our area because we got lost but then we found where we were going. We then had dinner at the church and then went to this lady Rosa who has language study with us also she is way cool. She lives with another member name Miguel who is just a little fire cracker ahah the guy is super short and funny, he read with us. 

Wednesday-every Wednesday we go and do service at the food bank. We help people bag there groceries, it’s not much but I love it. We get to talk to people and hear their stories it’s awesome. After service we had a member come out to a lesson with us. We went and taught Maria who is so strong she almost got baptized in Mexico but her two kids got murdered. She knows so much and the lesson was awesome, having the member there was great. The member that came out with us is super funny and I love the guy. We went to the church for dinner and every Wednesday everyone comes to the church for sports so that is an awesome way to get everyone out and invite investigators. We then taught cecilio and he said if he doesn’t get the divorce papers by July 2 he is going to move out so he can get baptized!!!!!! Such a big leap of faith. we got home and some lady came up to us and started talking about weird stuff and the bible and the beast and then said "666 I love you guys bye" so strange ahah.

Thursday-oh Thursday are sooo long and stuff we are inside like all day planning and stuff and its soo hard sometimes. But today we finished planning and were leaving the apartment and knocked on our neighbor’s door who used to be an investigator but dropped the elders. But we knocked his door and he was home and told us to come in so we gave him a lesson. He knows so much but forgets a lot of stuff because he broke his back. He was almost baptized but then dropped the elders. The lesson went amazing he said he would fast and pray to know the truth. we then went to knock on one of our investigators doors and started talking to these ladies one of them said we could come back to that was awesome. We had dinner with Rosa who made amazing tamales and tres leches. We went to talk to one of the less active families and their kids are my fav. We talked to the mom outside for a little and then she had to go somewhere so we went and tried another investigator but he was busy but that’s ok.

Friday- we have morning sports at 6 every Friday so we had bball today that was fun as always. We had district meeting which was good. We had an amazing lesson on repentance. We then did some lds.org stuff. We had dinner at hrma queiros house she made fish and I don’t like fish but I ate it anyways, I left some food on my plate and she got mad and said next time I need to bring a plastic back and take the rest home with me ahahahha. We then went and taught cecilio again. I love this man he is super funny. His gf is a member but is less active, she has a son out on a mission. They are my fav and are soo kind and funny. 

Saturday- we had morning sports again and played some soccer with tons of sisters and elders at the local high school. We came home and I was soo tired I made it to lunch and slept for lunch which I do most days. We then went to one of our investigators trailer parks to knock doors. Good thing everyone is always outside so we met tons of people that said we could come back and visit. we met these two guys that were way nice and they said they had to go somewhere so we left then and we were there talking to people for 30 minutes when we headed back to the car some car stopped in the middle of the rode and its was this sketchy car. Some guy gets out and it’s was one of the guys we had talked to and he had gone and gotten us gatorades. We then went and taught one of our investigators Carlos who was awesome he was asking good questions and was way interested in the lesson. We then went and taught a less-active who said he would come to church Sunday so that was just great. we then had a great dinner at the church one of the members was having a baby shower so we got to eat the food ahah and then we got taken to braums for shakes. We went to cecilios and taught him. We came home and these two people we in our parking lot freaking out the guy grabbed the girl’s keys and just threw them super far ahahha.

Sunday- church was great, we did the sacrament. We had tons of less actives at church. We gave a blessing after church to this lady who has a kid who is super funny. We then had dinner at the guerreros and that was great elder Barry put lime juice in his eye ahaha. We then taught cecilio and that was great. 

much love elder Barrett.

WHOA

Well what a crazy start to the field.

Tuesday: our bus was supposed to leave at 3:30 and we were planning on waking up at 2:30 to finish up some stuff. All night I was like I wish we had a second alarm and I asked my comp is the alarm set and he kept saying yes so we all went to bed. I wake up in the middle of the night look at the clock and wasn’t sure what it said I looked like 3 so I got up and looked for reals and it was 3:22 ahahha I was like elders we got to go ahahh we threw everything on and got our stuff and ran as fast as we could to the travel office we made it on time. Hahahah. The lord has a sense of humor doesn’t he? Well we made it to the airport and got on our plane. I slept the whole time so that was nice. We got to Atlanta and met up with the other missionaries from the Mexico mtc. We had me and 2 other elders, and had 4 sisters. We finally got to okc and it was sooo flat humid and rainy. We met the mission pres and he is sooo cool, funny and a giant. We then went to the church got our bikes had dinner and pres talked to us about stuff. I instantly got home sick was like what did I get myself into hahah. We slept at pres's house and he has a really nice house. We woke up early and went to the church for a little more info and stuff and to get out comps. I met my comp his name is elder Barry. He is from Vegas but was born in New Zealand. He is a cool guy but kinda strange im learning to love him. We went back to the apartment which is in ghetto part of town. I’m in the city and its kinda ghetto. My apartment smells like cigs ahahh. We then had dinner and stuff with members. I don’t remember much. It rained all day and was hard. Tons of churches here ahahha.

Wednesday-Monday: I honestly don’t remember anything so I’ll tell all the stuff I do remember. We get fed every night by members and that is just the greatest they make some amazing food and I love it all. They are all so kind and funny. I met cecilio this guy who is waiting for divorce papers to get baptized. We talk to people on the streets and stuff and they talk sooooo much they never stop talking ahahh. We went to visit this lady who had started taking the lesson in Mexico but then her sons got murdered so she stopped. We taught the restoration and that was awesome. We have sports Monday Wednesday and Friday Saturday mornings so we wake up early and play sports with the other missionaries. It is way fun and stuff. Church on Sunday was just awesome we had some less actives come out and that was awesome. The bishopric is just awesome and stuff we have the greatest members that do so much for us. I’m in okc south branch we have a big area and it’s all Spanish so everything we do is in Spanish ahhaha. It’s hard for me because I don’t know much Spanish so I just bare my testimony and say stuff I know how to say ahhaha. we were riding bikes yesterday and started talking to this guy then all of a sudden these two people started freaking out at each other and started swearing ahha we gave the guy a book of Mormon and left. We went to a less actives house but they weren’t home so we talked to their neighbor who was way nice. He saw and said you are Mormons. My sister and mom are Mormon. He started talking and saying how he has so much respect for us. He told us about his son had just got murdered and how god won’t put us through anything we can’t handle. God knew this man could handle it and he was strong even though that’s sad the man was awesome. We referred him to the English sisters in that area. We helped at youth conference on Friday so that was fun. There was a lot of youth who came out. It was at an English ward so only a couple of the Spanish youth came they all speak English and Spanish. There are these huge water canal things all over the place for storm and stuff and there is a church on every corner and tons of birds ahhaha. The members here are so good and help so much. there is junior who is convert that drives us to sports every day we have it and then there is Raymundo who served here a year ago and comes to dinner with us and takes us places but he is moving so that’s sad.

love elder barrett

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