Noice

Well it’s been a week out here. We have a pet cat his name is Reggie after my fish that died before I left. He chills way hard on our deck, I haven’t petted him yet but he’s my pal. I also had a roach chillin way hard on my desk which wasn’t cool, one because he’s a roach and second he isn’t paying rent so. 

Tuesday- we emailed for a little then went to read with a member and she was being so rough on my Spanish it was good but hard at the same time. We then had to go bless a house because there were ghosts or something in the house, it was kinda weird but she fed us tacos so that was dope. We got to visit with some of our investigators and read with them, they all struggle to read so we read with them a lot. 

Wednesday- there was a storm during the night that was really cool, but when we wake up it is super humid. I caught a toad today which made me really happy. We got in with one of our investigators finally and it was awesome, but then during the lesson the sisters called and some crazy person was saying stuff to them so we had to end the lesson and go talk to the sisters.

Thursday- we planned like all day which isn’t very fun, we got out of the house at 4. We went out trying potentials and met some really great people, we were talking to a guy and some crazy white guy drove by and started swearing at us and stuff it was funny. We had a really good dinner at Rosas. We visited with cecilio and hrma selgado and it was a really good lesson. She started crying and telling us how much she loves and appreciates us. She says we are here angels and her kids. They are my favorite people and make me feel at home when I’m in their home. They are soo strong.

Friday- we had zone training meeting. It was really good we got lots of great inspiration and guidance on how we can be better at talking to everyone and how to talk to people. We have some amazing missionaries out here. We got to go to taste of china which is my favorite ahhah.  We went and rode bikes to and investigators who said he was going to be there but wasn’t so that was salty but then we got to meet this other lady who was really cool and said we could come back. We tried to have an English class and had people who said they would come but like most people here they didn’t show up ahaha. 

Saturday- we went to pick up elder butterfield in the north. He is leaving in a couple weeks so he is a traveling missionary, and just goes around to all the areas. We got to go to a baptism and it was soo cool. I was able to teach the lady once and she is soo cool she had to wait a couple months to get baptized so it was cool to see it actually happen. We then went and talked to tons of people and met tons of people unfortunately most of them were drunk. We got to meet with the Vargas’s and talked with them. They are trying to go to the temple so we have been trying to prep them for that.

Sunday- the sisters took the car today because one of the sisters was sick and had to go to the ER. She has pneumonia which is too bad. Church was good bladdimir said he was going to come but never showed up so we have to change his date again. After church we were talking to this lady and she goes "I thought you were jehovas witness and I was about to be really mean to you" ahahhah I started laughing but she said we could come back.

  

not much time to write but love you all. 

Good Times

Well I will be staying in okc south for another 6 weeks and I’m super excited I love the south. I love the people and the members. President changed the p-day schedule so now we get an extra hour of p-day ahah so stoked. This was a very strange week, with all the exchanges and stuff I kinda got homesick again and was kinda down the first couple of days but it’s gotten much better. 

On Monday we had a fun p-day, we got to eat dinner with one of my favorite families and she makes homemade tortillas that are sooo good. we then went to an appointment but he wasn’t home so we knocked doors and met some really cool people, we met a guy name garanamo and he has 13 kids ahahah. 

Oh Tuesday what a wild day ahhah so Tuesday we were knocking doors around on of our investigators and we knocked this one and this guy came out covered in tats and we start talking to him nice guy, kinda scary, tells us he 21 has 3 kids and has been in jail since he was 11. He then starts telling us we need to be really careful because we are white, and with all the stuff going on in the world and in our neighborhood we need to be really careful. We then asked him his name and he goes "Houston" I can’t give you my real name because of what’s going on around here. He is a blood and then he goes just be glad yall didn’t meet me yesterday and we were like well looks like its time to go but pretty wild. We watched the testaments with cecilio and it was soo powerful to me id never seen it and I felt the spirit so strong, it is so cool and excited that he will come again. 

On Wednesday we went and picked up the hermanas new comp, they are in a trio now and it is soo fun having them around the new sister is way cool. We got to have a lesson with bladdimir who is progressing so much he is on track to be baptized on the 30 of this month. We can now play basketball during dinner at the church so we got to play basketball with all the youth and it was I elder Barry and the three sisters vs. the youth and we destroyed them ahahh it was soo fun. 

Thursday we were inside planning legit all day, we got to have a lesson with Sergio, he thought the sisters were our girlfriends ahahhahah. We then got to have dinner and on the way to dinner I had to sit in the trunk because there are so many of us and the member didn’t have enough seats ahahha. We got to visit the Vargas family and the dad wasn’t there but we talked to the mom and she doesn’t work or have money but wants to pay tithing so cool to see that she is changing and wants to pay tithing. 

On Friday I woke up at 1:30 in the morning to the coolest storm the thunder was so loud and legit never stopped making noise same with the lightning it was soo cool our room was constantly bright because of the lightning it legit never stopped. I was sick all Friday but pushed through, we got to meet the new zone leaders at district meeting, we had a great district meeting, we had a good day, and we saw Benjamin who is progressing which is awesome. 

Saturday we didn’t does service sad face, we did family history at the library and I traced our family line back to Adam and ever, which was way cool. We had a good day. 

Sunday was awesome church was great we had bladdimir come to church he loved it, we then got in with the Vargas family again and had a great lesson. another great week out here in okc, I love the lord and the gospel so much anything is possible through the lord. 

much love elder barrett

Transfers

This week was really strange and all messed up because we had tons of meeting and stuff but very well. We got to meet President and his wife finally, the dude is soooo coool. He has such a big vision for us and is going to put us to work and make this place the bomb. I am sooo stoked to be working with him. So when we went to meet him, he has us come into the gym one by one and talk to him and his wife. I walk up to him shake his and his wife’s hands and tell them my name and his wife goes "oh I have a picture of you with long hair on my phone" ahhahahah I started dying hahahha. We then got to meet with cecilio who was about to get baptized but we started talking to him and he said he is going to be postponing his baptism. Super hard but the lord blessed and comforted me, things happen on the lords time not mine. 

Wednesday we tried to visit amber who was doing sooo good but she wasn’t home so we called her and she said she won’t be around for a while and is living in the north because of some problems so that was kinda hard and teressa who was doing soo good and came to church has just stopped talking to us and doesn’t answer our calls or texts. We knocked her door the other day and I saw here in the window and she didn’t answer haha. We then got to meet with bladdimir, he is sooo strong and is sooo sick. We had an awesome lesson and the spirit was sooo strong. We then had a going away party for one of our youth he is going into the marines. The food was amazing as usual. 

Thursday we got to meet with Sergio who is way cool and is super strong but can’t make it to church on Sundays and believes in these crazy prophets on YouTube which is too bad. Ahhaha we then went to visit our new investigator named Benjamin the dude just talks for ages and talks about the strangest things. Hahahaha we asked him to give the closing prayer and the guy said in the name of god in the name of Christ and in the name of the missionaries ahahhah I was soo confused. I’ve never heard that before. 

Well on Friday our A/C stopped working so our apartment is super-hot and smells like cigs soo gross. We had a great district meeting, I love district meeting I always learn tons. It rained soooo hard today I loved it, it also hailed and the hail was the size of really large jelly beans. 

Saturday we got to do service again at the old burnt down house. I love doing service it makes me sooo happy. We had this member who is 19 that always come out with us and the dude is soooo cool, he wants to go on a mission but doesn’t want to leave his mom here alone. He is soo strong, he came back from a trip and brought us back the little bag polished rocks ahhha.  We got to visits cecilio with him which was good, cecilio said he is going to be attending the north now ahahah. 

Sunday was awesome bladdimir came to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He loved it tooo. We then went to give this lady a blessing which was a media referral and we went to the address and there was no lady hahah. We then had a priesthood meeting which was soooo good. Well it was a great week not much time to write this but thanks for the love and support. 

Cucumber Water

These weeks are starting go a little faster.

Monday- we went to the zoo for p-day, it was way fun. We had a pretty fun group of elders and sisters who came. People were kinda looking at us like we were part of the zoo. I saw someone take a picture of us so that’s cool too ahhaha. After the zoo we had a way good lesson with one of the less-active families, they are super funny. Their son always gets mad at me cause I don’t play toys with him and then he starts calling me names, but it’s cool I can take it. We had dinner with the branch presidents family and we were sitting there and she starts cutting up cucumber and I was like ok its for a salad she then puts it in the blender and I’m like alright cool its salsa she then had salt and some lime and then starts pouring it in the cups on the table and I’m like wait a second that’s my cup where is my water. It was really strange and I thought I was going to pass out I was so thirsty but couldn’t get myself to drink it.

TUESDAY- today we had some sweet meeting in a different area so me and some elder from that area chilled and took naps on the stage while everyone had their special meeting. We then went to some Mexican restaurant and I tried to use my Spanish and just sounded really white and one of the workers was behind us cleaning a table and heard me say something and just turns around and laughs ahhahahaha I felt really white. We then went home and had an amazing lesson with Carlos, he is soo cool and interested but religion is new to him so he kinda struggles. We then got to meet this kid name fransico who is a karate champ and is going to the olympics for it. We then had a lesson with Hermana zemora she is a really nice lady but she had 50 dogs and cats and her house has tons of flies and smells really bad. We had a great lesson with her and she offered us expired cake which was really kind of her. 

WEDNESDAY- I love Wednesday because its service day and I love doing service. We also got to meet with amber who is just awesome and wants to change sooo bad it’s awesome to see her changing. We also got to meet with bladdimir, he accepted the baptismal invitation. He is a way cool kid and really wants the gospel. We then talked to our mission president about one of our investigators cecilio who was supposed to get baptized on the 2nd of July but we had to keep moving the date. He said we have to move the date again because of some other stuff, it’s been hard but a good lesson that things happen on the lord’s time not mine.

THURSDAY- Thursday are not my favorite day. Thursday it’s weekly planning which means we are in the apartment till 3 and I hate that. We got to teach Sergio who is our neighbor, he is way cool and knows tons. During the lesson I have to distract his nephew the whole time. The little dude started coughing and sneezing all over my arm hahah soo gross. We then got meet with Maria who is progressing tons. 

FRIDAY- today it rained super hard but was sunny, the weather her is really confusing. We had a super good district meeting today and learned CPR which stand for Church Pray Read. By doing these things everyday and every week we will never become inactive or leave the church. We then had comp exchanges, I was with elder butterfield I love this guy he is my fav. We had a sweet day planned but tons of people canceled. But we found tons of people to talk to and found new investigators and got to visit with people I’ve never met with so everything all worked out which was nice. One thing that is weird about eating with members here is that they never eat with us. So at dinner we were in the kitchen eating and the family was in the other room watching TV kinda weird ahahhal.

SATURDAY- today we woke up and went straight to service, service was helping this family who had bought this house that had started on fire, start to redo the house. It was super fun we got to into this house and just start tearing stuff down and got to take out a wall. It was super fun and they got us burritos which were really good. 

SUNDAY- we had a couple investigators at church today which was awesome and some less actives. No one came to church though there was like 40 people ahhaha. We had a great lesson with cecilio after church and got to eat with them.

MONDAY- This 4th of July was very different, we couldn’t email because everything was closed. So we went shopping and that was fun ahahh. We then went and played sports with all the other missionaries and the new presidents kids came so that was cool to meet them. We then had a lesson but the guy we were supposed to teach wasn’t there so we just went to our dinner appointment at cecilios. He has some crazy neighbors that are always fighting and when we got there they were fighting, the dude walks over to a window and breaks it with his head. Dude had a hard melon for sure, it made me laugh but also kinda sad because there are people like that all over the place here and they just don’t know how much the gospel and do for them. Dinner was great and we chilled with them for a while. President said he had to be in my 9:30 so we couldn’t go to fireworks with them so we rode home. We got home at 8:30 ahhahah kinda lame but that’s ok. I sat on the deck and listened to the fireworks ahahha. 

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.