Letter from President Hansen

We also received a letter today from Cory's mission president...

Dear Brother and Sister Barton,

This is just a quick note to let you know that your son has arrived safely in the great Texas Houston Mission.  We are happy to have him serving with us.  Please know that we will make every effort to ensure his success while he is here with us.

Elder Barton has been assigned to the Katy Zone.  His first companion and trainer is Elder Conrad, who is an excellent missionary.  He has been prayerfully chosen for this important assignment.  You have raised a fine son and  we, along with you, look forward to watching him grow in faith and testimony.

We have enclosed a photograph of him taken with Sister Hansen and me at the Mission Office shortly after his arrival.

Please feel free to call or write at any time should you have any questions or concerns.  May you be blessed for all that you have done to prepare your son to serve the Lord.

Sincerely,

Todd B. Hansen

First Letter from the Field - Written 2/12/10

We FINALLY received Cory's letter and it was so good to get details of what he has been doing since arriving in Houston...

Dear Barton Family,

So my flight to Houston was so nice, it only took about 2 hours instead of the intended 3 hours.  When we got off the plane and headed to baggage claim we ran into the Assistants to the President - Elder Brady & Elder Hiatt (who looks like Toby from "The Office").  Then we met with President & Sister Hansen who are super nice and caring.  They did their homework before we came out - for example, they pronounced Elder Keliipuleole's name correctly on the first try and that never happens.  Same thing with Elder Batt (looks like bat but pronounced Bot).  Well it was raining when I got off the plane and it has been raining since but I am loving it here.  So many things remind me of Tennessee - rain, Kroger, Krystal, trees, churches of other faiths everywhere and Deanna's favorite...Black people, so it's good to see them again.  After we got our luggage we then traveled to the mission office to have snacks, get interviewed by the President, get our pictures taken, watch a driving video, and sign a bunch of forms.  It was good to be interviewed by President Hansen because he is very optimistic and you can tell he really cares about you.  After we did all of that we went over to the church right next to us and had our first official Texas barbeque dinner. (The ward missionary person owns his own barbeque place so it was legit.)  The food was very, very good and filling and I was pleased to hear about our dessert (chocolate sheet cake and Blue Bell ice cream).  I mean whenever someone talked about this ice cream all you hear is that it is the best ice cream.  So I was anxious to try this ice cream and, oh my, does it live up to its comments.  It is the best ice cream I have ever tasted but I had very little of it because I was so full!  After that they split us up with different missionaries to go straight to work.  So I went with Elder Martin & Elder Johnson and when I asked them what we were going to do they told me we were going to a dinner appointment at a member's house.  And may I have it put on the record that this was shortly after I had that Texas dinner so I was so full.  So I asked the Elders how I was going to eat after having such a filling dinner.  They responded "eat it anyway".  So we arrived at this member's house which was the Pack family.  So I basically missed what was going on because I was so focused on trying to get this food in my stomach.  I would say a few words here and there so I could let them know I was paying attention.  But to make a long story short (and painful) I somehow ate all of the food on my plate which is saying a lot because the members packed my plate with food.  I have never wanted to throw up so much in my life!  But after dinner I shared a message with the family and we were on our way.  After that we went tracting (which is something I will struggle with on my mission) but it was a good experience.  Gotta learn to keep yourself motivated and optimistic after you get doors slammed in your face.  (I usually say out loud or in my head a phrase that my district at the MTC would say; it will make me chuckle and smile so I can keep going).  Then that night I went to sleep pretty easily (I struggled with sleeping at the MTC).
 
The next morning I went to the mission president's home to have breakfast and get my companion.  The breakfast was amazing - we had french toast, bacon, yogurt, pineapple - talk about my favorites!  Then the big moment came - who would be my companion until the next transfer.  And I got Elder Conrad who is super cool.  He is from Orem, UT and he has been out in the mission for 21 months so he is almost done.  After that we had pictures with the mission President and did a orientation with our trainers, then we had lunch and then most everyone left after that except for ZL's and DL's.  My companion and I stayed for this because our ride fell under that category.  After that we got my luggage and went to our apartment so I could unpack and officially move in.  Then we had a dinner appointment at 7 so we went to that and met the Veldez family (a member family).  Bro. Veldez is first counselor in the Bishopric and Sis. Veldez is an amazing painter and that is an understatement!  She did all the paintings in her house and I mean they are good.  She said she painted in high school and said she stopped painting for 20 years and she showed me her first piece she did in 2005 after those 20 years and it looks like she has been painting for her whole life.  I mean she could sell her paintings if she wanted to.  But another thing I guess that I will have to get used to out here is eating food you hate because before dinner the Veldez family gave us cantelope and a bowl full of it and I forced it down yuck!  But I will never do it for beans, that will not happen!

But today was an interesting day.  We had a district meeting and there are only 4 of us in our district which is weird but whatever (other districts have 10 or 11) and we did a get to know you thing and district goals (mine are to read "Our Search for Happiness" and to workout daily because seriously my biggest fear is that I will get fat with the food these members are feeding me).  After that our district and another companionship went to Subway and then Elder Conrad and I went back to the apartment to do our weekly planning and that takes forever!  But whatever, gotta get used to that.  Then we went to Johnny's house (investigator).  He is 60 years old and wants to get baptized but can't because he is not married.  He was married then got a divorce but they still live together and love each other (confusing, I know).  He wants to marry her but he says if he does the insurance will not cover the cost of his medication anymore (which costs $600 - he has AS).  But we told him that if he follows God's commandment and gets married that he will be blessed and that hit him really hard so I am hopeful (his ex is Catholic and won't speak with us).  Then we went to Brad (late 30's) and Amber's (9 yrs.) house.  Brad is divorced (his ex-wife thinks the LDS Church is a cult) but he was baptized when he was little but doesn't have the priesthood and is having a hard time with smoking.  Amber is just a little sweetheart and she has been taught all the lessons and wants to be baptized and we want her father to baptized her but he is struggling with smoking but he told us to go ahead and baptize her.  So we are going to try to set a baptismal date when we seen them Wednesday.

So that is what's happened so far and it has been pretty exciting!  Oh, also there is the Maxci family and the mother came out last week to church and she loved it and wants to bring her whole family and if she does then that would be a total of 9 people which is way awesome.  Oh, our mission president is challenging the missionaries to get 600 baptisms this year because last year was the most baptisms in a year in the history of the mission with 439.  That is a big increase and he has a lot of faith in us.  In January last year they had 32 baptisms and this year they got 36 so already off to a good start and hope to keep this momentum going. 

Love,  Elder Barton

P.S.  Just started to teach lessons to an Ethiopian family and just learned to say hello and goodbye in their language - it's pretty cool.

Little Snipit

Received a short email from Cory today.  He has mailed a hand written letter so we will have more details to come.

I am alive.  My companion is Elder Conrad he is from Orem, UT and he has been out for 21 months. The members are feeding me very well. In fact, every night this month and next month, we have dinner appointments with members so you don't need to worry about me dying over here.

He's Off on Schedule

We did receive a phone call this morning from Cory after he arrived at the airport.  He is still wearing braces on both ankles but is glad he was able to convince the doctor to let him leave on schedule.  I was able to record our conversation this morning as I was the only one home at the time.  It was good to hear his voice and get instant feedback to questions I was wondering about.
 
He told me that one this second injury occurred all the signs that the doctor could see indicated that his ankle was broken but he received a priesthood blesssing and the x-rays following that blessing showed no fracture of any kind.  He has been blessed.

He is excited to be going to Houston today and we look forward to hearing where his first assignment will be.

Thanks to all for your prayers and support on his behalf.

Injury Update

After waiting until about 2:00 yesterday to get details regarding Cory's visit to an orthopedist I called the MTC to get an update. The nurse called back later and said Cory saw the MTC doctor yesterday and he is improving from physical therapy he has been receiving there. No details regarding his supposed visit to the orthopedist but she did tell me that it did not appear that he had torn ligaments so that is a relief.  However he is supposed to see the MTC doctor again today and then it will be determined if he will depart tomorrow on schedule or be delayed until he heals further. If so, we will get a call from his district president.  Just waiting so I know where to send his Valentine's Day package.  I've already shipped his sheets and other items to the mission home in case he goes. We are just kind of in limbo until we hear one way or the other.

We hope to soon be hearing about other experiences he is having besides injuries as these have dominated our communications thus far.

Letter #4 - February 5, 2010

By way of background....On Thursday morning we received a call from either the MTC Medical Center or the BYU Student Health Center (I missed the first part of the call when the woman identified herself).  A woman was calling to verify our health insurance since Cory had been in there for x-rays on both of his ankles.  The only information she gave us was that there were no fractures and he is now in a wheelchair so he can stay off both of his feet.  She also indicated that he was scheduled to see an orthopedist on Monday to determine the extent of his injuries and whether this would cause a delay in his scheduled departure for the mission field on Wednesday 2/10/10.
The day we got the call was also Cory's P-day so we anticipated getting more information from him via email later in the day.  However, no email came and we did not get any more details from him until his letters arrived today (Saturday 2/6/10).
So with that background, here is Cory's side of events as taken from letters he wrote to family members....

Dear Mom and Dad,
So you got the call yesterday pertaining to my injury, sorry about that.  It's highly possible that I might get delayed from leaving the MTC which is a bummer but oh well life goes on.  Well I guess I should tell y'all what happened with my new injury and I have pictures of my feet like a day or so after the accident and my feet are huge!  You will see soon.  OK so it was Tuesday and I had gym at 1:10 and I had an appointment to see Dr. Sampson  (he is basically my doctor here now) at 2:00 to check up on my left foot from my previous injury.  Being as smart as I am I was thinking to myself "well I can walk and run on it so my foot is healed and I can play in gym today".  So I was heading over to the gym but before I went into the gym I went to the medical clinic to turn in my crutches (The medical clinic & gym are right next to each other which is way nice).  OK so gym starts and I decided to play an easy sport where I don't have to run much so I played 4 square but about half way through gym I noticed a lot of the Elders in my district were playing a basketball game and I noticed they were playing 3 vs. 2 so I decided to join in to make it 3 vs. 3.  I was doing very well this game, I had about 3 blocks, a couple of steals, some amazing assists and I only missed a shot every so often.  Then I got the ball and I was facing the right side of the rim and basically I had a clear way to drive to the hoop and put up a really easy layup.  So I drove the lane, put up a shot and I watched it go in but when I came down I felt something pop and it felt like my legs gave out and I was just laying on the ground and I could feel both of my feet swell up.  And three medical people in the gym came over and took off both of my shoes and I looked at my left foot and it looked like a tennis ball was in my ankle.  OK to make a long story short I got x-rays for both of my ankles.  They were were also fearful that I possibly fractured or broke something in my left foot but no worried there.  I have a doctor's appointment today (Friday 2/6/10) at 11:20 and hopefully he will tell me if I will get delayed or not.  I also see an orthopedic on Monday at 10:55.  
I love y'all and miss y'all too.
Love,
Elder "Gimp" Barton

Here's more information from a letter to Deanna ....

Forget how I hurt myself because I have a new injury and you can ask Mom & Dad about that.  But I hurt myself earlier by trying to jump on a table but it was iced over so I slipped so yeah.  No my  previous injury had nothing to do with sports but my current one does.  Oh and I am in a wheelchair now.  I'll try to send pictures of both of my ankles because they are huge!  I am trying to take pictures of everyone and everything. (I can't take pictures in the cafeteria, its against the rules).  I did hear that they are building a temple in Payson how cool is that!  I did hear about the death of the missionaries.  Actually Elder Hinckley of the Seventy talked about that and how we need to be safe.


As Cory and I were packing his gym clothes I do remember talking to him about how basketball was eventually banned in my mission because so many Elders were getting injured.  My little precaution I guess as a mother.  I pray that he will heal quickly and that no news on Monday is good news.  We were told we would not get a call if everything is fine.  Please keep him in your prayers as well.

Should I worry if he rides a bike in the mission field?........just wondering.