Hello!
I hope y'all are doing well! Here is what has happened this past week.
3/21 - We had transfer calls on last Sunday and I found out that I am staying here with Elder Conrad and Elder LaMont but Elder Barlow got called to go to Oak Wood and taking his place is Elder Hackett. So Elder Conrad and I were happy that we got to stay together but this is his last transfer before he goes home so I will be "killing my father" and Elder LaMont is also "dying" in Katy this transfer.
3/22- This was Prep Day so I e-mailed at Lone Star College then I went on splits with Elder Barlow and went to the stake center to play some basketball with other missionaries in our zone (Elder Conrad isn't into sports so we usually do splits on Monday). Basketball was fun and I didn't hurt myself so that was good but on the way back we got stuck in heavy traffic and it took us FOREVER to get back home. I had to quickly shower and get ready for our dinner appointment with Bro. Sosa who is a counselor in the stake presidency. They fed us this thing that was kinda like lasagna but it wasn't. I can't remember what it was called but it was good and they gave us church juice
3/23- On this day we took Elder Barlow to Target and the post office so he could get some stuff he needed before he left and send a package home. Then we took him to the Bear Creek building at 2:00 because that's where the transfer bus was going to show up so we could drop him off and pick up Elder Hackett. The bus didn't show up until after 3:00 so we waited a while but we said our good byes to Elder Barlow and we got to meet Elder Hackett who is from California. We then drove Elder LaMont and Hackett to their apartment and helped him move in. Elder Conrad and I had a dinner appointment with the Christensen family at 6:30 so we went to that and had hot dogs and potato chips. After that we visited with the Jones Family (LA - less active)
3/24- We did service at Langham Creek High School with their bar code. We were there from 10:30-1:00. We then visited Alex Banks (LA). He is my age and when we come over and teach him he is always playing his video games but this time he actually sat there and listened to us plus he had his friend over which is awesome. We taught them about what the youth do in our church and also about what we do on our missions and why we are out here. We had a dinner appointment with the Davis family (RC - recent converts) but one of their newborn kittens got super sick and Sis. Davis was going to take it to the vet so they canceled on us (the kitten ended up dying ) So we called a member to see if they could feed us and they ended up taking us out to Outback Steakhouse so that was yummy.
3/25- We visited Johnny and spent some time with him and talked about some sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. We had an appointment set up for us at 4:00 by some other Elders who got a referral for us but while we were going over there we got a call from these Elders saying that the appointment they set up was for next week and not this week and they were sorry. But they told us about this couple we were going to see. Apparently, the husband is 7 foot tall and really buff so that shall be interesting. We had a dinner appointment with the Henry's (RC) at 6:00 but when we came over they were making lasagna and it wasn't even close to being ready. So we had a appointment at 6:30 to visit this guy named Kris. He is dating this lady's daughter who is a member but we went to the address she gave us and it didn't match. So we called her and it turns out the actual address is not even close to our area and this lady isn't even in our ward or a ward close to it so I don't know how she got our number. But we contacted the Elders in that area and told them the address and they were able to go to the appointment. We then had an appointment at 7:00 with Lonnie Hubert who is going to be marrying a member. He is an AAA roadside worker so he gets called into work randomly and when we showed up he was pulling out of his driveway to go to a call he got on the other side of town. So we then went back to the Henry's and had dinner. After that we decided to do a drop by visit with Jason Durbin since we haven't seen or heard from him in about a week because of his health. He let us in he and we found out he is doing better but it turns out that his sister who has breast cancer isn't doing so well. Also his father is old and not doing well either but we taught him about the Plan of Salvation and that made him feel a bit better. While we were there he told us that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so this is amazing news to hear. But he still hasn't come out to church yet because he says there is something in his past and what he is doing right now that makes him feel unworthy to come. We told him that church isn't for perfect people and if it was no one would be there. (Found out from his friend who is a member that he smokes and that's whats keeping him from coming to church)
3/26- We went and visited some less actives earlier in the day. We then dropped by to visit some referrals we got via text message but nothing happened with them. We them got a call from the Spanish sisters that they could use some help painting at a member's house so we went and did that. Elder Conrad and I didn't have masks like the sisters did so we got super dizzy and were in a goofy mood for a bit. We then got a call from a lady in our ward who had some teenagers working in her yard that she would like us to come over and visit. So we came over and met Jacob Boston who is 19 and homeless. Turns out that his mom died when he was young and his dad has been in prison for 19 years and isn't coming out anytime soon. But he is common law married to a girl and she is 4 months pregnant and he is saving up money to get an apartment for them to live in. This kid has had a really tough life and he is covered in tatoos. One tat I knew meant that he lost someone he knew to a gang. We told him a little bit about our church and he was a little bit interested but this member says she will keep having this kid over to work in her yard and she said she will call us when he comes over so we can come visit him. We then had dinner at the Maya's who fed us some crazy Mexican food but it was delicious.
3/27- We went to a member's house to do service in their backyard at 8:30 a.m. with the Copperfield Elders and Spanish Sisters. But first this member fed us some Mexican breakfast thing - it was eggs with salsa on some shell thing and it was dang good.....but there were beans on the side. After that we worked in this member's backyard (which is the biggest back yard I have seen in Texas so far) pulling weeds, spraying weeds,and mowing the lawn. Oh and I took out a lemon tree which was dead because of the winter they had. We didn't finish until 3:00 and after that we were way tired and some of us burnt but we went home showered and got ready. We had dinner at the McClure's at 5:00. This is a Polynesian family and they fed us so so much food! They kept feeding us chicken, ribs, and rice but when your plate was only half way done they would grab it and say "you need to eat more Elder" and just keep stacking my plate. I finally finished my plate and I was so full!!!! but when I finished they said "Now time for cake" I was like no more food!!!! But I shouldn't complain because that food was so delicious and I was quite entertained watching the grandma do the Haka to her twin grandsons - that was really cool.
3/28- Had PEC at 9:00 and studied until church started at 1:00. Then we went and had dinner at the Davis's which fed us her own style of lasagna and that was super good. Then we got to play with and feed their newborn kittens, talk about cuteness!!!! We then watched The Lamb of God video with them and just talked with them for a while, I really enjoyed it.
Well that's all for now
I love and pray for y'all!
-Elder Cory Barton
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Missionary Interview
The Mia Maids and their leaders in our ward sent questions to the missionaries serving from our ward. Here are the questions they sent and the responses Cory wrote on 2/16/10.
Q: Have you ever been attacked by an animal that you've never seen in Utah?
A: No, but there are roaches all over my apartment and I mean everywhere! In fact, I grabbed by lint roller to use on my suit and there was a roach on the roller.
Q: What is your new favorite food?
A: Bluebell Ice Cream! I heard about how this ice cream was the best when I came out and I finally got to try one and it's so good! Gotta try some.
Q: What's the most interesting thing you've eaten?
A: Um, I haven't really had anything out of the ordinary yet but I did have this salsa chicken thing at a member's house that was...interesting.
Q: How are the people there different from the people in (in general)?
A: People in Texas have a lot of pride for this state. Anywhere there is an American flag, there will be a Texan one there too. In fact, they have the Texan flag on their curbs and the Goodwill logo is made into a Texas flag. Also, this is the worst place to drive in - the drivers are terrible here. I hear sirens every 10 mins.
Q: What's your favorite P-Day activity?
A: Emails. It's the only time I can email family and friends so that's my favorite even though it's only for an hour. But it's alright. Love being a missionary.
Q: How do you react when someone says NO to the gospel/shuts the door on you?
A: This is to me the hardest part of my mission. But I usually say "Oh Yeah!" really loud to my companion and tell him we have miracles ahead of us or I think of Moses 6:31, 38-39 it keeps me motivated.
Q: Is there a prominent religion within the area you serve?
A: Um, when I go tracting I have a lot of people say they are Catholic and are already saved. But there are a lot of Baptist churches too. So I say 50/50 but it's definitely the Bible belt.
Q: Who cooks your food?
A: Members do a lot of the cooking. Every night this month we have a dinner appointment with a family of the ward which is awesome.
Q: Have you been put with a "greenie"? Or are YOU the greenie?
A: I am the greenie. My companion "father" has been out for 21 months so he is almost done. Greenie is the way to go...yo.
Q: What's the weather like right now where you are?A: It's finally warm and sunny. For the longest time it was raining, cold and windy. So it's a good day for America.
Q: What makes you feel the happiest?
A: Talking with people like the Davis family who are recent converts and have them share how important the gospel is to them. It's just super cool to see how the goepel has impacted their lives. In March, they will be able to go to the temple.
Q: Is there a funny trait in the local culture that's different from Utah?
A: Southern accents are definitely funny but it's great to be around southern people again. Woot, woot.
Q: What do you hope to gain on your mission?
A: I am hoping to gain a stronger testimony of the gospel and see how much it grew compared to how I started and finished.
Q: Who cuts your hair?
A: Well, I got a haircut at the MTC before I left and I think it's students from BYU - so yeah.
Q: How do people react when you tell them you're from Utah?
A: They are not surprised. They think all missionaries are from Utah. Oh, and sometimes I am told that I am a Utard. Yuppers.
Q: What is one piece of advice you have for missionaries to-be?
A: Prepare now! Read "Preach My Gospel" or a book like the one I am reading now is "Our Search for Happiness" by M. Russell Ballard which is an amazing book! But yes prepare now - sounds too easy and simple but it's true. Practice teaching the restoration to family members or friends. Just need to start somewhere.
Anyway thank y'all so much! Seriously this package meant a lot to me because this is the first mail/package I got since being in the mission field. Plus it is like the best feeling when you get mail. It's like a Christmas present but so much better! Especially coming from the ward - I thought y'all would have forgotten about me by now! I hope each of y'all are doing well and thank you so much for the treats. I will definitely enjoy them.
Love y'all,
Elder Barton "wild man"
Moses 6:38-39
Q: Have you ever been attacked by an animal that you've never seen in Utah?
A: No, but there are roaches all over my apartment and I mean everywhere! In fact, I grabbed by lint roller to use on my suit and there was a roach on the roller.
Q: What is your new favorite food?
A: Bluebell Ice Cream! I heard about how this ice cream was the best when I came out and I finally got to try one and it's so good! Gotta try some.
Q: What's the most interesting thing you've eaten?
A: Um, I haven't really had anything out of the ordinary yet but I did have this salsa chicken thing at a member's house that was...interesting.
Q: How are the people there different from the people in (in general)?
A: People in Texas have a lot of pride for this state. Anywhere there is an American flag, there will be a Texan one there too. In fact, they have the Texan flag on their curbs and the Goodwill logo is made into a Texas flag. Also, this is the worst place to drive in - the drivers are terrible here. I hear sirens every 10 mins.
Q: What's your favorite P-Day activity?
A: Emails. It's the only time I can email family and friends so that's my favorite even though it's only for an hour. But it's alright. Love being a missionary.
Q: How do you react when someone says NO to the gospel/shuts the door on you?
A: This is to me the hardest part of my mission. But I usually say "Oh Yeah!" really loud to my companion and tell him we have miracles ahead of us or I think of Moses 6:31, 38-39 it keeps me motivated.
Q: Is there a prominent religion within the area you serve?
A: Um, when I go tracting I have a lot of people say they are Catholic and are already saved. But there are a lot of Baptist churches too. So I say 50/50 but it's definitely the Bible belt.
Q: Who cooks your food?
A: Members do a lot of the cooking. Every night this month we have a dinner appointment with a family of the ward which is awesome.
Q: Have you been put with a "greenie"? Or are YOU the greenie?
A: I am the greenie. My companion "father" has been out for 21 months so he is almost done. Greenie is the way to go...yo.
Q: What's the weather like right now where you are?A: It's finally warm and sunny. For the longest time it was raining, cold and windy. So it's a good day for America.
Q: What makes you feel the happiest?
A: Talking with people like the Davis family who are recent converts and have them share how important the gospel is to them. It's just super cool to see how the goepel has impacted their lives. In March, they will be able to go to the temple.
Q: Is there a funny trait in the local culture that's different from Utah?
A: Southern accents are definitely funny but it's great to be around southern people again. Woot, woot.
Q: What do you hope to gain on your mission?
A: I am hoping to gain a stronger testimony of the gospel and see how much it grew compared to how I started and finished.
Q: Who cuts your hair?
A: Well, I got a haircut at the MTC before I left and I think it's students from BYU - so yeah.
Q: How do people react when you tell them you're from Utah?
A: They are not surprised. They think all missionaries are from Utah. Oh, and sometimes I am told that I am a Utard. Yuppers.
Q: What is one piece of advice you have for missionaries to-be?
A: Prepare now! Read "Preach My Gospel" or a book like the one I am reading now is "Our Search for Happiness" by M. Russell Ballard which is an amazing book! But yes prepare now - sounds too easy and simple but it's true. Practice teaching the restoration to family members or friends. Just need to start somewhere.
Anyway thank y'all so much! Seriously this package meant a lot to me because this is the first mail/package I got since being in the mission field. Plus it is like the best feeling when you get mail. It's like a Christmas present but so much better! Especially coming from the ward - I thought y'all would have forgotten about me by now! I hope each of y'all are doing well and thank you so much for the treats. I will definitely enjoy them.
Love y'all,
Elder Barton "wild man"
Moses 6:38-39
St. Patrick's Day Wishes
We received a St. Patrick's Day card from Cory.
Elders Conrad, Barton and Atwood
Sisters Lillywhite & Christensen
Happy St. Patrick's Day. This was taken after service at Lone Star College. We painted their stage where they do plays and other theatrical stuff (that's why I have a black spot on my hand). Elder Atwood does have a companion but he wasn't wearing green so I cut him out. That's right - Elder Conrad and I are wearing matching $4 shirt from Walmart. Talk about a companionship!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Answers to our Letters
Here is some info sent to answer some of the questions we had sent in our family letter(s) to him:
To Deanna:
Houston is beautiful! But the other day the humidity was so bad! As soon as I opened the door it punched me in the face and you have to cut the air to spit. But it's been perfect weather so far. It's been 70's for most of the time. It has stormed quite a bit here.
The ward here is about average. They have a good size youth group here.
Tonight I was fed spaghetti. The night before a club sandwich, um potato soup, more pasta. Nothing crazy yet.
I took pictures of my apartment. Oh, I need to take pictures of our car too but not today becuase I dented the front bumper - oops!
To Rebecca:
The weather has been perfect these past couple of days. Today it's 70 outside with now wind so basically awesome.
My meals have been great! They all have been delicious. The only thing that I have to report on eating something weird...it was a drink. It was some crazy spearmint drink. It was so nasty. I drank about half of the glass but it's okay this member fed us amazing food.
I love the ward I am serving in because members are giving us a lot of referrals. They are trying really hard to help us and they are fun and funny. They feed us every night so the Bear Creek 1st Ward is definitely awesome!
To Deanna:
Houston is beautiful! But the other day the humidity was so bad! As soon as I opened the door it punched me in the face and you have to cut the air to spit. But it's been perfect weather so far. It's been 70's for most of the time. It has stormed quite a bit here.
The ward here is about average. They have a good size youth group here.
Tonight I was fed spaghetti. The night before a club sandwich, um potato soup, more pasta. Nothing crazy yet.
I took pictures of my apartment. Oh, I need to take pictures of our car too but not today becuase I dented the front bumper - oops!
To Rebecca:
The weather has been perfect these past couple of days. Today it's 70 outside with now wind so basically awesome.
My meals have been great! They all have been delicious. The only thing that I have to report on eating something weird...it was a drink. It was some crazy spearmint drink. It was so nasty. I drank about half of the glass but it's okay this member fed us amazing food.
I love the ward I am serving in because members are giving us a lot of referrals. They are trying really hard to help us and they are fun and funny. They feed us every night so the Bear Creek 1st Ward is definitely awesome!
3/15/10 Email Update: Week 3/8/10 - 3/14/10
Here is Cory's general letter....
Hey y'all It's Elder Barton
Thought I would drop y'all a quick e-mail updating you on what happen this past week.
Ok well, let's start with Monday (3/8) which is Prep. Day Well this day started with a phone call from a elder in my district saying we need to take him to the mission office right now so he told us to get ready and hurry up. So Elder Conrad and I got ready as fast as we could and went over to these Elder's apartment complex and drove them over to the mission office. So we get to the mission office and this certain Elder talked with President Hansen. While we were waiting I got to talk with the Assistants to the President, Elders Brady and Hiatt. I then Brother and Sister Cesnut (Mom- she is the one who does the news letters) and had a nice talk with them and it turns out that they are from Spanish Fork so not too far away from Mapleton and Brother Cesnut is in charge with the mission vehicles. Then I got to talk to Sis. Young who is a very nice lady who works in the mission office. Then I got to meet with the new brother and sister who work in the mission office but sadly I didn't catch their name. But I talked with the sister and got my baggage reimbursed and the brother is the one who goes around to the mission apartments and checks if we are keeping them in good shape or not. Well, we were at the mission office till about 1:00 that's when this Elder finally came out of the presidents office but with out his tie or name tag....yeah..... After that I got to talk with President for about a minute but I love talking with President Hansen he is so happy all the time. I love it, he can brighten your day. We then went and got some food and then dropped the Elders off at their apartment because this Elder needed some alone time. We were suppose to have a dinner appointment at a members house but they called and said they couldn't feed us. After we got finished talking on the phone with them we got a call from the certain Elder again and said we needed to take him to the Mission President's home at 7:00 so as we were driving him down there we asked what in the world was going on because while we were at the mission office Elder Brady called another Elder on the phone and told him to come to the mission office and said that it wasn't good. Turns out that this Elder in my district and a few other Elders left their mission area and that some ZL's told mission president that they were gathering together for some crazy satanic cult thing. So all the Elders involved we called in and met with President Hansen and there is a great possibility that an Elder might go home. We were taking this Elder to the Mission President's Home so that he could talk on the phone to his stake president. While he was on the phone we talked with President Hansen and his wife about the Mission and watched some videos on mormon.org, had some snacks with them, and said "hi" to President Hansen's son and his family on Skype. We didn't leave the presidents house til 11:00 p.m. so basically Elder Conrad and I did nothing that day mission wise and I hated it. I felt like I got nothing accomplished and there's a possibility that Elder might go home (So far he is still here but he meets with President Hansen weekly now).
Tuesday (3/9)- Elder Conrad and I spent the whole day visiting with less actives and recent coverts and we also gave service at Lone Star College at their theater tech department - we painted their stage black.
Wednesday (3/10)- We had a Zone Meeting at the stake center at 11:30 a.m. but only Elder Conrad and I and 2 other companionship's were the only ones there.... turns out that the Elders in our District and our ZL's meet with the AP's and President Hansen. So the zone meeting was pushed back till 1:00 so Elder Conrad and I got some lunch and waited for them to show up because our ZL's told us to stay there - ha ha. Then at the zone meeting I gave a 5 min talk about personal integrity and we had 2 other elders give talks and our ZL's gave talks also. So our zone meeting was pretty good. Then we got to meet with Jason (woot woot!) at 7:00 p.m. and we had Bro. Coronado (Jason's best friend) there which helped out a bunch! We talked with Jason about what he read in 3 Nephi 11 and about baptism and how people need to have authority to baptize others. And Jason loved everything we taught him he also asked a lot of questions like if he was to be baptized into the Mormon Church would he have to be baptize in one of our buildings or if it's okay that he could be baptized in a pond which is next to where all of his family is buried. And he asked me why I came on my mission and I told him and he said "I know what you said is true you wanna know why because I can see it in your eyes what you told me was true and I have a weird feeling that makes it feel true" So we then taught him about the Holy Ghost and he loved it of course ha ha. I love Jason, he is a great man that is willing to learn about this church. He is a little hesitant because he is shy and says if he goes he will feel more obligated to become a Mormon so I hope we can get him to come to church next week. We meet with Jason again on Tuesday.
Thursday (3/11)- We met with more less actives and recent converts. We gave service at Langham Creek High School they are redoing their bar code system. And this school is so so Huge!!! I need to take a picture of their football stadium because its not like any other football field or stands you usually see - it's seriously a stadium!
Friday (3/12)- We met with Kevin and April Friday night and we had our ward mission leader there with us too. We meet Kevin and April through tracting last week. We talked a little bit more about the restoration and we found out they smoke and drink all the time which is scary because they have a 7 month new born that they are smoking around..... But we have another appointment with them Friday.
Saturday (3/13)- We met with a referral we got from Sister Hay (She is not in our ward, and she is from Jamaica so she has the coolest accent!) Lonnie, her fiancee to be, lives in our boundaries and we taught him the restoration and he is way interested. He basically wants to be part of the same church with his wife so we meet with him again this week. Then we went to a surprise birthday party for Sis. Herrera (she and Brother Herrera are also ward missionaries) and we ate at a chineese buffet. I love sister Herrera she has been basically our mom out here. She always makes sure we are being fed and that whatever holiday it is she gets us something.
Sunday (3/14)- We went to PEC then had church and thank y'all so much for the prayers this week for our RC's and LA's....if it went something like this I HOPE THAT NONE OF ELDER CONRAD'S AND BARTON'S LESS ACTIVES AND RECENT COVERTS SHOW THIS WEEK. Ha ha. Seriously, no one showed up. It was super sad and our gospel essentials class was basically empty. It was a sad sight to see. Turns out a bunch of them went to Mexico for spring break.
That's all I have for now I miss y'all and I hope y'all are doing well.
I love y'all!!!
Elder Barton
Hey y'all It's Elder Barton
Thought I would drop y'all a quick e-mail updating you on what happen this past week.
Ok well, let's start with Monday (3/8) which is Prep. Day Well this day started with a phone call from a elder in my district saying we need to take him to the mission office right now so he told us to get ready and hurry up. So Elder Conrad and I got ready as fast as we could and went over to these Elder's apartment complex and drove them over to the mission office. So we get to the mission office and this certain Elder talked with President Hansen. While we were waiting I got to talk with the Assistants to the President, Elders Brady and Hiatt. I then Brother and Sister Cesnut (Mom- she is the one who does the news letters) and had a nice talk with them and it turns out that they are from Spanish Fork so not too far away from Mapleton and Brother Cesnut is in charge with the mission vehicles. Then I got to talk to Sis. Young who is a very nice lady who works in the mission office. Then I got to meet with the new brother and sister who work in the mission office but sadly I didn't catch their name. But I talked with the sister and got my baggage reimbursed and the brother is the one who goes around to the mission apartments and checks if we are keeping them in good shape or not. Well, we were at the mission office till about 1:00 that's when this Elder finally came out of the presidents office but with out his tie or name tag....yeah..... After that I got to talk with President for about a minute but I love talking with President Hansen he is so happy all the time. I love it, he can brighten your day. We then went and got some food and then dropped the Elders off at their apartment because this Elder needed some alone time. We were suppose to have a dinner appointment at a members house but they called and said they couldn't feed us. After we got finished talking on the phone with them we got a call from the certain Elder again and said we needed to take him to the Mission President's home at 7:00 so as we were driving him down there we asked what in the world was going on because while we were at the mission office Elder Brady called another Elder on the phone and told him to come to the mission office and said that it wasn't good. Turns out that this Elder in my district and a few other Elders left their mission area and that some ZL's told mission president that they were gathering together for some crazy satanic cult thing. So all the Elders involved we called in and met with President Hansen and there is a great possibility that an Elder might go home. We were taking this Elder to the Mission President's Home so that he could talk on the phone to his stake president. While he was on the phone we talked with President Hansen and his wife about the Mission and watched some videos on mormon.org, had some snacks with them, and said "hi" to President Hansen's son and his family on Skype. We didn't leave the presidents house til 11:00 p.m. so basically Elder Conrad and I did nothing that day mission wise and I hated it. I felt like I got nothing accomplished and there's a possibility that Elder might go home (So far he is still here but he meets with President Hansen weekly now).
Tuesday (3/9)- Elder Conrad and I spent the whole day visiting with less actives and recent coverts and we also gave service at Lone Star College at their theater tech department - we painted their stage black.
Wednesday (3/10)- We had a Zone Meeting at the stake center at 11:30 a.m. but only Elder Conrad and I and 2 other companionship's were the only ones there.... turns out that the Elders in our District and our ZL's meet with the AP's and President Hansen. So the zone meeting was pushed back till 1:00 so Elder Conrad and I got some lunch and waited for them to show up because our ZL's told us to stay there - ha ha. Then at the zone meeting I gave a 5 min talk about personal integrity and we had 2 other elders give talks and our ZL's gave talks also. So our zone meeting was pretty good. Then we got to meet with Jason (woot woot!) at 7:00 p.m. and we had Bro. Coronado (Jason's best friend) there which helped out a bunch! We talked with Jason about what he read in 3 Nephi 11 and about baptism and how people need to have authority to baptize others. And Jason loved everything we taught him he also asked a lot of questions like if he was to be baptized into the Mormon Church would he have to be baptize in one of our buildings or if it's okay that he could be baptized in a pond which is next to where all of his family is buried. And he asked me why I came on my mission and I told him and he said "I know what you said is true you wanna know why because I can see it in your eyes what you told me was true and I have a weird feeling that makes it feel true" So we then taught him about the Holy Ghost and he loved it of course ha ha. I love Jason, he is a great man that is willing to learn about this church. He is a little hesitant because he is shy and says if he goes he will feel more obligated to become a Mormon so I hope we can get him to come to church next week. We meet with Jason again on Tuesday.
Thursday (3/11)- We met with more less actives and recent converts. We gave service at Langham Creek High School they are redoing their bar code system. And this school is so so Huge!!! I need to take a picture of their football stadium because its not like any other football field or stands you usually see - it's seriously a stadium!
Friday (3/12)- We met with Kevin and April Friday night and we had our ward mission leader there with us too. We meet Kevin and April through tracting last week. We talked a little bit more about the restoration and we found out they smoke and drink all the time which is scary because they have a 7 month new born that they are smoking around..... But we have another appointment with them Friday.
Saturday (3/13)- We met with a referral we got from Sister Hay (She is not in our ward, and she is from Jamaica so she has the coolest accent!) Lonnie, her fiancee to be, lives in our boundaries and we taught him the restoration and he is way interested. He basically wants to be part of the same church with his wife so we meet with him again this week. Then we went to a surprise birthday party for Sis. Herrera (she and Brother Herrera are also ward missionaries) and we ate at a chineese buffet. I love sister Herrera she has been basically our mom out here. She always makes sure we are being fed and that whatever holiday it is she gets us something.
Sunday (3/14)- We went to PEC then had church and thank y'all so much for the prayers this week for our RC's and LA's....if it went something like this I HOPE THAT NONE OF ELDER CONRAD'S AND BARTON'S LESS ACTIVES AND RECENT COVERTS SHOW THIS WEEK. Ha ha. Seriously, no one showed up. It was super sad and our gospel essentials class was basically empty. It was a sad sight to see. Turns out a bunch of them went to Mexico for spring break.
That's all I have for now I miss y'all and I hope y'all are doing well.
I love y'all!!!
Elder Barton
Monday, March 8, 2010
3/8/10 Email Update
This email came via Cory's new email address (see above):
The mission is coming along great! Especially this week has been the best since I have been here! We have a ton of new investigators which I am really happy about. For example, when Elder Conrad and I were tracting, I did my door approach at this one house and she is like OK sounds good and I just stood there like um.... what now (ha ha) because I am so used to having doors in my face and she said she was interested. I have never got into a door before (ha) but luckily I have a companion and he got us in the door (ha ha) so I hope I can do better next time. The people we tracted into were April and Kevin and they are a young couple and they want to find their own church.
Then there is the Maxcy Family who is a family with a total of 10 in that family. That's right, I said 10. There are kids everywhere and they love and I mean love our church! The only thing is Satan is working really hard on them. Cherie Maxcy (Mom) her son totaled his truck and her other son is getting married on the 11th so she is way stressed out (We got invited to the wedding ).
Then there is a referral we got from Bro. Coronado (I spoke at his son's farewell and since his son left he has been telling all of his friends about the church and so far has provided 2 referrals in one week) and his name is Jason and he lives by himself and his house looks great and he loves to garden and you can tell by his yard I mean its beautiful! He is about 60 and he is deaf in one ear and has had cancer in his face and his sister just found out she had cancer, his other sister has breast cancer. OK just in general his family has a history of cancer which is way sad, but he found out a little bit about our church and is way interested! When we taught him the lesson on the restoration he was taking notes and you can tell that he loved what he was hearing. We then gave him a Book of Mormon and you could tell that he was way excited to read it. In fact, he wanted us to leave so he could start reading it but we challenged him to read 3 Nephi 11.
Also we are going to meet the Gonzalez family today with the Coronado's (the other referral they gave us) and we have return appointments with Jason, Maxcy Family, and April and Jason. So the Lord has definitely blessed Elder Conrad and I this week and I am very grateful.
Oh, I am also giving a talk on Wednesday at our Zone Meeting and I am super Nervous! But I can't wait to see what this week brings!
And also I have been super sick this week! I had a sore throat for a couple days and when that went away I got a runny nose and crazy migraines! But today I feel a lot better and I hope it stays that way because I have used up all my pills (ha ha).
The mission is coming along great! Especially this week has been the best since I have been here! We have a ton of new investigators which I am really happy about. For example, when Elder Conrad and I were tracting, I did my door approach at this one house and she is like OK sounds good and I just stood there like um.... what now (ha ha) because I am so used to having doors in my face and she said she was interested. I have never got into a door before (ha) but luckily I have a companion and he got us in the door (ha ha) so I hope I can do better next time. The people we tracted into were April and Kevin and they are a young couple and they want to find their own church.
Then there is the Maxcy Family who is a family with a total of 10 in that family. That's right, I said 10. There are kids everywhere and they love and I mean love our church! The only thing is Satan is working really hard on them. Cherie Maxcy (Mom) her son totaled his truck and her other son is getting married on the 11th so she is way stressed out (We got invited to the wedding ).
Then there is a referral we got from Bro. Coronado (I spoke at his son's farewell and since his son left he has been telling all of his friends about the church and so far has provided 2 referrals in one week) and his name is Jason and he lives by himself and his house looks great and he loves to garden and you can tell by his yard I mean its beautiful! He is about 60 and he is deaf in one ear and has had cancer in his face and his sister just found out she had cancer, his other sister has breast cancer. OK just in general his family has a history of cancer which is way sad, but he found out a little bit about our church and is way interested! When we taught him the lesson on the restoration he was taking notes and you can tell that he loved what he was hearing. We then gave him a Book of Mormon and you could tell that he was way excited to read it. In fact, he wanted us to leave so he could start reading it but we challenged him to read 3 Nephi 11.
Also we are going to meet the Gonzalez family today with the Coronado's (the other referral they gave us) and we have return appointments with Jason, Maxcy Family, and April and Jason. So the Lord has definitely blessed Elder Conrad and I this week and I am very grateful.
Oh, I am also giving a talk on Wednesday at our Zone Meeting and I am super Nervous! But I can't wait to see what this week brings!
And also I have been super sick this week! I had a sore throat for a couple days and when that went away I got a runny nose and crazy migraines! But today I feel a lot better and I hope it stays that way because I have used up all my pills (ha ha).
Monday, March 1, 2010
A Few Words
Here is part of an email sent to Deanna today...
Well I don't really have anything to update you on. Oh wait like two nights ago we had dinner at a members house and guess what was part of the meal....BEANS!!!! GAG!!! At first I wasn't going to eat it but I said a little prayer and hoped for the best.....I only ate 3 beans before I was on the brink of throwing up. But its ok I didnt throw up but yeah still hate beans.
Oh also Elder Conrad and I were knocking on doors and we ran into a man named Paul Titus and he is 82 yrs old (He looks like he is in his 60's). Well when we did our approach he said he knew a lot about our church already and he said he probably knew more than us and he told us not to start from the bottom and work up like most missionaries do but to start at the top.....This threw off the both of us. But turns out he talked to the missionaries before and he has been to the Hill Cumorah. But the thing is he is a scientist so he doesn't believe in life after death but he didn't want us to preach to him. Don't get me wrong he was a very nice man and gave us great advice and we did talk about religion but he doesn't want us to preach to him. He said he loved talking to us and if we are in the area again to drop by. Also side note he had a garden hat on but then he took it off when we were talking and he looked exactly like Gordon B Hinckley, I am not even kidding. When he took his hat off Elder Conrad and I both looked at each other and I did about 15 double takes and afterwards Elder Conrad and I said we just talked with a prophet haha. It was also funny I looked behind Paul Titus and he had a stack of canes.
Well I don't really have anything to update you on. Oh wait like two nights ago we had dinner at a members house and guess what was part of the meal....BEANS!!!! GAG!!! At first I wasn't going to eat it but I said a little prayer and hoped for the best.....I only ate 3 beans before I was on the brink of throwing up. But its ok I didnt throw up but yeah still hate beans.
Oh also Elder Conrad and I were knocking on doors and we ran into a man named Paul Titus and he is 82 yrs old (He looks like he is in his 60's). Well when we did our approach he said he knew a lot about our church already and he said he probably knew more than us and he told us not to start from the bottom and work up like most missionaries do but to start at the top.....This threw off the both of us. But turns out he talked to the missionaries before and he has been to the Hill Cumorah. But the thing is he is a scientist so he doesn't believe in life after death but he didn't want us to preach to him. Don't get me wrong he was a very nice man and gave us great advice and we did talk about religion but he doesn't want us to preach to him. He said he loved talking to us and if we are in the area again to drop by. Also side note he had a garden hat on but then he took it off when we were talking and he looked exactly like Gordon B Hinckley, I am not even kidding. When he took his hat off Elder Conrad and I both looked at each other and I did about 15 double takes and afterwards Elder Conrad and I said we just talked with a prophet haha. It was also funny I looked behind Paul Titus and he had a stack of canes.
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