Email Update: March 21, 2011

Hey family!

Monday- Played basketball (couldn't make a shot in my life that day as compared to the week before), had dinner with the Reyes

Tuesday- Helped a part member family (The Gannon's) build some planter boxes and had an awesome dinner with them

Wednesday- Did some service at the church then helped a lady move her car when she ran out of gas in the middle of the road. Had a lesson with Alex and moved his baptismal date up a week.  Met with Juan and he finished the Book of Mormon!  Then met with a lady who just moved into our ward. After that, we had a lesson with Kim and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Keeping the Sabbath day holy, and the Word of Wisdom. We also are moving her baptismal date back.

Thursday- Had lunch with Alex and his family then we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration

Friday- Met with Edith Martinez and celebrated Elder Tobchan's birthday

Saturday- My highlight of the week because David and Tina Sheldon got sealed for time and all eternity in the Lord's temple and it was such a blessing to see that because a year ago Elder Foster and I were helping this couple quit smoking so that they could go to the temple! So it was such a blessing to see that and be a part of that special and sacred experience! Also had the most ITL's this day with 22.

Sunday- Alex and Juan came to church, Had a great time at church, had lunch with the Thornock's, and started to update our map that is in our apartment.

That's all that happen this week. So I keep hearing about BYU in the Big Dance and how they are getting closer and closer to H-Town I am kinda hoping that BYU will make it to the final 4 and that President Hansen will allow the Mission to go watch the game but that will probably not happen. haha What can I say my worldly side is just crazy about sports. But speaking of March Madness, I spear- headed the bracket challenge in my zone and several missionaries are involved. This was of course approved by the Zone Leaders who are also involved, so it's basically what we did back home. There is a point system to each bracket and I told the missionaries in the zone that who ever wins I will buy them a frosty or something of that sort. But at the moment, I am winning, so I might be buying myself a frosty. Hope all is well.

-Cory "Teach Me How To Jimmer" Barton

Email Update: March 14, 2011

Hey family had a miracle week!

Our investigator Kim accepted her baptismal date for the 27th and she said she is excited for it! Then the biggest miracle this week was with our new investigator Alex Banks.  o going back to a year ago when I was first here in Bear Creek, Elder Conrad and I would visit with this 19 year old because his mom is a inactive member of the church and he and his sister are not baptized so we taught him a couple of times. Alex was never interested and he was breaking commandments so eventually we stopped going over.  Now fast forward to this week, Alex had something in his life where he wanted to change so he wants to change and do everything he can to become a member of this church! We met with him 4 times this week and we took him on a church tour and he loved it and we gave him a baptismal date for April 9th but we might move that forward if we keep meeting him on a regular basis like we are now!

Hope all is well :)

-El-Da Barton

Email Update: March 7, 2011

Okay so my update for the week:

Well on Monday we went to the Katy Stake Center and played some basketball and poison. Poison was fun, Elder Tobchan and I won 1 out of the 2 games of poison we played. A quick side note Elder Tobchan is from Thailand and he actually stayed in Mapleton, Utah for a couple of weeks before he went to the MTC because I think he has a cousin that lives there. So pretty cool,  I love that Elder, he is awesome. Then Elder Tobchan and I were on the same team in basketball and we basically did a pretty sweet action play that won the game.  This play would have been on ESPN Top plays for sure.  I wish I could have gotten it on camera so i could show y'all. Any who then had dinner with Bishop Tonini and his family.  We then visited the Padilla family afterward. 

On Tuesday we took Elder Christensen to the foot doctor because his toe got reinfected but he is better now. Then we had dinner with the Sosa family. After that we went and visited a referral we got. Her name is Dayo and she is from Africa, so we are starting to teach her. We then visited with the Tuimaseve's, the cool Samoan family and of course they fed us a bunch of food!

On Wednesday we visited with Kim, our investigator, and taught her about The Plan of Salvation and she liked it a lot and we also gave her a baptismal date for March 27th. And I also sang Happy Birthday to Deanna all the way from Houston on this day, woot woot.

On Thursday Elder Simpson interviewed a investigator for baptism for the Copperfield Elders we then had dinner at the Coronado's and had some awesome tacos.

On Friday we had a Zone Meeting and we were given additional training on the importance of church tours and they had me give a little 5 min. spill about how church tours are successful with the experience Elder Hill and I had with Rolanda. Then Elder Simpson and I did a demonstration on how to do a church tour so that took about 20 min. Then we had a lesson with Juan and we watched Finding Faith in Christ. Then had dinner at the Stephen's. On Friday I was on exchanges and Elder Bergener came to my area and we watched Legacy with Edith Martinez and had an awesome dinner prepared by her mother.

On Sunday we went to church and we had 0 investigators at sacrament meeting sadly but that's okay. We had lunch at the Chavez home and went and gave Edith's nephew a blessing.  We then went and had dinner with the Jones family, they are an awesome family. Brother Jones is from Australia so he has a super sweet accent and I love how he says things. It's so funny how we speak that same language but you can easily get lost on phrases or words you say. 

Thank you for the e-mail update and I hope and pray everything is well at home.