Shorter Email after Christmas

Ola Familia e Amigos!

Today I only have a short time to read and write emails (15 minutes!) because the library is closed, so we have to share the chapel´s computer between 4 elderes. I just wanted to make sure that I send an email to all of you to let you know that everything is going well here! Abrantes still is a branch of the church, so we still have to give talks every few weeks, haha.

For Christmas Eve, we ate a member´s house ( Teresa, Sariah, and Ruben). She made a very portuguese dish of cabbage and codfish, lol. It was good, but definetly different from the Chick fil a that I´m used to having every Christmas Eve. On Christmas, we had lunch with them again, and dinner with the family of our investigators, Rosa and Claudia. But of course the highlight of the day was when I got to talk to my family over skype! We were able to have a group call, so it was so fun to be able to talk to each of my siblings and their families (and of course my parents and Grandpa!)

Sorry this email is so short today, but I´ll write a lot more next week (and personal emails to those of you who wrote me :) ) 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and always remember the true reason we celebrate this holiday. I love you all, and I love being a missionary!

Com Amor, 

Elder Barker

Olá de Abrantes!

Olá Familia e Amigos!

Well, as I said in my last email, I was transfered. I left Leira on Tuesday (my birthday!) and got to Abrantes two hours later. 

MY BIRTHDAY: It went well, haha. To be honest, I kind of forgot that it was my birthday, lol. I mean, I would remember during random moments during the day, like " Oh, yeah, I turn 20 today." But it was a good day! Because it was my last day with Elder Cardenuto, we went and ate sorvete ( icecream) at the Italian sorvete place in Leiria ( a native Italian always made it from scratch!). We didnt get too much missionary work done, because we were running all over the city getting last minute things done (including picking up a package that had come to the apartment for me, but missed me so we had to go to the post office, haha). But we were able to teach one last lesson to Rui and Gilberto! The night before, I was able to visit three of our investigators before being transferred: a family "Rui and Cristina and Mariana, and "Wyllam". It was very sad to say goodbye to them all, because I had grown so close to them and I was excitited to see them start to progress. 

In my new area, one of the members found out it was my birthday, and she made me a birthday card. It was very, very nice of her (dont worry, sheś in her forties, lol). She even wrapped it all up in wrapping paper. Also, the mission presidentś wife called me later in the day and wished me a happy birthday. And also the Sisters (they were transfered as well). So overall, my birthday was different, but I felt loved. Thanks for all the birthday emails!

ABRANTES:  Abrantes is definetely a lot different than Leiria. For one thing, the congregation here is very small. We have a branch of members here. On sunday, we had a grand number of 14 people in church (including us). The chapel is a rented store space, but has everything that we need. There are no kids! Most of the active members are middle aged ladies haha. But despite this, I have great faith in Abrantes. i feel very strongly that Abrantes has lots of potencial. I know that there are people here that are ready for the gospel. When I think of Abrantes, the scripture that says "the field is white, ready to harvest" comes to my mind. Abrantes is literally a city on a hill. Remember how I would complain about my apartment in Leiria being at the top of a big hill? That is literally Abrantes. Every where we go, we are either going up or going down, haha. Based off of Sunday, it looks like the missionaries really have to be the leaders of the ward. As in, we teach the lessons, conduct the meetings sometimes, are incharge of Family home evening, prepare bless and pass the sacrament. You know how generally the new missionary is asked to get up and bear his testimony? One of the members who was supposed to give a talk didnt show up, so I was asked to give a talk, ahhh. i talked about charity, and all of the members really liked it. They were even replying back to me as I was talking. Oh branches, haha. But I know that I will get to be closer with the members here!

My companion is elder Nascimento, from Brazil, haha. He speaks very good english, but I try to speak portuguese as much as I can when we areńt in the house. 

I am so grateful for this time of year, and the oporunity we have to celebrate the birth of our saviour!  Each day I feel more grateful for all of the blessings that I have been given. I have really seen the gift of tongues start to work more strongly these past few weeks. I have been able to have slihtly better conversations with people haha. I know i have a long ways to go, but I have faith and Im grateful for every blessing I receive! 

I love you all and miss you lots! 

Love,
Elder Barker

Thanksgiving in Leiria

Olá Familia e Amigos!

Even though I missed being with you guys on Thanksgiving, I still got to celebrate it here in Portugal! The Sisters planned a small ward activity on thursday with the theme of "Dia de Acção das Graças." They don´t celebrate Thanksgiving in Portugal, but the few members that came seemed to really enjoy it. It was pretty simple, just a short video, food, and an activity where we went around and said what we were thankful for. We had four investigators show up! They came even though it was raining super hard (and none of them had cars). I think they had a good time, and the members were all very nice, as usual! I mean, only about 6 or 7 members showed up, but oh well haha!

One of the investigators who came was Marcelo! When it was his turn to say what he was thankful for, he said : "Por meus dois irmãos, Cardenuto e Barker, por o confiança que eles me dão, " which means " for my two brothers, Cardenuto and Barker, for the confidence they give me" ( among other things).  It was very touching and I was reminded again why I am serving as a missionary. It´s for moments like this where I see that I am helping bring a difference into someone´s life. It´s to help others find happiness through the restored gospel of Christ. 

What I said I was thankful for was my family! Everyday I am reminded at how blessed I am to have you guys and how much I love you! I am forever grateful for the family that I have.

Two of the other investigators that came to the ward activity were Rui and Gilberto. They are always together. I think it´s because it appears that Rui has some side affects from some drugs he used to do, so Gilberto kind of watches over him. We had another lesson with them a few days ago, and they decided to be BAPTIZED! We asked them how they had been feeling throughout our lessons, and Gilberto said "melhor (better)" and Rui said "calma (calm)". The Spirit truly testifies to people in different ways! They´ve been to church before, and enjoyed it. We still have to teach them a lot ( especially about smoking and drinking), but I´m excited for them! 

Something funny/not so fun that happened this week (more than once actually) was that we had to run to a few appointments. In our church clothes. The first time was because we were waiting for a member at the church to come with us to teach Marcelo, but he then called and said he could meet us at a place a little bit closer. We were already running late  by this point because of the member, so we ran to meet him there, lol. The second time was when we were in an unexpected lesson and by the time it ended, we were almost late for a lesson with Rui and Gilberto, so we had to run to get there in time (but they showed up late, so...). The third time happened because we had to run to our apartment to get inside by 9:30 ( we got there exactly on time!). 

And today! It was P-day de Distrito, so we went to the city of Alcobaça with the Sisters. It was about 50 minutes by bus, and I wouldn´t say it was worth the distance. But it was still cool! The main "attraction" was an ancient monastary (?) and had some interesting things inside. A lot of statues Catholic objects. I´ll either send pictures today or next week! Afterwards we ate at a hamburger place (lol). The food took longer than  we thought to be prepared, so by the time we got our hamburgers, we had 10 minutes to eat AND get back to the bus station. So we ate super quick, and RAN. It must have been a sight to see two sets of missionaries running up a hill, haha. We made it just in time too.

Every day I see the Lord´s hands in my life, whether in small ways or big ways. I´m very happy that I can serve a mission here and that I can help bring joy and more happiness into the lives of others. I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Barker

Alma 26:37

Olá Família e Amigos!

To be honest, nothing too exciting happened, haha. 

BUT, we finally moved apartments! As you probably already know, the apartment we used to live in was 35 to 40 minutes from the church, and on the outskirts of our area. It was a very nice apartment, and very new, but the location was bad for us. Where we live now is ten minutes from the chapel. and right in the middle of our area. Now we don´t have to waste 40 minutes every night walking up a huge hill, lol. We´re on the top floor, so we get a pretty nice view, but it´s also freezing! It´s a little bit older of a builiding (not too old), so the insulation is pretty much just cement, lol. My new address to send letters ( :) ) is:

Elder Michael Barker

Rua Miguel Torga, Nº 167, 5º Esq.

Leiria 2410-134

Portugal

This week we had zone conference on Tuesday. There were two zones there (Coimbra and Santarem) and the mission presidente spoke. I´m ashamed to say that I didn´t take any notes, haha. But, I was able to understand everything he was saying, so that´s good. The main points were to avoid judging others (he gave a lot of scriptures) and to use "olhas de luz" which means, eyes of light, which basically means to look for the positive in every situation, even if it seems like a negative at first. 

Our mission presidente also focused a lot on helping less active members to come back to church. This really made me excited to start searching for our less active members here in Leiria, because there are a lot. It´s so important to help those who have fallen away, because each one of them is a son or daughter of God that He cares about just as much as any of His other children. We were able to meet with a 25-year-old women named Anísia this last week who was baptized a year ago, but hasn´t been to church for a long time. We actually found out about her from one of the missionaries who baptized her last year. We saw him at the zone conference, and he asked us about how Anísia was doing, and seemed sad when we said we hadn´t ever seen her. RIght when we got home, we looked in the Livro de Area, and found her phone number and called her, and she said that we could come right over. Apparently she hasn´t been coming to church because she works every Sunday during the time of the meetings. But we are going to continue to pass by every week to continue to help her and teach her and help her to know that she isn´t forgotten.

It is so important to work with our members who have gone inactive, because they are just as important to Heavenly Father as any of His other children. Every person on our "less-active" list is loved by at least one person, and has a story. And I know that God knows each and every one of them. 

We had the primary program in church yesterday, and it was so cute, haha. It reminded me that the church truly is the same in all parts of the world. The members are the same, the doctrine is the same, the primaries are the same. Even thought Leiria is one of the bigger wards, they still only have about 10 primary kids, but it was still the same, haha. THere was that one 5 year old who sang louder than every one else. There were the kids who needed the teacher to whisper every word into their ears. There were the kids who spoke as if they were 30 years old, haha. I always love the primary program, and it always brings such a nice spirit into the room. 

Marcelo came to church yesterday! He seemed to really like it, and even made a comment about faith in sunday school. He is still marked to be baptized on the fourth of december, and I´m just so excited for him. I´m so grateful that I can be a missionary and be able to take part in helping people find the gospel!

My Portuguese is still not too good, but I can understand people a lot better now, and can have simple conversations about the weather and setting appointments, lol. But each week I can see improvement, and I know that the Lord is helping me with this. Each week the zone leaders call to follow up on our investigators who are planning to be baptized, and this week elder Cardentuto had me do it. I was a little scared, because the zone leader is a native speaker who doesn´t speak english. But I was able to talk without having to think too hard about what to say, and I was able to get everything across. So I´ll call that a success.

We didn´t have too many lessons this week, which made me a little bit sad. But I realized that not every week will be fantastic. But each week I can improve  just a little bit more and learn a little bit more how to be a missionary. Every week I can become closer with my Heavenly Father. 

I know that Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and I would like to end with this scripture in Alma 26:37: "Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of everypeople, 

whatsoever land they may be in; yea, henumbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over allthe earth. Now this is my joy, and my 

great 

thanksgiving;yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Love,

Elder Barker

Three Months!

Olá Familia e Amigos!

As always, it was so good to hear from so many of you! 

I feel so happy to today because of the highlight of the week that happened yesterday. We invited Marcelo to be baptized, and he accepted! I think I talked about Marcelo in the past, but I´ll tell the full story here. 

He had been taught by missionaries a few times last year, but for some reason lost contact with them. One day a few weeks ago, we were walking back home when a man came walking up to us as if he already knew us--it was Marcelo! We found out he had been taught already, and so we set up a time to meet with him again. When we got home, I found his teaching record from last year. I seriously love teaching records so much, haha. They make it so much easier to know about past investigators and what they´ve been taught and how they received it. We taught the first lesson again, and then invited him to church. He came the week that Irmão Joaquim passed away, and wasn´t able to come yesterday. Last week we taught the second lesson, and he was agreeing with what we were teaching.  When he didn´t come to church yesterday, we decided to call him and ask if we could visit him. He said of course!

 Before this, we had decided and felt good about asking him to be baptized on the 4th of December (a sunday, because he doesn´t usually know if he will work on Saturdays). Elder Cardenuto asked me to be the one to invite Marcelo. I was a little nervous, because we haven´t taught the third lesson (Gospel of Jesus Christ) very often, and the last time we taught it, I kept messing up. But I also felt an assurance that everything would go well. I felt very strongly that this would be a good lesson, and that the spirit would be there, and that Marcelo would accept. 

The spirit was very strong as we taught, and we were able to say the things that he needed to hear. When we brought up the date, he said that this date was very special because it was the day he left Brasil five years ago. He also said that he is still about 50/50, but that he will prepare to feel ready. When he said this, I felt so much joy! He is reading the book of Mormon, and he said he would like it very much if we kept giving him specific chapters to read. 

I am so grateful that I can be a missionary, and that Eu e Elder Cardenuto temos a oportunidade de servir em Leiria. Eu sinto que eu estou nesta área para um rezão e que há pessoas que estão prontos para ouvir nossas palavras. Eu sei que Deus vai colocar pessoas em nosso caminho. 

We will continue to teach him for these next few weeks to help him continue to progress and continue to feel ready.

Also this week, we attened the baptism of Carla and João ( a mother and her son). They were taught by the Sisters, so we didn´t know them too well. But I was able to see their joy after joining the church. This is the reason that we are missionaries. Not to see another country; not to learn a new language; not to say that we served a mission. THe reason we serve missions is to bring the joy and happiness of the restored gospel into the lives of others!

I don´t know how to transition these thoughts to the next so...

The stitching on one of my pant legs came undone the other day, but luckily elder Cardenuto knew of a random seamstrist(?) place in our area. The place is actually pretty cool, because it is a shop in a garage behind some apartment buildings, haha. We left my pants there with the lady who would stitch them again (along with some of Elder Cardenuto´s things that needed stitching), and the next day we came back to get them. When I asked how much they would cost, she told us not to worry about it. It was so nice! This reminded me that there are good people everywhere, but especially in Portugal :).

We met someone on the street who had just gotten out of prison, but seemed nice. He said that we could call him another day and meet with him again. However, a few days later when we called, he was not as nice as we thought. He said to dissapear and never call again and if he ever saw us again, he would slit our necks...OK. I think we´ll cross him off our list, haha.

Each week gets better here, and I can honestly say that I´m so happy to be a missionary. There are days when I get discouraged and don´t think I can keep going, but those days are getting beaten down by the days when I feel so much joy! I know that this is Christ´s church reastablished on the earth, and that our Heavenly Father loves and guides each of us. 

I love and miss you all, and espero que vocês tenham uma ultima semana! 

Com Amor,

Elder Barker

What Is he blessing me with - November 7th

Olá Familia e Amigos!

A little bit after I sent my email last week, we got our haircut. I didn´t know how to ask for what type of haircut I wanted in Portuguese, because I didn´t know the words for " Tapered on the sides, and about an inch on top," and I knew that my companion would have no idea what I was talking about, haha. So I asked my companion about what I should say. He told me something about "machine 2" on the sides, and leave a little on top. OK. I did that, but I think there was a little bit of miscommunication, because one second my hair was there, and then when I looked up, it was almost ALL GONE. By this point, there was nothing I could do. But it was  such a big shock to look up and see some baldy looking back at me in the mirror. Ok, maybe I´m not bald, but I had, like, 1 centimeter left... But it´s growing back, so don´t worry! 

We also carved a pumpkin last week at the Pablo and Nanda´s home! Actually, they had a friend over, and none of us were doing very well with carving it, so the friend did all of the carving, haha. So out of all the people there (including three americans (me and the sisters)) the person that did the actual carving was a Portuguese man that didn´t even know what Halloween was, haha. I´ll try to send a picture either today or next week.

Something else that was funny this week was that I got a free spoon from one of the mini markets! We always eat something from one of the small grocery stores that are on every corner. We sometimes eat yogurt, and this time I asked one of the workers if they had a spoon I could borrow. I was thinking of a plastic, or disposable spoon or something like that. But she brought me out from the back a real, actual spoon to use. She also said that I could keep it. It was kind of random, haha. 

This week we taught more lessons than all of last transfer! And because of this, I am feeling more like a missionary and feeling the Savior´s love more and more each day. One day, we were coming back home after teaching a man, and I was telling Elder Cardenuto that the Lord is truly blessing us. When I said this, I thought to myself " What is He blessing me with?" It´s not like being a missionary is easy. We walk all day long. People are rude. I have difficulty with the language. My whole body aches somedays. But when we teach a lesson, when we find more people, when we can bring comfort, I feel so blessed. We are blessed with the opportunity to preach the good news. We are blessed with feeelings of love for other people. We are blessed with more opportunities to teach. 

For example, we talked to a man in the street this week. We asked him how he was doing, and he responded by saying that he was bad. He was smoking, and drinking. We found out that he was homeless. We sat down with him, and he just seemed so hopeless. He was so depressed. But we kept telling him that God loves him, and that Christ suffered for him so that he could be happy. He seemed to recognize that, but kept saying he wasn´t worth it. We told him that he was worth it. He had to leave after that, and I don´t know if we´ll see him again, but I feel good that maybe we brought some particle of hope into his life. 

We also found a man that had been taught by missionaries last year, but had lost contact with them. We have began teaching him again, and he is so nice! Last year, he wouldn´t go to church when he was being taught, but we invited him this week, and he said that he would. And he did! His name is Marcelo. 

Anete wasn´t able to come this week (and we couldnt teach her either) because of work :(. We´ll pass by this week though! I hope we can find a free time in her schedule!

We also had Duarte at church for the first time this week! We taught him with a member this week, and he has been reading the book of Mormon. Actually, he´s read the introduction and the testimonies, and will start reading the actual book this week.

However, yesterday was a sad day for the whole ward. There is an old man in the ward, named Joaquim, who was baptized two years ago. Yesterday he blessed the sacrament for the first time since being given the priesthood. Shortly after he finished blessing the bread, he had a heart attack. The whole ward was there. We have a nursing student in the ward who ran up and tried to do CPR, but it wasn´t working. The bishop told us all to leave the room, and to wait outside. Shortly after, the ambulence arrived. A little after that, we heard that Joaquim had passed away. It was so shocking, and so suddent. Everyone was there and saw it happen. Joaquim was such a nice old man, and was always willing to help. We had planned to have him help us teach a lesson last week, and he showed up, but the person we were going to teach didn´t. I ended up having a nice conversation with him about his life, and I shared a spiritual thought with him. I am so grateful taht we had that conversation, and I will always hold it close to my heart. Joaquim was actually the first member that I met here in Leiria. But I am so grateful for the knowledge we have about the Plan of Salvation and what happens after this life!

I am so grateful for all of you and all the support and love you always give me! I love and miss you all everyday!

Love, 

Elder Barker

The End of a Transfer - 10/24

Olá!

I can´t believe that my first transfer (six weeks) in Portugal is already over! I feel like it has gone by so quickly, but it also feels like I have been here forever! Also, I´m pretty sure the transfer in the MTC was way longer than six weeks, haha. 

This week we had divisões ( divisions (splits)), because my companion is the district leader. This means that last tuesday, I went to Figueira de Foz with another companion, while my companion stayed in Leiria with another person. Sounds fun, right? It was actually kind of hard, because the Elder I was split with is from Portugal, and doesn´t speak ANY english! As in, I was with a true native companion. Needless to say, we didn´t have very many real conversations that day haha. I mean, we were able to communicate what we were going to do and where to go, but not much else lol. Also, when we were home at the end of the night and he ordered pizza, he asked if some ingredient was ok. I didn´t know what ingredient he said, so I just said yes. When the pizza arrived, I opened the box and saw a whole bunch of olives all over the pizza ( which I don´t like at all), haha! But besides the language barrier, the division went well, and I feel like I learned a few new things to apply in my area. Figueira de Foz is a lot less busy than Leiria, and a lot more peaceful as well. However, I realized that Leiria has sort of become my home, and that I feel comfortable there. I was really missing Leiria during the division!

Nothing else too exciting or earth-trembling happened this week :/!

During the transfer, Elder Cardenuto and the other Elder taught Wyllam again, but he is pretty against reading the Book of Mormon, and keeps saying he doesn´t have time because he needs to study the Bible. So this week, we are planning on visiting him again, and teach him some more and hopefully read out of the BOM with him. He also says he´ll come to church this week! 

We taught another person last week, from some country in Africa. His name is Edimíllson, and is 26 years old. He´s very friendly, and when we asked him about baptism, he said maybe, and only if he learns more about the church--well, that´s what we´re here for! He can only meet us during the weekend, so we´ll see him on Saturday!

Also, when we were walking in the street, a lady came up to me and said something like, " what is the name of the other elder, because I forgot. The Brazilian? " Apparently Elder Cardenuto had talked with her on the street with his old companion, but had never taught her. She invited us into her home, but we couldn´t come in, because there were wasn´t another man in the home. But she said we coul come back on tuesday, when there will be one!

THere are lots of people here that have lots of potential, we just have to have faith the the Lord will help us find them!|

Today for P~day, we went to Nazaré! It´s a city about 30 minutes from Leiria that has a beautiful beach. Obviously we couldn´t swim (haha), but we could walk on the sand and take pictures. It was seriously breathtaking. There was a sort of monorail that took us up to some cliffs, where we could see all of Nazaré, and miles of ocean. It was so cool! the waves were constantly forming and crashing, and they were huge. I´ll send the pictures (as well as the ones from last week) a little bit later today!

I love you all, and I look forward to talking to you again next week!

Com Amor,

Elder Barker

Uma Mês em Portugal! "Tenho te gravado em minhas palmas"-Mark chapter/verse something - 10/17

Olá Todo Mundo!

First of all, I love reading all of your emails! They seriously lift me up and keep me going throughout the week. Especially when I have a harder week, reading emails from home gives me such a boost, you don´t even know haha. Oh, and one more item of business before I get into the juicy stuff: we´re most likely moving apartments! The one we live in now is really nice, but it is at the top of a huge hill, and is far away from every thing in our area. We literally waist 40 minutes every morning and evening just walking from/ to our apartment. So the mission office has been looking, and we should be moving soon. So that means that the address I gave you last week won´t be valid for much longer--so if you plan on sending me any letters to the apartment (hahha) maybe just hold off for a little bit longer :).

Now to the juicy stuff--there is none. This week, I don´t think anything out of the ordinary happened. About Irmão Rolinho, we didn´t visit him last week because apparently he´s in the sisters´area, so they are supposed to be the ones that visit him( especially since he lives maybe an hour and a half from our area, by foot). I still don´t really know what goes on around me, because it is still hard to understand the language haha. But we will visit him this next thursday to give him a priesthood blessing, so that should be special. He really is such a great man, and I didn´t feel as nervous to try to talk to him as I have with other people haha. 

Our mission president has really emphasized working with the members, and has created a different way of accomplishing it--the Listão, or big list. It´s basically a way to get a bunch of names from members for people to visit. Personally, I don´t like it very much, but apparently it has been successful in the past, so I´ll be patient with it haha. Anyway, we had done a Listão with a  family, and the mom had told us we could go and visit her cabeleireiras (I can not say that word to save my life haha, but it means hairdresser lol) this past week lol. So we searched for the address, and walked there on tuesday. When we got there, the two hairdressers that she mentioned were the only ones in the shop. So we introduced ourselves, and told them that their friend, Irmã Isabel, sent us. We talked a little about church and gave them a Book of Mormon. They older one didn´t seem very interested, but the younger one seemed nice and interested. However they said that they would talk to Isabel, and then to us--which usually means "we won´t see you ever again". So right after, we called Isabel and asked her to talk about the gospel with them at her next appointment, and maybe ask them if they would like to meet with us sometime. She´s going in tomorrow, so we´ll see how everything goes--crossing my fingers!

This last week we also talked with Wyllam for a little bit--only for a little bit though. And during that little bit, he asked some hard questions about the Book of Mormon that were hard to answer (even if they were in english). During my personal study, I found some things that I am sure will help, but he never has enough time to talk with us. We also invited him to church this week, and he said he would if we would go to his on the saturday before--so of course we did! Apparently he is a leader of a sort of youth group that works hard to keep youth doing good things. It was very positive, and I realized that they believe pretty much every thing we beleive! #CidadeFeliz. The next morning was church, and we left our house early to go and get him. He answered the door and said that he would get ready, and then meet us there. We waited at church for him. And waited. and waited. He never showed up. It was very discouraging, because I know that he would have liked it, and he would have felt hte spirit. We visited him afterwards, and apparently he fell back asleep. But he said he´ll go next week, and we´re planning on visiting him this week sometime. 

Today we had district P-day, and we went to Coimbra. However, it wasn´t very well planned haha. We ended up just visiting an old, old university, and then a sort of Portugal-themed "tiny town--Portugal dos Pequenitos. It was actually really cool, and I´ll make sure to send the pictures next week! 

It´s so hard to imagine that a month has already gone by since arriving here! It has gone by so fast, but also slow haha. We´re almost done with my first transfer (every six weeks is a transfer), and people usually stay in the same area for three transfers. I´ll most likely stay with my trainer for one more transfer to finish off my training. But, yeah, I´ll be in Leiria until sometime in January I think!

I wish I could reply back to all of you this week, but our time was cut a little short today! I´ll try to reply back to as many of you as I can in 15 minutes! 

I love you all so much! A mission is hard, especially when at times it feels like I´m not having much success. But I know I am doing the Lord´s work, and I will see wonderful things happen here in Leiria and in any other area I serve in! 

Love,

Elder Barker

Não Temas, Cre Somente - 10/10/2016

Olá Tudo Mundo! 

Desculpa, apparently none of you received my email from last week :( :(,  but I resent it, and I hope it went through for you all. If not, I don´t know haha.  

I think the highlight of this week was when we went to visit a less active member of the ward-- Irmão José Rolinho. He´s an older man from Africa who has been a member of the church for 30 years. He has been in the Leiria Ward for most of that time as well, so he knows almost all of the members, including a lot of the ones that aren´t active as well. When we visited with him, he showed us a lot of pictures that he had, and it was fun to recognize a few members of the ward ( when they were a lot younger though haha). He is such a funny old man, and so nice too! It´s kind of a sad situation, because I can really tell that he has a testimony of the gospel, and he know´s that coming to church is important, but the only thing that caused him to stop coming was a mean comment from a little kid. A year ago a seven-year-old said something rude about his appearance, and he hasn´t been back since. The Sisters have been visiting with him a lot, and asked us to come with them this past week, and we really tried to talk about how we need to come to church in order to partake of the sacrament. But he kept saying that he´s still waiting. But we did get him to come to the chapel the next day to rewatch a few talks from General Conference, which was a big step! While we were there, Elder Cardenuto had to use the restroom, so I was alone with Irmão Rolinho for a few minutes. I panicked, because I thought " I don´t know how to have a conversation by myself!" But it went well and I was able to understand most of what he said, and reply a little bit haha. I look forward to the day when Irmão Rolinho will come back to church, because he used to be such a strong member of the ward.

We began teaching a new person this week! His name is Wyllam, and he´s from Brasil. He was a reference that the sisters gave us, so we called and set up an appointment. When we got to his house, he wasn´t there. But we called and he said he was on his way. So we waited for like 15 minutes, and he finaly showed up! He´s very nice and friendly. He lives pretty close to the chapel, so we decided to teach him there the first lesson about the Restoration of Christ´s church on the earth. The lesson took a long time, because he would always stop us and start to talk forever haha. (I say we teach lessons, but as I am still learning portuguese, I basically just have parts that are more or less memorized, but I hope that as I get better, I will be able to teach in a better way). He goes to his own church, but he said that he respects us and said he will come to our church with us next week! We werent planning on teaching him the next day, but he called us and said he was available, so we took advantage of this opportunity of course! Again, we taught him in the chapel, this time about the Book of Mormon. This time, he interrupted more, and listened more attentively. When we gave him the Book of Mormon, he seemed really interested. I can really see him being a strong member of the church, and maybe even an awesome missionary ( he´s only 20). Elder Cardenuto had the idea to see some hymns with him, and it really brought the spirit into the room! 

As for the language, this week I have noticed that I can understand people a lot more! It´s still hard for me to respond, but at least I can understand them a little bit easier. At church, I decided that I was going to talk to some more members, even if I had to struggle with the language barrier, because i want them to trust me and to get to know me. I started talking to a lady, and I was able to have a real conversation with her ( a simple one)! It was a cool experience. 

This past week I have tried to be more dilligent with studying the language, and I´ve written down a real, solid plan for my language study time. Part of this is memorizing a scripture both in English and Portuguese. So far, I´ve memorized 1 Nephi 18:3 " E eu, Néfi, ia frequentemente á montanha, e orava frequentemente ao Senhor; por isso O Senhor me mostrou muitos grandes coisas." This is basically a scripture about prayer, and how if we pray often and with real purpose, the Lord will show us great things. The "mountain" could be a sacred, or quiet place without distractions. I know that if we pray to the Lord often, he will help us with anything we need!

I know that you all like to read about funny things that have happened to me, but I can´t think of anything this week haha. I´ll make sure to write some things down as they happen though, I promise haha.

Also! I realized that the place where we live has a mailbox (kind of), so you can send me mail, and I can get it before three months!( but packages stilll have to be sent to the other address) 

Estrada Casal dos Matos

Lote 4 R/C C

Leira 2410-396

Portugal

I hope that this email sends this week, thanks to those who still responded even though they didn´t get the group email haha. 

I love and miss you all!

Com Amor,

Elder Barker

10/3/2016

Oi Familia e Amigos!

So nothing too exciting happened this week haha! 

On Thursday the ward had a "Festa de Hawaii" that the sister missionaries had planned. They asked us to come and help them set up the decorations, and it ended up taking such a long time! The day before, they told us to go search for some tropical leaves to use as decorations, so we went on sort of wild goose hunt to find these "big tropical branch things" haha. When we thought that we had found them, we called the sisters and they said they wanted the whole trees, not just theleaves. Uhh that was impossible, so we just ripped 100 leaves (which were about a foot long each) off of the branches and brought them to the church. This whole situation was funnier as it was happening, and is funnier than my writing can portray ( especially since the computer Im using is soo slow, so I can only type one word every five seconds). 

But the decorations turned out very good , and the party was succesful!  However, as many of you know, I don´t usually like big group gatherings. Even in my own language, I find it hard sometimes to think of what to say or the correct words to use. So multiply those feelings by alot , and you will know how I felt at the party. As a missionary, Im expected to talk to all the members and get involved in the conversations. But I still don´t the language well enough to even have small conversations. I wanted so badly to talk to the people there not only because I was supposed to, but because i wanted to get to know them.But I couldnt, and I felt very lost, adn very overwhelmed , and very homesick. So the party was a success, but not so much for me.

The next day, I woke up in a negative mood, because of the ward party the night before. But I didnt want to be in this mood, or to feel this way, so In my prayers I pleaded for help and relief. Later that morning I had a spiritual experience, that I think I´ll keep to myself, but that greatly turned my thoughts and mood around to be more positive! The language is hard, and I still feel quite lost in this country because of that, but I know that the Lord is with me, and will help me become the missionary he wants me to be!

This Saturday and Sunday we had General Conference ( where our Prophet and Apostles, and other leaders of the church, speak to all the members of the church). In some wards in Portugal, the missionaries are allowed to watch the sessions in English if they want. Guess how it was in my ward ;). Yep, ALL  in Portuguese! I had found this out a few days before, so I prepared myself by praying that I would somehow be able to understand what was being said even though I wasn´t even close to being fluent. Because I love General Conference and wanted to get something out of it. Because of the time difference, the times we watch are alittle bit different than the US. They watch them live here, so the "Morning" sessions are at 5pm, the "Afternoon" sessions are at 9pm, and Priesthood session isn´t watched live here, so it is watched at 10 am on Sunday. As we started watching the first session, I began to realize how real the Gift of Tongues is! I could understand! Maybe not every word, and not the jokes, but I could recognize what the speakers were saying. It was a true blessing. 

As I mentioned above, the afternoon sessions are on at nine pm, so they dont show them at the church because most people dont go. However, yesterday the missionaries were given permission to watch the afternoon session at the church as long as we all were in our apartments by 1110--and if we walked the sister missionaries back to their apartment. It all worked out because they live close, and then we (the elders) were able to take a taxi back to where we live. It was all worth it because we were able to watch this session in English! 

We had two people who werent members show up to watch the sessions at the church, and they seemed to enjoy it! One is Kevin, a man in his twenties from Brasil. My companion taught him the first lesson before I arrived, but couldnt continue because Kevin was always working. But now Kevin is jobless, so he has more time! The other is José, an older man that works at the same place as one of the members. We are going to visit him sometime this week. 

I´m sorry if the first part of the email was kind of negative, but I hope you all know that i do love being a missionary! Some days are just hard. I know that all the hard days will be nullified by the wonderful experiences that come from being a missionary. I also know that  our Heavenly father will help us with all that we need! He loves all of us, His children! 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barker