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

Segunda Semana em Leiria, Portugal! (9/26/2016)

Boa Tarde (ou Tal Vez, Bon Dia) Familia e Amigos!

Nothing super exciting has happened this past week, but I know that you all like to hear everything about what's going on haha!

I'll start off by talking about what we did today for P-day: we went to a castle! The part of Leiria where Elder Cardenuto and I are assigned to serve is the newer part with mainly apartment buildings. But the other area has lots of older, more European looking buildings. This area is where the castle is. It was so beautiful! It's on the top of a big hill, so we were able to see all of Leiria from the top. It´s several centuries old, and has lots of history ( I couldn´t really understand the information signs, because they were all in Portuguese haha). I took lots of pictures, which I will send in another email a little bit later. I felt like I was in Camelot haha.

As I am still very new in the mission, random meetings and other things come up that I don´t really know about until we are on the way there lol. Like the zone meeting this week. Leiria is part of the Coimbra stake, so this past Thursday (?) we took a bus for an hour to Coimbra to meet with the rest of the missionaries in the Stake. It was a beautiful  city as well! We basically just went over different topics that the Mission President wanted us to focus on lol! But apparently Elder Ozuna (my companion in the MTC) is in the same Zone as me! It was so fun to see him at the meeting! It felt so nice to see a familiar face and to catch up. 

As I said in the email last week, the members in our ward are very nice. I was sitting next to an older woman during sacrament meeting, and after it ended, I turned to her and tried to have a conversation ( which didn´t last very long haha). But I found out that she has three grandkids, and one of them lives with her, so that was interesting. 

There's a couple in the ward who really love to help the missionaries, and really like to feed us! Pablo and Nanda. They speak really good english too, which helps out a bit! Yesterday they had us and the Sister Missionaries ( sisters Keenan and Gilbert) over for dinner because it was sister Gilbert's birthday. They have younger kids, and Nanda told us that they love to help the missionaries because she hopes that someday when her kids serve missions, people will help them as well. So we're being taken care of here in Portugal! 

We taught Edy Rocha again this week (the first lesson), and asked him to pray to know if what we've said is true. He said he would! But we have a lot of work to do with him still! Before the lesson, I was attempting to talk to him in portuguese, when all of a suddent he started talking in english about relationships--like very in depth and with explicit  content! It was very awkward for me haha. But I know that the lord will guide us in how to teach him.

We were practicing the first lesson one morning, and when I was reciting the First Vision, I just felt so much gratitude and love. Afterwards, I was just overcome with the spirit, and started crying, because I realized how blessed we are to have the truth. That God loves us so much that he has established His church again on the earth!

I'd like to end by talking about a special story from this week. It's about my foot. On monday night, after we got home, my foot and ankle had such a horrible pain. It wasn't a sore, good pain, but a harsh, painful pain. I could barely walk around the house at all. I was worried about being able to walk on my foot all day the next day. So as I said my prayers for the night, I asked Heavenly Father to heal my foot over the night. I desired to be able to fulfill my missionary purpose, and I knew I couldnt do that if I couldnt walk. I had faith that my foot would be healed, that when I woke up, there would be no more pain. My prayer was answered. Throught out the night, I would wake up with the pain, but I would say to myself " have faith that itll be better in the morning". The next mornig, there was no pain at all! Maybe it wouldnt have hurt anymore even if I ddnt pray, but maybe not. To me this was a miracle, and I know that Heavenly Father answered my prayer!

This week we walked a lot. THe missions in portugal dont have bikes because all of the sidewalks are made out of cobblestone (like ALL of them), and there are many hiills. Somedays it gets discouraging when we walk so much, and nobody wants to talk to us. But I just have to remember that if I find just one person to teach, itll all be worth it. To those of you who arent members of my church, if a missionary asks if they can share a message with you, please let them. It means so much to us to be able to teach someone. And after one lesson, if you dont want to meet anymore, you dont have to. i think I speak for all missionaries wehn I say that we love the people in our missions, and that we just want to make them happy.

The bread here is delicious! I think all the weight that I lose walking and running, I gain back by eating Pastel de Nata, among various other sweets. So good! 

As I said in my last letter, I think I can only go to Porto to get my letters and packages every three months., but itll be such a nice time when I get to see them all haha!

I love you all so much, every week when I read my emails from you, I get all teary because I love so much!

Até a Proxima P-day!

Com Amor,

Elder Barker