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