Merry Christmas!

Olá!

I´m writing today because we decided to move our P-day to today instead of yesterday, so that we could work a little bit more on Christmas day! 

This past week was a good week for us. I am with my new companion, Elder Franco! His parents are from Angola, but he was born and raised in Lisbon, Portugal, so I guess that would mean that he is my first "Portuguese" companion! He is a very nice person and very funny. I am really hoping that this next transfer we will have a lot of success and good memories together. 

 As we were out working yesterday, I realized a few things. I realized that Christmas really does bring a special spirit to the world. The spirit of Christ seems to just come down like a blanket over the world, and most people act differently. Especially here in Madeira. There was not one store open, and practically no one on the street. It was the calmest day that I have seen on my mission. It hit me a few days ago that this would be my last Christmas as a missionary, and I decided that I wanted it to be memorable. Not because of presents or because of fancy food, but because of my service to the Lord. I felt priveliged to be able to walk outside and represent Christ on this special day. Unfortunately we weren´t able to teach anyone yesterday, but I was happy that I was able to at least walk through the streets giving people Christmas pass along cards and DVDs, and wishing them a merry Christmas. I was happy that we could  ring the doorbells of a few buildings and at least wish people a merry christmas through their intercoms. There were a few times throughout the day where I could just feel the sacredness of this day, and the miracle that it is that we have a Saviour and Redeemer! 

On Christmas Eve, our branch presidente and his family invited us, the other elders, and a couple of other members over for a Christmas lunch. Imagine my relief when I saw that we were going to eat chicken, haha! It was a nice lunch and a nice visit. At the end of the meal, one of my companions volunteered me to give the spiritual thought. I thought a few seconds about what I should say, and then I realized that the perfect thing would be to read the Christmas story in Luke Chapter 2.  I decided that we would each read two verses until the end, and as we read, that we should really imagine what was happening that calm Christmas night in Bethlehem so many years ago. As we finished reading, there were a few people in tears because of the spirit that we felt. I didn´t have to say anything, the message was already given by the spirit. 

What made my day even better was the fact that I could see all of my family through Skype yesterday. They are truly my biggest blessings, and my best friends! If I could choose between all of the presents in the world, or my family ,I would definetly choose my family. Nothing can replace them.

I love this time of year! I love Christmas, and the special feeling that we can always feel! I´m grateful that I could spend one more Christmas here on my mission. I hope that we can all try to bring the Christmas spirit with us into the new year!

I love and miss you all lots!

Love,

Elder Barker

Transfers!

Olá!

This last week was the last week of the transfer, and as always there are a few surprises! Don´t worry, I wasn´t transferred, so I will be staying at least another six weeks here in Machico! But my companion, Elder Romano, will be leaving tomorrow to serve in Guimarães (which is in the north of Portugal). It was a big surprise because this was only his first transfer here in Machico, and usually missionaries stay a lot longer on the island, haha. My new companion will be Elder Franco, who is from Africa but lives in Lisbon. I was able to meet Elder Franco earlier this transfer, and he seems like a pretty nice guy. He is one of my "brothers" on the mission, because we were both trained by the same trainer (Elder Cardenuto). 

Much to my surprise, Madeira is starting to get cold! Compared to the rest of Portugal, it probably isn´t that cold, but yesterday I forgot to wear a jacket and I was actually shivering, haha. 

I don´t have too much time to write a letter this week, but I just want to say that I am grateful that I can serve my mission! I´m grateful that I can have one more Christmas as a missionary, because the people are more open and kind during this part of the year. They are more willing to at least listen to us on the street! I´m grateful that we have the Christmas season to help us remember the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. There really is a tangible spirit in the air each Chirstmas season!

I´m sorry that this email this week is a little bit short! We don´t have to much time because Elder Romano has to get his bags all packed up, haha! 

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas, and that you try to do something good for someone each day! I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Barker

PS I probably won´t be able to write an email next week because the library will be closed on Christmas day :)

Birthday Week

Olá!

This week I turned 21!

 I wasn´t really expecting my birthday to be too much different than any other day, but there ended up being a few little suprises during the day! The day before my birthday, a member invited us and the other elders to eat lunch with her and her family on the 6th. We accepted, but the walk ended up being almost an hour long, haha. 

The whole way there I was feeling very excited to eat something delicious, because one of the other elders told me that this member always made really good food. So imagine my surprise when we walked in and the smell of fish hit me in the face. Not just any fish, but fried sardines, head and everything. 

This was definetly my first (and probably last) time eating fish on my birthday, haha! It actually wasn´t that bad, but I think I would prefer chick-fil-a ;). I also ate a raw avocado!

The member that made us the lunch is very nice, and has an interesting story. She has been a member of the Church for 23 years, but nine of those years she was super inactive. She even refered to herself as an apostate at one point. The last two years she has come back into full activity and told us that she never wants to go back to inactivity, because the Church fills a hole in her heart and she knows that it is true!

As we were walking back after lunch, we noticed a nursing home nearby. We decided to enter with our santa hats (that the mission gave us) on, and asked if we would be able to schedule a time to come back and sing some christmas hymns for the elderly people. 

The receptionist  told us that we could go right upstairs and sing to them right then! Good thing we had our hymnbooks with us! 

This experience was definetly the highlight of my birthday! 

The workers gathered together all of the patients into one room and we sang two or three songs for them. Several of the patients were unable to show emotion or move too easily, but I could still tell that they appreciated it. THere were some patients that started singing with us and the workers even filmed us and took pictures. At the end, we shook the hands of all of the patients and wished them a Merry Christmas.  I am so grateful for this opportunity I had to bring some light into this nursing home, especially on my birthday! I am also grateful for the #lLightTheWorld campaign, because if it wasn´t for that, we might not have been so atent to look for opportunities to serve!

The members of the branch also made me a birthday cake and sang me happy birthday at the christmas activity the day after my birthday! 

This week we got to teach Paulo twice, and both times they went super well! Paulo just absorbs everything we teach him, and really understands. He also gets super excited when he learns a new thing. Seriously, I have never seen anyone get so excited to learn about the Pre-existence! He also was so happy to learn that our life doesn´t end after we die! Paulo is literally a miracle, and I am so grateful that I get to be a part of his story. He told us that he will go to the District Christmas Party this saturday, and I just know that our members will be so welcoming to him!

We had our Zone Christmas Conference this week, and it was a lot different than last year, for a few reasons. This year, it was just the Madeira zone, so there were just 12 missionaries instead of almost 50. It was also super hot outside, so it didn´t even feel like Christmas time, haha. But it was still fun to see the other missionaries on the island, and to hear from our Mission Presidente. Afterwards our zone got together and we went to downtown Funchal and started singing Christmas hymns and talking to everyone we met about #LighttheWorld. It was very succesfull!

I love this time of year, and the sweet spirit that we can feel no matter where we are in the world. That sweet spirit comes from our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I love Him and I´m grateful that I can represent him for these two years!

Have a very merry second week of December! I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Barker

Olá! 

Happy December! This year the Church is doing the same Christmas campaign as last year, #LightTheWorld. I´m excited because our mission presidente really wants us as a mission to get involved with it this time around. 

Just to explain, this campaign is something that the Church is doing to promote the true reason of Christmas: Jesus Christ. Each day up until December 25th, there is something that we can do to bless the life of someone else. Whether it be writing a thank you note, spending some extra time with your family, or donating something to a homeless shelter, each of these things can bring more light into this season of the year. 

At Mormon.org there is a video each day and three suggestions of something that we can do for somebody else(based on one of Christ´s teachings). To me, this is a wonderful way that we can celebrate Christmas this year! 

As a mission, our mission president wants us to get out with our district everyday to sing Christmas hymns and pass out the special #LightTheWorld calenders. I challenge all of you to try to do one of the suggestions each day, and I know that this will make your Christmas even better!

As we were walking out of the store a few days ago, a man called out to us and said, "Elders! Come here, I need spiritual help." 

Now, just a little backround about this man. About a month and a half ago, we tried to give him a pass along card on the street, and he started accusing us of being of the devil and was shouting at us and being very rude. I´ve been yelled at on the mission before, but this was one of the ruder people that I´ve met. However, everytime that we would see him on the street after that, we would always say hi, or tell him good morning or something similar, with big smiles. We saw him maybe five times after the first "incident." 

Fast forward to this week and he requests that come and help him. Just by talking to him, I could see that he had changed a lot, and that he had become humbled. He started talking about how much he misses his two sons (they live with the mom), and how he is worried that he won´t get paid anytime soon (he´s a fisherman). We ended up saying a prayer with him right there on the street, and he said that he felt so much better, that he could tell that we were missionaries sent from God. A few days later we talked to him again on the street, only this time Pedro showed up randomly! Pedro told Paulo (this man) to listen to what we have to say, because we have helped him so much and what we have to say is true! 

We haven´t been able to meet up with Paulo since then, because he hasn´t been at home when he says he would be, but we have lots of hope for him! This just is another testimony that people can really change, and that no little act of kindness (like telling someone goodmorning) goes unnoticed!

I love this time of year! The spirit of Christmas really touches people´s hearts, and there is really a special feeling in the air. I´m grateful that I get to spend one more Christmas here on my mission, and I hope that I can be able to touch the lives of even more people this month. I love my Savior. We were talking to a man on the street yesterday (actually we sang to him and then talked to him, haha), and something that he said really stuck with me. He said that Jesus Christ is our best friend. I´ve heard this several other times, but this time I really felt the truth of it. He is our best friend and will always be there for us! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Ola!

Olá!

This week was a good week, like most weeks, haha! I can´t believe that it is almost December! The months go by so fast now. 

In our area, we just have a few active members, and this week we tried to visit them all!

 It started off last monday when our branch president invited us over for dinner and family home evening. It came out of the blue, haha. It ended up being nice to visit with them and get to know their family a little bit better. They were baptized about 12 years ago, but they seem like they have been members of the Church their whole lives! The wife (Irmã Nunes) made a really good dinner, it was actually the first time that I have eaten sheep!  We had prepared a really nice message for them about gratitude (because last week was Thanksgiving!) Their family seemed to enjoy it, and now they are a whole lot nicer to us when they see us, haha!

We then visited a few other members, and even taught a lesson to one member´s mom! 

She had known the missionaries for about 30 years (because her son, Americo, was baptized), but never wanted to join the church. Well, we went to their house a few days ago and shared a message about the Plan of Salvation. Americo´s mom, when we talked about being able to see our family again after this life, started crying. 

It was very sweet, because she loves her family, but several of her loved ones have already passed away. The spirit was super strong as we were talking with her and Americo. 

Sunday we had District Conference! 

There are only two branches of the church in Madeira, so the number of members that went was less than my ward back at home, haha. 102 people! But I was happy to see that most of our members were able to make it. It was a very good meeting, and we even had an Area Seventy, Elder Karl Hirst, there! 

I really enjoyed his talk, and several of the things that he spoke about really touched me. 

Something that I especially liked was when he told a story about a dream that he had.

He drempt that he and his wife went to a lifeboat station thinking that they were only going to be doing a fundraiser by selling cookies and hot chocolate. It turned out that they were expected to be the ones driving the lifeboats! He explained more about what happened,but I don´t have too much time to tell the whole story, haha. But his message was that sometimes in life we may be asked to drive the lifeboat, when we only think that we are qualified to sell hot chocolate and cookies. The Lord qualifies who He calls, and he knows what we are capable of. We have to trust in him and have faith that we can fulfill all that he requests of us. 

Another quote that I liked was "today´s test is tomorrow´s testimony."

Pedro was super sick yesterday, and wasn´t able to make it, which made us sad! We visited him today (it´s his birthday!) and we gave him a white shirt and a tie, and also a picture of his baptism. He couldn´t stop smiling when he was opening the present, I wish I could have taken a picture! He is still super sick, but is getting a little bit better!

I love and miss you all! I love this Gospel and the happiness it brings to the lives of myself and to others!

Love,
Elder Barker

Surprise, Baptism!

Olá!

Remember how last week I told you all that we were probably going to have to move Pedro´s baptism back a few weeks? Well, when we were talking to our zone leader, he told us that we should really pray about which day we should baptize Pedro. Either November 18th or December 2 (because this next week will be a District Conference). We prayed and then later that night, we went to go and teach Pedro. As we were there, both me and Elder Romano felt very strongly that he needed to be baptized on November 18th. And he was! Pedro completely stopped smoking, and had a true desire to enter the waters of baptism!

The day of the baptism, he told us that he was very nervous, and so we offered to give him a Priesthood Blessing of comfort. Afterwards, he told us that as we gave him the blessing, he felt a nice "energy" go through him and he didn´t feel so nervous anymore. His grandma also asked for a blessing of health, because she was feeling week and not like herself lately. After her blessing, she said that she felt so much better! Through this family, I have gained such a greater testimony of the power of the Priesthood. It truly does help people when they have faith!

The actual baptism took place in the chapel in Funchal, about an hour by bus away from Machico. But it was nice, because the wife of the branch president gave both Pedro and his Grandma (Adalaide) a ride to the baptism! (she also gave Pedro a ride to church the next day because he had missed the bus). The Funchal Branch was having an activity right in the middle of the baptism, so it was a little stressful to get everything ready and everyone reverant, haha. The pianista didn´t show up, so guess who got to play the hymns: me, haha! 

I am very happy to how everything turned out though. The talks were very well given, the branch president gave a few nice welcoming words, and Pedro and his grandma were so happy. I think his grandma even cried a little bit (she´s not even a member!). After he was baptized, he told us that he felt like a great weight was taken out of his chest, and he felt lighter. It was such a wonderful day.

After he received the gift of the Holy Ghost, he told us that he felt very peaceful and joyful!

Yesterday his aunt (who is a member of the church in Matosinhos), called us and was just brimming with joy, saying that she was so  happy, that the grandma said the past two days were the best two days she has had in a long time, etc.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to teach Pedro and see him make so many changes in his life! I have truly seen the Atonement start working in his life. I am so grateful that I can be a missionary and help others along their way back to our Heavenly Father!

Bom Dia!

Olá!

This week I did lots of traveling back and forth to the airport (it´s only 10 minutes away by bus)! An elder in my district was finishing his mission this last week, so we had to take him to the airport on Sunday to fly back to Porto, and then back to Brazil! Then we had to go back to drop off Elder Burt  on Monday because he was transferred to Viseu (a city in the middle of Portugal). Then on Tuesday my new companion arrived in the afternoon! 

I think I already said this in my last email, but my new companion is Elder Romano, from Guatamala! He´s been on the mission for about nine months, and this will be his third area. He´s definetly different than Elder Burt, haha, but I think we will work well together these next few months. 

On Saturday we had another branch activity, and it turned out to be quite the success! It was based on trivia from the Book of Mormon, and lots of the questions were actually quite hard to answer, haha. We had taught Pedro just before the activity, and he was excited to come, but when we were there, we waited, and waited, and he never showed up. We ended up calling him, and he said that he had fallen asleep on the bus, and had traveled to Funchal instead! It was so sad. He also wasn´t able to make it to church yesterday for some reason, so we are going to visit  him today to see what happened. 

Besides this, Pedro has been progressing very well! He has been studying the Book of Mormon an hour every night. He says that he says a prayer, and then opens to a random page and begins reading. He says that everything he reads applys to him! It has been a great experience to see him grow in his testimony up until now, and I´m grateful that we can continue to work with him! We have to move his baptism date back a few weeks, but he is still excited.

We still have such great members here in this branch! They are all so happy and so kind. One family even made us and the other elders some food and left it in the church fridge. Just because. It was very nice of them! We decided to visit the branch presidente because we were in his neighborhood. We called him, because we didn´t quite know where to go, haha. We ended up walking up and down hills and between small alleyways in the dark, but we finally got there!

There wasn´t too much news this week, but I hope you all know how much our Father in Heaven loves you! I know that He loves us and wants the best for all of His children! I love being a missionary and I love the happiness of this gospel!

Love,

Elder Barker

Transfers!

Olá!

This past transfer went by so quickly, I can hardly believe it is already over! We received the news about transfers last night and:

I will stay in Machico another transfer and Elder Burt will leave the island and go to Viseu! My new companion will be Elder Romano, who is from Guatamala!

I´m kind of disapointed that I won´t get to stay with Elder Burt longer, because he was a really fun companion and we had a good six weeks together. He´s a really great missionary, and he will do great things in Viseu!

I´m excited to stay in Machico another transfer, primarily because Pedro is still going strong and is excited for his baptism on November 18th! 

This past week was a challenging week for him because he wasn´t able to stay at his grandma´s home, and had to stay at his mom´s house (he and his mom don´t get along at all). We were only able to meet with him once this past week because of that, and also because he got sick. 

We were a little worried that he wasn´t going to make it to church on sunday, but he did! It was a little stressful though, because he missed his bus on Sunday morning, and had to take the later one. Elder Burt and I were sitting in Sacrament meeting, constantly watching the door to see if he would walk in. 

Finally, in literally the last three minutes, he walked in the door. It was definetly a relief to see him, haha. He stayed all three hours again, and really enjoyed it. He started to feel really sick near the end of church, and was in so much pain. We suggested to give him a priesthood blessing with his (future) home teacher. It went really well and he started to feel better soon after. He has also dropped down to just 2 cigarettees a day! 

I am so grateful for this opportunity to see someone making so many positive changes in his life! I love the mission! 

The weather here is still pretty hot in the day, but in the evening it is actually getting pretty chilly! 

We actually don´t have too much time to email today because Elder Burt has to leave Madeira today instead of tomorrow! So if I don´t email you indiviudually, don´t feel sad! I really appreciate everything all of you guys do for me, and i´m so grateful for all the support that I have back at home! A lot of missionaries don´t have that.

I love you all and I hope this week goes great for you all!

Love,

Elder Barker

Ps. I will send pictures next week :)

The Atonement Changes Lives

Olá!

I hope that you are all doing well, and that you are all getting excited for Halloween! Even though Halloween isn´t that big over here, there are a lot of Halloween decorations selling at the stores, probably because of all of the tourists, haha. I feel like I say this every week, but it is so hot here, it doesn´t even feel like fall, haha. 

We were able to teach Rui once this week, and we decided to teach about the Word of Wisdom. He seemed excited to try to stop smoking, and we made a goal with him that he would just smoke 10 cigarettes a day, so we will see how that goes. We decided not to invite him to church this week, because we have done that at all of our other lessons with him and he always says no. Well, as we were leaving, he brought it up and said that this next sunday he will try to come with us to Church!  I know that if he goes, he will feel so welcome and loved there.

How do I know this? Because Pedro went to church this week! And all the members were so kind to him! I´m actually very excited about Pedro, because he is right on track for his baptism on November 18th!

 We have met with him everyday this past week, and each time we see him, he appears to be so much happier. 

We had a bit of a scare at the beginning of last week when he said he didn´t want anything to do with us and that we were all liars (long story). But the next day we spoke with him again and he truly seemed sorry and asked us and his aunt for forgiveness. 

Ever since then, he has been completely changing into a new person. He is staying below his goals for how many cigarettes each day; he is reading and really understanding the Book of Mormon; he even told us that he has been talking about the things he´s learned with us, with his friends. He told us that he wants to be a happy person like us, and to be able to feel more joy in his life. He even told us that someday he might want to serve a mission too! 

The best thing about being a missionary is truly being able to see people change their lives around because of the gospel. I am gaining such a strong testimony of the Atonement of Christ, for I am seeing it take effect in Pedro´s life. 

Each day I am just so grateful that I get to serve a mission. Despite the many slammed doors or mocking people that I encounter (which are many), I get to serve my Savior, Jesus Christ. I get to see other people´s lives be blessed. I get to feel God´s love for me and all of His children, everyday!

I love and miss you all! happy Halloween!

Love,

Elder Barker

Surprises!

Olá!

I started off this last week by hurting myself accidentally (I know, that seems to happen a lot to me, haha)! We were knocking doors around 8:30pm, so it was kind of dark. We had just finished talking to a man on the street (he didn´t want anything) when I very unwisely stepped backwards and tripped into a street gutter.

 I didn´t catch myself in time, so I just fell completely down on my face, haha! The old man that we had finished talking to saw, and he ran back down the hill towards us looking so concerned, it was kind of nice of him! 

I ended up twisting my ankle so badly that I couldn´t even leave the house the next day! But now its feeling better and I´m so grateful that we can continue to work! I need to learn how to be less clumsy!

Besides that, this week brought a lot of surprises! The biggest of which is that a member from another city in Portugal called us and told us that she was visiting her mom in Machico. She asked us if we could come over and give her, her mom, and her nephew Priesthood blessings. 

Of course we said yes, and set up a time to meet them. We got to their house and got to know this member and her mom and nephew. Her nephew, Pedro, has a had a tough life full of drugs and losing confidence in people. It seems like everyone in his family has given up on him, except his sweet grandma and this aunt. We gave him a blessing of strength. 

Then his aunt (Elizabete) (who has been a member for only 2 years) requested that we come back the next day to teach him about the restored gospel! 

So we did, the next day. And then we came back the day after that, and the day after that. 

Long story short, Pedro has a desire to change his life around and wants to be baptized! We are going to work for a goal of November 18th for his baptism day, and I know that with God´s help, anything is possible!  When Pedro was out of the room one of the times we were there, his aunt and grandma(his grandma isn´t a member, but is so sweet) were thanking us so much for working with Pedro and helping him find the path.

This week we had a Zone conference in Funchal, with a grand total of 12 missionaries! This is by far my smallest zone that I´ve been in, but I enjoy it. We talked a lot about the book of mormon, and I realized how much I love that book! I love learning more about the gospel, and I love feeling the sweet spirit that I get from studying the scriptures!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you all and I love this gospel! I am happiest when I am teaching people, which is why I´m so grateful that my foot is healing so quickly!

Love, Elder Barker

Bedbugs, Rui, and another mountain

Olá!

     It´s hard to believe that it is already halfway through October! It doesn´t even feel like fall here, it is so hot. It is a rare day when we come home and we aren´t covered in sweat (TMI, I know, haha). It should start to become a little bit cooler here in the next few months, I hope! 

Also, you know the phrase "don´t let the bedbugs bite"? Apparently that is an actual problem here, haha. We have to wash our bed sheets at least once a week, or else we wake up to lots of little bites all over our bodies. I learned that the hard way...

But other than that, things have been going pretty well over here in Machico! This week we did a division with the zone leader (Elder Cardenuto!) in Funchal! He´s actually the only zone leader on Madeira, and is training again this trasfer, which is a lot of responsibility all packed into one. But I enjoyed our division and it was fun to work with my old trainer for one day. Something that I enjoyed was that he decided that we were going to randomly sing hymns to people during the day. We had reactions that varied from a lady almost crying, to two old men at a bus stop choosing to walk home rather than listen to us while waiting for the bus, lol. We also got to teach someone in English from Budapest!

In our area this week, it was a little difficult to find anyone to teach, until Saturday when we taught Rui again. I feel like we are starting to make a difference in Rui´s life already, because he seemed a lot happier as he answered the door. We taught him the Plan of Salvation using the word, LOVE, and he understood everything and really enjoyed it. We invited him to church this week, but he basically said that it is too early in the morning,haha. I know that once he starts to gain a greater desire to learn and feel more, there will be nothing holding him back from coming to church (I mean, the bus stop is literally in front of his house, so it´s perfect!)

We climbed another mountain this week (maybe not a mountain, but it might as well have been! Two hours walking straight up!) to find a less active member, and she wasn´t even at home, haha. Oh madeira!

I have been trying to be better with my study of the scriptures lately, and I am really starting to gain  a love of them! There are so many doctrines that we can apply to our lives, especially from the Book of Mormon. I love it so much!

I´m so grateful that I can serve a mission! I am so grateful that I can represent Christ and sereve my brothers and sisters in Portugal!

In the words of Elder Cardenuto from the division this week "I just love to feel the spirit!"

Com Amor,

Elder Barker

Olá (a day late)!

Olá!

Yesterday was a random holiday unique to just Machico, so our sketchy little internet café was closed (as well as the library), which explains why I wasn´t able to send any emails yesterday! Sorry!

We have permission from the mission presidente to use email for 30 minutes today, so it´ll have to be short and I won´t be able to respond to any of you personally. 

This week was another great week on the island! We had to travel to Funchal again for a meeting with the other missionary leaders there, so that was fun, haha. Our zone is the smallest in the mission, with just 12 missionaries, so the "leader meeting" was even smaller. 

Some things that happened this week:

We went to visit a potential investigator a few days ago, and when we got to their apartment building, we found our way blocked by hundreds of cockroaches! The doorway to the apartment building was covered by so many creepy crawly, 1-inch-long cockroaches. It was like the scene out of a horror movie, haha. Right next door to the apartments was a small restaurante, and the owner was trying to sweep them away off of the sidewalk so that they wouldn´t sneak into the restaurante. We offered to help, and she got an extra broom to give to me. So there I was with a broom sweeping away hundreds of cockroaches, in my church clothes, haha. I wish I had brought my camera, but unfortunately it was at home :(. But it was definetly something that I won´t forget!

Antother day we got to witness two drunk men playing cards in their attic!

Saturday we sent a text to Rui to set up a time to meet with him, and a few hours later he replied and basically said that this wasn´t a good time in his life to talk to us. When I read that message, I immedietly felt prompted to ignore the text and to make him a visit anyways.  I somehow knew that he really did need us. So later that day Elder Burt and I made our way to his house (we have to literally hike a mountain to get to his neighboorhood), and knocked on his door. He ended up letting us in and the lesson that we had was such a powerful one. There was a point when we all had tears in our eys. We felt prompted to read in Alma chapter 36 about when Alma was describing to his son about the sweet feelings of repentance. I am so grateful that we ignored his text and listened to the spirit instead, and I sincerely look forward to helping Rui gain more happiness in his life.

Sunday was my first day in the branch here, and I loved it! I have been told that hte members don´t really like the missionaries too much (because of some missionaries in the past), but I decided to just smile and really try to talk to as many as I could. I think our mission presidente said that we only have one chance to make a first impression, so i had that at the back of my mind the whole time. During church, I just felt so much love for the members of our branch,and I´m super excited to serve here! (even though our chapel is a 45 minute bus ride and the majority of our members live in the other elderes´ area)

I´m running out of time, so I´ll just leave you all with  my address in Machico ;) :

Michael Barker

Impasse Quinta, EDF Aquamaria II

Bloco Norte, Apartamento AB

9200-122 Machico, Madeira

Portugal

I love and miss you all! THank you for your letters, even if I couldn´t respond!

Love,

Elder Barker

Olá from the island!

Olá!

So this week has brought a lot of changes! 

I left Castelo Branco at 10am on Tuesday morning, and didn´t get to Machico until about 1am, haha. I had to take a train to Porto to get my passport, and then take the metro to the airport. I was a little bit worried about carrying all of my bags with me through the metro,so I said a prayer that I would be able to have help along the way. And it was answered! It seemed like at everystop, another companionship of Elderes would show up out of nowhere and offer to help me with my suitcases, and then disapear just as quickly . It was also nice to have another missionary going to madeira as well, so we didn´t have to be alone. The planeride was about an hour and a half long.

As for my new area: I love it! The city of Machico is pretty spread out, but I think the population is less than in Castelo Branco. Their is no branch in Machico, so the chapel that we go to on Sundays is in Caniço, about a 45 minute bus ride (or a 15 minute car ride). So because of that, my area is known to be a "difficult area." 

But I won´t believe that, because so far, we have been having a lot of success!

The other day, we had stopped in the road to pray for guidance in where we should go. We started walking, and a man was walking with his two dogs down the road. I decided to stop him and ask if I could pet his dog, haha. 

We ended up talking with him and he said that we could come with him to his house to share our message. As we entered his home, we both realized that this was a very poor and humble man. He said that he was sorry that there wasn´t any furniture for us to sit on or any food to offer us. The lesson that followed was one of the most spiritual that I have had on my mission so far.

 Elder Burt and I talked afterwards, and we both agreed that we were relying completely on the Spirit to guide us. We taught several things to this man, and everything seemed to flow. There was a point where all three of us were in tears. This man truly wants to be forgiven of his mistakes from his past, and he is willing to meet with us to learn more. He is even willing to take the bus ride all the way over to Caniço for church!

There was another time this week where we also prayed for guidance, and then we found a man and his wife who had talked to the missionaries in the past, but then the missionaries stopped passing by. The man literally pulled us into his home (I think he might have been a little bit drunk, haha).

Then we taught a lady who feels so desperate for peace, and it was another lesson that we both feel like it was guided completely by the spirit.

I´m really enjoying my new companion, Elder Burt (from Draper, Utah). He´s my first American companion, and has been out about 9 months. We work pretty well together, and every day is lots of fun with him. We have decided that at the end of each day, we are going to write down the tender mercies that we have seen in that day. Because of this, we have really been able to see the hand of the Lord in the work here! 

Madeira is beautiful! As we are walking around during the day, I am constantly amazed at the beauty that is all around me. We have such a cool view of the ocean from our window! There are tiny lizards everywhere! Banana trees just growing randomly; goats in fields in the middle of a modern neighboorhood; etc. 

We went to General Conference in Funchal (the capital of the island) and were able to watch all of the sessions (in Portuguese). The last one ended at 11pm, so we just stayed with the Elders in Funchal, and we had our P-day here today! I will send some pictures a little bit later. (It appears that I will probably not have as much time to write emails here as in Castelo Branco, because we have to use a library instead of the chapel...)

I´m so grateful that I can serve a mission! I am grateful that I can serve the people here in Machico,and I know that if I continue to rely on the Lord, we will continue to see His blessings and miracles in our area!

I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Barker

Elder Barker, you have been transferred and will go to...

Olá!

Last night we received a little phonecall about the transfer plans, and:

I have been transferred areas and will now be serving in Machico!

Where is Machico? Madeira!

Where is Madeira? In the middle of the ocean!

So this means that I´ll be living and serving on an island for the next few months!

My new companion will be Elder Burt, which means this will be the first time I serve with an American companion. I will also continue to be the district leader in my new district (just four of us again).

Today I will have to say goodbye to several members of the branch here in Castelo Branco, which will be hard. Even though this area was a difficult area, I still grew to love the members. I have been serving in Castelo Branco since Easter, so I have had plenty of time to get to know them.  

I have seen members come back into activity; new members move into the branch; investigators progress in their knowledge of the gospel. I have experienced the heat of the summer in Castelo Branco, but also witnessed the  cold that has started to come in.

I have learned and heard the stories of so many people, both members of the church and nonmembers. I have grown to love the people in Castelo Branco!

Yesterday we got to teach someone sitting down crosslegged on the side of an ancient portuguese road, which was cool. We started talking to these two people sitting on their doorstep, and after a bit, the man said that he had already been baptized into the Church, like 20 years ago! 

He even remembered the names of the missionaries who taught him.  We had already knocked on the door of this man´s house, but he had yelled at us and told us he was eating dinner, haha (I think he might have been drunk).

 But yesterday we got to know him and his neighboor, and read from the Book of Mormon with them (while sitting on the road). The neighboor (Eliza) had actually already read one of the pamphlets of the Church, and said that when she read it, she felt so much light and faith. We told her that we could bring a Book of Mormon for her this week. The man then told us to say a prayer with them because it has been a while since he heard someone say a prayer!

Something about a mission is that we get to help and teach people in unexpected situations!

Wish me luck in Madeira! (Also, pray that I will be able to get there without difficulties, because I´ll be using all sorts of transport that I´m not quite used to!)

I will probably email a few pictures of me and some members a little bit later today, so this isn´t goodbye for the week, yet!

I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Barker

Stake Conference, One year in Portugal!

Olá!

This week a year ago I arrived in Portugal! I remember very clearly my very first week, and it hardly seems like I arrived in Leiria a whole year ago! It was very fitting that I was able to see so many members from Leiria at the stake conference (which I will talk more about below)! 

This week we had Stake Conference! It was the first time that I have attended a stake conference in Portugal, because everytime I was transfered to a new area this past year, it was to a different stake, so I always ended up just barely missing it, haha. 

The stake that Castelo Branco is a part of is the Coimbra Portugal Stake. But the chapel in Coimbra isn´t big enough for large conferences, so the meeting was held in Viseu. About 22 people from Castelo Branco were able to make it, which was very good, haha! Because we live so far away from Viseu, the Church payed for a bus to take us there. It left at 7 in the morning, so everyone was super tired and felll asleep on the ride over, haha. 

When we got there, the members from my first area (Leiria) were just arriving as well! It was fun to be able to see a lot of them, and see that some of them still remembered me, lol. As we were walking in to the church, a man ran up to me and gave me a big hello. His name was José (from Leiria) and was super excited to see me. (He had joined the Church right before I arrived in Portugal, and he was always willing to help out with lessons.) It made me feel good to see that he had not only remembered me, but went out of his way to greet me! 

The actual conference was good, the theme of all of the talks was faith, but for some reason I couldn´t understand too well, haha. 

Remember that Brazilian lady (Keila) that we helped move apartments? This week week we visited her and talked a little bit about the church (she didn´t have too much time). It turns out that her mom had met with the missionaries a lot when she was in Brazil, but Keila had always been working, so she never had time to listen to them. But she remembered that the missionaries had given her mom a "little, blue book." We asked her if we could come back the next morning to give her this "little, blue book," and she said "of course!" When she arrived the next morning, we gave her the Book of Mormon, and she said it was exactly what her mom had been given. As she opened it, there was a very tangible, sweet spirit in the room. She´ll be out of town this week, but promised to read the book as she is traveling on the bus. The Book of Mormon is so special!

We had our last district meeting of the transfer this week (because next week we will have a Zone Conference instead), so we took a picture, haha! 

The Roques were there this time, so they were included in the picture, and then gave us a ride back to Castelo Branco and did a house inspection (we passed with flying colors!) 

As always, it was good to hear about how Abrantes is doing ( Manuel and Susana are as strong as ever; more of Rosa and Claudia´s cousins arrived with their aunt; two inactive members have returned to coming back to church every sunday, etc). Also, Sister Roque gave me a letter that Manuel had written me, which was super nice to read!

We received a phone call from someone this week who we had been trying to get a hold of all summer, Clenilson. He had given us his number on the street in June, but had never answered our phone calls. Well ,this week he called us and apologized, because something had happened and he hadn´t had his phone all summer. But he said he wants to hear our message, so we will be teaching him this weekend!

I miss you all! I love you all! Have a great week!

Ola!

Olá Bom Dia!

So this week was a bit of a slower week with teaching people; it seemed that all of our investigators were busy and wouldn´t have time to talk to us until this week. But even though our "numbers" were low this week, we were able to help a few of our members with service, and meet a few new people!

There is a lady in our branch here who has been receiving lots of furniture from her mom´s home, and each time she gets something new, she calls us to help move it into her apartment... on the fourth floor, haha. 

This week she called and said that she had "just a small sofa" for us to help her with. When we arrived we found out that it was a bit bigger than we thought, lol. And there was also a large entertainment center that she "forgot" to tell us about, haha. With the help of her son, we were able to get everything up to her apartment without breaking our backs. 

But it´s always nice to help Irmã Rosa, because she is so funny and upbeat while we are helping. It was also fun to be able to meet her son, who is a member but hasn´t been coming to church for a few years now. It seems like one of the things we do most in Castelo Branco is help the members with their furniture, haha.

This week we met with one of my favorite members, Irmão Walter. When I first came to Castelo Branco in April, he had been inactive for several months. But now he comes to church almost every Sunday, and always seems so happy to be there. It has been so nice to see him come back into activity in the Church, little by little! We visited him this week, and he said that he would set up an appointment with his  bestfriend to meet with us!

We walked a lot this week, but one day I think we visited almost each part of the city, without finding any new investigator. But at the end of the day, we were in an apartment building knocking on doors, and this really nice lady opened the door. After talking with her,  we found out that she is from Lisbon, but works here as a P.E teacher. 

She didn´t have too much time to talk to us, so we offered to leave something with her. As I was reaching down into my backpack to take out one of the pamflets we give to people, I heard her say " Oh, I love to read! I promise that I´ll read whatever you give me!",

So I thought, "why not? Instead of a pamflet, let´s give her the Book of Mormon!". So we did. And she seemed really interested and open and promised to read it. She also told us that we can come back this week and talk to her, so I´m hoping that we will have that opportunity!

I love and miss you all! Knowing that I have such a great support system at home means so much to me!

Love,

Elder Barker

13 Months!

Olá!

This week we did divisions with the Elders in Covilhã. Covilhã is a city about an hour north of Castelo Branco, and is right up next to the mountains (which means they have a lot of steep roads!). I forgot to bring my camera, so you won´t be seeing any pictures of our division, haha. 

Their area is the largest in the mission, and covers various cities, towns, and villages. But during in August, it is super hot and everyone goes on vacation, so Covilhã turns into a giant ghost town.I´m serious, we were walking down one of the main streets once, and I didn´t see a single living soul for 30 minutes! But despite this, we had a good division. 

I stayed with Elder Adams (who is also from Colorado!). He took me to a small town about an hour´s walk from their home. On the way there we had to walk down a dirt road (in this part of Portugal, the farther out you get from the city, the more and more farms and dirt roads you see). As we were about half way down the road, we saw about four big barking dogs at the end. They seemed to be guarding their owner´s farm, because each time a car came close they started chasing it and nipping at the tires. Unfortunately, walking by these dogs was the only way we would get to that town we were going to. 

So me and Elder Adams thought "why not? let´s say a prayer!" so we did! As we got close to where the dogs were, they seemed to disapear, until one came running behind us. But then it stopped, and we were able to pass by without getting attacked. Heavenly Father hears all of our prayers, even to help us pass by four giant barking dogs!

The rest of the division was pretty uneventful, except that I met several people with just one tooth. It was like an epedimic, haha!

When we got back to Castelo Branco, we were able to teach Isabel again (remember, that 72-year-old Catholic lady?). As we walked into her store, she showed us proudly that she had been reading the Book of Mormon, and that she had been really enjoying it! The pages were all ruffled, so I could tell that she was telling the truth. 

She also told us that she wants to visit our church one day, but she also said that she´s too old to change, haha. We read a little bit of the Book of Mormon with her, and she again expressed how much she appreciates us. It was kind of funny because when we arrived, she was outside talking to a friend, and when she saw us, she started waving crazily and introduced her friend to us (turns out he´s the father of one of our members, but didn´t want anything to do with the church, haha).

 On Saturday we called Isabel to remind her about church on Sunday, and she said "oh, I´m so sorry my little angels (that´s what she calls us,lol) but I´m in Fatima this weekend!" The city of Fatima is like the Catholic center of Portugal, haha. We´re hoping that one day she will make it to church!

We also taught Djara and her boyfriend, ´Zé, this week. They both really enjoy the lessons and are always so appreciative of us when we go to teach them. It´s just been so hard to get them to come to church though, because they always plan something else to do on Sunday mornings (like yesterday when they went to the pool,lol). But we´ll invite them to the FHE this tuesday, and I´m pretty sure that they will come! 

It is still super hot here during the day, but at night it has started to cool down a bit, which has been good. 

I miss you all and love you lots!

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Barker

P.S For those of you who want to send letters or packages, it would probably be best to hold off on that for a few more weeks, because I´m pretty sure I will only be in Castelo Branco for another three weeks :)

Another Zone Meeting, Noite Familares, and Ancient Castle Streets

Olá!

We started off this last week by going to another Zone Meeting in the city of Viseu! To get to Viseu, we have to take a three hour bus ride that has stops in five other cities. I´m getting pretty good at falling asleep on buses, since we use them to get to all of our mission meetings, haha. Our zone is one of the smaller ones, with just 16 missionaries. I always enjoy zone meetings and conferences, because it gives us the opportunity to get to know the other missionaries in our mission and we always walk away feeling more inspired to do better in our areas. My companion from the MTC is still in this zone, so it´s also been fun to see how he´s doing!

Even though the meeting was in the morning, we didn´t get back to our area until about 9:30pm because we had to wait for the bus which would take another three hours back to Castelo Branco, haha.

The next day we held another "Family Home Evening" for the branch. We almost decided to cancel it this week, because the last week only three members showed up, and we didn´t think it would be a very good use of our time.

 But as we were walking down the street, we saw two of the members that went last week, and they asked if we were going to have the FHE again. When we told them that we weren´t going to, they got a little dissapointed.  Afterwards we started to feel that maybe we should give it one more chance this week, so we called those two members and told them that we were actually going to have the activity. We then started calling all of the members and investigators to let them know. 

When the time for the activity came, only the same three members were there. 

But after about another 15 minutes more and more people started showing up! We ended the night with about 12 people at the Family Home Evening!

 We had planned a short game that involves: a chocolate bar, a fork and a knife, dice, and a pair of socks, haha.  Afterwards we shared a spiritual thought and had some food. Everyone really enjoyed the night!

 What made it worth it for me were two things: one of our less-active members and her two sons came (she and her sons have never once been to church or an activity since I arrived in April) and all the members were laughing and having a good time. For the next family home evenings, we are really going to insisit that the members bring their friends, because this is a good opportunity for them to be introduced to the Church in a non-threatening way!

On Saturday we were in the ancient part of the city knocking on doors in the alleys by the castle, haha. It seems that about half the homes near the castle are either completely deserted or just have old people staring out their windows at us ;). 

But it was in one of these roads by the castle that we found a few new really cool investigators. We knocked on a door, and a young man a few years older than me opened the door. We introduced ourselves as missionaries from the Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day Saints, and he said "oh, I love to hear anything about Jesus Christ, come on in!" 

As we began to share our message, he interrupted us and said " wait, would you guys like to share this message with my twin sister too? She lives just down the street. Come on, let´s go!" So we ended up teaching both him (Daniel) and his sister (Sandra) the first lesson! Even though the lesson wasn´t very organized, and I ended up spilling my water all over Sandra´s floor (that´s another story, haha), I feel like it was a success and I´m excited to keep teaching them!

About Djara, we called to set up a time to meet with her, but she said that her mom had just made a surprise visit from Cape Verde, and she didn´t know when she would have time to meet us. But a little bit later she said, "actually, would you guys like to eat lunch with us tomorrow, it´ll be cachupa."  So we ended up eating a traditional cape verde lunch with them and about 12 other cape verdians, all speaking Creole (a dialect from Cape Verde, so I didn´t understand anything that was going on). 

This saturday we also helped a member move a bunch of furniture up four flights of stairs. Needless to say, both me and my companion are still super sore, haha.

This week went better, and I know that this next week will be even better! It´s starting to cool down a little bit in the evening which is really making it nicer around here, haha.

I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Barker