Manuel e Susana, Os Jovens, e o Dom das Linguas

Olá Boa Tarde!

This week was very exciting, because we were able to mark two people for baptism! Manuel and Susana will be baptized on the 8th of April! 

Manuel and Susana have been taught in the past a lot, and have even been marked for baptism before. I actually taught them with Elder Nascimento a few months ago, but they disappeared for awhile. In the past when I taught them, Manuel became super sick, so they weren´t able to come to church or do anything. 

But this week we received a text from Manuel, and we went over to their house. We were just planning on reviewing what they knew and to introduce Elder Santos to them. We weren´t planning on inviting them to be baptized, for a few reasons, but while we were there, we both felt very good about bringing up baptism. They are very excited for April 8th, and so are we!

Something that I have noticed with them these last few days, that I didn´t see in them a few months ago, is that they are really humble people. Manuel has told us many times that he really just wants to serve God. He doesn´t want to just sit on the bench on Sunday and then do nothing. He asked me "So after I´m baptized, what can I start doing to serve here?" 

They have been marked for baptism in the past, but every time it hasn´t happened, because of one thing or another. We are determined this time to do everything in our power. Manuel even said "This time, it really will happen." And I believe it will! We are praying everyday, we fasted, we will bring the members to lessons with them. I have faith that if we do our part to help prepare them, the Lord will do the rest. 

We even saw a little miracle with them this Sunday. It was super rainy on Saturday, and this made me a little nervous, because one of the biggest reasons they didn´t come to church in the past was because they wouldn´t leave the house in the rain. So on Saturday, I started saying lots of prayers that the rain would stop by Sunday morning, so that Manuel and Susana would make it to church (they live about an hour away walking.) 

On Sunday morning, I looked out the window, only to see that it was raining even more than on Saturday. I have to admit, my faith faltered as I saw the rainy sky. As we were walking to church, we decided to call them. When he answered, we soon found out that they were already at the chapel, 30 minutes early! They had left the house early, because they thought that the rain would slow them down. To me, this was a miracle, because they never came in the last few months because of the rain. 

Church went well, and when Manuel introduced himself, he said that they would be baptized on April 8th. I am very happy to be able to teach Manuel and Susana, and I am very aware that none of this is happening because of my own works. We will continue to work hard and teach and have faith, but the hand of the Lord is in all of this. 

A few days ago, we went and visited our Jovens (Jesualdo, Rosa, and Claudia), and this time we asked them to teach us. We gave each of them (as well as their cousins, Diamantino and Celso) a small part of the Restoration to talk about and teach. It went really well! It made me so happy to see that they are continuing to learn and progress. 

Maybe some of the points were sort of rough, but I could feel the spirit. It made me remember that "by small and simple things, great things are come to pass." It is so important after a person is baptized (like Rosa and Claudia), that we continue to teach them and support them. Because we have to remember, they are new, and need all the support they can get. I love our members and investigators here in Abrantes! 

I am also so grateful that I am able to feel more comfortable speaking in Portuguese. I can pretty much understand everyone that talks to me, and I don´t feel like I have to think a lot in order to talk now. I was reading in my journal yesterday, and I read an entry from one of my first months here in Portugal. I was so discouraged because I couldn´t communicate with anyone, and the language was so hard for me. Now I don´t feel that way at all. It truly is a blessing for me, and a proof that sometimes, we just need to wait. 

Today we had our District P-day, along with the Senior Missionaries here in Abrantes and Tomar. We decided to go to another castle that was by a lake. However, it was raining super hard today, and we weren´t able to go inside. I will attach a picture that I took of it from the car, haha. Before, however, it wasn´t raining, so we were able to go to a park, which was fun.

I love you all, and I love serving my mission here in Abrantes, Portugal! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, 

Elder Barker

P.S We got back here a little later today, so I might not have all the time that I want to email you all :)​​​

Tender Mercies in the Train Station

Olá Todo Mundo!

At the beginning of last week, I had to travel up to Porto to become legal in the country again, haha. The visa that we use as missionaries at the beginning of our missions only last about 4 or five months, and then after that we have to renew it for a longer-lasting one. Apparently our (the missionaries that were in the MTC with me) visas had expired in January, but the mission office hadn´t been able to get us an appointment to renew them until last week, haha. 

Because one of the elders in my district was in the MTC with me, he had to go up to Porto as well, so we went together while our companions stayed in Tomar. Before our train left, we were able to go and do some service for an older lady in their branch--cutting down big weeds. You all know how much I love picking weeds,lol, but it was fun and the member really appreciated it. 

After that we took the train for Porto, which took almost four hours to get there. We stayed over night at the office-elders old home, and then in the morning we went to do our visa stuff. It was fun to be able to see the other missionaries that came to Portugal from the MTC with me--Elder Pratt, Elder Ozuna, and Sister Shephard. (the other elder that came with us went home early because he broke his foot...). It took maybe an hour, but now I´m officially legal to be in Portugal (until next year at this time.) 

Our train back to our area wouldn´t  leave until 12:52, but we finished our visa  around 9:30 or 10. So instead of sitting in the train station for two or three hours, me and ElderPratt went to the super fancy mcdonalds that was close by--it had chandeliers and everything! After that we sat in the train station, waiting another 1 1/2 hours for our train to arrive. 

However, with about 20 minutes till our train left, we noticed that we were in the wrong station! We were in the Porto São Bento station, but our tickets said that the train would leave in the Porto-Campanhã station. We quickly got up and tried to think of what to do, and how to get to the right station. I honestly had no idea, because I´m not to used to using the train system.

 While we were standing there in the station, with 15 minutes left before our train left (feeling helpless), a man walked up to us and said "Olá Elderes! Sou um membro da Igreja!" which means "Hello Elders! I´m a member of the Church!" He then somehow new that we were in the wrong station, and told us exactly what to do to get to the right one. He took us to the train board, and helped us find which train that would pass through Porto-Campanhã. He then walked us over to that train and wished us luck. 

This experience showed me that our Heavenly Father is watching over his missionaries, and will answer our unspoken prayers. That member literally showed up out of nowhere, and new exactly what we needed and where we needed to go. As we were on the train to get to the correct station, I realized that the time was going to be tight, so I quickly said a prayer to ask that our time would be expanded just enough to let us get onto the train. As we stopped, we literally ran to find the right place (how many times have I ran on my mission?), and got on. Twenty seconds later the train started moving. 

If that member hadn´t of showed up at the time he did, we most likely would have missed our train. This was a day full of tender mercies from the Lord. 

Yesterday we attended a baptism! It was the baptism of a lady who was taught by the missionaries in Tomar (our district). Even though we had never met her before, we went to support her and our fellow missionaries. I always love baptismal services! They are always full of the spirit and good feelings. 

Winter in Abrantes has long departed. For the past week, it has felt like the middle of summer. Apparently it´s supposed to get even hotter when summer arrives, and the heat now isn´t even close to its peak. I have to wash my white shirts a lot more often now, because they get so sweaty, haha. But I am starting to get tanner, so I guess it is worth it :). 

Our mission presidente has been sending us challenges for us to do during our proselyting. Yesterday (since it was Father´s Day in Portugal), he challenged us to find a home with a dad, and offer to say a prayer in his behalf. Because of the baptism, we didn´t receive the message until almost 8:30pm. But we continued to search and knock on the doors to find that family. One man that we found said that he didn´t have time for us, and another man rudely kicked us out of the apartment building. 

But finally at 9:25 (five minutes before we had to be home), we knocked on a door and a little kid answered! This was the house! The dad soon came, and we told him that we didn´t want to take up too much of his time, but that we just wanted to say a prayer to bless him and his family because it was Father´s Day. He said we could, so I offered it. At the end, I looked up and I could tell that he felt touched, and that he felt the spirit. He said we could come back another day in the week. I´m so grateful that I can be a missionary and that I can help bring the spirit into people´s homes simply by saying a prayer.

I know that our Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives, and knows the desires of our hearts. He watches out for us and will answer our prayers through various means. Why? Simply because he cares for us.

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

Com Amor, 

Elder Barker 

PS (I will send pictures in another email)

6 Months in Portugal

Olá Familia e Amigos!

This past Saturday, our whole zone did something kind of different, but really cool: all of the missionaries in the zone (about 25-30) went to one area to help the missionary work there. The Elders of Carregado (the name of the city) had been preparing for this activity for more than a month, so I knew that it would be pretty organized.

 But I was surprised at just how organized it turned out to be. They had worked with the members of the branch to receive lots of references (about 100!), they had found out the addresses of many of the less-actives, and they had each of us a list of names to visit (with a map and everything). We met in their chapel in the morning, and it was fun to talk to all of the other missionaries and to eat waffles. After a few of the members arrived, we had a skype call from our mission presidente, and a spiritual thought given by one of the members. 

We were then given our assignments and put to work. Our assignment was to go with one of the members to visit some of his references. He got back from his mission a few months ago, and he was a really good example of contacting people. I think because of him we were able to mark about 10 appointments for the missionaries of Carregado. We also visited a less-active couple, and they let us in and talked to us! 

Overall, I was happy that we had this opportunity to work together as a zone of missionaries to help the Carregado Branch. 

In church yesterday, one of our members (Soraia) brought a friend! Soraia is 18 years old, and her friend is around the same age. She seemed to be enjoying church yesterday, and said that she will come next week as well. This made me so excited! I was looking around the chapel yesterday, and I realized that our branch really does have a lot of youth!

 Diamantino, Celso, Jesualdo, Rosa, Claudia, Ana, and Soraia. 

Maybe compared to a bigger ward, it might seem like we don´t have that many, but in a tiny branch of basically 16 active members, 7 is a lot! I am very happy with our youth here, and I´m always grateful to see the progress that our recent-converts are making. I was talking with one of them yesterday, and she was talking about how she is planning on being a missionary! The youth of Abrantes are so wonderful!

(we had 23 people in church yesterday!)

Yesterday I was hit with such a strong feeling of love of being a missionary. I can´t really put the experience that I had into words (I just tried a few minutes ago), but I am so grateful that I can be here on a mission, serving my Portuguese brothers and sisters. The reason that I´m on a mission is because I want to help others feel the happiness that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been blessed enough to be able to grow up in this church, and now it is my time to share what I have. I want to help non-members AND members. 

There are so many members of the church that have gone out of activity, and I have such a strong desire to help them come home. One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Luke 15. It talks about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the Prodigal´s Son. All of Heavenly Father´s children are important, and He loves them all. He wants them all to come home to them, and I hope to be the best instrument that I can be for him. 

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

Com Amor,

Elder Barker

Church Members, New Investigators,and Becoming Brazilian, (and 7 months on my Mission!)

Bom Dia!

This week a lot of changes occurred. I think the biggest change was the fact that my old companion (Elder Nascimento) was transferred to the city of Coimbra, while I stayed in Abrantes with a new companion (Elder Santos). 

Elder Santos is from Brazil as well, and has been on his mission for about a year and a half. Even though I have been with only Brazilian companions since I arrived in Portugal, Elder Santos is the first one that doesn´t speak English. So now, I have no choice but to get good at speaking Portuguese, right? I was nervous about serving with someone that didn´t speak english, but there have been very little problems so far.

 Apparently I am able to speak more than I thought! Now that I have to speak Portuguese all of the time, I feel that I am learning a lot quicker. We had a District Meeting last thursday, and when some of the other missionaries started speaking to me in English, I would respond in Portuguese, haha. 

I feel like I´ll probably only ever serve with Brazilians on my mission, even though they make up only about 25% of the missionaries here in Portugal, haha. I´ll be more Brazilian than american or Portuguese, lol.

This week some members of the branch invited us and the Roques over to see their house. (They live 30 minutes away by car, so I have never been before). Irmão Godinho, Irmã Arlete,  Irmã Lina, and Irmão Fernando They live in a really nice house, with a sort of farm in the back (like with sheep and goats and turkeys and dogs, haha). 

These members were the first in Abrantes ( I think 20 years ago), and some of the first to join the church in Portugal. They talk a lot, and their conversations between themselves are funny to watch (Godinho and Arlete are in their 70s and 80s), haha. I feel sad that I didn´t take any pictures with them.

Another one of our members had a birthday this week--Irmã Teresa! We planned a last minute surprise party with the Roques and Teresa´s daughter, and it went really well. I think she really appreciated it, because if we didn´t go, it would have just been her and her daughter eating a cake alone.

Yesterday, the mother of Jesualdo, Rosa, and Claudia (Geralda), asked us to accompany her and Jesualdo to the grocery store, to help carry everything back to the house (they live on the opposite side of the big hill from the supermercados). We said we would, because I could really tell that she needed help (she has a broken arm). Pretty soon after we started walking there, Geralda and Jesualdo started to fight, and not be very nice to each other. 

Elder Santos walked ahead with Jesualdo, while I stayed behind with Geralda. In my head, I was praying to know what to say to her to help her see the good in her son, and to calm her down. Within a few minutes, she was happier, and I was having a nice conversation with her. I know that Heavenly Father put into my mouth the words that would be most effective in this manner. I´m glad that we had the opportunity to help Geralda with her groceries yesterday (even though it was a Sunday), because I know that she needed to her some of the things that I said, and also they wouldn´t have been able to carry all of those heavy groceries back to their home 45 minutes away alone (my fingers practically lost their feeling, but it was worth it). 

On tuesday, I had to spend the whole day with Elder and Sister Roque alone (because E. Nascimento left at 9am, and E. Santos wasn´t going to arrive until 6pm). I was nervous for this, but it all worked out! I feel like they were able to gain a little bit more confidence in me, and I was able to gain a little bit more confidence in myself. 

This week we also were able to start teaching a man named Fabio! He is 26, and seems to be interested in what we have to say. He really liked the message of the Restoration of the Church, and we marked another lesson with him this wednesday. 

Even though I still feel some apprehension about being more of a leader, I really could feel your extra prayers this last week. There have been hard things, but not nearly as hard as I was anticipating. I just want to help this branch of the church, and I want to do my best. As I was sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday, I began to think about my last sunday here in Abrantes (because I will probably only stay here for 5 more weeks), and I started to get teary eyed because I realized how much I love the members here. I just want the best for them! 

I´ll leave you guys with a scripture this week-- Romans 12:9-21. Paul is talking to the Roman members of the Church here, and he is talking about some of the attributes members should have. I really liked these verses, and I hope you all do as well! 

Thanks for all of the support and love! I gain so much strength from all of you every week! I miss and love you all!

Com Amor,

Elder Barker