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 :)