Olá!

I don´t have too much time today to email, so I will only be able to write my main email, and not reply to the personal ones! But I´ll make up for it with a bunch of pictures!

This week Susana was baptized! The Sister Missionaries have been teaching her for  a little over a month, and she has come to church at least five times. She moved in with one of her friends  who just happens to be a member of the church, so that´s where it all began! Because I am the District Leader, I get to have the opportunity to interview the investigators being baptized who were taught by the sisters, so I got to interview Susana a few days before her baptism. I had never spoken to her too much, so it was nice to be able to get to know her and see the faith that she has. She has already read the Book of Mormon cover to cover, read all of the pamphlets (including how to prepare to go to the temple!), and was very happy to join the church. Susana also has breast cancer, which has been causing lots of pain for her these past few weeks. We actually gave her a Priesthood Blessing about a week ago, and the next day she called the Sisters to tell them that she had been able to sleep soundly through the night without any pains for the first time in months! She was so happy and she said she new that it was because of the blessing we gave her. She is supposed to have surgery, but she was putting off the day in order to be baptized this past saturday. I know that the Lord has seen her sacrifice, and that she will be greatly blessed. She has since had her surgery, and has to stay in bed for a few days now in order to rest.

Remember that Italian girl from last week? We went to "deliver" her Italian book of Mormon with our testimonies in it, and she happened to be walking down the road at the same time as us. When we gave it to her, she seemed very appreciative, and said that she would read the parts that we had marked for her to read ( we had marked several verses specifically for her and her questions, because she doesn´t quite believe that God exists). She didn´t agree to meet with us again, but she asked for our number in case she has any questions. Once again, planting seeds!

This morning we went with a member named Irmão Dias to help him on his "land". He owns a few acres of land out in the middle of nowhere, and every once in a while he invites the elderes to come help him for a few hours. It was a cool experience! Portugal is so beautiful, especially when you get out of the cities. Even though Portugal is a very modern, advanced country, they still have a very strong agricultural culture. Many people who live in the city, still have their "land" out in the middle of nowhere  where they grow their gardens, etc. It was nice to be able to help him. Afterwards his wife (Cidália), made us lunch! 

This is Elder Alves´ last week on the mission! We have stayed three transfers together (or about four months), which has been the longest I have ever stayed with the same companion. We have had our ups and downs, but in the end we have become friends. I hope that I can help him to have a great last week on his mission before he returns home to Brasil!

I´m greatul that I can serve a mission and be able to learn how to be more like my Savior. I´m grateful for the opportunties I have every day to serve and teach other people. I love my mission and I want these last 7 weeks to be the best of my mission!

I love and miss you all!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barker

One by One

For the past few weeks I have tried to start focusing more on one person at a time. I know that this is how Christ treated people and the Church has really started trying to get us as members to act this way as well! As I have done this, I have realized that I love people! Especially the people of Portugal! Everyone is so important, and everyone is special.

This last week we had divisions with the Zone Leaders in Coimbra. To be honest, I think out of all the divisions in my mission, this was the one where I learned the most! Maybe it was because I went into it looking for things to learn. I actually had a desire to improve my area. I was able to learn some new ideas on how to find new investigators, on how to work more efficiently with the members, and how to make the day more productive. We didn´t knock on a single door, but I ended the day feeling that I had worked hard! I am for sure going to bring some of the things that I learned in Coimbra back to Viseu!

A few days ago Elder Alves and I visited an area where we haven´t worked in before, and he mentioned that there was a less-active that lived nearby. We ended up passing by, and he was at home! This man (Carlos) has been a member of the church for many years, and just recently has stopped coming to church. He lives in a simple home with a lot of land, but he has lost his job and hasn´t been able to pay for electricity for a few months. He has been taking showers out of a bucket of water ever since. But as we talked with him, I realized how great of a person he is. We shared a scripture with him, and then he bore a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ to us. He bore his testimony of the Restoration of the Church and of the Saviour´s Atonement. He told us that he knows that the Church is true, just that he doesn´t want to come back until he gets his situation under control. We will talk with the bishop to see if there is anything he can do, but I am grateful that I could meet Irmão Carlos and could be strengthened by his sincere testimony! 

While in Coimbra, we were walking back to the house for lunch when we passed an older man who was very obviously struggling with his grocery bags. We went straight to him to offer our help, and he let us carry his groceries back to his home (which was another ten minutes away). While we were walking we got to know him a little bit more. He is a very humble gentleman, whose wife is struggling with cancer. As he told us about his wife (who is bedridden), he got all teary eyed. Then we got to his home, which reminded me of the home in "Up", because it was the only actual house in the middle of a bunch of tall apartment buildings. He let us enter to say hello to his wife, and they both started crying and thanked us for the help and for the visit. We asked them if the sisters could pass by later that day (because it was their area), to pay them a visit, and they said they could. I felt so much love within this house, and so much humility as well. I truly hope that the sisters will be able to teach them and help them to accept the gospel, because it will bring so much hope and peace to their lives. I love moments like this!

Saturday night Elder Alves and I contacted a referral from the sisteres named Paulo Ribeiro. When we knocked on his door, he was very friendly and let us in right away. He has been here in portugal for about a month (he´s Brazilian and will start studying in September). We were able to teach him the first lesson (the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ), and the spirit was super strong. We also showed him the new video of the Prophet Joseph Smith´s first vision, and it went well. We were able to bare our testimonies of the gospel, and invited him to be baptized. He didn´t accept baptism (yet ;) ), but he didn´t say "no" either. He wants to think about it and learn more. But I am so grateful that we were able to teach him, and I´m excited to keep helping him learn more!

After that, as we were walking home, we talked to a girl on the street who was from Italy but who also spoke english. We found out that she is an atheist, but was very nice. We asked her if we could deliver an Italian Book of Mormon for her to read, and she denied. But I felt strongly to bear my testimony (for the first time in English for almost two years!), about this Book. At the end, she consented to receive the Book of Mormon, so we will bring it to her tomorrow.

I´m grateful that I can be a missionary, and that I can help so many people, one by one! As we were offering to help a lady on the street, a family of members passed by. The ten year old daughter asked us why we always offer to help people, and her 12 year old sister  answered and said " It´s because they are missionaries. The Elders and Sisters exist to help people!" 

It´s true! We exist to help people. We serve missions to bless the lives of others, whether they be poor or rich, members of the Church, Catholics, athiests, the elderly or the young. We want to help everyone, and we especially want to share our message of the hope and happiness found within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

I love and miss you all! 

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barker

Olá!

I hope all of the Moms were able to have a great Mother´s Day yesterday! Mother´s Day in Portugal was actually last week, but yesterday I was able to still celebrate because I got to Skype with my family! It was so nice to be able to see my parents and my siblings, and it feels like it wasn´t too long ago that I was skyping with them at Christmas time. The next time I see them, it´ll be in person!

At church there is an older member named Manuel who is a man full of faith. He has to walk with a cane now, his wife passed away a few years ago, and he lives about 20 minutes by car from the chapel, but he is always diligent in being at church every week, even arriving early. Unfortunately, he often sits alone during sacrament meeting. A few weeks ago I decided that I would start sitting with him every week (In Viseu we don´t sit together as missionary companions so that we can split up and sit with the investigators, less-actives, or just any member that seems alone.) 

I didn´t realize that this was making a a difference for Irmão Manuel until yesterday when he suddenly handed me a book. This book was a book full of poems that he has written for 20 years, and that he published. Almost all of these poems are written with gospel themes. He told me he wanted to give me this in order to thank me for the nice company I have given him these past several weeks. When I started sitting with him, I didn´t do it in order to receive any recognition or presents, I simply did it because I didn´t want this kind man to sit alone. 

A lot of times our seemingly small acts of kindness make a big difference in the lives of others. We need to always be on the look out for those people that seem to be forgotten, and act as the Savior would and help them to feel loved and remembered. I will forever treasure this little book of poems, because it will help me to always remember Irmão Manuel!

Also during church yesterday, we were able to hear from two members who went through the temple for the first time this last week. The first of them was Irmão Carlos, who was baptized a little over a year ago. This week he was sealed to his wife for time and all eternity! When he got up to speak, I looked around, and there were several people smiling real big. We all love this man and his wife, and I was so happy for him. The second was another member named Luís. He has been a member for several years now, but went to the temple for the first time this last week. He was just bubbling over, haha. Both of these men had a new light to their countenance, and I could tell that they both strengthened their testimonies this last week, and gained a new spiritual strength. The goal of every member of this church should be to prepare to go to the temple! There is so much power from this!

A few days ago we were looking for Emídio, but found out that after returning from Guarda, he left for Coimbra. So we don´t know when we will see him again! But as we were looking for him, another man came up to us and started talking. His name is Vítor, and he went to church a time or two in the past. He said he wanted to talk to us again, so we marked a time yesterday (but he unexpectedly had to work, so it fell through...). Before he left, we decided to give him a Book of Mormon, because he said he never received one. He got really happy and told us that this could be his birthday present because his birthday was going to be on Saturday! He asked us to sign it before we gave it to him, so we both wrote our testimonies! Even though our appointment fell through, we have his phone number and we will mark another day this week to teach him! 

I love and miss you all!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barker 

Backs and Books

Olá!

This week I want to start off with another experience that I had with a health problem (haha, I´m falling apart!) This time it was with my back! I think it was friday that I started having a lot of pain in my upper back. The whole day I would go between using my backpack on my back and carrying it in my arms, because when I would put it on, the pain would become very uncomfortable. By the time we got home at night, my back was having so many problems. It was even worse when I went to bed because I had nothing to distract me from the pain, and couldn´t get to sleep. It was seriously the worst pain I have ever felt in my back, and I my eyes may have even leaked a little bit ( ;) ). I decided to pray and ask that the pain would go away and that by the next day I wouldn´t have any more problems. After this I remembered that our apartment has a bunch of medicine, so I decided to look through it and I found one that was specifically for back pain and headaches. So I took that and went back to bed and found a more comfortable sleeping position, and by the next morning there was no more pain! I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers, and many times those answers come through small and simple things (like reminding me that there was a drawer-full of  painkillers in the house!)

This week I had the idea to organize our Area Book (which is a  three-ring binder full of the teaching records of past and current investigators.) For some reason, we had three, and neither one was organized, haha. I organized it by specific areas within our working area, and by date. Through this, I was able to see that there were a bunch of teaching records with phone numbers, but without any address. I hate talking on the phone, but I felt that I should start calling these people to see if they were still interested. Within half an hour, I had talked with so many kind people who were happy that we called. We were able to set a few appointments with some of them, one of which will be today after P-day ends! There are so many different ways to find new people to teach, and one of those is by coming into contact with past investigators!

We also decided to go to the park this week to try to give out a Book of Mormon to someone. When we entered the park, there were a lot of people gathered in groups, but I wanted to find someone that was by themselves. After a few minutes, we saw a man sitting alone watching his daughter rollerblade. We went up to him and immedietly offered the Book of Mormon. He was very gracious and accepted it without us having to do much prodding (haha). But as we were talking about this wonderful Book, the spirit was very strong. I realized that each time we give a Book of Mormon to someone, the Spirit is also there because this Book truly is sacred. I love the Book of Mormon, and the truths that it contains! I started re-reading it this morning, and I learned so much from just the first chapter, even though I have read the first chapter so many times before. There is always something new to learn! 

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

Love,
Elder Barker