12/26/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro & Christmas Skype

[We had so much fun talking to Adam on Christmas.  He was able to Skype us, he was at the Elder's Quorum's President's home using his computer, and it was so amazing to actually see his face as we talked.  We talked and laughed for over an hour.  He looked really good and really happy.  We got to see his companion and wave hello too.  We talked about his many experiences there in Brazil and we caught him up on things at home that we haven't addressed in emails and letters.  It was a joyful experience especially since we haven't seen his face in 8 months.  Here is his email this week, shorter than usual because we spoke the day before.]

I had a good Christmas!  I missed being at the house with all of you for Christmas, and I almost teared up after I signed off.  I was glad that I talked as long as I did.  Dad you should go pig hunting with Uncle Dave and get a pig for me and go and have fun and remember to take your allergy medicine and all that.  Have fun with what ever you can this.  I want to start something with you if I can, I want you, if you can, to wake up earlier, only 30 minutes earlier, and do a little bit of exercise.  I will be doing the same thing every morning.  

It was good talking with you all yesterday miss you all and love you all

Elder McBarron

12/19/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[I'm so sorry to be so behind on posting Adam's emails, life just got too crazy with the holidays, our questions to him are in quotes.}

[Have you set up anymore baptisms or added anymore to your teaching pool?]  Me and my companion have made a goal to read about the Savior´s birth during this week.  This week was kind of a slow week for teaching people, everyone is busy getting stuff ready for Christmas or traveling, we did however add 8 people to our teaching pool, a family of 7 and a contact from 3 months ago that we could never get a hold of her until this week.  The main investigator in the family is the mom.  I don't have any baptisms set up for anytime soon right now, we have to work with people to help them with their vices and with getting married.

[What did you do for fun? What was funny? What made you laugh?]  For fun, me and my companion find that just talking is fun and I do weird stuff in the apartment like make funny noises, play with food that I am eating in the house, that kind of stuff. What was funny for me is that my companion trips over nothing it is kind of hilarious, we will be walking in the street and he will trip over nothing.

[What made you mad?]  What made me mad this week was my district leader, we entered in the house to plan for the night at 8:40 because one of our appointments fell and we were near the house and we we really only have this person that we can teach near the house because the people in our area will not open up their doors after 8:00 pm if they don't know you.  He said that we weren't following the hours, but we did the same thing that he did the night before, that really ticked me off, he doesn't really have the right to chastise us if he did the same thing the night before.

[How is the new Companion? What is your new companion's name? Since he is from Argentina which is Spanish speaking, just wonder if he knew Portuguese before going on his mission?]  My new companion is really cool, his name is Elder Ruiz.  He didn't know how to speak Portuguese before the mission. he has the same birthday as me too, but he is a year younger than me and he has a sister that is the same age as Megan.

[Did you get new roommates too? If so, who are they, where are they from, etc.?]  I still have the same roommates.

[Do you get to go to any Christmas celebrations this week?]  Yea, I got to go to the Christmas celebration for the ward, it was pretty cool!  We brought our investigators to it.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience was having fun at the party and also singing with the primary in their primary program yesterday.

[Where are you spending Christmas?]  We will be spending Christmas in the houses of members, I don't know which ones yet.

I am really excited for talking with you guys, I will probably use my Skype account to talk to you all.  If I can't use Skype I will call you guys.  Talk to you soon, love you and miss you all.

Elder McBarron

12/13/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets]

Things are going well here, my week was good but there are many things that I can improve on.

[Are you staying through Christmas or are you moving, weren't you finding out last week if you were staying through to the new year?]  I will be staying through the new year, my companion got transferred.  I have a new companion who is from Argentina.

[Do you get to Skye at Christmas or just a phone call. how long can you talk?]  I will most likely use Skype, but I am not sure about that I can only talk for about 40 minutes maximum.  I will most likely be able to talk here around 3 pm which would be about 9 am on the 25th.

[Did you get your other package?  Have you opened your presents? Are you going to put up a tree?]   I received my last package, thanks for the CD player and the Cd's, and thanks for the Lego Christmas tree, I did put it up on my study desk!  I have not opened any of the wrapped presents, I will open them on the 24th so that I can thank you all for them on the 25th. 

[Have you learned of any Brazilian Christmas traditions, anything different from us or the same?  How many wards are there in your area? Do they have Christmas parties?]  I think that all of the traditions are the same from what I can tell.  We have one ward in our area, and they have a Christmas party this Saturday. 

[Did you watch the Christmas devotional?   I watched President Monson's and President Uchtdorf's talks, they were pretty good.]  I didn't get to watch the Christmas devotional I don't even know when it was.

[How about your baptism's are they all set up?  How about the new person that you guys found, is he coming along?]   We don't have any baptisms set up right now that I  can say for certain that they will happen, but I know that we will have baptisms this transfer.  We have found a lot of new people and we are trying to prepare them for baptism, but so far we have only taught all of them the first lesson if that.  There are a few where we have just visited to get to know them and we haven't visited them back yet because of other appointments.

[Do you have any favorite people you have baptized that made an impact on you?]   I have had three baptisms that made an impact on me.  They are Malu, Michelle and Edna, they are the ones that I worked the most with for baptism and that are still going strong until today.

[What was the best thing about this week?  What was the most spiritual?]  My best thing about this week was the Christmas party with the mission.  It was the most fun and spiritual thing as well.  I also got to see Elder Turley before he left for home.  Oh, and, I got a new tie from President and Sister Araújo for Christmas.

That is all that I have for today, until next time.  Love you all and miss you all!

Elder McBarron

12/5/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Email from Adam this week, our question are in brackets]

[How did the week go?]  My toe is doing better.  The week was a so so week.

 

[Did you find any new people to teach?]  We found new people to teach, we will continue to try and work with them for a little while longer.

 

[Did you have your baptism last week?]  We didn't have a baptism yesterday and we don't have a baptism this Sunday.

 

[Are you ready for Christmas?]  I am ready for Christmas, I don't have my other package yet, but I haven't been to the mission office to see if they have them.

 

[What was the best thing from last week?]  The best thing about this week was playing soccer with my zone.

 

[What was the worst thing from last week?]  The worst was that we had most of our appointments for 3 days fall, and we had flash floods almost every day this week.

 

[Did you meet any new and interesting people?]  I met a man that is a free mason that was pretty interesting.

 

[Are you transferring before Christmas?]  I do not know if I will be transferred or not before Christmas until Sunday.

[You said that most people there only eat one meal a day and on fast day we are to fast 2 meals, so what does it mean to fast there?]  Here in Brazil we fast from lunch to lunch, one day to the other.

 

[Where do you meet the most people?]  I meet the most people in my area in a part called Setor America in the neighborhood of Cidade Contental.

 

[What are some of the weird things that have happened to you so far?]  I have had my hand kissed a couple of times by drunks and was almost kissed by a drunk when we were talking with him.  I have had young women here hit on me because I am American and also a missionary.

 

[What are the things you admire most about the people of Brazil?]  Something that I admire most about the people of Brazil is that a lot of them are humble.

 

[Did you get to teach any lessons this week or meet with members, how was it?]  We have been helping reactivate an inactive member and he was at church this Sunday and all of the members were welcoming him back it was really cool to see, because this ward doesn't always really talk with people or help others very often, but we are helping make this ward a better ward.  That probably has to be one of my best experiences this week.  This week we didn't do so hot on lessons, a lot of our appointments fell.

 

That is pretty much it for the week.

Elder McBarron

11/28/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets.]

[How is your toe doing since your procedure?] My toe is doing better.

[I guess you couldn't do any baptisms because of your foot this week, did your companion do them?]

 I had a baptism yesterday too, I didn't perform it, my companion did, and I was a witness.

[Today is Grandpa Crosby's Birthday and your 7 month anniversary, busy day, can you believe it?]  Tell Grandpa Happy birthday for me!  It has been going by really fast, I can't believe that I have been here for 7 months.

[What have you learned about your new companion and roommates since you've been with them for awhile now?]  I am still trying to get to know them, my companion and the other missionaries.

[Have you started seeing any preparations for Christmas in your area yet?]  There are a lot of things for Christmas here, but not like in the US.

[What lessons did you get to teach this week?]  This week was pretty much contacting people to teach them this coming week and helping our baptisms and less active members.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was after my surgery, I think it was Wednesday.  I went to an investigator's house that isn't really progressing.  She keeps saying, "oh, I have faith in Christ and I will be saved by my faith."  I was a little grumpy because of the pain in my toe, but happy that I was able to walk around.  I got there and spoke about faith and shared with her the scriptures in James 2:15-16 and the last one of the chapter, I think it is verse 26.  I knew she wasn't paying attention so I spoke straight to her and basically said show your faith and pray to know if this Church is true or not, if you don't do this, you basically do not have faith in the Lord to ask Him if this is His church here on the earth or not.  I know that it was not just me saying that, that the Spirit was helping me because I said other things that I had never thought of talking with her about.  The Lord does not play games with His Church and with those who are really searching for the truth.

That is pretty much it for the week, I don't really have too much to share this week other than yesterday we had a flash flood in my area and at the church.  It sounds like all of you had a fun thanksgiving!

Elder McBarron

11/21/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets.]

 

[I'm assuming there isn't Thanksgiving in Brazil, any other holiday similar to it?]  They don't have Thanksgiving and I don't know if they have a holiday like it.  I know that to eat a big bird, we have to wait until Christmas.  I don't even remember what day Thanksgiving is on.  Sounds like you are going to have a fun Thanksgiving.

[How did the baptism go? Do you still have two more lined up for the next couple of weeks?]  The baptism went well.  We have baptized two people this transfer up to now and we have one lined up for this Sunday.

[What the scoop? the good, the bad and the ugly?]  The ugly news right now is that I got an ingrown toenail, even with me trying all that I could to make sure that I didn't get one.  I go in today to get it removed and will be in the apartment for I think 2 days.  The bad news is that our group of investigators is kind of small, but the good news is that we are still baptizing and the members are starting to help more!

[Have you received our packages that we mailed you?]  I received one box and I am waiting on the other one.

[You said you were using a dumb computer in your last email, where do you go to have access to computers?]  We go to a lan house to use the computers, and some of the computers don't work very well.

[Isn't it summer there? How hot has it been getting?]  Yeah it is summer here, I think it is getting up into the high 80's or low 90's, but summer hasn't really started yet is what all of the Brazilians keep saying.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week has to be the baptism that we had where it was a mom being baptized by her son, it was really cool!

I don't really have too much else to say right now so I will close with saying Happy Thanksgiving!

Teu Filho Elder McBarron

11/14/11 Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email this week, our questions are in brackets]

 

My week was pretty crazy, we had meetings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I had a division with the assistants on Friday.  Monday and Saturday were pretty much just a normal day, and on Sunday I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting.

 

[Are you up for transfer this go round or are you staying for a few more months?]  I am thinking right now that I will be staying in my area until after Christmas, but that is just my thoughts for now, I don't know what will happen on the 13th of December. 

 

[Have you set date for the two pending baptisms?]  We have three dates setup right now, one for this Sunday, one for next Sunday and one for December 10th.  Hopefully we will get all of these people baptized, I am pretty sure that they will be baptized.

 

[Meet any new and interesting people?]  The only new and interesting person that I have met other than my companion is a new guy from the south of Brazil.  He and my companion, who is also from the south, drink an herbal tea (which is not against the Word of Wisdom) called Chimarrão.  I have had it a few times, it tastes kind of like hay.

 

[Are you a senior companion this time?]  My companion has the calling of senior in our dupla, but I am pretty much the senior, he even said that.  He is kind of like a little kid, our dupla is a strange one.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was the division I had with one of the assistants to the President and I was with the assistant that was my zone leader when I first got into the field, Elder Thompson.  I spent the day in Vitória.  I will pass a photo for you all of a part that I took next week, the computer that I am using is being a pain for the photos.  Also when I was giving a talk in sacrament meeting here.  I had many people telling me it was a good talk, even the bishop of the ward said that he thought that the people really understood what I was talking about.  My talk was on missionary work and I focused on the missionary work of members.

 

Seu Filho Elder McBarron

11/7/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets, the first part is from part of his email last week that didn't make it to us so he had to resend.]

[When are the next transfers?]  The next transfers after this will be December 13.

[Did you have your baptism this week?]  No, but we have one scheduled for this next Sunday with another lady, we finally marked a date with her, we have been trying to do that with her since the beginning of the transfer, she is the one that her pastor said good things about us.

[What has been your funniest experience so far?]  My funniest thing that has happened was jumping on a trampoline for little kids, and seeing my companion do this because he had never jumped on a trampoline before.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was marking the date for the baptism.  Oh and I have now worked in a thunder and lightning storm, missionary work does not stop for a storm.

This week was pretty crazy, but it was really good as well.  We had the baptism and I got to baptize her!

[Since you were the only one left in the district after the last transfer are you now a senior companion?  Who is your new companion and what is he like?]  I am not a senior yet because I still have to work on speaking the language a little more, but I am pretty much doing the things that a senior would be doing, my new companion has one transfer more than me.  My new companion is Elder Pithan, he is a  Brazilian from the southern part of Brazil.  He likes food a lot and he likes to mess around.

[Who are your new roommates and what are they like?]  There are two new missionaries, one is a Brazilian from Recife, and the other is a newbie American which is fun.  We are all helping him with learning Portuguese.  Their names are Elder Pombeiro and Elder Perdue.  We all goof around a lot in the house, it is really fun.

[What do you do when you all meet up for transfers at the mission home, how does all that work?]  We meet up for transfers in a giant bus station, and we sing the mission´s hymn and then we find out who is going where and what is going on, we get our letters and packages too.

[Have you meet any new contacts that look promising?]  We have marked for 2 other baptisms for the 20th of this month.

[How many lessons did you teach?]  I taught 19 lessons this past week.

[How is the ward, are they treating you well? Do you have a favorite family in the ward?]  The ward is awesome, we are working on helping them with improving their missionary efforts as a ward.  I have a few favorite families in the ward that I like.

[What was the most fun that you had this week?  What made you Laugh?]  The most fun that I had this week was goofing off with my companion and the other missionaries, and eating at a members house.  What made me laugh this week is the other missionaries.

[What was your best experience this week?]  The most spiritual would have to have been the baptism.

I hope that all is going well for you and that you are having fun with life.  The only thing that I would ask for right now is a good massage from Vicki [our favorite massage therapist] and Zebra Pens.  But the massage will have to wait until after the mission, and the pens can be sent whenever you want to send them.  Oh I  almost forgot to tell you that they opened up a new zone here, zone Serra.  I am one of the first missionaries in the new zone and I also had the first baptism in the zone of Serra!!!!!!!!

Seu Filho Elder McBarron

10/31/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[This week's email from Adam, our questions are in brackets]

[Do you go on splits with ward members?]  When we have splits we always have an appointment scheduled, and when someone blows us off we are pretty much in the toilet because we don't have anyone to help us with both appointments and we have to choose between each which one we think is most important. its not fun.

[Did you baptize the women who's brother had the accident?]  No we did not baptize her, she didn't want to wake her daughter up so that she could go to church.

[How about the family who is not married yet?]  The couple is not married yet and has not come to church yet either.

[What did you do that was fun?]  This past Sunday we had a training with the youth in the ward.  We trained them to be receptionists for our investigators so that the ward will help us with them.  We had a practice and I was the "investigator" and I had fun with that.  And pretty much just goofing off with the other missionaries.

[What was the most spiritual?]  The most spiritual thing for me this week was marking a date with the investigator that said that her pastor spoke good things about us, we had been waiting a long time for this and when she accepted I felt so much peace and love for her that it was so cool!

[How are the living conditions?]  The living conditions are good, they are different.  They are "good" standards here, but "ok" standards in the US.

[How are you getting along with your companion?] My companion is really cool, I am getting along pretty well with him, but he is being transferred tomorrow to another area along with the other missionaries here.  I am the only one that is going to be staying, I have to admit that it is kind of scary knowing this.  Please pray for me to have the strength to be able to do what needs to be done here and also to remember where everything is.

Here are more photos.  Megan I took these photos of the monkeys just for you :) cause I know how much you like monkeys .

Elder McBarron

 

10/24/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets]

I am 1/4 of the way done with my mission. I miss Wednesday [our dog] too, whenever I see little dogs I want to play with them the same way that I play with Wednesday.  I really miss spending time with you all, I miss talking with you all and I can't wait for Christmas to come so that I can talk with you guys. 

[Did your baptism happen?]  We didn't get our baptism this week because her brother broke both of his legs in an accident that day and visiting hours were during the end of church and the time that she would have been baptized.

[Any new investigators this week?]  We have some new investigators, one had been drinking for over 50 years.  We are going to try and mark a baptismal date with him today.  We also have a family that we are teaching, but I don't know how long we are going to be teaching them for because they don't want to get married.  We can't really teach them if they do not want to get married, because without them being married they can't get baptized unless they separate from each other.  As a matter of fact we have 2 families in the same boat.

[Do you have many opportunities to speak English now?]  I can speak in English with the other American living with me in the apartment, and with our  District Leader who has learned English pretty well.

[What was the the most fun you had? What made you laugh?What did you do to make others laugh?]   We mess around with each other, me and the other missionaries.  We make fun of each other all of the time.  I make them laugh just by being me, and with have some really stupid conversations.

[Can you take some pictures of your area so that we can see where you are? Your apartment? Your companion?]  I have taken recent pictures, not many, but I will try to take some pictures of my area and apartment and companion.

[What has been your best Sunday so far?]  My best Sunday so far would have to be the Sunday of General Conference.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was when one of my investigators told us about what her pastor said.  When she started off we were thinking OK what bad thing did a pastor say about us this time.  Then she said, "my pastor said that these young men are true servants of God and that they are truly doing the Lord´s work and we should be doing the same thing."  She said that after he said this she realized that this is the true church and that she wants to be baptized.  This is the first time that I have ever heard of a pastor helping with missionary work.  We are thinking about going and teaching this pastor.

I miss you all and love you all.

Seu Filho

Elder McBarron

10/17/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email this week  our questions are in brackets.]

 

The mail strike is officially over now, it has been going on for the past month or so, but it is over now.

 

[How did your baptism go?]  We didn't have our baptism because of complications with the family, but hey what can you do but work through it.

 

[What lessons did you get to teach this week?]  We have pretty much been teaching the first lesson all week or the word of wisdom.  We are trying to help a lady stop smoking, drinking alcohol and drinking coffee.

 

[What was the best thing of the week?]  We had interviews with president this week, that was good.

 

[How do you make tracting fun?  How long do you tract?]  We tract pretty much all day everyday, we are contacting people to and from appointments and also knocking doors when our appointments fall.

 

[How much do you teach?]  I teach quite a bit, I am even able to use my own explanations for somethings now.

 

[Have your people been coming to church?]  We had 2 people come to church this week, which i am grateful for.

 

[What has been your most interesting tracting experience, besides the dogs?]  My most interesting tracting experience has to be with the drunks in the street.  Last night we had a drunk come up to us and ask us who the greatest prophet was, we responded Jesus Christ.  He then said, "and after him?"  We replied Moses (because he doesn't know about Joseph Smith) he said, "exactly, and Adam was not a prophet."  We said, "oh but he was."  Then the drunk just walked off.  Another experience was with this other guy at his door.  He called us over and asked if we were pastors.  We said we were missionaries.  He told us to teach him so we said a little bit of our message and then asked if we could come back and share the rest later.  He said ok and then handed us money because he thought that we were cops.  It was pretty interesting.  We handed the money to his neighbor and asked him to give it back to the guy.  This guy was pretty drunk, he was talking to himself and others under his breath. Both were pretty interesting.

 

[Has your ward mission leader gotten any better?]  Our LMA is getting better, he is getting more and more experience, and the bishop is playing a huge roll in our missionary work as well.  He is helping pretty much reform the missionary work in the ward.

 

[How hot is it now?]  It is pretty hot here, I don't know the exact temperature.

 

[How does your new companion help you be a better missionary?]  He helps we with the language and is helping me to mess around a little more.

 

[How are your feet doing, are you taking care of them?]  I am taking care of my feet as best as I can down here, as soon as I get into the apartment my shoes come off right away, so that my feet can breath and relax.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience is about a lady and we pretty much told her she is not doing her part to see if the church is true.  She has received answers plenty already that it is.  She was at church this week which is good.  I also had an experience with an investigator that is having problems accepting that she needs to join the church.  She hasn't been coming to church (until this last Sunday) and she has had many dreams about the church telling her that she needs to join.   We were pretty straight forward with her, speaking with the spirit, we pretty much told her, "you are ready for baptism, you have received answers to your prayers that very few people receive."  I told here that she needs to be following the voice that she is hearing, the voice of Christ and do the right things, and that He loves her and wants her to do those things that are right, and as she does this she will receive blessings and knowledge.

 

I miss you all and hope you are doing well.

 

Elder McBarron

10/10/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets.]

[How are those you are working with?]  This week was so much better than last week, we had 2 investigators at church, that is a huge change from zero.  We also have a baptism this week! She is a mother of a member and we found her the first day that we were here, but we didn't know what her pace for accepting the gospel would be and all that because their family had already been taught before about a year ago.  We ended up having to quit going to see an investigator.  She hasn't been to church in 5 weeks and we asked her to talk with her "husband" about getting legally married the first week that we were in the area, and she still has not done it.  We are trying to find new people to work with because the ones that we are working with are progressing slowly and we need new people in our teaching pool.

 

[How is the new companion?]  My new companion is pretty cool.

 

[How is the new area?  Are you still walking 10-15 miles a day or do you have a transit system to get you around?]  The new area is huge, and yes we are still walking about 10 miles a day.  We have a transit system here, but it is pretty expensive for what little distance we are going.

 

[How is the language coming?]  The language is still coming, I can speak more but I still don't have a very large vocabulary to use, I still have a lot to learn.

 

[Are you taking advantage of daily study?]  I love my daily study, I wish that it was longer.

 

[What did you do to have fun last week?]  For fun we mess around in the apartment with the other elders before we go to bed and after we wake up. We spend a lot of time with the other set of missionaries.  Me and my companion also do a little radio recording with our cellphone in the streets every day, that is pretty fun.

 

[How is the food situation?]  Oh, I forgot to tell you that I have had chicken heart, chicken foot, and liver here.  The chicken heart and the liver were pretty good, the chicken foot was just weird.
[What was you best spiritual experience last week?]  My most spiritual experience this week was when we were teaching this guy that we had knocked at his door.  He started talking about authority that everyone has the authority to do things in the Lord's name and have the power to do so, and that all we had to do is to read the bible and accept Christ into our lives to receive this power.  My companion started showing him scriptures and talking with him about it for a good amount of time.  I was getting bored because I couldn't really help him and it was getting way off topic of the lesson.  Then I got a pretty strong prompting to ask the guy if we could finish our message.  I had to say irmão 3 times before he would listen to me, but after I asked the question he pretty much just stopped talking.  That was a pretty big demonstration of the power of the Holy Ghost to me.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was having a baptism interview with one of our investigators and also having her pass, her baptism is next week.

[Do you need or want anything?]  At this moment I don't need anything, but anything that you would like to send would be appreciated.

 

Elder McBarron

 

10/3/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets.  I emailed him that Sister Litchfield, one of the moms on the missionary mom email group, said that her son just got out of the CTM and his first companion is Elder Turley in Serra Sede which is Adam's last companion and area.]



Elder Litchfield is my brother from the mission because we had that same father or trainer.  I have added some pictures, one is of my District in Serra Sede.  One is of me and Elder Turley, what is funny about the picture is that I am the goofy one in the picture but he was the goofy companion and I was the more serious companion.  One of my hand healing, and the last one is of my last baptism in Serra Sede.

      

Serra Sede District Missionaries           

Elder McBarron & Elder Turley

Last person Adam baptized in Serra Sede

Adam's healing hand

[If you got to hear conference, anything specific you liked? (I really liked the one talk about missionaries from the Seventy from Japan, it also made me think about you a lot.)]  I really liked the talk by Elder Callister about the Book of Mormon a lot!!!!!!!

 

[What cool things have you found out about your new companion and other missionary roommates?]  I found out that I was at BYUH at the same time as the other American missionary in the apartment, his name is Elder Buttars and my companion and his companion are from the same city.



[Any net places to see in your new area?]  There really aren't many neat places to see here that I know of right now.

 

[Did you find anyone new to teach this week?]  This week was kind of a crudy week for me, blues of the mission is more like it.  We taught our investigators as best we could this week, and invited them all to come to General Conference, but none came.  We even tried to bring a few of them, but they were either sick or not home or just didn't want to go with us.  Just pray for me and my companion to know what is required of us and how best to act now.

 

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was watching conference.  I got to watch conference in the church building and also in English which was a blessing.  Conference was amazing!! Could you get a copy for me in English to read after the mission, I will probably be getting it in Portuguese here.

 

I love you all and miss you all.  I hope all is going well for you all.

Elder McBarron

9/26/11 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email this week, our questions are in brackets.  I sent him this joke that was going around the missionary moms email groups:  A blond is watching the news and hears that 2 Brazilian men died in a skydiving accident.  She cries and says, "Oh my gosh, how many is a Brazilian?"]

Mom I really liked that joke!  Tell grandpa that I hope everything goes well with his surgery and that I will be praying for him the whole time.  Mom keep working on trying to do your best [I've been keeping him updated on my weight loss], it will all pay off in the end.  I have put on about 11 pounds here, but I also haven't really been working out.  I need to figure out what I can do for exercises and then I know that I will be exercising every day.  I am really enjoying my mission here and can't wait to share stories in person with everyone, but I still have about 19 or so months to go before I am able to do that, so I will have to get some good stories in that time frame.  I have had my first mission blues, but they haven't been that bad as of yet.  Life in general right now is pretty great.

[Where did you get transferred too? What is it like?]  I got transferred to Jardim Limoeiro, it is about an hour away from my last area by bus so it is probably about 20 minutes by car.  It is kind of like Serra Sede, but we do a lot more walking in this area.  I have the neighborhoods of Cidade Contenetail (I think that is how you spell that) in my area which is a long ways away from where we live.

[Who is your new companion?]   My companion is Elder Espinosa, he is from Brazil, Curitiba I think.  I am learning a lot more now that I am with a Brazilian companion and I have to speak Portuguese to communicate.  We are finding a lot of people to teach, we will see how that goes.  We are still trying to get to know the area as both of us got transferred into this area this transfer.

[What is your new apartment like?]  My new apartment is kind of a cruddy little hole, but it works and I am not complaining about it.

[What is your new ward like? And the people?]  The new ward is really cool, I  really like it.  It is the ward Jardim Limoeiro.  We don't really have a ward mission leader helping us right now, he was just called to be the ward mission leader about one month ago and so he doesn't really know what he is doing.  Plus he works Sundays so things aren't really going too fast with him right now.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week has been hanging out with the other elders that are in the area next to us that live in the same apartment as me and my companion.

I miss you all and love you.

Elder Adam McBarron

9/19/11 Email from Serra Sede

[Here is this week's email, our questions are in brackets]

This week was really good and challenging for me, we upped our goals, and my companion had me be the senior for the week, it was kind of cool to do that.  We don't really have any new baptisms on the horizon soon.

[Are you getting transferred? If so, to where?]  I am getting transferred but I do not know where yet.  I find out tomorrow at the transfer meeting.  I am actually kind of excited about it.

[How many lessons did you teach this week?]  I taught quite a few lessons this week, I was also the senior companion for the week.  That was pretty fun!

[Have you handed out any of the things we sent for the little kids?]  I haven't really handed out too much of the little things to kids, we have to get permission from their parents to do so, they pretty much just look at me like I am weird.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was pretty much this whole week.  But there was a part that will be a pretty good mission story.  This week we were going to visit a reference that we received and had set up an appointment with him.  We got there and rang the door bell and then out of nowhere there comes this dog barking at us and tries to bite us from underneath the gate.  This continued for a good 5 or 6 minutes then my companion decided to try and kick the gate as the dog was barking to scare it.  He kicked the fence and it worked in scaring the dog but he also kicked the gate open.  He had started walking off already and didn't see the gate open.  I told him to run and we both ran as fast as we could as far away as we could from that house.  The dog didn't chase after us luckily.  But it was a funny experience now that I think about it.

I miss you all and hope the best for you all.

Elder Adam McBarron

9/12/11 Email from Serra Sede

Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets.

 My week was a little better but not too much, the adversary is working really hard in this area with our recent converts and investigators.  We were working on cleaning up a huge mess this week.  I also had a service project this week that during it I got a nice chunk of my hand taken out.   But all things turn out good in the end if you look for the bright side.  I included some pictures of the nice little gash, from the time I got the gash to the time of today to show the healing process.  I will probably have a scare from it so that is pretty cool!

[Any new people to teach this week?]  We don't really have any new people this week, but we are working on getting them.

[What do you do to keep going when you feel discouraged?]  When I feel discouraged, I  think what am I here for, to share this message of joy and happiness with the people here.  I also pray for help not to be discouraged and I also think that McBarrons don't give up until the job is done, that makes me feel better.

[What is your favorite area of Serra Sede?]  My favorite area of Serra Sede is Cascata, it reminds me a lot of eastern Washington and there are a lot of cool members that live there.

[Have you found anything fun on your P-day? or are you spending all day doing laundry? or are you using the cleaners?]  I have been playing soccer with the Brazilians on p-days for fun, we do laundry too on p-day, but sometimes we do it during the week if we need too.

[Do you get to eat at members homes much? What do you get fed?]  We get fed every day except for p-day.  We eat lunch with the members, lunch is the big meal here, not dinner.  We eat meat beans and rice, and what ever else the members decide to make for us.

[You said that the ward mission leader was a great, is he got it going for you guys and is he keeping you feed?]   The ward mission leader definitely keeps us fed.

[Are you suppose to be transferred soon? Do you know who you would like to be companions with?]   The next transfer is on the 20th I won't know until Sunday night whether I will be transferred and then I wouldn't find out who my companion would be or what area I would be going to until the day of the transfer.  I would like to be companions with one of the Assistants to the President, but other than that not really.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was going on a visit to a family in our area with Presidente Araújo, it was awesome.  He is really cool I am so glad that he is my mission president.

[Do you need anything? Do you want anything?]  I don't need or want anything at the moment other than letters

We have had a hard time trying to find news, but we are going to try getting news in a different part of our area.  Oh and by the way, it is probably over 80 here almost every day, so I know what you have been going through the past week for temp wise.  I love you all and miss you.

Elder McBarron

9/5/11 Email from Serra Sede

Our questions are in brackets.

I had a better week, I had to do a lot of work this week and I learned a lot this week.  I don't know why, but I was worrying that I didn't have the Spirit with me, but when I was looking back on the week last night, I realized that all that I did this week was done with the Spirit.  Satan has been trying hard this week to work on me and my companion.  He has been trying to bring us down anyway he could.  He has even been trying to use the dogs here, I was almost bitten this week by a dog and almost attacked by another, but I know that I was protected and my companion as well by our Heavenly Father.

[Are you still walking 10-15 miles a day?]  We are still walking that distance.

[Why don't you guys go buy bikes so you are not walking so far? Is it prohibited?]  It is against mission rules as far as I know to get bikes, or else I would go and get one.

[Did your baptism happen on Saturday, if so how was it?]  We had our baptism this Saturday, I heard that it was good.  I wasn't able to go because we accidentally scheduled to teach people during the same time as the baptism, so we had a division.  I taught the people with a Brazilian missionary that only has a month out in the field and he is 18.  My companion went to the baptism.  It was a good experience for me, it gave me more confidence in my ability to speak, it was an interesting day, but good.

[Do you know Elder Bagley, the missionary that had the accident with the train and lost his leg?] Yes I do kind of, he was the trainer for Elder Spencer.

[What kinds of food items would you like me to mail to you? (I hear Peanut Butter is a good one as well as Mac & Cheese)]  Mostly just peanut butter, we don't have too much time to make things at night.

[Did you find anyone to teach this week? What was your new plan?]  Yes we did, I was lead by the Spirit to people, and also this week we found a lady that had recently lost her daughter.   I was able to feel the love that her daughter had for her mom and also the joy that the daughter had that we were there teaching her mom.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience was pretty much just the whole week, but mostly with the division with another missionary where I went knocking doors all day and contacting people.  I was lead by the spirit a lot that day.

I don't have any new pictures right now to send, but I will send them as soon as I do.  I love you all and miss you all.

Elder Adam McBarron

August 15, 2011 Letter from Serra Sede

Dear Family,  Thanks for this cool paper!  Thanks for all of the treats and the goodies.  Thanks for the ties and the t-shirts and shorts, I really like them!  The new area is cool, although it does have its own new challenges to deal with.  It has been hard getting used to the new area and still learning the new language.  I lost it one day in persona study and just really could not get any good kind of study that day.  But everything is getting better now.  The Ward Mission Leader here is amazing!  This is a really cool area!  It reminds me of home, which is good and not so good at the same time.  It's good because I feel good here, but it is bad because it is easier for me to think about home here and get trunky (miss home or something).  Dad would really like it here in Brazil, there are motorcycles every where and they are pretty much all Hondas too.  I miss my dirt bike, I kind of wish that I had ridden it more before the mission.  Oh well I will just have to ride it a lot when I get back.  Keep strong in reading your scriptures, praying, and going to church and doing the things that we have been told and should be doing.  I miss you all and hope that you are all doing well.  Elder Adam McBarron   P.S.  A good scripture that I have read is 2 Nephi 9:52

Misc. Letters from Ancheita

8/1/11 - Dear Family, Como vai?  (How are you?)  Como foi a mez de voces?  (How was all of your month?)  Ok, I will leave the Portuguese there so you can understand the letter.  I hope you're all doing well.  I am having a lot of fun here, although there is a lot to do.  The lanugage is coming along slowly, but its coming.  I am having the most trouble with the conjugations of the verbs, especially the irregular verbs.  I am really liking the food here, meat, beans and rice every day for lunch.  I have a Nutella sandwich with fruit for breakfast and a mango for dinner.  I am usually still full from lunch when we get back to the apartment at night.  I am tanning a little, which is good because it is sunny pretty much every day.  I am studying in 2 Nephi 2 right now, I have had more joy and have been learning a lot about things that I did not realize before.  We should all be studying the scriptures each and every day, and it would be good to keep a study journal as well, so that you can write down what you learn, even if it is just a sentence, it will help you to learn more and understand more of what you are reading.  I love you all and miss you all!  I hope everything is well and will continue to be well.  Elder Adam McBarron

8/8/11 - Muito Brigado peta Parabems por men Anevesario!  (Thank you very much for the Birthday wishes for my birthday!)  I am glad that I was able to email you all.  Thanks for all of the love and support you give me.  I missed being able to celebrate my birthday with you all and with my friends, its kind of weird not really celebrating a birthday.  It is especially weird because I am still doing all of the missionary stuff like it is a normal day.  I am going to have to have a big celebration when I get home to make up for these two years that I won't have a celebration.  I really miss the Birthday to out to eat meal right now, and the birthday brownies too.  I am glad that I was at least able to communicate with you all today.  Mom, Thanks for everything, I am really glad that you decided to start that blog form.  I am very thankful for all of the support that you give me.  I miss being able to just talk with you, but I am really glad that I can write and email you.  Thanks for everything you do for me.  I miss you all.  Keep reading your scriptures often.  Mom and Dad I would ask you to go to the temple and do a session as often as you get a chance to, especially for me, I really wish that I could have the chance of going to the temple, but I have to wait 2 more years before I am able to do so.  Megan when you can go do baptisms for the dead, it will be good for you to keep doing that.  I am very grateful for the support that you all are giving me while I am here in Brazil.  Remember to write in your journals, anything is good, but especially write down your spiritual experiences that you have.  It has already been a blessing to me while on my mission having kept a journal so far, being able to go back and read it.  I miss you all, but I am also having fun here too.  Here's the motto:  work hard, play hard and enjoy!  Balance in all things!  This not only applies to me but to all of us.  So let's all live it.  Elder Adam McBarron.  P.S.  I am now 21 years old!

8/9/11 - Yesterday turned out to be a really good birthday!  I had a surprise celebration/party kind of thing that our investigators Michelle and Victor planned with my companion and 3 members from the Group Marcia (Relief Society President) her daughter Tainah and also the Gospel Principles class instructor Flavio.  It was really cool, Victor made a cake and everything.  It was really cool of them to do that for me.  Sorry if it is hard to understand my writing, I am on a bus to the transfers.  I will write a little about that in a little bit on the back of this paper, the transfers that is.  I got called to the area Serra 2.  It reminds me a lot of Auburn for some reason.  Elder Turley is still my companion, and he is now a District Leader.  Our District has our Zone Leaders in it.  They are really cool.  You will probably have heard all of this and more by the time you get this.  Oh, I got both of my packages!  Thanks for everything!  Especially the shorts and t-shirts, the special letter paper, the green and white tie, and a very special thanks for the tie, hanky and cuff link set!  I really liked all of it!  Oh and thanks for the address book too!  Elder Adam McBarron
 

8/29/11 Email from Serra Sede

Adam's email this week, my questions are in brackets.

[You didn't ever say if you have a mailing address at your new place or if we should keep sending letters to the mission home.]  Ok so just keep sending the letters to the mission home, because I don't have an address to send it to and I will always be able to get them if they are sent to the mission office, but if they are sent to another address, there is a chance that I would not get them.

[Did you have your baptism Sunday? If so, how was it?]  We didn't have the baptism  Sunday, but it will be this Saturday.

[Did you find new people to teach?]  We haven't really been able to find some new people, but we are going to try some new things this we and see if they will help.

[Have you done anything fun in your new area?]  This last pday and this pday we are playing soccer with the zone, last week was really fun!

[Are you getting more involved in the ward?]  I am starting to speak more at church, and in the ward, we don't really do too much in the ward other than help the new investigators around, which is cool! The ward missionaries take care of a lot of it.

[Did you get to bear your testimony in your new ward?]  I have not had the opportunity to bear my testimony in the ward yet, but this Sunday is Fast Sunday and I will be most likely be bearing it then, especially because I have a feeling that I might be getting transferred again this next transfer.  This is a really cool area that I am in right now, but it is also a challenging area.  It is a really large area, and also there aren't too many members from the ward in our area, not to mention all of the hills too.  We go up and down hills both ways from every appointment.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was a missionary conference that we had with the mission president and also with the area president and their wives.  I got to see a lot of the missionaries that I came out with there!   I also had a really good experience this morning in my study.  I haven't been feeling the spirit as strongly as I had been the past couple of days.  Today I was reading in the August 2011 Liahona and there was a quote in there from President Kimball in an article from Elder Perry that said that when he is feeling distant from the spirit, he immerses himself in the scriptures and renews that connection.  I decided to try that today after reading that, today was one of the best studies that I have had in the past couple of days and I  feel like I have a stronger connection to the scriptures and the spirit.  That was my best experiences this week.

I will be looking for the next package, thanks mom for all that you do!  I love you all and miss you all!

Elder Adam McBarron

P.S. thanks for the print off of the Birthday wishes mom!

Photos of Landscape Leaving Anchieta, Brazil

These are photos Adam took of the landscape when they were leaving Anchieta on their transfer to Serra Sede.

8/22/11 Email from Serra Sede

Sorry this post is late, I was on vacation and just got back.  My questions are in brackets.

Hey my week was better this week.  I can't believe that Megan [Adam's sister] is a senior, that is crazy, it feels like I was just there a couple of months ago.

[How are the lessons going with your new investigators?]  The lessons with the investigators that are progressing are going well, we don't have too many people to teach right now.  We are trying to get more people to teach.

[Any baptisms set up?]  We have a baptism set up for this Sunday and it will hopefully happen, if not, it will be next Sunday.  Her name is Malu, it is short for a longer name that I don't know how to spell.  She was first taught by the missionaries before us.

[What is your new apartment like?]  Our new apartment is bigger than the one we had in Anchieta, it is nice to have different rooms for our different things, we study in one room and then sleep and change in the other.  The only draw back to this apartment is that it only has one bathroom.

[Are there interesting sites in Serra Sede?]  There is only two interesting sights in Serra Sede, one is a big Catholic church and the other is a big garden/park like thing that is pretty cool.  I don't have any pictures of it cause we only pass it while we are proselyting and we are not supposed to take pictures while we are out proselyting.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was when I was able to say almost all of what I wanted to say in a lesson in Portuguese on faith.

The pictures are of our baptisms and of a cake that an investigator made for me for my birthday.  Thanks for the packages!  I miss you all and love you all.  Elder Adam McBarron