8/28/12 email from São Mateus

So this week I got my birthday package and loved everything that was in there and my companion as well.  I really liked the Star Wars stuff and the bacon tie.  Also, thanks for the BBQ sauce, we are definitely enjoying that.  My birthday was pretty great this year and last here on the mission.

It is really cool here to be getting to know pretty much the whole city like the back of my hand just like I did with the last area where I stayed for a long time.

We had a baptism, we baptized a man that was very large and could not bend his knees so we had to have me and my companion there to help support the weight and make sure that he was baptized correctly.  That was pretty fun as I got to be the one to baptize him.

So it is raining a lot here, it is starting to remind me of home.  I am starting to have a hard time trying to write in English.  I started studying and writing what I am studying only in Portuguese and that is messing with me a little.

So I am trying to remember what all happened this week other than the zone meeting and getting the package and cards there.  The only other thing that was really exciting would have to be the baptism that we had.  Oh yeah, I did a service project that was really fun.  I got to cut up huge branches from a tree into smaller pieces with a machete that was really fun, but I got some blisters on my hand that popped that was not too much fun.

Well, I have to go, but hey here are some more pictures, mostly of my birthday gifts.  Love you and miss you.

Elder McBarron

 

8/20/12 Email from São Mateus

So unfortunately I have not gotten my package yet, I will be getting it tomorrow.  Our zone meeting was postponed until tomorrow.

This week was kind of a dud week because it was raining and seemed to be freaking everyone out.  We didn't have a ton of lessons like usual, the few we did have got canceled because of the rain.  We pretty much just had fun in the rain.

Other than that we just marked to have one baptism on the 1st.  She has 2 siblings that are members and her mom is studying with us too.

I am happy about what I have done with my mission so far, the people that I have met and the people that I have helped return to our Father in Heaven or at least get on the pathway.

I can't wait to get the package tomorrow!  Yeah, that is about it for the update.  Miss you and love ya!

Elder McBarron

8/13/12 Email From São Mateus

l[What happened this week?]  The weather is good but it is feeling a little cold now and that is a little strange considering it is warmer here than it is in Washington normally.  I am liking the rain a lot.   This was a hard week because the other to missionaries were ending their missions this week and that just brought us down because it was two missionaries and not just one leaving.  It would have been easier if it had been just one, but well they are gone now and things are better, oh, and I got 4 new ties because of them.

[What did you find out about transfers?]  So the 411 for the week is that I will be staying here and my companion as well.  This will be our third transfer together and it should be a fun one because we will be by ourselves in the whole city again.  But, hey, that means that we have more people that we can baptize then and . 

[Any baptisms scheduled?]  The baptism of the other elders that left happened Saturday which was good and I got really excited about it.  Now my companion is thinking that I am crazy, but hey, maybe I am a little crazy.  We have someone that is going to be baptized on the 25th of this month, he was taught by the missionaries that were just here that are going home now because they have finished their missions so we will baptize him.  We also have 2 more people that we have marked baptismal dates with and we will be working with them so that they will be baptized on the 1st of September.  We are trying to teach some other people too and we are thinking about marking a date with one other person for the 25th or the 1st.

[What did you get to do for your birthday?]  Well, as for my birthday, I  got a really funny surprise from the other Elders.  We didn't have a cake or anything to put candles in so they grabbed something that we did have and, yeah, that was a potato.  They brought it in with the candles lit and started to sing, that was pretty funny!  Then as we were going throughout our day we went to a member´s house and they made a cake and sang Happy Birthday to me and that was pretty cool.  My companion and I also went and got milkshakes and that was pretty good.  So it was a good birthday.  I will be getting my package on Friday since I will not be going to the transfer meeting.

Well miss you and love ya.

Elder McBarron

P.S.  Garoto is a chocolate factory here where I am serving it is basically the Hershey of Brazil.

8/6/12 Email From São Mateus

[How was your week?]  So this week we didn't really have anything big happen, we pretty much just had the same old same old.  We did have our interviews with the Mission President and then we had a few situations with some atheists this week, yeah that was fun.  I was sitting there the whole time just wanting to tell them that they are wrong and that they know that, but they are too proud to admit it.  We also had some situations with some Seventh-day Adventists, they tried to tell us that we were wrong and that we are not following the 10 commandments.  Then they gave us their books and we gave them the Book of Mormon and we told them to read and pray about our message and they asked us to pray and see if we were are not following every part of the 10 commandments, we said ok.  We went home, we prayed and, yep, we are following all of the commandments.  I guess that had to have made our week a little exciting

[What is the weirdest dream you have had since you have been on your mission?]  My craziest dream that I had was a dream where I was doing contacts, but I was not a missionary anymore.  I was talking with everyone as if I were a missionary and I was talking with a girl that I had never seen before.  We were walking in the street and I was walking with the missionary pace and she could not keep up and at the end I was just talking with people.

[What would you say is the worst apartment you have had so far?]  The worst apartment, I have no idea they were all bad and good at the same time.-

[What funny experiences have you had with people in the streets?]  Everyone here thinks that we work for the bus companies so they come up to us to ask when the next bus passes by and other things.  It is funny to tell them that we don't work for the bus companies and then do a contact with them.  A lot of the drunks call us over and ask us to preach something to them and then they offer to buy us a beer.  It is really funny talking with the drunks, they have no idea most of the time who we are, what we do or what they are doing.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was performing a baptismal interview, that was pretty cool.  The other elders are going to have a baptism this Saturday!

Well, that is the highlights of the week without all of the boring stuff of walking, eating, sleeping and studying.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Thanks for the birthday wishes! unfortunately i did not get my package yet, but I will be getting it at transfers on the 14th.  Let me know when the package that I sent gets to you.  Miss you and love you!

Elder McBarron