11/29/12 Special Email

I have gotten special permission to send this email during the week. I wanted to let you know that this last Tuesday night, the 27th, I received some news that was not too good of news.  I found out that one of my recent converts passed away.  I am better than I was that night, but I am still a little shaken up about it.  Things are better, I just wanted to let you know earlier rather than later.  By doing this it is also helping me get everything worked out.  It appears that she died because of cancer, which was kind of to be expected I guess as she has had to have many cancer treatments in her life.

I am now working which helps and I have learned a valuable lesson because of this.  I am feeling more of the Spirit with me helping me to be full of peace and helping me continue with my great task of helping others get to know our Redeemer and His wonderful power.

Don't worry too much about me for I know that I am doing the Lord´s work and that as I work He is watching over me and helping me.

I love you and miss you

Elder McBarron

11/26/12 Email From São Mateus

Ok so this week was a better week than the past few all around no sicknesses with either me or my companion that was great! This week we went to an English class to help with the students to hear the accent of a native speaker, that was pretty fun, but difficult.

We had a conference that we went to this week that was pretty cool. I got to see a lot of the members that I know from other areas that were there. We got to hear from someone from the Seventy speak to us and that was really cool, he pretty much just taught about missionary work and about service, his name was Elder Griender and that was really cool. We went to Colatina for that (that is about a 3 hour trip), and as we were going there, there were 4 people that were throwing up during the whole trip, everyone was happy to get off the bus. Do you remember the area where I said it was always hot and where I got sick really sick one day? Yeah, it was there but it was surprisingly cool there yesterday which was really weird.

 

We got to use the bikes again for one day and I took some pics. As we were out trying to find an address we saw a kid whacking a piece of wood against the ground and then walk away and afterwards we saw why, we found a snake that had had its head smashed up by the kid and so we had to take a picture of the to show as well.

I got the packages from you guys and liked was was in them that was not wrapped. I really am liking to treats and I can't wait to open the presents. I have to admit that when I got the package on of the presents had the wrapping paper ripped all the way around it and I could already see what it was so I took the wrapping paper off the missionary statues and that was a pretty cool gift. I really liked the Captain America stuff and the the blue, green and yellow tie.

So as for the meat in last week's picture that you asked about, it was really good. We went and got a lot of meat and then cooked it in the grill. The rolls were soft but not too soft, they are actually a type of bread here, so we ate the meat with that and it was really good especially with the BBQ sauce.

I have thought about home and coming home, but I am trying not too right now but it is kind of hard not too because I am in a house where there is another elder that is close to going home, but he is closer to going home than I am. So it is a little hard but it is fun talking about some of the stuff with him. I try to stay focused on the work and I am sure that mom is counting the hours.

So we are getting ready for the holiday season, one of the other missionaries has put up some Christmas lights in our apartment and I have my lego tree up and we are already singing Christmas hymns. We can't wait. I don't know what else to write for you as there wasn't really too much else that went on other than that here in my area.

Miss you and love you!

Elder McBarron

11/19/12 Email From São Mateus

Well this has been a crazy week for things happening.  This week we didn't really have too much go on other than a really good lunch this last Monday and goofing off with the other missionaries.  I am including pictures of it.

So this week went by really fast as well.  We had a training meeting that was kind of a pain, but hey what can you do, you have to have some of those every once in a while.  This week it got really humid, it was still raining and it was good that it was still raining because it is definitely getting hot here.  It has been raining so much that there was actually part of my area where it started to flood the streets and it has stayed there for a few days now.

Our next baptismal dates fell through, we will see what is going on with them and if they actually have a desire to continue with this journey that will bring them more happiness or not we will see.  

This week we have not idea what we are going to be doing other than working and working.  I am ready to have some fun here this week knocking doors and doing contacts because we don't have any references. We are going to try and get some references from members this week but we will see.  We have a district conference this Sunday which is just like a stake conference but with a member district. 

The best part of the week was having an exchange with my district leader and I learned a lot despite not having a very productive day. We talked with a lot of people that were iffy about hearing our message.

I don't really have anything else to say   Have fun with Thanksgiving and eat a lot of the meat for me okay!  Love you and miss you!

Elder McBarron

 

11/12/12 Email from São Mateus

So, I am still in my same area, I will probably be leaving in another 5 weeks. After these 5 weeks I will have 9 months in this area. 

I was sick this week, I had to stay home for a day and sort that out and the next day I was working even though I was still a little bit sick.

We had a baptism this week, that was great, and we had it in the ocean!  We are finding a lot of new and good people here and we have 3 more baptismal dates marked.  We are planning on marking more dates with other people as well this week.  We have an investigator that is having problems with forgiveness, let's just say that he had a problem in the past and now he is having a hard time forgiving himself and others for their actions.  It would be really cool if you could help with him, if you could at least help pray for him that would be great.

I am really tired today we had and exhausting week and we finally get to rest today.  I really don't have anything else for this week other than that I received another testimony that the Atonement is real and that we can be forgiven and that our Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us.  Well, other than that, I don't really anything else.  Miss you mom and love you.

Elder McBarron

 

11/5/12 Email from São Mateus

Well this week was a pain, I had to go and get another ingrown toenail removed.  I had to wait a really long time to get in and get it done and then I had to stay at home for two days.  Those were two really boring days and then it rained on us up until today.  We tried to talk with people and get their address so that we can visit with them, but the rain does not help with that.  So we are now getting ready for this next week to have a baptism and to have a good start to a new transfer.

We did get boxes of candy on Halloween to celebrate and I got the last of the Christmas stuff for you all so I will be trying to get that out to you all this week. 

A really good part of the week was that we marked a new baptismal date for the 10th and he passed his baptismal interview.  We have another investigator who has not gotten married yet because of not having enough money right now, but he will get married here in a little bit.

Dad that is awesome that you got a new companion for home teaching, tell him for me to take care of you with the home teaching and try and help him find the value and the worth of home teaching. That is something that I am finding on the mission, that most of the family home teachers here don't know the importance of why they are doing home teaching and some only do it because they are required to do it, not because they actually want to do it. I really miss doing home teaching, it brought a lot of joy to be helping people. I didn't know the whole worth and value of home teaching when I started home teaching with you, but I learned from you the value and worth and also with my other home teaching companion as well. But it is our first companion that sets everything up for us, just like the first companion on the mission. The first companion shows you the ropes and gets you started on the right path.

I can't wait to get the package from you guys and I can't wait to talk with you all at Christmas. I will be trying to send a package home to you which I am going to try and do that today, we will see what happens.

Oh, I will be staying one more transfer so I will be here for 9 months in one area, that is pretty crazy.  Well, I don't know what else to put down, so miss ya!
 

Elder McBarron