1/29/13 Email From Vitória

I am now with a toe that is getting better. I am now walking with shoes again and my toe is doing better, which is good. My new companion was only with me for one week and then I got a new companion, one of the assistants, but that will probably change today. I was with this assistant because my companion was pretty sick and president wanted me to still work in the area. With my regular companion we were going to the doctor or the labs pretty much during the whole week that I was with him. My companion was not getting better and he is now living with president and sister and he might have to go back home. So because of that I am now the companion of one of the assistants until today. I will be getting a new companion and I have no idea who it will be.

I didn't get to send my emails yesterday because I was in the mission office working with an assistant of the mission. I am staying in the area and will be getting a new companion again the fourth time this transfer.

The fun thing this week was working with Elder Oliveira, the assistant. We have had a lot of good ideas that we are going to put into practice in the ward. Also, we have been having fun messing around as we are working. We have been working very hard and have been nonstop the whole week.
I have had a lot of fun just living with Elder Oliveira and working with him.

I will only have one more transfer after today which is strange. Yesterday I got to see the missionaries that are going home be interviewed and it was kind of strange. I don't know what else to say, I will tell you more after the transfer next week. We have to go so that we can get everything done before we have to go to the transfers and we have to do a few more things before the transfer so that everything runs smoothly.

Miss you and love ya!

Elder McBarron

1/21/13 Email From Vitória

This week it rained so much that it flooded in our neighborhood. We had to walk in the water to get to our house. I took a pic that you might like.  The AP's have been traveling with our Mission President this week so they have not been home for the last week.   We did have our baptism, that was pretty cool.

We had the transfer, it wasn't time for regular transfers, this was an emergency transfer.   Regular transfers are on the 29th, but Elder Johnson needed to come here to be near the doctors so that is why the emergency transfer happened.  My new companion is Elder B. Johnson and he is American.  He has been out on his mission for only about four months.  So I am now a translator, a Portuguese teacher and a missionary, pretty cool huh!  Elder Johnson is cool and he is with me because he is sick and needs to be nearby the doctors which means I am training him, well, I am only finishing his training.

Well, this past week I had to get my whole toenail removed.  My toe nail got ingrown on the other side of the nail this time so they had me go and get the whole nail removed, yeah I don't have a nail now.  That wasn't fun and I have rested with my companion who has had stomach problems for the past month.   I am doing all that I can to help him get better as well as help myself get better.  We will hopefully find out this week what is going on with him.

This week was a fast paced but a slow blur.   We were in the doctor's office almost everyday this week for either me or my companion so we didn't really get opportunities to meet many people because we were either at the doctor's office or at home resting.  We did have a ward activity that was pretty cool, we got to eat ice cream and the members had a dance class and they played volleyball. I would do that again in a heart beat.  Well that is pretty much all that happened this week.
I have two more transfers and then I will be home, that is really weird. Miss you and love ya!

Elder McBarron
 

1/14/13 Email From Vitória

My week was pretty fast and I don't really remember too much of what has happened here. We have been having fun playing Monopoly Deal and I have learned how to croxe, but now we can't croxe on the mission.

We did have a really good lesson with an investigator about eternal marriage and how marriage is a commandment from God and about baptisms for the dead. After that lesson we invited him to be baptized and he said yes. He will be baptized on Sunday. We are going to mark more this week with a few of the investigators that we have.

The assistants moved into our house last night, that should be fun for the next few months. So my companion is being transferred to another area today and I still don't have my headings here very well and we were getting a long just fine, so that kind of stinks. Now I will have a new companion that I will have to get used to and also get the work rolling. Because of the transfer, we don't have too much more time so sorry that this email is short.

I will probably leave on the 17th early in the morning and get home on the 17th late at night or really early on the 18th. I have no idea as I have not gotten my flight information yet they are still getting everything organized. April 17th still feels like a long way away. I am still feeling like normal, not really anxious to leave, but a little bit at the same time.

We had a picture taken with some members of the Seventy that have been released from the service of the quorum I am sending. Well, I really don't know what to say this week, this week blew by fast and I don't really remember too much about it. I am sorry that I don't have a lot to tell you, but next week I will have more to tell you I promise. I miss you and can't wait to see you all in a little bit.

Elder McBarron

1/7/13 Email From Vitória

It looks like my release date will be the 17th, I will be flying home the 17th of April. 

We had fun with New Year's Eve until we tried to sleep. We stayed up until midnight and then tried to sleep, but it sounded here like they were having a war here.  One of our neighbors started setting off big huge fireworks off right out side of our window, which was a little strange.

I had a good week, we were not able to get to work as normally this week but we got close.  We had some good lessons this week, but we also had to let someone go that we have been working with for a while.  Also I had a division this week which was pretty fun.  I was with another American that just got here and he has the same amount of time on the mission as what I have left.  It was cool to help him with building his self confidence.  We found some new people to teach and we have a few people that are just about ready for baptism, we just need to mark a date with them. We are working a lot and we are trying to find more people to teach. We are working as best we can and we are having a little bit of success. We are also being "missionary teachers" kind of like home teachers helping out this month with the visits here. We have one family to reactivate which in turn will help reactivate another family. I am really learning the importance of getting home and visiting teaching done and how it impacts the lives of the other members in the ward. We are trying to work with references, but we are getting very few.

Well, that is pretty much all that happened this week.  This week we have been working in the heat and sun, that is pretty fun. I will be so tan when I get home it won't even be funny.  We have not had any rain yet here, but it should be coming here in a few weeks.  I have some cool pics to send of the area and other things.   Miss you and love you.

Elder McBarron