1/30/12 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

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

Sporting a Bieber do just before a hair cut : )



 [Mom has been sick this last week, how about you, how is it going?]  I am doing well, Mom I have something to say that a lot of times we have to do all that we can do first before a miracle can take place, especially with a blessing of health.

[How is your new companion, where is he from and how long has he been out, etc. ?]  Things are going better here.  I am a little more ready to work and I want to work.  I was kind of getting depressed with my last companion wanting me to make all of the decisions and being quiet and not really talking a lot.  Me and my new companion are getting along really well.  My new companion is
from Spokane, WA and he came to Brazil with me.  He was in my CTM District.  His name is Elder Collins.

[What are your goals with your new companionship?]  We are planing our goals for our companionship.

[How are your new roommates, where are they from, how long have they been out, etc?]  My roommates are from California and São Paulo.  The American has two transfers left after this and the Brazilian just started, he just ended his training.

[How is the teaching going?   Did you have your baptism?]  we have not had our baptism yet, it will be on the 10th.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was getting Elder Collins as a companion.

Miss you all and love ya.

Elder McBarron

1/23/12 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

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

 

This week was good, we met a lot of new people and had a new perspective this week.  We have a baptism marked for February 11.  She is 12 years old, but she is showing a great interest in the church.
  

[We got snow and freezing rain, how about you? Okay, we know Heat, Heat and Heat!]  No we didn't have any snow or freezing rain.  We hardly had rain this week it was a really dry week and with that it was even hotter.

 

[How is it going with your investigators?]  One of our investigators gave us the boot, probably because her boyfriend was talking bad about us and she didn't want to give up her boyfriend to be closer to Christ.  We are teaching a family and we are now focusing on teaching one of the children that has a chance of getting baptized.  We are teaching the lessons to the new members because the members aren't doing it up to this point.

 

[How are your families that you have baptized doing, have your heard?]  Michelle is going strong and Malu also, the others that are not in my area are starting to fall away or have fallen away because the members aren' really helping them stay active.  This is something that is a problem in the church in whatever area you will be, if the members are not helping with the new members, they will fall away.

 

[Is the ward taking care of you?]  The ward is giving us lunch and that is about it.  We are getting a few references but that is about it.  We have to work pretty hard to get these references.

 

[What did you do for fun?]  For fun this week we had an activity with the zone.  Also we got pizza and will get pizza again today.

 

[What is the news on transfers for this week?]  I am staying again in the area.  My companion is being transferred and the other 2 missionaries as well.  I will be the only missionary that is staying again.  That is pretty much the news on the transfers, Presidente said that I will really like my new companion, but I don't know who my new companion will be.   I am trusting president on this one.

 

[How is the toe doing?]  My toe is doing fine, the nail is growing back now and everything is looking good.

 

[Who was the most interesting person that you ran into this week?]  The most interesting person that we ran into was a woman that, as we were walking in the street, came to us and asked us who we were just because she kept seeing us walking in the street and thought we were Seventh Day Adventist but wasn't sure.  We got her address and will be going to visit her. That kept me going for a little while.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was last night at the fireside that President Araújo gave in the ward.  It was really good and I was the chorister, that was pretty fun!

 

I don't really have too much else to say other than I miss you all and love ya.

Elder McBarron

1/16/12 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[I have to apologize for this being a week late, lots of storms this week here in Washington State and we lost power for days.  So, here is Adam's emails from last week, our questions and comments are in brackets.]

[Let it snow , let it snow, let it snow; did you guess that it is snowing here?]  Thanks for the trunkyness, that's what we call homesickness here in the mission.  I wish that I could have been there for the snow.  Oh well, I am getting a pretty dark tan here.  This week I was frying a couple of days because I forgot my sunscreen in the apartment but I didn't fry too bad as I was good by the next day.

Things are going ok here, we aren't having the results that we would like from our work but that is sometimes part of being a missionary, right? We woke up this Sunday at 5:30 am to go and get our investigators and not one came to church with us.  We were at one house for about an hour trying to wake them up so that they could come to church, I was yelling pretty loud for about the whole time and no one woke up.

Oh, I found a DVD  and bought it for really cheap, guess what it is of . . . , the Woody the Woodpecker show.  But the only thing is that it is only in Portuguese so if you guys wanted to watch it with me I think that you would be a little lost.  I was really excited when I saw it because I hadn't seen that show in years!  I bought it for 2.50 reais which is about $1.25, that was pretty cool too.

[Are you supposed to find out if you are getting transferred this week?]  We have one last week of this transfer, to get things going right with all of the members and with our investigators.  I will find out if I will be transferred next Monday and I will not find out where I will be transferred to, if I am transferred, until next Tuesday.

[Are you keeping your space clean? How are chores divided between you and your roommates?]  We are keeping things clean, we divide everything up.  One person cleans the bathrooms, one cleans the kitchen, one person sweeps and one person mops.

 

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was that with the bishop here.  We had a really good lesson last night while we were teaching the mother of a member.  I started saying things about the first lesson that I had never thought of saying before and bishop said some really good stuff.

I was trying to send photos again this week but the computers here aren't liking me sending photos.

I hope all is going well for you.  Miss you all and love ya.

 

Seu Filho

Elder McBarron

 

1/9/12 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions and comments are in brackets.  I can tell it's getting harder for him to think in English, I had to fix some of his sentences. : ) ]

[Nice picture on the motorcycle, who's was it?]  The motorcycle is owned by one of the people that I baptized.

[Now that the holidays are over, have your lessons picked up?Anyone new this week?]  Our lessons are starting to pick up now that the holidays are over, but they are still going a little slow right now because it is vacations for the Brazilians right now.  But we are finding more people to teach and it is getting easier to find people in their houses. We are unfortunately going to have to cut a lot of our teaching pool, they are not progressing. I had a division this week with my zone leader, that was pretty good.  Last week the Mission President said to me in an email that I might be a trainer or a leader soon, I thought that was pretty cool!  We are going to be using our teaching records from the area book more this week to try and find more people to teach, we found three people this last week doing this.  My district leader is becoming a little bit better to deal with, he is starting to talk with me a little bit more at the very least, which is helping.

[I wasn't feeling well and had our home teacher over for a blessing and we set a day for him to come visit every month.]  I am glad that you are doing well now. The weeks are going a lot faster here now. I am glad that you are having your home teachers come over we as members have to be asking or accepting our home teachers to come and visit us, home teaching is a big problem here, not too many people do their home teaching.  I am glad that you marked a set day for your home teacher to come and visit with you, it makes it easier on everyone.

[What is your favorite treat to get in Brazil?]  My favorite treat to buy is a chocolate from the Garoto factory called Serenata de Amor, it is really good.  When I come home I will buy some for you all to try.

[Any new goals for 2012?]  I have a new goal that our Mission President set for us that each missionary will baptize 20 people during the year.  Also to finish the Book of Mormon in Portuguese by the end of the year 2 times.

[Are you getting transferred now that the new year is here?]  I don't really have too much more to say for this week. I won't know if I will be transferred until not this next p-day but the p-day after, but I will probably be transferred, but I don't want to be transferred from here.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was working with my zone leader in my area, we had some really good lessons, and one lesson that we did not leave until she understood the importance of visiting the church.

That is pretty much all that I have for the week.  Oh I tried to do the Justin Beiber hair-do this week, I will be getting my hair cut today. I will send pictures next week the computer is not liking that I am trying to send pictures. Love you all and miss you all.

Seu filho

Elder McBarron

1/1/12 Email from Jardim Limoeiro

[Adam's email for this week, our questions are in brackets]
 
I can't believe that it is 2012. Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!

[How did you spend the rest of Christmas day?]  After we talked, I spent the rest of the day visiting people and then went home and slept.

[What did you do all week?]  I get to wake up the same time as every other day 6:30 am, what a wonderful life of a missionary!  We did find things to keep us busy, we had interviews with the Mission President and also a zone conference that when we got done and got to our area it was 7:30 pm.  We didn't really need to come up with something to do because the Mission President did it for us.  The other days we were trying to make up for lost time, and we played in the street, playing soccer with mangos.

[What did you do for New year's?]  I had a good New Year's, I woke up just in time to celebrate the new year changing and then went to sleep again.

[Where did you spend New years eve and day?] We spent new years with members and investigators until 8:30 and then we went back home planned and then went to sleep and then went to church and spent the time with our investigators again.

[Were you able to teach this week, or were most people out of town?] We were able to teach this week but it was difficult because everyone was traveling and most people were out of town but we did teach some people, but we didn't find any new people to teach.

[How about the new family are they receptive to you message?]  The new family is doing well the only thing is getting them to the church, we will mark dates with all of the children.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience was my interview with President Araújo.

Miss you all and love you all.

Elder McBarron

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