Returned With Honor

Elder McBarron left Vitoria, Brazil yesterday at 5:00 pm Vitoria time to return home.  It took him over 27 hours to finally make it home.  What a glorious moment to receive your missionary back home!  Elder McBarron was released as a full-time missionary today and we are so happy to have him home!

4/8/13 Email From Vitória

This week was fine, we worked a lot and went to conference which was really good, I loved it.  I watched it for the last time in Portuguese while I am here on the mission.  I am completely tired and, well, that is that.  I still have one more week of work and that is going to be fun.  I am ready to come home but I still want to work a little more.  I am going to be home in about 8 to 9 days.

We did not have our baptisms because of a few unforeseen complications, but we will hopefully get the baptisms this week. 

I am doing all I can while still having fun while I still have time to work here on the mission.  I have ideas that I want to do with my life and, well, they are just ideas.  I will have to bring them to the Lord when I get home because I will probably not receive revelation for this while I am here on the mission when I need to be receiving different revelation.

The first thing that I want to do when I get home is just hang out, maybe watch some movies, listen to music, play some games, and more.  I would like to go to the temple, but I am thinking it might be better for me to do that another day.

Miss you and can´t wait to see you soon.

 

Elder McBarron

PS  Here is a picture of me and my companion Elder Powell

3/25/13 Email From Vitória

This week we have been geeking out a lot, we were both sick for the whole week and well we had to stay at home for the whole week pretty much, it was pretty much just Sunday that we left the house other than to go to the pharmacy to get medicine. I had a fever of 101.8 and it got to about 102.1 at one point, not fun.   Being sick for the whole week was the worst and best part of the week. The worst part because we were stuck at home with nothing to do, the best part because we got to rest. 
I am actually still a little bit sick, but a lot better than I was.

This week we had a major rain fall and now part of our house is pretty much destroyed.  I took some pictures of the flooding that happened here.

The most spiritual part of the week was yesterday when we gave our investigator a Priesthood Blessing.  He wasn't at church so we went over to visit him and he was sick.  We gave him a blessing and it was just a really good experience.

I have not gotten my flight info yet, I don't know why, but if I don't receive it this week, I should get it this next p-day.  I will have to see what is going to happen with my flight schedule and all that because I will probably be traveling for about 24 hours to get back home and that is going to stink.

I really don't have too much more to say because we were at home for the whole week just resting and talking with each other.  We are working and we are trying to work smarter and not harder.  We do have a baptism for the 31st and that is really cool.  Oh, and I almost stepped on a dead pigeon this morning, that was pretty weird.  Miss you!

Elder McBarron
 

3/18/13 Email From Vitória

This week was one of those weeks where you evaluate the teaching pool.  We are trying to build up a new teaching pool, we are going to try and have a baptism this week but if not this week it will probably be the next week. He is a brother of a recent convert and his family has told us that he really likes us.  Our baptism that was lined up for this week fell through.

So what made this week fun was that I was able to just have fun really, me and my companion we have just been getting along really well and well that is just great.  It helps to have a companion that you can just have fun with them.

I did a contact in the street with a very beautiful girl and I have no idea how I did it.  The spirit was definitely guiding my words with that contact because I would normally have frozen.  My companion was a witness to all of that because afterwards I said, "how in the world did I do that?"  I had him write down what happened from his point of view.  That has to be part of the most spiritual experiences this week and the other part would be being able to watch "17 Miracles" this week for the first time on the mission.  The best thing that we did this week was having had lunch with Mauricio on Monday and we just relaxed.

I will probably be getting my travel info next week, so I will let you know what will be happening.
I don't know what else to tell you because that was all of the big stuff that happened this week that I can remember. Miss you.

Elder McBarron

 

3/4/13 Email From Vitória

I will be staying here in Vitoria and I am going to finish my mission here. I am going to have fun here in the area and the ward. I have no idea who will be my companion still, it will only be tomorrow that I will find out. It is weird thinking that this will be my last transfer here on the mission and then I will be coming home, it has gone by really fast.  I am glad, but a little sad, that this will be my last transfer. I am looking forward to getting a new companion and that I will be staying here in the area.

  

Dad, you asked me what the flavor of the week is and it is root beer.  It is the flavor of the week because that is something that I am missing.  We had a lot of lasagna at lunch with the bishop yesterday and I ate until I couldn't any more, that was fun. 

So you asked about p-days, if we played sports or went hunting.  We can't play soccer anymore, it has been prohibited by the Area Presidency, not sure why.  I would have liked to have gone hunting with a member but, they can't go hunting here in Brazil with guns.  The only people that are allowed to use guns are the military and the police here.

We have been getting some teaching in but at times it is hard because everyone here is usually busy. But we are finding people that we can visit.  We are visiting friends just to visit, which is fun, but also it counts as a lesson because they are less active. 

There is something funny about this mission that President pointed out this week.  This is the best mission in the world because it is the only mission that is in Espirito Santo (which means "the Holy Spirit"), that has the city of Gloria ("glory") and the city of Vitória ("victory") in it.  I thought that that was pretty cool.

 

I only have one picture for you today, it is of a family night that we had last night with some members of the ward and it was pretty fun.  I gave a message about courage.

 

So I am in my last transfer, that is going to be strange, but I will make every moment fun so that everything will go by faster and so I will have a good time.  I am trunky, but it is a good thing and I am going to have as much fun, or at least try to, as I work and I plan to work hard.  I only have 6 more weeks, so Mom you just have to wait 6 more weeks, okay and then I will be home, don't get too antsy.

 

Miss you.

Elder McBarron

2/18/13 Email from Vitória

I have not been up to too much, we don't have any baptisms lined up.  I did take a few pictures and I did meet a few interesting people and, well, they were pretty much all drunks.  The funnest thing that I  did this week was play a few card games with the other missionaries in the house.

I can't wait to ride my dirt back again, it is hard here to not think about riding a motorcycle, we see a ton of them everyday.  I know that I will be home before I know it, that is why I am trying to do all that I can to finish with the work that I  have to do here on the mission and trying to figure it out.  I am doing the best I can right now to do what I am supposed to be doing here on the mission these last few weeks.  I am trying to find the people that I am supposed to teach and I am trying to do all I can.  I want to do all that I can in whatever area that I am in in my last transfer.

Miss you!
 

Elder McBarron

2/13/13 Email From Vitória

This week was a week of testing my patience, it was a week of pretty much nothing.  We had the annual carnival holiday this weekend and everyone was crazy because of it.  I am a little bit exhausted and we were not able to email on Monday because all of the LAN houses were closed because of the holiday.

We have rats in our neighborhood and they are as big as little cats. I have seen a rat that was bigger than a chauaua.
 
My best experience this week was an appointment that we had with a kid our age about 20 years old.  He does not go to any church because he sees a lot of things wrong with the other churches.  We started talking with him about our message and how the church is and he liked what he heard.  He told us to come back and teach him more.  He is really liking what he is hearing and he said that it makes sense.

I am trying to make things exciting and not to think too much about home so that I don't lose my focus.  Miss you!

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
 

 

12/31/12 Email From Vitória

So this is the last day of 2012 that is strange.  It feels like it was just yesterday that it was New Year's.  So this week after we talked we had a busy week. We got called to help with an emergency transfer for some other missionaries. We had to go to the bus station and pick up a missionary and then do the exchange. Then the next day we had to take the other missionary to the bus station for him to go to his area. We lost a day of work, but I liked helping and I know that President trusts me to help with that.

We have been working, but everything has not been going very well with the end of the year coming. We did a lot of contacts and not many people wanted to talk with us or they live in other cities. Pretty much all of our appointments fell through, but I know that that is just how everything goes at the end of the year. It was this way last year as well so I am not getting too down about it, but it is a little difficult. It has been more difficult on my companion, so I am trying to help him with that.
 
I am really liking things here.  Vitoria is really busy and not a lot of people want to hear the message that we have to bring to them. So think of Seattle and you will know what Vitoria is like other than it being hotter here than it gets in Seattle. I am liking the members here, I am having them come up to me and tell me that they are glad that there has been a change0 in the missionaries and hope to see the work pick up.   I am glad to be getting their trust.

Michell and Elder McBarron

You will never guess who I ran into Sunday, Michelle from Anchieta!  She was at church here in Vitoria.  She was visiting a friend to see her wedding.  She told me something that is kind of funny and also a little strange.  She said that every time that she receives one of my letters the next Sunday she encounters me.  The first time was there in Guarapari, I sent my letter, she got it and then I was transferred and was there on Sunday.  This week she got my letter this week and she saw me here on Sunday.  It was really cool to see her and see that she is still strong in the church.  She is one of the strongest baptized members that I have had here on the mission. 

My companion and I also had our fireside, that went over well and it was pretty much just the youth in the ward that were there and the former Seventy that is our ward mission leader.  The ward mission leader said that it went really well and that he liked it.  The youth in the ward said that we should do another one, I think that that means that they liked it too.  Michelle was there also for the fireside, that was pretty cool too as I was able to use her story (without using her name) as part of the fireside and it helped it.  So, I figure if the youth want another one and a former Seventy is saying that it was good, it was good.  I thought that was pretty cool.

Not too much more happened since we talked on Tuesday.  The Christmas dinner we had was really good. They had a hot sauce that was hot, but also sweet at the same time, it was really good. I have come to like hot sauce on the mission.  The rest of the week was a race to try and get things done.  The highlights of the week were talking with you all and seeing Michelle.  I will find out when I get to come home probably on the 3rd as I will be going to the mission office to have an interview with the Mission President and I will ask the secretaries.  Miss you all and love you all!

Elder McBarron

12/24/12 Email from Vitória

Tomorrow we will be talking over Skype I will be using the computer in the church to Skype you guys.  I was thinking about calling tomorrow about 4:00 or 4:30 pm here which would be about 10:00 in the morning for you guys.

I am in a new area that I have not been before, I am now in the Capital of the State of Espirito Santo which is Vitória.  My area is huge and it is just me and my companion here in the ward.  Our new area is the center of the mission and the mission office is in my area which is pretty cool.   If I want to I can pass by there and pick up things or grab material for teaching. We hope to make a difference here, we both have a vision that this ward can grow. I have gotten to know a lot of the members from this Ward and a few from the neighboring Ward, Marauipe.

I am getting a long with my new companion pretty well, his name is Elder Stelzer, he is from São Paulo.  We are trying to think of ways that we can work more with the members, we are trying to find ways to the ward members excited about missionary work.  We have an idea that we are working on, we are going to do a missionary fireside this next Sunday and we will be having a competition with the ward members with prizes for helping with the missionary work.




View of Vitoria outside our window

So the first day in the area was an interesting one, people were coming up to us and just giving us their addresses and that was pretty cool.  We found a family of 11 people this week and we are working with them and, hopefully, will be baptized before the end of the transfer.  We also did a service project for one of the city representatives that we met where we helped her deliver presents to kids in the city who don't have much.  That ended up being more of being a security guard of the toys as the kids were really excited.  We also helped with a party for the Primary kids and my companion was Santa Claus, that was pretty funny.

All is going well here, me and my companion are really excited for the work. We are going to turn Vitoria into the area with most of the baptisims this year.  I have opened all of the Christmas presents, I reallly like the 2 shirts and the air guitar!  I have pretty much eaten all of the food already.  Oh, I also really liked the books.  See you tomorrow!  Miss you!

Elder McBarron

 

12/17/12 Email from São Mateus

This week I was the chorister for church and I gave a talk yesterday so that was pretty cool and strange. This week I have been learning about a lot of stuff. I have learned about forgiveness and missionary work and how they are linked even more than I thought. We help others know how to treat each other and how we need to forgive them. We need help others learn to forgive. We need to share the gospel and, as we do, we will as well be forgiven and that as we learn to share the gospel we will know how to forgive. We need to forgive ourselves, which is often times, the hardest part. We had an investigator that has struggled with this. I have also learned that if we do not share the message of the restored gospel we can not receive the salvation, this church and gospel is one of work, we can not just sit there and do nothing.

I will be getting transferred this week on Tuesday, which is tomorrow.  I am excited, but also not, I want to leave but I also don't want to leave.  I will have to get to know a whole new area and figure out what I am going to do for my Christmas call home, that will be fun.  This is going to be a strange week after 9 months here I will be going to another area.   I hope that I go back to an area that I have already been in, but who knows what will happen, I will find out tonight. We didn't find out until last night if I was leaving or if I was staying. My baptism is setup for the 29th, but I guess now it is not my baptism.

I come home in 4 1/2 months to be exact.  I  am not really sure what I will be doing when I get home.  I want to work for a while and do some online classes and I think that I might go to BYUI, but I am not sure.  I will have to get home first to really decide.  I am thinking that I will study psychology as my major and exercise as my minor.

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!  So, I am 22 and you two have been together for 25 years, that is pretty cool.  As I get older you do too!  I am sending a picture of a dog doing something weird, he is trying to watch everyone from underneath a door.  So we are going to have our mission party for Christmas.  I am going to be leaving after nine months of being here in São Mateus and going to be going to another area that I may not know and that is a little nerve racking.  I am ready for Christmas and for in 4 1/2 months to get home.  Miss you and love ya!

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

 

10/29/12 Email from São Mateus

My week was a crazy week we were running around trying to do a lot of stuff but it was a really good week. We were putting a new teaching pool together so that is why it was crazy.  We aren't riding the bikes anymore, we don't really have a the necessity to use them any more.  For service projects we usually move furniture, weed yards or help build houses. That is the usual service stuff.

 

I can't believe that it is Halloween, they don't really do anything here to celebrate it, but I am thinking up a costume that I can use on the next Halloween which will be great.

 

We saw some really cute puppies this week and I took a picture of them for Megan.  We also saw some burrowing owls and I took some pictures of them as well.

I will probably be staying but I will not know until Saturday, but there is a good chance that I will be staying.  I am starting to get the new guy opened up and get the work going really well.  We did not have our baptisms this last week and we will not have baptisms this week either.  We had our baptisms fall through this week (this means that they are not ready to get baptised or that they don't really have a desire to get baptized).

We are going to work in another part of our area to try and get things rolling again and see if that gets everything back on track.  We found a family that lived in the states for 12 years which is pretty cool. Their son speaks really good English.

I helped make a Brazilian Torta which is like a cake and pie kind of thing, it is hard to describe it, I can pretty much just say that it is food so I am including a picture of it.

My best experience this week was talking with a family that lived in the states for 12 years.  I can't believe that I only have about 5 more months here time flies really fast here. Well, I don't know what else to put.  Miss you and I will be looking forward to the Christmas box.

Elder McBarron

 

 

 

10/8/12 Email From São Mateus

This week was really good, as for the work on the mission front was good pretty much the same old same old, us helping a lot of people and doing all that we can do. I am getting physically tired, but hey that is what p-day is for -to rest. I am still eating a lot, I have been having the munchies for the last little while. We got to ride some bikes this week during our proselyting time, we borrowed them from a member and we went with him and visited a lot of people. I am a little saddle sore right now but hey that is what happens when you have not riden a bike in over a year, but it saved a lot of time. We did mark 4 more baptismal dates and we will be marking more this coming week.

Conference was really good from what I got to see. I was able to watch the last 2 sessions. I can't believe that they changed the age requirements. We are going to be having a lot of missionaries coming now that are really young and a lot of young women now that will be serving a mission, that will be really weird to see here in a couple of months. The missions are going to be flooded with sisters now and there will be just as many sisters as there will be elders, that is going to be strange. I really enjoyed what I was able to watch of conference, but I didn't get to see too much.

My companion and I are getting along really well and I am getting along really well with the roomies as well. My companion is cool, he is a little quiet, I am a little more crazy than he is. I am trying to help him be a little bit more animated and find his crazy side. I just need to make sure that i am taking good care of my companion and everything will be fine.

Fun and unusual this week would have had to have been the bike riding and eating BBQ, yeah that was good.

We need to do all of our Home Teaching visits because we help support everyone all of the members by doing our visits and also by showing that we care. At least a 1/3 of the members that are inactive will be reactivated by just the visits of members, our visits as members are very important.

The best part about this week was the people that we got to meet and for the things that we are able to do. I am really liking it here in São Mateus and I don't want to leave here, but I have a feeling at the end of this transfer I will be leaving. I will have 7 and a half months here in this area at the end of the transfer, but who knows.

I am missing you and love you.

Elder McBarron

 

10/1/12 Email From São Mateus

This week went really well, I am good but really tired.  This last transfer of walking 20 km every day
 has caught up to me and I am ready to just rest today.  This week we didn't have too much fun stuff, just a good long trip to Vitoria and getting my new companion.  We also got 2 more missionaries in the area as well.  I have a new American from Logan, Utah as my companion.  He has 9 months on the mission and his name is Elder Peterson.  He was trained by a friend here on the mission.  We got back from the transfers around midnight, that was fun, and then I woke up at 5:30 am.  This week I pretty much just showed my companion around and also the other missionaries that are here with us.  We got most of our goals done in about 4 days which was really good.

Having my new companion is good so it helps with not thinking about home.  I am not really thinking too much anyways about home, I still have 6 months to go.

This week we were going to have a baptism but it fell through at that last minute.  His sister came into town and she said that she would not go to his baptism and then gave him a bunch of stuff that she had found on the internet.  He decided to just put the baptism off for a little while instead of canceling.

Oh, we did eat a lot this week, we ate a ton.  I had 2 lunches with a member where they made a ton of food and they kept putting more on our plates and the food was really good.

Well, I don't really have too much else to say.

Miss ya!

Elder McBarron

 

 

9/24/12 Email From São Mateus

This week we had the baptism at the beach and it was in the ocean, that was so good.  I will send pictures next week, I need to get them from my companion because mine didn't turn out too well.  We have had 3 baptisms this transfer.  We will have another baptism this this Saturday

I am staying here in my area and my companion is being transferred.  We will see what will happen this week.

My best experience this week was the baptism and then the branch activity that we had afterwards.

I don't really have much to say about this week other than it has been a busy week with up rushing around. We had a day this week where someone had let off a few shots near where we were, that was a little strange.

Miss you and love you.

Elder McBarron