Misc. Letters from Ancheita

8/1/11 - Dear Family, Como vai?  (How are you?)  Como foi a mez de voces?  (How was all of your month?)  Ok, I will leave the Portuguese there so you can understand the letter.  I hope you're all doing well.  I am having a lot of fun here, although there is a lot to do.  The lanugage is coming along slowly, but its coming.  I am having the most trouble with the conjugations of the verbs, especially the irregular verbs.  I am really liking the food here, meat, beans and rice every day for lunch.  I have a Nutella sandwich with fruit for breakfast and a mango for dinner.  I am usually still full from lunch when we get back to the apartment at night.  I am tanning a little, which is good because it is sunny pretty much every day.  I am studying in 2 Nephi 2 right now, I have had more joy and have been learning a lot about things that I did not realize before.  We should all be studying the scriptures each and every day, and it would be good to keep a study journal as well, so that you can write down what you learn, even if it is just a sentence, it will help you to learn more and understand more of what you are reading.  I love you all and miss you all!  I hope everything is well and will continue to be well.  Elder Adam McBarron

8/8/11 - Muito Brigado peta Parabems por men Anevesario!  (Thank you very much for the Birthday wishes for my birthday!)  I am glad that I was able to email you all.  Thanks for all of the love and support you give me.  I missed being able to celebrate my birthday with you all and with my friends, its kind of weird not really celebrating a birthday.  It is especially weird because I am still doing all of the missionary stuff like it is a normal day.  I am going to have to have a big celebration when I get home to make up for these two years that I won't have a celebration.  I really miss the Birthday to out to eat meal right now, and the birthday brownies too.  I am glad that I was at least able to communicate with you all today.  Mom, Thanks for everything, I am really glad that you decided to start that blog form.  I am very thankful for all of the support that you give me.  I miss being able to just talk with you, but I am really glad that I can write and email you.  Thanks for everything you do for me.  I miss you all.  Keep reading your scriptures often.  Mom and Dad I would ask you to go to the temple and do a session as often as you get a chance to, especially for me, I really wish that I could have the chance of going to the temple, but I have to wait 2 more years before I am able to do so.  Megan when you can go do baptisms for the dead, it will be good for you to keep doing that.  I am very grateful for the support that you all are giving me while I am here in Brazil.  Remember to write in your journals, anything is good, but especially write down your spiritual experiences that you have.  It has already been a blessing to me while on my mission having kept a journal so far, being able to go back and read it.  I miss you all, but I am also having fun here too.  Here's the motto:  work hard, play hard and enjoy!  Balance in all things!  This not only applies to me but to all of us.  So let's all live it.  Elder Adam McBarron.  P.S.  I am now 21 years old!

8/9/11 - Yesterday turned out to be a really good birthday!  I had a surprise celebration/party kind of thing that our investigators Michelle and Victor planned with my companion and 3 members from the Group Marcia (Relief Society President) her daughter Tainah and also the Gospel Principles class instructor Flavio.  It was really cool, Victor made a cake and everything.  It was really cool of them to do that for me.  Sorry if it is hard to understand my writing, I am on a bus to the transfers.  I will write a little about that in a little bit on the back of this paper, the transfers that is.  I got called to the area Serra 2.  It reminds me a lot of Auburn for some reason.  Elder Turley is still my companion, and he is now a District Leader.  Our District has our Zone Leaders in it.  They are really cool.  You will probably have heard all of this and more by the time you get this.  Oh, I got both of my packages!  Thanks for everything!  Especially the shorts and t-shirts, the special letter paper, the green and white tie, and a very special thanks for the tie, hanky and cuff link set!  I really liked all of it!  Oh and thanks for the address book too!  Elder Adam McBarron
 

Photos of Landscape Leaving Anchieta, Brazil

These are photos Adam took of the landscape when they were leaving Anchieta on their transfer to Serra Sede.

8/8/11 Birthday Emails!

Adam's email this week, our questions are in brackets.

Thanks for the Birthday wishes and also everything else!  I haven't gotten my packages yet, but I will get them tomorrow at transfers.  I will be getting transferred from Anchieta with my companion to another area.  I will tell you more in the next email as I don't know any details yet.  I am 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Did you have your baptisms this week?  How did the baptism go? Did you get to dunk one? or did you do the confirmation blessing?]  We had both of the baptisms this week, Elder Turley baptized Michelle and I baptized Rafaela!!!!  I got to baptize on the beach!  The members did the confirmations.  I got to baptize on the beach before I got transferred from the area!!!!!!   It was so cool baptizing Rafaela on the beach.  I can pretty much say that that was a huge birthday present from the Lord.  I am really grateful for the opportunity that He gave me to have that chance.  It was so cool!  I only had to start over once because I said it wrong, but I kind of expected that to happen since I am still learning the language.

[Were you guys part of Mormon helping hands in Brazil?   What was you project if you were?]  Yes, I was part of the helping hands.  We went to an old folks home and did a few things there, we mostly just sang for them though and played music.

[Did you move to your new apartment yet? What's it like?]  No we have not moved into the new apartment because we are being transferred, so the next missionaries in the area are the ones that will be getting the new apartment, those lucky ducks.  It is a really nice apartment, 2 bedrooms a kitchen, a living room, and 2 bathrooms.  I wish we could have been in there, but oh well.

[Have you found anyone else to teach?  When do you have the father of the girls set up to baptize?]  We haven't found anyone else to teach really other than Rafaela´s mom.  We don't have a date for him, cause he didn't accept a date yet.

[What is your favorite thing to do on your p-day?]  My favorite thing to do on p-day is to write emails and write letters, I  like sharing everything with people.

[Do you guys tract a lot or do you do other things to meet people?]  Yeah we do a lot of tracting, but we mostly go off of referrals, they are more willing to listen, and it is a lot easier to find their houses, and they have constant contact with members as referrals.

[What is your favorite snack there?]  My favorite snack would have to be mangoes, and also a little chocolate egg called a kinder ovo or kinder egg, it also has a little trinket inside.

[Do you get to meet with the members much?]  We meet with members every day, they are awesome!

[Any bugs you run into a lot? Are the mosquitoes bugging you much?]  We run into ants everywhere.  I haven't been bothered too much by mosquitoes.  Don't be surprised if I send my bug net home, there aren't many places that I can use it at according to other missionaries.

[Do you have a new companion?]  I don't have a new companion, but I will be in a new area tomorrow with my companion. we are both getting transferred to a new area together. 

I will attach photos of the baptism on my next email.  I have to go, Tchau!  Elder McBarron

7/17/11 & 7/25/11 Emails to Dad from Anchieta

7/17/11 Email:

I wanted to show you what our apartment now looks like, and we will probably be moving soon to another apartment.  We have one room and a kitchen, I also included a photo from our window.

7/25/11 Email:

We had an activity with the group this week, and we made a makeshift outhouse. I took some pictures, I thought you might get a kick from them. Oh, I have something for you to look up, it is a Brazilian steakhouse that is supposed to be in Washington and a few other places in the U.S., it is called Fogo De Chão, if you can find it, you might like it. Here is the address that it has for Brazil, I don't know what it is for the U.S. or if it is the same, fogodechao.com.br. Seu filho Elder Adam McBarron

July 18, 2011 Letter from Anchieta

Dear Family,

I can't wait for this Saturday, I forgot to mention in my email that our group is having an activity on the beach and there will be Brazilian BBQ and we are in charge of the activities or games that we are going to play.  We have planned already for a race against the missionaries where it is all of the members versus the missionaries (me and my companion) in a race.  Other than that we don't know what our other activities are going to be at this point.  All I now is that it is going to be fun and the food is going to be good.  I love the food here, the beans and rice are really good here.  The meat is really good too!  Most of all the fruit is really good.!  I just bought 4 mangos today for 4 reais!  I am really excited to eat those!

I told you a little about Miguel and Michelle.  I told you that Michelle is Miguel's daughter and that we contacted Miguel in the street.  What I didn't tell you was that Michelle did have a church that she was attending and Miguel didn't have a set church that he was attending.  When we had our first visit them Michelle seemed excited and Miguel had a lot of questions for us.  On our second visit, Michelle seemed even more excited and had looked the church up on the Internet.  On our third visit, we asked Michelle if she had read the assigned chapter from the Book of Mormon that we gave her, she was all too excited to share with us what she really liked from the chapter, and it just so happened that the scripture that she shared was one of the scriptures that we were going to share with them.  Miguel had many questions on each visit.  It's now time for us to give them a baptismal invite.  We are going to invite Michelle first because she seems more enthused about the gospel than her father, even though he likes what he has heard so far.  She just has more excitement and a different spirit about it then her father, we are going to have to keep working with them, especially Miguel to answer all of his questions.

I am now on Chapter 16 in 1 Nephi chapters 11-15 are really good.  I would like to ask you all to have family scripture study at night if you can for half an hour or so, I know that I am asking a lot yet also very little, but I know that what I ask is pretty important, it will bring our family closer together.  And also help with bringing more knowledge unto each of you, and it will help you be ready to teach on anything to anyone at any time.  I would also have you remember your spiritual experiences that you have had and also to read your Patriarchal Blessings, both of those have already helped me a lot on my mission so far with disappointments and hardships and discouragements.  I have seen the blessings that come from these in my life more readily here, and these are great blessings, blessings of guidance, peace, love and hope and also of faith these are all blessings that every one can have if they seek them and along with those blessings come more spiritual experiences if we are prepared to receive them.  I know that everything happens for a reason, whether we know that reason or not.  I miss you all and love you.

Sincerely, Sue Filho Elder Adam McBarron

July 11, 2011 Letter from Anchieta

Dear Family,

So today is my third p-day in the mission field.  This past week was a crazy week.  So much happened.  I had my first companion exchange, I went to Guarapari and my companion stayed in Anchieta.  Guarapari is the nearest big city.  My exchange was with Elder J. Silva, he is a Brazilian missionary.  I had a lot of fun on the exchange, I learned a lot and it helped my Portuguese too.  It was a little strange though going to sleep there that night.  And the next day when I was my companion again, we went and gave a presentation when I was with my companion again, we went and gave a presentation to these kids that are in a drug rehab center in our area.  That was really cool!  Everyone wanted to talk to us because we are from the U.S., but I couldn't really reply because I could not understand them.  They all liked our presentation and we passed out 40 Book of Mormons there.

That same day we found Adias as we were out walking around.  Sorry that was wrong,  we found Adias 2 days before that.  The next day, we had Leticia's baptism.  The night before we visited her and her cousin was at her house and he tried to tell us that she wasn't going to be baptized, but what was cool was that before that Leticia pulled us aside and told us that her cousin was there and not to listen to anything that he said and that she was going to get baptized the next day.  The next day came and things weren't going smoothly, we got ready and got to the church building and then we got a call from Leticia saying that they were having trouble with transportation.  So our Group President went and picked them up.  And after that, we had the baptism without any problems.  I was one of the witnesses for the baptism.  Oh, I almost forgot the night before the baptism I dreamt in Portuguese.  I don't know what was said, but I know it was said in Portuguese.

The night right after Leticcia's baptism the power in all of Anchieta went out.  My companion and I were about to get burgers to celebrate the baptism when it went out.  It was out for about an hour or so.  It was kind of cool because everything was dark and you could only see out in the street by the mooonlight.  That was Saturday.  Sunday, yesterday, we had Leticia's confirmation, which I got to stand in for, which was pretty cool.  We also had someone that we made a street contact with come to church that we didn't think would come, but she came and brought a friend.  We mad an appointment to meet with them, but we don't know whether they will be investigators or not.  Their names are Anna-Luiza and Brisa.  Brisa is the one that we contacted.  We will see if they will be investigators or not.

Well, that was all of the excitement for the week for me.  I have started over in reading the Book of Mormon I am in 1 Nephi 13.  I have really enjoyed reading again because it seems to refer to why I am here on a mission and to what I should be doing as I am here on a mission and to what I should be doing as I am here.  The coolest chapters that I have read so far are 1 Nephi 11, 12 and 13.  Chapter 11 has some really cool information in it.  I have made a lot of connections and learned a lot from just that one chapter.  I would suggest that for your next family home evening that you all read that chapter together and try and find connections to things and between things.  It would cool also if afterwards you all could pick a favorite scripture or two and write down what it is and why it is your favorite scripture or scriptures and share them with each other, and then send them to me so that I could be a part of the blessings that will be shared by this activity.  I ask that whenever you get a chance to got to the Temple that you take the opportunity on behalf since I can't go for the rest of my time here on the mission.

Thank you for all that you have done for me and for all that you are doing for me.  I thank you for the way that you raised me and for all that you have taught me.  For all of the help that you have given me and all of the help that you are now giving me.  I miss you all and am hoping the best for all of you.

Seu Filho (your son), Seu irmao (your brother) e seu neto (and your grandson), Elder Adam McBarron
 

8/1/11 Email from Anchieta

Adam's email this week, my comments are in brackets.

 

[Do you still have baptisms set for this week?]  I have not gotten any packages yet, I should get them either on thursday, or on the thursday after my birthday.  It takes 3 to 4 weeks to get here, and then I get them at transfers or earlier if either me and my companion have to go to the mission office, or if the district leader has to go to the mission office.  The transfer ends on the 9th of August, so the 11th I will definitely have at least one package.  It is really cool that I have my birthday on a p-day cause I can email you all on that day!

 

[Do you still have baptisms set for this week?]  Yes we do still have 2 baptisms set for this week, they have been interviewed and they are all ready to go!  I can't wait!

 

[Have you taught a lesson yet?]  I have not taught a full lesson, but I have taught many parts of the lessons.

 

[What kinds of foods/snacks are you missing from the US?]  I am missing all of the sour candy, they don't really have sour candy here in Brazil, I am missing Papa Murphy's Chicago pizza, and a few other things that I can't think of right now.  Oh, sushi from Sushi Town.

 

[What kind of stores and businesses are in Ancheita?]  There are a lot of pharmacies and super markets, and little resturants too.  Other than that not really much.

 

[Where in town is your apartment?]  My apartment is kind of on the edge of town nearest to Vitória  and the new apartment that we will be getting is even closer to Vitória.  Oh and the city name is Anchieta, I misspelled it when I sent my first message to you.

 

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was at our district meeting, I was able to understand more things in Portuguese, enough to be able to respond and teach in our practice teaching segment in the meeting.  I am being able to speak and understand a little more each day, but it is still pretty hard to understand and speak.

 

I hope everyone is doing well back home, i miss you all and love you.

Elder Adam McBarron

PS  This is a picture of a statue in Anchieta that is in front of a gas station, I thought it was pretty funny and cool.

[This is a picture sent to me from Elder Turley's Dad]

7/25/11 Email from Ancheita

Here is Adam's email for this week, my questions are in brackets.

I am doing great, my Portuguese is coming along.   It is crazy that i have been out for 3 months, it seems shorter and yet longer at the same time.  Hey tell grandma and grandpa that they can email me now, the new president said that it is ok.

[Did you teach anyone new this week?]  We taught this lady named Angela this week, and we have marked a date with her for the 13th of August.

[Did the man and his daughter accept to be baptized?]  Michelle accepted to be baptized on the 6th of August, but her dad Miguel didn't.  He is still trying to figure things out, but we are continuing to work with him.  Oh we marked a date with Leticia´s sister Rafaela for the 6th of August too.  We are teaching a cousin of Michelle too, his name is Victor, he is really intelligent.

[What all do you have in your apartment, do you have a fridge (I sent chocolate in your packages and they will probably be melted and need to be cooled up again and I wasn't sure if you even had a fridge), washer and dryer (just wondering how you are getting your laundry done), stove or microwave (are you cooking food)?]  We have a fridge, a stove and a washer type thing. We wash our laundry and then hang it up to dry.  We don't really cook, we get food that is simple to prepare.  We eat a lot of fruit and sandwiches.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was having fun with the group at an activity on the beach.  I am including some pictures, the picture with the three ladies is a picture of (from left to right) Irmá (sister) Luiza Irmá Marcia (she is really cool!) and Michelle.  I have also included a picture of me that I would also like for you to take to Fleet Feet for me.  Oh and a picture of my first mango of the mission.

I am glad for everything that you all have done for me and for the help that you have given me.  I miss you all.  I am glad that I am here though cause it is really fun.  Miss you all and hope you are doing well. seu filho Elder Adam McBarron

7/18/11 Email from Ancheita

Adam's email for this week, my questions are in brackets:

This past week was pretty good, it was pretty hectic though. We had a zone meeting and a district meeting, and the the busses weren't cooperating with us.

[Any new contacts this week?]  We have 2 new contacts this week, their names are Miguel and Michelle, we contacted Miguel in the street and Michelle is his daughter.  We have taught them the 1st and 2nd lessons and we are going to be inviting them to be baptised this week, with a date of August 6th.

[How are the lesson's going with the guy who is supposed to be baptized soon?]  We had to cut Adias because he was not progressing and not getting the things that we were teaching, he would hear them and then do parts of the things.

[What kind of responsibilities do you have in your member group?]  We pretty much just do whatever needs to be done, we are teachers for the gospel principles class pretty much all of the time.

[Have you done any service projects?]  We have not done any service projects, and I don't think that we will be doing any anytime soon, unfortunately.

[What was your favorite experience this week?]  My favorite experience this last week was that I contacted someone by myself on the bus and got his information and everything.  It kind of helped that he could kind of speak English.  My Portuguese is coming along a little by little each day, I was told the other day by a Brazilian that what I  do know how to speak I say well with out an American accent, that was really cool for me.

Hey look up Paula Fernandes, her music is really popular here.  Oh and Brazilians love American music too, even though they have no idea of what is being said, which is really kind of funny.  Hey I was just wondering, how is the avocado tree doing?

[It's doing well.]

I love you all and miss you all I hope everything is going well with you all.

Elder Adam Michael McBarron

PS  I am including a baptism photo of Leticia, it is me, my companion, Leticia and Leticia´s sister Rafaela.

PSS  I am including a picture for Fleet  Feet of my Vibrams that I brought with me with Brazilian sand on them, could you take it in to Fleet Feet for me?

Letter Received 7/15/11 from Ancheita

We received a letter from Adam today and his companion, here is a little bit of the letter from his companion, Elder Turley:

. . .  The first night here we had a little meeting here at the house and talked about vision and goals and stuff and Elder McBarron looked at me and told me, "I am here just to help people."  Then I saw the moisture fill his eyes and he said, "I just want to help 1 person.  If I can save one person, I'll be happy."  He said it with a smile and I felt the Spirit.  It helped me remember even more how great it is to be a full time missionary of the Lord.  We talked a little bit more about being a missionary and I told him all about my mission so far and how at one point I almost went home and he said, "I'm grateful you didn't," and it made me feel great as his companion and I know we're supposed to be companions.  I felt that he truly cared about me, and thats what makes a great companionship. . . .  I just wanted you to know he is the companion that has the most love and sincere desire that I've had  He is in good hands out here. . . .  Sincerely, Elder Turley

Thank you Elder Turley for your kind words and for being a good companion to Elder McBarron!  It takes two to make a good companionship!

Here is Adam's letter:

Minha Familia, Eu sou muito grato por todos voces.  Eu amo todos voces.  Eu estou com saudades de todos voces.  Eu quero compartilhar meu testemunho com voces em portugues.  Eu sei que Deus e nosso amoroso Pui Celestial.  Eu sei que Jesus Cristo es meu Salvador e Redentor.  Eu seique eu sou um filho de Deus.  Eu sei que Evangelho e verdudeiro.  Eu sei que O Livro de Mormom e verdadeiro e contem as palavros de Deus.  Eu sei que Joseph Smith foi um profeta e tambem Thomas S. Monson e um profeta.  Eun nome de Jesus Cristo Amem.

I'm not sure I got that all typed up right, hopefully it is close.

I just wanted to share that with you and say that I really like my first area so far, Anchieta is really awesome, its right on the beach, we are pretty much opening the area here.  There isn't even a branch here, it is a member group.  There is a president of the member group, relief society president, young women's president and a gospel principles teacher and those are all of the callings.  We have to pretty much do everything by ourselves for our missionary work.  It's probably good though that I am starting off here as my first area.  The people here are awesome!  And I have heard that this is the only area in the mission that still does ocean baptisms, and that is because we don't have a font here, which I think is really cool!  I love and miss you all.  I hope all is going well for you.  Elder Adam McBarron

7/11/11 Email from Ancheita

This is Adam's email from Monday, sorry I'm a little slow posting.  My questions are in brackets.

I am doing really well.  Hey, when you can could you serve the missionaries a meal, it is very important for the missionaries to get to know the members, it really helps with the work and it is just really nice for the missionaries to have a good home cooked meal.

[How many people are you and your companion teaching right now?]  Right now we only really have 2 people we are teaching, one is Leticia who we baptized on Saturday.  We have to teach the lessons again after baptism to the converts.  And we are teaching an old guy named Adias, he is really cool, but we have a lot of work to do with him before his baptism on the 30th.  We are always looking for more investigators, and trying to get referrals from members.  Oh just to let you know I didn't perform the baptism, because Leticia wanted Elder Turley to perform it, but that is ok.  I get to perform the next one.

[What was your most interesting experience this week?]  My most interesting experience this week after getting ready for the baptism, was that same night as the baptism, the power went out in the whole city of Anchieta for about an hour.

[What is your favorite lesson so far?]  My favorite lesson so far is the restoration.

[How big is the ward/branch you are in?]  My group is really small, we have about 40 people come each week to church, and a lot of those are younger people, like 16 and below.

[What did you learn about your mission president when you met/heard him?]  I don't really remember other than thinking that he was a really cool guy.

I hope that that helped you with some of the stuff that you wanted to know.  I got a card adaptor, and I will try to send some pictures next week, because I don't have too much time left for emailing and I still have to send an email to the mission president in Portuguese.  Hey I miss you all and hope all is going well for you all back home.   Seu filho Elder Adão (Adam) McBarron

4th of July Email from Ancheita

Adam's email today, my questions are in brackets.

Happy 4th of July!

[So you don't have a mailing address there in Ancheita?]  I don't have a mailing address, just the mission home address.

[Did you get to perform the baptism?]  No we haven't done the baptism yet, that will be this week.

[Did you get to teach anyone this week?]  I am mostly just learning how to say the lessons right now so what I am doing is bearing my testimony of what is being said in the lessons that are taught.

[What area of Utah is your companion from?]  He is from Herriman.

[What have you been eating lately?]  I have been eating a lot of beans and rice, and a bunch of different kinds of meat that are really good, I think that I ate some kind of stomach the other day.

[How much do you walk each day?]  We probably walk pretty much everywhere, so probably anywhere from 3 to 10 miles a day.

[What was your best experience this last week?]  My best experience this past week was being at the zone conference with my new mission president and listening to him speak, and then afterwards bearing my testimony in Portuguese, even though I had to write it down before I went up.  I almost couldn't finish it, the spirit was there that strongly.  I am glad that I did that.

I miss you all and am looking forward to the package.  Tell everyone that I say hi and that I miss them. I will have to send pictures through the regular mail cause I brought the wrong connector.  I am going to try and find an adaptor to read my card here, and then I will be able to send you pics over email.  I miss you all.  Love you all.

Adam's First Area - Ancheita

This is Adam's email from his first area.  I looked up Ancheita online and so I have added a few pictures of the area to this email.  My questions are in brackets.

[How many missionaries flew to Vitoria with you today?]  There were 14 missionaries that flew out total to Vitória.

[Did you stay at the mission home or go straight out to your first area?]  I went straight to my first area, my first area is called Ancheita.

Shrine of the Blessed Jose
Anchieta gate access

Late afternoon on the beach of Anchieta

[Who is your new companion?]  My new companion is Elder Turley, he is from Utah.

[What area are you in and what is it like?] Where we are is right on the beach.  It is really pretty I will put pictures on later on in my emails.

[What is where you are living like?] Our appartment is pretty small.

River that runs through the
City of Anchieta

Just to let you know I will only get it packages at transfers, hey its also the same with mail too.  I guess that President Pickett made a rule that missionaries can only email their immediate family, so could you pass that on.  Sorry that really stinks, I will definitely reply to every letter I get, but it will be after 10 or so weeks that you will get a reply to the letter. 
 
I am loving the area, there isn't a baptismal font here so we get to baptize in the ocean, and we have a baptism scheduled for next week, and I guess that I get to be the one to perform it.  I am really excited for and I hope that I can perform that baptism.  I love the people around here, they are really cool, I just wish that I could communicate more with them than I can. My companion is awesome! I am really tired from all of the walking that I am doing now, but it is so much fun.  I can't wait until I can say more.  I miss everyone and love you all.  Seu Filho Elder Adam McBarron

Edge of the beach in Anchieta

End of the afternoon with
panoramic beach of Ancheita