9/19/11 Email from Serra Sede

[Here is this week's email, our questions are in brackets]

This week was really good and challenging for me, we upped our goals, and my companion had me be the senior for the week, it was kind of cool to do that.  We don't really have any new baptisms on the horizon soon.

[Are you getting transferred? If so, to where?]  I am getting transferred but I do not know where yet.  I find out tomorrow at the transfer meeting.  I am actually kind of excited about it.

[How many lessons did you teach this week?]  I taught quite a few lessons this week, I was also the senior companion for the week.  That was pretty fun!

[Have you handed out any of the things we sent for the little kids?]  I haven't really handed out too much of the little things to kids, we have to get permission from their parents to do so, they pretty much just look at me like I am weird.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was pretty much this whole week.  But there was a part that will be a pretty good mission story.  This week we were going to visit a reference that we received and had set up an appointment with him.  We got there and rang the door bell and then out of nowhere there comes this dog barking at us and tries to bite us from underneath the gate.  This continued for a good 5 or 6 minutes then my companion decided to try and kick the gate as the dog was barking to scare it.  He kicked the fence and it worked in scaring the dog but he also kicked the gate open.  He had started walking off already and didn't see the gate open.  I told him to run and we both ran as fast as we could as far away as we could from that house.  The dog didn't chase after us luckily.  But it was a funny experience now that I think about it.

I miss you all and hope the best for you all.

Elder Adam McBarron

9/12/11 Email from Serra Sede

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

 My week was a little better but not too much, the adversary is working really hard in this area with our recent converts and investigators.  We were working on cleaning up a huge mess this week.  I also had a service project this week that during it I got a nice chunk of my hand taken out.   But all things turn out good in the end if you look for the bright side.  I included some pictures of the nice little gash, from the time I got the gash to the time of today to show the healing process.  I will probably have a scare from it so that is pretty cool!

[Any new people to teach this week?]  We don't really have any new people this week, but we are working on getting them.

[What do you do to keep going when you feel discouraged?]  When I feel discouraged, I  think what am I here for, to share this message of joy and happiness with the people here.  I also pray for help not to be discouraged and I also think that McBarrons don't give up until the job is done, that makes me feel better.

[What is your favorite area of Serra Sede?]  My favorite area of Serra Sede is Cascata, it reminds me a lot of eastern Washington and there are a lot of cool members that live there.

[Have you found anything fun on your P-day? or are you spending all day doing laundry? or are you using the cleaners?]  I have been playing soccer with the Brazilians on p-days for fun, we do laundry too on p-day, but sometimes we do it during the week if we need too.

[Do you get to eat at members homes much? What do you get fed?]  We get fed every day except for p-day.  We eat lunch with the members, lunch is the big meal here, not dinner.  We eat meat beans and rice, and what ever else the members decide to make for us.

[You said that the ward mission leader was a great, is he got it going for you guys and is he keeping you feed?]   The ward mission leader definitely keeps us fed.

[Are you suppose to be transferred soon? Do you know who you would like to be companions with?]   The next transfer is on the 20th I won't know until Sunday night whether I will be transferred and then I wouldn't find out who my companion would be or what area I would be going to until the day of the transfer.  I would like to be companions with one of the Assistants to the President, but other than that not really.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was going on a visit to a family in our area with Presidente Araújo, it was awesome.  He is really cool I am so glad that he is my mission president.

[Do you need anything? Do you want anything?]  I don't need or want anything at the moment other than letters

We have had a hard time trying to find news, but we are going to try getting news in a different part of our area.  Oh and by the way, it is probably over 80 here almost every day, so I know what you have been going through the past week for temp wise.  I love you all and miss you.

Elder McBarron

9/5/11 Email from Serra Sede

Our questions are in brackets.

I had a better week, I had to do a lot of work this week and I learned a lot this week.  I don't know why, but I was worrying that I didn't have the Spirit with me, but when I was looking back on the week last night, I realized that all that I did this week was done with the Spirit.  Satan has been trying hard this week to work on me and my companion.  He has been trying to bring us down anyway he could.  He has even been trying to use the dogs here, I was almost bitten this week by a dog and almost attacked by another, but I know that I was protected and my companion as well by our Heavenly Father.

[Are you still walking 10-15 miles a day?]  We are still walking that distance.

[Why don't you guys go buy bikes so you are not walking so far? Is it prohibited?]  It is against mission rules as far as I know to get bikes, or else I would go and get one.

[Did your baptism happen on Saturday, if so how was it?]  We had our baptism this Saturday, I heard that it was good.  I wasn't able to go because we accidentally scheduled to teach people during the same time as the baptism, so we had a division.  I taught the people with a Brazilian missionary that only has a month out in the field and he is 18.  My companion went to the baptism.  It was a good experience for me, it gave me more confidence in my ability to speak, it was an interesting day, but good.

[Do you know Elder Bagley, the missionary that had the accident with the train and lost his leg?] Yes I do kind of, he was the trainer for Elder Spencer.

[What kinds of food items would you like me to mail to you? (I hear Peanut Butter is a good one as well as Mac & Cheese)]  Mostly just peanut butter, we don't have too much time to make things at night.

[Did you find anyone to teach this week? What was your new plan?]  Yes we did, I was lead by the Spirit to people, and also this week we found a lady that had recently lost her daughter.   I was able to feel the love that her daughter had for her mom and also the joy that the daughter had that we were there teaching her mom.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience was pretty much just the whole week, but mostly with the division with another missionary where I went knocking doors all day and contacting people.  I was lead by the spirit a lot that day.

I don't have any new pictures right now to send, but I will send them as soon as I do.  I love you all and miss you all.

Elder Adam McBarron

August 15, 2011 Letter from Serra Sede

Dear Family,  Thanks for this cool paper!  Thanks for all of the treats and the goodies.  Thanks for the ties and the t-shirts and shorts, I really like them!  The new area is cool, although it does have its own new challenges to deal with.  It has been hard getting used to the new area and still learning the new language.  I lost it one day in persona study and just really could not get any good kind of study that day.  But everything is getting better now.  The Ward Mission Leader here is amazing!  This is a really cool area!  It reminds me of home, which is good and not so good at the same time.  It's good because I feel good here, but it is bad because it is easier for me to think about home here and get trunky (miss home or something).  Dad would really like it here in Brazil, there are motorcycles every where and they are pretty much all Hondas too.  I miss my dirt bike, I kind of wish that I had ridden it more before the mission.  Oh well I will just have to ride it a lot when I get back.  Keep strong in reading your scriptures, praying, and going to church and doing the things that we have been told and should be doing.  I miss you all and hope that you are all doing well.  Elder Adam McBarron   P.S.  A good scripture that I have read is 2 Nephi 9:52

8/29/11 Email from Serra Sede

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

[You didn't ever say if you have a mailing address at your new place or if we should keep sending letters to the mission home.]  Ok so just keep sending the letters to the mission home, because I don't have an address to send it to and I will always be able to get them if they are sent to the mission office, but if they are sent to another address, there is a chance that I would not get them.

[Did you have your baptism Sunday? If so, how was it?]  We didn't have the baptism  Sunday, but it will be this Saturday.

[Did you find new people to teach?]  We haven't really been able to find some new people, but we are going to try some new things this we and see if they will help.

[Have you done anything fun in your new area?]  This last pday and this pday we are playing soccer with the zone, last week was really fun!

[Are you getting more involved in the ward?]  I am starting to speak more at church, and in the ward, we don't really do too much in the ward other than help the new investigators around, which is cool! The ward missionaries take care of a lot of it.

[Did you get to bear your testimony in your new ward?]  I have not had the opportunity to bear my testimony in the ward yet, but this Sunday is Fast Sunday and I will be most likely be bearing it then, especially because I have a feeling that I might be getting transferred again this next transfer.  This is a really cool area that I am in right now, but it is also a challenging area.  It is a really large area, and also there aren't too many members from the ward in our area, not to mention all of the hills too.  We go up and down hills both ways from every appointment.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was a missionary conference that we had with the mission president and also with the area president and their wives.  I got to see a lot of the missionaries that I came out with there!   I also had a really good experience this morning in my study.  I haven't been feeling the spirit as strongly as I had been the past couple of days.  Today I was reading in the August 2011 Liahona and there was a quote in there from President Kimball in an article from Elder Perry that said that when he is feeling distant from the spirit, he immerses himself in the scriptures and renews that connection.  I decided to try that today after reading that, today was one of the best studies that I have had in the past couple of days and I  feel like I have a stronger connection to the scriptures and the spirit.  That was my best experiences this week.

I will be looking for the next package, thanks mom for all that you do!  I love you all and miss you all!

Elder Adam McBarron

P.S. thanks for the print off of the Birthday wishes mom!

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.

8/22/11 Email from Serra Sede

Sorry this post is late, I was on vacation and just got back.  My questions are in brackets.

Hey my week was better this week.  I can't believe that Megan [Adam's sister] is a senior, that is crazy, it feels like I was just there a couple of months ago.

[How are the lessons going with your new investigators?]  The lessons with the investigators that are progressing are going well, we don't have too many people to teach right now.  We are trying to get more people to teach.

[Any baptisms set up?]  We have a baptism set up for this Sunday and it will hopefully happen, if not, it will be next Sunday.  Her name is Malu, it is short for a longer name that I don't know how to spell.  She was first taught by the missionaries before us.

[What is your new apartment like?]  Our new apartment is bigger than the one we had in Anchieta, it is nice to have different rooms for our different things, we study in one room and then sleep and change in the other.  The only draw back to this apartment is that it only has one bathroom.

[Are there interesting sites in Serra Sede?]  There is only two interesting sights in Serra Sede, one is a big Catholic church and the other is a big garden/park like thing that is pretty cool.  I don't have any pictures of it cause we only pass it while we are proselyting and we are not supposed to take pictures while we are out proselyting.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience this week was when I was able to say almost all of what I wanted to say in a lesson in Portuguese on faith.

The pictures are of our baptisms and of a cake that an investigator made for me for my birthday.  Thanks for the packages!  I miss you all and love you all.  Elder Adam McBarron

8/15/11 Email from Serra Sede, Brazil

My questions are in brackets.

[You never told me the name of your new mission president, what is it?]  My new President's name is President Araújo.

[Are you getting to know other missionaries?]  I am getting to know a few other missionaries, I haven't really lived with other missionaries yet other than Elder Turley.

Hey, I am going to be sending a package home sometime this transfer, I will have a few things in the package for you all and also some things that I don't need here that are just taking up space and weight. Oh in your next package that you send could you include a portable cd player, and a copy of the Sons of Provo cd?  President Araújo has said that we can listen to any music we want as long as it brings the spirit and does not hinder our work.  I thought that the Sons of Provo would be a good p-day music.  If you can send that, feel free to make any cd's you want and send them with it.  It would be cool to get cd's from other people as well, like Gram, Christina, and others too.

[Where is your new area?  What is it like?]  My new area is in Serra Sede, in the mission it is called Serra 2.  It reminds me of home a lot, the feeling of the city has the feeling of Auburn, and there are a ton of hills.  The area is huge, and we walk every where, we walk at least 5 miles a day, up and down hills.

[Is it a ward, branch or member group?] Here is a ward which I am really glad about.  Oh I am in the same ward as the zone leaders, they live in another part of the city from us which is why me and Elder Turley are still by ourselves.  The zone leaders are also in the same district, which is awesome!  Oh, I forgot to tell you Elder Turley is the district leader for the district.  Serra Sede is part of the city of Serra.

[How is the language going for you?]  The language is still coming along, this week was a hard week for me, cause I still can't really understand everything that people are saying to me, and I can't say all that I want to say either.  Also I had to learn a new area, it really took a toll on me, but there will be weeks like this, especially in the beginning of the mission.

[Is there anyone you are teaching this week?]  We are teaching 4 main people this week. Marcia, Rosangela, Roberta, Nina and Maralug, ok there are 5.  We are starting from the beginning with all of them, and going to make baptismal dates with them all.

[What was your best experience this week?]  My best experience was the baptisms of 2 people that were already setup for baptism this Sunday by the elders before us.

Love you all and miss you all,

Elder Adam McBarron