June 27th, 2011

well sorry that i am on a little early today. today we had to wake up at 530 because last night we got a call from the president or assistant presidents and we have to go to chihuahua today. i think the presidents is going to do interviews with us. the whole zone is going. should be great!

well this week was a little crazy for me! i am always busy. this week was not the greatest at first. my companion and i got in an argument that was retarded, but later things started to get better. this saturday we had a baptism. it was this lady that is 21 and she is really cool. she has a strong testimony and i think she be a great member. at the baptism though, it was really spiritual. i had to give one of the talks this time. it went really well. the baptism made everything great this week. she was confirmed on sunday and that was awesome too. i think that was one of the best baptisms yet.
the language is definitely coming. i am learning more and more everyday. it is great!!!
there is nothing else that really new. everything is almost the same everyday, but its great. oh i told you that we baptized this lady and her daughter. . .well they didnt go to church the sunday after their baptism because there was some sickness in the family or something. and it might have been just a running nose or something lame like that. yesterday they didnt come AGAIN!!! we called them to make sure they were coming and she said that she would be there but they never showed up. we went by the house and she wasnt there. the grandma said that they slept in. so we are going to have to do something about that. :(
i need to do better at writing also. i am just so busy even on pdays. i will also try to find that cord for my camera so that you can get pictures. sorry i will try to do better!!!!!!!!!
well i didnt get an email but dont feel bad at all. its fine!!! last time you felt really bad but dont feel bad. well i need to go so i will talk to you guys later. hope everything is going great!!!!
i miss you tons and i love you so so much. ttyl
Elder Barnes

June 20, 2011

HELLO EVERYONE!!
how is everyone doing???? how is the weather? Excited for the trip? whats new in boise or meridian or nampa???
well the weeks fly by here also. the president says that we need a baptism every week and it flys by and so it seems very difficult at times. well we had another baptism this week. we baptized a mom and her daughter. i baptized the mom and my companion did the other. the other missionaries baptized one hermana and she is the sister of one in our area. she knows everything and what she needs to do but she is not ready to make the commiment. this week was great though. we had 7 invesigators at church and that was awesome. we also are having another baptism this week also. its another young lady. she is dating a inactive member but he is wanting and is changing. her name is liz and her boyfriend is alan. he works at this t-shirt place and he gave me a free t-shirt. i also got a free hat from this other investigator. its awesome being a missionary.
the water or the diarrhea isnt that bad! sometimes i am a little scared to eat but its not that bad. the other day i went to chihuahua and learned that my old companion is having worse food. so i think i am a little spoiled. i went to chihuahua for my visa thing. now i have a card that says i am living here just for a short time. but yesterday we had the worst food yet. the lady brought out this soup that wasnt that bad but it had fish in it. bones and everything. after the soup she brought out a plate of fries, small salad, and another fish. this fish was nasty though. it was just fried so it still looked like a fish but just a little crunchy. i took a pic of it and it was not great at all. i was close to gagging!!!
the pics.... i really want to send you pics. i dont have the cord that hooks to my camera to the computer and i tried the other missionaries cords but they dont fit into my camera. i will try to find a way though sooon!!! sorry!!!!!
my package...i need need need candy. i bought reeses here and they are terrible and nasty. they arent the real reeses. but i do need candy. i would also like some of my other ties that i left home. thank you so much. i hope to see that package sometime but i bet it will take away for me to get it.
oh i have been here for one transfer now. today i am starting the next transfer. so my agenda looks really cool. i put a cool picture on it!!!!
dont be worried about anything. there are just funny stories.
ya the spanish is tuff but i am learning. there is a lot of ways to say things i am learning that we cant say some of them because its slang. but i just need to have more confidence in myself because when i do talk, it usually just comes.
So has Whitney Floyd gotten her call yet???
the other missionaries in the house are the zone leaders and we talk with them quite a bit. they seem really cool. we only really see them a church, at night and mournings, and sometimes at food appointments.
oh when you do talk to mindy, ashley, kaytlen, or any other people, please tell them sorry that i am bad at writing back. everything here is really really busy. i will try to do better. i also havent sent a letter to janae either. OOPS!!! i feel really bad. oh and dad, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!! during church yesterday they were talking about fathers day and i really wanted to call home and tell you what a great father you are and how much you have taught me. AND that i love you tons!!!! well i need to go
i miss you guys tons and i love you a lot!!!
Elder Barnes

June 13, 2011

Buenas Dias,
how is everyone doing? what is new? where did derek and julie go on their cruise? how was the camp out thing? are you guys gettting excited for the manti trip? that will be a cool experience for the youth. i think that is cool that dad is doing a lot of good for the young mens. i cant believe he offered them jobs. that would be cool. how is jordan doing? when does he return back home?

well everything here is going great. i am really busy and am having a great time. i am learning so much. the weather here is hot!!!!! siempre!!! but i think i am starting to get somewhat used to it. oh the other day we were riding our bikes and passed this dog and it was eating another dead dogs body. that was pretty sweet but it stunk a little. also i have had some bad diarrhea. i was like Harry off of the movie Dumb and Dumber. it was bad. but that has improved big time.

the food here is great though. often i get this stuff called mole. its this meat with chocolate and some other weird stuff but its good. we get that quite a bit and every meal we have rice and tortillas. tortillas are like utensils or you can use it as a burrito. they also call everything water. they will ask if you want water but they come back with orange juice. they make all kinds of different water. they just put vegetables in there and sometimes it is nasty but i am always thirsty so i drink. one sister put cucumber and lime in one and the cucumber was nasty. they also get these small sugar packs for the water (like the orange juice) but one tasted like candle wax. everyone has it and its not that good. and the poor people will give us that to try to cover the bad, tap water.

the church is somewhat big i guess. we have three wards here in Delicias and the stake is over three other cities. from what i know i think there are a lot of inactive members but i have never really seen what it is like in the US. thats one thing that has caught my attention. missionaries are supposed to confirm the converts in church and we bring investigators to church, but i have never seen that done in our ward in the US. have you guys seen that done?

how does my chart look like? getting more full?
well when you wonder what i am doing, i am usually teaching a lesson to an investigator or trying to share the gospel with my bad spanish. my spanish is doing better. everyday it is better but i still have troubles. it is hard to listen to the people also. i can get what they say most of the time but some times they just speak so fast or they use different ways of asking the same thing. but the language is coming. a little slower than i like but its coming.

this saturday we should baptize two people. it should be another great experience.

well i better go. i am sorry that my letters aren't detailed enough...i am always in a hurry. i never have time to write but i think i can do a lot better. i just got a letter from a girl from college this week and that was exciting. well i better go.
i miss you tons and i love you guys so so much.
Elder Barnes
ps i wil try get some pics to you sometime soon

June 6, 2011

Hey Everyone,
Everything is going great! This week was Stake Conference and President and Hermana Angulo spoke. I think that they were great talks. I get most of the talks but not all. The spanish is coming. I keep getting commpliments from some other missionaries that are mexican.
We are actually teaching a guy in English right now. His name is Harley and he has a lot of questions. He speaks spanish also but he would rather speak english with us. So yesterday we got an english book of mormon for him. we are making a lot of progress.

Elder roth (my companion) is from Iowa but his family is in Japan. He also lived in Germany for awhile. The others in the house are Elders Gerratt and Hatton. Elder Gerratt is from Gooding!! I thought that was interesting and he knows some of the Andersons. Elder Hatton is from Utah. Dont know where exactly but near Provo.
Well that is good advice. I have been writing in my journal but now it only has been once a week. I need to do a little better than that. I have been writing in it a lot though.
I have also been writing the companions names down and the converts. But that is a great idea thank you so much.

Wow layton got baptized! That is so cool!!!! I bet that was fun to go out there. So how are they doing?

Its crazy at how much I am learning out here in the field, as to what is important and not. Like sports or Duty to God. I will have to send a letter to dad to have him read to the young men.

Well hopefully we will have another baptism this week but we might not. This week we couldnt because of stake conference. But everything is going great. I think the english guy (Harley) has gotten me to have confidence with speaking more in the lessons with the hispanics because H have seen how much I can do in english with helping my companion and the investigator that i want that same relationship with people that speak spanish. I dont know if that made sense but it does to me.
Well everything is going great. Its hot here also. I am sweating like dad at times. its terrible!!! But i am loving it here!!!
I miss you guys so much and I love you tons!!!! ttyl
Elder Barnes

Photos!

Scroll down to see pictures from the MTC.

May 30th, My First Baptism!

HEY EVERYONE!!!!
This week has been great! We had another baptism. We baptized this couple and I baptized the husband! The hard part was just saying his name or names. It was a great experience. Also yesterday we visited one of our many investigators and she is married to a member. We just started teaching her when I got here. I get along really well with her husband Beto. In fact I had to teach the lesson in Gospel Doctrine (because the missionaries teach it here and it was my turn to teach) so I needed some help so I got Beto to help me. It was a great experience because his wife Fabiola felt the spirit and started to cry. After church we stopped by to see how they were doing and to see how she felt in church. She told us that she got an answer to her prayers and knows that the church is true. So we will be putting a date with her tommorrow. It is so exciting!

Well you are lucky to have cold weather because here it is so so so hot! The other day I think it was about 104. So HOT!!!! They have been saying that it is either really hot here or really cold, so right now I am missing the Boise weather but I am starting to get used to the hotness.

That is so cool that Ben is leaving soon. All young men should go on a mission. It is hard at times but I am noticing already that it is worth it.

We have a ward here but it is somewhat small. It is growing from the work of the missionaries. The Bishop is a great guy and helps a lot with us missionaries. Oh we contacted this guy in Spanish but he stopped us and asked if we spoke English. So we talked with him in English. It was funny and some what hard to talk about the Book of Mormon in English.

Oh and yes I have recovered from my bike wreck. Well I need to go. I love you tons and I miss you guys a lot.

LOVE YA TONs
Elder Barnes