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