Not much to report

Hey, sorry I haven't written everyone in a few weeks. I've been doing
good. Exchanges (are) this week. Always fun. Everyone seems to be dropping
off the face of the earth or need to get maried. But that's life. Not
much really to report. Anyway....  I don't know what to say.  I will
probably have more to say next week.

(A portion of a letter sent to his Dad on April 6th, 2015.)

There is so much I want to do before I end my mission.  But I can only
take it day by day.  I don't feel like I am ending my mission, but that I
am about to change how I serve.  I guess that is the beautiful
thing about the gospel. That no matter where or what we are, we can
live it fully.  As a missionary, it is my job to get people on the
straight and narrow (which is done by living the gospel of Jesus
Christ).  As a bishop, it is your job to help people walk down it, don't
get off, or get back on. My job sounds easier.  It has been amazing to
see how perfectly god uses unperfect (imperfect:) people who are trying.


My mission president said that I am the kind of person that will get along
with anyone, he said the same thing about Elder Woolley.  Elder Mendez, Elder
Woolley, Yefri, Andres, Ernesto... all people I feel very close to.
Some of them I really didn't spend much time with.  I don't know what
builds close relationships, but the few that I have built I will
treasure forever.

Lately I've been thinking what effect my mission has had on my life. I
laugh just thinking about it. I really can't put it into words.

Personal study has been my favorite time of the day throughout my
whole mission. The more I learn about the gospel the simpler it is.
Today I was studying faith and first Nephi 3:7.  This was a classic
example how new truths are always available. This is one scripture
that everyone knows by heart. But there were two words that caught
my attention: Things and commandments. Those two words are in the
plural. Nephi wasn't telling his father that he was going to get the
plates. He was saying: Dad, I will do whatever the Lord asks. From now
on.  I know that you are His prophet and what you ask comes from Him.
Anything you ask, I have the promise from God that He will help me.

We all need to develop that attitude towards our leaders.


Anyway I don't know where I was going with this, but I just started
typing.

Love you and can't wait to see you.

Elder Barker

Agency and Judgement Day

Constantly I watch the mormon message, "The Will of God."

The Will of God Mormon Message Video

The lesson is so simple. Be willing to change into the person God wants you to be.

He wants us to be like Him. All we need to do is to be humble enough
to let Him work. There was a war fought in heaven over the agency of
man and the most intelligent decision we can make with that agency is
to give it right back to the One who created us. Everything we have on
this earth God can take away, except our agency. When it comes down to
it, it is the only thing that is truly ours.

There were a lot of references to judgment day in conference. I hope
that was just a coincidence. Someone explained to me that when we have to give
an accounting for our works the only people we can mention is ourselves and God.
When you think about it that gets rid of all excuses.

Not much to report this week. A lot of investigators dropped us, but
the work goes on. We are going on the Staten Island ferry so I don't
have much time to write. Hopefully next week will be more eventful.

Love you all, can't wait to see you.

Thank you for your emails. They are the highlight of my week.

Love,
Elder Barker

Easter and General Conference

What is your companion like? 

He is probably a lot like some of your students. He came to the United States when he was 9. He wants to do what is right, but a lot of times doesn’t know how.  At first, I would just help him out with everything, but now I’m stepping back a ton.

How is the district? 

District is great. We are all pretty busy. Which is a great thing. It is kind of weird because I am the only new person this transfer. I still kind of feel like the new guy, but that is going away.

Is the weather improving?

Yes so much. I’ve been wearing short sleeve shirts!

Did you get the birthday gift card from 31 Flavors?

Not yet, but we located it. It got sent to my old apartment. Some time it will make its way over here.

What was your favorite conference talk?

The one in Spanish about The Plan of Salvation, 

but the one by Elder Holland about the two brothers rock climbing hit me hard.

Elder-Jeffrey-R-Holland-Where-justice-love-and-mercy-meet

Pictures from last P-day

My Cooking is improving

You never know how much good you do

This has been a great week. It had its ups and downs.

Tuesday I had my first district meeting. The Zone Leaders (one of
which is Elder Wright!) sat in.  Then I spent the day in Woodside with
Elder Mason. We had a good day. We went out with this member who spoke
Spanish, English, Italian, and Portuguese. Something that I really
appreciate is when the members who speak English still speak to us in
Spanish. Another fun sidenote Elder Nshimiamana (sim-i-en-mana) is in
my zone for the third time. Rwanda Africa. Anyway.

We were able to visit Hno. Santacruz (Holy Cross) this week. Last year
we started visiting him then he called us saying he had to move for
work. We didn't hear from him for almost 2 months then he showed up to
church.  Since then he has gotten his patriarchal blessing and will
receive the Melchizedek Priesthood in this upcoming stake conference
in two weeks. He bore his testimony on Sunday which was very cool to
see.

On Friday we had a zone activity to talk to people about general
conference. Afterwards the YSA branch needed help setting up an
activity. As we are helping them set up, Brian walks in. I met Brian a
year and a half ago during my first general conference. We were
waiting for the bus and he asked us how was conference. He had moved
from Colombia and never found the church. I don't know if he ever came
while I was here, but we tried to get him involved with the YSA.
Something clicked. One of the first things he told me is that he has
been going every single Sunday!

Another eventful thing. We have been playing church police because a
bunch of youth just keep coming in to play ball. The door was usually
unlocked because the mission office shares the building. But I've
talked with our bishop and the office people and we agreed to lock it
and just have the main office entrance open. It is something that
sounds small, but is really helping the ward trust in us.

Church was good. Miguel came. He is from Mexico and is super awesome.
He has been meeting with missionaries for a few months now. Bishop
interviewed him and it sounded like it went really well. He is
becoming friends with members etc. Showing a lot of promise.

Anyway that was pretty much it.

Also thank you for all the birthday
wishes. They were well appreciated.

Love you all,

Elder Barker

Back in Rego Park!

What a week this has been. Monday was a crazy day! Both Elder Carrero
and I left Brentwood which was weird.

Tuesday was great. I'm back in Rego Park where I started. This ward is
the best spanish ward in the mission.

This week has been a big organizing week. The past missionaries were
not organized at all. We cleaned the apartment, got all papers
together and sorted through them, got enough food to survive the rest of
the month etc.

Thursday I spent all day on the phone trying to figure out who we were
teaching. The past missionaries refused to drop people so we have like
60 "investigators" but they haven't been taught in a while. The
question is if they are interested or not.

Other than that we have been going around trying to contact as much as
possible. Hardly anyone has moved which is awesome. They also just
shut down a pool so we have almost three companionships of work we are
trying to balance: Ours, my old pool, and the closed pool.

Sunday was awesome. Now that I can understand spanish I realize how
awesome this ward is. We had to be at ward council and had a great
discussion. Rather than feeling like I'm pushing the ward to do things,
they are pushing me.

Sorry for the short email. We are about to go play frisbee. Can't
really put into words how glad I am to be back.

Love you all.

Congrats to Robbie on his mission call.
I'm excited to have my homecoming on his farewell.  (June 28th, 2015 at 9:00 AM)

Love Elder Barker!

So Much I Want to Say About These People

Wow! What a week.  Still don't know if I'm going to be transferred
tomorrow. They should let us know by the time I am done writing this
email.

I've tried to get pictures with people, just in case.


So much I want to say about all these people.

Monday, we started off the week with a trip to the city on p-day. We
visited Elena and Sister Butcher, Elder Farmer and I's landlord and
neighbor from Bushwick. It was great to be able to see them again.
That night we had a lesson with the Baires and Jose. Jose had read the
chapter we gave to him and had some questions about church. He has
visited a lot of churches and recognizes the good and the bad.

Tuesday, we had district meeting and then Hno. Majano called us up to
come eat lunch. He is one of the biggest examples of service in the
church. When him and his wife have nothing to do they just go visit
members and see how they are doing. More than once I have met a less
active member for the first time and asked them who they know in the
church and the answer will be Brother or Sister Majano. That night we
taught Cassandra, Juan's girlfriend. She had watched a Pentecostal
testimony of this girl dying and visiting hell and seeing Michael
Jackson there. Needless to say we didn't really get a good lesson in.

Wednesday, we visited Christina and Wendy at the Barbershop and taught
the restoration. It went really well. Then at night we had a lesson
with the Bonillas about Baptism. We literally read every scripture we
could find. It went really well and he understood things clearly, but
he still wants more time before he sets a date.

Thursday, we went out teaching with Andres. It went well. We visited
Hno. Baires again. He is doing well.

Friday, we helped Hna. Majano with family history. We got a lot of her
family on family search and showed her how to do indexing.

Saturday, we cleaned the church. Afterwards we were talking with Yefri
and Delhi. We found out that the clerk's chair is really good for
spinning....Also Andres got his mission call. This is the youth that
is almost the exact same age as my brother. He is going to the Provo,
Utah Mission. We both just looked at each other and freaked out.

Sunday was good. We taught the youth and didn't take any crap from
them. We had a good lesson with Yefri after church about enduring to
the end.

So I just found out.  I'm leaving and Elder Carrero as well.  I also just
found out that I will serve as a district leader for my last three
months. I feel like Woody in toy story when "strange things are
happening."  Lot of change this week. Talk to you soon.

Love elder barker

Enviado desde mi iPad

Saying, "Hola" and "Adios"

Sorry, I don't know how much time I will have to write. We are going to
Brooklyn to say hi to Elena, Elder Farmer and I's old landlord.

I'm getting to that point where I feel like I am ready for a change.
Transfers are next week.  They aren't going to tell us if we are
leaving or not until Monday. That gives us less than 24 hours to pack
all our things and say goodbye to people.  I've pretty much treated
every meeting like it is the last time I will see these people again.
But...solo dios sabe.

A lot of good things happened this week. We had two people at church.
Double the amount I've ever had on my mission. One of the Trochez boy's
girlfriends started investigating and is really interested. She
actually set a date for April. We will see what happens there.

Friday we had zone conference. Being in large groups of missionaries
is strange now. 90% of the people I really knew gave their departing
testimony. There was a workshop on family history and it got me
pumped. I've been working on it any spare moment I've had. I have found
quite a few names. Because I am on a mission and can't go to the temple
too often, I have focused on the most recent generations. I've found a
lot of distant cousins that are probably still living.  Obituaries are
gold for family history.

Saturday I had exchanges with Elder Marca. He is from Peru. Pretty
much spoke Spanish all day without any problem.  I am excited to keep
building that skill. We taught a family that I had taught in Freeport,
but then moved here.

Sunday was a good day. After church we had mission prep class, but only
one youth showed up. He has his papers in. We just decided to have
class at his house. Such a good kid. He should get his call this week.

Anyway our teaching pool is doing better than ever. Can't wait to hear
where Robbie is going!

Love you all,
Elder Barker