Letter #4

So i decided to wake up early this morning because i have huge news, and i have been really exited to tell you guys all week!! I AM GOING TO BE SINGING IN PRIESTHOOD SESSION OF GENERAL CONFERACE THIS WEEKEND! i made it! i was so excited i am going to get on a bus with the choir and go sing right behind the PROPHET! i have never seen any of the general authoritys so i am really exited! i feel like i am a teenage girl going to a back street boy concert! it is funny what the MTC does to you! ok so now the story of how i got in to the choir. first my whole district got in exept for me and one other elder! it was a raffle and there were no try outs or any thing to get in! so we went to the first practice anyway and asked if we could join the choir! he said he had 5 more spots, and there were 15 people in our position! he made us fill out a little expierence card, ( i of course wrote about my ammon days in the road show!) then we left! we both really wanted to get in, so we decided that we would fast! We eventually got a call to go to this room. we were both really nervous, we had no idea what was going to happen! as we sit there a ton of boys walked in, then eventually a lady! the lady was talking about try outs! SOLO try outs in front of everyone! we were very scared! but, then we figured out we were in the wrong place! we were in the room to audition for musical numbers at the next devotional!! it was soo funny! so we went to the next room over, and turned in our things and walked away! that was alot less stressful! so any ways later that night a lady came over the intercome and said will ELDER RYAN BARTON please call the front desk! i was a little nervous, i thought i would be in trouble, but then BAM! I was in the choir! SO anyways i am really exited, and hope you will all watch prestood conference to see me singing as a first tenor! i dont really know what that means but hey, it is first! must mean that i am like the first best or something! ha! KIDDING! i hope that you all will watch priesthood session and look for me singing away! ( along with all of the amazing talks that i am sure will be given!) But anyways, this week was another great one! I did way better at the staged teaching appointment then i ever have! I got the "investigator" to commit for baptism! although it was fake i still felt really cool! we also taught the second lesson, which was cool! i bought this little dry erase board to draw out the plan of happieness!! i thought it was a pretty cool idea! the other part of the task was to pick up the "investigator" from church only using chinese, and take them to the "Bus" (it was actully a room with a bunch of bench seats!) then talk with them about the commitments that they were asked to make! i was very lucky to have an investigator with very clear chinese. i could mostly understand him, and respond! which i was really happy about! I learned that whenever you have no idea what is going on, just bear your testimony! it usually works out, or they just look at you really funny! OH I got my full chinese name this week! Ra Li Bao which translates to hot strong buns! i thought that was pretty cool i am not going to lie! it might get changed, but as of now i am hot strong buns! chinese is still really hard! but it is amazing how much you start to like it even when it is kicking your butt! i like the challenge of it! I am really exited to just be able to speak it! My testimony grows here every day! it is amazing to see how much heavenly father knows me as a person.

Thank you all so much for the letters! I really love getting them! i hope that everything is going well for you guys!

Wo ai nimen!!

Boa Zhang Lao!

PS i think i am going to wear a red tie at confrence if that helps at all!