Letter #8

Wow another great week in the MTC! It feels like they just keep getting better and better! I keep learning more and more new ways that i can be more effective! This is such an awesome place! We also were lucky enough to have Elder Russell M Nelson come and give us a talk at a devotional! It is amazing to be in a general authority's presence! They all carry the spirit with them so strong! I really enjoyed the talk! My lesson this week in chinese was really cool, it was the best that i feel that i have ever taught in chinese! The reason being i did not depend on myself as i taught, i completely relied on the spirit! There were so many things that i was not expecting at all going into the lesson! I invited for babtism in chinese, and i had no idea where it came from at all! but it was so awesome!! I was planning to simply invite my investigator to pray, but the words just flew out of my mouth in chinese, BABTISM! ( keep in mind this is not a real investigator) but it was still awesome, it really started to feel real as i taught!

I am getting so exited to get out in the mission field! But extremly scared at the same time!! time goes by soo fast at the MTC! Each week here feels like a day, it is starting to scare me a little! I feel like i need to practice chinese more, but i know that when i get out in the mission field is really when my chinese will start to improve! I saw Elder Monahan this week at the Mtc!! It was so great to see him! He got his visa and is now off to mexico city! I was so surprised to see him, but it was really cool! He has already been out on his mission, so he had a ton of great insight to tell me!! He is part of the reason i am so excited to get out into the mission field. He had a ton of great stories! I also saw Elder Hansen, it was great to see him as well! I made sure to show him the ropes here at the MTC! Because i am kinda becoming a big deal here on campus, not going to lie! kidding! But he seems to be doing great and adapting to the misson life really well!!

Fall is so pretty up here! The season actully changes! It is very cool to see! All of the trees are changing color, and leaves are all over the side walk! It is really fun to step on all of them walking back and forth from class everyday!! OH I HAVE A STORY I FORGOT TO SHARE LAST WEEK! so a few elders from my district were in the laundery room, and these three chinese officials walked in receiving a tour of the MTC! Of course all of the Mandarin Missionaries got really excited thinking that China is going to open up! I don't know what is going to happen, but it was really cool to see that! But who knows it could still be a very long time!!

Well i love you all! thank you so much fot all of the love and support you have been giving me! I hope that all is going well for you, because it is sure going well for me! I love this church so much, and i am so grateful for the opportunity to be out on a mission! I am learning so much, and hope that i will continue!! It is such a great feeling to know that the lord is happy that i am trying my best to help him!

zai jian!!

Bao zhang lao!

Letter #7 YA YA YA

Ni men hao!!

 

Another amazing week in the MTC!!!!

I taught the first lesson again this week and it went way better!!! I SAID THE FIRST VISON IN CHINESE!! I am sure this probably seems kinda late, but lets just say there has been alot of translation problems!! It was so cool, the spirit is so strong when the first vison is told no matter what language it is heard in! We had a talk yesterday, from the secretary of the MTC, Brother Beeson. It was a really great talk! He read this couple page article to us that this guy wrote with all of these "facts" as to why he believed there was a God. The list dragged on and on, and there was really no feeling as he read it, i felt like i was sitting in a science class. After he finished, he looked up at the audience and recited the first vision.. tears filled his eyes and the audience was silent. He then asked us what was more convincing - where did we feel the spirit stronger? We all new the answer! There is nothing that invites the spirit stronger than a testimony! I love Joseph Smiths first vision and i dont think i ever really thought about what exactly it was until i came here.

This week my zone recieved new missionaries! I am officially one of the older Mandarin Missionaries here now, WIERD! The new missionaries are awsome, it is so nice to be able to answer other peoples questions about Chinese and the schedule! Although they are probally not going to ask me too many more questions... i like messing around with them alot!! On Sunday, i convinced all of them that they would have to give a 5 minute talk in Chinese - it was awesome! They were so relieved when i told them that was not the case! It was hallarious!! With new missionaries, unfortunately old missionaries leave! I am starting to lose some of my good friends i have made here! There were two Hmong elders that left that were so funny! One of them was from california, i was bummed to see them go! Now there is a new Hmong elder and he is the only one in the MTC!!! He doesn't even have a companion!! It is crazy!! I also lost Elder Toolson this week and that was sad! But i am exited for him, i know that he will ROCK the misson field!! I met a movie star this week! You know the church little movie clip, seminary or surfing?! Well, i met the elder in that movie! His name is Elder Kimble. He is going to the Dominican Republic and is really a cool guy!

I found out some awesome things about my misson this week!! My native Chinese teacher is from there! She lived exactly where i am going to be serving!! She said there are a ton of people that speak Mandarin there! There are enough to fill 2 branches! So that will be sweet! I am glad that i will be able to use the language a lot! I also heard that i get one couple week trasfer to English speaking on my mission! Just so i don't go insane in China Town the whole time!

Well, i hope all is going well! I love you all so much!!

 

Bao zhang lao!

 

Lovely Letter #6

Hello!!!

 

SO to start off, i had an amazing birthday - thanks to all of you! Thank you so much for sending me all of that stuff! Not going to lie, i felt really cool! It was one of my teacher's birthdays the day before mine so we celebrated together and it was awesome! My class sang to me in Chinese, happy birthday! It was really cool! Then we all went outside and had cupcakes! Later that night, it was party time! And when we got back to the rooms, we broke out the candy and ran around the whole floor making the guys day with candy and treats! I am officially very loved now in my building!! Thank you all, awesome birthday!

Next, i taught in Chinese the first lesson! It is so weird because i feel like i have only been here like a week, it is amazing how fast time goes by here! I was really surprised how easy it actually was. I was expecting it to be brutal but i actully got through it! Now did i dominate? That is questionable, however i did finish the lesson which i was very happy about. I have to do that again next week, but this time i want to go more in depth, sharing personal expierences, and this one really cool quote i found about the atonement that i want to memorize in Chinese! So, i am hoping that next week i will teach better!

Here is the funny story of the week.. so me and 2 of my roommates went up to the floor above us to take showers because all of the showers on our floor were full. As we finish our shower, we walk to our room, AND THE DOOR IS LOCKED! We were standing outside our room in towels and it was locked! We waited there for like ten minutes.... then we looked at the room number and realized that we were on the opposite side of the building! And that was not our room! You have to understand that everything looks the same in the MTC! But it was really funny and we have been laughing about that all week!

Also this week, all of the older missionarys left in my zone, which was really wierd at first!!! Now we only have like 15 kids in our sacrament meetings! My district was in charge of the sacrament and we gave a musical number in Chinese! That waas pretty cool! It is actually kinda nice to have all of the older missionarys gone! I am getting alot closer to all of the guys in my zone! There are some really funny kids in here! I am very blessed to have such a great zone! They are making my MTC expierence so much fun. I found out 3 other kids in my zone wrestled! I am sure you can see were this is going! We cleared out a room and started wrestling each other in the room! It was really funny and the next day was Sunday, and we were all covered in carpet burns! 2 of the elders had carpet burns on there foreheads! Everyone kept asking them, "what happened", it was so funny!

I say this every week, but i really do love it here! This is the best decision i have ever made in my whole life to serve a mission. I am finding myself so excited to go out and teach people this great message that all of us are so lucky to have! I have never realized that more. I love this church, and i know that every princible of it is true! I love all of you guys soo much, and thank you again for all of the packages, and letters! It is always so nice to hear from all of you! I hope that all is going well.

Love Bao Zhang lao!!

 

Elder "STUD PANTS" Barton's letter #5!

This week was the best week of my life! I have so much to say and I just hope that I will have enough time!!

First of all! I recieved so much love this week! It was amazing! one of the days, I had so many packages, each of my companions had to take some! not going to lie, I felt really cool! I am trying to wait until my b-day to open them though dont worry! However, some of them could not make it! I felt like it was Christmas, convincing myself I could just open up one on Christmas Eve! I loved it soo much thank you all! you are amazing!

NEXT WAS CONFERENCE! That was the best expierence that I think I will ever have my whole life! The spirit was so strong in that room sitting behind all of those amazing men! Usually when I see some one famous, I realize right away that they are just a person. when I saw these people, I realized they are not just people. They are called by God. We all stood when President Monson walked into the room, and the room went silent. He was followed by Uchdorf, and Eyring. After they were all seated and confrence was getting ready to start, President Monson stood up and walked into the audience. The room was still, completely silent. He made his way through the crowd, and then came to one little old man that had a cane in one hand. When he reached him, he held out his hand and helped him to his feet and then embrassed him with a big hug. I started to cry the spirit was so strong, it was so powerful to see how much love our prophet has. On both sides of me were two kids from Utah. I caught them out of the corner of my eye staring at me for crying. They had grown up seeing the Prophet and were used to the POWER that follows him. The next best part of the meeting was when we sang "called to serve" at the end of the meeting. The spirit was so strong during that song! I looked out into the audience and saw a group of boys (looked about the age of a deacon) smiling ear to ear. I felt so proud to be an example for those few boys, I started to cry again! After the song and the prayer, we all stood again as the Prophet exited the room. after he was gone, we all stayed standing. The spirit was so strong that my body froze. We all stood for a few minutes until I saw Nick Allegretti and Andrew Bertha waving at me! That was so funny! I was so happy to see them! It added on to the the amazing day that I had!

I was on TV!! I hope that all of you guys saw! If not, you can go onto the church website and there is a link to a conference site. If you go onto the priesthood section you can watch the songs that we did! I was sitting in the front left wearing a red tie!! This week I have to teach the first lesson in Mandrin Chinese! I am studying like crazy to prepare for it! I hope that I can at least get through the lesson! I was listening to a talk form Elder Bednar a few days ago that he previously gave at the MTC. In the beginning of the talk, he said "Elder Barton, I want to let you know that you are making the right choice!" talking to another Elder Barton but still it was awsome to hear him say my name! Later in his talk, he said that he feels awful for people teaching the lessons in Madrin Chinese! It was so funny! His talk was about relying on the spirit and recognizing its promptings!!! I was very grateful to hear it! It really helped me out!

Well, I hope that all of your weeks were as great as mine! I love you all so much!!! Thank you so much again for all of the Birthday Gifts!

zai jian! Bao Zhang lao!!!

Elder Barton Sings in General Conference

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