Letter 71

Hello Hello!                                     01/11/11

Well I just saw a picture of Elder Toolson heading off into the mission field! That is so cool! It brought back so many memories! How exciting! Brazil is not even going to know what hit them! I am so lucky to have so many friends going out into the mission field with me. It has really been great to have all of the support. Even though we are all in such different places, we are all having similar experiences.

Elder mok and I were blessed with another great week. We faced several trials, but they were a great opportunity to learn. We had two of our investigators drop us this week. That is for sure the worst feeling that I have faced my whole entire mission. I felt bad that elder mok had to face it while he was still pretty new in the mission. But it ended up being good for us. We were forced to humble ourselves and go get to work again. When we have things like this happen it is so easy just to blame ourselves, or think about what we did wrong to deserve something like this. But, these kinds of thoughts are exactly what Satan wants us to think. We have to remember the important role of agency in our lives. We can teach the gospel, bear a great testimony, and help our investigators to feel the spirit. But in the end they have to make the choice. They have to exercise the faith and follow the commitments that we give them. There have been times on my mission were I have fallen into this trap of feeling like I am doing everything that I can, my investigators are not progressing, and it is my fault. But, that is not the case at all. When we are exactly obedient and working as hard as we can, heavenly father will put his children in our path that he feels are ready, or almost ready to accept to gospel. When they choose not to accept, yes it makes us feel sad, but imagine how heavenly father feels... I am sure that he gets so excited when he sees people agree to meet with us, and when they decide to stop meeting with us, I cannot imagine how sad he feels.

Despite those bad things that happened this week, we also had some great things happen! Eric came with us to attend the union square English ward and loved it. Right after Sacrament Meeting he was immediately surrounded by friendly people wanting to introduce themselves. We set up a lesson this week with one of the members from that ward and we think that the following week, we are going to pass him off to the English missionaries. It became so obvious that it was the right thing for us to do. We were also able to meet li guang longs family! They came back from Hong Kong this last Saturday. We helped his twin boys with their homework and it was so nice to see some of the stress taken of the mom and dad. After we helped, we tried to share a family home evening that my companion and me put much time and effort thinking and planning out. As soon as we mentioned it the mom said no no no I am not in to the church stuff, my husband likes that you can share it with him. After she finished her sentence the two boys ran out of the room. So we were just left with li guang long just like the three previous weeks. We just decided to leave him with a prayer and then head home. We really hope that this weekend we will have an opportunity to share a family home evening. I think they would really like that.

We had an amazing thing happen yesterday night with one of our investigators. She was some one that was slowly but surely starting to turn into an "eternagator". She was found right about when I came back to china town and I have never fully understood why she was meeting with us. She never wanted to try anything that we would ask her to do. But yesterday, that all changed we were able to fully understand everything. It turns out she has an uncle that lives in Canada that claims to be a very devote Christian. He left his family in china and refuses to have any contact with them. When his father died, he did not go to see his funeral and now his mother is dying and he is still not allowing anyone to contact him. He told his family before he left that his earthly parents were only supposed to give him a body after that god and Jesus Christ are much more important. He thinks that he does not need to respect his family any more, only God. This investigator wanted to meet with us so that she fully understand what Christians believe, and her plan was to tell us that we were wrong. But, as she continued to meet with us she realized that we were not at all what she thought. She said a prayer the other day asking heavenly father to help her get in contact with her uncle. This is the first time that she has really prayed with faith. She then went on Google and there were millions of results of people with her uncle’s name. Chinese names are always very similar. She decided to try one of them and see what happened. When she called her uncle answered, she was able to talk with the man that no one in her family was able to get in contact with. She accepted this as a huge miracle. Her uncle was still very set in his ways and did not plan on changing but she was so grateful for this opportunity just to talk with him. I thought that was a pretty incredible story. This experience totally changed her; I have a really good feeling for things to come in her life.

Well this was an amazing week. I am so grateful! In some ways it was kinda a roller coaster full of very low, and very high points. I am so grateful to be here! I love my mission!

Elder Barton

Letter 70 Letter Just To Family This Week

Family!                                                        01/04/12

I don’t know if I am going to have time to do a big e-mail today, so I think that I am just going to e-mail you guys! I am at the LDS employment center, and there is a lady behind me waiting to use the computer. Wow it looks like you guys had such a fun break, I am so jealous! I was crying from laughing so hard. I loved the one of dad sleeping, and maci giving him a mustache! That is so funny! Maci is such a little prankster! It was weird to see pictures of some of the cousins! They have all grown up so much! Demi and Maci also continue to surprise me every time that I see pictures of them! The desert trip looked so fun! I didn’t know that the jeep could do that! Did you guys ride around like that in the summer? We will have to do that again sometime when I come home! Oh and Beau's little motorized bike thing looks so cool! Now you don’t have to worry about getting him a car! That will be perfect! You guys all look great! Thanks for sending all of those pictures!

Me and Elder Mok had a great week! I really felt that we were being led by the spirit. One day this week, we did not have any scheduled lessons, so we were out on the street most of the day. We decided to mix it up and take a route that we had never taken before. As we walked along, we ran into one of the Chinese ladies that work at the subway here in china town. We talked with her for about 15 minutes, and found out so many new interesting things about her. We see her a lot, but it is hard to get to know someone behind the counter of a busy New York City Subway. She didn’t have much interest to learn about the church, but we both felt that she needed to talk with us. Right after we finished talking with her, a member pulled up driving a limo van. He explained that he was a member from up state, and he works as a limo driver in the city. He insisted to give each of us a soda, and then he was on his way. Right after that, a struggling old lady walked by with huge bags of groceries in her hands. We were able to help, carry her groceries all the way to her house, which was several blocks away. When we arrived at the front of her appartment complex she was so grateful, she even tried to give us money. We refused the money, and just told her to come to church one day if she has time. Then as we walked back to our normal contacting spot I noticed we found several other people that stopped and talked with us about our church. When we arrived at our contacting spot the very fist person that we contacted was very interested, and had been looking for a church. We went with him right the second, and gave him a tour of our chapel and a first lesson. The spirit was so strong as we taught him the doctrine of the godhead, and prayer. 

Things like this happen so often on a mission. Sometimes we get so used to it, that it is easy to forget how amazing the gift of the Holy Ghost is! Even though sometimes we may not have huge promptings, the Holy Ghost is guiding our each and every footstep. We had a really cool lesson this week with one of our investigators this week. He is going though some family problems right now, and really needed our help. The whole lesson, Elder Mok and I really did not say much. We just listened. The poor guys had so many feelings stored up inside! We had a very strong feeling to teach him about priesthood blessings, and offer him one. The spirit was so strong. After the blessing he looked up at us and said," wow, I feel a lot better." We then made a plan with him of how we are going to help his family. We think a lot of the problems are coming from the husband and wife not speaking English. So, whenever the kids bring home their home worker something they have to spend hours translating each and every word, just so they can help their kids! I can’t imagine. We told him that when we come over each week we could help the kids with their homework. We are hoping that this will relieve some of the stress. We are also going to start holding family home evenings with him and his family! I am so excited! Please give me some cool game ideas! I have not met the kids yet; they have been out of town with their mom. I meet them this Saturday, so wish me luck.

Oh and I wanted to tell you guys something! So this last week, I started to get down to the end of the package that you sent me, if you know what I mean! And tucked under one of the cardboard flaps was a fifty-dollar gift card that I did not see before! How cool is that?! Thank you guys so much! That got me so excited! You guys are the best! Well guys I love you so much! I hope that you have a great day! Keep up all the great work!

Elder Barton

Letter # 69 Another Great Week

hello hello everyone!

 

This was another great week! I had an amazing Christmas! We had to leave China Town this week and go to the 65th street chapel. I was so grateful we got to leave China Town this year! Last year we stayed in China Town and it was very hard to even know that it was Christmas! The 65th street chapel is smack in the middle of south Manhattan so there was plenty of Christmas spirit to go around! We had three investigators come to church this sunday! We were not expecting any to come because we were not meeting at our ussual location! But to our surprise, we had three people come! After the meeting, our branch president invited us over to his house for dinner. I was so happy! We had an amazing dinner! We are talking like a Thanksgiving style feast! It was so cool! The sisters in our district from main land China, had never celebrated a christmas like that before. It is crazy how some things we really take for granted sometimes.

These last two days have been pretty rough for me and Elder Mok. Monday we did not have any scheduled lessons, so we were out side all day long. Being out side is not a bad thing, but when you only get one phone number after being out almost a full day, it is not a fun feeling. After contacting for a long time we took a dinner break, then still had about two more hours to go contact. Despite our exaustion we tried to have a good attitude and make it fun. After contacting about ten minutes into our second session, a man stopped and talked with us. He was very interested in what we were doing, and our message. He gave us his phone number then asked where our chapel was. Seeing that he had time right then we asked him if he wanted to go with us right that second and go look at our chaple. He said that he could! We went up to the chapel and ended up sharing a very powerful lesson with him about prayer, and how God is our loving Heavenly Father. My two favorite princibles to teach investigators. His understanding of religion was very scarce, but after we shared these things with him he had a great desire to know more!

This experience really strengthened my testimony, along with several others this week, that God really does hear our prayers.

Yesterday, me and Elder Mok had a few really good lessons, and then we were outside in the furocious horizontal rain! After being out for about an hour, my companions brand new unbrella broke, and my rain jacket cacoon started to become damp. Suddenly I thought about an old lady that I remembered Elder Faulkner telling me about, and I figured we could go try to visit her. After seaching for a few minutes I was able to find the building. We pulled on the front door and it came open! So rare for New York city! When we knocked on her door, she pulled it open leaving the chain hooked so the door could not open all the way. At first she did not know who we were, and was not going to let us in, but when we said we were missionaries she let us in right away. Her apartment was freezing, and not in the best condition. One of the light bulbs on her cealing was out, and she could not do anything about it because she could not climb up that high. We helped her change her light bulb. She then told us about a part of her floor that causes her to slip everytime she walks to a certain part of her house. She showed us huge bruises going up the side of her leg. We tried our best get the broken floor in place, but did not really succeed. When we came back and sat down with her she started to cry. She told us that she does not have anyone to care for her any more. Her children are in china, and her husband recently passed away. She does not have any friends, or loved ones with her in New York. We are going to get our branch involved in helping her. It was so cool how Heavenly Father sent us to her. I really hope that we can help her.

Well I love you so all! I hope that you had a good Christmas! Talk to you next week,

Elder Barton!

Letter #68 Ho Ho Ho & A Merry Christmas

ho ho ho and a Merry Christmas ladies and gentleman!

 

This is Elder Barton signing in from New York City! we have some beautiful weather today. Despite a light mist, and cloudy sky it is a beautiful day! We are going to go play foot ball with the rest of the zone, and finish up our Christmas shopping! I cant believe that Christmas is already this weekend! Time has gone by so fast! I feel like Christmas just happened! But i am in no way complaining! I am so excited! Christmas is really a different on a mission, and I love it! In my opinion it is better then the normal Christmas. And it does not just start on December 25th, we are constantly introducing the great news of Jesus Christ and his life to our investigators. When Christmas comes it really has a whole new meaning.

We were very fortunate to have another great week. I have never had such a solid batch of investigators my whole entire mission. usually there are a few that are a little unsure, but right now I feel so good about all of the people that we are teaching! They are doing the things that we ask them to do, and they are seeing results! It has really strengthened my own testimony allot. Heavenly Father is always listening, and planning ways to answer our prayers.Sometimes it takes alittle bit longer, and sometimes we are lucky enough to have our answer come right away. But, if we are patient things will happen.

We recently taught 2 of our investigators the Word of Wisdom. The Word of Wisdom is always kinda a make or break I guess you could say. Either the investigator trys it out and sees the blessings that come with it, or they do not want to continue meeting with us. To be honest, it is usually the second one. But both of our investigators were willing to take the challenge. One of them shared a really cool experience with us. He said that his friends took him to a bar to celebrate for his birthday. He went, and did not have a single drink. The bar did not even have soda so he was not able to drink anything. He came home that night thinking about what he had just done. If it was really worth the sacrifice. He said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father that very question. He said that as he began to pray his tension was released. His mind felt at ease, and he was comforted that it was the right choice. This investigator has been praying a long time, but up until that moment he had not been able to feel the spirit that clearly. He is still not 100% sure, but he is getting there.

My companion got his first phone number street contacting this week, and he was so excited! He insisted that we went to the nearest market so that he could reward himself! In my mind I was thinking maybe like a candy bar, or some other small snack. This elder purchased a case of Coke, a case of Cream Soda, and enough Chocolate to feed a small colony! He was very excited! I had no idea that he was so fond of pop. You have to love that greeny fire!

One of the investigators we have right now does not live in China Town! This is another first timer for my mission! Last Saturday we were walking down the lonely and dark sixth ave to to visit this investigator. My feet were tired, and my mouth was try from they intensity of this walk. My legs shook trying to support my body weight. As I looked up to see how much road I still had ahead of me I noticed a light peering out the fog. I rubbed my eyes, and allowed my vision to refocus. Could this really be what I thought it was? As I got closer, the familiar sound of a Mariachi band entered into my ear drums, the sweet smell of Carne Asada entered my nostrils, and the letter became clearer. The words MEXICAN FOOD blazed brighter then the candles on a birthday cake. my light walk turned into a pounding sprint! I threw open the doors of the restaurant, and gave a huge hug to man wearing a sombrero. Tears filled my eyes as I walked to the front desk and ordered the first taco that I have had in over a year. This was truly a tender mercy.

After that experience with the Mexican food, we had a great lesson with our investigator. The missionaries were led to him at a time were he really needs it. He is so stressed out trying to balance his family life with is work life. A common struggle that middle age men will go through. But he is a little worse then most that I have seen. You can see they effects that stress has had on his body. When we teach him the spirit is so strong. He is so committed and prepared. Me and Elder Mok are so excited for our lesson with him this weekend, it should be great!

Well I love you all! hope you have a great Christmas! Thank you so much for all of the cards! It is so cool seeing some of the families that I knew before I left! It is crazy how some of the young ones have really grown up! I am scared! I hope yo get back to you all soon!

Elder Barton

Letter #65

Hey everyone!

 Well this was really a great week! Thanksgiving was so fun! One of our investigators invited to go watch the Macy day parade on the top of his roof! He lives right next to Macy’s so he had such a good view! We were able to watch all of the performances and see the balloons really clear. I think I liked it better than last year. It was really cool being with an investigator too. After we watched the parade we were off to Queens... it was so fun! We ate with the same family that fed us last year! It was so fun! There were a lot of members there from our branch, so it was really fun to hang out with them and get to know some of them better. It is really hard in chinatown because except for Sundays, we don’t have many opportunities to talk with our members! They are all so busy! I love this branch so much; all of our members are such great examples. It has been so cool to see our branch continue to grow. Not really in church attendance but in the members understanding of the gospel. In chinatown a lot of people will come and go because of work and other reasons. But the ones that stay here are really starting improve. We have a large group of members going to the temple to get endowed next week! So exciting!

This week we found a few new investigators. One of them is named Jackie! He moved here recently from Vietnam! He learned mandarin and speaks it very well! We had a great lesson with him about prayer. He told us about some of the hard times that he had over in Vietnam. I never realized how crazy it is over there! He also came and attended a youth activity that one of our sisters put on. He really enjoyed it! We learned about families then played a game, it was pretty awesome. We also had a girl that we contacted almost a year ago come and start meeting with us again. She told us that she has not forgotten the things that we shared with her. We talked with her about baptism and she agreed to prepare herself to baptized next month! We were so happy! It was such a miracle!

Well sorry this is kinda a short email, but we don’t have much time today. I hope that you all have a great week! The mission is still going great! We have been so busy recently and I love it! There is nothing better that I could be doing right now.

Elder Barton

Letter #63 Just A Letter To His Family This Week

Sorry this letter title is out of order.  Letter #64 was input twice as Letter #63 & #64.  When I deleted it, it messed up the order of the letters.  (I should of just edited the repeat letter and not delete it.)

Letter #67

(ryan just found out he was accepted to BYU-Hawaii for January 2013) we are so blessed! Merry Christmas! - Darci

Hello hello!

This has been a great week; Elder Mok and I were so blessed! It is so crazy how whenever there is a new companion, or a new missionary the lord blesses you like crazy! Not only did we find a few new investigators but also we were able to get back in contact with some of the people that we have talked to previously. It was really a great week.

So to start things off we ran into two people that we had contacted a long time ago! And this time they were able to come and meet with us! One of them was a man that I met almost a year ago, who had us help him translate some things but as soon as we talked with him about church became very uncomfortable and left. This time he listened to our whole lesson, asked very sincere questions, and came to church on Sunday!!!! I WAS SO SURPRISED! It was a night and day difference. It is all about the preparation and the seed planting I tell you. This man is a great example of that. The first time that we met him, it was just not the right time for him to hear about the gospel in his life. But, it only took a year for him to change. I don’t know what happened to him in his life that made him want to change but whatever it is I am so grateful! We also had man show up to church on Sunday that was meeting with elder Faulkner a long time ago and even had a baptismal date at one point. He was then arrested for sleeping on a park bench and had several other things come up, so he slowly lost contact with the missionaries. He showed up on Sunday and stayed for all three hours, and said that he will come again this next week! Very cool, I love the reactivation of investigators.

A few weeks ago I ran into a man on the street named Henry. He was a very interesting man. I could tell from speaking with him that he was a very deep thinker. He came and met with us one day and told us a little bit more about his background. He said that for most of his life he has believed that there is a God but has not known which church is true. He told us that he has researched many churches and has come to the conclusion that the people on this earth are very confused and there will not be a true church on the earth again. He said that he will give us 8 times to meet with him and teach him about why our church is true. I was more then willing to accept this challenge. This last time that we met with him, he promised that he would read half of the book of Mormon before the next time that he comes! Our mouths dropped when he made this commitment. I am so excited to meet with him again, and see how he is doing. I know that if he is not only reading, but praying as well he will find that answer that he is looking for! He would make such a strong convert. We also received two referrals this last week that were both very promising! The first one was a man that was having family problems. He is a very busy man and it has been hard for him to balance work life with family life. One day when he was feeling very depressed, thinking about ways that he can improve, two of the Spanish speaking missionaries knocked on his door. Even though he did not understand a single word that they said, he let them in because it felt right. They shared a message. He did not understand a single word but it felt right. The desire in this man to change is so pure and so sincere. Such evidence that heavenly father is really listening to all of his children. Even the ones that are not praying because they don’t know how or what it really can do. He still listens and wants to help those people as well. That is so touching to me.

Christmas is coming! I am so lucky to be in NYC! The Christmas spirit here is so strong! When you go downtown you cannot help but singing a couple Christmas songs and making a donation to the closest Santa! Yesterday our mission had our Christmas party! It was a lot of fun to see old friends and eat delicious food. But, my favorite part was the talk that our mission president gave. He read a story about a young shepherd that in my opinion captured the attributes of the savior perfectly! The spirit was so strong. I am so grateful to be on a mission! When you are not surrounded by presents, and family members all you can really do is think about Christ and the amazing sacrifice that he made for us! His whole life was purely for us... there were not many things that he did for himself. I am so grateful! And the best way I can express my gratitude is by sharing with others! Not only on my mission, but also for the rest of my life.

Elder Barton

Letter #66

Hello Hello my friends from a distant land!

Well Elder Faulkner is out of chinatown! He got sent up to Connecticut in elder Nears old area for his last two cycles! So now finally Elder Mok can unpack his bag! The poor guy has had to live out of his suitcase for the last three weeks! And now there are enough beds in the apartment as well, will definitely make things nicer! Elder Fan, my last comp, was transferred as well. He is going to serve in Inwood! I laughed so hard when I heard that! You would too if you knew where Inwood is and who Elder Fan is! It will be great for him! He has been in chinatown the whole time that I have been on my mission so the guy for sure needed some time out. It will be weird though I will miss them both so much.

This was really a great week! We found a lot of new investigators! We had one of our investigators bring two friends into lessons that were very interested! It was really cool because not only do we have two new people, but also this will be good for the girl that brought them along. She has never really been that interested. She is actually the sister of the very first baptism that I had in chinatown. We taught them together but one of them moved to Washington, so we never got to teach her everything that we wanted to. But when I came back from Connecticut, she came back to New York, so we started to meet with her again. She is still not very interested but I think having two friends that are interested might help her open up a little bit. It is so amazing how heavenly father works.

This week I got to go on a split with one of the Spanish elders in our zone. He is such a good guy, I really learned a lot from him. I always love going on these splits because you get to learn so much about people. The thing that really stuck out to me on our split was the charity that this elder had. When we were eating dinner, a young boy walked up to us in the restaurant and started trying to sell us candy. He was selling two airheads for five dollars. Things like this happen all the time in New York and you just kind of train yourself to not think much of it. Maybe sometimes if you have some spare change, you can do something about the situation but if not you will not think twice. Elder Adams leaned down and started talking with this little kid. He asked him what he was saving up for, what his name was, and ETC. Then at the end of the conversation he reached into his wallet, pulled out a crisp five-dollar bill and placed it into the hand of this little kid. This elder then placed one of his two air heads in front of me, then went about talking. I thought this was such a great example of being Christ like. A lot of time we are so caught up in all of the things that we have to do, that we do not slow and look around us for those people that are in need.

My new companion has an incredible knowledge of the scriptures! I think I told you last time that he is always reading and it has really paid off for him. He loves the story of Job in the Old Testament, so I asked him to share it with one of our recent converts. I really liked the way that he taught the story! I have heard this story before but I did not know all of the details. He talked about when Job says that after his trials he will be made gold. He then went on to compare us to a piece of gold that has many impurities inside. And how after they are put into a furnace all of the impurities will go away. The furnace can represent our trials. I am sure the piece of gold is not having a fun time when it is on fire. It is probably screaming and complaining saying that he cannot go on any longer. But then when he comes out the other side of the furnace he looks back and sees that his "impurities" or weaknesses are gone, he smiles and realizes that he was in the lords hands that whole time. I thought that was a really cool lesson!

Over all this was a very good week… I feel like I learned a lot! Our companionship has some big blessings coming its way and I am so excited! Things have been going so well. Even though it is really hard sometimes, whenever I look back I can always see why.

This is elder Barton still kickin live from NYC, signing off...

Letter #64

HELLO, HELLO

 

Well this was really an interesting week! To start things off, I have a new companion. His name is elder Mok, he is from Hong Kong! My mission president talked to us a couple a weeks ago, and told us that there would be a new elder coming, but we were not expecting him to come in the middle of the week and to have him join us as a three sum! There are now five elders in our small china town pad! We have only done it one night so far but it was not bad, we had a good time! We think that elder Faulkner will be leaving here in a few weeks, so it really will not be that bad! Elder Mok is so cool! He is very funny, and humble. He also speaks very good English! He attended BYU-H before his mission, and he loves to read. So put those two things together, and you have good English.

Well this week went great. I think last week I told you about Vicky. This is the investigator that we said we would write a song for if she read the book of Mormon every day for a week. When she came to meet with us, she refused to start talking about the book of Mormon until we performed her song. The song went great! Elder Faulkner is very good at the piano so the words of the song really did not matter! It made my job very easy; all I had to do was look cool. (Something I am pretty good at doing.) After we performed the song for her, we sat down and talked with her about her experience reading the book of Mormon. She had a lot of questions so at first we just answered all of her questions. After she was done asking questions, we asked her what she thought. She said it was ok... but we could tell that she wanted to say more. We asked her if she had any cool experiences from reading and praying about the book of Mormon. She got quiet for a second, then said, "well, I have one, but I don’t know if it was real." she then started to explain that earlier that week, she was in a fight with one of her close friends, and she was feeling really bad about it. She really wanted an opportunity to talk to her friend but she had called and called and nobody would answer. She even said that the phone would make a funny noise, so she thought that her friend had changed phone numbers. She decided to read the book of Mormon and say a prayer. As soon as she finished her prayer, her phone started to ring and it was her friend calling. She then looked up and said, do you think that this is just coincidence? We told her that it was not and bore testimony that it was an answer to her prayer. But, she was still not 100% sure. She still continues to deny the answers that she gets to her prayers. But, it has been really cool for me to see how heavenly father still answers her prayers! It is so touching to see how hard he is trying to get this girl to know that he is there.

We also had a really cool lesson with a young man name Hong. He had talked with me a few times in chinatown on the street but never really had any interest to learn about church. Until one day he saw us standing outside in the rain and he could not believe that we would still be passing out cards even with bad weather. That day, he actually did not come and talk to me, it was the next time I stopped him walking he stopped and talked with me for a while. He told me that he had seen us last week in the rain passing out these cards. He then started to ask sincere questions about Jesus Christ. I told him we would love to meet with him one day and teach him more about who Jesus Christ is. He gave me his phone number, we called, and he really came! We shared the plan of salvation with him and it went so well. We figured that if you want to really understand who Jesus Christ is then the plan of salvation is the perfect way to do it. When we told him in the beginning we wanted to answer three questions for him; where we were before this life? Why we are here? And where we are going? He told us that he had these questions ever since he was a little boy. He even remembered one time asking one of his friends what he thought about these questions. He told us that his friend said, I don’t know, and I really don’t care. So he just kinda blew it off. He got really into the plan of salvation! It was so obvious that this man was very prepared. We are meeting with him again this week, and we are very excited to see what happens.

We also met a new guy this week named peter! This guy is so awesome. He walked in randomly a couple days ago and said that elder Faulkner contacted him long ago. He told us that he does not have a lot of time, usually just Wednesdays he will have some time off, but that is not even for sure. This man loved Christian religion and thought the country of China needed it really bad. He had heard some news recently of a young lady in Chinatown that was hit by a car. She laid on the side of the street in pain and not moving. It was video taped by the traffic light camera. There were 10 people counted that walked by and did not say a word, just walked by. Finally in the end it was a garbage lady that stopped helped her up and called the cops. Kinda reminded me of the Good Samaritan. But anyways, he said that he really wanted to make a difference. He asked us if he could come out with us street contacting after we shared a lesson with him. He came out with us for over an hour, then we had to go look up to a less active and he asked if he could stay just until he was out of cards. We obviously said yes! And were so excited! As we walked away thinking about what we just heard, we both looked at each other and decided that this guy needed a baptismal date. We walked back and invited him right then and there on the street and he said yes! He told us that he would love to and was very excited! We are not sure when, but we will make it happen! This man is so prepared!

Really was a great week! I was very blessed! Well I hope that you are all having a great week! I love you guys so much!

ELDER BARTON!

Letter #62

Hello every one!

 

This was really a great week! Elder Faulkner and I had some really cool things happen to us that strengthened our testimonies.

One of our investigators, Vicky has kind of been starting to turn into an eternagator. We always ask her to read the book of Mormon but she says no, because it is boring. But finally that changed. Elder Faulkner and I were teaching and some how, we got on to the subject on how the book of Mormon can cheer you up. We told her that many times in our lives we have had the book of Mormon answer one of our questions. We asked her next time that she was having a bad day to open up the book of Mormon and start reading. We told her that it would help her. So the next time that she had an appointment with her, she walked out of the elevator, with very wide eyes not really saying much. We walked with her to the back of our church, sat down and started to talk. She looked up at us and said, have you been praying for me to have a bad day. Elder Faulkner and I started to laugh but she did not. She stayed very serious. She then told us that she was having the worst day of her life. She almost lost her job and got into a really bad fight with her friend. We said well, have you opened up the book of Mormon yet?... and she said no. So, we directed her to mosiah 24 and started to read with her. This is a very powerful chapter… I always give it to investigators when they are having bad days. As we read with her, the tone in her voice changed. It went from kinda half way focused, to 100 % engaged in every word on the page. When we finished the chapter, I looked up at her and she had that same look again. We asked her what she felt, she paused for a second, looked up then said I don’t feel anything! We knew that she had felt something, so we were very disappointed she would not just admit it! We gave her a challenge to read the book of Mormon everyday this week! She said that she would but wanted to get something out of it for herself! She said that elder Faulkner and I had to write a song about her, then perform it for her this Thursday! This is really not a problem!  If it will get her to read the book of Mormon, it is worth it! She is still on track of reading everyday! She met with us yesterday and there is a visible change in her. We are so excited for her! I am excited to see what happens tomorrow!

We also had some great other lessons with a few of our investigators. We taught Eric the plan of salvation and it was so powerful! He really grasped on to all of the concepts and the spirit was so strong as he realized the point of his life. We are so lucky to have that information! I encourage all of you to share it with your friends! I promise you that you will not be disappointed as you see a new glow to your friend. We also found a new lady this week. She walked up to elder Faulkner on the street and started to tell him about some of the things that have been going on in her life. She has been having some problems with her husband, and is very close to getting a divorce Elder Faulkner and I both have experience in this category so we are very excited to try and help! She has met with us twice now, and loves the feeling that she has.

I read a great talk by elder Holland this week. It was about when we receive revelation the trials that we usually have right after. He talked about the storey of Moses in the pearl of great price. Right after Moses has his miraculous experience with seeing god face to face, and actually feeling and seeing everyone in the world at the same time, he is laying on the ground tired. Satan then comes to him and tells Moses to worship him. I thought this was such a great topic. It is so real! Not only have I noticed this with my investigators, but with myself! Almost every time I am on a spiritual high, or I have a cool experience, it is followed by a trial. I think we can all learn something from this! We can prepare ourselves so that when these things happen we will be ready.

Well I sure do love you guys I hope you have a great week!

Letter #61

Hello my friends!

 

This was a very interesting week. I am loving my new companion! His Chinese is so good and he is really helping me a lot! He is somebody that really understands the language! The grammar the characters, everything! We have been doing twenty minutes of grammar and reading the book of Mormon every night together! It is really helping me a lot! I am so grateful for his patience and willingness to help me out. It is so cool though because I am starting to understand why I have been saying things the way that I have been saying them. Does that make sense? I hope so.

As far as finding and teaching this week, it was a little rough. We had a lot of people stand us up because of the recent weather! We had a random snowstorm hit New York City, it was very unusual. And of course, it hit on a Saturday which is always our best day for teaching. We had many lessons planned out and none of them came. That is never a fun feeling! But we got to go walk around in the storm which is always fun! I am not being sarcastic, it is actually really fun! The winds in New York City this time of year are very strong and come at you from all angles. So because I am not the biggest guy, the wind is constantly causing me to change course. Last year, I was wearing this big rain jacket that buttons up in the front. I was walking with a foreword lean pressing my way through heavy winds. When all of the sudden, my jacket was unbuttoned from the force of the wind and my large rain jacket turned into a large parachute! I literally was pulled backwards! I was laughing so hard, I could not breath! Luckily this year I got a new jacket that does not have those kinds of buttons! It really makes things much more pleasant. So it was actually really fun!

We got two new sisters in our district this week and they are so cool! One of them is from Taiwan and the other is from main land China! It is really amazing to me how many missionaries we get here from main land China! Even though we don’t have missionaries over there right now, it is still spreading! It really is like a huge stone that will cover every corner of the earth. Daniel really knew what he was talking about when he said that. The stone is just so big that even if people set up large barriers and people with their hands held high ready to stop it from rolling, they fail. They are smashed and the stone keeps on rolling! The missionaries that come here from china are always such special people. I know that sounds kind of weird but think about it. It talks about in d&c how the lord will prepare his elect to receive his gospel. Now think about china, and how big it is! I don’t think that there are more than 200 native members of the church in the whole entire country! 200 is even pushing it a little bit. From what I have heard, there are like 3 or 4 small branches in the whole entire country! Those people have been chosen to accomplish great things! And you can definitely feel it when you are in their presence. You can even feel it with the ones in our branch! They all moved here from china, and found the church! And now they will go back to china and share it with their friends! It is really a beautiful thing!

I found something in the scriptures that I really liked this week! It answered one of my questions that I have had for a while! When I was in the MTC this guy got up and shared this whole lesson on how missionaries do not plant seeds or even water the seeds. He said that missionaries go on missions to baptize and that is it! Our purpose is not to do anything else other than baptize! At the time I remember feeling like that made sense until I got into the mission field. I realized how hard it is! And I realized how out of “our control” it is sometimes! I also met great members when I went to the English program that did not have one baptism on their mission. It does not make sense to say that missionary’s purpose is only to baptize and not plant seeds. I think about my mission and all of the people that I have talked to!  Have I baptized all of them? No but I have for sure planted seeds! Every time we help a struggling mother with a large stroller down the steep stairs of the subway, shovel somebody’s car out of the snow, or help someone clean up from the aftermath of a hurricane; it is planting seeds! Some of the seeds I have planted on my mission are my most precious memories. The scripture that supports this theory is in 1 Corinthians, I think it was chapter 4 but I am not sure. It is Paul talking, one of the greatest missionaries ever. He says that as missionaries, we do not decide when the harvest comes. That is all done in god’s time! We just plant the seeds and give them water, and then god will do the rest!

My Halloween was so interesting! Being in china town, we have no idea what is going on! To be honest, I did not even know that Halloween was coming up until the day of! China town did not have any pumpkins.. So, we carved bell peppers! I made a really cool one that I was very proud of! We decided that we are going to leave them up for the rest of the cycle! We also had a couple cute little kids running around going trick or treating to each restaurant in china town! I was happy to see some good celebrating going on!

Well guys, I love you! Hope you are having a great week! And I will talk to you next time!

Elder Barton!