Hello Hello!
Today is going to be a shorter email. I am in best buy using a computer. Today is fourth of July so a lot of places are closed! It is nice being out of china town on the fourth of July. In china town you would not even know that today is a special day! I saw a guy that had a pair of socks with USA embroidered in red white and blue but other than that, I have not seen the slightest amount of patriotism. I made sure to sing the national anthem to start off comp study this morning though. I sang it extra loud so everyone in china town would get the gist.
This week was just amazing. Going into a new area is always accompanied by so many miracles. With that being said, I don't know that I have ever seen such a rapid increase in a teaching pool my whole entire mission. Starting last week we had one baptismal date. But, he went out of state for a few months and will not be coming back for a few months! So we had to drop his date. But me and Elder Foley continued to battle through the sorrow and work hard. We were so blessed. We had some of the most powerful lessons that I have ever had in my whole mission. I think a few weeks ago, I may have told you about a business man that we met on a work exchange from Bei Jing. We had the opportunity to share with him the first half of the plan of salvation, and invite him for baptism. After much thought, he finally agreed that he would do it. We are so happy! His family is coming out in about a year as well which makes it just that much better.
We ran into another guy on the street holding a bible in his hands. We started to talk with him and heard a remarkable story. He said he became a christian. He really enjoyed church and started to share the word with a lot of his friends. One day a few government officials came into his church and dragged him out. They beat him pretty severely and confiscated his bible and other materials that he had on him. After he was released from jail, his father gave him money to go to America. The spirit was so strong as he told us this. He then said that he is preparing to get baptized into another church. We shared with him the first lesson and invited him to be baptized with the proper priesthood authority. He agreed!!!!
On Sunday we met with a lady that we have been trying to meet with for quite some time! She is so prepared but hardly has any time to meet with us. She is a very busy woman. Finally with much prayer and effort we were able to meet with her. She began to cry right when she said the opening prayer. She began to tell heavenly father. After the prayer, we talked with her for a second. The poor thing has really been going through some hard times. The spirit made it so obvious what we need to teach. What is the best way for us to start over? How can we have consistent happiness in our lives? Baptism! The spirit was so strong!
We also were very blessed with people coming to tour our chapel that we met on the street. We also had a few people randomly just call us! I wish so bad that I had more time to in depth of all the wonderful miracles that happened to us this week. I can't even begin to tell you how much it strengthened my testimony that god lives. He guides his missionaries to those people that are ready or need some extra help preparing.
We got to meet President Thomas B. Morgan this week! He is a great guy! So much different from President Smith. They are both great in their own way. I really like President Morgan. He has five boys. One of which will be living with him throughout the course of his mission here in New York! I thought that was pretty cool! It is weird seeing children sitting up on the stand with the mission president! I really like it though.
I am so grateful for all of the love and support from all of you! I love reading the letters that you all send me! I am sorry I am not the best at writing back sometimes. I hope Andrew tears it up in Brazil! I know that he will be an amazing missionary! After seeing a picture of Tucker on his mission, I am not worried that he will lose those big biceps of his... I am sure that he will have many more baptisms on his mission. Love you all!
Elder Barton
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