Another week in Mexico! This week was a little bit stressful....yesterday was full of drama at church. Us and the Hermanas were late for church because we were picking up investigators, so we requested to have the sacrament after the meetings. Our bishop said he`s not going to do that anymore for us. But the thing is, it`s hard to be on time to church because we have to go to 6 or 7 houses every sunday morning to get our investigators to church. We leave 2 hours early, and we are still late. In our área, we have 3 active families...and none of them can help us pick up investigators. And I`ll just shoot straight, our Ward has problems. The leaders in our Ward don`t do anything to help us. There is a quote from a Seventy member I think but it says,``the full time missionaries are there in your Ward to assist you in the missionary work.`` But right now, we do it all. And it shows in our numbers. I haven`t baptized since December 15th. But we have one scheduled for this Wednesday! Anyways, it`s hard because we can`t have very many lessons with a member present, and those ones are definitely mas poderoso. The only member who helps us out is the Ward Mission Leader. He`s been awesome with us lately picking up a lot of the slack of the Ward. As a result of our frustrations, we fasted one day as a district. It`s funny how when you fast, your investigators somehow feel more inclined to give you food and drinks. As soon as we started our fast and went to continue teaching, we were offered fruit, more fruit, juice, bread, more fruit, more bread. haha. We took the stuff, and we had a really big food storage for this week. haha. Another story, we had our regular zone meeting on Tuesday and I was asked to say the prayer. At our zone and district meetings, we sing and pray in English. So I was pretty excited. Then I found something out, I have lost my ability to pray in English. I kept saying Spanish words and I just couldn`t do it. So I switched to spanish about half way through it. haha. Also, Presidente Whitehead y Hermana Whitehead came to our área this week to give my companion and I a message, and he brought our packages with him! I got Lindsy`s, and the one from Debbie and Sal and their kids, Julie and Chad and their kids, and grandpa and grandma rose! I was pretty happy because it came in difficult times. The treats were so good, and I was so happy to have pop tarts for the first time in 2 months. haha. Thank you so much! This last week was the hardest week physically for me. I had a little bit of the flu, and my foot is killing me. I don`t know why, but I have a huge bruise and blisters on my heel. It`s getting easier to walk, but it`s still getting bigger. haha. Thank you for all your love and support for us here in my misión. Even though it`s tough here for us, we know we are meant to learn something from it. We just have to figure out what it is. I feel like my spanish is still really below par, but I study every day. So I hope it gets better. I love you all so much!

Con amor,

Elder Barton

Hola otra vez!

     Another week en la gran mision en la ciudad de Mexico. This week, my companion and I worked harder and harder because we had 0 investigators at church last week. Yesterday, we had 5 less active people come, and 2 investigators. Still under par, but we are working hard. I talked to more people in one week this week than ever. I contacted 45 people, which means I initiated the conversation and presented ourselves. One thing that was different this week than before, is I taught taxistas by myself. We ride in a lot of taxis, and that`s how we get a lot of contacts. On Tuesday last week, I was sitting by the driver and traffic was miserable. I thought it was going to be a 10 minute ride, but it was a 45 minute ride. Somehow, I taught him for the whole time and answered all of his questions. My companion was in the back so he couldn`t really help me out, but I did really good! I taught him the first vision and the restoration. He asked questions about how we do things in the church like baptism and stuff, and I somehow understood and answered. I pray every day and night for the gift of tongues, and I feel it put into action when I try my faith and talk to someone by myself. So last week after we emailed, we went to get ice cream and finish washing our clothes. When we walked in to the ice cream place, the lady there let us try 2 of the ice creams right off the bat. Like we didn`t say anything, and all of a sudden we were having bites of ice cream being handed to us. So we tried them and were making a decision. My companion said, I think the ice cream I had has alcohol. So we looked at the picture of the ice cream, and sure enough, there was a picture of a bottle of an alcoholic drink. So my companion broke the word of wisdom on his mission....I learned that we can`t trust the ice cream here, and we have to ask about the cake too. haha. Also, the memory card I sent home with Elder Woodbury has most of the pictures on it. I deleted the pictures that I already sent home like from the MTC. I thought I would need more room and I didn`t know I would have the option of sending it home. So don`t lose the pictures on the computer. haha. So Elder Woodbury told me his favorite food here is Tacos al Pastor. He said he was a bad mission dad because he never took me to try them. Elder Brisso said that his favorite is Tacos al Pastor too. I have never tried the tacos because they are in the street and I was told by a lot of people to stay away from those for awhile. But my companion persisted. So I got 2 tacos. One of chicken, and the other of steak. And they were dang good! The next day, we passed a stand selling tacos al pastor, and we got some. I`ll just say that it`s one of my favorite foods no matter what country I`m in. I don`t even know what pastor is. haha. I didn`t know what to expect, and then I had my doubts when I found out that it was the meat on the stick that spins around. But they were so dang good. haha. I can buy a lot of stuff here in my area. We have a Bodega Aurrera which is just a knock off of Walmart. I buy breakfast stuff like bread for toast. Then I can buy jam that`s really good, and I just found the peanut butter today! Woot woot! As for my funds that I took out of my card, I have it in my room. I took out 1500 pesos. I have 1220 left. I bought an extra shirt, and a blanket for the nights. The blanket is small enough to pack, and it`s still really warm. That`s all I have for this week! Thank you for all your support and love. I can feel your love and prayers. I love you!

     Con amor,

            Elder Barton
Mom addition, one thing Jared put in a more personal note that I know it would be ok to share.
I love this work, and I`m not going to let another day slip by. I`ve already been on my mission for 3 months, and almost 2 in Mexico. It`s been a blink. But I`m not going to let another day go by without coming home exhausted. 

Baptism and new companion

Hola!

     Last week was kind of hard to be honest. We had a lot of appointments, and a lot of them weren´t at their houses when we went. We had 16 people committed to come to church yesterday, and in the morning, we passed by most of their houses. When we got to our church, we waited at the doors and greeted people. We had absolutely nobody at church. When we passed by their houses, they told us that they were going for sure. And nobody did... My numbers also went down this week in people contacted and lessons taught. I realized I have to take an initiative on talking to people. Elder Woodbury talked to anything that moved, and he would let me do a lot of the contacts. With a new companion, I have to lead the charge and go to the houses we need to, because he doesn´t know the área. I had the chance to lead all the lessons too because he didn´t know any of our investigators. We realized that we have to do better this week, and we have set some new goals to work hard and be better. I was also sick this week. One day, I bought some juice off the Street. It seemed safe....I saw the fresh orange peels and everything. It was a mixture of orange, lime, and guayaba juice. That night, I was miserable. I couldn´t stop shaking and my stomach felt just about as bad as it has ever felt. I went to bed right after planning session, and I woke up an hour later to go empty out my stomach. I laughed on the inside as I was running to the bathroom, because I thought of Tyler saying,´´oh this is so exciting, your first puke in a foreign country.´´ hahaha. After that, I felt better but so weak. The next morning, I was dizzy until lunch, then I was good to go. Right now, I´m perfectly fine. Other stories....We were walking to an appointment and got stopped by 3 drunk guys asking to hear our message. We were just trying to walk away when one of them followed us and basically demanded that we talk to him another day. So we humored him and wrote his name down. The next day, he saw us again. But he was sober this time. He asked why we didn´t come by (the appointment wasn´t that day) and he apologized for the mistake, but took us to his house anyway. haha. We sat down, and he brought his whole family in (about 7 or 8 people) and he has a desire to change. The funny thing is, I talked to his mom in a taxi earlier that day, and she welcomed us so warmly when she saw us come in. We are hoping that he can progress. Another story is I got to baptize Arturo Dias Islas for the Hermanas. He´s an awesome guy. The wáter in the font was FREEZING cold again. I´m just glad I don´t have to be dunked all the way under. So I don´t know if I have said this before, but this is one of my favorite things to do. When we knock on a door, and a Little kid comes to the door saying the parents aren´t there. Then we say,´´well will you go ask them when they´ll be back?´´ and they say yes and go ask. I get a good laugh every time. Also, we can´t forget that it´s dad´s birthday this week! I just want to say thanks for always being an example to me. You are the hardest worker I know, and you´ve taught me so much. Thanks for being the best dad. In other news, I took more money out of my personal card, about the money that was put in as a gift. I think that money on my card is the best gift, because I can buy a lot of things here if I need, and a lot of cool stuff. I haven´t received any packages yet, because I have only had interviews with president Whitehead once, and the packages didn´t have enough time to get here. I´ll probably get them later this month, or next, depending on when they were sent. Also, tell Tyler I can´t wait to come back and play FIFA with him again, and I can narrate it in Spanish. haha. A good study idea is Lehi´s dream. I studied that in Spanish for the first time this week. That´s all I got for this week. I love you!

     Love,

       Elder Barton

Hola!

     Last week was kind of hard to be honest. We had a lot of appointments, and a lot of them weren´t at their houses when we went. We had 16 people committed to come to church yesterday, and in the morning, we passed by most of their houses. When we got to our church, we waited at the doors and greeted people. We had absolutely nobody at church. When we passed by their houses, they told us that they were going for sure. And nobody did... My numbers also went down this week in people contacted and lessons taught. I realized I have to take an initiative on talking to people. Elder Woodbury talked to anything that moved, and he would let me do a lot of the contacts. With a new companion, I have to lead the charge and go to the houses we need to, because he doesn´t know the área. I had the chance to lead all the lessons too because he didn´t know any of our investigators. We realized that we have to do better this week, and we have set some new goals to work hard and be better. I was also sick this week. One day, I bought some juice off the Street. It seemed safe....I saw the fresh orange peels and everything. It was a mixture of orange, lime, and guayaba juice. That night, I was miserable. I couldn´t stop shaking and my stomach felt just about as bad as it has ever felt. I went to bed right after planning session, and I woke up an hour later to go empty out my stomach. I laughed on the inside as I was running to the bathroom, because I thought of Tyler saying,´´oh this is so exciting, your first puke in a foreign country.´´ hahaha. After that, I felt better but so weak. The next morning, I was dizzy until lunch, then I was good to go. Right now, I´m perfectly fine. Other stories....We were walking to an appointment and got stopped by 3 drunk guys asking to hear our message. We were just trying to walk away when one of them followed us and basically demanded that we talk to him another day. So we humored him and wrote his name down. The next day, he saw us again. But he was sober this time. He asked why we didn´t come by (the appointment wasn´t that day) and he apologized for the mistake, but took us to his house anyway. haha. We sat down, and he brought his whole family in (about 7 or 8 people) and he has a desire to change. The funny thing is, I talked to his mom in a taxi earlier that day, and she welcomed us so warmly when she saw us come in. We are hoping that he can progress. Another story is I got to baptize Arturo Dias Islas for the Hermanas. He´s an awesome guy. The wáter in the font was FREEZING cold again. I´m just glad I don´t have to be dunked all the way under. So I don´t know if I have said this before, but this is one of my favorite things to do. When we knock on a door, and a Little kid comes to the door saying the parents aren´t there. Then we say,´´well will you go ask them when they´ll be back?´´ and they say yes and go ask. I get a good laugh every time. Also, we can´t forget that it´s dad´s birthday this week! I just want to say thanks for always being an example to me. You are the hardest worker I know, and you´ve taught me so much. Thanks for being the best dad. In other news, I took more money out of my personal card, about the money that was put in as a gift. I think that money on my card is the best gift, because I can buy a lot of things here if I need, and a lot of cool stuff. I haven´t received any packages yet, because I have only had interviews with president Whitehead once, and the packages didn´t have enough time to get here. I´ll probably get them later this month, or next, depending on when they were sent. Also, tell Tyler I can´t wait to come back and play FIFA with him again, and I can narrate it in Spanish. haha. A good study idea is Lehi´s dream. I studied that in Spanish for the first time this week. That´s all I got for this week. I love you!

     Love,

       Elder Barton

Another great week!

 

     Another fun week in Mexico. Elder Woodbury and I worked so hard and we had a lot of success. This morning, I dropped him off at the terminal in Toluca and I got my new companion. His name is Elder Brisso. He is from Honduras, but lived in the states for a bit. So we speak in all Spanish, and English when I don´t understand. Funny stories from this week....so every morning, a man rides on his bike past our house. He sells bread, but what sets him apart from others is his way of getting attention. He has a high pitched voice, and yells at the top of his lungs, Paaaaaaan! It really is interesting how he does it....you have to be here. Anyways Elder Woodbury and I were mimicking him and copying his voice. When we were walking down the Street one night, after dark, this man jumps out and yells at the top of his lungs at us. Just to scare us. And it turns out, it was the same guy. We figure it was God having a sense of humor. haha. Also, I hit my head everywhere. When we are going into houses, I have to duck. When we are in the streets along the sidewalks, I have to duck under the tarps. It´s an adventure, especially when the sidewalk is never even either. In other news, I have finished the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price since being on my misión. I have learned so much from them and I hope to read the book of mormon and the bible in español before I return. Doctrine and Covenants section 133 was especially powerful to me. This week was New Years Eve, and we had another zone party like on Christmas Eve. We watched 2 worldly movies. Turbo, and Monsters University. I highly recommend both of them. I was laughing so hard. Then we welcomed in the new year by working all day. On new years eve, we slept in Lerma, which is just another área in our misión. Because my área was too far to get to and it was late at night. So I had to pack a bag for the night so I can sleep in Lerma with other Elders. I packed my sleeping clothes (2 pairs of sweats, 2 shirts, and my sweater) and all my bathroom stuff like contacts and shaving stuff. Then I packed my tennis shoes for the games at the zone party, a new pair of garments, my rain jacket, and Elder Woodbury put his clothes in with mine. I put it all in a pillow case. We left in the taxi, and we put our stuff in the trunk. When we got out of the taxi in Metepec, the taxi drove off without getting our stuff out. Needless to say, I had a heart attack. I had so much stuff in there. The next day on the 1st of January, we went back to the taxi site and it was closed for the day. Let´s just say I hate trusting other people with all that stuff. So I was worrying about all my stuff. The next day on the 2nd, we went back to find our stuff had been put in a safe place and it was all there. I was so grateful. Also, I sent home my memory card with Elder Woodbury with 50 pictures more or less on it, and I just barely bought a new memory card that´s going to work for my camera. So you can just put the memory card in the computer at home and they´ll come up that way. As of right now, we have 1 baptism set for this week, and possibly 8 more for the month. The 8 is a family that is so fun to teach. We are praying that they make it to baptism. I love it here in Mexico, especially here in the middle of nowhere in the pueblos. My new comp. is on fire right now according to Pres. Whitehead, so hopefully we can make this área explode. I love you all so much. Thank you for your love and support.

 

     Love,

        Elder Barton