Week 1 in Armas!

     Wow. I love it here in the city. Our area is amazing, and the members text us asking to work with us. I am learning how to use the members in this work, and it turns out that it´s one of the best ways to work. My comp and I get along great. It´s awesome to have another American companion. We are pretty hilarious when we teach, and in our apartment is just fun. We are so similar, and have the same humor. He played baseball growing up, so that´s a huge bonus. Anyways, we had a baptism this week! His name is Juan, and he was obviously prepared by the Lord to accept us. It was so funny teaching him, because of how prepared he was. When we taught the commandments, he was laughing after every one because he thought it was just silly that someone would break that commandment. Like commandment number 2, saying to not pray to graven images. He laughed so hard because every Feb. 2nd here one of the churches carries around plastic babies symbolizing baby Jesus. He was making fun of them and laughing. haha. Also, we have a special needs man in our ward!! He is a ward missionary. He´s 42 years old give or take a few, and he´s awesome. His name is Carlos, but everyone calls him Carlitos. I don´t know why, but I go with it. He is Juan´s friend, and actually Carlitos was the one who got us Juan in the first place. Carlitos works with us a couple nights a week, and he is so sincere when he talks. He can´t read, and he usually interrupts us to talk about something else, but it´s still fun to have him. Also, there´s a guy in my ward who knows Shawn Morley. Him and Shawn were assistants together in their mission! Crazy how everyone knows each other. So yesterday was my first Sunday in Armas, and we had 9 investigators at church. We were praying to have people there for the first time, and we got a family of 5! We have another appointment with them Wednesday to see how they liked it and such, but I know the littler kids loved it. We also have another guy in our ward who represented the church for 15 years for something. I´m not exactly sure what he did to represent our church, but I know he´s met like all the general authorities and has pictures to prove it. He is so smart and so sincere when he talks too. This ward is pretty great, and I know we are going to baptize a few families this change. Also, Elder Emch and Elder Melara came to our zone to work with a few companionships. My comp worked with Elder Emch, and I went with one of our zone leaders. He is Elder Christiansen from Highland. It was really fun to work with him and see how a zone leader needs to be. And since the assistants came, I got a package! This one was from the Crosgrove family and the official Greenie Package. haha I loved it! Thank you so much! That´s all I got this week. I love you all!

 

Con amor,

Elder Barton

the view from the front door

a note from the elder who lived there. He knew Jared for a week in the MTC

baptism!!

bedroom

Jared's desk

This isn´t for the public. But when I was with that kid in the baptism interview, I had a feeling that I can´t deny. I was listening to him answer the questions, and I was amazed. Then I had a feeling. And I thought, I know this kid somehow. Then I had the feeling, yes you do, from before this life. And I just about cried. I saw one of my friends get baptized into his salvation. I´m so grateful that I have those thoughts and impressions. I love you!

Jared and Elder McMullin

ward mission leader

Saying goodbye to Tianguistenco

Jareds favorite guy who sells bread(notice the hot dog on the seat...I hope it's not for sale)

Saying goodbye to some families

A young girl gave him a rose as he was leaving

Jared making french toast again

On the way to their new areas

Cambios! 

First off, I´m in las armas right now, in the city! I´m in the zone of Culturas. My new comp is Elder Willie-Starky, he´s an american! haha. I´ve known him for about 2 hours, and I can tell we are going to get along great. We are so similar, and have the same humor. He´s from California, and he has 15 months in the mission. So my last week in Tianguistenco was full of ups and downs. We only had one person at church again, but she was late. We had 2 families committed, but they didn´t come. We had zone conference this week, and it was so good. La Hermana Whitehead gave a talk that was so powerful, even though her spanish isn´t very good. Presidente introduced a new word we are going to start using. It´s MUSH! You know, like the alaskan sled dogs. I loved it. We also got the mail because presidente came. I received the valentines day package and letters from Cheryl, and the Rees cousins! Thank you so much, I can feel your love and support. Also, we got our new areas obviously, and I´m so happy with it. I was hoping for the city, got it. Also, my comp is my 3rd comp who can speak English. It helps a ton. But nobody told me how hard it was going to be to say goodbye to converts, and families that we are teaching. I have 2 pictures with families, and it was hard to say goodbye. One picture with Bartolome is my favorite, because he sells bread in the street. He usually is on his bike, but we found him in his van. He is not going to progress in anyway, but he gives us references like it´s his job. haha. He is the craziest guy you´ll ever meet. He is perfect for selling bread on his bike, because he yells as loud as he can, paaaaaaan! Every other breath. He always sees us and says, en español but i´ll write it in english, White boy! I have your favorites! then I go and buy one of my favorites. haha. When I would buy them, he would tell me more of his friends that need a word of wisdom pamphlet. He´s awesome. Also, my comp had to do an baptism interview for the Hermanas for a 9 year old. As soon as we got to his house, I felt his spirit so strong. He was so smart, and so polite. I was able to sit in on the interview, because I couldn´t sit by myself with the Hermanas in the other room, and I was so grateful to be apart of it, because this kid is something special. When he was baptized yesterday, he had the biggest smile, and he gave us all hugs after. That´s all I got for this week. I´m looking forward to my first change of area, and working with an american who can understand my puns. haha. I love you all so much. I´m doing great here, and my spanish is getting better and better. 

Con amor,

Elder Barton

One is trying not to smile, one is smiling 

Jared liked the plaque in the office

Another week en la gran misión! Primero, I went to the mission offices this week to sign and fingerprint my visa. So that was cool. I forgot what a city looked like, and it made me kind of want to work in the city! I love the pueblos, don`t get me wrong, but I think I`m more of a city person. I`ve been noticing a difference in my Spanish lately. I understand a lot better, and I`m more comfortable talking to people solo. This week, again, we had more drama with our bishop. To set up the story, we receive a new eating schedule at the change of every month. So at the start of February, we received our new schedule of members. So after a few days of that schedule, we knew what it was and didn`t have any more problems finding the houses. One afternoon, we are teaching Aracelli, one of our progressing investigators, and our phone rings. My comp checks it, and it`s from Presidente Whitehead....he wanted to talk to me and to Elder Brisso separately on the phone. He talked to me first, and told me that obispo called him again. Saying that we told the food scheduler to not put his family down on the list, because his food made us sick...? Honestly, we didn`t say anything. So my comp was calling the Hermanas so see if they said anything. Then he called our ward mission leader to see if he did. Long story short, nobody was answering, and we were getting stressed out. As a result of nobody answering, my comp had to keep calling people over and over because it was urgent, and president wanted a call back. So we were on the way to an important appointment, and my comp tells me I`m going in solo, because he has to call people....I`m thinking, great...we were going to place a baptism date with this lady. This lady has a tienda, with a garage like door. So I went in, and my comp stayed outside to call. Don`t worry, we could still see each other. haha. So I start the lesson, using scriptures and my best testimony. I teach a little more and I think I`m doing pretty good. So the time comes, it`s time to ask her to be baptized. So I asked her, heart pounding, and she said yes right away! Her date is March 9th! Which means I probably won`t be here to see it, but I felt pretty good about myself! Even though my spanish is not near perfect, the spirit is always perfect. It was a testimony builder for me. Also, I received Glenn and Molly`s letters this week! I was very grateful, and I loved reading their stories. I have read them more than once, and I am learning from them every time. Thank you! Also, I have been reading the new testament this week more and more because these people here love the bible. And my advice for anybody is to read the new testament. It`s so powerful. One more story before I start sending pictures. I had my first Mexican hair cut today!! I`ll just say this, I`m grateful my mom does hair for a living, and is dang good at what she does. I`m going to have to fix some stuff tonight. haha. I guess that`s what I get for a 30 peso haircut. (or about 4 dollars) haha. We have changes next Monday, so this may be my last letter from Tianguistenco. I have learned so much from this área, and I can`t decide if I want to stay or go to another área, but whatever happens, I know that I`m going where I`m needed. I love you all! Don`t forget that this church is true. If it wasn`t, I wouldn´t be here working my guts out trying to learn Spanish. Thank you for your love and prayers!

Con amor,

Elder Barton

Jared is practicing his Mexican smile...nailed it

the longest legs he's seen on a spider

baptism

tacos al Bistec=steak, onions, fries and a bit of heaven

Hola familia!

 

     Another week that flew by here in la gran misión. This week, we did an activity for our ward, to try to excite them in missionary work. We invited pretty much all the members and a lot of investigators. Presidente Whitehead came and everything. He did something with M&M´s. But it stood for Members and Missionaries. It was clever. My companion and I did another activity called Vender Chocolate. Which is Sell Chocolate. The object of the activity was to get your partner to try your favorite chocolate, and the partner is supposed to give resistence. Like ''I don´t need that one, I have my own favorite'' or something like that. I´m not explaining it very well....but the point is, the chocolate represents the church, and our job is to share our ''favorite chocolate'' with everyone. And they all have doubts like ''I have my own church that's my favorite.'' But the point is, they need to try the chocolate in order to know if it's their favorite or not. I think the activity was good, but only 30 or so people came...0 investigators. We invited and were expecting 75 or so. In other news, more drama in our ward. Our bishop called Presidente Whitehead, and told him that my comp. and I only greet the women of the ward, and not the men. Which is totally ridiculous. But Presidente called us and my comp explained to him the truth. We were trying to figure out why he would say that, and we concluded that it really was ridiculous. haha. But then we found out that our bishop is being investigated by the stake for...some stuff...makes sense why he'd want to shift some drama to us. haha. Our ward mission leader is awesome. He works hard, and comes to teach with us 1 or 2 days a week. Here's a message to every ward in the world, if the missionaries ask for help, references, anything. Please do your best to help them out. Because it's really frustrating not having any support. In other news, we had a baptism this week! Her name is Alicia Gomez Lopez. She is our age, and we found her one day and we found out her brothers were baptized a year ago, but she wasn't. So we taught her and baptized her. Also, there is a food here called chicharon. In english, it's pig skin. I tried it for the first time yesterday at lunch. I was joking in my head about it tasting like a football. Then I tried it, and realized that it really does taste like a football. haha. Literally, just imagine deflating a football, and trying to eat it. haha. Also, there are a lot of stray dogs here running around in the streets. They have no fear of cars, and often run along side them barking about an inch away from the tire. I was in a taxi yesterday going to church, and there was a dog in the road just sniffing around. The taxista honked, and didn't slow down. The dog went to run away, but left it's leg behind....I don't think I've ever heard a more disgusting sound in my life...or a sadder sound when I heard the dog behind us...my comp turned around to look back, but I just couldn't. He told me the dog's leg was just completely broken. It was really sad. Anyways, no mom, I don't need contacts. haha I have been wearing my glasses more because I like not having to take out contacts every night when we are so tired. That's all I have for this week. I have some pictures to send, so I'll get on that. I love you all!

 

Con amor,

Elder Barton