thanks so much for the chips& ques o and the brownies you're the best mom ever!! We're going to have a going away party. The three sisters got their mission calls and there all going to LA CA!! So its pretty exciting stuff and my companion is going to Minnesota! I got the sweet hearts and the picture of me and Sophie so cute!! I'm glad Blake like fruit ninja!! I'm sure Grandpa had a blast with that!! I'm going to miss getting all the letters and packages so quickly! I cant believe I get to go to Brazil this Monday it's gonna be crazy!! If Sophie is missing me really badly have her send me and email and tell her that I'll say something back soon! Or use the dear elder site. I'll try to send another letter home before I leave. I got to host yesterday! the elder I hosted is from Tongan islands and is probably going to be playing football for BYU! I also taught an investigator with my companion in front of 150 new missionaries and we did awesome! The spirit was in the room and my teacher said that we did outstanding and he was really proud of us! Today I had infield orientation and its classes to review how to teach in the field and its 9 and a half hours of classes but it was awesome! There's a show called the district on lds.org and the district is about missionaries and a documentary on missionary work non-scripted so its interesting to see how missionaries react to different situations! And some of the missionaries that were in that show were teaching me today in class! It was way awesome! A sister from the district spoke at the devotional on Tuesday night and it was great! A lot of my devotional nights I have members of the 70 come and talk with me and they always have great testimonies and experiences to share! The mtc is awesome and I love you guys so much! I'm super busy here and on Friday or Saturday I'll be packing for Brazil! I'll try to write another email then before I leave I'll definitely call home on Monday! I have a five hour layover so I'll call then! I'll talk to you soon! 

Love, 

Elder Barrus! 

It's official…he's going to Brazil on February 3!

I got my VISA!!! I'M going to BRAZIL!! I leave Monday morning!  I'm so excited!

Oh no,  poor Blake!!  My visa is complete and I should be getting it soon!  Do the packet the best you can but I don't think it matters - it was just an extra step in case Brazil was picky!   Always somthing crazzy going on! How did he break it?? Was it during football?  I havn't got my re-assignment yet but when I do I'll email you right away even if it's not on pday! A lot of people are enjoying the blog!  Thanks for doing that for me and setting it up.  People are really enjoying it!  I'm going to the temple for the last time today and am going to make it worthwile!   My teacher said my Portuguese is doing really good.  I could be going straight to Brazil, or I'll be in the US for a few weeks and then go to Brazil.   But I'm definitely getting my visa fairly soon!   I'll write to you again soon!   Oh, yeah -  so my last name means dirt in Portuguese! SO  I'm gonna be Elder dirt in Brazil so that'll be interesting!   I'm glad everyone liked the letters. I wish I had more stuff to talk about but I spend every day just studying. I feel like I've really improved with the language a lot!  I'm enjoying the MTC and I loved all the cookies and brownies.  I ate so many!  My district was worried when I ate 6 of them in one day and each cookie has 400 calories of sugar.   I was wide awake all day and totally crashed at 10:30.  It was otimo!   Send me some questions if you have any and I'll respond later in the day! I'm all done being a zone leader so Im back to being a normal missionary.   On Wednesday we got a new district of missionaries and they're going to Cape Faraday; an Island off of Africa!   And they all speak Portuguese but it's with a weird accent!  f there are two s's next to each other they have to make a shhh sound when they pronounce words so its kind of hard to learn but they can do it!  I got to conduct traffic for the new missionaries!  I would park cars and tell them where to go and it was  a lot of fun!   The new missionaries are super excited to get out to the mission field.   So that was definitely the highlight of my week.   I'm going to host missionaries tomorrow.   So when they get dropped off I'll show them where their class is and where they eat and sleep, and it's gonna be awesome!   I'm glad you got my letters!   Seeing Elder Bednar again was fantastic and I learned a lot.   I have loved everymoment at the MTC and it is such a great experience, and I can't wait to get out to Brazil!   How crazy is it that I'm going to Brazil soon??!! The US would've been cool but getting out to Brazil right away is gonna be great!   I'll send you lot of pictures!   Eu prometo!! 

I'm going to Sacremento California!!!!   I report to the mission field on the 28th of January!   This is my last week at the MTC and today is my last temple day!   As a zone leader I just make sure everyone is getting along and going to bed on time.   Don't send me anymore packages cause I'll be gone -  wait until I give you my new address.   Portugese is going great! I  'm going to be totally lost but from what I've learned I can pick up the language fairly quickly and I can say short basic sentences so thats good.   I loved the photo copied animals!   I saw that you put dog treats on the copier that was pretty great!   How did you get the cat on there with out scratching the heck out of you?! I   got the cookies they were great!!   I ate all of them!   I didn't get any dictionaries yet but I'll probally get them soon  . I got Sophie's I love Austin card so that was way cute.   I got a much needed haircut so that felt great!   Glad Blake is going crazzy and doing good.  Looked like Kit's birthday was a hit!   I'm sure Ashley had fun with everyone there and I'm glad Mike got to see Bryce and Blake and that was probally alot of fun!!   But yeah, a great week!  I'm enjoying the MTC but Im glad to get out to the mission field.   On my first day in CA I'm probally going to be giving a Book of Mormon to handout to random people so that'll be interesting!!   Well,  I love you guys!   I'll write later tonight!   Give me Grandma and Grandpa Barrus' adress since I'll be close by!   Well Dad, I might be in your old neighborhood soon!  

This is my zone!

A new photo of Austin with his district.

Information from the Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission

To avoid changing mailing addresses and so that your missionary get his/her letters and boxes faster, we wrote this e-mail with the Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission mailing addresses.

Boxes costing more than U$ 40.00 will get stuck at the post office due to extra taxes. Please, don't put stickers of Saints or Christ, it doesn't work to avoid your boxes getting opened. The only way to avoid it is sending boxes costing U$ 40.00 or less. If you want to send something more expensive than U$ 40.00 you can spread out the cost by sending several boxes with the previously stated value.

If you send, for example, 2 t-shirts costing U$ 10.00, the total value is not U$ 10.00 but U$ 20.00. So you have U$ 20.00 left instead of U$ 30.00.



- To send LETTERS:

[Full name + (name on nametag)] Ex: Weslley Andrade Frazão (Frazão).

Caixa Postal 13008.

CEP: 91010-971.

Porto Alegre - Rio Grande do Sul.

Brazil



- To send BOXES:

Full name + (name on nametag)Ex: Weslley Andrade Frazão (Frazão).

Av. Visconde de Macaé, 245.

Cristo Redentor

CEP: 91350-290

Porto Alegre - Rio Grande do Sul.

Brazil.



If you have any question, please contac us.

2013029@ldschurch.org



Cordially,



Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission.

January 14 - bonus pictures and emails!

This was a bonus in my day!  Around 5:30 I got a "ping" that I received a new text.  Attached were these two pictures with the message, "Wonderful day at the temple!  We love you!!:)"  It was sent from an 801 number.  What was funny though was the text set off an immediate response from all the parents.  Somehow these kids managed to text photos out to all their parents.  We all went crazy with excitement - all within a minute!  We live to hear from our missionaries!   Here are our responses:

"Who is this?  I have not gotten this number programmed"

"Hey, that's my girl!  Thank you whoever you are:)"

"Thanks for the pics!"

"Thank you to whoever sent these!  I love seeing our missionaries!  Have a  great day everyone :-)

 Elder Barrus, Sister Bobelenyi, Sister Stevens, Sister Green, and Elder Tensmeyer

I also got a couple extra emails tonight.  One from Austin and  one from Sister Stevens.  She's too sweet.  

Yeah,  my camera works great thanks so much!  Just got your donuts -  thanks so much my district loves you! They were SO good I love you they were awesome! The snow in a can was alot of fun! 

Dear Mama Barrus,

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! The donuts and cookies and goodies have been thoroughly appreciated and devoured rapidly. May God bless you for your kind heart and soul.

LOVE,

District A

Sisters Stevens, Bobelenyi, Green, and Elder Tensmeyer. And Elder Barrus.