January 5, 2015

I arrived in a new area called Carazinho close to Passafundo. I´m in the area where all the models from Brazil come from and I´ve only been here for a few days but after being I think I will return here after my mission. My new companion is Elder Farias he´s from the north part of Brazil a state called the Bahia. The members here are super cool. The mission leader didn´t help the missionarys out before I arrived but I started talking to him and we became good friends. Then on Sunday he took us in his car and we vistited 4 inactive families and sung hyms for each one of them and left a message. The mission leader liked our visits so much that he told us he wants to do this every Sunday! So it was great to see how the members are helping out here. This first week here has been very busy, especially with trying to adjust to the new area. We have the whole city as our area so there is alot of work to be done. We take buses from one side of the city to the other everyday to visit all of our investigators. We had a cool member named Jonathan and Luis who go on splits with us to have more lessons with member and it helps the people alot when they see the members bear their testimonies for them. I like teaching here in this city alot more because the people can understand me and several have stopped me on the street and have told me that I speak super well and so I´m starting to feel alot better about my Portuguese. Its so great to have so many great people to teach and to see how the gospel is changing the lives of so many people. 

I love you guys and hope you have a great week!  

December 22, 2014

We get a phone call and/or Skype session on Christmas day, but here are a few pictures Austin sent today.

Me on a division to another city in Santa Cruz

Mc Donalds

Me as a ninja

I woke up with the ceiling pouring rain!  I think we might have to find a new house!!

Dec. 8, 2014

This week we found a cool family, the mom is named Maralaya who has a daughter named Natally who is 15, and her other son Nicolas who is 16. They came to church and liked it a lot! Nicolas said that he received an answer that everything was true and so were going to teach him more this week and help be prepared to be baptized this weekend hopefully everything worksout okay. 

The family of Nelson was going to get baptized this last Sunday but Nelson had to leave for another city for work and so we moved their date for baptism this next weekend. 

Also our investigator Nedir stopped smoking to be baptzied but had to go to the hospitlal because his daughter had a bad fever but it will all be good. He´s a great guy and wants to be baptized and loves the church a lot so hopefully the next week it will all work out as well.

With Christmas approaching we had a special conference on Thursday with President and sister wright and the mission reached its goal with 1900 confirmations for the year and we still have more time. The president´s goal is that each area baptizes two people so were working hard and having lots of faith and we know that the lord will bless us with many special people to teach. 

I also got to see my first two companions on the mission. My first two trainers elder Seidmann and Elder Gabaii it was fun to speak with them because when I was with them the last time I didn´t speak andy portuguese so it was fun to be able to speak with them alot better! 

It´s deffinetly awesome being on the mission so many great people and aweosme experiences I 

don´t know where I would be without being here on the mission field! 

Love you guys have a great week!! 

Elder Gabaii and Elder Barrus

Elder Seidmann and Elder Barrus

comprei uma espada (dec.1)

During the week a lot of cool things happened but one of the more interesting things was what the church will be doing for Christmas! On the 7th of December You Tube will only be showing one video on the entire website that will be hosted by the church. Also in times square on the big billboard will be advertisting the video as well so it will be cool to see what people think about the church after it is realesed. Really the gospel is being preached in all times and in all places. The video is called ``He is the gift``   

We found a family super special, they have a son that was having some problems with drugs and so they accepted to hear our message, they ended up going to church and wanting to be baptized but the parents just need to stop smoking. But they are super awesome and I know that God has a special plan for them.

We then found a very poor but humble family, the mom lives alone with her daughter and two sons. We were only able to teach them about the book of mormon and the importance of baptism and they went to church as well! It was cool to see how the lord is helping these wonderful people. 

I´m so thankful for my oppurtunity to be a missionary and to help so many people come unto Christ especially during the Christmas season! 

I love you all and have an awesome week!! 

Nov. 24

haha sounds like your having lots of fun adventures enjoy your trip! Those lemure things would be fun to play with! That fish thing sounds really weird! Have caution with all the spiders! This week a big horse chased after the mexican missionary in our group it was pretty funny!! 

November 17, 2014

So this week was pretty great,

Monday:Pday for lunch we made a bunch of pastels with meat and cheese and sat around and played some cards.

Tuesday: We went and vistited Philipe he wants to be prepared more before he gets baptized and didn´t give any reasons for why or what he wanted to know so it was strange and then on sunday he didn´t show up for church even though we went and knocked on his door and he said he would go so we cut him.

Wednesday: Found this cool bridge and was a super cool view a train passed by underneath us and I think It must have been one kilometer long because I could just barly see from the caboos to the front of the train. We then and visited our investigator named Enrique who is doing well and said that he wanted to get baptized on Sunday. 

Thursday: Taught this cool man named Neri he owns a farm and liked our message alot and ended up saying that he wanted to go to church so that he could be baptized when I had only shared a message about how we can live again because of the resurection of Christ and the importance of church. SO it was way cool to see how the spirit prepared him. We then got to go to his farm because he wanted us to say a prayer for his animals so I got to see a cow that was only 15 days old I thought it was a goat! We also had district meeting and I taught about how to teach investigators effectivly by using 15 different points.

Friday: We ate an ostrich it was good but it made me super sleepy. THen this guy started talking to me in the street and every time I tried to leave he would keep asking me more questions it ended up that we talked to him for an hour and a half and so we hadn´t even talked or taught a single person until 6! And I wasn´t feeling super well probally because of the ostrich!

Saturday we visited the family of Jean the family that gave me my brasilian pants. They are super awesome and I started my long life carrer of catching chickens. The grandma wants to show me how to kill a chicken so we´ll see how that goes! Also I was using a lighter and I put it near my face cause it felt warm and then my hair caught on fire... 

Sunday Enrique wasn´t able to get baptized because his friend was sick in the hospital so he went and visited him so this next week were going to schedule his baptism again and hopefully it all goes well! Then for dinner we had a barbeque on the other side of the city and so we took a taxi and when we got there there was all kinds of meats it was sweet I ate rabbit, goose, chicken, cow and who knows what eles?! It was awesome and it rocked! Also we found a turtle in the middle of the road and so I put it in my bag and put it in the baptisimal font with lettuce and tomorrow I will put Fred near the river it was pretty funny because it kepts trying to climb out of my bag while we were walking and I didnt want any people to see a missionary with an escaping turtle cause that just wouldn´t be good!

Today is also the day of the transfernece and so tomorrow I will be getting a new companion so that´ll be good me and Elder Hortêncio had some good times! 

Yo - November 10, 2014

So this week was pretty swag we went into the depths of Pantano the world of evanglicas and crazzy old people who yell at you when you get too close!  We found our friend philipe and taught him a few times but didn´t come to the church to get baptized. The family of Elisangela is doing good we are going to their house tonight and it will be fun. The six year old son José is crazzy and filled with energy and its fun to spend time with such a great and special family! 

During the week we visited the couple Valmir and Laine and they want to go to church again this past week but their daughter had an intesnse surgery to get her tonsels taken out. We left a message about how the Lord will strenghthen us throught the commandments, really when we do the simple things through obeidience we are sure to receive the blessings and promises exercised  by our faith.

When traveling throught the city we found a big cemetary and it was cool to walk throught it here the people are buried above the earth! 

So a cool story:

Before I arrived in the area of Rio Pardo the missionaries before me had talked with a guy on the street named Enrique. He had been smoking and told them that he wanted to go to church and needed some help. So it turns out that he is studying English and it happens that I know a little so I went over to his house and translated a whole page for him and then after I started to help him understand the basics of some of the grammer that we use. Then we taught him a lesson and told us he wants to be baptized this Sunday so were going to do our best to help him! Its so cool to find people who need our help and to be there for them each step of the way! 

I loved reading your emails I ran out of time to write a big email because I was coping pictures into a pindrive of 16GB that I will try to send home soon. 

The gospel is awesome and I love being in RIo Pardo so many awesome people in this area!

Lots of Love,

Elder Barrus!