Season 6 Episode 7: Miracles and Music

Hello Family!

Just wanted to start this email off by letting you all now how grateful I am for the Atonement of Jesus Christ! Especially this time of year! I have honestly been so blessed by this incredible gift that our Father in Heaven gave to us! 

This week has been packed. We have had MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference), We have been having our shows every night here in pesega, we've been picking up and dropping off Elders, My companion and I both got danky fever(or however you spell it), we have had a few cool miracles, and we did our Christmas Service project with President this week!

Last week Friday my companion and I were trying to find some investigators that we could take to the Pese Pesega they do every night when, my companion told me that we should go visit a members house. So, we went. We were able to find 3 young women at this house that are all attend different churches! We took them to the program and they all loved it! Turns out that 2 of them have already been baptized and sealed in the temple but, have fallen away from the Church and gone there different ways. The other young woman Petro hasn't been baptized and they all expressed to us the feelings that they had at the program and there desire to come back to church with there families and to be baptized! We are currently working with these three girls and there families and we are hoping to see these feelings continue to grow inside of them so they can become more converted to Christ and to come back to his fold! It was a great miracle that I saw this week!

We also had our Christmas service project this week with President! It was a very spiritual experience! Especially the time we had when we went to the hospital to sing and to give blessings. Are zones were split into two groups one half went to the adults and the other half went to the kids. I was able to go to the kids unit and it really was such an empowering experience for me. Just to be able to sing to these children and there parents about our Savior Jesus Christ and then to bear testimony of Him and then offer a priesthood blessing. The spirit was very strong that day and it strengthened my testimony of the power of the priesthood and the power of song as well. 

I testify to you all that our Savior Jesus Christ lives and he loves us! He came to this earth to die for us and to suffer for us so we would never have to walk alone. I am so grateful for this time of year. Our Savior Jesus Christ is truly the greatest gift we have and ever will receive! I am so grateful for all that he has done for me and now that I have this chance to share this gift with others! I love you all so much and I love my Savior Jesus Christ! I hope you all have a great week and hopefully we can put a little bit more emphasis on Jesus Christ this week and look for ways to serve those who are in need! Love you all!

Elder Barton! 

Season 6 Episode 6: Zone Leader Madness

Malo Fam Bam! 

This week was so busy! Time flew this week haha! It really has been a great start to the month of December! Our mission is doing this program called Pesepesega! Every night at 8 different Zones come to the mission office and perform songs! There are lighted up trees all decorated and focus on Christ and the songs focus on Him! It started December 1st and my companion and I have been every night with different investigators! It is a really awesome program and it is really peaceful! Everyone that goes loves it! So, that has been something been really cool this week. My zone will performing this Friday and we are planning to make it as spiritual as possible! We have some great ideas! I think there is a Facebook page called SAM Visitor Center and I think you can watch the performances there! 

On Sunday we had our Missionary Leader Conference and we had the privilege of having a General Authority attend, Elder Cardon! It was such a great meeting. Really powerful and a lot of great insights! Elder Cardon talked a lot about the Book of Mormon! It is just so cool to see him teach, he truly is so guided by the spirit! We also had our Island Conference yesterday with Elder Cardon! Just a quick story, he was teaching us about the gift of Discernment and he asked a question. He told us to look up at the ceiling of the Church and look at the fans. He then told us to search for the one fan in the entire room that was spinning counter clockwise (As all the others were spinning clockwise). We were all able to locate the odd fan out but, the fact that none of us noticed it before he pointed it out to us was where the lesson came in. He talked about how God will bless us with the gift of Discernment, every person has at least one "fan" spinning the wrong way and how if we listen to the spirit, God will reveal to us that "fan" and the way to correct its course! It was such a powerful object lesson and it got me so excited to get back out and proselyte haha! This week has honestly been so physically and mentally draining and there have been some pretty rough moments but, I am so grateful for the spirit I have been feeling this week! It keeps me going everyday haha!

Being a ZL is very busy and very hetic! We are always getting calls from the office telling us that we need to go do some random chore! So, we get a lot of time taken out from our actual proselyting and our sleep as well haha. But, it has given me a bigger appreciation for the time we actually get to proselyte! I love this time of year and the special spirit it brings and being able to bear witness of our Savior Jesus Christ to these people in Samoa and to see there lives change because of Him! I truly am so grateful for this Gospel! The many blessings we enjoy each and everyday because of the pure Love of Christ! I testify that he lives and he loves us! This is His work and it is such an incredible work! I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all of your prayers! I love this 25 ways over 25 days program! I hope you are all enjoying it as well! What a great program that helps us serve our brothers and sisters! I hope you all have a great week and I hope you all know that I love you guys! 

Elder Barton

 
  
 

Season 6 Episode 5: Zone Leader

Malo Soifua!

I can definitely say that this week has been a week of Thanksgiving. As you all know I have been serving here in Matautu Lefaga since late August! Although my companions and I have been putting a lot of effort we haven't seen much success. But, this week has truly been a week of miracles. As you may remember each ward in this stake has a goal to get 6 baptisms before the end of the year. This has been such a great motivation to me, especially with December just around the corner and thinking about what Gift I could give to God. Well, these past two weeks I have truly seen and I can testify of the Power of God in His Work. In these past two weeks we have been able to set 2 baptismal dates in Matautu and 3 in Gagaifo. We also had the baptism of Sale on Saturday! The 3 People's names in Matautu are Mercy for the 16th of Dec, Malia for the 16th of Dec, and then we had the Baptism for Sale!  The People in Gagaifo are Emi for the 16th of Dec, Siaa for the 16th of Dec, and Faamanu for the 16th of Dec. All of these people have some really cool stories and I wish I could share them all with you! But, I know that all these people have been prepared by the Lord not only to reach the stakes goal but, to Hasten the work of the Lord! It has just been a really cool experience for me as my companion and I have really exercised Faith in the God and his work and we have in return been able to see these miracles! I will for sure explain some of these people when we skype on Christmas!

However, yesterday was Transfers. The Zone Leaders called us in the morning and told us that we were both going to be staying for another transfer! I was pretty stoked to be honest. I mean none of my areas last longer than 2-3 months haha! Through out the day we were able to tell our investigators and members that we would be spending the Holidays with them! But, we all know that the Samoa Apia Mission is no ordinary mission! So, there we are sleeping that same night and our phone rings at Midnight! The Zone Leaders called and told Elder Chu-Shing and I that we would be transferring at 7 in the morning! Elder Chu-shing has been transferred to Siusega here in Uplou and I have been transferred to Pesega and I am now a Zone Leader with Elder Tautuaa. I was pretty surprised to say the least. A lot of mixed emotions! I was so excited to continue working with all of these people who are progressing so well and who have been prepared by the Lord! But, if I have come to know one thing here is that President Hannemann is called of God and wherever he puts Elders is where those Elders need to be. Although I am quite Nervous to be a Zone Leader and now I have this responsibility to look over the missionaries and there areas, I am so excited and so grateful! I can't wait to work together with all of these missionaries and to learn from them as well!  I know this email is very short but, these are how emails will probably be each Wednesday (If I get the Chance to email). It is just a really busy schedule being a Zone Leader. But, I really am grateful for this opportunity to serve! I am sure there will be some great learning experiences!

I love you all and I am so grateful for all of your prayers! Glad you all had a great Thanksgiving! Also, a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nichole and Bridger! Sorry, I can't send you both a personal email but, I hope you know you guys have been in my prayers and thoughts! I hope you all have a great week! We will talk more next week! I will also Send heaps of pictures next week! Today has just been really crazy haha! Love you!

Elder Barton!

P.s. I forgot! We took 2 of our recent converts to the Temple on Friday to do baptisms for the dead and it was such a great experience to see them continue on the work for those who have passed on! It was a really big blessing. Plus, you can't beat the spirit that is found in the temple! Can't wait to send the pictures next week!

Season 6 Episode 4: I'm an Uncle!

I think today is by far the best p-day I have ever had in the mission! Nichole is a Mom! Mom and Dad are Grandparents but more importantly I"M AN UNCLE!!! Wow, this feels so great! I was so excited to see the pictures of Wil and the family! I am so happy right now! I'm very grateful everything went well and the Baby and Nichole are healthy as well! Can't wait until I get to hold him! But, man  8lbs and 14oz?! What a heffer! Congratulations Nichole on Jeremy! Thank you for the pictures as well! I can already tell that Wil and I are going to be great friends.

This week was pretty crazy over here in the Pacific. As you all probably heard, Samoa got hit by a few Earth quakes (Mafui'e) late Saturday Night. So, My comp and I were laying down just talking when all of the sudden, my bed started shaking! I wish I had a video to capture my companions reaction! He was so scared hahaha. Elder Chu-Shing is by far the funniest companion I have ever had. Anyway, it wasn't a super strong Shake but, the ground was definitely moving. Plus, us being right by the ocean my next thought was about a Tsunami and what the procedure was for something like this. Less than 10 minutes later we got a call from the Zone Leaders telling us that they were going to come and pick us up and the rest of the missionaries in our District and take us to a village called Aleisa! We got to the Chapel in Aleisa around 2 in the Morning and everyone tried to get sleep but, we were all just getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and to be honest I honestly didn't get one hour of sleep! We finally got back to our area around 8 in the morning and I was so tired. I told my comp that we would just go lay down for 30 minutes and then go to church which started at 9! I closed my eyes and the next time I opened them we heard the congregation singing the opening hymn! So, we hurried and rushed to get ready and were lucky enough to make it for the Sacrament! It was a pretty crazy experience! Luckily everyone was alright and it wasn't to serious of and Earthquake! 

As for the work in this area, it is going really good right now. We are staying optimistic and continuing to search for people who are prepared by the Lord! We were able to set 2 baptismal dates this week for Mercy and Sale on the 25th! That was a big blessing and now we are trying to help them prepare for this date! Mercy has been a long time investigator but, she finally accepted the invitation to be baptized and to also get married to her boyfriend! I feel like something that has really helped Mercy is reading the Book of Mormon together with her! Sale is 13 years old and he lives with an LDS family but, they all have converted to another church. At first we were teaching his older Sister Taikerise but, her dad forbade her from coming to church and getting baptized. But, last week Bishop called us telling us that Sale had come to church and his parents want him to be baptized and to come to church as well! We are confused but, also grateful! We are going to talk with there dad tomorrow to see if we can also teach Taikerise as well! Hopefully all will go well! Our Stake President has really been pushing on trying to reach there baptismal goal for the year which means each ward has to get 7 more baptisms before the end of the year! This has really got my companion and I Fired up and we really believe that we can get 7 baptisms in each of the wards we cover! We know that this goal was set with Faith and we can reach as we all work together! It is pretty exciting for us as missionaries and we are trying to get the ward members to feel the same way! So, we are really praying for God to guide us to those 7 people so we can help them come unto this beautiful gospel and receive those blessings that God is waiting to bless them with! 

D&C 101:36

"Wherefore, Fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full." 

Man, the joy I have felt today has been pretty unreal! I can't believe there is a new addition to our family! I can definitely say that my testimony has been strengthened and my joy has been added too! Those pictures that you all sent have a lot of meaning to me! Our Fathers plan truly is perfect! Nichole and Jeremy, I am so happy for the both of you and for this wonderful opportunity you two have to raise a Son of God in a righteous environment! May God bless the both you and this new journey! I know you two will make great parents! This it Family! This is the Plan of Salvation right before our eyes! Beautiful right? So grateful for this chance to serve God and Jesus Christ and share this message! But, just like the scripture. Remember what we are working towards! The moments of joy we experience in this world are not even close to what we will feel when we return back to our Father in Heaven! I know this gospel is true! I love it so much and the Joy I receive from it is unlike any other! I love you all so much and hope you all have a great week! Send my love to Lil' Will!

Love,

Elder Barton!

Season 6 Episode 3: Spiritual Thought

Alright, I know that I lack on sending spiritual experiences but, since this week was pretty slow and pretty difficult as well, I want to share a small Spiritual thought with you all!

“Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.” -Alma 36:3

I don't really know why but, for some reason I felt like I was being attacked from the Devil on all Sides and I mean it when I say it all sides. It got to the point where I just told my companion that I needed a minute to think alone. We went to the Beach and we sat apart from each other and I just started thinking and pouring my heart out to my Father in Heaven. I just let him know everything that was going on and how I was feeling. It probably took about a good 30 minutes before I was done. I won't lie. I was expecting for God to answer me right then and there and I was pretty disappointed when he didn't. So, I stood up told my companion that we can go and we went. I was really confused and quite frustrated as to why God didn't provide me with the smallest amount of comfort when I FELT like I NEEDED it the most. It wasn't until later that night and we were heading home and we went to small little store to get our dinner for the night and I started talking to this cute little 10 year old Samoan girl who was working at the shop, that I just felt this really small peace/happiness come over me. I'm not really sure if that was God answering my prayer but, I was able to take something away from that small experience. I realized that I need to stop looking inwards towards myself. Especially when times get rough. Just like the scripture said. We need to put our trust in God and HE will Support Us. It was a pretty humbling experience for me. Pride can come in so many different forms. I just think of Jesus Christ and his life and EVERYTHING that he went through and yet, he never ever looked inwards. He always looked outwards. What a tremendous example for all of us. I have testimony that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ Live. He knows us and He loves more than we will ever be able to know and to understand. If we just put our trust in him, then we will be able to feel and experience the redeeming love of Christ! I love you all so much and pray for you all every single day! I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Barton

Season 6 Episode 2: No more boils!

Niko!

Glad to hear you haven't popped! I can't wait to see pictures of this lil' guy. Any names in mind? What the what? Is it really the 4th annual Hallowtober??? Wait, that means all be there for its 5th year anniversary? Which means it is going to be huge right? Time is going by so fast. Each day goes by faster and faster but, I miss you guys more and more each day haha! Man, pizza. Forgot about that. I wonder if I will get fat when I get back hahaha. 

Glad that work is going good. Hopefully your Maternity leave will give you some time to think and get some direction of where you want to go! But, You will figure it out. Just don't forget to include God in your plans! Because when you do that, you won't fail. I promise. 

hahahahah Jeremy and Prenatal class. Lol. Don't worry once I get to "THAT" point in my life, I will make sure to attend! I miss gus so much haha! I miss clean dogs! Dang Nichole I love this work so much but, I really miss you guys haha! I am just so grateful our Father in Heaven is watching over you guys while I am out here! 

I am doing good! I miss Bridger. I haven't heard from him for ages! Almost 5 months! It would be nice to hear from him! I know I can see in the photos that he is really growing up! Tell him to email me! I love you so much Niko and thank you so much for emailing me! I hope you have a great week! Let mom know that I didn't have time to email today. But, I hope all is well with her and send her my love as well. Let her know I am doing great! No further boils! I wll send pics next week when I have time! Love you sis!

Elder Barton

Season 6 Episode 1: Long Time!

We had a giant rain storm in our area last week so we weren't able to email! But, we are in Apia right now because I wanted to do a quick email and see if Nichole had popped or not. Glad to no I didn't miss it! But, I also know that this email is going to be very short because I am paying to be on here and it is pretty expensive and I am almost out of money for the month hahaha. Here is a quick review.

We were able to watch Conference. I'm going to be quite honest, it was pretty hard for me to understand so I am really looking forward to watching it in English.

We are having to baptisms this week! I am honestly so excited! With all of these emergency transfers, I have been in the area long enough to set up baptismal dates and then I always get transferred out before the actual ordinance! So, I am really looking forward to this Saturday to see Titi and Wa'i get baptized! They are both such awesome investigators and it truly has been such a humbling experience watching them become converted unto Christ! I can't wait to get home and tell all of you about these incredible people and their journies into the Church of Jesus Christ. It is one of the coolest feelings to help God's children come back to him and prepare to meet him again.

We also found two new families to teach!!! I'm so excited to start teaching these families. They both seem really solid and I truly believe God has lead us to them because they need the gospel right now! Just like this one other investigator we got. Her name is Leiana. She was in Apia when she met some other missionaries who were at a small Book of Mormon Stand our mission does. Leiana had watched "Praise the Man" on Sunday and that Tuesday she saw the missionaries and felt an impression to go and talk with them. The missionaries talked with her and gave her a Book of Mormon and then reffered her to us. We were able to contact her and we talked about everything that had happened to her in the past week and then she told us how she just knows the Book of Mormon is true and how it all makes so much sense that there should be another book to Testify about Christ and His Divinity. We were able to set a baptismal date with her that day. Proably one of the coolest mircales I have seen in my mission and I am so grateful for it and what it has taught me about our Father in Heaven.

I want to write so much more but, I honestly don't have enough money. Next time I email I will include a few more experiences and I will send a lot of picutres. Thank you Mom and Nichole for the emails. Sorry I can't respond personally but, I have already explained the situation! I love you all so much! I pray for you all individually each and every day. I know this Gospel is such a blessing and we are so privliged to have it in our lives and it is our responsiability to take advantage of it everyday and to bless other peoples lives! I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Season 5 Episode 12: Crepe Weekend!

Hello Family!

Wow, is it already General Conference weekend? Well, hopefully you all had a great week. I know over here it was pretty exciting! We have been seeing a lot of success in our area which is such a blessing from our Father in Heaven. We currently have six baptismal dates set right now for Taikerise, Kukaga, Mercy, Titi, Sia'a, and Ua'i! 

Miracle #1&#2

So, we went to our Ward mission leader's house in Matautu. His name is Joe. And he told us that his cousin just moved from a different village and is here to stay for good and she isn't a member! We found out that her name was Ua'i. She is about 20 years old and attends Aso fitu (Seventh Day). Well, something that President has really been emphasizing to us as missionaries is giving out the invitation to be baptized. "Elders, you have one purpose right now. Invite your investigators to be baptized!"-Pres. H. So, we taught her part of the first lesson and she seemed to really enjoy it near the end of the lesson I had a feeling to invite her to be baptized. But, if I am going to be honest with you all, It is still pretty hard to invite people to be baptized. Just because I am always so worried about what they are going to say. So, we didn't invite her to be baptized that first day and I went home with this really uneasy feeling inside, regretting not inviting her to be baptized. Well, we went back on Thursday and she came very well prepared to the lesson. She had all of her materials that we had given her and a notebook with questions she had. Once, again I had the same impression to invite her to be baptized. Even though I had these thoughts of "You haven't even  finished lesson 1." or, "It is to soon to invite her." But, I just pushed all those thoughts aside and we invited her to be baptized on the 14th of october. And without hesitation she looked at us and said yes. I was so happy for her and I was so humbled/grateful for this experience and all that it taught me. I know that this is the Lords work and he will have it done when he wants it done and how he wants it done. Ua'i is super cool though! She came to church on Sunday and really loved it! So did Mercy! I was so happy when I saw both of them there. I honestly couldn't stop smiling! Makes me smile right now even thinking about it haha! 

We were also able to find a potential new family this past week! The are all Catholic and there daughter Tina is pretty masani with the missionaries but, apparently when the missionaries would come they would just talk to her out in the road so, this past week we went to there house and they just explained that to us and told us to come back yesterday but, guess what? Your boy Elder Barton has another boil on his neck. Was up? But, I was telling Mom it is nothing in comparison to the other boil on my neck and it should be gone tomorrow or Friday. So, we are going to this family tomorrow!

Being a District Leader here is pretty cool. We have 6 Elders and 2 Sisters in this District and it is honestly so awesome to get there reports each night and to see each of there areas progressing! Right now we have 17 Baptismal dates set up in this District! The Elders and Sisters in this District are all so powerful and obedient and willing to do the work! It is really awesome/humbling to be able to see what they are achieving each day! 

Dang, so General Conference is this week? I am sure you will all be enjoying crepes this weekend (Don't worry Trevor, you and I are on the same page). I am sure this General Conference is going to be super powerful and helpful to us in so many different ways. I hope you all have in mind some things you want to get out of this Conference. I know the times I have done that I always get my questions answered! And then if we take it the next step further and act on those answers, our lives our changed. I was so happy to hear that you all had set a day to go to the temple with eachother. Bummer it was closed but, honestly it was a really being testimony builder to me and an awesome example! I can't wait to get back and go through the Temple with all of you! 

I know this church is true! I have no doubt in my mind. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and he is always pulling with us! He will never leave our side. I am so grateful for His Atonement. It has brought and still does bring so much peace and happiness into my life. I am so grateful for this opportunity to represent our family's name and more importantly our Saviors name! I hope you all have a great Conference weekend and you can all feel of God's love for you! I will be thinking about you all this weekend! Have a great week and always have Him in your thoughts!

Elder Barton 

Season 5 Episode 11: Gagaifoilevao

Well, last Wednesday we had just finished talking with one of our investigators, Kayla, who was telling us that she and her family want to get baptized and will be attending the Church that Sunday, when we got a call from the Zone Leaders telling me that I will be getting transferred on Thursday. Let's just say that there were a lot of mixed emotions. You would think after 6 transfers I would be use to this stuff. Nope. Anyway, the following day I got transferred and now I am here in gagaifoilevao! I would love to hear you all try and pronounce that haha!  My new companion is Elder Vaivai from Aussie Mate! He has been out for 10 months and he is a really humble Elder and I am really excited to work with him. We cover two wards. Matautu and Saraimila-Zarahemla. We are right by the beach and we have this really nice resort next to us called Return To Paradise. So, we see white people all the time haha.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done here. There hasn't been a set of missionaries in here for about two months. So, a lot of the the members are excited and willing to help! Currently we have 17 investigators. My comp has been here two weeks longer than me so it was really nice to walk into a situation with current investigators.

One of our investigators name is Taikarise. I just call her Take it Easy. Anyway, she is 14 years old and I have never met someone who wants to be baptized so bad. She comes to church, Seminary, and mutual. Her family has all been baptized but, they are all attending another church because of some really weak reason and her dad has Fa'asa her from being baptized. It really is so sad to see. But, my comp and I are planning to go and talk with her dad this week and see if we can get his permission to baptize his daughter. We are planning to talk to him about the time he was baptized and the feelings he had and hopefully that will soften his heart and he will let his daughter be baptized.

Another one of our investigators name is Mercy. She is like 28 or somewhere around there. She is living with a member family and she has one kid with her boy friend ioua. We went and talked to them earlier this week about getting married and they told us that they were going to put it off until February of next year! We were pretty shocked and didn't really understand why. We went back to there house last night and we really focused on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ himself and the blessings that come from being married and you'll never guess what happened. They agreed to be married and baptized on the 23rd of this month! The spirit was so strong and I was so humbled and so grateful to my Heavenly Father for that small miracle I was able to be apart of!

One other investigators name is Pueata. She is a Mom. We went and talked to her yesterday and she started asking about the Book of Mormon and saying how that was our Bible and that we use a different bible from everyone else. She was pretty shocked when we pulled out the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon. So, we kept talking and were explaining to her the importance of the Book of Mormon and then she kind of interrupted us and told us how her pastor came to her house and was asking her why she was accepting us and all that. Then she started crying and was telling us how she will always except us because we are bringing a message about Jesus Christ. It was a really cool moment to share with her and we set Thursday to go back to her and teach her more about the Book of Mormon. Because I think once she understands that, she will see the difference.

This week was pretty crazy! It was full of a lot of powerful experiences. I have really seen that no matter what teaching situation we are put in, whatever the problem as we focus on The Atonement of Jesus Christ, people begin to feel and to change. I have seen it happen this week so many times. The spirit changes when the Atonement of Christ is introduced. I am so grateful to have this chance to be a missionary and share to the Samoan people about the Gift of the Atonement. We truly are so blessed to have this Infinite Gift. I am also grateful for the Book of Mormon that teaches us about the Plan of Salvation and our Savior Jesus Christ. Just like D. Todd. Christopherson said "The Book of Mormon Re-thrones Jesus Christ." We are so blessed to live in this day and age. I know that this Gospel is true. I know God lives and he loves us and his arms are always open to receive us. It doesn't matter how many times we wander off the path or how far off the path we go. This is the exact reason for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barton

Season 5 Episode 10: Grindin' On!

Wow, this was a pretty crazy week! We worked so hard with all of our investigators this week and we just didn't see the progression we wanted to see in them! It is always a bummer not seeing these people progress but, really all we can do is continue to pray for them and try and help them understand what blessings are in store for them if they accept this gospel! We are really hoping that this week we can see some progression in a few our investigators and hopefully set some baptismal dates!

We have been working with Takierise this week but, the only hard part with her is that her dad won't allow her to be baptized. We had the chance to talk with him the other day and we set up a Family Home Evening with there family this week. So, hopefully we can see a miracle this week and her dad will soften his heart and let her be baptized.

We have also been teaching Ierimia and Rose and there 5 kids this week! They are such an awesome family! I love teaching them and I love them as well. We have been noticing that it has been pretty hard for us to feel the spirit when we are teaching lessons because there youngest kid is always running around making a bunch of noise. So we are trying to set up a day with them that we can take them to the Visitors Center! I really hope we can see this family progress together and hopefully one day enter into the waters of baptism! 

We are working with a few other people who have a lot of similar problems. Meaning, a lot of them aren't divorced with there first spouse so we can't do their baptisms Se'i (Forgot the English word) we get them divorced and married. When we did our weekly planning we really had to focus on who we think is most likely to progress this week and what they need in order to progress. We are really focusing on finding new people as well who have been prepared to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So, we just keep praying that God will lead us to his Children.

I noticed this week as well that no matter how the week goes, whether we have a super successful week or not I am always so happy. I just love being able to spread this gospel to these people. Not only that but, to testify to them of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have seen it change so many lives. It has blessed me so much as well. I am just so surprised at how fast time is going by. Next month is General Conference. Man, we truly are so lucky to be living in a day and age like this. We are so blessed with all the knowledge we have pertaining to the Gospel. I really hope and pray we are taking advantage of it every day. I know it is so easy to take for granted. Especially because our lives are so busy. But, we live in a day and age like no other. We should always make time in our day to search the scriptures and we should be continually strengthening our testimonies. I know that these last days are going to get any easier but, I know as we are always fortifying our spiritual "Cities" we will be able to withstand all the weapons of the Devil. I know this Gospel is true and I am so grateful for the light it brings into my life each day. I know the Book of Mormon is the best book in this entire world. I love reading it each day! It is so powerful! I love you all so much and hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barton