Why did we get a new car?

Hi family!

Freak, that is insane that Travis is home. Why did we get a new car? WE can't sell the excursion.  That car is my childhood. Oh well, is it manual at least? If it is not I will be really sad if the bug is gone. I plan to drive that with Millie when I get home. We can share at BYU. That is cool that you guys got new cars. My dad (Elder Barnes) was an auctioneer, so he knew a lot about car prices, years and models, and stuff like that. It is interesting to hear about what missionaries talk about when they get back.  Thanks for keeping me updated.  They have had one of the most spiritual expiriences that they will have in their life, then they have the opportunity to talk to the people who they grew up with (for the most part). I am doing better with what we wrote about, I am still learning how to handle myself with the situation but dad’s advice was 100% on. A mission is about serving others. I am seeing what works and what doesn’t, but it is a lot better.  Thank you for your prayers. We also found a family super cool this week. He and his Wife are super humble, and the members are super supportive of helping them, so I think we will baptise him and his wife next week. We also talked to a 7th Day Adventist.  He knows a lot about the bible and is really old. He told us that he would go to church with us if we go with him. The only problem (besides the fact that we should just flat out not do it) is that his church is the entire day 9AM to 6PM. I don’t understand why other churches do that? I understand why it is much better to have church for more than just one hour, but the whole day? The Sabbath day is not just church, if you are there all day, you are missing out on the opportunities you have to do the other things you need to do on Sunday. It was funny, one day I was talking with Elder Pucket and he was telling me an experience about how he was teaching a 7th Day Adventist and he pulled out a scripture that was super clear that says that the Sabbath day was the seventh day, which is Sunday. I laughed and then explained to him how the seventh day is Saturday and not Sunday. I blame weekends and calendars. If Sunday was not included when talking about weekends, more Americans would know that.

So that is it from Reu for the blog.  Love, Bret

I am a missionary now, and I can’t believe in coincidence either, only miracles and answers from God. (and good advice from my earthly father)

As a district leader, I love doing the meetings every Tuesday. I am not sure why, I just like trying to help the missionaries in my district. But, this Wednesday, we had our interviews with the president. Mine was really quick. Every interview he talks about you Christine and mentions how every time there is a photo of me you say something. I told him it is because you are always doing family history on the computer or in Utah, so she can always check on Facebook too. This week has been the same though, but we had to put weekly DATS with the president and he is going to travel back up here Tuesday (tomorow) to see how we did. We did really bad, so tomorrow should be fun. That is interesting that you reminded me about how dad said to  love and serve  my companion in his testimony. I do remember that and he was right.  I have prayed and thought a lot about how I need to handle my companion and what I should do and that is the answer I always get. It is like in the Batman movie when Officer Gorden (I have no idea how I still remember his name) told Robin that he is a detective now and he can’t believe in coincidences, well I am a missionary now, and I can’t believe in coincidence either, only miracles and answers from God. (and good advice from my earthly father)That is super cool that Sam is leaving this week. I am glad that father’s days was awesome for dad. It is really kinda a bummer that dad likes nuts in his cookies. It kinda ruins it for the rest of the family, because we (or at least  the kids) don’t want to steal as much from him.

Love, Bret

Being a district leader is alright though. It is babysitting more or less,

 I don’t have anything to send pictures. Where we write in my new zone, the computer can’t read my camera or memory. Being a district leader is alright though. It is babysitting more or less, but I think it just all kinda of depends on how you district is as missionaries. My companion has a hard time with working sometimes so sometimes we don’t leave the house until 5 o´clock and we don’t work too efficiently either, but I am learning a lot from him. I don’t fight with him because that just brings about a bunch of bad things, but I do what I can. I am so grateful for dad’s advice about serving and loving your companion.  He was right and it has helped a lot.  My investigators are good, I think. We haven’t visited them in a bit. We did have a baptism though, only one though, the other two fell during the week. That is a cool idea about the drive in Movie Theater, Bugs’ Life in the garden combination.  Those kids most love you.  You were the best neighborhood mom- you always had a million things for us to do and learn so of course you are the best primary president.  Are you in Provo right now? Why? Probably for family history. That is cool that there is girls’ camp this week. I remembered going up with dad when he was on the high council all those years. It was always really fun and it was great to be there when the camp was empty.  Joey and I got into so much up there.  Glad to hear Cynthia is doing well.  That is great that Joey can baptize her.  Hopefully my blog is saying something to another of your friends.  You and dad are good missionaries. Keep it up. The elders must love you guys. 

They then ate all my M&Ms through the night.

I am doing good, but being district leader has its ups and downs. It is really cool to do interviews and talk with the missionaries in your districts, but from all the meetings in Reu, studying, and DATS, it really takes away from sleeping, so I am have been really tired lately. We also go to the gym about 3 times a week so we have to wake up a lot earlier to do that. My companion is not a district leader. In a district there is only one district leader, but in the zone, there are 2 and they are both companions. There are also 2 assistants that are companions too. Sometimes 4 if both the companions are going to leave from the mission at the same time.

 This week we had a meeting in Rue for all the district leaders. My companion from the MTC is a district leader too, so I saw him at the meeting. It was really cool to see him. we were told that we have to do divisions at least 3 times every week which is kind of a bummer because it means I am now really only in my area 3 days a week at that includes Sunday and Monday. It will be hard on my companion, which makes me sad, but I talked to the experienced district leader in out zone (I say that because he is the only one that was not called as a district leader this change) and he said that he finds that when he does divisions, the Lord blesses his area. I believe it. It was fun to go down with the district leaders because it takes about 5 hours to get to Reu from San Marcos so we eat at good restaurants (if Taco Bell and McDonalds qualify for being good restaurants), and we just talk the whole time.

 This week we are planning on having three baptisms. One is completely set, but the other didn’t pass the interview with the zone leader. She has a "Special Case" though. I’m not sure how and I am still not really clear on what that means, but basically they are going to call President and he can give us permission to baptize her. It would be really sad if she can’t get baptized. she has faced a lot of persecution from her family and friends about being baptized, but she has endured through all of it. Her son will also get baptized with her if she gets baptized this week too.

 Well, life is good right now, the mission is great, and the church is true.

Also, the down part of being a district leader is that you just have to deal with other people unwise decisions. For example, yesterday, someone from the zone and someone from San Pedro (the other zone in the mountains) had to ship their companions off to the Capital to sign for their visas so the two missionaries stayed in Tejutla (it is in the zone, but about an hour out from my area). We ate dinner with the Bishop of our ward and when we got back to the house at 9:00. On the way home I get a call from Tejutla and Elder Virgin (the elder from Tejutla) asked me if we were home yet because he is in our area because it is the greenie area of the other Elder from San Pedro so he left to my area to go say hi to members there. They then had to stay in my house because I couldn’t tell them to back to their area because it was too far to walk and there are no busses at night. They then ate all my M&Ms through the night. It just made me mad that they thought they could come in my area a waste the day (that’s my polite way of saying screw around all day).

 I also want to say thanks to you and dad again for the packages. I now have an insane amount of food that I will be sharing with my district because there is no way I can bring it with me when I have changes and I don’t think I could eat it all in 5 months. You guys have basically bought the love of my district and for that, I thank you.

ELDER MECHAM HAD CHANGES.

ELDER MECHAM HAD CHANGES. I moved from Chamac, San Pedro to Alameda, San Marcos (San Marcos is the only other zone in the mountians, so I am still enduring the cold). My area has been compared to Zion by the other missionaries and they are right. It is probably the best are in the mountains. The members are super cool and there are a lot of them (the attendance this week was 216- that’s like our ward pretty much isn’t it?  San Miguel is about that size right?) And even the investigators are really attentive and are willing to work with us to do what we ask of them. I have also been called as the District Leader, and I am over 4 areas. It is interesting, and I am not really sure what I am doing, but I am just going at it. It is pretty great. I also took pictures for this moment back in San Antonio. There is a political group caller Líder (Leader) and I took a bunch of pictures of me posing next to one of their advertisements, but they are in my memory that doesn’t work now. I will find another place and take the pictures here again in San Marcos. My companion is Elder Alarcón from Chile. I think he is the only elder in the mission that is from Chile. He is a really cool and laid back guy, but sometimes it is hard to work with him, but he is really good with the members. Also, the house I live in is amazing. It has a fridge, oven, microwave (which is really surprising), and washer machine and a dryer (which is even more astonishing), and a room with a carpet and couches. I AM LIVING LIKE A CHAPIN KING. San Marcos is also a lot richer than San Pedro, so most everyone has a car and many have gone been to the U.S. (legally for the most part. Most don’t make too much money if they go illegally. The mortality chance is much higher too if you go illegally). I did get my box from you guys and it is chalk full of kisses and peanut butter. I am really glad I got it at the beginning of when I had changes, so now I have a lot of time to finish it before I have changes again because there is no way that it will fit in my bags. It is really nice to eat again while I study during the night, especially now that I have to take DATS and all that good stuff every night. I am excited for this month; we already have a baptismal date for an investigator for the 13th. The people are just really friendly here too. It is great.