More Photos 3/23/15

​saying bye to Maria de Lourdes with elder almeida

                                          the Elder Barton doll that she has in her house haha

​Farewell to Elder Almeida 

                        Elder Morgan my good american friend was transferred out of our apartment also

                                                          THE DREAM TEAM

New Companion & FOOD // 3-23-15

Hey y'all!!!! 

My new companion is from Texas so I just felt like i should throw in a y'all if ya know what I mean...

haha, this week was awesome!! Like I said, my new companion is a STUD from Dallas, Texas... His name is Elder Gschwend, haha the Brazilians cannot say his name at all its so funny!! But ya he is a super awesome guy!!! He is a super hard worker and a really good teacher! I am learning a lot from him already, on how I can be a better missionary! Super stoked! Its also super nice to have an American companion to be able to just ask him questions whenever I don't understand something! But, I really do miss Elder Almeida also! It was super cool last Monday night we went to a bunch of members homes so Elder Almeida could say bye! Everyone loves Elder Almeida, he even made a few members cry haha... The biggest thing I learned from Elder Almeida i think was to just enjoy the work... He never complained about being a missionary, not even once. He was always just so stoked to be serving even in the hardest of times! He was truly a great trainer and I'm so grateful for him!!! Its so weird to think that I'm already done with my first 2 transfers, cant believe how fast that flew by and i already have a new companion!

   It has been a little tough with our investigators lately... We have a ton of awesome people that we are teaching, but alot of unfortunate things have been happening with them.. Kind of hard because we really feel like they are progressing but then they don't go to church or don't keep commitments... I know that it is all in the Lords time and he knows whats best for them! Just need to be patient, because its not up to me!! I'm grateful for that, and the things I have been learning from these tough times! Elder Gschwend is definitely helping me to realize that also with his awesome attitude! I am truly feeling blessed, I love serving here in this area. The members here are such awesome people and I am really becoming good friends with them!! Starting to feel better with my Portuguese also which is way cool!!! I know it is all because of Heavenly Father that i have these things, and I will always be so grateful for this gospel and the blessings which I receive from it!! Love you guys all so so much and hope you are all doing good!! Until next week friends!!

Elder Barton

                                random photo I found from a long time ago from an exchange 

                                 with Elder Caviler (was my zone leader and is now AP) he's a STUD!

                                         

​Elder Silva Costa sleeping in chapel after district meeting haha SNORING SO LOUD!

lunch that my companion PREPARED soo good!

Elder GSCHWEND and I!!!

Lovin Brazil // Email 3-15-15

YO yo yo! 

This is Elder Barton live in the streets of São Paulo kickin it old school...

  

     Pretty dope week as always down here in the south!

   Haha, this week though was seriously the bees knees!!!! I am officially through my second transfer!! Sooo weird how fast time flies on the mission! Figured out that Elder Almeida is being transferred to a new area... :( Pretty bummed that my father will be leaving me but its all good! He was an awesome trainer... Such a stud. He leaves tomorrow and I will receive my new companion Elder Gschwend ( I have no idea how to spell it) and i don't know anything about him besides the fact that hes an AMERICAN!!! Haha, so that will be super cool... Everyone says he is really cool also so I'm excited!

    We had a member of the seventy visit our mission this week too which was super awesome!!! His name is Claudio M. Costa and is the Brasil area president (Brazilian) he gave a super awesome training and the spirit was super strong!!!! He is a super powerful guy and really just talked with us about our purpose as missionaries and went over  a lot of really good stuff from Preach my Gospel... Made me realize how blessed we are to have Preach My Gospel and all of the awesome tools to study and learn from! I also had a super cool experience in sacrament meeting yesterday... We had our Wards first Ward conference and it was suppper legit!! Our new bishop is such a stud, he is such a dedicated guy and is so excited to be our bishop and gave such an incredible talk about conversion... He talked about how conversion is one of the most important things for us as members of the church... We need to constantly work on our self-conversion and strive to become better and more spiritually fed each day! Super cool talk... And Elder Almeida and I had the opportunity to sing in the choir haha which was awesome! We sang Sisters in Zion and it was soo cool to sing it in Portuguese! I really felt the spirit so Strong and just sitting up on the pulpit was awesome looking at all the members in the congregation.. Seeing all the families happy and sitting together, and hearing our new bishops talk really made me realize how awesome these people are down here. They are practically all converts to the church and they have the strongest testimonies and are so happy. Its so cool, I love Brazilians they are such cool people.

 

    So stoked to be here in Brazil right now... I'm loving the people and all the awesome experiences that I am having. You all are seriously so awesome too, cant thank you guys enough for everything you are all doing to support me! Love You guys all so much!!! 

Elder Barton

Adventures in Brasil / Email 3-09-15

YO whats up everyone in the Northern Continent!!

This week was killer, It has been raining pretty hardcore down here its nuts! But the week was super fun and good!!! I had my last training for the new missionaries this week! That's right, moving up in the ranks!!! Haha, I cant believe that my second transfer is already coming to an end! This is probably going to be my last week with Elder Almeida!! :( Cant believe how fast that flew...

After the training we had this week, I had a super cool and scary experience! I got paired up with Elder Rasmussen as my temporary companion to go to the training, and we both have the same amount of time on our missions. He is an American, so after the meeting we had to take the bus back to my area to meet up with Elder Almeida and Elder Rasmussen's companion. Taking the Onibus in general is a pretty gnarly experience just cause its so crazy and packed with people, and even more crazy when you get LOST!

So we were waiting for the onibus to come, to take the one to Jardim Conceição... I saw once coming and it said Jardim C on the front, so i flagged it down and when we got on, just to double check I asked if it was going to Jardim CONCEIÇÃO and he said yes. So we sat down casually and sooner than later it started looking really unfamiliar where we were going... We where headed to like downtown São Paulo towards these huge skyscrapers!! I got up and asked the worker again, and he said that it was going to Jardim CITY! haha so we got off the bus as fast as we could and where in an area we had never been, with two NOOBS learning how to speak Portuguese... I was terrified at first. Had absolutley no idea where I was and was paired with Elder Rasmussen who really struggles with Portuguese. We were walking around trying to get a sense of where we were, and decided to say a quick prayer. We asked Heavenly Father that we would be able to speak and understand people and find our way back in safety... After we did that, I felt confident... and I started talking to people on the road and asking how to get to our destination... We figured out we first need to go to the train station (that shows you how far we were from home) and then take a bus to get back... After talking with many people in broken Portuguese, we made it to the station. When we got on the train, there happened to be a member of the church on the train who came up to us... We told him our situation and he gave us instructions on where to find the bus when we got off the train... He was a super nice guy, and totally lifted are spirits and helped us out. I am positive that he was an answer to our prayers... I know that we there is now way we would have been able to get back without the help of the Lord.... I have really gained a testimony of prayer on my mission... Heavenly Father placed that man in our path because he knew we needed him. And I am so grateful for that experience! It was definitely terrifying in the beginning... But I am so grateful for that experience which I had! 

It was a great week, and I'm excited for another one to come! Love you guys all so much!! Have an awesome week!

Elder Bbbbbb

​Also did an exchange with Elder Morgan this week, super fun haha! 

We ordered ourselves a nice pizza after and had our American drinks!!!! It was awesome!

Email 3/2/15

​ghetto apartment.....

​hahahahahaah dad will like this, the tiles on our floor are coming g up hahaa so were

 improvising with tape and a glue stick hahahaha

this is my companion made of our trash teaching the restoration..

​the PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

American meal!!!!!!!! (made it myself, NBD)

this ones for maci! tell her i still have the present she gave me!!! 

    

EYY! 

Whats up whats up..... This week was another great week! We had our first multi zone conference on Thursday and it was super super awesome!!! Good food, good spirit, and good friends!! haha what more can you ask for?? We heard a bunch of talks, and had some really really cool trainings! It was way cool, made me realize how awesome my mission is and how awesome my mission president is!!! And AFTER received a package from home loaded with Reese's and Doritos which was sooo awesome, I was STOKED!! Thanks mom your the BOMB.com! Got some dr. pepper too, at the deseret book store also as usual... man I miss dr. pepper!

Haha, aside from food and good times, are week went really well with our investigators as well! We have been teaching a guy named Vitor, not sure if i gave talked about him already, but he is a STUD! Man i love that guy! he has such a strong desire to read the book of Mormon and learn about the gospel its awesome! He will be such a powerful missionary if he gets baptized... WE marked him for the 14th of this month to be baptized, and he is excited!!! We had a really great lesson with him, teaching him about The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit was super strong! When we left, he told us that he feels a special peace and happiness whenever we visit him... That was an awesome moment!! We have also been working with Irenilde TONS, but she still doesn't feel ready... She has gone through  baptismal interviews and still says at the end of them that she doesn't feel ready... Elder Almeida and I fasted for her yesterday and hoping we will know how we can best help her! Something super cool happened also with Thales (the 13 year old kid who's a member, was in the pictures with the super gnarly rain) he called us on Saturday and asked us to go to his house... When we got there he had a plan all written out on how he wants to help his mom get baptized... He was super excited to try to help her, we talked to her and the step dad and she wants to be baptized!!! She needs to get married first, we are going to help them tomorrow to get all the documents and stuff! That was a miracle that came out of nowhere!

Lots of great things are happening right now, I am really learning how to be patient and humble right now. things don't happen in our time when WE want them... Its all in the Lords hands and we just need to put our trust in him because he knows whats best! Thanks again guys for all you do... I feel so loved getting so many letters and emails from all of you! This church is true!!!

Elder Barton