Christmas 2009

December 28, 2009
Hola fam,
It was another good week here in Barranca. It was very nice to talk to everyone and see y'all on the webcam also. I was actually a little surprised because everyone looks about the same (except the kids who have all grown a TON). Although it was very nice to talk to everyone I felt awkward trying to talk well. It’s a lot easier to write things in English and I can see how the RMs feel when they get back and can barely give their homecoming talk. (Will has a really cute accent when he speaks in English now).
Buuut anyway it has been another good week, we have found a few more good investigators and had a good Christmas and Christmas eve. For Christmas eve we got together with the other Elders and some members in the other branch and made a big old, mostly American style Christmas dinner. We had a load of mashed taters ‘n gravy, some stuffed chicken, brownies and ice cream. We ate and chatted with the members until the missionary curfew (9 30) and then headed to the apartment. The other Elders came to stay the night there so it was the 6 of us. We talked and hung around and then read the Christmas story from the Bible like a good family and opened our stockings from Mom. The Elders were mostly excited to eat all the chocolates and mom’s caramels were a big hit. Then we watched a few Christmas eve fireworks and got to bed.

Christmas morning we got up and went over to David and Shirleys because Elder Williams had other presents there for us.. Apparently, he has a really rich uncle so he sent us all remote control cars. Haha not exactly the usual missionary gift but we had a great time driving them around outside their house and chasing a few dogs away. We actually spent most of the day with them just talking about Christmas traditions etc. We left in the afternoon to do some visits but found absolutely no one the whole night so we ended up buying some frozen yogurt and heading back to plan. My companion and I set some really good goals to make sure we start off the year great and accomplish as much as possible.

Sunday was a very good day for the branch. We got there early and first thing a sister who had been inactive requested an interview. The Lord is blessing me incredibly and with his help I have been able to do the things I have been asked. Sunday meetings went very well. We had 50 people in church this time which is the most we have had since our first week and I can see the members gaining excitement for the work here. Just the simple act of having someone who greets them or talks to them about their life makes such a difference and we really are starting to gain the confidence of the members. In sacrament meeting I was asked to bless a baby... which I had no idea how to do, but I pulled out my faithful missionary handbook, followed the instructions and it went well. Also 2 kids advanced in the priesthood so I announced it in sacrament meeting and then ordained them in the second class. We also talked and prayed and decided who to call as the ward mission leader so I extended the call to him and we will set him apart next week. We will be re-organizing some of the auxiliaries during the next few weeks which will give some more people the chance to serve and have part in the branch. I’ve been advancing in the Leaders Manual that has all the little details and learning lots about how the church runs. I’ve got MLS (the church computer program) figured out which also is a big help and I am working on making lists with each neighborhood and all of the members that live there to start visiting them. I can also use these lists for home teaching etc. In less words, we’ve had lots to do in our little branch and we are very excited at the way things look to be going.
We don’t have as much time in the day as I would like. The missionary side is still a little difficult but we have some very good potential investigators and we have lots of ideas to do activities etc to find more. In the end our job is to help get brother B ready to be the man and run the ship. He is a great guy. His family is very, very humble but they always have us over for lunch on Sundays. He is at church every Sunday at 8 o clock to open up and make sure everything is ready. He has been a member for only 2 years and is learning so much. He and his wife are preparing to go to the temple and be sealed in January so we are encouraging them and I’m very happy for them.

Today was a nice lazy relaxing Pday. We basically just sat around and talked with Elder Jimenez and Zari. For lunch I made up the mashed potatoes and stuffing etc. that you sent. It turned out very well and it was the first time the others had eaten stuffing and they really liked it. I’m not sure what the plans will be for New Years but I am ready to get the holidays over with so we can get rid of the distractions and really get things going with the investigators.

BTW Dad that experience was amazing, I hope someday I can have something like that happen. Imagine the generations who will be members of the church and have the gospel because of that couple and the fact that you got to meet them. Amazing. (Will is referring to an experience that his Dad had in Calgary while visiting Will’s sister and son-in-law. He served a mission there years ago. This insert is how Will’s Dad described the experience).
“I hope this little miracle will help you see the big picture. In church yesterday as the First Councilor announced the program I realized that the final speaker was a man I knew. I taught and baptized him and his wife years ago. I hadn't talked to him in all that time. Turns out they have 8 children that are spread all over the US and Canada. They are active and happy and successful and he gave a great talk. Mom and I went up to meet him after and he hugged me and thanked me. We are going out to dinner and get the whole story. Of course their life has been theirs and they have done what they have done, but at least when my small part was to be played, I was there. It is a very good feeling. Now I am wondering about the other families and individuals that I worked with. But anyway, someday you will be able to look back and see that you were there and you did your part and it was good.”

I can’t believe I am going to start the last calendar year of my mission. I sometimes wish time would slow down but we learn as we go and I’m learning every day. I hope I’ve been able to progress and improve. I have gained a much stronger testimony and I know that we are in the truth. I wish more people would realize faster but if it were easy it wouldn’t be so good. Hope everyone has a happy new year and enjoys all the great things we have. 2010 should be awesome. TTY next week. Love Elder Barnard

Busy Branch Activities

December 22, 2009
Ola family!

The first week as branch president was very interesting. Here they planned to have 12 small Christmas devotionals in the church up to the 24th, each one organized by a different family or organization. They have turned out well and my comp and I have been there to conduct and make sure everything got opened and closed etc. This week with all of the branch activities and the travel etc. we didn’t get to work a ton in the area but we had a few lessons and like I said we are just looking for more ways to have some success here.

My first Sunday as a missionary/ branch president was also very interesting. If you thought Sundays were busy just being a missionary, you should try it as both. Lots of things to do and lots of ppl to talk to. Before church, one of the young men had requested to talk to me. It is really amazing how the Lord can inspire even dummies like me, to know what to say and what to do. Throughout the week I have been reading and studying the church leaders manual to get to know the little details etc. of what I need to do. We made sure to start Sacrament meeting right on time. There were only 10 people there to begin with. By the end of the meeting, there were 40 which is about average. I planned to speak about Christmas and gave myself the last spot. I had been planning and praying for most of the week and the Spirit really helped me. I think everyone felt the spirit so I feel really blessed for that. I talked about what the Savior’s birth really means and talked about how the joy of Christmas comes from giving. I shared the story about the Christmas orange of the boy in the orphanage. I also shared the experience of when mom and I did the 12 days of Christmas and secretly took gifts to a family when I was in elementary school.
After that a few members wanted to talk during class time including a sister who felt that she could no longer hold her calling to teach the youth class because there was no one to watch her baby. I also interviewed two young men to advance one to receive the priesthood and the other to be a teacher. I looked it up in the manual and relied on the spirit. Then for the third hour, we went to the young mens class who are having so many problems. I don’t know how we are going to get control of them yet. We continue to pray and look for ways.

One idea that I felt would help was to organize every member on the branch list into the neighborhoods they live in and then take time each day to visit every single one. It would be much more efficient to reach everyone that way. It may be the way to find part member families as well as less active members and bring them back. On the list of members there are 418 and only about 40 attend each week. Yes, that is less than 10 per cent. Last week we went, as the priesthood of the branch, to visit less active members and found a few who were excited to see us so it may be the best way to start turning things around.

Another thing I was thinking about was to put a chart on the bulletin board that shows the attendance week by week and get the members themselves excited about finding the lost sheep and little by little getting the chapel filled.

We traveled to Bucaramanga for a big Christmas super pday. Everyone got together and played sports all morning. All the missionaries from Bucaramanga, San Gil, Cucuta, Opal and Barrack got together. I spent a little time playing soccer and we actually got to play a little organized basketball with some of the other Americans which was a first in a long time and was fun. I got a little sun burn also but it was a good chance to relax and have a good time. After that everybody headed back to the different houses (apartments) to get cleaned up and changed and ready for the afternoon part. We watched a really cool movie called Emma, played some games, had a dinner and a Christmas devotional where the Stake Presidents from Bucaramanga spoke.
The Christmas pday yesterday was a very nice spiritual experience and a good chance to rest and get re energized. ah I forgot to tell you that we also had a Christmas dinner and President and Sister Hacking showed up as Santa Claus and his wife. They gave everyone little presents which was a funny sight. It really is nice to see Bucaramanga again. It’s amazing how you grow to love the places where you work and learn.

I’m sure Barrack will be just the same because I know if we just keep fighting we are going to make good things happen here. We will continue and try our best to help the members increase their own testimonies, bring back the ones who are lost and find new ones.

But anyway onto today. We left early from Bucaramanga yesterday. I took out that extra money you told me about and bought each Elder in the district some little presents. For dinner last night, my comp and I bought ingredients and made "completos." It’s a typical Chilean food so my comp was happy. It’s actually just hot dogs but with guacamole and tomatoes and very good.
Oh by the way, we moved out of the hotel and are living in Elder Jimenez and Zaris house. At least, it gives us the chance to study and have a kitchen etc but it’s all the way across town so we have to take taxis everyday. I wish we could just get a normal house by our area but that would be too easy for us haha. I can’t doubt that our purpose right now is to be tested so we just have to go and do what needs to be done.

Tomorrow I will be talking to you. I can’t believe that after this phone call I only have one left in May. (He has only 8 months left in the mission field) It’s hard to believe all that happened since I spoke to you the last time. I’m interested to see how well I can have a conversation in normal English. It’s sometimes confusing to talk without using any Spanish words because you get used to it. I love you fam, know that we are probably as or more blessed than anyone in the world. I will talk to you tomorrow. love ya and until tomorrow, chao. elder Barnard

Branch President Barnard

December 14, 2009
Hola Familia,
Well it’s been another week here in Barranca. The week in itself was actually kind of a strange week. I’ve got a cough and with grandma’s funeral and all, it was really hard not to think about the fam etc. and what was happening at home. I'm glad to hear the funeral went well and everyone is now safe and sound where they need to be. You guys should just take a day or two and rest up and recover physically and mentally because I am sure it was a stressful week and especially if you are sick just REST. But ok that’s the end of my family advice section.

So as I said it wasn’t the most focused week of missionary work in my life, but we just gotta keep on keeping on. We did have some good lessons and the Lord gave us a great blessing to cheer us up, a family of 5 who seems to be very ready to accept and live the gospel. Although they had a last minute thing (like all of our investigators again) they seem very good so we have high hopes. We seem to have found a good group of investigators to work with now so although we will continue finding new ones, we now have some good people to concentrate on.

They say that there is a package for me in Bogotá and they will mail it tomorrow so it may be a Christmas Package. Also unfortunately we are still in the good ole truck stop hotel. There was a 6´4 ish used to be man/ now woman who used to live in the room next to us that always said hi to us and he/she left this week which was good news :) It sounds like they are finally getting to the last part of the papers for our house, but what’s new.

That is true about the harmonica. I got hold of some music for a few church songs so I can play them and have figured out some other songs like home on the range. The other day at a baptism we, Elder Williams and I, played How Great Thou Art with guitar and harmonica, haha it wasn’t the greatest group ever but it turned out alright.

Today for Pday we did... nothing. The other Elders went with David and Shirley, the members who always help us out. They invited us over to the headquarters of the Oil Company to play sports etc. but I have been getting sick with that cough etc. so I decided it was smarter to just chill and get some rest.

Ok here is my crazy news. Elder Williams, a while ago, talked to President Hacking about the idea that the missionaries should have some leadership in the church here just to get things going in the right direction. Then this week after a priesthood meeting I felt the same thing so I called him and he said he already had it planned that we would be put in as councilors in the Branch Presidencies whenever the District President here got it all organized and decided what was best to do. So I was somewhat expecting that. Sunday morning we passed by to take a few investigators (2 families of 5 and 4) to church. Unfortunately like I said, they had last minute things come up. So as we headed for the church I got a call and it was President Camacho, President Hackings second counselor who covers Barranca. He asked if I would take long to get to the church and I told him we were very close so he said ok and that he would like to talk to me before sacrament meeting.

So I figured that what Pres Hacking had said was coming. So he invites us upstairs in the church house and has us sit down. He brings in the District President also and they start talking and the District President tells me that because the Branch President hasn’t been able to attend because of work, and because the branch needs help that they are going to release the Branch President. Then he called me to be the Branch President!?....... I was basically shocked. It had crossed my mind that we may get callings in the branch to help but I never expected this. Then he asked me what I thought about this new calling and I told him it was a complete shock but that I would go and do what the lord commanded and do my best. He then explained to us all the stuff about how the branch was struggling and the idea is that this would be a temporary thing (a few months). We would need to use the experience we have to help turn things around and help prepare Bro Benavides, the first councilor right now, to be a good branch president. Haha what experience are you talking about I’ve never done this. But the truth is I know we can help this little branch. At least my comp and I have had the blessings of growing up in the church and I have had the chance to work with Pt Hacking and Camargo so we know how things should be. Then, they had us go back down and start sacrament meeting.

During the second class they took us up and set us apart and conferred me the "keys". So at the end of the day I am the Branch President of Los Pinos and my companion is my second counselor. After church we had to organize all the tithing /offerings etc. which I have no idea how to do. Luckily Hno Benavides has been counselor for over a year so he knows how to do that part and my comp was the ward secretary at home so he also does. I also pulled aside the old Branch Pres for a minute after church just to tell him sorry if this happened as a surprise or he felt bad and that I was also very surprised and would need his help. He wasn’t mad at all and said that whatever questions I had, he was there. He really is a good guy but with his work he just never had time to do everything.

After lunch we headed back to the church and our "presidency office" to start reading manuals and looking at the MLS (church computer system) . The MLS manages everything from the money, to callings, to ward lists, to stats. Luckily my comp knows how to run it and I am pretty fast with computer stuff. There is a big old manual for Stake Presidencies and Bishoprics that has about everything you need to know - from how to bury people, to how to do interviews etc. I called president Hacking and he just told me to keep it as simple as I could and not get too worried about all the complex details. So I really don’t know what to think, I never expected anything like this on my mission. I already know I am going to delegate tons and use my counselor’s lots and do the best I can to help get this Branch turned around. As much of a surprise as it is, I know its going to be a huge learning experience and we already have so many ideas to get things improved here.

First we’re going to have all the meetings here (PEC, branch presidency, ward council etc) Also, I want to start giving assignments and callings because many people have nothing to do and there is a lot that needs to be done, which will help them be part of the branch. And the best thing is we are missionaries, we have all day, everyday so whatever we have to do we can. In the end the goal is to help prepare Hno Benavides to be a great Branch President and leave the branch with a good foundation and going in the right direction. So I'm going to have to get myself much more familiar with that manual. The hard thing for me to get my head around is things like interviews or personal problems that members have etc. So one thing I know is that I’m going to be calling President Hacking like crazy and praying really hard.

Pres Hacking also told us that it’s important that we find a balance, missionary work will be a little harder but we are still missionaries and we have to be teaching all that we can. Hopefully we can just keep things simple and strengthen every member and bring back those that have fallen away. I know that the Lord calls who the Lord qualifies and with weak and small things he brings to pass great things.

Well I am about out of time. Never a dull moment in the mission stuff. I love you all and you are in my prayers, especially lately, and I am really going to need to be in yours. I love you fam, you’re the best, please when you are sick, or stressed or whatever it may be, get some rest and remember the scriptures and prayer. Here goes nothing. Until next week. Elder B

Grandma Passed Away

December 7, 2009
Hola Mi Familia.
Well it’s been another week here in Barranca. Last night while we were in a lesson talking with a few people outside their house, I got a call from President Hacking. I asked the people to excuse me and answered him. He asked how I was and told me he had some news that might be a little bit hard for me. As soon as he said that, my imagination just took off running. I was thinking about all kinds of things and wondering what had happened, then he told me that in the morning my grandma Barnard had quietly passed away. He told me that it sounded like she was very proud of me. It was quite a shock because you don’t expect to hear something like that. I remember I visited with her and said goodbye the last time, the morning before we left for the MTC. Although you never know, I think we felt that it could be the last time I would see her in this part of the plan. It was hard to give her those last hugs. It is a sad thing to know that the whole family will be gathering to celebrate her life and I won’t be there and that I won’t get to talk to Grandma again. My whole childhood was filled with happy memories, playing with cousins at grandma’s house, old Thanksgivings and Christmases, family reunions and sleepovers. I remember as the mish got closer I had the chance to spend more time that summer visiting grandma and doing things like drive out to Arbys or Subway with her and BJ when you were gone. She always showed me a special love and I will really miss her. It was very tough last night and today to think about and realize that she is gone. But just the same, during the last years of her life I know she always wanted to do so much more than her body could. I also know she loved and missed grandpa B and they are now doing what it says in Alma 40.

... The spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

That’s the neat thing about what we know as the church of Christ. That grandma B was just taken back to the God that gave her life and is enjoying happiness, rest and peace. So while it’s hard for me to know I won’t get to talk to my good old grandma again, she is in "a better place" as they always say, and we will meet her again.

As far as Barranca, my son and I have just been working away and keep on fighting the sun and looking for Gods Elect. Haha let me tell you that they are hard to find here. This week, although not perfect, we worked out butts off. Lots of heat and looots of lessons and new investigators. The tough tough thing about Barranca is that everyone is down for whatever, so most anyone will let you in and show interest in the message, but when you set them a commitment like praying, reading or going to church no one does it. They are friendly and partiers but when it comes down to doing something or taking a step of their own, they don’t do it. This week, we taught 9 Lessons with Members Present (This is one strength of this area, there are some very good young men that are always willing to work with us), 18 other lessons and found 22 NEW INVESTIGATORS. I mean you never find 22 new investigators in a week. So we were pumped. For fast Sunday we fasted that we could get them to come to church along with the 18 we found last week. We spent Saturday visiting everyone, teaching about the Sabbath day, organizing how we would take some of them to church, calling and inviting all off them, even fasting. Sunday came and we set out very early to go and make sure some of the best ones were awake and remind them and it was amazing. We got there and they acted like they hardly even remembered promising they would go to church, some were sleeping, another said she didn’t want to wake her husband up to go because he would get mad, another family decided it would be better to pick weeds outside haha. So in the end, of the 40 new investigators we found in 2 weeks, 5 of them showed up to church and one of them after Sacrament Meeting.

To make things better we decided to send them to class with the members instead of doing the Gospel Principles class. The young men’s young women’s teacher wasn’t there so they asked us to teach them so we brought Roman, an investigator who is 15, also. The class members would not stop talking and yelling. It was the worst experience I have ever had in a church class, and our investigator left quickly after and wanted nothing to do with it.

But honestly at the end of the day, we are taught that effort is success and we are putting in our effort so I don’t feel bad or discouraged. It can be very frustrating but we are slowly picking out the people who really are looking for the truth. Also we continue doing all we can to get the branch excited. The Branch Pres didn’t come again, but we are bonding with the members and trying to build them up so that this branch does too. President Hacking is strongly considering putting missionaries in the Branch Presidencies here.

My comp and I are getting to be good friends and I really like working with him. Also I am going to have him teach me some Kung Fu because he is an expert.

It looks like we might FINALLY have a house after this week, but all we can do is work hard. I have faith that this little branch can grow. It’s not easy to completely change the momentum of something but that is our job right now and we can’t expect it to be an overnight thing. I know the Lord will help us and despite the challenges here I continue to love the mish. It’s such a simple life, you don’t have to worry about jobs or the economy or the government, you just work and improve. And we always make sure to get our fair share of having a good time in and joke around every night.

This will be a hard week for me, but I know it is best to keep working and doing what we can. Well I am out of time. I hope everything goes well this week, send my love and best wishes to all the fam. Love Elder B