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