Last Transfer

Hello Family,
This week has been another fast one and another good one. We spent a lot of time working in divisions with the others in the zone which meant a little time outside our area but we were able to help out some other areas in the zone. Another transfer has come and gone.

Last night the 6 week transfer period ended so everyone was waiting like always to see if they would stay or if they would go. Luckily there were a few changes in the zone but not in our district. Elder Butler will be the missionary that "kills me" as we say. Our 2 roomies, Elder Mura and Romero, will also be here for this transfer. It’s very strange to think that I have begun my last transfer. The next 6 weeks that my planner includes will not just be lessons and meetings but a homecoming talk and... college... weird.

But anyway this week we took 2 days to go to Barranca and work with the missionaries there and make sure they don’t feel forgotten. I got to work with Elder Machacuay in Pinos where I used to be. It was very cool because I got to see quite a few of the members I got to know there and they were all very surprised and happy to see me. That (Barranca) was definitely one of the most challenging parts of my mission but one of the most memorable and I really love the people there.

The next day I worked with Elder M who is from Idaho and from my group (we went thru the MTC together and will go home at the same time). He is a very interesting case if I never told you. His dad is a preacher in an Evangelical church and his family is quite anti Mormon. He was baptized about a year before he came on a mission and is very hard working as a missionary. He will have a lot of challenges after finishing his mish and there are a lot of unsure things so it was good to work with him and talk about plans etc.

Right now it’s "winter" here so although still very hot and humid, Barranca isn’t like it was back in my day during the hot summer months. We got back to work Thursday in our area and Friday we went and worked with the sisters in their area to help them out. It’s very weird to work with sisters because obviously we both have to go which makes us 4 people walking around and trying to teach people. Their names are Sister Berrios from Peru and Sister Wolosko from Argentina. It was a good chance to encourage them and help them keep feeling good about the work.

Our stats dropped in Pinos because we spent over 3 days out of the area but we were still able to have 10 investigators in sacrament meeting (that’s our sixth time in a row with 10+) and there are 5 with baptismal date. This Saturday we have one for sure named Carlos. He is about 27, studying and working and his girlfriend is a member :) But he is developing a strong testimony and he established his baptism date by himself and is very excited. Also for the coming Saturday, there are 2 teenagers (German and Vanesa) who are preparing to be baptized. There mom is a member who was inactive for a while but through our visits and the wards support she is now active and happy in the church and her kids are excited too. Our most interesting investigator is Nury. She went from being atheist, to spending 10 years as a Christian missionary and evangelical pastor to dropping it all and now she is determined that she has found the truth in the church and "needs to start working for Jesus. " She wants with all her heart to be baptized. We only teach her in the church and we are putting challenging commitments to make sure she is doing things for the right reasons. Her plan was to be baptized with her daughter this week but for some reason they didn’t come to church. So this week we will have to see what happened and how she continues to progress.

We are still working with the Garcia family. They are progressing slowly but very surely and we really believe they are one of those golden families. The dad has been out of town working but the rest have been coming to church and receiving the lessons great and we call him every once in a while to see how he is and he is very enthusiastic. So please keep those people in your prayers.

And so begins the last transfer of my mission. I am not trunky at all but I can start to feel the end coming and like President has told us, we have to start wrapping our minds around the fact that the mission is going to end and to be ready for it. But I still have hopes to help many more people make covenants with our Heavenly Father and make this the best transfer yet. I have planned to work like crazy in our area and do as many divisions as possible with the zone and leave everything on the field. I really don’t know what else to write haha, in 5 weeks I can just tell it to you.

Thanks for everything, I love yall and I love this work. Hasta luego. Elder Barnard