Email Update: December 27, 2010

Hey Family!

Well I don't know what else to tell ya after talking to ya haha.

On Sunday we had 3 investigators come to church the most so far this transfer. We then met with Ronda our investigator who has a baptismal date for Janurary 8th. We were going to teach her a lesson but it turned out that the spanish missionaries were holding a baptism that night and we thought it would be best if we took Ronda there and let her see how we perform baptisms. Even though it was in Spanish you can feel the Spirit testify in any language and I think Ronda felt it because she really enjoyed it. After the baptism we taught her how we are the only church that has the authority to baptize. Well I will send this e-mail really quick so if you have any questions you can ask me.

Email Update: December 20, 2010

Even after all of the planning and preparation, Cory did not receive the box we sent for his birthday and I am not happy.  Actually the box was delivered and signed for by someone in the apartment office on Friday, so I assumed he would get it no problem.  Then we get this email today and I feel really sad because he sounded kind of down....

Hey family! Talk about a birthday present I get to e-mail y'all! But that is about the only present I am getting today. I get to spend the rest of the day waiting in line at the post office, shopping, waiting for my companions to get hair cuts, and waiting on a companion go to the chiropractor.... so yeah nothing really special today.

Well let's review the past week shall we. I had 2 exchanges this past week.  The first one was Elder Christensen took Elder Finlinson's place in our area and it was an okay exchange. Oh, Elder Christensen broke my sunglasses and is not replacing them, so if you could send out some sunglasses in the next package you send that would be great, like my American Eagle aviators or something.

We gave Ronda a baptismal date for January 8th and she is totally excited for that. But our other investigators are not doing so hot. Like Joan is gay so that's a problem, and Moses is slowly falling off the path because of his girlfriend.

Nothing really special happened this week, all we did was tracting with basically no success. But one door I knocked on a lady answered and was like "Oh My Gosh I have something to tell y'all and I am so happy your are here!" (In my head I am like you wanna be baptized!) But turns out she just needs help moving ha ha .  She is not a member, but she had missionaries help her move into her home a year ago and now she is moving again and needs help so we are going to do that next week  - it's all about planting seeds any way.

Well that's all I got really, I am just not really motivated today and don't know what to talk about. Oh but I will call y'all at 6 p.m. (5p.m. your time) on Christmas and if this doesn't work for y'all just let me know. Love ya  -Elder Barton

I sent an immediate response to his email asking about the package since he didn't mention it, but he did not respond.  I got to thinking that I'd better check on the box since it also had all of his Christmas stuff and if it was missing I wanted to track it down ASAP.  I called the mission office and asked Sis. Walker if she would call Elder Barton and ask him about the package.  She called back and said that he had not received it, but she told him to check the apartment office when they got back there.  In the meantime, I called the apartment office and someone checked on the package and verified it was indeed there for him.  I asked them to please make sure he gets it since it was his birthday today.  After running errands this afternoon, I returned home to a message on our answering machine from Sis. Walker stating that Elder Barton checked at the apartment office and they told him there was no package there for him.  I tried to call the apartment office again but they were gone for the day. 

I just feel horrible that Cory probably really didn't get anything for this birthday today.  Needless to say, I will be making another call in the morning to found out what is going on.  I really did try, really......

Hopefully,  he will still call us on Christmas day and I can plead my case.  UGH!

Email Update: December 13, 2010

Glad to hear from everyone! Everything sounds normal so that's good.

So here is what happened this week. On Monday it was our P-Day and we went and played with our zone. We played poison and then some football and of course I rolled my ankle like I always do now, but I got your package during the week so I have my ankle things now so that won't happen again, so thank you for that. Then we went and had dinner with the Stoddard family and this family has some crazy kids so it was a very interesting dinner and we ate chili of course, I mean gotta have beans of course. Also we had exchanges that night and Elder Finlinsion exchanged with Elder Christensen who is a transfer or 2 older than Elder Finlinsion but that was way fun.

On Tuesday we did some service with our District and worked on a lady's yard by trimming bushes, cutting and bagging branches and trees (we have to bag them because it against the law to burn wood in Houston, lame!), and put up some Christmas lights. And then we went tracting (the story of this week has been tracting we only have 3 investigators). Then had an amazing dinner at the Ravenburgs! We had a breakfast dinner; we had biscuits 'n gravy, eggs 'n bacon, sausages, and German Waffles or pancakes I don't know what it's called but its good. Then we went on splits right after dinner with Bro. Ravenburg and another brother and just visited some families and checked up on them. Then we exchanged back.

On Wednesday we did service again with the same lady doing the same thing and we finished that day. Then we went and taught a RC Edith and talked with her about her brother because he is one of our investigators. Then we had dinner with the Coronado's and it was so so good!

On Thursday we had a specialized training with the Katy Zone and President Hansen came and talked to us (Specialized Training always = changes in the mission, so be prepared for anything) So the first thing President Hansen changed in our mission was that gyms were now off limits because missionaries would go to gyms and watch TV, listen to music, and be there all morning long. We had some missionaries not too pleased with this, one actually stormed out, but hey just got to make do with what we got..... and that means I will get even fatter :) Well, I am already Elder Chubs to Deanna so it doesn't matter any way :)  Also we talked about the number in the Katy area.  As you could see, last year we lead the mission with baptisms and now this year we are 2nd to last, so we talked about some things to change that. Elder Hill and I had some good revelation during this meeting to do with our area. One is that we make a sign up calender and pass it around with our dinner calender. This sign up calender is where the members can sign up just to have us come over and teach them a lesson during the hours of 7 p.m.- 9 p.m. because these are the hardest hours of the mission day. To be honest Elder Hill and I are not too happy with how our ward is lacking in the missionary spirit.   There are only about 5 families or individuals that we always go to for help with missionary work and we want to change that now! Don't get me wrong, I love this ward and this area, but this ward needs to work on D&C 88:81. Then we did some tracting. We sent Elder Finlinson with a priest in our ward to teach an 8 year old who is about to get baptized. Meanwhile, Elder Hill and I went and cooked some dinner (we were having dinner at the Ramos family but we offered to cook them dinner and they accepted so we cooked up some mean cheesy potatoes).

On Friday, our Zone and the Cypress Zone, was invited to participate in Navidad En El Barrio (means Christmas In The Ghetto!) So we went downtown which is awesome cause we never get to got to downtown! And that took all day and I took a bunch of pictures, but basically we wrapped presents all day long, but it was super fun!

On Saturday, we tracted some more, still having little success.  Then we had dinner at the Orton's and it turns out they are going to be moving to Salem, right by y'all.

On Sunday the ward had a special musical sacrament meeting. Then Elder Hill taught Gospel Principles. We then went to Sister Chavez' house because this was step two to Elder Hill's and my revelations we had. We made a whole bunch of Rice Crispy treats and we made enough for about 45 families and put a scripture with it about opening their mouths and it shall be filled (talking about missionary work and Rice Crispy :] ) That took the whole evening and I took pictures of that as well.
Well that's all for now but today we are meeting with an investigator named Ronda and are going to give her a baptismal date for Jan. 8 so I will let y'all know how that goes.
Love ya -Elder Barton

Email Update: December 6, 2010

Howdy Family!
It's good to be e-mailing y'all again! I will just start at the airport after Mom dropped me off. I met the missionaries that I was flying out with, Elder Reese from Idaho (There are now 3 Elder Reese's in the mission so look out Deanna), Elder Reidhead from Utah and Sister Pincock, she was super nice and from Idaho as well. The flight went well I just spent time answering the greenies' questions about the mission and Texas area. But the landing was terrible since I was sick it hurt really bad and I still have an ear to this day that hasn't popped! I have tried everything to get it to pop! Oh well, it will eventually go away I hope. So we land in Houston and I am directing the greenies where to go until I see President and Sister Hansen and the AP's.  When I saw them I started power walking almost started running and hugged President Hansen.  It was good to see them again and he and sister Hansen greeted me back home. While I was waiting on my bags I got a quick run down on what's happened in the mission and where my mission buddies are at. First the new AP's are Elders Andersen and Galbrith. SO Elder Hiatt finally is not an AP anymore and Elder Thompson was going back home to Hawaii since he did his 2 years. So I find out that Elders Esplin and Foster would be training the 2 new Elders which was perfect because that means I would see them since I was going through the same process again of signing papers, having a Texas dinner, etc. I found out that Elder Scoresby is now a ZL in College Station and that Elder Martin is in Magnolia.  Elder Beesman,who I took greenie tracting before I came home, is now my ZL so things have changed a lot since I have been gone. While I was going through orientation again, President Hansen called me into his office and expressed his thanks for me coming back and his love to me. He told me that my companions will be Elders Hill and Finlinsion .  Yup that's right, I am in a three-some. President told me that he was putting me in this companionship for a reason.  I also found out my area.... Bear Creek, that's right I am going back to my first area! I was having some bad deja vu on the flight out and going through orientation, but it got worse when I heard that ha ha. But I am excited to go back and see the progress of the ward and see how my recent converts and less actives are doing. But later that first day I had an awesome Texas dinner and went tracting with Elders Austin and Foster so I got to go tracting with my best bud Fosty again! It was good to talk with him again and see him nervous about training but he will do GREAT!
Nothing really happened with tracting since all we tracted into was Spanish people but apparently Elder Foster learned some Spanish while I was gone cause he whipped that out. But when we were done we went to the AP's apartment (the same apartment I was in Old Oaks so deja vu again!) I spent the night there, but I couldn't sleep because I was too excited. In the morning some Elders went to go work out but got distracted and crashed into a tree and flipped the car but no one was hurt and they were only going 10 mph. In the morning we went to the mission home and had breakfast there which is like the best meal you have your whole mission so that was amazing and I talked to Elder Esplin there and got caught up. Then it was announced who the trainers were getting as companions. Elder Foster is training Elder Reidhead and Elder Esplin is training Elder Reese and it turns out that Elder Esplin still has not left the Katy Zone so he is in the same zone as me which is awesome. After that we went to the temple and did a session there which is great because I LOVE the Houston Temple! And guess who I ran into after my session.... SISTER SHIVER! (The Shiver family was in the Memphis 2nd Ward with us years ago, Jessica and Cory were friends with their children) So it was good to FINALLY she her and talk with her and catch up on things. And it was funny, Sister Shiver kept telling President Hansen at the temple to send me to Huntsville so I could be in her area. I hope that eventually happens. But after that I went with Elders Hill and Finlinson to Bear Creek and went to work.
So it turns out that Amber and her family is active and solid! Which is great because I was scared that she and her family would go inactive but thankfully, that didn't happen. But sadly Cynthia Ray has gone inactive but I plan on changing that while I am here. We still have the same people inactive except for the Davis's who were baptized right before I came into the mission and they were solid! But now they are less active! This is terrible, but I plan on whipping them into shape :)
Ah okay I am running out of time and I still have to e-mail President! OK quick run down on the rest of the week. Went to a ward Christmas party and got to meet all of the people I knew in the ward and met a couple missionary at the event that was in the South mission but turns out they lived in Mapleton for a little bit.  Their names were Elder and Sister Shipley and they lived on the North side of Mapleton.
Did a lot of tracting since we have very, very few investigators but I like this because it increases my love for investigators because I took that for granted when we had a lot of investigators. Said the opening prayer in church, taught a SOLID first lesson to a lady named Ronda and I am telling you she will be baptized it's so solid! Oh, so there is this girl named Edith.  She was a referral from the Spanish sisters and Elder Foster and I dropped by, but she refused to see us, but it turns out that Elders Foster and Hill baptized her and she is super solid.  She got her Patriarchal blessing on Sunday and she is going to the temple this Wednesday and she plans on serving a mission in a year so that was really neat to see.
Well that's all for now sorry I had to rush the ending but if you have any questions feel free to ask! Oh also Mom can you send pictures of thanksgiving, getting stuck on the highway, etc. Any pictures you can find while I was home and mail those to me that would be great! And tell me what the family is doing! I love y'all

-Elder Barton

A quick reponse after getting our email with a couple of questions.

Thank yall for the letter! Its good to hear from every one. Yes Mom, just send packages to me in the Bear Creek Apt. There are still roaches here, sadly, and this apartment is small enough already but now there is another bed and desk in there for me so we are struggling to get around haha.

After 142 days on Medical Release, It's Time to Get Back Out There!

On Tuesday morning, Cory received a call from Pres. Frischknecht, our Stake President, to let him know all the paperwork was in place for him to return to the mission field.  He then asked Cory if he could be ready to fly out the next morning as this was transfer day in the mission and he could travel with new missionaries leaving the MTC.  There was no reason to wait, although just before this phone call came in, I ask Cory to bring me his suit so I could take it to be dry cleaned.  Now there was no time for that.  It was time for laundry and packing.
 
Cory took in one last movie with Jessica, Deanna and Rebecca and then on Tuesday evening he was set apart again by Pres. Frischknecht.

He had quick goodbyes with family on Wednesday morning before leaving for the airport.  It was just Cory and I traveling to the airport.  We arrived early enough for me to park the car and help him get his baggage checked in.  We suspected he would be close to the weight limit so we opted to check his bag curbside so it would be easier to pull things out if needed.  Sure enough his bag weighed 52 lbs. - 2 lbs. over the limit which pushed the fee from $25 to $90.  Needless to say,  out came a couple of binders which took his bag down under the 50 lb. limit.  I just brought those binders home and added it to the box we had started that was going to be shipped to him anyway.  It was much cheaper to ship extras instead of paying the baggage fee.
 
After his bag was taken care of I walked into the terminal with him but could not go very far before entering the security check line where only ticketed passengers could go.  I went down to the lower level to check that his flight was leaving on time and it was.  At this point, we did not see any other missionaries so I had to give him a hug goodbye while he was in line and then I left him.  I encourgaged him to head straight to his gate to get checked in on the flight and then get a bite to eat if he had time.  I felt kind of weird leaving him there without a companion and I'm sure there were some people who wondered where his companion was.  I should have had him call when he got to his gate but I'm not sure he would have been able to as pay phones are occupied when missionaries are going out.  When we did not get a call later in the day after his scheduled arrival time, we figured that was good news.  Otherwise, somebody would have called looking for him right?
Today we received a call from the mission office.  Sister Marsh called to give us Cory's address.  I think he was hoping I would ship his box directly to him but I had already sent it yesterday because I wanted it to arrive there on Friday.  Both sisters that I talked to in the office expressed how glad they were to have him back.  Sis. Marsh said that many missionaries don't return and she said how he just beamed when he came in.  I know he is happy to be back.  I also found out that Cory is back in the first area he served in which he loved so I'm sure he is happy about this assignment.  I also found out he is serving with in a threesome with Elders Finlayson and Hill.

We look forward to hearing from Cory on Monday.  As far as we know as this point, his former email address will be reinstated and remain as it was.

Post-op Update

Cory has been recovering well.  These are pictures from his post-op visit 5 days following surgery.  You can see the two screws in the x-ray.

This picure was taken 6 weeks following surgery.  Cory has been wearing a boot to get around but he will go back to the doctor on Sept 1st.  They will take another x-ray and if all looks as it should he will come out of the boot and start wearing regular shoes again.  This will be the real test of his healing and mobility.  The Missionary Department wants him to be able to walk about 5 miles before he can go back out into the mission field.  We are hoping we can work something out where he can go back sooner and just work in the mission office if need be.

Medical Release

Cory arrived home Monday morning (July 12th) for his pre-op visit with Dr. Ollerton, the Podiatrist performing his surgery today.  After the first day he was so bored after being so busy all of the time.  He opted to not take us up on any of the options for church books/DVDs.

So far he has done well today following surgery which ended up being more involved.  Things are good now but because of his joint characteristics he may have issues later in life (don't we all?).  He will go back to see Dr. Ollerton on July 20th.  As of now the doctor said he should be 80% healed in 6 weeks.  Cory is in a walking boot so at least he is a little more mobile than we originally thought he might be.

Email Update: July 7, 2010

Hello family this will be my last update to you before I come home.
This past transfer has been my hardest yet in the mission. Almost all of our appointments this transfer have fallen through. We still have pretty much no one in our teaching pool. Our top investigator fell asleep in our lesson the other week then we thought she died but we just found out the other day that she isn't dead but is in the hospital. We are still trying so hard to find people and are having little success. This would make it sound like I would be discouraged right.... Well I have never been so happy in my life to be a missionary. Every time I pray for my investigator, less actives, and thank my Heavenly Father for this opportunity I have to be a missionary, it brings me to tears. I love being a missionary - I love it so much. I can see why these are referred to as the best two years.
I am glad to hear y'all enjoyed your 4th of July weekend. Holidays in the mission are definitely the hardest. July 3rd-5th President Hansen asked that all the missionaries be in by 7:30 pm instead of the usual time at 9-9:30 pm because of the holiday.
I haven't really heard much about the information about me going home and what will happen. All I know is that I leave July 12th at 7 am. I am sure I will learn more during the week. But I plan on finishing this week strong before I go home. I love Texas I know why know I have been called here. I love the people here, I love the missionaries I serve with, and I love my Mission President. I'll see y'all in a few days.
Love Elder Barton

Email Update: June 28, 2010

As of now, it looks like Cory will come home on the morning of July 12th for his pre-op appointment in the afternoon and surgery is scheduled for July 15th.  With the type of procedure his Houston doctor said he needed, he will probably be non-weight bearing on that foot for 6 weeks.  Our challenge as a family will be to live mission rules while he is home with us.

Hello Barton Family.
So Olde Oaks 2 is going well except for the fact that we have no teaching pool haha but Elder Martin and I are on the hunt for some investigators to fill our teaching pool. Olde Oaks is definitely more ghetto than Bear Creek and I love it :) we will see what's in store here.
Well my foot has been bugging me this past week pretty bad so I am looking forward to having surgery but at the same time I am not.
Elder Martin and I have been riding our bikes recently and we will ride on and on and on and not sweat a drop but as soon as we stop we just bust out in sweat because when we ride we always have a little wind but as soon as we stop the humidity and heat hit us and we become super sweaty and gross it's so funny though. We also have been getting up to go to the gym about 5-5:30 a.m. every morning to work out so I am trying to get shredded and look good :P
Oh it rained super hard this week and I was driving and I felt like a storm chaser because the lightning was hitting so close and this rain was just coming down so dang hard! At one point I hydro- planed but thanks to my awesome driving skills I recovered but man that was fun. I love the weather here in Texas it can never make up it's mind. But I hear people talking about the hurricanes since it's hurricane season so I hope a big one comes so I can see what it's like.

Email Update: June 21, 2010

By way of background, I received a call from Pres. Hansen on Saturday saying that he had just talked to Cory about his on-going foot problems. Cory's bunion continues to cause him pain and all treatment by the doctor has not offered long-term relief. Therefore surgery is being recommended which would require him to come home for the procedure. Pres. Hansen asked that I call Cory at the end of his proselyting day so we could get his perspective. Cory's feeling is that rather than have this hold him back the rest of mission, he would rather come home for surgery and then get back out there as soon as possible. We are trying to coordinate the logistics so that his time home is minimized and hopefully post op follow-ups can be handled by the doctor that has been treating him in the mission field.

Here is his letter this week:

Awesome to hear what the family is up to! I wish I could be there with y'all to enjoy all this fun but I can wait....I guess :p Well as y'all already know, I have been talking with President Hansen about my foot problem and he said I will find out later today what all will go down and I am sure he will inform you what will happen.

Well I don't really know what to tell y'all this week. Elder Martin, my new companion, is from California. We are also living with the AP's so it's been way fun. Oh the AP's and us have been getting up at 5 a.m. to hit the gym so we can get shredded. Man am I sore but I enjoy it because no one is in the gym that early so they can't see the weak fat kid workout :)

Oh on Tuesday the "dieing" missionaries that were going home always sleep at the AP's apartments aka my apartment and boy was it trunky in our apartment. I really missed home but hey can't blame them for being excited to go home. On Wednesday the new set of missionaries came in and we took one Elder (Elder Beeman) out greenie tracting and boy did that bring memories back. I mean 4 months ago that was me and I was with Elder Martin too! But the greenies stayed the night at the AP's apartments and it was really cool to have them there. I mean you could see their faces in shock and fearful but I bet that's how I looked my first night. I tried to make these elders feel as welcomed as possible. It turns out that one of the Elders (Elder Tobchan I think that's how you spell it) is a foreign missionary and he actually stayed a few weeks in Mapleton before he went to the MTC so that was really neat-o.

Well that's all I have for now.

Email Update: June 14, 2010

Well I found out Saturday that I am being transferred to Old Oaks 2 which is pretty close to the mission office. But I am really sad to leave. I just felt like I finally figured out my area and I feel like I still have more to do here and I am also sad to leave Elder Foster. We became best friends during our transfer. He is such a great young man and will do great things. I am now officially packed and ready to go for the most part so I hope this new area is as good as Bear Creek.

Well Amber's baptism was Thursday and a lot of people attended especially a ton from her family which, for the most part, are not members so that was awesome to see. Elder Vehrs who was one of the elders that started to teach Amber came down and performed the baptism. Elder Foster and I were the witnesses and when she went under I noticed her left leg didn't fully go under. Elder Foster nodded his head that she went under and I thought for a brief moment about not saying anything - I mean I didn't want her to get dunked twice or who cares if she didn't go all the way under. But luckily I got my head together and told Elder Vehrs to do it over again and that time she went completely under so all went well.

Cynthia's baptism was Saturday and well none of her family showed up and only about 10 people attended. We tried to get as many members out there to help support her in this decision she has made. Well Cynthia asked me to baptize her and well to make a long story short, she has never been under water before so she was really nervous and she wouldn't go all the way under the first time because she panicked. Well after I talked with her and helped her calm down a bit I went to dunk her again and she started to panic again. In my head I thought if I didn't get her under this time she would never build up the courage to try again so I forced her under the second time. At that moment she didn't really appreciate that because she almost broke into tears when she came up. But after the service the stake president said I did the right thing and I apologized to Cynthia about forcing her under but she was really happy I did so it was a pretty interesting experience.

Email Update: June 7, 2010

Hello Family!
Well I have been so busy this past week and I will be so so busy this week. Because Elder Foster and I have 2 investigators being baptized this week.  Well, one for sure the other has her interview on Wednesday. We are responsible for planning it and assigning people to give talks and everything. But Elder Foster and I are very thankful to the Lord for giving us these people that are prepared to hear the gospel and for us being instruments to invite them to come unto Christ. Our investigators that are being baptized are Amber Marshall and Cynthia Ray. Amber is a 9 year old who has been taught by the missionaries for almost a year now and she is so smart when it comes to the gospel.  She is definitely more than ready to receive the gospel.  It's so awesome to see her be so strong when her father is less active and has some Word of Wisdom issues. But she was interviewed by our District Leader yesterday and she passed and her baptismal date is this Thursday and all of her family is in town which I am grateful for because I know Amber will love for them to come. We started to teach Cynthia Ray on May 12th because her fiancée encouraged her to investigate the church and he is being baptized on Friday (He lives in the East Mission) and she will be baptized this Saturday, if she passes her interview that is.


Well my spiritual thought of the day is something that has been on my mind lately. I have been reading the scriptures and I came across Alma 8:15 before this verse Alma is rejected in Ammonihah and leaves and is really down but in verse 15 it says: "Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him. Behold, I am he that delivered it unto you."


Now this angel reminds Alma of how far he has come because this is the same angel that visited him in Mosiah 27:11-14. This reminds me its easy to forget the blessings we have everyday and forget to be grateful for them.


I love y'all. Upward and Onward

Email Update: Week 5/17/10 - 5/23/10

We didn't realize Cory's foot was causing so much pain for him.    He had bunion surgery on the other foot a few years ago.  We would appreciate your prayers that this will be resolved and he can continue on his mission.

Hey Family, sorry this e-mail is going to be rushed again we have a busy day today.  I saw Dr. Jensen again because my toe still hurts.  He sprayed this thing on my foot that instantly froze my foot to where it was numb (that was a cool feeling - no pun intended :p) and he injected this liquid stuff into my toe and when it was all said and done, my toe looked like it was injected with a golf ball - it was huge!  I wish I could've gotten some pictures but maybe in another 3 weeks when I get another injection.  Sister Hansen is trying everything in her power to keep me out here because bunion surgery is one that you are required to go home to have.  So hopefully y'all won't be seeing me anytime soon. 

Quick note, this week was so dang hard.  When you're down Satan just keeps coming after you.  Just little things throughout this week just chipped away at me over time from an investigator dropping us to having no one sign up on the dinner calendar for the week.  But at the end of the week I don't know why I am sad because we gave one of our investigators (Cynthia Ray) a baptismal date for June 12 and she accepted.  And Elder Foster and I are going to give Amber Marshall a baptismal date as well.  So when you look for happiness you will find it, when you look for sadness you can find that as well.

Upward and onward,
- Elder Barton

This is Amber.  I've been talking about her since she broke her elbow.  This is after teaching a lesson in Senior Primary

Brief Email Today

Cory must be busy because we only received a few lines from him today.  He requested some favorite recipes from home, gave details on the Camelbak backpack he would like so he can carry water with him throughout the day, and said that he loved the big rain storm they got on Friday that flooded some streets there.

Mother's Day Call

We all got to talk to Cory on the phone for about an hour on Mother's Day.  He called at about 9:30 our time and since some family members weren't even awake yet I told him we would call him back.  Realizing we would be talking for an  hour and everyone would get hungry I decided to start breakfast so we could eat quickly before calling him back.  He got a little worried in the meantime and ended up calling us back.  It all worked out and it was good to hear his voice and have some direct interaction with him. The highlight was ending the call with a family prayer together. 

Email Update: Week 4/26/10 - 5/2/10

Bonjour!

So first off Houston is ridiculously hot now! The humidity is crazy. I walk outside and I immediately start to sweat and all I hear from the locals is that it will only get worse so I am excited. I hope that I get tan....but not that ugly missionary tan that I am bound to get.

Well on April 26 our district then went to the Stake Center and played poison with our Zone. We then had dinner at the Martin's and they fed us some stir fry and it was delicious.

April 27th we went and visited some less active and recent converts the whole day nothing really unique happened. We then had dinner at the Stephens.

Then on April 28th one of our ward missionaries (Hikir) and his boss (who is an excommunicated member) was suppose to take us out to lunch but they forgot so Elder Conrad and I went out and got some food on our own. We then tried some less actives but none of them answered. We then had dinner at the Christensen's (Bro. Christensen was offered a teaching job at Maple Mountain High but turned it down) they fed us some yummy Italian food. I then went on splits with the ward mission leader (Bro. Stoddard) and Elder Conrad went with Bro. Ravenburg. They visited the Davis's (RC) and the Donaldson's (I) and Bro. Stoddard and I visited the Ochoa's (LA/RC) and then the Davis's (LA).

Hikir was suppose to make up lunch for us on April 29th but yet again he forgot. Elder Conrad and I drove all the way to The Woodlands to pick up my specialized shoe soles which are suppose to solve my foot pain....for now. That took a good chunck of our day. We then finally got a hold of the Youngblood family (LA) and they invited us over for dinner and we thought we would expect less active attitude and behavior but when we walked in the first thing we see is a Family Home Evening chart and a Proclamation to the World and we could tell they didn't just put that up. They don't come to church because Bro. Youngblood is a firefighter and he works 24 hour shifts and that usually includes Sunday's and Sis. Youngblood works as a financial advisor at a hospital and she works Sunday's but I absolutely love this family.....Even though they are HUGE HUGE HUGE Duke Blue Devil fans. I love the kids - I played basketball with them for a while - the oldest is 7 so I had a blast.

April 30th - We had our district meeting and we listened to a talk given by Elder Cook of the Twelve about how prayers can be answered - its a really good talk! We then went out to lunch as a district as we usually do. Elder Conrad and I tried to visit some more less active members. We then had dinner at the Reyes and they fed us some potato soup....yummy :)

May 1st - We had to wake up at 4:45 a.m. to get ready because our Stake was holding a Katy 5k Fun Run and we had to be there at 6:00 a.m. to help set up the running stations, food stations, etc. We felt like we were there forever when we left at 11:00 a.m. but we were super tired! Oh, I haven't gotten mail for 2 weeks and I got the family's package today so that was awesome! We did a surprise visit with Jeremy and Misha Payne (PM/LA) and we had an okay meeting with them and we invited them out to church. Then Jeremy (LA) walked us out and we drove off but 3 min. later he called us and it was my phone day so I answered. Jeremy told us that while he was at work that morning he was thinking that he just needed to start coming to church and then we showed up that day and he told us he will come out to church and he wants to bring his family because he says he has a testimony of the church, he will never deny the church, he will never deny the Elders (Missionaries), he regrets not going on a mission, and he wants to build up the kingdom of heaven. So when we heard that we just cheered and I almost cried because just little miracles like that are just....they are very special and unique to me. We then visited Jason (I) and invited him out to church but he still won't accept....all in due time. We then had dinner at the McCarthys and they fed us Chili.....Beans and yes I ate it all again....... We got transfer calls. My new companion is Elder Foster and Elder Hackett is staying as DL and his companion is Elder Reese and well Elder Conrad and LaMont are going home.

May 2nd had PEC meeting at 9:00 a.m. and talked about the missionary efforts. Elder Conrad and I are over our miles for the car so we decided to go walk and tract/visit LA before church started and man was it hot and humid but I loved it but we had little success oh well :) We then had church at 1:00 p.m. and behold Jeremy showed up! Elder Conrad and I were very excited! And Johnny (I) showed up also. But right after the first sacrement prayer was spoken a lady walked in - she was in normal clothes. And she started to make this huge scene right in the middle of sacrement and she was just yelling at this adult that just blessed the sacrement and some men from the congregation escorted her out........never a dull moment in Texas but we had an amazing testimony meeting.  It was seriously great and powerful.  It really touched Jeremy - he was really sad that his wife Misha (I) didn't come today to hear the testimonies. After church we had dinner at the Sosa's and they fed us this really yummy veggie homemade pizza. After that we went with one of our ward members to visit a Sister Stamps (LA) and that went really well.

Well I am a little scared for tomorrow because my companion is going to be counting on me to choose where to go, where to tract and teach him the area. So I feel a little uneasy with this responsibility but we will see what happens.

Love y'all

-Elder Barton

Email Update: Week 4/19/10 - 4/25/10

Here is also the stats on the Lakewood church with Joel Osteen. I just found this out this week. Well, obviously it's the biggest church in America and it just happens to be in Houston. About 45,000 attend weekly and about 7 million watch on TV weekly so the work here is hard when almost everyone you talk to goes to this church.  That's almost as many LDS missionary's serving right now!

Dear Family,

4/19- Did our usually preparation activities (laundry, e-mail, clean, etc) then Elder Conrad and I went with our ward mission leader and visited some less active families in our ward and also set up some follow-up appointments with some of them.

4/20- This was our temple day. We first met up as a zone and had a testimony meeting and the spirit there was wonderful. Then we went to the temple and enjoyed the blessings that could be found there. Then Elder Conrad and I did some tracting to try and find some investigators.

4/21- Elder Conrad and I went with the Copperfield Elders and also the Spanish sisters to Lone Star College and did some service there by helping them with their theatrical department. We then visited a member family because their daughter was in a car wreck on Sunday but we didn't know about this until the night of 4/20. We talked with them and made sure that everyone that was involved in the car wreck was fine, which they were, which is a blessing.

4/22- Elder Conrad and I went to Langham Creek High School with the Copperfield Elders and we helped them with their library bar code system. We all enjoyed our time there and Elders Conrad and LaMont said goodbye to the librarians since they are doing their tax test next week so we won't be able to come do service there next week. We then visited our less active family the Perez's and usually every time we visit them everyone sits in except for the father because he is usually working out or in the shower but this time he actually sat in which we were both happy about and we taught them the importance of having the Holy Ghost in our lives.

4/23- We had district meeting and we watched the Lamb of God video and also talked about the importance of asking members for referrals and we did some practice learning how we could do this. We then had dinner had the Davis's who are recent converts to the church. We also enjoy our visits with the Davis family but they haven't been out to church for 2 weeks but that's because Sister Davis had shoulder surgery. So we are praying for them and sister Davis' recovery. Also we started our exchange with the Zone Leaders this night and Elder McCann came to my area with me.

4/24- Elder McCann and I started the day with visiting some referrals we got but we found none of them home. We then visited the Valenciano family who are very active in our ward but at the time Elder McCann was serving in this area Brother Valenciano was less active. Brother Valenciano gave a wonderful talk at Stake Conference a while ago about how he got back into activity. We then visited some potential investigators but one individual we visited we ended up bible bashing with this lady for a long time.  But it was a good reminder why we have to teach with the spirit because I definitely noticed a change after we were done talking with this lady. This reminds me of Brigham Young's conversion story which is on page 199 I think in Preach My Gospel. Elder McCann and I then visited our investigator Johnny who is an awesome investigator who has come out to church more than 13 times! But we can't baptism him because he is living with his ex-wife. But we taught him the importance of the scriptures and the truths that can be found there. We then tried to visit some other investigator and recent converts but we didn't find any of them home. I then returned with Elder Conrad.

4/25- Johnny and one of our recent converts that has been less active came to church and we were thrilled about that! And Elder Conrad and I went with one of our ward missionaries and we tried to visit some less actives and investigators but everything fell through.

Email Update: Week 4/12/10 - 4/18/10

Dear loved ones,
Hey y'all! Your Missionary reporting again woot woot! So this week was way better than last week now that I am finally healed!

4/12- I did my laundry and we watched "The Prince of Egypt" with Copperfield, Wheatstone, and Spanish Elders and also the Spanish sisters. It was awesome to watch that movie again because it reminds me watching that film with the siblings!  After that we went to the Willis' - Sister Willis is another mom to us and we had dinner and guess what we had.........Chili and that means BEANS!!!! BLAH!!! But y'all would have been so proud because half of my plate was full of this chili but I said like 100 prayers throughout dinner and I slowly ate every single piece of that chili and yes, that's including those horrific beans! The beginning and the last bit of that dinner was the hardest but in the middle I couldn't taste the beans which was amazing because I could feel throw up coming up and I would chug the juice they had to keep it down.  I swear I had about 6 full glasses of that juice, but I ate all of it, and that's quite an achievement in my book.

4/13- Went to Lone Star and we finished setting up the set and putting up chairs for this play they are going to be having.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of it cause it looks great.  I would take it this week but I am going to the temple tommorrow (4/20) so I won't be doing service at Lone Star this week. We got a couple of referrals so we went to visit them but found no one home except one.  We were walking up to the door and rap music was blasting from this house and we ring the door bell and eventually this teenage black kid answers the door and he is covered with tattoos all over his body and I know this cause he answered the door naked.  He was holding up this little cloth covering his manhood OH MY GOSH! why in the world would you answer the door NAKED!!!!  His excuse......he got out of the shower...... whatever anyway. We had dinner at the Ravenberg's and they are are young couple and we had steak, potatoes, and salad then some pie after ward. We then went with Brother Ravenberg and we went and visited the Youngbloods. Elder Conrad and I have tried to visit the Youngbloods since I have arrived in the mission field and all I know about this family is that they are very inactive and he is a RM. But when we went by with Bro. Ravenberg a kid came to the window and waved at us and so he gave their cover away that they are home because when we have visited we have heard people inside and have seen people look through their peep hole but they never answer. So we finally met the Youngbloods and set up an appointment with them next week. We then dropped by the Davis' (RC) because Sister Davis was going in for surgery on her shoulder on Friday so we gave her a blessing.

4/14- Elder Conrad and I went to Langham Creek by ourselves. We usually go with our district but Elder Hackett had in-grown toe nail surgery this day. We were there for a couple of hours and when we left the head librarian gave us some cookies and some drinks so that was nice of her. We then went to the Urrutia's for dinner and we had some chicken and rice but while I was talking with Brother Urrutia I told him I was from Mapleton, UT.  Turns out his brother or some relative (this is a spanish family so it was hard to understand him) lives on main street in Mapleton.  In fact, it's the house that has the big deer statue in front the house and I hope y'all know the house I am talking about because we drove by like all the time on the way to church. So its a small world! We then went with Brother Stoddard and visited the Perez's (LA).

4/15- We all went to Langham Creek because Elder Hackett felt up to it. But we were not there for very long because we had interviews at 1:00pm. So we went to the chapel building where we were supposed to have meetings but President and Sister Hansen didn't show up until about 45 min. later. I met with Sister Hansen first and we talked about my goals I want to accomplish this transfer and she wanted to know about the family and making sure y'all are doing well. I then visited with President Hansen and he told me that I need to know the Bear Creek Area book backwards and forwards since Elder Conrad is leaving and a new Elder will come in so I have to be the one who says "hey let's go tract here or let's visit this family".  So he made sure I was worthy so I could be in tune with the spirit so I can know where to go. Then later he asked if I had any concerns or anything that is on my mind that will keep me up at night.  Well there was something that was troubling my mind and we had a very emotional talk but President Hansen is awesome and he gave me a blessing so all is well. Elder Conrad and I went to dinner with the Beckstroms after interviews and the Beckstroms just moved into the ward and they made chicken roll up's!!!! I was so happy because I was craving some kind of meal that mom makes. So that was delicous and we had molten cake after that so we had some amazing food. (Mom, when I come home from my mission we are definitely not going out to eat.  We are going to stay home and have some of your chicken stroganoff.) We then had an appointment with new investigators at a member's house but they forgot so we walked over to the investigator's house and set up an appointment for next week. We then gave Sister Lilywhite (Spanish speaking missionary) a blessing because she has been ill for a few days.

4/16- Had Zone Meeting and it was focused on repentance. We then went to Cracker Barrel afterward for some lunch. We then visited a new investigator, Troy Brown. His wife is a member but she goes to the Spanish ward and he doesn't speak Spanish so we are teaching him the gospel. We helped a member in our ward move their dryer in and out of their house. We then had a member deliver us pizza because they had something come up to where they couldn't feed us. Then at the end of the night I started my exchange with Elder Hackett and I went to his area.

4/17- So I am in the Copperfield area which is a bike area. Elder Hackett and I went tracting basically all day which I am glad I was on a bike because we rode all over so it was good to get a work out and also get tanned :) Oh also while we were riding (I was using Elder LaMont's bike) the front tire is one of those road tires so its really skinny and I was riding behind Elder Hackett and he went over a small ditch thing and his tires are the ones you normally see which are bigger and well when my front tire hit the ditch the bike flipped forward and I mean a full flip.....but I didn't crash.....because while the bike was flipping forward I somehow managed to get my feet over the handle bars and I just walked off while it was flipping.....I wish I could have gotten video of this because we were going really fast and I somehow walked away from this bike while it was flipping right from under me. As soon as I got off I stood there and was like....."how did that just happen?" but I am very grateful (haha). We had a dinner appointment at a member's house.  Before hand, I told Elder Hackett the address to this member's house because he had his planner out so I thought he wrote it down.   This member lives in an apartment complex but we get there and we are at the right building and floor but we don't know which door it is and there were 5 doors. So we start knocking on them and the first 3 no one answerd but at the 4th one, a man answers the door and instantly says "sorry I don't deal with holy rollers so y'all can leave" and slams the door in our face. Well there is only one door left but when we get to that door the 4th door we were just at flings open again but this time a girl looks out the door and asks if we are Mormons and we said "yes" and then she says "Ok well I am Lutheren and y'all can leave this whole building -  better yet this apartment complex because we don't deal with solicitors".   I just wanted to be like "lady we are not solicitors because we are not selling anything. Also you can't speak in behalf of your building or the apartment complex if we can be here or not" (I was not in the best of moods because it was a very hot day and we have been riding our bikes all day and had tons of doors slammed in our face.) But thank goodness I didn't say those things because that would have been dumb of me to do.  I just told her we were here for a dinner appointment and sorry that we knocked on the wrong door and sorry to disturb her.  All she says is, "oh, okay" and just closed her door.  I just somehow found that humorous. But we met the Hunsinger family and we had KFC and we taught the restoration lesson. Later that night I went back to my area in Bear Creek.

4/18- When I woke up it was pouring rain and there was thunder and some lightning.  I was so happy because I wanted a good rain storm for a long, long time and it rained all day long. Had PEC at 9:00am. Then went to church at 1:00pm and Elder Conrad gave a talk about temples. Then we had dinner at the Herrera's and Sister Herrera is seriously amazing.  She is definitely our mom out here. She made amazing food, as always, and she also served strawberries and y'all know how I love strawberries :)  But she is so nice she asked us both for our home numbers so she could call our family and let them know how we are doing. But both Elder Conrad and I forgot to give it to her but don't be surprised if you get a phone call from her some time. We then visited Lonnie (I) but we tried to teach him the restoration lesson but it was like teaching a brick wall because the smell of alcohol was on his breath, had the attention span of a cat, and he was so skatter brained that we didn't really progress with him.

Well another week down. I hope to hear from y'all soon. Love you
Elder Barton

Email Update: Week 4/5/10 - 4/11/10

Hello Hello Family :)
It's great to write to y'all again :)

4/5- Prep. Day, Went to President Sosa's House for dinner and had a meatball sandwich thing. Talked with him about doing Family Home Evening with their family and also inviting the Ochoa's who are RC but are LA.

4/6- Went and did service at Lone Star we painted a set, built/took apart a set, and we put up cabinets, basketball hoop, etc. it was really fun. Then we had lunch at Husky's which is an amazing burger place! Went and tried to visit referrals and LA people like Lonnie Hubert but we couldn't get a hold of any one even dropped by their houses and same thing. Then went and visited the Davis's and checked up on them because Sister Davis tore something in her shoulder again when she was lifting stuff and she will be having surgery here soon. Then we went to the Padilla's house for dinner and had chicken and rice and talked with her about some issues she has.  When we were walking home a cop talked with us and there was about 3 other cops driving around and he asked if we have been knocking on doors and we told him "no we just ate at a members house" and he said "alright" and left so I don't know what was up with that.

4/7- Went to Langham Creek and helped with their bar code system. Went and visited some LA and referrals members gave us but nothing turned out from those. Had dinner at the Coronado's and they fed us salad and meat loaf. Ok, well when I took the first bite out of that meat loaf it just dissolved in my mouth I didn't even chew it, it just it was so nasty and I knew that something bad was going to happen. But it wasn't this night.

4/8- Ok as soon as I woke up I felt HORRID!!!! I did not want to get up whatsoever but today was Zone Conference and well you can't miss that. Better yet, I didn't want to miss that. So I got up and got ready but my stomach felt horrible! And my eyes were all watery and red. We had to go early to Zone Conference because we had to set up everything for everyone. Then I did our car checks and the whole time people said I looked terrible. Then Zone Conference started and got to hear talks from our vehicle and apartment coordinators, then listened to Sister Hansen, then President Hansen (This whole Zone Conference was focused on repentance and how to teach it to others). We then heard from the Zone Leaders and some demonstrated how to teach it. We then we broke off into individual rooms to practice teaching but before I did that I went up to Sister Hansen and asked if she had any pills and we talked about my symptoms. Then I went to our room and I was freezing but apparently that room was burning hot to everyone else. At the end of Zone Conference there was a lunch provided to us and I couldn't eat it. I only took 3 bites of the lunch. Then we went to our apartment and Sister Hansen called to see how I was feeling and I told her. Then she said it sounds like I have the Stomach Flu........THE MEATLOAF!!!! AH!!!! She told me to take the day off and get some rest so I could tackle the day tomorrow. We had appointments with Jeremy and Misha Payne and also the Willis Family so we had to call and cancel :(

4/9- Woke up still felt like dying. Went to Walmart and got some stuff for Elder Conrad and Elder LaMont (he also became ill). We went to a member's house and well I was basically zoned out because I felt like puking every where. Then I got a blessing from Elder Conrad, Hackett, and LaMont. And also from Elder McCann and Anderson my ZL's. So nothing really happened this day.

4/10- Went and visited April and talked with her more about the Plan of Salvation and we gave her Dad a Book of Mormon. Went to Copperfield Elders Apartment to see how Elder LaMont was doing because he got even more sick. Then we went to the Stephens for dinner and had......meatloaf , but their meatloaf was good and the Cargo's were also over.  Then we went and filled up the car. After that we came back to the apartment and one of our mirrors fell down and broke our light stand we have so we have no light in the room where our beds are (haha).  We tried to put the mirror back up but it fell right back down so we threw it away. Later I was laying on my bed and I looked at my left hand and I had spots of blood so I was like "What the?" so I am looking all over my left hand and found nothing then felt my face for blood and nothing but, when I looked at my right hand my ring finger and pinky finger were covered in blood so apparently when we tried to put the mirror back up it cut my finger (haha).

 4/11- Went to PEC, then had church.  No investigators came but the testimonies given were awesome, especially from the youth. Then we went to have dinner at the Hay's and they made this chicken thing but they accidentally added too much lemon to the chicken so it was way sour. After that the Spanish Elders invited us to a baptism they were doing so we went to that.

Nothing much happened this week I know.   I 'm still overcoming this dumb stomach flu so hopefully I will get well soon, so please pray for that. The only thing we have planned today is we are watching The Prince Of Egypt with a group of missionaries (we got it approved by President).  Elder Conrad loves this movie so much you don't even know.  He knows every song and he loves that movie so so much so he is flippin out.

That's all for now.

Love y'all

-Elder Barton

Email Update: Week 3/29/10 - 4/4/10

3/29- Prep day, Had dinner with Jeff and Alisha Smith had some homemade pizza. Sister Smith is the nicest person you will ever meet she laughs all the time and giggles to herself. But she is a cop and I mean she is a cop that works in downtown Houston where everything is crazy there so basically she could kick my butt. Oh, she always wears a ankle gun and apparently she always brings a gun to church just in case. I called Doctor Jenson about my foot and set up an appointment.

3/30- Let's see, we went tracting for a good chunk of the day. While we were tracting we went to one door and when we rang the door bell the door flew open and a girl about 17 years old was a smiling and was in a bikini but when she saw it was the missionaries she quickly hid herself and we asked if her parents were home and they were not so we gave her one of our cards. I think she was expecting come one else (ha ha) but I love tracting you met a lot of interesting people and I mean a lot. We had dinner with the Cline family at 6:30 and when we were in the middle of our gospel message, her daughter got home and she bolted threw the door and yelled at the top of her lungs trying to scare her family (she didn't know we were coming over) and when she saw us she immediately ran out of the house she was so embarrassed. Then later that night Elder Conrad and I did interpretive dancing (yes, I have it on video)

3/31- I went to my appointment with Dr. Jenson at 10:00 and his office is in downtown Houston so I got to see the city on the way and it's a big city.  Oh, I also saw Joel Osteen's church and its HUGE!!!  I am told that the Houston Rockets used to play there. Well, Dr. Jenson is going to give me special shoe soles for my foot but he says that after my mission that I should have surgery on it. Today we got money on our missionary cards so we went to Walmart and shopped for some food. The Flores family dropped off some pizza for us. Then we went with our ward mission leader to go visit the Ochoa's who are LA. Then we went and visited the Macy family.

4/1- We went and visited with Jeremy and Misha Payne. Jeremy is LA and he is 7 foot tall - he used to play some college basketball and he is so buff!!!!  He works for AT&T and his job for Saturday and Sunday is to stream General Conferance online so that is cool that he is basically "forced" to watch conference.  Misha is not a member so we are teaching her.  Then we had dinner at the Foy's.  Later that night more interpretive dancing.

4/2- Had a district meeting and we talked about how we need to help people repent.  Then a member took us out to Olive Garden so now I have finally eaten at OG!  Then we had dinner at the Arnold family and they made amazing food. And I found out that we have our own cake boss in our ward!  I kid you not, you can check out her website (www.cakesbymelodie.com) and I had part of her luau theme birthday cake and it was dang good!  Oh, also while we were driving today there was this one church we passed that had 3 crosses in the front like a lot of churchs down here do but they had people hanging on them and I mean real people!  I was like "you can't be serious" well happy good friday Jesus. Oh, and I met a person who raps for Jesus.

4/3- Watched general conference with Jeremy, Misha and Jeremy's mom until 5:00 pm. Then had dinner at the McCarthy's at 5:15. Then went to an ice cream social at 6:00 and then watched the priesthood session.   Oh, and guess who came.....JASON!   We were not expecting him to come -  it was a suprise visit, but a very good suprise.

4/4- Watched the first session of conference at the Stoddards home (our ward mission leader) then had lunch at the Chavez's house then watched the second session at our ward building with other missionaries. Then we had dinner at the Stoddard's home. Then went and got our dinner calender from Sister Herrera.

Email Update: Week 3/21/10 - 3/28/10

Hello!

I hope y'all are doing well! Here is what has happened this past week.

3/21 - We had transfer calls on last Sunday and I found out that I am staying here with Elder Conrad and Elder LaMont but Elder Barlow got called to go to Oak Wood and taking his place is Elder Hackett. So Elder Conrad and I were happy that we got to stay together but this is his last transfer before he goes home so I will be "killing my father" and Elder LaMont is also "dying" in Katy this transfer.

3/22- This was Prep Day so I e-mailed at Lone Star College then I went on splits with Elder Barlow and went to the stake center to play some basketball with other missionaries in our zone (Elder Conrad isn't into sports so we usually do splits on Monday). Basketball was fun and I didn't hurt myself so that was good but on the way back we got stuck in heavy traffic and it took us FOREVER to get back home.  I had to quickly shower and get ready for our dinner appointment with Bro. Sosa who is a counselor in the stake presidency. They fed us this thing that was kinda like lasagna but it wasn't.   I can't remember what it was called but it was good and they gave us church juice

3/23- On this day we took Elder Barlow to Target and the post office so he could get some stuff he needed before he left and send a package home. Then we took him to the Bear Creek building at 2:00 because that's where the transfer bus was going to show up so we could drop him off and pick up Elder Hackett.  The bus didn't show up until after 3:00 so we waited a while but we said our good byes to Elder Barlow and we got to meet Elder Hackett who is from California.  We then drove Elder LaMont and Hackett to their apartment and helped him move in. Elder Conrad and I had a dinner appointment with the Christensen family at 6:30 so we went to that and had hot dogs and potato chips. After that we visited with the Jones Family (LA - less active)

3/24- We did service at Langham Creek High School with their bar code. We were there from 10:30-1:00. We then visited Alex Banks (LA).   He is my age and when we come over and teach him he is always playing his video games but this time he actually sat there and listened to us plus he had his friend over which is awesome.  We taught them about what the youth do in our church and also about what we do on our missions and why we are out here. We had a dinner appointment with the Davis family (RC - recent converts) but one of their newborn kittens got super sick and Sis. Davis was going to take it to the vet so they canceled on us (the kitten ended up dying ) So we called a member to see if they could feed us and they ended up taking us out to Outback Steakhouse so that was yummy.

3/25- We visited Johnny and spent some time with him and talked about some sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. We had an appointment set up for us at 4:00 by some other Elders who got a referral for us but while we were going over there we got a call from these Elders saying that the appointment they set up was for next week and not this week and they were sorry.  But they told us about this couple we were going to see.  Apparently, the husband is 7 foot tall and really buff so that shall be interesting. We had a dinner appointment with the Henry's (RC) at 6:00 but when we came over they were making lasagna and it wasn't even close to being ready. So we had a appointment at 6:30 to visit this guy named Kris.  He is dating this lady's daughter who is a member but we went to the address she gave us and it didn't match.  So we called her and it turns out the actual address is not even close to our area and this lady isn't even in our ward or a ward close to it so I don't know how she got our number.   But we contacted the Elders in that area and told them the address and they were able to go to the appointment. We then had an appointment at 7:00 with Lonnie Hubert who is going to be marrying a member.  He is an AAA roadside worker so he gets called into work randomly and when we showed up he was pulling out of his driveway to go to a call he got on the other side of town.  So we then went back to the Henry's and had dinner. After that we decided to do a drop by visit with Jason Durbin since we haven't seen or heard from him in about a week because of his health. He let us in he and we found out he is doing better but it turns out that his sister who has breast cancer isn't doing so well. Also his father is old and not doing well either but we taught him about the Plan of Salvation and that made him feel a bit better. While we were there he told us that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so this is amazing news to hear.  But he still hasn't come out to church yet because he says there is something in his past and what he is doing right now that makes him feel unworthy to come.  We told him that church isn't for perfect people and if it was no one would be there. (Found out from his friend who is a member that he smokes and that's whats keeping him from coming to church)

3/26- We went and visited some less actives earlier in the day. We then dropped by to visit some referrals we got via text message but nothing happened with them. We them got a call from the Spanish sisters that they could use some help painting at a member's house so we went and did that.  Elder Conrad and I didn't have masks like the sisters did so we got super dizzy and were in a goofy mood for a bit. We then got a call from a lady in our ward who had some teenagers working in her yard that she would like us to come over and visit. So we came over and met Jacob Boston who is 19 and homeless. Turns out that his mom died when he was young and his dad has been in prison for 19 years and isn't coming out anytime soon. But he is common law married to a girl and she is 4 months pregnant and he is saving up money to get an apartment for them to live in. This kid has had a really tough life and he is covered in tatoos.  One tat I knew meant that he lost someone he knew to a gang. We told him a little bit about our church and he was a little bit interested but this member says she will keep having this kid over to work in her yard and she said she will call us when he comes over so we can come visit him. We then had dinner at the Maya's who fed us some crazy Mexican food but it was delicious.

3/27- We went to a member's house to do service in their backyard at 8:30 a.m. with the Copperfield Elders and Spanish Sisters. But first this member fed us some Mexican breakfast thing - it was eggs with salsa on some shell thing and it was dang good.....but there were beans on the side.  After that we worked in this member's backyard (which is the biggest back yard I have seen in Texas so far) pulling weeds, spraying weeds,and mowing the lawn. Oh and I took out a lemon tree which was dead because of the winter they had. We didn't finish until 3:00 and after that we were way tired and some of us burnt but we went home showered and got ready. We had dinner at the McClure's at 5:00.  This is a Polynesian family and they fed us so so much food!  They kept feeding us chicken, ribs, and rice but when your plate was only half way done they would grab it and say "you need to eat more Elder" and just keep stacking my plate.  I finally finished my plate and I was so full!!!! but when I finished they said "Now time for cake" I was like no more food!!!! But I shouldn't complain because that food was so delicious and I was quite entertained watching the grandma do the Haka to her twin grandsons - that was really cool.

3/28- Had PEC at 9:00 and studied until church started at 1:00.  Then we went and had dinner at the Davis's which  fed us her own style of lasagna and that was super good. Then we got to play with and feed their newborn kittens,  talk about cuteness!!!! We then watched The Lamb of God video with them and just talked with them for a while, I really enjoyed it.

Well that's all for now

I love and pray for y'all!

-Elder Cory Barton

Missionary Interview

The Mia Maids and their leaders in our ward sent questions to the missionaries serving from our ward.  Here are the questions they sent and the responses Cory wrote on 2/16/10.
Q:  Have you ever been attacked by an animal that you've never seen in Utah?
A:  No, but there are roaches all over my apartment and I mean everywhere!  In fact, I grabbed by lint roller to use on my suit and there was a roach on the roller.
Q:  What is your new favorite food?
A:  Bluebell Ice Cream!  I heard about how this ice cream was the best when I came out and I finally got to try one and it's so good!  Gotta try some.
Q:  What's the most interesting thing you've eaten?
A:  Um, I haven't really had anything out of the ordinary yet but I did have this salsa chicken thing at a member's house that was...interesting.
Q:  How are the people there different from the people in (in general)?
A:  People in Texas have a lot of pride for this state.  Anywhere there is an American flag, there will be a Texan one there too.  In fact, they have the Texan flag on their curbs and the Goodwill logo is made into a Texas flag.  Also, this is the worst place to drive in - the drivers are terrible here.  I hear sirens every 10 mins.
Q:  What's your favorite P-Day activity?
A:  Emails.  It's the only time I can email family and friends so that's my favorite even though it's only for an hour.  But it's alright.  Love being a missionary.
Q:  How do you react when someone says NO to the gospel/shuts the door on you?
A:  This is to me the hardest part of my mission.  But I usually say "Oh Yeah!"  really loud to my companion and tell him we have miracles ahead of us or I think of Moses 6:31, 38-39 it keeps me motivated.
Q:  Is there a prominent religion within the area you serve?
A:  Um, when I go tracting I have a lot of people say they are Catholic and are already saved.  But there are a lot of Baptist churches too.  So I say 50/50 but it's definitely the Bible belt.
Q:  Who cooks your food?
A:  Members do a lot of the cooking.  Every night this month we have a dinner appointment with a family of the ward which is awesome.
Q:  Have you been put with a "greenie"?  Or are YOU the greenie?
A:  I am the greenie.  My companion "father" has been out for 21 months so he is almost done.  Greenie is the way to go...yo.
Q:  What's the weather like right now where you are?A:  It's finally warm and sunny.  For the longest time it was raining, cold and windy.  So it's a good day for America.
Q:  What makes you feel the happiest?
A:  Talking with people like the Davis family who are recent converts and have them share how important the gospel is to them.  It's just super cool to see how the goepel has impacted their lives.  In March, they will be able to go to the temple. 
Q:  Is there a funny trait in the local culture that's different from Utah?
A:  Southern accents are definitely funny but it's great to be around southern people again.  Woot, woot.
Q:  What do you hope to gain on your mission?
A:  I am hoping to gain a stronger testimony of the gospel and see how much it grew compared to how I started and finished.
Q:  Who cuts your hair?
A:  Well, I got a haircut at the MTC before I left and I think it's students from BYU - so yeah.
Q:  How do people react when you tell them you're from Utah?
A:  They are not surprised.  They think all missionaries are from Utah.  Oh, and sometimes I am told that I am a Utard.  Yuppers.
Q:  What is one piece of advice you have for missionaries to-be?
A:  Prepare now!  Read "Preach My Gospel" or a book like the one I am reading now is "Our Search for Happiness" by M. Russell Ballard which is an amazing book!  But yes prepare now - sounds too easy and simple but it's true.  Practice teaching the restoration to family members or friends.  Just need to start somewhere.

Anyway thank y'all so much!  Seriously this package meant a lot to me because this is the first mail/package I got since being in the mission field.  Plus it is like the best feeling when you get mail.  It's like a Christmas present but so much better!  Especially coming from the ward - I thought y'all would have forgotten about me by now!  I hope each of y'all are doing well and thank you so much for the treats.  I will definitely enjoy them.

Love y'all,
Elder Barton "wild man" 
                        Moses 6:38-39

St. Patrick's Day Wishes

We received a St. Patrick's Day card from Cory. 

Elders Conrad, Barton and Atwood

Sisters Lillywhite & Christensen

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  This was taken after service at Lone Star College.  We painted their stage where they do plays and other theatrical stuff (that's why I have a black spot on my hand).  Elder Atwood does have a companion but he wasn't wearing green so I cut him out.  That's right - Elder Conrad and I are wearing matching $4 shirt from Walmart.  Talk about a companionship!

Answers to our Letters

Here is some info sent to answer some of the questions we had sent in our family letter(s) to him:

To Deanna:
Houston is beautiful! But the other day the humidity was so bad! As soon as I opened the door it punched me in the face and you have to cut the air to spit. But it's been perfect weather so far. It's been 70's for most of the time. It has stormed quite a bit here.
The ward here is about average. They have a good size youth group here.
Tonight I was fed spaghetti. The night before a club sandwich, um potato soup, more pasta. Nothing crazy yet.
I took pictures of my apartment. Oh, I need to take pictures of our car too but not today becuase I dented the front bumper - oops!

To Rebecca:
The weather has been perfect these past couple of days. Today it's 70 outside with now wind so basically awesome.
My meals have been great! They all have been delicious. The only thing that I have to report on eating something weird...it was a drink. It was some crazy spearmint drink. It was so nasty. I drank about half of the glass but it's okay this member fed us amazing food.
I love the ward I am serving in because members are giving us a lot of referrals. They are trying really hard to help us and they are fun and funny. They feed us every night so the Bear Creek 1st Ward is definitely awesome!

3/15/10 Email Update: Week 3/8/10 - 3/14/10

Here is Cory's general letter....

Hey y'all It's Elder Barton
Thought I would drop y'all a quick e-mail updating you on what happen this past week.

Ok well, let's start with Monday (3/8) which is Prep. Day Well this day started with a phone call from a elder in my district saying we need to take him to the mission office right now so he told us to get ready and hurry up. So Elder Conrad and I got ready as fast as we could and went over to these Elder's apartment complex and drove them over to the mission office. So we get to the mission office and this certain Elder talked with President Hansen. While we were waiting I got to talk with the Assistants to the President, Elders Brady and Hiatt.  I then Brother and Sister Cesnut (Mom- she is the one who does the news letters) and had a nice talk with them and it turns out that they are from Spanish Fork so not too far away from Mapleton and Brother Cesnut is in charge with the mission vehicles. Then I got to talk to Sis. Young who is a very nice lady who works in the mission office. Then I got to meet with the new brother and sister who work in the mission office but sadly I didn't catch their name.  But I talked with the sister and got my baggage reimbursed and the brother is the one who goes around to the mission apartments and checks if we are keeping them in good shape or not. Well, we were at the mission office till about 1:00 that's when this Elder finally came out of the presidents office but with out his tie or name tag....yeah..... After that I got to talk with President for about a minute but I love talking with President Hansen he is so happy all the time.  I love it, he can brighten your day. We then went and got some food and then dropped the Elders off at their apartment because this Elder needed some alone time. We were suppose to have a dinner appointment at a members house but they called and said they couldn't feed us.  After we got finished talking on the phone with them we got a call from the certain Elder again and said we needed to take him to the Mission President's home at 7:00 so as we were driving him down there we asked what in the world was going on because while we were at the mission office Elder Brady called another Elder on the phone and told him to come to the mission office and said that it wasn't good. Turns out that this Elder in my district and a few other Elders left their mission area and that some ZL's told mission president that they were gathering together for some crazy satanic cult thing. So all the Elders involved we called in and met with President Hansen and there is a great possibility that an Elder might go home. We were taking this Elder to the Mission President's Home so that he could talk on the phone to his stake president. While he was on the phone we talked with President Hansen and his wife about the Mission and watched some videos on mormon.org, had some snacks with them, and said "hi" to President Hansen's son and his family on Skype. We didn't leave the presidents house til 11:00 p.m. so basically Elder Conrad and I did nothing that day mission wise and I hated it. I felt like I got nothing accomplished and there's a possibility that Elder might go home (So far he is still here but he meets with President Hansen weekly now).


Tuesday (3/9)- Elder Conrad and I spent the whole day visiting with less actives and recent coverts and we also gave service at Lone Star College at their theater tech department  - we painted their stage black.
Wednesday (3/10)- We had a Zone Meeting at the stake center at 11:30 a.m. but only Elder Conrad and I and 2 other companionship's were the only ones there.... turns out that the Elders in our District and our ZL's meet with the AP's and President Hansen. So the zone meeting was pushed back till 1:00 so Elder Conrad and I got some lunch and waited for them to show up because our ZL's told us to stay there - ha ha. Then at the zone meeting I gave a 5 min talk about personal integrity and we had 2 other elders give talks and our ZL's gave talks also. So our zone meeting was pretty good. Then we got to meet with Jason (woot woot!) at 7:00 p.m. and we had Bro. Coronado (Jason's best friend) there which helped out a bunch! We talked with Jason about what he read in 3 Nephi 11 and about baptism and how people need to have authority to baptize others. And Jason loved everything we taught him he also asked a lot of questions like if he was to be baptized into the Mormon Church would he have to be baptize in one of our buildings or if it's okay that he could be baptized in a pond which is next to where all of his family is buried. And he asked me why I came on my mission and I told him and he said "I know what you said is true you wanna know why because I can see it in your eyes what you told me was true and I have a weird feeling that makes it feel true" So we then taught him about the Holy Ghost and he loved it of course ha ha.   I love Jason,  he is a great man that is willing to learn about this church.  He is a little hesitant because he is shy and says if he goes he will feel more obligated to become a Mormon so I hope we can get him to come to church next week. We meet with Jason again on Tuesday.

Thursday (3/11)- We met with more less actives and recent converts. We gave service at Langham Creek High School they are redoing their bar code system. And this school is so so Huge!!! I need to take a picture of their football stadium because its not like any other football field or stands you usually see - it's seriously a stadium!

Friday (3/12)- We met with Kevin and April Friday night and we had our ward mission leader there with us too. We meet Kevin and April through tracting last week. We talked a little bit more about the restoration and we found out they smoke and drink all the time which is scary because they have a 7 month new born that they are smoking around..... But we have another appointment with them Friday.

Saturday (3/13)- We met with a referral we got from Sister Hay (She is not in our ward, and she is from Jamaica so she has the coolest accent!) Lonnie, her fiancee to be, lives in our boundaries and we taught him the restoration and he is way interested.  He basically wants to be part of the same church with his wife so we meet with him again this week. Then we went to a surprise birthday party for Sis. Herrera (she and Brother Herrera are also ward missionaries) and we ate at a chineese buffet.  I love sister Herrera she has been basically our mom out here.  She always makes sure we are being fed and that whatever holiday it is she gets us something.

Sunday (3/14)- We went to PEC then had church and thank y'all so much for the prayers this week for our RC's and LA's....if it went something like this I HOPE THAT NONE OF ELDER CONRAD'S AND BARTON'S LESS ACTIVES AND RECENT COVERTS SHOW THIS WEEK. Ha ha.  Seriously, no one showed up.  It was super sad and our gospel essentials class was basically empty.  It was a sad sight to see.   Turns out a bunch of them went to Mexico for spring break.

That's all I have for now I miss y'all and I hope y'all are doing well.

I love y'all!!!

Elder Barton