Elder A. Barrand

a warning voice

2009-02-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Family
Things are going so well, the weather has warmed up a little bit to -10 enough for us to have more time out side and walking around, tracting and finding people it has been great we have found some really good families and the work has started to pick up a lot, the members brought a bunch of the friends to church and things are just going amazing, i have been contemplating alot on the miracles i have seen through out my mission. the people who i have seen embrace the
gospel and and my heart is filed with joy that i had some small part in helping them find the gospel and salvation. i came on a mission to preach the gospel, and cry repentance, of all the people that
benefited most from these last two years is me i have repented and change and become more as my savior would want me to be. i am so thankful for every moment that i had to raise a warning voice and help other people learn. i would not trade it for anything in the world.

Love Elder Barrand

2009-01-18T15:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going amazing in Stratford! We had Anita out at church she is a friend of one of the members here named John, he met here randomly at a grocery store and invited her to hear the missionary lessons and come to church. She is a single mom and has three great kids the ages are eight seven and three. Also the members are great here they are giving us referrals to even some of their family members. We have also being seeing tons of success with finding new
investigators and enlarging our teaching pool.

Family Costa Rica looks like it was a blast! Thins are going so well, even though its really cool we are finding tons of success and many people are listening to us the lord is blessing us with our efforts. I have a special request from all return missionaries and their husbands/wives I want to know what you guys did with your last day or two being a missionary, so look in your journal and write me back!!! i love you all and look forward to your responses email them back asap i
don't have much time left.
Love Elder Barrand
ps here is a picture of me and elder weber

Finishing with a bang!

2009-01-11T19:36:00.001-08:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going well I'm very excited to start working in Stratford we have Brayden who is nine years old we are working with him and his less active mom to start coming back out to church and having Brayden baptized. Other then that we have some good member referrals we received over the holidays we are excited to progress them into the gospel.

Family!
I got emergency transfers with only 4 weeks to go, i'm in a small great little town named Stratford my new companion it Elder Weber he is fairly new and has tons of energy and zeal for doing the work. I am bummed to leave Guelph at the same time very excited for the new adventures and people i will met in Stratford. I am holding on strong and finishing with a bang.

Love Elder Barrand

Christmas Floor Hockey

2008-12-28T13:37:00.001-08:00

Dear Family!
this week as you know i was playing floor hockey at church and my companion did a slap shot and on his follow through his stick met my face it knocked my front right tooth clean out root and everything, and chip up the front left one really bad. i think one of my canines went clean through my lip and i had to get 2 stiches. the first picture is right after i got hit the second picture is right now. which is just temporary i cant use my front teeth to eat anything for a couple of weeks. and there is a bunch more stuff that has to get dont to my teeth. but looking on the bright side i have lost a buch of weight already because it hurts so much to eat that i havent been stuffing myself as much as usual. This week has been going great we have been working very hard i am in a Three some Elder Wells, Elder Ford and I, we are tearing it up. getting hit in the teeth has not slowed me down at all in fact i have been working harder then ever. merry christmas and happy new year i love you all so much and will see you in a couple of weeks

love elder barrand

Thanksgiving chickens

2008-12-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
This week went pretty well we started teaching this guy name Todd Roux he seemed very receptive and understood everything we taught. He agreed on reading the Book of Mormon but i think he thinks there is a hidden scheme we are trying to pull over his eyes its pretty funny. I
pray that he works out well. Other than that we are finding a lot of college students to teach and hand over to the sisters they are pretty busy too with exams this week.

Dear Family
Things are going so well i hope you enjoyed your thanks giving as much as i did. A family named the Crawfords one of my favourite families here, invited us over to help them do some service. It was the funniest service I have done yet we got to kill their chickens . I finally got to see what happens when you chop of a chickens head and they flop around on the ground for a long time it was awesome! Now i know how to kill and skin a chicken isn't that great!
Anyways, the work is going very well I am so excited you guys decided to house missionaries, that is so awesome. I was thinking about telling you guys to do that. I love you guys very much
Love Elder Barrand

November 26th

2008-12-03T04:06:00.001-08:00

11/19 Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going very well we have been able to find many new YSA students for the sisters to teach, like this young man named John we taught him and he understood everything so well even his mom came in at the end and posed as some opposition and John told his mom off and
said that he loves learning it was great.
Family!!!
Tiana and Don Congratulations on the engagements thanks so much for scheduling them so I could be there. Families are the best things in the world! I love you guys so much. Bryce I hope you feet can be healed, maybe you could get back on the boards a couple of times and test out the waters again that would be awesome! Celeste and Brad thanks so much for the birthday letter, I can't wait to meet Brooklyn for the first time haha. It's crazy to think that. Good luck with your decision making I know with the Lords help you will make the right choices. Danica and Dave have fun doing whatever you guys are doing working and rising kids. I hope you enjoy these pictures we took them at my birth day.

Love Elder Barrand11/26 Hey Family things are going great! this last week has been good to me
and elder ford we have been working hard and enjoying serving the Lord i love you all and have a happy thanksgiving

i am thankful for God and his son Jesus Christ, My family, my companion, being able to devote all my time to serving the Lord.
love elder barrand

Email to Evan

2008-11-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

Evan,
I am so grateful for your well thought out testimony of your beliefs.

I will try and answer your questions, I think they boil down to First, why would we need a prophet today and Second, why would we need more scripture ex. the Book of Mormon.

None of this will matter or make sense comparing your theology to our theology, because if I am not mistaken you are a born again Christian and all you need to do is believe and confess on the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved. Please correct me if I am wrong. What the Prophets have taught and preached since the beginning of the world is that you need to have Faith, Repent, Be Baptized, Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End. This is the Doctrine that was lost, changed, and twisted. This is the Pure Doctrine of Jesus Christ. The bible makes references to this but does not state it clearly enough. That is why with the Book of Mormon, with Living Prophets, and the Bible, we can know the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ and participate in those saving ordinances. By stating this I invite you to keep in mind that salvation is more than just a belief or a onetime confession I will explain in greater detail as to why. But just remember that your theology and ours is different.

To understand why we need a prophet today let's look at what a prophet does. They are first given the Priesthood which is the power and authority to act in the name of God for the salvation of his children, examples being Jeremiah 1:5 and Hebrews 5:4 and; with this priesthood the Prophet in entitled to receive revelation for the children of men. Through visions, dreams, and the spirit the prophets are taught the Plan of Salvation (Numbers 12:6, 1 Nephi 22:2, Amos 3:7), which is in essence the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the holy ghost, and endure to the end, then in turn they teach it to everyone else. The scriptures record the pattern wherein God repeatedly reaches out to His children by revealing His gospel through a prophet, who in turn teaches the people. All people have the gift of agency which includes the freedom to accept or reject the gospel as taught by the prophets. Some people
follow, some don't then become disobedient; others reject it outright. The Lord then takes away His priesthood and the gospel is lost. When there are those prepared to follow Him again, the Lord reveals anew His gospel and restores His priesthood. Such periods when prophets are
commanded to teach the gospel, often involving a restoration, are called dispensations. The periods of time headed by a prophetic leader, such as Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and so forth, are called dispensations. Evan the Book of Mormon also testifies of this principle here are some references: 2 Nephi 9:2, 2 Nephi 25:26, Jacob 4:4-6, Jacob 7:11, Mosiah 3:13, Mosiah 8:13-18. And some other Bible references: Acts 10:34-43, Luke 16:19-25

Evan, through much study of my own and praying the best way to describe what I now have, has already been done on our church's website here: http://mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/the-restoration-of-truth/jesus-christ-established-his-church
A few things I want to point out. First I know that Jesus is The Christ I know that it is only through Him and His Atonement that we can be clean and make it back to the Father. I know He walked this Earth, I know that he did in reality suffer for our sins, was crucified and died for us. He was resurrected, and broke the bands of death for us to live in His presence after this mortal life. Second he organized a Church, one church, that church having the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the Chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). Those twelve men were giving the priesthood just like the prophets of old, by the Master himself by the laying on of
the hands. (Matthew 10:1; John 15:16; Matthew 28:19-20;) Now to explain Matthew 16:16-19, first off the Rock is revelation not Peter, Revelation is how Peter came to know that Jesus was the Christ, that is the context to which he was referring "the Rock" to. Christ fulfilled and completed the Atonement He accomplished all that his Father sent him to do. The "Gates of Hell" would not prevail over Revelation, it is impossible for that to happen, but just like in times past people used their agency to persecute the church and Jesus Christ. I'll explain.

Jesus Christ ascended into heaven leaving the eleven apostles a commission to go out and preach the Gospel to the world, and baptizing them. One of the first things they did was call a new apostle Matthias so there were twelve again (Acts chapter 1). Now this is very important to understand, that because of so much persecution from outside the church and apostasy from within the church made it very hard for the apostles to keep everyone in the unity of faith
(Ephesians 4:11-13) consider that almost every epistle written was to try and keep the early saints from going off in the wrong direction. Here are some scriptures that show evidence that this apostasy was happening and predicted and prophesied about: Matthew 24:9-11, Acts 3:19-21, Acts 20:28-30, Galatians 1:6-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, 1 Timothy 4:1-3, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, 2 Peter 2:1-2

These are ample enough scriptures foretelling of this apostasy, The twelve apostles were killed off too quickly to keep calling more, the organization to run Christ's church had crumbled, that foundation spoken of in Ephesians was no longer there. The Great Comforter the Lord Promised was still there but no one was there to administer the ordinances or keep the doctrine pure, the organization of Jesus Christ's Church was lost. The last of the Twelve apostles were killed off before the turn of the first century. No doubt that their words which they wrote were kept and inspired. Now go forward in time to 325 A.D. what happened here is what is called the Council of Nicaea, Emperor Constantine gathered all the bishops to establish the doctrine of the church. Let me point out a few things, Emperor Constantine was not even a Christian at this point and was doing this to gain political power in uniting his people under one religion. Now the bishops he gathered were not acting under the direction of the twelve apostles because there were none. They formulated the doctrine of the Trinity aka the Nicene Creed by a vote not by Revelation. This is not how God works. I will not go into the doctrine of the Trinity at this point in time.

At these Councils in later years under the dictation of the Emperor they decided on which books would be canonized and what books wouldn't be. Again this act was not under divine revelation. Please don't misinterpret what I am saying here. I know the Bible is the Word of God. Books were chosen to be put in to the Bible to best fit their views or doctrine. Take into consideration the so-called lost books of the Bible are those documents that are mentioned in the Bible in such
a way that it is evident they are considered authentic and valuable, but that are not found in the Bible today. Sometimes called missing scripture, they consist of at least the following: book of the Wars of the Lord (Num. 21: 14); book of Jasher (Josh. 10: 13; 2 Sam. 1: 18); book of the acts of Solomon (1 Kgs. 11: 41); book of Samuel the seer (1 Chr. 29: 29); book of Gad the seer (1 Chr. 29: 29); book of Nathan the prophet (1 Chr. 29: 29; 2 Chr. 9: 29); prophecy of Ahijah (2 Chr. 9: 29); visions of Iddo the seer (2 Chr. 9: 29; 2 Chr. 12: 15; 2 Chr. 13: 22); book of Jemeaiah (2 Chr. 12: 15); book of Jehu (2 Chr. 20: 34); sayings of the seers (2 Chr. 33: 19); an epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, earlier than our present 1 Corinthians (1 Cor. 5: 9); possibly an earlier epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. 3: 3); an epistle to the Church at Laodicea (Col. 4: 16); and some prophecies of Enoch, known to Jude (Jude 1: 14). To these rather clear references to inspired writings other than our current Bible may be added another list that has allusions to writings that may or may not be contained within our present text, but may perhaps be known by a different
title; for example, the book of the covenant (Ex. 24: 7), which may or may not be included in the current book of Exodus; the manner of the kingdom, written by Samuel (1 Sam. 10: 25); the rest of the acts of Uzziah written by Isaiah (2 Chr. 26: 22). Now many centuries past, each generation passing on this apostasy from what the previous generation had inherited, changing and orrupting doctrine, such as indulgencies, baptism being change to sprinkling and at birth not like Jesus Christ was baptized, the crusades, the pope exalting himself saying he acts as God on earth, the mass, and the list goes on and on. This is a direct fulfillment of prophecy by Paul:

2 Thessalonians 2: 1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

Paul makes it perfectly clear that there is going to be a falling away from the truth. The evidence is the changes that were made in the doctrine, ordinances, organization, and everything that I have stated earlier. A restoration was needed, but people tried to reform the doctrine and practices, men like Martin Luther, John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, and John Calvin, were all inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to Protest and try to reform but none of them claimed priesthood authority from God. With these protestant movements that gave way for a final restitution of all things. Acts 3: 21 "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began"

This Restoration or Restitution began in 1820 when God the Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour appeared to Joseph Smith when he was only 14 years old. This is so important because men need to know the true character of God and His Son. You can read of Joseph Smith experience in his own words here: http://scriptures.lds.org/en/js_h/1 I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, now to say that I can also say, I know Moses is a prophet of God, and I know that Paul is an Apostle of God, this only means that "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8) He calls men to teach His Gospel and doctrine, to perform ordnances in his name, and to keep people unified, to show us the way to Christ.

The Book of Mormon is indeed what it claims to be Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It stands as a second witness that Jesus is the Christ. It was written and inspired by Holy Prophets of God just as the Bibles was. The Book of Mormon covers a 1000 year time period between 600AD and 400BC on the American Continent. There is so much to explain about the Book of Mormon and why it is important but I will not do it at this time, only will I say that it was translated by Joseph Smith into English through divine revelation. Jesus Christ stated his pure doctrine again when he manifested himself to these people shortly after his resurrection. The pure doctrine is to have Faith, Repent, Be Baptized, Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End.

So the Book of Mormon fulfills many purposes the two main ones being First for the none believer in Jesus Christ the He is the Saviour and Redeemer of the world and only through him can we be saved. Second that Joseph Smith is a Prophet, because he translated it. Jesus Christ
Warned us of false Prophets in Matthew 7: 15 "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

Evan the Fruit of the Prophet Joseph Smith is the Book of Mormon.

The only way to know of the Book of Mormon being true is by reading it and asking in pray if it is true. There is a promise in the end of the Book a Mormon I would like to quote for you. Moroni Chapter 10:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these
things, and ponder it in your hearts. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. 6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is. 7 And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever. This is a promise giving to all who read the Book of Mormon that they
can know for themselves that the Book of Mormon is true, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

I'll close with my testimony I know that Jesus is the Christ, he is the way the truth and the light. Wrought by his infinite Atonement, only can men be saved if they have Faith, Repent, are Baptized, Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End. I know the Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God call to restore us to the truth that was lost over centuries of time. I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is indeed scripture and it is "16 All

scripture is givenrighteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly

furnished unto all good works."

My invitation is for you to learn more about this restoration that has taken place. It has taken me a long time to write this email, I will not be able to answer any more of your questions over email but will be more then willing to answer them in person, please read the references that I have given to the Book of Mormon and other internet sites. You can reach me at me cell phone: 519-831-0651

Elder Barrand

P.S. I apologize for it being so long.

The Undercover Cop and the Bible Scholar

2008-11-03T15:31:00.001-08:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
We started teaching this man named Jeff he is a cop and lives with his girl friend and she is pregnant, he remembers attending the Brampton Temple open house which was like 15 years ago and he is only 30. He is Anglican and very nice and receptive he says he wants to start coming to church but is very busy with work, he is an undercover cop and goes to high school parties and tries to buy guns and drugs which is pretty cool. He looks like we he will progress very well. The next two people we are working with are both YSA, they are James and Andrew, Andrew is born again christen and is basically a bible scholar he knows it pretty well, but he has been reading the Book of Mormon. James is a more of a party boy who is looking for direction in his life and invited us to teach a bunch of his friends. Which went over very well.
Family
Things are going great we are working hard having fun and loving the cold weather. Nothing new to report. I hope you all enjoy Halloween. Mom and Dad you guys are awesome keep up the reat member missionary work, more important then the missionaries is the love they receive
from the members and your own testimony of the Book of Mormon and Restored Gospel.
Love Elder Barrand
ps thanks for your emails i love them

Joan, Glen and Mona in our teaching pool

2008-10-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

Hey family here is a quick report in the work:
Things are Progressing we finally have some good people in our teaching pool First is Mona she is doing very well she has been sick the past couple of weeks but is now feeling good enough for us to teach her. When we taught her we read Alma 40 about the spirit world and the resurrection, to tell her after death you can be resurrected and you ever be sick again it was a very good lesson. Another person we are teaching is named Glen he is a very humble man from the Philippines his wife just had a baby, he is pretty hard core catholic but we have a really good member that was catholic was even going to become a nun in the Philippines but a month before she became one meet the missionaries and converted. It's a pretty cool conversion so she
will be able to relate to them well. Elder Ford and I are getting along great we are working very hard and having lots of fun doing it.

Family
Another Great week has gone by the temperatures have reached 0 degrees winter came really fast this year. Hurray for my third winter in Canada! I hope you enjoy our jumping pictures we took them at district meeting. It's crazy I signed up our district to do a musical presentation at Zone Conference, but we couldn't come up with a hymn that we all sound good singing together so I am singing a solo of "come thou fount" it's going to be great pray that the spirit helps me
out. A Lady that I contacted on the street a couple of weeks ago got baptized last Sunday she is so funny her name is Joan Gratoo she is about 70. When I was talking to her the first time I inquired about where was going and she answered "I am going to get my birth control pills" it was so funny she is a great lady and has a good sense of humour.
I love you family!

Love elder Barrand

Turkey Bowl

2008-10-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going very well, we started teaching this women name Monique with her boy friend Audin she is a less active member and he is now an investigator, Audin is super humble and very nice Monique has been offended because of some of the members at church, Monique has not been to church in a long time so we committed them to start reading the scriptures together and praying on a regular basis then hopefully they will come to church she said it herself. As for anyone else in our teaching pool we have handed them over to the YSA sisters.

Dear Family Thanksgiving in Canada was a blast and it took place on Monday this week we got feed by this awesome family named the Crawfords I felt at home it was great I upheld the Barrand family tradition and went around and asked them all what they were thankful for it was really fun, we also had a turkey bowl we played one hand touch football, ultimate Frisbee and soccer for 2 hours. That was on Monday, Yesterday and today I am not able to walk straight because I am so sore, same with my companion it's really funny to see us walking down the street. When it was my turn to say what I was thankful for I said my family you guys are the best I love you so much
Love Elder Barrand

My daily schedule

2008-10-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going amazing we have been working so hard only taking 30 min. for break each lunch and dinner, we have contacted tons and tons of people all of them being YSA because we live right next to the college tracting seems like the only way we have been able to find families so we still don't have any investigators we can call ours to report on and progress but I know the lord will help us find some. Elder Ford is amazing he is so humble and has not complained once
about how much walking and working we have been doing it's great I love him.

Family
I have asked some of the parents that have missionaries out in the field in our ward what makes good letters home and one said testimony and another said what you do day to day, So every day we wake up at 6:25 no matter what or how tired I am. Never will I allow myself to sleep in. Every morning we exercise for 20 mins of cardio we have a cool row machine and jump rope. Then for ten mins I stretch I don't see much improvement but I do it every day. Every morning for breakfast I have oats with peanut butter and honey in it and a fruit smoothie made from frozen berries and orange juice. Then get dress and shower and start studying right at 8, that is
personal study where I read the Book of Mormon for 30 mins then study Preach My Gospel and Jesus the Christ and New Testament on a specific topic for an investigator or a lesson. Then at 9 we have companion study we sing a hymn and pray. Then read 5 pages in the white hand
book, review a lesson covering the principles and a scripture reference with each principle. Then recite My Missionary Commission by Bruce r Mconkie, then recite Remember This from the back page of Preach my Gospel. Then teach each other want we learn in personal study and or review and prepare a lesson for whom ever we are teaching that day I have doing tons of role plays lately with my companions because they are new and need alot of help becoming better teachers. Then we briefly go over our plans and goals we have made from the
night before. Then right at 10 we are out the door. Missionary work is simplified down into 3 activities to find. First is tracting, second is walking down busy streets and contacting people, third is doing drop bys of contacts that you already have of people who said they are interested. We have our day planned out of who we will drop by that day what area we will be in and what streets we will contact people on and tracting. This transfer Elder Ford and have set a goal that we are not allowed back to our apartment when we leave in the morning so we pack sandwiches. That means no naps and no wasting time traveling back and forth to the apartment. Also we only eat for about 30 mins and then call contacts and try to set up apponiments and plan a little
more about what we are doing. Guelph is a College town so we meet tons of students who are really busy with school, but alot of them are willing to listen. In the morning we resort to most of our tracting and in the evening we try to visit members home and do this missionary
presentation that I invented and it is power house, using quotes from Preach My Gospel and a video clip from Special Witnesses of Christ by the end the members really want to invite people and do more things to help the work progress. Then we try and be in by nine 9:30 at the
latest. And plan for the next day and set goals. One thing that has taking me the longest to gain a testimony of is nightly planning after working really hard all day you just want to come in and rest but planning is the most important thing, it takes tons of will power to focus 30mins of you energy and time to focus and map out where you are going who will you visiting and what you will be doing. But without it you are directionless and nothing effective happens. Plus the day goes but way faster when you have thing to do because you have planed it out also you want to achieve more because you have set goals that you want to hit. Then once we are done planning we make our sandwiches for the next day, write in our journals and prepare and go to bed. Then do the same thing the next day I love it!!!
My testimony, I know I am on the Lord's errand, I know I am given strength to make it and last through the day, I know that the Saviour's Atonement is really. There is a young man named aron who we found that was really big into smoking and drinking and his life was going nowhere. The amazing thing about Aarons is he was a sober mind which is interesting to say that after he smokes and drinks but he is sharp we tell him something and he understands and it burns in his
heart. Two days ago Aaron decided to change to repent and to have a better life when we meet with him again yesterday he was glowing and so unbelievably happy he prayed for the lord to help him change, then a job offer fell into his lap and other great things happened for him
and he couldn't be better. I know that The Father and the son appeared to Joseph Smith to restore truth, and the Church of Jesus Christ again upon the earth of which we are apart and the Lord himself declared it to be the "only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" what greater blessing can you ask for then that of the way to salvation!
Love Elder Barrand
ps i talked to Rob Stoddart and we had a good conversation he made it
very clear that we would not join our church but he loves alot of Mormons and was excited to talk to me and catch up on things it was
way cool

the pictures are Caleb's Baptism
Elder Ford and I and also a picture of elder Rollins the other elder i
have trained and elder for too

Transfers!!!

2008-10-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

Dear family
I have the wonderful chance of traning agagin!! i am so excited to do this, Guelph is getting split in two. Elder Ford and i will be covering the outskirts of the city with the car and my last compaion elder Storer and other missionary will be in the more downtown area. With the area change we have no progressing investigators, but thats why i am here to find them and the best members are in my area. family tranning again brings me back to when i first came out and the faith and hope of new missionaries its a very humbling experience. i am so excited to train, a goal i have set for myself is to not return to the appartments for breaks. and i have some other great goals like tracting out most of my area or as much as i can. i want to leave the best impression on elder Ford of one who never gives up never stops working and is the most obedent and loves the work so much, along with teaching by the spirit and loving people with all
your heart. i ask for your prayers with this sacred trust the lord has given me to train again. Mom and dad keep up the amazing member missionary work i hope you are enjoying the fruits of the spirit as you help others find christ and his atonement. bryce and tiana i hope
your health problems will get better.

here are some pictures hurray!

i love you guys so much it hurts!

love elder barrand

ps i am not able to check your blogs anymore because i am trying to be
as obedient as i can

A morning on Instant message

2008-09-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

This morning I was able to instant message with Mom and Dad for 20 minutes.
Here's some things I said to them that I didn't write in my letter.
I have been eating more healthy. I bought a steamer and have been steaming vegetables. I like broccoli and other veggies. My companion inspired me to keep the morning rules which include exercise. So, I need to have my suit taken in. If I don't have a tread mill I've been jumping rope. I'm going to keep my weight a secret until I get home....but I was up to 215, now I'm down to ?????
We had about 12 investigators and that's dropped back to 6. I love my companion, the scriptures and the atonement. I took the color personality test and guess what colors I am? 60% yellow and 40% red.
The town we are working in is a commuter town for Toronto. There are about 180K people and about 180 people in the ward. The immigrants are nicer to us than the white people, one strong member in the ward is a RC (recent convert) and he's from India.

Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going very well, our most progressing investigator is this young girl named Sara she is 15 but her parents are ok with us talking to her we gave her the Book of Mormon two of three weeks ago and she has read all the way to 2 Nephi 26, so she just got past Isaiah which
is pretty exciting. Her big stumbling block is she works at Tim Horton's on Sundays we told her church is more important and she agreed and said she would try and get her schedule changed.
Also we are still working with Caleb he is doing good we taught him the word of wisdom and he has been very consistent with church we are still panning on him getting baptized on the 28th of September. His parents are progressing well they need some work though. pease if you can keep them in your prayers

Famly things are going so well, i wish i had some fun and crazy stories to tell you, i will make an extra effort next week to have a good story. You guys are the best i love you so much
Love elder Barrand

Gelph is just exploding!

2008-09-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Family,
So i fractured my pinkie knuckle bone. there is a picture of me and the president and i have the splint on for it.
The other pictures and at zone conference where i didn't know i had fractured my hand yet but it was really swollen. Elder Storer is the tall one with blond hair. the other pictures is with elder wells and elder summers they are my two favorite elders. they came out with me and i lived with elder wells for 7 1/2 months and elder summers is the assistant, and a really good friend.

Life is doing amazing Guelph is just exploding with people to teach and find and love i am having a blast. Doug came out to church and the ward did such an amazing job fellow shipping him i didn't even have to do anything. they even invited him to lunch this week i am so thankful
for good wards who like missionary work. this week we had three district meetings together and they asked my to talk and give instruction on getting people to church and i got alot of compliments from other elders it made me feel really good. thanks for your emails and prayers!!!
love elder barrand

setting Guelph on "fire"

2008-08-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

Family!!
i got transferred my new area is Guelph. i am so excited i am not a zone leader anymore and i can focus more of my efforts on my area. i even couldn't sleep last night because i was coming up with great ideas on what i can do in my area to make it catch on fire. nothing
else exciting has happened
love elder barrand

here are some pictures the first 2 are of elder ruckman and i, the second was a hike we went on to a cool water fall i slipped in and got a bunch of small leeches on me it was a blast!

Searching for the true church

2008-08-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Family
Things are going amazing! we finally have a few good people in our teaching pool and i am so excited, the top three are a man named Cory he and his wife have a 6 year old son who has been asking them questions like who is God and they didn't want to answer him wrong so they have been looking for a church to help them understand. while teaching him the spirit is so strong, comparatively to some one who is just being polite and listening to us, to some one who is seeking and looking. i love it! It is the same story for this other lady named Jodi the she is searching too but because of her husband there is lots of opposition. Another guy we just started teaching his name is George. he is a convert to the catholic church and has done tons and ton of study into the catholic faith. he was the first Christian i have meet in the year and half i have been out that actually knew the word "atonement" and what it was referenced to. we haven't had too
much teaching opportunities with him so far but we gave him some chapters to read in the book of Mormon and he said he would do it, when i gave him some chapters it was 2 Nephi 26-33. haha i don't know if i was prompted to give him that or i just wanted him to know that his church was apostate. Anyways i am loving life and the work thanks for your emails and letters and prayers they help so much.

love elder barrand

9 hours of tracting

2008-08-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hello family!!!

Here is a cool story from this week. We were traveling some elders in a very small town the name is Elliot lake it is a retirement community and lots of old people and there is a church on every street corner and there is and out 13000 people in the town and each church is well attended. most missionaries view going to this area as punishment luckily there are some good missionaries in there now but their faith has been lacking a little because of little or no success,
but i was so excited to server there just for one day so when we got there we planned for the days activities and they had no appointments or anything scheduled, i was so excited to help them find people. we set a goal to tract for 9 hours, that meant ever hour we have to work
would be spent tracking they seemed half enthused to do it but elder Williams the elder i was supposed to travel is going home at the end of this transfer and is counting the days till when he will be home, and i was going to do this with him, he kinda wanted to do it just to be able to say he tracked all day once. So we started and worked our butts off running after people down the street and talking to tons of people, there was alot of persecution and alot of bible bashing because most people know about the Mormons in that town. I loved it! we got 17 great contacts for them and caught their area on fire they got 6 new investigators this week and are happy and excited about the work again. it was for sure a very fun travel.

Love Elder Barrand

zone conference like stake conference

2008-08-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

i apologize ahead of time for having a short email if i had more time i would write more but i am traveling too much to do so. things are going amazing elder ruckman and i conducted a zone conference and president middleton complimented that it was just as good or better then any stake conference which is way cool. i am right now in my old area the soo, again i love it here it was such a blast serving here there have been a couple people in each area where i just love so much and they make the whole experience worth it. the people that will be life long friends and you will keep in contact with them. i am so thankful for it. anyways good luck in you missionary work even if they are unwilling to learn or don't like or reject the message you did your put and can stand blameless before God. i hope more opportunities arise for you guys. i love you so much and may the lord bless you.

love elder barrand

ps tomorrow marks 18 months
i was walking past a movie theater and i thought about being home for
a few moments and felt sick to my stomach

What I'm Thankful for:

2008-07-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!!!
Happy birthday Celeste!

here is a quick report on the work:

This week went really well we had a couple of really jam packed days while we were in our area and were able to get 3 new investigators, definitely a blessing from the Lord Also a past investigator we had dropped 2 weeks ago finally came to church with her excommunicated boy friend her name is Jacqui and she has some great potential to progress I am very excited. Also we started teaching a young couple name Adrian and Lexy. Adrian believes the Book of Mormon to be true because a preacher from another faith told him to read it and he did and loved it, which is very interesting. Then Lexy is still having a hard time believe that God exists so its fun trying to teach them at two different levels.

Things are going so great!
mom and dad, danica and dave you guys are the best thanks so much for being great member missionaries i wish and pray more members would have the courage like you to invite others to hear the good news! i bet the missionaries there just love you. one cool thing that has happened i finished reading Jesus the Christ for the first time, and i loved it. i set a goal for myself to make
that book along with preach my gospel a life long study. i got your letter mom about things i am thankful for so here are a few on my list:
God being our loving father in heaven hearing and answering our
prayers giving his peace to our hearts when we need it.
Jesus Christ preforming and completing the atonement, through which we
can receive a remission of our sins.
Joseph Smith his humble prayer that opened the windows of heaven once again.
My family i love you all so much! who can ask for a better more
amazing group of people.
The scriptures to teach us how we can come unto Christ.
The companionship of the Holy Ghost, what peace is brought into my
heart when living worthy of that great gift.
there are many more but i am our of time

love elder barrand

Authority, Shannon, never been more obedient, enthused and urgent

2008-07-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Dad and mom, Oh how i love your letters i just got your 4th of july letter yesterday thank you so much for the $40 that means alot but i dont know what i will spend it on. and it sounds like you are doing some amazing work helping people over come their addictions, i love it!
mom and dad if i had enough time to tell you everything that is going on that would be amazing. but i want you to know mom and dad that i have never being more obedient, more enthused, more urgent about the work, and i can only feel myself going onward and upward, i love the
lord and his work, i love the atonement and the power of recieving a remission of our sins, i love the principle of repentance and always being able to improve our lives, i love my companion and the missionaries i serve. i love the story about coaching the swim team dad it brought tears to my eyes. thank you so much mom and dad for supporting me while i share the gospel i love it. these last 6 months will be the best i know for sure

here is a quick report on the work Things are going very well we are getting the area jump started again last transfer we dropped most of our investigators. So some people we are teaching is Shannon she is a 23 year old lady that studied world religions as her major is college, so she knows a lot about each religion but doesn't really believe them. when we were teaching her she
had so many questions but we said we would answer them in the next lesson so she is very excited to meet with us again. We are also teaching the guy named Pat he is about 20 and has a brain tumor and will die in about 5-10 years he is a tattoo artist and has alot of word of wisdom problems but he wants to change his life and understood authority when we taught him and asked so the preacher that baptized me didn't have the authority? and we were so happy he
understood. Other then that the Zone is doing very well. elder Ruckman and i get along very well and we are learning a lot from each other in our long driving trips.

Love Elder Barrand

Transfers

2008-07-13T10:22:00.001-07:00

were this week things are a little crazy i am leaving elder tagg and my new companion is elder ruckman he is a stud. other then that things are great i love you guys and hope everything is going well

love elder barrand
Dad and Mom,
First off happy birth day Dad!!!
i hope you guys do some thing fun for 4th of july, we saw some cool fireworks last night for canada day but it didnt even compare to anything in the states. i remeber Ken alot he actually made a huge impression on me when i served with him in teachers quorm. he was just then a recent convert and was magnifying his calling very well, then later when i was in elders quorum he was always the first one to sign up for any service opportunities, he is an amazing man. Thanks for the reminder, that everyone has the potential to become amazing, for we
are all Gods children. This week went by really fast. the longest day was we drove 4 hours to
go do a baptismal interview in the Soo for Bob davidson's son its was amazing, then drove 4 hours back to sudbury and contacted a few people and that was our day. the feeling i felt while bob was telling me how thankful he is for his son, Rob being baptized, fill my heart with the
unexplainable joy i loved it.

Love elder barrand

helping and serving

2008-06-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

hello family

thanks for your emails and letters they are awesome!
nothing really exciting this week, i had a chance to travel my old
companion elder Rollins the one i trained. it was a really cool
experience he has grown alot, and i have grown a ton, it is crazy to
think that just in the short space of 6 months a person can change
alot because of different companions, studying the scriptures, people
you are teaching, etc. i think for me i have been very lucky to be a
zone leader i think your progression speeds up a little bit when you
have to help and serve and teach others i love it.
Things are going great i love you all

love elder barrand

dissapointing and rewarding

2008-06-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah that presithood lesson was fun to sit in from a missinoaries
point of view. so some thing very interesting happened we went back to
timmins to travel the elders there. the ferrigans have fallen less
active which was very saddening. but we were able to reteach them and
have them feel the same spirit they felt at the time of their
conversion they are going try their best to get back to church.
it is so weird seeing the people that we were teaching 1 year ago. i
feel kinda like time has stood still for me i have progressed so much
at the same time the world around has barley moved at all. but at the
same time it has changed as well. it is a very interesting feeling.
reading over what i just wrote i makes no sense but oh well. i love
being a missionary there is no better no more rewarding, no more
disappointingand heart aching thing. i love it!

love elder barrand

2008-06-08T17:51:00.001-07:00

thats sounds like a blast, dad! thanks for the scriptures and the
support. things are going so amazing i love my new compaion so much is
the best, we are so much alike we actually both went to byu and fail
all our classes because of wow thats pretty funny, and we kinda look
alike because we are both atractive. its going to be a blast plus he
is an amazing teacher and so charitable and very hard worker i love
it.

We are working with this young family trying to get them married we
fasted for them that they would have the drive to do that. Their names
are Bill and Crystal they have 3 aborable kids, its the perfect little
family. other then that being up north is the best we have dont a ton
of driving around because thats just how our area is and also we had
to drive 4 hours for Zone Leader Conuncil where all the Zone Leaders
get together to help make the mission better there are some amazing
things that are really going to help out. anyways i am so excited for
this transfer its going to be the best.

Love Elder Barrand
ps my new address is:
1601 Paris St. #612
Sudbury ONT P3E 5W3
CANADA

2008-06-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

Let's party in the Lord

2008-06-01T20:55:00.001-07:00

so the investigator we are working with right his name is Tim, he is
very interesting/eccentric its fun teaching him he always says "lets
party in the lord" and these other crazy phrases like "are you
serious?" its hilarious we crack up every time. and he is pretty much
the only person in our teaching pool that we teach on a consistent
basis. which i am ok with because as zone leader i dont get to spend a
whole lot of time in my own area i am mostly help our elders areas and
teaching and training them i love it.

love elder barrandDad i love you! this has been the best email yet! thank you so much
for your love and concern. you have seal my intents with your
testimony. this past week was amazing!!! on wednesday its was the best
p-day yet when we taught 100 cathlic students about our church then i
didnt think about playing video games all week. it was the last week
of the transfer as well on sunday the prophet and elder ballard for
stake conference came and spoke to canada and it was amazing. then we
were finishing off the transfer with blitz day and i worked my tail
off harder then any other day, out on the hottest day of the year so
far, and riding bikes it was a blast! we talk to so many people. the
last day of the transfer at night elder madsen and i were praying
closeing off the transfer and we gave an accounting to the lord if had
accepted our work this transfer and the feeling i got was amazing the
burning in my heart as i went to sleep knowing that the lord was well
pleased with my work.
Dad thank you so much for this email and the scriptures they have made
it final for me. i will make sure and keep praying for help from the
lord to over come. but just so you know i have not been struggiling
after last p-day. so please kkep me in you prayers and dont worry i am
working hard and having fun.

Great News i am getting transfered!!!! to the Great North Zone Leader.
with my favorite elder, elder Tagg, and i will be able to visit my old
stomping grounds in Timmins and Sault Saint Marie. I couldn't be more
happy.

i dont know my address yet though

I love you mom and dad you are the best!!!

love Elder Barrand

2008-05-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Dad, and mom
you are the best i love you! thats exactly what i needed to hear bury
their temptation or their sin in the ground, thats what i need to do
in my life. on a very personal note i have been struggling alot
thinking about playing video games when i get home, remember i said
that i would never play WoW again. i read a New Era article "Stephen
F. Powell, "Game Over," New Era, Aug 2005, 27" where is says you can
play games but in moderation so it got my mind thinking that i could
play WoW when i get home. but my mind has been consumed by it. i fear
what would happen if i came home and played. i don't know if i would
have the control. luckily these past week i have not talked about it
but i have been thinking about it alot. it hasn't slowed me down work
wise but. it does consume my attention. so like the anti-nephi-lehi's
i need to completely bury my past transgressions.

Anyways on a happier note! Today we are taking 100 catholic students
on a tour of our church and teaching them the basic principles and
doctrines and a Q and A session. i am so excited plus i organized most
of it together which is really fun.
Its so interesting being a Zone Leader because you have so much stuff
to get done, so not a whole lot of time is spent finding. you travel
alot so you are not in your own area alot. but i love working with
other elders helping them in their area and training them on what
they can improve on, and learning from them. i love it!

love Elder Barrand

Weak vs Strong Wards

2008-05-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

I love you guys i hope that writing you two is as personal and i cant
get without using too much time. i love being able to talk to you i am
sorry that i was complaining about some things and not really talking to
you two more to tiana and joe. anyways i love being out hear our
investigator that came to church Tim he was very intrigued at if the
church is the true and one perfect one on the earth then why were the
members joking and teasing each other. btw the bishop here is one of
the funnest people i have ever meet. so i got a interesting perspective
when testifying to time that the church is run by none perfect people
trying to do their best. anyways after i got off the phone with you
guys we went to a dinner appointment where the very strong members were
telling us about how nice it would be to live in Utah or in another
ward where they had a simple calling like door greeter or something
like that. and i told them that hey should be thankful for being in a
weak ward because how much more do they need you to help the ward and
server them and use your talents. interestingly this statement
contradicted what i had told you guys on the phone not one hour before
hand. so i came to the realization or how blessed am i to be need by a
ward or area that is struggling that needs my help. i love you so
much and wanted to say again happy mothers day

love elder Barrand

ps i guess you didn't write because of mothers day

I am a red

2008-05-11T20:22:00.001-07:00

ohh dad i love getting your emails the family looks so happy all together there is only one person missing, well not really missing in spirit :) i love you guys. things are going tough we have no one we are teaching. everyone we find are YSA because london is a big college town. but i love my compaion like alma and amulek did, we help each other so much and lift and inspire and correct and teach each other elder madsen is amazing. when i read the story of alma and amulek i see it different in some perspective because i am a missionary. alma goes to the city and is rejected then trys again this time with the help of a member, so one who lives there and knows the people not just moved in from colorado for a few months then with the testimony of both a servant and a member thousands were converted. telling me how important member missionary work it.
anyways i am so thankful for all your support and your prayers i was wondering how joe was doing he has not written me back in a long time if you could get on his case that would be great. i see so much potential in him. how is don doing in progressing in the gospel. is he living up to his covants? ask mom about the "colour" personality test i took and how i have turned into a red on the mission compared to a white in highschool and a yellow in college. its weird what responsibilty, the gospel, and leadership and does to a person.

love elder barrand

I'm a red

2008-05-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

i am sorry that i didnt write you mom i love getting your letters they are a highlight of my day i love when you personalize them to me. the family looks so happy all together. you are an amazing ward missionary i wish all members could be good fellow shippers and finders as yourself. some things this week that have happened is we have been teaching alot of people but they are all YSA and we have to hand them off we only have one person in our teaching pool. so allot of our focus is on the members most important the bishop. oh mom i love this new weahter the winter is finally over and i am so thankful :) a couple weeks ago you said that you were prayer for me to have more energy. a couple days before i received your email about you guys praying about that i remember telling my companion that i have never had this much energy on the mission before. so i am so thankful for your prayers i know they work. i am trying so hard to develop more love and charity. its really funny if you remember when i was in high school i was a White on the color personality test. then in college i switched to a yellow. you would never believe what "color" i am now. i am a Red with a little bit of yellow. isnt that crazy what responsibility and leadership with do to a person. anyways i love you mom and i hope you can receive some good revelation on how you can help the people you are working with in your job

love elder barrand

ps new address is
340 Colborne St. #404
London, ONT N6B 3N1

More disaplined focused and mature

2008-04-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

i feel so important! thanks so much for your letters and updates on the family. thats amazing about sean i wish i could have seen him dive. dive i cant wait to try diving again being so much more disciplined and focused and mature i have gained a lot of upper body strengthened and i would say i am more conditioned i just need to get more flexibility oh well i really don't worry about that stuff. there was a really cool scripture that president middleton read to the zone leaders yesterday.

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends Sidney and Joseph, your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.
2 Therefore, follow me, and listen to the counsel which I shall give unto you.
3 Behold, and lo, I have much people in this place, in the regions round about; and an effectual door shall be opened in the regions round about in this eastern land.
4 Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls.
5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;
6 For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.
7 But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever thing ye declare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things.
8 And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.

what is so amazing about this section is that the area that is mentioned is the area i am in right now. the coolest part when he read this to us is i received a very strong conformation from the holy ghost. that don and the rest of the family was and is kept safe. it was so powerful. i am so thankful for the gospel. i love it. it is so weird in this new area being white washed in starting over God has blessed us with some amazing investigators. the thing i like most about this area is the members are so strong and stalwart it reminds me a lot of home. dad i love you and thank you for the amazing example you have always been in magnifying you priesthood and fulfilling your callings.

love elder barrand

Don and my talk

2008-04-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

hey mom and dad things are going so amazing i love it!

thanks so much for all that you do! please tell don that i love him.
the highlight of this week is i spoke in sacrament meeting on easter and i told the story about Don and his adoption and sealing into our family then bore testimony that if he died when he was in Iraq that i would know we could be together as a family forever because of the Atonement. i loved it! a family came up to me afterwards and told me my talk was an answer to their prayers if they should foster children, i told them that the spirit whispered to me that i should talk about it this morning while lying in dead.

Love Elder Barrand

Rita came to church!

2008-03-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

Family!! This Transfer is so much fun here are some crazy pictures of
our awesome district. The city is down town Hamilton, Elder Romine and
I with our brand new 2008 Malibu it's sooo nice, and I am wearing my
new suit.

Dear Family here is a report one the work:
This week went by really well, Rita finally came to church it was
awesome, I hope and pray her mom lets her get baptized. Jethro is
progressing slowly but surly we have to invent something fun and new
each time we go over to teach him, last time we brought a bunch of
pictures and played a fun guessing game.
This week we traveled Elder Orr and Elder Penner, I loved traveling
elder Penner he is so smart and loves the studying and learning the
gospel he had this great excitement to talk to people and contact
them. And he was an amazing teaching bearing strong testimony of the
savior and expounding scriptures in the most amazing way.

Love Elder Barrand

Twenty year olds......

2008-03-16T13:19:00.001-07:00

Here is a quick report on the Work:
Things are going amazing Elder Romine and I are having so much fun working so hard. Zone Leader council was amazing spiritual experience with tons a great in sites to help become a better leader.
Rita is progressing very well we taught her all the commandments and gave her a strength of youth pamphlet. The only thing that is holding her back is her mom thinks our church is a cult and doesn’t want her to come to church. So we told her to bare her testimony of the Book of Mormon to her mom and also read some of the strength of youth pamphlet with her. I pray that her heart is will softened

Family!!
Things are doing so great I cant express in words the spirit I have felt in the passed few days as I have received instruction from President Middleton and from other Zone Leaders. To explain what happens and how the mission is run, all the Zone leaders gather together with the President and his assistants and we talk and give instruction to each other in the spirit, discussing the needs of the missionaries and what goals we have set to improve each of our individual Zones. To open the meeting we sang hymn #27 “Praise to the Man” while singing the spirit of the Lord touched my heart I realized who I was and who I was with. I am just a kid the only things I would care about in this world would be girls and video games and maybe school if I wasn’t LDS. How does missionary work progress when 20 years olds are running it??? It is the work of the Lord and I know it! If it was not the work of the Lord missionaries would have screwed it up a long time ago. I am so thankful for the chance and opportunity to be a part of the great work of the Lord. I know it.

Love Elder Barrand

Rita, My district

2008-03-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going very well. We taught Rita our investigator a plan of salvation it was amazing she loved every second of it then we taught her how to recognize and listen to the spirit and she is doing amazing she is reading the Book of Mormon and understanding it. She is placing the puzzle pieces together of if the Book of Mormon is true then Joseph Smith was a prophet and there is Jesus Christ’s Church again on the earth. I am so very excited for her. That is so far our only progressing investigator.

Hello Family!!
Things are going to great I love the work and I love bearing testimony of the Atonement and of Joseph Smith being a prophet. Dad are so lucky to talk to Don I miss him alot
Happy birth day this Sunday mom
Love Elder Barrand

I eat sleep and drink the gospel.....

2008-02-24T08:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going great we have taught a ton of first lessons to a lot of different people looking for the elect. Most the people we talk to are just polite, or just friendly there is one that really is asking and wondering what the purpose of life is and her name is Rita. She is 17 and her family is from the Congo. I pray that she wants to find the answers.
The Zone is doing very well. Missionaries are working hard. And I am thankful

Family!!
I love you all so much. I wish I could write you all individually but time does not allow me. Mom you are an amazing member missionary I wish every ward had people like you in it. Dad thank you for being such a great example in turning to the Lord when you need help. It is hard to explain some thing new and exciting every week because I eat sleep and drink the gospel of Jesus Christ. Spiritual experiences become the norm. I recognize them and love so much, and wouldn’t trade them for anything, but there are too many to tell you every one. And I have been recording mostly all of them in my journal every night.

-25C Working Hard!

2008-02-17T16:45:00.001-08:00

Family!!
I love being a missionary! I have never worked so hard in my life. I am also very excited because i have lost weight because i have been working so hard i am at the lowest i have been all my mission 193. we are teaching this Ti family of 6 only one of them can speak English it is so much fun teaching principles as simple as you can so that it can be translated easily. It has snowed so much here it is crazy and it was so cold with the wind chill the temperature reached -25C thankful we have a car and have not gotten into any accidents. I love you all very much and am so thankful for all your support. The family picture was crazy and interesting. But it is family so i love it! It is so good to hear from Don i know the Lord is watching over him.

Love Elder Barrand

2 baptisms this Sunday

2008-02-09T16:57:00.001-08:00

Dear Family here is a quick report on the work:
Ryan King is very excited for his baptism this Sunday. Also Patrick is going to be baptized this Sunday as well. We finally got an answer to our prayers for him to be baptized; he is very excited about it and is going to bring some of his family. We are teaching a lady named Kim she is progressing very well and loves to read the Book of Mormon but is not very consistent on coming out to church. The loss of her cat, and death of a child at birth has softened her heart. Our last progressing investigator is Lucas and he speaks Mandarin so we try teaching him with a member who speaks Mandarin. He is very smart and when we gave him the Book of Mormon he said he could read it in one day we were very excited.

Family!!! Congrats on the new edition to the family Bryce, Marcinia and Sam. That is so wonderful. That makes three nieces and nephews I have yet to meet, hopefully there will be a few more by the time I get home. The new family picture is crazy but it is well done. I am having so much fun we are teaching so many great people and working so hard. We have 5 district leaders we help out and we have been traveling the last couple of days helping them in their areas and showing them love and lifting them up and it has been so much fun. I love helping them and seeing them succeed. I gave a zone conference talk on reaching your full potential through setting good goals I am sure you would have loved it mom and dad. Thanks for all your support

Love Elder Barrand

New Companion

2008-02-02T18:47:00.001-08:00

Here is a quick report on the work:
Ryan King is going to be baptized the 10th of February as he reads the Book of Mormon like 3 hours every day, also Preach My Gospel, and Joseph Smith manual. He is amazing and progressing great!
Elder Lee and I received revelation about the our area and that the Lord is not going to bless us with more or his elect and prepared people, until we can show the Lord that we are handling the Recent Converts well enough. So our companionship goal is to baptize 3 people this transfer which will make us stretch, at the same time making sure the recent converts stay strong. Its going to be fun.

Family!!
I love serving a mission so much. I love getting new companions Elder Lee is amazing he truly understands what is takes to be a great leader and missionary I have never seen such urgency to save the Children of God. Every min we spend looking to find one more person who will hear the gospel. We made a goal this transfer to only take 15 min breaks to eat 2 time each day I am so excited. This transfer is going to be a miracle transfer.

Love Elder Barrand

My new address is
177 West Ave N
Hamilton, ON L8L 5C7
Canada

Mary Wall, Zone Leader?????

2008-01-27T19:09:00.000-08:00

Dear family here is a quick report on the work This week was amazing sister Mary Wall’s baptism was a spiritual experiences unlike any other. I am so thankful for great missionaries that I was able to work with in London the Sisters and Elder Hayashi are amazing! We had a great teaching and dinner appointment with Roberto the spirit was really strong he was crying when we bore testimony that he needs to get married in the temple. We left him with the commitment of praying and talking to his Fatima about the 14th of February valentines day! The best day to get married. I pray that it works out for him.Family this week was AWESOME!! First, on Sunday Mary Wall’s baptism was amazing I will send you pictures as soon as I can. Mary is a widower and she said that he husband was at the baptism was watching she even knew where he was standing isn’t that cool! This is transfer week and on Monday and Tuesday we Blitz our area and found tons of people and set up tons of appointments it was so much fun. Then last night I received a call from President Middleton he gave me a new assignment to be Zone Leader in the Hamilton Zone. Hamilton is a city in Ontario in case you didn’t know it’s pretty big too. Anyways I am so excited I cant wait to learn, grow and develop great love for the people I serve it is going to be great. I love you all so much and thanks for all your supportLove Elder Barrand

January 9th

2008-01-17T17:11:00.001-08:00

Dear family here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going very well. We started teaching a boy named Derek he is a friend of one of the young women in the ward Cloey they are both 15 years old and he is a volleyball player and pretty good at it from what I hear. We taught him after a dinner appointment with the family there and taught the first vision we related as much as we could to him because he is about the same age and Joseph Smith was when he had the first vision it was a very fun teaching appointment the spirit was very strong and Derek wants to come to church again this Sunday.
Charles, Luke, and Joe the three 17 year old boys we are teaching, are planning on going to a mutual activity this weekend it is going to be great!
Roberto came to church again and is still progressing slow towards marriage but loves learning the doctrine and more about the church we are teaching him and his common law wife tonight and she need a priesthood blessing hopefully the spirit can help her progress towards marriage.

Family you guys are the best!! I finally got my Christmas Presents hurray!!
My new shoes are the coolest things ever! I love them so much thanks! Bryce’s family got me “Praise to the Man” a DVD about Joseph Smith and W. W Phelps the author of the lyrics to the song and I absolutely love the movie the spirit is really strong and it deepens my testimony of him being a Prophet of God also the type of man that he was and his ability and capacity to love. It is cool. Dad I missed your letter this week are you out of town?
Anyways I love everyone and all your support you are the best

Love Elder Barrand

January 2nd

2008-01-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Family here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going very well Roberto did make it out to church and had some amazing thoughts while in gospel doctrine class he is so ready to be baptized he just needs to be married we have been praying really hard to know what to teach him in order to want to get him married. The problem is we don’t see him often enough. But he does keep the commitment that we leave him with.
We taught Charles and Luke the two 17 year old boys a third, when we explained about baptism Charles said baptize me when I am in the spirit world, and Luke didn’t know what to think. So I think we need to explain to them a little better why it is so important I think it might have gone over their heads. But they are reading from the Book of Mormon and haven’t been able to make it to church yet. We are going to get them on a chapel tour so they will feel comfortable enough to come to church. Logan their less active friend is a really bad influence on them he thinks the church is good for nothing and causes more problems then helps. So I bore really strong testimony that Joseph was a Prophet and this was Jesus Christ Church and that we only get trails because God wants us to grow and learn. I think he is too comfortable being idol with his time it is very sad.

I am reading the Book of Mormon highlighting faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and endure to the end with separate colors and learning a lot more about each one. I love it

Family!!!
My newyears resolution is to eat more healthy and improve my physical condition I am a little out of shape . Also to in some small way improve my teaching a little bit each day its going to be fun. I love you all and hope you enjoyed the holidays as much as I did. Lots and lots of Disneys movies its was a blast I love hanging out with other missionaries and laughing at movies we loved when we were kids. I finally got to see Cars and I absolutely loved it!! it had one of the best lesson in it ever. And that was to love others and serve them and don’t think about yourself it was awesome! Meet the Robinsons was really funny because it was so random I laughed a lot.

Love Elder Barrand

Cell Phones! Snow forts! Relief Society President!

2007-12-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!
Wow things are so awesome I love the Christmas season it a blast! I am having so much fun I love my new companion so much he loves to go out and work hard. I am so thankful for him. It has snowed a ton this week in fact we are going to make a huge snow fort for our p-day activity as a Zone. It is so awesome to serve around other missionaries you make a lot more lifetime amazing friends. Its fun being district leader over the sister missionaries they tell me I have the best sisters in the mission so that’s cool. They remind me of Tiana. And our mission just got every mission companionship cells phones Hurray!! that makes the work so much more effective. We had an awesome dinner appt last night with this part member family they have the most adorable little girls 4 and 5 years old they were so cutie. After dinner we had a testimony meeting with the family. The father who is the only one not a member. The sisters started out and said their testimonies first then everyone else did except the father. But the spirit was so strong it was awesome. I hope he recognized it. Anyways I love being a missionary I love my Saviour, and I know he lives and I know the Joseph Smith was his Prophet to usher in the glorious last and final dispensation. I am so thankful to have this amazing knowledge. Merry Christmas everyone!

Love Elder Barrand

I'm the Relief Society Pres in a new area!

2007-12-15T05:19:00.000-08:00

hello mom and dad thing are going so freaking awesome! i got transfered to a new area, the area i am in is London Ontario i am so excited my new comp's name is Elder Hayashi. I am district leader over 3 sets of sister missionaries crazy! everyone calls me the relif society president its pretty funnny my new companion is awesome he has only been out 6 weeeks and i am his second comp. he is a very hard worker and we are going to have a blast i am so excited to be working here as you can tell i was a little burnt out in my last area so this transfer was needed and i coulnt be more excited to go out and work. i cant wait to get my new shoes :) also my new adress is:

75 Filders Green #1110
London ON N6H 4S8
Canada

Love elder barrand

christmas on the 26th of november

2007-11-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

hello family!! this week has been awesome! i got your christmas package and set up the tree like the directions told me to then i did so well i went 4 hours without opening any presents it was one of the best chirstmas's ever i got new g's which were badly needed, new scrpitures because elder rollins has a brand new set as well, a wicked sweet chirst calender, then the best gift of all mom
put together a photo album with quotes from my patriarchal blessings attached, i love it so much it is one of the best gifts i have ever gotten thank you so much mom and dad it was the best christmas on the 26th of november ever! btw the workis going well it is snowing alot i will get you pictures asap
love elder barrand

Tracting

2007-11-25T21:48:00.000-08:00











































Hello Family!
Things are going so awesome! I am not a big fan of tracking door but
there is always a time in missionary work where you have nothing to do and you
need to be out working. So tracking is the best thing you have think of. So
elder Rolling and I started knocking on doors and I have never really had much
success from getting people off their nice comfy couches to answer the door to
two dorks with parted hair and name tags and really ugly ties. We tracked out 2
streets and was able to get 6 awesome contacts. I love how the Lord blesses you
when you have faith and show it through works. Moral of the story is to keep the
missionaries from doing the least effective thing they can think of and give
them a referral today! All those who have served missions know that members are
the best way to bring people to the Truth and Light. So pray and ask Heavenly
Father who of your friends can you bring to the Gospel.
Anyways I love this precious time that I have to be around other Elders
and see and know amazing people I got to shake Elder Nelson for the Twelve Friday last week which
was pretty cool, and never before and never again will I be with 3 other
people/elders my age and start singing a Hymn and they will join me its so cool,
and be able to talk about gospel principles and doctrine all day and not get
sick of it. I love you all and hope things are going great.

Love Elder Barrand

Preach My Gospel

2007-11-18T09:03:00.000-08:00

























Hello family!

Here is a quick report on the work:

               Things are going fantastic Elder Rollins and I are teaching a man named John Blais
he has meet with missionaries before about a year back. We have  taught him a few times
and he has made the sacrifice to come out to church the past couple of weeks. We invited
him to be baptized on the 25th and he said he would. Then when talking to people at church
he mentioned to a few of the members that he was very excited about his baptism which is
very cool!

 Family life is great! I am sorry about not writing last week. What a wonderful week it has
been John has committed him self to be baptized it is so wonderful. Bob is no longer a
recent convert but has upgraded to member because his rebirth day was on the 12th of
November, then my birthday was yesterday so we had a good time eating some cake.

I am doing great mentally, physically, and spiritually although I am at about 200 pounds
I would like to cut back to about 190 the members feed us too well here. Mentally I am
getting along with my companion just great although I am ready for a new area I have
been in this area going on 6 months and its time for a scenery change. Spiritually I am
doing awesome I absolutely love being able to enjoy the amazing incredible cool stories
and the Book of Mormon has to offer. The stories show the most amazing examples or
how to be a great missionary. Also Preach My Gospel is amazing. I am striving my hardest
to become a Preach my Gospel Missionary which is the most effective tool in the Lords
Hands. We are trying to get our ward excited about doing missionary work and making
them into Preach My Gospel Members if you feel inclined to read preach my gospel go to
page 160 and start reading.

Anyways we got a little snow last week and made a huge snowman and it still has a tiny
bit left we took some funny pictures but these silly computers wont let me send any pictures
from my new camera.

Love Elder Barrand

The Importance of reading the Scriptures

2007-11-04T11:43:00.000-08:00
































Hello Family!
Things are going awesome. we are teaching everyone that will listen to us the
restoration it is so much fun! Elder Rollins and i are still together for
another transfer! hurray! our investigators are progressing slowly but surly.
our mission president said and interesting thing he said that we right now are
the Lords most Golden investigators i was thinking about that and about how can
i make me gators more golden, and i pray so hard that they will read the Book of
Mormon and Pray if it is the word of God, what is so hard about reading. then i
think back to how much i have read before my mission and i barely ever read. the
people that are the most happy are the ones that go to church read and pray, its
that simple.

THANKS so much for the camera i opened it early to take some missionaries that i
might not see again because of transfers but i LOVE IT

love elder barrand

General Conference

2007-10-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Family

Here is a quick report on the work:
Things are going great! These past couple days it seems we have barely been working 2 days of General Conference and now Zone Conference, but its awesome so much spiritual enlightenment and zeal to do better and teach better I am excited. We had Larry Wright a new investigators this week come to a session of General Conference. He slept threw most of it but the spirit was there, he has been studying with the Witnesses for 15 years and not been baptized. But he wants tomake sure it is the right one so that’s why he is talking to us. It’s going to be great to bare strong spirit fill testimony of the first vision that Elder Kakuchi taught us.Wow this are going awesome! I loved general conference my favorite talk by far was Elder Holland’s on the Trinity or President Eyring in priesthood session.
This work is amazing. I feel impressed to share what the First Vision has done for me in my life. First when the spirit that is felt in baring testimony confirms my witness that it happened! I know with out a doubt in my mind itdid! The blessing I have seen are these:
Having the best family in the world, I think back to the day when Don was sealed to us and how lucky we are to know that families are eternal. How great is it that the priesthood is restored and we can partake from its glorious blessing. I cant wait for my next sealing! Knowing that we are sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father who wants to see the very best for us. This means, receiving answers to prayers and revelations for others that we need to help. I love this gospel I feel a great neglect the gratitude I need to give it. The best way of doing that is loving and serving others. Which I am trying my best to do. I love you all and hope we can all amount to all the Lord has in store for us

Love Elder Barrand

Dinner at Bob's

2007-09-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!
Things are going great! Elder Rollins and I are working
 hard we walk about 15-20 miles a day and talk to
every person we can and we are having the best
times of our lives. Elder  Rollins is really smart and
knows the gospel really well he is teaching me a great
 many things. Elder Rollins is 6'7 and about 215 pounds.
 So all my companions have been a lot bigger then me
its fun, but I still pick on him anyways. Thank you so
much for your letters Celeste and Mom they make my
days! Don you are a stud keep up the good work at
church they need you to be an example. Dad happy birth
day, there is a recent convert here named Bob and his
new  birth day is Nov 12 2006, and he cant wait to turn
one so he can go to the temple. Bob has spent 13 of his 44 years of life behind bars,on charges of attempted man
slaughter, and he was a drug dealer, almost made it to status of drug lord, and robbed a lot of people. But he is
a teddy bear at heart. He literally has been born again, he feeds us every Sunday and calls us every night to talk
and always gives us the biggest hugs when we see him. It's amazing what the gospel can do. I love you all and
thanks for your support
Love Elder Barrand

Mary Ellen Nyman's Baptism and Elder Rollings

2007-09-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hello family!!!
Here is a quick report on the work:
This week is going by great but very fast. Elder Rollings arrived in our area and went out and found 2 wonderful new investigators Kim who is a single mom and a 4 month old baby, looking for truth as well as her family, and it is a miracle she is still alive she survived an amazing car accident. Its going to be fun teaching her because she has such amazing faith and a strong testimony in
miracles. Hugh the other new investigator was a media referral for a Book of Mormon, he seems very excited to read it and very humble. Mary Ellen Nymans Baptisam went great! She is so excited about life there is a huge change from the first time we meet her. She is making sure she will be there this Sunday to get the Holy Ghost, and then every following Sunday to partake of the sacrament.
This week was transfers week and I got a new companion, and it is so much fun! My New companion's name is Elder Rollings. The Last area Elder Rollings served in was the MTC, and that means I am training him! HURRAY It is such a blast, he has some amazing faith, I can tell already because the first day we went out to work we found two great new investigators. I am so lucky to have the chance to train another missionary especially with my self being just a few months out. so i gave birth too, in mission terms i have boy and i am a daddy. Congrats on the baby Dan and Dave that's so exciting!! She is so cute and I love the name Lily. Congrats on you 1 year mark Tiana time is flying by so fast. I love you all and hope you are all doing ok. I will make sure I get pictures for you next week.
Love Elder Barrand

Wednesday Sept 12

2007-09-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

Dear Family
Here is a quick report on the work:
Maryellen's baptismal date for the
16th looks like its going to go through
the Zone Leaders Traveled us yesterday
and gave her an interview. We are
trying to get her a ride to stake
conference which there is barley enough
members going too. So I think we are
going to have the baptism on Sunday
evening. Its very exciting the change
that has been brought into her life from
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We got a new investigator name Barb this
week she is a media referral from a commercial. She is golden, we wants the spirit
in her life bad, and wants to find a good church to go to. She is going through some hard family troubles
that has humbled her a lot.

Hey family!!! Things are going so great it is awesome being a missionary!
I got some amazing emails from guys this week. Don you are a stud I hope you
fulfill your callings to the fullest, there are some amazing blessings that come
from teaching. Bud Bailey in the MTC is doing fantastic learning another language. And It sounds like the family is doing great thank you for you emails
I love them very much.

Summer came to an end fast the tempature has drop to about 8 degrees C and
rained a ton I love trying to contact people out in the rain it's a blast they
seem to never have time but I think they say that because they don't like the
rain. But I love the rain. I wish I could be in your ward mom and dad with 12
gators at church I get so excited if we have 2 there, that must be fun, anyways
I love you all very much and hope everything is going well

Love Elder Barrand

The coolest and best story of all

2007-09-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,
Heres a quick report on the work:
Things are going great! Maryellen the lady with the baptizmal date is
progressing very well she is takening the stop smoking program really hard, but
we know that she will be able to over come it becauseshe told us about how she
used God's help to get over her crack addiction.
Rob is going through some hard times because his girl friend left him again, he
might not see it but i think its a blessing because he needs the gospel bad in
his life. Now nothing we be holding him back besides smoking from getting the
blessings that comes from keeping the commandments.
Study is going well, i have focus most my efforts this last week on lesson one
and two, most of all the atonement, it is amazing!

Things have been going great. Its so great to hear from everyone Missionary work
really is fun my only worry and care is for others and their salvation, i wish
people understood that when we cantact them on the street, but oh well. i wish i
had some cool or great stories to tell you guys, the only thing i see much is the atonement of Jesus Christ
taking affect, which i think is the coolest and best story of all. thank you for
your prayers they work.

love Elder Barrand

Thursday August 30th 2007

2007-09-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Family
here is a report on the work:
Things are going great we have been working hard with our investigators.
Maryellen Nyman has a baptismal date for the 14th of September, she absolutely
loves having us over. She has progressed huge amounts in the past few weeks, the
biggest thing she is going to have to over come is her addiction to tobacco
which we knew she will be able to over come with the help of the Lord.
Also Brant and Emily are progressing very well they read the Book of Mormon now
every day its wonderful with Brant’s new job they are going to use the first
paycheck to bye Emily’s birth certificate so that she can get a marriage
license.
We have been working hard to find new people, because our teaching pool is small
right now.

Hey everyone sorry i was unable to write you guys last week we had our last Zone
Conference with President Ashton. Our new Mission Pres's name is Middleton its
going to be great. We our having fun working hard. hope everything is going
great back at home. i love you all.

Love Elder Barrand

Celina Jordan's Baptism

2007-08-18T21:48:00.001-07:00

Dear family

Here's the report on the work
 We had an awesome week! Celina Jordan was baptized this Sunday; it is so
exciting to her make that wonderful covenant with Heavenly Father. Now that she
is baptized I think her family finally has all the motivation to keep the
commandment and go to church every Sunday and be active members. It is
wonderful. At Celina's baptism one of Celina's daughter's friends told us
that she wanted to be baptized, we are going to start teaching her this
Saturday.
 We are also working with a young family the father and mother's names
are Ryan and Marcie. We watched parts of the video Family Answers and he
absolutely loved it. They are progressing very well.
 
When we watched that video with Ryan and Marcie I relized how amazing mom and
dad were its like they took notes from that video of what would make great
parents and they lived it, always making time for us each week for dates. Dad
always asking how was your day, and me always answering it was good
You guys were awesome thanks so much for being great parents!
Don, I miss you a lot and love you very much. You are always in my prayers never
forget that. Please be safe. Please live worthy to hear that promptings of the
Holy Ghost. he will keep you out of harms way. I love you

Love elder barrand

Celina Jordan wants a forever family!

2007-08-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hey family
Things are going great! There will be a baptism of Celina Jordan this weekend,
she is so excited to be baptized and have the gift of the Holy Ghost. And to be
able to raise her kids in the church and progress with her new husband
Another one of the people we are teaching is Maryellen, she loves listening to
us when ever we talk about families being together forever she starts crying,
she wants to be baptized but does not know if she was baptized when she was
younger, we are trying to get a record check on her.
We are also working with a man named Rob who has been in contact with a lot of
anti from a local priest, and has been turned off to that church because of the
contention that comes from seeing and reading the anti. So things are
progressing with him slowly but in time he will come around.

Love Elder Barrand

Thining of the Atonement

2007-07-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Family
Wow things are going great! We just got back from Zone conference which
was amazing, right before we left we stopped by an investigators house and
taught them a Third lesson, it was fantastic, The situation for this
investigator is she is living with a member and not married, her name is Celina,
she has been wanting to be baptized for a few weeks but has been unable to
because she was not married to Brother Jordan. They have bought the marriage
license but have not gotten it signed by someone with the authority to marry
them yet. We committed to them to get married before the week was up and they
said they would, and then she told us that she wanted to be baptized ASAP so we
gave her the date of the 5th of Aug. As well Angel another one of our
investigators was with us at the Jordanâ€™s and has also wanted to be baptized
the same time as Celina so she wants to be baptized on the 5th as well its very
exciting.  I love you all very much and I hope everything is going well.

Love Elder Barrand

p.s. the church is true, I know Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ and Heavenly
Father, with and answer to a humble prayer. I canâ€™t think of anything besides
the Atonement that we could be more happy about!

The reluctant wife

2007-07-19T15:42:00.001-07:00

Dear Family
Hello Family Things are going well. Dan our investigator had a baptismal
date for this Sunday but his wife does not want him to get baptized, we have
tried to teach her every time but she never wants to listen to us, we told Dan
that we respect his wifes feelings and we dont want to go against her. So
that door closed but another one opened we are getting a couple married this
weekend! Brother Jordan has been living with Celina, finally Brother Jordans
Divorce Papers are though so we went and got them the paperwork for a marriage
license they were really happy when we gave it to them. Celina really wants to
get baptized, that was the only thing holding them back.
Another exciting event we all rehearsed Nearer My God to Thee and
sung its for one of the other Elders Investigators Cj who we gave a baptismal
date for the 29th.
I will try and get some pictures to you guys asap
love Elder Barrand

Tyler and Dan and President Monson

2007-07-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!
Things are going great up in Sault Ste Marie, We have one investigator
with a baptismal date, his name is Tyler and he is struggling with the word of
wisdom, When we teach him it we will promise some major blessings it will be
great. We have been working very hard trying to talk to people and share the
restoration. Another investigator named Dan.  Is about 50 and is unemployed has
let us teach him. He came to church this Sunday. He is a big history buff and I
tried the best I could to tell him about how the world changed with the
revolutionary war and America being the only country at that time in the world
where they could practice religious freedom. I see some amazing potential in
this man. He is hard to read because he does not show emotion. In addition, he
is reading the Book of Mormon and keeping commitments.

I read the past conference talks and they are amazing! One of my favorites is I
Know My Redeemer Lives by Monson, after reading that about life and death I got
excited about sharing my new found knowledge with anyone that had some one pass away, and I am so
thankful for our Lords atoning sacrifice so that we could live again and be with
our families forever. I love you all and thanks so much for your support and
prayers.

Love Elder Barrand

2007-07-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hello Family,
In my new area we are walkin/riding bikes. We have been working hard all week
and only had one sit down lesson with a less active member Emily and her
boyfriend Brant who is investigating and living with, during the lesson one of
Brants friends Tayler who is 14 came and sat in our lesson in and told us he
wanted to become a member of our church we gave him a copy of the book of mormon
he opened it up right there and started reading page one we told him that he
could be baptized as early as the 22nd and he was very excited about that, he
just needs to get his father who he told us would not be to excited to quit
smoking to approve his baptism.
Things are going great! We are trying really hard to get members excited about
doing missionary work, they feed us alot here so that should be pretty easy.
Thank you everyone for you support, letters, and prayers they are very nice!

Love Elder Barrand

District Leader

2007-07-01T19:24:00.001-07:00

Hello Family
 I have wonderful news I am leaving Timmins and headed to Sault Saint
Marie, the only place in the mission that part of its area covers some of the
State Michigan, and the coolest part is the Lord has placed me as District
Leader, and I have only been out 3 transfers, not very many people get to be
senior companion being out this young let alone be leadership, anyways when
President told me about be district leader he said the lord wants me to reach my
full potential, so I am very excited. My new companion is elder Lahadurn he is
huge weights about 300 pounds and is from Montana.

June 20 2007

2007-06-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Family! Heres an update on the work. Things
are progressing very well with Lisa. When she
said the closing prayer yesterday i felt the spirit
so strong,We have been trying to get her to read
and pray every morning with her sons. One of her
sons Trevor wants to be baptized but does not want
to learn about the church its weird. Other then that
its going great. We are also working with Richard
Cooper, he knows about and wants to be baptized,
and whenever we have gone over to his house to
teach him we always ask his wife if we can do
anything for her and she has always been friendly to missionaries, then as soon
as we give Richard a date to be baptized his wife doesn't want him to go to church
anymore. So we have been praying really hard that she will be willing to let Richard
progress and that she herself will be interested in learning about what we are
teaching. The next time we go over there and going to ask her if she wants to know about the amazing covenant
Richard is going to make when he gets baptized. Hopefully that will work. My
studying has improved dramatically over the past fews days. I have been to afraid
to mark up me new set of scriptures because they look so nice, finally i talked
myself into highlighting Names and Places which really helps me comprehend them a
lot more
Life is great! I read this morning the Jacob chapter 5 and finally understood
it! Its freaking awesome i love that the Lord tells us in these latter days when
we are doing missionary work that he will be with us and that if we work with
all our might are joy is going to be so great! And it is! I am so happy right
now having fun sharing the gospel. Jake Ferrigan, the 15 year old recent convert
told me that he didn't want to get the priesthood, I flat out told him that
without responsibility he will not amount to anything in this life, then i was
sharing this experience with Elder Packer and he told me that it was the voice
of my Father telling him that, then i pondered on how proud Dad would have been
when he heard me say that. And how great a dad i have! Happy Fathers Day!

Love Elder Barrand

June 13, 2007

2007-06-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

hello everybody!!!
HOLY COW its so amazing to hear from you don!! i prayed so hard the night before 
you e-mailed us that you would contact us in some way. i guess is worked. Don i 
have some advice for you Dont Die! there was a promise give by a general 
athourity that if you read the book of mormon in another language then read the 
book of mormon in english verse by verse you will be fluent in that language 
when you are done, so you should try that with spanish, i did it for 2 chapters 
then got distarcted, anyways i love being on a mission! it is so amazing! We are 
praying for three people to be baptized before the 24 which is the last day of 
this transfer Chris, Richard, and Lisa its going to be great! I will be sad to 
move out of Timmins i love it here the people treat me like family its great!

love Elder Barrand

Jake and Jason Ferigan get baptized!

2007-06-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Family
Things are going amazing here in Timmins! We had 3 baptisms this past week the first two were of a recent
converts sons Jake and Jason Ferrigan, their dad baptized them in a beautiful lake one after another, it was
great we had Lisa, one of our investigators, show up to the baptism it was the first one in 8 months she was
able to witness. That was on last Saturday, then on Sunday after church Liliane Gauthier got baptized by her
husband it was great! Some other people we are teaching are Chris and Heaven, they are a young couple living
together. They are going to be married as soon as they can get a copy of Heavens birth certificate. Richard
another investigator that has been meeting with missionaries for the past year has finally made it out to church
with his four year old son, he loved it and wants to come back next week. We are also beginning to teach our
recent converts other children Brother Ferrigan's 23 and 26 year old daughters.
Hey family its so great to hear from you guys! I have some amazing pictures of Jake and Jason's baptism i
will try and get them to you as soon as possible. I don't have much to say except that i love working for the
Lord working hard always thinking about Jesus Christ its great! Calling people the repentance is so much fun.
Especially when they have a lot to change from.
Love Elder Barrand

Things are going great up here in Timmins

2007-05-24T10:49:00.001-07:00

We have a baptismal service this Sunday right after church. Where our recent convert
Wayne Ferrigan will be baptizing his two boys, Jake who is 15 and Jason who is 17.
they are very excited because they have seen the amazing change that has taken place
in their fathers and mothers life.
Also Liliane Gauthier will be baptized by her husband which is extremely exciting. There is
a young couple we are working with named Chris and Heaven they are set to be
baptized on the 10th of June, they are living together so Elder Hoffman I wish i had
time to answer all your emails individually!!! Tiana you rock thanks for being a great
example to me. Mom good luck on all your classes and your paper if it were me i would
try and eat all the elephant in one sitting just because i think it would taste pretty good.
Dad i wish i could have been there at state with you that would have been so much fun
but the things i am learning now will make me be such a better diver, student, father,
husband, friend, and brother. I almost started crying when i thought that Don may never
be able to go on a mission but there is always hope and thats all we can do is hope and
pray he has to decide for himself. Celeste congrats on your baby i cant believe you are
a mom thats crazy! You and Bard are going to be the best parents for her. Holy crap i
didn't know Bryce could get such amazing grades and be the valedictorian thats so cool!
Danica and Dave i hope everything is going well i haven't heard much from you guys.
Don email me tell me whats new in life My new companion is great! He is very obedient
and a very hard worker, and knows the scriptures very well, he has been out for 6 months
and i have only been outfor 3. and the president trusts us enough to be in Timmins its great!
Love you all
Elder Barrand

2007-05-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Dear family,

We baptized Raymonde Ferrigan on Saturday she
is an amazing women, both her sons Jake and
Jason came up to Elder Packer and I at church
and asked when can we get baptized. We told
them as soon as your dad receives the
priesthood. Earlier this week we had a dinner
appointment with a part member family, the
husband is a member and the wife has been Roman
Catholic all her life. Brother and Sister Gotea.
We invited her to get baptized and tell us on
Sunday when you would like to get it done, she
told us that she wants to be baptized on the
27th. We used the Who, What, why, when, that
elder Kerr taught us it was great! Things are
going amazing up here in Timmins, many of the
members were really sad to see Elder Packer
leave, I am too he is an amazing missionary,
I am so excited to start working with a new
companion, and progress the work.

Here is a really funny story, Elder Packer and

I decided to head down to Sudbury last nightfrom Timmins, because Elder Packer is get
ting transferred We were on such a spiritual high after having elder packer say
goodbye to the Tinney family and the Ferrigan family, We started driving down the
road and missed the one and only turn, we needed  to make the entire way. We drove
for 2 hours, on the way many things were pointed out to me that we were headed the
wrong way but we were so engaged with the amazing conversation at hand talking about
the people in Timmins. Like towns that we had never past before or the forest had
been burnt and we have never noticed it before.
There are no mountain ranges in Ontario so that you are able to tell which way you
are going so it is not unusual to drive through the forest for hours and not know.
Then all the sudden we came to a stop sign just then I realized we had been driving
the wrong way for the last 2 hours, this was at ten o clock at night so we stopped
the car gotout stretched a little and got back in the car, I realized that we did
not start driving with a prayer so I said one and in it I said please let us not hit
any moose on the way back. So we start driving back to Timmins. Elder Packer sees a
moose in the road and we are about to hit it going about 85mph, he slams on the
brakes, and we come to a complete stop about 10 feet, with the moose right in front
of the car. Then the moose just keeps running down the road and then back into the
forest, then I say another prayer thanking God for our lives. Then we get back to
Timmins 2 hours later, to sleep for a few hours then start driving to Sudbury
needless to say we did not miss that turn again. And now with a stronger testimony
that there are angels watching over missionaries and that the power of prayer works
and that the church is true!!

Love Elder Barrand

April 25th

2007-05-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Family
My First Baptism is this Sunday! For Wayne Enright Ferrigan.  He received an answer to his prayers through a dream and also he had a similar experience to
Joseph Smith and the first vision being over come by then Devil with doubt,fear, and guilt,  then calling upon Gods name for help then feeling the spirit
so strong and he knew this is what he needs to do is get baptized. So i gave him my old set of scriptures that i got when i was 12 and he said he would cherish
them forever, and i told him to get new ones in a couple of years because thats what i did when i came on my mission. That set of scriputers was barely used, i
remember Bryce came up to me and looked at my scriptures and said  â€œthese look brand newâ€ and i said thanks then he said that is not a compliment, and that
priced me to the heart because i never really read or studied my scriptures much before the mission, but now i cant get enough i love them so much i don't know
how i will ever be able to go a day with out reading them. They are true words of God i know Joseph Smith translated them and that Christ
lives!

Our Gator Waye

2007-04-22T08:51:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!Things are going great we have been
working hard teaching our investigators preparing
them for baptism. Elder packer and i are traveling
North Bay (another city in the Great North) it is
300k away i don't really know how far that is in
miles but it took us about 3 hours to get here.
We get to actually see other missionaries it is
awesome! Wayne our amazing gator at church on
Sunday told me the excuse for not getting baptized
was melting away, then we went to go teach him
the word of wisdom on Monday and he had already
started living it that morning. This man was so
prepared to hear the gospel and have it change his
life, it is so cool to be able to see the affects that is has on him and his family.
I am so thankful for Mom and Dad even thoughit was tough getting up every morning at
5:45 for scrip tures and prayers it was worth it, having FHE and singinglove at home every Sunday
 together even though i would of rather been playing video games. Most important dates once a
week either going and getting owned by dad in racquetball or going on walks with mom on Sundays
wow you guys are awesome!!! and learning to settle arguments even though i have yet to use it
with a comp i have taught elder packer anyways. Anyways i love you all hope everything is going
well sorry i don't have time to write more or get any pictures to you guys.
Love Elder Barrand

2007-04-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! We had stake conference this last Sunday Elder Kerr was there,  he is a member of the first Seventy and a very loving man, he meet with just us missionaries for our Zone conference and taught us a great way to set people for baptism i cant wait so use it to set some of our gators to be baptized. Right after closing prayer at conference Elder packer and i went looking for his backpack because he had lost it. I ran into Elder Kerr just before he was leaving and was able to shake his hand again he said 5 simple words to me that hit me really strongly he said give it all you got i know that seems like simple words of Encouragement but to me it was a little different. I had a long time to think about it on the 4 hour drive back to Timmins from where Stake conference was held. I know those were inspired word to me because if I am able to give 100% of all I have only then will I be able to reach my full potential and become the man I have always dream of being, but even better the missionary the Lord has always wanted to have. You got me good Dad i thought for sure you hurt

your leg or something bad, you better be ready for a beating when i get back. I love you all and hope everything is going well! Love Elder Barrand   Here is a list of people we are working with incase you are interested Wow things are going great up here in Timmins! Its was so  wonderful to receive great council from Elder Kerr at Stake Conference, we are going to set some people for baptism using his who what why when, method i cant wait to see the results.

Howard Fletcher He is struggling to over come smoking with his girl friend Crystal but loves the gospel and loves reading the Bible we just need to get him to love reading the Book of Mormon just as much. He is a good man wants to keep the commandments of God as soon as he stops smoking we are going to baptize him.

Janna Magman -she is also trying to over come smoking she knows its not good for her and wants to quit for her 10 month old child, her mom is less active and has been for about 30 years i know that if we get her daughter baptized she will want to come back to the church. Again once she quits we are going to do the Who What Why When method with her to get her baptized.

Wayne Ferrigan -Wow this man is a Golden investigator. We have only taught him a first so far, which he loved and was excited to read the Book of Mormon and see us again. We are going to teach him a second tonight. Wayne has 4 kids and has been married to his wife for 25 years and just wants the best for his family. I cant wait to see the best thing ever happen to him and his  family and that is coming unto the fold of Jesus Christ.

Diann -She is a less active who is struggling separating the Doctrine from the Culture because she lived in Provo for a couple of summers and saw that the people weren't always the best latter day saints, and now questions the church. I had only read the Book of Mormon once before the mission

 and had a good testimony of it but now i love reading it again and understanding the stories and the principles that it teaches and its a blast!

A quick report on the work !!!

2007-03-22T04:22:00.000-07:00

Things are going great up here in Timmins! We are still
working with the  same investigator, We have made
great strides with Sylvie she wants to reset her baptism
date so that she can get married to her less active boy
friend which is great. Also her son is progressing along
nicely. Lisa is still living with her friend that’s a girl she
really wants to change bad but doesn't know what to do.
The less actives we worked with this week are Sue and
Nicole, Sue was  there when we taught Lisa a lesson it
was great, Nicole has stopped going to church because
of health problems but she still finds a way to go out and
get other things done, and she still feels she is active.
I have been studding the Book of Mormon 30 mins. every
morning and then reading  in our heritage or covering a
lesson for a person we are going to teach that day. Wow
what can i say things have been going awesome we have
been working hard we taught the most amazing lesson
last night to a gator, it was half a first lesson on Joseph
Smith and half about Book of Mormon the spirit was more
strong there then any other lesson i am so excited to have
progressing gators. YEAH its the first day of spring but its
snowing!! That’s so cool that Bud got his mission call to the
same place as Spencer.

We have investigators and less actives!

2007-03-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

hello everyone here’s a general report on investigators and less actives:
"One of our new investigators this week is named Howard. He is very knowledgeable in the Bible which is nice but at the same time very humble and willing to learn more stuff so the Book of Mormon is great for him. He was very interested learning about the restoration he is a great man with high standards and is fighting for custody of his kids.
Sylvie and her son Steven are doing great they still have a baptism set for April 8 are are going to reset to the 1st this week on Thursday. We were bummed to not have Sylvie come out for church like she has so diligently before but Steven did come out for sports night and had fun playing scatter-ball and making friends in the ward.
Mary-Ann and Samantha are doing great also they need to make the sacrifice to come out to church. We have an appointment with them tonight where we are going to cover Alma 40 and testify really strong on Christ's atonement and try and set them for baptism.
A new less active we are working with is named Anny, she loves missionaries and was baptized 4 years ago. She is good friends with Sylvie because they work together, in fact after one of our appointments with Sylvie she referred Anny to us, and told us that Anny had not been going to church lately. Elder Packer and I's goal is to have both of them come out to church and to partake of the blessing there in.
We made great strides with another less active named Sister Kasperait, she opened up to us and told us why she was not going to church, and it was some small way of her being offended we kinda have her the same talk that Elder Bednar gave in conference not to long ago. Then we gave her the talk its self and told her to prayerfully read it over and study it and she said she would.
Zone Conference was great! I loved learning so much more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ it was a great experience. I am excited to continue to learn more through my own study and experiences. "
Me and my comp are working hard having a great time, Mom stop worrying i have a nice coat that fits perfect and looks cool to i found it in the closet here in timmins, i havent gotten any mail or packages yet from anyone maybe the mail is just slow, we have no music up here we are only allowed motab and hymns because they invite the spirit the most. i wish i could have been at your stake conference dad that would have been awesome! i love you all and hope you are doing well!

March 7, 2007 Spit freezes before it hits the ground

2007-03-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hows it going family?

This is really interesting my companion was born on the
exact same day as Don and would have left about the
same time as Don did for a mission,So Don might have
been my trainer if he had gone on a mission. I was
actually really bummed when i first learned this but then
i thought well when Don gets back from Iraq and decides
to go on a mission i will get to train him instead so if
anyone is in contact with Don through phone or writing l
et him know about this. Danica thanks for the cord the
library here doesn't have the drivers installed to read
whats on my camera so i wont be ableto get you
guys any pictures till later. Way to go mom for bring
back all those students! Gratz  Dad on switching
partners and having some good things happening
with your work and being able to put together a
stove by yourself. Things are going great here in
Timmins the coldest i have seen the temperature
gage at so far has been -35C but that was not
what was cold the  wind would freeze your spit
before it hit the ground. I witnessed a miracle
yesterday, we are teaching a native named
Mary-Ann with 6 kids who just moved to 
Timmins and is struggling to get food on the
table because shehas to pay to get her kids
down from the reservation, she wanted to first
talk to us because one of her kids died in a
house fire. We knew that we was struggling
to get some food for her family so i called
the Relief Society president for a meal that
we could drop by Mary-Ann's house little did
i know that when you ask relief society for
some thing they give you ten fold up here
in Timmins, we had enough food that it would
barley fit into our car it was awesome
Mary-Ann was very thankful i figured we gave
her enough food to last her and her family
about 2 weeks. Another great story this week
is oneof our appointments bombed on us so
elder packer was like lets call some less
actives, we got a hold of one named Richard
who is headed into surgery this week and
i asked him over the phone if we could give
him a blessing and  he said yes, it was my
first to ever give a blessing and it was great
Richard's wife told us it that it was exactly
what Richard needed, so God work's in
mysterious ways. Well i Love you all you
are awesome! The church is true!
Keep the commandments!
Love Elder

Barrand

First Week

2007-03-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

My first week out in the field was great! the first investigators
we taught is awesome she has 2 kids knows the church is
true and wants to be baptized but is struggling with living
with and having the same sex attraction is it was very
interesting. Its very cold up here in Timmins its about -25C
then with wind chill about -40C so your face gets frozen in
a smile when you are contacting. Last night i taught my first
first lesson to a real person the people in the MTC and
comps don't count and it was awesome the spirit was so
strong and its so amazing how you can gain a testimony
about that the advisary is real because he comes in right
on que and interrupts the lesson. But the man we were
teaching is a honest seeker of truth so hopefully he will
want to join the church. My comp is freaking awesome
he loves to work and knows how to teach and have the
spirit i am very thankful to have a great comp. I loved
your stories from your mission dad they were awesome!
You are so awesome for going on a mission and setting a
great example for me and the rest of your kids by going
and i am very thankful of that. And i really hated those birds
when i was living in the pink room they would always wake
me up at strange hours and i would want to climb out on to
the roof and kill them.
I Love you all hope you are all doing well!
i bet Celeste is going to look really funny pregnant but i will
miss it

Love Elder Barrand

It's very cold up here, 10 hours North of Toronto!

2007-02-23T06:45:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody! Gratz on haveing a girl Celeste and Brad!  Just wanted
to let you all know that I'm here safely in Toronto to the Mission home.
We had dinner and orientation, and then got my new comp. he is awesome!
his name is Elder Packer; everyone that was trained by him said he was
great, I’m stoked; the mission president Ashton is most likely the wealthiest
man I will ever meet in my life but also the most humble. then we drove and
saw the temple and got my bags then drove to the mission mansion spent
the night then woke up at 5 in the morning and drove (10 hours driving
straight north) to Timmins, Ontario.  famous for being the home town for
Shania Twain, I like to think of this town as one of the farthern most points
of civilization. so its very cold and windy and lots of snow. there haven’t
been any baptisms in a while up here so my and my comp are excited to
get to work. in this area it’s only me and my comp we are 4 hours drive
from the nearest town, what my comp told me is that the president
sends the really good missionaries up to Timmins, so I won’t let anyone
down. my mailing address is now: 
66 Brousseau #105
Timmins Ont P44N5Y2    
love elder barrand

2007-02-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

Dear Parentals,
Life is great! I'm alive. There's not a whole lot that goes on the MTC accept studying with the spirit and learning by the spirit which is pretty freaking awesome. I'm getting really excited. I'm about to finish the BOM for the first time by myself. I am 10 pages away. I can't wait to finish it tonight. Happy Valentines day! I am actually really happy that there are no girls that are writing me except sister barrand and it's awesome. I just wanted to give you guys an update on my situation. I have been getting a form of lock jaw. I have sharp pain that runs from my ear down to my jaw. It started this morning I entered the MTC. I saw the dentist today and he said that it was from bad alignment in my teeth an mostly from stress. Who would of thought that I would go through stress. All I had to worry about before my mission was where am I going to eat next. The dentist said I am clenching my teeth at night so the muscles in my jaw don't get to rest. The idea for now is ibuprophen, massage and don't stress out. So all is well, I can live with pair, I have one week left in the MTC.

I just want to go teach people and put my arms around people and lead them to Christ, give them the chance to repent for their sins. This gospel is awesome. We have prophets on earth that tell us what to do and even better we have temples to make great and awesome covenants with our Lord. At church we are all asked to prepare a talk on diligence. I only had one scripture written on my hand for my preparation and low and behold Brother Cerny stood up and said "We ask Elder Barrand to give a talk because he dove for BYU and all the swimmers thought divers were lazy but he loved the points I made in my talk. I told about Brother Botts at BYU .. I shared Alma 57:21 and D&C 100:6 it was great. I look forward to your letters and I love and miss you guys very much.

Elder BarrandMom's note.
Austin called today from the airport at 4:57 a.m. He got 3 hours of sleep. He said we didn't need to worry about the sister missionaries being attracted to him because the MTC food made him so gaseous that they all teased him. He said he had a great time, he played lots of practical jokes on the Utah boys in his zone and was a goof ball. He said he loved the study time and kept a study journal. He was disappointed that his companion slept through most everything and that 3 Elders in the 17 that were supposed to go to Canada didn't make it. One didn't show up, another went home for some legal problem and the last went home for a legal problem with statutory rape!!! ach!!! An Elder Wright was one of his very spiritual trainers who recognized his name and said "I know a Japanese Brazilian Sister named Barrand who was my trainer in the MTC, are you related to her? We take it as a good sign that laid back Austin finally feel some stress!!!!"

LoveElder Barrand

MTC

2007-02-15T12:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, I don't even know where to start! The first week has been awesome. Most people said the first three days were the worst and hardest but they weren't that bad. I would love to see the look on dad's face when I say "I love studying" I love being taught most of all because I know before I was ordained a missionary I would have never said that because with that calling the spirit takes over your life changes you into what the Lord needs you to be. There are ants in my pants to get out into the mission field and start teaching and loving the people of Canada. My district is amazing every Elder is going to be a great missionary. My branch pres is a small short guy that is shaped like George from Seinfield but when he bears his testimony the fire that is under me turns into a BON FIRE.

Richard G Scott came to Tuesday's devotional and gave an amazing es son on prayer. The spirit I felt that night after bearing my testimony to my district can only be compared to a few other times in my life. Then fir the first time in my life I prayed and asked for the Lord's will to be done, not mine, not for my glory but for the Lord, it was a very humbling experience to know that I am only a tool used to do the Lord's will and another humbling experience is....remember when I said I would be able to get along with ANY companion. Well when the Lord heard me say that he probably laughed a little when he gave my my campanion. He likes to sleep in every class and is the only missionary I know that doesn't take notes and reminds me of Scott T from the diving team. But I love him any way. He gives me something to pray about.

Love,Elder Barrand