Sunday, February 24, 2008

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

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.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

-25C Working Hard!

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

Saturday, February 9, 2008

2 baptisms this Sunday

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

Saturday, February 2, 2008

New Companion




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

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Mary Wall, Zone Leader?????



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

Thursday, January 17, 2008

January 9th

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

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