"Hello, hello, helloooo!"

This past week was a bit of a toughie. We saw huge blessings and were guided by the spirit so much, but the work involved seemed a bit higher than normal. AKA, Bring it on!

Monday we spent a good deal of time working on our Area Book. When a missionary begins teaching a person, their name, address, and a little bit about them is written down on a Teaching Record. This way a completely new missionary would be able to pick up (mostly) right where the previous missionary left off, should the original missionary and his companion both have to leave at the same time. What with the Pocahontas Sisters gone now it is more important than ever for us to keep all of the records up to date, because those are souls that are recorded about, and if the record is poorly written we will not be able to find them again,

Tuesday most everything fell through, but we were able to run into an inactive member of the church at Walmart. We were in there right at the end of the evening buying some medicine when we saw her. She was our check-out lady (whatever the term for that is). She's had all of one Sunday off in the past 7 years from work, and that's because someone died and she requested it off. So she hasn't been able to come much to church. It was really cool to see that even people who have been away from church for a really long time can still have their testimony, because the desire might be there, just not the capacity. Yes, they won't be having all of the blessing otherwise possible, but the Lord will still bless them for their faith in Him.

Wednesday we had the transfer meeting. Obviously Elder Holden and I aren't getting transferred any time soon, but President Wakolo wanted as many of the missionaries as possible to be there. So there we went! I was the pianist, and had a super awesome view of all of the missionaries in attendance from the front of the Chapel. Perks of having skillful fingers. This upcoming month we will be focusing as a mission on the Book of Mormon, similar to what we did three months ago. There are a great deal of churches out there that believe on the Holy Bible, and look at all the confusion that they now have. The Baptists don't agree with the Catholics, the JW's don't agree with the Pentacostals, and often times they don't agree within their own denomination! If God is no author of confusion, then why is this? Answer: Because they don't have the second witness to the Bible talked about in 2 Cor. 13:1. This second witness is the Book of Mormon, and if it is so important, than perhaps we should take a little bit of time focusing on it, yeah? We think so too. After Transfers we didn't have much time to see very many people, but we had a great lesson in the PMG class on the gifts of the Spirit and how it relates to missionary work.

A little side note here: I mentioned having to go and buy medicine on Tuesday. The reason for that is I was getting these really weird spot things on my back and side that I really didn't know what they were but wanted them gone. During the Transfer meeting I was able to talk with Sister Sims, the missionary medical nurse person/wizard. She checked it out and apparently I've got a fungus growing on me called Ring Worm. I blame the humidity here. I bought some cream stuff she recommended on Thursday to fix the problem. So yeah, take that Arkansas!

Thursday we spent all day up in Pocahontas trying mostly in vain to contact the Sisters' old investigators. They weren't home, or had randomly just up and moved. So yeah, that was fun. On the plus side we were able to go and eat supper with the branch mission leader, Brother Cates, and his family. After supper he went with us to go and see G*** and read with her and her family. The duck I sent a picture of? It was her son's. And the best part is he is reading the scriptures on his own! #Success! We also were able to give a blessing to an inactive recent convert who lives not far from her.

Friday I got sick, and it was one of the lamest things ever. I didn't really get out of bed until 4 except to grab a small bite to eat around noon, and Elder Holden got super bored. After that we played Monopoly 5 times in a row. It was a random spur-of-the-moment purchase on Monday, and boy, were we glad that we did!

Saturday was great. We saw a whole bunch of great people, but for the sake of time I will skip over it except to saw that it was awesome. Here's some highlights:

>Going to an investigators home for a discussion only to find that none of them are home, so you teach the random people in their house instead.

>Meeting a crop duster

>Finding out that one of your investigators has dementia.

Long story short, Awesomeness!!!!

Sunday was crazy. We were in charge of both Priesthood lesson and Gospel Principles. When we were praying about what to teach in P-Hood, we got the really weird prompting to teach on the Spirit World (See 1 Peter 3:19;4:6) in both classes. We just went with it and really studied up on it to make sure we would be prepared. Turns out that that was exactly what one of our investigators needed to hear and wanted to talk about when we went and visited with her. She'd had a daughter killed not long ago and was still very much grieving, but we were able to answer her questions and help console her. Crazy how that worked out, right? Not! #Miracles.

As I said, out of time, but know I love you all. Check out christmas.mormon.org. It's great! Share it!

Love y'all!

~Elder Barker

P.S.  The subject is a quote from my companion. Apparently it's from a movie. haha!

 Hehe: its a goat and a duck.  The things you pick up as a missionary!

Locked Down! (December 1, 2014)

So this past week has just been crazy. First off, the whole Missouri thing about the cop shooting a black young man had the whole mission on lockdown. Meaning that first night we had to be in an extra 4 hours early, and the next night we had to be inside with doors locked by 7, no exceptions. From what I've heard there are still riots and stuff going on in some of the bigger cities, like Memphis and Little Rock. The riots didn't affect us up here in Walnut Ridge any, but I honestly would have been surprised if they had. A small town of about 5 thousand people isn't exactly the hot spot for rioters.

I also learned something new in my Bible studies this past week. Did you know that there is a record somewhere that has the words of Enoch it in? Yeah, it's totally referenced to in Jude 1:14. Guess what we don't have in the Bible? That record! I'm just a bit bumbed out about that. I wouldn't mind reading the words of a guy who was so righteous that he and his entire city got translated straight into heaven. I'm sure he has some great pointers.

And as to thanksgiving, I'll just refer you to the following pics:

I made both of these myself. The one on the left is an apple pie (made with assistance from the parental units), and the one on the right is a banana chocolate cream pie (made completely on my own! #accomplishments).

We didn't have nearly enough food to feed us missionaries.

The District.

Appart from simply eating with the other missionaries, I also was able to go and eat with the Branch Mission leader and also with the Branch President. Largely because trying to share messages about Christ don't ever work out on the Holidays, we just played board games with the Pocahontas Sisters and with some investigators that they brought along. It was pretty awesome, and my popular vote, if I were a type of vehicle I would be a segway. Not sure how I feel about that..... Hahaha!

We've also been able to talk a great deal with the C**** family They're pretty sweet, but weren't able to come to church yesterday. Something about being up till 6.30 in the morning taking care of screaming infants make you really tired? Not sure how that works, but apparently it's quite the problem! =D While we were driving around we also got a really good look at this crazy looking storm-front that moved in a few days ago. The pink in it and everything was totally legit, and it looked much cooler in real life:

I know, awesome, right!

I've got some really sad news though, which is mainly why I left it till the very end. About two years ago, in October, the Prophet announced that the age for missionaries has been lowered by one year for men and by two years for women. Because of this there was a huge surge of outgoing missionaries, both of men and of women. Now that it is two years later, all of the women who started their mission trip when that announcement was given now are going home. In this mission this means that we are losing 37 missionaries tomorrow, but are only getting 11 new ones in. Because of this many areas are shutting down, simply because we don't have enough missionaries to cover every location as we have in the past. One of these areas is the Pocahontas Sisters, so as of Wednesday the only missionaries in the Pocahontas Branch will be Elder Holden and myself. Neither of us are being transferred, but the work here will get a bit more difficult now that there are half as many of us working in this area. Sister Elder (I know, ironic name right!? She's heard all of the jokes) and Sister Sommers are leaving, and Sister Elder will be going home on Tuesday as one of the 37.

I don't have much else to mention, other than a suggestion for every single person that these emails get: With a large surge of missionaries going home it is time for everyone, full-time missionary, RM, or regular member of the church, to step up their game in sharing the Good News. It's more important than ever now to do all we can in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the world, starting with our family and friends around us. The Lord is hastening His work, and He will bless us in our efforts to help Him in the work of salvation. 

Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

Elder Jayden Barker 

That awkward moment when your food smiles at you.

So this happened to me a few days ago shortly after eating breakfast. No, I didn't rig it in any way. That would be cheating. I did think it was hilarious though.
For those non-missionaries wondering what it is that we teach, here is the bulletpoints taken from each of the 5 lessons:

You can get more on them by actually going to Preach My Gospel.

Alas, I am pressed for time once more so please excuse any typos you may find. We have (hopefully) someone being baptized on the 29th. A guy by the name of M***. He's a non-member in a Part Member family, and has been talking with the missionaries for probably close to a year. Elder Holden was just super bold and straight-up with him and said "So, Brother M***, are you going to be baptized or what?" The best part is that we had been joking around with his wife a while back about how we just need to keep on coming over so that when he is ready to join the Church we could baptize him because 'he would make a great Branch President'. She had a good laough at that, mainly because she just didn't see it happening any time soon. A few weeks later she had an interview with the Stake President, and he told her that her "husband's heart may be softened and who knows, he would probably be the next Branch President". That about knocked her off of her chair! She cornered us in the parking lot that Monday and asked us who we'd been talking to about this, and we told her we'd talked with nobody. And now her husband wants to be baptized. Yeah, #Miracles. This is also the guy who loves to insult everyone in sight out of love, especially missionaries, calling us devil worshipers, the like. Naturally it's all false and in jest, but of all the people I thought would want to join the church this month his name was not at the top of the list. We go back over to see him today hopefully.

As to the Pentacostal missionaries, there really wasn't all that much to mention here other than it was one of the most scriptually founded and polite Bible Bashes I've ever been in. Unlike most preachers/pastors/other you meet down here who just talk over you, these two gentlemen actually let us talk and share all of the scriptures we had before they talked, and we afforded them the same courtesy. It really was awesome. Neither one of us were interested in joining the other group's church, we were both too faithful in our own church, but.... yeah. It was interesting.

One thing we are working on teaching wise is the idea of finding where you teach and teach where you find. Both Elder Holden and I agree that we should be able to teach far more than just 4 lessons per day. We just need to start teaching as soon as we first start talking to someone, whether it be outdoors or just after knocking on a door. This will also help those we talk to understand that we aren't just there to sell Bibles to people as so many people here in Walnut Ridge think, that we actually have a message of great importance that will bring greater happiness and joy into the lives of those who hear it and decided to give it a shot. With this in mind we have a goal to teach a total of 29 lesson this week. We should be able to do it, as we made 31 last week. Just teach where ever you go.

I'm out of time, but I just want everyone to know that I know who it is I represent. I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among this people, that they might have Everlasting Life. This message of the Restoration and all it entails is not meant to convert anyone to a specific church, but to Christ Himself. When we are converted to Christ, we will naturally want to join His church. That is the church I for whom I preach. This is the Lord I represent. This is my witness, that I know this to me true. Christ is King, and His church is back on this earth once more, and it will never be taken away until He comes again to personally rule on Earth.

-Elder Jayden Barker

This Week- November 10, 2014

Howdy yall! Not a whole lot of time to say anything I'm afriad. Last week was really awesome lesson-wise. We were able to teach a total of 30 lessons, almost a record high for me. We were also able to find a family that is pretty awesome, but the thing is there are no men in the picture at all. This means we have to bring another male with us whenever we want to teach them. #ElderProbs. This will be good for us though, as we are trying to get better at using the members here in the branch. We also ran into a couple of Pentacostal Missionaries, and somehow got roped into going back to talk with them again today. I'll let you know how that went next week. Elder Holden and I are getting along well. We had a really good Companionship inventory this last Friday and got a lot of things talked about and worked out. We've got a bunch of prospects investigator-wise that we are hoping to contact and help them start progressing in the Gospel. 

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Jayden Barker

 

Alma 26:22

 

Halloween

Howdy y'all!

 

I'm afraid I don't have a whole lot of pictures to send to you. Just the one of an investigator's cat trying his very hardest to get into a shelf crammed with DVD's and stuff. He actually succeeded at first. And then he tried to wiggle a little more to get in a little bit deeper and fell flat on his back with a spray of DVD cases. True story, cats do NOT always land on their feet. Also a random squirrel I saw chilling on a tree.

 

Halloween was fun, but since it is one of the biggest wastes of time for knocking on doors for missionaries we just went indoors by 6. I had a personal goal to read all of the New Testament in the 4-ish hours before I went to bed. Plenty of time for a bibliophile like myself to read a couple hundred pages, right? Surprise of all surprises, our door just kept on being knocked on by a bunch of strangely dressed children! Perhaps I should have thought of that before I made my goal, but I will just say that I failed in reading the entire N.T.  I did get to the tail end of Mark though.

 

We also had a haloween activity the Thursday before with huge success. There were about 30 kids that showed up, and the best part was that some of them were the M***family!!! We literally called everybody on the list trying to get a ride for this family to come up to the church for the activity, but absolutely nobody was able to help. We were literally praying for a miracle and had pretty much given up hope that we would find someone to get them there because of the lateness of the hour, when Brother Clark called us back after getting our voicemail and said that he was actually in Walnut Ridge at that moment and would be able to help us out. It was so awesome! Yes, they still can't come to church with us for the longest time, but the fact still is that they came and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

 

Other than that not a whole lot has been happening. Just been super busy with missionary life. I've not enjoyed lunch-time naps this much for a while, perhaps since Finals in college, and that wasn't even this stressful! But hey, Viva La Restoration!!

 

Catch you all later!

 

Elder Jayden Barker

October 27, 2014 New Comp, Splitting time.

Yes, I've got a new companion. His name is Elder Holden, and he's from California. He worked at McD's and used to play soccer and baseball, although he most enjoyed baseball. Both mission age and real life he's about 3 months older than I am, but this is his 6th area. He's been in some of the nicest places, but also some of the most rough ones, so I've now got a great gold-mine of information that I can pick through. We are a great deal alike, so things will work out great!

 

The M*** family are doing well; we will see them tomorrow. Stopped by really briefly to tell them about the Branch halloween party going down this Friday, but didn't have long to stop and chat. Elder Holden is looking foward to getting to know them a little bit better. The next disccusion with them will hopefully involve their kids a little bit more.

 

The A*** family wasn't able to come to church. We saw them the day before, which is when they let us know. Not sure what went down, but it involved Coke getting thrown on someone and a spoon (maybe?). #FamTroubles. We were over there last Friday and read with the the yougest ones, bribing them with peanutbutter brownies that Elder Raiford had baked but had forgotten to bring to church. I'm not a big fan of nuts in stuff, and neither is Elder Holden, so this was incredibly convenient. Pray that they will be able to come next week.

 

The final big thing I want to talk about, because I'm out of time, is that for the month of November our entire mission has decided to cut our P-Days down to 4 hours instead of 8. This means we will be hitting the streets once more by 2 instead of 6. The reason is we have a mission goal of 100 baptisms and 100 reactivations, almost double the number of baptisms we've ever gotten in one month. With all of this we are hoping that it will get the missionaries focused on the work instead of using their P-days for recreation. This is great, except for we actually use our time to clean and get the lawn mowed and stuff. So I'll not be writing as much that month, and will instead be knocking on more doors. I really am hoping that this experiment will be a huge success.

 

That's all for today, I'm out of time, Love you lots! The church is true, the Book is blue, and God loves you! If you doubt any of these things, or are afraid to act on them, get down on your knees and simply ask God for help, and then go and do what He says must be done. I know prayer works and when we do these things, such as reading the scriptures, going to church, and praying, we will be richly blessed.

 

Until Next Time!

Elder Jayden Barker

Elder Raiford's and my final picture. In front of the Bartlett, TN Temple.

We were in Corning and were trying to get to a member's house. We drove past the county road she lives on and didn't realize it until it was a little too late. Great photo moment though. Yes, I have walked in Missouri now.

Crazy week + transfers

A few weeks ago I talked about meeting the super awesome family while we were equally super late. We've been back a few times to go and talk with them, and they are just more awesome that I could have possibly imagined. The first time we went back to go and talk to the M***family there were kids running around all over the place just being crazy, with the mother, C***, frantically trying to calm down the horde. B***, the father simply pulled out a folding table and several chairs and we began to talk. We were there for probably close to an hour and a half, longer than discussions normally go because we don't like taking up too much of people's time. The first discussion is that of the Restoration, simply how our church came to be, why we have the Book of Mormon, and why people should care about any of this stuff.

B***'s son was sitting there with us for the majority of the lesson asking questions about who Christ was and why He needed to come to earth, what the role of a prophet was, things like that. As we gave explanations and showed scriptures from the Bible to help explain it all B*** was all like "Yeah! I believe all of that!" and added to what we were teaching. It was the coolest thing, because this is a man who just 9 months ago did not know anything about God and did not want to know anything. He had an incredible spiritual experience that helped him to want to change all of this around, and he hit the ground at a full sprint. Both he and his wife had addictions, but now B*** has completely turned everything all around and is sharing his story and his work with anyone and everyone who would listen. He's studying the scriptures on a daily basis and in the past 9 months has memorized more scriptures than probably both Elder Raiford and I combined. He's so awesome!

Anywho, when we started talking about the Book of Mormon and telling what it was and why it was so important his eyes just lit up.  He was so excited at the thought that there was more of God's word that he could read and just loved the idea that not only does He still live but that He sent us more scripture so we could come to know Him even better. We invited him to read from it and to pray about it to find out for himself if it is truly the word of God, which he eagerly agreed to. After all, this part's important, how can you try to find spiritual truth unless you go to a spiritual source? Wikipedia will only take you so far; eventually you have to turn to God if you want to know the Truth. Otherwise you are just selling yourself short.The Spirit was so strong in that home, and I could see so easily that our Father in Heaven truly has blessed this family.

The next time we went by to see him, 5 days later, he told us an awesome story. Shortly after we had met he had his Bible Study with the church he is attending. The sermon for the day: Don't talk to Mormons because they're not Christians anyway. B*** said he just sat there throughout the entire thing thinking that his preacher didn't know what it was he was talking about. At the conclusion of the sermon he went up and started talking with the preacher, telling him that he had met with the Mormon Missionaries just the day before and that Mormons didn't actually believe or do any of the things that the preacher had said we did. He was very much not happy and flat-out told B***that he should stop meeting with us and throw away all literature we had given him. A few of his friends also tried to tell B*** a bunch of lies about us, which he just sat there and listened to. Here's the best part! After he drove got home the first thing he did was break out his Bible and read it. Next he got on his knees and started praying. When he was finished he said he completely disregarded everything his preacher and friends had said, because they hadn't read it and thus didn't know it was true, and also because God said it was true. So there!

Elder Raiford and I just looked at eachother with our jaws hitting the floor. It was all I could to do to not jump up and down screaming "HE KNOWS IT'S TRUE!! HE KNOWS IT'S TRUE!!" *ahem* I was a little bit excited about it. We have been wanting someone to just actually pray to know if it is true for the longest time, and then IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! He says he'll be baptized as soon as he can, which may not be for several months because of some continuing legal obligations.  Super excited for him!

 

This past Sunday has also been crazy awesome. We had 5 Inactive members come to church, one of which hasn't come in years! Elder Raiford has been working with her for over 7 months, doing all he can even before I showed up to help her come. Last week, she did. #HappyDance! As an added bonus, that week was Potluck after church, so we all got to pig out a little bit. I love how they make banana pudding here in the south. Not sure what goes in it, but I'm sure it's just as bad for me as it tastes good.

 

Yesterday Elder Raiford was able to go to the temple, which I was super happy for. Unfortunately I was unable to go with him because the Bartlett, TN temple is tiny and barely had room for all of the missionaries who were supposed to be there, let alone the ones who weren't, so I got to chill out with Elder Diaz, a Spanish elder serving in Jonesboro. He's originally from Guatemalla/Virginia (dual residency) and is as fun as he is short. He can put some of my friends back home to shame. haha. Anyway, Raiford and I didn't get back to Walnut Ridge until about 6 pm so we didn't really have much time to email, as the library was closed. Hence why I'm on today.

 

And now, transfers. I am staying in Walnut Ridge, but my companion is sadly leaving. As in both leaving sadly, and I'm sad that he's leaving. We got along very very well the past 4.5 months and I think we've got a lot done. Here's the really ironic part: Elder Raiford has been working with the inactive-no-longer woman I just mentioned ever since he got here, and often times joked around that it would be the day before he got transfered that she would finally come to church. Well, she finally came, and the next day, Monday, we called the missionaries in charge of Transfers and they said we were both staying! We were very happy, Elder Raiford particularly as he has less than 6 weeks left in his mission. Then at about 9am this morning we got a second call from some elders saying that Elder Raiford was shipping out and needed to pack and everything that day. So today's plans have pretty much been kiboshed, and we are going to go say goodby to everyone as soon as possible. I'll find out who my next companion is tomorrow in Memphis around 2pm-ish. Should be fun.

 

To my friends serving a mission right now, if you read all of this incredibly long email, I salute you. To my mother, you are welcome. ;D

 

Remember your Savior. It is only by his grace that we even get to be alive, and should we take the time to thank Him for all He does for us we will recieve more blessings than we will know what to do with. Which is a pretty awesome thing in my opinion.

 

Until next week!

Elder Jayden Barker

Repent Ye, and Be Baptized = Awesome Meeting!

So sorry ya'll for jumping the gun a bit last week about transfers. Transfers is coming up, but we will get the call this upcoming Monday, the 20th, instead of this last one. Oops. Again, I will just blame the skewy sense of time all missionaries have. =D. 

Anywho, the reason for the later email is because of a very long meeting on Tuesday, and a holiday on Monday. Who would have thought that everything would shut down because of it?! So yeah, that's my excuse.

We've been having some awesome weather out here of late. A bunch of big storms with lots of potential for tornadoes, lightning, nasty stuff most people don't like. Everyone around here got super worried about this storm, but like most of the others we've seen in Walnut Ridge, the storm was a bit of a push-over. Lots of rain, some lightning, but not much else. Yes, I heard that tornadoes had set down in other places, but The Ridge was left largely untouched. Right now the sky is completely clear and we are loving it.... mainly because we are on bike week again! Yay! All joking aside, I really am grateful for this, because we, as a companionship, have been having a weekly goal of finding 7 new people to teach each week. It's a bit of a tough goal, and one that will be made easier by being forced to actually use our feet. Haha.

With this new goal of ours in mind (well, new-ish. We started it a few weeks ago) I've got a really awesome experience to share about last week. Two weeks ago I was in Paragould on an exchange with another missionary, Elder Wahl. His companion, Elder Cook, came down here, and while he was here he found a woman named T***. Even funnier, it turns out she is B***'s sister, but I'll get to that later. We went to go and visit with T***last week on Tuesday to introduce the Book of Mormon to her and to answer any questions she may have. It went very well, she's super interested and is a huge blessing to us. The lesson went so well, in fact, that we had gone over by about 20 minutes without even realizing it and were now late for another appointment. We asked her if there was anyone she knew we could go visit, and she recommended we go and talk with her three neighbors: Next door, Behind, and Across the street. We were on our way out and saw that one of the people in the Next home were there, so we detoured to go talk with them. He wasn't interested. Sad, but ok, moving on.

We started hurrying to the car, which was parked up the street a ways, to hurry to that appointment we were now dreadfully late for. As we were walking, Elder Raiford turned and looked at me and said we needed to go and knock on the Across house. We've had the Holy Ghost prompt us to go and do crazy things like this before, although not while we were so late, but we did it anyway. If God speaks, you listen.

We knock on the door and a woman answers surrounded by several young children. She told us that both she and her husband were recovering drug addicts (she'd been clean for 2 years and he for 4 months #HurrahForIsrael!) and would absolutely love for us to come back and share a message about Jesus Christ with them. Needless to say we were elated. Now in high spirits, but still very much late, we hurried to the car and drove over to the appointment. They weren't home. Well, we couldn't really blame them and started working with our backup plans. They failed too.

Mostly on a whim (AKA God told us to) we decided to go and visit a family who had been dropped by the missionaries some months ago becuase they were never home or it was never a good time to stop and talk. We did so, and not only were they home but were incredibly interested in everything we had to share. We had a good 3 hour conversation about everything from Joseph Smith to the the Law of Chastity to Apostles to "Are you allowed to marry 9 women?" It was a great discussion, and we hope that next time we can have one that is a bit more organized. Btw, no, we do not marry more than one person. Mormons are not polygamists.

At the end of the week we had found 11 new investigators, a record for both myself and Elder Raiford.

Tuesday we had a really good Training that was all about Repentence. The Spirit pointed out several things that I needed to work on, but one of the main universal things talked about was that if people are not willing to keep commitments or to change, then they do not understand repentance. At it's heart repentance simply means change. First you build faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Next you want to become more like him (repentance). Next comes baptism and an improvement of your life. We all need to realize that we cannot do anything to save ourselves, that we need to accept the Atonement of Jesus Christ and repent of those things which are not in harmony with God's will. Only then will we find true and lasting happiness.

I know that God lives, and that he loves us so much that he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save us all from death and to help us return to Him. I know that we can come to know the truth of all things through prayer and scripture study. I know repentance can and does change lives, and that through Christ we can all be saved in the Kingdom of God. This is my witness to you. God bless you all.

Elder Jayden Barker

 Missionary Suppers (Chips and salsa, Pancakes, and Gummyworms) Not typical of us, but awesome nonetheless.

Only in the South

So the picture was not photoshopped. This happened about 30 minutes after my email last Monday. In the Walmart parkinglot. Apparently this is quite the common occurance down here.

I'm so out of time it's not even funny. The only reason I've not been kicked off yet is that this computer has been dreadfully slow and that there is nobody else in the Library right now. #TenderMercies. So if this is shorter than normal, it's because I'm just stickking to the bare bones. Please forgive typos as I most likely won't go back to fix them. 

First off, Gen Con was awesome this week. We were over at B*** house durring the Sunday afternoon session, and when Elder Bednar got up to speak and said that he would be focusing his remarks to those who are not members of the church, both Elder Raiford and I turned and looked right at B***with the biggest grins on our faces. Anywho, it was fantastic. Of all of the sessions, the Saturday afternoon was probably my favorite. I'd talk more, but alas for time constraints.

Next week is transfers. Elder Raiford has been here for 5 transfers now, 7.5 months. And yes, 4.5 of those months have been with Yours Truly. I'm loving it. Also, he only has one more transfer left, leaving back home in December, so here's the question: what's going down next week? Personally I think we will both be staying, but I'd love to hear what y'all have to say.

1. both staying

2. both leaving

3. me leaving

4. him leaving

I've been asked what we do for Halloween. Honestly, that is one of the holidays that we just stay inside, both because of common sense, and also because we are told to. A lot of people like to dress up as missionaries and wreck havoc around here, so we just stay indoors and tell everyone that is where we will be. We will take the time to try to pass out pass-along cards and candy to everyone who would like to knock on our door. Perhaps we will dress up as zombie missionaries or something. We'll make it fun.

This week has been awesome. We've seen a lot of miracles in finding new people to teach, many of which we will see today or tomorrow. Thank you for all of your prayers, and keep serving God. I know He will bless you for it!

-Elder Jayden Barker

Sept 29, 2014 Small Blessings

This past week has been absolutely crazy. We've had so many meetings in various parts of the mission that we have probably spent more of our waking time out of our area than in it. We've been in Searcy, Jonesborro, Paragould, and Bartlett (over by the temple). We have another meeting in Paragould tomorrow. *Sigh* I'm really glad we were able to have these meetings because all of them were really awesome. We had Elder Zwick of the Quorom of the 70 address us as missionaries in Bartlett, and then in Jonesborro we were able to hear him address the various leaders of the congreagations in this area as how to better do missionary work. It was really awesome.

 

We were in Bartlett for 6 hours, three hours of he and the Mission President addressing us, one hour of lunch, and then two more hours of Elder Zwick. The first three hours he talked about was how to share gospel messages quickly and powerfully, without extra uneeded talking. He shared an experience in which he was able to talk with a great deal of time with one of the Apostles, Elder Oaks I think, about this very idea. First you teach a principle, then share scriptures, then show the blessings that come from this principle, and finally share personal testimony. What had happened was Elder Zwick had several such occasions to do so at a temple dedication that the Apostle had also attended and had taught several principles during his talks. The Apostle told him that although all of the principles were well taught and were true, if you reach a climax when you are teaching, don't keep talking. Leave the statement strong and move on instead of talking more and ruining it. If more needs to be said, then it is time for your companion to start talking. Missionaries come in pairs for a reason.

 

After lunch, which went over a bit, we all went back into the Chapel for another round of instruction. This time it was about something that we have been waiting for: iPads. The Church had made a deal with Apple ages ago about outfitting every missionary in the US with an iPad to aid in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We would have access to church videos, all of the scriptures, and other points of interest. It will help a great deal (hopefully) in keeping organized. Originally we were supposed to be able to buy these (Yes, the missionaries have to buy them, although they are cheaper than if one was purchased through retail) and begin using them long before I started my mission-trip 8 months ago, but there were too many glitches in the code and everything was postponed. Now, however, we are have been promised that we will be able to begin using them before Christmas. <Insert happy dance here>

 

L***didn't come to church yesterday. Not sure why. I'll bug the Sisters about it later. As for B***, well, we have gotten to that point where we will either have to help him accept a commitment to follow Christ's example and be baptized, or we will have to stop going over as often to make time for people who are ready. It's a fact of missionary service that I really hate, having to walk away just after you have gotten to the point where you really care about someone, but the fact remains that some people simply are not yet ready to accept the Gospel. If they are not ready yet we still care about them and make sure they are doing well, encouraging them often, but we must use that time available to find and help others make those covenants with the Lord that they are unwilling to make. I really do hate this, but there is litterally nothing else that I can do. It is between him and God now.

 

On a much more happy note we have had some remarkable success with finding new people. Because we have no people progressing in the Gospel we have basically placed greater priority on new contacts and lower priority time-wise on those who are not progressing. One really awesome example of this was last night. We went and parked the car off to the side of a good-sized residential area, largely middle-class families and started talking with people. One of them was a gentlemen named J***. He himself wasn't all that interested, but he said his son was big into learning of other faiths, and although he wasn't home at the time J*** invited us to come back and visit to meet his son. It was the coolest thing talking with him because it was as we drove past his house where he was smoking that the Spirit told me "You need to go and talk with that man." I was all like "Sure, sounds like an adventure!". I was very grateful that we were able to talk with him, and then the blessings just kept on coming.

 

Next we were able to talk with someone named A***. Typically we offer to share a prayer with them to offer the Saviour's peace and belssing on their home. This time, though, the Spirit told us that this was a bad idea, so we just straight up said who we were, representatives of the Saviour Jesus Christ, and that we have a message centered on Him as to His restored church and how it can bless families throughout eternity. It was a very brief and simple invitation, but A*** was very interested particularly as he and his wife had recently had a small child. We will go back on Tuesday. On our way out we felt prompted to knock on one last door. A young woman named S*** answered. Again, we bore simple testimony about our purpose and invited her to learn more. She declined saying she wasn't realy sure about anything at the moment, but would get back to us. I offered her a Book of Mormon, which she accepted, and Elder Raiford shared his testimony as to its truthfulness. I could feel the Spirit of the Lord so strongly when we were speaking with her, and I hope she remembers those feelings and will read the book.

 

I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and has the power to bless people's lives beyond what we can imagine. The Lord can, does, and will lead us to those who will both bless our lives and who we can bless. The more we look for opportunities like these the more we will see them, not because we are getting more of them but simply because we are now allowing God to bring them to our attention.

 

God bless, and I'll talk with you all again next week.

 

Elder Jayden Barker

Well...that didn't work.

  So this past week was the last time we did any major house-painting service. Yeah, it's all good. Thus far in my mission I have noticed a trend about people coming to church, and other missionaries have echoed it: As soon as someone commits to coming to church, something bad will happen. Every time. Usually we joke around that a car will blow up or someone will die or a tornado will show up or something major, largely because they never happen, right? Well... not any more.

  Several of the women we had been doing service with had expressed their interest in attending a service with us and finding out a bit more about the religion that would have two men in their twenties show up almost every day for 6 days to help paint buildings, and actually have them enjoy doing it. Needless to say we were ecstatic. It has been a real struggle getting people to church for some reason, and the idea that we would have several come in one day was just awesome. We gave them directions to the building, told them about the pot-luck afterward, and then left feeling incredibly happy. The next day was the last day we worked on the building, and also when that picture of me on a ladder was taken. While we were there one of the women got a phone call and, after hanging up, went to go talk with all the other women. Apparently someone died that all of them knew and the viewing for the funeral was going to be that upcoming Sunday, exactly when our services would start. Naturally, all of them expressed their apologies and said they would not be attending church with us that day.

  So yeah, that was a bit of a let down.

  On a huge upside though the sister missionaries in this area were going through their area book (the place missionaries keep records of people they've taught or had dinner with or anything; it's a way for us to stay organized) and they saw a record for a guy named L***. He had been taught by missionaries several years previously but nothing had every really come from it. Also owing to the fact that he lives way out there in one of the many small towns surrounding Pocahontas and Walnut Ridge/Hoxie eventually the missionaries stopped coming over. However Sister Neff saw the old record and felt that he was someone that they needed to go and see. She wrote down the name and address as a last-resort backup in case all of the plans fell through and off the Sisters went doing their missionary awesomeness. According to Sister Neff absolutely every appointment and backup plan fell through within a couple of hours. Having nothing else to do they just went for it, driving out to this satellite town to try and meet L***.

   Ever since the missionaries stopped coming by 6 years ago L*** hadn't been happy attending other churches. They would teach something and claim it was from the Bible, but when he went and did his own studies he found that they were completely wrong. He also ran into a great many athiests who tried to convince him that Jesus Christ was just another pagan version of the Egyptian god, Horus. This led him to study extensively indo-euoropean mythology and Egyptian mythology so he would know the truth for himself. He then decided he didn't like the fact that there were about fifty bajillion different Bibles, so he learned how to read and speak Greek and Hebrew so he could go back to the oldest versions of the Bible currently available and read them directly. Long story short, the guy's awesome.

  I'm not all that sure how exactly the conversation went when the Sisters knocked on his door again, but they did tell me that the discussion went on for roughly four hours and they talked about basically everything gospel-related. Which I guess means it went really well. Anywho, I first met L*** two days later when he showed up for church on Sunday. He showed up super early, like 2 hours early, because his clock was off and he didn't want to be late for the meeting. After finding out that I went to school briefly and was considering becoming and aeronautical engineer after the conclusion of my mission ("You mean I know a rocket scientist now? Sweet!", "Well, not quite...", "Nope. Totally a rocket scientist!") We hit it right off and started talking about our beliefs and how it related with what he already believed to be true. We talked for almost the entire meeting and also for the pot-luck afterward.

   The really awesome part was right before priesthood meeting started. We had already had the Sacrament and one hour of sunday school (we were teaching this week - Honesty) and he was loving every second of it. He started by asking if he could say something, and he didn't know if then was the appropriate time to say anything. After very little encouragement from the Branch President and others at the meeting he stood up and told everyone how he loved how he felt, how he know the teaching were true, and how he wanted to join the Church and be baptized as quickly as possible.

   My jaw about hit the floor! This never happens. As in, ever.

   We quickly told him that the Sisters (those lucky girls!) would be overjoyed to help him make that a reality as they were the ones who started teaching him again. He was just so happy and everything awesome after that. I was also very grateful that so many members attending took the time to go and welcome him even before the meetings started. This is what Christ-Like love is all about, fellowship. We left after the pot-luck with assurances that we would talk again next Sunday.

   I also feel it would be good to mention here that the first thing Elder Raiford and I did upon going home was to go back over our area book as well.

   After this was done we left for an appointment with B***. This meeting was a bit longer than the rest, only 2.5 hours, but what we talked about was very similar to the last couple of times. He believes everything but will not commit to anything, not even coming to church. After praying about it a great deal both Elder Raiford and I know that as soon as he commits to something it will come to pass. We just need to help him see that. He really could use your prayers.

   This upcoming week we plan to do a great deal of finding people to teach. The people we have now aren't progressing, so we are going to try and find people who will make and keep those commitements to come closer to God.

Best of everything, all y'all! The Book is true and God loves you!

Elder Jayden Barker

Me on my bike. #LikeABoss

Someone's awesome car we saw.

I don't always look classy, but when I do, it's because I'm holding a box of donuts.

  So this past week was the last time we did any major house-painting service. Yeah, it's all good. Thus far in my mission I have noticed a trend about people coming to church, and other missionaries have echoed it: As soon as someone commits to coming to church, something bad will happen. Every time. Usually we joke around that a car will blow up or someone will die or a tornado will show up or something major, largely because they never happen, right? Well... not any more.

  Several of the women we had been doing service with had expressed their interest in attending a service with us and finding out a bit more about the religion that would have two men in their twenties show up almost every day for 6 days to help paint buildings, and actually have them enjoy doing it. Needless to say we were ecstatic. It has been a real struggle getting people to church for some reason, and the idea that we would have several come in one day was just awesome. We gave them directions to the building, told them about the pot-luck afterward, and then left feeling incredibly happy. The next day was the last day we worked on the building, and also when that picture of me on a ladder was taken. While we were there one of the women got a phone call and, after hanging up, went to go talk with all the other women. Apparently someone died that all of them knew and the viewing for the funeral was going to be that upcoming Sunday, exactly when our services would start. Naturally, all of them expressed their apologies and said they would not be attending church with us that day.

  So yeah, that was a bit of a let down.

  On a huge upside though the sister missionaries in this area were going through their area book (the place missionaries keep records of people they've taught or had dinner with or anything; it's a way for us to stay organized) and they saw a record for a guy named L***. He had been taught by missionaries several years previously but nothing had every really come from it. Also owing to the fact that he lives way out there in one of the many small towns surrounding Pocahontas and Walnut Ridge/Hoxie eventually the missionaries stopped coming over. However Sister Neff saw the old record and felt that he was someone that they needed to go and see. She wrote down the name and address as a last-resort backup in case all of the plans fell through and off the Sisters went doing their missionary awesomeness. According to Sister Neff absolutely every appointment and backup plan fell through within a couple of hours. Having nothing else to do they just went for it, driving out to this satellite town to try and meet L***.

   Ever since the missionaries stopped coming by 6 years ago L*** hadn't been happy attending other churches. They would teach something and claim it was from the Bible, but when he went and did his own studies he found that they were completely wrong. He also ran into a great many athiests who tried to convince him that Jesus Christ was just another pagan version of the Egyptian god, Horus. This led him to study extensively indo-euoropean mythology and Egyptian mythology so he would know the truth for himself. He then decided he didn't like the fact that there were about fifty bajillion different Bibles, so he learned how to read and speak Greek and Hebrew so he could go back to the oldest versions of the Bible currently available and read them directly. Long story short, the guy's awesome.

  I'm not all that sure how exactly the conversation went when the Sisters knocked on his door again, but they did tell me that the discussion went on for roughly four hours and they talked about basically everything gospel-related. Which I guess means it went really well. Anywho, I first met L*** two days later when he showed up for church on Sunday. He showed up super early, like 2 hours early, because his clock was off and he didn't want to be late for the meeting. After finding out that I went to school briefly and was considering becoming and aeronautical engineer after the conclusion of my mission ("You mean I know a rocket scientist now? Sweet!", "Well, not quite...", "Nope. Totally a rocket scientist!") We hit it right off and started talking about our beliefs and how it related with what he already believed to be true. We talked for almost the entire meeting and also for the pot-luck afterward.

   The really awesome part was right before priesthood meeting started. We had already had the Sacrament and one hour of sunday school (we were teaching this week - Honesty) and he was loving every second of it. He started by asking if he could say something, and he didn't know if then was the appropriate time to say anything. After very little encouragement from the Branch President and others at the meeting he stood up and told everyone how he loved how he felt, how he know the teaching were true, and how he wanted to join the Church and be baptized as quickly as possible.

   My jaw about hit the floor! This never happens. As in, ever.

   We quickly told him that the Sisters (those lucky girls!) would be overjoyed to help him make that a reality as they were the ones who started teaching him again. He was just so happy and everything awesome after that. I was also very grateful that so many members attending took the time to go and welcome him even before the meetings started. This is what Christ-Like love is all about, fellowship. We left after the pot-luck with assurances that we would talk again next Sunday.

   I also feel it would be good to mention here that the first thing Elder Raiford and I did upon going home was to go back over our area book as well.

   After this was done we left for an appointment with B***. This meeting was a bit longer than the rest, only 2.5 hours, but what we talked about was very similar to the last couple of times. He believes everything but will not commit to anything, not even coming to church. After praying about it a great deal both Elder Raiford and I know that as soon as he commits to something it will come to pass. We just need to help him see that. He really could use your prayers.

   This upcoming week we plan to do a great deal of finding people to teach. The people we have now aren't progressing, so we are going to try and find people who will make and keep those commitements to come closer to God.

Best of everything, all y'all! The Book is true and God loves you!

Elder Jayden Barker

If all else fails, stop doing all else.

Transfer calls were this morning, and to everyone's tremendous surprise E.Raiford is staying, as are the Pocahontas sisters. Raiford has been here for 6 months now and was feeling like he was going to leave, and Sister Macklite has been in this area for 9 months thus far, half of her mission, and everyone was certain that she was on her way out too! But nope, the good Lord has other ideas for us, which personally I'm OK with. Raiford has been the greatest companion over the past 7 months, and I'm more than OK with trooping it out a while longer with him. The District Leader, Elder Wahl, was in the MTC with me and is now training a new companion. I'm taking great pleasure in giving him grief about how he will be a future Assistant to the President, one of two missionaries who aid in overseeing the entire mission and its missionaries along with the Mission President.

 

The Preach my Gospel classes have drawn to a close, with 5 people there durring the last two meetings. A bit about the meetings, because I don't think I'm talked about them in great detail, is once a week on Wednesday evening.  Elder Raiford and I would teach the members of the Church in this area for about one hour from a book titled Preach my Gospel. It is a manual of sorts that has all the basics about our church, study tips, ways to better recognize and feel the Holy Spirit, and ways to develop better Christlike attributes, and thus become more like the Saviour. Our aim was that by teaching the members both about and from this book they would be able to come closer to God, and then turn around and help others. As I said though, only 5 people showed up, two of them were members who recently returned from inactivity, two were converts, and the last was a missionary several years ago. With about 60 active members in this area we were hoping that more than 5 would show up, but we will take what we can get. We also understand that most of the members here are over 60 and live some distance away from the church, which would mean that they would have to drive home in the dark. However, Brother Ginn, the Elder's Quorum President, has asked us to do miniature versions of these classes once a month in Sunday School, a period of time after the Sacrament where we sit down and talk about God and a specific topic. We are very grateful for the second chance he gave us, and are hoping that the other Quorum leaders will ask us to do something similar for them.

 

Yesterday was by birthday, much to the surprise of basically everyone. This is because I didn't tell them in advance. I know, rude right? They thought so too. Shortly after discovering my deception Sister Macklite sang a rather remarkable birthday song compilation including just about every type of birthday song out there. It went on for a good 3 minutes, and I loved it. I'll have to learn it myself sometime, add it to my other song. Elder Raiford didn't even know I was turning 20 until a few days ago when I got a birthday package from Hermana Maw in New York. I suspect that the branch members and the other missionaries plan to get me back for my deceit; hopefully it will involve food. Also, President Wakolo came to speak in a Fireside (another name for a Revival) down in Paragould. It was really good. He spoke about making the best choices for our time in this life, because compared to the eternities before and after our mortal life it really isn't all that long at all. He also talked about how we are always drawing further away from God with each passing day because of "holes in our spiritual reservoir". By praying, reading the scriptures, doing service, attending church, etc, we can add more "water" to what we already have to help us through hard times, instead of letting our 'reservoir' get empty and dry just when we need it full of the Water of Life (aka Christ).

 

Love you all, keep reading those scriptures, and remember who you are, a divine Son or Daughter of our Heavenly Father!

 

Elder Jayden Barker

 

P.S. The title really has nothing to do with anything. I thought it was funny so I put it up there, because what else are subject lines for? Not spoilers right? ;D

P.S.S  This just in, Sister Macklite is leaving. Just found out, sorry for the faulty info....Anyway, yeah! Stay awesome!

 

September 1, 2014- I'm going to the Circus!

So this week was completely and utterly consumed with the County Fair. Yes, I know I said "Circus" but having a title that says "I'm going to the Fair" just doesn't have the same ring to it! Very little was done apart from that. My studies were mainly about how I can talk to people and share with them a gospel message in a minute or less (about how long we have to get someone's attention and talk with them before we lose it again) We were given the opportunity to talk to a great many people there, some interested, some not. One of the ways we got people to stop and talk, if only for a second, was to do Bible Trivia on a whiteboard. The reward: A high-five from your's truly!

One interesting thing I found is the various responses to this question: What is the longest book in the Bible? A- Revelation; B- Acts; C- Psalms; D- Isaiah. Most people chose either 'A', most likely because it and Genesis are the two books in the Bible they actually know the name of, or 'D' because it is one of the least-understood books in the Bible. It just goes to show that people often times will put up a wall around themselves to try and hide something that they don't want others to know. I.e they really don't know the scriptures as well as they claim to know them. This is due to Pride. On the flip side we also saw a great many people who straight up didn't know the answer and asked us, or just simply knew the answer. They knew what they knew and also knew what they didn't know. (Stop and think about that; it will make sense. Promise!) They were humble enough to recognize that they didn't know something and tried to fix it. 

We were also given the opportunity to talk to a great many people about finding your ancestry. They were by and large surprised that they could find these things out for free, Mormons and non-Mormons alike. Ancestry.com. It's great. There was one Catholic woman who was big into finding her roots, but really didn't know where to start. She had a few books and had already compiled some records from her ancestors, but didn't know where else to go. Helping her find out about Ancestry was a really neat experience for me.

We also were able to see B*** today. He still believes that the church is true and everything, but he has a very large problem that he can't seem to get over: he's Baptist. Hopefully he will continue to make this a matter of prayer and ultimently come to the decision to make that promise with God and become baptized. I know that great blessings will come into his life if he decides to make that choice.

On Sunday all of the missionaries spoke. It was a really good experience, and I had the opportunity to speak on Love and what it truly means. I'd say more, but I'm out of time. My focus on the talk was Genesis 29:20 as to how it applies to missionary work and life in general.

Love you all!

Elder Jayden Barker

August 25, 2014- It's all down hill.

  This past week was a hot one, and thus rather difficult in talking to people because everyone was indoors and nobody wanted to answer the door. It was especially fun because we just got done with bike-week, but there were some really good things that happened because of it. First and foremost my comp got heat exhaustion. Now before you start calling me a despicable human being let me explain.

  The day after he got a tad-bit warm he had a very hard time waking up in the morning, either unable or unwilling (both?) to do more than roll slightly to find a cooler spot on his pillow. He got up, being a little bit pale, and straight up told me that there was no way he was going to go outside that day regardless of what I said. Me, I was OK with this after I opened the front door to get the junk mail out of our box and about died as the heat assaulted me. So I got a full day of studying the scriptures and taking a very long nap which completely destroyed my rest for the remainder of the evening (totally worth it). I made us dinner, tuna helper from a care package my awesome grandparents sent me, and we washed everything down with several large glasses of water. That time I wasn't sleeping or studying was spent writing letters (They are on the way Mom. Promise!) and cleaning things.

   The next day we were good to go, and it wasn't nearly as hot. Only about 110 on the heat index. We biked up about 5 miles to go and see if we could find any new people to teach. What should we see as we were biking along but the tow-truck that so kindly helped us get our car out of a rice field. As our goal was to find new people to teach we parked the bikes and knocked on the door. J*** answered the door and almost immediately invited us inside. He introduced us to his wife and his kids. As we walked into the kitchen were they all were I saw on the back wall a very large sign, apparently made out of 2x4's, that said "Do you pray about it as much as you talk about it?" Below it was a scripture in Matthew that I can't remember the exact verse for.

   They asked us a few questions about ourselves, our roles as missionaries, and 'what were we possibly thinking biking around in this heat?' J*** soon told us that he was concerned about his relationship with God and balancing his priorities between Family and Work. He had gotten clean off of drugs some years back and was very knowledgeable about how it feels to be close to God and very far away indeed. With his wife being  pregnant and young children to take care of he wants to make absolutely certain that they will have all the material comforts, but he's also noticed that by extensively working he grows away from God and also his family. This lead to an excellent discussion about the Book of Mormon and how studying it and the Bible can provide those family and spiritual bonds he is looking for. We also talked about the power of prayer, and about attending church services. While we were speaking Jonathan got very quiet and just leaned against the back wall, almost the exact likeness of the statue "David the Thinker". As I was trying to find a conversational way to find out what was on his mind he blurts out "Could y'all say a prayer with us right now?"

   Naturally we were more than happy to oblige them. Before we prayed together I suggested that their kids might like to join us. There was a rather comical eureka! moment as they looked at each other briefly and then split, one moving in the direction of the garage calling for the older one with the other moving in the direction of the rest of the house calling for the younger. There was an awkward moment for us as we were left alone in their kitchen listening to them run around looking for their children, but it soon passed as was replaced with a very stong spirit of love as we asked God together for help. They invited us back again later that week.

   We saw D*** again this week. He is to start work on the river today and won't be back until next month. However he is going to take the Book of Mormon with him as well as all of the pamphlets we gave him. With a 3 days on/4 off schedule he should at least have a spare minute or two to read it. From our conversation with him last it is clear he is reading, so perhaps when he gets back he will have read all of it!

   The past two weeks have been really difficult for us to find new investigators to teach. As in we didn't find anyone at all. Meh. This week, however, changed all of that. Finding (officially) J***and his family, and then two more people last minute Sunday morning was a huge blessing for us. All of this heat was also good for us as it went a long way toward making us unafraid to go up to random people on their lawns and ask them for water. This in turn triggered some interesting discussions, mostly about if we are Christian or not. It just tickles me when other people try to tell me what it is I believe. Anywho, those two people are some old investigators of missionaries down in Texas. They just happened to move up here and be walking on the same street as we were biking on at exactly the right moment. We hope to go back tomorrow evening.

I think this is everything. To conclude, please refer to the picture. We look awesome on our bikes!

 

Elder Jayden Barker