"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