FLYING OUT!

Kamusta!

Hopefully this letter gets to you! Well my pday is a day early because of general conference. So here is my flight plan:

SLC LV:9:36PM

SF, California AR:10:55PM

 

SF, California LV: 1:10 AM

Hong Kong AR:6:15 AM

 

Hong Kong LV: 8:05AM

Manila AR:9:55AM

 

I'll will probably call from San Fran. If i have a lot of time ill call you all in SLC. Tell Brother and Sister Johnson thank you for the cookies ill send them a letter that was nice of them. Tell D that i get her letters and lexi as well. I am so excited to get there. As long as i have the spirit... my testimony which i have down and the first vision will be more than enough. The people i heard are the kindest most generous people in the world. I met a pilipino mysenero the other day Elder Bautista he was way chill. I wish i would have asked dad more stories about them when he spent his time in the navy. I hope one day when i serve in the navy that i will have tons of filipinos so i can speak to them and keep my tagalog up! I have met a lot of kids from fallon here. Good elders! they all know ernie they wanted to know what ward i said the fifth i had no clue. I am set for the philipines though. Thanks mom for the stuff i am eating the gardettos right now. Uhm..a guy in our branch presidency who just got transfered opened Baguio in 1962. His name is brother howard. He hasspent a decade in missionary service over there. As a mission president and so on and so forth. Uhm i have began reading ang aklat ni mormon. With the help of my English-Tagalog dictionary which has a picture of the rice terraces from the Baguio mission in them. People are sick and tired of teachers and past mission presidents from the philippines telling us how lucky Elder Savage and I are to go to Baguio. Haha. Its cool and mountainy and has sea what else could an elder want. Thats cool about track! 1:53 by wheat wow. Dallin and I got the sametime then at rotary i guess i didn't stink that bad afterall hahaha. Anyways hope everything is good at home Eduardo Gavarret spoke at our fireside the other night and told us not worry about home. Whatever you do just stay in places that you wouldn't mind taking Jesus with you too and i will have nothing to worry about. But seriously i don't worry because what is bound on earth is bound in heaven. Hey Hey! please send me the quote by brigham young goes something like this  "....i will build the kingdom of god until my heart bends to the will of my hands" something like that. Just email it to me please if you can. Brother Howard kinda reminds me a willard richards kind of guy. Anyways he promised us that we would see miracles in the philippines to the likes of those that were performed in the times Joseph Smith and the times of Christ and the old testament. The people of the land are misguided yet they are god fearing and humble and those two attributes will invoke the blessings of heaven. I am bummed though i won't be able to attend the temple for two years but..hopefully ill be at the ground breaking for the temple in Erdeneta i think that is how it is spelled anyways. Im reading in Revelations almost done with the new testament and im in numbers in the ot. reading the OT...yaa this might be the last time i ever do that hahaha. I'll stick to my DC and Book of Mormon. I just wanted to read up you know. but yeah im learning a lot. I have been blessed with amazing teachers in here just like i have been promised with. Thats cool mom about the 28 elders hahah. I don't know if it is a good idea to get a bunch of woman together who miss their boys together haha. If you do don't do it in a public place like a restaurant...just kidding. I really like my picture book. Maybe when im in the philippines send me the picture of me on the horse.  Thank for the watch and everything i like it! its great and for everything. Oh i don't use the word tomboy in english anymore when describing the dub. Its a bad word in tagalog haha Ignat

 

Elder Barney

 

Labanan ang mabuting laban

 

I TRADED SPORTS FOR CHOIR

Kumusta kayo!

I didn't get into choir haha You needed three years of choir plus to go which is a bumber cause i showed up everyweek for choir and some kids showed up the last weeek just to get in. I guess i traded sports for choir oh well it was worth it. Elder Oaks came on sunday awesome talk. Thanks for the package it was everything that i needed. I should get my travel plans to day. Uhm yeah so i think you know but im not dl anymore im just senior companion, however, it has allowed me to loosen up time for studying and becoming a scriptorian. Ha! sorta...Uhm i can almost dunk haha connor could right before he left. I can touch the ball to the rim. Should have brought my bball shoes haha and i would be jumping out of the gym as much as a white kid could. Thank you!! for the package seriously. Perfect timing the price of the shipping made me cringe however so im gonna stop asking for stuff for christmas. Thank for keeping me posted the mtc teachers call outside talk "Babylon" i call it Vegas or amsterdam cause well babylon is soo old. Anyways i enjoy that stuff and i don't find it an issue to talk about in the proper setting. Tell dallin gud lak with the magtrak haha. I saq blake cowans brother the other day teaching a lesson while we praticing street contacts. Toph left this week to columbia the first white missionary to attend thier mtc what an honor ha. We got ronnie bulos to commit to baptism! haha he isnt real but the feeling seemed real to me hahahah.  its really brother mansfield honestly i have been blessed with great teachers trust me very lucky i have watched other classes and connor and toph have told me horror stories. Please keep sending me dear elders until i leave April 2 i love them. I look foward to them. I have a great family and i didn't fully understand that until i came here. Uhm...funny story the other day we were in priesthood and they wanted to sing a poor wayfaring man of grief and no one knew how to play it. They tried the first line acapela and it was garbage. I couldn't let them ruin mine and the prophet joseph's favorite song so i walked to the piano and started playing. Everyone just sat there in shock. hahaha. They were like you know music? I was like no...i know a poor wayfaring man of grief hahaha. If they ever need someone to play that i got it. I'll probably shoot pictures to ya soon sorry they take a while to develop. It is getting nice here that probably means AZ is starting to get nasty. Dad i loved your letter about dreams. I think it is cool that i finally get to attend a school my dad actually went to hahah. Lately my dreams have been this...Coach Alexander comes to me tells me that i have an hour to warm up for the 2 mile or 800 or mile. Yeah their actually called nightmares haha. Emotionaly scarred! just kidding. But yeah hopefully i can be as in tune as you and mom and warrant the amazing life experiences that you have both had. @nanay that sucks for elder agren there are a couple of elders that are gonna ruin thier missions for a woman. Pathetic. Honestly @tatay every story you told me every desirable trait that you thought i should have everything was correct. Never be afraid because christ has everything under control. mahal kita

-Elder Barney

"Labanan ang mabuting laban"-Pablo ang Apostol

Letter 4

Kamusta po kayo!

Hopefully this email sends the computers here are garbage haha! Well this week has been good i am no longer DL we made the switch and our ZL's headed out some stayed behind for root canals so im glad cause thier way chill. They informed me that ill be the travel leader because they pick travel leader by alphabetical order. That will make some elders mad...seriously. Plus its ironic because @dad i feel like i should respectfully decline hahaha. Jokes on you im really gonna be the travel leader. I'll pray not to lose the flight plans and ill be aright ha. This week has been fun. We have come with lots of ways to have fun. One is called the spoon game. You take a spoon from the cafeteria and place it in someonesjacket before they leave the cafeteria and they have to go back to take it back once they find it hayhah. The other thing we do is when we get substitute teachers we switch our name tags halfway through the lesson lawlz. We got one so good. He said elder brown please read the following sentance and we had switched behind his back and i started reading. I kept a straight face...he looked like he just got asked a calculus question he was so confused hahah. Anyways those are some of the things we do for fun,. We have a basketball hoop in our room that an elder brought. It is a U of U one. Fortuneately it broke after our six six 270 lb district leader thought he could dunk on it. Im glad i don't have to stare at that anymore. Anyways we get out travel plans next weeek its cray. Uhm @dad thnaks for the march madness update some of the elders are making copies of a bracket that one kids mom sent. They asked if i wanted in but ill wait until two years from now cause i don't even know one thier tourneys stuff like that. Most people have Kansas going all the way. Yeah so im in choir and the other day they handed out slips to see if we could go to general conference and sing in the choir. They wanted to know if we had experience. I don't know how many thier taking but with my singing career i don't think ill get picked. elder savage will though he used to sing and play guitar for a band. I said i have been in the stake choir and ward choir. I talked my self up as much as i could without lying haha. I sung at a youth stake fireside one time and i sung with the young men in front of our ward one time. So yeah, we will see. Most people said please pick me i want to see the prophet! hahaha. I shoul have gone for the pity plight. Yeah mom i heard you talked to elder savage's mom and you added her on face book. Don't do anything on there i wouldnt do ahhah. Uhm...tungkol sa pictures hmmm.. im working on it i have like five. I sent kylie a birthday present hopefully its gets there soon. By the sound of your letter yesterday mom! it doesn't sound like it made it for her birthday but i love my bear. Don't Wash the Red Sox hat! or you will bring a curse upon red sox nation. I promise D thats my world series hat. Don't letanyone other you and lou wear it.

I saw some girls from singles ward at BYU ward walking down from the temple this morning that was weird to say the least hahaha! Thanks Mom for writing me everyday! I like the bandit stories! Uhm let me know what you do for spring break ill be spending mine in the philippines hahaha. Oh i talked to Brother Moffat about coming to pick me up. He said he doesn't advise it...i'll leave it at that. We do this TRC thing basically a RM rehabilitation center and i want to join it after my mission. Anyways because i went to BYU its awesome to be able to relate to them like giving them ideas of how they can retain some of the spirit they had on thier mission so they don't Crash. Favorite part of the week. @DBear its okay you didn't get to run i cant remember the enitrety of the letter but Dannis is a punk and you keep doing you!  @Lou good like with da tree-outs let me how they go if they haven't gone @Dad letme know how romney's doing

i liked your letter about your class. Seriously president's promise that the scriptures will ome alive for me is alive in ways that i didn't think were possible

I feel like i'm the little kid i used to be when i would watch the living scripture movies. My dream is that i can stand on a soapbox and preach in some town like Dan Jones or Paul. I'm reading in ether sa ang aklat ni mormon and in St. John sa ang biblia. I'm getting really excited to share my two paragraph long testimony with anyone who will listen in the pilipinas hahah. Cause thats what i can do pray, bear testimony, and teach the four lessons in tagalog. So keep in touch i get the dead elders everyday except sat and sun before 12 i believe. "A"dios

Fight the good Fight

nang taos-puso,

Elder Barney

Letter 3

Pamilya,

Kamusta Kayo! Feel free to delete this next sentance when forwarded...please do not read my patriarchial blessing anymore...i say that not because i am mad but please do not.. thank you. Thank you grandmas and grandpas for the letters that you send me i love them. I am good in the candy department but thank you so much. @Dad haha i worked out next to a snow college football player the other day.  looks like they just about accept anyone to play there hhaha just messin. Today i went to the temple. The people are very particular there and very exact it can be frustrating ill leave it at that...dad if you feel you need to cut anything i say because it is edgy feel free to do say what can i say im a barney. This last week the head or grand poobah of missionary work David Evans spoke to us on tuesday. sunday was alex boy a black singer who converted to mormonism. Lot of the boys liked him, and didn't like david evans because he didn't speak with the granduer or sing or crack as many jokes alex boye. When i say boys i mean elders. I felt bad because he had amazing things to say about the book of mormon. Like read it from cover to cover to gain a testimony of it. even read the testimonies. When doing missionary work don't expect someone to gain a testimony of the book if they have only read from the visitation of christ on. the entire book. I like tagalog a lot! It is not an educated language like bishop andrews said but it has words to describe emotions and common day to day human interactions that make an amazing language to use to describe emotions or express oneself. Also our teacher said to thank a spanierd because the spanish changed thier indic alphabet to the spanish one haha. So we don't have to deal with the silly symbols that most asian missionaries have to deal with. @mom loved the peas and carrots. we was like peas and carrots. They were good and as a joke during TRC which is basically a program that allows rm's to come back and speak with us in the language and we share a message with them to keep them strong in the gospel. Basically, a RM rehabilitation program that one day i will find myself in or maybe i will teach at the mtc who knows. I'm glad to hear brady is going to byu-i his testimony and knowledge of the book of mormon will skyrocket going there. Let him know that i felt prompted this week about Dylan Lusi. Dylan needs the missionaries. I don't know what needs to be done but please help brady to carry that out. I am ashamed that i didn't do mroe when i came back from college. I have implemented a plan as DL to have the NT read by the end of the mtc. Most elders have only read luke two and the book of revelations. We are going to a hotbed of catholcism and we have to know it. I have also made the language learning more like a college class. Due dates, or goals etc. My elders are doing great! The ZL and his group leave this next week to Quezon city north which is sad except....Elder Aloafua who is a 5'6'' three hundred pound samoan who is going to the south part of the pilipinas because no one in thier right mind would say hey i got a good idea...lets smuggle a giant, samoan away to ransom him to his family. I leave APRIL 2

sorry i on accident hit send bahaha. anyways i don't know what to really say. My tagalog is coming along. I get a letter everyday...thanks to mom. I get to go the temple every saturday and enjoy thier delicious bacon and gravy and biscuits and lemonade. my companion and i get along. The scriptures are coming alive for me in a way that i wish they had in seminary...Im in choir(baratone) basically where they send the kids who can't sing but we get hushed up by the bases...I get a seventy or apostle to speak to me every tuesday night... I have family and friends that love me...i get to the see the twins almost once a day. I am the luckiest kid in the world. The only thing icould ask for is a real person to share the gospel with and not a teacher hahaha. and i think i will get a ton of that in the pilipinas. You don't need to send me nail clippers i found dem! I also sewed my first buttons on my suit. bloody buttons. I have enough money for my needs im set no worries. Keep the rabbit healthy, keep doobie out of fights in softball, lexi away from boys, mom away from bunko, don't irritate dad to the point where he has no hair when i get back. Thats about all i can think of. I'm going to send you another handwritten letter soon. I drew my rendition of where im at and where your at. Its good the mesa proportions good do some wortk but i worked you into the picure. Don't showanyone. I'm glad Romney is ahead! thank goodness. i leave on a mission and he finally does good. Maybe the sox will win this year while im away too hahaha. Hopefully the world doesn't end this year but if it does,hahah, im on a mission and i dont have to be ashamed when jesus asks me what were you doing with your time when i came. You can all say the same. Talking with missionaries im glad where i was raised it kept me in check and even though mountain view is well you know lexi!! there is always tomorrow which is college and endure it well. Duba i love you...good luck with softball.

Fight the Good fight

 

-Elder Barney

Letter 2

Pamilya,

Kamusta kayo? This week has been great Elder Holland came for our devotional on tuesday night and he was awesome. I joined the choir just in time so i was able to sing at it. The reason was the song was come thou fount. First choir participation for elder barney ever! haha, anyways i have eight elders in my district. We have no sisters which as time has gone in is a blessing and a hindrince. The blessing is that the petty fights they have don't get in the way of the work. The problem is they keep their classes on topic and the discussion off sports and girlfriends. And yeah....everyone thinks they have the most beautiful girlfriend in the world. They asked me if i did but i don't neither does elder savage. We are getting along great...we are like peas and carrots as forrest gump once said! He is way easy going and he never gets mad for anything. Well we found out that our investigator was a teacher. Disappointment. I should have known that no one would travel to another country to attend UVU. Plus, one of his friends called during our appointment and i heard his friend talking in english while brother rodan aka really brother moffat was telling him to speak in tagalog. Now brother moffat is our teacher and i liked him better when he spoke in tagalog. He is kind one of those set three goals. Then set three subgoals for those goals and then so on and so on. Last night during training resource was probably the most difficult for all the elders to listen too. @Mom i get all of your letters and i love them. @Grandpa and Grandma yes i got the jerky and pasalamat! So how is romney doing haha? That's about the only news i care too hear that i can think of at the moment. Missionaries that are going out that i know and am friends with id like to know as well. @Lexi good luck with try outs, i know you will do great. Uhm...i don't get much time to write so it might be best to resort to dear elder while im in the mtc. I don't get much time to read and write. So reading your letters while im clocked in wastes time. Anyways this week i have memorized the first vision and our purpose. Big goal for monday is memorize it in tagalog and my companion was hesitant about it but i know we got this is we ask for help. This week has been centered around the doctrine of christ which began with our sunday night film session from a talk from elder bednar...probably his best talk ever unfortunately only missionaries i think are able to watch those. Oh... wait elder holland's talk was about keeping in the church after our mission basically. He did what he did best...which is using getting people on board with the will of the lord. I think the brethren are extremely worried about the amount of missionaries  that leave after our mission. I think the statistic was six percent became active by five years of coming home. Preach my gospel interstingly enough was inspirtation given to president hinkley on how to  better help missionaries become converted to christ. That is our goal as humans testimonies are only the beginning and through the book of mormon it is clear from many prophets that those that are truly converted to christ will never forsake the gospel. That was the epitome of elder bednar's talk. Uhm being district leader my responsibilities are....im basically a glorified mail getter for my elders. i don't think they realize how difficult it is and they are a lazy group when our teacher leaves the room and talk alot and when i try to invite them to study they they mag-si-ar which is to go to the restroom or write letters or yeah. So the only way to effectively study sadly enough is to take my companion who is a hard worker and we across the hall. President stott is my branch president and him and i get along very well. And i really like his counselors. We are a self problemsolving district, however, one of my elders scheduled a meeting with president stott because of tesimonial issues. Stake presidents and bishops should never never ever ever pass an elder into the mtc who doesn't have a tesimony and who as far as everyone can see is an athiest. I know that raising the bar was inspired and i truly understand its importance. On a lighter note...miracles do happen and the spirit really does communicate with us. Through music, a painting, a church leader, parents, and even a humble companion and so on and so on. I have learned the importance of its guidance and the power of the priesthood. Renew your testimony everyday. When you wake up sucker punch lucifer in the face by praying. I see it as letting him know that..that day you're beginning is not his but yours and the godhead's. I love the letters you send. I love all of you. I love the legacy of faith that i have on both sides of my family. I am so lucky to have toph and connor in the mtc with me. Everyone is maturing and i am so excited to get into the field even though i am not yet ready as far as the language goes hahaha.

@pamilya ko. do the little things like president holmes said prayer, book of mormon reading and everything spiritual will make the difference. The temple was awesome today love you lots.

fight the good fight

 

 

Kita Kits,

Elder Barney