TRANSFERRED! I'M A REAL BAGUIO MISSIONARY!

I've been transferred out of pangasinan! I am now a real baguio missionary! Not a pangasinan missionary. The joke here, because most of the mission is in the state of pangasinan, is i served in the pangasinan mission. Anyways im in AGOO, third branch, the place is amazing here im close to the ocean which i want to see. I smelled it in damortis on the way here. The spanish influence is way strong here the catholic church is really enticing. I just want to look inside haha but we have to wear missionary attire on pday, so that would be weird watching the mormon missionaries walking into the cathedral during confession time. Well im glad lexi and kylie are doing great in their areas. The language is fine. I think i will grow a lot this transfer. My new companion is actually from my batch Elder Rabaca from cebu city. Batch means the group you entered with into the mission. The branch has a lot of less actives but the leadership is very strong and the biggest problem here is not getting the people married but keeping them married. The language is good. I'll be here for about six months. I would have to say but here in La Union im fine with that. Its green and awesome. Up north more there is a place called vegan which is a pure spanish style town but its in the laoag mission. I'll probably spend christmas here so im happy.  I like my district leader he served in iraq. Elder Purcell from america samoa before he came on a mission i have a lot of friends in this area. The members are nice they try to grab my nose because its sobrang matangos "very pointy". I'm glad the rabbit is alive haha. Dallin emailed me i laughed so hard he will have fun in his mission. Kylie i dont have a picture yet but i love the yarn squares you sent me. They are on my study desk. I'll bring them back you can have one ill have the other ayos ba? oh yeah if people from san quintin try to add me on facebook thats okay! If they start writing on my wall thats weird but yeah. I was surprised when i left at some of the reactions because of the position of me leaving i got a lot of unprogressing investigators to open up for more lessons and i got alot of presents. I had to leave a lot behind there. I thanked everyone for the food. Here in my new area the apartment is very small, but very clean and very nice. No cobwebs this time and my companion is an amazing cook just like home. He cooks and i clean and we half the budget on lunch. I love all the news any kind so please keep it coming. I love the pictures duba looks old. Lexi you can date but tell the guys to keep their hands off!!  Elder Barney

NEVER DENY AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK OR SHARE TESTIMONY OR A CALLING

Hey,
No i havent been transferred yet i'll find out on wednesday so we will see. I'm doing good the work is slowing down but were fighting back. I liked the pictures and thanks lexi for emailing me i want to punch petersen he's lucky the church was nice enough to give him a job because no one else would hire him. Man byu lost? Well they will be good when i get back. Elder Ardern from the first quorum of the 70 visited and it was amazing the best zone conference i have ever been to. He talked about our role here in the philippines. They are phasing out white missionaries out of philippines. I'm a dying breed in the church because of the filipinos are having a hard time supplying an adequate amount of missionaries 70 percent to be precise. And then the philippines will be 100 percent pilipino. China will be ready to receive the gospel. That is the sign that china is ready and the filipinos will take the gospel to china. Amazing really. He is from new zealand he grabbed me after the meeting and we talked. One of the most christ like people i have met in a long time. He gave us good advice and reassured me of some things that i have been thinking about. No mom...my mission is not like what i expected. I think I expected sipping pina coladas on some beach somewhere in the Philippines haha but seriously different I still love it here. I'm glad your having fun. Never deny an opportunity to speak or share testimony or a calling. It is frustrating here to have people go inactive and hide in their homes on sunday when its their turn to teach elders quorum or whatever. It comes down to no or weak faith and we are fighting back. One member has a brother who is a recent convert to islam he was fun to talk with him haha. He has lots of scriptures to show us in the bible while we were waiting for his brothers to finish eating. We directed him to some other scriptures that gave him a clear message that we take our religion seriously, and the spirit remained haha. I always laugh when I pass the j dubs and i think of all of dad's mission stories. They dont mess with us. Well im excited for conference!

I laughed good at kylies pictures as napolean. If he ever had a girlfriend she looked the part. Well right now one big struggle is bad dad's here. Pilipinos are notorious for leaving the country to work abroad its a recipe for disaster. Dad goes abroad finds another girl converts to muslim or whatever leaves his family starving here in the philippines its happened so many times their ripening for gods anger. I have learned good lessons from their bad examples, but i cant do anything really to help these people financially. It's hard to teach people about paying tithing and faith when they dont have money for food. Mom you wanted to know what life's like here...sad...I'm not discouraged. It's the reality of things here. Sorry i dont get enough time to email here haha so im rushing. 

The time is flying here for me. I can barely touch the days sometimes. I did exchanges with the zone leaders this last week and their apartment was like a california apartment, so nice brand spanking new. There is a huge batch coming in one of the biggest ever 18 elders and sisters we need it bad were stretched thin. Where are all the missionaries going? utah?! Send them here we need them more here haha.
Elder Barney

HOW AM I FEELING? I FEEL GREAT!

I'm doing great my email got erased? shoot well ill resend them. I'm

doing good i got to go with elder cabauatan to train the trainers so

either im getting transferred or he is to open an area on sept 21 so

we will see. President surprised us and showed up at our apartment

with the AP's, but they cant fool us. They called to ask what barangay

we lived in and the address so we were ready for them haha. I saw

another snake this week but it was dead i want to see a live one. Well

president is focusing hard on doctrine and getting ready for the day

of defence haha. Well were just trying to push our progressing investigators into IBD's. If elder cabauatan will train here i dont want his trainee to show up like me. No ibd's no success. So i'll prep it up and i have noticed the branch is booming we actually fell short of chairs and reverence in sacrament was a problem

because of how many people were working in tandem with the auxiliaries

and we're going hard at these part member families that are saying they

are waiting. Procrastination is something we have to fight them

with but it's fun. The language is still coming I'm running out of

language study materials which stinks. Well how's doobs and lou? Kylie

and lexi you better not be saying to the boys...this is crazy but

heres my number or call me baby or maybe-carlie jepson somet thing like

that?? Thats always played here on the radio i dont think the boys

here know the meaning of it because they are always yelling it at

me.(?) Dad i read an article in the sept ensign or liahona about the dos

hermanas stake in sevilla spain. The featured author was sister maria

perez sanchez. Do you still have contact with the people there or no? I

never asked. I'm glad dallin is going there. I did tell him he was going to africa. I'm glad utah state won haha. Me homesick? No mom haha. I was after a week in the philippines. There were times when i have been upheld by the spirit, sometimes so many from being too bold before i was withheld because of the language but sometimes matigas and ulo ng less actives they are so hard headed but its all good. I dont want to be 20 yo haha. What am i feeling each night?  Usually great by the end of the night. I need to rest to forget about some

of the parts of the day. My mission is not even close to what i

expected even when i was in the mtc. This isn’t like a cruise

destination spot. This is like the nebraska of the Philippines lots of

fields but i like it. I will miss the members when i am transferred. I

worry sometimes that im not changing as much as I should be or if when

i return home that I’ll be able to do school again. I dont like having

so much future ahead of me..haha. Sharing the gospel is so much easier

when they ask you about it first. There are obvious ways to display our

faith without wearing a "i love mormons shirt", ctr rings, or reading

the book of mormon in public etc. Well i love you all You look at the

calendar and it still reads 2012 but look at it now. I'm 7 months into

my mission and its crazy the first transfer was tough but you just become attached to the growth of the ward, personal, and companionship study.  Well thats all for now folks~

Elder Barney

DIDN'T FEEL THE QUAKE...BUT I ATE PIZZA HUT

Hello!

Well no i didnt feel the quake havent even heard of it, but i just ate pizza hut and it was delicious. Some crazy white biker guy walked into national bookstore like a white trash apache junction guy with biker boots and a white trash shirt came up poked my pilipino zone leader in the stomach grabbed me by the shoulder and whispered in my ear, "i think i know where your from just by lookin at cha".  I said oh really where am i from? He said utah usof a. I said nope I'm from arizona then he said mesa it is then? I said yeah then he said east mesa huh i said yup and he was all how long you live there? I said 2000-2012 and he said you probably saw me when you was a boy. I used to drive the garbage truck there until 2002, but i like it here they dont got any road sense but i have a cheap house for only 12000 dollars. All this was happening while my companion was right there. He turns to my companion and said you look like one of those navajoes haha. He turns back to me yeah you know them huh and i laughed and my companion was all whats a navajo i then turned back to him and explained its a lamanite my friend was all what??! My comp is fluent in english, so they talked anyways. I apologized to my companion after and explained that not all americans are like that. He totally made fun of them. My comp is used to bumping into creepy old american dudes here though. Anyways on another note i got grandmas package that was awesome. Jerry and Jelo were baptized, so now the challenge is to continue the sucess time to replant. President will surpise attack my apartment soon, so im prepping. Thank you for every bit of news. Dallin emailed me that was good to hear from him. Dad i have a question has the pilipino peso ever been more than the american dollar? curious i exchanged some dollars today the rate is down to 41. Sounds like america is doing great haha. Yes were allowed to read the infinite atonement because tad callister set sister monahan apart haha he said jokingly to me. I love the news every bit. Dallin said someone will move in next to us dangit my fort!? Dad help them save the fort help them haha. My companion is getting his bible prepped. The saksi ni hevoah or the JDUBS are getting active in the area. The jdubs here are brash but they have been thrashed my mormon missionaries in the past so they have been taught to avoid us kind of not to make a scene but with our new finding focus we are running into more and more and more manila attitudes very prideful and ignorant. I use 2 nephi chapter 29 it hasnt failed me once. No investigator or person can deny the truth of the chapter. I love it!! I hope i answered most of the questions if i didnt i read them but forgot to answer. I love you all im doing fine there are some members here that might move to arizona, so i might meet up with them after the mission. Its safe here in pangasinan anyways adios ~Elder Barney