ALMA 7. IT'S EFFECTIVE AND BOLD.

Dad if you meet this boyfriend of cecilia's use your gaydar to determine whether or not he's a man's man. Vegas is boring. It's only fun one night a year if there is a bowl game. The other day when i was getting my haircut the filipinos were watching the nba all star game it was funny watching their faces trying to understand the english of shaq, kenny smith, charles barkley. They also had a few other old players that I didnt recognize. I saw one dunk of kenny smith's way awesome he bounced the ball between his legs and it bounced back of the back board and he three sixtie dunked it. His shorts were way to short. I just need a cool family picture and yeah it would be great to get some contact solution. My talk went good at the funeral. The family of the sister were all catholic and their faces were great to watch when i spoke tagalog. Elder Tijap said afterwards if you spoke in pangasinan the old grandma's probably would have fainted. 

Family is pamilya in tagalog and love can be pagibig or pagmamahal. It's been a great week. We had a baptism last saturday. I'll send some pictures it was brother domingo's baptism. The other family still has their child in the hospital, so they werent able to be baptized. But we are finding really good families that are accepting the invitation to be baptized. The hardest part is getting them to church. I loved the pictures lexi with her diaper hat and kylie's picture scared me the one with the suns dancer because she looked so old. We have been using the atonement of jesus christ coupled with the invitation to be baptized found in alma 7. It's effective and bold. Dont worry dad I'm very bold with people. It's always worked in my favor and Elder Rabanes is a very happy missionary and the work is great. The bishop is way good. Yeah i dont know if i will stay in the urdaneta mission. I might be able to be assigned in alaminos which i really want. Who knows? We workshopped last week to the youth and to the missionaries and on wednesday i workshop again. I was pretty scared the other day because president mortensen the counselor of president monahan came to my workshop, but he had great insights that made it great. I loved reading Elder Gherkins emails. I kind of miss american humor. 

Anyways i love you all.

Sorry so Short.  Ingat

Elder Barney

I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW.

So they are going to split the mission i think you have seen the changes. I am still thinking about it. I'll probably not see a lot of friends like my trainee elder macabenta because he will be in an another mission. Those thoughts were the first thing that entered in my mind, but im happy that im still with president monahan and elder savage is still in my area. I hope youre doing ok mom. I'm honestly fine. This week is going to be big. Your right dad the adversary works hard. The parayaoan family's youngest son broke his foot when he fell from a mango tree. They wanted to postpone the baptism but bishop cancino talked to them and it should still be okay this week and also brother domingo is sure for 1 o'clock on saturday. We had ward conference last week and it was awesome to hear the choir sing I am a child of god in pangasinan and tagalog. The best hands down was "pamilyay sa diyos". I have heard the song in english before but i forgot the name. It was good. I kept looking at our other investigator family the deguzman family to see how they were doing while listening. It was impossible not to feel the spirit. I'd love for you to send me a picture of us all together as a family where we dont look to rich so that i can show to people when we proselyte. My zone leader did it with a "preach by the way". Even the hardest catholics become softer when you show them a picture of your family haha. Ky I'm going to send you a letter today for your birthday and then I'm going to cut my hair and get my soles on my shoes fixed haha so when it rains i dont feel the water in my shoes. Dallin emailed me. His first week sounds a lot like my first week, but he told it all to his family i didnt hahaha.  Bishop wrote me he's awesome. I had my first baptismal interview. It was one of the most spiritual hours of my mission. I finally understand a little, not a lot, because that would be blasphemous like Elder jeffrey r. holland said of the atonement and the love of the savior for sinners and for us. His talk is one of the best talks i have ever heard, as a missionary we will have to walk where he walked.  I just re-read the letter from president about the mission changes. Technically the missionaries havent been finalized. If I'm in the urdaneta mission then it's good thing i got that frog wallet just in time in baguio hahahahahahahaha  Dad i loved your home teaching stories. I like stuff like that. Mag-ingat  Elder Barney

"Preach By The Way" Opportunities

Yeah im doing okay. I played basketball earlier. With the kidney stones who knows what i ate? I haven't been drinking soda or eating pancit noodles. I like the area. There are a lot of members, hard to say for certain, because they formed a branch in some of the far barangays so thats outside my area. But theres a lot and to make it worse there are a lot of members who were teaching and trying to get back to church but we have no record in the branch...which makes me feel good inside haha. I cant imagine if bishop porter lost my record. Anyway the funeral of sister domingo is on wednesday. I was chosen to be a speaker which is fine i have something to say. We lost the key to the apartment, but i found it so we dont have to break into the apartment like a bunch of thieves using laminated cards and a great device that we made composing of my belt and an umbrella. We have 6 baptisms on the 23rd the paraoayan family and then brother domingo. In march we are hoping to get some more. President told me that he thinks san carlos can be the highest baptizing area in the mission and i dont doubt it. They are going to add sisters and cut our area smaller. I'm excited for the new missionaries then again i dont know how sisters will be. I have heard a lot of stories but i have the zone leaders in my house and they are a good help for me. I have been eating french toast every morning to fatten up. I thinks its working. We have a dinner appointment later i think were going to eat fried chicken which is really good. I watched special witnesses of christ the other day that was awesome. I really liked the testimony of neal a maxwell. President Monahan wants us to start talking to people and being more aggressive in our "preach by the way" opportunities. The rescue has been very slow and tedious and we're starting to balance back more into a stronger focus on investigators. I'm sorry my letters short i have little to write about but thanks for the pictures. I hope for more anyways until next week ~Elder Barney 

Not The Best Call To Receive...But he's On the Mend!

So we finally got an email from Tee.  We got a call sunday night that he had been in the hospital. (not the best call to receive!) They finally determined a kidney stone.  It looks like it finally passed.  If further treatment is needed then he will go to Manila to a private hospital that the church has privleges at with an American LDS physician (sevice missionary).  His mission President and Sis Monahan have been great communicating with us each day.  Thanks for all of the prayers of those that had heard about his situation.  We have a lot to be grateful for here in the states.   PS  Sis Monahan said that Elder Barney was pretty happy on pain meds.  I dont think he has been on pain meds...even with wisdom teeth he didnt want them...?  PSS  Mom can finally get some sleep!



Thursday, February 7th

hey

Well i finally got to get out!! My head still hurts from all the pain medication, and i say and do really dumb things but i need to work today because we were supposed to have a baptism on saturday. Brother Domingo who is partially deaf, he's huge, he's so tall for a filipino but he is the nicest person i have ever met in my life. Anyways his whole family was baptized three weeks ago. He has two daughters they have no permanent job and his wife is now blind because of diabetes and other complications but they pay tithing. Brother Domingo was delayed because of the word of wisdom but he doesnt have any problems anymore. Anyways the day i went in the hospital for kidney stones Sister Domingo was checked into a hospital. She passed away a short time later. The ward and us were devastated. There was so much hope for this family, but i know that the timing of the gospel entering into her life was a blessing and they can be sealed one day. We will visit their family after this. Brother wants a mormon funeral service which is super rare in the philippines even for mormon families. Because the parents and the brothers and sisters of the deceased will force it into a catholic funeral. But brother domingo wants it done the right way which i have great respect for he stood up to the whole family. So yeah that and i got your valentines package, i got aarons package, i got brother willets letter, and bishop porters letter which i was grateful for and grandma and grandpa taylors valentines card today at zone interviews in bayambang. Today at zone interviews president said were going to do something different today. You have ten minutes to find a contact you need to teach them a brief part of the plan of salvation and get their name and number for a follow up visit. We found a group of standbys or a bunch of teenager punks who i never "preach by the way" to because they usually end bad, but my companion said lets try them alright sige. We talked to them and there was a lot. I noticed that in big groups they sifted themselves out from the wheat from the tares the ones who werent interested walked away and the ones who stayed seemed okay and they gave exact addresses so i know they were. The point was if you dont doubt you can be successful. I really wish you could watch president monahan workshops. It's something like none other. So when i was in the hospital i was visited by the ward that was nice and president and sister monahan came to help me out. I dont think I'll go into the other details, but I'll just say it was bad. I dont know if the stone is out. I have no way to see if it is. The doctor says its a stone but he wasnt sure. He only had two teeth. Dad what is your advice for me so i never get that again. President said it might be because of the mineral water im drinking. I hope not because that's my only clean drinking water. So please let me know. The pain is gone but if it returns I'll probably go to manila for a ct scan. I loved your valentines card especially dubas " dont bring home a filipina". Here's the deal doobs. You find me the prettiest american mormon girl (that is temple worthy) that I'm not related to and you put her on hold and we have a deal midget. haha. Love you all thanks for the triple combination. I read psalms 23:4 a couple of times over when the pain got bad. I'm glad your safe mom from your trip. I worried about you. I love you all. And lexi why did you ask luke to sadies you wont be able to go to prom together?? teenagers never learn. haha ~Elder Barney