WHAT DO I NEED TO GIVE UP IN MY LIFE TO BE BAPTIZED?

So yeah this week accelerated. We have like 3 super progressing investigators that came out of the blue. I might be able to be at the baptism for one of them for sure. Francisco he is awesome! He asked us in our first lesson... what do i need to give up in my life to be baptized? I think he would have given up his home and everything like Lamoni's father. He is 20. His friend Jerry is also taking the discussions and they are awesome coming to church. Jerry's parents are LA (less active) mormons. He is 19, so we are allowed to baptize him but we will let the spirit choose. It will kill me to know years from now they joined up with "iglesia ni cristo" or denied the faith (who are much much worse than the mga catoliko) Look up "iglesia" they are a awesome bunch to deal with :) Take The gadiantion robbers mix them with jehovah witnesses and you get them. We watched the testaments with them last night it was awesome i might have seen that movie 15 times but i love it. Kohor cracks me up in that movie. Jacob! you are a spectre from the gods. There are some good pick up lines in there. Pinoys love pick up lines alot. Well anyways we are planning to have brother francisco baptized June 23. Man i pray that it goes smoothly. He lives in the mountains very far away from town. Not by the NewPeoplesArmy rebels so dont worry. Well that is the mission work... working with people who dont want to come back to church mostly, but the convert work is fun. The RCLA (recent convert/less actives) work is good. It shows me not what to do when im a parent, and not what to do so i wont fall away. One day i will take these principles and be a ward missionary. I hope to help the LA of the ward. The language is still difficult hahaha. They say im doing great, but i know i could do better but everyone tries to speak in igless to me including my comp. I dont blame him english is fun to him! So what are your summer plans? I have Zone conference in June before pres jensen goes home in Urdaneta Philippines. Yeah so i dont use my account money. My goal is to never have to use it. Im transitioning to filipino food next week in my diet other than member meals. A big step for me! Kasi i shouldn't eat top raman for lunch every meal. They call it pancit cancer here because it is basically all preservatives. Yeah i got rachaels email i need to write back through snail mail and it will cost me big. I need to mail 4 letters. I think it's 40 pisos a pop which kills my budget so yeah it might be a while. So i had my first exchange ever! with guess who? because my comp is the district leader which has maraming perks. The zone leader Elder Lauriaga. He is a former baptist preacher who was baptized. I dont know how old he is but, he is going bald so lets just say he found the gospel later on in life but man he is awesome. It is good to do splits with ZLs you learn so much. A trainee with a ZL hah! Well he told me they might transfer me after this transfer. I dont know how he would know but, he said thats what they do to americans two transfers in their start up area. Im not ready to go but ill do whatever. I refuse to ever ask not to transfer or ask to be transfered mission goals. I think its cool to see what god wants to do with me. I learn alot about how god wants to change me through my companions and my area. We had a big service project at our house today made some adobo and had fun. All the youth came it was good. But we no longer have a jungle in our back yard and guess what? there were no snakes found. Only mangoes! and trash in our backyard jungle! Yeah im excited for Pres. Manahon. I havent had much time with Pres jensen, but just like the cross country kids had coach sawyer and coach alexander and those kids complained with a new coach. The missionaries will complain with new management, but i have been here long enough to get too attached but he is awesome. So dad how close did the 4 by 800 get exactly to our record?  you never said who won state in the 4 by 800? Im glad the record stands, (hahaha) so i can show my kids 15 years from now. Everything before my mission has helped me with what im doing now: Scouts. Family Research. BYU. Our family. Track. Football. Working at Tooth Doctor. Construction. It all ties into my mission. And everything in my mission, and then some, will tie into my life pagkatapos ng misyon ko. It definantly takes patience here, but dad i am working with the members like you said and i have seen the great affects it has on the betterment of the ward. Girls you're awesome just have fun. Judas i wish we would have done more as a family, but just like that country song the next 20 twenty years will be the best years of my life...Im gonna drink some more lemonade and not so many.... hahaha I still have a sense of humor. I will never let that change. Well let me know about romney and the kids who make it on to missions and where their going. Oh mom did you and the moms make it into the magazine? Dad, the city sevilla is a sisters area. So nooooo i wont get assigned there. I will try to get a picture there though. There is a san fernando also. Isn't that an area of yours in Espana? The spanish didn't leave too much behind here in pangasinan hahaha. The people are great but its bukid. A dios

~Elder Barney Lumalaban ako ng mabuting laban

I'M ELDER BARNEY...I LIKE PRETZELS

So i beat my first transfer... fiesta is over and i have a new companion and it is cooling down.  Lots of changes. My new companion is Elder Cabauatan from makati city and we're changing this area around. He is very american. It was great to talk to you all and i am grateful for my family (and i hate this keyboard very very much). Elder C (much easier to type) is a pinoy and he plays guitar, likes all the same music as i do, and he is smart. We have one ibd and we might baptize this transfer if the man isn't special case. "Special case" is the worst phrase in the english language. Questions for dad.... hahah I need to know who is Raphael the angel (any information you have on him let me know please please). People bury their dead above the ground here in tomb coffins things.  Looks weird i think it is a spanish thing. Lots of people die here weekly they parade up and down the street after the funeral blaring music so the whole town knows someone died. Well the town fiesta is over so, not as many drunk pinoys are telling me they love me very very much. I actually like them a lot better when they are drunk. Can't teach them though. Well yeah so fiesta is like our fourth of july yeah its crazy. Well i had my first LBM or aka "montezumas revenge issue" kinda.  A member got offended because i tried to put my water in the filter gosh (some of them i want to tell off) so i drank it straight.  I'm fine now.. it wasn't crippling. Good thing doctor barney packed me the white tablets. Yes so well when i come home i dont think i will have a toilet prob. Just letting you know please dont be mad. But its a lot of fun elders are anxious to see how the new mission president will be.  Whatever happens...happens.  I have food money. Yes I eat.. im not eating at the outback steakhouse but i dont go to bed hungry. Well we're having internet problems.  Sorry ill try to send another one adios.

Elder Barney...i like pretzels. 

KAMUUUUUUUUSTA!

Kamuuuuusta!

So yeah the work is going good. We have a boy who will be baptized I feel it. He has to go to church 12 weeks in a row. The baptism rules are strict here but it is for the best. We are having success with bringing people back to the church. I got together with the mission leader and told him I want to help the branch progress to a large branch, but most people weren’t as on board with that as was am. The youth are pretty strong. They will make the difference in the coming generations of what the future of san Quinton is. Mom I fasted for you and let me know how it goes.  I’m glad grandma is coming down to help you out. Girls @ I’m proud of you… be strong and of good courage and enjoy life and school.  Love mom and dad and watch TV shows together and enjoy each others company. Ha-ha sometimes I have to pretend like I don’t have a family back home until Monday emails, but that is for the best. So about Skype yes I can Skype.  It would be difficult, but I want to do it because who knows what rules the new mission president will bring. I am roughly 15 hours ahead of you all. I can talk with you anytime the month of May. I get an hour of total talk time which is generous I am told. I can split that up or whatever. I get up 630 on Monday. So call me any Sunday night when it is around 7 here I guess on my pday, and I will talk with you for an hour. I am totally down to Skype I don’t know how to though. I would have to send you a request from the internet cafe. I’m torn on the matter maybe just a phone call for this one. We can talk for a half of an hour and figure out how to Skype, and for the next 30 minutes Skype who knows?? Yeah so I won’t get to talk to you again until December. So if you want to talk this week that is okay if you want to wait until the last Monday for me in may that would also be good too. You have my number. 20 cents a minute for you to call I believe. For an hour that would cost about 12 bucks. No I haven’t gotten sick.  I have a water filter bottle. One day I had some LBM kind of because a member gave me TANG and I had to drink it that would be rude. We were thatching his roof for a service project. Good ole elder savage I miss him. But me and Elder Tan are doing good work. Teaching lots of lessons and coming together into a unit. Don’t worry about sending me stuff through out my mission. I am ok! I have lost weight but I am healthy. One morning this week, I was thinking to my self staring at a picture of Dan Jones.  I want a soap box moment later on in my mission. Ha-ha like they did in the early days of the church. Later that night elder tan and I and a couple members went out into the bukid or country to teach a lesson to supposedly two investigators. The whole town basically showed up. I learned to be careful what we wish for. There were about 40 people there. Mostly teenagers or standbys as the teenage boys are called.  Boys with no direction in life who, like their slang name indicates, they just "stand by" ha-ha.  They don’t go to school they just smoke and follow the world. Anyways this group was mostly made up of them. My Tagalog is sketchy and so I was like ohh boy. They are gonna laugh us out of town. Elder tan started us off.  I prayed which I’m good at. And then we began to teach the entire first lesson. It came to me and I felt calm and sure.  I talked about the Saviors ministry and pagbabayad-sala or atonement and the great apostacy. No one laughed I was shocked! They just stared at me. Then I gave an account of the first vision (totally skipped one line of it by accident) it still made sense mind you, and no one said a word. My accent even made them lean in closer and crowd around to try to understand. That event testified to me whose work I am doing. By all rights they should have jeered.  We handed out lots of books of Mormon.  I gave one to the meanest looking one standing by that I saw. He had a mean mustache, rat tail, tattoos, earrings, and a gangster Lakers hat. He took the book looked at me said “tank you”.  He kind of laughed, but I was just glad they allowed me to give my message in peace. They can laugh or burn it after I’m through with the message hahaha. So the Rambo pic…so I bought that hat in the palengke my only souvenir…I guess you could say. I use souvenir money on the cherished peanut butter, and the gun is a broken air soft gun the previous missionaries left to scare off anyone who tries to hastle the missionaries. Their “bawal” now so we got rid of it haha literally the day after I took that picture they started the prohibition of air soft guns. One member gave me a cool looking jersey from his barangay team MABINI it is way cool and I will keep it forever. We are trying real hard to get them ready for the temple trip this following week, but I don’t think it will work. It kills me on the inside. The dad is so strong too. The hardest thing people have with here is tithing and Salita ng karunungan or word of wisdom. We would have gotten to go with them to the temple in manila as well to witness. Well God is in control. President Jensen has told me that in my last letter along with other words of advice. He is a very wise man and I will be sad to only have gotten to work under him for so short of a time. But I’m sure President Manahan will be awesome. I want to Skype you all though.  We will figure it out. Just call me. Please research for me, so when it is like 7-8 ish here you call. Man ha-ha these things are difficult. Well I love you all very much and I am doing this work now so that we can rest together for eternity. I will read your scripture Lou.  I’m so sorry, I get only so much time to email 45 minutes to read respond so I breeze through them and sometimes I cannot respond to every single question, but I do read every single one. Dad, I found your letter.  I didn’t want to tell you I lost it until I found it. I was dead inside when I couldn’t find it. I found it though and have taken a lot of the pieces of advice and have put them on my small plates of Nephi in my smaller journal. It helped me a lot this week. I had pizza today and pineapple juice masaya ako na maglinkod dito sa san quinton ADIOS.

Elder Barney

MY TESTIMONY OF CHRIST WILL GET ME THROUGH MY MISSION

Que pasa! kamusta kayo
So yeah this week has been good! It is very difficult, but i have been able to practice what i preach concerning prayer and i have been able to open my own personal connection with Christ in a real way that i never experienced before my mission. My testimony of the book of mormon and joseph got me on a mission, but now my testimony of christ will get me through my mission. Dad about your difficult home teaching family… sorry i didn’t adress that in my last letter. Just listen to him.  He needs someone to vent to and explain to him that you have gone through similiar things, but just share your pure testimony like Alma and show kindness and be his friend. Prepare his heart for the future. His daughter will be that future when she comes home he will see the change in her and she will be able to plant a seed because you were the tiller and rain that softened the soil. You are no less important in this work then the person who plants the seed. Moses never saw Israel,  joseph never saw utah, and you and i and many other missionaries may never see the fruits of our labors until the next life, but our purpose may not be to see the fruit of our labors. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto christ by sharing the restored gospel with them through deed and word. Uhm other things of note i wrote down some things to say so i dont run out of things to say. There is a town or city called sevilla in my mission. when i saw that i was so excited! Uhm at nights some times i can see the road to baguio lit up on its way to the mountains. It is an awesome thought that one day i will go there. It is good im here in san quinton as a starting area to learn the language because the people in baguio are well learned rich and less likely to listen to the gospel. Uhm also forgot to tell you i saw the kid from the day i went through the temple for the first time at the mtc the one going to new york. He was nice and it was cool to see him. The branch mission leader has been called finally here and were rolling. We have only one investigator who is progressing and one more on the way but that is because the standards for baptism are tight and many of the people here are not married and that causes a huge problem. Our branch is going on a temple trip in May.  If one of the families asks us to witness their sealing then maybe president jensen will let us go to manila which would be awesome. Thank you for sending a package mom and family! Well dad baseball is starting to begin so hopefully the socks pull it together this season. One cool experience this week was one day we walking in front of our church and all the youth and their friends play basketball and volleyball out on the side of the church.  We noticed a boy and his friends staring at them from outside the fence and he looked distraught. So we went and talked to him to do a “preach by the way” before we bought soda (which i have gained a taste for here but dont worrry i take care of my teeth). Anyways we started talking to him and we asked him what church he belonged to there are many in san quinton and he said he was a mormon! We were like wahh. He was like yeah my family moved from ilocos and i havent been in a while and i have been working up the courage to attend again. We then took him into the court introduced him to everyone and he became happy at once. He attended the service project we had on sat and then attended church and it was awesome. Even though not many people will listen and follow commitments, we have had so much success bringing the lost back to the church and there is no one better in the world at fellowshipping than filipinos even with all their weaknesses they excel in this category. Well good luck, i pray for you and many others. Pray always follow the holy ghost…it will never lead you wrong. That’s what joseph said to brigham after his death. He returned to earth to tell him that truth, so it must be of great worth and i know it is. Well adios!

Labanan ang mabuting laban.

Elder Barney

I WITNESSED A MIRACLE THE OTHER DAY

Kamusta kayo!

What a week! the branch is having their branch activity at a water park and president jensen let us go. No swimming of course, but we get to eat and watch and talk to the members...and no water parks here are not the same as they are in states haha. Two swimming pools and a slide, but they are having a blast. We are at a outside internet cafe down the street in the urdaneta zone. Last week i was able to see elder savage and that was awesome! hahaha we both are holding onto our pbjs as long as possible. Even the filipinos are trying them because their easy to make and quick and taste m\delicious. Glad brock is back safe and doing well. Wish i could see his homecoming!  I'll see him soon enough. Cray stories of the week. We saw one of our pamphlets in the street and by the looks of it, it had been used for toilet paper and by the smell of it. I guess i'm just glad their not using their hand. If i saw a ang aklat ni mormon used for tp i might go ballistic!  I try not to be judgmental when i hand them out, but i want people to realize how important it is and only to accept it if they will treat with care and not as a fire starter. What else....we are teaching a recently defected muslim woman. As we were walking up the path to her home we got to witness her beating one of her kids treading for being pasuway or bad. The little girl proceeded to cry and walk to the house, but she didnt want her mother to get the best of her so she picked up a stone about the size of my palm and chucked it at her moms back. yeah....lets just say we werent able to teach her that day. The spirit definantly was not there after that incident. Uhm we have one baptismal date but because of the issues with lasting conversion teenagers have to consistently attend church for three months which is disheartnening because i will never see his baptism. We are teaching a family right now who are gung ho on getting baptized, but they wont keep their commitments. They want to because the mother's brother is a bishop in taiwan and he is a great example. It seems like everyone has a relative in the church here. They showed his picture and he looks like a filipino version of dad hahaha. seriously so funny. Happy birthday uncle aaron!  You're finally over the hump! I need to figure out how i will call for mothers day it is difficult to call here in the philippines.  I witnessed my first miracle the other day. Similar to Eliza in the movie legacy. They have faith that is why they are healed. amazing. Uhm what else 85 percent of the philippines is inactive yikes! so that is why our focus is the rescue.  I'm proud to say baguio has the highest activity rate hopefully we can keep it going. President Jensen is awesome. Well adios!  

Elder Barney

HAE JO WA SHORE NAME!

Kumusta Kayo?

My address is:

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Philippines Baguio Mission

Elder Taylor Barney
PO Box 7
Brgy: San Vicinte East
Urdaneta City, Pangasinan 2428
Philippines

That is the mission home so recheck on the website to make sure that is correct. Just got back from hiking some water falls for my pday. That was awesome! I was able to take some great pictures finally. There isnt much to take pictures of here in the town its about the size of fallon. 40,000 i would say. Its okay to litter here. And its okay for the kids to run around naked and pee in the gutters out in front of your house hahaha. Thanks dad, mom, kylie anne, and lou for the emails and grandparents and bishop and everyone. Yes you can give my address to anyone. Whats it gonna hurt? diba? Uhm lets see this week has been good. No lessons taught to new investigators because we have been just trying to work with less actives, recent converts, and returning members. I love the Tobias family especially. They treat me great even though i dont know tagalog and really try to help me and they invited us to their daughters birthday party the other day. Speaking of birthdays happy birthday Dad! At her birthday they do a thing called birthday messages. So i want to give you a birthday day message which includes advice and words kindness. My advice is to keep doing what your doing. Never fall. There are so many bad dads here, but there are some really good fathers. The father can really unite a home. I want you to know that i love you and i think about you mom and girls everyday. Every family night i look through my picture book. I'm proud that you are my dad. I talked about you in my talk last sunday. They wanted me to speak for fifteen minutes on missionary work, and i did it. Mix of tagalog and english. (taglish)  I wouldn't have been able to do that before my mission no way. I said that you are the greatest example of missionary in my life because you and mom know how to share the gospel in a natural way because you do not judge.  You have the spirit you know how to handle rejection. Anyways the girl turned 14. She reminds me of D. Her name is jethros tobias. The people here are not smart in the things of the world, but in the things of gospel, and the scriptures there is no comparison. They are well read and know how to communicate the gospel truths. Lets see crazy stories so many! My companion likes bugs! Every morning there is a new giant bug in the bathroom they climb through the pipes. One day it was a flying huge cockroach, the other day a spider the size of lexis hand. One day a fever bee i dont know what their called really, but they are huge black and if they getcha you fever for a week. Really poisonous. I keep tally of how many mosquitoes i have killed with the zapper tennis racket. 16!  Yeah you can say that im kinda like a jedi or something. I have been taking pictures pero i need a card reader which i should buy today in the big city tayug. hahaha. not really. so i can send pictures and not get a virus from these computers. What else. Oh yeah some of the boys in the ward finally got circumcised the other day. They really wanted to show us when we were at their compound. That was nice. hahaha. Good thing i have quick reflexes. They wait until their about 8 here. The next story is probably not a story you should share with anyone else who isnt family. People here are very superstitious. If a cow dies they think its a vampire.  Anyways, in our apartment the other day my companion was complaining that he keeps seeing a woman in our apartment. sort of a apparation. The elder before him had a hard time sleeping in there as well his previous companion. I then asked has the apartment been blessed. He said no... i was shocked! The house of missionaries wasnt even blessed. I felt like i could bless it so, we came home one night and i blessed the home according to the white hand book. The entire atmosphere of the room changed. I never saw her or anything but i did feel at unease. I was able to learn and study in there a lot easier and i felt less angry thoughts towards my companion when he did or said ridiculous things.  The priesthood is real i have seen it soften hearts and i have seen it heal. I have had a few interesting dreams here as well. I know what i have solidified and what i want to do for a career. I know that one day i will have a beautiful daughter. You are so lucky to live where you do. The people here are happy but they know no different. We are lucky to have been raised in the covenant because by happen chance a missionary who wasnt in tune with the spirit might have missed us. I really try to have the spirit with me. I used to think the stories would never pertain to me, but i have felt the spirit work through me. I did find a golden investigator. He wanted to talk to me and not elder tan which is weird because i dont speak english.  Im kinda ignored because i speak to slow, and i have weird word choice hahaha. The Lord has given me experiences to lift me. Fear...that feeling always allows me to know when i really need to talk to an investigator or person. How is romney doing? Everyone here wants to know haha. Im tired of being called amerikano and jo hahaha. They all say "Hae jo wa shore name." Their accent is different than anyone thing i have ever heard it definantly isnt spanish. Anyways, labanan ang mabuting laban. good luck with everything

Elder Barney

FIRST AREA...SAN QUINTIN

kumusta kayo!
So my companion is a filipino from cebu he is very good trainer. He knows enough english to get buy. I have been stationed in San Quinton. The most eastern part of the mission. The people are nice but the kids are scared of me because im tall and white and im the only white person i have seen in a couple of days. My apartment is nice! I have a desk and a bed.  I hate the mga gagambas (spiders) though. We have a papaya tree out back, but i only go out there to throw trash in the trash hole because there are pythons out there. I have a taglaba (laundryperson) who washes my clothes. I placed my first ang aklat ni mormon (BofM) yesterday to a trike rider. He accepted but he is too busy to listen because of his job. I am in the rosales zone, yeah all the towns and names are spanish kind of funny dad...bunch of asians with spanish name. Im the tallest person for miles. My zone leaders are chill. I eat peanut butter and jellies everyday because im lazy and porridge for breakfast or oats with energen~! yaa! Tonight we are going to the house of a member for kanin and adobo. Rice! is what most people eat everday because its cheap but i have enough money from the mtc that i didnt spend that i can hold onto my american food. The member kids are starting to like me! Now that they know my last name is barney it kind of makes me less threatening and they love me. General conference was good for the second time. Uhm the turn out for sunday morning was amazing but in the afternoon not so much. Haha?  I didnt understand why because if you travel all the way from san quinton to rosales you might as well stay for the whole thing. oh well. I have met most of the members. The iglesia ni cristo (Church of Christ) members want to bible bash tuesday but thier in for a treat. We're just gonna talk about the book of mormon hahaha. Well my companion will... ill provide scriptures from the book. Haha. Uhm most people here speak ilocano and they dont like speaking in tagalog but they do because im white and my companion is cebuano. Uhm next week we get to hike to some waterfalls for our pday which is cool because their in our zone. Uhm holy week was crazy the catholic processions were actually scary they looked like zombies out of movie pressing through the streets with lights and the virgin mary on top of a coffin looking thing. uhm they also whip themselves and crucify themselves in order to show thier devotion to god but yeah dad you already know all about this. But that is my purpose is to bring others unto the one true god by helping them receive the restored gospel. Seeing them follow those traditions makes me understand the dire need of the true gospel in thier life. Uhm i went to the mall the other day in rosales to get my support and their malls are very nice. Very comparable to a fiesta mall. I ate at mcdos!  The other day...every transfer we get to and it was good. I have had some filipino food and its pretty darn good! Their rice is a lot better but im to lazy to cook it for my self lots of soy sauce red peppers garlic onions and potatos. Uhm the dogs here are worse than mexican dogs they are everywhere and i told my companion they need to be shot. He didn't like that idea. I also told him that we should leave our pesticide out in a dish like uncle mel did with some chicken to kill our neighbors dogs and roosters who wake me up at  3 in the morning. OMIT... next part if necessary. our neighbors remind me of something i just read in 2nd nephi and revelations the other day. We have a catholic church slash house on our right. And on our left we have house full of undesirables...woman who follow after the worlds oldest profession...yeah. Great and abominable church on one side and on the other side we have the bad ladies but we dont see them. I love the families we have been teaching lots of reactivation and retention lessons. Which is good but im excited for tuesday when we get to teach investigators. Yeah dad maligayang pasko means merry christmas, but i dont know what easter is they don't really call it that here.  They just have good friday and the catholic names for things. Stay strong, keep me updated with romney and be grateful for toilet paper. Don't send me anything please until christmas or birthday very expensive.  If you mail me something mark it as a gift because it is cheaper that way, and put a virgin mary or jesus christ sticker on the box. Once i get settled ill send dad's and lexis kaarawan (birthday) stuff.

"Labanan ang mabuting laban"
Elder Barney