Week 87: April 20, 2019 - Eternal Friends

Dear Family,

Happy Easter!!! Wow, seems like time is just flying by!!! I hope you all are doing great and know how much I love you!!!

Well, there are a lot of things that happened this week. It's hard to pick them all out!!! 😁
Sunday Afternoon, I got to go on a split with Elder Lopez, another missionary here in the office. It was pretty fun. We didn't have very many results form our work, but we just had a good time going out and going to work. There's just something fulfilling about doing the Lord's Work. We knocked a lot of doors. Elder Lopez had this idea to knock on doors and if someone just slammed the door on us without us even getting to talk to them, we would sing a hymn outside their door. I was a little apprehensive about it, but then again, I've never done it, and it would make a pretty cool story...so ya, we decided to give it a try. 

We were a little nervous to do it at first, it took a lot of courage, but eventually, one guy shut the door without giving us the chance to talk to them. We looked at each other with bright eyes and a slight smile, haha. Then we started singing "I am a Child of God." The guy didn't open the door back up like I'd dreamed, but it was still a try on our part. Elder Lopez told me that he wanted to be able to finish his mission and say that he done everything he could to bring others to Christ.

We also had a fun experience with zone conferences this week. We were supposed to have all 3 of our zone conferences from the whole mission this week, but 2 ended up being cancelled. Elder Doughman and I got to let everyone know last second about the cancellations. We had already made plans for everyone and had to cancel all of them basically. Usually I would have been on the other end receiving the message, but to be helping President with something like that was a total adventure! Zone conference was just great! Loved it! President and Sister Fillmore and our missionary leaders are all so inspired. When the assistants to the President gave their training, President Fillmore had the biggest smile on his face and said, "This is awesome!" He was so happy about their presentation! I feel like sometimes people have fear to complement others, whatever the reason may be. I thought it was neat how President did that:) Shows his confidence in the missionaries:)

I took a few notes out of conference. We learned a lot about revelation. President and Sister Fillmore used a video from Elder and Sister Bednar and talked about how we receive revelation. They said how many times we need to act first and we will be told along the way what we should do. It's an interesting thought, but it makes sense because that would be a true test of our faith. Like Nephi when he went back 3 times to get the plates and the third time he left being guided by the spirit without knowing where he should go beforehand. It seems like rarely God will give us an answer to our prayers without us trying or making our own efforts first. He promotes our agency. 

I also had the thought of how much the gospel is a blessing in the aspect our relationships. The gospel promotes eternal relationships, in other words eternal friends. I'm seeing how He is blessing me with that on our mission. I love the people that I am meeting here and how our relationships are being created. The gospel seems to teach us how to have everlasting joy with those we love. It teaches us all the principles that make us come together and strengthen one another.

I got to do something called a trunky call with Elder Hawkins which is basically where we call someone, and ask questions about airports, home stakes, if their parents are coming here to pick them up, stuff like that that makes people trunky. We called him earlier in the day, but he didn't answer and called us back later in the night before we went to bed. It was pretty fun talking to him. I felt like I could have talked to him forever!!! I love the friends I am making on our mission!!!

I also had an awesome surprise!!! The Gordons, ya the Gordons from Washington, Rylan's parents, came and visited me!!!! I found Rylan on Facebook, followed him, and his parents soon after sent me a message through messenger saying they were here!!! I got permission from president to see them and they came by and dropped off some awesome treats!!! It was so fun getting to talk to them and catch up a bit!! They are so nice and just such genuine people!!! So nice of them to take some time out of their trip just to visit me!!! I was so excited to see them!!! Brought back so many memories.

I love you all soooo much!!! I hope you have a wonderful week and that the Puerto Vallarta sickness is expelled from the Barton Family ;D

Love Always,
Elder Barton

1) I got your package this week!!!!!!! I absolutely loved it!!!! Thanks sooooooo much!!!! I loved the letters and the photos!!!! Best Part!!! The treats were all a hit!!!! Wooohoooo!!!!

2) Elder Gusmão and I at Zone Conference. We were the only zones that had Zone Conference. It was so good to see him!!! He was such a great companion and is a great friend!!!

3) Treats form the Gordons;)

4) I saw the Ferreiras, a family that I got to know while I was in Linda-a-Velha!!! It was so much fun seeing them!!! I got so happy!!!! They are such an amazing family!!!!

5) Brother and Sister Gordon!!!! So much fun seeing them!!!!!