Week 96 & 97: June 24, 2019 - Faith and Works

Dear Family,
Hey y'all!!! How ya doing? Well, the last week I felt really bad I didn't write you guys. Last week in Portimão was awesome! It seemed like a lot of things were coming together. We were finding a lot of people to teach and we had a few getting so close to baptism. I got the notice last week that I would be transferred to Setúbal 2.

I was excited about the opportunity, but also pretty bummed that I would have to leave what we had started in Portimão. I felt like things were really starting to pick up and that I would finish my mission there. But, the Lord always has better plans in mind than mine. I'm not gonna lie, I thought going to a new area for my last transfer would be the last thing that would happen. But, it's turned out to be awesome so far. My new companion is Elder Ixtlahuac. He is from Monterey Bay, California!!! He is an amazing companion!!! He is a super hard worker and is super close to the spirit. There are a ton of members here in Setúbal. They give us dinner like every night!!! I'm noticeably getting fatter here (hahaha) I love all of the members here. 

We also went on a split with the elders from Santo André. Elder Ixtlahuac went with Elder Garay, a new missionary from Paraguay, he reminds me a lot of Elder Barrios my trainer; he is super funny and super confident in what he says. I went with Elder Mortensen to his area to do a baptismal interview for one of their investigators. It was awesome! Elder Mortensen and I have always wanted to go on a split together. Their investigator's name was Ana Isabel. She was so ready to make her baptismal covenant and had such a huge desire to be a good person. We had a super neat miracle while we were there. The font in Santo André was broken and they were far from everything, so we had to look for a place she could be baptized. She was going to be baptized on Sunday, and Elder Mortensen and I did our split on Friday!! Elder Mortensen felt inspired to knock doors at a neighborhood with pools and we would ask the people there if we could use their pool to realize a baptism. We said a prayer before heading out of their car and then started knocking doors. The first few people we talked to were super nice and referred us to their neighbors. We eventually talked to a guy named Luis. Elder Mortensen already knew him. We got to know each other a little better and we then asked him The Question. He looked at both of us and said, "well, there's only one problem..." And we said, "what?" and he said, "I get back in the afternoon on Sunday and won't be home in the morning." We were expecting something much worse than that and said "no problem!!!" Luís showed us his pool and we got to meet most of his family. When Elder Mortensen and I left, we made sure we were out of sight and then started celebrating!!! I never thought I would do something like that on my mission!! Yesterday, Ana Isabel entered the waters of baptism. Huge blessing!!! Luis and his family participated and Elder Mortensen and Elder Garay have a visit with him on Tuesday.

 
Elder Ixtlahuac and I have also talked a lot about faith. It seems like many people have come up to me and just talked to me about faith. That seems like the theme for the beginning of this transfer and the end of the last transfer. I'm learning a lot more about the importance of works with faith. It can be surprisingly easy to do works without faith. I read a great analogy recently. If we imagine a rowboat with two oars, one with f for faith and one with w for works and we just use one oar, oar w for example, or in other words "works," what will happen to the rowboat? It will just go in circles and never go forward. And vice versa. I'm gonna try to work with a lot more faith this transfer!!! I made a huge list of goals I want to accomplish for this transfer. Hoping to finish strong.

I love you all sooooo much!!! I hope you know how much I appreciate you all and how much God loves each and every one of you.

Love always,
Elder Barton


1) our district, the sisters made an awesome desert for us!!

2) dinner with the members!!!