Growth 6-23-14

Dear family and friends, 

                      What a great week we had this past week! This past week we were able to meet up with Alicia. We had not been able to get in with Alicia for a couple weeks. But we had dinner over at the Goodman's and Alicia wanted to come have a lesson. We learned from Sister Goodman that some misinformation from friends had crept into her life. So we spent the lesson resolving concerns. I felt the lesson was successful because at the end we told her that she has one side contending that we are wrong, and she has another side contending that this is the way that will improve the quality of her life. So we told her the ONLY way you will learn if this is true or not is to pray about it. Only Heavenly Father can give her the answer. We are continuing to work with her. Her husband isn't too supportive of the LDS thing. Which will be hard to overcome, but we will pray for him to soften his heart to our message. We are getting back in with Tammy again. We are trying to help her progress in the gospel, but it will be difficult because she is paralyzed from a stroke. So getting her to Church is pretty hard. But she does have a couple of kids that could progress in the gospel towards baptism. Just yesterday David and Cynthia were able to make it to church. We sustained David to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. And after church I was able to confer upon David the Aaronic Priesthood. That was an amazing moment to give the Priesthood to someone else. That was definitely a highlight of my mission. 

                      This past Sunday we had a girl who was going to the Las Vegas mission give her farewell. After the meeting was over I was talking to her, and it blew my mind when I told her that on this same Sunday a year ago I was giving my Farewell talk. It amazes me that I have been away a year. The year mark for me is not as celebratory as I once thought. I would say coming up on your year mark is a blend of emotion. On the positive you will see your family in a year, and get to be with everyone. But on the other hand you will lose all of the joys you get as a misisonary. Such as seeing your investigators progress to baptism. Seeing the lives of others change as they embrace the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Although it is an exciting landmark to hit on your mission, it is also a hard one to hit on your mission. I can tell each and every one of you that I am excited to see you this time next year. But another thing I can say is I am excited to live out this one last year to serve the Lord. I love you all and I miss each one of you! I pray that you all remain safe! Thank you for all of the letters that you send each week! 

Love, Elder Barber 

Happy Fathers Day. 6-16-14

Dear family and friends,

                      This week has been a longer week out here in Casper. Things are kinda slowing down here. Mainly because our investigators that we taught all the time are baptized. Which is definitely not a bad thing! It just means that we need to be out finding more. This week we were out tracting on Poplar Street when we knocked into the door of a guy named Brian. We told him we had a message that would strengthen and bless his family. He seemed interested off of that and let us into his home. We taught the Restoration to him, and explained how this could bless him as an individual and his family. When we taught the Book of Mormon you could tell the spirit was strong in the home. He was tearing up and he told us that he had never considered reading The Book of Mormon. But now he wanted to read what it had to say. He told us to try him back in about ten days. So we will be over sometime this week to teach him. We then got a referral from the Elders serving in the Third Ward for another guy who lives on Poplar. We haven't been able to contact him yet, but definitely this week! I know that the Lord is preparing people out here in Casper to be taught the Gospel.

                      I just want to wish my Father and all of the Fathers who read this happy Fathers Day. This past week in Sacrament meeting as we all saw coming the focus was on Fathers. I noticed there was a focus on the gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us. These talks helped me to reflect on the many gifts the Father has given me and us all. He has given his only begotten son Jesus Christ who showed the way to Eternal Life, and made it all possible for us to return to the father. He has given us Repentance to be forgiven of our sins. He has given us the Gift of the Holy Ghost which can comfort, guide, and help us through this life. There are many gifts that our Heavenly Father has given us. One of my favorite gifts is the gift of my own father. I can name several gifts that my Father has given me. He has always taught me to be prompt in all things that I do. For example showing up thirty minutes early to Priesthood Session only to find the Stake President in the building. He has taught me to honor the Priesthood and to be worthy of it. These are just a couple examples of the things that my earthly father has taught me. I wish all the Fathers a Happy Fathers Day! I love you all and have a great week!

Love, Elder Barber 

                 

One More in Casper 6-9-14

Dear family and friends,

               It has been another great transfer out here in Casper. I am excited to say that I get to stay one more transfer out here in the Casper 5th ward! This transfer we got to see Jeramie and Stephanie baptized and confirmed as members of the church. We got to see David and Micah baptized. We had a wonderful stake conference this past weekend! They had a lot of youth speakers. Many of them preparing for missions. One that I recall is headed to Tokyo Japan in four months. I talked to David yesterday at the Munger home. He made me aware that he would be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood this upcoming Sunday on Fathers Day. And since me and David are great friends he has asked me to confer upon him the Aaronic Priesthood. I was definitely shocked at his request. But I can't wait for Sunday! I think that will be a great day! We are still working with Alicia. We were not able to meet with her. But we are crossing our fingers for this upcoming week! While we were teaching David his Aunt Kristina was present who is a non-member. Sister Munger invited her to take the lessons, and now Kristina is an investigator. The Casper 5th Ward is continuously being blessed

               I know the Lord has asked me to stay for another transfer for a special reason. I don't know exactly why, but I am confident there is purpose in all things. I would say Casper has been a great area for me so far. Like all areas it has its trials. But I have noticed as you face those trials with the Lord he makes your load light. I am excited for this next transfer. I hope at the end of this six week period I can look back and see growth and many miracles from the Lord. I am thankful for Casper and the wonderful members out here! I look forward to serving with them for another six weeks! Well I love you all! It sounds like it will be a busy week. You are all in my prayers. I hope we can remember Uncle Paul who passed away two years ago today. May we keep him in our memory forever. I love you all!

Love, Elder Barber 

Ann B. Davis. 6-2-14

Dear family,

                There will always hold a special place in my heart for Ann B. Davis or in other words Alice off of the Brady Bunch. My heart is full of sorrow this day as I remember all of the good times with Alice. Because of her the fashion of going cross eyed swept the world. I hope this year in her honor you will make a Barbie at the Barbie-Q. This is my personal request. 

Love, Elder Barber 

Two Great Baptisms 6-2-14

Dear family and friends,

                Today I am writing you earlier than usual. The reason behind that is we are going fishing out on the river with some less actives. So that will be a lot of fun! But we had a great week last week! David was out of town after the wedding. Him and Cynthia had to take care of some things down in Oklahoma. It was really hard to get contact with David all week. It was a little nerve wracking at times! We were able to stop in and talk to Micah about the baptism and get that all set up. And we reviewed the Baptismal Interview Questions with him, and he was really solid for baptism! We had an awesome day on Saturday! We went to a ward party where they were assembling rick shaws. Rick shaws are wagons that have a seat in them, and the people sit and get pulled. Basically it is like a hand cart wheelchair. That was a lot of fun! We got to race them after they were assembled. I came in second place sadly, but I still feel like I won the race! David and Micah were interviewed during the ward party, and they passed! It was such an awesome experience to see David and Micah both get baptized. I know the Lord blessed us with these two! I remember during the first lesson with Micah we reviewed the Baptismal Interview Questions with him. I remember that after we had gone over the questions his father gave him a hug saying "I am proud of you son". During the baptism of Micah you just knew somewhere Brother John Francks was saying the same thing. It was a touching spiritual moment during that baptism. I forgot my camera today so I will have to send the pictures another time. But it was definitely a high point on my mission!

               Next week is transfers. I don't know if the Lord will call me to go or not. Elder Bench and I have accomplished a lot through the hand of the Lord this transfer. I am excited to see whether I stay here in Casper or move along to another part of my mission. But I know that whatever happens the Lord is in it. Transfer calls will be this upcoming weekend. If you don't get an email next Monday please assume that I got transferred and I will email you all later. I love you all and I thank you for your prayers. They are always greatly appreciated! Thank you for all you do! 

Love, Elder Barber 

Blessed 5-27-14

Dear Family and friends,

                   We had a really great week out here in Casper! We had a wonderful Zone Conference with President Anderson. That was really good to see President, and hear the inspired trainings given at the Conference. I was asked to give a training "Teaching with your companion in unity". I felt like the training went over well. It wasn't perfect, but I feel like it went over well. But I really loved the other trainings given. The main focus that I got out of Zone Conference was just becoming a better missionary. All of the trainings and talks worked together. And it gave us a step by step instruction on how we can be better missionaries. It was a very uplifting conference! This past week we got to see David get married to Cynthia! That was a really exciting day! He is looking forward to his baptism this upcoming Saturday! Micah is back from his fathers funeral in Utah. The kids are all living with their mother here in Casper. Their Mother showed up here in Casper about a week before the accident. She moved up here so she could be close to the children as well. So they are staying here in Casper and in our ward. So we will get the opportunity to see Micah baptized this upcoming Saturday as well! This Saturday will be a great day for us! This past week we had a dinner appointment with the Goodman family. When we called to confirm she told us that her friend who is interested in hearing the discussions will be at the dinner. And since Sister Goodman lives in our area we are now teaching her friend Alesha. She has been really receptive to the discussions! And has accepted the invitation to be baptized. The Lord is truly blessing us here in Casper! 

                    There is a lot of times when we can evaluate our lives, and count are many blessings. When we count our many blessings we truly see what the Lord has done in our lives. We may ask, where did all these blessings come from? And if we really think about it the answer will always be our faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Though we are not always perfect if we continually repent and try to be better every day the Lord will pour out a blessing upon us. I can truly testify of these things. I have a testimony of this Gospel. I know that as we remain faithful and endure to the end it will all be worth it. I hope you all have a great week and I thank you for each and every prayer! Congratulations to all of the graduates at the end of this school year! Until next week!

Love, Elder Barber  

Set back 5/19/14

Dear Family and friends, 

                         It has been another great week out here in the Casper 5th ward! I can't believe that we are currently in week 4 of this transfer. This transfer has seemed to vanish before my eyes. When you have a fun area to work in and a good companion time fly's right by! This week we have been teaching David! I always love teaching David. He is known as the "sponge". He takes everything in and loves it! He is getting married this upcoming Saturday on the 24th. It will be the first wedding I ever go to. It is not every day your investigator gets married! So this will be a great experience. We got to teach Maria this week except she has concerns about coming to church, and even ward activities. So we will try and hep her work around that. We had a great ward party this week. It was conducted by Sister Munger. You all got to meet the Munger's on Mothers Day because we were at their house. It was a good party! We had David show up, and that was good! He seemed to really enjoy himself. I talked to him before the party. I told him to be thinking of someone he would like to have baptize him. He told me that he had never thought of that before. I recommended Brother Smith his fellow shipper. And instantly he thought was a great idea! It was rather funny Brother Smith walked up to talk to David, and he told David he was looking forward to his baptism. David then replied "well you better be there because you are gonna be the one baptizing me". Brother Smith was pretty honored and exicted for that opportunity. At the Ward Party we learned of a death that had just barely happened in the Ward. We learned that a new member was in a head on collision in his semi with another semi. We then learned that it was Brother Franks who was just two weeks new to the ward. We are teaching his nine year old son Micah who is on date for May 31st. Brother Franks is leaving behind his son Mason who is preparing for a mission summer of 2015. Two Daughters who are in their teens and Micah who is nine. I believe those are all of his kids. 

                         Brother Franks was a great man. He had just barely started coming back to church not to long ago. He was leading his family back into righteousness right as he passed away. I remember the love that Brother Franks showed to his children. He expressed to Micah in a lesson how proud he was of him and his decision to be baptized. I know that Brother Franks is with our Savior. At times like this I like to reflect on a scripture in Alma 40:11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. I know that Brother Franks has been taken back to the Presence of God. I pray that the Franks family can make it through this trial. I hope God will be with them. It is my personal testimony that death is not the end, but only a beginning to a greater life. If we endure all things well we can all live with God again. I am thankful for this gospel it is the antidote to all sorrow and trial. It is a message of happiness for the living and the dead. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love, Elder Barber 

Baptism May 5,2014

Dear family and friends,

               How are things going this week? I apologize for emailing you all so late! Last night we went over to Davids to teach him the Word of Wisdom. We brought up Martins Cove to him and he wanted to go today! So we went to Martins cove bright and early at seven this morning! And that was a lot of fun we went through the ENTIRE tour and visitors center. They have a really cool setup with all kinds of old Blacksmith Shops and Cabins! That was a lot of fun! Then we got to go back to the Cove and looked over the meadow where everyone suffered that winter. President Hinckley loved to sit at that very spot and ponder for hours. I always think of him when I go to that little Amphitheater they have there. We got to see Jeremy baptized on Saturday! I was the one who baptized Jeremy and Stephanie. That was an amazing experience that I won't forget anytime soon. It was nerve wracking at first, but it went over really well! Jeremy and Stephanie are now baptized and confirmed members! That was the weeks greatest success! Elder Bench got here on Wednesday! He is from Oakley, ID and loves to Rodeo. He is a big time cowboy who used to ride Broncos out in the rodeos. He is an awesome Elder. So far I have loved every minute of being his companion. It will be sad if I get transferred this time around. On Sunday we got another member referral! Their is a family where the Dad and the Brother are baptized, but the little brother isn't. So now we will be teaching him, and drawing him to the waters of baptism! Casper is awesome! We are having a lot of successes! I really do appreciate this area and all of the members in it! They work well with the missionaries, and we are seeing blessings by working with the members! 

Well I love you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Barber