9-28-15 Short on Time

Hello Team!

Sorry, I literally have negative time left.  So..... The Gospel is true..... I invite you all to focus  on General Conference(like not just sit in front of the TV but really put some effort into getting something out of it).  I know that if you seek for inspiration on how to better live your life, you will receive it.  You can't get inpiration unless you work to find it.  The leaders of our church are truly inspired and have words from God to give us.

I love you all. Thank you for your support of me and all the missionaries across the world.  Continue pressing onward.  For Spiritual upliftment, read the lyrics to "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and ponder what you can do to push onward!

With Love,

Elder Barnett

9-21-15 You've been SERVED

Hello Friends,

The life on a mission continues to surprise and amaze.  In all good ways of course.  I love the hard work we get to do, I love the life we live but especially, I love the spirit we feel as a constant companion.  It means so much more to me now that I'm on a mission.  It's crazy how little I realize that I understood before I left on my mission.  I look back and I realize, I didn't have a glimpse of what it meant to be a true follower of Christ.  I mean, I still barely understand, but I do understand a lot more than I did before.  I've been pondering a lot about what it means to serve with ALL your heart, might, mind and strength.  Most of my life, I've just put the Gospel as a secondary item on my to do list. I've found that everything means a whole lot more if I put it at the top of my to do list.  God wants us to succeed at life. But, we are not here on Earth to be successful, learn all that there is to know about science or become a professional athlete.  Our purpose on earth is to, one, gain a body and two, do the things needed to gain Eternal Life.  It's that simple.  If we focus on those things, all other things fall into place.  It works. It's so cool!

Yesterday I got my first......Flat Tire!!! Yeah, it wasn't too awesome. But, it was one of the very few disadvantages of bike.  I really love biking. I have a pretty basic, Trek mountain bike.  It's nothing special but so far it has not had a single, minuscule problem.  It's been perfect.  I love bike because we can get places almost as fast as a car, without the cost, without the confinement, and hey, we get a workout while we do the work! :P The best part is though, that we feel like we're more a part of Antioch now that we're not confined to the metal doors of a car.  We feel more free and more available to talk to the people of Antioch.  It's a lot more fun.  So, biking is great.

This week we had a lot of cool opportunities to do service! We shattered cement pieces using a hammer, picked up trash around our apartment, and helped the Nomaosiagbons(yes, that's how we found out that it's spelled) with washing their dog and organizing their pantry.  Every week we also do service at the Antioch museum where we do a lot with old pictures in these photo albums so that they can be preserved.  It's pretty repetitive work but we have met some pretty cool people and seen some cool history of Antioch.  We also get to go to what's called Loaves & Fishes where they feed a lunch to people who are homeless or struggling to get food on the table.  It's pretty humbling to see people in such poor circumstances. But we get to help them lighten up their day just a little.  So, this week, I invite you all to find an opportunity to serve.  Service is sometimes the best way to share the Gospel.  There is this website called Justserve.org where you can go to find opportunities to serve near to your home.  So, here are two invitations.  First, register at that website and look over the different service opportunities near you.  Second, try to do an hour of unplanned service.  So, rake someones leaves, clean up trash, write kind notes and give them to people or put them on people's cars, etc.  You have the power to make someone's day so do it!  Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are ONLY in the service of YOUR GOD."  

I love you all. I wish there were more I could do to serve you.  Keep up the good work in spreading happiness and cheer to all those around you!

With Love,

Elder Barnett

9-14-15

Hellllllllloooooooo Team.

Sorry, time is short today but sadly there's a lot to say so I'll do my best with what I've got.

Yesterday we had a pretty crazy experience.  We were just riding to church a few hundred yards from our apartment and suddenly I see 50 feet ahead, a pillar of smoke and a small fire by the side of the road. It was just a pile of stuff in flames on the sidewalk.  I was about to just pass by but then this guy waved us down and told us someone needed to call 9-1-1.  I pulled out our phone and, for the first time in my life, I called 9-1-1.  It was terrifying.  As I was calling, this woman came out with a pot of water to pour on it.  A couple minutes later, after the lady put the fire out, this guy came out of the apartment complex.  We were just standing across the street waiting for the fire department to come and just looking.  He, apparently not happy, yelled, "What are you waiting for?! There's nothing to see!!" We quickly realized that the girl had taken this guys clothes, and lit them on fire...... yeah......we were shocked..... The fire truck came, it took less than a minute to tell them what happened and we were quickly on our way.  So yeah, that's officially the craziest thing that's happened so far on the mission!  But it definitely got my heart racing!

Spirituality time! We've had a lot of opportunities to teach members, especially at dinner appointments.  We've also been encouraged to emphasize using Family History more in our teaching. So, we've been using the dinner appointments as an opportunity to teach about Family History and to get them to do some Family History Missionary work!  Family History is so cool! I wish I had more time to do it!  Read Malichi 4:5-6 and D&C 18:10 for some inspiration but my invitation to you is awesome.  I invite you, if you have not done any family history, to go on to familysearch.org to learn more about it.  If you have done some but want to do more, I invite you to make a goal for how much you will do each week.  It is such a cool thing that we get to do and we should make the most of that opportunity! 

I love you all! Keep up the good work wherever you are and what you're doing!  You are all fantastic!

With Love,

Elder Barnett

9-7-15 Agonizing Agency

Hey Team!

Thank you so much for all of your support to me and not even just me!  Now that I'm a missionary I can see how thankful each missionary is for the members in their area that really support them.  With the help of the members, the work hastens much faster. So....THANK YOU. 

I am enjoying it so much out here.  Honestly, I was riding my bike to the church today where we send emails and I was just overwhelmed with this really great feeling that I'm doing the right thing.  I truly never have never have had that feeling of happiness before.  It's so much fun to be serving a mission and I'm enjoying every moment of it.

So this past week we've realized as a companionship and as a district that there's a lot of musical talent as missionaries in our district.  Elder Arp and I started on Thursday with bringing the spirit to lessons through music.  We sang Lead Kindly Light to an investigator named Edwina, who, by the way, is so awesome(more on her in the future). On Saturday we had a few really cool lessons when we were on exchanges.  Elder Saunders, our district leader came to my area and we decided that in all our lessons we would sing songs to the people we taught.  We ended up singing 4 songs that day.  It was really powerful.  Music truly does bring the spirit into lessons.  Because of those songs, we had some really powerful thoughts.  I really really enjoyed it.  So basically, exchanges were really awesome!

This week we taught the Plan of Salvation very frequently and so we got to learn that lesson really well.  The point that really stuck out to me this week was agency.  I am so grateful that I have agency.  The analogy we came up with is this: Imagine our life on earth as college.  If our parents called us every day, or even better, lived in the apartment next door and told you, "You are required to go to this class, go to this job interview, and hang out with these friends" we wouldn't learn a single thing.  That is precisely why we have agency.  We need to experience for ourselves how it feels to make a mistake and how it feels to make a good choice so we know good from bad.  This concept is essential to God's plan. The hard thing about it is that on a mission we can only do so much.  We can't force anyone to come to church. That wouldn't even do any good for them. Sadly, though we invited everyone we talked to and a lot of people committed to come, not a single person came who we invited.  But I always have to remind myself that they have their agency.  We can only do so much and we felt like we did all that we could to get them to come. So, my invitation this week is simple.  Every day, consciously think about what you're doing and use your agency to make a good choice.  At the end of the day, go back through your schedule and evaluate. Write down what choices were good and what choices could have been better. rinse and repeat. Become better the next day.

I love you all so much! Keep up the good work!!

With Love,

Elder Barnett

8-31-15

Hellooooooo Pepes!

Wow, I will definitely say, transfer weeks are crazy! I have loved it but I've had to really remember all of the things about the area that I've learned in the short six weeks that I've been here. It's been hard but a good test for me.  

Elder Arp is really awesome! He's already taught me a lot.  He's been out for 20 months so he's on his last stretch but he's trying really hard not to get trunkie(when a missionary is nearing the end of his mission and starts to get lazy). A little about him now.  He's just barely shorter than me but much bigger(not fat but muscle). He grew up in Samoa but it's kinda cool because he's half Caucasian, a quarter Samoan, an eighth German and an eighth Chinese!!! He's quite a goofball but he's got a really strong testimony and lessons are really spiritual with him there. 

We've been having a ton of fun on bike! I've been exhausted every night this past week because of that but it's been good for me! My favorite part is coming home in the evening when it's cooler and feeling the wind rushing by as we cruise through the night of Antioch. It's really refreshing. Especially if you've had a good day.

So Antwaun, one of the brothers in that same, awesome family that I've talked so much about, is doing really well. One thing I've noticed is how Satan attacks us most at the times when we're about to do something that will help us improve.  Antwaun already has such a strong testimony and he even sits down with each of his brothers to read from the Book of Mormon with them.  He's so excited for his baptism. He's been struggling with the fact that temptation to not necessarily break the commandments but more to not do the things like read and pray and go to chuch is really strong.  But one thing I've realized is that God's power is stronger than any other and as we rely on that he will bless us with that power.

Spiritual thought for the week: I've realized how important my studies have become and not only that but how fun they have become as I've made them personal and searched diligently for wisdom to help my investigators.  So, as it says in D&C 11:21: "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed."  So my challenge this week is to focus on your studies of the scriptures.  Make them really meaningful and you will be blessed with the knowledge that you need for the day.

I love you all! Keep up the good work!!!

With Love,

Elder Barnett

8-24-15 I thought I gave up watching sports...

Hello Everyone!!!

So, to start with, transfers are this week!! And I'm staying here in Antioch but my companion Elder Gubler is leaving me.  He's going to Hayward to be a zone leader!  We've just started getting to be really unified so we're both a little disappointed but I know that this is what God wants for each of us I'm a little nervous about being with a new companion and being expected to know the area well and help my new comp figure out the area but hey, it'll be exciting! His name is Elder Arp and what I've heard is he's a big Samoan, about my same height.  Not only that... We have been moved to bike!! So, I get to buy a new bike and a new adventure begins! I'm way excited.

We had a fun experience this week with that family I talked about last week.  One of the sons and his friends are on the football team at the Highschool and they invited us to their football game.  It was just a scrimmage but it was weird because I thought I would never be in that environment again.  But it was cool because I remembered the thought that we were in the world but not of the world.  We were there to support investigators not to watch football.  They are still doing so awesome.  We are so excited for their baptism.  I love working with them and can already see the Gospel blessing their lives! :)

Yesterday in Ward Council, Bishop Liberatore who we had missed so much the week beforehand gave us some more inspiring knowledge.  He said, speaking of keeping the Sabbath Day holy, "You are all doing good things, but are you doing the best things?" So my invitation this week is much more general but I know that as I apply this to my life I will be blessed and I know it can bless yours.  Analyze the things you are doing to Come closer to Christ and ask yourself, Is this the best thing I could be doing? 

I love you all! Keep up the good work!!!

With Love,

Elder Barnett

8-17-15 Forever Families

Hey Team!

Wow. It's been a great week! I hope that's been the same for all of you!
For our district activity this week we went to this place called CreAsian.  Asian food is the best. I wish I could have it every day but sadly, it's not cheap. It was really good!! Pictures are included!!!
We started teaching this family who live in the ghetto part of town.  They are pretty poor.  The Mother is this awesome lady who is a true caregiver.  She has five biological boys but has at least five other kids who consistently come in to her home and she feeds and loves them.  She is really awesome.  She was baptized nineteen years ago but has been inactive for the last 17 years.  But she really loves the Gospel and has always wanted her family to be taught.  So, we are teaching her husband, three of her sons and then one of her sons friends.  There's a 10 year old, two 15 year olds and a 23 year old.  Antwan, the fifteen year old son is the most prepared out of any fifteen year olds I've ever seen to receive the Gospel.  His mom told us he was reading The Book of Mormon in class. Yeah. He is a beast! So we had invited them to church and for the first 30 minutes we were disappointed. But. at 9:40, in walks the whole clan.  It was quite a miracle.  So, this has taught me two things. First, our Heavenly Father is always preparing people to receive the Gospel.  He is giving each one of us experiences that are helping us come closer to him. He is preparing the people. Constantly. Second, it is so powerful what potential families have.  This has helped me focus more on the eternal perspective.  So my challenge to those who want to accept is this. Go out of your way to focus on your family.  It doesn't have to be anything big.  Your family is so important.  God has organized the family for a reason and we can be with our families forever if we follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. You were placed in your family for a very specific reason and you can bless your family with your specific skillset. So, do something for a family member that you wouldn't normally do.  If you need help with this, read The Family: A Proclamation to the World, it may inspire you to do something.

I love you all! Keep up the good work!

With Love,

Elder Barnett

Pic 1: our ghetto computer room. yeah, the computers hear are ancient.

Pic 2: The district at CreAsian!

8-10-15 Spiritual Sabbaths!!!

Hello Hello Hello Everyone!

Life is so great isn't it?! I wish everyone could realize that.  Like, yeah, there are hard things, and times when you want to sleep all day but man when you look at all the good things, it can be really fulfilling.  There are a lot of people here who don't grasp realize what life could be.  A lot of people seem really sad. It just makes me want to work harder.  If only they'd listen and not ignore us when we knock on their door.  Honestly, at least twice a day we have someone who we can hear inside the home after knocking but they look out the peephole in the door and then just ignore us.  It's kinda frustrating.  But it's alright, because, the Gospel's true and that's all that matters.

I'll put my spiritual thought in the middle this time because this seems like a good time for it.  We had Ward Council yesterday and our Bishop, Bishop Liberatore, talked to us about leadership.  He's a lawyer so he's really good at talking.  It was really cool.  He was talking about how we need to keep the sabbath day more holy and ways that we can help the ward have better Sacrament meetings.  This is so important.  He told us how the world is quickly going against the morals of the church.  And the sabbath is growing less and less important.  But then he turned more positive and started encouraging us.  He said, "Be grateful that your on the Lord's side." There are going to be hard times but we are going to be blessed for our efforts for the Lord. So let's be diligent in following the Lord.  This week, I am going to invite you all to  prepare for the Sabbath.  Between now and then, think of things you can do to make your Sabbath more full of the spirit. Then, when the Sabbath comes, dedicate that day to the Gospel and your testimony.  Focus on the spirit and I know you will be blessed for your efforts! 

Keep up the good work!! You're all amazing! I love you all!

With Love,

Elder Barnett