10-12-15 Amazing Antioch

Hello Everyone!

First of all, I love you all.  You are all such amazing people.  I have been so blessed to have such supportive family and friends.  Thank you so much for your prayers on my behalf and on the behalf of missionaries across the world.  I can honestly promise you that each and every missionary across the world is grateful for those prayers and though they may seem to just be put into the air, they truly do help.  I have seen so powerfully God's aid to me in the missionary work and I know that it's because of the prayers from members across the world that he is supporting me.  Thank you and continue to pray for and support the missionaries, especially the ones in your area.

We actually had a lot of cool experiences in that respect during this past week.  The members in our ward are so awesome!  Growing up in Provo sometimes made me a Mormon without a purpose...and I really regret it....not the living in Provo part...but the fact that I wasn't proud to be a Mormon and sometimes even thought, "my neighbor can do the Mormon things..." Here in Antioch, our members are so proud to be Mormons and they truly let their lights shine to all of their neighbors and friends which I think is really cool.  On Saturday we went to support a priest in our ward named Deandre.  He was doing his Eagle Project.  He was building a community garden in his neighborhood.  It's in the not as nice area of town and so when we showed up we saw this really nice garden and it was really refreshing to see the ward gathered together, working on a really great project.  We were able to stay for a bit and work.  We really felt the love from the ward.  It was so powerful.  So, in the spirit of the power of members, we can all be more supportive members in our wards.  My invitation to all of you this week is to think of one thing that you can do to either support the missionaries that cover your ward, or support your ward itself.  If you don't feel like there is any way to do that, focus on how you can better pray for the missionaries across the world.  I promise, the missionaries truly do appreciate your support.  They love you and can always use more support.  We LOVE the members! <3 

I love you all! Keep up the amazing work! I know that this work is the work of God and he loves us so much.  He wants to help us. Be proud of what you believe. Be proud to be a mormon. I love you.

With Love,

Elder Barnett

10-5-15 Baptism!!!

Hey team!!!!

So, remember last week when I said I didn't have time? Well, I was distraught because the Saturday before that we had a baptism and I didn't even have time to tell you about it!!! :'(  But all is good in the world because now is the time.  We had a baptism for Antwuan and Marshawn who are the boys from the Nomaosiagbon family.  They are way awesome.  It was a really stressful morning because we were so worried about if they were going to make it, if everything was going to go smoothly, etc.  But they did come, and, though it started late, it ended up being really great.  We, a missionary quartet, sang "Lord, I would follow thee." That was way nerve-wracking but it ended up being so powerful.  I love music.  Music helps me feel the spirit so strongly.  I don't know what I'd do without it.  But it seriously was so cool.  They are both such stellar boys.  One thing they've taught me is how to genuinely do something not just because someone told you to but because you want to.  We can't live life being fake.  We have to learn to really act on what we believe in.  Those two boys really have done that.  I know I can learn a lot from that.  Baptism is such a powerful covenant and we need to be willing to honor that covenant every day of our lives. 

Yesterday I ate a lot of weird stuff.... The Tongan ward near ours fed us lunch so I ate Fish eye, and a bunch of other cool, random plants that I'd never heard of before.  A tongan missionary told us that the meat was dog and horse...We weren't sure if we should believe him but hey, it was good! For dinner, a Filipino family fed us so yeah, we were very well fed.  They served these huge fish, rice, adobo(pig meat) and noodles.  It was really good.  New experiences all around and that's what makes it really fun!

This past week I've been thinking a lot about love.  What does that mean to truly love someone?  It's a word that is used so lightly so often but is also mentioned in some of the most meaningful spiritual moments.  We talk a lot about the pure love of Christ because Christ was the ultimate example of Love.  Everything he did was out of love for everyone that was around him and everyone that he was serving.  Christ love was shown by his willingness to give up his own needs and attend to the needs of others.  So, we want to be more like Christ? To be able to love others we need to be willing to give up our needs for the needs of those around us. Elder Holland gave a really amazing talk on Maternal love and the comparison to Christ's love for us.  Our mothers love us so much and one reason for that is because they've already sacrificed so much for us so they want more than anything for us to have happiness.  So my invitation for this week is to show more Christlike love to those around you.  Stop thinking so much about your needs and more about what your friend, or your family, or the random stranger on the street needs.  As you do this, you will find that you will be growing happier and the love you have for others will grow.  I love all of you so much.  I sincerely want the best for each of you.  Keep striving to do the things that our Prophet has told us will help us.  You're all amazing and deserve a resounding high five! I wish I could give that to each of you! Keep up the good work!

With Love,

Elder Barnett