Semaphore, South Australia for Christmas!!!

(Forgot to Post this last week)

November 16, 2014


I am staying in Semaphore for Christmas!!

 Just got transfer information this morning and I cant believe that this transfer will be my 6 month mark... like what just happened? You will all get to skype me in my first area that I was born in!! Elder Tau will be staying with me as well and things have been going good. I just think that on Christmas Day he is gonna be really cross with me cause he will probably only skype his family for 45 min and I will be talking to you guys for ages!! Hopefully we can go to the Touli's for Christmas so you can meet all of them!

Oh my gosh I forgot to wish you a happy birthday mom!! I forgot that I wouldnt be able to email you!! How was it?! What did you do? How is all the family goin and what is the latest with life?

 Our investigator Daniel is set to be baptised on December 6th and he is really exited to do it! He came to church yesterday and we were able to take him on a chapel tour and show him the font and take him up on the stage and show him the pulpit and everything. Elder Tau took him down into the baptismal font and the second he stepped into it he said, "wow I can just feel that this is a holy place" CRAZY AY?!

 I had a gut feeling yesterday that I was going to get transferred so we went and saw the Touli's and the Chau's which are the 2 families in the ward that are pretty much my family here. I was so sad yesterday because I was so convinced that I was gone. Everyone in the ward was coming up to me and saying how much they loved and appreciated me and wishing me luck for the rest of my mission...its gonna be funny rocking up to church next week and seeing their faces haha

Hahaha no thanksgiving here!! What day even is it? (that just shows how American I am) 

Also in answer to your question, we ask the person who they would like to baptise them and usually we try and have someone in the ward do it to kind of fellowship them in because missionaries come and go but if they have the person that baptised them in the ward that just gives them more incentive to go every week!

Anything for Christmas sounds amazing!  We get the lollies here, theyre so good!  And New Zealand chocolate is the absolute BEST!!!

Leaving in 10 mins.  Sorry for the quick update!

Love

Elder Barnett

"I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!"

Man this has been the best week by far and it was all because of the things that happened yesterday at church. I have had the biggest smile on my face all day today and yesterday and then just about 40 minutes ago we went out to the car and saw the door was open..... My heart sank and I knew someone had broken into it. I got in and saw that the glove box was wide open and that papers were thrown on the ground.... then I looked for the 2 pairs of glasses that I had in the car, one of them being my Oakley's.... both of them are gone. That is the worst feeling just knowing that someone was in my car and took the things that belong to me. Frustrated with Elder Tau cause he is the one who went out to the car last night to get something and didn't close the door and that's how they got in. Ugh... anyway I will try and get on a positive note.

So the biggest surprise happened yesterday. We have coordination at 8:00am which is where we talk with the ward missionaries about how the work is going and how they and the ward can help us progress. After we went to the foyer and I saw Bishop run up to me. This isn't the Bishop of the ward, its a little boy that is 9 years old and he is part of the Wirihana-Hawea family which is the Mouri family from New Zealand that I have come to love so much. I never thought I would see the day when they came back to church. Also the oldest daughter, Cerise (21), has a partner named Haare (Ha-Day, 19) and together they have a 3 year old daughter named Huni (honey). Haare isn't a member of the church and is covered from head to toes in tattoos and he rocked up to church! He is now a new investigator and wants to learn more about the church!! He said that's something he wants for Cerise and for Huni. We had a lesson with them last night and I couldn't stop smiling. This is what Elder Duffus and I were waiting for!! I got a picture with all of them at church and I will send it to you.

Also Daniel our other investigator came to church and this is his 3rd time attending which means he is eligible for baptism! We had his date scheduled for December 6th but we felt prompted to ask him if he would like the date moved a week earlier and he said that he felt like he should be baptized earlier as well!! He is now going to be baptized on the 29th which is this next week!! We are now trying to figure out the whole program and get everything organized for him. He is so exited and has been keeping every commitment we have given him and he is already up to Jacob in the Book of Mormon and we have only been teaching him for about 2 and a half weeks!! We are having a lesson with him tonight at the Touli's house and they invited us all over for family home evening. We will take some pics on Sonja's phone and upload them to facebook so you can see all of us!!

George isn't really progressing at the moment and we dropped his baptism date cause he got a bit crook. He has started feeling better and we met with him the other day and scheduled an appointment for this Wednesday. Hopefully we can get him back on another date.

What an amazing week full of miracles. I cant believe some of the things that have happened and I am so grateful that I got to be a part of these peoples lives and to watch them change and become happier people right in front of my eyes. In all honesty you can start to see someone just glow with happiness because they have started to change their lives for the better.

I love being a missionary!!  

--

-Elder Barnett

    Elder Barnett and Elder Tao-  With the Awesome Touli Family!  Their son, Kirwan (next to Nate)       just received his Call to Auckland New Zealand speaking Samoan!!!!!! 

     Elder Barnett with the surprise of his life, one of his favorite families came to Church.
     Haare (Hah Day) and Cherise and little  Huni "Honey"

   
    Elder Barnett - Oh, so Nate!!!!

Be Happy, Work Hard.

Nov 2, 2014

Hello Barnett's!! Man 4 months down and 20 to go!! Can't believe it! I feel like I have been out for ages but in reality I am still brand new! 

This week has been so good and I looked back in my journal last night and realized that every single day I have wrote that I have been happy and have loved my mission! Things have been going so well and that's what I really needed to happen. 

This week I have been focusing on being happy and finding joy in everyday missionary routine which is really difficult because missionary work is HARD and honestly its difficult to just stay awake during the day, let alone be happy. Also I have been striving on working with my confidence and trying not to dwell on the things that I cant do perfectly and focusing on the things that I can do well. I have been able to see myself improve significantly over this past week simply due to the fact that I'm not doubting myself and my skills and because of that I am able to speak with more power and conviction and also able to bear a stronger testimony because I'm not judging myself the whole time I am speaking.

This week were able to find an amazing potential investigator named Anna and she is a born again Christian and we just started chatting to her on the street while she was about to walk across the road to her sisters to have tea (tea means dinner here) anyway we asked her about her beliefs and how she came about believing in God and why she gave her life to Christ and then just told her that as missionaries we go around and help people strengthen their faith in Christ and that we are able to provide more knowledge to her. We told her that we wanted to come back some other time and have a chat with her and talk more about our church and she said that would be great! She is going on holiday for the next 2 weeks so if I don't get transferred I may be able to get her as a new investigator!

Also really good news! We were teaching the Wirihana-Hawea family last night and we were talking to Haare (ha-day) who is pretty much the man of the house because the dad split. He is 19 and is dating Cerise and they have a 3 year old daughter named huni (honey). Haare isn't even really part of the family but he still acts as the dad haha but we were talking to him and going over the restoration and he was really interested to learn more. He doesn't really know anything about the church and was baptised as a Christian but stopped going to church because he was being forced by his Auntie but the whole family committed to come to church next week!!  

Halloween is pretty much dead here and I only saw like 15 people trick or treating and that was really weird and it is just so freakin hot. It stays about 100 degrees constantly here during the summer...

Also this week we were walking around and street contacting and we met this guy named Travis watering his lawn, he wasn't really interested in religion but as we were walking away from his house I saw in his driveway that he had a Yamaha R1 and I freaked out and ran back up to him and started talking to him about it and he ran and grabbed the keys and brought it out for me and started it up and let me sit on it and get pictures!! Man that was the highlight for my day!! I will send you some pics of Elder Tau and I and also pics of the bike!!  

Hahaha I thought I was tired before my mission.... You dont realize how good you had it until you leave it haha!

Oh mom,btw, I am in the Choir for the Christmas program we are doing here and our first practice is today!!

Ahh I love Sister Touli!! You need to do one other thing to my facebook and make it so that anyone can friend me and that you dont need to confirm who is my friend. After emailing I think Im gonna go get some KFC or Hungry Jacks. KFC is SO big here and it is way different then KFC back home cause its way modern and nice here and you get chicken burgers and chips and a drink. It reminds me of chick fil a but way better:p I miss cheap food!! Let me give you an example.... A 30 pack of coke here is 25 bucks....for 2 litres of coke its 4.50. Plus the coke tastes different here and its not as good. Fanta is massive here and there is another drink called Solo which is sparkling lemonade and I love it!!

Anyways I gotta go but give everyone a hug for me!!

Love you so much!

Elder Barnett