Be As Little Children...

APRIL 6, 2015

This week has been absolutely fantastic. We have still been pounding the pavement yes and we are trying to do prime time finding which is finding from 5 till 7 at night 3 times a week. It really does a number on me being depressed cause I hate taking rejection after rejection for 2 hours straight, and to be honest I've never seen a new investigator come from a door knock. I have only seen people be interested if its through a street contact or a referral from the office or another area. Although the area is still struggling we are really getting a hold of it and doing everything we can to help the area progress. We have been working hard on aligning ourselves with the bishop and stake presidency as well as what the area presidents want us as missionaries to be doing. We have been smashing the ward and really trying to get them involved more with missionary work especially around this Easter time where peoples hearts are softened and they are more open to hearing about Jesus Christ or religion in general.

Yes the weather has been heaps cold and raining pretty consistently which would be totally fine....if we weren't on bikes.... plus my bike keeps having issues and I need to fix a flat that I got the other day when we rode past a BMX track and I took my bike over to show the kids how a real man does it and also that I could do it in a shirt and tie (I got it on video as well) I launched my bike into the air and hit some fun jumps but I got a 3 corner jack in my tire which is just like these little spikey things that are all over so ya that's no good. Great and I can now feel a headache coming on probably due to the lack of food and sleep.

The companionship is still going really good.  Elder Cook is doing a great job but sometimes he realizes that I cant keep going at his pace and I need to take a break and get my mind together. He really is pushing me to do my best and always helps to pump me up to talk to someone or to knock the next door. We get along really well and Im really surprised how good it really is cause I was crapping my pants thinking that my life was gonna be a living hell. Yes I am working like a dog but I am happy a lot more now. On a side note I have been getting a lot of headaches lately and I haven't stopped working but I think they are getting worse. My body hasn't been doing the greatest and I am going into the clinic soon so I will tell you if anything is up

So yes Easter is a lot bigger here in Australia not for the fact that its celebrated more but everyone gets a 4 day weekend. Everyone has Friday off because its good Friday (when Christ died) then they get Monday off as well so that's why we didn't email or do anything yesterday.

The highlight of my week has been being able to really grow with that new family I told you about that moved into the ward last week, the Ratcliff family. Man they are so solid and we have been able to go over to their house 2 times for dinner and then all the 5 kids gather round us and we have a lesson with all of them. Its so much fun to teach really really simply and to get down to their level. Elder Cook was studying in the BOM the other day in 3rd Nephi I believe? Talking about how Christ would always have the little children run up to him and he would bless them and talk with them and it goes on to say that some of the questions that these little children would ask were so profound that they couldn't be recorded down. I couldn't believe how true that was because I saw it first hand when we were teaching these children. They had some of the most amazing questions and some of them were difficult to answer especially in a way that would make sense to them. They are really keen of having all the kids learn and grow together and to almost integrate us into their family so that the kids can be comfortable with us and really open up about any questions or concerns they may have. They lessons take a long time just because they have so many questions and we were teaching them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we were supposed to get through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End and we barely managed to get through Faith haha. Such a great family though and I absolutely love seeing them get so excited about the Gospel and about learning.

   Man I had a touretts moment in the middle of the library when I saw those photos!!AHHHHHHHHHH Both my sisters are gonna be little nurses!  Love those pics! Alrighty we are leaving! I love you guys more than life!! Keep working hard and I will be home in no time!!

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-Elder Barnett

-PO Box 97 Marden, SA 5070 Australia

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April 19, 2015

Well it has been a little while since I've emailed yous but I thought I would let you know how things are going in the Golden Grove area #sacredgrove. To be honest nothing has changed and things are still getting worse and worse with our investigators and we haven't seen really any success with the things we have been doing, even though we have been constantly finding day in and day out. Like I said the other day, our only investigator at the moment is Branden Ratcliff and he and the family are solid but other than that we have no one to teach. On Saturday we were out finding for 7 HOURS..... we have walked some ridiculous amount of kilometres just cause our bikes are a little broken at the moment but we are hoping to get them fixed today.

Even though the area has been rough I am still heaps happy and Elder Cook and I are getting along really well. Its crazy to think that he only has like 2 and a half weeks left. He doesn't like talking about him going home and he is incredibly dedicated and consecrated to this work. If he could he would totally extend his mission but we aren't allowed to do that. I can tell that it is really starting to get on his nerves that nothing is happening in the area even though we are trying our hardest to work and be effective. Last night during planning he said he was sick of not having any people to teach and I don't think my attitude helped cause I am more relaxed about it cause we have always had a tiny amount of people to teach so I have gotten used to it and its been hard for me to have faith that we are actually gonna find someone on the streets that is gonna want to learn more. We have a few people that said they wouldn't mind us coming around but most of them haven't panned out but we talked to a guy yesterday that was really cool, his name was Alex and he lives close to our flat. He told us he wasn't part of any denomination cause he thinks that committing to one faith restricts you and your spirituality. He said he likes to experiment with different things and also said he loves to do LSD and Shrooms and to go on his psychcadelic journeys.... so ya its hard for me to have faith or even a hope that something is gonna come from people like that. I love him and he is a great guy but I don't see anything coming from him, maybe 1 lesson or 2. 

The Ratcliffs are amazing and we had so much fun with them on Friday. We weren't able to go to that place I told you about but we went to a café and had some really good food, they are taking us out again this Friday to Hoggs Breath.

My headaches have still been off and on. We walked to that Wooly's right next to our house and I bought a 24 pack of Pepsi that was on special for like 15 bucks. I told President about it and Sister Carter gave me a call and gave me some tips on what to do when I get one but ultimately she said to take 2 Excedrin and a coke and lay down in the dark....and you know that that's my specialty hahaha 

Other than that it has been a pretty uneventful couple days but I am still lovin it! We are headed to St Kilda again today to that big play ground for adults. Also the weather here has been crap and its been raining heaps and getting really cold. I snatched a jumper from the Semaphore flat when I left but I think I might pick one up today from Big W or something....

Love,
Elder Barnett

ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA TEMPLE