Golden Grove, it's on FIRE!

Jan 4, 2015

From Elder Barnett's Mission President's wife:

The missionaries are all fine. None of them live up in the effected area. One companionship was close for a minute and had to leave for a couple of hours, (not Elder Barnett) but are back in their flat now. It's the small towns up in the hills that have been in danger. There is really only one road in and out of the Adelaide Hills and so for firefighters the access ability is virtually non existent. Even with that, the firefighters are doing a wonderful job. There has been no loss of life, just some injuries and they have been mostly firefighters. It really looks much worse in the news than it is and for Adelaide it is devastating. Any fire is, especially when homes are lost, but compared to the fires we have in the states this one is pretty small. Luckily they don't have the population or it could of been much more tragic.

Elder Barnett will probably give you and update (or not, boys are not great with details) and try not to worry too much. We will watch out for your Elder.

Love,

Sister Carter

Goodaye family!!

 Yes I am still alive and the fires haven't killed me....yetSo this past week has been crazy and I know you want to know everything that has been going on so I will try my best to let you know what has happened. So I was transferred to Golden Grove which is in Modbury. My companions name is Elder Rawlings and he is from North Ogden Utah and he is just a little bit shorter than me but he is about 15 kilos lighter hahaha.

So I was praying that I would get sent somewhere south for the heat of the summer and I was really hoping to get a car as well...ya that didn't happen. Golden Grove is hills on hills on hills and is just a biking area. The first day I got here we biked to a dinner appointment and by the time we got there I was on the verge of passing out from dehydration and exhaustion plus a little bit of heatstroke. Speaking of heat it hit 43 degrees the other day and seriously was the worst thing I have ever experienced. Every time you took a breath it felt like you had your lips wrapped around a blow dryer on the heat setting...

The bush fire here is crazy and no we haven't been evacuated yet but the sisters that are just a little bit North of us were evacuated and had to spend the night at the chapel. Unfortunately we were told that we aren't supposed to volunteer to help fight the fire which sucks cause I was really looking forward to doing that. The fire is still raging and they called in firefighters all the way from New South Whales to help put it out but they haven't stopped it yet. It has claimed like 12 or 14 houses already but there haven't been any fatalities.

So my companion is pretty cool, he went to Utah State before he came out on his mission. He studied computer engineering soooooo, ya. But we get along well. The only thing that bugs me is that he isn't clean and yes I did have to overhaul the house cause there were ants crawling everywhere and there were dishes climbing up the wall.  Its heaps bigger but the air con isn't as good.... so we take the beds out into the lounge and sleep by the air conditioner! hahaha!

 The hardest thing that I have had to deal with in this zone is disobedience.... There are 2 places in the mission that everyone knows are apostate and those two zones are Modbury and Elizabeth.  Lets just say, it does live up to the expectations. Everything here is a party and missionary work is SLACK. Im not a leader by any means but I try my best to keep working because when youre not working time goes by really slow. This past week has been the slowest week by far just because there wasn't much working because Elder Rawlings is sick and hasn't gotten better. We are probably going to go to the doctors this week to get him  checked out cause he has been crook for about 2 weeks now.  I don't have a picture of me and Elder Rawlings yet but I do have one of the fire at 5:30 in the morning and it looks sick.

Yes I do miss Semaphore heaps and I still am in contact with Maylani and the whole Touli fam:)  Golden Grove is like 45 min from Semaphore so its a whole new library....wayyyyyy nicer and no the district leader drives us. Everyone has a car but us....

I am trying to get on a diet to start bulking and get back into shape. I really want to put on some more weight but the only problem is my pants are getting really tight around my waist....:/ 

Im here for another 40 min probably. HAHAHAHAHA  Man that video is awesome!! I feel like I should be right there with them!! Allie just emailed me but will you just forward the one I sent to you to her? I feel like such a crap brother but I cant email everyone separate letters.

Sending a photo of Elder Autele and I when we were on trade off. He was my zone leader and he is from American Samoa!!  Peyton  Davis is in his home ward!!  Samoans treat missionaries like kings....literally so I reckon he is goin alright. I would kill to serve in Samoa or New Zealand. I miss islanders. Hopefully I go to Mildura which is a massive branch of just Samoans and Tongans and Kiwis 

New Years was crap and all we did was sleep. I miss hot rock and sparking apple juice. Nick hasn't emailed or talked to me at all so I have no clue whats going on with him. Have you got my letter yet? The video of Drew is CRACK-UP and I downloaded it to my hard drive!!  I will get what I need but Im not gonna spend a lot of money. I wanna wear my black shoes till they are just rubbish so I can send them home!!

btw You need to see all my aboriginal dot paintings I got done!! I need to send them home! I got my scriptures painted as well and I didn't show you on Skype!

We are leaving right now!!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

--

-Elder Barnett

-PO Box 97 Marden, SA 5070 Australia

Welcome to my new area GOLDEN GROVE.  It's on FIRE!

The first day of the Sampson Flat Bush Fire 

Day one of the fire

One of Nathans favorite families - saying good bye in Semaphore 

Goodbyes are hard - little Huni using her favorite american sign language to express her feelings about saying Good Bye to her favorite Elder???  haha

 (huge and dead)  size 13 Blue Tongued Lizard :-0'

 On Splits with Elder Autele from American Samoa -

 Our neighbor, Elder Payton Davis is serving in his home Ward there!  Small world!!

This Is Where I'm Supposed To Be!

Ayyyy!! Its so good to hear from you all again!! Skyping was definitely hard and going into it I was really nervous that It was going to make me really home sick but it just confirmed to me that I am doing the right thing and that this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm so happy that I don't have to be home and deal with any drama and out here I only have to worry about doing one thing which is missionary work. It was so good to see everybody and to hear every ones voices. I am so grateful that I have a loving family that is supportive of me and wants me to succeed. I don't think I would be strong enough if I was doing this alone and had no one helping to push me through.

Christmas was....ehhh..... All the other missionaries were talking it up so much and I was expecting it to be heaps of fun but it definitely not Christmas to me, it just felt like a regular day. All the zones did skits and we had like a little talent show which was fun but it your aren't with your family than it doesn't feel right.  Singing in the choir Sunday was really good and everyone can hear my bass cause its sooooo deep hahaha I cant wait for you to hear me sing hymn 44 "Beautiful Zion" which is our mission song. 

The day after Christmas here is called "Boxing Day" which is where everything is on sale and everyone goes out shopping, kind of like black Friday. We had a Multi-Zone conference and President and the assistants were able to train us on how to better introduce the book of Mormon. New Years is now coming up and no we are not allowed to stay out until midnight and watch the fireworks, we have to be in the flat by4pm and stay there the rest of the day cause people get a little cray cray and all the drunks are out. Honestly Im so excited because its the one time we can be in the flat and not go out and they told us to try and do something productive like clean the flat but our flat is clean so Im goin to bed EARLY!! HAHA  Also, I found out I can watch vidoes that you send me so if you took any at Christmas send them to me!!!!

Transfers are tomorrow and we were supposed to find out transfer info this morning but we had some problems with the phone so I still don't know if Im getting transferred and Elder Tau knows who is leaving and wont tell us..... so I guess you will have to wait till next week to see if I am staying here or if I leave!!

My Christmas package was amazing but I am mad that you sent that much!! 80 freakin bucks just to send that is just dumb although I absolutely loved getting it!! Haha the ties are awesome and if you ever wanna send me something, ties are the best thing to get, along with tie clips. I recorded myself opening it and I cried when I opened the picture you sent and also when I saw Sam's little basketball. The letters were so sweet and made me smile all night long. You said something about a chocolate Santa? I never saw one in there but I reckon it would've been fine.

Allie and Paytons gift is so sick!! Drew looks like he is having heaps of fun as well with those bubble things!! Where there any big presents or just little ones? Obviously the best gift for me was seeing all of you and I hope that was your favourite thing as well haha I was just thinking about how many posts on instagram and twitter Sam had made about me since I've been gone. 

Love ya heaps guys and I will talk to you.....next year? lolololol   
--

-Elder Barnett

-PO Box 97 Marden, SA 5070 Australia

Then he typed (I just found out I am getting transferred! I leave tomorrow and I haven't haven't packed one thing!! I!) but we didn't get any more info!!!!  ARGH!~!!!!!!

Lead, Teach, INVITE

Hey hey!!! How ya goin family?!

Man it was so good to hear from you and to know what is goin on at home. I hope Dad is feeling better!! Also tell Drew to knock that kid out;) Just kidding fighting gets you no where!! Learn to love and just shake it off! I cannot wait to talk to yous on Skype and be able to have a normal conversation!! I always get so flustered when I email cause I have so much that Im thinking about!! 

Anyway I know you are wanting to hear about my week and it has been  pretty full on. So the biggest thing that happened this week actually just ended. We had MPC which is where young men and young women go on a "mini mission" for 2 days with us full time missionaries to experience what missionary life is like. They prepare kids so well here for their missions and they know exactly what a mission is and what they will be doing and so when they get to the MTC they can hit the ground running and not have any problems.

 I feel like that is the biggest problem we have in Utah cause we seriously do little and almost NO missionary work as members. I know its partly because everyone we know is probably members and if they aren't they already know about the church so whats the point of talking and inviting people to church. My commitment that I am going to leave for the family is to invite one of each of your friends to come to church with you. It doesn't have to be someone that isn't a member, it can be someone that is less-active but I promise you if you really open your eyes and get more in tune with the spirit you will be able to recognize those who are struggling at this very moment and need someone to be their friend. The biggest thing I have learned on my mission is that we are called to INVITE others to come unto Christ. Now we may think we are failures as full time missionaries or member missionaries if we don't get someone to church or have some crazy miracle that happens but we aren't called to change someone's agency. We are just messengers and all we can do is extend a hand or an invitation and then its up to them whether or not the accept or not.

Ok so moving on from my little motivational speech... MPC was great and it was the first time I truly was the leader in the companionship. I did everything....from following up with commitments to sharing the lesson, then bearing my testimony, promising blessings, and then leaving another commitment. I really had to stretch myself and I saw how much I really do know. I always beat myself up about not knowing enough and not being a good enough teacher but over this weekend being with a 16 year old kid that barely said a word I realized that I am capable of leading and teaching. It was a humbling experience to know that I could be the person that impacts this young boys life and helps him make the decision to serve a mission.

Church was great and we had some good testimonies. The Wirihana-hawea family came for the 3rd week in a row!! Ahhhh those little girls just melt my heart. Also Pryce came who is the 15 year old in the picture I sent and she hasn't been to church in ages so we were able to rescue her.

All in all it has been a really eye opening week and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to be here serving the Lord. I cant think of anything else in the world that will teach you as much as a mission does in just that short amount of time....its unreal!!

Love ya heaps guys!!

-Elder Barnett

-PO Box 97 Marden, SA 5070 Australia

Elder Barnett with the Wirihana-Hawea family girls - little Huni (Honey) loves Nate!

Photo taken this morning 12-8-14 of the Elders off to the Library in Semaphore to email home!

Elder Barnett with Pryce - The girl's Auntie and sister to Cherise Wirihana-hawea - last weeks photos

Yams, Heavenly Potatoes, and Baptisms

Man another week down and it is already December!! Only a few more weeks until Christmas and I get to see all of you!! Ahhh Im so exited!! 

This week has been really good, even though I didn't have thanksgiving dinner... but even though I didn't get to have turkey I did get to have a baptism!! Daniel was baptized on Saturday and was confirmed yesterday at church by Brother Touli. It was a really good experience and Daniel said he was really able to feel the spirit. I was asked by him to give a talk at the baptism and yes it is still just as scary as ever even though Im a missionary. Actually its even more nerve racking now because people are expecting you to be a good speaker and to blow their mind with your testimony haha

The talk went alright and then Elder Tau baptized him and he had to do it twice cause his leg came up the first time....lol... Also the Wirihana-hawea family came to church yesterday as well!! They stayed for the whole time and the kids said that they loved it. We have continued teaching Haare and he is progressing really well and we had a lesson with him the other night and he prayed for the first time in front of us!! Man it was the best prayer I have ever heard and it was so sincere. He prayed for his family and for him to be able to receive the answers that he is looking for and then he went on to say how grateful he was for his family and all the blessings that he has. The lesson we had with him was on the Plan of Salvation and it went really well and he understood everything and didn't really have any questions, he said he was just "soaking everything up." Then at the end of the lesson we asked why he was wanting to learn more and what was his goal that he wants to work towards and he actually started bearing us his testimony without even realizing it and then said that he wants to be baptized once he has had all of the lessons!! I cant believe how far he has come and he has been such a good example for his family and has actually been they key to getting them all re-activated in the church!!

I hope everyone had an amazing thanksgiving!! I was thinking about mums heavenly potatoes and those yams... mmmm I want it right now!! Lucky enough last night we got to go to the Touli's and have dinner there and every Sunday night is pretty much Thanksgiving haha heaps of family and a massive feed.

Well Im gonna try and send you some more pictures really quick while I email president!

Love ya heaps!!

--

-Elder Barnett

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