HOPPY NEW YEAR!!! 12/31/2012

This week has gone by kinda slow but fun. E' Childs has a little bit of a CHRISTmas hangover, feeling a little trunky; I don't feel different at all, is that bad?

But it was awesome to talk to you all! Its cool to see that everything else is still going normal. My life down here has become so normal to me I kind of forgot what it was like back home. But now everything is going back to normal for us. The only thing that will be different this week is we will be having district mtg. on Tues instead of Wed due to new years. And on new years eve we have to be in by 7:00.

A cool thing happened last night, I snowed! It wasn't much at all and if you weren't looking at a light you couldn't see it. But I saw it!

So yeah nothing new or more exciting then the snow. But I am doing fine down here. It is getting pretty cold here in Willcox, especially at night; good thing we have a car! I hope all is going well back in Utah! Hope everyone is doing fine!

Love you all!!

Love,
Elder Barlocker II

Christmas is coming...12/17/2012

I did get the CHRISTmas package you sent... so tempting!!

And yes I did hear about the new youth program. It is pretty cool.

This week has been pretty good. I went on exchanges and had an interesting time.
Everything weird that could have happened did. But I have been having a great time here in Willcox.

So about the exchange; try to guess which one I didn't do:
- Listen to Spanish all day
- Milk a goat
- Spend an hour getting our Chevy Malibu out of the mud
- See a belly dancer
- Help chase a goat back into its pen
- Blew some minds with magic

If you guessed 'Milk a goat' you were correct. Lets just say it was a crazy day.
I have never had an exchange like it and don't plan on having another near the same.
But the Elder I went with has been out for as long as I have, just he was in the MTC a little longer because he is a spanish elder. It was a good day.

With that day happening the rest of the week seemed even less normal, if that makes sense.
But it has been a really awesome week. I am doing well down here in Willcox and am having fun.
I hope all is going well back home in Utah. The weather down here right now feels like UT, but no snow. I did see some ice this morning on the ground; I never expected to see ice outside of a freezer down here...

Love you all!!

Love
Elder Barlocker II

So Delightful! 12/10/2012

How is my favorite missionary doing this fine day?
  Good.

How was your week in your new area?
  Great!

Now you are in Wilcox - correct? The map you sent was for St. David so I was a bit confused. I just read your email wrong.
  Yes, Wilcox is in St. David.

So this transfer, is it going well & how far did you have to travel?
  So far this transfer is going great. It was almost an hour drive if I can remember right.

Did you get any packages this past week? I sent your CHRISTMAS package & a small package with your songs. Sorry I took so long on the music. Enjoy them!
  Nope, it takes forever for packages to get from the mission office to us; and now that I am even further away it will take longer then a week for packages.

So this week what have you been doing?
  Getting to know the new area.

Anything fun/exciting/boring/difficult/strange?
  Nope just that I have to get use to waving to people. In Tucson everyone hates everyone so nobody waves even if you do. But now that I am in a small city people are actually nice.

What is your new area like?
  Small, little city.

What is your new comp like? & Where is he from?
He has been out twenty months and is from Syracuse Ut.

Do you get along with him ok?
Yup!

Well that was pretty much what I was going to say in this email... Even got me to remember some things that I had forgotten about. Now I really cannot think of anything to say.

I am liking my new area and things have been good. And I brought my camera today so I got to get the pick uploaded.

Love you all!

Love
Elder Barlocker II

PICS:
1. Sunset in Wilcox
2. The Clarks from my last area
3. E' Nuttal and Me
4. E' Banner (ASL) and me, and the sign means saguaro cactus
5. My last district
6. My last Zone

An email I received from a missionary's mom in Jaren's new area:


Kim,  I asked Elder Mizera if he knew your son and this is what he said in his letter today.

"Elder Barlocker is in one of our districts. I was there when he was "born", too. He's pretty cool. He's really into magic (rabbit out of a hat/card trick kind). You can tell his mom from me that he's an awesome missionary. My companion is actually the trainer of his trainer. ie his grandpa;)"


Makes you feel a whole lot better knowing he is being looked after! ;)

Smeg Head 12/4/2012

I just got transferred today. I really didn't expect it, but I guess the Lord has something for me to learn out here. I haven't even met my new comp or seen my new area. I am not even with anybody from my new zone. They all went to help someone move and I went with another zone to breakfast. But my new area is called Saint David and I will be specifically serving in Wilcox. Here is a map of where I am going to be for the next six weeks: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=saint+david+arizona&ie=UTF-8&ei=GUu-UIv8E87migLEuYDQAg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAA

So yeah, starting new again... But the area I miss a lot; not as much as my first area but still. Oh and there is a family that will be emailing you (Mom) to get the tamale casserole recipe from you. We were going to have it on Thursday but now I am gone... They are the only family I said goodbye to when I left, the Clarks. So they might as well enjoy the casserole even though I am not there.

Nothing new or exciting this week. Just a lot of missionary things. And my camera stuff is all packed away right now so I cannot upload those... Blame the transfers for that one. :)

Well I bet I will have a lot to talk about this next week. From what I heard my new comp sounds interesting...we will see.

I hope everything is going great back home. It is good to hear the office hasn't changed at all... haha except for another good employee ;)

I am doing my best to get things done down here in Arizona. Man I cannot believe it has already been six months... This is going to go too fast.

Love you all!!!

Love
E' Barlocker II

Ever so Greatful! 11/27/2012

Thanksgiving was awesome! We ended spending six hours at the family's home. And there was nothing different that I had, it was just a normal thanksgiving dinner. Although I did try the cranberry gelatin stuff... that is the best on the turkey. And I am so use to so much food that what they had was so little... But I did get very full! I did miss going out for breakfast though. But yesterday we went out with our district to Ihop. That made up for it!

But this week has been another slow week. Not too much going on. A lot of people have either been avoiding us or we have just missed them, but we have been trying our best to see some people. But we have been having a good time.

So yeah, I didn't take any pictures because of nothing too exciting going on. But transfers are coming up so I will have some pics from that.

Well I hope next week has more in store for us then this week; plus it will be interesting to see what transfers will do to the zone...

Hope all is well back home and stays that way! :)
 Love you all!!!


Love,
E' Barlocker II

Yabba Dabba Doo! 11/19/2012

My Sundays... Well church is at 11:00 but we go two hours early for ward council and all that. So it really isn't that bad at all. Then we stay about  an hour afterwards doing misc. things. Then we come home, have lunch, maybe take a quick nap, then we are off doing missionary work. Mostly visiting people that are not home... But we do our best to stay busy. Then at night we have to call in our numbers for the week. Not much different from any other day...

And we are going over to the Bonfield's for thanksgiving. They are an older couple that has a son now living with them. They are pretty cool. We also might have a good lunch from a family in another ward on that day. A lot of the 'older' missionaries say they sometimes have several meals on thanksgiving... I don't know if I could do that.

But this week has been kinda slow... Not a whole lot going on in this area. Nobody seems to answer the door. But now the ward is starting to step it up. They had a bunch of invitations made for a special Sunday next month to give out to their friends and neighbors. And the bishop is pushing missionary work in the ward big time! So we should see a lot from it!

Well, I didn't take any pics this week, it is kind of hard to take them all the time. I guess I forget that everything that I am doing is cool and interesting to you but it all feels the same to me. I will have to get a bunch of pics for you guys by next week!

I love you all!
Love
E' Barlocker II

Oh and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!!!!!

Oh the Weather is SO Delightful??...11/12/2012

Things have been going great down here! The weather has been great the past few days. It even got a little chilly last night when we were riding home. It reminds me a lot of Utah's weather.

And I did get my package! Thanks! It was much needed. The popcorn was indeed of great value! ;) And I loved all the little things that came with it. Thanks!

This week was slow... Not much went on with the work. But we did have a good week. We had a lot of shut doors and nobody home... It is all good though. We are going to have to get them all this week! :)

Remember when I told you guys that the deaf elders are in my zone, well not too long ago I got a sign name. Now instead of hand spelling my name I can use my sign. I don't know what it means yet but the other elder said it was pretty cool. The neat thing about a name sign is only a deaf person can give it to you.

So yeah... that is what has been happening lately. Nothing too exciting, except the weather! And I am doing just fine!

Hope all is going well back home! Love you guys!!!

Love
Elder Barlocker II

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

TEENAGERS....

SODA SODA SODA...

$15   3 PIECE SUIT

EGG NOG YUM!

yo baby yo..11/5/2012

My Halloween was pretty good. We went with some other elders to a family in their area to have a little party. I was Joseph Smith. And I didn't have my camera but I am going to get some pics from an elder soon. But I wore my brown suit with just the vest and I got the gold plates that my district leader made. It was awesome.

This week wasn't too exciting. E' Espinoza got sick, we didn't get paid till the middle of the week, and stuff like that. So everything got set back and we only visited a couple of people. And that was pretty much my whole week. I really do not remember a lot happening that would be worth telling.

We did kinda get a new investigator this week. He seems kinda out of it so we really do not know what to do with him.

But thanks for all the letters and the little package! I really love getting things from home!

Well I hope everything is going well. I will have to tell you guys everything that happens next week, granted it doesn't turn out like this week.

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Barlocker II

10/30/2012 I am almost 1/4th of the way done with my mission...

Everything is going great down here. The only thing bad that has happened is E' Espinoza is sick right now. That is why my email is a day late. He felt good enough to go and quickly do this, and it makes it easy that our apartment has some computers to use! We are working a lot harder than E' Seare and I did.. And now the work is going great! We have been doing a lot more tracting. And it is kinda funny to see how people react and try to get out of what we have to say. I really do not see the purpose in it but I will do it because E' Espinoza wants too...

And I am doing fine physically; besides the headaches I had a while ago I am doing fine.

And I have been meaning to get the Christmas list out, but I cannot find time to get letters written. Maybe now that my companion is out of commission for a while I will get that done. And I did get a letter from G&G Willes just the other day for Halloween. But other than that I have not received a letter from anybody else; the letters you guys have sent haven't even come yet... But the letters and packages arrive at the mission office and they send them out to our apartments. Sometimes they give it to our zone leaders and they take forever to give it to us!

Nothing too interesting happened this week. It is just busy as usual. Although I have been driving my district leader mad with making a card float. He has been trying to figure it out for a long time now. And I do not know if I told you guys but I found a magic shop in my area! We go to it every p-day, and yesterday we spent an hour and a half in there! It is way fun! Oh and I forgot; we went to a trunk or treat with some other elders and I go to be part of a haunted house. My job was to be the silhouette behind a bloody sheet and reach out and scare people. It was pretty fun.

So yeah, that's about it. We are getting a lot done and I am enjoying myself. And I am almost 1/4th of the way done with my mission... It only seems like I have been out for a month or two...

Love you all!!!

Love,
 Elder Barlocker II

Pics:

 Random shot of E' E and a little bit of E' D

Our trunk or treat display!

 My shoes before I polish them

10/23/2012 The weather is getting pretty cool down here now.

The weather is getting pretty cool down here now. This morning was pretty chilly. But it heats up fast! But the cooler weather is making it nice for bike riding.

And it is going to be weird with all new leadership in the ward and stake when I get back. Things change way too fast...

But I am doing fine down here. E' Seare left and I have a new companion, E' Espinoza, from Las Vegas. He seems pretty cool. I have only been with him for a couple of hours so I really can't say much right now. But this transfer should be interesting...

I don't know if I told you guys but we have the ASL  Elders in our zone. One of them is totally deaf. It is fun to try to talk with him, plus I am learning a little sign language. But the scary thing is riding in the car with them. Because to talk they have to take their eyes off the road and look at the other person to see what he is saying. Plus one of them is just a crazy driver.

I now have four suits. I got two three-piece suits from a donation store, like the DI. – (see one in a pic of E’ Seare & I)

And if you can believe me, I forgot my camera today. Sorry! I will try to get it here next week. Today was really busy...

Well I hope all is going well! Everything is going great here!

Love you all!!!

Love
E' Barlocker II

***Here are some pics, we ran back to the apartment to get my camera!***

1. A baptism we had a couple of weeks ago 

2. Cuff links a member gave me

3. A Beatles mug I bought

4. E' Seare 

5. Zone Pic!

6. E' Seare and I

Love you all!

Changing Gears....10/15/2012

Everything is going fine down here! Nothing too exciting. But transfers are coming up so things will be changing up again! It should be alright.

We did have a stake bbq this week. It looked like a ward party to me. If our stake did one there would be a lot more people! And the weather has been amazing! It has been in the 70's and we are wondering what is happening. 

My mind is going blank right now... and again I forgot my camera... I will have to write a letter when I remember everything. Sorry...

But I am doing fine! Thanks for all the letters and all that!

Love you all! Love,

Elder Barlocker II

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!

Baby its cold outside 10/9/2012

YES! I did get the salsa, but it only lasted me a couple of days! One thing you could add is some kick. (& it did have some kick to it) Maybe it had some but I am so use to having hot things, like habanero salsa, I didn't feel it. But it was really good and much needed! THANKS!

I did get to see conference. It was pretty cool that Tucson is getting a temple. That is one thing that I have been hearing a lot about since being down here. Everybody always says Tucson needs a temple... Now we are going to get one! And the change of the age limit for missionaries... That is pretty cool. There is going to be a lot more missionaries coming out now!

It is good to see that all is going well, especially in the office! The weather is pretty good down here, not as cool as it is up there but it feels great! I hear that it get down to about 60-70 degrees in the winter. That is going to be really nice!

Well I hope everything goes great for you all this week! I hope you all take the opportunity to be a missionary! LOVE you all!!!!

Love
Elder Barlocker II

Wonderful Week? YES! 10/1/2012

I feel bad for everybody that was in the MTC. Luckily they are all leaving! It is so different from the mission field! But it will be fun to see all of them come home.

This week was pretty good. I do not remember if I told you guys about Elder Ballard coming to talk to us a couple of weeks ago, but it was awesome! He took the time to shake every missionaries hand and the whole mission  was there. When he walked into the room you could feel the spirit hit strong! The one thing that stuck out to me was when he talked about us having to have the desire to do the work That is something I have struggled with, but once I get into a habit of doing something it is so easy! It was amazing to have an apostle of the Lord come and speak to us!

Nothing too interesting happened this week. I did go on an exchange with my district leader, that was fun. I ended up with five new decks... But we did a lot and had fun!

Well, if I think of anything else I will have to write you guys! Everything is good; the work is going great and the weather is getting cooler!

I Love you all!!! The church is true!

Love
Elder Barlocker II

Whatzzup...9/24/2012

I am serving in the Kenyon ward of the Tuscon East Stake. My comp is from Idaho, some little town I can never remember. He use to coach volleyball and he has only been out one transfer more then me, so we don't really know what we are doing...

But this last week was awesome! We had two baptisms!!! One was and investigator and the other was a girl that lost her records so we had to take care of that. But a bunch of the ward members showed up to both of them and they were both awesome! And in one of the baptisms we had some little kids giving talks and they were pretty darn good. All that made our weekend really busy, but we got it done.

Other then all that, this week has just been normal. We have been running around trying to find out what to do with the baptisms. Now a lot of the people we are teaching are either really hard to find or we have taught them and they stop progressing. But we did get three referrals this week, so that should get us busy.

Thank you guys so much for all the support. I did forget to bring my camera so I will have some pics next week.

Love you all!!


Love
Elder Barlocker II

Weather or not! 9/17/2012

9/17/2012

The weather down here has been pretty nice too, I am guessing around the high 90's. But it feels great! It makes bike riding so much easier.

But it is good to hear that everybody is going on a mission. I am surprised to hear that Zach is going... I would have never guessed. It will be fun to go to all of their homecomings when I get back. 

So yeah, it is good to hear that everything is going well. I have been doing just fine. I am in better shape than my new companion so the bike rides are slow. I have to make it fun by doing wheelies and jump on and off of stuff. But I am staying in shape so that is good! And it is good to hear that Grandpa is doing well with his hip. That would be brutal!

And I did get the package with the Reese's Pieces. They were melted a bid and clumped together, but they still tasted the same! Looking forward to more packages from you guys! But still send the things to the mission office, because if I have you send things straight to apartment, if I get transferred I might not ever get it.

But this week has just been another busy week. I am still trying to get use to all the new things but I am adjusting just fine. I haven't been able to take many pictures because we have been doing so much, but I will try to take more this next week.

Thanks so much for supporting me on my mission! I LOVE you guys so much!!

Love,

 E' Barlocker II

Elder Seare trying to get us un-lost

Me waiting to get un-lost...ANYONE HAVE A GPS THEY CAN SEND ME?

Hippo Hips Avenue!!!!

September 11, 2012 TRANSFERS...

Families in my area I visited with before transfers...

My District 

Zone Training

Elder Barlocker & Elder McKenna 

Well I am in another area now. I moved to the east to the zone next to my old one. I am still getting use to it, but it has only been a couple of hours. my new companion is E' Seare. He has only been out one more transfer more then me so neither of us have been out very long. But it looks like a good area. I had a hard time leaving my old area though, that ward was way awesome! I had a really hard time coming to terms with it, and I am still in one of my dazes... but it will wear off eventually.

But other than everything switching up the week was pretty normal. We had a bunch of lessons and got - I think -two new investigators, but now that I am not in that area it really doesn't matter. The time has flown by so fast though! I don't even think I was in my last area for 12 weeks, more like two weeks... Pretty soon two years will be gone and I will be home. Well I will be home for a month, then I am going to mexico; because a family in my last area invited me to go to Rocky Point with them around July of 2014, They are owners of a timeshare down there and wanted E' Mckenna and I to come along with them. But if we come back before then or you come to pick me up you will have to meet this family. They are amazing!!!

So yeah, my week was just another wonderful week here in Arizona. I am in a new place now so it will take some getting use to. But I am enjoying myself, learning a lot, and teaching a bunch.

But it is good to hear everything is good back home! And I will be looking forward to that salsa. I have not found a good salsa like ours down here. Some members have made some good salsa, but I think ours still beat it by a long shot!

Well don't know what else to tell you guys about. I know I had some other things, but my mind is still trying to get use to all the new things right now. If I remember I will write you guys a letter. So I will get some pictures on here.

Pics:

Three families I visited before I left my last area. 

My District

Zone Training

Elder Mckenna & I

Well I hope all continues to go well! I will be trying my hardest to get all the work here done!

I LOVE you guys so much!

Love,

Elder Williamson & Elder B MTC comps - see each other on P-Days

Elder Barlocker II

9/4/2012 Here Comes FALL!

This past week had just been another regular week. Transfers are coming up, so things will be switching up soon. But I have been having a lot of fun down here in Arizona. And yesterday was a holiday, as I am sure you know, so the library wasn't open and we couldn't email. 

The weather has been pretty good lately. Just the other day it was down in the cool 90's! And we have been getting some good rain storms. But more sun then rain lately though. You guys do not know a rain storm until you see a monsoon. It is pretty cool. But it is just funny that the 90's feels amazing, I cannot wait until I get back home and feel how cold it is ;) And I hear the winters down here are really nice.

I did go to a family reunion this weekend though. It was one of the members in my ward that always has us over for dinners. It was way fun. We ate and played volley ball and had a blast! And I even was talking about Cherry Hill this week without even thinking about it. 

But if I had one word to describe this week it would be, stressful. It has been good and all but things have been coming up that have effected elders I am friends with and investigators. Just more ways that satan can get into any situation and destroy it. But I am remaining strong! I know how satan can get me and am stopping him at every try! I love the protection we get as missionaries!

Well I hope that all of you guys are having fun! And I urge you all to try to share the gospel whenever you have the chance. I took me a bit to figure that is our purpose as members of Gods church, to share it with everybody and allow them to receive the rewards it has for them. It is hard, and I think that only Dad and I know just how hard it can be, from what I know. But I promise you, if you strive to share what you know with others you WILL be blessed! But do not force it on anybody...

With all the love in the world and more,

Elder Barlocker II

8/27/2012 This past week was awesome!

 This past week was awesome! We got to go to the Gila Valley Temple on Thursday with the zone. And that took a lot of the day away because it is a couple of hours from our area. But we all had a great time! And in the area where the temple is there are a lot of members; and a lot of the businesses there are owned by them so we got to go for lunch and get half off. But the temple trip was awesome!

That is cool that Ed is starting at B&B. Let me know if you need any help with setting up email and all that.. ;)

This week we got a couple new investigators that seem pretty solid. In fact one just showed up at church yesterday and we got him a baptismal date. The work has been hard but good. And I have been getting along with a lot of the missionaries.

But other than the temple trip and the new investigators, this week has been pretty average. And it sounds like you guys are doing just fine. I hope you guys are taking every opportunity to share the gospel. The church is so different once you see it through someone else's eyes.

We hope all goes well for you this week! I will be here in Tucson if you need me!

Thanks for all you do!

 

Love

Elder Barlocker II

This week has been long… 8/20/2012

I don't need sunscreen, I just use sunglasses!

I did get that package on Friday, we were at the mission office and went through the mail.

This week has been long, but it was fun. Our mornings are always filled with something it seemed like so we didn't always study as much. But we took time to do that later in the day. We did get one new investigator this week but he seems not to be all there, so we will see what happens. But all of our other investigators are doing great! We still cannot find the one that walked out on church last week though... And we are having fun with the work!

I forgot to mention last week that we got into a car-share! So now we have the car every other day. It is a little '08 Ford Fusion and the missionaries before that haven't been taking too good of car for it. But it is fun to drive. I am the preferred driver if we need to get somewhere fast; but not to brag or anything, I am also the most careful driver. One of the E's in my district that we share the car with should not be driving at all! But it makes things a lot easier to do.

And one night we had dinner with an older couple named the Taylors. They said that he had a brother in Riverton, I asked if he knew Dan and Sherron, but he didn't. Does Dan have an uncle or something in Riverton?

Nothing big has happened this week though. It has just been another great week! We didn't have any gross meals luckily. But I am now starting to like a lot of things I didn't before; like now I eat mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and all that. The only thing I still do not eat is pickles... But I am getting fed well here.

So I do not have too much more time and I still have to email President, so I will get to that and attaching some pictures.

With all the LOVE in the world,

Elder Barlocker II

P.S. Does Marci have my room yet? Just wondering...

OH and HAPPY early BIRTHDAY MARCI!!

Zone Bowling!

Elder Frazen on the organ

Our most solid investigator!

MY ZONE

Little Lizard outside our door 

Storm Brewing

Interesting Week, & Interesting FOOD!!! 8/13/2012

August 13, 2012
This week has been an interesting week. We had a great time and had some interesting meals. But the work is going good.

First off I have to tell you guys about a meal I had this week. So we go over to this members home for dinner, we have some interesting meals with her. But this time she made some meatloaf. Whenever I go over there to eat, I pray that I can eat the food and keep it down. But this time was a lot better then other times. But I did notice Elder Mckenna slowed down a bit. When she left to go and get the ice cream, he pointed to something on his plate; it was a pile of maggots! They were everywhere in the food, but luckily there were dead. Still, that made me almost die! So on the way home we got a 44oz. of coke each and drank it to kill off anything that could be alive in us! It was pretty gross, and she has signed up a couple more times for the month. Let’s just say we are going to have a lot of meetings during those days. We didn’t get sick or anything from it but it was a good scare.

Speaking about food  I can tell I am being fed well. I can actually gain weight! I forgot to say that within the first month of being away from home I gained 10 pounds and am now up to 150 pounds! That is only a 15 pound gain, but it is a big change from being 135 for a year or two.

Other than that and doing close to 1000 push-ups this week, it has been pretty normal. We had an investigator walk out on church yesterday. He got offended somehow in a class. But hopefully we can get him back on track and straighten everything out. But all of our other investigators have been pretty solid. And we have been having a great time doing the work of the Lord. But I see more and more every day how satan can influence the lives of the people we try to bring into Gods church.

I am trying my hardest and having fun at the same time, so don’t worry about me too much!

Thanks for always being there! I LOVE you all!!!!

Love,
Elder Barlocker II

CALMER WEEK? NO! 8/6/2012

Beetle that we see flying all around

MY FIRST DISTRICT IN AZ

8/6/2012   Yeah!!! I did get the little package but it was delayed because of transfers but it arrived! Thanks!

This week has been fun. Yesterday was a great Sunday, but it rained a ton so after church we didn’t do much. It rained for a couple hours on and off throughout the night. There was one strike of lightning that hit pretty close and was extremely loud! I love the rain and I love not being caught in it.

We have been getting a lot of flat tires lately. Elder Mckenna found a screw in his tire the other day. So we have been making a couple of trips to the bike store to get new tires and such. I have so many patches on my back tire it is crazy. I did get an extra tube just to be safe. One thing that I cannot find for a good price is a little bike repair/tool kit. They have some at the bike store we go to but they are way expensive. So if you guys find a cheap one that would be awesome if you could send me one!

This Sunday we only had one investigator out to church, well two but that is a whole different story. But the investigators we have are really solid. It is amazing to see how the gospel affects others. It really makes me realize how much I take for granted. We have so many blessings we don’t even know!
But I am happy the Lord has blessed me with all he has.

It is going to be weird coming home in two years because our house is a mansion compared to a lot of peoples down here. Our ghettos in Utah are their normal, at least in my area.

So, nothing too exiting this week, but a lot of good and spiritual times. I will try to take more pics and have more to tell you next time. But I want you to know that I am trying my hardest and doing my best.
I LOVE you all and appreciate all that you do for me!

With all the love in the world
Elder Barlocker II

July 31, 2012 Not much going on…

Sorry you didn’t get an email yesterday, it is transfer time and they move pday to Tuesday. But me and Elder Mckenna are staying together for this transfer. He was just called to be District Leader, so he gets a lot of work while I do nothing pretty much. It should be a good experience.

Nothing real interesting happend this week. We had a lot of good lessons with our investigators and all that good stuff. But one investigator, who is an old biker, found out someone was after his bike. He just keeps it around to keep is spirits up and such. But when we went to go give him a lesson that night he found out, he was armed with knifes. And to confuse the other bikers that wanted his bike, he covered a bbq grill with a tarp to make it look like a bike and hid his real one. But he was ready to hurt anybody that tried to get it. But he is an awesome guy.

Yeah like I said this week is transfers and my district leader is going home and everybody is changing up. But for the most part there are only two new people in my district. But I figure I will stay here for a while.

Sorry I do not have a lot to say in this email. My mind is blank right now. If I think of anything else I will have to send a letter. And I forgot my cord again so no pics this time…

And I did get the package with the shirts and stuff, I got them the Monday after they were sent. And if you sent anything lately I have not got it because they stop mail a bit before transfers but I will get everything within the next couple days!

Well that is all I have for this week. Some elders want to get some things off of ebay right now because they lost some things so I am going to help them with that!

Hope you all are doing well! Love you!!!

Love
Elder Barlocker II

July 23, 2012…Onward and upwards in the RAIN!

MONSOON!!!!

MONSOON

 SEASON!
RAIN, RAIN, & MORE RAIN!!!

Leaks in the apartment...

As to the questions, I got a new tire put on my bike because it popped and I got a light kit with a speedometer. I might be buying a new lock this week because someone tried to steal my bike and got about half way through my lock. It was in a place that you don’t trust to have your bike locked up, but luckily I still have it.


This week I did something that I would have never thought I would have done in Arizona, I mowed a lawn! We were helping this family, the Cannatas, do some yard work and I got the job of mowing the lawn. I would have never guessed I would have been doing that here… But the Cannatas are an awesome family, if you guys decide in two years to come pick me up you will have to meet them!

But things down here are as crazy as ever! Too many things going on and so little time to do them. We only have one baptismal date that is solid, all the others have either disappeared or are always busy. It is sad to see how satan can effect someone’s life and get them when you least expect it. But the spirit always finds a way. But our guy with the baptismal date is an old biker who got in a car accident, not on his bike, and has some bad back problems, but he is very accepting to just about everything, comes to church, and enjoys us coming over and teaching him. It is too bad that not everyone is like that; but we don’t want to make it too easy.

This week we got caught in a huge rain storm! Even with my raincoat on I still got soaked! We even got splashed by a car while on the sidewalk. It gets to a point where you don’t worry about avoiding the big puddles you just trudge right on through because you can’t get any wetter then you already are. But there have been a couple big storms this week.

I don’t have any crazy stories this week but I do have a lot of pics to upload so I will get to that and if anything else comes to mind I will send another email!

LOVE you guys so much! I hope everyone is doing well and having fun!

With every bit of love in the world,

Elder Barlocker II

Just another fabulous week! 7/16/2012

The only package I got was the first one with all the goodies. I don’t remember when I got it but I will tell you when the next one comes. But thanks for the package, it was much needed.

And sorry again, I didn’t bring my cord to my camera so I cannot upload any pics this week. If you guys could, maybe find a cord & send it to me so I can always have it on me that would be awesome.

To kick things off this week I thought I might share how my companion and I almost died a week or two ago (I just kept forgetting to tell you). We were out one day going to some less active families. We stopped on the corner of an intersection/4 way stop to check the address. The house was only two home down from the intersection. We go down there, knock on the door, then we hear a huge explosion. We looked at each other then I walked out to the street and looked down at the intersection. It looked like someone hit a garbage can, because there was so much debris everywhere. But then I saw some people running across the intersection. So we ran down there and saw what the debris came from. About 100ft from the intersection was a minivan rolled over on its side, the engine hanging out, completely totaled. And about 150ft beyond that was a little one-seater BMW, with its front smashed in and looked like he had spun out. There was a mom and baby in the van, the mom was in shock and apart from cuts and bruises looked fine. The baby was 100% fine. The guy in the BMW looked out of it. What happened was the minivan was taking its turn crossing the intersection, going straight and the BMW was coming from the left of the van. There was another car stopped at the intersection, the BMW went around that car at about 60+ mph and full on hit the vans front driver side of the door; throwing the van 100ft past the intersection and spinning out the BMW. What was scary about that is not one min. before that, we were standing on the corner. If we had been one min. behind we would have got hit by oil and debris, or ever worse a car. Just goes to show you how much the Lord is really looking out for us. I didn’t get any pics because it would have felt weird taking them at that point in time.

But other than that nothing too exciting has happened. It is just as busy as ever down here. But we did get a decent storm yesterday. Loud thunder, lots of lightning, and a bunch of rain! It is funny how it can be so dry down here and yet rain so much. The roads become rivers and everything floods. And the other day we biked to a referrals home. It was 5.5 miles uphill! And on top of that the wind was blowing against us. But on the way down the hill the rain started. And again the wind was against us so we didn’t get going very fast. The rain hurt though, imagine going 20+mph and huge raindrops hitting you. It was not fun, but it was an experience.

It is funny to hear you guys complain about the high 90′s in the letter, because down here when it get that temp. if feels nice!

Everything down here is going great, although I do envy you for going camping. I hope everything is going great up in the cool weather.  I will try to send some letters this week but I am not going to promise anything. Things just get too crazy!!

Hoping all is well,

Elder Barlocker II

P.S. Tell Kevin I said HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Oh and I forgot to tell you one more crazy thing that happened this week. We got a call at about 3:30am saying that one of the Elders was missing. They thought that he was sleep walking and got away. So we got out of bed, didn’t change, got our tags on and went out and got a ride with our district leader to the other elders apartment. The story we were told was one of the missionaries couldn’t sleep so he decided to do his laundry. When he came back after about ten min, his companion was gone. And this was at about 1:00am, he waited two hours to call anybody because he thought that he would come back. Well everyone in the zone was called in and we started looking for him. Me and one of the zone leaders stayed at the apartment to see if he would come back. To make a long story short the search ended at 5:30am. The ‘lost’ elder showed up at his district leader apartment. When the one elder went to do laundry the other one woke up, saw his companion was gone with the keys and phone. So he did what seemed logical at 1:00 in the morning, walk to his district leader’s home. Let’s just say the missionary that was ‘doing his laundry’ got transferred. The rest of that day was long and everybody was tired. That incident made me want to follow the rules even more closely. Things can happen way too fast and it can turn out bad.

My time on the computer is up now, so I will write/email you guys later!

Love,

Elder Barlocker II

DUH! JULY 9, 2012

Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 5:37 PM
Mid 90′s actually feels good believe it or not. We love it when it is 95, that is perfect. But now the monsoon season is starting so we are going to get a lot of rain. I already saw a little storm, it was like the one we saw in NY but it lasted a couple of hours. Luckily we had just got back from a district mtg. and we walked into our apartment right as it started raining. In fact that was on the 4th. The street behind our apartment was a river pretty much. Everybody said it was just a little storm, I cannot wait for a real monsoon!

Everything is crazy down here especially on p-days, so it is hard to get a lot done. So I might not be able to get to those letters and thing as soon as I thought. And I forgot my camera today because we have been rushing all day and left my cord in the apartment. So next week I will try to pack it into my bag. So sorry about that.

Just the other day I went on a split with my district leader, Elder Bean. I went over into his area and worked with him. It was a fun time. I guess him and his companion caught a lizard in a senior companions apartment. They left it in a Quaker oatmeal jar at the building, so we went and picked it up. Then Elder Bean called someone in his ward and said we had a pet for her grandchildren. She accepted the pet but wasn’t home, so we had to take care of it for the day. So we went and got it some crickets down at an exotic pet store and fed him. Elder Bean named him Godzilla. One time Elder Bean went to touch him and the lizard hissed at him. So I decided to try… It didn’t hiss at me so I went all the way and touched its back. The thing did a whole 180 and tried to bite my finger!

Taking care of GODZILLA!

It scared the crap out of both of us. Then when we were going to go and put him in another room, the front door started opening. Some random lady started walking in… We both starred at here, she saw us and said “Oh…sorry…” and tried to shut the door; but it took her like three times to shut it. We were both in shock and  kinda laughing… It was weird. But we had fun on the split.

I remember dad asking what my daily schedule was like:
6:30 Wake up and shower
7:00 – 8:00 Get ready and eat breakfast
8:00- 10:00 Studies
10:00 – 11:00 More study or appointments
12:00 – Lunch
1:00 – 4:00 – Go tracting or go to appointment
5:00 – Dinner
6:45 – Go to appointments with a member
9:00 – return home and get all calls made for the next day and maybe have some fun…
10:30 – go to bed
Maybe I will give a more indepth schedule in a letter or something. But that is the basic day for me.

 I hope you guys are having fun the cool weather up there. It has been hot the past couple of day here, but we hear the rain is coming soon! I will have to send pics of the rain next week, it is crazy!
Hope everyone is doing fine and being nice I LOVE you all!!!

Love Elder Barlocker II

P.S. Thanks for the picture Nate! If you guys could send some pics of you guys once in a while that would be awesome!

ARIZONA…! July??? What happened to June?

July 2, 2012
Yeah...95+ is not bad at all, one day this week was at least 110! But I am getting a good tan so I cannot complain. =)

I have some new scars from the mountain biking but other than that and a couple of scabs I am just fine. And I did get a lock but I had to take back the pieces after the first day. So after I got the lock we went to go tracking and locked our bikes to a pole. When we were finished my keys would not work for it. And I had tested it out before we left. But we had to get home because a member was coming to drop off dinner. So we prayed to get the lock undone, but nothing (that was like the 3rd prayer I said).

As we were walking back I noticed that we would not be home in time so I prayed that somehow we could get back on time. I had no idea how that would even happen. But as we were walking some guy pulls up in a ’67 Mustang and asks if we need a ride.

We kinda debated about it for a second and took him up on the offer. It turned out that is was the guy who owned the apartments we are staying in and he is a member. Anyways we got back home right on time to get dinner. I know that having that guy driving down the road at that point in time had to be something other than a coincidence; it was an answer to my prayer.

A little later in the day we went back with a member and tried out my other key, but no luck. We went over to another members house, the Bingham’s (yes their family is from Utah), and got a pole cutter and got my bike off. Now I have a new lock that works perfectly, so far…

My companion is from Farmington Utah, and I think I told you in the last email that he is into magic too! He even uses Ellusionist! But he also can beat-box pretty good too. He has almost been out one year.

But everything here is going smoothly now. We are getting a couple more baptismal dates and all that, so the work is going good! Plus I am starting to get the hang of things down here!

I finally brought my camera so I will try to send some pictures.

I hope you guys are all doing great, I am! I LOVE you all!!!

This is what happens when you leave paper in your back pocket!

A bit SHARP!!!

Elder Barlocker II