4/30/2013 NEW WEEK!!!! :)

Well this week has been good. We didn't have a lot to do but we stayed busy. But sadly we have had two of our baptismal dates drop. We were doing a baptismal interview with one of our investigators and he had to push back his date, but he doesn't know when yet. But he is way solid! He just had some family things come up so he had to chose a new date. And the other one that dropped, we don't know what happened. He is a 14 y/old kid and it seems his mom, a return missionary, doesn't want him to get baptized... It is kinda frustrating! We went over to their home, knew they were there, heard them in the house, but they never answered the door... But we still have one more date that is still going strong... but even then we thought about something that might hold her back... The Lord is helping us out though!

-Are you required to attend PEC meeting on Sunday morning with a ward or the Stake?
I haven't been to a PEC meeting here in Safford yet, but in Willcox and Tucson I would always go to that. The same goes for ward council and all that. But covering four wards here we cannot get to ward council... We only get to go to two sacrament meetings each Sunday, no classes just sacrament. And here in Safford they do a stake missionary correlation meeting for all the missionaries and ward mission leaders.

-How has the food been for you?  Do you do much cooking in your home?
The food is a little overwhelming... We have dinner every night pretty much and everyone cooks a bunch for us to eat, so we get fed pretty well. It makes me want to work out more, which is a good thing :) Plus I am trying to stay under 160 because I made a joke about it and now I have to do it... And we are hardly ever home so we don't cook a lot; if we are it is because we brought pizza over to eat. The Dominoes down here gives each companionship one free pizza a week, so everyone gets one and brings it over to our place to eat and talk. It is okay, I just wish people knew how to clean up after themselves!!! I am glad I have good parents that taught me well ;)

Earlier this week, my comp found out that scorpions glowed under a black light. His mind was blown! I already knew that because Ellusionist had a trick that involved that... But after one of our members told us that and about hunting for them, he had to try it. So the other night we went over to the member’s house to go scorpion hunting. It is amazing how much they glow under a black light. We would be going along the ground and all of a sudden you see a yellow glowing scorpion! I haven't seen a scorpion on my mission until then so that was cool... We had fun finding them and killing them so they wouldn't harm the garden.

Oh and the other day I had something weird happen. I had someone say I looked older then I was... My whole mission people have said I looked way young, the oldest I have been given is 16... But I finally had someone that said I looked about my real age!

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, my comp doesn't really let me have a say on what goes on so we didn't get things done. But yesterday we went on a hike. I think by the time we were done driving we were at 9000 ft. and there were pine trees, no cactus, and even a little snow! I never thought I would see that in Arizona... ha ha But it was a good hike. We got all the way to the top of the mountain and took some awesome pics. Plus I found a little time capsule that was up there that a lot of people had put their names in. I didn't tell anyone else about it though... When I found it I was off away from everyone and they heard me open it; someone asked what I was doing and I said 'doing drugs' they just laughed and kept on talking. It was cool...I guess... :)

Well I am hanging in there. Things are going good, and I am having a good time. I hope all is going well back home!

Love you all!!!

Love,
E' Barlocker

PICS:
1. In Arizona????
2. Me and Johnson on top of the mountain
3. The time capsule, I don't know how I found it...

Another Week Over! 4/22/2013

-What have you been up to this week?
More missionary work... Last Tuesday we had interviews with President Killpack and so I got to talk to him more about things that have been going on.

-Favorite part of this past week...
I would have to say interviews... Normally I would hate them but I got a lot off my chest and I had a good time.

-What can I send you? We are starting a package so ask away (within reason of course! )
More razors, my hard drive, keys to the Scion FR-S you guys bought me... (I saw a consumers report at a store in Willcox so I had to buy it... Now I am all up to date in the car world...)
THIS KID IS SO FUNNY! The only cars we buy our kids are HOTWHEELS! ;)

-Any lessons learned lately?
Not to dwell in the darkness... It really sucks everything good from all around you...

-Are you & E'Jonson getting along well?
Heck yes! We are having a grand old time while doing what we are supposed to do!

-Getting enough to eat & enough sleep?
We get plenty to eat, but I haven't been sleeping well since I was with E' W... A normal bedtime for me is 1:00 am... Even taking melatonin doesn't help...

-How are your shoes holding up?
Great! I think I might just use this one pair my whole mission. And I am glad I was taught how to polish them; a lot of the missionaries here do not know what that means...

-What is the weather in AZ like lately?
Freaking good! If it stayed like this the whole year it would be perfect! The only down part is we have been getting a lot of wind..

-Are your calf muscles getting solid?
Nope... We cover such a big area with no car so we get rides a lot. I have only ridden my bike once since I came here.

And as usual, I cannot remember what went on this week. The lack of sleep has been hard on me so I have a hard time focusing. I did clean the front part of the apartment! My comp. and his previous one didn't clean at all... So when I got here the apt. was filthy!!! There were dishes in the sink that smelled and there was junk all over the ground, it was horrible. I have a before and after pic attached, the before pic doesn't do it justice of how dirty it really was. But I got up one morning and decided I would clean, and ended up rearranging things! And that happened to be the day when the Willcox elders came for their temple trip, so they saw a clean apartment. And having E' Petersen from Willcox come visit made my week! But it made me want to go back there...

Well I really cannot remember what else went on... We got two new baptismal dates this week! And one of the guys set it so we didn't have too! The work is going good down here!

I hope everything is going well back home! Keep up that yard work, it’s looking good! ;)

Love you guys!!!

Love
E' Barlocker II

P.S. Could I get Erik Jensen and G&G Willes' mission addresses please :)

PICS
1&2 Apt cleaning project
3 Me in district mtg. this week... :)

Got your letter...4/15/2013

 Well things have been a little down lately. Although we did get two new investigators last week. There was a day set apart for only finding, so every companionship in the mission did finding activities that day. And being in Safford, we thought that kinda hard, but we looked through some former investigators, went to a lot of empty houses, then ended up with two news! And my buddy down in Willcox said he got four news! That is more impressive then us getting two here in “mormon ville”; I think I got a total of two news in Willcox the 41/2 months I was there. But here in Safford I cover four wards!!! It turns out we are the only companionship w/out a car, the most wards, and we cover 90% of Safford! We get rides a lot needless to say.

But things are going good. And for the life of me I cannot remember a dang thing that happened this week... This is getting annoying! Oh, we had our temple trip this week! It was awesome! I got some direct answers that I had been looking for for a while. And I noticed that I hate how God gives me answers, cuz they are never how I want then answers but now I notice they are always answered. Our session was at 8:00 am and when we got there, it’s about a 15 min drive, I realized I didn't have my recommend. So we drive back, got it and took out time driving back because the next session started at 9:45. But we got there at around 9:00, so the temple workers had us do some other things. We ended up doing a bunch of initiatory and a few baptisms plus a butt load of confirmations, which we did ourselves! It turned out to be awesome. Then the session we did has been one of the most enjoyable for me!

Well other then that I really cannot remember, for the life of me what happened this week... If I remember anything cool or out of the ordinary I will have to write you guys!

Hope all is going well back home! And the front yard pics look great! Seems like I am going to come home to a whole new home! You better leave some work for me to do... haha

Love you guys!!!
Love
E' Barlocker II

P.S. Things I need... I could use some more shoe polish, but I really cannot think of anything else. I need need...

PICS:
Me and E' Johnson on the temple trip
One of our members gardens... this is what I expect ours to look like when dad retires.. :)
A flower in said garden

Correction on the PICS, that is not a flower in his garden as you can tell. That is a flower in front of the temple...

Here are some pics from his garden...

Love you!

Haha, sorry for all the random little emails... I am sure you don't mind. But yesterday we had to give talks in sacrament meeting, and when we got there we found out we were the only two speakers... We didn't prepare very long talks at all, but we ended up filling the whole meeting. But anyways after sacrament meeting was over, a lady came up to me and asked if I knew an Erlyn Barlocker, I was like 'Yeah that is my aunt". Turns out she is her cousin. I cannot remember her last name but I know it started with an 'M'

Well anyways I thought that was cool!

Wonderful Conference! 4/8/2013

So how was conference?
It was good... Not much different than being at home... Would have been better if we had those conf. crosswords and stuff.

Where did you watch it & how much did you get to watch?
We watched it at a members home with 3 or 4 other sets of missionaries.

How are you & E' Johnson getting along?
Pretty good so far!

Where is he from & How long has he been out?
He has been out one more transfer then me and he is from K.

What is your new area like?
Like a new area... don't know where the heck I am 90% of the time and all that fun stuff... :)

Anything fun or down right horrible happen this past week?
I don't really remember what has gone on this week... But we just got back from a hike! It is the first one I have gone on for about 10 months... I would have some pics but i dropped my camera on the way up so I couldn't take any...

What about Investigators? Teaching anyone?
Since I got here we received two new ones!

Bike or car?
All bike... and we have the biggest area in our zone, we cover four wards!!!

Anything we can send you?
Not that I can think of right now... I will let you know though...

E Barlocker & E Johnson

(A member they had dinner with sent us this pic!  Thanks Bro. M!)

Yeah this week has been kinda a daze... We have been doing a lot and having a good time as well. The other night we went over to and investigators house to get a plan with him to quit smoking, and when we got there he already had the plan and was working on it. It is kinda cool to see that something you thought you might randomly do is Gods will. The work is going good in Safford!

But like I said we just got back from a hike. We drove all the way there then all jumped in the back of a pickup to go a little ways up the wash. I sat on the side of the bed and when we got to the end, I went to get my camera but it was gone. My first thought was "Oh crap, it fell out on the dirt road..." If anyone saw it after us I was pretty sure it was going to be gone forever... But I said a little prayer and asked God to keep it safe wherever it is and went on with the hike. Before we even left this morning for the hike, i decided to but a bandanna around my camera case; it is a very bright tie-die one and I didn't really know what I needed it for. But while we were driving back from the hike I saw a bright colored thing in the road... Without the bandanna I wouldn't have seem my camera, and we might have run it over. But I saw it, jumped out of the truck, everyone was staring at me like "WHAT THE?" and I got it! Good thing everything turned out good. I guess that is what happens when you put things in the Lords hands.... :)

Things are good. It is getting warmer here so the weather has been pretty nice lately. And things are going good after last transfer!

Well I hope everything continues to go good! It nice to see the front yard is done and all, whats the next project?...

Love you all!!!

Love
E' Barlocker II

P.S. The computer I have right now isn't letting me add pictures so you might have to wait till next week... :(

Happy Easter! 4/2/2013...TRANSFERS! :(

Sorry I didn't email yesterday. We got transfer calls Sunday night so yesterday we went around visiting people and all that. We ended up getting 'white-washed', both of us left and two new elders are coming in. It was really hard to leave Willcox. Too many good times and learning experiences.

Visiting Tucson!

But I guess the Lord knows what he is doing... :) Now I am in Safford/Thatcher area. I just got here today so I don't know where exactly but I am here. This is the Mormon ville of Arizona. It should be good for me...

Well other than that, things have been going great! The weather is awesome down here. We recently started riding bikes with a member (pics on FB I think...) and the other day we were sweating pretty bad because it got in the 90's! It felt great though. Plus it was the first time I have used my bike since being in Willcox... Glad I did bike riding back home, now I never get tired even after having a three month break from it. :)

Then ten months!?!?!? It doesn't seem that long at all... Dang in two months I will hit a year! That is crazy. Then it will feel like two more months after that I will be home... Time just flies as you get older. This last transfer flew by like nothing... I hate to see how fast this one goes...

Our district was awesome and I made some awesome friends that I could chill, and talk things over with. That is one good/bad thing about the mission, you make really good friends then you make not so good friends. I just reminds me everyday about what kind of people I want to surround myself with when I get home. I will talk more about what went on in a letter or something. :)

But I am starting new again! I hope things go down well. I have met my comp., E' Johnson, once before and blew his mind with a magic trick so we are not total strangers. And it turns out the two magicians in the mission are in the same zone, E' Mauhgn and me. There is a lot expected of us now... :) And I thought I would get out of doing it a lot with the new area and all... haha

So yeah, I am doing better now and kinda over leaving Willcox. Things should be good.

Love you guys, hope all stays well!

Love
E' Barlocker II

P.S. Hey I noticed you haven't been updating my blog and website lately... Are you gunna keep that up or not? Cuz I told some people to follow it... Just checking ;)

P.P.S. So dad, the mission wasn't all fun and games. I have been having a hard time with things and was wondering what kind of thing you went through. Me and E' Petersen, from my Willcox district, were talking and didn't really know what you guys, our dads, went through on your missions. It would be nice to know if you went through some of the same struggles as we do.

Whats next? FALL??? 3/25/2013

How are things in the mission field?
They are going good. Things are getting a bit tough but I am getting through them!

Any new experiences?
I have been able to talk more freely. I came to realize that I have kind of a speech impediment, I stutter a bit and mumble a lot. But last night was a great experience, we were talking with a member about life and how things can get better and I said everything that was on my mind and I do not remember stuttering at all and not too much mumbling...

What have been your ups and downs?
The sky has been up and the ground has been down... But really other peoples problems have been the down side because there is a lot that I, as a missionary, cannot help with. But once they figure it out it make things so much better.

How are your contacts holding up? (need more)
I use them way too long so I still have a bunch... :)

Are transfers this next week?
I think so...

What have you done that was fun this past week?
Just having some time to sit and talk with the other set of missionaries in Willcox. We are way open about out problems and have a great relationship! And sometimes we have a little too much fun, but that is to be expected with 20 year old boys! ;)

Sending pics?
Yes...

This week has been good. There is some problems that still need to be sorted out with some people but things are going good. Our ward mission leader called out the ward, in ward council, about how they were doing with missionary work. So things should look up soon!

Something weird that happened this week, we went with a less-active family to get some fire wood. And while we were chopping and cutting, I noticed my arms looked sun burnt We rode our bikes for the first time in a while that day, so it made sense; but still I have only been sun burnt once on my mission so far. And so I was kinda mad but forgot about it. Then I looked down and there was, what seemed to be a big bug bite, on my arm. Then I noticed little lumps all over my arms! Something in the area we were at made my arms break out in a rash... It was weird. Good thing it went away as we left...

So yeah other then that and having a dead jack rabbit on our hood this morning things have been going great!

Hope all keeps going well back home!

I love you all!!!

Love,
E' Barlocker II

PICS:
1. The rabbit we found randomly on our hood this morning...
2. The Back of my iPod "Talk To The Pod"
3. E' Woodland, E' Mckenna, and I on our trip to Tucson!

4 & 5. We had our car painted and cleaned by some girls... We were having a lesson with her unbaptized brother and they wrote all over our car!!! Too bad I didn't get all of what they did...
6.Saw E' Childs in Tucson as well

Have a great week!

Here comes the YARD WORK!! 3/18/2013

5:40am scriptures....That is way too early to get up. I had to struggle with 6:30, I cannot imagine 5:40! But that is good that you guys get it done. A lot of people do not realize how important it is to read the scriptures. It brings so many blessings and helps make the week go by so much better.

And if I could I would be home right now doing some yard work. I really miss it. The weather has been pretty good and there is just a feel of 'yard work' when it is like it is. Then I think about sitting in the front of the house talking... then I stop thinking about it because it makes me trunky... :)

Today E' Woodland had a Dr. appointment up in Tucson, so that is where I am right now. We had to leave Willcox at about 7:30 to get here at 9:00 for is appointment. Then we went to the Cannatas, from my first area, for lunch! It was awesome! It is weird though, because even though I have been out of Willcox for a while, when I am here, it feels like I never left. I is all so 'normal' to me. The mission life is normal now. When I wake up a little late, I feel really off. It is going to be weird coming home and seeing what that is like again. And I have almost been out a whole year! In two months I will hit one year; it doesn't seem that long at all! Makes me want to work my hardest so I have nothing to regret.

And like I said, it has been warm down here. The other day it was in the 90's and it felt great. We always have our windows open when we drive. Speaking of driving, did I tell you E' Woodland got pulled over too?... He only got a warning for not stopping all the way at a stop sign, but it was just funny.

The work is going, just going. Nothing too special yet, but we have something planned with our ward mission leader to jump start mission work in the ward. It makes things hard when the people expect us to do everything. But we get what we can done. If what we do works, then I will let you guys know what goes on!

Well I hope everything goes well, as far as missionary work, back in Utah. Hope you guys are still doing great!
I Love You All!!!

Love
E' Barlocker II

P.S. Pics to come next week. I kinda forgot things back in Willcox!

Spring is in the air!!! 3/11/2013

That would be nice if our ward did the 21 name list. We are having a hard time getting the ward into the work. They talk about it a lot but there isn't much 'doing' involved. Kinda makes things hard, especially in Willcox... Things are moving forward nonetheless. But once again the sickness has hit Willcox; and when one person gets sick, everyone gets sick and it slows things down for a bit. E' Woodland got sick and is still sick. We still seem to get things done even when bad things are happening.

This week has been good. We have had to deal with some stupid, but things seem to work themselves out. We have been having a lot of fun doing the work down here. I think this is my favorite area so far. A lot of the missionaries here cannot wait to get out of Willcox, but I don't want to leave. Things are going good in Arizona!

Nothing too exciting has gone on. But we have just been doing the work as much as we can. Trying to help those around us.

That's funny that Ed has more policies then Brian. Things just seem to happen when you are doing what is right. Imagine how many you all would get if everyone was going to church and all that. It would be incredible! Our most recent convert has been a great example of how the gospel blesses lives. She sees how our Heavenly Father helps her in everything and tells everyone about it!

Well let me get my camera out so I can send some pics. I will have to do another email with those.

Hope all continues to go well! I am going great down here!

Love you all!!!

Love,
E' Barlocker II

WOW! 3/4/2013

That would be nice if our ward did the 21 name list. We are having a hard time getting the ward into the work. They talk about it a lot but there isn't much 'doing' involved. Kinda makes things hard, especially in Willcox... Things are moving forward nonetheless. But once again the sickness has hit Willcox; and when one person gets sick, everyone gets sick and it slows things down for a bit. E' Woodland got sick and is still sick. We still seem to get things done even when bad things are happening.

This week has been good. We have had to deal with some stupid, but things seem to work themselves out. We have been having a lot of fun doing the work down here. I think this is my favorite area so far. A lot of the missionaries here cannot wait to get out of Willcox, but I don't want to leave. Things are going good in Arizona!

Nothing too exciting has gone on. But we have just been doing the work as much as we can. Trying to help those around us.

That's funny that Ed has more policies then Brian. Things just seem to happen when you are doing what is right. Imagine how many you all would get if everyone was going to church and all that. It would be incredible! Our most recent convert has been a great example of how the gospel blesses lives. She sees how our Heavenly Father helps her in everything and tells everyone about it!

Well let me get my camera out so I can send some pics. I will have to do another email with those.

Hope all continues to go well! I am going great down here!

Love you all!!!

Love,

E' Barlocker II

Here are some pics!
1. Snow!!! Now just imagine this in the dark...
2. Cactus and snow...
3. My ZL left me a cookie........ :|

HOW WONDERFUL THE SUNSHINE IS 2/25/2013.....HEY...WHERE DID THE SNOW COME FROM???

It is good to hear that everyone is doing good. It is sad to see
families down here get ripped apart and what that does to them. I am
glad to have you guys as my family.

I am doing great down here. We have a lot to do and when things get
'boring' we always have something to make it fun! Like the other day
we went on exchanges with the zone leaders, and I was in their area
with E' Larkin. We had some time before and appointment and decided to
go tracting... The thing is it was snowing... And surprisingly it was
sticking! Never thought I would be tracting in the snow in Arizona...

We got a couple of inches of snow from the storm...about two. But I
never expected to see that here. The day before the supposed storm, a
lot of people got a 'Blizzard Warning' on their phones. We all joked
about it and all that, but it turned out to be true. All Thursday it
snowed on and off, sometimes it was almost a little blizzard but but
the end of the day it was just big flakes coming down. It wasn't until
about 8:30, when E' Larkin and I were driving home, when the blizzard
came. It was dark and we couldn't see more then 10 feet ahead of us,
and we still had about a 30 min drive to get home... It was crazy!
Ever since then it has been a bit chilly and we even got a little snow
yesterday.

Other than all that this week has been normal. Although a lot of
little dumb things have happened, but we got over it. It's amazing to
see how hard satan tries to bring others down. Too bad he is never
going to win!

Well I hope things keep going good for you guys! I am doing my best to
help thoes of the Arizona Tucson Mission!

Love you guys!

Love
E' Barlocker II

P.S. The dumb computer I have today doesn't have and USB ports so I
cannot send any pics... sorry... Next time!!

NEON LIGHTS? Feb 18, 2013

The weather has been really good down here. I never thought I would be driving in January and February and have the windows down. Some of the times we are walking outside and I think to myself, "This would be perfect yard-work weather." I have been really wanting to do some yard work back home lately, never thought I would ever want to do that... I cannot wait to be back home, sitting in the front yard and do nothing right after some good yard work. I really don't have too much longer till I will be doing that. Time is going by so dang fast!

Last Saturday we had a baptism!!! It was the absolute best one I have ever been to. There was such excitement and the spirit was really strong! Plus Nancy, the one that got baptized, gave an amazing testimony/small-talk at the end which made it so much better. There were about 80 people in attendance we had to have the meeting in the chapel! And as a result of the baptism three people walked away wanting to see the missionaries. I will never forget that day it was awesome!

And last night we got transfer calls...

Luckily E' Woodland and I are staying together for at least one more!!! He will only be my second companion I have stayed more than six weeks with. And Willcox will be the only area I have served more then three months in! I am way excited!

Well, all is going great down here! Some things are changing and it looks to be an awesome transfer!

Hope all is going good for you all back in Utah! I LOVE YOU!!!

Love
Elder Barlocker!!

P.S. Hey mom, pics are coming in another message... ;)

Baptism!! :)

SNOW!!!

Well balanced breakfast!