9/30/2013 RED BARN

Okay first of all, Nathan looks pretty cool in the pic with everyone... haha Its weird to see how everyone has changed! It's gunna be ever weirder to see everyone in person... It's gunna come by quick...

Today we went to the observatory again! This time it wasn't cloudy so we could see everything... The only down side was I got sun-burnt .. Oh well... At least I might get tanner from it... :) But we had a good time...

This week has been good... Not too much going on but we have been trying to get things done... Yesterday we found out a couple from the East stake moved to our ward. Elder Seare had been teaching them and I came in when the husband got the priesthood! So it was cool to see them again. We have just been trying to visit people the ward wants us to go see... We really haven't had much success but what little we have had has been good... :) We got into one members home, the husband had surgery a couple week ago and is recovering and the wife just found out about her heart problems... So their life isn't too good right now. And nobody had been over to see them in a while so they were way excited to see us. She baked a carrot cake for us and sent us home with some banana bread! They were super nice and we had a good discussion on the Atonement.

My days are going by too fast... They all run together, and then there are those times when i did something earlier in the day and when I think about it later in the day, it feels like I did it a week ago... Life is crazy...

The weather is getting pretty good down here! It has been chilly the past couple nights, its awesome! The other day I woke up and it was 50 degrees outside... I kinda wish it would snow though... I do miss that a lot...

On Saturday we had to help with a festival in Sahuarita... I don't know what it was all about, but the church had a booth there and we took turns running it and walking around looking for service opportunities... The only bad part about it was all the sisters had to go to the RS mtg. and all the other elders had to go to dinner, so Elder Seare and I had to run it for a couple hours; and Seare wasn't feeling too good so I kinda had to run the show... One thing that bugged me was how rude people are... They wont even take time to say "Hi"... And then there was one guy I had started a pretty good conversation with and a member from his church came over and her whole goal was to get him away from us... Gotta get him away from the nice polite honest Mormons... But a seed was planted and that all I care about... haha

Oh, the other day I decided to run up and down our 'driveway' for a little workout, and I almost died... So it ran up and down a couple times, and one time i turned around and there were two stray dogs barking at me... I froze... I thought I was at least gunna be bitten... But i thought I might as well see if they will come to me so they didn't think I was gunna do anything... So I got down and whistled and one came over, I pet it, and then they ran off happily... I was glad about that... haha But it was a good workout, got a little more cardio then I thought... ;)

Well I have a blank mind now and wanna go eat dinner, so I am gunna get going!

I want to let you guys know I know this church is true! It has so much to offer everyone, no matter what! I have gained a personal testimony of the Savior and what he has done for us. I hope you all take the time to use the Atonement, study and share it. It is too precious to be kept hidden from the world!

I love you all and hope that all goes well for each of you this week... :)

Love
 E Barlocker II

1. I went to Buenos Aires!!! It was in our area so I had to go just to get the picture... :)
2. A road we had to drive through last week... haha
3. And I don't know if I showed a pic of the wash we have to drive through when it is full of water... We kinda got trapped... :)

FALL IS COMING!!!!! 9/17/2013

Anything spiritual happen this past week or so?
We had our best investigator spill out his heart to us... He told us why he had us here, what he expected and he said he knew it was right! I can't explain how cool it was... :)

Investigators?
Two, in Sells... :) The only ones we have are in the reservation surprisingly... There use to be elders assigned specifically to the res. but it died off i guess... Things are picking up down there though... :)

Do you get to the res very often?
Yes...

What do you do there?
Chill at the rec center in Sells, teach our only two investigators...

Are you eating well? Do the members feed you?
Yes and yes... :)

Any new things you have tried lately?
We had paddle cactus the other week... Pretty good... :)

Did you get the last package? BAZINGA!!?
If it was the one with all the scriptures, then yes! :)

Anything you want us to send you?
A GPS...

We got transfer calls this Sunday... But luckily Seare and I are staying together!!! :) It was a nervous transfer call night because anything could have happened... haha And the unexpected happened... :) I would have never thought that we would have stayed together...

This is going to be a fun transfer too... We have started a prank war with the sisters in our district and for this prank we have it so they think elder Seare is leaving, and i am training a new missionary... They totally bought it and we plan on going bowling today so we are going to show up and surprise everyone! Ha-ha The other day we saran wrapped their car... and to get back at us they stole our keys and hid them in our car, then filled our car with balloons... We have a couple ideas of what to do next... It is going to be fun... :) If you have any ideas, it would be much appreciated, especially if it has to do with a car... :)

On Saturday I got injured... haha I was doing pull-ups for a workout and things went a little bad... I was just doing my last set on the pull-up bar and apparently the door frame was thinkin' "not today" and gave up the ghost... In doing so it threw me back in to the cupboards, and left two big gashes in my back from the handles on them... It kinda broke the lower doors, and now I have nowhere to do my pull-ups... So I took this as a sign that I am not supposed to work out anymore... haha

But things are going good... We are workin’ hard (well as hard as we can in this area) and having fun too... :) I have been thinking about the convertible a lot lately... I can't wait to get home... haha But I know the last few months I do have will fly by way too quick, so I'm gunna make the best of it!

Thanks for all you guys do! You're awesome!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Love
E Barlocker II

P.S. Sorry no pics, I forgot my camera... :\

NOOGIE!! 9/10/2013

Sorry I didn't email yesterday... We had an adventure that took longer than expected. We went up to the Kit Peak observatory yesterday, it was awesome. On the way up, there were a bunch of clouds on the mountain so we were kinda disappointing we weren't gunna see the view; but the clouds only made it better... Plus it was way green on the mountain so the clouds and that made it look kinda like a jungle... It was the furthest thing from Arizona we have seen in a while... And as we went higher the clouds got thicker and when we made it to the parking, it totally looked like a scene from Jurassic Park... haha! It was awesome. I will attach some pics...

But this week has been good. On Sunday we had our group mtg. with the people on the reservation, we had a good turnout. Last time we only had like six people show up and this time it was double! Ha-ha!!  E Seare and I want to get a mtg. down there every week; I don't know why they are only limited to one mtg. a month - I think it was the stake or something that decided that...... :\ But it was fun.

Today the whole mission is doing a big exchange where each companionship gets split throughout the zone they are in and everyone focuses on one thing, like finding investigators, member present lessons and such. So E Seare went over to another area and I got a visa waiter for the day; he is waiting to go to Brazil. But we have two lessons in Sells (reservation) today. One is with our only investigator and the other with a potential... On Sunday a member from Sells called her uncle just before church and set up a teaching appointment with him and us over dinner... haha It was awesome. He was willing to listen to us, so we will see how interested he really is tonight... :)\

Oh and on Friday, we got rained on pretty hard. We had just gotten back from an appointment and it started to rain... And it didn't stop... Pretty soon our front yard was starting to flood so we decided to see what the wash looked like; and it was a raging river! Haha! It was amazing how much water was coming down! So we were trapped in our trailer for a couple hours and we were a little late to dinner... But it was fun. I remember a lot of people telling me back home I wouldn't see any rain down here, but there is too much rain sometimes... haha!

So that is pretty much the highlights of my week... We have to go get an oil change today... :\ I wish we could just do them, it takes the place we got to like an hour sometimes... And the Jeep should only take like two seconds, the filter and tank are right there, I wouldn't even have to lift it up... But we have to listen to the vehicle coordinator... :\

Hope you guys have a fabulous week!

Love you all!!!

Love
E Barlocker II

Pics:
1. The wash/river or as we call it ...the road in front of our home!
2. The Jungle in AZ
3. The big telescope at the observatory

Another holiday over... 9/3/2013

What has been going on with you?
Not much... Just doing work... Well mostly trying to find work... This area isn't too exciting when it comes to missionary work, but we are getting what we can done... We have to go down to Sells today to teach our only investigator, he is awesome though. I look forward to driving down there...

Anything exciting or fun?
Every day is fun! Haha! We went to the temple! It was awesome!

Best/worst of the past 2 weeks?
Yesterday was dumb... Everyone went out of the zone to go to lunch and didn't tell us... So we did absolutely nothing yesterday... But hopefully today goes better (I don't see how it can get any worse...).

Teaching anyone?
One guy... His wife is a member, very less active, and he just wants religion in his life... He is really solid and is way cool... I think him and his wife are about two years older than us so it makes it easy to get along...

What is your area like?
Big... This Sunday the EQ pres said that the ward is over 5,000 square miles... The sisters cover only a couple square miles, so that means our area is just a little over 5,000 square miles! It’s crazy... And there is not a lot out in our area... There is one part that is a new home development, but it’s kinda a the edge of our area so it is a little drive...

What are your goals for the rest of your mission?
Read the BOM again (want to read it cover to cover each of my last transfers), read all of the D&C, and Read as much of the Bible as I can.

Who do you miss the most about home?
Being alone... haha…. I really don't miss a lot of things... Just being with you guys, going camping and being able to be alone... Don't get me wrong I love E Seare and most of my comps, but I just wish I didn't have to tote around someone everywhere, and have to be responsible for them... :\ But I guess it will prepare me for kids...

Any pranks lately?
No... The closest people to us live about 40 min away... But I have started on some pranks in the apt...

So yeah... I guess the biggest thing that has happened is the temple trip... I learned a lot from the session this time, the new video explained things a bit more. It made the week so much better! And one night we went up to the top of the mountain with some other elders to catch the sunset - it was fun... :)

Well thanks for doing those questions... haha it helps me remember my week! :)

I hope all is continuing to go well back home!!! Can't wait till next year at cherry hills!!! :)

Love you guys!!!!

Love,
E Barlocker II

P.S. Could you send me the instructions on how to make the peach cobbler... I really want to make some! Haha!

PICS:
1. Sunset with some cactus :)
2. Utah!!!
3. A horny toad we found outside our trailer!