Week 2

My time this week is very limited but I hope I can get my message across! This last week has also been very stressful but thats just what the mtc is all about! haha jk its about learning to rely and learn more and more about the Savior and the gospel. I'm still having a hard time with the language but when people talk slowly to me I'm starting to entirely understand what they are saying to me. Answering/ talking the language is definitely something that I still am working on. My favorite chapter in the BoM this week was ether chapter 12. It's all about having faith and being humble. If I humble myself and recognize that I have weaknesses then through faith the Lord will help the weak things become strong (verse 27).

So I bought a nice set of portuguse scriptures that are honestly nicer than my scriptures I used for seminary that I got when I was baptised. but the coolest part about it is that my triple BoM combination was $69 reals which is equal to $17.25 american dollars. my bible was on sale for half off and i got it for only $6ish american dollars. Elder tippets and i and taeching 2 "investigators" (its our portuguese teachers) and weve comitted both of them to be baptized after only one lesson with one person then 2 lessons with the other. we were only allowed 15 minutes per lesson. Obviously its not going to be as easy in the feild but its fun to watch Elder Tippets and myself have success. Our lessons consist of me asking a bounch of questions that I have written down, Elder Tippets relpying to her responce and then me reading my part of the lessons out of my potuguese or missionary book. Speaking is hard for me but it's slowing coming!!

Have faith in the Lord and strive to be like our loving Savior Jesus Christ. Rely on Him, have faith in Him, and all things will be possible.

love,

Elder Barnard 

Week 1

soooo my first week out here on the mish.

 i spent like 30 minutes yesterday writing out what i wanted to tell you guys about but i forgot that we weere going to the temple today and so last night when we left the classroom i just left my notebook in there.. but because we got to go to the temple its locked in the sala de ala (classroom). this week has honestly been really hard and stressful for me. the gift of tounges is definetely not something that comes to you overnight. Elder Tippets got the oppertunity to study portuguese before he came here at byu so he is soooooo far ahead with the language. i thought that him knowing so much would really help me a lot but unfortunatly i kinda feel like it does the opposite at times. everyone here speaks nothing but portuguese (exept us gringos from the ustados unitos) so there a huge language barrior. it makes thing so hard. i can not express in word how stressed and upset ive been this week. the mission is hard. but hey, its only been a week. by next week i will have learned at least 2 times as much as i learned this week. so time will definetly prove itself and i will grab hold of the language before i even realize it. heck, i might have done so already. so with that in mind i decided to fast on suday and prayed to know what else i need to be doing to really start understanding & learn the language faster. the answer came way faster than i coulve even hoped for. it was like a slap in the face!!! in preisthood our branch president talked about developing christlike attributes. so since that talk ive devoted all my personal study and free time to reading, understanding, and truely converting myself to becomeing more like christ. there is no one that loved us more, there is no one else who has felt EVERY SINGLE FEELING that we have all felt in our lives. Èu sei que jesus cristo vivo. 

so the nativos... when we got here to the ctm i really just wanted to shower and take a nap. but when ElderSnyder took us up to our room, it was conpletely trashed! the brazilian elders that we share our room with had it completely torn apart. there were matresses scattered aroound the room and on the floor, cloths everywhere, it was just a mess. Elder Snyder, the secritary to the president, said he had never been so embarrased. he said that he knew that must have been kinda hard for us. so while he went to go find them me and elder tippets went to go take a shower. when we came back there was a complete change in our room. it was entirely clean and the beds were all made and there stood four brazilian elders sweating with half their shirts were untucked. Elder Snyder must have said something to scare them because they got some work done! haha sadley because they are nativos we had to say goodbye to them last night.. that was soooo much harder than i ever thought it could be. i didnt even know those guys a week ago but i didnt want them to leave. last night Elder Pequeno (which means elder small) was by far my favorite brasilian that i met here. contrary to his name, he was a very tall, oversized man. I learned sooo much from him in this last week. Every night, someoe in our room had to give a devotional, in potuguese. so yes people, i gave a devotional in portuguese without saying a word of english. but anyways back to last night. Elder Pequno had the devotional. he talked about Alma chapter 17. alma had ran into the sons of mossiah after many years. alma says that as happy as he was to see the sons of mossiah he was way happier to know that they were still waxing strong in the gospel. Pequeno said that he knows he will see us all again and although he will be super happy to see us, he will be overpwered with joy to know that we are still living and waxing strong in the gospel. it was hard to hold back the tears.

i dont have much time and im trying to type as fast and i ahve sooo  much more i can talk abou, i must go. thank you all for your prayers and emails!! My one word of advise is to read the book of mormon. it is like eating your favorite candy. you dont want to put it down and all you ever want is to have more of it! which btw the brazilian elders in my room loved some of the candy that i gave them from my stash ;) they said they want to live in america just for the candy.

Letter from the MTC Mission President

Dear Parents,

 

Sister Swensen and I are very happy to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil Missionary Training Center.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they begin their missionary experiences with us. We will surely take good care of your missionary.                                                                                                     

The missionaries now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  Their branch presidents and wives, will meet them this Sunday.  These wonderful couples are richly blessed as they work with, motivate, and interview the missionaries assigned to their branch.

The MTC has a full-time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife who is a nurse. We are also happy to report that the cafeteria food is plentiful, healthy and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Wednesday or Friday, depending on individual assignments.

Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of many others. President Lorenzo Snow said: “There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".  We love these missionaries as if they were our own.  We will watch over them carefully to ensure they are ready for a wonderful missionary experience after the rewarding time they will have in the MTC.

We thank you for preparing such a wonderful representative of the Lord.

 

President Robert Swensen and Sister Julie Swensen

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION . . .  

PlEASE DO not send packages to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC, please understand that the package cannot be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you.

WE Strongly eNCOURAGE sENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers.  The cost to process this type of correspondence is exorbitant.

 

Elder Barnard's First Letter home!!!!

So after many many hours of flying and waiting around i made it to Brasil!! Sao paulo is not everything i thought it would be. just driving through the city you can see that there is literally jungles and woods randomly skattered in the city. My campanion is awesome. His name is Elder Tippets. he is from "everywhere". but he spent the last few months at BYU provo. I knew from the minute i met him in Georgia that he was going to be my companion here in the mtc for these 6 weeks. i just had the feeling ;) so i wasnt surprised to find out we would be companions. Theres a lot to talk about and not enough time to type everything but i just want to say that i am here, safe & sound and in one piece.The gospel is true and im really looking forward to serving the lord. Chow!!!

-Elder Barnard

Just shy of helicopter mom...

My letter to the Brazilian MTC this morning....after finding their phone number and email address on lds.org I felt it showed great restraint on my part! :D

I just wanted to check and make sure that my son Andrew Barnard was received safely. 

 

Thanks,

 

Rachel Barnard

Deseret Cattle & Citrus

 

Their response:

 

 

 

Arrived fine.  He should be sending an e-mail right now.

 

Thanks for sending such a fine son.

 

Presidente Robert Swensen

CTM - Centro de Treinamento Missionário

São Paulo, Brasil

 

This momma was super-duper pleased!

 

 

Airport Pictures!!!!

This picture was Aidan's vision and set up.  He saw the fountain and the flag and wanted a picture with Andrew in front of it and laid on his belly to get just the right angle.  So cute!

Andrew prepares to leave!

Yesterday we brought Andrew to the airport to leave to go to Brazil!  It was amazing.  We had a family dinner the night before where his dad made ribs and I made loaded mashed potatoes, homemade mac and cheese and green beans with bacon.  We then had the stake presidency and Bishop Genho over.  We were able to talk and give advice to Andrew, as did the stake presidency and bishopric and then they set him apart.  It was a tearful, wonderful evening.
The airport brought more tears and more hugs and much excitement.  It is amazing to see your child make grown up, selfless decisions!  What a blessing he is!