Week 11

Andrew got his Easter basket!!!!! 

Here's what he had to say 😍😍😍: 

i showed elder dias the pic of the fam (I sent him a copy of our Easter family pic) and he said "que siquy!" which means uhhhhh crap i forgot how to say it....but kinda like "oh how rich" everyone here thinks im rich and i keep telling them that i am not!! its kindof annoying actually. haha but yes i got the basket!! thank you!!! elder dias and i are going to snack like kings! haha i went to the mission office this morning because i had to do stuff for my ssn for here in brasil but as soon as i walked in the door the assistents to the president said "ohhhhhh, élder barnard! nos temos um presente bem especial por voce. más voce no pode ver" which trasnlates to we have a really special present for you but you can't look! i was super surprised to see a huge basket just full of chocolate. it was really embarassing actually because all the other missionaries there at the office were just staring!! awkward! so i didnt want to get mugged for my chocolate on the way home and look super gay carrying around a huge basket so i asked for a box to put all my stuff in. haha foi bem legal!! oh and the basket has a new home at the presidents apartment on the table and a center peice! sister dalton (presidents wife) asked if she could have it to put apples and other fruits in for when missionaries come over they can have something to eat. haha so next time i go to thier house i will see my basket!!! there was some chocolate truffles in the bottom of the basket, maybe 10 at the most. i put them in my hands and yelled "quem quer?!?" which means who wants?! everyone went crazy! haha FOI BEM LEGAL!! tahnks mom!!!!!!

Ugh I love this boy!!!!!!

Week 10

With another week in the books I can say that time is seriously flying! This week was super fun. We had our novo missionarios reunion at the presidents villa apartment (no joke the nicest place I've been to other than the temple here in Brazil). We ate like kings that day. It was really fun to see all my family members from the mtc! That was on tuesday and it was an all day thing, so by this point in my week we had only done about 3 hours of missionary work (the 3 hours after p-day and before we have to volar a nosso casa). Then on wednesday we had our usual didtrict meeting. I finally got to hit the streets that day. Then Thursday we had interviews all day with president. His wife made us all some sugar cookies and they were soooo good. Reminded me of how much I miss american deserts. haha. Then the rest of the week went normaly. We're hoping to have 3 baptisms this week. Finally!!!! This weeks letter is short but with that being said I will fill some space with my testimony.

eu se que este igreja e verdadero. este igreja e o mesmo igreja que jesus cristo establcei quando ele vivei em este terra. eu se que o expioção de jesus cristo e real. eu tenho um testimonho tambem sobre a reteração de este igreja. eu se que joseph smith vi dois personegens em um pilar de luz. jesus crinto e nosso pai celecial. eu se que o livro de mormon e o palavra de deus, como o biblia. jesus cristo vive e quando nos usar os ensinamentos dele, nos podemos ser perfeto como ele. nos poemos volar a nossa pai celecial. jesus critso e nosso savlador, nosso retendor, eu estou moito grato por o sacraficio de ele en o jargim de gethsemane. ele vive. ele nos ama muito. este e minha testimonho em o segrado nome de nosso salvador, jesus cristo, amem.

Translated using google translation for us gringos: 

I know that this church and true. This church is the same church that Jesus Christ established when he lived on this land . I know that the experience of Jesus Christ was real. I have a testimony also of the restoration of this church. I know that Joseph Smith saw two personages in a pillar of light . Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, as is the Bible. Jesus Christ lives and when we apply his teachings, we can be perfect like Him and become more like our Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is our savior and our redeemer.  I am grateful for the great sacrifice he made in the garden of gethsemane . He lives. He loves us very much. This is my testimony in the sacred name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. 

Week 9

Well my friends, this week has truly been a heart wrecker! But it's been a good week also. haha anyways,first on Monday, we had 4 firm investigatores lined up to get baptised for Sunday. But they were all leaning on Mateus because the other 3, Pamela, Hedelyn, and Adailton are all younger family members and will follow Mateus to the end of the earth. On monday they were all super excited and pumped for baptism. It was so cool. All 4 of them each said their own closing prayer before we left. But then on tuesday and on wednesday Mateus went to work with his dad and we weren't able to talk to him. This, my friends, is bad news. We didn't get to talk to him until thursday and by that point he was having major doubts about everything. Satan works hard on investigators!!!! We tried our very best, taught very spiritual lessons, but he is stuck on the fact that "he is still learning and is too young to make bold desicions in his life" (he's 16). Well anyways, because of that, our other 3 investigators dropped out too. Along with that 3 other investigators this week told us that they didn't want us to teach them anymore. Ahhhhh, it's soooo sad. I really really want to bring at least 2 more souls unto christ before this transfer is over!! With that being said Elder Dias and I gave our first blessing togther saturday night. It's hard doing it in Portuguese!! haha Anyways, we gave it to Nicole. She was really sick and coughing a lot and she said that she wouldn't be able to go to church because of her sickness. Well, she didn't go to church...but we ran into her later...yesterday, around 6 and she is good as can be. We talked for a good 5 minutes and she didn't cough one time. So that was really cool to see. Her and her 2 brothers are lined up to get baptised either this week or the week after! We had 6 investigators come to church with us and one, Lucas, is going to get baptised this week. Oh one last thing....HAPPY TWO MONTHS FOR ME!!!! haha Crazy how time flies!!

Week 8

okay so this is is how my day goes down. every single day. with the exception of church on sunday and pday on monday. 6:30 wake up. take a shower and eat breakfast..(i only eat breakfast if i have anything to eat...which i usually dont..) 8:00personal study. i read from the book of mormon for 30 minutes and then a book that my mission president gave me called drawing on the powers of heaven for another 30 minutes. i absoltutely love the heck out of this book!!!! i challenge all to read it! anyways then at 9:00 i have companionship study. we talk about what we learned during personal study, read the book of mormon in portuguese and then he helps me memorize things like the first vission and lessons for investigatores. then at 11:00 we have language study. i have a language book i got at the mtc that i study. then at 12 we go to a members house for almoço. this is my favorite part of the day because its the only time i actually eat real food. you eat as much as possible because you dont really ever eat dinner! i only ever have like 2 pieces of bread for dinner. its crazy. but then from about 1:30 till 9:30 we go out and teach. every single day. okay the food. its awesome and i love it. even though its almost the same exact thing every day. haha rice and beans, some kind of meet and some kind of salad or pasta on the side! and thats pretty much it day in and day out. im always super tired and always super hungry! but super happy to be out here serving the lord!

now as far as this last week went... it wasnt as dramatic as last week because we didnt have a baptism, but i was definetely just as awesome! então, its been a very busy week and i have been very tired we had planned to go to the temple with one of our investigators but he didnt show.. its very dissapointing when you get your hopes up to go to the temple but then your investigators just decide to not show. so not only did rodrigo not show for the temple, he also said later that day when we ran into him that he doesnt want to get baptised... he still wants to go to church and mutual and fiday night soccer but not get baptised... im very confused on why that is. Its a sad thing when you get dropped by an investigator but life goes on and all we can do now is pray for him that his heart will be softened! the next day elder dias was determined to go to the temple so we went and asked mateus and adailton if they wouldve like to go with us.... and they said yes!!!!!!!!! it was the most amazing experience to see the expression on their faces when the saw the temple and were able to go inside and sit and pray in the waiting room. i know for a fact that mateus felt the spirit. adailton is only 9 so he was reallyt there for the ride but i think he felt it too.. they are bith lined up to get baptised on sunday after church. they will be the first two investigators that i got to see from the very start progress and get baptised. so happy for them.

yesterday we had conferecia da estaca. i was just expecting to see all the missionaries from my zone but to my ver surpise i saw elder tippets!! my mtc somp!!! i have been very worried about him because he i sa staight up city kid who hasnt really worked a day in him life. he said its been really hard but the lord is on his side!!! super proud of him. haha i also got to see elder chumbley (hes also from my mtc fam) all i could do was smile while talking to them. its was a great expericence to talk to them. (AND SPEAK IN ENGLISH FOR ONCE) haha any doubts i had about my mission went out the door as i talked to them. i cannot explain it. just being able to talk to them and see how happy the lords works makes us, makes it all worth it.

love elder barnard

heres the pictures from the baptism last week

and of my mancave the bunk bed is very short and there has been multiple times wehn i wake up that i hit hy head on the uper bed. it hurts a lot. hahaha