The Elder Barr Blog

Hi Family!

Thank you so much for your emails. Things have been going great this week. My companion and I have really enjoyed working hard and seeing people accept the Gospel this week. The biggest news would be the family of A*** (the mom), R**** (the dad), J**** (12) and T*** (10). They are committed to be baptised on April 10th. Before that, they have a few hurdles to overcome, but with the help of prayer, and different things that Elder W***** and myself have been able to do, they should be able to be baptised soon. A*** is going to quit smoking, and my companionship and the other companionship in the apartment are putting on a stop-smoking workhop. We had “street meetings” where we would hold up a poster and give out flyers, and I think there should be 10 people at the workshop. It is Sunday night after conference. The other hurdle is that A*** and R**** have to get baptised. That is a large issue with most families in the Bronx. Very few people are actually married. Bishop T*****, our OLD Bishop, used to perform weddings for free, but we just had a new bishop called and he doesn’t have a marriage license. I bet Bishop Taylor will still be able to do the wedding though.

That is of course big news as well, that we have a new Bishop. It is huge news because the Bronx is now self-sufficient. Bishop T***** didn’t live in the Bronx. He was called from somewhere upstate, and he has gotten the Ward on its feet. This is a milestone for the ward because it is the first time in a long time that the Bronx is a self-sufficient ward. It was so humbling to see the testimony of the new Bishop, Bishop B*******. He will also do a great job. It is cool to see the new ward develop.

Being in the Bronx is sure humbling if it isn’t anything else. The ward has its share of issues that aren’t quite what they should be, but the ward is so young and new and people are trying so hard to do the right thing. For example, people are very generous with their tithes and offerings. A recent convert, N***, gave a talk about that, and she said she has been blessed so much by paying her tithing. N*** loves to feed us, and it means so much because it is a huge sacrifice to feed 2 extra people at a meal. She probably will sacrifice something later in the week to compensate. A*** and R**** live on welfare, and they are generous with the meager things they have. Elder W***** and I cooked them sushi one night, using imitation crab. They referred to the sushi as “rich people food", and they had never been able to try it before. They didn’t like it, as it wasn’t a taste they had been able to afford to acquire. I had never thought of it quite that way. Anyway, it is wonderful to see the ward grow. It gets stronger every week.

Elder W***** and I have also made a few new contacts this week. 2 different people from St. Croix, one of which I am fairly sure will progress towards baptism. Her name was S*****, and we tracted into her. She said that she had met several missionaries, and they had all told her what to believe. She said we were the first to say, “Don’t believe us. Read the Joseph Smith pamphlet, pray, and pay attention to the feelings in your heart". It was interesting to hear that other missionaries don’t use that approach. It re-affirms the truthfulness of this Gospel - the fact that we ask people from the very beginning to find out for themselves.

Mom, to answer your question, yes this area is safe. And we are careful as well. The issue with J**** and the gangs has gotten much better, and its mostly the Jr. High and High school crowd, and some of the “older youth” that get involved. Most people here aren’t here to cause trouble. Actually, most people here are either Dominicans (from the D.R.) or Puerto Rican’s. I am using my Spanish quite a bit, and I’m at the point where I can introduce the church, prophets, tell them where the church is, ask intelligent questions, and invite to church. I need to study my past-tense verbs so I can talk about the past more. I am going to ask the mission president if I can spend an extra half-hour studying spanish. Basically be a bi-lingual missionary for a few cycles (cycle=6 weeks).

The weather here has been strange. It has been really nice the last few days, and it is supposed to get to 65 today, and then rain later in the week. Every day is good weather for missionary work is the attitude we as missionaries try to have here, and it works well.

Well, I need to go. I need to drop a quick email to the mission president. I want to tell you how much I love you all and you are always in my thoughts and prayers.

And mom, I’m eating well, and I have lost a little weight because we are walking all day. I’ll take a picture.

Alright, better go. I love you! Say hi to everybody.
Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

Hello everybody,

Thank you so much for the emails and letters. I really appreciate them. It is great to hear from you. The work is going well here, and this has been a great week.

The family that contacted us last Tuesday have been commited to baptism since Thursday, and we have taught them every day since the initial contact. The mom, A***, son J****, who is 12 years old, about 5′7″ 255lbs, and daughter T*** who is about Grace’s age and size, will be baptized on April 10th, and the father is coming to church for the first time on Sunday. They are so faithful, and they have been praying as a family and it is great to see the improvements that they are making in their lives. J**** is already excited to serve his mission. He says “Elder ___LAST NAME__, I like the sound of that.” Satan is working hard against them. One of his school mates doesn’t like him that much, and told one gang that he was a member of a rival gang, and he has been threatened by these people and his parents pulled him out of school. This all happened yesterday, and my companion and I were able to give him a blessing of comfort. I was the speaker. I think they all felt comforted, although he still cried for a while afterwards. These are the problems that a 12 year old, or anybody for that matter, doesn’t need. It makes me greatful for what a paradise Sammamish WA and our home and our ward are, compared to the South Bronx. Not that it is bad here, but it really isn’t a good place for families.

We have also been teaching a man named M*******, who is a former Muslim but now Christian, and soon to be LDS, from Guianna. He is 70 years old, and is such a sincere person, and a good friend. He told Elder W***** and myself that we are always welcome at his home in Guianna, which actually sounds like a really cool place. From his description, it is always between 70-85 degrees, nice beaches, and $100 will get you a hotel for a week or two. Maybe I will visit one of these days.

Lets see…my Spanish has gotten a lot better. I still haven’t had a lot of time to study it formally, but I will try to read the Book of Mormon in both languages side by side today, to learn some Spanish “scripture words". But when tracting, at least 50% of the time it is in Spanish. I think I will be fluent by the time I get back, and I may even some time here in a Spanish branch. We’ll have to see. It is wherever the Lord needs me that I will serve.

On Saturday, after General Conference, we are holding a stop-smoking workshop for anyone who wants to attend. A*** will be attending, as well as some of the recent converts who are slipping back into bad habits, so I will have the chance to learn how to be an addiction counselor. It will be cool. You really learn a lot on your mission besides the Gospel.

So, things have been going well. I spent a little of my personal money this month just getting “established", like some of the food I bought will last me longer than a week or two, such as olive oil, rice, etc. I think I can do fine on $20-$30/wk.

Alright, well I need to go. We’re going to the Temple. It will be awesome. I will take a lot of pictures today.

Thank you for everything family. I love you. You are the best.
Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

Dear Family,

Thank you for emailing me this week. I emailed you this morning. Thanks again for the package and the bread.

So, things are going well here. I wrote notes to the F******’s, C******’s, and H*******’s. We went bowling today as a zone (8 elders, 4 sisters)., which was a lot of fun. I bought some groceries, and also a wrinkle-free shirt from Macy’s. It is a Van Huesen. I am going to try it out and see how well it works. I am hoping it will work well.

In a little over an hour we are teaching that family that I emailed you about this morning. I know that things will go great with them.

Elder W***** and I visited T*** and T**** again, and they are doing well. The Spanish Elders have been teaching them, and they should be baptised within a few weeks as well.

Other than that things are going well. I will try to take some pictures of my area and send them to you. I took a picture of myself and Sister C******, the 85 year old black lady that I told you about. She is cool.

Well, I can’t believe that March is already coming to an end. It seems that this month has gone by so fast. I’m sure that time will only fly faster as I keep establishing my rhythm of work.

Well, sorry for the bad handwriting. I am in a bit of a hurry as we have to be out in 1 hour and I still need to dry my clothes, finish cleaning some things, get changed, etc.

Missionary life is always busy. Oh yeah if you find a Hebrew Book of Mormon on ebay could you buy it and send it? Only if it isn’t too much $. I want to try and read it and my regular scriptures side by side, and also to show future Jewish investigators. Right now mostly I am using English and Spanish.

Alright. I love you all. Take care, Love,

Elder Stephen Barr

Hey Mom, Dad, and Family!

Thank you so much for the package. It was great to get the bread. I still have most of a loaf left. My companions are quite envious of me. This week has been great.

Yesterday, my companion and I had nothing better to do than tract. Ideally, we would like to spend all day teaching people that members have referred to us, with the referring member present at the time. However, our investigator pool was very very dry and so we decided we needed to tract.

Yesterday, we tracted a little over 100 doors. Most people we tracted into spoke Spanish, so I was able to introduce the Church a little bit, and then if they were interested, send the full time Spanish Elders. However, we really didn’t get much interest. We tracted into one woman from Ghana that was interested, but she lived back and forth between the Bronx and Queens, and she worked as a home-attendant. Many people here, especially African women it seems, are doing that career. Anyway, it makes them impossible to predict when they are going to be home and when they are not.

Later that day, we tracted into this guy A*****. He was very nice in that he actually opened his door and talked to us for a while. He was an artist, and he has some really good art. He painted a picture of Jesus, but not Jesus as we typically visualize Him. A lot of black people here believe that Jesus is was black, or a mulatto. A***** told us that the reason that Joseph and Mary didn’t get into the inn was because the innkeapers were racist. He believes that God told him that a painting he will release in the next few months will make him famous the world over. It was a very interesting visit to say the least.

There are a lot of people around here who are firm believers in the idea that Jesus was black. They believe he is black because in the of a few verses in Revelation Chap. 1 where it says “hair white as wool” and “feet as burned bronze” which is usually misquoted to say “hair as wool and skin as bronze". Oh well. I usually tell them that I am more concerned with Jesus’ doctrine than his race. When we run into people who are very adamant about that, we usually just leave as there is no point in 2 white kids to bear testimony to someone who won’t listen beacuse they are too caught up in racial issues to see the bigger picture.

We continued tracting that day, and we didn’t find a single person in the 100+ apartments that showed any hope of being a future member of the church. It was getting to be about 7:30 at night, and my companion and I didn’t want to just go find something to eat, as we have been told that 5-7 are prime proselyting time, and although it was past 7, we still wanted to catch people when they were home. So, we were trying to decide what to do when this mom and her 2 kids walk by, pushing a cart of groceries. We waved at them and they stopped, and the older kid (12 year old boy, but really big for 12) shook our hands. We asked if we could walk with them and talk about Christ with them. They agreed. We told him what church we are from, and the boy said “Oooh, from the commercials.” He proceeded to tell us that their family ordered a “Joy to the World” video and a Book of Mormon, but had never got it.

His mom said he had been pondering church, and they as a family had been pondering what to do. They said that life for them was hard in the Bronx, and they were going to move to Yonkers when they could. They were so glad to meet us. We walked back to their house, and they invited us in. The daughter, who is 9, is named T***, and the mom is A***. We talked to them and talked to them about the bible, prophets, and recounted the 1st vision of Joseph Smith for them. We all felt the Spirit so strongly. A*** said her heart skipped a beat. We proceeded to tell them there was a prophet on the earth today, and the gospel would bring them so much happiness to them as a family. I bore testimony that the gospel has blessed our family so much, and although it is hard to be away, I want them to have what we have. She was so happy and she said “we need some happiness around here. Things have been hard…”

We had to go, as we had one last appointment, but it was so wonderful that Heavenly Father handed them to us. After a day of dilligent service with no apparent success, a family who had been searching for missionaries just happened to walk by. A family in the Bronx that speaks English, in our focus area, and is looking for Christ, is an incredibly rare find, and it was just handed to us. My companion and I were “basking in the Spirit” as we left their house.

And, that is what missionary work has been like this week. There is a scripture that says “rejoice in the fruit of your labors", which implies that the work won’t always be easy or fun, but the results will bring casue for rejoicing. And prepared families such as theirs definately do. We have an appointment with them tonight.

Well, I need to go. Could you keep an eye out for my W*** check card. Mine expires in April. Fwd me my new one. And could you also send me the gen. conf. talk “A message to Judah from Joseph.".

That would be great.

Gotta go. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

Hi Mom,

Thank you so much for writing me. I would love to e-mail chat, but that is against the rules. . I will write you a long letter though. We only have 30 minutes online, as that is both the library and the mission rules. I just responded to Andy and Bianca’s emails, and I only have 16 minutes left.

I’ll start with your questions. We walk 90% of the time, and the other 10% we take the train. It is actually on tracks above the road, which I will send you a picture. It is funny, because when you are on the street and it passes it is so loud that all the conversations stop until it goes by.

Bianca and Tina look good with their braces, and I hope their drooling stops. I bet it is like getting wisdom teeth out, so tell them I can relate to how they are feeling.

So, packages won’t get delivered to my apartment, because there are only locking mailboxes. Instead, we get a notice to pick them up at the post office, which is nearby. Thank you so much for the packages,. I wil check the mail as soon as it comes and pick them up today. Everything is nearby, so we walk from everywhere, and only use the subway if we are really tired or running late.

Money is doing well. You have taught me so well how to budget money and buy good things. I eat very well here, and I don’t have to use my personal money. The only thing I have used my personal money for is to buy a $20 backpack, because the shoulder bag was hurting my back. The backpack is much better because I can stand straight with it on, and it doesn’t bother me or make me tilt to one side or the other.

I will go grocery shopping today. Last week I bought a lot of things that will last me for a few weeks, like olive oil, whole wheat pancake mix, rice and beans, and other stuff. Oooh, can you send me recipies for beef stew, and also the Easter bread recipie. Today we are baking cookies and brownies for our investigators, and I think that the bread would be a great idea as well.

Yesterday it was really snowy, but today looks like it is going to be really nice. I am taking my navy suit to the cleaners today. The pant legs tend to get salty because they are salting the roads and sidewalks all of the time. The snow boots work really well, although I have only worn them once. In the city, they shovel the sidewalks really quickly so it isn’t too big of a deal. The weather is so strange here. Yesterday it was very cold and snowy, but the day before that it was so warm that we didn’t even need our long jackets…only our suit jackets.

Could you send me the list of people who gave me things. I want to send them thank you notes. I also need Grandma Debbie’s address, to thank her for the cookies. I will try to take some pictures and send them today. I will also buy a blank tape and use a tape recorder to record a letter that you all can listen to.

T*** and T***** are doing great. We actually handed them off to the Spanish-speaking Elders, because T**** isn’t that good with English. But, since we were the original teachers, we get to go with them in a year when they get endowed. I am sure that they will get baptized within a few weeks.

I am going to try to study Spanish in my extra time, by reading the Spanish and English Book of Mormon side by side. I use Spanish every day, and most people here speak it more than English.

Well, I only have 5 minutes left and I need to write to Dad and to the mission president. Have a great day. I love you so much. Thank you for the letters. I get them on Monday’s, which is great. I will send you more things today. Do you get them on Saturday.

Oh, and I think I will be okay with shirts. We don’t have a good iron or board at our apt yet, but they are getting them for us and we should have them by the end of the week. Alright. Take care.

I love you so much. Thank you for everything.

Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

I just send a long letter to mom, and I only have 2 minutes left at the library. They alot computer time in half-hour chuncks. There are 6 Elders in the library right now, including myself and my companion. Writing and hearing from the family is always the highlight of the week.

Hey Dad, Mom, and Family!

Thank you so much for the packet of letters you sent. I recieved them on Monday, and they were very much appreciated. They are what keep me going, so keep sending them.

The Bronx is a tough place. It is fun being out in the field, and it is great to be teaching lessons, but at the same time the situation for so many people is so sad here.

On the first night in the Bronx (last Thursday), we tracted in to a family - T*** and T****, and their 7 year old daughter, A*****. They are Honduran, and they are a great family, and will most likely be baptized by the end of this cycle. (A cycle is a 6 week block of time). My companion and I have taught them 2 lessons, and T**** and A***** enjoyed church very much. Also, T**** asked for a blessing on our second visit (she asked for a “prayer for an individual, like me"), which I administered. I really enjoy giving blessings. In the MTC, on of the Sister missionaries, Sister C******, asked for a blessing that I also administered. The Spirit is very strong during blessings, and my mind is completely focused on the task at hand.

I am getting a chance to use my Spanish. Most people here speak it exclusively, and there are more Spanish missionaries than English ones. I have been able to pray, simply, in Spanish, and also participate in some Spanish lessons yesterday when I went on an exchange with one of the Spanish-speaking Elders.

Our apartment is nice…there are no cockroaches and we try to keep it clean. Today is preparation day, so I am going grocery shopping and doing laundry. We have had several days here with a few inches of snow, so the bottom of my pant legs tend to get salty. I am waiting until the snow will be gone for good, and then I will have my suit pants dry cleaned. I am only wearing the navy suit right now, as I am trying to keep the other one clean. It is hard though, as this is a big, dirty city.

Most of the houses and apartments that we tract are built in the 30’s, and you can see that they were nice at one point, but haven’t been for a long time. The people here are really humble, and easy to talk to. Most people here are familiar with the missionaries, and I don’t think there are a ton of people who DON’T like us. Most either respect us or ignore us.

At Church on Sunday, my companion and I brought T**** and A***** to church, so we attended the Spanish branch with them. We then went to the English ward. It was cool, but so different from what we are used to. Tell all the kids how lucky they are to be part of such a strong ward, with so many good, solid families, and how blessed they are to not live in a place like this. It would be really hard to raise a family here. In the English ward, the Bishop is a great guy, but lives far away. The missionaries make up the majority of the Melchizediek Priesthood in the ward, and most of the ward members are recent converts. There are many many poor people here. A lot are on welfare, and live in section 8 housing. The Bishop’s storehouse is in regular use, and a few days ago we helped restock it. It gets a large van full of supplies every 2 weeks.

It has been hard for the church to take root here, because as people become converted, they move…usually to Utah. However, President Hinckley has invested a lot of time and money in the church here, and expects good things to happen. Hopefully I can help make that happen. I am trying to remain optimistic, but it is hard when there is so much to put up with every day.

Today we have free time until about 6:00 PM tonight, so I will try to write some letters by hand for each of my siblings, and get them sent. They should probably arrive Monday or Tuesday at the latest, which isn’t too bad. There are a lot of mission rules, and one of them is that the only day I can write letters is preparation day. I don’t understand all the rules but I am trying to obey them cheerfully. I will get as much done as I can today so all my siblings can hear from me.

If you could send me some pictures of everybody, or maybe something home-cooked, that would be awesome. Oh mom, you’ll be happy to know that I didn’t gain any weight at the MTC, and I’m still ~204 pounds. I’m really proud of you for putting your mind to your new diet. Be careful to not pass out though! I’m sure you’ll do fine. You always were and will be the best and prettiest mom anyone could ever have. Thank you Mom and Dad for everything. I know that this mission will be hard for all of us to endure, but I know that good things will come of it. And think, we already have an entire month behind us. Only a few more to go. Before you know it, it will be Christmas, and I will be halfway done. And there is A LOT of work that needs to be done here. These people here need the church so badly. They have nothing right now, and most people are tired of how bad society has gotten.

Well, let me know if there is anything specifically you want me to do or send home. I am going to take some pictures of me in the field, and send a memory card sometime soon. Please keep the letters coming every day…they mean a lot.

Tell Grace that I’m not sure where her scooter charger is…it may be in the garage on one of those plastic bins on the little wood table near the air compressor. Or maybe it is in one of the kitchen drawers. That is all I can think of.

I hope everything is going well. You are always in my prayers, and I love you all so much.

Love,
Elder Stephen Jeffrey Barr