The Elder Barr Blog

That sounds great to hear about all the new things in the computer world. Right now I’m on an iMac G5, with a row full of iPod Nanos, shuffles, and some regular ipods as well. They are pretty cool, even if they are Apple products.

The work is going well. We have been on the bicycles the last 2 days in a row, which is actually been great for my physical and mental health, and it saves miles on the car and gas money for the church.

Elder Richens, my Portuguese speaking roommate, got transferred today. He was surprised to get transferred. He was pretty sure his mission would end in Danbury. But, the Lord knows best, and he’ll go somewhere where he is needed the most. Anyway, he is a good contact to have in the future.

[…interesting story deleted in the interest of privacy..]

On the good side, we found a really cool family yesterday. It is a single mom and 2 kids, 9 and 6. She was really open to the lessons, and we have a return appointment for Friday. There are a few member families that live nearby, and we had an appointment with one of those familes right after we tracted into her. We described her to the member family, and they agreed to have her over for teaching, FHE, or whatever. So, it is nice that she already has a support system in the church.

Well, I think that is all for today. I’m not sure if I’ll get the Mahlab [he means Mahleb – a Mediterranean spice] shipped this week, but next week for sure. Also, my right wrist has been in a little bit of pain lately. We adjusted the bike’s brake position, and that helped. I had a physical therapist in the ward look at it on Sunday, and he told me to take Ibuprofen and ice it down every night. That seemed to help. Otherwise, I am staying healthy, well fed. Spirits are up. The orthodics I bought really helped my feet. Missionary life is going well. The hardest thing I think is just finding joy in doing the same thing every day, but then again every day is different, and this is the Lord’s work. And, it is all worth it when a family embraces the Gospel. I think of how much the Gospel has blessed our family, and that gives me all the motivation I need.

Alright, I love you all very much. Please take care.

Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

P.S. - could you send me some music if it is not too much trouble…? I’m getting a bit tired of some of my stuff. Approved music is any classical music composed before 1900, with or without lyrics. If you could, that would be great. Thanks!

Things are going great here in Danbury. Elder Hedelius and I have been trying to do some new methods of finding, rather than tracting. President Boren gave the mission a new standard - 5 new investigators, 5 invs. @ church, 5 lessons to investigators w/ member present. So, we need to do a LOT of finding in order to get 5 new investigators each week.

Last Thursday, we rode bikes up a big long hill, and stopped at “Congregation B’NAI ISRAEL", which is a conservative Jewish synagogue. We went in, and it happened to be the rabbi’s office hours. The rabbi is a woman, Rabbi Vivian S. We asked her if it was okay if we went to the Saturday morning service. Saturday came, and we went to the service @ 10:30am. We were a bit shy, as there was a whole congregation singing Hebrew, with their yarmulke’s and robes, so we just waited by the door. After a few minutes, an older man noticed us, came out, and invited us in.

We put on some yarmulkes and went in, and he sat by us. The service was a reading of the Torah, and the Talmud, and the Mishra. Plus a lot of the service was singing versus of the Torah in Hebrew. The books had the english equivalent, so it was easy to follow along. It lasted about 2 hours, and at the end they did announcements, kind of like “ward business". They thanked the “representatives from the Mormon Church” for coming, which was cool. Then, they had a kiddush, which is like a “linger longer” except it is sponsored by a different person each week. They had bagels with cream cheese and salmon, some mozzarella balls, a variety of olives, some good bread, and some other good stuff. Theey invited us to stay for the kiddush, which we did.

During the kiddush, we got to talk to the rabbi. Since the lesson was on the lost tribes, we thanked her for doing a lesson that was very valuable to us as Mormon’s in particular. She asked, “why is that important". We explained how the Book of Mormon is a record of decendants of Joseph, Lehi from Mannaseh and Ishmael and his daughters from Ephraim. We told her that this makes us unique among the Christians, in that we use the records of Joseph and Judah, and told her that we believe that this is the fulfillment of the prophecy in EZI 37:15-17. So, it was cool.

We talked to a few other people. It was cool. Lots of people came up to us and thanked us for our dedication and hard work. Everyone there had an LDS friend or relative, or had been to the temple open house. One of them even said he saw “Brigham City” and thought it was a pretty good movie. Anyway, it was really cool being able to relate to that community. We have an open invitation to that synagogue whenever we want. It was a bit awkward being in missionary attire, plus yarmulke’s. It would have been a funny picture.

Also, yesterday we tracted into the house of the rabbi for the United Jewish Center of Danbury. He wasn’t there, but his wife was, and she was very kind to us. It was really hot, so she gave us some water. We have an appointment tonight with B**, our Jewish investigator. He’s really cool, and rock solid in his new faith. So, it has been a fairly Jewish week. Mazeltov!

Other than that, things have been going great. We have been on the bikes a lot, so I am sore and tired sometimes. Missionary work is hard work. The ball of my right foot has been especially sore, so I got some inserts for my shoes. I think it may be time for some new shoes pretty soon. The soles of mine are wearing down in that area. We’ll have to figure something out.

So, things are going well. I hope it cools down soon. The humidity makes me tired. I hear by October it will be nice. I’ll write some more in my letters today. I should probably get going. Mom, I will send that mahleb next week.

Thank you so much for everything. I love you all very much. BTW, congrats on the car purchase Dad! Also, the Mustang has no papers, and it is a ‘68. It was last licensed under plate # 999-MTD I think.

Alright, take care. Again, I love you all.
Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

All is doing great.

[personal stuff omitted]

We always think of the Priesthood as the ability to give blessings, but now I am grateful for the ability to recieve them as well. So, I’m doing great up here. And the rice crispies were great. They really hit the spot. One of my roommates, Elder Richens, made the comment - “wow. Look at the precision cutting of the rice crispie squares. She MUST be Peruvian…. =)” It was pretty funny.

Dad, I’m so glad to hear that you are actively doing something to help with the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. I haven’t heard too much about it, but from what I have heard it sounds terrible. I’m glad you are doing something to help. This country has some emergency preparations that need to be made.

About, gas prices have skyrocketed here as well. $3.30 average around Danbury. We were driving through New Canaan the other day on the way to Yorktown, for a zone conference, and there was a place that had gas for $3.15, and there was a long line. And this is in New Canaan, one of the wealthiest suburbs in the world. We “car fast” at least twice a week, meaning we use our bikes and try to stay in a small area. The church hasn’t came out with anything official yet in terms of limitations to driving, but we are still trying to use as little gas as possible.

That Scion XB sounds pretty cool. A guy here, named Jeff as well, has one. He just got back from his mission a few years ago. They do seem like cool cars. From what I hear, they have a lot of room on the inside. It will be cool to see you have one. I bet filling the Porsche with premium is painful, and the Suburban with its 44 gal. tank….ouch.

I’m sorry to hear about M*****. I will pray for her and we’ll pray as a district as well. I hope she gets better. I’ll pray for Grandpa E**** as well.

So, there was a big change in the mission over the last week. We used to have “the Standard of Excellence", meaning we aimed to teach 13 lessons to investigators / people we contact, 5 lessons to investigators with a member present (ward missionary team ups or part member families), 7 lessons to members (less actives or actives, or recent converts), and 3 investigators at church.

Now, we are trying for 5 investigators at church, 5 lessons w/ member present, 5 new investigators per week. Those are the only metrics that will be tracked on a daily basis by the leaders. The goal is to unify our efforts so that everything we do goes towards bringing people into the church. This also allows for more customization on a per/area basis. For example, it is very different tracting in the Bronx than it is in New Canaan or Greenwich. Danbury is a different story as well. The inner part of Danbury is Latino or Brazilian, and the outer parts are white. Some of the white neighborhoods have 1 or 2 Latino families. I was on a split with Elder Galbraith, a zone leader, and we tracted an entire white neighborhood (~25 houses) with no success. The only person who let us in was the 1 hispanic person in the neighborhood, and they happened to be Peruvian. It is just funny… I think the American investigators are going to have to come from member referrals. We are going to try to motivate the ward as best as we can.

Alright, I better go. I’m doing great here. I love you so much, and I really feel your prayers giving me strength day after day, especially lately. I love you all, and my Heavenly Father, and this marvelous work that I am involved in.

Take care and may Heavenly Father bless you all.
Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr