The Elder Barr Blog

[Personal Stuff Omitted]

Things have been going great. We taught a great family the other day. They were really wonderful. They are an older couple, B*** and B**. They were a Temple Square media referral. They are great people. The were very interested in the Book of Mormon and in church. Everything in the discussion was “textbook” so to say. It was cool.

On Monday/Tuesday I went on an overnight split in Stamford, CT, with the Spanish zone leaders. It was fun. I got to teach and pray in Spanish all day. My Spanish is coming along fine. I can actually be quite flexible in espanol.

I can’t believe how fast the time is flying. We are coming up on 9. At that point the sisters I came out with are halfway over. Weird….

So, Elder Hedelius and I were discussing future career ideas (when you are tracting you have a lot of time to talk, not to mention I live with him 24/7). And, I was thinking that it would be cool if I could go into computer science, and from there go into the biomedical field, like biomedical engineering or something like that. I’m not sure what the applications of that field are…maybe medical instruments, large clusters to simulate protein folding, etc. I was thinking about how much the medical field has helped me lately, and also about Ether 12:27 about weaknesses becoming strengths. So, maybe after I get home, I can go into CS, and after a BS in CS go into the biomed engineering stuff via MIT, or something like that. Maybe you could research and see where would be the best place to go. I think BYU to start.

Anyway, the mission life is great. I’ll check with my bank. I may have done the transfer incorrectly, and put the money from checking to savings instead of savings to checking. I’ll see if I can go online and figure it out. I’ll have to ask Pdte. Boren for permission.

Thanks for all your prayers and fasting. I think I’m at a good turning point. Things are looking up. The weather is cooling off, which is nice. And, I have 1 water proof pair of shoes, and 1 have holes right to the insole. There is a pretty good shoestore in the mall. I’ll price some things out there.

Anyway, I gotta run. I love you all very much. Please take care of yourselves.

Love,
your son or brother,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

Things are going great. The work is great. It is hard, but great.

This week has been exciting. It has been really rainy, so we have been in suits + rain coats. It is nice. I like being bundled up, so to say. The people here hate rain. Plus, my roommates are from Arizona and Utah, so they aren’t fond of the rain either. I like it.

We have had a few good meetings with A****, and he accepted the challenge to be baptized. A**** is great, in that every time we go over to his house he improves. His wife and son are warming up to us, but they still haven’t listened in on the lessons. A**** will have his baptismal interview tomorrow, and everything should be fine for Saturday.

We met a great family on Sunday evening for dinner, it was the family of the 1st councilor. His wife cooked us dinner, and 2 of her sons were there. Still, we had a great meal and lesson with them, and they are a great family in the ward.

On Sunday, we also got to see our old bishop, bishop Smith, get released. Bishop Summerhays is our new bishop. He is a great guy. He was on the high council for a while.

Yesterday we had a zone conference and I got to meet with Pdte. Boren. He’s a great guy. We had a good talk about all kinds of things. Also, this cycle we studied the Atonement in depth, using the Book of Mormon. Reading the Book of Mormon really strengthens my testimony. I know that it isn’t a book that someone could have written, or a religion that any person or group of people could have invented.

[Personal stuff omitted]

We went shopping at Costco today, which was fine. They let me shop without the membership card, just the gift card. The gift cards can be used pretty much as membership cards, because you can add money too them, so as long as you don’t let it run out you can shop there more. I put $50 on there today from a pool of funds from everybody in the apartment.

Alright, I better get going. That you so much for everything. I’ll try to write some handwritten letters. Thanks for your fasting and prayers. They were very much appreciated.

I love you very much. Time is indeed flying. Do you remember when we were checking in to the Marriot in Utah the night before the MTC, and the person at the front desk mentioned that her friend was already there, and going to the same mission? That sister is Sister Lewis, and she is pretty much half done already. So, time is indeed flying. You know you are really “old” when the Sisters you came out with have gone home. That is the situation that other Elders find themselves in these days.

Alright, thanks again. Take care. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

Things are going really good here. The work has been great. We have a guy we are working with, A****, who has been a great investigator. He went to all 5 sessions of conference. On Monday he agreed to baptism. On Tuesday, we told him about the word of wisdom, anticipating that it would be hard for him to give up coffee, since he had been a truck driver and was proud of his brewing equiptment. We told him about it, and he had no problems. He just said, “okay, I’ll give it up". That was nice.

The others we are working with are doing fine as well. We are working with N**** S*******’s wife, M****. N**** is a Jewish convert, and majored in Judaic studies. He is really strong in the gospel. M**** was raised Catholic, and has had a hard time accepting things other than Catholicism. However, she is beginning to like us more and more, and N**** has faith that with time, she will join the church.

[Personal stuff omitted]

Today we had a zone activity, which was fun. The whole zone came to our apartment, and they went on a hike. Elder Hedelius and I skipped the hike to help out our landlord, Bro. D*******. He took us to Boston Market for lunch and it was pretty good. I had a 1/2 chicken, plus cornbread, spinach, and mashed potatoes.

The ward is doing great. We have really been trying hard to motivate them to do their member missionary work, and to get us referrals. Things have been working well. One family is bringing another family to church on Sunday. This is a family that we tracted into a few weeks ago, and they said they knew someone at church. It is cool to see how the Lord puts prepared people in our path to teach.

General conference was great. We got to watch all 5 sessions at church. It was really nice. It is incredible to see that we really have a Prophet on the earth, and 12 Apostles. I wish everybody in the world understood how signifigant that is.

Alright. I need to go. I can’t send mail this week. We are out of time because of the zone activity. Sorry about that. Thank you for all that you do for me. I love you all so much. I miss you but I know that this is the Lord’s work that I am a part of. And the time is passing so quickly.

Thank you so much for everything. Also, please tell Sis. N****** that I really appreciated her letter, and I will reply next week.

Thanks again. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Barr

Sorry for the late email. We did “conference cleaning” today. “Conference cleaning” means that the p-day before general conference, we do a thorough cleaning of our apartment. It was good that we got it all taken care of. The apartment looks great.

First things first. I got the letter you sent. I actually got it on Saturday. It takes 3 days, which is pretty good. Thank you so much for the CD. I love it. My companion said it was a welcome break, since we listened to the last cd quite a few times. Also, I love the caricature. It is really cool.

The work has been going well. We have been doing A LOT of tracting, to try to find people that are prepared. We found 3 great families through tracting, and now we are at the critical stage with them where we need to urgently but not overbearingly follow up on these people, and get them to church. It will be nice.

One of our new investigators, A***, is doing well. He is in a wheelchair, and has ADD and very little social skills. At church, when he talks to people, if they aren’t prepared he can make people feel awkward. We are working with him, and I think things will be fine. He is excited about the church, and needs it badly in his life, as we all do.

Mentally I think I am doing much better. I still have fear from time to time, but it isn’t bad. My companion, Elder Hedelius always reassures me that I am fine, and that there is no chance that anything could have happened. Of course sometimes my mind wanders…but that is that. I think with time I’ll get over it. Whenever my body does something weird, my mind will wander. But I know I really have nothing to worry about.

I will try to sent the foot outline this week or next week. But, I am size 12, wide. EE or EEE should be fine. I’m not sure that there is a big difference between 2 E’s or 3. And I only have 1 or 2 pairs of white socks. I know you mentioned that. Actually, I could use some “night socks"…my feet get cold at night sometimes so I’ll put on my black socks. What I could really use is some garments. Large top, large bottom. It is getting a bit cooler out, so something warm would be great.

I’m glad to hear that Cody is back and doing well. So the Shill’s are back in town. They are so funny. Send them my regards. I’m glad to hear that they are doing well.

The new car sounds great. I’m excited to see it. I hear that they are really roomy inside. That is nice. I bet it saves on gas vs. the Porsche or the ‘burban.

Alright, I better get going. I’ll try to send a handwritten letter if I have time. I probably won’t get to do individual letters this week, but I will try. It is 3:40 right now and P-day ends at 6, and we still have to get groceries. Cereal. Milk. The usual.

Thank you so much for all that you do for me. I love you all so much. Please take care.

Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr