The Elder Barr Blog

Thanks for the great email. I am writing a reply to both of you today. Things have been busy this week. We just got back from the mall…not too impressive. A lot of cool stuff but I think the mission has changed me quite a bit so that I don’t value it as much as I used to. It was interesting though.

The schedule looks pretty good. I think that that would work. I am browsing the site right now to see if there are any other classes to take as well, but the schedule looks good. About computers, I agree that maybe a laptop would be better. I did have a chance to visit the Sony store in the mall today…I don’t think that Sony stuff is for me, their computers always have a bunch of extra stuff with them and I haven’t ever liked the feel of Sony computers. Maybe Alienware? I heard those are good. I don’t know. I’m techonologically out of the loop. I was thinking though that if I were to have a laptop, it would be super cool to have a bluetooth enabled phone so I could have internet from anywhere on the campus. They do have wi-fi though, but if I were to get a phone I would make sure it had bluetooth. Anyway, the schedule looks good. Thanks a lot for doing that for me. I really appreciate it.

About the job, I think that it sounds pretty good, but I don’t want it to take a lot of time. If it is something that I could do from anywhere, then I would be interested. But I definately want to ace every single class and that is my priority. So, whatever amount of time that takes, that is what I will give it and if I have time to work on the side, I will. But, that is the mentality that I want to have regarding school.

My Thanksgiving was pretty good. The food was good. I didn’t really know the members, but it was nice of them to have us over at short notice. New Rochelle is a good place to work as a missionary, but I don’t think that I would live here. Everything revolves around the city. Too much stress for me.

About Cody and Chase wanting me to go to BYU. Don’t worry. It isn’t going to happen. Case closed. Like you said, UW is #9 for CS, BYU is #100+. So, it isn’t a big decision. I’ll be sure to go to institute though.

Let’s see, I haven’t accumulated too much stuff. I threw away a lot getting transferred out of Middletown. I don’t think I have accumulated much at all.

Alright, I need to get going. The librarian told me I only have a few minutes left and I still need to write my siblings.

Thanks for everything!
Love,
your son,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

Thanks for the great email. I don’t have a lot of time to email today, so this will be somewhat brief. Anyway, I am glad that everything is going well at home. It sounds very wet!

Lets see, we have some good plans for Thanksgiving. We will be with a member family. Also, they shifted our P-day to tomorrow but we still get to email today. It should be pretty good.

Oh, I have some interesting news. President Searle called me and said that he would rather have me not be mid-cycle transferred, so he told me I would go home a cycle early rather than 4 weeks early, so I will be home December 21st. So, this puts us under 30 days. That plans are set and the travel plans have been made. I am really excited for that! I think that it will be great.

I hope all is well at home. Thanks for taking care of my UW registration. I hope that the email advice I sent was sufficient.

My new address is 55A Locust Ave #5F, New Rochelle, 10801. Or you can just send stuff to the mission office, since it is very close to here.

Alright, I better go. I love you very much.
Take care,
Love,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

So, I am now with my new companion in New Rochelle. Mom, sorry to hear about the package. Hopefully I can figure out a way for it to get to me.

Anyway, things are going great, except I am incredibly low on funds. It is nice to be in Westchester county though. I like this place. I am actually in Scarsdale right now, but the area that we work is New Rochelle. It will be good. My companion is Brazilian, which will be pretty cool. He has been on the mission almost as long as I have, so we are an “old” companionship. It will be good. I already know some of the members of the ward, and I am excited to get to know the rest of them.

Alright, I better go. I want to spend some time picking out classes, and I also need to send emails to the rest of the family. Again, Mom, happy birthday!

Love,
your son,
Elder Stephen J.

Thanks for the letter. I hope that you had a good time at the conference and are now safely back in Seattle.

Things are going pretty well here. I am not sure if this is my final area or not. There is one last transfer opportunity, next week, so I will know by then. But, things are definately coming to a close as far as my time here. (~55 days)

We had a good mission conference on Monday, which was nice. They showed some training videos on how to create a spiritual atmosphere while teaching. It was nice. They also showed a video of Elder Holland reminding all the missionaries to be safe, which was nice to hear. It is important that missionaries do all they can to be safe of their own power, in addition to turning to the Lord for assistance. Both are important.

I am glad to hear about school. I will print out a course catalog today and send you some choices next week.

I hope everything is going well at home. We had a good lesson last night with an active family, and we recommitted them to family prayer and scripture study. It was good. I have really seen those 2 things, and FHE as well, be a huge blessing to the people that apply it. So, just a friendly reminder .

Things have improved within the apartment. I think the next couple of weeks will be great. We have some good people what we are working with. I really enjoy seeing people when the understand true concepts for the first time. It is great.

Take care and I hope you have a good week.

Love,
your son,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

Thanks for the great email. Yes indeed, I have recieved candy. However, I am trying to avoid the sugar these days, as it is easy to have too much and get a headache, so I got some good “low-sugar” groceries for this week.

I am glad that you were able to get a furnace. That is nice. As I said, we have radiators for heat and they can get loud from time to time.

I am glad that you are getting increasing popularity. That is great. I am excited to see exactly what is happening in the computer world. Yesterday, I had some time since we had to be in early for halloween, and I got to brainstorm some ideas of things to do, programs to write, when I get back. The problem is, being out of it for two years, I don’t really know what the edge is any more. So, I will definately need a crash course.

I hope that the second life documention is okay, but I will have to ask. I will be hope pretty soon anyway, so it will be cool to get up to speed on that platform.

I think that things will go quite smoothly for my return Jan 2nd. That gives a few hours for some relaxation and eating a decent meal before school. The people that I have told about my upcoming transition think that it is going to be very abrupt. It will definately be fun, that is for sure. I know time will continue to fly by.

I hope you have a fun and safe trip, and that things go well for you. Again, I hope that everything is well. Thank you so much for everything.

I love you very much.

Love,
your son,
Elder Stephen J. Barr