The Elder Barr Blog

Thanks for the great email. It was good to be able to hear from everybody. I really appreciate it. I will try to send some pictures as soon as I can. My digital camera batteries don’t charge, so my companion takes pictures and I get doubles. I might get a few disposables to tide me over.

Things are going great here. We are having a lot of great success. I love this area and my companion, and I hope there aren’t any changes and that I can go smoothly home. President Searle said that the missionary department approved my release date, so everything is all set. Have you heard from the UW? Hopefully they let me back.

Anyway, we met a great guy named E____, who is a young guy who just converted to Catholicism. He is trying to become more religious, and he said that he felt cheated that he wasn’t raised with any particular religion. Anyway, he went to church. We had one of our members pick him up. He stayed for all 3 hours. Afterwards, the member who gave him a ride, who is Haitian and has a big family, invited him over for lunch. We were also going there for lunch, and it was nice to see E____ there too. And, we found out that E____ can really eat a lot. Our member was sure to tell him that this was the best rice and beans he could ever eat. It is funny. People from the islands are really proud of their cooking. We have a 10 y.o. Trinidadian member who said, “You haven’t tasted curry until you have tasted our curry".

We also had a really great meeting with this young family, F____ and H______, and their young son. We talked to F____ in front of Wal-Mart a few weeks ago, and we finally were able to get an appointment with them. The appointment was wonderful. They were both very open minded about everything. I really like them.

We also met with this other family. Guyanese/African-American. They are really cool. We mentioned on the 1st lesson that the eventual goal is baptism for herself and her family, and she agreed. This is the council that we recieved yesterday in zone conference, and it was nice to be able to apply it that same evening.

So, things are going great. I don’t have any complaints. It hasn’t got cold yet, but I am sure it will. It is quite nice actually. About 65 degrees, and partly-cloudy, partly-sunny. It is great. We have been working in some good places. The days seem to go quickly. Which is nice considering the count down. We had an exchange yesterday, and I realized that my time on the mission was longer than the combined time of the other 3 missionaries in the apartment. It was just interesting to be in that situation. There are some great new Elders and Sisters in the mission. General conference is coming up, and I am excited for that. It is great to truly be able to tell people that Prophets and Apostles are going to speak, and they have an opportunity to listen.

Dad, I am glad that things went well in your travels. It is nice to hear about new technology. I am excited to be back in that world. Right now I am on a computer in a Mexican store, using AOL on Windows 98. Not exactly the latest. But it still works and plus they are cooking a nice plate of rice and tortillas right now. Now the question is, will my return preceed the 1 TB drive? I think it will come down to the wire…or the gigabyte.

Mom, I am glad that you have been able to show some more houses. Please let me know if you decide to move. When you tell people that it is Scottie’s old house, you should use some old Star Trek quotes. I have all the movies in my room, unless Andy ebay-ed them. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying your job and that it isn’t eating up too much of your Sunday time. Also, I think it is a really good idea to find a car for Andy. Buses aren’t good. Too many “different” people. That is one thing I have really become synical/sensitive to is the trustworthiness of random people. It is important to be very careful. I was thinking about it all week actually. Try to find a Volvo all-wheel-drive. They are built like tanks and are good in the snow/rain. Or maybe a small truck or something.

Tina, I am glad EHS is going great. Keep up the good work. I can’t believe you will have a permit soon. Bianca, it was nice to hear from you and your workouts. I should do more of those. Grace, thanks for the email. That is a funny trick you did. I hope school is going well.

Alright I need to go. I love you all so much. This church is true. Don’t forget it.

Love,
your son or brother, depending on who you are,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

P.S. 36 waist, 16/34-35,