The Elder Barr Blog

He’s Back!

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:27:26 +0000

Stephen’s plane landed at Sea-Tac at about 6:20 this evening. Here are some pictures:

Here is Stephen with Chase (left) and Cody (right) two of his friends who had finished their missions earlier this year:

Stephen’s brother Andy didn’t go to the airport (due to some confusion about a piano lesson), so they had a good reunion at home:

Stephen will be officially released from his calling as an Elder tomorrow morning, and will be a “civilian” once again.

– Jeff;

Email Received December 20, 2006

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 06:12:06 +0000

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks for everything. Don’t worry about the money, everything went fine with that. I found out that suits are somewhat machine washable . Don’t worry I needed a new one anyway. I am glad that Japan went well and that the home is alright.

Alright I better get going. Everything is taken care of, and I will see you tomorrow.

Thanks for everything. I love you very much. Thank you so much for supporting me throughout my life and for these past 2 years especially. I will see you tomorrow.

Love,
your son,
Elder Stephen J. Barr

Email Received December 13, 2006

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 06:11:25 +0000

Dear Dad,

Thanks for the email. Congrats on the surprise promotion. That is really cool and I am sure that it is well deserved. I am glad to hear that your efforts are being recognized.

So how is Tokyo? I actually met with a member in our ward who served his mission there a few years ago. He said he really wants to go back to visit. I bet it is a pretty cool place. What is the air like? I would imagine that it is pretty clean, despite the size of the city.

The work is going really well here, and this area is in good hands. I know that good things are possible here in New Rochelle.

I will most likely get to email next week, but I will have to really be in a hurry to get things done in time. I will start packing Tuesday night, so Wednesday I just have to wash the clothing and pack it and that should be it. One night in the mission home and then it is off to the airport the next day. I am really excited to be home.

I don’t think I have much time left on the computers, so I want to wish you well. I am excited to see you less than 8 days. Have a fun and safe time.

Love,
your son,

14 Days to Go

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 00:37:19 +0000

I can’t believe that we are now just 14 days away from Stephen’s return. He’ll be arriving at Sea-Tac on the evening of the 21st. Later that evening he will deliver a report on his mission to our local Stake President, and then he will be officially released as a missionary. At that point he’ll be a “civilian” once again. He will deliver his misson report to our ward on Sunday, December 24th. He will resume his education at the University of Washington on the 3rd of January.

– Jeff;

Email Received December 6, 2006

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 00:31:38 +0000

Hey Dad,

How is everything? Sounds pretty busy. That is strange that you had to do a round trip from Seattle to Seattle. The conferences sound really cool. I agree about the making money from syndic8 and second life. I think those are my best options. I made some financial goals for the next 4-10 years over the last few days, that I want to review with you when I get back. I also want to show them to Andy. I think that they may be more attractive to him that retail.

Anyway, I just sent an email to Andy. It sounds like they are working him way too hard at that store. I advised him that he leave as soon as possible. I don’t really think that it is a positive work environment in any sense of the word. So, hopefully he can be out of that environment soon. I am somewhat concerned by that music that he enjoys, especially the even tonight. I am not sure how positive it is. Anyway, I am sure that you and Mom are on top of it.

The time here is going quickly. In my study times, I have been doing some planning and goal setting for the next stage of my life. There is a lot to do. We spoke about getting a laptop. I think that if we do get one, the large form factor models would be best. For my use, which is essentially a portable desktop, I think that would be best. They have good screens and graphics cards, and I think that the large laptops would be good. I would be able to work for a few hours at school, so I could just plug for power somewhere. And they have wireless throughout the campus, or if necessary I could bluetooth to a phone.

Alright, I better go. They are kicking me off the computer, and I still need to email Mom and the girls. Also, Grace hasn’t emailed for 2 weeks. Could you remind her for next week?

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

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:09:16 +0000

Dear Mom and Dad,

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

Email Received November 22, 2006 - I’ll Be Home For Christmas!

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 22:59:12 +0000

Without much fanfare, Stephen tells us that he’ll be back from his mission on the 21st of December! We are so happy to know that he’ll be home for Christmas. I have updated the countdown clock, and as I type this it means that he’ll be back in just 24 days.

– Jeff;

Hey Dad,

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

Email Received November 15, 2006

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 14:31:37 +0000

Dear Family,

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.

49 Days To Go - Send Stephen A Letter

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:25:33 +0000

Per the countdown clock on this blog, Stephen has just 49 days to go. He’ll be coming home on the morning of January 2nd and starting at the University of Washington as a Junior less than 24 hours later. This will undoubtedly be a rough and somewhat abrupt transition, but we’ll be standing by to help him acclimatize to life as a “civilian.”

We are planning to hold his Christmas presents at home since he’ll probably have more than enough to carry with him when he returns.

In the meantime please feel free to send him a letter or an email.

– Jeff;

Email Received November 8, 2006

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 22:50:55 +0000

Dear Dad,

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