:)

family. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!! first off sue. if you have already sent that hymn book thats cool but if not please dont!!! haha dont really wanna carry it around and plus they have those hear and i have noooo time to even practice piano haha so yeah thats that. this week was pretty good im getting more and more use to the work ethic and my portunyol is improving (i think) haha so yesterday i went on 2 quick exchanges cause they needed some companions for the lesson so i went and guess what i challenged both investigators to baptism and both said yes but their not my investigators haha so i guess i did my part and its up to the other guys to do the rest haha. but yeah it was kind of a tough week at the same time just like the whole mission its the hardest, toughest/best thing ever haha i have always thought the more you put into something the more you love it. thats why i love soccer and you guys and my friends so much cause i have invested so much time and energy and love on those 3 aspects of my life and now i feel that way even more about my savior and this gospel the more and more sweat the more hills i walk the more i get tired the more and more i love my savior. we all have to have our own garden of gethsamane and i think to be a disciple of christ we all have to go through aTTTTTIIIIIIIINNNNNNYYYYYYY bit of what he went through i dont know that could just be me talkin tell me what you think haha but yea so if im willing to run all those sprints and put all that blood and sweat into my soccer team i think i can do the same for my savior thats kind of my final assumption on missionary work. and i know specially right now since im nice and fresh into the mission satan is tryin to put thoughts into my head like go home and it would be easier if i went home. and he is right it would be easier but when was eternal salvation ever easy? never. so yeah i dont know thats just me raddling off my thoughts haha. but so what is the fam getting for christmas i will be thinking of you all sittin on the steps waiting for mark to open the stupid door crackin the same stinkin joke ¨uh oh santa didnt come this year. haha freakin classin mark. and than of course rybart bursting out mariah carey all i want for christmas is you. while all the ladys of the house set every thing up and ry and mark sipp on some martinelli. than of course the great lunch christmas morning that is freakin fantastic. i will be sitting in my shed of a house somewhere between uruguay and brazil playing uno with elder tippets elder torres and elder robeldo haha cant wait its gonna be fun. so yeah mom i did get the box thank you even though i dont know what im gonna do with the little wheel dealios gonna be honest probably gonna give em to some kids i know haha but thanks and the candy was awesome but please i got alfajores here haha but hey i lost another 2 pounds this week. tight right? but alright calling i will call you guys at 3 my time so that is 10 your time i will quickly give you the number than and than you guys can call right back!! awesome tight i gotta run i love you guys talk to ya soon!!

Rivera

fam!!! was going on?? first im up in the area of Rivera in a city called La Perdera, its about 15 minutes away from the border. as a matter of fact we just had lunch in brazil about an hour ago haha. so yea im clear up in the north in the hottest part of the mission and have already lost 3 pounds this week haha. and lucky lucky lucky lucky me they dont speak spanish up here! they speak portunyol (spanish and portguesse mixed to make an absolutely terrible language to try and learn) haha so yea i dont even have spanish down yet so i figured they would give me a shot at another language haha. but anywho yea so thats where im at im in a ward that we had about 25 people show up to church yesterday. tight. than in the house its me and elder tippets than elder respaldo from argentina and elder torres from peru thats pretty cool i guess. my companion is Elder Tippets, from Logan, Utah. he is a way awesome guy we have a lot of similarities and like a lot of the same stuff and he is being pretty patient with me and spanish disability but yea we get along way good and he is teaching me a ton! this week has been absolutely insane i dont even know where to begin haha first i guess im officially now in 3 choirs the stake choir, missionary choir, and the ward choir i guess singing at home really paid off for me haha but i feel bad it was always my goal to learn atleast 2 hymns before i left and no one in the ward can play the piano and i wanted to so badly just raise my hand and say i can play its weird singing in sacrament meeting accapelo haha what else oh yea so we were just contacting and these gal pulls me over and says come to my house and i say when and she says now haha so i say we can in 15 minutes (we were in the middle of this huge conversation with this guy) haha so yea we get to this gals house at like 845 its this 19 year old girl who is married to a 55 year old and i guess he hit her earlier that day and she had a lovely mark from it and she just wanted some help so we did what we could gave her a book of mormon and i guess we will see where that goes so now its like 925 and our curfew is 930 and were just all crap we gotta get home so we start booking it home running as fast as we can than this huge thunderstorm strikes like i have never seen it honestly lit up the sky everytime it struck and so we got to the house and we have no power haha so we spent the rest of the night with no fan its roasting hot in our house and we have no power haha classic missionary story. ummm what else is there oh yea we were teaching a lesson the other night this girl was pretty young too probably like 20 and she just straight up right there starts breast feeding her kid. i know i was prewarned about that but holy cow definately not expecting that haha. i really dont know what else to say missionary work is freakishly hard haha i am pretty much always tired and i knew it was going to be hard but i guess i never fully comprehended just how hard i really just gotta gut out this transfer and it will start to fly by and i will get use to the work i think thats the key trust the lord ask for strength and just keep pushing until your 2 years are up than as soon as you get home take a huuuuugggggeeeee nap haha i really dont know what else to say things are going alright for my situation im in i just need to keep working on my portunyol and oh yea president heaton is waaayy awesome. did you get that picture of us on the coast? i heard they sent you that but im not sure. so yea the first thing president heaton told me was welcome to the mission your great uncle said that to me 42 years ago haha he is a way awesome guy and is working his hardest i guess the baptisms have dropped since he started which is totally natural i feel but its sad cause he is trying his hardest its just not going good i feel bad but yea its cool to see him implamenting uncle jims teaching in my mission now president heaton told me in the interview i had with him that the spirit of my great uncle is still here in uruguay so i mean thats way awesome just what president heaton learned from my family he is now teaching me thats just a pretty cool thought i guess. im glad things our going well. ryan, if you want a jersey just let me know they have whats called ¨la linea¨here which is the line. and its basically just this row of shops that seperates brazil and uruguay no government nada just stores haha its pretty funny so yea we have lunch in brazil every p-day and its all good. but anywho hope things are going good. i love you all and keep doin whats right peace out.

they made it...

To the families of the new missionaries, we just wanted to send you a quick email and photo to let you know that your sons and daughters made it safely to Uruguay from the MTC! They all look healthy and happy and excited to get working! Today they are going to the temple with President and Sister Heaton and tomorrow they will meet their trainers and be off to their areas! Thursday they'll have their first district meeting and Monday will be their first P-Day, so expect an email on that day. Anytime during the week you want to send them a message, send it to this address with their name in the subject line and we'll print it off and get it to them on the next district meeting.
Be sure to write them often to support them in this marvelous work!

A las familias de los nuevos misioneros, quisieramos mandarles un email para avisarles que sus hijos e hijas llegaron bien a Uruguay del CCM! Se ven sanos, felices, y animados para trabajar! Hoy van al templo con el Presidente y la Hermana Heaton y mañana van a conocer a sus entrenadores y ya se irán a sus áreas. El jueves tendrán su primera reunión de distrito y lunes será su primer día de preparación, entonces esperen un email aquello día. En cualquier momento durante la semana pueden mandar un email a ellos por medio de ésta correo. Mándenmelo con su nombre y se los mandaré el próximo jueves.
Por favor, que los escriban a menudo para apoyarlos en ésta obra maravillosa!

--
Elder Taylor R. Crandell
Secretario Ejecutivo
La Misión Uruguay Montevideo Oeste

Once Upon A Time I Lived in Argentina.....

what up family! so today i have just been packing up and getting ready to bounce out of the MTC i only have ten minutes to write you to tell you my next p-day wont be until next monday. we leave tomorrow at 6 AM which i believe is like 2 AM your time haha so you all will be sound asleep! i got made leader of the group thats going to uruguay oeste latinos including. i dont know why they picked a gringo that doesnt speak a lick of spanish but hey i guess i will just do the best i can haha alright so thats whats goin on in the life right now much love talk to ya next monday!

Pictures at the MTC...

Elder Barton and his companions

all the oeste missionaries from his first group Elder Barton  will score another one similiar to this this sunday with the new oeste group.



Elder Barton, elder alveal, and elder miranda (elder miranda is the darker one he is going to the same mission as Elder Barton he is from panama)



elder pollard he is going to the other urguay mission his cousin is brandom doman and his uncle scott pollard,played for the celtics and won an NBA championship. he is a stud



Elder Barton and elder lescano he was with the second group of latinos and is from paraguay they were way good friends. he is the one  who is 24 family doesnt want him to be out there



elder aguirre he was one of my roomates with the second group with elder lescano the nicest funniest guy you will ever meet his looks tell all haha he is an awesome guy

hermano sanzi he is an awesome teacher he left last week he is done teaching here but he was way awesome and taught me a ton

sue!!!! i indeed got your 2 packages today! thank you sooo very much i love the ties and the candy. but yea i find out all my traveling information on monday we have a big meeting and stuff but if its anything like the other missionaries in the past i should leave tuesday morning at about 5 AM which is about 1 AM your time i believe haha so yea thats really all i know thus far about the whole traveling thing. cant wait to get my christmas box. when people say missions are tough they were not kidding one bit i know its going to be tough but we also need these hard moments to grow and progress cause with every hard moment rich blessings come after it and your testimony, relationship with heavenly father and your strength grows. i am so excited to get out into the field and i know the first couple months or so are going to be tough but i also know the lord wants to me become the best son of god i can become and the only way to do that is by teaching me through trials. but i love a good challenge and i know our savior is preparing certain people for me right now to teach and i need to be knocking at their doorstep when he needs me to for i am his tool and his mouthpiece. elder holland has a talk that says while your on your mission it is the most apostolic you can be in your life without being an actual profet never thought of it that way and i think it is totally awesome. this week is just full of review we have to take an oral and written test on monday so were just reviewing and practing for that. this is the ultimate definition of bittersweet i want to leave im sick of it here kind of but at the same time this place is my home and i love it here so much people including but i know life is about change and i need the change. so yeah not to much else to say other than keep living the gospel keep doing whats right keep being the barton family i know and love. i might be able to email you all monday night so watch out but im not completely sure so thats just a little heads up. oh saturday proselyting hermano catala came with us and i learned so much about missionary work just hands on learning it was awesome i totally grew on saturday and it just got me that much more excited for the field.

Happy Thanksgiving

hello family hope everyone is having a fantastic thanksgiving. i had my first and probably only argentine thanksgiving today needless to say it sucked haha all the chefs tried to make it american as possible nice try terrible execution. but i can honestly say that it was better than grandma bartons carrot jello haha sarah i was forced to eat yams today haha all the chefs just stood there and watched all the north americans eat the food tryin to see their reaction and all of us just completely faked it haha and with every bite i thought of how me and you say how disgusting they smell well let me tell ya they smell as bad as they taste haha. and of course they stood their the whole time and they get quite upset when you throw away their food and you just feel terrible cause since i have been here so long they are my friends now haha yea that was our meal turkey and yams yum hey atleast it is 90 degrees outside haha. anyways i bet you are all pounding out the food at the barton house today sues infamous cinnamon rolls, there so famous their not just famous their INfamous. stuffing, mashed potatoes oh my gosh haha. anywho thats awesome stopped by to say hi what a stud and im sure he is just a little buff guy as if he wasnt that before haha he last time i talked to him he said he was just gonna finish this semester but i will write him and see whats goin on with him and that whole deal. anything else i guess since its thanksgiving i should say what im grateful for haha just all you my awesome family you all are so awesome and thanks so much for supporting me on my choice to serve a mission i know i am doing the right thing and i have already had my up days and down days and i know there is a lot hopefully not to many ahead of me but i know what i am going through is nothing compared to the lord went through in that garden, something that has really grown since i have been here is my testimony of the atonement. i have thought about the most gruesome pain i have been through physically and emotionally and i try multiplying that by i dont know a billion and i cannot even comprehend all that he went through for us not a day hasnt gone by that i dont get on my knees and thank jesus christ for that atoning sacrafice he made for us. anywho glad to hear the girls had fun in california thats always a guaranteed good time. its pretty crazy my time at the CCM is almost up i have 1 more p day here and i think like 9 days i have been here so long that this now feels like my home but at the same time it feels like i just barely got here last week. its pretty crazy the field is gonna be crazy fun and i feel ready doctrine wise and what i need to teach but of course i wish my spanish was better but i know it will come with time i just need to be patient and work hard. thats really all missionary work is be patient with the lord, yourself, and your companion and work hard and the lord knows exactly what to do with you. so these last 2 weeks or so here and just review so im thinking i will feel a lot more comfortable after those review days any way let me know how thanksgiving went sue i cant wait to recieve those padded envelopes i dont think they came today so i will just have to wait till next week. love you all. i wish you all a happy thanksgiving from argentina! keep being the awesome family you are!

NEW ADDRESS

For the last 2 weeks Michael is in the MTC he has told us that the following address is a better address for sending Elder Barton mail.

Elder Michael J Barton
Argentina MTC
Bonpland 2349/55
(C1425 FEW) Buenos Aires
Argentina

Thanks to all who has written Elder Barton. He loves hearing from you all! Do not send any mail to the MTC after November 25 or he will be gone before it gets to him because it takes about 10 days to get to him.

Howdy

this week went pretty well so we went and visited elias the guy with all the piercings and what not and he said he went to church read the book of mormon and loved it all and on top of all that his face was just glowing he looked so much happier than the week before. we didnt have much time to talk to him he said he had to go to work but i truly hope he was tellin us the truth haha and he said he would go to church next week so we will give him another visit and see how it went the second time. ummm all the new latinos and north americans came into the CCM today there is 13 new north americans which is pretty crazy for the oeste mission usually there is only like 3 per transfer but this time 13...interesting. i havent had much time to talk with em they have been busy with interviews and what not but they seem cool. i dont know anything else just same old same old class eat class eat haha its weird to be the weirdest oldest ones at the CCM it felt like yesterday we were the youngest but i know these next 3 weeks are going to fly by and i will be on my way to uruguay in no time at all. crazy stuff. i cannot wait to get my package elder harris got some snickers for halloween and we all ate em in about 4 seconds i forgot how could american candy is haha im excited for cam and carter to get headed out i believe they left yesterday i dont know they will love it the mtc is an awesome place. its the school of prophets doesnt get much better than that. spanish is getting tougher and tougher as we start learning the tougher concepts and try and apply em to our speaking so we dont look to gringo. haha lets see thomas wrote me said he went to lunch with mark thats funny feels like i havent seen those guys in forver i loved the pictures you sent mom those are awesome. thats tight about nate stovens cool as well. we taught a lesson the other in english for some reason i have no idea why in district and we absolutely killed it and it kinda made me think why am i not going to an english mission haha but than i think how tight it will be to be able to do that in spanish all the latinos say my spanish is good but i have a hard time believing em its tough. SUE HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! i gotta tell you now before i forget and feel dumb so i love you so much your my best friend, favorite person on this whole earth and i always got your back. i dont know what else to write.....ryan how the heck was your date with j crew. thats way awesome your a true gentlemen without a doubt. sarah ask jerry without a doubt. oh yea hermano catala is moving to utah for marriage and he is trying to go to LDS college he passed some test you ahve to pass and now he has an interview with some delegate but it sounds like its gonna happen. we found out this morning that my other teacher hermana ganzo is having a baby girl. she is so excited. but yeah time here is flyin by super fast i love it here i love learning about the gospel. here is a nice quote for you guys to have for the week. if you dont believe in your self, believe in HIM that believes in you. i saw that this week thought it was cool. love you all. elder barton

Addresses

I have noticed that Michael doesn't have many addresses but it getting quite a few e-mails. Please leave a comment with your address on this post or e-mail your address to me (Michael's sister, Megan) at megbart89@gmail.com and we will get Michael an Address book. I know he loves hearing from each of you and would love to write some letters when he is not working or sleeping.

What up what up

first thomas keeps writing me and i feel bad i cant write back!!! so thomas if your reading this i cannot email friends only immediate family so email me your address and i would love to give you a shout out but i i have no way of doing that without your address. k any ways this week. proselyting this week was soooo tight we got a new area, banfield 2. super dooper rich nicer than the 801 probably we saw a porsche and about every 3 houses has a pool and there is gangs of wild dogs running around the streets. cobble stone streets nice houses all you need left is loud music and princess walking around and you have disneyland pretty crazy but its hard the people are not humble at all and its tough to teach but our part of banfield is alright. 2 cool experiences so one. this kid,elias about our age is across the street and we just say hi to him we have a goal to say hi to everyone we pass and so we say hi and than a couple minutes later we just hear in spanish ohla elderes venga! so we turn around and here is this kind scary looking kid piercings everywhere looked like some type of rocker haha and he just starts going off about him and his girlfriend having troubles and than points to his forearm and he has about 15 self inflicted cuts tempted risk of suicide? who knows he was talking way to fast but i know he was in trouble so he asked if i could say a prayer for him so right there in the middle of the street i said a prayer for this kid i dont know exactly what he needed or what he expected of me to say so i just went with the spirit and said whatever i could that i thought would make him feel better he wanted us to go to his house the next day but of course we are only out on saturdays so we told him that and he understood and he begged for us to come back saturday so i am pretty excited to see where that can go prime investigator this gospel can truly bless his life and i just pray everynight that me and my gringo companions can bring it to him in our broken castashayno if thats how you spell it haha. another experience its not nearly as cool but i dont know it made me feel good so we were headed back to the church to get picked up and we get there and the ward was having some activity and this little kid named ricardo just comes up to me with the biggest joy on his face for seeing us and we started talking to him and he was just so happy to see us and in turn it made me so happy haha i know it sound stupid but it was honestly so awesome just to see how happy he was to see the elders it made me that much more excited to get to uruguay and really meet the people there. mark your email i told you this already but to clarify. yes i have had ice cream here and yes i have visited a bakery my last area atalysa contained both an ice cream shop and a bakery and both were absolutely phenominal bakerys are everywhere though haha its just a matter of finding a good one. no need to worry about the food anymore my body is fully adjusted and doing fantastic haha sue yes i still get to play soccer everyday the latino this transfer are pretty awesome i liked my first group better but these elders are still fun i love each and every one of em. ummm other than that just another week ryan you and nicks outfits were awesome grandma sent me a picture of you and him. im sorry winter is coming up its middle of spring here and absolutely beautiful summer is just around the corner and its gonna get pretty toasty here soon its very hot today humidity doesnt help much either. the spanish part of things is starting to get harder and harder just cause now that we have gotten our milk its time for the meat. so just getting all the little stuff tuned up and sounding like a true latino i guess haha but i love reading and speaking in spanish its so much fun reading especially just cause i now understand it and i feel like im good at spanish when i read it out loud haha i have started the book of mormon in spanish and challenged myself to finish it before i leave the CCM. and i have done the math and i gotta do 8 chapters a day so far im staying on track i just gotta keep up the hard work haha oh also my teacher hermano catala is moving to utah in january and is going to look for a place to live he is getting married and he said he wants to stop by the barton house and meet you guys so if some little chubby latino that looks asian pops up on your doorstop sometime in december you know who it is haha he is a waaayy awesome guy you can just tell he was a stud of a missionary and dont worry he speaks perfect english probably better than me so no language barrier there haha. rybart hows that whole one date per month who was miss october? mary basketball season started? fill me in. sarah how was morp. sue your my best friend i love you i know i have a letter waiting for me from you my teacher this morning told me haha as soon as i log off the computer im gonna go grab it and read it. oh plus thats funny you ran into marilyn. where? what did you talk about? did you recognize each other? did she say how britt is doing? britt is way tight. carly was crackin baby girl? heather sorry the whole adjustment to your early morning class is rough you can always do what i do before my personal study in the morning say a lovely little pray asking for strength and guidance on what you should teach your students and that always seems to give me the energy but hey do as you please maybe a couple push ups to wake up? hey me and the other elders got talking this week hows the new season of community going? hilarioius im sure. that sucks to hear about RSL they were good but eh oh well. cameron and carter leave next wednesday thats pretty crazy im excited for them i always wonder how much different the argentina mtc is compared to the provo mtc evertime we watch a devotional from there and see all those people i say to myself im so glad im here and not there i just cant even picture myself there soo many people i know basically everyone here teachers and missionaries included its pretty cool it just feels like one huge big family. and its definately helping with the language a lot. i basically not understand what everyone is saying but i cant fully express myself the way i would like to it its super frustrating now just cause now that i actually know what my investigadors say to me and i cant tell em with the emotion and all the words i wanna tell em with cause im to busy thinking of what to say. oh john wrote me and email along with grandma that was awesome and way nice.

Setting Apart....

The Week

alright before i forget i need to reply to all the things. mary halloween costume? cindy loo who? that is awesome and freakin adorable. ryan halloween costume totally hilarious and thank you for the scripture reference i have actually read that section multiple times in my studies i have probably read the whole book of mormon and dc about twice now and im working on it in spanish currently. just started 2 days ago. ummm dane and jordan wrote me that made me happy they made me laugh but if they read this email send me your address so that i can send you a letter. also marilyn scott if your reading this thank you for both emails! your a total gangster and i appreciate the shout outs hope your fam had a awesome halloween and i will try to work on a letter everytime i try and start letters i fall asleep so i have a feeling letters arent gonna go to smoothly haha. ummm what else glad to hear cam and carters farewells went awesome i knew they would both of those elders are total studs and im excited for them to serve a mission. we watched a jeffrey r holland talk in district this week talking about applying the atonement to your mission needless to see i will never complain on my mission about the work as well as if anyone is doubting going on a mission watch that talk it is the most inspiring/guilty feeling you will get after listening to him he is such a good speaker holy crap haha anywho i got made district leader this week which just means more meetings and more paperwork. yay. also elder nelson from the 12 visited us on sunday he was going to the airport from the groundbreaking of the cordoba temple i got to shake his hand and he shared a brief message with us that was incredible. so my new roomates are from paraguay and colombia both incredible stories. so the one from paraguay is a recent convert he has been a member for 1 year and 10 months. his friend introduced him to the church and the missionaries taught him and he was baptized. none of his family support him in fact his dad said it would be the biggest waste of 2 years in his whole life and he was an idiot for it. wow what a powerful testimony to shove aside all the hate and go on a mission. i am so grateful for all you (family,friends) for supporting me i love getting emails from people hearing how they are doing and i feel so lucky i see this 24 years old elder and he doesnt get a single email or letter from his parents talk about putting the lord first in your life. as he was telling us this story last night the spirit was so strong in the room and we had a full on conversation in spanish for 30 minutes about it i knew exactly what he was saying and he apparently knew what i was saying it was such a spiritual moment. so again thank you everyone for the love and support i know this world is filled trials and tribulations and we all have to face them. put if we put the lord first he will give us the fuertaleza (strength) we need to keep on striving to be with him again. just like the stripling warriors listened to the message of their mothers we too must listen to the message of our own mothers. dont worry about me i have prayers coming in all over the world for me im doing fantastic. mark as for proselyting we get a new area this saturday so last saturday it was mainly contacting and we didnt set up any citas because we knew we would not be returning there we did meet this man sergio at the bus stop we talked to him for about 7 minutes while he was waiting for the bus we gave him the book of mormon and he said he was looking for something in his life to help him through his challenges so hopefully we helped out with that. i know this church is true and i know it can be the greatest blessings in our lives if we let it. we have been learning about teaching the atonement this week and how we need to always study it through out our missions the atonement is so powerfull and true i know jesus bled for us en la jardin de gethsamene y sufrio por nuestros pecados. yo se con mi todo corazon dios nos ama and what i am doing for these 2 years is the right thing. this past month has flown by and i have a feeling all 23 months left are gonna fly by. so everyone thank you all i love you all sorry this is kind of a general email and im out of time but family i love you more than you know and friends i love you as well keep doing what is right and keep putting the lord first for than he will make you feel like your number one. please pray for the people of urguay. love you all. -elder barton



oh ps. quote from eukdorf i love it it could help us all out



what we love we seek

what we seek we think and do

what we think and do we are.

yea figure that one out this week and get back at me haha

loved your email‏

haha no worries madre argentina people are the nicest people ever they just laugh at how bad are spanish is and are more than willing to help us out they love missionaries and if they dont love you all they tell you is "yo soy catolica" and walk away haha not much happened here this week with just 10 norte americanos in the building all the new missionaries just came about an hour ago and i guess there building a temple in cordoba and so some apostoles are down here and there gonna give the CCM a quick shoutout on sunday so that will be way awesome im excited to hear what they have to say. but this week has been boring nothin exciting oh elsa so we go and clap on her door and her husband comes walking out el libro de mormon in hand raising it high in the air and were all thinking this is either the greatest thing ever or the worst thing ever sure enough he simply handed us the book told us it was of the devil and walked away without even letting us get a word in. ha i guess we will see what he has to us next saturday haha cant wait to go back. but yea like i said not much happened just going to class and eating is all i do haha but time is flyin right on by. im assuming mark is to busy reading his kindle to send me an email haha chiste chiste i know mark is a busy man and work is probably crazy right now. thats sad about gloeckners, thats awesome cate remembered me i miss playin with her and 4 inches!! thats chaos. anywho have a fun safe halloween everyone! megan i just realized i forgot to give you a shot out in my last email sorry i was in a rush tryin to finish it up and forgot. hows everythin?? you married yet?? chiste. mom told me you have another shot comin up this week if it already happened i hope everything went well and if it has not happened yet i wish you all the luck!! rest of fam stay awesome hasta luego -elder barton

numero dos

family! what what a week so I forgot to tell you every saturday everyone gets to go out and do proseltismo for about 7 hours every saturday with your companions you get your own area and everything! so saturday we went out ya know pretty scared the streets of argentina are nuts. so anyways the first person we talk to is this mechanic named miguel and he immediately invites us in to have some matte with the other mechanics....haha sooo funny so being the new missionaries we are we gladly except the invitation i told my companions like some mission presidents let you drink it and others dont so i dont know if were allowed to drink it. so we just went for it for fun haha (we found out we are allowed to drink it but not with people on the streets for the sanitary issue and its just a waste of the lords time) so yea that was funny elder harris didnt know you were suppose to drink it from the straw so he immediately just goes straight for the cup and all the mechanics start freaking out waaayy funny. than we meet this lady named elsa. elsa had her husband pass away last month and is just in the prime situation for comfort and love which the gospel provides exactly that so its a golden opportunity we gave her a book of mormon challenged her to read some chapters and i guess we will see where that goes on saturday we set up an appointment with her so its pretty cool we get hands on lessons with proseltismo and spanish. you certainly meet some crazy people. also we had an area president come on monday hermano gomez WOW what an amazing guy the spirit he has is sooo strong and everyone can feel it he talked about how families are going to consider our names sacred to their families forever and thats way awesome that my work here is just going to be cherished by generations. mark i have tried alfajors.....oh my gosh bomb diggity we get one everyday for lunch on saturdays and we can go into stores and by some for movie night on sundays if you want as well they are quite good. we also have barbeque fridays and the meat here is absolutely delicous no comparison. so all the latinos leave today and tomorrow morning that usually happens on a tuesday but this week the mission presidents have some type of conference so they had to do it early than we dont get anyone new until next frday so for a whole week its my district and another district of north americans will be here that makes a total of 9 missionaries in the whole CCM kinda crazy that provo has 2000 and we will only have 9 for a week. my spanish is still coming along absolutely terrfiic i think that in the classroom but im sure once i get out on the streets saturday it will be a humbling experience and i know i gotta go back to work on it haha my gospel spanish is great. street spanish has a ton of work left but thats what the CCM is for to get you more prepared for the field i just gotta keep working hard rely on the lord and great things will happen! weeks are starting to fly by feels like i emailed you guys yesterday but hey i got some good pictures of all the latinos i have made friends with and im excited to send you em later on. ummmm anything that i missed i have no idea i have a feeling im going to be bad at the whole hand letter thing every chance i get to either write letters or sleep i choose sleep everytime the work here is exhausting haha so i will try and gut out a letter every now and again. sue good luck with your dealio on saturday you know how to host a good party everyday at the barton household is a party. mark sorry to hear about your trip getting canceled but im sure your glad it did haha rybart whats happenin with you? work bueno? lady friends? guy friends? real pete?. sarah is morp coming up ? who are you going with? are you going? trust the phantom it will never lead you a stray its my own personal leahona. heather.......did you forget you ahve a brother on a mision i havent heard from you once! carly....dont get a boyfriend. stay innocent me and ryan can both confirm that innocent girls are the cutest girls. mary my balla hows lacrosse going is it over? basketball season? let me know how that goes glad to hear the jazz are killin it. i knew BYU would be no bueno thanks for the sports updates. alright i gotta go have fun look forward to hearing from you. please pray for elsa as well as the people of uruguay that the spirit might prepare them for the message we have to offer. your all in my prayers love and miss you all. -elder barton

week one

what up? WOW what a week it has been. i have just been crazy crazy busy the CCM is just full of class and eating class and eating haha but its way fun i get to play soccer with the latinos everyday for an hour im the only white boy that plays but its all good they know i can hang with em all the latinos are awesome guys. i think i already said this in my letter but i dont know if you guys got it haha. so yea i forgot to include in my letter besides my companions/district i have 2 elders, elder miranda y elder alvael in my room elder miranda is from panama and is a way awesome guy he reads the scriptures to me in english every night and i help him out he wants to speak english way bad and i read to him in spanish cause i want to learn spanish way bad he is also serving in uruguay monntevideo oeste so hopefully i will see him down the road. elder alvael is from chile and thinks he is some type of gangster and is all tough we have push up contests every night and he is just good fun there is also this other elder, elder bravo, who is from peru im his favorite gringo he tells me and we always mess around with each other in soccer, having nutmeg contests and see who can score the most goals its great fun. my teachers, hermano catala is awesome served his mission in texas and speaks phenomenial english for learning it on his mission he is a way cool guy. than hermana gansó is my morning teacher she is way cool too speaks alright english we have to help her with it but its all good. the food here is pure authentic tell carter and cam i actually had a paraguayian cake of some sort for lunch today and it was no bueno so wish them luck with that food haha my body has so far not taking a very good liking to the food of south america me and my companions have to make frequent bathroom stops in between classes. so yea the spanish is coming along great i can already pray, bare my testimony and teach some simple lessons all in spanish pretty exciting stuff. my testimony has already grown so much i can constantly feel the spirit with me throughout my day. i definately have learned humility. something that really struck me this week especially in zone conference is that. i am just a 19 year old kid from utah who has done absolutely nothing with my life yet i am literally NOTHING and yet the lord is trusting me to bring his children back to him through this great missionary work. wow what an honor and privilage that is the work is hard but im just getting the chills thinking about serving out in the field the MTC is a lot of memorizing and doctrine and stuff but i know i must put forth the work now so that i can be the best missionary possible. ryan i have discovered something better than naps on our couches downstairs. missionary naps oh my gosh (tracy morgan) sunday naps are absolutely unbelievable here at the CCM. but how is everything going back at home? its weird this has been a fast yet slow week it feels like i have been gone for at least 3 months but its only been a week but this week has flown by. oh pick up story so we land in argentina none of us know how to speak english so we get picked up by this sketchy guy looked like he was part of the mafia with his hair slicked back and a very nice suit on and just has a sign that says la iglesia de jesucristo de los santos de ultimios dias so we go with him he takes us to this sketchy van and has us throw our stuff in it. sketchy. we walk away from the van as it goes peeling off into the distance so were thinking great their goes our stuff meanwhile he takes us clear on the otherside of the airport and takes us to his car takes us to this building and tells us to wait in the car for a while while a bunch of other guys in cars behind us get out. tight. we wait there thinkin what is goin on but it was all good he than took us to the CCM where our stuff was waiting. anyways thats all i can think of writing as of now. you guys are awesome. i love what im doing here. the church is true. i love you all. pray for the people in uruguay.

-elder barton

Safe and Sound...

Family, I have arrived in the Buenos Aires MTC. And I am safe and sound. Getting here was rather funny me, elder harris and elder peterson had troubles with the passports and exchanging money cause of the language barrier but we are now here. i dont have very much time so i will tell you about it in my next email. just notifying sue that i am here and ok and no need to worry at all!

-elder barton

And he's off...

The day has finally come. Elder Barton was set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint on October 5, 2010 and boarded a plane on October 6, 2010. He is so excited for these next to years.
This blog will be updated with his weekly e-mails. Feel free to post comments to Michael on this blog and they will be passed onto him. He would love to hear from all of you. Thanks for all the support. I know that he appreciates it.

Farewell Day

On July 25 Elder Barton gave his farewell talk. He had a lot of people there to support him and did a great job with his talk. He will be an amazing missionary.

Called to Serve

Dear Elder Barton:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Uruguy Monetevideo West Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Argentina Missionary Training Center on Thursday, October 7,2010. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.