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