:)

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.