yo soy un latino

fam. what up. so basically 3 hours after i emailed you last week we recieved a phone call and elder hilton had to leave haha and por this i recieved a new companion. elder lopez from argentina, buenos aires. so therefore i now live with elder miranda from panama (my buddy from the mtc) elder torres (my uncle in the mission) and now elder lopez i never speak english and am living the life of a latino haha. elder lopez is finishing his mission after this change as well, but he has some backproblems and for this he was sent up here he was in montevideo and they thought it would help him to be in a more relaxed enviorement such as la pedrera aka el campo. so yeah me and elder lopez get a long pretty good not gonna lie he is not the hardest worker out there and i kind of have to drag him around the day. it sucks cause elder hilton was super excited to work here and just wanted to shred it up but he left and now elder lopez knows he is going home and doesnt really have the mentality of elder hilton he doesnt really desire to meet the people here know the area cause he knows he is leaving. but bonus he is a latino which means i speak spanish all day long which helps me aton haha however elder lopez is going to byu after the mission and doing a intensive english class or something and wants to learn english really bad so i am helping him with his english at the same time he is helping me with my spanish so it works right hand in hand. baptisms went very good we had a good turnout from the ward and it was pretty incredible to see the look on the dads face. hno santana is the guy i told you about on the phone on christmas that cant read and collects bottles for a living. we reactivated him my first week here and it was his kids we baptized. connecting families. what an amazing work. i have never fully recognized the blessings on the family this gospel has until i saw the light in all of their eyes yesterday at church holy cow completely different people. but yeah so thats whats goin down here. i look forward to recieving the letter and the padded envelope from rybart. hope all is keeping busy at home and you all have no time to think about me cause the less you think of me the faster time goes haha i really feel like im getting lost in the work january flew by for me and im thinking each change and month will just keep passing faster and faster but yeah hope all is good at home. keep it krisp i love you all so much

May the Force be With you.....

hey family was going on so yeah just first week of changes and all first week of changes is always slow just getting elder hilton caught up with whats goin on and getting to know members better and all that jazz. elder hilton is a good guy. reminds me of the 14 year old version of rybart. he loooovvveessss star wars. awesome. he is super tall and super skinny and pretty stinkin smart. i thought i knew a lot about star wars he has read every single star wars book. every movie memorized by memory. i basically get to watch star wars everyday during proselyting he just says the whole movie right there its pretty entertaining. we dont get a long as good as elder tippets and i did but its all good its totally expected he is not much of a sports guy and im not much of a books guy but we get along well enough. and hey were not out here to talk sports and books we are here to testify of christ and thats really all that matters so por that reason we get along just fine! do you remember elder miranda my first roomate from the mtc? he is now in la pedrera and we live in the same house we have become super good friends and its super fun to get to live with him again in the same house. and since elder hilton is going home next change im thinkin im stayin and elder miranda too so we will probably live together for a while. but yeah its all good here spanish is getting better, workin hard everyday i really realized this week that a mission is not long at all and you really just gotta work everyday likes its your last it helps time fly and its why i came on a mission not to hangout with members all day or for the peer pressure i simply went cause i wanted to share the joy and happiness this gospel has brought into my life and i want others to see and feel that happiness too. so i have my first 3 baptisms this saturdayas well so we are just preparing them for that and im excited for that to happen. i think im baptizing all 3 actually we are trying to get a member to do it just cause thats the best way to do things and all but hey i am more than willing to do it as well i guess we will just see on saturday. but yeah thats basically all from me me and elder hilton get a long good, have 3 baptisms this saturday and me and elder miranda are reunited again. i think i might have an accent with my english though cause elder miranda knows a little bit of english and wants to be fluent and so he talks to me every now and again in it and when we saw each other for the first time he started speaking english i said something back in english he was all you talk a lot different than in the mtc so uh oh i guess you guys will hear that when i call for mothers day but hey who knows. mark i have lost weight actually. but ahhh im so mad so me and elder tippets took some pictures and the flags last p day and i totally look fat but i have actually lost like 6 pounds so ha and know my hair is still well in tact and if i see the slightest sign of any loss im going to buy some shampoo to help treat it haha so yeah hope everything is good from you all. i didnt hear from sue this week? is everything ok? hope i didnt say anything to hurt or offend you haha but yeah talk to you all later. may the force be with you. your brother, son, friend. elder barton

changes.....

Hey fam. sorry yeah i forgot to tell you that i wouldnt be emailing you until today haha yes sue you were right changes were this week so we had p day today. but yeah this week was super good we taught a lot of lessons haha and got one more person with a baptisimal date! so as of right now we have 3 getting baptized on the 29th and 1 other the first week of february. super cool super tight. so yeah elder tippets is bouncing on me he is going to be a zone leader in tocuarembo that just shows how big of a stud he is. not gonna lie im gonna miss elder tippets we became super good friends and i am so grateful for the example he has set for me as im starting off my mission. i truly believe that god called us to be together for a reason i learned so much from him but yeah im recieving an elder named elder hilton, obviously i dont know him but i have heard nothing but good things about him he is a former zone leader and this is his last change so i get to kill him haha which in turn means after this next change i will probably hanging around rivera til about april which im cool with i really like my area, the branch is super fun. its funny you would think since the members know im learning spanish they would make fun of me the least but they make fun of me the most haha kinda funny how that works but you really cant let that stuff go to your head way to many other worries haha. so yeah i will meet elder hilton tomorrow morning and we will get to work. i get to be sr comp for a little bit haha just while he gets to know the area and our investigators and what not so we will see how that goes this coming week or 2. so yeah thats basically all thats going on here just working hard recieving a new companion tmrw. im starting to enjoy myself more and more now that im better in the flow of things and in somewhat of a comfort zone haha before the mission when everyone was giving me advice i was like yeah whatever but everrything that anyone has told me is true. 3 specific examples, 1 lance osbourne told me to just always keep telling myself things will only get better things will only get better. and that is totally true not a day goes by that i dont tell myself in my head at least 5 times things will get better, time isnt gonna freeze haha. 2 rybart told me days feel like months and months feel like days. that couldnt be more true now that im finished with my first transfer i look back and it feels like last week i was at the montevideo temple meeting elder tippets. and here we are at the end of the change haha. and 3 definately not last kelly scott, he told me that for the first couple months im gonna get homesick for the first couple months and im gonna wanna go home but you just gotta plunge through it and its great. and im thinking im at that point im at about 3 and a half months in now and things really are starting to get a ton better im use to be the work ethic and the looonnnggg days but i love em. i remember ryan saying "i didnt know i wanted to be a missionary till about i was a year in" and i totally see that now. there are days when i just go what the heck am i doing im in some hut of a house in northern uruguay tryin to talk to people. but when you see that smile on the faces of people that know you and are glad to see you its awesome. and i really see my spanish improving i recognize when people are speaking portunyol and im like hey im not suppose to understand you haha. my area really is uneducated and speaks really poor spanish so im like hey thats why it was so hard. so yeah the lord has blessed me a ton this week i knew if i kept on praying with REAL intent that he would bless me with energy, comfort, and at times the gift of tongues. but yeah super good week here from the guay just gonna continue to work hard and hopfully i will be calling you all on the phone for mothers day before i know it haha. but hows everything back home? austin finally wrote me KC is engaged?? what the heck man that is crazy!! rybart hows the one date a month going on? heys hows jersey shore and community coming along?? carly hows my social butterfly? mary you ballin little girls up? meg hows the iron rod (im not talking about the word of god im talking about the literal iron rod in your mouth haha) heather, long lost sister, hows your class coming along? but yeah excited to hear from you all next week!! mad love, mad daps, keep it gangster up in the 801. forever your brother and son, with all my love, with all my might, we have to choose the right. haha i just made that up pretty creative but word tight me and elder tippets are going to adventure into brazil for his last day in river. peace

this week....

fam. sup good to hear you all had a good christmas break and enjoyed the time. BYU basketball.......vamos arriba. thats way awesome jimmer is killin it. thank you all for the support and love these last couple weeks have really been tough the mission is not at all what i though it would be. people always told me it would be one of the hardest things i would ever do. and everything about that sentence is completely true. the mission is tough. but we all need trials and well all need opposition to learn and grow thats why were here. to learn and grow so that we can return to our heavenly father being as close to christ as possible. things this week went pretty well though not gonna lie. i went on divisions and worked basically this whole week in the actual city of Centro with Elder McRae he is a super good guy we have a lot in common. i like divisions they give me a chance to meet more elders and get to know the mission more and just the way they work and get tips from them. and if their latin helps me a ton with my spanish being forced to speak spanish all day long. so yeah as of right now we have 3 people with a baptisimal date! we activated a guy my first week here and he has gone ever since haha but yeah he has 2 kids pablo,9 and mariah,10 and they want to get baptized so we have been teaching them. a lot of people make fun of baptizing kids which to me is really dumb. christ said come unto me like a child so its perfect in my eyes. and what am i gonna do wait till their 18 and pregnant like a lot of the people here haha so its good. than we have this old gal named suele she is brazillian about 65 years old haha. she said she was praying for a right answer and 2 days later the missionaries knocked on her door. so we have teaching her and all 3 have a date for the 29th! so im super excited for that. me and elder tippets had a really good week we really worked hard and i feel really good about this week. i have really been studying the atribute of patience. i always thought patience was just being able to wait for something. but preach my gospel says patience is the ability to have the capacity to bear through trials and tough out the trials and recieve the beautiful blessings after. so as of right now i need to gut out the tough times have the capacity to deal with the being laughed at, doors slammed in your face, walking up huge hills day in and day out, barely being to talk to anyone. and i know i will recieve blessings in the end. the mission really is simple, do what your suppose to do and work hard. each day i grow to love this work more and more its tough its hard but i know in the end it will be fantastic. i want to be one of those people that just loved my mission so much i dont wanna leave. everytime i see that 2011 calender hanging in our house i go holy crap im gonna be here every one of those days but if i get lost in the work it will fly right on by. well see ya later have fun freezing to death while im roasting to death haha we will soon switch roles dont you worry. austin you said you would right me you have yet too ouch. i love you all thank you all soooooooooooooooo much for the love and support and prayers its awesome i feel em everyday when i walk out the door. if those elders are at the house longer than an hour on sunday telll them to leave and dont give them any refrences (if they even ask) i love you all. elder barton

Feliz Ano Nuevo

Fam.
what up. it was good to talk to you all last saturday but sue you are right it does feel like it has been forever i dont know why but it has haha. so yeah im gonna be straight honest with ya this week was pretty tough. we dont really have any investigators progressing right now so this past week we decided to to really focus on finding new people to teach and see if we can find some more sheep and herd em in. so this week work wise was tough a lot of walking a lot of taking doors and a lot a lot a lot of rejection haha. seems like 90 percent of the time we got doors slammed in our faces. evangelicos are pretty big down here and i guess they tell their congregations that were from the devil and the devil sent us here to decieve them. so naturally their are not very open to us. but we still found 3 or 4 people that have some potential i guess we will find out. guayians arent to big on commitment, kinda like JD on scrubs. they just dont like to be held accountable for anything. so they dont make promises haha. so yeah work wise it was tough. but i learned how to make arroz con leche like a pro and it is quite delicous when i get home i will have to dish some up and see what you all think. its pretty delicous. but im glad to hear the break went well and especially megans surgery thats totally awesome. about 90 percent of the population of the mandubi could use some serious mouth surgery haha. but yeah we spent the ano nuevo with the same member family that we spent christmas with. had a nice asado and it was really good i took some pictures so you guys can check it out sometime. it was super good to hear from tom and austy even though austin promised to write me and i didnt get an email haha. im glad they both decided to go on missions it really is fun. its freakin tough but it will be worth it when i get that first baptism. yea i dont really know what else. its gettin hotter and hotter by the day here. but its all good in my part of the world. dont worry about me im doing good just tryin to be as christlike as possible. whenever it gets hard i always think about elder hollands talk about the atonement and missionary work. he says why is missionary work so hard? because eternal salvation never was easy. and dont you think to be a disciple of christ you have to go through a little of what he had to go through? me and elder tippets always say that to each other whenever one of us gets down or complains haha we always just turn to each other and be like our own garden of eden. hahaha awesome well i love you all. the church is true. dont worry about me. keep it gangster