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