chau May

another month has come and gone. im sad to hear the weather up there is not changing worth a crap. you guys are gonna have a crazy busy summer filled with sun. and before you know it elder barton will almost be gone for a year!! haha thats pretty crazy seems like i just barely got here yesterday still. happy birthday to heather the big ol 26 thats pretty crazy fool. carlys shredding up the roads of the 801 with anything that has a motor and wheels it sounds like. hahaha thats awesome but be careful!! thats super sad to here about that baby but im glad you can provide some service and bring a little sunlight into a situation of darkness and mystery. my week was good down here in the guay. days are getting colder and colder the bed becomes more and more a pain to get out of cause the aprtment is so freezing in the mornings haha. and im just super warm in my bed. feels like every morning im camping haha. me and elder jones had a pretty cool experience this week. we were just walking down the street the other night and we had absolutely noooothing to do all of our appointments fell through and it was just about time to head back to the house. so we just decided to stop by this less active family to see how they were doing. we knock the door and the mom of the family greets us unusually welcoming haha we were both super confused we just sat there and chatted for a while shared a scripture typical thing and right before we were about to leave she just says elders i have a confession to make. and we just thought ooohhh boy haha she told us that 5 minutes we knocked the door she was praying to know if she should come back to the church and than we clapped. pah talk about crazy eh. me and elder jones just simply didnt have anything to do that night and we just decided to visit them. i think a lot of times as members we try to hard to work through the spirit and wonder what we can do to have the spirit with us. when all we need to do is just live the way were suppose to and do the things were suppose to be doing.me and elder jones were just being obedient doing what we were suppose to be doing and the lord worked through us. pretty awesome story. so yeah thats basically the talk of the town with elder barton here in the guay just had that really cool experience. were still working with this family emanual and ana and their 2 kids, milagros and manuel. they know the church is true and have seen a difference in their lives and they always tell us there going to go to church but they have yet to come pretty frustrating. we will just keep working hard i guess with em. so yeah school is ending, weddings bells are in the air, hope you all enjoy it. i love you all so much enjoy the beginning of summer. elder barton

changes, birthdays, farewells

so the big news...is not so big news at all. me and elder jones are staying together. as well as elder butler and elder morris. so the house is all staying together for another 6 weeks......kinda sucks but its kinda of good. just cause as a missionary changes are about the most exciting thing that come your way and since nothing happened it just kind of feels like a huuggee big change now haha. but hey its all good i guess nothing i can do. just keep working hard. as for austin and well the rest of my friends that are leaving here soon its super weird. just about the weirdest feeling on planet earth to be seeing these guys leave and are going to experience what i have already experienced these last couple months. they have no idea what there getting into, the mornings laying in bed thinking there is no way i can get up and work, the desperate prayers for strength. the hardest 6 months of my life i have ever been through that i dont think i would pay a dime to go back. all though i look back on it and just see good times and flowers i still remember those days. im pretty sure i spent the first 3 months out here in uruguay praying to get sick and get home haha. but its something that i think all of us as members have to go through a true test of faith a true trial. im so excited to see how they all handle it. and although being a missionary is at times nerdy, it definately weeds out the men from the boys and who can really hack it. i never thought the mission would be so physically challenging but that it is haha. than birthdays. carly happy birthday wow big 16 years old i had someone ask me yesterday how old you were and i said 14 haha than i realized nope today is her birthday she is 15 nope she is 16 haha woooww to me you will always be that little carl, take of the red phantom i give it to you unvoluntarily she drives well i hope still. so yeah as for my week went well. we had a couple of spiritualy lessons. we had a couple investigators that wanted to drop us this past week just cause they didnt want to or complete some of the principles of the gospel and it was really fun to be a tool the hands of the lord and listen to the spirit and say something and they just responded saying you know what your absolutely right i can do this. and the lessons turned from i can do this principle to i want to complete this principal and i will.so that was cool.the mission is making a lot of changes here. they took away our sports on p day yeahhh its gonna be a struggle. as well as just minor things with district meetings and such but thats the big one no sports on p day for this coming change. ha haha but yeah thats it from elder barton this week staying with elder jones for another 6....happy birthday to carl.....good luck for the first 6 months of the mission to austin and michael it feels like a life time haha i love you all and youj all are always in my prayers. good luck planning the wedding peace. keep it krisp

Change 4

Family and friends whoever is reading this another change has come and gone in the mission and due to this i will not be emailing until next tuesday. but things from the `guay are good. we had zone conference this last week. and i really enjoyed it we talked about the plan of salvacion and familys. as well we had stake conference and the temple president spoke and president heaton. and i really really enjoyed both talks very much. but yeah than we worked really really hard this week. things with elder jones are going fine. he is the comp that i get along with the least right now in my mission. he is a good kid we just dont have to much in common. and he is a little number hungry and a little to strict for me haha. like im an obedient missionary but he is the type of kid that freaks out if we were at a members house for 45 minutes or at lunch for 1 hour and 4 minutes. i dont know its different me and my comps have always been obedient but in a relaxed manner haha we are obedient but he is super strict haha. but anywho so yeah for changes i hope i get a new comp but i would love to stay here in salto. predicions in the zone say im going to the offices.sue we will find out if your prediction is right. but yeah we are actually teaching 2 families right now that im really excited about and we are teaching this lady and her daughter in law. it is a really long story between them and their family. and she told us this week she has felt a difference in her life since we started chatting with her and was really grateful so ya know its nice to see as a 19 year old piece of nothing im making a difference in someones life its pretty cool. but yeah im glad to here things at home are all good. and everyone is getting excited for wedding bells and summer. weather here is really hot during the day but it gets dark at like 630 and is reallly cold. but i have a feeling next change its gonna get nice and wintery up in here. obviously not snow or anything but nice and cold during the day. we will see what happens. so yeah sorry this email is so short. everyone be safe and have a good week. enjoy your warm weather. pull out the boat. its crazy the school year is already ending. wow. how fast does that time go by huh haha so yeah i love you all thanks for the support keep it krispy

mothers day.

so yeah seeming as how we talked just yesterday. there really isnt that much to tell and i forgot to bring my camera to send some more pictures so you will just have to wait. but yeah im glad you all enjoyed those pictures. and you guys can see the people that i met in rivera and kinda of funny having a horse staring into your kitchen as your eating dinner haha. umm so yeah you all sound a lot older and its only been 7 months everyone is growing in their own disitnct ways. it was super good to here from my homeboys austin and thomas. why didnt taylor loomis say hi to me!!!! thats kinda jacked but whatever. so yeah its weird that i have been gone for 7 months and there just barely getting out of there and its funny to know exactly what there gonna be going through these next couple months. the mission is the hardest, most tiring, at times dangerous thing on planet earth. i never thought it would be just quite this hard. but i have never had a challenge in my life and i definately need these 2 years. elder jones brother told me something cool he said. the mission wasnt the best 2 years of my life but it was the best 2 years FOR my life. and obviously im just getting started but thats soo true. i have already learned how i knew absolutely before the mission and how little and stupid somethings are but as a teenager you think its your entire world. so yeah the mission is the best, funnest, life changing experience ever. the key is just to recognize the little miracles and blessings everyday. thats something i have a hard time recognizing until someone says it or i reflect back on it and say wow that really was a miracle. so yeah all is good with me i love being a missionary, time is flying by. and i love you all take care of yourselves!! talk to you next week. your brother, your son, and i hope your friend. keep it krispy. elder michael barton

Mothers Day

hey family, so before i forget to tell you all. we need to arrange this i was going to tell you last week but completely forgot. so i will be calling at 8 o´clock MY time here in uruguay. I have no idea what time it is there I think its like 5? so yeah I am leaving that job up to you fools to figure what time that is there and also I will call like i did at christmas give you the number real quick and you guys will just call me back. I dont know what you guys have to do to call me back if you ahve to put numbers or whatever so yeah you all can figure that one out as well you all figured it out on christmas you can do it again haha. so yeah next sunday 8 o´clock guayan time. ummm what else yeah elder morris he saw real salt lake playing on tv and his dad told him all what was go ing on with them with the tournament and everything that super sucks!! but thats tight they are mad balling it up. i also heard the jazz got rid of d-will?? thats psycho crazy. but yeah all is nice and fally here in the guay nights are starting to get really cold the sun goes down at about 7 and it is nice and chilly. nights are starting to get colder and colder i might have to pull out the sleeping bag here in 2 or 3 weeks. I pulled out the good ol´ thermals yesterday thats how cold it was haha well i guess it wasnt that cold but it was definately nice to have them on. i also found out 3 days ago that 4 of our investigators that me and elder hernandez had in rivera got baptized on saturday so that was waaayy awesome to hear about those 4 people that i helped teach get baptized. but yeah things are just kinda going whatever with me and elder jones. we are complete opposites during p-day he is the type of kid that just sits there and doesnt wanna play any type of sport and i just feel bad cause im out playin soccer or whatever and just look over and see my comp sitting there i feel bad. so its just weird cause all the comps i have had just love sports and thats all we talk about and all that jazz haha but with him there is not much to talk about so i mean were friends and all and things are going bad at all but its just kinda of like a whatever relationship and i dont know he is kind of an akward kid haha in lessons and stuff i kind of have to take charge cause he just doesnt talk that much and so thats kind of different too. but hey its fine it could definately be a lot worse. so yeah things are all good with me i didnt really here from a lot of you today. im assuming your just all waiting for sunday. so yeah im super excited to hear from you all. it will be weird it definately feels like i just called you guys yesterday on christmas. but yeah how was everyones spring breaks? how is the weather looking in the good ol´ 801 starting to get warmer? pullin the boat out soon? mark im glad to hear all is well with you and your bike thing went well i can see you now scorching through the streets of new york with your front belly zipper on your biker suit chest hair soaring through the wind like a chickens feachers how magical. but yeah i love you all so much. thank you for the support. i will TALK to you sunday at 8 my time and who knows your time. wait for the call. keep it real keep it krispy.