Baptism and Easter

hello family and friends. i hope you recieved the pictures i sent out of the baptism and my easter egg that i got here on the mish haha the baptism went super well luis and griselda were super excited, there nephew came from karasco he is a bishop out there and he came to the baptism and confirmacion and thanked me and elder morales for all that we had done for him and his family. just one of those moments that makes the mission really worth it. elder morales baptized both of them and he did a really nice job doing that. other than that the week was normal we went to a members house yesterday and celebrated a little bit of easter with an exchanging of chocolate eggs, i ended up with the smallest one...i always do haha. we also had interviews this week and president heaton really just thanked me for my hard work and asked me what i thought about my mission so far he said í am in the last parts of it and i gotta finish strong its kinda weird he said that it still feels like i just got here haha. but yeah it was nice to be recognized for the hard work i am putting in nice to know not only the lord sees it but my boss right now sees it haha other than that thigns went great this week there is nothing innormal just hard work again looking for some more baptisms we have another that should be getting baptized on the 28th she went to conference and to church yesterday so she is doing super good she listened to the missionaries before when she was about 10 haha and now she is 65 talk about planting a seed haha she is part of a religion right now called christian scientists i think thats how you say it in english haha and she is just realizing how are church is so much better like she says haha so its pretty funny, other than that i am just chillin i think my time here in 17 should be running out soon changes are in 2 weeks so my time with morales as well will be running up. kinda excited kinda nervous i just kinda got use to the kid haha but yeah tahts it from elder barton.
peace keep it real. elder barton

conference with a cowboy rodeo

barton family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whats crackin. not gonna lie heather told me that spring break is this next week and that got me super super jealous haha but its all good i only gotta miss one more. little sacrafice. i hope you all have a fantastic spring break and go do something worth while. my last couple of spring breaks i was stuck doing 2 a days with brighton soccer so its all good anyways haha. my week went well not as much work cause of general conference it kinda of gives us a weekend of just sitting in the chapel and hanging out haha. we had 2 investigators go to general conference and they absolutely loved it and thought thomas monson was just the man, its super funny cause at home i wasnt necesarily the biggest fan of general conference (im not gonna lie haha) and its just weird to be in a position now where im trying to convince people that conference is sooo awesome they have to come haha and than they come and love it. just a huge testimony builder to me of how real thomas monson and his apostles are and the power they have being special witness of christ. buuutt on sunday it totally sucked the chapel didnt have a satelite connection to watch the first session so the whole stake sat in the stake center for about an hour and a half waiting for them to fix it haha but we caught the last 30 minutes, guess i will have to read that one in the liahona haha.so yeah griselda and louis went to conference they are 2 super awesome investigators we have that are getting baptized this saturday thats coming, louis played soccer professionally and played with diego forlans dad and knows a lot of pretty big names so its pretty fun to sit with him and talk about futbol haha so yeah i am super stoked to see them get baptized this saturday, they were a reference from the bishop so hopefully the bishop and the rest of the ward are pretty excited as well. also the big news of this week is we just got back from a rodeo!!! haha yeah its the semana santa here down in the guay or la semana de turismo and so the gauchos (super cowboys) came into town and so the zone leaders elder pope elder jimenez and elder morales and i decided to go and have a good time it was pretty fun we didnt have a whole lot of time but we watched some horses buck some people around and than did a lot of shopping it was basically a flee market there as well and there was a lot of cheap cool stuff. so yeah pretty fun. this week we have interviews with president heaton so it will be interesting to talk to him and see what he thinks of me as a missionary and if i am making him happy. i remember the advice ryan gave me about my mission that the key is the mission president has to like you and so far i think me and president heaton get a long just great. he is a really awesome guy. so yeah thats about it from elder barton this week. i have a pretty busy week ahead of me. i hope you all be good and be safe. peace out. elder barton

baptism, barbeque on the beach

hello lovely and loving family and friends, another week has come and gone out here in urugay. elder bartons week went fairly well, i started off the week by heading out on divisions with elder olivares from peru. it was a good division and elder oliverares is a super cool and good guy and dont mean to be racist but one of the few elders from peru i like haha i know im terrible. so yeah that went down there than the week was all fun and games just working hard. we had a baptism this last saturday she was a lady that me and my old comp found and we finally got her to get to church and get excited to get baptized haha it was really cool cause throughout the week i was a little nervous to baptize her but as we kept going by she just kept on showing us signs of the light of christ she has and her whole character changed she went out and bought her some new clothes for the baptism and than after invited us over to her house for a little party it was super fun, anayr lives in the middle of a bunch of drug dealers haha so it can be a little sketchy to go by her house and she is pretty dang poor but she promised us she was going to go to church everyday by foot and really thanked us for all that we did for her helping her get to know jesus christ so it was just another one of those moments that made me feel like i was doing my job as a missionary. a little funny story while we were getting the baptism ready she started to fill up the baptisimal fount and so while it was filling we decided to leave and work....and yup you guessed it when we got back about 1 hour and a half after it had overflooded haha not to bad though we just ran in there stopped it and started mopping up where it had spilled into the hallway haha so yeah definately learned to keep a better eye on the baptisimal fount when i am filling the darn thing up haha it wasnt to big of a deal but it definately was a funny experience and just one of those things that brightens up the week. things with me and elder morales keep going good, he is kinda getting obsessed over me haha like when i am hanging ot with other missionaries he says he gets jealous and i have caught him taking pictures of me, he says its just one of those things he does when he thinks people are cool he admitted that it was weird haha but he just says he likes to do it, so yeah i dont know haha. thank just barely i took my district to a beach nearby here in montevideo and we made ourselves a little barbeque as mark should know an "asado" so that was super fun a little windy but its alright. things are really cooling down here in the guay, at night it gets a little cold and gotta start putting on 2 blankets so i am beginning by 2nd winter....not to excited i hate winter down here in the guay and on the mission but its just one of those things i gotta learn from i guess haha . so yeah i hope everything is good with you guys, i didnt really hear from anyone but sue haha but i am sure things are doing great. talk to ya´ll next week. keep it real. be good, elder barton

the 17

hello family and friends of elder michael barton how are you all doing i hope your week went well with more warm weather and trying to look cool by braking windows and getting cool scars...thats an awesome story. my week went fairly well it went all the same seeming as how i did not change areas nor companions so all was normal for me haha i actually like being with companions for 2 changes it doesnt stop the work from progressing and the second change always flys by haha me and elder morales get along suprisingly well we share a lot of the same ideas of the world and music and just how life is so its pretty cool im still kinda pushin him a little to work harder cause he has so much more potential as a missionary but he will get there i am pretty sure of it we actually had a fantastic week in terms of the work here in uruguay we had a ridiculous amount of lessons with members and just about all of our investigators came to church. including we got a text from the assistants saying way to go haha so it was a really super good week and a great way to start off the change we are expecting about 9 baptisms this change if everything goes smooottthhh so thats always a mega plus. i got the shoes thank you so much i guess even though i didnt need them i gave them to a member and he was super happy and excited to recieve a new pair of shoes so thank you for your service sue haha you will reap in some crazy cool blessings for that one haha. but yeah really i dont know what to say everything is good i am expecting another awesome week and just waiting for general conference to roll around it seems like the other day i was sitting in young watching it with elder brown but another 6 months has come and gone. elder morris left the mission this last week he is a super good buddy of mine that i met out here and lived with in salto so i hope to run into him when i get home and i was super sad to see him go not gonna lie haha but what can ya do. the weather here is still fairly hot at night it gets a little chilly but no complaints coming out of my mout. and yeah so i guess we will see how this next week goes we are expecting a baptism from a lady that just really accepted the gospel super well and is really excited to get baptized she has a crazy amount of faith in jesus and shows it every sunday by walking about 18 blocks to church haha so that she be a pretty awesome baptism this next saturday but yeah thats about it from elder barton i hope all is doing well i love you all, keep it real. be humble. elder barton

Mr. Mean as well as Mr. Bean

hellooo family barton. how are you all doing. sounds like everything is going well there especially in the side of winter...i always enjoyed me a good ol utah spring. things here got really cold haha it was daylight savings this past week which meant an hour extra to sleep on sunday night but now it includes it getting dark at 7 o´clock and finding me and my comp around people that i would not like to be found with when its dark haha as rybart always said "i would hate to run into him in a dark ally" haha so tahts kinda where we find ourselves everynight haha but nothing happens in the end so need to worry. this week i hate the lovely privelage of playing bad cop. president heaton has given us the huge blessing in this message to have dvd players to watch videos to help us become better missionaries. but the lovely missionaries that there are took it where to far. there were some elders in my district who were watching some movies that they shouldnt have been watching haha so me being the district leader was ordered by president heaton and by the zone leaders to go and retrieve the dvd players and take them back to my house hah. so tuesday morning i went over there walked into the house and got the dvd players while they were quite upset with me i simply explained it was under the order of president heaton and the zone leaders. after that moment i waas on the way back to the house i felt soooo sad i didnt really realize how much i loved these elders but i have realy grown to love them and taking away those dvds and them getting mad at me just absolutely killed me and shredded me apart for about the next 2 days. i later went on divisions with one of the elders that was in the house that was being obedient and was the only among the 4 not watching the movies he was sad and depressed and was just really going through a rough time so i just decided to be a light for him and just tried to show him the time of his life in my area i bought him pizza and ice cream brought him to the best people i could to make sure he felt the spirit and it was just like taking about my kid that got a good grade our something haha. ummmm so yea thats really all that went down this week. my change....im staying here in la teja and me and elder morales are staying together, elder harris got bumped up to assistant and elder peterson is a zone leader...here i am still a district leader haha shows how good of a missionary i am haha but i realy am working hard so dont be dissapointed in me haha. but you guys know how i am just being mr competitive, and well as of right now im definately losing to my companions haha i guess i gotta step up my game one more level and crank out some baptisms. we are looking at having about 6 to 8 baptisms this month so i am really excited to be staying here and we will see what happens in these next 6 weeks. thank you all so much for your prayers i need them i love you all so much, keep it gangsta and keep being awesome. -elder michael barton

stake conference, gold gold gold gold

hi barton family hows it going. my week was quite good rather busy just doing what i do here in the guay week after week haha.this week went well we had zone conference on wednesday and president heaton and hermana heaton talked about the book of mormon and the importance it has in missionary work and it getting our investigators to truly know this is the true church, president heatons son and 4 grandchildren came to the guay and so during the zone conference i had to sit with them and translate the conference for them into english. it was super weird seeing a little kid speaking perfect english to his mom and dad haha i havent seen anyone below the age of 19 speak english in a long time haha i think thats gonna be super weird to get home and just here everyone speak english its almost like english is a secret language down here in the guay that only 19 to 21 year old boys speak haha. umm yea than wednesday through saturday were all normal days and sunday was stake conference. stake conference they talked about missionary work and president heaton also spoke there as well and its just crazy the revelation the leaders of the church are getting just for a super push in missionary work in the church it just really makes one think of how super super soon the second coming is haha i also so mary (my convert from playa pascual) at the conference as well she did go to the temple and did some baptisms for the dead and absolutely loved it and is just waiting for the next time to go back, i talked to a conselor in the bishopric from playa a good buddy of mine and he said that the baptism of mary has just sparked something new in that branch and more less active members are coming back and the branch is working a little bit harder so it was cool. he thanked me for the work i did there and its awesome to see that mary is now starting to be a worker in the church instaed of just a recent convert (afterall it is a working church its not a church where you go everyonce in a while
haha) so that was super awesome to hear that. after stake conference we had a stake baptism and we had an investigator that got baptized named shelly she is 12 her mom is a member and really wants her to be a part of the young women and have a good and safe teenage experience and after the baptism shelly really was feeling the spirit and was just on cloud 9 she was a little nervous before the baptism but she did just great. so thats always good having a baptism definately feels good to feel like im really serving my purpose as a missionary. i have really been trying to work a lot smarter than harder this change by finding my investigators through the members by teaching there family members, neighbors and whoever else there is and its super fun just cause i have found about 10 people by doing that and instead of just knocking doors for 2 hours everyday im just going to members house to members house teaching all their friends and it has really got the excitement in the ward built up just cause the members really feel like their a part of the work and they are seeing the progression in there very own friends and family members so its super cool and a little bit easier on the feet haha so i raelly dont wanna leave this area now haha just cause i got a good thing going here and im really starting to love it down here in deo. but at the same time i wanna get back out into the farm where its nice and quite and peacful haha.
alright last story for the week. so the bishop gave us a reference on thursday and it was some parents from a member in another ward. so we went on sunday and just had an absolutely fantastic chat with them haha we sat down and the very first 2 questions she asked was why do they call us mormons and why are there so many churches if god is the same for everyone haha. just what we as missioanrys share in the whole world haha and during the whole lesson she just thought it was beautiful and finished by saying she wants to be mormong along with her husband they just a wonderful beautiful couple find and i cannot wait to go back to them and see how their reading in the book of mormon went. wow that was a pretty big email haha. but yeah it was a pretty good week. i hope you all are doing well and that things are being nice and gangsta in the barton house, i love you all and miss you all keep it awesome. elder michael barton

chocolate milk with the patriarch

hey family and friends how is it going i hope its not to cold up there and everything with school is going just great. this week was good and super super interesting haha. first cool rather funny story was one of the elders in my district had a baptism this week so i had to go do the baptisimal interview the guy passes the interview just perfectly than as we are sitting there talking one of the elders asks who he would like to baptize him, your not gonna believe who he says....me haha i just barely met this guy and he tels me he wants me to baptize him it was quite a shock and suprise but i was honored that this man wanted me to baptize him haha so i had to make a couple adjustments to my schedule and i went to the baptize the next day and i performed it haha than after the baptism he gave me a hug crying saying thank you and he wants to me to go over to his house someday and eat pizza haha i barely know htis guy but it seems like we have been friends forever to be hoenst with you haha and than after that baptismal service i had to run over to another baptisimal interview and do that. so it was a plenty busy day. hhaa and than yesterday we stopped by a members house who is the stake patriarch haha super super super cool guy and way awesome member we went over there just to ask for a little help with an investigator and he offered us some chocolate milk so i spent a lovely hour with him sippin on some chocolate milk and sharing some good ol stories haha it was pretty funny after i kinda realized what happened just said to my comp. hmmm nothin like chocolate milk with the stake patriarch haha. i cant really think of to much that went on here this week it has been really hot with waves of rain kinda of weird weather but i think its gonna start to cool down here little by little and my second winter here in the guay is coming my way...which i am not looking forward to at all. i dont know why elder morales has been telling me a lot about the new music and tv shows and it just barely hit me this week how long i have really been gone haha i have been gone for a really long time we were in a house the other day and a song was on and elder morales says oh this song makes me trunky and i asked who it was and he named some artist and song name that i had never even heard of haha so all the music that i listen to now doesnt even make me trunky cause i dont even know it haha i am gonna have quite the time catching up on all my music when i get home gonna last a good 2 weeks of good hard dedicated work haha. but yeah not much more from here going on. just chillin time is flyin we are already half way done with this change and the last couple weeks of the change always go by the fastest and iw ill be hittin that year and 6 month mark...crazzy haha we have zone conference this wednesday as well i always enjoy zone conference it always gives me just a new boost to go out and work my tail off. thats all the lord expects from each of us is just the attitude to work and be available to do his will. he doesnt need us to be anything more than that. i love you all and thank you so much for all your love and support i definately would not be able to do what i am doing with out all them prayers. have a good week. love ya all. keep it gangster. elder michael barton

pajama partys, long sidewalk talks...annnndddd the temple?

well hello there family and friends that are reading this email from elder barton. i had a pretty descent week this week getting to know elder morales a little bit more and trying to find more people to teach. first you ask...pajama parties? elder morales got super trunky this week because his friends all make deserts and had a huuugggeee pajama party together (guys or girls yet to be determined) and as i continued with the conversation i soon discovered that this was a very common occurence in elder morales life before they frequently had pajama parties and made cookies and other pastrys together it appartently included all of his friday nights.....hmmmm a little bit interesting i might say haha never met anyone that did that frequently with his friends on weekends haha. now long sidewalk talks, we went to a members house the other day to see if she could come with us to a lesson the next day as we were there elder morales goes to the bathroom and as we are leaving the house he has a look on his face like he is on the verge of tears...i ask him if he is alright and if he is going to cry he tells me that when he just got done crying in the bathroom and yes wanted to cry again so i sat him down right there on the curb in the shade and asked what was goin on and if there was anything i could do he said no and they he would be ok the next day. 2 days later he is walking behind me with this looonnnggg sad face on and just looks super desanimated so i ask him again whats goin on and sit him down on the curb in the shade and just starts balling his eyes out right there in the middle of hte afternoon and i kept asking and asking whats wrong and he had no idea to this hour he still has no idea whats wrong each of these sidewalk conversations covered about 1 hour haha definately one of the most sensitive guys i have ever met and think that i will ever meet in my whole life haha and now the great fantastic news i went out to see mary the convert in playa pascual today to see how she was doing and all that jazz she lives about an hour in omnibus from where i live so we went out there and she is just doing fantastic she is doing all of her family history work and is going to the temple this friday to do the baptisms for her family members that have died...wow super super super cool and i guess she has gone out with the missionaries to lessons and she gave her testimony and now the missionaries are finding a ton of people through mary and her friends and she alone has really turned that place around. so yeah that brought a huge smile to my face. i told her that iw as coming back in november with mark and ryan and she said she will have her cup of mate and asado waiting for us for when we come haha super awesome. so yeah that basically covers this week of the life of elder barton. just chillin here trying to work hard and not waste the lords time here in uruguay. i love oyu all so much thanks for your prayers each one of them has been felt. i love you all, keep it gangsta -elder barton

Change 11

hey family and friends, so yeah a new change has begun and my new
companion is.....elder morales from puerto rico, and i am almost 99
percent sure he is gay haha he cooks for me, cleans the house the
first night iw as laying in my bed and he laid down with me and gave
me a hug and has tried to do so every other night haha ummmm he has
offered many times to offer me foot massages haha so its definately
definately interesting but to be honest all in all he means well and
really wants to serve others. i honestly have no idea how this change
is gonna go haha he really is a nice kid just is a little flamer haha
he tells me daily that im hot haha and yeah dont need to go into to
much more detail i just accept thats how all of puerto rico is haha
but our week was pretty good other than the changes we are really just
trying to focus in on teaching through members trying to teach their
friends, neighbors, family members that arent members and what not i
was looking at all the baptisms i´ve had and they have all gone
through such things and at times we just knock doors to find people
and not to baptize them so really i just found myself trying to get
the number than baptizing them, so now we are trying to find to
baptize and not only to find just to find people to teach i am really
gonna try to lay this strategy out with my district and i thinkwe will
ahve a lot more success teaching incomplete familys and what not and
also the members just get more excited when your teachin a family
member instead of just some random person that no one knows. so yeah i
gota list of all the families that have non member kids, aunts, people
that are living with them and we are just gonna pass by all of them
haha i hope it works out, and that way we will just be teaching inside
the houses of members and instead of knocking doors to door we will
just be going from members house to members house and the days will be
a lot more efficent and a little less hard on the feet haha. so yeah
thats basically all thats really gonna on just hangin out with my semi
gay puerto rican comp elder morales and trying to go about a new of
doing the lords work. i hope you all had a good week filled with cold
winter should be kinda ending by now right this summer here went by
super fast it should start to cool down in about 3 to 4 weeks i am
pretty grateful its my last summer here in the guay it can get
freaking hot and pretty miserable haha but yeah thats basically it
from elder barton down here in south america i love you all so much
thank you for your prayers and tell everyone i say hi. love you all,
elder barton

change 11

hello family and friends so elder barton is now going into change 11 in this crazy adventure down in uruguay and his new companion is......elder morales from puerto rico ha little strange but ay i am excited he is another really young missionary here in the mission going into his 3rd change haha but i am excited to get to meet him and see how he is elder peterson told me he is a little desanimated and missin home a little bit...nothing a little bit of hard work cant fix haha, but yeah i am staying here in 17 and i am stoked i love it here so much i want to finish my mission here haha i could honestly do 6 more changes here haha so as of right now i am stoked for my change me and elder huaracha didnt really get along the best haha but we will see if i wanna be back with huaracha when i meet elder morales haha but my week was good some of our investigatores went to church this week and it looks like we are going to be having some baptisms here in the month of february january absolutely fly by and seeming as how february is even shorter i imagine that february is gonna go by fast as well haha. but yeah i hope everyone else is doing good doesnt really sound like there has been much change just the same old same old sports, school and work . isnt life just full of that kind of stuff haha its pretty crazy i am finishing up my 2nd summer here in uruguay and not gonna lie its a pretty relieving feeling thats its my last and i dont have to do anther one haha man it gets freakin hot down here with very little resources to escape the bloody heat haha buts its still hot it wont start to cool down until about mid febuary but yeah i am doing super good just doing my thing down here in the guay i really dont know what to say this week was just typical work week and elder huaracha is leaving and elder morales is coming on down to kick it with me in cerro haha well i love you all so much hope you have a good week and i will be talking to you all next monday!! peace out gangsters, elder barton

changes

hey fam, hope all is well with you guys and i hope you just had a fantastic week in the freezing cold. even though it doesnt really sound like its that cold out there. my week to be honest wasnt anything spectacular just kinda the normal day to day stuff me and elder huaracha had a lovely nice long talk the other dayfor about 1 hour about how we can get along better and we resolved a lot of things and we are getting along better now so thats nice haha changes are this coming week, this change went by relativelyquick and i cant believe im going into my eleventh change out here in the mission field im started to think im stuck here forever and there is no end haha but january has already flown by!! thats awesome that carter is doing good we write every once and a while but its been quite some time, about 6 months since i last heard from him, i need to write him ASAP. we found really cool investigator this week her name is micaela her mom is a member and her mom is really super supportive of her listening to us and really wants micaela to get baptized she didnt come to church this last week cause it rained and when it rains here the whole country shuts down everyone takes it for a legit excuse not to get up and go to work...how beautiful is that right? but she basically is already baptized haha she has friends in the church, whole family is members, she asked us about the clothes yesterday and how that al works haha so she is basically baptized haha. and obviously i am staying here for transfers and elder huaracha is leaving, thats how it should go atleast. ya never know with president heaton haha i love this area and its HUGE as well i honestly good finish my mission here so im planning on staying here for much much longer haha i decided i dont really like to move i hard starting things all over again, with the members, memorizing streets, bus routes and all that jazz haha its nice to have a set routine and have people know your name and know who you are and stuff its super nice. its notreally cool to be hopping around no one knows who you are and your personality haha so yeah thats where im at super stoked to stay another change here just hope i get a better comp, latin. i love speaking spanish all day haha but yeah i dont really know what else to say it is crazzzyy hot down here definately in the middle of summer and it is just suupppeerrr humid haha but in about 2 weeks or so it should al start to calm down and we will be in fall!!!! fal is fantastic here haha but yeah thats about it from elder barton. love you all. keep it nice and krispy, have a good week, enjoy this wonderful life that god has given us its just a beautiful one haha
peace out elder michael j barton

a mexican and facebook

hey family and friends. hope you all had a great week filled with snowed, being cold and everything else to do with winter haha my week was full of the complete opposite it has beennn hooootttt here 45 degrees celcious i dont know what that is in farenheit and humid like no body´s business. we havent been sleeping good the last couple nights just cause its so miserably hot i took a shower in my garments and laid on the cold floor and tried to sleep like that the other night haha i was dying. but our week was fine we found some pretty good couple and had some pretty good lessons...but we also had a complete miracle happen to us haha now here is where you will understand the title of this email, a mexican and facebook. we were sitting in the chapel about the 2nd hour just hangin out ya know and all the sudden the doorbell of the chapel rings hmmm interesting we go and answer it to see whats up, its some guy named julio who wants permission to take a picture of the church of course we gave him permission and he took about 8 pictures of the church and just loved it haha i thought this dude was super weird but as he keeps talking to us he goes on to say that he has a friend on facebook from mexico that told him about the church and sent him the video of jose smith and julio said he just loved everysingle minute of it and has watched it like 4 times since haha and than he goes on to say that later this mexican on facebook tells him about what we do in the temples, baptisms for the dead. and he just thought that was the most absolute brilliant idea on this planet earth haha so we set a cita to go over to his house in the afternoon and he accepts it with open arms.so we go over to his house that afternoon and he explains more of the story of what his friend had told him and they had been talkin for a couple months now so we gave him a book of mormon which he already knew what it was and everything and he accepted to get baptized on the 12th of febuary straight it was a cool miracle. i remember ryan tellin me that the lord will just people right in your lap that get baptized all i have to do as a missionary is be there and that has been so true in my mission so far all my baptisms were just handed to me just cause i was out and about doing the right thing haha. so yeah that pretty much was the big highlight of my week it was super cool. we truly do have an amazing blessing of being in this beautiful gospel, i have no idea why the lord chose me to know the gospel cause i really sometimes dont feel worthy but all i can do is just be grateful that he made it happen and take advantage of every blessing i can recieve. so i invite you all to look for chances to share the gospel with friends and neighbors whether it be on facebook, msn, work, school this is now the second person i have come in contact with that knew the church threw facebook haha so the lord is up to date on things haha. but yea so look for chances they are out there. help the lord build his kingdom here on the earth cause its a sure darn beautiful kingdom. so i love you all hope you have a good week, and everything goes well with school, work, boyfriends,girlfriends, and everything else there is. peace ouuuuttttt. elder barton

oh ps thomas looks like a super oro missionary in his pictures haha

Dia De Reyes

family barton and anyone else who finds themselves reading this email. well another week out here in the ´guay has come and gone pretty crazy its 2012 i will be coming home this year haha as well as i completed 15 months out here so i am now down to single digits in terms of months haha. This week was pretty normal me and elder hauracha are on the hunt for new investigators haha we have NO ONE to teach right now. so the week was full of just talking to random people on the street and knocking doors. contacting truly isnt very fun for me as well as its the least affect way to go about the work but ya gotta do it. but its always interesting to contact some where along the line you run into some crazy people that have had some crazy experiences or just have weird ideas about god and just stuff like that and i swear thats really what this week was, just listening to some weeeeiiiirrrrdddd people talk about their lives and what they think about god and what not haha so even though we didnt find anyone this week all that good we definately talked to some weird people haha also this week was the dia de reyes its a tradition they have here in the guay that we as north americans do not have. its basically a second christmas haha in fact i think everyone gets bigger gifts the dia de reyes than they do on christmas haha. and because of this holiday the city was dead!! do you remember in the movie you me and depree when owen wilson says "i went to argentina for a week and everyone was just sitting around, and it was the most beautiful thing" thats exactly what goes down but unfortunately its a missionaries worst enemy because noooo one wants to hear from you people just wanna sleep and take full advantage of the free day off of work. haha so that went down on friday and saturday here and the city was literaly a ghost town. but its all good this week is gonna be a fantastic week i am going on divisions with an elder named elder lopez from el salvador and so its gonna be nice to get away from huaracha for a little bit haha and than there is a super stud member here named noemi and she is literally a walking area book she always comes out and works with us she is a stud. and on saturday she is going out with us all day and she is taking us to every x investigator that has been in this area for the past 4 years haha so im pretty excited and grateful for her. but yeah the ward is really growing on me i like it a loootttt there is a ton of families and its definately the biggest ward i have had my whole mission we had about 100 people in sacrament yesterday!! and i dont know if you guys remember my x comp elder lopez, well he is now living in the ward with his wife and its super weird to see my x comp kissing his wife and stuff haha it kinda makes me feel like wow i have been here forever haha he was my comp a year ago and i still have so much more to go haha but its all good, i am gonna make him work pretty hard with us! so yeah the area is good im nice and safe there are definately some sketchy parts that we have to be careful in but other than that its good. as soon as i get a new comp i will be looking fantastic haha. i hope you all are going back to your normal routine now that the holidays are over and its time to get back to work. have a great week!! be good, be obedient. love you all. con mucho cariño -elder barton

Feliz ano nuevo

family and friends happy new years!!!! i cant believe its 2012..i go home this year!!! haha how trunky was that haha i really cant believe that 2011 is over it is incredible how fast it went by no more christmas or new years as a missionary for elder barton thats kinda sucky haha. so apparently i left out some details of the baptism last week, her name is mary and i literally think i was called to uruguay just to find her she is absolutely fantastic super awesome and accepted the gospel sooo easy and fast and apart from it all it was the easiest baptism i ahve ever had haha i met her one saturday and 2 weeks later she was baptized haah pretty awesome president heaton and hermana heaton came to the baptism as well as the counselor in the temple gave us a suprise visit haha mary in the end gave her testimony and cried and said after she just felt the biggest feeling of peace come over her it was something very nice to hear and i felt like i was really completing my objective as a missionary, we didnt have the best member show up like 8 members showed up but only about 12 were in sacrament so i guess it was a good show up haha. i heard from tim loomis which totally made my week i was super happy to hear from him and all the loomis are doing good they are truly a second family to me. so yeah my new years was good we had a barbeque at the bishops house and it was super good and than we watched fireworks and it felt like i was in a war zone just explosions on all sides of me and really loud haha it was pretty hilarious.ummm so yeah this week was actually a pretty bad one haha me and elder huaracha dont really get along that well he is really weird and seeming as i dont know the area i kind of have to follow him around until i know it but he has the weirdest ideas to do and i kinda get mad at him haha and apart from it all we have NO investigatores and its either i am getting to know members or knocking doors haha just one of those many weeks out here in the guay, we are basically opening the area elder huarahca doesnt know it worth jack haha and he has definately been my hardest comp until this point in my mission...peruvians haha but yeah thats really about it im glad you all had a good new years and that it all turned out good and hope you all ajust back to REAL life with work and school and all that jazz haha suckas. but yeah i dont really know what to say to be honest with you guys hah i love you all so much thanks for everything you have done for me and for your testimonies and examples. everyone of you has helped me so much. a little prayer for me could be nice this week so that i can know my area and elder huaracha follows me and i dont knoww him haah cause when i get to know this place we are gonna do some serious beyond serious work haha alright well im out peace keep it krisp.



ps i know im writing early these days elder huaracha likes to come to the cyber early so just plan on me writing this early from now on haha