chau November

another months has come and gone! and I am currently sweating like crazy here in this cyber right now haha it is sooooo hot!!!!! and with the ocean right there it is just humid and you cannot escape the humidity haha. this week was good we really worked hard to reach our goals and just be the best missionaries we could I feel like at the end of the week in terms of reaching our goals we didnt have the best but i can honestly say I gave it all I could me and elder hall were both just drained and practically fell asleep in sacrament meeting and sunday school haha the stake presidency came in and really dropped the cane hard on the rama saying that this rama has more potencial than what its showing and that we need to fill the chapel every sunday haha so hopefully that motivated the members a little bit to get up and magnify their callings, i dont know why but the lord certainly loves giving elder barton tough little ramas to work with haha but its all good i have learned a lot and i know the will only serve me for my good in the end. december is here and that is pretty crazy i remember my last phone call last christmas that doesnt feel all that long ago and I think I will be talking to you guys before I know it haha but yeah we have zone conference this week and i will get to see elder harris there i havent seen him in like 9 months so it will be fun to see him he has exploded to be a great missionary and is really having a lot of success on his mission, and the competitve michael barton is getting nice and competitive i never thought i would get competitive during my mission but you know michael barton when the competitivie blood gets going haha its something I really need to work on but i really am happy for him he really deserves it he is a great guy and a great missionary and deserves it all. so yeah school ended this week which makes it nearly impossible to find people at home EVERYONE is at the beach and no one is home haha watching people come and go from the beach not gonna lie kinda makes me trunky haha and i cannot wait till i can go to the beach haha but its ok in time in time, so yeah thats just whats going on here SUMMER is in full strike school is out and me and elder hall our sweating/working like crazies out here in playa pascual haha but yeah i hope you all had a good week and that everyone had a good thanksgiving i love you all so much thank you for the prayers and everything they are definately needed. love you all with everything i got. -elder michael barton

the low down on playa pascual(rio de la plata)

word. so apparently i didnt give a very good update on my new area haha. i live in a house with just my companion my district is about 1 hour away from the rest of the zone...so im kinda out in the middle of no where again but not really haha my area is basically 3 little towns playa pascual, santa monica and another city about 25 minutes away called libertad. its a tiny rama that hasnt had a baptism since last march and have only had 3 baptisms here this year, all of which are inactive haha so it seems that president heaton has yet given me another challenge in terms of an area thats a really good baptizing area but its all good nothin but learning and challenges haha we are not riding bikes we are walking all of it and it is starting to get really really hot again i cant believe 2011 is over its pretty crazy to think about! haha and yes after a couple days i did finally get my voice back haha so thats always good but yeah so thats really the area but so far i like the area and the members are pretty good, my only true complaint is president, he kinda knows us as missionaries come and go and so he doesnt really show the est effort to try to get to know us or try to help us in anyways something that i never really liked on my mission just members that make you feel so temporary and so not of value haha never really thought of it like that before the mission but its true we do come and go as misionaries but he can still make somewhat of an effort to try and help/get to know us haha but yeah thats really about it from here its just getting hotter and hotter im loading the pictures on to the pendrive right now and sending it off this week so you guys will get to know salto elder jones young with elder terault and elder brown hope you enjoy them! and november is flying by ha its prettycrazy christmas is right around the corner! but yeah i hope you all are doing good and enjoying life thats something i have learned here on hte mission just to enjoy life haha and take it for what its worth i see people that just work from 6 am to 10 pm and that just does not look fun to me haha and it looks like they are miserable so yea enjoy life and live it for all its worth! have a good week talk ot ya soon! peace keep it krispy -elder barton

playa pascual

alright so I am here in my new area and so far so good I really like it a lot its just a little beach town down here in the department of san jose its not much of a beach but igual its a beach and its pretty cool I really like it a lot haha. its a little branch going on down here with about 25 to 30 people showing up every week. not a whole lot of support we have from the members but once again thats just the story of my mission haha the branch president is really cool, really rich haha he has a pool at his house he has a daughter that studied at byu for 4 years and speaks perfect english haha and his son is off to chile next month to serve his mission! there are some other families in the ward that our really cool there is a member that looks like a huge hawaiin guy and acts like one too he always says to up whattssss uuuuppp elders haha and its just about the only english he knows haha he is pretty cool, elder hall is in his third change and has just about as much excitement to speak spanish and work as anyone i have ever seen haha sometimes he doesnt have any idea what people say and he just goes off haha and gives a complete opposite answer to the persons question haha its funny so it should be a good change with elder hall. this week i had a tragedy happen. i lost my voice haha. i showed up here to playa and i literally couldnt talk so its kind of a problem when your just is to talk to everyone you can and you cant haha so i was a little frustrated the last couple days not being able to talk to anyone. also elder hall doesnt know the area quite as well as he should and we kinda walk a little lost and often walk innappropriate circles and back track a lot its a little annoying but we are both getting to know the are little by little haha i dont really like changing areas its kinda annoying i wish i just knew the area now but with time it will come i know so yeah thats just about it from me just got to the playa and working hard and its starting to get nice and humid here by the beach. but thats about it for now i will catch ya´ll later! peace

SUMMER TIIIMMMMEEEE and IM ON THE BEACH

family and friends of elder barton changes have once again come and i have the information to tell you what is now happening to me. I am headed down to MONTEVIDEO. in a area called rio de la plata or its known in the mission as playa plasqual. so its gonna be interesting to be more in the city and not have horses around me when im outside we will see how it goes! and the bonus of it all is elder peterson was just there for 5 changes haha and he informed me that the beach is about a 10 minute walk from the apartment...hmmm elder barton and the beach and summer time, it could be a good one haha my new comps name is elder hall he is in the same group as elder brown so elder brown met him in the MTC and says he is a really funny outgoing kid so it looks like i scored in the topic of companions once again i have really been blessed in my mission to have good companions obviously i get along better with some better than others but for the general i have gotten a long with them all so im excited to work with elder hall and get to know montevideo a little bit! but yeah these last couple days were just going around saying bye and giving thanks to everyone as hard as young has been for me its so bittersweet leaving here i got to really love the people and all of them have taught me something that i want to apply to my life when i get back no wonder the lords sends 19 year old kids to do his work. that god he sure is a genious. but yeah so its pretty crazy me and elder browns time is done it went by so fast and i feel like he trained me more than i trained him. he is an awesome guy and i think we will stay in touch for a long time so yeah i will send the pendrive off with pictures and you fools will have some new pictures to look at in a couple of weeks you guys will know salto, elder jones, young, elder terault elder brown and a lot more people that have changed my life for the good. umm so yeah i dont know if i look fat or skninny in the pictures you will have to tell me i have hoenstly looked over them and i think i look the same! haha so yeah thats basically all thats going on with me is im going over to deo and we will see what goes on there! i hope you all had a good week and i will be writing you fools before you know it on monday! haha word peace, keep it krisp - elder barton

gosh danget my pants!!

wassss suuuuppp family feels like yesterday i was sittin here writin to you fools but here we are again! so this next week are changes but they are weird changes so i wont be emailing until next thursday is what they tell me...haha it could be a long week 10 days without a p day haha but we will see how it goes down. but yea this week was good we have a really good investigator that we found as well as found 2 incompletel families one with like 5 kids and another just his wife isnt a member so its pretty exciting thats always the best way to get baptisms is through those less active members and stuff so yea but unfortunately thats all in the 2nd branch so the 2nd branch is all stoked on missionary work and they are really supporting us and its really awesome but on branch 1 we got nooottthhhiiinnn haha so we are gonna try and get that side of town runnin a little bit more this next up coming week and we will see what goes down. but yeah it kinda sucked cause we had a really good week in terms of lessons in stuff but one lady had to go to montevideo to see her friend that has cancer so she didnt come to church nor did anyone else so we had the most lessons that i have had here in young but come sunday we failed haha but its all good we are working hard its kinda crazy that my time with elder brown is coming to a close and that it was 2 changes. looking back it feels like it was just a day haha but yeah so my pants....we went to go knock a door and something had to me that was pretty bad....a dog devoured my knee just came up and bit me nice and good shredding the pants haha so i was than forced to walk the rest of the day with my torn pants seeming as we were about a 45 minute walk from our house so i looked pretty stupid and than on top of all that i got the hick ups (dont know how you spell that) so here is this gringo walkin down the streets hickuping with torn pants haha i could have only imagined it was quite the scene and in the moment it was quite funny haha but yeah elder brown is doing super good his spanish is mad improving and he is breaking out that shell to afraid to talk to people and talking more and more which is great but yeah so im thinking my time here in young is winding down and im off to another area which is crazy cool and im pretty excited to see if i reap in some of my blessings from young in my next area it has been quite sometime that i have seen one of my investigators get baptized haha and its gonna be awesome when it does happen finally haha so yea i hope you all are doing well and that school isnt kickin everyones trash but yeah i love oyu all and i hope ya´ll be keepin it gangsta, with all my heart haha elder michael barton

POR FIN!

yo what up family, so in terms of pictures i am going to wait till the end of the change which is in 2 weeks to see if im leaving or staying young and if i leave young i will be taking lots of pictures and than i will put them on the pendrive and if i stay in young for another change i will just send the pendrive off without most the pictures from young and you will have to see them later but yeah so im waiting so that if i leave young you guys dont have to wait to see the pictures from here. ummm yeah it was probably my most successfull week here in young to be hoenst with you, we have an investigator with a bautism date!! my first one in young haha it was pretty cool she came to church with a member yesterday and i thought we would be having sacrament first but actually we show up and president changed it to the last hour but our investigator had told us previously that she could only stay for the first hour so i was pretty pist haha so after relief society she leaves and im pretty bummed but than all the sudden she comes back and just says i can actually stay a little longer..hmmmm (spirit?) haha and she turned out to stay the rest of the 2 hours haha!! it was pretty cool she is a really shy kidna timid person and she doesnt really talk a whole lot so its kinda hard to knock what she is thinking and feeling haha also after church she left immediately and i have yet to talk to her to see how church was!! haha we are gonna run over to her house tonight though. i gave a talk in sacrament meeting, just about jesuscrist and about KNOWING him not just talking about him but feeling his love and power of the atonement in our lives and i just invted everyone to look to know jesuscrist i think it turned out pretty good and i proved to my self im still the same....a baby...i cried. haha so yeah it was pretty awesome but unfortunately for me with my michael barton bad luck this change is only 5 weeks long due to some leader conference that president heaton has to go to so if i leave young i will not be able to see her get baptized...theme of my mission haha elder brown is doing super good his spanish has mad crazy gotten better haha and he is just learning to enjoy himself more and more elder brown isnt much of a talker or neither just he like to open himself up to people haha but lately he has really been opening up to people and talking it was funny last wednesday we went to go get our laundry from a member and i just said to him alright elder brown im not gonna say a word and you are gonna have to do alll the talking elder brown says 2 words to the sister clothes and thank you haha i talked to him how we gotta be a little more nicer than that as missionaries haha so than we had to go look for a member to bring to a lesson and i told him again im not gonna say a word and your gonna have to ask how her day was and all that haha it was pretty funny. we also had a pretty experience with another member we were gonna go on divisions with the branch 2 on friday so we are sittin there waiting at the church and only one member shows up....a crazy guy named barufaldi haha and we are just like oh gosh so we went and did his visiting teaching with him and just it was quite the funny experience haha me and elder brown are convinced that he will be bishop when the 2 branches combine so we always joke with each other every time we see barufaldi saying uh oh here comes bishop haha but the guy was just doing his priesthood duty it was awesome. but yeah that is really about it this change only has 2 more weeks in because of the shortness so that is pretty crazy weird, feels like it just started yesterday. and i think i will be leaving young as well, young has byfar been the toughest area for me but i have also learned a ton and have really learned to love everyone here and everything but i guess we will see what happens in 2 weeks! hope all is well with you guys and the time is going by fast for you as it is for me i feel like october just barely started, and we are already halfway done with it...crazy stuff alright fools thats all from elder barton hope you all keep it gangsta like a true barton would, love you all thank you for everything. elder barton

one year

BARTON FAMILY!!!!!! whats crackin gangstas!!! im doing suuupppeeerrr good down here in young. as we all know i hit my year mark this past week....kinda trunky i know but i am proud of my accomplishment haha.
and along with all that we have found 2 pretty dang good families to teach here in young!! we have lessons with them tonight so i am super stoked to see what happens tonight!! but yeah i hope they are the blessings we have been waiting for haha ummm yeah and i dont know its super weird i LIKED the mission but ever since i hit htat year mark i just LOVE the mission now haha one its like i have gone half way i might as well finish it now and 2 i dont know its just like a light just flicks on or something haha me and elder brown had a slight little party that included 2 cakes and a pet frog.....yeah it was pretty whack crazy haha to be hoenst i dont have a whole lot of time so this message is kinda brief i know i suck but things are just getting warmer and warmer down here in the guay as well as young i think is starting to really turn around its just the greatest to pass trials and see the fruits right away haha. i hope you all are doing good happy birthday megan what more could you ask for than a husband haha i still cant believe your married thats craazzzyy and than yeah i hope the NBA doesnt play this year so i dont miss 2 seasons haha but i hope you all have a good week i gotta run!! love ya all and keep it gangsta krispy!

Conference

what up gangstas, i hope you all enjoyed conference and found some type of counsel or advice that you all can apply to your lives I most certainly did seeing how a lot of it was on mission work and what better place to apply that than on the mission!! haha so yeah i learned a lot and i really enjoyed it. me and elder brown got the conference all to ourselves haha it was pretty funny everyone else was in the chapel listening in spanish and the chapel gets an internet connection so me and him were in the primary room listening to it alone in english haha it was pretty funny kinda cool experience. yea other than that with changes and conference this week the week flew by we actually had some second visits with some so so investigators and we were pretty pumped to finally get a second lesson with somebody that is only about the 3rd time that has happened to me and elder brown haha so yeah ummmm other than that not much happened, i was thinking of sues breakfast caseral when we had to wake up at 7 am to catch a rerun of the priesthood session haha and i wanted nothing more than a nice little bit of some breakfast caserol so i hope you all enjoyed it and ate a couple slices for me! and yeah as im sure you all know in 2 days i hit my grand year mark! the year has gone by pretty fast but looking back on all the events it definately has been a year haha just like every rm explains the time in the mission goes byfast but it has definately been the time it has been haha so im pretty pumped to start off the second year and i hear the second one goes by pretty fast so i guess we will see what happens with that i will be putting pictures on one of these pendrives pretty soon here probably send it off next week and you guys will be getting it in about 2 weeks and i know you guys love pictures but to be hoenst as my mission goes on i just am lazy and dont take a dang picture or forget my camera but you guys will enjoy the ones i have taken to see my comps a little bit of salto you guys havent seen salto yet and a little bit of young, so yeah thats just about it things i think are starting to turn around here in young i can feel it i think me and elder brown have now past our trial of faith but we will see what really happens pretty soon here!! but yeah i hope you all have a good week with studys and im sure sue is makin up a cake for thursday when ihit my year mark jaja word love you all, keep it gangsta, keep it barton status. thanks for everything!! Elder Barton

just as expected.

word. so just as expected and its almost guaranteed for every trainer. I stayed with Elder Brown here in Young for another change.they are not bringing in 2 other elders so that means that we will be running Young again. Which I am totally pumped and excited for, I feel like the trial of our faith is starting to end and we are gonna start to see some fruits of our labors here pretty soon...i hope haha it seems like week after week we just work harder and harder and we still have yet to find any real solid investigators so i guess all we have to do and all i know to do is work harder haha i dont know if the lord is tryin to test me or something but i have definately been tested it seems like my whole mission finding investigators was just easy for me and my companions we could find 10 people easily every week and now here we struggle finding 6 haha but i do know next bautism i get or anything i am not gonna take it for granted haha i am gonna love that baptism with all my heart haha i wrote andrea, the lady that we helped quit smoking in rivera this last week and she wrote me one of the best letters i have ever recievedfrom anyone in my whole life haha just saying how i am an angel to her and stuff it was pretty awesome to recieve a letter like that and it just inspired me even more to work hard. so yeah thats my change stayin in young with brown and im excited we are becomingbetter friends every day.so yeah i was up on divisions this last week with elder baugh our zone leader who is finishing his mission he is really cool we are good friends and it was just fun to talk to him about his mission he gave me some really good advice and stuff that i will always remember. ummm this next week coming we dont have to much planned just same old same old we will see if we can finally find some good investigators. so yeah josh poo hicks got his call to here that is soooooo sick!!! i hope i see him do you know if it is my mission or the other mission. remember im in the west mission. that made my day when i heard that he wrote me an email i will write him up a letter ASAP but yeah so everything is chillin down here in the guay i hope you all are doing good. oh one more thing haha it is getting freakin hot here i think i forgot how hot it really was last summer these last couple days have been killers haha but its greeat super better than the cold haha but yeah peace fools alma 13:24 preach the gospel

this week.

well folks feels like i was just saying this yesterday but another change has ended and so i will not be emailing you until next tuesday!! haha sue you can mark that off your on your trunky calender haha. so yeah this week was good, I really really really wanted to meet our goal of finding people this week and so i tried to kinda take it into my own hands haha seeming as how the members arent helping much and we just knocked about every day for 3 hours but to little success we still didnt meet our goal haha we definately cleaned out the area nice and good which i guess is good but we defiantely havent recieved the fruits of our labors yet haha but we will see what goes down this week, im staying up here in paysandu until thursday with elder baughn the zone leader just for divisions and elder brown is gonna go down to young and work see what luck divisions can bring us now haha, we had a zone conference last wednesday about faith and how faith is just what its all about not only in the mission but just in life haha than we also had stake conference this sunday and after all of young went to a park in paysandu and ate lunch it was nice to just kidna of kick it back with the 2 branches together and take a 2 hour lunch without feeling bad about it haha cause our bus to get back to young didnt leave till 230 so yea just enjoyed some nice milanesas with the branches and played ninja in the park haha, elder brown is doing good i like to think im helping him haha his spanish is getting better and better and he is starting to crack out of his shell a little bit with me and learn to enjoy himself a little bit more which is always good,, so all in all this week was good filled with lots and lots of doors getting shoved in ourfaces haha but we will just see what happens to us this week!! but i love you guys all so much thanks for everything! i miss you guys and hope you are all adjusting well to the changes life has brought the barton clan! peace elder barton

mission

hey family so yeah you better believe it another week has come and gone just feels like I was emailing all of you fools yesterday!! But I mean just another typical week here in Young, very little people wanting the message haha Young has definately been my toughest area thus far in my mission and I cant help to ask myself what I am doing wrong, but at the same time I know im trying my hardest and thats all I can ask of myself and so I guess its all good haha. Being a trainer definately makes you have to elevate your game and elevate your ability as a missionary especially when your comp cant talk to anyone yet haha but I know elder brown is tring hard and he is constantly studying its just a matter of time and he will be speaking better than me im sure. So this week I went on divisions with elder rodriguez from el salvador and it was a good time divisions are always fun just to change up the routine and see how other people work, and I got to meet elder rodriguez a little better he is a super cool kid. this week coming we have zone conference up in paysandu so i think we will go up to paysandu on tuesday night and spend the night with the zone leaders in their house and have zone conference that next morning zone conferences are alright kinda boring and long but its always nice just to see other missionries and have a nice from the hermana heaton haha ummm so yeah oh yeah the bikes also kinda got abandoned seeming as elder brown is 6 foot 7 i soon realized it might just be easier for him to walk they really dont make stuff that big down here in the guay haha so yeah we have been rockin young by foot and young has been kickin our butt i dont think i have ever been so tired my whole mission a greeny comp and a whole city bad combination for elder barton haha but its all good it makes the days go by super fast. but yeah sooo thats just about it from elder barton, i still have a full head of hair, and still relatively the same weight so mark take that im not getting fat and with summer kickin in here its just more likely that i start to lose weight here in a bit thats right i survived the winter without gaining weight haha its definately starting to get hoter and hoter here and it just seems like i tackled last summer and now here it is around the corner but hey its good haha i think christmas is gonna be here before we all know it and that will be insane. but yeah so all is relaxed from here down in the guay with a full head of hair and the same stomach i left with haha. i love you all and thanks for everything you do for me! definately could not be doing this whole mission thing without the prayers and thoughts from you guys, this has definately been quite the journey and one of the hardest things i have ever done but yet the funnest haha. so yeah peeeaaaccceeee -elder barton

happy birffffffffday....

alright everyone happy birthday to mark to start offf biigggg ol´ 5-2 haha that is crazy fool!!! happy birthday big guy. my week went well, just kinda worked liked crazy haha come saturday night and neither of us could even stay awake, we were hungry from our fast, tired from the day haha and both dying of sleep it was funny haha still not the biggest fan of fast sunday...what can i say i like to eat haha but yeah me and elder brown worked pretty hard and elder brown is starting to crack his shy shell so thats good we are getting a long better and better each day.we were invited by a family this past week to attend their church on saturday and if we went to their church they would come to ours, so saturday for about an hour we went to this church called church of god, it was a fine meeting just all normal i think a little part of me was waiting for something crazy weird but in the end it was totally normal and cool haha and i just realized how similiar our church really is to other churches, not to much different but i just realized between it all is who has the authority to do all these things, which comes from our man j-money smith (joseph smith) and how he truly was a prophet and god really did give him the priesthood so yea that was kinda of the lesson i learned this week that everyone that goes to church is sincerely trying and worship in very similar ways but just like everything else it just falls on the book of mormon and joseph smith. so yeah that was fun i guess to go to another church and just see what other people thing of god. this week i believe im going on divisions with my district leader elder rodriguez from el salvador, should be fun elder rodriguez is a super good guy and good missionary im excited to learn from him. so yeah me and elder brown are traveling up to paysandu tomorrow it will be nice to see some other missionaries it feels like i havent seen anyone but elder brown in a while and i guess it has been like 2 or 3 weeks which is quite a bit of time i dont know haha. im gonna be honest i dont really have to much to say just that same as always just working pretty hard with my new greeny comp haha and trying to help him out, make sure he is having a good time.its weird to see someone in the same position i was in just a couple of months ago which feels like yesterday but he says he is having fun which is always important just to have fun. the weather is starting to get hotter and hotter here as summer slowly comes our way...thank goodness im getting pretty dang sick of winter and waking up to a freezing cold house its actually descent weather to wake up to now days and i realized how white i am from being covered up all the time haha so im excited to get a little tan and hopefully lose some weight, i dont think i have gained any weight but i definately have lost just about all my muscle im doing pushups and stuff in the morning but i dont think its serving me much haha. but yeah i hope you all are doing well and that everyone is adapting to new things are home, you better now throw away my couch i will kill someone and so yeah keep it krispy and real gangsta talk to ya next week. elder michael barton

August is over.....WHAT

wow so this week agust is over and it feels like yesterday I said to myself wow its august 1 now it is nearly september 1st haha buuut yeah this week was fun, I am really enjoying in being a trainer and seeing the progression in elder brown, even in the last week he is speaking better spanish and his teaching is getting that much better as well. and I am just glad to know I can help on of the lords servants become a better tool, elder brown reminds me a toonnn of chase, in the sence that i will catch elder brown doing things when he is alll by himself and i will just say to myself what in the world is going through that kids head haha he is a true farmer and not to rag anything on farmers but just not the brightest tool in the shed. and its pretty awesome i kind of just wake up every morning and say to myself man what in the world is elder brown gonna do or say today, haha the funniest thing that happened this week is elder brown just forgets he is a spanish speaking world, we were in the grocery story and he was buying his groceries and he just starts talking to this lady in english for a good 30 seconds while this lady is just giving him the blankest look and as elder brown stares at her waiting for her to respond the both are just bewildered one cause elder brown is wondering why she isnt responding and 2 she doesnt understand what just happened haha. we went out of the store and i tried to hold it in but i just bursted out laughing he laughed about it too so now i kinda crack a joke whenever he goes to talk to people just saying to him now remember elder she doesnt speak english haha so yeah but in terms of the missionary work....YOUNG IS TOUGH. haha i was talking with one of the branch presidents yesterday at church and i wanted to reassure him that we were working hard for his branch i mean we have yet to have an investigator in church and he was just all yeah i know its tough and i can see you guys are working hard, so thats always good just to know that the im working for see´s that im trying my hardest haha my last 2 areas it seemed so easy to find a good 10 new investigators a week but here in young the most i have ever broken is 6 and its just been a definate change for me to having relatively good success in finding people to teach and lessons a week to having very little succes and when we find someone its just the biggest miracle haha so yeah young has been rather tough but im getting use to it and im having fun still which really is what goes down to it if i can come home at night and say i gave it my all and i feel good about myself thats all i really care about haha and so for i can say that i have given it my all haha. but anywho school started this week that is pretty freakin crazy summer is already over but not gonna lie im glad its over that means i only have one more summer to miss without boating, and doing whatever i want haha i was super nervous going into summer scared i was gonna be trunky the whole time but it flew by so thats just fantastic haha. but yeah i hope everyone is doing well with the new changes with their lives, school, moving out, the barton house is basically empty.....WEIRD. so yeah i guess my year mark here in the mission is getting closer and closer and they say that the second year goes by faster than the first but the first one has gone by pretty fast so im kinda scared to be honest with ya. but yeah thats the report from elder barton this week just working hard with my big ol idaho farmer buddy in the middle of no where in uruguay. hope you all have a good week and i will talk to ya later!!! peace, keep it krisp.

I'm 20.....

well whether you want to believe it or not....your son/younger brother/older brother/friend elder michael barton is 20 freakin years old haha. i still feel like im 15...i am not longer a teenager i think im having a quarter mid life crisis haha its suuupppper weird im 20 years old. but i guess life has to keep moving on and keep living haha but i will be hoenst i am grateful that i am barely turning 20 and i almost have 11 months on the mission i am super grateful i just left as soon as i could and the time has absolutely flown by. but updates so i am training this change...a 6 foot 7 inch farmer from idaho, elder brown. not gonna lie he isnt the brightest bulb in the bunch but he really has good desires to do good and serve the lord which is all anyone can ask. but i have loved having some type of responsibility in the mission, you really feel appreciated and it really just gives me motivations to be that much more obedient and work that much harder to know that president is trusting me with one of his new missionaries so its a pretty good feeling and im scared/excited cause it makes the time just absolutely flllyyyy by. these last couple days with us having to know a whole other side of the city have just felt like minutes and that is always good haha but yeah as for elder brown he is pretty cool everyone is just in absolute shock at how tall he is they wonder what we eat in the united states to get so big.haha but yeah as for my birthday down here in the guay i didnt really tell anyone it was my birthday a lot of people struggle here as it is to put food on the table and the last thing i wanted was to bug people with my stupid birthday to give me a cake haha maybe i will tell some people tonight. ummmm so yeah i think school starts this week i hope everyone gets off to a good start...suckas have to study haha rybart that is pretty sick about moving out and sarah im sure is off to hawaii by now. thank you all for the picture that is the first picture i have seen of you fools since i left, carly has chaned the most and looks alll grown up its kinda creepy, and ryan is rockin a sick shirt. but yeah so this past week i went to montevideo to get elder brown from the temple we ate lunch with president and just enjoyed our selves i saw elder peterson for the first time in 9 months so thats always good and also one of my other good buddies elder morris that i lived with in salto is training so i got to see him he has turned out to be one of my best friends. than after that we had to do a bunch of stuff getting the bikes and all that jazz so this week was a lot of getting to know what was going down in the other rama as well as getting elder brown from deo super busy which is good oh we also had to go up to paysandu for district meeting but all that is over so this next week is pure working and pure hard work and i know elder brown is excited and that makes me excited i really want to give elder brown his first baptism, and so yeah with all this new missionary stuff it also includes an hour of study extra which kina sucks but it has actually helped me personally a ton just to practice and study more always helps and the extra hour absolutely flys by. so yeah thats the story with me just mad chillin with elder brown in young solo and this week the change really gets going so yeah. peace out keep it real from your 20 year old son and brother and friend haha peace