Dad,
to start off no I am still with Elder Parker. in fact no one in our branch got transferred which is really rare, especially myself and Elder Newbold were being trained. We will all be together for 3 transfers and normally a companionship is only together for 2! Elder Flake was from Idaho actually near Boise.
That's awesome about Nathan! What did he speak on from the strength of youth? I have found that i am a good public speaker buuut i still have a lot to improve on in actual lessons, but i am getting better. and i did the package from Andrea tell her i say thank you and the vile she sent is really cool:)
This week we got multiple things of bad news. First, on Thursday, we found out that we will not be receiving iPads or iPhones until January. I don't know how they expect us to be good missionaries without all those things!! (I would put effort in telling you it was sarcasm but our family speaks that more than English) But with that said, I don't know how we will be able to Skype home. There is only one family in our town and it would be impeding on their family time if we were to go there for 2 hours. We may use the Senior couple's but they are going to be in Connecticut and i do not know if we are allowed in their house while they are not there. We have zone conference this Thursday where i believe we get all our presents and hopefully find out more info on the whole skype home thing i will know by next Monday (hopefully, if not how does Mother's Day sound). Also, apparently they are having a talent show and one of our zone leaders asked Elder Parker and me what some of our hobbies were and we both said sports and he said singing and i said "hip hop dancing but i don't think that's allowed on a mission; especially with the Mission President present" but he was like no do it it would be something different from a bunch of people singing hymns. He has a point but i would feel so uncomfortable doing that so i doubt i will haha. Also, we had a snow storm this weekend and had about 9 inches of snow. it didn't snow hard but it never stopped. So church was cancelled yesterday:( so as missionaries, we had no reason to live... haha.
Last P-Day, i have no idea whether i made one of the best decisions of my life, or one of the worst. We all went to a diner called Friendlies and we had a hamburger... but this was no ordinary hamburger this was a burger with grilled cheese sandwiches as buns!! it was glorious! until later when I laid down in bed and literally (yes literally) listened to my blood slow down! i can't wait to go back haha. enough about food because i have now lost a total of 16 lbs:)
Tuesday we went to the soul kitchen for the Christmas dinner. It was a lot better than last month's. so much more organized and less people complaining about their free food. it was good though Elder Parker and Newbold were singing Christmas songs and i was doing interpretive dance. haha kidding i just served and cleaned up. It was a lot of fun.
Thursday we were able to help out Michelle and Jerry. She was happy to know that we were both staying so she doesn't have to learn to trust another white man haha. We helped sand some walls and doors to help paint stick to it and we did that for a few hours. I had to sand all the tiny grooves by hand so it took a long time but he was able to paint both sides of the door i got by the time we left.
Sorry we only had one planner for this new transfer and Elder Parker took it so i have no planner (it wasn't a big deal because we were going to be getting iPads this week) so i am trying to remember everything that happened.
Friday we went to go see Brother Nunemacher and we were able to talk to him about the role of the Book of Mormon. and he brought up how he is nervous about going to church and i told him about how continuing to go to church with everything that has happened to us and me has been able to strengthen our family so much and the Spirit was in that room as we both bore our testimonies i hope he comes this next week.
Sunday we went to Mahanoy City with Zane and Sandy to go see Kenny and Lissette. It was an awesome lesson and we talked about the Plan of Salvation with a lot of emphasis on the Atonement because he wanted to know what the sacrament was meant for because he was new last week. He told us about how he felt at church and how he was close to tears during one of the talks and how he wants to feel that more and more and he said he is sure he only felt 75% of how he could and he wants to know how to feel it stronger. we told him about the Holy Ghost and then i extended a baptismal invitation to him. He accepted but they have to talk to President Molano about their situation, since they are unmarried, before we can have a date for him. Unfortunately, Elder Parker, or myself will not be able to attend it:( It was awesome having Zane and Sandy there because they are the young couple and are both converts and Sandy has a 3 year old daughter named Leanna, who reminds me so much of Daisy, and Sandy and Lissette exchanged numbers so i am excited for them they are both just amazing people and Kenny, he grew up in the Bronx, is such a down to earth guy who wants the best for his family.
I will send pictures of some things that we did in another email:)
I hope you are doing well,
Elder Barker
Me and Elder Dillon Flake
Our District doing the Grape White Shark stance. It's how Elder Flake always stood.
The grape white shark is a whole other story
And the (in)famous grilled cheese sandwich burger. They didn't add my onion rings:/
Our ghetto Christmas tree made out of duct tape and Star Wars pens from cereal boxes
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