Josh's current address is 51 N 2nd St. Apt 310 Stroudsburg, PA 18360. Packages and letters will be safer going to the mission home. The mission home address is 721 Paxon Hollow Road Ste. B, Broomall, PA 19008. Keep in mind that there will be a delay because it take some time to get packages and letters from the mission home to Josh.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Email from 5/19/2014

Hey Dad
Once again I don't have any time but this week was good. I will use the voice thing to type this out so I'm sorry for grammatical errors. Elder Spackman got another infection on his arm so we had to go to urgent care. Then also go on exchange with the Spanish elders in Wilmington and had no idea what was going on because I do not speak Spanish.
This Sunday Jackie Williams who just got baptized on May 3 spoke in Sacrament meeting. She bore her testimony it was great being able to see the change and how the spirit has been able to work with her. I bought she would be scared but she did great!
I'm excited for you and I'm happy for you. You have our full support. 
Love,
Elder Barker

May 12, 2014

Note from Amber:  I was able to pull a lot of pictures Josh was tagged in over the last couple of weeks and add those to the blog this week.  Looks like he was able to really check out Philly!  Liberty Bell, Rocky, Future Philly Temple Site, and a few others.  Enjoy!

Hey Dad
So this will be quick since we went to Philly today. I got to see the temple site which was really great:) I hope to come back in 2016 when it is dedicated. We got to see a lot of tourist spots and yes I ran up the rocky steps and got a pic next to the rocky statue as well. It was a lot of fun. So this week we were able to do a lot more work and we were able to get 10 lessons on Tuesday! We ended with 20 which is my mission high. Thursday we went out with a member to help his home teaching stuff that he was supposed to have done in March. We went to the first inactive house and she comes out and the first thing he does is start condemning her and she stopped coming because she was insulted. So Elder Spackman and I had to quickly take control and tell her how much we love and need her at church and were able to invite the Spirit and it went better. He did it again with another less active sister. It was just bad cop good cop basically haha. On Friday we were able to run into someone I was teaching who was about to be baptized but then moved. The missionaries where he moved to never got our referral and he was a bit sad so I sent another one and told him to call us if they don't. After we went to his neighbor Latoya's and gave a quick lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith and she said she wants to be baptized so we set a date for July 19 with her. I was able to bear my testimony about how much the Book of Mormon has helped me and the Spirit filled that room. It went great. Saturday we met with another investigator and it turns out that she was best friends with Sandra who just got baptized but they lost contact and we were able to help them get back in touch. Her husband was there on the lesson and he said he hasn't prayed in years and we were able to help him pray again and it was such a great prayer. Saturday we had a baptism:) Michael got to baptize her and we were able to confirm her Sunday. 
It was a good week:) I wish I was able to see Amanda and I hope they're all doing great:)  
I love you all!
Love,
Elder Barker











Sunday, May 4, 2014

Josh's email from 4/28/14

Hey Dad!

So yes I got the packages! Thank you I was very happy especially with my space jam pillow case I got pretty excited not going to lie haha. As far as my birthday goes I would love to have a photo album and... Cash. I can't really think of much else. 

So this week my companion has been very sick so we couldn't do as much as the week before. 
Wednesday we were able to have a few lessons and one of them was with a lady we had been teaching for a bit, her name was Jeannie Dean and is cousins with Michael Dean who goes out with us all the time. She was baptized when she was younger but then went to a Pentecostal church. Anyway, last week we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and she told us Wednesday that something clicked for her opinion that lesson that the Book of Mormon really was true and she said she believes Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that this is the true church. That was great to hear that from her to have her testimony be rekindled even a bit. On Saturday however, we found out that she died from overdose. That was a shock to us and especially Michael and his mom since she was living with them. We went over there on Saturday with his home teacher and gave him a blessing. He is doing a lot better but a lot of times it can change from day to day. He is an awesome guy and he just really wants to go on his mission, he will be 25 when he goes and it is so great to see the desire he has to serve The Lord because many people I know his age are often married but he is putting all of that on hold because he knows it is from missionary work that he and his family are apart of the church and he will help others do the same. He has such great faith. 

Jackie was out of town this week and so was unable to be interviewed for her baptism so she will be getting baptized May 3rd! We met with her Saturday night and she had read her scriptures while she was gone and took notes on what stood out to her and what she got from it (she's reading in 2 Nephi where it compares Isaiah). She was so excited to tell us what she learned it was great! We asked her the questions for the interview to be baptized and she basically bore her testimony to us after and it was so great it made me so happy she was just beaming. She is trying to get all of her family down to see her baptism and confirmation. 

So I want to tell you a bit about my studies this morning, I read Alma 46-48 and I must say Captain Moroni is just a Man haha. I always heard stories about him in church and seminary but I personally never studied intently that part in the Book of Mormon. He was always so humble despite his many gifts and intelligence, he always knew the real reasons for their battles; their wives, their children, their freedom, their God. There was a point after he did his "Title of Liberty" speech that I felt so pumped up as if I was about to play a game in high school. I realized though that Captain Moroni reminded me of you, my dad. He did everything he could to prepare his people to go against the Lamanites temporally and spiritually, just like how you did with all of us kids. You provided such great protection to help us be in the world but not of the world and you always had us be well off physically, we always had what we needed. Looking back I was raised in the exact type of home I want to raise my kids in, and I thank you for that Dad. You are a fantastic father and are definitely "da man!" 
I love you Dad! Please know that we are all happy for you with this step you are taking.

Love,
Elder Barker