North to Alaska

Feb 29, 2016

Hey everyone!
So this week a bit lame. I hurt my knee on Tuesday and had to be home
bound for the rest of the week. There is nothing more boring then
being home bound as a missionary!!! On the plus side i got really good
at Monopoly. Elder Juarez and I played that game like no tomorrow!

Although I was bedridden there still was some exciting things. We got a hold of our investigator who was baptized last week and took off. We were trying to get a hold of her for the longest time! Finally when we called she answered! We met with her and she told us how she was embarrassed how the baptism went down and had to get away for her sister. So she spent the night at a friend's house and slept in that Sunday and felt bad so she didn't contact us. On the bright side she stayed clean the whole time. We got the go ahead to confirm her a member on Sunday. That was amazing to witness that and to stand in the circle. You can just see the change in her as she received the Holy Ghost. That moment reminded me just how lucky I am to be here serving the lord and get to see the Atonement work in its fullest each and everyday.

That was the highlight of my week! I did do some other stuff. I was
cleared to go OYMing (open your mouth) on Saturday. Here in Anchorage
they had this thing this weekend called the fur rendezvous. They sell
a lot of cool fur there and they had an outhouse race! Alaska at its
finest! There was A TON of people there! So we walked around and
talked to people and handed out some Book of Mormons. There are some
serious weirdos in the world but there were also some super nice
people! Good time spreading the word.

Trace how you have changed

OK that is the kind of Moose you can get close to!

2-22-2016

Hey everyone!
So this week I'm just going to tell you about the baptism. Her name is Teresa.
Missionaries have been teaching her here for about 4 months. She is totally awesome! She was smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day
when they found her. When I got here it was half a pack. We work it down to 0. The week before I got here she came to church drunk so I
heard all about her. I thought oh great. But because they was no judgement there we saw her for how awesome she really was. After she
got of cigarettes, she was reading the Book of Mormon everyday and reading a lot. Just over 10 chapters a day. Lots of great questions
too! She was so ready for baptism! She had some down moments but work through them. On Saturday we started off the day helping her pass out food for the homeless. We could only stay for a little bit because we had to go fill the font up. So we had someone pick her up and got her ready after the service. We get text from the person picking her and her sister up saying "her sisters drunk." Before we could say don't bring her they were already there. So the first word out of her sisters mouth was the F word. She was yelling and screaming. She was staying kinda calm as we prepared for the baptism. As we were taking pictures she started going kinda crazy and swearing a lot. Of course right at that time our mission president showed up to attend the baptism. As the service started she blurted out oh few comments. Still swearing but we ignored it for Teresa. Although there was that loud drunk lady you could still fill the spirit. It got crazy when we were about to go into the font and she rushed through the door yelling don't F word kill her!!! They grabbed her and sat her down. She calmed down and we did the baptism. That was amazing! I saw in Teresa's eyes,
as I pulled her out of the water, the happiness of the spirit. It was a great moment. While I was changing all I could hear was her sister yelling. They ended the service fast after. When her sister stepped out for a cigarette there was actually peace. Then when she came back it all went down hill fast! She really upset Teresa so Teresa went to take a walk. I went to comfort her when her sister started to chase after her calling her the B word. I lost it! I grabbed her sister and pushed her against the wall and walked her drunk butt out of the church. My zone leader locked the door behind her. Then her sister started throwing up everywhere. After they gave them a ride home. Then the worse case scenario happened. That night I called Teresa. She was not home. So Sunday rolled around and she was so pose to get confirmed. They went to pick her up and no one was there. We called
her like 30 times and she wasn't home. She went missing. Then last night we get a text from a random number saying its Teresa and she is sorry and will call us later. I think she was so mad and her sister
she could be in the same house. They live with the rest of her family.
I hope we get in contact with her ASAP.
Although things didn't go to well I know everything will work out. It's hard to see it now but I know the Lord has a plan even if we can't see it. I also know that Teresa knows this is true. Things go
wrong in life and missionary life is no different. One thing I have learned is to always trust that the Lord is in charge. The Lord told Joseph Smith that his afflictions were only for a small moment. I know that to be true with missionary life. Moments come where everything that could go wrong went wrong but they are only for a small moment. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to see first hand Teresa change through the Atonement. I can't believe how lucky I am to be doing the
Lords work!

-Elder Barney

2-15-2016

Hey everyone!
Hope everyone loved there valentines! I sure did! We had a big North
Region Conference. It was broadcasted from Salt Lake City. We were
able to hear from Elder Renlund. It was great to hear from him. It was
great to have investigators hear form him also. It was a giant stake
thing. Learned a lot! Great way to end a long week! We were so busy
this week! We got 40 lessons this week! It was seriously the hardest
thing I have every done. It was so awesome to see the Lords hand in
our work this week! We were able to teach so many about the gospel!
Because of the Lords hand in our work we are having a baptism on
Saturday! I will let you all know how that goes next week! Keep
prayers out for her! Also thanks for all the prayers! I love and miss
you all so much. Please email in Sunday night. We have to email early
now. Love you guys!

-Elder Barney

new valentine tie from mom and dad

2-8-2016

Hey everyone!
Hope everyone enjoyed their week! I know Brother Garrard is over the
moon with his team winning the super bowl! All the missionaries kept
telling me that you can't do anything on super bowl Sunday as a
missionary. I never realized how much of a ghost town it can be when
the super bowl was on. No one wanted to let us in while the game was
on. It was crazy.

So this week definitely had its struggles but at the same time was one
of my favorite weeks here! I learned that God will make you strong as
long as you do your part in trying. There were times that I would
think that I am only an 18 year old kid and here I am trying to
comfort these grown adults who have challenges that I never even seen
someone go through before. I quickly learned that I am not the one who
is comforting them but the spirit is. I'm only the messenger and the
messenger doesn't have to be perfect. I also learned that God has a
plan. We need to trust in him. Only then can he mold us into who he
wants us to become. I learned a lot this past week which is why it is
one of my favorite weeks! Thank you all for you many prayers! Us
missionaries definitely feel them everyday! Hope you all have a good
week!

P.S. The picture is the priests and ward mission leader. The other is
an investigator we teach at Burger King with a family from the ward.

-Elder Barney

Great group of young men

Now we know why so many Burger King
charges on his check card.

2-1-2016

Hey everyone!
Before I say anything I saw my first moose in Alaska! We were driving
to one of our appointments and saw a mama moose and her calf! Of
course me being me I wanted to feed it. So I too, this plate of
cookies someone gave us and put it between the mama and the calf. BAD
IDEA! Mama moose don't like that!!! It chased me but I made it into
the truck in time! I was sooo scared! We will put that down as a dumb
idea.

Giving a plate of cookies to a Moose? BAD IDEA

Hope everyone had a good week this week. Our week was a little rough.
Everyone always told me that I would have hard times on my mission and
I never believed them until this week. Although there was some hard
times I can see the tender mercies of the lord still on our work.
Every time something went wrong there was always a tender mercy to
follow it. One of those tender mercies is one of our investors Teresa.
She is this awesome native lady who is so funny! She has been taking
the lesson for about 3 months now. The Elders before us tracted into
her one day. She was loved in Utah for awhile so she new them
instantly. When she started to meet with them 3 months a go she smoked
2 packs a day and was drunk every night. Now today she has been two
weeks clean from all of that! When I first got here she was doing 3
cigarettes a day. Little by little and week by week she lessened the
amount. The other day when me and Elder Juarez were feeling down
,because of our bad week, she surprised us when she read a whole
chapter of the Book of Mormon! She said as she started to read the
chapter we have her she couldn't put it down and read another chapter
as well. She said she prayed about the Book of Mormon that night and
when she woke up every time she wanted to smoke she wanted to throw
up. Tender mercies of the Lord right there! Her example made me think
that I need to put more trust in the Lord. When things are not going
your way there are always those tender mercies! You just have to look
for them.
Oh by they way one transfer down! Can't believe I survived my first
transfer! Time flys! I hope everyone has a safe week this week!

-Elder Barney

Trace's Zone

Obi One Trace
We didn't know he was going to Alaska to become a Jedi

January 25, 2016\

Hey everyone!

So first of all I am safe! Yes we had a 7.3 earthquake in Alaska and yes I definitely felt it! I was sleeping and I heard my companion yell "Barney!" I woke up in panic of course. Then I noticed everything was shaking. Yes I was scared. I never felt anything like that! We are on the 3rd floor and the whole building started to day back and forth. I thought it was going down but it was all okay. It was a little hard to sleep after that. It all happened around 1:30am. It was definitely one for the journal!

After the Earth Quake did you do something fun for P-Day?

So for P-Day today we took a hike to the Pacific Ocean! Ya I touched
the ocean! That was awesome! It was a great hike and had so many great
views! We played frisbee on the ocean too because it was frozen. I
feel like not to many people can say that! I'm part of a select group!
Haha it was a really fun P-Day activity with my distract.

This week I have been reminded how important it is to be obedient. I
can see that when we are obedient to our Heavenly Father blessings
come and when we are not they stop. There was no big example that I
can give about obedience this week but I can see the difference in our
work as missionaries. One of the biggest things I have learned on my
mission so far is to always act on a prompting. We get prompting to
call or visit someone all the time. When we act on those I always see
why we got that prompting. Thank you all for your prayers! I feel them
each and everyday! Love you and miss you guys so very much!

-Elder Barney

It goes on, and on, and on. It never stops

Little me in the WIDE open space

January 18, 2016

Hey everyone!
So this week was great!! We got another investor on date to be
baptized! Super excited for that on February 20th! I wish it was
sooner but she wanted it further out. She is definitely a character.
She was a referral from the sisters in another district. She is
battling with smoking, drinking, and some drugs. The other day when we
asked her if she wanted to be baptized she told us she did something
bad. She told us she felt really bad because she smoked. So I told her
that she can work on it and she can still be baptized and stuff. Then
she said "ya it was only a little bit of crack." My eyes almost popped
out of my head! I was like wait what?! So needless to say our next
lesson is on the word of wisdom haha. I hope she keeps her commitments
it's so great to see investigators keep their commitments! You can
truly see them put their trust in the lord.

So for P-day we went ice fishing with one of my favorite families! The
Zvirzidens. They are the nicest! Last night we played board games and
ping pong and eat some awesome dinner! So this morning we went to
their house ready for ice fishing and they surprised us with
breakfast. It was so great! Ice fishing was super fun and cold! I
caught 2 fishes!!! They were small but it counts! We also we went ice
skating on the lake. I realized that is not my talent. Loved it!

-Elder Barney

Just sitting on my Bucket waiting for the fish to bite

I caught one!!

Ice skating is for the the talent ones.

How do I get back to the shore line?????

That's me in this big beautiful place.