Elder Joel Preston Barker ~Columbia, South Carolina Mission~: Servants of Jesus Christ

T's baptism
The baptism was amazing. Her dad was able to baptize her which was awesome!
I love baptisms in Union, the spirit stays so strong. :)

This week has been different.
I am learning a lot of new things, including patience, which I have never really ever been good at, and other things that come through enduring tough things, but I love tough things, and I am the first to do tough things!
We contacted some of our former investigators that the missionaries have worked with before; but stopped taking the lessons for whatever reason. We love looking through the paperwork and finding these people, because it is such a better use of our time than knocking would be. These people have already talked to the missionaries, and have had time to think about the information they received. Well, we contacted this one man, he is very friendly. We went back, and taught him the restoration and had a great lesson. Everything we talked about, he said he already knew, and he was just waiting for his answer if it is true or not. He has read the Book of Mormon cover to cover, and we invited him to open it back up and continue reading it. Well, we tried to set a date for him and his wife to be receive their answer and be baptized, but he was pretty hesitant.The spirit was so strong in the lesson, but there was something missing. We explained a couple more things that he'd had questions on, and he was pretty happy with the answers we gave him. We said a prayer with him and set a time for us to come back, and he said he would have some stuff prepared for us when we came back. I asked what kind of stuff, and his attitude changed. He got really serious, and leaned forward and said "A question that NO ONE has ever been able to answer, and no one ever comes back!" well, spirit left the room, didn't feel very good at all. I just smiled and said, "well, I can't promise I'll have the answer, but what's your question?" He then asked a question about the Old testament having to do with Abel and Cain. I answered it to the best of my knowledge, and told him anything else that he couldn't find his answer to in the scriptures wasn't meant for us to know quite yet. He was pretty satisfied, and told us he was looking forward to our next visit. :)

This last Friday, Elder Benji Roberts got home from his mission, and we have loved getting to know him. He gave a great talk about the atonement on Sunday, and we had an awesome linger-longer after church. :) We let C know that we weren't going to be able to make it for supper after church because we would be at the linger-longer, and he jokingly told us we would run out of food. Well, Sunday morning rolls around, and we get a call from him and he asks us to stop by before church. We go over there, and he has cooked a bunch of stuff for us to take to the church. Who does that?? It was sooo good too. :) There were like 4 different kinds of green beans, hams, chicken, sweet potatoes, Mac 'n Cheese (The real stuff, nothing that comes out of a box) cornbread dressing, rolls, cornbread, and so much more. Man it was good. Even with exercise and all the walking/biking, I am surprised that I haven't gained a ton of weight since I have been back!

I talked with Elder Roberts, and he will be coming to some of our appointments with us on Tuesday, and he will get to meet the man I spoke of earlier. I am excited to go back there.
We had about 50 people at church with the homecoming, and the talk of there being food, and it was so nice to see some of the people we hadn't seen in a long time.
We have a lot of appointments in the coming week to visit the less actives that we saw, and we are being fed by some of them. It will be so great, and I hope that we can be professional enough that they will recognize us as servants of Jesus Christ, and allow us to come back, and they will come back.

We are going into week 9 of the 12 weeks I have been training Elder Gonzales, and I have learned a lot from being a trainer...I have loved it, but it has been hard. Looking forward, I don't have much time left, and that thought scares me, but I just pray that I can makes the best out of everything, and work my little tail off.
Love y'all!

This is the book that the Branch President's daughter made for me, she is adorable :)

President called us one morning, and said "I know this sounds weird, but can either of y'all braid hair?" I said I could and he said "we'll be over in a few". Well, his wife was out of town, and little K NEEDED her hair braided. Nothing else would do. Haha so she sat down, and I braided her hair. She hugged me, stole a fruit snack, and they left. They say I'm the only missionary she has really gotten attached to. :) she's so cute!