40th Letter: "Hey Y'all!! :)"

Dear Family, 

RED SOXS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) The Lord truly is blessing me in all aspects as I have been serving a mission!! haha I LOVE IT!! I found out yesterday as we were eating at a members house, it was the greatest news ever!! Anyways haha glad to hear that y'all are doing well! I have been doing pretty great myself! Things have been pretty crazy as the Stake totally changed up all of the boundaries, which is caused a lot of work for Elder Weber and I. Our area actually got changed quite a bit and we lost a lot of investigators and less actives which is kind of a bummer, but you adjust to whats been given you and go forward. It definitely is an exciting time here in ABQ stake though as another ward has been created!! This church is really booming in this area!! We have had 35% growth in the last 5 years which is incredible!! I love being apart of such a wonderful movement. So I have been amazed with myself since Elder Schneider left, I had confidence that I could run the area pretty well after 6 weeks, but things have been going really well. We taught more lessons last week in this area than it has since it got split, It was a great week!! The Lord is really blessing us with success throughout all of our busy ZL responsibilities.

One such exciting thing that has happened is our investigator with a baptism date for the 2nd of Nov.quit smoking this last week. On Tuesday we went over planning to teach about Faith or something and I had a huge prompting to read Matt. 19 with her about the young rich man. We invited her to do what the young rich man did not, and give up her cigs and follow the Lord. Needless to say we were pretty bold with her. And she wouldn't throw them away on the spot.... So we left kind of discouraged, but the spirit was still really strong and I knew that they could feel the promptings. Anyways so we go back on Thursday and we could tell that there was something different about them right when we walked in. Both of them were happy they were radiating the spirit. So I proceeded to ask him how things had been going, and they said that after we had left they threw away there cigs and have been off since!! They both came to church yesterday and are doing great!! :)

We have a couple other investigators that are really close to baptism and we are super excited for the way that things are going. Definitely a lot of potential!! Hoping to set 4 more bap dates this week!!

Well Elder Weber has been great I have really enjoyed being his companion so far, we have a lot of things in common, and teach super well together. I am pretty sure that he is going to be called to be the next assistant, but I wouldn't mind if we are comps for a while.

I am trying to think of some other exciting things that have been going on, but cant really. This next Sunday is SMCM (Meeting we have with the Stake Pres.) so we will be in the library a lot putting those reports together for our Zone..... It is a lot of work along with figuring out the new boundaries for the missionaries. I am so looking forward to playing some basketball today!! It is such a stress reliever!! :)

I wish you all to have a great week!! Know that I love letters and packages in the mail too!! :) So don't be shy!! haha I am so grateful for such a wonderful family who has set an amazing example for me. Keep doing what you do!! :) I LOVE YOU ALL
Love,
Elder Barrus

My Scripture this week is to WATCH Elder Hollands talk: "Safety for the Soul" It is a life changing talk to me.

39th Letter: "NEW COMP!! :)"

Hey Family, 

Here I am again!! I cant believe how crazy fast everything has been going for me. So I dont have too much time because we have so much to do today, with getting new missionaries settled in and just a bunch of other fun stuff that comes with being a Zone Leader. So I got a new comp this morning, his name is Elder Weber and he is from Lebanon Oregon, he is way sweet!! I am excited. I loved Elder Schneider a lot and will miss him a ton, but I am really looking forward to what is to come. So I will just tell you a couple of things that have been going on as of late. Yesterday was awesome! Because we are the ZLs right next to the assistants we help them out alot, and we were privileged to help alot with picking up the new missionaries from the airport and were with them all day helping them out. It was super cool. There was 24 new missionaries and our mission just hit its max number of missionaries in the mission of 250! So also another thing is that we are having a special Stake meeting this Sunday and they are splitting a ward and redoing a lot of the boundaries, which means there comes a lot more work! Our Zone also got 1 more comp so we now look over 14 companionships... yay! ha

Sorry family that this letter is so short. I really wish I had more time!! But know most of all that I love you tons and miss you like crazy. I am so grateful to be apart of this wonderful work!! I know it is true with all of my heart!!

Love Elder Barrus

Also got a flat tire on an exchange last week.... :(

38th Letter: "Family!! :)"

Dear Family, 

Well my family I cant believe that conference has come and gone!! I am always very sad to see it go, but it sure was amazing. The spirit that they teach with is undeniable that they are prophets and apostles and truly called of God to lead us in the way that He would want us to go. I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He is unchanging He has worked the same way always, He speaks to us just as He has spoken to His children in days of old. Truly is a testimony to me of His great plan of happiness that he has for all of His children not just those that lived in the days of Moses or Noah, but rather ALL. I loved all of the talks this conference but I especially caught on to those repeating topics. Of such included that of a sin is still a sin even if it is legalized by man. Definitely a topic that a lot of members of the church still question and try to justify I feel. Also the topic of the importance of all members and missionaries being united in this great hastening of the work. It is so important that we are all looking for these wonderful missionary opportunities and are taking advantage of them. The Lord is preparing so many of his children at this time! Never has there been a greater need to do missionary work than now!! We may give our selves excuses saying that oh I live in Idaho and everyone is either Mormon or else they have been bugged by Mormons before, well they haven't been bugged by this Mormon!! Now that I look back on my life before my mission I realize how many wonderful opportunities that I had to share the gospel, but I just didnt speak up and do it!! Please dont make the same mistake that I did, you miss out on too many blessings!!

Well I have been doing great! I have still been super tired, but I have learned how to just deal with it and keep going, which isn't easy but the blessings are rewarding. I promise you that I wouldnt be doing this if I didnt know that this gospel is true with all my heart, and that the priesthood power truly has been restored to the earth! If I didnt know that this was true trust me I would much rather be watching the Red Soxs right now, but I know that this message carries an eternal importance and can change lives because I have seen it change mine.

As far as whats been going on here..... Umm not too much we neglected getting our exchanges done with the DL till later now and we have to have them done before transfers so we have been hustling to get those done. I will actually be on one tomorrow and I will be with an Elder that they email on Tuesdays so I will write more to you tomorrow.

I love you so much eternal family!! GO spread this wonderful message!! 

Love 
Elder Barrus

Pictures

Elder Barrus' new companion, Elder Schneider

37th Letter: "BAPTISM!! TEMPLE TRIP!! :)"

Dear Family, 

My dear family here I am again sitting here in the ole town of Albuquerque writing my beloved family!! Truly is a pleasure. Well I have been doing pretty good, things have been super super crazy as of late and these weeks are just flying by!! Life as a Zone Leader is hectic because your so busy, and because your are so busy you have no sense of time anymore. These weeks are beginning to seem like hours. Man I have been so physically exhausted lately!! That I think it is starting to make me sick! I get these throbbing headaches randomly during the days now that are really annoying, I think its because I am constantly thinking about something, worrying about this, or worrying about that. At times I just have to sit still for a couple of seconds and relax and just take one thing at a time. It has been really hard, because I definitely have that worrying personality that I am sure that most of you know about me. I have never been really good about focusing on the here and now, I am always thinking of how I can do this, when this needs to be done, when we need to go see this person, what we need to teach this person...etc It definitely has been something that I have prayerfully sought the Lords help with. Well anyways I am super happy at least to hear that the Red Soxs won the AL East and that the Yankees didn't even make the postseason!! I know that the Lord is blessing my teams for my service! ;) haha So some of the things that have been going on as of late:

The reason that I am writing a little later in the day is because it was Temple Trip today!! I totally forgot to mention it in my previous emails, but yeah it was very needed. Its amazing to me how much nourishment the Lord feels you with by just walking in those holy walls. I know with all my heart that it truly is the House of the Lord and that within the walls of the Temple that sacred priesthood powers truly do bind families for eternity. I have been thinking a lot about Grandpa and Grandma Warner lately and I truly did feel their presence with me this morning along with many of my other loved ones who have since past. The veil is so so so thin if we allow it to be in our lives. I can just hear our loved ones chanting for our triumphant finish as we are going along each day. They want us to succeed just as much as our loving Heavenly Father does. They can continue to have an impact on our lives and very much be apart of them even as they have past on.

Another incredible experience we had yesterday was, we were teaching a very promising young couple the Restoration, and as we taught them the apostasy Sarah stopped and said, wow I feel stupid I just realized that there hasn't been a prophet on the earth like Moses or Noah, how is that so if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever? We proceeded to answer her question by the first vision, after we relayed this experience we asked them what they thought, and both of them said at the exact same time, "God called him to be a prophet huh?" We hadn't even have explained that to them yet, but they had been so prepared and taught by the Lord that everything clicked for them. It was incredible!!! They will be getting baptized soon, I am sure of it!!

So we had an unexpected blessing this last week as Roxanne, Damiana, and Isaac all decided to be baptized this weekend instead of after conference because they wanted to have the spirit with them as the watched conference. It was super neat to hear them say that. But it became super super super hectic trying to get the baptism pieced together. They passed there baptism interview Friday at 3pm. We were on exchanges by the way. So I had less than 24 hours to inform the ward by myself of the baptism the following day. Needless to say it was crazy!! But the baptism turned out to be wonderful!! The spirit was so strong and we had plenty of ward members come out and support.

So in closing I want to say thank you and Happy Birthday to the greatest Dad a man could ask for!! I have and I know that anyone that has ever come in contact with this wonderful man feels of his great spirit. I have never once thought that my Dad was anything less than a man of God. He has taught me so many great and wonderful things that has helped me develop into who I am today. Thanks Dad. I love you!!!

To my great family have a great week!! Take Care and walk by faith!! 

Love 

Elder Barrus

My council or scripture: Go to the temple, what can I say more. :)