45th Letter: "HAPPY THANKSGIVING"

ME FAMILIA!! 

Man how many times do I have to say I love being able to hear from you all!! Thank you so much for your letters and for everything that you do!!! I truly do have the greatest family ever and I mean that!! :) It sounds like everyone is doing great which is good to hear! Keep living the gospel and everthing will continue to go great!! Well I was super bummed to see that you all went to Forgotten Carols without me... haha jk I just miss it!! I am sure it was wonderful as usual!! I am guessing that Amanda and Tiff were still talking about the singer and how wonderful he was! They always did!! Then as soon as they would get home they would I tunes him and become the biggest fan!!

So things on my end have been ok.... This area is tough!! Definitely has been the hardest area of my mission so far. Currently basically the whole zone is really not doing very well. The Stake leadership is super awesome and geared towards missionary work, but man in all honesty this ward and most of the wards in the stake are really struggling with being engaged in the missionary efforts, and I say that even though there are tons of members coming out to lessons with us and they feed us really well. But the one thing that is really holding things back is the leadership of the ward doesn't see missionary work as something to be to focused on right now which is sad! So that has definitely been the number one topic on my mind is how to help get the work moving forward here... obviously! I have complete faith that the Lord is just waiting to poor out blessings into this area and I know that if we just continue to work hard that great things will happen. But the reason I let you all know is because of all of the wonderful missionaries and Bishops that I have in my family. I would love some advice of how that interaction has been for you all. Please!!

So needless to say Elder Black (my awesome companion) and I have been really focused on finding new investigators, which definitely isn't my most favorite thing to do as a missionary, but I know that that is where everything all starts!! And that is where most miracles occur, or at least that is what I have seen on my mission so far. And one such miracle happened this last week as we were contacting former investigators. So we went to this formers apartment whose name was Monica Sanchez, she had a solid teaching record that both me and Elder Black noticed on two different occasions looking through the area book. We both wrote here name down of someone to go see and so we did just that. We knocked on the door and this white lady in her mid-50s comes to the door so I immediately thought this wasnt Monica which is usually the case when contacting FI but we talked with this lady and we find out that Monica moved out about 3 months prior. We did the usual contacting thing with her asking if she was interested in meeting with us and she said "this is a God moment" "last week I was looking through the phone book at the different churches, thinking of which one I should try out but none of them interested me, I was praying that I would know which one I should look more into, and now here you are at my door." She said that we could come back and we went and taught her yesterday and gave her a Book of Mormon which she was super excited to read. She said that since we had left she was researching our church on mormon.org and it answered a lot of her questions. This was definitely a miracle for me!!
 

Well Family I love you a ton!! FYI Thanksgiving was pretty great, definitely not the same, but thats alright!! Take Care

Love Elder Barrus

ps Pray for new investigators!!!!

44th Letter: "Rioooo Rancho!!"

Dear Family, 

Well family things have changed quite a bit in just this past week it has been pretty hectic. Surprisingly I found out that I was getting transferred to a different stake last week and now here I am in the Rio Rancho stake. Haha My mission has been crazy so far!! I never get a chance to catch my breath and smell the roses, but I guess thats alright because thats not what I signed up to do. So it was super hard leaving the Academy Heights ward when I did, I really grew to love it and the work was going great! We were having tons of success not only in our own area, but within the Zone as well. The Mckays are set to get baptized next Saturday which is the hardest part about leaving for me. We also had a huge miracle this last week and set a baptism date with a young lady named Lindsey Qualo who we invited on the first lesson we had with her, she is super solid and excited to learn. So needless to say I was pretty bummed to have found out that I was leaving, and coming to a Zone that has really struggled for a long time!! As a whole zone there has only been 19 baptisms this year which is definitely going to change. I go forward with faith unlike Lot's wife, and I look at the challenge at hand as something exciting and as an opportunity to grow as a missionary.  

So I really don't know too much about Rio Rancho, other than it is a pretty new development of a pretty upper class people. There are alot of super nice homes and what not, so basically in the missionary sense of things, there is alot of pride, but also theres is some kingdom builders waiting to be found!! :) Rio Rancho is basically a suburb of ABQ, they use to be two totally different cities that were divided, but as ABQ has grown they have pretty much merged.

FYI Mom dont worry we have somewhere to go for thanks giving! :) It definitely wont be as good as your cooking though!! But we wont be starving. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!! It truly is such a wonderful time of the year!! Cherish the time that you are able to spend with family, because you never know with how fast goes by when you will get another time to be gathered together. We had a Christmas miracle this last week!! It snowed!! It was so awesome!! :) It was all melted before noon, but still it brought back the feel of Idaho to me. :)

Well my new companiaro is Elder Black from Moses Lake Washington. He is super awesome, I knew him pretty well already since we were both District Leaders in the Los Lunas stake. He has only been a Zone Leader for one transfer so we are both really young zone leaders. And since I have been a ZL for only one transfer longer I am the senior companion. He has been out on his mission the same amount of time as Elder Lish so about 14 months. I am super excited to be serving with him.

Family know that you are they greatest!! I couldnt be doing what I am doing without all of your love and support! Thank you!! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember to be thankful for all that your Heavenly Father has blessed you with!! Gratitude is more of a blessing to us than to him, because it enables our Heavenly Father to continue to bless us. I am so eternally grateful for the many wonderful blessings in my life and for the oportunity that I have at this time to be serving the Lord. No greater joy have I felt in my life than as I have been dilligently trying to move this great work forward.

Love, 

Elder Barrus

ps. new address

2909 Turf lane SE, Rio Rancho, New Mexico 87124

The McKay Family 

Horschels (Ward Mission Leader)

Estrella and her family

Academy Heights District

43rd Letter: "Heeeey!! :)"

Dear Family, 

It is always so great to write you my wonderful family!! :) I cant believe that I am coming up on 10 months this week... It just blows my mind!! As I look back over my mission to this point I just stand in amazement of all of the blessings that I have been given in my service. It kind of makes me sick to think that I am almost half way through my mission already. I have no idea where time has gone!! Man though I really miss you all though!! It is incredible the family that I have been blessed with as well. I definitely have plenty of blessings to be counting!!

Well all in all I have been doing very well!! The work is going amazing, Josh got baptized this last weekend and we set a baptism date with a man that has been investigating the church for 26 years! His wife is a member and he just hasn't recognized his answer that the church is true until this last week... It has probably been the biggest miracle of my mission so far!! So the Mckay Family is doing great they are looking solid to get baptized within the next two weeks which is awesome!!

So this is the final week of the transfers and so there is always a little bit of a possibility that I could get transferred... I hope not but you never know! So if I email a little later than usual next week then you will know why.

Well I best be going! We are going bowling as a zone today! I knew I took that bowling class at BYU-I for a reason!! :) should be fun!!

Love you all so much!! 

Elder Barrus

Ward Halloween Party 

Josh Villanueva

Elder Figgens (Las Vegas) One of my favorite missionaries ever!! (DL in our zone) We matched on exchanges 

19 dollars in quarters! Thats how we roll!!! :)

42nd Letter: "YOLO Family!! :)"

Dear Family, 

Happy Veterans day!! Sorry I pulled a fast one on all of those that thought I was emailing yesterday!! We didn't email for two reasons, 1st it was Veterans day, and 2nd because or P-day was changed from Monday toTuesday!!! It is super weird, I have just been so use to it being on Mondays!! President Miller announced it last week at our monthly MLC (mission leadership council) he said he changed it because too many libraries and businesses are closed on Mondays, makes sense. Anyways, Family I have been doing great!! This last week has been another turning point in my mission I have recommitted myself to be better at a lot of things that I have been struggling with, and I have already seen the blessings come from it. Truly is amazing when we just turn to the Lord with our weaknesses!!

So as far as an update on the missionary efforts here in the Academy Heights Ward. Things are going magnificent. Josh is looking pretty solid for his baptism on Saturday as long as he passes his interview with President tonight. Ruth and Fredrick Mckay are probably the two of the greatest people I have ever taught on my mission. Ruth has been so prepared for the gospel and Fredrick just kind of follows Ruth. There baptism date is for the 30th and are looking pretty solid to make it. There are tons of other miracles that are going on in our area right now that would take me all day to explain. We have quite a few people that we see have great potential to get baptized in the near future!! :)

The Albuquerque Zone has been behaving itself pretty good as of late which is really good!! Makes our job a ton easier!! This transfer a lot of drama has been worked out and there has been a great moral within the Zone, which definitely could be accredited to our success as a Zone as of late. We had Zone Training (which is every first friday following the first thursday of the month) this last Friday that went great!! It is a 3 hour meeting that we present to the zone on the things that we learned at MLC the day before. It takes a lot of mind work to be able to prepare a 3 hour meeting in less than 5 hours usually!! I have really seen myself grow because of it though. 

Just a quick awesome note! I email the Crofts each week as well and they just let me know that Charlotte and Billy Joe Guerro went and did baptisms for the dead this last week!! That is so great to hear!! :) Missionary work is an eternal work!! Also I wrote Anita and she wrote me back, she is doing great, really misses me and struggled there for a bit but she is loving her calling as Relief Society secretary. 

Well Family know that I really really miss you!! I have been thinking about you all a lot as of late. I know that you all are facing challenges and decisions daily, I pray that Heavenly Father is strengthening and guiding you in whatever it may be!!

Love
Elder Barrus

“I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee”

By President Thomas S. Monson

Group Pic from MLC

Pictures

We got more pictures from Elder Barrus today! It's a mix of pictures from Alamo and Albuquerque 

41st Letter: "NOVEMBER?"

Dear Family, 

So emailing has been so crazy lately... they just recently changed the way that we input numbers for the Zone so we have to put all of the in electronically before we can email, so that definitely cuts into the hour that we have to email. No fun. So I will try my best to quickly give you an update. 

So the missionary work in our zone is taking off!! We went from 9 bap dates 2 weeks ago to 22 as of last night!! The work definitely is being hastened here, and missionaries are starting to be more obedient! :) Definitely makes my job a little easier.

This Saturday we had a wonderful baptism, the spirit was super strong as Joy was baptized. I have just been thinking a lot about how truly blessed I have been throughout my mission!! It amazes me. We should have at least 3 more baptism before the end of November. Josh is looking solid for the 16th and Fredrick and Ruth Mckay, and awesome couple should be baptized on the 23rd.

I am doing great, I don't think I have been more happy on my mission than now. It scares me how fast time has gone, I am cherishing this time. It has been such a blessing. :) It has definitely been anything but easy, but life isn't meant to be easy. We are here on earth to be molded and shaped into that person that our heavenly father wants us to be, and that involves trials and exercising our faith. Which is anything, but easy in the time of the trial, naturally being human we want to find this grand solution to our trials by our self, and that is the number one lesson in life that we need to grasp, THAT WE CANT DO THIS ALONE. That is why pride is the number one sin, and there is so much of that with missionaries lately that it is driving me crazy.... too many times we think we can just handle whatever we have by our selves and that is anything but the case. And for those that think that both on the mission and in life are humbled very quickly, and the reason I say that is because I have experienced it. I testify that there is only joy and peace that comes when we rely on the atonement of our Savior and when we allow our Heavenly Father to lift that burden off of our back. I have been reading through the Old Testament, I started from the beginning about 5 weeks ago and it has been such a difficult read, but I have gotten through it faithfully. I just started Job this morning and it really hit me hard, made me put myself in his shoes. I would ask you all to do the same read the beginning of Job and think of your life and how you have been tried. I thought it was super inspiring how much faith Job had and also how much trust Heavenly Father had in him that he would stay faithful to him.

Sorry for my little vent, but I felt it is super important for me to share that with y'all. What a crazy life we all live! It is so GREAT! :) Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured. Find joy in the journey and as Elder Wirthlin once said, "Come what may, and love it." I love you all and pray for your happiness and success!! Take Care.

Love, 

Elder Barrus 

Scrip: Read Job

Great Baptism: Danny and Joy Scott

He thought he broke his toe but he didnt. My first DL when I was born in Alamo. Now a DL in our Zone

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.