LAST LETTER

Happy P-day everyone! Honestly all I can think about is the fact that we are having another baptism later today!! He is the husband of the sister we just baptized a couple months ago! And whats even cooler is he asked me to baptize him!!! I've never baptized anyone ever so we'll see how it goes. If you know much about me, I tend to overthink things so of course I'm nervous about baptizing him wrong! Haha! Well, that's mostly all I have to talk about this week. Here are some pictures! Love y'all!! :)

June 5, 2017

Oh my goodness Elder Garrett and I had such a great week!! So Tuesday we had an appointment to go teach a potential investigator and when we got there, she wasn't home... That seems to be a common occurrence in missionary work unfortunately but luckily while we were there we met and started talking with the potential investigator's friend who ended up being really interesting in finding a church to go to!! We weren't talking to her very long when the original potential investigator showed up and a THIRD friend with her! So before we knew it, we were teaching three very interested people! Haha it was crazy! By the end of the lesson, they were all pumped to come to church! I am really grateful for miracles like that. I know that God manifests miracles in our life when we show Him our faith and a sincere desire to further his great work. These new investigators are pretty golden from what we can see!

Another miracle we saw was after church on Sunday. We had our usual lesson with one of the families we are working with and I don't think I ever could have been prepared for the result of that lesson. The Spirit was thick! So yesterday was Fast Sunday and I was actually fasting for this specific investigator because he was struggling with the Word of Wisdom. He had to have been living the Word of Wisdom like last week in order for him to get baptized before I leave this area. At church yesterday when we asked him how we was doing he said he has been living the Word of Wisdom completely for four days already!! It was a miracle because he has been trying so hard to quit but wasn't able to until randomly he just put his addiction down last week!! I knew the Lord had answered my prayers because I REALLY wanted to be there for his baptism, but it gets even better than that... He mostly was just doing it because he knew it would be good for his family, not to get baptized or anything. In fact was pretty skeptical about getting baptized just yet. In our lesson we asked him what his concerns were and the Spirit just totally softened his heart. He recognized that he knew baptism was a good thing and that if he didn't get baptized right now, he would just keep putting it off forever. We asked him and he committed to be baptized on June 14th!!! ANOTHER miracle!! I don't know what is going in this area but God really wants these people to get baptized! Ha! We are planning to baptize another investigator that day too. There is no way Elder Garrett and I could have just convinced these people to get baptized. God is real and His Spirit is truly does testify that this church is the only true church upon the face of the earth. I absolutely know it! 

So basically we are going to be super busy planning for these investigators baptism but I wouldn't have it any other way. Love you all!! :)

Elder Barazoto

May 30, 2017

Sorry for not emailing yesterday! Everything was closed for Memorial day! This week was a really awesome week actually. We had some pretty great things happen! We had exchanges with the Parkersburg Elders and that was pretty interesting. Normally for exchanges we just switch companions between both areas but not they want us to bring the other set to our area and have all four of us work our area! It was really different but we got twice as much work done so that was really cool! Ha! That night we had 4 missionaries in our little apartment, it felt pretty cramped haha we only had one extra mattress so one had to sleep on the couch! Haha I felt bad, but I guess a mission is a time to get out of your comfort zone! :) haha 

This week we were picked up an awesome new investigator! Her dad is a less-active member but they have family that are active members in Utah! She knows very little about the church but did a report about family history in High School and really wants to learn more about the church! It was really cool! we are just hoping that her parents don't interfere!! 

Last night we taught picked up another new investigator who we are pretty excited about! Missionary work never ceases to be awkward and we met this investigator in kind of an awkward way haha but it ended up being really good! She was having a really bad day and we were able to teach her about the Plan of Salvation and she loved it! She kept saying how much it just made sense. It was really neat! I love it when you find new people to teach as a missionary, it always gets me so excited about the work. It is really amazing to see how God prepares people all around us to receive the gospel! I would also add that God didn't intend for only missionaries to be able to find these people! I promise that if you really look for opportunities to share the gospel, they will be there! 

Things in Marietta have been going really well. If I'm being honest with myself, Marietta is shaping up to be one of my favorite if not my favorite area on my mission! I love it here!!

I have lots of pictures this week I hope you can look past my awkwardness! :) haha​

​Elder Garrett says that this is a cool pose now? I dont know I feel old and out of touch haha

​A sweet Tundra we found!​

​After district meeting​

​haha...​

May 22, 2017

This week was great! We were blessed to find a lot of new people to teach. One of the new investigators we found is a huge history buff so it was really fun talking to him and seeing all the historical artifacts he has. He told us he has a super old painting of the interior of the Salt Lake Temple from the 1800's that hes going to show us next time we go back so that will be interesting! Haha he seems like a pretty sincere guy! 

This week seemed so short with all the traveling that we did but we did so much too! Weeks are flying by so fast its getting hard to keep everything straight! So Tuesday we of course went to the Columbus Temple and then Wednesday we drove to Charleston for Zone Conference and Interviews with President Salisbury. Then Friday and Sunday we had to drive to Parkersburg, WV for district meeting and also for church. So yeah lots of traveling this week! But its good, all the traveling was for something really awesome so we dont mind the drive! Ha

Zone Conference was of course great and instructive. It always amazes me how much Mission President's can do! They are amazing! Sunday was Stake Conference and President Salisbury spoke at that. As he was speaking I realized and was baffled at how he found time to present 6 all-day zone conferences to a entire mission and still have time to write a talk too!! It must be God's work for things to run as smoothly as they are!

Well anyways I am really loving my mission and all of the amazing experiences I am having. Thank you for all the prayers and support! It is amazing to have great people who support you! I love you all and have another great week! :)

Elder Barazoto

May 16, 2017

So we just got back from the Columbus, Ohio Temple literally like a couple minutes ago and it was AMAZING!! It was definitely the smallest temple I've ever seen, but you still feel the Spirit so strong in any temple so its doesnt really matter! I loved it so much! Plus driving though Columbus was super cool! It was such a big city! Loved it! Anyways, I dont have much time but I am doing well and happy as ever! The mission is just the best! :)

Elder Barazoto

The Temple was beautiful!

Elder Garrett and I

Columbus, the big city! Ha! :)

May 8, 2017

Sundays as a missionary never seem to fail you! We saw some pretty neat miracles yesterday that always make me so excited about the work! Instead of regular church we actually had a broadcast from Salt Lake City! There were talks given by Elder Perkins of the Seventy (who I've actually met), Elder Gong of the Presidency of the Seventy, and Elder Dallin H Oaks! It was a special broadcast for this area of the the church and it was really awesome! I just hope our investigators really recognized how cool it was to hear from all of them! Haha :) 

So funny story time... The broadcast was supposed to go to every ward building, but for some reason the broadcast wasn't working in our building... So Saturday night the bishop called us and told us that we would have to drive to Parkersburg. WV to watch the broadcast. So Sunday morning we drive to Parkersburg and there is a former Elder who served in Parkersburg visiting the ward and I knew him! He went home like a year and a half ago so I knew him when I served In Williamstown at the very beginning of my mission. Its crazy to think how small the world can be, especially on your mission! You know your an old missionary when you remember people who served in your mission almost 2 years ago! 

Elder Garrett and I are doing really well and seeing lots of miracles! After church on Sunday we were walking around in a neighborhood in Marietta when this drunk guy stops us and starts demanding answers to his questions like why do bad things happen to good people? We were trying to answer his questions in a respectful manner but he just wasn't having any of it so we had to raise our voices a little and boldly testified what we know to be true. It was pretty cool and we felt probably similar to what Elder Holland feels like after a talk in General Conference, it was really cool. Hahaha the guy then asked us to come by again when hes sober to teach him! Being bold sometimes really pays off! Haha I love my mission!

Well that's mostly it for this week, I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Barazoto

May 3, 2017

Hey everyone! This week was really awesome! I dont have a bunch of time but Ill share what I can! So we had a lesson with our investigator Cody and he is doing so good! We were able to commit him to be baptized in June! I am pumped! I am really praying he gets baptized before I leave this area, that would amazing! 

We taught another one of our investigators a couple days ago and that lesson went really well! We were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and he told us hes been thinking a lot about baptism and he said he wants to do it! Elder Garrett and I were pretty shocked but of course we were so happy! He wants me to baptize him so we'll see what happens!

Well thats about all I have time for, but I have some pictures so hopefully that makes up for the short letter! Love ya'll and have a good week!

Elder Barazoto