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

April 24, 2017

Pretty good week! Lots of ups and downs, but overall we had a lot of great things happen! So definitely one of the most significant things going on has to do with our recent convert Brother Nolan... He is going to the Columbus temple in a couple weeks!! Statics in the church say that those who are baptized and go to the temple soon after they are baptized are much more likely to stay active in the church than those who do not so we are really excited for him :) But there is something even better... WE HAVE PERMISSION TO GO WITH HIM!!! Columbus, Ohio is like 2 hours outside the mission boundaries, but we talked to President Salisbury and he said we could go! I am PUMPED!! I haven't been to the temple in almost 2 years so pretty overdue but on top of that I'll get to go with one of my converts which is going to be like the greatest things ever!! It'll be super fun to leave the mission boundaries and go to big city like Columbus so Im also pretty excited that too haha! Anyways, as you can tell I am just a tad bit excited about going to the temple :) :) :)

So our investigators we are teaching right now are still progressing really well! We have 2 really solid investigators, Tara and Cody. My hope and goal is for them to get baptized hopefully soon! They are both really good people and the gospel will bless them so much! I have a good feeling that they will get baptized so we will see what happens :)

There is another family we are working with that came to church yesterday. The husband is a member but the wife is not. They hadn't been to church in a while so we were really excited they came especially after the experience we had with them in our Gospel Principles class! So the teacher was out of town this Sunday so we just had to improve a last second lesson for the class. Normally I think I would have been freaking out, but I think it ended up going really well! Well enough that the wife of this family who struggles to believe in living prophets today saw how a prophecy from Brigham Young can true! She is now feeling like she can accept that doctrine! I can't take any of the credit for that because it was obviously the Spirit the bore testimony to her that God still speaks to prophets! The member husband later told us she is right on the verge of really being serious about baptism! It is really exciting!! It is just another amazing evidence that His work is hastening and people are being prepared to be taught! :)

Well, I am so grateful for all your support and love. I know I am so blessed because of all of you! Talk to ya next week! 

Elder Barazoto

April 17, 2017

Hello everyone! This week was pretty amazing! I think I've probably said this like a million times but Marietta, Ohio has got to be one of the most fruitful places in this mission! We just had 2 baptisms a couple weeks ago and the husband of one of our converts is wanting to learn as well! At this point, I am pretty satisfied with all the blessings God has given us. I don't know what we did to deserve all these blessings and miracles but this week we saw again how God is preparing even more people in this area to hear the restored gospel! So last Monday night we went to contact a referral in our area. We had been tried to meet with her for a while now and weren't able to catch her home but we decided to go try and see her at a different time of the day and she was home! That was pretty cool by itself but then she tells us her story... She's had a bit of a rough past dealing with certain trials in her life but was trying to find the right church for her to go to. She has a LDS friend in another part of the state that invited her to church a while ago and when she went she felt a peace that she hasn't felt in any other church before and she loved it!!! People who are or have been missionaries will understand that when a person says something like that you're like about ready to pee your pants your so excited haha so basically she came to church yesterday with her three kids and she is just amazingly golden! I just love being a missionary!! Experiences like that just make it hard to not love being a missionary.

Easter was really great as well! We did a whole Easter program in sacrament meeting and Elder Garrett and I did a lot of singing for that which I think we both enjoyed. We had a bunch of investigators there too so that was also amazing. One song we sang was Where Can I Turn for Peace and for some reason it really struck me. I thought about the blessing of our Savior, Jesus Christ and what He can do for us. I am eternally grateful for the peace that the Savior brings into our lives especially this Easter season. The Church always does these amazing initiatives for Christmas and Easter and the one they did for this Easter was probably one of my favorites. If you haven't taken the opportunity to watch it yet, do it! Ha! Its all about finding peace through Christ and its amazing. 

Well I love ya'll very much and I hope everyone is happy and healthy! Please do all you can to represent yourself and the Savior well every day this week! :)

Elder Barazoto

April 10, 2017

It can be a little heart-wrenching when you are planning to have 7 investigators at church on Sunday and you end up only have one... Haha :) We are SO happy about our investigator Cody coming to church but it would be nice to see everyone come to church that commits to! Next week should be much better because most of the reasons that our investigators didn't come this week was because they were sick or they accidentally slept in. So Elder Garrett and I are super pumped next weekend! 

Other than that our week has been pretty good! We had a really rewarding experience this week for me at least. We are teaching the new member lessons to our most recent convert Sister Russell and we ended up talking about missionary work. She was telling us all the people she wants to share the gospel with and it was just a huge blessing to see a new convert's desire to share the thing that has brought her so much joy! Being a missionary is such an amazing blessing oh my goodness, I dont want to be anywhere else but serving my Heavenly Father and helping His children find happiness. Sister Russell even cooked dinner for us yesterday! So awesome!! That family is just the best :) Right now we are working on helping her husband get baptized, he was the one at church this week and we are hoping that he will desire to be baptized soon!

This week we have been running into lots of people who either were formerly taught by missionaries or used to active in the church but are no longer coming. Its been a while since missionaries have visited them and we are hoping and praying that their hearts have softened and they are willing to make sufficient changes to be able to experience all the blessings of the gospel! Everyday I am amazed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through the Savior, we all are able to make something of our lives that we couldn't before. Truly our Heavenly Father's eternal love for us is manifest in the opportunity we have to be freed from the burden and guilt of sin and return to live with Him again!! I know this work is true and I love it so much! As always, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!! :)

Elder Barazoto

April 3, 2017

Hey everyone! Wow this has been an amazing week! General Conference was SO GOOD!!! It is unbelievable to me to think I took it so for granted before my mission. Its literally Prophets and Apostles just like Moses or Peter or Paul talking to us! Amazing! I dont know if I can pick a favorite talk just yet but one of the biggest things I took away from Conference was the significance of the Book of Mormon in our lives and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit emphasis's different things for every person who watches General Conference and that was what He taught me! 

We found another new family to teach! Its actually a grandmother and grandkids but the grandmother has known about the church for a long while and knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet! I think their only obstacle will be getting to church but I feel like we will definitely be able to work through that really soon! We are really excited about teaching them!!

We have also been having really cool spiritual experiences with our investigators this week and that has been really awesome! It is so rewarding when you get to see the Spirit work in the lives of people you love! My mission has been such a huge blessing to me! I absolutely love serving the Lord as a missionary, there is just no experience like it! 

Well please know that I am happy and so grateful for the gospel! It most certainly is true and God is definitely real! Love you all and I hope you all have a great week this week! :)

Elder Barazoto

March 27, 2017

We had 2 baptisms this week!!! One was with Elder Harris and the other was with my new companion Elder Garrett! Elder Garrett is from the Montana and Idaho area and is a ton of fun! I am pretty excited for these next couple transfers! :) It was Elder Garrett's second day as a missionary and he already has a baptism, I can tell he's gunna be an amazing missionary ;) haha! Both baptismal services were very well attended and very spiritual! These few baptism really make all the hardships I have ever experienced as a missionary seem like a small price to pay. One of the convert's parents came to his baptism and now they are interested in learning more about the church so we are pretty excited about that! Our next goal is to help these converts get to the temple! If things go well we might even get to go with them! :)

So with our recent baptisms, we are going to be working really hard to find more people to teach and help them get baptized as well so that will be fun! After church on Sunday we actually were able to run into a couple families that I feel like have awesome potential to embrace the gospel! I am hoping for at least a couple more baptisms in this area so we will see what happens! :) Love ya'll lots and have a great week!

Elder Barazoto

​​this is my new cactus I bought today :)

Another baptism!

Elder Harris and I

 look pretty goofy in this but hey baptisms!! :)

March 22, 2017

Wow its been a crazy week! So much has happened and I hope I can remember everything! We are swamped with a TON of things to do today so I wont have much time to write! So to start, we are having a baptism today!! So originally Brother Nolans baptism was supposed to be held Friday but we found out that Elder Harris is getting transferred... So we're moved his baptism to today but more on that later! Saturday was the day we found out about Elder Harris so a bunch of this week has been us just making a million phone calls getting everything ready to go for today because Brother Nolan really wanted Elder Harris to be able to be there! I know I probably couldn't have been this organized and composed about making all the changes and phone calls before my mission and this week I had a realization about how much I've grown and become a planner and not a procrastinator so that was really cool. But anyways, we are stoked about him today! To put into perspective how elect/golden/prepared Brother Nolan is, with all the changes we had to make, we had to interview him earlier than expected but the zone leaders in Charleston couldn't make the hour and a half drive to Marietta to do it. We were way bummed and thought we would have to postpone his baptism for a couple weeks but he was like "the only thing keeping me from getting baptized is an hour and a half drive? I'll do that in a heartbeat!" So yesterday morning he drove all the way down to Charleston to get interviewed!! He is got to be the most prepared and determined investigator I've ever met!

So yeah this is transfer week and Elder Harris is leaving tomorrow... He was such a bomb companion and Im gunna miss him a lot! President Salisbury actually called us on Monday and told me that I'll be training a brand new missionary! I'm pretty excited for that. It will be great to have someone so focused on the work that will help me really forget myself. I'm not sure what his name is quite yet but ill find out tomorrow!

Oh yeah so we are also having a baptismal service this Saturday for two of our other investigators!! Everything is really coming together in this area and I'm just so happy about it! :) We had a lesson with them yesterday and they are both really excited about it! Next Monday I will have pictures from both of these great baptismal services! :)

Well I love you all very much! I love my mission and I am learning so many wonderful things! My mission is something that has helped me tremendously! I don't know what I would be without my mission! Have a great week! :)

Elder Barazoto

March 13, 2017

Hey everyone! Another week here in Marietta and things are going great! Although unfortunately, this week our investigators faced some great opposition... People at work and family members are very against them learning about and going to church which is really sad! Luckily these investigators are top notch and they're trying to not let Satan's tricks stop them from doing what's right! Opposition in missionary work and life seems to be all too prevalent and it can definitely be very disappointing at times, but the scriptures teach that even the best have to overcome opposition! Joseph Smith just moments before receiving the First Vision underwent intense opposition from the adversary himself and even following the First Vision he faced severe persecution! Job's experience I am sure was very difficult and he may not have understood all the reasons he was facing such trials but received twice the blessings after he endured well. Opposition is all around us, but opposition always precedes and proceeds a miracle so keep the faith because miracles are just around the corner!!

So last week on Monday we went bowling as a district and that was super fun! I have a picture from that, its pretty terrible quality but its a picture! ha! :) its always the best when we get to do fun things on P-day! We aren't allowed to get together with other missionaries very often in this mission so when we do we try and make it a good time! :)

I am excited for next week, We hopefully will see a lot of really neat things happen. If everything goes according to plan, we will be seeing a BUNCH of baptisms the following week!! I am stoked! Please pray for our investigators that they will be able to overcome opposition and be ready for baptism! :) 

Church is most certainly true, God is our loving Heavenly Father, and the gospel brings true, lasting happiness! Love you all and have another wonderful week!!

Elder Barazoto

March 6, 2017

What a great week! Elder Harris and I keep seeing miracle after miracles after miracle! So this week we had a lesson set up to teach one of our recent converts who was baptized before I got to Marietta. She has a ton of family close by in the area and just randomly decided to bring her sister and her financee who are non-members to our lesson! We of course weren't complaining at all, we were stoked! Haha so we taught all of them about the Book of Mormon and the benefits we receive from reading it often. They really enjoyed it and accepted the invitation to read it AND they even showed up to church on Sunday!! I feel like this area is probably the closest thing I'm gunna get to serving in South America :) Hahaha!

As I've been serving my mission, I've noticed that Sunday seems to be the miracle day of the week. We had 6 investigators at church!!! That's pretty amazing if you ask me especially in the WVCM. We have been seeing so many miracles here and I just love it! I know that God is really manifesting His power here in this area and I feel so lucky to be able to witness it!

So Mom asked me to write about something I've been focusing on lately so here's something I've been giving a lot of thought to recently. Since the beginning of my mission and even before I've been really focusing on trying to refining my skills as a teacher of the gospel. But I have noticed that as I've gained some experience as a missionary and improved my teaching skills drastically, I sometimes neglect the most original and basic elements of being a Christ-like teacher and that is Faith and the Holy Ghost! That is really where great teachers become powerful not because of any eloquence of speaking. 

I think we sometimes forget or neglect the most important and basic things we have always know we should do. Whether you're a missionary or a newly baptized member of the church, we must remember those basics and the power that comes from the basics of the gospel. Faith in the Savior Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel for a reason! We ought to seek for opportunities to develop our faith on a daily basis. We will be distracted with other things in our life from time to time, but if we remember that faith is where it all beginnings, we will see the power of God working in our lives. Elder Bednar taught in a missionary conference that the more we know about Faith, the more we will focus on it. I've definitely experienced that and know that it's true! 

Well that's mostly it for this week! I love you all very much and I hope you know how much your Heavenly Father loves you too! :) have a great week!

Elder Barazoto 

February 27, 2017

Hello family and friends! 

Another great week here in the mission field! I didn't know I could be so happy, but I am! My only complaint is the weather! Haha West Virginia and Ohio get too cold! :) Its really not all that bad, but I am pretty excited for Spring hopefully in just a few more weeks!! 

We had Zone Conference and Interviews this week with President Salisbury and those are always good! We talked a lot about teaching repentance and how to do it. When I think about repentance and how it makes me feel, it has really helped me grow a desire to share the gospel! I know I and many of you are grateful for the gift and miracle of repentance! 

So our investigators are doing well and progressing right along! The family we are working with wasn't able to come to church this week because they had to go to a funeral so that was sad, but at least it was a legitimate excuse! It was ward conference and the whole stake presidency was there so that was really cool. They basically did all of the teaching for all the classes and that was really cool! 

We have been trying hard to find people to teach this week, but we haven't been able to see much success with that... I guess that's what we get for being blessed with some AMAZING investigators! Ha I am really hoping this week we will be able to find a bunch more people that are willing to listen to us! We have some good less-actives and recent converts who will hopefully introduce us to there friends so I am really excited about that.

Well that's mostly it for this week! I am so grateful for all of you and all your support! Church is true! Love ya'll! :)

Elder Barazoto

February 20, 2017

Hello Everyone! Well this week we had some amazing things happen! Elder Harris and I are so excited with all the things that are going on here in Marietta! So we picked up a new investigator this week and he is going to be getting baptized in a few weeks! His name is Rob and we have actually been teaching him almost every day this week! He is so ready for baptism, we can't wait! 

Yesterday at church we had yet another amazing experience! So there were a couple of investigators there yesterday and both of them, after church ended, came up to us and asked us if they could be baptized! I just kind of laughed a little in disbelief and I didn't know what to say! Eventually I was able to contain my excited and put them on date for baptism in March! I have never had someone ask me if they could get baptized, but hey no complaints here! I think i've said it before but this area has SO MANY golden people who are ready for the blessings that the gospel brings! It makes me so happy that these people have been touched by the Spirit and desire to act on those feelings! 

All of these amazing experiences this week make me so grateful for the knowledge of the restored gospel. It makes me also grateful that I get the unique opportunity to be a full-time representative of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary and helping these people realize the blessings that I have seen as well. The church is so true! :)

Thats mostly it for this week! Next week is Zone Conference and Interviews with President so I am really excited about that! I love you all very much and hope yall have a great week! :)

Elder Barazoto

February 13, 2017

Hello Everyone! Well this week was transfer week so its a bit of a shorter week, but there was still some great things that happened! So Thursday was of course transfer day and our district didn't change very much at all. The only new missionary in the district is Elder Clark who was actually my last companion! He came from Clarksburg so that was really great getting to catch up with him. Everyone is Clarksburg seems to be doing great!

On Sunday we had 6 non-members at church! It was awesome! In the gospel principles class there were a total of 4 families or soon to be families there! We are working with each family and hopefully we will see some success with them very soon! We are pretty optimistic about it too. Elder Harris and I both think that there will be some baptism coming soon! We are stoked! 

We had a pretty neat experience with our ward mission leader actually this week as well. Every week we have a coordination meeting with the ward mission leader. We were talking about all the people and families we are working with and he shared an experience from his mission that had a significant impact on me this week. He told us about a scripture in the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 18:20 and also D&C 82:10. He told us that when we ask in faith for things that are right, God has no reason to not bless us with those things. Of course God has a plan for each of us and we may not receive all the things we ask for, but that does not mean that we shouldn't ask Him for things! I think we can sometimes be afraid to ask God for certain blessings but the reality is God WANTS to bless us. But some blessings He will not give us unless we ask Him in faith believing that we will receive. That lesson I hope is useful to someone this week because I know it was sure helpful to me! 

I know that God loves us all and wants happiness for all His children! I know that this is God's work and this is where God needs me to be! I am loving my mission and loving all the experiences! And I of course love all of you! Have a great week! :)

February 8, 2017

Hey Everyone! Well Elder Harris and I just got done teaching a class here at Marietta College all about the LDS church so that was really fun. Yep! There is a professor here that teaches a religion class that called us one day and asked if we could teach the class about our church! I was sure that we werent allowed to do that for some reason but we asked the Assistants anyways and they said we could! The class was about an hour long and the students had tons of questions! The professor emailed us some questions the students already had and that is the file thats attached. At the end of the class, one of the students came up to us and told us that she was planning on attending church this Sunday too! So that was really awesome, we'll see how that all goes! :)

Other than that, we have actually had a bunch of really cool things happen this week! But something not so cool happened as well... On Thursday we had a dinner appointment with a part-member family that we are really excited about. To get to their house we have to take a road that I guess is pretty well known for having deer on it. So its pretty dark outside and as we are driving a deer jumps out in the middle of the road and we crash right into it! I was going pretty fast but was able to slow down to maybe 30 or 40 mph before I hit the deer. Both of us are totally fine, I was just upset because now we don't have a car... We have been doing a TON of walking now because of it. We are getting SUPER lucky though because they are actually just going to end up giving us a brand new car instead! We dont know what kind of car it is, but we know its brand new! We are stoked! :)

The work this week was actually really rewarding. We are teaching this wonderful lady named Chyanna. She is just great! She came to church last week and I think she really enjoyed it! After church we found out that her husband, whom we've never met, wants to be taught too! We are really excited about that! Our lesson will all of them is tomorrow so hopefully it goes as well as it has in the past!

Well I am just about out of time, but I am doing really well. Elder Harris and I are staying together another transfer and we are really excited about that! He is such a great companion, we have lots of fun together. I love you all very much and hope you have a great week!!! :)

Elder Barazoto

January 30, 2017

Well I have no time to write this but this week was really good! We taught two people on Tuesday night and I wouldn't be surprised if the got baptized next transfer so yeah we are pretty stoked about that! Everything is going well with me, love you all and have a great week! :)

Elder Barazoto

January 23, 2017

Hello everyone! So this week we saw a couple of changes! Last Monday literally right after we finished emailing and we were walking away from the library, we talked to the Assistants on the phone and they told that Elder Furrows is going to be leaving Thursday to go be with another missionary whose companion went home unexpectedly. So Thursday morning we drove down to Charleston and dropped off Elder Furrows! So now its just me and Elder Harris! Its different, but life goes on and Heavenly Fathers plan for us may be confusing but it certainly is perfect! 

This week we were able to teach a bunch of great people! Actually we have taught more people this week than I have in a long time which is super great! On Monday night we got a media referral who requested a Book of Mormon be brought to her. So Tuesday we made plans to go see her! We knew it was a ways out there, but we didn't realize it was like an hour away ha! But she is really great and we will be seeing her again tomorrow! She seems like she has real intent to learn and understand more, so we are excited to see where things go with her and her family! 

We also had a pretty great exchange this week with the Elders in our district! me and Elder Jolley worked the day in Marietta and it was way fun! I have only been in Marietta for about 3 or so weeks and although I served in Williamstown before, I dont know hardly anything about Marietta so being the person who was supposed to know the area on that exchange was kinda funny! We only got lost once so I count that as a miracle :) ha! We just did a bunch of tracting because I didn't have any idea where anyone lived! It was totally okay though because we found a sweet family to teach this weekend and we ran into an inactive member who we didn't know about! She is a really nice lady whose daughter and son-in-law we are currently teaching! Nothing happens by chance! We are excited to start visiting her more regularly and hopefully she will come back to church!

At our dinner appointment that night, the members who are just amazing missionaries invited some of their friends over for dinner! We had no idea that they would be there, but it was cool that they did that! I love seeing members doing there best to be an example to their friends! 

Well thats about it for this week! I love you all very much and I am sincerely grateful for all your love and support! I know I wouldn't be here without all of you! Love ya!

Elder Barazoto

January 16, 2017

Marietta is such a great place! I am seriously loving serving here, the members are great and we are working with some great investigators! At church Sunday, we were talking with one of the members in our ward about one of her friends thats interested in the church and she sounds pretty golden! Shes already living all the commandments which is huge AND she already been coming to church pretty regularly! For the sounds of it, she could easily get baptized in the next couple weeks! Hopefully we will be able to start working with her more regularly and help her work towards baptism!

This week we have been working on trying to find more people to teach and it has been going pretty well! On Saturday night we were walking around near our house and it was actually pretty late and dark outside too. We were a little hesitant to knock on any doors because if you knock on peoples doors too late in the evening out here in West Virginia you can really offend some people. So we were walking next to this one house and I felt this feeling to knock that door. The adversary is very clever because my next thought was this area has probably tracked hundreds of times, and that they wont be interested. Thankfully we decided to knock anyways and the lady that answered the door was super nice and has never talked to missionaries before! She has been exposed to the church for many years and has even been to church a couple of times! Super awesome! We have an appointment to go see her and her family and we are pretty stoked about it!! I am extremely grateful for the promptings of the Holy Ghost, I know they are real!

This area is making great progress, Elder Harris, Elder Furrows and I are doing great and we are having tons of fun! Elder Harris is probably one of the funniest missionaries on the planet so we are constantly laughing and having a good time so that is pretty awesome. It is really exciting to see all the things that are happening and we are hoping for a baptism in the near future! I am so grateful for the joy that I feel as a missionary and I know that this work is so true! 

I hope everyone where ever you are has a super great week and chooses the right of course! :) Love yall!!

Elder Barazoto

January 9, 2017

Fun week! This has actually been one of the most interesting weeks of my mission. Ill start with today because today is when all the weird stuff happened haha. So last week I talked about how they closed the area right next to us and we have been cleaning out the house, well when they missionaries left that house they left their car there too... So this morning we drove all the way down to Charleston and dropped off the car. We have to get back to Marietta of course so we took our car as well but in order for us to get both cars down here, One of us three had to be companion-less for the drive haha. So Elder Furrows followed us down to Charleston without a companion! So we are actually currently emailing for the chapel in Charleston. Pretty crazy! Its gets better though! :) So President wanted to make the trip down more purposeful so he decided to do our interview today instead of later in the month. So we did our interviews with President today also! Today has just felt pretty weird! Ha! Funny story, so when we get to the mission office and President acts like he didn't tell us to drive down here and everything and we felt super bad and awkward, but hes like "I'm just teasing!" President's sense of humor is just hilarious :) haha he is the best!

We also had Zone Conference this week with President so its pretty really great being around President so often! After the conference we did exchanges with the zone leaders, it was a lot of fun being on the other end of that exchange! :) I went with Elder Westmoreland and he is just great! He's a pretty young missionary, but he is really skilled and natural! We had tons of fun! Working in Charleston has always been a good experience for me, the people there are so kind of receptive it is so cool!

I am really looking forward to this week though, we have had to spend a lot more time cleaning the old car and house, so thats still really lame but this week should be really great! Thank you everyone for all the support, I love you all very much! Church is true!

Elder Barazoto

January 3, 2017

Hello everyone! Yesterday all the libraries were closed so sorry I am a little late with this email!! Haha well not too much has happened since last Wednesday, but I am really enjoying Marietta! My companions are awesome and we are really excited to see tons of great miracles! :) So what I didn't know before but I know now is they actually closed down the Williamstown area so now we cover both areas! I originally thought some other missionaries were going to be in Williamstown which is my first area, but now we get it! And we are also living in the Williamstown apartment too! This week has basically been just a huge blast from the past experience! Church was really interesting because I really didn't believe anyone would recognize me at all because I didn't serve here very long and it was almost 18 months ago but people actually remembered me so that what pretty sweet :). The only down side is now we have to get the house where the Marietta Elders used to live ready to move out and the house is pretty huge. We have been spending a lot of our week finishing that but we have definitely been having tons of fun along the way! Ha! This week should be full of really awesome missionary experiences though! I'm just so excited!

As far as teaching goes for this week, we were able to have a sweet lesson with one of our investigators named Brother Huling! He came in contact with the church because our ward mission leader and his family met him when they moved to the Marietta area and invited him to learn more about the church and even to attend church too! This member family is the bomb, they are super great people and great fellow-shippers. In our lesson he agreed to pray about a date for baptism so we will see what happens! :)

We have also been able to teach a couple of recent converts and they are really great people as well! I always love seeing new converts and the fire that they have! One of the converts received a calling recently! She'll be teaching primary and she is really excited about it! It is really just amazing to see how the Savior and His gospel can take people where they are at and transform them into someone who they never could have become by themselves. I have definitely experienced this first hand and helping others have a similar experience is just great! I love my mission so much!!

Well thats mostly it for this week, I love you all and I hope everyone has a great week and also a happy new year!

Elder Barazoto