August 15, 2016

Hi everyone! This has been a super awesome week! We had some really neat experiences happen that makes me so grateful to be serving in Buena Vista! So because we have an unusually large amount of members in this area, we do a lot of member work and we saw some great results from our efforts! There's this family in particular that we have been visiting every week to teach them from Preach My Gospel about missionary skills! One of their sons has been wanting to share the gospel with his friend so a couple weeks ago, we had a game night at their house and we taught a lesson afterwards! We didn't think too much about it until the family brought this non-member friend to church yesterday! After church, he came up to me and Elder Christensen and said, "I was wondering if in a couple of weeks I could maybe get baptized?" I was shocked!! We of course told him yes and we will be working with him more this week! I share that story because it makes me SO grateful for member missionaries who know the blessings of sharing the gospel with their friends! It hastens the Lord's work more than anything! I want to challenge everyone to look for one opportunity to share the gospel with one of your friends! Pray that the Lord with strengthen and guide you to who you need to reach out to because He will! :)

We also had a pretty sweet tender mercy fall into our laps this week! We're having another baptism!! His name is Asa and he is really great! He is actually the son of two very active members of the church, but he has autism so the bishop wanted to postpone his baptism till he was more ready! So we got a text on Tuesday night from the bishop telling us that he is now ready! He still needs all the missionary lessons so we have been scrambling to teach them all to him because he's getting baptized this Saturday! Its been pretty crazy, but we are super excited for him! 

Well, thats mostly it for this week! Next week we have transfers so we find out if anyone is getting transfered on Saturday! I'm a little nervous because I've been here for a good while and I really don't want to get transfered! Ha! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! :)

Elder Barazoto

August 8, 2016

Dear Family and Friends!

Wow, its been a really great week! We had MLC and zone meeting this week and those were both super great! Elder Christensen and I have some really great stories to tell this week! :) So I've mentioned before that we are teaching a Georgian Orthodox Bishop and that is just crazy in itself but this week it got even crazier!! He's already been to church once but this week one of his kids got sick Sunday morning, yet he still came to church! It was a perfect and even valid excuse for him to not come to church, but he left his wife with him and came to church anyways! It was pretty amazing to see and he even committed to come next week and bring his whole family! I think he really enjoys church and its pretty interesting to see how his views and beliefs have been changing since he's been coming to church! 

Then we had another pretty neat experience following church! So Elder Christensen and I had been struggling to find new people to teach and we really wanted to teach more people! So all day Sunday we were doing our best to talk to as many people as we could, but no one seemed to want to listen to us... It was a little rough until the perfect idea came into my head! We needed to take a second and say a special prayer to be led to someone new that we could teach! So we parked our car and I offered a prayer and immediately felt and knew what we needed to do! We started walking down a street we had already been many times and saw someone outside and went to talk to them! It was an older lady and a high school student who knew members and loved the church! We were able to teach them just before the day ended and they seem pretty promising! It was an amazing miracle and another experience to treasure from my mission! I have lots of those and I expect to have a lot more! It's honestly really amazing because as a missionary you can literally call down the powers of heaven to assist you in this work for the salvation of souls! I have learned that Heavenly Father will grant us according to our pure desires and true faith! It is such a blessing to be serving the Lord, and its humbling that he would allow me to wear and represent His name and church every single day! I love you all and appreciate all your love and support! I hope you have a great week!

Elder Barazoto

Here is the Orthodox Bishop! We call him Bishop Joe!

August 1, 2016

Happy P-day everyone! So this has been a really awesome week! We've been able to see so many little miracles in the work, and I love it! So this week, some of our investigators have been having a hard time, but we are working really hard with them and trying to help them feel the gospel is true! Its hard work, but seeing people accept the gospel is totally worth every effort! We also were able to have some really fun exchanges with some of the Elders in our zone which are always a blast! 

One pretty interesting thing this week was when we found out that someone we taught here in Buena Vista is getting baptized! Except she lives in Staunton, Virginia which is out of the mission boundaries so she's getting baptized there this Saturday! I've mentioned her before a couple weeks ago, but she is totally on fire now! She was considering moving to Buena Vista and she was introduced to the church by members in BV so we taught her for a little bit, but she decided to get baptized in Staunton which is ok because all that matters is that she's getting baptized! It's super awesome to see her progress and she is SO excited! 

Another pretty awesome experience this week was actually during my studies. I had decided that I wanted a stronger testimony of how the Book of Mormon can bring peace to us. So I dedicated as much time as I could during my personal studies to just reading the Book of Mormon and applying everything to my life and evaluating how it brought a peaceful feeling. Over the course of the week, I truly felt the presence of the Holy Ghost bring peace and comfort to myself! It was really amazing and is now one part of my testimony of the Book of Mormon that I treasure! I always knew it was true and had a testimony of its truthfulness, but now my testimony is that much stronger! I can humbly testify that I know the Book of Mormon is true AND DOES bring us peace, joy and comfort as we read and study it. I can promise that anyone who reads and ponders the message of the Book of Mormon will feel of our Heavenly Father's love and desire to come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ! I am so grateful for the gospel and I am grateful for a Heavenly Father loves us despite all our weaknesses! I love my mission and it has helped me to come to know these things! Its the best!

Well I hope everyone is doing well and hope you all have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Barazoto

​Me and Elder Christensen!

​This is Summer who is getting baptized in Staunton this Saturday! Hurray!

July 25, 2016

Dear family and friends! Well we had a pretty sweet week this week! We did another exchange this week and we have 2 more this upcoming week! We do exchanges so frequently I think I am finally getting used to it! Ha! I do really enjoy getting to know other missionaries and making more friends! Its great! :)

So something pretty cool about this week was we have been teaching an Eastern Orthodox Bishop and we invited him to a baptism last Friday and he was super excited to come! He came dressed in a black robe, a purple looking hat thing, and sweet staff! Ha! It was pretty awesome and everyone at the baptismal service was talking to him and loving that he came! It was pretty cool to see him there and I hope he recognized the Spirit while he was there! Some of the members even invited him to the confirmation this Sunday and he came to that as well! It was really cool! His name is Bishop Joe and its been a blast teaching him! Me and Elder Maloy were the ones that started teaching him and he definitely has real intent because we straight up asked him what if he came to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint was the only true church on the earth, and he told us that if found out that it was true he would be calling us up the next day to get baptized! He is super educated and has many accolades, but I know that by the testimony of true servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost can bear testimony and pierce the humble heart! 

Our other investigators are doing awesome and its great to see them progress! Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Barazoto 

I have a couple pictures too! Hurray! Haha

(sent by a member) Helping them move.

really cool outdoor staircase!
​

Me after a tiring day and Elder Christensen trying to take pictures of me hahaha

July 18, 2016

Hey everyone! Its been kind of a short week with transfers going on, but at least I don't feel like we are going a million miles an hour trying to get everything done that needs to get done! Ha! We of course are still working really hard and seeing a lot of great success because of it! 

So Thursday morning we had to get up at about 4 AM so Elder Maloy could make it to Charleston, WV! He was an amazing missionary who helped me in so many ways to be the best that I can be! He was the perfect example of enduring to the end on his mission, he was a great example to me! My new companion got to Buena Vista at about 6 oclock that night and his name is Elder Christensen! He hits his year mark at the end of this month so we've been on our missions for about the same time! He's awesome and we are going to see so much success this transfer! Another pretty awesome things is Elder Stephens got transfered to Lexington! Elder Stephens was my MTC companion and Lexington is only like 10 minutes from Buena Vista! It was a super awesome reunion seeing him and we are going to have tons of fun down here! :) 

So we had a pretty neat experience with some of our members being amazing member missionaries! They have been fellowshipping one of their co-workers and they brought her to church this week! We were able to have a lesson with her and these members home and we taught her the Restoration! She told us about how she has been learning about the church and applying the things she's been learning and has been so much happier because of it! She basically told us that she knows this is all true and so we set a baptismal goal for August 13th! It was amazing and we didn't have to do any of the finding! All we had to do was teach her! Its interesting how well missionary work goes when members do the primary finding while missionaries just focus on teaching! Its actually the way Heavenly Father set it up to be done! So dont be shy and go out and share with your friends how the restored gospel has blessed your life! You will never regret it! I know that as I have served my mission, I have literally been able to watch people enjoy blessings as they live the restored gospel and she them become different people! Its truly amazing and among MANY other reasons is why I know that this gospel is true! I really appreciate all the support you all give me! It honestly means a lot! Love you!

Elder Barazoto

July 13, 2016

Dear Family and Friends! 

Wow, its been a pretty crazy week! I know I say that every week, but its been an exceptionally crazy one! Ha! We had MLC, zone meeting, 2 exchanges and transfers are this week as well! Our zone meeting was pretty awesome, it was probably one of the better zone meetings that we have conducted! We talked about setting inspired goals and exercising the faith to work miracles! It was so awesome and even though Elder Maloy and I taught it, I still learned so much! It was great!

So this week is of course transfer week and it's going to be a really big one! Almost every companionship in our zone is getting a new companion which is crazy! They are going to opening up the YSA as its own area again so we wont be able to work with them anymore... But that's ok because we are getting some awesome missionaries there! Also Elder Maloy is going home this transfer so I am getting a new companion! His name is Elder Christensen! He served in an area pretty close to me when I was serving in Hillsville so I know him a little bit! I'm excited! Although it's going to be really hard because Elder Maloy is leaving... He has taught me soooooo much and I feel like I am a MUCH better missionary after having served with him! He is awesome and I know he will do great things! I love that guy!

So one of the exchanges that we went on this week was in Lynchburg which is one of the biggest cities in the mission. It's also probably one of the craziest areas I have ever been to! Almost the entire city is owned by a college called Liberty University and the closest description I can think of for Liberty would be that it's the BYU for baptists! Haha! Lynchburg city even has a Provo feel to it! There are tons of students and everyone is super friendly for the most part haha! As we tried to do missionary work, people were either nice, but not interested or they would get their Bibles and try tell us why we are wrong! Its super sad sometimes, but you learn the Bible really quick! Ha! One thing that I did learn on that exchange was that every single question or doubt that anyone has, no matter what it is, has an answer! It makes me grateful for the restored gospel and for the truths that I treasure! I makes me grateful for an complete understanding of the Godhead and for His glorious Plan of Salvation! People may not always agree with what I say, but I have to stand by what I know to be true! It was pretty cool though because even with the opposition, as we exercised faith in Jesus Christ and hoped for success, we did find some people who were willing for us to come back and teach them! YAY!

Well thats mostly it for this week! I know this church is true and I am happy here in Buena Vista! We are still teaching some of the same people and they're still progressing! Our top investigator right now, Brittney, has started telling people that she wants to become Mormon so that was super sweet to hear! Ha! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Barazoto

July 5, 2016

Dear Friends and Family! 

Its been another good week! So I dont have a whole lot of time, but there are some pretty interesting things that happened this week! Mostly during church yesterday! Ha! So we were in the YSA ward and our members are SO awesome because they brought 2 non-members to church that we had no idea about! Haha it was great! They both really enjoyed church and we will teaching them this week! 

Then another thing is these next few weeks are EFY at SVU! So we had like 40 counselors at church which was awesome! And on top of that some of the counselors are return missionaries from this mission! It was pretty crazy seeing them at church and a pretty awesome reunion with them! I guess that's what happens when your serving at a highly LDS populated college! Haha! 

Well I know its really short and I am really sorry about that, but I hope everyone has a great week and I love you all!

Elder Barazoto