I Can Always Feel the Spirit Confirming to Me the Truthfulness of the Message

Pues (Well)... we had yet another stellar week here in the land of many bueys (oxen). (Not to be confused with the endearing term "güey", as in "¿Que onda güey?" or "What's up, dude?). 

On Tuesday we went to MLC or Mission Leader Conference. I had heard that it's the best meeting in the mission, and that was confirmed. Super uplifting and full of inspired counsel from President Mortensen. Then, later that day we had a family home evening with the Sosa and Zacarías family and talked about the Restoration of the Gospel through the eyes of investigators. I've taught that hundreds of times thus far on my mission and it never ceases to amaze me how powerful and true the message is. I can always feel the Spirit confirming to me the truthfulness of the message.

On Wednesday we knocked on doors for a long time. We found a new trailer park which we had never knocked on before, but was unfortunately filled with mostly grumpy white people. On the last door before getting to our next appointment, we met this couple outside named Chris and Daisy. They mentioned that they had been going through some stuff and were looking for more hope and guidance. We were able to testify to them that that's the reason we were there. They were in tears for most of the lesson and told us that hours prior to our arrival they had been talking about how they needed to start going to a church. They took it as a sign from God that we stopped by and we are going back this week to see them.

On Thursday after weekly planning I went on exchanges with Elder Pogroszewski down to Louetta in preparation for Zone Meeting on Friday. I've always enjoyed his passion and determination to win in missionary work. He doesn't try to be diplomatic and non confrontational, but rather tries to win, to find those who are ready to be baptized. At the beginning of my mission I was always too afraid of offending people, of introducing something new like the church or the Book of Mormon, but now I realize how our role as missionaries is to teach and testify of the Restoration. If we go around to people and never talk about the Restoration, they're never going to have the opportunity to accept it. There's many that won't accept it, but we need to be bold and find those who will. There are a lot of good people who go to good churches with nice pastors, but not one of them talks about eternal families. Not one of them talks about continuing revelation to guide us in these difficult times. It's our job to help these people understand that their church and belief in Jesus Christ is good, but that there's more that God would have them receive, like an eternal family, and the ordinances of salvation.

Come Sunday, we were expecting a lot of our investigators to come to church. Every Sunday morning we go knock on the doors of those we are teaching so that they don't sleep in or anything like that. At 10 o'clock we went and knocked on the door of the Rivera family, and they were about to leave to take 2 of their daughters to Catholic classes as they're getting ready to do the 1st communion. They told us that they don't get done until 11:30, so they wouldn't be able to make it to our church at 11. We were pretty bummed about that because they don't even go to the actual Catholic Sunday services themselves, they just take their kids to classes, but they haven't been able to find anyone else who can pick their kids up from the classes. At 11:15, we get a text from them telling us to wait outside the chapel for them. They came for the first 2 hours and loved it. The branch helped them feel right at home and in Gospel principles talked about how they received answers to their prayers asking if the church was true. When the teacher asked Fabian, the father of the family if he had prayed about the message the missionaries share, he said he had, and he felt that it was true. Wow! We are sooo excited for them and are looking to set a baptismal date with them this week!

Elder Josh Barrus

Houston West North Spanish Zone Leadership

The Zone on a tractor we found

With our favorite new member (cholo), Carlos

Baptism Day

This email is from February 27, 2013

We had yet another rewarding week here in Waller. I just want to give a shoutout to my companion Elder Blackford. He works really well with the members and we teach well together and it's been an enjoyable couple of weeks being his companion.

Anyways, this week was packed full of meetings and other events that took a lot of time. On Tuesday we had new leadership training, which is  a revelatory meeting. We arrived an hour late because our GPS took us to the wrong TC Jester road. There are 2 TC Jester roads in Houston but they are pretty far apart. So that was a bummer but either way we've recovered since then and haven't gotten lost since.

On Thursday we went to the temple. It is always an awesome experience being able to attend the House of the Lord and help my ancestors receive the saving ordinances of the Gospel offered in the temple.

Missionaries in C Stat (College Station)

Exchanges with the man--Elder Wells

On Friday after district meeting we drove an hour up to College Station to give a baptismal interview because we were the closest Spanish missionaries who could give the interview. But the interview went well and afterwards we went to a phenomenal Taqueria owned by a member up there. Exceptional Mexican food and it is free for missionaries. I asked the elders serving there if they ever feel guilty about going there too often but the owner gets after them if they don't go very much throughout the week. That would be a good problem to have, I suppose.

Deseret, Enrique and Rogelio's baptism, along with the Contreras family

Baptism Day for Deseret, Rogelio, and Enrique

Enrique and Deseret on their baptism day

On Sunday Desire and Enrique finally got baptized. It was a spiritually uplifting baptism and the branch came out in big numbers to support them. The best thing about this branch is how unified and willing to help everyone is. If we ever bring investigators to an activity or church, the members always take initiative to help them feel welcome and invite them to their homes for family home evenings or other events. This week we are going to be focusing on three families who have good potential, who just have not been to church yet. That's the next step for them to help them start progressing so prayer in behalf of the Rivera, Guerra, and Flores families would be much appreciated.

Anyways, I'm loving the mission and loving all of the people I've been able to meet and work with thus far.

Elder Barrus

THM

A New Companion in Waller

This email is from February 20, 2017

New companion--Elder Blackford

I got the news this week that Elder Blackford was being transferred to Waller and that was well received by both me and the members of the Waller 2nd branch. And so far so good. He was my friend, Victor Escudero's MTC companion and I've heard nothing but good things about his charisma and ability to get things done, which has proven to be true in just one short week. 

We've hit the ground running this week though. Even though Elder Blackford is half Filipino, he looks Mexican, so more people open their doors when we go out and knock on them. Pretty much everyone we talk to is walking on pins and needles because they are afraid of getting deported. It's kinda sad but we tell them that we won't deport them if they listen to our message.  Works like a charm, needless to say. 

On exchanges with ZL comp--Elder Pogroszewski

On Friday I went on an exchange with my ZL comp Elder Pogroszewski and it was a straight ball. We knocked doors for 2 hours and it was entertaining because he has no fear nor chill and argues with people about why they should listen to us. We talked to one guy who had a beer in his hand and like a grand total of 3 teeth, no joke. He told us that he knew he was going to heaven when he dies, and Podge just says "Oh yeah? Even with that Miller Lite in your hand?"  Later on in the evening we stumbled across these high school kids playing basketball outside and jumped in right there and played in our proselyting clothes and everything. I've already learned a lot from being around him and am looking forward to this transfer. 

We ate crawfish with Enrique, Deseret, their dad Rogelio and their aunt and uncle.

In other news, Enrique and Deseret are all good to go for their baptism this upcoming Sunday, so pictures from that are coming your way next week. We are also still working with the Rivera Family, we had a good lesson with them on Tuesday about the blessings of reading the Book of Mormon and how they can know that it's true. They are more than willing to keep commitments. They weren't able to make it out to church yesterday, but said they would come this next Sunday. We are confident that we can help them so they can be sealed as a family in the temple for time and all eternity. 

Mission life is good out here in Tejas. Shoot me an email when you get a minute. 🤙🏼

Elder Barrus

THM

We stumbled across a Baptist church. No one was home though when we knocked.

The new district

Happy Valentines Day!

This email is from February 13, 2017

So transfer calls came in and Elder Wells is out. It's a pretty sad thought because it's been a good 3 months. It's been cool to see the change in this area because before Waller was considered purgatory but now it's blossoming. So I'm excited about the rest of the time I'll have here.

On Tuesday we were out knocking doors in a trailer park in the middle of nowhere in Hempstead and saw a guy working on his yard. We thought he was Hispanic, so we asked him if he needed any help. He didn't speak Spanish but invited us to sit wth him on his porch. I don't even know how to spell his name, it was a pretty long one. He was from Pakistan and spoke kinda broken English but he was really nice. He shared some of his Muslim beliefs with us and it was a positive experience. He wanted to get a Book of Mormon in his native language of Urdu. I've always wanted to baptize a Muslim so maybe he'll give us a call in a couple weeks asking to learn more. I've knocked into 3 Muslims, and 2 of them have sat down with us for 20 minutes and have had pleasant conversations with us.

On Thursday we had a lesson with Ivan and Hermano Bonilla. Usually when we bring members to lessons we are the ones who teach and we ask the members to share some of their experiences. This lesson was the complete opposite of that. President Mortensen calls Hermano Bonilla "the master of persuasion" and that talent was on display. He shared a lot of his experiences growing up and how glad he is that he changed and got baptized. His life changed for the better and now he's so much happier. It was really inspiring. The Holy Spirit was felt very strongly and Ivan committed to get ready to be baptized on March 4th. Then on Saturday we stopped by him and had a really good conversation and got to know him like he was one of my best friends. He really is a good kid and expressed some of his desires to serve a mission after he gets baptized. So I'm excited to continue helping him along his path to salvation and everlasting life.

On Friday we had our branch Valentine's party, and when we walked in, La familia Rivera that we hadn't taught for a long time was sitting down at one of the tables. They seemed to have a really good time and told their fellowshipper that they want to start coming to church!

Anyways, that's all for this week I think.

Elder Barrus

THM

Creative Picture of the District

Buc-ee's is the Costco of all gas stations

No More Counting Steps on Sunday!

We had a very nice week. First and foremost, I would just like to give a shoutout to the church's missionary department. They came in clutch by changing the daily schedule and the key indicators. I feel like the Saints in the times of Jesus when he announced that the Mosaic Law was no longer necessary. No more counting steps on Sunday! 

In other news, I received a phone call from our beloved vehicle coordinator Elder Taylor today informing me that I ran a red light in Tomball and the traffic light took a picture of it and now I owe $75 to the state of Texas. 🤠

This week we gave service to 2 members whose wives left them unexpectedly recently. That was really hard because they are great men whom I admire dearly. But they were appreciative when we helped them move. It just reminded me more and more about my role of "Lifting up the arms that hang hopelessly down." There are many in this world who need that kind of support. Our job is to help them understand that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the answer to all of their trials. 

Also, we finally were able to get in with Ivan. He is a good kid, but he expressed a concern to us about how he still wants to get more tattoos before he gets baptized. He told us to give him 2 months. We lovingly shared John 3:5 and explained that Jesus said that in order to go to heaven, we must be baptized and that there is no reason to put this off unnecessarily because we don't know how much longer God will give us. We are taking a member with us on Thursday who has had a similar past as him growing up who can help him see how much better his life will be if he completely leaves Babylon and comes to Zion. 

Exchanges with Elder Blackford

 Also, on Friday I went on an exchange with Elder Blackford. Seriously love that man. He's always so positive and ready to give it his all in missionary work. 

It is really hard to believe that I have less than a year left on the mission. I am striving to be my very best, because I know that this next little bit will go by quickly. I have really come to love the mission. It is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and I am excited to be a solid member missionary for the rest of my life in order to do my part in building God's kingdom here on the earth. Anyways, I love y'all. Be good, wherever you are. 

Élder Barrus

THM (Texas Houston Mission)

In Front of a Huge RV

I Have Been a Missionary For One Year

This week not really much new happened but it was still a good week by all means. On Friday we went contacting at Prairie View A&M University, a university that is predominantly African American. So you could say we stood out just a little bit. And by a little bit I mean we stuck out like a sore thumb. But it was still really awesome because I was able to talk to college kids my age! Most of them are very open minded and willing to try new things. Sometimes it feels as though we are knocking on the same doors and people are giving us the same hard-headed responses so it is nice to talk to some younger people who have not been hardened by years and years of tradition. 

As well, we had someone named Joanna come up to us and ask if we were the Elders. She told us that she was a member of the church from San Antonio and asked where the nearest chapel was. She ended up coming to church on Sunday with one of her non-member friends who loved it! That was a real miracle because we felt that God inspired us to go to Prairie View that day so we did and ended up meeting a member who needed to come back to church. 

As well on Sunday we had 89 people come to church. That was awesome to see because not that long ago church attendance in Waller hovered around 50 or 60 each week. I have really come to enjoy being in Waller and have come to love all of the members. They are so determined to serve and willing to help those who are struggling. They've been a great example as to the kind of member I need to be when I return. 

Anyway, Friday both Elder Wells and I hit 1 year as missionaries. We were planning on burning shirts to celebrate, but then we got tired and forgot. Maybe we'll do it this week sometime now that we plan in the morning instead of the night. 

Elder Barrus

New District!

Almost One Year--Casi 1 Año 😎

This email was sent January 23, 2017

We had a super great week here in Waller. I don't have a lot of time so I'll make this short. We ate pupusas ricas with a member in the Woodlands so it was worth it.

The Hernandez family got baptized on Wednesday and are very happy now.

As well, we have been working with the Escobedos and they live in the same house as the Contreras, an active family in the branch. The Contreras have a son named Ivan who didn't get baptized when his family did. But recently he told his parents he wants to be baptized, so we met with him and set a date for February 25th! He's the man. As well, Enrique and Deseret would like to be baptized on the same day, so it'll be another triple baptism!

Also, when we were out knocking doors a guy told us that he would shoot us if we didn't get off his property. So we got off his property.

Great things are happening here in Waller. So blessed to be a part of them. God is good. Jesus is the Christ.

Yep. I've been out almost a year. As for our plans (both Elder Wells and I came to the mission on the same day), we'll probably burn a shirt. So that should be fun.

The top 3 things I've learned on the mission can't really be explained in a short email. But I'll try:

1: Diligence: I've learned to avoid discouragement and never give up. Even if everything seems to be working against us, I've learned to keep going.

2: Patience: With companions, investigators, myself, members. I've learned a lot about patience.

3: Being bold: Helping people find a better way, even if they can't see it.

-Elder Barrus