Ni hao!

Well transfers were today and Elder Gemperline got transferred and I am now with Elder Stringham! 

It's going to be an awesome transfer!

Well this was a pretty good week! Our chinese investigators want Sophy, our recent convert, to teach them because she is awesome! Her testimony is so inspiring!

I am so grateful for the privilege I have to serve the Lord! My testimony of everything has grown so much! Its great to see people see how the Gospel can bless their life, and they strive to make the changes necessary to align their lives with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

God truly answers prayers and He loves each one of us!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/eternal-life-to-know-our-heavenly-father-and-his-son-jesus-christ?lang=eng&cid=email-shared

The purpose of missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Gods purpose and Jesus Christ's purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man and they are unified in that purpose because they love us all!

Hope you have a great week!!

<Kia Kaha>

-Elder Barney

What's up?

Hey!

How was your week? Did anything exciting happen last week?

The missionary work here has been pretty good! Its a little on the slow side but it will pick up soon :) Our investigators are not really committing to a return appointment, but they are still coming to church which is great! Right now we are trying to get the Chinese Group organized a little better, which will hasten the work even faster!

I read Alma 52, the War chapters in the Book of Mormon are awesome!

Alma 52:5-9

Teancum knew he could not defeat the Lamanites in their fortifications, so he retreated and made fortifications to protect themselves and waited for reinforcements. They knew their weak points so they fortified them. We need to do the same, we need to strengthen the weak points so we can stand against temptations.

Alma 52:11,15

Moroni really does care about his people. He tries to help them in their times of need. He is a great example of leadership.

Alma 52:17,19

Teancum abandoned his designs of attack and waited for Moroni so his army could be stronger because he knew it would have been a tough battle. They held a war council to determine a plan of attack. Think before you act!

Alma 52:32,37

Moroni did not delight in bloodshed, he always gave the enemy a opportunity to surrender. He had charity for everyone!

Alma 52:32-33

There is a big difference between the Nephite captains and the Lamanite captains. The Lamanites are proud and bloodthirsty while the Nephites are willing to let them surrender.

Hope you have a great week!

<Kia Kaha>

-Elder Barney

Hey!

Hello!!

How was your week? Hope it was great!

This week was pretty great, our ward had a few parties this week, it was pretty awesome! One was a farewell party for a family that was over the missionary work for the Chinese Group. So its sad to see them go. The Chinese work is really moving forward! It is awesome! The Lord is truly hastening His Work!

I studied Alma 59 this week!

Alma 59:1-2

Moroni truly cared for his people. He was happy of their success and he told everyone in all the land so they can know of the success of others and be united as a nation.

Alma 59:3

They obtained the land back miraculously because of the righteousness of the people that were trying to fight for the cities.

Alma 59:4

Moroni planned first then he acted. We need to think before we act. Observe then serve.

Alma 59:9

Moroni knew it was easier to maintain the city rather then letting it fall and try to retake it. It is easier to keep and maintain a strong testimony rather then letting it die out and try to build it up again. Faith is hard to rebuild because you already doubted once. But it can be rebuilt.

Alma 59:11-12

Moroni knew why cities were falling and he was sorrowful because of it. We need to help others strengthen their faith so they can withstand the mighty blows of the adversary. 

Have a great week!!

<Kia Kaha>

-Elder Barney

Hey!

Whats up!

Things have been great this week! I had my first baptism on Saturday morning!

Sophy Chen has been so prepared throughout her life! She has been a great addition to the Chinese group! She is going to rekindle the fire that the group had and the work will take off! Its fantastic!

I studied Alma 50 this past week.

Alma 50:1

Moroni would not cease making preparations for war. He fortified and strengthened the cities of all the land. We need to be prepared against the temptations of Satan. We need to fortify and strengthen our testimony to withstand the Adversaries attacks.

Alma 50:9

In order to fortify and strengthen all the land they had to drive out all of the wickedness. We need to do the same in our lives. We need to remove wickedness and repent.

Alma 50:20

When God commands us to do something there is always a consequence whether it is good or bad. Keep the commandments ye shall prosper! Don't keep the commandments and ye shall be cut off! There is no middle ground!

Alma 50:22

The Lord truly does watch out for the righteous!

Alma 50:23,37

There was never a happier time because the people kept the commandments of God, and they had leaders who filled the role of Leadership with perfect uprightness before God. Righteous leaders and righteous people equals peace and prosperity!

Have an awesome week!!

<Kia Kaha>

-Elder Barney

Sister Sophy Chen with her husband and baby girl 

Elder Gemperline and Elder Barney :)

Whats up!

Hey!

This was a great week! Our Chinese investigator Sophy is getting baptized on Saturday! It is so great to see her faith in God grow and see how happy she gets when we talk about the gospel! I am really loving my mission!

This week I read Alma 46

46:5 - Amalickiah flattered the Natural Man by offering to give them power if he was able to rule over them. He used the natural mans weakness to gain power over them

46:21 - All it takes is one man to unite a nation whether for the bad or for the good. He can inspire a nation either way. All it takes is one domino to fall sadly. While with Moroni he unified the people for the good and unified them in purpose and the people were prepared to do anything they were commanded

46:18 - Sometimes the cost of discipleship is different then we expect. but when we have faith in God and we have endured it is well with us!

46:27&28 - Moroni knew what the consequence of disobedience was, so he was trying to keep the people righteous.

46:31 - The people under Moroni were ready to act on his command

46:36 - We need to show the enemy that we are unified and that we will stand for liberty. Be true Christians

46:49 - The blessings of having a knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Overall 46 - Be unified. Live the faith, show the faith, defend the faith. Always be ready to act on the commandments and promptings. Be an example of the believers at all times and in all places. Do not let the flattering of the adversary blind or distract you from the path of True Discipleship

Hope you have a great week!

<Kia Kaha>

-Elder Barney

Zone Walk

We did a mission walk around a lake, here is a pic of my zone when I was on UW

<Kia Kaha>

-Elder Barney

Hey!

Hey!!

This week we had a great miracle. A random number texted us and introduced themselves as Wei Shu and they asked us if they could have a church tour on Thursday morning, we were super excited and we thought it was a man. No members could come so we were prepared to give it, then a women showed up! We decided to just have a lesson at the park across the street and she asked us how she can show her love to God and how can she become clean! She is on date for February 28th! It was awesome!

We were walking around yesterday, and the neighborhood was so loud, fireworks and screaming and yelling, Seahawks were winning 24-14 so Seattle was going beserek! Then we got in our car and drove to our dinner appointment at 7. We got out of our car and it was silent. You could hear a pin drop. Something was wrong... I got super happy because that meant that the Patriots were winning! We called a young man because our dinner appointment wasn't answering the door and he was like, the Seahawks are on the 1 yard line, Russell Wilson just hiked it... he threw the ball! And then yelling happened and he said, the Patriots just intercepted the ball... Game over... Boo Yah!! #NotAllowedToWatchTheSuperbowl #BlessedForObedience

On a more spiritual note...

A War Chapter really stuck out to me last week during my studies. Alma 49. 

Alma 49:7 - Talks about when we have bad intentions there will be bad results. We have to have charity for everyone and not do anything just for ourselves but to do things to help others and to please God.

Alma 49:23 - The Lord truly watches and protects the righteous, while Satan could careless about the people that choose to follow him (Alma 30:60)

Alma 49 - The reason the Nephites were so prepared and strong was because of the Leadership of Moroni. He was a Warrior-Prophet, so he was an inspired captain of the Nephite Army. He followed Gods commands which lead to the Nephite prosperity in the land. Like Moroni strengthened all of the weak points of the land, we have to strengthen the weak points of our testimony. We need to put on the Armor of God and NEVER take it off. We need to put on the armor and strengthen our weaknesses to make ourselves impenetrable to Satan and his temptations.

Have a great week!!

<Kia Kaha>

-Elder Barney