Monday, December 17, 2012


Sunday was another hurricane. It was actually worse this week. The streets turn into rivers the second it starts to rain. We had some really good lessons throughout the week. We set a bap date for January 26th. Her name is Helen and she is either the girlfriend or wife of a member haha. The lessons are solid though and she is a friend for sure. We taught Joyeux and we had set a goal for him to completely stop drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes on the 15th of December. Our lesson with him was great. He had gone from drinking coffee 3 times a day to once every other day and now he has stopped cold turkey. Pray for him. His baptism is the 29th of December and I worry about him all the time. He's a champ though and has a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Etienne and Nana showed up to church on Sunday which made me fall off my chair. They are the family that has a little girl who has some strange disease. They are always so against leaving their religion, I honestly thought we would have to drop them in a week or two. They loved church. This morning Elder Tregeagle and I got up at 5:30 a.m. and drove to the Tamatave bus stop. He's gone and Elder Steele is on his way to work with me in Anjanahary (I'm curious to know how you guys pronounce all these crazy names). Tonight we have a dinner for Elder Lunt who goes home tomorrow and then Manakambahiny zone conference on Wednesday. You would think after being on a mission for so long, stuff like that wouldn't stress me out. But it still does. Woohoo! The work is going very well in Anjanahary and I love our investigators so much. We have been visiting lots of members, less active and active and the ward is changing. In our last Ward Council meeting the majority of the time was spent going over our progress records and figuring out what members were going to visit all the people we have been teaching. They are really catching the spirit of missionary work. So I'll figure out the skype thing this week and add you guys and what not so we can chat it up for Christmas! We have some hospitals and orphanages to visit on Christmas day and it should be a great experience. I'm excited. There are a ton of guys playing computer games here in this cyber and they are all screaming and yelling in French. One of them just swore in English and Elder Robinson leaned over to me and said, "Turns out I speak French." haha Well Have a great week my friends.

 
Love Elder Barclay

Monday, December 10, 2012


Awesome week. Sunday was NUTS. After church we drove up to the top of this area called faravohitra to teach a guy. As soon as we left the church it started to pour. When we got to the top of the hill the cobblestone road had become a river and lighting was striking everywhere around us. The thunder was so loud that it would shake my chest. So we got out of the car and ran to the guys house and running was useless because within 3 seconds of being in the rain we were soaked. Working in the rain is always a good look because people are like, "Are you nuts?" We taught the guy and then descended the mountain and walked our way into one of the lower parts of our area where a lake had formed. We started down the path to our investigators house and before we knew it we were wading through knee deep sewage. Yay... The canals and pooh rivers that we always walk along had all over flown and the rivers had risen up above the bridges that cross them. So we didn't know where the bridges were to cross the canals. Luckily a ton of little kids ran to us and helped us across. One false step and I would have been completely submerged in a raging river of poop. It was a leap of faith walking across those bridges. When we got to the family's house they were all outside sweeping the water away from their houses so we grabbed some brooms and helped. It was a party. When it stopped raining we went inside and taught one of the best lessons of the week. The whole family was keeping up with dispensations and authority. They were all way fun to teach and be around. When night rolled around it got way cold. We taught Andrena and we just talked about her Book of Mormon reading. She has finished 1st Nephi and is eating it up. She told us that she feels the power of the book when she reads and she tells us all about the stories she has read during the week. We had a Zone Leader council on Tuesday and we had the Reunion and Tamatave zone leaders with us on webex. It was really cool, we made history! I conducted and the meeting went well. All the zone leaders are studs and Elders Twitchell and Long in Reunion brought a lot to the meeting. President Adams ended the council with some teaching from the scriptures about the gathering of Israel. The spirit was strong and I felt recharged. I love that stuff. Well that's about all I got. Have a great week. Skype is a go for Christmas so plan on Christmas eve your time. Have a great week! I love you all.

 

Elder Barclay     




 











 

Monday, December 3, 2012


Hey my sweet sweet treasures. Another week has blown by and people love to tell me how many weekly planning sessions or p-days or Sundays I have left. It's getting old. It's hard enough to stay focused without all that ha. We had some good lessons as well as some frustrating lessons. One of our families dogged us twice over the last two weeks and whenever we would stop by they wouldn't come out to the gate. So finally we caught them and they had us come in. The father was buzzed and everyone else was being loud and dumb. We sit down and pray and then ask how their Book of Mormon reading is going. They pulled the book off the shelf and blew off the dust and then giggled. We started to calmly talk about the importance of reading and they said they don't have time blah blah blah and then the wife said, "So if I got to your church I can't drink coffee or alcohol or smoke or anything?" Elder Tregeagle said, "Yes you get to live the commandments when you join God's church." Then I explained that we weren't asking them to turn their lives upside down and change everything right this instant. Their less active sister must have told them about the word of wisdom and other commandments because we haven't taught them any of that. Then I told them, "All we ask you to do right now is read this book and pray about it." 20 minutes later we finished testifying of the blessings that would come from doing so and told them to read the book every day. I wanted to scream at them haha but I refrained. People just don't get it. That could be our fault, but now it should be pretty clear in their minds. We have been stopping by an excommunicated member's house and the two visits have been awesome. I have never felt so much compassion and love for someone. She is working harder than anyone could to repent and get back to where she was and during the lessons God's love for her almost makes my chest explode. I'm on the verge of tears every time we go and it's like I just can't find words to really express what her Father in Heaven feels for her. Every time we leave I thank Heavenly Father for letting me be a part of those visits. I didn't really realize how much I love these people out here but now that I have been really reflecting I see that I would stay here forever with them if I had to. After the first couple of months of my mission in Reunion I was reading about Ammon in the Book of Mormon when he tell the king he would labor among his people until the day he died and I wrote next to that verse, "Reunion till I die?" At that time I thought YEAH RIGHT. It's crazy how much that has changed. It's good stuff. Well no crazy stories, I was walking down the street and some American guy leaned out the window of his taxi and said, "Hey elders!" Way weird haha Well gotta go Love you all, have a great week.

Monday, November 26, 2012


This week was awesome. Sooo many spiritual experiences with people. I was feeling the love for everyone we taught and I had to thank Heavenly Father after every lesson for letting me be a part of those people’s lives. Thanksgiving was a great day. We made a FAT meal and between 8 of us we still had leftovers. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, rolls, two roasts, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. It literally was the best meal I have eaten during my mission. Sister Adams, Sister Donnelly, and Sister Cornelius all couldn't compete with that meal, sorry ladies. Lots of stuff happened this week but I just don't have time to tell you because the office is crazy and everyone is looking over my shoulder reading my emails, and asking me stupid questions and well... I'm just going to call it a quits right now before I snap and do something that Jesus wouldn't do. Thank you so much for the pictures. Holy cow there are so many little kids. We are going to play hard when Uncle Jeff gets home. I love you all and I'll write a better email next week. Sorry again :(  Have a great week everyone! 

 

Love Jeff

 





Tuesday, November 20, 2012


Hey everyone,

Good week. We were able to teach over 20 lessons again due to few meetings which was nice :) We have three complete families that are making progress and the non-member father of a family has quit smoking and drinking coffee and has a bap date for December 29th. The work is going well! Elder Abney baptized Aubin on Saturday from my last area and we were able to stop by and see the baptism before we drove out to the airport. Now their family is set for eternity. He'll be a Melchizedek priesthood holder in a year, which is nice. The summer season has begun and the rain has come along with it. It pours haha. Yesterday was pretty bad but luckily everyone we stopped by was home and let us in. On Sunday we also had stake conference and I got to see all the people from Ankadindramamy and Betongolo. The people from Ankadindramamy were blown away because I could actually talk to them. It was a real confidence boost. During the two hours of brain melting stake conference talks in Malagasy I didn't really pay attention but rather made funny faces at all the little kids around us. I had about 20 little girlfriends by the time it was over haha. I hope president doesn't read this stuff. So it is shmelting hot every morning and then a monsoon comes and floods the land in the evening. Either way I'm uncomfortable all day everyday ha. Saturday afternoon we were leaving an appointment and had to drive up a pretty steep hill. On the way up the hill the car started to struggle and ending up dying so we started to roll back down the hill. The road was pretty narrow and well,we backed right into a wall. Tree was driving :) He's been upset about it all weekend and probably is going to be mad when he finds out that I'm telling you all this. There is literally nothing else exciting that is going on so I had to spice up this email with that story. I think he'll understand. He was so mad I didn't even crack any jokes. So life is good and In our transfer meeting this morning we had to take into account that my group would be going home in May sooo that was weird and not fun. But it happens. Well friends, I'll talk to y'all later. Have a fantastic week and think about me whenever you take a nap because I'm sleepy all the time. Mhmm, ok, gros bisous, je vous aime! Oh wait, I turned 21 on Thursday! Thanks for all the emails and pictures, the children are just precious. All the computers in this cyber crashed and then miraculously turned back on and I didn't lose what I had written because we gathered everyone together in the building and we knelt and prayed. Not haha sorry So that oughta do it!

Elder Barclay

Monday, November 12, 2012


What a week! It felt like it was about one day long. President Adams was in South Africa all week so Tree and I were full time missionaries again! We taught 29 lessons. We did WORK. A lot of the people are really solid too. Joseph is an older guy probably in his late 40's and is a math teacher. We taught him for the first time on Thursday. He was really quiet and would sit and reflect for about 2 minutes after every question we asked him. Then he would give us a 2 minute long answer which would go right over my head because he was using some fancy vocabulary. Luckily Tree got it all ha. The lesson was way long but way good. We didn't have a Book of Mormon on us so he walked with us back to our car to get one and when we handed it to him he looked at it and said thanks. Then he walked away slowly looking at the book. It was a cool thing to see. It is a powerful experience when you give someone a Book of Mormon that is going to really read it . You can almost see into their future and picture them learning, getting baptized, and being an active member. We have been teaching a other young guy named Zoo. He is our age and works as a guardian for the house right next to our apartment. The thing that is cool about teaching him is that he is young and has that open minded ready to experiment attitude and so he is really interested in everything we say and he asks questions so he can really understand. It was the same experience giving him a Book of Mormon as it was with Joseph. Their lives could change so much. I'll tell you about one other family and then talk about funny stuff. We contacted a man named Etienne on the street one day and set up a time with him for Friday. When we went to his house we met his wife and kids and their little family was awesome. They have 3 little boys. John Kevin, John Kennedy, and Narovana haha. The oldest boy looks younger than his little brother because he has had some sickness from the time he was born and he was just hiding behind his mom the entire lesson. They were so humble, but also very strong and had no sense of "our life is hard". We didn't teach them much but just told them about what we do and what our purpose is and then shared a spiritual thought with them. I wanted to hug the kids so bad! This entire week was just one sobering experience after another. So the work is going great. As for other news... My stomach has been very upset with me. I don't know what I ate but my goodness... I have some funny stories about that haha. Last night was weird as well. I was cooking up some food and went to scratch the flea bites a little and when I pulled my shirt up I had huge hives all over me. I had one the size of a pancake on my right thigh and they were yellow/orange. It was way freaky haha they spread way quick and were everywhere. It wasn't too bad though, I just took some Benadryl and went to bed. This morning I only had 5 or 6 on my stomach and sides. I don't know what the heck it was but it was weird. We've had a Malagasy elder with us the last couple of days and while we were out working we found a ton of huge spiders and Malagasies aren't scared of them at all so he just went up and grabbed one off it's web and was playing with it. He acted like he was going to throw it at me and I said, "Don't." haha. Man those things are freaky! I'm going to muster up the courage one day to play with one and I'll take pictures of it on my face or something haha you guys will love it. Well have a great week :)

Love Jeffrey   



 

Monday, November 5, 2012


Woohoo!

 

Another week has blown by. So not a ton of interesting things happened this week. On Friday we had a Zone Leader council which means another fat meal provided by Sister Adams. Delicious :) We talked about how we could make Christmas more meaningful this year and we will be doing some pretty awesome service activities and really looking to bless people's lives. The spirit was very strong throughout the entire meeting and everyone is pumped for Christmas. So earlier during the week a lot of our time was spent in meetings with president and preparing the Z.L. council. Some really great news is that Tree and I continue to get YACKED out of our minds every morning at the gym. We have been going 100 MPH all day everyday and by 8 at night during our last lesson whoever is not talking is asleep or dosing off. Elder Tregeagle has literally fallen asleep during every single one of my prayers during daily planning haha. Yesterday at church we finally got a ward mission leader! He was a missionary here about 6 months ago and he is a stud. We had a meeting after church and he gathered up about 10 guys and assigned them all days to work with us. There are 2 companionships in our area as of last transfer. The ward has always struggled but it doesn't seem like that will be the case for long. The other 2 elders working here with us are studs and way fun to live with. Anjanahary is going to blow up, mark my words. I translated for our buddy Jewls again during elders quorum and once I get warmed up  I do pretty well. The only problem is that I have no idea what the teacher is saying in Malagasy so I teach my own lesson on whatever the topic is haha. Jewls loves it and smacks his fist into his hand which means "marina izany" which literally means "true that" haha. Halloween was cool. Not. We celebrated by eating a couple pieces of candy corn before we went to bed. We have doing a lot of tracting in a very wealthy area near the church and we gut SHUT DOWN. Most of them are actually French or German or Indian and don't speak Malagasy so the French has been coming in handy. We have gotten into a couple of huge houses and we have some appointments set up. It takes me back to Reunion. Speaking of which, a family Chong-Mook and I taught is finally getting baptized! The parents are getting married and then they'll be set for baptism. Super sick family that would feed us theee most deeelicious food. So that's just wonderful :) That's it for me. Have a good week everyone.

 

Elder Barclay   

 

Monday, October 29, 2012

Bonjourrra 'nareo

Great week. I baptized Revenaldo on Saturday and then we had a fat party at his neighbor’s house. Way good food and tons of friends, it was a good time. I had the younger kids teach me some Malagasy dances and that was a party haha. Sunday at church I had to introduce myself and bear my testimony which is never fun because everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to see if you're good at Malagasy or not. In priesthood I translated for our deaf friend Jewls. It was way tough ha but I learned a ton of new words in his sign language. I actually surprised myself by how well I did. Jewls was pumped and gave me a big hug afterwards haha I love that guy! As far as teaching we didn't get much done. Tons of meetings and garbage. We actually picked up 4 new missionaries on Wednesday. They are all studs. Two of them graduated from high school in 2012. Are you freaking serious? I have been out here a while ha. One of them threw up twice on the way home from the airport haha. Poor guy. So all Wednesday we had orientation stuff and dinner and Thursday we had training for the trainers and the new elders. Oh and a fat lunch in President's apartment yum :) It was way fun to see the culture shock and drive them through town. It was also funny to hear their sarcasm and stupid jokes. It's crazy how quick we get humbled and have that garbage slapped out of us here. I can't believe how much I have grown up. But at the same time some people don't grow up haha. On Saturday morning we had a bunch of missionaries calling us and one was even crying all because of people spreading rumors about one missionary. Haha I was literally in awe. I thought my 21st birthday was coming up but I guess not. Apparently we're all still in Junior High and all mixed up in the drama and gossip. So we calmed some troubled elders and made it all better :) haha when it was all happening I was lit but now looking back it's pretty funny. Well that's about it. I'll send pictures tonight when we're at the office doing stats. Have a great week! Happy birthday Mom! I love you all.

Elder Barclay







Monday, October 22, 2012

Hey there,

Great week with some super awesome experiences. The first was at a member’s house. His name is Jewls and he is deaf. Elder Tregeagle has learned a bunch of Malagasy sign language and that's how we communicate with him. I'm learning it now as well. There actually is no official sign language for Malagasy, but Jewls has created his own language and is teaching all the other deaf people the language. It's called Teny Jewls (teny=language/word). He is one of the most diligent members of the church I have ever met and he knows the gospel better than most people. During our appointment with him he taught us a spiritual thought out of 3rd Nephi and the spirit was strong. I was so humbled by the experience. When we walked into his house he saw us and smiled then ran over to us and hugged us both. He won't shake our hands, only hugs. He had a deaf friend at his house when we stopped by and he did some awesome missionary work on him and it was crazy to see. Next month I get to translate his testimony from Teny Jewls into Malagasy during fast and testimony meeting, wish me luck! This morning when we took all our garbage and stuff out to the dumpster the people living behind it jumped into the dumpster and waited for us to throw our bags in so they could go through it. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever throwing anything away because I literally am giving it to those people. The new apartment is now clean and a great place to live haha. We both worked way hard this week cleaning it up. My bathroom could be in the parade of homes magazine. We saw conference this weekend and it was great. That's all I can say about it ha. It was really good. On Sunday morning all three wards that meet in our building and watched it together and the chapel was overflowing! We were running around setting up chairs in the aisles and cramming people in ha. It was so awesome to see the members and investigators from my old area again. It literally has been one week and I already miss them like crazy. It's always nice when they are excited to see you as well ha. They always make you feel bad when they say, "Why don't you come teach us anymore?" It doesn't matter how many times you explain what a transfer is, they still ask why you don't go see them. Man I love them all! Our area had a baptism last Saturday and i got to translate for President Adams and boy was that rough haha my face was all sorts of sweaty. I don't know what the speakers talked about, but I gave some pretty good discourses on Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost haha. Well Have a good week friends. That's all for me this week.

Love Jeffrey 

Monday, October 15, 2012

Kossa i dit?

Nana bon solei! It was a busy week with hospital visits and such. Elder Quigley from Pocatello had a giant cyst on his face and I got to see that get popped and drained. Yucky... Also Eder Tahiata from Tahiti got really sick. He drinks the pump water (unfiltered) and it finally caught up to him haha. We were still able to teach a good amount of lessons and the people we teach are so solid it's amazing. We taught 11 father led families and fixed a couple more bap dates. We have been setting the bap dates pretty far into the future so we can figure out if people are going to stick it out. So far so good! I said goodbye to Aubin on Sunday because tomorrow I get transferred. Anjanahary is the name of my new area and Elder Tregeagle is my new comp. On Thursday I got to drive my good buddy Elder Seifert to the airport because he got transferred to RĂ©union. He'll be comps with my boy Elder Fennell! haha I hope he likes RĂ©union... It kind of has to grow on you. On Thursday morning there was a Zone Leader council and boy oh boy was it awesome! We made some rule changes to tighten up the conduct and people were TRIPPIN' haha. We now have to wear shirt and tie on p-day instead of jeans and t shirts. President Adams also addressed apartment conduct and language. He said, and I quote, "If you are talking about a young woman inappropriately or using crude language and behaving like a teenage boy when you get home at night, then you are living a lie and pretending to be a missionary." YES! Haha I love it when disobedient fools get slapped in the face like that. President Adams laid down the law. Then he proceeded to rip us up with scriptures from the Book of Mormon about being diligent. I enjoyed the council thoroughly but others were not as pleased with it as I was haha. I don't know if I have ever told you guys about how this mission used to be, in Malagasy we use the word "maditra" which is like a mixture of naughty and disobedient. But that will no longer be the case! Pres Adams is making changes and people are repenting. Most of the older missionaries have already gone home. Now with the new generation we are picking the most obedient/diligent missionaries to be the trainers even if they aren't the best teachers or the best at the language. Things are great. The last six months has gone by fast and we're hitting the home stretch. I figure I have Anjanahary and then one more area after that, but one never knows. Today we parked our car and went to get some pictures printed and when we came back there was a boot on one of the front tires. So we went and found the punk cops that did it and made them take it off because we are missionaries and not creepy French guys trying to find girlfriends. I was kind of mean about it and told them not to make a mistake like that again. I felt bad so I got some restoration pamphlets and we taught them a bit and then left. I wrote a fake phone number on the back of the pamphlets for fear that they would call us and make us pay for the parking violation. Who am I kidding, not one single person has ever called me after I gave them my phone number. Elder Abney just turned to me and told me how crazy he thinks it is that he has been out for 8 months haha just you wait my friend. Well I gotta go. I love you all. Have a great week.

Love Elder Barclay     

Monday, October 8, 2012

Summer time is rolling right on into town. Holy melting my face off scorching heat. I have also come to the last hole on my smallest belt.
I have punched two new holes in my bigger belts. I actually don't even wear my own pants anymore, I have some hand-me-downs from missionaries that went home. Well some really cool stuff happened this week. On Saturday some elders in our district had a baptism so we invited our investigators to it and 6 of them showed up. The baptism was solid and every one of our investigators had a huge smile on their face. They all loved it. At church on Sunday I was sitting next to Revenaldo (investigator) during priesthood and he started to tell me about how he had been reading the Book of Mormon during the week and he knows it's true now. He got that nice slap in the face from the Holy Ghost that solidifies our testimonies. It was way cool. He got up during fast and testimony meeting and bore his testimony as well. It was AWESOME. Thank you all for the conference reports. I will see it in two weeks ha. Then next April I'll pack my bags after conference.
Yikes. I still haven't been transferred to my new area because Elder Cusick still hasn't gotten his visa for Mauritius. No complaints with that because Elder Abney have a baptism on the 20th of this month and the 17th of November. We are teaching a young unmarried couple that is actually considering getting married so they can get baptized. We taught them about the law of chastity and told them to repent. It was sick. Well that's it for this week. I'm Ron Burgundy? Cheers :)

Love Jeffrey

Monday, October 1, 2012

bonjourno mes amis,

Great week. Last Monday was a letdown; the fuzz didn't show for our battle royal. It's alright though the court was at the college here and there were plenty of Malagasies to play. Some of them were way good and could dunk ha but we won every game and had a decent size crowd watching the vahazahas (foreigners) ball. Some of the guys were playing barefoot on the asphalt court and it was nuts. I just about died later that night while we were working. I am soooooo out of shape. Tuesday we moved into our new apartment and it was one of the nastiest things I've ever seen. Elder Abney and I did work and got the place livable and actually it is now one of the nicest apartments I've lived in. We got some solid bap dates fixed thins week. One guy is named Aubin and his wife is a member already. He looks like a giant Mexican that just got out of prison way nice though. You'll see what I'm talking about when we take pictures at his baptism. The lesson with him was a classic, Joseph Smith story and, “Will you be baptized by proper authority when you know that our message is true?" It flowed perfectly! Sunday was a good day at church. We had 8 investigators show up. Joshua finally came and he brought the two little kids that live with him. I had actually dozed off and was snoozin when he showed up. I was having a football dream when Abney smacked me and said, "Look Joshua came!" Woohoo!  I forgot about Thursday morning, we took 7 departing Malagasy missionaries to the airport. It was way weird to be around them and then thinking about when I was in the same spot getting ready to go. Man it feels like just yesterday Mom and I snagged a whopper at BK and then I got dressed and we left for Provo. Other than that... work as usual. Have a great week everyone! 

Love Jeffrey   




Monday, September 24, 2012

9.24.12

Hey,

Great week, tons of success woohoo! There was one lesson that was the coolest for me. I have been studying chapter 6 in P.M.G. and working on diligence because I have been way tired lately and I just want to crash. So Sunday afternoon I was out with my mini all day running to people's houses and going door to door in between lessons and it just felt like nothing was happening. So I started To wander a bit down some paths I hadn't seen before and I found myself in front of this one guys house that I had already tried 5 times. Something just kept taking me back to this house and finally this time the father was home. At first he gave us the hand and waved us away but I kept talking ha. He started to get really mad and told us to leave and I said do you know who we are? So blah blah blah we were sitting on his porch and chatting a bit. We busted out a first lesson in 5 minutes and he was asking questions with a tone of "well what about this? hmmm?" By the time we finished and he couldn't find any faults we tried to fix a return appointment and he gave us the usual, "I work all day everyday," well right back at ya punk so do we. When we told him we worked from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. something hit him hard and he just couldn't believe it. Apparently it clicked in his head that we weren't going around stealing money from people and that we actually are called of God. It was nuts how he changed and suddenly had respect for what we were doing. He kind of freaked out and busted open his front and sat us down in his front room. He is a way solid guy and we will be teaching him next week! When we left I stopped and reflected for a bit about what had just happened because I was so blown away by his change of heart. His heart was softened because of how diligently we labor and it was a total answer to my prayers when I asked for strength and motivation to be more diligent as a missionary. For you guys it probably is a dumb little experience, but as I have been out here I have realized that those small things are the most powerful moments in life. Once I realize and accept that something is an answer to prayer for me or someone else, the spirit lays into me and it is an indescribable experience. You feel so close to God out here sometimes it's nuts. As for other news... there isn't much, just work as usual. Today we have a 5 on 5 basketball game lined up against the the Gendarmes (military police) because they saw Cusick, Tree, and I walking the other day and challenged us. I'm worried that if we win they'll throw us in jail so we might have to throw the game haha. I'll let you know how it goes next week! Have a great week friends. 

Love Jeffrey

    



Monday, September 17, 2012

Bonjourrra!

Great week. Lots happened but I am just going to tell you guys about a new family we are teaching. The Dad's name is Jean-Baptiste and he is married with three kids. The kids are 18, 22, and 9 years old and the older two are in college. We found them at their house on Tuesday and taught them the first lesson and set up a time for Sunday night. Last night was one of the most powerful lessons of my mission. So We start to review the Joseph Smith stuff and I have them read the definition of Apostasy in the pamphlet and they all start to figure out what we're trying to teach them. Then once they figured out how important it all was they started asking tons of questions. Then they kind of started to freak out because they realized that if they make the wrong choice then they'll be in trouble. So we answer all their questions and just make everything crystal clear and then teach them about the Book of Mormon. I being an IDIOT didn't take a Book of Mormon when I left the house so I had them reading stuff out of my personal triple and taught them that way. I had never had any person figure out for themselves that if our message was true they better make the right choice or else haha. I have had people just take our word for it off the bat and others think mhmm sure that sounds nice and come along that way, but never had I seen people be somewhat stricken with fear from realizing the gravity of our message. It was sick because the spirit was practically lighting the room and our testimonies were unshakable! It was awesome. So as soon as the lesson was over we sprinted to our house and ran back to their house with the book. I wouldn't be surprised if they read the whole thing that night. Woohoo!
We fixed some bap dates this week as well. November 3rd will be a big day if everyone follows through!

Go Aggies.

Elder Barclay

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Hi everybody,

What a great week! We started things off with a bang and took my buddy Elder Allred to the hospital to get his appendix taken out on Tuesday. Yep he is the third missionary in 2 months to have his appendix taken out. By now i'm wondering if thats what the real problem has been with these guys or if the doctors here were taught that if someone has a sideache to cut them open and pull something out. Just kidding, the doctor is really good and he helps us out a ton. So I was up until 3 a.m. at the hospital while Elder Allred was getting taken care of. Of course I recorded him when he came out of surgery, now I have three 30 minute films of blackmail  for Elder Cusick, Elder Abney, and Elder Allred. I got to call his mom and tell her what was going on which was cool. Way nice lady.

Wednesday night I was back at the hospital switching out missionaries to stray with Elder Allred when President Adams called and told me the transfer news. I will be working in Anjanahary with Elder Tregeagle who is Elder Cusick's companion now. Elder Cusick is going to Mauritius (lucky turd) and I will replace him. I managed to get out of being an office elder but still haven't escaped the office. 

Thursday was a definite black eye on the week. I woke up on the hospital floor in Elder Allred's hospital room after staying the night with him with an usual feeling in my stomach/bowels. Apparently my lunch from Wednesday wasn't too great for my body. I was in the bathroom all morning and finally got to go home around noon where I took some medicine and went to bed. Five minutes after falling asleep I woke up and ran to the bathroom and threw up so hard that I pulled a muscle in my neck and shoulder haha woohoo! I don't know if any of you are familiar with the term "double-dragon" but that is what happened. 

Friday morning we were back at it and taught Revenaldo about the Plan of Salvation and committed him to be baptized on the 6th of October. He accepted and told us how he is planning on serving a mission too. He's a stud and man... hearing that made us happy. Friday night was really cool. Elder Carl B. Cook of the seventy arrived for his mission tour and Elder Tregeagle, Elder Cusick, and I got to meet with him and President Adams about the tour for a few hours. It was awesome. Great guy ha. 

Saturday was Zone Conference. Hallelujah! It was just the kick in the rear that I needed to get me back in line. It's crazy how we slack off little by little after a big zone conference and then get slapped in the face again a few months later. The best part is that I never feel bad but just pumped to get work done. I'm sure that is because these general authorities teach by the spirit and do things the Lord's way and not their own. Elder Cook told us a story about the end of David A. Bednar's mission. A few months before he was going home his mission president asked him if there was anything he could do for him and Elder Bednar said, "Just don't tell my companion when I'm going home." So one morning during companion study when Elder Bednar and his companion were planning for the day Elder Bednar brought up the point that he needed to be to the airport at 2 because he would be going home. I think I'm going to attempt that same trick So I really do work up until the very last day. The zone conference was awesome. That's all for this week folks. Love y'all!

Elder Barclay 

Monday, September 3, 2012

Yo,

Had a nice relaxing week. Monday night Abney and I were leaving the office when his appendix blew up like a balloon. He was hurting pretty bad so I drove him to the hospital and started calling Dr's and we got his surgery organized. It was about 8 p.m. when this all started. So the Dr. sent us to some places to get scans and ultrasounds and it turned out to be a mess because every place we went to either didn't have working equipment or the Dr. wasn't there. So Elder and Sister Grey, President Adams, Abney, and I were cruisin around Antananarivo trying to get this stuff done. Sister Grey is over the hospital issues and she couldn't remember where one of the places was so sweet, innocent, old, elder and sister Grey decide to stop and ask people for directions haha. Well at 1 in the morning in Madagascar the only people out on the streets are usually prostitutes and their customers ha. The hoochies weren't much help. Yikes, at the time I was bugged because Abney was dying and we were just humbuggin around town taking in the sights and trying to figure out where the place was by asking prostitutes for directions. So finally by 2 a.m. it was all sorted out and Abney was in a hospital bed. The next day he had surgery and that was pretty much my week. When he came out of surgery he was saying some pretty funny stuff and I got a good 30 minute movie. Even President Adams was laughing. So finally on Sunday I was able to get a malagasy member to be my companion and we went and taught. We caught four of our people at home and taught some solid times. Joshua and Nirina are my new favorite people. They're a young couple about 22 years old and just married. It's like teaching my friends. I love it! Saturday was the highlight of the week. Hery and Yarisoa were baptized. The branch President baptized Hery and I baptized Yarisoa. It was awesome. Super solid people and I get to be the guy who was a part of their conversion. Their baptism was probably the most solid success I have had so far. He'll be a stake president for sure. Other than that just a boring old regular week ha until next time friends.

Jeff  

Monday, August 27, 2012

Hey there,

Great week. Straight up miracles this last week. So El Bakri is home and Abney is my new companion. We laugh too much for our own good. Transfers got taken care of again and I hope next time transfers come I'm the one getting transferred ha. Well, I hope me and Abney work together for a while, but get me out of the office. So he has been in country for 4 months, hey what do ya know, me too! So we are about the same when it comes to the language haha woohoo! We have been going for it and you wouldn't believe the lessons we have been dropping on fools. The greatest was our lesson with Hery and Yarisoa. We taught them about temples and genealogy and of course I have never studied any of that vocabulary. During the lesson words just kept coming into my mind so I would just say them and they were getting so excited because they could perform the ordinances for their family. Powerful. We got their baptismal interviews taken care of and they are getting baptized on Saturday night at 5. I can't wait! One funny story from the week happened while Elder Abney and I were walking down the street to a lesson. A big plastic bag came rolling between Abney's feet from behind us, then the bag ran up onto Abney's foot and it turned out to be a giant black and white rat about the size of a cat and not just a plastic bag rolling by in the wind. We both started screaming and jumped up into the air and the rat scurried down into the sewer haha. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Another funny sya took place one night after we had gotten home. Abney was in the bathroom doing work and reading the Liahona while I was in the kitchen making some dinner. So there is window in the bathroom that is right above the toilet and it was open while he was in there. I grabbed a piece of paper, crumpled it up, lit it on fire, and dropped it in the bathroom hahaha. It landed on his arm and he started screaming and jumped up with his pants around his ankles and kept screaming for a good 4 seconds after I had dropped the paper. I'm waiting for the payback anyday now. This week has been one of the greatest weeks of my mission and I hope it stays this way. Be sure to let me know the games go this week. Hopefully Riley Nelson doesn't CHOKE like the last two BYU all star QB's :) I also heard Jordan Wynn is on Heisman watch? That can't be for real.

Love Jeff     

Monday, August 20, 2012

Transfers,

El Bakri is on his death bed. We got the news last night about transfers and I will stay in the office with my new comp Elder Abney. He came up to Tana a while ago for some medical stuff and he worked with Seifert and I and he is awesome. We got along way good and I'm pumped to be comps with him. He has been in country for 4 months, so still young but hey we'll get stuff done whether or not people can understand our jibberish haha. Apparently there will be transfers in 2 weeks again... pray that I don't go back to knocking doors all day in Reunion. Well i don't mind where I am, it's just a lot easier to teach here. So for this weeks news! Hery and Yarisoa are ready for their baptism on the 1st of September. Super golden. So we had to take 3 malagasies to the airport for them to go to the temple and then MTC in Ghana. There was ridiculous traffic and it took us 2 and a half hours to get out there and I had to pee before we even left the house. So by the time we got to the airport i was numb between my belly button and knees and we were a bit pressed for time. So I go running into the airport to relieve myself ha and of course the families of the missionaries are all standing there waiting for us and they all jump me to say, "You're late! Where are the visa's?! Are they going to make it?!" I ignored them and went to the bathroom and started to go. So as I'm standing there a little kid comes up next to me and starts peeing up into the urinal because he is too short. So I'm just getting soaked by this kid because he is splashin and spraying everywhere. I had to pee sooo much that I couldn't stop and I just had to stand there and take it. So I took a bath and in the sink and went back out to get the missionaries through line and stuff and deal with their families. They came back at me as soon as I left the bathroom and I showed them the passports, told them that we were exactly 1 hour and a half early which is what is required for international flights and told them to get out of the way. So then I had to go get some cash converted for them for when they landed in South Africa. The first guy I went to wanted my passport, flight plans, and left arm to do the exchange so I went to the next guy and he only had 60 bucks on him and I needed 90. Then I went to the next guy and they wouldn't do it for who knows what reason, probably because I'm white. So I go back to the first guy with my passport and some flight plans and he makes me sit and wait for 20 minutes, so by this time I was getting a little aggressive. He asked if I was in a hurry... Hooray for patience. It all worked out though. Woohoo there's your story for the week. I gotta go haha Have a good one!

Elder Barclay    














Monday, August 13, 2012

Yeah!

Hey homies :) Another solid week. My trip to Reunion was amazing. So after I emailed you last Monday I went out on splits with Elder Fennell and Elder T. They said we were going to visit a less active that lived above the Gonthier's (my favorite people on reunion island) so I asked if I could just stop and say hi and they said sure... So I rang the doorbell and turns out that they had set up a dinner with them just for me. Melanie (Soeur Gonthier's nonmember friend that we used to teach) was there and she was pumped to see me as well. It was awesome. I didn't think anyone would remember who I was. We had a way good meal and had a way fun time talking about all the good times we had when I worked with them. After we taught the lesson Soeur Gonthier went and got a present that they had bought for me. I almost shed some tears! Man I love those people, they bought a sweet book about Reunion that wasn't very cheap. I was touched ha seriously it was hard not to hug them all. So after that we went to visit all the recent converts that I had taught as investigators. We saw my boy Mason Juldas first and he is still his kreole gangsta self, but now he's a kreole latter day saint gangsta reppin the Mormons out in the streets. He was way fun to visit and teach. So that was all Monday night. On Tuesday We went to Onja's house. She was out on her deck waiting for us to get there when we showed up. She made a huge lunch for us. The food was soooo good. She is as solid as ever. I taught her a spiritual thought in Malagasy and it was sick! I can't explain the feelings I have for all these people. Man... We took some fun pics that you guys will like haha. So that was pretty much it. I got to see Elder Twitchell and Elder Long as well as the sisters. It was hard to leave back to Mada. I had the time of my life and got to see the fruits of my labors. I also got my french visa renewed just in case a transfer comes up and I need to get bounced back over there. Only President and the AP's know what the future holds haha. I just want to get good at whatever stinking language I'm speaking. Malagasy is coming quick now Elder El-Bakri is helping me sooo much, mostly because he just stops talking during the lessons and doesn't start teaching again until he thinks I have tried enough haha. I just go for it and sometimes I do way good and other times people are like, "Ohh cute... he's trying to speak Malagasy..." The other day I taught the majority of the 2nd lesson. I was proud of myself. The rest of the week was routine. This morning we went souvenir hunting. If you have any requests or ideas, let me know because I'm going to be blowing some cash here at the end of my mission for you guys. The only problem I really have in my life right now is that my companion is going home to America next week. Lucky piece of poop haha. It takes every ounce of energy in me to not get trunky... Church is the worst, I have had some pretty graphic daydreams of me coming down that escalator in the SLC airport during sacrament meeting the last couple of weeks. Don't worry though I'm still scared of my mission ending. Well That's about it for me talk to y'all next week!


Elder Barclay

Monday, August 6, 2012

What’s up friends,

Here I am back in La RĂ©union with my boys Elder Fennell and Elder T! So the dealio is... I had to leave Mada for a day in order to get my permanent visa so here I am. I just met the Heaps and they are sooooo sick! I'm kind of bummed that I don't get to work more with them. So let’s talk about this last week. We have been running around trying to find doctors to arrange an Elder's surgery next week, he's getting his tonsils out... yikes. So that took all day Monday. Then on Tuesday we had a sweet zone leader council and now I remember that I wrote about this on Wednesday. Whoops so from Wednesday on. Uhhh... Yeah ha nothing has really happened since then. We had another super sweet lesson with Hery and Yarisoa. We did however have to push their baptism dates back to September 2nd. It was super tough because they could get baptized tomorrow and be fine and they would stay active, but we're working hard to help people understand everything. Isn't that how you think it would always be? Make sure your investigators are as ready as possible before you baptize them right? Ha nope that's not quite the mentality, well at least it wasn't but now it's changing and I love it! Elder El-Bakri is sooo good at teaching and he speaks so clearly that people get it and feel the spirit and become converted. I'm so lucky to have him as a companion! He has helped me a ton with Malagasy as well, but anyways I don't have a ton to tell you except that tomorrow we will be trying to get me another French visa... ha... yep... but nothing is sure! So I'm going to just start sending you guy’s pics and stuff and I'll write more next week! I love and miss you all!

Love Elder Barclay