THREESOME!

It's been a packed week and having an extra side kick has been a big time help! I'm really enjoying serving with Elders McLaren and Hatch in our tripanionship. We have a lot of fun while we preach a lot of gospel. Well this week has been less proselyting because we had zone conference in Latvia on Monday and Lithuania yesterday. The conferences have been a little shorter because we're doing a special mission tour with Elder Gvido Senkans, the first member in Latvia who is in the third Quorom of the Seventy. We drove the van with them down and back to Lithuania and it's been great spending time with them and especially listening to him speak at zone conferences. He has a really neat conversion story-- 17 years ago as we has studying with his wife in Russia he met missionaries and was just really impressed at how happy they were. More than anything else, he saw the happiness in their eyes, and it was a rough time and he couldn't understand why they were so happy if they “didn't smoke, drink, date or make any money.” He gained a strong testimony of the book of mormon, he learned english as he read the doctrine and covenants because he wanted to hear how the Lord spoke to the prophet in our day, and now has a very large and active family with 5 children. They are just great and really love the Lord and His church. I had an interview with him yesterday and learned a lot of things, but the number one thing that stuck out to me was how blessed I am to have an active family and amazing examples of service and dedication to the Lord. Happiness truly comes from serving and loving the Lord and those around you. I've learned that over and over.

We had an awesome miracle on Sunday morning when Ilvars called at 9 saying that he'd be coming to church. We'd hadn't been able to get a hold of him the last week, but we met him at the church and he's doing great! We actually had district conference that day, so we were able to teach him and he told us that he had been really busy with work and an old lady (which was his grandmother) had been giving him slack for reading the Book of Mormon saying that we teach a ton of bad things. Well, he finally asked her to name one of them and she couldn't so he decided that he'd come back. He said that he was impressed at how friendly and good the people at church were and he came to the district conference with all the members from Latvia later in the afternoon and really enjoyed it. In between our lesson and the conference he went to the park and read the Book of Mormon and wrote down questions. That's what I'm talking about! Juris also came to the conference and sat with a member named Peter who's from Australia but his dad is Lativan so he speaks fluently with a land down under accent. He's the man and is always willing to help us teach, which is even more fun now cause we can have one of us teach with him (Elder McLaren cause he speaks Latvian) and then Elder Hatch and I go out and work. Another bonus of a threesome. Both Elder Hatch and Elder McLaren are starting to learn Russian, and they're picking it up quickly. So we can't really SYL, but maybe we can start pretty soon. Haha, I forgot how hard a new language is though. Especially when the alphabet is a little different. I can't even imagine learning Chinese or something. Those little squiggly lines that make a whole word are just absurd.

Another thing that Elder Senkans talked about at Zone conferences was a study that it takes about 10,000 hours until you become a professional at something. He then compared it to faith, and how that is THE most important thing we can grow and develop while here on earth, and are we spending enough time to do that. I realize that being an active member in the church feels like it takes a lot of time sometimes, but in the long run it's only a fraction of everything else we do and the benefits completely outweigh the “sacrifice.” I'm just very glad to be able to spend these two years and dedicate all of my time to serving. I can't even believe how quickly it's going and I can see that the blessings are huge. I know this the most important/eternal work I'll ever do and I'm thankful for your love and support which lifts me up and keeps me keeping on. Have a happy thanksgiving. Go Ducks!

Love, Elder Barnes #12

P.S. I attached a few pics of our apartment, we've definitely cleaned it since then but it's a way nice place even if it's a little messy! Next preparation day is next Thursday. Be sure to give everyone in Utah a big hug from me! Ok not everyone, but just family members. And any familiar missionaries you run into at the MTC/Temple Square...