Peter's Epistle

Dear Family!!!

Hey I'm going to be a male uncle!

What a week! January is in full swing, and it's definitely not getting any warmer. But things get getting better. So bring it on cold weather!


I hope you like those rhymes, they just kind of came to me. It has been a very great week though, for a few good reasons. First I got a few packages (thank you Mommy, Cedar City Barnes, and Sister Brett and Grandma and Grandpa Sager) and a ton of letters with updates from the missionaries in our ward which are fun to read and catch up on. The 3rd ward is putting out an army! If you have Dean, and Jordan Lymans address for when they get into the field it'd be fun to send them a note. Plus I got the letter from Sister Richey through Sanita (the member in the Riga, Latvian branch) and it sounds like she's working hard and finding her groove. And I got the pictures from Gary and he looks really good and sounds like he's dominating school and life. I forget sometimes that life goes on at home, and probably at a faster pace than here. Although this week seriously felt like a blink.


Yesterday both Rollands and Igor came to church and they announced their Baptisms for this saturday! I think I've told you about them a bit, but they are sincere and prepared and will be strong priesthood holders. Rollands (16) has the huge family with the Hungarian father so we all went out there with the Birkenfeld family in the Latvian branch who are both returned missionaries (Martinc to Ukraine, Noami to Finland!) but she is from Hungary so they spoke at the begining with the father and it was really good. All of the kids are interested, listen and answer questions, and read the Book of Mormon. When we asked who would be coming to Rolland' baptism the mother asked if the others could be baptized too! We said yes, they'll just need to come to church first, and I think she would come too but she works 2 jobs and they live out of the city so it's about an hour bus ride in. But they are elect people, and once Rollands becomes a member I think it'll help them all accept the gospel and find a way to come. His younger brother Andris has come twice and whenever we ask him how he likes church or the Book of Mormon he just gets a huge smile and says “Great.” They are all pretty shy and introverted people but the more they've come to church, the more they've opened up. And they are just all smiles when we come over, it's classic. I'll send a picture from our last lesson, and it's good, but just doesn't quite capture what amazing people they really are. Hopefully someday you'll get to meet them!


Other miracles involve another man we've taught a few times named Roman, he's about 31 and we knocked into him in Mezciems, the same area where we found Katja (she's doing GREAT by the way, mixes in really well with the branch and we've taught a few good lessons where she's really starting to open up these past few weeks and has started to read more in the Book of Mormon which will help her more than anything else.) But Roman is a nice, quiet guy who takes care of his sister's dog when she's not home and that's actually how we found him! He normally lives in an area far away, but was in Mezciems one evening when we knocked. I don't know about you but that definitely doesn't sound like an accident to me! He's been reading the Book of Mormon, came to church yesterday, and agreed to be baptized the first week of February. In our last lesson he said that he doesn't know exactly what he's supposed to do in life, but feels good when we come over and thinks about God more. I'm really looking forward to seeing him grow, he's a way good guy.


Welp, I hope you have a better glimpse of what's going on here, this is the happiest time of my mission. I really love my companions, we are teaching some amazing people, and I kinda feel like I know what I'm doing. Although I got my haircut this morning and I should learn some more Russian vocab words for that because she understood shorter on top and low blend on the sides as really, really short and no sideburns. But hair grows back, thank goodness.


I love you and am grateful for the love I feel from you every day.

Love, Elder Barnes #12

the e-mail thing shut down right as I was about to send this, so I read all of your e-mails and luckily I wrote in word so no problems! It should be up by next week so keep sending e-mails there, and hopefully all will be well!

The other pictures are from saturday's earling morning workout/football. It was freezing (-12), but way fun. We played again today and it was even a little colder. But so worth it.