Hello Family, Friends, and Soon to be officially the Newest member of the Barnes Family (Tate!),

May 17, 2010

Hello Family, Friends, and Soon to be officially the Newest member of the Barnes Family (Tate!),

It has been a really great week, and we continue to be super blessed. My companions were in Riga on Tuesday for exchanges so I spent the day with the other Russian Elders in Tallinn and we had a fun day of everything falling through, but then it all worked out! Basically we had a few lessons call and cancel at the last second but we were able to talk to some good people on the streets and taught a couple who live outside the city but just happened to be around town when we called them on short notice. It seems to always work out that way, when something "bad" happens, it usually means that something better is right around the corner. Either that or the whole day kinda tanks, but even that at least you have something to look back and laugh about. But in the evening we taught a cool kid named Sergei, who's 20 years old and super prepared. He's really busy working three jobs, but he said that he's read all of 1 Nephi in about 3 hours and came to all three hours of church on Sunday and was super attentive. After the first lesson he accepted a baptismal date for June 12th, and we're teaching him again tonight. Elder Nielson contacted him on the bus a week and half ago and for our first lesson he showed up half and hour early. It's so fun to teach prepared people!

Robert (a.k.a Tong ShuangWu) is also making great progress. He's been clean from smoking for two weeks and came to church yesterday and loved it. He's been to conference, and a baptismal service, but this was his first sacrament service. After the meeting he said he felt "so warm and full of love." It was a really good service too, partly because 30 American members were there! Haha, I guess this huge group of elderly church members took a cruise that was going to be here on Tallinn for Sunday so they contacted the branch president and asked if they could have help getting to church. Two missionaries met them at the bus station and escorted them to the church. After Sacrament Meeting, Elder Nielson and I were able to show them the way back to old town, and it was an incredible experience. They were so happy and interested in the work here. Most of the time on the streets people will give you odd looks or aren't necessarily super excited when you approach them-- but with the members Elder Nielson and I felt like celebrities! Haha, they really were so kind and happy and when we all piled on the city bus (it was packed full) there was just a completely different feeling. The people I was standing next to were painters for the church magazines and temples and so they were snapping photos left and right. One lady even gave away a mini painting and a Book of Mormon to a couple she met on the bus. As she handed the book she said "This is gold. It'll change your life." It's not something I’ve ever used on a street contact before, but they really appreciated it and the woman was so happy to have shared the gospel. It was awesome. I'm sure she'll talk about it in her home ward next fast Sunday so if you hear about it, you can tell her that I was also impressed! One of the ladies said, "I wish I could have your mom’s phone number so I could call her and tell her what a great missionary you are." Speaking of which, one of the ladies, named Sister Barnes (no relation, as far as we know) wrote down our phone number, so if you get a call be sure to tell them hello!

Those were pretty much the highlights of the week. The weather has been really great here and we've had a few days of plus 25. I'm not sure how warm that is, last year that was how hot it needed to be before we could take off our jackets but this year we're still wearing them till we hear something different. Tallinn is a beautiful place and I love serving here! Thanks for your prayers and e-mails, it was cool to hear from the whole family even though we're all over the place! Families are the best!

Love Elder Barnes #12

P.S. An investigator named Nikkolai says a big hi. I told him we were writing home so he told me to pass that on. He's the man, has a wife of twelve years and three kids! That's solid. Alright later!