Dear Friends and Family,
I opened up my email today and it had my itinerary for the ride home. I had already survived one week of everyone telling me I stink because I'm dying, and I'm sure it will only continue.
This week was good because we were able to work a lot, get to know the investigators, the area and the members. Sobradinho I and Sobradinho II share the same chapel, so I had a great time on Sunday seeing a lot of members that remembered me. I received a lot of invitations to go to churrascos and dinners before I leave. We are teaching Luciana, who was confirmed on Sunday, Sandra, who is an active member of the Seventh Day Adventists and Lisa, who is a great girl who is a friend of another recent convert.
I am a little sick (isn't that how almost all my emails start?), a little bit of diarrhea, but other than that I'm doing well. Brasilia is a lot cooler than Tocantins, so I am very much enjoying the cold here.
This past Saturday there was a wedding in the church and I played the piano accompaniment with Elder Manzanete, my district leader. I love playing the piano and the mission has really helped me feel confident of giving my best. It's never perfect, but it's my best.
I wouldn't say I was crushed by the news about BYU, but I was a little upset, and last night I was thinking about it and I started to get angry. Freakin' beard banning, daisy pickin', pinko commies......
But then today I was reading in the Liahona of May 2011-President Eyring's talk about "Learning in the Priesthood of God". At the end he talks about how even if we don't have our formal education from a prestigious university, the most important learning we can attain is the learning we receive when we serve in the Priesthood. And then I heard it-"I'm the gardener here" (see Elder Christofferson, same conference about being reprimanded).
God matters very little what I make of myself, but matters what He cam make of me. The past few months I have been worrying more about what I think I can make of myself. So this is a great lesson about how these next few months I need to let go of the wheel and let the Lord make the course changes I need and then follow them. How I am grateful for moments when the Lord doesn't give me what I want.
With Love,
Elder Barton
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