Happy New Year From India

hey mom and dad, well it was great to hear you and get to talk with you. but due to more bunds everything is closed down today. so the place we normally mail from is closed. so we have been serching for a place and we found this little crappy one thats still open. just to be saft i thought id write my letter in word and save it often in case of a power cut. yup sure enough it did. but the guy said that it clears everything when the computer reboots. so i was almost finished with a big letter to dad and it was gone. im kinda ticked so im not going to try and re write it. there are more computer engineers in india than anywhere else but they cant figure out how to make something work. haha anyways since i talked to you its been great. that day we went out and found a couple of nice families. our family who has been progressing towards baptism is doing really good and are excited for there baptisms this sunday. it was really nice this last sunday because there daughter who is handicap was great during church she sat through all of sacrament and releif society. so there family was really happy. we also have another sister being baptized whos name is krishna veni. she has been in her village for like a week and is supposed to come sat morning so i hope everything works out. especially with these bunds and crap happening. its not safe for them to travel so i hope everything works out. from today onwards there will be a continual bund except now there saying maybe not tomorow cuz everyone wants to celebrate new years. and if you cant buy booz then how can you celebrate? haha new years is a big deal here tons of parties and things. all the native elders want to wake up at 1159 so we can celebrate. ummmm how bout not. haha but well see i guess. i cant believe its almost 2010. i remember seeing my call. 2008-2010 and was like no way! and now its hear. haha
everything is going really good. we knew it was going to be a rough week as far as time we can find so we worked really hard to find and teach on mon and tues. we ended up finding 3 really good familes who seem to be very interested. the hard part is is its hard for people to travel when there are no busses so i hope they can find ways to come to church this week. but nothing to crazy or exciting has happened since we talked. but i want you to know that i love being out here. i know that the gospel is true and by following its basic princiapals we will be happy and find satisfatcion in what we do.
it sounds like everyone is sick back home. that sucks. sorry. if it makes you feel any better i feel great! haha jk knock on wood. oh and mom no packages yet but dont worry they will make it and i still got some jerky left so it will tie me over til they come. haha. with the bunds and things its probably slowing things up. well i hope everyone is doing good. it was great talking to you. have a good new years. thanks for everything. love you

kaden

Pictures From Kaden

Kaden's Doing Great

hey mom and dad, well im just going to say hi and bye cuz i get to speak to you in like 2 days anyways so i dont have a whole lot to say. haha just kiddin i know that wouldnt make mom to happy with me. but anyways it was a really nice week. it felt good to have a full week of work with no problems or things put in our way. we were just talking to everyone! hindu, muslem, christian, seek, it didnt matter it was fun. our district had over 50 new investigators. but it was good for me to see because i realized what really can be done in a week and how many people you talk to in a day so im setting a goal to always treat every week like that. i has helped to have all the christian starts but we even found some good hindu familes. we taught a fam that the son was the number 2 rank tenis player in india a few years back. the father didnt believe in god at all. the mother likes christ, the daughter is fully hindu, and the son is everything. haha so it was interesting to teach them. we started with the restoration but finished in the plan of salvation somehow. so aruns family came to church on sunday and stayed the whole time!! they have to make big sacrifices to bring their little girl. she is like 9 and he just carries her like a baby. its awesome to see the love in there family. but there super excited to be baptized on jan 3 and they are following the word of wisdom now too! we gave a blessing to the wife aruna so that she could learn english. 2 zone conferences ago pres talked about the priesthood and it made us realize that we dont use it enough. a lot of people hear think the gift of toungues is some crazy language that someone babbles but its not. so we have started blessing the people who have a desire to learn and they are able to learn like you cant even believe. but after we gave the blessing she was soo happy. tonight there is christmas party at church that were going to so we will have a good time with that. indian skits can be pretty funny. haha.
everything is going really well though. i just wanted to say thanks again for all the stuff you sent. and im greatful your sending stuff to narla and when you said you sent b ball shorts i was shocked because i forgot to tell you to send some. i was going to take him to city center where there are nice western stores and buy him some for christmas but you already took care of it.
it sounds like the barr construction party was good too. haha its funny how the little kids are scared like anything untill he gives them something. haha. sometimes new babies see us white people and just have a look like what the heck are you? haha. well i cant believe its already time to speak on the phone again. last year i couldnt wait and now i dont know how i feel. haha it will be good though. narla is calling 25 night and im going to try and call by 8 am here but sometimes the places dont open on time so if its not right then dont worry. have some questions and stuff cuz im trying to think of what to tell ya and i got nothing. haha. so i guess just have everyone there around that time on christmas. but im doing good and enjoying christmas in the sun. haha. thanks for all you do. love you!

kaden

hey mom and dad. thanks for the pictures and all that. haha it seems like just yesterday we were doing that stuff for todd. time flies. but thanks for your support and tell everyone else the same. so its been a good week. all restrictions are done and were back to normal missionary work. man it feels good too. haha. its cool too because during christmas some christians put out a big star in front of there door or hanging off their building. were always looking for christians and somedays it feels like there are no christians in all of india. haha. but now more and more starts are giving them away. they may as well just stand out in front of there house and yell for me to come teach them. hahaha. so were having fun star finding because pretty much where theres a star, theres a family. so were working are hardest to get to all of them. so i have been doing what dad said by teaching people about the birth of the savior. and it has given me a even greater appreciation for what he did for us. many people here no the name Jesus Christ but they no nothing about Him so im greatful to have the privilage to teach them.

so missionaries have been teaching a family in my area for over a year now and they have never been dropped. i feel bad because they are a great family and have a lot of faith. they have a mentally and phisically handicap daughter who is about 8 and its difficult for there full family to come so off and on they come. but i was looking over there teaching record and they had never been taught most of the comandments. word of wisdom tithing fasting or anything. so last week we decided to teach them the things that will start to change there lives. they are working on there word of wisdom and are already down to one cup of tea. after the lesson the wife who only speaks hindi asked us when she can be baptized! we challenged them a couple weeks ago but they wanted to pray about it. she reads the bom every day and now wants to be baptized. im way excited for them and hope that there whole family will have the same desire as her. were going to teach them about temples and how they can live together forever tonight!:)

oh and mom you can quit worrying cuz your packages made it. dang i could start an american chocolates store and make bank. haha in india all candy is called chocolates. but man those 3 musketeer mint are bomb. im not saying that so you send more either but thanks for everything. i feel like a million bucks in new gs and white shirts. i didnt realize i was wearing brown shirts untill i got these new ones haha. and the ties are awesome. everyone at zone conf yesterday was jealouse of my tie. i wore the big fat pink and black one. haha.

anyways im doing great and having fun. i have a bit of a cold right now but other than that im great! thanks so much for everything both of you do. your the best and i love you so much. have a great week and go get in some pow turns for me. oh and i was going to ask you if you could e mail some pics of me on mile high and a couple wakeboarding, baseball, and family because i want to use them for bapt interviews. it makes the people more comfortable starting by looking at pics. thanks. love you



kaden

Kaden's Doing Great In Hyderabad

hey amma and appa, im going to write you both together. im trying to be quicker at mailing cuz my comp doesnt really have anyone to write. imglad my parents know how to use computers. haha. but anyways its been another great week. we had a good sunday and our investigators are coming to church. so i cant complain about that. selvums fam were all ready and about to come to church but they got a call that his little bro was in the hospital in a koma. so they werent able to come to church wich is understandable. i called pres and he said they can still be baptized this sunday. but i dont know if we can get them interviewed and all that in time. deaths in india are a big deal. they have the funeral then a 3rd day 10th day and who knows how many other day functions. its kind of sad actually because it takes over there life for over a month. last week we got a call that one of our branch members fathers died and they were having the service so we dropped what we were doing and went there. the people were screaming and crying the whole time. it was hard to see people that upset but it made me apreciate the plan of salvation that much more. even though i teach it several times a week to people im still thankfull to know that if im obedient to the principals of the gospel i will get to live with my family again. but many of those people screaming and crying probably dont know they will get to see there family again. anyways selvums fam is still doing good and i know that the Lord is keeping them prepared for the gospel.
thats cool pres wrote you guys. he is a great guy and great leader. i look up to him a lot. its been great to be around him the lintons and many other sr couple becasue thery are all very successfull. and im trying to soak up as much knowlege i can from them.
k mom im gonna try and answer your questions cu last week i was thinking and i remembered a bunch of questions dad asked and was like man im just like todd was... never answering the questions. haha. so dad we have 8 in our dist when the zone leaders are there we all live in seperate flats, but usually on sudays we go to someones apartment and cook up some nice curries or somthing. haha. each one of us have one american and one native in our companionship. just like a giant oreo sandwich. haha. but we have a lot of fun together so its cool. we usually do stuff on p day. nothing special though. ping pong or just chill. and about the shirts mom. all short sleeve!!!! were sweating our you know whats off over here. haha. 6 or 7 probably. and the stafford ones are good. the thinner material. i think these are 161/2 necks. whatever you send is fine.
im way happy to hear that todd and katie are getting sealed! i was expecting to hear they were prego because of the titles of your letters but nope even better. i cant wait to go to the temple again. being so far from a temple will make you realize how special it is. but im happy for them. you guys are a awesome example to all of us and seeing your happieness make others want the same and i know thats why todd was able to make it. your examples is one of the reasons im on my mission so thanks for being who you are. i read a scripture this morning form the bible i think in 1 cor that paul said i am what i am. basically saying im not perfect but i am what i am. i know you guys arent perfect but you are what you are and the people you are have raised a great family and been a great example to all those around you. so thanks and know that i love you both.

kaden

oh and mom i was going to ask if you could shrink the gospel art book a little bit. it barely fits in my bag and gets beat up. there might be copywrite rules but if you can it would be tight. thanks.



hey mom, what up. sounds like you had a good halloween. i forgot it was halloween until i was following up with the district leader and he said happy halloween. haha. but dad said you and sis bailed him out for the ward party thing. haha. i would agree with him and say i dont know how he got so lucky to get you. haha. nae looked way cute in her chudidar and lil kambri is a cutie.
anyways i have been in the FRO trying to extend my residential permit all day so i gotta be fast. i dont know why they always pick wednesday to make us go there. its an unorganized circus. but oh well. this week has been really good. unfortunately selvums children had exams on sunday and couldnt come to church so they have to have it postponed. selvum and his wife said they still want to do it this week but i feel its best to wait for the full family. thats what the gospel is all about right. but i always hate to see delays becasue satan throws out all he has. but im sure everything will be just fine. so this week we went to a area i had never been to because we got a referal from a new member(prabacher) who wants us to teach his wife. and as we were walking down a long busy road not really knowing where to got. this little kid about 11 came and said hi where are you going and we told him and he was like okay ill take you cuz i live right there. so we went and he showed us the place and he said my house is right there. but we just went to the appointment and didnt really think much of it. a few days later we were going to prabachers and they had some stuff come up at church and couldnt make it in time. so we were walking back and that same little kid was there and i thought hey maybe we could go to his house. to make a long story short he took us to his home. he Mervin his mother SriLatha and elder brother vipen speak great english his father vankatesh is a cab driver, but they were awesome and the spirit was very strong in the lesson and we set them that night. they came on sunday to church too! so im very excited for that family now also. its still amazing to me how the spirit works and directs us to people and people to us. it truly is his work and we are the ones who get to help. and there is no doubt in my mind that this is his work and im greatful to have the privilage to be a part of it.
anyways thanks for your letter mom. i liked GC too and how they talked about love the whole time. thanks for all you do because i know you are the one who is always behind the scenes and doesnt get the credit. but know that i look up to you and love you!!

kaden

p.s. my g's are 32 cotton poly i think and tops med talls dri lux or something. i might have you send shirts too because i went and looked and the shirts are like 1500 rs a shirt and 100 percent cotton and i dont think i want that. but ill let you know. thanks have a great week

Kaden's Doing Great

Hey mom, well i cant believe its snowing again. the day i left the mtc it was snowing and it seems like it was just yesterday so its kindof crazy. maybe its because i have had the everlasting summer for the last year. haha. but i think id rather be roming the streets sweating than freezing. but anyways it was another really good week! selvums full family came to church!!! they all loved it too. there daughter sharine mary has been wanting to come for a long time and finally it happend. they made friends and are excited to come next week! there was a lesson in gospel principals and this week the topic was about families and the responsibility each member has. it was perfect because we have been focusing on how important the gospel is for there family. maybe it took so long to get them to church for a reason. but as i have seen there family change it has brought so much happieness to my service. they are having daily family prayer and scripture study and leaving all of there tea, coffee habits. im so greatful for the gospel and to have had it my whole life because it truly is the way to have a happy family. so im greatful to you and dad for always keeping a strong testimony and showing me how i need to be.
this week we found a lot and we were able to find 15 new people to teach. we tried to work through members more and we were able to be introduced to some of there family members. so im very thankful that they are willing to share the gospel with the people they love. if every member of the church would do that the church would easily double.
so thats cool rue met a kid from my mission. find out what his name was. im glad you got a scare in the conference that you were going to have to maybe go up and talk. now you know how i felt. except when i was siting there i had a 1 in 3 chance. haha sounds like dad had to speak too so you lucked out.
the service project went good to. we were able to get everything done. there was so much stuff rooms full of kits and tons of blankets and other things. i was tired by the end of it. haha.
and about clothes. ill probably just buy it here so you wont have to spend money to ship it. everything is just starting to hit the wall. haha. when e reeses parents came one of the kids i came with said that e reeses dad the first thing he said was "elder your shirt is yellow" haha mine arent that bad tho. i might have you send Gs in a while though because sometime the office takes forever to get them to us. anyways im still doing great and loving it! thanks for all you do. i love you and dont have to much fun for halloween.

love kaden

hey pops, sounds like you had a good week and a fun time talking in church or whatever. haha. but im sure that pres randall wants to see all the wards doing good with the young men like you are. i can tell that your helping prepare them to serve the Lord and become great people. i wish i coulda heard the talks from eyiring and ballard. this sunday is some asia area 70 brodcast so thats what ill be waching this sunday. so im excited to hear them speak.
but this week has been a good weak for me and i feel i have learned a lot. having a new elder makes all the presure on me. but i like it. at first planning and finding and everything was tough but its coming around and things are looking really good. we have found a couple great families, and a couple more potential families so thats good. i feel like i have had to rely on the spirit a lot more than any other time of my mission and i have felt the lords hand in everything we do. i love learning and studying about Christ and his atonement. somthing that touched me thismorning as a studied. i was reading in mark 14 and in one of the vrses it talks about how mcuh He suffered in gethsemane. it says he was "sore amazed". as i thought about that the thought came to me that christ knew he had to complete the atonement and had been preparing for it for his whole life but when the time came it even suprized him at how painful it was even to the point that he was "sore amazed". but it made me so thankful for Jesus Christ and that he was willing to suffer for all of the bad things i have done in my life so i can be forgiven. maybe you can read that chapter if you want. but i just felt like to share that. because i dont think people realize how important and powerful the atonement is and how me He really suffered. i know i never did.
everything is going good though and im enjoying the mission. i told to mom about selvums family and how happy they are now in the letter i wrote her. but during priesthood class the teacher asked someone to stand and share and experince of how the gospel changed there life and immediately selvum stood up and bore his testimony and how elder barr taught him about the truth and he has been able to quit smoking drinking and everything because of the gospel. it felt good to hear him say that and he was greatful for me but the thing that toughed me is because i have been able to see his life change tight before my eyes. when i decided to go on a mission while listening to the elders teach katie and i had the thought if i could make even one person feel like i feel now i would be happy. but so far it has been greater than i ever expected i have seen many people feel of the spirit and thats what im here for. but thanks for all your advice know that your the man. im doing good and i hope all is going well with work and everything else. love you.

kaden

p.s GO YANKS!!!!!!!!

Another Great Week In Hyderabad

hey madre, well i dont have a ton of time because we just got pack from a zone activity. we went to a place caled Ramoji film city. its where many indian films are shot. its the largest film city in the world. everything is made from plaster and cardboard but it looks real. so one second you could be standing infront of the taj and the next second in london. haha its kinda cool i guess. they also had some other rides and a lot of statues of naked people haha. the rides were pretty ghetto. about like the fair. haha. we loaded into this one ride that noone was in line for that rocked you back and fourth until it went all the way around and we just acted like it was the funnest thing ever yelling. and bye the time we were finished there were hundreds of people in line. haha. its pretty funny sometimes how people will just watch us. oh and they had a trampoline that they hook you in the harness and i just said no i dont want a harness and started toing backflips and stuff and everyone came and just looked shocked. pople dont ever get to see stuff like that. haha. oh and elder chigu jumped on a trampoline for the first time in his life 25yrs. his first jump he jumped kinda near the side and it threw him funny and he fell. me and elder riley were laughin like anything. it was like watching a baby jumping in a full grown mans body. haha. oh and all of us whities with missionariy tan lines got our necks fried. i remjember todd sending pics one time of that and remember thinking he was an idiot. but now im that same idiot. haha.
we had anoother good sunday and ajays fonfirmation. then later i had the privilage of giving him the aaronic priesthood. it was an unplanned deal. we were just standing in opening excercises and they were like now ajay will recieve the priesthood and elder barr will be doing it.... i have never done one. but it went well and im greatful for the priesthood and have seen how much it works and and greatful to have the privilage to pass it to others.
so we will get to watch conf this sat and sunday. because the time difference they just wait till the next sunday. but im way excited to hear the words of the leaders of the Church. i cant believe its already time for another one. i dont feel like im ready cuz im still working on all the council from the last one. haha.
we also had zone conf this week and it was awesome just like it always is. but we focused alot on the first chapter of preach my gospel wich is My Purpose as a missionary. and it really opened my eyes to why im hear and its "to invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them recieve the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the holy ghost, and enduring to the end." and im so greatfull and happy to be here serving the Lord. it truly is his work. anyways it was a great week and other than a sunburned neck im doing great! haha. i love you mom. your an awesome example to me.

love kaden

oh and im glad the package came and i hope everything was in it. we had it stiched up and sealed with wax cuz i guess they dont touch them if you do it like that. send some pics of nae.

Kaden's Doing Great In Hyderabad

Hi everyone, it has been another great week here in hyderabad. kindof wet. its been raining for the past few days. i was glad because it was another big hindu festival the last couple of days so it slowed a few of them down. haha. i guess its the time of year where its festival after festival. but the work is going great. we had a good sunday and had 7 investigators come. things are changing in the church here in india. they announced that there will be 3 more districts starting oct 11. now there is only the hyderabad and bangalore districts so it will be good for the church. there getting close to being able to have a stake here but there needs to be more strong priesthood holders.
we had ajays baptism this week too. it was very good and after he was baptized he had a smile from ear to ear. you could tell he recognized the spirit and knew what he did was right. it has been quite a while since working with him so it is great to see him progressing in the gospel. we visited him yesterday and he gave referals for 2 families and wants to come with us so that was kinda cool too.
the last couple of weeks we have been struggling to find new people to teach usually 5 or 6 but this week we already found a family of 8 and another really good couple. when we were teaching the couple the restoration they just looked shocked that there is a living prophet on the earth and they want to find out if its true. so im excited to see what will happen with them. but to see them and how happy they were to hear about a living prophet it made me think about how lucky we are to know this.
but everything is going great hear. oh and we had new neighbors move in a few weeks back and we started talking to them and were making good friends. last night we were planning and they knocked the door with a tray full of food. some coconut rice, chicken curry, mutton curry, curd, and ice cream!! it was dang good too. they invited us to come and share what we are doing with them sometime so maybe we will get to teach them:)
i hope your all doing good and havin fun. have a great week!
love elder barr
hey amma. whats up? sorry your not feeling good. you need to take better care of yourself. your always tellin me so now you get to hear it from me. haha. but really you gotta not work to hard. with all the weddings and stuff you just need to be there to help and tell others what to do. not you do everything. got it??!! haha jk. people want the best and you do the best. but anyways its been a great week. ajays baptism was great! he was probably the most happy i have ever seen him or any other person we have baptized. it makes me feel so good to see others happines. thats what makes me happy now. maybe just cuz i have forgot what the real world is, haha but having those moments makes every bit of the mission worth it. after the service i just was talking to him and told him how proud i was of him and i just looked up at me kinda choked up and said thanks for everything brother and shook my hand and walked away quickly. haha. but at that time it made me feel kinda the same way and i know that serving the Lord is the least i can be doing and the happienes and blessings i see is awesome. but i truly am greatful for the Gospel and know its true! i guess thats how simple my testimony is. haha.
anyways i love you mom. thanks for the support and all you do. but take care and get feeling better okay. oh and i got the treats you sent. the office just sent it. so i never saw the reeses but it got to me safe. thanks for all the letters and stuff. tell everyone else too. oh and its cool you talked to madhu. his bro is also a church member, but his parents arent. no english but hopefully some day. his mom makes some bomb food. Tomato egg curry.... mmmm. hahah. love you ma!

kaden

Another Great Week In Hyderabad

hey, well it was another really good week. and had a lot of good experiences. we had been finding pretty much all day. we walked and talked to people on the street but didnt really get anything. it ws getting kind of frustrating to just feel like your walking for no reason. but then a couple of people stopped us and said we always see you and just wonder what your doing. we were able to tell them and they want to meet later this week. and a few minutes later a lady stoped us, and the same thing. i know sometimes we have to be patient and then the Lord will bless us. Its great to be able to see His power every single day and to see his hand helping us with this great work.

We also had a pretty funny experience this week too. So this week has been another week full of festivals. Both hindu and Muslim. It’s the time of year when they fast all day and then eat at night, its called ramzaan or something like that. And here in Hyderabad is one of the only places in the world where you can eat “HALEEM” during ramzaan. So basically haleem is liquefied meat. Haha. They just put the meat either mutton or chicken and smash it and beat it in this big pot until it turns to meat paste. Haha. So me and my comp were thinking we need to try it but just haven’t got around to it. So it was the last day of ramzaan and were were teaching a family for the second time and they just force snacks and food on us, and they said have you had haleem? Then I was like uh oh. Cuz we heard there is only a couple of places where you get decent haleem and someones home is not one of those. So they brought out these bowls of mutton haleem for us and me and my comp just looked at eachother and he said “you first” haha. So I took a big bite and sure enough meat glue! Haha it was alright but it was one of those things were if you think about gagging you do. Then it was elder rileys turn. So he took a spoonful and he just stuck the spoon back in the glue and handed it back. Haha. I was laughin but I kept eating just so I can say I did it. So minus the weird texture and the small bone pieces you could say it was pretty good. Haha. Good times in india.

Anywas the work is going great Ajay is being baptized this Sunday and is very excited. We have been working with him for almost three months so its great to see him finally getting to be baptized and start his new life. I love this gospel and know that its true and feel so lucky to be able to share it. But everything is great. I hope your all doing good and have a good week.



Elder Barr

Another Great Week In Hyderabad

hey mom, whats up? well it sounds like things are good back home and busy as ever. thats good i guess right. but this week was a better week haha kinda. every companionship in lur district had one person sick. a native had dengay fever wich is pretty crappy and he was out for the full week. e riley and e jenks both the idahoans were sick too. so me and whoever else wasnt sick would go out and cover all of our areas and try and meet as many people as we could to try and keep the work going. but it was nice to be busy but we didnt have a whole lot of time to find but these last 2 days we have met some good potential families. so im excited for that. on sunday a guy named narindran came walking into the church after all the meeting were over just wanted to check things out and he stayed in our area so we set an apointment with him that night. we went and only had like 20 min so we shared the restoration very quickly and basic. but he pulled out this computer looking thing and set a statue of christ on top of it and he said he had been working on this product for the last 7 years of his life. but basically you can select diferent topics and they have put together a bunch of scriptures and it plays the sound and he wants everyone to be able to have it in there home. kinda crazy but he is a great guy and just has good intent to help others. he doesnt believe in any denomination because he said as he has studied and went to different churches they arent unified and he doesnt think any are completely true... hmmmm i know someone who had a situation similar to yours. and we shared about Joseph smith and the true gospel of Jesus Christ being restored. but he seemed so happy and said we answered questions he had been searching for. we had to go but set and apointment with him and his friend for tuesday. so yesterday we went and reviewed and had an amazing lesson. his friend is a hindu, his name is Rama Krishna. hahah about as hindu a name you can get. but i felt promted to ask if he had been baptized i fegured he probably had because he has dedicated much of his life to Christ but he said no. so we set him and his friend for baptism on oct 18. its crazy how you can teach a hindu who has little knowlege of the gospel and someone who has a lot of knowlege at the same time. it was a boost to my testimony and just shows how simple the gospel is and everyone needs to know about it.
im so thankful to know what i know. its not a lot but i know that what im doing is true and there is no other way to true happieness and to live with God again. and im thankful to have a parents and a family who have raised me up like i have been. i love what im doing and am happy as ever thanks to this gospel.
anyways.... haha thanks to you mom were going to eat a bomb lunch. after were done mailing were having the other elders bring some rosted chickens and you sent a 5 year supply of mashed potatoes and gravy. haha. so were going to have that and some corn. thats my kinda meal!! dont know how the natives will feel about it. haha so thanks for sending that. but i dont need anything really. i have more candy than i need so dont send anything for a while. i mostly just eat the jerky. haha. so no worries im probably good til x-mas. i got the stuff for nae. just need some bindi's or as you know "the dot" and some bangals but were gonna send it today. i hope it fits and works out if not you can fix it however you need. but your the best. love you Amma.

kaden

Another great week in India

hey everyone, well i hope everyone had a good week and had fun on labor day. i dont think they have labor day here?? instead they just have a gazillion hindu festivals that they get off work for. haha. oh and a lot of the christians had yesterday off cuz it was mother mary birthday.?? haha. but this week was a bit rough. well as far as missionary work i guess. because of the festival we werent able to find all week and spent a couple days inside and at the church.. its hard because there are so many things we need to be doing but we cant. but now were back out and no limitations so were working hard to make up for the lost time. we still are having success and have some good investigators. Ajay whos baptism was supposed to be this sunday will be postponed till the end of the month. but he is still very excited and progressing. but everything here in hyderabad is going great. i love it and love sharing the gospel. have a great week!

love elder barr

Another great week in India

here are some pictures of the ganesh we had in the bottom floor of our flat. you know we had to worship. haha jk. but they gave us an orange and a palmagranite and we bothe just kept them and ate them then that night we were like maybe we were supposed to give it to ganesh. haha oh well. but the other pic is our apt complex. were on the sixth floor its big. but there ya go hope it works.

kaden

whats up everyone, hows it going? everything is great here. it was a great week, very busy but thats how we like it. we had a great zone conference and i learned a lot. i feel so lucky to be here in india and have the leaders we have. pres and sister nichols are great and have so much knowledge i cant even take everything in. the conference was focused on missionaries working with the branch members and i realized how much the members can really do. so help out the missionaries in your area!! haha. it was also district conference sat and sunday. there are 2 districts in south india. one in Bangalore and one in hyderabad. so the conference was brodcasted to all diferent cities so the members could see. its great that they have the technology to do that. because a few years ago it wasnt like that. the asia area 70 elder stanyley wan presided. it was awesome to here him speak. he has a bit of a chinese accent and he would tell jokes and it was so funny. but at the same time his message was very spiritual and uplifting for the members. they talked a lot about temples and for everyone to start saving. its great to see the dedication of the people here to save and save for years so they can fly to hong kong and have there families sealed together forever. we are lucky to have temples so close to us and all we need to do is make a small sacrifece to go. we dont have to save for our lifetime and go. when people hear that i can see the temple from my home they cant even believe it and it is the coolest thing for them. so im going to do my best to take advantage when i get back and encourage all of you to do the same. alright enough advice from me.. haha.for the past week and a half it has been one of the bigger of the Gazillion hindu festivals each year. haha. its called Ganesh festival. Ganesh is a elephant dude with 4 arms. so sleeping with punding drums and whatever else noise they make is becoming the normal thing. haha. our A/C went out last week too so between the hindus drums and muslms mosques going off and the heat at night the first few days, not too much sleep was going on gor us. sometime me and e riley would just laugh cuz you cant even believe how much sound they make. today is the last day though :) we havent been able to find becasue of all the parties and the crazy dances. haha so it will be nice to get back to full proceliting. we had 8 at district conf on sunday so that was good. and we have some good people and even a family set for bapt. the fam is very roman catholic but they are doing very well and love learning about Heavenly Father.im so thankful for this gospel and how simple it is and that i know enough to be able to share it with others. i hope your all doin good back home. love yaelder barr

We Love Kambri

Grandma loves holding Kambri

I love grandpa

Sorry I cant keep up with posting these I will do better

hey pops. the house is SWEET! i dont have any time now but thanks for the support. sounds like your super busy. but im doing great and love it!! kaden

hey ma. well its multi zone conf this week so there are a ton of elders here. so were going to go do a bunch of stuff today. were going to this mexican joint!!! there is a ton going on right now were all talking and having a good time. im sitting next to e singh talking about all the memories in bangalore. his visa expires 4 months early and so he had connections with a GA and got him transfered to the new york new york south mission. i think thats dallins mish maybe. but thats pretty coolfor him. so you maybe saw some money out of my account... i baught some dumb bells. i hope its okay? but anyways it was a good week. we have been working with a part member the mother of 2 strong members and she hasnt been progressing.she has less english but understands. but we felt like to go and teach her. and this week i had a bad cold. my nose was running like anything and my voice was completely gone. as we went and taught we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. somthing she has heard many times. she came up with a concern of she isnt perfect and she makes the same mistakes over and over. and i felt so strong to skip and go right to the Holy Ghost. and as i had this feeling my nose stopped running and i could speak and i felt that it wasnt my words. i know that the Lord made it possible for me to speak and she was so happy and set her for baptism. she has been taught for years and never really excepted but im so greatful for that experience and am so greatful for the the gift of the Holy Ghost.anyways im doing great. and lovin it. thanks for all you do. tell alex what up from me. but we got a busy day so gotta go. love you!kaden

Hey everyone! hows it going. its going good here in hyderabad. its been pretty humid the last few days cuz of rain. the drain systems just kinda plug up so there are pools of water so when the sun comes out it gets pretty hot and sticky. haha. it was fun the other night cuz it started to down poor! when it rains sideways umbrellas dont help. haha. so we got soaked in a matter of 20 seconds. haha. its funny cuz as soon as it starts to rain everyone just runs to the sides of the roads and hides. the roads look more like rivers than roads. but me and my comp had to get to our apartment so we just walked through it. you get some pretty weird looks when 2 tall white kids are walking in water up to there calves in the middle of the road. haha good times here in india. but the week was pretty good. we were kinda disapointed in our sacrament attendance but it was indias independance this week so a lot of our investigaters went to there villages. so were working hard to get them back to church this week. we met 2 brothers this week rajesh, and prasuddarao( or somthin like that) haha. but they are really good they just moved to hyderabad for college and we had a good lesson with them the first time and they are set for baptism. they said they have had a couple questions that they have had for many years and we answered them with them with them not even asking. i know that the spirit speaks through us and sometimes we dont know why we say things but im so thankful to be able to have the gift of the holy ghost. cuz it makes not so smart people like me be able to teach. haha.its spirit is one of the hardest things to recognize sometimes but i know its somthing all of us can do better at. i love serving the Lord and im greatful every single day to have this opportunity. theres nothing better than being able to speak truth all the time! hope your all doing well and enjoying the end of your summer.love elder barr

Another Great Couple Weeks In India

Hey everyone, hows it going? everything here in india is still going great! the work here is going really well. we are very excited for mahipal and ravinder to be baptized this sunday. it has been a good experience working with them. helping them learn the gosel and seeing there english improve dramatically. i know its because the Lord has a purpose for them and has helped them. i didnt realize how much it had changed until a couple days back mahipal said a prayer and it just sounded natural. it was pretty funny as we were filling out there paper work for there baptism this week there birthdays were one month apart???? here in india many people dont know there actual date ofbirth because there parents dont keep records and they just start school whenever they want and make there own bday. church history work is going to be a mess!! haha. another example, for mahesh babtism papers we needed his parents b days and they had no idea. so we are supposed to make an educated guess. so i decided to choose august 4 for the mother because she has never had a birthday party in her life. and it made it so we could celebrate. me and e riley bought a cake and some cool drink and had a party for her last night. she doesnt speak eng but i have never seen her so happy she had tears in her eyes and just couldnt quit smiling. the whole vilage was coming in and checking it out. it was fun. its just crazy that someone can go through 50 years and never have a b day.anyways other than all that its been a great week. we had 9 at sacrament on time! and a few come a bit later but we are so blessed to have the people to work with we do right now. im so greatful for this gospel and know that its true. someone on the bus asked me " why do you do this and spend 2 years of you life doing this?" and my response was cuz its true! haha but it really made me apreciate to be able to carry this true message to the people here in hyderabad. im so thankful for my savior and feel of his presance and his hand in the work. i hope your all doing good back home. take care and have a great week! love elder barr

Hey everybody! well it was a sweet week. i just got back from the world championship badmitten championships. hahahaha. we saw it on the tv at kfc yesterday and were like, we should go. haha. so out district went and i guess i never knew that that sport was played anywhere except for the back yard but apparently thats not true. they were dang good. but ill definately stick to baseball. haha. but now i can say ive been to the to the world badmittin chamoionships and you cant top that. haha.Anyways other than that its been a great week. we were able to have the baptisms for mahipal and ravinder. but like always for me the baptism didnt run as smooth as planned. at like 430 during church i got the feeling to go check the font even though the font is usually taken care of by a branch mission leader. but i went anyways and yep, bone dry! so we turned it on cuz there would still probably be enough time to fill it befor the baptism. but like 20 min later i felt to go again. the water was just running strait down the drain.. someone had went outside and unscrewed the thing that plugs it. so we had like 20 min to fill up a huge font. so me and some of the elders rounded up some buckets and started filling them with the hose outsid and carrying it though the church and dumping it. we were sweating like anything. haha but got it done just in time to change and go into the baptism service. so im just waiting for the day when i can have a baptism that goes smoothe. but it was a great service another bronther from nigeria named ranzy was also baptized. but the spirit was very strong mahipals cousin bore his testimony and thanked us elders for teaching and it felt really good and im so happy to be able to share this great message. its truly such a great blessing wich we all have and it makes me sad when people dont except truth. we delt with quite a few pople this week who just either dont believe in god at all or believe that hindus christians and muslems are one. and its sad cuz they just dont have any idea why they are here but although its hard to see people in so much confusion it makes me that much more thankful to know what i know. and i hope and pray i can continue to help the people here to learn who they are and that they have a father in heven who loves each one of us.anyways im doing great and the work is continuing to go great! hope your all doing good back home. love elder barr

hey mom, seriously it doesnt matter where i writ my letter either this account or in word somthing always happens and i lose it. i was just about to click send to you and my computer freaked out. and now i really dont have much time cuz our train coming home from the badmittin thing was late. but it was a great week the baptisms went awesome even afer the crazy filling the font with buckets. once me and e riley were sitting there with tthem dressed in white made everything better. as there cousin raju bore his testimony ant continued to thank us for teaching them it felt so good and the spirit really touched me. and i just remembered that this is what im here for.but it sounds like you forgot to tell me about all the crazy stuff happening back home. haha. all the weddings and stuff. but its cool do i know any of the people who they are getting married to? but dont work too hard.oh and befor i forget i am going to take out some money from the account cuz im gonna buy some weights.but it was a good but i did some crazy things this week. one of the members in my area just goot married a couplemonths ago and when his wife was traveling to come to hyderabad her bus had a bad accident and she got really hurt and last a few fingers and probably going to need her whole hand amputated. so they called us and asked us to come give blood cuz they wont give them blood till they have people come donate. so yesterday me and e riley and a couple elders donated blood for her. it was my first time and it happened to be in india. e rileys bag was filling up and i was like dude yours is full they need to stop it. but it took them a min and when they finally took it off his blood shot all over the place. haha it was all over the sisters hands and the floor. at this time i was just about to get pricked. i was like i dont wanna do this if they dont know what there doin. haha but it was fine and i hope everthing will go well for that sister who was hurt. im ticked cuz i know i forgot stuff to tell ya that i wrote in the first one so sorry but know that im doing great and loving it. i hope you feel of my love for this work and for my savior. its awesome to share this with others. i love you and know your the best amma ever.love kaden

Baby Kambri Our New Grandaughter

Kaden in Hyderabad

Hey ma, what up? well i dont have so much time cuz we have appointments in a little bit so ill probably be a bit short. maybe you can get a hold of the prophet and ask him to get a better e mail service for us. haha. but it was another really good week. we had 8 investigators at church on time!!. i can feel that my prayers and your guys prayers are truly blessing us. we were supposed to be having a baptism for Ajay this week but he got an urgent call from a friend that turned out to not be so "urgent" and left in the middle of sacrament. and now he has to wait another 3 weeks.. so that was kinda a bummer. but its okay cuz i feel like he can still be more prepared and only be stronger as he finally gets to enter the waters of baptism. his friend ravi kirran made it back from delhi yesterday too and he seems super happy about the book of mormon. i cant wait to teach them again! mahipal and revinder are still doing great too. they even made it on time wich was a first. haha. i think the Lord is punishing me for all the times i walked in late. . . haha jk. but they are set for the 16th and looking really good. i cant ever remember what i tell you in past weeks but we were able to finally meet a brother named Achyut this last week. he and his dad came to church. and the first thing he wanted to talk about was plans for his baptism. he wasnt able to meet us for a couple weeks because he was back at his village place working out some kinks in his marrage. its a love/arranged marage but the problem is is that he and his futur wives families casts are different so her parents arent being so cooperative. probably think shes a 10 cow wife but achyuts fam thinks 8!! haha jk. but culture is sad here sometimes but i think everything will work out. so hes supposed to marry within the next couple weeks and if so he wants to be baptized on the 23. i truly feel so blessed to be working with those wich we have right now. sometimes i think, man how did we find these people but then i realize that the Lords hand did it all. im so thankful for this gospel and the change it has made in my life as i truly try to follow and apply it. its kinda like dad always taught me. dont just go through the motions as your playing ball. we can do the same in the gospel. by small things great things come to pass and i know thats true.our district here in hyderabad 1st is way fun too. its 2 utah and two idaho. but we have a lot of fun and are working hard as a district. oh and speaking of idaho if you want you can send some of those potato things and some gravy packs :) oh and i have been forgeting to ask.. did you ever get a package from me. i had some elders send it when i left KGF and i havent heard anything from you. i hope it got to ya. a bunch of pics and other crap that was probably pointless to send. but let me know cuz if it hasnt made it by now its probably not going to. anyways im doing great. thanks for all you do and for your love and support. your the best. love you kaden p.s sorry for the spelling and stuff. haha i cant remember anything. oh and yes i know sis kasper. i see them all the time there great!

whad up pops, well its another great week. im having so much fun out here. your words alays boost me and just make me wanna work hard but have fun. its crazy how your attitude and swagger can change everything. days you just know your going to have success and you work to achieve your goals it happens because you know befor that if your work hard it will. its not a big secret or anything i guess but you just gotta do it. the family and the buisness are always in my prayers so im glad to hear its still going really good. i know the Lord is blessing the family. so ill try to answer some of your questions. me and e riley are doing really well. and langueage isnt a problem at all. we can have communication with people who dont know any english. i wouldnt say we have the languages or could understand to people speaking telugu to eachother but can pick up small enough to know twhat there saying about. but really im working on getting my english back to normal. at first i thought it was good to speak with less english and to cut words out but pres is telling us to get out of that habbit. so after living with natives the last while i still find my self saying sentances and just laugh cuz it doesnt make sense. haha. on p day we just mail. shop we have been bowling as a district, sometimes just chill and rest. there is ping pong and basketball at the church too so sometimes we do that. i dunno nothing to special. haha there probably is somthing but its just normal to me now. oh we got a small toster oven!! so maybe i can cook the brownie mix and stuff mom sent for x mas. haha. we eat outside a lot. with e riley he always wants american. KFC and pizza subway, micky ds. im sick of it but he doesnt love the food so ill do whatever. oh man we ate at a members last week and by far the spicyest food i have ever had. same for e riley. i can handle hot food to but this chicken curry was un real. we were both bright red, nose running like anything, i had rice in my right hand and a hanky in the left to wipe after every bite. haha, my eyes were sweating. man it was so good but so hot. haha we couldnt quit laughing. it was funny how hot it was. that whole night it felt like i was cooking from the inside out. at the end i took rice and curd. its just like what it sounds. white chunky stuff that is sour but i put sugar on it. i love it now!! its kinda like yogurt i guess?? e riley doesnt like it but its good cuz it cools down the fire. and yes it burns on the way out too:) haha. we have a wash machine on the back deck. its a lot better than kgf's but it sucks cuz its outside so all the dust gets in it so if your not careful when you pull your stuff out you get dust all over. we only have water from 630 am to about 10 so we have to do everything in the morning. im just glad to have running watter at all and not carry it by bucket like a lot of people do. anyways thats some about hyderabad. i havent taken any pics for ever. so thats why you havent got any. oh and tell mom i didnt see an eclipse. you cant really see the stars and stuff to good in the city. just cuz of lights and smog. but i love it here in india. i hope you can feel how my happiness and love i have for the people here. but thanks for everything dad. i love you kaden

hey everyone! whats up? i had another great week and i cant believe it has already been a week. haha. we were busy teaching and finding new investigators. its alot diferent finding here than in kgf. kgf was over 50% christian which mad it nice for finding because we only knock christian doors. but her in hyderabad there is a big muslim population and its almost imposible to teach and baptize them because if there family finds out they will kill them. literally. its sad to think that there are people like that in this world but thats how it is. thats what makes the plan of salvation so great! that everyone will get a fair opportunity to hear this great gospel and choose for themselves. anyways sometimes we will walk 15 to 20 km a day and only see a few christian doors. we set a few pople for baptism this week. revinder and mahepaul. they have a cousin who is a member and they came to church last week. they doesnt speak english really but we are helping them. so hopefully we can teach them and help them learn english so they can be baptized. the branch here really wanst to help misionaries and to help the work. its great to see that truely no matter where you live in the world the gospel is the same and is ran strait from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. yesterday i went on exchanges but my comp was sick and in bed all day. i didnt know what to do. i was like where is ESPN when i need it! haha. but it was good because i read the whole book "our search for happiness". wich is pretty crazy cuz ive never read a full book in my life let alone in one day. haha. but being locked inside all day made me realize that even a long day of knocking doors and getting shut down is better than being inside. haha. we may be having a baptism on sunday for a kid that we started teaching named mahesh. but he doesnt have a cell phone and its looking like we might need to wait one more week. but im excited to teach him and his little sister priyanka who is 17, they both love to read the book of mormon. and anyone who does that will know its true. but i hope everything is well back home. i love serving and teaching the people in india. love you.elder barr

hey amma, hows it going. sounds like you got some crazy wether going on. haha. we do too. i gotta get an umberella today thats for sure.haha. oh and you mighta saw 800rs at a store called spar. its a giant grocery store and i bought a bunch of stuff. "peanutbutter!!" haha but next month ill try to keep track of my money. i didnt have enough cash cuz i had to pay an overage charch cuz my luggage was 25 kg's over weight. haha. but i flirted my way down to make them only charge for 10 extra. haha. it woulda been like 3000 rs but nothing some white skin and a smile couldnt fix. haha. but everything is going great. food is awesome!! im definatly not missing suchi ruchi. haha we got a couple times at members already too and they cook really good here. so hopefully i dont get fat again. my flat and everything is good.so i cant believe rylee is saying the 2nd article of faith... i dont even know it. maybe i should work on that haha. and saidie is speaking the abc's.. crazy!! tell them all hi and that i love them.it sucked not getting to see rekahs baptism but im looking foreward to things to come here in hyderabad. i feel blessed to have served in the places i have and already am gaining so much more experience spiritually and just fun experiences here. so hows the summer going. nae driving ya crazy yet? haha. well mom i gotta go but know that i love you and am so thankful to have the family i have. i pray for you guys always and i hope that you will continue to see the blessings. im greatfull to have this gospel in my life and to know the truth. so many people just have no idea. but it makes me happy to teach people and theey say wow that makes sense. the gospel isnt hard and it just makes sense and if we follow the basic principals we will be happy. anyways i love you and thanks for your letters and support. kaden

hey dad. whats up. well sorry for the late happy fathers day but happy fathers day. . haha. you know how us guys dont remember stuff like that. haha. but your really are awesome and im so glad to be your son. as i have talked with my companion and he he asked me if i could change anything how my parents raised me what would it be. and i thought for a while and have thought about it since. and i honestly cant think of anything. i really feel like i have the greatest parents and im greatful to have had parents that i respect but at the same time feel just like my friends. but thanks for all yout hard work that you do and have done your whole life. it hasnt gone unnoticed even though sometimes i probably made it seem like that. but i really do love you and look up to you. and hope that someday i will be even a little bit like you.anyways sounds like the tecs are still going strong. have fun on the trip. and i told mom to eat a dog or two for me, so you too. haha. its crazy i wount be there with ya. its probably the first time in 10 years or somethin. but you thought you were finished laying out for BP balls but now your gonna have a granddaughter who is without a bp ball so....... haha jk. ill never forget you laying out at coors stadium and givin me the ball. you the man. well gotta go but thanks for your support. and dont worry if next week you gotta keep your letter short cuz i know there is no time when your with the tecs and vic. haha. have fun and know that i love you.thanks popskaden

Transfered to Hyderabad

hey everyone! hows it goin. well im here in hyderabad and its great! its a lot different than the village life im used to. haha. i have ate dominoes, mcdonalds, subway,kfc. already so thats cool. its quite a bit hoter here than in my other area but rainy season is trying to start and of course e barr isnt prepared. haha. so my second day was completly wet and was walking down streets with water above my ankles. haha. it feels nice to be of my cycle too. haha. now im back to jumping on and off busses that dont stop. so its definatly different but i love it here already. everyone has asked questions about the new area and my living conitions so ill do my best. haha. we stay in a big complex that is pretty nice. our room has a/c so that is nice :) well a/c in india is more like a swamp cooler but still its nice. haha. me and my comp are doing great. we are having a lot of fun and teaching well together. we laugh a lot and ints nice to be with someone who we both understand eachother. haha. hyderabad is a nice place. its kinda different because there are a lot of muslems and seeks. seeks are the ones who have the turbans and all that cool stuff. haha. when we went to chuch on sunday i was in aww at how nice the building was. its huge! all of the members are great and they fellowship non members so well. and thats really how missionary works the best, when members are the ones supporting the work. our job as full time missionaries is just to bring them. it was different not to have to have responsibility during church to teach and all that. but im looking foreward to be able to work here in this branch. anyways the works is going great here and were working hard to find some new investigators to work with. we found a family from nepal that speak great english and are very good so ill try to keep you updated on that. but im doing great and am happy here in hyderabad. hope all is good back home. love you.elder barr

June 10
hey everyone, well i just wrote a big letter and lost it. the church e mail system is the worst ever. good thing the church is still true. haha. anyways ill try and sum up what i wrote... its been another great week in kgf. we are teaching many good people that have great potential. thats why im a bit sad to say ill be going to hyderabad 1st branch. im in bangalore now and fly out tomorrow morning. im excited for change but i have really came to love the people and branch members of kgf. i feel like i have family there. haha. and ill also be missing a baptism for rekah on sunday. so thats kinda a bummer but thats how it goes right. haha. like i have said befor it doesnt really matter, just that there entering into the waters of baptism and will have so much happieness in there lives. i learned so many things about myself and most importantly the gospel the leas 6 months is spent there. and im so greatful to have had so many good experiences that ill never forget.so my new comp will be e riley from ID. i think im actually related or somthing? haha but it will be fun. we came to india together and im excited to get to work with him and just tear up the hyderabad streets. haha. anyways sorry this letter is a bit small but i wanna throw this computer out the window after loosing that last one. but im doing great and i have a full stomach of KFC so thats even better. haha no more suchi ruchi!!! the church is true. have a great week.love elder barr

Another Great Couple Weeks In India

June 4
hey mom, well i have no time this week. we went to mysore palace and we got stuck in traffic and didnt get back to bangalore til late last night. so we came to kgf this am and have no time to write. we have a busy rest of the week. we have had a awesome week so far. we set a sister named rekah for june 14 and a kid named pravin for july. me and pravin are very close he is a hindu background and we taught him to pary and there is nothing like hearing someones first prayer to heavenly father. but there two of the strongest potentials i feel i have had in kgf. transfers are next week and rumor chances are ill be going and not get to see them. i guess thats how it goes but its also not important. but we have been working hard and trying to get this branch back on its feet. i have felt the lord testifying to me a lot more in my teaching lately. and i hope and pray it will continue. i know it will cuz hevenly father always keeps his promise. we have had a lot of member present lessons this week and its so great. members are key! but it was a great week and im so happy right now in kgf. but next week well see where im at :) so in mysore its a cool palace and but the coolest thing is i rode an elephant! ohhh what! ya it was cool but man india is so funny. haha. the sign board says 50 rupees but then under 100 for foreigners. haha. oh well. but i had a great week. sorry i cant write more. but i m happy and love it here. i love you and hope your doing good. tell everyone hi. i love you Kaden

May 27
hey everyone, what up? sounds like everything is going good back home. we had another great week here in KGF. the Lord is truly blessing the work here. we have been focusing on finding good families with people that all speak english and that support eachother. we have struggled with teaching really good people but then the father or someone stops them from progressing. but these last 2 weeks we have found some great families that are already showing so much interest. yesterday after lunch we were going to see one of the new families and when we got there they insisted that we would eat chicken byriani. we told them no we just came from lunch and were full. but as usual in the indian culture they forced us to eat. i said to bring small only but when they brought out the huge plate i knew i was in trouble. haha. then the sister brought mutton gravy. me and my comp both said no but she just putt it on anyways. and we really dont like mutton. so i started eating and she left the room for a min and e satyadi starts throwing all the mutton pieces on my plate. haha. he doesnt like meat so much. anyways after two lunches yesterday we were both hurting and could barely ride our cycles. haha. these indians just dont take no for an answer when it comes to food.So this week i have really enjoyed my studies. i really like to read my scriptures now and thats somthing i could never say befor. i feel like the Lord has blessed me so much to understand what i read and it makes it so much better. and as i teach people about the Book of Mormon its not just a principal to teach them anymore. i can truly see that its what is going to save there eternal salvation. its not always easy getting people interested in the BOM here because they dont always read english well but the language there fluent speakers in they cant read that language. but i have learned that its not always about understanding, they just need to feel the spirit that its true. im so greatful that i have this great responsiblility and privilage to share this message with everyone.oh and the bike fund got drained again. haha. the gears and the back tire decided they wanted to fall off for some reason??? haha so i had to carry my bike like a half a mile to the shop. haha. when i got there the shop said nope just go to a different place. it must be bad when they dont even want my money anymore. haha. but im doing great and im back healthy and enjoying the work. hope your all doing good. love elder barr

Another great week in KGF

Hey everyone,well it has been a pretty good week. we had a nice day at church and it was great to see robert get confirmed. he asked elder linton to do it and he gave him a great blessing and i felt the spirit very strong. i hope and pray that robert can be a great leader here in the branch. he has even talked about wanting to serve a mission!! but his age might not allow that. but it was pretty cool to hear those words come from his mouth. haha. after church on sunday i wasnt feeling that great just kinda tired and body aches. then on monday morning i woke up with a fever of 103.5. im no dr but im pretty sure thats high. haha. so they told me to stay inside becasue going out in the heat wouldnt be the best. so after a full days rest i felt a lot better. it has rained a lot this last week, pretty much every night. the indians tell you if you go out in the rain and get your head wet you will get a fever so maybe thats what happened. haha? its pretty funny cuz when it rains they all put plastic bags on there heads. so maybe i need to try that. haha. but yesterday we had a great day. we found 10 new investigators. 2 different families and there both really good. were really trying to find families right now because it seems if we dont have the whole family someone in the fam will stop them from progressing. so im looking foreward to see what will happen with them. i cant think of anything better then seeing a whole family together getting baptized. so hopefully this is the answer to the prayers we have been looking for. the branch here needs good strong families that can help it grow. cuz honestly now its really more like a home group than a branch. its really helping me to learn patience to be out here serving. i have always wanted things to be done fast and in my way but im seeing that thats not how it works always in the missionfield. we need to work as hard as possible and let the Lord do the rest.so not really any crazy stories or anything for you this week. but im doing great and love serving. i know that as we put our trust in the Lord he will help all of us in whatever we need. have a great week!love, elder barr

A Few Pictures From Kaden

What A Great Week

hey everyone! whad up? well its been a great week. just got off the phone with the fam so of course im pretty happy/ im so thankful to have a great family. but anyways thats not even the highlight of my week. we had roberts baptism on sunday and it was so nice. he was so excited. all up until he put the sweet lookin jumpsuit on. haha. when i gave him the suit he was like "this is really what i have to wear?" haha. it was funny cuz hes pretty shy and didnt want anyone to see him. it has been great to see the change in his life. it feels great to see someone who we taught who god really is and that we can speak with him through prayer offer his first simple but great pray to the prayers that he says now. i got to perform the baptism wich felt so great and im thankful that god has given me the power to perform baptisms. i was super nervouse though having it be the first time for me and not wanting to mess up but as we entered the water together everything left and i dont really remember anything just that the spirit was very strong. oh and the font was full this time wich made it nice. haha. but that was a great experience. and we also had 10 others at sacrament too!!another great thing is that i got to see my friends sheela paul and there daughter mini. they took us to dinner in banglalore and i ate way too much like always. but it felt so great to see sheela again. almost like my family was here taking care of me. they are a great family and im happy that they are listening to the missionaries and i pray that they will continue to do so. she was laughing cuz i sound like an indian and i was laughing cuz she sounds american. so as you can see i had a pretty great week i even had pizza, a burger at zone conf, and i made a stop at kfc on the way out of bangalore back to kgf.haha anyways it was a great week and im so happy being here in india and especially with the purpose that im here to share this only true gospel with them. but thanks for all your support and i hope you have a great week. love elder barr

Another great week in India

hey everyone. hows it goin? im sure great. but everything is still going great here in KGF! its hot and i sweat more than i have my whole life. haha. but it rained a couple times and cooled things down a bit. but then it makes it humid so i dont know wich is better. it could be worse some elders here in india are in 115 degree weather all day so i cant complain. haha. but i had a great week. we had many come to church again and were excited for roberts baptism on sunday. he is very excited too. he was a bit nervouse earlier this week but now hes just excited to join the true church. so im really happy to have seen the change he has made in his life to enter into the great waters a baptism. i also had a great experience with a sister selvi that i think i wrote about last week how she had an arranged marrage and is very sad. but this week she came to church and even her husband came and she was soo happy. we have tried to set her for baptism but she said she wanted to wait until all of her family was interested. but we saw her on monday night and she told us she knows she needs to be the example for her family and wants to be baptized on may 24!! i was so excited. so this week i truly saw the power of fasting and prayer. the lord wants to bless all of us but somtimes we just need to do a little bit more and then he he will bless all of us. so i wanted to let everyone know that the Suchi Ruchi place i eat at every day changed to non veg so now i can have some meat here in kgf!! haha jk but on monday the assistants came to go on exchange with us and we went to suchi ruchi and on of the assistants had a nice cockroach in his fried rice. hahaha. so i guess if a cockroach is concidered non veg then suchi ruchi made a nice change.but things are going great here. the future of the church here in kgf is looking better and better and im so happy to serve here. im learning so many things and love the humble people of india. have a great week. and happy mothers day to all you moms and grandmas. love you.elder barr

Another great week in KGF

hey everyone! hope all is well back home. but im still here in KGF!! im excited to have at least onother 6 weeks here. we are working with some great people right now. i cant remember if i told you about robert but its nelsons big brother. we baptized nelson a couple months back but anyways we met robert and didnt know they were brothers. they dont really talk to eachother wich is pretty common here in india. but he has great desire to take baptism. its great to see heavenly father really work with him. he has some word of wisdom problems. the usual tea coffee, but also smoking. but when we taught him he immediately stopped. he has become more than just someone im teaching, he is a great friend. he wants us to teach every day. so its been great to see him progressing daily. his baptism is on may 10th so he is really excited. we are teaching many other really good people but we are having some problem with there pastors come and give them hard time. satan is trying all he can to stop the work, but there still progressing. he can maybe slow it down but there is no stopping this work. we are teaching a sister named selvi. she is really good and has great desire. but her family makes me so sad. her mom died a few years back and her brothers just hurried and arranged her marrage. she wants to come to church but her husband is stopping her. we stopped by her the other night and she just cried and says how she doesnt love her husband and how hard it is. i hope things will work out for her. were trying to teach her husband and build a relationship between them but he speaks no english so its kind of tough. but its a verry humbling experience and makes me greatful to have this gospel and a loving family.we had a great sunday too! 14 investigators came. its crazy how some weeks there wont be any but the next week a bunch come. but the work here in kgf is looking really good. this branch really needs some help and mainly more priesthood. and all 14 who came are potential priesthood holders. :) im really loving the work here and love the people who were working with. anyways im doing great and hope all is well back home in good ol USA. Later,

Kaden week of the 22nd

whaad up? haha. im gonna start trying to talk like an american again. so you guys dont give me crap when i call next month. haha. its crazy how it just changed. thats how people understand so thats what our mind automatically does. and being with natives my whole mission doesnt help. haha. but anyways i had a great week. i got the package from sheela. thanks alot. the ties are dope. haha i dunno about the purple one?? i feel kinda wierd but i wore it twice. haha. its nice to just feel different for a change. i just got a mail from the office saying another package is on the way too. they said it had fallen apart so they had to repackage it. so dont worry it will come. the snickers are soooo tasty. haha. i had snickers in bangalore but its just not the same. so it sounds like the wedding was sweet! thats never a suprise to me but thats good you can help out the fam like you do. there were 20 deaf members that came to conf in kgf. there are like 70 or 80 deaf members in bangalore and i was telling them about mont and shauna. one guy told me to tell mont to send deaf missionaries here. but i told him mont doesnt call missionaries. haha. but it makes them happy to hear about my family also having deaf members.thats sweet nae is liking the bus. tell her its about dang time!! haha. how does she like her new room? or did you put another bed by yours. haha. its crazy she is going to be in 6th grade. i still remember those days. i kissed my first girl. yaya pimp. haha. so you better keep your eye one her and tell her to hate boys. :) i can tell you these things now that im on the other side of the world and you cant beat me. haha.so ya transfers are this next week. i think the 28 or something. i dont think ill get transfered? but you can never say. maybe sri lanka!!!!! that would be cool. but i dont make the rules. haha. oh man and lintons brought up tacos and salsa for a late b day lunch for me. mmmm. i ate so much there was beef and white chicken. haha. you dont get white meat here really. haha. but i was so happy and then we took them to some appointments and they got to teach. i was glad cuz i was so full and didnt wanna move. haha.anyways i had another really good week. and the days are flying by. 6th month mark today. haha. thats weird to think i been gone for that long. oh and i can definatly get nae a chudidar. thats what its called. haha. but when it gets closer just send me some mesurements and ill get it custom made. well ama im happy and healthy. oh and thats crazy garret and the erickson are in the same apt. and hes lost 40 lbs. haha. thats not uncommon actually. i know many who have lost 40. one of the elders here in kgf did. and thats to bad hes sick. drink coke with everything. haha. i have lost like 7 lbs but i look fat. my face and gut. oh well. haha. well i love you mom. your the best!love kaden

Kaden week of April 15th

hey, hows it going. well i had another great week. nothing too crazy or any=thing but the work is going really well. we got to watch conference on sa=t and sun. saturdays total attendance was 4. haha us 4 elders. it was rea=lly good though. i think it was the first time in my life i watched every= talk. haha. i even took notes. the mission does weird things to people. =haha. more people came on sunday so it was good. we had 5 investigators c=ome but its hard because the people here dont understand the english so w=ell and i was usually laughing alone when they would say a joke but its a=lright. i learned a lot during conference, and it sounds like there may b=e some tough times ahead for the world. but im so greatfull to know that =if we just follow this gospel we will be just fine.were teaching some really good people right now and i feel like there is so= much potential here in KGF. i hope to see the success within the coming =weeks. i dont know if i have told about Robert but we have been teaching =him the last couple of weeks and he is so good. he is reading the book of= mormon and praying. he never prayed befor because hes coming from a hind=u background basically. but he said he felt the answer that its true. so =im so excited for him.we had some fun experiences with some investigators this week also. were te=aching big groups of guys and they all like sports. if there playing we u=sually play for a bit... haha. we played a few games of volley ball and i=t was so fun. they are really good and actually put some pretty mean team=s together. they usually are betting about 5 rupees a game so i dont know= if its bad for us to play. but hey im always down to help. haha.oh and im glad the power is on so i can write you. during summer season the=re is always power shortage. they will just unexpectedly cut the power. s=o 2 days back as we got in bed the power went. thats not unusual so i was= just waiting for it to turn back on but nope. so i didnt really sleep th=at night. sweating and hiding from the mosquitos. haha. mosquito bites do=nt really bug me anymore. 5 a day is about average. anyways the power nev=er came on and even all the next day. then as we were getting in bed the =next night i came on. i was so happy. haha.well im doing great. i love what im doing and greatful to have this opportu=nity to serve the lord. as im learning so many things about the gospel i =realize that what im doing is nothing compared to what the savior did for= me. but hes still willing to bless us so much. hope your all doing good.= love youelder barr