Email - 12/22/09

From: Bryan Barney
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 8:08 AM
Subject: Re: RE: Natal Tá CHEGANDO!

Wow, that photo . . . has got to be one of the worst shots of me in the mission ever. ACK. I had like, a huge zit or something that day. Oh man. But wow, Dad on the mission? That´s a huge trip to see. A HUGE trip. SO LONG AGO. That´s a photo that needs to be preserved. Some day I´ll show it off to my sons and daughters, and wow, there´s grampa some 300 years ago, haha. WOW. I´m trying not to laugh because I´m in the Lan House surrounded by people, but that is funny as heck to see. I don´t even know why. It´s so crazy see the difference in style, too. It´s against Mission Law for us to use shades, and no Elder in his right mind here would wear a vest. But if you really want to see some shots that are similar, you need to put that picture of Dad along side some shots of me when I was in Goiânia, and my hair had grown and I had started to use glasses. THAT is why I find it so crazy.

My new and possibly temporary companion is Élder Barbosa, a friend of mine from WAAAAY back in my second transfer in Uberlandia. He´d been working in the Staff as the Sec. Historian until recently, AKA last week. But, according to what I understand this Sunday we´ll know if he´s gonna stick around till the transfer, or if we´ll be trading again. Funny, really, after Élder Eliason, not a single one of my companions has stuck with me more than 6 weeks.

Friday last week Élder Zwick, of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy visited our mission. It was really cool to meet him, and to learn from him. He said that an Élder Barney had served in the Chile mission he had presided, and Sister Zwick had spoken with some friends of mine from the CTM who are serving in Salvador, Bahia. E. Zwick told an awesome story about how, when he was coming here, he was stopped in the Temple by Pres. Monson, who told him to give a big hug to our mission from him. Very awesome.

As for my boxes, I´ve only received the one Matt sent. The Two (?) you sent were not sent to me this week, though Sunday, if we go to Goiânia, Élder Barbosa and I will grab the boxes. I sent one Secretary to open one of them for me, because a jar of jelly had exploded, but he informed that, outside the jelly, only one photo had been ruined, and that another jar had survived the journey.

Wow, the vacuum died huh? How long have we had that thing? Twenty, fifty years? Great-Gramma Richey used that sucker, didn´t she, haha. I hope the new one doesn´t kick it before I get back. I haven´t seen a floor that can be vacuumed since Provo.

It´s good to hear Megan made it home safely. I, myself, won´t be in Jardim São Paulo (Saint Paul Garden, which is not, at all, as pretty as the name suggests, or at least, not enough to merit St. Garden) I´ll be on division, working down town. Zone Leaders, what´cha gonna do, huh? So I have no idea what phone I´ll be using to call home. Just know that it´ll probably be or in the morning or in the afternoon, depending on our schedule. Because if I call at Noon, it´s only 6 AM back home, but if I call around 4 PM here, it should be around 10 AM there, though if I put it off til 8 PM here, it´ll be around 2 PM there, though I think it more likely that I´ll be calling in the morning. No idea yet, because well, the Zone Leaders sent me a loop. SO NO SLEEPING IN.

I Love you all, send my love to Grampa, Matt, and the whole family, to Kelsey, Sharelle, Jessica, Josh and all my friends, and to the whole Spanaway Ward.

Back to work for me, haha.

Love,

Bryan.