Email - 1/5/10

From: Bryan Jay Barney
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 8:07 AM
Subject: Re: Happy New Year!

Why yes, you might say I have a word or two to share with the folks back home.

To start, as a Missionary, I know full well my "flock" you might say. I know my investigators, and I know their problems, even when they don´t. I know the members of my branch. I know when they´re doing something wrong, even when they don´t. I know the missionaries in my district. I know when they´re weak, even when they don´t. I know myself. I know when I am just, and when I am not. But not always.

I am circled by weakness, by sin, by strife, and by wrong. In any direction you point me, any member, investigator, missionary you show me, I can find quickly 3 things wrong with them, and I can tell you quickly why it´d be better to just give up on them.

But that´s not the point. No one is saved by hate. I can hate, hate, hate, hate this city all I want, but it´s not going to help me do what I want. I have to love, because God is love, and as a holder of the Priesthood, I have the sacred privelege and obligation to represent Christ on earth. And in the end, Jesus will want to know how I used his name. Hell, we have the custom to say here, is when the man you are, meets the man you should have, and could have been.

Love one another, is what the Savior commanded us. By this shall men know that ye are my disciples. How can we desire that others come unto the church, or believe in our words, if we lack love? You can ask me the name of anyone I´ve baptized, even the woman I baptized the day I met her, with whom I lost contact the Sunday thereafter, and I can tell you, in all honesty, that I love them. Do we, therefore, as Holders of the Priesthood, show this love to others? Remember the talk given by Elder Bednar at conference. We need to let our families know we love them, we need to let our ward family, therefor, also know that we love them.

I will never forget the advice I received before coming to the mission. The night I was set apart, you told me, "Love your companions, Love your Mission President, and Love the people you serve." Nor do I forget what we learn in DC53: "Behold that I, the Lord, who was crucifed for the sins of the world, give unto ye a commandment: That ye forsake the world."

It isn´t always easy to forsake the world, nor it´s ways, but we ought always to remember that the souls of less active members, recent converts, and investigators are far, far more valuable than any money or accomplishment of the world.

If it were possible, this I would say to the bretheren: Am I the type of Man my Mother thinks I am? A question we´ve been making here on the mission, and one I find usually helps any man to think. If not his mother, his wife can also apply.

This is the last week of the transfer, after which, it´s possible I´ll be transferred, it´s possible I return to be a normal missionary, and it´s possible I keep on here in the same spot. At the moment I´m with Elder Barbosa, a friend of mine who I´ve known since WAAAAY back in the start of my mission. We´re District Leaders together, so it´s nice, as I have a good support, instead of having to try it on my own.