Transfer has been difficult, not very much success, went to the zoo...

MOM! 

Mate is delicious! Its not just hot dirt water. When you cook it you need to put in the liquid sweetener that makes it super good but only a couple drops. I am going to bringing home bags and bags of mate if I can`t buy it in the states because I love it! 

Today we had a district activity because my district had 6 baptisms this month. The mission president gave us permission to have an activity. We went to the La Serena Zoo. It was pretty cool not gonna lie and then we cooked there. I started the fire with help from one of the sisters and we had grilled choripan and tin foil dinners. There are some pretty cool animals here including a white tiger and an ocelot. I also got to touch a monkey. It was a good time to relax for the district because we are all pretty stressed out. 

When you pray for opportunities to strengthen your testimony, the lord will answer your prays. I have been praying for that these last couple weeks. This has been one of the hardest changes of my mission. We haven`t had a lot of success or a lot of progress so it has been kind of hard. I have had to trust that the Lord will continue to help me in every moment and I have had to learn to work in very creative ways here. 

I haven't gotten my package yet and probably wont till September but I will let you know when I do! I will be praying for you and for the girls! Tell Dad I love him. 

Elder Christopher Ryan Barlow

Going to help investigator read Book of Mormon, love mate....

Hey dad,

I am really glad that your trial settled and I love your quote as well.  We had the same lesson in Elders quorum yesterday on helping the elderly. It brought to mind when we would go give the sacrament to the sister who lived in the apartments who couldn't come to church. Here there are tons of old people and a lot of them have suffered a lot in their lives. because it's not the same as in the states here. There are many who can`t come to church because they can`t leave their beds and a lot more are inactive because they simply don`t have any one who visits them and haven't been visited by anyone for years and they feel abandoned and alone.  I am going to try and spend more time with them now and work hard so they will come back to church because they have been faithful for most of their lives.  We should help them so in the end they don`t lose their eternal families because they feel abandoned by the people that our heavenly father has placed in their lives to help them.

Tell Parker I said hi and to not get married to soon! 

Tell him to write me too!

Elder Christopher Ryan Barlow

Hello mom!

  My investigator didn`t get baptized yet... He wants to feel the desire to be baptised which is good and bad. He has a testimony of the gospel and wants to be baptised. What he doesn`t want to do is pick a day to do it. These situations are the bane of my being. You know how patient I am! I have gotten a lot better. Me and Elder Gut are just going to start reading the Book of Mormon with him because he has been struggling in that. He hasn`t read very much but of what he has read he believes its true. We are struggling with finding new investigators but I am not worried! I know I will find them and help them to receive the gospel. 

  My new mission president is completely different from my old one. He is a lot more relaxed then president Kahnlien, but his testimony is just as strong. He was in charge of all the seminary and institute programs in Santiago, so he has a huge knowledge of the scriptures and he really helps us to learn to love the scriptures! Its awesome! He hasn't changed the rules very much apart from allowing us to  drink mate now and its awesome! I love it! I drink it every morning ha ha. 

  I was thinking about this a lot and something that I have learned here is that I need to be obedient to my leaders. Here in the mission my first loyalty is to the Lord, then the Mission president and then my comp. Everything comes after while I am here. 

Elder Christopher Ryan Barlow

Elder Gutierrez is awesome, not many investigators....

Hello Mom!

I had a wonderful birthday! It was kind of a rough week because we don`t have many investigators.  We are struggling with that as well as getting the members to go to the lessons with us. I'm hoping that now that we have identified a sister who was just recently baptized, who is more then willing to come out with us to teach and hopefully  we can start to getting the investigators that we have to make progress. 
  We have one investigator who is progressing super well. His name is Bastion. He is 16 years old and has been attending for awhile.   He's had his baptismal interview and passed, his only issue is that he won`t accept a baptismal date. I think he will accept a date this week. We took him to a baptism that the zone leaders had yesterday. He doesn`t like to talk all that much but I know the baptism really helped him.
  I am doing really well!  Elder Gutierrez is awesome! I hope I have a couple more transfers with him because he is a super cool guy. I think we will have one more transfer together which will be cool. I'm still a district leader, there are  zone leaders in my district and 2 companionship's of sisters, so I won`t be having a lot of splits but I will be doing a lot of baptismal interviews.
   I did 5 this last week. One was with a family of 4 and the other one of a man I will never forget. He is homeless and lives in a  place called Christ's home. He makes money by collecting bottle caps  and selling them. The zone leaders began teaching him and he has changed completely in 3 weeks. He cut his hair, he shaved, he started bathing daily and he is now looking for work just so he can pay his tithing. He is one of the most humble person I have ever met!  Not because of  his living situation but because of his nature. He's  just very loving and kind and I am very excited to see how he will keep progressing during my time here. 

  I love you mommy and I am very grateful for the efforts that you made to guide me onto the mission. The threats and blessings that you used helped me get here and I will never be able to tell you how grateful I am!

Elder Christopher Ryan Barlow

Happy birthday!!!! Transferred to La Serena, new companion Elder Gutierrez...

 For my birthday Heavenly father sent me to the best zone in the mission and I'm still a district leader. so I am getting lots of great birthday presents. I got transferred to a place called La Serena which is beautiful!  Its in the most northern part of the mission and its a region that's super pretty and really really clean. 

I am with another gringo, he is from Connecticut and  his name is elder Gutierrez. he is super chill and I am super excited to work with him. his parents are Peruanos so we are two false Latins walking around here!  We seriously have to visit this place after the mission.

 I'm in my first ward and its super big! About 125 members attend  regularly and its super nice! I am really excited! The bishop is super cool and obedient.  I really like it a lot!

 Today I will be able to buy my new suit and I am pretty excited about that. I am really pleased with how my second year on the mission has started! Not a lot happened apart from me traveling a lot. I got to my new sector at 2 in the morning from Viña. 

Also Even though you have a 20 year old son and a granddaughter you and mom aren´t old yet.

Love Elder Barlow