Week 2

Thanks for all the letters, they brighten my day!   I can't believe I have been here for 11 days now. The days go slow but the weeks go so fast!

We played soccer with the English guys yesterday and they weren't really all that good, which surprised me because, well, they're English haha!  The food is great, so I've gained 5 to 6 pounds already hahah I'm gonna get fat which is awesome!!   

I am just teaching like crazy and studying about 12 hours a day.  I've basically adjusted to the schedule of waking up at 6:30 am and working straight til 10:00 pm,  its a lot but I know it is helpful.  Classes are pretty long but breaks and p-days help a lot.  I'm slowly learning and the spirit is so strong everyday.We taught an investigator yesterday, we bore our testimony and he started crying a little.  We asked him to be baptized and he said yes!! He is getting baptized in 4 weeks!! I love it so much here! The experiences are amazing and the freinds you make are unforgetable.  We are going out to Manchester tomorrow to go street contacting and I'm really excited but really scared at the same time.  We went on a church tour on Sunday to different sites where Heber C. Kimball served his mission and the spirit was so strong all day! It was really great.  We went to the temple again, it was so cool, we did some contacting there and handed out some pass along cards.  An Area Seventy came, Craig Wright.  He is an amazing man!  He loves us so much and I finally realized that loving is really easy and I'm starting to get better at it.   

I love this work!  I know this is the true gospel.  I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and he died for our sins.  Thomas S. Monson is our prophet and he leads and guides this church.  Because of the faith of Joseph Smith we have recieved the restored gospel upon this earth today.  If we believe in Christ, become baptized and endure to the end, we will be able to live with Christ again and be eternally happy.  I know this is the true gospel and I love it with all my heart. 

Week 1

I'm doing great!!  The MTC here is so small.  There are 38 missionaries, pretty small compared to Provo.  The food is amazing here. I realized when you're really hungry you will eat just about anything.  Everyone that works here is from London and has awesome accents!  My companion is Elder Helski.  He is from Finland and he will randomly speak in Finish and I have no idea what he is saying.

When I first got here I was scared out of my mind.  So much went on and I couldn't keep track.  The MTC President, President Walker, is so cool-- we always see him.  He is an amazing man. He always has some inspiring thing to say to you to pick you up when you're feeling discouraged, which is after all the lessons you have to teach :).  The days are really long! we wake up at 6:30.  Have breakfast at 7:30 and have classes from 9:00 am until 9:30 pm.  It is really draining physically, mentally and definitely spiritually.  When we finally get back to our beds, most of the time I just pass out. 

Sundays in the MTC are the most spiritual days of my life.  We watched Joseph Smith: the Prophet of the Restoration and I have never felt the spirit more strongly in my whole life than at that moment.  We also do choir practice and hearing 38 Elders singing "Called to Serve" is a beautiful picture and an amazing sound. 

P-day is fun because we get to relax.  Which now, is weird to me.  We played ultimate frisbee and had an awesome time together. It was so fun to hang with the guys in a different environment. 

We went to the Preston temple today and it is gorgeous! The grounds are amazing here!  We were at a conference and Sister Walker, who is Gordon B Hinkley's daughter, told us this "Your mission isn't just about what happens to your investigators, its about what happens to you." Amazing talk--it is so true, a real transformation happens and I believe in that.     

  

I know that Jesus Christ lives, he loves us more than we can ever know.  He is our Savior and Redeemer.  Jospeh Smith was a true prophet of God and because of a question he had in his mind we have the restored gospel on this earth.  I love missionary work it is the greatest experience and man or women can have in their life and I would not trade it for anything!

Made it to the MTC!

This is Michael's mom :).  I'll be updating his blog for him while he's away, including excerpts from the emails he sends home about his experiences.  Michael left San Francisco yesterday at 6:00 am.  A very early trip to the airport! 

He arrived in Atlanta where he met up with some other missionaries for the flight to Manchester.  We had been told by the church that we should assume that he made it there ok, and that "no news was good news".  But this morning we got an email!

"I'm at the MTC safely.  Its actually sunny not rainning, weird I know!  So our P-Day is on Tuesdays.  It's been a really long day, and I have slept most of the day so im probably not gonna sleep tonight.  I was pretty discouraged and wanted to come home when I was all alone, but then I met up with the missionaries and they are all really nice.  Today we have nothing planned so we can just relax and unpack and everything.  It seems so unreal that I'm actuallly on a mission.  But I'm in Engalnd, weird.  Orientation is almost over and so we can just kick it. I love you guys and miss you."

My address for the next 3 weeks

For the next 3 weeks I'll be at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in England.  You can send mail to me at this address:

Elder Michael Jeffrey Barton
England Birmingham Mission
England Missionary Training Center
Temple Way
Chorley
Lancashire
England PR6 7EQ

Single Digits

I have 3 1/2 days until I leave for the MTC in England.  It is hard to imagine that this is really happening and that it is this close.  I had my farewell talk today and someone came up and told me "good luck michael, see ya in two years!" That is so weird to think about.  I cant believe that it is here.  Im am filled with so many different emotions but I know that I will be blessed for my work and diligence.  This will be one of my last posts.  I put one up right before I get set apart on Tuesday and then my mom will be taking over.  

This is where I'll be

Here's where I'll be next week at this time!

 The Preston England MTC!
(Thanks to Sister Walker for the great pictures!)

Wow...

I have 10 days until I leave.  This seems so unreal.  I am so excited to report to the MTC and start this work.  This will be the longest, most jammed packed, emotional 10 days of my life.  I am basically packed. just a little touch ups here and there, but over all I am pretty much set.  I am anxious, excited, sad, happy, and every other emotion possible hahaha.  I know I will have a great time and I know this is what I am supposed to do.