Lots of Service Opportunities in Los Altos

Hey,

We continue to do a lot of service in this area which I've really enjoyed. There isn't as much teaching as there was in Hollister, but I'm learning to like this area and am meeting some pretty awesome people. Here's the run down from last week.

Monday- P-day!! Whoot whoot!! 

Tuesday- We had an good day - went on exchanges with our Zone Leader, Elder Parrett, and did some awesome missionary work (isn't that what we're suppose to be doing!)

Wednesday - We fed homeless people and visited a retirement home. We ran an amazing game of bingo for them which was actually kind of fun. Also Elder Gartside wanted a hair cut so I hooked him up...there's a reason no picture is included!

Thursday - I puked a lot, had interviews with President Mella and we've started just going to ball courts at the parks to find people to teach. I like this approach, especially since I got to play an additional 4 hours of ball this week.

Friday - We fed the homeless and the whole week we were with an awesome member. So it was chill day. 

Saturday - We opened our gym for the public and people actually came. It was exciting! That night we had real Louisiana food from a member. Look up Jeff Corolla gumbo recipe on Google and that's who we ate with. If you want to try the recipe, let me know first as Jeff said he changed the recipe a little from what is published.

Sunday - We had church today for 60 hours! OK, so that's a little exaggeration, but attending two full church meetings plus correlation meetings makes for a very long day!

It was a great week, other than being sick.

Love, 

Elder Barker

Got these two pictures last week....

Garrett with Chris Durden - a friend from Hollister he ran into at a fireside

Garrett with his ukelele

Service and a Google bike ride

Hey ya'll,
This week was good. I'm still adjusting to the area, for example, 95% of the people here don't even wave or say hello....just not use to that. We also have a challenge of finding people at home because everyone here works so much....I know we'll figure it out though, at least we're able to get a couple of teaching opportunities each day in addition to lots of service. Here's some stuff that I did last week.

Monday - my exciting p-day activity was learning how to solve the rubix cube.

Tuesday - We had zone conference

Wednesday - Fed the homeless people and I came across what must be one of the dumbest names for a Vietnamese restaurant while out contacting.

Thursday - Did some shoveling in the rain and went to an awesome buffet with Brother Sydall

Friday - Fed the homeless people again and found a Google bike in a dumpster so I rode around on that bike for the rest of the day.

Saturday - We had a zone sports activity which I really don't like, mainly because I have to wake up 45 minutes earlier than normal and they play stupid games (sorry mom for saying stupid, but they are). Someone captured the moment (see picture below).

Sunday - Figured out that our Russian progressing investigators were just using us for English practice. But, on the brighter side, I set a PR for the rubix cube and of course, caught G sleepin' during church again...smh.

Love, Elder Barker

Elder Stutz and Elder Barker outside of Chick Filet

Riding the Google bike

A Vietnamese restaurant

Catching up on some sleep at the sports activity

Week of Service: Feeding the homeless and shoveling mulch

Greetings from Mountain View,

Had a good week. I forgot to tell you that we watched a broadcast last month that talked about changes in the mission. Basically we have more free time on p-day and in the nights. It seems like we honestly have less accountability as we now only report 4 things - not a big deal, I'll still keep doing what I've been doing.

You asked about my comp - he's laid back and a great guy and I'm really happy he's my comp. Here's what we did last week.

Monday - P-day! We played basketball. 

Tuesday - Today we had our first district meeting today. We started to meet a lot of people in the area which is exciting

Wednesday - We fed some homeless people and gave a couple of them our numbers. It was awesome, but now they won't stop calling us and asking for KFC.  

Thursday - We shoveled mulch in the "rain storm" for 2 hours! Ok, it wasn't a "rain storm" but it was drizzling. The west is soft

Friday - Today we fed the homeless people again.

Saturday - We biked soooooo much today, the most I've biked on my mission so far. It was a good day though. 

Sunday - Poor Elder Gartside, I caught him napping again at church and I missed the Super Bowl for the first time in 19 years :-(

Love ya'll,

Elder Barker

Elder Gartside in the back, Edler Finau in the front