District Leader

June 1, 2021   

Dear Elder Calvin Barrett,

Congratulations on your assignment to serve as a district leader.  Your assignment reflects the confidence that both the Lord and I have in you as a missionary and in your ability to influence others for good.  As the Mission President’s Handbook states, “Because district leaders can be close to the other missionaries and can interact with them frequently, they fulfill a fundamental role in the success of the mission and of the missionaries.”  In fulfilling this critical role, let sections 2.2-2.7 and 3 of the Missionary Handbook and Doctrine and Covenants 121 be your guide in this assignment.  Study them carefully and regularly.

As the district leader, your example will set the tone for the district.  Help missionaries see what is possible by the way you live.  Your teaching and your conduct inspire and influence them in ways that might surprise you.

It is quite unlikely that any missionary in the district will work more energetically than you do.  Even your example in small things will matter, because “out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33).  For example, if you call missionaries by their last names without using their titles, it sends the message to the rest of the district that it is all right to do that.  You can let a culture of casualness creep into your language and conduct that leads to missionaries forgetting the sacred nature of their work and distances them from the Spirit, whose help they desperately need to accomplish their work.  It is especially important that, as the Mission President’s Handbook states, you “make sure relationships between elders and sisters are in harmony with gospel teachings and missionary standards.”  Finally, if you openly disobey the rules contained in the Missionary Handbook, you give license to your entire district to do so as well.

On the other hand, you can show the missionaries in your district just what it looks like to obey with exactness, out of love, and to strive wholeheartedly to be the kind of missionary described on pages 11 and 12 of Preach My Gospel.  Your example will show them that it is both possible and expected to be strictly obedient to the rules and to the Lord.  And the fact that you practice what you preach will give you credibility as you help those in your district become better missionaries.  This will especially be true as you go on exchanges with each of the elders in your district.  Make sure that you go with them on exchanges at a minimum of once each transfer.  District meetings will provide another important opportunity for you to teach, train, and lift the missionaries in your district.

Your leadership will be most effective when those in your district sense you serve them out of genuine love rather than personal ambition or some other motive.  And even as you try to raise the sights of some members of your district, you will also need to lift their spirits when they sag.  Encourage them to stretch themselves as they plan and set goals with faith as described in chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel, but be sure to teach them that their success as a missionary is primarily defined by the standard set forth on pages 11 and 12 of Preach My Gospel.  Help them base their self-esteem on God’s approval and help them live so that they will have it and recognize it.

May the Lord bless you in this wonderful and important assignment.

Gratefully,

Larry K. Beardall

President 
Washington Seattle Mission

One More in Orting!

เฮลโล Hello!

This week was very very quiet. Not a whole lot really happened. But we did get transfer news on Saturday night. I'm staying for another transfer in Orting, but Elder Nye is going to Renton. I got along well with him, but he really didn't ever want to do anything, so I'm excited to get some more stuff done this transfer! So, it's gonna be a fun new transfer. I also got called to be the District Leader for the first time this transfer! I'm excited to see how that's going to be, should be fun! 

I GOT HIGHLIGHTS

- On Monday, we went to a member's house and we got to forge some metal! I made myself a knife out of a railroad spike. It's not amazing, but it was a fun experience.

- We helped a family rebuild their fence! It was really cool to see it go up, because it was much quicker than I thought it would be. So, if anyone has a fence go down, you know who to call.

Sorry this was a shorter email, hopefully next week I'll have more to talk about haha. Just keep in mind, I love you!!

เอ็ลเดอร์ ช่างทำรั้ว (Elder Fencing)

Elder Barrett

Refried Honkey

 เฮลโล Hello!

This was a week, let me tell you. I had two road trips! One to Bellevue for Zone Conference, and one to Redmond to get my second dose of the vaccine. So, that was a lot of driving, and it was exhausting. But really fun!

THE TOWER

If you've ever played Spot-It, you'll probably be familiar with a game called the tower. In the game, there's a big tower of cards in the middle, and you try to get all of the cards into your own pile. Realistically, your pile won't be nearly as tall as the original tower, because I am way better at that game than you are, and I got all of the cards. So just keep in mind that image of a giant cylindrical tower. I texted the Ward Mission Leader on the weekend and asked if there were any members who had signed up for meals that we should be aware of. He said no, but immediately said he would bring us McDonald's in a few minutes. He asked what we wanted. Simple big mac and fries, right? He calls us and says that he's going to bring us all of the parts necessary for an unholy creation called "The Tower." The tower consists of 3 big macs, one on top of the other. I'll send a picture. And since I am not a quitter, I ate that whole beast in one sitting. Do not question my ability to fill my body with garbage.

Most of the week was pretty quiet. My companion was very tired and feeling sick after we got the second dose of the vaccine. I got to study a lot of stuff. Luckily, I grabbed a Thai copy of "True to the Faith" and a Lao copy of the Book of Mormon. I've been studying a little bit of Lao to cope with boredom, so ສະບາຍດີ!

LAST THINGS LAST

- Acoustic guitar >> Electric guitar

- I got to see an NBA game while at a restaurant this week. It was a weird feeling.

- There's a weird bench in town that says "Refried Honkey" and I have no clue what that means.

- I'm fully vaccinated, so there's nothing keeping me from letting you know that I love you!

เอ็ลเดอร์ คนลาว (Elder Laotian)

Elder Barrett

Strong Men Lift Water Heaters Alone

 เฮลโล Hello!

This was a pretty uneventful week. Not a ton going on in quiet old Orting, Washington. But I did go on another exchange this week. This time in the Buckely 1st ward. I got to be with Elder Saunders, who was my buddy from my time in Renton! He's the one I threw that textbook alley-oop to a long time ago.

BUCKLEY BOYS

The exchange was a good time, we taught someone in their teaching pool who I think might have a few screws loose, but it was a fun experience anyway. We also broke down some beds at a member's house and carried them downstairs. The last thing they needed us to take down was kerosene water heater. Weird, right? Well, Elder Saunders took a quick bathroom break and I decided to just give the water heater a good lift and see just how heavy it was. It was a hefty one, but I am a man. My age says I ought to be at this point, anyways. I carried that thing all the way downstairs. It just about scared the member lady half to death.

EAT AND EAT SOME MORE

A non member invited us to come over for a barbeque on Sunday. When he said come hungry, I had no clue that meant that I was going to eat until I couldn't eat any more and then eat some more. It was absolutely delicious, but oh my goodness. Food baby is an understatement, I almost gave food birth. We also had them ask us to pray for them at the end for an operation one is going to have this coming week, and they were very appreciative of it. It was cool to see people really appreciate the power of prayer. Kind of inspires me to want to say better personal prayers, to be honest.

LOOKING BEYOND THE MARK

While I was reading Jacob 4 this week, a verse stood out to me. Verse 14 reads: 

But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.

That phrase "looking beyond the mark" really stood out to me. In the context of the verse, the Jews had been given so much, and they rejected almost all of it. They didn't like the simplicity of the gospel, they wanted to complicate it. They didn't like the prophets, they killed them! They were blinded because when God gave them things, they couldn't just accept them. They thought they knew better than God, and because of that they were spiritually blinded. They looked beyond the mark. By doing so, they didn't receive any of the promised blessings, and they stumbled. I wonder if I'm ever looking beyond the mark. I catch myself often looking forward to the next transfer, my next companion, my next area, or even the end of my mission. By looking beyond the mark, looking past the things right in front of me, I know I can miss out on opportunities that have been placed in my way, or even where I am at this very moment. God gives us chances, and He wants the best for us. If we can try to avoid looking beyond the mark, we will unlock the potential of all of God's blessings that He offers.

เอ็ลเดอร์ เข้มแข็ง (Elder is strong)

Elder Barrett

Oh Deer!

 เฮลโล Hello!

It was a pretty uneventful week. Ive been working on getting my companion a little more invested in the work. My plan isnt fully operational yet, but when it is, oh boy there's gonna be a flood! I'll give some highlights and then tell a pretty neat story!

HIGHLIGHTS

- The food bank that we volunteer at got some really cool stuff this week. We got a hot chocolate maker!! Who cares if it's hot outside, hot chocolate must be drunk!

- I met President Oaks' son on Friday! Very nice guy, and I might be related through the Bird side of my family. That's pretty neat.

- I got to look through a giant pile of scrap metal. Most of it was junk, but it felt pretty manly to know the names of some of the tools I found haha.

- I met a lady while I was on exchanges in Buckley who actually lives in Orting and knows a member family. She wants us to come over!

- I pretty much manually steamrolled someone's backyard to flatten all of the tilled sod. It was a full body workout. Mowing the lawn ain't nothing.

- Apparently horsey heaven is Orting, Washington, because I found him in some random people's backyard.

DEERACLE

While on exchanges, we had to stop and fill the gas tank along the way. As we were about to drive away from the gas station, my comp noticed that he didnt close the lid, so he quickly jumped out and took care of that in a few seconds and we got on the road. Not even 30 seconds down the road, a deer jumped out of the forest from the right and ran right in front of our car. We missed it by like 2 seconds. Almost exactly how long it took for us to take care of the gas tank. If we hadn't forgotten to close that in the first place, we would've had an exciting collision with Bambi. Anyway, I just thought that was a neat story.

LAST THINGS LAST

- Song of Solomon is biblical trash.

- Proverbs are biblical gold.

- Teriyaki in Orting is underwhelming.

- Subway in Orting is fantastic.

- Bring it in, big guy. I love ya.

เอ็ลเดอร์ หงุดหงิด (Elder was frustrated.)

Elder Barrett

I GOT HIT BY A CAR 😵💥🚗

ฮอวดี้ Howdy!

This was a pretty typical, if not slow, week of missionary work. Some things out of the ordinary did happen, though! Like getting hit by a car and getting my first covid vaccine! Both are big events in a young man's life.

RIDE TO REDMOND

On Friday, we drove over an hour up to Redmond to get covid shots! But before we hit the road, I got hit by a car. I was backing one Elder up so we could get in their car and head out, but while I was, I turned and said something to my comp, and before I knew it I got blindsided by the very car I was backing up for "safety reasons." Now if that isn't irony, I dont know what is. It was no gentle tap, either. That Elder wasn't paying any attention and literally hit me with his car. I played it off, made a few jokes, but OW! Getting hit by a car is not a great experience at any speed, tell you what. The vaccine itself wasn't too bad. Since I got Covid a while ago, the lady giving the shot basically told me, "since you have antibodies, this might suck more." Oh, goodie. It was fine, don't know what she was talking about haha.

MEMBERS ON MEMBERS

We got to meet a lot of members this past week. Thanks to all the texting I've done to get as many appointments set up as possible, we met a ton of members! They're all the coolest, and they let us know about some other families in the ward that could use a visit. So, I'm looking forward to that!! Did some more service, same as last week. And y'know what? I've gotten much better at impromptu spiritual thoughts since I started my mission haha. So I can see at least a little progress.

YOU HAVE TO LOOK HARDER

There's always a reason that things happen in your life. If I'm being entirely honest, after the hard work that I put in with Elder Knapp in Seattle, I figured that I would get a leadership position or something, or at least a killer companion and a great area to just tear apart. But I really didn't get what i expected. Sometimes it can be hard to know why things don't go the way you hope they do, but there is ALWAYS a reason. The reason that I've gathered from interviews and experience being in Orting with Elder Nye is that I've been put here to lift people up who may be faltering, and help people reach their full potential. Sometimes the best spot that you can get put in is one that you weren't hoping for. And if I should have learned anything from my missionary experience so far, is that what I think will happen almost never goes 100% according to plan. But there are some things I need to learn out here, so in the words of that crazy baboon from the Lion King, "you have to look harder!"

LAST THINGS LAST

- Orting at sunset > anywhere else.

- I finally got the technique for chopping wood down.

- The Psalms were probably cooler musically in their original language.

- White chocolate macadamia Clif bars are the bestest.

- No, no, I said I love... dew. (But I do love you, don't tell nobody)

เอ็ลเดอร์เป็นชายแท้ (Elder is a real man.)

Elder Barrett