Christmas

Family,

We have this movie called Joy to the World, and I've probably seen it 45 times now. We've been taking it around tracting with us with our portable DVD player and using it to get in the door. People are very busy this time of year but we just tell them we want to watch a movie about Christmas to help prepare them for the season, and it's been great. They then send us to their family and friends and we got a few good investigators out of it.

I don't have a lot of time to write this, we're going to see those stone monoliths that Dad has been pushing me to go see (just kidding Dad, we're pretty excited about it). Transfers are next week, and President Dowdle hinted that we may go back to 3 missionaries here in Palau. I'm hoping I don't leave, but if I do, at least I'll have seen this stone faces thing.

I sent 3 pictures (It didn't work this week for some reason. I'll have to try again next week). One is of a monkey, obviously. These things are all over the place - not wild, just as pets. It's pretty cool. Second is me painting the inside of a Bai, which is the traditional leaders meeting house. Most villages have one, and our recent convert, Tobi, asked us to help him. He drew everything and we were just going over it with black paint. The last one is a ton of pigs. We were following this trail through the jungle and it just opened up to this pig farm. I took this picture, and it flashed and a bunch of them jumped up and scared me to death. I thought they were going to go crazy, but they just looked around for a second and laid back down. Crazy pigs.

Anyway, I love you all. It was good to talk to you for a few minutes.

Love,

Elder Barlow

20 Dec. 2010

Family,

I feel like half of my mission is being spent in Guam at these meetings. Anyway, here I am again.

So we've been kind of struggling lately for whatever reason. It's been hard for us to find new people to teach. But, we keep working and doing whatever we can.

Actually now that I think of it, part of the problem is probably that we had 3 branch activities this week. We went caroling for 2 nights and then had a small branch activity on Thursday. Our branch president was gone, so the planning and organization was pretty lax and a little sloppy, and no one announced it in church, but all in all, it was pretty fun.

All the Guam missionaries are going on zone p-day today, so we have to go with them. I think we're going to a waterfall or something. I'll talk to you Saturday (friday for you I guess)!

Love,

Elder Barlow

13 Dec. 2010

Family,

(First of all, will you call me at [removed], at 9:00am Tokyo time (same as Palau time) Christmas morning here? Elder Agalzoff is having his family call at 10:00. I don't know what time that is for you guys there, but I'll leave the dirty work up to you. If that number doesn't work, try it with another "1" before the area code. If you just can't get through, call the same number, but instead of 488 try 775.)

This week I had someone tell me I was going to hell and had a preacher interrupt one of our lessons. Just some of the perks of my missionary life.

So I told you last week about a woman named Ann. We taught her a few times, but we knew that her preacher would get in the way. Well, we went to our appointment and after just a few minutes of teaching, the pastor showed up and asked to join us. He immediately contested what we were teaching and after asking him a few questions and doing my best not to argue with him (which I think we did pretty well at), I had an opportunity to bear my testimony. I don't think I've given a more sincere and heartfelt testimony in my whole life. There have been 2 or 3 other times in my mission when I've walked away from a combative person feeling upset and talking about it for the rest of the day "I can't believe he said this! Doesn't he know the Bible says this?!" This time was different. As we were walking away I asked Elder Agalzoff how he felt, and he said he was pretty upset. I asked him to describe it, and he said he was just sad. That was the difference this time. We were both able to walk away with peace in our hearts and just feeling sad that John (the pastor) could have so much, but that he is choosing to harden his heart to it all. Anyway, maybe we'll take him to lunch this week!

Another day we were walking along the side of the road and there was a pretty slippery part. I've gotten pretty good at walking in Crocs, if I do say so myself, but Elder Agalzoff just isn't yet. He slipped and fell and got his pants pretty muddy (after trying to grab onto my and pull me down with him). We both kind of laughed about it, and just continued on our way. After a minute or two I noticed again, 'This part is pretty slippery too. He'll probably fall again.' *Thud* I couldn't help but chuckle because a Palauan couple pulled over "Are you alright?!? Of course not! You're all dirty!" He wiped most of it off with a banana leaf, but it was still pretty funny. Poor kid.

We got new gas cards, and they don't work at some gas stations for some reason. We went to a new one that we hadn't tried yet, and before filling up asked, "Will this work here? Because sometimes it doesn't." They assured me it would. So we filled up, and sure enough, it doesn't work. I had $1 in my wallet at the time. So they take the card and try calling the bank to get authorization or something. Doesn't work. Finally they came to us and said that we could just go get money and come back and pay before 10pm. My companion had enough money to cover it, but I was just amazed that they would let us just leave with a full tank of gas without paying. Pretty different.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone. Time to get going.

Love,

Elder Barlow

6 Dec. 2010

Family,

I've been waiting for the rainy season to really hit (it came much faster last year), and this week I think it finally did. It's been soaking us pretty often, and I'm loving it. My new companion has all silk ties, so I think I'll have to give him some of mine. He's a pretty goofy kid, but he's really working hard. He's struggling a little bit with Palauan, but with some effort and a portion of the Spirit, I'm sure he'll get it. He just has a hard time remembering what sound each of the letters make.

I've been back in Ngerias (of the two areas in Palau, the one I'm in now covers the north half of the island) for about 2 weeks now, and it's been rough, but I've been enjoying it at the same time. We started out not really having anyone to teach, so we've been spending a lot of time finding part-member families and contacting referrals. We've been having a little bit of success, so I see things moving forward gradually.

Something awesome happened to us on Saturday that just made my week. I don't know if anything will come of it, but the experience in itself is noteworthy I think. We wanted to look for a member whose name we found on the membership directory, so we started in the village she was listed under. We asked a few different people if they knew the person (there aren't any addresses, so really it's the only way), and they all said no, but gave us another name of a person we could ask. Finally our search brought us to a man named Charlie. We asked him the same question, and again, he said no. Just before leaving we asked him for referrals, and he gave us the name of a woman, and asked a little bit about us. As we continued talking to Charlie, his wife, Ann, came out of the house and talked to us also. Somehow we got on the topic of the Book of Mormon and Ann basically grabbed it from my hands and started to read. Immediately she started smiling and flipping through the pages and reading different parts. She sat down and continued doing the same thing. We were about to leave (we were still looking for this member), when Ann asked us, "Can we ask you two to do something for us? (Sure, what is it?) Can you come back and tell us why you guys, being so young, decided to come here and serve God?" Jumping at the opportunity, I told her we had time now, and if they did too, we could explain. So, we sat down. Elder Wright (we were on exchange) started by telling them why he decided to serve, and then I followed. We both shared passages from the Book of Mormon that have affected us, and we were able to bear our testimonies of the blessings of the Gospel. Ann then told us how they go to a church, but they still don't feel like they have strong faith in God. After a few more minutes she said that she was "hungry" for truth and the word of God. The only problem is that their preacher (a white guy from Wisconsin) is pretty anti-Mormon, and they wanted to share the Book of Mormon with him (and like 15 other friends). He has interfered in our lessons before, and it would be so sad for them to allow him to ruin this for them.

Just to toot my own horn for a second here. I asked them if their preacher speaks Palauan (he's been here for 4 years, and their church has a Palauan name), and they said, "A little, but not like you!" It made me feel pretty good, but it just goes to show you the difference that the Gift of Tongues can make when in the Lord's service.

We decided that for Christmas, we're going to get a bunch of the youth together and go to the church and make a bunch of gingerbread houses and then go and deliver them to less-active youth. I talked to the Branch President and he said if we put a shopping list together, the branch will pay for it. I'm pretty excited about it, and it seems like the youth are too.

I love you all, and happy December!

Love,

Elder Barlow

29 Nov. 2010

Family,

This will just be short, we have a meeting in a minute. We got our transfer call last week, and my new companion's name is Elder Agalzoff, he's new. He's from Oregon, and he's a pretty funny kid.

We had a baptism this weekend, and our recent convert was able to baptize his son. It was so cool. We even had an investigator come and see the baptism. She's going to be baptized in December.

Like I said, I just have a minute. I'm doing great, next week I'll go into more detail, when I have more time.

Love,

Elder Barlow

22 Nov. 2010

Family,

We've had a great last couple of weeks. We've been making a huge effort to meet with members and get some referrals from them, and it's been working out great for us. We haven't had a ton of referrals, but we have had some - which is more than we can say for the last while. We just began week one of the new transfer today, but we won't find out what is happening (who is getting transferred where) until Wednesday night. At least until then, we are still in a tri-panionship, and Elder Adams is the District Leader. This coming weekend we go to Guam again for leadership training, and then again two or three weeks after that for zone leader council, and then yet again two weeks later. Air fare for these meetings has got to be pretty ridiculous.

I think I mentioned the less-active man that we've been teaching, named Lloyd. He has just been doing great, and yesterday he came to church, and asked us to show him how to pay his tithing. He hasn't been to church in years, and now he's coming, reading from the Book of Mormon every day, asking questions, and paying tithing. His wife and daughter aren't too interested at the moment, but with his great example, I'm thoping that will change soon. On an unrelated note, his 13-year old daughter was trying to get her flirt on with my companions on Saturday during our lesson, it was pretty funny.

Our recent convert family is still doing great too. Ian, the father, has been talking to his neighbors and when we went over there on Saturday, he told us to follow him and we'd go talk to a Yapese family that lives near them. We talked to the mother and set up a return appointment. She was sick when we went back last night, but I was just so excited that he was willing to go with us to talk to his neighbor. Plus, he went out and got white shirts, slacks, and ties for his two sons, one is going to be baptized on Saturday. They all looked so slick at church.

A while back there was a less-active man that told another member (semi-less active) to tell us not to come visit him anymore because he "already knows the truth." I was pretty surprised to hear that because it was pretty out-of-nowhere. Anyway, we didn't go back for about 2 months, but anytime we saw any member of his family (there's a bunch of them that live there) they would ask us when we are coming again or why we haven't been by. We'd respond by throwing this other guy under the bus, "Oh, he didn't tell you? Yeah, he told us not to come anymore." They all got pretty upset. Finally, Saturday night we went to their house. His mother and his wife were outside and they asked us the same question, and we responded the same way, and they reacted the same. Later he came out and said, "Elders, I'm coming to church tomorrow, I don't have work." It was so weird. We're going over tomorrow to do some service on the old woman's farm/garden, and he actually did come to church yesterday, and even paid his tithing. It's crazy how things happen sometimes. I don't think him coming was a result of us sicking his family on him, but it felt good to know the rest of them still loved us.

This week is our Branch Thanksgiving Activity, which I'm excited for. The area produced a movie specifically for our mission called, "Do You Know Us?" It was filmed in Guam and has natives doing the voices for all the island languages. It's designed for members to show to their friends and family, and they're going to show it at the activity. I'm really excited because this activity is pretty well known around the area (Palauans love their food - especially when it's free).

I'll let you know how everything turns out.

Love,

Elder Barlow

14 Nov 2010

Family,

This week was so crazy. I got back from Guam on Monday night, and my flight was delayed, so we didn't really have time to go out and do anything. We've been focusing lately on having a member present at as many appointments as possible. Each island is setting goals for how many of these lessons they can teach per companionship. We set a goal for 6, which is a step up from last month. The last two weeks we've had 3 and 5. This week we had 13. It was incredible. We got a bunch of referrals and several new investigators. We just had a ton of great success, and I'm so excited to see what comes of it all.

On Saturday we had the APs come and train us on the Abrahamic Covenant. It was something that I felt the members here needed to hear and take to heart. So, yesterday we had Branch Council Meeting, and I asked the Branch President if I could take a few minutes to teach them about it. Basically what it entailed was that Palauans are descendants of the House of Israel through Joseph, and helping them to understand that if they reach out to their friends, they will accept the gospel because of the Lord's promise to Abraham. It was really cool. Our next step is to take it into their homes and then get referrals. I have a feeling that this is what we need right now, so I'm excited to see the results here as well.

We were teaching a less-active man on Thursday, and he's just been doing awesome. Since he started reading the Book of Mormon, he's just been on fire. At first he didn't really care. He was nice and stuff, but he would just kind of flip through pages and look around during our lessons. It took him a while, but since he started reading, he is way more involved in the lessons, and is willing to keep any commitment we invite him to. We couldn't find his records anywhere, so we told him that it may have been lost when he moved to Saipan (it's kind of a problem here in Micronesia), or that we might not be able to retrieve it for whatever reason. We told him that he may need to be baptized again in order to recreate it. He answered, "If that's what I need to do, I'll do it." Then we taught him about sacrifice and coming to church (he often works night shifts and doesn't finish until the early morning), and again he responded, "If that's what I need to do, I can make that sacrifice and do it." Being able to see the change in him has just been so awesome, it's unreal.

I don't know if you guys ever sent that Halloween package or not, but if you did. I didn't get it yet. If not, then obviously it still hasn't come. Just making sure someone at the post office isn't stealing my mail.

This is the last week of the transfer, so if we get a new missionary, he will come next Thursday. Then again, we may stay in this tri-panionship for another 6 weeks. Who knows.

Let me know if you want pictures of anything in particular, I'll see what I can do.

Love,

Elder Barlow



We're helping a recent convert quit smoking again, and he asked me to carve "no smoking" into his workbench. Luckily I got my wood-carving merit badge.


The family that was baptized a few weeks ago. The father received the priesthood last week, and blessed the sacrament yesterday. Their other son is scheduled to be baptized on the 27th.


These pigs were HUGE. They are illegal to have down in Koror, but lots of people raise them in Babeldaob.


Pickle juice popsicle. Still delicious.


This is a crazy bug that landed on my book during a lesson.

Elder Stanley (my trainer) finishes his mission today, so he took me to the airport in Guam on my way back to Palau last week.

Guamanian Devil

Family,

One good thing about coming to Guam every month, is that the internet is so fast! I click on stuff and it actually opens. Quite the luxury.

So we had Zone Leader Council last night, and it went from 1-10:15. It was pretty long, but I really enjoyed it. It's a good way to get some feedback on how to fix problems that we're having. I flew in Saturday morning at 5:20 or so, and didn't get to sleep until that night, so I was running on about 40 hours without sleep. Lucky for me, I didn't have a 9 hour meeting to stay awake through like the missionary from Yap did. Everyone else is gone, but my flight doesn't leave until this evening, so I'm just going around with the Guam zone leaders until then.

Really the only news I have is this trip to Guam, so I think I'll stick with that.

I went to the airport to check in, and the woman at the counter seemed like a pretty angry person to begin with. She looks at my passport and everything and asks where I'll be staying in Guam. I didn't know which missionaries I'd be staying with, and even if I did, I don't know the address. I told her all of this and she snapped back, "Well, then we can't print your boarding pass, and you can't get on this flight." Now I was annoyed. This was my fourth time flying out of Palau, and no one has ever asked me for that. I told her that I didn't know, and since it was 12:30 at night, there was no way I could find out. She wasn't going to budge. I asked her if she wanted me to just make up the address, and she cut me off and said "Oh, so that's how you got on the flight last time?" If Continental wasn't the only airline in Micronesia, and I had a choice, they would never get my business because of this one lady. Anyway, that's what I did; I took a guess (which turned out to be wrong) as to what the Mission Office address was, and she printed my boarding pass. Then I went through security they asked to check my backpack, and another ornery woman took my consecrated oil out and chucked it and handed me my backpack. It's my fault for forgetting about it, but that just topped it all off.

My trainer, Elder Stanley, is the zone leader here in Guam right now, and he goes home in a week (he extended for 30 days, so he goes home before the end of the transfer). In December, 60% of our mission will have been out since June. The mission president is pretty in need of people to train (we have 10 elders coming from the MTC this transfer). Things are going to get pretty interesting pretty soon.

In Palau I realized we've been kind of slacking in finding new investigators. We've been relying mostly on others (especially members) to give us referrals and people to teach, and we've, for the most part, neglected our own finding efforts. I've since repented, and I'm pretty excited now to get things going again once I get back.

That's all I have for this week. I'm doing well, and I hope you guys are too.

Love,

Elder Barlow

1 Nov. 2010

Family,

So we had our baptism this weekend. In all, there are five in this family, but one is 7 so she couldn't be baptized, and the oldest (who is 12) was sick for two weeks, so he has to wait a few weeks. It was so cool though. The son, Mariur, was so excited once he put his baptismal clothes on. The morning before the baptism we went over to their house to do some service. We built a small table, cleared some dead branches, and moved his boat. The first time we went over there (before we taught them) Ian was working on some things and asked us to help him take down an old awning that had rotted. Whenever he works outside, he has music playing, and the first time we went it was pretty vulgar and just terrible. This time we went, he was listening to music about Christ. It was pretty cheesy music, but a complete change nonetheless.

The next day they asked each of us to confirm them (the branch president baptized them), and I was pretty nervous - I'd never done that before. After church the father, Ian, was interviewed for the Aaronic Priesthood, given a home teacher, and a new set of scriptures. He came out with all these books, and said, "President Kesolei said I'm going to have a lot of assignments, so I'm going to start studying this, and this, and this. I have a lot of catching up to do." It was so cool.

Wednesday night the youth had a barbecue and played volleyball, and we were invited. I was amazed at how many youth came. There were about 40 people there, and a bunch of less-active, and especially non-member, youth came. The chicken they grilled tasted like lighter fluid, but volleyball was fun anyway. We even got a new investigator out of it.

Since it was Halloween yesterday, we didn't get very much accomplished. The United States Civic Action Team put on a free haunted house at the convention center, so all the youth were there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and their parents were driving them, or drunk, or handing out candy. It was pretty crazy last night. Elder Adams and I decided that Halloween just isn't the same without decorations. People here would dress up kind of, but nothing else was decorated. Oh well.

I go to Guam again this next weekend, so my next letter will probably be pretty short if I get time to write at all. Just a warning.

I love you guys, and I hope everything is still going well.

Love,

Elder Barlow

Halloween is Coming

Family,

Again, we had a super busy week. We had zone conference, so a lot of my study time was preparing for that. I thought I would do some skill training (since the other missionaries are new) along with some spiritual training. I decided on how to use the scriptures (introduce it, read, apply it), along with how to recognize and rely on the spirit. I thought it went pretty well, especially because everything seemed to just flow with what President Dowdle talked about (which I didn't know before) - even the hymns I chose. I love when that happens.

The next day, Saturday, President and Sister Dowdle came out and worked with us most of the day. We took them to visit a few families that we have been teaching, and I think they really enjoyed it. Plus - I learned a lot from them.

I've been telling you about the family we have getting baptized this week, and this week they stopped chewing/smoking! Ian hasn't really had any problems since he quit smoking, but his wife is having a hard time with withdrawals and stuff since she stopped chewing. Despite it all, they are pretty set to be baptized on Saturday, and the branch is excited to have them.

Today we bought Manicotti pasta, and I'm going to make it today I think. I saw the noodles and it just sounded great, so I got all the stuff to make it and now I'm just waiting for the time. I hope it turns out okay - wish me luck.

I haven't gone to see the rock faces yet (it's like an hour drive, and it's hard to find the time), but maybe we'll make our way up there one of these days. We're kind of waiting to do anything fun until we get another missionary, so he doesn't get left out. If we've already done/seen it all, we won't want to go again when he comes. That is something I want to do though.

My favorite candy? Lets see. Any chocolate has to be in a pretty sturdy container or something or it will just get destroyed. I like Reese's, Rolos, sunflower seeds, Jolly Ranchers, Butterfinger, sour stuff (warheads, sour patch kids), Starburst (tropical), Now & Laters, Skittles (any flavor), suckers, Tootsie Rolls. I think that's a good list. There are many, many more, but I trust your judgment! Thanks guys.

I got some temple pictures today (I'm not sure who sent them) from the SLC distribution center, so thanks for those, they're going to be great.

I don't need any news from my friends - they can just write me (just a little reminder for anyone who hasn't ever or it's been a while). Thanks though.

I love you all, and I hope everyone is still going great.

Love,

Elder Barlow

Rock Islands

Family,

All right, so we had some pretty interesting changes here in Palau this week. After Elder Lyman left, we assumed a new missionary would be coming to replace him. It was going to be interesting for sure because I've only been out a year, Elder Adams is coming up on 5 months, and Elder Wright is coming to 2. What actually happened, is now we're in a tri-panionship. Elder Adams is the District Leader, and I'm the Zone Leader. It's been good because I can still work with them both in Language Study, rather than sending one of them on their own to learn with a new missionary. We moved to live in the other apartment (in Ngerchemai) since that one has the phone that can call off-island when we need to.

I also found out that I have to train in Zone Conference this week. I have to order food, prepare all sorts of graphs and charts, make assignments to my companions, and still prepare my own notes for my training. What a task. President Dowdle is coming on exchange with us the next day too, so that's exciting.

This last week we've been really busy. Because there are only three of us, there is only one area. We cover 4 islands: Babeldaob (it's huge - we don't go here very often), Meyuns, Malakal, and Koror. We've been going back and forth teaching all day, and I've been loving it. The family we are helping to prepare for baptism is still on track for the 30th. Unfortunately one of the kids has been sick for the last couple of weeks, and couldn't make it to church. Either we're going to have to postpone the baptism so they can all do it together, or they'll be baptized without him, and he'll just do the same a couple of weeks later. We're going to talk to them and see what they'd prefer.

We finally got to watch General Conference this weekend, and it was really really good. We noticed themes of agency, following the prophet, and gratitude. During the Sunday sessions, it seemed like everyone and they're children were getting up to get water like 6 times an hour. Plus, people were talking and babies were crying, it made it really hard to hear, and therefore hard to focus. Saturday was great, I really enjoyed it - I regret sleeping through conference every year of my life now.

That trip to the Rock Islands was our one allotted opportunity. We get a new mission president in June though, so who knows what he'll say. I knew they were going to organize a stake, but they've been struggling to do it for some reason. That's good to hear they are finally going to do it. I heard some talk about L. Tom Perry coming for it. Once they do that it's only a matter of time before there's a temple in Guam.

Speaking of temples, I was excited to hear about the temple in Tijuana. I would love to go to the open house for that one. I don't know how long it takes to build temples, but if it's less than a year, tell them to slow it down for me.

Love,

Elder Barlow

Rock Islands

11 Oct. 2010

Family,

This week was so good for us. I told you a little bit about the family that we've been teaching, and they all came to church yesterday (excluding the oldest son, who had pink eye)! They just loved it. They stayed for all three hours, and apparently their kids couldn't stop talking about it. They can't wait until next week. I'm so happy for them. We also met another family (who we're teaching again tonight), the father is less-active, but his wife and daughter are not members of the church. After teaching about the Restoration, the daughter proceeded to tell us all about Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith and how the Book of Mormon came to be. She said she had read the Book of Mormon, and that's how she knows. Turns out that it wasn't actually the Book of Mormon, but something else that some missionaries gave her. Nevertheless, it was awesome, and both she and her mother agreed to be baptized in the beginning of November, along with the mother of another less-active man. So exciting, I'm just sad I wont be in the area to teach them.

You asked where we get our hair cut, and this is actually an interesting situation. There are tons of little beauty shops where you can go an get your hair cut, but there's a slight problem. 95% of these institutions are run by Filipino men dressed as, and pretending to be, women. We found one place that is run by a legitimate woman, and she actually does a really good job. It costs $5 no matter where you go.

One of the privileges of being a missionary in Palau is that you get you tour the Rock Islands. Unfortunately each missionary only gets to go once. Our trip was today, since Elder Lyman flies home on Wednesday, and this was his last opportunity. We know a less-active woman who is a tour-guide, so she was about to let us go for half of the local price. Our tour included Jellyfish lake (a completely enclosed lake with thousands and thousands of non-stinging jellyfish - usually we would go swimming with them, but we can't go swimming, so it was pretty boring at this particular stop), Milky Way (a place where run-off from the limestone rock islands have made the water milky and the mud on the bottom is like white paint almost), and a bunch of other beautiful places. We saw tons of fish, sharks, a turtle, and got to sit on the front of the boat as we cruised through the hundreds of islands. It was so cool. Lunch was even provided, and we didn't have to go with 30 other Japanese tourists like the rest of the groups did. I'm trying to send some pictures if it will let me.

Supposedly I'm transferring this week, unless they make my current area the zone leader's area - which I doubt. I'll let you guys know how this all plays out. I find out who my companion will be Wednesday night. I'm pretty sad that all this good is happening in my area, and now I'm leaving. Luckily, I'll still be close - and now I'm in charge of exchanges.

Love,

Elder Barlow

Birthday

Family,

I just have enough time to say hi. I'm in the mission office now, and I have to leave to go to the airport to go back to Palau. Turns out that I'm going to be the zone leader in a week or so. It was pretty expected since the other one goes home at that time, and everyone else has been out 4 months or less. Anyway, that's the update. I'm just excited to see who my new companion will be.

I love you all, have a good week!

Love,

Elder Barlow

27 Sept. 2010

Family,

So we’ve been meeting a lot with the family that I told you about last week, and the father agreed to be baptized with the rest of them. The problem is, he still has not read from the Book of Mormon, or prayed. Then something came up, and none of them were able to come to church yesterday. We were pretty bummed about it, but it was the first time we really asked them to come. It was encouraging to see members that we had taken along take an interest in them though. When they didn’t show up, people came up to us and asked about the family – how they were doing, that they were excited to see them again, etc. It meant a lot to us. I still have high hopes for them.

Zone Leader Council is happening this coming weekend, and I just learned that I’m going to Guam for it. I’m assuming that means I’ll be the Zone Leader here in a couple of weeks, but you never know right? I’m pretty excited to go because I’ll get to eat at real restaurants and have fast food.

We were asked to give a blessing last night to the father of a less-active man that we’re teaching, and I realized how inadequate I feel sometimes. Here I am, 19 year old Taylor, being called upon to make the will of God known to people much older and more experienced in the walks of life than I am. I can’t help but be humbled at the opportunity.

I think I’ve mentioned the To the Rescue program, but part of what it entails is the active members are supposed to assign themselves to a less-active member, and go visit and fellowship them – in addition to normal home teaching to their other families. Anyway, it hasn’t been happening, so we’ve started calling members and just scheduling times with them to go and visit whoever they’re assigned to. We called one woman in particular, and she picked a time and day, and then decided, “You know what? Why don’t I just pick her (the other woman she is assigned to) up, and bring her to our house tomorrow for Family Home Evening?” So that’s happening tonight and I’m so excited for it.

Love,
Elder Barlow

P.S. In the newsletter you said “For Kandis’ babies” (plural) is she having twins and no one told me?


One of our families' diseased pet puppy. Sick.

Gross puppy again.


Our instant water heater and broken pipe in the middle of being fixed.



This is Rilang - the girl who left on her mission (in red), myself, Elder Lyman (not my companion), Rayda (a returned missionary in blue), and Rilang's crazy little brother, Ngirachsui.

20 Sept. 2010

Family,

This week has been pretty interesting to say the least.

First of all, we just recently moved into a new apartment, and then we learned that everything is broken. We then went through the apartment with the landlord and showed him all the problems. He then made some observations of his own (we needed a smoke alarm, fire extinguisher, kitchen hood, towel rack, etc), and sent his worker over to fix it all. They installed an instant water heater (our first one was broken) with a shower head on a hose attached to it, but he didn't put a hook or a cradle or anything for the shower head to rest on, it just hung down. The next time the landlord came we asked if there was supposed to be a hook, and he said yes, and that he would send the guy back. They guy came again and was about to put the hook about two feet off the ground, but we asked if he could raise it up, so that we could actually use it to shower. He said sure and proceeded to drill. The next few days we realized that water was leaking out from behind the hook/cradle thing. I unscrewed it to see what the deal was, and then turned on the shower, and water shot out of the hole that he drilled. Mr. Construction Worker drilled right into the pipe. Needless to say the landlord was pretty upset, and so was the worker when we told them the problem. Saturday, the worker came in (absolutely fuming - it was pretty awkward), and tightened the screw and was about to call it good and leave. The landlord said, "listen, if it doesn't leak out, it's going to leak in. You have to fix the pipe!" So then the worker angrily hammers some cement/putty stuff into the hole and called it good (the landlord had to go). Today we saw the landlord and he asked us if he fixed it. Not wanting to cause more trouble, but still make it clear that it was still broken, we said "yeah, I think so, he hammered some stuff in there and it doesn't leak anymore." Again, angry landlord. Then he called the worker, yet again, to come and fix it. That's where we're at now. I'm not anxious to see the workers face when he comes back. Pretty exciting though.

On a lighter note, a young woman in the branch left for her mission in Australia this week. I think she was feeling excited about it, because she gave us some great referrals just a couple of days before she left. One was for a girl that she met just running errands, and the other was for a family across the street from her. We were only able to meet with each of them once, but the mother and the two kids agreed to be baptized in a month. The father wasn't sure, he said he'd already been baptized, but I think he'll come around. Rilang (the girl who left on a mission), was so excited when we told her. It was a great send off for her I think.

We'll be getting a new missionary here in Palau when Elder Lyman leaves in 3.5 weeks (he's going home), and I'm pretty excited to see how it all plays out.

Love,

Elder Barlow

Birthday

If anyone is wondering what I want for my birthday (October 4th), I'm not really sure. But I'll see what I can come up with:

Many pictures of all different temples (like the kind you can get at the distribution center), especially the Manilla one.

Some good facewash (it's like $100 here)

A sweet Plan of Salvation visual diagram of some sort (portable of course)

Canned chicken/roast beef (sometimes they get canned chicken here, but it's only once in a while and it's gone super fast, and it's great)

Candy

Pictures (of people - Dad does really good with this, but if there are pictures other people would like to send to, that'd be great).

(As I'm thinking about things, did you guys ever get that other watch fixed? I don't know how long this one will last)

That's really everything I can think of. I don't need ALL these things, I just thought I'd give you guys some ideas.

Love,

Elder Barlow

13 Sept. 2010

Family,

First of all, when I die, make sure no one feels obligated to come to my funeral. Especially distant relatives. Also make sure it only lasts an hour. This week there were two funerals in our area, and it basically froze our work.

"No, I can't come to church, I have to go to my cousins funeral for 3 days"

"Oh, was it your first cousin?" (I asked this question, knowing what the answer would be)

"Well, actually it was the son of the second cousin of a woman that was pretty much raised with my mother"

"..."

This really happened. I couldn't believe it.

Anyway, something pretty interesting happened to us last night. Elder Wright and I were out knocking doors, and we walked past this girl who talked to us for a minute, but then we kind of brushed it off and kept going. After a few more houses, we walked back out to the road, and there she was walking our way again. She asked us if we knew Jenny (obviously we do), and then asked a little about what we were doing. We soon learned she left her parents' religion (Jehovah's Witnesses), resulting in her basically being exiled. After learning she used to be JW, I knew that this was the girl that one of the Young Men has been talking about for months. He has a huge crush on her, so we'll probably tease him about it next time we see him. Anyway, she works 2 jobs to support herself while she lives on her own. It was pretty sad, but I think it shows at least a little desire to find truth, if she's willing to go through all of that. We scheduled to visit her on Tuesday.

I got to have McDonald's in Guam last Monday, that was pretty cool. They even have Chili's and Wendy's and Subway. We're missing out here, that's for sure.

Oh, I almost forgot. We had another baptism on Saturday. I almost forgot because the senior couple taught her. We weren't really involved in the teaching at all, but she's been coming to church for months, even institute and activities. She just had to be taught, and we thought that since she's a woman, it would be easier for the couple to teach her. I got to interview, and her English isn't very good (she's from the Philippines), so I brought someone with me to translate. It was a great experience.

As I'm trying to teach Elder Wright Palauan, I realize how much I would hate to be learning all over again. It brings me back to see him struggle with the same things that I did. I think he'll be able to learn really quickly. I'm excited for him.

Love,

Elder Barlow

Cookie Sandwich

"Here is a picture of Taylor that we got off the Mission Blog - he is teaching the leadership how to eat a cookie sandwich. You take two cookies and put a piece of chocolate in between. Then you eat off the extra cookie and then dip what remains in hot chocolate until the chocolate candy starts to melt - then eat." - Dennis Barlow

BYU wins

Family,

So I'm in Guam for training this weekend, and it's been pretty weird. First of all, I had to change planes in Yap (actually I just got off the plane, then back on the same plane - they did a security check or something), and as we were taxiing to the gate, lightning hit the runway. It was pretty loud, and hit close to the ground crew, so the pilot told us they were going to send them inside until the storm calmed a little. So there we were sitting in a giant metal airplane, just waiting. Finally, they started again and finished taking us to the gate. So our flight left like 30 minutes late - not too bad considering everything.We finally got here at like 5:20 in the morning (I checked into the airport in Palau at 11:20), but then had to wait for Elder Abubo (a Filipino elder from Yap) to go through customs, and we didn't get to the apartment we were staying at until close to 7. Then we had to get ready to go to church at 9. After church and lunch, we were finally able to get some sleep.

Oh, so my companion was transferred to Saipan. Now I'm training a new missionary. His name is Elder Wright and he's from Northwest Arkansas. It's been pretty interesting to realize what kinds of things you have to teach new missionaries. Simple things that I've done everyday for almost a year, are completely foreign to him. Things like planning, the daily schedule, it's all new for him, and I have to be patient and remember that he hasn't done it before. The hard part is realizing what's actually new for him so I can teach him. Should be fun.

This week is going to be pretty short. I have to get to the airport, so I'll talk to you all next week.

Love,

Elder Barlow

Coming back off the bench...

Family,

Anyone who thought I forgot to write last week, let me inform you: that is not the case. Our P-Day was cancelled and replaced by training. Whatever happened last week is kind of a blur, so I won't really have much to say about it.

What I can remember though, is my trip to Yap this last week. It's pretty similar to Palau, but there aren't as many buildings (Palau was the Japanese headquarters in Micronesia during WWII, and a lot of the buildings are still here, and used by the Palauan government), and the houses are more spread out. Here people live in clustered villages, and the villages are a little spread out. In Yap, everyone is pretty equally separated. Plus, Yapese women (not all, but many) don't wear tops, and the men wear these sumo-wrestler-esque loin cloths. It's good to be home.

Sunday we went to church there, and it was great to see all the kids. Palauans are embarrassed by their kids I think, so they don't bring them to church. This little girl came and sat next to me during sacrament meeting, and faithfully reminded me to fold my arms and close my eyes everytime a prayer was said, and asked me to help her find the hymns we sang. It was pretty cute.

Monday-Thursday was taken by 7-8 hour meetings. The topics were: The Doctrine of Christ, Sweet Boldness, the Role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion, Revelation Through Prayer/Church Attendance/Scripture Study, and How to Begin Teaching. Even though the meetings were long, I loved it. After our meetings, we went out and proselyted for the rest of the night. It was awesome putting the things we learned into action. Even though I don't speak Yapese, it was still a great experience. I learned so much, and now it's my job to train these other guys for the next several weeks. I'm going to Guam next weekend for the same kind of training, but only for one day this time. I don't know if we'll have P-Day or not, we'll have to see.

I realized yesterday that when Elder Lyman leaves (this is his last transfer) I'll be the oldest missionary here (in Palau), and the next oldest will have been out only 4 months. That's going to be weird for sure.

I only have one picture for you guys this week. This is "Yapese Stone Money". like 500 years ago, Yapese men traveled to Palau by canoe and carved this money out of our Rock Islands. It's value is determined by tools used, and how many men died on the voyage - size only has a small influence. Pretty cool.
Until next week (hopefully).

Love,
Elder Barlow

16 Aug 2010

Family,

Public school started today. It's pretty funny because every school has uniforms here. It's been a while since I've seen all the kids walking around in their goofy uniforms. Some of them are pretty atrocious, I should get a picture for you guys.

This last couple of weeks we've been trying to make a special focus on lessons with recent converts, less-actives, and investigators with a member present. My companion and I did really well, but we had some pretty discouraging results (I don't think they are related, just a bad coincidence). The three girls we had scheduled to be baptized didn't come to church, which is several weeks in a row now. The problem is they don't have a car, and for some reason are ashamed to ask someone for a ride. We arranged for some youth to walk to church with them, but when Saturday came, one of the girls said (well, told her mom to tell us) that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore because she doesn't want to walk all the way to church. It's like a 2 mile walk, but for these Palauans that's like walking from California to Arizona or something - they're pretty spoiled.

Another thing we've struggling with is the actual church here. We have one branch, and the leadership struggles. They don't show up to meetings, they don't really do anything - except the Branch President. He has gotten to the point where he just expects people not to do anything, so he doesn't ask them to, or follow up, but just does it himself, or no one does. One of the other missionaries and I met with him yesterday before church to talk about the problems the branch is having and how 'To the Rescue' (I don't know if you guys are doing that at home, but I assume you are. If you're supposed to be, and aren't, I'll put dishonor on your whole family) can help. He agreed and then discussed it with the branch council. Then we (the missionaries) are going to go into the homes of the active members and pester them and make sure the assignments are fulfilled. Everyone has great intentions, I just don't think they know what their calling actually entails, and need some training.

Last week, we were driving to see a waterfall (I'd been there before, but the new guy hadn't), and we got stuck in some pretty watery mud. We all got out to assess the situation, and decided we'd just push it. So we put it in reverse to give us a little boost as we pushed. It worked great, but the problem is after it got out of the mud, it kept going. Elder Adams opened the driver's side door and jumped in and hit the brakes before it rolled into the side of the hill. It was a pretty good time. We tried going over the mud again, after laying some banana leaves down over it, and from a different angle, and we got over just fine. Unfortunately, we then realized that the path to the waterfall started right there - about 10 feet from the muddy spot. We didn't actually have to go over it at all. We all felt pretty dumb, but we had a good time anyway.

I leave for Yap on Saturday, so I don't know how P-Day is going to work next week. If you don't get an email from me on Monday (Sunday I guess for you), you'll either get an email or a letter from me later in the week I guess.

I heard something about Proposition 8 getting brought up again (I guess that's why they asked you to speak, Dad), but as usual, I don't know anything about it. What's the problem?

Dad, having the new missionary's principle's nephew's cousin be your cousin's wife's sister doesn't make it a small world. That's about normal. Speaking of weird family relationships, Palau is ridiculous about that. Actually all of Micronesia from what I've gathered. People call their 3rd cousins' kids their nieces/nephews, or their grandmother's cousin is their mom, and just tons of other things like that. It always makes contacting referrals interesting.

"We're looking for a woman named Tmong. Do you know her?"
"That's me."
"Nice to meet you, you're sister, Ochob said you might like to listen to the message we have to share."
"Who?"
"Your sister, Ochob?"
"Ochob?"
"Yeah, she lives in Ngerbodel, in the green house."
"Oh! Ochob, yeah that's my cousin's niece."

This probably happens every day.

I'll talk to you all next week, hopefully.

Love,

Elder Barlow

Baptism!

Family,

We had such a great baptism this week. The girl is 15 years old, and was the greatest ever. My companion and I found her last transfer, but then I moved areas halfway through her teaching. After we asked her to be baptized and come to church, she immediately agreed, and hasn't missed a week. She finished the whole Book of Mormon in a month (she wanted to finish before her baptism), and started again, she rented "Our Heritage" from the local library, and read that too. She invited so many people to her baptism, so we had about 40 people there (Sacrament meeting attendance is about 55-60). She even asked one of the other young women to help her pay her tithing yesterday (her first Sunday being baptized). She's ridiculous, and will be such a good example, especially to the Young Women. I got to interview her, and it was such a great experience. It just makes you think how many people are out there just waiting. Pretty cool.

We've been struggling with a couple of our families (the ones who have children preparing to be baptized). One of them doesn't have a car or phone, and lives super far from the church. Another has a car and a phone, but the car is unreliable, and they often can't afford gas, and they live far too (not really, but in the Palauan mind they do). A lot of you guys have kids that you bring to church, so hopefully you can help me. One problem we've been having, especially, is people are afraid to bring their young children to church. They're afraid that the kids will cry and run around, or whatever else kids do. We've tried to tell them that of course they will, but if you keep bringing them, they will learn. How can we help them to not care so much? Or what are some cool tricks to get the kids quiet for an hour in the meeting?

I think we've officially entered the real rainy season. It's been constantly raining for the past week. Some days more than others, but my planner gets pretty soaked. The sheets I brought came in these plastic things that zip closed, so I've been using those to put my books and photo album in (inside my backpack). I thought it was genious, but every time I pull it out, everyone giggles. It's pretty funny actually. I'm still doing it. I've been wearing my Crocs (yes, I have crocs, for those who didn't know - they're approved specifically for our mission) everyday, but now that it's raining so much, it's too much of a hassle to avoid all the puddles and look at the ground all day. So, I switched back to my normal shoes. I'm not retiring them just yet though.

That's all I have I think. My trip to Yap is the 22nd of August I found out yesterday, then we'll fly back the 26th for Zone Conference that day.

Oh, Dad. Either you or Mom asked if you're sending too many pictures, and the answer is no. But here's the thing. I can't keep them all (I just don't have space) - so you can just print them all on regular paper, fold it up, and send it off. Plus, I think it would save some time and money for you guys. Just a thought.

Love,

Elder Barlow


(Pictures):

1) I found this word in the dictionary the other day. I'm going to try and use it in as many teaching situations as possible - "God has asked us to love our neighbor. That means that we should not 'melengesakl'"
2) Risong and her family at Risong's baptism.

3) Risong, Tobi (another recent convert), and the missionaries - Sunday (yesterday).

Micro-Games

Family,

This week has been crazy. So starting yesterday, is the 7th Micronesian Games. It's like the olympics, but for Micronesians. It includes Palau, Nauru, Guam, Kosrae, Marshall, Saipan (CNMI), Chuuk, Pohnpei, Yap...and I think that's it. So there are over 1,200 athletes, and then about that many fans, plus the usual tourist crowd. Not to mention all of the people from Palau's outer islands that came for the games. All on like a 15 sq. mile island. They have the police force directing traffic all over the island, complete with cones and everything - for 10 days. It's stressing me out - I'm not used to this many people. On the bright side, it's been pretty exciting to see all the different kinds of people, and trying to guess what island they're from. Each of Palau's states, plus various other stores and groups, set up booths as fundraisers and stuff. It's going to be a pretty cool P-day activity this week and next week.

We finally picked an apartment to move to. It's on Meyuns island (where we want to start the branch) and has a pretty sweet view. Plus, we have 4 people scheduled to be baptized over there. Two of them are sisters, one is their cousin, and the 4th is another guy, named Odi. We're looking at the first week of September, since I'll be in Yap the last week in August.

There's this less active family that we've been meeting with ever since I've been here, and even way before that. They've never come to church at least since I've been here, and again, probably way before that. The youngest daughter is great though. They had a copy of Gordon B. Hinckley's "Way to Be" that her older sister got in Young Women years ago, and it's just been sitting on the shelf. We had an appointment with them on Saturday, and this girl (Chanel) was reading it. She put it down, and someone was going to move it so they could sit where it was, and she pretty much yelled, "don't lose my page!" - she's like 11. Pretty funny. Anyway, we have a copy of the old First Vision movie, that was translated into Palauan by the former Branch President here, and we showed it to them Saturday night. Then they came to church the next morning, and the father even bore his testimony. We've had so many great things happen after showing that movie to people. It just shows how important it is for people to learn the Gospel in their language.

That reminds me, Fast and Testimony meeting is the best meeting for less active Palauans. Many of them will wait until then to make their triumphant return and bear their testimony to the branch about how long they were less-active, but now they're back! Then everyone else gets up and bears their testimony about how great it is to see so-and-so back at church. It's really a pretty interesting thing to see.

I'm going to stop writing "Elder" on my letters - we'll see if that changes anything. I'm still trying to figure out why they aren't getting there.

Love,

Elder Barlow.
(it's ok on emails though.)

For anyone who doesn't believe in bed bugs...and more

These are some old pictures that I never got around to sending, and some new ones.

1) When Elder Stanley (my trainer) left to be a Zone Leader on Guam.

2) Something pooped on our truck, and I had to fling it off with a stick, but it was pretty stuck on there.


3) A less-active woman and her family that I worked with in my first area, then she moved to the area I moved to (but then I got transferred back).



4) The woman (Seba) that we baptized a few weeks ago.



5) At a waterfall in a place called Ngaremlengui


6) Elder Shular when we dropped him off at the airport this week.


7-11) One morning I woke up and my legs were just ridiculously itchy. After examining the source, I counted 94 bites from my waist to my toes - give or take a few. The bites look the same as the bed bug bites I got before, but we decided they were chigger bites from the beach we taught at the day before.

25 July 2010

Family,

Ok so this week was pretty crazy. Elder Shular was transferred to Saipan on Wednesday night, and the new guy came Thursday night. His name is Elder Adams, from Gilbert, Arizona.

As for me, I was transferred back to my old area, which isn't really what I was expecting. I was a little nervous to go back at first - I didn't expect it so soon, but I'm pretty excited about it now. Elder Bano is my new companion, and even though he doesn't talk much, he's a smart guy, and pretty funny when he wants to be - he just has to open up a little bit. Even though the people are the same, I feel like there's a lot of good I can do now, after being away for a little while. We have a girl scheduled to be baptized August 14th now, and I'm pretty excited for her.

We've been thinking about moving apartments, so that we can actually live in Meyuns, rather than Koror, and be closer to the people we're trying to work with. We are trying to revive the branch that used to be there, but its hard if we have to be driving back and forth from our apartment all the time - it takes quite a toll on our gas.

Saturday was our Pioneer Day activity, and it was pretty interesting for several reasons. First, it started at 6 a.m. and we walked to where Palau was dedicated for missionary work. After one of the members read about the history a little bit, we walked back and had breakfast at a member's house. The activity reconvened that evening for a slideshow and variety show. Each auxiliary put together something and then performed it for the rest of us. It was pretty casual, but still pretty fun. The branch president's step daughter (the one I've been talking about for forever now), who still isn't baptized, brought 4 non-member friends to the activity, one of which she gave to us as a referral a couple of weeks ago. She's the best non-member missionary there is, I'm pretty sure.

Oh I forgot, I'm also the District Leader now, so I'll get to go to Yap for like 4 days for leadership training. I'm pretty excited about it.

Love,

Elder Barlow

First Pregnancy

Family and beloved associates,

If anyone was alarmed at the subject line I have included, rest assured. I am not pregnant, nor is anyone else as a result of my actions. I couldn't think of a better way to indicate that I will reach my 9 month mark on Wednesday. I probably say this (or at least think it) every time another month passes by, but I can't believe it's been that long already.

This week begins a new transfer, so let me tell you what I think will be happening. First of all, last week, we learned that a new missionary would be coming to the island (we need to take care of some of his immigration stuff I guess - we don't actually need to, but the office thought we did). During our weekly call-in report, one of the assistants hinted that Elder Lyman (my companion now) would be going to Guam. We knew that someone had to leave if someone new was coming, but we didn't know if it would be Elder Lyman or Elder Shular (my last companion). So either I'll be the new Zone Leader, language training the new guy, or Elder Shular will, and I'll go back to my old area. We'll find out on Wednesday, and I'll let you know next week how this all plays out.

I was kind of hoping that you hadn't already sent a new camera, since mine resurrected this past week. But since you already did (thanks a ton by the way), we have two options. First, I can send one of them back home and you can get a refund or whatever. Second, I can give my old one to Elder Bano (the new Marshallese missionary here - who doesn't have a camera). Let me know what you would prefer. Also, I don't know the model number on my razor, but I'm pretty sure it's the same as yours, Dad. If not the same model number, I think it's close enough that it would fit.

Picture time. The first one is my new apartment. That's pretty much all there is to it. The senior couple lives above us, and a Fijian/Palauan couple live next door. Second, Elder Scofield (from Burbank) served here about 6 years ago, and I think was friends with Heidi. Just thought that was pretty cool. There's a member who has all the missionaries write on a piece of plywood that he has nailed over one of his windows - that's what the picture is of. Last is a picture of the tourist sign leading to a waterfall. I thought it was just a really nice, well-kept informational sign, and wanted you all to appreciate it with me.
Now lets talk about the work for a minute.

Back in December, there was a woman named Deejay that we baptized. After a while her family started getting in the way and requiring that she return to us all of her lesson manuals, Book of Mormon, videos, and anything else she had from the church. They forbade her from going to church, and in Palauan culture, if your family tells you to do something, you pretty much have to do it. We were pretty bold with her and read from the Bible about "he that loveth his father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me" (not an exact quote but I think it's close enough). She asked for a blessing, and then we tried to get some other members to handle the situation. I got transferred, and she moved, so we kind of just gave up on it all. Here's the good news! Apparently one of the newly reactivated members (who lives near where she used to live) woke up one day and felt like she may have moved back. He walked down to check and see, and lo and behold - there she was. He asked her to come back to church, she agreed, and he picked her up on Sunday. All of this happened without any of us knowing, so watching them come into church on Sunday was amazing. Everyone seemed excited to see her and welcomed her lovingly. So cool. I'm pretty sure Joel (the one who picked her up) gets instant exaltation for that single act right? Just kidding, but still - what a stud.

While I'm talking about church - we had 6 investigators there yesterday. We had a great week.

I'm not sure if I told you, but we have a girl scheduled to be baptized on August 7th. Her name is Risong (or Charity), and has been just a wonderful investigator. She has read and marked the Book of Mormon from 1 Nephi through Mosiah so far. We have been meeting with her dad and her brother too, but they aren't progressing quite as quickly as her.

I mentioned that there were some changes happening, but they weren't quite what we expected. They are as follows:

-Zone Conference is now every quarter rather than every transfer.
-President Dowdle will come every quarter to go on splits with us (alternating quarters or the same, I'm not sure)
-Zone Leader Council is every month (rather than every other transfer, or every transfer like it has been)
-District and Zone Leaders will go to Yap every other (I think) transfer for leadership training.
-The content of training (from leaders) is shifting to how to receive revelation through various mediums (church attendance, prayer, scripture study, etc).

Apparently they will start teaching all of this in the MTC in May, but they need the missions to be doing it right first, before they send missionaries into it.

I think that's all I have to report this week. Lots of exciting stuff is happening this week (we already have 19 appointments scheduled and the week hasn't even really started).

I love you all, I'll talk you next week.

Love,

Elder Barlow

12 July 2010

Family,

Good afternoon one and all. So my companion is still in Guam, but arrives tonight. Apparently there are some major changes happening to the way missionary work is done. We all have our conspiracy theories, about a new Preach My Gospel or electronic area books or something else crazy, but really we have no idea. All I do know is that all the District and Zone Leaders are being flown to Yap (I don't know what the significance of Yap is, but that's where they decided) for some leadership training in August. I'm really curious to learn what's going on.

We got a referral about a week and a half ago for this man and his wife, and so went to contact them, and we just couldn't seem to catch them at home. Finally we went and the husband and his daughter were home. We soon learned that they had met with missionaries about a year and a half ago (they still remembered the names of the missionaries, which was encouraging). They invited us back the next day to teach them. We came, taught them about the Restoration, and set up a time to come back. We decided to watch the old "First Vision" movie, since its the only one in Palauan, just to make sure they understood what we were teaching. As we were watching, I had the impression that I needed to ask them to be baptized, but this being only our second meeting with them, I wasn't sure. I started to think about dates and trying to find what the date would be for a Saturday about a month away, and then just kind of catalogued it as we continued with the lesson. We gave them the Book of Mormon challenge, which is a plan for them to finish the Palauan Book of Mormon in 84 days, and mark references to Christ. We were about to end the lesson, when I got that feeling again. At the surprise of my companion, I invited them both to be baptized. They looked at each other and the daughter answered, "ochoi" (yes). Her father said he wanted to keep meeting with us before he answered, and asked us to come the next night. They had read from the Book of Mormon together and marked it together. I was so impressed and ridiculously happy. We're supposed to meet again tonight, but at least Risong, the daughter, is scheduled to be baptized on the 7th of August.

We even had a less active family stay for the full 3 hours of church, at the request of the non-member father. This week was just great. I think things are really starting to pick up here, and if not, I at least feel like they are.

My mission president hasn't let me know about the email situation yet. So that's still pending. If you've written me, and you haven't received anything from me, just keep writing, hopefully they'll fix whatever the problem is.

Until next week.

Love,

Elder Barlow

5 July 2010

Family,

First of all, there seems to be an issue with the mail. I've had a couple people write me wondering if I'm getting their letters, and as far as I know, I am. I've responded to most, if not all of the letters I've received, but I don't think they're making it out of here alive. I don't really know how to take care of that, but I think I'm going to try and talk to the Post Office and tell them to get their act together. If that doesn't work, I may talk to the mission president and ask for permission to email non-family. On that note, will you let people know that they can email me? I can't email them back, but emails are faster and more reliable.

Anyway, a shooting? Doesn't the guy know that the punishment for suspected shoplifting is going to be infinitely more merciful than shooting 2 policemen? What a dumb guy. Guns are illegal here in Palau. I think police carry guns, but I'm not even sure.

Big news. We had another baptism this last week. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first investigator that we've had who we've taught completely in Palaun from start to finish. Teaching her has been such a good learning experience, especially for the language. After we teach a principle, if there is a better way to communicate that thought, she would explain it to us, which was awesome for 2 reasons. One, we learn, and two, she internalizes what we taught since she repeated it back to us. Palauan is pretty interesting. They don't have a lot of words to convey ideas that we as English-speakers are used to. For example, they don't have a word for "understand." Now here's the problem. As I'm teaching, the people I teach will not interrupt for any reason (usually), so it's hard to tell if they understand something. In English I would just say, "Do you understand?" or "Does that make sense?" Without a word for "understand", it has been pretty hard to convey that thought. I've had to say things like "Do you already know?" Which was fine, but isn't quite what I mean. Teaching Seba (the woman that was baptized) has really helped. She doesn't speak great English, but good enough to explain. In one lesson, I said, "Ke mlo medengei?" (you already know?), and she responded, "just say, 'ng bleketakl?'" (it's clear?). There are several golden words like that, that just make speaking so much easier. Pretty cool.

We had a pretty good week. My companion is going to Guam this next weekend, so I'll be with the other missionaries in my old stomping grounds. I'm pretty excited to see people, but it's also a little bit of a hassle to not be able to work in my own area.

I mentioned this in my last letter, but my camera lens has like some mold or something on the inside, and there's no way for me to get to it. I hate to ask, but would it be possible for me to get a new camera?

I forgot to tell you that we solved our bed bug problem! We got rid of all 4 mattresses from both apartments, then fumigated both of them with a bug bomb thing, and bought new mattresses. Finally that nightmare is over. But guess what. Now we have fleas.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Love,

Elder Barlow

28 June 2010

Family,

We had a pretty good week. The APs came this week for their usual tour. There are two things that I look forward to every time they happen. The first is Zone Conference, and the second is when the APs come. Being on a island with only 4 missionaries and a senior couple, you get pretty secluded, but when President and Sister Dowdle or the Assistants come, I finally get some contact with the outside. The Assistants come every other transfer, so they are always different (at least one of them), and I finally get to meet a new missionary. Plus, it's fun to tell stories to people who haven't already heard them all. One of them is Elder Worton, who spent most of his time in Yap, and the other is Elder Colemere, who was on Pohnpei. They both go home in October, I think (maybe November).

Anyway, we have a woman scheduled to be baptized on Saturday, and we're just trying to get through the last couple of things we have to teach her. She has some really great people fellowshipping her, so she should be great. She and her "husband" were married culturally, but had since separated apparently. After discussing the idea of getting legally married with him, she told us that they have different beliefs now (he belongs to the same church that she used to) and until he accepts that, they can't be together. We made it very clear that we didn't want to break up her family or anything, but she seemed pretty set on it. He's kind of an alcoholic, so I think the separation will be good for her. We're really trying to get her family to come to the baptism so they can support her too.

I have another story. So there's this white guy named John, who is the pastor for some other church here in Palau. I'm not sure of the denomination, but it's some Christian church. Everytime we teach someone in a certain village, he shows up the next day and tells the people to never meet with us again, or he'll ask when our next appointment is, and then come at that time. He's pretty ridiculous. I guess it's understandable since most of those people in that village are of his congregation, but it's still pretty interesting. We've had a few run-ins with him, and he's a huge nuisance. He drives a big blue pick up with eight, fourteen year-old girls in the back at any given time. What a character.

Picture time. So the first picture is of the youth, their parents, and leaders (and the missionaries), with President Del Valle of the mission presidency. He was in Palau for Branch Conference, and this was their youth fireside. The second picture is of me at the Ngardmau Waterfall. Speaking of pictures, my camera has somehow developed a black spot on the lens. I'm not sure exactly where it is, but it's not on the outside, and it's not on the display. It ruins the pictures though. Any suggestions?

Until next week.

Love,
Elder Barlow

Happy Father's Day!

(For some reason my last email got deleted, so I'll start over)

Family,

First, I'll do some shout outs to the fam. This one is for all the June birthdays, so Kristen, Clark, and Matt, happy birthday.

Moving on.

So this last week was Zone Conference. Being the companion of a Zone Leader is pretty weird. I still have to run all the errands for other missionaries and mission business, and I still have to help prepare for Zone Conference, but I don't get to do the fun stuff, like go to Guam every transfer for Zone Leader Council. Oh well, I'll get used to it.

There has been a pretty depressed feeling here in Palau for the last little while, since we haven't been having much success. At least it didn't feel like it. It was pretty apparent I guess, President Dowdle must have noticed the tone of our letters to him. Anyway, he addressed it both in his training and in each of our personal interviews. He said that we cannot base our happiness and feeling of success on how many lessons we teach or who we baptize. Rather, those things should come from whether or not we know that the work we are doing is acceptable to the Lord. It reminded me of the way that I felt for the first few months of my mission. I left each morning and came home each night knowing that God was happy with me. That's something I haven't noticed that I've been missing until President mentioned it. It's not because we're disobedient or lazy or anything, we (at least I) just haven't had the same attitude. After doing what I can to change it, things have just been so much better. I've been a lot happier, I'll tell you that much.

To top it off, we got fed fruit bat again. Gross. Elder Lyman (my companion) will never admit it, but he feels the same way. This stuff is not good. I won't say that actually - it's just not my favorite. Usually I would just eat the meat, and maybe some wing, but we have to follow the example of the host. This guy loves fruit bat. So he cut it open, tore off the wings,.and first thing, he popped a piece of fur (fur+skin) into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. Then he scraped the insides out with his fingers, and those went in right after. So then we went to work. We ate the meat, the wings, the insides, the fur - everything. All that we left was the bones, a little fur (we can only swallow so much hair), and the brain (we just couldn't figure out how to get to it). I even scraped the meat off the skull with my teeth. Once I popped that first piece of fur in my mouth, I gagged and almost threw up. We soon learned that if you followed it quickly with rice, then you can swallow it. Sick. Once all was said and done, we were pretty proud of ourselves. The only reason we were so determined was because the guy that made it for us isn't a member. He is Evangeline's (I think I mentioned her before) husband. He usually ignores us and acts like we aren't even there. I think we actually impressed him, which was our goal. We helped them move some tables a few days ago and he actually came out and offered his help and said thank you to us afterward. We're making progress! It was still gross.

We still have someone on the road to be baptized July 3rd, so we're pretty excited about that. All she needs to do is get her marriage recognized by the court, and then we're good to go. She was married to her husband via a cultural marriage, but without the papers from the court, the church doesn't recognize it as a legal marriage. Luckily, all she needs is a witness from each side of the family who was present at the marriage, and the cultural marriage is valid in court. At least I hope that's fortunate, I don't know how hard that will be to get.

We started another one of our investigators on the Book of Mormon challenge. We gave 2 months to read the entire book and mark references to Christ. He wants to be baptized, he's just not sure when. We're hoping this will kind of speed up the process, and that it won't actually take the whole 2 months for him to decide. He's having a lot of pressure from his family (mostly his mother) to not get baptized, so I think that's the only thing holding him back. However, he's pretty independent, and like 30 something years old, so I doubt it will stop him in the end. He's a really nice guy.

This week was pretty slow since we had Zone Conference, then Branch Conference (like stake conference, but we only have one branch - it just means a member of the mission presidency comes and trains the branch leaders, and then there's a 2-hour Sunday meeting, and a Youth fireside). I think that's all I have to report. I'm still getting accustomed to my new area - trying not to get lost.

I hope all is well.

Love,

Elder Barlow