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Family,

So we got a new email system this week. It's powered by Google, so obviously it's far ahead of what we were using before.

I couldn't forward all my mail to this new address, so if you could save any emails up to this point on your end, that would be great.

We learned that Chief Singeru's funeral will be this next Sunday...in the morning...during church. I was pretty frustrated because it means that there probably won't be anyone at church. To top it off, the reason they're doing it on Sunday is because one of the High Chiefs (there are 2 in Palau) is a Seventh-Day Adventist, and he demanded that the funeral not be held on his sabbath. We (the missionaries) were invited, but will probably only go to the burial.

We've been really struggling this week. I was lucky enough to have a companion from the islands before, so I never noticed how much they don't like white people. For example, one woman was sitting in front of the open doorway when we knocked and said "Alii." She looked up, then just looked back down without saying a word. Another woman heard us knock, started walking toward the door and then turned away when she saw us. I could go on and on, but I don't have the time. It's just really frustrating.

On the bright side, Elder Acton and I are currently the only missionaries for 500+ miles in any direction (-ish, I'm not sure how far we are from Yap). Elder Lyman and Elder Stanley went to Guam for a few days for a Zone Leader council. We can pretty much do whatever we want, and no one will ever know about it. They asked us to teach one of their investigators tonight though. He lives in Ngaraard, which is about 45 minutes away. On the way (it will still be P-Day), we'll be stopping in Ngardmau and taking some great pictures of the waterfall there.

I got the letters from Jackson, Lincoln, and Kenedee (really Heidi and Kandis) yesterday, one from Catrina Payne last week, and a package from the Austins before that. Just returning and reporting so people know I'm actually getting what they're sending.

I told you a couple of weeks ago about the terrorists from western China living near us. I guess they're called Uighurs. Sometimes we see one of them at the track when we exercise in the morning (I quit running - I hate it. Instead I do push ups and sit ups and stuff - slightly more bearable). Every time, I make a point to say good morning. Recently he started saying it back to me. My goal is to have a conversation and then eventually teach him the gospel and baptize him. We don't think they were ever actually convicted of anything, so they should be able to pass the interview.

It's time for me to wrap up, I spent way too much time setting up the new email. Thanks for everything - I'll have pictures for you next week.

Love,

Elder Barlow