Transfer

Family,

First of all, the transfer call came last night, as expected. Here are the results:

-I will stay in the area I'm in (Meyuns)

-Elder Stanley will be moving to Topside to be a Zone Leader (still in Palau)

-Elder Acton, who was a Zone Leader, will be coming to Meyuns to be my companion, and the District Leader.

-Elder Lyman will remain a Zone Leader in Topside, with Elder Stanley as his new companion.

I'm very excited because this means I won't have to drive anymore. Elder Acton is the designated driver, since he'll be the senior companion and has a license. He and I also get along really well already, which is good. However, he only has 3 transfers left on his mission. I'm hoping he sprints through the finish line, rather than slowing down before.

As it turns out, I was the only one who didn't know about transfers beforehand. President Dowdle was here for Zone Conference, and told Elder Stanley and Elder Lyman because he called them to be Zone Leaders. The same thing happened for Elder Acton when he was called as the District leader. I guess that's what happens when you have a zone of 4 missionaries.

Moving on.

You may recall me telling you that I thought I had bed bugs, but in reality they were just mosquito bites I hadn't noticed. Well, now I have bed bugs. The bites that I'm getting are extremely itchy, and one in particular is starting to turn purple and yellow. Normally I would be alarmed, but it's not spreading, and I've never heard of anyone dying from a bed bug bite - so I think I'm good. We're going to see what we can do about getting our mattresses replaced - Elder Lyman and Elder Stanley (who's Chuukese and should be immune) have them too.

I just remembered that today is Tuesday and the Elder's Quorum President is making shark for us...I'm not looking forward to it. He even said it tastes bad, but he caught it, so they're eating it.

The story about Kim would have been much cooler if these animals weren't in cages (I'm assuming they were). It would remind me of Jumanji - but still pretty cool I guess.

I got the calendar from Hannah, then showed the other missionaries. They were very impressed, but pretty concerned at how close a few of the couples were (for example, the picture for July).

About the earthquake, the only news I get is what you tell me. It seems like a really bad situation. There's not really any way I can relate, but I think about the little kids that I know here, and I try to think what would happen to them if they lost their parents. I can't even imagine how terrible that would be, and is for the children in Haiti.

All of this talk about disaster and death is kind of ironic, and hopefully not prophetic - we were just given a "72 hour kit" and a new emergency evacuation plan this morning.

On a lighter note, President Dowdle just informed us that we will be getting chapter 3 of "Preach My Gospel" (all of the doctrines for the lessons) in Palaun. I'm pretty excited about it, because I'm really struggling with this language. President Dowdle said its one of the hardest languages in the world. I wouldn't go that far, but it just gives you an idea of what I'm up against. Most of the words are 8 letters are more, and often combined when speaking. It's nuts. Anyway, I'm trying.

I got the Betel Nut pictures, so thank you. However, they aren't very shocking. That's what everyone looks like. I'm talking about pictures of people who had to have surgery because of cancer or something. If it's a picture that you can barely look at because you're going to throw up, then it's perfect (on 4x6 photo paper would be ideal, if not that's ok).

I just decided I might call the mission nurse about my bite. It looks pretty gross.

Sorry, no pictures again this week. I'm sure there are some on the Micronesia-Guam Mission Blog, but I wouldn't know.

I love you all, and thanks for everything.

Love,

Elder Barlow