Family,
Happy birthday to everyone in March! (McKay, Adam, Jacob)
I realized that every time I've been hitting reply, it's just repeated the subject line that you had. I didn't like that, but I also couldn't think of anything good this time. Hence the date.
This past weekend (Saturday) we had a branch missionary activity. All the members were supposed to bring a friend and we'd have cookies and watch a movie and stuff. Even though it was a missionary activity, we weren't supposed to do anything with the activity except schedule appointments with people afterward. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The branch president delegated everything to us mostly. We had to plan the activity, make assignments to anyone we wanted to participate, bake the cookies, decorate posters, and coach anyone that had a part in the program as to what they were supposed to do. It's so frustrating that I'm called here to be a missionary, but instead we're laden with all these other tasks that should fall to the branch members. Not to mention the 12 families we are supposed to home teach. All of our work didn't even pay off, because the members didn't bring their friends (with a few good exceptions of course), if they even came themselves. It just seems like the members feel like they don't need to do anything because they assume we (the missionaries) will take care of it - which we usually do because no one else will.
Moving on, bek el sils ak milsuub el kmo ak medengei el tia el tekoi ungil er a kulemdasu (every day I realize that I know this language better than I thought). I'm to the point now that I can pretty much say anything I need to (it takes me some time to form sentences though because I still have to translate from English to Palauan in my head). While sitting in church on Sunday, a woman named Evangeline (she teaches Palauan and English at the college here), who refuses to speak English in church and speaks Palauan super fast, made a comment - and I understood. I was amazed. I leaned over to my companion and whispered, "Elder Shular. I understand!" It really was such a great feeling. I have a long way to go still, but that was an encouraging moment - especially because Palauan is supposedly the 5th most difficult language to learn in the world.
I also realized that I've already been a missionary for 5 months. That's almost 1/4th of my mission. It's weird because I'm still the youngest one in the mission, so I feel like I've only been here for a month or something like that - not so. We're SUPPOSED to be getting 2 Marshallese missionaries this next transfer though. It should make things interesting.
I've been trying to get a Palauan Bible, but supposedly the only place you can get them is at the Catholic Church. We went this morning to get one anyway, but we couldn't find anyone to talk to. It was pretty awkward - especially in proselyting clothes.
The dry season should be over pretty soon (sometime in April) - and I'm counting down the days. It's been just ridiculous these last few weeks. I think everyday I walk outside and say, "oh, it's hot today." That goes for rainy days too.
We have a member teaching us a traditional Palauan war dance at 4, so I've got to get going to we can finish everything before that.
Love,
Elder Barlow
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Spring is here
Family,
It's good to hear that the weather is beautiful there. I don't think I've ever been so hot as I was yesterday. I don't know the temperature, but even if I did, the number alone could not adequately describe how I felt. Imagine taking like 30 of those misters (the ones that they have at theme parks when its hot) and filling them all with boiling hot water, and walking through it all during the summer in Arizona. That's how I felt yesterday.
Elder Shular is great. Like I said, he came from Ramanum in Chuuk. He has a bunch of crazy stories from an island of only 600 people. He speaks great Chuukese (I can say that because Elder Stanley told me so), and he's super funny. He's really pushing me to learn the language, and I never realized how much I actually know. Even though I may not catch all of the words that are said in a conversation, I can usually get the basic idea of what they said, and then respond again. I'm still having trouble understanding what speakers say in church though.
Speaking of church, President Dowdle came to Palau this weekend to train the members here. He wants to open another branch, but more people need to start coming to church. The point of his training was to get the members more involved with helping less active members get back to church. It was really really good, and I can't wait to see what happens. Part of the meeting was discussing reasons why people stop coming, and someone mentioned that it was because the bulk of the services were done in English: the hymns, talks, lessons, prayers, everything. President Dowdle totally rebuked them all for it. It was great. And then he chastised them for not helping us learn. One of the problems we've been having with learning the language is that when we speak to people, especially members, they just respond in English. President told them to quit doing that - it's not helping anyone. I'm hoping we see some major changes soon.
I've been waiting for someone to ask about my favorite scripture. Here it is:
Alma 26:12-13,16
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?
[...]
16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.
I'm surprised Grandma declined the wheelchair in the first place. I would LOVE to have a wheelchair at Disneyland, and that's for more reasons than one. My legs wouldn't get tired, and you get to go to the front of all the lines, and everyone gets out of your way. There is no downside.
My companion and I have been given the assignment to shift our focus to working with less actives (President really wants another branch), so we're going to have to decide how exactly we're going to do that. It's hard working with people who already know it's true and still don't come to church, still chew, and who knows what else. It should be exciting though.
I got the package from Adam and Kandis (a little early for Easter, but much appreciated nonetheless). I love getting food from the outside.
Thanks for everything, and I'll be sure to do some really exciting things this week.
Love,
Elder Barlow
It's good to hear that the weather is beautiful there. I don't think I've ever been so hot as I was yesterday. I don't know the temperature, but even if I did, the number alone could not adequately describe how I felt. Imagine taking like 30 of those misters (the ones that they have at theme parks when its hot) and filling them all with boiling hot water, and walking through it all during the summer in Arizona. That's how I felt yesterday.
Elder Shular is great. Like I said, he came from Ramanum in Chuuk. He has a bunch of crazy stories from an island of only 600 people. He speaks great Chuukese (I can say that because Elder Stanley told me so), and he's super funny. He's really pushing me to learn the language, and I never realized how much I actually know. Even though I may not catch all of the words that are said in a conversation, I can usually get the basic idea of what they said, and then respond again. I'm still having trouble understanding what speakers say in church though.
Speaking of church, President Dowdle came to Palau this weekend to train the members here. He wants to open another branch, but more people need to start coming to church. The point of his training was to get the members more involved with helping less active members get back to church. It was really really good, and I can't wait to see what happens. Part of the meeting was discussing reasons why people stop coming, and someone mentioned that it was because the bulk of the services were done in English: the hymns, talks, lessons, prayers, everything. President Dowdle totally rebuked them all for it. It was great. And then he chastised them for not helping us learn. One of the problems we've been having with learning the language is that when we speak to people, especially members, they just respond in English. President told them to quit doing that - it's not helping anyone. I'm hoping we see some major changes soon.
I've been waiting for someone to ask about my favorite scripture. Here it is:
Alma 26:12-13,16
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?
[...]
16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.
I'm surprised Grandma declined the wheelchair in the first place. I would LOVE to have a wheelchair at Disneyland, and that's for more reasons than one. My legs wouldn't get tired, and you get to go to the front of all the lines, and everyone gets out of your way. There is no downside.
My companion and I have been given the assignment to shift our focus to working with less actives (President really wants another branch), so we're going to have to decide how exactly we're going to do that. It's hard working with people who already know it's true and still don't come to church, still chew, and who knows what else. It should be exciting though.
I got the package from Adam and Kandis (a little early for Easter, but much appreciated nonetheless). I love getting food from the outside.
Thanks for everything, and I'll be sure to do some really exciting things this week.
Love,
Elder Barlow
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Transfer 4
Family,
This week begins my fourth transfer in Palau. Here are the results of last night's transfer call:
- I will stay in Meyuns.
- My companion is being transferred to Guam to die.
- A certain Elder Shular is coming from an island called Ramanum in Chuuk to be my companion.
- The Zone Leaders will stay the same.
I'm pretty excited to meet Elder Shular for several reasons. First of all, he started his mission in the area I'm in now. Second, he's been on Ramanum. Ramanum doesn't have electricity. The missionary "house" has solar panels which provide enough power for a small fan and a miniature refrigerator. I'm sure he has some great stories. Third, my entire mission thus far has been spent with the same 3 other missionaries. It's going to be pretty different. I have to be at the airport tomorrow night until like one in the morning and then spend the next day with the Zone Leaders until my new companion arrives Thursday night.
Yesterday for FHE, the Hansen's invited us over for dinner. We had burritos (she made the tortillas from scratch), lemonade, and for dessert she made apple pie a la mode. Having been the "selective" eater that I once was, I had never had apple pie. Let's just say this may be the beginning of a very dear friendship between the Hansen's and I.
Next on the menu is the long-awaited shark. We had planned to eat shark for a couple of weeks now, but for one reason or another, things just didn't work out. Finally, we all went to this member's house for brunch and ate. It was a little mushy, but it's really pretty good if you have rice.
Today we decided to start our P-Day by going to Ngardmau in Babeldaob. Our Branch President is the delegate from Ngardmau state and recommended it, so we went. The hike in was pretty intense, but they carved stairs into a lot of the hills to make it a little easier. It was a really beautiful hike.There was a part where the river runs down this rocky slope and has created very deep holes in the rock. People (not us) were swimming and stuff, it looked really cool. At one point (the pictures are in backwards order) you have to cross the river (which explains why we're all knee deep in water), so our shoes got soaked. Elder Stanley said last time he came, the water was up to his waist - I guess we missed out this time. Finally we got to the waterfall, took some pictures, and then wanted to take a group picture before we hiked out again. If you were wondering who the Japanese guy is in our picture, so were we. He just jumped in. It made our picture all the better.
We've known that a sister was coming for a while now. She keeps getting delayed though. It's been months. On the bright side though, I've been told that there will be 12 missionaries coming soon - spread out over 4 or 5 months I think. 2 of them are from the Marshalls and 4 are Americans. I don't know anything about the rest. Looks like there's hope yet.
The branch decided to have a missionary activity, so we're making plans for that. Every member that comes is supposed to bring at least one friend who is not a member. We're going to have food and an activity then watch the Restoration DVD. There's a lot of planning to do still, but we're hoping it will be effective.
We finally got some rain this week (I've been told that January-April is the dry season). It rained super hard all day Saturday all through Sunday afternoon. It was great.
I'm still doing what I can here, always looking for ways I can improve. Thanks for all the help and advice, I'm loving it.
Love,
Elder Barlow
This week begins my fourth transfer in Palau. Here are the results of last night's transfer call:
- I will stay in Meyuns.
- My companion is being transferred to Guam to die.
- A certain Elder Shular is coming from an island called Ramanum in Chuuk to be my companion.
- The Zone Leaders will stay the same.
I'm pretty excited to meet Elder Shular for several reasons. First of all, he started his mission in the area I'm in now. Second, he's been on Ramanum. Ramanum doesn't have electricity. The missionary "house" has solar panels which provide enough power for a small fan and a miniature refrigerator. I'm sure he has some great stories. Third, my entire mission thus far has been spent with the same 3 other missionaries. It's going to be pretty different. I have to be at the airport tomorrow night until like one in the morning and then spend the next day with the Zone Leaders until my new companion arrives Thursday night.
Yesterday for FHE, the Hansen's invited us over for dinner. We had burritos (she made the tortillas from scratch), lemonade, and for dessert she made apple pie a la mode. Having been the "selective" eater that I once was, I had never had apple pie. Let's just say this may be the beginning of a very dear friendship between the Hansen's and I.
Next on the menu is the long-awaited shark. We had planned to eat shark for a couple of weeks now, but for one reason or another, things just didn't work out. Finally, we all went to this member's house for brunch and ate. It was a little mushy, but it's really pretty good if you have rice.
Today we decided to start our P-Day by going to Ngardmau in Babeldaob. Our Branch President is the delegate from Ngardmau state and recommended it, so we went. The hike in was pretty intense, but they carved stairs into a lot of the hills to make it a little easier. It was a really beautiful hike.There was a part where the river runs down this rocky slope and has created very deep holes in the rock. People (not us) were swimming and stuff, it looked really cool. At one point (the pictures are in backwards order) you have to cross the river (which explains why we're all knee deep in water), so our shoes got soaked. Elder Stanley said last time he came, the water was up to his waist - I guess we missed out this time. Finally we got to the waterfall, took some pictures, and then wanted to take a group picture before we hiked out again. If you were wondering who the Japanese guy is in our picture, so were we. He just jumped in. It made our picture all the better.
We've known that a sister was coming for a while now. She keeps getting delayed though. It's been months. On the bright side though, I've been told that there will be 12 missionaries coming soon - spread out over 4 or 5 months I think. 2 of them are from the Marshalls and 4 are Americans. I don't know anything about the rest. Looks like there's hope yet.
The branch decided to have a missionary activity, so we're making plans for that. Every member that comes is supposed to bring at least one friend who is not a member. We're going to have food and an activity then watch the Restoration DVD. There's a lot of planning to do still, but we're hoping it will be effective.
We finally got some rain this week (I've been told that January-April is the dry season). It rained super hard all day Saturday all through Sunday afternoon. It was great.
I'm still doing what I can here, always looking for ways I can improve. Thanks for all the help and advice, I'm loving it.
Love,
Elder Barlow
Monday, March 15, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Go Hannah, Go Mormon
Family,
These last two days have been crazy. On Sunday we had all kinds of meetings and stuff, plus church, and then we had to go pick up our new senior missionary couple - the Hansens from Moses Lake, Washington (who, by the way, know some Barlows in their ward. I'm sure we're related somehow, but I have no idea.). He's a retired school teacher/basketball coach and they're super nice. The other missionaries were booked with appointments all day yesterday, so Elder Acton and I played Zone Leader and showed the Hansen's several apartments and got them set up with a cell phone. They ended up moving into a very nice apartment right above the other missionaries. It's going to be weird having them here, but I'm very excited.
I've been meaning to tell you about this for a few weeks, but I keep forgetting. At the moment, we have about 58 missionaries in our mission. In June, there is a group of 19 missionaries going home together. By the fall, there will be about 12 other missionaries going home. There are no plans to send any new missionaries here (Elder Matthews and I were the last ones to come). Meanwhile, they are opening missions in places like Farmington, New Mexico. The mission president wrote a letter to whoever is in charge of the Missionary Department, and he said he was very "bold" with them. I like to imagine it was along the same lines as Mormon to Pahoran:
"And now behold, we desire to know the cause of this exceedingly great neglect; yea, we desire to know the cause of your thoughtless state.
"Can you think to sit upon your thrones in a state of thoughtless stupor, while your enemies are spreading the work of death around you? Yea, while they are murdering thousands of your brethren[...]
"But behold, this is not all - ye have withheld your provisions from them, insomuch that many have fought and bled out their lives because of their great desires which they had for the welfare of this people[...]"
I imagine it went something like that.
I don't know how well the mission will do with 27 missionaries.
On a lighter note, Elder Acton and I have been working really hard to start focusing on the members here. We came up with a 3 step system. They are as follows:
1) Write down the names of 20 people you know. They can be friends, classmates, co-workers, family, etc. Don't worry about whether they are interested in the church or not. All you are doing is writing down who you know.
2) Review your list of 20 people. Kneel down and pray. Ask God who on the list is ready to learn the Gospel. Listen to the Spirit, and circle the names of those who are ready.
3) Pick a time and day when you will either accompany the missionaries to meet each person, or invite the person to be taught in your home.
The end. We made it pretty exciting though. We have each step in a separate envelope with the person's name on the outside. Each step has various quotes and scriptures which make them much more effective I think. We haven't given anyone step three yet, but on the paper, there is a place for them to write the date and sign it - like a contract. So far people have been pretty excited about it. They don't get to see the next step until the one before it is completed. We're hoping it helps.
Yesterday was Elder Acton's birthday, so we made a cheesecake (I got the package from you, but his parents sent him cheesecake too - we used his). For lunch we also made an absolutely delicious BBQ chicken pizza. The Austins sent me a package a couple of weeks ago with some pizza dough mix in it, so we used that, bbq sauce, monterey jack cheese, and we grilled some chicken. I took a picture, but left my camera in the apartment, so it may have to wait. I was really impressed with what we accomplished.
Slightly less delicious was my first real fish experience. I've had two now. One of the investigators we taught told us that he would make us lunch for our next appointment. We got there and he had fried some fish and made rice. At home, every time I've seen fish (at least cooked) it's just been the meat. Here they leave everything - bones head, eyes, fins and all. So we went to work. If you've seen Lord of the Rings, there's a scene where Golem grabs a fish out of the water, slaps it against the rock a few times and then bites into it. It was kind of like that, except he cooked the fish. This being my first time, I had to be careful not to swallow any of the bones. It was no BBQ chicken pizza, but it wasn't bad at all. We did it again at our apartment with a fish that a member gave us on Friday for Elder Lyman's birthday. Not as good as the first time.
As far as I know, Palau has volunteered to take the remaining Uighurrs from Guantanamo. It should make it easier for me to find at least one to teach.
I got some pictures of Betel Nut effects from another missionary that had some, thanks for the help though.
Thanks for everything, I love you all.
Love,
Elder Barlow
[I didn't mention that the title of Taylor's email, "Go Hannah, Go Mormon" came from Mom's email to him. At the track meet that Hannah was in last week her friends cheered her on as she was running the hurdles. Many of them cheered, "Go Hannah!" But also many of them cheered, "Go Mormon!" So it is apparent that she does not hide her light under a bushel.]
These last two days have been crazy. On Sunday we had all kinds of meetings and stuff, plus church, and then we had to go pick up our new senior missionary couple - the Hansens from Moses Lake, Washington (who, by the way, know some Barlows in their ward. I'm sure we're related somehow, but I have no idea.). He's a retired school teacher/basketball coach and they're super nice. The other missionaries were booked with appointments all day yesterday, so Elder Acton and I played Zone Leader and showed the Hansen's several apartments and got them set up with a cell phone. They ended up moving into a very nice apartment right above the other missionaries. It's going to be weird having them here, but I'm very excited.
I've been meaning to tell you about this for a few weeks, but I keep forgetting. At the moment, we have about 58 missionaries in our mission. In June, there is a group of 19 missionaries going home together. By the fall, there will be about 12 other missionaries going home. There are no plans to send any new missionaries here (Elder Matthews and I were the last ones to come). Meanwhile, they are opening missions in places like Farmington, New Mexico. The mission president wrote a letter to whoever is in charge of the Missionary Department, and he said he was very "bold" with them. I like to imagine it was along the same lines as Mormon to Pahoran:
"And now behold, we desire to know the cause of this exceedingly great neglect; yea, we desire to know the cause of your thoughtless state.
"Can you think to sit upon your thrones in a state of thoughtless stupor, while your enemies are spreading the work of death around you? Yea, while they are murdering thousands of your brethren[...]
"But behold, this is not all - ye have withheld your provisions from them, insomuch that many have fought and bled out their lives because of their great desires which they had for the welfare of this people[...]"
I imagine it went something like that.
I don't know how well the mission will do with 27 missionaries.
On a lighter note, Elder Acton and I have been working really hard to start focusing on the members here. We came up with a 3 step system. They are as follows:
1) Write down the names of 20 people you know. They can be friends, classmates, co-workers, family, etc. Don't worry about whether they are interested in the church or not. All you are doing is writing down who you know.
2) Review your list of 20 people. Kneel down and pray. Ask God who on the list is ready to learn the Gospel. Listen to the Spirit, and circle the names of those who are ready.
3) Pick a time and day when you will either accompany the missionaries to meet each person, or invite the person to be taught in your home.
The end. We made it pretty exciting though. We have each step in a separate envelope with the person's name on the outside. Each step has various quotes and scriptures which make them much more effective I think. We haven't given anyone step three yet, but on the paper, there is a place for them to write the date and sign it - like a contract. So far people have been pretty excited about it. They don't get to see the next step until the one before it is completed. We're hoping it helps.
Yesterday was Elder Acton's birthday, so we made a cheesecake (I got the package from you, but his parents sent him cheesecake too - we used his). For lunch we also made an absolutely delicious BBQ chicken pizza. The Austins sent me a package a couple of weeks ago with some pizza dough mix in it, so we used that, bbq sauce, monterey jack cheese, and we grilled some chicken. I took a picture, but left my camera in the apartment, so it may have to wait. I was really impressed with what we accomplished.
Slightly less delicious was my first real fish experience. I've had two now. One of the investigators we taught told us that he would make us lunch for our next appointment. We got there and he had fried some fish and made rice. At home, every time I've seen fish (at least cooked) it's just been the meat. Here they leave everything - bones head, eyes, fins and all. So we went to work. If you've seen Lord of the Rings, there's a scene where Golem grabs a fish out of the water, slaps it against the rock a few times and then bites into it. It was kind of like that, except he cooked the fish. This being my first time, I had to be careful not to swallow any of the bones. It was no BBQ chicken pizza, but it wasn't bad at all. We did it again at our apartment with a fish that a member gave us on Friday for Elder Lyman's birthday. Not as good as the first time.
As far as I know, Palau has volunteered to take the remaining Uighurrs from Guantanamo. It should make it easier for me to find at least one to teach.
I got some pictures of Betel Nut effects from another missionary that had some, thanks for the help though.
Thanks for everything, I love you all.
Love,
Elder Barlow
[I didn't mention that the title of Taylor's email, "Go Hannah, Go Mormon" came from Mom's email to him. At the track meet that Hannah was in last week her friends cheered her on as she was running the hurdles. Many of them cheered, "Go Hannah!" But also many of them cheered, "Go Mormon!" So it is apparent that she does not hide her light under a bushel.]
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Ngeasek Redil
Family,
To give you an idea about how "in-the-loop" the Palau missionaries are, we didn't know there was a tsunami, let alone an earthquake, until President Dowdle called the Zone Leaders, asking if we were okay. He then proceeded to tell them about the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. It made me wonder what would have happened if the tsunami actually hit - we would have had no idea. Unless President Dowdle knew there wasn't a problem and was simply calling because he had to - who knows.
Second order of business on my agenda has to do with the language. We were teaching a less active member and her three daughters, and we brought another less active member (male), so that we could teach them. Anyway, after the lesson I asked who the young girl was at church (there was a little 3 year old girl that I didn't recognize sitting with them last week). To say "young girl" I used "ngeasek redil" (ngeh-ah-suhkuh reh-theel), which should make perfect sense because according to the dictionary, "ngeasek" means "young" and "redil" means "female". Well, as soon as I said it, Joel (the one we brought with us) said "ochelek!" (oh-eh-lek) - which means "my brother" but is the English equivalent of something like "oh man!" The family then proceeded to laugh, of course, because what I actually said meant "sexy lady" and I was using it to describe a toddler. Pretty awkward, but funny nonetheless.
After church this week, we went to the cemetery for Singeru's burial. The actual funeral was during church so we couldn't go to that, but we were there for the burial. The family asked Elder Stanley to dedicate the grave, and I could tell he was really nervous. He had never done that before and didn't want to mess it up. Despite him reading words out of the white handbook during his prayer, it was a very spiritual experience. The family asked us to join them in their family picture, which was pretty cool, but kind of awkward. Funerals here are kind of like family reunions. They all have shirts with the family's name and some other things on the back. There's tons of food, and lots of people. Since Palau is so small, most of those people are extended family - hence the family reunion.
Our companionships are back to normal now that Elder Stanley is back from Guam. As a Zone/District we decided to make a bigger push toward learning the language. We started doing words of the day, and requiring that every lesson include a few things: at least one prayer, one testimony, and one principle taught in Palauan. It's been hard, but we're getting there.
Uighur update this week: We saw one of them, Safar, driving the same car that we drive. We think he is taking driving lessons - but I can't say that for sure.
The past couple of weeks have been pretty dry. It has only rained a couple of times, and even then it has just been for a minute or two. As a result, it's been blistering hot. I will say that it has motivated us more to get in the door and teach people - just to get out of the sun.
Sunday as we were getting ready for church, we heard what sounded like a pig squealing, but where we were, it was unreasonable for there to be a pig nearby. We wrote it off to be someone drilling something. As we walked outside to the car, we looked over the banister to see what was making the noise, and sure enough, there was a pig. Some Filipino men below us had tied it up and started shaving it so they could kill it and make their fritata. It was so loud.
I have now finished my second Book of Mormon challenge, and I'm almost done with Genesis in the Bible.
I think that's my week. Sorry, no pictures again - we didn't really go anywhere for P-day last week.
Thanks for the support and all the love.
Love,
Elder Barlow
To give you an idea about how "in-the-loop" the Palau missionaries are, we didn't know there was a tsunami, let alone an earthquake, until President Dowdle called the Zone Leaders, asking if we were okay. He then proceeded to tell them about the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. It made me wonder what would have happened if the tsunami actually hit - we would have had no idea. Unless President Dowdle knew there wasn't a problem and was simply calling because he had to - who knows.
Second order of business on my agenda has to do with the language. We were teaching a less active member and her three daughters, and we brought another less active member (male), so that we could teach them. Anyway, after the lesson I asked who the young girl was at church (there was a little 3 year old girl that I didn't recognize sitting with them last week). To say "young girl" I used "ngeasek redil" (ngeh-ah-suhkuh reh-theel), which should make perfect sense because according to the dictionary, "ngeasek" means "young" and "redil" means "female". Well, as soon as I said it, Joel (the one we brought with us) said "ochelek!" (oh-eh-lek) - which means "my brother" but is the English equivalent of something like "oh man!" The family then proceeded to laugh, of course, because what I actually said meant "sexy lady" and I was using it to describe a toddler. Pretty awkward, but funny nonetheless.
After church this week, we went to the cemetery for Singeru's burial. The actual funeral was during church so we couldn't go to that, but we were there for the burial. The family asked Elder Stanley to dedicate the grave, and I could tell he was really nervous. He had never done that before and didn't want to mess it up. Despite him reading words out of the white handbook during his prayer, it was a very spiritual experience. The family asked us to join them in their family picture, which was pretty cool, but kind of awkward. Funerals here are kind of like family reunions. They all have shirts with the family's name and some other things on the back. There's tons of food, and lots of people. Since Palau is so small, most of those people are extended family - hence the family reunion.
Our companionships are back to normal now that Elder Stanley is back from Guam. As a Zone/District we decided to make a bigger push toward learning the language. We started doing words of the day, and requiring that every lesson include a few things: at least one prayer, one testimony, and one principle taught in Palauan. It's been hard, but we're getting there.
Uighur update this week: We saw one of them, Safar, driving the same car that we drive. We think he is taking driving lessons - but I can't say that for sure.
The past couple of weeks have been pretty dry. It has only rained a couple of times, and even then it has just been for a minute or two. As a result, it's been blistering hot. I will say that it has motivated us more to get in the door and teach people - just to get out of the sun.
Sunday as we were getting ready for church, we heard what sounded like a pig squealing, but where we were, it was unreasonable for there to be a pig nearby. We wrote it off to be someone drilling something. As we walked outside to the car, we looked over the banister to see what was making the noise, and sure enough, there was a pig. Some Filipino men below us had tied it up and started shaving it so they could kill it and make their fritata. It was so loud.
I have now finished my second Book of Mormon challenge, and I'm almost done with Genesis in the Bible.
I think that's my week. Sorry, no pictures again - we didn't really go anywhere for P-day last week.
Thanks for the support and all the love.
Love,
Elder Barlow
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