4/6/2010

Family,

First of all, we don't get conference here for another 2 weeks - so I don't know any of the talks or stories that you're talking about. Sorry.

7.2 is a pretty big earthquake. Any damage in Burbank? Probably not huh?

It seems like our success here has been going consistently downward. When I first arrived, things were going amazing. We would teach like 30+ lessons each week and baptized two people. Now we're struggling at like 12 lessons a week (to our credit, we've been teaching members a lot, and they don't count) and we just cannot seem to find new people. I don't know what we're doing wrong, or different that's causing it.

On the bright side, we do seem to have a lot of success with 15 year old girls. We baptized one, another is scheduled to be baptized on April 24th, we're currently teaching one who will likely end up in the water, and the zone leaders have one progressing too.

The girl who is getting baptized this month made things very easy for us. The second time we met her, she agreed to be baptized. She said she prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and "the biggest smile" just came on her face and she couldn't stop. She said that if she was going to be baptized, she would want her parents to be too, and asked if that was okay. We told her that it was definitely okay, but it would be up to them. We haven't been able to talk to them, but they seem to be helping her behind the scenes. She came to church this Sunday, and as she was about to walk out of the house in jeans, her dad said, "you're going to go to church in jeans? you should dress up for something like that." She still came in jeans. It was at least good to know that her parents aren't opposed to the idea.

Another cool thing about this girl, whose name is Marsha by the way, is that we found out that a member we have been meeting with wrote down Marsha's name and circled it and asked us to start teaching her. It was pretty cool to be able to say "oh, yeah we're already teaching her and she's actually going to be baptized." Marsha's friend was so excited. That's one success tally on our member missionary program. Cool.

Easter Sunday was probably our best Sunday yet. We counted over 80 people at church, when we usually have about 50. I like to tell myself that it's not just because it was Easter, but the beginning of something great...but probably just because it was Easter.

The Assistants to the President come tonight, and we'll probably have to go pick them up from the airport because the Zone Leaders' truck broke down. "The crank shaft fell out of the rear differential" (which means nothing to me), so it will be in the shop for a month and a half or so while they wait for the parts to get shipped here by boat. They will be doing a lot of walking.

The first picture is of a less active woman and her family. She LOVES the missionaries, and cries every time someone gets transferred. This picture was taken the night Elder Acton left for Guam. I had to send you this picture so you could see her face.
The second one is of a roasted pig that we ate at a member's house. It was their 31st wedding anniversary or something. It was so good. Speaking of food, yesterday we had sea turtle curry. It was so amazingly delicious.
Until next week.

Love,

Elder Barlow