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