16 May 2011

Family,

This has been one of the most stressful weeks of my mission, and this week is looking to come in a close second. We've had to keep track of a million flights and make sure that everyone that flies in has a place to stay. We wanted to make it so the only people housing missionaries were people that were already coming to the meetings, so that others didn't have to use time and gas making that trip. So we had to be very careful to make sure that there was also enough seats in the cars to fit everyone that was staying with them. I haven't had a full sleep all week. Not to mention preparing everything that we have to do in the meetings. To top it all off, there aren't any office elders anymore, so their responsibilities are supposed to be handled by the senior couple in the office, but the missionaries must be scared to ask them for things, because they've been just asking us. I haven't taught a lesson in over a week. With all that said, these meetings are one of my favorite times. It's not very often that we get to see the missionaries from the other islands, especially those who aren't zone leaders. So we've been having a blast.

We just found out this week as well that we'll be going to visit Palau, Chuuk, and Yap, so I'm pretty excited about that. I'll get to see my trainer again (he's Chuukese), and get to go back to Palau and Yap and work with the missionaries there. I'll be sure and take lots of pictures so you guys can see.

We had our first day of leadership training today, so I only have a few minutes. I think this will be the last 4-day training like we've been having. It's been a year since we started it, and it will be interesting how the schedule changes with President Mecham.

That's pretty exciting news for Jacob and Melanie, and I'm glad that I'll be home for it.

Love,

Elder Barlow