Family,
What a crazy week. Mostly just a crazy weekend actually. There was a less-active Chuukese member that came over from Utah to get married here in Guam (probably so all the family could come). His now-wife isn't a member, but he is, so they were married in our chapel. President Dowdle was asked to perform the wedding (the groom's father is a branch president in Chuuk), and we were invited to attend. So we did, and arrived early, only to realize that the only person that we knew was the groom's father. So we kind of hung out in the car and then in the office waiting for more people to arrive. They all did soon enough, so we went inside the church, only to see that the baptism font had overflowed and there was a pool of water covering the carpet outside of the chapel. It was pretty bad. So we grabbed some mops, and did what little we could until our FM (facilities management) guy came with a wet-dry vacuum made it look as good as new. Luckily it wasn't any of the missionaries' fault. The Ward Mission Leader filled up the font and left (it's supposed to have a automatic drainage system if it gets too full - it turns out it didn't work), and overflowed the bathrooms and the carpet. So we got all that taken care of then went into the wedding. It was pretty entertaining. Chuukese music is pretty tacky, and they had it playing as the wedding party stepped in beat from the back to the front, and then again on the way back after the ceremony. The groom looked like a rapper in his white tux and long braids. It was pretty gangster over all. Right after that, we had another wedding of the sisters' investigator. It was very small and private - only about 20 minutes. AND THEN right after that we had a baptism for that woman and then also another investigator. We had a short break to go and finish a video that we were making for the Dowdles to show at his going away party that night. They had tons of food, cakes, people, and entertainment. Cultural dances, songs, drum shows, it was pretty crazy.
A lot of the rest of the week was spent in the office finishing the mission video and the one for the Dowdles. We should be having a baptism this week though.
Yesterday I taught the Gospel Principles class in church, since our teacher just got called. I decided to teach about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. I figure you can never be taught those enough. We have an investigator, Curtis, who looks like a skinnier Santa Claus. He's just awaiting trial, and then he can be baptized. We're pretty confident that the case will get dropped, but we have to wait and see anyway. His wife and 4 daughters are strong, active members, but he just never got around to it. He's loving it now though. He's reading and praying with his family, and it's been really fun teaching them.
I love you guys.
Love,
Elder Barlow
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
20 June 2011
Family,
So for some reason all of the usual flights were full, so we had missionaries coming in throughout the week, and staying for longer than they usually have in the past. So, we're pretty much out of food at this point. Anyway, we had a good week nonetheless.
We just had the Guam stake's first Stake Conference. They had President and Sister Dowdle speak, since they go home next week, and it all was really, really good. Saipan is part of the Stake, and we had them all set up on a video conference. It was pretty high tech having speakers from there and here on the same program.
We have this Chuukese investigator who comes to church every week, but for some reason won't be baptized. She said she wants to talk to her parents (in Chuuk) first, but that once she does she'll be baptized regardless of what they say (she's 21). For some reason she just won't talk to them. We went over this week to talk about it, and tried to just help her realize that she does in fact have faith in the things we have taught her and that if baptism is something that she wants, there isn't really a need for anything to be keeping her from that. She agreed to talk to her parents on Father's Day (yesterday) and then be baptized this Saturday. Well, it turns out that her father was sick and had to go to the doctor, so she didn't say anything. Hopefully we can get her to call in the next day or so.
For Zone Leader Council, we planned a service project with the local government. We went down to some really cool tide pools and picked up trash and cleaned up the place. Now they're making this big deal of it and want to publish our picture in the newspaper and put an article about the church and everything. It's all fine and good, I just didn't expect it, and now we have to write something to go in the paper. I think we'll just copy something from Mormon.org.
Yesterday, Elder Malit and I trained the Zone Leaders on change. How we are called on missions not for the people that we are, but because of our potential and who we can become. We talked about yielding our will unto the Lord and I think it all turned out really well. Elder Malit talked about himself and how he is happier than he's ever been. I just want to reiterate that to you guys. I can honestly say I'm happier than I've ever been.
Love,
Elder Barlow
So for some reason all of the usual flights were full, so we had missionaries coming in throughout the week, and staying for longer than they usually have in the past. So, we're pretty much out of food at this point. Anyway, we had a good week nonetheless.
We just had the Guam stake's first Stake Conference. They had President and Sister Dowdle speak, since they go home next week, and it all was really, really good. Saipan is part of the Stake, and we had them all set up on a video conference. It was pretty high tech having speakers from there and here on the same program.
We have this Chuukese investigator who comes to church every week, but for some reason won't be baptized. She said she wants to talk to her parents (in Chuuk) first, but that once she does she'll be baptized regardless of what they say (she's 21). For some reason she just won't talk to them. We went over this week to talk about it, and tried to just help her realize that she does in fact have faith in the things we have taught her and that if baptism is something that she wants, there isn't really a need for anything to be keeping her from that. She agreed to talk to her parents on Father's Day (yesterday) and then be baptized this Saturday. Well, it turns out that her father was sick and had to go to the doctor, so she didn't say anything. Hopefully we can get her to call in the next day or so.
For Zone Leader Council, we planned a service project with the local government. We went down to some really cool tide pools and picked up trash and cleaned up the place. Now they're making this big deal of it and want to publish our picture in the newspaper and put an article about the church and everything. It's all fine and good, I just didn't expect it, and now we have to write something to go in the paper. I think we'll just copy something from Mormon.org.
Yesterday, Elder Malit and I trained the Zone Leaders on change. How we are called on missions not for the people that we are, but because of our potential and who we can become. We talked about yielding our will unto the Lord and I think it all turned out really well. Elder Malit talked about himself and how he is happier than he's ever been. I just want to reiterate that to you guys. I can honestly say I'm happier than I've ever been.
Love,
Elder Barlow
Sunday, June 12, 2011
13 June 2011
Family,
We had a pretty rough week in our area. We have been running around picking up the pieces after being gone. One of our investigators is a white guy who is married to a Chuukese woman. He has a long white scraggly beard and a greasy blonde/gray comb over and a pot belly. He's kind of a hippy. Anyway, he met his wife here in Guam, and when they started dating, her brother would translate for them because she couldn't speak English (awkward). After they were married they went all over the United States and even lived in Mexico for a while. I forgot to mention that his wife and their 5 kids are all members, but they are. He's always been nice to the missionaries, but has never really been interested. About a month and a half ago he was driving (without a license) and ran out of gas, so he pulled into the center lane and parked. Just as he was about to get out and go across the street to get gas, a car clipped him from behind and a drunk driver smashed into him from the front. Long story short, the family of the driver of the car that hit him from the front pressed charges (someone in the car died), so he's been in and out of jail for the past month. The court is going to subpoena the driver of the other car to come to court (he went to the Philippines). Now Curtis, our investigator, is on house arrest until his trial, which is in the first week of July. He's come to church twice since this whole thing began, and is doing really well. In my experience, jail does wonders for some people.
We have several other people that are preparing for baptism as well. One is Chuukese and then there is also a couple that is from the outer islands of Yap. They're all doing really well, and I think it's just a matter of time before they get baptized - whether or not I'll be here for that, I'm not sure.
We have another Zone Leader Council coming up this week, as well as our first Stake Conference (at least that I know of). Plus, the usual flights that the missionaries come in on were already booked for some reason this time, so we're going to have missionaries coming in at random times this week, which is going to be a huge hassle.
Well that's all I have - sorry my letters are getting pretty lame.
I love you guys, and I'm glad everyone - besides Kandis and Pierce apparently - is doing well.
Love,
Elder Barlow
We had a pretty rough week in our area. We have been running around picking up the pieces after being gone. One of our investigators is a white guy who is married to a Chuukese woman. He has a long white scraggly beard and a greasy blonde/gray comb over and a pot belly. He's kind of a hippy. Anyway, he met his wife here in Guam, and when they started dating, her brother would translate for them because she couldn't speak English (awkward). After they were married they went all over the United States and even lived in Mexico for a while. I forgot to mention that his wife and their 5 kids are all members, but they are. He's always been nice to the missionaries, but has never really been interested. About a month and a half ago he was driving (without a license) and ran out of gas, so he pulled into the center lane and parked. Just as he was about to get out and go across the street to get gas, a car clipped him from behind and a drunk driver smashed into him from the front. Long story short, the family of the driver of the car that hit him from the front pressed charges (someone in the car died), so he's been in and out of jail for the past month. The court is going to subpoena the driver of the other car to come to court (he went to the Philippines). Now Curtis, our investigator, is on house arrest until his trial, which is in the first week of July. He's come to church twice since this whole thing began, and is doing really well. In my experience, jail does wonders for some people.
We have several other people that are preparing for baptism as well. One is Chuukese and then there is also a couple that is from the outer islands of Yap. They're all doing really well, and I think it's just a matter of time before they get baptized - whether or not I'll be here for that, I'm not sure.
We have another Zone Leader Council coming up this week, as well as our first Stake Conference (at least that I know of). Plus, the usual flights that the missionaries come in on were already booked for some reason this time, so we're going to have missionaries coming in at random times this week, which is going to be a huge hassle.
Well that's all I have - sorry my letters are getting pretty lame.
I love you guys, and I'm glad everyone - besides Kandis and Pierce apparently - is doing well.
Love,
Elder Barlow
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
6 June 2011
Family,
We just got back from Chuuk this morning. Our flight landed at 4, so after flying all night, we slept all morning. But I had a blast everywhere we went. For P-day in Yap we rented a boat and the driver took us outside the reef and we went trolling, which is when you just throw your line in while the boat is moving through schools of fish (which you can see thanks to the flock of birds above it). We caught like 3 or 4 fish each - big yellow-fin tuna and flipjack (I think) too. It was about 80 pounds of fish total. It was really fun - probably because the fish were easy to catch (but hard to reel in). At one point a shark almost stole mine off the line, but I guess I was blessed or something because it didn't. Being the amateur fishermen that we all were, it took us like 4 or 5 minutes to reel in each fish, and the driver said that he didn't know what was going on because when he and the other Yapese go fishing, if they're pulling for more than a minute, the sharks are bound to grab it, but we can just keep going and not have any problems. We told him it was because we were missionaries and he said, "oh yeah, that's true." He was a pretty funny guy.
It was really cool to go back to Palau. The members and the other people that I taught seemed pretty excited to see me, so that was a pretty good feeling. It is pretty lonely there though with only two missionaries. I don't have much else to say about that, just that I still love it and things hadn't changed TOO much since I left - which is good.
Chuuk was a pretty crazy place. I got to go to all the outer islands, and work with the missionaries there. Chuuk has 6 areas. 3 outer islands with 2 missionaries each, and then 6 missionaries on the main island. The road on the main island, Weno, is actually more like a river, so everyone drives like 5 mph the whole time. It's about 7 miles from one area to the third area, and it takes an hour to get there. It's pretty terrible. But, the people, especially the members, love the missionaries there. The work is going really well. It was cool actually going because I've been working to learn Chuukese and everyone was impressed that I could speak without having been there before. In Sunday school yesterday, the District President (he was teaching), asked me to pray since I was a new face. So I nervously got up and prayed in Chuukese and sat down. He stood up with the biggest smile on his face, and in English he said, "when I asked you to pray I didn't realize you could speak my language." He's the nicest guy ever. He invited us all over for dinner before we left last night and then gave Elder Malit and I these seashell necklaces since we were leaving. To get to all the other islands they have a missionary boat and the driver is a member (paid by the church). I got pretty toasted on the boat ride out to Romanum. It was about an hour long boat ride, and the waves were pretty big and choppy. I got soaked by saltwater (which is the worst feeling ever, by the way) and toasted by the sun. Romanum is a crazy place though. It's only .6 sq miles and there are only 600 people. Ironically it's one of the strongest branches out there.
It's good to be home back in my own bed (as "my own" as it gets anyway), and I'm ready to finally do something in my area.
Pictures:
1) Fishing in Yap with my woven coconut frond hat
2) The result of our day
3) In Chuuk I got to go to Elder Stanley's house to visit with his family. If you remember, Elder Stanley was my trainer and one of my favorite companions. It was really good to see him. I met his girlfriend, whom he's planning on marrying - which was weird.
Love,
Elder Barlow
We just got back from Chuuk this morning. Our flight landed at 4, so after flying all night, we slept all morning. But I had a blast everywhere we went. For P-day in Yap we rented a boat and the driver took us outside the reef and we went trolling, which is when you just throw your line in while the boat is moving through schools of fish (which you can see thanks to the flock of birds above it). We caught like 3 or 4 fish each - big yellow-fin tuna and flipjack (I think) too. It was about 80 pounds of fish total. It was really fun - probably because the fish were easy to catch (but hard to reel in). At one point a shark almost stole mine off the line, but I guess I was blessed or something because it didn't. Being the amateur fishermen that we all were, it took us like 4 or 5 minutes to reel in each fish, and the driver said that he didn't know what was going on because when he and the other Yapese go fishing, if they're pulling for more than a minute, the sharks are bound to grab it, but we can just keep going and not have any problems. We told him it was because we were missionaries and he said, "oh yeah, that's true." He was a pretty funny guy.
It was really cool to go back to Palau. The members and the other people that I taught seemed pretty excited to see me, so that was a pretty good feeling. It is pretty lonely there though with only two missionaries. I don't have much else to say about that, just that I still love it and things hadn't changed TOO much since I left - which is good.
Chuuk was a pretty crazy place. I got to go to all the outer islands, and work with the missionaries there. Chuuk has 6 areas. 3 outer islands with 2 missionaries each, and then 6 missionaries on the main island. The road on the main island, Weno, is actually more like a river, so everyone drives like 5 mph the whole time. It's about 7 miles from one area to the third area, and it takes an hour to get there. It's pretty terrible. But, the people, especially the members, love the missionaries there. The work is going really well. It was cool actually going because I've been working to learn Chuukese and everyone was impressed that I could speak without having been there before. In Sunday school yesterday, the District President (he was teaching), asked me to pray since I was a new face. So I nervously got up and prayed in Chuukese and sat down. He stood up with the biggest smile on his face, and in English he said, "when I asked you to pray I didn't realize you could speak my language." He's the nicest guy ever. He invited us all over for dinner before we left last night and then gave Elder Malit and I these seashell necklaces since we were leaving. To get to all the other islands they have a missionary boat and the driver is a member (paid by the church). I got pretty toasted on the boat ride out to Romanum. It was about an hour long boat ride, and the waves were pretty big and choppy. I got soaked by saltwater (which is the worst feeling ever, by the way) and toasted by the sun. Romanum is a crazy place though. It's only .6 sq miles and there are only 600 people. Ironically it's one of the strongest branches out there.
It's good to be home back in my own bed (as "my own" as it gets anyway), and I'm ready to finally do something in my area.
Pictures:
1) Fishing in Yap with my woven coconut frond hat
2) The result of our day
3) In Chuuk I got to go to Elder Stanley's house to visit with his family. If you remember, Elder Stanley was my trainer and one of my favorite companions. It was really good to see him. I met his girlfriend, whom he's planning on marrying - which was weird.
Love,
Elder Barlow
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