4th of July

Family,

This week we finally switched mission presidents. President Mecham arrived at about midnight Tuesday night, so we met the mission presidency and their wives at the airport to greet him. It was pretty awkward. We just weren't sure how to act or what to do. But as soon as he landed, President Dowdle reminded him that as soon as he lands on island, he has the keys for the mission, and handed him his cell phone. It was pretty funny. Then a few hours later we had to come back to the airport to pick up the first of the missionaries that were coming for zone leader council (which was this last weekend). The next morning we met President Mecham at the office for our first meeting with him. We said our goodbyes to President Dowdle (I don't know how many of you changed mission presidents on your missions, but it was pretty emotional for all of us that were there), then went into our meeting. He basically just told us that he has known President Dowdle for a very long time and doesn't plan to change anything, just to build on the work he has already done. He's definitely a different personality, but he's still going to be really good for the mission.

We had a baptism on Saturday, and it was really good. On Thursday before her interview we prepared her for the interview, and my companion had me explain the part of the interview that talks about homosexuality. Keep in mind that I'm having to do this in Chuukese. So my companion taught me some of the words that I needed that I didn't know yet, and we went through all the questions with her. I thought it would be a lot more awkward than it was. Anyway, we told her the program and had her choose people to pray, speak, baptize, etc. She called us later in the day and said she wanted Elder Malit to give the opening and closing prayers and me to baptize and confirm her. We explained that maybe she should let some other people do some things, so she said she wanted Elder Malit to baptize her and me to confirm. I started to get pretty scared because I've never confirmed anyone in Palauan, let alone Chuukese. I told her that she may want to think about it a little more because I felt like Elder Malit could give a lot better of a blessing than I could, but if she wanted, I would learn how to do it. So that night and the next morning (the morning of the baptism) I was studying the words for the ordinance in Chuukese, and also a bunch of words that I might need to know to give a blessing. So about 30 minutes before the baptism was to start, we went over to give her the baptismal clothes, and she said she'd just have us switch - I'd baptize and Elder Malit would confirm. I was pretty relieved, but a little disappointed at the same time. I was getting kind of excited to try something new, but on the other hand I knew that it would mean a lot more to her if he gave the blessing, without having to decipher what I was trying to say if it wasn't exactly right. It was good for me to learn all that stuff though. She also asked Elder Malit and I to sing, so we sang this Chuukese song that was pretty cool. Then she came to church, got confirmed, fasted, and paid her tithing. She's doing really good right now.

Another of our investigators, his name is Daniel, is from an outer island of Yap called Ulithe (I think that's how you spell it). We went to meet with him and he said "Before we start, I just want to say that maybe you guys shouldn't come anymore." He went on to say how he feels bad everytime we come and he hasn't read or he has to reschedule or something, and he doesn't like wasting our time. We just happened to have an object lesson in our car about priorities, using a jar, rocks, and rice (sometimes people use sand, but it's the same idea). Some people may have been offended at this point, but Daniel honestly wants the things we have to offer, and is very humble. So we told him that he's putting the things that don't matter (the rice) first before the things that do, "the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (the rocks), so of course he doesn't have enough time for it all. We read the scripture in 3 Nephi about that, and he started to cry. He said that example really touched him, because he knows how much he wants the blessings, but until now he hadn't understood that he was doing it all wrong. So he committed himself to read and pray everyday. It was a really great lesson.

Bart Jolley was just on a flight from Guam to Saipan that a couple of our missionaries were on. He sat next to them and when they landed Elder Cook called me and said, "Do you know Bart Jolley?" I said of course I do, and he replied, "Okay he's right here." So I talked to him for a minute, and he told me the story. Apparently he's in Saipan for a Biology research group or something from BYU-H. He said he was in the Guam airport when we dropped the missionaries off, but we didn't see each other. It was a pretty weird coincidence.

That's it for this week. We're just getting President Mecham settled in.

Love,

Elder Barlow