Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Provo MTC Week 3

Today has been really good. P Day really is the best day. We went to the temple this morning and then ate in the temple cafeteria, as usual. Then we came back, did our laundry before lunch, ate lunch, and now we are emailing! The best part is we will be done emailing by 2 pm and we have nothing until 4:30 pm.. in other words, we will have an awesome P day nap! 

We got another permanent teacher, so now we have two teachers like everyone else. That should help our time here be more effective. Our new teacher is named Brother Pistorius (I think..?) and he served in Canada. He seems really sharp. And then of course we have Sister Johnson still. We all love her a lot, she is a really great teacher and we have learned so much. We practiced teaching in English for the first time last week and it was so amazing! After teaching in French for 2 weeks solid, English felt so easy. We were able to just follow the spirit however it prompted us and it rocked. That's hopefully how I will feel in 3 months or so when I am fluent in French. Soeur Johnson said it took her about 3 months to be mostly fluent in French, and 6-9 months total before she felt comfortable in Tahitian. I'm confident I can match that. 

So my district is pretty awesome still. I finished up my 3 week term of district leader and that was nice. Now Elder Hanson is the district leader for the remaining 3 weeks. I had to show him how to get the mail this morning, but he will do a good job. I'm glad I don't have to be the one in charge anymore haha. I guess I am just a reluctant leader. It's kind of funny though.. Even though I'm not in charge anymore, everyone still kind of looks to me when a question comes up of what to do. I'm glad I gained everyone's trust. 
Yeah, so my district is really sharp. Some of the Lord's brightest are going to Tahiti. It's really cool. We all love each other a lot. The two pictures are from this last Sunday when we walked to the Temple. They are of me and my companion, Elder Stewart. We still get along just dandy.

I have been exercising less and eating less healthy then I used to, and it definitely makes a difference. I feel a little sluggish, but at least it's only for 3 more weeks. I gave up on eating healthy because I never felt full enough. The fatty foods stay with me longer. My shoulder is feeling better. I was able to do my pullup workout. I can only make it through 2 sets though! Crazy that I used to make it through 4. I decided that eating healthy and being in crazy good shape is just something I will give up for the next two years for the Lord. I'll get it back when I get home. It will be better once we're in Tahiti, too. I'm pumped for all the fresh fruit!

I'm doing good as far as food goes. Between the 6 elders in my room we have way too much food to know what to do with. 

I haven't heard from Kaden. Could you get me on his email list or send me his email or something? I would love to hear about it. I'm so jealous he is in the field already! Did I tell you I saw Garin Bergeson in gym time my second or third day here? He works here. I also saw Jordan Bowen this week. And I continue to see Josh Boyer in passing on a fairly regular basis. I can't wait for Alex to get here tomorrow. I'm going to go find him and give him a big hug haha.

Labor day yesterday wasn't much of a holiday, just a normal day of study. But I wore my American flag tie for the first time! It rocked, I got a few compliments. 

So last Tuesday night for the devotional, Elder Dallin H. Oaks came to the MTC. That was pretty cool. I was probably 30 yards away from him or less. The apostles are just normal people, it's really cool to see them in person. He talked a lot about the importance of the sacrament and the spirit in our teaching. Want to know the number one way to get and keep the spirit? Take the sacrament worthily. It's so simple. He also gave some missionary teaching tips on the plan of salvation and stuff like that. Everything else has been fairly normal here this week. 

So good to hear from you all! Je vous aime beacoup (Love you all a lot!)

Na na,

Elder Barlow


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