Tuesday, January 10, 2017

making "pa'i," (pronounced almost like pie) at the members' house. All it is is a simple dough of flour and sugar and milk and butter, and the filling is bananas that have been slowly cooked for a long time. Bananas turn red ish when you cook them for a long time.



Lots of news this week. First off, Elder T. is transferred back to Tahiti. We're taking the boat to Raiatea this afternoon to go to the airport. My new companion gets here this afternoon too! He's American, his name is Elder J. He just finished up his training in the marvelous sector of Papeete 2, my old stomping grounds! So we'll have lots to talk about in common. He's been in the field about 3 months now is my guess. He is about a half inch shorter than me, so we are going to be the twin towers here at Tahaa and I can't wait! It should be super fun.

It was great to talk to you all by skype Monday night! It made my day. I came away feeling so happy and loved and comforted. I miss you all! I heard that we finish the 14th of August. It's a Monday, so I'll probably get home the 15th, the Tuesday. Exciting!

Other news: for 2017, the church is making mission daily schedules a lot more flexible. So what we're doing here in our mission is instead of planning every night, we now plan every morning. Also, our curfew got moved up 30 minutes to 8:30pm, and we wake up earlier every day- at 6am. I like that schedule better. That means we leave the house around 9:30am instead of 10am. It's not a huge schedule change, but it's a little more effective for the people here. Everyone wakes up early and goes to bed early. People live following the sun. If it's light out, people are up. If it's dark, we can't really go tracting because people are sometimes already asleep. Lately it gets light here around 5:30 or 6am, and dark around 7 or 7:30pm.
Last Friday we had a zone meeting on Raiatea. That was fun to go over there. That's where we got all this news.
I'm excited to take over the sector and put some of my ideas into action. Also, I'm excited to start working more with the Branch President. He and I get along really well.  We're going to start an English class here at the chapel and try and get some new investigators that way. There's some young couples we're teaching too that I think are potential. Next week is the big transfer for the mission, but I don't think it will affect me now. It will be fun to see the changes in our zone. Transfers are always fun as a missionary- it breaks up the usual routine a little.
Hope this letter finds you well, thanks for the prayers and support! Sorry that it's so cold back home. It's hot and sunny here! This island is so gorgeous.

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Barlow

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