Hi family!

This week went pretty well. I saw lots of blessings.

Monday night we ate dinner at our Bishop's house and had a good time talking with him and his wife. They're young, only 28 or so. He served a mission in Salt Lake.
Tuesday we had lots of lessons with members! Yay for members! We gave out calendars to help some people keep track of their cigarettes and overcome their problems with the word of wisdom. They seemed excited about it so that's good. Trying to be creative!
We found a new investigator this week, so that's super good! It's a younger lady named M. She's originally from Bora Bora but is living here at her aunt's house until August. Perfect! She seems really interested and wants to know "how she can get into Heaven." We have the answer for that!
We've been working a lot with the new converts too. They're all doing pretty well. We do a lot of lessons with one young couple who is still struggling to overcome smoking. But I love them. I realized part of our missionary purpose is to help others come unto Christ by "enduring to the end." So we're helping the converts a lot!
We had some good faatamaaraa's with the members during the week. The members here in French Polynesia are amazing. So loving, so generous. Such good people. I'm so blessed to meet them and live among them.
Saturday night we had a missionary concert in Papeete. Guess who I ran into?!?!? I saw CLWU from Orofero for the first time in over 6 months! And I also saw A and J for the first time in almost a year! J just got back from Ahe so I was lucky to see him. They were there with V (their daughter) and K P S (another convert from Papeete). I also ran into my bishop from Papeete 2 and a bunch of members and everyone recognized me and was happy to see me. And boy was I happy to see them! I see Elder L at every concert too so it's really fun to go take pictures with our converts together. I also ran into Elder J for the first time in like 3 weeks. He's back from Tahaa and he started his mission in Papeete 2 so he knows a lot of my converts and they know him too. A and J told me that their son got baptized last year! (He's about 18 I think.) So they will all get sealed together in December this year if all goes well! SOOOO happy about that!
Sunday night we went to the stake of Paea for our concert. I ran into a lot of people again that I know and love. It was a weekend of blessings for me. I saw B, an investigator that Elder S and I found together and that I taught a lot with Elder N at Orofero. She isn't baptized yet but she said her son now comes to church with her! (about 15 years old I think.) B is bff's with the relief society president, Sister T (who I also saw last night, I love her and her husband, they're one of my favorite families from Orofero!). B is basically a counselor in the relief society, but unofficially because she's not a member yet haha.
Today was a super fun P day. We cleaned in the morning, then Elder J and I caught a ride with the zone leaders and they dropped us off downtown at the market in Papeete. We wanted to buy some souvenirs. So we went downtown and stopped at an ATM. Then we were going through shops. In one of the shops we ran into Sister F, who is serving as a senior couple with her husband. They're in my district in Punaauia. They're Tahitians, and they give us food and stuff all the time. Anyways, we ran into her in this store. Totally random. And then she bought everything for us! So we chose out some stuff, but then she went around the store and grabbed a whole bunch more and bought it all for us!!! The Lord blessed us for sure with that. I can't tell you what we got because it's a surprise for you all when I get home ;) Then we went and grabbed a "casse-croute" (sub sandwich) for lunch and sat down to eat it, and some random guy came up to us and handed us 2 cans of Coke and then walked off. What?! It was crazy! The Lord has the power to send free stuff when we're obedient! So crazy! Then we were walking back to the car, and I ran into G MAPU from Orofero. She is the wife of M, the guy that Elder N and I found by walking down the street in Orofero. He wasn't able to get married/baptized when I was still there, but it turns out that he got married about 2 months later and baptized. She said they go to church together every week and I was so happy to see them!
Voilà a really long email, but I saw so many little blessings this week. I am humbled to know that God is there. He knows each one of us and he can bless us more than we can imagine possible if we are obedient.
Some verses that I really like in my studies this week: Mosiah 26:14-37. Also the talk "Walk With Me" by President Eyring in the Priesthood session of last general conference.
I have to go, have a good week, I love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Barlow