I'm in Neverland!

my nametag with Raiatea in the background

my adventure gear as a missionary- bike, helmet, and backpack

palm trees, the road on the left, the ocean on the right. My sector is probably the prettiest in the whole world.

Sister Chinking stopped by our house. She said "I have food for you two." It turned out to be two huge bags of groceries! What?

What our chapel looks like from inside. Lots of bright red plastic chairs!

Hi family!

It's sad to hear about Grandpa Barlow's passing. What a blessing it is to have the knowledge of the Gospel. I'm glad we can see him again one day after this life. I hope you're all doing well! I wish I could have been with everyone during the funeral.

This week went well! We have been so blessed. All the members in the branch here love us because we actually go out and work. They see a difference from the missionaries that were here before.

We're teaching one family of grown up sisters. There are 3 sisters who aren't members, and another sister is a member. We met them because I play the piano. My first day here with Elder J we went to see them and played the piano. Since then, we've started the lessons (every Monday night for family night) and they've come to church twice. They are super potential. I hope everything works out. Anyways, their sister who is a member loves us now because we're teaching her sisters. She really wants to be able to be sealed to them. Since we started teaching them, she stops by all the time at our house to drop off food and stuff.  The people here are so generous! I feel super blessed.

What other miracles happened this week.... We went to get a haircut and the guy did it for free for us. That was great (even though my hair looks like a flat top now.... haha). Oh, C, who I taught at Orofero called me this morning! He is doing well. It's been over 5 months now since his baptism. He told me he has started his mission papers and he will hopefully leave on a mission  before the end of the year. That made me really happy. What a life change he's made.

Also, we had our worldwide missionary broadcast this week. Elder Oaks and the missionary committee gave a live broadcast/training announcing several changes. First, the missionary daily schedule is a little different, giving us more flexibility as missionaries as to when to do our studies, planning, etc. Second, they announced changes to our daily and weekly reports. We no longer report how many lessons we do each week! Yay! Now we only report how many baptisms and confirmations we have, how many baptismal dates we have fixed, and how many people come to church. It's great!

One cool experience that I had this week: we were in a lesson and I couldn't really feel the spirit. I had no idea what to talk about. During the lesson I was praying super hard. At one point, a verse I had read in my morning study came into my mind. It was a verse in Alma 5, saying basically 'if you died today and were brought before God, have you sufficiently repented and been made clean through Christ?' I said something of that effect to our investigator and he was struck by the spirit. It was awesome. The spirit can lead us if we open our mouths!

Overall I am doing well. It is beautiful here, and I love the branch members. I had the thought several times this week: I never want to leave. I realized that I go home pretty soon. It will be sad to leave this beautiful place. I'm in Neverland! :)

Love you all,

Elder Barlow

Hello family!

This week was soooo wonderful! Highlights: my new companion is from Holiday Utah. He is almost as tall as me, maybe an inch shorter. He loves music and played guitar before his mission. We're basically the same person, so we get along well! He just finished his training, so he's still learning french. It's fun to show someone who's still new around. It makes me re-appreciate things. Like the little crabs everywhere, and the beauty of the blue water and palm trees. Sometimes I forget to look at the blessings around me.

Elder J.  got here Monday night on the plane at Raiatea. We took the boat back to Tahaa. My branch president and his wife picked us up. Tuesday and Wednesday we didn't have the bike of Elder J yet, so we went for a walk. Lots of walking. Wednesday we walked from our house, out of the bay of Haamene, all the way around the peninsula with the town Vaitoare, into the bay of Pouturu. We stopped along the way at several people's houses. I don't know how far that is, maybe you can look it up on google maps. It took all day. 

Once we had Elder J's bike, things sped up.

As far as missionary work goes, this was one of the best weeks of my mission. I didn't contact a single time all week. We went and visited members a lot, and the members here LOVE us!  As a result, we have tons of referrals rolling in and lots of potential for this week.

For example: one sister had said a few weeks ago that her sister has a piano at her house. Her sister isn't a member. So we went to visit the sister who is a member. She walked over to her sister's house with us and we started playing the piano. I started singing hymns and the two sisters sang. Another sister came from another room, and pretty soon everyone was singing the hymns while I was playing. They loved it! Tonight we have a family night with them and we'll hopefully start teaching them. Do you see how much more effective it is working through members like that? Playing piano, what a creative contacting technique. 

Other adventures from the week: friday we went to visit some members who live way up in the back of a valley above the bay of Faaaha. It's a hike of about 15 minutes up to their house. It was way cool, we crossed some rivers and I got my shoes all muddy and I felt so adventurous!

Church was great yesterday. I was able to run around between blocks coordinating with members and fixing appointments, etc. And today is P Day! We did our personal study in the morning, and now we're going to go clean the house really well after email. My comp still has to do his mail, so I'm going to log off quick. But that's just a little update for the week! Hopefully this week brings more good news and some potential for baptism. 

Thanks for all the letters, I'll keep you all in my prayers.

Lots of love,

Elder Barlow

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

tahaa

The only view of Bora Bora from Tahaa.

What my sector looks like- big hills and big mountains surrounding turquoise ocean bays.

Hello family,

Well, I'm still alive! That's always a good thing. The internet here at our little church building is actually pretty quick. I was able to send pictures, etc. That's a blessing. I was a little stressed about the transfer last week. In my head I pictured every island in the mission like Ahe- tiny, hot, and tons of mosquitoes. Luckily I am not in the Tuamotus! Tahaa is not tiny, but very hot, and there are still mosquitoes.

So, I flew to Raiatea Wednesday morning, then took a boat over to Tahaa around noon. Our sector is gigantic. It goes from the bay of Tiva all the way to the bay of Faaaha. You can look it up on google maps. We spend one day a week in Tiva, one in Faaaha, one in Vaitoare (part of the peninsula between Tiva and Haamene bay), one in Poutoru, and one or two in Haamene. It is a ton of biking! My legs are already big after just one week! The island is absolutely breathtaking.  I feel like one of the lost boys from Peter Pan.

Our house is pretty big. It's also very very very very very hot. No AC. Bummer. There are a lot of mosquitoes too, but not as bad as Ahe. Last night I actually slept really well, not a single mosquito bite. The challenge this week was food. When I got to the house Wednesday, I looked in the fridge. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I asked my companion what he ate. He said ramen noodles, but he ran out of money until next week so he just eats what members give him. Tahitians are crazy like that. They can eat only once a day and be fine. For me, after one day of biking, I was exhausted! This week was the first week of my whole mission where I was worried about eating enough, and not too much!

I like serving with a native speaker of the language, it's so nice in lessons and whatnot. Sometimes I forget that I'm speaking in French. Also, apparently my Tahitian isn't too bad. I was able to contact a lady and share the restoration all in Tahitian this week. There is a lot of Tahitian here, so I will hopefully be able to learn it. But everyone speaks French as well.

 This morning was really fun. Here on Tahaa there are 2 sister missionaries in a ward at Patio, and a couple in a branch at Hipu. The couple is a man from France and his wife from Tahiti. Everyone came over to our house this morning to make a skit for our zone's Christmas party next monday. Afterwards we made crepes and talked together. It was really fun.  Well, there you have it. My first week went okay. It was definitely difficult and a challenge, but I survived.

Keep praying for me, because it's all you can do! I need the prayers.

Love you all,

Elder Barlow

Some News

Remember how I mentioned that a ward member taught us how to cut up pineapples a few weeks ago? Well, another member gave us pineapples this week, so I practiced my newly learned skill. Isn't it cool? You cut off the green spiky leaves and the skin on the pineapple, and then you cut diagonally all the poky parts so that you have only the yellow fruit left. Then you cut that in round slices and eat it! Pineapples here are sooooo much better than even the best pineapples in the US.

Thursday in Papeete, I ran into no other than President Poroi, my branch president from Ahe! What a joyful reunion! For the first time we talked and I was able to understand everything and communicate with him. It was awesome to catch up. It's already been a whole year since I left Ahe! 

Hello family,

Soooooooooo, yes, I am transferred! Friday night the assistants made the calls for everyone. They called us first because we're zone leaders. I wasn't expecting to be transferred. But the assistants told me "Elder Barlow, you are transferred. You are going to Tahaa, the branch of Haamene." Tahaa is an island inside the same coral reef of Raiatea. It's in the islands "sous le vent" (under the wind). It's right next to Bora Bora. So it should be super gorgeous.  It is the biggest biking sector in the mission (I don't know how many kilometers) and there are lots of big hills.  There is a brand new branch president who is super missionary-work oriented and President Bize told me on the phone: with a branch president like that, I had to send one of our best missionaries. Oh, the flattery. Haha. But he explained that he prayed about who to send, and my name came up and it felt right.  The sector is soooo huge that there are people who have never even seen the missionaries before. I will have to choose certain days of each week to work in different villages that are within my sector limits.  Other details about Tahaa: it's not in the Tuamotu islands (that means it's not an atoll). It's an island with a mountain. Since there are so many islands right next to each other over there, I will actually see other missionaries from time to time. Raiatea is a huge island, where the zone leaders and a bunch of other missionaries live. At Tahaa there will be me and my companion  and a couple missionary and 2 sister missionaries on the other side of the island. In our zone there is also the island of Huahine. For zone meetings we all get to go over to Raiatea and meet up. It's like a 3 minute boat ride from Tahaa. Also for P Days, apparently sometimes the missionaries get together over there on Raiatea and do hikes and stuff. There's a mountain that has a view on top of Tahaa, Huahine, and Bora Bora all in one. Also, at Tahaa there are lots of wild vanilla plants. Also, Tahaa is renowned for being Tahitian speaking. I will learn and teach the gospel in Tahitian finally! So maybe at Christmas I will actually be able to do more than just pray and bear testimony in Tahitian. Cool! Also, at Raiatea there is a mountain where a certain flower grows. The flower won't grow anywhere else in the world, and no one knows why. Legend is that the mountain is the center of Polynesia or something crazy like that. I can't wait to go over there and learn so much new stuff!  Also, at Tahaa there is no baptismal font. So if I can find some baptisms over there, I will be able to go swimming in the ocean and be obedient to mission rules at the same time! Haha #goals

This weekend has been crazy. How the transfers work here: if you're transferred to an island, you have to drop off your big suitcases and bike at the mission office to be shipped to your sector by boat. So in between lessons and saying goodbye to members and stuff, I've been packing and doing laundry like crazy. Last night I was up until 11pm finishing up packing. This morning we dropped all my stuff off at the mission office. It will be shipped to Tahaa tomorrow. Now I am living out of my little carry on suitcase until Wednesday morning, when I take the plane to Raiatea and then a boat to Tahaa! 

More fun facts: Tuesday night I will be sleeping at my old house in Faaa (at Pamatai) because it's right next to the airport. I can't wait to have that amazing view of Moorea again one last time. Wednesday I take the plane to Raiatea with Elder Peel, one of the missionaries from my MTC group!  Anyways, my plan is to go in and love my new companion and learn Tahitian, and then to find and baptize like 15 people or so in the ocean. That's my goal. It's really weird to be going into my 5th sector already and to think that when I come back from Tahaa in 4 months or so, I will only have 4 or 5 months left on a mission!

Miracles/blessings I saw this week: since I got transferred I wanted to buy some things that might not be in stores out in the islands, like more shaving cream, razor blades, lights for my bike, etc. I asked some Elders in our zone to stop by and pick up some stuff for me at the store during the week. They kindly did so, and then they wouldn't tell me how much it cost and wouldn't let me pay them back! They just said "Merry Christmas Elder Barlow." I was touched. Then this morning, we stopped by the store really quick to buy a few more things to put in my suitcase before shipping it off by boat. I went up to the cash register and a member came out of nowhere and bought everything for me. This same member's house just burned down a week or two ago. She lost everything. I was incredibly touched by her kindness. It is unbelievable.  It's just a tender mercy of the Lord. 

I get to Tahaa on December 7, which will make almost one year since I came back to Tahiti from Ahe (last year, December 15ish I think). Crazy how fast time flies! And who knows where the Lord will send me in the next 9 months! Anyways, things are going good. In a way, I'm pumped for the islands because,I'm sure the Lord has a lot of things to teach me and new trials to encounter. Please pray for me and keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Love you!

Elder Barlow

thanksgiving already?

A nice hot meal waiting for us in our washing machine!

Fafaru, which is raw fish that they put in fermented salt water!

Sweet Reunion with a family taught last year!

Iaorana family!

This week went a little better. One of our investigators died, that's always a bummer. We went to his funeral. He was old and his death might actually be a good thing because now maybe his whole family will listen to us. That's the first funeral I've ever attended in my life. It was outside the family's house right next to a bunch of chickens. Tahiti. We worked generally really hard this week. I've been pushing to work hard. We found some more people who might be potential, we'll go and follow up with them this week. I no longer have any fear to contact people. It's pretty interesting. After doing door to door every day for a few months here, I don't care if people yell at me or whatever. I just go with the flow.

So for one of our faatamaaraa's, the member called us and said he would stop by our house and drop off our meal. But we were out in the sector working. He asked where he could put the food. I said on top of the washing machine (which is outside, under our car-port open garage like thing). He said, "on top of the machine? Not in the machine?" He was worried that cats or chickens outside would eat the food. Haha so I said, okay in the machine then. When we got home that night, we found a nice hot meal waiting for us in our washing machine. Hahaha

Yesterday after a lesson, the family invited us to stay and eat with them. The Tahitian tradition is to make "maa tahiti" (tahitian food) every Sunday. So we got to eat maa tahiti, my favorite! It was super good! On the right side of the plate is fafaru, which is raw fish that they put in fermented salt water. It smells like rotting fish, but it tastes pretty good actually! I love it! Also, the yellow banana like thing is fe'i, which is like a mix of a banana and a sweet squash. You eat everything with your fingers, no silverware, and put coconut milk all over it all. It's a messy, slurpy, delicious, heavy meal. This is just a few of the foods in a meal of maa tahiti, there's actually like a million different dishes that are all considered maa tahiti.

The zone had some mini miracles, with two baptisms this last week that were scheduled for December. The investigators decided they wanted to get baptized sooner. Sweet. As a zone we went to the temple together on Saturday. Normally that's against the rules but I had worked it out a few weeks ago with president. He accepted. That was fun. After the temple we started a fast as a zone with some of the stake leaders. I like the temple, it's been a while since I last went. I noticed some interesting things I hadn't thought about before. Always learning. It's really weird being on a mission. I have had some moments on a mission where I feel like the Lord is really preparing me for something, like he knows me and has chosen me to do something for him and his gospel. I don't know. I had one of those moments in the celestial room. I just had the hymn come into my head "I'll go where you want me to go" and the thought that I'll just keep on keepin' on. Things will be fine.

This week has been a little stressful. Elder Cardon (of the 70) is visiting our mission this week. Tonight all the zone leaders have a meeting with him followed by a dinner at President's house. Then tomorrow is a multi zone conference. All the zone leaders have to plan a meal and everything for the conference (of about 60 people). The conference tomorrow happens to be in our chapel here at Paea, which means I'm basically in charge of everything. I'm playing the piano and I have to get our chapel all set up and this P day is already over and I need another P day! Haha there is too much to do! There's 4 zones coming to the conference, so I asked the other 3 zones to worry about the food, a salad, and a dessert, and drinks. I'm in charge of getting the building ready: tables, chairs, forks, spoons, knives, plates, etc. I had some of my missionaries reserve the church building and ask their relief society to help out. Today we have to go buy all the stuff at the store. It's a little stressful. And since there's a 70 coming, everyone wants everything to be all perfect. Our mission president's wife wants nice tablecloths for the tables, etc. Haha.  I just want to be nourished spiritually by the 70 and then eat some good food! But whatever, making people happy seems to be important. I really have grown a lot, when I look back to the start of my mission. I'm directing tons of people to do tons of stuff, all in a foreign language, and everyone listens to me and stuff gets done. Crazy how that works. I know the Lord is at the head, this is his work, and that by living the Gospel we all become better. It's a process of refinement. I now see how living the gospel consistently over a lifetime really will prepare us to be like Christ one day, so that we may be accepted into his kingdom.

Have a good Thanksgiving, eat some pie for me! But don't get too fat because I want to go hiking with you next summer! I've had several dreams lately about the mountains and I'm really missing Colchuck lake! Thanks for the prayers on my behalf, this week went better. The zone has had some miracles and everyone is in a little bit better of spirit. Keep praying for me like crazy, I need it!

Happy turkey day,

Elder Barlow

P.S. Tell me which kind of pie turns out the best this year. I'm in the mood for some pumpkin pie and some pecan pie. With vanilla ice cream. Haha eat some for me.

poisson cru

Fried Fish & Rice

Hi Family,

We had a lot of lessons cancelled, which is tough. This week we went contacting more with C.  He's fun to be with because he is always optimistic and he likes to joke and stuff. He is teaching us Tahitian, and I am learning a lot. The past month or two I've taught several lessons in Tahitian. It makes me feel cool! I am starting to understand a little bit more each day, but it is still difficult and I am far from fluent. I can survive though. I now can manage to ask questions. It took a while to remember all the question words and forms in Tahitian. The French is good. I can express myself fine in French. I'll have to talk some Tahitian for you when we skype at Christmas. The gift of tongues is cool. Also, I think learning a language would be pretty easy now that I've got one down really well. Did I mention that a lady started teaching us Chinese? I don't remember if I did or not. Anyways, mandarin sounds kind of similar to Tahitian in some of the grammar ideas. Weird! I think if I went to any country with a language study book and immersed myself for 6-8 months I could learn the language. I would love to learn mandarin one day.

This week we found a new ami by doing door to door contacting. I got kind of sunburned for the first time in months and months. The ami was a Jehovah's witness, but inactive for a long time. He said he has always wondered what 'the mormons' teach. He has never been baptized, and was interested in our message. We taught him the first lesson and gave him a book of mormon. It was one of those moments when we were walking out of a neighborhood and I was like: let's try this one last house. And he let us in. The next lesson with him is this week.
Also, another amie we found two weeks ago is progressing! We found her through door to door as well. She had already been given a book of mormon years before, and I think the Lord really prepared her to hear the gospel right now. We invited her to read Moroni 10 and pray. When we came back this week for a follow up lesson, we asked if she had prayed. She said yes, and that it brought lots of deep feelings. We asked her if she had asked if the book of mormon was true. She said she hadn't asked yet, but she will pray. If it is true, she said she is willing to drop everything, including a protestant background and family, and cigarettes. With that desire to follow the lord, how could she not receive an answer? We taught her the plan of salvation and she was in tears most of the lesson. The last time I taught a lesson like that was the first lesson with A, my convert from Papeete. Her whole family is now baptized. Hopefully the same thing happens again this time around. Anyways, the zone and the mission as a whole are not doing so hot. President Bize asked if we could ask our families to join us in a special fast and prayers this weekend, that I can have the spirit with me stronger and be led to those ready to hear the gospel. I need all the help I can get. Keep praying for me!

Fun stuff this week: I made more poisson cru, and also fried some fish. It is super delicious. The poisson cru is sooooo easy to make and so yummy. I never knew you could just eat fish raw. My mind is blown every time but it's so good and so easy! I will definitely make some for you all when I get back! And tonight we don't have a family night so I am making lentils again. Soooo delicious and easy and cheap also. And today Elder Nelson made banana bread, which was pretty good. It's fun to experiment with food and whatnot. It's about the only thing that changes in our routine. Besides what tie we wear everyday.

Tahitians celebrate halloween. I'm not sure if they do the whole trick or treat thing, but they dress up and have class parties for the little kids at school, etc. When we went shopping today, one of the cashiers in the store had facepaint and stuff. So it feels a little festive outside. Too bad it's not cool weather and colorful trees here. But the palm trees I'm looking at outside the window of the church are pretty too, so I can't complain. This week we have our conseil des dirigeants de la mission (mission leadership council) at president's house, so that should be good. Elder Cardon is coming in two or three weeks and we'll have another mission leadership council with him. So I'll get to learn directly from a 70. I'm excited for that.

Today for P Day we went shopping in the morning, went home and ate/made banana bread/ took a nap, and now we're finishing up mail at the church before playing some basketball outside. It's been a good day. Hope you all have a good week, love and miss you!

Elder Barlow