April 24

Hello family!

This week flew by. Every week flies by. Every Saturday we realize that another week has come and gone already. It's weird.

We worked a lot this week, biked a lot, etc. We're trying to find new investigators. This week we made little fliers with questions on it that the book of mormon answers. We put the corresponding chapters of the book of mormon that answer the questions next to each question. At the bottom we wrote "if you want to know more and if you want to receive a free copy of the book of mormon, call the (our phone number)." We're going to put the fliers around town, like at the store and the post office. We also made the same flier but in a book mark size that we now give to investigators and use to contact people. Hopefully the creativity yields some results. This way interested people can contact us.

Tuesday I was really hoping to find someone to teach. I prayed that God could use us to show his power. We stopped by a lady's house and she told us she had the Dengue, a mosquito carried sickness. So we gave her a blessing. Maybe she got miraculously healed. But the opportunity to give a blessing was probably an answer to prayer. We'll stop by to see how she is doing tomorrow.

Wednesday was a lot of biking. A few weeks ago some random guy called out to us " Hey elders!" The last time someone did that was M, in the street at Orofero. He is now baptized, so I had to contact this guy here on Tahaa who said Elders. It turns out that he got married about two years ago so his wife could get baptized. He's from Tahaa and his wife is at Papeete. But she moved back here last week so we started to teach them both. She came to church yesterday, but her husband (the investigator) didn't. The Lord's timing is interesting, the fact that he led us to that guy right before his wife (an active member) moved here.

Thursday night we taught the first lesson to N and M, a younger couple. We committed them to get married and baptized in 2 weeks, on May 6. They said they'd pray about it. We took them cookies on Friday. We also went to see them Saturday night with our Branch President. It turns out May 6 is too soon for them. A lot of these people will take more time in their spiritual progression. I'm just here to help them out as best I can, even if they don't get baptized until a later day.

Friday we biked to Faaaha and visited M. She's the older Protestant lady and probably our most potential investigator for the moment. She keeps reading the book of mormon. We committed her to stop drinking tea. She has almost stopped smoking, thanks to the book of mormon. She knows the church is true, but hesitates to get baptized. But if she got baptized it would be huge because she has a lot of kids and grandkids!

Saturday we biked to Poutoru, then Saturday night went out with our Branch President to visit N and M, like I said. N ended up not even being there, which was a bummer. But we had a good talk with M. They didn't come to church yesterday, but hopefully we can talk them into getting married sometime soon. It was great to go out with President Tsing. He's a sharp guy.

Sunday morning I got out of the shower early in the morning to hear the phone ringing. I was surprised to see President Bize's name on the screen. He was informing me that he will be coming to Tahaa next weekend. He asked me to set up a fireside Sunday night at Cumorah and a family night Monday night here at Haamene. Also, he will be going on a split with us and with the Elders of Cumorah while he is here. That will be great! We'll go visit some amis with him. I've never done a split with him so I'm super excited. He has the priesthood keys for the missionary work and it shows when he talks to investigators. There's a different power. It's cool.

This morning we went to Raiatea. While walking to the boat, H and M drove past us. They pulled over and asked if we were busy today. They want to talk to us. I'm praying they tell us that they are ready to get baptized and want to know how soon they can. haha. Thinking positive.
I've been praying a lot for some miracles and some success before I leave here. I will miss Tahaa. I have a feeling that something good will happen in the next few weeks.
Thanks for all the prayers and letters and support, it means a lot. Miss you all tons and can't wait to see you!

Have a good week. Love,

Elder Barlow

encore avril (still april)

Elder P and Elder G! We were proud of how much we fit in the back of the little truck. 3 bikes and a ton of suitcases!

View of the bay of Tiva from the south side. Super pretty over there.

Spoiler alert... we made cookies! With Mom's recipe from home. They turned out DELICIOUS.

Have you heard about the latest (pine)Apple product? iPhone is out of style.

Hello family!

Happy Easter! Eat some Cadbury eggs for me. This week flew by. I have the feeling that my time is running out on a mission and I want to make the most of it.

Last Monday we had a much needed low key P day. 

Tuesday we contacted all our amis here around the bay of Haamene. We managed to fix a lesson with a lady we haven't taught yet for tomorrow, so that was a success.

Wednesday morning we woke up early and biked to catch the boat to Raiatea. While over there, the zone leaders picked us up from the dock. We helped them out with some transfer stuff. They had to pick up suitcases and bikes from the sisters' house and drop it off for another boat to take back to Tahiti. I was Elder G's zone leader before, and now he's my zone leader. It's fun to see them balance all the responsibilities. We fit a ton of stuff into the back of their truck. 

Thursday we biked to the beautiful bay of Tiva. We decided that we are in a tropical version of the Shire. 

Friday we did our district meeting by telephone.Then we made cookies for our investigators! We used Mom's recipe from home for chocolate chip cookies. We used raw sugar instead of brown sugar, oats that had been pre ground a little bit, and a chocolate bar with nuts in it (because we didn't have brown sugar, a blender for oats, wheat flour, chocolate chips, or nuts). But they actually turned out really well! It smelled just like home and tasted like home too. A little bit sweeter than normal, maybe because of the milk chocolate bar, but overall pretty good. It made about 4 dozen cookies. We delivered a bunch to MC and S and J, gave some to D (another amie), and then biked some over to Faaaha for M (another amie we've been teaching). We got feedback yesterday from everyone: they loved them! Homemade cookies don't really exist here so that was fun.

Saturday morning there were some stake leaders who came to our branch to go visit and stuff with the auxiliaries. We went out with them in the morning. In the afternoon we biked to Poutoru. We found a lady who said we could come back next week... hopefully that turns into a family that we can teach. It's tough here because the sector is so big and we're on bikes. We can only visit people once a week. As a result, if they're not there one day, we end up not seeing them for weeks at a time.

Sunday, yesterday, went well. No one really did anything special for Easter. Our sacrament talks didn't really even focus on it. I forget about holidays and stuff here on this little island. It's too peaceful and removed from the world.

Some fun experiences: Monday night after our family night at the C's house, M and S brought some food over to our house. S dropped it off and just said "thank you so much for teaching me" really sincerely. It touched me. We love S!

Tuesday S and M dropped off some fruit at our house when we weren't there. Elder J and I had fun taking pictures with a pineapple. Haha.

We met lots of people yesterday while biking around. Hopefully this week brings some new investigators and good news. 

Keep praying for us. I love and miss you all lots!

Have a good week,

Elder Barlow

April showers bring may flowers!

Did a split with Elder P. at Raiatea! He's my zone leader. We started at the same time in the MTC.

Misty mountains in the rain at Tiva, also in our sector.

Fun time! He's really short and I'm really tall so we took a funny picture.

View of Raiatea from our sector at Poutoru. There was a really pretty boat.

Hello family!

This week was pretty crazy. Lots of biking. Wednesday we woke up before 5am to bike to Vaitoare and catch the boat to Raiatea. We did that because I went on a split with the zone leaders (Elder P), and Elder M came back here to Tahaa with Elder J. Wednesday was a really good day. It was so fun to work with Elder P. We both started at the same time in the MTC together, so we're both really experienced missionaries, etc. We taught some great lessons and it was fun to meet all the members in their sector. The longer I'm out, the easier it is to relate to people here. I love members so much! The Tahitians just love missionaries, so every time you're in a different sector, if anyone sees you they'll come up to you and ask your name and everything. I made so many friends in the 24 hours I was at Raiatea.
Thursday morning we woke up early again to catch the boat back to Tahaa and finish the split. Friday we woke up before 5am again and biked to catch the boat back to Raiatea for our zone conference. The conference was super good. I loved learning from President Bize. He talked a lot about staying worthy to be able to be called by the Lord to serve. He told several stories about people who hadn't been called to serve as branch presidents because they hadn't payed a full tithing. It's sad when people disqualify themselves from potential blessings. He said looking back right before his call as a mission president, he could see that the Lord had prepared everything already. Nothing could prevent him from being called as a mission president except himself. Luckily he was worthy and able to be called to serve. The other main point that I got out of the conference was to give it our all. Time on a mission is very short, and we need to be fully committed for these two years. I want to be a little more diligent after the conference! We also had interviews with President Bize after the conference. He said I'll probably stay here a while longer. I'm happy with that! I was really touched by some of the things he told me. He said something along the lines of "The Lord needed an Elder Barlow in that sector." It helps me see that the Lord knows each of us personally.
Saturday morning we woke up before 5am to get ready and then bike to the chapel for general conference. We watched it live, so the morning session started at 6am. Too early! I really enjoyed all the talks. I don't have a favorite talk in particular. But I enjoyed hearing the prophet speak about charity and the book of mormon. Also, there were tons of talks about the Holy Ghost and the Divinity, the nature of Christ, and the Gospel in general. There seemed to be more doctrine and less stories in this conference. It was all in French, so maybe I didn't understand some of the stories if there were some. Haha.
Sunday we woke up before 5am again. Conference again. In the afternoon we biked to Faaaha and worked the sector a little.
Update on our sector: Already we taught one lesson yesterday, so this week is bound to be good.
Today we woke up early (again!!!) because we have to go to Raiatea. While we're over there we're going to meet up with the zone leaders and go check out a traditional polynesian altar thing, where they used to sacrifice people apparently. Cool! Tonight we have a family night at the chapel with the whole branch to promote unity among the members. We're in charge of teaching a portion of the lesson. And tomorrow the work restarts.
Glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Barlow

March

Elder J took a picture of me while studying Tuesday morning... that's what a little of our house looks like.

There are little crabs everywhere called "tupa" in Tahitian. One of our amis had us try them.

Hello family!

This week went by really really fast.Some things that I enjoyed this week: our branch did a little branch choir for our branch conference this weekend. We practiced Tuesday night at the chapel. I enjoyed playing the piano for everyone and singing. It was super fun. I love the members here. Basically any branch activity or anytime we get to go hang out with the members, I'm pretty happy. The people here are so open and loving. You can be their best friend super easily.
Another fun experience: Thursday afternoon we biked to Tiva. We had a lesson over there Thursday night. Before our lesson, we stopped by to eat at the H family's house. They are converts from 2001. It was super enjoyable to just eat and listen to their conversion stories. They came in contact with the missionaries through an English class. At first, brother H didn't like the missionaries, but slowly he opened up to lessons. After 9 years (9 years!!!) of lessons, they got baptized. Now they are some of the most solid members in the branch. It's cool to hear them talk about their lives before. The Gospel has completely changed who they are.
We also do an English class here every Saturday night. Usually two member families come. So far no amis have come. But this week no one showed up. Bummer.

This weekend was our branch conference. Some stake leaders came by and it was a really good meeting. Second hour during sunday school we gathered up the amis and new converts and a member of the stake presidency taught the class. It was great. S shared her conversion story and there was a new guy there who seemed touched. We're teaching him tonight at our family night at the C's house. We've talked briefly with him a few times. Saturday night we stopped by his house. He said he had been praying to know where the true church was the day before, and we showed up right after. We invited him to church for the next day and he came with brother C. It's interesting; the Lord seems to respond pretty quickly to his children's prayers when they ask where the true church is. S had been praying too, and within several days we had showed up at her sister's house to play the piano. Cool.

Voilà my week. Time is flying by, I can't believe I come home in 5 months!

 Lots of love,

Elder Barlow

February continues

view back towards haamene from the end of the bay, on Tuesday evening. Gorgeous

view of Raiatea from Vaitoare on Wednesday

Elder Jenkins taking a picture of Raiatea on Wednesday

Elder Jenkins taking a drink with Raiatea in the background,  Super blue water

View across the bay of Haamene

Hello family!

This week went well. Last Monday night we had our family night our investigators.  It went super well. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Pray that we have the spirit with us! Also, they came to church again Sunday and they are pretty well integrated by the members.

The highlight Tuesday was a choir practice! Yes, the branch council planned to have a choir for our branch conference, which will be at the end of February (the 25th and 26th).  So Tuesday night we were all out on the C's patio with a piano they rolled out there and all the members of the branch council and a bunch of investigators. I was playing the piano. They asked my companion to direct the music (wave his arms, etc.). While I was playing, I couldn't help but smile and not laugh. We were directing about 20 Tahitians who were singing hymns at the tops of their voices. I had the thought, 'if someone drove past the porch right now, they would see 2 huge white guys leading a bunch of Tahitians in loud beautiful singing.' It was an awesome moment. We have another practice this Tuesday. I feel blessed to be able to use my talents to help others accept the truths of the Gospel. Now I look back on all the moments when Mom used to make me practice piano with fondness. I'm glad I stuck with it!

Tuesday also brought bike problems... my back tire wore through and the air tube went flat. So we walked under the hot sun all over the place, since we were far away from our house when my tire went flat. A member helped us out, he lent me a wheel and tire from his bike to use until the new tire I ordered from Tahiti gets here. While walking around Tuesday, we walked past some white people (a less than common sight). They said hello, so we asked 'are you Americans?' They laughed and said 'no, thank goodness. We are from the Holy Land,' in accented English. What?! Haha crazy. Tourists apparently. So that was cool.

Thursday we biked to Tiva, which is up a huge hill and down the other side. While biking down, we just heard a roar of rain hitting the trees on the mountain side. Oh no. Within several seconds the rain arrived and we were instantly soaked. Once the rain stopped, we biked to a bench by the ocean and put our socks in the sunshine to dry out. I took advantage of the moment to snap some beautiful photos. There were also a bunch of hermit crabs crawling around under the bench. It was fun to play with them. We took one home and called him Ernie.

Friday morning we woke up around 4:30am and biked to the quay to await our boat to Raiatea. We got to Raiatea and had our zone conference all day with President Bize. It was awesome. There were trainings on teaching repentance, adjusting to missionary life (with the new schedule changes), and teaching/using the book of Mormon to convert. I liked it, I feel like I do most of the stuff pretty well already. I tried to listen to the spirit and take some notes on things I can do here in my sector. After the conference, we had our interviews with President Bize. I understand his French accent a lot better now. So we just talked. I asked about transfers and how long I'll stay at Tahaa, or where he'll send me afterwards. He said 'I have no idea. Ask Him (while pointing towards heaven).' He then explained a little about the transfers, how that works, etc.  It was fun to tell him about the family we're teaching that we found through my piano playing. That's definitely a reason why the Lord put me here. After the interview, President switched into English and said "Thank you very much." Haha.

Saturday morning we cleaned the chapel with some of the branch members. Then we went out and worked. We biked to Poutoru. All of our lessons fell through, which was a bummer. However, we prayed to be led by the spirit. We ended up stopping by at some inactives' houses. We talked with them and invited them to come back to church. Sunday morning we walked into the chapel, and all the inactives that we had seen came to church! Wow! We were definitely led by the spirit.  When our branch president saw them, he said "Elders, do you know this family? They live way over in Poutoru." I said "yeah I know them, we visited them yesterday." He smiled as he understood that we were the reason that family came. Brownie points for us! Haha

Yesterday (Sunday) after church we ate maa Tahiti at the C's house. It was super yummy! I love it, it's made up of taro and manioca root, fe'i (a banana like thing, cooked like a squash), po'e (a jello-like fruit pudding), poisson cru (raw fish), faafaa (a cooked spinach dish with chicken inside), and of course fafaruu! (I don't know how to spell it really, but fafaruu is the raw fish that is put in fermented sea water and smells like death. But it tastes really good with all the other foods! The best part about fafaruu: after eating it, you can still smell it on your fingers 2 or 3 days later. The odeur is intense!) Then we biked to Faaaha, another huge hill that is very far away from our house. When we got back last night, we slept soundly. And today is P Day!

It's been a good week! Normally this weekend is the baptism for M, the 80+ year old lady. It will be the first baptism of the year for the branch. We'll do it in the baptismal font at the chapel in Patio because the lady is so old and fragile. I need to baptize someone young so we can do it in the ocean, I want to get my feet wet! Haha. The work is progressing. It's super cool. Voilà an update of my week. Glad to hear that everyone is doing alright!

Love you all,

Elder Barlow

fevrier

Bora Bora in the background.

Hello family!

It is February! Wow, time is flying. This week went really well. It was work as usual, lots of biking, lots of sunshine (except for right now, it is raining hard and there is a lot of loud thunder and lightning outside!). I love calling this island neverland. It is so gorgeous. I realize more and more each week recently how much I will miss this place. It's so great to be able to worry about nothing but sharing the gospel. I have to come back here one day with all of you.

The people here are amazing.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning this week I was outside doing my daily exercise on our little covered patio area. The brother of sister C stopped by each of those days around 6am to drop off fresh hot french bread from the bakery down the street. The people here love us so much it is amazing! I really think I was sent here for that family in particular. We have a lesson with them tonight and I can't wait.

Branch council earlier this week was interesting. I helped the branch make a mission plan for 2017. Also, the members had some questions about rules and such for sacrament meeting (can non members take the sacrament? etc.) I had to bust out the church handbook in french several times and correct the members. It was a little strange to tell all the church leaders here what to do. But it was also super cool. The more we study the scriptures and rules, etc, the more we can help others serve the Lord effectively while following all the rules.

The past few weeks have been great, I feel like we are being led by the spirit. That is probably the best feeling you can have on a mission. We showed up at an inactive member's house in Tiva on Thursday. She started crying just because we were there. Apparently she wanted to quit smoking and come back to church. She prayed asking God for help and mercy. The next day we showed up outside her house. It's interesting. For us, we had nothing to do, so we decided to go see if that particular inactive member was home. I had never met her before. I've found that often the spirit leads us when we just try and work hard. Often inspiration comes in the form of good ideas, or even thoughts of "I have nothing better to do," followed by action. I think about these kind of things while we're biking all day, because we bike A LOT.

What else is new... we fasted Saturday night to yesterday with the branch council, specifically for missionary work. While fasting Sunday, we biked to Faaaha (one of the furthest away areas in our sector, also one of the biggest hills to climb) under a blazing hot sun. We found 3 new amis and taught several lessons. Blessings of working hard! Also, at church yesterday one of our amies named M went into the branch president's office to talk with the branch president. After sacrament meeting, we found out that our branch president committed her to baptism! Awesome! Haha. M is an 80+ year old lady. I haven't really done much to teach her, she's been an amie for a long time. But finally she's ready to get baptized! It will be next Saturday (the 18th) at the chapel in Patio, because they have a baptismal font. M is too old and fragile to baptize in the ocean outside the chapel here in Haamene. She asked me to give her the Holy Ghost. And so the work moves on here at Tahaa!

Elder J and I have plans to make smores on a little sandbar out into the bay of Haamene off our backyard once we fix a baptismal date with an ami. We didn't actually commit M to baptism, it was the branch president. So we're waiting to fix some more baptisms before we have our reward of smores. Haha. Also, after the first baptism here I am planning to go to the store and spend the $7 necessary to purchase a box of Fruit Loops in celebration.

Life's good! When not out biking or teaching lessons, Elder J and I are talking about BYU and how pumped we are, etc. It's a constant party. While in Poutoru this Saturday, an ami gave us a bag of "ramboutans (spelling?)," a little red tropical fruit. We biked down the road to a nice stretch of sand. We sat on some rocks in the shade of a tropical tree with a view of Raiatea across the ocean and munched on the sweet ramboutans while talking about life, college, bro stuff, etc. for a good hour or so. It was awesome. I felt a little guilty afterwards about wasting the time, but life here is just ridiculously awesome right now. If you had the view of Raiatea and the blue ocean in front of you, you'd be tempted to sit there for a long time too. ;)

Looking forward to this week: work like normal Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday morning we are going to Raiatea for our zone conference. That will be all day long. President and Sister Bize will be there, so we will also do interviews with President. We come back to Tahaa Friday night. Saturday and Sunday are normal days, and then it's already P Day again! Time is going too quickly.

Thanks for all the prayers and support and emails. I love hearing from you! Miss and love you all,

Elder Barlow

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