Week 7 - February 28, 2023

Hello, everyone!  Another week in the field, this one went by so fast!  We're starting to get to know the area and the people pretty well.  This update might be a little shorter, because nothing too crazy happened this week. 

I will say, this week has been a rough one.  Most of it was me getting used to the new way of life that I'll be living.  This is super hard work.  There have been many times where I have felt really confident in myself and then other times I have just felt hopeless.  Most of the time it's both in the same day.  The days here are just rollercoasters of emotion.  And one day I looked back on the day and realized that the only thing that keeps me confident and helps me to not fall into hopelessness is my faith.  Faith that through Christ I CAN do all things.  And that's the hard part.  Before the mission, and even sometimes here, I don't give myself credit for much.  I don't have a lot of confidence in myself, sometimes barely any.  I have a lot of faith in God and his great gospel and work, but the thing I learned is I also have to have faith in myself; that I can do all that is required of me.  And that's when I'm happiest, when I just don't care about the negative stuff.  Crazy right?  It took me 20 years to realize this lol.  My family was right all along! But yeah, I would be lying if I said I'm not enjoying myself.  I'm still getting used to the food here, it's really hard to eat a huge mountain of rice for every meal, but I know I can get used to that. 

Anyway, another great week, I learned a lot about myself, but I also learned something really cool in the scriptures.  Short little message time- in the book of Mormon, a great scripture is Alma 26:12, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore, I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things."  That really encapsulates my mindset.  Most of the progress I make here is never because of how good I'm doing or because of how awesome I am or how fast I learn or anything.  It's because I am a missionary of God, and he is simply helping me and strengthening me to accomplish his work.

 

Thanks for all your prayers, I can feel the love and support from all of you. Talk to you all next week!

I must go -Elder Barlow