Hey, everyone, how's it going? I missed last week's weekly email, so this one will be a long one. Let's get right into it. Last week on Wednesday, I got to go to the capital, Santo Domingo, to get my residencia, which was a fun process. It was like a 4-hour drive there in this big bus (here buses are called guaguas, kinda weird), and we got to see the Capitol and all its craziness. On Saturday a week ago, it was April Fool's Day, so me and my companion pulled a prank on the other Elders we live with and made white rice for dinner. So funny. We hid the stuff to go with it in the fridge, but first we both had to eat the plain white rice to make it look real, and that was a little painful. Good stuff.
We've been teaching a lot of new people recently. It's hard to talk about the people because there's a lot of very different people we teach every day, and if I were to give a brief explanation about all of them, this email would be very very long (I'm staying humble, I promise). I'm very glad for the progress God has been giving us with some of these people, but at the same time, I'm definitely seeing my patience grow too, which is good. I love the people here. They're all great in different ways, and I just want so badly for them to be happier, through the gospel of Christ.
This week was good. It was semana santa, Holy Week, where the whole week they "celebrate" the resurrection of Christ, which is in quotes because they just drink a lot lol. Especially on Friday, everyone makes this drink, habichuela con dulce, which tastes pretty dang good, as long as you forget that you are drinking bean juice basically.
On Saturday night, it rained so hard, I thought our house would get flooded, and were on the second floor of an apartment! It was literally insane (Join the Google photos to see it!).
I want to end with what I have learned so far. I've learned literally so much, but I'll talk about what I've learned about what it takes to be a missionary, like what to focus on. Through lots of scripture study and trial and error, there are three things I narrowed it down to. They are- faith/working hard, obedience, and charity. Faith and working hard/diligence are interchangeable, because you need to have both at all times, from 6:30 in the morning to when you get in bed at night. Exact obedience to all mission rules and commandments I have found, brings more happiness and rest in my days than when I wasn't exactly obedient. And charity, which is the love of Christ for all of his children- for the people we're teaching. Those are the things I have focused my days on. Every time I make a decision, I ask myself, "Would this be disobedience or make me less charitable?" Trust me, if I were to read that a month ago, I would've rolled my eyes, too. I would not be saying this if I didn't know 100% for myself the joy it brings. Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," and he, as they say, was "spitting facts."
Pero bueno! Great stuff, I love it here, I love this work, what a blessing it is to be here, working this great and marvelous work. I love you all, thank you for your prayers and support. Talk to you next week!
Join the Google photos to see all the action:
I must go -Elder Barlow
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