Weeks 82, 83, and 84 - August 26, 2024

Hey, everyone, its Elder Barlow again.  This past month has just flown by, and it's been pretty crazy.  We've been working super hard as usual and been making a lot of progress here in Maimon.

I finished up the transfer with Elder Burrows, and it was an overall pretty good transfer.  We met and taught a lot of people, and we ended up having a baptism, too, which was such an amazing experience (mostly).  We baptized a young lady named Darlenny, and it was just amazing to see how baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost has changed her life. She was baptized a couple weeks ago, but the changes I've seen in her character and countenance is just so awesome. 

Let me tell you how the baptism itself went though. 

It was August 8, and we started the day early in the church to get the baptismal font filled and everything else in order.  We start filling the font and it just takes forever because there was no power.  By the time we're done having lunch in the chapel, the water stops coming out with the font only barely half full. We call a member over to help us figure the power out, and we also bought a water truck for a bunch of money to "fill" the cistern under the church, but even after that it still wasn't enough.  At like 5, we go back to the house to get our proselytizing gear and head out, as we had basically decided to postpone the baptism to the next week.  

As we were leaving the house, I had the impression to go back and get the baptismal clothing for Darlenny.  Even though we planned to postpone the baptism, we went back and got the clothes, then went to the church to drop them off there.  Once we got there, other members had arrived for the baptism, and we realized we forgot to let the rest of the branch know that we planned to postpone it.  It worked out though, because the members convinced us to do the baptism anyway, but in the river behind Darlenny's house.  We run over to Darlenny's house, their whole family is there and ready, and we walk down to the river together just as the sun is going down.  My comp does the baptism, which was just so awesome, then we go back to her house to compete the other half. 

 

The lot fell on me to confirm her a member, and even though at first I was a little nervous, the fear soon left me.  As I placed my hands on her head and confirmed her a member of The Church of Jesus Christ, I could feel so strongly the presence of the Holy Spirit, and felt a lot more things I think are maybe too sacred to share here. After a couple more weeks, I've seen that after receiving the Holy Ghost, Darlenny has received this great confidence in herself, and participates a lot more in lessons.  Before the baptism, she was super quiet and soft spoken, but it's crazy to see the changes she has done, as well as the brighter countenance she has. 

After this experience, my testimony grew immensely in two things.  The first was that this church, and the work it carries out, are true.  I have felt it, and I have seen the change the gospel brings to the lives of the people who follow it with all their heart.  I also know now that great things, and things that change us, don't usually come until after hard work and long days.  If you want to change, and if you want to see progress and even miracles, you gotta grind, and put the work in.  That stuff doesn't come for free or even after just a bit of work.  You gotta grind.

So that's cool, but I also got a new comp about a week and a half ago, Elder Mumford.  He originally comes from the East mission, and even though he's in his last transfer, he's down to work super hard to help us get a lot of good momentum in Maimon.  He got here on a Thursday, and by last Sunday, we went from 9 to 22 new people found.  This last week we found another 20 people, and we're excited to go again this week. Maimon's popping off now, and I'm sure Darlenny won't be the last baptism I see here. 

Oh yeah, also a missionary, Joshua, got home and we went to his homecoming party which was awesome. Making me think a lot about my homecoming in 4 months.....

I've been loving the mission these last couple months.  I'm in a lot better place mentally and spiritually, and I've learned a lot here in Maimon.  Excited to spend a lot more time here! Thanks all for the support and prayers, and I'll talk to you "next" week!

I must go -Elder Barlow

Weeks 79, 80, and 81 - July 30, 2024

 Hey, everyone, almost didn't get this email out, but here it is.  I feel like I have a lot to talk about because it's been a very interesting three weeks. 

My comp Elder Burrows (his name is funny because Burro in Spanish is donkey lol) and I have been working pretty dang hard here in Maimon.  The area is beautiful, as I've said before, but the branch here has some issues with attendance. We've been trying to find the balance between finding new people to teach and visiting the members consistently to make sure they don't go inactive.  We're still working on that.  Another thing that's interesting that one must take into account is that, even though we're in the new North Mission, me and my comp come from different missions originally.  This means he has different ideas in the work--some good, others not as much.  We're trying to find a balance with that as well. 

Sometimes we like to go down to a little bus stop town known as Piedra Blanca- or White Rock- located right in between Santo Domingo the capital, Bonao the district center, and Maimon.  This little town is also part of the area and we've been going down there once a week and let me tell you, every time we've been it's been such an adventure.  We go just to talk to references that we get from social media, which are many.  Since there's no church building down there and most of the people there don't have the means to make the 20-minute drive to the church, we don't spend too much time finding new people there.  But it's always fun to visit that place, I love it there. 

Anyway, to wrap it all up.  We've been working hard here to help the area progress, but I still feel like there's definitely room to improve and better ways to use our time.  I have a lot of hope for the area and a lot of faith in its progress, but it won't be easy.  But as my dad always tells me- if it were easy everyone would do it, right?  Thanks, everyone, for the love and support, keep praying for me (I promise the prayers are working), and of course I'm praying for you all as well.  Until next time!

I must go -Elder Barlow