Week 52 and 53 - January 15, 2024

 What's up, all!   Time for another "weekly" email.  This week was super interesting, so I'll actually write about it this time. 

We actually were able to find a good amount of pretty interesting people.  On Thursday, we had Zone Conference which was fun.  Then afterwards, I was a little stressed because I didn't know who we were gonna visit.  I prayed for God to guide us and to help us find new people to teach who were ready for the gospel, and that day we found two really cool people.  The first house we found was actually super hidden, but we found it and the lady we talked to was really nice.  In fact, after about 30 seconds of talking to her she said she'll go to our church instead because it's closer than the one she goes to, and she actually went yesterday, so that was fun. Then we found another guy and his wife, and they're really interested in the messages we have, agreeing with everything we're saying and stuff.  We'll see how these guys progress, I'm really hopeful. 

My child (the guy I'm training) is doing alright.  I'm still kinda figuring out how to train and finding out new ways to help him learn faster, but for now I'm just focusing on teaching by my actions and trying to be a good example.  I'm not great at that either, but it's alright.  

I had an exchange of companions for a day with the other companionship we live with and got to work with Zolly (Elder Zollinger) for a day, which was fun.  He's a fun kid.  We played dominos against some old dudes and actually won, which never happens.  Old Dominicans are telepathic when they play dominos, it's actually crazy.

 

Got a crazy story for you guys.  After church yesterday, we had branch council, where the church leaders and us talk for a bit about how the work is progressing and other stuff.  The Bishop said, "Alright so you guys had Lolo and Benson in church today, anybody else you want to mention?"  I was confused because Benson was not in church.  Benson is this Haitian guy the missionaries had been teaching since long before I got here.  Bishop told me that he saw him walking up to church as he arrived.  I said, "Well, he wasn't in church today, so we'll see how he's doing when we go by his house later." 

We go by his house at like 6 later that day and as we're going down the steep stairs (they live on the side of a big cliff), one guy comes out of his house on my right and says, "No, no Benson was taken by immigration, he's gone!"  I thought he was joking, there's no way.  I keep going down and then a guy comes out of his house on my left and says, "Looking for Benson?  Nah, immigration took him, he gone."  I was flabbergasted.  I call down to the guys that are gathered around Benson's house in disbelief and ask if he's home, and they confirmed one last time, "No, immigration took him."  Que loco.  RIP Benson, was a great dude, hope he's living it up in Haiti, sounds like a chill place. 

Anyway, that's probably the craziest story I'll share for a while, had to get it out though.  Thank you all again for your support and love, I'm praying for y'all and hope 2024 is starting off well. Talk to y'all again soon!

I must go -Elder Barlow

Weeks 50 and 51 - January 1, 2024

 We are officially halfway there, with 1 out of 2 years under the belt.  It's crazy that time went by that fast, I can't believe I'm already a year in.  I also can't believe that by the end of this year, I'll be home.  As I've said before, I have learned so much, and I'm not only grateful for every month that I've spent here, but I'm even more grateful that I still have a year left.  I feel like I just got the hang of everything and still got a lot to learn.  I'll try to make the best of this year!  2024 is gonna be one I'll always remember!

As for these past couple weeks, it's been fun.  Training was a little difficult at first, but I'm getting the hang of it, and the area is starting to progress a little more each day.  We're finding a ton every day.  I still feel like we don't have enough people to teach.  My Spanish is getting really good, too, mainly because I'm doing all the talking and work by myself now, which I actually kinda enjoy.  I'd rather do everything than have a comp that doesn't let me do anything.  Besides, in my first transfer I, too, was a young lad that didn't know anything at all either, so I don't blame him.  We did say that starting this year I'll have him start taking some initiative in stuff like lessons and planning and finding and whatnot, so I'm excited to see him progress and grow as a missionary and a person.

Not too much happened these past couple weeks other than the crazy finding we did.  Last Monday was Christmas, so Merry Christmas everyone, you're welcome.  They put a couple movies on the mission drive for the day, so I got to watch Polar Express, and for the first time watching it in like 10 years, I enjoyed it.  Also, last Monday and today we had to stay in all day instead of going out to work at 6 like we usually do, because it's a little dangerous around these parts during the holidays apparently, lots of borrachos. 

I hope everyone is doing good and having lots of success in whatever it is you're doing.  I have lots of hope for this year, it'll be a good one for sure.  Thanks so much for the support, I'm praying for y'all and talk to you soon!

I must go -Elder Barlow

Weeks 47, 48, and 49 - December 18, 2023

Another three weeks down here in the Dominican Republic.  It's been good, we've been working really hard and making some progress. 

11/28-12/4- had my birthday on Tuesday, which was a good day.  We had a lot of good lessons and finished the day with a nice ice cream cake from Bon.  Other than that, it was a pretty normal week with lots of finding and teaching as usual.  It's crazy that it's already December.  I'm really really close to hitting a year, although it doesn't feel like that at all.  It feels more like it's only been 4-5 months or so.

12/5-12/11- this week was really interesting.  We spent a bit of time exploring a piece of the area we call "Popi Jungle", or rich jungle, because popi means rich here for some reason.  We didn't get a ton of success because the people in that area aren't extremely receptive.  On Wednesday, we were coming back from Popi Jungle when this random dude drove by and said, "Hey, Elders, need a ride?"  Super random but the guy looked and sounded really American and called us Elders, so I got in.  I found out that this guy had been living here for the past couple years because he works at the US embassy near our area.  He's, also, a member of the church and a Bishop of one of the wards here.  Super cool, but I didn't get to know him or his family too well because the drive was really short. Luckily, we ended up spending p-day later that week at his house, which was complete with a second floor, air conditioning, and hot water.  I was stoked to be in an American-like house again.  This week, we also had Zone Conference, and it was all Christmas themed, so we had a fun musical-chairs-like activity where everyone ended up with a random gift another missionary bought.  I got the best gift of all--an electric fly swatter.

12/12-12/18- this week was fun.  It was Elder Orellana's last week here, and Elder Oberg's first couple of days in the country.  That's right, I'm a father now.  Elder Oberg is from Utah, or as the Dominicans call it, "the factory of the missionaries."  He doesn't know any Spanish really at all yet and is still getting to know the lessons and missionary life in general, so I'm doing my best to keep the work progressing on my own while he catches up, like I did when I was trained.  This dude is freakishly tall, by the way, at 6'8.  We sure do get a lot of looks in the streets, and I feel super short for the first time in my life.  

I'm excited to get to know him more, and also to learn a lot as I continue with this position I'm in.  Training is exciting, stressful, and super tiring.  These last couple of days I've been thanking the heavens every time I make it through another day, then wonder how I'll ever make it through the next.  I'm sure I'll get used to it though, but some prayers to help us continue to progress the work here would be nice. 

That's about it for now.  Thank you all for your support and prayers, and I'll talk to you again soon!

I must go -Elder Barlow

Weeks 44, 45, and 46 - November 27, 2023

Hey, guys, been a bit since I wrote, so a bit to catch up on, which is good.  Join the Google photos album to see all the action!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tihiSziTbydZFL4M6

These past couple weeks have been great and going by super super fast.  November is already almost over with my birthday right around the corner (tomorrow), and it's all just been going by so fast.  It's been raining a lot recently, which we'll get a bit more into later on, but the rain is super crazy here in the capital.  I love it. 

We've been progressing the work well here, constantly finding new people to teach and serve.   A couple service projects we've had were helping some guys move a bunch of cinder blocks and helping a member move to a new house.  The mission has helped me realize how much I love service projects like that, and I'm definitely eager to do more of that after the mission, too. 

We've also been doing a bit of exploring in parts of the area I've never been to, because usually we spend all of our time in certain specific parts of the area, but I've been wanting to branch a bit to get to know more of where I work.  Unfortunately, I quickly learned why we don't spend time in those areas.  It's because the houses there are super super popi (rich in Dominican Spanish) and they don't let us in to talk to them.  We're talking massive mansions with whole gardens and fountains and Fresh-Prince-of-Bel-Air type stuff, crazy. 

Anyway, a little over a week ago we got some insane rain, like Matthew 7:27 type rain, floods and all.  We had lunch at a member's house, then it starts raining like crazy, but we waited for it to end so we could work.  After staying in the house for like 2 hours after our lunch time had ended, we decided to book it to the house (like a 20-minute walk away) in the pouring rain, which was awesome.  We got home at around 4:30 and ended up staying in the house for the rest of the days because it didn't stop raining.  As you can imagine, this caused some damage to some neighborhoods, so the day after, Sunday, no one really showed up to church, which is understandable.  Then we spent the rest of the day going around the city looking for people in need of help.

 

Today we celebrated my birthday that's tomorrow by going to the "Jardin Botanico" that's in our area.  We got to see a bunch of other missionaries that happened to go that day as well, which was fun.  It was a good time. 

Lots of good stuff here in the DR, and there's still a lot left to go!  I'm really so happy to know I still have over a year left, because I feel I have still so much to learn!  I'm just so excited to see what God has in store for me, and I'm learning to put more and more of my trust in Him.  After all, when you put your life in God's hands, you start to see God's hands in your life. Thank you all for your support and talk to you again "soon"!

I must go -Elder Barlow

P.S.- We did celebrate Thanksgiving, a member here knew how to make American Thanksgiving food, so we had that, picture below. 

 

Week 43 - November 6, 2023

Hey, everyone, got a lot of good news to share with you all, let's get into it. 

So, there were transfers on Friday, and I finally made my way over to the capital, Santo Domingo.  The zone I'm in is called Duarte, and the ward I have the privilege to serve in is called La Esperanza, or Hope, which is fitting.  After three exhausting months of working in Azua, I've been delivered from my afflictions, and my hope has returned.  

My new comp's name is Elder Orellana, from El Salvador.  Absolute beast, I hope I get to learn a lot from this guy.  He's been showing me my new area these last couple days and I absolutely love it.  All the way since February I've been in "the south" of the country, in Barahona then Azua.  Now finally I'm here in the capital and I'm so glad La Esperanza got to be my first area here.

 

There were a couple baptisms right after I left.  We had the baptism of Lori, and of Yoderis and Yoelmis, and from what I hear they were all so happy to make that big step in the life, which is great. 

Other than that, not much is new.  My birthday is coming up, a couple weeks and I'm 21, which is crazy.  I know I'll be living it up here in La Esperanza, I'm super excited to learn more of the area and the people and everything.  Thanks, everyone, for your prayers and support.  They're being answered, I can tell you that.  Talk to you all soon, nos vemos!

I must go -Elder Barlow