Weeks 57, 58, and 59 - February 26, 2024

Buenos días, time for another update from the República Dominicana, the hottest place in the world. 

 

These past couple weeks have been really good, you could even say they've been great.  We dropped/stopped teaching a bunch of people in one week because they weren't progressing, which is unfortunate.  There were a couple people we dropped that were super cool, but the work has to always be moving forward, so that means we must keep moving forward as well.  A debido que we dropped a bunch of people, we also had to find a bunch of new people to teach. We've been really focusing on just one-half of the area and leaving the other half unvisited.  This is for many reasons, but mostly because "the other half" is far away from the house and is super popi/rich, and the rich people don't like talking to us (Matt 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25).  The half that is closer to us/less rich is a lot smaller, so we've been really focusing on knocking ever door we see, and we've been finding a lot because of it, which is good. 

On February 10th, we had Benson's baptism.  An absolute miracle--the guy was able to return from getting abducted, and that he decided to be baptized, and that it all went well.  I actually got pretty sick the day of and could barely work properly, but of course it was a baptism, so it was too important to not work.  What else was I gonna do?  "Ah sorry Benson, I know you're ready to make a covenant with God, but my stomach is a little weird so... gonna have to push it to next Saturday."  Ain't no way I would do something like that.  I prayed a lot for God to give me a bit of strength to get through the baptism.  The baptism went well thankfully, then literally right after it ended, and I'm talking the moment after the closing prayer, my sickness got a lot worse, and I spent the rest of the day resting (sleeping in a bathtub) and relaxing (throwing up a bit). 

In other exciting news, we did really well this month goal wise. At the beginning of every month, we set goals to help us see our progress and to push us to work hard.  This week we achieved our goals, finding 45/40 new people and getting 25/24 lessons with a member.  We only got 1/2 of the baptisms, which is great, and did well on our other goals.  I really focused myself this month on the goals that we set, and I remembered just how fun the mission becomes when you make it goal based.  There's more motivation, the area progresses more, and it's all around more exciting. 

I'm starting to say goodbye to the people here, too, because I'll be leaving here next Friday.  I'm excited because I always love change and to see and experience new stuff, but I also know I'll miss this area.  It's been a great time, and I've enjoyed my stay quite a bit.  Ever since I got here, I knew this area was special.  The area is called La Esperanza (Hope) after all, and "There's always hope in La Esperanza," as I always say.  I'll definitely be paying a visit here after my mission.  It's been super fun, and I'm excited to see where God calls me next. 

That's all for now.  Thank you all again for the prayers and support, I can definitely say that everything you guys are praying for is being answered, so keep going!  And I'll be sure to keep praying for ya'll too, as always. 

I must go -Elder Barlow

Weeks 54, 55, and 56 - February 5, 2023

Hey, all, I'm back with another update.  Sorry it took me so long lol.  These past couple weeks honestly have been great.  Let's get right into it. 

First, Elder Zollinger, a missionary I that was living in the same house as me, left a couple weeks ago, and a "new" missionary replaced him.  He's "new" because he's new to the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West mission, while beforehand he had served in the Santiago mission for a year, but then had to go home for a couple months because he got sick.  His name is Elder Pierre-Toussaint from Haiti.  I've been trying to learn a bit of Creole from him, too, because there's a lot of Haitians on our area. 

Speaking of Haitians in our area, remember Benson, the Haitian that was abducted by immigration on the way to church?  Well, a week later we walk into church, and guess who was sitting right there waiting for us?  BENSON.  I was amazed to see him again.  He said, "Yeah, right after they dropped me off, I got right back on another bus and came back the same day.  Oh, yeah, and I want to be baptized now lol." Never mind he had a huge change of heart and out of nowhere wants to be baptized, I was still amazed he was able to just come back so easily.  So yeah, he'll be baptized this Saturday, the 10th of February. 

We also tried teaching this guy who's totally anti against our church. I felt that he was only like that because he didn't understand correctly what we believe, so I wanted to give him a chance to learn what we really believe and help him to not listen to outside resources.  As I expected, when I asked if missionaries had ever taught him before, he said no.  We talked about the Book of Mormon because or church is basically entirely based on if that book is really scripture or not. By the end of the lesson, he showed interest in reading it, so we promised that the next time we come by we'll give him a copy.  The problem is, we gave out all of our copies, and we haven't gotten new ones since like a month or two ago.  Also, at the end of the lesson, the daughter comes out and says that she had studied before at BYUI, and took seminary classes, read a bit of the book of Mormon and other stuff, which was insane.  Moral of the story, speak with everyone, even if they don't seem interested, because they could have a secret daughter that's totally elect, you never know.  We're waiting to go back until after we have a Book of Mormon for them, but I'll keep you posted once we do. 

Just as I had to do when I first got here, we had to go get Elder Oberg's residency.  We had to go to a hospital out in the East mission, and I got to see a lot of other missionaries, including a couple of Elders that worked in my area before me.  They were happy to hear Benson was getting baptized and that the area is doing good.  After Oberg and the other greenies got all of their tests done, we took a metro to AGORA, the biggest mall I've ever seen.  It was awesome!  They literally had everything. We ate McDonald's, which was fun. 

The work overall is going good.  We're going to really focus this week on having members with lessons and inviting every person we're teaching (all 27 people) to come to church.  The members in this area are amazing and so active in the missionary work, which is great.  If only I were a little better at planning lessons with them lol.  I'm getting better at it slowly. Please pray that we'll be able to get the people we're teaching to church this week. 

That's about it.  A long one this time, because it's been a while, but yeah, the works going well, and we're about to work even harder this week, which is exciting.  The church is true, the work is true, I love Jesus, and I'm so grateful for everything He has shown and taught me this past year.  Thank you for all your prayers and support as well.  They're definitely being answered over here, so keep praying.  Of course, I'll be praying over here for you guys as well. 

I must go -Elder Barlow

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