Week 43 - April 13, 2026

 Great week. Man, Elder Huntley and I were flying, but this is soaring. It's great to just work as hard as you possibly can and see the Lord deliver on his side.

Pday: WHAT A PDAY, met up with my wonderful aunt and uncle at Chick fil a. Best P-day of the mission. Words cannot describe my appreciation and the love that I felt from my wonderful aunt and uncle. Much needed. Thank you so much, Kent and Natalie❤️ (and Brenly🫡) was so much fun to be around family and man, Natalie had to hit me with the dagger when she asked me if I missed my mom. Man, there's nothing more I miss than my parents and my family. Not music, driving, lifting, free time, sports, Nothing. The testimony I've gained and the experiences and the things I'm learning are stuff you just cannot get if you do not serve a mission. Such a blessing. It's so hard but so worth it. Thank you so much again, Kent and Natalie, for all the gifts you got me as well❤️❤️ 

Yes, Brenly was by my side the whole time😂 She's the best. 

P-night was great. Elder Marshall and I still didn't say a word, but I didn't feel frustration and we had the Spirit as we went out and worked. We met a couple new cool people, too. Got kicked out again in Botanic Gardens, unfortunately. Found in Napier as well and it was good. 

Tuesday:  Tuesday is always automatic exchange day, so it's nice. After DCM we had district lunch which means Chick fil a again. It was great as always. Went back to the church and met up with the Sembawang Elders. Elder Workman's companion went to Johor Bahru for a Visa run, so we were in a trio for a day. Went with Elder Workman and Elder Stinger in city hall. Where all the Burmese people are. Finding was interesting. I don't know any Burmese, and Elder Workman and Elder Stinger know a little bit. So, I was kinda lost. We got it done. Had Wingstop with their recent convert. Went back at 9:00 and did calls. It was good.

 

Wednesday- went out again with Elder Marshall. We went to China town and got kicked out of a mall area. Actually, ridiculous how much we're being cast out at this point. I pulled the work pass card on him literally and man bless him he was just doing his job. Someone complained and he's gotta be the one to tell us to leave. Whatever. Anyways, I actually got a conversation out of Elder Marshall at lunch, which was great. Nothing much though. I'm not gonna lie, Elder Marshall is a stud when it comes to missionary work😭 He's (I should say we of course) already got this area up and running with progressing friends and potential people on date for baptism in like five days from nothing to something. We did some more finding from Chinatown to Outram Park/Maxwell area. Went back to Newton and had three lessons actually which was super nice. Went home and called it a day. 

Thursday- 10 MONTHS‼️ wowwwwww. Huge. Weekly planning at Harbourfront with Elder Marshall, of course. Went well. Only did an hour and a half. It was solid. He told me what I already knew during our council that he looks at me as his "business partner," so whatever that means. We still don't talk a lot, but at least he's not mean to me in any way. Had a member meal, too. It went great. They gave me a Dr Pepper, too, an American one. Has Frisco Texas on the can and all. Found from Newton to Novena. Didn't get a ton of finding in as we had to teach English class as well. Teaching English class is fun. Went home and called it a day. 

Friday- Friday morning was feeling really discouraged. Watching Elder Marshall joke around with the two other Elders at the house and having fun and then the second he turns to me his entire tone and demeanor change to nonchalant was pretty frustrating. It's just so weird. Why would you not want to be good friends with someone you're called of God to work with? I just don't understand. It's gonna be a long 2 and a half months, man. 

Anyways, we found in Orchard for a while. It was good. Did a lot more finding in Tao Payoh later in the day. Found a lot of cool people. Got McDs, then went back to Newton and had a call or two. Solid day. 

Saturday- exchanges with Elder Myers in Jurong👨🏻‍🦰🙏🏻🧑🏻 part 2

Always great to go with Elder Myers. We started off getting black tap with the mental health senior missionaries right next to the boat building in Marina Bay. So awesome. Black tap, if y'all don't know, it's a super super nice well-known burger place. Crazy expensive. Really really good stuff. We did our language study just on the Bay looking at all of downtown Singapore. So awesome. Went to Lakeside and found for four and a half hours straight. Went by fast and we had a great finding block. Taught a lesson and then got McDs and went home. Great day. 

Sunday- church was great. It was good to finally be back with the members and have Elder Marshall meet them for the first time. Went and studied and did a little bit of finding outside the church. Went to Holland Village and did some finding and it was great. Tons of people out on a Sunday. Went and had a member meal. It was good. The parents aren't too keen on participating too much with us sharing a message and instead having their 3-year-old son answer us. Strange. Went and met up with a person, but we ended it quickly. He kept telling us he wanted to move to the U.S with us😂 We had a call and then went back to Newton and did some finding to end off the week. Sunday night Elder Marshall and I counseled, and it went really well and we both felt the Spirit. Looking forward to this next week and continuing to grind. 

I will echo what Elder Wilde said about General Conference. Whenever my parents said to come downstairs and watch general conference or "force" me to sit and watch General Conference and I would just be all malas and sesat (lazy and lost) and would say no.  MAN, did I miss out. Never thought in my free time I'd be lying down in my bed listening to conference getting so hyped. 

"Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth reply, Alleluia!" 

DARKNESS VEILS 🇸🇬SINGLAYSIA🇲🇾 NO MORE

Love y'all. It's great to be here in Singapore. Y'all are the best🙏🏻🙏🏻 

-Elder Barlow🇸🇬 

Week 42 - Apri 5, 2026

 Satu lagi pemindahan di SINGAPURA, SINGA KOTA🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬 

I will be with Elder Marshall. Who has literally done his ENTIRE MISSION of 12 transfers being around Ibans and in East Malaysia out in the sticks. He's Zone Leader 2 and I'm of course your trusty, noble, very passionate, fiery, Book of Mormon lovin' JC (junior companion) who's literally been babysat with leadership his entire mission🤺 just kidding.

Elder Marshall is a serious quiet guy. I am, too, except when I'm finding and then it's time to be as open as possible. He's from Boise. Back-to-back comps not from Utah, I love it. So clutch. They loveee sending non-Utahns to Newton Ward. It makes complete sense.

P-night: very chill. Went to Napier and we got to see the US Embassy. Not allowed to take pictures but man seeing the US flag was something different. Haven't seen it in 9 and a half months. So awesome. MERICA🦅 Shoutout Columbus. so cool. Anyways. We did finding in Botanic gardens as well. Absolutely no one was there and so we did more contacting on our phone and responding but yeah still solid. Set up a lot of member visits for this week for Elder Huntley to say goodbye to people. 

Tuesday: exchanges with Elder Wright

Still started off slow. Elder Wright lost his phone the previous day, so we went to Kallang to go look for it. Couldn't find it. Obviously with DCM + transfer calls AND a mission-wide devotional, the day is shorter than other days of work. Did an hour of finding in Queenstown. A little bit in Chao Chu Kang. Had Chick fil a for district lunch and Wingstop for dinner. Very light day. Obviously gave all I could during finding. I'm not gonna lie. I was speaking Malay to an Indonesian woman during finding and I had to actually like speak Malay and think of what I was saying. So tragic💔 by the time I'm done here in Singapore my Malay is going to be TRASH. Gotta keep it good for when I'm training an Elder this fall in Sarawak. Anyways. I strained the right side of my neck as well, so I wasn't going too fast that night. Didn't teach any lessons. Went all the way back to Newton and called it a day. 

Wednesday: woke up and it felt like my neck was about to fall off. Man, I don't know what I did to my neck, definitely just strained a muscle in it. Man, I'm getting old. Just kidding. Anyways, Wednesday was great. We had a member meal at night. The Pngs. If you've read my email, you'll recognize that last name. That's because their son is the one and only Elder Png that I served with in JOHOR BAHRU🇲🇾💎 anyways yeah the last couple days before the transfer ends is always so light. A relaxed transition period before Elder Marshall comes in. We did some finding in City Hall though for an hour. Called a friend and taught him. Called our recent convert. Ate with the Pngs and it was super weird and awesome to be in another Elder's house on the mission. To be around Elder Png's parents and stuff. His parents are awesome though. Great food. Great time. Went home and called it a night. 

Thursday: started off the day going to Bras Basah and ate real Mexican food with a member, Trent. He flies for Singapore Airlines. Absolute Stud. Got this crazy good quesadilla. We're eating good, we're gonna be alright, don't even worry y'all. Of course, did the weekly planning. Thank you, Randall, for the support, my guy, because man I needed it. Elder Huntley was literally like, "Elder, this is all you. I'm leaving tomorrow morning, you're taking over the area. Lock in." All that good stuff. He just ended up texting his new stewardship in Kuala Lumpur🇲🇾 and so I had to kinda do it all myself which is fine not mad at it. I got it done. Going into this next transfer with not a whole ton of progressing people. No people on date for baptism. Elder Huntley and I did a ton of great work. So this next transfer just have to keep the fire burning and finding and building up the area. Moving up the escalator as missionaries would say, if you will. Anyways. Studies and then off to another member meal. We did absolutely zero finding on Thursday. Not one person was stopped and asked if they wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ. All good. 

Friday: Friday was travel day and so Elder Huntley and I went to Changi, and we dropped him off with a recent convert who wanted to get breakfast with him before he flew to KL, and then I went with Elder Jenkins the whole day because I needed a companion. We got Chick fil a for lunch and then went to Lavender and did Lavender to Stadium River Walk. The first half was not promising at all. No people. But we got to Stadium and some hyrock event relay thing was going on. Sooooo many people. Found there for 2 and a half hours. Was good. Went to Changi again to pick up Elder Marshall. We got him and just went back to Newton. Was on the MRT for pretty much half the day. So much contacting and messaging. Lil bit of a different day, but we got it done.

 

Saturday: first full day with Elder Marshall and I have to say this is the hardest working missionary I've ever been around. He actually does not say a word to me. He has yet to ask me where I'm from, what I did before the mission, nothing about my family. I don't think he will end up asking. He's just super super quiet. But he works super super hard, so we'll be alright. Complete opposite sense of humor as me as well but it's all good. He wants to baptize for the right reason. We did 5½ hours of finding on Saturday. 2½ in Bishana and 3 straight in City Hall. I texted him this was going to be a find and grind transfer, and I got what I asked for. It was a pretty boring day throughout. Elder Huntley and I would use to joke around and have fun and keep it light even throughout finding, but man Elder Marshall actually will not look at me. Kinda tough. Still love finding though, luckily. Still great sharing Books of Mormon with people and helping them come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Still super fulfilling. 

Sunday: was super pumped for Sunday though. Got to watch both Saturday rebroadcasted sessions at the church. Man, when "The Morning Breaks" started playing, I actually almost ran full speed through the nearest wall. Oh my. Conference was so awesome. Loved the messages and the focus on ministering and serving. Unfortunately, will still miss all of Sunday but it's all good. At least I didn't have to wait a whole week this time. Did a lot of finding, of course, and Elder Marshall being ever stoic and ignoring me as I try to offer my help and knowledge got frustrating. He seriously does have righteous desires and a good heart. He keeps telling me he's a control freak and so finally he was like okay, when we're not doing exchanges, you can choose where we go. There are some other things he does like having full on 5-minute conversations with Muslim people, but one thing he told me was you just have to smile and make people feel loved. So interesting to see other ways missionaries work. We are definitely opposite on a lot of things. That's why we're companions😂 I told him I can stop being so prideful and not think my way is the best. Back-to-back comps who are helping me learn humility and stripping my pride in two different ways. One was funnier and louder and joked with me but was pretty prideful and one never says a word and never jokes with me nor looks at me, but it allows me more time to focus on others and not force my ideals onto him. 

The miracle of a mission. 

Even when I'm in Singapore, Newton, an amazing super nice area. The Lord will never allow me to be or stay comfortable. I get placed with one of, if not the hardest working, most diligent missionary in the whole mission who doesn't seem too keen on having the most "fun," we'll be alright though.

The Lord will always push us to become better. This mission is the best. So much practice every day and opportunities to become who God wants me to be. I should be getting two transfers with Elder Marshall as well, so I'm interested to see how our relationship will be by the end. I also have to give him way more grace. He has spent his whole mission in east Malaysia. Of course, Elder Marshall was saying that for the last 18 months of his mission he would just walk into people's houses and then just teach them. So, it's the 3rd mission and the work is different, just wish he would let me show him the ropes. That's how Elder Huntley was on me. Pretty hard but he did it because he wanted me to be a better missionary. Anyways he's gotta learn and it's completely different it's going to take time. I'm not worried about it. 

Love y'all. Hope everything is going well as always and you enjoyed Sunday general conference. 

Love y'all, have a great week🙏🏻 

-Elder Barlow🇸🇬 

Week 41 - March 29, 2026

 ABSOLUTELY AMAZING WEEK IN THE LION CITY WOW🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬 

Monday night- I got so cooked from Sentosa, but man that was the best p-day of my entire mission. Volleyball on the beach. Ate black tap. Famous New York wagyu steak burger restaurant here in Singapore. P-night was alright. Found the whole night. Found in Botanic gardens which was just so awesome. Walking those trails just Elder Huntley and I stopping people. Walking with the sunburn hurt soooo bad. Felt like little knives all over my leg. Not fun. Ran around and had a great night.

Tuesday- great day. Did a training at DCM about recent convert retention and the Sacrament. Talked about how crucial the Sacrament was throughout my life and how grateful I was for my parents just dragging me to church every Sunday. So clutchhhh, oh my. Man, who knows who'd I be if I wasn't out here. Sacrament was hugeeeee for those years just keeping me barely alive spiritually. Clutch. Had an exchange with Elder Finch. A very fun and shorter day with Elder Finch. This Elder Finch is the epitome of a Singapore missionary. He served three transfers in Newton a year ago and has done his last five transfers in 3rd Ward. He has served a year in Singapore!! Some Elders are lucky if they get just three let alone eight transfers in Singapore. He knows this work and all it has to offer. He's super awesome. Learned a ton from him. He speaks Tagalog, little bit of Bisea, Illykano, Malay, Chinese. He's doing full on-Contacts in Mandarin and Tagalog. It's because 3rd Ward here is where all the Filipino members go. So yeah, he's just a stud. Such a great day. Love getting exchanges with the Zone leaders who just put on such a great example. We found in Queenstown. One of the best finding blocks of the entire transfer. Met so many awesome people. So many studs. Had great conversations. Got stopped by the cops again, but this time they were SUPER chill. Showed them my new work pass card. They asked If I worked in Singapore and I'm able to look them dead in the eyes with a straight face and tell them, "Yes, I do work in Singapore." They walked away and they were being super nice. We just kept finding there. So awesome. Went back to the church. We taught our on-date. Went super well. Slept over at the 3rd Ward house. Did teaching video calls from 9:00pm to 11:00pm. There are so many progressing friends. There were eight Elders in the house all teaching eight individual lessons at the same time😭 great night, great day. 

Wednesday- woke up and walked back to the Newton apartment with Elder Huntley. Wednesday is always that random day in the week. It's not DCM day. It's not weekly planning. It's not Saturday so you're not sending our church invites. It's not Sunday so memang it's not the Lord's day. Such a filler day. Anyways. Great day. Did an hour in Dhoby Ghaut, met some cool couples walking around, and it's always the guys being so shy and embarrassed as the girlfriend asks awesome questions and is super nice😂. Did an hour and a half in City Hall. Met a member from Southlake, Shoutout Dallas. He said he knew a Sister Lamb coming out in August to this mission, so that's cool. 

We ate Chick Fil a🐔

Went back to the church, did some teaching calls, went to Orchard. Found there. Had another really awesome conversation with another couple. Both from Malaysia. I spoke Malay to them, and they had absolutely NO CLUE what language I was even speaking. I'm telling you no one in Singapore speaks Malay; I want to make that clear. I do sometimes miss finding and teaching in Malay. AH ANYWAYS. Had another call with this potential on-date we're looking to baptize next transfer. She's super cool. Great day. 

Thursday- one of the last couple weekly planning with Elder Huntley. Did it at Wingstop here in City Hall at Funan. Ran into my guy Elder Johnson and Elder Billings. The Sembawang Elders. Of course they wanted the Wingstop juga. Did the studies as per usual. Potentially 400 days left in the mission idk see first bolehkah? 

Found from Clarke Quay to Fort Canning. Boat tower just still in the background the whole time, oh my it's the best. Soooooo many tourists, not gonna lie. Always gotta ask them if they're from Singapore. So many great songs playing left and right too. Way too many distractions and we only found for like an hour, but we met this cool guy named Jerrick, he's awesome. Went back to the church as per usual and did two lessons. Ate Subway and then taught a very fun English class

I have to journal this one. There's this one friend from mainland China and to start the English we asked everyone's hobbies. We asked this one sister her hobby and she said cooking, but it sounded like she said cocaine with her accent. Elder Huntley and I just hit the, "Oh wow, that's awesome, Sister," head to the ground. Elder Huntley wasn't taking that though and he asked again like, "Sister, what is it that you like to do?" She said "cooking" but kind of pronouncing it like cocaine😂😂 it was so funny. Finally, this one guy just says "cooking," and we're just yelling OHHHHHHHHH understand Sister! Yes, the cooking one. Let's honestly just hope she's sticking to cooking the food bolehkah? 

We talked to them about having confidence when you speak English. Because of course let's be real, they're not going to learn that much English from two white untrained guys that don't even speak Mandarin once a week for an hour. It starts with them going out and just speaking it because that's the best way to learn. 

Anyways great day. 

Friday- went to Tan kah kee for some morning finding. Actually, supplied so well. Met four new friends. Ate Popeyes. Went to Elder Huntley's derm appointment. Studies and then

TO CHICK FIL A IN BUGIS

Got Chick fil a with a recent convert. 

This part is so wild yes, it deserves an entire couple paragraphs

We're waiting in line and the MAN CHYN KOH, the owner of the Chick fil a who always says hi to us of course, comes out to shake our hands. He asks us how the work is going and we're like, "Yeah, we have a baptism this week and it's going amazing, of course." Anyways, Elder Huntley proceeds to ask him if there is anything new on the menu

Chyn Koh: "hasn't changed" 

Elder Huntley: "is the frosted lemonade on the menu at all?" 

Chyn Koh: "not yet, we could make it we just don't, I'LL GET You BOTH ONE" 

YEAHKAH???? BETULKAH? 

THE SECOND WE SIT DOWN, out comes the MAN Chyn Koh AND JUST HANDS US TWO FREE FROSTED LEMONADES YEAHLAHHHHHHH. WOWWWWWWWWW

Elder Huntley and I are the first two people in Singapore Chick Fil a history (probably sources unconfirmed still) to have the frosted lemonade. Not even on THE MENU. So unbelievably hebat. So awesome. We eat with our recent convert. 

THEN in walks the temple missionary Elder Wilcox whose big boss over the Singapore temple construction. Mind you, we did not invite him. He just also wanted the Chick fil a, I mean WHO WOULDN'T. He's just the best. Showing us pictures and giving us updates on how it's going. Giving us cool little facts about the building process if you will and yeah, it's just awesome.

Absolute top day in the mission. Cannot get better than that. 

Went back to the Church. Called our guy Jerrick, who's a stud. Called this other uncle. Found a little bit and had a rare MPL while finding lesson. Since we just find on Bukit Timah Road right outside the massive church, a member walks out of the church and just bears his testimony as we're in a contact. Met another friend as well and I was able to show him the Book of Mormon, and he downloaded it off the QR code on my phone. So awesome. 

Saturday- Saturday was great. We started off the morning just finding in Newton where we live and where the Church is. There was also a massive Woman's Conference going on so we did some service for a little bit after. Ate, studies, contacts, met with our recent converts at KFC and taught them a lesson about Easter and 3rd Nephi 11 and read from a talk from Elder Gary E. Stevenson. I'll put it below. It's super good, I encourage y'all to read it for this Easter Season. Anyways, after we found in Tao Payoh. Had a guy literally pull the, "I have enough with the Bible. I'm good, I don't need anymore." Like brother, just read 2 Nephi 29 verses 5-8. I literally whipped out my phone so unbelievably fast and read those verses to him and it's just not his time. He's just not ready. Election of grace hasn't come yet. Tidapa. All good lah. Anyways, I love it. Been having people scan the Book of Mormon QR code on my phone. Just doing straight Book of Mormon finding. Always bringing it up. It's so much fun. Ah, I love it. 

Anyways, whatever, went and got Mexican food. Some Guzman y Gozmos. Back to Newton, found, called on-date, finished off the rest of the night doing calls and printing out baptismal flyers, and folding them for the next day in the back building. Pretty chill end to the day. 

Sunday- 🌊STEVEN'S BAPTISM🌊

BLESSED SABBATH AS ALWAYS. Elder Huntley and I were talking about it, and Steven's baptism was SO SMOOTH. Actually, zero stress whatsoever. It was wild. As a Singapore Zone, we had 17 Baptisms all on Sunday. This is the best Singapore has done in forever. So many. It's so much fun to be around. So many Filipinas and Burmese girls getting baptized and of course, our stud, Steven. So awesome. We taught our friend, JACK SPARROW, from mainland China🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️ He's going back to China, but he'll be back in May. We put him on date for June 14th. So, let's hope he gets back in contact with us when he comes back to Singapore. Shoutout, Jack Sparrow, though. Did studies and contacting and went out to Lavender and did some riverside finding from Lavender to Nicoll Highway. Went to stadium and had a very fun time finding. Great night. Great week. Flew around. Hit our goals. Feel accomplished. What a transfer. What an area. Shoutout Newton. Shoutout Singapore🇸🇬🇸🇬🇸🇬 

"I would that ye should hear me, for I speak in the energy of my soul; for behold, I have spoken unto you plainly that ye cannot err, or have spoken according to the commandments of God." 

On our exchange with Elder Finch, we did an exchange review to kind of learn from each other. He said Elder, I love your energy. I love your boldness. You're a great finder. You know what you're doing. You got a good hold on it. 

I'm not gonna lie I absolutely cannot teach to save my life. Mainly because I cannot find the desire or ENERGY to do so. Maybe I'm not the best at all with connecting with members at church. 

But man, I can find.

I can go out and walk the same sidewalk for two hours straight and not complain once. I can run people down all day long and just whip out my phone and read the Book of Mormon verses all day long. 

That is all I want when people see me do missionary work. That is all I want to show to people. 

TENAGA SEPERTI HARIMAU🇲🇾

URGENCY. IT'S ZAMAN AKHIR LOCK IN🔐  

BOLDNESS LIKE A LION🇸🇬

This is what it's about. It's why I'm here in Singapore. It's just so awesome. 

I go out every day and speak with the energy of my soul

Love y'all

Tomorrow is transfer calls. Memang (of course) I'm staying in Singapore. Got the work pass officially now. Excited to see who my next companion will be. Gonna be sad to say goodbye to Elder Huntley. Man, we worked so hard. I've learned so much about humility with him. It's been a great transfer. Five days left, let's finish strong bolehkah?

Elder Barlow🇸🇬