I have officially hit 6 months living in the great and diverse land of Malaysia. From July 26th, 2025, touching down in Miri and being humbled to the dust and now to Johor Bahru and getting in and really struggling through the transition and now all the way to January 26th, 2026. A quick and eventful 6 months to say the least. From Miri in the east to Johor Bahru in the west of Malaysia I've been around both major parts of what Malaysia can offer. (that's honestly not even true but regardless). This country is special. I know it is overseen and watched over. Satan may rage hard to stop its progress. But once this country is established with the gospel, Asia will be risen up with it. With Malaysia being the melting pot of Asia and the heart of all of Southeast Asia. It will be a glorious sight to behold one day. I see now the Lord preparing the people and their minds but for when one day the gospel will eventually be able to sound in every ear, Muslim and Christian alike. It is my prayer that Malaysia will one day have a stake and a temple and will be a place where Zion is established, filled with Saints that have their eye singled to the Glory of God.
Tuhan memberkati tanah Malaysia🇲🇾
Semoga Tuhan dapat selalu menunjuk tangan dia kepada setiap orang yang tinggal di Malaysia🙏🏻🇲🇾
Monday, P-Night
- we had a lesson with our potential on-date at the church for an hour. While Elder Page was teaching in Mandarin with a member, I was calling up referrals and handling all the messaging and setting up lessons for the week. Couple past times I would just sit there and not contribute anything, but it felt great to take that responsibility into my own hands and get stuff done. Also, had about only an hour of finding and we made two friends that night! Met with three Chinese guys and they are all awesome. One of them literally invited himself to Church. Two of the three agreed to meet over video call and to be taught again. Super awesome. We ended off the night getting Nasi Lemak with the JB Elders 2. Such an amazing night.
Tuesday
- had DCM to start the day and then had a district lunch. It was fun. Went and filmed some social media stuff and then did some gate knocking for an hour. Then went to the prized place of Johor Jaya night market. So best. So many Singaporeans there and just so many people in general. There was a massive Chinese New Year parade that came through and everyone was going crazy for it. To be honest, I couldn't care less for fireworks or for any Chinese New Year parade. It's the Muslim culture and people I'm way more interested in for sure, but Elder Page is a Southern Utah boy who loves the outdoors and is a lifetime avid fireworks user, so he was loving it and filming it. But I told him that we need to make sure we're timely and get back to the bikes. A miracle followed because of our diligence to not get caught up in the crowd of worldly things. Sure Elder Page was tempted to stop and have fun with everyone, but the night wasn't done and the job wasn't finished.
As we were walking back to the bikes, I was genuinely getting frustrated that these people who are banging cymbals and dancing with dragons wouldn't accept Jesus Christ. They would just reject us over and over. It felt great to literally and physically walk away from that all. The lights, brights, and loud noises. It wasn't a place where the Spirit wants to be. Right before we got back to the bikes, I stopped a guy since I was a little ahead of Elder Page. Instantly he seemed hesitant but a little interested to hear what we had to say. I was feeling pretty frustrated and wanted to ensure I left this random Chinese YSA guy something he would never forget. Right before I opened my mouth, I got physically hit in the face with the Spirit. Words cannot describe the feeling. My mind was moved upon, and before I said what I was originally going to say, a LIGHTNING BOLT came down from heaven and filled my voice with a testimony and spirit that genuinely made this man take a couple steps back away from me. He looked offput but intrigued. We got his number, taught him a principle and we invited him to church. I was pretty quiet the rest of the night replaying the whole night and that experience in my head. Regardless of that last contact and the Lord placing a person in our path because of our diligence to end the night strong, I still didn't feel right. It was weird.
I learned that we must not be caught up in the things of the world. Sudah bagi saya tapi sangat tidak bagus. We must focus on establishing Zion, in our own hearts and for others. We must single our own eye to the Glory of God. As I'm writing this on Wednesday at 3:48 pm (as I write throughout the week) I ask myself, "Will this guy even progress to baptism" who knows? It's not for me to worry. I left him with an indescribable emotion and spirit he's never felt before. His whole look on his face changed. His stature changed when I told him what and who I've heard before and it was not me that carried it unto his heart.
Wednesday
- another great day of talking and being rejected many times. Man, I love finding and public contacting. We talked to this one guy who said he was a "free thinker" (whatever that means). I'm like, "Brother, so you only sometimes believe in God?" and he's like "yeah," so I say, "Brother, this is why we are speaking with you right now, we must always follow Jesus Christ and keep his commandments. We must go to church and receive all the blessings he wants for us," getting people to think and actually use their brain to comprehend such an idea about Jesus Christ is the best. We must always look up. It's always better to look up. Not when we feel like it. Not when reading the Book of Mormon only feels sesuai kadang kadang.
Anyways, we did so much shoplot finding that day. It was great. Had a lot of great conversations with a lot of people as always. Lot of rejection but tidapalah, majulah saja.
Thursday
- I'll let y'all guess where me and Elder Page went for the 17th time for our weekly planning. Did all of our studies and planning and then did neighborhood gate knocking for an hour. Biked home and our bikes broke twice on the way back. Fixed it both times. Got back and got some Indian Muslim mamak classic. Paling tersedap makanan out here for sure. Had a conversation as we were walking back to our bikes with this Christian couple who were super interested in who we were. Two white guys in Johor Bahru. So random, trust me. I know, my brother, I don't know what I'm doing either. I just open my mouth all day to find the Lord's elect.
Friday
- Friday was chill; we did a ton of Taman mount Austin shoplot finding. Shoplot finding is king here in Johor Bahru. So many rich Singaporeans cross the border and all their money instantly gets 3.5x better and worth more, so they all come here and shop. Our job is to let them know we exist here as a church in Malaysia just right across the border from Singapore, and that this truly is a worldwide church. That this truly is the Church of Jesus Christ and that The Lord has 85,000 committed 19-year olds seluruh dunia yang selalu berkhubat Injil dan Gereja Yesus Kristus. Anyways, it's always fun, Singaporeans are just hilarious. They are all well off in life and successful, so a lot of them think they don't need God. It's fun talking with them. It's gonna be more fun to serve there but man do I love Malaysia. Who cares if Malaysia is the slightly "dirtier, less nice" version I don't even believe in that. The attention that Singapore gets is nice but man there's nothing or nowhere that's as special as these bodies of land that are called Malaysia. Anyways, sorry another 18th rant of how much I love Malaysia and the culture and the food and the language. You gotta. The Lord just knows man. He knows. He knew I was gonna love it. Would I have ever chosen Malaysia over any European country if I had the choice? Let's just say I'm happy I didn't have the choice. Man, do not let Elder Barlow cook, please.
Anyways
Friday was great. Did our classic johor Jaya shoplot finding. Went back to the Church. Had a passoff lesson with Mr. Hu. We passed him off to the other Elders because it's better to have both of the other newer Johor Bahru Elders who can speak Mandarin with him than just Elder Page who's the only one that can speak Mandarin between the two of us. So that was nice. We then proceeded to Makan some nasi lemak. I'm genuinely coming back after this mission for this nasi lemak and I'm not joking. Flying to Singapore just to cross the border over here to Johor Bahru to get this nasi lemak on the corner of Jalan persiaran Molek and persiaran Molek utama.
Saturday- solid day other than my bike back tire completely popping at the end of our finding block later in the day. We started the day though by doing some even more johor Jaya shoplot finding for an hour and a half. Sat at Jollibees and I downed three large MTN dews as we did our contacts and church inviting on our phones. Don't worry, I walked and biked it all off memang. All the members here are saying I'm getting fit and skinny so I must be doing something right. Anyways yeah bike tire sudah dihancurkan so we walked all the way to the bike shop just for it to be closed. We were over by our old on-date's house, so we just walked over to them and had a lesson with them for a while. Then walked back to our house and OF COURSE got takeaway JALAN ANGGERIK NASI LEMAK.
Sunday- had a great day at church. Elder Png gave a talk in Sacrament, and it was great. He said a lot of insightful things about charity and talked about him growing up in Singapore around the troubles he had being around people his age who discouraged or didn't go on missions. A lot of the YSA in Singapore, from what I've heard from companions, are pretty discouraging I'm not gonna lie. Who am I to judge though. It'll be fun to be around them when I serve there eventually. Elder Png is awesome for being out here on a mission though. He deserves a shoutout. Anyways this guy from Arizona also pulled up. His name is Kent Flake. He's from Arizona and I told him there's a Flake in my ward back home, so that would be crazy if the Flakes in my home ward knew this guy. He said they were probably related. He served his mission in Wellington, New Zealand. Me and Elder Page after church were talking to him for like 30 minutes and he's just awesome. Super supportive of us and was asking us a lot of questions about how our mission is like which we're always super happy to answer and explain what this mission is like. We ended up giving him a blessing actually to at the end. He's traveling all over Southeast Asia right now, so he wanted to feel some peace.
Monday- bussing up to Malacca right now. Going to do my SEVENTH tukuran (exchange) with Elder Overly. Actually wild me and Elder Overly have had this many exchanges. I love it.
Love y'all. It was a great week. Loving this mission. Love serving the Lord. Love learning and growing as I go.
-Elder Barlow🇲🇾💎
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