Week 40 - March 23, 2026

 40 WEEKS WOW.

LET'S JUST START

MONDAY NIGHT P-NIGHT MIRACLE.

Did a little bit of finding on our way to the MRT (the name of the public transportation here, everyone just calls it MRT. Stands for mass rapid transit) station. Met a cool guy named Norman. Always love meeting humble people who are open to learning more. Then went to the church. Taught our on-date. He's doing great. Did some more contacts. Set up the week ahead. Called one of our members going through a hard time. 

Here's where the average P-nights get a little miraculous. 

We go to Bugis and do some finding. Elder Huntley stops this one Chinese uncle and I wasn't there for the conversation (we do something called split finding as Elder Huntley and I will split off and do kind of our own finding and stop our own people simultaneously). Anyways, Elder Huntley as I'm talking to other people, stops this one guy and he goes, "Stop spreading your cult." Of course, Elder Huntley shuts that down real quick. As I'm walking back over, I stop the same guy that said that (but I didn't know that Elder Huntley had already stopped him) He goes, "I already talked to your friend over there." I'm like, "Okay brother, have a good day." Nothing seems wrong and we keep finding. Eventually Elder Huntley and I are having a really good, nice non-doctrinal conversation with this mainland Chinese family. As we're talking, I unfortunately see out of my peripheral 

Two police officers. 

Yeahkahhhhhhhh. Bolehkah macam ini kah? 

My heart just drops. I'm like hitting Elder Huntley's arms to get his attention. When it comes to police, man, I just comply. Like "Yes, you already have my passport information, but I can pull it up for you, brother." Elder Huntley instantly whips out his work permit. I tell them I'm still awaiting my card, but I've already been approved for my work permit. I just don't have the actual physical card on me. They ask to look at something on my phone and Elder Huntley, being Elder Huntley with no care in the world, just starts grilling the police officers, raising his voice a little bit asserting that of course we don't want them going through my phone (because it's happened before that travel agents will go through missionaries' phones or people who they think are illegal) Anyways, I don't want to make this too long. Two mrle police officers pull up. They take pictures of us. They were grilling me asking me how long I've been in Singapore. They ask me what we're doing and if we stop when people reject. Like brother, you think we're just grabbing people and throwing them in the font? I don't even know. This bigger guy comes over, and he was chill just kinda lets us know he got a complaint. I mentioned the Chinese unc from earlier cause that uncle called the cops on us. We found out from what the complaint was

Cop goes, "Yeah, we just want to make sure you two aren't spreading a cult." 

Yaahkahhhhhhhh memang tak boleh macam ini saya tahuuu

Also, to clear it up, ANYTIME the cops are called on for anything in Singapore, THEY HAVE to follow up and make a report about it. Singapore doesn't play around. So, of course, the police officers were just doing their job, and I am not mad at them at the slightest. Elder Huntley was kinda pressing them a bit, but I was being super chill with them. Giving them what they wanted. 

Tidapa we maju

Anyways, we get back to Newton and start going home. As we're walking home and we're talking and kind of complaining about what just happened, we see our on-date crossing our face on the crosswalk and we're like, "Brother, what are you doing how are you?" and we stop him. 

Our guy Karan who we called this last week on Saturday and we put on-date first conversation ever just on the street I invited him to be baptized. This chill Indian guy and here we are just talking to him unplanned. So awesome. We share a couple scriptures about the Atonement, ask him some questions and if we can call him the next day. He said he felt super good when we called him last. He still wants to be baptized--all great stuff. 

We would've never met him if we didn't get stopped by the cops unfairly. We would've gotten Chick fil a and stayed in Bugis and there's absolutely no way we would've run into him. Just so awesome to see how God turns that whole thing into a miracle. So hebat. 

Tuesday- exchanges with Elder Wright. From LEE'S SUMMIT MISSOURI. SHOUTOUT, LEES SUMMIT. Not gonna lie, wasn't one of the greatest exchanges but we did with what we could. Got out pretty late after our Zone Council meeting. We didn't have Sim cards. Elder Huntley forgot to give me his, and we forgot to ask. So, we didn't have any internet connection for most of the day. Still worked hard. Found for like 2 hours. Had Wingstop. Always fun. Had a lot of calls at night, so it was a pretty chill day. Met a husband and wife on vacation from England and they were members. They were super nice and supportive. Asked us how we did missionary work in Malaysia. UNFORTUNATELY, still cannot preach to the Muslims. Tak lama lagi kami semua akan tolong mereka janganlah risau. Man I miss Malaysia and it's food and seeing the Jalur Gemilang.

Anyways maafkan 

Solid day. Got McDs for dinner. Had a call at night. We had to hover around the McDs for the free wifi because we didn't have a Sim card. Elder Wrights just a teddy bear. He's pretty quiet. He's just so nice. Some people at the end of the night were calling us Mormons and I felt like they were just taking advantage of Elder Wright's meekness. Memang Im shutting that down SO fast. This one couple was talking about how they "already know the Mormons" like, "Sister, my ancestors were called Mormons when it was used as a slur, and they were being killed and driven from their homes." it's not even worth it to get into it but there were multiple times when I had to just back up Elder Wright cause that Elder is just so nice and loving. That's why companionships are a thing and it's cool to see how missionaries bring different aspects to the work. 

Tuesday night I was going through it. Wingstop + McDs almost took me out y'all. It's getting rough out here😂😂 all jokes, Its great out here.

Wednesday- reunited with the man Elder Huntley. Man, I love him. We just absolutely FLY AROUND. we work so hard. We're so diligent. We get fired up. We're urgent. That's my guy. From Folsom. 

Anyways

GREAT DAY

I mean we got Chick fil a with a member MEMANG it was a great day. 

Elder Huntley and I finally had a great sit-down conversation that was deep. Literally the only time we have time to speak to other is during meal blocks in our schedule. Other than that, we're just so locked throughout the day and when we find, we don't find side-by-side so we honestly don't talk a ton. But he told me a lot of great things, and I gained a lot more respect for him. Made me happy to hear. 

Look at the peace-making going on🤟🏻 you love to see it. 

Oh, by the way, when I was on exchanges in Jurong on Tuesday, Elder Myers and Elder Huntley put someone on-date for baptism while finding. Just first contact, "Brother, do you want to be baptized?" and he said, "YES."  ANOTHER ON-DATE. SHOUTOUT, BRUCE. 

Anyways. we did some finding in city hall. We got a free Chic fil a chicken sandwich gift card just handed to us. Lord's restaurant just providing out here so hebat. We had a member meal with our member. Elder Huntley and I originally planned to share something, but Elder Huntley just was overcome by the Spirit and starts talking about 

Pride. 

Pride is the devil. One of my favorite songs from J. Cole. Such a good one. It's so true. Pride really is the devil. Everything bad comes from pride. My whole life I've dealt with pride. Thinking the choices I always made were the best. It wasn't until I realized I was a member of the house of Israel

Israel literally means from Hebrew to: 

LET GOD PREVAIL. 

It wasn't until I let God prevail in my life until I've started to see my life change for the better. It wasn't until I've humbled myself this transfer until I've seen change in this companionship and the work. Elder Huntley said at the member meal he has seen a big change in me which meant a lot to hear. But truly, anyone who will let God prevail in their life is a part of his church. They are chosen and their election of grace will come. They are elect and I am here to find them. This is doctrine. I'm glad for it. I'm happy to find the Lord's elect. We stopped this man after we were done with our video calls on Wednesday night and he just got soooo mad. Was just yelling at us because we invited him to church. We then ran into a couple from the Ivory Coast actually which was really cool. They were super super nice, they said they have seen volunteers like us in the Ivory Coast, and they wished us the best of luck.

I mean that is a big seed planted regardless. It would've never happened if we didn't get caught up and yelled at by some dude for doing nothing wrong. The amount of times I've felt prompted to stop someone for no reason is crazy. So grateful for this service. It's the best. It's so hard betul betul. MEMANG I don't want to wake up at 7:00 AM every single day and workout. Monday night ends and I'm like 

Yahkah another week Kah bolehkah? Macam mana kah? 

But I find strength through Jesus Christ. Just keep serving and it's just been going so great. 

Wednesday was great. Spirit was so strong as we were talking about pride and I shared a lot of things about my pride between me and Elder Huntley and how we're overcoming it and just having the Spirit there, and Elder Huntley and I sharing our thoughts to this member just completely eliminated any contention that was left. We're doing so much better now. We laugh more, get along more. We're doing so great now. 

It started with me actively humbling myself. Actively reflecting. When I tell people that Jesus Christ has truly changed my life, I mean every word. Man, I'm so excited for all these missionaries and friends I know that just got their calls to get out. It'll just be so hard and so awesome and so tiring and so rewarding. Blessed for the next year ahead. 

Sorry this email is so long and just all over the place. Just so much happens every day and so many little interactions I want to speak about. I have to leave some out, unfortunately. I type as fast as my brain wants to. Yahkah

Thursday- went to Vivo city in Harbourfront right next to the boat tower to do weekly planning and studies. It went great. Did some Keppel bay finding near Sentosa Island. Crazy views but no one elect there. Actually, everyone was just hard hearted and this one guy said, "Jesus Christ isn't doing too well right now." I'm like, "REALLY, brother?" Had a great lesson and tried to put this one guy on-date. He didn't accept, unfortunately. It was a great day. Taught our other friend from Chile with the help of our other friend at the same time. 

Friday- had a lot more finding Friday. Made five friends. Great day. Had Chick fil a, too. Called our on-date. Great day. Orchard road finding in the morning. It was fun. Just a usual day. Nothing really crazy happened

Saturday- definitely journaling this pretty fast. Haven't been too on top of Journaling throughout this week. But anyways, Saturday was awesome. Had genuine real real Mexican food at this one super nice place with a member. The owner is literally from Puebla Mexico. Found in city hall. Boat tower is literally in sight the whole time. Wasn't the best finding. We got Wingstop for dinner, the usual. So good. Met this really cool guy Renny at great world river walk at night after some calls. So good. That was a really good finding block. My phone was dead and I just completely focused on being humble, calm, and said a locked-in prayer. Had the Spirit like crazy when we were finding. I could tell when I stopped anyone that night, they noticed something different. Didn't raise my voice. Definitely wasn't my usual bold self, but I kind of liked it. Finding with the Spirt, of course, works so so well. 

Sunday- Sunday always the best. Church was amazing. Taught our on-date. Had a member meal. It was fun. Did like 30 minutes of finding the whole day. Sunday was great. 

For p-day we're going to Sentosa Island. McDonald's here has Mcgriddles. Memang saya mahu satu. Anyways sentosa. Super nice, really touristy but should be soo much fun. Might play volleyball at the beach. 

Saw that USA lost in WBC. Man, that's so tragic. Venezuela got their revenge I guess haha. 

Missing out on March Madness is not the most fun thing as a big sports fan, especially someone who was born during March Madness. Sacrifices lah. Send me y'alls brackets, I wanna see. This one member was like, "Are y'all keeping up with March Madness?" Like, "Sister, of course we're not😭 We're so locked. Absolutely flying around." Anyways. 

Met these two members from Stanley Ward in Overland Park Stake. I took a pic with them. They're here for the crazy nice Disney cruise that all the tourists are going crazy for. I should've asked how President Gillis and the missionaries are just baptizing absolute NATIONS right now🙏🏻 Already know it's getting held down so well right now. Bless up Kansas City Missouri Mission. 

SHOUTOUT THE OPK🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻

Anyways. 

On more important matters, One more week until transfer calls. I will be staying in Newton which is awesome. Elder Huntley, unfortunately, is also guaranteed to be leaving. This is like his 5th transfer here. It's totally guaranteed for both. So I'll be leading out Newton next transfer with a new companion. Guaranteed to be here until May 15th, which is awesome. Really looking forward to this next week. Last full week of the transfer. Fastest transfer of my entire mission, it's so wild. 

Love y'all. If you read all this, I cannot express how much I appreciate you. I want to payback this support so much. Love y'all

🇲🇾Penatua Barlow🇸🇬

Week 39 - March 16, 2026

 A shorter week. An even more faced pace week as well. Scrambling to meet new friends and hit our goals with less days in the week. And it was a great one. I love Singapore not because of the MBS tower, the buildings or the flashing lights or the food. The super cars or the clean roads. Those are cool, don't get me wrong. I mean we fly around so much I barely get to see any of that stuff or take it in too much. 

I LOVE, LOVE Singapore because of the growth I have already experienced here. I have grown the same amount in three weeks here in the Lion City than the last 7-8 months in Malaysia. I love Malaysia but DANG IT THEY NEED THE SPIRIT OF GOD MORE IN THAT COUNTRY I KNOW IT. I should be getting four transfers here, too. This place is just a special special place. The Lord is here. I know it. In EVERY little interaction I have with his spirit children I feel the need to bring them to the truth so much. I'm more committed than ever. I lost my voice last week. It didn't stop me from sharing the Book of Mormon and how important Jesus Christ SHOULD be to every singular soul on this earth. It didn't stop me from getting as close as possible to someone and telling them they NEED to be baptized by immersion and by someone who has proper authority from God. All who inherit a body need a baptism. They NEED JESUS. I'm blessed to have the next 410 days to serve the Lord almighty. Even Jesus Thee Christ.

The urgency is increased. The desire is increased. Singapore NEEDS to prepare for these next 5 months. I'll let them know. 

Wednesday night was great. Man, we had just two AWESOME lessons. I wasn't even looking at my phone, just the perfect scripture to be expounded + the Spirit appeared in my hand and with our words every time. I was an inch away from the camera and with my still-damaged voice, I still had to kinda yell. I wasn't trying to be too overbearing, but the member that was helping us seemed to love the energy. Man. Elder Huntley and I just were in that room cooking so hard. First time we've had a locked in prayer for the Spirit before we start our video call lessons. Man, it was great. Helped so much.

Unfortunately, yet again our passion clashed once again. Elder Huntley and I got into a yelling match by the time we were walking out of the church. Memang were literally Shaq and Kobe. (I told him this at our comp council and he was laughing at that one) We just get too locked in together and man I LOVE IT. Anyways I learned that the package my mom sent was on the 4th floor. I got prideful and really wanted to get it that night. But of course, getting home on time takes precedence. I got kinda annoyed. Later that night, I reflected on it and of course I was in the wrong. Could Elder Huntley not have been so hard on me for a misunderstanding? Could I have been more considerate of the time and situation? Yes. But at this point we just work so well. We find, teach, and memang we baptize. This was our first Sunday this transfer we didn't have a baptism. So, who cares. We move on lah. We both care so much. We both LOVE SINGAPORE. BECAUSE THE FIELD IS WHITE AND RED🇸🇬

Thursday- woke up. Ironed Elder Huntley's shirt. I was so mad at myself. I told myself If I ever acted like that again as a grown 20-year-old man, I was going to call Elder Jensen the mental health senior missionary and set up a meeting. I'm shutting that down for myself real quick. I told the same thing to Elder Huntley. If I ever act like that again, you text Elder Jensen for me. That morning I listened to Marshall McConkie's institute podcast about action and reaction. (Shoutout the goat Elder Overly. His uncle is the head institute teacher of St George Institute of religion) Anyways SUCH a good podcast. That whole day and to even now my entire mindset has been changed. I'm calmer. Also reflected on the talk 100% responsibility a BYU devotional. Why in the world was I getting frustrated at Elder Huntley and ruining a completely great P-Night? I focused on my actions and reactions. Positive actions and positive reactions. Most importantly letting go of this control aspect that people naturally place on their lives. It's just the natural man to do that. But the Lord wants us to be better. Because he knows we can. Ever since that night, I have yet to even complain once against Elder Huntley. I cannot control how Elder Huntley corrects me. I CAN control how I react. I love him. I love the work. Why should I get in the way?

Anyways Thursday was awesome. Very very light day. Us four Elders (Elder Huntley, me, Elder Mac Pherson, and Elder Reyman, the YSA Elders) are just going through it because for Zone Conference Week, you constantly have like 14+ Elders just staying in your house from Monday night to Saturday morning. So, every night we just get trash sleep. When the West Malaysia missionaries leave, the East Malaysia missionaries come into Singapore. So, there's just so much talking and just germs going around, I guess. Elder Huntley and I, Elder Reyman and Elder Mac are just sick, tired, wanting good sleep at the house. It's tough. We were joking around when the East Malaysia missionaries got in on Wednesday night when they asked us (the four of us Singapore missionaries that just continue on with a normal week) to go play basketball like nah, Elders, we got work in the morning😭 We have a regular day of missionary work, we don't get to go to the church and have Zone Conference because we just had ours with all the West Malaysia missionaries. Anyways. Thursday was light. Did zero finding. Weekly planning of course. Taught English class because the Sisters, for some reason, want us to even though they both speak Chinese and they're able to teach English way better. I don't even know why. Memang we need to be finding and meeting people who are interested instead, but it's good service for sure. English class was actually such a success though. Found a new couple that we are going to be teaching through it. So clutch. 

Thursday night I was just dying though. So unbelievably sick. Just laid in bed for what felt like the entire night. Got zero sleep. Head spinning, could barely breathe. Sinuses just absolutely destroyed. Weak, no energy. Ah, that was so horrible. Woke up Friday morning and I just had to continue to sleep. 

Friday- slept in till like 10am. Didn't even do personal study. Went out and I see Elder Reyman and Elder Macpherson just asleep as well looking pale as well. Man, we are just GOING THROUGH IT. Kasihan kami. YSA Elders and Newton Elders getting taken out by Zone Conference week. Had to go out the door that day though, I had my MOM (ministry of Manpower) appointment at 12:00pm for my Singapore work pass to go get it approved. It was super light. Super easy. I am now officially a worker in Singapore. I work for the church now legally. Paid by the church legally by Elder Chen. (a grand amount of 1 singular Singapore dollar that I don't even get to spend of course) I now have zero problems with any immigration. I can now walk up to immigration before getting into Singapore and say that I work. Super blessed. Anyways, we had that and then Elder Huntley's derm appointment. Did our studies (mind you, I'm still not feeling 100% whatsoever) still went out and found. Still tried to find God's elect. Selaluuuuu perluuuu. We got Chick-fil-a for dinner. 😂. Shoutout the owner once again. He's amazing. Always comes up and talks to us. Went back to the church and did some calls and baptismal interviews. This one lady said she'd bring her family to church with her on Sunday, so that was hype. Crazy busy day. 

Saturday- another crazy busy day. Had so many lessons all over Singapore. We started the day off in Dhoby Ghaut. Found for an hour. Had a really interesting conversation with this YSA Bro. He was chill and one thing he said was that he wishes he could find complete truth, the historical truth. What he's missing is that he won't be able to find it. Truth only comes from God. We brought up Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He had a lot of questions and insights. It was good to answer him and help him start to think. He didn't think he needed to be baptized to be saved, which of course we disagreed on. I didn't want to hold him up too long, but it was a great convo. We taught our recent converts, went back to the church for the church fundraising activities. This one church member brought a new friend (investigator) for us. We met with our on-dates, also with the Stake President of Singapore. Which is unheard of. Elder Huntley is so good at member relations, it's wild. The Stake President is just so busy, but he got us in the schedule, and we had such a good lesson. Got him Cinnabon because he loves his cinnamon rolls. Was at the church for a little bit and man all I wanted to do was find. 

All I wanted to do after we walked out of that church was just to stop people walking and talk to them about Jesus and the Book of Mormon. I was luckily able to meet up with my guy Elder Moulton at Zone Conference which was awesome. He's in Bintulu, out in East Malaysia, where working with and through members is essential. Singapore not as much. He told me that he and his companion literally did a grand total of two hours of finding. The ENTIRE LAST TRANSFER. Usually, you do 2-3 hours a day over 42 days in a transfer. So wild. The work out there is just be with your members all day and find through them. Anyways, what I'm trying to get at is that I am in Singapore, with a work pass too, to go out and find. That's just the role. The job. At least for me. I've found that's it's my strength. It's what I want to do to. I strongly disliked the slow pace of work out in the kampung, in East Malaysia. Strongly disliked the east Malaysia work. So memang I'm in Singapore to work fast paced and man just to find the elect. I love it. I'm grateful. It's awesome. It's the best. Anyways lesson with the Stake President was just oh my, was so good. He shared his testimony on D&C 88:6. Man, the Spirit was so strong. We met our guy John who was brought by a member. He was cool. Called our recent convert. Ate Pizza Hut and Cinnabon for dinner. Legendary. Met another recent convert, called our on-date, went out and found to end the night for the last 30 minutes. We call this time MIRACLE MINUTES TO THE BUZZER. Man, it was great. Seeing the nightcrawlers. Met these two bros and I stopped one of them and he was instantly like, "No, Bro" after I brought up Jesus Christ. He whips out the star of David necklace. I'm like, oh yeahkah. Luckily his Bro was super chill. He's just like, "Yes, brother, of course I have time for Jesus Christ." I introduce the church and our purpose, ask him some questions and he's flying out to Hong Kong tomorrow, so hopefully he sees the missionaries out there. 

Sunday- BLESSED SABBATH. Sunday will always be the Lord's Day. Man, I love Sunday. A day where the focus can be fully more focused on Jesus Christ. We had a great day. Partook of the Sacrament and it was joyful memang. We taught our on-date at church and he's preparing for his baptism next week, which is great. My dad is in Barcelona and man, he started his race as soon as I sat down for my personal study. So awesome. So proud of my dad. 

We had a member meal, and it went great. Did studies, then finished off the day with two hours of finding. Love ending the week off strong with some good finding/tracting. It's just the best here in Singapore. Went home, ate my Cinnabon, ate my misedap noodles. Went to bed.

That's a solid 20th birthday.

Of course, not your typical one. I completely forgot it was my birthday until Elder Huntley on Sunday morning brought up that it was a spejcla day that day. I told him because it's the Sabbath. He was like nah Elder, you're hitting the big two four. Big twenty-four right? 😂 Nah, still 20 years old. So gila gila. So crazy. The birthday wishes were great I really appreciated them. President and Sister Ho sent me a video of them singing happy birthday which was awesome. They were genuinely harmonizing, it was crazy. Anyways. Happy I get to be in Singapore for the bday as well. Singapore's the best. The people I get to meet, and the members I get to be around. It's just awesome. Two weeks until transfer calls. Going to be here in Singapore for a while luckily, probably until June or August, but still looking forward to ending this transfer off strong with Elder Huntley before he leaves.

By Sunday night my dad had completed his marathon and man, I was going crazy. Just insane. So special. What a run. What a ride. Love you dad. 

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. 

Love y'all.

Elder Barlow🇸🇬