STILL STAYING IN SINGAPURAAAAAAAAA🇸🇬
From Newton TO COMPASS VALLEY
COMPASSVALEEEEE🧭🧭🧭
I CALLED IT, TO
WITH ELDER HULL FROM OREGON
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK COMPS NOT FROM UTAH
I'M STOKED
PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED.
And it was an AMAZING WEEK.
Transfer 8 is going to be great🦁
Staying in Singapore🧭
Still have the work pass🧭
going to a different church building near Buangkok MRT🧭
super super nice apartment with an amazing shower, view, area🧭
Compassvale is a lot slower area, not as busy as downtown which is super fast paced.
3rd transfer here in Singapore,
Missionaries rarely get 2 Separate areas in Singapore unless they have a work pass. It's pretty rare at least. Super happy.
I'm going to be covering the entire Punggol coast and all the region surrounding the airport as well. All the HDB apartments and east area of Singapore. Elder Hull and I are gonna get on it.
This week was solid. Grinded out the last couple days of some tough finding restrictions, had a mission-wide devotional with President and Sister Ho to close off the transfer which is fun. Found a lot, met up with Elder Hull on Thursday and actually got a full day with him even before our transfer started together on Friday because we were in a trio on Thursday. I've met Elder Hull before many times. I was actually at the airport and welcomed him in when he came into Singapore last transfer from Malaysia. Got everything moved in. Church was great on Sunday. P-day should be fun today. Gonna get a haircut. Elder Hull and mainly his older companion last transfer never wanted to leave Compassvale, since it is pretty far out, but I told Elder Hull we are going to have fun this transfer and get out and meet up with other missionaries, for sure.
Anyways.
P-night: a solid night in Tanjong Pagar. Had a pretty cool miracle. We were going to Tanjong Pagar but then switched around to the church to and try and meet a friend. Then the appointment dropped but we ended up meeting a really cool person who used to be in contact with the missionaries a while ago outside the church. Then we went back to Tanjong Pagar, and I met a Burmese lady and sent her off to the Sembawang Elders. One of the only people I stopped that actually stopped and listened as well. It was a chill night.
Tuesday- Transfer calls📰
Man, what transfer calls. Everyone was freaking out and jumping up and down for some of the calls. I know I was. It started off with a bang when President Ho basically alluded to the fact I was going to go to Compassvale. Some Elders were looking at me and getting pretty hyped during the lead-up because I had been calling I was going to go to Compassvale throughout the week. He told Elder Hull once, "Elder Hull's companion was leaving to another area" that "your companion will be told later on." They held Elder Marshall and I for the 2nd to last companionship. The suspense was wild haha. We now have three Zone leaders here in Singapore and yeah, so clutch when President Ho finally said, "Elder Barlow, you will Jalan kaki ke Compassvale." (You will walk to Compassvale) so huge. Rest of the day was so chill, too. Got Chick Fil a for district lunch. Went on exchanges with Elder Workman, my guy in Sembawang🇲🇲 . We did a lot of phone work, not too much finding with the restrictions and all. We did a little bit of finding in Ang Mo Kio. Mainly calling members and recent converts. They're so much fun. I've been picking up some Burmese phrases, too. Elder Workman is genuinely doing full contacts in Burmese. So cool. Such a diverse mission even within the 3rd mission🇸🇬. Met back up with Elder Marshall at the church and we did some teaching until like 9:45. Met with a recent convert and had some other calls including a really cool Sabahan (a Malaysian from the state Sabah in east Malaysia) Roman Catholic who was interested in the Book of Mormon. Very good day.
Wednesday- had a good 2nd to last day with the one and only, the Marshall himself. Elder Marshall. Man. What a ride it was with him. He saw I was a little frustrated about the finding standards and something he rarely ever did was just sit me down and let me get my thoughts out about our companionship and this last transfer and he listened really well during our morning finding in Toa Payoh. It was rainy, no one wanted to stop, we didn't hit our baptismal goal as a mission, just wasn't feeling it. So of course there's external factors at play. But Elder Marshall being supportive and listening to me, he told me of a time when he had a hard companion and then he later was around that companion and the companion said he had changed a lot and had a lot more joy. What Elder Marshall told me was to be joy instead of trying to look for it. He told us we needed to work hard and smart because that's what the Lord expects of us. He said a lot of other good things. He said that he hopes at a point in time I make a decision to be joy and be happy instead of trying to find this magic key that unlocks a perfect balance and normalness in the work. Doesn't mean he or I don't get frustrated but generally just to be happy. He said he chose to do that and it was a game changer. That if we actually have Joy then other people will notice. Then we sat there for a minute or two in silence. I felt so much better, seen and a lot more grateful. If it took him 40 days to muster up the courage to tell me all that then it was worth it. Because the rest of that finding block was so much better and more tolerable and has been since. Elder Marshall pulls through with an absolute buzzer beater😭 holy. FORTY DAYS INTO THE TRANSFER WITH THE WISDOM🙏🏻🙏🏻
All jokes aside I grew so so much from this transfer. I learned how to apologize, be more considerate, to slow down, be more mindful of others, take responsibility. Kinder to others, leaned how to smile, how to focus on the Lord even more. Just so much. Learned how to counsel, not control others, talk things out. So huge. Grateful for the growth.
Hard is good.
Finished off the day in Lavender and did Lavender to Stadium River Walk. Had calls at night at the church.
Thursday- Thursday was cool. Elder Marshall and Elder Hull and I got to go out. It was basically Elder Hull and I as the Compassvale Elders in Newton's area doing a day for Newton and I was still technically comps with Elder Marshall. Elder Hull and I did weekly planning together and taught a recent convert in Braddell. We did some finding right in downtown in Telok Ayer. Then went back to the church and had two long calls. Went home and called it a night.
Friday- went to bed Thursday night and especially woke up Friday morning just feeling weird. Feeling off. It is so true that when you leave areas the actual transition itself isn't hard or it gets easier throughout your mission but leaving members, recent converts and other missionaries, is definitely sad. That's the one part that gets more and more sad with each new time leaving an area. One of my companions, Elder Huish, awhile back explained that concept to me and it is so true. Adjusting to an area gets easier, but it gets more sad it terms of leaving people. I loved Newton Ward. Great ward. Super cool to be around ex-pats/Americans and yeah, I loved the seriousness and American ward feel of it.
But man the first half of Friday was super super tough. Just that dang pit in my stomach feeling for half of the day. I literally have no idea why. I don't know, maybe it's just my natural bodily reaction to moving or leaving Elders I've been around or the house itself or that area of Singapore. Just hate the feeling of feeling super super grieved and discouraged. I was super sad to say goodbye to Elder Finch who I've talked a little bit about. Sending him off to the airport with Elder Barker and Elder Myers was hard. Really close with those three Elders and I don't know, Friday was really really hard for me mentally. Also, was then dealing with homesickness halfway through the day. I guess it's that new transfer/change natural reaction. Only way to get through it is prayer and journaling for me😅
One thing Elder Finch, me, Elder Mac, and Elder Marshall--all four of us did every morning for the last three weeks was run over to the church and play basketball every morning. Man, that was so clutch. I ended up texting Elder Finch who was so important and such an answer to my prayers for me while being with a hard companion. Then for Elder Finch to leave and go our separate ways and now no more basketball every morning, don't have those 45 minutes to forget about missionary work just hit me like a truck, I think. But I'm grateful it happened regardless. The prayers were answered and now that there's no more prayers pertaining to the situation, they don't need to be answered in such a specific way as to the way it was. The answer fulfilled its purpose.
I think as I'm sitting here journaling it's just what the Lord chooses to let me feel or mainly what he inflicts upon me or it's what he chooses and wants me to go through some sort of hard, I guess. To sacrifice and to "suffer" a little bit. But to go forth in faith. To just go and find and teach and do missionary work even though on Friday I felt so dead inside and had zero motivation. All this is for my good and builds my faith and deepens my conversion. It's a blessing. To have the pit feeling in my stomach days which are the worst. I've had them before, they are not fun. And yeah, I did it. That was Friday but Sunday came. Just like Jesus Christ's resurrection. Sometimes you have your Fridays, but Sunday will always come.
Sunday will always come.
The 2nd half of Friday was SUCH a great day. SO much better. Had prayers in my heart and said multiple prayers in the bathroom. We found in Bedok Reservoir which had an amazing view and man, Elder Hull and I just walked and talked, and we actually met really cool people too. Met this one Chinese uncle named Robert. Went to Serangoon and as we were in Macpherson MRT Station, Elder Hull and I actually got split up. I got on the train as the doors were closing and he didn't get on. Long story short, after calling Elder Marshall (who is my ZL still) and President Ho I said a prayer to know where to go if I should stay in Macpherson MRT or go to Serangoon and catch up with Elder Hull where I assumed he was but did not know exactly where he was.
I started to pray and the absolute second the prayer was done after waiting for a long 20 minutes, I get a call from a private number. It ended up being Elder Hull.
Miracle. So cool. Small but powerful. The absolute second I said amen I got my answer. So awesome.
We also had received word that after a couple days of Compassvale apartment not having power. Instead of complaining and taking the L, I probably called around three different senior missionary companionships, and they were able to work together to help get it solved. I learned what being proactive and communication could do to help solve problems, and I was super relieved we had power of course, too.
As we can see, yes the first half of the day was bad. But I had faith. I kept going. I chose faith instead of choosing fear even though I still felt the fear. I let God prevail and he delivered for the 2nd half of the day.
Saturday- Saturday was a great day. We had a long morning call with one of our friends which went great! We did some morning finding at this awesome park. There was no one there because of rain, so we ended the finding early, ate, and did our studies. Then we went to Woodleigh and found there for three hours. Met some really cool people. Went back to Bangkok and did our calls with our friends. Ate dinner. Had an in-person lesson with a guy from mainland China and we put him on date for baptism for June 20th! Went home and called it a night.
SABBATH- AMAZING SABBATH. Got seven friends to Church. Met two really cool new friends at Punggol Coast sea walk. Just an amazing day. Met all these new awesome members who were so kind and supportive. Finding was great in Punggol Coast. As I was walking, I thought I could see Malaysia, but it was just Pulau Ubin, an island of Singapore. Man, I miss Malaysia. We went home and did some miracle minute finding and called it a night. Such a good day.
We hit all of our goals this week as a companionship and man Elder Hull and I get along SO well. He had never hit all of his goals in a week and so he was super grateful for this last week. This is definitely going to be the transfer where I'm expected to learn how to lead and to try and uplift Elder Hull in any way I can as senior companion. I definitely do feel slightly increased responsibility as well, which is great. It's what I wanted. It pushes me. Last thing I want is to stall out deep in my mission in terms of growth.
Compassvale is just such a great area. I'm loving it. Elder Hull is a stud. So chill. Never talks back. We just agree on everything pretty much. We haven't raised our voice at each other one time. There's so much peace and unity and clearly based off church this Sunday with people literally just walking into church for us, the Lord is trusting us with these super elect people that are hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Love it.
I've been reading the book, "Believing Christ," and man it is such a good book. It's been teaching me so much and as of the last 3-4 weeks, the Spirit has been helping me hone in my knowledge and understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The gospel of Jesus Christ truly is the new and everlasting covenant. It really is so simple as well. I love this church, its gospel, its restoration, the Book of Mormon. Everything it has to offer has helped me in some way.
Everything this church offers just makes sense. Everything falls into place. Now it's not to say all the things I know now compared to literally just a year ago the day I'm sending this (which was the day I walked at graduation, May 18th, 2025) hasn't come with sacrifice and work in getting to be blessed to know everything I know now.
And so from May 18th, 2025, to May 18th, 2026. In that time, I graduated, received the Melchizedek Priesthood, my endowment, and now into my 8th transfer as a missionary and hitting my halfway point in a month. I mean wow. You want to talk about growth. It's so wild to think that a year exactly after my graduation, I'm almost halfway through my mission and in Singapore and I've just seen and experienced so much. It's only all possible because and through faith, repentance, and man have I repented😅 Continuing to go to church and renewing this contract with Heavenly Father every week and seeking to grow and build my personal relationship with a living God has blessed me more than anything I could've dreamed.
Has it been easy in the slightest? Has it even been fun at times? Definitely not. But man, its so worth it. As I close in on almost a year as a missionary, I'm just so grateful.
We can only lose if we give up. There're no losers or failures in the gospel--only quitters. There're so many times I could've given up and gone home and gone back to my many many nets that I loved throwing. But letting God prevail and seeing the blessings from it is just so transcendent. It's so special. This is the miracle and this shows that God lives.
I love Y'all. I'm actually going to be here in Singapore for so long. Which isn't a bad thing of course. The government is really cracking down on us here. Missionaries are getting kicked out of immigration and this country left and right. Two companionships have been shut down. I'm so grateful I have a work pass and being employed by the church that allows me to stay here and serve here for a while. Elders and even Sisters are struggling to get into this country, but because God is great and for some unknown reason I, of all people, have been chosen for a work pass.
Truly such a blessing
Majulah semua.
Onward Everyone.
Elder Barlow🇸🇬
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