Have you ever wondered what training new mission leaders receive?  Well…it’s a lot…and it’s incredible. 

Actually, our training first began with our interviews back in October and November. Both Elder Rasband and President Eyring took time to encourage us, give us advice, and teach us about leading missionaries. 

Formal training began with a list of materials we received from the missionary department immediately after our call. That included Handbooks to read, podcasts to listen to, videos to watch, webinars to join, and of course Preach My Gospel.

But by far the most meaningful training we received was this last week where we attending a 4-day Mission Leader Seminar at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. All new mission leaders gathered at this seminar to receive training from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience for me and Kimberly. 

We had watched and listened to Mission Leader Seminars from prior years, so we felt we had a good ideas of what to expect. It actually created a high bar because they were so good. But the experience this last week far exceeded any expectations that we started with. It was amazing. 

After His resurrection, the Savior gave His Twelve Apostles the charge to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). Thus, the Twelve Apostles have the primary responsibility for missionary work throughout the world, which is why they personally do the training for new mission leaders. 

The 2023 Mission Leader Seminar was especially historic because the church released a new edition of Preach My Gospel titled Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As this is the primary source we use for training missionaries, this was a very exciting moment to be a part of, and all of the training was based on each of the chapters in this new edition of Preach My Gospel.

There were three especially meaningful moments to us at the seminar:

1. Hearing from President and Sister Nelson. It was a special experience to be with them.
2. Elder Holland invited missionaries from the time when Elder Andersen, Elder Stevenson, Elder Soares, and Elder Rasband served as mission presidents. The look of surprise when those former missionaries walked in was priceless. Each of them shed tears because of the love they felt for these missionaries. 
3. On Sunday, we had a sacrament meeting with President Oaks, President Eyring, and all members of the Quorum of the Twelve where missionaries currently attending the Missionary Training Center blessed and passed the sacrament. 

Each of the speakers spoke for 30 minutes, so it would be impossible to summarize their talks here, but you can read a summary of each of the talks in The Church News. Here are a few highlights:

President M. Russell Ballard – The Restoration: Missionaries should protect, support, teach, and love each other like Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

Elder Quentin L. Cook – Fulfill Your Missionary Purpose: A missionary’s purpose impacts everything they do…If you really believe that everyone needs the Doctrine of Christ, you will feel the need to talk to everyone.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson – Accomplish the Work Through Goals and Plans: If you get the missionary purpose right in your mission, everything changes.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland – Your Influence on the Lives of Your Missionaries: You are always teaching…and sometimes you use words.

Sister Amy A. Wright – Seek Christ-like Attributes: In order to become like Jesus, it is essential that we know His true character and attributes. Becoming more like Jesus Christ requires change.

Elder Gerritt W. Gong – Help People Prepare for Baptism and Confirmation: As you ask in faith, the Holy Ghost will guide you and your missionaries in challenging and unexpected situations.

President Dallin H. Oaks – The Plan of Salvation: The Plan of Salvation is like a map that shows us how to chart our journey through life to the destination our Heavenly Father desires for us. The Book of Mormon has over 30 references to this plan making it a handbook on understanding the Plan of Salvation.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf – Unite with Leaders and Members: Missionaries are disciples of Christ and the extended arm of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles…If we try to build relationships to help accomplish our own goals, those relationships will be shallow and temporary.

Elder David A. Bednar – Teach to Build Faith in Jesus Christ: True faith is always focused on the Savior, His mission, and His Atonement. Rarely should a missionary speak with one of their friends without inviting them to do something to strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband – Find People to Teach: Help missionaries connect their purpose to everything they do. Mission leaders who model effective finding and show by example how to find will be a powerful source of inspiration for your missionaries. 

Elder D. Todd Christofferson – Use the Power of the Book of Mormon: Use the Book of Mormon to help people have spiritual experiences. Encouraging people to get their own witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon should be central to your teaching.

President Henry B. Eyring – The Gospel of Jesus Christ: The process of conversion begins as missionaries increase in their love of Jesus Christ, and their willingness to make sacrifices for Him…The Holy Ghost is the best guarantor of personal peace than any other source. 

Elder Marcus B. Nash – Search the Scriptures and Put on the Armor of God: Preach My Gospel is designed to help each missionary become both strong and skilled. Strong = missionaries who are strong in the Spirit because they know and love the scriptures, the Lord Himself and the doctrine of His gospel. Skilled = missionaries who are learning how to plan, set goals, find, teach, inviting, follow-up and work in unity with members.

Sister Bonnie H. Cordon – Lifelong Disciples of Jesus Christ: Living the doctrine of Christ can produce the most powerful virtuous cycle, creating spiritual momentum in our lives.

Elder Neil L. Andersen – Help People Make and Keep Commitments: Inviting someone to make a commitment is often an invitation to repent. As commitments are made honestly with agency, the making and keeping of commitments brings spiritual power. 

President Russell M. Nelson and Sister Wendy Nelson: You can count on divine laws working 100% of the time, so seek to identify and understand these laws. It is simple. Focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will know how to resolve every challenge you have. When you teach, teach the doctrine of Christ.

Elder Dale G. Renlund – Seek and Rely on the Spirt: Consistent and diligent work is required to receive the promptings of the Spirit. Rarely do impressions come with reasons why you should act.

Elder Ulisses Soares – Learn Your Mission Language: Help missionaries learn their mission language by helping them know they have been called to do so by a prophet of God. Help them to purify their motives by focusing on loving God and loving His children and desiring to bless them.

Elder Paul V. Johnson – Leading and Serving as Disciples of Christ: Whatever spirit or motivation drives our thoughts and actions determines what grows out of that motivation. Use D&C 121:34-46 as your personal model for effective leadership.

President Dallin H. Oaks: Everything in the gospel begins and ends with our understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and our love and commitment to serve Him.

The other highlight of the seminar was the chance to meet new mission leaders from literally all over the world. We met mission leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Zimbabwe, Ghana, DR Congo, South Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, the Philippines, and all across the United States. Our partners for all of our role plays during the week were President and Sister Fernandez from Manila and going to the Philippines Cebu Mission. They were incredible, and we feel a great love for them. Every couple we met throughout the week were remarkable in their background and faith in Christ. Kimberly and I continue to wonder how we ended up as peers with such amazing people. 

Some interesting facts about this group of mission leaders:

• 138 couples were trained as new mission leaders
• 25 countries represented
• 41 languages spoken
• 81 children are accompanying their parents as mission leaders
• 4 couples had already started serving
• 5 couples were serving as senior missionaries when called
• Date of first call: August 31, 2022
• Date of last call: May 24, 2023 (Wow! I can’t imagine having only a month to prepare.)

Here are some of the people we spent time with this week:

Lastly, this was one of my favorite pictures from the entire week. This is the group we will be spending the next three years with serving together in the North America Southeast Area:

It was hard to leave when the seminar ended on Sunday, and we found ourselves wanting to linger, but then we got this notification: 

It’s time to go! 

Early this morning, Sami left for Tennessee. This week, she is attending FSY with our new stake in Knoxville. For Strength of Youth Camp, or FSY, is a summer camp run by our church where large groups of youth gather together for a week to attend classes, devotionals, games, dances, a talent show, and other fun activities. The people in Knoxville, who we haven’t even met yet, have been so kind to include Sami and invite her to participate. So Sami flew out today, arriving in Tennessee a week before us so she can attend this camp that starts tomorrow. We admire her courage and are so grateful for her willingness to go.

In the beginning pages of the Book of Mormon, we are introduced to a prophet named Nephi, Nephi is asked by God to do some really hard things…things that took him way out of his comfort zone. But his response was powerful when he said:

I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them (1 Nephi 3:7).

Nephi’s belief was that whenever God asks us to do something, He will always prepare a way for us to accomplish what He asks if we are willing and act in faith. Our willingness is an expression of our faith. Willingness becomes especially powerful when it results in us sacrificing things we want for what the Lord wants.

Sami is sacrificing a lot, but our prayer is that her willingness will lead to great blessings that come to her in return.

Last week, Samantha spoke in our worship services about her feelings of going to Tennessee. While all three of us spoke, Samantha was the MVP. The things she shared were powerful. We asked her if we could share her talk here and she has included it below.

Thank you Samantha for your example of willingness. We love you!

Talk given by Samantha in Westland 9th Ward Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, June 11, 2023.

My name is Samantha Barlow and my mom and dad are Sister and President Barlow. I’m 15 and I’m moving to Tennessee with my parents for three years while they serve as mission leaders.

When my parents first told me and my siblings the news that they were being called to serve everyone in my family seemed like it wasn’t a big surprise. They all had felt a feeling or an impression in the months before that something like that was coming.

But for me it was a huge shock.

I was just getting used to high school life. I had made so many new friends and was having and amazing year already. I was a little upset when they told me in a few months we would be moving to a different state or even a different country country.

For the next couple of weeks I struggled to figure out why my parents had to be called now. Couldn’t the mission wait for me to at least graduate and finish school with my friends? Why was it important for me to go to Tennessee too?

I really thought about this for a long time and it made me feel sad to think that I would have to start all over again and meet new people. I constantly stressed that I might not be able to make new friends or I won’t fit in.

But one day I remembered one of my favorite primary songs. The song is called “Nephi’s Courage” and its lyrics describe the trials Nephi (a prophet in the Book of Mormon) went through such as getting the plates or building a boat. But even though the Lord is asking Nephi to do these hard things, Nephi always replies with, “I will go and do the thing the Lord commands” (see 1 Nephi 3:7).

The third verse of the song goes like this:

The Lord gives us commandments and asks us to obey.
Sometimes I am tempted to choose another way.
When I’m discouraged, and think I cannot try,
I will be courageous, and I will reply:

“I will go; I will do the thing the Lord commands.
I know the Lord provides a way; he wants me to obey.
I will go; I will do the thing the Lord commands.
I know the Lord provides a way; he wants me to obey.”

I believe the Lord has given my parents a commandment to head to Tennessee to share His word and bring back His lost sheep. I’m not sure why yet, but He has a reason for me to go with them. The best I’ve decided to do is to say I will go and do what the Lord commands because I know He has a plan for me, and even though I don’t understand His plan now, I’m sure I’ll understand at the end of these next three years.

Last night I was reading a talk by Elder Carl B. Cook titled “Just Keep Going with Faith”. In this talk he says:

Elder George A. Smith, an Apostle, received counsel from the Prophet Joseph Smith at a time of great difficulty: “He told me I should never get discouraged, whatever difficulties might surround me. If I was sunk in the lowest pit of Nova Scotia and all the Rocky Mountains piled on top of me, I ought not to be discouraged but hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage and I should come out on the top of the heap at last.”

Tennessee is definitely not the lowest pit of Nova Scotia but it is still, even now, something that I’m nervous about. But I believe in Elder Smith’s words that as long as I exercise faith and keep on the covenant path, the Lord will guide me and bless me for my sacrifice.

Later on in this talk, Elder Cook describes an experience where he is repeatedly called on to speak at the same stake conference with nothing prepared in advance. He was repeatedly called up to speak straight from the impressions from his heart and the Spirt. After he had talked several times throughout the meeting, he was relieved it was over. But even then, he still said:

Do you know what I am grateful for? That I didn’t give up — or resist. If I had given in to my desperate desire to escape from those meetings, I would have missed an opportunity to increase my faith and receive a rich outpouring of love and support from my Heavenly Father. I learned of His mercy, the miraculous enabling power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost. In spite of my weakness, I learned that I can serve; I can contribute when the Lord is by my side if I just keep going—with faith.

Regardless of the size, scope, and seriousness of the challenges we face in life, we all have times when we feel like stopping, leaving, escaping, or possibly giving up. But exercising faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ, helps us overcome discouragement no matter what obstacles we encounter.

Sometimes I wish I had a way to escape my parents new calling, but then in a way I feel like this also is my own calling and I can also be a missionary while I’m there. I realize that this experience will bring my faith to a greater strength than it has ever been, but it will also test it and it may be hard in the beginning.

I know the lord loves me and that he has a plan for me. I think that something is waiting for my family in Tennessee and even though we are leaving so much behind we will be blessed with even more.

I love this ward so much and I’m not sure I would be able to go if it wasn’t for so many of you amazing people. Thank you to all my leaders in primary, young women, activity days, …. , and many more for teaching me about the miracle of our gospel and helping me strengthen my testimony enough to be willing to leave my home with faith that everything is going to be ok, if not better than it was before. I will miss so many of you and I love you all. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

I’ve been thinking this week about the impact of my mission leaders. As I served my mission, I was blessed with some of the best.

For the first year of my mission, I served with President and Sister Kikuchi, and the second year was with President and Sister Perkins.

President Yoshihiko Kikuchi was a very successful businessman in Japan when he was called at the age of 36 (in 1977) to serve as a General Authority Seventy, which required him to leave his home and his employment and move his young family to Salt Lake City, Utah for this full-time church service. From 1987 to 1989, President Kikuchi served as president of the Hawaii Honolulu Mission.

I joined him there in 1988 as a 19-year old missionary.

Serving with President Kikuchi blessed my life in remarkable ways. I still remember lessons he taught me about centering my life on Jesus Christ and always putting Him first, how to improve my prayers, how to act with greater faith, and how to recognize and act on the promptings of the Spirit. I learned leadership lessons from him that are still helping me in my life today and have made me a more effective leader at both Fidelity Investments and my callings at church.. He would always share a powerful testimony of the Savior, the prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. I knew he loved me and trusted me.

At each of our zone conferences (which is a meeting led by the mission president with all missionaries every six weeks), the closing song to the meeting would always be “Love One Another”. President Kikuchi would stand in front of us and he first would sing the song once by himself, and then we would sing it a second time all together.

I remember one of these meetings in the Honolulu Tabernacle where he sang those words:

As I have loved you,
Love one another.
This new commandment:
Love one another.
By this shall men know,
Ye are my disciples,
If ye have love
One to another.

As he sang, tears beginning to roll down my cheeks because in that that moment I could feel this great love for him, but even more powerfully his love for me and all of us missionaries.

Speaking to mission leaders, President Henry B. Eyring has taught, “[The Father and the Son] love your missionaries perfectly, so you can be sure those elders and sisters will not come to you by chance. Our Father and His Beloved Son know in advance what help your missionaries will need to rise to their full potential in their service. And so They called them to you. Your missionaries may think, when they open that letter from the living prophet, that they were called to a nation or a mission or to teach in a language. They were. But more important to their lives will be the assignment to serve with you. You will likely have the greater effect on their mission and on their lives.”

I know this is definitely true for me.

I’ve come to recognize the main reason I was called to serve in Hawaii is because that is where the Kikuchis (and the Perkins) were, and God wanted me to serve with them to observe them, learn from them, and be mentored by them. It wasn’t just about our time in Hawaii together. These would be powerful, life-long relationships.

After my mission, when Kimberly and I were getting married, we went to visit President and Sister Kikuchi. We asked him if he would perform our marriage in the Salt Lake Temple, which he did.

Years later when our twins were born, I called President Kikuchi to see if they could come when we blessed the twins at our church. As a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, he often was out of town on the weekends visiting congregations all over the world, but he just happened to be in Salt Lake City that weekend, so they came and helped us as we blessed the twins.

A few years later, when I was called to be a bishop, I called him again to see if they could come the Sunday I was going to be set apart (which in our church is a blessing members receive when they get a calling or an assignment). Once again, lucky for me he was in town, and he was there that day.

When I received this call to be a mission leader, I called him and shared the news. Weeks later, in going through medical exams in preparation to serve as a mission leader, I was diagnosed with a health challenge that was pretty concerning. After we left the doctor’s office, Kimberly said to me, “You need to call President Kikuchi.”

So once again, I called my mission president. He invited us with our son Lincoln to come to his home so he could give me a blessing of health. It was a powerful experience that I will always remember. The fears I carried with me as I entered his home left as we visited with him, heard his counsel and advice, and he gave me that blessing. I knew everything was going to be okay.

I share this to highlight that at every key moment of my life for the last 30 years, my mission president has been there. I’ve always known that if there was ever anything I needed, I could call him and he would do anything possible to help. He has been one of the most important figures in my life, and has been a life-long mentor and friend.

This last week, I called President Kikuchi again to see if they could come to our worship services where Samantha, Kimberly, and I would be speaking before leaving on our mission. As I walked into our chapel, there were President and Sister Kikuchi. It’s hard to describe the emotions I felt in seeing them there, once again, at this very important “moment that matters” in my life. It was a full circle moment where I am now leaving to do what they did 30 years ago in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission.

I’m hoping to do for others exactly what they’ve done for me. They’ve set a pretty high standard for Kimberly and I to reach.

I regret that I didn’t get a picture with President and Sister Kikuchi on Sunday to remember that moment, but here are two from 2021 where I took our family up to visit them at their home.

As I think about these wonderful missionaries in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, I hope that Kimberly and I will be able to do for them what the Kikuchis have done for us.

I hope to help them learn lessons that are not just about being a successful missionary, but being successful in life.

I hope to build their faith and point them to Christ and help them center everything on Him, along with so many other spiritual lessons that will help them now and long into the future.

I want to sing “Love One Another” to them.

I want them to feel loved and completely trusted.

And I hope that over the next 30 years they will be calling President and Sister Barlow to have us join in celebrating with them their big moments that matter, or when they need advice, or when they are scared or struggling and need a blessing, or when they just want to talk. These are all the things the Kikuchis have done for me and I will forever feel grateful and indebted to them.

Many friends who are not members of our church have asked how we were asked to serve as mission leaders, and who decided that we should serve in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. This requires a little explanation of how our church is organized.

One of the ways God shows His love for His children is by calling prophets, who are given His priesthood authority, or power to act in the name of God. Throughout history, this is the way that Jesus Christ has organized and led His church…through prophets. He speaks to prophets and gives them direction, and they in turn teach and give that direction to us.

During the Savior’s ministry, when He organized His church, He called twelve men to be His Apostles and gave them this priesthood authority. After the Savior’s death, these Twelve Apostles continued to lead His church. Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is led and organized in this same way through prophets and apostles.

Our current prophet is Russell M. Nelson. He is the President of the Church, and two Apostles are called to be his counselors. This group is known as the First Presidency. They are assisted by twelve apostles who have the same responsibilities as Peter, James, and John and the other early Apostles, and work together as a group in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. One of the primary responsibilities they have is to testify of Jesus Christ and share His gospel with others.

Being a mission leader is not something you volunteer for or express interest in doing, so it was surprise when we received a phone call in mid-October asking us to come meet with Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who is one of the Twelve Apostles. He explained that he had been assigned by the First Presidency to meet with us and asked a number of questions about our ability and willingness to serve. He asked about each of our children individually but especially focused on Samantha, our parents and their health, and ultimately if we would be willing to leave our home, our family, and our work, and go serve somewhere in the world as assigned by the First Presidency.

That was followed by a meeting in mid-November where we met with President Henry B. Eyring, who is the second counselor in the First Presidency. In that meeting, President Eyring extended the call for us to serve as mission leaders and shared his counsel and advice with us. At that time, we didn’t know where we would be serving, only that we would serve as mission leaders somewhere in the world for the next three years.

Our assignment of where we would serve was made by the First Presidency, and communicated in a letter President Nelson that we received in mid-December. That is when we found out we would be serving in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.

We then met with Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Paul V. Johnson in early June where they set us apart as mission leaders assigned to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. In our church, being “set apart” is a blessing through the priesthood where a person is formally blessed to carry out a specific calling or responsibility in the church. This was a very special experience for our family to receive this blessing from an Apostle.

One really unique thing about being called as mission leaders has been to have the opportunity to meet with these apostles and prophets in the process of being called to serve. It has been a great blessing for us to meet with Elder Rasband, President Eyring, Elder Cook, and Elder Johnson, to learn from them and feel their love, ask questions, and get their guidance and direction.

Sunday, December 18, 2023

After being called as mission leaders, we eagerly awaited the letter that would tell us our assignment of where we would be serving. We were told to expect our mission call around December 15th.

Sure enough, we received an email on the Thursday, December 15th with an attachment of our mission call letter, and the following day (Friday, December 16th) we received a FedEx package with the call letter. 

We wanted to gather both of our families together to open the call, but for a few different reasons, we couldn’t gather everyone we wanted to be there until Sunday, December 18th. It was a long three days waiting for Sunday to come, but it was great to have everyone from our two families there, as well as the Grahams, the Ivins, and a few of Samantha’s friends.  

Watching someone open their mission call is always an exciting experience. There are currently 411 missions throughout the world, so the letter they are opening literally could be sending them anywhere. So you can imagine how excited and nervous a person is as they open their own call, and that was definitely true for us.

We had decided that Kimberly would open and read the call. She gave Samantha and I pretty strict instructions that we shouldn’t look at the letter as she read it as she didn’t want us to see where we were going before she read where we were assigned.

She was excited as I’ve ever seen her as she read, “You are assigned to labor in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.” We couldn’t be more excited about this assignment and know that this is going to be a great place for us to serve.

I feel especially grateful for Samantha and her willingness to move to Tennessee. She will start her sophomore year of high school shortly after we arrive in Knoxville and will graduate weeks before we come home in three years. This last year she has been a student body officer and loved being involved in choirs at the high school, and now wonders how that is all going to work out at a new high school. She’s leaving a strong group of friends and a community that is familiar and comfortable. In the end, she is making the greatest sacrifice of all. We are so grateful for her and know that in the end, this will be a special experience for her.

There is a pretty amazing side note here…

Back in June, Kimberly and I booked a trip to Disneyland during the first week of December. It was a rare trip to Disneyland for just the two of us, but it ended up being perfect timing as we had just received our call as mission leaders two weeks before the trip.

When we received our call to serve, you naturally begin to wonder where you will be assigned. We looked back at the assignments made in 2020 (since mission leaders serve for three years) to get an idea of what missions would be open. We learned there would be 134 mission leaders assigned in 2023.

As Kimberly and I don’t speak other languages, we felt it was likely we would be assigned English-speaking, which narrowed it down to around 75 potential missions. As you can imagine, we all poured over that list and each of us had preferences of where we hoped it might be. Since I served in Hawaii, I predicted serving with the Polynesian people. But Kimberly had other ideas…

So back to Disneyland…

One night, after the fireworks had just finished, and the snow was falling on Main Street, Kimberly pulled out her phone to film the end of the fireworks and the start of the snow. As the snow finished, she turned the camera on us, and asked, “Where do you think we are going on our mission?”

Here are the predictions:

Yes, Kimberly called it! Keep in mind this was on December 6th and we didn’t open our call letter until December 18th. She’s clearly the inspired one in our family. She had impressions early on that we were heading to Tennessee, and she was right all along, which is pretty remarkable.