O Christmas Tree

December 14, 2015

BUENAS DIAS FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!

My First Apartment - nice and GREEN!
Yes - the sign in the window says it is up for sale, but our contract doesn't end for a couple more months
so we aren't moving anytime soon.

So this week....I bought a tree haha!  I found the cheapest one I could, which was 25 pesos (about 2.50 dollars) plus I spent a little for the tiny bell decorations.  It’s super little, like barely a foot high... but I LOVE it.  I figured if I have to spend 2 Christmas' away from home, I deserve a tree!  I'll just have to store it in my suitcase over the next year haha.   Also, a shout out to Mom for sending me the best ornament in the world to remind me of home :)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...How lovely are thy branches!

The BEST Ornament :)

Last Monday evening we had something called refuerzos in our area.  I have no idea what it’s called in English but it’s where all the missionaries in the zone (14 people, 7 companionships) all go to one area and for about 2 hours everyone goes on splits with another companion and goes out contacting people.  So Hna Palma and I had to prepare lists of people from the area book and the references we had received, and map out 7 different areas for the missionaries to go work in.  It went really well and at the end of the night we had 15 new contacts!  All of that is super great, the only problem is that because of the size of our area, and the fact that we had contacts from all parts, there isn’t enough time to go and visit everyone.  We are trying our best to go visit one or two of the new contacts per day, I just wish they lived a little closer to each other so we could visit more people.  

Well, so like I've said before, our area is huge!  It is filled with all different kinds of people, houses and streets.  We've got everything from asphalt roads, to cobble stone streets to just plain dirt paths.  As a result, it’s very important that you watch where you are walking AT ALL TIMES - si no [if not], you will most likely trip, get your feet caught in some garbage, sticks or wire, or the best of all... you'll step in a nice little present left by our rabies infested four legged friends.  Can you guess which one happened to me this week? Yes, ALL of them...haha, the worst though was that I seriously stepped in dog poo!  Ugh, I can't get over it, it was disgusting!  Hermana Palma was seriously laughing forever about it.  Lesson learned - watch where you are stepping…ALWAYS!!!!

Speaking of stepping, I've figured out which of my shoes is my favorite!  (aka the ones that don't hurt to walk in)  I know that you are all going to find this hard to believe, but I'm actually TAN here!  Holy cow - one month in Argentina and this is what happens to you!  This is not a joke people.

It's not DIRT!

Fridays rock in the mission because for 1 hour every week I get to go to the capilla [chapel] and practice playing the piano!  Oh it’s so great!!  The absolute best way to unwind, relax a little bit, and do something I enjoy so much.  Next Sunday is the Primary Program in our ward Sacrament Meeting and the Primary pianist has a hard time playing one of the songs so she asked me if I could play it for the program.  I'm so excited!  We had practice this Saturday and I can't wait to hear the cute niños sing “I'm trying to be like Jesus” in Spanish :)  

The truth is that I've been on a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions this week. I've been super frustrated and down on myself at times because of the language and the fact that we aren't seeing any progress or results from our work.  Plus I feel like we don’t have enough time with the size of our area and the amount of people we need to visit.  BUT at the same time, I've been super grateful and happy because I love Argentina and our ward has been super awesome and willing to help us out lots this week. 

In 1 Nephi 11:17 we read, "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless I do not know the meaning of all things."  As hard as missionary work is, I'm not here to show off my knowledge of the gospel or the Spanish language (or lack thereof :)), I'm here to share my testimony of the love that God has for each of us and invite my brothers and sisters here in Bahia Blanca to come closer to Him. 

Yes this week was long and hard, but it’s not about me.  I'm going to keep working hard, continue to smile and just love the people, cause that's the way the Savior would do it. 

El Campo Blanco (a different one...there's literally millions here)

I LOVE you all and am so grateful for the prayers and support you all send my way every day.  

Wishing you all a fantastic week!  

Con mucho amor,  

Hermana Bartholomew 

P.S. I started a little notebook of random observations and thoughts about Argentina and I'm going to try to send you all one per week, because they are pretty funny and random. 

Paper is long here... like normal printer paper is a good 2 inches longer than in the states... it’s just a little strange.  Haha sorry that was super random and unimportant, but just thought you all should know. ;) 

Crazy Cloud...someone please explain this to me?

Weekly Sunset
I'm pretty sure Hna Palma is getting sick of how many pictures I take of sunsets...
whoops, sorry - they are just my favorite