January 14, 2016
Hola Familia y Amigos!!
How are you all?! Gosh I miss and love you all so
much! Being away from home just makes me realize everyday how grateful
and lucky I am to have the love and support of all of you for me. THANK
YOU for everything!!!
This week was great! Hermana Baird and I are literally
the same person. I swear everyday we
find something new that we have in common and we are constantly smiling and
laughing!
Since Presidente Cifuentes changed the mission rule that we
can't eat with the members, we have had to start cooking for ourselves
right? Oh my, it’s so fun!! It’s
funny because you would think that the two Yankee companions would be eating
lots of foods from the states right? Haha
nope! Hna. Baird has had lots of Latina companions before me, so as a
result the first couple of weeks we were eating all different types of food
from Peru, Paraguay and Argentina of course. ;) But this week we tried
some recipes from home finally. For
example, Sunday we made meat loaf with a side of steamed veggies - haha we
totally felt like little moms :) We've also made grilled cheese and
banana bread - my favorites!! Yep, life is good for the master chefs of
Villa Floresta. :)
Now for our investigators....
Sadly, Juan Cruz has been out of town since Christmas and we
haven't seen him in so long! BUT he's coming back on Saturday so hopefully we
can get him to come to church again!!
JESSICA!!! Oh my, she is so great! She's a cute young
mom with the two cutest kids in the world!!! We contacted her in the street one
day and although she was a little apprehensive at first, she accepted a cita [appointment] in her house the next
evening. We had lots of appointments that night and were running
everywhere so by the time we got to her house we had to be in and out within
15-20 mins. We taught a super quick and powerful first lesson about the
restoration and committed her to read and pray about the pamphlet we left with
her. A couple days later we came back
and she had read it and totally remembered it all and was very enthusiastic.
We gave her a Book of Mormon and talked a little bit more about prophets - both
in the olden days and now; and we also taught how important it is to follow the
promise in the Book of Mormon to read and pray about it. She was super attentive
in our lesson and accepted it all very well. She even told us that her
cute little 4 year old son said "esas chicas son muy buenas" [these girls are very good] after we left
the first time. We have a lesson with her tonight and are really excited
to keep teaching her! She's super prepared and ready and we couldn’t be
happier! Also, she’s the first person in Argentina (other than the American
missionaries) to pronounce the "TH" in Bartholomew... so obviously
she's a keeper right?! ;)
We have a couple other investigators Carmen and Mariela who
are super great- we just need to find them when they're home haha!
Besides all that we are working with lots of less active
members and recent converts trying to help them come back to church. My
favorite is a cute older lady named Edith. She knows more about
missionary life than I do! :) She's been a member for a long time and has
had the missionaries over to her home for years! She loves to tell us
random facts she knows about our life as a missionary - like what day is our
"free day" and what time we need to go to bed and stuff. Super
funny and cute! Right now she is struggling to quit smoking so we are
trying to love and support her.
That's about it for right now. Just want to let you
all know how happy I am. The work is hard, the days are long and very hot, but
there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. I really feel like I have a
purpose here and can really help these people. If you're ever feeling
down on yourself, go read Alma chapter 26.
In this chapter Ammon is reflecting back on his mission, and he perfectly
explains the joy and happiness I am feeling right now. I have so much to be
grateful for and so much to rejoice about. Like Ammon, I know this joy
comes from my Heavenly Father and "I will boast of my God forever!"
Wishing you all a great week!!
Sending all my love and prayers,
Hermana Bartholomew
P.S.
Sad news, we tried a new ciber [internet café] today and I can't send picturess on this computer :(
Lo siento!!! [I’m sorry!!]
Next week for sure!! CHAO!
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