Valentine's Day Pancakes

February 18, 2016

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Happy late Valentine's Day! I hope you all had a great day and week!  Mostly, I hope you all used it as an excuse to eat lots of sweets...uhh I mean tell everyone in your life how much you love them ;) ...and then give them some sweets!  I know Hermana Baird and I really took advantage of it!  We woke up on Sunday morning and made some heart shaped pancakes before church and topped them off with dulce de leche of course!  Muy rico!! [Very delicious!!]

Get ready for church, or make heart-shaped pancakes???

Valentine Pancakes

Speaking of food, on Missionary Master Chef this week, we decided to be real Argentines and make some Empanadas and Milanesas (a long thin chicken fillet that you bread and then fry- basically a giant chicken nugget :) ).  Just keeping it classic you know ;) 

Officially an Argentine...EMPANADAS!!!

Yesterday I had to go do my “tràmites” in El Centro (I have no idea what that means in English, but basically means that I ended up standing in a bunch of lines for like 8 hours signing paperwork and getting my fingerprints done in order to become legal in this country.)  Let’s just say that we had to wake up extra early to be there at 5:30am so we could be in front of the line.  Super fun right?!

So I know you have been wondering about the progress of our investigators.  Well, sadly this week Jessica went out of town with her family for summer vacation so we weren't able to teach her at all.  At this point we'll have to see what happens with her next week.  In spite of the challenges with most of our investigators being gone, right now we are working with lots of less active families in our ward to get them to come back to church and STAY active in church.

I'm so ready for summer break to end here so people will stop going on vacations and actually be home! haha :) #missionaryprobs 

The local Evangelico Church
Jesus Saves . Heals . Liberates
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On Saturday, we got a call from the 1st Counselor in the Bishopric and someone that was supposed to talk in church canceled.  Whenever that happens here the missionaries are always a sure backup.  So yep, you guessed it, this week was my turn.... I HAD TO GIVE A SACRAMENT MEETING TALK IN SPANISH... WHAT?!  Let’s just say I was freaking out a bit, all the while Hermana Baird was laughing and enjoying herself.  I spoke about the power of prayer.  The truth is that I have no idea if anyone understood what I said but it’s over now so I'm happy. ;) 

As I was preparing the talk I thought about one of the most important and powerful prayers that has ever been offered - Joseph Smith's first vocal prayer he offered near his home on a spring morning in a grove of trees.  The reason that I am on the other side of the equator right now, preaching the gospel to the people of Argentina, is because of the humble prayer of that young boy of 14 years.  Just think about the millions of lives that have been blessed by the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and how many it continues to bless today...all because of a sincere prayer.  

Like I did in my talk on Sunday, I invite all of you to really think about the importance of praying sincerely and humbly to your Father in Heaven and strive to improve your prayers everyday.  It’s really such a blessing and gift that we can talk to our Heavenly Father everyday.  Now let’s take advantage of the opportunity we have and demonstrate the faith that we will receive answers, just like young Joseph did.

  

I want to add my testimony to Joseph's, that I know that prayer works.  The only way I was able to give that talk in church last Sunday was because of the gift of tongues and the help I know I received through prayer to my Heavenly Father. 

I hope you all have a great week!  Love and miss you all!  The Church is true my friends, so keep on keepin’ on. :)

Love, 

Hermana Bartholomew