Rainy Days and Teaching English

April 14, 2016

Buenos Días a todos!! Como están?! Les extraño y les amo MUCHISIMO!

I've had lots of you ask how my Spanish is coming along so feel free to refer to the sentence above and decide for yourself! ;)  JK!  But the truth is that I feel lots more comfortable with the language and feel like I can really communicate with the people now.  Given, there are still some people we meet that have super strong accents or don't enunciate well and I have no clue what they are saying…so I just smile and look at my companion. J  It’s such a blessing to be with Hermana Cardenas because it’s much easier to learn Castellano with the help of someone who speaks it. 

That being said, I also now have the opportunity to help her learn English!  It’s not easy, but it has been super fun to try and teach her random phrases and words and help her practice her pronunciation without an accent.  This week she learned to say "What the heck?!" and "You got it dude!" J  She told me that she had heard lots of Yankee missionaries say, "What the heck?" and that she liked it and wanted to learn it.  So the other night when our district leader called us, he asked Hna Cardenas to teach him a phrase that they use in Mexico and she says, "Okay....What the heck?!" :) Oh, it’s too fun!  Don't worry, I'm also teaching her more useful and important phrases like "it’s time for bed"; "we are eating apples with dulce de leche"; "please open the door"; "I am hungry"; etc.  I’ll be honest - I'm quite enjoying being on the opposite side of the language learning struggle. :) 

Hermana Cardenas hit her 8 month mark in the mission this week, so I made her a special breakfast...complete with figure 8 pancakes, mini french toast, and ice cream too, of course! :)

Feliz 8 Meses Hermana Cardenas!!

I have not lost my touch...mini french toast :)

ICE CREAM!!!!

And speaking of cooking, when I got here we didn't have one of the most basic tools of the kitchen...a rolling pin!  But, no problem!  There was this random wood pole in our house...so we washed it, and got creative. ;)

The world's longest rolling pin

This week the weather has started to change…it has been super rainy and cold and I LOVE IT!  It’s been a bit harder to contact and talk to people because no one is outside but hay que perseverar no? [we should/must persevere, no?] :) Just gotta keep on, keepin’ on! 

I've gotta get some use out of the snow boots that I brought to a place without snow...;)
But hey...they keep my feet warm in the house!

On Sunday, there were 95 people at church!!!  It was a bit overwhelming because I was used to like 65 in Floresta.  No idea what I'm going to do when I get home and see a Utah-sized congregation again. ;)  But yeah, our ward is super great and involved in the obra misional [missionary work] so that's good!

This week we had a couple more good lessons with Alicia but she didn't come to church again. :(   We are still working hard with her and hoping and praying that she can be ready to be baptized on April 30th, but if not, it will happen in May for sure. :)  Sadly, we weren't able to teach Juan this week either, but I'm sure by now he has to be half-way through the Book of Mormon.  I'll update you all on that more next week.  Please pray for us to be able to find people who the Lord is preparing to receive our message and that the investigators that we do have can progress! 

My ending thought for the day is a quote by our prophet, President Monson from his General Conference talk in October of 2012 (sorry I only have it in Spanish...). 

"Debemos cultivar la capacidad de ver a los hombres no como lo que son ahora, sino como lo que pueden llegar a ser."  [We must develop the capacity to see men not as they are at present but as they may become.] 

I have been blessed to be able to develop this ability.  That is, to see my investigators and all the people I meet in my mission through the eyes of Heavenly Father.  Every time I teach people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, I imagine them dressed in white, entering the waters of baptism and later, through the doors of the temple.  After all that's said and done, that really is the ultimate goal in this life...to receive the ordinances of salvation – baptism and confirmation, and then make covenants with our Father in His house - the temple.  

I challenge you all to have patience and love with all those you come in contact with daily.  Try to look at everyone you meet…not as they are now, but as what they can one day become! 

I love you all and wish you a happy weekend! 

Hasta luego!

Hermana Bartholomew

P.S. Last Thursday we went mini bowling with our entire zone and it was so fun!  We were all pretty awful, but that made things super competitive at the same time.  Good times indeed! :) 

Some very small bowling balls...;)

Our Classy Bowling Shoes

P-Day Bowling with the Zone

You can't tell me this isn't the greatest photo ever!!
We got some weird looks, but this cute little old man who is a super good bowler was a good sport.
He was really laughing hard when we took the picture.

The things that happen on the mission!