Service

March 13, 2017

Hola! How's it going?

Yo? Enferma. Haha that's right, my being sick in the mission curse came but this week.  The weather in Mar del Plata has been super crappy and changy (is that even a word? changeable? changing?.. it just changed a lot during the week).  It's been windy, rainy, cold and sunny all at the same time and my body couldn't keep up.  

Time to bring out the winter coats

Neither could my companion's.  But we're feeling much better so don't worry! :)  It just took some soup lovingly made by my comp and unpacking our warm winter socks.

When your comp is cold during studies :)
When she got up, she realized that the cold floor was making it worse ;)

Sicky food ;)  Gotta love a good grilled cheese with choclo soup

This weekend we participated in another capilla abierta [chapel open house] here in our stake.  There's a new missionary couple that got called to our mission - the Allen's.  Elder Allen serve his mission in Thailand so he knows zero Spanish. Hermana Allen is from England but lived 10 years in Spain - so she speaks with a crazy Brittish/Spainard (is that how you spell it?) accent.  

They are here to help with the chapel open houses, the missionary's apartments and materials in the office.  So Saturday morning they had to go check out one of the apartments in Centro that no one is living in and they asked us to go help them.  So I got to ride in a car!!  It's been too long. J  The apartment was pretty gross but we helped them take an inventory of what was there.  It was weird to converse with adults in English again…and really hard to not start talking in a British accent with Hna. Allen! haha :)

Anyway, Saturday evening we had the Capilla Abierta – and with our bipolar weather week, it rained the entire time... so almost no one came.  But it was awesome to see how many members came out to help and how happy they were to be there on a day like that.

Capilla Abierta

My new bestie - Hermana Green

Zona Mar del Plata
(Elder & Hermana Allen on the far left)

This week I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting about the blessings of doing service.  I was worried that I wouldn't have a voice on Sunday because of my sore throat and I told my comp that she might have to give my talk for me but it didn't work. :( haha  I tried!  Anyway, the bishop asked me to share some experiences from my life - not just talking about the mission.  Luckily I grew up in a great family with parents that taught me from a young age the importance of service and the happiness and blessings it brings to our lives.

One of the examples I shared was an experience my best buddy and little brother, Brandon shared with me about a month ago.  He said that one weekend he was bored, with nothing to do and everyone else in the family was busy doing something, so he decided to go to the Bishop's Storehouse by himself to volunteer.  How awesome is that?  He said he felt so good and really enjoyed it. But my favorite part was that the very next week he wrote me and said he was sad he couldn't go volunteer that weekend cause he decided to go to the Temple with Dad.  I am so beyond grateful for the incredible example my brother is to me!  I think that the greatest blessing we can receive by serving is that we become more like our Savior Jesus Christ.  I know that me and my family are far from being perfect, but I can say with pride and a big smile on my face that we are trying our best to follow the example of Christ and serve and help his brothers and sisters come unto him.  

I hope you all have a great week and pay extra attention to all the blessings God gives you through your Service!

Con mucho amor y sopa de choclo,

Hermana Bartholomew

p.s. Our hot water decided to stop working yesterday so just imagine me boiling water this morning and using a pitcher to shower...it was fun...gotta love the mission right?  :)

 

Sleepover with the Hermanas from Miramar (Hna Castillo y Navarro)