June 6, 2011

Zone Conference with Elder Johnson

Hi mom!

 

I´m jealous of the cool air up there - yes, 90  Farrenheit is cool.  I don´t know what it is here, but it´s more than 90, and it´s pretty much 100% humidity.  I get drenched in sweat if I just sit there without a really good fan and/or air conditioning.  But we carry around hand-towells all day (actually, Elder Vasquez lost his - I felt really sorry for him, but he didn´t want to use mine, which had a week´s worth of my sweat engrained into it).  That helps.  And no, it doesn´t get cool at night.  Oh, and we don´t have a water heater, but I took a hot shower today anyway - I took the shower in the afternoon, and the sun had heated up the water.  

 

Oh, well, I really shouldn´t complain about the weather.  I´m getting used to it, and it does no good to complain.  Just do me a favor, and enjoy the cool air that you have up there in Utah. 

 

We worked hard this week - we found 9 new people, and one of them is part of a family that is awesome - I´m sure that they´ll get baptized.  We had 7 investigators in church yesterday - it was awesome!  And from what we heard, they all enjoyed it.  I´m really excited about the work that we have here, and my companion is, too. 

 

I´m glad that Elder Vasquez already knows the area and the members, because I´d be completely lost otherwise.  The area is HUGE.  It´s got to be at least 2 or 3 times the size of my first area in Iguala.

 

I´m glad to hear that everything´s going well.  Tell the family hi for me.  And I´m glad that you enjoyed the box.  The sirvilletas (napkins)  were made by a member in the Insurgentes ward in Iguala.  They are used to wrap up the hot, fresh tortillas, to keep them hot and fresh (so they´re used every day, because we eat tortillas every day).  You might think it´s wierd to use tortillas with every meal, but when I told someone in Iguala that we don´t use tortillas or bread with every meal, she thought that was crazy - "but it´s the bread that fills you up!"

 

Oh, I´ve attached a picture of my new companion, the only ones I´ve taken as of yet.  Also, a picture of an awesome family in my first ward, Insurgentes.  The hat that I have was given to me by the boy, called Hector.  The dad´s name is Oscar, the mom is Araceli, and the daughter is Monce-rat (they only say Monce). 

 

I look forward to recieving the pictures of Ethan in the mail - yes, I got them by email.  And I look forward to the letter that Brother Peadon (might) write me (hint-hint).  I´ll make it a goal to respond to handwritten letters faster, so that I might get more letters in the mission.

 

Oh, I saw the first prayer house that I´ve ever seen.  Here, in the Zapata ward, they don´t have a chapel.  They have a prayer house.  It´s pretty much what would be a normal house - downstairs is where they have the Sacrament, along with some classes (cement/tile floor), and upstairs, there are some more classes.  It´s a pretty good size.  From what I heard, it´s a nice one, compared with some other ones, because it´s big, it has more than one room, and there are fans.  No piano, no keyboard, but I´ll survive.  I like to sing acapella.

 

Nothing much else to say - The church is true!  I´ve grown more in my understanding of the church and it´s importance in the past 9 months than I have my whole life before, and I know that this church is the only church with all of the truth about God that we need to fulfill our purpose in this life.

 

I love you.

 

Elder Bartlome

May 30, 2011-on to Acapulco!

Hi mom -

 

I got transferred.  I´m now in Acapulco - I haven´t had a sweat-free moment since I got here at 2:00, except when there´s a fan on me (it´s about 3:10 right now).  I´ll survive.  My new companion´s name is Elder Vazquez - I´m his second companion, and he´s my third.  He´s from the same generation as my last companion (the one I trained). 

 

I didn´t die on the bus ride, thankfully.  I didn´t even have to throw up.  A miracle.  A 3-hour bus ride without too much car sickness.  And that was 3 hours of being alone - the missionaries from Iguala dropped me off, and the missionaries in Acapulco picked me up.  That was wierd.  I have a reference for the missionaries in Iguala, though.

 

On Saturday night, at about 10:15, Elder McKee (district leader in Iguala) called to tell us about the changes.  I stayed up until 12:15 packing, so that on Sunday, I could go and say bye to some families.  We also spoke in church.  We didn´t speak because we were going - we had actually asked the Bishop a few weeks ago if we could speak.  We get sick of all of the contention between the members, so we wanted to talk in church. 

 

I talked about the importance of the church.  Basically, I said that the church doesn´t need them.  All of them can go inactive, and the Church of Jesus Christ will continue on.  But they need the church.  And all of the inactive members need the church.  And just going to church isn´t enough, you actually have to be an active part of the work if you expect to return to live with God.  And finally, I asked them if they still have a testimony burning in their hearts.  And if not, they need to repent, study, fast, pray, and get that testimony again.  I also told them that I´m leaving, and I want to see that the ward is strong again in a short time (the ward was about to divide, but then something happened and now only half of the chapel is filled every Sunday). 

 

My companion gave some ideas in his talk about how to help with the work - how to invite and help non-members, as well as less- active members (we didn´t plan the talks together, but they worked out really well). 

After the meeting, various members came up to me and promised that they would work harder to help out the ward.  I hope so.

 

This is going to be wierd - getting to know my second area.  Iguala is the only place in Mexico that I know (I was there 6 months) -There I learned Spanish, there I learned to love the Mexican people and culture - you know what I mean, you´ve served a mission.

 

Now we live in an apartment on the second floor of a member´s house.  They have a washing machine, that´s nice.  Our clothes are washing right now. 

 

I´m excited to get to know this area.  Elder Vazquez says that the area is huge, and I believe it.  Acapulco is HUMONGOUS!  I would even argue that it´s bigger than Las Vegas (I don´t know, I don´t know either one of them very well).  It´s on the mountains, too, so it´s hard to tell.

 

And of course, they transfer you right when you´re going well.  We had just started to have some more success than normal this past week in Iguala.  O well.  That´s the work of the Lord - He knows what He´s doing.  

 

Glad to hear that things are going well over there.  Yay, I´m an uncle!  I know I was an uncle before, but, again!  Congratulations, Bonnie, that the baby was born.  Congratulations also that the easy part is over.

 

I´m also glad to hear that you´re feeling better.  Good luck at work on Tuesday, I´m starting work in a new area that same day.

 

Thanks for the pictures, I´ll send some to you next week, of parts of the area, of my new companion - OH - my trainer, Elder Nelson, is my district leader here in Acapulco.

 

I can´t think of anything else to say - except two things.

 

The church is true!  Keep pressing forward in the work of the Lord.

 

and...

 

I love you!

 

Elder Bartlome 

May 23, 2011

Hi mom!

 

I finally mailed the box - last week.  You´re going to have to sign for it - be prepared for that.  (Oh,... I didn´t even think that you´re not home during the day... I guess you´re going to have to go pick it up at the post office... oops... o well, it´s safer).

 

I´m glad to hear that everything´s going well - the kitchen wall looks great!

 

Stake Conference, huh?  We had two conferences this past week - one with the whole mission in Cuernavaca (Tuesday).  Elder Rasband, from the Presidency of the Seventy came.  He doesn´t speak spanish, but he had a translator.  I saw all of the other Elders that I had met when I first came, and that had since been transferred (except the ones that have finished their missions).  My trainer is in Acapulco, where the sun is REALLY strong.  His hair is blond, and because of the sun, it looked like he had bleached it.  When I told him that, he said "You´re the third person that´s told me that!"

 

Two days later, we had our zone conference, in our stake center, with the missionaries in our zone and President Spannaus and his wife.

 

I´m glad to hear that the end of the world was postponed, due to technical difficulties.  I still have a few things to do before the world ends, haha.

 

They are building a statue of the virgin Mary right underneath our apartment (the kind that they have all over the place).  Grr...  It´s right underneath the balcony.  We were joking about hanging a scripture from the Bible from the balcony right over it about not worshiping idols, but we won´t do that, because that won´t do any good.

 

The church is true!  Keep pressing forward in the work of the Lord, and share your testimony with someone this week!

 

I love you.

 

Elder Bartlome

May 16, 2011

Hi!

Thanks for the return kiss :)  And thanks for keeping up the blog, I enjoy it - Tiffany´s is awesome, too :)  Here´s an idea, if friends of Tiffany or me want to know about the missions, but don´t know about the blog - you could put the address of the blog on facebook - Tiffany´s address on her page and mine on mine, or something like that.  Maybe, I don´t know.

I`m going to mail the box today.  I finally got it ready this week to put in the mail, along with a few other letters.  

I`m glad to hear everything`s going well.  I enjoyed the pictures of Diane´s family - Holy cow, they look older (Nikki and Bryon)!

Yes, I would come from Oregon to play the Tabernacle Organ.  Although seeing as I´ve already played that (for only 2 minutes, but still...), the Conference Center Organ is higher on my bucket list right now.

Not much to write, nothing much happened out of the ordinary.  Oh, I think I forgot to tell you - a few weeks ago, when we contacted someone sitting on his front porch, his wife brought an English Bible, King James Version (but not the LDS version - it doesn´t have the references to the modern scriptures).  It´s white, and the words of Christ are in red.  Their son had recieved it as a gift in an activity, and they don´t speak English, so they didn´t want it.  So I have another Bible in English, the same version that we use, but without modern references.  They didn´t accept our message, though.

Ummm......

If I´ve ever said that I´d never get tired of Mexican food, I take it back.  I´m not completely sick of it, but it is kind of boring sometimes - almost every day tortillas, beans, rice or vegetables, and some type of meat.  Every once in a while, there´s something different, but mostly that.  But, it´s food, and I have to eat, so...  I love the mangos, though.  At this time of year, we get offered a mango almost every day, because the mango trees (there are a lot of those) are producing.  There are also lime trees everywhere.

Oh, I decided that I want to learn to dance when I get home.  My companion dances (folklore).  He was dancing in BenAmerito (the Mexican version of BYU - founded and kept by the church), and he really misses being able to dance all the time.  Also, there was a folklore dance program put on by the youth in the stake this week, to which we went.  So, I got the desire to learn to dance.  Besides, any wife loves her husband more if he knows how to dance (hehehe).

The church is true!!  Take care of yourself, and keep up with your testimony.

I love you.

Elder Bartlome 

May 9, 2011

Hey, mom!

It was sure nice to talk to you as well - oh, HAPPY MOTHER´S DAY again!!  Here´s a kiss for you...

SMACK!!!

We´ll see if you can put that on the blog, hehehe....

Not much to type, nothing much new is happening.  I´ve uploaded some of the photos of the baptism yesterday (this guy has been waiting 20 years since his family got baptized!  His wife, daughters, and granddaughters were all crying - it was awesome...)

I also uploaded a picture of me - this is what I look like when I wake up in the morning.

Also, we helped a sister in the ward move some plants from one house to another (they had to move).  And we got to ride their tricycle/cart thingy.  Pictures attached.

And watermelon.

And my companion when I punish him.

Oh, we had our ward conference yesterday, and we did a couple of musical numbers for it.  I played the piano, and Miguel (in the ward) sang with a couple of sisters in another ward that have really good voices.  We did "Consider the Lilies" and "In Quiet Grove," both in Spanish, of course.

Hmmm.... anything else? 

The church is true!  I love you.

Elder Bartlome

P.S.  Tell Bonnie that she looks a little pregnant.

May 2, 2011

Hi!

 

¿Comó Estás?

 

Things are going well, we had another earthquake (small, but worse), three weeks after the first one.  Apparently, it´s common to have small earthquakes here at this time of year, but they´re hardly recognizable.  This one was when we were still in bed.  My companion thought I was shaking his bed, and then I said, "Can you feel that?"  Then he realized it wasn´t me.  The other one was like a lullabye, rocking a baby´s cradle, but this one was a little harsher - not really stronger, just more... stiff... shaking more.  No damage.

 

Not much else to say.  I´m jealous of the Because We Sing chorus.  I´m sure that Bonnie´s baby is no where near as good looking as I am.  Tell Brittany congrats for me if you get the chance.

 

Mother´s Day here is on Tuesday, the tenth.  I had the idea of calling on Tuesday, but then my district leader (American) reminded me that Mother´s Day there is on Sunday.  So I´ll call on Sunday, and my Mexican companion is going to call his mom on Tuesday.  I imagine that I´ll call at around 5:00 there, 6:00 here, or maybe a little after.  Somewhere around there.  I look forward to it!

 

The church is true!  Keep pressing forward in the work of the Lord! 

 

Elder Bartlome

April 25, 2011

Hello...

How are you?....

Things are going well here.  Not having much success, but we´re working.  The church is still true, no matter how many people reject it.  They´ll regret that they rejected it one day when they realize the truth and it´s too late to change their mind, because they didn´t have the faith or the open mind to recieve it now.

One morning, before we left to work, a couple of Jehova´s Witnesses missionaries knocked on our door.  When they saw that it was us, they looked disappointed.  They tried to give us a pamphlet, so I tried to give them a Book of Mormon.  They didn´t take it.  They showed us a scripture in the Bible ("All scripture is inspired of God"), and tried to use that to explain that only the Bible is scripture.  They didn´t even understand that the scripture that they shared only proved them wrong.  That´s the power of the devil - he puts wrong interpretations of scriptures in the minds of men.  I´m curious to see how they´re going to react in later days when they realize that they were wrong and we´re right.

We went on divisions.  I went to Taxco, with the companion that I had in the MTC.  That was interesting.  Elder McKee (also from our stake), the district leader, came to this area with my companion.  It´s nice to have a change.

Ahhhh!  Lapreal!  That´s so sad..  at least we know where she´s going, and that she´s going to be with her husband again.  You´d better tell her that she´s awesome, from me (ahem... please).  I´d play a song for her if I were there - will you play one for her, from me?  You choose which one.

Not much more to say.  The church is true!  Never give up proclaiming the good news, to family, friends, anybody that will listen.

I love you

Elder Bartlome

P.S.  I attached a couple of pictures, taken in Taxco.  Taxco is built on a hill.  In one, you can see how unorganized they build the houses.  The others are of a sign that I really like.  There is a really big Christ statue in Taxco, and Acapulco is a city.  This sign makes me laugh, because apparently Acapulco is in the opposite direction from Christ.

April 18, 2011

Hi mom!

Elder in Spanish is the same as in English, but you pronounce it with a Spanish accent (of course).

We had Stake Conference yesterday and Saturday.  I played the piano for the two sessions on Saturday, and a sister in the stake played on Sunday.  Also, there was a musical number on Sunday - two sisters from another ward sang "Learn of Me," from Janice Kapp Perry (in Spanish, of course).  It was awesome!  I wasn´t sure if I was listening to a CD, or actual people.  It´s not very often that I find people here that have an ear to stay in tune (that sounds terrible, I know, but it´s true...).

Oh, and President Spannaus came to the Stake Conference, with his wife and two daughters, and spoke (his wife spoke, too).  His wife spoke on ideas for missionary work among the members, and he spoke on the gospel from Adam down to Noah, with the end result that no one can live with God again without baptism. 

Not much to write this week.  I´m glad that everything is going well there.  We forgot to fast last Sunday, too, so we´re fasting today.  I´m hungry.  We´ll eat at about 4:00 (it´s 1:40). 

That will sure look good - a painted kitchen.

I´m still in my first area, Iguala, a city about an hour drive from Cuernavaca.  And it´s still hot-hot-hot!  And getting hotter.  I´ve never sweated from my arms before (not that I´ve realized). 

Hey, I saw rain!!!  And lightning!!!  I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It usually only rains at night, so it´s still deathly hot in the daytime, but still, I love the storms!  I haven´t seen rain since the MTC, and when it rained a few nights ago, my companion didn´t wake me up (grr.... I slept right through it).  But it rained last night, and I love the lightning!  When a storm comes for the first time after I get back home, I´m going to find a patch of nice grass outside, lay down, and just enjoy it.  I don´t care if I catch a cold by doing it.

The church is true - keep strong in the gospel!  It´s the only path the has all of the truths that we need to return to live with God again.

Elder Bartlome

Hey, mom -

 

I´ve got a couple of stories this week.

 

First.  We had an earthquake!  It was small, and a lot of people didn´t even notice it, but we did.  On Thursday, and about 8:50 in the morning, Elder Romero said "Esta temblando" (It´s trembling).  I looked, and sure enough, the house was slowly rocking back and forth (slightly, but surely).  Lullaby!  That´s the first earthquake that I´ve ever noticed in my life.  It was 6.2 in Veracruz, and 5.something here.

 

Second.  I´m sure you probably already saw the photos - not something you see everyday, huh?  We were walking to our next appointment, and we turned a corner, and there´s a flaming car right there!  Wow.....  It looked awesome (maybe not to the owner of the car). Nobody was hurt.  Apparently, the owner had just taken it to a mechanic, and the idiot left a block of some sort in the exhaust.  So it heated, and heated, and heated, and heated, and BOOM!  Luckily, the houses in front of the car had cisterns (huge containers of water, because the water doesn´t come to the houses every day), and one of the houses had a whole bunch of buckets.  So we, along with a whole bunch of neighbors, helped to put out the fire.  Then the policemen and the fire truck showed up.

 

What was funny about that, was that when we saw the car on fire, we stood there for a couple of seconds staring at it.  Then the first words that my companion said were, "Your camera!"  - not "where´s some water?"  or something else like that.

 

I´ve been on the mission for almost seven and a half months!!!  Time flies!  I´m old.  I´m going to die in a few short 85 years... I´m depressed now..... :(  Just kidding. :)

 

Nothing much else to say.  I still haven´t seen a drop of rain here (except a couple of times that it seemed that an angel sneezed - a drop here, and a drop there).  But the last time I saw rain was in Provo, in the MTC.  It´s a treat when we see clouds, especially when they actually cover the sun.

 

The church is true!  Keep smiling, and keep following the Lord.

 

Elder Bartlome

4/4/2011

Hey mom!

 

All is going well.  I absolutely loved General Conference - yes, we saw all of it.  I even got to see one of the sessions in English.  Did you know that Elder Richard G. Scott speaks spanish?  He recorded his own talk in Spanish, so we heard it in his voice.  A few other people did that, too. He certainly has an American accent when he talks Spanish - I can hear it.

 

By the way, I´m jealous of the organ workshop.

 

My companion is awesome.  I don´t know why I´m called a trainer, he´s a great missionary already.  Except he gave up trying to learn English for a while.  Seeing as it says in Preach My Gospel that you should learn English on your mission if you don´t already speak it, and also it´s a rule in our mission, I threatened him (in a way).  I had already tried making a plan to help him learn in a nice way - that plan failed, and for a time, he refused to try to talk in English.  So on Friday, I told him that if he doesn´t make a plan that I agree with by Tuesday (tomorrow), I´m going to completely ignore him when he speaks Spanish, and I´ll only speak Spanish with the members and investigators.  He´s making a plan. 

 

I don´t think the music program thing is going to make it.  We haven´t practiced once as a group yet.  We´ll see.

 

The church is true!  Keep pressing forward in the work of the Lord!  And invite someone (a nonmember) to church, everyone that reads this.

 

Elder Bartlome

 

3/28/2011

Hello!

 

Your questions:

 

Things are great with my new companion.  He´s a better missionary than I am, all I need to do is say where we´re going to go at times, and teach half of the lessons.

 

Yes, I´m teaching him, and he´s teaching me, too.

 

Yes, we´re getting along great.  Better than any of the other companions I´ve had, including in the MTC.  Except he gave up trying to learn English.  I´m going to have to ignore him in Spanish so that he learns English if he´s not going to do it on his own.

 

CYNDI!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!  YOU´RE OLD!!!  (Maybe I shouldn´t say that, I´m not much younger... what the heck...)  I´M OLD TOO!!!

 

I read the comments on the blog.  Ranae, you make me laugh! 

 

Oh, by the way, we´re going to do a music program.  Miguel has a whole lot of music (awesome music!), one of the sister missionaries can play violin, and there are two sisters in another ward that sing well.  And I´ll play the piano.  (Miguel is going to sing some and play some violin as well).  I´m excited.

 

All is well, the church is still true - I love you, I need to go.

 

Elder Bartlome

 

Mar 21, 2011

Hey!  How you doin´?

Doing great here - we had another baptism on Sunday.  She´ll get
confirmed next week.  Her dad died years ago, and recently her mom and
brother died, so she moved in with family that are members.  They´ve
talked with her, we taught her, and she got baptized on
Sunday after church.  She´s big and doesn´t like water, so we had to
dunk her six or seven times, but it worked out in the end.

She lives with her mom´s cousin, who has four sons (freakin´ strong!)
that all served missions.  They all speak a little bit of English (not
much).  One of these sons came up to the font after about 4 times and
said in English to me (I baptized her), "You have to push her, man.
Just do it."  It was funny, especially with his Mexican accent.

Nothing much else - work.  We didn´t have a very successful week in
way of numbers, but we´re still working.

I hope Matt (Adams) learns his lesson of how not to live without too
much pain and too much time.

I´m glad that Cyndi had fun with her trip to see Matt in Colorado (and
I´m glad that I have more space in my room :)

Yes, you told me about the marriage - Charles and Amber - wow.  That´s
awesome!  Yes, I know Amber (well, I know who she is).

Yes, we learned about charity in church, too (Priesthood meeting).

Si, yo podría hablar en español con los miembros del Barrio El Dorado
ya.  Habría muchos errores, y no podría entender todo (mucho, pero no
todo), pero si, podría tener una conversación.  Yo creo que ya hablo
mejor que los elderes que estan aprendiendo español allá en sus
misiones, en Utah, porque allá no tienen que hablar español en todo
(por ejemplo, el líder misional habla en inglés).

Está bien.  The church is true!  Keep up the work.  Remember what Paul
says to the Romans about missionary work:  For someone to be saved,
they first have to follow the Lord.  To follow Him, they first have to
believe.  To believe, they first have to hear about Him and His true
word.  And to be able to hear, there has to be someone to preach the
word.  And to preach the word, one has to be sent.  You can be that
someone sent to preach the word so that one of your friends or
neighbors has the opportunity to hear, believe, follow, and be saved
in the presence of God.  And don´t say that that´s only the work of
the full-time missionaries.  "If ye have desires to serve God, ye are
called to the work" (D&C 4:3).  For how beautiful upon mount Zion are
the feet of those that preach the gospel of the Lord.  (See Romans
10:13- 15).

I love you - talk to you later!

Elder Bartlome

Mar 14, 2011

¡Buenas Tardes!

Last week, I didn´t write because we had changes.  My trainer, Elder Nelson, went to Acapulco (by the beach - he can´t swim in the ocean, but he will be swimming in his sweat.  It´s hot and humid), and I stayed here with my new companion.  But the thing is, I´m training.  AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!    I´m traing my second companion, which isn´t heard of much.  I don´t know how I´ll do it, but I´ll do it.  So on Monday, I had to travel to Cuernavaca to meet him and pick him up.  He´s Mexican, so I´m learning a whole lot more Spanish.  His name is Elder Romero.

That 18-year old that I said that we were going to baptize - she moved in with her boyfriend, in the boundries of another ward.  So now she can´t get  baptized until they get married (which they don´t have the money for) or until they separate (which they´re not going to do).  Also, they´re in another ward, so they´re not even in our area anymore.  Sad...

But yesterday, we did baptize another person, at 8:00 in the morning, before church.  He found us in the street a couple of weeks ago, and told us that he wanted to quit drinking.  Most drunks that say that don´t really want to do anything, but he did.  He listened, he accepted everything, he´s really changed, and we baptized him yesterday.  We were going to baptize him in the afternoon, but Saturday, in the interview, he asked if we could do it in the morning - so we did.  And in the Sacrament meeting, he was confirmed, and in Priesthood meeting, he recieved the Aaronic Priesthood.  We´ll keep visiting him, to answer questions, and teach a little of after-lessons. 

We´re also going to baptize this Sunday, after church.  Karina, 20 years old, is now living with member distant relatives, because her mom and brother died recently (her dad had died years ago).  The family with whom she´s living now has talked with her a lot about the church, we´ve taught her the lessons, and she´s ready to be baptized.

Tiffany´s gone!  Holy cow!  That is so wierd!  Time flies!  She´ll do great!  She thinks she´s excited to go after 9 weeks, imagine how excited I was after almost 11 weeks and not knowing when I would get my visa.

Oh, the music went great - we had a zone conference on Friday with Elder Johnson, the area president of Mexico (as well as President Spannaus of the mission), and I participated in two musical numbers.  The first one was with another Elder, Elder Dudely (I don´t like the way he sings).  We did my arrangement of "Rejoice, a Glorious Sound is Heard," but with the words to "Al Mundo ve a Predicar."  The second one was with Sister Cruz, on the violin, and we did an arrangement of "I Know that my Redeemer Lives."  On the last verse, everyone (two zones) sang - in Spanish, of course.  It was awesome!  I loved the topic, too.  We talked about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ - why it´s important, what would happen if there was no Christ, what happens when we don´t have faith, etc.

I heard about the earthquake in Japan - it was 8.9!?!  Holy cow!  No, we´re not anywhere near the ocean, but Elder Nelson is.  I heard that the water level was higher and that they were on alert for Tsunami in Acapulco, but from what I understand, the danger has passed.  Wow, the Second Coming is drawing nearer, but I personally think we have quite a few more years (50, more or less).  Maybe not - who knows but God Himself.

New companion 03-14-11

Two zones with Elder Johnson-Area President

New investigator?



Not too interested

A few pictures - my son (as we say in the mission).  As he is my second companion in the field, my step-dad is my son.  Two pictures of an investigator that we taught, but didn´t progress very well.  And one of the zone conference, with two zones, and Elder Johnson - it was in Chilpanzingo.

2/28/2011 in Mexico

Singing AND playing the piano!



Zone Conference




I love Baptism T-shirts




Dinner at member's house



Hey!

 

Thanks for the letter.  Sounds like things are going well.  Just to let you know, I enjoyed all of the food that I listed last time except the cactus. 

 

Zone conference was great - Our zone only had three baptisms up till that point (we ended up with six for the month of Feb. - yes that´s bad for this mission.  Our goal as a zone was 33), but Pres. didn´t scold us.  He just taught about pretty much becoming a better missionary, and growing closer to God.  It´s not only our zone that´s having problems, the whole mission is.  Thanks for the advice, Deane!

 

Oh, we´re baptizing this week.  Amazing story.  An 18 year-old young woman (Zaira) is the girlfriend of a used-to-be-inactive mormon.  He decided he wanted to come back to church, so he brought her with.  She liked hearing about the church, and we taught her, but she never accepted a baptismal date - she always said that she wants to learn more.  After weeks and weeks of this, my companion had decided that he was going to drop her, because we had taught her everything, and she still said that she didn´t want to be baptized.  She just wanted to learn more.  But on that Sunday, she came up and asked Elder Nelson (my comp.) when we were going to come over again to teach her.  Elder Nelson said that he saw something different about her in that moment, and he had the thought, "She´s going to get baptized."  So he scheduled another appointment.  When we started the lesson and asked if she had any questions for us, she asked about eternal marriage in the church.  So we explained that, and priestood, and that she needed to be baptized to have an eternal marriage, among some other topics.  At the end, she told us that when she had read and prayed at first, she had felt a peace, a kind of "I can breathe again" feeling, that she hadn´t felt since very young.  She had been too scared to mention it.  Also, she had had a baby two years ago that died in the first week of life with her boyfriend, and that prompted her now to want to know about God´s plan for him, and for her.  Also, she´s pregnant with her boyfriend again, and she wants to have an eternal family with him.  So she´s getting baptized on the 4th of March.

 

Oh, there´s a lady (the grandma of a girl that I met in choir) that has me on her list of missionaries to whom she sends monthly newsletters (uplifting stories, etc).  Picture of an awesome cat attached (maybe that will make up for the drunk cat that I sent previously).  Also other pictures of (in no particular order):  zone conference, p-day with new zone t-shirts (which mean "I love baptisms), Elder Olsen in the middle of a backflip, and me eating steak at a member´s house.

 

¡Pues, la Iglesia es verdadera!  No hay otro camino mejor en la vida que el camino del Señor. 

 

Have fun, and take care!  Know that I´m jealous when you´re shivering.

 

Elder Bartlome

2-21-11

Hey, mom!

 

I heard about the Ward Conferences.  President Porter sent a letter to the missionaries in the stake letting us know about a little that´s going on, and he told us about how he´s doing those.  He also left us an inspiring note at the bottom of the letter:

 

Warning: Exposure to the Son can prevent burning.

 

Wow, sounds like things are going great there!  I´m so jealous of the snow.  No, we didn´t get any snow where I am.  

 

Yes, I would love to do another family calendar.  I´ll have to remember to send more pictures.

 

I heard about what´s going on in Egypt.  I wonder if that tension will lead to anything to do with Revelation 11 (specifically verses 7-11). 

 

Congratulations on your mortage!

 

Tomorrow, we´re having a zone conference.  President Spannaus is going to iron us, because our zone only baptized 3 people this last change.  (Yes, that´s bad for this mission).  Our whole mission´s down in baptisms, I don´t know why.  But I´m doing a piano solo, so I´m looking forward to it.  I´m doing a medley of 284, 293, and 27, that I made up yesterday.

 

Food update - I have now eaten, on top of chicken foot, which I already ate months ago, chicken heart, ribs, lungs, pig skin, and cactus. 

 

The church is true!  Christ lives and will come again.  I look forward to that day.  The Book of Mormon is AMAZING, and true.

Elder Bartlome

Trip to caves--baptism

Hey, mom!

 

I´m glad things are going well.  I´m sure you did great on your piano solo, and I´m sure that you´ll do great on your cello solo next year :)  Good job! 

 

No, I didn´t get Dallas´ letter.  I´m sure that I´ll get it soon (I don´t know if soon means days, weeks, or months, hehe).  I´ll write him back as soon as I get his letter.  It might take months for him to get the reply, depending on the mail.  I´m still working on writing some of the responses to all of the letters that I got on the 4th of February. 

 

Kyrin, you are a child of God!  Don´t you ever forget that:)  You can always talk to Him, for He is your Dad, and wants to help you.

 

No, the rabbit wasn´t a Christmas present (though that would be interesting...).  I got to hold it at a house with inactive members - we were baptizing their 9-year old and 8-year old daughters, and hopefully re-activating the family as well.  The baptismal service was Saturday.  It´s interesting the difference of the preference of temperature between me and the kids here.  I got in the water, and thought it felt great!  When the girls got in the water, they were shivering.

 

Baptisms.  No, we didn´t baptize on the 5th, but we did on the 12th.  On investigator had a date for the 19th, and she´s really getting the gospel - but she just hasn´t come to church (things keep getting in the way). 

 

Today, we went as a district to see some caves in Taxco.  As we were coming out, we passed the other district on our zone on thier way in - what a surprise!  They´re not as cool as those in Timpanogos (temperature-wise or otherwise), but still, they´re awesome.

 

I didn´t hear anything about Cuernavaca in the news (not that I hear anything in the news, anyway).  Although, I did hear something about the king of Egypt - he got killed, or what?  You don´t have to worry about my safety, we´re never anywhere dangerous, or in dangerous circumstances. 

 

I just looked at the blog - looks great!  Thanks for your support, and thanks for being awesome!

 

The church is true!  Keep the commandments!  Have a holy, righteous mortal life!

 

Elder Bartlome

¡Viva México! 2/7/2011

Hey, mom!

I finally recieved all of the Christmas stuff!  Cards from many in the ward, the El Dorado Primary package, the family calendar, the music clothes - it felt more like Christmas Saturday than did the 25th of December!  When we went to eat on Saturday, the family was just taking down their Christmas decorations, so that made it feel even more like Christmas!  Thanks for the calendar and the clothes - I love it.

My week with the other companion went well.  He´s annoying at times, and quite a slob in the house, but he´s fun.  I finally got him to contact a couple of doors, and he helped teach a little in some of the lessons.  Yes, I learned more Spanish.  I was so glad when my companion came back.

I´m doing great with money.  Thanks!  Use as much of my savings as you need to... that is the ONLY reason I saved up that money, was for my mission. 

You keep counting your blessings, staying positive and happy, and enjoying life!  The church is true!  I love it more and more every day!  I love you, too!

Elder Bartlome

¡Viva México! 1/31/2011

Mom!!!

 

Sounds like things are going great!  Yes, I got the letters, thanks.  

 

Tell Matt happy birthday for me!  Wow, he´s old.  Don´t worry, you´re still young, though.

 

About the cat,  the next time we walked by that place, it was gone.  So I guess that they get rid of it here, too.  Or at least the neighbors that don´t like it - I don´t know who got rid of it.  I did see some dogs that were half way decomposed on a street that hardly anyone ever walks on (only drives), and on which nobody lives.  It doesn´t seem that animal control cared to get rid of those, if there is one.

 

Yes, it sounds like Tiffany´s doing well... all of what she says certainly sounds like the MTC, haha.

 

This week, I will be senior companion.  My companion is going to the mission offeces with the district leader and zone leaders for some training (because he is training).  He leaves tonight (Monday), and returns Friday.  I will be companions for four days with a 17 year old from another ward that´s preparing to go on a mission, and that most likely doesn´t speak English, whom I have not yet met.  I will survive, somehow...

 

Being sick isn´t fun.  I was weak all yesterday, and sore.  I think I had a small fever.  No clue why.  The brother with whom we ate lunch had an electric back massager, and that felt good.  Last night I took some pain killer, and today, I feel fine.  My companion, on the other hand, felt sick after lunch yesterday, and doesn´t feel fine today.  He said he got about one hour of sleep last night, and it´s been all Niagra Falls over the toilet, many times today.  He thinks he got food poisoning from lunch yesterday.

 

Oh, by the way, we baptized a 9 year old boy and his 8 year old brother Saturday.  Their dad is an inactive member, and their mom is not a member.  Their grandma is an active member.  This Saturday, we´re going to baptize a 9 year old girl, whose mom is inactive.  We have a good chance of baptizing every week this change. 

 

The Church is true!  Have fun!  I love you!

 

Elder Bartlome