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