March
20, 2014
Wow,
another week down!! Crazy how time is
flying by here. All the new missionaries come in and ask me how long I
have been here and every time I want to say week 2, but it´s now week 4!!!
I still feel like I just got here!
One of
my favorite things to see here is when I introduce myself to the Latinos and they
just look at my name tag and try SO HARD to pronounce my name. I even tried
to teach them the song my Grandma sang to my dad and his siblings when they
were little to teach them how to spell BARTHOLOMEW, but it just wasn’t working. So the Elders in my district have given me a
new name - Hermana “B”. It is so much
easier for these poor people to say J.
Speaking
of Elders in my district...so after lunch one day the Hermanas and I were
walking in a different direction than the elders, and I turned and looked over
and said "Hola Elders!" and waved.
Well, where we were walking is super uneven because of recent earthquakes. If you aren’t looking down you trip...SO you
guessed it, I tripped while waving to the elders. They will never let me live it down.
Anytime they see me, they wave and pretend very dramatically to trip.
Haha J
I
absolutely love my district. We all get
along so well. Each Tuesday night there is a CCM devotional meeting with all
of the missionaries here. Then,
following the CCM devotional we have a District devotional immediately after. This week we all shared our experiences on how
we decided to go on a mission. It was
wonderful and amazing to see how the Lord’s hand was definitely in everyone’s
decision to serve a mission. Some of the
experiences were very personal and I won’t share them here, but let’s just say that
our collective stories were yet another testimony builder that God lives and
that the church is true!
One
new addition to our schedule this week was something called TRC. TRC is
every Wednesday and is where volunteers from around the area come to the CCM to
receive lessons with the missionaries. Some are active members of the
church, others are less active (have not been attending church for many years),
and most are not members of the church. This week, Hermana Olsen and I
taught Señora
Lopez who is a cute little 50 year old lady with PURPLE hair and a purple
umbrella to match. She wanted to know how she could become a better person
and wanted to learn more about Christ. During TRC the people speak in their
normal speed so it is much harder to understand. During the lesson I just kept praying that I
would understand what she was saying, and I DID!!! Oh it was seriously
amazing.
This week’s
devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday were so inspiring. I just have to share with you all! So
on Sunday a member of the MTC presidency (I can’t remember his name for the
life of me right now) spoke and he has set a new standard for my future
husband. When he and his wife were dating he wrote her a love letter that
was 12 FEET LONG. He was talking about the letter and pulled out this
little scroll. Then with the help of
someone else, he began unrolling the letter (which was about 3 inches wide) and
kept going and going and going. 12 FEET LONG, holy cow! He had that much to tell her after only 1
month of dating!!! He encouraged all the Elders, after they got home from
their missions and were dating their future wife, to write a love letter to her. His wife said for all the Hermanas to expect
one from their future husbands. J
Other
than the letter, my favorite part of his talk was when he said, "Give the
Lord your whole heart and render your whole self to Him...He honors you because
you honor Him!" As I have said in a previous letter home how lucky the
other missionaries and I are to be serving alongside the best missionary who
ever lived, our brother Jesus Christ. I am here to give Him my whole
heart and to honor Him.
Then
continuing with the amazing devotionals, Tuesday we had Elder Daniel L. Johnson
from the Quorum of the 70 come and speak to us. And guess what? He was the first mission president in ECUADOR
GUAYAQUIL NORTH, way back in 1991!! YAY, Ecuador represent. (Aunt Lorena,
was that your mission president?!)
Elder
Johnson invited all of us to "add your voice to the angels" and told
us how sometimes we don’t realize the uniqueness of our message. We have
a Heavenly Father who loves us. He also invited us to contemplate what
Joseph Smith’s view of God was before the First Vision. There was a reason for the First Vision - it
was necessary to teach Joseph the physical attributes of our Heavenly Father. Most of the investigators we will teach have
a different concept in their minds of the nature of Heavenly Father. He
told us we need to have our investigators describe what they think Heavenly Father
is like, and then we can teach them what WE know. Elder Johnson said that many people ask why
Joseph Smith was so young and why God would chose him to restore the true
church. Joseph knew nothing, BUT he was willing to learn everything. Wow!
Elder
Johnson also talked about the atonement of Jesus Christ. He taught us that the nails driven into Christ’s
hands and feet were the least of His pain.
His greatest suffering occurred before He ever went to the cross. It was not the nails that held Him to the cross,
but the LOVE He has for you and me. He shared
a favorite scripture from Isaiah 49:15-16.
“…yeah, they may forget, yet will
I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven
thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”
Christ’s
love for all of us is "graven upon his hands." It is through
the Atonement that we come to know His love. Elder Johnson also talked
about one of the most commonly quoted scriptures, "Ask and ye shall
receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you." To experience the
love of the Savior, all we have to do is ask. It doesn’t say ask, and
sometimes I will answer, knock, and I might open the door. NO! Ask and ye SHALL
receive, knock and it WILL be opened until you. All he asks is for US to
ASK.
I went
up to Elder Johnson after and thanked him for his amazing talk and he told me
all about Ecuador and that I am going to love it there! AHH I can’t wait
to go!!
Today
was TEMPLE DAY!!!!! The Mexico City Temple
is BEAUTIFUL!
Although we couldn't go inside because the temple itself is
closed while it is being renovated, just being able to walk
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| With my district at Mexico City Temple |
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| Hermana friends at Mexico City Temple |
As we
were driving in our bright yellow CCM bus and almost crashed 50 times (in
Mexico there are no lanes and stop lights are just a suggestion most of the
time), we noticed the scenery changed from cluttered colorful houses everywhere
to the beautiful orderly site of the temple.
We all were so proud to be representatives of this church.
While
we were at the temple grounds today, we were able to go into the Visitors Center
and spend some quiet time pondering at the feet of the Christus Statue.
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| The Beautiful Visitor's Center Lobby Salt Lake may need to step up their game :) |
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| At Mexico Temple Visitor Center |
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| Christus Statue at Visitor Center |
We also watched a video on families. ("It may as well have been called
Bridge to Terabithia because it makes children cry" - a shout out to my
best bud Madison with a New Girl quote!)
One of
the Hermanas in my district, Hermana Shill, found out that one of her best
friends died last week. Then President
Pratt came this week and told her the news that her grandpa had passed away as
well. It broke my heart when she came to
tell me. I wrote her a note and bore me testimony of my knowledge that
families are forever. So the video on
families at the Visitor’s Center made both her and I begin to cry and realize
how grateful we are for the knowledge that we can be with our families for
eternity. I also thought of my sweet
grandparents and the amazing example they have been to me throughout my life.
I love all 4 of you so so much!
You
better still be here when I get home! J
My favorite funny story this
week:
My
companion and I have really bonded this week by playing pranks on each other. J One night, Hermana Olsen was in the bathroom
getting ready for bed and Hermana Mckee and I decided to scare her. So
Hermana Mckee got inside Hermana Olsen´s closet and waited for her to come and
open the door. We were laughing SO HARD just
with anticipation. When Hermana Olsen finally came out, Hermana Mckee jumped
out of the closet with the widest eyes and scared my poor comp half to death.
Hermana Olsen then said that she will never trust us again while she is
in the bathroom. Well, she then goes back in the bathroom to brush her
teeth, so we decided to scare her one more time!
This
time, I got in the closet and waited for her to come back out. When she did, Hermana Mckee told her that I
went into the kitchen and would be back soon for companionship prayer. Hermana Olsen sees this as an opportunity and
decided to scare me. So she gets under MY bed and was waiting for me to
"come back from the kitchen" so she could scare me. We were
both waiting forever for the other to come out. J Finally, I
gave up and came out and sat down at our desk and began to write in my journal.
Well, there are only a few feet from the desk to my bed. Hermana Olsen
reached out from under the bed (keep in mind I still had no idea she was under
there) and grabbed the leg of my chair and pulled me towards the bed.
Well I thought I was going to have a heart attack! I screamed so loud and fell to the ground
laughing. Haha we have fun! J
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| Companions |
Well,
my lovely family, I miss you lots and love you so much! Have a wonderful
week and I’ll talk to you soon!
#laiglesiaesverdadera
Con
amor,
Hermana
Bartholomew
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