Half-way Already?!

Time flies by so fast on the mission! I can't believe we're already half-way done with this transfer. That's only because we are having so much fun!

This week I cut my hair (actually came out good this time), saw a super awesome sunrise, and my comp and I both got bit by dogs! We also took a ride to Rio Gallegos for a conference with the president of the mission.

reading the Book of Mormon with a snack

We are still reading the Book of Mormon as a mission, and this week I got into the Book of Mormon (so confusing to describe that). I gained so much respect for the valiant saints of the ancient Americas. They watched their entire civilization get obliterated, yet kept this record for us in this day. They looked forward with faith in God eventhough they were being hunted like animals and shouldn't have had any sense of hope. Faithful giants.

Have a great week everyone!

PS
I bought the speakers and a converter for the charger, so there should be 350 and 120 pesos missing from my personal card.

there are dogs every where

Love, Elder Bartlett

Happy General Conference Soon!

Happy Monday Everyone,

I am here in the converted pizzaria chapel in El Calafate with my companion, Elder Russell, and we are having just a super relaxed preparation day. We talked with two people from California, and a Hindo woman from India! Super cool.

Elder Bartlett

I had the wonderful opportunity to give a talk yesterday with about 10 minutes to prepare. I don't know who all has read the Principles of the Gospel book, but just so everyone knows it is amazing! I didn't stutter too bad, and overall I think I got a solid B-!

Nothing too crazy happened this week... just a baptism! It wasn't ours, but it was magical all the same. I really felt the spirit testifying that it was what God wants us to do in this life.

Have a great week everyone, love you all!

Elder Bartlett and Elder Russell

Love,  Elder Bartlett



Mom & Dad
I'm so happy everything went well with the talks! I know exactly what you mean, dad. I had to give a talk as well but only had about 10 minutes to plan it out. Everyone said it turned out well, but maybe I just misunderstood their Spanish! Ha ha it was a cool experience, though.  Here in Argentina, 8 people in a house like ours is like living in a mansion. It's usually about 10 living in 2 rooms and maybe a bathroom, but there is also those who have pretty nice houses with 4 or 5 rooms and there are only 3 of them. Just depends.  Everything is good down here on the southern front! I finally got a letter! That I wrote to you... and it came back. It made it to the US, but then says that it could not send as addressed. What?! I'll write a new one soon and try to make the address as clear as possible!

Weekly

Good day family and friends,

It is a good day here in Rio Gallegos. I'm lucky we found somewhere to write! The Zone leaders brought us out here for P-day because we have Zone Conference tomorrow. Not sure if I like waking up at 3 on my preparation day, but they did buy facturas for breakfast!

So I've been getting to know Elder Russell this last week. He arrived in El Calafate on Tuesday with a great desire to get to work! He is from Idaho Falls and loves to hunt and fish. He is super cool. I would send pictures but I don't have the stuff here with me. Next week!

The coolest experience we had this week was when we passed by a future investigators house, named Alejandro, and we found in his house one French girl that lived in Norway for a year and learned English and is now touring Argentina and has learned Castellano, and one girl from China that only speaks Engish! It was crazy because I got to talk to the Chinese girl about the mission and God in English... it is so much easier! I think she was really interested in why on earth we would give up two years of our lives to do this, and I was able to bear my testimony.

Thanks for all of your updates, especially all the mission calls I'm hearing about! This is the stone that will roll forth until it covers the whole earth!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Happy Birthday, Poppy! It is your birthday right?! Also, Happy Anniversary! I think! Love you both, the eternal full-nestors!
Love, Elder Bartlett

Elder Russell and Elder Bartlett

Transfer Numero Siete

Good afternoon, I don't have much to say, just that my companion, Elder Flores (from Chile), got sent to Puerto Williams (in Chile) after only one transfer here in El Calafate. Very sad day. My new companion will be... *drum roll* Elder Russell! I don't know anything about him, he gets here tomorrow I think.

This week was really good. I'm sad that Elder Flores left becuase I felt like we were about to really get going here. Oh well, he is needed more else where.

Love all of you back home, thanks for the support! I don't know what I would do with out you, probably just sit in the corner and cry.

Elder Bartlett and Elder Flores

Love,

Elder Bartlett

An Average Dia de Preparation in El Calafate

a chocolate cake I made in a cup

Before I get to describing my average day, I want to apologize for not writing last week. We had had a pretty dark week of rejection, plus we had to drop one of our investigators. The mission is filled with heart ache, but then there are times like yesterday, we visited the home of a man named Ivan, and shared with him and his cousins. As we shared with them that our Heavenly Father wants to talk to us in the modern day, I really felt His love both for them and for me. God loves us, and He has revealed Himself to us in these last days through the Book of Mormon and living prophets and apostles! He is waiting for our response.

an idea of what my area looks like in El Calafate

So today, I woke up and stuggled out of my sleeping bag so that I could get into the shower and start getting ready for the day. We are blessed to have a water heater so that I can start my day off right. My breakfast is usually oatmeal with sugar, cinnamon, and milk. Today I splurged a little and had a hard boil egg as well. Then, we do our studies, and write our family and friends! After this we will head out for the hour walk into centro (down town where all the cool stuff is, and the chapel). One of the other Elders, Elder Smith, and I enjoy cooking together, so today we are going to try making breakfast burritos! Our chapel has a ping pong table and foosball (no clue how to spell that), so we enjoy playing those. Luckily, Calafate is one of the biggest tourist places in the mission because it is famous for the Perito Moreno Glacier. That means there are a lot of cool shops, so usually we go out to see what there is after we are bored of ping pong. Near the end of P-day, we go shopping at La Anonima, the only really big supermercado (smaller than smiths) there is here. We take the pumpkin bus back to our pension, drop off the groceries, and then leave to go teach and help the people!

The clouds and sunsets here are super cool?

Yea, preparation day.

Love, Elder Bartlett