Week 2 in the Field!!!

Hola! 

It has been another eventful week here in Maryland!

My companion sister Miley and I have been working hard this week and time just speeds by! Luckily today we had some time to clean and cook yummy food to recooperate! Its rained everyday here. I am so impressed how it can pour for multiple days at a time. 

You know the part in Errand of Angels where the sisters have all of their appointments fall through and they sit in the rain, drop their umbrella and just sit there like ugh!? Haha that was totally us the other day. All of our 6 appointments fell through, we had 2 people drop us, and we just sat in the dark on the steps of our last appointment's apartment building as it was pouring rain. Pathetic I know but we just sat there and laughed for a good 2 minutes and enjoyed the companionship bonding. 

Satan has really been working on these people the last couple of weeks. Alberto, our new convert has been struggling with doubts after someone showed him some anti-mormon material. We were able to visit with him and he came to church and seems more at ease about it all. I know those videos and other material are so evil. He is doing a great job of not letting it get to him too much. 

Allison dropped us the other day. She had a baptisimal date for the 4th and she has a lot going on right now. She is going back to her home in Taiwan soon so Im hoping the missionaries can meet with her over there. Were still working with her on it. Carlos has been in the hospital since Friday and we have not been able to get in contact with him yet. 

 I feel like a momma hen who is getting all worried about her precious chicks getting lost. The people we work with are so amazing and I love them all so much. I know Satan is doing everything he can to put an end to this work. I am going to do everything I can and more to keep this work going and progressing. I know that there are people ready for the gospel. We just need to find them. 

Thy will be done, oh Lord not mine.

Whether in brightest day or darkest night. 

And give me strength to carry on,

Whatever comes, thy will be done. 

Though I don't always understand.

What thou has dwilt, what thou has planned.

I'll leave it all inside thy hands,

And trust thy will until we meet again. 

This song has been what gets me through the hard days. I love this work and I am so grateful for the impact music has on the spirit. My companion and I sing this just about everywhere we go to remember our purpose as missionaries. 

I love you all! 

Pictures! Flight to Washington DC

Pictures!

My MTC District 

The Temple! 

Washington DC

Hey fam! Just emailing you that I made it to the mission safe and sound!

My mission president picked us up from the Regean airport and I've been at the mission home since!

 My pday will be on Monday so I will email more then! 

I love you!! 

Ps: last night the mission president and I found aunt and uncle Stratford in the mission president book, The mission presidents of Columbus, Ohio! He said they're really nice! 

District of Columbia

¡Familia! 

First off! Sorry to those who didn't get this email personally! My sister is an angel for putting it up on the blog because I can't figure out technology. 

So I made it to the mission field safe and sound! The east coast is great! I love the humidity and I see my favorite color everywhere! There are so many trees here and it is gorgeous.

There are also a lot of bugs. I saw fireflies for the first time my first night here. There were so many in the trees and it was magical to look at! I have to confess, and apologize to my dear friend Sister Petzinger, I did not believe in fireflies until now. Yes sister you were right, I was wrong and fireflies are awesome! There are also a lot of mosquitoes. A ellos les encanta la sangre de las misioneras. The Elders wear long pants so they're safe from the tiny creatures haha. 

The work here is so great! I am in the Montgomery Village area and there are so many people who speak español! My companion and I spend a lot of time finding and its keeping us on our toes. The first day we got hit on by two guys wandering the neighborgood and plenty of others this week who like to make comments about our eyes. 

My companion is so great! I love her a lot! She is so patient with me and is doing a good job at showing me the ropes of the mission. I know we will work well together these next 2 transfers.

We definiely have our work cut out for us in this area! We have 2 investigators from peru who are sisters working towards baptism right now and a man named Carlos who is also working towards his baptisimal date. There is a 16 year old girl named Alex and a man named Angel who we are working with as well. 

I love the people here. My companion and I have been working hard to help others feel their Savior's love. It has been a tough week to see these people struggle. Satan has been working hard against us this week and watching these people hurting isnt easy. We are going to do our best to help them and work with them to come closer to their Savior.

Last night we were able to go with a recent convert, Reymundo to the visitors center for a night called Why I Believe. Its a night where recent converts get to share their testimonies and help investigators feel their empathy and love throughout their journey of conversion. It was a special experience and I am so glad to have been able to be there with Reymundo. He received the Aronic Priesthood yesterday and he was so happy. I love seeing the light in these people's eyes as they progress in the gospel.  

I love you all so much and I wish you all the best this week! 

-Hermana Barthlome 

Welcome Sister Barthlome to the Washington DC North Mission

Welcome Sister Bartholome To The Washington DC North Mission

President Johnson and I are delighted to have your missionary assigned to the Washington DC North Mission.  We had the opportunity to welcome the Sister Bartholome to our home and introduce her to the mission.  She was transferred to her trainer, Sister Miley and they are together serving in the Gaithersburg Spanish Ward.      

We hope you will write to your missionary on a weekly basis and provide positive encouragement for her involvement in the missionary effort.  You can do this by emailing your missionary’s LDSMail email address.  They are not to use any other email address during their mission.  Please help your missionary obey the mission rules by only sending emails on Preparation Day, which is Monday, so they will not be distracted with a desire to read emails during the week and respond to them on days other than Preparation Day.  Monday is set aside for missionaries to write to friends and family.  Their white handbook instructs them not to email on any other day.  Please help them be obedient to this rule.  

You can also send mail directly to your missionary’s current apartment address; your missionary will provide you the address.  If you have any reason to doubt the safety of mail delivery to your missionary’s residence, you may also send it to the mission office at 11700 Falls Road, Potomac, Maryland 20854.  Mail is only picked up every few weeks from the mission office and hand delivered to the field.  This delivery will not be done on any set time schedule so beware of sending perishable food or anything that needs to be opened quickly to the Mission Office. 

We would also like to remind you that Church policy prohibits visits from family members and friends while missionaries are serving in the field.  Please do not ask for permission to do so.  The policy does not allow for these types of visits.  Washington DC is a wonderful place that many people travel to and would like to visit with missionaries as they serve, however your missionary has made a commitment to be focused on the work of the Lord and visits from family and friends creates distraction from this important work. 

The mission has a website where mission events are posted.  The address is 

washingtondcnorth.weebly.com   You will find pictures of arriving and departing missionaries and other activities in the mission.  

We are grateful that your missionary is here with us and are grateful to be part of this marvelous work. 

If at any time you have a concern regarding your missionary please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sister Beth Johnson

Mission President Wife

Washington DC North Mission

Happy Fourth of July!!

Good morning! 

This week was another quick week! I can't believe it's my last P-day in the MTC! The experience here has been a good one but I think I'm ready for the field! 

There have been so many wonderful experiences here it is hard to choose which experiences are my favorite. I've done a lot of growing here and I am so grateful to have the help of the MTC to prepare me to share the gospel with others. 

My main goal when I first arrived was to strengthen my relationship with my Savior. Especially as I am out here doing this work side by side with him. I've grown very close with him! I know that without him, this work wouldn't exist and there would be no way to return to our Heavenly Father after this life. He is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He is my older brother. And he is hope. 

My favorite experience here was the devotional where Elder Cook spoke to us the week of mission president training. It was such a powerful experience to sit and listen to him speak to all the new mission presidents and us missionaries. One in purpose but different in stages of life. It was a very special opportunity to have all 12 apostles and their wives sit on the stand that night strengthening the spirit in that room so the spirit could testify to our hearts. I am so grateful for the words spoken that night because I could feel the love Heavenly Father has for me and for all of his children. I am so grateful for the opportunity to show others the love their Heavenly Father has for them as I have been shown that love. 

I just wanted to end on my gratitude for this country and all those who have dedicated their lives and those who dedicate their lives now to this country. I love to look at all the blessings that have come from this land and the opportunities we have because of it. I know that our forefathers were divinely inspired to settle here and to establish a country of religious freedom. I know that the ancestors of Joseph Smith were able to travel to the states at the time they did so that by the time Joseph Smith was 14 years old, he would have question of which church to join in a country where religion was accepted in many forms. He asked Heavenly Father his question and received his answer to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ. I will never be able to fully comprehend God's timing or his hand in our lives but I am so grateful for it because it is truly spectacular to witness. I am so grateful for God's divine timing and the opportunity he gave me to live on the earth when the gospel is in its fullest. I am so excited to serve the people of Washington DC and to be a part in spreading the word of the restored gospel from the inside out. 

I love you and hope you all have a wonderful fourth of July! 

- Hermana Barthlome

Humility

So this week was a week I will never forget. Mainly for 2 reasons: 

1: The Spanish language is really coming! Not how I thought it would though... 

And 2: this week was mission president training! 

So Spanish. It's a beautiful language and fun to learn but sometimes I don't say the correct words and the lesson goes from really spiritual to really funny. So far I've managed to call the cold weather macho frio instead of mucho frio (manly cold instead of much cold). That led me straight into the lesson of the restoration talking about how Dios es nuestros almuerzo Padre Celestial... Another sweet and innocent mistake but lemme make it clear that God is our loving Heavenly father. Not our lunch Heavenly Father. I make hundreds of these mistakes on a daily basis but everyone else does too and we all have fun and laugh about it. 

So this week has been pretty busy since it was mission president training week. There are 120 new mission presidents and with their wives that's 240 really sweet people going out to help missionaries all over the world. 

Some of you may know that this also means that some other really special people come to the MTC for the week of training. The first day of training my companion and I walked about 5 feet away from Elder Uchdorf. We smiled and later fawned over his head full of fluffy white hair and his sweet smile. 

On Sunday, the 12 apostles joined us for our Sunday devotional and Elder Quinten L. Cook spoke to us about the highlighted topic of missionary work. I will be honest, I didn't hear much of his talk after the first 5 minutes. The spirit started teaching me other things in my heart after he shared a story about his junior companion that really touched me.

Elder Cook's junior companion came from a home where his parents struggled to make a living. They couldn't afford to send him on a mission. His work efforts went towards helping the family so by the time it came for him to serve he didn't know if he would be able to go. His older sister then did something that would change his life forever. She put her life on pause and worked so her brother could serve a mission. She worked until he came home from his mission and then, he did the same thing for her. He put his life on pause and worked so his sister could go on a mission as well.

I was overwhelmed with the spirit in that room as Elder Cook spoke with the other 11 apostles sitting in support behind him. This of course ended in me bawling my eyes out through the rest of his talk and especially during the last song (Nearer my God to Thee). After the speaker left, the mission presidents turned to the missionaries and the missionaries turned to the mission presidents and we all sang called to serve to each other, waving and crying in unity. 

I want to express my gratitude of having the opportunity to be here. It has taken a whole community to get me out here. There is no way that I would have had the ability to serve without all of the people who sacrificed their time, efforts and funds to get me on a mission. This story touched my heart because I know how that junior companion felt as he neared his mission and feared that he wouldn't be able to serve. 

I know that God provides a way. He will always provide a way for us to come closer to him and to serve and love one another. 

I love you all so much! 

-Hermana Barthlome