Service and Miracles in The Monte Olivia District

Dear Family,

Thanks for all of the updates about the family. It´s great to hear that you all are well and that things are going good at home. Also, thanks for sending me the conference talks. As to skypeing I don´t know where I´m going to do it yet. I´m pretty sure that I won´t be in Ushuaia but I think that if you send me the camera I should be able to download the software. I think that the most likely would be that we find a person or place with cameras to use. But, if you want to send me one I won´t say no.

My updates from this week are that we tried to hike up to the glacier today which is why I´m writing as late as I am. It´s been super cold and snowy here for the last couple of days but we´ve been fine. Today on our hike up we were hiking on the mountain through 6 inches of snow into a storm. I had a blast. We´re all wet cold and tired but it was fun. At the end we didn´t manage to get to the glacier because one of the guides at a station towards the top told us we still had a good long walk and the storm would make it really dangerous. We still got to play in the snow and some of the elders made a snowman. It was a very fun and productive P-day.

Also, on Friday I got to do a couple of service activities. It´s been a while since I´ve done service. We helped a member move a bunch of logs, it was hard work and Elder Smith (who´s new) had a log roll down the hill at him and he almost didn´t get out of the way and almost had his ankle crushed by the log. That was kind of scary but the rest was fun and difficult. The other service we got to do was to help another person move into a new house. They are moving into our ward and are a part member family, the husband is an investigator, so we´re going to see how that goes down for the Elders in that area. 

Spring in Ushuaia

Mountain Homes

Also, we had a bit of a miracle for our district. On Sunday two people came to church for the second time and seem really interested in the church. They are students of one of the members that teaches dance, they seem like really awesome investigators which means that my district may have baptisms this transfer. I´m really looking forward to that. I hope it happens that would be freaking awesome for my branch. 

And outside of that everything is going well here. My comp and I are doing the work as best we can but it has gotten harder to do it since I got here. I don´t know why but stuff just falls through a lot more for us than it used too. But we keep moving forward doing as much as we can and things are looking up. I´m pretty happy with my area. Love you all tons and hope you have a great week!

Lots of love,

Michael

Conference and Super P-Day

Dear Family,

Thanks for the emails and the updates about the family. Sounds like you are all doing great.

This week has been fun for me because we got to watch the conference all of Saturday and Sunday. That was basically all that we had time to do both of those days. In between sessions we goofed off and played games while eating food. It was really fun to be together as a zone. Also, it was really nice to be able to listen to two of the general authorities speak in Spanish. That was a really nice change, to have the general authorities talk in their native tongues. I thought it was cool for the church to show a bit that they are more worldwide and that it isn´t just the "gringo church" or the "states church" But that we come from all over the world and that we speak different languages. It was really nice.

Elder Sirrine on a Mt Stream

New District

Elder Sirrine and Missionary From Zone

Elder Sirrine Super PDay

Super PDay

Super Pday Zone Name Tags

And today in the morning we went as a zone on a hike up a mountain. There is a ski slope that is above the city and we went there as a zone to hike up and have a picnic on the mountain. That was a lot of fun. But, because of the recent snow melt the path was super watery and slick. It was sort of hard to get up the first hill but once we made it up it was fun to walk around in the woods and we found a lake, some snow, had a snowball fight, and did a lot of entertaining things. I had a blast.

And on the way down it was really funny because my comp went running on a part and hit a really slick patch. He sat down really hard and slid about six feet, and the Elder behind him went rolling too. I laughed when I saw that my comp was okay because it was really funny to see him slide. I have to say that today was one of my favorite pdays in Ushuaia. It was a very nice trip.

Also this week I went on divisions and got to see the part of Andorra that we call "Narnia" it is really pretty and I want to go back there. 

I took a ton of photos and we had a great time on divisions. And that´s about all that happened to me this week. It was fun, tiring and a great learning experience. I hope you all have a great week too and I love you tons!

Love,

Michael

District Leader and Hard Work Pays Off

Dear family,

Elders Bartlett and Sirrine Loving the Snow

Thanks for the emails and the updates about the family. I´m happy to hear that you are all doing well now and that Zander got his wisdom teeth out without a problem. Also that Mom, Naiah and Isabel had a great time at the women´s conference.

Elder Sirrine on the Mountain

District Meeting and Lunch

This week the biggest update is that on Wednesday they made me the district leader, after transfers and they told us through a text. I was not happy to get the news. Not happy at all. But, now despite a stressful week and a lot of meetings and calls with the zone leaders I am mostly capacitated as to my new job and I don´t like it. But, if I was called then it must have been for something. Now I just need to find out why and what to do about it. Also, we have a new Elder in our district named Elder Smith. He´s from Utah and I think it´s nice to have so many new gringos in the mission. We have received 36 new gringos in the last two transfers. Nearly all of the missionaries that have a lot of time in the mission are training. It´s crazy. 

Elders Bartlett and Sirrine - Ushuaia at the End of the World

District on P-Day

District on P-Day

Ushuaia Zone August 28, 2014

The other big thing from this week is that we have had miracles on stormy days. This last week has had a ton of storms and lots of rain, hail, sleet and snow. My comp got sick, I did too for a bit but we still got out and hiked the mountain (literally) and as a result we were able to find people that were receptive and want us to go back and visit them. Spring in Ushuaia is more like winter than winter was. BUt, I´m happy. Hope you all have a wonderful week and I love you guys tons!

Love, Michael

Spring In Ushuaia

Dear family,

Thanks so much for the emails, they are always awesome to read and I love to hear about you. I am also really grateful for the talks and the thoughts that you shared. They were really awesome. 

This week is now officially spring in Ushuaia. The weather has been a lot nicer here and I am pretty happy. The only problem is that at night it gets cold so we have to wear a coat all day and then we get really hot while climbing the mountain. It would be nice for the weather to either be hot or cold but it is what it is. Other news is that my comp got bit by a dog yesterday on the walk to lunch. The dog was barking at his ankles and we tried to warn him that he was going to get bit but he didn´t hear or pay attention and then he got bit on the ankle and has a tear in his pants.

BDay Treats for Elder Bartlette

Elder Bartlette BDay

Elder Eakle

Now he knows to never turn his back on a dog that you don´t know. 

Also, on Sunday we decided to head out in the rain to knock on doors because the people we were going to visit were up on the hill and we couldn´t get to their houses because of the mud, and as we were doing that we found a guy and his kid that are both members but are less active and want to go back to church. It was way cool to be able to talk to them and I think that they are one of my new favorite families in this area. The mission is great and God is still a God of miracles!

I love you all ton and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Michael

One Year & Comp Birthday

Dear Family,

To answer your questions yes, I do get to stay with my comp for 12 weeks. Or at least I hope so, we´ll find out on Saturday for sure. There are 18 missionaries in Ushuaia right now and President is thinking about putting more down here. And Kendall is doing well. Also, thanks for the updates. It´s always nice to hear about how well you guys are doing. It´s way cool that Lynette went through the temple. I´m happy hearing that you all are happy. =)

Oreo Pancakes! Yum

Elder Bartlett Birthday Cake

Birthday with Investigator Family

This week was kind of cool because I hit my year mark and my comp had his birthday. It was a lot of fun to go to the houses of some of our investigators to sing to him we had a cake and it was a ton of fun. He´s now 19! Woot! And outside of that we had the gas man come over to our house to steal a day from us but the heaters now all work which is very nice. And we have a challenge by president to baptize one person or a family before Christmas. It´s gonna be fun to work on that and see what miracles we can find. I´m looking forward to the next weeks and months here! And that´s basically everything from me. Hope you have a great week and I love you guys tons!

Love,

Michael

Hump Day and Some Pancakes

Dear Family,

Elder Bartlett Eating a Pancake

Thanks for the email and the photo. It looks like you all are doing great and that you are having a ton of fun there. It was also cool to hear about dad´s blessing and the things that he was promised, gotta love the gospel and blessings. To answer your questoins I did get hair clippers and a pair of pants. The pants are black. And my haircut is just short, it was the first time that Elder Bartlett had ever done one and my hair is kind of weird to cut so it ended up a bit shorter than I would have liked but it looks fine. Also, my investigators are kind of hit and miss for the moment. We´re still working as hard as we can and trying to do good. My Spanish is great and I do understand the slang now. I think that the thing I love best about my comp is that he is so positive and that he has the energy to keep working still. It´s really good for me. I do like my district, we´re all really close because we eat lunch together almost all of the time. There are no sisters in my area. The members here are totally awesome, there are a lot of families that make us feel like their kids and the food is amazing. I think the only difference in the members here is that the ward is a lot closer and feels more like a family. It´s way cool. Also, Elder Meadows is in my district right now and I have known him since he started the mission. We´ve been really close the whole time. Small, Small world.

Elder Bartlett Cooking Pancakes

As for the updates from this week we made pancakes last night which turned out really good. I've gotten pretty awesome at making those now and my comp knows how to make fun shapes in pancakes so we made smiley faces and tried to make a heart but that didn´t turn out too spectacular. It was fun to try though. We also have learned the best way to walk through soupy mud that comes up to our ankles which is a lot of fun. I haven´t had clean pants or shoes for a solid week. It´s been great. The other really cool updates are that Elder Bartlett and I found two drunk guys that were in their house and let us teach them. It was funny to watch how he reacted to them because he isn´t used to dealing with them. He tried to get deep with them and tell them that their lives sucked but you can´t really reason with drunk people super well. I was laughing, they were laughing and poor Elder Bartlett was totally lost. I have to say though, drunk guys do lift up my spirits on down days. They are just fun to talk to. And that´s really all that is new from this week. Gonna hit my year on Thursday and from there it´s downhill to home. Sad to think that I have as little time left as I do. Well, gotta make the most of it. Love you all tons and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Michael

7th Day Adventist

Dear family,

Thanks for the emails updates and the money. I´m going to see if I can get a pair of pants this week and I also need to buy hair clippers because I need a haircut and that´s the best way to do it. Also, happy B-day mom! Hope you had a fun one! Love you and miss you tons! And dad thanks for the story about the three monks it´s pretty awesome.

The updates from me this week are few. We found a lady that is a 7th day adventist and she was an interesting character. We were told by a neighbor that she needed God because of her husband and when we knocked on her door she almost closed it in our faces but, I said something that was almost Bible bashing (which I know is wrong but I did it without any intention of fighting) and she told us to come in and sat down to talk to us for like an hour. We heard about her hard life, what she thinks about her church and that she loves God but not her religion´s way of going about it. 

Elder Sirrine at 5-Star Hotel

Elder Sirrine and District

Then we got to share with her the message about the Restoration and about Joseph Smith and there was a strong spirit there. When we ended the lesson I prayed, then she wanted to pray, my comp and I both bore our testimonies and she said she was going to read the Book of Mormon and was going to ask us a ton of questions. It was a totally awesome lesson and my comp said as we were walking out, "I don´t know what you said but it was totally awesome" That was a cool experience.

Then the only other really cool thing was that we went up to a five star hotel that is here in Ushuaia. It´s way nice on the inside but we weren´t allowed to tour it which was suckish. But on the way down we got to see some horses chilling by the pathway which was pretty nifty. And that´s really all that´s new for me this week. Love you guys tons and hope you all have a great week!

Lots of love,

Michael