Ali's First Week of the Mission In Chile!

HI FAMILY AND ETC GAHHHH I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!! 

Haha life here is THE BESTTTTTT. I LOVE IT. Ok so i´ll give you the low down. FIRST OFF thank you sooooo much for all writing me. It meant the world! Ok so I live in the old swiss consulate and we call it the Alcantara. IT IS GORGEOUS. Its where all the general authorites would stay when they came to Chile. Its this BEAUsTIFUL home. My district and the latino district that came the same day as us live there and we bus over to the CCM everyday. All the other kids live at the CCM suckkkkaaass. Just kidding. But really it is such a blessing to live there! its so beautiful and fancy fun. AND we dont have to eat at the ccm cafeteria for breakfast AND for exercise we get to run around town and play in the outside world!!! CHILE IS SERIOUSLY GORGEOUS. I love it here so much. Everyday my adorable companion and I run around and have so much fun. I love it. We are such a good team. She really is my long lost best friend. She loves spongebob, cats, and she thinks her own jokes are funny. We are a match made in heaven. What a blessing. We try to work so hard even though we know ZIPPO espanol. ok.. spanish. is hard. I feel very frustrated trying to learn it. They have you teach ínvestigators (teachers)in spanish after 2 days of being here haha. Obviously they know you dont speak the language but it still is really frustrating trying to flip through a  book of phrases to tell them something. I have faith that I will learn it. It will be good. but for now its just stupid haha. ANYWAYS. sorry for ranting. So classes in the ccm are SO fun. And all my teachers here are chileno and SOOO funny. haha I love them. They are so fun to talk to. me and sister reynolds (mi companera) room with two latinas and we are the best of friends. we go around teasing eachother and even though we have NO idea what the other are saying hahha. lots of actions are involved. Their names are Hermana Aziama and Hermana Rodriguez. Hermana Aziama is from Argentina and makes fun of us soooo bad and calls us Mala and Debil (she cant say her v haha) and hides behind the doors and scares us haha. She scared me the other night at like 1100 pm and I screamed and she could not even  contain herself she was laughing so hard and I was all, HERMANA AIZAMA ES MUY MALA!!! That made her laugh even harder haha. Then she came up to me and was all, lo siento.... I love you in english and the deepest voice hahaha. It was so great. They both are so cute and leave us the SWEETEST notes about how they love me and sister reynolds and they are going to be so sad when they leave. IM GOING TO BE SO SAD WHEN THEY LEAVE. They are so adorable. I took a picture on my poloroid camera and im going to give it to them. Entoinces.. at the ccm we just study pmg and learn gospel words in spanish. We eat the same thing for every meal. potatos, rice, some meat and greasy veggies. im over it haha. but it still tastes delicious every meal time because for some reason everyone gets so hungry. All day long my stomach does the craziest sounds. Also i´m never going to poo in peace again because my companion always is with me haha. Today was p day! yayayayya. I love it. so happy. We had freedom to walk around and we bought some diet coke and got some epenadas with cheese, spinach and corn. it was so fun. Chile is seriously SO BEAUTIFUL AND SO AMAZING. I love it. All the people are SOOO nice. They love americans. Its super modern in the big city. But from driving from the airport I know the outskirts are really poor. My mission is the whole rich city. Its going to be so fun. The weather here is gorgeous. Everyday has been beautiful. I dont even need to wear a sweater. It reminds me of california weather. I love it. Im so glad im here. I´m having so much fun besides the darn espanol! but I guess I should cut myself some slack. Its only been one week haha. ummmmm.. My mission president is really nice and chill and his wife is so  nice and funny. She made us cookies the other night and i was like AHHHH yay. I love cookies. Elder and sister Jacobson are the couple that stay at the Alcantara house with us. They are older like late seventies and they are SOOO kind. They  are so helpful and comforting. Also we have a housekeeper lady  named Cecilia and she is so beautiful kind and funny. She talks to us in spanish all  day and does our laundry and helps us keep it clean and helps make breakfast. Every morning she says no witches!!! Color!!!! haha she doesnt like when we dress in black haha. She is so sweet. Ok. sooooo... I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH. THANK YOU FOR WRITING ME. YOU ARE SO KIND. 

Hermana Bartholomew!

I am serving a mission in the Chile Santiago East Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I leave October 7! If you would like to write me a letter or send me anything, my mailing address is: 

Sister Ali Dawn Bartholomew
Chile Santiago East Mission
6824 Cristóbal Colón
Las Condes
Santiago
Region Metropolitana (Santiago)

Thank you all for your love and support! See you in 18 months! Feel free to keep checking up on here to follow my missionary adventures! 

Love,
Hermana Bartholomew
xoxo

Happy Things

Sometimes its good to make lists of things that make you happy. It helps bad moods to turn into good ones. And good moods to turn into grand ones.. I didn't intend for my list to be this long. It just kind of happened. 

1. Naps.
2. Going to the movie theater. 
3. Drinking Hot Chocolate when it's chilly outside.
4. Sunny, blue skies.
5. London, England.
6. Getting my groove on at a Concert.
7. The gospel.
8. Museums.
9. Thrift stores.
10. My mom.
11. Music.
12. Laughing so hard I cry.
13. The Earth and all of its beauty.
14. Surprising other people with prizes.
15. Summer.              

16. Dreaming of living in NYC.
17. The thought of having my Degree.        
18. Reading.
19. Harry Potter.
20. A good pizza.
21. Honey Bunches of Oats.
22. Sunny California and the beach.
23. Traveling.
24. Snuggling.
25. Kitchen Appliances.
26. Snuggly blankets.
27.  Red nails.
28. Flowers.
29. My Family.
30. My Friends.
31. When Harry Met Sally.
32. Italy.
33. Freedom.
34. Running (Not the exercise kind, the kind where you just run real fast for fun.)
35. British Royals.
36. Hugs.
37. Kisses.
38. Maps.
39. Baking.
40. Cats.
41.  Sweaters.
42. 90 Degree Summer Nights.
43. Staying up late.
44. Sleeping in.
45. Eating Breakfast.
46. The seasons.
47. Driving early in the morning and late at night.
48. Polaroids.
49. Public Transportation.
50. Dancing.
51. Walks.
52. Swig.
53. Rollerblading.
54. Learning.
55. Disneyland
56. Dresses.
57. Babies.
58. Hand Written Letters.

59. Friends the TV show.
60. Riding bikes.

61. Pineapples.

Sincerely, 

Ali Cat

Hello There!

Hello! Long time no blog! After living at home for 2 years I felt like it was time for a new adventure, so I packed up my belongings and moved to Provo, Utah. New adventure = new blog.. and counter dancing. Wanna know why? Because the year is 2014 and I do what I want.

Sincerely,
Ali Cat

Ciao Ciao

Grateful. Sad. Excited. Happy.  It's Midnight and I am sitting in Milan Malpensa Airport waiting to board my plane to America. I have a bajillion different emotions running through me. I am so blessed to have met amazing people and have them in my life. Everyone has shown me so much love and kindness and I am so grateful.  I have loved living in Italy. It has been the best experience and I am so grateful how wonderful everything turned out. I have learned so much about myself, the world, different cultures, and being independent. I have grown so much and discovered the person I want to be.  For so long I have dreamed of going on a grand adventure, living in Europe, meeting new people, and seeing incredible things. Ya know what. I just lived my dream.  

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” 
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Ok on the not so sensitive side.. There is an Italian granny sitting near me flippin out on some guy and it is hilarious. So many people have moved to different parts of the Airport because she is making a huge scene haha. Those Italian grannies really know how to put someone in there place.

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It's been like 15 minutes now. She is still goin at it. 

Florence & Pisa

Once upon a time me and my greatest friend on earth ShayLee Bell decided we were going to Florence and Pisa. So we booked us a hostel, bought some Opera tickets, and hopped in the little SMART car. We started our Journey on a beautiful fall day. The drive to Florence was INCREDIBLE. We drove through Tuscany and it was so absolutely gorgeous. I ♥ Fall. Upon arriving in Florence we found out that  Florence has the WORST drivers known to man and it was quite the experience finding our way around. We almost died every 5 seconds. After a nice hunt we found our Hostel, then we continued on our site seeing adventure. Our First stop was seeing the Dumo and Baptistery and then we found our way through some stores. And of course I spent all my money. Is there any need to ask? Afterwards we found the gallery with Michelangelo's David. He is HUGE! I know your wondering why is there no picture! But.. no photography :/ Sorry! To end our day, after eating delicious pasta of course, we hopped on a rickety bus and made our way to St.Marks English Church to see the Opera "Carmen". It was really cool to see an Opera in Italy. It was a wonderful experience and the singing was amazing. The next day we roamed around the Florence market a bit and then continued our journey to Pisa. To actually see the Leaning Tower was awesome! You here about it and see it in books and to really see it was super exciting. ShayLee and I finished off our adventure with some DELICIOUS pizza! I Love Italy! Ciao!

At the Opera in St.Marks English Church! Florence Italy.

Carmen and Don Jose!

Dumo in Florence.

The Hostel.

Welcome to Pisa.

Eatin lunch :) With the leaning tower in the back :)

Fall

The other day I went exploring around where I live. This is all within a 10 minute walk. I live in the most beautiful place right in the Italian Alps. I love Fall.

Can you believe this is where I live.. 

So beautiful.

Dweeb Alert.