Summer Closing Down

Hey family!

Wow, it's hard to believe that you're all about to get back into the school schedule. Summer is winding down and it seems like everyone here is getting in their last minute vacations. That hasn't affected us too badly because...we're still trying to find people to consistently teach.

A quick update on Andrea and Bill though, they're both still doing really well. We had a lesson with Andrea this past week, and she has still been staying strong with keeping the Word of Wisdom. She carries around a big pack of gum to fight off cravings and has taken to gardening to keep her mind busy. During our lesson we talked about going to the temple and doing baptisms for the dead. She didn't realize that she could go and not have to wait a year, so she was extremely excited. She has family members that she would like work done for, and right now Andrea is planning on attending the ward temple trip at the beginning of September. We had dinner with Bill and his family this past week and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. That's a great film, and he and his family really enjoyed it. I love testifying of the Prophet and knowing that he was obedient to what the Lord required of him. Bill's family is really funny though, and following the movie Elder Nemelka burned a shirt because he just hit his year mark. I'll have to send some pictures of it.

We had a short lesson with Colton this week. I think I talked about him in my email last week, but he's the 20 yr old guy that is an intern at a radio station. We discussed the life of Jesus Christ and placed on emphasis on baptism, structure of the church Christ set up, and the atonement. He really liked what we covered and it fell in line with what he believes. We touched on the priesthood, but we'll have to cover that a little more this week. Colton hasn't been to church yet, and so we're really trying to encourage him to get there.

After getting back into contact with Terri and Jared, we were able to have a lesson with them on Tuesday evening. We covered a lot of the restoration, and Terri really does seem intent on learning. She listens closely to everything we say, and makes sure she understands it before we move on. We had a member there with us and he kind of took the lesson off track a few times, but he did share a lot of good things. Terri and Jared have been pretty hot and cold with us though. We called them the other night to confirm an appointment and both of them had been drinking quite a bit. I think they got embarrassed the next day when they sobered up and they haven't returned our calls over the last couple days. I hope they realize that we really do want to help them.

Other than that, we have been tracting quite a bit over the last couple days. I thought we would terrify people with three of us and with the height factor, but it has actually been really successful. Yesterday after church we went finding and have two return appointments for this week. Also the ward here has been cleaning out its roster and are setting up teaching opportunities for us, so I'm really excited about that. We want to stay busy and the ward is working hard to help us out.

Well I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for sending those things, I really appreciate it.

Love,

Your Boy

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I loved being with you last week for the specialized trainings. I love laboring with you! I know that almost all of you are doing your very best. Success on our Mission and in life is contingent on doing the right things, in the right spirit and doing them long enough.

There are things we can only behold with the eye of faith, by the influence of the Spirit. D&C 76:10 promises, For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.

As Preach My Gospel testifies, The spirit is the most single important element in this work. With the spirit magnifying your call, you can do miracles for the Lord in the mission field. (Remember This: Continue to send me those tiny miracles-they bring me joy)

President Hinckley taught us how to recognize when we had His spirit with us when he said: “That’s the test, when all is said and done. Does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be generous?...You recognize the Spirit by the fruits of the Spirit—that which enlighteneth, that which buildeth up, that which is positive and affirmative and uplifting and leads us to better thoughts and better words and better deeds is of the Spirit of God.”(PMG p.97)

Do you pass the test this morning? Do you feel good? Do you feel to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, and to be generous? Do you feel enlightened? Do you feel positive and affirmative and uplifted? Do you feel to have better thoughts, better words and do better deeds this day? If not, then soon, very soon, drop down on your knees and pray for that spirit. Promise Him that you will do your very best this day. Promise Him that you will open your mouth to everyone. Open your Book of Mormon and look for a few heavenly promises and commit to act on what the words say you must do to obtain those promises. I promise you that His spirit will enter your heart and give you peace and encouragement. I promise you that you will feel His spirit as you wash your car and go to the store and as you plan, find, teach and baptize. Please don’t let another hour pass without the spirit to lift you up and bring you happiness. Lose yourself in this work by finding His spirit and you will have peace, joy and happiness. I yearn for your peace, joy and happiness.

I pray for you. I love the feeling that comes to me when I think of you in those prayers.

President Summerhays

New Investigators

Hey family!

Well it has been a good week in Seffner. It felt really slow actually to go from last week with two baptisms to this week where we're trying to find people that want to get baptized. It's a pretty big transition, but it's all apart of the work. The ward is working really hard on getting things lined up in the ward so we'll have people to work with. One of the names that they gave us is Brandon Frodge. He's a 9 yr old boy that hasn't been baptized yet. His family is fairly active, and he Mom has been waiting for the Dad to get on board with church. He was raised in it, but as of late, has kind of fallen away. Sis. Frodge doesn't want to wait any longer for Brandon to get baptized, so when we stopped by the other day we set a baptismal date for the 20th of August. He's a really good kid and was excited about us coming over to teach the lessons.

One of our new investigators this week is named Rose. She's actually married to the son of a member. She's in a really rough situation right now and is working two jobs, which makes it really hard to meet up with her. Rose has a belief in God, it's just hard for her to get past the fact that God allows hard things to happen to good people. Her mom is really sick, and so we're going to try and talk about the Plan of Salvation when we go and meet up with her again. I'm sure she will love it because a lot of the worry and confusion that she has will be answered. The Plan of Salvation is definitely one of my favorite topics. You can see how much our Heavenly Father loves us because he wants nothing more than for us to make it back to be with him again.

Also this week we picked up a new missionary. Elder Escobar from Madesto, CA is now serving with Elder Nemelka and I. Now during my mission I have yet to serve with someone that is taller then I am. Until last transfer. And this one. It's not helping that Elder Escobar is 6'7". We're a pretty intimidating trio when I'm the shortest at 6'3". He's funny, and I actually served around him in the St. Pete zone for 6 months, so it wasn't too difficult of a transition. Our apartment is pretty cramped but hopefully we'll be moving in the next couple of weeks. We'll see though.

On Saturday night it was "Mormon Night" at the Ray's baseball game, and so we all had permission to go to it. There was a huge section of missionaries and it was a lot of fun seeing people from all over the mission. In fact I'm pretty sure there was a lot more socializing going on then game watching. Ha especially because the Ray's got creamed. Not a very good night for them. It was good to get the word out a little bit though. People are becoming more familiar all the time with the church, and hopefully there was some interest sparked. I guess on average it takes people 7 times with coming into contact with the church for them to finally decide to listen.

I love you all so much! Good luck preparing for school, and I really appreciate your support.

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

This was a great month-You are really doing it! I just love serving with you.

There is a saying that: talk is cheap. Any claim our lips make to our Faith in Jesus Christ must be demonstrated by our action. Faith without action is no faith at all. The Savior taught: “DO the things which ye have seen me DO.” He testified: “I DO those things which I have seen my Father DO.” He went about DOING good. Being a Disciple requires that we DO. King Benjamin pleaded: “If ye believe in these things, see that ye DO them.” Nephi demonstrated his great faith in his commitment: “I will go and DO…” Grace or the enabling power of the Atonement only comes: “…after all we can DO.” The words of Christ will: “…tell you all things that you should DO.” The Holy Ghost will: “show you all things that you should DO.” True doctrine declares that when the Spirit creates a mighty change in our hearts that our disposition is to: “…DO good continually.” Mormon testifies that inspiration from God invites and entices us: “…to DO…to LOVE…to SERVE.” He further testifies that: “…Christ hath said: ‘If ye have faith in me, ye shall have power to DO…” Entry into heaven does not come to those who: “…saith Lord, Lord…” Entrance to heaven comes to those who: “…DOETH the will of My Father who is in heaven.” The Savior promises that if you hear His sayings and DOETH them you are a wise man (woman). If you hear His sayings and DOETH THEM NOT you are a foolish man. The sad, very sad difference between DOING and NOT DOING, between the wise and foolish man is that the wise man who DOES is founded upon rock and in spite of the storm his house stands; while the foolish man who DOETH NOT is founded on sand and when the storm comes his house falls, and “…great is the fall of it.” One who DOES is solid. One who DOES NOT is flakey. If you want to be solid today: Go and DO. If you want to be and stay solid when you go home, develop the daily habit now of Going and DOING. The Prophet Joseph made this his motto: “When the Lord commands: DO IT.” President Spencer W. Kimball had this statement carved in wood on his desk “DO IT NOW.”

I join with you wonderful missionaries in the commitment to Go DO it. Thank you for your wonderful efforts this last month-it was the best of the year. I love being on this grand journey with you. We are beginning to soar. I love you very much.

President Summerhays

It's August!

Welcome to August!

Throughout the year in Florida on a hot day, someone will make the comment "Wow, it's really hot out here." And the common response from Floridians? "Yeah, well at least it's not August!". Moral of the story: If you make it through this month, you can make it through anything.

Well here in Seffner we had quite the week. I've never had two separate baptism planned in the same week, and it kept us running. The only thing we had that was holding us back with Andrea was making sure she wasn't smoking, and also the bishop requested that President Summerhays come over and interview her. Fortunately President was able to come over last Monday, and had a good discussion with her. She has had an extremely tough past and hearing what she has been through is quite the humbling experience. Andrea loved President Summerhays, and he decided that she was ready for baptism. We visited with her everyday leading up to Thursday, and I was so grateful for how well the ward pulled together. Andrea has been going to church actively for the past year, so when the members found out that she was going to get baptized, they made it a special experience. There were probably about 40 people there, and Brother Dolphin, a member that she knew really well but had moved, came back for the service and baptized her. Elder Nemelka and I were witnesses, and it was an awesome experience. Andrea was glowing after the meeting, and everyone commented on how happy and clean she looked.

Bill had his date set for Saturday, so we balanced meeting with Andrea everyday, and were able to see him as well. I think his wife would have liked to pinch herself as we wrapped up the lessons. She has always wanted this, but I don't know if she thought it would ever happen. Bill has been so solid throughout this whole process, and immediately gave up coffee and tea along the way. He was interviewed on Friday by a missionary, and then Saturday was his big day. He's a lot more of a private guy and wanted to keep the attendance pretty small, but there was still a great turnout. Elder Nemelka spoke on baptism, and then Brother Pero, their home teacher for years, baptized Bill. It was a really spiritual meeting, and following the baptism I spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost.

With Bill and Andrea they know that what they've done is the right thing, but they won't understand for a while what impact this will have on their lives. I'm beginning to see the long term view that our Heavenly Father has in store for us. Baptism is only the beginning, and as they stay strong to what they know is right there's so much more in store for them.

On Sunday they were both confirmed in Sacrament meeting, and President Summerhays came over from Tampa and stood in both circles. It was a pretty amazing week, and it's hard to accurately describe it all. I just feel so blessed to be apart of this all. My testimony is strengthened everytime I share it with others, but especially when I see that seed of faith grow in another person.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Kade Bartschi

Bill's Baptism

Andrea's Baptism

Elder Ames sent Kade this picture today and thought he

might like this since Kade has a pig calendar :)

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

While serving as a Mission President in Toronto Canada, President Monson had an interesting experience. He learned that the Kingston area to the east had seen but one convert baptism in six years. He decided it was time to exert great faith. For years, missionaries assigned to “Stony Kingston” had marked their time there on the calendar like days in jail. One day Sister Monson read aloud to President Monson an entry in a book she was reading: “Brigham Young entered Kingston, Ontario, on a cold, snow-filled day. He labored there thirty days and baptized forty-five souls.”

The passage gave President Monson an idea. He moved all missionaries out of Kingston—They were happy to leave—and then he waited. Soon he announced that “a new city” would be opened for missionary work and described it as “the city where Brigham Young proselyted and baptized forty-five persons in thirty days.” The speculation began, and in weekly letters several missionaries hinted they would like the chance to open this new bonanza for missionary work. He assigned missionaries to Kingston—again—and it became “the most productive city in the Canadian mission.” All involved learned an important lesson. The city had not altered its appearance, the population had remained the same. The change was one of attitude. Doubt yielded to faith.” Indeed “they just picked up the plow and moved on.” Heidi Swinton. To The Resuce p. 191.

Proper attitude is a prerequisite to quality performance. We need Sisters and Elders with the courage to put proper attitudes into action. We need missionaries who will serve where they are called with the attitude that they are serving in an area that is a bonanza for missionary work. We need missionaries today with patience and purposeful endurance.

President Hinckley once told of an interview he had with a member of the British Broadcasting Services. The reporter asked… “How do you expect people to listen to these callow youth?” President Hinckley pointed out to this reporter that “people do receive them and listen to them. They are wholesome. They are bright, they are alert, they are ..clean.” Then in a General Conference he added speaking of the missionaries, “They are a miracle…They are speaking out of their hearts, with personal conviction. Each is an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their power comes of faith, and prayer, and humility.” Ensign Nov 1997, p.9

With a fresh transfer before us, we can ‘pick up the plow and move on’. We can have courage and patience and a positive attitude. I pray for your ability to see His hand in all things, including transfers. I pray for your ability to follow the council: “come what may and love it”.

The truth “For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7) is as applicable today as any time in history. I have looked into your hearts and they are beautiful. I have seen your desire to have every area prosper. You are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have hope for a beautiful transfer and your beautiful future. I love you and I believe in you.

President Summerhays

Happy 24th of July

Hey family! Happy 24th!

Okay, so although my Pioneer Days celebration didn't include a giant inflatable water slide, it was still pretty good. Ha it looks like you all had a blast. The pictures of Mom and Grandma going down that slide are priceless. I'm pretty sure the people in the library think I'm a big creep now because I kept laughing at my computer screen, but that's okay. It was worth it.

Now I have to tell ya, this was an awesome week for us here. We've continued working with Andrea, and she's still on for her baptismal date this Thursday! We weren't able to meet with her too often this week which made me a little nervous because she's working on quitting smoking, but things have gone really well. We were able to get over there and have a lesson in the middle of the week and taught about some of the commandment, particularly the Word of Wisdom. Andrea has been trying to quit smoking for quite a while now, and up until now she just hasn't been able to kick it. Finally, she has decided that now is the time she's going to give it up. She hasn't smoked for about a week now, and we're so proud of her. It's great because she's doing everything she can to give it up, and so she has been walking around with a big pack of chewing gum and she's constantly keeping herself busy. Yesterday at our lesson we were talking about the Holy Ghost, and she told us that even feeling the promptings of the Spirit in her life have saved her from so much, and so she can't even imagine having the gift of the Holy Ghost with her at all times. President Summerhays is coming down tonight to interview her, and if all goes well Andrea will be baptized this Thursday at 7. Please keep her in your prayers.

We have also worked with Bill pretty intensively. We've been able to meet with him a couple of times this week, and discussed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He and his wife are really funny, and have been a blast to teach. As we've continued to meet they have both been able to express a big change in their lives. Bill told us that he has felt the Spirit a lot more throughout his day, and that as he continues to learn about the gospel his criticism and questions are being replaced by faith and understanding. He came to church for all 3 meetings yesterday, and told us that it truely was the highlight of his day. Bill feels like he's ready to take the step of baptism, so this Saturday he will be getting baptized! We will be meeting with him a lot this week to keep him on track, but I'm sure he will be able to go through with it. We are so excited for he and Andrea, and it's amazing to see how it has all come together like this.

So earlier this week I got a phone call from Elder Moffett telling me that Paige has decided to get baptized! She's leaving for Massachusettes at the end of summer, and she knew that she needed to take that step before she leaves. Also, she decided to get baptized in the gulf and asked if I would be a witness. I was so excited about it, and fortunately I was able to find a ride over at 6 am. When someone gets beptized in the ocean the service has to be early enough that people aren't there on the beach already. But we got over there, and it was an awesome service. We met at the Seminole church and had the talks, and then we all drove over to Reddington Beach. It was a beautiful morning and being able to be out there in the water as a witness was an incredible experience.

I feel so blessed being here and having all of these experiences. All of these things happening are continued witnesses that the gospel is true and the work is moving forward. I love being able to serve the people here and you all as well.

Have a great week!

Elder Kade Bartschi

Kade, Elder Moffet and his companion

Paige's baptism at Reddington Beach

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

We have completed our interviews. Thank you for your labors! There is a remarkable spirit of unity and commitment in the mission. You are the best! This work is not easy. Each day seems to be emotionally demanding, mentally taxing, and physically challenging if we are giving it all of our heart, mind and strength as the Lord requires. Isn’t it beautiful? I arose this morning knowing that there would be needs and demands that I could not meet on my own. I felt my inadequacy to meet those demands. I knelt and prayed that His enabling power would be with me as I attempted to accomplish His purposes. As I sought for His strength, I felt a beautiful sense of gratitude that He was allowing me to handle the difficult challenges of this day. I am confident that the demands, and opportunities of this day will be met with the quiet miraculous strength of His enabling power. This is His work. This life is His work. His grace (or enabling power) is available in our daily walk. The circumstances in our lives will almost always be demanding. Most days will stretch us physically, emotionally and mentally. We must access His grace day by day. In that way our daily demands (our yoke and our burden) are made easy and light. We are able to submit cheerfully to all that day requires of us. His spirit attends us and the fruit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, and temperance. What a wonderful life we live if the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ lives in us. Elder David A. Bednar bears witness:

As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed. We will become agents who “act” rather than objects that are “acted upon” 2 Nephi 2:14.

I invite you all to access the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ now in your present circumstances. Do not fuss and worry about your present circumstances and pray for things to change. Get up, go do, work hard and pray that God will strengthen you in the midst of these circumstances. I promise you He will strengthen you so that you may do and become much, much more than you could do and become in your own strength. You will eventually learn to say and believe “Come what may and love it.” I love you and feel great confidence in your ability to access the great enabling power that will allow you in all circumstances to go forward “In The Strength of The Lord.”

I love this work. I love His enabling power. I love and believe in you.

President Summerhays

Baptism Dates!

Hello my family!

Wow it was really great to hear about Ty's baptism! He seems like a great guy, and I'm really happy he made that choice.

We had a great week here in Seffner. I know I always seem to say that, and just change the name of my area, but I really mean it haha. Especially this week though. On Tuesday we had our lesson with Jared and Terri. He's the inactive member from Utah, and she's his girlfriend. Anyways, we went over for dinner and had a great lesson with them following that. We discussed some of the things that Terri had questions about, like what she should wear, what would a service be like, what sets our church apart from other ones, etc. She really enjoyed our conversation together, and committed to read the pamphlet we left with her and the introduction to the Book of Mormon. Jared called us a few days letter and let us know about the big impression that we had made on her, and how much he appreciated what we were doing for them.

Also this week we got to meet with Bill a couple of times. The first time we met together was Wednesday at the church. We had left him two reading assignments, and unfortunately he hadn't read either one yet. Well, that calls for some emphasis on the importance of keeping commitments. We read together Alma 32 (one of the assignments) and discussed how he needs to build his faith. It will take nourishement and care on his part, but if he does that then the fruit he will reap will be well worth it. He really enjoyed the lesson and it was great being able to talk about that. We had another discussion with him where we covered the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. In fact, the reason why he suddenly decided he was interested is because he heard someone use the phrase, "Families can be together forever". He then said to his wife, "You've never told me that before!". You can really tell with him that his family means everything to him. Well following the discussion we began talking about baptism. We asked him about July 30th and he readily accepted. He's set for making this date and he showed up to church yesterday and stayed for all three meetings. Everyone in the ward keeps telling us how excited they are for him and how this has been such a work in progress. It's funny how as a missionary you see people who are at all stages with reguards to accepting the gospel. I guess Bill has been worked on for years, but he finally feels like now is the time that he's ready.

Andrea is really progressing as well. She has determined that yesterday was her last day to smoke, and so we will be visiting her as much as possible for the next few days to make sure she stick with her resolve to quit. Her date is for the 28th of this month, and I really do feel like she would be ready for it. We've been meeting with her twice a week, and covering the lessons from the pamphlets that the church gives us. She has a sincere desire to change her life for the better.

And we've been working over at the soup kitchen as well, and had a pretty neat experience. So we get there about an hour and a half before people start showing up to eat, and we prepare the food the clean the eating area. It's all pretty crazy and hectic, but the lady in charge, Lela, is a woman on a mission. Somehow she's able to coordinate 20 or so people in a little tiny kitchen everyday of the week. We've only been going one morning a week, but this past week one of the people who came into eat was a member of the church! She was baptized a while ago and she and her Mom just moved into the area. Her name is Victoria and she's my age. We visited them this week and are going to work on getting them to church.

Well that's just about everything that's going on here. Sorry it's a bit jumbled and might not make sense, but you're probably used to that by now.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I love being with my missionaries. I enjoyed interviews last week and I am looking forward to meeting with the rest of you. In your ZDM’s you are studying about the enabling power of the Atonement. Lamoni testified to Ammon: “I know, in the strength of the Lord thou canst do all things.” That is an impressive statement to be made by an investigator about their missionary. Ammon had accessed the enabling power of the Atonement which allowed him to do much more than he could maintain if left to his own means. His formula to access that strength and power was clear.

• He was “desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish…and thus did the spirit of the Lord work with them…
• He “searched the scriptures diligently… and had given himself to much prayer and fasting so he had the Spirit…
• He “thrust in the sickle, and did reap with his might, yea all the day long did he labor”
• He had humility “Yea, I know that I am nothing as to my strength I am weak…
• He had faith “for in His strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles…
• He had gratitude “..we will praise his name forever…
• He had Joy and Happiness “our joy is full…I cannot say the smallest part which I feel”

I am confident we are on course to help each missionary, who chooses, to become and accomplish great things In The Strength of the Lord. I am confident that exact obedience and its attendant happiness are growing. I see some companionships developing a Passion for finding. They are striving to use each hour of the day wisely. I see some companionships developing a passion for planning. They are losing an appetite for any activity that does not contribute to affecting the people represented by the Key Indicators. I see some companionships developing a Passion for teaching. They are hungry for productive work. They feel very uncomfortable with idle or wasted time. They are studying Preach My Gospel and the Atonement. They are teaching it and its attendant doctrines with power and they are striving to inspire their investigators to keep commitments that will bring about repentance and strengthen their faith in the Savior. They are happy missionaries.

I also see missionaries whose desires are right but they lack passion for the work. There are those missionaries that are satisfied with less than their best. They are content not to stretch, reach and sacrifice in their daily pursuits. Some are not valiant in their use of time. They are not pleading in prayer and studying with hunger. Their countenances are dulled and their enthusiasm for the work is stilled. They are only as happy as their lack of valiance permits. I am inspired by the fact that the number of missionaries who are burdened by mediocrity is diminishing.

I believe that you will be able to unlock that enabling power to allow you an Ammon like experience.

I love you all. I believe in what you can become. I believe in what you can do “In The Strength of the Lord.” I pray that we may have the faith, humility, diligence and love to access that enabling power.

President Summerhays

Teaching and More Teaching

Hey my Family!

So this has been a really good week here in Seffner. In my last couple of emails I've been writing about how we have been doing a lot of tracting to try and build the shallow teaching pool that we have here. Well, all of the sudden things just seemed to come together this week, and oddly enough, none of the new people that we're working with came from tracting. I think that that was definitely part of the process to help us realize that we have to do our part before the Lord is going to step in and help.

First of all, we got a text message on Tuesday from the Referral Headquarters in Salt Lake. It turns out that the mom of one of the inactive members of the ward here got onto mormon.org and requested a missionary visit for her son. The address on the phone was different then the one that was on the roster, so chances are really good that we wouldn't have been able to find him without his mom directing us there. On Tuesday evening we drove up to his house and weren't quite sure what to expect. Jared (the member) answered the door, and he was so happy to see us. He's probably in his early 20's, and you could see that he had been away from the church from a while. He was raised in SLC in what sounds like a pretty active family. We med his girlfriend, Teri, and it turns out that she's pretty interested in learning more about the church as well. We set up and appointment to get back over there tomorrow night to have dinner with them and to start teaching Teri. When we left we said a prayer with them, and Jared was tearing up as we left. The Spirit can do pretty amazing things.

We also had another really neat experience with a referral from the bishop. There's a part member family in the ward, and the bishop told us that he had visited the family, and thinks that there could be some potential there. We went and stopped by a little later in the week, and they were awesome. The wife is a member of the church, and all of their kids that are old enough have been baptized. Bill is the husband, and he had no reservations towards us at all when we showed up. We were trying to feel things out for a little bit in the beginning, when Bill just hits us with "So are you guys going to be coming over more often? I know that there's some lessons that you teach, and I'd like to begin learning more"....uh, ok? Ha it was great. We went back over there last night, and taught the first lesson. The Spirit was definitely there, and he was really receptive to what we were teaching. He likes to analyze things a lot, so he wasn't too keen on the idea of setting a date, but we're going to keep working with him. We have another lesson scheduled for Wednesday.

We've met with Andrea Denison a couple of times this week as well. Wow, she lives in a really rough situation, and I'm really humbled every time we go over there. We have covered the first two lessons with her and she loves the gospel. Her only holdup right now is with smoking. We're trying to help her find a different outlet for her stress, and we're praying that she will find one that will work.

Well that is a pretty quick rundown of what has been going on this week! Sorry if it doesn't make much sense, ha I'm lacking on time.

I love you all!

Elder Kade Bartschi

President's Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

In our last General Conference, Elder David A. Bednar reminded us that the world is being prepared for the Second Coming of the Savior in large measure because of the Lord’s work through His missionaries. We are His missionaries! Our efforts of becoming Preach My Gospel missionaries by focusing on the key indicators are helping us to fulfill the call to gather His elect. I thought you would like to read about some ways your fellow Florida Tampa Missionaries are fulfilling this great responsibility:

I also have been trying to teach with the eight fundamental lessons and “How to Begin Teaching” bullet points and it is working out great. It is so nice to go into a lesson when the investigator and I are on the same page and the spirit has a greater chance to come into their hearts and change their lives.

We were told that we need to be using at least 7 ways of finding every week. So we have been trying to do that. Getting referrals from members, less actives, investigators, going tracting, providing service, doing a missionary presentation to the youth, doing a missionary presentation to the Relief Society and Priesthood quorums, doing a car wash at the church and giving all of the patrons a tour of the church building. We are just trying to be creative and using as many resources as possible.

Saturday night during our planning session, we were setting our daily key indicator goals before planning our activities. We saw that we needed at least 6 lessons to meet our weekly goal of 23 and we needed two new investigators. We set the deficit as our goals for the day and decided to do whatever was necessary to achieve those goals. We planned activities that would help us achieve them and determined not to end the day’s work until we had. Fast forward to the end of the day - we met our goals and added two new investigators to our pool because we had used proper planning methods and listened to the spirit during the day. It has strengthened my testimony of inspired planning and inspired finding.

Knocking on doors has taken on a new perspective as we are looking to find a new investigator rather than gathering a contact number.

I look at our past week and I smile. My companion let me know last night that we were working with 29 families. The work is exploding. My response to my companion was, “Let’s keep this going!”

This missionary is correct. Let us keep this going! Let us work on becoming master planners (Ch. 8), master finders (Ch. 9), and master teachers (Ch.10) and focus on the key indicators in Preach My Gospel p. 138 . Then we will prosper in finding new investigators and helping them follow their Lord and Savior down into the waters of baptism. This is how missionaries help prepare the world for His coming.

I love you all! I know you are trying to serve Him the very best you can! My prayer is that we will strive to become the answer to someone’s prayer.

President Summerhays J

Happy Fourth!

Happy 4th of July! (yesterday, that is)

Wow, this week has gone by pretty fast, and it sounds like it was the same for you. Ha what would summer be without running back and forth from baseball, basketball, and volleyball tournaments? I'm glad you guys had a good time though. Blake, congrats on the two tourney wins! That is really cool.

Well, things have been going pretty well around here. We're still working hard to find new investigators to teach, and have found some success. One guy that we're starting to teach is named Bruce. He was being taught about a year ago, and then slipped off the map. We followed up with him, and he was open to us starting to teach him again. We actually just had a lesson with him this morning before we came to email. He works night shifts, and actually just got home before we got there. We took a member from the ward over with us, and it went pretty well. He's really talkative which makes it hard sometimes to keep lessons on track, but he has really good intentions. He loves the structure that the gospel brings into people's lives, and really wants that for his own life. We began teaching him about the Holy Ghost today, and it went well. He doesn't have a very solid understanding of the role of the Spirit, so we're working with him on that as well.

We had a pretty cool experience this past week as well. When we went to go hop on our bikes one morning, we found out that Elder Nemelka had a flat in his front tire. That means we got to get out there and go walking. Ha while we were walking we decided that there must be someone we're supposed to talk to that we wouldn't have if we were on our bikes. Just a couple of minutes after talking about that a lady walking out of a soup kitchen called us over. She was extremely nice, and it turns out that she's the one who runs the place. Her parents were inactive members of the church, and now she's attends a different one. Well, she told us that missionaries used to volunteer at the kitchen, and she was wondering if we would be interested in doing something like that again. We jumped at the idea, and she went on to tell us that we'd be serving the food, and then following that we could go and sit down with the people and try to offer some encouragement. We're going over on Friday morning, and I'm really excited about it.

On Thursday we had a great lesson with Megan. She's the one that's inactive that we've been teaching. We read through Alma 32 with her and discussed the importance of faith, and how when you plant that seen of faith you have to continue to nourish and care for it. She was really receptive to it all, and following the reading we watched The Restoration. It's the 20 min. dvd that the church has about Joseph Smith. It's was really powerful, and we taught that in order for her to find out for herself again, she will have to read and pray. The Lord requires effort on our part as well.

Other than that, things are going well. We're working hard together, and I know that we will continue to find more people to teach.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

This week my letter comes from both Sister Summerhays and myself because this week we passed our first year of serving in the Florida Tampa Mission. And WE LOVE THE FLORIDA TAMPA MISSIONARIES!

We both have remembered our feelings recorded in my first letter to you and realize that we still have many opportunities to impact the pattern of your mission and therefore the pattern of your life. We feel a responsibility to see that you set a pattern of excellence here; knowing that the very pattern you establish here will likely be the pattern you continue in the years ahead. Happy spirit now, happy spirit after your mission; excellent now, excellence after your mission; mediocre now, and unfortunately, mediocre after your mission. There is a quote that says, ‘few if any missionaries ever rise in their entire lives above the pattern they establish for themselves in the mission field.” The pattern of excellence is full of attributes such as faith, hope, charity, virtue, knowledge, patience, humility, diligence, obedience and the happy sprit of love. These attributes will absolutely guarantee one a blessed and happy life. But if you cannot give to the Lord the best that is in you here, you will not likely ever give the Lord your best. And if you do not give to Him your best, then it is you that He cannot bless with the best that He and He alone can offer. There is no other guarantee available, but His, that will deliver happiness, prosperity and love. His excellence is the only way that we can be saved from the depressing bondage of mediocrity. This is our chance. Now is the time. Today is the day. Rise up! Get up! Get out! Give this work all you heart, might, mind, and strength today and every day. Focus on becoming master planners, finders and teachers using the key indicators found on page 138 of Preach My Gospel for our daily activities. If you will do that today then you can do it tomorrow. Decide today to be men and women of excellence and Preach My Gospel missionaries. Do not let fear, doubt and discouragement be your mentors and counselors. Get His Spirit and keep it and you will be men and women of excellence. Much of those thoughts came from the letter I wrote last year. Those were my desires for you a year ago, and those are still my desires for you today. His excellence is the way.

Also, as I finished reading the Book of Mormon I was touched by the last verse as Moroni bids us farewell and declares that he will meet us before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah. The spirit whispered to me that it will be so. I also had the spirit testify to me once again, that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I felt the joy of Joseph finishing the translation and I felt the joy of the promises made to us. I love this gospel. I love the Florida Tampa Mission and I love the Florida Tampa Missionaries.

President and Sister Summerhays :)