Hello my great family!!

Things are moving right along in the Palm Harbor area! We have 3 baptismal dates set for Saturday! Now the trick will be seeing if they actually go through...but we're praying and working hard, so I'm hoping that they do. But about the letters...I think having the holiday on Monday really screwed Dear Elder up or something because I ended up getting three letters from you on Tuesday ha so I'm sorry for complaining. But I am glad that it lit a fire under my siblings! Ha what can I say? I love hearing from you all. Tell Brock not to worry about it! I would have loved seeing him, but it's okay. At least he has a taste of the humidity! And the lightening storms here are crazy. It really stormed here the first part of last week, but now the sun is back. I've gotten a little careless with wearing sunscreen, but I haven't been burned yet! Ha Elder Johnson on the other hand still gets a little fried. Luckily I do have a little of my Mom's talent to turn brown. E. Johnson's mom's email address is suzannejohnson@qwestoffice.net. Ha he said that she's going to cry if she get's an email from you and I told him that you'll probably cry writing it so it's fair. So did you all like the silly bands?? Ha I didn't realize they'd weigh the package down like that.

So transfers are next Tuesday, and I can't believe that it's already been six weeks here...I'm finally starting to really get to know the area and ward and now I don't want to get shipped off. I'm really hoping that E. Johnson and I get to stay in the area, but I know that if I do move it's where I'm supposed to go. So just some stories about the people that we're working with...Derek has a tentative date set for Saturday! He moves in two weeks for Med School, so we're really praying that this goes through. It would be hard to have him move after working with him since my very first day here. He has such a solid understanding of the gospel, and when I asked him about baptism he told us that it's something that he knows he needs to do, and it's something he wants to do as well. Every time we talk to him it helps my testimony grow. Now, I don't know if I've ever told you about Cheryl Comini before...If I have then you're going to get to hear about her again! Ha she's been having the missionaries over for quite some time, and when I showed up she was basically done with all of the lessons. Her husband is a member and so is his family, and they basically all live in the Palm Harbor area. They have three younger kids so sometimes their house is crazy, but they all love having us over. Ha when we walk in they all yell "it's the church boys!!". She's one of my favorite people to visit because it really feels like home over at her house. Well she's recently given up coffee and last night she asked us what else she needed to do to get baptized! She really shys away from setting dates, but it's on her mind. Last night we watched The Testament with her, and it was an awesome spiritual experience. When Christ comes to visit the people in the American continent I knew that everyone in the room could feel the spirit. I looked over at her, and she was on the verge of tears. It's a pretty choice experience when you know that an investigator knows it's true.

So I do have an embarrassing experience for you all to laugh at (I don't know why, but I can see Heidi really appreciating this one haha. Probably because she likes making fun of me in general ha)...Well we were biking over to visit Nanoshka (the 14 yr old girl that we're working with). We were right next to a really busy street called Tampa Rd, where tons of cars are flying by in both directions. I wasn't paying attention (of course) and started to drift really close to the railing on the side of the sidewalk away from the road. I got closer and closer to it until I suddenly snapped out of Kade Land and realized that I was in trouble. I had enough time to say "oh no...". Haha well my handlebar was in the railing and right at the point the railing stopped...and so did my bike. I, on the other hand, did not. I did a front flip/180 roll off the front of my bike and onto the sidewalk. I sat there for a second and realized that I wasn't hurt at all, but knew that that HAD to have been hilarious to the people who just saw that. Haha I started laughing really hard and looked up to see Elder Johnson looking down at me with huge eyes. I was expecting him to start laughing, but I think he was worried that his trainee had just broken his arms or something. Right then a lady in a mini-van swerved over to the sidewalk and asked if I was okay. I informed them all that I was fine, just really embarrassed. Haha and don't worry, I really am fine. I just have a little scab on my arm to remind me not to be an idiot anymore. So if anything, I hopefully made someones day if they were lucky enough to see the missionary crash on his bike.

Haha I love you all! Have a good week, and know that I'm praying for all of you. And mama, could you send me some more Tetracycline (the pills)? I haven't been paying very close attention to that and I ran out yesterday...I know, not too smart on my part.

I love you!

Elder Kade Bartschi