Hey my awesome family!
Wow, everyone sounds so busy! Life doesn't ever seem to slow down, and that certainly applies to missionary life as well. So first off I'll answer some questions...Elder Johnson and I are the only ones that live in our apartment. Of the apartments in our zone, ours is by FAR the most ghetto. For example, this morning while I was taking a shower a cockroach decided to jump on in with me...I didn't enjoy the company. I wasn't planning on emailing today because the library was closed, but we got some time to jump onto the computers at the front office of some other elder's apartment complex. Sorry if this letter is kind of short.
Nanny, I agree with you about Derek. We keep bringing up the subject of baptism, but he is still unsure about taking that step. He's devouring what we teach him and have him read, but it seems that he hasn't quite made the jump between it being interesting, to him really believing it. We pray for him quite a bit, and hopefully he starts to gain a more solid testimony. Now I have a funny/awkward story for you...There is a woman named Linda Morrison that we're teaching (I can't remember if I told you about her already). She's 62 and has been really interested in the church. It seems that whenever we're actually teaching her she loves what we have to say, but when we leave she suddenly has really random, crazy questions about the church. We're afraid that someone was slipping her anti mormon material when we were away. But anyways, we were teaching her one night in the hallway of her apartment complex because we can't be alone with a girl in the home. She was so appreciative and excited about what we were teaching that she REALLY wanted to give us hugs. We told her that that's breaking the rules (thank heavens) and so she grabbed my hand and elder Johnson's hand. She told us how much she loved us and while she was going about this verbally, she was rubbing our hands. Wow...it was SO awkward. Then she asks, "Are you allowed to have relationships on your mission?", to which i quickly and loudly responded "Nope!". Then she asks if we have girlfriends. Elder Johnson says that he does, and she immediatly drops his hand. Then she turns on me and asks the same question...I felt awful lying to someone so I said, "No, but I will when I get back" haha. She looks at me really close and says "With Angel Eyes like that you won't have any trouble finding someone."...Needless to say, my new nickname is Angle Eyes. Haha it was so very awkward. Elder Johnson said that in a situation like that it's okay to lie to people. Oh and to make a long story short she dropped us a few days later. We found a note on her door that said her "spiritual advisor" had told her to not continue talking to us. That's mission life though, right?? The fourth went well though! I missed my family, but we got invited over the the Bishop's house for dinner. Wow, and I can't believe I almost forgot to write about this. My mission President is AWESOME! I met him and Sister Summerhayes on Wednesday morning. We had a short interview with both of them, and I can say without a doubt that they are meant to be here. When he talks to you, you can just feel how much he loves and appreciates you. It was an amazing experience to be able to sit and talk to him. And he told us that if we have a legitimate investigator that wants to meet him he'd be happy to give them a few tips on their golf swing. Haha
Mom, I'm so glad you bore your testimony. Ha I can image the experience it was to get up to the podium and back, but I'm sure it was worth it. I'm glad you got my pictures too! I'm always worried that my stuff won't make it home. I'm going to try and attach a couple of pictures onto this email so we'll see how that goes. And tell Brock that that would be awesome if I saw him! Have him run it by the Pres, but the ward I'm in is the Palm Harbor ward (there's only one). I love you all, and I'm so grateful for this gospel. It's hard being away from home at times, but I know without a doubt that this is the Lord's work. Every time I read the Book of Mormon my testimony of it grows stronger. Keep working hard in all you do, and know that you have a brother/son/nephew/grandson/friend in Florida that's praying for you.

Love ya all,
Elder Kade Bartschi

The lush, green, tropical views of Florida!
This was the first day tracting and biking in the rain. It was fun then...but not so fun each day afterwards!
The beautiful skyline from our ghetto apartment. Looking outside makes it feel "not so ghetto"!