Hey my family!

It sounds like this has been a pretty busy week for both of us. So first off, Dad congratulations on the new calling! I'm really excited for you, especially for who you get to work with. I just started laughing when I read Mom's letter and she said that you'll be working with Jim. That will be an awesome ward to be in. I just might go to BYU-I for a year when I get back...or at least I'll make sure and attend all your ward activities haha. I'm sorry you're trying to fight the Idaho spring for track practices right now. I remember that all too well. Tossing the shot and discus into the snow, bringing it back and drying it in a towel, and then repeating that over again. Haha but at least I wasn't running in it :)

Well for a recap of the week....We finally got to have a lesson with Paige again! If you remember, she went to Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago, and once she got back she got a job as a restaurant hostess. We're happy for her, but that means she has less time to meet. We've set up appointments and rescheduled for the past couple weeks, so when she let us know that she only had 40 minutes to meet we jumped at the chance. She's living with the Klemm's, who are members, and so we went to her house and sat down and just tried to figure out what she's been thinking. She's a pretty quiet girl to begin with, but she finally started opening up after we'd asked her a couple of questions. When we talked about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith she told us that her prayers had been answered and that she knew it was true. It was so great to hear that, and the Spirit was really strong as we promised her that as she continued to study and pray she'd feel ready to get baptized. She told us that what's holding her back is the fear that she'd fall away once she joined the church. But she did say that "I want to get married and raise a family in the church. I want to bring them every Sunday to hear the talks and to have the morals and standards that you all have". She's totally ready to be baptized, it's just going to be a matter of her feeling comfortable with it.

We also had another really cool experience this week. After trying to visit a less active lady in the ward we decided to go tracting in her neighborhood. Every once in a while you hit a street with a couple of really positive people, and fortunately this was one of them. The first were an older retired couple. Generally with older people they are either really rude and grumpy or way nice. There's isn't much in between that. I wasn't sure what to expect when we walked up and they were sitting out on their porch, but they got right up and started talking to us. Ha they brought out some chairs and had us sit with them and talk about what we were doing. They are both very devout in their religion, but they told us to stop back by anytime. Well a couple houses after theirs we ran into Patsy. She opened the door and said, "Oh, I call you brothers, right??" Haha we said "No, we're elders." "That's right!" she said. She then went on to let us know that her husband is a member of the church, and they had just moved down from Indiana. The missionaries had stopped by when they were up there, but she said that she's actually willing to learn this time. She made it sound like here husband has been getting away from religion and she was willing to find a way to make that stop. Patsy asked us to come back by when her husband was home, so we stopped by yesterday evening. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but it went really well! They invited us in, and Mark (her husband) was really great. He started talking about how he had grown up in the church and his mom was a temple worker before she had passed away. Now there's sometimes awkward tension when you're visiting someone who's less active because they know that ultimately you're there to get them back to church. Ha but fortunately we never felt that the whole time. Mark said that he'd been trying a couple of other churches with Patsy, but he knew that the "mormon church" was the only one he'd feel comfortable at. We asked Patsy about the possibility of learning more. She was a little apprehensive about it, but she accepted the Book of Mormon, and Mark was really excited about general conference this weekend. He's planning on coming, and I think that Patsy will love it.

Transfer calls were this past Saturday as well. Elder Moffett and I will be staying together in Seminole! I'm excited about that and the things we're doing here. Not a whole lot of changes are taking place in the zone either, which I'm okay with. I like the missionaries that are here.

Oh, something pretty crazy happened yesterday! So before sacrament meeting started Elder Moffett and I were standing at one set of doors greeting people. Well I was talking to one of the members, when someone walked behind them that looked really familiar. I looked up, and sure enough I knew her. Haha do you remember Amy Halling from college? She's the one that had sisters at BYU-I so Brad and I would drive her up for the weekends sometimes! Ha I guess her Dad had some business thing down in this area, so she and her family found the closest church building. It was really awesome to see her and pretty hilarious for both of us. Seminole Florida was the last place I thought I'd see her again.

Well I hope you all have a great week! I love you and pray for you all the time.

Love,

Your Floridian Missionary

Elder Kade Bartschi