Elder Russel M. Nelson is Visiting!

Hello my Family!

So I must have told you wrong last week, but we don't have transfers until this next Tuesday. Hopefully I'll know what's going on by next Monday when I write. Things have changed a little bit since I last emailed though. President felt like Elder Escobar would do well with the Elders up in Plant City for the last part of this transfer, so Elder Nemelka and I are back down to a regular two missionary companionship. After having been with two other people for the last month it feels pretty different to down-size.

Everything seemed to slow down a little this week. We were able to make good contact with a lot of our investigators last week, but none of them would give us set times to come back and visit. I think the biggest issue we're running into is that the majority of the people we've been teaching recently have come from tracting. They likehearing what we have to say and learning more about the gospel, but they don't really understand the impact that this message can have on their lives. Because of that, it's been hard to get them solidly on board. When there's a member involved that's a friend or family member, they know that we're going to try and meet with them frequently, we want them to attend church and read from the Book of Mormon, stop habits that harm their health, and so on. The member is there to reassure them that the decisions they're making will help them and bless their lives, and to be the guide throughout this
process. Now it helps when we take members with us to meet the people we're teaching, but even then I think that the investigator view them as "people from the church". It truely is those that the Lord has
prepared that get baptized from tracting. We have received a couple referrals from the ward members though, and so we're hoping to follow up with them this week.

On Friday we went to a our ZLC meeting and found out something really cool. Elder Russel M. Nelson from the Quorum of the Twelve is coming down this week to reorganize the Tampa Stake, and so this Saturday he is doing an all mission conference! The entire mission will bemeeting together, which I've never seen happen, and we get to hear from him for a couple of hours. I've been asked to sing in a quartet during the conference and I'm a little anxious about that. After I agreed to it, the assistants let me know that he has perfect pitch. Haha so we'll so how that goes. I'm really excited to be able to hear from him though, and to receive the direction that he has to give.

On Sunday we were a kind of disappointed because none of our investigators showed up, but it was really neat because Andrea got up and bore her testimony. She did a great job and let the members now
that it was because of their love and support that she was prompted to learn more about the church. She's great, and although she wasn't able to go to the youth this month to do baptisms for the dead, that's
what we're working with her on now.

Our most positive follow up this week was with Lyndey. We showed up on her doorstep and she took some time to talk with us. The last time we met and taught the first lesson I know that she felt the Spirit and so I've been really looking forward to meeting with her again. Well in the beginning she tried to drop us by talking about all the doubts that she has about the church and even in God, but we weren't going to
give up the easily. Elder Nemelka and I each bore testimony to her that the only person she can ever completely rely upon in this life is her Savior. She may be experiencing hard things in her life, but He
has felt those things. He knows what she's going through, and if she's looking for lasting peace in her life then that is the only place she can turn to. She started to tear up a little bit at the end of it and agreed to meeting again. We'll see her this Thursday.

Well I hope things continue to go well at home. I loved that story of Whit and was laughing the whole time. That's definitely my sister. Haha she kills me.

Have a great week and know that I love you!

Your boy,

Elder Kade Bartschi