Hey family!
This has been quite the week. I'm even having a hard time right now remembering what has taken place. Elder Nemelka and I have gone on two exchanges, so that helped make the week fly by, but also we've been looking forward to having Elder Nelson come into the mission. I was able to stay in Seffner for the first exchange and then I went to Riverview for the second one. Both of those were a lot of fun but I really like going to other areas and seeing what they're like.
This week Elder Nemelka and I have done our best to follow up with our investigators. We weren't able to have more than a door step discussion with those that we have as investigators, but that was definitely better than nothing. I can't remember if I've told you about him before, but we were able to make good contact with Eric this week. We tracted into his mom, who was raised RLDS, and he sat in on our visit with her. About a week later we tried to go back and visit and just Eric was home. He's 22 and has just graduated from school to be an air traffic controller. We tried to have a lesson with him this past week, but because of his busy schedule we weren't able to go and visit him. He called us though and promised to be to church on Sunday. I've heard people promise that before, but I really felt like he was sincere. Well, on Sunday morning Elder Nemelka and I were greeting the members at the doors into the chapel and sure enough Eric came walking in. He was able to stay for sacrament meeting, and I think he really enjoyed it.
Leading up to Saturday's mission conference, I was a little bit stressed. I've had to sing in front of different audiences before, but never for an apostle. Fortunately the missionaries that I sang with were great. Elder McDougal, a missionary in the quartet, actually arranged the version of "Be Still My Soul" that we sang. I was pretty terrified in the beginning, but Elder Nelson was so nice. We all had the opportunity of introducing ourselves and shaking his hand, which was really neat. I was still shaking a bit when I got up there, but I think it went well. The spirit could be felt and I was really happy to be apart of it. Elder Nelson's training was great though. He took questions for a little while, and then began asking us questions. He had a topic prepared for us, and before he started teaching it he paused for a second and then told us that he was prompted to talk on something else. He ended up teaching us about the Book of Mormon and how it is the main tool we should use in teaching others about the church. It is a convincing witness that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and is a great way to feel the Spirit.
Yesterday after church we got a phone call from President and he asked us to go and meet him at our church building in 30 minutes. We showed up over there and President and I stepped into a classroom and talked a little about the work. He then asked me to be an assistant this coming transfer. I'll be serving with Elder Daniel Cook from Shelley. He graduated a year before me and we actually played against each other in bkb and football. I found this all out yesterday at about 4:30 and then I had to have all my stuff packed and ready to go by 9:30. I was really caught off guard about all of that and I've been just going with the flow up to this point. President and the current assistants have been making phone calls all morning and I just have a minute to email you. I'm really excited to work with President and I hope that this all works out well. Obviously the Lord knows a lot more than I do.
Well I love you all so much! Have a great week and I think that I'll email on Saturday which I guess is when I'll be emailing for the next little while.
Blake, I'm praying for you buddy. Know that I love you and I'll keep you in my prayers.
Love you all,
Elder Kade Bartschi
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