Baptism Dates!

Hello my family!

Wow it was really great to hear about Ty's baptism! He seems like a great guy, and I'm really happy he made that choice.

We had a great week here in Seffner. I know I always seem to say that, and just change the name of my area, but I really mean it haha. Especially this week though. On Tuesday we had our lesson with Jared and Terri. He's the inactive member from Utah, and she's his girlfriend. Anyways, we went over for dinner and had a great lesson with them following that. We discussed some of the things that Terri had questions about, like what she should wear, what would a service be like, what sets our church apart from other ones, etc. She really enjoyed our conversation together, and committed to read the pamphlet we left with her and the introduction to the Book of Mormon. Jared called us a few days letter and let us know about the big impression that we had made on her, and how much he appreciated what we were doing for them.

Also this week we got to meet with Bill a couple of times. The first time we met together was Wednesday at the church. We had left him two reading assignments, and unfortunately he hadn't read either one yet. Well, that calls for some emphasis on the importance of keeping commitments. We read together Alma 32 (one of the assignments) and discussed how he needs to build his faith. It will take nourishement and care on his part, but if he does that then the fruit he will reap will be well worth it. He really enjoyed the lesson and it was great being able to talk about that. We had another discussion with him where we covered the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. In fact, the reason why he suddenly decided he was interested is because he heard someone use the phrase, "Families can be together forever". He then said to his wife, "You've never told me that before!". You can really tell with him that his family means everything to him. Well following the discussion we began talking about baptism. We asked him about July 30th and he readily accepted. He's set for making this date and he showed up to church yesterday and stayed for all three meetings. Everyone in the ward keeps telling us how excited they are for him and how this has been such a work in progress. It's funny how as a missionary you see people who are at all stages with reguards to accepting the gospel. I guess Bill has been worked on for years, but he finally feels like now is the time that he's ready.

Andrea is really progressing as well. She has determined that yesterday was her last day to smoke, and so we will be visiting her as much as possible for the next few days to make sure she stick with her resolve to quit. Her date is for the 28th of this month, and I really do feel like she would be ready for it. We've been meeting with her twice a week, and covering the lessons from the pamphlets that the church gives us. She has a sincere desire to change her life for the better.

And we've been working over at the soup kitchen as well, and had a pretty neat experience. So we get there about an hour and a half before people start showing up to eat, and we prepare the food the clean the eating area. It's all pretty crazy and hectic, but the lady in charge, Lela, is a woman on a mission. Somehow she's able to coordinate 20 or so people in a little tiny kitchen everyday of the week. We've only been going one morning a week, but this past week one of the people who came into eat was a member of the church! She was baptized a while ago and she and her Mom just moved into the area. Her name is Victoria and she's my age. We visited them this week and are going to work on getting them to church.

Well that's just about everything that's going on here. Sorry it's a bit jumbled and might not make sense, but you're probably used to that by now.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I love being with my missionaries. I enjoyed interviews last week and I am looking forward to meeting with the rest of you. In your ZDM’s you are studying about the enabling power of the Atonement. Lamoni testified to Ammon: “I know, in the strength of the Lord thou canst do all things.” That is an impressive statement to be made by an investigator about their missionary. Ammon had accessed the enabling power of the Atonement which allowed him to do much more than he could maintain if left to his own means. His formula to access that strength and power was clear.

• He was “desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish…and thus did the spirit of the Lord work with them…
• He “searched the scriptures diligently… and had given himself to much prayer and fasting so he had the Spirit…
• He “thrust in the sickle, and did reap with his might, yea all the day long did he labor”
• He had humility “Yea, I know that I am nothing as to my strength I am weak…
• He had faith “for in His strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles…
• He had gratitude “..we will praise his name forever…
• He had Joy and Happiness “our joy is full…I cannot say the smallest part which I feel”

I am confident we are on course to help each missionary, who chooses, to become and accomplish great things In The Strength of the Lord. I am confident that exact obedience and its attendant happiness are growing. I see some companionships developing a Passion for finding. They are striving to use each hour of the day wisely. I see some companionships developing a passion for planning. They are losing an appetite for any activity that does not contribute to affecting the people represented by the Key Indicators. I see some companionships developing a Passion for teaching. They are hungry for productive work. They feel very uncomfortable with idle or wasted time. They are studying Preach My Gospel and the Atonement. They are teaching it and its attendant doctrines with power and they are striving to inspire their investigators to keep commitments that will bring about repentance and strengthen their faith in the Savior. They are happy missionaries.

I also see missionaries whose desires are right but they lack passion for the work. There are those missionaries that are satisfied with less than their best. They are content not to stretch, reach and sacrifice in their daily pursuits. Some are not valiant in their use of time. They are not pleading in prayer and studying with hunger. Their countenances are dulled and their enthusiasm for the work is stilled. They are only as happy as their lack of valiance permits. I am inspired by the fact that the number of missionaries who are burdened by mediocrity is diminishing.

I believe that you will be able to unlock that enabling power to allow you an Ammon like experience.

I love you all. I believe in what you can become. I believe in what you can do “In The Strength of the Lord.” I pray that we may have the faith, humility, diligence and love to access that enabling power.

President Summerhays

Teaching and More Teaching

Hey my Family!

So this has been a really good week here in Seffner. In my last couple of emails I've been writing about how we have been doing a lot of tracting to try and build the shallow teaching pool that we have here. Well, all of the sudden things just seemed to come together this week, and oddly enough, none of the new people that we're working with came from tracting. I think that that was definitely part of the process to help us realize that we have to do our part before the Lord is going to step in and help.

First of all, we got a text message on Tuesday from the Referral Headquarters in Salt Lake. It turns out that the mom of one of the inactive members of the ward here got onto mormon.org and requested a missionary visit for her son. The address on the phone was different then the one that was on the roster, so chances are really good that we wouldn't have been able to find him without his mom directing us there. On Tuesday evening we drove up to his house and weren't quite sure what to expect. Jared (the member) answered the door, and he was so happy to see us. He's probably in his early 20's, and you could see that he had been away from the church from a while. He was raised in SLC in what sounds like a pretty active family. We med his girlfriend, Teri, and it turns out that she's pretty interested in learning more about the church as well. We set up and appointment to get back over there tomorrow night to have dinner with them and to start teaching Teri. When we left we said a prayer with them, and Jared was tearing up as we left. The Spirit can do pretty amazing things.

We also had another really neat experience with a referral from the bishop. There's a part member family in the ward, and the bishop told us that he had visited the family, and thinks that there could be some potential there. We went and stopped by a little later in the week, and they were awesome. The wife is a member of the church, and all of their kids that are old enough have been baptized. Bill is the husband, and he had no reservations towards us at all when we showed up. We were trying to feel things out for a little bit in the beginning, when Bill just hits us with "So are you guys going to be coming over more often? I know that there's some lessons that you teach, and I'd like to begin learning more"....uh, ok? Ha it was great. We went back over there last night, and taught the first lesson. The Spirit was definitely there, and he was really receptive to what we were teaching. He likes to analyze things a lot, so he wasn't too keen on the idea of setting a date, but we're going to keep working with him. We have another lesson scheduled for Wednesday.

We've met with Andrea Denison a couple of times this week as well. Wow, she lives in a really rough situation, and I'm really humbled every time we go over there. We have covered the first two lessons with her and she loves the gospel. Her only holdup right now is with smoking. We're trying to help her find a different outlet for her stress, and we're praying that she will find one that will work.

Well that is a pretty quick rundown of what has been going on this week! Sorry if it doesn't make much sense, ha I'm lacking on time.

I love you all!

Elder Kade Bartschi

President's Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

In our last General Conference, Elder David A. Bednar reminded us that the world is being prepared for the Second Coming of the Savior in large measure because of the Lord’s work through His missionaries. We are His missionaries! Our efforts of becoming Preach My Gospel missionaries by focusing on the key indicators are helping us to fulfill the call to gather His elect. I thought you would like to read about some ways your fellow Florida Tampa Missionaries are fulfilling this great responsibility:

I also have been trying to teach with the eight fundamental lessons and “How to Begin Teaching” bullet points and it is working out great. It is so nice to go into a lesson when the investigator and I are on the same page and the spirit has a greater chance to come into their hearts and change their lives.

We were told that we need to be using at least 7 ways of finding every week. So we have been trying to do that. Getting referrals from members, less actives, investigators, going tracting, providing service, doing a missionary presentation to the youth, doing a missionary presentation to the Relief Society and Priesthood quorums, doing a car wash at the church and giving all of the patrons a tour of the church building. We are just trying to be creative and using as many resources as possible.

Saturday night during our planning session, we were setting our daily key indicator goals before planning our activities. We saw that we needed at least 6 lessons to meet our weekly goal of 23 and we needed two new investigators. We set the deficit as our goals for the day and decided to do whatever was necessary to achieve those goals. We planned activities that would help us achieve them and determined not to end the day’s work until we had. Fast forward to the end of the day - we met our goals and added two new investigators to our pool because we had used proper planning methods and listened to the spirit during the day. It has strengthened my testimony of inspired planning and inspired finding.

Knocking on doors has taken on a new perspective as we are looking to find a new investigator rather than gathering a contact number.

I look at our past week and I smile. My companion let me know last night that we were working with 29 families. The work is exploding. My response to my companion was, “Let’s keep this going!”

This missionary is correct. Let us keep this going! Let us work on becoming master planners (Ch. 8), master finders (Ch. 9), and master teachers (Ch.10) and focus on the key indicators in Preach My Gospel p. 138 . Then we will prosper in finding new investigators and helping them follow their Lord and Savior down into the waters of baptism. This is how missionaries help prepare the world for His coming.

I love you all! I know you are trying to serve Him the very best you can! My prayer is that we will strive to become the answer to someone’s prayer.

President Summerhays J

Happy Fourth!

Happy 4th of July! (yesterday, that is)

Wow, this week has gone by pretty fast, and it sounds like it was the same for you. Ha what would summer be without running back and forth from baseball, basketball, and volleyball tournaments? I'm glad you guys had a good time though. Blake, congrats on the two tourney wins! That is really cool.

Well, things have been going pretty well around here. We're still working hard to find new investigators to teach, and have found some success. One guy that we're starting to teach is named Bruce. He was being taught about a year ago, and then slipped off the map. We followed up with him, and he was open to us starting to teach him again. We actually just had a lesson with him this morning before we came to email. He works night shifts, and actually just got home before we got there. We took a member from the ward over with us, and it went pretty well. He's really talkative which makes it hard sometimes to keep lessons on track, but he has really good intentions. He loves the structure that the gospel brings into people's lives, and really wants that for his own life. We began teaching him about the Holy Ghost today, and it went well. He doesn't have a very solid understanding of the role of the Spirit, so we're working with him on that as well.

We had a pretty cool experience this past week as well. When we went to go hop on our bikes one morning, we found out that Elder Nemelka had a flat in his front tire. That means we got to get out there and go walking. Ha while we were walking we decided that there must be someone we're supposed to talk to that we wouldn't have if we were on our bikes. Just a couple of minutes after talking about that a lady walking out of a soup kitchen called us over. She was extremely nice, and it turns out that she's the one who runs the place. Her parents were inactive members of the church, and now she's attends a different one. Well, she told us that missionaries used to volunteer at the kitchen, and she was wondering if we would be interested in doing something like that again. We jumped at the idea, and she went on to tell us that we'd be serving the food, and then following that we could go and sit down with the people and try to offer some encouragement. We're going over on Friday morning, and I'm really excited about it.

On Thursday we had a great lesson with Megan. She's the one that's inactive that we've been teaching. We read through Alma 32 with her and discussed the importance of faith, and how when you plant that seen of faith you have to continue to nourish and care for it. She was really receptive to it all, and following the reading we watched The Restoration. It's the 20 min. dvd that the church has about Joseph Smith. It's was really powerful, and we taught that in order for her to find out for herself again, she will have to read and pray. The Lord requires effort on our part as well.

Other than that, things are going well. We're working hard together, and I know that we will continue to find more people to teach.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

This week my letter comes from both Sister Summerhays and myself because this week we passed our first year of serving in the Florida Tampa Mission. And WE LOVE THE FLORIDA TAMPA MISSIONARIES!

We both have remembered our feelings recorded in my first letter to you and realize that we still have many opportunities to impact the pattern of your mission and therefore the pattern of your life. We feel a responsibility to see that you set a pattern of excellence here; knowing that the very pattern you establish here will likely be the pattern you continue in the years ahead. Happy spirit now, happy spirit after your mission; excellent now, excellence after your mission; mediocre now, and unfortunately, mediocre after your mission. There is a quote that says, ‘few if any missionaries ever rise in their entire lives above the pattern they establish for themselves in the mission field.” The pattern of excellence is full of attributes such as faith, hope, charity, virtue, knowledge, patience, humility, diligence, obedience and the happy sprit of love. These attributes will absolutely guarantee one a blessed and happy life. But if you cannot give to the Lord the best that is in you here, you will not likely ever give the Lord your best. And if you do not give to Him your best, then it is you that He cannot bless with the best that He and He alone can offer. There is no other guarantee available, but His, that will deliver happiness, prosperity and love. His excellence is the only way that we can be saved from the depressing bondage of mediocrity. This is our chance. Now is the time. Today is the day. Rise up! Get up! Get out! Give this work all you heart, might, mind, and strength today and every day. Focus on becoming master planners, finders and teachers using the key indicators found on page 138 of Preach My Gospel for our daily activities. If you will do that today then you can do it tomorrow. Decide today to be men and women of excellence and Preach My Gospel missionaries. Do not let fear, doubt and discouragement be your mentors and counselors. Get His Spirit and keep it and you will be men and women of excellence. Much of those thoughts came from the letter I wrote last year. Those were my desires for you a year ago, and those are still my desires for you today. His excellence is the way.

Also, as I finished reading the Book of Mormon I was touched by the last verse as Moroni bids us farewell and declares that he will meet us before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah. The spirit whispered to me that it will be so. I also had the spirit testify to me once again, that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I felt the joy of Joseph finishing the translation and I felt the joy of the promises made to us. I love this gospel. I love the Florida Tampa Mission and I love the Florida Tampa Missionaries.

President and Sister Summerhays :)

New Area . . . New Comp . . . New People

Hello my family!

Well I'm emailing you from a new location again. Ha I feel like I've been transferred so many times on my mission. Elder Moffett and I figured out that including packing when I left home for the MTC, I'll probably have to pack a grand total of 12 times in my 2 years. I've since decided that I will never be moving when I get home. Sorry Ma and Pa.

But things here are actually really great. Elder Nemelka is from Centerville, Utah and is actually the first companion that I've had that's taller then I am. I was a little disappointed. Ha but he's a really good guy, and is actually hoping to go and play football at the University of Utah when he gets home. He talked to the coaches before he left and they asked him to see if he could leave early on his mission. Well they requested it, and it was approved. So he actually went into the MTC at 18. He's a really hard worker, and that has made the work roll forward here.

So I'm in the Seffner ward, but basically it's just a little south east of Tampa. The area includes parts of Brandon, Valrico, and a little bit of Tampa. I think that's pretty cool because it's the first time I've ever had part of Tampa in my area. Even though it has some city in it, overall it's a fairly rural area. There's a lot of communities and neighborhoods, but there's still big open fields around. The ward is really great as well. There are a lot of really good families and people that are will to help us out. Right now the teaching pool is a little shallow, but we're working on building it. We have one investigator that's pretty solid and her name is Andrea. She's married to a member and has been investigating the church for a little while. We had a lesson with her on Saturday, and decided to go back over the lessons. Andrea gets off topic easily, but it ended up being a good lesson. She really does want to get baptized, so we set a date with her for July 9th. Smoking is something that is currently keeping her back, but she is really determined to quit this time for good. Other then that lesson, we've pretty much tracted a lot of the time. We have talked to a lot of really positive people through that. Also, we're working on some of the less active families in the ward as well. Last night we had a lesson with a girl that's 22 and was raised in the church and then went away from it. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and the Spirit was so strong. Elder Nemelka and I both testified that we know that this plan makes it possible for each and every one of us to make it back to live with our Heavenly Father. It's the only completely fair way so that all of His children could have the chance to accept the gospel. I really hope that she was able to realize how much knowing that will bless her life.

Other then that, we'll keep working hard. There's people here that have been prepared to hear the gospel message, it'll just be a matter of us getting out there and finding them. Oh, and I wasn't able to make it back to Seminole yesterday, but James got baptized! Elder Moffett said that it was really neat and he was able to get confirmed in sacrament meeting. I was bummed that I couldn't make it back, but I'm so glad that it happened. I'll email you some of the pictures next week that I get from Elder Moffett.

Well I love you all! Have a great week, and 4th of July!

Love,

Your Boy

Elder Kade Bartschi

Transfers and Pictures!!

Hello my family!

For once, last Monday feels like it was a long time ago. A lot has happened in the last week, so I'll try to do a review that makes sense....

Okay, well I started this week out on exchanges up in Hudson. I was with Elder Fadely who's from Stevensville, Montana. He's a hard working rancher that has been out for about 21 months. We had a really good time together and I felt like I'd gotten my fill of biking for the summer. We had a really good lesson with a part member couple that they're teaching. Both of them are professional clowns and are probably in their 70's. Ha they were extremely nice and we were able to teach her about the Plan of Salvation. She really accepted what we were teaching, and she especially was able to connect with our message of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was a really neat experience.

On Wednesday Elder Moffett drove up and we switched back after attending their district meeting. The rest of the week felt pretty productive. Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with James and Melissa this week. They've been working on getting a house and moving in, and also James is on the job hunt. He did find a place though, and will start work there today. We had a lesson with Polly this last week and it went really well. She's so excited about learning more, and keeps talking about her baptismal date. When we brought up the topic of Ensigns, she was really pumped and told us that she would really like some of them. We were able to round up some copies for her. We had an awesome lesson with Mark and Patsy this week though. Our goal for the last couple weeks has been to invite Patsy to seriously take the lessons instead of just fielding questions from her. Well they fed us dinner on Saturday night, and following that she starting asking a couple of questions. Mark made a comment along the lines of "when you take the lessons it will put things in perspective for you". That made it really easy for us to ask her if we could begin doing just that. She thought about it for a second, and then she told us that she would like to do that. She really likes what she's been hearing in sacrament meeting, and she has agreed with basically everything that has been taught. I'm really excited about what is going to be going on with her.

Transfer calls were on Saturday morning and I received some surprising news. I'm getting transferred to the Brandon Zone, and will be serving in Seffner. My new companion's name is Elder Nemelka, and I've heard a lot of good things about him. We've never served around each other but I've met him a few times, and I'm sure we'll get a long really well. Seffner is a little rural from the sounds of things, which is totally fine with me. I love seeing open fields and working with people that are a little bit country. That probably has a little to do with the fact that I'm from small town Idaho, or something. But Elder Nemelka and I will be serving as zone leaders together there, and I think it will be fun to work with a new zone. I'm going to miss the St. Pete zone a lot, but I'm sure this will be good. Yesterday consisted of saying some goodbyes to people in the ward that I've gotten close with, and then with some of our investigators as well. It's always sad to do that, but I know that there's a reason for all of it. James is planning for his baptism to be this coming Sunday so his Mom will be there for it, and I'll (hopefully) be coming back for that. He's awesome, and I'm really excited for this to finally happen. Ha I'm sure he feels the same way. He has been preparing for a long time for this. Mike is doing extremely well though. It was hard telling him that I'll be leaving but I promised to always stay in contact with him. He's an amazing guy, it will be great keeping in touch.

Well that was my week in a nutshell . Ha I'm sure I missed some parts, but overall it was really good. The gospel really does bring people together, and I'm so grateful to be apart of all of that.

Have a great week and know that I love you all!

Elder Kade Bartschi

The one with the lion reminded me of the one at the Hogle Zoo when I was little.

Mike and Me

Me, Elder Moffett, and Sister Typner

Me and Sister Hinton (she is so funny)

This is the Beckman family (Brother Beckman was Mike's fellowshipper, and the girl in the yellow is Paige)

This is of the Johnson family. He's a recent convert.

This is a bird at the Willis' and then their family (they're from Idaho and he's the ward mission leader)

The last one is of Mark and Patsy

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I have spent a beautiful week contemplating each and every one of you. The focus of my thoughts, fasting and prayers has been on transfers. I hope you can see the Lord’s hand in this process. I believe that He believes in every companionship’s ability to find, teach and baptize. I believe that He believes that each missionary can experience divinely orchestrated growth and progress. It does not mean that the transfer board is perfect but it is the Lord’s way and we can be diligent, happy and productive through humility, love and deep devotion to the daily responsibilities of the sacred service.

Time continues to fly. We have 10 days to finish reading the Book of Mormon if we want to complete it in the time it took Joseph Smith to translate it. As you continue your reading, whether you are behind, ahead or on schedule, I want you to try to put yourselves in Joseph’s shoes. Elder Neal A. Maxwell movingly tells of the wonder of the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith worked by the gift and power of God amid numerous interruptions, bitter persecutions, and even “most strenuous exertions” of those trying to wrest the plates from him (JS-H 1:60). Joseph’s life was not one of a tranquil scholar in some sanctuary where he could work at his uninterrupted leisure (By The Gift and Power Of God. Ensign Jan.1977). Joseph had chores to do and a family to care for.

Elder Maxwell writes about the marvelous nature of the translation. The speed of the translation is one of those marvels-an estimated average of eight pages a day. Compare that with an LDS Translator in Japan surrounded by references, dictionaries and colleagues who was able to produce one page a day and this from old Japanese to modern Japanese. More than 50 able English scholars labored for seven years, using previous translations, to produce the King James Version of the Bible, averaging one page a day. A second marvel is that Joseph would rarely go back to review or revise what had already been done. Emma said that after meals or interruptions, he would at once begin where he had left off, without seeing the manuscript or review. If this was a made up tale, he would have had to check and recheck himself to edit and revise. A third marvel is that Joseph was unschooled in things ancient. Once when he came across the words concerning a wall in Jerusalem he paused and asked Emma if the city did have walls. And yet a fourth marvel, Joseph worked completely without referring to any other sources.

Again, put yourself in Joseph’s place. The translation was a staggering achievement. It was completed within 85 days. Of course, not all of that time was spent working on the translation. The Prophet and his scribes also took time to eat, to sleep, to seek employment, to receive the Aaronic and Melchizidek priesthoods, to make at least one trip to Colesville; to receive and record 13 revelations that are now in the Doctrine of Covenants, to move from Harmony to Fayette, to acquire the copyright, to preach a few days and baptize several (now those are shoes to put yourself in), to the manifestations to the three and eight witnesses, and to make preparations for the publication. Considering the complexity, consistency, clarity, artistry, accuracy, density and profundity of the Book of Mormon, the translation is a phenomenal feat. “The Book of Mormon came through but not from Joseph Smith.

Sisters and Elders, as you feel the urgency to finish in time, try to feel Joseph’s urgency. I would love you to share your thoughts with me. I appreciate your insights, strengths and testimonies. When I am with you, I am strengthened, and when you are with others I am encouraged by the knowledge that you are going about strengthening them. I know you are serving the Lord. And again, I pray that you will see the Lord’s hands in everything from the Book of Mormon to transfers. I pray for your ability to follow the council, “come what may and love it”. I am grateful that I have been blessed to see you in the best of light. You have marvelous potential. I love you and I believe in you.

President Summerhays

A Fast Week . . .

Hello my family,

Well this has been quite the week. It went by pretty quickly, but I feel like a lot seemed to take place. On Tuesday we had a specialized training (which is basically a zone conference), and it was really good. President trained on burying our "weapons of war" like the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's, and getting rid of the things that might be keeping us from being the missionaries that we can be. It was really good and seemed to motivate all of us to be better. Following the conference we went on exchanges, and Elder Moffett headed down to Gulfport and Elder Meserve came up here. We had a good time together, but absolutely everything fell though that we had planned. It was a little frustrating, but it provided plenty of opportunity to get out there and work hard together. We switched back on Wednesday evening, and Elder Moffett and I got to go visit some people. James and Melissa kept rescheduling on us, and it was hard to finally peg down a time. Fortunately they came on Sunday to church, and we didn't let them leave without them giving us a solid time that we could stop by. Ha we went over to their house last night and it went really well. They fed us dinner and we got to talk about baptism with James. The bishop feels like he could be ready now, and we agree with him. While talking to them we decided that next Sunday would be perfect. So as of right now, we're shooting for that as his date. We also had a really neat experience this week with Polly. She has been meeting with missionaries on and off for over a year now, and it has certainly been a slow process. We have discussed dropping her at times, but we always seem to want to keep working with her. Well over the last couple of weeks she has really become a lot more positive. We had a lesson with her this last week and issued the challenge to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and she ended up doing it! She told us that she really felt the Spirit and then she ended up coming to church yesterday as well. She really enjoyed sacrament meeting but ended up leaving after that. Well fortunately we scheduled an appointment with her before she could leave as well. We went over there yesterday afternoon and began discussing the church with her. She expressed to us how much she enjoys it and how the scriptures have been helping her. Her phone went off at that point, so she walked into the other room to answer it. Elder Moffett and I looked at each other at that point, and both mouthed "we need to set a baptismal date with her". The Spirit was really strong when she came back in and we started to discuss baptism. She was a little apprehensive at first, but when we asked about July 17, she started to get really excited. She agreed to that date, and it's going to be awesome working with her on that.

We also had a good meeting with Mike this week. He and his wife Alene invited us over for dinner, and it was awesome. They're both really sharp people, and it was fun being able to talk to them. Alene isn't too interested in talking about religion, but her husband is rock-solid. Yesterday Mike got the Aaronic priesthood, and it was pretty amazing. The elders quorum and high priests have both been talking about who will get him ha but the bishop decided that he should go to high priests group.

Other then that, things are going really well. Sister Typner gave her talk yesterday and she did great. She talked about how she has gained her testimony, and the different ways that missionaries have influenced her. It was really neat to hear.

Well I hope you all have a great week! I love you guys and enjoy the start of your Idaho summer!

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I love you! I love being with you. It was wonderful to be with you last week for specialized training. I feel your strong desire to plan, find, teach, and baptize. I know with all my heart that this is His work. I am absolutely certain that He is laboring with us in this vineyard at this time. Finding people that He has prepared must be a passion, a culture, and a mindset in this mission.

I want to remind you of the covenants we made as we buried those things that we need to let go. We must remember to continue to walk in the ways of the Lord and observe to keep His commandments and statutes. Success on our Mission and in life is contingent on doing the right things, in the right spirit and doing them long enough. Paul knew the secret when he said:

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Gal 6:9)

I pray for you. I love the feeling that comes to me as I think of you in those prayers. I feel a friendship, confidence and gratitude toward you that is strong and sweet. Thank you for your humility. Thank you for your faith. Thank you for your diligence. Thank you for your love. The work is true.

President Summerhays

James and Melissa's Wedding

Hey my family!

Well, our week probably wasn't as busy as yours back home, but it was a really good one. I got to go on an exchange up to Palm Harbor at the beginning of last week, and that was pretty fun. Since I was only there for 6 weeks I'm pretty not many of the members there remember who I am, but it was a lot of fun to follow up with the people that I did know. I got to see Cheryl Comini, and she is so awesome. It feels a little bit like being at home when I've stopped by her house. She has a calling now and is a primary teacher for the 5-6 yr olds.

We had a lesson with James on Wednesday night at the church and it went really well. I'd never done it with an investigator before, but we went through some of the Josph Smith History, and it went really well. I love going through that account of everything that happened, and reading Joseph's own words. James really felt the spirit, and I think when we meet with him again tonight we'll set his baptismal date for June 19. We actually got to go to James and Melissa's wedding on Saturday as well! It was a lot of fun to be at, and I'm really glad that we waited until after they got married to have his baptism. I really feel like that was another reason why his date needed to get pushed back. They had the wedding at the church, and the Bishop married them. It was really great to see, and I've never seen James so happy. This is definitely going to help him stay on the path.

Also this week we had the awesome experience of having Elder Stever Allen (the managing director of missionary affairs for the church), come and train us at a leadership confernece. Wow. It was really motivational. He didn't sugarcoat anything that he told us, and I know that it made us all want to improve. They are making a lot of changes in our mission to make everything we do line up with what it talks about in Preach My Gospel. Elder Allen talked a lot about working with urgency. He said right now we're moving along by shuffling our feet, and we need to be quicking moving ahead. "Walk twice as fast and you'll double your baptisms". That's something we're all going to be focusing on is making sure that we're moving ahead and working with diligence. I felt really fortunate for the mission president that we have though. Elder Allen told us that we honestly have the very best mission president in the world, and that if he could pick someone to have his grandchildren serve under it would be President Summerhays. He's such an incredible man, and I have really love working with him.

At church yesterday we had the most investigators that we've ever had. Tony, Paige, Polly, Misty, and James were there! I've talked about all of them (I think) periodically throughout my emails, but it was a great Sunday. We weren't able to meet up with Tony this past week, but we will this week and hopefully we'll be setting a date with him as well. I know that he's ready for that step as well. He has been reading and praying, and he told us that he feels like he's on the right path.

Well I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do, and I hope you have a great week.

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I feel so grateful and happy this morning for the privilege of having Elder Stephen B. Allen in our mission. Elder Allen is the managing director of the missionary department and spent 4 days with Sister Summerhays and me. On Friday, he spent several hours teaching our leaders in the Florida Tampa Mission. They are eager to share it with the rest of you. His presence was a remarkable “tender mercy” for the Florida Tampa Mission. Our direction is right, but our passion and focus must be accelerated. I felt with my whole heart and soul that our Florida Tampa Sisters and Elders are ready to meet the challenge. I knew that you would rise to the level of expectation that the Prophet has established. I knew that we would embrace the hard but beautiful things we are now asked to do. I knew that we all were ready to offer our full obedience, our focused eye of faith, and our exceeding diligence and tireless labor to this critical need to the growth of the church worldwide. I knew that most of us already knew that this was the time of harvest in the Florida Tampa Mission and we would thrust in our sickle with all our might. I knew that you were the best. I told him that you could and would do all that was required.

Elder Allen emphatically stated:

“Those missions that are seeing growth and increased harvest, fully embrace a CULTURE, MINDSET AND PASSION for FINDING NEW INVESTIGATORS.”

I am confident our mission believes it is time to harvest. I know we must:

Fully embrace a CULTURE, MINDSET AND PASSION for FINDING that will double, triple and eventually quadruple our new investigator pool each week.

I love this work, and it is work! I pray that He will grant you the blessing of seeing the fruit of your labors. I love you and I believe in you.

President Summerhays