Busy, busy, busy

Hello Family!

It feels a little weird to be emailing you twice this week, but now I can finish some updates. Reading over my last email I could tell that I was more than a little scatterbrained when I sent that off. Ha but fortunately things have simmered down a little bit, so I can organize what I'm thinking.

So I always knew that things were probably pretty busy in the office around transfer time, but I had no idea to what extent. After I emailed you on Monday morning I saw everyone at the office kick it into high gear. We went home and grabbed our suits after a little while and enjoyed a minute of P-Day before heading over to the airport to pick up the incoming missionaries. It was really crazy seeing the airport again and having the flashbacks of my first day in Tampa. Their plane was right on time, and it was truly awesome to see 14 missionaries walk off the shuttle. After greeting them with President and Sister Summerhays we loaded up all of their things and took them to the mission home. Another place I have been to except for my first day. We had dinner there and got to know the new missionaries, which was cool. Most are from Utah, California, and one from Malad, ID. Following that president interviewed them one at a time as we gave a short training on what some of the missionary work is like here. I observed for a lot of that because next transfer I'm going to be the one doing a lot of that because this is Elder Cook's last transfer. Elder Cook is great by the way. He's the first companion that I've had from Idaho, and he went to a year at Utah State before his mission as well. Anyways, after that we entertained the missionaries until president was done with interviews (10:00 pm), and then went into his office and we started placing trainees with trainers. It all seemed to fall into place, and after about 30 minutes, we had it where we felt like everyone was supposed to be. By the time we got home it was about 11:30, and rushed to bed to get a few hours of sleep before heading out again. We got up at 3 am so that we could head down to Ft. Meyers to pick up the new trainers there and a couple on the way back up to the office. It's about a 3 hr drive, and we got all of the trainers to the church by about 9am. Not too shabby. We changed into our suits following that and got ready for the trainer-trainee meeting. Seeing as how it was tradition, I got to conduct the meeting and tell them all who their new companions would be. That was really cool, and quickly after the meeting we sent everyone on their way. I won't get into the details of the rest of the day, but we spent it moving everyone around and getting situated. All in all, we crawled into bed at 12:30 am. 21 hrs straight. Ha ffortunately we haven't had to do that again this week because I'm not sure how well my body would handle that.

So the area that I'm serving in is the Tampa Bay YSA. We cover USF's campus, and so far I love it. I almost feel like I'm back at college again, except for this time I don't go to classes and stress over homework. But instead, we're trying to help college students realize that they need the gospel in their lives. It'll be a blast, and I'm really excited about that.

Well the rest of the week hasn't been too eventful besides taking things around the mission every now and again. If nothing else, I can see that the Lord's hand is in his work. There is no possible way that we would have been able to accomplish the things that we have without Him. There were a couple of time this week where we looked at our watches and saw that we were right on time for something even to the exact minute, that I was positive that we would completely have missed. It's amazing to see how it all works out.

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

Elder Kade Bartschi

New Assignment . . . Assistant to the President

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

P.S. Tell Grandpa and Jace happy birthday for me! I totally spaced writing this earlier. There isn't a better example in my life and I truly appreciate all that he does. I love you!

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

Hurricane Irene

August 30, 2011

My family!

So to resolve some concern at the beginning....no, we didn't get much of anything from Irene. She went past us, just making for some windy days this last weekend. Nothing too exciting. Yet. Just kidding, Mom :).

Well this has been a really busy week for us. I'll try and get it all written in this email. On Tuesday morning we were helping a family in the Valrico ward move. They have a son that's about my age and we took him out on splits last week. So I was moving one of the boxes into the trailer and read the name written on it, and it suddenly hit me that I knew his older sister. She was one of Tyler's friends that I went on a horse packing trip with a couple of years ago. Her name is Dallas Wightman, and she was in Ty's horse riding class at BYU-I. Haha it was really crazy and once I started talking to her, she remembered right away and was wondering why I looked so familiar. So we go from riding horses in Idaho to me helping her move in Florida. Small, small, world.

Once again, we did a lot of tracting this week. We have a lot of people that we've taught, it's just been really difficult to set up return appointments with them. Which means we have been going and dropping in on them. Jason had really been doing well though. He is the brother of a member of the ward, and we've been starting to teach him. It's so nice having him live with a member, because there's just something about teaching in a members home. The Spirit is there, and everyone is on board about the gospel. We had a good discussion with him about the scriptures and he has promised to read from the Book of Mormon and to pray about it all. He really is sincere, but he just got a job at Lowe's and he'll be working on Sunday afternoons now. He'll be able to go to at least sacrament meeting though.

Friday turned out to be a day when everything just seemed to work out. The members in the Seffner ward are really good about helping us out, and we got one to go with us to all of our lessons. We got Bro. Vijil to go with us to drop in on Leah and Mark, and had a good lesson on the doorstep there. Leah was home and so we shared a message with her about having trials in our lives. She has 8 kids and her husband passed away a couple of years ago. Her kids are all grown now, but they still live in Africa and it's hard on her to have them so far away. She connected with what we shared and although she didn't give us a firm commitment, said that she would try to get to church this Sunday. We had a lesson with Teri that evening as well. She has had some major apprehension about coming to the church, so we had the lesson there to try and get her more comfortable with it. They were pretty late getting there, and we had an appointment right after, so we had to make it really short. I was pretty bummed about that, but we were able to finally teach her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I got the opportunity to share the first vision with her, and I really tried to focus on helping her feel the Spirit. She did say that she felt something and committed to praying about what we taught.

Also, we had a lesson with Lyndey. Elder Nemelka and Hunter (Dallas' brother that we took on splits with us) tracted into her last Sunday night. She's about 22 and from Colorado where she attended the air force academy and knew some members of the church. She was really open to us coming back, and so we brought a couple from the ward with us. Where we had the opportunity of teaching a couple of lessons that day, it was easy to see the difference between the lesson and the Spirit that was felt. I think the Spirit was there strongest during the lesson with her. Honestly, she's just ready to hear what we have to share. It was so much teaching her because you know she could recognize something different in the message we were sharing. She worked on Sunday and couldn't come to stake conference, but we'll be meeting up with her again this week.

We had the neat opportunity of having Elder Zivic of the Seventy come to our mission. Our stake (the Brandon Stake) got a new stake president, so while he was here he did a mission tour as well. Since he was there for our stake we actually got to hear from him a couple of times which was cool. He's from Argentina and told us how he never thought he would have to speak English, but he did a great job. He talked about purifying ourselves, and then the Spirit will be with us more fully. It's always amazing to hear a general authority talk, and is just reaffirming to me that he is a servant of the Lord.

Well I hope you all have a great week! I love you and appreciate that you do!

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I love you and it is my sincere desire to see you successful now and in the future. I thought I would share two totally different messages from fellow missionaries.

I am writing this in hopes that other missionaries can learn from my experience. Unfortunately I was not obedient. The lesson I learned was very costly. Unfortunately it was a lesson learned too late. It wasn’t as if one day I woke up and decided to go to a movie. It started with waking up a few minutes late. Before I knew it, things all caught up with me and it was too late. I was watching TV with members, staying up late, sleeping in or breaking any ‘minor’rule. I learned that any rule broken is too much. I had my limits but I walked the line. I return home knowing I didn’t give my best to the Lord. I want to apologize for all those who I disappointed and to those who followed me. I want to share my experience so maybe other missionaries can avoid what happened to me. I wish I could do it over.

Sisters and Elders, my heart broke when I read those words. Now from another missionary:

Well, I suppose that this is my last email. I've learned a lot on my mission. The church is absolutely true, and Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father have been there for me over these last two years. It's been a progression. I've grown a lot. I've felt the Atonement. I've served every single day of the last two years with all I've got. I'm tired, exhausted. I feel like I've fulfilled my calling. As I think back on that night when I opened up my call...I was called of God to do a job and I'm doing it. And I feel that Heavenly Father has accepted my sacrifice.

My heart rejoiced and tears flowed when I read those words. The truth is: if a person cannot give to each day, as a personal representative of Jesus Christ, the best that is in them, then where or when is there greater motivation to give their best? I have discovered there will never be a place or time that will present greater incentive to be the very best we can be. Each of us should ask ourselves: What pattern am I establishing today that I will surely follow for the rest of my life? Is my pattern this day one of exact obedience? Have I planned this and every day focusing on the key indicators? Do I have the courage this day to open my mouth and ask for referrals from everyone? Do I pray often this day for myself and others? Do I study this day and every day? Did I show my love for the Lord this day by loving and serving my companion and those I meet? These and other questions we could ask of ourselves to see if the pattern of this day was one in when weALWAYS REMEMBERED HIM. If we cannot answer these questions today with a heartfelt yes, when will there be a day of greater divine motivation to always remember Him? Most of the Florida Tampa Missionaries are choosing to establish a daily pattern to Remember Him by striving to do all of the Remember This commitments found in Preach My Gospel? For those few who are not daily observing this pattern I pray you will consider what you are doing to the rest of your life. I truly believe in each of you. I know you can establish a pattern of excellence now which can continue forever. You have my love and confidence.

President Summerhays

Summer Closing Down

Hey family!

Wow, it's hard to believe that you're all about to get back into the school schedule. Summer is winding down and it seems like everyone here is getting in their last minute vacations. That hasn't affected us too badly because...we're still trying to find people to consistently teach.

A quick update on Andrea and Bill though, they're both still doing really well. We had a lesson with Andrea this past week, and she has still been staying strong with keeping the Word of Wisdom. She carries around a big pack of gum to fight off cravings and has taken to gardening to keep her mind busy. During our lesson we talked about going to the temple and doing baptisms for the dead. She didn't realize that she could go and not have to wait a year, so she was extremely excited. She has family members that she would like work done for, and right now Andrea is planning on attending the ward temple trip at the beginning of September. We had dinner with Bill and his family this past week and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. That's a great film, and he and his family really enjoyed it. I love testifying of the Prophet and knowing that he was obedient to what the Lord required of him. Bill's family is really funny though, and following the movie Elder Nemelka burned a shirt because he just hit his year mark. I'll have to send some pictures of it.

We had a short lesson with Colton this week. I think I talked about him in my email last week, but he's the 20 yr old guy that is an intern at a radio station. We discussed the life of Jesus Christ and placed on emphasis on baptism, structure of the church Christ set up, and the atonement. He really liked what we covered and it fell in line with what he believes. We touched on the priesthood, but we'll have to cover that a little more this week. Colton hasn't been to church yet, and so we're really trying to encourage him to get there.

After getting back into contact with Terri and Jared, we were able to have a lesson with them on Tuesday evening. We covered a lot of the restoration, and Terri really does seem intent on learning. She listens closely to everything we say, and makes sure she understands it before we move on. We had a member there with us and he kind of took the lesson off track a few times, but he did share a lot of good things. Terri and Jared have been pretty hot and cold with us though. We called them the other night to confirm an appointment and both of them had been drinking quite a bit. I think they got embarrassed the next day when they sobered up and they haven't returned our calls over the last couple days. I hope they realize that we really do want to help them.

Other than that, we have been tracting quite a bit over the last couple days. I thought we would terrify people with three of us and with the height factor, but it has actually been really successful. Yesterday after church we went finding and have two return appointments for this week. Also the ward here has been cleaning out its roster and are setting up teaching opportunities for us, so I'm really excited about that. We want to stay busy and the ward is working hard to help us out.

Well I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for sending those things, I really appreciate it.

Love,

Your Boy

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

I loved being with you last week for the specialized trainings. I love laboring with you! I know that almost all of you are doing your very best. Success on our Mission and in life is contingent on doing the right things, in the right spirit and doing them long enough.

There are things we can only behold with the eye of faith, by the influence of the Spirit. D&C 76:10 promises, For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.

As Preach My Gospel testifies, The spirit is the most single important element in this work. With the spirit magnifying your call, you can do miracles for the Lord in the mission field. (Remember This: Continue to send me those tiny miracles-they bring me joy)

President Hinckley taught us how to recognize when we had His spirit with us when he said: “That’s the test, when all is said and done. Does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be generous?...You recognize the Spirit by the fruits of the Spirit—that which enlighteneth, that which buildeth up, that which is positive and affirmative and uplifting and leads us to better thoughts and better words and better deeds is of the Spirit of God.”(PMG p.97)

Do you pass the test this morning? Do you feel good? Do you feel to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, and to be generous? Do you feel enlightened? Do you feel positive and affirmative and uplifted? Do you feel to have better thoughts, better words and do better deeds this day? If not, then soon, very soon, drop down on your knees and pray for that spirit. Promise Him that you will do your very best this day. Promise Him that you will open your mouth to everyone. Open your Book of Mormon and look for a few heavenly promises and commit to act on what the words say you must do to obtain those promises. I promise you that His spirit will enter your heart and give you peace and encouragement. I promise you that you will feel His spirit as you wash your car and go to the store and as you plan, find, teach and baptize. Please don’t let another hour pass without the spirit to lift you up and bring you happiness. Lose yourself in this work by finding His spirit and you will have peace, joy and happiness. I yearn for your peace, joy and happiness.

I pray for you. I love the feeling that comes to me when I think of you in those prayers.

President Summerhays

New Investigators

Hey family!

Well it has been a good week in Seffner. It felt really slow actually to go from last week with two baptisms to this week where we're trying to find people that want to get baptized. It's a pretty big transition, but it's all apart of the work. The ward is working really hard on getting things lined up in the ward so we'll have people to work with. One of the names that they gave us is Brandon Frodge. He's a 9 yr old boy that hasn't been baptized yet. His family is fairly active, and he Mom has been waiting for the Dad to get on board with church. He was raised in it, but as of late, has kind of fallen away. Sis. Frodge doesn't want to wait any longer for Brandon to get baptized, so when we stopped by the other day we set a baptismal date for the 20th of August. He's a really good kid and was excited about us coming over to teach the lessons.

One of our new investigators this week is named Rose. She's actually married to the son of a member. She's in a really rough situation right now and is working two jobs, which makes it really hard to meet up with her. Rose has a belief in God, it's just hard for her to get past the fact that God allows hard things to happen to good people. Her mom is really sick, and so we're going to try and talk about the Plan of Salvation when we go and meet up with her again. I'm sure she will love it because a lot of the worry and confusion that she has will be answered. The Plan of Salvation is definitely one of my favorite topics. You can see how much our Heavenly Father loves us because he wants nothing more than for us to make it back to be with him again.

Also this week we picked up a new missionary. Elder Escobar from Madesto, CA is now serving with Elder Nemelka and I. Now during my mission I have yet to serve with someone that is taller then I am. Until last transfer. And this one. It's not helping that Elder Escobar is 6'7". We're a pretty intimidating trio when I'm the shortest at 6'3". He's funny, and I actually served around him in the St. Pete zone for 6 months, so it wasn't too difficult of a transition. Our apartment is pretty cramped but hopefully we'll be moving in the next couple of weeks. We'll see though.

On Saturday night it was "Mormon Night" at the Ray's baseball game, and so we all had permission to go to it. There was a huge section of missionaries and it was a lot of fun seeing people from all over the mission. In fact I'm pretty sure there was a lot more socializing going on then game watching. Ha especially because the Ray's got creamed. Not a very good night for them. It was good to get the word out a little bit though. People are becoming more familiar all the time with the church, and hopefully there was some interest sparked. I guess on average it takes people 7 times with coming into contact with the church for them to finally decide to listen.

I love you all so much! Good luck preparing for school, and I really appreciate your support.

Elder Kade Bartschi

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

This was a great month-You are really doing it! I just love serving with you.

There is a saying that: talk is cheap. Any claim our lips make to our Faith in Jesus Christ must be demonstrated by our action. Faith without action is no faith at all. The Savior taught: “DO the things which ye have seen me DO.” He testified: “I DO those things which I have seen my Father DO.” He went about DOING good. Being a Disciple requires that we DO. King Benjamin pleaded: “If ye believe in these things, see that ye DO them.” Nephi demonstrated his great faith in his commitment: “I will go and DO…” Grace or the enabling power of the Atonement only comes: “…after all we can DO.” The words of Christ will: “…tell you all things that you should DO.” The Holy Ghost will: “show you all things that you should DO.” True doctrine declares that when the Spirit creates a mighty change in our hearts that our disposition is to: “…DO good continually.” Mormon testifies that inspiration from God invites and entices us: “…to DO…to LOVE…to SERVE.” He further testifies that: “…Christ hath said: ‘If ye have faith in me, ye shall have power to DO…” Entry into heaven does not come to those who: “…saith Lord, Lord…” Entrance to heaven comes to those who: “…DOETH the will of My Father who is in heaven.” The Savior promises that if you hear His sayings and DOETH them you are a wise man (woman). If you hear His sayings and DOETH THEM NOT you are a foolish man. The sad, very sad difference between DOING and NOT DOING, between the wise and foolish man is that the wise man who DOES is founded upon rock and in spite of the storm his house stands; while the foolish man who DOETH NOT is founded on sand and when the storm comes his house falls, and “…great is the fall of it.” One who DOES is solid. One who DOES NOT is flakey. If you want to be solid today: Go and DO. If you want to be and stay solid when you go home, develop the daily habit now of Going and DOING. The Prophet Joseph made this his motto: “When the Lord commands: DO IT.” President Spencer W. Kimball had this statement carved in wood on his desk “DO IT NOW.”

I join with you wonderful missionaries in the commitment to Go DO it. Thank you for your wonderful efforts this last month-it was the best of the year. I love being on this grand journey with you. We are beginning to soar. I love you very much.

President Summerhays

It's August!

Welcome to August!

Throughout the year in Florida on a hot day, someone will make the comment "Wow, it's really hot out here." And the common response from Floridians? "Yeah, well at least it's not August!". Moral of the story: If you make it through this month, you can make it through anything.

Well here in Seffner we had quite the week. I've never had two separate baptism planned in the same week, and it kept us running. The only thing we had that was holding us back with Andrea was making sure she wasn't smoking, and also the bishop requested that President Summerhays come over and interview her. Fortunately President was able to come over last Monday, and had a good discussion with her. She has had an extremely tough past and hearing what she has been through is quite the humbling experience. Andrea loved President Summerhays, and he decided that she was ready for baptism. We visited with her everyday leading up to Thursday, and I was so grateful for how well the ward pulled together. Andrea has been going to church actively for the past year, so when the members found out that she was going to get baptized, they made it a special experience. There were probably about 40 people there, and Brother Dolphin, a member that she knew really well but had moved, came back for the service and baptized her. Elder Nemelka and I were witnesses, and it was an awesome experience. Andrea was glowing after the meeting, and everyone commented on how happy and clean she looked.

Bill had his date set for Saturday, so we balanced meeting with Andrea everyday, and were able to see him as well. I think his wife would have liked to pinch herself as we wrapped up the lessons. She has always wanted this, but I don't know if she thought it would ever happen. Bill has been so solid throughout this whole process, and immediately gave up coffee and tea along the way. He was interviewed on Friday by a missionary, and then Saturday was his big day. He's a lot more of a private guy and wanted to keep the attendance pretty small, but there was still a great turnout. Elder Nemelka spoke on baptism, and then Brother Pero, their home teacher for years, baptized Bill. It was a really spiritual meeting, and following the baptism I spoke on the gift of the Holy Ghost.

With Bill and Andrea they know that what they've done is the right thing, but they won't understand for a while what impact this will have on their lives. I'm beginning to see the long term view that our Heavenly Father has in store for us. Baptism is only the beginning, and as they stay strong to what they know is right there's so much more in store for them.

On Sunday they were both confirmed in Sacrament meeting, and President Summerhays came over from Tampa and stood in both circles. It was a pretty amazing week, and it's hard to accurately describe it all. I just feel so blessed to be apart of this all. My testimony is strengthened everytime I share it with others, but especially when I see that seed of faith grow in another person.

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

Elder Kade Bartschi

Bill's Baptism

Andrea's Baptism

Elder Ames sent Kade this picture today and thought he

might like this since Kade has a pig calendar :)

President’s Letter

Dear Sisters and Elders,

While serving as a Mission President in Toronto Canada, President Monson had an interesting experience. He learned that the Kingston area to the east had seen but one convert baptism in six years. He decided it was time to exert great faith. For years, missionaries assigned to “Stony Kingston” had marked their time there on the calendar like days in jail. One day Sister Monson read aloud to President Monson an entry in a book she was reading: “Brigham Young entered Kingston, Ontario, on a cold, snow-filled day. He labored there thirty days and baptized forty-five souls.”

The passage gave President Monson an idea. He moved all missionaries out of Kingston—They were happy to leave—and then he waited. Soon he announced that “a new city” would be opened for missionary work and described it as “the city where Brigham Young proselyted and baptized forty-five persons in thirty days.” The speculation began, and in weekly letters several missionaries hinted they would like the chance to open this new bonanza for missionary work. He assigned missionaries to Kingston—again—and it became “the most productive city in the Canadian mission.” All involved learned an important lesson. The city had not altered its appearance, the population had remained the same. The change was one of attitude. Doubt yielded to faith.” Indeed “they just picked up the plow and moved on.” Heidi Swinton. To The Resuce p. 191.

Proper attitude is a prerequisite to quality performance. We need Sisters and Elders with the courage to put proper attitudes into action. We need missionaries who will serve where they are called with the attitude that they are serving in an area that is a bonanza for missionary work. We need missionaries today with patience and purposeful endurance.

President Hinckley once told of an interview he had with a member of the British Broadcasting Services. The reporter asked… “How do you expect people to listen to these callow youth?” President Hinckley pointed out to this reporter that “people do receive them and listen to them. They are wholesome. They are bright, they are alert, they are ..clean.” Then in a General Conference he added speaking of the missionaries, “They are a miracle…They are speaking out of their hearts, with personal conviction. Each is an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their power comes of faith, and prayer, and humility.” Ensign Nov 1997, p.9

With a fresh transfer before us, we can ‘pick up the plow and move on’. We can have courage and patience and a positive attitude. I pray for your ability to see His hand in all things, including transfers. I pray for your ability to follow the council: “come what may and love it”.

The truth “For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7) is as applicable today as any time in history. I have looked into your hearts and they are beautiful. I have seen your desire to have every area prosper. You are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have hope for a beautiful transfer and your beautiful future. I love you and I believe in you.

President Summerhays