Remember how I NEVER get sick?

A note from her mom:  Send Birthday wishes!  The address and email are right here.  If you can't send real mail send her an Email and she will get it on Monday!  Now from Dakota...

Well, friends, I don't have much news! Last Monday evening, I finally went to the doctor after feeling sick for a few days. I am really not a big fan of doctors, and I don't like needing help. But it turns out I had caught strep throat! And my body had been fighting it by its self for too long, I guess! So they gave me antibiotics and told me to stay away from people for 24 hours. Although we weren't happy about it, a day indoors wasn't too bad! My companion and I got to do a lot of studying, take a nap, and start a puzzle. Wednesday we had a couple meetings and made it to a few appointments, I wasn't contagious but still didn't feel well.

THURSDAY was my favouite day. A couple weeks ago, Bossier suffered an awful flood and there has been a lot of need for disaster relieve and volunteer effort. The missionaries were invited by a big baptist church to help out. (when I say big, I mean HUGE. This church literally bought a mall and turned it into a worship-center. Food court and all. It's amazing.) So I got to be a part of the Mormon Helping Hands and help clear out Ms Betty's house down by the river. I've never worked so hard in my life, and I loved making a difference. Betty's house had been sumberged, she said that she came by on a boat one day to see it. Everything was muddy and moldy and had to be thrown away. I filled a lot of wheelbarrows with Christmas decorations-it was really sad. We tore down drywall, ripped up flooring, and cleared out the whole house! Also, the water had run through cow pastures and busted sewer lines.. so everything, including me, smelled LOVELY.

Thursday afternoon, though, I was still feeling yucky. Three weeks before, my companion had an awful case of Hand Foot and Mouth disease.. I guess it's more common among children, but she has awful luck with stuff like that. She had blisters all over her hands, feet, stomach, and I don't even remember where else. After we showered, I noticed a tiny little blister on my finger. We ran to the doctor again and he told me I had caught it from her!! And that I was contagious for at least seven days. Since it's a virus, it has to run it's course on me until my immune system kills it. Well, I am happy to say that my immune system is doing a FANTASTIC job. I got two blisters on my toes, one on my finger, and one on my nose. All of which are healing :) So, those of you that are praying for me, thank you. Because I have been very blessed. Unfortunately, I still have to sit in the apartment for another four days and I only have two puzzles left. I'm kind of losing my mind. But I will get through this! And I am just taking the extra time to become a more prepared missionary!

I get a new mission president this week and I will get the chance to meet him on Saturday! I am very excited. And very hopeful.

I wish I had news about our investigators, but we haven't been able to see any this week. I guess this virus ran throught the ward last month, too.. so all of the members are scared of me.

My birthday is this Sunday! My teenage years have come to an end. Thank you all for making them so wonderful.  I feel like birthdays on the Mission are weird, and maybe they don't exist. We will see.

Anyways, I love you all so much and I thank you for your support and prayers. Get out and serve someone this week, see them the way our Heavenly Father does and do something nice :)

Have a blessed week!

Sister Bartsch

Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles.

Hello, all!

I've been serving in the field for only a week, and I am already so happy. The day I got here I had two appointments, and Sister Dobbins has kept us on a solid schedule since then! She is a great missionary, I am very blessed to have her as a companion :) She's from California and is almost half way through the mission. Just last week she recovered from Hand Foot and Mouth, some child's disease or something.. so her luck isn't stellar, but I love her anyway!

I love teaching. It was hard and uncomfortable the first few lessons, but I am catching on quickly and learning to enjoy it more. There are so many beautiful people here. They're just kind, full of faith, and so friendly! Of course there are some people who resist our message pretty harshly, and at first that would hurt my feelings, but I toughened up real quick!! Tracting is pretty entertaining for that reason, and I also am working on a Bingo card to make tracting more enjoyable. Lizzards, preacher's houses, people working on cars, etc. It really helps.

We have a lovely member that takes good care of us. Sis P is a convert of almost a year, and she comes out to teach with us. She also fed me alligator and crawfish for my first time :)

Yesterday, FOUR of our investigators came to church! And two of them nearly begged to be baptized. The lessons in Sunday School and Relief Society were on the Holy Ghost, and they wanted that gift so so so badly. One even called at 2:00 AM asking more questions :) I'll let you know how that goes! They haven't even had a missionary lesson yet! Pray for Sunny and Bertha :)

Also, oh my word, Relief Society in the South. It was AWESOME. I've never seen a chorister (Sis P) stop us in the middle of the Hymn and say "Nah nah nah, y'all can do better than that, start over" and then "I aint standin in front of a classroom where y'all ain't PARTICIPATIN'" She is an administrater at a high school, and is such a classic southern woman. It's great.

Besides those investigators, we have a couple more with baptismal dates. It feels pretty good. Beth and Glenn are two of my favourites! We teach a lot of older people out here, and their hears are just so pure! The best experiences I have had so far have been when I am teaching someone and I can feel so strongly their Heavenly Father's love for them. When I can feel that, I am given the words to say to help them feel it also. It's a beautiful thing, to invite people to come unto Christ, and I am very blessed to have this calling.

While we were teaching Beth the first lesson, she was telling us about how her health problems are making housework and gardening too difficult. When I asked her what day we can come back and help out, tears came to her eyes! She said that she is always on the nurturing end of service, and rarely do people take care of her. Beth loves being the answer to someone elses prayers, but  hers feel unanswered! (HEARTWRENCHING) So she said "y'all are part of my little miracle, you are angels, and I thank you" and we will see her again to do some gardening on Wednesday :) And, if she will let us get a word in, we will teach her something. Beth is definitely a talker.

There have been a lot of wonderful stories this week, but I won't go on too long :) In case you are curious, I have already picked up a bit of an accent! Also, bug bites are a sad fact of life here - I pretty much bathe in bug spray and my shins are still always itchy. I think I am at 20 bites from the knee down? It's fantastic.  I am coming down with some kind of illness, so pray for me! We aren't sure if we will make it to our appointments this evening or if we will need to go to the doctor :( OTHER THAN THAT everything is well!! Send me letters, kay?

I love y'all, have a blessed day

Sister Bartsch

2305 Ovietto Lane
Bossier, LA 71111

Attached is a view from my balcony in the morning, my first day tracting, and my lovely companion

Well, wonderful people!

I am here! I AM IN MISSISSIPPI RIGHT NOW. My hair is a curly mess, and I am at 'T-Point' awaiting my 'T-van' to transfer me to BOSSIER, Louisiana! (Woah) I don't know my address yet, but I hope to get an email out later today when I get it. 

The MTC was wonderful, but being out in the field is much better. It is so green and beautiful here. Everyone has been so nice. When we arrived there were a bunch of missionaries waiting at the airport with President and Sister Mcdonough. The pictures in this email are from the airport. The humidity hits you hard. I remember thinking I could feel it inside the airport. HAHAHAHAHA WRONG. It feels like I am forever inside the Safari exhibit at the Zoo. The bangs are a no-go, folks! We had dinner at a nearby church, and stayed the night at the mission home. I woke up and my new companion was posted on the transfer board! Her name is Sister Dobbins and I haven't met  her  yet (stay tuned). But all the missionaries I have met say that there is a LOT of work to be done here and that the people are so kind. That's very exciting for me :) 

I have attached two pictures from the MTC, one with all my beautiful Sisters. Four of us were from my district, and the other four were our neighbors in the residence, they will be on their way to Eugene, Oregon tomorrow! The second picture is with my teacher, Brother Craw. He was amazing, and could teach so much in so few words. I learned so much from  his classes. 

My dear MTC companion is going to a place called Hattiesberg (maybe I spelled that right), MS. It's a college town and missionaries have been known to LOVE it there. I'm so excited about it. Not a lot of the missionaries I have met know much about my area, except that there is an Air Force base there that we visit a lot. We can't proselyte, but we can visit members. So that sounds fun! But it is so far from Sister Scott, and I am scared to leave her! So far I really haven't interacted with the people here, but I can't wait to!

I will get you an address and an update on my companion soon, I hope! But I am pretty sure I have a long drive ahead of me. I really love you all so much, and pray for you ALL the time. 

Smile big, everyone!

Sister Bartsch

Dakota called  this morning at 6 am from the SLC airport on her way to Mississippi via Atlanta with 15 other missionaries!  I've posted the mission home address here and I think since today is transfers tomorrow is P-Day.  Hopefully we get a big letter tomorrow telling us all about the MTC and first impressions.  It sounds like she is doing great.

She got a name Tag!  It's official!

Well guess what, I've made it through 5 1/2 days of being a missionary. And I have survived. Did I doze off a little this morning? Yes. But I am making it through and doing my best. Literally the only expectation of myself has been to do my best. I've only gotten suuuuuuper discouraged one time so far, and that was when I wasn't really trying my best. 

Anyways, my companion is Sister Scott.

Squishing Sister Scott's face.

They are going to MISSISSIPPI!

Riiiiiight.... here.

I love her to bits and pieces, but the concept of a companion is still tough for me. I have always valued my alone time (usually on my front porch of my house in Logan, some of you remember) and having a shadow is a challenge! Instead of trying to be alone, I have started to value moments of silence. One of our Branch Presidency's wife shared her testimony of the importance of silence, and it has really helped :) Sister Scott is an angel, though. Her and I think pretty much the same and teach together really well. So far we have taught two investigators and one member. The first investigator was a total bust. This was when I got discouraged.. but we took the failure constructively, hugged it out, and learned from it! Next we taught a member and the discussion was beautiful. We wanted to go over the promised blessings from keeping the commandments, but the lesson totally transitioned to Charity (the pure love of Christ) and we felt that what we talked about was something she really needed to hear! The Spirit took over and we improved her life. There's no better feeling, my friends :) We taught another investigator and things went MUCH better. Both of these investigators are actually our teachers, and they make teaching really intimidating. BUT we have improved, and I am so excited to keep improving. 

Sister Bartsch and Sister Scott

The Spirit here on the MTC is beyond words. My growth has been ridiculous. My tears and fears were gone the second they put my name tag on (sorry, fam). I have never been outspoken about what I know to be true concerning the Church, but I am so grateful for such a comfortable place to practice speaking about it. I'm excited to tell you that it is easier than I thought! I think that since being set apart as a missionary I am much more able to articulate the feelings of the Spirit. It's so cool, I wish you could see! We got to watch a broadcast of Elder Perry's funeral on Friday and had a devotional with the Tanners. Susan Tanner used to be Young Women's general president. Lots of cool stuff!

The MTC is kind of like a maze. The first couple days I got lost probably 16 times. All of the walkways are covered, and seeing the sun is super rare-but glorious. Also, shower shoes are bizarre. I've never done that before.. 

It's definitely not all easy. I crash HARD every night. I've cried twice and teared up probably a billion times. I get frustrated and exhausted BUT it has all been so worth it. I happy dance all the time, run off all the stress in the morning, and hug my companion extra tight when she is driving me nuts. Loving my hilarious district and having fantastic teachers really helps :)

Anyways, friends. Time is limited and I must go. But if  you are on this list, know that Sister Bartsch is praying for you and loves you very much :)

Sister Bartsch

PS I can read my emails anytime, but only respond on my day off. If you ever want to send a little note of encouragement- I would probably need it

Also, first person to send me icy hot gets extra prayers

Sister Bartsch and her District

Sista's in Zion!

Sister Bartsch and her District at the MTC

Dakota's Zone in the MTC

Drop off at the MTC

Today at 12:30 we dropped Sister Dakota Bartsch off at the Provo MTC.  We can't wait to hear from her!