"Yall don't have a gun?! Look, I can loan you a pistol, just leave it under the mat when you're leaving." -Tim

This. Week. Was. Great. We had so much fun.

First, we made a Plan of Salvation pumpkin with Sunny! I will attach pictures, but that was fun. It made me realize just how long I have been here.. It's Halloween already? And this Tuesday is the ward Trunk-Or-Treat, lots of investigators are planning on coming!

Second, I taught a cool lesson to some kids. There was a little girl named Mikayla out raking leaves into garbage cans for her elderly neighbor. I guess it was because she was grounded. She had a crowd of friends standing around watching. Sister Maughan and I kinda walked by, but then turned right around to go help her. We just started helping and introduced ourselves, she seemed very grateful for some help. Over time I realized that it was really just a two person job, so I started talking to the little friends. Of course, one of the little girls told me she liked singing and dancing. Pretty much every little girl here likes to dance. Little Maria started showing me her moves, and so I had to show them mine and a ballet class broke out :) I taught two little girls and two little boys chene turns, pique turns, and a grande jette. Then we had to go, but as we left we watched all the little friends help Mikayla with her job. And now when we go back to that neighborhood to knock doors, the kids come running out to give us hugs and introduce us to their parents! 

Then it rained. And rained and rained. Friday afternoon through this morning was a huge rainstorm. The first day, we were so unprepared. We were teaching a single dad on his front porch when it started to POUR. We had brought one umbrella and worn our raincoats. Sister Maughan is like 3 feet taller than me, so standing under her umbrella did me no good. We had parked down around the corner, so we had to say a really loud prayer and walk back to save our scriptures. Luckily, our bags are waterproof! Except it turned out that Sister Maughan's wasn't. The phone was soaked. We went to a member's house and got it in rice, dried off and went back out to work, this time with MY bag and two umbrellas. Anyways, later on we learned that the phone wasn't fixable and we would have to wait several days for a replacement. But other than that first afternoon, we have loved the rain! Tracting in it is fun for me, I like puddle jumping. 

Yesterday a Sister in the ward brought me Blueberry, Peach, Jalepeno jam because she heard I like spicy things. Yall. It's SO GOOD. 

And those are the highlights from this week! My hair is getting fluffier every day from this weather and I am pretty much constantly shivering a little bit. Winters in the South freeze you to the bone. But I love it oh-so-much :) I'm trying to be better at noticing all the little things my Heavenly Father does for me so I have more to be grateful for, and wow. I am amazed every day. He truly does love us and He watches over us closely! 

Have a blessed week! I love every last one of you!

Sister Bartsch

Southernism: "A minute" OR "A good minute" pretty much any amount of time. Can only be determined in context. "I haven't been to church in a good minute" (since childhood) "Yall can come in and stay a minute" (two hours to life) "I thought about reading that Book of Norman for a good minute" (two weeks) "I was just fixin to leave, yall can stay for a minute" (Like, 30 seconds)