Lulu (age 9): ARE YOU A MA'AM?? Me: Yes, darlin. Lulu: YOU SOMEONE'S MAMA??T

Our first Selfie together!  Sister Nash and Sister Bartsch.

This email will be short & sweet!

Weird week. This crazy weather got me sick! I'm praying I don't lose my voice. 

Sister Nash and I are friends :) Even though we didn't take our first selfie until YESTERDAY. We teach well together, I am learning a lot from her, she snores but I bought some earplugs, and I love her! Last night we watched a pretty sunset over the dried up half of Lake Serene to celebrate her 13 months :) She loves sunsets and trees. 

Rex came to Church again yesterday! He is having a serious wrestle with the Spirit. This guy has potential for a serious miracle, so pray for him. Darn, I should  have got a picture of him. I wish I could send the videos of him singing! 

Britney is also preparing for baptism this month! Sister Nash taught and brought to baptism her best friend a month ago! Small world. 

On Saturday we taught a class at the Stake Activity Day Girls.. Activity!  They were learning about "Bee"ing their best selves. There were classes on eating healthy, setting goals, and we taught about Ponderizing scriptures! It was fun, I missed teaching ballet to silly sweeties like them :) 

Later that day we went in to volunteer at the thrift store. Miss Mary sees us walk in and says "Are you here to work??" "Yes ma'am!!" "STUART WE ARE SAVED!!!!!" They were short handed and we were happy to help them until closing :) I love filling needs :) 

My love for the area is still growing, my attitude from week one is much better, and I am getting happier! I'm doing everything I can to stay positive and happy out here. Ballet before bedtime, singing reeeeeally loud in the shower, and watching sunsets with my companion is helping. I'm always thinking of my favourite scripture, Alma 27:17-18  

17 Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.
 18 Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness.



I love yall! Have a blessed week! 

Smooches!

Sister Bartsch

Sister Bartsch teaching the Beehives to Ponderize

Enjoying the Sunset with Companion, Sister Nash

Pretty Sunsets in Oak Grove, Hattiesburg, MS

New Pictures from Hattiesburg, Mississippi!

The sisters with Sister Trussell's kids.  She just loves this family!

Sister Faith Trussell sent these pictures Saturday night when she had the sisters over for dinner!  These are the first pictures of Sister Bartsch and Sister Nash together so I thought I would throw them on the blog for y'all to see! I'm looking forward to Sister Bartsch's letter tomorrow! 

Sister Nash, Sister Trussell and Sister Bartsch

"Gotta keep your eyes on the prize... and the prize is Jesus" -Brother Trussell

Hey yall!

My new companion is Sister Nash!! I don't know much about her yet, except for that she is super tall. My third giant in a row! The knot in my neck will never go away! ;) But she seems great, she has been out for a year and this is her first time being an STL. We will have a good time :) and I will tell more about her next week.

We had a great week last week. Rex and Britney were at church! I've told yall a little bit about Rex, he pretty much sits at his house and smokes all day. He got a ride to church on Sunday and stayed for the first hour. Yesterday morning he called and sounded energetic! He had gotten up and gone on a mile walk before doing his exercises. I committed him to sing a Hymn a day because that is how he feels the Spirit. I got some great videos of him singing, I wish I could email them!! Anyways he had exercised and sang Amazing Grace to his neighbor and he sounded so happy :) I can't wait to see him on Friday!

Something I am working on is using the Spirit in teaching. The Holy Ghost is the real teacher, and I am trying to help people feel him more. My commitments lately have been unplanned and personalized for that reason. The Spirit encourages people to change for the better, makes them happier, and helps them feel peace. That's all I want for these people! SO I invite yall to do the same. Identify moments when you feel the Spirit, and then have more of those moments :) 

This area is picking up. I am so grateful. And I thank all of you for your prayers! We have lots of work to do and I am excited to have a new companion to share it with. The ward here is incredible to us, we are spoiled and so happy :)

This week was a week of Sister Kelly's lasts. So we got pictures with lots of people :) 
First, our District! We have stayed the same for two transfers. Now Elder Hansen and I are the only ones staying! We are getting new companions and the Sisters are being replaced with Elders.  So there will be a lot of change! 
Second, Sydney, Ms Vicki, and Ms Amy at the thrift store. This group of girls are our best friends here in Oak Grove. I love them so much!!!! 
Third, RUSSELL!! Even though he dropped us, we still come by and visit all of his cousins. The oldest, Cody, is preparing for a mission! This is one of the more redneck photos of my mission. None of them wear shoes, we have campfires all the time, and they are the owners of the pig :)
Fourth, Kaye and BayBay. BayBah the bird jumped on Sister Kelly's shoulder to say goodbye :) Things with Kaye have been going GREAT! She usually doesn't retain what we teach her. So we have been teaching the Plan of Salvation over and over for three weeks. She is picking it up and loving it. She REALLY wants to feel the Spirit more in her life, so I committed her to stop swearing. Pray for Ms Kaye.
Fifth, Sister Hunt! This is the sweet lady who quit smoking all by herself. She is an inspiration to a lot of people, including me. 
Sixth, SISTER KELLY!!!  (This picture is at the top) I have loved my time with this sweetheart. I wish her the happiest reunion with her family and an easy adjustment back to real life. 

So there are severe weather warnings all over and the library is closing early. I'd better get going soon! I love you all so much! 

Have a blessed week!

Sister Bartsch

Monday Mornin' Rain is Fallin'

I don't have a good quote this week because we didn't see Miss Kaye and Rex was a little TOO CRAZY. But it was pouring rain last I checked and I sang Maroon 5 in the shower this morning, so there ya go. 

In case you were wondering, our Zone Conference was great minus the fact that the building was freezing cold. Our missionaries seem excited about the changes :) Important change #1: we don't have to record tracting! We used to have a requirement of 7 hours, but now we are trusted to do what works for our area. How much tracting did we do this week? 5 minutes. But we were so ridiculously busy being much more productive. Important change #2: PLANNING is serious, sacred, valuable business. The Brethren from Salt Lake gave us some awesome tips and said "If you can master this, you will be too busy." It is working! And this area is quickly turning around in response to many, many prayers and a lot of hard work :)

On Wednesday we went on a much needed exchange with our Sandhill Sisters. They are working in a rough area and needed a little boost :) So we went out there and spent the day in Richton, MS. The morning was spent brainstorming service and finding activities and then we divided and tried a few of them.  Miracles, guys. They ran into an investigator they lost contact with, played piano and joined in a sermon at a nursing home, got signed up for lots of volunteer hours, and by the end of the day they were smiling and having fun. Because it is Valentine's day we did a lot of sidewalk chalk at parks :) I love doing chalk! 

I  have a favor to ask of all of you. This Saturday night will you pray extra hard for the missionaries of the world? Something happens between Saturday and Sunday that I haven't quite figured out yet. I don't understand how one day we can commit so many families and individuals to come to church, and then the next day they won't answer their door or their phone :( I mean, they are asking for rides, and then they don't come when their ride knocks on their door! Pray for these people, please? And let me know if you have any ideas for solutions. 

Yesterday was a missionary farewell for Logan Kilsby! She is in Utah today getting ready to go to the MTC on Wednesday! And then she is heading to the Arizona Gilbert mission. Logan is the sweetest thing, her southern self is going to bring people so much happiness! I am excited to hear all about her adventure. We sang in the choir, listened to her amazing talk, and went to her farewell dinner. It was all so exciting and emotional and all I have to say is I'm grateful to be passed that point :) I arrived in Mississippi 8 months ago today, yall!! It's been fun to reflect on my mission so far as we send Sister Kilsby off. These last eight months have already changed me. My perspective on life has completely flipped and exploded. My heart has grown three sizes (like the Grinch) for the people here. My relationship with God is indescribable. I never thought all of this was possible, but here I am, becoming a new person! 

And I still have 10 months to go :) 

I love you all! Have a blessed week! 
Sister Bartsch

1. Sidewalk chalk with Sister Garner, Sister Thompson, me, and Sister Kelly in Richland

2. Picking up trash in Richland!

3. Farewell Sister Kilsby!

4. Found a pig

PS Transfers are next week and I will be emailing on Tuesday :)

"Uhh.. you can't get in the way of grace, Sister Bartsch. Jesus is going to hug you no matter WHAT you do. And you will just have to deal with it." -Elder Hansen, taken waaaay out of context.

Hey there, friends!

Look! She's taller than a companion for a moment.

Time is a-flying. This week I found some wonderful new investigators while I was on exchanges with Sister Elms. It's sad how some of the coolest miracles happen when my companion is in another area. Exchanges are hard. But I had a great day with Sister Elms! I took her to meet Miss Kaye. Yall have gotten a lot of quotes from her, so here is a picture to put with the name :) This lady and I are best friends now. She can't wait for me to get home and talk to her on Facebook. She calls me Sister Burch and teases me about everything, I love her. This week's quote: "If yall hear a woman that went flipped da gourd its miss kaye" 💕

Haha I just helped a guy next to me spell "inconvenience" and he announced to the whole computer lab that "this gurl is smurt!" ...oh, now he is telling me about his divorce.. emotional roller coaster going on over here.

ANYWAYS. I saw Rex this week, too. That is always fun. He recited a poem he wrote about Christ and said he will write it down for us to take next time. I will try to get a recording of him telling it and share it with yall. Rex accepted a baptism date and has plans to come to church :) We will be helping him quit smoking, so pray for him please!

This weekend we had our Mission Leadership Council in Jackson. It was wonderful. Road trips with our Zone Leaders are always fun, we took some good pictures. But the meetings themselves were great. Two brothers from the missionary department of the Church came to teach us. We talked about planning for almost 6 hours. It sounds boring, but it was wonderful. They gave us suggestions that will bring a lot of positive change to the mission! I am expecting much more success in every zone, and many more miracles.  We will be teaching our zones what we were taught tomorrow in a Zone Conference. I hope we can bring as much excitement as the brethren from Salt Lake did :)

President Olson also taught us more about the Doctrine of Christ: Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Those five steps make up our Saviour's gospel and should be a cycle we walk every day, all our lives. It's so simple and wonderful. He asked us to apply these steps to our personal lives even more, to gain a stronger testimony of their necessity, so we can teach them from the heart. I have loved pondering this and my testimony has certainly grown. I know that faith is behind everything we do! Simply put, as we use our faith it becomes stronger. Faith in Christ and his Atonement leads us to repent, to have a desire to be baptized and make promises to God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost helps us to keep those promises and live happily as we endure to the end. It's beautiful and simple and I am so grateful for the happiness that this Gospel brings. President reminded us to emphasize the importance of this Gospel being restored in our day in every single lesson :)

A miracle happened. Yesterday we walked into church.. and guess who was there smiling at us?? RUSSELL. I didn't write it in my newsletters, but Russell had dropped us a few weeks ago, we hadn't had a lesson with him in about a month. He didn't say he wanted us to start back up again, but he was in church and he was happy to be there, and that is enough for me :) An older couple in the ward invited him over for Family Home Evening with us, we will be watching a movie and eating pizza and hopefully figuring out how he has been doing. Also, the whole ward was fasting for missionary work yesterday, so that is cool.

I could just keep talking about this week, but this email is kind of long, and yall probably have stuff to do :) So do I.

I love you all so much! Have a blessed week!


Sister Bartsch

1: Kaye's Nephew, S. Elms, Kaye, Me, Kaye's Son
2. Kaye with a bird on her head. His name is BayBay and she loves him so dearly
3: Me loving windy humidity and exchanges. Sister Elms takes a lot of pictures
4: Rolled coins for like, 3 hours at the thrift store.

After a chocolate run to the gas station.  Sometimes you just need chocolate!

JACKSON:

1. Landmark watermelon
2. Creepy abandoned Jackson Hotel. The windows are all broken and the drapes blow out in the wind.. 
3. Us, Zone Leaders, and Mural
4. Obama head sculpture. It looks like paper mache in a tree.

Photo scavenger hunt with our sisters.  The caption was "I can't believe we fit thur!!"

Stranger asks where I was born. Me: Canada! Them: Canada?? OYE! Me: Wait what?

GOOD MORNING!  


So time has picked up again and it hardly feels like a week since I write one-a-dees. But I will think really hard and share some news with yall.

FIRST MOST IMPORTANT THING. The Law family was baptized! Remember the family that we were able to deliver Christmas to? Yeah, them! Five of the beautiful kids were baptized and confirmed members of the Church. One of the little ones will turn 8 in a couple months, so we are hoping/planning a baptism for her and their dad in the springtime. Most of them didn't remember Sister Kelly and I, but they were wearing the necklaces we picked out for them. Little things like that make your heart happy, you know? The Spirit at the baptism was wonderful, lots of people were able to attend, and I'm sure they will remember that special day forever. How grateful I am to be down here with such wonderful people!

So Sister Kelly and I have been praying and I know lots of yall have been praying for this area. I'm super happy to say that we have been finding more work to do! As of yesterday our referrals nearly tripled! We have 14 people to go out and contact. And we are stoked. Thanks for prayin'!

We went on two exchanges this week, I think that's why time went so fast. I sure love these Sisters in the Hattiesburg Zone. I'm happy to be able to serve them. And I am learning so much about being friends with girls, it's amazing. This weekend is MLC! There have been a lot of changes in Leadership, I am excited to see familiar faces. The mission is slowly feeling more like home :D

Yesterday we held a youth fireside at our mission leader's home! All of the youth ages 16-18 came to talk about missionary work, how to prepare to be missionaries, and ask all of their curious questions. It was really fun. I was the least experienced missionary... So I was learning right along with some of the youth! But it was another reminder that I am actually really doing this and that I was once in their shoes thinking I never would.. I'm so grateful I am serving a mission, yall! I could talk all day about the things that I have learned about myself, our Saviour, our Heavenly Father, the Gospel, loving everyone, being faithful, having trust, it's incredible. It was an amazing feeling to share my testimony with youth who are considering doing this very thing! I will be praying that all who feel the prompting or the desire to serve missions DO IT. It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but nothing else could have taught me what this mission has. So yesterday was a day of reflection on what really brought me here, how far I have come, and how much more I can become. It's exciting! I hope all of you can find something to do with the Lord's help. You will learn more than you expect!

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

Sister Bartsch

PS In case you didn't get it, that lady thought Canadians said OYE not EH. I've never gotten  that one before! 

The baptism of the Law Family!

It's a simple prank war, that's all.