Sister Dakota Bartsch: "So, what's it like doin LDS mission work in the most Bap-dist city in the most Bap-dist state in the country?" -Guy with the preacher haircut :)

I belong here!

WE HAVE HAD SUCH A BUSY WEEK!! I apologize for the lame emails recently, my mom told me there were too many holes in the last one, this one will be better :)

Last Monday night we went bowling with the Special Needs Adults group we volunteer for :) My buddy Warren, who somehow ALWAYS ends up sitting next to me ;), did really good :) I have a video of a big group hug after he got a spare. I love these people.

On Tuesday we spent the afternoon with Summer! Summer got baptized about two months ago, I'm really good at swooping into an area right after baptisms :) and I love her so much! She is (almost) 18 and is planning on coming to visit me in Utah when I get home. She wants to move there for school, but needs to check it out first. Can we keep her, mom?? It was hot outside, so we taught her lesson on the lawn furniture in Big Lots :)

With Summer... can we keep her, Mom?

Wednesday, though, things started to happen. We have been trying so hard to find people who are ready. We've been taking a lot of hard rejections over the last couple weeks. SO we tried our hardest to be more obedient, prayed really really hard, and worked for a miracle. We had prayed about where to tract again this week, and were led to Oakwood Drive. We start tracting. Rejection, after rejection, after painfully sweet rejection. So we aren't very happy. And we pray to see if there is something more worthwhile to do. We see a lady struggling with her trash, but by the time we get there she's figured it out. darn. We keep walking, find some people who don't speak English. Feelin' pretty down, we turn around to go back the other way. We were sent to this street for a reason, right? Sister Crosby points and says "Let's try that door" (classic missionary story) a sweet lady named Diane comes out, talks with us for about an hour about everything from the church to our hobbies and interests. After an hour on her porch I was so sweaty and so covered in bug bites but I didn't care one bit. We are seeing Miss Diane tomorrow evening with a sweet lady from the ward and we're pretty excited. She had a lot of really good questions and has been very disappointed in local churches lately, it seems the only one she hasn't tried out is ours! Ta-daaaaa!! Blessings on blessings.

Mississippi Food Network Volunteering

On Thursday we got to serve at the Mississippi Food Network! This is the sweatiest warehouse, but we love it there. We got to serve alongside MDOC convicts in downtown Jackson! Pretty unique opportunity :) That night we taught Shante and her girls :) Love them. Shante is planning on a baptism in August, but her 11 year old daughter is not so enthusiastic about it. So we are working with her. And after a lesson with Shante and a member of the ward, we went outside and did Gospel of Jesus Christ hopscotch. It was pretty fun :) Yall pray for this sweet family!

Friday morning was great. Remember my selfie with members of the YMCA Senior club? This week our bible study quadrupled. We were SO not expecting that. People just kept coming in! We don't even know who invited them. But we had a really great discussion on Faith/Works and Love/Works. AND THEN we took their first ever mirror pic. The group was much too big for a selfie :) We were so happy.

Mirror Selfie with our Seniors group!

Pioneer Day with the Blacks.

Saturday morning though. I did something I never thought I'd do. Sister Crosby and I sang Swing Low Sweet Charriot with our Bluegrass Band friends. YALL IT WAS THE MOST SOUTHERN MOMENT OF MY MISSION. And then we sang How Great Thou Art and In the Garden (one of my new favourites). It was so fun. And we got to talk to them for a while about our missions and what Methodists believe. This is where the email subject line came from :) And on Saturday night we had our Pioneer Day activity. The Southern Mormons go all out on Pioneer day. This ward had a live band and square dancing, about half of the people were dressed up, and there were a LOT of people there. The band was almost all non-members, though, and I was genuinely concerned if they thought some of us actually dress like the Sister Wives they see on TV. Missionaries go out all day trying to tell people we don't practice plural marriage.. haha. So hopefully they understood.

Cornbread making skills

And then Sunday night we perfected our cornbread making skills. Yall can just always sign me up to bring the cornbread to potlucks and family parties. Because it's durn good and really fun to make. We got Mama Dudley's recipe and modified it :) I'm excited for yall to try it! I had cornbread for breakfast this morning instead of my grits, even!

Also, this week I finished reading the Book of Mormon! I did it in nine weeks this time :) the mission challenge was to finish in 12. I think I got ahead when I was sick, though. It was awesome. We were asked to read it all the way through and mark all of Christ's names, His words, and references to Him. Basically you end up marking most of the book. It was really cool to see how much the Book of Mormon truly testifies of Christ. It is so amazing to me what strong faith the prophets of the Book of Mormon had! I love the opportunity I have to go out and share this Book that means so much to me with every person I meet. I've seen it bring peace to many troubled hearts, including my own! If you haven't read from it today, you should.

I love you ALL so much!! Smile big and have a blessed week! Someone in Mississippi LOVES YOU!!

Sister Bartsch