"Little did I know God would send two PRAYER WARRIOR ANGELS to my door!" -Sherry :)

Sherry's Baptism

What a beautiful week :) Man, we worked HARD. 

On Monday night we watched Meet the Mormons with Sherry and her husband Jason. If yall know me, you know I cry in movies. I just do! And Meet the Mormons is no exception. I didn't know Sister Child was a crier, too. So anyway we both tried so hard to conceal our tears during the missionary mom story, but Sherry noticed and went full-mother-mode. It was so nice! She held my hand and told me that everything I am doing is worth all the time, struggles, and adversity. "If it warrant for missionaries like you gurls, I wud be LOST, LOST, LOST." Even Jason was extra nice after that. Thank goodness for good people! On Wednesday Jason and Sherry came for a church tour :) She will be the first to tell you that this is a miracle for Jason. I told yall about that last week! Now he is Iowa working for the railroad, and won't be back until he visits for Thanksgiving. But we love him. And got pictures with him before he left. 

Jason!  

For time's sake, I am going to type up parts of my weekend from my Journal :)
Saturday: "Great day in Madison. Man. This morning we got all packed up and ready to go out to Canton, our smaller town. We have a bunch of Bible referrals and that poor area is so under-worked. It used to be an area of it's own! But now we only make it out there maybe once a week. Anyway, we were praying to leave, and I prayed that people would recognize us as disciples of Christ. Well. The second referral we tried was Alexis. She waved us right in with a huge smile on her face and sat us down at her kitchen table. ... Her husband Deon sat down with us and her little girls went to play. They gave us complete attention! She thanked us for the Bible and asked what the best part to read would be for OUR day... which led right into a Restoration lesson and a Book of Mormon :) They loved it. They asked great questions and quickly accepted a Book of Mormon and baptism dates. They, like so many in the South, have seen miracle after miracle in her life. Wow. The faith in the South is breathtaking. I love it so much. And then at the end of our lesson she said "yall know, I ordered that Bible a couple months ago and forgot about it. But when yall stepped out of the car, I knew exactly who you were." She recogized us! She let us right in and listened. It was a perfect answer to such a simple prayer!..." It's the little things on my mission, yall. God teaches me in such simple ways, I love it. I think many of us receive more answers to prayers than we notice. Don't forget the things you ask for, and be grateful when you are given them :)

Canton, MS

Canton, MS

Sherry

On Sunday was Sherry's baptism. Besides the huge spider right in her face in the font, everything went so smoothly. Our 2nd and 3rd hours of church have been cancelled for a little bit so that people can go down to help with the flooding in Louisiana (please keep praying!). So we had Sherry's baptism right after Sacrament meeting and invited all those who were at church to stay. It was perfect that way! There were so many great people there to support her. The Spirit was so strong, and Sherry was so happy. After she was baptized, she bore her testimony. The great thing about some Southerners is they don't hold back! They are very enthusiastic at pulpits. They are not shy to talk about the blessings that come from their faith in Jesus, it's wonderful. The Gospel has brought her so much closer to Christ, and that is exactly what it is for. People mistake us missionaries for people who want to talk you into believing like we do. That is so not the case! I was happy for Sherry not because she was another member of our church, but because I can see the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ filling her life. It's a beautiful thing! I'm grateful to be a missionary, witnessing so many miracles :)

And I am grateful for yall!
Have a blessed week!
Sister Bartsch

Sherry.  <3  <3

Canton, MS