Well, God has done told me I can keep you! You is stuck, Chuck. -Kaye, my biggest fan

Easter with my best friend!

Once again, Kaye is our sweet miracle for this week. I know I should have high hopes and not be surprised when she makes progress, but MAN. I have been in awe lately. The Spirit is a real thing. I know for a fact it was nothing I, Sister Kelly, Sister Nash or the Elders last year said that got Kaye into the church building. That was a straight up miracle. On Wednesday we met her at the church for a tour! She tried to wriggle her way out of it 30 minutes before, but I wouldn't have that!! She came, she felt the Spirit, and she left. I wish you could have seen the dancing I did down the hallway after she drove away. I was on exchanges with Sister Thompson and Dede was with us, they just laughed at me. Sister Nash danced with me when we saw each other again :) She is a good companion. On Saturday we called Kaye, begged her to let us help out around the house, ended up crushing her thousands on thousands of Coke cans, and SHE asked US if she could come to church. We tried to respond calmly, and promised her the sweetest blessings if she would come. Sunday morning we had a beautiful Easter program and Kaye wasn't there! Two hours later a lady with an unmistakable bun snuck into Relief Society. She whispered "I figured I'd surprise yall" and I cried. I guess she thought we saved the most important meeting for last, so she didn't get what she expected. But we had a nice talk in the dark chapel after church. She told us that she can't explain how good she has felt lately, since she quit swearing, started reading the scriptures, and coming to church. I never would have guessed that Kaye would be out most progressing investigator! She is teaching me so much, and fixing my doubts. I love her for that!

Kaye at church!

This week we had two very productive exchanges and a huge Zone Conference with the Hattiesburg and Gulfport zones. Some members of my first district were reunited! We don't know why, but the Bossier District has a special bond. Love them. The mission got Tiwis installed in our cars to fix our crazy driving, (A tiwi. Missionaries hate them. They talk to you while you drive and record your driving record. I am getting a brand new car, so I don't have one yet. But the rest of the mission does and they seem like a good idea and also a hassle.) and the rest of Zone Conference was nice, the end was especially special, and we left ready to work!! 

The Hattiesburg train station.
A great place for a photo shoot!

Sister Rose and I on exchanges

Saturday was another great day at the thrift store, we were able to clear up a couple more misconceptions about the Mormons. Yes, we are allowed to wear makeup. One step closer.

Sunday, of Course was Easter! I was able to watch the Church's Easter video with a lot of people and we tried to spread the Spirit with chalk art at parks and on trails. It's weekends like this that I love the South. The faith here is so strong, I've never been anywhere like this! Honestly, I wish Utah and everywhere could be more like Mississippi. I will try to bring as much of their faith with me as I can, but until then I want all of you to speak up about what you believe, have the faith to pray with your friends and family, and truly live what you know. It will be contagious :)

I hope you all have a blessed week!! 
Sister Bartsch

Chalk!!! The Longleaf Trace is a bike trail that runs from Hattiesburg to Sumrall :) It's usually pretty busy, so we hoped to enlighten people while they exercise. 

The Hattiesburg District

Me: You're eating oreos for breakfast? Sister Nash: There wasn't very much cake...

Tuesday felt more like my birthday than my birthday did :) Dede made me half of a cake and we had a picnic to celebrate my nine month mark. We also recreated my MTC picture to remind yall that I look pretty much exactly the same minus the bangs :) A grinch x-ray would show my heart has grown about 32 sizes, though. You guys will just have to wait nine more months to see that!!

My halfway cake. :)

Funny story: We had a lesson on Kaye's front porch this week. She lives right across the street from a big park! And on Tuesday morning there were a bunch of electricians laying cables... and firemen running the track.. and my goodness, Kaye was hooting and hollering and REALLY enjoying herself the whole lesson. I guess this happens pretty often, she was trying to find her specs (binoculars) on her porch........ Instead of reading her scriptures she committed herself to finding me a Mississippi man, I'm working on getting her over that. :)

Sister Coleman and I

Thursday I went on an exchange with brand-new Sister Coleman in Hattiesburg. She has a great area, a lot like Bossier! BTW Bossier is pronounced "Bo-sher" just in case you've been saying it wrong :) I got a whip/nae nae/duff/bop/stanky leg dance lesson from little black girls. It's been a while!! In my current area parents freak out if you talk to their kids.. so I enjoyed working in the Burg! I love my Sisters. Exchanges are so fun, and they give me MANY opportunities to serve them, so I am learning a lot. Sister Nash and I are bonding well as we deal with Sister drama so that's nice :) I pray a LOT in this area, serving in this calling, and I have decided that God is trying to teach me some very specific things. I'm going to grab this chance to grow with two hands and work as hard as I can to become better. Pray for me.

On Saturday we taught at a youth Mini MTC activity. We led a workshop about talking to everyone and the awkward side of missionary work. They were given little slips with situations like coming across an old lady raking leaves, a tired cashier at Walmarts, contacting a referral, etc. They had a minute to prepare with their companion and then they came and tried to share something with one of us! You can probably picture it, it was funny. Teaching youth is my favourite way to see how far I've come! They are fantastic here, too. Being a Mormon in Mississippi isn't the easiest thing in the world, I look up to these kids a lot! 

Dede helping eat the cake!

On Sunday Dede and her husband Joel gave talks in Sacrament Meeting at church. Dede got married and baptized back in November and has been living and loving the gospel :) She would come out and teach with us every day if she could. Her talk was on repentance, and my favourite quote that I doodled was "Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a long time making it." So true, and so exactly what I needed to hear. We are either moving forward or backward, yall! And I am determined to keep going forward if it kills me. 

Love you!
Have a blessed week!
Sister Bartsch 

 Current district (except now Elder Hansen is gone on a special
 assignment no one understands) 

A Heart Attack! One of our days with Dede

We just love having Dede with us!

A garden hose jungle gym! GET-TOE

Hot days...

Okay, Holy Ghost, come on down! -Rex

Us waiting in a Doctor's Office

I did it! Another week :) 3/7 days were filled with missionary work. 2 of the days Sister Nash was recovering from her food poisoning. The other 2 days we helped Sister Saunders get a sewing needle out of her toe.... THE STORY: Remember the sleepover we had last week? Sister Nash got all sick from Panda Express? Well, the sleepover was more legendary than we thought. Sister Saunders stepped on a sewing needle in our house on Sunday Morning, limped around until Wednesday, had an x-ray done (while on exchanges with Sister Nash), and found out it BROKE IN HER FOOT. Thursday Morning I went out to get them, took Sister Saunders to one doctor, then to another.. and they collectively decided that the needle is too deep to get out easily, and they need to do a full blown surgery Friday afternoon. SO we had another sleepover (much less eventful), she was put under and the needle was removed by a nice member of our ward. Then we took her back home later that evening. She is so tough, this was her first surgery ever, and all she wanted to do was get back out and work. Such a good example! Lots of road-tripping to and from Richton, good thing my mom sent mini eggs, and music, it was a fun couple of days :)

So I wish I had more missionary stories to tell yall, but my proselyting time was very limited.. We were able to teach Rex twice and he came to church for the fourth week in a row! We've taught him almost all we need to, and he is still fighting his answers to prayers sometimes. We pray he continues to progress, I have loved watching happiness change him :) Also, he referred us to his neighbor and we are going to start meeting with her this week!

If everyone could please pray that we will have a good lesson with Britney this week, that would be very helpful! She wants to be baptized, but her kids have been so sick. They're feeling better and we are trying to get back on track with them. 

While Sister Saunders was getting x-rays with Sister Nash, I was on an exchange with Sister Thompson! I love this girl. And we had a really good talk about why we are on missions. I love hearing Sisters reflect about this choice, their testimonies are so powerful :) As  I was telling her my story, I remembered a lot of things that I haven't thought about in a long time! To summarize, I am just so glad that I chose to serve a mission. There were a lot of things that could have kept me home, but here I am! HALFWAY THROUGH! I know without a doubt that serving this mission is doing more for me than anything else could, so I'm sure glad that the Spirit and some of yall kept me going. There are so many wonderful people in my life that I can't wait to thank in person! The power of prayer is real, I know that my prayers are answered! 

Tomorrow I am celebrating my 9 months since flying deep South, pictures will come next Monday!!

This week is going to be a great one, I can feel it :) I hope it is for you!
Have a blessed day!

Sister Bartsch

Southernism: "Up-air" or "up-pair" (still trying to discern) "down-air" 
Said in place of up there, over there, down there, etc. Somehow it is easier? 
"I went up-air to get a haircut" -Rex 
"Ya my work is down-air, dem flood waters came aaaaaaall da way up-pair." -Donny

I'm still working on it. 

It's as real here as I thought it would be!

Sis Saunders trying to keep a smile on her face.

"Dem pigs gonna fly, gurls!" -Miss Kaye

Floral dresses for MLC (don't know why I look so depressed)

I am so happy today :) God sure knows me! 

Kaye is starting to progress. I wish all of you could understand what a HUGE deal that is. We show up for an appointment and she isn't home. We call her and she drops what she is doing on the other end of the trailer park and comes running over with her friend Hannah. She was so ready to get started and ask her questions. Guys, SHE HAD DONE HER READING AND SHE HAD QUESTIONS. We have been teaching the Plan of Salvation for about a month now, over and over again, until she has an understanding. From the pamphlet she was led to a part in the Book of Mormon that taught about the resurrection and the mercy of God. She told us that her prayers were answered in the passages! She knows that her little niece that passed away is in God's care, she felt at peace about it at last! She has stopped swearing and Hannah says that she is shocking all of her friends with how well she is keeping that commitment. AND THEN! She says "Ya know what? I'm finna change. that means I'm finna (picks up cigarettes) quit puffin these and (picks up can of Coke) cut back on these." I held back my excitement as best I could. This lady drinks 10+ cans of  Coke a day. We committed her to drink more water and talked about the harm of addiction a few weeks ago, I guess something clicked! The Spirit has been working with and teaching Miss Kaye for a long time now, it seems she is beginning to act on it. I know her health will improve, her understanding of the Gospel will come easier, the Spirit will be in her home, and she will be SO MUCH HAPPIER if she makes these changes. I am in complete awe, still. I'm seeing miracles with Kaye. 

And her friend Hannah has always been kind of reluctant to hear our message, but as we were talking about Kaye's niece Hannah was flipping through the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. she interrupted us and said "Hey, uh, do yall happen to have an extra one of those books? I just.. want to look into some of this stuff in here, if you know, you have one you could give me." She lost a daughter a couple of years ago, and seems to want to feel the same peace Kaye did. We couldn't give her a Book of Mormon fast enough! 

So that was my miracle of the week, month, and transfer! 

Rex is baby-stepping along, too! He will call us and leave an "I'll never be good enough for yall and I don't want to quit smoking" message, and then call a few hours later asking for a ride to church :) he is still figuring out what he wants. Pray for him! 

This weekend was MLC! The more I go, the more I love it. I love road tripping with twizzlers, seeing old friends, planning and coordinating outfits, and hugging my Momma Dobbins! Plus the meeting itself was good, pretty similar to the last three MLCs, but still good! We were taught that the calling of a Sister Training Leader is "Training and Welfare." That was good to know! And it came in handy all week. On Tuesday we drove all the way out to Richton with pizza and ice cream for a Sister that is struggling, tea to a recent convert who was sick, muffins to another sick investigator, and then my poor, poor companion got food poisoning. We were having the last sleepover of the whole mission with the Richton Sisters and she was up getting sick ALL NIGHT. I did all I could for her, stayed up with her most of the night, and we were both wrecked the next day. So we missed Stake Conference.. she got the sweetest priesthood blessing I have ever heard, and then slept all day! I filled the time with lots of things I have been meaning to do and enjoyed a relaxing day off :) and then last night we both got 10 hours of sleep. It was glorious. She seems better, but still feels yucky. So pray for her!

Maybe it's all the sleep that has me feeling so happy today :) but I think I am just loving being a missionary! next week will be 9 months since being in this crazy place, and I am so grateful for all of the miracles I have seen in others and myself. I love you all!

Have a blessed week! 

Sister Bartsch

MOMMY

Road Trips

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