"Hello? Oh, yes, the Mormon missionaries are here right now....... no, they don't try to convert me" -Treva

Hello everyone! This email will be short. Skimmers, feel free to just look at the pictures. I have been working on time management for 16 months and I still can't seem to save enough time to write this email. I try not to be jealous of iPad missions, but.... 

We worked hard this week! We were able to do lots of tracting and lots of service. Yall, this retirement home is wonderful. This week we helped out with their Birthday Bash, delivered mail, and cut fabric for quilts. We have lots of new friends and great opportunities to live the Gospel we teach :) Because we were going out to see Gloria lots this week, we were able to go to the Mississippi Food Network twice! Yall know how much I love working with those convicts in dirty warehouses. So much fun! And the weather is cooling down so it's even better! One of them recently got released and is staying in a halfway house somewhere in our area. She asked us to find her and we plan on it! I love being busy doing so much good :) but we did a lot of driving this week. So we decided to be 'stop and smell the roses-y' and pull over or slow down for pictures. Examples attached below :) It's pretty fun! 

Paul is progressing well.  Keep those prayers going! 

I took Sister Makin out to Canton on Saturday :) It's a friendlier town and I wanted her to experience going door to door somewhere like that. And guess what? Not a single rejection. We were both very happy :) Hooray for humble, goodhearted people. I want to be like them. 

This morning I had an interview with President Olson and Sister Makin and I got to meet with Sister Olson, too! President and Sister Olson are seriously inspired, I love them both so much. Sister Olson had a cool challenge for us to apply to ourselves and our investigator's scripture study. She wants us all to receive more revelation from our Book or Mormon and Bible studies. She invited us to have a notebook ready and before we study say a special prayer. In the prayer, ask Heavenly Father to testify to you the truth of what you read by the Holy Ghost. AND THEN ask Him to tell you what you should do, change, or who you should help. As you read, pay attention to thoughts that enter your mind. They might not even be related to what you are reading! But because you have invited the Spirit, payed attention, and put forth the effort, you will receive the revelation you need :) As you act on what you receive, you will receive more!  Do this every day for 15 minutes and watch your life change. 
And then let me know :)

I love you all! Have a blessed week!

Sister Bartsch

Mississippi state Capitol!

It's really the south!  We found a cotton field!!!

Jackson, MS

Some of our friends at the Home Place having a jam session

"Now we're cookin' with grease, yall!"

Well I hope yall had a blessed week because mine sure was. 

Most importantly, Cole got baptized. What a special weekend! He stood and bore his testimony yesterday about the truth of this church. He had been searching for years! He had attended every denomination he could find, but found problems in each of them. After he had the first discussion with the Sister Missionaries he searched for flaws, but he couldn't find any! All of his questions were answered with scripture. The spirit he felt was unavoidable. He was converted! And his testimony is a powerful one. It was such a huge blessing to be a part of this :) lessons with Cole are my favourite because he is so SMART. His questions exercise my mind and I love it. Inquisitive people are the best to teach. 

Our Zone Focus for the last couple of months has been 'get out of the box." We have been trying to implement new finding ideas, teaching methods, and just mix things up a little bit! No one likes being in a rut. One of the things on the list of ideas was sidewalk chalk... haha, been doing that my whole mission! But we did some more and it was fun. And then we tried service tracting!!! I liked this one even though it really didn't work out. We went door to door on a Saturday morning asking people if there is anything we can help them out with. Unfortunately, people thought we wanted money or wanted to make them join our church or something. "No really, can we like mow your lawn or rake your leaves or something?" So we need to refine our approach and do it again. But we did accidentally tract into a less active family while their active mom was in town so that was good! This week we helped out at the Home Place assisted living place twice! The activities director (her name is Candy) gave us a tour and introduces us to the sweetest people. We met Miss Maudie, a 97 year old angel who sits at her sewing machine all day and sews clothes for herself and anyone. She gave us both skirts! and then said she would make more! Bless her sweet heart. 

Our good friend Gloria wants to get baptized! She said that the Spirit told her October 15th. We are just waiting on one thing before we can go through with it... and we are doing everything we can to make it happen for her! Prayers, please!

And then there is Paul. Just hours after the Member Missionary Work General Conference talk, a sweet couple in our ward called to tell us that the man they have been bringing to church has asked to be baptized. His name is Paul and he has been coming to church for a year and a half... I don't know why he wasn't baptized before, but we are sure happy to help him out now! We had a really nice first discussion and he willingly accepted a baptism date. How happy!! 

I'm just so grateful for my mission. I am grateful that I chose to come. I am grateful to know that God has a plan for me, and when I choose to follow I am blessed so incredibly. God has a plan for you, too! But it won't just happen the way He hopes, you have to choose it. And then stay true to your choice. It might be hard or scary or uncomfortable, but with Him all things are possible!

I love you ALL and hope you know it :)

Have a blessed week!

Sister Bartsch

"So can I get baptized today?!" -Cole

Watching General Conference!

Hey Yall!!
This week was awesome. My new companion is Sister Makin, she is from Goodyear, Arizona, and she needs like no training. 

Our District Leader committed us to do 10 hours of tracting this week. For me, that's a LOT. Especially in an area like Madison.. on bikes. But we did it! We reached that goal exactly! It was hard at times, people weren't always super nice, it got boring, BUT the weather was gorgeous, we had plenty to talk about, we found a couple people close by to teach, and God has seriously blessed us. 

Saturday afternoon we got approval for Cole to get baptized! He has been patiently waiting for months, and he is about to move to Arkansas! The timing is perfect, and we are planning his baptism for this Friday. Miracle!

Bye Sister Child!  Off to Shreveport

Also on Saturday we got a referral from a member to teach their friend! His name is Paul and he has been coming to church for a while. Recently he has asked what he needs to do to get baptized :) we are meeting with him this week! Miracle! 

On one of the days this week we decided to call an Assisted Living place we bike by all the time. We asked to speak with the activities director about service opportunities. Turns out this lady just started her job 4 days ago and had been feeling super overwhelmed. We signed up to help out a whole bunch. She was very grateful and we are very excited! I love service! And I hope to have some pictures next week :) 

Gloria and Linda are moving along, please keep them in your prayers!

And I loved General Conference, particularly Elder Nelson's talk about joy :) True joy comes from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it's true! As a missionary I am the happiest I have ever been. Why? Because I am immersed in the it. I spend 100% of my time studying, teaching, talking, and wanting to talk more about the Gospel. I know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so grateful for it. I know that when I go home things will be different, at times life will be hard again, and I will struggle as I come down from this spiritual high.. but I know exactly what to do to make myself happy. In any situation! I am so grateful to have learned this!

I love you all, and I hope you can find joy no matter where you are in life.

Have a blessed week!
Sister Bartsch

New Family Picture :)

First time biking in a skirt!

Pretty abandoned Home. 

"Yall, I know this is a bad analogy, but the Holy Ghost is kind of like crack.." -Typical talk at a Jackson, MS baptism

My new companion is Sister Makin from Arizona!

aaaaaaaand we come to the end of another transfer. Eleven down, two to go! I am welcoming a brand new Sister into the MJM and I am SO EXCITED. 

This week we were all over the place. We worked a lot, drove a lot, tracted a lot, and then I emailed a lot and I'm running out of time. So I will send yall some pictures and tell yall that the church is true! God hears your prayers. There is meaning to life. There is hope for the future. There are billions of reasons to smile. 

I love yall! Have a blessed week!

Exchanges with Sister Rodriguez!!

Sister Bartsch

Family picture :) APs were missing though!

Gloria!!! This is our investigator in the Jackson Branch

Mama and Papa AFTER that dog attacked me. 

Linda!!!!! Our investigator in the Raytown Branch

Me: "Everything in Mississippi bites or stings!" Sherry: "Even the men!"

It's not easy being Mormon!

Ohhhhh I hope all of you had a blessed week because I sure did.

I wish I could tell you everything, but that would take too long and I know most of you skim anyway :)


Remember how I told yall about how huge my area is? And that we cover the Raytown Branch in the middle of nowhere? Well, the Raytown Branch President calls us last Monday and says that there is a lady out there who wants to be baptized and we need to come out and teach her the discussions. Her name is Linda. HALLELU-YER! So we planned a trip for Sunday. And of course we get asked to speak, that is how it works! Little did I know that this Branch building is ONE HUNDRED AND TEN YEARS OLD. It was so beautiful. A little white church in the middle of nowhere country Mississippi. I loved it. This was my first time attending a Branch on Sunday. Something about the one sacrament tray, the one Deacon in scuffed up cowboy boots, and the humble group of loving people really got me this week! It was a really neat experience. And they had a big potluck lunch after church. Yall, Southern food is so good. I can't even tell you. 

Linda got really down on herself over the weekend, and decided not to come to church. She needs to quit smoking and that just seemed impossible. After the potluck, we fixed her a plate and went to meet her. This lady is so precious. She wants the blessings of the Gospel so badly. She wants to get baptized so much it hurts! But she had gotten so discouraged. I think it meant something to be reminded that God hasn't given up on her. We stayed and talked for a while and she has set a date to be baptized. I wished we could have had Sherry there to testify to her that she can do it, Sherry is 35 days smoke free!! I have seen so many miracles, and I have nothing but faith for Linda. Pray for her, please! 

Speaking of Sherry, we lost that brilliant ray of sunshine to the Greenville ward!! She moved this weekend, and we miss her already. Pray for her to get settled and be safe! 

God's love is real, everyone! I feel it every day. He has high hopes and sees nothing but potential in each of us. Keep praying, keep learning, keep improving! 

LOVE YALL!
Have a blessed week!
And this week is the first day of fall. Happy fall, yall! (had to.)

Sister Bartsch

My cute companion.

It's so beautiful here!

This Beautiful place...

Eating at Cracker Barrel with Mama, Papa and Cole. :)

The state capitol building is like a temple!

Random 2 minute showers!

Zone Conference Selfie!

YES! I LIKE IT! TO GOD BE THE GLORY! (high five) -Lady admiring my chalk art at the park :)

It's been a week and I can't get over this picture of Sherry.

Good news yall! Bike week is over :) Hallelujah. It wore me out this time!! Man, I was even dozing off on the way home with Sherry last night, and that woman talks LOUD. So thank you for the prayers, they probably kept me awake a time or two this weekend! 


I was trying to think of some highlights from this week to share, but everything is always a blur by the time I sit down at this computer! I remember having a really good lesson with Cole. Cole is awesome, he will be getting baptized pretty soon! Right now we are having lessons based on questions he has. Most recently he had questions about hell! So Sister Child and I led a group study on it. We teach Cole in a member's home every week, so everyone got really involved and we had a big discussion about the God's Plan of Salvation. It was awesome because, as always, this discussion all boiled down to God being our loving Heavenly Father. We talked about how He sees the most glorious potential in each one of His children. He has provided everything we need to be able to return to Him. To His heartbreak, some of His children will choose not to return! His promises to the faithful and the unfaithful are sure. We can count on Him to keep His word because constancy is a characteristic of deity. He will forever be the same. 

Cole talked about how his mind is like a big wall with information all over it and red strings making connections. It bothers him when things don't connect completely! He said there are still some things that he can't quite connect and that he will have to do some more research. Not big things, but smaller details. What came out of my mouth next taught me an important lesson. I recommended that he add another color of string to his web of information. Maybe the red ones are logical connections that he can back up with scripture and other historical research. But there will be some things that connect with a blue string. The blue strings represent things that he learned by the Spirit, by the way he feels, or by what he knows in his heart is true. Not because he can prove it to himself or others! He thought about it for a minute, nodded his head, and said quietly "that helps." Honestly I don't know if it helped him any more than it helped me. This is something I have been working on my whole mission, regarding a feeling from the Spirit as a fact! I need to reflect on this scripture a lot, Alma 32:35
"O then, is not this real? I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible, therefore ye must know that it is good..."
I think I have gotten a lot better at trusting the Spirit since being out on my mission. And I am always grateful for these moments when I can learn while I am teaching, they are so frequent! The Spirit is real because it is discernible, yall! It's true!

As far as the rest of the week goes, we had stake Women's Conference and our investigator Gloria was able to come. It was really fun to see members from the Clinton ward there! We have been trying to find someone to teach in Sherry's apartment complex. It is huge. I swear thousands of people live there. So far we have found one person to take Sherry to teach :) so that will be great. We've started a Saturday tradition of going to a nursing home with Sherry! We have quickly made a lot of friends. And we can't wait to go back! And yesterday was Sister Child's 23rd birthday :) aw :) the members were so sweet! We have more cake tonight! 

I love yall, thanks for all your support and prayers!
Have a blessed week!
Sister Bartsch


1. 8 Cokes, helping Sherry with her shopping :)












2. Surprise birthday cake!  s/o to Sister Davin! (We call her Sister Superwoman)

3. Trains are still cool even thought they woke me up at night for 3 months in Clinton. (Forgiveness is a Christlike attribute)








4 & 5. Nursing home adventures! Abbott and Dorothy





























6. Service at the library

"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