New Mission President

Dear Friends and Family:

Well, this week we had a really great week. We achieved standards in almost every key indicator, which is something that I am very happy to report. We will continue to grow and to work hard, of course, and I can't wait to achieve standards in every key indicator.

One of the biggest blessings that God has given us this week was that Dylan Edrington was finally baptized! He has been wanting to be baptized for almost a month, and he finally was able to do it! Hooray!

One of the miracles we saw this week was that a guy named Matt Ellsworth referred himself to us on Mormon.org. He has been in and out of church for several years, and although he knows it is true, for some reason he has never been baptized before. So he already knows just about everything that we need to teach him, and he's very solidly preparing to be baptized this Sunday (the 6th)!

Something that I learned over the last 7-10 days is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ really does change people's hearts. One of our investigators was on the fence when we started to teach her, and over this time she has progressively become more solid and more willing to act with each visit. Her name is Daphne, and she is preparing to be baptized this Sunday as well.

We have a new mission president. President Anderson flew home on Friday; we'll be meeting President Richardson face to face tomorrow. These are the questions that I asked him, and I'm hoping he'll respond to:

- How long have you and Sister Richardson been married?

- How big is your family?

- Where have you lived?

- And who is your favorite Disney villain?

I'd also love it if all of you (friends and family) would respond to that last question, as I only know a few of them by name and I have no way of looking them up. Thanks!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

The field is white, all ready to harvest.

Dear family,

Sister Bartsch and I had an amazingly blessed week, and just like Elder Slade we were able to meet mission standards together! We have some outstanding plans for this coming week so we're planning on making standards a weekly ordeal.

After losing so many investigators last week, this week we found many more, and some even returned! Turns out, Hayley has been thinking about moving in with her dad here in Everett for a while. She loves Silverlake ward and wants to be baptized here, so she took our pass-off explanation as almost like an answer to prayers that she is supposed to move back with her dad and step-mom. Funny story- When we saw her a few days ago we asked if she still had her baptismal calendar so that we could go over it with her and make the changes necessary for her new baptismal date. She told us that that wouldn't be possible, and she pulled out of her purse a beautifully laminated baptismal calendar. She told us that she laminated it a few weeks ago when we first gave it to her so that she could always keep it with her to help her "stay focused." :)

Our investigator Lily is preparing for baptism on July 19th. She used to meet with missionaries but the timing was never quite right because she would get through a few discussions then have to leave to go back to school in Switzerland. Her dad died last year, and she is searching for peace in her life. She said she feels really warm whenever we come teach her and pray with her, but then the feeling leaves, and it isn't as strong when she reads and prays. She wants to know how she can have that feeling all the time. It was cool to teach her about the Gift of the Holy Ghost! We brought a member we had never brought before to our lesson on thursday, and when Lily opened the door both of them just stared at each other then started to yell about how good it was to see each other. Sister Bartsch and I had no idea what was going on! Apparently Lily and Katherine were best friends in unicycling club back in middle school! Heavenly Father is so funny.

We were able to start meeting with Logan this week! Last week he flaked last minute on a few lessons, so we stopped by his apartment and he said he is at a very difficult time in his life going through the divorce and everything, and he wasn't sure he could handle anything more. We both felt like we should be bold, so we made him (Oops, I mean, invited him) meet with us at least once. He has loved it!!! He even thanked us in the last lesson for being persistent, since he really feels like the gospel has been helping him through his trials.

I had a really special experience yesterday. We have been working with a less-active girl named Hannah. Despite some opposition from her mom, she has been so strong in coming back to church and completely making changes in her life because she knows that this is what is right. Yesterday after church she started to cry and told me that she knows that this is the right time and place in her life to embrace the gospel once and for all. She said that she needed us, and is so grateful for everything we have done for her. We just hugged and cried and reassured each other that we're allowed to be emotional since we're women. :) There is no work more rewarding than missionary work!

We have our mini-MTC tonight. Don't forget that it's the missionaries responsibility to teach, but it's the members responsibility to find! I would love to hear about all of the missionary experiences that you are all having! Remember, success is not a yes or a baptism. You succeed when you invite!

Love, Sister Slade

 Hayley with laminated baptism calendar. :)

We took the front off of a mustang for service.

Temple Trip!

Dear Friends and Family:

Hooray for a new brother! I love you, Nathan!

This week, on Friday, we were able to go to the temple for the first time since the MTC. I've included a picture of my zone and another zone, with President and Sister Anderson in the middle. This is President and Sister Anderson's last week in the mission; President and Sister Richardson are coming in later this week, and we'll see them for the first time next Tuesday. It was a really great experience in the temple, and I felt like my perspective on life and the meaning of the gospel changed significantly.

Elder Bailey and I are getting along pretty well. We both enjoy completely different things for the most part, but we both like to read. In missionary work, the biggest struggle we've found so far is finding a lot of people who want to hear our message, or who want a scripture read to them occasionally, but who don't want to do anything or to commit to being baptized. We've resolved to be more in line with our purpose when we teach, so that it is very clear to people what we expect from them. If they are willing to act, then we will work with them; and if not, then we can spend our time looking for other people to teach.

We have had such a good week in terms of numbers. We've found a large number of new investigators, and we've had a lot of lessons. We did not, however, get many people to come to church.

So for this next week, Dylan is finally going to be baptized. He's had some problems these last two weeks, because of opposition by members of the family and also because of the recent death of his great-grandpa (who happened to be a Mormon, who would have guessed). But he is still solid and is preparing for this weekend.

I'm sorry I haven't been writing as much as I should have been. I'll send off some letters today.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Busy week

Dear family, I'm out of time this week, so I've just copied and pasted my letter to President again. The biggest news from this week is that we had a super powerful lesson with Hayley this week where she told us that she has received an answer to her prayers, and she knows that it's all true! She loved church and loves reading the Book of Mormon and is so excited to be baptized! Unfortunately, we also found out that she lives in Bothell and has simply been commuting to Everett for work and to see friends. It looks like some Seattle missionaries are going to get a an absolutely golden referral, and the Sammammish Valley YSA ward will be blessed to have Hayley.

I love you all!

Dear President Bonham,

Happy Anniversary! Since you're both soooo old and have gained so much wisdom together, you can tell me, is Jesus Christ truly the secret to a happy marriage and family?

The Lord has been using us as finding tools recently, and all in one week we've had to pass-off most of our investigators to surrounding areas. It's a good thing the church is just as true in Bothell and Lynnwood and Lake Stevens as it is here! We are looking forward to finding prepared people in Everett this week though :)

Sister Bartsch and I are very excited for the Mini-MTC we are organizing for our ward. We taught the lesson in relief society yesterday and the ward is definitely getting excited about missionary work. In the words of Sister Bartsch, "I was about to pull a King Lamoni and pass out the spirit was so strong!"

I have been studying the meaning of the atonement this week. A few days ago we went to talk to a group of YSA talking on the side of the road, and one of them asked me, "Well why was it necessary? If God is all-powerful, why did it have to happen?" It was so cool to be able to share scriptures from the Book of Mormon with him and have a good long discussion about everything that I had just finished studying! What I loved the most though was being able to share my testimony, that I really do know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and even though I still don't understand fully the reasons of why it had to happen, the spirit has witnessed to me through prayer and through actually using His sacrifice in my life, that the atonement is so real! I hope the guys we talked to will accept our invitation to simply try, and to experience the reality of the atonement for themselves.

Lots of tender mercies and lots of feelings of love every day.

We are expecting miracles in the coming week.

Love, Sister Slade

Staying in Silverlake

Hello family!

You shouldn't have sent me those beautiful adoption pictures because now I'm in tears in the middle of the library! I am so happy for so many blessings in my life! Be sure to have a big group hug after the adoption, and imagine me there with you! I'm sending lots of love your way!!!

We just found out about transfers, and Sister Bartsch and I are both staying another transfer together in Silverlake! It definitely feels right. We are so excited! President Bonham and Assistant Largent said something to us at a baptism last weekend that made us think they might be considering taking us both out, so we've been wondering all week what would happen. The college got out this last week, so we won't be able to contact there anymore, and we were thinking they might just leave the zone leaders in Silverlake and have only one set of missionaries in the ward since YSA wards can't always support 2 sets during the summer. We're determined to work hard and show the Lord that Silverlake can support two sets, and we are so excited to see many more miracles this coming transfer!

We have been teaching an investigator named Hayley the last few weeks, and she is so excited to be baptized next month! When we watched the restoration video with her and asked her what she thought of it she told us that Joseph Smith reminded her of herself. She came to a baptism on Saturday, and told us that she had told her boss earlier this week that she can't work Sundays anymore because she's "working on becoming a Mormon." These people amaze me! There really are so many people out there who are ready and willing to change everything in their lives in order to be closer to the Savior. Any why wouldn't they? Living according to the teachings of Christ just makes sense.

Miracle story! A few days ago I felt like we should tract a complex of an investigator that we passed off to the Silverlake sisters back when I was in Halls Lake (We had met the investigator at the college and didn't realize at the time that he lived out of area.) So during our nightly planning we planned to tract this complex, and Sister Bartsch woke up the next morning and said, "I don't know why, but we need to tract buildings E and F." Well, we did, and had absolutely no success, until the very last door we knocked on a guy in the Navy named Logan answered. We testified of Christ's love for him, and almost in tears, he told us that he is currently going through a divorce. He used to have a faith in Christ, but it's been years since he lost it. He told us "I think it's a sign that you're here right now." We testified to him that we were there not by coincidence, but because God was aware of him and wanted us there at that time. He came to church on Sunday and loved it. We got cleared with the zone leaders to teach him even though he's not single since this is a special circumstance, and we're starting the lessons on tuesday :)

Osh is engaged! She was seriously dating a guy at college back in Alabama, and 3 days after Osh's baptism he asked her family if he could marry her. So now he's taking the missionary discussions, and coming up next month to marry her. (Melissa from Halls Lake went and got married on April Fools day 3 days after her baptism.) I guess even in the singles ward I can't baptize singles. Maybe God just really does want families? :)

Love, Sister Slade

Elder and Sister Slade get new brother!

Welcome Nathan Slade!

So Many Miracles

Dear Friends and Family:

First of all, we are adopting our brother, Nathan, today! From today on, he will officially be Nathan Slade. I'm not yet sure when the plans are for the sealing. I love that guy!

We have seen so many miracles this week. First of all, we have had a nightmare trying to keep contact with Shelly S. and Claricia D., who were baptized this last Sunday. We kept trying to call or stop by, but they were never there, and we were worried that they might have found some anti material. But, we were finally able to meet with them on Saturday, and they are just as cool as ever. They were confirmed yesterday, they'll be coming teaching with us this week, and to top it all off, they're making griot for us tomorrow!

Dylan E.n is still very excited for his baptism, but a few things came up this week with his family, and so he wasn't able to come to church or be baptized. He still can't wait for next week, though.

Also, next week Linda H. will be baptized. She was a miracle, she came to church in the wrong ward, and the zone leaders passed her to us. She had been taught by some missionaries in the past, but she had not been ready at the time. Now she is ready, and she can't wait to be baptized on the 22nd.

I can't wait to come to the temple on Friday! It's been so long since I've been there, I've almost forgotten what it's like. :( But that doesn't matter, because I get to come this week! :)

President Anderson is leaving the mission in about two weeks, and then our new mission president, President Richardson, is coming in to take over. It's going to be a very odd couple of weeks, I don't know what to expect.

It's sad to hear that Sè Peggy Williams just died. She's been sending me letters, every few weeks, for a while. Thanks for telling me.

Also, Bishop Golly sounds like he's had a ton of injuries, all over the place, from the way you described him. Tell him I love him and am praying for him. :l

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Harvest Blessings

Dear friends and family:

It's been a great week for both of us! We've been able to improve in almost every key indicator this week from last week, with the exception of recent convert/less active lessons and new investigators. This week we're going to be focusing on improving our harvest blessings, so that they lead to more new investigators.

Our Sunday was one of the busiest Sundays of my mission, and my life. We had six investigators in Sacrament, two of which were baptized!

First of all, Shelly and Claricia, who we found on Wednesday of last week, were finally baptized. They are very excited to continue to come to church, and to learn and grow in the gospel. They will be receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost next Sunday. They only speak Haitian Creole, so I have been teaching them pretty much on my own, other than asking Elder Baily questions in English and then translating his responses.

Dylan is another one of our investigators, who's preparing to be baptized next week. The Delray South sisters met him last Saturday as they were doing a chapel tour. He had been watching BYUTV and the Sunday devotionals, and he really likes Thomas S. Monson, and so he showed up to the church looking for someone to talk to, and one of the first things he asked was "when can I get baptized?" The answer was the 15th, and that's what he's working for. We can't wait for him to get dunked this next Sunday!

Marie G. is a lady that was harvested by the Zone Leaders, and she lived in our area. She accepted baptism on the 15th, and she came to church yesterday. She only speaks Haitian Creole, but we'll help her get more support from the ward and she's also preparing to be baptized on the 15th.

Jarmel and Tamika are two people that we found on accident. It was a miracle that we found them, because we were trying to find someone else but we knocked on the wrong door. They accepted baptism, and they came to church for the first time yesterday. They are on date for next week, but they have to get married first, and so we'll be praying that we have a marriage on the 14th.

I had the opportunity to translate for an interview for the first time this week. It was an eye-opening experience to see how the interviews are conducted, and to see more clearly the repentance that goes into getting baptized. I was very glad to have that opportunity.

I'm also very excited to go to the temple for the first time since the MTC on the 20th!

Also, I can't wait for Nathan's baptism on the 16th! It will be a P-Day, so I'll certainly wear the adoption shirt. It's sad that Liv is going. :( I hope I'll get to meet her after my mission.

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Adoption shirt

 Shelly & Claricia

Update from Sis Slade

Dear family,

I think that this week sharing the email that I sent to my mission president will suffice.

President Bonham,

As I was thinking this morning about I wanted you to know for this week, I decided that your week is probably pretty busy and mission presidents probably have a lot on their minds, so this week I just want to share with you how happy I am to have so many blessings in my life! Here are 5 things that I am so grateful for this week:

1. Sister Bartsch. She is so amazing! She stretches me to reach a fuller potential than I have ever reached up to this point in my mission. She is like a ray of sunshine. She builds me up and makes me feel so loved. I would say that she needs to be transferred every 2 weeks so that every missionary gets to have "Sister Bartsch time," but I would never tell the mission president that because that would mean that I wouldn't have her anymore... :)

2. The adoption hearing for my little brother, Nathan, is this coming week! T-Minus 10 days until Nathan is officially a Slade! After that my family is going to the Denver temple to be sealed, just like we got to do a few years ago when my sister Eliza was adopted. I love my family!!!! I get to be with them for forever and ever and ever.

3. So much member missionary work in our ward this week! The highlight for me was when our member-present for our church tour showed up with her nonmember friend without telling us and we ended up giving the church tour to two not-yet-members.

4. I was thinking at the cottage meeting last night how grateful I am for a mission president who shows his testimony by example. I've heard you share your testimony of the Savior over and over again, but I realized it's not through your shared testimonies that I know that you know He is your Savior. I know that you know that He is your Savior because you are here in Washington serving as our mission president.

5. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior too. I make so many mistakes and sometimes overwhelm myself worrying about everything that I do wrong and feeling like I'm still only a half-completed project. But it's in those quiet moments when I can feel the Saviors love for me so powerfully that I know that He is the one who will make me whole. I really know that he loves me! I feel His love for me and everyone around me every day, and it's because of Him that we have a purpose in going out every day and sharing his role and His work in the lives of each and every one of us.

love, Sister Slade

I am doing well. We continue to see miracles every day. If you get the chance this week, please take a moment to write me a letter about the things that you are most grateful for in your lives!

Happy Father's Day!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?lang=eng

Love ya!

Sister Slade

Elder Bailey

Dear Friends and Family:

As you know, I stayed in Boynton Beach North. But you may not have known that Elder Van Wagenen was transfered to the Coconut Creek ward, and that my new companion is Elder Bailey. He's an english missionary, and he's really awesome from the few days we've had together so far.

Boynton Beach North is an all-bike area. However, Elder Bailey has been instructed by a doctor to stay off of a bike for the next two months. Is there a contradiction? No. Because, for at least the next two months, this area has a car! (With unlimited medical miles!) Hooray!

Elder Bailey is very tall. He is 6'7". He likes to play basketball, and he likes to read, and to exercise, and to be outside. He's not quite as happy as I am that he can't use a bike for a while. I'm just counting my many blessings. He's also a very hard worker, and a great teacher. We have seen so many miracles in these days that we have been together.

We are currently teaching some very awesome investigators. They are some of the most elect I have ever taught.

The two baptisms that are scheduled for this next Sunday are Shelly S. and Claricia D. They are two Haitian ladies who we found while we were harvesting on our first day together, after we got home from Wednesday's transfer meeting. They don't speak English, so as we went back to teach them I was the only one who could really participate in the lesson. They have been keeping every commitment that we have given them. Shelly, in particular, is always apologetic that she only read the assigned chapters once, and she has not yet reread them, so she says she still doesn't have a full understanding. But, she's the only investigator I've met so far who's had any idea what it is that she read, and who naturally applies it to herself. Claricia is less verbose, but she is just as excited about being baptized this Sunday.

We also found out that they know Boynton Beach Central's investigators who were just baptized yesterday. We're going to try to get them to come out teaching Shelly and Claricia with us.

There were so many other transfer day/transfer week miracles that we have seen. We've accidentally found the elect while we are going to teach a different investigator, we've taken out members to teach who, as it turns out, already knew and were friends with the investigators, we've seen our numbers for the week jump from almost 0 at the end of Wednesday to almost standards by the end... And now we have a car, so we can be even more effective with our time.

Last week, I forgot to mention: we found a less-active member by accident. It was a miracle that we did, he had moved without telling anyone where he was going. We were biking home for the night, and we stopped to give a guy a card. He told us that he used to go to our church, and over the next few minutes we found out that he was Michael LaForge, who was baptized over a year ago, and who had stopped going to church because he didn't have a ride.

Hurricane season started yesterday. I believe it'll last for about four months, until September.

Pray for Shelly and Claricia, so they will be able to be baptized this week; and pray for Jarmel, Tameka, and Myrlande, so that they will be able to be baptized the week after.

I love you all!

Thanks,

Elder Slade

Baptism

Dear family,

Osharrhea's baptism was absolutely amazing! I have developed a huge love for Osh and her family, just as has happened with all of the other investigators that I have had the chance to teach. Her brother Nick who was baptized with the rest of the family in February was the one to baptize her. The spirit was so strong, it was like a warm pressure literally filled the room from the very start of the baptismal service!

Sister Bartsch and I have found many new investigators recently, but we're struggling to find investigators that progress and that will keep future appointments. Help us pray for that! Nevertheless, we have seen so many small miracles- little tender mercies where things just seem to work out too perfectly throughout each day. Heavenly Father is the best secretary. Here are a few of those miracles:

Eric- A few days ago we had gone to talk to a former and we stopped on the way back to talk to a man who was working on his car. The man made it very clear that he was not interested, and in an effort to get rid of us he said, "Go talk to my neighbor, he's a 24 year old rich bachelor, go bother him." Thanks for the referral, Dennis! We were running late so we went back the next time we were in the area to talk to Eric. He just happened to be out on his porch enjoying the sunshine and drinking a glass of wine. At the start of our conversation with Eric he told us right off the bat all of the disagreements he had with our doctrine and why he wouldn't read the Book of Mormon, but for whatever reason both Sister Bartsch and I felt like we shouldn't quite leave yet so we continued talking to him even though he had said no. Partway through the conversation we found out that he's German and part Norwegian, which made Sister Bartsch's day! Sister Bartsch shared a really powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, and by the end of the conversation he said he would take a Book of Mormon and just see what it was about. it was a complete turn around! We're going to go back in a few days and see what he thinks of the Book of Mormon so far :)

Ruben- Ruben took the missionary discussions a few months back, and we've been feeling like we should go see him this week. Ruben has been having a really hard time as he is dealing with repercussions of past mistakes he has made, and it is causing a lot of grief for his family. The first thing that his mom said to us in her broken English when she saw who was at the door was, "Last week I prayed for you to come again. Take Ruben to church." We're excited to start teaching Ruben again.

Rolando- We were walking back to our car after street contacting one afternoon, and we've been making more of an effort to make the gospel the constant focus of all of our conversations and thoughts. We were in the middle of a deep conversation about prayer when Rolando poked his head out from behind his car and stopped us. Rolando is 21 and moved here from Mexico a few years back, and he has so many questions about God and our purpose that he wants answered. Problem is, he feels frustrated and doesn't know if he even believes in God or not because he feels like he has tried praying over and over again and he feels that he has never received answers. Rolando began asking us all kinds of questions about prayer, and when I told him my testimony of how much prayer has changed my life his eyes got really big and he said, "You really believe that, huh?" He said we can come back to teach him more! :)

These are the little miracles that we see all the time!!! I feel so blessed to be at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing! Missionary work is the greatest! Challenge for the week: look for all of the little tender mercies that the Lord orchestrates in your daily lives, and be amazed as you see that the more you look for them, the more there are.

Love, Sister Slade

The Lovely Osharrhea's baptism