the getUritoVisit() method works fine when it is still inside the oncreate, but as soon as I move it out of the oncreate and into the activities main body, the edit text always comes back as null when I try to access it. Da fuq?

stupid problem

package com.example.testapplication;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.os.Build;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class FifthActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    public EditText etText;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_fifth);

         final EditText etText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editText);

        Button secondButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button2);

        secondButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                Toast.makeText(FifthActivity.this,"you clicked the second button",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
        });
        Button launchButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button3);
        launchButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {

                    Uri url = getUriToVisit();
                    if (url != null) {
                        Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
                        i.setData(url);
                        startActivity(i);
                    }

            }

            public Uri getUriToVisit() {
                etText.getText().toString();
                String urlAddress;
                urlAddress = etText.getText().toString();
                if (urlAddress != null) {
                    if (!urlAddress.startsWith("http://"))
                        urlAddress = "http://" + urlAddress;
                    return Uri.parse(urlAddress);
                } else {
                    return null;
                }
            }

                   // this code pairs with that stuff in main activity
//                Intent i = new Intent(FifthActivity.this, MainActivity.class);
//                String sting = etText.getText().toString();
//                i.putExtra("text", sting);
//                startActivity(i);

        });

    }

    public void firstButtonClicked(View v) {
        // checking that shit works in the xml
        System.out.println("whaddup");
        Toast.makeText(this,"Hello",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }

}