I asked if I could stay in Texarkana forever.

How are y'all doing this lovely Monday morning. It was great to see the pictures of the snow. Our ward mission leader texted us Thursday morning to tell us that it snowed in Calgary overnight. The weather has been crazy here. We've had a cold front and some good rain. We needed the rain. 

I have a ton to write about today and I hope it all makes sense and comes out how it should. We have been so richly blessed in Texarkana. In my weekly letter to President McDonough I asked if I could stay in Texarkana forever, he wrote me back and said that it may not happen. haha For now I will thoroughly enjoy every minute I have here. I love it so much.

I mentioned a little last week of the struggle Sister Bithell and I have been having the past few weeks with finding the elect and actually teaching people. We would tract only to get doors in the face or people tell us they have already been "saved." We were getting super frustrated and discouraged. Are zone leaders taught district meeting on Wednesday and it was powerful. I wont go into detail, but President McDonough has had some inspired revelation to move the mission upward and onward. Our mission is doing things that have never been done before. To do things never done, we must do things we have never done. The Texarkana zone has taken this principle pretty seriously, we've initiated the law of sacrifice. D:C 97:8-9. Anyways we are pretty pumped. Sister Bithell and I were pumped after district meeting to go out and work are hardest. Well the afternoon seemed to go anything but the way we had imagined. We were ready to be bold and testify on every door, well that can't happen if doors don't open or people don't give you the time of day. We went home that night extremely frustrated. We had a really good talk about faith and sacrifice and immediately began listing things we needed to sacrifice and change and initiated a plan. Sister Bithell got a bike so Thursday we set out on are bikes and went out finding. Miracle after miracle came to us. The good Lord showed us where to go and gave us the words to speak. We were able to find, teach, and commit to baptism. At the district meeting the zone leaders had us describe are next person we were going to baptize and write it down on a card. The whole zone did this, within the first two days everyone had found their card and made a new one. On Sunday the bishop invited us all to ward council and we were all pumped about all the baptisms coming up and the returning members that have been coming. I love it. I love missionary work, and I love the Lord.  

At the church library e-mailing our parents

Amy's Baptism day

P-Day at the church house e-mailing family

 

Amy was baptized on Saturday!!

Hey Y'all. 

Well, this week was full of a lot.

Amy was baptized on Saturday!! Yah!! It was a very spiritual baptism. She was all smiles while in the font. The ward support was incredible. Ahh I just love Amy and this ward so much. Amy is so amazing. She's a true friend. We are so blessed here in Texarkana! God is so good. 

Amy's Baptism

On Friday night we received permission to go to a football game. It was Arkansas high school vs Texas high school. The 100th time they've played each other, needless to say they are rivals. I think it was more fun watching the elders be so excited then actually watching the game, haha. It was fun though.

                              

Go Tigers!!

Church yesterday was great! A returning member that we have been working with since I got here came to church yesterday, the first time since I've been here! When I saw her walk in I was all smiles! She goes, "I just wanted to surprise y'all!" Well she sure did and it was the best! 

The past few weeks have been challenging in the finding department of missionary work. Usually we are able to give 4-7 Book of Mormons a week, but in the past two weeks we have given 1. To say it has been challenging is an understatment. Last night it was getting pretty late and we were in are apartment having dinner and then we had scheduled time to train. We both felt impressed that we needed to go out and tract. It was like 7:20 and getting dark, but we went out with a Book of Mormon in hand. Well the first couple doors were a no go. Not going to lie, I was getting really mad. I shed a few tears after one door that rejected the Book of Mormon. By now it's like 7:40 and getting dark and Sister Bithell points to one last door and says we need to try it. With the Book of Mormon in hand and all the faith I could muster we knocked and it opened to the nicest guy. He had some misconceptions about the Book of Mormon that we were able to clear up and then bear powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. He had a sincere, genuine desire to read it! He said he was happy to end are two week streak. We were to. The Lord sure works in mysterious ways.  

The Lord is good.

Sister Hartley

Baptist Billboards

We need to get more sacrament trays

Miracles are happening here in Texarkana. The ward is growing every week. Amy is all set to be baptized this week! I am so excited!!! I can't sleep at night! The weather is still hot and humid. We need a good rain here. Miracle in itself: we prayed the other day for rain and it rained over are apartment and no where else. God hears the prayers of his missionaries. 

 The ward is seriously exploding, we need to get more sacrament trays because we have so many people. It is awesome! Love it! Love Texarkana. 

Love y'all. Keep on keeping on!

Love, Sister Hartley

                          

"Girl you are gonna croak a dog!"

Hello Family! Another week has gone by here in the wonderful harvesting area of Texarkana!! This week has been the best! Sister Bithell and I have worked sooo hard this week.Sunday  was the best! The Chapel was completely full, there were people out in the foyer because there was no room to sit! It was the best! We had four returning members come who we have been working with as well as Amy! I love Amy! I love these returning members! Aww life is so good. So very very blessed. This week were transfer calls, but rest assured, I am staying right where I want to be! In TEXAS!! They're switching elders for sisters in the New Boston ward so now there is another sister companionship in are zone and in Texas. Come what may and love it right! I am excited for them to come, it will be hard not holding the only sister spot in Texas, but I know it is for the best. I love this work. 

Sister Bithell and I learn and grow everyday. We literally don't feel like she is new at all, she is doing great! We have grown a lot together and are still overcoming challenges. The good Lord continues to bless us! 

Love Y'all!

Southern saying of the week would have to be by Sister Turner. She went with us to see a returning member and she made a comment before telling us a joke, "Girl you are gonna croak a dog!" haha she is the best! 

Side walks are hard to come by. 

Seeing Sis. Shoto on her 99th birthday! She was born August 24, 1915! 

 

As part of training we role play with Elder White, our District Leader, every week. It has helped a ton. All the missionaries in the Texarkana ward after potluck on Sunday. 

Dinner last night.Notice the Cowboy in the left hand corner, and the Catfish sign on the right. 

Gotta love the south! 

Elder Cobb, Elder Taylor, Elder Palmer, Elder Lore, Me, Sister Bithell, Elder White, Elder Paul 

All the missionaries in the Texarkana ward after potluck on Sunday. 

The best place to be!

Hey y'all. Another week has come and gone here in good ol' Texar (the best place to be!) I love it here. Transfers are this upcoming week, I'm sure I'll be staying, I will be emailing on Tuesday.We spent Thursday night-Sunday  afternoon in Shreveport. We stayed with the Bossier Sisters and went on exchanges with them. It was a party. Sister Rogers, the sister I went out with is from a Missour, really close to Kansas City. She loves horses so we had a lot in common, it was fun. Zone conference, and stake conference was the best! Elder Whitney Clayton, a president of one of the quorums of seventy was there. I got to shake his hand and he asked where I was from, it was really neat. Anyways the whole weekend was crazy busy, but a real learning opportunity. 

Loving Texas

We're really busy in Texar, which is a blessing. We're teaching Amy tonight, she is getting baptized on September 6. I love her so much. It has been the best teaching her. I just think the world of her! Aww life is great. We are also working with a lot of returning members and seeing their testimonies grow. 

Love y'all. I think we're going to play some cards and clue with the elders. Should be a fun day! Thank-you for all y'all do. You're prayers, letters, and blessings mean the world to me. I'm so grateful to be out on a mission, especially to be in the MJM. Love it all. 

Thanks again for all yall do! 

Love y'all! 

Staying with the Boisser sisters. Sister Rogers and Sister Helms 

Missionary family history

Sister Sowards and Sister Bithell (MTC companions), with me and Sister Brown (MTC companions).

Companions training companions 

Mighty!

This week could be described as "mighty." Mighty lessons, mighty finding, mighty opposition, mighty miracles, and mighty emotions. It has been grand. Sister Bithell and I are doing good. We keep learning and growing each day. This weekend we are headed to Shreveport for zone conference and stake conference. We will be in Louisiana from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. It will be crazy. Just another day in the MJM.

 Love it.

 Love yall. 

                        Good ol' Genhis Grill, Southern Soul Food. (yes that's a frog leg!)

Member lives here

Dinner with Amy

"It's the time of your life so live it well."

Well another great week has past. The weather down here has been really strange. I guess it's the coldest it's been this time of year in years. It rained Wednesday-Friday.  It always makes tracting fun. We were out in the rain and I prayed for it to stop and it did. I told Sister Bithell and she said she had been praying that it would keep raining, so I prayed that the rain would start back up again, and it did. We both thought that God had a good laugh at us. 

Speaking of Sister Bithell, she is amazing! She is an amazing missionary. She is training me! She's so good, ougthh she is very hard on herself. I always find myself giving her the same advice my trainers gave me, and she totally reminds me of me when I was in her shoes. 

Thanks for sending the package, I loved it! The cookies are all gone, and I just finished up some fruit snacks. Thank-you! And I love that joke about "tracting!". I love all the pictures you send each week. One of the Elders here is from a ranch so we always show each other pictures of what is happening back home. Both are dads said they took the bulls out this week. Oh and the superduty is looking fine as always. 

We saw a lot of miracles this week. The Lord truly is mindful of each one of us. Sister Bithell and I went to see a part member family that I haven't ever met. I know sisters in the past saw them, but for different reasons stopped going. I felt impressed to see them, though I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure how they would receive us. Well they invited us right in and we talked for a while and said we were more than welcome to come back and share a lesson. It was a dream come true! It went great! 

Oh and we saw the girls this week!!! YAh!! We talked with them about the Holy Ghost and taught them how to look up scriptures and then we read the scriptures and talked about them. I felt like a mom, it was really sweet and fun! Memaw, the girls grandma was there. I can't remember what I was talking about, but somehow I started relating something from The Man From Snowy River, and then I asked if she'd seen it. Memaw got all excited and said that she loves it! I about died! It was the best!!! Sometimes when I get frustrated I hum "Clancy's theme" (the part when he's riding to the Harrison's and he's humming). It's a good stress reliever. 

We are working hard here in Good ol Texar. I can't believe that it's August, time flies when you're having the time of your life. "It's the time of your life so live it well." 

Yall be safe and have a great week!

Love Sister Hartley