I am learning so much.

This week has been great! Sister Kelly and I are busy and teaching,  teaching,  teaching. I am so grateful to be here in the Waveland ward. I love it here. 

We found a family to teach on Saturday. They are elect. Thank-you for the package. I gave the socks to Sister Rivas yesterday and she loved them! I am going to give her something Canadian every time I see her. Did I mention that I love it here. I am learning so much. I love the people here. I love y'all. 

 During one of the breaks, the books, notebooks, scriptures, Preach My Gospels, and missionary stuff are impressive.  They have come to learn and record what they are learning.

Bella's Birthday

Eating peach cobbler as we're tracting.

Understand the discipline of Discipleship

Sister McDonough has been doing this with all the missionaries, "My mission has blessed my life by..."

What a week here in the MJM! So much has happened. I have a bit of time today so I'll give it to y'all in detail. 

Monday: It was Sister Borja's last pday. A member took us out to Breakfast and then another couple took us out to lunch. The members here are amazing, they are such good people. For lunch we went to a seafood place with our ward mission leader and his wife. We ate crawfish! It is really good and fun to eat. The manager came out and was talking to our WML so he told him that a Canadian and Sister Borja from Paraguay were eating crawfish for the first time. That night we had an appointment and then we headed out on a exchange. 

Tuesday: I was on exchanges. The companionship was a trio, so two of the sisters stayed with me and the other went to our area with Sister Borja. It was a little stressful working with two sisters, but they were both great and I learned so much from them! We were able to teach someone while tracting we all taught in unity pretty good all things considered. It reminded me of my trio days. Oh the memories! I'm so grateful to work with the sisters in the Gulfport and Slidell zones. They are wonderful and powerful, and they love the work. 

Wednesday: I was back in our area and we had district meeting. The elders here are in a trio for a few weeks. An elder has come from Vunwatu. (spelling?) It's an island in the pacific by Australia. He is learning english, so he says some funny things sometimes, but we are all helping him. He's a powerful missionary, he has a strong testimony of the Gospel. After the meeting we all went out to eat at the same seafood place that Sister Borja and I ate at on Monday. The manager came out again and he actually sat at our table and talked to us all for a bit. He wanted to know where we were all from and while we were talking with him another man walks into the resturant and he knows the manager so he starts talking to him, and then he starts talking to us, and they both know Brother Sones who took us there on Monday so then they all start talking about what a good man he is. Anyways the man went to sit at his table and then we start getting ready to leave and pay and the owner comes over to us and says, "Dr. Z has y'alls meals covered." We couldn't believe it! We went over to shake his hand and thank him and he says, "I've known Thomas my whole life, he is a good man, I know y'all are doing good work." The whole experience taught me the effect we have on people. We truly are the message. Our example and the way we live are lives has an effect on people. That afternoon Sister Borja and I taught together for the last time. We taught one of our investigators about the Book of Mormon and it was a powerful lesson. The spirit was there, I will really miss teaching with her. 

Thursday: Early Thursday morning we drove to Jackson, it was a pretty drive. There has been a little snow in Jackson, so as we got closer we started to see some snow on rooftops, it was a little weird. It was strange to be back in my old area. When we got to the mission home my new companion was there. I had no idea who it was going to be until I got there (long drive to Jackson when you don't know who is waiting there for ya there eh?) Her name is Sister Kelly. She is from Las Vegas. She looks a lot like Sister Jones, so we get asked if we're twins and sisters. She is great. We had MLC meetings that afternoon and night. 

Friday: Sister Borja flew out early in the morning so it was Sister Kelly and I at the meeting Friday. It was a spiritual meeting. We all came fasting and it was a totally different meeting than the past ones I have attended. Usually the same missionaries comment, but this time everyone gave there opinions and it made a remarkable difference. President McDonough continues to inspire me. After the meeting we got in the car and headed back to the coast. It was a long drive, but it was pretty. We got back to our area about 8:00. There was a Wild West night at the church, the young woman did it as a fundraiser for camp. Everyone was dressed up and they had line dancing and all kinds of fun western activities. There were a lot of non members there. Anyways we got back to it as fast as we could and were able to catch a few people. One of the members had a long western coat on (and they have a daughter named Jessica) and I said, "Have you seen the Man from Snowy River, because you're wearing his coat!" And he responded, "How do you think we got Jessica's name?" They have good tastes in movies. :) 

One of the Sister Missionaries I get to go on exchanges with! She is great!  Sister Nash.

Saturday: We were up and tracting, the weather was beautiful. Because of MLC, we had a lot of tracting, and weekly planning to do. We managed the two really well. We had an appointment that night and we had a little bit of time beforehand so we prayed of where to go tract. When we were heading back to our car, we noticed a house with a few cars that we hadn't tried yet, we were already running late, and we were hesitant if we should knock. We both felt that we should. After I introduced who we were the lady says, "I was at y'alls church last night!" Turns out she was friends with one of the members and she had left before we got there. She let us in and we had a great visit with her. Alma 26:37 God is aware of us all. 

Sunday: We got a call during ward council from Randy, someone that I hadn't met yet, was going to come to church! He has been taught by missionaries before in Michigan. We're teaching him tonight in a members home. I'm looking forward to it. That afternoon the weather was beautiful and we did some more tracting. We met this young couple who are sooooo elect! He was out kicking a soccer ball with his son when we walked up their driveway. He looks a lot like Riley Walburger with red hair. He said his name is Matthew, and his wife's name is Ashley. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and they were excited about it! They were visiting family and don't actually live at the house we met them at, they live in the elders area. I'm grateful we could find them, and I know the elders will take good care of them. A funny/nice thing happened to us while we were one the same street. We knocked on this door and a lady quickly opens the door and says, "I'm not interested, but I just made some peach cobbler, do you want some?" We said yes, and she closes the door and runs to her kitchen. She opens the door back up and hands us two plates, and says I don't want to listen to y'all, but I appreciate what you're doing." So we ate peach cobbler on her swing. We left her with a card and I know when she is ready missionaries will find her again. Southern hospitality. 

Monday: Zone conference! I got to see Sister Bithell!!!! It was my last zone conference.  When President was teaching he would look at me and say, "Sister Hartley you've been doing this for awhile tell us what you would do." At every ones last zone conference we bear our testimony so I got to bear mine. I never thought I'd ever get to that point, but there I was bearing my testimony at my last mission zone conference. All these emotions came to me out of no where, and I felt like I had been hit with a ton of bricks. I remember my first zone conference and the sister missionary who bore her testimony and I thought it would be forever until I was where she was at. All is well, except  time as Melissa said last week. 

Sister Borja goes home so I will be getting a new companion.

Clouds in Waveland. Doesn't it look like an angel? Beautiful! 

Sister Riva's little boy Taz

Hey Y'all. I love y'all so much and thank-you for all your support and emails. I don't have a ton of time. Sister Borja goes home Friday so Thursday morning we head to Jackson for MLC and then she flies out Friday morning so I'll be getting a new companion. I don't know yet who it will be. Yesterday it was bitter sweet for her last Sunday. We got a new bishopric so they all bore their  testimonies and then Sister Borja bore hers. It was beautiful. She is an amazing person. She's got a lot of love in her. I have learned so much from her, it has been an honor to serve with her these past 3 weeks. All is well here. We got to head out. I love y'all. Have a wonderful week! 

Some random pictures from the mission home.

Best time of my life! She is from Stirling.

A day with Sister Bithell!

Hi Y'all, I know I say this every week, but so much has happened since last Monday. Once again, the Lord continues to have His hand in the work here. Our Thursday afternoon and evening plans weren't falling into place and we were getting frustrated. We made several phone calls and were not getting far. Finally we got on are knees and asked the Lord what he needed us to do. Once we finished praying we sat on are knees for a moment and the phone ran. It was a returning member. She says, "Want to get together." Us "yes!" Her "When" Us "right now?" Her "okay" Us "we'll start walking" her "I'll come pick you up." Us "THANK-YOU!" She ended up taking us to her daughters home, who isn't a member. She was in the middle of a stressful situation and we were able to pray with her and share a message with her about the hope of the Gospel. It was a miracle. 

Saturday night Sister Borja and I were tracting and no one was giving us the time of day. I was struggling a bit with it, but kept my head up and looked forward. Someone would listen. We knocked on another door and an old woman let us right in and she needed us right at that moment. She needed to know that God hadn't abandoned her. Another miracle. God always provides a way. I'm learning that that way is always a little more than we sometimes think. The extra mile. 

I was able to go on an exchange with Sister Quilty on Tuesday. Best time of my life! She is from Stirling. For 24 hours I felt like I was in Southern Alberta. I'd say, "Country 95" and she'd say, "Mayor Magrath Drive" and I'd say "Lethbridge Hurricanes." haha and we went on and on, we both had a great time and we worked hard and saw a lot of miracles. 

Saturday I was able to go on an exchange with Sister Bithell, another best time of my life! I love her sooooo much!! She is one of my very best friends. I'll be naming one of my girls after her, let's put it that way! It was great to be with her again. We worked hard and had a lot of fun. We were able to talk about Texarkana. I love that place! We were also able to phone Amy. We needed it and she needed it. Please keep her and her family in y'alls prayers. 

Yesterday we were able to go out with are ward mission leader and present the ward mission plan to a few of the members. Our ward mission leader is amazing. He reminds me of Alan Wiley, and he grew up on a ranch in Tennessee. He's a doer, and a finisher. Just the right person for the job. I've learned a lot from him. 

I love y'all. Thank you for all y'alls support, prayers, and letters. It means a lot to me. We're so blessed to have the scriptures in our lives.

Sister Hartley 

 O'Canada 

Sister Quilty

With Sister Quilty

Look how close the road is to the water

A day with Sister Bithell!

I'm not in Jackson anymore

Boy is that subject title the truth! Sorry I'm just emailing now. I got to be quick. I got transferred. I'm now in the Bay St. Louis area. I am on the coast! Now I've seen both ends of the mission! Are apartment is 3 miles from the ocean. My companion is named Sister Borja (pronounced Borha). She is from Paraguay. She goes home in 4 weeks so I have a lot to learn about the area and the sisters in are stewardship (one of which is from Stirling and knows Beth, and also Sister Bithell and my grandaughter! and Sister Brown my MTC companion!). Anyways I love it here. Today was my first official day and it was the best. I've been having Deja vu all day. I feel really impressed that I am supposed to be here. It is a totally different world than the other areas I have served in. I can't believe I'm so close to the ocean. It is crazy! We drove over a long bridge today right over the ocean! It is crazy! Almost everyone we talked with today made a reference to Katrina and how it affected them. We see evidence of the damage in some areas. My district is great. It's just us and a set of elders. We also both serve in the Waveland ward. The are awesome, hardworking elders, and we seem to have a lot in common. Ones from a ranch and rodeos so I was telling him about Nat and stuff. Anyways we are super busy and working hard serving the Lord. I'm starting to feel old. I was on the transfer van and out of 9 sisters I was the oldest serving sister. Where did the time go? So crazy. A lot of missionaries in the mission that have influenced me went home this transfer. It was hard to see them go. I don't think we realized how big of an influence we have on people. I learned so much from them and they changed my mission. Anyways I better get going. Love y'all! 

We were so busy we worked right through lunch.

 The Jackson Zone Sisters.

Hey y'all. Another great week here in good ol' Jackson. If y'all haven't read this talk I'd invite you to read it. I've lost count the number of times I've listened to it.

If you're able to y'all should listen to him give it, his voice is powerful. Neat thing as well, Elder Hugh B. Brown married Charles Ora Card's daughter.

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=111

We've seen many miracles this week. Tuesday we were on exchanges. I was in our area and for some reason Tuesday morning I was really stressed out. I was trying to hide it because we were on exchanges. I didn't want the sister I was with to see me flustered. Some appointments were falling through, we were trying to get members to come out with us, and we had planned to spend the majority of our day on foot so we could talk with everyone. I was worried we were going to run out of things to do because our appointments weren't super solid. I decided to push it aside and have more faith. We set out and none of the people we had planned to see that morning where there, but we talked with everyone, and tracted,   We were so busy we worked right through lunch. That afternoon we were out walking trying to locate a referral and we stopped to talk to this older couple walking out of there driveway to go for a walk. When they saw  us walking towards them they said that we were filled with light. We showed them a picture of the Salt Lake temple and talked about forever families and it really interested them. We set a time to see them the next day. When we went back the lady began to tell us she wasn't interested, but Sister Kennard being the bold missionary that she is  wasn't taking no for an answer. We ended up teaching her and are seeing her again tonight with Sister McDonough.

After we talked with them we needed to book it back to the car because we were late for our next appointment. While we were half running I saw a man by his truck and before we could say anything he says, "Sisters! I'm a member!" Turns out his family just moved in so we got there contact info and are excited to see them. The appointment we had planned fell through so the member that was with us took us to see a lady on her visiting list that was less active. She was home to so we got to talk to her for a minute. All in all the day turned out perfectly and I really enjoyed my time with the sister I was with. We both gained a stronger testimony of talking with everyone and walking as often as we can.

Sister Kennard and I also had a powerful tracting experience. We knocked on a door and no one was there so we went to the next door.  A car then pulled up in the driveway of the house we had just knocked on. We went back and knocked again and a man answered and he was prepared to receive the Book of Mormon and we had a powerful lesson with him.

I'm grateful for the experiences I've had this week. Transfers are next week so I'll be emailing on Tuesday. I have no idea what will happen. I could easily stay, and easily go. I'll do whatever I'm asked.

I love y'all and thank-you for all the support and prayers.

 funny quote we heard from a member

Lunch with my favorite ladies