Dear
Family & Friends,
First—we hope you all have a very
Merry Christmas next Sunday!!
Last Sunday we spent the evening
putting missionaries’ names on Christmas cards from the First Presidency and
sealing them up to be handed out at the Zone Conferences. Also had good phone visits with Lois and
Christi.
Monday I was busy all day doing 16
Departing miss letters. I also had to
forward more child photos and work on my Christmas story for the program here
in Arkansas. Our new Office Couple,
Orval and Callene Sorensen from Layton, Utah, arrived about 4:15 and met with
President Wakolo. Then he had to leave
and asked us to use the Mission credit card to take them out to dinner before
showing them their new apartment, which we were happy to do. They are great people and will take over for
Elder Green—Vehicle Coordinator, and Sister Hugentobler—Referral Secretary/Recorder/and
Mail Handler. After we helped them
unload their van, we headed to the movies to see “Fantastic Beasts and Where to
Find Them.” It was quite whimsical and
even scary, but well done and we enjoyed it!!
Came home to visit with Shelley while we got more envelopes ready.
Tuesday the missionaries helped set
up tables to be decorated in the Cultural Hall, the Sorensens came in for their
first day of training, I printed up Mission Histories to go in the “Mission
Memories” binders, updated the 4-year Miss. Address List, and printed up the
letter that goes into their binders. Went
home at 4:30 to exercise, eat dinner, then went back to the chapel for the
rehearsal of the program for the Zone Conference. It was a bit rough but we do have some good
singers.
Wednesday was the highlight of our
mission!!! What an incredible 3-Zone Christmas
Conference it was!!! We had Little Rock,
North Little Rock, and Searcy Zones for the Arkansas side. It started with missionaries arriving
starting at 7:30 a.m., trying to take care of stuff in the Office before going
into the meeting. We were in there by
9:15 and it started at 9:30. Elder
Beheshti was presiding. The Assistants
conducted the meeting, starting off with hymn, prayer, and then recitations
(the missionaries were impressive with how much they had memorized!!), then
President Wakolo spoke and gave a great Christmas message. Then Sister Wakolo had put together a lovely
Christmas program with narrators reading scriptures, songs presented by solos,
duets, and trios. Wow, what an
improvement from the rehearsal the night before!! I have a 6-minute Christmas story talk at the
end of it and felt such a good Spirit.
Then Sister Beheshti gave a short talk about changing O to E—Got to Get,
as in “I got (have) to do missionary work” changed to “I get to do missionary
work.” The change of attitude can make
such a big difference. Then Elder
Beheshti spoke and gave a really inspirational message and told some great
stories. Jim: for me I am most touched by
the Spirit thru stories and so the two stories that Pat shared and the story at
the end of Elder Beheshti’s talk were the highlights for me. Good speakers like these are able to paint a
great picture of the events they are speaking about by the way they share the
stories. That helps me to internalize
the story and feel the principles involved.
Then we went into lunch put on by
the North Little Rock Ward—it was beautifully decorated and had fancy serving
tables with sisters serving us with love.
The food was delicious!! And the
desserts plentiful (enough to put in lots of baggies for the missionaries to
take home). Then the missionaries got
into Zones and were given their Christmas bags that had been collected from all
the wards and branches in the Mission by their own Stake President or a
Counselor, and their First Presidency Christmas cards. Next a couple of games were played, the
missionaries did a talent show (very fun!!), then they played lots more games
of the Minute to Win It variety. Some
were hysterical!! Last but not least,
they all sat on the floor in front of the stage while childhood pictures were
put up on the screen and the missionaries tried to guess who each person
was. They LOVED IT!!!!! So cute!!
While they were watching that, we brought
out the gift boxes that had been coming into the Office from their families,
and had 25 that were made by a group of Mission Moms to give to the
missionaries who did not get any gifts from home. These were mostly foreign missionaries. They were so surprised and pleased—you should
have seen their eyes light up after walking to the tables thinking they would
get nothing. What a great feeling it was
to see their delight!! Then everyone had
to clean up and go home, which took about an hour before everyone was
gone. As they left, there were so many
hugs and Thank You’s, tears and more hugs!!
There was stuff left, and thank heavens for the Office Elders who went
around to all the rooms and the chapel to collect all the stuff and the
garbage. It is so wonderful to have
young men who are so committed in their service!! Then we went grocery shopping, home to do
laundry and eat a light dinner, and just sit in amazement at the wonderful day
we had had!! (Sorry if you are tired of
the exclamation marks—but that is how it was!!)
Thursday was the Zone Christmas Conference
of the two Zones in Tennessee—Memphis and Memphis North. Jim and I and the Sorensens were the only
ones in the Office and the phone hardly rang all day. But we were filled with the glow of the warm
Spirit we had felt the day before. I
sent letters to the missionaries in the MTC who would be coming on January 3rd. Had to get stuff ready for another missionary
who had to be sent home to have a surgical wound that wasn’t healing get some
treatment at home. Went home to exercise
and work on Christmas gifts and cards.
Friday was a flitting day—a little of
this, a little of that, going from activity to activity. Everyone was back and we were all busy. Sister Wakolo came in for about an hour and
told me about some stories of some of our most faithful missionaries and the
struggles they had had early in the mission field, wanting to give up and go
home. One even wanted to commit suicide
and they watched him around the clock for two days, but finally he turned
himself around and was one of the happiest missionaries I have seen. Jim took me to dinner at a Greek restaurant
called Tazikis—such good food! Then we
wandered the mall and enjoyed the Christmas decorations, did a little Christmas
shopping, stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond on the way home, then put our feet
up and watched TV.
Saturday I made more cinnamon roll
wreaths, we cleaned the bathrooms, exercised, ordered Christmas presents
online, sent out more Christmas cards, etc.
The temperature on Thursday was 40degrees, on Saturday it was 70
degrees, and today was 30 degrees!
Incredible!!
Today we had talks in Sacrament meeting
about Christmas memories, enjoyed SS, Priesthood meeting, and RS. Michelle and another sister in the ward were
rear-ended on Thursday and are both hurting with back, neck, and
headaches. Please pray for them. Went to the Office to work on photos in the
afternoon, then home for naps and watching Music and the Spoken Word. Had a good birthday visit with Joseph, and a
good dinner, and visits later with Christ and Shelley.
In our latest President’s letter, he
shared a quote from a missionary: “We
were having a rough night with little success last Monday, and we were heading
to the church to sync with 15 minutes left and all of a sudden the Spirit told
me, “stop.” And so we got out of the car
and knocked on a door. No one answered. But then we went to the next house and we got
talking to this couple. The next day, we
got a text from a member saying that this lady we had talked to had told her of
the night before. She and her husband
had been at ‘rock bottom’ talking and crying over their son who had passed
away, when she said, there was a knock on the door. She said ‘God sent these two missionaries.’ That made me so happy to know that we really
ARE on the Lord’s errand.” There are
some great stories that President shares each week. That helps us stay
connected with why we are here, to support the missionaries so they can have
these teaching experiences.
Today at the North Little Rock building
when we stopped to do some photos in the Office, a sister stopped me. Her name is Sister Edgar. She has lived here a long time and remembered
years ago when Larry and Holly moved here and became a part of their ward. She was Relief Society President and Holly was
RS Secretary. She said, “Holly is one of
the sweetest people—she is a great mother and has a wonderful husband and
family.” It makes me feel so good to get
complements about our children and the wonderful people they have married. This kind of thing happens whenever we visit
their wards. We are so grateful for the
positive impact they have on those around them!!
We really love the feelings of love that
abound this time of the year, and are treasuring every memory and event that we
get to be a part of. We wish you all a
most wonderful Christmas season, and may the feelings of love and service be a
big part of your 2017.
Love,
Elder & Sister Hartzell
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