Sunday, April 30, 2017

Why Arkansas is green

Dear family and friends,
            Monday: Each week we are thankful for the blessings of modern communications that we can visit with our children by phone or FaceTime or email or text.  When I was growing up, as many of you may have had similar experiences, if you lived far away from aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents as I did, long distance phone calls were expensive so that was very infrequent, so there were letters.  I still have some of those letters. Today we have such ease of communication but then where is there a written record to keep?  Thankfully we can always communicate with God through prayer and we have the written record in the scriptures for His communication with others. Written records are important and many of them have eternal consequences.
            Monday at the office was pretty normal except for dealing with a power outage on one of the circuits in our office.  That unfortunately was the one that ran the refrigerator and we lost all the food in it, which unfortunately was a lot.  The building maintenance man was able to discover the faulty device, which happened to be on the outside of the building and on the same circuit.  He removed it and everything now works fine. Pat had some letters and emails she sent out and worked on her revision to the Secretary’s Handbook reference.
Tuesday: This was a busier day, with plenty to keep busy.  There were apartment issues to settle for a new couple coming the end of the week, and broken cell phones.  Patricia spent time updating a four year missionary address list that is kept, and some email problems that several missionaries were having.  May transfer is pretty small. 
            Wednesday: The last couple of days have been nice, but it rained all day today.  I guess that is why it is all green here.  The emergency radio in the office kept going off all day long, reporting severe thunderstorms north and south of Little Rock, and several tornado watches for those areas.  There were power outages too.  We worry about our missionaries as they are about serving.  There were a couple more cell phone replacements today.  This has been a much more frequent occurrence lately, so maybe there are a large number of phones about the same age and are starting to fail. Pat processed four missionary recommendations and updated the arrival and departure list. Tomorrow is the Missionary Leadership Council (MLC) meeting here in our building, so after work we had to go do some grocery shopping for the luncheon.
            Thursday: We had all the missionary leaders here today for the MLC meeting with President and Sister Wakolo. Patricia and I picked up the chicken strips for lunch at Chick-Fil-A.  There was another broken phone, wow this is getting ridiculous.  I also had to set up a motel stay for the new couple arriving in Memphis on Saturday.  Their apartment won’t be available just yet.  Pat worked with Sister Hess on the three letters that go to the new missionaries whose recommendations we just got this week. One letter for the parents and two different letters for the missionary. There is always a lot of media that Sister Sorensen boxes up to distribute to the different areas after the meeting.  After work we drove to our son Larry’s house to celebrate our granddaughter Harper’s birthday.  That was fun.  She had order cauliflower soup for dinner and donuts for desert. She is a cute little girl, just turned 6.


            Friday: We have had a fairly light week as to work load.  Next week will be busier since it is the week before Transfers, missionaries arriving and leaving, and there is extra things to get ready for them.  We did the office cleaning today, and celebrated Elder Hess’s birthday.  Pat had to do a stake president letter and certificate for a missionary who’s going home early. After work we both got our hair cut.  Patricia always has cut my hair since we were married, so this the first commercial haircut I have had in 44 years.  Quite a savings in all that time.

            Saturday: Today instead of watching the soccer game, we picked up Harper and took her to lunch, and then to a Nature Center in downtown Little Rock.  It isn’t very large, but had fun displays, including some live animals, fish, turtles, a small alligator, and some snakes.  There were other stuffed animals and some pelts to touch.  It was a fun date with her.  We did our apartment cleaning too, and I had to go back into the office to deal with the credit card authorization document required when I paid for the new couple’s motel on Thursday.  I had anticipated this yesterday and called the motel to ask about it, but had been assured it wasn’t necessary.  Well you can see how well that turned out.




            Sunday: Wow what a night last night.  We had a continuous thunderstorm all night.  Lots of rain, thunder and lightning.  The alarm on the phone went off three times related to flood warnings. Just before we were ready to leave for church Pat saw a text from the member we have been fellowshipping that stated that there was a power outage at our building we attend and were going to just have sacrament meeting at the building where Larry attends church.  We were glad for the text or we would have been at the wrong place.  It was a good meeting, which included the Spanish Branch also.  One of the talks was about not taking offense, and referenced a talk by Elder Bednar.  The speaker commented that Elder Bednar commented that taking offense is a choice we make, and not the result of what someone else does or says.  We can decide not to take offense, even if that was the intent of the other person.  The last speaker spoke on how the bar has been raised and continues to be raised as it relates to how we need to do intentional parenting.  We need to choose Christ in all our doing and per 2 Nephi we need to press forward or we will be pushed back by the world.  She ended with a quote from President Eyring that stated that whatever was enough in the past, will not be sufficient in the future.
            We hope you are all doing well.   Our thoughts and prayers are with you all,
            Love, Elder & Sister Hartzell

Monday, April 24, 2017

Pat's Birthday

Dear family and friends,
            Jim: Still the reluctant typist. Patricia’s arm healing is coming along, and I will be very glad when she has her use of it again.  We were so blessed that the accident wasn’t any worse that it was.  It does give one more empathy for those who have much more serious issues to learn from.  I am thankful for the example of others who have faced challenges with faith and trust in the Lord.  It is through Him that we can meet all these challenges and hopefully learn something good in the process, and then help others along the way, as we have been helped.
            Monday: Today was Patricia’s birthday and my decorations were a big hit with her.  She loves a party, the balloons and streamers.  Lots of well wishes all day long, which the decorations promoted for those entering the room.  There were treats of course. We did manage to get in some work today also.  We had our bi-weekly staff meeting with President Wakolo and addressed several issues with him.  He does know what his new assignment is but cannot tell anyone yet. We are still trying to get our office in compliance with the printer guidelines, but that is taking a while.  I also had bills to pay and entering changes into IMOS for changes due to three missionaries going home today for medical reasons.  I also worked on apartment inspection reports and some needs that were identified.  Patricia worked on updating the mission calendar, did emails, and assorted things.  After work we went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant and enjoyed a good meal there.  We had calls from the kids wishing Patricia a happy birthday and singing to her.  It was a great day.



Tuesday: I had a slower day, not much new and so had time to work on less important projects and they was nice to complete.  Patricia worked on some iPad issues, and some letters.  We took some packages to ship and to mail for missionaries also. We had a good visit with Brent on the phone.  After work we exercised, had dinner, and I worked on some photo uploading.
            Wednesday: A little busier day for me, though Patricia has been less busy due to very few missionaries coming the next couple of transfers.  I mostly worked on apartment issues, renewals, and a few closings.  I also worked on an article for the monthly mission newsletter.  They tried to relocate two of our printers today, but will have to come back later to finish.  One printer is too old to network and there was a wiring problem in the new location they will have to come back and fix later.  President Wakolo was doing interviews today, so we had several missionaries in the office waiting their turn to have their interview.  Patricia processed a couple new missionary recommendations with the help of Sister Hess.  After work all the office couples, the military relations couple, the Rasmussens, and the Greens from Conway met and went out to dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate Patricia’s birthday.  Any excuse to eat out, and this was a good one. Fun visit and good food.  I fix our lunches in the evenings so we are not so rushed in the mornings.

            Thursday: Another slower but steady day.  This has been an unusual week, with less new issues, and Patricia still waiting on paperwork from Salt Lake to finish processing some of the Dep missionaries that will leave soon. We had some more things to mail after work today at the Post Office. We picked up some dry cleaning and then did our grocery shopping. This evening we exercised, had dinner, ironed and did laundry.
            Friday: I don’t mention it often, but we start each day at the office with a spiritual thought and then prayer.  It is a great way to start each day.  We also cleaned the office today, the restrooms, vacuumed, and dusted.  The Hesses are helping out most weeks now also, so that helps the work load.  Elder Hess is frequently in the office working on his medical reports, researching, and having conversations in private with missionaries who are struggling with various things.  One sister was in this week to pick up some crutches for a sprained knee resulting from a fall while running for exercise.  Her companion is a great nurse for her.  Elder Sorensen has the never ending tasks of keeping up with car repairs, replacing old cars with new ones, and many related issues. About 4 pm we left early to drive to the mission home to pick up some paperwork left by President Wakolo when they left town for the semi-annual Mission Presidents Seminar.  We stopped at the Two Rivers Park on the way home and enjoyed a little walk there and to just sit and enjoy looking at the river and being out in the park. The park is on an island with a nice bridge access and is a popular locating for biking, jogging and walking.
            Saturday: It was cooler today, overcast, and rained last night.  We attended a soccer game for one of our grandsons, the other sprained his ankle and couldn’t play.  It is nice to be out and enjoying the games and the parks they are played in.  Today was bathroom cleaning day in the apartment, and we spent some time washing clothes and getting winter clothes ready to ship home and hanging up the summer clothes.  We were packed to the brim coming out and won’t be needing all these things until we get back home next fall. We exercised, had leftovers and a quiet evening.
            Sunday: This was a lovely sunny day.  We enjoyed our reading time in the morning and then got ready and picked up Sister Bowie on the way to church.  One of the new converts, an elderly gentleman, probably our age, but I don’t think of myself as elderly, is confined to wheelchair, and today they had a special table set up for him to be able to help bless the sacrament.  That was very nice.  I can remember the first time I blessed the sacrament and what a special privilege that was for me.  I am sure he felt similar. We had a youth speaker and then two brethren.  The first brother spoke about forgiveness and reminded us that if we say we have forgiven someone for an offense, but keep remembering it, then we haven’t really been forgiving.  We have to let it go and let the atonement take it away from us.  The second spoke about the troubled times we live in, and how we need to look for the good and not focus on the bad.  Others declare that they have the truth but are deceived.  He referred to the scripture in Acts 17 where Paul said “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.”   We now, as did Paul in his day, live in a time when some people think they know God, but do not.  We have the truth and can be a light to them, if they will listen. 
            After Sunday School and Priesthood and Relief Society, we had a Linger Longer pot luck.  This is easier to do now that we have the last schedule in the building.  It was a nice gathering and good food.  We met a couple of new individuals as we ate.  It is good to gather and to have fellowship together.
            Our thoughts and prayers are with you all,

            Love, Elder & Sister Hartzell

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Passover week

Dear family and friends,
            Jim:  Last Sunday evening we had our weekly visits with our two daughters and then just before we were ready to go to bed, I noticed a text from President Wakolo that had come in 30 minutes before.  There was some paper work that he needed for one of the missionaries that was leaving for medical reasons the next morning.  So off to the office we went, got that ready quickly, and then drove to the mission home and dropped it off.  That made for a little later evening than we had planned.
            Monday: Pat received help again today from Sister Green to do some of the typing for departing letters to missionaries, parents, and stake presidents.  Mine was a typical busy Monday with lots of bills to pay and I analyzed the monthly financial statement to later review with President, which we do after a staff meeting.   I had a few things to fix with journal entries to correct the errors.  It was raining quite hard when we left the office.
            Tuesday: We had a lighter day today--no real emergencies.  Pat did some shredding and computer work.  We did our weekly grocery shopping after work and a good phone visit with one of our sons. This evening was laundry, fix dinner, do the dishes and fix lunch for tomorrow, exciting stuff eh.  I have been listening to Jesus the Christ and have been enjoying that a great deal. 
            Wednesday: So on the weather report this morning it said zero chance of rain, but the humidity is 97%, glad it isn’t hot yet!  In Utah I don’t think it is ever 97% even when it is raining.  In Arizona during the monsoon season it might have gotten up to 30%.  Today Pat got her fiberglass cast off and put into a removable rigid splint for the next three weeks.  That will make showering a lot easier.  Her arm is healing fine, which is a great blessing.  Today I had three different apartments that needed specific liability insurance documents prepared of them, which is more work.  Most can just use the generic report.  Pat did a few more letters to parents and processed two new missionary applications for August with Sister Hesses help.
            Thursday:  We attended our zone conference today at the Little Rock Stake center where we attend church.  It was a great meeting and we got to hear from President Wakolo a couple of times.  The main focus was on how to improve in finding people to teach. He shared some of his experiences from last week and his calling as a General Authority Seventy.  He has served as a mission president now for nearly 3 years, was an Area Authority Seventy for 8 years, and was a stake president before that.  He said he thought he understood church government and operations from those experiences, but now he said that he really only understood a very little as he had meetings with the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Presidency of the Seventy.  I have several goals I need to work on to improve myself.  One thing I cannot do much about is my hearing.  I use hearing aids but when I am in a cultural hall, with no microphone in use, I have a very difficult time hearing.  Ambient noise is amplified just as much as speech and I miss a great deal.  In the resurrection, besides getting all the hairs back that I have lost, I am looking forward to having good hearing.  In our ward that we attend we have several deaf members.  I have always been touched as I see people signing for them and the expression they put into their signing which emphasizes the expressions they are conveying.  I can appreciate somewhat the challenges they face without hearing well.
            Friday: We had a semi-annual health checkup this morning and then a normal day at the office.  Pat has not had a lot of extra things to do, so she hasn’t needed the extra typing assistance, beyond what Sister Hess has provided from time to time since Tuesday. She had Sister Hess help her send out three stake president’s letters for medical release missionaries going home on Monday.   It has been nice to have a lighter work load this week.
            Saturday:  I had to do some grocery shopping and then go into the office for a little while to deal with an apartment we need to open in Memphis for a new couple that is coming the end of the month.  We did some cleaning and laundry at the apartment, Pat was able to help quite a little with that, even one-winging it.  At 5:30 we met Larry and his family at “Larry’s Pizza” and had a fun time and lots of good pizza for dinner, followed by coloring Easter eggs back at their house after dropping off three more departure letter for sick missionaries leaving.  I am so surprised how many missionaries leave early due to medical reasons of one kind or another. Often we don’t know any particulars.  After the egg decorating they had a little party for Pat.  



            Sunday: A wonderful Easter Sabbath.  We attended Larry’s ward with them.  The Primary kids sang “Gethsemane” that we learned in 2015 when we taught Primary.  It is such a special song and beautifully done by the children.  There were three speakers, concluding with President Wakolo, who spoke about the atonement. What he shared was in part that the atonement is all about love, love, love.  Love of Heavenly Father for all of us, love of the Savior for his Father to do all that was asked of him, and His love for us.  We show our love for them by loving and caring for all our brothers and sisters here.  We share the gospel with them, we do our family history for them, and we serve wherever we are called.  It is the atonement or torment.  Casualness leads to casualty.  President Wakolo no longer sees trials, tribulations or weaknesses, but rather chooses to see them as training for him and through the atonement are helping to perfect him.  A step towards the Savior is a step away from the world.  When doctrine and principles overcome personality we progress.  The question he left with us to consider was “what will the resurrection of Jesus Christ really mean to us each day?”
            In Sunday School the teacher is a converted Muslim. Our lesson was on what we gained from Joseph Smith. She shared that when she grew up she saw Allah as God, but not as her Father. That was a very significant doctrine for her.  And as I think about it, I never thought about God as my Father either.  When you do, your relationship with Him changes, and he becomes more real to you and the hope of your future life with him.
        


  We went over to Larry’s about 5:30 and had a lovely dinner and evening with them.  Later we talked to both of our daughters for our weekly visit.  Where would we be without our modern communication means.
            Our thoughts and prayers are with you all,
            Love, Elder & Sister Hartzell

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Recovery

Dear family and friends,
            Jim: Last Saturday I enjoyed having dinner with Larry at the Whole Hog Café and our visit, and then attending Priesthood session of conference.  Sunday we stayed in the apartment and enjoyed the two sessions of conference.  There were some really touching talks we listened to and others that inspired goals that we need to improve upon our service and devotion.  I appreciated President Nelson’s talk about the turbulent times we live in and how we can get through them. We need to focus on Jesus Christ, and not on what or how we serve.  We need to read, study and memorize the scriptures, and the testimonies of the living apostles. Elder Holland spoke about Jesus listening can hear the songs we cannot sing.  We all have limitations but we can sing in our own voice the songs of redeeming love we have for the Savior. Accept who we are and make that our best self.  Elder Sabin added to that thought that we need to be all in and stand up inside, and not be complacent with our covenants. Elder Anderson spoke about how we need to try and be more like Jesus in all that we do.  Elder Ballard added that we need to ask ourselves, “how am I doing?”, and evaluate how we are harkening to His voice.  Elder Bednar talked about how we need to focus on who we serve and not where.  Where doesn’t matter. Elder Rasband spoke about the importance of the Holy Ghost in our lives.  Where would we be with his help to bind us to Christ, fill us with joy, and comfort us in those hard times we all have. President Uchtdorf spoke in the priesthood session about the need to be humble and lift where we stand and then on Sunday spoke about having faith, not fear. Find and recognize the Lord’s blessings, the pure love of Christ overcomes all obstacles. And Elder Cook talked about faith as a principle of power.  There were so many more, this is just a few, our quest is to study them and set goals for ourselves to improve upon over the next 6 months.
            Monday: Patricia continues to improve each day.  She received help at the office today from Sister Hess, since typing is impossible for her right now to accomplish her work.  We had our bi-weekly staff meeting, but without President Wakolo, who will not be back in town until Thursday.  We have several questions to address with him when he returns.  One of the issues we are trying to address with the missionaries is their preparedness in event of a serious disaster of some kind.  72 hour kits are to be available and we are addressing that. 
            Tuesday: Today was a little less busy than yesterday.  Mondays are nearly always my busiest day of the week.  Sister Hess help Patricia again today.  There are always letter and reports to address.  Some are on a recurring basis, some specific to leaving or arriving missionaries, and some when a missionary needs to leave the mission early due to illness that have to be done quickly. 
            Wednesday:  This morning we went back to the doctor and had Patricia’s arm re-evaluated.  They took the cast off, and x-rayed again and put a new cast on.  Everything looked good so little or no likelihood of surgery being needed.  That was good news. Sister Rasmussen, another senior missionary, helped out with the typing this afternoon to give Sister Hess time to work on her own assignment of cell phone report analysis. 
            Thursday: Today Sister Green, who left several months ago, came back to help with typing.  She is especially a great help since she knows the system and has served in the position in the past. This has been the week for broken cell phones.  Over the past 10 days we have gone through 6 phones to replace.  That is a lot more than usual. 
            Friday:  We have yet another two missionaries going home in the couple of days for medical reasons.  So stake president’s letters and Release Certificates were prepared for them.  Patricia is able to do a little typing now with the new cast, which has more mobility for her fingers to move, and it is okay with the doctor.  Also today the technology specialist finally came and addressed printer relocation needs.  It turns out to be easier than I thought.
Soccer game at Pinnacle Mt.(this is what they call a mountain in Arkansas)

            Saturday: This was a day of soccer games.  Both Gary and Bram had games in fields near Pinnacle Mountain Park, which we had not been to before.  It was sunny, warm, and windy at times.  It was nice to just be outside and enjoy the weather.  We did cleaning at the Office and at home, had fun playing at the park with Harper, also did some exercising of our own.
            Sunday:  had a quiet morning, took the Bowies to church, enjoyed Sacrament meeting, the testimonies, the lessons, returned home, got dinner cooking, and took naps. 
            Our thoughts and prayers are with you all,

            Love, Elder & Sister Hartzell

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Sister Hartzell's accident and transfer week

Dear family and friends,
            Last Sunday we took the Bowies to church and enjoyed our meetings. The concluding speaker in Sacrament meeting was a newly returned missionary, Elder Bailey, who served in Germany and gave a great talk on the Tree of Life.  His younger brother is a ward missionary and has been team teaching our Gospel Essentials class and doing a great job.  He will make a great missionary next fall when he leaves. After Church we dropped of the Bowies and needed to go to the mission office to do a couple things before tomorrow.  We had several people mention to us that the park called “The Old Mill” close to our office is really beautiful with the spring bushes and trees in bloom.  So we decided to stop by and see it.  We had a really nice time taking some pictures and walking around. 


  

Beautiful flowers at The Old Mill
Then just as we were getting ready to leave, life got more interesting really fast.  I tripped and started to fall and could not catch myself. I was able to drop my purse and walk out of my shoes but I fell headfirst into a pond that had rough concrete made rocks and gashed my fore head pretty deep but a clean-cut. I fell headfirst into the water and was completely submerged.  I turned over and tried to stand up.  Jim had jumped in and helped me up and another fellow jumped in the water and they lifted me out of the water to the bank.  The water was about 3 feet deep.  Another fellow there was a nurse and took over assessing me.  Checking my eyes for signs of possible concussion.  Besides my head bleeding pretty badly, also my right arm really hurt, more so than my head and I wouldn’t let anyone touch it.  The fire department responded to the 911 call and determined that I didn’t need an ambulance, and Jim could drive me to an urgent care for treatment.
            At the urgent care I received three stitches in my forehead gash, which was quite deep.  They however didn’t have an x-ray technician so we had to drive to another town 15 minutes to the north and get the radiology done there.  My right wrist is fractured and will need to see an orthopedic doctor in a couple days.  Quite the traumatic afternoon and evening by the time we got back to the apartment.   Jim helped me get cleaned up and I slept on the couch for the next several days to make it easier to get up.  Despite the problems we were thankful that things were not any worse.  The broken wrist was the result of trying to stop myself and that probably saved my head from much worse injury.  There were lots of people at the park that came to help, great Christian service and attitude.  Priesthood blessing helped too.  I am on an antibiotic to prevent infection and a pain killer. Jim: as you can guess this typing is mine so if there are errors consider the source.  The ground at the park is very rough.  Flagstone walks mostly so the ground is uneven and I was unfortunately behind her rather than in front when she tripped.  A helpless feeling, as an initial bystander watching this play out in front of me, and hearing my wife call my name as she is falling into the pond, caused me great heartache and a hard time sleeping Sunday night as I would see that scene, and hear those words over and over.  Thankfully those things fade in time and then we can focus on the blessing we received. 


            Monday we stayed home all day. We rested and took naps and Jim took good care of me. Jim went to the office for a little while in the evening and Larry and the kids stopped in for a surprise visit while he was gone. We played games and that was fun but tiring. 
            Tuesday, we both slept better last night.  I had a hair appointment in the morning and then we went into the office to do the transfer data entry.  President has changed the organization of the mission from 5 zones to 10, so there were lots of changes to make.  It took about 4 hours.  I did okay, but had to take a nap part way through. As long as the pain med is working I am okay, but towards the end of the 6 hours my wrist is really hurting.  We have received a couple good dinners, which Jim especially appreciates, since he doesn’t have to cook it.
            Wednesday morning we had our training for the new missionaries and that went fine.  We were already in west Little Rock, so we went from there to an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon that Larry knows and is in his ward.  It was at the clinic and it was packed and took a long time to get into seeing Dr. Tait, even with an appointment.  Result was confirmed broken wrist of fractures in end of the ulna bone, which fractured in several places.  I have a pretty blue cast now and the hope is that the ulna will heal and not shift alignment.   It was nearly 3 pm before we finally got to the office and worked for a couple hours and went home.  Sister Hess is helping me at my desk, fetching and doing the typing.  She is a great blessing to be available to me, I don’t know what I would have done if she were not available. 
            Thursday went well.  Sister Hess was such a help to me. We sent out letters, answered emails, and processed three missionary recommendations.  We had some shopping to do for the office at Sam’s Club after work, and of course “had to have pizza” for dinner there. 
Friday I got my stitches out this morning and then we did our cleaning of the office, one winger and all.  Sister Hess helped finish the recommendations and the usual answering emails and follow up items with the new missionaries. I received a beautiful flower arrangement delivered from President and Sister Wakolo.  It was a pretty good day.  Jim: I was blessed to have a pretty light week at the office and I was thankful for that, given the other time commitments.


            Saturday was conference and we enjoyed each session, seeing President Monson and hearing to our joy that our mission president was sustained as a general authority seventy.  That was totally a surprise to us, and yet not.  We are proud to know him and his wonderful wife.  They will do wonderful where ever they are called to serve in the world.  We will still have them until the end of June, we assume.
            Love, Elder and Sister Hartzell

Prepare for Transfers- March 26

Dear Family and Friends,
            Last Sunday was lovely.  We ended the day with good visits with Christi and all her family except Connor.  Also did a “We Chat” with Shawn and got to see his fun photos of his weekend in Shanghai.
            Monday was warm—got up to 83 degrees!!  I worked on emails and the 4-year address list.  Jim found an apartment in Morrilton for a new Senior Couple, it was blessing because he didn’t know until Saturday where they were going to be assigned.  We had a good Staff Meeting with President Wakolo, but Sister Wakolo was at home, sick with the flu.  We talked about our schedule for this week and next.  Went home, made dinner, had a good visit with Brent, and had a nice relaxing evening.
            Tuesday I worked on the 4-year list off and on all day, finally finishing it at 4:45!!  Hooray!!  It was hard to add in all the email addresses.  I also printed up 5 of the 13 missionary letters for their binders.  Several sets of missionaries were in and out of the Office because their cars were getting either new or replacement Tiwis (those are the devices that tell missionaries if they are driving too fast or unsafely—like having Mom with them).  Also dealt with iPad issues.  Came home and exercised, cut up a bunch of peppers for the freezer, watched TV.  Jim had a very busy day dealing with three new apartment issues, especially the one in Morrilton, and is struggling with allergies and maybe a cold.
            Wednesday it cooled off again and was in the low 60’s.  We to the Pinnacle Mountain building for training the 3 new ASL sister missionaries who just arrived on Tuesday.  Then went to the Office and printed up the new 4-year address list and put them in the “Mission Memories” binders.  Also 4 more letters to the President, Jim & I did the IMOS Transfer Board for the 3 new missionaries.  Jim didn’t feel good, does have a cold to go along with the allergies, and I took him home at 3:00 and he slept until I got home at 6:00.  He also started taking Coldeze and took it all day Thursday and Friday.  I finished up at the Office, did the grocery shopping, came home and we ate dinner, then I did 3 batches of laundry, and we watched TV and rested.
            Thursday Jim felt a little better and went to the Office for the day.  He was very tired by the end.  We had MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) in the building—32 of our best missionary leaders learning how to do their jobs even better.  Had a phone visit with my sister, Lois, while we got lunch for the missionaries at Jimmy John’s and they were delicious!  Did an order from Staples, sent the emails and photos to the parents of the new ASL missionaries.  At about 2:00 our new Senior Couple came from Sandy, UT, named Wies.  They are lovely people.  He is legally blind, only having about 10 percent of his vision so he can see outlines of people but no details.  She had to do all the driving to get here.  We showed them around and visited with them until President was done with his meetings.  Then he talked to them between 3:45 and 4:30.  We just worked at our desks, finishing things up, then took the Wieses to dinner at Chiles, then to their hotel to spend the night.  They are great people and will be wonderful MLS missionaries in Morrilton.  The Hesses also were in the Office for part of the day and left soon after the Wieses arrived.  Jim was exhausted from the cold symptoms and sinus headache and after dealing with all the apartment issues and finances for the week so far, by the time we got home at 6:15, he laid down for an hour nap, then we watched TV and rested.
            Friday was pretty quiet in the Office.  Not many people came in or called, except for Elder and Sister Sorensen got calls about cars and media orders.  I printed up the last 4 Presidents letters and finished the “Mission Memories” Departure Binders.  Also printed up the Departure and Arrival Programs for next Monday and Tuesday nights, and got the envelope ready to pass out their passports (only had one for the group), and to collect all their cards:  health, money, and gas.  The Assistants were in the Office Thursday night to work on the Transfer lists, and came in at the end of the day to try to finish.  We got some things collected from the supply shed for the Wies apartment for the office elders to pick up tomorrow morning, before leaving for Morrilton. Jim felt a little better today and was able to finish all the needed things for housing and finances.  There are routine reports to check and data entry to do each week, so this is an ongoing process.   Also, as we were leaving the Sherwood Sisters came in, Sister Burk and Bradford, so we took them to dinner at Casa Mexicana.  Had good food and good visits.  Sister Burk is from Colorado Springs, and Sister Bradford is a 2-Transfer missionary from Bentonville, AR, so is going home on Tuesday.  Had a quiet evening at home.  It was raining hard when we went to bed.
            Saturday we worked on emails, cleaned our bathrooms and kitchen, and read and took naps.  Jim felt pretty good all day, and I started sneezing a lot and being more stuffy, so started on the Coldeze and other medicines.  So we didn’t do any sightseeing.  We cleaned up in the afternoon, rested, read, and I went to the Women’s dinner and Conference.  They served “Café Rio” style dinner and it was yummy!!  I got to know Sister Stuckey and Sister Nance and Sister Burrup better--great sisters in the Little Rock Ward.  Went home and took medicine and watched a little TV, then went to bed and slept great.  Jim read and worked on family history while I was gone.
            Sunday it is 60 degrees outside and supposed to warm up to 75.  Having a lovely quiet morning.
            Missionary share:  “This past week I had a very awesome experience.  In my personal study I was studying some things that people will consider it as a deep doctrine.  During my study there’s a feeling hit me that I will always remember to keep on following it every time that I receive it.  I felt it, and can almost hear the words, ‘This is not the time to study things that you want to study.  Is it going to help you in this mission, and your investigators?’  The last questions really hit me.  I immediately closed my deep doctrinal studies, and go straight to Preach My Gospel, and start studying on Chapter 4.  It’s an amazing feeling.  It’s good to know that there’s someone that is guiding me in my studies.”

We love you all Elder and Sister Hartzell