Dear family and friends,
Sunday,
July 23rd, was a lovely, quiet Sabbath Day.
We enjoyed our church meetings and visiting with the wonderful members
of the Little Rock Ward. The Sabbath is
a rejuvenating day for us. We had a Linger-Longer Potluck after and ate lots of
good food. Went home and took naps, then
had phone visits with my sister, Lois, and with our daughters, Christi and
Shelley. It’s always so fun to catch up
with everyone.
Monday,
July 24th, was Pioneer Day.
We couldn’t stay home and watch the parade on BYU TV but we did see
parts of it later. And we had thoughts
about the pioneers at the Office. I took
care of emails and we had our Staff Meeting from 10-1:00. We talked about a lot of things, and
President Hansen likes to use the Council process, so we discussed a lot of
things that we don’t usually talk about.
It was very informative, but also takes a lot longer. He also shared some of the miracles that he
has seen in the month he has been here.
He has felt the guidance from the Spirit, as promised by Elder Anderson
when he was set apart, stronger than at any other time in his life. We went to
lunch at Larry’s Pizza (right around the corner), and then President continued
discussions with the various individuals and the things they needed to talk
about that the whole group did not need to be there for. I worked on a few new things that the
President asked me to do. In the evening
I talked to Lois and Carolyn and Glenn.
This is all to set up my sister moving to Phoenix. Maybe then I can finally have a good night’s
sleep again—I have been so worried about her as she is not in a safe
place.
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| Pat teaching Sister Sorensen how to do her work |
Tuesday,
July 25th, was our 5-week mark until we leave. I worked on Departure “Mission Memories”
Binders all day, showing Sister Sorensen the process. I got 10 of the 15 done and will let Sis. S.
do the rest Wed. I also had a good phone
visit with Sister Hugentobler—she really misses being here and I know we will
feel the same when we are gone. We
exercised both before and after work.
Jim was able to have a good phone visit with Brent during his walk. I talked to Lois and had a quiet evening. Was able to sleep good.
Wednesday,
July 26th, Sister Sorensen finished the last 5 binders. We had a weird problem happen in IMOS and had
SL try to help us, but it was because of some change in Google so we just have
to deal with it. Two missionary sisters
came into the Office saying that someone had tried to open their door after
10:00 the night before. They called
their District Leaders and the police, then drove to the Sherwood sisters’
apartment and spent the night there. We
talked with them, they talked to President Hansen, and we determined to get
them some lunch, take them to the store for a few things like pepper spray, and
have them go back and collect their stuff and go stay with the sisters in
Cabot. They went back, prayed about
their apartment, and just didn’t feel good about it, so did what we
suggested. Some places are just
scarry! We were invited over to dinner
at a member’s home. Their family has
fixed dinner for the missionaries in their ward (the LR ward) every Wednesday
night for over 30 or 40 years (I can’t remember when they started but it was a
long time ago!!) Good food and good company. I feel so sad - my sister called and told me some
bad things that happened to her this week. My heart just breaks and I will be
so glad when my sister is moved. So I
didn’t sleep well that night or the next. Thank heavens there are other family
members who help out with love and support.
Thursday,
July 27th, was MLC, and we got to spend a little time with some
great missionary leaders. I taught
Sister Sorensen how to do the Departure and Arrival Programs, how to forward
itineraries, how to print up the lists for the Departure and Arrival envelopes,
and assorted other small things. I also
helped Sister Hess go through all the 22 Arrival Binders and make sure all the
materials were in them. There were
several ones that had stuff missing, so it’s a good thing we did this. We went to get the Jimmy Johns box lunches
and enjoyed eating them. Worked on the
calendars (both my desk calendar and the Mission Calendar), answered emails,
and other stuff. Jim: I have been very
busy this week with apartments. Opening
one new one, there are 12 renewals in process and now 5 more that we need to
find due to an increase in missionaries coming to the field. It is a good busy. I went home with the Hesses as Jim had to
stay for a Church Disciplinary Council (a young elder did something wrong and
is being sent home). I spent the evening
alone as Jim did not get home until 9:15.
Jim: These councils are held to bless the individual in helping them
repent and receive the blessing of the atonement in their life. It is a
humbling experience for all who are involved.
I had spoken with Lois and she was trying to feel calm with all the bad
stuff going on in her life.
Friday,
July 28th, was cleaning morning at the chapel and we did the
bathrooms and collected the garbage. I
sent out a bunch of emails and recorded the responses as they came in. I did some more calendaring, training, and
organizing. After work we did a quick
clean at the apartment and got stuff ready for Saturday.
Saturday,
July 29th, we had a fun outing to Memphis. We rode with Brother & Sister Green, and
met up with the Sorensens and the Hesses at a place called, “The Slave Haven Museum—a
stop on the Underground Railroad.” It is
a small house but the guides pack a lot of information into their
presentation. Because we had to stop and
repeat a couple of times as more people joined us, it was a bit frustrating,
but finally we got the rest of the tour and it took about 2 hours (including
the stops and starts). It was very
interesting. Then we went to Beale
Street and got lunch at a restaurant called Jerry Lawlers (a wrestler). Good BBQ and gumbo soup. Then shopped at Schwab’s Drug Store and a
couple of other places. Then we went to
the Cotton Museum, where all the instruction was done with displays and videos,
so we could take our time and see what we wanted. We were there about 1 ½ hours.
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| Standing in front of the Slave Haven Museum/House |
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| A little view of the famous Beale Street |
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| Enjoying BBQ, Gumbo, etc. |
More and
more people are realizing we are leaving and letting us know how sad they will
be to have us gone. And we will surely
miss them, too!
Hope you
are all doing well, and may the Lord bless you.
Love,
Elder & Sister Hartzell
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