Three Weeks Remain

Dear family and friends,

            Monday, August 7, was another very busy day.  Lots of emails had come in over the weekend that needed to be dealt with, and mail that needed to be opened, recorded, and filed.  We entered all the contact information of the new Arr miss into the 4-year Address List.  I did take a few minutes for a quick nap in the afternoon.  Came home, exercised, did 2 loads of laundry, and read for a while.  Fell asleep watching a TV show, then went to bed. Jim: I continue to write up some more procedures of the various responsibilities to share with the new Elder when he arrives.

            Tuesday, August 8, we worked on the Leadership Letters.  We even made a new one for something called a Model District—this is where the Zone Leaders are also the District Leaders of their District so that they can be a model on how a district should be managed.  It was a day of the NLR Zone Conf in Conway, so we didn’t have our local missionaries in the Office.  Also, Elder and Sister Hess and Elder Sorensen will be gone every day to those zone Conferences.  We did receive the Book of Mormon order from SLC-30 boxes with 40 in each box!  Sisters Sorensen and Hess were so happy!!  And busy filling all the orders that had come in that they couldn’t fill before.  Went home after work, made and ate dinner, had a good phone visit with Brent (they are looking forward to this weekend when their new Tucson Temple will be dedicated and their triplets will participate in the Cultural Celebration), then we went to the movie, “Dunkirk.”  This was a difficult movie to watch and told a powerful story of fear, sorrow, hope, and courage.

            Wednesday, August 9, we finished all the rest of the Leadership Letters, had one new miss. rec. come in and processed it, did 4 stake president letters for the 4 missionaries who leave early on Sept. 1^st, plus a letter to each of their parents.  Sis. Sorensen will send the letters to the 4 miss. on Thursday.  It was the Searcy Zone Conf.  We left at 4:30 to take a package to the post office, then went to Sister Culwell’s for dinner.  We were early and they had no room at the table as they had 6 elders there who came at 5:00.  So we sat in the living room and read until 6:00, when the elders left and the 2 sisters came to eat with us.  Then we stopped by the Office for a couple of things, then went home to do another load of laundry & exercise. Jim: I worked at getting 5 new apartments.  I have never had more than one new one at a time, so this is a real challenge.

            Thursday, Aug. 10, is my mother’s birthdate.  She was born in 1905, and passed away in 1996.  I love to remember her, especially on that date.  It was our Little Rock (Benton and Pine Bluff) Zone Conference.  We loved the teachings by Pres. Hansen, our zone leaders, and Sister Hansen. President taught about being Spirit-directed, he introduced a new home teaching/visiting teaching program that the missionaries will be involved with and is supported by all the 5 stakes.  He also taught about daily pondering in the morning to clean our mind and let the Spirit prompt us with things we should do that day, or soon, jot them down, and then think about them during the day and accomplish the prompting.   At the end we had a testimony meeting. Jim & I shared ours to say goodbye to our wonderful missionaries.  We also had our LR Ward prepare the lunch so it was great to visit with Sister Nance, Sister Stuckey, Sister Loken, and Sister Jones.  We visited for a little while and they told me how much they will miss us.  Sure makes us feel good!!  And I will certainly miss them!!  Then we did some shopping on the way home, and relaxed while watching some TV.

            Friday, Aug. 11, we cleaned the bathrooms at the church.  Sis. Sorensen sat at my desk and worked on taking care of my responsibilities.  We had a Staff Meeting at 10:00 that lasted until after 1:00.  We had Dr. and Sister Kearl from the Area Office who are over the medical care of about 8 missions.  They talked about the medical needs of the missionaries and how things are going.  Mental health issues lead the list.  Then we went to lunch at Larry’s Pizza, worked on stuff all afternoon, got a haircut on the way home, ate a light dinner, and fell asleep watching TV.  Jim couldn’t even wake me up!

            Saturday, Aug. 12, we cleaned our apartment bathrooms, and I cut Jim’s hair.  We started gathering stuff into boxes of:  ship it home, carry it home, and leave it here.  We picked up Bram at 12:30, and took him for his birthday lunch at Five Guys.  Even though his birthday isn’t until the end of September, we won’t be here then so are celebrating his birthday now.  After lunch, we went to Toys R Us where he picked out a couple of small Star Wars Lego sets, then went to the Discovery Museum downtown and enjoyed playing with a lot of different activities that taught about science and nature, etc.  We also watched a special Tesla demonstration that was interesting. 

Bram on a bed of nails at the Discovery Museum

When we dropped Bram off at home, we watched a stop-motion video he has been working on.  It was now about 5 or 6 minutes long.  He is very creative.  Also, his sister, Harper, made him an “ocean book” with lots of sea creatures.  She did a great job!!

            Sunday, Aug 13, has been much cooler, a high of only 75 degrees, with rain on and off all day.  We enjoyed our meetings and our friends, the talks and the lessons.  Afterwards we went to the Anderson’s for a delicious dinner and good visiting.  Then visited with Lois on the way home, took naps, made our lunch for tomorrow, and will visit with Shelley later.  Christi and her family flew to China and will be there for one week.  How fun for them!

            Hope you are all doing well, and may the Lord bless you.

            Love, Elder & Sister Hartzell