The Week of July 24 to July 31

Dear Family and Friends,

            Can’t believe it is the last day of July—how time flies when you are having fun doing the work of the Lord!!

            Last Sunday evening was quiet and we got to have some phone visits with family.

            Monday was crazy busy with lots of different projects going, mostly letters to missionaries either in-field, coming soon, or departing.  So much information to get out to so many people!!  We are dealing with bed bugs in several of the missionary apartments and this was recurring theme all week.  We didn’t leave the Office until 6:00 and talked with Brent all the way home.  We also watched the Summer Pioneer Concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  We forgot to watch it over the weekend, so are glad the church shows it on LDS.org.  It was spectacular!!  The King Singers from England gave a wonderful performance and we were so impressed that the standing ovation came from their singing of the medley of primary songs.

            Tuesday more letters and updating my checklists that I use to get everything done.  Also had Staff Meeting with Pres. and Sister Wakolo.  They are such terrific people and really love the Lord and the missionaries.  The Assistants and Office Elders were in the Office for a while to take care of their responsibilities, and it was quiet after they left.  About 5:30 a young woman from the North Little Rock Ward brought pizza in for all of us and that was so sweet!  We missionaries love to be fed!!

            Wednesday and Thursday the Cahoons were in Memphis at missionary meetings there, so the Office only had three of us—Elder Hartzell, Sister Hugentobler, and me.  So not a lot of phone calls and missionaries coming in.  I had Leadership letters to get out, and also travel for departing missionaries in October to request.  I went both Wed. and Fri. to Larry’s to help take care of Sammie.  Also found out that Shelley is planning a Hartzell Family Reunion for just our family July of 2018.  We didn’t know anything about it and are so glad that our kids want to get together and hang out for 3 days.  We are very excited about it!!

            Thursday was slower and I didn’t have as much to do so caught up on some “clean-up-the-desk” stuff.  Also working on learning how to update a calendar that I have never used before, so I practiced some on it both Thursday and Friday.  Jim: Mondays are usually really crazy busy for me, but every day I have a lot to do.  I am appreciative when it isn’t so crazy that I can finish a task before starting the next one.

            Friday the Cahoons were back in the Office so the phone rang a lot more.  We did the cleaning of the bathrooms in the morning, Sister Cahoon dusted the Office and hallway, Elder Cahoon vacuumed the hallway, and Sister Hugentobler collected the garbage, vacuumed the Office, and cleaned the front doors (they always get handprints all over them!!).  Our Friday mornings are always cleaning!  Got more letters out and information coming back in that needs to be taken care of.  And for Jim, more bed bug issues, lost MSF card, and apartment renewals.  We all went out to dinner at a fast-food fish place called Captain D’s.  It’s pretty good and was fun to visit and also have the trio of sisters who are missionaries in this area there with us.  Then we did our grocery shopping, went home and put stuff away, and took it easy.

            Saturday we went to a Farmers Market at the grounds of an old Catholic orphanage and picked up a few things.  Then we went to Larry’s and did yard work with him for 2 hours.  We were tired and hot when we were done, but it felt good to do some good service.  He served us lunch and we visited for a while, then went home, cleaned up and took naps.  After we dusted and vacuumed our apartment, I worked on the budget, we did some more laundry, and just took it easy.  It really rained hard about 5:00 in the afternoon for about an hour—a big downpour.  We even lost our power for a few minutes, but thank heavens it didn’t stay off.

            Today has been a beautiful day.  We were able to take Michelle with us to church and I think she really enjoyed it.  The Sabbath always feels so good and peaceful to me, I love to partake of the Sacrament, and RS was about Visiting Teaching.  That is one of my favorite topics and I am so grateful for it in my life. Jim:  The new stake president, President Dixon was visiting today to reorganize the Elders Quorum and ended up taking time in Sacrament meeting due to an ill speaker, and then in priesthood meeting he gave an impromptu lesson because no one was assigned to teach.  Several of the brethren were helping in Primary so the sisters could attend the special RS meeting.  He has a very humble spirit about him and gave a wonderful lesson in priesthood meeting.

            Hope you are all doing well and having a great summer!!

            Love, Elder & Sister Hartzell

July Transfer Week

Dear Family & Friends,

            Happy Pioneer Day to y’all!!

Last Sunday night we had Larry over for dinner as his family is out of town.  He stayed afterwards to play a fun card game called “Lucky Unders” that our friends the Halversens taught us—it always makes us laugh!  After Larry left we went over to the Cahoons for some delicious watermelon and good visiting.  It’s really nice to live close to the other Senior missionaries in the Office.

            Monday we woke up early and drove to the Memphis Temple, taking Sister Hugentobler with us.  While everyone else was in the Endowment session, Jim and I did baptisms, confirmations, and initiatory for some of Jim’s family members and some other names that the temple had.  I hadn’t done baptisms and confirmations myself for a long time, even though I worked in the Provo Temple Baptistry for 5 years.  There is always such a wonderful feeling in the temples and we are so glad when we have the opportunity to go there.  Then we left to drive back to Little Rock to the Mission Home to help with the dinner for the Departing Missionaries.  Twelve great young people who have worked hard and done much to further the work here in our mission.  We worked from 3:30 until 8:00, made ham, chicken curry and rice, green bean casserole, tossed salad, lots of cut-up melon, cookie salad, chips, and dip, and brownies for dessert, and went home tired and ready to rest!

            Tuesday Jim & I worked on the IMOS Transfer Board moving missionaries all over to their new assignments and changing the assignments on their photos.  This took about 2 hours.  After lunch I went to Larry’s and took care of Sammie, back to the Office for a little while, then over to the Rodney Parham chapel to help fix, serve and cleanup dinner for the new Arriving Missionaries.  Since there were 20 of them, plus their trainers, it was too many to feed at the Mission Home, so were able to do it at the chapel.  The schedule was the same—work from 3:30 until 8:00 and go home exhausted!!  We served beef stroganoff, baked potatoes, tossed salad, cookie salad, ice cream bars, etc.

            Wednesday we went over to the chapel for the Training of the new missionaries.  I teach them the Office, Referral, and Recorder stuff, and Jim talks to them about the Financial and Apartment stuff.  They also get car, iPad, and lots of other training.  Went back to the Office to finish up the IMOS Transfer Board and submit all the changes, then I went in the President’s office to change the information on the Board cards of each missionary.  Thank heavens the Office Elders had already moved everybody around.  I went over to Larry’s to take care of Sammie again, then back to the Office for an hour, then back to the chapel to help with dinner again.  This time we served Teriyaki Chicken with rice, two salads, fruit, rolls, and dessert.  We do get to eat all of the dinners, which are wonderfully delicious, so that helps a lot!!  And the missionaries sing to us the Mission Song as a way of saying “Thank You.”  It’s a fun song and I will try to record it sometime to post on the blog. 

            Thursday morning we got up early and drove to the church by 6:30 to help with breakfast.  Sister Wakolo does this herself when she has smaller numbers, but this is just way too many!!  So she brought a huge batch of scrambled eggs, and we cooked up sausage and bacon, plus lots of cut up melon and grapes, bagels, cream cheese, and cereal.  They ate plenty!  Then we said goodbye to them and they left for their new assignments!!  I spent the day in the Office sending out letters and emails, and dealing with incoming mail and emails.  Worked until 5:00, went home to do laundry, rest, and watch TV.

             Friday I sent out all the photos of the Departing missionaries to their families and all the photos of the Arriving missionaries to their families—all by emails.  Brother Cheney takes all the photos and does a really good job.  He and Sister Cheney will be leaving in the middle of September and the Cahoons are leaving the end of September.  We really need at least one couple to come and replace them!!  Anyone interested?!!!  I also worked on updating the Calendar, updating information in the computer, and lots of other things.  We ate dinner at Arby’s, went shopping for groceries on our way home, cleaned one of the bathrooms, watched TV or read all evening. One of the sisters’ apartments has bed bugs, which has been treated once already when the elders lived there, but since they are just moving in, it needed to be treated again.  So we have had to put them in a motel until that gets done the first of the week.

            Saturday Jim cleaned the kitchen floor, then we met the Cahoons and Rasmussens (the new couple that came a month ago to be the Military Relations missionaries) at the church and rode together to a very interesting place called Heifer Village.  This is a wonderful volunteer organization that helps people in third world countries improve their water, farming, education, health, etc.  If you want to go online, you can read about Heifer International—it is a great organization!!  We met the Cheneys there and all enjoyed seeing what the organization did.  Then we went to a cute burger joint called “All Aboard” where they deliver your order on a little train that goes on tracks overhead and puts your order on a tray that lowers down to your table.  Really fun!!  Then we went back to the church, and Jim & I went to shop at Walmart and went home to finish cleaning, exercise, and take it easy.

Pig in the gift shop--don't know why it wasn't a heifer!

They use stair-steppers for pumping the water

And they use this plastic water-wheel for carting the water to where they need it.  Much better than carrying it!!

  This morning I gave a talk in church about Seminary and Institute, but I was only given about 5 minutes so pretty much just bore my testimony about how important they both are.  We enjoyed our meetings, met with the Missionary Correlation meeting for the Ward, then came home, ate, and just got up from naps.  Oh, wonderful Sunday naps!!

They have flowering trees all summer in different shades of white, light pink,and dark pink.  Three samples are in this photo out front of our Mission Office/chapel

            We love you all,

            Elder & Sister Hartzell

Sure had fun watching the train go around to deliver the meals!!

A stormy week

Dear Family & Friends,

            We had two big storms this week, one last Sunday and one on Thursday.  The one on Sunday was heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightning.  We got thunderstorm warnings from the emergency weather service.  The wind drove the rain under our doors and through my window, but not Jim’s.  The one Thursday night included a tornado warning and the wind really swirled around.  We even went in our little bathroom/tornado shelter for ½ an hour just in case.  We keep emergency water and backpack in there.  It sure made a big mess everywhere!!

Just one of many trees that were downed!

            Monday I worked on a letter with lots of enclosures to send to the missionaries who are coming in August.  I started them last week and finished them Monday.  Also went over Monday and Wednesday afternoons to take care of our son, Larry’s, dog so he could stay late at work those days.  His wife and kids are having a great trip and will be gone several weeks.  On Monday I ran into bad traffic on the freeway, so took the longer but faster way home on Wednesday.  For FHE Jim and I went to see “Tarzan.”  It was good but some parts were hard to watch.

            Tuesday through Friday I printed up letters that the Departing missionaries had written to the President over the course of their missions, and put them in the Departing Binders.  I worked on a 3 or 4 each day, and they were all done by Friday morning. 

            We got a new Assistant to the President, and the three were working together to finish off the Transfer information, and to set up the President’s interview schedule for this next Transfer.  He interviews each missionary every three months (oftener if they need it).  We also had a good Staff Meeting Tuesday afternoon.  It is great to get together and bring each other up-to-date on what everyone is doing.  I always get a few new assignments out of them. 

            Wed. was laundry and we signed up for the Indexing blitz for the weekend, plus shopping at Sam’s Club.  Since Arkansas is the home of Walmart and Sam’s Club, there are no Costcos here.  In the evening Jim worked on Family History for a while and now has a couple names to take to the temple next Monday.  It is always special to take our own family names to the temple and makes the experience all the more special.  All of the activity in the Church is to lead us to the temple where “heaven and earth meet” as we were reminded in Church recently.

            Thursday we got a new Office Elder, Elder Boggess, who will replace Elder Phillips, who has a new assignment.  We will miss Elder Phillips, just like we did Elder Lundell before him, who help so much, especially with the apartments. 

Elder Heidinger & new Elder Boggess

Elder Heidinger and Elder Phillips who is leaving

Jim & I worked in IMOS to update all the Leadership changes (Assistant, Zone Leaders, and Sister-Training-Leaders).  Then I wrote each one a congratulations letter and emailed copies of them to their parents, bishops, and stake presidents.  That evening we survived the terrible storm I mentioned above, getting home about ½ hour before it started.

            Friday the Assistants were in the Office again all day, so the Cahoons bought pizza for everyone.  I went and got my hair cut in the afternoon, and we went grocery shopping that evening on our way home.  It rained again coming down pretty good, but wasn’t as hard or as long as the day before and no warnings came out. 

            Yesterday was a quiet day at home—no big travels.  We exercised, cleaned, worked a little on our budget (we are doing good), and I did some Indexing, but then we had trouble logging on again and couldn’t do any more.  This made us very sad as we had hoped to help do a whole lot. 

            Today is beautiful and sunny.  Because of the storm on Thursday, power was knocked out to a number of neighborhoods including the one where Larry’s chapel is, so their Ward came to our building and we all met together.  It was fun!!  They are two wards that were one for many years, so lots of old friends sitting together.  We were glad to be in our own ward and have Larry with us, too.  Five sister missionaries sang a beautiful song today in Sacrament meeting, as a special musical number.  It was very touching, as was the talk afterwards about the importance of temples.

            We love you all,

            Elder & Sister Hartzell

The Fourth of July and a Capital Weekend

Dear Family & Friends,

            Last Sunday evening we went to dinner at another Senior missionary couple’s apartment and had Hawaiian Haystacks.  Yummy!!  Had fun Facetiming with a couple of our children and grandchildren.   

Our apartment complex really decorates nice for the holidays.  It is all decorated for the 4th!!

Our apartment looks better in the summer with the banner.

The view out our window of the back of the clubhouse.
Monday was a fun 4^th of July.  We were happy to celebrate the birth of our Nation and the freedoms we enjoy compared to much of the world.  We are thankful for that freedom to provide an environment that the Gospel could be restored.  We are thankful for those who have preserved our freedom in the things they did or in their service to provide and protect.  

We started off with a great pancake breakfast at the Little Rock Ward pavilion—lots of people and good food!  Had a pretty quiet afternoon, listened to a patriotic talk by Elder Christofferson about our freedom, how it is under attack, and how we need to protect it by our civic duties, and even took naps.  Went for a drive on our way to Conway where we ate a good barbecue dinner with Brother and Sister Green and two other couples who were their friends in their ward.  He is adjusting to being a new Patriarch and learning his responsibilities.  We had a great visit and ate well (too well!!)!!  Then we went to watch the fireworks for the City of Maumelle at a Senior Couple’s whose apartment backs up to the lake where the fireworks were set off.  It was lots of fun!!

This is a beautiful Pentacostal church all decorated with flags.  They do this every patriotic holiday.  You can see the flags even down the road where the parking lot is.

 Tuesday received 5 new missionary recommends in Outlook, all were sisters, 4 coming in August and one in November.  Also worked on finishing up a Departing Binder for a missionary who left yesterday. 

            Wednesday I worked on a project for Pres. and Sister Wakolo, who wanted information on returned missionaries who had gotten married.  They want to send the new couples wedding gifts and so I had fun tracking them down and talking with their parents who were so happy for their child.  Went to dinner at the Whole Hog—a wonderful barbecue restaurant here in North Little Rock (but they have them all over).  Sure was good!!  Did the laundry and watched a sweet movie on BYUTV.  Jim: One of the additional challenges of working with young missionaries is the lack of practical experience with keeping up with the needs of an apartment. We had one companionship that apparently had a toilet leaking, and rather than do anything about it they just ignored the water running that they could hear.  I got the water bill last week--$600 for using 74,000 gallons of water in one month.  I eventually had the water company go and shut off the water until they got around to having the apartment maintenance man fix it.  That did initiate some action on their part.

            Thursday I spent the whole day creating and mailing letters to the 20 missionaries who will be coming in August, and another to their parents.  Lots of information to be shared.

            Friday I updated charts and the calendar to make sure things were not forgotten.  Did more phoning.  Left the office at 5:30 to go to a Mexican restaurant nearby for dinner, then did the shopping for the week.  Came home and did some of the cleaning which we finished on Saturday. 

            Saturday was fun!  We drove to the Arkansas State Capital building and it was actually pleasant outside, so we walked around the grounds first looking at different memorials.  Then we toured the building.  It was very similar to the Utah State Capital, so was familiar, but its exhibits were all about Arkansas.  What a beautiful state with some really nice state parks and an interesting history.  In the Civil War, most Arkansans fought for the south, but maybe a tenth fought for the north.  Then we went to a small restaurant downtown for lunch, then took a cable car tour of down town Little Rock and North Little Rock.  Came home, did more cleaning, and exercised, and cleaned up and relaxed.

Memorial to Firemen

The Little Rock Nine--brave young people

Jim being carried away by an Eagle

Memorial for all the Arkansas servicemen

The Arkansas State Capital

The chandelier in the center dome

              Also, got word that two of our sister missionaries were in a car accident and are in quite a bit of pain.  They went to the emergency room to be checked over and were released to go home and recover there.  So glad they did not need to be hospitalized for very long.  Pres. and Sister Wakolo were there with them, so that was good.  They are in our prayers, as are all the missionaries.

            Today church was really nice and we picked up Michelle and her grandson that we have been trying to friendship.  She is coming back to the church after many years and much life experience.  We are glad to help her out. She has started to take the lessons and attend church again on a regular basis.

            Love to you all,

            Elder & Sister Hartzell 

Happy 4th of July!!

Dear Family & Friends,

            Happy 4^th of July, everyone!!  Can’t believe that tomorrow is the Fourth!!!  How time is flying by!!!!

            Ok, enough with the exclamation marks.  Last Monday I was busy all day with sending letters and information to missionaries who will be leaving the next Transfer, which is now in 2 weeks.  We also have one missionary who leaves next Saturday, but I got his stuff out last week.  We got some interesting news—a member of the Mission Presidency, Pres. Busbea, was just made a Bishop so Pres. Wakolo will have to get a new Counselor.  Also, Elder Green, who was one of our Trainers when we came, just got called to be the Stake Patriarch in his stake.  He said he and his wife were stunned when their stake president called him and they just sat there with their mouths hanging open—yeah, that would be us, too. Just not a call you expect.  That evening we had FHE together with the other Senior Missionaries in the Office and the Cheneys and watched “The Cokeville Miracle,” such a sad and yet uplifting movie.

            Tuesday we got in two new Missionary Recommends so I processed those.  Also did the letter that goes in the binders for the Departing Missionaries and put it in their folders.  Also shipped a box for one of the missionaries, got one of our printers fixed (hallelujah!), and took care of the usual phone calls and emails.

            Wed. I put all the premade materials in the 13 binders for the Departing Missionaries, worked on assorted other things, but the binders took most of the day.  Did our grocery shopping on the way home, but had to leave an hour early to do it.  Then I made up a batch of chili and a tossed salad, and we had all the Office Senior Missionaries plus the Cheneys over for dinner and visiting.  It was really fun!!  Also had the CO/smoke detectors put in our apartment and they installed them in the other two apartments here, too.  Nice to feel a little safer. 

            Thursday, I helped collect information for “The Leader,” our mission newsletter that comes out at the end of each month, and sent it to the sister who is putting it together.  I am so glad it is not me as I am not good at that stuff and the young sister missionaries are so much better at it!  I worked on several other projects, including going through file drawers and getting rid of old materials that we only need maybe 4 or 5 copies of and have like 20 to 30 copies.  It felt good to clean those out. Jim: Every once in a while I miss-file something and then need to find it later.  Well that happened today.  I searched for an hour looking for this report, and it just wasn’t there, and I had basically given up finding it.  Sister Hartzell seeing my frustration asked if I had prayed about it.  Well I am embarrassed to say that hadn’t even occurred to me. So I humbled myself, had a prayer, and searched one more time, and I found it.  Prayer works, even for office paper work.

            Friday I worked on a variety of projects for both myself and Jim, plus cleaning the women’s bathroom.  I trade off with Sister Cahoon each Friday—so it was her week to dust.  Elder Cahoon’s back has been bothering him for awhile, so Jim and the Office Elders, Elder Phillips and Elder Heidinger, gave him a blessing.  We hope he will feel better as he is crazy busy all day long with car stuff.  We picked up a quick dinner on our way home, then took Sister Cahoon and Hugentobler with us to see the movie, “Independence Day—Resurgence.”  Boy, that was a ton of action and a number of times during the movie when we would think they were basically done and they weren’t.  We had a workout just sitting there!!

            Saturday was a dusting and vacuuming day, exercise (which we also do on Tuesdays and Thursdays), napping, worked on our June budget and it looks good, cleaned up, and met Larry’s family at the movie theater to watch “The BFG.”  It was pretty good with some gooey stuff, some mild rude humor, and some good belly laughs.  We enjoyed it quite well. We said goodbye to Larry, Holly, and the kids as they are leaving for an awesome trip to Utah for 6 weeks stopping at a lot of places along the way there and back.  Larry will be gone for the first part, then come home to work and do other things, then join them again later in the month.  Sounds like they will have a great time but we will miss them!!  Got some dinner on the way home and chilled for the rest of the evening.

            Sunday (today) has been wonderful—enjoyed fasting, Fast and Testimony meeting, our classes, and our wonderful Sunday naps!  We are going to the Cheney’s for dinner, and will talk to the kids and grandkids later.

In RS we talked about the Holy Ghost and how He influences our lives.  Some wonderful stories were told about revelations received when needed, and the feelings the sisters had in various situations.  I am so glad we have felt the power and guidance of the Holy Ghost so many times throughout our lives.  Jim: Today in Priesthood meeting the Elders Quorum President gave the lesson (the Elders and HP meet together each Sunday) and first reminded us of the Conference talk that Pres. Eyring gave last fall about the EQ President who had such success reactivating quorum members because he knew where they washed their trucks.  So we had a discussion about who is regularly missing from the quorums, why, and what should or could be done.  It was a great discussion about “where they wash their truck”. 

            Love you all—

            Elder & Sister Hartzell

Our Senior Missionary Social with President and Sister Wakolo front and center.  She is wearing traditional Fijian dress.

The June Senior Social

Dear Family & Friends,

            Last Monday I was busy all day long (unlike Jim who is busy all day long everyday)—lots of letters to write and send out, emails to take care of, and phone calls to respond to.  Also, we have not been able to access our phone messages as no one knew how to get into the answering machine or what the password was.  So Sister Cahoon contacted the phone company and was able to get the correct procedure.  Then I proceeded to listen to 155 phone messages from way back in November.  Ok, I didn’t listen to all of them, just the June ones.  The rest I deleted as soon as each one came up.  So now we are up to date and everyone is taking care of their own messages on the phones on their individual desks.  Now we don’t have the incessantly blinking light on our phones!!  Hooray!! 

            Tuesday we got two new missionary recommendations, and I had to put together a Departure Book for a sister who was going home early because of a leg injury from playing basketball with members and investigators on a Saturday.  It is the second one to go home early in the last 4 months, and they are awesome missionaries, so now the President has asked that the only basketball be played on Mondays with other missionaries who are under strict rules to not play aggressively.  We just don’t want to have any more injured if we can prevent it.  Several apartments are dealing with bed bugs.  They are really hard to eliminate once they get started.  Two of the apartments had to have professional exterminators come in, and that is really not cheap.  In the evening Jim worked on some family history and we installed some 2x4s as bed slats to keep the box springs from sagging to the center—it works great now.

That afternoon was our Staff Meeting with Pres. and Sister Wakolo.  Things are going well throughout the mission and there were only a couple of extra things that he wanted us to do.  Then we, the Office Staff, took turns going in to see him for interviews as couples, or Sister Hugentobler went in alone.  He made us feel really good by telling us he would like to clone us so that we could always serve here!!  Guess we are doing okay!  Also, the Greens stopped by for a quick visit and it was good to see them again.

We also found out that Shelley’s little Maxwell’s arm is all healed!  Thank you so much for your faith and prayers.

            Wednesday I sent out the letters to the stake presidents with the Honorable Release certificates for the missionaries going home in July.  There will be @ 14 going home and 21 coming out.  We got a new Senior Couple in our mission yesterday—Andrew and Lori Rasmussen from Alpine, UT.  They are getting adjusted and are excited to get busy with the missionary work.  We did our grocery shopping, then went home, ate, and did our 3 loads of weekly wash.  We got a phone call at 9:50 from Pres. Wakolo asking us to make an emergency run to the Office to get the passport for the sister who was leaving at 5:45 the next morning, which we were happy to do.  We got home at 11:00 and went to bed!

            Thursday was a much slower day and mostly did letters and organized a few things and made up a new chart to help me keep track of stuff.  We also did our weekly office cleaning today since we would be busy Friday morning.

            Friday was a really fun day.  It was our Senior Social held at the Mission Home!!  They are held every 6 months and involve all Seniors who are serving in our mission.  We have about 24 serving, some are local people who are called to evaluate missionaries’ apartments and try to help them keep them cleaner.  The rest are serving away from their home, except for the Just Serve couple who are to coordinate service efforts of the missionaries in the Just Serve program.  All of the couples either brought appetizers/finger foods, or desserts.  The Wakolos provided the lunch.  It was all so delicious and we had such a good time visiting!!  The Seniors were from all over and had interesting stories to tell.  We loved being there and making connections with the others.  Of special interest were the Milks who are from Las Vegas.  I had talked with Dennis before (he was a year behind me at Vegas High School), but not his wife.  Turns out they were brought into the church by one of the good friends that I grew up with—Sharla Richards Humphries!  What a small world it is!!  It ended at 4:30 and we helped clean up, then went home and relaxed.  We checked with Brent on how his son Asher is doing after some surgery on his legs that day.  He is doing well but it will take him 4 to 6 weeks to recover so we are asking for your faith and prayers.

            Saturday, our P-day, we exercised, cleaned bathrooms, caught up with some stuff around the apartment, then went for a nice drive (too hot and muggy for any walks) around North Little Rock to see where things were.  We went to see a war memorial statue,

a pedestrian/bike bridge that crosses the Arkansas River called “The Big Dam Bridge,” 

 and a red covered bridge that is part of Burns Park (a huge sports park with areas for multiple baseball, soccer, golf, and tennis fields and reportedly the second largest park in the United States).  

We picked up some dinner and ice cream and went home to just hang out!!

            Today has been a lovely Sabbath Day.  We have enjoyed our meetings and talking with wonderful people in the Little Rock Ward. 

            Some quotes from this week: 

            “If you want to be tutored by the Lord daily, serve a mission.  You will be taught and strengthened in ways you never thought possible.”

            “We need to stand with the leaders of the church, be they at church headquarters or locally serving.”

            From a quadriplegic who had been in a hospital for a long time and was finally taken outside and started crying, “The breeze is a gift from God.”  We need to recognize all the gifts from God that we might overlook or take for granted.  The scriptures are a gift from God that are often left wrapped.

            From a Church News article quoting President Ronald Reagen:  “Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience . . . without God there is a coarsening of the society; without God democracy will not and cannot long endure.  If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”  Sad to say we see this happening all the time.  I am so grateful we have God in our lives!!

            Sure do love you all and wish you a wonderful week!

            Elder and Sister Hartzell

Happy Fathers Day!!

Dear Family & Friends,

            Happy Father’s Day to you all!!

            As reported last week, Monday was our Mission Tour/Zone Conference with Elder & Sister Arnold.  We went to the Office at 7:30 so we could get some things done.  The missionaries started their Leadership meetings at 8:30 and the Seniors joined them at 10:30 for the actual Zone Conference.  Sister Wakolo reviewed and taught Jacob 5 (The Allegory) which centered in Christ being the Tree.  He also needs to be the center of our lives.  Then Sister Arnold taught about obedience.  She told about when she was a girl she had to ride the fence on her parent’s ranch.  The purpose was two-fold:  to make sure the fence had no gaps in it, and to keep the cows from the wheat.  But some cows just weren’t satisfied with all the wonderful field grass on their side of the fence.  They would push against the fence hard to try to reach the wheat.  One day she came on a cow that had pushed so hard against the fence, that the fence was down and the cow was bloating from all the wheat it had eaten.  “No, no!!” she said, “eating the wheat will kill you!  The fence is there for your protection!!”  She rode her horse to find her dad and bring him back, but when they got back the cow was dead.  “Why wouldn’t you let the fence protect you and keep you safe?!!”  That is what the commandments and obedience are all about—they are there to protect you and keep you safe. President Wakolo talked about how in the scriptures, each time Heavenly Father introduces His Son, He says, “This is my beloved Son.”  And that is what we all are—His beloved children, His sons and daughters—and that is what all the people we teach are.  Then Pres. Wakolo talked about the kind of missionary Sister Susan Fulcher was:  one who put people first, who loved the ward members as much as she loved the investigators, who always tried new ways of doing things, and who had a positive attitude at all times.  Then Elder Arnold then taught about changing our own attitudes and behaviors and becoming “Fulcher missionaries.”  If we want to change the result we have been obtaining, then we need to do things differently and think outside the box.  We had a quick hour for lunch and a Conference photograph, then were back in the meeting practicing different ways of doing the Work.  It was a wonderful and spiritual day!!  The missionaries started a fast to have baptisms in July, and we fasted with them.  They all left pretty quickly after the meetings ended at 4:00, and it was real quiet in our building. 

            Tuesday we received 3 new missionary recommendations, plus I had mail from the prospective missionaries with information that we had asked them to return to us.  Also, we get wonderful letters from parents introducing their sons or daughters to President & Sister Wakolo that I print up and give to them and put one copy in their file.  Also, letters that are for their son or daughter to read when they come.  So we were busy all day Tuesday and Wednesday.  For Jim Monday is usually quite a busy day, so missing most of it caused him to be really busy on Tuesday.  Did laundry Wed. night.

            Thursday and Friday Jim had stuff to do all day, and I had stuff to do in the morning but was done by about 2:00 each day.  So I asked Jim if I could help him, but there was only a few things to do.  I did send out lots of mail and answered some phone calls, but most were for other people in the Office.  Sister Cahoon went home sick with a cold on Thursday and most of Friday.  Jim & I did our cleaning on Friday.  Stopped at the store for a few things on the way home, and had a nice relaxing Friday night.

            Saturday we did aerobic exercise, which we do three times a week, ate, vacuumed and dusted the apartment, cleaned up, made a sandwich and ate it while we drove to the store for some candy and lemon meringue pie for Father’s Day dinner/dessert.  Then we went to Larry and Holly’s and picked up the kids and took them to see “Finding Dory.”  It was just as good as “Finding Nemo” and we laughed out loud a few times and shed a few tears at other times.  It also had a really cute short at the beginning about a baby sandpiper.  What a sweet time we had!!!  Then we went to dinner with L&H at Larry’s Pizza, then we left them and went to meet the Cahoons (Sister Cahoon was feeling much better) at the Little Rock Community Theater where we saw a performance of “Annie, Get Your Gun.”  It was very well done and the leads were good looking and great singers. 

            Today was a lovely Sabbath Father’s Day!  We enjoyed seeing the grandkids singing in church, and also Holly and all the women and Young Women.  Then I helped a bit in Primary, took some pictures after church, went home and had naps!!! (love Sunday naps), then went to eat a delicious lasagna dinner at Larry and Holly’s, along with salad, French bread, and lemon meringue pie and different kinds of ice cream for dessert.  We adults also played “Balderdash.”  Came home to visit with the kids and grandkids.

            Love, Elder and Sister Hartzell

Grandad, Dad, and kids

June Transfer Week

Dear Family and Friends,

            Monday was a pretty light day for me—answered some emails and took care of a few things.  Jim was busy as usual.  At 3:30 Jim and I drove to the Mission Home to help Sister Wakolo with dinner.  Elder and Sister Cheney were already there working hard.  The dinner we prepared for the Departing Missionaries was:  ham, cheesy potatoes, chicken curry with rice, green bean casserole, rolls, spinach salad, cookie salad, cut up fruit and melon, chip and dips, and brownies and ice cream for dessert.  We came home stuffed!!

            Jim: Today I gave the spiritual thought in our morning devotional time at the office.  I had been reading 1 Ne 13:35 and was thinking about Nephi, a teenager, wanting to know what is his father Lehi had seen in his vision, and had been shown the future of his people falling away and being destroyed.  I was just struck by how hard that would be to know of that future.  I think I would have been very discouraged, and maybe would have said what is the use in trying?  But not Nephi.  He pressed forward, ever faithful, testifying to his brothers who never asked to know, and lead his people as a prophet does.  I am glad I don’t know the specifics about my future.  There may be sadness that I am very glad to not know about ahead of time.  With faith and pressing forward we can apply the atonement in our lives and get through any of these challenges, but I am glad to not know about them ahead of time.  Nephi is one of my great heroes.   

            Tuesday we celebrated the one-year anniversary of our beautiful Payson Utah Temple!!  We loved all we did to help during the Open House, and the Dedication itself was so special and beautiful.  What a treasure it is!!!  In the Mission Office, Jim and I worked together on the Transfer Board online in IMOS.  It took about 2 ½ hours, but we got it done and submitted.  The Office Elders changed the Transfer Board around in the President’s Office.  Then I went in and updated all the photos with their new positions.  I also went with Sister Cahoon to Sam’s Club to buy a lot of bottles of water, granola bars, and candy for the Mission Tour/Zone Conference next week.  No new missionary applications came in, which was a surprise as it was the second week in a row!  Sister Cahoon and I drove to the Mission Home to help with the Arriving Missionaries Dinner. Elder Hartzell and Elder Cahoon came about 1 ½ hours later.  This time we had pulled pork, beans, coleslaw, cookie salad, cut up melon and fruit, and just ice cream for dessert.  We had 8 missionaries leave and 8 come in. 

It is wonderful to see the seasoned missionaries return home and new enthusiastic missionaries come out.

            Wednesday was our 43^rd Wedding Anniversary!!  We gave each other our cards in the morning, and at the end of the day we went to see a movie.  At 9:00 that morning we had our training at the Rodney Parham building, teaching the new missionaries things that they will have to know as they do their work in the field.  Then I was busy sending out lots of email letters to parents with accompanying photos, plus emails to parents of missionaries who have new leadership assignments.  We found out that night that our grandson Maxwell, who is 5 months old, was being turned over by a brother and his arm got caught and his humerous bone was fractured!  Shelley, his mom, ended up spending Wed. afternoon, evening, night, and Thursday morning and early afternoon in the hospital while they did various x-rays of him.  He was finally released Thursday about 3:00.  He does not need a cast, but does need to keep his arm bound to his body.  The family was vacationing in San Diego, so they didn’t have a lot of help, but Derek took care of the 4 other boys while Shelley stayed with Maxwell.  It was traumatic for everyone, but the Spirit was with them and helped them do what needed to be done.

            So Thursday was spent a lot of time praying for little Maxwell and Shelley and her family, and was glad to hear he was released that afternoon.  I entered info in IMOS on CO/smoke detectors in the various apartments.  Our wonderful Apartment Advisors from each stake are installing them, while they also check the cleanliness of the apartments.  We are surprised to learn how many missionaries don’t know how to clean anything, how to take care of a vacuum so that it does not get all clogged up, and several apartments have problems with bed bugs or lice.  No fun!!  I got a haircut Thursday afternoon (too short but great for summer).  It is really starting to heat up—95 degrees and getting hotter, plus humidity of 95 degrees, so that makes a heat index (like chill factor in the winter) of 105 degrees.  So now we are breathing bricks like we did in Japan in the summer!! 

            Friday is our cleaning day in the Office, and this time I did the dusting in all our offices including the foyer and hallway near our Office.  It takes over an hour.  Then I did lots more emails and letters all day long, making a few mistakes along the way, but correcting them quickly.  We stopped at the store for a couple of things on the way home, then ate our anniversary dinner at the restaurant called Kirin Garden that had both a Chinese and Japanese buffet.  It was very good. Then we spent the evening watching movies.

            Saturday we slept in, then exercised, ate breakfast, worked on bills, cleaned the bathrooms, ate lunch, took naps, did some aerobic exercise, cleaned up, drove to the Otter Creek building where we ate dinner (sandwiches) and attended the Adult Session of Stake Conference.  Our General Authority was Elder Mervyn Arnold, the one who did the talk in General Conference about going to the rescue.  We had various speakers who gave short talks, including President Wakolo, and then they spent an hour doing demonstrations about different kinds of councils.  It was very interactive with audience members giving comments, too.  We really enjoyed it.

            Elder Arnold’s parents in their council they had 5 goals for their children:  1) have a personal testimony of Jesus, 2) teach them to pray, 3) observe the Sabbath day, 4) learn the value of work, and 5) get an education.  Then Sister Arnold talked about 7 principles to guide a family council discussion: 1) make it interesting, and an appropriate length for the age of the children and teach about divine position, God controls when we come to earth and to what families, we are here at the right time, 2) start with a question  3)  focus on how you need to improve, ask others for input, 4) talk about the hard stuff, 5) listen, you have two ears and  just one mouth, 6) Keep it positive.  One thing that was shared by Sister Arnold was that for every thing that you say to a child or family member that needs improving, you need to say 5 positive things to them.  Someone once gave her a acronym of PIE (praise, instruct, and encourage), and 7) persevere.

 Another thing that the Temple President, President Griffin said was that everyone that comes to the temple needs to be treated like our nearest and dearest friends.  Can you imagine how much better we would all feel if we treated our family members, our extended family, the people in our wards and stakes, the people in our sphere of influence, as our “nearest and dearest friends.”  That would sure make everyone feel better about themselves and others.

            Today was Stake Conference and we saw a miracle as our Stake President, Elder Beheshti, was released, and a new stake president called with his new counselors.  Elder Arnold and Elder Carter had interviewed many, many men in the stake, and the Lord told them who the new president was to be.  And it has to be done so quickly (in less than 24 hours).  It is really amazing—especially when one of them in his testimony in the meeting said that he had been feeling that this was coming and had been trying to ignore it.  Truly, the Spirit of Revelation is working in our lives!! 

            In Elder Beheshti’s testimony he shared a gem: “the greater the truth, the greater the opposition” and then spoke about the sacred grove, leaving us with a challenge to read the first vision account and ponder it. Jim: That was how my journey began to membership in the church.  I did not see a light or hear a voice, but I received that witness I heard in my heart which lighted my soul. 

            Sister Arnold spoke about the troubled times we live in and there are many voices, and quoted President Monson who spoke about that the voice we need to be listening to is the still small voice of the Spirit.  We are transparent to God, He knows our hearts.  No trial we suffer is wasted. We gain and build up our character when we suffer in faith and endure in joy.

            Elder Arnold then spoke and shared some of the trials that he has faced in his life and how thankful he is for those trials that have helped him to begin to understand the atonement of the Savior. As we give our wills to God he will heal us.  He testified that this is true for him and can be for all of us.

            Tomorrow will be our Mission Tour/Zone Conference for us here in Arkansas, and Tuesday it will be held in Memphis, Tennessee, part of our mission.  We will tell you all about it next week.

            Love to you all,

            Elder & Sister Hartzell

June Begins

Dear Family & Friends,

            Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day!!  Can’t believe it is June and summertime already!!!  We are sure you all have great plans for the summer—ours is to learn to survive heat (been in Vegas and Phoenix for a lot of years) and humidity (were in Japan for 2 summers, but that was 7 years ago!!) while doing missionary work.  However, since we do ours in an air-conditioned office, shouldn’t be too hard!

            Last Sunday evening while visiting Christi and Shawn and family, Shawn told us how he learned the simpleness of the Atonement and Faith in Jesus Christ.  Lily who is almost 5 had aching legs Saturday night and couldn’t sleep.  Christi gave her Children’s Tylenol and Shawn laid by her and rubbed her legs and told her stories and prayed with her.  The next morning she came in and announced that Jesus had healed her legs because He loves her!  That is what the Atonement and Faith in Jesus Christ is all about!!  Love our grandchildren!!!

            Monday we had missionaries at the church all day from 6:30 until 4:00 because several of their companions went to the Memphis Temple for a session because they were either leaving the mission next week or had a birthday in May or June.  So the missionaries left behind read and studied, then played games like volleyball, basketball, etc., for their P-day.  Meanwhile we were busy in the office doing our work, and when I got mine done, then I helped Jim with a couple of his projects.  I even got to read a little while and took a short nap. 

            Tuesday I was busy all day printing up a lot of the materials that are needed to go in the Departure Books I am putting together for the 8 missionaries who are leaving day after tomorrow.  I can’t print up their letters to the Mission President until the last of the letters had come in by Monday night.  There were other things that needed to be printed, too, so I kept our two main printers busy all day! 

            Wed. was a more normal day—we were both busy all morning, then I had a light afternoon and was able to call my sister Lois and visit with her. Helped Jim with another project, then we had dinner at Taco Bell and did our grocery shopping.  Went home and did laundry.  It has been cloudy everyday with some rain, but today we had a big downpour and thunder, too, during the day.  Thank heavens it ended before we left the Office.

            Thursday Jim and I made all the changes in IMOS (the internet mission operating system) of all the new Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders.  Then I wrote the Leadership letters to each of them, and emailed copies to their parents, bishops, and stake presidents.  These missionaries did their transfers that day, so they were around the office.  It felt really good!!  Sister Wakolo told me that she and her husband get to study with different missionaries often, he with elders and she with sisters, which she loves.  A while back one of the elders asked Pres. Wakolo why a missionary who was junior to him in terms of how long he was in the field was able to be a District Leader and he himself was not given that opportunity.  President Wakolo asked him, “Have you asked the Lord?  He is the one who makes the call, have you asked Him why?”  That was powerful!!  Have we asked the Lord how we are doing and is there more He requires of us?!!  Jim: Some days are quite stressful to get everything done.  I had two this week, thankfully they were not back-to-back. It is usually about not setting something up for a new apartment that I find out later that I forgot to do.  I have check lists but when you get interrupted, sometimes you don’t get back to what you were doing.

Beautiful bush of Lilies on our way to the Office

            Friday the Assistants were in the Office all morning finishing up the Transfer list.  They then called all the missionaries on Saturday and told them about their new assignments, where and with whom they would be.  The transfers then take place on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Jim & I will input the final results on Wed. into IMOS.  It rained more on Friday and the humidity is close to 100%.  It is still in the 80’s so not too bad temperature wise, but getting warmer.

            Saturday was a fun day.  We did do some vacuuming and dusting, but also went to breakfast at Ihop with the Cahoons and Sister Hugentobler.  Then we all went to a local small park called “The Old Mill.”  We loved it—it is a beautiful garden area with structures made of cement but made to look like wood.  It was even prettier in the spring with lots of flowers but we missed it.  We will try to go again in the fall and see the autumn colors.  It is close to the Office, we just have to make the time to go there. 

Sister & Elder Cahoon and Sister Hugentobler and Sister Hartzell

Jim & Pat in front of the water wheel

Jim inside the Old Mill

One view of the Old Mill

The gardens at the Old Mill

Pat sitting by the water wheel

Sister Hugentobler in a bridge made of cement but made to look like wood

Jim took me home, then went to the Office for 2 ½ hours, while I watched TV and took a nap, and worked on the budget.  We also exercised, which is always good for us.  We are grateful to both feel good right now!

            Today was a lovely Sabbath and Fast Sunday.  We felt the Spirit all day!!  Beautiful testimonies and lessons.  RS lesson was about Family Traditions and one sister shared that their family had a family motto:  “Build a bridge and get over it!”  I think that is awesome!!  That helps with so many different things in life!!!!

Jim: In priesthood the EQ president, Brother Tobler, gave a lesson about being a dad and how that is different than just a father. That includes focusing on the family’s needs and wants more than our own, spending quality time with them, using teaching moments, and showing by example how much we love the Lord.  He referred to a priesthood leadership meeting last year with Elder Renlund, who spoke about that one day we will be accountable to our Father in Heaven for how we treated our wives, our children, our church callings, and if we were honest in our work profession.  We need to keep our priorities straight.  It was a great discussion.  One of the things President Tobler shared was one of his treasures, a testimony written to him by his grandfather.  He then challenged us to write our testimonies to our children and grandchildren so they will have something specifically written to them from us that will carry on after we are gone. I have written my testimony in my journal and in some other letters over the years, but this would be a specific letter to each child.  That is a bigger challenge and a good thing to do.

            Hope you are all doing well and feeling good!

            Love, Elder & Sister Hartzell