Photos

Our North Little Rock Zone at Zone Conference

All the Senior Couple serving in the Arkansas Zones, including us Office Couples

We are helping the Cahoons do car inspections

President and Sister Wakolo.  They are such wonderful teachers and great examples to us all.

Hodge Podge

Dear Family & Friends,

            There is a big effort in the two local stakes in the Little Rock area to go and help with the clean up after huge flood in Louisiana where thousands of homes and a few of our church buildings were flooded.  From the Little Rock Stake they had 6000 volunteers.  Our son Larry and grandson Gary went down as part of the effort.  They had to take their own tents, food and water to drink and hand tools.  The Little Rock Ward bishop went with his son and reported today that they were mostly ripping out wallboard in the homes that have lost everything. There are areas that have never seen flooding before.  They call it the 1000 year flood.  What a blessing the Church is to these devastated areas, bringing in supplies and labor. New thought, there is a sister and her grandson we have been picking up to take to church each Sunday.  It is exciting to see her growth in returning to activity after many years of non-attendance.   One of the missionaries spoke today in Sacrament meeting and talked about how important the family is in God’s plan for us.  We are so impressed with the young missionaries and their ability they have developed to speak on great topics like this one.   

Last Sunday after our church meetings, we rested and ate dinner, and we watched part of the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics, and this past week, from time to time, I have watched various events on my iPad Mini.  I continue to enjoy the wonderful athletes and their hard work and dedication that has brought them together.  Most of the athletes are peaceful and helpful with each other, but sadly some countries still do not get along with other countries.  I feel that the Olympics are one place that people show that they can be above their country’s politics.  I am one of those that can cheer for the other team if they make a good play, and feel that sportsmanship means more than championship.  Ok, that’s my 1 cent worth!

            Last Sunday we also had good phone visits with Christi and Shawn and their family.  Monday Jim was busy with bed bug issues most of the day, and bill paying.  Some missionaries had to be moved out of their apartments because the bugs kept coming back.  So he is looking for new apartments.  I worked on letters to get out and some projects for Sister Wakolo and for Jim.  In the evening we had a nice phone visit with Brent on his way home from work, and later with Shelley and cute little Maxwell—he can’t talk yet but can smile and laugh and coo!!  Love it!!

            We have been praying for Senior Couple recommendations to come, so each Tuesday I eagerly look for them.  We did get two young sister missionaries’ recommends, but no couples yet.  Please pray for us!!  If we don’t get them, then the young missionaries have to come into the Office and work and can’t do their regular missionary work.  I love that we are here so that they don’t have to be.  It is fun when the missionaries tell us about their grandparents who have served, but as far as I know none of their grandparents are serving currently.  They sure appreciate us and we are glad to be here!!  I also completed three Mission Memories binders, and we had a Staff meeting in the afternoon.  We exercised in the evening and cut up fresh peaches to freeze—these are local and delicious!  I do miss our Utah peaches, but these are good, too.

            Wednesday was busy with more Office letter stuff, went to Sam’s Club for food for the Mission Leader Conference on Thursday (MLC), and in the evening the Cahoons took us to dinner at Cheddars in Little Rock to thank us for helping them with the cars last week.  The food was delicious!!  Came back to the apartment and played some “Lucky Unders” (thank you, Halversens, that is one of our favorite games) with the Cahoons, and when they left, watched some TV while doing 2 loads of laundry, and went to bed.

            Thursday was the MLC and we had the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in meetings in our building all day.  Jim and I went and picked up the Chick-fil-A chicken to go with the salad and grapes and cookies and chips we served them for lunch.  Then I sent letters to them congratulating them on their new assignments, and send email copies to their parents, bishops, and stake presidents.  So proud of these great young men and women!!  We also got a new Office Elder.  Elder Heidinger was made a ZoneLeader, and Elder Lindstrom is the new companion to Elder Boggess.

            Friday was a hodge-podge day.  I did a little of this and a little of that.  Jim reports that you can see some desk top surface, which is a good sign that he finally got caught up with missing the two days last week.  Most of my projects I had to do this week were done, so I did clean-up kinds of things.  I am trying to make a new desk manual to help the person who replaces me be able to know what to do.  I know, I have a year before that will happen, but we never know what will happen and I want to be ready just in case.  The Assistants were in the Office and working on the Transfer lists some more, especially trying to figure out rides to and from the Temple.  Because there are a lot of changes this time, a lot of missionaries are having to be moved around and it has to be all well thought out by the Assistants.  It was fun watching them go over stuff and figure out more things that needed to be done.  They are really hard workers!!  For my Japanese friends, oteskare sama des (probably misspelled it!)

Did our grocery shopping, went home, put our feet up and relaxed!

            Saturday we vacuumed, dusted, read and answered emails, napped, exercised, and did assorted other things, including watching more Olympics.  Felt we had accomplished a lot!

            The miracle I will tell you about happened to one of our Senior couples.  Two weeks ago when we had all that rain this couple and two elders had gone to teach a part-member family.  The road crosses over a small creek and has never been a problem.  When they were done teaching and driving home, they came to the creek and it was a bigger stream, but they still tried to cross it, in their SUV.  It whipped their car around and had them going down backwards for about 500 yards.  They wisely put down their windows, and when the car was stopped by a tree, they climbed out onto the roof.  Except for the sister, who went down into the water.  One of the elders grabbed on to her arm and promised he wouldn’t let go.  Her husband came to that side of the car and grabbed her other arm and together they pulled her up on the roof.  They were able to go down the other side of the car and get onto solid ground.  They walked back to the people’s house and were well-taken care of and given dry clothes and a place to sleep.  The next day the creek was small and they were driven into town and are renting a car while their old one was finally towed out of the creek and is totaled.  So now they are looking for a new car.  I asked the sister how she felt and she said that though she was afraid, she felt calm and peaceful and knew that whatever the Lord wanted was fine with her.  We are glad He helped her to live and be safe.  What a wonderful miracle!!

            We love you all and pray for miracles in your lives,

            Elder & Sister Hartzell

Rain, rain, go away!

Dear Family and Friends,

            Because I ended last week’s blogpost with what happened last Monday, I will start this week’s with Tuesday.  Got a few mosquito bites on Monday and woke up during the night itching away.  I put Aloe Vera on them, but it didn’t help.  So got out some Benadryl cream and that was a little better.  Poor Lily also got a lot of mosquito bites while she was here, all over her legs and arms.  No fun!!

            We received two Missionary Recommendations in our mission email and I processed both of those.  Also worked on the Departure Books, but I am going to change the name of them because of a letter I send out to them before they come that tells them they will receive a “Mission Memories” book at the end of their mission.  I like that much better!  Had a good phone visit with a senior couple who will be the next Mission Nurse.  He is the one who will do it, and she will serve with him.  They had lots of questions and I was happy to answer them.  They won’t be here until next January.  Got my hair cut, we went to Sam’s Club for Gatorade for the two Zone Conferences, watched the Olympics, and went to bed at 10:15 (early for us).

            Wednesday was the Zone Conference for the 3 Arkansas Zones.  We had a group photo taken and will send out a copy when we get it.  We would have gone in for the meetings, but we had told the Cahoons we would help them examine and evaluate cars, so we spent the morning doing that.  We look for cleanliness inside and out, for dings and scratches and dents, and we check all the paperwork in their glovebox to make sure they have the car registration, insurance papers, accident report papers, their gas record book, and the owner’s manual.  Most had everything, but not all.  One was even missing their car registration which is a big no-no!  Also checked the fluid levels in the engine and left their hoods up if they needed to add more windshield washer fluid or radiator coolant.  Our Little Rock Ward provided a delicious pulled-pork lunch with beans, salad, apples, and brownies.  So Good!!!  After lunch we had informational meetings about the care of cars, the need for the Emergency contact information to be in each apartment and current (that is where the missionaries go in case of an emergency), and assorted other stuff.  Elder and Sister Thompson talked about bed bugs—so many missionaries have them and are sharing them with each other.  We have professionals come in and spray, the Office Elders also go spray, and the missionaries have to do a lot of work to wash and double drying clothes and bedding, and vacuuming, and clean really good.  Some keep getting reinfected.  I feel so bad for them as the bed bug bites itch and look bad.  I was also able to get letters out to new missionaries (and their parents) who will be coming in October.  We ended up not leaving the office until 7:00 p.m., had a quick dinner, and watched Olympics.

            Thursday we drove a mission car from a dealership right by our apartment to Memphis for the Zone Conference that was held for the two zones in Tennessee.  We helped check cars there, too, had a delicious lunch of burritos and taco salad, and similar meetings to what we had on Wed.  Because the Cahoons needed to talk to a lot of the missionaries about their cars and give them the fluids for their engines, so we finally left about 5:30 and got home about 8:00.  We rode back with the Cahoons and had a lot of laughs from the nonstop stories he tells. The Cahoons’ apartment kitchen, part of their living room, and one bedroom flooded the night before because the apartment upstairs had a flooding from their washer hose, but don’t know if it was the dishwasher or clothes washer.  So they have had fans going, and a dehumidifier constantly since then.  After we got home, we ate a light dinner and fell asleep watching the Olympics.

            This whole week we have had rain everyday most of the day.  Friday was overcast all day but not much rain.  The nice thing is the temperatures have been in the high 70’s and mid 80’s, so that is much nicer, but with tons of humidity.  Dusted the Office, sent out more letters, worked on Mission Memories binders, updated the calendar with changes the president wanted made, and sent it out to everyone.  I am learning how to take care of iPads.  Sister Cahoon usually does it, but she and her husband are leaving the end of September.  We also have the Cheneys leaving in September, and 3 other couples leaving in October!!  And no new senior couple recommendations coming in!!  We are desperate.  We will have to take full-time young missionaries out of the field to work in the office, and wards that need senior couples will just not have them.  Please, if any of you are considering a mission, please send in your application/recommendation and request Arkansas Little Rock.  We would love to have you!!!!  Jim was really busy in the office today due to missing the last two days, and would have stayed later, but IMOS financial went down at 6pm so we left about 5:45.  Got Arby’s for dinner and ate at the Office, then went to the store for food and home to watch the Olympics

            Saturday we cleaned our bathrooms and kitchen, I recorded receipts for our budget, sent out the blogpost from last week, Jim stopped at a farmer’s market for fresh food and went to the Office for an hour to get caught up on stuff from being gone two days this week, it poured rain all day (some Little Rock natives have said this is the most they have had at one time ever!!).  Good day for staying inside and watching-----the Olympics!!!! 

            Sunday, we enjoyed church and good talks, lessons, and seeing good people.  Took Michelle and her grandson Caleb with us.  They really enjoy going to church and meet with the sister missionaries once a week.  Her daughter, Caleb’s mom, isn’t interested.  School started on Monday so Caleb told us all about it.  Our own Gary, Bram and Harper started and they sent out fun first-day-of-school photos.  We have seen a lot from friends on Facebook, too.  Sure is a good time of the year.  The unusual thing that happened today was this bright object appeared in the eastern sky and tracked across the skyline all day, people call it the Sun.  We had almost forgotten what it looked and felt like.

            We are including photos today that I forgot to post last week.  Oops!!

            Have a great week and we love you all!!

            Elder & Sister Hartzell

Harper and Lily have fun together

Larry and Christi enjoying games with their girls

Shawn enjoying a Sunday afternoon nap

Our Senior missionary dinner group:  The Rasmussens, the Cahoons, Sister Hugentobler, the Cheneys, and us

August 15, 2016 Boyles came to visit!!

Dear Family & Friends,

            Last Sunday night Larry, Holly, and the children came over to dinner.  They were late because they had found that a leak in the roof that was supposed to be fixed wasn’t so they had some water to clean up.  It rained all day.  I served Beef Stroganoff and salad and rolls, and Holly brought a chocolate cookie pie and ice cream for dessert.  It was very cozy and fun to all be together.  After dinner, Jim showed the family how to do some Family History on the computer.  They also told us about their big trip—they had a great time visiting many places in South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, including lots of family, and then home.  We watched some Olympics, had good visits with Christi and her family, and with Shelley.  It’s a Sunday night tradition that we love.

            Monday was a busy day with an assortment of letters to write, emails to take care of, stuff to print up, Departure Books to start to assemble, etc.  In the evening we went out to dinner with the Cahoons, Sister Hugentobler, the Cheneys, and the Rasmussens.  We went to a delicious Chinese buffet in Maumelle, then home to watch more Olympics.  They have lots of commercials, so I look up some of the lesser known venues and watch them on my iPad.  Quite fun actually!  Also Monday was our oldest grandchild’s birthday—Lucas Boyles turned 14!!  Can’t believe we have been grandparents for 14 years!!

            Tuesday was also busy with various projects, and in the afternoon we had our Office Staff meeting.  Sister Wakolo wasn’t feeling well so she didn’t come.  Jim had a special meeting after the staff meeting with the new stake housing specialist and President Wakolo to discuss our bed bug challenges.  There Went home at 4:30 to fix leftovers of the Beef Stroganoff for our Office Elders—Heidinger and Boggess.  We had plenty!!  It was nice to get to know them a little better.  Elder Heidinger is from Alberta, Canada, but I can’t remember where Elder Boggess is from.  They left to go work at the Office some more, and we had a nice evening.

            Wednesday was my mom’s 111^th birthday and it was good to think about her during the day.  I dropped Jim off at the Office and went to my annual physical at Dr. Riley’s, which is only about a mile or so from the Office.  I think everything is fine—but don’t have the bloodwork results back yet.  Another busy day with lots to do.

            Thursday we reversed and Jim dropped me off and went for his physical.  We cleaned our bathrooms at the church because we didn’t want to come in on Friday.  Our daughter Christi and her husband Shawn and their family traveled from Austin, TX, up to Little Rock.  We tracked their progress on Waze!!  Isn’t it wonderful!!  We don’t have to wonder where they are.  They came directly to the Office where we showed them around and they met all the Office Missionaries, Senior and Junior.  It was fun to show them around.  Then we all left to drive to Larry & Holly’s for dinner and visiting and fun being together.

            Friday I did not feel well so had to stay home and take it easy.  Jim got to go to the waterpark in Hot Springs with both families, except for Larry who was doing surgeries.  It was a hot day so the water and two rain storms helped keep them cooled off. They had a wonderful time and ate dinner at Larry’s Pizza.  He didn’t get home until 10:00.  I had a nice quiet day of napping and watching TV (Olympics) and reading.  Didn’t eat hardly anything.

            Saturday I felt much better and we cleaned the apartment, went shopping at Walmart, and the families brought over pulled pork and corn on the cob which we heated up and ate in shifts.  Then we all went over to the big TV room in the Clubhouse (there are 20 recliners, some of which have massages that work.  So we watched an old movie called “Fievel Goes West” (very cute) and ate chips, popcorn, soda, and had a fun time.  Then we packed everything up and went to Larry & Holly’s and played games, got fried chicken at Slim Chickens (delicious), more TV, games, and played Disney Charade which was hilarious!! 

            Sunday we all went to Pinnacle Mountain Ward and heard some good talks.  My favorite was the young man who spoke about being with friends and trying to decide which movie to go see, but they were all R rated.  In his head he heard his mother’s voice, “Remember who you are.”  So he and a friend went and did something else.  So proud of him to stay true to his values. 

Afterwards we came home and took naps, then went back to Larry and Holly’s for games and for dinner—fajitas and lots of sides.  We sure have eaten well!!!!! 

Then we watched Ameicas Funniest Videos, Olympics, children’s Bible video, had FHE, put the young ones to bed, also Gary and Bram as they started school the next day, and we played Phase 10, a family favorite.  Then we said goodbye to everyone, especially Christi & Shawn and family as they were leaving the next morning, and we headed home.

            Monday worked on Departing Books again, the calendar, talked to my sister Lois, fell asleep on the couch where I was talking to her, then was able to visit with Sister Wakolo who stopped by for awhile, and we had a surprise visit from Sister Green.  They are doing well and have a couple of trips coming up.  Always fun to see them.  Tracked Christi and Shawn’s progress home and they got there about 5:30.  It rained all day, and looks like that will continue every day this week and next.  No wonder it’s so green here!!  We left the Office and went to see the latest Bourne movie, “Jason Bourne.”  Lots of action.  Came home to rest up and watch all the action on the Olympics. 

            Some thoughts from the missionaries:  Talking about the wars in Alma and how it hardened some people and made others humble he said, “It’s like boiling an egg and a potato together.  They’re both boiled in the same water but the egg gets harder and the potato gets softer.  I want to be a potato”

            Another missionary said, “As we were walking to a less-actives home, a woman in a car that was parked rolled down her window and asked if we were Mormons.  When we said yes she proceeded to tell us that the Elders are teaching her cousin.  Then something miraculous happened.  She asked if we could come by and teach her and her children because ‘they need it.’  It’s my understanding that these things don’t just happen.  This woman is ready to hear it.  We can’t wait to meet with her!”

            It so great to hear about the missionaries and their experiences.

            It was a great week!!

            Love to you all,

            Elder & Sister Hartzell

August Begins

Dear Family & Friends,

            Monday, August 1, was another busy day at the Office.  Started work on a new project, asking the stake Relief Societies to collect some things to put in gift bags for the missionaries for Christmas.  They did this two years ago so we should get some good stuff.  Had phone visits with some of the children, which is always fun!  Went to a movie, “Star Trek Beyond” and really enjoyed it!!

            Tuesday was a pretty quiet day and worked on letters all day.  Was able to exercise in the evening.

            Wednesday started putting Departure Books together.  We have 4 missionaries who are leaving early because of school starting, so I have to get those done.  Also went to Larry’s to take care of their dog, talked to my sister Lois, and in the evening was able to get all the laundry done.  Some of our missionaries are dealing with bed bugs and we are trying to help them do the right things to get rid of them.  We have had to put some in hotels until their apartments can be sprayed and the missionaries go in and do all the cleanup and then try to spray as soon as they see anything.  Jim: There seems to be several issues going on that contribute to the problem: some missionaries don’t report the problem until it gets really bad; some don’t do all they are asked to do to get rid of the bugs; some bugs have a lot of places to hide and are hard to get rid of; and some get transmitted unwittingly from exchanges.  We are trying to address all these issues.  By the end of the week things seemed to be getting better, at least no new reports.  There are 7 apartments right now that have had or have problems we are dealing with.

            Thursday we had a nice visit in the Office with Sister Wakolo.  She is such a sweetheart and love us and the missionaries so much.  We were able to eat Chicken Teriyaki for lunch, which she provided for the young missionaries and there was enough for all of us Office staff, too.  I worked on the calendar to make sure I was putting in all the stuff for the next Transfer without duplicating things that were only needed for this Transfer.  I usually check it over several days to make sure I don’t miss anything.  Because it goes over a 6-week period, I often will compare the wrong weeks of the Transfers and then have to fix it!!  I sent out letters to the missionaries who won’t be here until October but going into the MTC the end of this month because they will learn Spanish.  If I don’t get their letters out now, they won’t have time to send stuff back before they go in the MTC.  Jim: About once a week I have to go to the bank and make a deposit, an easy 2 mile drive, usually for a refund check for one thing or another.  This is so different than in Tokyo where I had to go daily to the local bank and several times a week by train to the main bank.  This is much easier. One of the highlights for me spiritually each day is our morning office staff meeting, with a spiritual thought and a prayer. One of the things that is different for this mission is the extra meeting we attend.  In Tokyo we had weekly district meetings to attend and every 6 weeks a couple of zone meetings we attended.  They were wonderful times to really feel the spirit and to enjoy hearing from our Mission president and his wife. Here we just attend the quarterly single zone meeting for our zone, which has just been one so far, the next is in a couple weeks.  I miss that spiritual lift.  But then I don’t miss staying at the office the next few days in Tokyo until 9:30 or 10 pm catching up.  So be careful what you wish for.

            Friday did all the dusting, then had to put together a Departure Book for a missionary who is leaving after only two Transfers.  Don’t know the circumstances but we are sad to lose her so quickly!  Went over to take care of Sammie, finished up some projects, went shopping at the store, went home, and enjoyed very much the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics.  I admit it—I am an Olympicaholic!!!  It is wonderful to see the world come together to participate in so many different athletic events.  Such hope for a better world!!

            Saturday was a cleaning day here at the apartment, watching Olympics, watching the rain pour down most of the day, watching more Olympics, going shopping, eating, and watching more Olympics!!

            Today I am fasting from food and the Olympics (until after dinner!!)J  Really enjoyed testimony meeting—such a variety of testimonies and so much love being expressed and felt.  SS & RS were both good, too.  We are in such a nice ward.  Now to have a nice Sunday nap, and Holly and the kids got back Friday night so we are having them to dinner!!  It will be crowded at our little table, but so fun!!

            Love to you all,

            Elder & Sister Hartzell

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.