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Monday, February 23, 2015

Best time of my life! She is from Stirling.

A day with Sister Bithell!



Hi Y'all, I know I say this every week, but so much has happened since last Monday. Once again, the Lord continues to have His hand in the work here. Our Thursday afternoon and evening plans weren't falling into place and we were getting frustrated. We made several phone calls and were not getting far. Finally we got on are knees and asked the Lord what he needed us to do. Once we finished praying we sat on are knees for a moment and the phone ran. It was a returning member. She says, "Want to get together." Us "yes!" Her "When" Us "right now?" Her "okay" Us "we'll start walking" her "I'll come pick you up." Us "THANK-YOU!" She ended up taking us to her daughters home, who isn't a member. She was in the middle of a stressful situation and we were able to pray with her and share a message with her about the hope of the Gospel. It was a miracle. 

Saturday night Sister Borja and I were tracting and no one was giving us the time of day. I was struggling a bit with it, but kept my head up and looked forward. Someone would listen. We knocked on another door and an old woman let us right in and she needed us right at that moment. She needed to know that God hadn't abandoned her. Another miracle. God always provides a way. I'm learning that that way is always a little more than we sometimes think. The extra mile. 

I was able to go on an exchange with Sister Quilty on Tuesday. Best time of my life! She is from Stirling. For 24 hours I felt like I was in Southern Alberta. I'd say, "Country 95" and she'd say, "Mayor Magrath Drive" and I'd say "Lethbridge Hurricanes." haha and we went on and on, we both had a great time and we worked hard and saw a lot of miracles. 
Saturday I was able to go on an exchange with Sister Bithell, another best time of my life! I love her sooooo much!! She is one of my very best friends. I'll be naming one of my girls after her, let's put it that way! It was great to be with her again. We worked hard and had a lot of fun. We were able to talk about Texarkana. I love that place! We were also able to phone Amy. We needed it and she needed it. Please keep her and her family in y'alls prayers. 
Yesterday we were able to go out with are ward mission leader and present the ward mission plan to a few of the members. Our ward mission leader is amazing. He reminds me of Alan Wiley, and he grew up on a ranch in Tennessee. He's a doer, and a finisher. Just the right person for the job. I've learned a lot from him. 

I love y'all. Thank you for all y'alls support, prayers, and letters. It means a lot to me. We're so blessed to have the scriptures in our lives.


Sister Hartley 

 O'Canada 
Sister Quilty

With Sister Quilty




Look how close the road is to the water



A day with Sister Bithell!


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

I'm not in Jackson anymore





Boy is that subject title the truth! Sorry I'm just emailing now. I got to be quick. I got transferred. I'm now in the Bay St. Louis area. I am on the coast! Now I've seen both ends of the mission! Are apartment is 3 miles from the ocean. My companion is named Sister Borja (pronounced Borha). She is from Paraguay. She goes home in 4 weeks so I have a lot to learn about the area and the sisters in are stewardship (one of which is from Stirling and knows Beth, and also Sister Bithell and my grandaughter! and Sister Brown my MTC companion!). Anyways I love it here. Today was my first official day and it was the best. I've been having Deja vu all day. I feel really impressed that I am supposed to be here. It is a totally different world than the other areas I have served in. I can't believe I'm so close to the ocean. It is crazy! We drove over a long bridge today right over the ocean! It is crazy! Almost everyone we talked with today made a reference to Katrina and how it affected them. We see evidence of the damage in some areas. My district is great. It's just us and a set of elders. We also both serve in the Waveland ward. The are awesome, hardworking elders, and we seem to have a lot in common. Ones from a ranch and rodeos so I was telling him about Nat and stuff. Anyways we are super busy and working hard serving the Lord. I'm starting to feel old. I was on the transfer van and out of 9 sisters I was the oldest serving sister. Where did the time go? So crazy. A lot of missionaries in the mission that have influenced me went home this transfer. It was hard to see them go. I don't think we realized how big of an influence we have on people. I learned so much from them and they changed my mission. Anyways I better get going. Love y'all! 









Monday, February 2, 2015

We were so busy we worked right through lunch.


 The Jackson Zone Sisters.

Hey y'all. Another great week here in good ol' Jackson. If y'all haven't read this talk I'd invite you to read it. I've lost count the number of times I've listened to it.

If you're able to y'all should listen to him give it, his voice is powerful. Neat thing as well, Elder Hugh B. Brown married Charles Ora Card's daughter.


We've seen many miracles this week. Tuesday we were on exchanges. I was in our area and for some reason Tuesday morning I was really stressed out. I was trying to hide it because we were on exchanges. I didn't want the sister I was with to see me flustered. Some appointments were falling through, we were trying to get members to come out with us, and we had planned to spend the majority of our day on foot so we could talk with everyone. I was worried we were going to run out of things to do because our appointments weren't super solid. I decided to push it aside and have more faith. We set out and none of the people we had planned to see that morning where there, but we talked with everyone, and tracted,   We were so busy we worked right through lunch. That afternoon we were out walking trying to locate a referral and we stopped to talk to this older couple walking out of there driveway to go for a walk. When they saw  us walking towards them they said that we were filled with light. We showed them a picture of the Salt Lake temple and talked about forever families and it really interested them. We set a time to see them the next day. When we went back the lady began to tell us she wasn't interested, but Sister Kennard being the bold missionary that she is  wasn't taking no for an answer. We ended up teaching her and are seeing her again tonight with Sister McDonough.

After we talked with them we needed to book it back to the car because we were late for our next appointment. While we were half running I saw a man by his truck and before we could say anything he says, "Sisters! I'm a member!" Turns out his family just moved in so we got there contact info and are excited to see them. The appointment we had planned fell through so the member that was with us took us to see a lady on her visiting list that was less active. She was home to so we got to talk to her for a minute. All in all the day turned out perfectly and I really enjoyed my time with the sister I was with. We both gained a stronger testimony of talking with everyone and walking as often as we can.

Sister Kennard and I also had a powerful tracting experience. We knocked on a door and no one was there so we went to the next door.  A car then pulled up in the driveway of the house we had just knocked on. We went back and knocked again and a man answered and he was prepared to receive the Book of Mormon and we had a powerful lesson with him.

I'm grateful for the experiences I've had this week. Transfers are next week so I'll be emailing on Tuesday. I have no idea what will happen. I could easily stay, and easily go. I'll do whatever I'm asked.


I love y'all and thank-you for all the support and prayers.


 funny quote we heard from a member



Lunch with my favorite ladies