New Companion, Sister Price

Well first week of the Transfer is complete. It goes by to fast. I was so nervous for transfer meeting. I had no idea who my new companion would be. I decided to chose faith. I knew that who ever my new companion was would be who God wanted it to be and that it would be the person that I could learn the most from right now. Her name is Sister Price. She is a sweet heart. She is from Rigby Idaho. A lot shorter then Sister Stegelmeier that is for sure. I am going to have to learn how to walk slow because between my fast pace and long legs there is no way that she is going to be able to keep up. haha She loves to bake... we are exact opposites in that way. She loves desserts and exercise definitely is not her favorite thing to do. We went to Subway the other day and I got the 6 inch Veggie delight and she got the Footlong meatball with no vegetables. haha describes us perfectly. From what I can tell so far her biggest strengths are my biggest weaknesses and my biggest strengths are her biggest weaknesses. Thus, we can learn a lot from each other. She will teach me patience and I am praying to help her see the importance of hard work, diligence, and exact obedience. It is strange having Sister Stegelmeier gone. I realize at a deeper level now what an amazing missionary she is for countless reasons. I have seen how much I have grown from our time together. Sister Price says that you can definitely tell that she trained me because I act just like her. haha I was grateful for the compliment. I see a lot of her in myself and I am most grateful. 

A few weeks ago Sister Stegelmeier and I met Richard. We were biking along and stopped to talk to him. He spoke very little English so we gave him a card with the Elders phone number and told them that they spoke creole and could tell him more. He called the next day and asked the Elders to come to church! He was baptized yesterday. It was an amazing miracle. It was a huge testimony builder to me of being selfless in finding. We literally have to talk to everyone. Even if we can already tell they don't speak english. It is when we truly become selfless in our finding that we as a mission can unite together to accomplish our goal. We all need each other. God blessed us for our sacrifice because in turn the elders found 2 beautiful English speaking families for us! Both are very solid and have strong desire to change. I am so grateful. 

We had an interesting experience the other day. We had a return appointment with a man. However, when we returned to visit him he had some of his friends there and all they wanted to do is bible bash and corner us with questions about what we believed. There hearts were so hard it was evident that they would not receive anything. I would begin to respond to their questions but they no sooner would cut me off and continue on bashing. The spirit was definitely not there. I wanted to get out of there as quick as possible because we are called to work with the elect. I finally just stood up, boldly stated my testimony and how I know what I know because God has revealed it to me and I will never deny it. I told them that they can never judge anything until they go directly to the source of all truth--God. I invited them to come to church to see for themselves and gave them a mormon.org card and then we were on our way. This experience left me pretty shaken up but I am most grateful for it because it gave me a great appreciation for Katelyn. She has experiences like this each day. She is truly so strong to be able to endure it each day. It truly shows how strong her testimony is and how deeply converted she is.I am so grateful for her example. 

Love,

Sister Hartley