A really strong member friend

We had another wonderful week. Here is one of our miracles:

I was on exchanges and literally all of our solid appointments fell through. I was praying for a miracle because I really wanted this dear Sister to experience it. We began to knock and sure enough it was the last door we knocked on. We met a wonderful lady. She recognized us as the Mormon missionaries instantly. She loved the prayer and accepted a Book of Mormon. She asked us where the nearest ward was.... turns out she grew up with a really strong member friend. They have kept in contact all these years. She went to young womans with her as a child and everything. She related how she had always been so impressed with this family. She had only been living in that area for a week and she knew we were sent by God. We followed up the next day and she related how she had taken a picture of the Book of Mormon and sent it to her friend with the caption "Look who knocked on my door last night". They even talked about the chapter we left with her in the Book of Mormon! When we were doing our How To Begin Teaching she expressed that she wanted the genuine happiness that we all had...when we asked her what she needed to do to receive it she replied, "Well I guess I need to be baptized!". She is elect and it is all because she had a great example all these years!!! She herself even related that had it not been for her member friend she would have wanted nothing to do with us. It was great to share this experience with our members yesterday about how there examples really do make all the difference!

We had Zone Training this past week and President came.

Mom this is what we did for the ZL's... we did a sunshine scavenger hunt around the church.. haha they enjoyed it and felt lots of love... they loved the yellow fuzzy socks... we had fun at the dollar store ...you would have been proud.

Matched on Sunday and didn't even plan it.

Yes Mom we are still biking. :-D

Sister Aisa and I are getting along well. We can communicate openly and I am grateful for that. We are learning so much together. We had an amazing day yesterday. We both bottle up stress and yesterday we both realized that there was a lot of stress and things we needed to talk about so we did. We both agreed that when our sisters have problems like this they have us that they can call but when we have problems we have no one to call... then it clicked that there was indeed someone to call! Sister Richardson!!! (Mission President's wife) At first we didn't want to... our pride was preventing us from doing it. Then we realized that this is how our sisters must feel when they know they need to call but don't. We realized that if we want our sisters to do the same thing then we to must do it. So we humbled ourselves and called Sister Richardson. I am so glad that we did!!! It was refreshing and exactly what we needed. We told her what we were going through and what we needed help with. She gave us the council and direction we needed. She was so happy that we trusted her enough to call her. She let us know that that is exactly what she is here for. She was so grateful. We all rejoiced and were edified together... (Sister Steg that was for you!!). God always provides servants to help us. It was a great lesson learned. I am so grateful to be on my mission. I am learning life lessons for eternity. I can't believe how much trust God puts in us. We are so young and have so much responsibility as missionaries/leaders but we are sanctified and purified as we leave ourselves behind and seek the Lord's aid in all that we do. It is the best 18 months to 2 years we could ever do.

A highlight of this week was getting to go on exchange in my old area!!! I got to go back to Delray! I am so grateful. We got to teach one of my recent converts in one of my favorite members homes... I also got to talk to one of my favorite members on the phone. It was such a tender mercy. It is such a blessing to still be in the same zone. I love exchanges. I learn a lot from the Sisters. They are all amazing. Sometimes I think we learn more then they do.

All in all, it was a wonderful week.

This beautiful girl lives so close to the spirit!! Her prayers are so POWERFUL!

Love

Sister Hartley