Florida Here I Am!

HELLO!!! I have so much to tell you I don't even know where to start! First off thank you so much for all the emails and prayers. They bring so much strength and motivation, for I couldn't do it without all of you! I am in the Palm Beach zone and my first area is Boynton Beach south. It is crazy to see all the snow at home because it is so nice here! The humidity hasn't bothered me. Everyone says that I came at the perfect time because I can gradually lead into it. There are so many Haitians here! I have yet to have taught anyone white! I didn't see very many white people until church on Sunday! I love the Haitian people. They are so nice and welcoming and super prepared for the Gospel! Sorry I have so much to say I hope this all makes sense. I will start with my trainer. Her name is Sister Stegelmeier. I love her so much! She is tall, she is from Morgan Utah and has been out for 15 months so I will be her last companion. She is such an amazing missionary and I am so blessed to have her. She is an amazing missionary. I mean it 100% when I say she is the best sister missionary in the mission. She just finished being a sister training leader and even president told me how blessed I was to get her as my trainer. I love her and know if I follow her example I will be a successful missionary. 

I am so excited to be a Florida Fort Lauderdale missionary. This is an amazing mission. Gods work is moving fast in this area. With the Temple coming everyone is so prepared. We are a baptizing mission. It has been number one in North America on and off for the past year. We even had a baptism yesterday! Her name was Patricia. The sisters before us taught her almost everything but we taught her the commandments and committed her to the Word of Wisdom. She accepted and was baptized yesterday! I had a baptism on my first sunday! I am so blessed to have played a part in conversion. It was so amazing. I want to baptize every sunday because it is awesome! We have an amazing finding tool called harvesting. We knock on the persons door and tell them we are representatives of Jesus Christ and he has sent has to there door to leave a powerful blessing on there home and family. They let us in or we say it on the front porch. The elders bless them with the priesthood but us sisters say "Our Heavenly Father, in virtue of our calling as missionaries and representatives of Jesus Christ we ask for the Saviors peace and blessing to be upon ___________. We then proceed to bless them as the spirit directs. The spirit is always so strong as we finish. We then talk about the Holy Ghost and commit them to baptism right then! At first I was worried that no one would accept but the spirit is so strong and people are so prepared that we almost always have people accept right away! It is so awesome! Harvesting is such an amazing finding tool! I love it. We have seen so many miracles already from it. I want to share one quick story. We had one hour left on saturday night before we had to be back. We are commanded to harvest for one hour. We had a family we wanted to go see but we hadn't harvested yet so we decided to do that. We knocked on a door that we felt prompted to and were immedieatly let in. His name was Jean and his family was there. They recently came from Haiti. We blessed them and the spirit was SO STRONG! He told us how he was a Jehovah's Witness and had been to many churches and was comfortable with them but that he had never felt the way he was. He told us that he wasn't planning on being home that night and he is always super hard to catch but he felt he needed to stay home that night. He said that he knew God sent us to him! It was so amazing. I have been praying hard for Charity and in that moment God answered my prayer. I all of a sudden felt such a love for this man and his family. I wanted them so bad to get baptized right then and there so they could go to the temple! It brought tears to my eyes as I shared with him how much I loved him and that he was my brother and that he needed to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong it was amazing! I want every teaching experience to be like that. I felt prompted to give him a Book of Mormon which he readily accepted and said he would start reading it right away. Man I just love being a missionary! I really want to teach them but they would do better in Creole so we will pass them onto the Elders. 

There is our companionship and two sets of Elders that cover this particular area... we are all over the same ward. The ward is awesome. We have so many willing members that will come teach with us. We have only been here since Wednesday and already have had 9 member present lessons! That is such a miracle. This area has so much potential between the members and people being prepared we are going to see so many miracles! Missionary work is so awesome. I have so much I want to say but I don't have a ton of time so please just know that this is God's work and I am but an instrument in it. I love all my brothers and sisters and want them so bad to enter the waters of baptism that they might begin that path back to there loving father in heaven. We see so many miracles each day. So many that I honestly couldn't count them all. Thank you for all the prayers. It is the reason we see so much success. 

Snow at the MTC

Our district with our teacher Bro. Carter

The ASL missionaries in our Zone at the MTC

Zone in the MTC

Sister and Elder Singleton

Baptism with the Lindseys

MTC is the best.

Last Sunday was our first day as Sister Training Leaders. We had meetings literally all day! It was long but good. We get lots of talks about modesty and flirting with the Elders but you know me and that isn't a problem. haha Our branch presidency got released on Sunday so President Nally was there! He is the MTC president. I got to meet him and shake his hand! It was cool. Wednesday the new district came in. Sister Pittman and I had to welcome them along with the Zone Leaders and give them a tour of the MTC and answer any questions that they had. It is crazy that we have only been here a week and already showing others around. We have a deaf sister in our zone. Luckily Sister Pittman knows how to sign! It was all so inspired. The deaf sister is so sweet and humble. Truly a special spirit. At lunch that day one of the Elders said that he knew a little bit of sign language. I asked where he learned it and Mom you will never guess what he said?! "I watched this show called SUE THOMAS  F.B.EYE"!!!! Haha It was the best moment ever. We had a good conversation about that. haha One of the Elders from the new district is also a twin. His brother came the same day as well. I asked if he was having a hard time and he got all sad in the face and said that he was having a hard time. I told him he would be ok and that he would see his twin a lot. I feel bad for him but I know he will be ok. I see Katelyn a lot!!! Lots of people come up to me thinking I am her. It is really funny. I wrote her a card and gave it to as Sister to give to her. At lunch the next day I saw the same sister and she came rushing up to me saying that she had a card for me from my twin. Imagine my surprise when she handed me the same card I had given her the day before! haha it was a good laugh. 

I am learning so much here it is crazy. We do a lot of role playing. Our teachers play the role as investigators and we teach them everyday. It is really hard and sometimes I don't think I am getting any better but it is coming. Sister Pittman and I are still getting along really well. We are getting closer as a district and we have a hard time getting to bed on time just because we are always talking. 

We got to go the Temple this morning!!! I loved it! The Provo Temple is HUGE! They have 12 sealing rooms and 8 ordinance rooms!!! It is beautiful inside. It was so good to get out of the MTC and go there! I loved it. We did laundry this afternoon and can now email until dinner time. I am doing well with the food but am getting tired of it. I am happy I am only here 12 days! I met a sister who has been here for 10 weeks! Crazy eh?! 

Yesterday we had In Field Orientation. It has gotten me so excited to go to the field! We talked a lot about talking to everybody we see. We practiced giving very brief statements of testimony and truth and then a pass along card to mormon.org. I am going to talk to everyone I see! They are very big on internet proselyting right now. Pass along cards to mormon.org and facebook and what not. I am loving it here and am so glad that I am on a mission. My love for Jesus Christ and his Gospel has grown so much. I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is true. It can bless anyone's life no matter what they are going through. Baptism is so important! We read a scripture the other day... I think it was D&C 84:20-22 or something like that and we talked about how baptism is so much more than a commandment. We practice a lot of inviting people to be baptized in the first lesson! At first I was very surprised by this but now I definitely see the importance of it. The Gospel is so amazing and I am so blessed to be apart of it.

Sister Hartley's

My companion, me and Katelyn

Us & our companions. We went on our temple walk together.

Our Zone

My MTC Experience

The plane ride was good. It was a small plane. The flight attendant got talking to me and asked if I was going on a mission and it turns out she is related to Shelia Hall. Small world. Sister Hartley and I shed a few tears on the plane but we pulled through. We didnt have to push our luggage around a lot at the airport. We picked it up and then the shuttle was literally right there so that was a blessing. I guess international missionaries come early on Tuesday but this doesnt include Canadians. But since we came early to they just put us with them. It was crazy there was elders and sisters from all over the world. Most couldnt even speak English! It was interesting. Lots of them sacrificed so much to be here. Sister Hartley and I were together all tuesday and wednesday morning but when all the new missionaries came in the afternoon we had to part! IT WAS SO HARD! We talked about it before and said we werent going to cry but we did. Not long though and we were distracted with being so busy. We are both fine now. We see each other occasionally. Our residence is close together but we have completely different schedules so we never see each other. The other night she wrote me a cute note and slipped it under my door for me to find it! It made me so HAPPY. I met a sister who aprenatly sees her all the time so I wrote a note and gave it to her to give to Katelyn. I had such a hard time calling her sister hartley at first but we finally stopped calling each other by our first names. It was funny our first day everyone could easily see we were related because we were always together and had the same name tag and that we were canadian because we had our lanyards. haha everyone wanted to see and talk to the the Canadian Twins. It was funny.

I will tell you a bit about my district. My companion is Sister Pittman. I love her to pieces! She is so nice and easy going. She is 22 and mature so we get along well. She has had a rough life. Her Mom is kind of crazy it sounds like. Married a lot of times and everything and just wasnt a good example. Her family was inactive but she had grandparents that started bringing her to church in her teenage years and she ate the gospel up and just loved it. She never thought she would go on a mission but when the Lord asked she responded. She is such a strength. Despite all her family trials and other things she is so strong and I admire her. She also has beautiful red hair which I love and is also pretty tall. Our district is Sister Pittman and myself, Sister Fletcher and Sister Smock. Sister Fletcher is from Alaska so we have some good conversations. SIster Smock is from New York and you can tell. She is always in a hurry and has a big personality. She is such a city girl. One time I was talking about branding with an elder and I thought she was going to cry! haha Definitely a city girl! Our district also has a trio of Elders. Elder Rice, Elder Morgan, and Elder Favalaoki. The Elders and me are all going to my mission and the sisters are going to Denver Colorado South. We all get along well. Our zone is awesome to. Elder Thomas is one of the Zone Leaders. He is 6 6. Sister Smock asked if he was polensian ya cant spell that and he confidently responded nope I am black. haha he reminds me of Travis. Our Zone has amazing Elders in it. Almost everyone is the first in their family to go even though most are the youngest in there family. They are awesome. 

One thing I have learned is that God truly puts people in our lives to help us along. I have made so many connections with people here that make me not be homesick and give me motivation. Katelyn and I met a teacher that is Dr. Larsons grand daughter and I also have seen Ben Mennis Kikis husband. It was so good to see him. 

Sister Pittman and I were called to serve as Sister Training Leaders in our zone. It will be hard because I already feel like I have so much to do but I know I can do it all with the Lords help. It seems teachers are always committing us to do something and I just dont know how I will have time to do it all but it all has worked out. God is blessing me. 

I love our class time. The Gospel is amazing and I cant wait to get out and share it with others! We get to teach two different people as investigators five times each while here so I will get lots of practice. It is definitely hard but I know I can do it. I am so glad Katelyn and I went to the Temple so much. I feel that was such good preparation. 

The food is better than I thought. There is lots of variety and the salads and wraps are amazing. The oatmeal in the morning actually is edible to so that made me happy. Overall I feel good. We had PE time today for the first time and that felt SO GOOD because we really do just sit all day long. We went on the stair climber and lifted some weights. It felt so good. 

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The other night at supper I got talking with Elder Anderson in our zone. He reminds me of Travis as well. He lives in Wyoming and his family runs a big cattle ranch. I asked if it was hard to leave the cowboy boots and wranglers behind. He just laughed and said you have no idea! haha it was priceless. We were both so excited to talk about home and the ranch life because no one else seems to understand. 

Anyways this is getting kind of long so I will wrap it up. I smiled so big when I read Dad got a dish for the black cat! haha He secretly loves them even though he doesnt realize it yet. SO glad to know that you made it home safe. I love you all so much! Thank you for all the love and prayers and support! 

Sister Hartley 

Bunk Beds at the MTC- Just like home

Sisters in my Mission at the MTC

Sister Hartley with Sister Hartley

                                         

My first name tag

My first package from home at the MTC

Adventure Starts. Week 1, October 22, 2013

Well the adventure is about to begin! I will enter the MTC on October 23, 2013.  I am very excited to begin my service to the Lord. The nerves are starting to come, but I am trying to replace them with faith. It was very hard to say goodbye to my grandparents. I am so glad we took the time to get pictures with them! I know that the next 18 months will be hard. However, I know I will be in the Lord's hands and that he will watch over my family and I. I love Jesus Christ and his gospel so much and can't wait to share it with others. I wanted to share my mission scripture. It is Ether 12:41. 

"And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen."

I absolutely love this scripture! I can't wait to teach people about Jesus Christ and his atonement and share the difference this knowledge has made in my life and see the difference it makes in theirs. 

That past few week has been a good one as we prepare to go. We went to Waterton with a good friend--Natalie Bevans. Katelyn went to A&W one last time before she goes and we got to spend time with family. I am so blessed to have such great family and friends. 

                                                    Grandpa and Grandma Hartley Farewell

                                                 Grandpa and Grandma Neilson last visit

                                        Nate, Katelyn, and me visiting Waterton Park

                                                Last visit to A & W, Katelyn and Nat