If You Talk to That Lady I'll Open the Door

All the ASL sisters and the Little Rock STLs visiting
over lunch about the exchanges

That's my boy! Love this kid, he loves the Book of Mormon
(She got to see him, her first mission baptism, while
on exchanges in her first mission area last week!)

♥ It looks like these sisters heart-attached their investigator's
door with notes and scripture hearts! ♥

Saw this girl again!

So many miracles this week. I can't even try to write them all.

So back when Sister Brumett was having her very first walk week, about 2 transfers ago, we met this great man, who was so ready for the gospel. We shared a bit with him, and then set a return appointment. And then he missed the return appointment. And then we were super busy, so we were never able to get back to his house. So, those two transfers roll by, and then we have an opportunity Monday to go by his house again. When we get there he's still waiting for us. Not only did he remember us, but he had read the pamphlet we gave him, and he wanted to know more, he wanted our number, and he accepted a baptismal date! He has been waiting for us this whole time. So now we are working with him, and he's really cool. (2 Nephi 2:24) (For Sis Brummett's account of this story, see below.)

This week we had ASL exchanges!!!! I got to go to Southaven! (I love that place) with Sister Vaitai! It was so fun! And I signed the whole time I was there, no matter what. It was hard, but not as hard as I though it would be. We had dinner with a family I had found while I was there, (and they are baptized now) and they totally remembered me! And we got to talk about the plan of salvation with them. It was so fun! And that night we Skyped with a deaf lady who is so cute! And she really wants to come to church, she just hasn't been able to find the address, so we texted it to her after. That was so exciting! She is so sweet!

The second day of the exchange we went to go see the first person I baptized. His mom is deaf, so we got to see her (she's still not baptized, but she knows it! She'll get there) but it was a bad time to see her, so we went to the library to see him (the guy I baptized-well as much as a sister can 😂), and we taught him a lesson in sign language because we couldn't talk, it's the library. That was really fun, using my language. We tried a bunch of deaf people, but no one was home or available. So we went to dinner, which just so happened to be with the family that I got to go to the temple with a couple months ago. I was fun to talk with them for an hour and to continue signing. I think I've improved a lot. Then we got to go teach ASL class. That was a lot of fun. We started working on sentence structure. Also I got to see one of the deaf members again. We had a better conversation than I was able to have with him before. I've learned a ton in the last year. (2 Nephi 28:30) Then we had ward correlation. Wow, it was cool to see all the members again, to see how the work continues to progress, to see the new people they are working with. To meet the investigators, to find new people for them to teach, some that I remember from before. One time we were driving to a deaf member's house and we saw this lady and I got the prompting to get out and talk to her, so we went and talked to her and turns out she probably talked to me a year ago, and she's been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it, and she's been dropped, but her follow up date was three days from the day we saw her and talked to her, and the appointment we set was on her follow up date. That was a really cool miracle. And I don't know if that even made sense, but it was neat. I love Sister Vaitai, she is so fun to work with, and she is so strong. I love how much she devotes to the work, how important it is for her to serve, even giving up Volleyball for it. The Lord will bless her beyond her dreams for it, we heard a story about that yesterday from the general authority who came for stake conference. It was so cool.

Then the next day we came home and all of the ASL sisters, and the Little Rock STLs went to lunch to talk about the exchange. It was good I feel like we learned a lot, and I definitely learned a ton, and next time is going to be even better.

Also, this week we finagled a ride out to a family we really needed to see, but they weren't home, again, so we were debating between going home and going finding around there, or going to try to do service at a member's home who live near. We decided on the service thing. We show up and knock on the door. Her goddaughter was there and let us in, she said that the Sister was sleeping but we were welcome to do the dishes (yes!! our goal!) and so we got to work. About a half hour later, we are nearly done and Sister Brumett is struggling to figure out where to put the rest of the dishes, the Sister gets up and walks out into the kitchen, right then I remember that she'd had surgery the day before so I ask how she's doing and everything. She was so thankful that we had come by, she said that she was planning on doing the dishes when she woke up, and that she had thought about calling us, but had decided not to. And then we just so happened to show up. The Spirit is amazing. (Alma 26:27, 3 Nephi 5:13, Alma 18:16, Matthew 25:40, D&C 8:2-3, 8-9)

On Saturday we had our first (1 1/2) ASL class for this ward, and there were six people there! A member in our ward and her son, our recent convert and his wife, and one of our investigators and her daughter. It was super fun, we got to play some games that help remember the signs. They all loved it.

This week was stake conference! I love stake conference. We got to go to the Youth meeting, and then the next day we went to the Adult meeting with our recent convert and his wife. It was so good. And we were interpreting for it at the same time. That was fun. When President and Sister Wakolo stood up to talk, I hunk they had a shorter time than planned, and I was interpreting for them, and after Sister Wakolo said a few things President started to speak. I'm pretty sure he said everything he planned on saying, because he was talking super fast, the Gift of Tongues is so real! He was spouting scriptures so fast, and I could not keep up. But I loved it because it just shows how well he knows his scriptures and the doctrine, and literally I have no idea if the things I signed made sense, but no matter how confused I was, my hands kept moving, so I know Heavenly Father was helping. (It made more sense to those who weren't trying to interpret it because I'm trying to think of signs I know and sentence structure at that point. (Ether 12:27)) Then the next day was Stake conference!!!!!!!! And we had five people show up!!! It was amazing! And they loved it! There was a musical number with a violin and piano and flute (there was supposed to be a violist ❤️ but he got sick 😢) , and Sister Brumett sang! It was beautiful. And I got to stand up with her and sign the song. It was super fun because in our Stake we have 3 languages, English, Spanish, and American Sign Language. So Sister Brumett sang a verse in English, then a verse in Spanish and I signed the whole thing. 💗 (Acts 10:34 is one of my new favorite scriptures) It was so amazing! And President and Sister Wakolo and the other general authority Elder Thompson and then the stake presidency sitting right behind us. No pressure.

Then we went to go see our other recent convert, the one we haven't been able to see in two weeks, and his wife, who's date got moved to this Saturday (it's happening this time, I know it) and they were expecting us, but again, just like usual, their door did not get opened to us. So like usual, they were either sleeping, or had forgotten or something and weren't there. So we are standing there praying that the door would open, and the thought comes to our minds, "If you talk to that lady I'll open the door." So as we walked up to their house, we passed this lady, we said hi, but we really needed to see them, so we didn't do much else. Then she went inside, and then came back out. We needed to talk to her. So we went and had a really good conversation with her, and we gave her a Book of Mormon, and invited her to an activity President Wakolo is putting on tonight. It was a really good conversation, and we are going back to teach her soon. It was amazing. Then we went back to the house and knocked again. Nothing. So we went back to our car. And right as were we're getting in the car, he called us, he opened his door, and we got out of the car, and went into his home for a wonderful lesson with him and his wife. It was so good, and the Lord always answered our prayers (Ether 12:6). That's how it works.

This week was amazing, and that does not even begin to cover all the miracles this week. It was so fun, and I learned a ton, and I want to say that I love the scriptures. When you teach from the scriptures by the Spirit, concerns are resolved, problems disappear. And it's the best when you can say, the Lord commands this because of this verse right here (a baptismal interview? Moroni 6:2, we are asked to do that by God). I love my life. It's amazing.

Love y'all!
Kimber

P.S.
This just happened:
Sis. Brumett-D&C 9:8 ...and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you. Yes! I love this scripture!
Sis. Beckstrand-My tablet is overheating.
Sis. Brumett-It's 'cus you have so many scriptures in there (referring to my email).
...
Sis. Brumett-It's bosom is burning!!
Haha 😂 I love her!

Sister Beckstrand

We saw President and Sister Wakolo on the long drive
to Memphis, and Jasmine was in the back seat!

I think this is Sis Vaitai

*Sis Brummett's account:

So, my first week out here in Arkansas, we met an older man named Kevin, but haven't been able to see him since. When we tried to visit him, he wasn't home, so we moved on. But, Kevin kept coming back to my mind every once and a while, so this week, we went to see him. He was home! We asked if he remembered us, and he said "uh... yeah!" (He said it like "no duh," it was hilarious!) We talked a little more, and I asked if he remembered anything we had talked to him about. Again, "uh... yeah!" We talked some more, and the Spirit said to ask him to be baptized. I was thinking, "We haven't even taught him anything about the gospel yet!" But, I listened to the Spirit and asked him. Guess what his response was....? "Uh.... yeah!" Haha I love this man! Now, he is loving the Book of Mormon, and says he feels so good when he reads it! (1 Nephi 1:12)

We also got another beautiful tribute email this week:

My wife are serving in the office at the Arkansas Little Rock Mission and we attend church in Little Rock, where your daughters are serving together as ASL missionaries.

Yesterday was our stake conference, and we arrived early to sit and wait for the meeting to begin.  As we waited, your daughters were there practicing to present a song during the meeting, and so we had the privilege of hearing Sister Brumett sing and Sister Breckstrand sign this lovely song, ‘Love One Another’.  They were accompanied by the piano, a violin, a cello, and a flute.  What a blessing to us to hear them sing and sign that beautiful song, done in English and Spanish probably 6 times with the practice and then in the meeting.  The practice was for the instruments, not for their performance. The angels in heaven could not have done a better job.  We are still touched by the memory of both of them. 

Thank you for raising such fine young women and supporting them as they share their great talents and their testimonies with the people here in Arkansas.

Sincerely,

Elder and Sister Hartzell