Nonetheless, Miracles!

Dear family,

Welp, my greenie and I survived our first week together!! Ha ha just
kidding, it was a good one. Lots of appointments fell through, lots of
doors were left unopened, lots of people were uninterested...but
regardless of all of that, there were SO MANY MIRACLES. I am so so
grateful!! Also. I've recommitted this week to opening my eyes and
recognizing the miracles that make up missionary work. Despite all
that didn't go as planned this week, it helped me see all of the good.

Hold on to your shorts while I tell you about a few of them. 😉

Tuesday, I got my greenie! Her name is Sister Morgan, she is from
Spanish Fork, Utah, and she is super sweet!! Just like each and every
time before, the Lord is helping me as I make this transition. I
thought I would be the one teaching her all the things about being a
missionary, when in fact, she's teaching me! Training is definitely a
humbling experience. It is helping me to rely on the Lord more than
ever before. I'm excited for what these next 3 months hold in
store--lots of learning, growing, stretching, improving and becoming
closer to the Savior! 'Twill be so good. ☺️

Miracle: We found Edgar!! ... You'll never believe this.....
Once upon a time, Sister Smith and I went to contact a referral named
Aaron. We didn't have a Bible with us (which is what he requested),
but we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and taught him about
that. Unfortunately, he was moving that very day to Texas...who knows
where...so we couldn't teach him. BUT. Fast forward about 4 weeks.
Sister Morgan and I go to contact a referral named David that we got
from a less-active member in the ward. Didn't have an apartment
number, but tried a door and this lady didn't know where David
lived...so we tried apartment one (the SAME EXACT apartment where
Aaron lived). This guy answers the door, and we ask if David lives
there. He said he does, but that he left to go back to work. We
started talking to him, and he told us his name was Edgar. He also
told is about his strong belief in God. We told him about the Book of
Mormon, testified of it, and gave him a copy. Invited him to read and
pray about it and testified if he would read and pray, he would
receive an answer. He said, "Yeah, I will read this, honestly." We are
supposed to see him tomorrow night, which will be awesome!! (Don't you
fret, we are also going to go see David earlier in the day...hopefully
he's home, because we have no other way to contact him...😀)

Miracle: We met Keyonna!!
The whole time I've been in Beaver, we've tried to meet this girl
Keyonna, with no success. She requested a Book of Mormon ages ago, and
the sisters haven't been able to meet her. Every time they go, they
end up talking to her dad, Kasey because she isn't home. He's really
nice and will listen to you, but we aren't sure how well he is
comprehending all of it. Anyway, Sister Morgan and I went to see them
on Saturday, intending just to see Kasey and talk to him, but LO AND
BEHOLD Keyonna was home!!! So we were able to sit down and have a
lesson with her. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever
been in. We talked to her for a bit, and then showed her the "Because
of Him" video. She was really emotional as she watched it. Afterwards,
we talked to her about Christ's Atonement and what is possible through
it and because of Him. She continued to be emotional as we testified
of the Savior. I was about to wrap it up and set a return appointment,
but the Spirit whispered, "Teach her about the Restoration." We did
(well, I did, because Sister Morgan was keeping a little boy occupied
while we taught Keyonna), and the Spirit was so strong. There are
hardly any words. I especially felt the Spirit as I looked into her
eyes and told her Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision. I
invited her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph
Smith, and she said she would. We are scheduled to meet with her next
Saturday, and I can hardly wait. For whatever reason, I feel like
there's something really special about her. I am so excited to share
more of the gospel with her.

Miracle: Cathy came to church!!
🎶 For the first time in forever 🎶 Cathy came to church!!! SO SO
HAPPY. She loved it too!! She is so ready to be a Mormon!! Ha ha! We
are ecstatic for her. It's been a long time coming to get her to
church, and it was one of the happiest days of my mission seeing her
come.

Like I said, despite all that didn't go through like we hoped this
week, the Lord provided opportunists, opened doors, and blessed us
with miracles. HE IS SO GOOD.

So our district leader, Elder Pennington, is having us memorize this
to recite as a district, and Sister Morgan and I recite it each day
before comp study. It is amazing, so I wanted to share it with you.

My missionary commission:
I am called of God. My authority is above that of kings of the earth.
By revelation, I have been selected as a personal representative of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and and He has chosen me to
represent Him. To stand in His place, to say and do what He Himself
would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people
to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, my acts are His acts,
my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants
done, to say what He wants said, to be a living modern witness, in
word and in deed, of the divinity of His great and marvelous
latter-day work. How great is my calling!

Amazing, right?! I just adore it. It gives me such a sacred
perspective on serving as a full-time missionary, as one of His
representatives. It is such a privilege to serve a mission.

Please pray for our recent convert, Brianna (she's got a great name,
right?! 😉). She is facing a lot of opposition right now and isn't
sure about her decision to be baptized (she was baptized the end of
March). We are trying to reach out to help her, without much success.
Please keep her in your prayers. Please also pray for Cathy that she
will continue to depend her conversion to Christ and His gospel and
stay strong as she prepares for baptism.

Thank you for all the prayers and support--they mean so much more than
you know. I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH and hope you have the best week!!!!

"Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep
growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."
(Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

With so much love from a sister in Pennsylvania,
Sister Bartlett


                                           In Pittsburgh with Sisters O'Reilly & Kwasney

Me and Sister Smith on the strip

Us again by the fountain at The Point

Loved P-Day in Pittsburgh

Here's my baby from Spanish Fork-Sister Morgan!

Mother's Day Skype!

                       It was SO WONDERFUL to see and talk to Sister Bartlett on Mother's
                       Day!  She is doing so good and absolutely LOVING her mission!
                       She kept bearing her testimony to all of us and we could feel the
                       happiness she is experiencing and the joy that she has from serving
                       the Lord and the people in Beaver.  We could see the light that she
                                       shines in Pennsylvania as she bore truth of the
                                                            Gospel of Jesus Christ.
                                                   Forever grateful to be her Mom!!
                           

                     

I'm Gonna Be a Mama!!

FAMILY!!

Wow, was it SO good to talk to you yesterday. Just the best!!! I just
love you all so much--my heart is bursting for the love I have for
you. Thank goodness I'll have you forever. ;) These 18 months are just
a blink of an eye in comparison to eternity.

Soooo.....transfer news!!! Yinz already know because you got a sneak
peak yesterday ;) but....I'M GONNA BE A MAMA!!! I'M HAVING A BABY
GIRL!!! Or in non-mission lingo, I'M TRAINING A BRAND NEW
MISSIONARY!!! :D Wow. Floodgate of emotions when President called me
and told me. To be honest, I just laid on my bed and cried. All of the
sudden, I felt completely overwhelmed and inadequate and unsure if I
was capable of this. I still feel that in waves, but it's slowly
getting better. The elders are going to give me a blessing tonight,
because I need all the help I can get. But one thing I need to
remember is that the Lord has been with me from day one on my
mission...why would I think that now would be any different? He's never
left me, and He never will. I'm not alone--I have Him to help me
accomplish what He's called me to do. Stay tuned 'til next week--I'll
send pictures next week of me and my baby ;))

This week we were on exchanges and I was with one of our sister
training leaders (equivalent to a zone leader) here in Beaver. We went
to visit Cathy and took a member with us. But before we saw Cathy,
Sister Smith and I had prayed and we felt that we should extend June
4th as a baptismal date to her. So when we went to see her while we
were on exchanges, to follow up with her, I asked her if she had
prayed about a baptismal date. She said, "Yeah, I feel like the first
or second week of June would be good." AHH!! INSPIRATION IS SO REAL!!
We taught her about prayer, and at the end, I asked her if she would
prepare herself to be baptized on June 4th. She said yes!! I am so
crazy excited for her. The only thing is she needs to start coming to
church, so we might need to adjust the baptismal date according to her
needs that way. But still, she's following the example of her Savior
and her life will never be the same. I feel so blessed to witness her
taking this step.

I've been stressed about taking over the area, and now
stressed/overwhelmed with training, but Sister McDonald's commitment
to me is to be confident as I take over the area, and believe in
myself. Definitely something I need to work on and will work on as I
take on this new role as a trainer. I would so appreciate it if you
could pray for me specifically to be able to take this on. Thank you
so much!!

So...miracles happen once in a while...when you believe 🎶 Actually,
they happen all the time out here! 😉 Remember Erin who I mentioned
the first week I was here in Beaver? Well, after trying to get in
contact with her since then with little success, we finally got in
touch with her and we are meeting with her this week!! Definitely a
miracle!! I'm so excited!!! I barely even know Erin, but I already
love her. And I'm so thrilled to share the hope-filled message of the
gospel with her.

This week has been full of goodbyes as Sister Smith wraps up the best
18 months of her life. It has been really hard to watch her say
goodbye to everyone--they all love her so much. She's starting a new
chapter of her life and I'm excited to see where life takes her! Even
though I am going to miss her like crazy. I have had such a fun time
with her--it definitely won't be the same. But I'm trying to have
faith that whatever God has in store for me will be just as great, or
even better than what I'm leaving behind.

I hope you have an amazing week!! Remember who you are and that a
Sister in Pennsylvania loves you oh so very much!!

"Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep
growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."
(Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

With so much love,
Sister Bartlett


                                                   The District--cool pic huh!

Another pic of The District

Oh the Beauty of the Earth!!

With Sister Smith and Cathy--Love them!

"Sign me up, I'm gonna be a Mormon!"

Dearest family,

Highlight of the week: our lesson with our investigator Cathy on Tuesday. We brought a stellar ward missionary with us, Sister Mitchell. We walked in, and Cathy said, "Oh, I really wish you wouldn't have brought her...I have something I need to tell you." That got me worried. We all sat down around her table and she said, "Okay, I need to come clean and tell you the truth. I've been lyin' to yinz." My heart sank. No no no no no no no. "Yeah, I've been trying to decide whether to become a Mormon or join my sisters' church (side note: her sister Dawnie is a member of a Christian mega-church). And I've made a decision." All three of us held our breath. "Sign me up, I'm gonna be a Mormon!" Do my ears deceive me? Not what I was expecting, but I WAS OVERJOYED. The Spirit flooded that room like a tsunami and the tears started flowing down my cheeks. That moment is absolutely one of THE MOST spiritual moments of my entire life. She proceeded to tell us that she decided to start General Conference over and listen to/read to the talks again. She told us she read "The Healing Ointment of Forgiveness" by Elder Duncan, and she just cried and cried. "It was talking about me, I know it was talking about me!" She was taking notes as she read and she was so excited. She had gotten her answer! Another thing that contributed to her decision, was her sister told her if she wanted to be a Mormon, she could be a Mormon; she wouldn't hold that against her. That meant a lot to Cathy because she loves Dawnie so much. I just can't even express my happiness for Cathy. She is incredible--she LOVES the gospel library, she studies on her own, she repents every night. Can you say golden? She's been meeting with the missionaries for a while, but she's finally ready to follow her Savior's example into the waters of baptism. And I couldn't be happier. I feel so privileged to get to teach her more about the gospel and help her take those steps through the gate of baptism. We haven't set her with a date yet, but we will be this week. I'll keep yinz posted!

Sadly enough, a lot of things fell through this week and didn't work out, but that one lesson with Cathy made this entire week worth it. Ups and downs of missionary work--but it all is okay in the end.

It's all about LOVE

I had a few other experiences this week where I was filled with an absolute pure love. One of which was helping this lady in a nursing home with a puzzle while we visited with her. Another was teaching a less-active member who lives in a personal care home. We taught him and his friends by reading together from the Book of Mormon. These both brought me so much joy and filled my heart with love. I have also felt love for so many other things. For the people we help and serve and teach, for this gospel, and for the Lord. As such, I've done some reflecting on love--true, Christ-like love. I have come to the conclusion that it is at the heart of missionary work. It is the great motivator to come on a mission, to stay on a mission, to work hard on a mission. It is what makes it so difficult to leave somewhere you have grown to love so much. It is what helps transform your heart and be willing to hand it to the Lord. It isn't about the numbers. It isn't about your rank or status as a missionary. It isn't about having the strongest testimony in the world...it's all about love. And if and when you acquire this Christ-like love, it will motivate you to do amazing things with the Lord's help.

At the perfect time this week, my dear friend Sister Beth Knight sent me a cute card that included this quote from her friend. I loved it so I thought I would share it:

"As you seek to develop that type of love, homesickness will fade, hard companionships will become blissful, hard-to-love companions and investigators will become our brothers and sisters, time will seem like a dream and God will become more real and tangible to you in your missionary work."

How true that is!! On the same topic, one of the Elders shared part of this talk for a dinner thought, and it is really profound (from "You Are My Hands" by President Uchtdorf):

"Love is what inspired our Heavenly Father to create our spirits; it is what led our Savior to the Garden of Gethsemane to make Himself a ransom for our sins. Love is the grand motive of the plan of salvation; it is the source of happiness, the ever-renewing spring of healing, the precious fountain of hope.

As we extend our hands and hearts toward others in Christlike love, something wonderful happens to us. Our own spirits become healed, more refined, and stronger. We become happier, more peaceful, and more receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit."

Love is truly at the center of it all. How true it is that "charity never faileth" (1 Corinthians 13:8). His perfect and purest love for us, the love we can acquire for our brothers and sisters--when it is through Christ, it will never ever fail.

I know without a doubt Heavenly Father is completely aware of me and every single detail in my life. He places people, moments, counsel, tender mercies, everything in my path to show me how great His love is for me. I'm so grateful to know that even in moments when I feel that no one is aware of me, He is. And He always will be.

Also. Grandpa sent me this incredible article from the BYU magazine called, "God will use you. God will bless you." It was AMAZING. Y'all should read it! Also, I know he was inspired in sending it to me because it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. God is so good.

"Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever." (Holland)

Have a spectacular week and I'll see yinz soon! ;)

with love from Pennsylvania,

Sister Bartlett

                                                    

                                                  Me and Sister Smith chillin with some

                                                     frozen hot chocolate-DELISH!

                                                 

Sick but still kickin!!!

Mom and Dad and Brenden and Cameron and Zoey ;)

As you can tell from the subject line, I have been sick,
unfortunately. It's made for a slower week, but I'm on the upside of
things, so I'll be better in no time.

Along those lines, because I've been sick, I asked the elders for a
priesthood blessing. I feel so grateful to have access to that power
at almost any moment. It was the morning after I received the blessing
that things started to look up. I didn't get better all of the sudden,
but I saw improvements in my health that were encouraging. Again, so
very grateful for the priesthood power!!

Because of the sisters who passed away, we had one funeral and one
memorial service. Both were hard to go to, but especially the memorial
service for Wendy. She was just so young (I found out she was actually
47), and my heart aches that she isn't here anymore. I failed to
mention a few miracles in my last email: just one week prior to her
passing, she was able to go to the temple after not going for a long
time. She also finished the addiction recovery program a few days
before that. She was as prepared to return Home as she could have
been. This makes my heart so happy. I realized that though my faith
in the Plan of Salvation has strengthened significantly, it doesn't
necessarily eliminate the heartache. I still feel it, Sister Smith
definitely feels it. That sting is still there, but I yet have hope
that even the sting will eventually be swallowed up in Christ. Wendy
is so happy right now...happier than I ever could imagine. And we'll
see her again one day. I echo the words of President Uchtdorf when he
said, "How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan there
are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."

Earlier this week, we had interviews with President Johnson. My
goodness, I love him so much. He and his adorably sweet wife are two
of my favorite people in the whole wide world. They are also two of
the most amazing people I have ever met. I absolutely adore them. I
always love meeting with President--this one was a little different
than past interviews though. After I told him that I was nervous to
take over the area soon, he said something along the lines of, "Sister
Bartlett, you're ready for this. You really are; I know you are. You
know, Heavenly Father is the One in charge and He knows what He's
doing. You'll see this next transfer that He really knows what He's
doing. You may not think it in the moment, but you'll be able to look
back and know that He knew what He was doing...  Definitely
gave me something to think about. I have a hunch there will be a big
change this next transfer...stay tuned to see what happens! 😁😉

The Relief Society put on this really cute "Un-Birthday" party that
was Mad Hatter themed. It was really fun, so cutely decorated, and the
food was delicious. Pictures will be included.

We had a really great lesson with our less-active Amy this week. We
read President Uchtdorf's talk "He Will Place You on His Shoulders and
Carry You Home". If you haven't re-read it since conference, I would
invite you to do so! It was exactly what she needed, and we all felt
the Spirit as we read it and talked about it. I love being able to go
back and read the conference talks again, because they become a part
of me and I understand them on a new level. I am so so grateful for
conference! And the blessings keep flowing even after conference
weekend has passed.

As Sister Smith and I were driving one evening, we stopped to admire a
beautiful sunset. It helped me be grateful for more of God's
incredible creations. And naturally, we had to take pictures, so I
will include those as well. 🌅

I hope yinz are alive and well and still kickin'! Keep on keepin' on!
I LOVE YINZ SO MUCH!!!!!

"Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep
growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."
(Elder Holland)

With love from Pennsylvania,
Sister Bartlett


                                     Jumpin for Joy in the Beaver Sunset with Sister Smith

Beaver Bridge

Interviews with President and Sister Johnson

The Very Merry Un-Birthday Relief Society Party!

Cute Table Decoration's!

Photo Op--The Mad Hatter!

So fun. So delicious. And such a cute theme!!