Preaching in Pennsylvania: Change is the only constant!

Hello fam bam!

This week was a whirlwind. What did we even do...? #storyofmylife #everyweekisawhirlwind

** BIG CHANGES **

Oh man. So on Wednesday we had the worldwide missionary broadcast. It was awesome! Several changes to our daily schedule. You may have heard about them already, but lemme tell yinz.

Instead of daily planning at night we get to plan in the morning, which means we can go to bed earlier if we do choose! #hallelujah #thankgoodness Also, P-day now starts at 8:00 AM so we have 2 more hours of P-day. We also have more agency and flexibility as we decide when to have companionship study and training for new missionaries.

We are only focusing now on 4 key indicators, instead of 9. Investigators baptized/confirmed, investigators with a baptismal date, investigators at church, and new investigators. With that President Johnson and the MLC (missionary leadership council) decided on new standards of excellence:

New Investigators 2/week

Investigators with a baptismal Date 2

Investigators who attend sacrament meeting 2/week

Investigators baptized and confirmed in 2017 300

It's definitely different, all of it, but it will be good. It's weird getting used to this new schedule after doing it another way for so long, but I know it's inspired.

So this week an older couple took the elders and us to lunch a a china buffet. We were approached by members of another church who were proselyting and basically told us to join them. They were like, "We know the deal with Joseph Smith, and we're not judging you, but make sure Jesus Christ is the one you worship..." yada yada yada...we tried to tell them, we don't worship Joseph Smith but they wouldn't really listen to us. It was an interesting but funny experience. Ha ha. They gave these handouts to the elders and told them to look over them. Crazy stuff ha ha!

And yesterday, oh boy. So we talked about in ward council how someone in the ward is trying to come back to church and someone else is telling them they shouldn't be here and they're not wanted. How awful is that? So the bishopric decided to have some lessons/talks on being more Christlike. That was yesterday, and boy, in third hour, things got a little spicy. It was pretty crazy. Sister Robison and I almost wanted to leave, but we didn't. One scripture was mentioned though that I saw in a totally different light yesterday. And that is Matthew 25:40:

"...Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

I always think of that in terms of serving other people and how that service is directed towards the Savior. But it hit me yesterday that the opposite is true as well. When we judge, when we criticize, when we make fun, or name-call, or anything else, it is directed towards the Savior. That hit me hard. I decided I would try and do all that I could to be kind and Christlike towards other people, and also behind their backs. I am trying to pray for charity every single day, because I definitely need more of it!

Oh my heavens guess what?? George is on date to be baptized on February 25th!! We are stoked!! And so is he!! It's gonna be great. He's now come to church twice and he's reading from the Book of Mormon!! It's so good.

Also! Sister Robison is one month old! #soproud ...we had lots of sugar on that day so I'm taking her to get a frozen hot chocolate from Sheetz (gas station) today so she can taste of that goodness.

Well folks, I don't have much else to say. But this church is true! I know it is. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God because it brings me closer to God every time I read it. I know that Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet on the earth today and he is leading and guiding us under the direction of Jesus Christ. I love this gospel and I just want to share it with everyone! Everyone needs what we have.

"Live so that those who know you, but don't know Him, will want to know Him, because they know you."

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

All my love,

Sister Bartlett

811 Frederick Court

Canonsburg, PA 15317

Me and cute Sister Robison who loves Sloth's :)