Service

Hello everyone!

Before I start and get into everything, I realize that sending mail up
here, especially packages, is EXPENSIVE! So honestly, do not worry
about sending me a lot of mail. I do not want you spending that much
money on me. Just e-mail me and that will be just fine :)

The first week here was awesome!! They were not lying when they said
that you do a lot of service here. In 3 days, we did about 11 or 12
hours of service! We helped a member chop up and move wood and stack
it from about 10-4:30. I loved it, I love manual labor! The next day,
we helped a member with his back porch, that was was fun. The weather
here has been SO nice!! It has been in the 80s the last few days!!! It
was soooo hot, I am not used to the 80s anymore as I was in Utah haha.

The members here are really kool. The ones that are active are very
nice and great about feeding us. My new companion, Elder Meteer, is
awesome! He is a White with Blue I believe. He is way pleasant, likes
to work, and loves to workout. We have been visiting a lot of less
actives and doing service. that is mainly what we do out here. A lot
of driving to, it is a huge area! But I love it :)

So the other day, we were driving to lunch with the windows rolled
down cuz the weather was just fantastic. I hear something smack the
side of the window and I didn't see what it was. I look around, then I
look down and right between my legs is a HUGE wasp!!! This thing was
probably as big as half of my thumb. It was huge! I am staring down at
it, thinking that it was dead, then I see its legs start to move! I
inform Elder Meteer about what is hapenning and he says to stay calm,
otherwise they attack you. So I am sitting there and the thing starts
crawling on my leg and around to my back! I could feel it crawling up
my back! Worst feeling ever. When we finally arrived, I booked it out
of the car and ran around, making sure it was off. The bees and wasps
up here are huge!!

It is so beautiful up here right now. I will be sure to take more
pictures today and send them to you next week. A lot of trees and
areas to go 4 wheeling (they call 4 wheelers "quads" up here). Very
fun place for outdoors, I love being outside and enjoying the nice
weather we have.

Well, that is all I have for this week. I love you all and again, do
not worry about mail, I will be just fine, just e-mail me and that
will be awesome! Good luck mom and dad, first day in the MTC! Even
though I would not really say you are in the MTC cuz you get to stay
at the cabin...ya I am a little bitter right now ;) I love you! Thanks
for everything!

Love,
Elder Hartman

Whitehorse

Hello everyone!

Well, as you heard, I am now in Whitehorse Canada eh!?!? Haha, man the
people up here are so different. They are really nice and friendly,
but just kinda seem different to me. It is so weird to think that I am
in another country now!!

I am doing fine on coreg and my medicine and yes I got the workout
package, thank you so much for that! I sent home 3 packages of clothes
and stuff that I do not need yet, you should get it either today or
tomorrow, at least that is what the post office told me on Saturday.

There is only one other companionship out here and it is a Senior
couple, the Powles (I think thats how you spell it). They have been
out since February, this is their 4th mission! Yikes! My new companion
is Elder Meteer, he is from Loomis California. He has been here 2
transfers, so 3 months. Missionarys stay in Whitehorse for 6 months,
so he will be here for 3 more. We are getting along really good
already! Guess what, he loves working out!!!!!! YAY!!!!! I was so
happy when I heard that. We stayed up for probably about an hour just
talking about working out and our favorite lifts and maxs etc. So now
I can really start getting back into shape again. Maybe I will even
catch up to Travis on pull ups! ;)

The car ride up here was something else. I left Anchorage at 6 in the
morning and got in Whitehorse at 12:30 am. 18 hour bus ride...I tried
to take pictures, I will send those up in a different e-mail. I will
also send up a little recording I did about halfway thro it, I am sure
you will find it humorous :). Total distance I rode: about 724 miles,
in one day yikes haha, but it was worth it! I rode next to a Christain
pastor for the first 5 hours, I was really nervous, but he was
actually pretty nice. There was 2 other women, one was from Ireland,
the other was from England. They both sounded so kool!! I kept asking
them questions just I could hear them talk!

Well, some facts about the Yukon territory. We cover the whole
territory, but we rarely leave Whitehorse. It is twice the size of
California, if I recall right, and the total population is 31,000,
26,000 of which live in Whitehorse. The reason it is called Whitehorse
is because of the rapids in the river that runs thro it. They look
like the white maims of running horses, hence Whitehorse! We are in a
branch up here. There is 150 members total and about 60 are active. I
met some of the families yesterday, they are way nice! They call
natives up here 1st nations, not native americans or the other common
names. Some of the Canadians are funny to listen to and they tend to
mock us Americans because we know nothing about Canada, but Canada
knows a ton about us, which is true, they know a ton about us!

So yes, I will be here until November about. It is crazy to think that
when I leave here I will almost have been out a year!!! Yikes! I have
a lot to look forward to and I am really excited to get to know
everyone better. That is so crazy that mom and dad are leaving for the
MTC next week!!!! It seems like yesterday that I was enjoying J-Dawgs
and dropped off at the MTC! Which is the first place I want to visit
when I get back to, if at all possible :). Good luck Terra and Jeremy
on packing for Hawaii as well! Try to think of me while you are
working on your tans ;) I love you all, thank you so much for your
support!

The new address that you have to label while writing me is:
68 B Teslin Road (or Drive either works)
Whitehorse, YT Y1A-3M6
Canada

Transfers!

TJ is on his way to Canada!

His new address is to the right of this post and here:

68 B Teflin Road

White Horse, YT   Y1A-3M6

Canada

It's always fun to receive letters in your new home so write him!!!



Fresh Air

Hello again my amazing and wonderful family!

Thank you so much again for all of the letters and support! I got the packages this week mom thank you so much for all of them! I still have not gotten the gatorade yet, but we are going to go to the mission office after e-mails so I am pretty sure it will be there.

Well this week was not that bad. We FINALLY got to go out tracting cuz the weather was not bright so Elder Ashby could go out and work for a good period of time. It is sad, the nicer and more clear the day is, the worse it is for Elder Ashby and his eyes. I step outside and it is clear blue skies and I am literally jumping around cuz I am so happy about this wonderful weather and Elder Ashby is talking about how much he hates it cuz it is hard on his eyes, which is totally understandable. I just love being outside in the nice weather. If we could, I would much rather walk everywhere than drive, just so I can get some exercise and shave off a little bit of chub :)

We had a specialized training this week. It was awesome, we got to hear some Elder's who are going home give their last testimony. It is crazy to think that someday I will be up there, I am so scared for it tho cuz that is the moment when you really start to realize that your mission is actually coming to an end. Until then tho, I have to enjoy it and get everything out of it as best as I can. It is so awesome how right when you are at the point of breaking, Heavenly Father lends you a hand and picks you up. Spencer W. Kimball once said that it is thro another person that our Heavenly Father meets our needs. I have experienced that time and time again on my mission. I love it!! 

One thing I have learned out here is how important it is to make the right choice. Spur the moment, it is incredibly hard to do it and it may even seem like the wrong thing, but once you have made that choice, at first you regret it for a little bit, but as you look back and reflect on it, you do not regret anything. It is totally vice versa with the wrong choice, spur the moment, it is easy to do and seems like the right thing and you may even enjoy it for the moment. Looking back on it tho, you regret it and you always remember it. I looked back over several things that I could have easily chosen the right choice, but I did not and now I regret it. I still am amazed at everything I have learned and how much I have grown. It is hard, but it is totally worth it. I will be forever grateful that I chose to go on a mission and I would always choose a mission first over school, sports, anything! Just like Kehl said (the one who plays football) how he would always choose a mission first over college and football. I completely agree :)

Thank you again family for everything. I love each and everyone of your e-mails and they are always exactly what I need to hear. I love you!

Love,

Elder Hartman1

Elder Loto and I - he heads home this month.

Service Project at the Library

Service Project

Mothers Day 2011

Hello again family!

It was so wonderful talking to all of you and actually SEEING you yesterday! That was awesome! I know I keep saying this, but the kids are already changing a lot! I have only been gone 4 months, even tho it does not seem like that, and they are changing drastically! Don't worry, I am not offended at all about the fat or wide lens jokes, I thought they were hilarious! It was fun to joke around with someone who has my sense of humor for once.

You all really look good! Congratulations Mikelle again! That is so exciting! I loved seeing you and your bright personality, instantly made my day! I was praying that you would have success with that and it looks like my prayers were answered! Travis is getting freaking yolked! Now I see why Summer is still staying with him! ;) don't worry Trav, I will catch up on pull ups as soon as I get something that I can actually do a pull up on!!

So, I took dads advice and in the weekly I just wrote and submitted, I said that I was getting too stressed in the area and I would like to be transferred somewhere. You know me, I hate imposing on people and that is why it has taken me so long to actually say this, but I feel good now that I have done it. Basically, I told him I would like to be transferred but it is whatever the Lord wills.

Thank you Summer for the protein shaker and drink too. I have no other preferences, that will be just fine. The packages that all of you send me are perfect, whatever you want, just put in and whenever I think of something I will let you know!

Not much else to report on here! Thank you again for everything and seriously, all of you look amazing! Hopefully I do not change too much in the next 7 months when we get to talk again! I love you! Thanks again!

Love,

Elder Hartman1

Compassion

Hello family,

First things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!! Man, I cannot believe it is already your birthday!!! Hope you have a wonderful and fun birthday!

So, as I am sure you all know, Elder Ashby's eye surgery was on thursday. His operation was about 2 hours, I waited there for about 4-4 1/2, it was long let me tell ya. He is doing good tho, slowly recovering. I have been going on splits whenever I can with other companionships. We have to keep all of the lights in the houz off all day cuz his eyes are really light sensitive.  I usually open the door for a little bit and soak in the light from outside for as long as I can before I have to close it again. He has to meet with the doctor again this Wednesday to check up. Not quite sure how long the recovery is supposed to be, but from the looks of it, he is doing good. I have definitely learned what it means to actually have compassion for someone. It really makes a difference to them and they really appreciate. It has been nice, we have been getting a lot of help from other companionships as well. He has received a lot of love these last few days. I told him to be sure and thank Heavenly Father for helping him out with all of this because this kind of love it really special. It is so amazing how Heavenly Father places trials and afflictions in our path, not because he does it for no reason or out of hate or anything, but because he loves us and they are only for our benefit, even if we do not see that.

I cannot believe Mother's Day is next week!! Yikes!! I still remember mom saying "only 62 more days till we get to talk to you!!" now it is next week!!! That will be so awesome to see all of you! I have gained a little weight so hopefully it will not show :). I am still a little unsure when I am getting on skype. Just keep the e-mails ready in the morning and I will let you know as soon as I can when I am getting on. Love you!!

Love,

Elder Hartman