Playing Clue

Hello everyone.

 

First off, that was wonderful to hear about Mikelle and the newest member of the family coming in! Congratz Mikelle! Exciting to hear, I hope everything went somewhat smooth, for the most part :) I guess you cannot really plan something like that being smooth sailing.

 

Thanksgiving was great, we had a Turkey bowl in the morning. Over 30 people were there, so we divided into 4 teams of 7 people, roughly. It was all of the missionaries, then just members from other wards making up the other teams. We were the overall champs, no big deal or anything :) I had to take it easy tho, I was getting light headed in the middle of it and really fatigued. Everyone would sprint down the field, for the kick return, while Elder Silentman, who was a linemen in High school, and I were slowly, but surely, making our way back. After that, we went to the Ellis' house and chatted with them for a while, then went and ate at the Hodgsons home. It is always a blast going over there to eat :) then we finished off by going to the Oswalds. Good holiday, a lot of fun :) I did miss the fam tho, I was reflecting on how we would always go to the cabin or our house and have dinner there. I loved it when we all would just kinda chill up there, everyone doing their own thing. I always looked forward to that, and I always will :)

 

In regards to the work, things are picking up now. I am finally pretty familiar with the area now, therefore, I can be more effective and executing the work. We are gonna focus on working with part member families. I am very anxious to see how things will work out.

 

I think I am going to start keeping track of how many times I fall, cuz I eat it all-the-time, especially in Whitehorse, man did I biff it there a lot. This week, I think I have fallen a grand total of....I don't know actually, probably more than 15 at least. It all depends on the shoes I am wearing. Now on to more important matters...

 

Elder Merrill got sick this Friday, so we stayed in the apartment all day. It was really stressfull because we had two lessons set up, and both of them canceled. He is back to health now tho, he did, after all, sleep for 9 hours that day. Guy should go into competition with that, he knows how to sleep! I did not mind it tho, I got some really good studies in and some good time to ponder and enjoy some peace and quiet :) (typical White, you know me)

 

Thanks again everyone for your support, it is always great hearing from you! I love you all!

 

Love,

Elder Hartman1

Here is first letter I received this week. TJ is answering questions that he was asked but i have no idea what those questions were. have fun trying to guess at what he answering. Some are pretty obvious while others are not so clear! I think "A Malibu" (#9) is the barbie he is hoping to get for Christmas?

Questions:

1. We had a Turkey bowl for thanksgiving. After that, we went to the Ellis', chatted with them for a little bit, then we ate a the Hodgsons home, then went to the Oswalds house. Normal Thanksgiving dinners. Did not eat quite as much as I expected to, but none-the-less, it was a great holiday.

2. The work is going great, things are really starting to pick up. We are in the Klatt ward, but we are also covering Cook Inlet, which is the YSA ward. That is why we go to church from 7-4 every sunday...

3. Thanksgiving. Mainly the Turkey bowl :)

4. He is awesome. We are alike actually, our sense of humor is very parallel with each others :)

5. It is really not that hard, very simple calling. All I have to do is just plan a district meeting once a week, and take numbers, it is not stressful at all. I did the last District meeting on the color code :) I will send you a recording and dad can critique me on it :)

6. Not at all, the cold does not really bother me for the most part. The only part that gets cold is my face and hands, other than that, I am just fine. I do not think I will need my thermals-hopefully ;)

7. Running errands. We have a lesson set up with a Samoan family that we found tracting. After we see them, we will play sports, probably basketball.

8. No, not yet. But as it draws closer, I am sure members will start planning things, and our zone and district as well.

9. A Malibu

10. Nope, I am good for now, just family pictures and any other pics of my friends and I and papers with quotes on them. Meds are doing great.

Turkey Week

Hello fellow citizens of the U.S. (and whosoever else may come across this from another country)

I got the package that Summer sent, it was awesome, thank you very much. The shoe shine was probably my favorite part. I honestly never thought I would like shoeshine as much as I do right now. After I used it, the whole rest of the day, I kept on looking down at my - somewhat - shining shoes. My proselyting shoes are very worn out right now, they are slowly starting to fall apart. I am hoping to use them my whole mission :) but it made my day to see that shine on them, I could not stop smiling :) :)

We do have a dinner for Thanksgiving set up, so we are taken care of. It will be a great day to try and catch some people home too, since it is a holiday. I am excited :)

The way we do missionary work in this area is really different from the way I am used to doing it. In Whitehorse, due to the size of the branch, I am used to having to go out and do a lot of work on our own. In Klatt, they assign us a lot of people to visit, so there is a lot of less active work and recent converts. Neither of the ways they execute missionary work is bad, it just varies depending on where you are. The ward here is awesome with missionary work. Members are ready to attend lessons with us, and they are great about suggesting names for us as well.

Since it is Thanksgiving, I have a quote from Elder Holland regarding this holiday. He was speaking in the MTC, a few year ago, and told all the missionaries in there to picture there families at home, around the dinner table. All of the family is there, except for your chair, which is empty because you are out on a mission. It is the exact same for Heavenly Father. We are on missions here on earth. Our seat in Heaven is empty. He wants us to come home to Him. He misses us dearly. We are all His children. He wants nothing BUT the best for us. I know he is our Heavenly Father. I will miss all of you dearly this holiday season. I will be thinking of you a lot and I hope you have fun and make memories with each other that you will remember for years to come. Thank you again for your support, I love you!

Love,

Elder Hartman1

Questions from Mom that I am answering:

1. The area is doing great! The members are awesome. We do a lot of works with less actives, so I am still having to adjust to that, cuz I am used to tracting all day and doing a lot of the missionary work ourselves, but this ward takes great care of us :) The weather is getting pretty chilly. It is about -10-0 usually. Our doors are starting to freeze shut in our cars. Makes things interesting :) The new apartment is awesome, I am sending pics of it in a separate email so you can see.

 

2. He is from Blackfoot, Idaho. He is 19, played football and basketball in high school. He has been on his mission for almost 4 months now.

 

3. It is good, nothing too hard, just take numbers and plan District meeting once a week. Our District actually has 4 areas in it, counting ours. The sisters, us, another companionship in Anchorage, and then one in Dutch Harbor, so we have to do it over the phone, which is kinda stressfull cuz I cannot do a lot of activities I was planning.

 

4. I will always remember the fellowship in Whitehorse. Everybody knowing everybody. The branch there is awesome because everyone is really close. They say a small town is a big family, which is how I will always remember it. Also, teaching David and Xenia, I will always remember them too. Those were the best lessons of my mission, hands down.

 

5. A lot of stuff, mainly turkey bowl, then eating dinner at members houses (we have more than one dinner set up).

 

6. Those questions are hard. The best I would say, was just tracting, I always have a blast doing that. The worst was when we found a Jehovas witnessed who bashed with us, that was depressing.

 

7. Stuff for Christmas, I thought about this. All I want for Christmas is pictures of family, and any pics of my buddies and I too, if you have any. And any quotes, likes books with quotes, or just pictures, whatever you got. Those are the main thins I would like-for now at least :) I did get the sweatshirt and I LOVE IT!!! It is awesome, thank you so much!!!

 

Do You Hold and Use a Current Temple Recommend?

Well I am back in Anchorage now. I do not have a whole lot of time to email cuz we are on a time limit, but I will try my best :)

 

To update you on everything. We rode down with the members in the branch, not on that awful 18 hour bus ride of death. It was a lot of fun, we had a blast. The storm did not really affect us that much, but you can definitely tell it hit Anchorage, there is so much snow here. My new comp is Elder Merrill, he is from Blackfoot, Idaho and has been out on his mission for about 3 1/2 months. The Klatt ward is awesome, the members are really nice and very welcoming. We also cover the YSA ward too, so we go to both church meetings. Church starts at 7 a.m. and goes till 4 in the afternoon. It is a huge spiritual feast, one that I am going to have to definitely get used to. I am not sure if I already mentioned this, but this is the last are that Elder Meteer served in. I took his place here and he went up to Fairbanks, kind of a fun fact.

 

This area has a lot of potential, I am very excited to get to work here. We spent the first few days getting to know the members and letting Elder Bowes see people, cuz he served here in the Summer, before he came to Whitehorse.

 

I do have to say, I am having big Whitehorse withdrawals right now. I miss that place so much. The harder I worked there, the more I grew to love the place, just like dad said in a email. It really did hurt to say goodbye to everyone. I guess that is my confirmation that I worked hard and did what I had to do there. Those were some of the best months of my life and I am never going to forget it.

 

We went to the temple on Saturday. I am so happy I get to finally start going again, I really missed attending there. Jeffrey R. Holland said that if he could ask any LDS member one question it would be; "do you hold and use a current temple recommend". I may have miss phrased it, but nonetheless a very intriguing question. That one question would tell him whether they had a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the current, living prophet Thomas S. Monson. It would tell him if they attend church regularly, if they keep their covenants and commitments. If they live the 10 commandments. It basically would tell him everything. That is one thing I am going to make sure I have, is a current temple recommend that I use regularly, not just something I have, then put away in my wallet and forget about.

 

Thank you again everyone for your support! Mail should be easier now cuz I am back in the US. The mailing address on my blog is correct, so send all of the mail to that address and it will get here :) Thank you again!

 

Love,

Elder Hartman1

Transfers

Hello everyone, both friends and family,

I got the Halloween package from Mom and Dad that Summer sent, it got here
safely! And just a quick heads up, I sent a package home of excess stuff
that I did not need, mainly so I would have more room to pack for
transfers. I sent it home, so Summer should be getting it sometime soon.
One of the things in there is a book of all of the letters I got for the
first few months on my mission. Enjoy the scrapbook! Keep it in good
condition, if at all possible, it is something I will definitely refer back
to in the future, to reminisce about my awesome mission :)

Just to update you, I am leaving Whitehorse on Thursday now, due to
transportation arrangements. I do know where I am getting transferred
though! I am going back to Anchorage and I will be serving in the Cook
Inlet/Klatt ward. My new companion is going to be Elder Merrill. My last
companion, Elder Meteer, trained him in the area I am going to actually. I
am very excited. President said that he is sending me to this area as a
reward for my hard work in Whitehorse, which caught me off guard. I will
also be serving as the District Leader there too. Our district is really
small, it consists of our companionship and a sister companionship, so
district meetings will be ever so much fun :)

Just to give an update on Halloween. It was very fun. We played monopoly
with the Thompsons with the other companionship there. It was such a blast.
Chris Thompson (RED!) and Elder Johnson (RED) were making deals left and
right, which I knew was going to happen, light years before the game
started. So my master plan was just to try and accumulate as much land as
possible and then team up with either of them, because I knew that one of
them was going to win, just based off their personalities and how
incredibly good they were at making offers you could not resist! Elder
Johnson eventually won. Chris was not happy at all. I love seeing Reds get
mad, it is so funny to me, I do not know why.

Saying goodbye to the members here was hard, but it was comforting to know
that my time has come and now I am needed elsewhere. I am ready to leave,
as weird as that sounds, but part of me will always be here in Whitehorse.
I have been getting a lot of pictures with as much families as I can. I
will try and send you some either today or next P-day, depending on how
much time I have, because I do realize that I have been slacking in that
area. My most sincere apologies :'(...

We had another amazing lesson the other night. The spirit was so strong and
the couple we were teaching have thoroughly talked about baptism with each
other. I know they will be baptized, but they expressed that a lot of
things need to change first before they make that commitment, which is
exactly what needs to happen! They understood everything perfectly and they
will be very strong, faithful members once they join, Elder Bowes and I are
certain that they will. I have no doubt that at least 6 people in our area
will be baptized by the end of this year, if not sooner. We have been
having so much success and our investigators are progressing wonderfully!
The future is looking very bright here! I am convinced that this area,
within the next 5 years, will grow substantially, maybe even into a zone.
They estimate that the population will double within the next three years.
Homes are popping up left and right. It will be cool to see what happens. I
will keep my eye on this place in the coming years.

I hope the details I gave will suffice. I am not gifted in that area, as I
am sure all of you are aware, but I will try and improve on that aspect. I
love you all! Thank you again!

Love,
Elder Hartman