No Transfers!

Sorry, I am so close to killing this computer it is driving me crazy!!!! Basically the computer is going way super slow with the new way myldsmail is set up, long story, I will tell you about it on Mothers Day

 

I am staying in my area this next transfer with same comp, E. Butler. I am excited for that. Almost our whole zone is changing, there will be three trainers in it! We are going to be really busy this next transfer, but we are going to light it up for sure!

 

I am planning on wearing the tie on May 1st! I have it ready and everything, I will send a picture and a video of me wearing it for ya'll to enjoy. Hopefully my toast is good, it is a little weird, mainly because I rushed it, but it gets the message across I feel :)

 

I will e-mail everyone back personally next week, sorry I missed that this week, I am still trying to figure out this dumb new set up they have ugh! Anyways, I love ya'll and thank you so much again!

Questions from Mom

 

1.  Did you get transferred?  If so give us all the details!  If not tell us one reason you're glad you didn't.  ( that you haven't already told us)

 

I did not get transferred, same guy, area and everything :)

 

2.  Is the baptism still on date for this Saturday?  What are your feelings about this?  Tell us a little about him.

 

Yes, it is :) I am really excited, it is awesome :) I am not sure if I can really talk about him over e-mail, but I will say he is a cool guy and progressing really well :)

 

3.  What is the best or funniest thing that happened this month?

 

Putting our investigator on date :)

 

4.  Only 7 more months till you come home. How have changed that will be the most obvious to us?

 

I have wondered that myself honestly. I want to say that I have changed, but I think it will take an external observation to notice what has changed.

 

5.  What kinds of service have you been doing lately?

 

Clearing snow from driveways and roofs

 

6.  What is favorite thing about Alaska?

 

The feeling that this is where I am called to serve. Also the gorgeous clear blue sky days, nothing beats them!!

 

7.  Why were you wondering if we were going to sell the cabin?

 

Because you mentioned that a while before I left on my mission and I was hoping you weren't.

 

8.  Do you have any more random (or not) questions for us?

 

Not at the moment no :)

 

9.  How are you feeling about yourself this week?

 

Good :)

Hello!

Hello!

 

It is so great to hear from everyone every week and seeing what goes on back home. I got the package mom and dad sent, thank you!! Oh, one thing really fast before I forget: if at all possible, send me that football clip where the coach has someone do a bear crawl all the way down the field, if you know what I am talking about. I can go into a little more detail if you need me to.

 

Transfers are next week. It is hard to believe it has already been six weeks, a lot of the members were surprised as well, but then again, due to Gen. Conf. and Stake Conference, we have only been to church a total of three times :) felt kind of weird I must say. I think that we will both be staying in this area for at least one more transfer, that would be nice :) but you never know for sure.

 

I finished my first mission journal the other night. I that was so weird. I was looking back over old entries and came across the last entry when I was in Whitehorse, man that one is awesome, it totally brought back the exact same feelings and thoughts I had at that moment in time. I am glad I filled it all out, it will definitely be a great reference for me in the years to come, one that I will visit often. I am actually starting to work on my curisve right now, man is it terrible; you have to start somewhere tho!

 

Our investigator who is on date for baptism is doing awesome, progressing, and seems to understand everything really well. I have to say, I am a bit nervous because his baptism is shortly after transfers, so if I get transferred I will not see him be baptized! But again, I think I am staying.

 

I finished the Book of Mormon again, for the third time on my mission. It should be more, but I do not read for the quantity, I read for the quality ;) I am also reading the bible right now too, currently in Leviticus, man that stuff is boring...but the history in it is awesome tho! I really enjoy reading from it :)

 

We were teaching another one of our investigators last week; as we were teaching him, he asked some great questions, some of which I would have been lost with had it not been for Butler being there. At some points in the lesson tho, I could definitely feel the spirit working thro me to answer some of his questions, I was even surprised with myself with some of the information I suddenly recalled when he would ask questions. It was funny actually, we successfully taught the Plan of Salvation - the second lesson - backwards, but it made sense to him, and that is all that matters :)

 

Time is short, sorry I cannot go into a lot of detail with everything. I love you and thank you again!

 

Love,

Elder Hartman1

Questions from Mom

Editor's note: The answers TJ gives to my Mom's questions are the highlight of my week. Seriously, I find myself laughing out loud as I read through them. To fully enjoy you MUST read them with their voices in mind and imagine a very BLUE mom trying to connect with her very WHITE son from continents away.

1.  Do you have transfers next week?  Do you think you will be transferred or not? (I think yours are next week - because ours are tomorrow here and I think you are a week behind us.)

 

Yes, transfers are next week. This will be my 12th transfer on my mission, I will have five left, which is weird to think about...I do not think I will be transferred, I am confident to say I will stay in the area with Butler for at least one more.

2.  How are your friends all doing - I read their blogs - have you  heard from anyone personally?  What about people from home?

 

Fantastic, they are the best friends anyone could ask for. I e-mail Brad, Stephen, and Landon every week; I also got a letter from Trevor a while ago and wrote him back, he is just amazing - like he always is, such a great missionary :)

3.  Are you ok about Bree getting married without you there?  We have lots of missionaries here that have a sibling getting married and we get real mixed feelings about it - how do you feel? (I will delete this question before forwarding it to the girls)

 

In all honesty, it does not bother me in the least, I am very happy for her...and super jealous of where the wedding is as well! But really, I am totally fine, just make sure my cut-out that Summer is doing does not make me look too fat please.

4.  How was your zone counsel last week?  Try to describe a little bit about it - "fine" is not an ok answer!!

 

It went pretty good; it was mainly to just encourage them to work hard, that was the whole emphasis Butler and I were putting during it. We feel it was good, but probably not amazing.

5.  How are you doing - really - emotionally - spiritually and physically?  Please answer each one with a separate answer. :)  Choose one of the categories and go into some detail. :)

 

Jeez, this sounds like a quiz right now...emotionally, doing just fine; spiritually, ALWAYS tired; physically, feeling great actually, I am developing some great eating habits and eating really good food!

6.  How is the weather there now?  Getting warmer?  It is fall here now - moving quickly into winter.

 

Yes, it is getting warmer, it is staying around 40 F now; we walk around in short sleeve shirts, it feels so nice :)

7.  Tell us about your relationship with your companion. 

 

It is solid, we get along great with each other. Hardly ever argued or gotten irritated with each other.

8.  What would you say has been the best experience on your mission so far?

 

Ask me that again, time is short for me right now and I cannot really recall one right now, that is a big question!

9.  Are you doing better about not being so hard on yourself?  What has helped? - also - WHY are you so hard on yourself - you are wonderful!!

 

This is a weird question, but I like to think I am doing better.

10. Do you have any questions for us??

 

Are you keeping the cabin or selling it?? And is dad still planning on coming to Whitehorse next Summer??

Easter

Hello dear friends and family,

 

I got the mail from Terra, the eggs where is as best condition as they could be coming from Hawaii to Alaska, thank you so much for sending them, they were awesome :)

 

Our area is doing awesome, we are gradually teaching more and more every week, things are going great. We put one of our investigators on date the other day! I already told mom this story, but I will tell it again for everyone to hear :) We prayed for a date to extend to one of our investigators who wants to be baptized. We found a day that we all could agree on and decided to go with that, we were comfortable with it. We went and visited them last Friday, the day we always have our lessons, taught the lesson, and at the end extended the baptismal invitation. We told him the date, he pulled out the phone to check the day and replies with mild astonishment "Wow. Ya, that day will work because that is literally the day with nothing on it." He showed us his phone and sure enough, there was something scheduled for literally every single day of this month, and almost all of the next, except for the day we decided on. It is so cool to see these little miracles happen on your mission, seeing the Lords hand in the work and how He is very well in control of what is going on.

 

Our Easter was pretty good, we did not really do anything except for a big dinner at our Ward Mission Leaders home, which was really good. I am trying really hard right now to not eat deserts, but it is ever so hard sometimes, especially when it is apple pie or angel food cake or ice cream. I try my best, but just figure at the same time I have to respect the persons house I am at as well. I have plateued with my weight however, I am not gaining nor losing any at the current moment, which is really nice :)

 

It is so great to hear about mom and dads African adventures. You two are going to be so humble when you get back. I love hearing about them and getting the pictures as well. Oh, Bree I LOVED the pic you sent me of the Unicorn, that was just awesome, I loved it and am going to search high and low for a bike like that :) remember: Unicorns are no longer on the earth only becauase they were busy helping all of the other animals get to the ark ;)

 

I recieved a great compliment a while ago, not directly from the person, but still heard about it. Butler and I were talking about our weeklys to Pres, just sharing what we said and such. Pres. told Butler in his "it is a good thing that you two are in that area because neither you nor Hartman is afraid of hard work." That is one of the best compliments I have gotten, mainly because that is something I have really been striving to work on my whole mission. It was nice to get an external source on my progress :) I still have a lot of room to work on, but I am also grateful for the things that a mission has taught me. One of the most rewarding things to me is when a virtuous thought randomly pops into my head to ponder over (another thing I have really been striving to work on). You can learn so much when you ponder over something and actually try and understand it in your mind. Hopefully these habits that I am forming on my mission will be lifelong and not just temporary. It is weird to think that there is life after a mission, to me it is hard to comprehend actually having time to yourself, but that is another thought for another time :)

 

Thank you everyone for everything you do! I love you and hope you have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Elder Hartman1

 

Feeling Better

Hello everyone,

 

Do not worry, we got permission to e-mail on a non-pday. I got way sick yesterday and threw up for about an hour, then we went back to the apartment and I slept for 4 1/2 hours. I feel light years better now, I think I got caught up on 15 months of lost sleep!

 

Anways, time is really short here right now, we have a ton of things we got to today. I am doing good tho, mission is going great. We have ZLC (Zone Leader Council) tomorrow; we get to go to the temple, I am really excited for that, I will let you know how that went next week :)

 

Absolutely loved conference, D. Todd was awesome as always :) I always love listening to Pres. Monson, I feel I can relate to him really easily. There was another talk I really liked, I cannot remember who gave it but the person was a 70, it was in the Sunday afternoon session if I am on the right track, and he opened up with the funny story where his wife was speeding and he told her to slow down because he was her husband and he held the priesthood. His talk was awesome; it really is by gentle persuasion, meekness, long-suffering and love unfeigned that you help people come about a change. We are trying to evalutate goals for our zone right now and seeing how we can best help them. We are having a zone meeting on Saturday, we have some things planned, we are mainly aiming to get them fired up and motivated to do the work and change their mindset.

 

I am really sorry this e-mail is so short this week, time is just not with me right now. We have a meeting with a recent convert in about 10 minutes and this was the only time we could set aside to do emails. Thank you again for the updates from home tho, I read them every week and I absolutely love them! I will respond better next week, I promise. Thank you again!!

 

Love,

Elder Hartman1