Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Traveling by Train

Hello friends and family!

I am sorry for not writing a good letter last week, I did not have a
whole lot of time to write a decent one. Reason why I am writing an
e-mail today is because yesterday we went on a train ride for p-day.
It was from eight in the morning 'till eight at night. It was from
Fairbanks to the Denali national park. You ride on the train four
hours, there and back, which is why it takes so long. It normally
costs 100$ per person one way, but we were able to get a deal to go
for free! A member in one of the wards here blessed us with that :)
Everyone in our zone except for one companionship went. We took tons
of pictures, it was beautiful. The problem with taking pictures in
Alaska is that they never do it justice, Alaska is an experience, a
place you have to see with your own eyes. On the way down we just
enjoyed the ride, took pics, and ate breakfast - we brought our own.
Once we got there, we went on a hike. It was a really easy hike, we
just went to a small lake and took more pictures there. We hiked back,
walked around the park for a little bit, and then went on the train
ride back. We played some songs for all of the people who were on the
train, sang a lot of hymns (got to do your missionary work!) and at
the end of the ride, we all sang 'God be with you 'till we meet
again.' It was so sweet.

Fairbanks is doing awesome. We are having a missionary fireside this
Sunday for all of Fairbanks. We are going to have four musicals and
three speakers: Pres. Beesley (our mission president), Pres. DuVal
(our stake president) and a recent convert of about four months. It is
going to be so awesome, hopefully it helps spark the missionary work
here! President will be coming up Thursday night with the APs so we
will probably find out what is going on with transfers Friday if not
that night. We will also be most likely driving down to Anchorage next
Monday or Tuesday for transfers, so if I do not e-mail on Monday, that
is why.

My studies have been going awesome these last few weeks. I have been
learning so much and always love studying out of the scriptures. There
are tons of things I want to share with y'all, some of it is so cool!
I found tho, that my most edifying studies are the ones I do out of
Preach My Gospel, probably because that is one that is the most
applicable right now. It is always a solid study when I base it off
that.

Know that I love each and everyone of you! Sorry to the people whom I
have not written back yet, I have not had the most time on the p-days
to write a decent letter back! Sorry!

Love,
Elder Hartman

1.  What was the best thing that happened to you this week?

Probably the train ride we did yesterday for p-day, it was a blast! I
took tons of videos and pictures. It was just what I needed. The
scenery was breath taking along with the gorgeous weather on top of
it. The thing with Alaska is that it is an experience, pictures will
never do it justice.

2.  When are your next transfers?

Next week. We are having a missionary fireside on Sunday, however, to
help spark the work here in Fairbanks. Pres. and the APs are coming up
on Thursday, so we will know where we are going by then most likely. I
am always so anxious to find out.

3.  You had a ZLC last week. What was the theme?  What did you learn?
When is your next zone conference?  Do you decide the topic?  What is
it going to be on?

I would not say there was a 'theme' really, just discussed how the
zones are doing and the mission overall. It was Zone Leader Council,
not Zone Conference, just in case you got them mixed up ;) our next
Zone Conference is probably going to be late August or early
September, not quite sure yet.

4.  You said you really like your zone right now. Why?  Do you have
sisters in it?  What do you do as a zone?

We do have sisters in our zone, just one companionship; Sis. Chan, who
is from Hong Kong, China, total Yellow; and Sis. Burbank, who is from
Bountiful, Utah.

5.  what did you end up doing on the 4th of July?

Going to a BBQ and a family house party. It was delicious :) got a
good taste of some quality southern grillin'.

6.  Are you teaching anyone right now?

Yes, a lot of kids actually, which can be a little tricky at times. It
is incredibly hard to teach really simple - on a level that a child
can understand. We have about...five investigators in our teaching
pool right now I want to say.

7.  Did you do anything fun this week?  Tell us about it.

The train ride on p-day. I wrote you a letter actually, I sent it
yesterday, not quite sure when it will get to you, but I elaborated on
it a little bit in that :)

8.  What are you doing for pday?

The train ride haha :)

9.  How are you doing with your companions this week?  ( i love your
attitude and how you work on yoursellf)

Doing really well, we are getting along and things are going well. I
still have a lot of things I need to work on, so still being refined I
guess is how you could put it :)

10. How are you on meds?

Great :) do not need a refill yet.

11.  Please send your address so we can google you.

624 Cushmen, I believe...

12.  Did you get your packages?  Which protein bars did you like?  How
did you like the other little packages?

I got one package that I can recall, the one with all of the protein
bars. I really liked the jay bar and the vega sport ones, they were so
good, thank you so much!!! I am not sure if I have already gotten the
'other packages' yet tho...
 
 -Elder Hartman1

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