So Immensely Blessed

Hello! I am starting off my e-mails with the weekly letter this week so I can write a little bit more - hopefully. As I said last week, we have been so immensely blessed with work in our area it is almost overwhelming at times. We were at the church the other day helping some other missionaries in our zone fill up the font for a baptism they were having. We were just leaving the church parking lot to invite some investigators to it (the baptism) and noticed two men talking to on of the Elders outside. Right when we were pulling out, the Elder called us and said they were interested in talking to us and they lived in our area. We pulled right around, got out of the car and started talking to them. It was a father and his son; they were both Harley Davidson riders, had the big beards, skull caps, and everything. After talking to them for a little bit, the dad said he wanted his five grand kids to meet with the missionaries and have us teach them the lessons. We have a lesson set up with them this Thursday. Another cool experience was earlier last week. We were contacting people on the ward roster who we did not know. We got in with a mexican family who we have tried a few times in the past to contact. They were super nice to us, one of the warmest welcomes we have gotten from a less active family. They were super nice, started telling us how they want to come back to church and their nine year old daughter was just talking about how she wants to be baptized. Talk about good timing ;) I have no idea why the blessings are being poured out to us, but they are. We have been sure to say a prayer of gratitude after all of these visits. We have been having awesome lessons lately, the members who have come with us to them have been extremely helpful as well. One question we have been getting asked a lot lately is about Cain going to the Canaanites. The concern is 'if Adam and Eve were the first people on the earth, where did these other people (the Canaanites) come from? It says nothing about them in the Bible.' It is funny, in the last three days, we have been asked that exact question three times. We researched it and found a pretty good answer we feel, hopefully the people like it. It is so much fun to teach people about the gospel - it is even better when they accept the things you are teaching them as well! Thank you everyone for your prayers offered on our behalf. I know that it is because of you and your support that we are having this success. The more I try to memorize Alma 26, the more I feel exactly like him. Throughout that passage, he talks about the goodness of God and praising Him for letting him (Ammon) be apart of His work. Indeed, it is very humbling to realize what a blessing it is that Heavenly Father is loving enough to allow us to help Him out. I will always be grateful I chose to serve a mission. Thank you again everyone for your support. Love, -Elder Hartman1 Questions from Mom: 1. What was your most spiritual experience this week? When I read some chapters out of the Book of Mormon that were focused solely on Jesus Christ. The ones I read were 1 Ne. 10-11 and 1 Ne. 19. Give it a shot, it works! :) 2. Is it starting to get cold there yet? When does the snow start? Yes it is actually, just this morning it was pretty chilly. I am not sure when the snow starts, probably by the first week in Oct. I am guessing? 3. Do you talk to Jill much at church? When I see her I say hi, but we are usually going somewhere so I do not have a whole lot of time to talk... 4. You have a transfer coming up in October - what do you think will happen? Will you stay with your current companion in Fairbanks do you think? I think I will stay up here in Fairbanks with E. Boyer, but nothing is certain. I hope I do. 5. What is your favorite discussion to teach? Did you get to teach it this week? Probably the Plan of Salvation I think. Yes we did actually, twice. One was an active member lesson and another was with two investigators. I just love testifying of the Atonement and how families can be together forever - my two favorite principles of the gospel :) 6. What are you doing today for pday? Going on a hike :) 7. Did you get your camera ok? How do you like it? Take lots of pictures - since you lost all your other ones. Can you get some pictures from past companions? Yes I got it and love it. I have been taking pictures, they are really good :) I got a few from my last comps, I have a pretty good amount :) 8. How is your companionship going? What do you struggle with? What makes it easy? It is going great. I really do not think we struggle with anything to be honest. We are both just easy going, obedient, and work hard, that is what makes it work. 9. What has been your favorite experience in Fairbanks so far? Teaching the gospel :) I know that is a typical missionary answer, but it was the first that came to mind and I am short on time on e-mailing. I love you!

Feeling Your Prayers

Hello everybody,

It is always so great to hear from everyone and how everybody is doing
back home; thank you for your e-mails and updates, it is greatly
appreciated :)

I got the packages and mail from mom, dad, and Summer, thank you for
your support.

Well, time is short for me, so I will not be able to write as much as
I had hoped, but I just had to send an e-mail of gratitude. We have
been so blessed with our work up here in Fairbanks. The whole zone is
still doing awesome, they are still over-achieving almost every goal
we set for them, it is so much fun to see. We found three new
investigators in our area this week - one of which we had a great
member present lesson with. The best feeling in the world is when you
can literally feel the spirit work thro you as an instrument in the
Lord's hands in this great and marvelous work. Nothing beats that! I
literally feel exactly like Ammon when he glories in the Lord in being
apart of this great work! (see Alma 26:1-12, like how I did that? :))
We have felt all of your prayers and are indeed grateful for them and
your support. Because of you and your faith, this work has been going
forward and we have been very blessed. Without the prayers of the
faithful, this world would probably be in utter calamity. We have been
sure to thank the Lord over and over again for Him allowing us to be a
part of this great and marvelous work. Sorry this e-mail is short this
week, we have to go and run a lot of errands, we did not go grocery
shopping last week! Thank you again. I love you!

1.  What was your best day this week and why?

Saturday. We found a new investigator and had a member present lesson.
It was just a great lesson all around, the member was awesome; short
and brief with his input; the spirit was there, we taught the doctrine
simply and clearly. The best part of it was how I could literally feel
the spirit work thro me (I will talk about this again in the weekly
letter home), I love being an instrument in the Lord's hands, it is
the best feeling in the world - that and eating some fresh apple pie
or brownies ;)

2.  Do you think you will finish your mission in Fairbanks?  Do you
hope so?  where would you like to go if not?

I think I might, but not for sure if I will or not. I think for the
last transfer, which will be about four weeks long I think, I will be
closer to President just to make it easy to travel to the airport and
such, which I would not mind, I love Anchorage.

3.  Which of your friends have you corresponded with lately?  Any news
from them?

Ya, a few. Talked with Broc recently and Kaitie. I e-mailed Trev a few
times, I need to write him a letter!! I e-mail Landon every week as
well. Nothing too big that I can recall at the moment, I e-mailed them
back a little bit ago.

4.  How are your meds holding out?  How are you feeling?

Doing just fine :)

5.  What is your most difficult trial currently?  How are you handling it?

To be honest, it is hard to think of one right now because we are
being so blessed. The work has been going great and we have a really
bright future ahead of us :) The hardest trial would probably be not
getting distracted with thinking about home too much and having that
get in the way of the work.
  

-Elder Hartman1

Hi everyone,

Well, time is short right now (big surprise) so I will not be too
lengthy with this e-mail. I did not get the packages from mom yet, but
I am sure this week I will. Looking forward to them! :)

The missionary work in our area is going great, absolutely loving it.
Our zone is doing awesome as well, they beat every one of the zone
goals we set except for one - which is amazing. It was a bummer, we
invited two investigators to church and one of them told us that he
has seen too many hypocrites to go to church - it has put on a bad
image for him, which I can understand, it is just a shame when people
have these bad experiences when they are younger and it starts to put
an image that is very hard to alter. We will keep on working with him
and praying for him. It is great seeing people who do not come to
church often at Sacrament meeting tho, that is always such a reward,
especially when they are consistently coming too.

Cool news for today, we are going on a Apache flight simulator! I
guess it is a once in a lifetime opportunity or something like that. I
will let you know how it goes :)

One goal that I have been working on the last week is memorizing Alma
26 - the whole chapter. Since our training plan is centered on that
chapter, I thought to myself how I have never memorized a whole
chapter out of the scriptures; the longest scripture I have memorized
is D&C 121:34-46. I am currently up to verse eight right now and I
hope to have it all memorized by next Monday! Memorizing scriptures is
a really cool experience, the more you recite the scripture, the more
you learn about it and the message that it contains. It is really
edifying and a great recall in times of need or trial.

That is the updates for the most part. Hope everything is going well
back home. Miss y'all very much! Take care!

Love,

Elder Hartman 1

1.  Tell us more about your zone conf pulling the handcarts, etc.

The handcart pulling was pretty short for the most part, lasted about
an hour, but the activities we had the district leaders do along the
trail were a lot of fun tho. One of them did an activity where we had
to spin around a baseball bat seven times then run to a tree and it
was related to following the spirit. We did ours on being equally
yolked in the companionship. There is not much more to say other than
that about the handcarts other than it was a great experience.
Honestly the best part of zone conference was the testimony meeting,
just because it is always great to hear from everyone, whether it is
stories or lessons learned, whatever it is, my testimony is always
strengthened afterwards.

2.  How was your zone council?  What did you learn there?  Did you go
to Anchorage for that?

Unfortunately we did not go to Anchorage for that, which was a huge
bummer. It was pretty good, a lot of the discussion was geared towards
missionary disobedience, which almost all of it our zone was not
having a problem with, so we did not have a whole lot to say during
the discussions. We learned about our new training plan called 'Lord
of the Harvest', it will be really cool, it is focused on Alma 26.

3.  How often do members feed you there?  How does it work with Elder
B. being vegan?  Is he really strict vegan?  No eggs or milk? Are you
learning to cook at all?

We get fed pretty often, I would say on average every other day
probably. E. Boyer is vegetarian, not vegan - yet. He just does not
eat meat. He is really polite so he eats really little at members
homes when they feed us - I usually eat his leftovers, which I am just
fine with :) I sometimes cook vegetables for us, but that is the most
I do with cooking.

4.  What was your week like?  What did you do?

It was pretty busy and a lot of fun. We are getting a lot of work done
here and it feels great. We went on exchanges, saw a lot of less
actives and pretty much just did missionary work. Nothing too big
happened for the most part, just a lot of teaching and testifying of
Christ! :)

5.  How is your companionship going?  Has anything interesting happened?

It is going great, loving it. By means of something interesting
happening....not sure if I can recall anything that would fit into
that category...we did wrestle the other night, I won of course ;)

Hello everyone!

To sum up everything that happened within the last week: it was really
weird. I do not know how to describe it other than that, it just was.
It involved Russians, various instruments including Mandalyns and
Banjos, and really weird/interesting people. E. Boyer and I are having
a ton of fun together tho, we are working really hard and having a lot
of laughs. We were visiting a less active family the other night and
after the spiritual message, they noticed his name tag. Apparently
they also have family with the last name Boyer. After some
conversation, they started examining him for genetic similarities,
running their hands thro his hair saying how perfectly structured it
was (this was his first time meeting the family), comparing teeth,
noses, and hands, it was so entertaining to watch from my perspective
:) I guess he must be related to them somehow tho! Their hands did
have similarities as well as their teeth as well. One of the family
members just became a new investigator and she is actually someone who
we really want to focus on to be baptized before E. Boyer leaves. It
would be a really cool experience if he was actually related to her
and she was baptized before he leaves.

Almost half the zone changed for transfers, there are four trainers up
here so we got more exchanges this transfer - probably one every week.
We have ZLC tomorrow from about 8 - 3. We had zone conference this
weekend, it was a great experience. I fell in love with a turkey that
was at the members house we did it at. We had training in the morning,
then went and did activities, then had dinner, then closed with a
testimony meeting that was really spiritual. Our training plan for
this transfer is Zions Camp, so we pulled handcarts for part of the
conference and had activities along the trail around the members home.
E. Boyer and I trained on being 'equally yolked' as a companionship.
We talked about how the person you should be serving the most, next to
the Lord, is your companion. It is funny because a lot of the time, I
think we as missionaries forget to serve our companion because you are
with him/her all the time - I know I am guilty of that. I have been
making a greater effort to serve my companion tho and I have
definitely seen the difference. As you serve your companion, your
companion serves you back - it follows the adage 'what goes around
comes around.' Alma 41: 14-15 is a perfect scripture that talks about
that exact same thing. I am a firm believer of that saying as well. It
takes a lot of effort to serve your companion, whether it is a spouse,
brother, sister, or missionary companion, but it is definitely worth
it.

Hope y'all enjoyed this letter! I will talk to you next week!

1.  Tell us about your new companion.  Do you think this will be an
easy or challenging companionship?  Why?

This companionship is going to be super easy, it already has been.
Elder Boyer is a Yellow with White, way easy to get along with, we
have had so much fun the last week. He is the oldest in his family,
has one younger brother and one younger sister. He plans on going to
school at UNLV, then transferring to either the U or BYU. He wears
glasses, likes a lot of the same stuff as Bree actually, reminds me of
her in a lot of ways - which is really nice :) not sure what else to
say about him, let me know what else you want to know!

2.  Did your zone change much?  Have you had much interaction with the
new missionaries called there this week?  Did you get your packages
this week?

Yes, nearly half of the zone changed actually. We are on exchanges
right now, I am with E. Parkin, from Virginia, who is a new
missionary. I have met all of the other ones and they seem solid, this
is going to be a really fun transfer :)

3.  I wrote to you about talking to your president and our homecoming
- does that sound good to you?

That sounds perfect to me :)

4.  Is it beginning to feel like fall there yet?  Do the leaves change
there or is it mostly evergreens?  How soon till the snow starts
falling there?

Yes it does actually. The leaves are changing colors now, it is going
to look so pretty. The snow probably will not come 'till around late
September - early October I think.

5.  What do you want us to remember to do this Christmas?  Anything
you especially want us to plan, food, activities, etc.?

Just go to the cabin, that is my biggest and only wish - at the moment
:) I am so excited...

Staying in Fairbanks

 Hello everyone,

Well, as y'all know, this week was transfers and to give you and
update, I will be staying here in Fairbanks. I am getting a new
companion, E. Boyer from Las Vegas. I have served around him a little
bit before and talked to him a few times. He is way tight, this should
be a lot of fun :) E. Na'a and E. Leota are both leaving to go serve
in Anchorage; this last week we said a lot of goodbyes to members in
the ward and other people. Last night we had dinner at an active
members home and they have this tradition where missionaries who are
leaving eat the dinner only using their mouths. It was really fun, we
ate spaghetti with a lot of sauce on it. It started into a food fight
at the end, it was so much fun. Another funny thing that happened
during the dinner, after all of the madness and everyone was cleaning
everything up, was when the lava lava I was wearing for my first time
(the families daughter is Samoan) and Polynesians usually wear that
attire and the pants I had on got sauce all over them, which in case
you do not know, it is pretty much a light skirt that both the men and
the women wear in the culture. I was bending down to pick up a pan
that just fell and the lava lava came undone! A good amount of people
got to see my hairy legs - do not worry, I was wearing my garments ;)
It was so embarrassing...but a great story.

Our baptism this weekend was great, the investigators whole family
came and the dad said the closing prayer. It was a touching
experience, it is so cool to see how the gospel brings families closer
together. It definitely does unite everyone and give us a purpose in
life. Now we just have to get the ward involved with the family so
they can stay strong and actively come every Sunday; there were
actually about seven less active families that we have been working
with that came to church yesterday, it was so wonderful to see.

Life is good, everything else is going great. I was not able to write
back to anyone for letters again today, I apologize to those who are
wondering what is taking me so long. I will make time for them -
hopefully ;) I love you all very much and I feel your love as well.
Have a great week and I will talk to you again next week!

Love,
Elder Hartman

 

1.  TELL US ALL ABOUT YOUR TRANSFER.

It was so good. It went by way too fast. I loved it, I learned a lot
about myself - a lot of things I really need to work on and do better.

2.  TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW COMPANION.  (WHERE HE IS FROM, HOW LONG HE
HAS BEEN OUT, ETC ETC ETC)

His name is E. Boyer. He is from Las Vegas and has been out for one
transfer longer than me, so 21 months. He plays the banjo a little
bit, so I will be more familiar with the banjo this upcoming transfer
:) I am not with him yet, I am getting him on Wednesday morning so I
will be able to tell you more about him next week :)

3.  HOW ARE YOUR INVESTIGATORS COMING ALONG?  DID YOU HAVE THE BAPTISM
YOU WERE HOPING FOR?

They are doing pretty good. We did have a baptism this weekend. It
went really well, the whole family came. It was a great experience,
hopefully this strengthens their family and they continue to be
nourished by the ward! We have to meet with some of our other
investigators, there are some that we have not met with for a while
now, hopefully they are still interested.

4.  TELL US SOMETHING NEW YOU LEARNED THIS WEEK (OR MONTH).

To not be selfish and desire only my own personal salvation.

5.  I KNOW DAD WROTE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR CAR - WHAT DO YOU THINK?
ANY IDEAS AT ALL YET?

Not yet, I really do not have a preference, so long as it can go in
the snow pretty well. I will take anything :)

6.  MIKELLE IS GOING TO REGISTER YOU FOR SCHOOL IN A FEW WEEKS - ANY
THOUGHTS ON CLASSES YOU WANT TO TAKE?  BY THE WAY SCHOOL STARTS ON
JAN. 7TH I BELIVE)

No, not really, just sign me up and I will go :)

7.  DID YOU TALK TO THE PRES. ABOUT YOUR RELEASE DATE?  CAN YOU BE
HOME ON THE 16TH OF DEC. (SAT) SO OUR HOMECOMING CAN BE THE 17TH?  WE
CAN WRITE HIM IF YOU WOULD LIKE??

Would you write to him? That would be ever so nice :) I have not
talked to him about it yet no.

8.  WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR PDAY THIS WEEK?

We are going to go ice skating! Yay! :) Then after that we are not sure yet :)

9.  DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY.

Wake up at six thirty, do a little bit of an exercise (that is
something where there is a lot of room for improvement), then shower,
eat breakfast, studies, then head out the door and proselyte. We
mainly do less active work here, so we drop by a lot of persons homes
throughout the day, since there are so many in the ward and our area
is pretty small. We usually are in around 9 - 9:30, plan for the next
day, then wind down and are usually in bed by around 10:30. I know it
is not in great detail, but I do not have a whole lot of time.

10.  IS THERE ANYTHING YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH BEFORE YOUR MISSION ENDS?

Great question....maybe finding an investigator family would be really
cool. There are a lot of part - members up here. I cannot think of
anything else specific at the moment, sorry!

I love you!

A Lesson Learned

Hello!

Once again, starting out another letter is always difficult, I never
have any idea how to begin...

This week was another great week. We are still just working mainly
with less actives in the area, since there are so many. We are having
good success with them! We found a new investigator from one. We were
driving away and E. Na'a felt prompted to go back and give him
something. We grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon and a Restoration
pamphlet and went back, bore our testimonies about its truthfulness
and how it brings us peace and happiness from reading it. He sounded
like he was sincere about it and said he would read from it. I love
testifying about the Book of Mormon, it is so fun :)

I learned a good lesson this week: never be afraid to talk and testify
about the gospel. We were at a members home, we were doing service and
they fed us afterwards. I was helping the mom clean and I wanted to
talk about the gospel but did not know what or how I would. I asked
her how long she had been a member for and that started a great
conversation we had. After talking to her for a little bit, I noticed
the other lady in the room was listening to us. I turned to her and
started talking to her. Eventually, she ended up bearing her testimony
to me about how the gospel really shows us and teaches us what is
important in life. The spirit was so strong in the room, it was
awesome. I read in Preach My Gospel earlier this week how a great way
to invite the spirit is to share spiritual experiences. I tell you
what, that really works, I followed that and it invited the spirit and
I know that everyone in that room could feel it. The lady thanked me
afterward for the great conversation and she was gung ho about
missionary work after that. It is so cool to see how the gospel bring
us so much joy into our lives and gives us such fulfillment too. I am
grateful for this gospel and the purpose it gives me in life. If I did
not have it, I would probably be wandering around aimlessly, doing
this and that, without any real purpose behind it. The gospel gives me
that foundation that I need and I know that it is true.

I love you! Have a great week!
 -Elder Hartman1


Questions

1.  You said to remember to ask you about your president interview
last week when you get home. Tell us at least one thing he said so we
don't forget.

He just showed me love, it was not so much what he said, but just what
he did and how he helped me.

2.  What is something you will miss about your companions when transfers come?

The spontaneous craziness. They know how to have a lot of fun :)

3.  Tell us about your hike last week  who did you go with, where etc

It actually was not all that epic. It was just a skiing trail that
went around in a circle. We just went and walked for about 1 1/2 hours
then went to the institute and stayed their for a little bit. The
p-day we have planned today tho is a spiritual p-day. We are meeting
at two at the Stake Center. Every companionship in the zone is doing a
team building activity that relates to a principle of the gospel. We
have about 7-10 minutes to do it. After that, we are going to have a
testimony meeting. It is going to be awesome :)

4. Have you thought about what kind of car you want when you get home?

Not really. The Jeep was just awesome, but it does not matter to me
all that much what I get, so long as I at least have something that
gets me from place to place :)

5.  Are you happy?  Why or why not.

Life is good. I am content right now :) Just trying times, lots of
trials, but lots of blessings as well :)

5. Did you get 3 months of your meds last month?  If not go get more.
How are you feeling?

The ones that Summer sent to me yes. I am feeling good, nothing wrong with me :)

7.  Any news about your camera?

Not yet, just continuous prayer for it and putting trust in Heavenly Father!

8. Tell us about your upcoming baptism.

It is this Saturday at 7 p.m. We are meeting with the family one more
time this week to talk about the baptism (I just realized I did not
talk about this in my weekly letter to y'all!), who she wants to talk,
the songs, go over the interview questions, etc. She wants the
missionaries to do a musical number for her, so we are in the process
of planning that out. It should be good tho! Everything is looking
good.

9.  Do you know we talk about you every day. Several times a day. We
talk about how much we love you and can't wait to be with you again. I
am so happy families are forever!!

That is great to hear. I really appreciate that :) I think about y'all
a lot too and miss you very much. I still love and take pride in
talking about my family and how awesome everyone is. I too am forever
grateful that I know I am able to spend eternity with my family :)

10. Why are you up so early today emailing?  What are you doing today?

No reason, we just got here a little earlier. Next week is transfers,
so if I do not e-mail then you know why. Remember that ;) We are doing
the spiritual p-day, as I answered in question 3 :) I love you!

Life is Good

Hello!

Well, yet another week in the missionary life here in Alaska!

Two of our investigators came to church yesterday. It was so great to
see them, and also a few less active families that we are working with
came as well! I love seeing people come back to church, such a great
feeling. One family that we are working with closely is doing really
well. We meet with  them often throughout the week, like 3 - 4 times.
We have a good relationship with them and have a good time when we are
over there. They are just a fun family and they know that we look to
them as our friends. The daughter was a little uneasy towards us at
first, and now, just the other day, she texted us and said we were
welcome there anytime! 

 

Sometimes it is not until you look back that
you see how much progress you have made with some people; the change
is so small and slow sometimes that you do no know that they are
actually changing right before your eyes. I really like how when we
visit some people that, although they drink alcohol or smoke - do
things that our standards do not necessarily agree with - we are there
and are casual with them. It is not like we have any right to judge
them on what they are doing. They are all great people too, just have
made some bad choices in life. It is really edifying when people
realize that, that you are there to see them and they know that you
love them.

We had a zone study this morning. It was pretty good, the
companionships who came seemed to really enjoy it! We studies on teach
when you find, find when you teach and did a lot of real plays. We
said how people are used to short, clear, simple messages and related
it to commercials. Usually commercials are no longer than 30 seconds
because that is how long your attention span lasts for. We are
encouraged to develop the habit of immediately testifying about our
message with those we come into contact with. We did real plays that
lasted for a minute, then 45 seconds, then 40, down until we had only
5 seconds to give a message. Sometimes that is all you have is just a
few seconds to change someones life. Sometimes it is those short, but
powerful statements that have a huge impact on you. I wrote about one
in the questions I answered to mom, you can read it there :)

Life is good. I feel your prayers and am continually grateful for your
support. Thank you everyone. I love you!

Love,
Elder Hartman