Dear Dad -
Well, as you know dad it was Father's day yesterday. I just wanted to
let you know how incredibly awesome you are as a dad. You always were
so much fun to be with and would always make light of the situation. I
loved how you just had fun everywhere you went. There is a missionary
out here, Elder Tonga who is a total Yellow, thro and thro - always
laughing, just loves to have fun everywhere he goes. He reminds me so
much of you, I hope I get to serve with him on my mission.
One thing I am grateful that you taught me was to put 20% of the money
I receive aside for savings and tithing. I remembered one conversation
you were having with someone a few years back where you mentioned
this; they were wondering why you did that and were a little perplexed
at it even. You just simply stated 'once I get the check, I
immediately put twenty percent aside. It is a habit that I have
developed and have never looked back on it.' How true that is. Once I
would get my checks, I would instantly ask you to take out twenty
percent for tithing and savings. I will admit: I always say that with
a little bit of pride when I am on the subject of it with members,
missionaries, whoever it may be. It is one of the teachings of my
wonderful father that will stay with me for the rest of my life and
will definitely be passed down to my children one day.
One thing that I have been trying to work on lately is speaking from
the heart. I have to tell you, it has been so hard, being a WHITE I do
not like to show my emotions that much, but I do know that it is
something necessary to do every now and then. Thro the trial of you
being sick, it has really humbled me to rely and put my faith in
Heavenly Father. This trial really gave me a testimony to always have
faith in God, regardless of the situation. I love you so much dad, I
will never be able to thank you enough for everything you have done
for me and the example you have been to me in my life. I love you!
Love,
-Elder Hartman1
let you know how incredibly awesome you are as a dad. You always were
so much fun to be with and would always make light of the situation. I
loved how you just had fun everywhere you went. There is a missionary
out here, Elder Tonga who is a total Yellow, thro and thro - always
laughing, just loves to have fun everywhere he goes. He reminds me so
much of you, I hope I get to serve with him on my mission.
One thing I am grateful that you taught me was to put 20% of the money
I receive aside for savings and tithing. I remembered one conversation
you were having with someone a few years back where you mentioned
this; they were wondering why you did that and were a little perplexed
at it even. You just simply stated 'once I get the check, I
immediately put twenty percent aside. It is a habit that I have
developed and have never looked back on it.' How true that is. Once I
would get my checks, I would instantly ask you to take out twenty
percent for tithing and savings. I will admit: I always say that with
a little bit of pride when I am on the subject of it with members,
missionaries, whoever it may be. It is one of the teachings of my
wonderful father that will stay with me for the rest of my life and
will definitely be passed down to my children one day.
One thing that I have been trying to work on lately is speaking from
the heart. I have to tell you, it has been so hard, being a WHITE I do
not like to show my emotions that much, but I do know that it is
something necessary to do every now and then. Thro the trial of you
being sick, it has really humbled me to rely and put my faith in
Heavenly Father. This trial really gave me a testimony to always have
faith in God, regardless of the situation. I love you so much dad, I
will never be able to thank you enough for everything you have done
for me and the example you have been to me in my life. I love you!
Love,
-Elder Hartman1
=======================================================
Greetings from Alaska,
Writers block, writers block, writers block; I heard that if you
write/type 'writers block' three times, you get out of the rut you are
in. It seemed to work alright. I always struggle with starting out
letters.
I am going to try a new format this week, to send my letter in.
Monday:
It was p-day, mainly involved sports, shopping, and building some good
zone unity. There is a lot of trainers and trainees up here, so we are
still working out exchanges. We played basketball for sports, I
managed to write one letter...still really behind on those.
Tuesday:
This day was a little rough; we had a lot of lessons set up and pretty
much all of them fell thro; that is always a little aggravating, at
least we know we did our part tho! I had a great study that day tho, I
focused primarily on Dispensations and used the Old Testament Student
manual to help me out, I love learning and studying - never thought I
would ever say that in my life. I did also realize that day tho that I
need to study out of the Book of Mormon a lot more, I am studying out
of the Bible way too much - not that it is bad or anything, but the
Book of Mormon is what we use primarily to teach and clarifies
teachings in the Bible. We also had district meeting, it was pretty
good, one of the companionship's in the district has to call in, that
is always a little hard to work around.
Wednesday:
We traveled down to Anchorage for Zone Conference. We also got to go
to the temple to see one of Elder Na'as recent converts go thro and
receive his endowments - he is getting ready to go on a mission. I
love going to the temple, it is so much fun and such a huge spiritual
feast, I get so tired during the first part of the session. We spent
the night at the Ap's apartment; it was alright, they had these blow -
up mattresses that were as hard as a rock, so we just slept on the
floor, it was nice.
Thursday:
Zone conference today. There was a General Authority visiting the
mission: Elder Koelliker, a member of the first quorum of the seventy
- he spoke in general conference. Before Zone Conference, all of the
Zone Leaders met with him and Pres. to have a council on how things
are going in the mission. It was really enlightening, the Lord knows
who He chooses to help build up His kingdom here on earth. At one
point in the meeting, he (Elder Koelliker) said 'the Lord likes us
(general authorities) to be independent - to stand alone.' It was
really interesting, but made a lot of sense. Zone conference itself
was good. After that, we went and saw Paul, the recent convert who
went to the hospital shortly after he was baptized, he seemed to be
doing good, should have received the priesthood yesterday, I was so
happy for him. Then went and visited some members in the Tongan ward,
where Elder Na'a served.
Friday:
Pretty much drove back up from Anchorage. We went to the temple again
in the morning, for the whole zone. It was so awesome, but I was SO
tired that day. I love the temple.
Saturday:
We did a zone tract, it was so much fun; testifying of Christ is the
best part about being a missionary. We talked to a lot of people,
found some great potential investigators, and overall just had a
blast. For the last part of my mission, I want to just be a Senior
companion so I can more focus on missionary work and not have as much
stewardship over people. I love missionary work :)
Sunday:
Saw Jill again, gave me an update on dad, that was so relieving. We
did service at a less actives house for a while, mainly helped sort
thro laundry and unpack boxes. We ate dinner at a members home shortly
afterwards. I thought the couple was married, so I addressed them as
mom and dad at one point in the dinner and was wondering why the dad
was not responding. Come to find out they are brother and sister, that
was pretty interesting, hopefully we have dinner there again soon!
We are going to be traveling down to Anchorage again in about two
weeks - this will make three times in one transfer...it has been a
little difficult, the weeks we go down we only have two or three
legitimate proselyting days in our area, but this whole week we can
focus on our area, yay! We have exchanges tonight with Delta Junction,
an area that is an hour away. This will be a kool experience.
It is crazy to think how fast time goes by. I am really going to have
to start considering a career and such. I am pretty sure Physical
Therapist, but we will have to see what the future holds. I do not
want my mission to end, I like just having one purpose to focus on;
spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do know that I have awesome
family back home and will have a lot of support, thank goodness.
Anyways, thank you again everybody for your support. I love you!
Greetings from Alaska,
Writers block, writers block, writers block; I heard that if you
write/type 'writers block' three times, you get out of the rut you are
in. It seemed to work alright. I always struggle with starting out
letters.
I am going to try a new format this week, to send my letter in.
Monday:
It was p-day, mainly involved sports, shopping, and building some good
zone unity. There is a lot of trainers and trainees up here, so we are
still working out exchanges. We played basketball for sports, I
managed to write one letter...still really behind on those.
Tuesday:
This day was a little rough; we had a lot of lessons set up and pretty
much all of them fell thro; that is always a little aggravating, at
least we know we did our part tho! I had a great study that day tho, I
focused primarily on Dispensations and used the Old Testament Student
manual to help me out, I love learning and studying - never thought I
would ever say that in my life. I did also realize that day tho that I
need to study out of the Book of Mormon a lot more, I am studying out
of the Bible way too much - not that it is bad or anything, but the
Book of Mormon is what we use primarily to teach and clarifies
teachings in the Bible. We also had district meeting, it was pretty
good, one of the companionship's in the district has to call in, that
is always a little hard to work around.
Wednesday:
We traveled down to Anchorage for Zone Conference. We also got to go
to the temple to see one of Elder Na'as recent converts go thro and
receive his endowments - he is getting ready to go on a mission. I
love going to the temple, it is so much fun and such a huge spiritual
feast, I get so tired during the first part of the session. We spent
the night at the Ap's apartment; it was alright, they had these blow -
up mattresses that were as hard as a rock, so we just slept on the
floor, it was nice.
Thursday:
Zone conference today. There was a General Authority visiting the
mission: Elder Koelliker, a member of the first quorum of the seventy
- he spoke in general conference. Before Zone Conference, all of the
Zone Leaders met with him and Pres. to have a council on how things
are going in the mission. It was really enlightening, the Lord knows
who He chooses to help build up His kingdom here on earth. At one
point in the meeting, he (Elder Koelliker) said 'the Lord likes us
(general authorities) to be independent - to stand alone.' It was
really interesting, but made a lot of sense. Zone conference itself
was good. After that, we went and saw Paul, the recent convert who
went to the hospital shortly after he was baptized, he seemed to be
doing good, should have received the priesthood yesterday, I was so
happy for him. Then went and visited some members in the Tongan ward,
where Elder Na'a served.
Friday:
Pretty much drove back up from Anchorage. We went to the temple again
in the morning, for the whole zone. It was so awesome, but I was SO
tired that day. I love the temple.
Saturday:
We did a zone tract, it was so much fun; testifying of Christ is the
best part about being a missionary. We talked to a lot of people,
found some great potential investigators, and overall just had a
blast. For the last part of my mission, I want to just be a Senior
companion so I can more focus on missionary work and not have as much
stewardship over people. I love missionary work :)
Sunday:
Saw Jill again, gave me an update on dad, that was so relieving. We
did service at a less actives house for a while, mainly helped sort
thro laundry and unpack boxes. We ate dinner at a members home shortly
afterwards. I thought the couple was married, so I addressed them as
mom and dad at one point in the dinner and was wondering why the dad
was not responding. Come to find out they are brother and sister, that
was pretty interesting, hopefully we have dinner there again soon!
We are going to be traveling down to Anchorage again in about two
weeks - this will make three times in one transfer...it has been a
little difficult, the weeks we go down we only have two or three
legitimate proselyting days in our area, but this whole week we can
focus on our area, yay! We have exchanges tonight with Delta Junction,
an area that is an hour away. This will be a kool experience.
It is crazy to think how fast time goes by. I am really going to have
to start considering a career and such. I am pretty sure Physical
Therapist, but we will have to see what the future holds. I do not
want my mission to end, I like just having one purpose to focus on;
spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do know that I have awesome
family back home and will have a lot of support, thank goodness.
Anyways, thank you again everybody for your support. I love you!
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