I Love My Mission

Hello once again everybody,

Wow, it literally seems like I just wrote home, like a few minutes ago....it is so weird how time just walks right on by. I got 3 packages this week!! I know I am super spoiled, I admit it, but what's new?? Ha ha, but 2 of them were from Summer, one was one of the packages from mom and dad and the other was from her. The 3rd was from Carol! I was so happy when I saw that! She made me a unicorn pillow cover with rainbows!!!! I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day. I instantly put it on when we got home. I will take a pic and send it when I can. Thank you very much for your support, it means a lot.

This week was really good! We went on a hike Saturday morning up Grey Mountain as a ward activity. I have to tell you, it was GORGEOUS!!! Oh my gosh!!!!! It is so amazing how Heavenly Father knows how much I love the wind and love views of lush green forests and fields....I am in the PERFECT place for it!!! I stood on the edge of a cliff for probably about 5 minutes just taking in the peace and quiet and feeling the wind rush around me.....one moment I will never forget! We are going to try and do an activity like that every Saturday now because everyone had so much fun, plus it would be a great way to fellowship investigators and less actives as well :) Anshil, who was baptized recently, came and loved it! I was so glad he had a good experience out of it. After we were done and riding down the mountain in the cars, he asked "do you do this every Saturday?", that was awesome to hear :)

We finally got a hold of a less active we have been trying to contact for a long time the other day. They were going strong, but then just went cold and fell away, a pretty common thing on this mission unfortunately. We just started talking, normal conversation and then she said that she wants to come back to church, but she is scared no one will accept her and everyone will turn away. We kept on promising that that is not the case at all! I read her Matthew 11:28-30, a "tender mercy" scripture I like to call it (which I have a TON of, I love those scriptures!!) if you ever need comfort, read that scripture, it helps so much and has blessed me immensely!

I want to tell all of you how much I love my mission. These last 7 months have been the best months of my life!!! Although I have had some incredibly hard times and have had a lot of trials, after I had gone thro it, I always thank Heavenly Father for putting that trial in my path so I can grow from it. It has been so hard to press on at times and there has been some times where my testimony has been tried. I love this work, with all the conviction and sincerity in my heart. I love it because I get to be a part of something great! That has always been something I have wanted to do, be a part of something that matters, that is important. Be a part of something that will change the world. I have so many things to be grateful for, I have the best friends in the world, who are all out serving missions and have been nothing but uplifting for me! Seriously, I never realized how blessed I was with my friends, we never worried about bad influence when we were with each other (for the most part ;) kidding) none of us ever had a problem with drugs or alcohol or any of that stuff, we were only positive influences. Then my family who is supporting me so much and been the best family anyone could ask for. Thank you so much for always helping me thro struggles in life and being so positive with me. I cannot begin to thank you enough for everything you have done for me. You all continue to support me as I am out here and say how grateful you are for me. It means the world to me, thank you so much. I love each and everyone of you immensely!! I love my mission and I am so glad to be a part of this marvelous work!! Like Ammon (my favorite person from the Book of Mormon) glories in God in Alma 26, I join him in thanking Heavenly Father. Thank you everyone for everything you have done, your service was not in vain :)

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

Love,
Elder Hartman1

Keeping a Promise

Hello hello again EVERYONE!

Well just another week here in Whitehorse, Canada eh? I am starting to say that a lot more now in my everyday language, it is weird, but it works and it is part of the culture too! :) As far as mail goes, I received a letter from Becky and Aaron....I think....sorry, you know how my memory is :) I have not received any packages yet, but I am pretty sure I will today, hopefully!

We started p90x with a member today, wow I am out of shape!! I currently weigh 170 even, freakin chub chub right here!! It was hard, but I absolutely loved it! I remember when p90x was not all that difficult cuz I could do a decent amount of reps for everything, but now, I gotta work back up to it! President Beesley (I call him the bees knees in my weeklys :)) is visiting the area the 30-31. I have no idea how mom and dad heard about that!! Got the black market working for you or something :) anyways, he is visiting to see what he wants to do with the area, whether he wants to split it and bring another companionship in, or keep it how it is and have a companionship and a senior couple. I personally, reeeeeeally hope that the area stays how it is cuz I love it so much here. As I am sure you have seen from some of the pics, it is absolutely breathtaking and I am so fortunate to be serving here! I am glad I still have about 4 months left here, very comforting thought :). I will let you know how that goes when it happens. 

So we were eating dinner at a members home, the Petersons, and last time we were their, the girls wanted to give me a makeover, but we were going to meet with a less active later that night, so I told them next time we eat dinner there, they can give me a makeover. Oh and this was the same family that I ripped my pants at too, something funny always happens at this houz :). Anyways, we went over for dinner again yesterday and after I was done eating, one of the little girls runs up to me and says "remember what you promised?" as my heart sank a little bit, I uttered a quiet "yes", now I am a man that likes to follow thro on his promises, I usually don't promise someone something unless I know I can fulfill it. Anyways, that is what they spent the next little bit doing, giving me a makeover. They had the time of their lives, I will include some pics so you can see, I think the dark lipstick compliments my cheekbones personally :) 

 

Other than that, not much else to report on. I love you all and thank you so much for your support! And thank you for consistently e-mailing me and updating me with what goes on at home! Although I do not reply that often, I always read them and I LOVE hearing about it! Thank you again!

"The only thing you take with you when your gone is what you leave behind"
-Elder Sexy1 (Hartman1)

Everyone Has a Gift

Hello hello again everybody,

Mail is starting to be pretty consistent again, I got a package from mom and dad and then I think Summer and Travis put in their weekly letters too, thank you for that. I loved the video post cards to! It was so weird to see the Gunn fam and how much they are all changing! I can't believe it! But thank you for all of the e-mails, greatly appreciated :)

I also got a hair cut. I think I sport it pretty well. What do you think?

Man, so we just barely got back from a pilates session.....WOW! I am out of shape, so hard! If you want a good workout session, take up pilates and you will get a nice chizzled bod like mine ;). Speaking of me being out of shape, (wow, that's weird how I talk about how nice my body is, then start talking about how out of shape my body is) the other day, we were eating dinner at a members house and after we ate, we started playing with their kids (they have 5 girls, the oldest is 12 and the youngest is, I believe 4 or 5) and we were rolling hula hoops on the ground and trying to jump through them without hitting them or tipping them over. Well, the hoop was rolling towards me, so I hurry and squat down to jump through it, and on my way down I hear this "RIP!". I hurry and jump through it, stand up quickly, make sure no one is looking, then check the lower end of my body on my backside, the muscle is known as the gluteus maximus, or the butt for those who are not familiar with the proper muscle terms :) and find a nice rip about 3-4 inches in length on my booty. My butt has gotten a little bit bigger, I actually have noticed it too, maybe I'll send a picture of it one of these days so you can see :). Anyways, enough about my butt :) haha.

Speaking of fat. Tell me this is not the fattest dog ever! It weighs like 40 - 50 lbs!

This week has been really good, really fun, just good ol' missionary work pretty much. I am sorry, I am still trying to work on my memory and recall things better. Oh! So we have F.H.E every Thursday with this family in our ward and this last Thursday it was our turn to teach and I wanted to teach on talents and gifts so I told Elder Meteer I would just spearhead it and he could give his input whenever he wanted, and of course, he being White had absolutely no problem with that! So I focused on gifts and talents and went around the room and had everyone share a gift or something they excelled at. It was so fun to hear about the many different talents everyone had and to hear everyone complimenting each other on things they were good at, a lot of positive energy in the room for sure. After we discussed that for a little bit, I then had Brother Nunez (the father of the families home we were at) read D&C 46:11-12 which basically say that everyone has a gift from God, well spiritual gift because that is what that section is focusing on, but the whole point I wanted to make was that EVERYONE HAS A GIFT/TALENT THAT HEAVENLY FATHER GAVE TO THEM. I kept on reinforcing and reiterating that throughout the lesson. I told them that our purpose here on this Earth is to help Heavenly Father's children and use our gifts for their benefit. I used the example of how dad uses his gift of communicating with people and counsels couples who are in a tough spot in their marriage (hopefully I will not have to visit him in the near future ;)), and how he is using his gift for the benefit of someone else. Anyways, I feel I am going on a ton. But overall, it was such a great lesson, I even got the mom to cry, and she does not cry very much, she runs the family and you don't cross her! The Spirit was so strong in that room and I loved every second of it. I like it when you can see someone truly feel the spirit, it is the most rewarding thing to see. I quoted out of Corinthians 13:13 "And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three, but the greatest of these three is charity. It is true, it makes the biggest difference when you do a little act of random kindness-an ARK-for someone else. The littlest act can make the biggest difference.

Thank you again everyone for continuing for supporting me! I love you all.
Love, Elder Hartman1 

P.S. I forgot to mention, we helped a member baptize his son and we were at the font ALL DAY cuz the water heater doesn't really work right, so we had to boil water in all these pots and stuff and keep bringing it to the font to get it at the right temp.

 I got way bored while sitting in the room waiting for the water to boil, so I entertained myself a little bit :)

 Dear Mom & Dad -

Thank you so much for the letter dad, you really have no idea how much that letter helped pick me up and keep moving. My problem is not in homesickness or longing to go home or any of that stuff, I am just fine being away from home (no offense at all, I LOVE being home with you guys trust me) but my problem is just I guess discouragement. I get discouraged easily sometimes, but I learn that it is only thro resistance we become stronger, how else would we grow anyways?? Thank you so much for always being positive and being the perfect dad for me, really, if I had any other father here on this earth, I would be so bored and miserable! Don't worry mom, I have not forgotten about you at all, I know how you like to be recognized and I do realize that I have often overlooked a lot of wonderful things you have done for me. You have always been so wonderful about picking up after me and being so lenient with me on certain issues. Thank you for being the perfect parents. I am SO jealous for all of the missionaries over there that get to meet you....but I do know that it is right where you need to be right now. I love meeting new senior couples, they have so much wisdom and knowledge about everything!! Elder Meteer and I memorized D&C 121:34-46. It is A LOT to memorize, but I love memorizing scriptures and learning more about this gospel. I was reading the book "Mormon Doctrine" by Bruce R. Mckonkie, I loved it, I find learning more about this church is so contagious! It is wonderful. Anyways, thank you so much again for everything. I love you so much and am so grateful you are out serving with me, in completely different areas, but under the same purpose.
Love,
Elder Hartman1

Tell me that is not an awesome field! I decided I want to live near a field when I get married, just gorgeous!! A field totally fits my personality, nice, calm, quiet, peaceful, and beautiful too!

 Have a great week!

"The New Mission Prez is awesome..."

Hello everyone,

The Canada Post Strike ended last week, so that was wonderful news. A member told us at church the other day that some other areas are still going on strikes, so we will see how that affects our mail, ugh. I got a package the other day, but we are going to the post office to pick it up today. I am not sure who it is from, but I will let you know when I find out.

We flew to Juneau and met the new mission president. He was awesome, he showed us pics and videos of him flying jets, it was really kool looking. His wife was way nice too, she is way good at sudoku-however you spell that-and showed me some good techniques for it (I recently have started doing sudoku to try and help me focus more, and I just feel smarter after I solve one :). They are both really interesting, his wife did not know what he did for a job for a long time because he could not talk about it, it was all confidential. He has a lot of stories that I am looking forward to hearing as I serve with him for the next 18 months. He was nice to assure us that he won't lead the mission with a military attitude. That was so nice for me to hear.

We got permission to go to Skagway for the 4th of July and got to see the parade and everything, that was really kool to see. They had some floats and cars and stuff and then a bunch of activities. The egg toss was fun to watch, we did the tug-o-war and lost that due to our anchor who decided to switch his grip in the middle of the competition, which we were all rather upset about. But it was really fun. We rode these bikes around which were really fun.

I was glad to be back in my homeland for the 4th.

Sorry, I did not have a lot of time to send a good email this week because we could not email yesterday cuz we were gone all day and we have district meeting soon too, so thats why I could not give a lot of detail this last week. I will make up for it next week! (hopefully) But before I go here is a picture I took when we got lost trying to find a memebers cabin. Pretty kool view, eh?


Thank you very much everyone for you support, I love you all :)

Love,
Elder Hartman1

6 Months

Hello once again everyone.

So just an update, HOPEFULLY the strike ends today. That is what we were told on Friday, so we are going to go check after e-mails. Believe me, a lot of praying has gone towards the Canadian Post Office and we are striving to forgive them for their transgression towards the innocent missionaries, but I digress (which means: to leave the main subject temporarily in speech or writing, for those who do not know smart :)) I have not received any packages from anyone, neither Summer's, nor Mom's, I will let you know when I do tho!

Also, shout out to Summer and Travis for 13th Anniversary!!! WAHOO! Hard to think its only been 13 years huh? ;) I was 6 when you got married?? Ya that is a crazy thought wow...And mom and dad eating ox tongues, I think it was? Man, that is crazy! I know that people up here all parts of the moose, literally. I have eaten moose hoof, not all that bad, the jaw, which doesn't taste bad until you get to the bone marrow, and the eye, which feels like a huge loogie in your mouth the whole time, appetizing huh? :)

Well, as you have probably observed from the subject of the e-mail, I hit 6 months in two days...yikes!! It is so crazy to think that 1/4 of my mission is already pretty much gone. They really do not lie when they say that time flies on a mission, almost too fast actually! I don't like it! I love how in tune you are with the spirit and how everyone treats you! They are so inviting into their homes, they are just nice to the missionaries. I still recall how dad told me a while ago about how Austin Nebeker was saying that his mission was passing by too fast and it was scaring him. I remember how I wanted to feel that way about my mission, but never thought I was going to. Well, I do now! I am still very glad that I am in the beginning of my mission still, well kind of, I do not really know how to measure it. But I love it, with all of my heart. If I could take the state of Alaska and shrink it down to like a pillow size (I don't know how else to measure it or make a connection) I would embrace it and never let go! I love reading all of your testimonies from that book that Terra put together for me (thank you again Terra!!). It helps strengthen my testimony so much! I still remember when Travis and I were talking before I left and he HAMMERED into my head, "follow EVERY rule!". He was nice enough to include it in his testimony too ;). I still remember the time he told me that "the more obedient you are, the more freedom you will have". It is so true! The rules and commandments are not to restrictive, but protective! I am so glad I learned that early on in life and can apply it to myself out here. I know that they have a lot of mission rules, not to be taskmasters, but to protect us and the church and I am happy to obey them :). Jeremy also said how being obedient blesses you in his testimony too! That just backed it up for me and helped clarify it for me. I want to share with you something, word for word, that I wrote in my spiritual thought journal that I wrote the other day after doing personal study. I will say the date at the beginning too, so you know when I wrote it. Hopefully it will have as much significance towards you as it did to me.

June 25th, 2011

Family is the single most important unit here on this earth-this life! It has been said that the most important work we do will be "within the walls of our own homes". How great a joy and knowledge that families can be together forever! How blessed are we to know that after our time here on this earth is up that it is not the end! How fortunate are we to know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us so immensely that he gave his only begotten son to make it possible for us to return and live with him again. How great reason we have to rejoice, to know that families are forever. How fortunate are we to be apart of something that draws us closer to each other every day. We feel more love towards once another, more joy in the journey, closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We have to recognize what matters most in this life. Once we do, we are blessed beyond comprehension. If we follow our Father in Haven's plan, how pleased he will be. What is more rewarding to a parent than a happy, cheerful, obedient child? Our Father in Heaven loves each and every one of us individually. He wants nothing but the best for us! Heavenly Father, I love you. 

I love you all, thank you again for your support.

Shout out to my buddies who are still in the MTC, Aaron and Cache, stay strong! Enjoy it! And to all of my other friends around the world! Trevor in Milan, Italy. Landon in Argentina, Rosario. Stephen in Zimbabwe. Brad in Madagascar. Olex in St. Louis, Missouri. Brayden in Rome, Italy. Love you guys!! Cannot wait to see you all again!!

Love,

Elder Hartman1

(Note from Terra - TJ sent some great pictures that I can't resize and add to the blog yet. 

Please check back, I'll figure it out tonight.)

"You have a good heart..."

Hello everyone yet again.

So, just a heads up, the Canada postal service is on full strike now and has been for the last week and a half about, so if you sent any letters within the last 2 weeks, I have not gotten them and hopefully will within the next week, if they go back to work that is. Yes, I am VERY upset about that right now. You take away a missionarys mail, you take away his heart..... :'( just kidding, I will live, just really irritating right now.

Man, this past week was so awesome, but at the same time, it sucked way bad too!!! As a lot of you know, President and Sister Dance are leaving soon, so they are going around to all of the zones and having their last Zone Conference with eveyrone. I will be honest, it was harder seeing them leave then it was leaving home. I am sure some of you will be a little dissapointed with me saying that, but it is the truth. I think the other missionarys in our family can realte tho :). Honestly tho, I could not believe how hard it was. With every ounce of conviction in me, I wish they could stay, but I know that their time is up and they are needed elsewhere. I do not like change all that much right now I can honestly say, but is a good thing. That is the process of repentance anyway right?? Change? Haha, just trying to be a little optimistic right now.
This is a picture from our flight out of Skagway.

Bearing my last testimony to them was hard enough, but when President Dance started walking around the room and saying all of his personal goodbyes, that was the worst, and who did he have to start with?? Ya, me.....I finally pulled myself together cuz I was bawling like a baby, but when he hugged me again, I just broke down again. He whispered "you have grown so much already, you have such a good heart, I am so proud of you". Can you say bitter sweet!?!? That is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. The first thing was trying to tell dad that he is ALMOST comparable to handsomeness as me ;). We have our last weekly with President Dance today. I am putting off writing it as long as I can cuz I am in denial right now haha. It was really kool tho, so for my last testimony, I basically was thanking President and Sister Dance and saying how much I love them. I felt bad cuz after I sat down, I was thinking to myself "that wasn't really a testimony, that was just me thanking them and saying I love them". I told Elder Meteer my thoughts about it and he said "it was a testimony of your love for them". I liked that, it was really good insight and gave me comfort. You can bare a testimony about your love for someone. We pretty much do it for the Savior all the time!

We watched the movie, "The Testaments" today with our investigator, such a good movie! The spirit was so strong as we were watching it. I always love seeing how Christ did acts of random kindess, I like to call them "ARK's", from the movie Evan Almighty. Just seeing how much love and compassion he had on everyone is nothing short of amazing. I recently saw a painting that showed someone entering into Heaven and Christ giving him a hug and welcoming him. I love thinking about that. About being reunited with our Heavenly Father and Christ and everyone down here on earth. It is really comforting to know that we are all stuck with each other for eternity, even tho at times that does not sound all too pleasant ;). I love this gospel. I truly have felt the Saviors love out here while laboring in his service. We, missionarys, are really spoiled I think. We have everything taken care of, food, car, housing, everything. All we have to do is spread his gospel among his children. It is the best and I love every minute of it!! Congratz mom and dad for making it Africa safely! One thing to watch out for, always be sure to lock your car and keep an eye on it. A member in my last area went to South Africa for his mission and said that he went thro I think 4 cars himself, and during his time on his mission they went thro 10! They like cars I guess haha. Congratz to Trav and Easton for making all stars!! And good luck Terra and Jeremy on preparation for Hawaii!! Thank you all for your support! I know, this letter is a LONG one, even I am impressed!

Love,

Elder Hartman1



Manhart (like Bravehart)

Hello again friends and family!

As always, thank you so much for the letters and support. I got 2 letters this week, one from Becky and the other from Shai, thank you very much! Sorry, I will not be able to send pictures this time because I forgot my cable to connect the camera with the comp and we are leaving for Skagway after we e-mail.

This last week has been a little slow. The hockey finals have been on over the last few days and when hockey is on, no one really wants to talk to you haha. We just finished teaching our new investigator another lesson today, that was really kool! It was funny, we planned out what we were going to talk about and teach him, but when we got there he had some quesitons about what he read and we just focused on answering those the whole time! I always like it when lessons don't go according to plan like that. It is better to focus on their quesitons when they have them spur the moment then ignore them and just teach what you have to. We are told to teach people, not lessons and that is what we followed and I am really glad we did to!

So funny thing, something happened with our Mission President, the new one coming in, and I guess he won't be our mission President anymore. The new mission President that is coming in is President and sister Beesley. They were going to go to Russia, St. Petersburg mission, but I guess something happend, probably realted to visa issues, and now the Clarks are going there and they are coming here! He used to be a pilot and knows TONS about jets and aircraft and all of that stuff. Hopefully we will like them, I am really nervous to meet them, hopefully I will like them. We are going to Juneau today, for the next 3 days for specialized training and zone conference. It will be the last time I see President and Sister Dance. That is going to be so sad, it will be very hard to seem them leave. We will fly back later this month to Juneau to meet the new mission President tho, so hopefully that will be good!

I was asked to give a talk this last Sunday on procrastination. What a perfect talk for me! I had Elder Meteer record it, when I get a chance, I will send it to you so you can listen :) I am sure mom knows a lot about me and procrastination ;) haha! It went really good tho, I started with Alma chpt 34:31-34 I believe. It really stood out to me tho, cuz our life here on earth, compared to eternity, is incredibly short! It made me realize that we literally cannot procrastinate on repenting, attending church, going to the temple and many other things. This is our chance to prove ourselves to Heavenly Father! I am really grateful I have the opportunity to prove myself here on earth and able to experience sorrow so I know joy and endure thro afflictions so I am made stronger. The thing that I am most grateful for tho, is how blessesd I am with such a wonderful family and friends. I have had nothing but positive and good influence in my life. I was just thinking about it the other day, almost ALL of my good buddies I would hang out with at home are on, or waiting for, their missions! That, and now mom and dad are even on theirs pretty much now! So crazy! I have been so immensly blessed with everyone in my life and I cannot thank all of you enough for that. I am so glad that all of my buddies and I are united in the same cause, bringing souls unto Christ and serving the Lord! I love all of you, and thank you again for being a positive influence in my life! I recently read in D&C 121:9 thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands. That could not explain my friends any more clearly. I love you all! Thank you again for your support!

Love,
Elder Hartman1