February 23, 2015 Almost 19 years old! My first birthday away from home.

Hola familia ¿como estàn?

So... this week we had a special conference in Penco. Elder Nicholas Giovanni of the seventy came with his wife and spoke to us! He is a member of like the 7th quorum of seventy I think... and apparently that whole quorum is made up of Area Presidents of a few different countries (Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) I think! But they were from Buenos Aires, and I really enjoyed the conference. He spoke mostly about obedience, and how important of a role it plays in our conversion. I found it interesting, he was talking about why 1. Members of the church have so many "rules". and 2 why missionaries have even more "rules!"... and as far as the missionaries go, the answer is simple. WE HAVE TO BE DIFFERENT.

We live in a world that is immursed in sin, and worldy things, that if we are going to be living in the world, and preaching repentance, and every other aspect of the gospel to these people and promising blessings from Gods hand... we have to be completely and literally "set apart" from the world! Its our sacred responsability as missionaries to be the Saviors representatives here, and so all the many rules are commandents are literally the armour that we wear to not only protect us, but also allow us to teach with Power and Authority from on high! And this is something I really liked, and I believe that we should be looking for any opportunity to keep the rules, rather than looking for opportunities to bend a rule every now and then. The Lord gives commandments to protect us! Not to restrict us....

And something that Sister Arrington said that I loved was a story of a friend of theirs who got a call to serve a mission in Germany. When he arrived in the MTC and took an aptitude test (to judge is skill on being able to learn a language) he scored lower than anyone who had ever taken that test! And so the MTC president called him into his office, and showed him a map of the world, with every English speaking mission marked! He told him that since he scored so low, and realistically wouldn't ever be able to learn German, he told him to pick any English speaking mission in the world, and they would send him there (somewhere where he could actually succeed).... This Elder asked if he could take some time to think and pray about it, and agreed to come back in the morning. The whole day he was praying and fasting, and thinking about which mission to pick. Long story short, he arrived the next day in the presidents office, and when asked about his answer, he told him that he had been praying and fasting all day and the Lord had given him an answer. I think he heard a voice tell him "I knew your abilities when I gave you this call" And so he told the President he was going to Germany!

And so the moral of the story is that it doesnt matter how hard things are, or how inadequate we feel, THE LORD KNOWS OUR ABILITIES, WHEN HE CALLS US TO DO CERTAIN THINGS! :) And I know that is true. And with that story coupled with the scripture from 1st Nephi: That the Lord won´t give any commandment to the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them to accomplish what he commanded! And I have been thinking about this a lot lately, especially when things are really really tough, that the Lord knows my abilities and called me here for a reason! I know thats true with each and every one of you guys too!

And so that was really the highlight of the week, the conference.... and also we had another dodge ball tournament today which was fun, and kind of weird playing dodgeball against Sierra Kinkade down here too! hahaha 

Something random that impressed me this week, was seeing on 2 different occasions a blind person taking the city bus! I don"t know why I thought it was so cool, but they just wait and when they hear the bus come, they stick their hand out to call it, and ask where its going, and if its the right place, they jump on like the rest of us.... but I'm not really sure how they know when to get off? anyway,  oh the many things you see in the mission! but yeah have a great week guys love ya :)

And its gonna be a good birthday I know! I will be thinking about you guys too! Thanks :))) and yeah, actually my companion and I went out and ate at a really good arabic food place today called Don-ke-bab! It was super good :) 

Elder Hartvigsen

February 16, 2015 Valentines day on the pier, the most beautiful turquoise color!

Hey guys, another week here in the blithering summer of chile has passed! Its super hot here... but I love the weather :) Yesterday was a super good Sunday, because as you know we haven't seen too much progress here, but we had 2 investigators at church this week (and one of them has a baptismal date for March 7) So we were super excited about that :) Please pray for Ivan, and Carlos!! Ivan has the baptismal date. Carlos is married to a member in the ward. They are a super young newly wed couple like 25 years old... and Carlos is coming to church every week (mostly because his wife comes I think) but we are teaching him, and he seems fairly interested. But we have been working super hard, and I think we are beginning to actually see some fruits... HOPEFULLY!  :)

So this week the youth had PFJ (EFY) and its funny to see how big of a deal it is down here! Its such a huge thing, because I think basically all of Chile (or this region I don't know) all does it that same week. Because in Utah they can have it every week in the summer because there are thousands of kids that go. But here its different. A couple of the girls in the ward that went bore their testimonies yesterday and it seems like it had a huge impact on them. They talked about how this program truly is inspired of God, and blesses the children that go!

Anyways... remember that I said Elder Hepworth (from the CCM) had a mormon message? yeah he said it came out this week! You guys gotta watch it on lds.org He said you can see me in there for like 2 seconds! hahaha lessss go baby! But he got to Skype with Elder Neal Anderson on Saturday for the RootsTech convention. (Ask Grandma Annette if she went, because I know she loves RootsTech and genealogy :) but anyways, apparently the conference was a big deal, and he got to skype and be a part of it, and the video came out about it... all about family history and temple work!

So you know how I was a little bummed that I didn't get transferred... I am trying to enjoy and take advantage of all the time I have here. Especially for the members, because a few of them have told me they were so glad that I didn't get transferred, and so it will be fun to enjoy a little more time with them! Also, we went and contacted out on the Pier this week, on Valentines day... and there was this big concert thing, and they were all singing love songs and stuff and we realized that everyone was there as couples (boyfriends and girlfriends, married couples, and US...) it was kind of funny! But literally it was the most beautiful day, because the bay here is the most gorgeous turquoise blue color... it was so pretty! I wish I could have taken a dip in the sea, but its all good! (I was picturing the guy from 50 first dates doing the "flippies" off the dock :) )

umm.... I cant really think of much more that happened, I am making good progress in the book "Jesus The Christ!" and its super interesting... a lot of the words he uses, are way over my head....  but I am really enjoying reading the super DEEP study of the Saviors Life and ministry. And I'm in Alma reading the book of mormon all the way through in Spanish. But I'm spending more time marking it, because my understanding and comprehension has only gotten better! But anyways guys... have a great week! And I love you all!

Elder Hartvigsen

February 9, 2015 A blithering summer week in February!

Along the Bio Bio river

Taking the train (that reminded me of the one we took in new york) to this cool place along the Bio Bio River... with the ward. They went on a ward overnight camping trip, and we got permission to go for the first day! Turns out it was actually in the Chile Concepcion South Mission....  but we got permission from the President of course to leave mission boundaries a little ;)

A ward member's pet turtle!

Holy smokes Cole! 15!!

this was a service project, with 2 of my favorite guys in the ward... the one in the white shirt used to be the bishop here, but now is our new ward mission leader... and in the green shirt is his brother in law hugo, that is also super cool!

and this about sums up Tumbes in one pictures! (Lots of firewood for the winter, and "fish jerky!") They literally hang up fish fillets to dry and eat them like jerky without seasoning or anything...  its nuts!

and us with Hermana Berzabeth in Tumbes... the best lady ever! 

 and this is just another one of the good families in the ward :) se llaman la familia Medina.... the daughter on the far left speaks perfect english... and lived in England for a year, and I didn't expect it, but speaks like Meg Bradshaw! hahaha its awesome.

and this picture is just legendary! Hermano Marine! (the guy from Emperors New groove) haha I Love him... and had to snag a picture yesterday <3

First and foremost,

Feliz Cumpleaños Cole! 15... HOLY SMOKES :) hahaha love you bro!
 Today is transfer day..... y me quedo igual con Elder Cruz! (I am staying here in Talcahuano with Elder Cruz.... translated for mom and dad)  So I will be here just short of 6 months! Crazy I know... not gonna lie, I was really hoping I would get transfered today, but I am content with the result... because I trust that the Lord is in charge of all the cambios, and everything happens for a reason!

I seriously love the members here too! So I am excited to spend some more time with them, and I still haven`t mastered the christ like love (charity)  yet, and I believe thats something I need to improve on while I have some more time here!

So, I'm sending a picture of my district leader Elder Villar from "los Condes" I think thats how you spell it, in Santiago chile. Apparently he knows President Laycock, and actually, he was the one who taught him this system of marking his scriptures with Preach My Gospel references and page numbers. Remember Pres. Laycock taught that to our ward too!  How cool! So we had fun talking about all our memories with the legendary Larry!!

Also the funeral sounds like it went super well. I am really happy for Grandpa. Seriously. I know its gotta be so hard for the family he left behind, but we have to remember that this is a necessary step in our eternal plan that our Father in Heaven has for us!

I am so happy all those ward friends and family members could help you out and support at the funeral. You have so many people that love and care about you mom! You are the best! I love you too :))) <3

Much Love, Elder Hartvigsen

Feb 2, 2015 Grandpa was a great man!

One funny thing that happened this week, was that I witnessed this 91 year old man, absolutely scream at the top of his lungs this Evangelical prayer! It was such a sight to see!  I'm not kidding... It is so contrary to the way we are taught to pray! Yeah its good that they use lots of emotion and stuff when they pray, but its super weird! I was afraid that if this man exerted any more energy... he would pass away!

But we had a zone conference this week, which was super great! I always love the conferences! But the best part was... we got to watch "Meet the Mormons!" actually... it was "Conozca los Mormònes"  because it was in Spanish, but it was probably the only movie I will watch in 2 years, and I enjoyed it!!!! Have you guys seen it yet? Its pretty cool, I LOVED the part about the Navy Football coach, mostly because I yearn for some good American Football :)  and also they showed the kid skiing at snowbird.... oh man! But it was fun to watch it! In the conference we talked about the importance of working with the members. We are starting to teach the members more, and even teach from Preach My Gospel, directly to them! Its such a good tool we have, and we need to utilize it in every way we can! 

Also, we did service for this guy in our ward and I found this pair of shoes in his shed that he was going to throw away, they were covered in dust, but looked like they were in good condition and he said we could have them. So we cleaned them off and they were like brand new! My companion was so happy, because he was in need of shoes, and they fitted him perfectly! Blessings come to those that serve!  

Oh, and mom this is for you... every morning during exercise time, or when we have free time before bed we play music that we have, and every time I hear Cherri Call sing... I think of you! Because I know how much you like her, and its funny because thats the only type of music we can listen to, and so when a new EFY album, or church album comes out on lds.org the missionaries LOVE it! We have to download it immediately, because we all have the same old music!  anyways, It was a good week, and I hope you guys all know how much I love you! (p.s. I cant believe that at the end of this month I will have been out 6 months!!! and I turn 19) woohoo!

Love Elder Hartvigsen

wow mom! Sounds like an incredibly hard/incredibly sweet week :) I didn't even cry when I looked at the pictures, of grandpa that you sent! I just cried when I read your email....  But I am really glad he could read the little note I sent him! Grandpa is going to be a blithering eagle for the Lords Army on the other side :) How are you doing though? We are all glad he was able to pass away, and I cant imagine what you are going through either... I don't really know what it feels like! But the savior does mom. Always remember that whenever you have a moment of sadness, or when you miss Grandpa, you can pray for the comforting part of the enabling power of the Atonement! 

I don't remember the scripture exactly... but it says something like "Because of adam, all men must die... but because of Christ, all men will live again!" :)

I love you so much mom!

Elder chase