May 4, 2015 Its getting colder and colder here!

Elder Garcia was on the cover of the Liahona Oct 2011

Making pancakes for early morning seminary students!

Reminds me of Peru

Coihueco countryside

Bienvenidos Al Campo Chileno

Elder Sellers from Orlando, on his birthday

Okay, today is day of cambios, and so thats always exciting :) There are no immediate changes within the companionship or anything, but definitely stuff that affects us! So this cambio there are a lot more missionaries leaving than arriving to Chile. So we knew there was no other choice but to close certain sectors. Here in Coihueco there was my comp and I, and 2 hermanas. But they closed the sector of the hermanas, and so now it is just going to be Elder Sellers and I in Coihueco, and on top of that... my comp got called to be District Leader. And that means a HEAP load of more responsibilities for us both!  Should be a great experience!

I am excited about the change, but it means we are gonna have to work even harder here in the branch. Coihueco isn't  huge or anything, but its not tiny either. There are quite a few people here, and more than anything, lots of the surrounding "campo" little villages outside of the main "pueblo" or city area of Coihueco. And by city I mean like really, really small town feel! 

Anyways, things are great here. It just keeps getting colder and colder as it approaches winter, and I am not ashamed to say I am jealous of your  Utah summer starting up :) So that was the biggest thing thats happened this week. One small funny thing, you might appreciate is that there is this guy named Mario who lives in front of us. He is a little bit handicapped and is ALWAYS (every single day) just outside going for strolls in his wheel chair. We always say hi to him, and always invite him to the church. He has become quite famous among us, just because we see him like 3 times every day, and my comp and I call him "Mario Kart" :) 

Yeah once again mom, we are going to try hard to get to a members house today to use a computer to be able to send pictures home. Hopefully later this afternoon, sorry we havn't been able to send some sooner. But also that should be really fun seeing you guys on Sunday! Happy early Mothers Day mom ;)

Yeah okay something cool spiritually that I have been studying this week in the scriptures is the importance of "The Sabbath Day". The topic obviously stood out to me, when Elder Oaks mentioned to us missionaries that the first presidency, and quorum of the 12 would be stressing the importance of it, along with the sacrament more this year than they had ever done in the past. I strongly encourage you guys to read Isaiah 58, and Exodus 31 which are super good chapters on the subject.

I would like to focus on Exodus 31 for a second... in verse 13 the sabbath day is said to be a Sign among these people, and their future generations. Verses 14 and 15 talk about he that works on the sabbath day, shall surely die! Yes that sounds like normal HARSH Old testament language right? But hey... thats what it says!  No I don't believe we will physically die if we work on the sabbath, but I do believe he that does not put the Lord first, on his holy day.... will definitely be with holding himself from receiving MANY blessings, and who knows, could spiritually die? 

Verse 16 talks about it being a perpetual covenant. (I think those are the words, I am translating it from my spanish bible) Or in other words... a covenant which lasts FOREVER. (also verse 17) talking about this sign which is forever, that we will keep the Lords holy day HOLY.

I know that before the mission, I was always irritated when Dad would tell us that we couldn't do this, or couldn't do that on Sunday... but that really was so selfish of me. The Lord has given us 6 days to do EVERYTHING that we need to do, and all he asks is that on the 7th day... we rest from our labors, and pay devotions to him on his Holy day! Elder Oaks said: "We can think about the commandment to keep the sabbath day holy, like the commandment to pay tithing. We give 1/10 of our money to the Lord, and we give 1/7 of our time (days) to the Lord. I know It would have sounded crazy coming from my lips before the mission, that I wanted to eliminate all worldly activities and stuff... because I know I would try to get away with whatever I could sometimes...  But I testify that the Sabbath day is Gods gift to us! (mark 2:27) "The sabbath day was made for Men, not men made for the sabbath day."

I want to invite and strongly encourage all of you guys to studies these 2 chapters, and analyze your Sabbath Days. Which the underlying question in mind that Elder Oaks proposed. "What sign do I want to give God". And that should make all of our decisions of our activities on the Sabbath Crystal Clear :)

The scriptures truly are the word of God, and what an incredible blessing they are for us in our lives. But lets be honest... they do us almost no good, if we don`t APPLY their teaching in our lives :)

These things are true, and I love you guys tons!

Elder Hartvigsen