Monday, July 27, 2015

July 27, 2015 Transfer day. Leaving Coihueco and the people I love

Proof I live here in Coihueco 

Our Zone


Our little house in Coihueco

The front room in our house


Making dinner for a family in our branch

Dinner with a family in our branch and listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir


The wedding of our branch mission leader Francisco and his new wife Fernanda

A selfie at the reservoir

Me, actually serving at the wedding!




Hey guys!! Well today is transfer day... and mom, to answer your question, NO I do not want to leave Coihueco. But It turns out the Lord has something else in mind. Because I am getting transfered BACK to Talcahuano!!
Crazy right?? Its actually a different zone from where I was last. I started out in Talcahuano Norte, which is like near the ocean and where it smells like fish all the time...  now I am going to a whole different zone of Talcahuano Sur which is closer to the Bio-Bio river... and more inland. And its called Hualpen. I think its its own city... but its part of Talcahuano. And my comp right now Elder Sanchez started his mission in the same sector where I am going. And so he was telling me a little bit about the house and the ward and everything. I am thinking its going to be very different from Coihueco. Because I will be living on the 12th floor of a REALLY nice apartment builiding, and most of my sector has "blocks" or apartment buildings. And so I wont be living in a little farm cottage anymore! haha Anyways, its sad to say good bye to this beautiful place, and all the people that I love so much here. But for sure I will be taking you guys back there to get to know it :)
And something funny is that my new district leader is going to be Elder Sellers. Who was my comp before Elder Sanchez! And my comp is Elder Flores (chilean)

Well This week was really fun, because our branch mission leader GOT MARRIED!! He got home from his mission from Porto Alegre Brasil like 5 months ago... but he had been dating his girlfriend (she served a  mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina).
I will send pics. And it we had to help them serve the food too! There was like 80 or 90 people there at the reception.
Dad I thought about you this week... when we had really "Surprise warm winter day" Because I know how much you appreciate those little things... like a really warm winter day. Thats just such a treat!  It was kind of hot with the sun shining, and it just made me think how pleased you would have been!
And the last really funny thing is that we were in someones house (investigators) and they were watching the local Coihueco TV channel. And apparently people always call in and request songs or music videos and it can be any type of music. So my companion called into the channel, and they answered on live air and were like who are we talking with?? and my comp "The missionaries!" And they started saying like "Hello hello, how are you? wasss your name? wasss your name? 1,2, 3" haha things like that. Thinking that all mormon missionaries are from the US and speak english. Anyways my comp requested a song ( We all thought he was going to ask for the Mo Tab Choir to see if they would play it) .... but out of the blue he asked for "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons hahaha... probably the only english song that he knows the title ;) and so they spent some type looking for the song, but in the mean time said they were putting this music video on for us until they found the one he asked. And it turned out to be a really innapropriate music video, and we just felt so uncomfortable hahaha and so we had them change the channel until it came back on, because my comp wanted to hear that song.OH dear...  (I thought he was gonna ask for mo tab)
But the funny thing was at church later that week, this lady in the ward told us she saw the video that they dedicated to us! haha she just laughed and laughed knowing that we didnt ask for that one. Anyways we took advantage to invite everyone that was watching that channel to listen to our message about Jesus Christ!
And so thats about what happened this week. I will let you know next week how its going in Talcahuano Sur :)
Love you all!! 
Elder Hartvigsen

Monday, July 20, 2015

July 20, 2015 Mountain Biking in Coihueco on a cold winters' day







Okay... it is a BEAUTIFUL winter day here in Coihueo. Absolutely freezing in the morning, with tons of escarcha "frost" on the ground. But we went today (my companion and I and Ariel (a member) ) on our  bikes to this reservoir place called el embalce de coihueco. It was only about 3 kilometers away... but it was SUPER pretty! and the sun has been shining all day, and we went to the super market before and bought longaniza (its like sausage type hot dog things. and some other meat, and ariel brought a little metal rack to grill the food, and we had quite the "asado" (BBQ). haha I will try to send some pictures. And we got pretty muddy on the way home... haha what a good time! But it was a great P day. And possibly my last one here in Coihueco?? :( because cambios are next week.... and so I will let you guys now what happens next monday!
Umm so I finished the Book of Mormon last week for the first time in Spanish! And now I am reading Doctrine and Covenants. And something really cool I read this week was in D and C 10. Its the story of the 116 lost pages of the book of mormon. (the book of Lehi) And how they fell into the hands of some very wicked men, and section 10 is revelation from the Lord to Joseph Smith outlining the plan that the evil men had to try to "catch Joseph in a lie!" By getting him to re translate the pages and they had already altered them... and they would publish them and show everyone how he was a false prophet and all that nonsense. But its super interesting, I didnt really remember that story, and just the way the Lord explains it to him, is so cool to think about the prophet and the Lord on one team... and the Devil on the other. ha.
Anyways, thats something that I have been studying this week... how really important the Book of Mormon is. Because if you read in Enos 1:13, he prays to the Lord and his only desire is that a record of his people can be kept to bless future generations etc. And in Words of Mormon it mentions the phrase "a wise purpose" (un sabio propósito) And thats the key phrase that I have been marking this week. I have followed the footnotes to every single scripture where it talks about the Book of Mormon being protected all throughout history to come forth in future generations (our time) to convince the people of the evil traditions and bring them unto Christ. The footnotes have taken me to Alma 37, D&C 3, D&C 10, and 1 Nephi 9 (I´m actually not sure if thats the right chapter... but I am putting these scriptures down from memory. They could be wrong.) But Its that challenge that I wanna give you guys, to follow the footnotes and mark all the places that it talks about the book of mormon being preserved for a WISE PURPOSE IN THE LORD.
I testify that it will better help you appreciate the long term significance of this sacred record that we often take for granted. Umm... I hope you guys all have a geat week, and I am excited to read about how your vacation went. And If I think of anything else that happened this week, I will write it afterwards!
But I love you guys tons yeah!
chao chao
Elder Hartvigsen

Friday, July 17, 2015

July 13, 2015 Crazy Rain

Buenos dìas desde Chillan Chile... a Page Arizona :/ y Alpine Utah. haha

So today the weather is actually really nice. Its pretty "chilli" but sunny. Which is a blessing. Because Friday night it started to rain and literally did not stop until Sunday night. I don't even know how much rain they got here, but Its got to be close to like a foot and a half. Its actually really cool when it rains super hard. Because Utah never rains like that. Saturday night I had to pull out my camera and just film a video of inside the house and then walk outside, so that you could hear how wild the rain was wailing upon our metal roof. Oh yeah by the way... all the houses here in Coihuec (the majority of lower end chilean houses in general) have like thin tin metal sheets for roofing. And so the rain just sounds even louder! Anyways... Im really grateful for the really nice American rain gear that I have that keeps me dry :) ha

And hey we finally got 2 bikes this week. We took the one that we already had to get fixed, and my comp has a convert from Chillàn that gave him a bike.  so a member from Coihueco helped us drive to Chillan and pick it up. And we have only used the bikes a couple times. Because its complicated when its raining. Better to just walk, so you can hold an umbrella. but I have to tell a funny story that will make EVERYONE in my family laugh. Remember when I woke up that one morning (after like my only time sluffing mission prep) and how I like got a paralyzing neck cramp?  yeah that happened this week to my comp Elder Sanchez. But I think it happened because he rode back after picking the bike up squished in the back of the tiny car of our friend Ariel (that brady kind of knows ha.) And I think he was in a bad position or something, because it totally kinked his neck shoulder and left arm. And so for the rest of the afternoon, he was walking with his arm dangling at his side, and his shoulder like slouching, and his neck crooked trying to be in a non painful situation. People just looked at us weird Im sure. (well more weird than normal I guess)  But the funniest part is that he used it as an excuse to start our contacts. He would always say, "Hey hows it going there, excuse me can I ask you a question? What is something I can do to cure my kinked neck?"  and you wouldn't believe how many make shift Chilean remedies were prescribed to us that day in the street. Im sure Bishop (doctor) Hasleton would get a kick out of them all as well. For example, people said "he may have received an air" (como le dieron un aire) apparently when you are inside a hot house for a while and go outside in the cold air, air enters into your skin and can like kink your neck.  I have no idea if thats even true. Or if putting a copper coin on the skin with a glass on top and a lit candle inside, acting as a vacuum to suck the air out of the skin to heal it would be a proper remedy either? hahaha

And the last crazy experience before I share something spiritual... is that 20  of us missionaries after playing futbol today went and bought food from this Colombian street vendor. And this big black lady was just handing out foot to all of us that asked her for something, and I guess she was just planning on collecting all the money after we had all asked and paid. And it was rather hectic to say the least. We all ate, and then retured to pay, and after asking everyone like 3 times if they had paid exactly what they owed, they told us that they were still missing like 14 dollars worth of food. And we had verified so many times, and everyone had paid. I am almost positive she was just trying to rip us off and take advantage of us. Because no one we still owed her that much. We ended up just giving her what she said we owed her. But told her that she has to do a better job next time of keeping track of the food. Because she is the one that is selling it. haha anyways, they were delicious little colombian treats ;)

Anyways our Branch mission leaders' grandpa passed away this week. (he was 98) and had been in a coma for 6 months. And so the whole family is happy that he could finally rest now. I went once with elder Sellers to see him    ( he lives 15 minutes into the campo from coihueco) a few months ago. But the family was saying how they were sad that we hadn't come recently. And so we went to see him like 3 days before he passed away. And I was able to give him a blessing, and it was a really sweet experience to see him. I was wondering about people like that, and I imagine he was having some really spiritual experiences during that time. Because his spirit was still here with his body, but for 6 months not opening his eyes or talking, or eating, I imagine his spirit was kind of floating between the veil and perhaps receiving the last of his experiences that needed to happen before he could be taken back home?. and we had the viewing on saturday. Only the daughter of him, and the grandson (mission leader) are members of the church. The rest of the family aren't members. But 12 of our members got together and we sang a few hymns at his viewing. It was really sweet. And the impression that came to me, was despite whatever the religious beliefs may be of people. Or even if they don't believe in God. Jesus Christ still came to this world, and lived a perfect life, paid the price of our sins, and died to satisfy the demands of justice. So whatever people believe it or not, Every man, woman, and child will live again after death. Because Christ loved us enough, and loved the father enough, to come down and be the key part in his perfect plan! 

The plan of Happiness is for EVERYONE.

Also President Eyring's talk from conference is TOTALLY worth reading it over again. (As are all of the talks) Its about the relationship between prayer, and priesthood power. Its super cool. And I am trying to improve my habit of MEANINGFUL and SINCERE daily prayer, to be a candidate to receive the revelation needed to KNOW THE LORDS WILL. And work miracles in his name.

I love you guys tons! Have an amazing week, and hopefully you enjoy reading a little bit about my week. yeah? 

con much amor
Elder Hartvigsen 

Monday, July 6, 2015

July 6, 2015 Champions!!



Hey guys!! So the biggest and most excited news of the week is the fact that Chile won the Copa Amèrica!!  It was super epic!! And it was really fun to be a part of history in the making. Because it is the first time Chile has ever won the cup, in 100 years!! And what an experience to actually be living in Chile when it happened!!

We got to watch the game, and what a blessing that it started at 5pm because that means we got to actually FINISH to game! haha, and after they won everyone jumped in their cars and were honking and blowing trumpets and all sorts of shinanagins. And there was a caravan of cars (like a parade) of people driving up and down the streets of Coihueco, waving flags and everything...  it was actually super fun! But after that we had to go strait home and stay the rest of the night in the house, we weren't allowed to leave. And its crazy because Coihueco is just a tiny little pueblito that is super layed back and chill, and it probably still would have been dangerous for us to be outside! And I can't even imagine how it would have been being in Santiago, where it truly is dangerous ("flyte"). Because we saw later on the news that (this actually surprised me a lot...) that apparently when a team wins a huge championship in South America, that means that there are all sorts of people causing pure vandalism and damage in the streets. Like in Santiago they smashed all sorts of store windows, and cars, and tore down street lamps, and traffic lights and everything. Its rediculous! Thats actually why a lot of people say they would prefer that Chile loses so all of the damage wouldn't happen.

Anyways, it was a fun weekend. Now I have to get back to reality. Reality being that we can't watch tv or sports... and Im still a missionary! hahaha

And I don`t remember if I told you guys this... it just came to my mind, was that they announced the ground breaking for the Concepcion temple in October. And President Uchtdorf is going to come. I sure hope they let all of us missionaries attend. That would be SO COOL!!! Finally!!! They are going to make some progress on that thing :)

And also whats really sad is that President Boyd K. Packer passed away. Thats crazy that 2 Apostles have passed away in like 2 months. This upcoming Conference is going to be a big one!!!

Anyways, its been a good week here. With only one day of rain, and We really only have 2 investigators here for now... Ruben and Teresa. If you guys could keep them in your prayers that would be great! Teresa is catholi, and Ruben doesnt really have a religion. But they are progressing, and have come to church twice. We are hoping that we can help them gain testimonies, and want to be baptized and everything!!

Well, I hope you guys had a steller 4th of July. I did too... watching the futbol game. 

Hey I just wanted to remind you guys to make sure you are studying the conference talks!! They are so outstanding! One that reallys stuck out to me this week was by Elder D. Todd Christofferson (if I'm not mistaken) about marriage and family. How marriage is a part of the plan of happiness just as important as the Fall of Adam and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. WOW. What a bold statment! But its true... because without marriage, (in gods eyes) we shouldn't have children. And without having children... thats defeating the plan of happiness for us, and him! :)

Study the conference talks! 

Love you guys tons!
have a great week!

Elder Hartvigsen