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