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| Juan Palma 89, my sacrament passing companion in Coihueco |
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| The Moya-Diaz family, saying goodbye |
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| The Moya-Diaz family, saying goodbye and giving me a mug and wooden decoration with a poem, |
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| My new view |
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| Elder Florez from Tocopilla, Chile, my new comp |
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| 12th floor views |
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| We are in one of the nicest buildings in Hualpen. |
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| Elder Abreu from Sao Paulo, Brazil |
Hey guys!! So.... Im here in my first week in Hualpèn. And of course it was just a little sad to leave Coihueco behind... but I am way excited to be here in my new sector. We are only about 15-20 minutes by bus from Concepcion, and so its nice to be back here close to Talcahuano where I started the mission. One of the coolest things about where we live... is WHERE WE LIVE! We live in one of the nicest apartment buildings in Hualpèn. And we live on the 12th floor! Its weird coming in and out of the house, and having to take the elevator. Everytime we do, I actually feel like I am on vacation at the beach in a hotel resort! haha.
But its a really nice place. And the biggest tender mercy I have experienced, is having an equally high pressurized and HOT shower as those in the united states :))))))) Complete luxury! And so thats been a bonus this week.
And I guess its a small world, becaus I am back not only in the same zone... but also the same district as Hermana Kinkade! And our district leader is Elder Sellers (my old comp from Coihueco. I think I already mentioned that. ha) And also our church building was set on fire sort of. Someone was cooking fried chicken inside, and.... NO JUST KIDDING. But the whole relief society room caught up in flames from the inside a few months ago, and so we are attending at the stake center in another sector. And thats where the zone leaders and the hermanas go to church as well. So its cool, and weird at the same time to see Hermana Kinkade at church again!
The members here seem pretty cool, and even one family was so excited to hear I was from Norway. They kept calling me "the viking!" and wanted to talk all about my norwegian heritage. That I know NOTHING about!
Then we got on the conversation the whole night of last names. And they taught me a whole bunch about mapuche last names and their culture! I felt like I was back in 5th grade utah history class :)
Anyways... this saturday we had a sports day, where we played basketball in the morning and futbol in the afternoon with all the youth. And I think since I havent really ran or done excercise like that in AGES that it damaged my body... internally... or in other words I may have torn my calf muscles. Because I am in UTTER PAIN with each step I take!! I hope it passes soon, because it makes EVERYTHING more difficult! But I have this roller type thing in the house that I used to roll my calves out like Mark Basil did.... man its a killer treatment!
And something we are doing as a mission is reading the book of mormon together. And so one really cool spiritual lesson I learned this week is found solely in the first verse of the Book of Mormon.
1 Nefi 1:1 is POWERFUL. Nephi starts out by saying how he was experienced so many afflictions in his days. "But nevertheless still being highly favored by the Lord." And you might ask yourself... why would the Lord let someone that he loves, and favors so much experience so many afflictions or trails in their life? Well the next sentence sums it all up! He then says that having achieved a knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God. (Of course I am translating from spanish so its probably not exact) But I wrote the pattern that I learned in the margin.... That Nephi received a knowledge of the goodness and of the mysteries of God, for having experienced many afflictions throughout his days. IN SPITE OF BEING HIGHLY FAVORED OF THE LORD. :)
The Lord allows bad/HARD things to happen to those he loves, even those that are highly favored by him. So that we can come to knowledge of how truly GOOD he is... and even of his mysteries!
Powerful lesson right? :)
I hope you guys have an excellent week.... and remember how truly good God as been to us. You might even want to take the time to write down all the things you see daily of the Lords hand in your life. So that he knows how important those things they are for us, and that we truly cherish those moments. Then he will be more likely to give us more of them!
Con much amor!
Elder Hartvigsen
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