Oct. 19, 2016 T- minus 3 years para el Templo de Concepcion!

well helloooo there everybody! haha whats up? hope you've all had a good week!! We had an awesome week too! Saturdayy was great, because it was the ground breaking of the Conce temple! And Elder Teixiera, President Gonzalez (the area president) and Elder Ferreira (his counselor, who is from Concepcion, and is a 70) all came down for the event! And basically only the stake presidencies of the area and the families were invited... and some bishops and other few that were invited! And we just watched the transmission in our stake center. But The coolest part for me was when they offered the dedicatory prayer. Dedicating that spot specifically for the temple and this whole region basically for the strength and growth of the church. As President Walter Gonzalez offered the prayer, he asked everyone in attendance and those watching to join him and bow their heads in prayer as well. I don't know why, but that just stood out to me, and I couldn't help but think of our Heavenly Father watching down over us all in that sacred time. And I just felt that he was happy and pleased with the saints here in Chile. It was really a kind of sweet experience. And I was sure blessed to be a part of it. And its incredible to think how many people will be benefited from this temple, (on the earth, and in the Spirit world)

Umm.. the work has been kind of tough here. Not gonna lie. We seem to struggle hard to find investigators, and then when we do find them.... they end up bailing out, and not wanting to continue. Carlos and Natalie we still have some hope for them. But Carlos  did call us to cancel the appointment on Saturday (for the 2nd time that week) and basically said he was okay with us coming over, but his wife (catholic) feels kind of pressured and needs more time before she wants us to come by another day. Its only a big bummer, because I feel sometimes like there really isn't much more we can do for them. We just pray and pray that the spirit will touch them, but somehow they don't the answers to prayers that they need Or they just don't want to accept it. Obviously we cant change that, but its okay.... Im trying to keep remembering that NO GOOD ACT OR DEED EVER GOES UNNOTICED!!

Anyways, my companion is getting transferred to finish his mission (2 cambios in the blithering heat of Chillàn!) And I am staying here in Hualpèn with a brand spankin new greenie! haha Im gonna train!! :) Im actually super excited about it! A little nervous, just hoping I will be able to be the best example, and best trainer I can be for my new comp. Also hoping that he comes into the field motivated and ready to rumble! Because that fresh greenie faith, is what we need here to find the lost sheep :) 

Anyways guys, keep reading the Book of Mormon. And I am just about to finish Alma. What a powerful book that one is! And my next goal after I finish the BOM in December, is to read the New Testament again. I gotta freshen up my mind, to be able to combat against all the dang Jehovahs Witnesses here. haha no just kiddin, obviously bible bashing doesn't work.... but yes I do need to get to know the bible better! Ha, its ridiculous how every person in my sector is either JW, Catholic, or Evangelical.... Anyways, pray for the work here. Please!

Love you tons!

Con harto cariño

Elder Hartvigsen :)

Oct. 5, 2016 Gen. conf. was sick!

Hey guys!! Hope you all enjoyed General Conference... and were able to FEAST upon the words of Gods living prophets and apostles that were spoken to us :)

There were so many good talks, but definitely one of my favorite highlights was by Elder Bednar. The story about President Hinckley on 60 minutes. They told him that some people had said our church was run by a bunch of really really old men. He responded enthusiastically... "Yeah!, Isn't it wonderful? To have a church with only men of years and years of experience and wisdom at its head?" Haha Pres. Hinckley what a character! Also lets be honest... I hope my future wife was watching President Russell M. Nelsons talk ;)  It was a stellar one!

One funny thing I wanted to tell you guys last week but I totally forgot was this... during a FHE with a family, and us 4 missionaries... we had planned to cook hamburgers, and watch a mormon message. Turns out that their really pregnant dog ended up going into labor that very night, right when the FHE started!   So the parents were kind of occupied with that, and we cooked the hamburgers (not the hot dogs ;) ) and the dog had 7 little puppies!  it was a crazy night! It just reminded me of the time we found that black cat outside our garage one night that looked kinda sick, and we brought it in, and it had like 4 or 5 kittens the next morning! 

Also something I am gonna try this week from the conference, is the challenge of "Ponderize" a scripture every week. Dad, wasnt Elder Durrant your seminary teacher? and he played basketball for BYU right? thats cool. Seems like he would have been a great and creative seminary teacher!

I just hope all of you were able to listen to the spirit, and now make the change that he prompted you to do. That has been the focus of my prayers ever since the conference... "What lack I yet?"

And the spirit will give us a unique, specific, and individualized message from everyone of us that ask with the REAL INTENT on changing and acting according to the answer we get!

Well the work is still moving along, and we thought the last hope for Julio to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon and everything was to go to the conference. He agreed and everything, but ended up going to Argentina that very weekend. Hopefully he watched it online like commited him to do! And so the work continues, with or without interested investigators... we just gotta see in what other ways we can still be effective, and still strengthen the kingdom of God in this sector! Love you guys tons.... and have a great week!

Elder Hartvigsen