Nov. 23, 2015 A baptism...or two!

holy cow I just got an email from an investigator in Talcahuano that told me he got baptized yesterday!!!!!  What a cool experience :) his wife was the member, and he is catholic, they are a young couple named Carlos and Carolain :) We taught them and I was transferred before He had decided to be baptized!!!

Me with Carlos and Carolain while we were teaching them!  I love them so much!

Well,  I've got some good news for you mom. I got pretty sick for 2 days this week and was throwing up a bunch. And thats good news because I lost a bunch of weight AND I FIT INTO MY OLD SUITS NOW :) hahaha

Well, some highlights are 1. Santos has a baptismal interview this wednesday, and is getting baptized on Saturday at 5 oclock.!!! :) But lets be honest..... Im not believing it until I am standing in the font with that man at my side dressed in white! haha hopefully everything goes through this week, without any complications!

Also, something super super sad I found out about this week is that  an Elder's dad passed away on thursday. And so he went home on friday to be with the family. Which is just terrible in general. But especially because he was my comp when hard stuff was happening, and he almost went home like twice...but then finally decided to stay for 3 more months and finish. And then his dad passes away. I just hope: one that he doesn't have regrets about staying.... even though he probably will have wished he had gone home when he had the chance. And I hope this doesn't like harm his testimony of the gospel, because  his family is all less active.  So please pray for him and his family if you can! Thanks guys!

Anyways... mom I finally sent the christmas package for you guys today. We went into correoschile just to make sure they hadnt changed the rules of sending things to the USA. And they hadnt.... so I was gonna have to do it the expensive way, but we talked to the lady for a while and she ended up going to the back of the store and either calling the same number that I called, or asked someone else and she came back out and said yeah you guys are good to send what you are sending. She said "I dont have the slightest clue why they are going to allow candy and clothes now, because they never allow it.... but she asked and they said that we are good to go." And my comp and I were so happy, and knew that it was a pure tender mercy from our Father in Heaven who watches out and cares for us so many times its unbelievable! It never ceases to amaze me!

Thats about it for this week, I am gonna finish the book of mormon this week as well which should be great! :) Anyways, I hope this isnt my last week here in Hualpèn with Elder Parker.... because next week is cambios. So we will see what the Lord has in store for me next cambio?

con mucho amorcito

Elder Hartvigsen

Nov. 16, 2015 Leaving the 99, and looking for the 1

Hey everyone! well... this has been a great week, and I had

 two really cool experiences that re-testified to me the importance,

 and the significance of the scripture found in Luke 15

3 ¶And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4 What 

man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of

 them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the

 wilderness, and goafter that which is lost, until he 

find it? 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on 

his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he cometh 

home, he calleth together hisfriends and neighbours,

 saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have 

found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say unto

 you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety

 and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

So the first is this: We brought Eduardo Maldonado to church

 with his wife and 2 kids. He is an inactive member as of years

 ago... and is like 36 years old. And we went to go pick them up

 in the morning, and he was dressed in his suit and everything, 

and his wife (evangelical) and his little 9 year old (nonmember)

daughter were dressed so pretty and all ready to go to church. 

As we were talking to him and walking to church he said "mis 

padres estàn contentìsimos que me estoy acercando de nuevo 

a la iglesia" basically "my parents are SOO HAPPY that I am 

returning back to church". Because his whole family is active

 in a ward in Talcahuano, he is just the about the only one in the

 family that is away from the church. But I could just imagine

 the joy his parents would feel seeing him and his family coming

 back to church again. Seriously, sitting in church with that family 

and Santos (who has a baptismal date for Nov. 28 and who is 

progressing super well) was truly a sweet spiritual experience! :) 

Just thinking about the importance of looking for the 1 lost sheep.

And the other experience was this: leaving to lunch one day walking

 out of our apartment there was a man behind us with a toolbox in his 

hand who kind of called out under his breath to us "hermanos ELDER"

 and so we turned and started talking to him for a bit. the other 2 elders 

with us just kept walking and went to lunch, but this guy began to tell 

us that he got baptized a long time ago and has been inactive for a long

 time. but used to be ward mission leader, and in the bishopric and lots 

of other callings. But he is separated, and living in Coronel with his

 girl friend (he was like 50 years old) and goes to the Catholic church 

each week "just to hear a little bit of the word of god". But doesn't

 practice their religion because he knows our church is true..... but 

said he cant go back to our church, because of how he is living, 

and he recognizes it, and everyone would judge him for being there. 

And then what happens next was the coolest part. I asked him "Oh Victor,

 so you feel like you cant return to church because you would feel 

uncomfortable with everyone looking at you because you cant really 

take the sacrament... right?"  he said "YES, thats exactly right" Then 

we were able to boldly testify that it only matters what God thinks, not 

what other people think of us. And this gospel, is a gospel of healing.... 

and a gospel of change! And that the Lord loved him, and knew his 

situation, and wants him to return to church, because even if he isn't 

worthy to take the sacrament now... thats the first step on the miraculously

 sweet path to repentance! I also told him to go talk to the Bishop, because 

the bishop will always lovingly help us get back on the right path, with

 the saviors help, and without judging!

And he just began to cry. And I just felt an incredibly strong spirit of love

 at that time. I felt like I loved this guy Victor so much! And I felt like God 

was directly using us as instruments to tell him how much the lord loved 

him, and needed him back on his team! So we gave him a huge hug and 

then went to lunch. And about 5 minutes later when I was thinking about

 everything that just happened.... the words from my mission setting apart

 blessing came clearly into my mind "you will see members who have lost

 their way, or new investigators. You will be a master teacher, perceiving

 their very thoughts, like King Lamoni. Its a spiritual gift." And basically

 for the past 15 months I have been trying so hard to live worthily, and 

working hard enough so that I could see at least one of those promised

 blessings I have be fulfilled. And the spirit testified to me that I saw it 

fulfilled. To everyone else it may have been a really small and virtually

insignificant little thing that happened. But to me, it was exactly the 

spiritual jump start that I needed :)

We are the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Its our

 responsibility to go out and find all of our brothers and sisters that

 are lost right now... and bring them back. Because the worth of

 souls is great in the sight of the Lord! :)

thats basically the things that happened this week. haha sorry it was 

so long. have a great week, and talk to you guys next week!

chao chao

Elder Hartvigsen :)

	9:47 AM (22 hours ago)
Pinata for the party for the Elders going home The Elders who are going home, or "dying" Party for them with amazing Mexican food An Hermana from our ward made all of this!

Nov. 9, 2015 Stake Conf. in Talcahuano!

Halloween Missionary style

My trainee wearing the tie Andrew Bybee gave me

Is this ok with the Mission President?

Zorro!

Elder Villasanti, the Sickest Argentine EVER!

"I swear we don't eat like this all the time mom!" Eating at Grandpa Chicken "Tata Pollo"

No wonder Chase had to buy a new suit!

Hey everyone!! Well this week was stake conference. Which was really great! It was my second one in Talcahuano.... because Hualpèn is in the stake Talcahuano South, and my first sector was Talcahuano North. And the turn out was over 400 people which is the biggest congregation I have seen so far here on my mission! Even though thats like a normal sacrament meeting to us hahah.

After the conference some dude outside watched all the latino missionaries walk by and waited until my companion and I got close to him and called us over to talk to him. And was like "you guys arent from around here right?" uhh No. from the USA we said. And he was like yeah okay let me tell you how I feel about your church... and began to tell us that we have a corrupt church that is extremely worldy because one time he went into the church building and there were teenages listening to rock music. And he was trying to convince us that we need to stop mixing "the things of god" and "the things of the world" , My comp and I were bewildered at how absurd that whole interaction was. We just told him to back down basically and not worry about the little things that make him hate our church, and worry on the big things... like obtaining a testimony about Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon etc. Im pretty sure he just wanted to talk to us gringos because he thought we wouldn't be able to respond to what he had to say... and probably just wanted to feel good for putting our beliefs down.  who knows? Thats definately not the first time thats happened!

Well besides that, its been a fairly slow week. Other than the really great family we found ( a guy that we contacted 2 weeks ago) name Eduardo. He told us he was a long time inactive member. So we went and finally found him in his house and his whole family is active in Talcahuano. And the 8 year old daughter was about to get baptized earlier this year there with her cousin but for some reason the dad didnt make it to an interview and she couldnt... but she still wants to be baptized. And the dad wants her too as well, because he told us that he isnt living the commandments... but realizes that he needs to change it, and wants to reactive in our ward and be able to be sealed one day in the temple with his wife and daughter. The wife is evangelical but receptive... and yesterday they went to talcahuano because their grandpa blessed the baby boy in church, but we are hopping that this week they come with us to church. They are really awesome! Pray for the Maldonado family yeah? :) thanks guys!

Thats all for now! Love you tons!

que tengan una muy buena semana

Elder Hartvigsen

November 2, 2015 Heaven Father hears and answers prayers!

My new sick leather scripture cases!

plus a service activity we did for Hermana Elvira.

(picando leña..... or chopping wood)

Hermana Elvira

The wallet miracle!

Happy missionaries!

With the awesome member Marcos Molina who helped us get the wallet back!!!

Penco Beach

Hey guys whats up?

Well... its been a great week here! let me just start off with the highlight of the week. And it was a pure miracle that we saw!!.....saturday morning (being the weekend of "day of the dead") there was a huge multi-stake activity at the big cemetery in concepcion. And so after finishing setting up the tables and stuff, we were ready to go back to our sector when my comp elder parker realized he left his wallet on the bus. He had set it down to pay the driver and forgot to put it back in his jacket!

And so we kind of panicked and called the office so they could cancel his credit card, so that no one could use it to buy stuff right. Then we got permission, to use a members cell phone to write his family and tell them quickly the same... to cancel his home credit card. Then they advised us to maybe go to the bus terminal because there was a possibility (a very small one) that someone honest had found the wallet and turned it in to the bus driver, and he had turned it into the office at the terminal. So this guy in our ward who is so great Marcos Molina offered to drive us to Lirquen where the terminal is. It was like a 25 min. drive from Concepciòn. And so we all had a prayer in our heart that we would find it... and when we got there, the guy at the office had said that the driver found it and turned it in. we quickly reviewed what was inside and everything was there!!!... both credit cards, his insurance card, his utah drivers license, temple recommend, the only thing that was missing was 3,000 pesos in cash. (equivalent of like 5 dollars) haha a PURE BLESSING!!

And so we called the office back, and he hadn't canceled the card yet.... and we wrote back to his family, and they hadn't canceled his card either....so basically everything was back to normal! and nothing even happened! so on the way home, we pulled the car over to say a prayer of thanks. Because seriously heavenly Father answered our prayers..... and took care of us.... like he always does!

And then on the way home we also stopped in Penco to take a picture on the beautiful beach there :) a selfie with the three of us, and my comps wallet.... to remember the moment!! haha I will send the pic!

And apart from that.... its been a difficult week as far as the work goes. this sector seriously is dead, as far as the people go. out of 100 contacts or people that we talk to in the street, I would be willing to stay that 20 or 30 give us their addresses, and then out of all those people, MAYBE we get let into 1 house to teach someone. Its been 2 weeks here with my comp, and we have been let into 1 house.... to teach a first lesson. its super rough here. And I think its been just a tad hard for him to get used to that. Everyone has to adjust their expectations when they arrive here. But the good news is our eternal investigator Santos accepted baptismal date again for Nov. 21! we had a turning point lesson, where I totally believe my companion as inspired that morning to choose Moses 6 to share with him. Where it talks about Adams baptism, and stuff. Which I totally didn't even know was in there....(you learn new things everyday in the scriptures) and he was so interested by that. He just said, a few years ago a friend of mine told me that the bible is simply missing things... and he said he was so surprised but glad to have read that, and so we bought him a triple book (with bom, d and C and pearl of great price for him this week) so please pray for him! We were fasting for him yesterday! :)

Everything else is great here! Love you all tons... and hope you have a stellar week!

Un abrazo,

chao chao

Elder Hartvigsen

(the beach in penco with marcos molina and my comp.... even though I look rather ugly in this selfies ;) its sick!! )

Oct. 26, 2015 My new greenie!

Hey guys!!!

So I guess halloween is coming up this week right?  Its going to be just like any other day here in Chile. Its sort of lame because you don't really see many people dressed up in costumes and hardly anyone goes "Trick Or Treating", but we may have to just change that.... and dress up as Jehovah's Witnesses (actually just put on those hats they use) and go trick or treating in our apartment building?? haha

Anyways.... let me tell you about my new companion. His name is Elder Parker. And he is from South Jordan, UT. (But went to Riverton High school) He is a really great kid. And we get along SUPER WELL! Its actually been really fun to have a companion from Utah, mostly because we relate really well to each other and have SO MANY common interests! And so yeah, I was definitely a bit nervous when I found out I was gonna train a brand new missionary. But at the same time, humbled and excited!! :) The coolest part of the week was the new trainers meeting we had in Concepciòn. It was actually a really motivating and spiritual experience for me. Mostly to be able to see all the 12 or so brand new missionaries get here, and all bare their testimonies and everything. It was super powerful! To see how excited they all were, and with tons of energy and stuff. And hearing all the gringos speak in their beginning stages of spanish just brought me back to the good old days of when I got to the mission!

Anyways... it was super great! I will send a pic or 2 from this week of us together.

So the weather here is so dang bi-polar. Because its been rainy, and hot and sunny, and cloudy, all at the same time.  Changing back and forth super randomly. Thats how the month of August should be.... but October (practically November) should be getting into summer time. We will just have to see what mother nature has in store for us here in Conce :) But my poor comp. got soaked this week, because he doesn't have rain pants or rain boots yet... and one day it started pouring rain out of the middle of no where and we rain to take cover at a members house... like 5 minutes away, and and to then open their gate and walk under their little plastic roof they have. But the thing is.... all the collected rain from the roof, runs onto that little piece of plastic that sticks out right over the gate, so there was basically a huge waterfall that we had to go under to get to their dry patio. hahaha I felt like I was at a public pool, where they have those little waterfalls to play in. We both got pretty wet as we passed through the Niagra Falls of Hualpen!

And usually the food we eat here is pretty good!! But this week.... we had one dish that was an absolute FAILURE! We walk into lunch on thursday, and this older lady had prepared the first plate of food for us asparagus! But not any old asparagus..... dark green, and incredibly SLIMY asparagus. And a ton of it as well! haha ah man I almost puked trying to eat that stuff. I put a whole bunch of ajì (or hot sauce) on it to take away the flavor.... but that made it really spicy, and slimy as well! haha I basically just swallowed each bite. Other than that, the food we have here is pretty good :)

We found one investigator named Eric this week. He is like 28 ish.... and is different...which makes it a little interesting :)

He basically just wanted to know about God, because he didn't know anything. And so we taught him a tiny bit, and then went to pick him up sunday morning for church at his house. He seemed super excited and everything. We got there sunday morning at 9 am and his grandma came out and said "he is sleeping and doesn't want to get up.... But if you guys can come wake him up, and somehow drag him to church.... I WOULD BE SO HAPPY AND GRATEFUL!!" haha so we went into his room and he was fully sleeping in bed. (It reminded me of the time we went to pick Mitch up for mission prep one morning hahaha) Anyways, he was kind of mad at his grandma and ended up not wanting to go. So we went to church without him.  Hopefully we can get another appointment with him this week :) Anyways.... I hope you guys have a stellar week yeah?

Con harto amor!

Elder Hartvigsen

pics (here we are at the mission office.. DAY 1. also when we went to this farmers market to by fruits and vegetables, and some really cool fog from our apartment room window this morning)