May 16, 2016 Best sacrament meeting I've had so far on my mission!!!

Using the cards I made for our activity

Hey guys!! Well its been another great week here in Lirquén. And probably one of if not THE MOST spiritually uplifting sacrament meetings I have been a part of in the mission.

Last minute I got called to teach the gospel principles class (which is very very very common) haha and it went well. But in the sacrament meeting the talks were outstanding! A young man preparing to leave on his mission gave a talk on "Iré y Haré" ("I will go and do") and then there was a talk about charity. That really touched me. The sister recounted the story of President Gordon B. Hinckely when he was a young kid. And he and his friend were talking down this dirt road I think, when they saw an old worn out coat and pair of shoes, and they realized they were of this really poor guy who I think was bathing in the lake or something I dont really remember... but the friend suggested that they hide his clothes and wait in the bushes to see the expression on the old mans face when he would notice his clothes were gone. Then the young Gordon Hinckley knew that that would NOT be a good idea, so he suggested that they put a silver dollar in each of the shoes and then hide and watch the old man. So they did that, and eventually the older man came back around for his clothes and when he put his shoes on felt something hard inside and pulled it out to discover a silver dollar. And he was so surprised and then found the other one, and openly prayed and gave thanks to God for that mysterious blessing! then the young gordon said to his friend "now don´t you just feel good inside??" ha man I love that story so much! So thats a good example for all of us to strive to have CHARITY. because we truly are nothing if we dont posses the pure love of God.

Then the former bishop gave one of the most outstanding talks on missionary work I have ever heard. It was so pure... because he said basically "well... when they assigned me to talk on missionary work it made me really nervous. Not because im not familiar with the topic, but rather because I know that ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH are familiar with the topic. And so after praying and trying to find direction on what I should speak on... I have decided NOT to prepare a talk at all." hahaha (only the veterans can do that!!) and he basically just recounted the story of Cornelius found in Acts 10. And the truth is... I didnt really even know that story, but its super cool. And I encourage you all to study that chapter. It talks describes Cornelius in this way:

 2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.

 And by the way he was a gentile (non member) and anyway after a couple angelic visitations one on his part, and the other on the part of Peter the prophet, they end up meeting eachother, and Peter learns a strong lesson that he needed to preach the gospel to the gentiles. Because like it says in verse 15:

 15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

 Or in other words he should not judge if someone was ready or not to receive the gospel. (by the way its probably a little confusing reading this, thats why you gotta study acts 10!!! ha) anyways... Bishop Osses talked about how "We all know people like Corenlius who are good, God fearing, selfless, service orientated people who simply dont have the truth of the restored gospel. And the members are the ones that need to take them to Peter (the missionaries) SO THAT THEY CAN BE TAUGHT THE TRUTH!!ç

It was really touching! other than that.... everything is going well here. 2 more weeks until the transfer and so I just wanna work hard and actually I would prefer to finish my mission in this sector if thats in agreeance with the Lords will! But who knows whats gonna happen?

Have a super great week!

con mucho amor

Elder Hartvigsen



May 9, 2016 Post conversation from yesterday on Mothers Day


hey guys! so yeah it was super fun to talk yesterday, the truth is... I don't really have much more to say another than what was said yesterday. umm... I am reading Jesus the Christ again, and like I said its super cool!!

One awesome thing I was reading is how Elder Talmage absolutely condemns the theory that people have of Adam and Eve breaking the law of chastity, and that was the reason for the fall of adam. He says "The human race was not born from fornication. That theory is an abomination!" He actually talks about how it was really a disobedience to the word of wisdom. Because they had taken something into their bodies, that was not good for them. Simple, but true... aka. the forbidden fruit.

(and this next thing he said hit me hard, because of the belief in the Jehovah´s witnesses church that Adam wasnt a prophet. And wont be saved, because of his great sin that made us all be born into this sinful world etc. etc. its a pathetic belief I know!) but what Elder Talmage said was "our first parents were pure and noble. And the day will come that we will cross over the veil and really understand who they were, and come to appreciate what they did." something like that. but it stuck out to me because they ARE pure and Noble! And the fall of adam was necessary so that the entire plan of redemption could be brought to pass! "All things are done, in the wisdom of him that knoweth all things"

also... "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy!"

This church is true. The gospel is wonderful and changes lives. And there ARE people out here in Chile waiting to here this wonderful news. Its just hard to find them!!!! Pray that they can be found :)

Love you all

Elder Hartvigsen

May 2, 2016 Happy Mother's day!

Sopaipillas!  Helps toes to feel better!

Look at those worn out shoes!

Hey guys, so things are going well here. The truth is, that we have not been able to work too much lately. We spent 1 full week in our house without working... and now we are starting to work only a couple of hours a day. Because my comps toes are still recovering. Oh man, these things are nasty. I feel bad for him, and its definiately testing my patience, haha. I mean.... I had a comp with health issues before remember? Elder Flores... but this is different, because its hard to maintain a really positive attitude when 1) you cant really do much, and 2)any investigator that we had 2 weeks ago... is probably not going to be progressing by the time we get around to visit them again. So yeah. thats kind of how its been the last little while. Sorry for the lack of details, because it really hasn't been that  exciting of a  week.

But I have been studying a lot in the Book of Mormon, and where I was reading in Alma 43 is super cool because it talks about Moroni making preparations for war. And more specifically the steps that he and his army took to defeat the lamanites, its definiately worth studying again!

p.s. I am sending a couple pics of things we did this week. (made sopaipillas and asked the neighbor to let us borrow her rolling pin, and turns out she let us use her electric dough kneeding machine! haha sick right? It turned our lump of dough into 26 round sopaipillas in like 5 min. and it would have taken us forever to do it by hand)

also I let my comp borrow my sandals, because his feet didn't fit into his shoes for a whole week, and they actually only half fit into my sandals! hahaha what a ruckus!!! You should have seen him walking around the busy streets of concepcion last week bare foot, with flip flops on, and his big old toes bandaged like nobody's business. I have never got so many weird looks before in my life. hahah one lady even stopped and said "okay kiddos... your religion is great and everything, but you need to take care of your health and go home right now and rest." we were like "yes debbie, thanks for the advice, we are on our way home right now!" hahaha

April 25, 2016 Surgery......

Elder Fuentealba's bandaged up toes

Watching Testaments

Our kitchen

Our retro bathroom

Hey guys! so its been an .... interesting week to say the least! Don't freak out mom, I didn't have surgery.... my companion did. haha He has had some awfully gnarly ingrown toenails and finally got them taken care of. So we have not been able to leave our house for a few days, and those few days are going to turn shortly into a week. haha so it stinks for him, but at least he can get it taken care of right?

I am super grateful for my great health that I have had in my mission. Because a an elder from Arizona this week (finishes in July) but had to go home this week because he got MONO. And I feel really bad for him, because I know exactly what he is going through. Remember my terrible summer with mono? Yeah thats why I am thankful that I got sick before the mission and not now! :)

Other than all that, there really hasnt been many other things that happened. umm when we couldn't go to church the priests came and brought us the sacrament (water and a chocolate cookie because we didn't have bread. haha) and so that was nice of them. The members here are geat, and are treating us well. So well mothers day is in like 2 weeks, so I guess we need to set up a time for when its going to be best to skype. When do you guys have church??

sorry for the lack of details, it really has been an anti-climatic week. But I will send a couple pictures anyways :) 

Elder Hartvigsen

p.s. This is our little make shift home theater, watching "the testaments" with Elder Fuentealba´s bandaged up toes haha :(

in case you were curious... this is our home. Notice the 1970´s bathroom style? haha its like grandma jessies old blue bathroom! And I think its the first (and hopefully last time) I have ever had bars on the window of our bathroom. haha #sketchy! and we have 2 showers as well. One is electric, and the other gas. and they both work about half the time. So its fine, because sometimes you can just switch off  between showers when one stops working! :)

April 18, 2016 Lirquen forever more!

and the lirquen chapel is one of the biggest buildings here, and it looks huge from this side because you can see all 3 stories!

this is a BBQ that we did last night with this great guy named Jorge Rojas who is from Argentina.

this purplish house, is where we live! haha

Hey guys! so today is transfer day, and Elder LeCheminant is headed out to Talcahuano. And me and Elder Fuentealba are staying here. So Im actually really excited that I can finally go back to being in a normal companionship. Its going to be a lot nicer than the trio I think!

anyways, its nuts that I only have 2 and a half cambios (transfers) left. So I just have to blithering make the most of them!!! haha because I think I will probably finish my mission here as well! So this week we did another "meet the mormons" movie night for a ward activity. Its seriously a super great idea, because its a super great movie. And would be a very effective way for people to get to know the church. The only problem is that the members dont participate. We announced the whole activity and were invited everyone the entire week and when we started the movie (30 min. after the designed starting time) it was us 3 misionaries, and the ward mission leader and his wife, and 3 of the youth. hahaha it was a joke. Anyways people began to come nice and slowly and at the end of the night there were 20 people. No investigators.... but it was still a fun night. Thats definiately been the biggest struggle of my mission, GETTING THE MEMBERS EXCITED AND INVOLVED.

So on sunday the entire focus basically was "missionary work." Me and Elder Fuentealba gave talks in sacrament meeting, and the 2nd counselor in the bishopric told us before hand "if you guys can get the members to come up to you and ask when they can accompany you during the week, and give you references right then and there after sacrament meeting... you did an outstanding job!" haha I feel like I gave a good talk, because I shared what John Nichols shared in a church talk a few years ago that I have always loved. That every person on average needs 7 positive interactions or "touches" with missionaries or members of the church, to be able to accept the gospel. And how its similar to a game of football. With the goal being advance 100 yards to get a touchdown. Its possible. BUT VERY RARE that one players takes it for a 100 yard run and scores. It almost always happens that all the short yard gains, put together allow the team to slowly make it to the other end and score. Or in other words.... its possible for someone to hear the gospel for the first time, and in 3 short weeks be baptized immediately. Buts its not common! So thats why every one of our positive interactions we have with people talking about the gospel, all add up over time!

I also shared a story of how I was snowboarding one time when I was like 15 years old or so, and sat next to a russian man on the ski lift ( I have no idea if ou guys remember this or not) and how for a couple weeks before this I had been praying for an opportunity to share the gospel with someone. Living in Alpine utah, I had the desires, but had no idea how to do it, or much less WHO to share it with. So I was prompted that very morning to put a pass along card in my ski jacket, and so when I was sitting next to that guy, who asked me if I was a mormon, and how many wives dad had hahahe etc. I was able to simply give him the pass a long card and invite him to see lds.org

So after the talk, this girl in the ward comes up to me and gave me 2 super great references!!! Of her aunt, and her neighbor. Now Im not saying I gave an outstanding talk or anything. But I am gratful that the spirit was able to testify to her, during the sacrament meeting and she recognized the prompting and acted on it. Now Im just hoping and praying those 2 people will receive us, and progress :) and If not..... bueno, "¡hay que puro seguir no más po!" (you just gotta keep on trying!)

enjoy your beautiful utah weather, the rain is upon us here. haha :(

con mucho amor

Elder Hartvigsen

April 11, 2016 Punta de Parra

Hey guys, so we had a super great week this week. The highlight was definiately when we taught this super great 15 year old kid named Salomon. He just recently moved here from Colombia and seems pretty interested in our church. He is friends with an inactive kid (axel) and so we visited axel and his mom, and Salomon came over. Anyways, he committed to pray and wait for an answer about April 30 to be his baptismal date. And he committed to come to church with us, and then so did Axel and his mom (those two have not been to church in more than 5 years)....

We were super excited but sort of realizing that he probably wasnt going to come. Because ALL CHILEANS say that. They always commit to things and never followthrough. I think the reason he surprised us so much when he showed up to church is because he isnt Chilean. hahaha I know it sounds terrible, but I totally think its true! He and axel were the first ones to show up at church, then us, then we opened the church and waited for everyone else to arrive. I think he really liked it as well, so thanks for your prayers this week. We have found a great pèrson! Just keep praying that he progresses! ha :)

Also I had a mini cambio on wednesday where I forgot to bring my rain gear, and luckily a member let me borrow a yellow rubber rain jacket he had ( I looked like the guy from curious george ) But I was super grateful,... even though I got absolutely SOAKED from my thighs down, haha. 

And this morning we went on a super cool hike to this beach called "punta de parra" and I will send a bunch of cool pics. For the first time in my mission, I was actually TEMPTED to dive into the water. hahahaha the water was greenishly clear and gorgeous!

well we are in week 8... because this cambio has been an extra long one. I will let you know if anything happens in the transferes... have a great week! love you tons. And we will be talking on May 8th. #mothersday

con mucho amor

Elder Hartvigsen