Aug 8, 2016 The Light at the end of the Tunnel! (last letter from Chile)

p.s. these pics are of us painting at a members house, a lunch that a sister put the American flag on my chair because it was my last lunch there haha, also the last one on the right is of 2 sisters (the one in the orange is named Julia and is an active member and we eat lunch at her house every friday, the one in the pink is named Bernarda and is an inactive member who I hardly know, she is just super friendly and found out that I was going home this week, and wanted to give me a little party/dinner. So we ate dinner there and she bought a cake and everything, and even bought me this plastic motorcycle clock thing as a git haha :) sweet right?)

this is with the hermana Maria Cortez. Also me saying goodbye to a good friend Elder Abreu from Brazil. (we lived in Hualpen together for 6 months) also me in front of the Chile Concepcion temple. sweet right?? I mean I guess its sort of in the construction phase.... haha

Hey guys! So basically Im pretty trunky... because I am at President Catalas house right now, I have just finished my last interview with him, and I am with Elder Hepworth just writting now because at 6pm we have our last supper (final dinner with those that go home) and then I am going to sleep the night in Concepcion with the Elderes here, and then I have to go back to my sector and work for 2 more days!!! AHH hahaha. But its gonna be a good experience. We have got some good plans for tue. and wed. (a little bit of both saying good bye to members and FHE with investigators)

I dont have much to say, I am gonna send a couple fun pictures that we took this week... but other than that Im just super pumped to go pick you guys up at the airport and let our vacation BEGIN. I have been talking to Hermana Catala about places to eat and see in Buenos Aires so mom a couple suggestions would be to go to La Costanera and 2 restaurants are 1)"siga la vaca" that is apparently an all you can eat buffet of Argentina meat that sounds delicious. and the other one is "la bisteca" so you could look those up if you want and have them on the itinerary :)

Umm.... our most recent convert Ana Bravo was confirmed yesterday, and it was a great sacrament meeting. I bore my testimony (but definiately DIDNT say goodbye to everyone in the ward NOR give a "thank-a-mony") because you know how much I think a testimony meeting should always be about testimonies. But The bishop and one sister did say thanks to me in their testimonies and thanked me for all I had done.... so I guess I did feel good inside about that ;) hahaha

Well... stay strong. Read the scriptures daily if you want the Lords help daily in your life. And see you in a couple short days!

Love Elder Hartvigsen

Aug 1, 2016 Cloud 9

Hey guys. Wow.... so this week has been excellent!! I dont even really know where to begin haha. So I will start off with this. We FINALLY got a baptism here!!! The first one in a year in Lirquén. (I will attach photos) Her name is Ana Bravo. And I first just have to say that I recognize that I didnt do much in her conversion process... The Lord knows who he wants in his Church, and prepares them. We are just here to find them at the right point in their journey and teach them a little and help them feel the spirit to make the correct decision. She has participated in the church for many years, and was right about to get baptized like 7 years ago. But something happened and she didnt end up doing it. She sort of then just distanced herself because she just didnt feel ready. But I met her like 2 months ago at a ward activity where after she told me "I want to get baptized. Im sure about it now." And it took us a couple weeks to finally have our first lesson with her, but we did and she is obviously a reference from a member. She is best friends with this one family who have helped nourish the seed while she hasnt been attending church or anything.

Long story short, she had a baptismal date for august 6th and everything was going ood. but then last thursday our ward mission leader asked if we could possibly move up the baptism so that her husband could be there. Because he works in the south of chile and wasnt going to be there on the 6th. We decided to ask President Catalas permission and he said there was no problem (because she went to church for the 3rd time yesterday and got baptized immediately after the meeting). Also the rule is you have to be living all the commandment for at least 2 weeks before. But she drank tea a week and a half ago... but we hadnt even taught her the word of wisdom yet because it was all sort of a rushed process but president said its fine because she didnt know. But she accepted it immediately when we taught it to her. So in her baptism her husband and son were both there (along with like 20 other family members) but they both work in the south. And the son was so happy for his mom because he investigated the church for a whole year in Penco but never got baptized. He even went to institute for a whole semester. But said that when he is in lirquen he wants to go to church with his mom. Then her granddaughter tells her after the service that she would like to be a member of our church. haha so we scheduled a FHE with her on friday :)

I also directed the baptismal service, it was pretty cool. The first time Ive done something like that. And there was some technical issues with the restoration video we showed so I had to stall... I just taught the first lesson basically from God is our loving heavenly father up until the apostasy and said this video will clarify what happend after that then... haha it was funny. Also the guy baptizing her started doing the prayer with his left arm to the square (I was a witness so I was right next to the font and had to stop him and have him turn around to do it with his right arm) hahaha

Anyways we are seeing pure miracles in my sector. Im so greatful that the Lord is blessing me to see some results of our labors before I head home. We have had so many lessons with members present as well with is a huge blessing. Like it says it Doctrine and Covenants 59:21 nothing offends God more, than those that 1 dont keep his commandments and 2 dont confess his hand in all things.

Never forget where the blessing in our life really come from.

Love you guys tons! See you in 10 short days :)

(by the way I just feel like I am on cloud 9 this week... haha thats why I wrote that)

Love Elder Hartvigsen

July 25, 2016 The best week of my entire mission!!! Fe=Milagros Faith=MiraclesT

The 2 mini missionaries!

My Texas burger in Chillan

This hermana in the Ward taught us how to make these deliciously scrumptious "alfajores"

and yes... I still have the recipe, haha so I will make them at home for you guys!

At their home.

and some sort of sad living conditions... it just makes me laugh that they just pile rocks and different pieces of metal on their walls and roof

this really cool swan made out of some car tires!

and a glass of "mote con huesillo" (like the most typical chilean drink that you see a lot in september for independance day)

Hey guys, so this week has seriously been one of the best ones of my entire misión. haha seriously. Anyways, we are working super hard with our Little meet your neighbor campaign thing... and its really starting to give fruits. We had 2 family home evenings with members and their investigator friends (that we had been praying for for the last 2 weeks every single night) and they turned out really well, and we got return family home evening appointments for both of them. So this week we literally have like 5 planned lessons with investigators in the houses of members with all diferente people. Its really sort of shocking because I have NEVER EVER had this many set appointments with different investigators in one week. I know that hard work pays off. And its sort of a bummer that its starting to really get good now that Im finishing... but its all good, THE WORK HAS TO CONTINUE.

So I gave a talk yesterday that was really great. Not because I spoke so well or anything, but because we have spent the last month going to every single family and giving them our Little card thing reminder, and we currently have a list of over 115 investigators that we are just purely praying for each night, and so I used all that momentum to base my talk on. I talked about how faith without Works is dead. And how Pres. Catala taught us there are 5 diferente levels of faith (obviously supported by the scriptures) 1.desire 2. action. 3. knowledge 4. miracles 5. power (because faith is a principle of both ACTION and POWER.

And I shared the story of the Brother of Jared, and how is faith was demonstrated by his actions (forging 16 Little stones out of a rock.... not an easy process by the way) and took them up to the TOP of the mountain and asked the Lord to simply touch them so that they would shine and give his boats light. The Lord responded, and it worked. I told the members that my comp and I cant find investigators by ourselves.... actually according to Elder David A. Bednar in a talk given in 2008 called ask with faith The missionaries are just FULL TIME TEACHERS and the members are FULL TIME FINDERS. Anyways, I said that we have done our part with our actions now its time for them to do their part and act and invite their friends to their house to hear the góspel, and out faith manifested through our actions will allow us to see miracles!

Ether 12:12 The Lord CANT work miracles if his people dont have faith. Its been a cool thing for me to study lately, and see so obvious in our sector this week :) Anyways, just pray that we can keep up this momentum, I really want to finish these next 2 weeks as strong as we finished this last week. I love you guys tons, and remember that MIRACLES HAVE NOT CEASED. You just have to be watching out for them. Then write them down in your journal (which shows to God that you cherish those sacred moments, and he will see that and will give you more! I promise.)

Elder Hartvigsen

July 18, 2016 Bringin' back old times in Chillan!!

hey guys! so Today I am currently in Chillán. Because President lets everyone thats close towards Concepción come up to Chillán for 1 P-Day in their last cambio. So basically our entire group of friends that are going home this cambio came up here to buy "recuerdos" (souvenirs). But basically I was just scouting out, because I am gonna buy some stuff when I can bring you guys here to pick stuff out for yourselves. Seriously they have got some really cool things here to take home in rememberance of good old CHILE. Its good to be back in Chillán like old times.

Also this internet cyber is NOT trustworthy (from what I have been heard) so I dont dare plug my thumbdrive in to send pictures. Sorry, but I will send some next week OK?

We had whats called the "mini mission" this past weekend. It was super cool. Its something that was basically started in our stake of Penco. And so all the young men and young women Priest age and older who want to, can be missionaries for an entire weekend. So the youth in Chillán got sent to Concepción, Penco, Tomé, Talcahuano, Hualpén etc. and the youth from thos wards went to Chillán and Linares. So they did a big old switcharoo and each full time missionary would be pared up with 1 young man or young woman for the weekend.... unfortunately I got paired up with a young woman.... haha just kidding. Me and Elder Lopez got these 2 really cool kids. One was 17 and the other one 16. And we spent friday, saturday, and sunday with them on divisions. And they stayed in the house of a member, and we picked them up in the morning, and dropped them off at night and they basically lived the life of a missionary for a week end. It was a good oportunity for everyone.

I was paired up with Moroni Arenas from Chillán, and I helped him set the goal Friday afternoon that by the end of the weekend he would give out a Book of Mormon all by himself (because he had never done it before) and he was a bit nervous at first but agreed. And he did it, and was super pleased with himself for having acheived his goal :) Also I was thinking a little bit about my setting apart blessing that says "Take time with the young men. Don´t brush them aside. Help them see who they really are. You will influence them in such a way that they will become missionaries, that way your influence will multiply on itself." Now Im not sure if I had THAT MUCH of an impact on them or anything... but I think that that blessing could have partially come true this weekend :) It was a really good experience!

Man also our ward went to the temple this weekend (its like a 6 hour drive) so they do a trip twice a year. And on church it was a testimony meeting for those that had gone to the temple, and the 2 NEW missionaries that were with us this weekend. It was a really spiritual meeting. Also I have so much desire to go to the temple now.... haha. PLEASE DONT TAKE FOR GRANTED THE INCREDIBLE BLESSINGS OF THE TEMPLE. Its easy to do that in Utah.... but WE SHOULDNT.

Well, love you guys! And I will be seein you all in a few short weeks.

wait. really quickly after the devotional in Penco after the mini mission, President Catala comes up to like 5 of us missionaries and says "Elderes, I have a super good idea I just thought of. What if you said this when you were knocking on doors: We are offering the opportunity so that you can have the bible FREE on your cell phone. Can we come in and download it for you?" Isnt that a great idea Elderes he said??? haha

haha so we totally tried it THAT VERY NIGHT and we see this family coming home from the Evangelical church and walking in their front door. We stopped them and said just what president told us. They totally let us in, they were super excited. Both the mom and the 12 year old son had their eyes glued on us as we downloaded the gospel library on their smartphones. And we took advantage to explain a bit about the Book of Mormon, etc. What a cool experience. When your priesthood leader gives you an assignment, or even a simple suggestion... DO IT. They know what they are talking about :)

con amor,

Elder Hartvigsen

July 11, 2016 A hospital visit to see a member

hey guys! So dad I caught a glimps at your letter and then decided to respond to brit first now I am writing this email. 

So its been good last week of the transfer. Some super crazy changes happened around the mision, but ones that dont really affect me very much haha. Because I m staying in Lirquén or 4 more weeks!! woo hoo

And the best news of the week is that we FINALLY brought an investigator with a baptismal date to church. Ana Bravo is her name. And I really really think she is going to get baptized on July 30th. Please pray for her!! She is a friend of some members and almost got baptized a few years ago, but now says she is sure she wants to do this and is really excited about it.

Also thinking about Brit in the hospital, reminds me that we went to the hospital this week to visit an inctive member who got all 10 toes amputated because he has diabetes and because of a poor diet and stuff all his toes sort of just died.... nuts right. And it just makes me glad that we live in the USA when I see the hospitals here. I am sure they are so many places in the world that they are so much worse than in Chile. But they just kind of freak me out being there. There are like 3 people to each room (which is a huge improvement because Lirquén has a fairly new hospital, in the older ones its about 8 per room) and the building inside reminds me of a highschool built in the 1960s

Im sure Brit is receiving a lot better treatment in primary childrens haha :) Enjoy the free nectar brit ;) and just have a good attitude about it!!!

umm... not many more details to tell about. Today I have a self sufficency class with the other missionaries that are going home today, so i will try to not let it make me trunky ;)

Keep reading the scriptures every day.... a.k.a put on THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD!

pics:

a stormy day at the beach

looking over lirquén with my trusty red ear muffs that have been with me ever since Coihueco ;)

And the 16th and last church in Lirquén that we are adding to the collage haha

July 4, 2016 Meeting the new President, Pres. Catala and his wife!

Add "drinkin red bull... top of timp!" (shout out to the boys of the alpine 10th ward. remember that glorious summit to timp? hahaha

don´t worry I wouldnt have bought a red bull normally.... a friend of mine who is from another ward sells pepsi here and gave us each one free.

And me on a mini cambio with Elder Holcombe my zone leader. (he is in the air force. He is a bore. and tells really cool stories.... especially on "war story wednesday" :)

So I sort of wish I could be a part of the 4th of July celebrations up there in the States haha but no its all good. Today we had a zone activity in the morning. Played soccer and made pulled pork type sandwiches to celebrate the occasion :) it was pretty fun.

So yup, this week we met our new mission President and his family. The Cátalas. They are awesome. President is from Argentina, and the wife is from Taiwan, but moved to Bolivia when she was 19 and met the missionaries there and joined the church. Then served a mission in Cochabamba and after the mission moved to Argentina with her family and met her husband there. And they are living here with their youngest kid (a 16 year old son). Both of them are converts, and President Cátala has some big ideas and big hopes for our mission. I really think the work is going to change a lot. He has a huge focus on baptizing. Which is good,  because we have been baptizing SO FEW people here.... and he has been stake president (twice I think) and bishop and seems like a really spiritual and charismatic leader. His accent (being from Buenos Aires) is super different and strong. haha it makes me laugh! I thought after that conference that I was gonna leave there talking like someone from Argentina... but It didnt happen.

Anyways, he gave us some ideas on how to better work with the members. One being doing lots of service for them. He is a very successful business man that works in comerce. And said "Nothing in this world is free. If I come up to you and ask for you 10 dollars.... you are not gonna give it to me. But if I offer you this beautiful tie for 10 dollars, chances are that you will sell it to me. Thats how it is with references, we need to serve the members so that they will give us their friends to teach."

Anyways thats one among many things he said. Im excited to be able to learn from him in these short 5 weeks that I have left. Anyways, not much has happened.... I hope you guys had a sweet trip to Powell and stop trying to squeeze more vacations in before August 11th ;)

Love you tons. The church is true. We must endure to the end. Thats all.

Un abrazo,

Elder Hartvigsen

June 27, 2016 Saying goodbye to Pres. and Sis. Arrington

"THE DISTRICT" .... in 2 years...we really haven't changed that much :)

the cards we made.

Me and Elder Lopez reppin our Chilean pride during the Copa America (by the way Chile won it again this year!!!).

And the family reunion. (haha Me and my 2 sons)

Pres. and Sis. Arrington

So this Friday we had the whole mission conference where we said goodbye to President and Sister Arrington. It was super great. Also every zone conference the missionaries that go home that transfer and the next one bare their "final" testimonies. But we didn't have zone conference so I got to bare mine there with the whole mission. We were like 20 ish who are going home. And basically I just said "If Jesus Christ can feed 5,000 people with a couple fishes and a few loaves of bread... imagine what he can do WITH US. I testify that Jesus Christ is the great multiplier, and that if we give him everything that we have... he can make miracles with us."

So President Catala and his wife and son get here this Wednesday, and on Friday we have a welcoming conference for them. So the work here has been slow still. We are focusing on helping the members become missionaries. Because sadly... I feel like that unless the members in the mission STEP IT UP big time... the missionary efforts here are never going to progress the way they need to. So we made a bunch of hand made little cards that say "conozca a su vecino" ("meet your neighbor") and the goal is trying to leave that with a member and commit them to have a name ready for when we return to their house in 1 week. And be able to meet a new neighbor, in the sense they will be able to form a good relationship with them, and then in time be able to share the gospel with them. Because the excuse that most people give for not sharing the gospel is that they don't know very many people. Their only friends are members of the church, or stuff like that. So thats where our idea was born.... Hope it works!

umm... thats about it for this week. Not to many details. But here are some pics.