June 13, 2016 Copa America

Amazing Chilean Coast

Hey guys!

Well we took another trip to the beach today for P day and so I am sending a couple pictures from that. Also on Friday we were allowed to watch the Chile vs. Bolivia game in the copa america and tomorrow chile plays panama, so thats always fun to be able to watch those games! :) Elder Lopez wasnt too happy that Chile beat Bolivia in the final seconds, because the refs made a poor call and gave Chile a penalty kick haha. But its all good.. life moves on!

Umm... things havent been too different here lately. Still working like normal, and we have been bringing a couple of investigators to church but ones that arent really progressing, or ones that dont even live in our sector ha. Actually we had a cool thing happen on friday. We ate lunch at a members house and their less active daughter and son in law came over to eat mostly so that we could give her a priesthood blessing along with her dad (active member). And turns out that the husband of the daughter (Christian) has been really really interested in church and has been reading tons in the book of mormon and the doctrine and covenants and we are going to send the missionaries their to teach them, I am positive that he is going to get baptized. I have never seen someone with so much interest and wanting to find the true church and raise his 2 kids there. Its always such a blessing when I get to see people like that. And the bummer is just that I usually see people like that who are from other sectors. They actually live in Chiguayante in the same ward that I was in last year. But its just a blessing to be able to take part in the process of conversion at any stage. Whether we score the tuchdown (baptism) or whether we just make a 5 yard gain someward toard the middle of the field ALL POSITIVE EXPERIENCES COUNT!!

Umm... now not too much else has happend this week. If I think of anything I will tell you in your personal emails that I respond. Love you guys tons!

#finishstrong....8...weeks... ;)

Love,

Elder Hartvigsen

June 6, 2016 Taking back the Ocean!

This guy is in the ward, and his son is the 2nd counselor in the stake presidency! And they live in a tiny little home with tin walls and a tin roof and this little patio type thing in the back where he cooks crabs (and makes very little money doing it) but they are a happy family. and thats what matters! The material things obviously don't mean much to them.

Cooking crabs in boiling water

One of the millions of stray dogs here

Hey guys, so this week has been pretty good. I really like my comp Elder Lopez (from Bolivia) he is super tranquilo (chill) and we get along great! It has been so absolutely cold here in the afternoons. The sun goes down at like 6 pm and it is just frigid. I have ear muffs and stuff, but I bought a beenie today. Its strange that its been so cold here because we are right next to the ocean that it should be moderating the temp.... but its not. haha

Anyways, yesterday we brought 2 investigators to church which was sort of a miracle. Because that was the mission goal for the entire month of June (2 investigators per companionship in church every week in june) and today is president Arrington's birthday, so his wife really really wanted us to get the goal for his last birthday in the mission. ha and we got really close! like 152 investigators in the entire mission. We are gonna see if they have potential in progressing. One is a lady that has been attending for years and sort of stopped going the last few months, we just sort of re animated her to go, because she is waiting in about 2 months is going to finish her divorce papers to be able to marry her boyfriend and then get baptized. Another is Anita who is 11 years old and is the little sister of a recent convert. So hopefully we can work with her as well.

So after a service project one morning got canceled this week, I took my comp to the beach to take a few pics, because he has never seen the ocean before. Bolivia is a landlocked country, and all the chileans here bug him and joke about him coming to steal the ocean. Because Chile actually took like the northern coast of bolivia in a war a long time ago, and the Bolivians are still ticked about it. haha and we made a new friend (the black dog that wanted to be in the pic.) THERE ARE STRAY DOGS EVERYWHERE HERE!!

Well, thats about it for this week. I know the church is true. I know that when we bare our testimony, or share it with someone else.... it becomes stronger. So find ways to bare your testimony of the things you do know to be true!!

con mucho amor,

Elder Hartvigsen

May 30, 2016 the Flashlight salesman

this is my district!! From left to right: Hna Conde (argentina) Hna Pyatt (Massachusetts) Elder Fonseca (honduras/california) ME, Elder fuentealba (chile), Elder Melo (Brasil)

all my years of science fair, and school projects/ book reports paid off!! :)

FHE last night with Jorge Rojas and his wife Karina,

eating (FREE) at our ward mission leaders restaurant today! "El Rincón Marino"

Hey guys! So its transfer day, and I am staying in Lirquén (almost for sure to die here) :) Im excited and my companion is going to be Elder Lopez from Cochabamba Bolivia. WooHoo my 2nd Bolivian comp ha! Also I am going to be a grandpa... because my son Elder Parker is going to have a son (train) ha. And Elder Fuentealba is headed off to Chillán where believe it or not, he is going to be in the same ward as his older brother and sister in law. Its a small world after all right???

Yeah so this week we had our activity on saturday and we had an EXCELLENT turn out!! Like 50 people went. And 5 of them were investigators. 2 of the investigators were people brought by members, and 3 of them were people that we had contacted in the street and given them an invitation and they actually went! SHOCKER! anyways... we had contacted a couple in the plaza about 3 days before the activity who are from the North (Antofogasta) and are living here for a few months working and went and LOVED the movie The Testaments and we gave them a book of mormon after the activity and got their number to call them and set something up! And the other guy who showed up is named Jorge Peña and we contacted him literally 20 minutes before the activity started. So the plan was that at 7 we were going to start and at 5:30 we were going to meet in the church and go out with some members to pass out the remainder of my cards and invite people to the movie that very afternoon. So NO ONE showed up at 5:30... (not a surprise really) and so at about 6:15 my comp and I just decided to go ourselves and 1. get rid of the 40 cards or so that werent going to be of anygood after the activity and 2. maybe find one person at least to bring to the movie. So after giving out 4 cards or so we realized very quickly that the people "no estaban ni allí" (didnt want anything to do with it) haha and so we thought we were just going to be wasting our time. So we started back to the chapel and we see this guy selling flashlights on the corner of the street and I said Hi and he said hi back and was sort of looking at me really friendly. (And thats a dead give away that something is wrong... or right actually haha) because everyone tries to avoid us even by avoiding eye contact.

So something told me to turn around and talk with him so I did and we talked for like 3 or 4 minutes and I gave him the invitation and he said he would like to go. And so 20 minutes later he showed up to the activity and absolutely LOVED the movie. He is Evangelical and is sort of crazy, but turns out he is from Hualpèn and lives in the very same sector where I was (Cerro Verde) and we gave him a Book of Mormon as well and are going to pass the reference to the missionareis there (Elder Soliz my son, and Elder Ketch also from Alpine, UT) haha so hopefully something comes of all that :)

I just felt so good after the activity because I felt that all our time and efforts were good for something! Also this 15 year old young woman came up to me after crying and said thanks so much for inviting her she had never seen the movie but loved it and said "Now I know for sure that the Book of Mormon is true!!" and also an inactive member went who had not set foot in the chapel since the day he was baptized (8 years ago!) So it was a total success :)

And that was the highlight of our week. So... the church is true. The Book of Mormon contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel, and if we are looking for opportunities to share the gospel and are willing to simply OPEN OUR MOUTHS, they will be filled. And David the investigator ended up having to work saturday and could go... but thanks for your prayers anways! haha

Love you all

Elder Harvigsen

May 24, 2016 Biggest Spider Ever

My last interview with President Arrington

and this nasty huge spider that got into our house somehow. Oh I actually know how.... there is an inch gap at the bottom of our front door that practically ANYTHING could crawl through! hahaha #goodoldchileanarchitecture

This is something we aer doing for President´s birthday on June 6. We all printed this paper out and wrote on it "what we have learned from him" and took a picture with us holding the sign to make a huge 200 missionary collage!

it says "President Arrington, what I have learned from you is to never give up on myself and just always keep on going!"

Hey guys! So its been another good week. And we are starting the last week of the cambio, so should be interesting right? I think I am going to stay and finish my mission here, but we wont know until next week.. haha but Im good with whatever happens!!

So last week we had interviews with President Arrington, and it was our last one with him, because he goes homein 6 weeks. And the new President Catala (from Buenos Aires) arrives! Anyways, I will send a pic that I took with him and sister Arrington because i didnt have any with them. He has been a great help and support to me during my mission, so Im really greatful for that! And his wife of course is AWESOME too!!

okay, so saturday night we had 2 very different encounters with Evangelicals that made me laugh on one occasion, and feel scared on the other one. 1. We saw some people buying completos on saturday morning, and we went into this little house where they were making them, and we bought a couple, and realized that it was a fundraiser for an Evangelical church. haha we were like oh cool! good for them! And its funny because when an Evangelical sees us they will almost always say "Hello brothers, God bless you! Blessings!!" (I think thats their way of trying to be nice and respectful haha) anyways I told my comp afterward.... that the completos werent very good, but thats okay. Because it was for a good cause. #supportthegreatappostasy

2. Yeah that same night we were walking past a different really small Evangelical church on this hill at about 9 PM, and thats usually when they are all in church anwyays. And its very common to hear the Pastor inside sort of yelling and preaching repentance and stuff, and hear loud "hallelujah´s" etc. or music playing.... but what we heard was totally different. We heard the pastor (or some man) absolutely yeling and shouting and really the only words I heard him repeat were things like "the spirits of God, and  the spirits of the Devil" and in the background their were at least 2 or more women absolutely WAILING!!! (remember in the movie the other side of heaven when those Tongans are mourning for the deceased.... yeah it was like the same thing) and Im pretty sure they were trying to perform some healing, or casting out of spirits or something weird like that.

I just felt sort of sick to my stomach and scared for the people inside, and we only listened from the outside for like 5 to 10 seconds! and then we left. It reminds me a lot of the scripture in the New Testament in Matthew 7:21-23

 21 ¶Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth thewill of my Father which is in heaven.

 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

They do work "miracles" in other churches. But I know that its not always by the power of god. And so it something crazy to think about. Anyways, I give thanks that we do have the Priesthood in our church, and that we do have the Holy Ghost!

Thats about it for this week. Love you guys!! 

Con much amor, Elder Hartvigsen

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! :)