Top 10 Lessons Learned This Week

On the wall next to the church, somebody painted a picture of this temple. I thought it was pretty cool. The guy in this picture is a guy in our ward we would always have come with us to teach investigators. This was right before he left on his mission to Mexico City West.

It rains quite a bit here.

This day was particularly bad. In Mexico, the streets have really steep and tall curbs. The roads were totally flooded up above the curbs. My comp duct taped grocery bags around his feet to try and keep them dry. I didn’t. My feet didn’t get wet at all and his were soaked. Thanks for talking me in to buying the water proof shoes mom! They have already saved my life.

This is the door to our house

Our house is awesome.  As you can see we like to work out.

This is where we study.

Our Bedroom

I have the best companion in the world.
I am following mission rules and wearing my hair longer.
It's painful for me, because I love my head shaved,
but I will follow all the mission rules.

Dear Elder,

How are things in Mexico? What is new in your neck of the woods. I am looking forward to more pictures.

Friday I went to the temple and once again the temple president asked about you. He told me to tell you hello and that he is proud of you.

I also talked to the Stake Young Men's president at church yesterday. I can't remember his name. He also said to tell you hello.

The Spracklin's also asked about you. They are missing you.

We are gearing up for a Halloween party Nathan is having at our house on Friday. I think he is going to have a Twilight Marathon with all his pose. I am going to go trick or treating with Becky Law. So far the weather is still very mild. We left our windows open all night and it felt nice. The leaves are all changing color. I love this time of year. It is so beautiful.

Yesterday was the primary program. It was so fun to see all the children in the ward participating. Cute little Eli Hadley cracked me up. He got up to the microphone and Sister Kenny told him it was his turn to say his part, he said, "I don't want to," and then leaned into the microphone and said his part in a sweet innocent voice. I just about laughed my head off. You have got to love children.

I love watching each child and they say their parts, I love also watching the parents of the children, who are also saying their parts under their breath, anticipating and worrying all will go well.

It was inspiring and spiritual. What a great day.

I am going to your doctor's office to have my toe x-rayed on Wed. At least I will finally have an answer as to why the darn thing won't heal. It has gotten better, but I still can't walk normal yet.

Not a huge deal, but it's not getting better on it's own so we will see what the doctor says. I'm going to the same office but a different doctor. I will be seeing the foot doctor:)

I sure love you. Keep the faith!

Love Mom


Dang mom I’m glad you are finally getting that thing checked out! Anyways I feel bad because I never have much to say in these emails because I forget everything I wanted to tell you, so I started keeping a little notebook in my pocket and every time something interesting happens I can tell you about it ha ha. So prepare for a long Clanking email. lol

Story 1. My companion and I were walking to the church for a lesson with an investigator. Every building here has a fence around it and the church has a really big one. So as we were walking up to the fence, we noticed that this donkey that is usually tied up by a house next door wasn't there. When we walked through the gate, we realized why. It was because somebody had left the gate open and it was in the church. HAHAHAHAHA. Obispo was walking right behind us (sorry, obispo is Bishop) and he started chasing the donkey around the grass trying to get it to leave but he didn't want to. I was laughing so hard. Anyways the lesson learned from this story, is that the grass is always greener on the side of the church.

The Grass IS Greener on Our Side of The Church

Story 2. This one is short, and for dad. Dad you are lucky you don’t live in Mexico. There is Coca-Cola EVERYWHERE, and it is dirt cheap. It is cheaper than water. You can buy coke for like 4 pesos which is about 25 cents in America haha. We have a mission rule that we aren't allowed to drink coke though. I think because it’s so cheap that is all the elders would buy and some of them started to get pretty unhealthy. That is the rumor anyways. Lesson learned, I miss coke.

Nothing Healthy About This

Story 3. So I can’t remember if I told you the story about Hermano Mike. (I’m going to assume I did, if not, sorry). HE is the guy who sells cologne. I forgot to tell you the best part, after my comp and I bought our cologne from him, we were standing there talking to him for a little bit and this guy came up kind of checking out the different scents. The one I bought was a new one he just got in and was trying to sell a bunch of them. So (in Spanish obviously), I started talking about how awesome this cologne was (really loud so he would hear). Then I looked at him and I was like, hey Hermano! You gotta try this stuff. It will cambiar su vida (change your life haha). Hermano Mike told me that after I left, he bought 3 bottles. HAHAHA Lesson learned, if you scratch my back by selling me cheap cologne, I will scratch yours buy tripling your money. haha

Cologne In Mexico is Cheap

Story 4. SO I think the biggest shock for me when I got to Mexico was how crazy the drivers are. I felt safer riding with Nathan the first time he ever got behind the wheel than with most of these taxi drivers. Anyways one night we were walking home, alongside one of the main roads (oh and by the way, there are a ton of motorcyclists), when a guy on a motorcycle came flying past us. Then he hit a pot hole about 20 yards ahead of us. His bike flipped and he flew OVER another motorcyclist in the oncoming traffic and landed on the other side of the road, sliding about 50 yards before he stopped. I knew he was dead. There was no way somebody could survive that. My comp and I were pretty speechless and then tried to cross the road to help him when we saw him pop right up, walk over to his bike, pick it up and ride off. Lesson learned from this story, I have no idea. Honestly I am still speechless.

The way people drive in Mexico - Makes me speechless

Story 5. Another short one, but this time for you mommy. I had a cough last week and one of our investigators gave me some essential oil mixed with water. I muttered witch medicine under my breath right before I drank it. Also my comp had a really bad head ache one day so we ran back to the house and I got my past tense you gave me. I told him to put it on, count to ten, and it would be gone. He didn’t believe me but when it worked, he started screaming hahaha. Lesson learned, Freaking witch medicine.

Headache be gone!

Story 6. Ok this one is pretty awesome. I was thinking about that Ward Blitz Jaren did at the beginning of his mission and I wanted to do something to get some new investigators so I talked to my comp and here is what is going to happen this week. So here in Mexico, there are a ton of people who will drive around with huge speakers on the tops of their cars blaring music or advertisements for whatever they are selling, usually fruits or bread or something. Anyways one of our recent converts has one and actually his job is to make these advertisements for people. He has a whole recording studio and everything. His voice reminds me of a Mexican version of Ralph Castner’s at the Sidney football games haha. So we are going to have a movie night at the church this Thursday and watch 17 miracles (my suggestion), and then after do a tour of the building with all of the potentially new investigators and explain what each room is for. This is a great missionary tactic because then people aren't afraid to come to church when we invite them because they know where to go and what to do. Anyways this guy in our ward is going to drive around blaring an advertisement about this over his loud speaker and hopefully bring tons of people to our activity! I will give you an update about how it went next week. Lesson learned, don’t be afraid to utilize technology in missionary work!!!!

We are showing 17 Miracles at the Church This Week

Story 7. I had turtle soup the other day. Lesson learned, Turtle does NOT taste like chicken.

Story 8. So there is this plant here that looks kind of like a fern, but if you touch the leaf, it will kind of curl up. It’s pretty entertaining. Anyways my comp and I have made it an unspoken game that whenever we see one, it is a competition to see who can get there first to make it curl up. I always win but I may or may not use my size to my advantage. Also I made him a grilled cheese “sammich” (thank you Duck Dynasty), the other day. He had never had one and he said it is his new favorite food! Lesson learned, find ways to have fun with your comp! Just because it is a mission doesn't mean you can’t enjoy yourself while you work!

Story 9. I can’t think of a story for number 9 because I only have nine stories, but I can’t end on an odd number so my last story has to be story number 10. Lesson learned, OCD is a jerk.

Story 10. Ok this one is pretty crazy. Again, I can’t remember if I already told you the first part of this story so I will just tell it again. So my comp and I were walking down a road we rarely use. We looked over and saw an old lady who had fallen, lying on the sidewalk with blood coming out of her head. I carried her to a chair by her house and her daughter came out to take over. She was super nice but catholic and not interested in hearing our message, so that was 2 weeks ago. Last week I was on exchanges with a different missionary in our district, Elder Gonzalez. We were walking around contacting people when I felt like we needed to go check on xxxx (the old lady) to see how she was doing. Well long story short, we got talking with her, her daughter, and her friend who was there at the time, and by the end I committed all three of them to baptism and they all accepted!!!! Best day on my mission by far. Lesson learned, ALWAYS follow the Holy Ghost.

Anyways mama, I hope you didn’t get board reading all of my stories. Joseph Smith is my hero. Love you mommy!

Tell the family hello!!!

Love Elder Hackleman