Missionary letters May 18, 2015

Baptism This Week

Elder Hackleman and his zone leaders

This is me and Elder Park. He is the Assistant to the President and came out for the zone class. He also happens to be friends with Lauren Gull! Small world

Baptism in the Waters of Mormon

Hey mom! First of all, I can’t believe they are getting married so fast! But I have two questions about this marriage. First of all, why not just wait two more days and do it on Jaren’s birthday? Second, why in the clank are they doing it in that temple? haha I have never even heard of it before! haha. I am pretty excited for them though. That is super awesome that Nathan made Titanium though!!!! I’m super proud of him! Who is the new choir teacher?

I totally love everything about Elder Oaks!!! That is so awesome that you got to see and hear him!!! I know exactly what you mean though with a different feeling in the room when they walk in. When Apostles came to talk to us when I was in the MTC, I felt the same thing. That is super funny that he was just cracking jokes! It reminds me of something that the wife of my branch president in the Missionary Training Center told us. She said that a missionary who is all work and no play is not an effective missionary. A missionary who is all play and no work is not an effective missionary either. I totally agree with that and what Elder Oaks said. Everything in this church is all based on your attitude. We talk about it all the time about how we can do service all day long but it won’t mean a thing if we have a bad attitude about it. I see no reason why you can’t work hard and have a good time while you are doing it. For example, whoever said you weren’t allowed to bust out and sing “Let’s Get Down To Business” when you are chopping up fallen down trees with a machete? I don’t see any problem with that! Sometimes it really bugs me when my companions or other missionaries get all depressed and upset because something didn’t go the way they planned it. I always tell them, you can’t go back in time so why bother wasting the future thinking about it? Learn from it, and do better tomorrow! I really do have a love for this work like I never knew. I always liked going out with the missionaries before, but I have come to understand it in a whole new perspective. The other thing I know is that every time you have a bad attitude, the investigator will never be home!

Anyways this week was kind of crazy. (Elder Hackleman proceeded to tell a story about his mission president saying some very nice things about him at a conference. He doesn’t want it in the blog so that part was excluded from the letter.)

We had a baptism this Sunday! We also have baptismal interviews lined up for 8 more people this Wednesday! It is pretty amazing to see the hand of the Lord in this work!!!! Gotta love it!

So now for the bad news. I’m sicker than a dog right now. I had a super bad fever all night and I feel like junk. A bunch of other stuff is wrong, but I’m just praying I didn’t get Dengue fever or something. It has been going around the mission because of the. We have pills we all have to take to avoid it, but you know me, pills don’t work! haha. I am have tempted to ask you to send me some of your essential oils. Do you have anything for Dengue fever?

That is about it for this week. Love you mom!!! You are the best. Congrats and meeting an apostle of the Lord! Oh speaking of which, I heard a rumor that Elder Holland won’t be coming after all. Apparently now it is going to be Elder Christopherson. Who knows! Somebody else said Elder Cook so I have no idea any more. All I know is an apostle is coming. I’m just not sure which.

Love You!

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 9:18 AM, Amy wrote:

How is my favorite missionary doing today? What's new with you? We are looking forward to some major changes around here. Jaren is going to Utah next week to pick up Chelsey and the two of them are driving back to Nebraska. Chelsey is going to be house-sitting for the Johnson's who live up the street from us, for the summer. Jaren and Chelsey have set the wedding date for Aug, 15th. They are planning on getting married in the Payson Utah temple. Jaren is having her wedding ring made by one of Tim Law's partners from the fields. He owns a jewelry store in Orem. He has come out to visit the fields a few times so you might have met him. His name is Re-nae. Jaren is hoping the ring will be finished in the next week or so. It's kind of crazy planning a wedding ha ha.

Yesterday your dad gave his first talk as a high councilman. Jaren also spoke with him. They were speaking in Jaren's singles ward. Jaren also spoke with brother Hettinger, who was just made a high councilman as well. So Jaren had the privilege of speaking twice yesterday. He was also called to be on the family home evening committee so Monday nights will be spent with the singles in the stake now instead of with us:( Oh, well, we will live ha ha.

Tonight we are having the sister missionaries over for dinner as well as a family who has a son Nathan's age. His name is Josh. Not the same Josh you helped teach. It should be fun.

Nathan tried out for the varsity show choir, Titanium on Thursday evening. At one point he had two girls who asked him to be their partner for tryouts, but eventually one of the girls found another partner. He ended up making it on the team. Both of the girls he was helping did not make it

Saturday I had a leadership training meeting in Council Bluffs, Iowa. We were given very little information in advance about the meeting except to say it was for the president's of the women's organizations and there might be a visiting authority.

Friday evening I got an email saying the authority was Elder Oakes and he had requested the invitation be extended to the entire presidencies. So the Young Women, Relief Society, and Primary presidents of the surrounding 7 stakes were all invited. We were told to arrive at least a half an hour early.

We were so excited and arrived 45 minutes early. The meeting was scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. At 9:30 a.m. Elder Oakes, Elder Clayton (from the presidency of the 70) and our regional general authority, (I can't remember his name), all arrived. It was absolutely amazing the feeling that came over the room when they walked in. We all immediately stood up. There was complete silence. Sitting on the stand were the 7 stake presidents, the temple president and his wife, and 3 ladies who would be participating in the conference. That was it. Elder Oakes walked to the front of the room, in a brisk bouncing pace. He shook hands with the lady who was conducting the meeting. Turned around and saw us all standing and invited us to sit down. Then he went to the first row. He proceeded to go around the entire room and shake hands with every single person in the room. The last people he shook hands with were the men on the stand. Yes, I got to shake hands with Elder Dallin H Oakes! I watched as many women in the room immediately broke down in tears as soon as they shook his hand. I didn't cry, but it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. Elder Clayton also shook hands, but he didn't shake everyone's hand.

What an experience. At exactly 10 a.m. the meeting started. One local woman spoke, then all three men and a solo musical number. Then at 11:00 the three men moved over to some stools and opened up the floor to questions. Elder Oakes was absolutely inspirational, full of energy, and very funny. He told us all we needed to lighten up. At one point, he said something along the lines of, ok, I am going to go off topic for a minute and tell a funny story, just to lighten this mood a little. It is getting pretty heavy around here. He would tell a funny story, and then continue on with questions.

At 12:00 the meeting came to a close. We were then invited to leave to the left because the men were waiting in the wings on the right for their meeting with started in a half an hour which included all the bishoprics of the seven stakes.

We hustled out while the men hustled in. I'm sure Elder Oakes did the same thing with the men shaking each one of their hands and proceeding with another two hour meeting. I can't even imagine going at such a pace. He obviously didn't have lunch. I was exhausted after our meeting was over. What an inspiration he is to me.

He was so funny and so real. During conference everything of course is very polished, but in this setting, he was amazing. It was like talking to grandpa Howard. Spiritual, fun, and personal all in one.

I learned a lot on Saturday, but I want to tell a little story I heard, and I can't even remember if Elder Oakes is the one who said it, or just referred to it again. Either way, he agreed with the story. A lady was taking a test. When she got the results back she realized she had gotten one question wrong on the test. This made her feel so bad and she was upset with herself that she could have missed it. A man took the same test. Upon seeing his results, he pats himself on the chest and exclaims, "I got an 80%. I rock!" This is the type of thing Elder Oakes was saying a lot of women do. They beat themselves up over things expecting perfection. This is a lot of what his talk was about, how we need to "Lighten Up"

He also suggested we have fun along the way. Hard work can be fun. I certainly could tell he was having fun during the conference, even though it is a lot of hard work.

I think this is the perfect example of your life's theme. You always find joy along the way, even in hard work. Elder Oakes motto certainly is the way you live your life. So keep up the good work!

Love

Mom