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Baptism! Greatest family ever!
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Another Baptism! |
Ok finally. I am here, and actually have time to write. I feel like things have finally settled a little bit. Sort of haha. I am feeling perfect once again luckily. I think I put all the weight I lost this week back on haha. Not really but this week I ate a ton because I went so long with hardly anything. haha.
I want to see a picture of the cupcake tower
I can’t believe the wedding is so close. I told Jaren I would kill him if he doesn’t send me tons of pictures. I bet it is getting pretty expensive isn’t it?
Life has been pretty crazy here. Lots of work. This Sunday we had a bunch of confirmations? I that the word in English? Where they get the Holy Ghost¿ Anyways it was a great day. We are getting ready for Elder Christofferson to come! That will be awesome!!! I think we will get a Question & Answer session with him. Do you have any questions you have always wanted to ask? I guess you probably asked elder Oaks but let me know if you have another one! haha.
So I have a story for you. The family that I sent you a picture of is totally awesome. The older lady is the dad´s mom who lives with them. I have never met a non member who studies the scriptures like she does. She studies better than most members! She is very smart about the scriptures and always kept our commitments. The week before her baptism, after she had done everything we asked, she told us she wanted to get baptized, but that she hadn’t received an answer yet if it was the right path for her. For a moment I was very sad because as missionaries we make so many promises about if you just read and then ask God with faith, they will ALWAYS receive an answer. I knew she had been doing everything so I couldn’t figure out why she hadn’t gotten an answer yet about Joseph Smith. Then I felt prompted that her issue was not receiving an answer, but RECOGNIZING the answer she had already received so I showed her the scripture in Galatians about the fruits of the Holy Ghost and what feelings come from Him. Peace, happiness, love, and so on. As she was reading that verse I felt inspired to do something that not only had I never done before, but a little... different. I doubted it at first and thought it would have a negative impact but the thought came back even stronger to do it, so I did it. When she finished reading the verse I said in Spanish, obviously this is a rough translation, “so now you know the feelings that come from the Holy Ghost, but there is one more thing that you should know before this Sunday which was the day set aside for her baptism. After somebody gets baptized, you have to start praying to the devil.” The room went immediately silent and I could literally see the spirit testifying on her face. I waited for a minute in the silence and then said, “Look obviously that was not true. We obviously would never do something like that, but Sister Dolores, how did you feel when I said that?” She responded that she felt ugly and gross. I told her, “Now you know you HAVE received an answer. How do you feel every day when we come by to talk about God and Christ?” She said she had never felt happier in her life so I told her look, “I just showed you pure evidence of the difference of the feelings you will have when things come from God and when they don’t. You just felt the undeniable difference between the two. I not only felt the spirit testifying in the room that what I said wasn’t true, but I could see it testifying to you on your face.” She then started crying and said she had received an answer from God and she just never realized it. Needless to say, they all got baptized that Sunday.
So that was pretty crazy. I’m not going to lie, I was scared to say it but now I don’t regret it one bit. I had never felt the spirit in a lesson so strongly. At first when the thought came to mind, I thought saying something like that would drive the spirit away so I said a little prayer in my heart and made a quick promise with God that if I followed that feeling I had, I needed Him to do His part and make the difference undeniable because that was something I couldn’t do. So instead of the Spirit leaving, I had never felt it so present. My companion afterwards told me he thought I was going crazy, but then when he saw the effect it had on everyone in the room, he said it was the most interesting way to help somebody recognize the spirit he had ever seen.
It is amazing how effectively the spirit works. It’s almost too easy, but yet there are so many people who won’t even bother to try it.
Everything is good here! Thanks for the love and support! Keep me updated on life in Nebraskaville!
Elder Hackleman
PS: I never heard back from Jared:(
On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 8:03 AM, Amy wrote:
Dear Elder,
Good morning! I sure hope I get pictures and stories today:) How are you feeling? Are you able to eat yet?
This week was a good week. Grant and I built a cupcake stand for the wedding. I think it turned out pretty nice. Jaren made a wind chime for a wedding gift for Chelsey. We are construction central around here ha ha.
Nathan was invited to sing in church this coming Sunday. He asked Collin, Jaren, and Nick to sing with him. They will sing a four part harmony version of Come Thou Fount. They practiced yesterday. Jaren videoed it for me. It sure sounds good. I am looking forward to hearing them sing.
Next week we are heading out to the wedding. Jaren, Nathan and I will head out on Monday and Tim and Grant will come on Wed after football practice. We are renting a van to drive all the stuff out including as much furniture as we can fit. We figured out renting a Uhaul is way too much money for old cheap furniture. It would be better to take the thousand bucks and buy used furniture once he arrives.
What's new in your neck of the woods?
I sure love you.
Love,
Mom
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Cupcake Stand Built By Amy and Grant for Jaren's Wedding. |
Hey daddy! This has been a crazy week. we had a bunch of confirmations on Sunday so that was awesome! I can't believe Nathan is going to be a Junior!!! and Grant a freshman. what the clank!
So Elder De Leon is good. He told me a story about when he got to the mission. He said everybody who came from the Missionary Training Center with him, went to President Cordova's house for breakfast before they went to the offices. He said that afterwards in his first interview with president Cordova that he had, President told him that while they were eating, he was watching them and saw that he was pretty shy and wasn't as talkative as the others. Then President told him, I am going to send you with somebody that will help you become very very social. This elder has the best record in the mission right now and is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen so make sure you learn a lot from him because he will teach you how to baptize like a mad man. When he told me that, I felt pretty good:) haha.
Life is good here. It is super hot too. I'm just lucky I'm not in the port of Veracruz right now. This time of year it is about 120 with very high humidity. My area is super hot but it is more or less dry.
Dad, thank you so much for the money. I used it to buy a pillow. I have been having a lot of neck pain because I have gone about 2 months without a pillow. I will sleep good tonight though!!!
We are getting really excited for our visit from ELder Christofferson!!!
Thanks for everything dad!
Elder Hackleman
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