Merry Christmas From Mexico!

Hey mom! So you are going to hate me, but my camera is dead and I cant find my charger! I haven't been able to take many pictures this week. That picture I sent was one I took off of my phone so it isn't great quality. We have been doing all of the Christmas conferences this week! It has been quite interesting! It still feels weird being ap I'm not going to lie.

So president's kids come in to the offices every Tuesday and Thursday so I can help them with English and so they can have piano lessons. We somehow got on the subject of food, (surprise surprise), and President Cordova started saying how weird it was that we eat hotcakes with bacon!

Hotcakes and Bacon
Food that comes Directly from The Celestial Kingdom
In My Humble Opinion

I was like what??? You don't like food that comes directly from the Celestial Kingdom? His kids said they had never tried the two together before so this Tuesday I thought I would make them a surprise! I went out and bought a little bacon, and before they came in on Tuesday, I made them hotcakes and bacon! haha. I even made the cool pancakes in letter form and I spelled out each one of their names. I then had to go to the church to help set up for the Christmas party so I put their plates in the fridge for when they got there. Well turns out, they didn't end up coming to the offices this ONE time so they never saw my surprise! I left it in the fridge for Thursday, but by then the pancakes were like cookies haha. When they saw it they were super bummed out they didn't get to eat it. I promised them I would make it again on Christmas. It was pretty funny:)

Speaking of Christmas, what are skyping plans??? I think my comp is going to skype on the 24th. would that be ok?? I am getting super excited to talk with you guys! Do you know if Jaren and Chelsey will be able to make it? Tell Nathan to keep working hard, but he better be there when I call!

That is too bad about Grandpa. I hope everything turns out ok for him...I feel so bad that my grandpa has cancer! I keep sending him very happy, (hopefully), uplifting messages. I told him today that I have been saying all along that the cure to cancer lies in Naked Mole Rats. I told him to tell his doctor to check into that haha.

The other thing is, I can't even tell you how disappointed I am that I was unable to accompany you to the blood drive. I suppose this is one of those all or nothing situations right? If I miss out once, you will never let me do it again right? (ok, I am wishfully thinking). I guess I have permanently lost that opportunity.... shuckey darn. I guess I will have to find another hobby! (Side note, see previous post about Elder Hackleman's greatest fears in life and then you will understand the sarcasm in this message).

The story with the car is totally awesome! It just goes to show that when you are on the Lord´s errand, He will always pull the strings to make things happen!

Thanks for the letter mommie! You don't even know how much I love you!

Elder Hackleman

On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 9:06 AM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder,

This morning is Grant's friend, Karon's baptism. Grant is giving a talk at it.

Grant got to speak at Karon's Baptism

We are so excited. Nathan has his Christmas choir concert tomorrow. Grandma and Grandpa Roger were thinking of coming for it. If they do they will drive this morning. I haven't heard for sure if they are coming or not. Grandpa had an appointment earlier in the week and it appears they have found some more cancer. He might have to do chemotherapy again. We don't know exactly when or the details yet. For Thanksgiving he was cooking up a storm making all his favorite foods and even had a couple of new items we tried out, like a sweet potato souffle that had bananas in it. I remember thinking, most men at his age would be curled up in a chair watching football, not in the kitchen cooking and cleaning.

Apparently the missionaries helped them decorate their Christmas tree. That was sure nice.

I am getting ready to head to the church because it is blood drive day. I know you are really sad you cannot go with me to donate blood ha ha. Nathan is working and your dad is working too. This is one of the days where your dad has to work at the warehouse, so sadly I will have to go by myself.

I have worked again on updating your blog this week. Man, I am amazed at all the good pictures you send. Some days we are getting 300 page views and likes and comments a day from random people I don't even know from all over the world. I just got caught up with all the wax museum images. Those have really gone viral ha ha. Keep up the good work!

I sure love you.

I wanted to share a little story with you. The other day I had a bunch ward visits I needed to do. The problem was, my check engine light came on in the van. I panicked because we just had it serviced so it wouldn't be because of a cheap thing, like spark plugs or something like that since they were all recently replaced. I was trying to decide whether I dared drive it in that condition. I checked everything and couldn't see why the engine light would be on. I went ahead and did my visits. Then, yesterday I was going to the temple. Once again, I hated to drive that far on a car that has the check engine light on, but decided to risk it one more time. To my utter amazement, after having the check engine light on all week, it magically didn't come on. I went to the temple and all my errands yesterday and it hasn't come back on at all. I really feel like it was a miracle for me.

I can't wait to hear from you!

Love,

Mom