Friday, May 8, 2015
Clouds in Mexico
That is super cool about the Pathway program! aybe you will get somebody from Mexico!!! That would be sweet!!! Hey I have a question about how that works. How long is each like semester or whatever? I was thinking about it, and I could do the pathway program during the summer and get my bachelors degree in like 2 years! What do you think? I am not very familiar with how it works, so maybe that is unrealistic. Just an idea! My football coach emailed me again this week! It is cool that we are keeping in touch!
I bet dad is super stressed! He has a ton going on right now!
I hope you guys have a good time with grandma and grandpa! that means they won't be there to skype right?
Nathan keeps going back and forth with football doesn't he. Oh well. As long as he finds something he likes. Just tell him he needs to make a decision now because if he isn't in the weight room all summer, he wont get to play.
That is funny about the Storm Chasers game! haha. Speaking of which, whatever happened to our buddy Adam from Texas??
This week has been great! A bunch of hard work. We had Carnival here in Huatusco so we had to go back to our houses a few hours early almost every day this week because of all the drunks in the street. Amazingly, we still managed to teach the most lessons in one week I have ever taught in my entire mission! It was pretty great! I dont want to say too much about what is going on, or else I won't have anything to talk about on Mother's day! haha. I am super excited for that by the way! Make sure the whole family is there! Tell Jaren he can wait to talk to xxxxxx for an hour. It will be ok!
What is Grantish up to these days?
Love you all!!
Elder Hackleman
PS. I learned how to make saviche this week!
On Mon, May 4, 2015 at 8:24 AM, Amy wrote:
Dear Elder,
So what time are we going to skype on Sunday? Our church is from 1:30 to 4:30.
I can't wait to talk to you!
What's been going on this week? Anything new?
Jaren has been working hard at the decking company. It is very hard work. He had a bit of a hard time going in this morning because he didn't get the rest he needed over the weekend, but he will eventually learn to go to bed earlier that's for sure.
I am starting a program in the Pathway class starting today where I will be paired up as a speaking partner with someone from another country. I will skype her for a half hour a week and my job is to help her learn English. I have my first skype meeting today so that should be fun. I wonder what country my partner is from?
Your dad is pretty busy doing two callings right now. They are working on getting the young men's president position called but it hasn't happened yet.
Grandma Karen and Grandpa Roger are on their way to our house as we speak. They are coming for a couple of days so they can go to Nathan's choir concert on Tuesday evening. He is pretty excited to show everyone his hard work.
Show choir tryouts for Titanium are in a week or so. He is hoping to make that team. He has once again decided he isn't going to do football after all. I am not even going to ask him anymore. He will just need to make the choice himself.
Friday night we had tickets to go watch the Storm Chasers play. We got to the fields and realized Tim looked at the tickets wrong. The game is for next Friday, so we went to Jacob Banks soccer game at Bell West instead. It was a good game but they ended up losing against Omaha Central.
I sure love you and can't wait to hear from you!
Love mom
Future football teammates? Hopefully!
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Me, (Elder Hackleman), and Elder Magdaleno.
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Our branch outside of the stake center over 2 hours away from our area.
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One last district selfie before everybody got changed (but me!) |
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This is my little buddy. for some reason i just couldn't resist doing the lion king pose. |
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For some reason he absolutely loves me. |
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Ya, I'm a little crazy! |
Brownies for Tamales!
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Some of my Mexican friends inquired about a treat they had heard of called brownies. They wanted to know what they were exactly. A few husbands had gone to America and tasted of their goodness. I told them I would teach them how to make brownies if they would teach me how to make tamales. We had a branch party sharing recipes. |
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Thanks mom for teaching me how to make brownies. It sure came in handy in Mexico! I have never made them with colored marshmallows before, but they turned out delicious. |
Letters April 27, 2015
Hey mommsi! So you know what I was randomly thinking about this week? Do you remember when you and I went and saw "Wicked" after my graduation. I don't know why but I remembered how much fun we had and I just started busting out with wicked music in the middle of the street. My companion thought I was crazy, but when your Dashing Through Life, then No one mourns the wicked, if ya know what I'm sayin.
Anyways, I want you to try and guess what the big surprise is!!!! haha I'm not going to tell you:)
That is so cool that dad is in the High Counsel!!!! Good for him.
Nathan, this part is for you buddy. just wanted to say how proud I am of you. but more than anything, how proud your Father in Heaven is that you stood alone. Go check out the Mormon message of President Monson when he had to stand alone when he was in the navy. It reminded me of your story amigo. You will be an awesome missionary. The best part is, now you never need to fear to share the gospel. It is kind of like brushing your teeth if somebody grows up their whole life without brushhing their teeth, when they see you doing it, they will think you are weird!, but then once they realize how much better life is with clean teeth, they will thank you eternally for not caring what they thought at first! Good for you little bro. (By the way, one of the girls in the branch, was totally crushin on you when I showed her a picture of my fam.)
So I have some very good news. A couple of weeks ago, President Cordova had interviews with everyone. But since we are so far out in the middle of nowheresville, we didn't have them. Apparently he asked everyone in my district and the zone leaders about me. I guess they told him good things because he told them he needed to move me somewhere, (to an area that is very difficult, because he trusts I will get the job done.) So that is why I pretty much knew I would be changed today. He told them all I would. Nevertheless, I knew I wouldn't leave because I still had work that needed to be done here. They all thought I was crazy when I told them President wouldn't change me, especially since I hadn't even talked with him. Well needless to say, changes came on Saturday, AND I AM STAYING IN HUATUSCO!
I was soooo happy and everybody was soooo surprised. This Sunday we had stake conference. President Cordova came to our stake conference and afterwards we had our interviews, (because we didn't have them a few weeks ago). He told me that he was certain he was going to change me, but then he saw our numbers, with 10 investigators in church last week, and he felt like I was the one who needed to be here teaching them. He said he wanted me to be the one at their baptisms. It was super cool! I knew I wasn't going, but nobody ever believes Elder Hackleman! He also told me that this would for sure be my last change though, because next change a ton of zone leaders are finishing their missions. He said he needed me as a district leader in this area, so that he could replace the zone leaders! I'm pretty excited about that. He said, 'you have like a year and a few months in the field right?' and I said no I just completed 8 months. His eyes got huge and he started laughing. He said my Spanish was so much better than anybody else that came out at the same time as me, that he couldn't even tell. haha that made me feel pretty good.
Anyways, stake conference was super cool! Elder Salinas from the 70 was there! He spoke very very strongly and very animated. He pretty much chewed out our entire stake. It was awesome! I have never seen anybody talk like that before! I loved it. Afterwards, the branch president had us all over to his house for dinner, the entire branch of 50! He fed us all! He seriously does so much for this branch it isn't even funny.
Well I am pretty happy that I am still in Huatusco! This week will be hard though because of Carnival. We may not be able to even leave our houses....
I will let you know how it goes next week!
Love you,
Anyways, stake conference was super cool! Elder Salinas from the 70 was there! He spoke very very strongly and very animated. He pretty much chewed out our entire stake. It was awesome! I have never seen anybody talk like that before! I loved it. Afterwards, the branch president had us all over to his house for dinner, the entire branch of 50! He fed us all! He seriously does so much for this branch it isn't even funny.
Well I am pretty happy that I am still in Huatusco! This week will be hard though because of Carnival. We may not be able to even leave our houses....
I will let you know how it goes next week!
Love you,
Elder Hackleman
P.S. cant wait to skype on Mother's day!!!
On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 7:20 AM, Amy wrote:
Dear Elder,
Good Monday morning. What in the world were you thinking last week, dropping a teaser and not giving us the answer. You made me crazy all week wondering what you could possibly be talking about you crazy boy. What is the big thing that is happening in July? Don't even think about going another week without telling me.
Your dad was put into the High Counsel yesterday during Stake Conference. It was really a special day. The new stake presidency did such a great job.
Jaren flew out to Saint George on Saturday and came back on Sunday so he could attend xxxxxxx's brother's wedding. It was a quick trip but at least he met some of the family now.
Nathan is back into saying he is going to play football this year. He is so funny. I think he just needed to come to the conclusion on his own and he has decided it is something he wants to do.
I am so proud of him. Friday some of his friends on the bus were joking around with him about playing football and told him it would never work because he didn't bother learning the plays. Then they started in making fun of his religion. He was laughing it off with them for a while, but then decided he had had enough. He got very serious and told them it was enough and they had gone too far. He wouldn't listen to them slandering his religion any more. This really had a big effect on them. They changed their tone and started asking questions about his religion instead of making fun of it. He said by the time they got home he had born his testimony and taught them a bunch about his beliefs. They asked him not to forget where they left off and asked if they could ask more questions on Monday. I am so impressed with him. His Patriarchal blessing says he will be put in positions in his life when he will need to defend his faith and at times he will need to stand alone. This was certainly one of those times.
He is really has a strong testimony and realized for the first time there was a power in sharing it.
I sure love you!
Love mom
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Momma's Boys - Missionaries in Mexico
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My companion and I just realized we have the same shirts,
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Stripling Warriors
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Shout for Joy!
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Missionary letters - April 20, 2015
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Melvin's son Sean and Christie's son Conner.
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Anyways, this week was very good. I HAVE SOME AMAZING NEWS! WE JUST FOUND OUT THAT SOMETHING BIG IS HAPPENING IN JULY! Try and guess what it is:) This week was really good. We had a couple of baptisms. We were able to maintain all of our investigators in church so that was awesome. The bad news is we had another huge rainstorm this week. We were soaking wet all day but had some of our best lessons! The problem is I walked around with about a gallon of muddy rain water in my boots all day and when I got home I had athletes foot. I was able to buy some spray and stuff though and sense I got right on top of it, i
I am kind of worried. We have an awesome family that we are teaching and everybody has dates for baptism on Mother's day the 10th. If all continues like it is, we should have AT LEAST 7 baptisms that day. The problem is next week we have changes. Even though I only have two changes here and normally you are in an area for at least three, all of my leaders are telling me I will be leaving. Truthfully, they don't really know for sure because they don't do the changes, president does, but president does ask them about me and has asked about my leadership capabilities. For that reason they think I will leave next week.
I REALLY DON'T WANT TO LEAVE! THEIR IS STILL SO MUCH WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE! but I will go where the Lord wants me to go and trust that the next elder here can seal the deal with some of our investigators. The sad thing is, that is how this mission works. If you have a ton of success and potential for the next change, president usually moves you before, to an area that doesn't have much going for it. It makes sense, but it is hard for me as a missionary because I will prepare everybody for baptism, but then leave right before I actually get to see it happen. That is ok though, as long as I know it gets done, I'm happy! I hate changes though, not going to lie. haha I absolutely love this area and never want to leave hah!
Thanks for everything mom! have a safe drive!!!
Elder Hackleman
P.S. I cant wait for Mother's day! and the thing that is going to happen in July!!:)
On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 7:26 AM Amy wrote:
Dear Elder,
How are you today? I am writing from my phone in the early hours of the morning from Joel's house. Uncle Melvin's funeral that was on Saturday was a nice service. Courtney sang and Jaren played Amazing Grace. I met a couple of my long lost cousins I haven't seen for 25 years at least. Two of Melvin s sons, Derrick and Sean. It was so good to see them and talk to them. Sean lives in New York. He flies out of Salt Lake today. Jaren and I need to go talk to UVU to see about him getting in state tuition so we ended up staying an extra day. I am giving Sean a ride to the airport since it will be on the way. I'm looking forward to spending more time with him.
We have sure had a wonderful time seeing everyone in Idaho. We went to Daniel's ward yesterday for church. Ashley sat on my lap during sacrament meeting so that was awesome!
Jaren bought Joel's car so we will be driving two cars back to Omaha. I sure hope we can stay awake ha ha. We will stop and nap along the way if we get tired.
Everyone loves hearing the horse story.
How are things going? What has your week been like?
I sure love you!
Love mom
Baptism this week - 4-13-15
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President Luna baptized this young lady on her 18th birthday.
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What a remarkable day! |
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Baptism by immersion, just like the Savior did. |
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This is pretty much our entire branch along with some investigators and friends too. |
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Words cannot express the wonderful spirit that always attends us at baptisms.
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What a perfect day! |
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I'm sure glad I got to be here for it. |
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I couldn't be any happier. Even if I were running in the winning touchdown at the super-bowl, full of screaming fans, it wouldn't be as great as this. |
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Elder Bowers and Elder Hackleman
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Elder Hackleman |
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When we were on our way back, the son of Hermana Marisol fell asleep in the back of the truck with my suit jacket on. He was pretty tired and fell asleep standing up haha. |
Mexico is the most beautiful place on earth!
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I know I might be partial, but I think Mexico is the most beautiful place on earth! |
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It is super pretty! |
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We believe in baptism by immersion.
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Missionary in Mexico Helps a Sick Horse
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So the wonderful lady who always takes us places on p-days, has a horse. The horse got super sick this week and couldn't move. It has a ton of muscle spasms and stuff and was really bad off. Vets have come out to look at it and have prescribed her with a bunch of horse meds, but it is really expensive to have a vet administer the meds to the horse for some reason, but here in Mexico it is really easy to get the meds so she just bought them with the syringes and drip bags and everything and was going to inject the horse by herself.The problem is she had no idea how to do it.
The vet wrote her some instructions but not very detailed.
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Needless to say, my friend was very impressed and told a bunch of people about how well I did.
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April 12, 2015 Letters-Mexican Joke
A Mexican Magician says he will make himself disappear on the count of three- so he says "Uno, dos"... and then he's gone, without a tres.
I had a really good week. This Sunday was one of my best Sundays in the mission. We had 10 investigators at church, a confirmation. We put dates for 3 more people to get baptized next week, and 2 more for the following. It is kind of funny because my companion and I keep getting calls from the zone leaders and the district leader and stuff congratulating us on our hard work or whatever, and I just keep telling them don't thank us, thank the spirit. None of this would be possible without the power of the Holy Ghost.
So remember the baptism I mentioned and how last week I said the mom wouldn't go? Well I talked to her a little bit. Then the day of the baptism came and the girl showed up by herself saying her mom didn't want to come. Then about 5 minutes before we left for the river, she showed up!!!!!!! I was sooooooooooooooo happy! Afterwards she was crying and apparently upset because she still didn't want her daughter to get baptized, but at least she was there. I know it will take some work, but she will warm up to it eventually.
I have some other stories to tell, but I want to tell them with the pictures so you can see it.
Love you!!! Keep the family strong!! Thank you for all you have done for us crazy hooligans of children! You are the best.
Elder Hackleman (the one and only)
On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 9:53 PM, Amy wrote:
Dear Elder,
I have to start out with a joke I got from Bryun Decker.
Mexican Magician says he will make himself disappear on the count of three- so he says "Uno, dos"... and then he's gone, without a tres.
Just a little humor:)
How are you doing? Things are good around here. Jaren flew out on Wednesday to Grandma Karen's so he could spend some time with the grandparents. I'm sure your dad will tell the details so I won't give you two accounts of the same thing. Suffice to say, I am heading out Monday morning to pick him up. Then we will go to Utah. He is going to go to college at Utah Valley University. It is in the Provo/Orem area. Him and Jake are going to be roommates. Of course the fact that xxxxxxx is there is an added draw for him. We will go to Idaho and see the family then come back next Monday. Saturday is Uncle Melvin's funeral. He was Grandpa Howard's brother. The funeral is in Pocatello. Cortney is going to be singing at the funeral and Jaren is playing the piano for her. They found a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace.
A week from Tuesday Jaren will start work at Decks decks and more decks. He will work the summer here and save up before starting school in the fall.
I have my spring break this week so I am so happy about that. I cannot express enough how happy I am to be done with math!
I did get an A in my class so that is good.
Grant had his patriarcle blessing tonight. What a wonderful experience that was.
Right now it is raining outside. I love hearing the stormy weather.
I sure love you. I especially love Monday's when I get to hear from you!
Love,
Mom
April 6, 2015, Pictures from Mexico
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It's a good thing I have good friends to help me stay in shape.
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We went up to the Virgin Mary statue again to show my new companion.
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Us posing as we look out over Huatusco haha |
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"Central Park" of Huatusco
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I did divisions with the district leader, Elder Rodriguez.
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This is a closeup picture of our feast.
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This is a "potluck groupie" I took in-between sessions of conference.
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This is of our future little missionaries of the branch.
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Just a nightmare
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April 6, 2015 Letters from Elder Hackleman
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This was taken in the Sacred Grove, New York |
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Grant watching Conference |
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A little football action between sessions of conference. |
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Dog pile on Chelsey! |
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Niagara Falls |
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Kirtland, Ohio
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Visitors Center |
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Nathan, Jaren and Grant in the Sacred Grove |
We watched conference in English. Our mission president likes us to watch it in our native language, (if we can), so that we don't miss anything, but it was cool because we watched the two speakers who gave the talk in Spanish in Spanish. That was very cool! I absolutely loved conference and the whole time was thinking about how Jaren must have been feeling about all those talks about marriage with xxxxxxx right there! Haha does he have a ring picked out yet?
That is too bad about Nathan. Is it from when he was running around right afterwards or is this just normal? I bet you are so excited to be in your last math class!!!!! You have to admit though, looking back, I bet you learned a ton!! So what are the plans for this week? Speaking of plans, I STILL HAVENT GOTTEN AN ANSWER ABOUT JAREN. Peru State? or no Peru State?
The work is going great here! We are going to have a baptism. I know that baptism is for everyone equally, but I think that she deserves baptism a little more equally than anyone else. She is 17 years old and has been going to church by herself for a year and a half. She lives in a little town about 45 minutes away and rides with the branch president every Sunday. She hasn't been able to get baptized before, because her mom is very against the church and wouldn't give permission. She turns 18 this week and can sign her own form, so she wants to get baptized on her birthday this Friday! She is so good. She even has an assignment in the branch as the young women's president, even though she isn't a member, because it is a small branch. She was the best person for the job and teaches every Sunday. The branch president went to her moms house this week to invite her to her daughters baptism, and she said she didn't want anything to do with it. Sadly, to me, it shows the faith of this girl, and also shows me how eternally thankful I am that I have parents who not only support me, but are the right EXAMPLE for me in this gospel. I am super excited for her. We also have some more baptisms planned for next week. Lots of work, which makes me SO happy!!!
As for the new district idea, we still haven't heard anything more from President. We most likely won't until the end of this change on the 27th of April.
Anyways, give me a few minutes and I will send some pictures! I can't remember which ones I have already sent so, sorry if I send some more than once.
Te amo mucho mamá
Elder Hackleman
On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 9:10 AM, Amy wrote:
Dear Elder,
How are you doing? How was your week? Did you watch conference in Spanish or English? What did they decide about the new area you were suggesting? What was your favorite talk in conference? What would you say is the overall theme of conference?
We had a great trip to Palmyra, Kirtland, and Nauvoo. We sure did a lot of traveling in a weeks time. We even went to Niagara Falls. My phone charger stopped working and I thought my phone was broken. It wasn't until I got home that I figured it out, so I didn't get a lot of pictures. Everyone else took plenty, so I will send some pictures as soon as I glean them from the fam.
XXXXX is here. She and Jaren seem to really be hitting it off. She leaves tomorrow and she didn't get here until Saturday evening so it is a quick visit, but they talk and text all the time when she isn't here so I guess they know each other pretty well.
Her sister is getting married on Saturday and her brother is getting married in two weeks, so she has a lot on her plate right now, especially since her mother just died in a car accident.
Nathan has been having trouble with his wisdom teeth extraction. For a couple of weeks now he has been in pain but it got really bad while we were on our trip. We called Brother Stanley, the oral surgeon from our ward, and he guessed the dry socket must be infected. He ended up calling in an prescription for us to pick up at a Walgreens on our drive. I think it has helped but he is still not 100 percent yet. Brother Stanley said he might need to go in and extract the infection. Poor guy. We need to let the antibiotic do it's thing until tomorrow and if he is still in a lot of pain then he might need to get opened back up again. Nathan has a high tolerance to pain and he doesn't complain much, but this has really taken a toll on him. Even while he was on his trip to Colorado with the choir his mouth was hurting. That didn't stop him from having a good time however.
I am in my last week of math class. Yeah! It can't get over soon enough. The last two weeks were the worst of all because I didn't have the time to put in since we were hosting company and traveling but luckily Jaren was able to tutor me and get me through. I can't wait to have Algebra behind me!
I sure love you!
Love mom
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