Letters to and from Mexico Jan 26

Hey daddykins!

That is great about Utah basketball! But what are you thinking for the super bowl? Patriots or Seattle? Tom Brady or Seattle’s defense? Should be a pretty good game no? I’m proud of you with those classes though! I wish I could see how you teach! If you ever need a few tips, I’m becoming a master teacher you know;) when in doubt, just devote 24 hours a day to it and you will start to get pretty good at it! haha just kidding. I bet you are amazing. Are you going to be a strict teacher or a chill one?

I actually have a recipe for you to try but I’m thinking about sending it to you in Spanish so you can have some fun trying to translate it. haha. que dice? quiere que yo hago esto? ok bueno, yo voy a hacerlo. aqui esta

POLLO EN CACAUATADO

1 kg de pollo

2 medios crema (i will tell you this one in english. it is just half and half i think)

2 tomates

2 dientes de ajo

1 pedasito de cebolla

2 chiles de chipotle en salsa (i told you in previous email how to make this chipotle salsa)

1 bolsita de cacauate salados

preparacion

se limpio el pollo. se pone a hervir se licua (or food processor) el tomate, cebolla, ajo, chipotle, el cacauate, y la mediacrema. se le agrega al pollo sacarle. un poco de caldito y agregar. lo que. se licuo y dejar. que se cuesa el guiso se sasona con sal al gusto.

I bought a folder and am keeping all of my favorite recipes in it. The member we ate with on Sunday made this for us and I asked her to tell me how lol. If you don’t understand, I will translate for you next week;) love you daddy! Oh and serve that over rice. Thanks for everything papá.

Te amo mucho.

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Jan 26, 2015 at 11:41 AM, wrote:

Dear Elder,

How was your week? We are doing great up here, everyone is healthy. It was a busy weekend!

The Utes are #12 in Men's Basketball. They should move up a little this week. It's going to come down to Utah and Arizona for the Pac-12 Championship. The Super Bowl is coming up this weekend.

I'm getting a little nervous. Thursday is my first day teaching at Midland University. Introduction to Advertising Design. I have 21 students enrolled so far...gulp. I am just past halfway with my Fundamentals of Print Design class at Bellevue University. It's actually been pretty fun, even though it's an online class. The Ad class will be fun too, I just have to get past the first class jitters. The only thing that kinda stresses me out is the time commitment.

I know you are super busy, but send some pics or stories about what's going on. :)

¡Te amo hijo!

Papá

Hey mommy! The couches look awesome! They remind me of my shoes! I just got them polished ;) there are guys in the streets who will polish them really really nice only for like 20 pesos. It is awesome! I’m only wearing my eccos now because I keep twisting my ankle while I walk in my other pair because they are so worn out on that one side. Needless to say, my eccos got pretty dirty this week so I figured it was time to get them buffed. Now they look as shiny as your couches! haha. I am afraid I'm going to need another pair of shoes soon.  If this pair wears out I will be out of luck.

I haven’t heard from Nathan in a while so you will have to tell me how his show choir goes. I’m happy for him! I’m glad grant has a good friend like Garrett but man I think I want to cry. I really really miss Freddys. Tell grant to eat a bacon burger for me.

Anyways about dad... I can’t even say how grateful I am that he is working so hard to provide for all of you and Jaren and I so we can continue the work of the Lord. Whenever he gets discouraged, just remind him of all the blessings in heaven he will receive for his willingness. I have the best family ever. I told him I could teach him how to scold someone in Spanish so maybe that would help him be more willing to give out bad grades if he could do it in Spanish! haha

So I feel bad because I make you do so much work with all of my scripture questions and object lessons so what if we do a little thing I like to call trampa in spanish. Send me a picture of your homework and I will solve your questions for you while you find me scripture references! haha I’m worried I will forget how to do all of that too! Speaking of which, in Mosiah, how did Alma have the authority to perform baptisms at the waters of Mormon? King Mosiah didn’t ordain him as the head of the church until much later when he was able to call priests and teachers for the seven churches he established in the land of Zarahemla. So how did he get the authority before? I thought it had to be given by the laying on of hands like Christ did with his apostles.

My week was great! This Sunday I will find out if I’m getting transferred. It is very likely I will be. I’ve been here for a long time. I took a picture of the close up thing you wanted last week, and I have it here. The only problem is the internet cafe we usually go to was closed so we are at the one that doesn’t let me send pictures... I’m sorryL I would if I could!

I also lost 5 more pounds haha. I’m down to 240 now. My pants are very big lol and I am on my last belt hole. Who would have thunk! haha. Oh well. I promise I will do my best to send pictures next week! I love you mommy! Keep being awesome! Oh and I never heard back from Daniel

Te amo muchisimo mamá

Elder S. Hackleman

On Mon, Jan 26, 2015 at 12:14 PM, wrote:

Dear Elder,

How has this week been? I hope it is better than last week. Did you get transferred?

We had a good day at church yesterday. I finally finished the table and coaches. I thought I had the table done before, but the finish just wasn't holding up so I sanded it down again and put a different application on it. Trial and error I guess. Hopefully I will be satisfied with this one. I'll bet you can't even recognize the sofa. Now all I need is some fun pillows and this project will be complete.

The weather is nice today. It is supposed to get up to 60 degrees. Crazy for January, but I'll take it!

Nathan has a couple more weeks of practice and then his show choir is going to start their rounds. They perform almost every week for the next couple of months. I can't wait to see him. He won't show me anything right now. He wants the first time for us to see him to be the real deal. We have seen him sing, but never sing and dance yet. I can't wait.

Grant rode his bike all day on Saturday with his friend Garrett. This warm weather is giving us spring fever ha ha. They like to ride to Shadow Lake shopping center and walk around. They usually stop in at Freddy's and get a French fry or milkshake. I love to see him get out. November and December were so cold we tend to stay in a lot.

Nathan had a birthday party for Collin's old girlfriend. Something Ellis? It was on Friday evening and it was warm enough to have a bon fire outside. I know this weather won't last, but it is nice for a change.

The next couple of weeks are going to be crazy for your dad. It is the only time that the two classes he is teaching actually over-lap. He keeps joking around about holding down 3 jobs, but that is exactly what he is doing right now. He's a trooper. He is so funny because he gets so sad when he has to give someone a bad grade. He wants to call them up and mentor them, but there is only so much he can do.

I am chugging along with my math class. It's not so bad. Each week at the beginning of the week I am always over-whelmed because I don't remember the rules, but then after a little refresher, it all comes back to me and by the end of the week I am sailing along. I can certainly see how this is good for me even though I complain a little bit. I keep thinking I just need to get through this quarter. It's funny because we are supposed to read a finance book by the end of the quarter to go along with one of our requirements. They give us a list of approved books to choose from. I have already blown through two different books and I think I might read another one. I love the reading part of it so I guess I am an over achiever when it comes to that part but give me a page with fractions and decimals that I need to do and I will put it off until the last minute because I find no pleasure in that part of the homework.

I sure love you!

Love Mom

Elder Hackleman,

I hope all is well in Mexico. I am currently representing a client who is from Veracruz. He is about 20 and has been here for about 3-4 years. Doesn’t speak a bit of English.

Anyway, I really appreciate the email. It was very thoughtful of you. We love you and your family very much and want to make sure that you are successful. Part of that, is making sure you are not worrying about finances and instead, focusing on what you are doing. If there is anything I can do in that regard, let me know. Your mom mentioned that you are having some shoes wear out. You need Dr. Martens. I have a pair on right now and I love the shoes because the soles are think and made of material that do not break down easily. Anyway, I am happy to send you a pair but I am worried that they will not get to you. Let me know.

Our family talks about you often. Just this past weekend, Jared, Tyler and I went to Rupert to meet up with Chris Hall, a friend of Jared’s. We talked about you on the trip and how you were made to be a missionary.

I hope you realize how blessed you are. I think going to Veracruz on your mission is so cool. You will be able to go back there and visit people you come in contact with and to see the sites and do the other things that you are not able to do as a missionary.

Keep up the good work!

Love Uncle Joel

From: Seth Hackleman
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2015 1:17 PM
To: Joel Beck
Subject: Mi Tio Joel!!!!

Tio! Como está?? que tal en el bonito estado de idaho? Hey first off sorry for the typos, the keyboards here don’t always work right. I just wanted to say thank you thank you thank you a thousand times for everything. My mom told me that you helped us out last month with our missions and I can’t even begin to describe how thankful I am. I know that it meant so much to my mom and dad also. Thank you for always just being an awesome uncle. You, Anne, Ty, and Beau, and Oakley have always been so amazing. We have always lived so far away and yet I have always felt your support and love in my life, even down here in Mexico. We have a ton of aunts, uncles, cousins, bueno, relatives in general and yet you always seem to be able to show your support for everyone, even the ones who live 18 hours away. (Granted Ty only likes us for our Nike outlet, but hey, whatever it takes ha ha.) Anyways Uncle Joel thank you again, and just know I pray for your family and all of our other relatives every night. Dios te bendigas. te amo mucho.

Elder S. Hackleman

If You Could Hie to Kolob

Kolob - The Star Nearest The Throne of God

Yesterday the sky was really clear. We were walking down the road and I looked up and saw the constellation of Orion, right above us. It was really cool. Then I saw a really bright star close by that literally was twinkling. I have never seen that before. I started thinking about the song, “If You Could Hie to Kolob.”

Kolob – The Star nearest the Throne of God, Abraham 3:2-3, 9

Abraham saw Kolob and the stars:Abr. 3:2–18;

The Lord’s time is reckoned according to the time of Kolob:Abr. 3:4, 9; ( Abr. 5:13; )

Hey mommy! 

So first off, I feel kind of dumb for that question about baptism. I didn’t really think it through all the way haha. I just wanted to ask a question because I hadn’t for a while but then I remembered the 31st chapter of Nephi. That one should have given it away and I use that all the time with investigators! haha. But here is another one that I think I know the answer to, but it doesn’t really matter how many prophets are on the earth right? For some reason I always thought there could only be one, but obviously there were more than that at any given time.

I like your object lesson though! Speaking of which I wanted to ask you if you could go back to your seminary days and give me a list of object lessons I could use? I have used quite a few of them and the elders think I’m an object lesson dictionary because they like them so much but I need more!

Haha, (don’t worry I give all the credit to the best seminary teacher/mom I’ve ever had.) I have been using a deck of cards and doing magic tricks and tying it in to following the Holy Ghost haha.

The guys name who is going to Sweden is Dago Gamboa. I don’t know his full name.

I totally love your projects! The sad thing is they will probably all be completely different by the time I get home so I will never get to see them in person:( haha. Really though, you have been working hard!

It is pretty crazy I am almost to my 6 month mark! I have my tie already to burn and everything! The problem is I like all of my ties and I didn’t want to burn any of them but then I found an old tie an elder left in our house. It’s kind of cheating but I claimed it. haha. Time is flying by! I have been in my first area for 4 months now. Changes are on the 2nd of February. I am about %95 sure I will be leaving.

We had interviews with president Cordova on Saturday. They went really well! My comp thinks I will get made senior companion but who knows. I’m cool with whatever

We also had stake conference and president spoke at that too sense he was here. It was very good and very inspired. He started off his talk by thanking everyone for the help and service they give his missionaries. Then he said to please only serve fruits and vegetables for lunch from now on because the missionaries have repeatedly reported that they don’t like tacos and hamburgers. hahaha. Everybody laughed so hard, especially because my comp and I are both gringos. haha. So that night my favorite family in the ward invited us over and made us some amazing burgers. They had Thousand Island dressing and everything. I felt right at home! It was awesome:)

Everything is great here! The weather is heating up again. Last week it was pretty cool again so I really enjoyed it but it is pretty warm today. Today for Pday, we spent almost all day at the house of Felipe, (our bread maker guy). He showed us how to make my favorite thing in the world, bolivanis. It took a while but I know how to make them now so I can do it when I come home! It will change your life. haha. We made 45 of them and he is giving them all to us! I am so happy I can’t even explain.

Best P-Day Ever
I learned how to make this amazing bread from my favorite bread-maker in Mexico!

I have taken your challenge and am doing very well so far. I write in my journal every single day and talk about how I noticed the Lord´s hand in my day. It really has made me appreciate and notice things more, for example, yesterday the sky was really clear. We were walking down the road and I looked up and saw the constellation of Orion, right above us. It was really cool but then I saw a really bright star close by that literally was twinkling. I have never seen that before. I started thinking about the song, “If you could Hie to Kolab,”which brings me another doctrinal question, What exactly is Kolab? Is it a star that they think is heaven? I’m not really sure.

Thank you for the pictures! I love seeing the fam! by the way I’m super proud of you for doing so well in school. That seems funny to me because my whole life I have had great parents who have motivated me to do well in school and now the role has kind of reversed haha.

Sometimes I have doubts too about what I’m doing. That is natural. Everybody knows how much I love football and sometimes during the middle of a really tough workout I would think about how much easier it would be to just quit. Sometimes even here on my mission when appointments fall through and we have been walking in the hot sun all day, I think about how much easier it would be to just give up for the day and go back to the house but one thing I noticed is we only start to improve when it gets hard. In football, you don’t get better until you are tired. In missionary work you don’t find people until you have done all that you can do physically and mentally, and then put your trust in the Lord to do the rest. I can’t even tell you how many times after I would push that thought out of my mind, right afterwards we would bump into someone in the street, or walk past a member’s house who was really sick or their dad had just died. Those are the moments when we progress. I’m just happy you aren’t a quitter because I’m going to need a really smart mom to remind me how to do algebra afterwards.

Thanks for everything! I can’t believe the Laws and the Hadleys are gone... how expensive do you think it would be to send a loaf of zucchini bread in the mail...?

te amo mucho mamá. cuídese mucho.

elder hackleman mas grande

On Mon, Jan 19, 2015 at 11:37 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder S. Hackleman,

How was your week? We are all doing great here. Everyone is healthy. Your brothers have today off for Martin Luther King Jr. day. They were pretty excited about that! We had a General Priesthood meeting with our new Stake Presidency last night. It was awesome. You will really like them. Pres. Derrick is not afraid to use technology in his training! It was a nice change. He answered a question that I have always wanted to understand. He said that much of the battle between good and evil happens in our heads. It shouldn't be whether or not there is the absence of the battle, but whether we are battling each day to make progress. If there is a battle, then we know we are on the right side. Anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting.

So you've probably already heard. Seahawks and Patriots in the Super Bowl. We have to start planning our menu! Wish you were here to enjoy! Send me some of your favorite Mexican foods and we'll make them up here in honor of you!

What's happening down there? Are there any pictures or stories to share? Grandma put some money in your account.

Anyway, keep working hard and focused! (I know you will)

¡Te amo hijo!

Papá

Hey daddy! That is awesome! I love Brother Derrick. If you see him, tell him hi for me. Grandma told me it was Washington and Patriots... hmm I think I trust you more. So Sea-hawks could do it 2 years in a row? Has that ever happened before? Let me know how it goes.

My favorite dish is called Mole, but I doubt you guys would like it. I probably wouldn’t have before my mission. My taste buds have really adapted haha. I ate mumdungo two Sundays in a row last week and the week before. It is a delicacy here, but I have yet to find a gringo who likes it. Mundungo is cow intestine. It kind of tastes like dirt and fingernails, with the texture of the back of a stingray. That is the only thing I haven’t liked so far. They do a ton of chicken here so we have a lot of chicken tacitos and stuff. I love those. Thanks for the money. I am completely out again. I have been for a couple weeks and we have changes coming up so I will need it. Also the ward temple trip is coming up this Saturday. We don’t go obviously, but I wanted to have one of the members by me a new scripture case and bring it back for me. My first companion had an old beat up one and it ripped right before he left. I felt bad and gave him my good one I bought right before I left but now I don’t have one and I don’t want my scriptures to get damaged.

Read moms message about transfers so you can know what is going on. Everything is great down here! I forgot a story that I meant to tell mom so make sure she reads this too. So first of all, I found a guy in the street. He said he lived in the US for a while and asked me where I was from. When I said Nebraska he was way excited because apparently he lived in Lincoln for like 2 years haha. That was crazy!

A man told me an inspirational story.

He read from The Book of Mormon his wife had gotten from us missionaries.

He then went fishing. He did not have any food to feed his family.

He was relying on the fish he would catch to feed them.

He caught more fish then he had ever caught before.

So much he even shared with the neighbors.

Now he is taking the missionary lessons with his family.

Here is the best thing that happened all week. This is about a family we have been teaching. Well mostly the mom and her two kids like 12 and 14 years old. The dad is never around when we teach but recently he has been there so we started teaching him to. He told us he wanted to learn more about our church because a couple days before he picked up the blue bible we gave his wife and started reading it right before he went fishing. He said they didn't have any money and was going to rely on the fish he caught for food the next couple of days. He said it was a terrible day to fish and didn’t expect to catch anything. He read a few pages in The Book of and then left. He said it was curious because he has never caught so much fish in his life. They had so much they shared with their neighbors. We had never taught him anything but because of this experience he has a testimony of The Book of Mormon. I’m out of time to explain but it is awesome how the Lord works sometimes.

Love you dad thanks for everything

Elder Hackleman

Parable of the Avocado Seed

Note from mom: 

The week Elder S. Hackleman left on his mission I thought it would be fun to take an avocado seed from one of the last salads we ate together before he left and see if I could sprout it into a flourishing tree by the time he got home. I searched on Pinterest for instructions on how to do this. I figured it was going to be easy. That was almost 5 months ago and I still don't have any sprouts. I have been very careful to keep it in the sun and keep it watered, but still nothing. Finally I decided to go back and look at the instructions again to see if I had missed anything. It turns out, I put the seed up-side-down. Well darn, I guess I blew that one.

I decided to try an experiment with my little seed. I think this might be able to turn into a pretty good object lesson. I have since turned the seed placing it in the correct direction. I wonder if the seed will be able to still sprout. It has been 5 months, but it has also been watered so it shouldn't be dead. This story will be continuted. Just like the quote from President Uchtdorf, it doesn't happen overnight.

I will report back at a later date. I plan on giving it a few more months to see if it will revive itself. In my mind I can visualize a wonderful, large, flourishing tree in my entrance way, springing forth with fruit. Even though most people would have thought it was a lost cause, I still have a particle of faith that it might be able to be revived.

“Too often we approach the gospel like a farmer who places a seed in the ground in the morning and expects corn on the cob by the afternoon. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

Baptism this Week Jan. 12, 2015

We had another baptism last week

This kid is awesome

His name is Juan

I am finally getting used to my longer hair.

This is the reason I was asking about Tanner. This guys name is Dago. He is the most interesting person alive. He speaks English fluently. He also speaks Italian and Swedish because he lived in Sweden for a while. He is going back in 4 days. He also just happens to be the brother of the bishop in our ward but he isn't a member. We have been teaching him but I thought it would be cool if he just happened to be in the same area as Tanner so that he could teach him too! haha.

You know your a missionary when you run out of toilet paper and use some old Kleenex and tissue paper you found in the closet.

Me and my awesome companion.
He is from Utah and plays football too.
He is a receiver so he walks at one speed and that is super fast.
He is our district leader.

There is a tradition here in the state of Veracruz for New Years. They make these giant old people ine spanish its viejos which just means old person. Then they burn them at midnight on New Years and its like symbolic of burning away your old life and starting a new or something.I don't know. They just creep me out haha. Some of them look very realistic.

Dear Mom,

The house looks awesome! I love the table! The windows are sick. Make sure you keep sending me pictures of all of your projects! SO like I said to dad, I'm an idiot, I totally forgot to tell you last Monday that I got the Christmas packages! Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooo much! I loved absolutely everything but especially the arch supports haha. I can finally walk without pain! The first couple days using them were pretty sore but now I'm used to them again so everything is great! Thank you so much mommy! 

Life is great here! This week cooled off quite a bit. It was in the upper to mid 60s.  I was like that most of the week and pretty rainy. It felt SOOOO NICE! Everybody was wearing their winter coats obviously and walking around wrapped up in blankets, while I was wearing my short sleeved shirts. Everybody assumed I was freezing because that is what I was wearing so they would invite me inside to give me hot chocolate and stuff and offer me a blanket. 

Luckily they didn't see me sweating though because it was the easiest week to get into the door I have had so far! haha. One thing I love about the people of Mexico is their kindness in general. Even if they are strictly Catholic and want nothing to do with our church they will usually still invite you in to give you some water or something or if they are eating dinner they will offer to give you some. I absolutely love this because most of the time they don´t think they want to hear what representatives of Jesus Christ have to say until they have listened. 

One of our recent investigators said that we are helping him on his journey for truth that he didn't even know he was on it. I'm sure I have said this before (probably a hundred times) but the power of the Holy Ghost is real. It works. I love telling people that I don't want them to believe anything that comes out of my mouth, but rather to pray about the words we share and then believe in those feelings they receive. 

This past week we completed all of our goals because so many people were willing to accept us in when they thought I was cold. If only it was that temperature all the time, we would have our own stake of recent converts by now! haha.

Anyways I hope you got the pictures. random question, did they baptize before Christ or was that not part of the Law of Moses?

That is all the time I have for now! I love you all! TENGA EXITO!

Te amo mucho
Elder Hackleman

Elder Hackleman Testifies of the First Vision

 

As I testified about the First Vision a mighty thing happened.

I have a firm testimony in the spirit of the First Vision of Joseph Smith. I have never ever spoken or listened to the first vision without feeling the spirit, and this story is evidence of that. The first vision is:

I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw to personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said pointing to the other, this is my beloved son, hear Him. (If you would like to read the unedited version of this quote you can find it at: www.lds.org/topics/joseph-smith/testimony?lang=eng)

Sorry if a few of those words are off. I haven’t said it in English forever so I was translating it from Spanish so I hope I got it right. Anyways we found this guy a couple of days ago who owns a little bread shop that he sells out of a window in his humble house. He was extremely nice and graciously accepted to hear our message. He couldn’t stop working at the time of our first lesson so he continued making bread as we talked with him and his wife. (The bread is amazing by the way, not that that is important to the story though.) We talked with him about the message of the restoration which begins with explaining what a prophet is and how we can be blessed when we follow the prophet. We also explained the life of Jesus Christ and how he established his church on the earth. We finished our first lesson with the great apostasy and asked if we could come back another day when he was less busy to explain how the church was restored on the earth. He said he would love to talk more. (He was Catholic so we were very surprised). So we returned on Saturday night to talk with him. Here is the amazing part, when I finished reciting the first vision (not sure if you care but this is what it is in Spanish),

Vi una columna de luz, mas brillante que el sol. directamente arriba de me cabeza. y ésta luz, gradualmente descendió hasta descansar sobre mi. al reposar sobre mi la luz, vi en el airre arriba de mi a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria no admiten descripcion. uno de ellos, me habló, llamandome por mi nombre, y dijo señalando al otro, este es mi Hijo amado, Escuchalo!

When I finished that, he started crying. Preach my gospel always teaches that as missionaries, we shouldn’t be afraid of silence. I have come to absolutely love silence in lessons because it means that they are feeling the spirit, so I just sat there and waited. After a while he began to tell us why he was crying. He said that he has always had dreams. Not just any dream, dreams about his life. He said he had a dream about his cousin dying in an accident and a few months later his cousin died the exact way he saw it. So he prayed to ask God to take it away from him because he didn’t want to see the bad things like that. He never had another dream until a year ago, when he was living in a different town close by here in a different house. He told us he had a dream that he was in a completely different house, selling bread out of his window and that in his house were two men, he thought to be about 20 years old, in white shirts and ties. They were from a different country. Both of them and they were sharing a message of Christ. They wanted to share a message about how he can receive more blessings of peace and comfort in his life.

The house that was in his dream, is the same house he lives in now and we are the same two people from another country he saw in his dream. He told us the reason he didn’t tell us about this before was because he didn’t think we would believe him, but when he found out that we believe people like Joseph Smith had visions, he trusted that we wouldn’t make fun of him or anything and realized that because of this, the information we had to share was one hundred percent true.

So many things about this story touched my heart. First off, he is probably the most humble man I have ever met. Second, we obviously found him at the right time and in the right place, which is proof that God prepares his children to hear His word. I have been in this area for almost four months now and never talked with him before with my other companion but Elder Martinez is from Mexico so that wouldn't have been the right time. It’s amazing isn't it?

Jan 5, 2015 Letters from Mexico

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 10:01 AM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder S. Hackleman,

I have a favor to ask you. I have been on one of my remodel kicks painting and beautifying our house. Anyway, I wanted to update some family photos for above the tv so I need a recent picture of you. I want to make a poster of all you boys that is more or less matching. I was wondering if you would have someone take a picture of you and email it to me?

So, how are things in Mexico? We are trying to get back into the swing of things. The Christmas break was sure nice, but school starts back up today, so my break is over. Everyone is back to our regular schedule now.

What is new with you? Monday is my favorite day, because it is the day I get to hear from my boys!

Love,

Mom

Hey mommysma! que tal? So I will get that picture taken and send it to you next week ok? I do have a few pictures to send so I will send them after this. Thank you for sharing your temple goals with me. I am grateful for all of the opportunities I had to go to the temple before I went on my mission. I’m so glad I got to go so often because I can’t go now, but I agree with Jaren. I think many times missionaries get so caught up with baptismal numbers that they forget the most important part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is our purpose as missionaries, To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and PERSEVERING TO THE END. That means in no way do we finish with baptism. We are commanded in 2 Nephi, multiple chapters in Alma, all over the bible and many more in The Book of Mormon, that we must continue to put our lives in harmony with Christ if we want to receive eternal life in the kingdom of God. The temple is a perfect way to measure how we are doing with that fifth part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are worthy to enter the house of the Lord, we can know that we are on the right path. If not, well at least we know what we need to Drop Out Of Our Lives in order to put our lives back in harmony with Him. As a missionary, this is one way to motivate me to help people strive for that goal after baptism because I can go to the temple with my converts during the last year of my mission if they perserverar hasta al fin.

Ok random question, where did Tanner Beck go on his mission? I can’t remember what part. I might have an investigator for him haha.

Ok I have a story for you. I have a firm testimony in the spirit of the First Vision of Joseph Smith. I have never ever spoken or listened to the first vision without feeling the spirit, and this story is evidence of that. The first vision is:

I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw to personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said pointing to the other, this is my beloved son, hear Him. (If you would like to read the unedited version of this quote you can find it at: www.lds.org/topics/joseph-smith/testimony?lang=eng)

Sorry if a few of those words are off. I haven’t said it in English forever so I was translating it from Spanish so I hope I got it right. Anyways we found this guy a couple of days ago who owns a little bread shop that he sells out of a window in his humble house. He was extremely nice and graciously accepted to hear our message. He couldn’t stop working at the time of our first lesson so he continued making bread as we talked with him and his wife. (The bread is amazing by the way, not that that is important to the story though.) We talked with him about the message of the restoration which begins with explaining what a prophet is and how we can be blessed when we follow the prophet. We also explained the life of Jesus Christ and how he established his church on the earth. We finished our first lesson with the great apostasy and asked if we could come back another day when he was less busy to explain how the church was restored on the earth. He said he would love to talk more. (He was Catholic so we were very surprised). So we returned on Saturday night to talk with him. Here is the amazing part, when I finished reciting the first vision (not sure if you care but this is what it is in Spanish),

Vi una columna de luz, mas brillante que el sol. directamente arriba de me cabeza. y ésta luz, gradualmente descendió hasta descansar sobre mi. al reposar sobre mi la luz, vi en el airre arriba de mi a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria no admiten descripcion. uno de ellos, me habló, llamandome por mi nombre, y dijo señalando al otro, este es mi Hijo amado, Escuchalo!

When I finished that, he started crying. Preach my gospel always teaches that as missionaries, we shouldn’t be afraid of silence. I have come to absolutely love silence in lessons because it means that they are feeling the spirit, so I just sat there and waited. After a while he began to tell us why he was crying. He said that he has always had dreams. Not just any dream, dreams about his life. He said he had a dream about his cousin dying in an accident and a few months later his cousin died the exact way he saw it. So he prayed to ask God to take it away from him because he didn’t want to see the bad things like that. He never had another dream until a year ago, when he was living in a different town close by here in a different house. He told us he had a dream that he was in a completely different house, selling bread out of his window and that in his house were two men, he thought to be about 20 years old, in white shirts and ties. They were from a different country. Both of them and they were sharing a message of Christ. They wanted to share a message about how he can receive more blessings of peace and comfort in his life.

The house that was in his dream, is the same house he lives in now and we are the same two people from another country he saw in his dream. He told us the reason he didn’t tell us about this before was because he didn’t think we would believe him, but when he found out that we believe people like Joseph Smith had visions, he trusted that we wouldn’t make fun of him or anything and realized that because of this, the information we had to share was one hundred percent true.

So many things about this story touched my heart. First off, he is probably the most humble man I have ever met. Second, we obviously found him at the right time and in the right place, which is proof that God prepares his children to hear His word. I have been in this area for almost four months now and never talked with him before with my other companion but Elder Martinez is from Mexico so that wouldn’t have been the right time. It’s amazing isn’t it?

OK one more story really quick. This one is kind of a goofy story. So many words in Spanish sound similar and you have to be careful because they might have completely different meanings. For example in the MTC, I accidently said Jesucristo murió por nuestros pescados. The word Pecado is sin. But Pescado is fish so I accidently said jesus christ died for our fish not sins. Oops! Anyways this morning I was talking with one of the other elders about who we were going to wash our clothes with. The lady we usually do it with was sick so I told him I didn’t want to bug her. The word for Bug, or annoy, in Spanish can be very rude if said in English.  I didn’t even realize I accidently said a word in Spanish until he started laughing because obviously that word isn’t a very good word choice in English. The joys of trying to speak two languages.

Ok that is all for now! I will send some pictures though! I don’t have many but I do have one with me and my comp.

Love You All!!!!!!

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 6:43 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder S Hackleman,

How was your week? You can write one long email to your mom if you want, so that you can save time. Hopefully you have your camera working again. We love to see pictures of you and hear your stories, Peanut. I miss you a lot, but the excitement for you and knowing all the wonderful things you're accomplishing makes everything all better. Did you ever hear back from Mrs. Renschie?

All is well here. It's super cold and we're starting to get a little snow. The National Championship for college football is set. Oregon crushed Florida State and Urban Meyer and his Ohio State team came from behind to beat Alabama. So next weekend is Oregon vs. Ohio State for the championship.

Your mom has been doing projects around the house over the holidays. It's looking really nice. She refinished the dining room table and chairs and we stained a lot of our wood in the living room to a darker color. It looks really good!

Anyway, I am so proud of you! Keep working hard.

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

ps. Tomorrow is Uncle Jeff's birthday. May you would be able to send him a quick email?

Hey dad! I actually have time today. I didn’t get to many emails so I don’t have as many to respond to. Yes my camera is working but I will send all of the pictures to mom if it is ok. I have a couple. I AM SO CLANKING HAPPY ALABAMA LOST! Sorry I had to get that out of the way. I want to see the house! Send me pictures! 

Tell Elder Wamsley that I said just because he is about to go home doesn’t mean he should be a frito. Then ask him if he understands because I don’t know if they use that word in Nebraska haha. I sent uncle Jeff a short email wishing him happy birthday. How is life in Nebraska? Anything else interesting going on? 

What is the timeline for the Laws and the Hadleys? 

Oh and one more thing not to be nitpicky about your Spanish but Ámele hijo, is like command form. haha when you say that, it’s kind of like you are commanding me to love haha its hard to explain, but te amo, or le amo, is better. or te amo mucho, cual quier, usted puede escoger lol. te amo is informal so you use it with family and friends and le amo is more formal. Anyways Timmy, te amo mucho y tenga exito en su trabajo! How are your teaching jobs coming along?

Love Elder Hackleman

So this computer wont let me send pictures... I am sorry! I'm terrible with this whole picture thing. Next week I promise! At least this time it wasn't my fault.

Christmas Skype From Elders

Elder S. Hackleman is serving in Mexico and his brother is in Peru.  Even though they are both Spanish speaking, the accents are very different.  Elder J. Hackleman from Peru finds the Mexican accent funny.  Uncle Joel went to Argentina on his mission and he said when he got back to Idaho he couldn't understand Mexican Spanish very well.  It is fun to hear them talk.

Both missionaries have lost six belt sizes on their missions although they both report they are eating well, the hot temperatures and lots of walking contribute to slim waist sizes.  Add to the fact that both brothers had surgery right before they left on their missions so they weren't able to work out like they usually do so they added a little extra weight thanks to their mom's good cooking.  S Hackleman had shoulder surgery and J Hackleman had knee surgery.  Both are rehabbing very well on their missions.  Football and soccer took a toll on them both before they left but a two year mission is a fantastic way to recover.

Best Day Of The Year
Skyping two missionaries at once
They even made the family go out of the room all except Nathan since he is turning 16 soon so they wanted to have a private talk with him.

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