What Kind of A World Is it That We Live In...?

On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 8:56 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder,

The Utes went up to Oregon State and won in overtime. They better get their offensive heads on straight because USC is coming to Rice Eccles next weekend!

Everything here is going great! I have been hired at Bellevue University to teach Graphic Design classes. Two things about it. First, classes (for me) won't start until January. Second, they may not start at all. I'm only teaching a class if the class needs dividing. So if there are too many students in one class, they'll split it and I'll take one. It's all taught online so I can work whenever is best for my schedule. The other one that I'm waiting to hear about is Midland University in Fremont about 45 minutes away. They will probably have classes that I will actually need to be present in. That will be a lot fun as well! So, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that much money. It would be around $1,000 to $1,200 a class. Plenty to pay for my two awesome missionaries... and spoil your mom a little more!!! I should hear something about Midland in a week or so.

Your mom is on her way home from Idaho. I can't wait to see her! We had High Priest's Quorum meeting last night. I got to chat a little bit with Bishop Walker. He's doing great and was wondering how you were doing. Tim Law is in China right now. I wonder what crazy thing he's going to come home with!!

Did I hear that you were sick one day? If so, what happened? I also heard about the house full of dead Tarantula's!! Hey! At least they were dead!!! Make sure you use your UV bottle for extra water!!

I am so proud of you! Keep working hard and tell us all about what's happening in your area!!!

I love you son!!

Dad

Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 16:22:51 -0500

Dad I can’t believe Utah is killing it right now! How are the Titans? Also how do you have time for all these classes? I can’t even tell you how grateful I am that you are willing to take on so much extra work to help us serve the Lord. Thank You and I love you. Oh and about the spiders, only some of them were dead. The good thing is I have an awesome comp. He knows I don’t like them. One time we were coming out of our house and he jumped like 6 steps to the bottom. I was like what the clank? and then I saw him kick something. It was a giant tarantula. He killed it before I even saw it. Mexicans like tarantulas because they eat the mosquitoes, but he was looking out for me:) what a good guy! Lol life is great! Love you dad!

Oh and I forgot to tell you. I got my first hair cut on my mission! just the sides. Our mission rule is you have to have a line in your hair so I have to keep the top long enough to do that. It’s so weird dad. I’m not used to it! I actually can brush my hair to the side! What is this?????? what kind of a world is it, when a man dressed up like a bat, I mean has really long hair when he isn’t used to it! We have this gel they sell here that I use because it’s the only stuff strong enough for my hair. It’s like freaking cement. I have to scrub it for like 5 minutes in the shower before it comes out ha ha but at
least my sweat doesn’t effect it!

On Sun, Oct 19, 2014 at 10:53 PM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder S Hackleman,

How are you doing? Christie, mom and I have been having a fun time. I really had fun with the pictures you sent me posting them on your blog. I added some pictures of Courtney and they really turned out great. Everyone has enjoyed reading it.

I am heading back to Omaha in the morning. It sure is a long drive, but I have had such a wonderful time. It is worth the drive. I came with Luann Johnson. She is the one who moved in the house just up the street from us and her husband is a pilot. She is from Idaho and used to be Sara's roommate in college.

Everyone has been asking about you.

My darn toe is still giving me trouble. I have an appointment with your doctor’s office to have them take a look at my toe and see what's wrong with it.

I sure love you!!!

Love Mom

On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 4:46 PM, Seth wrote:

That’s awesome. Do you agree that Jacqueline looks like Courtney?? haha anyways life is great here. Sorry about your toe! That’s no fun. Keep me updated about it. I’m glad you had fun in Idaho. I hope I hear from some of my aunts and uncles eventually! So this computer is not very fast and my camera is dead, but I do have pictures of our house and stuff so I will send them next week.

So this week my companion and I were trying to find a members house for lunch and we decided to take this road that we never use. As we were walking, we saw this old lady lying on the side walk outside of her house with blood coming out of her head. I ran over picked her up and carried her to a chair just outside the front door. Luckily her daughter happened to be in the house and saw us outside so she came running out to help. I know the Lord led us down that road though because who knows how long she would have been laying there if we hadn’t walked by. She is strictly catholic and usually doesn’t like talking to missionaries but she was so grateful she started calling us her hijos, or sons, and wanted us to call her madre. She accepted to have us go back and talk with her some more so we will have to see where the Lord takes us.

Another story, not so spiritual. SO we have this guy in our ward, who is in the bishopric. His name is hermano Mike. No he isn’t white haha his real name is hermano Miguel, he just goes by mike. He sells perfumes and colognes for a living. My comp and I visited his little shop today to check it out. He sells all of the fancy ones we have in the US but because in his own fancy bottles. So he just has a list of what the scents are and then he pours it into his cologne bottles. He usually sells them for at least 200 pesos, but he told us we could pick one out for only 50! We both got one. That is equivalent to less than $5 in America. The one I got, is a Perry Ellis brand that grandma bought for me one time for $90 hahaha. It’s pretty awesome:) anyways I love you! Tell the family hello for me. How is Nathan doing in show choir?? Love you all! La Iglesia De Jesu Cristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias es verdadero! LE amo mucho!

Adios

Elder Hackleman

Photo's From Mexico

My First Baptism In Mexico
I would say she reminds me of a Mexican version of Courtney Michaelson but then I remembered, Courtney basically is Mexican.
So she reminds me of Courtney! (in the white)

Courtney is trying to figure out what Elder Hackleman is talking about.
She is the one on the left.

Another picture of Courtney
with the 3 Amigos

We Love Courtney!

This is Ricco.
He is a nice guy.
He likes to sleep on the wall above my bed.
He doesn't talk much

The two guys in the suit coats are in our ward.

This is their farewell we had last night.

They are both leaving on their missions this week.

One is going to Mexico City and the one on the right is going to the same mission as Brenton!!

This is my district eating Chinese food today.
The guy to the left of me is leaving tomorrow for his mission in Mexico City.
He is in our ward

That was what I had for lunch yesterday.
I forget what it was called but it changed my life.

Today we had a service project cleaning out an old ladies home.

I got a little bit sick from all of the dust but I am feeling a bit better.
It was pretty uh.... intense.

We cleaned up dead tarantulas!

Yes I said tarantulas. I about died.
For those of you who don't know, Elder Hackleman only has two fears in life, needles and spiders.

Letters This Week

On Mon, Oct 13, 2014 at 6:22 AM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder S Hackleman,

How are you doing? What's new this week?

I am in Idaho right now. I had a friend from the ward who was coming to Idaho on a week long trip so I jumped in for the ride. I got here late Saturday evening.

Yesterday I went to church with Troy and Christie in Blackfoot then we went to Grandma Polly's house. Her sister Luanne and Loa were both there so we had a good visit with them, then we went to Joel's and visited with them and then on to Daniel's and back to Christie's. Today I hope to catch up with Jared and Daniel. It's a fun time, but I still have to get my homework done somehow, so I am up at 5:00 a.m. working on it.

I might not be getting a lot of sleep, but it sure is fun.

I sure love you!

Love

Mom

mom thats crazy! By the way sorry for the typos, this keyboard is weird. who did you ride with? tell everyone hi for me and i would love to hear from them! i am on a different computer so i will try again to send the pictures. i love you! Nothing much knew this week except my comp and i got to burn some stuff on our roof last night. one of our investigators sort of had a Santa Muerte statue. (the translation is basically Diablo, or the devil) she was praying to it so our zone leaders told us we had to take it. she gave it to us willingly but we didnt know what to do with it so we found a lighter and had some fun haha. love you!

Also, we have weights in our house so I get to lift every morning. haha that reminds me of a story. So our zone leaders stay the night with me and my comp once a week when they come out to interview our investigators for baptism, because we have the nicest house, they stay with us. One of them is a pretty big Mexican who wants to play line backer for BYU after his mission. The other missionaries in our district were here also so there were like 10 elders in our house. They all wanted to know how I got so strong so I told them about our work outs I did in high school. We did some arm wrestling competitions. Let me put it this way, Elder Hackleman is undefeated and one of the times I beat two guys at once. So my nickname is the hulk now sadly because one of the elders was talking a lot of smack because he could do a one handed push up so I did a push up with my companion standing on my back hahaha. Good times.

I did a push up with my companion standing on my back
My nickname is the hulk

Letters Came Late- But they are here, Yeah!

One of my teachers at the Missionary Training Center

Elders in Mexico

Half my district at 2:00 am as we are headed to the airport to fly to Mexico

Elder Hackleman said many of the 12 missionaries he was flying with had never been on a plane and they were very nervous about flying.  He told his companion, "You don't have to worry one bit, we have about a 50/50 chance of surviving the flight and since we are going on 3 today, well, anyway don't worry.  I'm not sure he understood Elder Hackleman's humor.

This Elder was at the Missionary Training Center with my brother
Elder J Hackleman, now we are both serving in Mexico!
How lucky is he, to get to serve with both Hackleman Brothers

The first new word I learned when I got to Mexico is "fuertzo."  It means strong haha. Everybody says that when they see me.

Another teacher at the Missionary Training Center

My first companion in Mexico.  He is from Guadalajara, Mexico

Gringos watching General Conference together in English

On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 9:12 AM, Amy wrote:

Elder S Hackleman,

We had a great weekend watching conference. Yesterday we were just getting finished eating breakfast 10 minutes before conference was going to start and we got a call from Elder Wamsley wondering if he could come to our house to watch conference. We told him sure, and a few minutes later he and 3 other elders showed up. One of the missionaries with him was Elder Roberts. It was great to see him. They stayed the entire day watching conference with us. Luckily we had plenty of food prepared, as we always do on conference weekend so they didn't go hungry.

In-between sessions Elder Roberts took Nathan outside and taught him how to do a back flip. Nathan is a natural:)

Anyway while Elder Roberts was here he was texting Elder Lambert and he asked for your email address. I think he is going to be writing you. I think I told you I saw Lambert at the temple a few weeks ago. It was good to see him too.

Elder Roberts missionary companion was so cool. He is from Kaysville, Utah and he played offensive line on his high school football team. We really enjoyed talking to him. He also sang in the Capella choir. He could have been your twin you two share so many of the same interests.

So, hopefully all is going well, I can't wait to hear of your adventures this past week!

Love always,

Mom

That is so awesome! I absolutely loved conference. Especially Elder Bednar´s Sunday session talk. It was completely perfect. We had so many investigators with us it was EXACTLY what they needed to hear! That´s cool about the elders too!! Yeah I saw so many of my friends in the priesthood choir. The choir director specifically asked me to be in it but sadly I told him I would already be in Mexico. I think he wanted me to sing that solo.

 It´s so crazy here mom. The work is amazing. I already committed this girl to baptism and we have so many investigators. It´s also like 100 degrees every day with like 98 percent humidity in the area I´m at. I’m not in Veracruz, I´m in an area called Carlos A Carillo, in Tuxtepec. It´s super hot. I have lost 10 pounds this week and I have eaten soooo much food. Goodness the food is great haha. My first meal with a member was enchiladas Verde with carrot soup. She made about 10 for each elder (there are 4 of us here). Lunch is the main meal so they go all out for it and make a ton of food. The next few days were with members who made American food for us like pizza and hamburgers and stuff. Soo good. In Mexico they eat a ton of chicken. They use chicken in everything. I have one of the nicest missionary houses in Tuxtepec. Our bedroom has air-conditioning. That is almost unheard of here but I´m not complaining! haha.

My comp is awesome. He is from Guadalajara. I am teaching him English while he helps me with my Spanish so it works out great. It´s funny because he says I have perfect pronunciation so whenever we are teaching members or investigators he asks them how long they think I have been in Mexico. The shortest amount of time I have heard so far was 7 months haha. When they find out it was only like my third day, they are completely blown away! Oh and I learned the meaning of "fuertzo" really quick. It means strong haha. Everybody says that when they see me. Anyways I don´t have any pictures of our house or anything, those will have to wait but I will send you some of our district and stuff! Love you! Sorry again for not being able to call in Mexico City!

Tell Nathan that is awesome that he learned how to do a back flip. I can do one too:) ish. in the pool:) But then again, i´m not allowed to swim sooooo.... Tell him as soon as he can do one off of the roof, then I will send him a little sumthin sumthin from Mexico;)

Mom i forgot to ask about school! How´s it going? have you learned the difference between light waves, radio waves, and micro waves, on the visible light spectrum yet??? Te amo!!!
Love you mom,

Elder S Hackleman

One Full Week In Mexico and Still No Word

This is officially the first time in Elder Hackleman's life since the day he was born that I have not had a single bit of correspondence from him.  His brother is on a mission in Peru and there was only one time in his mission that an entire week passed that we did not hear from him and that was his first week at the Missionary Training Center in Provo.  He was assigned a Preparation Day one day after he arrived and since he didn't need it on the second day in the field, he skipped it for that week, which in turn made it a week and a about 3 days before we got our first email from him.

I am sure the same sort of thing has happened with Elder S Hackleman.  We do know that he made it as far as Mexico because he bought himself lunch at one of his layover flights in Mexcio.  We have that transaction on his credit card, but other than that, not a single word to let us know he made it safe and sound and all is well.

At this point you would think I would be a frantic mess.  The answer is, although I would love to hear from him and I am so anxious to see how his travels have been going, I am not in the least bit worried.  I have been comforted the entire time and there is a constant feeling of peace in my heart and in my mind.  I know he is on the Lord's errand, and I couldn't ask for anything more than that.

I love him dearly and I know he will write when he can.  Until then, I will be happy knowing that the mission is a very orderly place.  Each and every missionary is accounted for each and every single day.  If there were any trouble we would have been notified.

I think of Section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants that says, See that ye serve with all your heart, might, mind and strength.

As long as he does that, I will be one happy mommy.

Conference Talks

Pictures at the MTC

These are my first Zone Leaders when I got to the MTC.
As District leader, I would meet with them a lot.
They left like 3 weeks ago but I liked them.
The one on the left is Elder Doddema, and the one on the right is Elder Sawyer.
Elder Sawyer played center, and Doddema played rugby so we got along great.

I haven't cut my hair since I have been here. My Branch pres said it should be long enough to part so I have been growing it out. Everyone says in the field, especially in Mexico, they want you to have short hair so you don't have to worry about lice and stuff but I'm being obedient to my current priesthood authority even if it is a trial of my faith;) I actually have to gel it! I don't even remember the last time I would wake up with bed head! It's weird!

This is the soccer fields where I got to practice my soccer skills.  Heaven knows I will need them in Mexico. There have been days where I didn't play because we played volleyball instead and teams would run all the way across campus to come kidnap me to be on their team. As goalie I only got scored on one time since I've been here. All those soccer leagues my parents put me in playing all over Colorado and Nebraska are paying off.

This is where we go to church

The 3 giant white marshmallow things have gyms in them. They are basketball courts, volleyball courts, four square, and free weights.

The metal building is the cafeteria.

It is beautiful here.
This is a little park that runs by our classroom.
I like to go out there to study.
Their is a cool little stream that goes right through the middle.

Elder Hackleman flew to Mexico on Monday, September 29th.  He left the Provo Missionary Training Center at 3:30 a.m.  He and 11 other missionaries headed for Mexico.  First they rode a train to the Salt Lake Airport.  They caught a flight to LA.  While in the LA airport they had a two hour layover at which time they could make one last phone call home.  The 2 hour layover only translates into about 5 or 10 minutes worth of talking before you need to board your next flight, but it was still great to hear from him.  When his brother Jaren flew to Peru, the mission office had him write a letter home to let us know he made it ok.  They then scanned the letter and emailed it to us.  We also got a phone call the next day from the Mission president's wife letting us know how the first day went.

We have not heard a word from Elder Hackleman yet, but we are not worried. We know that if anything went wrong along the way we would have heard from the Mission President. If we don't hear anything, we know he made it safe and sound.

Elder Hackleman was telling me on the phone that most of the missionaries he was flying with had never been on a plane before and they were pretty nervous. His own missionary companion was especially nervous, so Elder Hackleman tried to sooth his fears. He told him, "You know, we have about a 50/50 chance we will make out alive today." I'm not sure if he understood the joke or if it made him more nervous. He also told him, "the worst part about flying is all the carbon monoxide you breath in the whole way. It causes brain damage." Apparently it was a cold morning so right before they flew to LA from Salt Lake, there was a crew spraying the wings to d-ice the plane. Elder Hackleman told his companion they were trying to speed the carbon monoxide process along so they were spraying carbon monoxide directly into the engine block. Oh, I don't know what to think about his humor.

After our short conversation on the phone, I have to say I am so excited for Elder Hackleman. He had a wonderful time at the MTC making lots of friends and learning so much, between learning the Mexican language, learning teaching skills, and the lessons he would be teaching on his mission. I certainly see the benefit of early morning seminary for the past four years of his life to help prepare this 18 year old boy to be ready to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has a wealthy of knowledge stored in his brain, now he is excited to share it with the world.