Pueblitos (Small towns)

Hey everyone, I hope that everyone is enjoying their back to school experiences and is getting into the groove of things. 

Learning at Zone Conference

We had a successful week this week. It was also pretty busy. On Tuesday we started with a zone conference which was the first one that President Nelson gave as a misión president. It was good. There was a lot of different topics and at one point we divided into groups to practice some things which made the conference a lot more interesting and edifying. On Wednesday we had interchanges with Elder Philippe and Elder Rodríguez, I was with Elder Philippe in Tezoquipan and we had a good day. Their área is pretty small, or rather the main town in their área is pretty small. It was a good day and I learned a bunch.

On Thursday we saw the weekly planning of the other two elders (which is always a blast) and in the afternoon did splits and visited a lot of people. I was with one of the Young men of the Ward, Sergio and we taught a really powerful lesson to an investigator that´s named Noemi. She understood the Restauration really well, the only thing is that she works in our área but technically lives outside of it. She still pertains to the Ward though. On Friday we only had a few lessons due to our weekly planning session and the correlation meeting but we went to a town in our área where we´d never been that's called Por Venir. Its a really cool town but its on a hill so its a hike to go anywhere there. We had a lesson with a less active return missionary that was really powerful, but then he didn't show up to church after promising to go :(. Saturday it was totally dead around here, there wasn't anybody in the Street. We did have a good amount of lessons though, a cool one with some investigators that are named Refugio and Dominga. We finished the plan of salvation and they really liked it. Dominga also asked for a blessing which I had the privilege to give. The spirit there was really strong, even though there was a party with music blaring next door haha.

Sunday was full of meetings, with our sacrament meeting at 12, and after lunch, and after that a meeting in the stake again that the stake president invited us to. We did have one lesson in the evening with Arely. It was also really powerful, but the thing is that she lived with her boyfriend and they´re really young. We´ve also been working more in the towns that are farther away in our área. We´re actually about to head to one that's a little out of the way. Its cool to be outside the city! Everyone have a good week!

-Elder Hartvigsen

2 Nephi 22:2

Buen dia. How´s it going with everyone? I hope well. I heard that school is starting again in the states and it also started for the kids here where I´m at as well. Summer is ending. Strange to think that at the end of next summer I´ll be at home. 

This week went very well for us. We found a bunch of new investigators and some of them have a lot of potential. We just have to get the majority of them attending church. So on Tuesday we had a meeting with a Doctor that toured the mission. He told us how to be healthy and what things not to do. I need to repent because he told us not to eat in the street, but the tacos are so good! That night we also found a new investigator that has a lot of potential, the only thing is that she needs to get married to her member boyfriend and they only are 16 and 17 years old. We´re going to be working on that, but she´s really solid and understands very well.

On Wednesday we also had a good day, we had 3 new investigators and the three came from a reference that we received from a member. It was a good lesson, they understood very well. However it was a long lesson, because that member likes to talk and talk and put examples and explain every piece of doctrine. It was a good lesson however. On Thursday we had interchanges with one of the assistants, Elder Suarez in our area. We were working that day in trio. Elder Suarez is a really good missionary, he helped us learn a lot that day. It also rained and hailed hard for about 40 minutes, and we had to wait it out underneath a little porch roof thing. After that we went with some of our investigators and one of them had water coming into her house from the street so we helped her get the water out. It was also a good day even though we didn't have many lessons.

On Friday we had weekly planning, and we went with a great new investigator family. The mother was sort of into it but the father was super engaged. It was a great spiritual lesson. The only bummer is that when we went to visit them for the second time, they weren't home. We´re going to find them this week though. On Saturday a few things happened. In the morning the Sister missionaries called us to let us know that a member had died of cancer, and the bishop wanted me to play the piano in her viewing. We also had stake conference that day and we went to a session for the priesthood leaders to talk a little bit about the challenges in the stake. That night in the viewing there were a ton of people in her little house and the majority weren't members. It was really cool, the Bishop (it was his aunt that died) and the Stake President both were there and talked about the plan of salvacion. They were pretty cool talks which talked about how the Hermana knew about the plan of salvation and had entered the temple. Pres. Delgado asked everyone if they would be ready to die in that moment. It was cool, but after they served coffee haha.

On Sunday we had stake conference in Tlaxcala, and we had two investigators that showed up. It was a good conference, the speakers gave their messages well. After the conference, they had the funeral services and I had to play the prelude music. There were four talks that time from the bishop and stake president again and two of their counselors. It was a powerful meeting. That day we also had a lesson with Yasmine who had a baptismal date for the 12 of September. It was a sad lesson, she told us that she didn't want to get baptized and that she feels more comfortable with her traditions. We committed her to pray about it, and we´re going to see what happens.

Well, I hope that you all have a great week. Bye!

-Elder Hartvigsen

2 Nephi 22:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.

Week 3 already!

What a short week! I am saying it more and more but time is accelerating! You need to enjoy life as it goes by because it goes by too fast. 

This week was a good one, we´re still in a finding phase and starting to work with the new investigators to see if they are going to progress. Tuesday we had a day full of planning for the zone meeting we had on Wednesday and we also had another meeting with the Stake President Delgado and Pres. Nelson. It was a good meeting, we had 20 baptisms in the stake last month so it was great to see that growth and be able to discuss what we did to obtain it and what we can do to improve even more. That night we had a lesson with one of our new investigators who´s named Socorro and we found out that she´s actually a member as well haha. So we´re now teaching a less active instead of an investigator haha. It was a little bit of a surprise but we´re going to start working on reactivating her. 

August Zone Meeting

On Wednesday we had our Zone Meeting which went well, we were able to put some goals as a zone and talk about how we can leave commitments with more power. It was a good meeting and I learned a lot from the missionaries in the zone. The greatest thing about the district and zone meetings that we have is that we have the opportunity to receive revelation on how to improve. 

After the meeting we had interchanges with Elder Concha and Elder Sarver, I stayed in Tule with Elder Sarver and we had a good day. We had some really interesting lessons. One of our investigators recently had two of her nephews die in a car accident, so we asked her if we could go to share a message with her family members. She told us yes and when we went we sat down with one of the mothers of the deceased and before we started the lesson more and more of their family came. When we started the lesson there were about 15-20 people! We had a good lesson, it was a little scattered because we talked a little about the spirit world, and then one of the mothers started asking questions about whether her son would be able to be with God if he wasn't baptized so we talked a little about Temples as well. It was a new experience for me to teach so many in one lesson. It was good though.

Thursday and Friday went well also, we had the opportunity to teach a new family that seems interested as well as Yazmin who right now is the only investigator that is progressing. She´s doing really well. On Saturday we had to go to Puebla to the Hospital with my companion. He has some knee problems so they injected something in one of his knees to help him out I guess. I swear, I've never been really sick in the mission but I´m very familiar with the Hospitals! Sunday we had church, and taught that new family again, and we had a really good lesson. They´re really open and committed to read and pray to know if this message is true.

Today we had a really fun District activity in which we played some fun games. Yup, so this week is shaping up to be another good one, we´re expecting some good new investigators from some references and we´re going to put some baptismal dates! Everyone have a good week!

-Elder Hartvigsen

Busy Week, Successful Week

Hey everyone. Sorry for my last email. We really didn't have that much time at all. We were pretty far away from our area with 4 Elders and one computer. 

So this week has been full of tons of stuff. To start it off we had transfers this week. Elder Breceda left the area and went to Puebla as a District Leader. One of the assistants told me that one of the reasons was to have him closer to the hospital haha. My new companion is name Elder Gonzalez and he is from Jalisco. He has 20 months in the mission and is a great Elder. A little more quiet than Elder Breceda, but he´s super focused and a great worker. I´m very grateful that he is my companion and that we have this time to work together.

On Wednesday we had our usual District meeting, with our new district leader Elder Concha, who is from Chile. It was a good meeting. Now both of our District leaders are from Chile, and I can´t understand either of them when we talk by phone haha. That day we also had a lot of lessons, we had our last lesson with Ivett before her baptism, with Jazmine, and we taught a new investigator that is awesome. She´s named Socorro and her brother is a less active member. We had a spiritual lesson with her.

On Thursday we had the leadership council, which was all day and we had to get up at 5 am. It was a good meeting, but Puebla is a lot farther away now. We learned a lot on how to plan more effectively and to leave commitments more powerfully. On Friday we had the baptism of Ivett! It was great, the only thing is that everyone showed up half an hour late and we got started an hour late waiting for the bishop to get there with the baptismal clothes. However, when it did get started it was a very spiritual service. Ivett was really prepared, and was super happy to be able to make that promise. It´s the best feeling in the world to see someone change their life to follow the Lord.

Saturday was a super boring day. We planned, did the monthly forms, and ate. It was the worst, but it had to be done. Sunday was a much better day. We had the confirmation of Ivett which was also very powerful, and the classes were also good. After we ate, we did splits and had a lot of lessons. My coon found some new investigators and I had the opportunity to teach some of the members and help them practice sharing the gospel. It went well that night. 

Today for P-day we went to San Martin and played soccer. I´m super beat. I've haven´t played for a while it was tough haha. We had a good week, even though we didn't have a ton of time to work, we made the best of the time we had and we´re excited to be able to dedicate more time this week. I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Hartvigsen

No Time!

Hey all, so I only have about 5 minutes so this email is going to be super short. Everything is good! This week we found out about changes. I´m staying but my companion is going.
Have a good week!

-Elder Hartvigsen

Mole y Fiestas

Hello everyone. I send you a cordial ´hola´ from Mexico. This week has been pretty interesting. I don´t have much time either so I´m not going to send pictures and this might be a shorter email :(.

On Tuesday, we had a pretty good day, we had lessons with 2 investigators that have baptismal dates, Ivette and Teresa. They are both really solid. So Ivette is an investigator that is 19 years old and was actually going to be baptized a while ago but didn't do it because her parents were against it. We contacted her because she started coming to church again and she says that she wants to be baptized. Now, when we met with her, her testimony seemed very strong and she put her own goal to be baptized. The only thing that worries us is that we haven´t been able to find her for a few days and she didn't go to church. We´re hoping to run into her today or tomorrow. Teresa is doing great though.

Traditional Mole Sauce

So in the week it was pretty normal. We went to the district meeting of Elder Philippe which was good. Elder Philippe is crazy, but funny. On Friday we had interchanges with two Elders in our zone, Elder Whiting and Elder Villa. I was here in the area with Elder Whiting, and it went very well. We had some really good lessons and ran into a lot of people. We also taught Jazmine, who is going to be baptized in a couple of weeks. She is also doing very well! 

So the really big thing that happened this week was that the town party of Nopalucan started on Saturday and Sunday. Well on Saturday it was mostly preparations, but on Sunday it was crazy. Seriously, it was nuts yesterday and still a little bit today. The streets were full of cars and people yesterday, and literally everyone in the town made and is making mole. If you don´t know, Mole is a food that is tradicional to Puebla and Tlaxcala, and its like a salsa with tons of condiments and chocolate that is put on meat. All of the members and investigators invited us to drop by. We ate so much mole yesterday it was ridiculous. Its just nuts, literally in every house there are just chairs and tables set up and everyone is serving Mole. On Saturday we also helped our investigator Teresa prepare a little bit. We went with her to help kill and dress the chicken. It was quite the experience, and I can no longer say that I've never killed a chicken haha.

Anyways, it was a interesting week, and we are going to be eating mole for probably all of this week. We´re hoping that we don´t get sick haha. Everybody enjoy the end of July!

- Elder Hartvigsen

Elder Hartvigsen's mom and sister meet his returning Mission President,
President and Hermana Christensen, prior to their Sacrament Meeting report in Utah.

A week of meetings and sickness:D

Hey all. Hope that you are all well. This week we had a lot of meetings and my companion was pretty sick at the end of the week. The worst thing in the mission is when you or your companion is sick. You just have to sit in the house. I've been learning patience haha. 

Early in the week was good. On Tuesday we had a meeting with the stake president and mission president, Pres. Nelson. It was a good meeting. Interesting to get to know new stake leadership. The stake president it a good guy. The stake has a really high vision for missionary work which is great! We´re excited to work with them. In the evening we had divisions with some members and had some appointments with was great. We had an appointment with an investiagator named Teresa who is solid! She is always there for our appointments, we always find her reading her Book of Mormon, and she always goes to church (even when we don´t go). She also had two kids that are super funny. They always make fun of my companion's accent. On Wednesday we had interviews with Pres. Nelson which was good. It is good to be able to get to know him and his wife better. In the afternoon we had interchanges with one of our District Leaders, Elder Puente and his companion Elder Sarver. I went with Elder Puente to his area in San Martin Texmalucan. It was a good day. We taught a lot and felt the spirit strongly in a few lessons. Elder Puente is a great Elder.

Time marches on - 1 year in Mexico

On Thursday we had to go to Puebla to renew my Visa. Its such a pain to go to the offices when you're so far away. It was also really interesting to see all of my generation there in the offices. I can´t believe that it has been almost a year ago when we arrived here in Mexico. It's crazy, I can´t wrap my head around it. After that we came back to area but Elder Breceda got really sick on the ride home so he stayed in the house that night. We did divisions with some members so that I could leave and go to a couple of appointments though.

Friday we gave a training to the zone on how to do the monthly forms that we fill out for the progress of our wards and investigators. That was alright. Not the funnest thing to do, but it was necesary haha. In the afternoon we had a few lessons with a recent convert and a few new investigators that we found. The recent convert works making tortillas and they are super good. A good tortilla with salt really hits the spot! The new investigators, Olita and Katia are really solid as well. They were skeptical at first but later they started to become interested. Cool lesson.

Saturday and Sunday my comp got pretty sick. We didn't leave accept for Sunday in the afternoon when Elder Philippe and Elder Neuwirth came by to help us go to a few appointments. Out of the four sundays that I have been here, I´ve only gone to church 1 time. Someone should probably visit us so we don´t go inactive haha. Well, I hope that you all have a good week, and enjoy Pioneer day!

-Elder Hartvigsen