Re: I Feel My Savior's Love - 9/24/12

Hello everybody,

Thank you for the pictures and the e mail. It sounds like you had a great experience climbing Table Rock. Just remember everyone climbs to mountain of life at their own pace. People like me are a little slower then others. Being in Saint Lucia must be preparing me to hike table rock because it is all straight up or straight down here. Thats what makes it so beautiful though.

We had a pretty good week, we were even able to do some service. It was pretty fun, but now I have blisters on my hands from machete. We helped an investigator weed a spot for her to plant a garden. It was a good thing I learned the machete skills in Guyana. Before church yesterday there was like a mini hurricane so hardly anyone came. We can always look forward to next week though. We have a couple of people working towards baptism for the 20th of October. So that is pretty good. Last week we also had a zone activity, we had a bbq. I used my authority unrighteously and used half our budget on Mountain dew hahaha

Well all is well here, thanks again for everything.

Love
Elder Hartshorn

Send Me Back to Guyana! - 9/17/12

Dear Family,

Thank you for the inspiring e mail. I got the the goods last Monday thank you so much. It was nice, I gave all the mint jelly beans to my companion. haha The new shirts are boss and the ties amazing.

That is so cool that Jayson served in Taiwan. Our Taiwanese investigator came to church again, we also had four other investigators at church. It is always pretty scary when you have investigators at church, and the member who is speaking gets up and says "I am not going to be giving a talk today, but am going to be preaching from the Book of Mormon, something I prepared by the holy spirit." haha

Well we got transfer calls and I am going to be staying with Elder Gibson. I am getting pretty tired of Saint Lucia. ha Send me back to GUYANA!

is Nathan going to be married by the time I get home? I hope so... haha I would love to hear about how the hunting is going and everything. I will just keep fishin for now.

Well the work is moving forward as we are striving to establish the church here.

Love Elder Hartshorn

Making It Come to Life - 9/10/12

Dear Family,

Wow this week went by really fast! I must say I loved the pictures, is that the only thing you could catch on the trail cam haha Thats got to change by next year. I did get one letter from Brittney a few weeks ago. I am going to and try and write some letters today.

I dont think I need a new bag. I think I will try and just get by with my under armor bag. I wish we would of been there when it happened though, I dont think they were anyone too dangerous. Probably just one of our awesome homeless friends.

Goudaloupe was boss! It was a lot of fun. I got to see president Gamiette, actually I was going to get a picture with him and President Mehr but when I pulled out my Camera it was dead! another Elder took one for me so maybe next week I will send you it. Two of the best mission Presidents ever. Zone conferance was great I learned a lot. President Mehr wants us to get creative when we talk to people, and make the book of mormon come to life. Sometimes I wish I was just starting my mission, because I have so much to learn still. It is so fun telling the stories out of the Book of Mormon and making them come to life though.

Oh! I was going to ask you if you knew were Jayson Calderwood served his mission? We have a member who is a volunteer from Taiwan. Anyways she is sharing the gospel with her Taiwanese friends, and we have been able to teach them. It makes me wish I was called to serve in Taiwan because they are awesome! They have kept every commitment we have left with them, and one even came to church this Sunday. There is a little bit of a communication difficulty but  I think we have planted a pretty good seed for when they go back.

Anyways thanks for the pictures, the package has not yet came. It should be here sometime this week though. Everything is going good here we are just trying to establish the church and bring souls to Christ.

Love
Elder Hartshorn

Ups and Downs - 9/3/12

Dear Family,

That is good that you sent my package through the post office, I think that will be the best, and cheapest. I am looking forward to getting it. I hope I am still in St. Lucia when it gets here haha

We had a pretty good week, defiantly one of ups and downs. I guess I will start out with the ups. We had a baptism! Truly a miracle. One of Sister Marious'es friend was baptized. Her name is Brenda and she is way solid. She bore her testimony yesterday, and it was really great. I will try and send some pictures. It was one of the most spiritual baptisms I have ever been part of.

Now for the downs.... Well our apartment got broken into. they did not take much, just made a mess of the place. They took my nice back back though, that made me mad because it was still like brand new, I only used it on transfers. Other then that they took our phone chargers and two of Elder Gibsons jump drives. Oh and they took some food haha I am pretty sure it was one of those homeless people haha. Anyways it took a lot of time out of our week because the landlord had to come over, and then this guy came over and made the house more thief proof.

Well that is pretty much my week. I really enjoy hearing how everyone is doing in the valley. That is cool that there is missionaries still going out o0f the valley. Jake is going to love Brazil, if it is anything like Guyana. It is probably a lot more advanced then Guyana though.

Thanks for all your support, just remember that I love you all.

Love
Elder Hartshorn

Keep Working Hard - 8/27/12

Dear Family,

Thank you for the encouraging e mail mom, Elder Gibson and I are doing great. He is trying to get me in shape though. We went running this morning, also I have been trying to do 100 push ups a day, 50 in the morning and then 50 before I go to bed. I feel good though. I am seriously thinking about going into the Army, either as a reservist, or in the
national guard. Unless you can think of a better way to pay for school.

The work here is going good. We are having a baptism this week so that is great! it is Sister Brenda, a friend to Sister Marious, the one who is bed ridden. Isnt that sweet? We are trying to establish the church here in St. Lucia. The branch here is kind of struggling right now.

I have been reading a lot from the Book of Mormon this transfer, and it has been great! This week I read a verse that in 2 Nephi 24 that stood out to me. I think it is in verse 16 but it says how we will feel when we see Satan. We will look at him and say is this the man that has done all this destruction. When we are faced with trails we can just think of
how Satan really is. He is nothing special  We can conquer him. He is nothing.

Well I better get but I love you keep working hard.

Love
Elder Hartshorn

Blessed Out of My Mind - 8/20/12

Dear Family,

Thank you for everything that you do for me! I really am just blessed out of my mind! Well this week went pretty good President and the assistants flew in Friday. President had meetings all that day, but we were still able to have dinner with him. He is just AWESOME! read alma 14 if you wounder why God lets bad things happen on the earth. Anyways Elder Gibson and I were with the assistants all day friday. They are both from my group again so it was sweet. I learned so much. I learned that I need to be a better teacher, a lot better teacher... The next day we had our interview/training with President, that was sweet.

Elder Gibson is doing so much better this week. I am beginning to love training him. He is trying to get me to join the Army... what do you think about that haha we are on a work out schedule anyways.

Thank you for your prayers, I can really feel when people pray for me. It is just a peaceful feeling to know that there is people who care about you and about Gods work.  anyways I love you all thanks for everything. Oh and you can just send the package to the same St. Lucia mailing address. Thanks again.

Love
Elder Hartshorn

Letting the Light Shine - 8/13/12

Good morning everybody,

I got my new companion Wednesday. He is from American Samoa. He is 23, and served in the army for five years. Dont worry it is still like training, hard and pretty much one sided all the time. When we were trying to plan last night he was writing in his journal instead of paying attention. I shouldn't complain, but it is hard. It is so much more fun when you have a companion that likes to work hard and knows what is going on. Elder Gibson is very loving though and here in a few weeks should be a great missionary. Elder Blackburn went to Trinidad. I sure do miss him.

On a brighter note the work is starting to pick up here. We have some baptismal dates for the 25th and a really solid one for September 1st. Also president is coming to the island Friday and Saturday. That will be really fun, President Mehr is so sweet. He is full of energy and very bold. He often in meetings will tell missionaries their WRONG! then say but i still love you, your such a good missionary.... it is always fun when he is
teaching.

Thanks for your e mail. I do not need garments or contacts. I bought some new garments in Guyana right before I left because they are very cheap. I bought all my garments for ten dollars. I am thankful for the spirtual note. I think there is no better way to do missionary work then letting your light shine and serving the people around us. I hope you can all have a missionary experience.

Thanks for the updates on everyone, it sounds like everyone is having a good summer. wait.... when does school start? how is the football team looking for this year? Anyone getting ready to put the sneak on some big bulls? A year from now I know I will be. What is the valley like now? Anyways I miss you all, but not too much... haha Let me know how your missionary work is going.

Love
Elder Hartshorn