Pics - 3/11/13

Cool Things - 2/25/13

Dear Family,

Thank you for your e mail. My shoes are pretty bad, but my I have not worn my hush puppie shoes as much, so they will be alright until the end of my mission. I was mostly just wondering about the warranty, because if it is free I would love to give it to someone here. Dont worry about sending new shoes for me though.

It is great to hear that everyone is doing good and staying busy. I am glad Hannah is running track. That should be great!

We also had a good week and taught a lot of people. Also two people are going to be baptized this week. Pray that all goes well... haha Transfers are coming up, which reminds me. This transfer is a seven week transfer, so I will now no longer be coming home in May, but in the first week of June. The transfer ends in two weeks.

We are doing something cool in the branch right now. We have been working on getting all of the members testimonies on video. We are going to have a Fireside, and teach about building up Zion, and also on giving referrals. In between the lessons there will be musical numbers preformed. We are pretty excited about it. I can already see it helping the Branch.

I am glad to hear from you.
Love,
Elder Hartshorn

Whoosh! - 2/18/13

Dear Family,

Well as you probably know, I have no time to write at all. I am very sad to hear about Rex. You will have to send my love to Russell and Rocky.

My trip to Barbados was nice. I was able to see so many of my buds in the mission. We stayed over night there, actually two nights.

I am very excited to talk to Elder Egberts brother. That just makes me happy.

I love you all, so just remember that.

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

The Work is Going Onward - 2/11/13

Dear Family,

I am glad to hear that someone finally went ice fishing. We went fishing this morning as well! It was pretty darn fun, but between us all we only cought one fish. One of the Sister missionries had the lucky rod.

The work is going onward. We are working a lot with our members and it seems like it helping the missionary efforts here. We just need to get these people baptized. It kinda depresses me somtimes when people fall through all the time, but it is just another life leason learned from the mission.I m really excited to fly to Barbados this week for zone
conference. It should be great to get to see and hear from our mission President. I dont think there is any other mission where you see you mission president so little. Between the Presidents I have probably seen them about ten times haha

I have so many funny stories building up, I cannot wait to share them with you all. Most of them are random and would take forever to type so I will just save them.

I wrote Grandma, and Brittney this week so I hope they get them.

I love you all, so keep being awesome.

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

Waiting for the Fruits - 2/4/13

Dear Family,

Well we had a pretty good week again... It is pretty much the same ol same ol here in St. Lucia. Not much to say. Our Zone conference is in Barbados. We travel there on Valentines day. That is something to look forward to.

Our investigators are still progressing, for the most part. We should be starting to see some fruits of our labor soon, but I wont promise you anything, every time I do it always falls through. I hope we do though.

i hope everything is going good up there.

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

Sister Marius :) - 1/29/13

Dear Family,

I am happy you got to talk to my grandma down here. She called me after she talked to you and was like "you have a nice mother" I am not sure why but she just wanted to call you. I know she would love to get a letter from you. 

We had a pretty good week The other Elders in Castries baptized! It was one of those people who had been taught by missionaries forever and just decided it was time. We had a few investigators come for the baptism. We should be having a baptism on the ninth. We are continuing to have investigators at church. I am thankful for that it helps keep me going.

How is everything at home? What is Nathan doing? Hannah is running track, that is pretty boss. Is Britt having any fun in Utah?

I hope you all have a great week, thank you for all that you do.

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

Exploding to the Finish Line - 1/21/13

Dear Family,

Well... We had a pretty good week, other then our baptism did not go through. The Dad who in the States told her not to do it. She lives with her Grandma here so we feel like it was supposed to be like this so we could get her Grandmother too, one time.

We received our transfer calls, and believe it or not I am staying again with the same companion. I Feel like I have been here forever, but that is aright because we are having a lot of success. The Lord is preparing so many people in St. Lucia at this time.

We went to some water falls today, it was pretty sweet!

How is everything going at home? Is anyone doing any fishing yet? You will have to tell Grandma Kay that a received her card and I love her too, I will try to write some letters this week. I love you all, and am learning what enduring to the end means. It is not just surviving, but more like exploding to the finish line. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

LOL - 1/14/13

Dear Family,

Thank you for the e-mails and pictures. I am soooo sorry it is cold there, there has been a bit of a breeze the last week here that helped cool things down a bit. I am going to freeze my fingers off when I come back. I can barely sleep with AC on anymore.

We had an interesting week this week. We had an Elder here who had to fly to Trinidad to be interviewed by President. He is one of the Elders on the other side of the island, and he just refused to be obedient. Anyways it was interesting for us because we had to accommodate for his companion. That would be a pretty scary interview. President called him and said you are coming to Trinidad for an interview, oh and pack your bags, in case the interview doesn't go well. haha He is back in St. Lucia now, but President
said he is moving next week. Transfers are next week. It sounds like I am staying...

It is getting hard not to think about life when I get back. It is coming so fast, it is ridiculous. It would be great if you could send in some applications to the fisheries for me, and where ever else you want.

We are going to have a baptism this week, so I will try and send some pictures. The work is going great, I feel like I am growing more now then ever. I am starting to recognize the spirit more and it is helping me be more loving, Even when people are stupid.

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

A New Year - 1/7/13

Dear Family,

I am sending some pictures of a light house we went to this morning for our activity.

We had a pretty good week this week. We are still teaching all those awesome families, the only problem is that it looks like only one of them is going to be baptized this transfer.

We had a lot of distractions this week due to all the New Year celebrations. Also Elder Jones and I had to go interview a Elder on the other side of the island, that pretty much took a whole day. That is ok though, because it was kind of fun.

I was really looking forward to seeing some pictures of the wedding. Did any of my friends come?

Well have a great week, love ya.

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

"Best Man" - 12/31/12

Dear Family,

Well... It was great to talk with you all. My sore throat got a little worse but I am feeling much better now. Even though it was Christmas we still had a good week of missionary work. There is a lot of success going on here. So far though we only have one solid date for the 18th. A girl named Roshelle. Her family is still deciding if they want to be baptized with her. I hope so....

It sounds like the wedding was nice! I got my package and wore my "Best Man" tie haha When I told the people here I was the best man they told me that my family tricked me, to make me feel good about myself. Anyways some pictures of the wedding and everyone would be GREAT! you can send them through the e-mail. That is no problem at all. Well love you all.

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

The Christmas Spirit - 12/17/12

Dear Family,

I am happy to hear that you are getting some snow. last night we slept with the AC down all the way, I felt like I was in a snow storm. There was a missionary that is going home, so he stayed the night with us to catch his early flight. St. Lucia is getting a little change of missionaries. There are now four missionaries out of my group that are here on the island. Pretty sweet! We are having a great time teaching the Gospel. It is a lot of fun, I can really feel the Christmas spirit as I have tried to love the everyone. I think that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best gift anyone can receive. Everyone needs to know that God loves them especially around this Christmas time.

I am not sure what time we will be skyping, but it can be anytime, so let me know when works best for you. Everything is going good though, and I am sorry my E mails stink. It is not that I dont have time this week, I am just not sure what to say. Make sure you tell Daniel hi for me, and everyone. It would be really great to be able to write Sister Wade also. Thanks for everything, I love you all.

Love
Elder Hartshorn.

Staying the Same - 12/10/12

Dear Family,

I guess I should just say I am staying here again.... with Elder Meredith. The good news is that there will be two zone leaders here so I will get a little break. The other zone leader is Elder Jones from my group. We will be over st.marteen also. The zone is doing great! We are ripping up the mission right now. Elder Meredith and I are going to have some baptisms this transfer no doubt. We have been working with a couple of great families. I am excited to stay here for Christmas, I am sure I will be leaving next transfer though.

I do not need much for Christmas, so I am sure whatever you send will be great! I have not received any wedding announcement yet though. That is super exciting that Brittney is receiving her endowments. That will be awesome! I really wish I could go to the temple. I cannot believe there is no snow yet. Maybe it will be a late winter, and there will still be enough snow to go snow machining in June :)

Check out what was in the harbor this week. It gets pretty busy in town when there are four ships. It is sooo awkward talking to white people. 

Well I hope all is well up home. I am glad to be able to be here. West Indies Mission is the best. Thank you for all that you do.

Love
Elder Hartshorn

Fishing in the A.M. - 12/3/12

Dear Family,

Guess what time we woke up to go fishing this morning? 2:30. Reminded me of ice fishing only earlier. The Branch President on the other side of the island invited us to go, so we got permition from president and we had a great time. Elder Selman even caught a shark! haha

Well I do not have much time today.... sorry. Activities just kill internet time. but we had a great week. I love you all!

Love
Elder Hartshorn

Never boring - 11/26/12

Thank you for the awesome letter. It is nice to hear what is going on at home. It sounds like some major wedding planning has happened. That is pretty awesome.

Well this week was great. My first thanksgiving without a turkey to eat. It only cost 100 US for a little turkey. The Senior couple bought a bunch of chickens. We did have pumkin pie though. 

Guess what yesterday was? My 18th month mark! I am kind of scared... anyways we wont talk about time anymore. Our investigators are doing well. We have two awesome families that we are working with. The only problem is there is no men in the both of the homes. Normal and functioning families here are a rare and a prized possession for missionaries. Elder Meredith and I are doing well together so far. We have a lot of fun. Being a missionary is just fun. If you do not let it stress you out. I am thankful to be able to serve a mission at this time in this place. I know there is a reason that I am here. The thing that a have learned the most (I think) is the need for a living day prophet. There is so much confusion. The other day a lady from the church called "no denomination" Tried to tell us our church was wrong because 1. we allow the women to wear pants and 2. we allow women to talk in church. When we asked her the doctrine of her church, that is all she could say. I am thankful to be able to have a testimony, that the fullness of Jesus Christ's Gospel has been restored.

I hope everyone has a great week, I love you all.
Love Elder Hartshorn

Like No Other - 11/19/12

Dear Family,

We had a great week! We finally were able to help the members get excited about missionary work. The fruit was nine investigators at church. Both of the awesome families we found and are teaching came to church. My companion has a great personality and is a lot of fun so we get a long pretty well, it adds upon the fun serving in St. Lucia. This place is like no other. We had some great experiences with the homeless people this week.

We were waiting for a member to come out with us and this guy comes up to us and starts saying something, I couldnt understand him, then he finally got enough courage to ask us for money. I said we dont have any money, sorry... He then walked off, and we decided to do some street contacting while we waited. We walked around the block and talked some people then came to the same spot where we were waiting at before. We called the member and they were almost there so we just waited. The same scared homeless guy came back to us and started whispering something, I think he was trying to
get the courage to ask us for money again, I cut him short and said we still dont have any money. He kept mumbling and laughing as he walked off. It is the little things like this that keep me from going crazy.

We are going to be eating at the senior couples for thanksgiving. It should be good, but I must say in advance that I will miss moms Cheesecake 

That is so crazy that Elder Richins is coming back. I remember going to his farewell just the other day.

Anyways how is the wedding planning going? If there is ties involved you should send me one. I am pretty excited, even though I dont know much haha.

Well good luck! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Hartshorn

Hello Everyone! :) - 11/12/12

My dearest Family,

All is going great here in St. Lucia. We found two really great families last week, in the same day. We actually got nine new investigators in one day. They are going to come to church this week. We hope we can set a baptism date with them sometime this week. Our old investigators like Soul, and Clamenta are still there, they just are not keeping all of the commitments we leave with them. Some times people call out to us and try and make fun of us because of Romney, and saying we should go home now. We just tell them that it was Obama who sent us here to spy. haha That is pretty much what has been happening around here.

Zone Conference was awesome! President Mehr is funny he says some of the most crazy things as he teaches. He just gets really excited. Guadaloupe was nice. My companion was not able to go because they do not allow Guyanese in. He stayed with the other Guyanese in our zone haha poor guys. Anyways we went to church right there in Guadaloupe, I just read my Book of Mormon the whole time, because I could not understand anything. Now I have a better idea of how investigators might feel when they come to church for the first time.

Tell everyone hello for me. I am sorry my letters are bad now a days, I just have so much to do on the computer, and so little time. Oh and I think I lost the yellow card that has my shots on it. Is it possible to get a new one so I can, at some point, come back to America... Well I just want to say I love you all and I miss you.
Love,
Elder Hartshorn

Mission Newsletter

Elder Hartshorn wrote an article in the WIM Newsletter!

Ready to Take Off - 11/5/12

Dear Family,

Well a lot has happened this week. I am actually not serving with Elder Gibson. My new companion is Elder Meredith. He was supposed to go to saint Marteen, but the government would not let him stay. So we had a emergency transfer. It is great with me. Elder Meredith is in my group, and is a Guyanese. It is really great to be with someone knows how to do missionary work. It should be a great transfer.

Saint Lucia is about ready to take off with missionary work. The church here just got officially recognized by the government. Now  with the extra missionaries there will be a lot of good going on. This week we a re going to guadeloupe for zone conference again. We leave Friday and come back Sunday evening. How great is this mission!

How is the wedding planning going? Well I better get going, just know I love you all.

Love
Elder Hartshorn

Hastening the Work - 10/29/12

Dear Family,

We had a great zone activity. I am not sure if you have ever looked up Saint Lucia on google and have seen the picture of the two huge steep mountains, but we climbed the skinny steep one today. WOW we had to use ropes to get up it, haha pretty intense! Due to the activity I had to break down and buy shoes. I have spent more money in this short time in Saint Lucia then anywhere else. Stupid thieves.

Well we got our calls for the next transfer and I am staying here with Elder Gibson. I am still the Zone Leader, but they are bringing in another set of Elders. YAY!!! Our zone is going to be stacked with great missionaries. There are two former zone leaders, that I will now be the zone leader over. It kind of makes me nervous. They could easily do a better job then me. President helps me a lot with the missionaries here. This man is amazing.  We were given some great news from today. He says due to the increase of missionary applications we are going to be growing as a mission. Our number of Elders and Sisters, not including senior couples, is going from 126 to 178 in just a few months time. It looks like the Lord's work is truly being hastened. ( D&C 88:73) I hope I can personally help hasten the work.

The work is moving forward, even here in Castries. We had 5 investigators at church, two of them have baptism dates for November 24th. With the new Elders here I am feel that will easily double. Pretty sweet stuff happening out here. The Lord is preparing the people for his coming. May we do the same.

Love,
Elder Hartshorn

After the hike :-)

All is Well - 10/22/12

Dear Family,

Well our investigators that were supposed to be baptized last week were just not ready yet. They are starting to really progress though and should be baptized in a few weeks. The weather has been pretty good here though. When there is a storm warning most of the time it is pretty nasty outside, but our apartment is built upon the rock. Our Friend Timothy had a break in he had to take care of so he did not make it to church this week. I hope next week.



Transfers are next week, I am not sure if I will be moving or not. I kind of hope so. haha Our running shoes got stolen again.... We have a little gated balcony were we left our shoes. They must of took a long stick and reached in and dragged them out. We checked for new shoes this morning but they are really expensive.

I dont have much time today, because we had a sweet zone Activity. All is well though. Love ya.

Love
Elder Hartshorn