WEEK 100

Kay, so last week wasn't actually week 100, this week is, but I'm not gonna write a weekly next Monday so there ya go.

Well, we had a great week... I introduced my companions to as many formers as I could and helped them to get to know the area before I leave. I said goodbye to quite a few members yesterday, a couple today, and we'll see how many we can get to tomorrow. It sure is tough to leave a place like this, but it's easier when the area I'm being transferred to is one I know pretty well ;)

I just honestly can't believe this whole thing is over. None of it even seems real. I know that's just about the most cliche thing a missionary can say when his mission is winding down, but I don't even know how else to describe how I feel about it. Of course I'm excited to go home and I'm sad to leave, but when I think back on this last two years and all the experiences I've had, I can't believe I made it through. I'm not the kind of person who can do things like serving a mission... at least I didn't used to be. I shouldn't have made it through. I should have gone home week one! I made it through because the Lord made me into what He needed me to be. If anybody asked me what the biggest lesson I learned on my mission was, the answer would be this: The Lord asks us to walk down a lot of difficult paths. At the beginning of that path, we may not feel like we're strong enough to get to the end, and most of the time we're right. God asks us to do those difficult things because He knows what will make us stronger, and by the time we've reached the end of that road, we will have become something better than we were before. That's mortal life in a nutshell right there, and I got to see it all condensed down into two years of my life. I'm just grateful for Jesus Christ and the power that He has to make us like Him. Because of Him, I'm a better person than I was two years ago, and I think I've been able to help some other people become better along the way as well.

Thank you all so much for all the support, love, and prayers you've given me this past two years. It's been an incredible journey and I hope to see you all soon.

Elder Hart

p.s. All these pictures are of people I've come to love and care about a bunch these few months in Dickinson. I've got lots more but I don't have room for all of them here :)

Week 99

Hey guys!

Technically last week was Week 98 but I'm skewing the numbers so that I can write a Week 100 email next week ;)

We had a good week this week! Elder Parker got a new missionary, Elder Crown, so we've just been showing him around this week and helping him adjust to missionary life. I'm hoping these two will be able to learn the area well enough by the time I leave, so I'm trying to tell them everything I can about everybody in the Area Book. Neither of them have been here long, but I think everything will be fine in the end.

We had a couple of our investigators show up for church yesterday, but I didn't see any other nonmembers that members brought, so I was kinda disappointed about that. I think things in our area are finally starting to move again though, so hopefully after the holidays we're able to see some people really start progressing towards baptism.

We're really looking forward to Christmas, we're spending the next two days with two awesome member families and we're stoked about it! Hope all you guys have a great Christmas,

Elder Hart

p.s. My Grandpa Hart passed away last week so I wanted to share a couple of my favorite pictures of him :)

Week 97

Hey guys!

Well, this is gonna have to be a shorter one again since it's so late, but I'll at least explain all the pictures 😂

The first one is just one of me and Elder Nielsen the night before he left that I never sent haha but I didn't have too many pictures to send this week so I threw it in anyway 😂

We had our zone Christmas party this week! It was pretty fun, we just played some games, did a quick little service project and watched a movie called The Fighting Preacher. It was actually pretty darn good -- but that's coming from a missionary who hasn't seen a real movie in two years so take it with a grain of salt ;)

The last one is me with President and Sister Johansen. It turns out their son in law works with my dad, so they wanted to get a picture to send it to him. They're some pretty awesome people, it's been awesome having the chance to serve with them.

I guess that's about it for this week! I sure can't believe the time is running so short. I never thought I'd actually get to the point where my mission was over... my whole life has been leading up to this, so I'm really not sure what to do once it's done. But I've still got a couple weeks left, so I'm not gonna think about that just yet!

Love y'all!

Elder Hart

p.s. My companion is training this transfer, and his new missionary gets here on Wednesday! So we'll be in a trio for my last couple weeks, which should be fun

Week 96

Hey guys!

I don't have a ton of time, but I'll give a quick update on how the week went!

It's been a struggle these past few days as we've tried to help prepare somebody for baptism this month. People's agency is SO FRUSTRATING to me sometimes, especially when it's literally the only thing holding them back from a much better life! We work as hard as we can and pray often for all the people we teach, but when it comes down to it, we can't override their agency. And sometimes I really, really, really want to, especially as I get this close to the end. But we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith, and I'm gonna keep having faith whether I'm able to see another baptism or not.

We had our choir performance this week!... wait, back up. We and the sisters have been in this community choir for the past month and a half and we finally had our Christmas concert yesterday. It was pretty fun, it made me wish that I'd done choir during high school! I was actually planning on joining my senior year but Brazil kinda got in the way... maybe in college though!

We also spent a couple days on exchanges in Bismarck. I ended up spending a day with my old companion Elder Lamb who's an assistant now. We went to pick up two new missionaries and oh man was that weird! I stood in exactly the same spot in that airport that I did two years ago, except instead of my mission president standing at the baggage claim waiting for me, it was two brand new missionaries. It's crazy how fast the time has flown, but it also seems like that was another lifetime. I can't believe it's all finally coming to an end!

Anyway, that's all folks!

Elder Hart

Week 95

Hey guys!

Well, this week has been pretty tough. We did lots of work and did our very best to succeed, but everything sort of went backwards. We met a lady named Trish on Monday who seemed SUPER solid, and we put her on date for December 11th. She was willing to come to church and follow all the commandments and everything. But then she just didn't show up for our next appointment on Wednesday, stopped responding to texts and calls, didn't come to church, and we have no idea what happened to her. And the sad part is, after two years of being on a mission, I'm really not even surprised. That sort of thing happens all the time. People just reject the gospel and can't bring themselves to face the missionaries again. We fasted and prayed for her all day yesterday, so I hope her heart softens this week -- if you guys could all remember her in your prayers too that'd be great!

We had a huge snowstorm on Friday and Saturday, which meant we had to video call for MLC. Holy cow, that was LONG. That was probably the most eventful part of the day too, since we weren't able to set up any appointments or contact anybody because of the storm.

Thanksgiving the day before was really fun though! We ended up going to two different members' houses, and that morning we did service preparing Thanksgiving meals for people who wouldn't have anywhere else to go. The roads were super, super icy but we stayed safe all day.

We're in Bismarck today for P-day, and then I'll be going on exchanges with some other elders tonight. It should hopefully end up being a pretty good time!

That's about it, love y'all!

Elder Hart

Week 94

 audio translation

Week 92/93

Hey guys!

It's been a really busy week, but I guess the only exciting stuff happened from Monday to Wednesday. I spent the first half of the week in Bismarck with Elder Winters, because my companion finally got his visa to Ecuador! I guess I didn't send a weekly email last week either, but that's fine because I don't think anything really notable happened that week except for the fact that he was suuuuper nervous to leave... which is understandable, I'd be really nervous too. But he flew out on Monday morning and I haven't heard from him since then, so I hope he's doing alright. After that, we spent P-day playing games and stuff at the mission home, so that was a lot of fun. It was one of the more fun P-days I've had on my mission, especially since P-days in Dickinson mostly consist of sitting around at the church and not doing too much.

I just kind of tagged along with Elder Winters in his area for the next couple of days. It's always kind of annoying being on exchanges because there's not much you can do to help with planning and stuff in somebody else's area, but it was really fun being there. I kinda wish he was my companion for this last transfer, but my new companion is good too. His name is Elder Parker, he's a pretty good guy. It's always nice to have a companion who's not brand new so that he can actually help with different aspects of missionary work.

We hit all of our key indicator goals this week, which was a pretty big miracle since we were barely able to spend half the week in our area. I think things in this area are starting to do really well again after a couple slow weeks. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to see another baptism or two before I leave in January.

That's about it this time around. I think this is the happiest I've been on my mission, which makes it hard to think about leaving soon! I've made lots of good friends and memories while I've been in North Dakota, and my testimony has been strengthened so much. It's definitely been the best experience of my life.

Anyway, I hope you guys have a great week!

Elder Hart