Week 50

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas this last week and that you're all having a great New Year's Eve! It sure has been cold these last few days, so we haven't been able to go outside too much, but it's been a pretty good week for us anyway. It's a weird feeling to walk outside when it's so cold that it hurts to even breathe! Today we woke up and it was -40 degrees with wind chill, so that's great haha.

Like I said, we had to stay in for a few days this week, but it's probably actually been the most productive week we've had since I've been here. We made a lot of calls to formers and potentials that we hadn't been able to get in contact with, and we have four or five return appointments this week. We also have lots of service opportunities coming up this week at a few different places, so we're looking forward to actually having some solid stuff to do for a change!

We had Clement's baptism this last week, which was awesome! I'd only met him once or twice before the baptism, but it was so easy to tell that he was super ready to get baptized. We didn't have too much notice to plan for it, but it ended up going really well. Not many members showed up, but Bishop was there with a lot of other missionaries, and he was able to be confirmed in sacrament meeting yesterday, so I think everything ended up fine.

I've been studying King Benjamin's address in the Book of Mormon this last week; I won't go too much into what I've been learning from it, but I will say that I've read through that section of Mosiah many times and missed so many amazing things! It really does make a huge difference to study the scriptures with the Spirit and ponder their meaning rather than to just read them. It absolutely takes more time and effort, but the reward it will give you is incomparable!

I hope everyone has a great new year,

Elder Hart

1. Just in case anyone didn't think it was that cold 😂

2. The first big snowstorm of the year... and no, that is not me trying to look cool for the picture, that's my face being too cold to try to smile 😂

3. Clement's baptism!

Week 49

Hey everyone!!

I hope you guys all had an awesome Christmas! Ours over here in Fargo was pretty good... it wasn't the most eventful one of my life for sure, but I'll definitely remember my first Christmas on the mission forever! The senior couple over here, the Larsens, had all the elders in Fargo over for breakfast this morning and then we also went to lunch at a member's house (well it was actually dinner but they had us come at 2:00 so I'm pretty sure that counts as lunch). And then we got to Skype our families, which was definitely the best part of the day by far! Wow, I just love those people so much, and each one of the 4 chances that I have to call them while I'm on my mission is so special. I'm already 2 calls down, 2 to go, and by the time I call next time on Christmas, I'll be a week away from going home!

But that only means I've got a lot to do in a pretty short amount of time, because I'm definitely not nearly who I want to be by the time I'm done with my mission. This last year really has changed me a lot though, and I'm super excited for what the next year brings.

The work here in Fargo is still slow, but things are picking up from what they were when I first got here. We have a lot of service opportunities that have come up this last week that we'll be following up on, plus a few appointments with some formers that we set up as well. We finally got a car (the only minivan in the mission 😂) which is both a blessing and kind of sad, because that means we won't be able to talk to people on the bus anymore! We're thinking about asking the financial secretary if we can buy bus passes this month anyway, because it really is a super good way to meet people.

Anyway, Christmas has been good over here in North Dakota! Love all you guys and hope you have a great week!

Elder Hart

Not too many pictures this week, just a bunch of crazy stuff Elder Glissmeyer got for Christmas and dogs because I have to ;)

Week 48

Hey everyone!

Man, it's been a pretty wild week. Transfers are always crazy, especially when you're the one packing up and heading to a new area! We got transfer calls on Monday morning, and transfers were supposed to be on Wednesday, which gave us plenty of time to pack up and get ready to go, but we got a call on Tuesday morning and found out that we were supposed to be in Minot that night! So it was a crazy few hours getting everything together and trying to find time to say goodbye to everybody. It sure was tough to leave Williston, I never could have imagined coming to love a place that much on my mission. I was able to get pictures with all the families that I really care about though, so that's good. I'll attach the ones I have on this email, but there are still a couple I have to get from my old companions.

Fargo is a pretty sweet place. There's definitely not as much going on here though, the past few days have been really slow. My companion, Elder Glissmeyer, has only been out for two transfers, and his trainer just sort of did whatever he wanted to, so he's not really sure what to do and his trainer didn't leave that much behind. But we've already gotten in contact with lots of places that we're going to do service at this week and set up lessons with a lot of members that we're going to try to find through, so things should get a lot better this week.

One of the things I studied this week was the book of Enos. I've read it many times before and I think we all know the story of how he prayed all day and all night very well, but it made me think a little more this time about what would happen if one day, I decided to get down on my knees and pray from sun up until sun down. Obviously that's not a realistic option, especially being on a mission, but it made me wonder what sort of miracles we could see if we prayed with the faith and devotion of Enos. There are countless examples in the scriptures of lives being blessed and completely changed because of the prayers of the righteous -- namely Alma the younger, who was brought to repentance by a messenger of God who, more than likely, would not have appeared to him were it not for the mighty supplications of his father on his behalf. Long story short, remember to pray with real intent, believing that you shall receive, and the Lord will be able to enter into your life more than you ever before thought possible!

Hope everybody has a great week,

Elder Hart

Week 46/47

Hey everyone!!

Sorry for not writing last week and almost not writing this week!! We've had a crazy last few days and I completely forgot last week. 

So the biggest news is that I'm getting transferred to Fargo on Wednesday, which I'm pretty pumped about! It's the biggest city in the mission and it's the only one with Panda Express and Chick Fil A, so that's pretty cool! I'm also going to get to go to the temple on transfer day, which I'm so excited for! I love doing family history work and going to the temple but we don't get the opportunity too often as missionaries. I'm gonna be companions with Elder Glissmeyer. He just came out two transfers ago so I've never met him but I've heard good things from other missionaries.

We also had two baptisms last week, which was an awesome way to end my time in Williston! NJ and his brother Zach were both baptized and confirmed on Saturday. I got to give a talk and confirm Zach, which was an awesome experience. Their mom took a bunch of pictures but she hasn't sent them to me yet. I'll make sure they get sent next week!

Sorry for the short email, I promise I'll do a lot better next week!!

Elder Hart

1-8. We got to learn how to bake apple pie today with Sister Andelin!

9. We knocked on a member's door just in time to meet Santa Claus (Brother Maddocks)!

10. Demitri (NJ and Zach's younger brother) took a sweet selfie on my phone during our last lesson 😂