Week 72/73

Hey guys!

Wow, I'm so sorry I forgot to email last week! I really don't have an excuse or anything I just totally forgot. So I'll try to cover both weeks in this email, which should be easy because they were pretty much the same.

We did lots more service at Feeding South Dakota, just like we always do, and we also picked up a new place to do service at called the Fork Real Café. It's a pretty cool place; they don't turn anybody away even if they don't have any money, and they just ask that that person sticks around and helps clean up after they close. So we help cook and bring meals out to people, and the owners even ENCOURAGE that we talk to all the customers and introduce ourselves, so that's obviously more than okay with us!

Quick work update: We haven't found anybody to get baptized just yet this week, but we've got a couple people who are getting close. Hopefully we get some of them on date this next week.

Other than that, I guess I'll just kinda explain all the pictures I attached, cause they pretty much cover everything from the past two weeks.

1/2. Just me with John Adams and George Washington. No big deal ;) They've got a bunch of statues of all the former presidents downtown, and we've been going down there on Thursdays to do some contacting at the Summer Nights festival. President's got us trying out contacting in normal clothes, so that's pretty weird, but it seems to help a lot!

3. We and the Black Hills elders went up to Deadwood again on Saturday to do some more contacting, which is always fun. My USA sunglasses are pretty sweet huh? ;)

4. We hiked Harney's Peak last P-day! We weren't able to get all the way to the top because it started dumping rain and there was a bunch of thunder and lightning, but it was really pretty. Hopefully I can get all the way to the top someday.

Well that's pretty much it this time, have a great week guys!

Elder Hart

Week 71

Hey guys!!

Wow, sorry this is so late, it's been a crazy day. We ended up having a few lessons in the morning/middle of the day so I'm only getting around to writing this now.

We've had a good week though! We got quite a few new people to teach from our own finding and referrals from other missionaries. The only really solid one is a guy named Daniel, who came to church on Sunday and seems to be really interested in joining the Church. He is on probation though, which is kinda unfortunate, but it's alright! I'm sure he'll get baptized after his time is up.

We got to help out at a golf tournament fundraiser for Habitat For Humanity on Thursday, so that was pretty fun. Lots of rich people and standing in the sun... that's pretty much all I've got to say about that.

We also took a trip up to Deadwood with the Black Hills elders to do some contacting! Deadwood is basically a tiny little Las Vegas right in the middle of South Dakota. It's got casinos and bars and super cheap buffets and all that stuff, so a lot of people go up there on the weekend. It was actually really cool, we rode the buses around for a couple hours and talked to like thirty people total! I think we're gonna be going back up there this weekend, which will be sweet. We stopped at a little Chinese restaurant on the way back for dinner in Sturgis, and it was actually way good.

Those are the main highlights from the week. Sorry it's so short, I'll make sure I have more time next week!

Elder Hart

Week 70

Hey guys!

Guess what? I actually have a lot to talk about this week for a change! So Elder Guzzle's birthday was on Tuesday, and some members took us to Golden Corral for lunch, and I learned again that I actually don't like that place that much! I keep forgetting that it's not that good but every time I go I get super excited and then I remember that it's kinda gross... but that's okay, it was really nice of them and it was still a fun time haha. It was pretty much just a normal day for him other than that, but that's all you can expect when you're on a mission!

Pretty much every other set of missionaries in Rapid City was in Bismarck for some reason or another this week, which means we got to cover ALL of their service! Seriously. Like all of it. We were at Feeding South Dakota like six times this week. But it was actually a good time, there's a bunch of other cool volunteers there that we get to talk to and we always teach them a little bit about the gospel. I don't know if any of them are gonna be getting baptized any time soon, but a lot of them ask us a bunch of questions and they're starting to get really curious, so hopefully something comes of it one day. I've actually noticed a big difference in the way people perceive missionaries and the Church as we've done more service around the other volunteers. Once they realize that we're actually just normal people, it makes a huge difference! I think that's why members can have so much more success in teaching the gospel to their friends than full-time missionaries; members of the Church are just regular people with regular lives, but people around them can still tell that they have something different, and a lot of them want that. It's so much easier for them to have a conversation with one of their friends from work or a neighbor than these two weird guys in white shirts and ties that randomly knock on their door one day. So to anyone who's reading this, please please PLEASE make an extra effort to share the gospel with someone else this week! I know that life can seem to busy or talking about our beliefs can be kinda scary at first, but President Nelson and our other Church leaders have made it clear that gathering Israel is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing on the earth right now. More important than a job or not offending someone or not seeming weird or anything like that. Don't let anything be an excuse to not at least try to reach out to a friend or a coworker or a neighbor or a family member or whoever it is.

Haha one of the biggest things my mission has taught me is how to be a truly converted member of the Church. I know that there are many members of the Church that the Lord is not pleased with as far as how important missionary work is to us -- I was one for my whole life before my mission! I definitely need to change a lot of old habits when I get home, and I think a lot of others are in that same boat. Sorry to go off on that for so long, but it really is so important and I think a lot of us neglect our responsibilities when it comes to gathering Israel.

The weather this week has been crazy, it's been dumping rain for like five days in a row and a lot of places in Rapid are flooded. We've driven through a couple intersections that are filled with like three feet of water, so that's been pretty nuts. But when it's not raining, the weather has been soooo nice! It's been in the mid 70's and 80's all week, which has been awesome after the -50's and -60's that we felt in the winter time! But that's enough about the weather, you guys probably actually don't care about that 😂

Yesterday we had stake conference, which was awesome because the Pierre district was dissolved a few months ago and the Rosebud branch was put into the Rapid City stake! So that means I got to see some old friends from my first area, which was awesome. I think moments like that give you just a tiny glimpse into what the Celestial Kingdom will be like when we're reunited with so many old friends from this life and the life before. The Sharpfish family came up from Rosebud, and they asked me to stand in on the blessing of their very first granddaughter! That was such a cool thing, it's little things like that that make the whole mission experience worth it.

Anyway, that's all I've got this time. Have a good week guys!

Elder Hart

1. The hail we had on Sunday!!

2. Me and the Sharpfishes

3-5. They should've let me be the model for the Feeding SD trailer, I would've done a way better job than those kids ;)