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

Week 91

Hey guys!

We've had a really great week this week! We had quite a bit of success in the work that we did -- we were able to find two new people to teach and we finally got somebody at church. Just one person, and we were supposed to have four as of Saturday night, but we count our blessings where we can get them 😂

We had MLC in Bismarck! That's always a party. I got to see lots of old friends: Elder Lamb, Elder Schellenberg, Elder Guzzle, Elder Winters, Elder Larsen... there were some other ones. It's kinda crazy, because over half of our mission went home last summer, so most of the mission has been out for six months or less! So most of the missionaries I know are in the MLC since they're the only experienced ones left. We got to go to the temple on Thursday night, which I'll never complain about. I absolutely love going to the temple. If anyone in this fairly small group of people that I email isn't attending the temple as regularly as possible, please do it! There are so many people in the Dakotas who live hours and hours away from a temple and can only make it a few times a year, and other people in the world can make it far less. I'm hoping to go at least twice a month when I get home, even if it means having to fit it in to a really busy schedule. Anyway, that's my little spiel on that.

We started teaching Sam and Elvira, our two Spanish investigators, again this week. Sam still has a few issues to work through, but Elvira is determined to get baptized this time and I'm really hoping they'll make it before I go home. It was good for Elder Nielsen to be able to practice his Spanish with some natives. I think it was a humbling experience for him to see just how far there is to go! I could relate to him pretty well thinking back to a few years ago!

That's about it this time around. I hope everybody remembers that the gospel brings HAPPINESS! There is no other place, church, or organization on the face of the planet Earth that will bring the kind of happiness that this gospel and Church will bring, no matter what trials, questions, or difficulties somebody may be facing. I know everybody on this list is already a member of the Church, but if anybody is having doubts, please know that you can stop. This is the place. We've all been lucky enough to find it, and there's no need to look for fulfillment any place else.

Have a great week everybody!

Elder Hart

1. Just Elder Hart at it with the heart puns again

2. My crazy mission president with his weird Halloween costume

3. This is Javarius LaSquariusness. Elder Nielsen made him and named him. I just took this awesome thuggin picture with him ;)

4. Our MLC group picture