This Weeks Pictures from Honcupampa, Peru

Elder Hackleman at Honcupampa, Peru

I found pride rock.....just sayin

Letters This Week

On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 11:58 PM, Amy wrote:

Elder Hackleman,

How are you today? What is new? We had a great Sunday. Tim and Becky blessed their baby today and your dad stood in the circle. That little guy is soooo cute!

This week has been a good one. I started a new blog two weeks ago. It is just random things, like recipes, diy projects, quotes, and anything else that might catch my eye. I am running ads on it. The idea is to someday make enough money to cover Seth’s mission costsJ In two weeks I have gotten over 1,000 views. Not too shabby.

It has been freezing cold here for the past couple of days. I am done going outside until spring ha ha.

I got a message from a friend of mine this morning. She was an exchange student who went to my high school. She lives in Sweden. I guess she met Tanner at church this morning. Pretty awesome!

Grant has been playing dodge-ball after school on Wed and Fridays. He sure loves it. Nathan told me today that he might go out for golf. We will see how it goes.

We are hoping to teach a missionary lesson here tomorrow. Our family has been helping the missionaries with a 15 year old investigator who never will commit to baptism. Seth and Nathan have helped teach him since October.

Well, I sure love you and can't wait until tomorrow when I get to hear from you:)

Love

Mom

Hey mom! I sure miss the cold. I can´t complain because Huaraz is like perfect weather, but getting a snowball in the face can believe it or not, be missed at some point in a person´s life if they haven´t had the experience in a while. That sounds like a fun blog! If you make a little more, you can at least get to where you can pay for date night or something. Haha Speaking of Tanner. He sent me an email today. Apparently a missionary in his mission got hit by a car the other day and passed away. It doesn´t look to me like Tanner knew him to well, but he did know the missionary´s companion who is pretty shaken up as one can imagine. How sad....

That is awesome that grant is playing dodgeball haha. I hope he knows his big bro was champion in intramurals at SVU! Nathan better go out for golf!!!!! Has seth started his mission papers yet? I have been doing the math and if all goes well, he could receive his mission call around the time I call home for mother´s day! Keep that in mind =) I love you mom!

Elder Hackleman

You can´t tell in the picture but I am in front of the church and it is flooding with rain. I stepped out into the road and water went up above my ankles Crazy! 

This is grafitti of a Huarazino or Cholo

On Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 9:07 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder,

We had a great week. It has been super cold here. It was 0 degrees when we left church yesterday! brrrrrrrrrrrr. But Thursday it's supposed to get up to 50! Your mom and I went to a UNO hockey game on Friday. I got tickets from work. It was a blast!!! Sam (our Mormon CEO) sat behind us with his wife and daughter. I should have introduced your mom, but I didn't :( Kicking myself for that one. Anyway, I have attached a photo!

UNO Hockey Game

How was your week? How have the lessons been going? I forgot to ask you if you are the "senior" companion. You have to let us know when you get put into leadership roles as well! Like District leader or Zone leader.

I'm speaking in Sacrament on Sunday. My topic is Lessons Learned from Captain Moroni! Should be fun. Lots of different ways you could go, but I think I'm going to focus on strategy and defenses.

I know your mom sent you a big letter so I'll keep mine short. Let us know what's been going on! You know how we love to hear about your work!

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Hey dad!!!! That looks like a blast! I can´t believe you didn´t introduce mom if you know him so well. That looks way cool though. Things are going great here. We have another baptism set for this week. Her name is Pilar. She has been progressing like wild fire until these last few days she started having some doubts. That always happens the week of a person´s baptism because Satan is very aware of what is going on. It will be fine though. Us missionaries are used to the fight against satan. I am senior companion yes. Really I´m not one to flaunt or even feel proud though if I ever get put in a leadership position. To be honest, I kind of hope I don´t. It’s a lot of worries and stress that are distracting from just being a missionary. But we´ll see. Haha Captain Moroni is a pretty awesome topic. When you are studying, read every single footnote and every reference there is, even if it seems off topic. You´ll be amazed what more you learn out of those verses. We are putting that into practice in our studies right now because that is what our mission president has been focusing on with us for a while. Love you dad!

Elder Hackleman

Letters This Week 2-24-2014

Elder Hackleman's Baptism This Week

On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 11:32 PM,

Elder Hackleman,

How in the world are you? I hope you have a little more time today to give me some more information. I think I will go ahead and write my questions in numbers, then all you have to do is respond to each number. Last time we did it this way it was very effective:)

(Elder Hackleman responded in red)

1. Where do you eat your meals?  I eat breakfast and dinner in my room now. We only eat lunch in our pensionist´s house.

2. How often do you eat your meals?  whenever we have time...haha

3. Do you have someone who comes in and cleans?  No. Unfortunately we clean ourselves =(

4. Do you have someone who does your laundry?  Yes absolutely

5. How long has your companion been on a mission?  4 months recently

6. When are you going to send a picture of your companion?  I´ll send one today)

7. What is the ward like?  the ward is small. there are about 80 people that attend church but they usually show up five min before sacrament meeting ends.

8. Is the food similar to the food in Lima?  Yeah the food is pretty much the same

9. Do you ever go to Lima for zone conferences or anything?  Nope the president travels up here. He did this last week. It was awesome. He taught a three hour conference on the first 6 verses in first nephi!

10. Did you know that Tayson got married on Saturday?  No! I didn´t!

11. Did you know that Lebron James got his nose broken while driving to the basket in a game last week?  I guess even the best can break a nose once in a while =)

12. Did you know that he continued his drive and slam dunked the basket before falling to the ground in pain and with a nose bleed?  And that´s why he´s the best.

13. Did you know that your brother Nathan is now watching basketball on tv once in a while? I AM SO HAPPY!

14. Did you know that Nathan and Grant won their last basketball game on Saturday? YES!

15. Are you going to take some pictures for us? Oh wait, maybe I already said that one:) HAHA yes mother

16. Did you have your baptism on Wed? Yep! It was awesome! Her name is Ariana. Her sister who is 8 and named Celeste got baptized the same day. Ariana is the one on the left.

17. Did you know that Becky and Tim had a little boy they named Keatan? NO! That is so awesome! Ask them what happened to the name Jaren though.

18. Did you know I have been trying out some Peruvian recipes?  No way! What have you made?! Were they yummy?

Ok, that should about do it, unless you can think of anything else you would like to add:)

Wed, Seth has his doctors appointment to see how he is coming along. He is still in his sling and hasn't been back to work yet, but maybe after Wed.

I sure love you!

Love Mom

Dear Mom,

This other picture is my Cui that I had last week. It is sooo good. I hope that you guys have a great week! Oh yea! We got an old missionary couple in our stake here in Huaraz. They are going to do family history work. They both speak spanish really well. Thats because they served a mission in guatemala and served six years in a spanish ward in.....Mesquite Nevada! (I don´t know how to spell Mesquite) Haha

Cui

Love you!

Elder Hackleman

Missionary Letter From Peru

Huaraz

Elder Hackleman,

How are you doing today? I never did hear what happened on the day of your transfer. Did you take a bus to your new area? Were you traveling alone? How did you manage all of your stuff etc?

In your new place you are staying, what does it look like? Do you do your own cleaning and cooking? How big is the new ward? What does your companion look like? What is the crime rate like compared to Lima? How many missionaries are in Huarez? Is Lima West mission the only mission that has missionaries in Huarez? Do you have any investigators you are teaching? Is the food any different?

As you can see I am very curious about you. Hope you are getting adapted to the new area. Things are good around here. The boys have a winter break so they were out of school on Friday and again today. Seth is in Fort Collins getting spoiled. He fly's back tonight. He is still in a shoulder brace but the pain has gone down a lot and he is getting around really well now.

Saturday not many kids showed up for the young men's basketball game. They played with 6 kids, which meant that Nathan and Grant got to play almost the entire game. We finally won our second game. Nathan made something like 23 points and Grant was the assist monster. They both had great games. Tim Law is the coach and he does such a great job.

Grant is going to an indoor water park today with Kelsey Hadley and her boys. Nathan and I are going to watch little Hannah. She is such a cutie.

Your blog continues to have a lot of followers. It has something like 7,000 hits on it. Crazy huh? Thank you for the pictures you sent last week, they were a hit:)


Well, I'm hoping you will be able to answer some of my questions today:)

I love you!

Mom

Hey momma! I´m doing great! Let´s see. I took a bus that left Lima at 10 o’clock at night and got to Huaraz something like 7:30 in the morning. Haha I came up with 6 or 7 other missionaries that got transferred here to Huaraz. We do our own cleaning but we still have a pensionista that cooks for us. The crime rate is a lot lower here. Its way more chill. There are 22 missionaries in my zone in Huaraz and no the whole zone just belongs to my mission. 

Cuy

We have some really cool investigators that we are teaching but not many so we have been contacting like crazy. We do have a baptism this Wednesday though! The food is the same. Today we are going to have Cuy for lunch!!!!!!!!!!! Guinea pig! I´m stoked. Haha That´s so awesome. I hope Nathan gains enough confidence to play in school next year! I´ve never even seen Hannah yet! And what´s the deal on Becky´s baby! Haha I will go check my blog out. I haven´t in a few weeks. Love you Mom!

Elder Hackleman



On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 8:51

This Week From Peru

Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 10:45:28 -0500
Subject: Re: Week of 2/2/14
From: Elder Hackleman
To: Dad

If heaven can be found on earth, it is found in Huaraz, Perú. It´s safe to say that this is the most touristy beautiful place in Perú and maybe all of south america short of machu Picchu. Funny story. I went to transfers and was talking to some of the elders that I knew and I told them, ¨If the church is really true and President Archibald really receives revelation, I am going to be sent to Huaraz.¨ Haha it was totally a joke of course but I had been dying in Lima for so many months because it has been so hot that for real, there is no way investigators can feel the Spirit to the same magnitude if I am filling buckets up of sweat in their house. Then they called my name and said I was going there! It was so awesome. Haha everyone that knows me that isn´t here hates me now though because it is by far the most coveted zone in the entire mission. They always start the transfer announcements with Huaraz and when they say ¨ok let’s get started! Everyone sucks in a deep breath and holds it in the hopes that they get sent here. Önce or twice a month we go to these awesome lakes in the mountains or ancient ruins or something on pday. Next monday we are going to a lake up in the mountains by a little city outside of Huaraz called Caraz. We need a translator for some of the lessons we teach because there is an indigenous people that lives here up in the mountains that speaks a language called Quichua. It is completely different than spanish. I want to try and learn it and come home trilingual. Haha anyways it is so wonderful to be here. Tell the brothers and Mom I love them and can´t wait to hear how it goes with seth and college and the sidney house and stuff.

To: Elder Hackleman
From: Mom

Seth officially signed with Peru state. He has a full ride scholarship for all 4 years. They do not care when he goes on his mission, he can still have the academic scholarship whenever he attends. He still hasn't made up his mind for sure about going to a semester this fall or straight on a mission. If he goes this fall they will redshirt him since he is not supposed to play for a year. They are sure being awesome. They love Seth. Two coaches from Peru State came to his school for signing day.

Seth Signs with Peru State, a college in Nebraska, to play Football

Nathan and Grant lost another basketball game on Saturday but they have both improved their skills so much. We had a snow day last week so we went to the church and played for hours and hours. I taught them some new stuff and they used in during the game. Grant has come a long way. I think people forget he is only a 7th grader because he is so big and his skills have come so far.
Your dad has been really busy with work. He has taken a lot of time off work to go on all the college visits, dr. appointments and surgery for Seth. He is working around the clock to try and get caught up, but he sure does love his job so it makes it worth while.
The Relief Society is going just fine. Keeping me out of trouble.

Did I mention I have been worried sick about you!!!
Oh, ya, a broken record. Sorry.

I can't wait to hear from you!!
Love
Mom

HEY MOM!!!!! No I am fine! Huaraz is literally a dream. I still can´t believe I am here. I just don´t have a lot of time to talk because we do so many cool things on p-day! Check out these pics! We went up into the Andes Mountains today. I am officially the first person on earth to yell ¨Nebraska!¨ in the middle of the Andes of Perú. Well I am pretty sure. Haha That is so awesome of Seth! I am so proud of him! Two Peruvian sons!!!!! Haha Love you mom!
We just live in like a little two room apartment. My companion is awesome. His name is Elder Guzman so I always think of good ole Roberto from soccer. Haha He is from Honduras.... PS Today I officially have 10 months in my mission! Crazy Right!

Elder Hackleman wanted to be the first person to Yell Nebraska as loud as he can in the Andes Mountains.

Elder Cook Visits Peru

Venezuelan, Peruvian Saints Are “Outstanding,” Says Elder Cook

By Sarah Jane Weaver, Church News assistant editor
11 SEPTEMBER 2013



Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, sister Mary Cook, speak to members in Venezuela. Photo by Curtis Anderson.

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve and ElderTad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy traveled to Venezuela and Peru Aug. 16 to 26, meeting with members and missionaries and conducting an area review and priesthood leadership training meetings.

The Brethren were accompanied on the trip by their wives, Sister Mary Cook and Sister Kathryn Callister. They were also accompanied on portions of the trip by members of the Church’s South America Northwest Area presidency: Elder Juan A. Uceda and his wife, Sister Maria Uceda; Elder W. Christopher Waddell and his wife, Sister Carol Waddell; and Elder C. Scott Grow and his wife, Sister Rhonda Grow.

Gallery



In each country Elder Cook and Elder Callister said they met local members and leaders who were “outstanding and spiritually strong” and who “focused on their temple covenants.”

Venezuela

Elder Cook and Elder Callister visited Venezuela, located on the northern coast of South America, on Aug. 16-18. During an adult devotional to a large congregation that was broadcast throughout the country, Elder Cook left an apostolic blessing on the people and country that face many challenges. He also bore witness of the Savior and the Atonement.

Gallery




“I know that there’s been hardship in their lives that are beyond what most of the Saints across the world face,” he said in a discussion with the Church News. “And I felt inspired to talk to them about how the Savior’s Atonement overcomes not only sin and death, not only allows us to have exaltation and salvation, but that it does cover all of the heartache, all of the heartbreak, all of the evils, all of the seeming unfairness of life.”

The Church has a strong and growing membership in Venezuela. The first branch of the Church was organized in the country in 1966 and the Venezuela Mission was created in July 1971. Today the country has some 150,000 members, four missions and a temple, dedicated in 2000 by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Elder Cook’s assignment in Venezuela was the first time in many years an apostle could meet with members and conduct large-scale priesthood leadership meetings in the country.

He said “the kindness and the sweet approach” of the Latter-day Saints in Venezuela and their “obvious love of the Savior” was remarkable. Being with them was “a very tender, sweet experience.”

Elder Callister said the Venezuelan Latter-day Saints were “hungry to hear the words of an apostle.”

“They love the gospel and want to be in touch with some of the leaders.”

He added that although many in the country struggle economically “they are happy. They are positive. They are very receptive to all the messages. They had a spiritual hunger in their eyes and their hearts to be fed.”

Because of the political climate in Venezuela, North American missionaries were removed from the country in 2005.

Elder Cook—then executive director of the Church’s Missionary Department—said because native Venezuelan missionaries made up only about 50 percent of the missionary force in the country at the time, the Church looked at consolidating the four missions.

“The leadership in Venezuela said, ‘We know that the Venezuelan missionaries left could only fill two normal-size missions, but please don’t do that. We will rise up, and we will call additional young people and we will fill those missions.’ And they’ve done it.”

Elder Cook said during his recent trip he looked at the missionaries with tender feelings.

“They were spiritually strong and you could just tell that they were fabulous. And the success they’ve been having is rather remarkable,” he said, noting that Venezuela is one of the higher baptizing missions in the Church. “The members support them in a wonderful way.”

He noted that almost every young Latter-day Saint in Venezuela, who serves a mission, does so in Venezuela. “They need the missionaries here and they serve here.”

Many of those young people become leaders in the country when they complete their missions.

Elder Cook called the local leaders “strong.”

In addition, the Caracas Venezuela Temple has been a great blessing, Elder Cook said, noting that he and Elder Callister met one group of local members that had traveled eight hours to get to the temple. “They looked wonderful and they were so excited,” he said. “They are focusing on the covenants they’ve made and they’re renewing those in their sacrament meetings. … They are going forward in a wonderful fashion there.”

Peru

In Peru, a country rich with history, Elder Cook and Elder Callister held numerous member and priesthood leadership meetings and visited seven of the 12 missions in the country during their travels Aug. 19-26.

Peru, located in western South America, was once home to many ancient cultures, including the Norte Chico civilization (one of the oldest in the world) and the Inca Empire. The Spanish came to the area in the 16th century. “The unique thing about Peru is that they have a history that they understand,” said Elder Cook, noting that Church members honor their rich history.

That history also makes local Latter-day Saints more aware of the Book of Mormon. Peruvian Church members “relate to the principles in the Book of Mormon because those teachings could also be found, in many respects, in their own history,” he explained.

Elder Cook’s visit to Peru came shortly after Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve organized the 100th stake in Peru, which took place on June 30.

Peru has more than a half-million members, 12 missions, a temple in the capital city, and plans to build two more — one in Trujillo and one in Arequipa. Only three other nations — the United States, Mexico and Brazil — have reached the 100-stake milestone.

Elder Callister said one of the highlights of the visit to Peru was participating in an area review with the Area Presidency and Area Seventies in the country. “They each made a report on what they are doing in their areas,” he said. “They are men who are articulate and devoted. It was pleasing to see how seasoned the leaders are for the time the gospel has been in Peru.”

During member meetings, Elder Cook told the Peruvian Latter-day Saints that there “needs to be cohesion and love and unity in the family” and that the family needs to sacrifice to help the rising generation.

In addition, he said, the local members not only need to prepare missionaries to enter the mission field, but they also need to help the missionaries assigned to serve in their own areas find teaching opportunities.

“I thought the response was remarkable,” he said.

He taught members that the cooperation between missionaries and Church members is one way the Lord is hastening the work, noting that there will probably be 85,000 missionaries in the field by the end of the year.

“There has never been, in this dispensation or any other dispensation, anything like that,” Elder Cook said.

Elder Cook noted that despite recent economic success in Peru, there are still large numbers of Latter-day Saints who are very poor. “They recognize that what is really important is to have the gospel and to have the blessings of the temple and to know that you can be reunited with your family, with God the Father and Jesus Christ,” he said. “They have that. They know that.”

Drones in Peru

Archaeologists use drones to map sites in Peru

Reuters Photo

Luis Jaime Castillo, a Peruvian archaeologist with Lima's Catholic University and an incoming deputy culture minister, flies a drone to take pictures of the archaeological site of San Jose de Moro in Trujillo, Peru.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson Created the 100th Stake in Peru

Elder D. Todd Christofferson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Quorum of the Twelve created the 100th Stake in Peru on June 30.

Peru is the fourth country to have more than 100 LDS stakes, including the United States (1,504), Brazil (249), and Mexico (226). The LDS membership in Peru has almost doubled in the past 20 years with nearly 528,000 members today, according to the Daily Herald.

In his address to members in the Sunday service, Elder Christofferson talked about the importance of service, as well as church growth in Peru since its first stake was created in 1970. In addition to 100 stakes, Peru also has one temple in operation, with one announced and another under construction.

On the Saturday night before Elder Christofferson’s remarks, about 14,000 local members gathered at the University of San Marcos stadium where they celebrated with cultural dances, a parade of 300 former and current Mormon missionaries and a video about the church’s 50-year history in Peru, according to Mormon Newsroom.com. The event was the largest gathering of Latter-day Saint members in Peru.

While in Peru, Elder Christofferson also gave a live interview on Peru National Radio where he talked about a scheduled day of service (Dec. 7) to clean Peru’s coasts that will be open to members and anyone who wants to participate. He also met with a Peruvian congressman to discussed the importance of families in society.

Abby Stevens is a writer for the DeseretNews.com

LDS Church Meetinghouses Open for Tours

LDS Church Meetinghouses around the World will       Soon be Opened for Guided Tours by Missionaries

Peru MTC