Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Monday March 10, 2014

On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 10:31 AM,

Elder Hackleman,

This has been an eventful week. Grant had his 13th birthday yesterday. He has had a rough couple of weeks. I have gone back and forth trying to decide whether I would tell you about this. It's not that big of a deal, so I don't want you to get too fired up, but I will go ahead and tell you.

Last week he told us that there was a kid at school who has been bullying him. His name is Dane. Grant only has one class with him which is PE and they only have that class every other day. He also sees him during lunch time. Grant's group of friends at school are mostly the same kids he knew at Anderson Grove Elementary and his buddy Garret from church who is a grade ahead of him in school. Unfortunately, none of those kids are in his PE class with him. It has been going on for a while. The kid is always making fun of him and calling him gay. Grant just ignores him and moves on. Last week, he went into the boys’ bathroom during lunch to wash his hands and Dane was in there. He tried to pick a fight with Grant. Apparently he is rather tall, but very skinny. As you know Grant is not a fighter and he didn't know what to do. He was cornered and couldn't just walk away. Luckily another kid from their class came in the bathroom, distracted Dane and Grant was able to get out of there. Now he didn't know how to handle it.

We had many long discussions with him, but everything we tried to say just got Grant more upset. He didn't want to tell on Dane because he felt like he would only get made fun of more. Seth was at work so he wasn't involved in the conversation, but Nathan was so fired up I thought he was going to go straight to the school and take the poor kid out. Grant, Tim and I went grocery shopping at Walmart and as we were walking out a couple of kids were sitting by the door and had smiles on their faces as we walked by and sort of nodded to Grant. I didn't know what this Dane kid looked like, but I figured one of these kids must be him. I just about jumped on them and scratched their eyes out. I know I am one who over reacts, but it is my Grantie Bear we are talking about. When we got in the car Grant told me neither of these kids were Dane and one of them was his friend who he was thinking about inviting to his birthday party.

Grant told me that my over reaction was exactly why he didn't tell me stuff like this and he never planned on telling me again. This went into another long conversation, but to make it short, I told him he has to understand that I am a lot of talk and that is just what moms do, but I wasn't really going to scratch his eyes out.

After Seth got home from work, we told him all that had gone on and he had a good talk with Grant. When he talked to him, he didn't get all upset, he actually listened. It was like Nathan, Tim and I were chopped liver and Seth was the only one who made sense even though he was basically saying the same things we were, he was a lot calmer about it and he used his salesman abilities to really get through to Grant. He stood him up and taught him how to fight. He told him if the kid ever approaches him even one more time, don't wait, don't hesitate, don't even think about who is around, just punch him in the nose and break his nose. He told him not to ever let the kid victimize him again.

Anyway, that evening I was getting a lesson ready for church the next day and the first thing that popped up on LDS.org was a video from the church having to do with Bullying. After watching it, I wasn't 100% sure if we gave him correct advice, but I do know that Grant has such tender feelings that he wears on his sleeve, that he can become a victim very easily. I didn't think he would really punch the kid in the nose, but if he at least thought in his own mind that he might, he would come across differently and maybe it would go away.

The other thing we decided was to plan a big air soft war birthday party. We made awesome invitations and last Monday Grant started passing them out to 12 of his closest friends at school. Since then everything at school has changed. So far, Dane hasn't said another word to Grant, and there are lots of kids buzzing around Grant all the time now.

We picked up a bunch of pallets and today we are going to build some barricades for the teams to hide behind. The party is tomorrow. The boys are out for spring break all week. We are going to have pizza and snacks and Seth is going to organize the games so they continue to be awesome and fun.

I really think the combination of Grant knowing how to fight, and having something to look forward to, really has turned things around for him.

We finally got Grant to agree that we could come and watch him play dodgeball on Wed. and so we could at least see what the kid looked like. Seth, Nathan and I went and watched him play. We never could figure out which kid was Dane, and by the time we got there, Grant changed his mind and he wouldn't tell us. Maybe it was for the best.

We did tell him about some of the run-ins you had while you were in high school. He was too young when they happened so he didn't know about them at all.

On another note, Grant has been getting straight "A's" at school. Academically he is doing the best he has ever done. He has always worked so hard and it is finally paying off for him. He was given an award at school that the principal gives to kids who he thinks are doing something right. The school randomly gives a plate of cookies to a kid of the week. Grant got the award in February. He also was invited into the National Jr. Honor Society and exactly one week ago today, we got the acceptance letter. He is in. We are so proud of him.

So, today we are building, building, building. It's going to be fun.

On another note, your buddy David Mattes was in a car accident last weekend. He was driving home from Sidney at 3 am and ran into a guard rail and totaled his truck. According to the news report he spent a few nights in the hospital and alcohol was involved.

Ok enough depressing stuff, on a much lighter note, Lauren Gull just got her mission call. She is going to Argentina and leaves in July. Good for her. Did I tell you Brenton Christian got his mission call to Venezuela. I guess Mitchell Shields is going somewhere spanish speaking as well. Good for them:)

Seth met with the bishop and officially started his paperwork for his mission. We still need to get him in for his physical, shots, and dentist visits so it will be a little while, but hopefully we can work on all that stuff this week. He is out of his brace now and his doctor said he would sign him off for service. It's pretty exciting!

I love you!

Love mom

Hey sorry I am writing late. We went on a cool trip today to a place called honcupampa. It was awesome. That is a huge bummer about grant. I know how he feels. As much as I wanted to be in school, I was never really a fighter either. Seth will help him out, and nathan too. They are good big brothers. I am so proud of him though! And I hope his party goes great! NJHS! WOOOO! haha That is cool for the sidney kids. I hope seth goes spanish speaking as well. It would be awesome. I sure miss you guys. My comp elder guzman is getting transferred tomorrow so I will have another new companion! It is really weird but I have thought about david alot the last couple weeks. I don't know why but still. Hm. Bummer deal. I love you mom!

Elder Hackleman

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

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

Friday, February 28, 2014

Facebook Photo

This was posted on facebook today.  I recognize the vests as the day the missionaries and LDS Church members cleaned the beach in Lima, Peru.  Elder Hackleman and his companion found a little cove to eat their lunch.


Monday, February 24, 2014

Tayson Got Married 2-22-2014

Yeah Tayson!


Best Friend Goes Home Jan 27, 2014

Well it’s official. I dropped my companion Elder Ramos off at the offices today. I don´t know about transfers if I am leaving yet. I should know within the next half hour or so. And yea I haven´t sent pics in a while because everyone and their dog has been wanting to take pictures with us these last few weeks and they all tell me they will put them on facebook so I have just been letting them do my job for me. Haha That´s so awesome for Nathan. He is such a good guy! He has serious ballin skills. I´m glad seth´s surgery went ok. What is the word on the Sidney house?! I would die for some cold wind right now.... Haha I´ll let you know on transfers. Love you!

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 8:56 AM, Tim Hackleman wrote:

Dear Elder Hackleman

So I bet your week was pretty busy!!! What's happening? New companion! I'm sure it was a crazy time! You'll have to fill us in on all the details!

So Seth had his surgery. It went really well, but he is struggling to recover. If anyone knows how it is, it's you! He just can't get comfortable and isn't very hungry. Yesterday was kinda rough for him and this morning, as if he wasn't struggling enough, he threw up. But by the time I had Nathan to Seminary, he was sound asleep. So hopefully he'll get some rest. I'm sure your mom will tell you this but I'll tell you anyway! :) Seth's doctor came out and talked to us while Seth was in recovery. He said that he would PREFER that Seth goes on his mission before playing anymore football. That it would be as good as new with two years to recover. He could play this fall, but if he ended up injuring it again, he may not be able to repair it again. I'm worried that if Seth doesn't get on a team this fall he won't be able to get on one when he gets home. I'm okay with that, but I know how much you guys love playing. Lots of decisions ahead of him. It doesn't help the fact that he had coaches from two different schools contact him on the day of his surgery!

Maybe you should write him and give him your counsel. He'll value that a great deal.

Your brothers are doing great! Grant has straight A's in school! He is working so hard!!! Nathan is doing great on the spiritual side, but needs to pay a little more attention to the school side! :)

Well, I can't wait to hear how this past week went! Change can be very exciting and motivating!!

I love you so much and I'm so proud of you! Take care of yourself and keep working hard! You're clankin' half way through your mission!!!!

Love you!

Dad

Hey pops!

Still nothing on transfers. I am just bumming it with another companionship until tomorrow when I get my new companion. They still haven´t told me if I am changing areas as well or not. I will let you know. I was pretty bummed letting my companion go. We have become best friends. So what happened with the sidney house?! Did you finally get that thing sold? Sounds like seth has a lot of decisions to make. I will send him my input. Haha I am so proud of nathan and grant. They are rock stars for real......well without the drugs and women and parties of course. Haha I sure love you dad. I will find a way to let you guys know about transfers.

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

Monday, February 17, 2014

College or Mission First?

Seth Made His Decision this week.  He is going on a mission before college

Now he will be on a mission the same time as Jaren


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

Monday, February 10, 2014

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.





Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Goodbye to My Best Friend Elder Ramos-Returned With Honor

Well it’s official. I dropped my companion Elder Ramos off at the offices today. I don´t know about transfers if I am leaving yet. I should know within the next half hour or so. And yea I haven´t sent pics in a while because everyone and their dog has been wanting to take pictures with us these last few weeks and they all tell me they will put them on facebook so I have just been letting them do my job for me. Haha That´s so awesome for Nathan. He is such a good guy! He has serious ballin skills. I´m glad seth´s surgery went ok. What is the word on the Sidney house?! I would die for some cold wind right now.... Haha I´ll let you know on transfers. Love you!

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 8:56 AM, Tim Hackleman wrote:

Dear Elder Hackleman

So I bet your week was pretty busy!!! What's happening? New companion! I'm sure it was a crazy time! You'll have to fill us in on all the details!

So Seth had his surgery. It went really well, but he is struggling to recover. If anyone knows how it is, it's you! He just can't get comfortable and isn't very hungry. Yesterday was kinda rough for him and this morning, as if he wasn't struggling enough, he threw up. But by the time I had Nathan to Seminary, he was sound asleep. So hopefully he'll get some rest. I'm sure your mom will tell you this but I'll tell you anyway! :) Seth's doctor came out and talked to us while Seth was in recovery. He said that he would PREFER that Seth goes on his mission before playing anymore football. That it would be as good as new with two years to recover. He could play this fall, but if he ended up injuring it again, he may not be able to repair it again. I'm worried that if Seth doesn't get on a team this fall he won't be able to get on one when he gets home. I'm okay with that, but I know how much you guys love playing. Lots of decisions ahead of him. It doesn't help the fact that he had coaches from two different schools contact him on the day of his surgery!

Maybe you should write him and give him your counsel. He'll value that a great deal.

Your brothers are doing great! Grant has straight A's in school! He is working so hard!!! Nathan is doing great on the spiritual side, but needs to pay a little more attention to the school side! :)

Well, I can't wait to hear how this past week went! Change can be very exciting and motivating!!

I love you so much and I'm so proud of you! Take care of yourself and keep working hard! You're clankin' half way through your mission!!!!

Love you!

Dad

Hey pops!

Still nothing on transfers. I am just bumming it with another companionship until tomorrow when I get my new companion. They still haven´t told me if I am changing areas as well or not. I will let you know. I was pretty bummed letting my companion go. We have become best friends. So what happened with the sidney house?! Did you finally get that thing sold? Sounds like seth has a lot of decisions to make. I will send him my input. Haha I am so proud of nathan and grant. They are rock stars for real......well without the drugs and women and parties of course. Haha I sure love you dad. I will find a way to let you guys know about transfers.

Elder Hackleman

THEY ARE CHANGING ME!