Monday, September 16, 2013

This week

Elder Hackleman,

Good morning sunshine:) How are you doing today? I know my words are redundant from your dads sometimes, but I like to tell things my way so here goes. This will be all about Seth's football game on Friday. So he played at Omaha Central. They are the team that hosted the football camp that we went to last summer in downtown Omaha.

We won the coin toss, which means Seth had a while longer to wait before he would see the field. I had texted him earlier in the day to see how he was feeling, and he was not feeling very good and was extremely nervous for some reason. Again, probably because he wasn't feeling very good. Knowing my Sethybear and seeing him on the sidelines, waiting for the offense to take the field, I knew that the sooner he got in the sooner he could get over the butterflies. Well the entire first quarter was basically Omaha on the field. The defense held them from scoring all but one touchdown, but the offense hardly even stepped on the field. The one time they did, they went 3 and out. Our really good play maker, was having a sore shoulder and since this game is not in our conference, they weren't sending the plays his way very often.

Seth told us later that night that Omaha was very prepared for them. They seemed to be able to read every play. This is the point when the quarterback should have called an audible and changed the plays at the line, but he never did. Seth said he could tell that they needed to change the plays, but he couldn't do anything about it.

Anyway, by the time we were going into the half, it was tied, 7 to 7. In my opinion our team basically has 3 things that makes us above and beyond.

1. A real good kicker, who always kicks into the end zone and punts all the way down the field.

2. A great punt returner, who turns punt returns into touchdowns a lot.

3. Run up the middle, created by a whole Seth makes for them. 5 to 7 yards at a time, but they usually do it all night long.

As long as these three things are working, then every once in a while they can thrown in a pass play and we are money, money, money. Since our buddy Drew Cline was not playing much, again do to shoulder issue, it knocked out 2 of the 3 major play makers. Then to add insult to injury, our long snapper, for punt snaps, missed 2 major snaps. And when I say missed, I mean threw the ball completely over the punters head by a long shot causing severe loss of yardage. Since our teams were so equally matched, this was devastating.

After the 2nd major miss, that resulted in a touchdown for Omaha, the coaches grabbed Seth on the sidelines and told him to start warming up for long snaps.

They already had him long snap the point after since the snapper had missed the first punt snap. Realizing that Seth didn't get to warm up that snap at all. His long snap has taken a toll because of the brace he is wearing. He told us he wasn't going to be long snapping at all this year so it didn't matter. Little did he know. Luckily for him, it was like riding a bike and went off without a hitch.

Tim didn't even have the camera ready to film his long snap because we didn't realize he was going to be put in that position.

In the end, we lost by 6. It was so close though. Went down to the very last 2 minutes of the game, we kept thinking we were going to make one last push for a touchdown and win the game with a point after, that as long as we get the snap off, our kicker never misses. It wasn't to be.

So after Seth got home, we found out what it was like for him on the field. Early on in the game he got his pinkeye caught in someone’s helmet and torqued the wrong way so that was hurting, on his right hand. Then he ended up in the bottom of a pile and someone came down real hard on his left hand and wrist. When he came home Friday night, his left wrist was totally swollen and in a lot of pain. Then, he pulled a groin muscle. Not severely, but enough to make matters very uncomfortable all evening. And, by Saturday evening we took his temperature and realized he was running a fever. He is home from school right now. I am just getting ready to take him in to the doctor to run a strep test. Apparently one of his teammates had strep throat.

As far as Seth's playing, you would have never known any of it. He had a better game this week then the previous last two. He tore it up. He ended up going to the team meeting last night where they watched film, and after seeing it all over again, he realized, he really had a great game. At one point he got into a bit of a fight with the nose guard. Who by the way was a beast. They were talking all kinds of smack and started going at each other after a play. A ref pushed them apart.

During film, they watched his "fight" over and over and the coach used him as an example of what you "should do". He said, if you don't get angry out there, then you aren't playing hard enough. He said, take Seth for instance, this guy is talking bad about his mother right now and Seth is telling him what for. Seth said it was really funny because his head was bobbing up and down as he was yelling at the guy and the coaches were putting words in his mouth that went right along with the video they were watching. Too funny. After all was said and done, everyone on the team made mistakes and it essentially cost them the game. Although the only criticism Seth got was after a great chop block that Seth put on a guy, the coach told him, I have some advice for you, and this is just being really picky, but after you chop block a guy, and you are both laying on the ground, roll around a bit to make it harder for him to get back up. After the entire game, that was the only place the coaches could find any improvement for Seth.

Now we just have to make sure he doesn't have strep and keep him as healthy as we can. This week is homecoming week. Thursday we are having the team dinner at our house. It's going to be a fun ride. It's ironic that they kept his buddy out because of a sore shoulder, yet Seth plays with a sore shoulder every play. Seth never complains, and even though he popped it out doing a trick with the dance team, it is fairing pretty well during the football games, thanks to the brace. Oh, ya, and did I mention Seth is joining the other senior football players for a dance team special during the pep assembly this Friday. At some point he throws his partner up in the air for some sort of a twist, that really does a number on his shoulder. Darn kid!

Grant had a bye week, and Nathan's game got called at half time because of lightning. Nathan was doing good, although he didn't play as much as he would have liked to. His team was ahead, so we are calling it a win.

Love mom

You made it sound better than dad did! Haha I´m so proud of my brothers mom. Seth has grown up so much and as much as I would like to go the rest of my life saying I was the best football player in our family, I will still be proud to say that Seth trumped me, and then a couple years later, nathan ruined me, and then a few after that, grant crushed me. Haha but oh well.

Our stake conference this last week was a transmission from salt lake. Elder Bednar and Elder Richard G Scott spoke. Elder bednar had a translator speaking over him but Elder Scott spoke spanish and his spanish is amazing. It was awesome. Elder Scott´s entire talk was about women. That every man on earth who has ever caused a woman to cry, should repent. Women are chosen beings from God. It was very cool but very strong and blunt as well. The sister´s sure liked it =) hehe but it was all so true as well. I love you mom!!!!!!!

Elder Hackleman

Monday, September 2, 2013

Thinking of my Little Buddy Back Home

The cars picture is for Jace! Tell them (Walker family and Law Family) I am having a hard time finding time to write them but I think about them everyday and will write them all as soon as I can. And I went through a lot of hoops to take that picture because supposedly.....it isn't allowed. SSSHHH! Haha


This Week's Pictures From Peru Lima West Mission

Awesome story. This 90 year old man in the picture with me is the first person in Peru to have his endowment taken out. He was the first one to go through after the Lima temple was dedicated. He's not in my area but he's in my zone and I´ve visited him a few times on work visits. His name is augustine. He has his own liahona issue from the 60´s that is written all about him. 




We had this activity on Wednesday called Gastronomica. Every group (I don’t remember what it´s called in English. Relief society, young mens, Priesthood and so on..) cooked an authentic Peruvian food and then everyone came and ate until they were stuffed. I was the only person not from Peru. Everyone in the ward made my plate for me and all watched me eat it to see how I liked it all. You can see how many people were there from these pics. It was all soooo good. I did it on saturday and didn´t eat again until after our fast on sunday and it was still the easiest fast I have ever had because I was soo full.


Elder Hackleman, his companion and bishop



My First Baptism


The water was cold so my little buddy was crying, he was sure happy after he got warmed up though!



From Father and Son This week

On Mon, Sep 2, 2013 at 12:41 AM, Tim Hackleman <timhackleman@live.com> wrote:

Dear Elder Punkin Sonshine,

How was your week?? We had a great weekend! I hope you are sitting down while reading this: Papio South beat Papillion Lavista Monarchs 44-34. The Monarchs' QB is one of the best in the state and we picked him off 6 times!!! 2 were pick-sixes!! Seth was so excited. He played every single offensive down.The crowd rushed the field at the end of the game. It was so much fun. It was crazy hot though. The game ended at 10:00 and it was 85 degrees and humid. Ugh!

We have 4 football games this week. Tuesday is Grant's first game, then Thursday both Grant and Nathan play, then Friday is Seth's away game against Bellevue East. You know your mom and dad, WE LOVE IT!!!

Did you have any baptisms this past week? You and your comp sure have been working hard! I am so proud of you. I had the ward bulletin changed to include your email address. Maybe you'll get some emails from some ward members. I know you are super busy, but we sure do love to hear what you have been up to.

I love you son! Keep up the hard work. I hope you are feeling well. Grant says that he fasts for you every fast Sunday.

¡Ámele! Papá

ALRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the best football news I have ever seen! Papio south beat Papio! Seth played every down. Nathan and Grant are getting ready to start. Utah won. BYU and BSU lost. Wow. My week has been made. Haha

We had one baptism. His name is xxxxxxx. He´s nine. If you are wondering if he’s crying in the picture, it´s ´cuz he is. They don´t have temperature control over the water in the bap fonts here so the water is arctic cold. He started crying in the font and said he didn’t want to do it. I told him in 10 seconds it will all be over just look forward and I will do everything. It was way cool though, especially to shed some light on a dismal couple days before.

xxxxxx, the other person we were supposed to baptize that I told you about last week didn´t get baptized. So on thursday we had a work visit with the zone leaders so I was in a different area with one of them and the other was in my area with my companion. It worked perfectly because xxxxxx needed to be interviewed by the zone leader anyway. He got interviewed at the stake center. His interview went great and everything was set. He was talking with my companion and the other zone leader outside the church for awhile after the interview. Our ward was having an activity there so the bishop and all the ward were outside doing their own thing. Well while they were talking his wife showed up. She has never been to church, I don´t know how she even knew where the building was but she walked up and shoved him and began chewing him out over how he was making the worst decision of his life and that their relationship is on the line if he decides to be baptized. She does this in front of the entire ward. And seriously dad, this guy is golden. This guy is how I understand when missionaries talk about how strong their love is for their investigators. This guy was ¨him¨ for me. I have never seen a stronger testimony in someone as new to the church as he was.

Well anyway, we had a visit with him the next day to make sure everything was ok and when we got there, he starting apologizing for everything that had happened and for wasting our time but he won´t be able to get baptized or even attend church anymore. It was all I could do to keep from crying. He returned his book of mormon, his manual for gospel principles class, and even his hymn book. All of which he had for himself already. He told us his wife won´t even allow the book of mormon in the house. He said that he knows this church is true, he has no doubt about anything we have taught him or what he has learned from coming to church but he knows how important families are and if he gets baptized now, he will ruin his.

It was easily the hardest experience I have had so far on my mission. I now know that the difficult experiences that I am going to have are not going to be something that I have to go through for myself, because I can handle that. It will be the struggles that my investigators go through that I have to witness and try to help them in any way I can but, sometimes, may come up short because of various reasons. It is definitely a testimony challenger but a builder as well. Sorry this letter is so dismal. It really was a good week with the exception of that.

We had this activity on Wednesday called Gastronomica. Every group (I don’t remember what it´s called in English. Relief society, young mens, Priesthood and so on..) cooked an authentic Peruvian food and then everyone came and ate until they were stuffed. I was the only person not from Peru. Everyone in the ward made my plate for me and all watched me eat it to see how I liked it all. You can see how many people were there from these pics. It was all soooo good. I did it on saturday and didn´t eat again until after our fast on sunday and it was still the easiest fast I have ever had because I was soo full. Haha

I have a bunch of pics so I will send some more to mom. Love you dad!

Seth's 1st Home Football Game 2013


Visitors had a whiteout.  The stadium was so full they had to sit on the grass.


20 Minutes before Kick-Off The Place Was Hopping.  The Band Gave a Pre-Game Performance




Seth is #55








There were official timeouts every 15 minutes or so to re-hydrate.  There still were many kids who went down with leg cramps.  We are happy to report, Seth was not one of them.




Notice all the fans.  You have got to love Nebraska.  Folks around here really support football.  We had people sitting all around us in the stadium who didn't know a single player, but they were out cheering their hearts out.  They were thrilled to learn that #55 was our son.  It gave them someone to cheer for ha ha. 


Seth's Trainer Becky, was awesome.  She ran over and checked on Seth every time he came off the field to make sure his shoulder was doing ok.  She has watched him carefully ever since he had a concussion in the off season as well.  We sure are glad they have such a great staff!



The Temperature was 95 degrees at kick-off.  By 10:30 it was still 85 degrees.  Seth took his helmet off when the Defense was on the field to help cool him off.  He was in every single offensive play.





Seth's Fan Club!




Tim Law gave us Digital Badges.  It said, "Go Titans #55"


Final Score, Papillion La-Vista South 44, Papillion La-Vista 34.  This is only the 2nd time South has won in 11 attempts.  The game was an upset since Papillion has the #1 quarterback in the state.  South picked him off 6 times. Notice his left arm has a black sleeve.  This is his brace he wears to help keep his shoulder from popping out of joint.  Luckily it worked!


After the Game the entire student section stormed the field.  We decided to join them and get a picture:)  Seth was soaking wet because he kept pouring water over his head to help cool him off. 


Monday, August 26, 2013

Elder Hackleman's Cousins on Missions

Elder Cook, Arizona


Hermana Beck and Hermana Peterson with the newest member of the Guntersville Ward! Her name is Seven and she is 11 years old!  Hermana Beck is serving in Alabama, Spanish Speaking


Elder Beck Currently at the Provo MTC, Sweden Mission, Also in the picture is Elder Tayson Beck who has returned from a Mission already, Argentina


This Weeks Photos From Peru



More from Elder Hackleman

Dear Elder,

So how was your week? I know you had a lot of investigators! How are they progressing? How is xxxx and his father? For some reason I'm always thinking about them. Maybe because xxxx is the first investigator that you told us about. I have to admit, I fear you may not be long for that area. Pops smells a transfer in your near future. Tell us how things are going! Your mom is going to share a very special photo with you. You are gonna love it!! It has to do with one of your brothers!!! Seth's first game is Friday and the Utes open their season against Utah State on Thursday!!! Wooooohoooooo!! Sorry Punkin! It's football season!!!

Anyway, things are going well here. Everyone is healthy and doing well. Except one minor thing with Seth. He has to have shoulder surgery. He's been dislocating it in practice. We took him into see a doctor at the same place as your knee doctor. Remember Dr. O'Malley? They said that the tendons holding it in place are shot and that he needs to have it done right after this season, if he can make it that long. The bad part is that he said it's a 6 month recovery. Anyway, they gave us a prescription for a brace that he can wear during games and practices. Seth said that it is helping him a lot! So that's a relief.

I hope you're staying healthy! You haven't had any more illness, have you?

Take care big guy! I sure do love you tiger!!

Papa


Hey dad! First of all. Don´t jinx me please. I love this area. Haha. We have three baptisms this saturday!!! I am so excited. Xxxx xxxx isn´t one of them though. Him and his dad are a process let me tell ya. But Satan isn´t giving up so we sure as heck aren’t. One of the investigators names is xxxxxx. He was a reference from a member in our ward. We have been teaching him for only just over two weeks and he is getting baptized! He really is that investigator that missionaries dream about. He prayed after our first lesson to know if our message and the Book of Mormon is true and the next lesson, He told us he got his answer and wants to be baptized! He is in his fifties. He has a wife and kids who are completely against his decision to be baptized but he knows that it is true and cannot change his mind. It is so amazing. But please pray for him and his family so that their hearts might be softened and they can feel of his example.

I hope Seth can make it through the season! How awful if his senior season ended in a surgery. I´ll pray for him. Nathan makes that number look better than I ever did!!!! Haha and Grant looks like a stud with a smile. Haha I have to admit, I would do anything within the confines of the commandments to be home during football season with you guys, but one important commandment is a full time mission, and I am definitely reaping the blessings already so I suppose I can wait. Haha I expect full scale reports of Utah, Nebraska, the scores of the BCS top 10 games, and random cool updates from the NFL every week please. I´m counting on you dad. Haha I love you!!!!!

Elder Hackleman

This week from Elder Hackleman

Elder Hackleman,

Hello, How is your week going? I had the privilege of speaking in church yesterday. I think I did ok. They had me give an update of how you are doing.

I know your dad talks a lot about the boys football so I will not tell you the same things, but just send you pictures.

Nathan is pretty excited he has number 89. He is such a mini Jaren. His humor and mannerisms have been shocking me lately. It's like you are in the room ha ha.

We went over to the Laws last night for dinner. They had a bunch of food from the baseball tournament this weekend. We had a great time. Tim cooked us all Philly Cheese sandwiches. Yum!

So, do you know where your receiver gloves are? Nathan would love to use them, but we haven't been able to find them anywhere. Did you hide them away somewhere special? Ha Ha.

This week the temperature is suppose to be in the upper 90s all week. We are melting. At night it is only getting down to about 75. Seth's game on Friday is going to be a hot one.


This Thursday we are having a special meeting at the stake center with a general authority. The ward council members are invited. All the stakes from the area will be coming. They are planning on the building being full. Should be fun:)

First Quorum of the Seventy Elder Lynn G. Robbins


I was looking through my purse this morning and found the last two Chick Fil A cards. I didn't even know I had any left. Score! I will have a sandwich today for you:)

I saw an article in the news this morning about how they are using drones to find cool monuments in Peru. I will put the story on your blog. It's kind of fun:)

We are starting to gear up for General Conference. I can't believe how much anticipation I always have for Conference. I can't wait to hear the latest and the greatest from the Church authorities. Will you be watching it at the church or how will you see conference? I remember Joel did not get to see it at all when he was on his mission. They had to wait until the conference ensign issue came out. I took the best notes I could and pouch mailed him the talks. Oh, how times have changed:)

Well, I sure love you!
Love, Mom


Good guts those are some handsome boys!!!! Nathan has my number and my cleats AND my hands!!!!! Haha Thats awesome. No mom sorry, I have no clue where my gloves are.
Grant and Seth look ready for the season if you ask me! 

In regards to conference, yeah we all watch it as a stake in the stake center. Apparently, in the past, the gringos go on splits and go upstairs to watch it together in english and they usually splurge and buy some snacks and drinks to sneak up there so we make sure were alert and attentive.



For real though, I feel the same way. I have never been so excited to hear from general authorities as I have been lately. We had a multi mission conference on saturday. The Lima North and Lima West mission went and listened to Elder Tad R. Callister from the Presidency of the 70 and Elder Grow from the Area 70. It was so awesome. They talked about a bunch of awesome stuff. Elder Callister can’t speak spanish so he had a translator there to help him. The whole experience was awesome. 



I am sure your talk was awesome! And I´m glad you guys had fun with the laws! It is cold here! Ok not cold but definitely not hot like Omaha right now.

Monday, 26
63° 57°

Mostly Sunny
precip 0%

Haha I love you guys. I have some awesome pics this week. The goofy one is to show all the weight I´ve lost. I´m down 4 belt loops from the MTC! Haha and it’s not because I’m starving don’t worry. I must have a tape worm or something I don’t know haha


This goofy picture is to show 4 belt loop sizes Down

Brothers Football Pictures

Grant got his gear.  Ready for 7th Grade Football


Nathan is Sporting his Brother Jaren's College 

Football Number 89.  Proud Freshman!


Seth's Senior Year!