Week of June 30, 2014

We sanded and painted the Pergola at Grandma Karen's House for her birthday gift.

It ended up being a lot harder work than we had anticipated.  The paint sprayer was too heavy for anyone to hold up above their head except for Tim and Seth.  Tim started to get sick so the majority of the work landed on Seth.  He definitely did more than he should have post shoulder surgery.

From Mom,

Your dad is helping with the painting even though he is Lame. His knee is swollen and hurting. He is calling his gout "tendentious" because of course it isn't gout.

That is awesome! You will be a great district leader!

Love Mom

From Elder Hackleman,

HA! It is never gout mother......

On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 8:14 Tim wrote:

Dear Elder,
Well, we made it to Grandma Karen's yesterday. It was a good drive. We stopped in Sidney just to see the house. It was pretty much the same except they filled in the trampoline hole! The new owner glared at us as we drove slowly by. He doesn't know who we are, so he seemed like a jerk. Oh well! Not our problem anymore. Today we're going to paint the pergola for grandma. Tomorrow we'll head out to Idaho. We'll send you pictures!

How is everything going there? What's happening with teaching appointments? I looked into that your company, but all they have is a FaceBook page. And it's all in Spanish! I'll still keep them in mind.

Seth had 6 wisdom teeth taken out on Tuesday. He's finally starting to feel better. Nathan got home from trek on Saturday. He had a great time. You would be so proud of him. He has matured a lot.

D-Wade and Kevin Bosch are joining Lebron in free agency. Looks like the entire heat team is getting overhauled!

Well, tell us how thing are going!!!

Love you son!

Dad

Hey Dad! That is crazy that they filled the hole in. It just isn´t the same now. Haha We have been contacting like crazy this week. We have found some cool new people so we´ll see how it goes. I met a member in our branch here and he has been to omaha!!!!!!!! We works with cattle and has been to omaha, atlanta, madison, kentucky, kansas and more! It was so nuts! I never thought I would meet someone in my mission that had been to omaha. Haha

How did seth have so many wisdom teeth?? That is crazy! Bummer deal with Lebron and the boys, I think they will get new contracts though. How could they not.

We had a crazy week this week in the mission. Like 10 missionaries from our mission that are from central america got kicked out of Perú pretty much because they had a bunch of problems with their missions. They got reassigned to missions in either ecuador or columbia. That caused for a massive emergency transfer in the mission to try and fill in empty spots. Luckily, my companion and I didn´t get changed but my district leader did, so President Archibald made me district leader. Haha That was the craziest of the weekend. My companion didn´t get kicked out but he did have to go to lima to do stuff for his visa so we were out of our area almost all of tuesday and wednesday.

Love you Dad!

Elder Hackleman

June 22, 2014 Letters

My District

My companion and I made pancakes with another 

companionship on our P-Day.

On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 10:07 PM, wrote:

Elder Hackleman,

How are things going? We have been pretty busy this week. Nathan is now working out at the fields with Seth. He is a hard worker. Friday night we had a major rain storm with flash flooding and the works. They had to call the games and have closing ceremonies in the Barn. Tim sent all the employees home except Seth and Nathan. Then stuck around until midnight, and then rode home with Time. We had Seth leave the Trail Blazer at the fields and picked it up Saturday. Bellevue actually had a guy that night that had a car stall out in deep water so he was walking out to the edge and got swept away and died. It was pretty scary. Looking out our front window the water was flowing down both sides of the streets like a river. I'm sure the dry river bed in the back was flowing as well. Luckily we were safe and sound. Quite a few people in the ward ended up with flooded basements. I know the Law's had some flooding. I'm sure glad we have a sump pump.

Yesterday we were weeding in the yard and I came across a rabbits nest with at least 3 baby rabbits, right in my garden area. I didn't have the heart to disrupt them, so once again the rabbits win the race in our yard.

Nathan is gearing up for Treck. He leaves on Thursday. He is going in memory of Parley P Pratt. I am excited for him. It will be such a good experience.

Seth is getting his wisdom teeth taken out on Tuesday. This should be fun ha ha.

Grant is flying to Grandma Karen's on Tuesday to spend the week until we get there on Sunday heading out for our family reunion. We are going to do yard work for Grandma Karen's birthday gift.

I sure love you!

Love

Mom

You guys are already heading out to the Beck reunion??? Sheesh, I am jealous. At least it is my last one! You will have to keep me filled in on all the dirty details haha. Dad tells a different story about the bunnies. He said you ran screaming when you saw the nest move before you knew what they were. Haha I see that as much more believable. Haha That is crazy that you guys had all that rain. I have been out of Huaraz for a month now and I already miss the rain again. Haha That is so cool that nathan is going to trek as parley p pratt. DId he get to pick or was it just randomly given to him? He will walk in memory of his namesake! I hope you guys have a great week!!!

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 8:42 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder,

So we had a great week! We got lots of stuff done. I have to tell you a funny story about your momma. We had a huge rain storm Friday night. So your mom, Grant and I decided to go out and pull some weeds in the flower beds because the ground was so soft. Grant and I were sitting on the grass next to the street sign right on the corner in the front of the house. Your mom had gone in the back yard and was weeding that little square right next to the deck. She didn't notice a little mound of dead grass about the size of a small paper plate. She's pulling weeds and starts pulling the ones next to this dead grass. And it starts to move!!!! She let's out a few of her normal screams and runs up on the deck and starts yelling out for me. Of course Grant and I can't hear anything with the traffic and such. She climbs over the other side of the deck to come get us. So Grant and I follow her back and she shows us where it moved. I instantly knew what it was. Grant used the broom handle to gently pull back the grass. Sure enough. Four little baby rabbits! When I say little, I mean like maybe a week old!!! Of course Grant wants to keep them and raise them as pets. But we just covered them back up and left them alone. He checks on them every day though.

I don't know what families you remember from the ward. But the Hadley's are moving to Oklahoma this fall! Also, do you remember the Brandvold's? Kevin was talking to us the night you were set apart. He was the Scoutmaster, then a couple months ago he got called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric. Yesterday he was released because they are moving to Texas. They called Bro. Decker to be the new 2nd Counselor. He was the Young Men's President. That mean's I'm getting released sometime soon! Maybe they'll call me into the Primary. NOOOOOOOO!!!! We've had a few people move into the Ward and a few move out. In general, I would say it's bigger than when you left.

How are things there? Those pig photos that you sent were hilarious!! Grandpa Howard would have been proud to see you with the cow!! How is the teaching going? Your companion looks like a really nice guy.

We're on our way to Idaho on Sunday. We're stopping at Grandma Karen's to help her to some yard work, then going the rest of the way to Idaho on Tuesday. We'll do the family reunion and then on July 5th we're meeting Uncle Jeff, Uncle Joe, Grandma Karen and Grandpa Rog at Bear Lake for some boating. We'll take lots of pictures to send to you!!

Thank you so much for working so hard for our Savior. I feel his love for us every day and it makes me so proud of you! You are such a great example to your brothers.

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Hey dad! That story about mom is hilarious. She told me about the bunnies but failed to mention the part about screaming. Haha I remember the Hadley´s of course. That is too bad that they are moving. I got to admit, it won´t be very fun to come home to my ward and not know a single person and them not knowing who I am either. Oh well Haha as long as the Laws don´t move. I will be honest, I am super jealous that you guys are going to the lake. I was thinking about it, it has been over a year that I haven´t gone swimming. I don´t think I have gone an entire year without swimming in my entire life. Haha I want us to take a boating trip as soon as we can when I get home deal? Did you look in to the stuff on machu picchu or not yet? I sure love you dad!

Elder Hackleman

Great Article

I love this article about missionaries in Peru.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-in-pictures-church-growth-peru?cid=social_20140714_27835726

Letters from Dad 6-16-2014

On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder Hackleman,

How was your week? Did you ever get your camera to work? Well, yesterday was Father's Day and your mom and dad's anniversary! We have been married for 25 years!! I don't know how she puts up with me! To help celebrate, I dumped cold water on her while she was in the shower. She loved it!!! NOT. That's what I call true love! Wow, so you're in a Branch eh? Well, you know what that's like. Have they given you a calling? We had a great week. OUR HOUSE IN SIDNEY CLOSED!!!! Yay!!! It'll be such a huge relief. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Everyone here is doing great. Nathan started his second, and final, Basketball camp today. He's frustrated because he doesn't know the plays, but he's not giving up. Grant is doing awesome. Seth is working three days at the fields with Tim Law and 3 days at Bed, Bath and Beyond. He's slowly accumulating the stuff that he needs to take on his mission. Your mom and I are setting aside our Peru money so that we have it for our trip! I'm not gonna lie, you're dad is a well travelled man, but this trip is scaring me to death!! But I'm so excited at the same time!!

I have some bad news. World Champion San Antonio Spurs. They beat the Heat 4-1. Two of the four wins were by 20 pts!! The Heat's only win was by 2 pts!

Anyway, tell us what's happening! In a couple months, yours and Seth's names will be side by side in the Ward Bulletin's Full-time Missionary section.

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Oh my word I am so happy that the house closed! That is so fantastic! It is probably the only thing that could quench the pain of the heat losing. I think it is because I wasn’t there that’s all. They will make a comeback when I get home. Haha Don´t worry about the trip. Even at the airport in Lima, you pretty much don´t have to know any Spanish. haha do you think Joel and Ann will be able to come too or probably not? Either way, I have been doing some asking around to try and get an idea of what machu picchu is like for tourists. It is pretty far from lima. You can get there by bus or by plane but everyone says take a plane even though it is more expensive because the roads from lima to cusco are treaturous. and I would imagine they´d be bad with people who actually know how to drive. Haha So you guys should check on that kind of stuff and hotels and what have you to kind of get an idea on prices. I have heard rumors of a tour service called moroni tours that supposedly takes you up to machu picchu on a tour but one run by members of the church. That would be something right there. Also, ask President Reinhart what its the details are on how/when i would be released because he holds the keys for that, not even my president does. And I am not sure how it works if he is able to delegate the authority to my president to release me here or if I just don´t get released until I am home. I am not really sure how that works but yea. I sure love you dad!

Elder Hackleman (The first)

June 16, 2014 Letters

On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 8:49 AM, Amy wrote:

Elder Hackleman,

I guess you heard the bad news, The Heat choked. Labron played well and made a lot of points but the Heat got stomped by the Spurs. Game over.

In other news, Nichole Uhl is engaged. She looks very happy in her pictures so that is good.

Seth is working a lot lately. 6 days a week, every other day for Bed Bath and Beyond and at the Tim Law’s baseball fields. He is running the t-shirt press.

Becky took Nathan and Grant out to the fields and let them go down the slide with her kids. They sure had a lot of fun.

Nathan has another basketball camp to go to this week.

Nathan was asked to give his testimony during church yesterday about scout camp. He did a great job.

We had a pretty low key father's day. We put a roast in the crock pot, so after church we ate then watched a few movies. You are going to love this, we watched Saturday's Warrior. Ha Ha. I remember you singing, "There is a Distant Lamp, that Lights the Way for Me, I hope they hold it high so I can see," Good times.

Then in the evening Seth and I went out with the Sister missionaries for an appointment that we got stood up for. Oh well, we had a family that I had gone to with the sisters about a month ago that we could not get into the door. The wife had been taking the lessons about a year ago, but they weren't really very interested. They were just real nice. Anyway, we knocked their door and the husband answered a month back. He was so nice, we invited him to church and he kindly said he wasn't interested. The problem is, I could not get this family off of my mind, so I asked the sisters if we could try them again with Seth. The husband is Mexican and he is an interpreter. I also saw a Nebraska flag on their house and asked if he was a fan and he told me just of the football. I was quick to observe and knew that Seth was the key to getting in the door.

Yesterday, we went back and this time the wife answered and she was the only one home. She was kind, but not interested, so I played the Seth card. I explained that he was going on a mission in August to Mexico and would really love to get some tips on learning Spanish from her husband. Now we hit a cord. She invited us back when her husband was home. She agreed for her and her husband to take the missionary lessons and help Seth learn some of the language in Spanish.

I do love missionary work. It is in my blood. As a ward council we are reading a book called, "The Power of Everyday Missionaries." by Clayton M Christensen. It has the What and How of Sharing the gospel. It is so awesome. There are couple of points that stand out in the book that I would love to share with you. First of all, it talks about how the majority of people you meet do not know how to pray or read from the scriptures. As far as prayer goes, many churches have recited prayers so even if they are church going people, they do not know how to pray for themselves. Spending an entire lesson teaching the proper way to pray and receive answers is vital to missionary work. He suggests that you always assume a person does not know how to pray and automatically incorporate the how to pray as part of your missionary lesson. Secondly, even avid readers do know really know how to read the scriptures to get answers to questions and prayers. Reading scriptures is not like reading a novel so an alternate way to read scriptures would be a wise thing to teach as well.

It is suggested in the book that you start off a meeting with a question to the investigator to have them tell you what doctrinal questions they have in their life. After you have a question from the investigator, give them a homework assignment to find the answer. For instance if they wonder about baby's getting baptized, share with them the scriptures in Mosiah 18:1-16 and Moroni 8. Then write a 2 paragraph answer to each of these questions:

1. Why does it make God so angry when people baptize little children?

2. Why does God want us to be baptized in the first place?

3. What is the process by which we come to be forgiven of our sins?

To get the answers go through these steps:

1. Pray on your knees, aloud, telling God that you got this homework assignment. Ask him to help you understand the chapters as you read them.

2. Read the chapters

3. Write your answers in draft form to the 3 questions.

4. Kneel again in verbal prayer and explain to God the answers you have written, just as if you were talking to Him face to face.

5. Read the chapters again.

6. Revise your answers based upon your deeper understanding.

7. Kneel again and pray a 3rd time. This time you need to ask God if the things that you have written are true.

I am going to use this the next time I am in a teaching situation.

I sure love You!

Love Mom


On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 11:14 AM, Elder Hackleman wrote:

This is my cow. Her name is Tomasa. Ok she isn´t mine but we visit her often when we go to a sister´s house that we are teaching. She has some other farm friends that live there too. Those pigs that my companion and I are holding were born during our lesson!!!!!!! Haha so we had to go grab them and take a snap shot or two. Haha

Hey mom!!! I sure feel a bit of a different spirit in your letter and in dad´s could it be that you just had a huge financial strain lifted from your shoulders????!!!! WOOOO!!!! Hhaha that is so awesome. I am stoked that Nicole got engaged as well. Haha is it to the guy she´s been dating since forever? Help Nathan anyway you can mom, every chance you get, take him out to shoot hoops. Give him a few pointers but not too many. He knows alot and he knows what he is doing. He just needs the encouragement because something Seth and I have both gone through is at his age, we greatly undermined our potential in things. We lacked alot of self confidence, the faster nathan can find that, the faster he will grow to be a great young man. As you can see, I am not even talking about just basketball or even just sports. Nathan has more potential than probably any one of us to turn into someone really special. It can come through sports, by gaining self confidence and realizing how much worth he has to his family and the entire clanking world when he invents a time machine or something! He´s growing up fast and so is grant. Seth already got there. There is no right of mine to be able to call him a kid still. He is a man. I have thought so much about my brothers this week. All three of them. For being the oldest, I sure do feel like I have three examples bigger than me in those guys. We would be nowhere though if it weren´t for our mom and dad. It has made me realize that it just may be that we weren´t just randomly placed together in the same family. I often recall the words of an old friend of mine, he said it before he even came here to earth oddly enough. ¨What is that sound? Rising up from the world. It´s the sound, of a clock, ticking on.¨ Time is ticking and my brothers are growing up. Grant for sure could beat me up now if he wanted to. Luckily for me the kid has no evil bone in his body. =) I sure do love you mom. I hope you don´t forget either, even though it passed yesterday, what a perfect choice you made 25 years ago in being sealed to our dad. He´s done so much for our family and is one who is never heard complaining. When he had jobs he didn´t like, he still got up in the morning and went to work, many times fighting his lazy kids to get up and get ready for school haha but never complained. I can work here on my mission with alot of peace in my heart knowing that my mom is protected back home by a dad who loves her in a way that only a couple people could understand, Heavenly Father and our brother Jesus Christ. I sure love my family!

Oh yeah! And wanna know something crazy, that book that your reading in ward council, I have it =) You´ll never guess who bought it for me either........ Grandma Karen!!!!

Elder Hackleman

This is my cow. Her name is Tomasa. Ok she isn´t mine but we visit her often when we go to a sister´s house that we are teaching.

Those pigs were born during our lesson!!!!!!

I love Bacon!

June 4, 2014 Letters

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 8:04 AM, Amy wrote:

What a week we have had. Friday we had a surprise birthday party for Nathan. In order to pull it off, I had so many lies going it was crazy. I couldn't wait for the party so I could get out from under all of my lies ha ha. It ended up being even better than I had thought it would. Tim Law brought over his shaved ice truck and served up some yummy treats. It really was a huge hit. We were at the volleyball field up the street from our house.

A few hours before the party we were talking to Nathan about his birthday on Wed and I told him I would bring a birthday cake to scout camp for everyone. He told me I could bring cake, but not to tell anyone it was his birthday, because he didn't want anyone to know it was his birthday. I thought, oh, no, he has no idea what is coming in a few short hours. I thought he might be mad at me. Well, it was so much fun and he admitted it was fun to be surprised. I think he has been flying under the radar lately with not much attention going his way, so it was about time he had his own day to shine.

I will send pictures in a separate email so it doesn't slow up this email. We had a car stop by wanting to buy some shaved ice. It was funny, so we talked Tim into bringing the trailer over on Saturday and park it next to our house. He made almost 300 bucks in about 3 1/2 hours. There was a steady stream of people. All of the sudden a downpour of rain came out of nowhere so Nathan and Tim were packing up to finish for the day and before they could get everything put away, the rain stopped and more people came to buy some shaved ice. It really was a hit. We are trying to talk Tim into parking the trailer at our house every weekend until he finds a permanent spot for it.

So the boys are off at scout camp. I know your dad told you about it so I won't say much, except to say that Tim has worked so hard to get everything ready for the mission blitz/service project being done today. He is doing such a great job.

Nathan is starting basketball camp at the school today. We will drive him back and forth to scout camp. I hope they see is potential :)

So Grandma Polly flies home today. She has been so sweet all month. We will miss her. We have had a great time going to the zoo a bunch :)

Did you get transferred?

I sure love you!

Love

Mom

Color Throwing

Nathan's 15th Birthday Party - Dashed with Color Powder

Shave Ice

Now That is One Happy Birthday Boy

Everyone Loves Shaved Ice

After Dark We Played Dodge Ball with Glow In The Dark Bracelets

6/04/14

Hey mom! Sorry! It has been a crazy few days. So first off, I didn´t write Monday because the entire city of Huaraz´s internet system went out. I couldn´t get permission to write home until today. Secondly, I got transferred. I am happy but a little bummed as well, not going to lie. I miss Huaraz. I was so lucky to be sent there. Haha Now I am working in an area called Pueblo Supe, Barranca. It´s on the beach! Elder Kitchens, my trainer and best friend, just got sent to Huaraz. How is that for luck? He gets sent there the day I leave. Anyway, my new companion´s name is Elder Sandoval. He is from Chile. He is really cool. He is a little quiet and keeps to himself a lot which I must admit, I love about him.

That party you threw for Nathan looks like it was soo fun! I have never been in those color fights. They look awesome though! Well I don´t have much time but next week I will send you some pictures. I love you!

Elder Hackleman

Peruvian Food Made In America

This is Elder Hackleman's Favorite Food In Peru
So We Made Some At Home

Things Our Missionary Wonders About Back Home

How Lebron and the Heat are Doing.

Heat rally late, beat Pacers 99-87 in Game 3

MIAMI (AP) -- Down by 15 early, the Miami Heat could have hit the panic button.




LeBron James

Instead, they found a way to move within two wins of another trip to the NBA Finals.


LeBron James scored 26 points, Dwyane Wadeadded 23 and the Heat shook off a horrid start to beat the Indiana Pacers 99-87 on Saturday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, taking a 2-1 lead and breaking a back-and-forth trend in the rivalry. The teams had alternated wins and losses in 13 straight meetings - until now.

Photos from Peru This Week - 5-26-2014

Campo Santo. Its in a city called Yungay outside of Huaraz

There was a massive earthquake here years ago and It wiped out the entire city. I am sitting on a giant tower that is a cemetery where they buried the bodies, at least the ones they could find. Then they just put a statue of Christ on top. Campo Santo means holy field or holy ground.

More Letters

Date: Mon, 5 May 2014 10:45:22 -0500

Dear Elder,

If you haven't read Seth's email, go read it right now!!! I promised your brother I wouldn't say anything!! You have to read his first.

You're going to be so proud of him. He told everyone in his testimony yesterday how much of an example his big brother has been to him. It's true. Jaren, you may not realize it, but you are the best influence on your brothers. I gave Grant a haircut yesterday morning and asked how short he wanted it. He said, "Ummmm I want it Jaren short." It just goes to show you how much the think about you. Speaking of Grant. He was playing catch on Saturday after a Ward service project and came down on his arm weird. He's at the Dr's office this morning. We're hoping it's not broken. It wasn't like the time when Drake hit your arm in football in the 9th grade. But worse than a sprain.

I ordained Seth to be an Elder yesterday! It was so much fun!! I'm so glad to have two Melchizedek Priesthood holders in our family now!!! Of course I have to wait 2 1/2 years for them to both be under the same roof. I can wait. :)

How are things there?? Did you have your baptisms on Saturday? Are there any new investigators that you're working with? I'll send some pictures of Seth's "Call Opening"

Grandma Polly comes in today. She's really bad off. She can't remember any of us except for your mom. Grandma Karen is coming tomorrow. Uncle Jeff passed a kidney stone over the weekend and he's suffering some complications. So, I don't know if he'll be able to make it out for the Graduation. Joel and family will be here on Thursday.

Let's plan on Skyping at 1:00 your time, which I think is 1:00 our time too!! I'll have to send you the account later today. Sorry!!!

I love you so much and great things that you are doing for our Lord!!!

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Hey dad! Yeah I read Seth´s email. Holy crap I am so emotional. My companion is pretty excited to because he´s a Mexican. Haha! I am so proud of Seth and all my brothers. We did have our baptisms on Saturday! Hermana Teresa and Fabian, her son. Her husband is a harder case but we haven’t given up on him yet. I am excited because this week, President Waddell from the first quorum of the seventy that is the 2nd counselor in the area suramerica noreoeste of the church is going to come and teach all the missionaries this week. He gave a prayer in this last conference but I don´t remember what session. then Sunday I skype home! 1 o’clock my time sounds great. That will work best for me if you all can make it work for you. I sure love you dad.

Elder J. Hackleman

This weeks Baptism

Mom is Deaf so I learned how to sign in Spanish so I could teach her.
Mom and son got Baptized

Seth's Mission Call

Dear Elder Hackleman:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Mexico Veracruz Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, August 20, 2014. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LET'S CLANKING GOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! VERACRUZ MEXICO SPANISH SPEAKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It finally got here Jaren:) I can't even begin to describe how excited I am. Mom has pictures of me opening it that I think she is going to send you. We can both Hable Espanol!!!! Lechuga Con Queso!!! If you know what I'm sayin!

I love you buddy, thank you for your example. I'll see ya on the other side ;)

Love Seth (Elder Hackleman)

P.S. I was ordained an Elder at church today


SSSSEEETTTHHHHH!!!!!! I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF! Everyone in this clanking internet place right now is looking at me because I am jumping up and down. My companion is from mexico. He says that mission is awesome because it is on the gulf of mexico! Vamos a hablar español todos los dias! Nadie nos va entender! Lechuga con queso para siempre!!!!! Seth I am so proud of you. I am so excited and sad at the same time because it will be a while before we see each other again but I know what we are doing is right, I am so proud of you buddy. See you in a few days to talk more!

Elder J. Hackleman

(I decided I better start putting at least my first initial. I wont be the only one for very long =) )

Because of Him - The Meaning of Easter

BECAUSE OF HIM

Jesus is the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer. Because of Him, death is not the end, and life takes on new meaning. We can change, we can start over—and we can live again with God. This Easter, celebrate His life and discover all that’s possible because of Him.

Video Provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Full Time Missionaries and Future Missionaries Singing In The Car

Seth is just sent in his papers to get called on a mission.  He has been going out with the full time missionaries a lot to help prepare for his future assignment.  They put together a little song about his journey.  Enjoy:)

More letters to and from April 7, 2014

On Sun, Apr 6, 2014 at 9:13 PM, Hackleman Brother’s wrote:

From Seth,

I'm graduating. Whew.

My favorite talk in conference was President Uchtdorf's priesthood talk.

I can't wait to go on a mission. I can't wait for us to be companions in Peru. I am meeting with the Stake on Wed.

I'm doing a project in my creative writing class, I'm making magical pants. It's an idea I had where you have a usb port at the bottom of your pocket and it's connected to copper coils and a magnet and a capacitor. It works like a Faraday flashlight. You know the ones that you shake to power but in these, when you walk, it will generate power to charge a cell phone that you put in your pocket. I don't know how it will turn out, but I will let you know.

Love ya, I'll talk to you later.

Seth

Seth!!!!!!!! I can´t believe you are graduating! it just doesn´t seem right. But I am not kidding, I pray every day that you will get called to Perú. I know its where the Lord wants you to serve so I will be crazy excited for whatever call you receive but shoot, I can´t help but hope you get sent here. That pants idea is awesome! Really! That could be something. Let me know every step of the mission process and where you are at. I love you Big Guy!

Elder Hackleman

From Nathan,

This week in school, I'm supposed to give a speech on a character in Greek Mythology and I chose Chaos just because he sounds cool even though I know nothing about him. After doing some research, I found out he is the Greek God of the creation of the universe. I know boring huh. But I think the speech will turn out pretty good. I have to give it tomorrow.

Anyway, I loved General Conference this weekend. My favorite talk was Russell M. Nelson's talk, and my favorite part was when he said, "We all put our faith in something, it might be a sports team, or a famous celebrity, but even the greatest of sports teams can fail, and even the most famous celebrities can fade, the one person that you can trust to put your faith in is Heavenly Father."

Well I hope you have a great time in Peru. Have fun bro,

Nathan

Nathan! That sounds like a cool speech! And I loved conference too. I am impressed on how much you remembered. That talk by Elder Nelson was awesome. President Eyring talked about heros in his. It was something similar. That he always had sports heros and things like that but nothing compared to the Priesthood heroes he had in his life. I sure love you buddy!

Elder Hackleman

From Grant,

Hey bro, my name is Grant. My favorite talk was President Uchdorf's talk about putting his hand on the throttle of the president's plane and president Monson said from behind him, Dieter, don't even think about it.

I went to a friend’s birthday party that was at a legit air-soft place. I was killing it literally. We went to Burger King on the way there and Red Robin on the way home. It was like $15 a person if you have everything you need and all I had to rent was the mask because I had the gun and everything.

Love you bro

Can't wait to see you in another year.

Grant

Hello Grant,  I loved that joke that President Uchtdorf told about the plane. That was the funniest one he has ever done I think! =) I bet the birthday party you went to was fun. I sure do crave burger king. Haha I love you! I can´t wait to see you in a year! It will go by fast!

Elder Hackleman

On Sun, Apr 6, 2014 at 8:27 PM, Tim Hackleman wrote:

Dear Elder,

How was your week??? Mine went by super fast just because it's been crazy at work. It was so nice to just chill at home this weekend and watch conference. I especially loved the Priesthood Session. I can't wait to listen to that one again. We've also been busy today filling out addresses for Seth's graduation announcements. That's weird to say that!

What's been going on in Huaraz? Did you watch conference in English or Spanish? How have you been feeling? I heard that Grandma Karen sent you some Sports Illustrated. She makes me mad when she does that. I'll try to explain to her (again) that that's not appropriate. Just toss them. Daddy's just trying to watch out for you! :) Everything is going great here. Seth has an appointment with Pres. Schoof for his Melchezidek Priesthood interview on Wednesday. We're so excited about that!

I hope you are healthy! We love hearing about your teaching adventures! I think I have to start reading Preach My Gospel. There were a lot of good missionary talks in this conference. Well, I'm sure your momma is gonna send you a long one so I'll keep mine short.

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Hey dad!!!! Wow conference was fantastic! And I got to watch it in english which I was really happy about. I can understand everything in spanish and it almost makes it worse because in conference, even though the translators are great, it just doesn´t come out the same. I am so excited for seth! Let me know what is going on with him every step of the way. Teaching has been going well, we are hoping to take some baptism dates out this week so we are excited about that! Huaraz is great. We are going to play soccer today as a zone, but the cool part is we found a full size soccer field of turf! I am stoked. It isn´t the same as concrete. Haha I sure love you dad!

Elder Hackleman

P.S. ¨Don´t just be grateful for the blessings you can count, Have a grateful attitude even in times of trial, and you can be healed of any hardship.¨ President Uchtdorf

Letter's This Week 4-7-2014

On Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 8:08 AM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder,

How are you doing? Were you able to watch conference in English and if so, who did you watch with and where?

I still have never seen any pictures of the place you live, the inside and the outside. You know how I love pictures. I have been posting some of the pictures you sent me on a google site that has 300,000 followers. It is for travel photos from around the world. It's a lot more interesting that little old Nebraska ha ha.

We had a great weekend. Seth had to work on Saturday, but was off in time to go to the priesthood session of conference. The rest of us watched all of conference. We sure had a nice weekend.

The weather has been pretty nice the past couple of days. Yesterday we went out in the back yard and threw the Frisbee around between sessions of conference. The boys kept making fun of me thinking back on the time I threw the fancy Frisbee into the rain gutter in the street. Now we are just using a cheap plastic Frisbee, ha ha.

We got Seth's graduation announcements filled out last night so we will be mailing them out today. We ran out of them, so I need to order a few more. I forget what a pain they are to do, but at least we finally got them done. I will send you a copy in another email.

Joel and his family are planning on coming as well as Jeff and Joe and Karen and Roger. We are going to have a little open house in the back yard the Saturday before. His graduation is on May 11th, Mother's Day. So basically, we will have a lot of people here to skype you this time around. I will make sure to have speakers set up so everyone can hear you:)

So what is the plan for skyping? Where will you be skyping this time?

We need to coordinate it. It's coming up pretty fast, yeah!

I sure love you.

Love,

Mom

Hey mom!!!!! I luckily was able to watch all of conference in English. It is WAY better than Spanish. The translators don´t get everything right and it just isn´t the same as coming from the same voices who receive that revelation. =) This is the picture of the gringo crew. Everyone that watched in English. In between sessions on Saturday, my companion and I and another companionship in my district went back to my room to make hot dogs, but we decided they would taste better with guacamole, onions, tomato, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. You wouldn´t believe it but I at mine with all of it and LOVED IT! We cooked the hot dogs in a crock pot and figured out a way to grill them in it! Not bad for innovation huh! I will take pictures of my room for next week. I should get some cool pictures today too so don’t worry. I can´t wait to see Seth’s announcement! I am super excited to skype everyone. I don´t know where I will skype yet. I will probably find a member with a computer and good internet. Everyone is super willing to help us out with that stuff. I am not sure when or how we will skype yet, when president lets us know. I will let you know. I love you!

Elder Hackleman

In Between Conference Sessions Elder Hackleman and His Companion
and another companionship
went back to Elder Hackleman's apartment and made hotdogs.

We decided they would taste better with guacamole, onions, tomato, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise.

The crazy thing is before his mission, Elder Hackleman wouldn't touch mayonnaise with a 10 foot pole.
Now he not only eats it, but he likes it!

This is the picture of the gringo crew. Everyone that watched General Conference in English.

9th Article of Faith

We Believe, 9th Article of Faith

This Week From Peru

Wikahuain Ruins, Huaraz, Peru
Wilkahuain National Monument –
Is a small Wari ruin located north of Huaraz.
It dates from AD 600 to 900.
It is an imitation of the temple Chavin done.
Wilkahuain means ‘grandson’s house.’
The rooms were originally filled with bundles of mummies.

This week photos

The tall gringo on the other end of this picture is my zone leader and he is BEST FRIENDS with Josh Woodbury! They are from the same little town in Texas and Josh´s mom was his seminary teacher! How nuts is that!

March 24, 2014 Missionary Letters

On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 10:16 PM Mom wrote: Elder Hackleman, So, I don't know if you heard, but Coach Fitz left Southern Virginia to coach in Maryland at Frostburg State. They are in the same division. The new coach used to be a quality assurance coach for Urban Meyer at Ohio State. Just a little FYI.

Coach Huss

Coach Fitz












Seth is getting closer to putting in his papers. It's coming up close now. We are looking forward to Grant being inducted into the NJHS Monday evening.

We got Lance Christian's wedding announcement in the mail this week. 

Mckenzi Christensen and Lance Christian Are Getting Married

April 12, 2014 In The Salt Lake Temple

Did the deaf couple get baptized? How are things going for you? I can't believe you passed the half way mark.

Hump Day

So basketball is in full swing. Weber State made it to the dance. They lost in the first round but so did BYU, Nebraska, Duke, and a lot of other hopefuls. Creighton actually did pretty well, but lost today, so really there is no one left to root for.

The boys watched the movie "Space Jam" today.

They laughed a lot and it made Seth homesick for you:) I sure love you!

Love, Mom

What a bummer!!! I had hopes for Creighton this year! Haha I LOVE SPACE JAM! I haven´t seen it in year! Nope our deaf family hasn´t gotten baptized but they are still progressing like crazy. It is awesome. We just have to teach them pretty slow to make sure they get it. They have already given up coffee and alcohol though! Wow I can´t believe Fitz left! Craziness! I know! Can you believe how fast time is flying! I sure love you mom!

Elder Hackleman

Missionary and brother letters

On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 8:55 AM, wrote:

Tim Law and I went to Seth Bass's MMA fight on Saturday. Seth won again in the second round. He is still undefeated and he just got offered a 3 year professional contract by multiple sponsors. Seth Bass is also expecting his first child. He was planning on this being his last fight until he started getting professional offers.

Collin Burton, Tim Law, Seth Bass, Seth Hackleman, and Mark Kosmicki

Seth Bass just won another MMA fight and is now going Pro

As you can tell by the picture, Seth and Seth are twin Brothers

I am still working on my mission stuff. I am going to the doctor today for another test.

I love you very much. You are the nicest kid I know.

Love

Seth

Hey Seth! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I can´t believe you are already 18. That is so crazy. That is awesome for Seth Bass. Minus the kid part.....haha when you see him again, give him a shout out for me! Good luck on you mission business! I am praying you come to Perù, or at least spanish speaking =) Love you buddy! Que Tengas un Feliz Cumpleaños!!!!!!!

Elder Hackleman

On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 10:02 PM,  wrote:

Seth's birthday is tomorrow you probably no. I'm a little late on his present. So you know I told you about the birthday party I had. It was really awesome because I had a lot of friends over probably 11 people came and three of them were quads as in brothers that were born on the same day. You probably jealous of what I got, lets just say a bunch of money. $105 in cash and a German chocolate candy bar that Garret got me. I really liked it. A dairy queen gift card and a target gift card. Both were $15 each. So basically the money I spent on my air soft gun got replenished from gifts from my party. My air-soft gun worked really well but I accidentally put the wrong weight size of b b's but I had to empty it and put the right size in that I also got from the birthday party. We used pallets that we got for free as the bases and put card board on them so it would fill the cracks and have complete cover. Everyone was talking about how much my gun hurt when they got shot by it so everyone was scared of me so no one shot me because they didn't want to run the risk of me shooting them. Do you remember Jeremy Lawler from Sidney? He had the exact same gun so he inspired me to get it. For some reason the day we had the party it was rainy and a little bit windy so I had my doubts so it turned out really fun. It's funny because every day except my birthday party was sunny and really nice. We went to the Hadleys to have dinner with them and brother Hadley was home and it was on a Thursday so Brother Hadley me and Seth planned to go shooting yesterday. That was really fun. He had really cool guns, like a revolver that he let me shoot. It was really fun. An AR15 which looks almost exactly like an M16 and he had a 12 gauge shot gun. We used the shot gun to cut a log in half and then cut it in half again. We set a target out. It was on Tim Law's property so it was basically in the corn fields. I put a target on a piece of corn that was still standing up, and someone got the target from about 100 yards. I was pretty sure it was me because I was shooting Dad's 2 23 and I remember trying to hit it and looking through the scope and seeing a couple bullet holes through it, and we found some paint cans that we shot also. That was really fun. Tim Law wasn't there though because Austin and Aidie had swimming lessons but he still let us use his property to shoot.

Maybe if you have any thoughts about Seth's birthday presents I know it's going to be a little late but it would be nice to know what you think he would like.

Every Sunday I don't forget to look at your plaque. Every Sunday I look at it. Speaking of church, I got called to be Deacons quorum president and I used to be first councilor.

Love you Bro

Hoping you are having a good time in Peru. Tell me about what you think is funny that you have done there. I know you are pretty much in the mountains now. Can't wait to see you in another year pretty much. Love Grant

Hey Grantee!!!! That sounds like an awesome party! I am super jealous. I have been wanting to shoot a big gun at a target for a WHILE now haha. something really funny that happens here alot, actually its pretty gross, there is a race of women here that are indigenous to Huaraz where I am serving. they are called cholitas. They have no shame in using the bathroom in the middle of public and one night, I was walking home with my companion and I heard a loud grunt behind a bush. It startled me and I whipped around thinking a dog was going to attack me but it was actually a cholita using the bathroom right there in the park!!!! It was super gross. Haha.  You asked for a funny story so I gave you one:) I love you buddy! I hope you had a great birthday.

Your Bro,

Elder Hackleman

Jaren,

So our boy Lebron broke his nose while dunking on someone. But he made the dunk so it's all good. I'm sure he didn't feel a thing. Soon after that he figured why not and just went up and scored 61 points in one game. You know, no bigs. Anyway the Heat are doing good this year. I know where the Miami Heat jersey is so if you want me to send it to you just say the word. Otherwise I'm keeping it for myself.

Nathan, just chillin during spring break

Friday I had a bunch of friends over and we watched Catching Fire. It was pretty fun and we all had a good time, (mainly because we were already stuffed with pizza and popcorn). And yes there were girls that came. Don't want you to think that I am losing my touch or nothin. There is a dance coming up this Saturday so I better be preparing. Have fun in Peru. Later bro.
Nate

Haha You go bruthah!!!! That is awesome. Just make sure they are good girls. but cute of course =) THATS OUR BOY LEBRON!!! And yes, You should send it, I miss it alot.....haha when you can though. I bet Catching Fire was cool. I cant wait to see it...in a year! Haha Later buddy. Love you!

Your not so big bro

Elder Hackleman

March 17th Letters to and from Elder Hackleman and his mom

Hello, I sure hope you are having a great week. I thought I would send you some pictures of Grant's birthday this week. We had a great time building up an entire fortress in the back yard. We got bandannas so the teams could tell each other apart. It turned out to be a rather rainy day and windy but I was very glad about that. The day before was sunny and there were so many people out and about walking up and down the sidewalk next to our house I was beginning to worry the air soft war in our backyard might not work. I'm sure the neighbors wouldn't appreciate getting shot while going out for an evening stroll. Luckily no one was out but Grant and his crazy crew. It really was a perfect activity for 12 13 year old boys. They had a ball. Seth and his buddy Collin organized the teams and the games and kept the night under control. They even had whistles. I heard some of the kids talking in the other room right before they left and they said it was the most fun they had ever had at a birthday party.

Grant's Birthday Air Soft War

12 boys in all came to the party

I made 12 pizzas.  Some of them were desert pizzas

It was raining and cold, but that is perfect weather for Air Soft Games

Grant preparing the bases for the Air Soft Game

We got pallets for free from a building supply store.

We found old siding in a junk pile and added cardboard to the smaller sections.  

It ended up being an entire yard full of forts.

Grant got biodegradable air soft pellets 

 

So one of Grant's friends got in a fight at school last Friday. Grant came out of the school and saw him getting beat up and he jumped right in and pulled the kid off. Right after that a teacher came running out and took both of the boys who were fighting into the principals office. The kid that got beat up is one of the kids in the picture. Anyway, I was so proud of Grant. He certainly sent a message that he can be aggressive if he needs to be. He also set a good example of not just watching, but taking action.

Seth, Nathan and Grant have been out of school all week on spring break and they are even out tomorrow. We have had a great time, but it went by too fast. We were preparing for Grant's birthday party, throwing the birthday party, having Nathan's party and running errands for Seth to get him ready for his mission and the week just flew by. Seth had his doctors appointment on Thursday as well as camping out at the DMV to get his 18 year old drivers license. You know how long it takes to do that. He has to go back in on Monday for the Tuberculosis test that goes in the arm and gets checked 48 hours later. Sound familiar? He has his dentist appointment on Thursday and we will find out about his wisdom teeth. He also didn't pass the eye exam so we will get him into the eye doctor to get a new prescription this week as well. Depending on what we find out about the wisdom teeth will determine when he can turn in his mission papers this week. It all feels very familiar.

I had a great stake Relief Society training meeting yesterday. It really was nice to be inspired and instructed. We were taught by President Schoof from the stake presidency about the importance of the Proclamation to the Family. I really do love learning from such inspired instruction.

We had a wonderful baptism yesterday. A sister in the ward who's husband is a member but she has been taking the lessons off and on for 5 years. I was overwhelmed with the feeling I needed to share your dad's conversion story, so I did. It was very spiritual. Her husband did the baptism and also gave a talk. I was so impressed with his testimony. For sure it was one of those days filled with the spirit.

The kid named xxxx, that Seth and Nathan have been teaching with the missionaries got dropped because he just wasn't keeping commitments and wasn't progressing. The missionaries told us today that he actually texted them and said he would like to come to church again. This really is the first time he has asked to come to church. Usually we always ask him. Maybe he will come around again. We can only pray that it will. Unfortunately he ended up sleeping in today so he didn't come, but the fact that he had the desire to come was a good sign.

I sure love you. I can't wait until tomorrow. Monday is my favorite day of the week because I get to hear from you!

Love you!
mom

Dear Mom,

We had a baptism this week as well. Her name is Pilar. Her boyfriend is a member but less active she has been dragging him to church even though he has no huge interest in going and her entire family is against her being a member. She doesn´t care though because her testimony is so strong.

Baptism This Week.  I got a new companion named Elder Robles.

He is from Mexico but lived in Tucson, Arizona for a while so he actually speaks English.  He is awesome and a great soccer player so our game today is going to be sweet! 

The other picture is just a mountain that I see every day named Huazcaran. Its right outside my window. Pretty huh! I have a new companion too. His name is Elder Robles. He is from mexico. He reminds me alot of Roberto Guzman. Haha He is super awesome though. And hes big! He is my height. Haha I never thought I would have a companion my height! He lived in Tuscan Arizona though so he speaks perfect english. Its funny cuz we will have a conversation and I will speak english and he will respond in spanish or vice versa and we both understand but usually respond in the other language just to shake things up. It´s pretty fun. Haha I sure love you!!!!!

Elder Hackleman

A mountain that I see every day named Huazcaran. Its right outside my window. Pretty huh!

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 8:31 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder,

Today is Seth's 18th birthday. I wish you guys would stop growing up so fast!!! I've been missing you a lot this past week. I've been having foot problems and wish I had your priesthood here to give me a blessing. Your mom swears it's gout. I swear it's not because it's on my heel. Same old argument :) Anyway, I was able to get some UNO hockey tickets for last Friday's game. So Seth and I took Tim and Austin for Austin's birthday. We had a great time!! I forgot my phone in the car, so I didn't get any pictures. :(

How did your week go?? Are you still teaching the deaf couple? That is so awesome!! I am so excited for them and what an opportunity for you. I see that it's been raining there a lot. Be careful and stay healthy!!! So when it's not raining, do you still get out to play some soccer (futbol)?

OH YEAH! How is your new companion??? Tell us all about him!

I'm sorry you don't have any extra cash right now. I will get you some next payday. Sorry. The Sidney house is still on track for June sometime. They will either have to close on it then or forfeit it back to us. The only problem with it coming back to us is that it will have to be put on the market again. I'm sure it will sell fast, but it still takes a couple of months to close and that would mean double house payments for us. OUCH!! So add the Sidney house to your prayers! :)

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Hey dad! I hope your foot is doing ok. It sure seems like you two will never change over this gout thing. Haha I bet those UNO Hockey games are fun. I wish we would have thought of that before! I am still teaching the deaf couple and their son. They are so wonderful. They had a baptismal date for this Saturday but it had to get pushed back until next Saturday because they couldn´t come to church yesterday. We play in rain. It don´t bother us nun´ =) We are playing futbol Americano today! WOOO! Haha I am stoked. My companion is awesome. His name is Elder Robles. Hes from mexico but lived in arizona for 8 years so he knows english! That's too bad about the sidney house. I will definitely keep it in my prayers. And don´t you worry about me. I am doing just fine. For clanks sake, I almost have a year in this country!!!! I know what I am doing and definitely get plenty of help. You guys just worry about the rest of you =) I sure love you dad. If there is one thing a mission does for us missionaries, It helps us realize how much we love and appreciate our parents.

I love you!

Love Elder Hackleman