Happy 21st Birthday Elder Hackleman from the Walkers

More Letters This Week

Elder Hackleman showing a pet turtle owned by a family he is teaching.

Just because Elder Hackleman is a missionary, is no reason to forget his love of American football.  

You've got to love the Heisman Pose with a Turtle.

On Mon, Aug 11, 2014 at 8:51 AM, Amy wrote:

Elder Hackleman,

I can't believe in less than one week you will be 21! Happy happy birthday. We will put some money in your account on Friday so you can buy yourself a birthday present from us. Make sure you take a picture so we know what we got you:)

Cousin Macy got home from her Spanish speaking mission this week.

So Macy got home from her mission on Thursday. For some reason it made me so jealous and homesick for you. As I was looking at the picture they posted on facebook of the homecoming at the airport I started to get a pit in my stomach and started to rethink whether or not we want to come and pick you up. In a way, I would love the excitement of seeing you get off the plane and having all our family and friends around to welcome you home. Plus, I'm a little scared of trying to get to a country when I don't speak Spanish. I'm afraid my nursery rhymes won't get me too far in Peru. What do you think? Maybe instead of coming to Peru to pick you up, you could go with your dad and I to Mexico to pick Seth up. Let me know your thoughts.

What do you have planned for your birthday? Are they having another big party for you?

How did it go with President Archibald?

Seth had his mission farewell talk yesterday. It was so good. I will send you a copy of it. Grant also spoke. I will send them in the next email. I have to run Nathan to work so you will actually get one more email from me in a half an hour.

The boys start school this week. Grant starts on Tuesday and Nathan on Wed. Nathan is still working at the baseball fields today and tomorrow. It has been a great job for him.

I love you.

I will write more in a few.

Love mom

Hey mom! I know it is pretty nuts that I will be 21. I don´t feel 21 yet....haha

Mom don´t worry about coming up, I am more than happy and excited to come walking down the hallway in the airport to see you guys in wonderful Omaha! I´d love to go to Mexico! I have a bunch of friends from there now that can show us the sights.

President is going to come this week I guess. I am stoked though, the man is a man of spiritual power. It is so awesome to learn from him.

I love you mom!

P.S. am I heismaning a giant turtle?.....you tell me......

Letters this week

Nathan and Grant and Amy's Arm
Storm Chaser's Game

On Mon, Aug 11, 2014 at 8:49 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder,

Well, yesterday was Seth's farewell! It's happening way too fast for your old man! He did a great job. Guess who got to speak with him? Grant! He did awesome as well. He wore his suit and was looking very stylish. You'd be so proud of him. Albany Walker and the kids came to see Seth. That was sure nice of them. Becky was pretty emotional after Sacrament. I think it's almost as hard for her to see Hackleman's leave as it is for his their own family. Everything is going well here. Seth leaves a week from Wednesday. I gotta take that day off like I did when you left. I know I'll be a mess like I was with you. Parenting is like climbing a mountain to see the most beautiful view in the world. When your sons go on missions, it's like you're almost to the top. When you see them married in the Temple, you know you've reached the summit!!! Then you can sit down for a time and just enjoy the view!!! (Then your mom will push me off and we'll be over the hill) :)

So, we have a new thing in our house. I bought national flags for Peru and Mexico. I ironed them out for your mom and we have them hanging side-by-side on the wall going up the stairs to the bedrooms. We'll just keep adding flags as boys leave! But you and Seth will be here for the last two!! That makes me so happy. :)

2 Elder Hackleman's Serving Missions at the Same Time
One in Peru and the other in Mexico

How are things there? How's my buddy Elder Sandoval?? I'm so proud of you and all your hard work! I know that when you get home, I'll have so much to learn from you. Since I didn't go on a mission, I want to know as much about what it's like as you're willing to teach me!

Grant starts 8th Grade tomorrow and Nathan starts on Wednesday. The summer has flown by!!

I hope you're not upset, but I don't think we'll be able to make it out there to fly home with you. Financially, we just can't swing it. Believe me, it was the hardest decision your mom and I have had to make in a long time. Are you okay with that?

Anyway, keep working hard! Let's us know how the teaching is going!

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Hey dad!!!!

Man, I can´t believe how close Seth is. He will have a big email from his older brother waiting for him when he hits the MTC. I already have contacts in his mission waiting for his arrival. There is a sister missionary serving here that is finishing her mission that I know. Her name is Hermana Morales. She is from Veracruz. She will keep her eye out for him. She will be a returned missionary so she know the ´´look but never ever touch rule.´´ Haha I´ve got missionaries there looking out for him too so he´ll be in good hands. The other hands obviously are the Lord´s which help us worry a lot less. take a picture of the flags! I wanna see how they look. Elder Sandoval and I are best friends. He is one of my favorite companions. We get along great together and are going to have a lot of success in these last couple weeks of the transfer.

Don´t worry about the trip dad. I am not mad. I knew it was a long shot and the more and more I think about it, the more I just want to get home when I finish. I´m excited for the day when I cross security in that little Omaha airport to see my family =) the only reason I can allow one of my brothers to miss it is if they are in another country serving the Lord so, I guess I will give Seth a free pass....just this once. Haha

I know I don´t talk a whole lot about the work and my experiences and things. It’s not because I don´t have them. Quite the contrary, The mission is so powerful and things that we get to be a part of are, well, simply things that are hard to explain in writing. I promise though that when I get home, we will be spending countless hours talking about it though. It is the best. I am so excited for Seth to get out here in the mission field and share the experience with me. I sure love you dad!

Elder Hackleman

Missionary Letters from Peru This Week

Thoughts from Dad

Dear Elder,

I'm sorry I haven't been able to put money in your account. If you need some right away, then let me know this morning and I'll work on it. The air conditioner went out on us a couple weeks ago and it cost us about $1,000 to get it fixed. They say that we really should replace both the AC and the furnace, but that will cost about $6,000 to $8,000. That would take all the money we have saved up to come pick you up from your mission.  It's running fine right now, so we'll use it until it dies for good! 

School is going to start in a couple weeks. The summer has gone by so fast! Is it still considered Winter down there?

You guys should be coming up on Transfers soon, aren't you? Elder Sandoval seems like such a great guy. You can see his spirit in his smile. Is the Lima West mission still getting a lot of new missionaries? Maybe you don't hear too much about it out where you are.

I keep forgetting to ask you if you are still playing a lot of soccer. 

Well, we are doing fine. Just the normal struggles in life, but at least we know to turn to the Lord. Even in all our weaknesses. I found my new favorite quote from the LDS Missionaries Facebook page.

"The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind." - Caroline Myss (whoever that is)

Please be careful. You and Elder Sandoval are doing great things. Thank you for being such a great son and example and disciple of Christ.

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 14:28:37 -0500
Subject: Re: Week of 8/4/14
From: jeffrey.hackleman@myldsmail.net
To: tim

Elder Hackleman visits The Sacred City of Caral-Supe which reflects the rise of civilisation in the Americas

Hey dad!!! Don´t worry I am doing fine. Just whenever you can. It is still considered winter. It has been pretty chilly but there is a lot of sun today. I just got a letter from one of the missionaries in the Veracruz mission where Seth is going. He is the secretary in the offices and he was in my zone in the mtc! He said he got Seth´s info and looked at him and recognized me right away!!!!! Cool huh!

Yeah my companion is awesome. We don´t have transfers until the 26 of august. Seth will already be on his mission! Haha yeah we still play a lot of soccer. I am getting to be pretty fantastic, not gonna lie. Haha. We supposedly will be getting more than 20 new missionaries in the mission this transfer and then every transfer after that until I go home will be even bigger. We are going to be getting a ton of missionaries! Haha

I sure love you dad!

Elder Hackleman

Dear Elder Hackleman,

How are you doing? Nicole Uhl got married on Friday. I pulled this picture of off facebook. She looks very happy. Marissa is getting married this week too and Caroline, Madison Grunig's sister is already married. Everyone is getting married ha ha

Nicole Got Married

Marisa Aguirre Got Married

Seth is at Grandma Karen's right now. He gets home on Tuesday. It sure seems quiet around here with him gone. This is going to be an adjustment when he leaves on his mission.

Seth has his farewell talk on Sunday and they have asked Grant to speak that day as well.

The boys start school next week. I can't believe the summer has flown by.

We are still hoping to be able to come to Peru to pick you up. I’m not sure if Joel is going to be able to go with us. He told me he is not sure if he can get away because he is so busy, but Ann told him he is going and I have a feeling she is going put the pressure on him. Your dad and I still plan on coming if no more major expenses come up around here.

Do you have any new photos for me? I love pictures:)

I read your email to your dad, and I have to say that is so cool about the missionary in Mexico who could tell Seth was your brother. How awesome is that!

Love Mom

Dear Mom,

Wow.....Everyone is married! Haha that´s ok

Elder Hackleman and Elder Brown visited Caral, Peru.  

The entire mission zone went together.

We went back to Caral again this week but as a zone. That is a picture of me and Elder Brown. Am I wearing skinny jeans?......yes. Nuff said! Haha

President Archibald is coming this week! I think he is going to buy us all pizza because we were the only zone to meet our baptism goal this month!

President Archibald

Elder Brown came out on his mission the same time as me. He was in the mission office the other day and checked to see what the schedule was for our group to be sent home. It will be the transfer at the end of March.

I understand that it is a big financial deal to come out and pick me up from my mission. Don’t worry if it doesn´t work out. We can always plan a trip later and come back.

It is super awesome my friend from the MTC will serving with Seth on his mission! He is a great missionary! He said he will look out for Seth. I was his zone leader in the mtc.

I just got a letter from one of the missionaries in the Veracruz mission where Seth is going. 

He is the secretary in the offices and he was in my zone in the mtc! 

He said he got Seth´s info and looked at him and recognized me right away!!!!! 

Do you have any news on my driver’s license? It will be expiring soon. Can it be renewed by mail?

My time on my mission is flying by. I can’t believe I only have 7 months left. I still have a lot to do.

I love you,

Elder Hackleman

More Letters

Younger Brother Seth went through the Omaha Temple on Tuesday

On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 8:30 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder,

Boy oh boy did we have a busy week!!! First, Tuesday was the big day. We went through the Temple with Seth. It was awesome! All I could do was think about how great it was going through with you and then go through everything again with Seth. I loved it!! Then guess what???? Nathan got his Learner's Permit!! He actually got one that allows him to drive to school on his own!! He's not quite ready for that, but he's doing really well. I can tell he gets really nervous driving on the highways, but he'll get used to it.

Seth is going out to Grandma's on Thursday and coming back on Tuesday. His farewell talk is scheduled for August 10th. So everything is going great here. I can't remember if we told you that the Hadley's are moving in October? They think they'll be back in a couple of years, so they're going to keep they're house and just rent it out. School starts in about two weeks! Nathan will be a Sophomore and Grant, an 8th Grader! I wish you guys wouldn't grow up so fast. NFL camps have started!!! YAY!!! Couple more weeks and they'll start pre-season games, then the Utes will start at the end of August! They open against Idaho State!!! bahahahaha.

How was your week? Anything new? How's Elder Sandoval? How long has he been out? Do you get to see Elder Kitchens at all or your MTC companion? I won't be able to get you any money this week. I will next week though!!! Thank you so much for being such a wonderful son and a great example to your younger brothers. Your mom and I love you so much! We can't believe that you have just a few short months left!!!

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Hey dad! I am so dang proud of seth. I can see a different light in his eyes in those pictures from the temple. I can´t believe nathan has his permit and will be a sophmore. That is not right. He might be playing varsity football when I get home!!!!!!! That kid needs to hit the weight room he is growing like bamboo but he can grow like a california readwood with muscles like a silver back if he hits the weights. Get him going on the bench downstairs so that he has a few week head start. Grant is in his last year of middle school! He will be hitting his growth spurt soon as well. I am afraid to come home to big brothers....

I will be honest, I miss the crap out of football. I am working hard and my head is where it needs to be but I do think about it sometimes. My dream of going somewhere with football seems to be slipping slowly away. I just need to leave it in the Lord´s hands I suppose.

I love Elder Sandoval. We get along GREAT! I haven´t seen elder kitchens very much lately because he finally made the Huaraz roster. He is living it up up north. haha I don´t see elder richards very much either. I can´t believe how fast time is flying by!!!!!! I am going on 16 months! Sure love you dad!

Elder Hackleman

Letters this week

Grant is taking care of Harlee for the week.  They are two peas in a pod.

On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 9:36 PM, Amy wrote:

Elder Hackleman,

As bad as last week was, this week has been great! It is true Satan tried to make our lives miserable, but once Seth went to the temple, there was a new spirit in our home. It was a wonderful evening. Seth and I went to the temple Wednesday evening while the rest of the family was at young men's and then Tim, Seth and I went again on Saturday. What a wonderful way to spend the week:)

Seth has his last shots tomorrow and then he will be all ready for his mission. We only have a few more things to buy and they are small things.

He will be giving his farewell talk on August 10th, and he actually teaches Elders quorum that day as well. Then the following week he is talking with a high councilman in another ward. The subjects are different so he is not able to just recycle the same talk. That's ok, it's good for him.

Nathan got his drivers permit this week. As we were standing there in line filling out the paperwork I was looking at how tall he was and decided we had better measure him to make sure we had the height right. He is 6' 1" tall now. He has shot up so much lately.

Grant is taking care of the Law's dog for them. They have been out of town on vacation. I think he is going to go through withdrawals when they get back. He loves that little Harlee so much.

I read in the Deseret News that the church has produced another temple movie and it is showing at some of the temples already. We are supposed to get it in sometime in the next week or so. In the past year they have made 3 different movies. It sure is fun to see the different versions.

Seth and I plan on going to the temple Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday he is flying out to Colorado for a long weekend.

I am starting to get that sick feeling in my stomach with the anticipation of his leaving. I am going to miss him so much.

At least when he leaves, I have the idea in my head to look forward to your coming home six months later. That will help to ease the pain of it.

I am considering going back to school doing the BYUI online program. I have until the 25th of August to make up my mind. I think it's about time I finish my degree after all these years.

What is new in your neck of the woods? Did you ever get your second set of shots? I heard they give you the last shot in the series while you are on your mission.

I sure love you!

Love Mom

Hey mom!!!! I hate to be that guy but.....I told you so! As much as I have learned about Christ on my mission, I have learned a thing or two about Satan as well. I am so proud of Seth. Keep him going to the temple. It is the best thing for him. I saw that the Walkers went for Seth’s endowment as well. They are going to get their fill of the temples just going for all the future missionaries in our house! Haha

What the clank are you feeding Nathan? He is a giant. I went back and looked at some of the pics you put on my blog of you guys at gram´s house and stuff, dad better watch out.

I have not been to the temple since Provo. That is one of the tough things about being a missionary. We work for the living while we´re here, not the dead. The good thing is that I get to go in November or December. Remember the Uruguayan man I baptized in my first area. The really big guy. Him and his wife are going to get sealed as soon as he completes a year as a member of the church so I get to go to the sealing. I am incredibly excited about that. Don´t worry about Seth. He is going to be an awesome missionary. He will pick Spanish up faster than me and his personality has been fine tuned for Latin America. He is going to have amazing success.

I never got the shot. We don´t worry about that stuff once we get on the mission. Really if we follow the rules, we never get sick. He will be fine. I love you mom!!!!!

Elder Hackleman

p.s. will you tell Albandy I still have plans to watch all the planes movies with Jace that I missed!

P.P.S. What are you thinking of studying when you go back to school?

On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 11:29 AM, Amy wrote:

Possibly Psychology. I don't know though. After I wrote my letter to you last night, I stressed about school all night. It is like that reacquiring dream where you are late for school and don't know your locker combination. I am having second thoughts now feeling like it might be more than I can handle. I have a couple of weeks to make the decision.

Oh, and by the way, I saw a post on facebook that Larissa Conger get's home in August. I can't believe she is done already.

Nathan has no intention of playing football anymore and I haven't heard any more about basketball either. He does want to hit the gym. He told me this morning he wants to look like you so he needs to start lifting weights. If only he would go out for football, he could hit the weights there. Darn kid. It breaks my heart to think he doesn't want to play.

haha sorry....that is kinda funny. haha We have dreams about that in the mission too. That we are going home before we are done and we don´t know why, or we are ready to go home but we miss our plane and it happens to be the last plane on earth going that way. Haha

wow. yeah that is nuts about Larissa!

Tell him I don´t give him a choice. He has to play or I will pray that he loses an arm......missionaries prayers are always answered.........

Oldest City In South American- Caral

Mom, this will either make you super happy, or super upset....haha but last monday, I may have lived one of your life long dreams.....wanna know what it is?

This is the oldest city found in south america. Older than machu Picchu, all of the ruins in mexico. All of it. It is supposedly the second oldest city found on earth. it is called Caral. It is about 45 min from my house. Ruins older than the Incans......Who could they be????:) Wink Wink.

Elder Hackleman Visits Ancient Ruins in Caral

Elder Hackleman 

According to Wikipedia, Caral was inhabited between roughly 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE,[1] enclosing an area of more than 60 hectares.[2] Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban center in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other ancient sites were found nearby. Accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants, it is the best studied and one of the largest Norte Chico sites known.
Archaeological findings

Main Pyramid

The main pyramid (Spanish: Pirámide Mayor) covers an area nearly the size of four football fields and is 60 feet (18 m) tall. Caral is the largest recorded site in the Andean region with dates older than 2000 BCE and appears to be the model for the urban design adopted by Andean civilizations that rose and fell over the span of four millennia. It is believed that Caral may answer questions about the origins of Andean civilizations and the development of the first cities.

Among the artifacts found at Caral are a knotted textile piece that the excavators have labeled a quipu. They argue that the artifact is evidence that the quipu record keeping system, a method involving knots tied in rope that was brought to perfection by the Inca, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. Evidence has emerged that the quipu may also have recorded logographic information in the same way writing does. Gary Urton has suggested that the quipus used a binary system which could record phonological or logographic data.
Lack of Warfare

No trace of warfare has been found at Caral: no battlements, no weapons, no mutilated bodies. Shady's findings suggest it was a gentle society, built on commerce and pleasure. In one of the pyramids, they uncovered 32 flutes made of condor and pelican bones and 37 cornetts of deer and llama bones. One find revealed the remains of a baby, wrapped and buried with a necklace made of stone beads.

Letters July 21, 2014

Newest Arrival
Kristen's Cute Little Guy

On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 8:29 AM, Amy wrote:

Elder Hackleman,

So this week has been very hot. It is supposed to be 99 degrees today, but it's the humidity that kills us. Whew, then to make matters worse, our air-conditioning unit took a turn for the worse. We had it repaired with a hotwire system until we figure out what we are going to do. We are to the point where we can't live without it.

Seth is going through the temple on Tuesday. We found out on Saturday and ever since then, it seems like there has been nothing but contention at our house. Yesterday was a particularly down day. Satan really likes to try to put a wrench in our lives any time there is something good coming around.

I am hopeful that today will be a better day

Seth met with the stake president yesterday and he has a temple recommend in hand.

Nathan is working still at the fields. Starting today he will only be working 3 days a week, but it's still nice to have somewhere for him to go.

How are you doing? What is going on with you? I don't really know much about the area you are in now. I don't know what it looks like, what the ward is like, what the teaching situations are like and so on. I need more details and pictures:)

I sure love you!

Your dad got set apart at the new young mens president yesterday. He will do a great job.

Saturday night Nathan's "friend" Kate, had a surprise birthday party that we helped with. It was pretty fun. She is an only child and her family got baptized about six years ago. They are a real nice family.

Grant has become quite the biker. He rides his bike to Shadow Lake shopping center almost every day to meet a friend of his from the ward. Then they either ride to our house or his and hang out together. It's a great way to stay in shape and out of trouble:)

Saturday we got some free mulch from a family in the ward so we updated out flower beds. They are looking a lot better now. Then we went out to the baseball fields and watched the Blue Angels, then as I said before we went to a birthday party, so it was an eventful day.

Kristen had her baby. They are both doing just fine. It was a boy and they named him Wiley.



Love,

Mom

Hey mom. I know it’s hard and Satan is working his hardest against you all but sometimes we have to just take the beating and keep moving forward. When the people of ammon (Converted lamanites) made the decision to put down their weapons of war, they decided that there is no way that they would fight again and had faith that if they were firm in being obedient, God would deliver them. They also had faith in something else. If they started to die at the hands of their enemies and realized that God wasn´t going to save them from death, they were STILL determined not to fight back. They knew that sometimes, when you know something is true but you don´t have all the answers and everything just seems pretty grim, we just need to put our head down and push ourselves with the assurity that God is watching us. NOTHING on this earth should have the power or influence in keeping seth from going to the temple tomorrow. It doesn´t matter what happens, tomorrow is his day and when you come out of the temple with him, he will be endowed with power. Satan´s temptations and influences will just roll off your shoulders easier.

In other news, I had a baptism of a family of 3 on saturday!!!

I sure love you mom! I will send you a separate email that has a bunch of pictures that you are rrrreeeaaaaallllllyyy going to like.

Elder Hackleman

It's a Small World

On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 9:45 PM, Amy wrote:

I got this message today from Betsy Durfee. I thought you would get a kick out of it.

Amy, we just met up with one of Jaren's friends from college - Josh Woodbury from Texas. He just got off his mission and is coming to SUU. He said he went to southern virginia before his mission, and we told him we had a good friend who went there too. He almost fell off his stool when we told him it was Jaren. He said Jaren and another of his buddies are companions now - such a small world! We miss you all and hope all is going well!



Betsy Durfee


From Elder Hackleman,

That is crazy!!! Josh is going to SUU? How did he see betsy!! That is so awesome. Haha

Letters Week of July 14, 2014

On Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 9:01 AM, Nathan wrote:

HEY BRO YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Labron James is going home...back to the Calves. It's up to D Wade and Chris Bosh to take the heat to the finals again which is unlikely to happen now. Just figured you would want to know that. See ya bro.

Nathan

What the heck is he thinking???? WHY!!!!!

On Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 9:23 AM, Amy wrote:

Hey son, how are things? What's new with you?

We made it back from our vacation and it's a little hard to get back in the swing of things.

Nathan is back working for Tim at the fields, Seth and I have been shopping, shopping, shopping, getting all his mission stuff. It is a bit of deja vu. He is getting pretty close. How many pairs of dress shoes did you take? The list said to take two. How often do you use your suit? We have heard that a lot of missionaries don't actually ever wear the jacket. 

Now that the mission rules have changed, missionaries are no longer required to where dark colored suits, since Seth is going to Mexico and it will be very hot, he chose a light grey suit.

 

Seth taught the lesson in Elders Quorum yesterday. He was called to be an instructor until he leaves for his mission. I guess he did a great job.

Your dad got called yesterday to be the new Young Men's President. We are going to be pretty busy around here, but it's good for us.

I wondered if I would be released and I guess the answer is no for now anyway.

We just had a new family move in down the road who are in the ward. The dad is a pilot in the air force. It turns out the wife was a roommate to Sara in college. Small world.

I love you!

Mom

Fun Pictures from This Week

T-Ball Game

Chick Fil A Had a promotion, if you dressed up like a cow, you get a free meal.  

Hey mom! I can’t believe how close seth is getting!!!!!!! He will use both pairs for sure and I am a witness that its true what they say about Rockports, if you find them, buy them. They are still holding strong for me and they have witnessed a royal beating a time or two. Haha He needs his suit but he won´t wear it much. He will wear it to church on Sunday and every time he has a meeting with his mission president. Other than that, he won’t wear it. I can´t think of other shopping tips on what to buy so just ask me first and I will tell you if it is worth it or not. Dad told me he´s young men’s president. That is awesome. He was destined for that calling. Love you mommy! I hit 15 months this week if you didn´t notice! Time´s a flyin!

Elder Hackleman