New Year's Resolution

The way to tell if you are on the right track to the Celestial Kingdom is by checking the road you are traveling.  Does your life's road lead you to the temple?  If not, you are not on the right road.   Baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the way to start down the path to eternal life, but it is just the beginning.  The destination cannot be achieved without the additional ordinances that can only be obtained in the temple of the Lord.

Photos from home

Nathan singing with the Omaha Symphony
Can you see him?

After putting up lights at Grandma's it's time for a break

Grandma's House

Thanksgiving Dinner

Yes, it's blurry, but we had to catch Nathan
In the act of helping with the cooking
For Thanksgiving

Grant and G-pa Roger at the football game

Surgery Day

Nathan and his friends

Storm Chasers Game

Merry Christmas From Peru

Merry Christmas to All

Some pics! this is called panetón.
It's a fruit cake basically. and I eat it. haha

On Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 10:00 AM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder J Hackleman,

How are you doing today? What is this week like? Do you have a regular week with the exception of Christmas or is it different in some way.

Don't forget our skype account is: xxxx

What time would you like to skype? We are available any time you are.

We are pretty excited for Thursday. I can hardly wait to see you and Seth.

Well, the good news is, I got done with my school on Saturday and now I have two weeks off. It is a nice break. I got to A's! Ha.

I sure love you. I can't wait for Thursday!

Love Mom

Hey mom!!!! I am so excited to skype you too! My week will be the same except for when I skype home. Haha That´s awesome. I know Jake will get me hook ups. How about we skype at like 3 o´clock my time? is that ok? Woo!!! Mom get´s Christmas break too! Haha I love you!

Elder Hackleman

December 15 letters

On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 9:33 AM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder J Hackleman,

How are you doing? Did you get your package? We had our ward party on Saturday. The theme was the Parable express. We had a musical number performed by the young men and young women. Nathan and Grant both participated. It was to the Hot Chocolate song from Polar Express. It was very cute. They even had props and actions. Then after church yesterday, Nathan had his December concert at the school. It was great.

I still keep thinking of the lesson I learned from Henry B Erring about writing in his journal every single day of his life specifically making a note of how he saw the work of Christ in his life that day. I sure hope you took my challenge and have been doing this. Especially when you are on your mission, I think it will be a blessing in your lives if you acknowledge and then recognize the work of the Lord.

So I guess Seth is pretty open for a time to skype, so if you just give us a time we will nail it down with him. I guess Grandma and Grandpa are going to Uncle Jeff's this year so you will only get to skype the immediate family.

Last Sunday Daniel was made bishop. He sure is the man for the job. He will do awesome.

Jake Kitchens friend-ed your dad and I on facebook so now I am friends with him and his mom. We will be able to coordinate his trip here easily now. We are sure looking forward to that.

Saturday night at the ward dinner, Erik Jacobs made some Peruvian salsa. I was so sad I didn't realize it until it was all gone already. His wife Julia told us he would make us some this week. I sure look forward to that. Jake has been posting Peruvian dishes on his facebook and they look delicious. You need to take pictures of your food whenever you can so we can get a better idea of what you eat:)

I sure love you!

Love,

Mom

Hey momma! I`m proud of Nathan. I guess if he chooses being the next famous thing in music instead of going to the NFL, he will still have a proud older brother. Haha That`s awesome for Seth. Your so funny mom. His cute face isn't going to get ruined any time soon if he keeps fighting like he is. Have you gone to watch? its pretty cool. haha. with Christmas I am really open. would you prefer calling in the morning or in the afternoon? That's awesome that Daniel was called as bishop. I will send him an email right now. I`ll take some pics of some foods for ya. have you talked to Jake's mom at all?? I love you!

Hey dad. First things first, Familia xxxxxxx came!!!!!!! They just have to go to church this Sunday and the Saturday following.....agua!!! haha we are super excited. yes I did get the package and no, I haven't opened it yet, I am exercising obedience as well......you should be proud. haha sounds like a fun week! So are we just going to skype the immediate fam? I haven't done that once yet! What are the rules for Seth in his call?

Ventanilla is great! We are on track to break the mission`s record in baptisms for a single zone this month. I told you that right? woo! That is awesome that Utah is ranked so high! I don`t know where that came from but impressive! I will be home for March madness to watch them play. haha I am staying surprisingly focused. I thought I would start getting trunky this close to the end but we are working like crazy! All is well. Love you dad!

He Is The Gift

On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 9:28 AM, Amy wrote:Elder J. Hackleman,

Thank you for the pictures last week. Once I saw the pictures I realized I don't know anything about your companion and very little about where you live. Are you living in a members home? Do they have children?

Also, I would love some pictures of the streets and the town you live in.

What is the plan for Christmas? Where are you going to skype from and at what time?

So this past week has been a busy and crazy one. Daniel got made bishop yesterday, so that is pretty neat.

Grant is so funny. He wrote out a big long Christmas wish list. The items he -wants are hilarious.

I like the video the church puts out about the true meaning of Christmas.  Here is a copy of Grant's list:

Grant knows he is only getting a few items on the list.
He just wanted to make sure we knew we had options to pick from in all price ranges.

Grant forgot numbers 31-39 ha ha

Some of the items really crack us up.

He was shown the video about the true meaning of Christmas.
You are never too young to learn.

Uncle Daniel Got Called to Be Bishop

Your dad is back to work today. He is not 100% yet, but he felt he could get some things accomplished so he went. He went to church yesterday too. He's a tough cookie.

I sent a message to your buddy Elder Kitchens on Facebook and invited him to our house when you get home. We have chatted back and forth a bit. It's funny because he talks just like you. I think you are twins ha ha. He is excited to come for a visit.

Tim Law got offered a new job and if they can work it out they will be moving to Arkansas. It is still top secret, but it's making me crazy. It would be an awesome opportunity for them, but I will sure miss the family. I can't imagine life without Becky! Especially losing Kelsey and Becky all at once. Uggh!

So, what's happening in your neck of the woods?

I sure love you.

Love mom

Hey mom! Holy Hannah, That´s gotta be the best Christmas list Grant has made to date....That is hilarious. I love that kid. I hope he never grows up. Haha Didn´t I send you some pictures of my area? haha I will send some more and I will send some of where we live as well. We dont live with members. We live in a house of an old lady but are room is more like its own little house connected to hers because our door goes right outside and there is no connection from ours to hers, it just kinda runs together if that makes sense. Haha I will take picks. That one of my comps birthday was just at a members house that invited us over to eat a cake.

Jake (Kitchens, I am getting used to using his first name) told me you had gotten a hold of him. Good. Mom, pre earth life friends I am telling you. We´re sure you and dad have got to be long lost siblings of his parents because we are family somehow. Haha It would be so fun to have him there when I get home. Just saying, we could tell stories for hours. You guys have no idea =)

I´m glad dad is doing good. We are a pretty tough family. We´ve got something that runs in our blood. No pain no gain. How soon are tim and becky talking about moving if everything works out? That will sure be sad. I just got the best package from them. They are the best.

Everything here is going good. Just working like an animal. Its weird, you can work so hard, in pants, in heat that can´t be described, and still love life. Only the mission is capable of doing that to a person. =) I love you!

Elder Hackleman

Watching the Christmas Devotional

Papá

Hey Dad! My week was good. Satan is making his presence known but it’s nothing we can´t handle. My companion and I are pushing our zone hard in baptisms for this month. Haha We are going to have a lot of success. Familia xxxxx is doing good. They didn’t make it to church this week either so it looks like they are going to have to get baptized on the 27th. They are going through some pretty hard times, which really is good for us because it is a great opportunity to ask for miracles.

I´m glad your surgery went well. So what we have two recliners now??? haha We have some other families that we just started teaching this week so we will see how much they progress. The tree looks soo good! Shoot, I sure hope I am there next year with a special someone as well! haha If I have it my way, it’s a given. =) So here is the deal with skype. We are allowed only a 30 minute call. Let’s face it. I am coming home. Haha so I think Seth needs priority in the call. Coordinate with him and we can work it out with me. I would love to be able to skype at the same time as him but the calls are meant for mom so if we take time away from her by doing it together, we may have to figure something else out but my mission is calling 25th of December, Christmas day. So coordinate with Seth and just let me know. Love you dad!

Elder Hackleman

December 1st Letters

My Missionary Companion

My Companion's Birthday

Nathan at the Airforce/CSU Football Game in Colorado Springs

Nice picture of the back of Amy's Head
Beautiful Day for Football

 On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 9:45 AM, Amy wrote:

Elder J Hackleman,

Hello. We made it back from our trip. We had a great time. I know your dad sent some pictures. The day of the game the weather was fabulous. It has turned cold again. We are freezing now, but at least we aren't trying to go to an outdoor football game in this weather. I am cooking cinnamon rolls right now, to help warm up the house.

Karen came back with us so she can be here for Tim's surgery this afternoon. I'm sure all will go well. We decided it was time for your dad to get his hernia fixed once and for all.

We sure have been talking a lot about you and Seth with grandma. She talks about all the missionaries that come and visit her and grandpa all the time. She lets them give her a message. We stayed at the Marriott in Colorado Springs and Grandpa saw The Book of Mormon in the drawer and he said he was going to start reading it but the print was too small. When we got back to Ft Collins your dad worked on grandpa's computer re-sizing things so he could read on there. We told him he could download the Book of Mormon for free and read it in large print on his kindle or computer.

On a different note, how are you doing? I was thinking I don't know what your companion looks like. I am not sure if I have seen a picture of your current companion.

I sure love you!

Love,

Mom

Hey mom! Here is a pic of my companion. The one is of his birthday that was a few weeks ago. That is so awesome that grandma and grandpa are familiarizing themselves with the church. One thing´s for sure, nothing is impossible. We can always put our money on the book of mormon. If grandpa starts reading it consistently, it will change everything. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown SO much.

On another note, I forgot cinnamon rolls existed until just now, I miss them SOOOOO much! Put that on the ¨must eat when I get home¨ list. Haha I sent an email a little longer to dad about what is going on in the zone and everything. You will have to go read it. =) Your son is working hard down here. Well, both of them are, because both of them are ¨down¨ from where you are. =) haha I can´t believe we are already in December!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time is really starting to fly now...You need to get in touch with Jake Kitchens, He was my trainer that I always talk about. I want him to make it out to Omaha when I get home so that he can meet you guys. I love you!

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 7:36 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder J Hackleman,

How was your week? I know I start off with that every single time, but you wouldn't believe how excited your mom and I get on Mondays!! We truly love hearing about your work. We had a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving. It was really nice. Wednesday night we went to the CSU vs. Wyoming volleyball game. CSU won the Mountain West Conference Championship that night. Then we had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving. On Friday, we went to Colorado Springs too watch the football team play Air Force. The Falcons won with a last second field goal. It was a great game even though CSU lost. Then we went out to dinner and spent the night there and went back to Ft. Collins on Saturday. Finally we came home last night. Grandma rode home with us so that she could be here for my surgery this morning.

We have been so blessed! Tell us about your week! How is familia Palomina doing? Are you teaching anyone else? How is the Zone doing? How is your companion doing? What was the name of your area again? Are there a lot of stray dogs there? Seth says that they are everywhere in Veracruz but they are all tame. I forgot. What do you do for meals there? You just have to get me back up to speed. I know you told me a lot of this stuff already. Speaking of Seth. Do you hear from him every week? I know we don't get his emails until Monday even so you probably get them a week behind. I know I asked a lot of questions! :)

I'll tell you how the surgery goes in my next email!

I am so proud of you son. Keep working hard. The Lord has blessed you and your family with tremendous blessings because of your faithfulness.

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Hey Dad! This week has been a roller coaster, but an awesome one just like always, our zone is making ground breaking moves, we are on track to break the record for the most baptisms in a single month in the history of this mission. My companion and I are pushing them hard =) I am so proud of our missionaries though. President Archibald is going to be a general authority I know it. We are making big strides. 

I have a pension for lunch and my companion and I are on our own for breakfast and dinner. Familia xxxxxx is doing great. They didn't make it to church yesterday but we have a family home evening tonight with them and we will get things set straight. =) We have whats called a noche blanca which is White Night in English. haha the 20 of December, we as a zone are going to have around 20 baptisms! In one night! And familia xxxxx is going to be part of it as well so we are stoked. We have some others that are awesome that we are teaching that we plan on getting in the water this month as well. All in all. Miracle month. =) My zone´s name is Ventanilla and my area´s name is Los Alamos.

 

I do talk to Seth almost every week so that's good. It sounds like he is doing awesome. =) The kid already knows Spanish like a champ. I knew he would pick it up quick. Well Sure love you dad! Looks like you guys had a fun thanksgiving week. I forgot all about it.....haha Love you!

Elder Hackleman

Koty is Home Nov. 25, 2014

On Tue, Nov 25, 2014 at 2:47 PM, Amy wrote:

Here is a picture of Koty taken a few minutes ago. He is holding Kimber's baby that was born yesterday.

From Elder Hackleman,
Holy Cow!!!!!!! That is awesome!

Koty, just minutes after getting off the plane got to hold his new niece that was born the day before.

Are you OK? No email this week

On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 10:55 PM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder,

I think there has only been two weeks in your mission that I haven't heard from you, so of course I am wondering if everything is ok? We heard there was an earthquake in Peru. Maybe you lost power. We never heard if you got transferred. HMM. I love you.

Mom

Tues, Nov 25, 2014

Nope. I didnt get transferred. I think I might finish my mission in this area. We will see. Haha I just had a zone leader meeting yesterday =)

Letters November 24th 2014

On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 3:17 PM, Amy wrote:

Kimber had her baby last night. Also, Koty gets off his mission on Tuesday.

Kimber's baby

Seattle Seahawks Sign FB Stanley Havili to Practice Squad

On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 10:57 AM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder J. Hackleman,

How in the world are you? We had a good week even though it is cold around here. We went to another hockey game Friday night. It sure was fun. It was just your dad, Nathan Grant and I. Once again we had a suit so we felt very pampered :)

So I guess Stanley got cut from his football team because of his shoulder injury. He did get picked up by another team however. He is now with the Seahawks. I guess we need to root for the hawks now ha ha.

We are gearing up for heading to Fort Collins on Wed. We are renting a van to make the drive. The weather looks like it is going to cooperate so that is good.

Roger got us volleyball tickets for Wed evening at CSU. I guess they are ranked 12th in the nation right now so it should be a great match. I am excited.

Your dad's online class he is teaching officially starts today. That is pretty fun. I will be doing my homework at night while he is grading other peoples homework. It's sort of ironic.

As I was studying my lesson last week, I was watching a video of a talk given by Henry B. Eyring and I realized it not only applied to me, but it also applied to you as a missionary. So on that note, I have a challenge for you. Here are some quotes from the talk:

Choose this day, Henry B Eyring

1. Choose to serve the Lord this day.

2. If you choose to serve you will feel his love and grow to love him more.

So the challenge I have for you is this:

Write down a few things that happen every day.

Never miss a day no matter how tired you are.

Ponder this question? Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us today?

Then, return and report:)

I sure love you! Hope all is well with you.

Love Mom


Hey mom! Sorry. Yesterday, we had a leadership training with president so we didn´t get our pday until today. That sounds like it will be a fun colorado trip! I hope the weather stays safe. I will take your challenge =) I don´t have a lot of time. Got tons of stuff to do. Haha I sure love you!

Many of My Mission Friends are Going Home Today

This is Elder Kitchens.  He is my best friend from the Pre-Mortal Life

Elder Naulu from Spanish Fork

Hermana Morgan from Temecula, California

Elder Slavens from Blanding Utah

 Hermana Jones from Joplin Missouri =)

This is our Midwest Pride Picture

On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 8:34 AM, Amy wrote:

Dear Elder J Hackleman,

How are you doing today? We had a great weekend. We got a new stake presidency on Sunday. We had 2 members of the 70 here to make the changes. One of them was Joel's old stake president from Twin Falls. Our stake young men’s president was called as the new stake president. He is awesome and loved by all. It will be great. Nathan and I sang in the stake choir then we rushed out the door because Nathan was also singing with his school choir along with 6 other high schools from the area and the Omaha Symphony. They performed Andrew Loyd Webber's Requiem. It was so unbelievably good. The Maestro even talked about Nathan's choir teacher, and started to cry because he is so touched by her. She is retiring this year. Luckily you will be home in time to see the end of the year concert. I'm sure it will be spectacular!

Nathan started show choir practice the first of November. I am looking forward to his first performance for show choir. He is loving it. He and Grant are also excited to start practicing for church basketball. Tim Law is going to be their coach again this year. The games start in January but they will start practice any time now.

I sent you a little Christmas box in the mail on Friday. I sure hope it makes it to you. I packaged it with pictures of Virgin Mary and Crosses all over it and put tags saying it is full of toothbrushes and toothpaste for the Mission. Hopefully it will make it in one piece. There is also a little something for your companion in there too. If it arrives, do not open the box until Christmas morning. The items inside the box are not wrapped.

We are getting excited to go to Fort Collins for Thanksgiving. I think I told you before we are going to a CSU volleyball game as well as a CSU football game at the Air-force academy. We have snow now and the past couple of weeks have been record breaking cold so I'm not so sure the football game is going to be fun in such weather, but we will bundle up the best we can.

Your dad had a good interview on Friday with Midlands. He doesn't know for sure that he got that job, but the interview went well.

How is the missionary work going?

I love to hear your stories!

Guess who got home from their mission on Friday? Ryan Shields.

Love

Mom

Hey Mom! This week was a wild one. Today we have transfers. I am pretty sure my companion and I are staying but we will see in a few. This good thing about being zone leader is that we are the first ones to know transfers. Haha I am not sure I will be able to keep it closed until Christmas, we´ll see. Haha I miss the cold weather. Take advantage of it. haha That will be awesome to go to the CSU game though, apparently they are playing super well right now, according to grandma.

Here are some pics of some of my best friends from the mission that are all going home today. Elder Naulu from spanish fork, Elder Slavens from Blanding Utah, Elder Kitchens my best friend from the pre-earth life who´s from Ogden, Hermana Morgan from Temecula California and Hermana Jones from Joplin Missouri =) (on the next email).

My companion and I took baptismal dates out with familia __________! They are sooooo awesome. It has been such a spiritual experience teaching them. They are going to get baptized on the 20th of December. I sure love you!

Elder Hackleman

On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 9:26 AM, Tim wrote:

Dear Elder,

How was last week?? I have been praying for familia ________! I hope all is going well with them. We had a wonderful Stake conference. We had Elder Nielson of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy and Elder Payne, an Area Authority Seventy. Our new Stake President is Pres. Derrick. He was the Stake Young Men's President for the past few years. You're going to love him. Seth was one of his favorite young men in the entire Stake. Anyway, Stake Priesthood Leadership was awesome!! One of the best I have ever been to! One of the overall themes for the whole conference was "Hastening the Work".

Here's a couple of things that I think would be revelatory for you and your companion (and your Zone for that matter!) - Draw a comparison between "Hastening the Work" and the "Woman taken in Adultery"

Here's another one! This one is about wayward family members compared to lost quorum or ward members...

Study Luke 15:4-5 and 8-9, the "Lost Sheep" and the "Lost Piece of Silver" really think about verse 5. Then read the parable of the Prodigal Son in verses 11-end of Chapter 15.

What's the contrast between the first two parables and the prodigal son parable?

Anyway, I am so proud of you! Every time missionary work was spoken about, all my thoughts turned to my sons. Are you doing well? I have complete faith, and I am serious about "complete", that you are in the hands of the Lord. You have the ability to accomplish his work no matter what. Just remember when there's a challenge, He'll provide the right opportunity at the right time!

So, here's some more worldly news!

Utah beat Stanford in double overtime! We seriously need a QB. Utah is now ranked 20th. I think we could have seriously played in the PAC12 Championship if we had a decent QB. Papio South lost to Creighton Prep in the State semi-finals. But then get this!!! The coach for Creighton Prep resigned for personal reasons over the weekend and won't be on the sidelines for the State Championship!!! Who does that???? The online class that I'm teaching starts on the 24th! And I had a second interview with Midland University on Friday that went really well. I think I may have that one too! It was with the Vice President of Academic Affairs. When he found out that I was from Utah, he told me about an interview he had at Utah Valley University in Orem. He said that he interviewed with Matt Holland and Asked, "Do you know Matt? I guess his family is pretty big in Utah. His dad is Jeff Holland." I almost fell out of my seat. He didn't realize that he was talking about an Apostle of the Lord.

Anyway, Tell me all about your week and what's happening!!!!!

¡Ámele hijo!

Papá

Haha! Ok sorry that is so funny about your interview. I am laughing out loud right now. I wrote down all you said to check in the scriptures so I will read it later. =) Mom told me about stake conference. That is awesome. He will be the guy releasing me! Haha My trainer Elder Kitchens ends today. His parents came to pick him up. They are going to machu picchu and all that. I can’t believe he is done. He is my bro from since before I can remember. For real. haha I can’t believe Creighton Prep, Sounds like a Pete Caroll from USC to the Seahawlks type situation.... I sure love you dad. Keep praying for Familia _______, they are going to get baptized on the 20th of December.

Elder Hackleman