My week went pretty well

How are you all doing? So we had zone conference this past Saturday. We got all of our mail. I got all my dear elders from Grandma C, Grandpa and Grandma B, Uncle Chad and Ashley. Please thank them for me. Also thank you for the package. I did get the primary package. I didn’t get the other one though yet. Thank you though for that one. I enjoyed it a whole bunch.

My week went pretty well.  Interesting once again. We also have tarantulas now. The bug/species issue is just getting more and more out of hand. Hahaha But I've got my bug killer spray, so that helps a lot.

We also went to the English Class at the High School here. We were invited by the English teacher. So we went and we split up into two groups in the room. My companion had half a circle, and I had a half a circle of 12 students that were from ages  15 to 17. We only talked to them in English. That was the rule by the teacher. It was so much fun! My group was so much fun and they just loved talking and hearing me with my English and my accent. Sometimes people wouldn’t be able to understand, so I had to act out.

We have a baptism coming up this weekend so I will let you know how it goes. Please pray for Maricruz.

We also teach English Class in the church every Saturday. We get a better attendance every time. We do this to help people build friendships and find investigators. Our trust with members is slowly getting better. We are healing a big wound. It makes me feel good though that we are building the area into a stronger area to serve. Thank you for all of your prayers. I know the power of prayer is real and I've seen your prayers and my prayers answered. God does listen to our prayers.

I love you all so much. Stay strong, do good, pray, and read the Book of Mormon. I love you!

Always go to church

My week was pretty interesting again to say the least. I guess it went pretty well. Our house officially has scorpions. We saw a scorpion walking on our floor the other night. I pulled out my scorpion/bug killer spray and slaughtered that thing. I felt so accomplished! :)There are still tons of bugs. I have now seen spiders that are half as big as tarantulas in our house and in other places. Let´s just say that I get scared out of my mind...

hahaha 

So we have an investigator named Maricruz and she is pretty solid. We have a baptismal date for her on September 2nd. She is someone that the Lord has prepared. The mission is so neat! We also watched The Testaments with her. That is such a good movie. Gotta love the feelings you get while watching that movie.

My assignment to the family this week is to watch "The Testaments" and record the feelings that you have in your heart and mind. I absolutely love it when Christ comes to the Americas after everything that has happened and after all the prophecies that were prophesied. 

I don't really think I have ever really known why it is so important to go to church until I got to my mission. It is a commandment to go to church. We go to renew our baptismal covenant, get our spiritual nourishing, serve, and much more. I dont know why I wanted to say that, but I just felt like I should say that. Always go to church. 

I am going to send pictures pretty soon after you get this letter. It will be pictures from San Diego and some from Mexico. Maybe the pictures from Mexico will help a bit with your questions. I am going to make sure to take more pictures. 

I love you all so much. Stay strong, do good, go to church, read the Book of Mormon, and gain your testimony of the church and of Jesus Christ for yourself. I love you.

I am learning how to play hymns

Things are going all right, here in Villa Hidalgo. Lots of things happen but I will probably have to tell you when I get back from my mission. I am writing in my journal everyday. I haven´t missed a day! :) I haven't gotten any mail yet. I might have mail, it could be at the mission office in Guadalajara. It might be another 3 more weeks till I get it. But I do appreciate it! :)

The Olympics! I havent heard anything about it. Thank you for the review on the olympics. It sounds like we beasted the olympics. hahaha 

Yes, this area is tougher because of what past missionaries have done in this town. Missionaries have swam, had girlfriends, snuck out at night, law of chastity problems, and a lot more smaller disobedience things. Its really sad, but we are doing our best to change the reputation of missionaries here. The mission president has a lot of faith in us here. We are doing a lot of work with members and we are reactivitating a lot of people.

It´s true. I am learning how to play hymns so that I will be able to play for the branch. I haven't yet but I am practicing. A question... What are the notes for the left hand? I forgot. I know the right hand, so that is what I have been practicing.

I dont have an apartment.. haha I have a little house. I will send some pictures next week of what it looks like. It is brick ceiling. There are a bunch of ants everywhere. There are lots of daddy long leg looking spiders on the ceiling. We have a small little fridge, a small little stove, and we have some wires to hang clothes. We have a pila right out back. We also have a nanchi tree. It is a fruit. Its pretty good. Also we have 3 fans. We use the bigger one to put by the window at night to give us a homemade air conditioner. Then we have 2 other fans over us in the night to help cool down and to keep mosquitos off of  us. Sometimes we sleep with a sheet and sometimes it is even too hot to sleep with a sheet.

I am getting a little used to the pila and the drowning humidity, but you know me... The bugs are still a huge problem for me... hahaha :D Lets just say that you guys would laugh at me everyday. I get freaked out by the spiders, beatles, ants, mosquitos, and the geckos that climb over the walls. I do like the geckos though. They eat the bugs on the walls. :D

I'm coming to a point of where I am forgetting English words and I still need a lot of help with the language. Sooner or later I will be like a caveman speaking "oh", "ahh", "oo" I'll be the only person in the world to be able to speak that language. haha

I love you and I hope you know that. I pray for you all and I love hearing from you. Getting the emails and letters really does help me out and it gives me that boost for the next week. Stay strong, do good, and be grateful for what you have.

ps. The closest bigger city I live closer to in Mexico is Tepic. I think your Spanish friends will know that. Maybe they will know Santiago too. That is even closer to Villa Hidalgo.

Fewer questions

How is it going!!? Thank you all for your prayers. It has helped me out a lot. 

Thank you for that article. It was a little expensive to print off but it was definitely worth it. ("The Chance of a Lifetime" from General Conference 2011)I loved it. Thank you. God does have me at certain places at certain times with certain people. This was all a part of the plan.

Happy Birthday G!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma B!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma C!!!

Happy Birthday Pappy Daawg!!! 

I love you all so much!

So you all want to know about my mission and more details about it. I don't have all the time in the world to describe and say everything. I just want to say that. I will explain more as the weeks go on. I feel stressed when every one is wanting details. I'm trying to do as much as I can with the short time that I have. So please be patient everyone...

The city is not really a city. It is a little town the size of where Grandma C lives maybe. It might be a little smaller. It looks very poor everywhere. It isn't illegal to litter so you see a ton of trash everywhere. The buildings look pretty old. There are dogs roaming the streets everywhere. Some are stray and some aren't. Everyone uses fans. There isn't any airconditioning anywhere except for a few select places where more wealthy people live. There is no carpet. Everyone has a pila. We do our emails at a ciber.

For food we eat with members almost every day during the lunch. We missionaries only have a lunch hour in the day. We don't get dinner or a dinner hour here. So we get our own breakfast and we go out for lunch. The lunch is always at 2 o'clock. That was probably one of the bigger changes from San Diego.

My Spanish is still a work in progress. It gradually continues to grow.

My companion is from Las Vegas.

So many questions to answer without any specificity......

We teach people.

The branch is small. We got our highest assistance of church this Sunday while I've been here. We had 53 people come to church.

Anyway, I love you all. Please give me fewer questions and please give me more specific questions for next week. I love you.

The answer is prayer

Well Mexico is being Mexico. It isn't like the U.S. at all. There is not really any English here and no one here knows English either. In my specific area it is really hot. It is really humid. It is also the poorest area in the Mission. There isn't a day that goes by where I don´t see tons of ants, spiders, and other bugs. Geckos climb over all the walls. I wash my clothes by hand in what they call a pila. I work from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. There are crazy cars with speakers on the back of them blaring out Spanish sales all day. We are white washing the area. Even the members here call this place "infierno". You can just ask Brother Harris what that means. haha It isn't America at all.

There is nothing like getting stared down everyday, all day for being a tall gringo with red hair wearing church clothes. I get quite a lot of attention in this little town that hasn't ever seen a red head except for on tv. It is quite a change in life here. 

I really came to love the people in San Diego and I do miss the mission and all the people. These past two weeks here have been super hard. So in these past two weeks I have really been able to humble myself more. I have turned myself to the Lord so many times through prayer. I have even turned to the mission president for help. He knows that I am in a really hard situation. He said that it was all part of the plan. He said that when we are going throuh hard times and that when things are really tough, is when we learn and grow the most. He completely understands me and a lot of what I am going through right now is what President Wagner went through in his mission. 

So what do we do in these kinds of times?

What should we be doing everyday, often?

The answer is prayer. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always there for us. They know exactly how we are feeling all the time. Christ payed the Atonement for all of us. He knows each and every one of us perfectly. I have come so close to my Saviour Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father so much these past couple weeks. We should always be praying to Heavenly Father and building our relationship with him. He is always there for us, if we will just look to him and pray. I know that Christ and the Father will help you with whatever challenge you have in your life, because they have in my life even within these past couple weeks. 

Remember to pray and look to your Father in Heaven and to Jesus Christ. Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, and strive to serve a mission. I know that a mission will bless all your lives. It is tough, but it helps you grow tremendously. I love you all. Remember the Atonement.

Villa Hidalgo

Hola!!!!!!! I'm the companion of your son. He is a great Elder. Be proud of him. I'm glad we're in this great work together. I´ll do my best to take care of him. But I'm sure the Lord is doing that just fine. Take care!

Elder Hartmann

Well I am here in Mexico!!! It has been quite an interesting week to say the least. 

My companion is a really good missionary. He is obedient and one of the best missionaries, so says the president and some missionaries. He is from Las Vegas.

There are TONS of bugs. There are bugs in our house and in our yard and there are bugs every where. It was definitely one of the scariest days of my life the first day I arrived in Villa Hidalgo.

Villa Hidalgo is the poorest area in the mission. It is also the hottest and one of the most humid areas in the mission. And I am just so lucky to be here in the hottest time of the year... hahahah

There have been lots of changes. Like president Clayton said, It is going to be a tough transfer and I have compared to the other mission. I am looking for the good here though.

Also I get stared down every where I go. Not a single red head has gone through this town, and VERY rarely have there been white people to come through this town. So it's not a great feeling but I just smile. :) hahaha

We also have to wash our own clothes, in what they call a pila. We wash all of it by hand and soap. So that is interesting.

The spanish is tough, but I am learning slowly but surely. Im learning a bit quicker here than I did in San Diego.

Remember that I love you. Stay strong, do good, and keep praying to our Heavenly Father.

I'm in Guadalajara!

I am here in Guadalajara. My next p-day isn't until next Monday. So I can't write until next Monday. This has to be really short too. I basically called you anyways so it is all good. I'm safe, freaking out, and I am going to do my best. I love you.

Email sent by his mission president's wife:

"Elder Loveland's companion is Elder Hartman from Las Vegas, Nevada. The area they will be serving in, is a little town called Villa Hidalgo. There is a small branch there, but we have great hopes it will soon be much larger and stronger.

We have already been very impressed with Elder Loveland's enthusiasm, polite manners and sincere desire to serve the Lord. We are thrilled he is finally with us."