Things are picking up

Things are picking up:  January 13th, 2014

Hey Family and Friends!

Hope you are all having a great week. Things are looking up here in the Kansas City. The weather has been warming up and sometimes I don't have to wear a coat. This is the best. January, no snow, and it's about 50 degrees.

This week we've been focusing on finding new people to teach. President Keyes gave us some advice on "finding by the Spirit" and we've been hitting up less active members, part member families, and former investigators like crazy. And, all of our Spanish investigators are returning from Mexico from the holidays so we're picking up speed. We've had some success, but not as much as I would like. I just want things to be perfect and easy, but that's not what missionary work is. It wouldn't be called work, if it was easy.

Two more of the people we are teaching agreed to baptism. Amy, is a single mom and has "been led to the Church" in her own words. She's the sweetest lady and basically has been a Mormon for the past couple years, minus her smoking problem she says, which has "gone away" since she started meeting with us. MIRACLES! We're also teaching someone named Dallas, who looks like a younger version of Wiz Khalifa, the rap icon. It's the best! We've renamed him "Little Wiz" and he's progressing so fast it's mind blowing. He's been coming to church and wants to be baptized on the first of February also. Cross your fingers. (Well, actually just pray. Finger crossing does nothing.) Ivan is in Mexico for the next week and we had a great lesson with him and his member mom right before he left. He's still holding to his date of Feb. 1 and told us not to tell his sister on her mission that he's getting baptized because he wants it to be a surprise. I'm so excited! Missionary work is exhilarating!

My Spanish is coming along. We have three native speaking missionaries in our ward so that helps, but I'm not learning as fast as I would like. Any tips? My trainee got extremely sick yesterday with a cold and so not only am I a "dad" (trainer), but now I get to be a mom on my mission also. The things I never knew I would have to do.

Well if there's anything you would like to know about what's going on, let me know. I really don't know what to put into these emails anymore.

Have a fantastic week!

Mucho amor,

--Elder Hart

Weekly E-mail

Weekly E-mail January 6th 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Hope you all are having a wonderful week! This past week has been super good to Elder Grzan and me. Things are looking up in the Riverview Ward! We're teaching so much more than before. Productivity is skyward bound.

Nothing super crazy or cool this week, just more lessons. We've met a couple other people who are interested in learning. One of them, Dallas, wants to be baptized and so we're helping him prepare for that. Ivan's baptismal date has been pushed back to February 1 because of a family vacation. It's been really frustrating to see him progress so fast and so quickly since I've met him and not be baptized. I mean, for crying out loud, he attends seminary now! And I know at times that I become preoccupied with numbers and "getting a baptism", so I have to slow down and say that this is his conversion and it will happen on his time. 

We've been meeting with a ton of less active members lately. Can I just ask all of you one thing? Please, never ever ever talk about the Free Masons, or the Illuminati, or any other government conspiracy with people? I have had my full of this craziness this past week and it just doesn't make sense. Sorry if that was a rant, but the gospel is so simple and you don't need to drag any of that garbage into it. Just don't do it. Focus on the basics (prayer, scripture study, and church) and don't worry about anything else.

I love you and hope that you are having the time of your lives. Don't waste away your time! Stay productive and use the gift of your time on earth to do something good.

Mucho amor, 

Elder Hart

Navidad and "the Office"‏

Hey Family and Friends!: December 30th, 2013

How are all of you?

This week as GREAT! Christmas was great! Seeing my family and hearing them was the greatest gift I got out here in the mission field. (Sidenote: that's saying something, because I did get a lot of Reese's candy for Christmas and that's pretty hard to beat.) It's good to know that you are all doing so great and having a great time.

Kansas City is still Kansas City. The work really slowed down over the Christmas season in terms of new investigators and lessons, but getting to carol to less active members and people that don't usually have a lot of outside world contact was totally worth it. It's still freezing here, but no snow so that's a blessing. The humidity is what's killer out here. It just feels like the cold "sticks" to you.

My companion that I'm training, Elder Grzan, is interesting to say the least. The easiest that I can put it is that he the closest person alive that is the same as Michael Scott from NBC's "The Office". For those of you that have seen the show, you know what I'm talking about. It's scary how much alike Elder Grzan and Michael Scott are. For those of you who haven't seen the show, it's impossible to articulate what he's like. I honestly don't know how to describe it, but sometimes I just stop and stare at him because I feel like life is going to cut to an interview take of me or him talking about each other and that we are actually in a mockumentary and millions of people are tuning in every Thursday to watch us.

I'm having a great time being a missionary out here serving the Lord. I miss everyone back home, but it's definitely been a growing experience to be here. One of the things I'm learning is that missionary work is tough, but salvation isn't cheap so I'm willing to share it with anyone no matter what it takes. If anyone has any advice on training or just being a missionary in general I'd love to hear it. I'm desperate for help. And sorry if this email is boring, but that would be because I'm a boring person.

Thanks for all the Christmas love and a Happy New Year to you all!

Mucho amor,

--Elder Hart

Attached is a picture of me in front of our house. Again, I'm pretty boring.

Fatherhood‏

Fatherhood: December 23rd, 2013

Dear Family and Friends!

How are you?

First off, I'm a daddy! (Missionary lingo for being a trainer and having a "son" or a trainee.) This has definitely been the most stressful week of missionary work so far in my life! I'm dying out here. We've been stranded since transfers because we can't drive the car due to technicalities. It's the worst. And the weather kept us inside most of the week so we've been slowly sinking into madness. My new trainee is named Elder Grzan. Yup, try explaining how that makes sense to Spanish speakers. Anyways, he's the nicest kid ever and super excited to work. And he snores! What more could I ask for? It's just like camping with my dad! I'm a little terrified that he might not like me because of my personality, but I guess that's payback for having such a hard time with my trainer initially. We will see how the week goes. Also, if anyone has any advice on how to train a missionary, let me know because I don't know how to be a missionary, let alone show someone else how to do it!

Anyways...not much to update on. Our ward received two more Elders so we are now totaled at 8 full time missionaries. It's just insane. They're are going to be miracles in Missouri this transfer. We received four inches of snow yesterday and all of Missouri is freaking out. They just have terrible plows and everything turns to ice immediately here. Big shoutout to Utah for teaching me how to handle all of this weather!

Don't forget to take family for granted this time of year. I'm so excited to speak to mine on Christmas!

Love you all!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

--Elder Hart

 

(Attached are me and my companion Elder Grzan and me and Elder Kolomalu before he got transferred.)

Missionary Munchies

Missionary Munchies: December 1st, 2013

Hey Family and Friends,

 

I titled this email as such because I am hungry all the time! I don't know why this past week I've been starving. It doesn't matter what time of the day, but I can just eat everything in sight. Maybe this means I'm growing? I'd like to hope so, but let's be real, I'm most likely going to be a good bit heftier in the upcoming photos.

 

I thought my Spanish was better than it actually is. I've been humbled. So this past week we had a Team Up (member from the ward came to a lesson with us, sorry about the missionary jargon) with our ward mission leader Hermano Wong--he's Mexican and Chinese, yes it makes me laugh too--and his two sons. After a successful lesson with our investigator, Ivan. The boys and Ivan got to talking about his cat and the conversation went roughly like this in my head because they were speaking very fast.

 

"I like your cat"--Carlos

"Oh his name is Margorito"--Ivan

"We have a cat at home, but he isn't as pretty as your cat"--Carlos

"Yes, I love my cat very much"--Ivan

 

But somehow lost in the translation was the fact that Ivan was giving them the cat. Before we were out the door, Margorito was boxed up in a crate and hauled to the car to sit on my lap as Hermano Wong drove us home. For a second, I thought that night I thought I was doing good and keeping up with the spanish speakers, but I was humbled as we drove back with the cat staring from the depths of the crate, reminding me how little I actually know.

 

Stay proactive in the gospel! The members are such an example to me out here. They never stop working and are so willing to help us with whatever we need--service projects, family home evenings, you name it. Don't get complacent. Reach out with the good news of the gospel to those all around you.

 

Anyways this is a long email, but we visited a less-active family, the Rodeens this week. Pulling up to a little house with a deer, gutted and skinned, from the tree made me feel like going home. Then we went into a house full of mounted animals and guns. Man, I miss Utah sometimes. Keep it up back home.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

--Elder Hart

 

(Attached is a picture of us and one of our investigators)

 

Also, if you are sending anything for Christmas, the address for the Mission Office is

 

 517 W Walnut

Independence, MO 64050

Constructing a Kingdom‏

Constructing a Kingdom‏: November 18th, 2013

What's up my beloved family and friends!

 

This week started off so well and then ended in kind of a bummer.

 

All week our appointments have been falling through. Everyone we are teaching is either getting sick or having to work overtime and can't meet with us.

 

Anyways, we have a pretty golden investigator named Ivan! He's 16 and his sister is leaving on her mission this week and he agreed to be baptized. He's so ready for the Gospel in his life that it makes me so excited! And he said he would teach me how to skateboard--double whammy!

 

We've been planning for the next year in the Riverview Ward and had some exciting meeetings. The mission council is solely comprised of Spanish speaking members and they just went off, speaking the spanish a million miles an hour. The jist: we're calling families in the ward to serve two month missions with us and to help us with team ups, and inviting people into their homes for the lessons and visiting people when we can't. It's exciting out here. They have such enthusiasm for the work! We're building the Lord's Kingdom out here!

 

I've been learning patience this past week. Missionary work is work. Sometimes I just want people to meet with us once and then BAM, let's get that water running. But everything is a progression, on the Lord's time. I'm being tested on this virtue, especially when Elder Verkler makes his disgusting asian lunches that stink up the apartment.

 

Thanks for all the letters and emails! I love hearing from you all!

 

Mucho amor,

 

Elder Hart

 

Attached is a picture of me and Elder Cortez at the zoo. Sorry, I didn't take anymore this week.

We Went to the Zoo!‏

We Went to the Zoo!‏: November 13th, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Missouri is just absolutely the best! I love it out here. The weather is just all over the place right now. Last week I thought I would sweat to death some of the days and now I'm layering on every article of clothing I own to stay warm. Have you ever seen a storm in the Missouri? Oh my. I thought it rained in Utah, but that's just a light sprinkle compared to the deluge mother nature pours out here when it storms in Kansas City. I can drive in the snow like a champ, but the rivers that people call streets when it rains here just terrify me.

 

We went to the Kansas City Zoo on Monday! It was the most fun thing I've done in a so much time. The missionaries in our zone are the absolute best people to hang out with. My favorite experience was when Nakita, the polar bear, cannon balled into the water right in front of us, spraying fountains of frozen water into the air. My favorite joke of the day, "Every creature shall hear the Word."

 

Church is such an enjoyable experience out here in the Riverview ward. We literally have people from every country and ever background coming together to worship Jesus Christ in His Church. It's such a uplifting experience to associate with these valiant saints out here. Man, I just love them so much.

 

The Lord is hastening his work. I love to hear about all of my friends getting mission calls and everyone's experiences back home. I love you all! I'm sorry if I'm not able to reply to all of your emails this week. We don't have that much time today, but I will get to them all next time.

 

I love you all so very much.

 

--Elder Hart

 

(Attached are pictures of my two best friends out here, Elder Stagg and Elder Kolomalu. And the last one is me (the most beautiful) and the other missionaries in the Riverview area. AND an elephant.)