December 30, 2013

I made your cookies and they turned out soooo good! They all told me I should sell them here. haha We are starting to make thiem to give to investigators and members :) 

This year has been the most amazing, difficult, fun, frustrating, spirit strengthening, testimony building year of my life (so far). I have had a taste of just about every different aspect of life. Both temporal and spiritual. Being with my family for a couple months before my mission, being away from my family for the rest of the year. Serving a mission in Utah, and then serving in Argentina. Meeting new people and growing to love them has been incredible. Feeling frustrated day after day because for the first time in my life I wasn´t able to say what I wanted. I haven´t felt more frustrated in my entire life. But then, having patience and Faith and being able to not only say what I want to say, but more importantly what the lord wants me to say. 

If I ws to sum up this year in just one word it would probably be "Strengthened". Strengthened because the things I have learned have not helped me to just be wiser or smarter, but have helped me be Stronger in my beliefs, and stronger in my testimony. My body may has been weakend as far as physically, but my ability to endure through pain and trials has never been stronger. I lvoe it because I feel like I really am fulfilling my purpose in this life which is prepare to appear in front of God. As I have been able to accomplish that, I have also been fulfilling my purpose as a missionary which is inviting others to come unto christ. I have learned that through my example I have been able to do that. As we all try our best to be the best WE can be, we are able to help others to be the best THEY can be.

I don´t have a ton of time left, but I know that the work that we do as missionaries really is the Lords work. And that as we give ourselves to help others, HE gives himself to help us. The Grace and Atonement of Jesus Christ is the most powerful thing that we have access to in this life. IT is powerful enough to triumph ofver any temtation and forgive us of any sin or wrongdoing. I love this Gospel and know that it has the power to change our lives and to save our souls. In the name of JEsus Christ, Amen.

--

~Elder Hazlett

December 9, 2013

I have been throwing up all morning and I am gonna lay down on the floor after I write you quickly. I got a new Comp and he is the nicest kid in the world. Elder Gerald Berrett from Highland UT. I am Training and District LEader now and it is pretty crazy. MY mind isn´t stressed but my body is taking a beating. I hope I am good to gt going tomorrow because I want to help my district get going and I have families that I HAVE to fvisit! I love you and Just want whatever you think is good in the Package. MAybe some Beef Jerkey for a family in my ward. Tell everyone Hi and that I love them. 

Elder Hazlett

December 2, 2014

This week. This transfer. Has been the hardest in my entire life. I have struggled so much mom.IT is as if every little thing just kills me. My comp is a super great missionary and hes desires are incredible, but he is exactly opposite of me in every way and everything that he wants to do. He has been training me to be district leader but I feel as if it is more like watching me and chewing me out when I do things wrong. I have not been able to be myself at all this transfer because he doesn´t even smile, and if I try to lighten up a lesson...he tells me after that the gospel is a serious thing and that I need to be more serious.

I don´t want to write anything more about that. It just makes me frustrated. 

We also are teaching like 1 person right now and only have 1 person that has a date to get baptized, so I am starting basically completely new in this area. I just hope I have a companion that likes to smile. ha-- 

Anyway, we are heading to a zone activity, so I will talk to you next week! Thanks for everything mom. I miss you tons. Sometimes I tear up a little bit, not because I am homesick, but because I wish that you could be here to help me be the best I can be. Love you.

~Elder Hazlett

November 25, 2013

Sorry I don`t have time to write individually today, but I wrote this for everyone. I hope it helps in some aspect of what you are all going through.

This last week passed even faster than the one before that, and I feel as if they are just going by faster and faster. I am loving argentina and the people here, and have slowly been adjusting to the heat here. It is a little different than in Moab...about 85 degrees with 100% humidity. I literally feel as if I showered and never dried. I have learned that a dog is a mans` best friend until each man has like 10 dogs...then they aren`t so friendly because they are all in the street tearing open every bag of garbage in sight. I have learned that Patience is not only a virtue, but it is the only way possible to be a missionary. I have learned that the saying "there is no place like home" is as true as always, except for when you are able to Love the people here as if they are your family, and then you feel as if you are at home. The only difference is I can`t hug my mom here :( (Love ya mom) 

Right now there are so many things I want to write about, but so little time to write it all, so I am gonna summarize. This last week I have been studying a lot about self-Confidence and Pride, and the difference between the two. Pride is what leads to the destruction of man. I say it boldy because it is as simple as that. DESTRUCTION. Families are destroyed, lives are destroyed, and more than anything, the relationship that you could potentially have with the only person that can help you to change (God) is weakened. I have met so many people here that have let something as small as a misinterpruted text message and their pride, destroy a relationship that was once a beautiful gift from God. From there literally everything goes downhill. Now to the more important and happier half of this comparison. Self-Confidence. Self-Confidence is what motivates ourselves to develop the talents that God has given us. IT is what inspires us to be our best, and helps us to have the courage to bear testimony. As I have been studying these two topics, I have found that really the only difference between the two (in the beginning) is that the motivation of one of them is to be better than someone else, and the other is to better than youself. Better than the person you were yesterday. Always thinking of little things that you can change to be a brighter Light in this world of Darkness, not a brighter Light than your companion. Or a brighter light than your enemy. God has given us all talents that are unique to us. He wants us to be succesful and develop those talents because they help us to be happy. But HE also expects that we use them worthily and not abuse them. Recently Elder Holland came and spoke to us about the importance of "US" as missionaries. The importance of the abilities that we have been given and what we should do with them. HE used a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 88:33 (if I remember right ) Something along the lines of receiving a gift and then abusing it or rejecting it is also rejecting the giver. Who gave us our talents? Who Gave his Only Begotten son to Die for us so that we would be able to Develop those talents? Who Loves us more than we can even fathom? GOD. God did all of that for us! So, who are we to abuse or reject those talents that we have been given? The answer to that question is WE AREN`T. This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God. How are we supposed to meet God, look him in the eyes, and tell him that we love him when we couldn`t didn`t even accept his gifts? He will still accept us, and he will still tell us that he loves us because he will ALWAYS love us. But how little he really asks of us, His Children. "Accept and love me as your Father. Be obedient to what I "Teach you", (teach because the commandments are for our learning and not just for doing) and use what I give you. Three things that are not hard to do, but are the difference between a lifetime of pain and suffering or happiness and rejoicing.

I love all of you! I felt inspired to write this because it is something that had been causing me to suffer both as a misisonary, but mostly as a Child of God. I know that God is our Father and that he Loves and wants the best for all of us in all we do. I know that "Sufrimos cuando no lo Cumplimos" (we suffer only when we don`t complete what God has given us. Don`t let Satan and his slandering harden your heart and cause you to be prideful and I can promise you that you will see, feel, and love the difference that you have in your lives and in your missions. I love this Gospel and I know that it is true! In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.    

--

~Elder Hazlett

November 18, 2013

MY letter to president.

I had been struggling with a couple things and Elder holland helped a lot, but I still didn´t feel really good about everything. Then I read in dyc 88 and in 2 nephi 4 and it helped me a ton! Love you momma! Hope everything is going well. Thanks for the meditation thought, it is so true :)

Dear President Carter,

Today I feel incredibly humbled knowing how incredible the Gospel really is and how perfect the lords timing is. Following a really rough week with a lot of things happening to get me down, we were able to hear from an Apostle of the Lord. His message was Motivating and Inspiring as expected, but it was also exactly what I needed. The rest of that day I was a little bit tired and still a little bit frustrated but I was able to think a lot. Think about what I wanted to change, what I thought the problems were, and whether I was willing to put forth the effort to make the changes neccesary. 

As I was reading the Sol this morning, I thought about the different  topics that you shared that we could focus on to help us and the one that definitely stuck out to me was the "Control your thoughts and Repentance" The others I have been really good at, my desires of what I want to become are goals that I know and feel are going to help me serve a sacred mission, and I have a testimony in the importance of Obedience for sure. So I am working on the control your thoughts one.

This morning I was reading in 2 nephi 4 and thinking about when nephi speaks in verses 16-35. "..my souls delighteth in the things of the lord..""...neverthleless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the lord...my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth be cause of mine iniquites. I am encompassed about because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted. MY God hath been my support...he hath filled me with his love even unto the consuming of my flesh.

With these scriptures and my desires set on acheiving my goal of " a sacred mission with Deep personal Conversion" I know that the fruits of my diligence and obedience and especially Faith in my Savior Jesus Christ will give me the strength to overcome Any and Every temptation that I will face during the next 14 months and the rest of my life after that.

I have rededicated and consegrated myselft so that I will be able to fulfill whatever callings I will have, but more importantly, to be able to testify of my Savior JEsus Christ in all times. I spent the last few weeks praying for humility and I was humbled, even to the point of having almost no confidence in myself, so that I really could be prepared to listen and feel the spirit when the time came. That time was this morning during my personal study when I studied 2 nephi 4 and DyC 88. God has his own schedule, but his schedule has no mistakes and no skipped appointments. He will get to us exactly when we have our "Hour". 

Thanks for everything president, I am looking forward to whatever the Lord has in store for me with both Faith and Excitement.

a few pics! MY new comp and my new area. We are in the country "campo" for those who speak spanish haha. Love ya´ll hope everyone is having success! And our latest baptism :) That is pretty much our whole branch there... haha

Elder Hazlett

November 11, 2013

Elder Holland is coming to visit this next saturday and I am so excited. HE is gonna look into our souls and know exactly what it is that we need to do to become better missionaries! 

Sounds like things are pretty crazy there in Moab, I was almost in tears when I read that part about JAcob and his Dad. IT is so true. He is such a stud. Tell him I love him for me next time you see him. And Take State! haha

You have my letter to president so you know kind of what I am going through right now. I have an incrdible amount of patience somehow and I love my companion to death, so I want the best for him. HE is such a great kid, he just is really straightforward and sometimes it doesn´t feel like he loves you at all...so that is that. We had like 13 people that had dates to get baptized because he like chastized them and then when we called them to make another appointment they would tell us that they didn´t want to talk to us anymore. IT is very hard because I am used to Loving people so much that they want to change, and the way he works is basically opposite. So yeah, that is that. IT is a bit frustrating because I want to be succesful and help people but we can´t even talk to them long enough to let them nknow how much we care. I have learned the importance of being bold however. The people won´t ever follow through with the committments if we just tell them things as if it isn´t a big deal. Repentance is a big deal. IT DOES matter. So yeah. 

In church on Sunday, one of the sisters in my branch spoke about the importance of the scriptures. She talked about how there are so many books in the world today that talk about how to be a good parent or how to be more confident in yourself, but that those books can only do so much and that the scriptures and the guidance of the prophets is the best way. I got to thinking about the difference and how those books are like the churches that don´t have the preisthood. They teach good things, and the pastors are such good people, but when they miss out on that one important thing...they miss our on everything. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the scriptures and that I can have the help and guidance of prophets and apostles in my life.

Oh, more things I am grateful for!

-Prophets and Apostles

-The Scriptures

-Water (a lot of people here don´t have water at all)

-Good examples in my life

- Good medical care

There is a sad story with the last one. We visited a recent convert yesterday that lives in a little shack house in the back of the prperty of his kids. he is 84 and is so awesome however he is struggling more and more because the medical is bad. Also, his great great grand daughter is 2 and has a hernea. I don´t know how to spell it but yeah, her intestines are literally out of her stomach. Like you can see them. They only thing she has covering it is this clear plasctic bag that is taped on to catch the juices from inside of her...her family was all outside drinking and smoking and she was just sitting there looking so very sad :( I was in tears as we walked past and I just wanted to pick her up and carry her to a hoppistal and pay whatever it took to have surgery. The government here is very corrupt so it is hard, but the hardest part is that the people are even more corrupt. IT is n´t their fault. Satan has worked harder and harder throughout all the generations but now they are all so used to a certain style of living that it just is in their blood. They ae all living co inhabitated and don´t want to get married because they don´t want to pay for a divorce if they sperate. their kids all live in the street all day and get into drugs early, and there are 13 year old girls that are having babies because they don´t know any better. IT is very sad, but it makes me so happy to see the random few members that are living there as a light of hope. you can see an obvious diference in them and I don´t know hwy people can´t see it too. They don´t want change, and they don´t want to be any better :(

Anyway, I lvoe you momma. And miss you a ton, but I know that you are receiving blessings for what JEd and I are doing, and more importantly, the people here are being blessed with the knowledge of how they can be more happy and live with their familes forever!

Have an awesome week and I look forward to hearing from you! :)

With Love,

~Elder Hazlett

President Carter,

First of all, thank you for the message in the sol this week. I have seen how important the key indicators are throughout my mission, but I have also seen how destructive they can be when used to "appear" better than the other missionaries in the Sol. I feared that the missionaries in this mission were beginning to focus more on the numbers and less on the quality. Your message helped to strengthen my testimony of Lidership in the mission field and how you really do receive revelation for the benefit of us.

I do however have a couple concerns about our district here in Lujan. As you can see, they are struggling a bit. WE are struggling a bit. I have been praying fervently since the first couple days that I have been here to be able to know "why" I am here in General Rodriguez, and "what" it is that I am supposed to do. After only 1 District meeting and talking to the Elders in our district, I have received my answer that it is to help re-motivate the elders that are here. To help them feel the Love of Christ so that it is easier to have desires to work hard. They are very very frustrated. It is a very hard subject because it is never the fault of just one person, and almost always the blame falls on the Leadership but it is something that I have tried my best over these last 2 weeks to fix or atleast improve. This is the problem...None of the Elders in our district have any respect for Elder Eraso. I have a more respect and a better relationship with him because he is my companion and I know how he works, and I know that he has the desire to be the best he can. I also have a better understanding of how the other Elders feel because I feel the same frustrations. Basically, Elder Eraso has taken the "Ser directo" to a whole new level. Every night without fail, he succesfully chastizes and demoralizes both companionships. Calling them to repentance and to humble themselves because they lost the confidence of the Lord. It is true that that is what they need to do, but it is very wrong the way that he does it. I consider myself a pretty patient and a very loving person and I am finding it hard to love him when he is destroying the faith of the other companionships. We had a companionship inventory last night and he told me that what he wanted to do this next week was be more direct. I asked him what his reasoning for that was and he said that it was because he felt like he wasn´t fulfilling his calling of inviting people to repent. We have 3 investigators as of now and we have found 20 new people in the last 2 weeks. You can see that the numbers there dn´t really match up. That is because he has succesfully called them to repentance and also succesfully offended them to the pint of them calling US and telling US that they don´t want us to visit them. I know that being bold is good, but the amount of Love that you have has to be stronger than how bold you are. He always tells me to be humble so that I can have more of the lords confidence and he can help me to change, and he comitted me to talk to everyone and knock on doors even when I don´t feel the spirit (which is fine with me) but then he asked me what it was that he could change and I said, "Love the people more. Love the other Elders. Help them to know that they are loved and that because they are loved so much, they have been given the gift of repentance." He then sat there for a few seconds and said, "ok what else can we do better this next week?"

I am getting along fine with him, as I have been blessed more and more with patience and Love, but I am thinking more in the well0being of our district and I know that they are struggling. I don´t know what to do and I would love it if you could help me. I am continuing to pray for help and serch the scriptures, but I haven´t yet found an answer.

I know this is more then you want to read but it is a concern that I feel is very important. Lidership changes missionaries, and one bad situation with leadership can change a whole mission. I don´t want that to happen to the missionaries in our district as I am seeing it start to happen.

They have told me that their motivation is to do better than Elder Eraso so that when he "calls them out nad drops the cane" they can say that they did better. To me, that is the worst motivation that you can possibly have in the mission and I hate to see that happening! 

Thank you for your time president, your example as a humble and obedient leader, and especially the love that you have for all the missionaries. We really can see it and it makes the difference.

Elder Hazlett

November 4, 2014

DO NOT WRITE MY MISSION PRESIDENT! HE WOULD KILL ME! haha I didn´t get a chance to do e-mail or anything last p-day because I was traveling. Right now I am in my new area "General Rodriguez" You cangoogle it.IT is super great. A hundred percent different than my last area. it is outside of the city and people have yards and stuff. 

I am sorry I didn´t get the chance to write you. Missing a week of emails is weird...I didn´t even feel like it was 2 weeks. Time goes so fast here. I hope you are having a good week momma.

I miss you a lot. The beginning of this new transfer was really hard. I had developed really strong relationships with the members of my old ward, and I had grown to love everyone. I felt like they were my family which made it a little easier not to miss you guys so much. Now I am in a new area that is super great and I am excited to be here, but it is hard being new and not knowing anyone. My new companion is great. He is from Colombia and is the District leader here but in 4 weeks he is leaving and I will be taking his place and leading the area. IT has been a struggle because I feel as if I only have 4 months in the mission not 8. MY time is SLC wasnt wasted, but compared to here it feels that way. So now I am behind a little bit in every aspect but I am being put in positions that I feel are more than I can handle. I know that I can handle them, well I have Faith that God will help me, but even with faith things are not easy. I am gonna copy my letter to president to put in this e-mail right now so that you can kind of know what I write him. He has A LOT of faith in me, and it kindof scares me because I don´t want to disappoint him in anyway. IT is like what you would always tell me, "Remember who you are and what you stand for, and don´t do anything to disappoint me" I feel as if I am not going to be able to fulfill that sometimes.

Hola President,

Sorry I couldn´t write last week...we got here late and we both chose to get to work. I love my new area. It is a little different than Ciudadela (a lot different) but it is really great. Elder Eraso is a Champion. I have learned so much from him over these last couple of days. He is an incredible teacher and is very Bold, which is what I am lacking. I have devoted myself to try and learn from him as much as I possibly can. 

This first week has been a little bit rough (getting a new area is always hard) but I am getting the hang of things. I have been a little bit nervous because I know that there are 4 weeks left in this transfer and than I am going to be leading the Area. I have been on the mission for 8 months now but I feel as if I really only have the time that I have been here because this mission is completely different. 

I was thinking throughout the week of different things that I could tell you, or ask you, and I had a few things in mind, but as I began to type them I received my answers. I know that I am where I am supposed to be, that I am with the companion that I am supposed to be with, and that I am being prepared to help not only the people here in General Rodriguez, but the missionaries as well. 

In my last letter to you when you asked if we were ready to be leaders in our areas or to train, I began to think about that. I decided that spiritually I was ready, my Faith and my Testimony are strong. Physically I am ready, Rain or Shine, Hot or Cold, I want to Work. But where I lacked was the mental prepardness. That has always been my weakness. Whether it was when I had a Par putt to win a tournament, or when I had to make only one freethrow to win a game, I always lacked the self confidence. Here, in these last couple of days in Rodriguez with Elder Eraso, I have felt the Love of Christ in my life more than ever knowing that he is there to guide my thoughts and actions so that I can sink the putt, make the freethrow, or in this case Open my mouth and Speak by the Spirit. I still struggle with the Spanish, but because of the faith that I have been able to exercise I have been confident enough to open my mouth. It isn´t easy and I the first few days have been really really incredibly hard and frustrating, but I have felt the spirit guiding me. 

I now have a clearer vision of what I want for the rest of my mission. I want to always be in tune with the spirit so that I can rely on Christ whenever I am struggling. 

Thank you for all of your advice President and the opportunities that you ahve given me to learn and grow in my mission. As I am learning more to be confident in myself, I hope that your confidence in me grows aswell.

Elder Hazlett

That is about where I am at right now. Sorry if it is a little mixed up. MY thoughts are always super scattered on P-days. I am not sure if I like it or not. I love all of you so much and Pray for you all the time. Say hello to everyone for me and know that I am doing my best to not let you down :)

Love your Son,

Elder Zakariah Hazlett

October 21, 2013

I wrote my president a really long letter and am now out of time. We have 1 hour and a half to email so I got to Go :( Love you though! Thanks for everything and I will wirte you more next week! HAve a good day!

--

~Elder Hazlett

October 14, 2013

How are you? IT is a holliday here and all the computer places are closed so we are e-mailing from the house of a member family and they are great. She is taking good care of us missionaries. Her kids are a little bit older than Hazlett G1 and are all just recently married, so she knows what it is like to miss her kids on missions. 

Lily told me that she might do foreign exchange, that is exciting. She would love it and her spanish would be sooo good! Get her to argentina so I can write her letters :) haha

IT is crazy how everyone is coming home already. I remember when they all left. It goes by so fast when you are working with them. IT is cool to think about how many missionaries were out at the same time. I think before Dallen and logan came home it was a record number from our stake. 

Anyway, I don´t have a lot of time but I a doing well. I did want to ask you if you could send in the next package a couple cds of your favorite christmas songs. IT is getting close to christmas, and I just love christmas haha.

I had some thing else in mind, but I don´t remember. Oh well, next week will come before I will remember probably.

I am pretty sure the whole city would fall if there was an earthquake...it is pretty bad...But I love it. 

I am here in this are for another week at least until transfers. I think I am going to be leading the area next transfer and possibly training as well. I am excited for the things that I am going to learn from that experience. Anyway, Love ya nad I will keep that in mind. You think the dog poop is bad there...I think I step in dog poop at lest 2 times a day, and that is when I am paying attention. There are dogs in every single street.

October 14, 2013

A couple Fotos of my Area. The mural behind me is of Carlos Teves. He grew up in this building and is now playing soccer in spain and is SUPER famous. We are teaching his brother in Law here :) 

September 30, 2013

I got everything safe and sound from Elder Morgan. He is so happy to be here and I am so happy that he is here. IT really is incredibly different to be in the mission that we are actually supposed to be in. The SLC mission was fun, but here is where I feel like I am making a difference and learning.

I don´t have a lot of time. we got cut short a lot today, but I wanted to thank you for the letter that I got with the pictures from holly and violet. It was simple but what I needed. I am doing great! And I really love it here...most of the timem but like you said, the hard times will come and they will not be fun. But we can learn from them! I am going to try my hardest to learn each and every day from the hard things. And enjoy the good things. I love you and miss you! I will write more next week :) 

Oh and Irma and Isabel are great, and old. haha but great. and The family is struggling...we found out some other underlying stuff that has made it a little bit harder.... :/ but I am not giving up. I just wanna say thanks to you and dad for being such good parents and examples because it really is easy to mess up and be a bad example, but as far as I have seen, you have been nothing but good examples to me :) Love ya both! Have a good week! And if you can write more on sunday andsend the letters a little earlier that would be great because we usually do e-mails in the morning and we are 3 hours ahead. ENJOY CONFERENCE! AND TAKE NOTES ON THE IPAD TO SEND TO ME. I wanna know what you think, and I will be watching it in spanish so it won´t be as powerful to me :/ love ya! 

Elder Hazlett

September 23, 2013

It is pretty incredible how fast the weeks go by in the mission. I feel like yesterday was the day I read your last e-mail. I don´t know whether or not I like it that the time goes by so fast...? As always I am so excited to see everyone again, but at the same time I love it here and the opportunities that I am having.

This week it was a little harder to stay excited because it was raining almost everyday and almost all day. I don´t mind the rain but it makes it a lot harder to work. Not only is it freezing and wet and windy, but the people (instead of inviting us in for a break from the cold) tell us to come by another day when the whether is better...? I am always confused when that happens haha but it was good nonetheless. We had a baptism for Isabel. She is the funnies old lady ever. She lives in her house with 25 or so other members of her family and they are all her kids, grandkids, or great grandkids. She loves when the missionaries visit because her family doesn´t really talk much with her. They are all busy doing other things so when we stop by to visit, she lights up. She always has a different kind of juice and cookies for us to try and if it is cold, she always has some hot chocolate or something. She is just great. 

Her baptism however, was at 8 in the morning on sunday before church and the font takes 4 hours to fill.....you can do the math. We were at the church at 3:30 to start filling the font. Then we came back to our apartment to sleep a little bit more but I couldn´t sleep because my mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts. It wasn´t all bad though. The baptism ended up being awesome and super simple. 

Also, this week we have been working a ton with a family that reminds me a lot of you guys. They have a 9 year old son that is a lot like eli in the fact that he has a really strong spirit and is always questioning things. The last lesson we gave was on the restoration and the importance of prophets. He basically taught it all to us. (Their family is less active so we are reteaching them) He used the example of a satellite and the cell phone and how we can´t see the other person but because we have a satellite (prophet) we can recieve the message. IT was pretty great. Another reason I love visiting with their family is because the mom and dad remind me so much of you guys. She has the same books that you like (the mind healing ones) but in spanish haha and he is just super humble and wants to help everyone like dad. The only difference is that she had a bad experience in the church and it made her inactive for the past 5 years or so. Right now we are working hard with them because Diego (9 year old) wants to get baptized but the bishop wants the family to be active first. The past few weeks they have gone to church (except for the mom) and Diego has a date set for the 19th of october. The other day in our lesson I shared 1 nephi 1. I think I told you that story already, but really we are trying to work really hard with her. I know that if she can get going than she will be such an influence for all of the people. 

Here is where I need your help. You sent me an e-mail a while back talking about all the "Mind over Matter" stuff and how it really goes against faith or something like that. I don´t remember very well. But She reminds me a lot of you and I felt like you could help me out with something that might help her? She was sick for a while and got blessings and stuff but none of them worked and it was getting worse and worse, so then she went to like all sorts of crazy places to try and find a cure because it was a rare sickness. She ended up finding like a witchdoctor type thing that "healed" her but really it was just the end of the sickness. So now she doesn´t really have a testimony in the priesthood and she thinks that the witchdocotr healed her. It sounds crazy, but she really isn´t crazy at all so I don´t know. haha

This story is all told by her husband while she wasn´t there so it is hard because we haven´t been able to talk to her about it. it is a really touchy subject. I told Faustino (her husband) that the best thing he can do right now is be a strong example. Exercise his priesthood power in every possible moment and pray hard and with her, and search the scriptures for help and strength, and have faith that she WILL come around and she will. He is such a good guy so I have no doubt that it will happen.

Anyway, yeah that is basically the majority of what I am working with right now. It is also awesome because they always cook a meal for us when we come and it is AMAZING haha.

Oh, another family that we are teaching that is less active and have 2 kids that want to be baptized is the Campos family. They are awesome as well but have had some TOUGH trials in the last few weeks. Their dad had cancer and past away just 2 weeks ago, and this last saturday was his birthday so they were having a party and someone knocked on the door and told them that the top of their house was on fire...they lost basically half of their house and a lot of pictures and stuff. We passed by to visit them (unaware that anything had happened) and if they wouldn´t have told me, I wouldn´t have known because they were so happy! IT was a testimony builder to me that the Plan of Salvation brings happiness, This Gospel Brings happiness, and that the Family is the only way to have the most happiness in the hard times! 

There is a lot more to say but I don´t have much time. I love you guys, I miss you tons, and I am excited to share those happy moments again when I get home! Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Hazlett :)

September 16, 2013

This week has been pretty amazing. I´ll be honest, last monday I thought that it was going to be a terrible week. That I was gonna have a new companion and have to lead the area that I didn´t know very well, and that I would ahve spent the whole week feeling a little bummed. Because I had that feeing, I decided that I was going to pray extra hard to have faith that whatever happened would be what the Lord had in store for me. Tuesday night we received the phone call from the Zone Leaders with the Transfer information. Not only was I staying in my area, but my companion was made District Leader over a new district. That was something that was both a little bit stressful, but awesome at the same time. It gave us an excuse to work even harder to be examples for the other missionaries in our district. We were able to lose oursleves in the work throughout the week and focus on the blessings and miracles that we had each day and it was incredible. 

Our district ended up being the top district in the whole mission as far as success for the week. I know that we were blessed for our diligence and obedience and Also to help my companion with his new calling. 

We had our ward confrence this weeked as well, so we spent a lot of time visiting less active members and inviting them to come to ward confrence. It was an amazing experience and a testimony builder because missionaries definitely have the help and guidance of the lord when they are working diligently and are in tune with the spirit. We visited a couple families who had been invited previously by members and were thinking about going, but weren´t sure. We than continued to do our job which is invite others to come unto christ, and that is exactly what they chose to do. We shared thoughts and bore testimony about the importance of Christ in our lives and I know that they felt the spirit. This time that I have and all missionaries have (if used appropriately) will be the best experience that we will ever have in our lives as far as Serving the Lord. We are able to focus all of our efforts each day in helping our fellow man, brothers and sisters, accept and receive the blessings of the Gospel. I know the power that God used to organize the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in the Earth today to help us. To help us to help others. And to help others help themselves by strengthening their testimonies. 

One story that I want to tell you is from last night. Our last visit. We visited a family that is super awesome. The mom is a lifelong member and the dad is a convert but has been a member for a long time. Their family is super awwesome but they have been inactive for a while. Their son is 9 years old and wnats to be baptized but their family needs to come back to church first. So we went and had dinner with them last night and during dinner we were talking about the ward conference and how we missed them there. (ya know, the chessy missionary lines that are used with less actives) but really I was listening and searching for what exactly it was that they needed to get back to church. As we were talking, she kept saying that she didn´t really have desires to go back but she would see what happens. But what she really kept talking about was how her son Diego has a strong spirit, a different spirit than most nine year olds. I was thinking of Eli in that moment. Then she was saying how he is gonna be a great kid when he grows up. Every mother is proud of her chirldren obviously and wants the best for them, but really I could see as well that he has an incredible spirit. In that moment, I knew exactly what scripture I was going to share. 1 Nephi 1. "I nephi, having been born of goodly parents...and being favored in the sight of god" (or something like that? I was speaking spanish haha) I bore testimony that Diego does have a strong spirit and has a lot of great things to do, and that Diego also has been born of goodly parents, but that almost all of the things that Nephi learned how to do, Prayer, Faith, Working HArd, were all things that he was taught by his parents and their example. I shared a person experience of how MY Mom (you) and my Dad are the biggest examples in my life. How if my parents really wantred me to do something, or learn something. The best way to teach them that was by example. I kind of dropped the cane on them and was a little bit intense, but being bold was what they needed. 

I am so glad to have parents that are examples to me and help me to be the best person! I couldn´t ask for better parents :)

Love you guys so much!

Elder Hazlett

September 9, 2013

Every street that we walk, every door that we knock, and every person we talk to all have 2 things in common. Their Love of God, and their Love of Futbol. I have spent a lot of time over the last 2 months that I have been here in Argentina contemplating what it is that keeps motivates these people. What is the thing that they love the most in this life. 

They are almost all Baptized Catholic and believe that God is our Father in Heaven. That Jesus is the Christ. And that through Faith in them we will be saved, but what I have come to find is that the majority of the people have forgotten that Faith has two parts. Both Faith and Works are the things that are going to save us. 

Too often we get distracted by the "Futbols" of the world and that distracts us from the things that we need to be doing. I am not in any way saying that Futbol is a bad thing, but what I am saying is that in order to be the best Futbol player in the World, we cannot be of the world. 

I find myself using this analogy in almost every lesson when we are teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ because the first Principle of the Gospel is Faith. "If you have faith that you are going to be the greatest futbol player Argentina has ever seen, is that faith going to make you the greatest?" The answer is NO. That faith, if it is put into action, will then carry you into greatness. However, that requires of us just a few things. We have to always have the Goal in mind to achieve the best, or to inherit the Kingdom of God, and then we are going to be filled with the desire to work and to practice and to grow!

There are so many awesome and amazing blessings in this life that we have and should take advantage of because they are here to help us. But one thing we have to do as well is thank God for those things, and show him that we care and that we really want to acheive the Goal.

It has been an incredible learning experience here on the mission and I am so Glad for the opportunities that I have been given.

~Elder Hazlett

September 2, 2013

My Birthday Week!

My companion Elder Ticino and I have been working this week to find as many new people to teach as possible and it has been great! We have knocked on probably 1000 doors during our time together so far and it  been great. We haven´t had a ton of success with that but we have had enough success to teach a lot! I am loving it down here and learning to love the people and the food more and more everyday! We just had a baptism last weekend (the 24th) and it was amazing! I love this family! We have another baptism schduled for this weeked also and I am so excited! It is with the family that I celebrated my birthday with!

                                              Here are a couple pictures from this week. 

                  

                                                      The baptism from last weekend

                         My birthday party. We had empanadas and a fruitcake that was amazing!

                                                    The Sunset view from our apartment.

                            These are the new missionaries that came out with me! They are great!

Bienvenidos a Argentina!

They do still have Mcdonalds (Marshall I took this one for you) but that is about the only thing that is the same here. It definitely has been a little bit of a Culture shock but I am learning to love it more and more everyday. The members here are pretty awesome and they LOVE to talk to the missionaries. Pretty much about anything and everything because really they just love to talk.

The area I am in is very good. It is pretty poor, but there is a lot of good work to do. If any of you know who "Carlos Teves" is, my area is where he grew up. He is one of Argentina´s most famous soccer players and they are proud of it. The grafiti here isn´t as much bad words as it is murals of him. They sure love their Futbol. Here is a picture of a soccer field that gets used more than anything I have ever seen. (oh and the picture is kind of bad because I had to sneak it or else they will probably steal my camera).

It is fairly safe though. As long as there are people around, nothing ever really happens.

The work is going well, My companion is Elder Ticino and he is from Uruguay. He speaks absolutely no english except for phrases he knows from movies...so it makes things a bit difficult. But, my spanish is getting a lot better because of that. 

I hope everything is going well for everyone and I send my Love and prayers back you all :) Chow! 

Wow! Estos dos primeros días fueron locos! Argentina es muy diferente a los Estados Unidos. Estoy muy emocionada de estar aquí, pero no es fácil. Mi compañero es muy bueno. él es de Uruguay. él no puede hablar en ingles tampoco...entonces toda dia estamos hablando solemente en español.

I love being here. IT is super different and way hard, but I feel like I am learning a lot already. The first place I went when I got here was this place called the "Fuerte" which means the strong. IT is super ghetto but super awesome! There are more people in that small area than the entire town of moab. IT is just a bunch of Giant buildings that look like they would all fall down if someone looked at them the wrong way...but it is awesome!

MY companion is Elder Ticino from URUGUAY. HE is super great, hard working, and doesn´t know anything in english except for "I am walker texas ranger" and "Girl you´re amazing, just the way you are" because of the movie and because that is his favorite song! haha We are learning a lot from eachother. I am teaching him a little bit of english, and he is teaching me a lot of spanish (we figured it is more important that I know spanish right now than him knowing english).

Our Area is HUGE and we walk...so the first day I was here I figured it was about 23 miles of walking because we are new to the area and are just finding and contacting people right now.

Our apartment is the nicest one in the whole mission I think? but it still runs out of hot water each time someone showers and it is very very cold! There are 6 of us in the same room because we have a little prtable heater that we plug in and it keeps us warm!

Empanadas.

Enough said. Empanadas are the greatest thing ever created. At least here in Argentina. The food is a little bit bland (lacks flavor of any type) and there isn´t a lot of variety. Therefore empanadas are the best things ever. but they are only on special occasions because they are expensive.

I would love to write more, but I am running our of time and it cost money to e-mail. It is WAY different here than Salt Lake, in Every way! But I Love it!

Love you all, miss you, and if you want to send me something then make it something that includes american food. (Ranch powder, a giant bottle of tapatio hot sauce, garlic salt, etc...) haha I think I am good for now, but in the future if you want to send something! My Birthday ;) ;) haha but money works well also because we definitely drew the short end of the stick on the areas when it comes to food. We are in the richer area...so the food is waaaayyy more expensive, yet we get the same amount, so I am living off of Pasta. haha anyway, gotta go! Chow Chow.

Elder Hazlett

--

It is still summer in the City here in SLC, but it is so good! First P-day of the new transfer and I have so much to talk about! 

First Thing First, My New Companion:

So, at transfers I actually ended up getting a new companion. His name is Elder Morgan and he is from Springville, UT. He is also waiting for his visa to Buenos Aires West (the same mission as me) and when we get them, we will be companions all the way down to Argentina. He is Awesome! It is a little bit hard because we are both only 3 transfers into our missions so our Spanish is a little rough...but It is sooo much fun. We are both trying really hard to speak Spanish to each other as much as possible so that we can practice. We love having the opportunity to go out and teach people even though our Spanish is much less than Par. We have learned a ton over the last few days and talked more Spanish than probably the rest of my mission combined. I am used to having a companion that is either from mexico or who speaks Spanish fluently so I would just kinda listen, bare my testimony, and maybe say a prayer at the end. Now however, Since I have been in this area for 2 transfers and know the members of our branch and know the area, I am leading our companionship. It is a crazy opportunity but it is so fun.

The Work is Real:

Wednesday night after transfers, we got right to it. We came home and planned real briefly and Elder Morgan unpacked a little bit and then we hit the sidewalks. From about 2 in the afternoon until 9 at night, we taught a total of 6 lessons and found 1 new investigator (all in Spanish). It was the first time I really felt the spirit guiding us with the Gift of Tongues. We talked about things and said things that I didn't even know I could say. We invited them all to church and got good responses from all of them. Later that night when we got home and did our numbers for the day and planned for the next day, Elder Maldonado and Elder Revoir (who live in the same apartment as us) were super happy for us and they told us that we had "Greeny Power" haha. 

The next day, we had our District Meeting. Elder Maldonado (My last companion) is our new district leader. He gave a great training about the Restoration. After that we went and visited a couple more people and had a couple great lessons and then we surprised one of the other Elders for his birthday and Had a cake for him. It was the most short-lived birthday party ever (about 10 minutes) but it was still fun.

Friday was one of my favorite days. That was when Elder Morgan and I realized that our Spanish is getting a lot better. We were going to visit one of our investigators but she wasn't home. Across the street was some of her cousins and uncles that she had talked about but we had never met. They were sitting out front so we decided to go talk to them. It was a super good visit. Victor and his Wife are from Mexico and they have lived in Utah for 20 years. They knew English, but they were very impressed with our Spanish and said they never would have guessed that we had only been speaking it for 3 months. Oh, and for those of you who read this and know "Chip" from Chips Grand Tire in Moab...Victor is a Hispanic version of Chip. He is Awesome! 

Saturday was a little bit different. One of the other Elder's in our Zone was sick so I went on exchanges with him for the whole afternoon. He slept while I studied, but I still felt productive because I planned out a lesson for one of our investigators.

Sunday was Awesome! The Leadership Broadcast was pretty dang good! I loved how they stressed the importance of LOVE. It is so true. Most of the people that we talk to that aren't interested, are that way because the last missionaries that they talked to offended them, or they came to church and didn't feel welcome. It is sooo Important that we love everyone no matter what because we don't know their circumstances or what they have been through. After the broadcast, we ate dinner with the Johnson Family. Their son just got off his mission about 2 months ago and he loves helping us out. it is really nice! Then we had a great lesson with one of our less-active friends. He is one of the coolest guys ever and has just had a couple rough things in his life that brought him down a bit, but now he actually came to the missionaries because he wanted to get back on track. It was a super cool lesson in the Church and the spirit was way strong. Finally, as we were locking up the church and getting ready to head home, a car pulled up and 2 people walked over the doors of the church. We noticed that they were speaking Spanish so we decided to talk to them. It turned out that they were members from another branch that were coming to see exactly where this one was so they could bring some friends too it. We talked to them for about 20 minutes about where they were from and their family members that served missions or are serving missions. That was another time where I felt that the spirit was helping us speak the language. We even knew how to ask if they could give us a ride back to our apartment, and they did! haha

The Weather:

Salt Lake city had some of the best weather ever over these last few days. it was about 80 degrees the whole time (maybe a little less) and the sun was never directly shining on us. Even today on our P-day the weather is awesome. It is cloudy and a great temperature. Elder Morgan and I went to the Park for a little while and just sat there and watched the Ducks. It was a great P-day.

Thought of the Day:

So My thought for the day today is about letting the spirit guide your life.I hope most of you got the chance to watch the Leadership Broadcast that they did. It was sooo good and talked about Member Missionary Work. "The greatest work we can do is preach the Gospel" -Joseph Smith. It is cool to think that we literally can preach the Gospel Every Single Day of our lives. In our attitudes, our examples, our words, our thoughts, and our actions. I love being a missionary and being able to spend literally everyday teaching people about the Gospel. Every night when we plan for the next day, I feel the spirit guiding us and telling us who we should teach and what we should teach them. Really, we aren't going to teach any of them anything but simply be instruments in which the spirit can teach through us. Planning has been really hard for me because I am not really a person who plans out everything...but I have felt an amazing change in my attitude towards planning as I have done it with the help and Guidance of the Spirit. A quote from one of our Zone Meetings goes like this, "If you Plan it, the Lord will Provide it." I kinda laughed because I thought of what my mom always said to me which was, "We plan, God Laughs." Which is true because God has a sense of Humor and wants us to learn and if everything went as planned, then we wouldn't have anything to learn from. But I realized that the most important planning we can do in our Lives is: Plan to follow the spirit in everything that you do!  Almost Every single thing that we plan on our missions is directed by the spirit. It still might not happen exactly how we planned it, but eventually it will happen. In life, we plan to provide structure and comfort to our lives. So we can know what we need to do and when we need to do it. But one thing I have realized on my mission is that even though this is our life, we are still on the lords time. And the Lord's timing is perfect. We need to make sure and let the spirit guide us in our lives. When we are in tune with the spirit, that is when the lord will help us to do the things that we need to. Whether we planned it or not. If everything went according to plans, then we would never learn. God changes our plans whether we want him to or not because he has something better in store for us!

Well, the first few days of this transfer have flown by so fast but they have been full of miracles and  good experiences. I am looking forward to the rest of the time I have here and am always hoping for my Visa to come...but for now, I am loving it here :) Take care everybody!

Con Amor,

~Elder Hazlett

 More mission pictures!

 

The missionaries that are in the Liberty stake. 4 spanish and 4 english. 2 of them are sisters! Elder Sullivan, Elder Putra, Sister Sprouse, Sister Hathaway (no relation to Anne Hathaway) Elder Maldonado, Elder Potts, Elder Revoir, and Myself!

All the frozen pizza's we got from Sister Josea! (the same old tongan lady that does our laundry for us! She is an Angel I swear!!!

Some amazing Fried Rice that Elder Maldonado and I made...it was sooo good! :)

SUMMER IN THE CITY

When I submitted my mission papers...I never thought that I would be called to serve in my home state of Utah  but here I am, and Summer in the City is actually not too bad. My original call isn't to Salt Lake City, but I was reassigned here while waiting for my Visa. I have now been out almost 5 Months and I am ending my 2nd transfer this Wednesday. It has had it's Ups' and Downs' just like any mission experience, but the Up's have definitely outnumbered the Downs'. 

MY COMPANIONS

I am currently serving with Elder Revoir and Elder Maldonado as a Trio. Unfortunately Elder Potts received his Visa and left earlier this morning for Argentina, changing us from 2 companion-ships to 1 trio. Actually, it is far from unfortunate! Elder Potts was an awesome missionary here in SLC and is going to be even greater down in South America. I learned a lot from him and it was a pleasure being with him for the last 2 transfers. Elder Revoir is so awesome! He is from Florida and adds that southern flavor to the mission life. Which which is then Spiced up even more by Elder Maldonado who is from Pachuca, Mexico. We get along really well and I am excited for this next transfer. We will find out on Tuesday whether or not any of us are getting transfered, so I am excited to see what happens and I hope I am able to stay with them. Who knows? Also, there are 45 new missionaries coming into this mission on wednesday! 13 of them are new "Visa Waiters" The mission is splitting in Half on the 1st of July, so some of those missionaries are going to go to the "Salt Lake City East" Mission. That is why the number of new missionaries is so big.

THE WORK

We currently have a pretty good group of investigators that we are working with and a whole lot of Less-Active people that we are working with as well. Now that Elder Potts is gone, we are going to be half as effective because we are in a trio instead of 2 companion-ships, but that is not going to slow us down too much. Yesterday at church we had 77 people in our Branch which is awesome! A couple weeks ago we only had about 20...so we have been doing really well at helping people come back to church and re-kindling that spirit that they felt when they were baptized. We haven't had any baptisms lately (we have been working on building up our branch again) but I have faith that in the next few weeks we will have some. Besides, seeing a less-active come back to church is just as rewarding as seeing an investigator be baptized. We are helping them get back on the path of following Christ! 

Everyone always asks, "Is there a lot of work to do in SLC?" Which is something that I kinda asked myself as-well when I was re-assigned here, but it wasn't long before I realized just how much there is to do here! There are so many people here to teach, the only hard part is that we have to find them amongst the "Members" and the "Anti's" We don't do any tracting (knocking on random doors) because most the time it is either a member that invites us in for some food or something (which is awesome and we love members that help the missionaries out) but it takes a lot of time away from us that we could be using to teach people. Or on the other hand it is someone who just wants to Argue with the missionaries....so we get a lot of refferals and work as much as we can with those.

WEATHER

Man...I didn't realize how hot it is in Utah until I walk around in a shirt, tie, and long pants all day. It is a little different lifestyle than my usual Utah Summer on the river, but it has been nice! I am getting that super awesome "Missionary Tan" that everyone is jealous of. On P-days when we get to wear a t-shirt to play basketball or something, it looks like I am still wearing a collared shirt because my neck is so white. It is pretty funny but it is all worth it! And the best part is that by the time I get to Argentina  It will be about spring time there and be perfect weather. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

So the last couple weeks were a little bit frustrating for me because 1 by 1 the other Visa-Waiters received their Visa's. I kept thinking that I would be the next person to get a call from the mission office but it never happened. This morning, about half of the Visa Waiters that received their Visa's headed off to Argentina (Including Elder Potts). I thought for sure that I was gonna be on a flight to Argentina right now....that isn't the case. Instead I am still here in Utah. Anyway, I am getting to the thought I promise. Yesterday during my studying, I came across the word "Adversity" and it really stuck out to me. The definition of adversity in the dictionary is : a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse fortune. "As part of Heavenly Father's plan of redemption, all people experience adversity during their lifetime. Trials, disappointments, sadness, sickness, and heartache are a difficult part of life, but with the help of the Lord they can lead to spiritual growth, refinement, and progress." There have been a lot of experiences in my life where I have felt a little disappointed or frustrated, and sometimes it was very hard to find the positive in those situations...But, one thing that I have learned on my mission is that it is impossible to teach people about the "Plan of Happiness" when you yourself are not happy. For example, there is a family that we are teaching who loves when the missionaries come over because we are always so happy and it makes them happy. But one day when we went over to talk to them (the day Elder Potts got his Visa and I didn't) I was feeling a little bit down. After only a few minutes, one of them asked, "Why aren't you smiling? You are always smiling!" I told them why, and they said, "Oh don't worry, it will come soon enough." I tried my best to smile but it was difficult. Shortly after we left, I was thinking about what she had asked me and the reason I told her and it hit me. I am called by an Apostle of the Lord to be a missionary and a Disciple of Jesus Christ and it doesn't matter where I am, it only matters what I am doing! That was when I realized that I am here for a reason. And that the best way to enjoy it, was to be happy and help others be happy! That choice has helped me so much  and it helped me to know that My Purpose as a missionary is to Help Others come unto Christ and Find Happiness, and that can be done from ANYWHERE! :)  In this life, it is all about making choices.Choices that will bring you more happiness. I challenge everyone that reads this to make a choice right now about how you are going to respond to Adversity. "Each person's success and happiness, both now and in the eternities, depend largely on his or her responses to the difficulties of life." We are all going to have difficulties and we are all going to have to choose how we respond to it!  I know that we will be blessed as we remain faithful through our trials and choose to rely on the Lord :)

I hope the best for everyone of my friends and family! And remember, "When things get too hard to stand....Kneel" Heavenly Father hears and will answer your prayers! I hope all of you are having an awesome summer!

Con Mucho Amor,

~Elder Zakariah Hazlett