Father Lehi's Love for All His Children

So I have finally decided I am a bad luck missionary. So far this will be my fourth transfer in the field and so far 3 members in my branches have died. The whole week was pretty much based around this man and his death. He had a heart attack on Tuesday and had to be flown to UNM. We heard about it pretty early in the morning. I had never even gotten to meet him since he wasn't ever home the times we tried visiting him. He does have a huge heard of sheep that are fun to chase around though and like 9 dogs.

After we got the call we tried calling one of our less active members LJ. LJ isn't really inactive but he comes about once every other week and pretty much just parties all the time so he is counted as a less active so we can visit him more. LJ was pretty calm when we talked to him and didn't really talk much. Later we tried visiting about 9 different familes none of which were home and all of which took about 55 miles. So we did some doors. We ran into one pretty cool lady who hadn't been to church in forever but believed in it and told us she would come back. Tuesday was pretty much a bust other than that. We just ended up going home.

On Wednesday I got a package with slim jims and gum and some Preach my Gospel stuff. There were a ton of slim jims but i didn't want to eat them (well really I did) since I am trying to lose all that extra weight I put on while I was home. It was however a great present since now we have a way of getting shy beaten dogs to come over to us. We tried visiting even more people and yet again not a person was home. It sucked. We didn't even have time to do any doors since we found out that navajo's don't like people going around after dark because of the "skin walkers" who can desguise themslevs as animals or other people and can only be in shadows or darkness so we don't get to do anything after dark. Even with some members. So after another long day of nothing we got home and started getting calls from LJ.

LJ was extremely drunk. He was not very easy to understand and kept making weird remarks out loud. At one point I was like joking around with him and at some point he decided I was being mean and told me he was going to come over and kick my butt. Which is kind of an empty threat since he has no vehicle and no one will help him after dark. So he hung up and called about 45 minutes later totally forgetting he wanted to fight me. He kept eventually remembering and telling me he was coming over. After a while we just took our phone off the hook. The next day around 2 pm or so after doing our weekly planning, LJ calls and tells me he's outside. He hadn't slept the whole night apparently and stayed drunk. Elder Lee was kinda like "uh what do we do" I told him to tell him I was getting my shoes on.

So I put my shoes on and walked outside and LJ was sitting down on one of our chairs on our porch. I sat down across from him and he started crying really hard talking about how they were going to take his grandpa off of life support at 5 pm. Apparently he needed a surgery and he already had asthma and diabetes but he had somehow developed pnemonia in the hospital as well and they couldn't perform the surgery. All the members had gone out to Albuquerque to be with him and most the reservation so it answered our question of where people were. We hung out with LJ for pretty much that whole day since the entire place was deserted. LJ kept crying and then trying to joke around with us telling us he wanted to laugh so he didn't cry. Eventually we got him back home and shared a short scripture with him. I read out of the book of mormon in second nephi when Lehi was talking to all his sons before he died. LJ had told us that he wished he could talk with his grandpa again but was also sad that he had been in gangs and stuff pretty much all his life and didn't want his grandpa to think of him that way. I read the part near the end were it says that Lehi had spoken to all of his sons accourding to his heart and then died.

I told him I knew if his grandpa was able to talk to him he would tell him he loved him just like Lehi, he loved all of his sons even the ones who had strayed. Then 5 pm passed and we said bye to LJ. The rest of the week was pretty much like our first two days. No one was home. We did find one lady who had been an investigator along time ago and challenged her to come to church. Nothing else really happened until Sunday. I had to give a talk and the cool thing was is that they don't assign topics so I decided to give a talk about the talk given by President Uchtdorf called "the love of god" we had read it the day before to a blind member we visit every saturday. And I really liked it so I decided to talk about it. The Sunday before we had about 20 members and I figured with John Helps passing there would be even fewer. But on the contrary. Apparently everyone came back home on Sunday plus relatives plus some less actives who really like John and so we had just over 50 people there. I gave my talk and the 1st councilor gave a short talk too.

I was happy to see LJ there sober with his mom. Apparently his mom doesn't stay if he drinks so he decided not to drink again for a while. Since the branch is small enough the same people seem to do a lot of the work in the branch. The same people being the missionaries and the branch president. After the talks the branch president taught sunday school and then I got to teach Priesthood. They asked the missionaries to do it but I kinda hogged it so next time Elder Lee could teach the whole thing. It went pretty well, we talked about how knowing that we are children of God can help prepare for what comes after this life. After church we went to the branch presidents house to eat. He is really cool. Apparently he served out here and then came back later in life and met a girl and just decided to stay out here. We watched a movie about the old testiment. It was an extremely good sunday for both the church and us.

On Monday we figured out it was Martin Luther king jr. day so we couldn't e-mail. Instead I finally got a haircut, we went to pizza hut with some other missionaries and then we all went to the stake center for basketball. After basketball we went to the Palferman's house with another companionship. They feed us every Monday and they are less active so we always know what we are doing after p-day plus they don't like us wearing church clothes while trying to eat with them so we get to stay in our p-day clothes too which is sweet. They are extremely nice and we always get tons of food.

Then we had today. At 10am the funeral started so we went to the stake center for it. The stake center was packed. We had to have the second overflow open and nearly the third. Tons of people had known and loved John Help. I didn't really know him but I did get something out of it I didn't think I would. When my grandfather had passed away I didn't really know how to react and so I didn't but at the funeral the navajo's used a word "chee" which is the word for grandpa. But it does not only mean grandfather but a role model and a hero. Someone who they both respected and loved. And hearing all the stories of John Help and how he acted it reminded me a lot of the time I had gotten to talk to my grandpa and when I met him. And for some reason I realized there that my grandpa Hargett was my chee. It sounds kinda corny but i did take it way to heart and started to cry a little at the funeral.

After that we went to walmart to get our food for the week and then came to the chapter house to e-mail. So even though it was not a super powerful number week I still consider it a very powerful week. I am glad I have the opportunity to serve in the Tohlaki area and love the people here. I can't wait to just drive up here some time and see everyone again. Im glad that the people here have a knowledge of the gospel and all shared their testimonies on how they know that John Help chee was a good man and how they are all glad that one day he let the missionaries into his home and because of him his whole family was baptized and still are active. I didn't know John Help but I am glad for the gospel and how it can bless the lives of all his family and mine. I am glad that there is a Heavenly Father that loves us and i can't wait to be able to testify to of that to people.

Love, Elder Hargett

Notes for dad/mom, to try and answer your questions to me:

I don't have an ipod touch lol. But it's all good I already have chess and monopoly and we play that a lot. One thing that kinda sucks is we have a truck but we only get so many miles but since we get a ride on Sundays around and have decided to only walk on Wednesdays to local places (about 6 mile walk to see 3 people) we have a lot of miles to waste so we go off roading a lot since that is the thing to do here. Our truck gets muddy but it is kinda fun. There are some pretty cool people in my district. It would be cool if any of them serve in rivers edge ward at any point. The branch president here is pretty cool too and he asked if he could have my home phone number before i go he will probably call you. When people ask I get to say that my dad isn't a member and I also say me and my mom were inactive for a little bit even though that was a long time ago and not for very long and I was very young. I talked to him about how I went hunting with Beau, bow hunting up in the Sandia mountains for black bear. He thought that was kinda cool so I told him about how Beau had skinned it and made clothes that I borrowed one time for a camp out. I figured it out and while I'm out Ill get two chances to call from airports, 3 mothers day calls and only 1 christmas call lol. Kinda messed up. Plus I'll serve under 3 mission presidents. Matern, Anderson, and whoever the new one is for the Switzerland mission in June. It should be pretty cool but could also suck. Like they have an extra thing called OYM's out here which is "open your mouth" but they are kind of easy to do. All it is, is telling them one principle of the gospel or something and commiting them to follow it. Like some people just hand out a pass along card and ask people to call it and it is counted as an OYM. I thought that was stupid so I just try consentrating any time I have with someone to being either a lesson or try and get a referral from them. But me and Elder Lee also only count it as an OYM if we can actually teach them something, ask them some questions and get how they feel about something and then give them a real commitment. (basically if we teach a lesson but don't get to pray at the end) we count that as an OYM. So the next week we just counted every little thing that other missionaries count as OYMs as an OYM and we got a good number. Mom that cd you bought by the group "4ordained" on of them is out in this mission right now lol his name is elder kasperian. If you ever see him, show him the video Elder Middleton and I made using their music, he'd really enjoy it. I took the $60 out for a haircut and for some money for the trip to switzerland and to try and buy some najavo stuff. There is a jewlery store that gives missionaries 75% off so i bought a navajo ring but i already lost it somewhere in our apartment. I don't need boots or anything my pants and one of my pairs of shoes are all muddy but it doesn't matter out here and im going to clean them before i go back. My hair isn't that bad i still mess it up with gel but by the time i go back i should have it to the length i want it. If you want to send me the pants that would be cool im going to send back a pair i have with me. I don't think i will ever fit in those again i must have been like twelve or something. kinda wish i could see if I've lost much weight or not i can at least wear some shirts i couldn't before cause of my fat neck. Mom, I know you will worry aboutt he lost ring, it should be around my bed so it shouldn't be too lost. We do get fed by members but is about as often as it was in Ellwangen. it's okay though they put extra funds in my companions card for me so we're good on food.

I almost forgot I did get both packages but since I am trying to lose weight so i can fit into my clothes back in switzerland im not really eating many of the slim jims. however they are great to bring around with us and give to the starving scared dogs out here every now and then. I also love gum and you can tell bishop allen he would be proud of me, i brush my teeth three times a day now floss twice and don't bleed anymore from my gums and i use this whitening mouth wash stuff. Well im gonna go cya