The Adventures of My Life

Buenos Dias, como estan todos?  This week has been one hectic week as it seems all of them are these days.  First bit of news…Elder Staheli has been transferred to Durham, going to be a Zone Leader over there.  So, that means that I’ll be staying in Cary, NC for yet another transfer!  I’ll have lived in this city for at least 1/4 of my mission when I get done with it.  It’s a great city though, and the branch is doing great, growing growing and growing.  In fact, this last saturday, Karen, one of our investigators was baptized.  Elder Staheli baptized her (it was his turn) and then this last Sunday, I confirmed her in sacrament meeting.  Although I was super nervous (something like 80 people in sacrament meeting), it went okay.  I also gave a 5-10 presentation of part of our ward mission plan in the combined priesthood/relief society meeting.  That also went alright, as I was also extremely nervous.  But I can see the blessings of my life as I am lifted up so that I may be able to accomplish the things I have been asked to do.  Especially, I am going to need the help now that Elder Staheli left and I am the one who will be doing everything for the next couple weeks (phone calls, appts., etc.).  It should be a period of great growth though, I am really looking forward to it.  I really feel I’m on the verge of doing something great, of really throwing everything I’ve got, but it seems I just can’t break through that wall, it if you all know what I’m talking about.  But, I believe this transfer will be it, the time when I am just completely submerged in the work…we’ll see.

I have been taking lots of pictures lately, almost ready to send another memory card back home.  Have all of my pictures been posted to my picture gallery…or is that too much work?  It’s alright if everyone is too busy, I’m just curious (because I can’t go to anyother website except this one).  I think you’ll like my new pictures, I even have a video of the “fire dance” perfumed by a Samoan native, Elder Laulu!  It is pretty sweet, I hope you all get to enjoy it.  Elder Laulu only has 6 weeks left, he will be the 2nd Elder that I’ve seen “Die” as they say in mission terms.  His “trunkiness” isn’t nearly as bad as Elder Jenson, the one that left after my first transfer.  In fact, I’m going to miss Laulu alot, he’s a great guy.  His family recently moved to Utah and that’s where he’s going to be heading after spending a couple months in Samoa.  I’m sure I’m going to visit him.  That’s the good thing about living in Utah, is that I will be able to keep in touch with all of my buddies out here.

The only negative thing about telling people I’m from Utah is that it’s not something different and a lot of people don’t like Utah out here.  In fact, they always dog on Utah and the people.  These are the members I am talking about, they just don’t like Utah that much.  So, usually after I tell them I’m from Utah, I proceed to tell them that I lived the majority of live in Wyoming to be different from the rest.  I’ve been thinking when I go into my new area, that will be my answer when they ask me where I’m from, so that they are more impressed with me!  Another thing that bugs me about some people here, especially the members, both English and Spanish, is their views on politics and President Bush.  Sometimes it comes into the conversation for whatever reason, and they spend 10-15 minutes explaining why President Bush is an idiot.  For missionaries, it’s tough, cause we are not supposed to talk about politics or government issues.

Well, it was starting to warm up again and then get cold and then get warm again.  Today, supposed to be in the mid 60’s but a few days ago, it was really cold.  This climate really makes a lot of people sick, because the body always has to adjust.  In fact, Elder Staheli has had a bad cough for the last two weeks, which has turned into bronchitus.  Quite a few people have this and it’s also the prime season for colds.  I’m just getting over a minor cold, it starting out pretty bad but I surpressed it with lots of Vitamin C, Zinc and tons of Euchenasa (have no idea how to spell).  Thanks mom for the little medicin cabinet, I’m popping vitamins every day and trying to get fruits in every day.  But I have been a little bad on the vegetables, but I promise I’ll do better this next transfer!

The branch has been going great in the last month feeding us.  For the longest time (October, November, December), we had almost no meals because our meals coordinator is inactive.  That was until Sister Rodriguez came to the rescue!  Last month, the meal calender was full of names, and this month it’s even better!!  We are going to be fed well.  As far as the actual work goes, are investigator pool has been decreasing a little as we had to put more effort in the baptism and less in finding people.  Karen was baptized, we are still working with a guy in his 50’s from Mexico, named Albino who has been to church a few times.  We also have a young lad from El Salvador, named Juan de Dios (John of God) who is pretty excited about the church.  Going off topic, did anyone take my challenge of eating at “El Salvador” in Provo, I am going to have to report back to the Claros family in the next few weeks.

In the effort not to bore you all to death, I am going to end this letter, but thanks everyone for the support and for the commentaries from my last letter.  Although I won’t be able to write a full e-mail back, I will try to write a little note or put you on the list to recieve a snail mail

Que tenga una buena semana y Dios les bendiga.

Elder Hardy

Le Familia Hardy,

This letter serves for two purposes. 1. To inform you of what is going on because I won’t be able to do email again today (MLK holiday) and also 2 to remind Dad I need 2cent stamps.  I have about 150 .37-cent stamps, so I’ll be needing about that many if it isn’t too inconvenient for you.  Thanks for all you do and all the support.  And also, if anyone hast the chance, would you type this letter into my blog?? Because by the time next week comes, I would have forgot everything pertaining to this week.  And I know the blog is a very popular website right now and receiving tons of comments. Right??

Well, the weather has been a little strange again.  For a few days this week, it hit a high of 70 and now is back to 50.  it was “supposed” to snow, like they always say, but it never happens.  I heard you can teach a lot more while tracking, because people don’t mind standing outside when it’s not freezing cold.  Besides from my weekly weather spill, things are going great.  We have a very firm baptismal date for a young lady named Karen for the 28^th of this month.  She was a referral from a member and right she is doing great.  She came to church all three times since we started talking to her and now, she even joining the ward choir! I wish all of our investigators were this excited to be apart of the church.

We actually just got back from playing basketball with some of the young single adult guys at NC State. It was a lot of fun, but we play basketball almost every P-day, we need to start thinking of some new activities.  I suggested maybe checking out some sites or taking a tour of the football stadium/ basketball complex at NC State, but it was shot down.  Now, we are back at our apartment, washing clothes and relaxing.  Our washing machine is kind of funny.  The hose connector at the bottom, so we have to fill up the water manually.  The rest of the apartment isn’t that great either.  We have probably the worst apartment in the mission.  I’ve seen some of the others, ours is the ghetto compared to theirs.  We do have lots of Hispanics that live here.

I met an awesome kid yesterday at church, who is from El Salvador, lived in the states for about for six months     He is seventeen, went to church for the first time with one of our recent converts.  He is learning English like a madman, works from 6-4 everyday and goes to school to learn English the rest of the day.  I got to speak to him in Spanish, got to know him pretty good.  It’s cool meeting Hispanics from all over the place.  I have met people from Mexico, (of course) Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Nicaragua, Columbia, Venezuela, Guatemala, chilie, Paraguay, and Ecuador.  Basically all of the Latin American countries.  I think that it would be sweet to take a huge family vacation down there when I return, and I can be the guide!

So, another transfer is already coming to a close.  Only two more weeks.  Me and elder Stahlei are going to be separated, that’s all that I know.  The question is which one of us is going and staying.  If elder Staheli is staying, that means that he is going to be here in this area for seven and half months.  If I stay, it’s going to be six months for me.  And for those of you know, the ones that have served missions, that is quite a long time in one area.  We’ll see what happens.  Well this is all the news that I have for this week.

Sinarmente,

Elder Hardy

After another off-week of not doing e-mail (stupid holidays always falling on Mondays!), I will finally get back into the regular routine.  As I have forgotten everything that happened the week before last, I was prepared this time.  I sent a letter to the family last week with the intend of them adding it as last weeks entry to my little blog that I have established.  The website is: http://house.hardys.org/michael for those of you who want to see my archive entries.  I actually had a few praises for my last entry two weeks ago, lets see if I can match up to that success story.

Looking back at my week, I guess there wasn’t one big event that highlighted it, just little cool things happening.  We are a reeeaaaly good dinner on Tuesday night with the Claros family…who used to own a restuarant in Provo.  For any of you that live over there, I strongly recommend this place, even though their family doesn’t own it anymore.  It is called “The El Salvador” on center street.  Salvadoranian food is unbelievably good, especially what they call “Popuses”.  I don’t know if I spelled that right, but trust me, they are unbelievable good.  And also if you go, be sure to tell me about it, because I’m sure the Claros would love to hear how there restuarant is doing.  I’m sure I’ll be in Cary for just a little longer.  Next week are transfers but the word on the street is that Elder Staheli is probably going to be transfered as he’s almost been in Cary for 6 months and me 4 months.  So, I’ll probably end up also being in Cary for 6 months…which is quite a long time to be in one area.  And I figured out, if I do end up staying, I’ll have 9 months on my mission before moving to a different area…have you all ever heard of that before??  And when I do leave, I’ll probably be going somewhere in the triangle (Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill and Durham), as a lot of the Spanish Elders are here (lots of jobs for the Hispanics).

This week, I went on English exchanges with the Zone Leaders at North Carolina State (we go on english exchanges every week because Elder Staheli is a district leader).  That was a very interesting experience, although I was not able to do campus contacting (because it was raining), but I was able to talk to some people my age and in english, which was diffently different and scary (especially with the girls).  I guess it was a good thing I wasn’t called to be a English missionary because I wouldn’t be able to stand the pressure of doing daily English work, especially at the colleges.  It was fun though for the short time, made me feel more at home than at Little Mexico with the broken down apartments and toys laying out in the yards.

I guess the big thing going on right now in relation to the government and illegal aliens is a law that the government just passed.  From what I understand is that if you aid illegal immigrants in any way and don’t report them, you are liable to be punished by law.  Which really puts the church into a tough spot, especially hispanic branches.  A member told us recently, that 3/4 of our branch are not legal residents, which really shocked me!  That means if they need help with money, the church will not be able to help them out, or they would be required by law to report them, which means deporting them back to their own country.  I don’t know how strict it is being inforced at this moment, but that would cost tons of money, because there are many thousands of “illegal immigrants” who are in the United States.  In the Book of Mormon, it talks about how the Lamanite’s seed would be scattered and scourged among the nations, so this is a prophecy coming fulfilled how the United States wants to get rid of all of them.  And in reality, they do all of the jobs that Americans refuse to do, tons of jobs would go unfilled, it would be a mess…but enough of my politics spill.

We’ve been working with Karen, who has an extremely firm baptismal date for this Saturday.  She’s one of the rare ones that just accepts the gospel right off the bat, and keeps all the commitments.  She has already joined the branch choir and is making tons of invitations to her baptism, it’s pretty sweet.  She’s actually a member referal, so it’s been very easy to get her to church and interact with the members.  Our recent convert, Sandy, is doing great, she has a little boy on the way, due date Jan. 31st.  So, little “Pedro” should be coming any time now. The branch is also reaching new heights.  94 people were counted as attending sacrament meeting, a new high.  Among those, we had 2 investigators, so things are going great.

Nice to hear from all of you in the family letter, keep up the good work everyone.  If anyone has any specific requests on pictures or maybe something important I may be leaving out in my letters, just tell me and I’ll try my best to fulfill it.  Things are going great here in North Carolina, thanks for the support and the letters and even received a package this week…thanks for the new sweaters!!  Well, hope you all have a nice week and I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you in the future!

Elder Hardy

Since it is Martin Luther King Day, Michael couldn’t get to a public library so there is no missionary post this week.

Well, it has been quite a while since I have been able to get an e-mail out.  As you all know, we have just passed the Holiday Season.  And we had a little bad luck in regard to doing e-mails.  You see, We do e-mails on Monday in the Public/School Library.  And the last two Mondays have been right after 2 major holidays (Christmas and New Year’s Day), making the Monday a working holiday and those closing off all of the public buildings.  So, all I’ve been stuck with is snail mail, showing how tough it was for the pioneers of missionary work (Chris and Gordon).  But, we had a good holiday season, starting with a baptism on the 18th and ending with a baptism this last Saturday (to be explained latter in the letter).Well, I guess I’ll begin where I left off talking to the family on the phone on Christmas.  And for those of you who I wasn’t able to talk with…I hope you heard how I was doing.  It was a great Christmas, for the Eve before, we spent with the Guerra Family and had some good tomales and hispanic cookin’. It was a full-blown fiesta.  The Hispanics generally celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and Christmas day is more of a laid-back, relaxing type of day.  Oh, there was good food, nice spicy chicken, tomales, beans, rice…I think I’m really getting spoiled and I’ve started to really really like spicy food.  Don’t be surprised if I start buying my own hot sauce when I get home, the really lethal kind, because nothing else will satisfy my mouth!  Christmas day, we spent with some English members, for lunch at the Despain Family, who are originally from Wyoming, so that really felt just like home.  Me and Elder Staheli actually prepared the sweet potatoes and oh they were good!  I am trying to develop myself into a cook, which is hard for some of you all to believe I bet!  But, all I’ve got to say is that real true mexican food is celestial, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to eat over at the mexican restaurants in Payson with the same enthusiasm level as before.  The only thing they can work on a little bit is their dessert, which usually is pretty american-ized, like ice cream and pumpkin pie.

The week after Christmas passed pretty well, I think it was a pretty normal week, it seemed like a long time ago.  We just continued with our normal adventures, don’t really have that much that I can remember.  New Year’s Eve was an interesting experience.  The mission car had to be parked by 7 in the evening, I guess to avoid danger from driving on the streets.  We visited some members and went to a member party, we were the only ones there because it was so early.  But later in the evening, there were some 20-25 members and I heard they didn’t get home until 2 or 3 in the evening…Man, they know how to party.  Also, we had a ward party a day earlier in the church and they had loud hispanic music and there was a lot of sweet dancing.

Well, I guess I will move onto this last week…I’d have to say, one of the more crazy weeks.  The first part of the week, we found out one of our members was going to be “re-baptized”, yes I repeat, “re-baptized”.  What happened is somehow her record was lost when they moved to the United States a few years ago.  I mean, she’s already been baptized and recieved the Holy Ghost for 10 years since she was baptized at 8 years old.  I guess for this situation, if you can get a written letter from person who baptized you or was a witness, they can re-make a record.  But, if you can’t, you have to be “re-baptized” in order to gain membership into the church again, which seems to me a little wierd.  I mean, I think Heavenly Father knows if someone has been baptized or not?  All i can think is there must be a lot of paper work in heaven.  Anyways, they tried to find the Bishop who baptized her but they found out that he died and they couldn’t find the witness.  So, they scheduled a “Re-Baptism” for Saturday.  Originally, we were only going to give a talk, but I think that the members in the branch didn’t quite feel comfortable re-baptizing and re-affirming her as a member because…she was already a member!  So, they pushed the responsibilities upon our shoulders.  They wanted me to baptize her and Elder Staheli to confirm her.  So, the day of the baptism arrived and we were on exchanges with the Spanish Assistants to the President.  The baptism was going to start at 7, so we planned to meet together at the house at 6 and head over there.  Elder Barnett (Elder I was with) and I got back at around 5:55.  And not ten minutes later, recieved a phone call from the Branch President which went something like this, “Elder Hardy, the whole branch is waiting, where are you??  The baptism was supposed to start at 6.”  It totally caught me off-guard, because we were saying all along it was going to start at 7.  So, I quickly changed and left the house and I believe we arrived at the church around 6:20.  And to help all of you get a sense of how awkward this really was…I had never had a regular conversion with this girl, only greeted her a few times.  So, I was about to baptized someone I didn’t even know and in reality didn’t even know her full-name if it wasn’t for the program.  So, we proceeded on with the baptism…which had to be done twice!  I guess her head didn’t go down all the way.  She was baptized twice at her re-baptism!  So wierd….We then proceded to go back and I realized I had forgotten a couple articles of clothing, my tie and a clean white shirt.  Therefore I proceded into the room with a white tie and a half wet shirt.  That is where the big surprise hit me.  Elder Staheli had still not arrived for some reason and Brother Guerra said this, “After the talk on the Holy Ghost, Elder Staheli will confirm her, but if he has not arrived, Elder Hardy will do it”  I had never done that in English before let alone Spanish!  So, I pulled out my handbook and tried to study as much as a could.  Well, Elder Staheli didn’t make it in time, so I re-gave her the Holy Ghost in my terminally ill Spanish.  I therefore re-baptized and re-confirmed a member of the church, who I did not even know before!  How wierd is that.  Well, that’s it for this Week

Elder Hardy.