The Adventures of My Life

So, I am writing on a Saturday, cause they moved preparation to Saturday this week.  Actually, this is my 2nd p-day of the week.  Firstly, Christmas was on a Monday, so we had one on Tuesday.  Now, President switched our P-day from next week to today.  Which doesn’t make much sense to me, because what are we going to get done on the 1st of the year??  Everyone will be hung over and sleeping in from the big celebration the night before.  We really don’t have anything planned that day.  But we already did have something planned for this P-day, before we knew it was a p-day.  So, that already took up half of the day.  And that event was…..A BAPTISM!!

So, the last few weeks have been super great.  We have worked really hard, trying to find new people and especially trying to keep up with our investigators, which has been even tougher due to the holiday season.  Recalling far back, I believe we had an excellent Christmas Eve.  We had a Christmas program at church, and I sang in the choir…I believe I was the only bass part.  And earlier in the week, I sang in the choir for Zone Conference, which was a great experience.  I love singing in choirs, especially singing Christmas songs.  I also translated most of the sacrament meeting, before joining the choir, but I did not teach a class…the first time in quite a while.  Anyways, we visited our Hispanics on the Eve, cause that is their big holiday.  First, we stopped by the Garcia (one’s who had a baptismal date…for today).  Not much happened, we played with the kids football and basketball and also saw one of the them create electricity when they throw the football at the power lines…bad idea.  We actually didn’t eat there, cause nothing was ready.  So, we moved on to the next house…the Tomas family.  We ate a few tortilla shaped scones with honey…they were super good, but I was already close to full, even before we made it to our dinner that night..The Resendiz Family.  We had a grand time at their house…singing lots of Christmas songs and eating a lot more.  I couldn’t finish what was given to me, I was really about to explode.  But, like all good things, the night had to come to an end and we went home to rest.

Christmas day was delightful!  It all started with the opening of the presents at 8 am.  I saw Elder Ferons open up all of his cool presents, but I recieved the best of all…Jerkey!!  Yeah…way to go Family!!!  Anyways, we soon headed to the Jester home to have breakfast.  I heard many raves that it was going to be way good…but I really wasn’t too impressed…in fact; I was thinking about those yummy swimmer pancakes that Mom always makes…haha.  So, we watched them open up their presents…nothing too exciting…we also recieved something…scarfes…yeah!  Then, we made the phone call home…it was good times.  Later on in the night, through the little rain storm, we visited Billy and then we drove to Warrenton to have dinner with the Bentley family.  It was a great time that family is awesome.  They are young, and Bro. Bentley loves college football, so that is what we talk about alot.  I also found out Sis. Bentley’s sister is looking for a hubby…and if she is anything like Sis. Bentley, she’d be a steal!  I’m working on getting the information from her (not for me! but for another!).  Anyways, that was our Christmas.

The week has been filled with little successes and little failures, but it just ended with a big splash!  Literally….a huge splash!!  The baptism was scheduled for 11 today.  We arrived at the church house to make preparations at 8:30…and everything was finished and we were all dressed in our white baptismal clothes at 10:30.  No one was there.  All of the Americans had arrived by 11, but no hispanics.  Finally, Fransisco and Teresa showed up at 11:10 and they got dressed and despite all the late people, we started the service.  And what a service it was!  First, Elder Ferons baptized Teresa, and then I baptized Fransisco.  It was a very special moment for us and those two.  They had been listening to the missionaries for over a year, and despite everyone in their family already being members, it took them some extra time and they finally wanted to be baptized the 1 or 2 time that I had met with them.  This family is already part of my family.

Well, here we are almost to the end of 2006.  I’m excited for what 2007 has to over.  As a missionary for half of it, and then as a regular person the other half.  Who knows what will happen, where I will be or what I will be doing in 1 year from now.  All, I know is that I will want to still be firm in the gospel, with a deep faith in our Heavenly Father, who makes it all possible that we are alive, breathing, living day by day.  May the Lord and his abundant mercies bless each and every one of us as we do his will and keep his commandments.

Con carino,
Elder Hardy

Feliz Navidad….Feliz Navidad….Feliz Navidad….Prospero Ano y Felicidad!!!  Well, it’s been a great week…and an even great weekend.  We had a baptism on Saturday, her name was Anastacia Munoz, a hispanic lady whose son had just gotten baptized in November, so she felt the spirit and decided it was time for her to get baptized.  As all baptisms are, it was a crazy one.  We arrived at the church, at 11, to start filling the baptismal font.  We had made the whole baptismal program and due to lack of spanish speakers, I was going to conduct it.  Anastacia had origanally asked Brother Jesture to baptize her, but he was out of town.  Then she want President Cullar (the branch president) to do it, but since he doesn’t speak Spanish, he didn’t feel comfortable doing it.  Then, We asked Brother Tomas (the Spanish group leader) to do it the night before, and he agreed.  But, 5 minutes the baptism was going to start, he told us he wanted one of us to perform the baptism, that he really didn’t want to do it.  It was great timing..huh?  So, Elder Ferons said he would conduct the meeting, if I wanted to baptize her (I haven’t baptized anyone since last year…Dec. 18th, 2005).  So, we ran home, I got my white cloths and we got to the church, right as they did, at 1:15 (service was supposed to begin at 1).  Then it turns out that our 1st speaker went back home to get her sister and we ended up starting at 1:45.  It was alright though.  So, I ended up baptizing Anastacia.  It was a great meeting…the Spirit was super strong, and it was also a lot of fun.

I guess the significance of it all is something very special to me.  Because I was kicked out of the MTC on December 18th, 2004 (today is the 2-year anniversary).  I remember that day vividly, that I came home and then I was released.  Mom and Dad went out in the evening or something, and I bet Julie remembers that I was downstairs for awhile and then I came up and she could tell that I was having a hard time.  I remember being downstairs and hitting the realization what had happened, that I was no longer a missionary.  I truley felt troubled and perplexed, not knowing what to do, what I was to do and the purpose of being home again.  I can remember few such moments that I felt so devastated, lonely and even to a sense abandoned in my life.  Well, after the initial shock, and after fervently praying for help, I felt a soothing comforting whisper that everything would be alright.  I felt the power of the atonement make peace to my mind and my heart and I felt the love of God.  I knew that I could do it.  I knew everything would be alright.  I wasn’t sure if I would be a missionary again, but I was sure if I stretched myself for that goal, that I would be made whole again, in whatever path life would lead me.  I continued onward and after 7 months, I became a missionary again.  Then, last year, December 18th, 2005, 1 year to the day of that miserable day, I saw the fruit of labor, I was able to perform the baptism of Sandy Granados.  Joy had filled my soul, I knew everything had happened for a purpose.  I experienced yet another great year of missionary work and I could feel the love of God for me and many blessings that I had recieved.  Then this last Saturday, Dec. 16th, 2006, I baptized Anastacia Munoz.  This time it wasn’t to the day but I did go home on the same Saturday.  It is another witness to me that God loves and knows us and if we live true to what we know and the commandments, he will bless us immediately and give us what we need in the very moment of despair.

I didn’t quite know that this email would turn out like this, but I do know the Gospel has been restored to the Earth through Joseph Smith the Prophet, that we live in the fullness of times and that Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer of the World, lives today and leads and guides this church.  He was born of humble birth, in a manger, in a foriegn land.  In his life, he demostrated perfect love, charity, faith and humbleness.  He died for us, he lives for us and it is my testimony and my witness, through the Holy Ghost, that he will return again in glory to rein upon the Earth, and to intercede and plead on behalf of us.  Let us all continue living right and worthy for this moment.  In this Holiday Season, let us strive to pattern our lives after the Savior and all try to become nicer, kinder and gentler to each other.  He lives.  He is the example.  He is the Christ.

With Love, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas,
Elder Hardy

Weeell, hello everyone.  How is everyone doing?  I am doing fine…just 2 more weeks till Christmas!!  Just to let everyone know about the phone call…President Wallis has told us that we do what the handbook says and it says that we should only talk for 30-40 minutes.  That is compared to the 1 hour, 10 minutes I got last year….ahhh…i don’t know if I can do that…so little time.  I remember when Chris, Gordon and Julie called that they spoke for hours.  Oh, how times have changed, that we actually have to obey the missionary rules now.  Before, the rules were there but no one even followed them..even ask Gordon, he knows all about the corruption!  So, this week was good, let me tell you all about it:

First…On Tuesday, we had an excellent day….taught 9 lessons.  Most of them were first lessons, we did a little tracking.  Wednesday was a horrible day…our baptismal date for Dec. 16th, Cleo Lee, called us and wanted to cancel the baptism cause she wants to move…that is a bummer.  Afterthing seemed like it was crashing down on us.  The other family, whose parents want to get baptized, cancelled on us also and now the husband isn’t sure.  So, we just went out with Bob, ate some dinner at Denny’s and shopped for food for our Christmas party that we had yesterday.  Thursday was a lot better day, we had our weekly planning, and visited Lenny Riggans, a english part-member who agreed to start taking the lessons from us.  He is way cool, hopefully he will start having that desire to learn more.  We also had a sweet dinner with the Lopez family…another part-member we are working with.  Only the mom and one kid is a member.  The rest still haven’t been baptized, but we will change that soon.  On Friday, we did medias almost all day with Brother Owens.  We drove around looking for the people who had ordered Bibles and other items.  We had fun and I had lots of time to think about other stuff.  It was waaaaay cold the whole day…i had a long sleeve shirt, sweater, my suit coat and another jacket on, and it was still freezing.  It was hovering around 30 in the day and went into the teens during the night.  With the humidity, that is super cold.  So, we didn’t have a great night that I can recall.  On Saturday, we helped Bob most of the day moving his brother’s things out of his house.  It was a lot of fun.  He had bought a trashed trailor from a baptist church for 1 dollar and then had to dragged over to his property and renovated it.  Now, we are moving his brother’s stuff out of his section of the house, then Bob will take out the wall separated the two sections so he can have a bigger house.  It was great fun.  He calls me his “Wyoming Boy”, ’cause he thinks it’s cooler than saying that I am from Utah.  He is one of those who loves the missionaries, so I am glad I am getting along with him.  Saturday night was super cold also, so we didn’t have much success.

Well, Sunday was a very interesting day.  I went to the spanish sacrament meeting, directing the music, blessed the sacrament, both the water and the bread and I also gave a 20 minute talk.  It was a lot of fun.  Then right after all of that spanish, I taught the gospel principles class in English….man I sure am getting use to changing languages…it’s a good tool to have, although sometimes I wish I could speak in Spanish all day.  That was about it for church…I was a main participant…afterwards, we went over to teach Anastacia Munoz.  She made some Chile Rellenos….they were soooooo goooood….I have never eaten such good food before…Mom, you would have loved them!  Anyways, we didn’t have much time…we found out that she still wanted to be baptized this Saturday…sweeet!  So, already knowing everything, being taught by other missionaries, we kind of quizzed her and went over almost all of the missionary lessons in 20 minutes.  It was great….she knew everyone and is very ready.  She kind of fell into our hands.  We have only taught her 2 so far.  Anyways, although Cleo Lee fell out of the picture for now, we had a special fast for her and our area after Wednesday (the bad day of the week).  I believe that through our fast and faithfullness, that God has really blessed us with more success.  I love being here, and I am glad I still have time in my mission overtime.  After that good experience, we went to Bob’s house to have our Christmas Party…which went very well.  We had a white elephant gift exchanged and I ended up getting some bungey cords…pretty nifty..huh?  The part rocked, I felt I was surrounded by some of my favorite people, Bob, the Bentleys, the Owens.  It was a lot of fun.

So, that is the recap of our week..I hope you enjoyed it and I hope everyone has a blessed holiday season.

Con Amor,
Elder Hardy

*Dad, said you received no email for last week…here it is..don’t know how you didn’t get it*

Ho Ho Ho….the holidays have begun! For some reason…as a missionary…and I guess with most everyone, Christmas is the favorite holiday. It has even expanded that Christmas is just not celebrated for 1 day but for the whole month of December, even starting sometimes before Thanksgiving! But I love Christmas just because usually it is a very happy time with family, with the people you love and a time to reflect and help other people. Before the mission, it was primeraly a time to receive lots of sweet stuff…but, last Christmas, as a missionary, I learned you don’t have to get lots of stuff to enjoy Christmas…mainly by changing the focus to Christ. Anyways, I’m excited for that and we also had a decent good week.

On Monday, we set up all of the Christmas stuff in the apartment (mainly just the tree and some lights) and we also had dinner with the sweetest members…the Owens, who do everything for us (and she also cooks way good). Tuesday, we taught 8 lessons, 4 of them with Brother Owens, doing medias. On Wednesday, we had exchanges with the Burlington Elders….and I went to Burlington. Well, since the other Spanish Elders had the car and I can’t ride a bike, the other Elder I was with just sat around in the apartment complaining and making phone calls. It kind of sucked…oh well, it’s not my area. Anyways, back in Henderson, Alfreda didn’t show up for the baptismal interview (kind of saw it coming), she was baby-sitting some kids. She is a kind, sweet lady and wants to be baptized but I don’t think she really realizes the importance of it. It will be postponed for a few more weeks. Also, in the evening, Elder Ferons went over to the Garcias and they told him they wanted to be baptized before New Years. So, we have 2 on the 16th (Cleo Lee and Anastacia) and the 2 more before the end of the year, the Garcia Parents. It should be a very good month.

On Thursday, we had our ZDM in Durham. It was my first time ever in Durham…didn’t see much..just from the highway. I saw a little bit of the Duke campus and also where the Durham Bulls play (a minor league baseball team). But the meeting was good and I had a really good interview with President Wallis. Henderson is just going so sweet right now, I love it. We also had a good day and taught the Lopez Family..(the Dad, Juan, is not a member). We really taught a sweet lesson about baptism, but Juan wouldn’t budge, saying he hasn’t recieved an answer yet…ahhh. Anyways, we are having tons of success with part-member families…even on the english side…Saturday, we taught Lenny, the husband of Sister Riggans. He told us he would read and pray and he had never really accepted the missionaries over before. So, we are excited about him.

Let’s see…what else…on Saturday, we helped Bob (the member who buys us tons of things), we moved his brothers stuff out of his house (his brother had tons of antiques and junk and everything stuffed into a little portion of the house). We also spent Sunday with Bob, visiting a referel we recieved in the John Umstead Hospital in Butner (where?). He was named Edwin Duque, actually was from Ecuador, and was in the physciatric ward. I guess he almost got baptized in the Charlotte mission and then had to go to the hospital because he had been diagnosed with Borderline personality and before was diagnosed Bi-Polar. But, he was a really cool kid and I’m glad I had the chance to go. With Bob also, we had a sweet meal and also made a bondfire in his backyard before going to the Christmas devotional, which I enjoyed very much.

It got really rainy and cold last night and today it is hovering in the mid 40’s. It has really been nice lately for November and December, but I think it is going to stay cold this time..(although the it is supposed to be 50 or 60 in the next few days). Well, I am doing well, this afternoon the Owens are going to be getting us a “real” christmas tree..so, it’s going to be great.

Ok. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday season and gets everything they want (I want an Ipod for christmas, but I am waiting until June to buy one, cause they will be a lot fancier and better…hahahaha!!)

Con Amor,
Elder Hardy