The Adventures of My Life

This transfer has finally came to a close.  And come to think of it, it actually went by very fast..specially this past week.  We worked pretty hard this week…I am proud of our efforts.  Of course, Elder Baird is going home on Wednesday, but I think we had some good times together.  He really is a good guy.  Has taught me a lot, as well as my other companions.

We started out the week well with some visits to hispanic people last Monday and then a Family Home Evening with the Resendiz family (probably the most faithful hispanic family I have ever met).  That was a lot of fun.  But I was feeling kind of sick..I hard a huge headache…but it later went away due to some rest and some medication from Sister Caceres.  Well…on Tuesday…I can’t remember really what happened, but I’m sure it was a great day!  On Wednesday, we drove around with Brother Owens, delivering medias and also visited with Holly (a recent convert).  It the evening, we had planned a full-exchange with 2 members.  I was to stay with Brother Garcia in his house, teaching Rosa and Beni and my companion was to go with Bob, visiting another part-member family.  Well, the plans all worked out…but just a little later than we had planned.  Originally going to start at 7…Bob didn’t show up and we had to search for the remote control to watch “the Restoration”.  We started around 8, and a few minutes later, Bob showed up and left with Elder Baird.  I then had a sweet lesson with Rosa and Beni and Brother and Sister Garcia were teaching part of the lesson.  They are awesome, I love them!  Anyways, I ended up finishing around 9 and started playing the waiting game (Had to wait untill Bob got back, because the car was at the Garcia’s house).  Soon, it was 9:30 and I couldn’t call anyone cause there was no phone that worked at the Garcia’s house.  I started playing a little with the kids and then I realized it was already 10:00!!  So, with the rule that we have to be in no later than 9:30, I started freaking out a little bit.  But, they eventually arrived around 10:10 and we got back at 10:20…not too bad!

We found a couple sweet people this last week, 1 of which, Lesha Palmer, who came to church and she looooved it.  She wants to get baptized.  But also over the weekend, my allergies started to kill me, because we mowed the yard at Bob’s house and that night, I was all clogged up and couldn’t breath through my nose…it was horrible…it happened last night also.   So…Elder Baird has been saying good-bye to everyone and I am remaining here, just waiting for my new companion tommorow (who I already know who it is through some inside information!!)

Anyways, it has been a good week and I am looking forward to General Conference this next weekend…should be greeeeat!

I love ya all…hope all is well!!
Elder Hardy

Hello everyone….wow, I recieved some pretty crazy news today.  I
haven’t been able to check e-mail in 2 long weeks and BAM…everything
is happening!  Congrats to Gordon and Christi and various others, plus
aparently, Crystal is getting close…sounds really crazy!

This last week has been alright…I will recieve another companion in
about a week..which should help improve things.  Nothing against Elder
Baird, he’s way cool to hang out with, but as we all know those
missionaries that are about to head home don’t usually have their
whole heart into it…if you know what I mean.  I am doing my best to
stay busy though.  We had a good night last Monday (taught an exciting
3 times) and then on Tuesday, I went on exchanges in Burlington and I
had a great time with Elder Hinde (who is like 6 foot 6, 300 pounds).
We taught like 9 times, it was unbelievable…Burlington is one of the
best Spanish areas…and that’s for real!  But back in Henderson,
Elder Baird got sick and I accidently took the car keys, so they
didn’t have any transportation!  Haha…Anyways, Wednesday, we all met
up in Raleigh for Zone Conference.  It was alright…never been a fan
of zone conference…usually, the lunch is the highlight..but it was
just boring spaghetti.  Also, our Zone Leaders did a workshop…it was
downright awful.

On Thursday, we finally put the Lopez’ minivan back together.  We
spent about 10 hours fixing the problem, plus we pitched in to buy the
parts for them.  So, they got the minivan back, but the very next day,
Friday, Luis got into an accident in the other car…so, now they are
back down to one.  On Friday, we had fun doing medias, taught a sweet
lady and then we had pizzas at the Owens and then went on
full-exchanges.  I went with a spanish guy and Elder Baird with an
english member…it was a lot of fun.  Saturday was way fun…we went
shopping with Bob and then we went down to Chapel Hill with the
Bentleys to Stake Conference session for adults.  That was fun, they
took us to a chinese restaurant before.  Then on Sunday, we went with
Bob to Stake Conference…that was a lot of fun.  We went down in the
Motorhome..got there 2 hours early and then Bob fed all of the
missionaries.  Stake conference itself was alright..although hardly
anyone came from our Branch!  Attendance was very weak.

We are going to do super good this upcoming week…I can just feel
it…we are going to preach, teach and baptize!

With Love,
Elder Hardy

Another week has gone by in the Mish….things are going well over
here in Henderson…the weather is really warming up…tommorow, it’s
supposed to get up to 80!!  I do love the spring…especially here in
North Carolina.  But I have started to sneeze with more frecuency
right now…looks like my allergies will be taking off!  Last spring
was miserable at some points…there is so much pollen everywhere in
the spring.  But, I survived..wasn’t that hard!  It looks so pretty
here in the spring..with all of the trees, chirping of birds and also
all of the plants and flowers.  Everyone is also so cheerful.  During
the winter, it seemed like a lot of people were depressed…but
everyone becomes so happy and cheefull during the spring…it’s
definately a good time to do missionary work!

Well…Elder Baird has 2 weeks left.  This last week wasn’t our best.
Previous weeks we had taught over 20 times (pretty good), but we just
taught 11 times this last week…which lead to a “talk” that the Zone
Leader had with me…which was totally inappropriate because we
haven’t been doing anything wrong.  The Zone Leaders that we have
right now have treated me like a jerk sometimes…which really gave me
mixed feelings about them.  But, I do respect them and their
calling…I just need to be more patient and humble I guess.  Elder
Baird hasn’t been too trunky…but I can see the signs coming.  It has
been tough being the only spanish missionary and also with him going
home.  But, just need to keep on going and once again have patience.

Part of the reason that we didn’t teach that many lessons this last
week was the fact that we went to the temple on Wednesday.  It was a
great, uplifting experience.  Brother Owens kindly gave us a ride
there.  We went to the temple book store first and then to the temple.
I really felt peace and love in the temple and the feeling that
everything will all work out.  It was my last trip to the temple down
in Apex…as I will be gone before the next trip.  Also, on Saturday,
we did service for most of the day.  Elder Baird knows quite a lot
about cars….so we helped out Luis Lopez (the recent convert), whose
van had stopped working.  We replaced the water pump and the timing
belt…and due to the dynamics of the engine…it took a while..from 1
to about 8 pm…and we are still not finished.  We got a great deal on
parts from a less-active from Autozone.  This service was another
source of “concern” for the Zone Leader.  I felt that we saved this
sweet family, who are having tons of problems, 100’s of dollars in
parts and labor.  Anyways…the work is actually going quite well…I
am trying hard to stay on task…but I feel in the next 2 weeks, I
will be able to really focus again….

With love,
Elder Hardy

We are here again in the Perry Memorial Library writing email from Henderson, NC to wherever you are.  I have enjoyed this week for the most part.  As always, I can barely recall what has been happening..usually I have a bunch of sweet stories, but my mind just goes blank when I am at the computer.  Who knows….but anyways, we had quite a boring P-day on Monday…didn’t do much, for our activity, we went to Wal-mart and looked at Ipods and stuff…it was alot of fun…trust me!  In the evening, we also taught Lenny.  I asked him what he thought of baptism, and he told me that he knew he should get baptized, he just didn’t know if this was the church.  So, it all goes down to praying and recieving the answer, as always.  On Tuesday, was on exchanges with Elder Frakes (spanish speaker), so I took advantage of the opportunity to do some spanish work….we also delivered a Bible media to this crazy guy who I swear was heavily on drugs.

We also had our interviews with President Wallis on Friday….I only have 2 more left!  Friday was also the day that we held the Pinewood Derby in the churchhouse.  That was tons of fun…there were a few less-actives there, who attended.  The food was great (as always) and the members here are sweet.  Thanks to Sister Owens, we have a dinner everyday of the week and also most of the time, we have an exchange.  We even went on an exchange with Brother Luis Lopez (our recent convert) yesterday, because he recieved the priesthood and also got called as a branch missionary!!  That family (Lopez family) has been progressing very well and has been integrated quite well in the branch.  Also, the Garcia family is doing very well, Brother Garcia recieved a calling.   I will never forget those two families, they mean a lot to me…I just hope we can find a couple more here in Henderson.  I have a feeling that we will form a branch here pretty soon.  President Wallis and everyone is pushing it.  I hope I am still here…that would be so sweet.

Anyways, everything is going quite well….Elder Baird only has 3 weeks left on his mission….I am also going downhill…

Con mucho carino
Elder Hardy