Indianapolis~
Momma,
Sorry about yesterday and not writing. We had an emergency training about mormon.org yesterday. I didnt find out about the training untill Sunday and i heard that a 70 was coming. and i thought to myself "how sweet would it be if it was Elder Evans" (the guy i met before i came out on my mission) then Monday morning we get to the meeting and I was sitting waiting and guess who walks in? ??????????? Elder Evans!!!!!!!!!!!! oh my goodness i felt like i was going to die. I always have wanted to express my gratitude for what he did for me. He told the president that he wanted to meet everyone so we all lined up and started shaking hands. he asked everyone where they were from and said good job. you know, the usual. well it gets to my turn and he looks at my tag and says "Elder Hardman, where are you from" I just looked at him straight in the eyes and said " i know you dont remember me, but thank you so much for the things that you have done for me" He looked at me for a little while and just hugged me and told me that he remembered me and told me how proud he is of me and told me that he remembers the day he met me and the kind of man i am and thats the reason I'm on a mission" what are the chances that the executive director of the mission department who is over every single thing that has to do with missionary work came to my mission? i cant even explain to you what i was thinking and feeling. after a few hours of training we had a break and he came and talked to me and he told me some things that i really really really needed to hear. it helped me so much.
So I'm pretty sure i broke my ankle. the last week of my first transfer i hurt my ankle really bad. do you remember that? well that was also the first time on my mission i didnt where my garments to play sports. so that was probably God telling me i was stupid. then yesterday i was playing soccer after the training in the parking lot. not on preperation day and i did the exact same thing. God has a funny way of telling me things that i shouldnt be doing. i wish he did it a little nicer tho haha.
Earlier this week i had my first experience with casting out demons. it was super sketchy and scary and super awesome. we went over to this less active ladies house and she told us that her daughter has woken up in the middle of the night and felt like someone was on top of her and she couldnt move or scream or anything and she thinks its demons. so she asked us if we could do an excorsism. hahahaha no hermana. we dont believe in the kind of stuff but we will come and bless your home and get rid of the demons that way. so we made a lesson plan and felt like if they started praying as a family that nothing like that would happen. so we go over there and walked into the house and it just felt super bad. something was in there. we start are lesson and bring in the spirit. then we have the girl that this was all happening to read a scripture about family prayer. she gets half way done and the power to the whole apt complex turns off. right when that happened i just felt super dark and dirty and you could tell that something was right there with us. well we get a flashlight and finish our lesson and we start talking about the power that satan has and stuff like that and the power turns on. we talked about good stuff and the power turns off we talk about satan and the power turns on. not a coincidence.
I'm not in a trio anymore. but i am with my old companion. things are good. we are seeing so much success right now. We both feel like the spirit is telling us that something big is going to happen in this area this transfer. I'm super excited for it.
Well i have lots to do and i dont have time to write anymore. But i want to end with my testimony. I know this church is true and that prayer works. i know that when you pray and you have a pure desire to know, God is going to bless you with that answer. i know that God watches over missionaries families. and i know without a doubt in my mind that i am here in Indiana at this time because its where God wants me. I know the book of mormon is the word of God and every single word is true. I know that because i feel the spirit with every single word. i know that Jesus is the Christ who suffered for us because of the love he has for us. i know families are foreordained of God. I know Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God.
I love you so much and i thank God everyday for my family. Thank you so much Jessica and Jonathan.
Elder Hardman
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, Sept 19, 2011; Week 27
Indianapolis~
Mi madre amado
Primero yo quiero empezar con un bien chiste. ?por que seis tiene miedo de siete? porque siete ocho nueve!!!! hahahahahaha we had a little girl tell us that in English so i decided to translate it and start telling the hispanic people it in Spanish. its so funny to see their reaction from it because it doesnt make any sense in Spanish. its now my favorite joke to tell them. things are going good. it was a good week. oh and first, I'm staying in this area. So this week, one of the companionships in our district had somebody go home for illness issues so my companionship was put into a trio which was super awesome. I had so much fun and it made me get along with my comp a lot more. we had super super good lessons this week as well. We have 2 people that we will baptize this transfer. if we dont I'm going to feel like a failure. So I've been praying super hard trying to find out what i need to change in my self to make this possible. I have a lot of things to change.
Hermana Marcos. oh my goodness we are running out of ideas to help her. we go over and we follow the spirit and have such spiritual lessons and every time she tells us she will come to church and will do all these things but then she never does them. its so hard because she knows everything is true and she loves the book of mormon and praying and doing all these things but she wont come to church anymore because she goes with her husband. i think she is afraid to talk to him and to come to our church. we have a lesson Tuesday so we will see what happens.
We have another guy who is called Hermano Martinez. I've been working with him for like 2 transfers and he wasnt picking anything up and just couldnt remember anything and then all the sudden he just changed and now he is one of the most solid people we teach. he reads he comes to church he understands what we talk about and then he even tells us the things that he learned in the lessons. he is super solid. he came to church yesterday in a white shirt and tie with a part in his hair. super super funny but really cool. I'm excited I'm staying here because we are seeing a lot of good things happen with our investigators. i cant wait to see what the lord has in store.
We have been seeing a lot more succes as well. this week we got 4 more investigators. Might not seem like a lot but it is. The way I do it is I dont count them as new untill we have two lessons with them and they show like they want to learn more. Most Spanish missionaries here if they have lessons they will count them as new the first time they meet them but what I've noticed is that hispanics just like to listen to the word of God once and then you will never get in contact with them again. about my winter stuff. it would be better to just get my gloves and small stuff like that out here so I'll just buy it when i need it. but if you could just get me those sweaters that would be cool. I'll take care of everything else if you could do that. and about my memory card. i would send it to you, but i dont want to be without it if something cool happens. so if you could send me another one that holds like 50 pictures or something i would gladly send you my card :) its been raining a lot lately so thats not too fun but thats alright. It makes me feel more like a missionaary.
So there is a little girl who is 8 in our branch and for some reason she just loves me. But she has cancer and its just super super sad. well she has been in the hospital for the last 2 weeks and she came to church yesterday with just a big smile the whole day and she just looked not good. But just seeing her with that smile just made me think how often i have let my head hang low from having a bad lesson or not doing a good enough job at something and just getting down on my self for different reasons and then i thought that if she could be dying but still have something to smile about then I'm just being dumb over my dumb little things. she really helped me a lot:) Oh and she thought i was getting transfered so after church she ran up to me and gave me a hug and it freaked me out so i pushed her off and she got super sad and walked away. it made me sad.
Super funny about byu. super sad but super funny. What else is going out there in the real world? its kinda funny that I'm right in the middle of the world but i have know idea what is even going on. That's sweet about Payden and Thomas. I believe Daniel is in the mtc now as well. Things sound like they are picking up for the family. thats good and im happy about that :) things here are good. good working hard and changing a lot. This week I studied the atonement and blew my mind with stuff. i studied moroni 10:3-5 to try and improve my prayers and again my mind was blown. Something i realized with it...... when it says ponder "IT" it is talking about "mercy" and mercy is the atonement. So in our prayers, to make it a communication we need to go through the steps in moroni 10 and then ponder the atonement.
Well my time is up. Love you and I hope you liked the letter.
Elder Hardman
Mi madre amado
Primero yo quiero empezar con un bien chiste. ?por que seis tiene miedo de siete? porque siete ocho nueve!!!! hahahahahaha we had a little girl tell us that in English so i decided to translate it and start telling the hispanic people it in Spanish. its so funny to see their reaction from it because it doesnt make any sense in Spanish. its now my favorite joke to tell them. things are going good. it was a good week. oh and first, I'm staying in this area. So this week, one of the companionships in our district had somebody go home for illness issues so my companionship was put into a trio which was super awesome. I had so much fun and it made me get along with my comp a lot more. we had super super good lessons this week as well. We have 2 people that we will baptize this transfer. if we dont I'm going to feel like a failure. So I've been praying super hard trying to find out what i need to change in my self to make this possible. I have a lot of things to change.
Hermana Marcos. oh my goodness we are running out of ideas to help her. we go over and we follow the spirit and have such spiritual lessons and every time she tells us she will come to church and will do all these things but then she never does them. its so hard because she knows everything is true and she loves the book of mormon and praying and doing all these things but she wont come to church anymore because she goes with her husband. i think she is afraid to talk to him and to come to our church. we have a lesson Tuesday so we will see what happens.
We have another guy who is called Hermano Martinez. I've been working with him for like 2 transfers and he wasnt picking anything up and just couldnt remember anything and then all the sudden he just changed and now he is one of the most solid people we teach. he reads he comes to church he understands what we talk about and then he even tells us the things that he learned in the lessons. he is super solid. he came to church yesterday in a white shirt and tie with a part in his hair. super super funny but really cool. I'm excited I'm staying here because we are seeing a lot of good things happen with our investigators. i cant wait to see what the lord has in store.
We have been seeing a lot more succes as well. this week we got 4 more investigators. Might not seem like a lot but it is. The way I do it is I dont count them as new untill we have two lessons with them and they show like they want to learn more. Most Spanish missionaries here if they have lessons they will count them as new the first time they meet them but what I've noticed is that hispanics just like to listen to the word of God once and then you will never get in contact with them again. about my winter stuff. it would be better to just get my gloves and small stuff like that out here so I'll just buy it when i need it. but if you could just get me those sweaters that would be cool. I'll take care of everything else if you could do that. and about my memory card. i would send it to you, but i dont want to be without it if something cool happens. so if you could send me another one that holds like 50 pictures or something i would gladly send you my card :) its been raining a lot lately so thats not too fun but thats alright. It makes me feel more like a missionaary.
So there is a little girl who is 8 in our branch and for some reason she just loves me. But she has cancer and its just super super sad. well she has been in the hospital for the last 2 weeks and she came to church yesterday with just a big smile the whole day and she just looked not good. But just seeing her with that smile just made me think how often i have let my head hang low from having a bad lesson or not doing a good enough job at something and just getting down on my self for different reasons and then i thought that if she could be dying but still have something to smile about then I'm just being dumb over my dumb little things. she really helped me a lot:) Oh and she thought i was getting transfered so after church she ran up to me and gave me a hug and it freaked me out so i pushed her off and she got super sad and walked away. it made me sad.
Super funny about byu. super sad but super funny. What else is going out there in the real world? its kinda funny that I'm right in the middle of the world but i have know idea what is even going on. That's sweet about Payden and Thomas. I believe Daniel is in the mtc now as well. Things sound like they are picking up for the family. thats good and im happy about that :) things here are good. good working hard and changing a lot. This week I studied the atonement and blew my mind with stuff. i studied moroni 10:3-5 to try and improve my prayers and again my mind was blown. Something i realized with it...... when it says ponder "IT" it is talking about "mercy" and mercy is the atonement. So in our prayers, to make it a communication we need to go through the steps in moroni 10 and then ponder the atonement.
Well my time is up. Love you and I hope you liked the letter.
Elder Hardman
Monday, September 12, 2011
Monday, Sept 12, 2011; Week 26
Indianapolis~
Momma,
Sorry its a little later getting on today some lady wanted to feed the missionaries in her mexican restruant so that took a lot of time. oh and it wasnt just some lady. haha it was hma Lara. me and Elder Torgeson reactivated her and she is just doing so good now and always tells me thanks for what i do and how much she respects and looks up to the missionaries. she is a really good lady. nothing to much has really happened this week tho because i commented on most the stuff that happened and its only been like four days or something since i wrote last so....
The family all sounds really good. oh a funny story real quick before i forget. At church yesterday the members were taking a lot of pictures for some reason and they wanted to take one of the missionaries so they did and one lady came up to me and told me i was just covered in light because i have the spirit with me so much so she showed us the picture and guess what? The light was just reflecting off my good looking bald head. It was super funny. Everyone laughed a lot.
I'm getting a little sick of mexican food. We get fed every day because people love me and my comp. Thats how you know if you are well liked or not, if people feed you a lot. and we get feed every single day. Its really good but sometimes i just wish that people would not feed us so that i can make some good less fat food for myself. but we are able to get a lot of people who want to help us in the work and a lot of less active families are starting to feed us so we are doing a lot of less active work. Thats probably what we've done most of this transfer, just less active work.
Transfers are just next week. We will be getting calls on Monday morning so when i write next youll know if I'm being transfered. I'm pretty sure I'm getting transfered. Usually missionaries dont stay in their first area for more then two transfers and since I've been here for three i think I'll for sure leave.
To answer your question on if i get scared in some of the places we go into!!!! I've only ever been scared once. i have know idea why tho. it was in the middle of the day and it was in a little nicer neiborhood and we walked into there because we were going to try by a less active and there was some black guys that were just starring us down and it just rubbed me the wrong way and i was just scared for some reason. But other then that nothing really. I've heard billions of gun shots I've gone into areas where cops stopped and told us that there was just someone that got shot and have been harrassed a little by people but I've never been scared.
Oh and Daniel Reed is going to Ohio or somewhere. Its a bordering state of Indiana and his mission actually comes into the state a little so thats pretty cool that we are going to be so close. my friend Skyler Peacock is doing supper good in Portugal and everyone else I've heard from are doing good. i just have a good group of friends that have really helped me.
So this last Saturday was probably my hardest day. we had no planned lessons at all and no one we could go see so we tracted the entire day and I've never done an entire tracting day before so i was a little nervous on how it would turn out and it started out bad and got worse and worse and worse. i had no idea there were so many j dubs in Indiana. We got rejected by every single person that we talked to that day and it was really hard on me and kinda hard on my faith in contacting people. but thats ok. I prayed a lot and i realize that stuff like that just happens at times. Even missionaries need to be tested a little to see how commited they are to this work.
Well my time is up. Sorry this letter wasnt as cool as others but nothing really happened this week. We taught good people and tried to find new people. but i love this work a lot and I'm learning more and more how to rely on the lord. I'm really working on being open with my comps because when I'm not stuff just eats at me and then i end up not being able to wait to leave him. haha but I'm trying. i love you and I'm glad that things are going good. oh and i did get the letter from Beth with the post cards.
Elder Hardman
Momma,
Sorry its a little later getting on today some lady wanted to feed the missionaries in her mexican restruant so that took a lot of time. oh and it wasnt just some lady. haha it was hma Lara. me and Elder Torgeson reactivated her and she is just doing so good now and always tells me thanks for what i do and how much she respects and looks up to the missionaries. she is a really good lady. nothing to much has really happened this week tho because i commented on most the stuff that happened and its only been like four days or something since i wrote last so....
The family all sounds really good. oh a funny story real quick before i forget. At church yesterday the members were taking a lot of pictures for some reason and they wanted to take one of the missionaries so they did and one lady came up to me and told me i was just covered in light because i have the spirit with me so much so she showed us the picture and guess what? The light was just reflecting off my good looking bald head. It was super funny. Everyone laughed a lot.
I'm getting a little sick of mexican food. We get fed every day because people love me and my comp. Thats how you know if you are well liked or not, if people feed you a lot. and we get feed every single day. Its really good but sometimes i just wish that people would not feed us so that i can make some good less fat food for myself. but we are able to get a lot of people who want to help us in the work and a lot of less active families are starting to feed us so we are doing a lot of less active work. Thats probably what we've done most of this transfer, just less active work.
Transfers are just next week. We will be getting calls on Monday morning so when i write next youll know if I'm being transfered. I'm pretty sure I'm getting transfered. Usually missionaries dont stay in their first area for more then two transfers and since I've been here for three i think I'll for sure leave.
To answer your question on if i get scared in some of the places we go into!!!! I've only ever been scared once. i have know idea why tho. it was in the middle of the day and it was in a little nicer neiborhood and we walked into there because we were going to try by a less active and there was some black guys that were just starring us down and it just rubbed me the wrong way and i was just scared for some reason. But other then that nothing really. I've heard billions of gun shots I've gone into areas where cops stopped and told us that there was just someone that got shot and have been harrassed a little by people but I've never been scared.
Oh and Daniel Reed is going to Ohio or somewhere. Its a bordering state of Indiana and his mission actually comes into the state a little so thats pretty cool that we are going to be so close. my friend Skyler Peacock is doing supper good in Portugal and everyone else I've heard from are doing good. i just have a good group of friends that have really helped me.
So this last Saturday was probably my hardest day. we had no planned lessons at all and no one we could go see so we tracted the entire day and I've never done an entire tracting day before so i was a little nervous on how it would turn out and it started out bad and got worse and worse and worse. i had no idea there were so many j dubs in Indiana. We got rejected by every single person that we talked to that day and it was really hard on me and kinda hard on my faith in contacting people. but thats ok. I prayed a lot and i realize that stuff like that just happens at times. Even missionaries need to be tested a little to see how commited they are to this work.
Well my time is up. Sorry this letter wasnt as cool as others but nothing really happened this week. We taught good people and tried to find new people. but i love this work a lot and I'm learning more and more how to rely on the lord. I'm really working on being open with my comps because when I'm not stuff just eats at me and then i end up not being able to wait to leave him. haha but I'm trying. i love you and I'm glad that things are going good. oh and i did get the letter from Beth with the post cards.
Elder Hardman
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wednesday, Sept 7, 2011; Week 25
Indianapolis~
Momma,
This week was cool. first i want to share an experience that happened yesterday with hermana marcos. it was probably the most spiritual lessons i have had on my mission. Monday night i felt like we needed to talk to her about trusting in god and the prophet and the then both of us sharing spiritual experiences that we have had while reading the book of Mormon. when we got to that part of the lesson that we were sharing the personal experiences i still didnt know what i was going to share. so my comp went first and then when he ended i offered my testimony to what he said and opened to my scriptures to my favorite scripture. ether 12:27. i told her why this scripture was important to me and she is only the second person i have told. i told dad probably half the story so ill tell you now because i know you would want to know and I'm working on being more open. i started off telling her that i was denied the opportunity to serve a mission a few times before i finally got to come. now this next part was really hard to explain in spanish is now that its in English ill be able to share it better.
Everyone always tells me how great of an example i am and how proud they are of me for how much i fought and stayed strong and never gave up.always just moving forward with my desire to serve a mission. what people dont know is how often i wanted to give up. how many times i was so fed up with the church that i didnt care if i served a mission or not. the last time that i really felt like that was the saddest point of that trail. i remember just praying to God and telling him that i cant go anymore. this is to hard on me, please help me. i need help. please help me. after that i opened my scriptures and the first thing i saw was ether 12:27 when i prayed to God i came to him in the deepest humillity that i could muster and i begged for help. i showed him my weaknesses. i cried to him. and then when i read that, the lord told me that his grace is sufficient for ME!!! and that the things i struggle with and my weaknesses will pass if i just have faith in him. the lord gave me my weaknesses he knew what i was going to struggle with most. he knew how to make me humble (and I'm not trying to say that I'm humble right now or anything. just that I'm a little more humble) he knew what was gong to make me grow the most. i didnt notice this at the time, but now i know that i was at my lowest point and it was then when Jesus Christ lifted me up. sometimes it takes untill we are at our lowest point before our savior will save us. because sometimes it takes till then to learn what we need to learn. that scripture is why I'm on a mission. its the reason i have a testimony of the book of Mormon. that scripture did for me what James 1:5 did for Joseph Smith. it changed my life and this is why i know the church is true and the book of mormon is true.
Anyways, she was just blown away from the spirit and now I'm pretty sure she'll be baptised soon haha. after that lesson tho we were riding back home and this black guy calls us over and asks me who Jesus Christ is and so i tell him and i guess he didnt like my answer because he told me i have the spirit of the devil in me. i laughed pretty good. then he goes in a 45 min discription of who Jesus Christ is and it blew my mind. but the difference between what he said and what i said is he knew that stuff becuase he studied it. i know who Jesus Christ is because i have felt it. he didnt like when i said that either because i just walked away.
So on Sunday or Saturday, i forget the day. it was 98 degrees. on Monday it dropped to to 60 as the high. haha it sucked. so you know how we didnt get any winter stuff? well can you send me a couple sweaters i can wear with my suits? my black suit i wear for tracting so if you could send me one or two for that it would be great and also maybe one for my blue suit. i probably need an extra large. i wont need them for a few weeks tho.
Last Monday we were walking through a dark ally and 3 black guys run up to us and are swearing and what not and were getting pretty sketch with us and almosst take our bikes and bags but then i just tell them we are missionaries haha and they just left us alone. they told us we were lucky we are church people because we wouldnt have left with our stuff. the guy i was with was 6'4 and pretty big and he almost peed his pants.; it was super funny.
Real quick before i go. hma figaroa!!!! she came to church on Sunday!!!! wooohoooo!!!!!! I'm pretty sure she is still blind tho. God wont heal her untill she is active. but something interesting happened. We set our mission baptismal goal at 46 baptisms and we only have 45 who have dates. so i prayed and i felt like hermano figaroa
My time is up. i hope you liked the email. i love you much and i hope things keep going well.
Elder Hardman
Momma,
This week was cool. first i want to share an experience that happened yesterday with hermana marcos. it was probably the most spiritual lessons i have had on my mission. Monday night i felt like we needed to talk to her about trusting in god and the prophet and the then both of us sharing spiritual experiences that we have had while reading the book of Mormon. when we got to that part of the lesson that we were sharing the personal experiences i still didnt know what i was going to share. so my comp went first and then when he ended i offered my testimony to what he said and opened to my scriptures to my favorite scripture. ether 12:27. i told her why this scripture was important to me and she is only the second person i have told. i told dad probably half the story so ill tell you now because i know you would want to know and I'm working on being more open. i started off telling her that i was denied the opportunity to serve a mission a few times before i finally got to come. now this next part was really hard to explain in spanish is now that its in English ill be able to share it better.
Everyone always tells me how great of an example i am and how proud they are of me for how much i fought and stayed strong and never gave up.always just moving forward with my desire to serve a mission. what people dont know is how often i wanted to give up. how many times i was so fed up with the church that i didnt care if i served a mission or not. the last time that i really felt like that was the saddest point of that trail. i remember just praying to God and telling him that i cant go anymore. this is to hard on me, please help me. i need help. please help me. after that i opened my scriptures and the first thing i saw was ether 12:27 when i prayed to God i came to him in the deepest humillity that i could muster and i begged for help. i showed him my weaknesses. i cried to him. and then when i read that, the lord told me that his grace is sufficient for ME!!! and that the things i struggle with and my weaknesses will pass if i just have faith in him. the lord gave me my weaknesses he knew what i was going to struggle with most. he knew how to make me humble (and I'm not trying to say that I'm humble right now or anything. just that I'm a little more humble) he knew what was gong to make me grow the most. i didnt notice this at the time, but now i know that i was at my lowest point and it was then when Jesus Christ lifted me up. sometimes it takes untill we are at our lowest point before our savior will save us. because sometimes it takes till then to learn what we need to learn. that scripture is why I'm on a mission. its the reason i have a testimony of the book of Mormon. that scripture did for me what James 1:5 did for Joseph Smith. it changed my life and this is why i know the church is true and the book of mormon is true.
Anyways, she was just blown away from the spirit and now I'm pretty sure she'll be baptised soon haha. after that lesson tho we were riding back home and this black guy calls us over and asks me who Jesus Christ is and so i tell him and i guess he didnt like my answer because he told me i have the spirit of the devil in me. i laughed pretty good. then he goes in a 45 min discription of who Jesus Christ is and it blew my mind. but the difference between what he said and what i said is he knew that stuff becuase he studied it. i know who Jesus Christ is because i have felt it. he didnt like when i said that either because i just walked away.
So on Sunday or Saturday, i forget the day. it was 98 degrees. on Monday it dropped to to 60 as the high. haha it sucked. so you know how we didnt get any winter stuff? well can you send me a couple sweaters i can wear with my suits? my black suit i wear for tracting so if you could send me one or two for that it would be great and also maybe one for my blue suit. i probably need an extra large. i wont need them for a few weeks tho.
Last Monday we were walking through a dark ally and 3 black guys run up to us and are swearing and what not and were getting pretty sketch with us and almosst take our bikes and bags but then i just tell them we are missionaries haha and they just left us alone. they told us we were lucky we are church people because we wouldnt have left with our stuff. the guy i was with was 6'4 and pretty big and he almost peed his pants.; it was super funny.
Real quick before i go. hma figaroa!!!! she came to church on Sunday!!!! wooohoooo!!!!!! I'm pretty sure she is still blind tho. God wont heal her untill she is active. but something interesting happened. We set our mission baptismal goal at 46 baptisms and we only have 45 who have dates. so i prayed and i felt like hermano figaroa
My time is up. i hope you liked the email. i love you much and i hope things keep going well.
Elder Hardman
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