Indianapolis~
Momma,
Things this week have been good. I was only in my area for 1 day tho because of exchanges with the district leader and conference. me and my comp are starting to get a long a lot better. after our first transfer together i decided that our relationship wasnt going to change unless i changed. so i changed. i feel like I'm a lot better of a person. I'm still learning everyday to rely on the lord and to change to be the missionary i need to be. I'm learning to rely on prayer the most. i have grown such a strong testimony of prayer and how it helps a person change and become what god needs them to be. i love seeing investigators pray. its so amazing to hear someone pray for the first time. its so humbling. Ive taken prayer for granted my whole life. no more tho :)
Oh my goodness conference was amazing. priesthood was my favorite tho. I've always taken conference for granted too.. I'm super glad that now i understand the importance of it. i took 13 pages of notes and got rebuked by every talk on things that i need to do better. i love things that make me want to change and be better.
So over the weekend i talked to a mexican nun :) it was super cool. we had some members take us to a tacoria ( a store with a taco shop conected to it) so we walked in and she was just starring and so i talked to her. she was really nice. i even got her to laugh a little bit :) are nuns allowed to laugh? the people that we ate with are the less active family that I've helped reactivate and are going to the temple soon to be sealed, but after dinner she told us that she has been really sick and has had lots and lots of tests done and the doctors had told her that the only thing that it could be is cancer. so she is going in today to get checked for stomach cancer. 4 other of her siblings have had stomach cancer and died from it so the chances are pretty slim for her.
Me and my comp decided to fast with the other missionaries (oh there is also another lady in our branch with cancer) but we fasted Saturday. it was probably the most meaningful fast i have ever done in my life. i also have a great testimony of fasting as well. always took that for granted too. this family has really helped me so much on my mission. they told me Friday night that they consider me family. i consider them family as well. we went over to thier house last night to give them a blessing. first we shared some scriptures on trusting in god and bore testimony to bring the spirit super strong. then we gave her a blessing. i did it. it was the first one i have giving in Spanish. I'm so glad that i am able to be a priesthood holder that god can work through to have people feel peace. it was one of my best memories so far on my mission.
Things are going really good here. we are seeing a lot of success and not a lot of succes at the same time. oh, i talked to Sister Collins and she told me that i was in her top 4 favorite missionaries. nah,,, she really didnt say that, but she did say that when ever she is with me she feels something different that she has never felt with a missionary. i told her that she reminds me of you because of how loving she is and just other stuff she does and she told me that she wished she was my mother and that you are very lucky.
Have you talked to Sister Everton yet? well, funny story about her son real fast. i was trying to teach him how to do a trick on a bike and he gets on and tries to do it and his whole body ends up coming off the bike and he came down and racked himself on the frame. i was rolling on the road because it was so funny. the last exchange i had with him we were riding and he was talking on the phone. oh real quick. its a rule in the mission that you cant ride over train tracks, you have to get off the bike and walk. well he was talking on the phone and not paying attention and then sees the train track and slams on the brake with one hand and his bike stops and he keeps going and racks himself on the part where the handle bars connect to the frame. hahahahha he has super bad luck with me.
Well I've got to get going. love you and hope all it well. still waiting for the package you've been promising for 5 weeks. its getting super cold here.
i love you.
Elder Hardman
what is kade and meg having?
Monday, October 3, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, Sept 27, 2011; Week 28
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
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
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
Monday, August 29, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011; Week 23
Indianapolis~Momma!!!
Good email this week. super long tho so it took me a long time to read and think about the things i want to say so if i dont get to write very much I'm sorry. sounds like the whole family is doing really good. good thing too because fasting for you guys is making me lose a lot of energy. glad to here dad got a lot of work. oh i miss the temple so much. i really hope they finish the temple here soon. have you heard anything about that? oh, have you heard about the I'm Mormon website or whatever its called. well they are doing a great big thing with it here in indy so that means there are gonna be lots of billboards everywhere that say I'm a Mormon. its going to be exciting i feel.
Things this week have been good. starting to pick up again and we are starting to find new people. i was struggling really bad with having faith in tracting and finding people but we had a training on it and i just started looking at it a completly different way and i feel like my faith in it has really growen. we were able to find a few cool people this week so hopefully we can hold on to them. oh ya. something super crazy happened Monday night last week. i was on exchanges with the district leader and we were in his area and we were teaching a guy that has a baptismal date and all the sudden some big giant black lady bangs on the door and starts yelling at the guy and getting up in his face and saying super super naughty words and was yelling for like 5 minutes and the whole time i was like. he doesnt speak english. and then she would yell at me and then start at the guy again and me and the district leader were kinda freaking out a little. well finally her daughter got her out and got her settled down. come to find out she was super high. but i said we need to say a prayer to invite the spirit and while we were prayig we both felt like we need to teach the word of wisdom. so we did and it was a super spiritual lesson and it was just amazing. we werent planning on teaching that at all yet so its super cool how the lord works.
Hermana Marcos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well we hit a little snag with her. ever since we talked about about how she needs to get married she has been acting super weird. canceled our last cita and didnt come to church so we are a little worried about her. we have a cita tomorrow with her so we will get to the bottom of it. oh. this week we have a GA coming for our zone conference. guess who it is??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! the PROPHET !!!!!! wooohooooo!!!!!!! just kidding. its Elder Robbins from the presidency of the 70. he gave the talk on being instead of doing or something like that. I'm super excited for it.
Not much else happened this week. we have just been tracting a lot trying to find new people to teach. there was a few people who let us in right then and had really good lessons with them. we'll see if they are there for the next cita. latinos just love listening to the word of God. but they only like it once are twice so hopefully we blasted them with the spirit so hard that they will be there on our next cita.
This week we had interviews with the president and his wife. they both just love me so much. i dont know if i told you how the first night went but we go to the mission home and have a training and then have a testimony meeting. well when i was with Sister Collins she told me that she has been here for 14 months and she has never had a testimony change her as much as mine did. so that was pretty cool. this week I'm studying humility :) haha they just always tell me how much they love me and how they cant wait to see what i do here so its a little stressfull because i dont want to let them down.
well Ive got to end this here i only got 20 minutes left and i need to write dad and the president so I'm sorry. i hope all continues to go good with the family this week. ill make sure to read fast next week. i love you. oh and ps. look up MARY ANN EVERTON on face book and be friends with her and talk with her all the time.
your son Elder Hardman
Hey dad. i have only 6 minutes to write. I'm sorry I'm always running so low on time when i write, sounds like everything is going good for you and for the family. mom said that you recieved a lot of work from sun river. I'm so happy about that. how is your health. i feel so bad that i can be there working in your place and i pray every day that god is giving you strength and that your not killing yourself. hows glens baby doing? how is glen doing?
thats something that i never realized or noticed before the mission. God really does love his children and he is going to all he can to help. even if its just sending a missionary to help you feel the spirit.
well I'm out of time again. i love you so much dad. thank you for all you do for me. i hope that someday i can be the man that you are. i look up to you so much
elder hardman
Good email this week. super long tho so it took me a long time to read and think about the things i want to say so if i dont get to write very much I'm sorry. sounds like the whole family is doing really good. good thing too because fasting for you guys is making me lose a lot of energy. glad to here dad got a lot of work. oh i miss the temple so much. i really hope they finish the temple here soon. have you heard anything about that? oh, have you heard about the I'm Mormon website or whatever its called. well they are doing a great big thing with it here in indy so that means there are gonna be lots of billboards everywhere that say I'm a Mormon. its going to be exciting i feel.
Things this week have been good. starting to pick up again and we are starting to find new people. i was struggling really bad with having faith in tracting and finding people but we had a training on it and i just started looking at it a completly different way and i feel like my faith in it has really growen. we were able to find a few cool people this week so hopefully we can hold on to them. oh ya. something super crazy happened Monday night last week. i was on exchanges with the district leader and we were in his area and we were teaching a guy that has a baptismal date and all the sudden some big giant black lady bangs on the door and starts yelling at the guy and getting up in his face and saying super super naughty words and was yelling for like 5 minutes and the whole time i was like. he doesnt speak english. and then she would yell at me and then start at the guy again and me and the district leader were kinda freaking out a little. well finally her daughter got her out and got her settled down. come to find out she was super high. but i said we need to say a prayer to invite the spirit and while we were prayig we both felt like we need to teach the word of wisdom. so we did and it was a super spiritual lesson and it was just amazing. we werent planning on teaching that at all yet so its super cool how the lord works.
Hermana Marcos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well we hit a little snag with her. ever since we talked about about how she needs to get married she has been acting super weird. canceled our last cita and didnt come to church so we are a little worried about her. we have a cita tomorrow with her so we will get to the bottom of it. oh. this week we have a GA coming for our zone conference. guess who it is??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! the PROPHET !!!!!! wooohooooo!!!!!!! just kidding. its Elder Robbins from the presidency of the 70. he gave the talk on being instead of doing or something like that. I'm super excited for it.
Not much else happened this week. we have just been tracting a lot trying to find new people to teach. there was a few people who let us in right then and had really good lessons with them. we'll see if they are there for the next cita. latinos just love listening to the word of God. but they only like it once are twice so hopefully we blasted them with the spirit so hard that they will be there on our next cita.
This week we had interviews with the president and his wife. they both just love me so much. i dont know if i told you how the first night went but we go to the mission home and have a training and then have a testimony meeting. well when i was with Sister Collins she told me that she has been here for 14 months and she has never had a testimony change her as much as mine did. so that was pretty cool. this week I'm studying humility :) haha they just always tell me how much they love me and how they cant wait to see what i do here so its a little stressfull because i dont want to let them down.
well Ive got to end this here i only got 20 minutes left and i need to write dad and the president so I'm sorry. i hope all continues to go good with the family this week. ill make sure to read fast next week. i love you. oh and ps. look up MARY ANN EVERTON on face book and be friends with her and talk with her all the time.
your son Elder Hardman
Hey dad. i have only 6 minutes to write. I'm sorry I'm always running so low on time when i write, sounds like everything is going good for you and for the family. mom said that you recieved a lot of work from sun river. I'm so happy about that. how is your health. i feel so bad that i can be there working in your place and i pray every day that god is giving you strength and that your not killing yourself. hows glens baby doing? how is glen doing?
thats something that i never realized or noticed before the mission. God really does love his children and he is going to all he can to help. even if its just sending a missionary to help you feel the spirit.
well I'm out of time again. i love you so much dad. thank you for all you do for me. i hope that someday i can be the man that you are. i look up to you so much
elder hardman
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011; Week 22
Indianapolis~
Momma,
First before i forget, that story about Jacob was such a good one. god must love him so much for how much he helps and cares about the missionaries. Everything happens for a reason thats for sure. That's one thing I'm learning more and more of as i am out here. The Lord truely does know what every single person in the world is going through and it doesnt matter what it is, if your doing the best you can in life he is going to find someway to bless you. Second, hahahahahahahahaha so you remember how i recieved that calling last week? well this week i got released :( hahahahaha half way through a song the piano had a malfunction and started playing a christmas song. so my cover got blowen and now i dont have a calling. it was so incredibly funny tho. everyone gave me crap for it at church.
Sounds like the family is really doing good and you all are enjoying yourself. That makes me happy to hear and it makes me not have to lose sleep from worrying about whats going on. ( oh and before i forget, one of our investigators told me to tell you and dad thank you for raising me.) as much as i love being here and wouldnt trade it for the world i worry about you guys a lot and sometimes i wish i could be there to make sure everything is going alright. but i know God is watching over you and is taking care of you.
I have a new comp. he is named Elder Lyman and he is 23 and from Delta Utah. he served in the mariens before this so thats why he is older and he seems pretty cool but a little different. haha i guess what person isnt different. but i think we will get a long well enough. he has been out for 9 months but his spanish is not at all better then mine so i think I'm going to learn a lot this transfer because i am having to talk a lot more and explain a lot more. but i like speaking spanish so thats all good. oh!!! so Hermana Marcos. i love her so much just a good good lady. we gave her the baptismal interview ?'s to look over and then next time she had some ?'s like... stuff about the homosexual question. so that was interesting trying to explain that in spanish. but she was just wondering if our church kinda turns our back on people like that. then we taught her tithing and the word of wisdom. she said that she has no problem paying tithing and then we asked if she had problems with the wow and she got a sad look on her face and said yes. then we said well we are here to help you so what is it? haha she only drinks coffee twice a week at most and she just felt like a horrible person for it. i kinda couldnt help but chuckle. but she is so ready to be baptised. all she needs it to get married and we are probably going to set a date this week so pray for that please.
Other then that me and my comp are just trying to find more people to teach so if you could pray for that that would be awesome. oh and one last thing i wanted to share. the second week of every month we have a meeting called why i believe and its when recent converts share their testimonies about why they believe. its so amazingly spiritual and some of the people who talk just lived the worst lives that you could possibly think of and they just changed and its so amazing for me to be able to hear these testimonies they have about how the gospel saved their lives. well after those meetings i always make it a point to go and tell the people thank you for their testimonies (because they have all touched my life and strengthened my testimony) so i went and told them thanks and every single one of them said "thank you for letting me be apart of you" or something a long those lines. how incredible is that? " thank you for letting me be apart of you" this is just one big family and i have a testimony of that. you are never alone in this church no matter what you are going through someone is always there to help you. i know this church to be the only true church in the world. i know that the book of Mormon is truely a gift form god and i know that Joseph Smith saw God our Father and our brother Jesus Christ and i give thanks to god every day for the opportunity i have to testify that to people as a representative of Jesucristo. i love you so much and i love the family. thank you for everything. oh and congrats to uncle glen
your son
Elder Hardman
Momma,
First before i forget, that story about Jacob was such a good one. god must love him so much for how much he helps and cares about the missionaries. Everything happens for a reason thats for sure. That's one thing I'm learning more and more of as i am out here. The Lord truely does know what every single person in the world is going through and it doesnt matter what it is, if your doing the best you can in life he is going to find someway to bless you. Second, hahahahahahahahaha so you remember how i recieved that calling last week? well this week i got released :( hahahahaha half way through a song the piano had a malfunction and started playing a christmas song. so my cover got blowen and now i dont have a calling. it was so incredibly funny tho. everyone gave me crap for it at church.
Sounds like the family is really doing good and you all are enjoying yourself. That makes me happy to hear and it makes me not have to lose sleep from worrying about whats going on. ( oh and before i forget, one of our investigators told me to tell you and dad thank you for raising me.) as much as i love being here and wouldnt trade it for the world i worry about you guys a lot and sometimes i wish i could be there to make sure everything is going alright. but i know God is watching over you and is taking care of you.
I have a new comp. he is named Elder Lyman and he is 23 and from Delta Utah. he served in the mariens before this so thats why he is older and he seems pretty cool but a little different. haha i guess what person isnt different. but i think we will get a long well enough. he has been out for 9 months but his spanish is not at all better then mine so i think I'm going to learn a lot this transfer because i am having to talk a lot more and explain a lot more. but i like speaking spanish so thats all good. oh!!! so Hermana Marcos. i love her so much just a good good lady. we gave her the baptismal interview ?'s to look over and then next time she had some ?'s like... stuff about the homosexual question. so that was interesting trying to explain that in spanish. but she was just wondering if our church kinda turns our back on people like that. then we taught her tithing and the word of wisdom. she said that she has no problem paying tithing and then we asked if she had problems with the wow and she got a sad look on her face and said yes. then we said well we are here to help you so what is it? haha she only drinks coffee twice a week at most and she just felt like a horrible person for it. i kinda couldnt help but chuckle. but she is so ready to be baptised. all she needs it to get married and we are probably going to set a date this week so pray for that please.
Other then that me and my comp are just trying to find more people to teach so if you could pray for that that would be awesome. oh and one last thing i wanted to share. the second week of every month we have a meeting called why i believe and its when recent converts share their testimonies about why they believe. its so amazingly spiritual and some of the people who talk just lived the worst lives that you could possibly think of and they just changed and its so amazing for me to be able to hear these testimonies they have about how the gospel saved their lives. well after those meetings i always make it a point to go and tell the people thank you for their testimonies (because they have all touched my life and strengthened my testimony) so i went and told them thanks and every single one of them said "thank you for letting me be apart of you" or something a long those lines. how incredible is that? " thank you for letting me be apart of you" this is just one big family and i have a testimony of that. you are never alone in this church no matter what you are going through someone is always there to help you. i know this church to be the only true church in the world. i know that the book of Mormon is truely a gift form god and i know that Joseph Smith saw God our Father and our brother Jesus Christ and i give thanks to god every day for the opportunity i have to testify that to people as a representative of Jesucristo. i love you so much and i love the family. thank you for everything. oh and congrats to uncle glen
your son
Elder Hardman
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011; Week 21
Indianapolis~
Momma,
Transfer calls came first thing this morning and................................................................ I'm staying here so i am so happy about that. we have had some heart felt moments with some of our investigators this week and it made me not want to leave yet. i will tell you about some of them. first, Hermana Reyes. she is an excommunicated member. but we have been teaching her for about a month and a half. our last lesson with her we were talking about what we needed to do to get her baptized again and it was going really good and the spirit was really strong. and then she just started bawling and she told us that she doesnt think she can get baptized again because she thinks her "husband" is still married to a woman in mexico. it was so sad. then on top of that we had to tell her that we were having transfers this week and might be leaving and then she started crying again and told us how much she loves us and how she knows god loves her because he sent her two angels into her life right when she needed it most. then she said a lot of other things that was nice.
Then we had a lesson with hermana Lara who is a less active lady. we baptized her son Arturo. we told her that we might be leaving and she started crying too and told us that she considers us part of her family and she says that we saved her family and saved her life. it was really really sweet of her.
Then,,,,, almost a month ago we met this family and we taught them and they seemed really really sweet, but after that first time they just didnt seem at all interested so we dropped them. fast forward a couple weeks. we met a guy who just barley got over the border from mexico and set a return appointment for the next week. fast forward to this last Friday. we went to teach him and he wasnt home so we were like, lets go knock on those peoples door that we dropped. they answered and let us in. had a super spiritual lesson and at the end of it the mom of the house told us that that morning she prayed to god and said sorry to him for not praying in so long and that if he was really there and really cared to send her a sign to help her know what to do with her life and how to help her family. then guessed who showed up that day. the MISSIONARIES. i love how god works sometimes.
Me and the other elder from St. George, the one that me and him kissed the same girl! well me and him went on exchanges this week and taught hermana Marcos and was able to answer her questions about the church and clear up her doubts. we were able to make her feel at peace with it. so she came to church yesterday and loved it so much. i think that if she comes a couple more times then we can set a baptismal date with her because she will like it so much. well thats the plan anyways. you never know whats going to happen with this branch. oh speaking of this branch. guess who got a calling? me!!! guess what my calling is? i now have to play the piano in sacrament meeting!!!! haha i wish i was joking but I'm not. well I'm kinda not. they have an electric piano that plays all the hymns so they just told me i have to sit up there and act like I'm playing it so that no one knows its fake. i got so many compliments after sacrament tho:)
I'm out of time. i have to write dad. as for my package that you want to send. whatever is fine. and for pictures,,, i will try and send some soon. and i think thats all.
I love you and i hope all is well. i love this work and i love the things I'm learning. love you
con amor
tu hijo
Elder Hardman
Momma,
Transfer calls came first thing this morning and................................................................ I'm staying here so i am so happy about that. we have had some heart felt moments with some of our investigators this week and it made me not want to leave yet. i will tell you about some of them. first, Hermana Reyes. she is an excommunicated member. but we have been teaching her for about a month and a half. our last lesson with her we were talking about what we needed to do to get her baptized again and it was going really good and the spirit was really strong. and then she just started bawling and she told us that she doesnt think she can get baptized again because she thinks her "husband" is still married to a woman in mexico. it was so sad. then on top of that we had to tell her that we were having transfers this week and might be leaving and then she started crying again and told us how much she loves us and how she knows god loves her because he sent her two angels into her life right when she needed it most. then she said a lot of other things that was nice.
Then we had a lesson with hermana Lara who is a less active lady. we baptized her son Arturo. we told her that we might be leaving and she started crying too and told us that she considers us part of her family and she says that we saved her family and saved her life. it was really really sweet of her.
Then,,,,, almost a month ago we met this family and we taught them and they seemed really really sweet, but after that first time they just didnt seem at all interested so we dropped them. fast forward a couple weeks. we met a guy who just barley got over the border from mexico and set a return appointment for the next week. fast forward to this last Friday. we went to teach him and he wasnt home so we were like, lets go knock on those peoples door that we dropped. they answered and let us in. had a super spiritual lesson and at the end of it the mom of the house told us that that morning she prayed to god and said sorry to him for not praying in so long and that if he was really there and really cared to send her a sign to help her know what to do with her life and how to help her family. then guessed who showed up that day. the MISSIONARIES. i love how god works sometimes.
Me and the other elder from St. George, the one that me and him kissed the same girl! well me and him went on exchanges this week and taught hermana Marcos and was able to answer her questions about the church and clear up her doubts. we were able to make her feel at peace with it. so she came to church yesterday and loved it so much. i think that if she comes a couple more times then we can set a baptismal date with her because she will like it so much. well thats the plan anyways. you never know whats going to happen with this branch. oh speaking of this branch. guess who got a calling? me!!! guess what my calling is? i now have to play the piano in sacrament meeting!!!! haha i wish i was joking but I'm not. well I'm kinda not. they have an electric piano that plays all the hymns so they just told me i have to sit up there and act like I'm playing it so that no one knows its fake. i got so many compliments after sacrament tho:)
I'm out of time. i have to write dad. as for my package that you want to send. whatever is fine. and for pictures,,, i will try and send some soon. and i think thats all.
I love you and i hope all is well. i love this work and i love the things I'm learning. love you
con amor
tu hijo
Elder Hardman
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011; Week 20
Indianapolis~
Momma,
First of all you need to know how bad i feel for getting upset last week at you. after i left the library and was driving home i was just rebuking myself the whole time because i was just thinking about how much you and the family do for me and and how selfish i was to be getting upset about an email. i was just having a tuff week because a lot of stuff had been going on. a lot of our investigators are deciding that this gospel is to hard for them to live so they have been dropping us and we have been trying our hardest to find new people and no one seems to be interested and it was just hard on me so i was looking forward to read some uplifting things that you always write and i didnt get anything so i just felt super bad. so i am sorry.
I'm very glad to hear that every thing went good with the trip. it would have been fun to go with you but this work is more important for us right now. i am recieving mail now so all seems to be better with the post office. are you going to start going up there every year or are you changing the place every year now? well things are here like i said are a little bit harder but thats ok. its helping me rely on the lord more and grow more personally. we were able to do a big service project in the ghetto where we clean up a home for troubled kids. it was really cool. some 15 year old black kid thought he could beat me in curb ball ( kids in the ghetto play curb ball where they stand on opposite sides of the street and try to hit the curb with a ball, they do this because not very many people can afford basketball hoops) but i represented for the church and for my family and i beat him pretty good. but then he asked to play again for money and i figured he was just hussling me so i thought it would be bad to play again. but the service project was good. it was super super hot and hard work but it made me feel good. i love serving people.
I went on exchanges with the zone leader again who doesnt speak spanish and i felt really good about how much i could do. my spanish does seem like it is coming along so I'm happy about that. this is the last week of the transfer so we made a lot of goals to find new people so that next transfer we will have some new solid investigators. Hermana Marcos like i said come to church last week and said that she had a lot of questions about it and we have to keep canceling our apt. because lots of other things come up. we have a lesson with her tomorrow so i hope it works out to where we can meet with her and answer the questions and remove and concerns. she is a really good lady and she has told us that she wants to be baptized but wont do it without her husband. but her husband still wants nothing to do with us. how do we change his mind?
Hermana Figaroa is still being stubburn but last night we found out what exactly happened to make her so offended so now we are meeting with her on Wednesday so hopefully we will be able to help her. i was talking to Hermano Figaroa on Saturday night and he says that he wants to be baptized so bad but he just cant untill his wife is reactivated. i used to think that he was just scared that he would go inactive to but now i really feel like he is just not getting baptized because he wants to help her re activate. maybe he is trying to guilt trip her into it kinda. well whatever it is we will get to the bottom of it this week.
Not much else have happened this week. oh we had one lady make us some chicken tacos with homemade tortillas. it was probably my favorite meal that i have had out here. she is one of our investigators too and she seems to be progressing too. she is having a lot of problems with her husband though so we dont know how soon she will be able to get baptized. i heard that Daniel Reed got his mission call. i was so happy about that. i think he is probably my last friend to get it. when does Payden leave again?
Well that is going to have to be it today. but i want you to know how much i love you and how grateful i am to be your son and to be in this family. i know this church is true and i know that god answers prayers. prayer is so powerful and i love being able to bare my testimony to our investigators. i know that god is blessing my family right now and i know that he is watching over you. i pray for you everynight and hope all will continue to go well.
your son
Elder Hardman
Momma,
First of all you need to know how bad i feel for getting upset last week at you. after i left the library and was driving home i was just rebuking myself the whole time because i was just thinking about how much you and the family do for me and and how selfish i was to be getting upset about an email. i was just having a tuff week because a lot of stuff had been going on. a lot of our investigators are deciding that this gospel is to hard for them to live so they have been dropping us and we have been trying our hardest to find new people and no one seems to be interested and it was just hard on me so i was looking forward to read some uplifting things that you always write and i didnt get anything so i just felt super bad. so i am sorry.
I'm very glad to hear that every thing went good with the trip. it would have been fun to go with you but this work is more important for us right now. i am recieving mail now so all seems to be better with the post office. are you going to start going up there every year or are you changing the place every year now? well things are here like i said are a little bit harder but thats ok. its helping me rely on the lord more and grow more personally. we were able to do a big service project in the ghetto where we clean up a home for troubled kids. it was really cool. some 15 year old black kid thought he could beat me in curb ball ( kids in the ghetto play curb ball where they stand on opposite sides of the street and try to hit the curb with a ball, they do this because not very many people can afford basketball hoops) but i represented for the church and for my family and i beat him pretty good. but then he asked to play again for money and i figured he was just hussling me so i thought it would be bad to play again. but the service project was good. it was super super hot and hard work but it made me feel good. i love serving people.
I went on exchanges with the zone leader again who doesnt speak spanish and i felt really good about how much i could do. my spanish does seem like it is coming along so I'm happy about that. this is the last week of the transfer so we made a lot of goals to find new people so that next transfer we will have some new solid investigators. Hermana Marcos like i said come to church last week and said that she had a lot of questions about it and we have to keep canceling our apt. because lots of other things come up. we have a lesson with her tomorrow so i hope it works out to where we can meet with her and answer the questions and remove and concerns. she is a really good lady and she has told us that she wants to be baptized but wont do it without her husband. but her husband still wants nothing to do with us. how do we change his mind?
Hermana Figaroa is still being stubburn but last night we found out what exactly happened to make her so offended so now we are meeting with her on Wednesday so hopefully we will be able to help her. i was talking to Hermano Figaroa on Saturday night and he says that he wants to be baptized so bad but he just cant untill his wife is reactivated. i used to think that he was just scared that he would go inactive to but now i really feel like he is just not getting baptized because he wants to help her re activate. maybe he is trying to guilt trip her into it kinda. well whatever it is we will get to the bottom of it this week.
Not much else have happened this week. oh we had one lady make us some chicken tacos with homemade tortillas. it was probably my favorite meal that i have had out here. she is one of our investigators too and she seems to be progressing too. she is having a lot of problems with her husband though so we dont know how soon she will be able to get baptized. i heard that Daniel Reed got his mission call. i was so happy about that. i think he is probably my last friend to get it. when does Payden leave again?
Well that is going to have to be it today. but i want you to know how much i love you and how grateful i am to be your son and to be in this family. i know this church is true and i know that god answers prayers. prayer is so powerful and i love being able to bare my testimony to our investigators. i know that god is blessing my family right now and i know that he is watching over you. i pray for you everynight and hope all will continue to go well.
your son
Elder Hardman
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