March 20, 2009

Hey Fam,

How is everything? Como esta todo? Well, this week was super good. One of the better weeks in the mission. We started teaching this lady name Rosa. She is super sweet! When we first contacted her a couple of days ago, I didn't think she was too interested. Because when she opened the door she said, "I don't believe in Joseph Smith." At first I thought alright let's go, but then I was like, hey, she remembers who Joseph Smith is, or at least we believe he was a prophet. Because we teach people who Joseph Smith was, and then we will ask them who Joseph Smith was and they can't tell us a thing. It is very frustrating. So we set up a return appointment. When we went back, we started teaching her about God and prophets and the scriptures, and she stopped us and said, "Just tell me who Joseph Smith was. I just want to know who he was." So we taught her about the apostasy and how someone needed to be called to be a prophet and restore the Church of Christ and that prophet was Joseph Smith. Then we told her the story of Joseph Smith. Then we told her the story of Joseph Smith. Then her eyes started tearing up, and she told us that she was praying a couple of days ago because she has been suffering, and she was praying to feel the love of God, and a way to follow him. Then she said, "And that's when you knocked on my door." The spirit was so strong. I had goosebumps everywhere. Then she said that she believes that we were sent from God to show her the way to follow him and be happy. Ha ha and then it gets better. The she asked if we drink or smoke and we told her no, and she said, "Oh, good because I don't believe in either of those things. Then she asked us if we believe in paying tithing because she has a strong testimony in tithing, and then she started telling us her tithing miracles. Rosa IS THE COOLEST! She just knocked off the two hardest things for people to do. It is amazing to see people who are prepared of God. God is sending his angels to prepare the people, we just have to do our part and find them. Sometimes it's not easy. Rosa was the 124th door of the apartment complex. Yea when we got denied the first 100 doors, I wanted to never tract there again. But that is why we can't give up, because there is that one person out of thousands that is ready to hear the Gospel. All that person needs is someone to bring it to them. But yea, we have a baptismal date with Rosa for the 5th of April.

Today I got my drivers license, so I don't have t hide from the cops when I driver anymore. Haha, just kidding. You don't have to have it the first 90 days. But I just barely passed the test. If I would have missed one more question, I would have failed. The DMV or DISCO as they call it here ( I don't know why, there wasn't any music or people dancing) was in Rio Piedras. In Rio Piedras is so much cooler than in Guaynabo. Pueblos come from Spain, and they brought it here way back in the day. Every city has its own pueblo, and they are pretty much really big outdoor malls except way cooler. It is like you are in Spain because all the roads are brick, and they are all really narrow single roads. And all the houses are European style, and all the stores are super close to the street. Plus there are just a bunch of people everywhere. So we walked around and found this sweet store with all these ties for super cheap. I got the slickest ties for $4 each. I'm pretty excited about it.

Then we got a little lunch and went to Old San Juan. That is where you see all the famous pictures of Puerto Rico, that's where all the cool really old army forts are. It was super fun. A bunch of us Elders took the train and bus over there. There was a bunch of tourists there, especially because it was spring break. I even felt like a tourist. We also met some members that were from the cruise ships.

Then we went to pigeon park. Ha ha, it was so much fun! It is just this cool little look out over the bay, and there are hundreds of pigeons. We brought this huge bag of bird seeds with us, and that's where the fun started. You just get some seeds in your hands and hold out your arms, then all the birds start flying around all crazy, and just land on your arms and shoulders and head, and start eating the seeds. I had five pigeons on each arm, 2 on my shoulders, and one on my head. I know it sounds gross, but it was way fun. Luckily, none of them pooped on me. I guarantee that it is the most fun you will ever have with only spending $1.50. Then when we ran out of bird seed, we just ran into a big group of them and grabbed the pigeons out of the air, because they are so full that they can't fly very fast. It's the best! This was the most fun I have had on a p-day.

Well, I hope all is well with you guys. Keep up the faith and keep working hard. And when the missionaries bring an investigator to Church, fellowship him! That is all it takes, is someone to just talk to them and make friends with them. Alright, well, I love you guys.

Love your son, Elder Hardy