Tuesday, May 11, 2010

May 11, 2010

It was great talking to you guys the other day. I really enjoyed it. Haha, mom, you are really trunky huh? Well have patience, be the one to wait 15 mintues for the marshmallow. Well president surprised us all, Im going to Fajardo. They are combining Rio Grande with another area. I am going to miss the district (Missionaries) but I hear that Fajardo is sweet. So I am excited. I will be white washing with Elder Kowalis, he is from my group, really nice Elder.
I am going to miss Elder Galindo, we are good friends. He is excited to go home though, especially to teach and baptize his family. He is the only member in his family. I really liked that story you sent me. I especially like how you can a decision on life, or react to it, something to that effect. You always taught me that. I would get mad and yell or do something wrong, and my excuse was that I was mad, but you never let me use that excuse. it taught me to control my temper.

May 5, 2010

So it has been a good week. Last night we taught a really cool guy named Vicente. He is a very animated guy who talks a lot. He lived in New York most of his life, and was always in a church, but always left for another one because he knew it wasnt the true Church. he told us he isnt looking for faith in Christ, he already has a strong testimony in him, He is looking for the Church of Christ. Way cool guy. He has a date for the 29 of May.

April 28, 2010

Hello,
I am doing pretty good. Nothing better than the mission. Today we are going to go check out a waterfall in Luquillo. I dont know how it will be but it should be fun. Well my appointment was today with the dentist, but they didnt accept my insurance card, so i am going in next week. The mission is going to pay for it, and then try and have the insurance company pay them back. Michelle couldnt go to church because she was wroking last week, but she is still progressing strong. Yamilis is her 7 year old daughter. Yamilis and stefani and really funny and quite. That is awesome that Jeff is going to the Dominican Republic. Dominicans are so awesome. He is going to baptize a lot too. The only downfall is that the DR is kind of Ghetto and he is going to get sick. But I would serve a mission is the DR any day. It does take some patience with Nelson. He is old and timid. We have to really try hard to get him to talk. I cant remember if I told you last week but he is afraid of cold water. He is really old and hates to get cold. So one option is that we could try to throw boiling water in the faunt, or go to the beach. You know which one I am rooting for.

April 7, 2010

So I made the account, but it wouldnt let me sign in. But thank you for sending me the number, I am sure I will be able to get on next week. But just send it to this email again next week. And I think I will be getting the card today, because it is SUPER PDAY! That is where all the missionaries in Puerto Rico get together and we play sports all day, then President fires up the grill and cooks burgers, I am pretty excited. but I should be getting the mail from the office.
That is too bad that Jake broke his arm. Crazy kid. That picture is pretty cool though, he is going to want to hang on to that. I hope he is doing ok, tell him to not use his arm, and let it heal. that is the hardest part of getting hurt, not being able to do anything, and being forced to chill.
I Loved conference. Elder Uchtdorfs talk on patience was one of my favorites too. I can always be more patient. I also loved his talk on how we need to be the hands of Christ. It is great symbolism and is so true. The majority of the time God blesses other through us. And it is amazing to recognize that God is using us to bless others and be apart of that. I cant tell you how many times I have heard people call us angels because of some way God was able to us us to bless them. it is a good feeling.I will write a letter with more stuff I learned from conference.
WOW! I cant believe Nick is getting married. So many of my friends have gotten married, I feel so old now. Well Easter in Puerto Rico is sweet, I love it here. Because it is not really the easter we know, it is more centered on Christ. They start celebrating on thursday till sunday. it is called the Holy week (Semana Santa) and all the church's are jammed pack those days. I didnt see anyone with candy eggs of anything, But they dont eat any meat on Friday, which comes from the Catholic church, they eat fish. but everyone does it out of tradition. We ate a lot of fish of fish on friday. WAY TOO MUCH! We were stuffed and starting to feel a little sick. They also eat this really good soup with it and arepas. Easter is not so commercialized here, it is nice, i can actaully focus on Christ for a holiday.
That is nice that Lesty and her kids went to visit you. I was thinking about them the other day, they really are a nice family. I was thinking that I need to stop by their house when i get back and spend some time with them, a long with the rest of our family in California.
Well I hope i dont get too sunburnt today like last year. I dont think so because I got a nice tan going right now. But i hope jake lets his arm heal, and that you guys are all safe and doing well.

March 30, 2010

Hey,
Me safe, we went to El Yunque today. It was beautiful! Very green as you can imagine. A lot of really cool trees and beautiful waterfalls. I am trying to be able to just enjoy nature as it is, and not have to do anything but look at it, but it is still very hard for me. I just want to swim in the waterfalls and rivers, and launch of the rope swing. But there is always after the mission. For now i just need to learn how to enjoy nature by looking at it.
Well me and Elder Galindo are staying together again, but this is the last, because next transfer Elder Galindo goes home. Bummer.
The saying means, "You are cool."
That is good to hear you had a good ward party. Family events are always sweet. Today I was thinking about our family, because there was so many tourists with their families, just doing what families do. And it made me think of all our family trips together. They were always so fun. Alright well you take care now.

March 23, 2010

Dear Family,
As usually everything is good. We had our investigator Michelle and her two young daughters in church. Dont know if I told you about michelle, but she is a reference from a member in Fajardo. The member was always talking to Michelles about the Church, and Michelle agreed to have us come over. She read a lot the first time we gave her the Book of Mormon. We gave her 2 nephi 31 to read. She read it, and also the introduction and witnesses, and also did some study on Baptisms for the dead and infant bapstisms, because the member talked about that. She loves the Book of Mormon, and says that she understands baptisms for the dead, and said that she feels bad that she baptized her daughter when they were babies. We reassured her that God isnt going to find fault in her for something she didnt know. She loved Church and said that she wants to come every week.
I got the CD, thank you som much, it is sweet! Haha, I am not going to lie, when I first saw it I thought it was a joke, some 14 year old girl with braces, but I love the songs, they are really good, especially in Spanish. I dont know if I am bias now, but I like listening to songs in Spanish more than English, they have more power to me.
Haha, that is really funny that you cant make it on your own dad. I was in the same boat when I started the mission. I had no idea, I made macaroni and cheese for the first month. Now I have an idea, and I make some pretty good rice.
I know what you mean about hiring people to do work, I learned that the other week. We tried to put in a door for a bedroom for one of our investigators, but we learned really quickly that it was a lot more work than we could handle. The frame and door had to be measured and cut to fit. We had to shave the door, and do all this work to get it to fit. We ended up having to drop it, because I was afraid we would screw up the door, we would have had to drill a hole in the door to put the door knob. Hiring people is the way to go.
Last week was really fun. It was really close to the beach where we were at, so we had a nice ocean breeze coming off, pushing us in our hammocks. I will have to take you guys there, it is a little hike in, so nobody is there. There are also some really good waves to surf, we would have the beach all to ourselves. We didnt bring any water with us, so we had to crack open coconuts caveman style on some rocks to get the water. It was a really fun day.
Hey I need a couple of things, I need you to send a medical insurance card. I have a couple of cavities I need to get taken care of. You can send it to the office, and I will get it in a week at transfers.Well off to El Morro and a fun day in Viejo San Juan, I am pretty excited. Have a great week, and take care. One Love.



Love Elder Hardy

March 17, 2010

Buenos Dias,
It sounds like a lot of fun back home. I cant believe Jake painted the house. That kid knows better. Well I hope the paint comes out. Mom it sounds like you are doing a lot of traveling huh? That is fun. Hey do we get to fly for free as a family from nate, or we just get buddy passes. That would be sweet to just go and visit some of my converts over the weekend every now and then.
Yeah, I kind of just assumed that the saliva of Iguanas was nasty, but dont worry I am a trained professional when it comes to Iguanas. I just got to get me a machette here to kill them. I left my machettes with Elder Ralston before I went to Antigua. I did not know there were Boas here. That is good to know. But Boas dont really have poison do they? Either way I am not going to try and catch them, snakes dont interest me too much.
That is way cool that Nick is your home teacher. He is such a stud. That is way special that you get to see his new and bright tesimony. New members always have really awesome testimonies.
This week we are going to hike to a really beautiful spot in Luquillo. We are going to bring our hammocks and just kick it. Everyone says that it is super pretty, so I hope to get some nice pics. yes I do need to send my memory card. I have almost 400 picks that you havent seen. Some real nice ones too. But I want to wait after El yunque. Which wont be this week, or the next week (we are going to old San Juan, which has the cool castle), but the week after that. I actaully have a bunch of stuff to send you that I dont want to lug around. I picked up some cool stuff in Antigua.
Teaching is still slow. One of our strong investigators called us and told us that her husband doesnt want us to pass by anymore. It is always really hard. Especially when she erally wants to learn and come to church. But she said that she is going to let him cool down, and try and talk to him. So we are trying to do a lot of finding right now. What we mostly do for finding is first we have a list of scriptures in the book of Mormon. Starting from the Introduction and then it will say at the bottom of the page where the next marked scriptures is. It goes all the way through the Book of Mormon, hitting all the really important scriptures. We give the list to the members to mark, and then invite them to think about someone to give it to. We have gotten some good investigators through that. I need to send you guys the list. We also work in the area book, we search all the old investigators and then contact their neighbors after.
We had Zone conference yesterday, president Dewsnup is amazing. I love learning from him. He shared soemthing really cool about obedience. How Christ said that in the days of his second coming it would be like how it was in the days of Noah. Then we read how it was in the days of Noah. The righteous people willfully left the sons of God who hearkened (listened and Obeyed) and wen to the sons of man who didnt hearken. And how as missionaries we know exactly what we should be doing, but we choose not to hearken, and follow the sons of man. It hit really hard to me. I have never been that person that has been Anal. For example how at stake conference we shouldnt meet in groups of missionaries and talk, but we should talk to the members. Now I am going to be that annoying missionary who tries to brake up the group.
Well I love you all, got to get going. But thank you for the recipe, and I hope you guys have a nice relaxing week.


Love Elder Hardy

March 10, 2010

Another good week. Nothing too big, but nothing bad. We had an investigator named luis in church. He has been taught for a long time and wants to get baptized, but he has a trial to get taken care of. Someone accused him of doing something, so we have to wait till after the trial to see if he can get baptized. I did get you package, thank you so much! I wasnt greedy and shared with the district. We all loved them. And the tie is really nice, I love it. You guys really know how to pick ties.
That sounds good that Daniel wants to be independent and work, and also that he chose to try and have good roommates. That is too bad about lance, I hope everything woorks out and that he is ok, he will be in my prayers.
We were going to El Yunque today, but it has rained a lot here, so it is closed. It rained for 3 straight days. It is hard to work when it is raining. But at least we have a car, that is a huge blessing. So we are going next week to El Yunque. Last week we played a little basketball as a district at the church in Luquillo. Haha, and I caught a HUGE Iguana. It was sweet. I have a video and everything of catching it. I thought about eating it, but it looked pretty old and kind of gross. People in Antigua told me that Iguana meat is awesome. So the next one I catch I will definitely kill it and eat it. There are a lot of iguanas here. You dont see a lot of dead road kill like dogs or cats, but mostly iguanas, kind of cool.
Oh, I need a favor, can you send me your favorite cake recipe. We met this lady who makes cake for a living,a nd she wants a mexican recipe from Elder Galindo, and whatever us Americans make. She made us so much food the other day. At the end I almost threw up. But she also showed us how to make some really good carrot cake cinnamon roll things. I will send you the recipe. You should see the cakes she makes, she showed us some pictures and they are unreal! I have never seen cakes like them before. My favorite was this huge dragon. It didnt even look like a cake, but some kind of toy. And the cakes actaully taste good too. Every monday we are going to pass by and she is going to teach us how to make a cake. I cant remember what next week is, but the week after is cheesecake, I love cheesecake.
She is really cool, here mom is a member, she is married, here son ahs downsyndrome. So we are going to work with here.
Well thanks again for the package, you guys are awesome.


Love Elder Hardy

March 3, 2010

Hey,
Another good week in Rio Grande. The members are really nice, we have been feed a lot here. More than any other area I have been in. Hey, I forgot to tell you about when I first got to Puerto Rico from Antigua. So I flew over (All by myself, it is really scary) and I got to the airport and waited out on the curb for the moving elders to come get me. 3o inutes passed, 1 hour passed, so I figured they werent coming. So I decided to take a taxi to the guaynabo chapel where they hold transfer meetings ever tranfer. When I went to get into the taxi, I realized I didnt have my scriptures, which had my money in them. So then I had to go back into the airport and look for someone to help me. Finally I talked with a lady and she called some people and found out that my scriptures were still on the airplane. So then I had to wait an hour for them to get through customs and security and all that. I had to sit there, by myself with out a phone or a number to call for help (The next time I travel I am going to bring a number to call) When I finally got my scriptures I walked out of customs and I saw three missionaries standing there asking if anyone had seen a missionary walking around. So it all worked out, they finally remembered me. Sometimes things are a little crazy in the mission.
When I fisrt started driving it was a little crazy too. Sometimes I would be driving in a neighborhood and be driving on the left side of the road (Because thats where they drive in Antigua) and then a car will come down the road and I would have to get back to the right. But dont worry that has already passed, I am good now.
I have heard a little bit about Jorge Alvarado. He is from Puerto Rico, and I heard that he is nice. That is it.
That is fine if you want to go in the summer. No worries. The islands are still going to be here, they arent going anywhere.
Well got to get going, but I love you very much. Stay classy.



Love Elder Hardy