March 21, 2011

¡Feliz Primavera! (Happy Spring!)

The Motmot 
National Bird of Nicaragua

Ha ha ha Perry the Duck!!! About as close as we will get to a platypus. I think that is so awesome Emily was answered with a live duckling. I wish I would have done that for a dance. Well done, Alex Diamond.

There are lots of ducks here. A family we contacted yesterday had this big old duck who tried to take a bath in a pan I was standing by and shook it all over me. Ha ha, they eat them here...

No! No package this week. I’m convinced there is a conspiracy in the office. I dunno, it must just be really slow.

We will go to the Stake Center to watch General Conference coming up. And I think all the cheles get to watch it in English too. I mean it would be neat to watch it in Spanish.

Yesterday after Stake Conference, we went to a barrio (neighborhood) that I don’t know at all. We passed a house that I felt we should contact. So we did. At first, the guy ran inside and left his wife to talk to us (ha ha not too uncommon) but we talked to her for a while and eventually worked our way to the porch and he came out and we taught him too.

After teaching them we asked if they had any family or friends that we could talk to that were in the area. They said yes, their next door neighbors are family. So after sharing a message and pamphlet about the Restoration with them and setting up a return visit, we walked around the barb wired fence and contacted the family.

After sharing the same message with them, we asked the same question for references. Turns out the next house down was a family that is family too. So we contacted them. We commented how it was neat that the three families lived right next to each other. And they said yeah it’s because their mom owns the land. And it turns out she lived a little further down the terreno (field) with her husband. Ha ha so we went and talked to her. Tomorrow we are going back to teach each of the families.

Special blessings in serving a mission. Oh boy. That is a terribly big question. Well, hopefully it will help me get a wife a little further down the road. Ha ha but first is how the mission has helped me be more compassionate, patient and understanding of people.

Ha ha sometimes people are really mean, but instead of getting mad or offended or fighting back, I think of maybe why they are that way and how I can help them through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because everyone needs it, the trick is figuring out how and helping them figure it out too.

Being a representative of Jesus Christ everyday really helps you have more charity. It has helped me mature a lot as well (of course it has). Before the mission lots of little things people would do used to bother me like crazy. Something I actually just noticed yesterday was that my comp was doing just about all of them. But I wasn’t even bothered, I wasn’t even phased. I was just like huh, that used to bother me.

Really there are countless little things that I can’t possibly think of let alone tell, but the biggest blessing I have felt in serving a mission is the opportunity to serve my Lord, invite and help people come to Him and be more like Jesus Christ myself. And really in the end, we are all representatives of our master Jesus Christ whether we have a plaque on or not. So shouldn’t we all be all little more like Him?

Yes Hannah, they have cool birds in Nicaragua. The most common bird is like the tropical version of a crow or something. And they make lots of noise in the mornings. There are these really pretty birds that I see all the time here that have a really bright yellow belly. I was about to take a picture of one on Friday but it saw me open the window and flew away.

I think I saw the national bird of Nicaragua (called a motmot) the other day but I’m not sure. It had two big funky looking tail feathers. I took a bad picture of it but I didn’t bring my camera cord today. The people here always have a pet chequollo. (Ha ha I don´t know how to spell it.) Just like a mini cockatiel with orange cheeks.

Sometimes they have pet Parrots too. One last week only knew how to bark like the dog. Ha ha no Hannah, I am afraid I can´t keep a pet. But the family we live with do have two pet dogs named Tonky and Spike.

I hope you all have a good week this week!

Love you all very much, (and Perry the duck)

Elder Hardy