May 30, 2011

Feliz Dia De Madre!!!

Ha ha today is Mother’s Day here.

That is neat that the blog has a mission now. ... ha ha reverse that. We are running late today and so I am not going to have a lot of time to write.

Ah, well yes, week before last I baptized a super kid named Marcelo. But I guess he really technically doesn’t count as mine because he is in the Sister’s area. But I got to baptize him.

No, todavia (still) no. I don’t receive the Ward Newsletter. But I did get a package from Rob!!! And it was awesome. Packed full of treats and such. I told my comp the package rule (where he gets half of whatever is in the package without knowing what was in it). But luckily, Rob was inspired and sent two of everything.

What I really liked was his letter he sent me. And he sent a cool story about a Picture of Jesus when the Tabernacle burned down. My comp really liked that story too. But hey, did you ever tell me that the Tabernacle burned down? That’s too bad. (Sue’s note: Elder Hardy is talking about the Provo Tabernacle that burned down in December 2010).

Things are great with my Compañero. And he called me over to show me the email you guys sent him. I think he really liked it, thank you.

Today I went to Radio Shack with the Zone, and I found a couple MP3 players. The cheapest one was C$899 (like $41). It was 4 GB and had a little slot to put a micro sd card. I really thought about buying it but because I am pinche I didn’t. It looked a little cheap too. I don’t know how good of a deal it was.

But maybe it would just save me a lot of buyers stress (which you know I have) if you guys could find a good one for me and send it. You have full rights to my account (especially because it is shared) and my only concern is it arriving here safely. Which more often than not will. What do you think?

A neat experience Saturday was when we went to the Ward’s Mother’s Day party. It was really good and all the Primary kids participated in different things. The best was that a few investigadores came with us to the activity. The Mom and Daughter of a part member family (the dad is member, them no) came and really liked it.

Then after, we took them to their house with another member that accompanied us. And we taught a lesson to them. The different part was that the power went out for the whole time and so we taught them on the porch in the complete darkness.

What was inspirational, was that even though everything was pitch black, I could feel the light of their spirits as they are progressing in the Gospel. They are very positive and are impressed with the Church. They have promised to come to Church next Sunday and are on track to complete their goal to prepare to be baptized by the end of this month.

Hey I am running late.

Have a good week everybody,

Love you.

Elder Hardy

May 23, 2011

Buenas!!!

Hey, I have a new Compañero! Aha, Elder Muzo! He is from El Salvador. He is very nice, and we have made some very impressive goals for this month of June that is coming. His name is Jose Muzo Martinez.  

He is a recent convert to the church. Which always earns my respect. He was baptized about 2 years ago. He was the example in his family and was the first one to be baptized. Apparently, before the missionaries showed up, he was a punk. He had the big boots and giant mohawk to go with it. But the gospel has changed his life. And what is really great is that because of his example and going on the mission, the rest of his family was baptized 4 months ago.

Also, he only took about a half an hour today to write President and then he got off the computer. He told me once that not too many people write him. It would be nice if you guys could send him an email introducing yourselves and welcoming him to the family.

Ah. So this week we found several very positive families. We have already taught them the Restoration of the Gospel and have put a goal for them to be baptized in this coming month.

We passed by the house of one of the families yesterday. Her husband wasn’t home and they couldn’t go to church, but, we asked her if she had read the LDM (El Libro de Mormón, Book of Mormon) and prayed and she said yes.

Then we asked how she felt, and she said she felt really peaceful. We read with her the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatas (Galations). And she felt that it was an answer to her prayers.

For Changes I sat with my "Father" Elder Coj. (Sue’s note: Your “Father” is the senior companion that trains the new missionary “Greenie”). But as far as fun activities, not too much. President has really cut down the time at changes so we can get back to our area and work.

It is rainy every day now! It hasn’t rained super hard but the climate has definitely changed.

No package from Uncle Rob!!! Apparently Aunt Jenny has sent a package too! I will wait con esperanza (with hope) for their arrival.

Well, that is good to hear the rainy season has come there. So this time the car trunk flooded, but how about the window sills? I can’t remember if I cleaned the rain gutters last summer.

Hey Dad, sorry it rained on your golf outing.

That is great to hear that Highland Rugby is still following its tradition! But sad to hear Coach Gelwix is retiring. He was a good coach.

Congratulations Emily and Hannah on your piano recitals.

Hey, I have a paper President talked about in Changes with 101 ideas for the missionary work. I wonder if I could scan it and give it to you. I asked Pres. after if I could get one. And the next day, he sent it with a couple of office workers.

Apparently, I was the only one who asked him about it and he was very impressed haha. I will think about using your steroids analogy with an investigator who is doubting the LDM (BOM) ha ha.

Hahaha Alexis, Dad is taking a running class with you? That is awesome Dad! You have inspired me to do better exercise in the mornings, thanks! And good luck, Alexis.

Yes Emily... Driving here is Crazy!!! Be careful. And don’t try to act like you need to get a job to buy a car. I know what little sisters are like. Dad at least has to do a 50/50 deal or something. I wish I could see your interesting Spanish video. Luh ya.

Hannah, I think there are movie theaters here. I don’t know for sure. I have never actually seen one. Love you, good luck with summer!

Thanks for praying for me.

The "flotador" is as good as done now.

Love,

Elder Hardy

May 16, 2011

Buenas,

We had a wedding on Saturday, it was nice. We bought a cake and everything. But they still have some more progress to do before they are baptized.

Our other baptisms did not happen this week. Unfortunately, our main family to marry and baptize had to leave Wednesday. They live very humbly and don’t have a job right now. So at the beginning of the week, a friend called them and told them that there was a job opportunity to go to San Juan Sur to build a house for a couple weeks and that they had to be waiting on the highway Wednesday morning or they would miss their chance.

He wanted to be able to fix the house they are living in for his family and buy shoes and everything so they decided to go. But when they come back in about a month, they say they are good to go.

Yes, we have changes this week. We found out today as we were doing a Zone activity in the Stake Center. But no, I am not getting changed. And I am very happy because we should have a couple families getting ready to be baptized here in the next month. Elder Valenzuela is changing which is too bad but we had a good time together.

People do lots of things for a living here. The men might be a guard for a store or a house. The women usually do something like sell tortillas or work domestically for a richer house. (But many times the women are stay at home moms).

Ha ha. Well, it finally came. And it came strong. It is officially winter here a.k.a rain every day time! I think it was Friday. We woke up and it was pretty overcast. We had our Zone Conference and District Meeting like usual. We came back and ate and left to work. Everything was normal.

We were at an investigator's house doing a little of on the spot service helping clean the front lawn. (Ha ha which means sweep the dirt, leaves and garbage into a pile and burn it). Then it started to drizzle. We got all the piles to light right before it started to fall faster. And before you know it, we were running inside the house for cover. After a little talk with them, we bravely left the house to go to a set appointment with a new family.

Ha ha the rivers of water had already started. I thought my bag was pretty water proof. Well, luckily they had a plastic bag I wrapped my scriptures in before putting them into my backpack. It rained almost the whole time we were out. And in the night I woke up a couple times from the thunder. Luckily the house we live in has a very good roof and I couldn’t find a single leak. It has rained every single day since. (Not the whole time everyday, still, but everyday)

So Rob sent me a package? Awesome, I will tell you when it comes. Maybe it is waiting at changes.

Yes, a family in the Canon caught an armadillo, and ate it.

It is great to hear Perry is doing good. I like the photo.

Ha ha good luck with the float, Mom, I think if Jose has the time he would love to help out. He is into all the engineering stuff.

Say congratulations to Nick Davis for me.

So Smallville finally turned into Superman huh. Well it’s about time. You will have to tell me when I get back if it is worth it to watch all the episodes.

Congratulations with being the new Dance Co. Historian Emily. That is neat. Take lots of pictures. And you should put a picture of me in the slide show... Just kidding

Neat service project Dad. Good luck golfing that is neat.

Hannah, Buena Suerte with your Piano Recital on Saturday! I know you will do great. Good work with the float. Ps I love you.

I love you so much!!!

Elder Hardy

P.S. I did not forget that Alexis didn’t write me.... that’s one less souvenir when I get back… :)

May 9, 2011

¡¡¡Feliz Día de Madre!!! (Happy Mother’s Day!!!)

Yesterday was GREAT! My best Mother’s Day too. Ha ha. I’m so grateful to have been able to talk to the family, hear you say I love you and say I Love You.

So, sounds like you are doing great at golf, Dad. Golfing ought to be a required class to pass business school. Good luck helping with the float you should send some progress pictures. Love you dad.

I´m so proud of you, Mom, and thank you for giving the talk yesterday. I hope you had a good Mother’s Day. I don’t remember you telling me what you got from the family. I know your "float thing" will be the best one. I love you so much!

Ha ha Congratulations, Alexis! You are FREE from school and now have to work and find a family. Ha. Love you!

Oh no, Emily, you’re going to get your driver’s license this week. I remember when I went. I redid my signature on the stupid little electric pad like 5 times, because it always came out ugly. The worker finally gave me a face and I decided it would have to do. So be ready for the electric signing pad. Good luck finding a job, and try to buy the cheapest car you can find. And if it doesn’t have one, put a big muffler on it. I "luh" you!!!

Hannah, thanks for doing so many wonderful things for Mom for Mothers Day. And thanks for talking with me yesterday, it was great. p.s. I love you.

For PDay today, we woke up ready to wash our clothes. But the water left extra early this morning! So the family asked if we could wash our clothes another morning because they weren’t going to have enough water for the day. Ha ha and I still have 4 shirts ha ha I wonder if I can make it through the week without washing...

The sister missionaries wanted to go the Distribution Center today. But the APs said they can only go if we went with them. So we went to the Center and I bought more HLJ (CTR) rings to give to people. They are great for recent converts and for member’s birthdays.

After we finished there (by the way the package wasn’t there) we went to go fix my comps back pack and get my hair cut. Ha ha you know if you need a haircut when you walk through the market and all the Barber shops target you and ask you if you need a haircut. Then we went to PALI to buy breakfast supplies. After that, we came home, ate lunch and came to write.

On Sunday night we taught one lesson with a really strong Evangelico man. We have talked to him before because he came to one of our investigating families’ home and we didn’t exactly get along. But we did much better this time to leaves him positive. He was very knowledgeable of the scriptures, and while he has his own interesting doctrine, he brought up a very good scripture.

It was the story when a man in the bible starting performing miracles but was not one of the disciples of Jesus. The disciples of Jesus asked him if they should go stop him and Jesus said no, those who are not against us, are with us. (Luke 9:49-59)

Obviously that is not a direct quote, especially in English. But we have to remember, even though we want to share the Restored Gospel with everyone, we have to remember that many people have many truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and are trying to do their best to live like Him. We only hope that they will keep their hearts open so we can share with them more truths to add to what they already have.

Yesterday, while my comp made his phone call, I talked to the family of the Pharmacia. Her kids are actually recent converts because they were older than 8 years old when they started coming to church again and got baptized. I also talked with all the people that came into the pharmacy and watched a little bit of one of the Church’s DVDs about the New Testament with the kids.

Ha ha last night for dinner I think we had rice, beans, with shredded cheese and sour cream. I mixed them all together and put them in a tortilla. This morning I didn’t really eat anything until lunch because I was all out of food. For lunch we had Gallo Pinto and some roast beef with a Chicha drink.

(Sue’s note: In Managua and Granada,"chicha de maiz" is a typical drink, unfermented and served very cold. It is often flavored with banana or vanilla flavors, and its saleswomen can be heard calling "¡Chicha, cafe y jugo frio!" in the squares.

Nicaraguan "chicha de maiz" is made by soaking the corn in water over night. On the following day it is ground and placed in water, red food colouring is added, and the whole mixture is cooked. Once cooled, sugar and more water is added. On the following day one adds further water, sugar and flavoring.

I think it sounds like the Nicaraguan equivalent of Kool Aid haha.)

One spiritual experience we had this week was on Saturday. We went to the house of Jaudin and Miurel. We taught them for a while until their evangelico friend showed up. We taught him for a while until a point when I bore a very strong testimony about Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, the Gospel, the Book of Mormon and living prophets.

Next up on the menu…

Armadillo?

or Pizza?!!!

Love you all very much,

I can’t wait until we get to talk again!

Love,

Elder Hardy

May 2, 2011

Hey!!! Happy Mother´s Day! We will talk before I send my next email.

We are planning on calling at 2 o´clock P.M. I think I decided it is cheaper for us if I call. I also think that 2 pm here means 3 pm there or something.

Good luck with your "The Blessings of Having a Missionary" talk, Mom. Ha ha I hope there is enough material to talk about. A special message to the Ward would be to say:

Gracias por la ayuda y amor que me dieron que me ayudó prepararme ser un misionero y gracias por el amor y el apoyo que han dado y me dan todavía... y dar una referencia a los misioneros en el barrio... y si no tienen uno, ayunar y orar preparar una... y si no conocen los misioneros, conocerles.

(Thanks for the help and love that you have given me that helped me prepare to be a missionary and thanks for the love and support you have given and still give me ... and give a referral to the missionaries in the ward ... and if you don’t have a referral, fast and pray for one ... and if you don’t the missionaries, get to know them).

Ha ha oh yeah and I feel fine. The ROUS was pretty good.

Yes, the Sister Missionaries came to our area. Ha ha and they are Pilas! (Word used to say they are really hard workers, energized, etc. I can’t think of an exact translation right now.) They work really hard and always contact more families and everything than the rest of the District.

(Note from Sue: We asked Jonny what the Mission Goals are and if he has to keep records. The people, of course, are more important than numbers but the Mission still has goals to keep them motivated).

Yes, of course we keep records. We count our numbers at the end of every night and give them to our District Leader over the phone. And every Sunday, we total the week and give that too. But President Monestel has changed our numbers a little bit to focus more on what is most important to us, Families. We only count a baptismal date, lesson, contact, new investigator, reference etc. if it is with a family.

I mean, we still count all the others and they are important. But if you teach 5 lessons with a member present but none of them were with a husband and wife, when you tell your District Leader that night it is still a 0. The standards of excellence that the President set every day with families are at least 1 baptismal date (of a family), 3 lessons with member, 2 without member, 2 references received and contacted, 2 new investigators (2 new families), 2 recent converts, 1 less active, and 7 contacted families.

Each week we also send how many people came to church, and how families are progressing. (We are supposed to have 5 progressing families, which for us means they have come to church at least once in the past 2 weeks and have an active baptismal date).

It is a challenge to meet the Standards of Excellence each day and week, especially to get 5 families coming to church. But I want to be a missionary of excellence and so I am working really hard to bring this area up to snuff.

Well, we went to the Colonia, it is like the American grocery store here. I even found bacon!!! But I didn’t get it because I thought it might ruin the iron. But maybe next time I will and ask the family we live with to cook it in the morning.

Well, my compañero is now the Leader of the District! Unfortunately, something bad happened in the other town in our District and they had to take out the missionaries there for their safety. It seems like I have been called to train District Leaders ha ha. I say that because each one of my companions has started being a new DL with me. Ha ha but I am still the Junior Comp.

Well, it rained for the first time this week. It seems like the lightning is louder here. The rainy season starts this month they tell me. I am super excited to see how it is in the Cañon here while it is raining. They told me it is about up to your knees, we will see.

Yes, I am going to mail home my photo cards. I would also like to know the laws of sending a package from Nicaragua to USA and what restrictions there are.

Good work, artist Dad.

Good luck with Sunday, Mom. Don’t cry too much.

Y Felicidades a Alexis!!! Going to graduate from the U! That’s great, Alexis, congratulations.

You asked about fútbol? Well, they had a Madrid vs. Barcelona game recently that everyone was excited about. But not too crazy. I have only seen a few fist fights in the street when people have gotten mad playing street fútbol.

Emily, the President said we need to look more mature and always do our hair to the side. None of this ski slope stuff. But yes, I need a haircut.

Congratulations about your video, Hannah! That sounds awesome. P.S. I love you

Love you all, I can’t wait to talk to you,

Elder Hardy