July 25, 2011

Hey!!! That’s awesome about the Mormon Times Show! I will tell my comp.

Congratulations on completing the float. I’m sure today made it all worth it. But I won’t know if you won a prize until next week!!! Say congratulations and thanks to everyone that worked on the float from me too, thanks to them I’m famous haha.

Golden Contacts? Ha ha yes, this week we went to pretty far away pueblo in our area that is in the mountains. We went with a buddy who says he always passes by there and there is a family that always asks if the missionaries are going to come back. Apparently, they went one time and the wife came to church but they never went back. So we visited them, and all 7 of them showed up to church yesterday!

And we might have a baptism of a nice 21 year old guy who has been coming to church 4 weeks in a row. The only problem is finding him to give him the charlas.

Hannah’s Question: Are people always nice or do they sometimes treat you mean?

Ha ha always!... or almost always. And if they are not, if they give us the time to talk to them without trying to fight they always end up being nice. But something that would be great Hannah, that you could do for me, is pray that we can find all the nice people that want to listen to us so we can help them be even happier.

Ha ha the kids here usually like magic tricks. If you could give me a new one that would be great. I usually just go with the magic tie or the disappearing Cordoba. Ha ha but they are always playing soccer or Nicaball (my name for the street version of baseball).

What do we first say to people when they invite us into our home? Ha ha: "permission". You say "permiso" whenever you enter into someone’s house. Then they say "suyo" or "pasen" (come in). Then I usually say “thank you” and we start to talk about their family or how nice the house looks. When we sit down we like to find out a little bit more about them and how we can apply the gospel to their lives.

Do people accept Joseph Smith? It depends on how prepared they are and their religious background. In all cases, we always invite them to read and ponder more and then pray to find out for themselves. The sad thing is lots of people have already heard of Joseph Smith, and have never talked to the missionaries... Which means they have heard lots of things that aren’t true. So we like the opportunity to combat error and teach them the truth.

Hey congratulations on the float family! That is such an accomplishment. We are continuing on our road to international fame haha... but you had to wait until I left to do one of the biggest steps so far.

That is neat that Alexis is in Greece. But she needs to write me too! And hey, what is this about iPhones...?

Well shnookums, I hope you have some time to relax now before summer ends. And I pray for you every night too. Luh ya.

Hey! Now it’s Yellowstone time!!! Don’t get eaten by a bear Hannah! Or worse... a SNIPE! Ah! PS. I love you

Love you all awardwinningfloatmaker people,

Elder Hardy

July 18, 2011

Hey! Awesome photos of the Float!!!

Congratulations on the Wilford Woodruff float. It looks soo good, I have no idea how you even start something like that. And I guess most of the stress is pretty much over now right? All you have to do now is go to parties and watch the parade. Or what will you be doing during the parade?

And then finally you will get to go to Yellowstone.

Yeah, the rains have hit hard and made things muddy a couple times. But it comes and goes. The trick is to get inside a house when you see it coming, then it rains really hard for a couple of minutes and you can’t hear anything because the roofs are metal and then it goes. (I call it extra motivation to contact sent from on high) Ha ha but it hasn’t gotten to where it rains all day or anything.

The family we live with are good. And they are very nice. They try to help us with everything they can to make us happy. She cooks very well too.

Yesterday we went the house of one of my most recent converts. Her extended family was over for the night, and when we walked in we found her sitting down with all of them and she had her Book of Mormon open and was sharing some of her favorite scriptures to them. She then helped us teach a lesson to them and got mad at me for calling her by her first name and told me to say Hermana (her last name) because she is preparing for her mission. That was more than pretty neat. To see the fruits of conversion in someone and their enthusiasm to share what they have with everyone around them.

No, I haven’t ditched too many of my belongings, mostly I’ve just given them away to people who want them ha ha.

You know mom, I have actually been looking for heart rocks. But you would have to wait until I get back home wouldn’t you.

Hannah, you asked what the coolest thing about Nicragua is. . . The People! You got to Love um, but not too much to the chicas. ha ha.

Wow dad, sounds like the float was worth it then.

De Nada Mom. My Compañon says the float looks beautiful and congratulations. I also told him he was going to be famous to all of the chelas in Utah because they are going to show a photo of me and him on TV before the parade... I don’t know if that is true but it made us both happy.

Good luck in Europe Alexis!!! Please send me a post card, and photos in email while you are there!

Hey Emily, I remember the Nephite vs. Lamanite war! I’m pretty sure I won last time ha ha.

Good luck with dance camp Hannah!

Ps I love you.

Everything sounds great, good luck with the Parade.

Love you all,

Elder Hardy

July 11, 2011

Hey Family!

Guess what, I don’t have any time this time because a lightning bolt struck near to our house and the internet cafe and ruined some electronics or something. So we had to wait a bunch of time for them to change them and fix them.

But Hey! Oh no, not even being in Nicaragua escaped me from being publicized to all the world with the family ha ha. That is great about KSL, I hope I didn’t look too dorky in the photos you sent. Thanks for working so hard to represent the Family and the Church, no doubt more blessings are on the way.

Ah, wish Alexis good luck with her Europe trip!

Haha the last Harry Potter movie?!?! I forgot the first one came out! Are you going to dress up for it? You at least have to make cool wands.

I need to answer your questions quickly:

More about my comp…well...he is shorter than me. Ha ha but better that I give you his correo and you can ask him!!

My Spanish? No, I still don’t think I sound native. My comp and I are starting to study every morning early and I am reading the Libro de Mormon out loud with the audio disks so I hope it gets better.

Just make sure when you are telling the story of the Restoration you say y Pedro, Santiago y Juan dio el Sacerdocio major a José Smith por la imposición de manos ... not monos. (and Peter, James and John gave to Joseph Smith the major Priesthood by the laying on of hands ... not monkeys). hahahahahahahaha

Our investigator? We actually baptized him Sunday at 8 am and he received the Holy Ghost in Sacrament Meeting at 9 am. It was great, he is super positive and even wants to introduce us to a friend.

Everything sounds like it is going great at home. Yes the float is stressful. But it will mean so much more because it wasn’t easy.

Good Luck,

Elder Hardy

PS I love you

July 4, 2011

Hey Family!

Today we are running really late because the server has a ton of people in it. We are going to have to change our schedule for next Monday to come in and write earlier. So please make sure to write any emails before the afternoon on Monday.

Sounds like the 4th of July was the awesomest ever, I guess once I left they decided it was safe to legalize fireworks in Utah. Ha ha it will be funny when I get back and they change the law again.

Wish Grandma Weiler a muy feliz cupliaño! and Grandpa tambien.

I am going to do questions fast today.

My new Companion is Elder Eliv Daniel Moreno Monroy. Elder Moreno is from Guatemala and has been in the Church since he was 2 years old. He is 25 years old right now and has 10 months in the mission. Same as me.

Bottle Rockets? I don’t know what you are talking about, Emily. Pagina 43 en Manual Misional (Español)

Recipes to send home? Ha ha ha oops. Hey I have to right fast today. But my absolute favorite is slightly toasted gallo pinto (beans and rice), with cream and a side of plantanos maduros (ripe plantains). Hey, you need to tell me how much platanos cost there. Because I want to make maduros everyday.

Experiences this week. Well, I got my new companion. And we went to teach a future Priesthood holder who is going to be baptized this Saturday. We had a lesson with him one morning and started talking to him about the baptismal interview questions.

Well, he answered them all very well. And when we started to talk about the restoration and the book of Mormon, he started to explain things better than I ever have. He said a couple of things and my comp. was really impressed and asked how he knew and understood so much. He said, “Elder Hardy and his companion taught me”. Well, I don’t remember teaching all that.

Ha ha no still no, I have not bought an MP3 player yet.

Teaching this week. Well, my companion is very big on references. And it is very true that those who were contacted through references are always much more positive and are baptized much more often... So give a reference to the local missionaries! We have been a little low on new families. But now we have received a bunch of references, we just need to contact them all... Today!

Sounds like everything is going good. And it is fourth quarter in the float building. But it is going to be great.

Nos vemos! (Until later!)

Love,

Elder Hardy

Ps I love you