November 28, 2011

Gobble Gobble!

Looks like Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! And how was Mom´s Birthday?

I think that is great that Grandma and Grandpa Weiler were able to come too. I am so grateful for my Grandparents (from both sides) and for their examples and their love. I hope Grandpa Weiler is doing good. I could never be able to repay the blessing that I had to spend I little bit of time with him before going on the mission. It really helped me out, and I enjoyed the company of him more than anyone knows.

I am really hoping and praying for his health, and that he can make it around for a bit more so I can give him a hug and tell him how grateful I am for him. He has fought a good fight if you ask me and his legacy will live on through me, he has left a lasting impression on my life.

My new comps name is Elder Axel Antonio Gaytan Real. He is Nicaraguan! Ha ha well, by birth only I think. He told me he left Nicaragua when he was very little and grew up in El Salvador. He is a big guy, and we are getting along great. He also eats a lot. He is a convert, and is sealed in the temple with his adopted family. And has a great testimony.

Being District Leader is fine. I don’t think I am doing all that great. But I think that is one of the problems, I should have more confidence. So I am going to work on that this week.

The missionaries are good, but we haven’t had any families come to church for the last couple weeks. So that would be great if you guys could pray for us here. (I know you already do). There are 10 missionaries (2 sisters) in my District, including me. And yeah, actually Elder Valenzuela and Elder Muzo are in my District ha ha. So that is great.

Well, I actually haven’t made any plans for Christmas. That might be tough to work out with the converts and investigators. We will probably have to go to various houses Christmas night.

What am I thankful for? Well, I was waiting for that question because it is Thanksgiving. But it is tough, because I don’t actually have enough time to type all the blessings that I am most thankful for. But thanks to your spiritual thought from President Uchtdorf I think I found a way.

First and foremost and forever I am thankful for my God. For my Heavenly Father and the relationship I have with him. This blessing obviously involves my Savior Jesus Christ as well, and the infinite love they have for me that I can still not comprehend.

After God, the blessing most grand and marvelous in my life is my Family. And what is even better is that this family is not a temporal blessing, it is an eternal one. And the eternal blessings and exaltation that we will receive together is a blessing that is too great to describe.

I am also grateful for the opportunity I have to serve mi Prójimo (my fellowman). The opportunity I have as a missionary right now to serve God and my Fellowman is something that I will always be grateful for.

Ya que (As) I am serving my God with all my heart might and strength, representing my family, bringing more families to the fullness and blessings of the gospel and at the same time, it is changing me to be ready to be faithful to God for the rest of my life. Really there are very many blessings temporal and spiritual that I have in my life and above all I have to thank my Heavenly Father for his love.

Love,

Elder Hardy

P.s. I love you!

P.p.s. Yes I still have the sincere tree!

November 21, 2011

Happy gobble gobble day!!!

And more importantly:

¡¡¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS MAMÁ!!!

Hey! Why are you concerned? Sorry if I didn’t answer all the questions last time. I certainly did not have a bad week, we have been baptizing!

Well this Sunday was the Stake Conference here in Jinotepe. I actually wasn’t in my own area, (I was on divisions with the Zone Leaders) But only two investigators from our area could come. We were hoping for a couple families but the next time we will get them there.

For PDay we invited the other zone next door, Zona Carazo to come play fútbol with ours here in Jinotepe. So there was a bunch of missionaries here today. We played for a little bit, but me and my comp had to go early for a reason that I will tell later.

Is it safe in Jinotepe? Jinotepe is great. Very safe, (you can be sure of that if there are Sister Missionaries there). Our area hardly doesn’t have any dangerous spots. And besides that I really doubt anything exciting like that is going to happen on my mission, I have a Mom that prays too much for my safety. What stories am I going to have to tell to the girls when I get back Mom?

Animals? ha ha well that depends, wild animals or not wild. For not wild animals it would be dogs, no competition. For wild animals... it would be dogs too, no competition ha ha.

There are lots of horses too. We always pass a field here with billy goats. Little birdies like chaquoyos are common. There are lots of birds, you can listen and not be able to count how many different calls there are. I think Grandpa Weiler would like that.

Hannah, we had Thanksgiving last night! So we could celebrate the Birthday of the wife where we eat too. It was fun. But no turkey, I tried to talk everyone into a turkey, I was even willing to pay a large portion of it. But no. For the 24 maybe I will take my Comp out to dinner.

Awesome that Hannah found the infamous lost CTR ring!!! Ha ha now there is only one more lost CTR ring that I never found (also a spinner) ha ha ha. Yes you can consider it a milagro (miracle) and a blessing of mercy that I still have the same spinny CTR/HLJ ring that you gave me before the mission. Seems like the prayer was answered, but maybe a little was lost in translation (I pray in Spanish) so you guys found my CTR ring but not Dad´s ring ha ha.

Ha ha that reminds me, you need to send the message from me to Grandma Weiler about her letters. First of all you have to give her a big big hug and kiss and tell her thank you and that I love her. She is the most faithful writer a missionary could ever have ha ha. I love getting her letters every week.

So the other thing is if you could remind her for me to put "South" after the mission in the address. One time they put a sticker on the letter to tell me to tell her to put that so that they don’t get confused. But I forgot. It hasn’t been a problem though because now they write it in every time with a red pen. (I think it is already a habit now, when they see grandma’s letters they already know what to do).

Good work dad, with Priest Quorum and with Twilight... Ha ha love you.

Hey Mom, I will try and send the photos cards today. We are pretty busy but I will send them! Love you.

Love you Alexis! Don’t be a duck!

Good luck Emily! I am so proud of you! I Luh you.

I love you Hannah! Turkey turkey! Ha ha keep it up in math and dance.

I love you all, talk to you soon,

Elder Hardy

Ps. I love you.

Oh!!! ya and the thing I needed to say is that my comp already has changes. Oh no!!! And we have started getting along really well too! :( It was going to be great this change. But President called us today and told us that they need emergency changes for some people in Managua.

So next time I will have to send a foto of my new comp. But it would be neat if you guys could stay in contact with Elder Peña. He is a really neat guy.

November 14, 2011

HEY FAMILIA!!!

Before leaving Bluefields

So, yes I know I have been taking out a lot of money lately. No, nobody has stolen the card but I have bought some things that stayed in Bluefields. I usually like to be pinche with my dinero, but sometimes it’s good not to be too.

You will have to tell the ward thank you and Merry Christmas from me.

Well, sounds like the gremlins have had a grudge on the Hardy Boys this week. I have had some similar problems as well. But the great thing is that all things, lost, broken etc have returned and been taking care of!!! And yes, all have been answers to prayers ha ha. I am convinced that I have always had a problem with stuff like this to humble me and make me remember who I depend on. So don’t worry Dad, it will be ok.

The full name of my comp is Elder Welver Steven Peña Reyes

NO! We do not get to drive a car. And President still hasn’t given in to giving me a Bicycle. Driving would be Crazy. Yes ha ha technically yes there are laws here.

Jinotepe is Nice and Fresco. A lot flatter this area than the ones before. People are nice, we need more Families. It is more like a city. But a Nicaraguan City. Our area goes into the "suburbs" too. I don’t think they have monkeys here, too cold.

We have about 6 investigators with Baptismal dates. They are good, but we are going to have to work hard to help them come to church this Sunday.

Hannah asked if there are Turkeys in Nicaragua? Ha ha ha YES! There is one that is my friend. His name is Felipe! The first time I met him he puffed up all big and chased me to the street. He is the pet of a family we are teaching. We want to have Pavo for dia de accion de gracias (turkey for Thanksgiving). But it is kind of expensive. I think I am going to pitch in a little bit to help the family where we eat buy one for the District.

Ha ha thanks for the updates, they are great.

I have to go, but I love you!!!

Elder Hardy

ps I LOVE YOU

November 7, 2011

Where in the world is Elder Hardy?.....

JINOTEPE!!! WHAAHOOO!

Ha ha yeah they sacked me out of Bluefields earlier, I was pretty bummed to find out I wasn’t going to be spending Christmas there. But now I am going to spend Christmas in a place where it even feels a little colder!!! I am in the area Las Villas 2 in the Zone Jinotepe. What happened was they took me out of Bluefields to come to Jinotepe and be... the District Leader! (oh no) haha.

Ok, my new area like I said is in Las Villas II in Jinotepe (near the pacific coast of Nicaragua). It is nice and cool here, I think it is a little bit higher up than the Caribbean coast. My new companion is Elder Peña. He is from Guatemala and is a really good teacher. He has the confidence of all our investigators and this change is going to be great with him. Just pray to help us find and teach lots of great new families here ok?

How was Día de Todos los Santos and Día de los Muerto? Ha ha normal. I knew there were a couple of celebrations. But well, they seem to have ALOT of days that they are off work and school for little holidays. I am jealous of all their school breaks.

The craziest thing that happened was last night (6 of November = elections) All of the missionaries in my district had to call in to report to me about how was their area and if there were a lot of fights and stuff. Here in Jinotepe it was tranquilo. When everyone found out who won here, they got a little excited and we could hear everyone out on the streets honking horns and yelling and stuff. But we didn’t have any problems.

Our door approach? Aha, well I think the biggest point is that I am really trying not to have to same routine. Because you might fall into a little bit of robot style. Each time should be a little different depending on the person/family.

But it usually starts with "Buenas" and ends with "¿cuando podemos pasar ésta semana para placticar más acerca de (nuestro mensaje)? (When can we come more this week to talk about our message?) Ha ha what works best is to talk about them, and get to know them, then you can share the message of the Restoration, applying it to the specific spiritual needs of the person.

Well, Testimony Meeting this last Sunday was good, my first time in Church here. But I will be honest it was a little quiet. After the counselor conducting bore his testimony and sat down there was a big pause, long enough that I went up and gave the first testimony. (I usually try to give all the time I can to the members to bear their testimonies and wait until there is a big pause) But after that they started going up.

One that really touched my heart was when a less active Dad went up and confessed that he and his family have been inactive for a while but they finally came to church again and he talked about his testimony in Jesus Christ and in the Restoration and how now they are going to strive to always stay active etc. It might have been the one that others didn’t take for much, he did it kind of weird and forgot how to end and ended up saying "thank you, good night" (sacrament meeting is a 10:30 am) But I made sure to say thank you to him after so he didn’t feel dumb.

Hannah's Question: Can you bring me home a green poison tree frog?

Ha ha ha I will see what I can do. But if it is poisonous how am I going to catch it?

Wow that is great to hear that Kepu is going on the mission to Tonga ha ha tell him congratulations from me.

And that is great to hear that Marsh Poulson the fourth is going on the mish. And to Alaska brrr... I’m guessing that is pretty much the complete opposite climate of mission. Good Luck!

Hey! That is great that you guys could see Jesse Theurer and the familia again! That would be sooo cool if I could train this December and maybe get his missionary from his ward.

Thank you for making the pumpkin Emily!!!

Hey I got to go ok, but thank you for the updates. I will send more photos next time.

Love,

Elder Hardy

Ps I Love you