February 20, 2012

I am doing great! 

Here with my new compañero (but I told him that after the first 2 days you aren’t new anymore). The best news is... 

We baptized a Family!!!!!

Well, a couple of months ago, a Priesthood holder came back to church after many years. We were able to help him and get to know his family. At the end of the last month, we baptized Yuran, his Grandson.

We have been working with his wife (who was not a member) and having a real wrestle trying to help her finally make the decision to be baptized. She has been thinking about it for about 12 years (since her husband was baptized). 

It was one of the best baptisms I have ever been able to help with in my mission. She was baptized and confirmed yesterday and she even shared her testimony afterwards and it made me so happy. 

Wednesday, my comp and I are going to Managua for a Conference for the Missionaries that are training and being trained. I bet you we will get our packages there!

Ward responsibilities? Um, well I guess I could be the pianist. Elder Kunz (who actually knows how to play) left last month. So we haven’t had anyone to do it. But Elder Muzo is doing it right now. The best part is that it is electronic. He actually has no idea how to play, but he pretends he is playing and I don’t think many members have realized it yet. 

We give the Gospel Principles Class sometimes when the teacher doesn’t show up, but the best part about Jinotepe is that it is already a Stake. So they are actually pretty self sufficient. 

My best experience? Well the best was yesterday when María Concepción got baptized, confirmed as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and received the Holy Ghost!

The worst experience is when you have taught very powerfully to a family and come back to the next appointment hoping that they tell you they know everything is true and want to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized, but instead they hand you the Book of Mormon and ask you to never come back. 

Ha ha yeah the questions are great. I just feel like I don’t have the time to answer them my very best. But don’t worry, the Book is BLUE the Church is TRUE and Families can be GLUED, together forever and I have the chance to share it with the families in Nicaragua for 6 MORE MONTHS! Nothing negative to share. :) 

I have a question: We are going to help Maria Concepcion and her Husband Agustin put a goal to go be Sealed in the Temple in one year. Do you think you could send me some photos of your temple marriage Mom and Dad?

I know you’ve got a dorky hair do (Sue’s note: gee thanks! haha) but I think it would be really special for me if I could share it with them and tell them about what blessings are awaiting their family. If you send them to my email I can print them off here. 

Ha ha ha you guys bought a cat! That was really nice, I am sure Grandma Weiler is very happy. (Rob too). 

Hey, Congratulations Emily on the killer talk you gave Sunday!!! Sounds like it was great. That is really neat, no. That is AWESOME that you have a friend that is going to get baptized. You will have to tell him "Felicidades" from me. Make sure you help support him so that after his baptism he can keep strengthening his testimony and prepare to go on a mission. That would be so cool. Tell him he’s got to keep on reading that little blue book. 

Ha ha ha ha the water heater BLEW up?!?!?! That is Crazy. I remember in myth busters when they did that and it went through the roof! How far did ours go? (Ha ha I also seem to remember them saying that it is pretty much impossible to happen unless you deliberately tamper with the emergency pressure release valve... hmmm). But I am totally jealous that now we have a new water heater that will never run out! Only after I left the house.... 

Hey Dad, good work with the Young Men! That is neat that your young friend is going to come back to church. Help him feel comfortable there in the ward. And make sure he has a good relationship with the Bishop too ha ha. 

Hey, I don’t know how the Young Men would react, but one thing I wish I would have been able to do more before the mission is get to know the Book of Mormon better. It is actually a pretty cool book. But I’m not sure yet how to make it fun for the Young Men to be able to read it more. 

I know that when I get back, we are going to have a family Book of Mormon quiz every once in a while. President did that with the missionaries once, he and his wife did like a hundred questions about the Book of Mormon and it was pretty fun how we played a game to see which Zone knew the Book of Mormon best. I love you. 

Wow Mom, the Big Band Night sounds great! I bet you it will be fun! I hope I haven’t forgotten completely how to play the Saxophone. This Saturday we are doing a Stake Missionary Activity. It is called something like: A Trip to Heaven. And each ward has assigned one of the parts of the Plan of Salvation. I think we are the Terrestrial Kingdom. And everybody is going to do a tour of the Plan of Salvation. I love you. 

Good work with the Cat, Alexis! I love you. 

Sounds like you are having fun, Emily. Congrats on the talk again. Keep stretching so that you don’t hurt a muscle again! I love you. 

Hello Amelia Earhart! That will be neat Hannah. Send me a photo! I love you. 

I love you all, 

Elder Hardy

ps I love you