May 7, 2012

Hey Family!

¡¡¡¡Feliz Día de las Madres!!!!

¡¡¡¡Happy Mother’s Day!!!!

Happy Mother’s Day Mom! Mother´s Day here is the 30th of May I think. But if I am not too lost in Nica Land I think that Mother´s Day is Sunday the 13th right?

Ok, well you will be out of church at 2:00 pm. I get out of church at 12:00 pm but it always goes a little late and I have to go leave people in their houses. Then I guess I could eat lunch too. So I think at 3:00 pm (in Nicaragua) would be a good hour if you guys are going to be in the house. I just don’t remember if you guys are an hour ahead or behind...

So I will be planning to call you guys at 3:00 pm Sunday the 13th. If there is going to be a problem, we might have to talk to President. But this week my comp and I have to do a presentation as Zone Leaders for the Stake. So we might have permission to get on the computer and do it this week, so send a confirmation email just in case. The only other thing is that the meeting with the Stake leaders is Sunday too. And I don’t know at what time. Probably at 4pm so it will be ok.

San Marcos is really neat. It almost has the same climate as Jinotepe. (almost) So it is more fresco (cooler) than other cities. But recently where we have been working has been really sunny. The city is like a classic Nicaraguan City. The houses in the Central are all pegado (together).

The park is nice, almost the same as the park in Jinotepe (but in Jinotepe they had Sloths in the trees, haven´t seen any here yet.) San Marcos is wealthy as well, but lots of the neighborhoods where we are working are more humble.

The Ward is Great! The Bishop and the Ward Mission Leader help us out a lot. The only problem is that the Elder that played the piano had emergency changes last week ha ha and the Bishop asked me to direct yesterday. It was pretty stressful for me. (Not because I don’t like to direct or be in front of everyone.) It is just a little harder to keep the whole congregation on the right tone without the piano, especially if the songs are a little less known among the members.

We live in a fritanga.

Ha ha it’s a barbecue restaurant. It is owned by the family of the Bishop’s wife. We live in a cuartito (little room) inside the restaurant. It isn’t the smallest I’ve been in, probably a little bit bigger than the one in jinotepe.

[Sue’s note: In Nicaragua, a fritanga is the name used for restaurants that make authentic home cooked Nicaraguan foods. The staple foods at a fritanga are carne asada (grilled meat), Gallo Pinto (Rice and Beans), arroz blanco (white rice), tajada frita (fried sliced green plantain), platano frito (fried ripe plantain), maduros (sweet plantain), yuca, queso frito (fried cheese), tortilla and cabbage salad. The fritangas have a cafeteria style of ordering where the food can be ordered and taken out or eaten at the establishment (comideria).]

And NO, we do not have hot water. That was a luxury the last 4 months. Actually, when I got here the shower head was so bad that the missionaries before put a plastic bag over it with a hole in it so that the water would actually fall on your head and not out a big hole on the side. But, I decided we could do better than that and after much meditation and calculations, I utilized my engineering skills and shoved a mechanical pencil of the perfect size in the whole on the shower head and now it works like perfectly normal (besides no hot water) ha ha.

Well, for the first two weeks we were eating with a really cool member family. The mom’s name is Gloria Pavon and is awesome. But, school started and she is a teacher and her kids who also helped cook are in class as well so she asked if we could find someone else because it was really hard for them. 

So guess where we are eating... in the FRITANGA! Ha ha ha, yes, barbeque chicken, pork and steak every day for lunch ha ha. So I guess the Lord wanted me to return home hermoso (handsome. They say hermoso here to say fat, without hurting your feelings). We still don’t have a dinner appointment, but the members and investigators invite us a lot to eat. (And if not... ha ha more barbecued chicken!)

There is a sister member who washes our clothes here. And I am pretty sure she uses a washing machine ha ha.

Well, last night was pretty cool. Carlos Cordero and Danelia Valle and their kids invited us to eat. They are the family that got baptized Friday and confirmed yesterday!!! The Lord blessed us with a miracle and this beautiful family fell out of the sky. They have been investigating the church for a couple of months now, but for paper problems they were not able to get married.

But Friday they were married (I provided HLJ (CTR) rings to put on. They loved it.) So, I was talking about last night, after dinner we talked to them about the family, what a blessing it is to be together in the Church now, and what their next goal is... the Temple. It was very spiritual as we talked about how their family can be eternal and all the blessings that are waiting for them. They are super excited about going.

They are very humble and money is probably going to be an issue, but they made the goal together as a family to save money and they are all excited to buy a Piggy Bank this week to start saving. Thanks for the photo of your temple marriage Mom and Dad, I showed it to them last week when there were a few issues about the marriage and it helped them get focused on what they really want. An Eternal Family.

Ok, sounds like everyone is doing AWESOME!

Congratulations Dad on the efforts you and the other leaders and the young men are doing to help one another and share the Gospel. That is great.

Mom, did you guys invite them to baptism? If so, that is soo awesome! All I know, is that as a missionary your job is to invite people to come unto Christ. By faith in Him, repentance and BAPTISM. Baptism is the door, so really if we don’t help invite people to be baptized, how are we going to invite them to Christ?

You must follow the impressions of the Spirit to invite someone to be baptized. But to be honest, if you think about it, the Spirit ALWAYS wants to invite people to be baptized. So, never be afraid to invite them to be baptized. Awesome Mom. Make sure that the sister missionaries get to Work. Ha ha ha. Maybe I´ll leave with them too when I get back... ha ha. Make sure they don’t "chill" at the house too much Sunday.

I love you all,

Elder Hardy

ps I love you Mom! Happy Mother’s day! I can’t wait to talk to you!

Mom! FELICIDADES with your new calling! I know you will be the best Ward Missionary EVER (along with Bruce). Sounds soo cool.