November 29, 2010

Hey!!!!

Guess what!!! We baptized two familias (families) this Saturday!!! It was soo Awesome! Ha ha and oh yeah, we married both of the families right before we started the baptismal service too!

Ok, so to start, the families are Hermano Roberto and Hermana Yamileth and the other is Hermano José Noel and Hermana Martha. We did exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Tuesday after District Meeting so they could interview them. So I served in Juigalpa with Elder Salgado for a day.

The next day, we met up with Elder Coj and he said that they were ready but needed more time. I was pretty disappointed but then they started laughing and said we were going to baptize on Saturday!

So we spent a lot of time throughout the week working with an abogado (lawyer) to get all the papers and stuff we needed to marry them first. It took a lot of time but we finally got everything we needed.

Ha ha but it was really funny as we went to government buildings and stuff to try and get the right stuff. We didn't need anything to get the information we needed, only a little money. The government works a little differently here. Maybe it helps that we are missionaries too.

So Friday night, we decorated the meeting house for the marriages. We had to wake up super early Saturday to go pick up the Baptismal clothes at the Bus stop in Empalme (The Zone Leaders sent them in the bus early in the morning).

So we got back in Boaco about 8 and we were walking back to the house when we realized that we didn’t have the clothes! So we ran back to the bus terminal but the bus wasn’t there. There is another terminal above Boaco so we grabbed a Taxi to see if we could catch the bus before it left back to Juigalpa. We got to the terminal and it was still there so we grabbed the clothes real quick and rushed back to the house to get ready.

The marriages started at 9 in the morning. When Hermana Yamileht got there, she told us that for next time, plan the weddings later in the day. I feel bad. I think she was probably a little stressed out getting ready. But Hey! I think it is awesome that two 19-20 year old kids managed to plan two weddings.

We were a little preoccupied that morning with something else... The baptismal font in the church only had about 2-3 feet of dirty water in it and there was no water for the city. Usually, if the water doesn’t work in the morning when we wake up, it works an hour or so later. But on Saturday, they said there wouldn’t be water for the whole day!!!

I think somebody didn’t want them to get baptized.

The weddings went well. Right after, we started the Baptismal Service. So... while we started, Elder Coj went on splits with Beto (I stayed with the President) to try and find a truck that could drive us to a RIVER to do the Baptisms. They did, right as we finished, and we all hopped into the back of a truck. We found a perfect spot on the La Presa River and it was Beautiful. I baptized all four of them and after, we returned to the Church for pupusas. The Best Day Ever.

I suspect that I am staying in Boaco another change with Elder Coj! I am so happy we get to be together here for another month and a half. We can keep making each other better and help Boaco. I think two more missionaries are coming on Wednesday. I think beds and stuff are arriving today.

That’s great that Elder Coj wrote you and he said your email and Spanish were great, Dad. I have his family’s email and I am going to try and write them in Spanish today.

I am glad to hear Thanksgiving was good, I miss the mashed potatoes. I haven’t taken Elder Coj to a Thanksgiving dinner yet but I would like to. I need to figure out where first.

Happy Birthday again, Mom. I love you. I have to admit, though, that the package hasn’t been sent yet. We have figured where to go to send it to you and I have a gift for you. But there was a store that we found that was selling unique hand made things of Nicaragua but when we went to go get your gift the store was Gone!!! (It was kind off a big tent store on the street and turns out it’s portable)

The AP told me the first day, if I found something cool I wanted to get, buy it then because I might not ever get another chance. So hopefully it will come back. Boaco isn’t one of the cities with a lot of cool stuff but I am going to find some cool stuff for you. I might send Christmas presents with your birthday present next week so I hope that doesn’t make it less special.

I am going to miss not having Christmas with you and I am bummed I am going to miss the German Christmas Eve Dinner. I am excited to have Christmas here in Boaco this change. Of course, I will get to call home for Christmas and I can’t wait but I don’t know the details yet.

Well Hannah, for breakfast we usually have some eggs and beans or something like that. Today, we had these really good pancakes but they are really different. I am going to try to get the recipe from la Doña. I actually did have some cereal in Juigalpa for breakfast but it was just plain corn flakes. I would like some cereal but it is ok, you don’t have to send it, packages are expensive!

Thanks for the updates!!! That’s great the U won. I am sorry I can’t help shovel snow. Good luck with the Molly Mouse performances this week Emily and Hannah, I am soo proud of you two.

Rob, thanks for the tip with the spiders. But do you have one for geckos? There is always a gecko if you look for one. Most of the time, I notice them when we are in a house teaching and I see one scurry across the wall behind the person we are talking to. Also, they make a really loud chirping noise.

My first week, I thought that people had birds in their roofs. But turns out they are geckos. One even found its way back into our room. Elder Coj chased it with a broom while I was just trying to take pictures of it. (I have photos but I forgot my cord, we are going to run and get it and send some really fast.)

Most of them are really ugly, all white and pasty and my compa says really dirty too. I bought a sling shot on the street to get them (and dogs if I have to) but it reminded me of 1 Corinthians 13:11 so now I’m thinking about throwing it away.

But oh boy, what I miss the most? I am sorry but I am really not sure what to say right now. Maybe carpet. But you wouldn’t want carpet here with the humidity and it would get really dirty so I will have to live without. I am going to have to get back to you on that, Rob, I don’t have much time. But thank you.

Thank you for the spiritual thought. I always love them.

Oh! I just remembered, I gave a talk on Sunday! I gave it about Missionary Work (for the members). I was pretty nervous preparing it and going to the Church. But I found out once I got there, I was fine. Maybe it helped that the branch fits into the first floor of a house. I think I made sense (at least they told me I did) and I think I helped them think about what they should and what they can be doing to help strengthen and grow the branch.

Just remember, you don’t need to be a full-time missionary with a plaque to help your family and friends come to find the happiness of the fruit of the Gospel. Like Lehi in his vision of the tree of life, after he partook of the fruit, he desired his family to also. And we are all hermanos (brothers & sisters).

I Love You,

Elder Jonathan D. Hardy

November 22, 2010

¡Hola!

 

Happy Birthday Mom!!! This is the last email before your birthday so you have to read it a couple days early. But I am sending your Birthday gift today (hopefully, we still need to figure out exactly how. But I know where the building that would be able to do it is).

I love you and am so grateful to have you as my mother. I’m sorry my present is going to get to you pretty late, hopefully not as long as it takes to get them here.

Which reminds me, I got my Package!!! And my letters!!! A companionship went to Managua and brought back my package with them. And the ZL´s gave me my letters. They have been sitting in the office for a long time. I loved getting them.

My Chele ZL, Elder Geddes, said he was pretty jealous because I received a bunch of letters and a package in my first change. Thank you so much for the letters.

Thank Grandma for me, I love reading her letters ha ha and it looks like Halloween had to have been pretty fun with the sweet looking ghost named Bertha.

Thank Jenny and the cousins too. I love reading their letters too and wish them the best of luck with the sports and broken arm (sorry to hear that buddy).

So the package was Awesome! Don’t worry, it got here in great shape with everything in it. I loved the clever Elder Verde theme. My companion thought it was great too and was really grateful that you packed two of everything so he got a package too. Thanks for the clever scriptures on the treats ha ha they are great and trying to explain them to Elder Coj was great too.

Thanks for the bath stuff too. I was about to have to go buy some. And this stuff is the best too; I don’t think we can get these brands here. But I think we can get shampoo and deodorant and stuff in the biggest grocery store here called Pali. So you don’t have to worry too much about that stuff if you don’t want to.

Hey! Awesome Highland took State, it’s about time. I wish we could have done it. And wish I could have been there.

Ok. Changes are December 1st. If we have changes, they will call us like the night before and we will have to go to Managua with one of our stuff. But I´m really hoping we get to stay here another change together. I am loving it.

I am actually a little suspicious that they might open a new area here in Boaco and send two more missionaries. That would be great because then Elder Coj and I would probably stay here in Boaco with new companions. But nothing is official yet. I just know that when Elder Perez the AP came he was asking questions like that.

So I don’t know if you mean District Conference as missionaries or as the District of Juigalpa in which Boaco is a Branch. But the Branches meet every six months, I think, in a District Conference.

We have a Missionary District meeting every Tuesday if that is what you are asking. It is great we get to get together every week. But the traveling really stinks. We are two hours away from the Church in Juigalpa so every Tuesday we have to wake up at 5 in the morning. The bus leaves at 6 and we travel for about a half an hour to Empalme where we get on a bus to go to Juigalpa.

Now depending on the bus this ride can be Ok or very miserable. The trick is to get a seat. Otherwise you have to stand for an hour and a half sandwiched between people in the aisle. And people are constantly trying to squeeze by.

Ha ha a couple weeks ago Elder Geddes told me a joke as we were about to get on a bus back to Boaco. He said, "Have you ever broken the Law of Chastity before?" and I was like, "What?!" and he said, "Well you will" (As we squeezed into a bus full of people).

Anyway so we get to the Church at 8 and do all our personal companion and language study there. Language study is great because all the Latinos are together. Ha ha they usually just want to try and learn pick up lines and stuff in English.

Then we have the District meeting and Elder Coj teaches us about a subject and then we practice. When the meeting is over, we have to take another two hour bus ride home, but we go to the bus terminal so we usually always get a seat. When we get back, we eat lunch and then get to work. I feel like a lot of the day is wasted traveling but that is how it is here.

Ha ha we actually call our Zone the, "Zona Olvidado" (The forgotten zone) because we are so far away from everyone else. The Zone meetings are every 3 months, but the zone leaders are in our district and they usually talk anyway.

Yes, we have stores and stuff here to get stuff. We went around one Monday to pharmacies because I wanted Vitamins. But we didn’t find any I wanted to trust. I wanted name brand like One a Day Men’s or something but it’s ok I am eating pretty good so I don’t think I need them. I haven’t looked for contact solution but I will now to make sure it is available.

Don’t need anything yet, thank you. P.S. I´m sure packages like the one you sent are pretty expensive so I don’t want you to spend a bunch of money sending me a ton of stuff.

So I think the first day in the little package they gave us it said how many missionaries we have in the Nicaragua Managua Sur Mission. But I am not sure what it is for sure. My compa says it’s about 150.

Little miracles that happen everyday... I´ll tell you one. It’s actually pretty cool and has happened twice for me. And it put a big smile on my face both times. So I have already said I have no doubt our prayers are answered. Also, I know that we (the Missionaries) have quite a bit of authority. But did you know Missionaries have the power to turn off TV´s?! Everyone here has a TV, and they are always on. And we want them off so they will pay attention and to create an environment for the spirit.

Obviously the best way to do this is to politely ask them to turn it off. (I usually point and make the noise of a TV turning off). But one time, a family didn’t want to for some reason and just turned it down so it was a little quieter. While Elder Coj talks, I am praying in my heart to help him, help the investigator feel the spirit and help me understand and be able to talk.

So this time in my heart, I also asked that somehow we could turn the TV off to help feel the spirit and to help me understand because it is much harder when there is more than one voice. (I was hoping that they would change their mind and turn it off)

But as I was thinking "amen" suddenly there was a pop! And the TV turned off!!! The little girl said, "Oh no the light went out!" Ha ha it turns out the bulb in the TV went out (don’t worry, after we were done with our lesson, it started working again. It was kind of like what was happening with our TV). So we kept on teaching and the spirit was there. I thought it was Awesome.

The next time it happened was a few days later in another family´s house. We were teaching and the grandma walked in and turned the TV on, watched it for like 30 sec. and then left... without turning it off. Kinda weird. But I said a silent prayer again and the bulb went out on that one too!!!

We are going to get a reputation for ruining peoples TVs.

Hannah: some people take siestas in the afternoon but we don’t. Hey, we were going to go take pictures with monkeys today for you but we will have to do it next week.

Thanks for updates but sadly I am out of time again.

I Love You

Elder Hardy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Email from Elder Coj:

Hola soy elder coj .. compañero de su hijo solo les escribia para saludarlos y desearles todo lo mejor , bueno espero que me entiendan porque no se nada en ingles , lo lamento .... solo quiero decirles que estoy muy agradecido con mi padre celestial , y tambien con ustedes por tener a elder hardy como compañero el es un buen misionero .. he aprendido mucho de el en estos ultimos dias .. adimiro el animo que el tiene y su diligencia y su amor por esta maravillosa obra ..

anque no me paresco nada a el fisicamente ,pero el es como mi hermano para mi, filicidades por tener a un hijo como el sientance orgullosos por el ... animo en todo lo que hacen ..

no los conosco pero los aprecio muho...

Att... ELDER COJ ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, I am Elder Coj, your son’s companion.

I am writing to say hello and wish you all the best. Well, I hope you understand me because I don’t know any English. I am sorry. I only want to tell you how grateful I am to my Heavenly Father, and you, for having Elder Hardy as a companion. He is a good missionary. I have learned a lot from him the last few days. I admire the excitement he has and his diligence and his love for this marvelous work.

Even though we don’t look anything like each other, he is a like a brother to me. Congratulations on having a son that you should feel proud of and happy about everything that he does.

I don’t know you, but I appreciate you.

Sincerely,

Elder Coj