April 16, 2012

Dear Family!

Oh, well sounds like we have been having opposites in the weather this week! It has been... hot here!

Wish them luck to Hannah and Emily for their Ballet Performances.

Do we use that Object Lesson Book you sent? Ha ha Yeah! Me and my comp. call it the "Apostasy Book". Just because it isn’t in the Missionary Library. But we use it when we are planning for a lesson and we want to have an object lesson. First, we try to think of Ideas for a while and if we can’t think of one we say, "take out the apostasy book!" and we find one there. 

We have already used some, like the one using "Goo" (Corn starch goo) to show that when you work with your testimony it stays strong and firm. But if you let it sit for just a little, it starts to run through your fingers. I used it in a District meeting about our testimonies and the Book of Mormon (the kids... I mean missionaries loved it). And my comp. and I used it in a Noche de Fortificación of the Ward.

What did I do for my Birthday? Well, not tooo much. Thursday we worked the whole day like normal. I want to take my comp out to eat today before it’s too late. And I bought myself a Coool Gift. (the hammock). We´ll see how I am able to send it home.

Well, I still don’t know if I have changes this week. But I guess it is very likely.

Our one family did not get baptized this week. They couldn’t come to church enough times still. Yesterday, something happened with the land lord of their house and they had to stay there to talk to her so that they don’t lose the house. 

But if I go, I know Elder Batz will do a great job helping them. He will have to send us photos when they get baptized. 

But this week a future missionary got baptized! Manuel got baptized!!!

Elder Nelson, a returned missionary that has become friends with him these last few weeks was the one that baptized him. The Baptismal service was pretty good. The hymns were a little slow, but Members came to support him and everything.

So, in the actually baptism, after the prayer, Elder Nelson began to submerge Manuel in the water, but Manuel wasn’t able to plug his nose very well and ended up taking in a bunch of water. But at least he went all the way under. I think he tried to hold it in until he got to the bathroom but then he started coughing and everything like he had almost drowned. 

I was joking with him after and told him it was because he had to clean himself inside and out. He is 19 and would be a great missionary. I hope everything works out so that he can go.

We had a lesson with Agustin and Maria and they are Super Excited to go to the Temple next year! Last night we had a pretty "awesome" experience with a New Family we found.

Hannah asked if I have seen any crocodiles. Hmmm. Sorry Hannah, no. Do they have crocodiles here?

Ok, thanks for the updates. Good luck with the Party! Didn’t busy season already end?

Congratulations EMILY on the ACT! That’s Awesome!

Good luck on the CRTs Hannah!

And about the coming home the week of the 13th. Well, I am going to do what you said, Dad. I guess it is a big decision. Maybe you guys could pray too so that everything works out miraculously like it has many times in my school and education. Thanks Mom for all your help, you have always helped so much with my school. But don’t worry; one day when you are old it will pay off! ha ha ha.

Love,

Elder Hardy

Ps. I love you.

October 10, 2011

Gracias por el correo!

Wow, that is awesome that the Woodruffs came over for lunch on Sunday! You guys got to get to know them before I did! That would be neat if Elder Woodruff went to BYU. That reminds me that I have to go to school when I get home... Nah I don’t want to think about that right now.

Something funny that happened with me and my companion this week was when we were in Juigalpa. We were walking around a little bit lost looking for a place to eat and we passed this old museum. We looked in from outside the gate curiously for a sec. There was an old guard sitting by the gate and he told us to come in. He said there was a bunch of cool and freaky stuff in the museum and that we could go check it out. We said sure and went in.

Finally, I thought that we were doing something culturally edifying on Pday... well, we walked in and the receptionist looked up surprised as if we were the first visitors they had received in a couple months. We look around and it had a bunch of animals on display... deformed animals. There was like a three legged, two headed goat, a dog with like three eyes and two mouths, a cyclops hamster, a devil looking fish and well stuff like that. Ha ha the point is it creeped me out.

Luckily, I found some cool stuff like ancient bowls and corn mills the Lamanites had used. And some stuff like swords from the Spanish. Well the point in why it was funny is because I tried to do something edifying on Pday with my comp and I ended up being all freaked out the rest of the night.

(I sent some pictures of the cool stone carvings outside that caught (and tricked) my attention, I didn’t take any photos of the stuff inside...) (But my comp did if you want to see them tell me)

So my companion is a convert to the church. He and a few of his siblings joined the church when he was 15 (he is 21 now.) A great story about his family that he told me is that while he has been in the mission, his mom finally got baptized. I always like to ask him, after we go to write, how his family is doing. He tells me that they are doing great and his mom now has a very strong testimony in the Gospel.

I cleaned the FRIDGE!!! Ha ha yes, who knows how many years that fridge has passed in the house of the Elders in Bluefields without being cleaned. But it smelled bad so I finally did it today. And I did it good too.

Well this week was full of a lot of lessons macheteing families about the Law of Chastity. And some of them were pretty good. Lots of lessons about the Word of Wisdom too ha ha. But a lesson that I liked a lot was one that in the beginning didn’t seem like it was going to go well at all.

We were teaching a family of young adults. Brothers, sisters and a girlfriend that lives with them. So it is a little harder to keep them all focused and keep the spirit there (plus I was on divisions with a Priest in the ward). But even though I didn’t think the lesson went all that well, the young girlfriend proved me wrong. I managed to encourage her to say the closing prayer and it was great. She did it perfectly and asked Heavenly Father for help so that they could get married, and get baptized. She was very sincere and managed to change my entire attitude about them. I walked out of the house very pleased.

Ha ha oh Mom, the Ducks made you get a cortisone shot. Well at least it isn’t torn. I imagine that after looking at your joint and tendons they told you to stretch more right? You should reactivate your Wii Fitness account. Or is that totally out of date by now?... Well, I hope you feel better.

So the ducks aren´t going to fly the coop for winter? Hey, do you guys cut their wings so they can´t fly? Would they fly away or would they stay home?

Well, sounds like everyone is doing good. Keep praying that mom´s arm gets better. Hey our friends are coming to Managua soon right? I will try to send the chips this week in the bag.

Love,

Elder Hardy

ps. I love you

September 26, 2011

Más Querida Familia,

Sounds like everyone had a good week! Dad told me you guys ate chicken heart! ha ha. Congratulations to Alexis for her try-out. And I wish Emily and Hannah could be here to teach me more piano. I am thinking about buying a toy piano so I can practice in the house.

My new Companion? Ha ha ha well I have a funny story about that. So Elder Gaitán left Tuesday afternoon in a plane to Managua. And Wednesday our new companion came in a plane at about 2 o’clock. His name is Elder Nybo!!! A chele from Logan.

What is even awesomer is that he came with me on the plane to Nicaragua. He sat right next to me! He was my airplane buddy. So I was astonished that President sent me a gringo. I was actually a little worried too because Elder Nybo is pilas (strong) and maybe President lost his confidence in me or something so he sent a pilas elder to be my comp.

So this end of the week has been one of the best weeks every. Elder Nybo is a great Elder and was willing to do everything we had to do to work as hard as we could in our area. The past couple of days have been some of the best we have had in Bluefields. And we put a baptismal date with an awesome family and they came to church yesterday! ha ha almost too good to be true right? ha ha well yeah.

Saturday, I called Elder Heward our AP to ask him a question about our phone. Well, he asked me how was my new comp. and I said "Awesome, Elder Nybo and I are working really hard." And he said, "Oh... Elder Hardy, I have to tell you something..." Ha ha and I knew what he was going to say.

Well it turns out due to the communication block here in Bluefields, we never found out that Elder Nybo was supposed to be Elder Jimenez´s comp and Elder Lopez was supposed to switch over to my area and be my comp ha ha.

Well, I thought us two together was a weird companionship, too powerful ha ha. No, but I am glad to have Elder Lopez as my companion and we are going to work just as hard. And Elder Nybo is going to help a lot in the other Branch I am sure.

So my REAL companions name is Elder Hans Bladimir López Garcia he is from Guatemala and has 9 months in the mission I think. Oh and a big coincidence. He is my Brother! Ha ha of the mission. Elder Coj trained him right after our two changes together.

The work is going great. Like I said, we have a very positive progressing family and a couple more on the way. Yes there are a couple of really cool members that like to help us. One is named Francisco. He has about 3 months as a member and is already the honorary secretary of the branch. I say honorary because technically he can’t be it because he only has 16 years!

An awesome experience happened yesterday. Well, it started Friday when we contacted one more family before going home for the night. We passed by a green house with the door open, I saw inside as we passed by on our way home (missionaries are very nosy). I saw a man inside and I felt like we should go back and try to talk to them.

So we did, and ended up getting to know and teach a little lesson to the family. The man I saw was the dad and he actually kind of ran away from us, but we got the chance to invite him along with his family to church Sunday. The weird thing was that even though he was least positive of the family, he came to church.

I was impressed because we only even talked to him once and left a pamphlet. We went back to his house later Sunday and he came out set up some chairs and a table and asked us, "Would you like to eat before or after the lesson?" Ha ha so he gave us a little dinner and then we taught him. He had read the entire pamphlet and opened it up to the first vision part pointed to it and said, “I liked this part most...”.

Wow, so in the end we challenged him to prepare to be baptized and he willingly accepted. The only objection he said was that he didn’t know when his work would be and if it fell on the day of the baptismal service if he could do it the day before. Ha ha so that was a good lesson.

Last Pday or the Pday before that we built a house. Ha ha. Well we helped put the roof on. (I helped pass up the tin laminas, no I did not climb up the roof to nail them in.)

What do members do for a living here? Fish. No, that’s not true. That’s what most people do, or the work on cruise ships every couple of months. Presidente Blass has a fruit and vegetable store. Presidente Martinez works for the government like a supervisor of the traffic control or something. Stuff like that.

A bike? NEVER, will I get to ride a bike. And I am bummed. "This is not a bike mission." That’s what president told me when I asked him for one ha ha. The place in my last photo is in the Alcaldia de Bluefields. The City Hall or something like that. But no, it’s not my bike in my photo. We are not allowed to touch bikes.

Hannah asked how far we walk every day. Ha ha lots and lots Hannah. But it is fun. And good exercise. I think that is what is keeping me from getting fat. But I think we walk less here than in Monte Fresco. But there are still lots of hills.

Thanks for the Journal entries Dad.

Thanks Mom. It sounds like bowling and everything is going good. Say hi to Grandma and Grandpa for me, they still have to hold on a long time for me. Hey I want a pumpkin if there is an extra!!! You could carve a missionary name tag in it!

Hmm, Emily, why is school just "alright I guess" huh? Ha ha and even more questionable that he is a Canadian boy. Is he a member? Ha ha that is funny you have to do another float!!! ha ha I luh ya. Good luck with the piano recital and dance.

Wow, riding your bike to school Hannah? Lucky. I am jealous. I wish I had a bike. Keep up the good work in school. P.s. I love you!

Love,

Elder Hardy

June 13, 2011

Hey family,

Everything is going great. I am glad to hear things are warming up. I will pray that all the rain travels down to Nicaragua so you can work better on the float. ( I like the rain).

Thanks for the news updates. It is ok to keep sending them. But I just want to know how you find out. How do you know that Heidi Niederhauser is engaged to Todd Gardner?

Tell Michael I already knew that (about the word “Pinche”). But everyone says that here. I am going to have to be careful when I come back and want to talk to someone on the street in Spanish. Plus the Nica accent is a lot different.

Hey that is crazy that Elder T. Bright comes back in 6 weeks. How did that happen? Give him a Bienvenido from me.

No todavia (not yet) no. We are not up to our knees in mud yet. It was really a false call. Apparently it is supposed to get a lot worse in a couple of months.

4 minutes left...

Yes, this week we baptized Hermana Flor. She has investigated for a while and finally made the decision.

Yes, for service projects this week we gathered Aguacates (avocados), built a fence, mowed lawn, etc.

An uplifting experience… this is the most important part and I don’t have time. The Church is True, and the Lord will help you.

Hannah, NO! I have not seen any giant snakes or man eating fish.

P.S. love you!

Elder Hardy

June 6, 2011

Familia,

Buenas, ok so if I ever get the chance to buy a cheap MP3 I will stop being Pinche (stingy) and get it.

Sounds like another testimony building answered prayer to me with the float. I like those. I am so glad that the lady is willing to help. You are going to win the best float now too if we keep praying.

My companion? He just finished 1 year in the mission a couple of weeks ago. He is senior comp. too.

Well this week we taught a lot to our most positive family we have right now. They are really nice and are already building strong testimonies. We started a competition with them to see who could read el Libro de Mormón first. They are beating me.

So, we had their first family home evening with them Thursday. It was very nice and we even "cooked" (bought) dinner for them. Ha ha. They invited us to have a barbeque with them last night. Which was great.

But after church the sister that feeds the sister missionaries invited us to lunch at her house. And then we went home and ate lunch at our house. And I had a liter and a half of chocolate milk that was going to go bad that I had to drink too... So when we got to their house I was already stuffed. And they gave me a bunch. It was really good but I was sweating to try and finish it all. Ha ha.

Then after I sat against the wall for a couple of minutes to rest and recover we had a very spiritual lesson with them. We started with the movie of the Restoration which they have never seen. And then we asked them what they thought about the message and how they felt. The Mom said she thought it meant that José Smith was a true prophet and that the Lord restored His true Church through him... I told her that was a good answer.

We talked about praying during the night to confirm with Heavenly Father that it is true and then we answered some questions. Then we were prompted to teach about the Word of Wisdom with them and had a very powerful experience with the family thanks to a member we brought along with us.

Whenever we seem to teach them I always seem to end up talking about my family, the love and happiness I have had in my family thanks to the strong influence of the Gospel and how my parents taught me since I was very young the principles of the Gospel. So, thanks for that.

We actually have an exmissionary member who has been leaving with us about 3 times a week to go teach this family and others. He is doing a really great job.

Today as a Zone we went to the outskirts of our Zone. Pochomil. I thought the bus ride was the best part. We went through the mountains and it was all misty and jungle. Pretty neat.

Good luck with work Dad. We will start praying for you too. My companion is very excited to receive emails from the family. Thank you. He says your Spanish is fine.

I’m happy to hear that miracles are happening for the float project mom. Keep up the good work.

Have fun with your last end of school summer Alexis. Are you practicing Spanish? Write me in Spanish next time. Love you lots!

Yeah! School is out Emily! Why are you going to New York and with Who!? I luh you!

I’m glad to hear you got all of the Stickers Hannah! Now you just have to get all of the Stinking Fairies! Ha ha. P.s. I Lurve You!

Love you all,

Elder Hardy

Ah!!!! and HEY! Guess what I got Friday?! The LOST PACKAGE! Ha ha ha! I like how the date on the box said it was sent on like the 9th of February. And I received it the 3rd of June. But it came! And it wasn’t easy. Guess why it came so late? It had a long journey to get here. I found a paper in the pouch that explained the whole thing. A reroute error from Peru! Ha ha ha My Valentines package took a trip to Peru first. But it was worth the wait. A great package.

Please send a late thank you to the primary of the ward for the letter and drawings. And the Recorder Made it TOO!!! That was a great treat. I loved hearing from the whole family. That was awesome. And even a couple of friends too. Now I need to write to all of them! Too bad it took until now.

But I need to go, Love you.

May 16, 2011

Buenas,

We had a wedding on Saturday, it was nice. We bought a cake and everything. But they still have some more progress to do before they are baptized.

Our other baptisms did not happen this week. Unfortunately, our main family to marry and baptize had to leave Wednesday. They live very humbly and don’t have a job right now. So at the beginning of the week, a friend called them and told them that there was a job opportunity to go to San Juan Sur to build a house for a couple weeks and that they had to be waiting on the highway Wednesday morning or they would miss their chance.

He wanted to be able to fix the house they are living in for his family and buy shoes and everything so they decided to go. But when they come back in about a month, they say they are good to go.

Yes, we have changes this week. We found out today as we were doing a Zone activity in the Stake Center. But no, I am not getting changed. And I am very happy because we should have a couple families getting ready to be baptized here in the next month. Elder Valenzuela is changing which is too bad but we had a good time together.

People do lots of things for a living here. The men might be a guard for a store or a house. The women usually do something like sell tortillas or work domestically for a richer house. (But many times the women are stay at home moms).

Ha ha. Well, it finally came. And it came strong. It is officially winter here a.k.a rain every day time! I think it was Friday. We woke up and it was pretty overcast. We had our Zone Conference and District Meeting like usual. We came back and ate and left to work. Everything was normal.

We were at an investigator's house doing a little of on the spot service helping clean the front lawn. (Ha ha which means sweep the dirt, leaves and garbage into a pile and burn it). Then it started to drizzle. We got all the piles to light right before it started to fall faster. And before you know it, we were running inside the house for cover. After a little talk with them, we bravely left the house to go to a set appointment with a new family.

Ha ha the rivers of water had already started. I thought my bag was pretty water proof. Well, luckily they had a plastic bag I wrapped my scriptures in before putting them into my backpack. It rained almost the whole time we were out. And in the night I woke up a couple times from the thunder. Luckily the house we live in has a very good roof and I couldn’t find a single leak. It has rained every single day since. (Not the whole time everyday, still, but everyday)

So Rob sent me a package? Awesome, I will tell you when it comes. Maybe it is waiting at changes.

Yes, a family in the Canon caught an armadillo, and ate it.

It is great to hear Perry is doing good. I like the photo.

Ha ha good luck with the float, Mom, I think if Jose has the time he would love to help out. He is into all the engineering stuff.

Say congratulations to Nick Davis for me.

So Smallville finally turned into Superman huh. Well it’s about time. You will have to tell me when I get back if it is worth it to watch all the episodes.

Congratulations with being the new Dance Co. Historian Emily. That is neat. Take lots of pictures. And you should put a picture of me in the slide show... Just kidding

Neat service project Dad. Good luck golfing that is neat.

Hannah, Buena Suerte with your Piano Recital on Saturday! I know you will do great. Good work with the float. Ps I love you.

I love you so much!!!

Elder Hardy

P.S. I did not forget that Alexis didn’t write me.... that’s one less souvenir when I get back… :)

February 28, 2011

Buenas de Monte Fresco!!!

Heysel

Ha ha that’s right, I got transferred to the Area: Monte Fresco II (Serrania), Zone: Universitaria. And so far it’s Awesome.

My new compañero is Elder Valenzuela. He is from Honduras! He´s a pretty cool guy and last change they baptized two families. Right now I think this is the highest baptizing zone in the Mission. I´m super excited to get to work here. We have already found a couple families and hope that they will have the faith and be prepared to be baptized by the end of next month.

Yes! So Monte Fresco is on the Carretera Sur de Managua. I don´t think we are actually in Managua, just outside of it. So the whole area runs along one side of the main highway. Ha ha and the other area runs along the other side.

There is this one barrio (neighborhood) called the Cañon. You walk off the highway and down into this really forested valley.

There are recent converts and investigators that live more than 4 km farther south in the valley and Friday we went to visit them. It was the most ´tropical rainforesty´ walk I have had so far. Just on a dirt road with dense trees on both sides. Unfortunately, my camera was dead. We talked to two new investigators (now they are) the whole 4 km. It was Fun.

We live in a very small room off the side of a house here in Monte Fresco. It is across the street from the big Catholic Seminary Building haha.

The family that lives here is super nice. Three families actually live here. The Grandma, Grandpa, their two daughters, their husbands and one of them has twin kids about 2 years old. The other a baby girl 3 months old. The baby's name is Heysel. They are so cute.

Familia de Escalante

So I think they actually have a microwave. We have all our food citas (appointments) there too. Except for breakfast (which I hope will change). Same with having to wash our own clothes... We were spoiled in Boaco!

Ahhh! There was no package for me at Changes!!! I tried not to believe them, I think they are hiding it at the office because it is so awesome. Ha ha no, I’m just kidding. I don’t think they stole it. But still I haven’t gotten it.

I did get some letters from Grandma. And, thank you Grandma, I do love your letters to me. They are the best, ha ha and the Happy Valentine’s Day one was great. I hope everyone is feeling well. Even Charlie, I hope he stops pulling out his tail feathers soon.

CD Player? I can definitely go buy one. I’ve been thinking of investing in an Ipod Nano too. Elder Bailey’s family sent him one and they are pretty cool. I don’t know, what do you think? And if I do get one, do you think you guys could help fill it with good Tab Choir and church music?

I am going to send a package with the memory cards intact very soon.

Carnaval Alegria por la Vida (Happiness for Life Carnival) in Managua sounds pretty cool. But unless it passes by the Carretera Sur, I probably won´t see it.

Thank you for sending me all the names of the Missionaries serving in our Ward. I think it is Awesome there are so many serving.

I would now like to give a shout out to all of them, (even though they should never look at the Blog until after their missions because the Missionaries from the Grandview 1st Ward and the Wilford Stake are Obediente con Exactidud. (Unless their Mission President says they can. And I think the couple missionaries probably can).

To the 11 Missionaries currently serving from our Grandview 1st Ward: Les doy felicidades y mi amor a ustedes por su servicio a nuestro Señor y quiero lo mejor para mis compañeros en la obra mientras ayudamos los hijos de nuestro Padre Celestial venir más cerca de Cristo. Buena Suerte, Dios sea con Ustedes hasta nos vemos.

(I give congratulations and my love to you for your service to our Lord and want the best for my colleagues in the work while helping the children of our Heavenly Father to come closer to Christ. Good luck, God be with you until we meet).

Dad, I don´t know what this chanchada (hype) is about trading Deron Williams, but hopefully we can get some good draft picks then. Woopdy doo for BYU ha ha but that’s great that they have a chance at a number one seed.

That’s so awesome Mom that you and the Activity Day Girls donated to Heifer International. I do hope someone in Nicaragua gets a flock of chicks because of it.

Time will go by fast and before you know it I will be eating your Sunday Night Pot Roast and Mashed Potatoes and not rice and beans. Ha ha but until then I’m not complaining. ¨¡No pregunta, solo comelo!¨ (We do not ask, just eat it!)  is my motto.

Alexis, Congrats on the Study Abroad! That is exciting. Don’t succumb to the dark side. And if you don’t find your exaltacion in these ´lots of guys´ there are plenty of dorky missionaries here that want your email address.

Emily, that’s great that you have been dancing. And guess what, I may be a little scared that you are getting your license, but it’s ok. Because the people driving in Managua are Crazy!!! They must give out licenses like gift cards or something.

Ha ha no, just kidding but they are super aggressive. And I don’t think I have seen a car yet that doesn’t have at least a few scrapes on its sides. Ha ha good luck, I love you, drive safe.

Hannah! ¡Felicidades! (Congratulations!) That is sooo tuanis (cool) that you won a trophy at the District Science Fair. Second Place is a big deal in a competition like that. I am so proud of you and I know there are more big things to come, right?

The exciting news today is I found a way not to have to wash my own clothes for today! But it came at a price. The story is that today we found out the First Counselor in the Ward has a washing machine. But, he doesn’t have a house...

So we made a deal with him that if he would help wash our clothes today we would help him move some dirt to build his house. So this morning, it turns out we moved one side of the valley of Cañon ha ha. Turns out faith, a couple of picks, shovels, wheelbarrows and blisters can move a mountain. But I love doing service! Now I just need to find someone to help iron... :)

Love You Muchísimo también!!!



Elder Hardy

November 1, 2010

¡Buenas!

¡Thank you for the updates, it is great to hear from the family! It is kind of interesting to write emails here because Spanish keyboards are different. ¡¿Who knew?! Ha ha ok not that different but some of the keys are changed around and they have an ñ key and stuff. And this: ç. But I don´t even know what that is. I think I am using the accent mark as my ´ too but oh well.

So here in Boaco, I think they celebrated Halloween on Saturday. But it isn´t the same. They just have fiestas. I think some people think it is evil too. One lady asked us if we believe in Halloween and I was like, "Why?"

I will try to upload more photos but it is slow on these computers. My compa says the US internet is up here (motioning with his hand), Guatemala internet is a little lower, and Nicaragua internet is like on the ground (with his hand). I thought it would be a good idea to zip the file of photos and attach it but it exceeds the MB limit. Is there a better way to upload it? (to the blog for example.) I say this because... I am not sure if I am going to get any packages. Hopefully letters, but even still I think it is going to take a long time.

The first days I asked the AP´s about this and they pretty much said it takes almost a month if I get it at all. But we will see. Who knows, they might have some right now. But I don´t know when they give it to me. I think I have to wait till we meet again at a comp change meeting or something. But I looked at the blog (really fast) and it is awesome. You are very talented Madre. Thank you so much.

 

So, who am I teaching? Well first, the first day el Presidente gave us a little portfolio about the mission. "Nicaragua Managua Sur Mision, El Mejor Mision en el Mundo." (Nicaragua Managua South Mission, Best Mission in the World) Ha ha and I think it is true already. The baptism rate here is incredibly high and because of that the expectations are very high as well. The problem is we are having problems with retention and priesthood holders. We have a really strong focus now on retention. But even more is baptizing families, especially the fathers. We have set a mission wide goal to baptize at least one family every month.

Right now one of the families we are teaching is the Salvador family (Dad, Mom and two girls, 9 and 6). They are super nice and accepting. It was so awesome. We taught the dad and asked him to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon. When we came back, he had read all the beginning stuff and on one of the pictures he saw the reference to 3 Nephi 11 and started reading it! That is like one of the best chapters to have investigators read.

They are so ready for the Gospel. We are hopefully baptizing one of their little girls (9 years old) on Saturday because she has been coming to church. It will be my first Baptism!!! The father loves learning about the gospel. He says he wants to be baptized but wants to learn more first. He also plays in a baseball league here (Baseball is pretty big here) on Sundays! Ah so we need to work on that. Another Family is Gamileta (I don’t know how to spell it).

That is the hardest thing here: Peoples names. I will never be able to remember them. I think that is one of the reasons why we invented the idea of calling everyone Hermano/a. Because the early leaders of the church couldn´t remember everyone´s ding dang names.) They are awesome too. Two of their daughters have been baptized but the father and mother are not married. I think that is a big problem here. I think they are afraid of some sort of responsibility if they get married so they just don’t.

There is only one Rama (Branch) in Boaco. Named the Rama de Boaco. And only two missionaries (Me and Elder Coj). This Sunday we had 46 people in attendance. Only one of our investigators (The Dad, Gamileta and his little daughter) showed up. Which is great that he came. I was sad but I don´t know what to expect here. Elder Coj was really disappointed too, so I guess that means Church wasn´t very impressive this Sunday. Next Sunday will be better.

Here is a picture of my Branch President!

We did some service on Saturday and he helped. We cut down stuff with machetes! Awesome.

All the missionaries get a mission debit card. We go to the banco and withdraw cash from the ATM though. They give us a certain amount at the beginning of the month and the middle of the month. Total personal money is something like 800 cordobas a month ($36 USD). Which isn´t very much. Even here. So far I have mostly just spent money on transport. In buses and taxis. But we usually walk everywhere in Boaco.

I have not received any mail. I am sorry. I hope that I do. I don’t know how well sending stuff from here is either. That is why I was hoping for a good way to send pictures over the internet.

So, I am in Boaco. I haven´t the foggiest idea where it is. All I know is that it takes about 2 hours or more to get anywhere else. And it is all mountainy. I think it is really pretty. But the people don´t seem to really think so. Plus there is a lot of garbage on the streets and stuff. They just throw everything on the ground. Shame. The only problem I have with things here is the subidas (hills). It is mountainy right, so all day it is up and down the really steep streets. I have been exercising but I don´t think I need to, it is an all day work out.

The members we live with are really cool. They feed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The usual meal is pupusas. (A tortilla with cheese and maybe meat in the middle.) They aren´t too bad. The family is actually from El Salvador. We usually have beans or rice and beans as well. Plus we get plantains or plantain chips sometimes. Our usual drink is Cacao. It is like milk, cinnamon and chocolate. It is pretty good. They were trying to convince me that it has coffee in it. I don´t think it does.

(Sue: Cacao is their chocolate milk drink made from chocolate, cinnamon, red maize and sweet pepper seeds, cooked, stirred into milk, sweetened with sugar and served cold).

They like to joke about me a lot I think. For a while I only knew when they said Chele. But I can pretty much understand everything everyone says now. (I just can´t speak). But I don´t think my compa realizes how much I can understand when they talk. It is funny, one time they were talking about my snoring. But I love my companion. He is great and is really patient with me. He pretty much does all the talking which I think he gets frustrated with. But I am learning.

The Mission is going Great! I love it and can´t wait till I can actually speak Spanish. Hope everything is great at home.

Love,

Elder Hardy Ç

P.S. Have to go soon but yeah I looked at the blog, it is great. Ha ha it is funny but it says you sent this 2 days ago.