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

September 5, 2011

Hello Awesome Familia,



My week was Awesome. We did lots of stuff. The biggest things that happened are we had a baptism, and President Monestel came to visit and changed the Branch President on Sunday. But we got to eat dinner with him Saturday night, it was pretty nice.

I am doing great. I hope you liked the photos. I actually have about 4 4gb SD cards full of photos that I would like to send you.

Hey, but Felicidades to Grandma and Grandpa Weiler!!! 64th Wedding Anniversary! That is quite an accomplishment isn’t it? The tradition here is to buy silver plates when you hit 25 years and golden plates when you hit 50 years. And not too many people have them here so congratulations Grandma and Grandpa.

Say hi to all the family from me. I will try and think of some things that they can help send in a package. It is very nice of them.

Hey, and how was the Bingo Bango Bongo Game?!?! I am going to need a lot of practice when I return to get back into the competition!

Hey, you should eat the duck eggs!!! We don’t have a breakfast appointment so I decided to buy eggs. I bought a big carton of like 30 and it almost lasted the whole week. But the eggs here are different... they aren’t the pure white steroid enhanced eggs I was used to ha ha.

Why were we wearing white shirts on PDay? Ha ha, oh well, on PDay we still wear white shirts and ties the whole day, unless you are doing something that you just can’t wear a tie to do. But since we were just going to take photos by the rock I figured I would wear the tie. Ha ha even though, we went back on a trail by a creek and got lost in the jungla. So it probably would have been better in normal clothes there haha.

My favorite snacks? Bueno, this is always tuff for me. Ha ha but at least I have learned that I don’t have to have personal revelacion before I make all the miniscule decisions. God blessed me with an intelligent brain that can decide what snacks I like. And there is actually a lot less stuff here in Bluefields than there in Managua. We have like one supermarket, and it doesn’t have anything ha ha. That is why I am only eating pure eggs for breakfast.

So, as far as the drink flavors, we will just talk in powders right? Really my favorite Gatorade flavor is grape. I always like the Smiling Back Goldfish. I do like the jerky, but the Latinos aren’t too fond of it so maybe something else. I do really like those nature valley bars, I think the oats and honey were my favorite. You know what would be great with my egg omelet in the morning is a bag of bacon bits ha ha. Kind of random.

Really, without fail, the cliché classic send your Elder a tie is Awesome. You can never go wrong with a tie. I have actually grown to be quite fond of them. Ha ha I think I have achieved the goal to be able to wear a different tie everyday for the change... ha ha ha and I even like the ugly ties.

The great thing is you don’t have to worry about being pretty as a missionary, just look respectable. So the "Grandpa ties" are really in for me. And a tie is something I always like to give my comp before we separate, but the majority of my comps don’t like grandpa ties, they like the stylish sleek ties. Well, remind me next time if I thought of anything else.

The funniest thing that happened to me this week was probably last Monday. Because lots of funny things happen. But from the side of gringo jokes and funny things happening with bolos (drunks) on the street (they are pretty funny) I can only remember Monday.

When we were taking pictures by the creek, we took a picture that looks like my comp is pushing me in the water. As I was leaning back for the photo and I slipped! I almost fell in but at the last second I grabbed my comp (ha ha) and he went flying over the top of me and almost fell in too but jumped and saved himself on a little rock and I did a spider man move to balance myself on the rocks laying down on my back. We didn’t fall in. (Water is bad for Elders). Everyone was like wow, what just happened, and we laughed.

Challenges? Hey, I really am doing Awesome ha ha I wasn’t joking! Of course the mission isn’t the color of roses (cliché phrase here: that the life isn’t "el color de rosa") But it really is Awesome. It’s the best time in my life right now.

I am learning lots and gaining many many attributes of Christ. Really any challenges or difficulties that come my way all get blown away (ha ha even though it might not be easy), because I have a testimony, I understand why I am here, and I love all my brothers and sisters that are around me, therefore I must do my absolute best so that I can be a worthy vessel of the Lord to bless them. So everything is Awesome.

If you really want to know one of the challenges más grandes (larger) that I have found in my mission, it would definitely have to be trying to help other missionaries that haven’t quite yet understood why they are here yet. But you just need to have patience, humility and love and try to be a good example and everything works out. 

No, I don’t have to pay the rent. Since we live in a house with the other companionship they are receiving the money for the house. It is 3 hundred dollars each month for the rent. It is pretty expensive here. Usually it has to be less than 100 per companionship, but they justified it this time because there used to be 3 companionships. We have to pay the energy bill too. Which is like 300 cords each month. But we have become quite energy efficient.

Am I learning Miskito or Creole? Ha ha ha kind of.  I haven’t really talked to enough people that speak Miskito. But Creole is cool. It is pretty much a really slanged version of English. They usually understand me if I speak English. And I can understand most of it when they talk.

Hannah's Question: Did you see any snakes on your Jungle Cruise?

No, only the Hippos! And the tour guide had to shoot his pistol to scare them away! Ha ha no. But I did see a big tortoise on a log in the river! But we passed it too fast and I couldn’t take a picture.

But sounds like the family is doing great. Dad, if you get Jacob all riled up, you have to tire him out before you stop! haha. I hope the campout was fun.

Hey Mom, congratulations on your following. I guess you are famous now. But what does it mean when the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers ask you to speak? Thanks for praying for me mom. Hey, can you pray that me and my comp. can be more unified and find more families to teach? Family baptisms are pretty hard to find here. I love you so much my mom ♥

Hmm, well say hi to Alexis for me. But if she doesn’t have any homework she has time to write, right? ha ha. I love her too.

Hey!!! I can’t wait to get the letters from the Young Women!!! How is school going Emily? It is good to hear that the football team is doing good. I luh you.

Hey Hannah. I am glad the quack is good. And yes of course I still have the silly band you gave me. It is my lucky charm. P.s. I love you.

Thanks for the news family, I hope you all have a great week.

Don’t forget to pray for us here in Bluefields! I am praying for you guys.

Love,

Elder Hardy

August 15, 2011

Hey, how’s it goin’ maaan? (in a Caribbean accent)

Hey! You will never guess where I got shipped off to.

Ha ha but I will tell you the story. So we went to changes like normal last Wednesday morning. In the middle of the meeting, the Mission Secretary came up and whispered to me that he needed to ask me a question and to go to the other room with him.

So I followed and we went to the room where we put all the suitcases during the meeting. And then he told me to put everything I needed in order to live into one suitcase really fast and then he left.

Ha ha ha. So I did it and realized that the only reason they would have me do that is because I was going to go to a place where I could only take one suitcase with me... in a plane... and the only place that could be is.........

BLUEFIELDS!!!

Ha ha ha, so right now I am writing you in Bluefields, on the other side of Nicaragua, on the side of the Bluefield Bay. And it is pretty cool.

My new compañero is Elder Jaime Aly Gaitán Palma. Elder Gaitán is from Costa Rica, he is the only member in his family and is a convert of 2 years.

Ha ha what do you know, I thought the next time I would get on a plane would be in two years. Ha ha I had a mini practice for my half way mark.

I also got to know all the recent converts here, a lot of members, my food appointment ha ha. It is very beautiful here, but also very hot. I have been drinking a lot of water every day, by the time we get home I can ring water out of my handkerchief. (Ha ha we are buying new handkerchiefs for Sunday.)

I am also learning English again... but Creole style! Ha ha it is really cool to listen to but confusing when in a lesson when we are talking Spanish, English and Creole mixed together. I want to learn Miskito too but that seems a little harder.

Oh hey! I am also sending photos of my first two baptisms here. Esthér (the girl) and Solangy. What a great way to be welcomed into an area right?

No, still no on the three families investigating in the Quiet Community in Monte Fresco. But, I am hoping to receive a happy noticia from Elder Moreno in a few weeks.

Yes, the Area Presidency decided that we can’t have the Misión Nicaragua Managua Sur blog. Which is too bad, I wanted to tell them to put up our 5 seconds of fame from the Parade. Which by the way I still haven’t seen it. Can you not send stuff like that?

Ha ha yes, I already have my golden ticket to the temple dedication of the San Salvador, El Salvador Temple. Right now I am working on getting all my RC to interviews with the Branch President so they can come too.

Yeah, I get to see my old companions every once in a while in changes or conferences. But I have still not been in one of their zones, let alone district.

Oh no!!! I’m already at the hump?!?! Ah, it’s all downhill from here. It feels like it is going too fast and I would like more time, but two years is two years, whether it goes fast or not.

But hey sounds like Yellowstone was a Blast. I am pretty jealous. I am glad the bear didn’t eat you all. And Hey! Did you take a picture of a moose this time?... ha ha

Have a good day love,

Elder Hardy

ps, I love you

JH

July 11, 2011

Hey Family!

Guess what, I don’t have any time this time because a lightning bolt struck near to our house and the internet cafe and ruined some electronics or something. So we had to wait a bunch of time for them to change them and fix them.

But Hey! Oh no, not even being in Nicaragua escaped me from being publicized to all the world with the family ha ha. That is great about KSL, I hope I didn’t look too dorky in the photos you sent. Thanks for working so hard to represent the Family and the Church, no doubt more blessings are on the way.

Ah, wish Alexis good luck with her Europe trip!

Haha the last Harry Potter movie?!?! I forgot the first one came out! Are you going to dress up for it? You at least have to make cool wands.

I need to answer your questions quickly:

More about my comp…well...he is shorter than me. Ha ha but better that I give you his correo and you can ask him!!

My Spanish? No, I still don’t think I sound native. My comp and I are starting to study every morning early and I am reading the Libro de Mormon out loud with the audio disks so I hope it gets better.

Just make sure when you are telling the story of the Restoration you say y Pedro, Santiago y Juan dio el Sacerdocio major a José Smith por la imposición de manos ... not monos. (and Peter, James and John gave to Joseph Smith the major Priesthood by the laying on of hands ... not monkeys). hahahahahahahaha

Our investigator? We actually baptized him Sunday at 8 am and he received the Holy Ghost in Sacrament Meeting at 9 am. It was great, he is super positive and even wants to introduce us to a friend.

Everything sounds like it is going great at home. Yes the float is stressful. But it will mean so much more because it wasn’t easy.

Good Luck,

Elder Hardy

PS I love you

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

May 2, 2011

Hey!!! Happy Mother´s Day! We will talk before I send my next email.

We are planning on calling at 2 o´clock P.M. I think I decided it is cheaper for us if I call. I also think that 2 pm here means 3 pm there or something.

Good luck with your "The Blessings of Having a Missionary" talk, Mom. Ha ha I hope there is enough material to talk about. A special message to the Ward would be to say:

Gracias por la ayuda y amor que me dieron que me ayudó prepararme ser un misionero y gracias por el amor y el apoyo que han dado y me dan todavía... y dar una referencia a los misioneros en el barrio... y si no tienen uno, ayunar y orar preparar una... y si no conocen los misioneros, conocerles.

(Thanks for the help and love that you have given me that helped me prepare to be a missionary and thanks for the love and support you have given and still give me ... and give a referral to the missionaries in the ward ... and if you don’t have a referral, fast and pray for one ... and if you don’t the missionaries, get to know them).

Ha ha oh yeah and I feel fine. The ROUS was pretty good.

Yes, the Sister Missionaries came to our area. Ha ha and they are Pilas! (Word used to say they are really hard workers, energized, etc. I can’t think of an exact translation right now.) They work really hard and always contact more families and everything than the rest of the District.

(Note from Sue: We asked Jonny what the Mission Goals are and if he has to keep records. The people, of course, are more important than numbers but the Mission still has goals to keep them motivated).

Yes, of course we keep records. We count our numbers at the end of every night and give them to our District Leader over the phone. And every Sunday, we total the week and give that too. But President Monestel has changed our numbers a little bit to focus more on what is most important to us, Families. We only count a baptismal date, lesson, contact, new investigator, reference etc. if it is with a family.

I mean, we still count all the others and they are important. But if you teach 5 lessons with a member present but none of them were with a husband and wife, when you tell your District Leader that night it is still a 0. The standards of excellence that the President set every day with families are at least 1 baptismal date (of a family), 3 lessons with member, 2 without member, 2 references received and contacted, 2 new investigators (2 new families), 2 recent converts, 1 less active, and 7 contacted families.

Each week we also send how many people came to church, and how families are progressing. (We are supposed to have 5 progressing families, which for us means they have come to church at least once in the past 2 weeks and have an active baptismal date).

It is a challenge to meet the Standards of Excellence each day and week, especially to get 5 families coming to church. But I want to be a missionary of excellence and so I am working really hard to bring this area up to snuff.

Well, we went to the Colonia, it is like the American grocery store here. I even found bacon!!! But I didn’t get it because I thought it might ruin the iron. But maybe next time I will and ask the family we live with to cook it in the morning.

Well, my compañero is now the Leader of the District! Unfortunately, something bad happened in the other town in our District and they had to take out the missionaries there for their safety. It seems like I have been called to train District Leaders ha ha. I say that because each one of my companions has started being a new DL with me. Ha ha but I am still the Junior Comp.

Well, it rained for the first time this week. It seems like the lightning is louder here. The rainy season starts this month they tell me. I am super excited to see how it is in the Cañon here while it is raining. They told me it is about up to your knees, we will see.

Yes, I am going to mail home my photo cards. I would also like to know the laws of sending a package from Nicaragua to USA and what restrictions there are.

Good work, artist Dad.

Good luck with Sunday, Mom. Don’t cry too much.

Y Felicidades a Alexis!!! Going to graduate from the U! That’s great, Alexis, congratulations.

You asked about fútbol? Well, they had a Madrid vs. Barcelona game recently that everyone was excited about. But not too crazy. I have only seen a few fist fights in the street when people have gotten mad playing street fútbol.

Emily, the President said we need to look more mature and always do our hair to the side. None of this ski slope stuff. But yes, I need a haircut.

Congratulations about your video, Hannah! That sounds awesome. P.S. I love you

Love you all, I can’t wait to talk to you,

Elder Hardy

March 7, 2011

Hey Everybody!

First, Congrats to the Highland Sports Teams. They are doing great. Nice that they win State in everything after I left to Nicaragua!

I will tell la Familia Escalante that you think their baby is cute. I sent those last time because they asked me to send them to their son who is in the Mish. He already replied back and loved them too.

No, the package didn’t come!!! I hope it’s going to make it. I got mad at Elder Geddes today (he is my ZL again) because he didn’t have it haha. But I am much much closer to the office now so letters and packages are easier to get to me.

So, I am in Monte Fresco, about km 14 in the Carretera sur de Managua. You ride the bus until you hear them say, ¨¡El Puente, el puente!,¨ (“The Bridge, the Bridge!”). You get off the bus and walk up a street to the restaurante Casa Mía Pizzeria and turn right, and walk until you get to our house which is across the street from a Catholic Seminary. But I don’t think it is the one equivalent to Harvard Business School of Central America.

But there are a monton of fachenta casa here. A lot of really rich houses. But they all have really big concrete fences with barb wire and electric fences at the tops. So they are kind of hard to contact.

This week we had a baptism!!! Hurray! Her name is Saira. She lives here with her Mom (who is a member) every other week until she and her husband finish building their house here. Her husband works in Boaco ha ha and when they finish the house he will live here too and we are hoping to complete the family.

Oh, and guess what!!! I washed my own clothes today! Ha ha and yes that means more than it used to (having to carry the clothes up the stairs.) This time I did it by hand! And I don’t think I will let the Barrio (neighborhood) rest this week until I find someone to wash them next week!

Ha ha but it was actually pretty peaceful, until everyone in the house came out to watch and give the chele (white guy) pointers. But it was fun and you know what, washing by hand gets them cleaner too, I think.

The Spanish is going good... I hope. I understand everything with exception to a weird word or two that I haven’t learned. Everyone usually understands me... but every once in a while someone will give me a stinky face that means they didn’t understand a word I just said.

Ha ha I really think I need to work on my accent, get the grammar down and open up my vocabulary, so pretty much everything ha ha.

Hannah, yes, the kids go to school in Nicaragua. And yes, they have a fourth grade, but the grades are a little different. The little kids can go to preschool but the real school starts in Colegio, which is the equivalent to High School. And they just use numbers like, I’m in 1st Año (1st year) or 4th. And if you don’t pass your classes you stay at the same number, so there are lots of different age groups. I hope that’s right, I wish I could explain better.

Super sad news that Scott Sherratt and family are moving. They are an awesome family and I was hoping they would be there when I got back. Scott was a great leader and home teacher. And they were good friends, but wish them luck from me.

Thanks for the family updates. I love you all.

Elder Hardy

P.S. The advice of an Apostle to me of a Misionero de Exito (Successful Missionary):

1. Es Obediente (is obedient)
2. Está enfocado (is focused)
3. Trabaja Duro (works hard)

Same thing applies to you!

January 24, 2011

¡Pupusas!

Buenas familia, ¡hoy hicimos papusas con la Doña! (today we did pupusas with the Lady of the House!) Ha ha it was fun. So you said you are going to an El Salvadorian restaurant today. You will have to tell me how were the pupusas. I bet mine were better. Haha son bromas (Haha just kidding).

Thanks for thinking about me! Why did you guys write essays? What do they say?

The Conference with Elder Christofferson was Awesome. I even got to shake his hand before the meeting! (Well, everybody did) It was really spiritual, and all he did was answer our questions the whole time. I got a bit of personal revelation from him too.

Unfortunately, I was not part of any special choir. Elder Tonga and a couple others did a special musical number of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief with a flute and violin. It was great, but Elder Tonga is always stealing the show with his singing haha.

My new compañero’s full name is Nery Josue Leiva Rivas. Hard Worker. Obedient.

So I guess the biggest challenge right now is taking control in the lessons. I am trying really hard to talk, teach, testify and not be timid but at times it is difficult when I have a compañero who´s native tongue is Spanish and can talk really well in lessons.

But I am overcoming this, because I know that I know the Gospel pretty well too and a little Spanish, and have the spirit to tell me what the Lord wants to say to His children through me.

Hannah, about Llamas... I am sure they do have them. But unfortunately I have not seen one yet. I will look, and maybe I will find a "¡Talking Llama!"

Yeah! Last night we left a great lesson with the wife of Luis Gonzales and we started walking back to the house when we saw a woman taking down her laundry. I said hi and asked if we could help with something. Her husband walked out and we had barely introduced ourselves when they invited us into the house.

They don’t have electricity so they lighted a candle and we taught a little bit, but they basically taught themselves and the husband said, "We need to get married first to get baptized don’t we?" Ha ha so we said, yes. Those kinds of lessons are the best. Because "El campo blanco está ya para la siega." (The field is white already to harvest). They don’t even work on Sundays... It was very spiritual and the Lord trusted us with some of the elect.

I’m out of time. I did send some photos that must not have downloaded. I will send some today but it is being slow.

I love you all,

Elder Hardy

December 27, 2010

!Feliz Navidad y un Gran Araña¡
(Merry Christmas and a Big Spider)!

Ha ha I'll explain the giant spider later.

I was so excited to talk to you all on Christmas. It was the best Christmas present. And I was so grateful that I could say hi to Grandpa and Grandma Weiler, Rob and Jeff. Maybe that was the reason that I wasn’t able to call you earlier like we planned.

That is awesome that you used my Christmas present money to help someone out in our ward. There are more blessings in that than any amount of Christmas presents.

I am glad Christmas lunch went well with everyone. Ha ha I think the pictures of Uncle Rob and Grant playing that game are hilarious. Thanks for the photos they are the best. I showed them to the Chapines (Guatemalans) and they thought they were pretty cool too.

I bet Grandpa Hardy loves his big light up U, I feel like I need one, all the Chele missionaries that I have met so far have been Y fans. I’m sure the Hardy Christmas program was awesome. I wish I could have heard Emily and Hannah’s duet.

Questions you asked:

How was your Christmas Day?

My Christmas day was just fine. The highlight was when I got to call you and hear everyone’s voices again. In the morning before that I opened my Christmas stocking and ate all the chocolate. Oh P.S. that is one thing that I guess I haven’t really had here that can be sent in a package.

Elder Mejia gave me a gift too. He is a pretty good artist and drew me this salvaje (slang term for tight, awesome, really cool) photo of a missionary (the placa says E. Hardy) with a sword in his hand. It was really nice.

What did they do for the Christmas Program at Church?

Well, for church the next day it was pretty much a normal day at church. Actually the asistencia (attendance) was pretty low which put a downer on the day. But we have a couple more weeks in this change to fix that.

Oh, but later that day we had a cita (appointment) with this lady who is evangelica. Haha it was great. So I didn’t know much about evangelicos before the mission. But I sure do now. They have a bad reputation amongst the missionaries as being exceptionally hard to talk to.

But she (Hermana Esperanza) was actually pretty nice. I went in thinking that she might want to try and bible bash with us but she listened to our message and wanted to learn a little more about what we believe.

Her only desafio (challenge) is accepting the Book of Mormon. Ha ha the best part was close to the end when she said that we are really good people and have really strong faith and that we are 90% there, the other 10% is that we believe in the Book of Mormon.

Ha ha that put a smile on my face and Elder Coj bore his testimony that we do have the 100%. At the very end I bore my testimony, and after that she agreed to come to Church next Sunday... if we come to hers.

Who plays the hymns for church?

Ja ja ja, who plays the hymns for church. Well we do, with our voices. How it always works is whoever is directing sings the first line so we all remember how it goes and then we all sing. I think we might have an electrical piano in the President’s office but unfortunately, I never completed Emily´s lessons, so we sing A cappella.

Can you sing the songs in Spanish?

Well, I suppose that depends. Jaja I can sing them, but I don’t know if it sounds good.

What was your most spiritual experience during the Christmas Season?

That is a tough question. I don’t really have a grand spiritual miracle to tell, but the most spiritual experiences were every time I shared my testimony and it really brought the spirit.

The most recent experience was with the Evangelica Hermana Esperanza. She was being pretty resistive after we had talked about the Libro de Mormon, but when I bore my testimony I actually felt like the whole attitude in the room changed. I remember looking at her and seeing her whole countenance change.

Even when I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon she listened. And how she does not know the BOM. I read it and prayed about it and know that it is true.

What is your plan for New Year's?

The plan for New Year´s is to blow up a Muñeco (large dummy doll). We are helping Beto make some, his plan is to make a whole family, a Dad, Mom, Kid, and Baby. Today we went with Beto to stuff bags full of leaves to stuff them with. (We went to a river to find the leaves, that is why I sent the picture of me on the water fall.) Hopefully we will be allowed to stay up to watch them blow up.

OH! The story about the spider! So we hiked forever in the wilderness to get to this river where there are lots of dead leaves (for the Muñecos) and a waterfall also. Once we got there we ran around for a while, Beto and his family tried to catch the fish in the river with a tent they brought to wash.

I was walking along the side and passed a rock cove and almost brushed against this Giant spider web. I kinda freaked out and jumped to the side. But not as much as when I looked at the web to find the bugger responsible for it and saw this thing (look at the picture). (I almost fell into the river).

So I took a bunch of pictures, I hope you can see it. It is a creepy looking one and looks kinda like those pictures of banana spiders I looked up from Nicaragua before the mission.

But the best part is when I called Beto over to look at it. He was all excited when I told him I found a giant crazy spider and ran over. But when he got there he was disappointed and said it wasn’t that big of a deal. Sheesh.

Thank you for the pictures and the spiritual thought. When I looked at the picture of Christmas Eve dinner I felt like it was missing somebody but I know that there is no greater opportunity or blessing for me right now than going on a mission.

I also know that my family is being blessed as well. Most importantly is that other families are receiving the opportunity to hear the Gospel and receive the blessings from coming to Jesus Christ.

¡Espero que tengan un prospero año nuevo! (That’s the phrase here)

Hope you have a Happy New Year!

I love you,

Elder Hardy

December 13, 2010

Hola, hola, hola!

Yes, I got the Christmas package!! And the letters!! Thank you so much. I can’t express how much I appreciate the letters everyone has sent. And the package, well that just adds to the awesomeness and gives me a chance to share with my compa.

Ha ha yesterday, my Zone Leader had changes with the other companionship in Boaco and gave me more letters. He called me a spoiled jerk ha ha.

So, for the marriages… ha ha yes I paid for them. I figured its one of the things I can help out with because I'm a "Fachento Chele". Fachento Chele means “rich white guy”. They love saying that, even though I have less money in my wallet than my comp ever does.

For the marriages we had, you have to be a practicing lawyer for like ten years here or something before you can perform marriages. So no, I didn’t actually perform the marriages. I was actually really curious what you had to do to get a license to marry. I think that would be awesome if I could marry people. It would be a lot more convenient here in Nicaragua.

But, we did basically everything else besides talk and sign the papers in the marriage. I took out C$1,000 to pay for two marriages, baptisms and the food and party stuff. That’s about 50 bucks. I think I am going to come here for my marriage ha ha.

Hermano Roberto and José Noel are baptized, confirmed and good to go. But no, they haven´t received the Priesthood yet. I am not sure how long we are going to wait for that but I think it is good that they come to church more and learn more and understand the significance of the Priesthood too.

A cool story about someone getting the Aaronic Priesthood: One day we were leaving a cita (appointment) at the President’s house and this kid was walking up the hill with a bucket filled with cups on his shoulder. (He was selling arroz con leche: Rice with milk. I’m afraid I haven’t tried it yet but he says it’s the best here in Boaco.)

So we said hi to him and talked to him a little about who we are and everything. And he said, "Yeah I’m a member." So we talked to him about why he hasn’t gone to church in a long time and he said it's cause he has to sell his rice with milk on Sundays too. Well, Elder Coj told him if he came to church on Sunday and sanctified el día de reposo (the Sabbath) instead of selling, he would be blessed and sell more on the other days. He said, "Ok, I’ll come."

The next week he came... and hasn’t missed a week since. We asked him how his arroz con leche is going and he told us he had never sold more. A couple of weeks ago, he received the Aaronic Priesthood. Every week we ask him how his vendiendo (selling) is doing and every week he tells us he is selling more than ever.

He has even found more work, now he is working for Beto too so he sells his rice with milk in the morning like usual and works for Beto in the trade. He is super stoked about helping us too and is a poderoso (powerful) member missionary now. He has already brought a friend to church and now we have a steady schedule with him to go and teach with us.

Yes, we now have two more missionaries here in Boaco!!! I am so happy. Maybe the President noticed that our asistencia (attendance) in church has spiked up this last month or two and decided Boaco was ready for two more.

Their names are Elder Bailey and Elder Mejia. Elder Bailey is from Washington and... is a Ginger (a red head). He is really nice and a really powerful teacher and gains the peoples trust and confidence really fast. I am going to be honest, he reminds me a lot of Alex. I said he is a ginger which is true but even his hair is closer to Alex´s because he has been in Nicaragua for 6 months and it has bleached a lot.

I hate to admit it but I have been finding a lot of people that I have been relating as my friends and people I knew back home. Ha ha maybe it’s because I am subconsciously homesick but it made me remember how much I miss Alex and my other buddies.

I have gotten their emails that you mailed me mom and I love reading them, they are really great guys and I have been lucky that they put up with me as their friend.

Of course Alex is better, but seriously Elder Bailey is really similar. Except he played rugby instead of football. That has been fun to talk with him about. Elder Mejia is from Guatemala and is brand new out off the MTC there. He is really, really nice and has an awesome sense of humor.

Ha ha and while I’m talking about it, the first week he was here I realized he is the José (one of my good friends) in my mission. Close, José is Mexican and it turns out the Guatemalans (at least the ones I know) really don’t like Mexicanos. But close.

Yes, of course I get to call home for Christmas. My ZL will probably call you soon to set up an appointment. I told him I would call and I wasn’t sure what day was best, the 24th or the 25th but he will ask you when is best.

Plus, he said it might be a good idea if you guys call instead. I don’t know what he will say or what you want to do. I cannot wait to talk to my family, I am super excited. Oh and don’t worry, my ZL is from Casper, Wyoming so you will be able to talk to him... hopefully.

Hannah: Yes, I got my Sincere Tree!!! And it is Beautiful. I have already set it up on top of our water jug. I actually wasn’t sure if we were allowed to open the package yet so I made Elder Coj wait to open it for a while (plus I was waiting for a rainy day as a pick me up.)

But since you asked this question I can safely say that we opened it. But I haven’t gone through my stocking yet! I can’t speak for Elder Coj though... Thank you so much for the awesome package. And thank Grandma for the stockings. It was so sweet of her to make them. I got the Santa Clause letter too and it made me trunky. Ahh in my second change! I am sad I don’t get an ornament for two years. :(

I am running out of time right now.

Dad, ha ha if the fireworks you found were those giant sparklers ha ha that’s great. But other than that I don’t know what you’re talking about...

Besides, here they don’t have rules like that. They have already started blowing stuff up on every street corner. And the bombas are cheap too! But I haven’t bought any.

Ha ha and the Catholic church lights off mortar shells every couple hours starting at 5 in the morning. It’s great.

Alexis, I am sorry I can’t help with the trees this year. I am glad you are telling everyone I am having a blasty blast. Tell them I’m roasty toasty too ha ha.

Funny story... we played fútbol today for pday because we have two more elders to play with. So it was Cheles contra Latinos. Ha ha and they are really good. I was trying to go at it with Elder Mejia and get the ball past him and we were up against a stone wall.

So I saw the ball and I went to clear it out because I knew if I didn’t he was going to get it and score. But right before I kicked it he moved it and I kicked this really big rock... and he scored.

Haha but the good news: We won!!! We were all starting to get really tired because we are missionaries and out of shape so we said, next goal wins and I made it! But next week I will try to have a funnier story ready.

Emily, of course you can use the sweats. But only you, only the little sister of the player has the right to wear them. Good luck with school and everything I will pray for you don’t worry. Sorry about the tree, just take the top of the tree and make dad take the trunk and you will be good.

Hannah I am very proud of your talk. Excellent work. Pick a good tree for me.

Love you,

Elder Hardy

December 6, 2010

Buenas Familia!

Last week the power was out all day but it turned on again in the night so we went to email. But while we were writing, it went out again. This was the email:

Thanks for the updates from the family. Happy Birthday Alexis!!! I think I forgot to say it last time but I dedicated the marriage and baptism of the Familia José Noel y Martha and Familia Roberto y Yamileth for Mom's primero birthday present. So the next baptism will be especially for Alexis. We have set a goal to baptize two more familias this month and I have faith that we can do it.

Hey it sounds like Christmas this year is going to be really fun with the German Traditions. Good luck with the goose, Mom!

Here Christmas is a big deal too. And yes, I have heard some Christmas music. Mostly an annoying ad that goes, “Navidad! Navidad! Feliz Navidad!” to the tune of Jingle Bells. But it is interesting, as far as I understand, the actual day of the 25 isn’t the big day. It’s the 24th. That’s when they have the parties and stuff.

I am really excited that I get to spend Christmas here in Boaco. It is going to be awesome. We have become really good friends with the members and sharing it with them will be neat. Especially because they are going to feed us. I am looking forward to a big Christmas Eve night dinner probably with the family of Yamileth and Roberto. They are going to kill one of their pigs and everything!

So the coolest tradition I know of so far is the Muñeco. Ha ha they make dummies of people and put them on the street the night of the 24th... stuffed with bombas! (fireworks) And at midnight, they blow them up! Ha ha and they told me that they decided to make one of me. Plaque and everything to blow up! How nice of them.

So I don't know exactly what the rules here are for Navidad for the missionaries but I think we get to stay up to see the Muñeco. I hope so.

One of the phrases I learned this week is to give someone a Sopa de Muñeco. I think muñeco means your hand or something too so it isn’t really too related to the Muñeco that blows up, (or the words are really close and I didn’t understand). But it is the same as saying a Knuckle sandwich. They love to help me learn more Spanish and love it even more when I remember and say stuff like, "Voy a darle una sopa de muñeco." (I’ll give you a knuckle sandwich. Makes them laugh every time).

Hannah: There were fish (in the river) but I'm not too sure about the iguanas, sorry. Yes, yes I did get your secret note. I got my baptismal clothes out the night before and found it. I was very touched, thank you. You are very clever.

Got to go.

I Love You,

Elder 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