Book of Mormon Testimony

Hello Family!

 

 

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!! And Happy Birthday in two days Dad!!! Did you get my letter??

I received Jonny's and Hannah/Dad's letters this morning because we got lucky and the mail man saw us on the walk to the library and gave all our letters to us right on the spot! All the mail men/women that I have met love us.

I received the Pioneer Day Package!!! Thank you so much! I received it Saturday- JUST in time for our big road trip to Ponce Sunday afternoon/evening. I drove almost 160 miles yesterday. Which isn't much considering how far the Sister Training Leaders drive on Transfers but I thought it was fun.

We have transfers NEXT Tuesday. So we find out this Sunday night. 

 

This weekend we finished reading the Book of Mormon together as an entire mission and Sunday night we had a testimony meeting with ALL the missionaries (minus the missionaries on the islands...) It was an amazing experience!! There are around 200 of us so I made sure to go early so I would be able to share my testimony.

 

We were only allowed to bear a short testimony so I decided to share how one day we presented the Book of Mormon to three different people and for every single one of those people the Book of Mormon answered a different question or role all while testifying of Christ and the Restoration. I also shared how a couple we are teaching used to not have a lot of love or respect in their relationship and after reading the Book of Mormon for about 3 weeks or so the husband is now treating his wife differently.

 

I shared my testimony of how the Book of Mormon can change our hearts and how we act. as an addendum to all that testimony I want to share right now that the Holy Ghost works through the Book of Mormon to touch and change our hearts. I love the Book of Mormon so much. I never want to stop reading it. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to listen to everyone else's testimony and experiences. The Spirit was so strong in the meeting and I will always remember that experience!!

I was also able to see ALL of my mission friends!!! That was a very happy experience as well, especially as a few are leaving this next transfer. I am going to miss them. I saw hna. Pavon! She had a letter to me from Ana!!! WAHOO!! Ana is doing well. Her husband is going to be baptized soon! I also saw Hna. Palacios (well, I see her pretty often because she is still in Cabo Rojo in my zone!!) It turns out HER sister (who was ALSO married in May of last year in a temple in Utah) is also pregnant!! Her baby is due in November. Hna. Palacios and I both got so excited! My outfit was also really really really cute. (just so you all know...)

 

Well I had a pretty great week. Too many experiences! I think my favorite lesson was with Aida and Ismael who are reading in the Book of Mormon and we taught L2. They gave us breakfast and then they showed us a hidden talent/hobby they have! It turns out they make jewelry and they make bracelets and necklaces and everything! We were so surprised! Ismael is a pretty tough looking, acting, etc. type of man and it was just so unexpected that he likes making jewelry as a hobby and to reduce stress.

 

So they gave us a whole bunch of jewelry and it was really hard to get out of the house because they just kept on giving us stuff and making more things on the spot to give to us. Haha, they are so sweet. In their prayers they asked for neither of us to be transferred. To be honest they are just about the only ones with potential that we were able to teach this week. For some reason every one cancelled on us this week and they're all busy with back to school stuff.

 

I think a contacting story.... umm, I don't have a lot of stories for this week! We contacted a lot this week and only one person said we could come back and when we went back she was about to leave... We had some interesting contacts though. Usually people here are pretty nice but we found a few cases! Haha, it's okay, our testimonies grew. I will let you know next week about cooler stories!
 

Also, we celebrated my 1 year mark and all the other sisters made a huge party out of it haha! I thought it was great because earlier in the day I suddenly had a wish for a donut and I MAY have said a tiny prayer/wish for a donut that day and in the end I received 12 donuts for 12 months. I thought that was a very sweet, funny, tender mercy. Haha.

Have a wonderful week! Way to go on 20 miles! That's crazy! I am playing piano for stake conference this weekend. Wish me luck!! Love you all so much!

 

Hermana Hardy

Walked... And Walked... And walked...

Hola Familia!
 

It's been quite a week. I think the best thing that happened was that with a couple of investigators I have been able to see a change in them. Really, just a tiny tiny bit in each. If I wasn't paying attention, I wouldn't have known. One (the birthday party one with the 5 year old) was at first really difficult to teach because he has some pretty intense theories about churches in general. Slowly, however, he is starting to change. Another is a woman has changed a bit too. Honestly these two people are some of the most opinionated and firm (kinda stubborn) people but it is wonderful to see how the Spirit can change a heart little by little and they can't even see that change yet :)

Something funny... Well we walked about 8 miles one day... (around that much, I had a ruler and a map and I had to convert meters to feet to miles) That was crazy. For the last 2 miles that we would have walked a woman picked us up. She was a 7th day Adventist (They are very firm in their beliefs). She and her husband saw us and said "Those are either Mormons or Jehova Witnesses, because no one is crazy enough to walk along this long road at night." They also called us hardcore and apologized for thinking that we were Jehova Witnesses. She was very kind and had taught herself English and was very firm in telling us that whatever we need we can call her so we never walk so far again and on. A lot of people in Puerto Rico recognize us as people of God and respect us for that even if they won't listen to our message.

Let's just say that with that one day of walking I will need a hip replacement by time I'm thirty :)

Our schedule: I wake up at 6:30 and exercise. Prepare and eat 7:00, personal study 8:00, companionship at 9:00, idoma at 10:00, doce semanas (my training) at 11:00, 12:00 lunch, 1:00 out the door! We return by 9:00 pm to plan and bed at 10:30.

After my training is over we will go out earlier in the day. We are technically supposed to have a dinner hour later in the day which we usually don't take. On Wednesday nights for the past 2 weeks we do take that dinner hour at 8:00 and go to Taco maker because it is their half off night. Best burritos EVER!!!!

Send me a pic of the duck house? I don't believe Dad when he says its the size of a barn. I don't really have a preference for a color watch! Suprise me! My favorite colors are green (not light or lime) yellow pink and red. and purple. ha, yeah.

I am glad Hannah is having a good time dancing and making lots of friends! The best part about that is linking friend groups all together instead of staying in just one :) That isn't me holding the lizard. I tried and it jumped away! It's living somewhere in our apartment. I DID catch a coquí though! Haha! I don't have a picture with it though :( next time!

Last Tuesday was an interesting day. We had a lesson with a woman. We handed her the Book of Mormon and before we invited her to read it she started saying no puedo no puedo no puedo. She downright refused. Eventually, it got to a point where I knew that I needed to bear testimony to her but it was so hard to get her to stop freaking out about how she isn't ready to read it. Eventually my companion said ESCUCHALE!

I was able to bear my testimony and I can't explain how strong the Spirit was in those few moments. I KNOW she felt it too. She admitted that we had the power of God but still refused to read. I think that was both the highest point of my mission so far, to feel the Spirit bearing testimony to her through me, but also the lowest so far because she wouldn't hearken to it. So she handed the book back and said that she wasn't ready to read it at this time in her life. It was very disappointing and discouraging to see someone downright refuse to listen to the Spirit but I suppose she's right, she isn't ready yet. Hopefully in the future.

It feels like so much happened to all of you this week! Good luck with your new job Geoff! Congratulations! Also, right on Jonny for moving out. I am sorry you have cold showers at the moment haha. I know I said I would send pictures from the house and town... that will be next week :D Baptism wise the goal for the entire mission is to have at least one baptism every month and at least one reactivation. We have been working super hard and the pressure is on to have one before the end of October but right now it looks a little thin. We had planned for a lot of investigators to come last Sunday but only one came... but it was still great! the testimony meeting was very spiritual.

Oh! Lexie and Geoff thanks so much for your package!! I also received a package from Aunt Jenny and the Robert's family! I was so surprised :)

I need to go. Just so you know there are a LOT of federal holidays on Mondays in the PR so it is going to be perfectly normal for me to be writing on a Tuesday especially coming up on Christmas season. Apparently the library is closed all the time then so we will have to ask permission from President to use a member's or something. We will see! I love you ALL so much. I know you will all be blessed for your service.

I would like to ask EVERYONE who reads this to find a friend that is not LDS and invite them to church and to meet with the missionaries before Christmas (because the best gift you can give is the Gospel to another person:))
Buena Suerte!

xoxo Hermana Hardy

P.S. If Jonny's emails get any longer tell him to send me a letter :) actually, everyone is welcomed to send lots of letters haha:) I also want to answer everyone's questions as fully as a can. Love you all!