God Be With You Till We Meet Again

Hello Everyone!

A lot of things happened this week! I think my favorite was that our part member family made it to church!! They came a bit late, but they loved it and I'm so happy they came. The wife has a baptismal date set for February.

I feel strange writing this email today... I am writing about investigators and people we teach and I feel like I'm going to be teaching them this week and helping them to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. This is so unreal!

My favorite moment from this week was Saturday. We went to the part member family and Dachira- the non member, has been reading the Book of Mormon. I have always said like the introduction, anyone who reads the Book of Mormon and prays sincerely will be converted. The trick here is getting the PRicans to read and pray specifically. Sometimes they just don't get it. 

But Dachira gets it! She read so much, she kept on texting us during the week to ask for more passages to read. She read it all and marked it. She told us her favorite parts. I asked her if she prayed to ask if it's true. She said yes. I asked if she feels that the Book of Mormon is true and she said yes! I am so happy for her!

Out of all the missionary work and teaching and everything we do, my favorite part has been and always will be the Book of Mormon. I have such a strong testimony of this book. I love inviting people to read. I love explaining where the Book of Mormon came from. I love promising people that their lives will change if they only open up and read. Because as I have told a lot of people lately, all of this is either true, or it's not. And the Book of Mormon is the key. Christ is our Savior, Joseph Smith was His prophet, and the Restored Gospel is true. Writing that just makes me so happy!

I want all of you to know that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I feel that I have come to know Him better in many ways. One of those ways was through the example of the pure love of Christ that I have seen in the members here in Puerto Rico. They have taught me so much. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to be His representative. 

I know that His Gospel has been restored by a living prophet. I will be sharing my testimony of this until the day I die! It's all true! The Gospel, the Church, the Book of Mormon, all of it! This message has made me so happy. I was already converted to Christ and this Gospel when I came on this mission. 

But little did I know how these 18 months would help my testimony grow into something a little bit more. I feel so much more sure in my testimony and my knowledge. I feel so much more prepared to face life head on. I can't imagine how I would pass through the rest of my life if I had not served. 

I have already shared this feeling with you before, but as I said several months ago I am sure of why Heavenly Father had me serve a mission. I feel that Heavenly Father kills three birds with one stone (or mission. About killing birds... see my second to last email :) ). 

He secures the conversion of the missionary, He converts and blesses others through this missionary, and He also prepares the conversion of this missionary's future family. I can't help but think that what a mission really is for the young youth of this Church is to not only bring others unto Christ and salvation, and not only teach selflessness to a generation living in a selfish world, but also to prepare our youth for the rest of their lives. 

I know that Heavenly Father did not just send me on a mission to bless the people here in Puerto Rico or just me. I can't help but feel that He sent me because He knows that my future children need me to be ready to teach them to live the Gospel and be prepared to be lights unto the world. So I may technically only have one convert up to date. But I know that my experiences in this mission will have a much longer and greater effect than I can see from where I am right now. 

I think the best and only way I can end this testimony is to say that I am grateful. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father, I am grateful to my Savior Jesus Christ, I am grateful for my wonderful parents who taught me everything I have taught the people of Puerto Rico, I am grateful for my loving family and their support, I am grateful for President Boucher and Hermana Boucher and what they've taught me, 

I'm grateful for each and every one of my companions who have also taught me something unique, I am grateful for the members and the people I have met here, and I am grateful for Puerto Rico, la Isla del Encanto. This isn't even half of what my testimony is and I know that I could not really give it justice here in an email. But I love you all very much. I love my Savior, and I this is my testimony of Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

xoxo Hermana Hardy

Nurse Hermana Hardy

Hello Family!

So new mission policy is to have EVERYTHING sent to the office- letters and packages alike. Besides that, our apartment isn't even registered with the post office and we don't have a mailbox.

I am still waiting on the packages but I am excited for when I receive them! There is a member here who has his birthday the same day! They said that if there's cake they'll invite us over. So who knows what will happen Wednesday!

So last Zone Conference (last Tuesday) we taught Effective Planning with the zone leaders. But the thing is... they got there late and the conference started late so by time the first zl finished it was supposed to be our turn to start... so let's just say that we couldn't do the activity we planned and I only had three minutes to talk about using the agenda to plan effectively and to plan conversion. 

Let's just say I talked really fast and personally I didn't think anyone got anything out of it. But the AP's started teaching right after and they mentioned my name and what I taught about planning conversion twice so at least they were paying attention to my three minutes. All well, hopefully next time will be better.

This week was a particularly rough week, so I really appreciate what Mom and Dad shared. I am so proud of you two! I am so proud that you ran a complete marathon! Way to go! I can't do that! Maybe I could walk that far, but definitely not run! Way to make a goal and go strong until the end. And that's only the first one! The next marathon will be easier and that's how it goes right?

So this week we had Conference on Tuesday. Wednesday we were with Hna. Garcia in the emergency from 11:30 am until 8:00 pm because she was really sick (she is doing tons better, so it all turned out alright.) the emergency rooms are crazy here. 

Then Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we did back to back exchanges with the sisters in Caguas. So I drove to Caguas four times this week. It's a 40 mile drive. 80 miles round trip four times in the week. On Thursday there was lot of traffic in Caguas. we didn't get back until 6:00... there wasn't much time to work. But I was able to be with Hna. Paniagua from the DR, and Hna. Gassaway from Arizona. They are both really neat sisters. 

Saturday I went out to work in Hna. Hoko's area because she had to stay home with Hna. Garcia all week. So it was fun to teach with her. It started pouring everytime we walked out of someone's house. We were soaking all day. Sunday after church and lunch I stayed with Hna. Garcia in the house and Hna. Gallardo and Hna. Hoko went out to work. I made brownies! But we don't have a normal cake pan (I am buying one today) so I did them in a mini muffin pan. they turned out looking like ebelskievers! 

Also we have some contacts that speak English and they are really nice and they said something about how being a Bilingual Nurse is a job that gets payed a lot and is always needed. Interesting. 

Also, Hna. Boucher told me that everything that has happened in the last 2 weeks with health problems is preparing me for something and that I could be a nurse. 

Also, Saturday night our recent convert Rosa died. She had been in the hospital since before I got to Guayama and she was fighting a lot of health problems. But now she is resting and we are happy she isn't suffering any more. Hna. Gallardo taught her and baptized her with Hna. Dye. Her funeral is tonight.

So in one of the few opportunities I had to go out to actually work I was able to teach one of our new investigators who has come to church 4 weeks in a row but it's hard to get an appointment with her. We taught all of L1 but it turns out that her member friend gave her Our Heritage and she read almost all of it and she new and understood the Restoration and Joseph Smith before we taught her... haha. She was REALLY excited to get a Book of Mormon and she is excited to read it! So that is really awesome!

We have one man with a baptismal date who read and does everything but he hasn't come to church in a while and is unsure about his date. He knows he is going to be baptized one day but says he isn't ready.

What is my favorite thing about Puerto Rico? The people I suppose! especially the members here in Guayama. I have learned a lot from their example of love and charity and faith. 

Well that is about it for this week. I am memorizing The Living Christ in Spanish with the rest of the mission. I am almost done with the second paragraph. (we had a lot of time in the emergency room)

I hope that you all have a wonderful week andd enjoy the reveal party for Baby Gough on Saturday! I am excited. Send pictures next Monday okay??!

xoxo Hermana Hardy