Mercies, Miracles & Gratitude

Hello Family!
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!! I love you so much! I hope you have a wonderful time and that your marathon goes well!

I am feeling much much better today. I am exhausted and a little bit bruised but to be honest I am not nearly as injured as I would have thought I would be for being hit by a car (which means that I have been blessed very, very much). We have been given permission to use the car if we really need to. For the most part we have had members drive us to appointments. We have had almost all member presents this weekend!

I have to admit something.... several weeks ago I DID say to my companion that I would rather be hit by a car than to be bitten by a dog... Sooooo I had it coming.

I would like to say that even after being hit by a car I would still rather deal with that than be bitten by a dog.

Thursday we kinda chilled out at the apartment for the day. We took our time doing weekly planning, wrote letters, cards to members for Thanksgiving, we cleaned the apartment (I kinda helped a little bit but not much) because Hna. Boucher came to let me call Mama and to do an apartment inspection.

Friday we visited people (member present and then with a less active and then English class). It was exhausting. Saturday we rested a bit more but still had 2 member presents (Hna Broyles went with Hna. Gawrych to the one in the early morning because I was not walking or moving very well that morning).

Sunday, of course I went to church! I received all sorts of attention by people who have never spoken to me before (usually they all talk to Hna. Gawrych) and I had no idea what was going on but I am pretty good at saying I got hit by a car in spanish now. We had a total of 4 lessons today and I am tired. The members are very sweet and they all thought that my leg is broken (some STILL think that it is broken because someone spread that rumor around). NADA ROTO! I'm really good at saying that too.

So for the accident part!
 

 

We were on the side of the road contacting a man in front of a chain link fence, he even said we could return and teach his family and Hermana Gawrych was writing our number and I was looking at the man thinking that I didn't do very bad at contacting him (very prideful of me so yeah).

 

 

When completely out of nowhere I am hit and I just remember looking at the ground and seeing grass as I rotate around towards my right shoulder and being hit again (I realized it was the side view mirror later) and then I was facing towards the road and I saw the mirror roll away into the grass and then I was down against the fence looking at my leg.

 

 

My left shoe flew off my foot. I never actually saw the car as far as I can remember, just grass. I knew what had happened though right away and I screamed a bit and a man that had been sitting on the porch with our contact ran out right away and he was holding my hand and a woman who saw it all happen was standing in front of me and they were helping my companion call 911 and it hurt. Then a huge group of teenage boys came running around and after a while they left as more people came.
 

 

(Please see pictures for reference and explanation for how I was hit)

All I knew is that there were lots of people around me shouting in Spanish and I only understood a little bit. However I did see a white car drive past and stop and I saw a woman get out and I thought it was a member but I wasn't sure as she got closer and then her face was in front of mine and it was Hna. Franqui!!

 

I cannot describe how relieved I was to see her and she was just saying that I was going to be okay and she would take care of everything. She speaks a lot of English too so that was very nice. There are no members in the area we were in (30 minutes away from town driving) and I know that Heavenly Father planned for her to be driving by at that exact time to take care of me.

 

[On the phone, Emily also told me one of the EMTs and one of the police were members of the Church as well. She was well ministered to and the Elders were knocking themselves out to give her blessings :) ]

Her daughter Alanis was there too (9 years old) and her husband just got back from the states and he helped my companion a lot too. So I rode in an ambulance for the first time, went to the ER. There were 13 people there for me not including my companion and me. Apparently more members had shown up where the accident was and I didn't see them there but they showed up at the hospital (Metropolitan hospital of Cabo Rojo or something for Jonny haha:)) and the elders came and brought me a blanket and East High sweatshirt (they have a lot of nerve haha) and socks because it was freezing and I was shaking and everything.
 

In the end, nothing is broken, I am just scraped up and bruised but the bruising isn't too bad at all and my leg is the worst of it and even that is healing up very quickly. Everyone in Puerto Rico knows and even random people in the U.S. that the members know and called (hahaha). The nurse showed up right before they wrapped my leg up after they took x-rays. I never hit my head! My neck is sore from whiplash so my headache is sometimes worse than my leg when we are out visiting for a long time but I am still smiling!

We don't really know anything about who it was and all the members are really upset about that but I am fine, the person must be freaked out of their mind! Hopefully they are okay.

Miracles! Lots and lots of them! I had so many people who just so happened to be driving by after it all happened and so many people were there at the hospital with me. Hno. Franqui just kept on saying to me ""Look! There are so many people here for you, you two are never alone" That was a wonderful comfort to me.

 

We have had strangers call us to ask us how we are doing and one woman invited us to Thanksgiving!! Awesome, right? We have had the members help us with just about everything. My favorite part was speaking to Mama on the phone and tell her that I am okay. The missionary work is moving forward despite and because of what has happened:)

So for Thanksgiving we have two appointments- one at 12:00 and the other at 5:00 (we were invited to more but we had to decline). There are lots of people willing to drive us to those appointments.

Well, I do not know that more to say! I know that Heavenly Father has protected me and that He has a purpose in everything. I am excited to see what else will happen as a result! The past few days have been ridiculous and crazy but I have never felt so loved. The people here are so kind (even if they are dramatic) and they have the biggest hearts. I am hoping to accomplish even more the next few weeks with their help.

I love you all SOOOO MUCH! Happy Thanksgiving! Remember to be grateful everyday because that is more important than being grateful once a year:)

Love Hermana Hardy

Invitation to Baptism

Hello Familia!

 

 

For your first question, the investigator we invited to be baptized last week didn't come to church and then didn't answer her phone so we couldn't visit her :(

 

BUT THEN! Our other investigator Gloria did accept the invitation to be baptized! For December 6th! Wahoo! She is so excited about it too. She told us that she wants a certificate to go along with it.

 

The funny and awkward part is though... Well when we invite people to be baptized we invite them, and then we say "We will be having a baptismal service on this day (date) will you prepare to be baptized this day?' Well, she said yes to the day and then asked who else was being baptized that day and assumed that there were a couple of other people....

 

 

So she kept on asking about that again on Sunday and we explained that there might not be other people prepared for that day and she said she didn't want to be baptized alone (she doesn't want people to go to trouble for her alone). Then we told her that lots of people are baptized alone and then she seemed much better about that!

It was just funny because she would say, "How many other people are being baptized??' and ahehehehehehe.... *you're the only one progressing... cough cough* :D

 

We wave to EVERYONE! People love us now, it feels like a parade. One night we actually did have people clap at us from inside their car... that was new! It is fun to see people's facial expressions when they see us.

 

So most of the time I eat an eggo or oatmeal or cereal with a banana every morning. Lunch varies, we eat a lot of salad and Tuesdays a woman brings us all food and we can usually make that last for 2-3+ days because she brings so much. Lots and lots of rice. Some beans. Meat (usually chicken). We very rarely cook and when we do it is usually noodles for me:) We bake cake a lot. And cookies, to share with people we visit. We eat at a member's house every Sunday for lunch, and at other people's houses during the week (maybe once or twice a week.)

The other day I tried tostones for the first time, tostones de pana to be exact. Just fried squished pieces of the pana fruit. Super starchy fruit, so it is like an extra thick potato chip. Around Christmas they have pasteles and I have tried them once and not the very tastiest thing I've had.

This week I ate the gizzard and liver of a chicken. Also, I had fried eggplant. I'd rather not talk about it, but it took us the longest time to find someone to tell us what they were in English (because the words for gizzard and liver were not in our dictionaries) I also found out that there is a delicacy that is essentially the intestinal part of a chicken and they keep the blood and everything when they cook it. I am not excited to try that...

My favorite place to eat is with Hna. Acosta. Her food is sooooo good (Her lasagna is to die for) and she tries to not cook us rice and beans because she understands how much we eat it.

My other favorite place to eat is Taco Maker (wednesday night is 1/2 off night)

Usually we do not take our dinner hour but we do on Wednesdays, haha. (or if someone feeds us dinner we count that as dinner hour)

Our favorite snack in between visits are limbers! People make them in their home and sell them out their front door. They are like popsicles in a little plastic cup with all sorts of different flavors. I will take a picture and send it to you. Lots of people offer us food when we visit though so we get a lot of snacks during the day usually.

 

My favorite thing about Puerto Rico?? It is so beautiful here!!!

What would I like for Christmas? mmm, I don't know! I definitely left my warm up rice bag at home that Grandma made for me because I thought I wouldn't need it... and now I wish I did!

I cannot think of anything else because I think what I will miss most is the Christmas tree with the family, snow, watching Christmas movies and Nutcracker music and Molly Mouse! I also miss Fall smells.

 

Today for P-day we had a nature hike and went into a cave and saw the beach and some old ruins. We went to Playa Baye. Do not worry, I did not get in :) but it was lots of fun! I will send pictures.

 

 

Jonny asked if I have dreamed in Spanish. I don't think so. But for a few weeks in the MTC I would dream of myself saying something in English like "God is our loving Heavenly Father." And then I would actually wake up halfway and translate it into Spanish, "Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial" I didn't sleep for the longest time because of that, translating in my sleep haha.

Way to go Hannah for making Jemima (I knew you would) and Jonny on passing his huge test!! Wahoo!!

I love you lots!

Hermana Hardy

Preparing For Baptism

Hello Family!

 

What a week! I can't remember what happened. I was a bit sick this last week, I don't know what it was- a weird sort of pure exhaustion and headache. Super strange and apparently one of the Elders was feeling that way the week before. Who knows! But I pushed through and I have my regular energy back so we are good! I am grateful that we get to go to bed at 10:30.

I haven't seen the music yet but I will keep my eyes out! What day did you send it? Tomorrow is some holiday for the schools so I don't know if the post office will be open or not. Maybe I'll get it today though! Our Ward Mission Leader keeps on talking about having me play some solo soon and it sounded like he wanted me to be playing Christmas arrangements the entire ward Christmas party. Heh.

I think my favorite lesson this week was with our investigator Sylvia. We found her contacting, visited her the week after for Lesson 1, and then this week we were able to teach her lesson 2. The thing is that she lives in Boqueron (the one that's 2 hours away walking) and she couldn't meet on our Boqueron day! So she totally came to the pueblo to pick us up and took us to her home to have a lesson. (we think she would have driven us home and fed us too but we had another lesson and ride with a less active that fell through... so we ended up walking the cien back home until we were able to find a member to pick us up haha)

Well we taught her Lesson 2 and she is SOO prepared and she even said yes when I invited her to be baptized! I was shaking and I had no idea what to do. She did say that she will be baptized when she is ready and she feels like the date I offered her is too soon, but she seemed so certain anyways when she said yes. I really kinda struggled with my Spanish and fluidity in that lesson though. Hna Gawrych just let me work it out myself and fortunately the message got through and she understood it and desires eternal life now.

Also, we had a lesson last night with a part active family and Hna. Gawrych thinks that the woman shed a tear when I told her that Heavenly Father loves her. That makes me happy, that she could feel the Spirit when told about that love He has for her.

I also learned this week that only 1% of the people in Puerto Rico are prepared to receive the Gospel and it is my responsibility that everyone has the opportunity to accept or reject our message because Heavenly Father knows that there are people who will never accept it but they need to have the opportunity to. That makes my heart sad. But it also makes me more motivated to speak to everyone and find that 1%.

Remember the one Birthday party investigator and his 5 year-old daughter? Unfortunately he texted the elders that he couldn't meet with him anymore because his family keeps on telling him that we are only trying to recruit people and he believes them. Ironically, he started studying with us saying that he will never be baptized he just wanted to learn everything. I personally think that he received an answer of the truth and his family noticed the change in him and he has chosen to not follow it. The elders invited him to read Elder Bednar's talk from this last conference.

We have District Meeting every week at the Rebecca (a park). Then we go home and eat food that Hna. Sepulveda makes us! yum yum:) We meet together, share experiences, read from PMG, share ideas and all of that. One week we got to listen to "Words to Live By" by Hyrum Smith. (well, we need to finish it later). Could you guys print it out and send it to me? I love it! He is also a great speaker and is wonderful to listen to. It's an AWESOME talk.

Our P-day adventures are pretty simple. Last week we went to a new panaderia for lunch and they had SOO many desserts and tasty things and wonderful sandwiches. yum. I will admit that I have gained 5 pounds because being sick I couldn't move in the mornings to exercise. This week will be much better though. I have already lost 3 of those pounds.

It rains about every Monday, it's pretty reliable. It RAINED SO MUCH LAST WEEK! I was actually COLD during the night and in the early morning. Apparently it's really weird for it to rain in the middle of the night. Now it is back to normal hotness at night.

I am so proud of you for rocking the Triathalon! RIGHT ON! You both look so healthy and fit and skinny! Wahoo! But Grandma says that you guys are doing the marathon over Thanksgiving in St. George. I am excited for you! but I am also sad because I know that Thanksgiving won't be the same in the Hardy home this year. We already have a dinner appointment for Turkey day (with the one woman that loves me!). It's funny because she invited us weeks ago and keeps on reminding us and saying "don't make any other dinner appointments!!!" She threatened the elders about that too, haha.

I don't really know if I am doing better in the language, I can't tell because I suppose that change comes really gradually. My district leader says that I am doing so much better than the usual new missionary so I hope that's true! I know that I am a lot better at smiling and being happy and positive than I was before starting my mission. That makes me happy and I want to be like this after too!

Good luck with tryouts tomorrow Hannah! You will do amazing as always! Pinky luck kiss kiss

I LOVE YOU!!!

 

XOXOXO Hermana Hardy

The Waving Campaign

Hello Family!!!
 

 

Transfers were last Tuesday. They tell us the Sunday night before. Next transfers are December 2 and I will probably stay here because Cabo Rojo is the furthest you can get from San Juan and people usually stay here for a long time. (random thought, if you haven't sent my one book of arrangements yet, can you also send the yellow christmas arrangement book as well?)

I played the piano for the Primary Program yesterday! It went very well. I learned a lot of new songs the past few weeks and it was great. Now the Primary President is a lot more willing to go out on visits with us :)

As far as toys or games I haven't seen anything different here than in Utah. Sports, video games, smart phones, etc. I played hopscotch with a little girl last week when her mom's car broke down (we were all on our way to a lesson) so we didn't have a lesson that night but we did draw with chalk in the plaza! I will try to send a picture. There is a hand sing song game that some girls taught us and is funny. It took me a while to pick up the words but they are pretty much nonsense anyways.

I think the best thing I have had was lasagna that a member made for us!! haha, it really was the best lasagna I have ever had. But lasagna is also a rarity here. Umm, I think I really love fried plantains. Any fried fruit like that is called a tostone, so yesterday I had tostone de pana, which is a pretty starchy fruit like everything else. I liked it just fine, but the elders had gone on about how good it is so when I actually tried it it wasn't as good as they had led me to believe haha. I LO VE aguacate though too. AND last night they gave us APPLEJUICE!!! wahoo! I was so excited, no one drinks apple juice here!

I do receive all of Grandma's letters! They make me so happy:) It only takes 3 days for letters to get to me! Pretty awesome!

An interesting event and a spiritual message! Yesterday NOTHING worked out. We ran all over town for all these lessons that were supposed to be member presents but all the member's cars broke down this week (seriously, a whole bunch of them) so we were going to have normal lessons but no one was home. The only thing that worked out was a half active family (husband active, wife not).

 

That lesson was pretty amazing and simple. If we had had all those other lessons we may not have been able to have that lesson. We think that everything fell through just so we could visit that family and give them the lesson they needed to get comfortable with us so we can help them get back to church and progress to the temple (people LOVE the picture of our family and of mom and dad on their wedding day outside the temple). They were the ones that had apple juice too! And doughnuts from Krispy Kremes! They have doughnuts here but they aren't the same as Krispy Kremes (which is in Mayaguez). So my message is that sometimes things fall apart because Heavenly Father really does have another, much bigger, purpose for us.

This weekend President and Hermana Boucher dropped off something for me! Haha, apparently Hermana Boucher ordered something from the LDS art store and aunt Joann saw the order and called Hermana to ask to send something to me with the package of art! So I received goldfish and the most beautiful bookmarks to give out! Tell Joann and Grant I say hello and thank you so much!

 

 

I am so grateful for all of you and your prayers for me! There are lots of ups and downs but I am loving it here! Waking up in the morning is pretty easy (most of the time) because it is so light outside early in the morning.

Did I already tell you guys about The Waving Campaign? Well, I realized a month ago that I tend to look at the ground while I walk around so I made it a goal to start waving at all of the cars that drive by us so that I don't look down. So we started to smile and wave at every car. Then we started counting how many people wave back at us and I reported the numbers to President just for fun and he loved it. He calls it the Waving Campaign and always asks about it now and thinks it's great. My original goal was just to meet someone one day that recognized us as the girls who waved at them. Well now about the whole town knows us and people start to honk and wave at us before we even start waving at them! People also honk and wave at the other sisters because they think they are us, hehehehe. So that's pretty cool. We have been bad at counting lately but I think our record one day was over 60- pretty awesome.

I hope you all have an awesome Halloween- send me pictures of the pumpkins!!

I can't believe Hannah has a triple turn on the left side- get out!! haha, that is awesome! Hannah, you should write me a letter and let me know what all your rehearsal schedules are like and what dance at school is like, and about your friends and EVERYTHING! write as much as you like please!

I have coconuts and the elders are going to tell me how to carve a ring out of a coconut! I am excited!

I don't know what else to say! There is so much and I am just so happy here and I still feel like it's July haha.

I want to give everyone a BIG hug and tell them that I love them. I am so grateful for everything that you have taught me.

I love you all!!

 

 

Hermana Hardy

Halloween

Familia!

Today for P-day we woke up, exercised (I just stretched and used a tennis ball on my muscles), cleaned, we're doing laundry, trying to find a ride to go grocery shopping and we are planning on making cookies for tonight to take to a lesson and help a girl pass them out to neighbors for a service thing. It's a pretty laid back day this week. Last week we did souvenir shopping so I might be sending a package to you guys for Christmas:)

They do Dia de los Muertes here but that's in Spring time. For Halloween I don't think it's as big as in the States but people use it for sketchy business like drinking and celebrating dark stuff. We have to go home early for Halloween. There is a cool house we passed by that keeps on adding decorations for halloween! Haha, it's hilarious. The first time we saw it there was just their big Christus on a fountain/waterfall thing, then the next time the pool at the bottom was red and there was a zombie laying in it. Every week we pass by the zombie moves further out of the pool and now their entire house is decorated and there is a haunted house in their yard. It's pretty sick.

I think the best use of a scripture this week was James 2:17-18 about how faith without works is dead with a woman who is less active. She totally understood it and accepted it and even continued on with her testimony about it. It was awesome because some people just don't get it when we teach them, or they just don't try. She did and she was very sweet about it. She didn't come to church but we will keep on visiting her.

To find new investigators we contact on the street, we ask for referrals (hard to get those), and we try to ask members (who are shy about it) and we try to talk to everyone we can.

Gospel Principle this week. Well, the importance of having the Spirit in conversion and in lessons to help teach. Our one inv. (we have to give him to the Elders but we will still see him sundays) even understands that now! Yesterday we had a short lesson with a 14 year old girl who was very sweet and we gave her a short overview about the Restoration pamphlet which we gave her to read. I could feel the spirit there as I told her that Heavenly Father loves her and she can pray about anything she needs help with and how there was a 14 year old boy that had lots of questions and God answered his prayers. That was pretty awesome. She even prayed at the end! Wahoo!!! I can't wait to see her next time.

Transfers are this Tuesday and we found out last night that our ENTIRE zone is staying the same, just an Elder in our district is getting a new companion to train (our elders have been in a trio this transfer). Next transfers are December 2, and they'll probably take Hna. Gawrych away from me then because she's been here a long time and my training will be finished. These past 6 weeks went by A LOT faster than they did in the MTC, which is insane because those 6 weeks went by pretty fast too. Í'm coming up on 3 months which is weird.

I am jealous of your hike! that looks BEAUTIFUL! Lexie go ahead and wear my dress! way to get all A's Hannah, remember that even though you are busy reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY will help you so much. Make sure you make time to read it and make it a priority. Some chapters are long so you can split them in two. I am 1/3 through the BoM in Spanish! I love reading it, I notice different things in spanish, pretty cool. Make a goal and a calendar and it will be easier for you. I hope Jonny gets furniture soon :)

I am out of gummy vitamins and that's all I can think of! oh, and epiduo is almost gone. I am going to miss the ward party, we are just having a big service party the day after Halloween!

This email is short because I am sending pictures!!

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!

Tender Mercies

Hello Family!

 

 

I cannot describe how amazing Conference was! The sunday morning session was totally all about prophets and authority and that was amazing for our investigator to listen to that! I loved how they had so many speakers who were able to speak in their native languages. I think that is so special. I liked Jorg Klebingat's talk a LOT. I have lots of other favorites. A lot of talks reminded me of things in my patriarchal blessing. There was some cool revelation for after my mission as well as during it. I also liked all the ones that spoke about light and truth. Absolute truth is found in God. Also, Elder Martinez who spoke in Spanish? He is totally from Puerto Rico. AND, he came to speak to us in the MTC (he spoke about obedience and I have lots of notes about it) and I was able to meet him and his wife and shake their hands!

 

We live with the other sisters in our district 2 streets away from the Plaza. It is a pretty nice place and we like it. We all sleep in one room (2 regular beds and 1 bunkbed) then my closet and study room is in another room. I'll send pictures next week! There is a huge catholic church right in the middle of the plaza. There are lots of stores all around and parking is crazy. As we move out from there it is more like regular neighborhoods. Cabo Rojo is a mix of crazy busy and lazy roads upish a mountain.

 

I eat a lot of bananas and mangos and aguacate. I need to eat the aguacate with other foods or else my mouth will start to itch but it is so amazing here!

 

 

Right now we really only have 2 or 3 investigators that are progressing. One is the man I told you about before with the 5 year old daughter (we went to her b-day party). He's a tough one but we had an amazing lesson yesterday in between sessions of General Conference. He was able to listen to Elder Bednar's talk. Wahoo! I made BINGO for his daughter. She only ate 5 jelly beans and then threw up. She felt fine afterwards though. I think it needed to happen so that he could see all of the missionaries (our entire district watched in English with him) take care of his daughter (we all sprang into action to clean up and make sure she was okay) I think he appreciated that a lot. We are certain that the way to open up his heart to the message of the Gospel is through his daughter because he loves her so much!

We are teaching a woman named Glory who is very special. She doesn't want to commit to a church though. However she does think that it's amazing and beautiful that families can be sealed together so we are teaching her L2 next and then maybe we can get into baptism. Hopefully after we baptize her she will be able to get to her husband. They have a very good relationship, he just has his own way of practicing religion.

Another woman is very special and religious. She accepted the entire plan of salvation easy. She won't however accept that the person who baptized her before didn't have the authority and she refuses to be baptized again because there is ''önly one baptism''. I tried to explain that one baptism means baptism is only valid with the one authority. She still thinks that she only needs to be baptized once though. We will continue to teach her.

Another woman and her friend fell off the grid the past few weeks but they came to the afternoon session yesterday! Wahoo! Hopefully we can start teaching them again.

We have some more but that's about it. The majority of lessons we have is with less actives. which is good, but we are technically supposed to focus on finding and teaching and baptizing and we need to find a happy balance.

Tender mercy this week. Well I will tell you about my favorite one. Monday in the cave we were having our zone meeting. It was a bit hard to follow all in Spanish and I just started thinking about how much I really wanted to hug dad. I miss your hugs so much dad. As soon as I had that thought I could feel the Spirit place his hand on my left shoulder. It was so specific down to the timing and the placement and I knew that the Holy Ghost was reminding me that He was there. I would then pay attention to the meeting until I thought about dad again and I had the same impression on my shoulder. This happened a couple times and I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and the comfort that He gave me. He reminded me that even though I don't have dad right here I have his prayers and my Heavenly Father here to watch over me as well. I love you so much dad, thank you so much for everything you have taught me and have done for me. Thank you so much for the strength your teachings give me every day here in Puerto Rico.

About my watch: It was crazy raining on us and there is water still in it (after 2 weeks) I will try to find another one or a new battery.

Be careful biking mama! Do you and dad have new bikes for your marathon stuff? Send my love to the McBrides and the Lloyd family. Thanks for serving everyone you come in contact with mama. You are such an amazing example.

Hannah, you make me laugh! Be careful not to hit your heels on the floor. I know it's how you walk as a soldier but don't be too rough! Who teaches your rehearsals? I am glad you aren't stressed. Keep up the good work! Remember it is ALWAYS best to do your homework as SOON as you get home from school. Even if something isn't due until the next week. This will solve lots of problems and you won't lose any sleep. I know you're tired when you get home but if you put your mind to it you will be able to rest after you finish:)

I love you all so much! Please stay safe and enjoy the changing of the leaves! Everything is green and hot here.

 

 

Hermana Hardy

Testimonio de Jesucristo

Hello Family!
 

I am very sorry to hear that Perry is gone. It doesn't really feel very real right now.

I have some very random questions to ask first:

What is a bird dog from the exercises mom sent me? Where is the transmission and power steering levels in a 2011 Toyota Corolla because it's not in the owner's manual :)

YES we eat with members! Fortunately our weekly Sunday appointment Hermana Rivera always makes sure that she gives me the right amount instead of too much which is very thoughtful of her. Sometimes it's really hard to finish all the food people give us because they pile so much on and it is literally quite painful to my tummy to finish all of it. Sometimes Hermana Gawrych helps finish or if the Elders are with us they will finish. I am eating very healthy here when I fix my own food. Really all we eat with members is rice beans and chicken.

 

I am very grateful for the members though. This last Sunday we had a member who has decided that we have to eat too much rice and beans so she made us mashed potatoes and meatloaf and corn! Wahoo! It was the best meal I've had yet :) It reminded me so much of home. Of course we had puerto rican things too at that meal, we had avocado (aguacate). The aguacate here is unreal mama, you need to try it one day. It is so amazing and I think my body is used to it because it doesn't make my mouth itch as much anymore!

Honestly our P-days have been way different for the past 3 weeks so I will answer that question in a few months.

We walk a couple miles each day depending. There is one part of our area that is 2 hours walking so we haven't gone there yet. Sometimes we will get rides. There are places we have to get rides to but it's hard to find them sometimes.

Voy a compartir mi testimonio para ustedes en español. Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro salvador y redentor. Yo se que El es mi redentor y salvador personalmente. Tambièn yo se que el Libro de Mormòn es verdadero porque lo he leido y orado a saber que es verdadero. Dios me contestò con el Espìritu Santo y sentimientos de paz y amor en mi corazon. Yo sè que el Evangelio de Jesucristo es muy sencillo. Dios tiene un plan para todos sus hijos y solo tenemos que guardar los mandamientos y seguir el ejemplo de Jesucristo. Es dificìl a veces a entender el amor de Dios y como podemos usar el Expiaciòn pero yo sè que todo es posible a travès el Espìritu Santo. Solo tenemos que escuchar a los sentimientos de paz que nos da. Me encanta mi familia y sus testimonios. Estoy muy agradecidas por ustedes y su amor para mi. Yo sè que el Evangelio de Jesucristo es la vìa para nosotros a regresar a Dios. Digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo Amen.

Women's Conference was AMAZING! I have thoughts and thoughts about it. I loved how Pres. Uchtdorf said that just because we are Children of God and we have a divine heritage doesn't mean we have a free pass to eternal life. We have to work for it!! Also, will you send me all the words to my favorite things? It's stuck in my head a lot and I can't remember some lines in one of the verses!

I am on my way to the post office to pick up my package from Lexie right after this!

I will get some pictures of the every day stuff :) We have around 60 people in church on a good day. We have to walk 30 minutes to get to our ward building, but sometimes we get rides on Sundays. To get there walking we have to go through el camino de perros which is realy sketchy and dank and nasty so we try not to walk through there at night (It even has bones from the meat that the dogs eat).

 

I'm also a bit more scared of dogs now. Our Mutual is Friday night after our English class. The Puerto Ricans NEVER stop talking. I have more thought on that and no time to write, but I need to be more bold in lessons because it's a time waster. I can understand sisters from Honduras and Peru and such. Puerto Ricans are so difficult to understand though. WAY too fast.

The flashlight story woman is nice. She is Catholic and isn't necesarily receptive but invited us back. We taught her part of lesson 2 last time because her husband died recently. We will see her again this week. Our guy from the birthday party came to church and we had a lesson with him after. He is a tough one. His daughter went to Primary with us. I am playing piano for their program in November. She hated singing time... Also she only really speaks English and that's hard for her and the Primary.

WAHOO SOLOIST HANNAH!!! That is so neat. I know that the plan of Salvation has a purpose for Perry as well. I am sorry that I can't be home with all of you, I know it's really hard. Take Spanish next year!!!

Funny traditions? Well the people are afraid of rain and of lightning and thunder. Which is weird because it's been raining a lot recently. Last Friday we had to cancel the English class because there was a storm and every one freaks out. A member drove us home and the Bishop told us that we had to stay inside for the rest of the night. That storm was pretty bad so we listened to the Bishop. But other than that the rain is fine. I don't know why they freak out!

Yesterday I was able to buy a pillow! I am really excited about that. The library was closed Monday because of the fiesta patronales that was in the plaza next to our apartment. We didnt'go at all because there were lots of drunk people. But they did light off fireworks and cannons. It's been going on for 5 days. But now it's over. Monday morning at 5 am they were lighting off cannons!! It was going on ALL night long. Ridiculous but all well. I also used the birthday money from Grandpa and Grandma Hardy to buy a yoga mat! I am so excited because the ground kinda bruises my back when I do my excercises but not any more!

I am afraid I have some things to ask for...
 

Could you send me my book of music arrangements? or a few of them. My favorite one has I know that my redeemer lives in the first page. I am also almost out of Epiduo and gummy vitamins. AAAND my watch stopped working! It wasn't water proof I guess and we were rained on a lot one day and it stopped :( I'm sad. I'm not sure where to go to buy a new one though. We are in the Pueblo and maybe once in a while we can go to Walmart in Mayaguez but not often. It's hard to find people to give us rides too.

Dad: maybe you could type and send your journal entries to me in the mail? If you use my Cabo Rojo address it is very reliable because it's the U.S. Postal system.

This past P-day we totally went to some national forest with our Mayaguez Zone for a hike and to visit a cave! I love you all so much. Take care!

Hermana Hardy

Let Your Light So Shine

Hola Familia!

My companion's name is Ambree Gawrych and she is from Sandy. She did swim team in High school and she helps motivate me to work out in the morning. She is so sweet and we have a lot in common. She has been out for a year this October and I am her first baby.

My birthday was so wonderful. Thank you to everyone! Oh and please thank the Chapman's for me. They sent me the most beautiful cards for me to share. Thank you so much for the presents and especially for all the cards! I have the cutest outfits now! Everyone thinks that my favorite color is blue because all of my skirts but two are blue, haha, I didn't realize that until I got here.

 

Last P-day we went to a place called Alfarro. It is a light house and I will try to send pictures. We also had ward council on my birthday and that was a lot of fun but I didn't really know exactly what was going on. I did however understand when they asked how old I was and I said twenty (then the elders told everyone that it was my birthday) and I did understand them saying that I looked like I was 14. haha.
 

 

 

 

So there are 3 elders and 4 sisters total in my district. We are an all gringo district which is really unusual. OH! So we have 2 Elder Borens and one of them is Christy Cunningham's nephew, he went to East. Small world right? So where we are covers 2 wards: Cabo Rojo 1 and 2. I am in the first one, the other sisters are in 2, and the Elders are covering both. We are part of the Mayaguez Stake. There are 5-6 stakes in Puerto Rico. I don't know how many we have in our zone.

My new address is:

Calle Maximo Gomez 36A
Cabo Rojo PR 00623
Puerto Rico

Church services are wonderful. I don't really understand too much but I get the gist of the lessons. This week I played piano for Primary Singing time and I played in Sacrament meeting as well. I sight read about every song I played and it went pretty well.

 

Well the people we are teaching. We visit a lot of menos activos. It's really hard to get everyone to church because no one has a car. We met a new family this week and the wife just had her baby a month and a half ago! We taught her the first lesson and it went very well and we are going to return this week when her husband is home so we can teach him too. We are feeling optimistic for them.

 

The thing about Puerto Rico is that people do not like to make appointments for visiting with them and that makes it really hard to have lessons sometimes.

 

Also, they talk a lot. I know we need to listen to them to show our love and get to know them but it's hard to teach lessons because they don't really let up sometimes. That's been hard for me.

 

We have a recent convert named Olga who is 79 years old. She is great and so excited about church. Last night she took us to one of her friends to teach and she totally forgot where the apartment was so that was a bit fun. We found it eventually :)

Saturday we were looking for a contact's house when a car drove by and a man shouted out the window "Hey, are you Mormons??'" Wee said yes and then he invited us to his daughter's birthday party down the road. It was on the long walk from our pueblo to Monte Grande and we thought we'd stop by just to pass out some cards and say hi.

 

They were all so excited that we actually showed up and the little girl turned 5 and she was so cute and sassy. Her dad had a lot of questions about the church and fortunately it was all in English because he is one of those philosophical types that over thinks things a bit. We spoke to him a lot and in the end he said that this was the first time he had actually learned anything from missionaries.

 

Hopefully we can teach him again. It turns out his dad was baptized years ago and we met him too and he was great to talk to cause he loves missionaries. All of the older people at this party were veterans from the Marines so they only spoke English to us because they were most comfortable speaking English.

Good news! Our fridge is fixed! our landlord sent some workers to fix it so now our milk will not go bad :) our showers are hot.

 

A great story: After one bad storm the power went out while we were out and about at night. We could see just fine for the most part but then I felt an impression that I should use my flashlight. I started using it then a woman called us from off the street because she was sitting in the dark and she could see my light. We were able to make an appointment to visit her again. It was great because she contacted us!! Because I had my light on.

 

Lexie and Geoff! I will look out for your package :) I will probably get it at our next zone meeting! I can't wait to receive Jonny's snapchat:) your card was really cool too Jonny. Those were the right shorts! Here all women great each other by kissing on the cheek. As missionaries we only shake hands with the men of course. It is always buenos dias or tardes or buenas noches.

 

Way to hike Mt. Olympus! That is amazing. The thing about Puerto Rico is that it is perpetual summer here. The leaves don't change colors at all. I can't believe it's the end of September because it is still so hot.

That's cool about Rob teaching you all how to invest. I might need to work for a couple months when I get back so I can have money to invest haha :)

I will try to speak Spanish more and more! My companion makes me practice but sometimes we forget because I am her first English speaking companion.

WE TOTALLY had an investigator come to church with her kids. She enjoyed it and said that she is going to come back! Her husband told us that he won't go because he worships in his own way... yeah, we'll work on him. They are the type of people who think all churches are good for the most part so we need to teach him that there is only one church that is true.

For p-day today we helped clean the house of a woman in Cabo Rojo 2 who has been in the hospital. It was great!

I am so excited for you Hannah! I know that you can totally have a 4.0, do your best and I know you will totally do it because you are so smart :)

I love you family! Stay safe and have fun! Please enjoy autumn. It is my favorite time of here and I am sad that I will not get to see the leaves change colors. Also, the smells :) Stay safe and rock school and remember that you guys are my favorite. Mom, I really hope you edit my emails haha, it's hard to tell because this computer puts red lines on all the English words.

xoxo
 

Hermana Hardy