First Bautismo!!!

Hello Family!

Ana was baptized this past Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. We had a future missionary speak at the baptism, Hna. Pavon spoke, I played a special musical number, Ana was baptized by the Bishop. When she came up out of the water she was so happy and she thanked Heavenly Father out loud and said, "I did it!" then she cried and gave Bishop Busher a big hug. It was really sweet. I played piano and Hermana Pavon sang while we waited. Then Hna. Daniela welcomed her to the ward and bishop welcomed her and then Ana shared her testimony that she wrote down. It was very very sweet.

Then Sunday there was a problem with the car and she arrived late to the meeting but she arrived! And she was confirmed. During the blessing I thought to myself, "My friend Ana was baptized!!" and I was filled with so much happiness. She is amazing. I am so happy for her and proud of her. She is on fire with learning and sharing and is so excited to be a member and a part of this ward.

 

This week was a crazy one! But in the end everything worked out the way it was supposed to. What a miracle. This is definitely the Lord's baptism but I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to be part of teaching her, answering her questions, and supporting her. She is a very special spirit and I have never been so happy in my life!

 

I have to tell you that all of your prayers helped. Do you remember that for the month of April we all prayed and fasted together for my investigators here? Well I know that the Lord answered our prayers and all of us have been blessed to see Ana enter into the waters of baptism! Thank you so much.
 

My testimony of prayer, fasting, and perseverance truly grew through this experience and I am so grateful for that. Thank you everyone for your faith and prayers and for always supporting me and my investigators. The people here in Puerto Rico are wonderful and they need the Gospel. They just need to listen with their hearts and I know we can help make a difference.

I am so grateful for Ana as well. She is truly converted and is a wonderful example to me and to all of us for a desire to follow Jesus Christ. From the beginning she never doubted that the Church is true. She wants to do all she can to serve the Lord and enter into the temple.

 

 

I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for giving me the opportunity to know her and see her progress. I know the Church is true and that this Work is the most important thing I can be doing right now! It'sa wonderful journey and I have learned so much already and I know that there is a lot more to learn. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

BIG NEWS!

BIG NEWS!

We had a sudden transfer this past Saturday morning because they needed Hna. Gawrych as a STL. We found out Thursday night, while we were on exchanges, so Hna. Gawrych had the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone at the party on Friday. I am super sad to see my mom go, but at least I had her for 2 more weeks! I am a bit nervous to be handling this area and showing it to my new comp.

So now I have a new companion! Her name is Hna. Gomez and she is from the Dominican Republic! (I am sorry, I do not have a picture to send yet..) (I will fix the Christmas gifts to say Hna. Gomez)She is super sweet, funny, and happy! My Spanish has improved already in the past two days. She has been out on her mission for 1 year and has absolutely no fear to talk to people. I really admire that about her. We get along really well and I am super excited to learn more about her and from her. I will tell you guys more next week!

Well we had a lesson yesterday and we ate dinner first then went into the living room to start with a prayer. We started out talking about her reading in the Book of Mormon, and the conversation turned to prayer. She says that we all pray so beautiful and she wants to learn how to pray like that but she feels like she doesn't know how. A thought came into my mind to share my first experience having my personal prayer at night in Spanish.

That experience is still hard for me to put it into words but I tried my very hardest to share with Heavenly Father everything I wanted to with my very limited vocabulary. I was feeling very upset because I felt like I couldn't express myself properly when I felt the Spirit comforting me, telling me that even though my words and grammar are simple and even incorrect Heavenly Father knew what I was feeling and trying to say.

 

I likened this to her saying that the language of prayer is just like learning spanish or english- we need to practice and it becomes easier with time but always Heavenly Father knows what it is our hearts and minds no matter if our sentences are eloquent and fluid or not. I hope that she takes the Spirit she felt into her heart. She says she will practice and out of her own accord she said, Ï'll pray the next time you come!' she was very excited! So I am happy!

Rain in Puerto Rico. WELL, it rained a couple times this week, one time it was while we were driving from exchanges, not in our area. Last night at 3:00am it started POURING and it woke me up but I was able to fall asleep to the sound (I love the sound of rain).

We have plans for Christmas Eve, a woman invited all eight of us over for dinner. We had tentative plans for Christmas day and that fell through. I asked almost everyone I know who has internet and a tablet or ipad and everyone said no because they're busy having family over and whatnot. So I am in a bit of a panic because as of right now there is no one who can have us over for Christmas Day to skype with our families.

 

There is one last person I know of that I am going to call but I am nervous that she will be in a different part of the island with her fiance and his family. So we will be praying for a miracle for next week because I do not really know what to do or who can have us over. I am trying not to feel anxious about it.

No baptism this week. We are still working on people. We have some neat potentials however! We are being a bit pressed to have one before the year ends so we are working hard!

Is Hannah performing Christmas Eve? I hope she feels better! You will be in my prayers!! I am excited for the Christmas packages:) Hopefully I will be able to email you next week in this library... If not, Merry Christmas! I would have to talk to President about notifying you for our call time. We will have to see.

I am curious to know what Jonny's secret oasis of Christmas presents is hahaha, I promise to not open his until Christmas!

Take care! Have fun with your performances Mom and Hannah! and good luck with Finals everyone! I love you all SO MUCH! It doesn't feel like Christmas at all haha because there is no snow and no one is here. I feel like it is still August:)
 

 

Hermana Hardy

Hermana Arrrdy

Hola Familia!!

 

 

Feliz Cumpleaños Hannah!! Ahora tiene trece años! Chevere.

I am feeling much much better. The medicine the doctor gave me killed my sickness. The only problem is that apparently the bacteria releases a toxin that makes people really exhausted and gives them head aches. At least that's how Pres Freestone explained it. They made me stay in my room and rest whenever I was feeling really exhausted and slow. And I would sleep for HOURS. Fortunately I did not miss much because the first day I had to do that was p-day, the second day I had to rest in the morning and our teachers weren't there so it was personal study, and the other day I was out of it was Sunday. By Sunday I was sick of wasting so much time so I had the elders in my district give me a blessing and I have felt great since and I am trying to make up for the lost time!!

 

I didn't receive any weird offers for remedies but a sister from the states did offer me some super organic vitamins and stuff with grape fruit and all the vitamins from vegetables. I will be honest, I took it. I needed the vitamins because to be perfectly honest I didn't eat at all for a couple of days!

 

I am now eating just fine. I will send a picture of a typical lunch.

 

 

My music and speakers work great! We are only allowed to listen to it on P-day but it is sweet. I have not received my 2nd package!! I can't wait to get it:)

 

We have not had a Culture Night. Pretty much being in this CCM is a culture adjustment and all of our teachers are natives of DR, and one of them served in Puerto Rico!! They were telling us how Dominicans would say our names while we're in el campo. They would call me Hermana "Eye-dee". So that's one of the ways people address me. Another way is Arrrddy. One of the teachers calls me Hermana Dificil. I am not sure if it is a joke about my personality or just because dificil is hard/difficult in spanish and so yeah.

 

There is also a new elder that just came in a week or so ago and Hermana Jennings made it a goal to make him feel more positive about being in the CCM and so he wouldn't be so negative about learning the language. Now he calls me Hermana Mom because I remind him of his mom. Today in the temple there was an ordinance worker who just called me hermanita linda or hermanita bonita. :) She was so sweet and she loves to hug and kiss everyone and says that she will be our grandmother while we're here.

 

 

While I was in the temple I could definitely feel Grandpa Weiler's spirit there with me. It was so wonderful. Also, make sure to tell Grandma that I have already sewn and fixed one of my sweaters, my companion's skirt, and another sister's sweater. I am sewing it up down here! I hope I can make her proud.

 

We watched a devotional by Elder Holland this week and his message was so powerful for all of us missionaries. Our #1 convert on our mission should be ourselves. What I really loved was when Elder Holland said that our missions are supposed to be difficult because Christ's mission and Atonement was never easy for Him.

 

I love the way that Elder Holland speaks about his mission when he was a young man. I want my mission to mean as much to me as Elder Holland's mission means to him because he says that there has not been a day gone by that he hasn't thought about his mission in 50+ years. He also said that, quite literally, his mission experience has affected every major and minor decision he has made in his life.

 

I cannot wait to get out in the field. I am nervous but I know that being out here is the best decision I have ever made and I already feel like a different person. This Friday (TOMORROW) we are going proselyting. As in, from 1:00 to 8:00 I am going to be walking around the streets of the Dominican Republic with an experienced missionary, trying to figure out what the Eskimos, um, I mean Dominicans are saying.

 

Also, our "investigator" Juan Victor has agreed to be baptized!! Hermana Jennings and I were so excited that when he said that he wanted to be baptized we kind of just stared at him for a bit. We were jumping up and down as soon as we were out of eyesight. I cannot wait until we have a real investigator agree to be baptized!!

 

 

Mama! I am so sorry that you hurt your ankle!!! That is a bum ride! I hope you don't push it running so soon after hurting yourself. I wish I could have gone to church and help with everything for you.

 

Alexis and Geoff:

 

The pizza stone goes on the right side, in the back. Cooling racks and other bulky stuff and the cake pans go on the right side however you can fit it next to and around the pizza stone. Then the cupcake sheets all fit inside of each other and go in the back of the left side. Then you slide all of the other sheets around and in front of those. xoxo

Apparently lots of football starts soon and I am apparently a Packers fan now. I don't know what that means. Is it okay if I'm a packers fan Geoff?? But I like the colors green and yellow anyways so I can work with that. Yay football! My district loves the things your primary kids say.

 

Jonny: What is Microsensors about?? That sounds pretty legit. Also, I heard all those music classes like Survey of Jazz are really hard. I had a seminary teacher who did History of Rock and it was the most difficult class he had ever taken. Good luck bro.

 

This is really nerdy but I am totally jealous of you guys playing Minecraft without me!!! I hope you guys don't mind playing the game you bought for Hannah again in a year and a half:) It's okay that you don't have a present to wrap, don't worry about it, she is going to love your present!

 

The things I miss most? Goldfish. Mom's food. The food here is packed with onions and peppers and all that yummy stuff that I try to avoid. fabric softener. Google and web searches. I really kinda need a normal dictionary. Not like it's important. But you guys know how I am and I always want to know what words mean in English. Big words:) 

 

Hannah: Good luck at Nutcracker auditions!! I am sad that I won't be able to see you dance! Happy Birthday!! Everyone here knows that it's your birthday and I've shown them a picture of you and I think I'm starting to get on everyone's nerves because I can't stop talking about you and how it's your birthday:) I love you so much. Ms. Lindsey is an amazing teacher, make sure you keep on learning as much as you can!

 

 

You should all be proud of me because I am now kind of ish good at volleyball. The elders even tried to teach me how to jump serve. That was a struggle. I almost got it at the end. They were all very patient with me. My Spanish is going pretty well, especially while I am teaching. I still struggle with understanding everything that everyone else is saying to me, especially when they go fast. My speed is also picking up a bit. Unfortunately I still struggle just speaking Spanish all the time when we talk about other things during the day. All of the grammar concepts that they are teaching us are things that I am already familiar with and so it is easier learning them this second time around. 

Look out for some pictures!! Tell Grandma Weiler to shoot me an email!

 

Lots of love, good luck with running and with school and with watching football and all of your endeavors.

 

xoxo

 

 

Hermana Hardy

Hermana Bonita

Hola Familia!

 

The language is going along pretty well! I still don't really understand the native teachers when they speak REALLY fast and they have to slow down for the rest of us.

 

We all went contacting at the University that is a few blocks away from us. We bore our testimonies to a lot of people walking around and passed out folletos and even a Book of Mormon! I really did not understand anything anyone said to me, but they understood what I was trying to say so that is good, yeah? There were a few men that may or may not have hit on me. We don't really know what they said but one of them wouldn't let go of my hand immediately after we shook hands and he kept saying bonita bonita! jajajajaja.

 

I am not dreaming in Spanish yet. However the second week in I would dream that I was translating English into Spanish so I would dream of the sentence in English then I would wake up and translate it into Spanish. It was exhausting. I didn't sleep very well doing that. Now I am sleeping like a rock! or a log. Take your pick!

Another story I would like to share is when we were teaching our "investigator" last night. I had been feeling so sick and feverish right before teaching him but right after we started with our prayer I began to feel much better and my head went to a small ache and we were able to teach him. I can't remember what I said to him but it was such a spiritual lesson about the Priesthood and the Holy Ghost and it was absolutely amazing. After the lesson I began to feel worse but that's not the important part. It's that even though I am so imperfect in so many ways and my body is weak the Lord will still find ways to work through me because of the eternal importance and divinity of our brothers and sisters who have not yet received the Gospel of Jesus Christ yet.

 

My shoes are working out great! I wore my proselyting shoes out contacting and I have some very beautiful blisters that are now turning into calluses! Which I consider a blessing. Also, blisters don't bother me anyways so I am great. I did wear my comfortable shoes for a few days after though :)

 

I am fairly certain I have enough pesos thank you! It turns out that they can exchange money here but it takes a couple days and I am so glad that we were prepared and followed the instructions in our book.

 

I haven't seen any exotic creatures yet! But they do have beautiful flowers that Hermana Freestone puts in the hallway of the CCM. They make me so happy and I can name all of the exotic flowers because of my floral design class.

 

Something that brought me immense joy this week was a musical number given at the devotional on Tuesday. Hermana Jennings and I are in charge of all the music (some people call us the lady AP's but I'm pretty sure that's not a real thing) and we asked Hermana Johnson and Hermana Sorensen to sing a number for us. They sung "Have I Done any Good in the World Today?" in Spanish and it was so beautiful. The part that touched me the most was when they sung the chorus in French for the Haitian Elders and Sisters. The Spirit was so strong I felt like I had been hit by a wall (in a good way). Music is such a blessing that brings everyone together.

 

This past week our devotionals have focused a lot on prayer. I have been trying to make my prayers more personal and more of a conversation with my Heavenly Father and it has blessed me so much. Prayer is such a wonderful gift given to all of God's children. When investigators pray they will receive answers and they will feel the Holy Ghost telling them that the Gospel is true.

 

Vernal sounds fun Dad! That is a lot of driving for one meeting but that client will definitely be lucky to have you! I am so happy that you have given Anna a calculator! I feel like those things are not going to waste. Also, I don't think it is my calculator. My calculator is in my slightly disorganized yet organized closet. It should be in a gray chevron bin that has office supplies in it so if anyone else needs a calculator they can take that one!

 

I am pumped that you are doing a 10 mile on Saturday, you will be in my prayers! Way to go! There was a marathon here around the city! We heard all this shouting outside the window this morning and looked outside to see all these people running. It made me think of both of you!

 

It has been raining lately in the afternoons. Yesterday it looked like the streets were flooding! But then everything dries very quickly so that's nice. During gym time on Saturday it started raining on us. I had just worked out and then I was starting to play volleyball when it started to pour! It felt so good and we kept on playing and the rain made it even more fun.

 

Alexis and Geoff- your stories make my laugh out loud every time. Thank you!

 

A typical day here in the CCM goes like this:6:30 Wake up, 7:00 breakfast. 7:30 personal study 8:30 additional study, then language language language lesson lunch. then lesson language gym time dinner. Then progressing investigator language lesson, language lesson, family prayer (which we do the music for) then to bed at 10:30!!

Everything goes so fast here I can't believe I'm halfway because it is so nice and sheltered here.

 

I am so excited for your programming class Jonny!!! That would definitely be a cool app. I won't mention it here so people can't steal it ;) I am glad you are taking some fun classes because you always work so hard and you deserve to have something fun!!

 

Hannah: you are in THREE dances for choreography concert???? That is too cool!! Have you received the letter I sent? maybe you will receive it next week but you are not allowed to open it until your birthday. Have so much fun at school.

 

By the way I received your package!!!! My district bullied me into sharing my oreos with them :) it was fun! Also, there are a lot of new elders that look JUST like people from home. An example would be Elder Hasler who looks exactly like Jonny's friend Ethan. I will send you a picture. This is weird to ask, but Elder Hasler would like to see a picture of Ethan just to see because he doesn't believe me. I will try to put photos on the dropbox in just a minute!

 

I love you all so much. I am so grateful for all of you. Thank you for everything. I am learning so much about Christlike love and patience through my companion, Hermana Jennings, she is truly amazing. 

 

Con amor,
 

 

Hermana Hardy