I am Starting to Learn some Good Tricks.

Monday, December 30^th, 2013.

 

MMCBBCA!

 

Hey there ya crazies! I'm just going to start off my email by telling you all how grateful I was to be able to see you all and talk to you all. Seeing everyone together at home seriously made me the happiest guy alive, and furthermore, to see how you were still your same crazy selves made me even happier. Especially you Aubrey, I loved your silly faces you made in the computer screen.

Super fun experience to go to the temple together, that sure sounded special. There is no sacrifice too hard that we can make, in order to enjoy the blessings of the temple. Im reading doctrine and coventants right now, and loving it when it talks about the temple. I really miss going there with you mom and dad, those were incredible experiences.

Hey I'm happy you enjoyed my email last week. I will try my best to make this email just as good as last week, but I make no promises ;)

So on Christmas Eve, we went to the Piñeros to eat! They always feed us sooo much, you don't even understand. I feel literally sick leaving there sometimes. They are so good to us. Then after, we played some rummy kub with them, a really fun game with numbers and such. On the holidays, we are allowed spending extra time with members, so we really made the most of our time with them. Then we headed back to Manacor, and ran to the church for English class. Only one man came, because it was Christmas Eve. His name is Daniel. He is an older spanish man, about 60, and has a pretty rough story! He has no job, and lives here alone. His family lives over in Spain on the mainland, but he hasn't talked or seen them in 13 years. He even has grandchildren, but has never seen them. All that he has told us is that his family doesn't love him, doesnt want him anymore. It breaks my heart really, to imagine being in his situation. So on his Christmas Eve, I hope we were able to brighten up his day, and make him feel a little less alone. Then we got invited to dinner by Katalina...WITH ALL OF HER EXTENDED FAMILY. One thing you have to understand is that Mallorquines are normally people who are pretty closed off...so this was huge. We went there, and totally just hit it off. Ate their traditional food, talked to them about who we are, and shared Christmas eve! It was incredible guys, we truly are winning the hearts of these people here! So that was my Christmas eve.

Christmas Day was super super windy and rainy. But in the morning we decided to go search out the homeless and give them cookies and cards.

So we searched out the shelter, but no one was there. We then saw a group of about 5 of them that we see alot, and went over to chat and give them some treats! It was a good experience, but the problem is that everyone thinks we are rich....and they just ask for money for drugs and alcohol. Soooo we had to leave quickly...I wish they were a little more appreciative, but hey. I then opened up my AMAZING gifts and letters, that made me so happy. You all are wonderful. Thank you so much for all that you did, especially that tree, I love it. Then I went to talk to you all at the Hernandez house, that was absolutely the highlight. I wish I could have chatted for hours, I'm so sorry! But it was great. Then we stayed over there and ate a bit and just chatted! It was a good Christmas!

We had a district meeting this past week that I really liked! It was all about Christ-like attributes. We talked a whole lot about them, and it just made me realize that I have sooooo much room that I need to improve. I am going to focus more on charity and love. In preach my gospel, it basically says that charity and love will help lead us to develop tons more attributes, naturally, and its so true. If we love others, naturally we will be kind to them. Patient with them. It just all makes sense.

We have been trying to teach a young family, D and M, she had her 2nd baby about a month ago. Anyways, they are super hard to teach because they live with all their family, and they love watching really weird TV shows when we come over, and they don't like turning it off. Its complicated. haha. But this last time we resorted to just singing for them, trying to help them feel the spirit a bit. It was tender to hear the very old grandma say to us when we finished, "can you sing one more?" Best thing ever.

Hey great news! I GOT MY LOST NAMETAG BACK. Turns out that it fell in the car of one of our investigators, and he found it! He joked about wearing it around everywhere, funny guy. His name is Darwin, and he tries so hard to learn English. We go to teach him one hour of the gospel, then a bit of English too. We have invited him to be baptized, but he says poco a poco. Little by little. So we will keep working. On our way back from visiting him, we took the train. We contacted the lady sitting across from us, and what normally happens on the train is that everything gets silent when we start talking, because everyone wants to hear what these two tall strange white guys with nametags have to say! So as we were talking, we began to explain who we are and such, and why we are here. It really impresses people in Spain when we explain that we don't get paid, but we PAID to do this. It's beyond their comprehension sometimes, not even kidding. Then we blow their minds more by saying we teach English, FREE. At this point, we had the whole train on the edge of their seats! So for the finale, I decided to acknowledge the fact that everyone was "secretly" listening to us, and I said "DE HECHO, TODAS LAS PERSONAS EN ESTE TREN DEBEN VENIR PARA APRENDER INGLÉS!" which means, "In fact, everyone in this train should come to learn English!" I looked around at all the people, smiled, and they all just smiled back and started nodding their heads in agreement. It was the best.

One last day to share about, yesterday. Super great day! At church was the primary presentation. Best sacrament meeting ever, no matter where you are in the world. I even got to go up and sing "I hope they call me on a mission" with all the kids! We had 5 investigators come to church, most we have had yet! Last night, we decided to knock a bulding. With not much success, we had one last door to knock. I decided to try two tricks that I remembered. 1. Just Smile. 2. Mention something you like in their house and ask about it. IT WORKS. I put on my best smile, and an atheist woman answered. She started smiling too as I shook her hand, and we just started up talking. She wouldn't budge on her beliefs, but that is okay. I then saw a painting I loved, so I asked where it was from! She then explained some story of the history of Spain. We left that house leaving her feeling happy, and with a small seed planted. I am starting to learn some good tricks!

Well, that was my week. I hope I explained things correctly, I try to go pretty fast. I love you all so much, and hope you have great remainder of the holidays. Don't get sick, alright?

Love, Elder Hardy

 

Music is Powerful.

Monday, December 23^rd, 2013.

What´s Crackalackin ya´ll?!

Well pretty crazy that I will be talking to you all in just 2 days!
Can you believe that?! I am really so excited. Haha sorry I'm slightly
distracted right now, there is this little Arabic boy trying to play
with me right now here in the locutorio. Anyways, I am so excited to
see you all and talk with you! I think we will be doing it in a
members home, so all will work great! They are from Columbia, and he
speaks a bit of English and Japanese too!

Fun to hear about all of the happenings this week. Grandma´s funeral
sounded beautiful, and that many great things were said about her. I
am sad I haven't seen her for a long time, but grateful for the
memories I do have of visiting her together as a family. I hope that
Grandpa is doing okay without her for a slight moment.

Mom also thank you for your spiritual thoughts! I always print off all
of your emails to read later, and I appreciate the time you put into
writing uplifting messages for me! I love them and they really do
strengthen me.

Aubrey's Christmas concert must have been fun, I bet she was the cutest
out of the whole bunch! They do the same thing here I believe, a small
concierto de la navidad before the Christmas break! I wish I was there
to see it Aubrey!

Oh man before I forget. I GOT YOUR AMAZING PACKAGE! With the Christmas
tree with all of my favorite ornaments, how genius are you all?! That
seriously made me so happy, literally nothing made me happier than
seeing that. Thank you also for those letters in it, I am excited to
read them on Christmas day! Love you all!

Well I have my list here of things I want to tell you all!

Last preparation day, guess what happened?!  THE UNDERCOVER POLICE
KNOCKED ON OUR DOOR AT NIGHT. They were looking for Elder _, the
Elder that was in _ at the time. Poor guy, he had to fly back to
the island to get questioned by the police. I believe all is fine
there, just a lame attempt by Satan I think.

This week we had amazing intercambios, or exchanges. I went to Inca
with Elder Soumarrett from Chile, and we had a great time! They
basically don't have anyone to teach, so we ended up contacting almost
the whole time! We taught 4 lessons in one night, all to random people
on the street. It was a huge miracle that we had that many people
listen to us long enough to teach them a lesson, and really helped me
build my skills as a missionary. Elder Soumarrett is an incredible
missionary, and he gave me some great compliments. He was impressed by
my humility, and I loved hearing that from him.

Our English class is thriving! We have tons of people who come. Lots
of them are young kids from Morocco, which can be a little tough, but
we are seeing so much success from people coming. I build some great
relationships there, and really am able to have fun and express
myself. I love teaching, that's for sure! There is one man who comes,
from Columbia, who is actually a brain surgeon. I told him I wanted to
be a doctor, and all of a sudden he was offering me all of these
things. I had to tell him quickly that I couldn't focus on a career
while on the mission ahaha.

M, the 17 year old girl, is doing great! We have had some powerful
experiences with her, and have built a wonderful friendship also, with
her and the family. We have talked about her baby, and she is excited
for it! She asked us a question the other day about babies who die
early, and what happens to them! I believe we referred to D and C 137
or something, and taught her that they would be saved, that really
they were already prepared enough spirits to simply come to earth to
recieve their bodies. She loved that. Then another day as a nice
surprise, we sat beside her accidentally on a train. The lord puts
people in our path. Fact.

One thing that I discovered this week that I LOVE is the churches
addiction recovery program. We don't have one here, but we have
listened to it online at lds.org. It is incredible and inspiring! It
really gives hope to people with any type of addictions, and I really
challenge you all to listen to some of it!  Especially if any of you
have a personal addiction, I recommend it.

So in this Christmas season we are getting so blessed. I am receiving
letters from lots of friends and family, and its just the best. I have
all of the gifts put under my wonderful Christmas tree! The piñero
family surprised us this week with a GIANT gift, a huge box of food
and goodies for each of us. It is insane. I wont have to shop for two
weeks. They are so good, the most incredible family ever. They do so
much for this branch, and as the President, he shows a great example
of service.

Hey mom, the members LOVE your caramels. I have shared some of them with
every member family that we go to, and they just DIE. Hahaha I have
had people ask for the recipe, so if you feel like spending more time
on the computer (sorry), I'm sure the members in Manacor would love you
for it. Just know that your cooking is well appreciated over here.

Yesterday we had some incredible experiences. First in church, one of
the speakers said something that I loved and really made me ponder. He
was talking about the birth of Christ, and all the events that went
along with it. One thing that he talked about, was the angels who were
singing. He mentioned that he likes to imagine that those concourses
of angels could have been those spirits in heaven, rejoicing the birth
of the Savior...they could have been us! We could have been there,
singing joys that night! We don't remember it now, but just something
fun to think about.

Also, last night we had an incredible experience. We were walking back
from an appointment with an old man named Miguel, and we were walking
through this great big plaza with lots of people! There were 5 teens
sitting on this bench that began to say, "mira, testigos", which means,
"look, Jehovah's Witnesses".  This happens TONS here....and my way to
react is to walk up to them and say "no we aren't JW´s, we are from the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". So we did that, and got talking.

This group was a little rougher around the edges, all smoking and swearing, and they
also were having obvious same-sex relations with each other, but we
kept on talking with them. They eventually asked us if we sang, and we
said yes. We then sang for them in the middle of this plaza "silent
night". The whole plaza just got silent as we started singing. We sang
the last verse in English, and as we finished and looked up, we
realized everyone was watching and listening. It was incredible. Music
is powerful, and I'm grateful for the fact that I was brave enough to
sing that in public like we did.

Well I will talk to you all soon, so I don't want to tell any more
details! I love you all so much, and I hope you can enjoy this
Christmas season. I love you so much, and will SEE you soon!

Love, Elder Hardy

 

Shrimp and Salmon Pizza is Dangerous!

Monday, December 16^th, 2013.

 

Dear Family of People With the Last Name Hardy,

 

So nice to hear from you this week! Just so you know, I'm feeling suppeerrr sick right now, so if my email is a little bit lame, that's my excuse ;)   I puked all night last night, because of some nasty pizza I ate. Hahah pizza is dangerous, especially shrimp and salmon. Bluuuuggghhh.

Yes I do have to puke, but I'm holding out. So blah, just a little gross. 

Holy, I loved loved loved hearing about everything that you all did this week! Doing the 12 days of Christmas for those elders, I can't even imagine just how happy that probably makes them. Little things like that as missionaries means the world! So nice work, and really good ideas, you sure are spoiling them!

About Grandma, it is really impressive to live as long as she did! 97!  Always a little sad to have a loved one pass on, but such a blessing to know that we will see her again. I will keep Grandpa in my prayers, that he will be comforted until it is his time to follow her.

Well this week has been incredible, as always. I really dont think I will have have a week on my mission where there isn't something fun to tell about, as long as I am doing what I am suppposed to do! One fun thing is that we had zone conference! Really great lesson about the role of the Book of Mormon, and powerful practices teaching it! I got to teach my "son" Elder Wilson, the one I took out in Barcelona a few months ago! Great guy. Then we had a Christmas devotional, where I have an incredible witness from the spirit of Jesus Christ. Hard to explain in words, but I was the last one to read from the Christmas program, where it talks about who Jesus Christ is. Out of the blue, I just got hit by the spirit, and started crying as I was reading about Jesus. The room was just silent, and the spirit was so strong. There isn't really a way to describe how it felt. Then we watched the baptism slideshow which was fun to see all the pictures! Maybe it's on the mission facebook site?

 

A couple of other fun stories for you all! One night on the train, for some reason on the train compartment we were on, it was just us two and like 15 girls our age...super random. So we gathered all the courage we could, and went up to talk to all of them and invite them to English class! It went great, they all loved it, and even started talking to us about religion! I think one of them might have even stole my missionary tag...because it was gone when i  got off of the train.... :(

 

One more crazy contacting story...that same night, we were walking along the road next to a Muslim man. Normally I dont contact them, but this time I did. Turns out the he is the Islamic leader of this whole city...almost half of the city is Muslim here....so imagine that, huge huge contact that I made! We made a great impressioin on him, and even gave him a card!

Well that was some of my week. I am so excited to open the gifts you sent, I really am enjoying the Christmas cookies and caramels, people are begging me to bring some of my mom's homemade caramels to them, so I may just share a few ;)

 

Love you all so much, I hope that this week is wonderful for you all! 

Love, Elder Hardy

 

My First Besos and Prime Suspects!

Monday, December 9^th, 2013.

Eh There Fellow Lumberjacks!

 

How goes it up there in the cold north eh? Haha crazy crazy crazy to see the pictures of the snow, and to hear how cold it was! That is seriously insane, I can't even imagine! I hope everyone enjoyed some hot chocolate and cuddling up by the fire!

 

Super fun to see the pictures too, I love how you bring those signs for people to take pictures with! That's so fun! Say hi to all of them for me if you could! Everyone looks so old! You are all looking so old though, seriously. I definitely got the bad looks of the family, you all look incredible! HANNAH IS GOING TO HONG KONG?! WOW. That is insane, she is going to do so good there, I already know it. Everyone is going to love her there hey? Wow, congrats Hannah, it will be such an amazing experience for you!

I got my coat now, and some members bought me gloves as an early Christmas present, so don't worry about me being cold here, I'm set!

 

Thank you so much though! I opened the package, and that was so fun to see my stocking and tons of little wrapped up presents! I drew a tree and put all the presents under, it feels like Christmas for me hahaa.

SO cute to hear about Aubrey getting my letter. Made me just beam with smiles imagining her taking off her little boots, and sitting herself down on the stairs reading the letter. I hope that she liked it, and that she will enjoy the Spanish pokemon cards too! Love you Aubs!

Sorry to hear about your friend mom, but I'm glad that it was a good service! Its really a blessing to have the knowledge that when the casket is closed, it's not the last time we will see them. Also I know what you mean, wanting to be better. Makes you rethink everything, and just have a quick refocus on the picture of life. I wish her family the best!

Okay first things first...the reason why I'm so late emailing you. This week has been crazy. Ready for this? Me and Elder W have been interrogated by the police, because we are prime suspects for a stabbing in Inca. I am not lying. We had to go to the police station over in inca twice this week. This morning was the second time. The church had to hire a lawyer for us, and he came to help while they questioned us. Basically what happened was two large tall blonde men with suit jackets and bags, stabbed two other men from Morocco, over in Inca, about 2 weeks ago. We have been stopped by the police and tagged as suspects! hahahaha So picture this...7 months ago not knowing Spanish, but this morning answering perfectly to an hour long interragation by the civil guard. I'm pretty happy about it. But hey, there is nothing to worry about, everything is good, and no, we didn't commit the crime. ;)

We had a fun meeting as a zone this week! The zone leaders dressed up as Santa Claus, and talked about having a white Christmas.  Unfortunately there won't be snow, but we want everyone to be dressed in white for baptism this Christmas season! So pray for us!

 

We have one new baptismal date for the 21st! Her name is P, the sister of one of the people in the ward! She is so incredible. We have only known her for about a week, but already have taught her the first three full lessons! She has read so much already from the Book of Mormon, and taken down notes and questions while doing it! She is such a great example to me for how to study. She asks amazing questions, and really just feels the spirit so strong, there hasn't been one lesson without her crying her eyes out! She has had a tough life full of addiction, and has told us she wants to change, and never fall again. We are so happy for her, and going to do all we can to help her accept Christ for this Christmas.

Want to hear a funny story? So we were on this bus to head to a little town, and there was this 15 or so year old kid, obviosuly thought he was the bees knees as he walked on the bus with all of his friends. He looked at me, and saw I was a missionary! As he sat down, he was just looking at me, so I looked at him back too! He then said in Spanish,¨"Do you like your glasses?" and then started laughing, trying to make fun of me, assuming I didn't speak Spanish. BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON HIS FACE WHEN I BEGAN TALKING TO HIM IN SPANISH.  Priceless, I'm telling ya.

 

Hmmm...two more things! One, on January 16th I believe, we have heard there will be a crraaazzzzzyyyyyy holiday. Everyone in the town of Manacor dresses up as demons during the night, and party and dance and drink and get naked in the streets! Apparently people have told us to stay inside our piso after 6 pm, and to not look out the window. Crazy hey? I love the culture here in Spain, there is never a dull moment.

Last thing! So this week marks a special time in my mission....my first besos. (Besos mean kisses, it's a cultural thing to greet everyone with kisses here on both cheeks, but as missionaries we don't do that obviously). Anyways, one night we went to a new investigtors house to teach a lesson. Half way through, his 20 or so year old daughter walked through the door, and came right up to me and just gave me besos...I was sitting in a chair and couldn't even avoid it without looking like a crazy man. To make it worse, when she walked up to Elder W, he said "Sorry, we don't do that as missionaries". I looked sooooo silly. ahhahahahahaha

 

Anyways, I love you all so much. I hope you like my email, even though it might be a little crazy. But have a great warm week, and know that your island missionary loves each and every one of you!

Love, Elder Hardy

I Feel a Certain Peace Here.

Monday, December 2^nd, 2013.

 

Merry December 2nd!

 

Hola tios! Here I am at the computer typing another electronic mail for you all! Before I forget, let me address a few necessary things.

Mom, your questions! No I haven't bought anything on my visa, I'm careful with my money ;) Also yes my suitcase is at the mission office, but the zone leaders are bringing me my coat this week, woohooo!  Also I bought a sweater, but not shoes yet. Shoes are one thing I might want, and maybe gloves and a toque.

 I will tell C that. She really is incredible, her whole family.  I have an amazing story for you all about them. First to set some background. Mallorquines normally are pretty reserved people who like to preserve their culture, understandably. So when we get to teach them, its a blessing. AND, this family of C, C, and X are super special. They have investigated the church a bit before, but where held back because of her old husband. She is a person of big influence here! Anyways, she invited us over, and we taught them the restoration.  The spirit was so strong, its impossible to explain. As I gave the first vision, she started to cry. I asked her after to explain her feelings, and she said "It's impossible to explain, something that I feel inside. But it's weird, this only happens with the Mormons". Huge testimony builder that we are the only true church, that can carry the true spirit to testify to the hearts of others. We then also helped them set up for their first real Christmas. That was so fun.

Super fun that you have set up for Christmas, I love that tradition we have of our ornaments, I will miss that this year. BUT I GOT YOUR PACKAGE. So I will draw a picture of a tree and put it under that to open on Christmas, Bishop also sent me one, so I am excited, Santa treated me well this year :) Thank you so much for sending me one, but its SO EXPENSIVE, You don't need to send such a big thing! Sheesh.

 

I loved your pictures of surfing, that water is so blue! You two look fabulous. It almost looks like the Mediterranean! This preparation day we went to Porto Cristo! If you all ever came to Spain, I'd want to take you on this adventure we had. We went and saw un faro (lighthouse) at the edge of some cliffs, saw the beach, went into some caves, it was just incredible. I was so happy all day, searching and looking at nature. I love doing that kind of stuff, calms me down.

 

We had a fun American thanksgiving dinner with the whole zone in Palma! Ate chicken and such, and listened to another Canadian elder tell a story about getting tasered by a Canadian cop! hahahahaha so funny. It got out that I am a "YouTube star" as they called it, and everyone flipped out. Its a good thing I'm in Spain where no one recognizes me, funny how that video blew up!

 

English class is definitely always a highlight for the week, We have tons of fun there, and it helps with my Spanish too! The best is when the kids ask me what swag means, and I have to try to act it out for them to explain it to them. Haha we always play a game at the end of class, and the game "Do you like your neighbor" has been a HIT! All the adults get so into it. Where you sit in a circle, and say an article of clothing, and anyone who has that gets up and has to sit in a chair so they aren't stuck in the middle! Haha so fun to play with them, we always get good laughs.

We had a miracle yesterday happen. A woman named P came to English class on Thursday, and as she entered she said "I feel a certain peace here". She then came to church yesterday, we taught her about the Holy Ghost, and without even mentioning it, she told US that she wants to get baptized, Miracle fell from the sky really. She is a sister of a member in the ward, so this is just perfect. 

Well that's all I really have about this week. I really want to send you all something for Christmas, but I have no idea how expensive packages are to send. I hope I can though, if not I will need to write letters! Thank you so much for everything you do for me. I love you all so much!

Love, Elder Hardy

 

 

 

 Elder Hardy on Preparation Day at Porto Cristo!

 Is this the Lion King Rock maybe?

 

Man in a Suit...We Got Stopped By the Police and Had to Give Our Identity!!!

Tuesday, November 28^th, 2013.

Whats Crackin Ya´ll?!

Hello there everyone, thank you again for the email! Just so you know, even though I can't reply to every point, I always print it off and think it over throughout the week. So I really do think of you all tons out here!

This week has been so amazing. Holy. I have so much that I could write, but I need to choose carefully because there would never be enough time. So maybe I will give quick overviews again, because I know its fun to hear about everything.

We visited a 19 year girl named... who just had her 2nd baby. Beautiful little girl, so amazing to see little new babies. Perfect opportunity to teach a little of the gospel too, so we were able to teach a little about where that little life came from. Such a blessing for us.

We went to Inca one day for district meeting! The day before a man dressed in a suit stabbed someone I believe....and we got stopped by the police and had to give our identity!!! Hahaha it was crazy.

We had intercambios this week, and Elder Soumarrett from Inca came here to be with me. We rocked it. It was a day with blessings like none other. Everything worked out, and I taught better than I ever have I believe, I just followed the spirit so well. One story from that day is when we went to visit a family. When we arrived there, we realized it was their whole family of about 15 people. All drunk. But I felt like we should go in anyways. Long story short, they asked us tons of questions about us, that drunk people would ask. But we stayed calm and bore testimony to them. As we prayed, the spirit entered the room so strong. For some reason, we started talking about tithing! I then bore my testimony of the rough time we went through as a family a few years back. I got quite emotional, especially as I talked about mom having cancer! Then, a woman in the room got emotional. She explained that her daughter died of cancer just months ago. She was touched by the spirit so strongly. THEN days later, we ran into that same woman, and she invited us over. We taught her an incredible lesson, that she will see her daughter again. There is no greater joy than sharing that knowledge with people. I love the miracles we see here when we are obedient.

Also we had a fun campfire night (fireside type lesson), roasted meat, cut wood, the manly stuff. There was a girl there who was a Jehovah's witness, but we ended up giving her a Book of Mormon. Success.

One last thing! THERE ARE PARTIES IN THE STREETS HERE ALL THE TIME. IT'S CRAZY. haha I love it, the culture here is incredible. I can even understand about half of the Mallorquin language!

Anyways, I love you all. Big hugs to everyone! Make sure you stay safe, and warm in this weather!

From your island elder,

Elder Hardy

We had a fun fireside type lesson, and I cut some wood for the fire, got a little crazy.

 

A family here that we teach, they are "hittanos" or gypsies as people say!

 



Never Tell a Mallorquin That Spanish is More Useful...They will get heated...Trust Me!

Monday, November 18^th, 2013.

Good Morning Sunshines!

Wonderful long email this week, I love it! I printed out the one from last week, I loved it so much! So as always, thanks so much for all of the effort you put into the emails! Nice to hear that everything is still going well, along with the small challenges that always come!

Bethany got contacts, that's super impressive! I remember when I tried, I just couldnt get them in. haha  Maybe one day I'll be able to do it, we will have to see though. Super cute pictures of everyone, I loved seeing the sleeping one, really brought back some good road trip memories! Well let's answer your questions!

It's hard being out so late, because I feel like after nine, we are just scaring people when we try to talk to them, it gets dark at about 6! Like pitch black. Also the language is improving, I feel maybe about a seven and a half! My talk was about missionary work! I used the examples of the sons of Mosiah, and the attitude we need to have towards it!

YES, LANGUAGE IS HUGE. Never tell a Mallorquin that Spanish is more useful...they will get heated...trust me....

Well a little bit about my week! Preparation day was fun, we found this dinosaur park thing, and took lots of pictures with them, also visited some stores! Preparation days aren't too fun here in Manacor, but I am planning on heading out to the coast one of these days to do something fun there!

We got invited over to the President of our branches house for lunch one day, and OH BOY. It was so good. They had mashed potatoes with tons of meat and ahhhhh it was great. They literally fed us so much, I left feeling sick. haha. But it reminded me of our classic Sunday dinners we always had back at home.

MUST WATCH: The Mormon message called "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father". Really touched me, and puts a great perspective into our minds about how our Heavenly Father must feel. We watched it with a couple of members this week, and they really enjoyed it. Especially you dad, I think you will enjoy it.

We had a very difficult lesson... So hard seeing someone that i love feel that remorse or sadness that she felt, and not being able to give her a hug myself....

We all got pretty emotional, and I just bore her my personal testimony of repentance, and that through Jesus Christ, we can all be relieved of any hurt of pain or remorse that we feel. She was fine by the end, and it was a great lesson. Blanca, the future mother in law, also asked me to leave a blessing on her home, so we did that!

English class was incredible! The Mallorquin family showed up, Katalina the mom, with her daughter and son! We had a great lesson, I taught the intermediate lesson with the daughter, and it just went so great! We also invited them to church, and they got so excited! They said they would come when their schedule would allow, so we are so excited for that.

One miracle story before I finish. An Hermana in the mission, Hermana Green, was hit by a rough infection a few weeks back. Her joints were so swollen that she couldnt brush her hair. She was in the hospital for a few weeks, We had a mission fast for her this past sunday. That exact day, she started improving. We had a specialized training this week, and she came with the president and his wife, because they are taking care of her for a bit. She walked in almost perfectly, just with a little pain. At the end of the meeting, she bore her testimony, all about fasting. It was so powerful! I loved it, really built my testimony.

Well that was my week. Not too much else to report for now. Things are getting cold here, believe it or not, but I'll stay warm! Love you all so much, and I hope that this week goes amazingly!

Love, Elder Hardy

 

 

 

        "Just a few pictures from a random dinosaur park we found! We decided to fight them."

 

Elder Hardy looks like one of the cubs! 

The Book of Mormon Makes Her Feel Peace.

Monday, November 11, 2013.

Howdy There Cowboys!

I'm happy you all enjoy my letters almost as much as I enjoy yours, I cherish every single email that I get from you all! So thank you so much for this one! Cute pictures, I might print out some of them later!  Thanks for sending those!

Well let me tell you a little bit about my week here on the island!

We had the great preparation day of hiking, but after that we had an amazing miracle! At night we went to look for a gym to maybe exercise in the morning, and when we got there, a woman came up to us asking if we were the elders! After a long conversation, she told us that she met with elders in the past, and missed them so much! Her husband wouldn't let them meet anymore, but now they are getting separated! She said she still reads the Book of Mormon whenever she feels bad, and it makes her feel peace. So we are hopefully going to start teaching her soon, her name is Katalina. THEN, like 10 other teenage girls came out and started trying to teach us Mallorquin (the native language), and we taught them a little English! They were super interested in English class, so maybe that can lead to something!

Elder West had a sick day the next day, so I stayed in all day....I thought it would be kind of fun...it wasnt. We can't do much except read the scriptures haha. But it was alright, he's better now!

I finally have touched the beach here! One day we went on a coastal tour to visit members, and one member drove us over to the beach during the night. It's so beautiful, and I went and touched the sand and everything. Ahh, I want to come back here and swim in it one day!

We are building such good relationships with members here, seriously everyone in this branch loves us! We get invited over by the Hernandez family almost daily! We helped them paint there house one day, came for family home evening another, came to teach him English another. He really has a love for us already, its amazing to see. Where did you live in Japan again? Or dad where did you serve? I've been meaning to tell him! 

I also had the opportunity to give ANOTHER talk. Yesterday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting, and I accidentally took like 15 minutes, and only used half of my talk! It was crazy! But pretty powerful, people told me after that they loved it, and took notes from it! I hope my weakness of public speaking it starting to be made strong! I felt like Moses at first, not wanting to speak at all! 

Last night, we went to Marga's, the 17 year old girls, and we were planning on teaching the law of chastity, which is a very important one we need to teach her. But...she invited a friend over to listen to us also, and we didn't want to scare the friend off with a sensitive subject like that..so we watched The Testaments with them!  We are working hard with Marga, and trying to get her to accept a date for baptism!

Well that's about it for me here. I hope that you all have a great week this week! I love you all so much!

Love, Elder Hardy

 

Oh and mom, I think I know what I need for Christmas! 

I only was allowed bringing one suitcase here to the islands, so tons of stuff I couldn't bring, no matter how smart I packed. 

So I just need some regular street shoes, and a jacket here, as it gets a little chilly sometimes. So I might just buy those on my card. I don't know what else I would need, so that's all I can think of for now!

SpongeBob SquarePants in Spanish at a members house!

Monday, November 4^th, 2013.

Hello There Everyone!

Thanks so much for all of the pictures that you all sent, I was seriously freaking out at how much everyone seems to have grown already, and it's only been 6 months! Wow. Carson is looking like a handsome man already, and Aubrey is looking super grown up, kind of sad :( Bethany, I show people a picture of you and they all think you are in your 20s! hahaha and mom you are looking beautiful as always, I love your hair! I loved the letter this week, thank you for writing me such good ones. I can always rely on you to lift me up, my email time is always my favorite time of preparation day, by far.

The weather here isn't very cold, it just gets a little chilly at night and in the mornings! We have to wear our suit or a sweater everyday though, so the little bit of chill that we do get makes me super happy.  I love it here on the island, and I think that I will be serving here for a long time, just based on my spidey senses ;)

Well normally I try to answer some questions, but there weren't too many at all!  I'm happy you got an idea of where I lived, its the golden door right next to the Pharmacia! So you might have seen the door I walk through everyday! Pretty interesting. I cant even imagine what it would have been like serving a mission in the pioneer days, letters would have been like GOLD. Well they still are, to be honest.

Hey I have some fun pictures to send, but I'll send them tonight, this computer doesn't have a USB port, sorry!

Well a bit about my week! I had a really fun week! Lots of riding on trains. One day we went to Palma (the big city on the west side), for enfoque de zona. It was so good, the spirit was super strong as we received direction from our leaders! My zone leaders seriously love me for some reason, that's one thing I took note of!   I got to bear my testimony there, and I loved that opportunity.

We then headed back to Palma by train again the next day to have interviews with President Pace. He is so great, I love him. I told him I had to repent, because I watched one minute of SpongeBob SquarePants in Spanish at a members house, and he just laughed and said he was so grateful that's all I had to repent about. He also told me something that elder west said in his interview with him. That Elder West said that I am his best friend. For some reason it just made me super emotional, and I realized that I always need to do the same, have my companion be my best friend no matter what. Elder West is amazing!

Marga, who I will send a...funny picture of later...(she doesn't understand our picture taking rules), didn't get baptized yet, but I asked her to pray to receive her own baptismal date. I know she will get baptized, its just on her own time. She always comes to church and we see her tons, and she loves us so much, so I'm confident we can help her with her goal that she will receive!

For Halloween we didn't do much, not as fun as yours was! We did make makeshift masks though, I'll send you a picture! Carson, your costume made me laugh pretty hard.

Last night, we heard a cat or something, that had kept us awake the entire night before. So we decided to go catch it. It was a little black kitten, we used milk and boxes and everything, but in the end, we weren't quite successful. It was fun though, and super hilarious to do. Don't worry, we did it in normal clothes so we didn't look extra weird.

Well that was my week this week. Praying for you all lots, and am so happy to see and hear about the blessings you receive everyday! I remember hearing about that in the MTC, that my family directly receives blessings for the missionary service I will do. It helps drive me to do the best I can out here!

Love you all so much, stay safe, and have a great week!

Love, Elder Hardy

Halloween Costumer with Elder West.  Elder Hardy appears to be 'Super-Waldo-Man'

A little Halloween Mail from the Cimarron Ward Young Women.

"A Halloween pumpkin the mission made! El Faro means

The Lighthouse, because Spain is the lighthouse mission in Europe"

 

"Today´s Preparation Day Adventure! Climbed a mountain with some members,

and at the top is an ancient catholic church and a beautiful view"

 

 

 

 

This is Marga, the 17 year old girl from here in Mallorca, super amazing person!

(the girl that doesn't understand the picture taking rules)

 

The Rama and a Noche de Hogar

Monday, October 28^th, 2013.

Hey there Fam Jam!

So happy to hear everyone is still alive and doing great! Carson I hope you had a wonderful birthday, and you are a lucky guy to get to go out for food twice in one day! We are poor as missionaries, and we never have the time or money...let alone our family to go with! But that's alright haha.

Okay let's see if I can answer the questions better, thank you for putting them at the end! We have to take buses and trains, if we ever want to go anywhere other than here in Manacor. So really, if we want to visit members, it's like a 6 euro trip. Which is more than we can afford. We do get reimbursed if we send the reciepts in though luckily. So that's a small challenge here!

The island is safe. haha. There are gypsies all over Spain, Badalona was worse. They are everywhere, and not all of them try to steal. We are teaching a family who are considered "hittano".  I love them! But yes, you always have to be careful and conscious over here. Lots of the time, they are JACKED. Haha  The guys are huge, its crazy.

Hey thanks for the giftcard idea, that was super thoughtful of you! About Felix, he speaks English, not any Spanish at all!  I'm not sure about his education, I know he used to work in a hospital though in Africa. That would be interesting, I'm sure that the ward will take care of him over there. We did lots to try and help him get papers, and members are trying to help him get a job I think! He lives with a nice African family who took him in, they aren't members though. We taught them a couple of times! Don't worry, I know he will be just fine.

Well my week this week was pretty wonderful! Had the chance to go out to the coast as you saw in the picture! Its so beautiful out there. I would love to come back one day when I could go swimming, want to come too Aubrey?! ;) haha We have been doing lots of teaching when we can, we don't have as many investigators here as before, so that makes it a little tough. But when we do teach, I love it so much. Last night a family invited us over for a noche de hogar / birthday party, and asked me to give the message! So I did a super fun lesson with putting flour in a cup and making a Sand/flour castle, then putting one cent on top. Then we took turns cutting a little off of the castle, trying to not let it fall over! The person who knocked it over, had to get the coin with their nose all in the flour. It was a riot, and they loved it. I then compared the game to Helaman 5:12, and how we need to have a sure foundation, so that we won't fall...like the coin! It's super fun.

We have been teaching the 17 year old girl named Marga, here from Mallorca, and her date of baptism is for the 2nd! But this week we got some news that makes her situation a little tough. So I'm not sure if it will happen this week, but we are hoping sometime soon! We love teaching her though, she is amazing, she even writes a summary after everytime she reads a chapter from the Book of Mormon. She is so great. I cant share everything about her situation due to privacy rules, but basically she is pregnant, so it makes things harder.

We had a fireside with the rama this week that I really loved. We sat in a big circle, maybe 20 people were there, and we introduced ourselves, and had to compliment the person to our right! It was great, and really built the unity within everyone. That's one thing our branch needs, love and unity. And optimism. So that is now the main focus. We should never speak bad about anyone, ever, because the spirit will not dwell with you. That's one thing I should work on...even when its true, we should never speak bad.

Well I'm not sure what else more to say. Preparation day today, we don't have much planned. Maybe go to the top of the GIANT cathedral outside our house? Not too sure. It's expensive to go to all the beautiful places around here. But I love you all, and hope you have an AMAZING WEEK.

Love, Elder Hardy

In response to question about his location in Manacor :

 

Look me up on google maps, I already sent you my address last week I believe. Calle arquitechte or something? There is a giant cathdral, huge tourist point, literally steps out from our house. note: He didn't tell us anything the week earlier about where he was!  We do a lot of detective work trying to figure it out!

Who is the Branch President and are there very many less actives in the area and do you mostly teach in your own area because of the cost of travel?  

Presidente Piñero is his name, such a great guy. The one in the middle, yes.  I think there are a fair amount, not sure how many, maybe half?  Yes, we try to teach here, as much as possible!

 

 

The coast of Mallorca

The Manacor Rama - front center is Presidente Pinero.

 

 

Crazy Things Happen Everyday and It Makes Me So Happy!

Monday, October 21^st, 2013.

Querido Familia!

Thank you as always for the wonderful email! You are the greatest! Well I will try to remember all the questions to answer as much as I can! Yes this island is beautiful, me and Elder West are in charge of basically the whole east side. Which means a gorgeous coast we get to see if we go out there, which I want to really bad. Problem is our travel costs, wow it's crazy. But we have everything we need here, including the amazing Mercadona. Mommy and Daddy, you two HAVE to come here one day to the islands. It would be a romantic date for you two ;) Oh and mom I'm not sure about the Christmas call quite yet, but I'm assuming we can skype, these computers have cameras!

Hahaha so anyways, things are amazing here. I think I told dad about the goodbyes from my last area, I hope he shared those! They were all super special, and hard. Its like saying goodbye to your family all over again! But things were so great. I had a beautiful flight over to the island, I will send you pics next week! Since I have been here, we have been working pretty hard and having great experiences! We had a baptism this last saturday, my 7th on the mission so far! Margarita, I don't know her too well, but she is the wife of the elders quorum president! I gave the talk on baptism, and the bishop liked it so much that he asked me to give a 10 minute talk the next day, on whatever I wanted! CRAZY. I have always hated public speaking, but I'm getting alright at it...in a different language...hahaha

In church we are just a branch, or a rama. There are about...20 or 30 people? But they are all wonderful. We have an amazing branch president, he takes a lot on his shoulders in this growing branch. I have gained such a good relationship with everyone in the past few days too, i even played the piano for the branch! Haaha I'm just really excited about the blessings we are going to see.

There are lots of super interesting experiences that happen here, and it's the best! Crazy things happen everyday, and it always makes me so happy because it's one more thing I can write in my journal for people to read in the future. Me and Elder West like to sing for people when we visit them, but I think Elder West is a little tone deaf..nonetheless, we do it. So last night we were teaching a young family outside their house, the mom is 21, dad is 27, and three young kids. Super nice family, they are hittanos, or gypsies, but super nice. Anyways, we got to sing for them, and they complimented me on my voice, which was nice to hear. Also, one thing weird here that I've noticed, especially on the island...mothers have the freedom to feed their children when and where they want to. Even in lessons. So we get good at having to avert the eyes, maybe you could send me horse blinders for Christmas to protect me? hahahaah

But thats a bit of my week, sorry there are no pictures yet. I love you all so much, and I hope you continue through the week happy as ever, and always trying to improve. GAIN SOME ATTRIBUTES OF CHRIST. Focus on one. It really works.

Love, Elder Hardy

A few notes he sent a few minutes later answering my early morning questions:

Me and Elder West are literally the only two missionaries on the whole east side of the island! The other side has like 14. hahaha

 

The primary president asked me to play for the primary presentation, so I'm on it ;)

 

 

                                                               

Cathedral in Manacor - "Literally Steps from our house!"

The Cathedral at Sunset

Antonio and Lucia and family! Investigators!

Make Miracles Happen in Other Places Too!

Just a note: Elder Hardy wrote this letter to his Dad.  Did I believe that he thought we would all read it?  Yes.  Did I still feel a little ripped off?  Yes.  Did I frankly forgive him?  Yes.  He tries so hard to write to everyone and I love him for it!

Wednesday, October 16^th, 2013.

Hey Dad! 

So I am here in the Island of Mallorca, and I'm just getting some quick email time on the church computer before district meeting! Not enough time to write to everyone, but you can share this email with everyone in the fam if you´d like! 

Haha I wish we celebrated Thanksgiving here. That would be so great. Although I have gotten fed pretty well here so far, so I'm not going to complain one bit. It sounded like tons of fun though, visiting tons of family! I miss those road trips down south, with the less than exciting movies that Aubrey always wanted to pick ;) But I'm glad you all had a good time!

Ahhh that is so great to here about the Flames. I got mom´s letter yesterday from the office, and it had a flames stamp on it, and I just had a huge adrenaline to hear about hockey. So THANK YOU for the update! The new rookie, that's incredible! I hope they can keep that work ethic up, maybe the cup will be back in Calgary for when I get home?! The stamps too, that's just unreal. Maybe that flood in Calgary washed away all the bad luck huh? hahahaha

Well I hope there will be some games soon that you all can watch together. That was always a highlight for me to play in them, and to have you all watch me. Gave me some...what's the word in English...animo? Excitement? haha I don't know.  But it's good to know you always enjoyed watching them. Maybe I'll try to play in university? haha  Doubt it though.

Well quick review of my week, although I feel as though my mind it like cleared of all this past week, now that I'm in a new area. But we had two baptisms, of Mari and Victor. I baptized and confirmed Victor, and did it perfectly! So that was a great experience. Victor is the most amazing kid ever, 15, but just so mature spiritually. I enjoyed teaching them so much. Just before the baptism, the President of my mission came. When he shook my hand, he pulled me in and whispered to me how proud he was of me for the miracles that I'm realizing here. He said that he wanted me to know I wouldn't always be here, but he wants me to make miracles happen in other places too. And look, here I am on some island. CRAZY RIGHT? haha  I'm so excited.

I spent the last few days saying goodbyes. At church I bore my testimony, and told everyone I was leaving. Literally I heard the whole room sigh super loud, it was so weird. Apparently the ward LOVED me, two of the young woman even came up to me crying after...that was a little strange, I barely new them. But just goes to show how big of an effect you can make in someone's life, and not even know it. I'll send tons of pictures of me with people! 

I have so many stories of goodbyes I want to share, but I'll just share one. Saying goodbye to Felix from Nigeria was tough. He loves me so much, and I love him so much too! He shared with us how he wants to find him mom, and he's trying to raise money to do so, But he has no papers, no job, and the most money he has ever seen it a five he found on the road. So as I said goodbye, I handed him a piece of paper with my email and a 20 in it. When he opened it, he literally looked like a child on Christmas opening a gift. Really humbled me, to know how much it meant to him. I hope it will help him find his mom.

Well that's a bit of my week. I'll send pics now! I love you so much Dad, and Mom, and Chad, and Bethany, and Carson, and you too Aubrey! You are all so special, and I am using attributes I learned from all of you, out here on the mission. Dad, the special one I'm gonna use and develop from you this month is patience. Thank you for showing me that wonderful example.

 Love, Elder Hardy

On our way to the island!

 Luis, Rocio and Fam. He is the BEST COOK FROM ARGENTINA.

Super amazing family

 



 Mari and Victor - not sure who everyone else is. Wish we had a picture of Elvis!

 

Saying goodbye to Felix.