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.