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)