November 18, 2013

Salut tout le monde!!

No news yet on transfers. That will be this saturday, then the transfer itself will be next Tuesday. I am pretty sure that I will at least be changing companions, and probably areas. I am looking foreward to some change of scenery and faces, but I will miss all the people here so much. The Yan Bergeron family (the Bergeron's are a local clan, the patriarch and most of the family came active again about a year ago, but Yan never went inactive. He served his mission in New Jersy but managed to not learn english) that invites us over to dinner every week (Sister Bergeron knows i don't like salad dressing, so she gives me a dry portion before putting in the dressing). I will miss Jimmy and Carol, and Gabrielle and Jeremy, and Aubert the French speaking convert version of Tanner. He is going on his mission soon and could very well be in the MTC around the same time as Tanner (by soon I mean in the late spring or Summer). 

This week we worked, and taught, and found, and talked with people. I am still having a hard time with the difficulty of the work, but my companion is a great help still, and The Lord is an even bigger help. I am still on an emotional roller coaster, with a lot of very high highs, and very low lows. I am really trying to open myself up to others, but so far it has left me very up and down. I have faith that this is just because I have gone so long with all my emotions and thoughts pent up, and it will take some time to adjust. My only options are to change or fail, and I have already decided that failure is not an option. Often when I am feeling the most down it is this knowledge that I have already decided to succeed that helps me pick myself up again. 

Enough about me. You asked a few questions! We get mail every time we meet as a zone. We have a zone meeting on Thursday in Longueil so I will get my package then. For Christmas I was thinking that I could really use some more developed pictures of you guys. All I have is one family photo, and that really isn't enough. I also want Jordan's mission call. That would be the best present ever. And maybe some brownies or something. And the new Pokemon game. That was a joke. I'm kidding guys, stop freaking out and stuff. Can't I be funny on my mission? 

That is just about it. I think I will send some pictuers now.

Elder Hardy

Mornings are pretty intense here in Quebec.

Me in partial winter apparel. I still need a sweater, a scarf, boots, and gloves.

November 11, 2013

WHAATT!!! NO PICTURES!?!? BUT I TOOK PICTURES FOR YOU GUYS!! 

Just kidding, about the being angry part. I'm so glad that Paige was able to have that experience. When we can sense the absence of the spirit we know that we had the spirit with us to begin with. Of course we know that obiedience can't not bring the spirit, but a little reminder of how great it is with the spirit is healthy now and then, as long as we aren't searching for them.

I have experienced the same thing out here several times. This Thursday we knocked into this chubby white guy who let us in, led us to his dining room, which was covered in fake plants and aquariums. He told us how the room is his "working area" where he talks directly with god. He told us we didn't accept Budhissm because we were 'young spirits' who had just started the reincarnation process. He is apparently an old spirit, and will only need one or two more lives to achieve perfection. The spirit was not in that room at all, and no amount of testifying could get it to enter that room. It wasn't evil, just so off from the nature of God that we just left as fast as we could. The man refused to listen to us anyway, he just wanted to talk.

We decided to delay Jimmy's baptism. He just needs more time to prepare and work on quitting cigarettes. He took it very well actually. We could tell the Spirit had been telling him that he wasn't ready. It will be at least three or four weeks more, which is after transfers but it can't be helped.

I have had a very hard week. On Tuesday I was on splits with another Elder, and some guy got extremely angry when we refused to leave an appartment building. He wasn't the propréteur, more of a vigilanty enforcer of his own rules. He pretended to call the police on us first, then when we clearly weren't scared of that (I've talked to the police here before. We are allowed to knock as long as we don't force our way into the appartments and someone buzzes us in) he resorted to physical force. We almost called the police ourselves. He pushed Elder Freeze into the wall pretty hard. We mostly just laughed at him though. What a night that was.

Not too much other news. Dropped some investigators, found some new ones. The work goes on. Elder Murphy's brother in the Dominican Republic told him he has around 25 to 30 lessons a week. We have around 10-15. Whatever, the cultural way to cook things here is to deep-fry them so... we win!

I have some pictures of me and Jimmy, so here they are:

Here is all three of us. I just noticed that he has the same clock as Grandma!

Me in the building that we were soon to be forcefully ejected from. That is it for this week! love you guys!

November 4, 2013

Hello everyone.

I had a rough beginning to the week, what with finding out that my BYU roommate is home from his mission, and I was really down for a couple of days. But my companion talked to me about it a lot and helped me realize that I was phsycing myself out and that I just needed to focus on the positive. I have been doing that and I had a great rest of the week. Jimmy's baptism is scheduled for the 16th of November, and we are visiting him almost every day to help him prepair. Yesterday we realized he didn't understand Joseph Smith's story or why we read the Book of Mormon. He has been reading, but not praying about it. We talked about it, and had him pray at the end and ask if the Book is true. The spirit entered the room so powerfully. He told us after the prayer that he felt something tingling in his chest and we told him it was the Spirit. We committed him to do that every night from now until the baptism.

Also yesterday we had about nine investigators at church between the three teams, plus one miracle less active whose husband won't let her go but she snuck out. It was a crazy Sunday.

As for other stuff, sharing the car is fun. -2 degrees celcius is a lot colder here than in Spokane. I purchased a hat and coat, but not yet boots and gloves. That isn't necessary untill it really gets cold, so I'm still looking around. The good news is that I found a great coat for only $100, half the price of the other coats. It is too cold for biking however, which is good.

I likely only have two more Mondays here in Sherbrooke after today. It is insane how fast these three transfers have gone! I have gotten to the point that I can communicate okay in french, an have really seen improvements in my ability to teach and contact. Elder Murphy has been the best trainer I could have hoped for. He's a spiritual giant with a 100% focus on missionary work. He is teaching me how to work hard, and how to care about the work more than any stupid distractions. I actually got mad and almost lost my temper at another Elder at zone training meeting when he started showing me the pictures of The Doctor (from Doctor Who, a show I started watching in college) that he keeps in his scriptures. If he wants to occupy his mind with stuff like that on his mission fine, but I don't want to think about it, so don't put it in front of my face. I definitely have seen a change in my attitude thanks to Elder Murphy's help, and of course the Lord's as well.

That is about all for this week. I know that the church is true. Anything else doesn't make sense.

Elder Hardy

Picture time!!! Coat and hat:

The crazy grain breakfast stuff that is so healthy it apparently can help fight addictions.  Our investigator also gave us a box. It is hard because he keeps buying us stuff, even when we try to tell him not to.