January 13, 2014

bonjour y'all!!

Welcome to week two of "Season of Soul!" The weather has turned wierd. It has warmed way up and started raining a lot. It makes me startled to think if it had all been snow. It makes all of us antsy for things to be so wet. The moment it drops again the world will turn back into an ice rink. 

The new Elder in our apartment is Elder Botello, from southern California again. He is spanish speaking and hilarious He is about three transfers older than me in the mission. Me and Elder Wilbur are focusing on finding new people to teach through other means. We have knocked twice in these two transfers so far. We have been trying to find through referrals, referrals from members, less actives, investigators, and God. Our teaching pool is not huge, but all of the names are solid. Some of them were found while tracting, but only Jimmy actually came from knocking on a door. The others were the result of following the spirit and talking to everyone. Knocking a lot has the opposite affect. Lots and lots of names on the white board, but very few of them are actually interested and not just polite or lonely. 

Holy cow go seahawks! a Washington team acutally worth rooting for! Definetely tell me who wins the superbowl and who they beat. Not too many people care out here in Quebec. All they care about is the NHL. Qubecers are really frustrated because a Canadien team hasn't won the Stanely cup (NHL superbowl) in a very long time. 

On a more relevant note, Jimmy is moving towards baptism on the 25th. 

Well that about does it for now. Oh one more cool thing. I found studying in 1 Nephi today something I really liked. In 1 Nephi 11 right after the angel asks Nephi "knowest thou the condescention of God?" I really was struck by Nephi's response. He displays a true understanding of the base of all doctrine, and is thus ready and capable of understanding further knowledge.

Now I am done. Bye bye everyone!

Elder Hardy

January 6, 2014

Elder Hardy versus Sherbrooke round five GO!

Yeah so Elder Wilbur and I are staying in Sherbrooke, only Elder Freeze is leaving. He is headed to Fallowfield in Ottowa, the ward he lived in for a large portion of his life.  Elder Freeze and I have been in the same appartment since I started my mission. It is really hard to see him go. Also Sister Norris (yes that one) is coming to Sherbrooke. We are going to be in the same district. 

In other news Carole finally got confirmed. The change in her demeanor in just the last few weeks has been amazing. Her testimony is so strong that it blows me away. Also we have a tough situation with our other investigator. He wants to get baptized and tells us he is ready. He claims it has been five weeks since he smoked, but we are pretty sure it hasn't. The problem is that we only have suspicions. We are moving foreward with it, but we aren't comfortable with it. But it is not our place to be judges. These things are between him and the Lord. We have been very clear with him about how serious the covenants of baptism are, and he still wants to go foreward; so we are going foreward.

Why did I name this letter "Season of Soul?" because that is the official name I have given this transfer.   Also this last transfer was "Freezing in the Wind," which is totally the hit song that me and Elder Freeze are going to make with our band "Suicidal Bananas."

I am so excited that Jordan will get her call soon!!!! YSDFKJSLDKFJ!!!!

I am sure she is coming here. She just has to. It is the only place where we can eat American food but still learn French. The only problem is that the only Wendys' are in Ottowa plus one in Montreal. I really like the whole keeping the Sabbath focus. I have kind of made prayer a focus with the people we are teaching here. I feel like reading is great, and church attendance is vital, but prayer is really how we develop a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, and that is the only way to make it through the challenges that come in our lives.

As for the Costco card we haven't been to Costco since I got the correct number. We are able to buy in such bulk that we don't need to go every week. The first time i was missing the last number so when we go today it will work.

I don't really need anything right now.  I am still working on the candy and Christmas cookies. The scarf and sweater are much appreciated though. In fact I am wearing the sweater right now. 

I think that is all for now. I love you guys a lot!

Elder Hardy of Nottingham

Picture time!

The reason for my band name: 

Christmas Day Skype!!

Rees bore his testimony to us in French.  Grandma says it was very nice!

December 23, 2013

Wow I did not expect to be where I am right now.

I am in Longueuil, the zone leaders` area because of an ice storm in Sherbrooke. We have a Christmas party today but we came yesterday because we would not have made it out this morning. It was still sketchy getting out. Our car had almost an inch of ice on every inch of it and was freezing almost as fast as we could scrape it. we made it out though, and conditions weren`t so bad once we left the eastern townships.

So as for the call, I will be doing it at 4 in the afternoon at the Vasquez home. Elder Wilbur is doing his the 24th so it will just be me at 4 o`clock. Also Something happened with the costco card. It didn`t work. I might have written the number down wrong, but could you send it again, along with the phone number it is under? Dang these French keyboards are annoying. The symbols are all in the wrong spot.

Carole`s baptism went swimmingly. I can`t send pictures because We had to leave the apartment in a hurry and I didn`t bring the cord. It was an incredible feeling to watch someone that I taught and loved worthily make that covenant with the Lord. The joy on her face was worth everything to me.

Sorry this letter has to be shorter. We have 3 teams trying to use 2 computers so I have to go fast. unfortunately I won`t get to see any e-mails before Christmas so I will be calling at 4. I love you guys. I can`t wait to see your faces and speak french to you! I might arrange for one of the Vasquez kids to talk to me during the call so I can speak french naturally (they don`t speak English, only french and spanish). Buy until Wednesday! 

Elder Hardy

December 16, 2013

I'm not really dreaming of a white Christmas anymore. I just look outside. It has been very very cold, and very very snowy. The snow here is beautiful because it is so cold that it doesn't melt at all. On Friday it was -30 degrees Celsius plus wind chill. That is so cold that we can't go tracting. It is dangerous to be outside for too long. We still do work, but with members and less actives. Contacting won't likely pick up again until April when it starts to melt. 

Carol is getting baptized on Friday!! YAY!! Other than that not too much is knew. Thanks so much for the costco membership. I will definitely appreciate that. In fact we will be going to shop there again today. It is the best thing ever.

Now for snowy pictures!!

Me before the snow on Saturday:                          Me after the snow on Saturday:

Inside our apartment window.

Ahh Quebec. That sais "It is very hot"

I thought Ronnie might find that machine cool. It was for pouring cement from far away

The end for now. Have a good week. Oh and next monday we will have picked a time for the skyping.