October 27, 2014

I'm in charge now!!!

If anything has come close to shaking my faith on my mission (a joke) it is the fact that the Lord would trust me with a district. Yet he did. With the departure of Elder Dawagne to be a zone leader in Quebec city the "matrix of leadership and lots of phone calls" fell to me. I feel like now I am finally ready to contribute to this mission in a leadership role. We'll see how it goes.

This week was slow. Lots of conflicts with the car kept us from doing as much as we wanted to. That guy that I knocked on his back door wasn't home when we came for the appointment even though I had called and confirmed the night before. Poor guy doesn't realize what he's running from.

Elder Spencer is getting lots of love from the ward due to his piano abilities (we've been using a recording in sacrament meeting), so we'll actually have a chance to visit some members this week (and get fed). It's hard to visit members because they all just claim to be too busy. Then when they do decide they have time they insist on it being a dinner and all want us on Wednesdays. I'm complaining a little but really the members are great here. They're really a no-complaining get-stuff-done kind of group. It will be fun when we really get them moving on missionary work.

In the mean time while the Ward-Mission-Machine warms up me and Elder Spencer have been praying and feel we need to incorporate more personal finding into our schedule in order to keep the work rolling. Plus a few new faces at church could really help get people excited.

This new plan is being aided by the fact that we'll be receiving our own car tomorrow. It's all thanks to Elder Castrejon (was our zone leader until this new transfer). He pulled in some favors and used some of his massive influence with the A.Ps (I think one was his MTC companion, or they just like him) to show the mission office how much we need one. Thank you former companion!

Anyway that's about all for this week. Most of our appointments fell through so we spent much of our time trying to figure out how to get more. Next week should be more exciting I hope. 

I love you all!

Elder Hardy

 

Me blowing leaves

Elder Dawagne making a simple selfie more interesting.    

Me and Elder Dawagne on our last split together:    

October 20, 2014

God is great, beer is bad, and people are crazy

Yea so there isn't really a story behind that subject, but I have been waiting for an opportunity to use that title. I decided today that I was just never going to have a week like that.

I'll start with responding to stuff: Wow lizzie has braces! She looks so grown up with those things! Why does she have to go and grow up while I'm gone? also that was like the first picture I've ever seen of the fire-pit. I was geeking out about that too. Oh wait I just remembered that we can go on to the churches "google earth" thingy and I totally saw a picture of the house while the pit was under construction. 

As far as life here in Terrebonne, things are great actually. This little Guatemalan guy named Is..., who works on a grass farm 6 months out of the year and spends the other 6 back home in Guatemala, does more missionary work than the three entire wards I've served in combined. And that's not knocking on the three wards. He has already asked us to come up to his place to teach the other south-American workers that he's been talking too. The guy doesn't even speak french or English! Luckily most of his friends do, so we are able to teach them. Most are only passingly interested, but one has turned into a real investigator. The man's faith is so incredible! It's unlike anything I've seen before. He honestly concerns himself with the salvation of every child of God he runs into. I hope one day hope to be like him. He is a one-man example of how "Hastening the Work" works. 

In other news we've had some decent success from calling old formers. That is our main source of new investigators right now as we start to get the ward up and running.

Elder S said something really special to me yesterday in companionship inventory. I may not have mentioned it before, but before my mission I was a coward. A bad one. I've had some serious spiritual experiences confirming it as one of my major weaknesses. Yesterday Elder S listed fearlessness as one of my good qualities. He cited an incident from that afternoon. We were passing by a less-active who we knew absolutely nothing about. His house was very out of the way and wasn't easy to find. It was shabby and I described it on first sight as a "man-cave." My intuition was right and it was messy and filled with beer bottles and definitely not the home of any women. We knocked on the front door and the dog started barking and we saw a guy moving around through the window but no one came. Elder S was ready to leave, but I was really irked that this man wouldn't answer his door. All we wanted was to help him! So instead I walked to the back door (with comp. in tow) and banged on that door. A large mid-twenties dude with a Mohawk answered the door. I calmly introduced us and chatted for a minute. He was going to leave soon, so we set an appointment for later this week to come back and visit him. Then we left.

Upon reflecting on this story I realized that I have changed. I've learned to face fear that I was not capable of overcoming before. The difference I think is the spirit. When I have the spirit, I am strong enough to do whatever he needs me to. I love my mission. I can't think of anything I needed more for my life than this. I'm so grateful to all who helped me get out here. 

The Atonement is real. I know it because it has healed me. My Savior has power to do all things, but all he wants is to see us happy. I know that as surely as I know anything else.

I love all of you!

Elder Hardy

October 13, 2014

egg on my face

Well I forgot to wish Mom and Lizzie happy Birthday despite secret reminders from Dad. At least the Atonement assures that Mom and Lizzie will be compensated in the world to come for all the pain and anguish my negligence caused them. I'm sorry guys. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? Even though this is the seven times seventy first time? Happy birthday to you two, and also to Ronnie in case I forget.

This week was a big one personally, but a slow one for our area. We Didn't teach a lot of lessons or find a lot of potentials, but I feel like I've grown a lot. . I feel like my growth is accelerating.

I wasn't perfect this week, but I still feel I'm making progress. This feeling stems from what has happened to me this past weekend. At the wedding reception we briefly attended I was able to see a lot of members from the Dow's Lake ward. One of them, a recent convert of the Sisters, came and asked if we could take a walk around the building. We did so (don't worry Elder Spencer came along) and he confided a lot of his struggles to me. I had become one of the people he would confide in in Ottawa because I don't judge him or try to solve his problem right there for him. He talked about his struggles with the commandments and the destructive effect it has had on his testimony and his church attendance. His concerns weighed heavily on my soul. I couldn't stop thinking about him. All that night I couldn't sleep, so instead I prayed. When 6:30 came I was still praying. In the shower I prayed harder than I ever had before. I was asking the Lord to intervene on his behalf. I felt strongly that my sins were in the way of the Lord hearing my prayers. I made the decision there that I had been struggling to make for a very long time. I promised the Lord that I was done. I was willing, joyous even, to give up even my desire to sin if it would help my friend. I fasted Sunday along with some other missionaries that know him and it was a very spiritual fast for me. I've expended more spiritual energy over the last few days than I ever have before. I haven't seen the fruits of it for my friend, and I know I can't overrun his agency, but I've seen it's effect on me. Me and Elder S hit a rough patch as a companionship for a little bit, but were able to move past it. I was amazed at myself as I was able to let little digging comments directed at me slide without any return fire or even internal anger. Just a few weeks ago that sort of thing would have meant war to the knife. The Lord is strengthening me. I just feel so wonderful today. The difference in spirit is mind-blowing!

It's so cool to hear about Tanner's re-assignment. Elder S's family lives in the Fort Collins mission. Maybe he'll serve in his ward! 

I definitely don't recognize the dress Paige is wearing, but wow she looks so grown up. 

My birthday present to Ronnie can be found in the blue tubs containing my stuff in the basement. As long as he PROMISES to NEVER lose the boxes or installation codes or damage the CDs he can pull out, install, and play Age of Empires 3. I don't know if he even plays much video games anymore but it is the best I could muster as far as a gift.

I love you all so much! I can't wait for Christmas when I get to see your beautiful faces! Remember that faith is faith unless it is tested! Keep praying and keep searching for missionary opportunities and they will come. The Lord wants to give us these experiences. He just wants to be sure that we really want them.

Love: Elder Hardy the Elder (double pun/reference!!!)

p.s. Our ward mission plan has a goal of 102 baptisms by the end of 2015. I love our ward mission leader!

October 6, 2014

I looked really hard but I didn`t ever see him

As the subject suggests I looked for Tanner, but failed to locate him. I was sad he didn`t get to sing the solo part. He would have nailed it. Maybe he should start wearing hipster glasses so people notice that he`s good too.

My goodness how I loved General Conference! Each one has gotten better and better on my Mission. Before I didn`t really pay much attention (did I ever mention that I slept throught the announcement of the age change while at BYU?) but now I can`t wait for it every six months. Another crazy thing is that I`ve been in Canada for the past 3 now! I think they cheated and made the time between them shorter. By the way we watched the conference here at the Church building in the relief society room (in English. French was in the chapel). We invited and encouraged people to come, but only Sylvie (who doesn`t need an invitation) was there. 

Things are still good here. As we get to know the members things are getting complicated with the car. Last week both teams had dinners at far separated places at the same time 4 days in a row. We`re managing though. It is just using a lot of kilometers. 

I have to keep reminding myself that this isn`t YSA. I can`t just go on the street and be like ``hey wan`t to talk about God?`` and have about 1 third of the people say yes. Like I said our WML is fantastic. He gave us the challenge and assignment to visit every member in the ward and ask for not one, but THREE referrals from each of them! His aggressiveness and enthusiasm inspires me. His faith is 100% that we will receive referrals this way, and we feel it will work too. 

I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives. He lives, and while he lives I`ll sing. He lives, my prophet priest and King! 

Christ is the center of everything. I am beginning to realize this. Every doctrine I teach, every lesson I cover, should be centered on Christ`s atonement. What other Doctrine is there? What other reason would I have for preaching the Gospel? I`ve been studying how to link all the points in PMG back directly to the Atonement. The one I`m stuck on is Tithing. I can do it throught the concept of obedience, but that doesn`t specifically link Tithing to the Atonement. Any advice would be appreciated. 

I love you all so much!

Elder Hardy