Monday, November 21, 2016

Letter #32

A week of change! We don’t even need a transfer this time to feel a change. We attended two different wards today. We went to Keystone at 8:30am and Sienna Vista at 2:30pm. Both wards felt like completely different wards. Our marvelous membership clerk was called as a counselor in the Bishopric. Oh dear! The Bishop in the Sienna Vista ward has been the Bishop in another ward. They are not only adjusting to a new ward they are adjusting to a new building. We only had Sacrament meeting and they only called Bishoprics so next week will be exciting!

We have been asked to focus on Sienna Vista and Keystone and add Summit Ridge when we are ready. There is another ward in the valley that isn’t following the 8 step process to move people out of the ward and they are sending them all to Keystone. We discovered a man that had lived in Keystone but when we tracked everything down we found out he does live in that other ward! Elder Hardman is ready to contact the Bishop of that ward! Keeping the records cleaned up gives us job security.

We attended the “Why I believe” fireside tonight. They hold these about every six months. They have new members bear their testimonies and it is powerful. We have been touched by a story that began with the last fireside we attended. The husband told his story of conversion but his wife didn’t want anything to do with the lessons or the church, she did help her husband with his calling when he became sick. He was the PFR and wasn’t well enough to go clean the church so she took over for him. A few months after that we heard that she was going to be baptized. She spoke tonight and asked some of her non-member friends to come listen to her story. This has been a great story to watch unfold. She told how this has strengthened their marriage and how she had always wanted to pray with her husband, now they pray together every day. A young single adult that was baptized last week told how she would walk by the Institute every day at the college and it said, “Visitors Welcome” but she wasn’t sure if they meant it. She looked up the classes online and signed up for a class and then called one of the Institute teachers to see if she had to pay or anything. He told her she was welcome! On her first teaching appointment the Elders asked her if she would commit to being baptized on November 12th. She had spent the whole day thinking about that date, November 12th had just kept popping into her head and she couldn’t figure out why. When the Elders said that date she knew that she would be baptized on November 12th, and she was! It is sweet to hear these testimonies. Last Sunday when they announced the ward divisions we talked to people that were devastated! As we have seen these same people this week the change in understanding has been remarkable. One brother that told us he was going to move was called to be in a Bishopric. He isn’t planning on moving any more. It has been a great week.

We are going to prepare and take around a few dinners before Thanksgiving this week and then on Thursday we are going to help Sister Beutler feed 30 people. We had wondered if we should hold a dinner for the people we know but we know they can’t get upstairs to our apartment so we decided we would take food around to the ones we know won’t have Thanksgiving and then help Sister Beutler with the ones on her list. We may be tired of turkey after this week!

We will certainly miss being home for Thanksgiving, you are always in our hearts and in our prayers! The gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

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