Letter #76

Here we are! The LAST letter from the mission field! Can you believe it? I feel like I need to have t shirts made that read: I survived the Transfer of 2017! Tuesday was a busy day! I have a hard time believing it was in this same week. At the end of the day we fed 75 missionaries! That will make your feet tired! We found out that a local sister will be doing the lunches for MLC and Transfer Day. Sister Chesnut will do the Transfer Day dinner at the Mission Home. We were told she would come on Transfer Day to see how it was done and to receive training. We had her in tears! Really it was because the sight of 29 brand new missionaries just touches your heart. Two missionaries coming from the Mexico MTC missed their connecting flight in California because of the earthquake and a late flight. They were supposed to be here at 11 am but didn’t arrive until 9pm. The two Temple Square sisters didn’t arrive until Wednesday morning and one poor Elder had lost his passport at the Provo MTC so he couldn’t fly, they put him on Amtrak by himself and he traveled all night. It was a crazy transfer day! Our replacement, Sister Giles was a witness to all of the craziness but I think she is still going to do the lunches. She helped in the kitchen on Transfer Day and we met with her on Wednesday (after we straightened the storage room and had everything ready) to give her a cookbook and the keys. She will do MLC on October 6 th . I know she will do great! I had 8 months of training from Sister Beutler, she had one insane day! It feels strange to hand over the keys but it was also good. I don’t know if I will believe that part is over until October 6th!

Friday we turned the rest of the “JustServe” materials over to the Penny’s. We had a little meeting at the mission office and then took them to meet Ellen at Kiwanis Bike. We had 4 missionaries serving right then and they liked seeing that. We also took them by the Nevada Literacy Center where we also have missionaries serving. Elder Hardman sent out the text that said the Zone Leaders will now report to the Pennys. We have done ourselves out of our jobs! There is no one to come and help with the wards though so that felt a little undone today as members asked if someone was coming to replace us. We finished off some names for the records on Saturday and turned everything into the ward clerks today.

We were able to go to 2 lessons this week. We have gone around and said a lot of good-byes. That is hard. We were asked to take a Lady that just moved here to church today. She was baptized two weeks ago. We only just met her but felt like we were telling her good-bye too! We will visit several more this week. I don’t like this part. When we went to tell Kathy good-bye she told us that she has lung cancer, and she’s never even smoked. Her son does. Poor Kathy.

We have given several “last” testimonies. We took around our final “Welcome to the Zone” treat. I mended my last clothing items. We’ve tried to do our best but I think you always think about the things you wish you had done better. We tried to tell Billie good-bye but she wouldn’t answer the phone and her son met us at the door and said she was sleeping. It makes us feel sad. We will go to dinner tomorrow night with the senior couples and President and Sister Chesnut. We will attend our final District meeting on Tuesday. I think I am going to have to show up at District meeting in Utah. I don’t know if I can live without it! How I will miss this sweet association with the missionaries. We had a special testimony given at the “Why I believe” fireside last week. Elder Werner was serving in the Truckee ward when he saw a young man carrying a guitar, being a guitar player he asked him what kind of instrument he had, that led to teaching this 26 year old the lessons and Elder Werner baptized him several months ago. Fast forward to Elder Werner serving in Sienna Vista where he received a referral for a man in the Single’s ward that was too old (31) for the Single’s Sisters to teach. When they contacted Daneil he had been befriended by a recent convert, Lex. You guessed it, Daneil was soon baptized by Lex, who was baptized by Elder Werner and they both had been taught by the same Elder. Elder Werner was able to hear these two testimonies two days before he left to go home. We have witnessed so many tender, sweet mercies on our mission. We are so grateful to have been a part of this. We love these missionaries! We have learned a lot.

Now we look forward to coming home. I hope it feels real by Thursday. I can’t stand too many more “lasts”!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

p.s. It is apropos that Elder Hardman noticed one last bumper sticker this week. “Think, it’s not illegal yet”

Letter #75

We had a special first and last this week. We didn’t bring any family names to do at the Temple because we didn’t know how much time we would have to do them but last Sunday Elder Hardman received a notice from Family Search that there was a name he could print and take to the Temple. We knew we were going with the Keystone Ward on Friday for Ward Temple Night so he was able to take this name for our last trip to the Reno Temple. We now have a family name with a Reno Temple stamp. That was a fun surprise.

We have started to say good-bye to those people that we won’t see again at church. We went to say good-bye to Brother Jameson, he is the man that came to tell the Sisters as they were weeding in his neighbor’s yard that he was a member. His records weren’t in the ward. Brother Jameson has never looked back at his old lifestyle. He made a change that day and continues to move forward in the Gospel. He is 79. We love Brother Jameson. We went to Judith and Mary’s. They are the fun ladies with the amazing Christmas house. Judith was upstairs working on Family History. We love these good ladies. I will miss seeing their home at Christmas time this year. I have never seen anything to compare. The Hardings had us over to their new home for a BBQ. They feel like they are settling in. Doug told us that he knows he will be baptized and will let us know when. We love the Hardings. It does start to feel weird when you know you are saying good-bye.

We spoke at Empty Nesters. It was fine, just a few friends were there. It was very informal and a nice evening. I think our speaking engagements are done.

We went to a different Mobile Harvest site last week. Our usual choice was full. This was way up north in Cold Springs. We went and it was full of Food Bank employees, that is usual! We soon figured out that a reporter was coming to interview and do a story on the Food Bank. It all made sense then. If you look on the Food Bank of Northern Nevada’s facebook page you can see us in the background. We have one more Mobile Panty this week and then we are done, that will make us sad. We have enjoyed helping at the Mobile Pantries.

We spent Thursday afternoon with Tondalaya. She finally had the infected tooth pulled. We went to pick her up and she had her dog with her. We tended the dog while she had the tooth pulled. We then waited 40 minutes to pick up a prescription. Not the most fun we’ve ever had but she wouldn’t have been able to get there without a ride.

We were able to go to 3 different lessons, always a great thing to do! I sewed five blankets for the Super Saturday Service Activity and fixed a Sister’s skirt that she ripped at District meeting. I think I can put my machine away now. We went to dinner, one last time, with the Hemmerts. They like to take us to new places to eat. This one was right beside the baseball stadium. It was a fun night. We told them we would find a fun place to go if they come and see us in Draper, they said it would have to wait a year. They are Self-Reliance Missionaries.

We have already started to cook for Tuesday. We made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies today. The real work starts tomorrow.

Our last full week starts tomorrow! The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #74

The talks are over! Hip, hip, hooray! I decided that it is hard to give the same talk twice and feel the same about it. If I ever have to do that again I will probably change it up. Elder Hardman is much better at adapting a talk but I write it all down and give that talk. Unlike missionaries that learn so much about how to give talks and prepare and talk about any subject at any time with little or no notice, I have not had that type of a mission and my “giving a talk” skills are no better than what I started with. I usually just feel relieved that it’s over. We still have to decide what we are saying tomorrow night for the Empty Nesters Family Home Evening.

We survived our last MLC. It was kind of a sad day. Sister Chesnut’s stepfather passed away suddenly that morning. She was in a fog. We thought we would be able to discuss some things before we do Transfer Day but it wasn’t the right time for it. I’m sure she will be gone this week for the funeral. They thought they had figured out who would take over the meals but it sounds like that isn’t going to work out so we will feel guilty leaving this on Sister Chesnut. It is a lot of work. It can be done in a different way and it will be just fine. Sister Beutler made beautiful homemade meals and I just followed her tradition but store-bought lasagna would be fine too. It will work out, just makes us feel like we are letting them down.

We had a Tuesday full of lessons again. Tuesday is becoming our favorite day because we are being invited to help teach on those days. We went with the Sisters after District meeting and then we took the Elders to two lessons at night. They like for us to pick them up and take them to these lessons because they are far away and if they ride with us they don’t use up their miles. We don’t feel used though, we are grateful for any excuse to go. We also went to a lesson later in the week with the other Elders. One of our Zone leaders went home before Transfer Day to start school so we only have 1 Zone Leader who is putting himself with different companionships for the next 2 weeks. He looks a little overwhelmed on his own. We certainly are feeling the impact of the next transfer, it will be a BIG one!

The numbers for Transfer Day were down. We were going to have 30 but one came back early and one isn’t coming at all but it is now up to 31, they are getting some Temple Square Sisters. We haven’t had Temple Square Sisters since we first arrived! There will be so many changes and they have had to close and open new apartments. A lot is going on right now but we realize that we will never really get to know these new missionaries. That is a weird feeling! Even President Chesnut had to tell everyone that it was our last MLC…. And they wonder why missionaries get trunky. Today was the only day we could have talked in September, next week is High Council Sunday and the next is Fast and Testimony again. We are going to feel like when you are pregnant and people keep ask why you haven’t had the baby yet. I’m sure they will think today was our last Sunday.

We went to the Penny’s setting apart with President Chesnut. We watched the balloons for three days but didn’t go to the park this year. One even landed in the Church parking lot. I don’t know if that was planned or not but it takes a crew to put away a big balloon. Keystone had a fun Super Saturday. We are signed up for 2 more Mobile Harvests. There are still things to do!

The Gospel’s true and we love you,

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #73

Last Zone Activity- They had a hike to the “N”. They have a mandatory zone activity once a transfer. Everyone is to attend, no excuses! They voted on going on a hike but had no idea of where to go. We have been around long enough to know where they can go that is something they can do in a few hours, includes everyone and they think it fun. The problem was the heat! The Arizona Sister said that in Arizona they were smart enough not to hike in the afternoon (in the heat). It was hot but there was a breeze and it was overcast, which made it bearable. We hiked part of the way but mostly we provided iced water bottles and sunscreen and took their picture.

Last Zone Leader “JustServe” training- We took our last Elders to lunch and did a “JustServe” training. It was the Fallon zone leaders. Elder Lyman was an A.P. but they often will go back out before they leave and serve somewhere else in the field. Elder Lyman is my favorite. He is friendly, upbeat and a great missionary but that isn’t why he is my favorite. When he was A.P. he would get up from every meal and be the first one to start cleaning up, he was always at the sink washing dishes and he made sure I was done or else he wasn’t done. No one else would notice, but I did. Elder Lyman is special. He will go home this transfer. Elder Torres is his companion and he is great too. I would imagine that serving with Elder Lyman teaches you many things. It was fun to treat them to lunch (and do a little training)

Last birthday in the mission field- That may be a good thing! Elder Hardman’s birthday was the busiest day of the week and made us feel old! It fell on Tuesday, District meeting so we bought an ice cream cake to celebrate at lunch time. We were asked to help with FOUR lessons that day. We had one with the Sisters that fell through but we went from one appointment to the next and didn’t get home until 9pm that night. We had a dinner of cereal and went to bed.

Last Doctor’s appointment- Elder Hardman had his last follow-up appointment for his kidney stones. He can now take all of his information home to his doctor there. He was told to drink a lot of water! We also have been filling out paper work to get insurance when we get home. There are a lot of things young missionaries don’t have to think about but we do.

Last meeting with Sister Wilson- And we met the Pennys. They are the local couple that are taking both ours and Sister Wilson’s assignment. I think we overwhelmed them but they will be great. They already serve once a week at the Bishop’s Storehouse. Brother Penny does all of the apartment inspections for the Reno zone (2 Stakes) I think they have callings in their ward and this is just an extra assignment. So much for being retired! We are going to their setting apart tomorrow and we will take them to several of the people we work with to introduce them but then they will take over all of the calling, training, texting, scheduling, follow-up and reporting. I don’t know why they were overwhelmed!

We hope it wasn’t our last contact with Tondalaya but we went on Saturday to give her a lesson. We had a good lesson but she asked us if it was a sin if she went to the nearby church because she can take her dog. She is a good lady. I know she felt the spirit when she was coming with us to church but with all of her troubles she has fallen into the “it’s not my fault, I’m the victim” mentality that we see a lot here. We also know it wasn’t the last time to knock doors, but I am looking forward to that day! One lady finally came to the door (we could hear her screaming at her dogs so we knew she was home and wouldn’t leave) and told us she didn’t want to talk to “you people”. I think she meant old people, no one likes to talk to old people.

We had our last Temple Preparation class. It was a good ending. We now hope that Brother Roe can have things work out so that he can go to the Temple.

We will do our last MLC meal this week. Elder Hardman asked Elder Lyman if he had a request and he said he didn’t care as long as I served my tomatillo dressing! Thanks Michelle, it’s your recipe but I take the credit for it! I don’t know if it goes with pasta but you can bet I will make it for Elder Lyman.

We are giving two Sacrament talks on Sunday and then today they asked us if we will do the Empty nesters Family Home Evening and tell about all of our great experiences. We smiled and said “Yes”, ugh! We went to dinner with the Halls on Friday, they are our neighbors and the wife isn’t a member but we really enjoy them. Brother Hall is in the bishopric and the Bishop is out of town so he called Brother Hall to ask him to go downtown and pay for a motel for a family that is passing through but can’t afford a room. Andi (the wife) said because he is retired and they know he is home that he is called all the time. How I admire her for her understanding and support of her husband, what a great example!

The weeks are filling up with last things to do! The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #72

Ready to hear about all of our “lasts” this week? We signed up for our last Mobile Harvest assignments in September. We were going to give our last Temple Preparation class today. I even made cookies. We only have Brother Roe left. We went to our last time to clean the chapel on Saturday and he asked Elder Hardman to be his escort to go to the Temple. He didn’t come to church today and so we didn’t have class. We will need to check on him this week. He also told Elder Hardman he got a job in Elko and will move Labor Day weekend. We thought today would be a good class and now we are worried about Brother Roe. We also found out several weeks ago that Brother Wetherall (the one that said that thinking he could actually enter the Temple felt like a dream) has prostate cancer and will soon start radiation treatment. He still comes to Sacrament meeting but can’t sit through Sunday School time too. We went to check on him this past week and he was so happy to see us to explain. He wanted us to know that he wanted to come to class and didn’t want to think that he was letting us down. Good people with rough lives. We thought we might be having our last “JustServe” meeting with Sister Wilson but learned today that they have called a local couple to replace both of us and we will be meeting with them for training. We have had a lot of new zone leaders to train lately so it will be great to know that there won’t be a waiting period for a new person to come in to keep it all going. We keep being told that is the direction they will be going with the meals also, a local couple/sister will be called. We haven’t heard that it’s happened yet.

We hope we haven’t attended our last baptism but we went to a fun one on Saturday night. Daneil (not Daniel) was baptized. We had him come to our apartment for a lesson. He is a great young man who wants to serve others. Elder Hardman stood in the circle today for his confirmation. Daneil approached the missionaries one day to see if there was anything they needed, that is how he was introduced to the gospel.

We met a new move-in in the Sienna Vista ward this week. She is a lady with M.S. She has been active but needs help getting to church and activities. We were going to pick her up today but the heat made her sick. We enjoyed getting to know her and think the ward will take good care of her but we hope we will be able to make the introduction. They are a great ward to help but Sister Baytek will need help becoming acquainted with people. We went to check on Tondalaya this week. She is in a bad situation. Her son was asleep on her bed, drunk. She lives in a studio apartment and only has one bed. The neighbor filed a complaint about her dog barking and she is facing eviction. She hasn’t been to church in months. She texted me later to thank me for coming and asked if we could come for Bible study this next week. Poor Tondalaya! I don’t know how to help someone change the only way they know how to live. I guess that isn’t true. I do know how to change a life but they have to be willing to change, and not look back. We also went to a lesson of a woman who was ready to be baptized quite a while ago but then relapsed and started drinking again. In all of her moving around she lost her Bible and Book of Mormon. Here’s the miracle. When she was taking the discussions she had a young missionary in the Lemmon Valley ward, she is now living at the Shelter and is in the Sienna Vista ward. The Elder serving there is the same Elder that was in the Lemmon Valley ward, 18 months ago. Elder Werner will go home in September. She feels that she trusts this Elder and wants to be baptized. She has some heavy addictions to overcome. What a trap Satan lays that take away agency and binds people to a life that they would give anything to get away from but can’t keep commitments that would give them their freedom.

We will have a few more “lasts” this week. Elder Hardman will have his last check-up for the kidney stones. We will celebrate the last birthday in the mission field and we will go out to dinner for the last time with our apartment neighbors. We had already been asked to speak in the Keystone ward on September 10 th and were asked to today to speak in the Sienna Vista ward on the same day. They said we could speak on the same subject. That is a last I could have done without!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #71

Since we are already experiencing “the last time” things I thought I would give an accounting of the meals we have prepared on our mission. I won’t talk about the meals we helped Sister Beutler with, just the ones we were in charge of ourselves. Here goes……

MLC (Mission Leadership council) This is once a month and we feed about 40 people.
Breakfast Casserole
Chicken Burrito Bowls
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Soup- White chicken Chili and Taco soup
Ham and funeral potatoes
Breakfast Casserole (yes, we did this twice, it is the favorite meal)
Sloppy Joes
Breakfast Burritos
Sweet Pork Salads
The second breakfast casserole meal was when they also invited the District Leaders for the meeting and we fed 60 people that day.

Transfer Day Lunch this comes every six weeks and is for the incoming missionaries. The number we feed are variable! We usually have a group that arrives around lunch time from the Provo MTC and a group comes from the Mexico MTC but we never know when they will arrive until right beforehand.

Soup- Broccoli Cheese and Chicken Noodle- 20 people
Hawaiian Haystacks -27 people
Baked Potato Bar- 22 people
Croissant Sandwiches- 15 people
Taco Salad- 17 people
Croissant Sandwiches- 40 people

Transfer Day Dinner This is the last supper for the outgoing missionaries. They go to the Temple and then come to the Mission Home for a nice dinner, program and testimony meeting. It is almost worth feeding everyone to be a part of the opportunity to hear their “final” testimony. I’m pretty sure Heaven will feel like this, where you share spirit to spirit. It is a sweet thing to be a part of.

Parmesan Chicken and funeral potatoes- 20 people
Ham and funeral potatoes- 21 people
Marinara Ziti and Chicken Alfredo Ziti- 14 people (gosh! They ate a lot of pasta for 14 people!)
Roast beef dinner and baked potatoes- 16 people
Marinated chicken BBQ -24 people
BBQ ribs and potato salad…- 27 people

When I put it on paper it doesn’t look like that much but it has felt like a lot! We have fed General Authorities. We have fed new converts. They all like to be fed! Every meal includes a big fruit bowl, salad, rolls, vegetables…. All the trimmings! And dessert. I used to think that they didn’t eat much dessert, I don’t know if it’s because a certain healthy eating Elder went home or what but they finish off the desserts now too! For the Mission Christmas party we ordered Costco pizzas but still prepared a big fruit salad. What all of this is leading up to is this……What do we fix for our last MLC and Transfer Day meals (that’s 3 more meals)? Your vote can come from this list or you can vote for something else, not on the list! We would love to have your input!

We attended our last zone conference this week. It is bittersweet to start putting “our last” before things now. We also helped in the office on Friday for the last time. We loved spending a lot of the week with Clay’s family at Lake Tahoe. It is a little easier to say good-bye when we know we will see them in a few weeks (6- that’s a transfer!)

We aren’t done yet though. There are new zone leaders to train in JUSTSERVE, there is a never-ending supply of “new move-in” names to knock doors, there are people to check on, there are golden opportunities to attend a lesson with the young missionaries, there are 6 more district meetings to enjoy, AND one more MLC and Transfer Day!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #70

What did we do this week? We planned, we shopped, we prepared, we cooked, we served, we cleaned up and then we did it again and again! It is not my favorite thing to have Transfer day and MLC all in the same week. We fed 40 people for lunch, 30 for dinner on Transfer Day. When we have these big groups of incoming missionaries it always looks like Christmas morning with bikes and packages all over the Cultural Hall. All of a sudden these new missionaries look so young! The Vaia’vakas and Thurgoods came to help us with the lunch. The Thurgoods went with the outgoing missionaries to the Temple. The Vaia’vakas came to help with dinner. We barbecued 6 racks of ribs. I have never done that many ribs before! Elder Hardman and Elder Vaia’vaka were grill masters! The ribs were beautiful and delicious. We had a sweet testimony meeting with the outgoing missionaries.  We realize that the missionaries we know best are the ones going home and the new ones coming in we will not have the chance to get to know. That is a strange feeling.

Wednesday was a special day. Do you remember when we were going to a young boy named Liam and we would visit with the grandma while the missionaries taught Liam?  Then Liam decided to not take the lessons anymore? I was SO sad! We have stopped by a few times to see the grandma (Terry) and her mom, to check on them and just keep in contact. Well, Liam decided he wanted to take the lessons again. I told the Elders that we needed to find a way to have Terry listen to the lessons. Wednesday night was an answer to many prayers. The “new” Elders asked if we could all sit together for the lesson, Terry said “Yes”! It was such a good lesson. Our new Elders did an amazing job including both Liam and Terry. The spirit was so strong. I think it was the best lesson we have been a part of. I just love the missionaries. They answered questions, they bore testimony,they promised them blessings if they would read the Book of Mormon together. Terry told how Liam had wondered why he gets teary-eyed when he thinks about God. It was a wonderful opportunity for the Elder White and Elder Werner to tell them how the Holy Ghost was communicating with him. It was such a wonderful evening. I am grateful that we had this opportunity.

Late Wednesday night we had another meal surprise! President Chesnut called to tell us that we wouldn’t be doing MLC at our usual church, there was a conflict. We found out that we would be at the Institute. This meant that we had to take all of our supplies, cooking stuff, food, paper products to the Institute. Ugh, it always works out but I would rather not have some of these experiences!  We are now down to ones! One more MLC and one more Transfer Day. It won’t be in the same week either!

Right now we are at in cute cabin in Tahoe with Clay, Katie, Lila, Lewis and our sweet Victoria. We are having so much fun with these three. Lila and Lewis have changed so much and Victoria is as cute as they come! Tomorrow we will celebrate the twins 3^rd birthday.  It was such a busy week last week, we will certainly enjoy these few days with the kids.

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,

Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #69

We just returned from a “Why I Believe” fireside. This is where recent converts share their conversion story and testimony. We so enjoy these firesides. We have heard the testimony of one sister three times but her personal growth and spiritual development always impresses us. She even talked about how she has seen the growth in herself and knows that the change is because of the Holy Ghost in her life. Each story is sweet and they share such personal things with everyone. I will miss hearing these firesides.

The rest of our week was good. We were asked to go to two lessons. Each were with an older lady. They ask us because they think the lady will “relate” to us better. When we go and the lady is in her 70-80s, we smile. I guess to an eighteen year old we are all the same age. They are both amazing women who willingly accept what the missionaries teach. I wonder at the humble acceptance. I ask myself if I would so willingly believe the message of the missionaries. The one lesson was about the Word of Wisdom. The lady has a friend who is a member but she had never heard that we believe in no tea, coffee, drinking or tobacco. She wondered why her friend has never mentioned it. She is a smoker but when the Elders asked if she’d give up smoking she said “Okay”! We asked how she was doing and they said that she was doing great and keeping that commitment. The next challenge is getting work off so she can come to church.

We had a pretty good door slam this week. The guy opened the door, said they had already given at the blood bank and slammed the door. I want to say, “We don’t want your blood, just your soul!” They never let me have any fun.

The Sienna Vista ward had a fun BBQ on Saturday. It was held at a home in the ward. Their yard is like a beautiful park. The children all ran around and had a wonderful time. Brother Forsythe (the owner) barbecued steaks for everyone. We had the usual afternoon thunderstorm but it just dropped a few drops and cooled everything off nicely. We went early to shuck corn and help set up. Today at church there were so many members that were really touched by the BBQ. It’s hard to imagine not growing up with the social aspect of the church and it is such a new thing to a recent convert that they really are drawn in by the feeling of a ward family.

We took Rocio to a baptism on Friday night. She is trying to be ready for her baptism on August 26th. Rocio is in her early 20s. The Elders have done a great job of inviting a young couple to her lessons. This young wife is now thinking of ways to invite Rocio to things. THEN…. No Rocio at church today. We were sad and disappointed. The Elders called the house and found out that she is in the hospital. She has epilepsy and has seizures. She keeps losing jobs because she misses work because of the seizures. Will you remember her in your prayers?

This week has been the calm before the storm. This next week has me stressed out. You would think that I would get used to Transfer Day. As it gets closer I get more uptight. We will get this big transfer over with and then feed missionaries again on Friday for MLC. I am looking forward to the weekend! We had a big powwow with President and Sister Chesnut to plan for Tuesday. We have 19 coming in at 11:30 am from Salt Lake and then 4 more in the afternoon from the Mexico MTC. I will leave sack lunches in the fridge for those missionaries but I will be at the Mission home preparing for dinner by then. We were told this week that they are looking at two different couples to replace us, one for JustServe and one to do the meals.

We had Temple Day as a zone this week. We realized it was our last one with the missionaries. Most senior couples go to the Temple with the missionaries on their last Transfer Day but we will be cooking so this was our last chance. We took the YSA Sisters with us to a Mobile Harvest assignment this week so a different zone could go to the Temple. It was a fun, hot day!

It was a good week. The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #68

We celebrated Pioneer Day in style! We had a picnic with the senior couples and President and Sister Chesnut at Rancho San Rafael Park. We brought chicken and a dish to share. Each couple told a family pioneer story and then we took a walk around the park. The evening was perfect, is was overcast and cooler. It didn’t rain until our drive home. We put the activity together. I guess we are the party couple.

We had three days in a row that we were invited to a lesson with the missionaries. That was amazing! We had a lesson again with Rocio and Tracy Edwards and then a lesson with our ZLs with a 12 year old girl and her mom. They were all great and we love to be invited.

It’s the end of the transfer and so I received an armful of mending to do this week. I still have pants to cut off and hem.

We have been trying to invite a couple in our complex to dinner for a LONG time. We met the man last year walking his dog in the mornings. He has asked us several things about our mission and the church. We told him we’d love to have him and his wife come to dinner sometime. It finally happened! They came to eat on Thursday. They stayed for 3 hours! What we learned is that there are so many lonely people. I’m not sure how it went or what might come from it, we will see.

We celebrated National Hamburger Day by going to Red Robin- see we really are party people!

Then came Saturday….. the day to end all days! We had offered to help the Hardings move stuff to a storage unit. We knew they had asked their ward for help and the missionaries were coming to help and then they asked the A.P.s to meet us at the end to unload into the storage. We started at 9 am. They had everything in boxes. They rented the large U-haul truck. Oh man! I believe that when someone tells you they sell stuff on Ebay it’s just another way to say, “I’m a hoarder!” We filled that truck! Only one couple from the ward showed up. Thank goodness for the missionaries. We didn’t move furniture, just boxes and boxes and boxes. The morning wasn’t too bad because it wasn’t hot yet. Unloading was a different story. The man, Doug (investigator) has a bad heart. The woman, Lundy (member) has had leukemia twice and has a bad back. They tried but couldn’t help much. Elder Hardman spent the whole time in the back of the truck, either stacking or unstacking. He and I carried way too many boxes that day. The A.P.s had a lesson and had to leave but when they returned they brought the Spanish speaking Elders and three Sisters and water. Hallelujah! The truck was bigger than the storage unit and we had to keep moving stuff around to make it all fit. It was so hot! Elder Hardman got light-headed and I had to drive us home. We loaded and unloaded for 5 ½ hours. We are too old for missionary work!

Today we found out that another lady in the ward picked up Kathy and brought her to church. That is nice. We have wondered who would bring her after we are gone.

Our numbers for the August transfer went down to 23 but the number for the September transfer is 30! That will be a new record!

The Gospel’s true and we love you, but don’t ask us to help you move!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #67

I guess the news is out but we have a release date! It is September 28 th . It is a little bit early. They decided that they didn’t want to pay October’s rent when we would only be here a few days. They also want to have Friday to move furniture from the apartment so we will be leaving on Thursday. It took a while to process this information. It didn’t seem real for a few days and leaves you feeling weird. We haven’t actually heard it from the Mission President, the Office Elder over apartments called us with the news. I guess that felt a little strange too but whatever…. We will be home to watch General Conference in our own home. We hadn’t planned on that!

I always ask Elder Hardman, “What did we do this week?” I was surprised with his answer. We didn’t have a lot of planned activities at the first of the week but we ended up doing many things.

Monday- We went and played at the Institute with the missionaries. I learned last year that if I get the UNO cards out we will have a group migrate towards that activity that don’t want to do the other games. It was true again but we have a new Elder, Elder Clark who made playing UNO the coveted activity. He was hilarious! He would congratulate everyone on whatever they did. I said, “You must have been on a lot of teams at home!” He said, “Yep, a lot of losing teams!” I guess high fives and cheers are very important if you’ve been on a lot of losing teams. Elder Hardman and I quickly gave up our seats for the missionaries that wanted to join the game. It was fun seeing them having a great time.

Tuesday- Best day of the week!! District meetings are always up-lifting. They focused on role playing and we always get to be the “Investigators” or the “Member Present”. Elder Hardman can be mean with his questions but he had the little Sister from Guatemala confused when he said that they couldn’t have had steel in the Americas so the Book of Mormon can’t be true. She started to talk about how after the fall, bad things were brought to the Earth and people would make the wrong choices….. I realized she thought he meant STEAL. Her sweet companion (who is a brand new missionary) had it figured out and sweetly summarized how the truths in the Book of Mormon can be clear when you pray and ask Heavenly Father for the answers. I was so impressed. Sister Escobar bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel. Whether the word is “steel” or “steal”, a heart felt testimony always wins!

We have an advantage right now that one of the A.P.s was in our zone so they will invite us to come to lessons. We tell every missionary, no matter the zone that we can come and teach with them. It is a woman that is seeking answers and she is humble and teachable but has very little religious experience in her background. I think of the Primary song, “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus”. Imagine your life without knowing the sweet stories of Jesus. You know you have an experienced missionary when they know how to break down the lessons to a very simple form. We also were able to go that night with our Keystone Elders to a lesson. Rocio has been taking the lessons for over a year. First she needed to get married and now she needs to come to church so she can be baptized. She works on Sundays but she was at church today. It seems she probably has lost her job so she is planning on being baptized on August 26 th . We have mixed feelings about this!

Wednesday- We made bread and had a “check-in” day. Kathy wanted us to have some keys made for her so we picked up her key, made copies and took her a loaf of bread. We visited Tondalaya. Her tooth is still bad and she is depressed because she can’t find someone to take care of it. We took her a loaf and she had a blessing. We have an older couple in the Ward, the Sister has Parkinson’s. We haven’t seen them for a while. We took them a loaf. The last loaf went to a brother of our neighbors in Draper. They have asked us to go see his family. We had a nice visit but his wife wasn’t home. We hope to be invited back to meet her.

Thursday- We had our morning Food Bank assignment. We are starting to realize that we will really miss our friends from the Mobile Harvests. There is a “core” group and we feel a part of that. We have a good time with these wonderful volunteers. We have a new lady that just retired and this is what she has decided to do in her spare time. She did ask me if I knew what time “Happy Hour” starts, she is planning her retirement party. I wanted to point to my name tag but instead I told her I didn’t know. We are a fun bunch of retirees! We then drove to Carson City to train some new Zone Leaders in JustServe.Sister Wilson keeps sending us emails, reminding us how many weeks we have left. There still isn’t a replacement and she doesn’t want all of the hard work to get “lost”. We don’t need to keep track, Sister Wilson is counting down for us! We love trainings where the Zone Leaders take notes and have ideas. This was one of those trainings. We let them pick the place to have lunch. Missionaries always know where they want to go eat!

Friday- We have learned that if we have a “free” day we can always go to the Food Bank Warehouse so we went for a shift. It was the first time they didn’t give us flowers! Bummer! On the way home on the freeway our car flashed “service transmission” and lost power, scary! The frustrating thing about this is that we had just taken it in 10 days ago for the same thing and they did a computer patch that was supposed to fix it. We drove to the Mission Office where they let us borrow a car, again, and dropped off the Jeep at the dealership. I guess we will be getting a new transmission this time but it could take up to 2 weeks. All very annoying but we are grateful that we made it safely to the dealership.

Saturday- We cleaned the church, I mean that literally. There was us and the bishopric member over the church cleaning. We had help from a Brother from another ward and another member showed up late but he did the bathrooms so that was all right. We knocked doors. We had an address that didn’t exist but we tried a different one from the Search Engine and met a really nice man. This family moved from Utah three years ago, they have been “lost”. He has a cool classic truck that he has fixed up and painted beautifully. His son served a mission and has had a great influence on his Dad. We invited him to come to church. He was considering it. We’re praying that the Spirit will continue to work on him. These experiences are a miracle, everything just comes together at the right time. It feels pretty good! We went to dinner with the Hardings that night. Doug (the non-member) has had some heart issues. They hadn’t been having the lessons and things weren’t progressing for a while but they have started again and said they would go to church today. They have bought a home in Sparks and are moving in September. We are going to be helping them move boxes this week. So that was our week! And I thought we hadn’t done anything!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #66

It felt like a week of sitting. We had District meeting on Tuesday. Zone Conference on Wednesday and were asked on Wednesday if we could help in the Office on Thursday. Three days of sitting! It’s all good sitting but that is a lot of sitting! The trainings were all wonderful. Sister Douglas didn’t have warning that we would be helping in the office so she didn’t have anything prepared for us to do. I took the cookbook to copy and things to prepare for assignments on Sunday but we had a lot of time to walk around the office in circles. We did have quite a few phone calls this time and some Elders dropped by while their car horn was being fixed. It wasn’t too bad. Most of the calls we get we have to pass on to the Office missionaries so I’m not sure if we are much help but we are bodies to sign for deliveries and we do take messages pretty well.

I made a copy of the cookbook that Sister Beutler prepared before she left and the pages of what I have made. So far, there is no one coming to replace us. Sister Chesnut will probably be the one that this responsibility will fall on. I don’t know how she will have time to do the shopping and preparing. The only way I can think to help is to add to Sister Beutler’s book with what we have done. I didn’t realize that it probably felt good to Sister Beutler to “train” us.

Today was a fun Sunday. We are enjoying our Temple Preparation class. There is a great spirit in the class. We also were asked to do Sharing Time in Primary. We talked about Reverence. I had made little “Reverence Mice”. (If a mouse would ride to church in your pocket on this day…..) There were only 8 children in Primary today. It was fun to be in Primary and listen to the songs!

Tondalaya is still struggling with an abscessed tooth. She was going to come but didn’t feel good this morning. She is frustrated because she had dental coverage in California. She told me that California has better medical coverage but Nevada has better “living” prices, that she can’t win for losing. We struggle to understand the thought that someone should take care of all of your needs (and wants). We don’t know how to respond. She says she will be okay but that really just means that she will figure out a way to work the system. We keep reading things about giving a hand up not a hand-out but we still don’t have the answers to so many needs here.

We went with the Bellamys to Graeagle (pronounced Gray Eagle) yesterday for a craft fair and to show them around Quincy. We feel like we’ve wanted to see as much of our mission as we can but our mission office missionaries haven’t seen much. I don’t think we are knowledgeable tour guides but we have enjoyed seeing the different parts of the mission. We have had fun seeing where the different chapels are and knowing where the missionaries are serving. It is kind of a strange concept for these couples but we may have a convert with the Bellamys. They were pretty excited to think they could explore the area.

Zones have one zone activity a transfer where they all get together and plan a “big” activity. Our zone is going to the Institute tomorrow. They have been allowed to use the Institute building for an activity but only if we are willing to be there the whole time. Tomorrow’s the day! The Institute has ping pong, air hockey, etc…. It’s fun for them and it will be cool inside. We did this last year too but there isn’t a single missionary here now that was here then! We don’t change but there is sure a lot of change around us!

Our new Stake President asked to visit with us today. We wondered what it could be about. We were surprised when it was to talk about the members in the Keystone Ward. He told us that he doesn’t know people in the ward and he wanted our input. He had some specific names he asked about. We felt grateful that we have made the effort to “know” the members. It wouldn’t have felt good to say we didn’t know people. We’re still surprised that he came to us but I also realized that we have been accepted and loved into this ward, we do feel attached to them. That’s good to know for some reason.

We wake up every morning to a new fire somewhere around us. The air is so smoky. We haven’t heard that there are any in California that are contributing to the smoke. It started earlier this year and I think it will go longer too.

We hope you are having a great summer!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #65

When we came to Reno we said that we would probably attend a funeral while we were here for someone that was the “heart and strength” of the church. We have now attended three. Brother Moon passed away and we attended and helped with his funeral on Saturday. We have had the privilege of knowing some amazing people here. Brother Moon is one of those people. He and his wife joined the church in the 80’s. They came from a strong Baptist background. He was a deacon in the Baptist church. Brother Moon served in the Air Force. He was a Civil Rights Officer for the State of Reno. He was a lifetime member of the NAACP. He started a Boy Scout unit for Black and Underprivileged youth. He received many Community Service awards but what stands out the most to me was his amazing testimony of the Savior. Brother Moon had a hard time walking and he was stooped over but he would make his way to the stand and tell you about his friend, Jesus Christ. He always had a warm handshake and smile for everyone. Our blind friend Kathy had Brother Moon as her home teacher for many years. His family from Georgia came for the funeral. You could see that it would have been so easy for the Moons to stay in their comfort zone with their family and their religion but the light that makes them special led them to the Gospel. A representative for the NAACP spoke at the funeral, to show respect because he knew that Brother Moon had held a “rank” in the church he called him “Elder Moon”. We have new Elders in the ward and they were wonderful to come to the luncheon and talk to the family. They answered questions and were such thoughtful representatives. The talks that the Bishop and Stake President gave were done perfectly. Today in one of the Sacrament talks a man told how when he was asked as a councilman to vote for a “Martin Luther King” day he struggled with the thought so he went to talk to Brother Moon. After he spent some time with him and Brother Moon explained what it would mean to have a day to honor a black man in our country he voted for the proposition. We hope we don’t get to attend more funerals while we are here but we have felt the influence of righteous examples in this community. They have had to “stand for truth and righteousness” and they have stood out!

We enjoyed four extra-ordinary sacrament talks today. Each of our wards had a special “patriotic” meeting today. We have a woman from Mongolia who told about what it was like to be raised in country with no agency, where your choices are decided for you. It was a powerful testimony about the Plan of Salvation. Another man came from Denmark and he told of his family’s decision to immigrate during the war. I have felt especially grateful all day for living in this country and the blessings we enjoy because of that.

Last year we thought we would be able to see fireworks from our apartment, we couldn’t. This year we drove down the hill and could see across the valley. We enjoyed the fireworks from the Nugget casino. They have two tall buildings and they light fireworks from the top of the buildings. That was fun.

We had MLC on Friday. We made 72 breakfast burritos on Thursday. They ate all 72! They seem to love to eat breakfast at MLC. We also had yogurt parfaits. They always eat a lot on MLC. We are down to 2s. We have 2 MLCs and 2 Transfers Days left to prepare for. They will be two BIG Transfer Days! I wish I could say that we have this assignment all figured out but each time is a new experience and we do things “right” and we do things “wrong” every time!

Tondalaya has an abscessed tooth. She doesn’t have dental care. She has missed church for the last 2 weeks. We need to see what we can do this week. Cy is a man that joined the church a little while before we came. There were 12 baptisms around the time he was baptized in our area. Cy is the only one that has stayed active. He was so excited today because he received the priesthood. He was showing everyone his Priesthood Certificate. Cy is in his 70’s. When I get discouraged I think of Cy. The Atonement of Jesus Christ changes lives. “Let me tell you about my good friend, Jesus….”

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #64

The main events this week were: Transfer Day and meeting Anders.

Transfer Day: I felt like I hauled more things around than ever before. I think it was because we barbecued and we took paper products for dinner. We leave the apartment by 8:30 am and get home around 9:30pm. It is a long day. We make the lunch for the incoming missionaries, clean-up and take things back to the apartment, reload for the evening meal. I drop Elder Hardman off to take out-going missionaries to the Temple and I go to the Mission home, unload and start dinner. Elder Hardman drops off missionaries and then comes to help. He didn’t have to pick up missionaries this time, one of the Office couples did that. We had a nice dinner and a sweet testimony meeting. Then we go back to the apartment and unload one more time and drop into bed. It’s a busy but rewarding day. We had so many changes in our zone so it was fun to take a treat around on Thursday and meet the new missionaries in our zone. We have a returning Elder who was here when we first came to Reno. He is excited to be back in the North Valleys and we will work with him in one of our wards. We have two sisters who are training. I think when we get 25 missionaries next transfer and lose 13 it will feel like the whole mission is training.

We left on Thursday afternoon to drive to Wells, Nevada. Shalene and Garrett rented a cabin and we went to meet this littlest member of the family. Anders is delightful! He doesn’t fuss. When he gets tired you pick him up and he gives a growl and then falls asleep. When he is awake he smiles and “talks” and is very engaging. We had so much fun holding him and now Shalene will have to re-train him on how to fall asleep on his own. We took a few drives and a few little hikes but mostly we held Anders and watched Ari do tricks. The area where the cabin is was beautiful. It had a creek, the field was full of wildflowers. We saw deer, cows, a skunk and a snake (who was digesting something large) and lots of birds. It was quiet and relaxing. We went to Sacrament meeting in Wells. It was the Sunday after their girl’s camp and we heard many great testimonies. They have a lot of youth in Wells! Shalene and Garrett drove to Lehi and we headed to Reno. They beat us home by several hours. We loved seeing them and it hurts to see them drive away but I don’t feel like it is so far away now before we will see them again. Thank you again for bringing that boy to see us. We think we will keep him. We can’t wait to meet Victoria!

I almost forgot! We also saw Clay last week. He flew into Reno on Monday night, we picked him up from the airport, took him to dinner and gave him the grand tour of 4 th Street. I don’t know if he enjoyed that part. It was fun to hold him too! : ) Bright and early Wednesday morning he sends us a picture of our missionaries in the airport. I didn’t think about how he would be flying home with the missionaries. It was a fun surprise.

It has been a fun week and home doesn’t feel too far away. We have MLC on Friday and then we don’t have to make another meal for a month!

I don’t know if I’ve ever said this before but we love our family. How grateful we are for each of you. How thankful we feel for the ways you bless our lives. We love you!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #63

It seems hard to think back over the week when the upcoming week has a busy transfer day in it! The next three transfers will be thought consuming in many ways. We are losing the leadership in the mission. A new group will rise to the top but right before you wonder how the mission will get along without some very special missionaries. We have now spent a lot of time with these Elders and Sisters, we love them. We will miss them. We are losing 6 from our zone alone. Elder Waite has been here in our wards for a very long time. We will miss his goofiness and his sincere teaching. Elder Bentti gave amazing district trainings. Sister Andersen is beautiful and refined. Sister Marshall gives the best hugs in the mission. Sister Meyer told me on Mother’s Day (over a year ago) “Fake it till you make it”. I don’t think she had any idea at the time how I was taking that advice to heart. She always has a smile on her face. That’s just the ones in our zone. We also will say good-bye to Elder Bean. He was the Elder that went with Elder Hardman to pick up trash at the park. We thought he was being friendly and then realized that Elder Hardman kept going off on his own and Elder Bean knew he should have a companion with him at all times. He was the sheep that kept straying and Elder Bean was sticking close to him. These amazing missionaries win your heart in such simple ways. We will never forget them and their examples.

We did go to the Food Bank warehouse and they sent us home with flowers again. It’s become so commonplace! Not really, I love it. This time we got little rose plants. Elder Hardman said he didn’t want to take a whole box again so I just took a few. I have a hard time when I know they will throw them away. We took one to Tondalaya and she called it her house-warming plant. It’s always fun to get flowers.

We took Tondalaya to the LDS employment services this week and to pick up food from the storehouse. The computers were down at the employment service so that wasn’t helpful. We get frustrated when you see that so many join the church for the welfare. I think that is true with Tondalaya too but she also seems to want to learn. She keeps her commitments. She met with the Elders this week for the “new member” lessons. I am trying to have faith in the process.

We also went to a lesson with a young mom whose children were baptized a few weeks ago in the Tongan ward. She hasn’t been baptized (yet). This is a situation where the cultural environment she lives in makes it very hard for her to make changes. It’s easy to say that the gospel will make everything all right, and it will, but they face so many scary changes before they see those promises fulfilled. These are brave people!

We learned how to play Farkle! We have a cute older lady in a ward that keeps inviting us over to play games. We finally made it there on Friday night. She had invited a few other people and we played Farkle. It was fun. Elder Hardman and I didn’t play very well but we learned about a new game. I’m not sure if we were fulfilling our missionary purpose but it was important to her so we went. We also went to empty-nesters. It is hard being so social!

To top it all off, we had a senior couples activity on Saturday. The Thurgoods invited everyone to come to Chester for lunch and the grand tour of Chester. We had already gone and had the grand tour but it was fun to go with the other couples and the President and wife. We went in the fall before and it was cold. Yesterday it was hot. It is such a beautiful area. We went on a little hike. Elder Thurgood told us all about the variety of pine and fir trees. We collected some sugar pine cones. It was a peaceful day. The Douglas’ invited us to ride with them. We showed them the SHOE TREE, Doyle California (where the cows come from for the Rodeo), and we stopped at the random chimney with no house attached. We really amazed them with all of the culture available on the drive to Chester! They appreciated our great insights and plan on making the Belamys (the other office couple) feel bad that they weren’t with us on the drive. Ha ha! It was a fun day.

Today we taught our first Temple Preparation class. It is sort of a Gospel Essentials/Temple Preparation class. We had great participation. The Elders came into the class too because that is where the recent converts are now. Tondalaya came with us. It will be fun to be a part of this. Brother Witherall said that going to the Temple seemed like a dream to him and that he never imagined that he would ever actually qualify to enter the Temple. Wouldn’t it be fun if he is able to go before we leave? Please remember him in your prayers!

We still have the 25 coming in August and the count in September is up to 17! There will be a whole new crop that we will come to love and admire!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Sister Thurgood and the Sugar Pine Cone door hanger. Sugar Pine cones on the tree. I am bringing some home so that we can make a door hanger too!

Don’t know if you can read it but the chimney was part of a Chevron/Bar. The owner was killed by an angry patron and then later the business burned down, leaving the chimney. They now come on Christmas Eve to light a fire, drink and remember people who have died. I hope you can tell that this is out in the middle of nowhere!

Letter #62

We have tried very hard to not oiter this week.

We met Tondalaya’s dog this week. Tondalaya adopted a rescue dog. She’s a little rat terrier named Memol. She is 12 years old. We took her a doggy treat and toy. We had a little lesson on the importance of the Sacrament. We have been wondering how to handle the fact that Tondalaya walked out during the Sacrament and then they were bending over backwards to make sure she had the opportunity to receive it. It was a little embarrassing. We decided to have a little lesson about it. She understood immediately. I don’t know how her lessons went in California but she knows so little. She wants to learn though. We were talking about the Temple and she asked if there was one in Reno. (She knew there was one in Oakland, CA) We took her and Memol for a ride to see the Temple. Tondalaya also went with me to the Relief Society BBQ. She enjoyed visiting with the other ladies. This week we are taking her to the LDS employment center. She is trying to make changes in her life. She broke it off with the boyfriend in prison. She said she wants a new start. She enjoyed going to church today. We have been asked to start the Temple Preparation class next week and aren’t sure if she will come with us or not. She loves going to Sunday School the most. We will see.

The rest of our week was fairly typical. We are knocking doors but don’t find anyone home. That is the problem with summer, the weather is nice but people aren’t home. I’m trying to think of something new and exciting that happened but it wasn’t that kind of week. The cows did come down for the Rodeo and we have to avoid that part of town. We have déjà vu, all over again.

We had never been to Walker Lake so we took a drive there on Saturday. Good thing I took a picture, we don’t need to go back to Walker Lake. It is home of the Hawthorne Army Depot, the “World’s Largest Depot”. It covers 147,000 acres. There are old (I’m assuming) shells and artillery decorating the town. It is not a pretty town. That was our big adventure.

The count for new missionaries coming in August is up to 25! We are getting to teach on Sundays now. We were asked to help with a Sharing Time in July. I think we have some fun things to look forward to! We have having a senior couples’ activity this Saturday in Chester, CA. I don’t know what is planned. There’s a beautiful lake up there.

We have our first wildfire of the season in Reno. I think there will be many, the grass is plentiful, and all turning brown.

That is all of our news! The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

p.s. Hugs to all of our wonderful “Fathers”, our dads and our grandchildren’s dads. We are so very
grateful for you and love you so much!

Letter #61

A traveler and his camel were traveling across the desert sand dunes when a wind storm came up. The traveler quickly set up his tent and moved inside, closing the flaps to protect himself from the cutting, grinding sands of the raging storm. The camel was left outside and as the violent wind hurled the sand against his body and into his eyes and nostrils he found it unbearable and finally begged for entrance into the tent.

“There is only room for myself”, said the traveler.

“But can I just get my nose in so I can breathe air not filled with sand?” asked the camel.

“Well, perhaps you could do that”, replied the traveler and he opened the flap ever so little and the long nose of the camel entered. How comfortable the camel was now! But soon the camel became weary of the smarting sand on his eyes and ears

“The wind-driven sand is like a rasp on my head. Could I put just my head in?”

Again, the traveler rationalized that to acquiesce would do him no harm, for the camel’s head could occupy the space at the top of the tent which he himself was not using. So the camel put his head inside and the beast was satisfied again- but only for a short while.

“Just the front quarters,” he begged and again the traveler relented. Soon the camel’s front shoulders and legs were in the tent. Finally, by the same process of pleading and yielding, the camel’s torso, his hind quarters and all were inside the tent. Now it was too crowded for the two and the camel kicked the traveler out of the tent and into the storm.

We had a bummer day this week. We take meals around to different people in the ward from time to time. Remember our friends that came for Christmas Eve. We played Pictionary with them and had a nice dinner. Mark had been bringing Brian to church and even let him wear his church clothes until they could get clothes that would fit. Brian progressed, read the Book of Mormon and was coming to church, he was baptized. He has had various health issues but received the Aaronic Priesthood. We have stopped by to visit with them often and they were still meeting with the Elders. They were no longer homeless and the ward was standing beside them, trying to help them improve their circumstances. Things have started to feel a little “off”. We dropped off the meal and Mark started to unload on us, talking badly about Brian. They are facing eviction, Mark’s truck was towed, with his “stuff” in it. Brian is living on the streets. Mark has a shady friend staying with him. He had every excuse why he is not responsible for any of this. He has taken money from several people in the ward. Ugh, that ole camel has pushed himself into those two lives. We finally told him that we didn’t know about any of this and we were there to let him know that we care about him and wanted to check on him. We felt so bad when we left. We know the joy and peace that comes in doing the things Heavenly Father wants us to. There is safety and it is a refuge from the storm when we keep the commandments, follow the Prophet, go to church, read the scriptures, pay our tithing, honor our parents. Each piece supplies what we all we need for happiness in this life and eternal joy in the life to come. But that stinky camel is waiting at the door. DON”T GIVE HIM EVEN AN INCH inside your tent! Just like sin, it is impossible for a camel to enter a door that is closed.

I don’t know if we will ever be able to find Brian. We hope that Mark can have the courage he needs right now.

We had a good MLC meal. Sister Belamy says that the missionaries look at you like they love you. I guess that’s true. They even thank you for sloppy joes! (My kids hate sloppy joes!)

We are now up to 24 incoming missionaries in August. That will be a record for the Nevada Reno Mission!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #60

Holidays only exist for missionaries on the morning when you realize you can’t email somewhere because it is a holiday. Monday we received some panicked calls from missionaries in the zone that needed a place to email. I didn’t mind except they can have an hour and a half to email so when you have several companionships come it takes a LONG time! That is how we celebrated Memorial Day.

Tuesday was District meeting. We no longer have zone training meetings so every Tuesday is District meeting now. I love Tuesdays. We are starting to get to know the new missionaries in the Zone. That is always fun.

Wednesday we went to the Mission Office to help. Elder and Sister Douglas went to Fallon to a Zone Conference. Sister Douglas was ready for us this time. We have 22 new missionaries coming in August and she is already getting ready for them. We collated, stapled and filed. I did arts and crafts by cutting and pasting their information for the Rolodex. It was fun to have something to fill the time, it went by much faster. We still didn’t receive too many phone calls. That is good because we don’t know how to answer their questions anyway. We are warned every time what to do when the transient people come in, what the right protocol is. When a young man walked in in the afternoon and we quickly jumped up to see how we could help him he looked so confused and told us he was the janitor and needed to do the cleaning. I think we scared him. No one warned us that he was coming. It was a better experience this time and it was fun to do something different.

Thursday we did a different Mobile Harvest. These darn companies are getting too many people to volunteer. Smith’s grocery store comes to the Pantry that we like to do on the first Thursday of the month. They had every slot filled so we went to the later Pantry. They don’t have many volunteers at this one. It is the busiest pantry we have ever gone to. You never have a slow time for 1 ½ hours. We finished off two pallets of food. It was fun to see some of the “old timers” there. There is one man that loves being there when the young missionaries come. He loves to tell stories about them. He told us about a day when it was so windy. Then he said, “But if one of those missionaries blow away it’s not a big deal, I know they’ll just replace them for the next time!” He has worked with several of the young missionaries and doesn’t like that they get transferred. He told us how much he admires them and the good stuff they are doing. He also told Elder Hardman that there are two sections of Reno, the downtown area and everywhere else. He said the problem with that is 89% of the people that come to Reno only visit the downtown, so they think that’s what Reno is all about. He is sort of right. Then he talked about how awful 4 th Street is and how no one should ever go there. Elder Hardman told him we spend the majority of our time on 4 th Street. He got quiet, not sure what he was thinking about that!

We suffered two great losses this week. Our lady that lived in the hospital that we would visit was moved to a rehab facility in Idaho. Pam left on a trip to New Orleans and when she gets back her house will have someone else in it. She still doesn’t know where she is going to live but her house is cleaned out, the kitties are in a kennel and what little she kept is in storage. We went to tell her good-bye. I will miss her. She is a little different but fun. She told us she will keep in touch. She told us that except for her aunt and uncle she has never seen a good marriage, she now added us to her list. She thanked us for helping her think about what she believes in. I hope she finds some time in her life to investigate the gospel and let it have a place in her heart.

We were asked to check on a lady (4 th Street) by a member of the Bishopric. We were given the wrong address but we found her (and her boyfriend). When we knocked on the door they let us in and they both started to cry. The lady (Dawn) said she had been praying for help. The boyfriend asked us if we could take him to Walmart to pick up a prescription. He had fallen off his bike and hurt his leg but he was going to walk to Walmart (probably about 4 miles) on crutches. We took him and waited for him. I realized how vulnerable these people are. They don’t know us, but they have to trust us to help. This is another person with a very sad story. We have met so many of them!

Tondalaya, the lady we thought was dead in her apartment a few weeks ago, called and asked if we would pick her up for church this week. She had gone to California to visit her son and her boyfriend in prison. She didn’t have her blue dreadlocks this week but her hair is still blue. She is a lovely lady. They did a cute invitation to the High Priests Social in Relief Society and she asked if she could go to that! It is pretty fun to have someone that is excited to come and keeps her commitments.

Other than that we had a missionary that had surgery to check on. He had surgery when the mission “nurse” and the Mission President were in Elko for conferences. They were nervous about this so we promised we would go look at him. He is doing well and tolerated us looking at him. These missionaries are “counted”, if one blew away in the wind it would definitely be noticed and the troops would be summoned to find them. They are well-loved and cared for.

We took a drive around Buck’s Lake (California). It was so beautiful. I haven’t seen so many dogwood trees in bloom since my youth in Mississippi. The region holds their girl’s camps here. We didn’t find the Church’s site but it was a wonderful day of sight-seeing.

Guess what we get to do this week!? Yep, it’s another meal week.

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #59

Finally, something that I can understand about missionary work! Math!

It was a fun week, we had Xanna, Jason, Bridger and Lindy come to visit and we enjoyed spending time with them in Tahoe and also did a little missionary work. : )

I worried when they said they were coming in May, the ski resorts are still open in Tahoe! It turned out to be a beautiful week. The lake was still very cold but their hotel had a wonderful kiddie pool that was warm. The children were happy just throwing rocks in the lake. They were playing on the grass one afternoon and Lindy said, “Doggy”, it really was a little bunny sitting out on the lawn. It is finally warm enough that the bunnies, lizards, coyote and squirrels have reappeared. We had a picnic in Reno at the park on Monday night when they arrived. The children played in the dinosaur park. Then they drove to Tahoe. We would meet them every day to spend some time playing with them. We stayed with the children one afternoon and Jason and Xanna went to the National Automobile Museum. They took the tour, something we’ve never done. They learned a lot and seemed to enjoy it. We went to see the Tahoe Dam. We are terrible hosts, we really don’t know anything about the area. We don’t go sightseeing. We don’t know where to take people when they come. Good thing we found a few places together. Friday morning came too fast. They drove to Reno and kissed us good-bye. I still haven’t processed that they won’t be home when we get there in October. They will move to Oregon in a week and a half. Bridger and Lindy have grown so much! Bridger keeps telling his mom that I will be home in 5 days. I told him 5 months but I like his idea better. They drove to Utah and we went to Zone Conference. It took about the same amount of time on Friday. It was a great Zone Conference and distracted me from crying all day.

We were sure that Pam would come to church today but received a text at 6:30am telling us that she had a headache. It makes us sad. We had a huge jump in the arriving missionaries coming in August. We are up to 22 new missionaries now, exciting!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,

Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #58

We survived another transfer day! We didn’t have as many transferred from our Zone as we imagined. We do have a new Zone Leader and a new District Leader. We said “Good-bye” to two wonderful Sisters. Sister Monsivais was in our zone a year ago. Sister Light was in our zone now. We were invited to go to a lesson with her before she left and she told the family that she was being transferred to Montana! We thought it was a cute way for her to say she was leaving. We are starting to realize that the Sisters that we know the best will all be leaving before fall. It is such a strange feeling sometimes. We will have 5 missionaries from our zone go home in the next transfer. We aren’t getting very many new missionaries though. In June we will have 13 missionaries go home and only 6 are coming in. There is no transfer in July. The August transfer has 13 going home and 15 (so far) coming in. September has 13 going home and 9 (so far) coming in. The HUGE transfer last July won’t happen for us this year. I guess that is good news for us, making the meals will be easier, but bad news for the mission. Areas will be combined and closed. When we arrived there were 170 missionaries in the mission, there are now 140. We aren’t replacing the numbers that go home. The work still goes on. These young missionaries are amazing. We only had 1 Sister come for this transfer. She is darling. She was just excited to be here and to get to work.

We had surprising news this week. We knew the Southams were going home and they would no longer need the home they were renting because no senior couple was coming to replace them in Fallon. Elder Vaa’ivaka has been having some health problems and has been afraid they might have to go home. He and Sister Vaa’ivaka wondered if moving to Fallon would be good for him. Next thing we hear they are cleaning out their apartment and moving to Fallon. We now have the Thurgoods in Chester, California. The Vaa’ivakas are in Fallon. We are the only MLS missionaries left in the Reno area. We will surely miss the Vaa’ivakas’ help for the meals. We enjoyed spending the time with them. We pray that this will be what he needs health-wise. We are used to the missionaries moving around every six weeks, we didn’t know this would happen to a senior couple.

The rest of the week was business as usual. We worked at a Mobile Pantry. We went to a fun lesson with Brother Jamison. He is working on family history and we went to help with that. Elder Hardman is so jealous of the many names he has that can have their Temple work done now. Elder Hardman helped him “find’ his grandmother. They had a picture of her burial site online. That really pleased him to see. It is so fun to see how willing this good man is to continue to grow in the Gospel. He is 79 years young and is embracing all aspects of Gospel learning. We also went with the Elder’s to Pam Olson’s. We started teaching her about 3 months ago but she has been on many trips and is now planning on moving. She discovered that she had a Patriarchal blessing. She didn’t remember ever receiving one. She has a lot of questions (that she texts me after we go home). She really knows very little about Christianity. She thought everyone believed in re-incarnation and Karma. She is a character but I like her. I’m sad that she is moving. She has a big trip to the Amazon planned this summer but then she will move, she doesn’t know where or when she will go. She says her middle name is Gypsy. We meet some interesting people but I have enjoyed her questions, she is fun to talk to. We have also been taking Tondalaya to church for the past few weeks. I had invited her to go to Women’s Conference with me (Saturday) and we told her we would take her to the Employment Center. She usually calls us right back when I call but she didn’t call back during the week and when I went to get her on Saturday she didn’t answer her door. We would have talked to the manager but the office was closed. I was starting to worry that something bad had happened to her. Elder Hardman and I were imagining who would be the one to go into her apartment, eeek! She finally called this morning, said she had a job and she was exhausted and wouldn’t be coming to church today. It was such a relief to hear from her.

All in all, it was a good week. The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #57

I remember talking to a Sister missionary about what she should write to her family that week. She was saying that it didn’t seem like she had anything “new” to tell them. I told her it didn’t matter what she said, they just wanted to know that she was happy and healthy and all is well. I am starting to understand how she felt though. I’m not sure I have anything “new” to tell about.

We were asked to help with a different food pantry this week so that the Reno Zone could go to the Temple. It is a food pantry that is open four days a week to provide food, clothing, pet food, diapers and a large variety of other goods to those in need. It is part of Catholic Charities but it sponsored by a diocese (?) in Lake Tahoe. They receive donations from the Northern Nevada food bank and other charities. The missionaries help every week for three hours. They always love the missionaries. We always enjoy meeting with people that donate so much of their time and resources to helping others. It’s also nice to see “first-hand” the opportunities the young missionaries have to serve in the community.

Our Temple day was on Wednesday. It is always fun to go with the missionaries to the Temple. This was the week before transfers and we know there will be a lot of changes this time to the Zone so they really enjoyed being together in the Temple. They dissolved the Quincy zone so they now travel down to Reno to participate with us in these activities. We have a BiG zone!

Thursday we went to help out at the warehouse again for the Food Bank. It was a fun group to work with this time. One man wanted to tell us how he wished his church had a missionary program. He has gone all over the world and he says no matter where he is, no matter how scary that part of the world is, he will look up and see the young missionaries walking down the street. Every chance he had he would talk to us about the missionary program. We aren’t supposed to proselyte when we go to serve but we are allowed to answer questions and everywhere we go they ask us questions! They always assume that we are somehow “over” the missionaries so when we explain that they are “over” us they gain even more admiration for these young missionaries. It’s fun to have the association of this army of valiant young men and women. They are generally admired for serving missions.

We were asked to go be with an Elder on Friday. We were told he was talking to a Doctor about a serious and sensitive health concern but when we got there he was just having a medical test done. It’s for a personal and very private thing and he and we were both confused how to handle this. Elder Hardman finally just walked back to the room with him. I sat out with the other Elder. I want to giggle sometimes about the things we are asked to do, without knowing the whole story and how they will turn out but we still just “go and do”. I don’t want to tell what it was for but it was a “new” opportunity for us. Makes me giggle. Nephi wasn’t aware how funny some of these assignments can be.

We will be doing Transfer Day this Tuesday. We only have 1 Sister coming out and 6 going home. (including a Senior Couple). We will be the senior Senior Couple after this week! We had the Spanish speaking Elders come tonight to use our equipment to call (Facetime) their families. It was fun to hear them talk to their families and tell funny stories, spiritual experiences and feel their tug from home. They really are all so remarkable. The best part of the mission is our association with them.

Happy Mother’s Day to our wonderful Moms, our daughters, daughter-in- laws, and granddaughters. What a blessing we all enjoy to know of the eternal nature of women. We love each of you so much!
The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Video Clip

Elder Hardman made the local news - check out the link below!

http://www.ktvn.com/story/35347848/growing-produce-to-help-those-in-need?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=13303051

Letter #56

This past week was MLC. We were told the week before that the District Leaders would also be invited to the meeting so our group of 40 increased to 60. I’m sure you have all wondered what goes on the week that we do a meal, those of you who haven’t wondered you can quit reading now.

1. I fret and stew over what to fix. I usually decide and then change my mind as the meal gets closer and it all starts to feel over-whelming but then I go back to my original idea.

2. Shopping. We usually do all of the shopping the day before and start the cooking and prep work that same day. This time we had two days of shopping and prep work. Sister Beutler told us from the beginning that we were never to go shopping at Winco on the 1 st or 3 rd of the month. That is food stamp day and the lines are terrible. We found ourselves at Winco on the 3 rd . Sister Beutler was right. We were making Breakfast Casserole this time so we went to Sam’s Club and Winco to get everything for the casserole on Wednesday.

3. Thursday morning we had a Mobile Harvest and then made all of the casseroles (8-9x13 pans and one dairy-free 8x8 pan) and took them to the Mission Office fridge. Sister Douglas is so great to clean out the fridge for us to use. We can’t fit 9 casseroles in our fridge! They are supposed to sit over-night anyway so they work well for these meals. We then went to Costco for the fruits and vegetables. We take all of that to the fridge in the church with a note and a prayer that no one takes anything before the next day.

4. Friday we are at the church at 8:30 am to set up the serving tables, put out plates, utensils, napkins, tablecloths before the meeting starts.

5. Friday morning is usually for cutting up things. Most of the preparations for the main course are done already, it just has to cook, whether in a crockpot, roaster or oven. We have two ovens and I had four casseroles in each. Four casseroles do not cook as quickly as one! The last hour the ovens went from 350 to 425 degrees to get everything to cook. I had fingers crossed and was praying! It worked out. The missionaries seem to love this menu. We never have left-overs.

Here’s what it takes to feed this group:

5 dozen eggs
Costco-sized grated cheese
10 lbs. sausage
Costco-sized baby carrots
2 lbs. diced ham
2 Costco-size cherry tomatoes
1 gallon milk
2 Costco-size sugar snap peas
12 lbs. hash browns
Ranch dip
Large watermelon
Costco red grapes
Costco green grapes
Costco kiwi
2 pineapples
2 Costco strawberries
8 bananas
5 dozen bagels
Variety of cream cheeses
Ketchup
Salsa
Hot Sauce
40 mini cinnamon rolls
2 pkgs, small Danishs
60 water bottles

Jesus made feeding the 5,000 seem so easy.

The Vaia’vakas help cutting up everthing, putting everything out on the tables and cleaning up. We couldn’t do it without them. Elder Vaia’vaka always has everything washed before we serve and he does all the dish washing after. They are wonderful. We clean everything up, mop, lock up and start planning for the next meal.

We managed to visit several people this past week, help with the luncheon for a funeral, go to a lesson, and knock some doors. One lady was just baptized in February so we wanted to see if we could find her quickly. She was home but wasn’t happy we stopped by. Then the Elders called to tell us she wanted a ride to church today. She actually followed through and we enjoyed taking her with us. She is a nice lady and apologized for not being kind at the door. You never know. Elder Hardman told me I had to erase what I had written about her on her sheet. : )

That was our week. We love hearing about your week too. We accept all major forms of communication!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Letter #55

Elder Hardman began the week still attached to his little friend but on Thursday he bid farewell and they parted ways. He has been doing well since then! It is hard to top this news but I will try.

We had the opportunity to help set up another meeting with a State Park Ranger and a couple of Elders. They live in an area where service seems hard to come by. We have found that even though all the calls have been made and the service arranged they seem to like us to come the first time. We were happy to because one of the Elders is Elder Johnson, the same Elder Johnson that had the concussion. He has been out of our area for a while so it was fun to see him. The Park Ranger seems pleased to have their help and the Elders were already thinking of investigators they would like to take along to do this service. We picked up trash around a little pond, it was a beautiful day and it was nice to be outside. It was also great that the JustServe specialist in the ward came along to meet the Ranger so that she can support the Elders in their service. Pretty amazing to see that type of support! Elder Johnson found money but I found “The Lost Sheep” (a plastic sheep ring) I tried to convince him that my find was priceless! He was happier with his dollar bills.

Thursday night was the Food Bank of Northern Nevada Top 16 ceremony. JustServe qualified to be one of the top 16 in service hours. We were asked to attend the ceremony. They had a nice Mashed Potato Bar and desserts. You could take a tour of the facility and then they had a program. They have a nice banner with the names of the organizations that are on the top 16. They read off the number of hours that each group contributed. JustServe had 791.5 hours. The top group had 997 hours so JustServe was third on the list, not bad. Zulilly has a warehouse by the Food Bank, they were the top contributors. We met their “head guy”, he is LDS. Mainly it was a fun night for us because the individuals that also help (not tied to an organization) are our friends from the Mobile Harvests. Our friend Joyce had as many service hours by herself as JustService did. We have met some wonderful friends helping at the Food Bank. The individual that had the highest number of hours was asked to speak. He said that people ask him why he does it (spends so much time volunteering for the Food Bank) They wouldn’t believe that he just likes doing it, so he decided he was a “selfish altruist”- he does it because it makes him feel good. We had several come and tell us how much fun they have working with the young missionaries. One man asked if we couldn’t grant a special request that the Sisters not wear a dress during the winter. I didn’t tell him that I wore a dress all winter when I went and I was fine. It’s nice to hear that they are looking out for the missionaries. It was a nice evening.

A single lady (a member) adopted a teenage girl from the Congo last year. We went to that girl’s baptism last May. Saturday we went to her sisters’ baptisms. This same lady has adopted all of these girls and they took the missionary discussions and joined the church. That has been fun but the amazing thing was seeing the Lord’s hand in this. One of the Elders that was teaching these girls went home so there was an emergency transfer into the area. Elder Vargas is from Mexico, serving a Spanish-speaking mission here but he was transferred in until the next transfer. He was asked to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. Elder Vargas stood and gave the talk in French, so the girls would understand what he was saying. He had taken French in High School and his mother speaks French. We felt the Spirit and the Gift of Tongues in the room. Our Spanish Elder (who also speaks really well in English) was giving a talk in French. These young missionaries are miracles! We constantly feel uplifted by their examples and their faith. Elder Nielson was asked by some leaders of other faiths how we keep our young people in the church, let alone send them out on their own to serve missions when they are only 18-20 years old. Elder Nielson laughed and said, “Because it’s true, what other answer can there be?”

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman