Have you ever noticed that while you are worried about something “BIG” something “little” is happening at the same time and without realizing it the “little” becomes “BIG”? We have had that this week. We have been worried about Elder Johnson and praying for him, that the headaches would go away and that he would be able to stay on his mission. During this same time Elder Bell has had a pinkie that he hurt on P-day that no longer would stay straight. No one has paid much attention because after all, it’s just a pinkie. He finally was sent to a doctor and they determined that he had torn some tendons in the pinkie, if he had gone right away they would have done surgery and fixed his finger. It has been injured for several months. There have been lots of discussions of whether to have surgery here and send him home for rehab or to have surgery at home. They finally decided to have the surgery here and see how it turned out. They repaired the tendon to his middle joint but they couldn’t attach the tendon to the upper part of his finger. That would probably not be a big deal, unless you play the cello. Elder Bell plays the cello. We have gratefully watched Elder Johnson get better. The zone leaders even had to call the office this past P-day and ask if it was ok if Elder Johnson was playing sports. (the answer was “no”!) We were distracted from realizing how important a pinkie can be in our lives. Elder Bell and his parents decided they would have the surgery now, let him continue his mission and he will have reconstructive surgery to look forward to when he returns home. It has reminded me how often something we might think is small and insignificant can quickly become a great stumbling block in our lives if we choose to ignore it or treat it as “not a big deal”. Elder Bell is on the mend and we became Elder Waite’s companion for an evening. It’s a good thing Elder Waite thinks we’re awesome! It’s fun for us to meet some of the new investigators they are working with. We have a couple of them that have agreed to let us take them to church next week. (fingers and pinkies crossed!)
We had District meeting and Zone Conference this past week. That makes for a great week! We found out two things that affect us. #1. The missionaries will no longer report their service hours. That means Elder Hardman will no longer have to call to get the hours and break it all down into a report of hours/zone. This has been a big job for him. They are still expected to do the same amount a service in a week, it just isn’t reported. #2. MLC will go back to being monthly instead of once a transfer (6 weeks). We had it figured out that we wouldn’t have to make any meals in March or July, now we will be preparing a monthly MLC luncheon and two meals on Transfer days. Nothing is as certain as change.
We also were Sister Hull’s (STL) companion last week to attend the first “Just Serve” committee meeting in the Reno Stake. We are getting to know more and more people attached to the “Just Serve” program in Reno. They are faithfully trying to get the program into the lives of the members. We found out that “Just Serve” is the official service website in New York (all managed by the Church), pretty cool! It is not that well known here, even by members. We are only supposed to be involved in the missionary end of it but it has opened doors to meet others through the “Just Serve” opportunities.
We are still knocking on doors. I feel grateful seeing it stay lighter and lighter in the evenings. It’s much easier to find people at home in the evenings but they don’t like it when you knock their door after dark.
That is our report.
Our thoughts and prayers with you all at home. I don’t think I’ve had a day yet where I didn’t think about home. I want to tell you all to sit quietly on a couch so we don’t have to worry about you but I know that isn’t going to happen. Don’t try to slam-dunk a basketball if you’re only 5’8” and don’t bang heads with anyone else, there’s enough of that going on here!
We love you!
The gospel’s true and we love you.
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
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