Monday, September 19, 2016

Letter #23

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every cline, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done. “

Nothing can stop the work… except a little bee.

The week started out great. We had our first (and probably only) 100% day on Monday. We only had five names to knock but we found someone home at all five places! Four of the five actually live at the address too. None of the four want anything to do with Church but we at least know they live in the ward. We were feeling pretty good about things.

Tuesday we had a great zone training.  After our meetings we went to a Mobile Pantry site that has never been assigned before so we thought we’d better check it out. It is down the street from the Homeless Shelter area. We found out that it is only for seniors that live in this one complex and that they don’t need extra help from the missionaries. While we were talking to the Food Pantry coordinator I felt a sharp pain and looked down to see this nasty little bee stinging me. Why? I don’t know, I was minding my own business.  Well that was the beginning of a painful week.  My finger blew up and it made my hand swollen. I carried a frozen water bottle around for two days.  Sleeping at night was hard.  My finger is finally feeling better. Where I was stung is still red and swollen but the rest is feeling normal. A bee sting does slow the work. We still did the things we needed to but I know that bees are Satan’s tools!  Everyone needs to be more specific when praying for the missionaries. We pray for their protection but no one specifically mentions bees.  Bees are a real detriment to the work.

Thursday we did one of the Mobile Pantries that we volunteer for on our own. I had a baseball mitt-sized hand that day but they have us wear rubber gloves so I wore an x-large glove on one hand and a medium glove on the other.  We enjoy our time at the Pantry.

Saturday Elder Hardman and I spent with the Relief Society of two wards doing a Super Saturday.  They had to have a priesthood holder in the church during the three hours and Elder Hardman volunteered. I had signed up for a craft, just to rub shoulders with the sisters in the ward. I didn’t realize it meant that we would be there the whole time and do the cleanup.  We have spent a lot of time cleaning the Church!

We have heard several comments about the Sun Valley area. At the Super Saturday one man that works for FedEx said that the whole town is a Trailer Park. I know it doesn’t sound quite like some of the other trips we’ve taken but we decided to check out Sun Valley. They were right, the whole town is a Trailer Park.  We balanced the trip with driving to see a pretty area of Sparks.

This week we have started wondering what our purpose is now. When we had 500 names to go through we had a pretty good idea what we needed to do. We are looking for ways we can help build up the ward, fellowship those that come and are trying to find ways to reach out again to those that don’t come. The young missionaries receive so much training on their purpose.  Senior missionaries have to try and figure it out on their own. Anyone have any great ideas?  Elder Hardman broke down and made bread.  He says he doesn’t want to be known for making bread.  It turned out well.  
That sums up our week. We were so excited to hear that Garrett passed the Bar. We are proud of you! We also enjoyed watching their new puppy on Facetime. We have loved the pictures of the kids with Grandpa Hardman’s cows and seeing a picture of their Great Pumpkins! Grandpa has learned the trick to having the grandkids come visit, plant pumpkins!

One of the ladies we tutor told me that having a bee sting my hand would take care of my arthritis. I didn’t have arthritis but I choose to believe that there was a good reason I was stung.  We hope you have had a great week. Our thoughts and prayers are with you always.

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…………………………!

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