Letter #53

Elder Brent Nielson from the Seventy was the General Authority that came for our “Mission Tour”. They split the mission between the East (Winnemucca to Ely) and West (the rest of the mission) for conferences. Elder Nielson said that if you ask any Primary child what our purpose is in coming to Earth they will answer, “To get a body and to be tried and tested”. Elder Nielson then asked, “If we all know that is our purpose for coming to the Earth, why do we freak out when we have trials?” The next question is, “What am I supposed to be learning from this?” Maybe it’s the second question that makes us “freak out”!

It was a good conference but I left the house at 8am and didn’t get home until after 8pm. It was a long day. I had done all of the shopping for the dinner by myself the day before and did a lot of the prep work. I had the great idea of taking things to the church the night before but because a General Authority was coming they were cleaning carpets and buffing the gym floor so they wouldn’t let me in. So much for my smart idea. It all worked out. The Vaia’vakas were wonderful help. There are a lot of things that I don’t think or worry about that Elder Hardman just takes care of, we figured it out. I worried about Elder Hardman at home because I had the car if he needed anything. I hate to say it but I was pretty happy when it was all done.

Elder Hardman went to District meeting on Wednesday. We didn’t do our usual “Welcome to the Zone” last week and so it felt strange to have new missionaries in District meeting that we didn’t welcome. We haven’t been living a life of leisure but we have taken things easy this week. We did some door knocking and took a drive. Elder Hardman is doing alright but we are frustrated because the Doctor’s office has not let us know when the follow-up visit will be. They say to not leave multiple messages, wait till this week!

Last fall we were scheduled to help in a big service project cleaning up from a huge fire that had destroyed homes. It was cancelled at the last minute (after we had arranged for the missionaries to get rides from members who also had to “outfit” them with clothes and tools) because the ground was unstable. We took a drive to see where this was. There is an old mansion that is part of one of their Parks close by. We enjoyed seeing the old mansion but it is very sad to drive around where the fire was. You can see where homes had stood but it is a miracle that they saved so many of the other homes. I guess it wasn’t a “happy” sort of a field trip but we had wondered about it all for many weeks. That area that was so dry last year now has swampy fields from all of the rain and snow this year. You can see that they will have flooding from all of the erosion and there are no trees left. Crazy stuff.

Today didn’t feel much like Easter but I do have a beautiful tree outside our window that is filled with blossoms. It did give me a minute to reflect on the beauty around us and the promise of “New Life”. I am trying to remember not to “freak out”.

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman