Sometimes we have a lot to tell about and sometimes it all feels like the “same”. This was a “same” sort of week. We did a lot of things but it was all “same” sort of stuff. We were invited to lessons that fell through. We started working on the list for Sienna Vista, knocking new doors but still knocking doors. We attended a lovely baptism for a lady that the Lemmon Valley Elders tracted into and she told them right away that she had a desire to be baptized. Her daughter is a convert. That was a nice baptism. We helped clean the Temple. We planned, shopped, prepared, served and cleaned up another MLC. We went to a Mobile Pantry. We did attend a wedding this week. We received a message from the Spark Sisters that a couple was being married that night and they’d appreciate the support if we could come The wedding was over an hour and a half late. The bride didn’t show up for an hour and then her mom didn’t come for another while. The Bishop did a lovely ceremony and the Bride’s family is Brazilian so we had a yummy meal after the ceremony. The wedding singer was a great performer but he sang inappropriate songs, aren’t there still love songs out there? The music was extremely loud! We did visit with some nice people that were also trying to support the couple. They had planned for four times the amount of people that showed up, sad. This couple is supposed to be baptized this next weekend. It was a little strange, but not the oddest thing we’ve done here.
We found out that we will be feeding another General Authority in April. Elder Brent Nelson (a 70) is coming for the mission tour and wants MLC at night (with a dinner) while he is here. Can I put this on my resume? We no longer will have Transfer Day and MLC in the same week though. I keep thinking I am checking things off my list but there is always the possibility that those plans will change.
We woke up to another winter storm this morning and went to church where they decided they would only hold Sacrament meeting. It’s funny because people have already driven through the bad weather but you just turn around and go home after Sacrament meeting. One person’s testimony was that he had always dreamed of “one hour” church! We now have two sets of missionaries to work with. They have combined Keystone and Summit Ridge for the Elders (Benti and Crowther) and Sienna Vista is separate. (Waite and Sprague) That means I need to re-do the paper we pass out as we knock doors. Oh well. So everything is different but the same!
The Gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
Joke of the week: Moses used a Tablet! Har har!
Monday, March 6, 2017
Monday, February 27, 2017
Letter #46
It’s official! We are part of a record-breaking moisture year in Nevada. You will never be able to convince us that Nevada is a dry state. We are starting to grow webbed feet. Their drought is broken and Lake Tahoe has enough water in it right now to sustain the area for several years. I heard a rumor that officials in Carson City sent a letter to the church asking them to rescind “The Mormon Curse” so there would be no more flooding here. I cannot confirm or deny that rumor. I have a feeling that it is a Mormon Legend in the making. Regardless, it has been wet!
We survived our first “two a days”. We made lunch for the incoming missionaries in the morning. Elder Hardman dropped off the out-going missionaries at the Temple and then came to the Mission Home to help me prepare the dinner in the evening. It wasn’t too bad. April is the only month we will have Transfer Day and MLC in the same week so that will be our next test. We only have 5 Transfer Days left! (7 MLCs, but who’s counting)
Our upstairs neighbors moved. They did come to church a few times but now their records are getting more lost, we never did get them to transfer them here. Sad.
We had a fun evening with the Harding family. The wife is a member and the husband is investigating. We were asked by the Zone leaders a few weeks ago if we would go to a lesson with them. We walked in and they have a dollhouse being built in the front room. Who would have thought years ago when Elder Hardman started learning how to wire lights for a dollhouse that it would lead to a missionary opportunity? God works in mysterious ways. We had such a fun night with them. Elder Hardman visited with the husband for a while giving him tips but then they sat down and asked us several gospel questions. It just felt really good. I hope they will invite us over again.
We were invited to go to a lesson with the Sisters. We drove up and knew exactly where we were going. We had gone to this man during the summertime. The Sisters (different Sisters) were helping a lady pull weeds when the neighbor man came over and told them he was a member but hadn’t been in years.
The ward didn’t have his membership record. When we went in the summer he still had a girlfriend that would stay over sometimes and he had drinking stuff all over his home. Our hearts were full this time as we could see the change in this man. I had taught him how to listen to the scriptures on his ipad in the summer, but he is now reading them. He is looking forward to working on Family History and preparing to go to the Temple. The brand new Sister missionary bore such a sweet testimony about how she and her grandfather went through the Temple on the same day to get their endowments, she for herself and her Dad for her grandfather. We felt so blessed to go to this lesson and see the “fruits” of the Gospel. This was sweet.
We topped all of this off with a special baptism on Saturday. There is a man that has been a “dry Mormon” for years. He holds church callings, goes to church every week, supports his wife and children in the church, he just had never been baptized. When Elder Christofferson came “Brother” Buell was asked to be his security guard for the weekend. After that weekend he knew he wanted to be baptized. He told the Elders he couldn’t remember anything that Elder Christofferson had said but that he knew what he had felt like when he talked and he knew he needed to be baptized. Their son performed the baptism for his father. It was a special moment.
It was a great week. We are now planning for MLC this week. I have never thought about food so much!
The Gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
We survived our first “two a days”. We made lunch for the incoming missionaries in the morning. Elder Hardman dropped off the out-going missionaries at the Temple and then came to the Mission Home to help me prepare the dinner in the evening. It wasn’t too bad. April is the only month we will have Transfer Day and MLC in the same week so that will be our next test. We only have 5 Transfer Days left! (7 MLCs, but who’s counting)
Our upstairs neighbors moved. They did come to church a few times but now their records are getting more lost, we never did get them to transfer them here. Sad.
We had a fun evening with the Harding family. The wife is a member and the husband is investigating. We were asked by the Zone leaders a few weeks ago if we would go to a lesson with them. We walked in and they have a dollhouse being built in the front room. Who would have thought years ago when Elder Hardman started learning how to wire lights for a dollhouse that it would lead to a missionary opportunity? God works in mysterious ways. We had such a fun night with them. Elder Hardman visited with the husband for a while giving him tips but then they sat down and asked us several gospel questions. It just felt really good. I hope they will invite us over again.
We were invited to go to a lesson with the Sisters. We drove up and knew exactly where we were going. We had gone to this man during the summertime. The Sisters (different Sisters) were helping a lady pull weeds when the neighbor man came over and told them he was a member but hadn’t been in years.
The ward didn’t have his membership record. When we went in the summer he still had a girlfriend that would stay over sometimes and he had drinking stuff all over his home. Our hearts were full this time as we could see the change in this man. I had taught him how to listen to the scriptures on his ipad in the summer, but he is now reading them. He is looking forward to working on Family History and preparing to go to the Temple. The brand new Sister missionary bore such a sweet testimony about how she and her grandfather went through the Temple on the same day to get their endowments, she for herself and her Dad for her grandfather. We felt so blessed to go to this lesson and see the “fruits” of the Gospel. This was sweet.
We topped all of this off with a special baptism on Saturday. There is a man that has been a “dry Mormon” for years. He holds church callings, goes to church every week, supports his wife and children in the church, he just had never been baptized. When Elder Christofferson came “Brother” Buell was asked to be his security guard for the weekend. After that weekend he knew he wanted to be baptized. He told the Elders he couldn’t remember anything that Elder Christofferson had said but that he knew what he had felt like when he talked and he knew he needed to be baptized. Their son performed the baptism for his father. It was a special moment.
It was a great week. We are now planning for MLC this week. I have never thought about food so much!
The Gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
Monday, February 20, 2017
Letter #45
Wow what a week!
Monday- We now know how it feels to be “dumped”. Monday while shopping we received a call from Liam’s Grandma telling us that he no longer wants to take the lessons. We have been going along with the Elders and visiting with the Great-grandma and Grandma while the Elders teach Liam. The Grandma isn’t a member and has custody of the grandson. He is on a baseball team and goes to cubscouts with some members and decided he wanted to take the lessons, he is 10. We have loved getting to know these good women. She called to tell me that she felt bad but that it is Liam’s decision. I told her that we would still check on them because they are our friends. I was heart-sick, I don’t like being dumped! We had a Senior Couples Family Home Evening at the Mission Home. Elder Hardman gave the lesson and I did the activity. It isn’t hard to entertain senior couples. It was a lovely evening because even the Southams (in Fallon) and the Thurgoods (Chester, CA) were able to come. The Southams will be leaving in May and then we will be the oldest senior couple, how did that happen?
Tuesday- We were able to spend Valentine’s Day with our zone at the Temple. It was a beautiful day and they are always so excited to be able to attend. We went with our Elders to visit Brother Gregor and Brian to plan Brian’s baptism. They were SO excited! Brian chose the hymn “The Happy Day at Last Has Come” (pg. 32) He doesn’t know the hymns but loved the words. They are great. I was asked to be the chorister so I kept listening to the hymn all week so I’d be able to sing it. Elder Hardman was asked to give the talk on Baptism. I, of course, was asked to bring refreshments. We splurged and had Blizzards to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Wednesday- We had District meeting on Wednesday this week. It was the pre-transfer kind of meeting. We didn’t have many changes last transfer so the nervous excitement was apparent. This has been a great zone. We have had some of the Elders here for a long time! We will be sad to have them leave us. We always have to take pictures, missionaries love to be in pictures! We had been asked to take our blind lady to the store on Wednesday so she could buy a cake and ice cream for her son’s birthday. We were kind of dreading it but it was fine. It is frustrating to try to describe every cake in the case to someone when none of them were really decorated for a man. She kept wanting me to ask the girl behind the counter to do this or that. That poor girl barely spoke English. Finally, I wrote exactly what she wanted on the cake and we left with the yellow flower cake. She was happy to have a surprise for her son. Our friends, the McClures invited us to dinner on Wednesday night. These great people have been so kind and supportive of us from the beginning. Every few months they invite us to dinner.
Thursday- We had a Mobile Harvest in the morning and it was a soggy day. We have learned to just go and then come home and get ready for the day. We were getting dressed when Sister Wilson called and asked us to meet at the Bishop’s Storehouse. When Elder Christofferson was here they presented the Food Bank with a $25,000.00 credit from the Storehouse, this was the meeting where they were going to work out the details. Sister Wilson wanted the missionaries to be represented. We hurried to the meeting. It was fun to see this side of the gift. The Missionary couple over the Storehouse led a tour and told a little about the storehouse and the church to the Food Bank representatives. The “main” lady told how she had had a tour of welfare square once in Salt Lake. There was a lovely exchange of ideas, especially about the importance of teaching self-reliance. The Food Bank people asked to be invited back when the new Self-Reliance program gets up and going in Nevada. We have been priviledged to know many of the Food Bank people so it felt like meeting with old friends. It was fun to be invited. Thursday night at 11:10pm Katie texted to say her water broke and that Clay was in New Mexico. That was the beginning of an anxious night! We were so grateful to hear of little Tori’s birth and that her daddy made it back in time to be there. It was fun to Facetime on Friday and see her brand new, holding her would have been even better. We are grateful she is here!
Friday- Starting to plan for Transfer Day. We decided to renew our Sam’s Club membership. There are so many things the Costco doesn’t have here.
Saturday- Made treats for the baptism, knocked doors. The Baptism was great! Elder Hardman gave the best talk on Baptism. Brian flew F-15s fighter jets. Elder Hardman related that to the trust Heavenly Father puts in us. It was a happy day that at last had come!
Sunday- Brian’s confirmation was also a happy day. We had the “Why I believe” fireside tonight. We now feel a connection to so many people as we are asked to go teach with the missionaries. We feel so happy to see them at things like this. I kind of wanted to stand up and say how much I didn’t like being dumped, so they all need to be baptized!
We will do our first Transfer Day with two meals this Tuesday! I will probably need a week to recover. If you have a chance to hug little Tori, hold her a minute longer, just for me!
The gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
Monday- We now know how it feels to be “dumped”. Monday while shopping we received a call from Liam’s Grandma telling us that he no longer wants to take the lessons. We have been going along with the Elders and visiting with the Great-grandma and Grandma while the Elders teach Liam. The Grandma isn’t a member and has custody of the grandson. He is on a baseball team and goes to cubscouts with some members and decided he wanted to take the lessons, he is 10. We have loved getting to know these good women. She called to tell me that she felt bad but that it is Liam’s decision. I told her that we would still check on them because they are our friends. I was heart-sick, I don’t like being dumped! We had a Senior Couples Family Home Evening at the Mission Home. Elder Hardman gave the lesson and I did the activity. It isn’t hard to entertain senior couples. It was a lovely evening because even the Southams (in Fallon) and the Thurgoods (Chester, CA) were able to come. The Southams will be leaving in May and then we will be the oldest senior couple, how did that happen?
Tuesday- We were able to spend Valentine’s Day with our zone at the Temple. It was a beautiful day and they are always so excited to be able to attend. We went with our Elders to visit Brother Gregor and Brian to plan Brian’s baptism. They were SO excited! Brian chose the hymn “The Happy Day at Last Has Come” (pg. 32) He doesn’t know the hymns but loved the words. They are great. I was asked to be the chorister so I kept listening to the hymn all week so I’d be able to sing it. Elder Hardman was asked to give the talk on Baptism. I, of course, was asked to bring refreshments. We splurged and had Blizzards to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Wednesday- We had District meeting on Wednesday this week. It was the pre-transfer kind of meeting. We didn’t have many changes last transfer so the nervous excitement was apparent. This has been a great zone. We have had some of the Elders here for a long time! We will be sad to have them leave us. We always have to take pictures, missionaries love to be in pictures! We had been asked to take our blind lady to the store on Wednesday so she could buy a cake and ice cream for her son’s birthday. We were kind of dreading it but it was fine. It is frustrating to try to describe every cake in the case to someone when none of them were really decorated for a man. She kept wanting me to ask the girl behind the counter to do this or that. That poor girl barely spoke English. Finally, I wrote exactly what she wanted on the cake and we left with the yellow flower cake. She was happy to have a surprise for her son. Our friends, the McClures invited us to dinner on Wednesday night. These great people have been so kind and supportive of us from the beginning. Every few months they invite us to dinner.
Thursday- We had a Mobile Harvest in the morning and it was a soggy day. We have learned to just go and then come home and get ready for the day. We were getting dressed when Sister Wilson called and asked us to meet at the Bishop’s Storehouse. When Elder Christofferson was here they presented the Food Bank with a $25,000.00 credit from the Storehouse, this was the meeting where they were going to work out the details. Sister Wilson wanted the missionaries to be represented. We hurried to the meeting. It was fun to see this side of the gift. The Missionary couple over the Storehouse led a tour and told a little about the storehouse and the church to the Food Bank representatives. The “main” lady told how she had had a tour of welfare square once in Salt Lake. There was a lovely exchange of ideas, especially about the importance of teaching self-reliance. The Food Bank people asked to be invited back when the new Self-Reliance program gets up and going in Nevada. We have been priviledged to know many of the Food Bank people so it felt like meeting with old friends. It was fun to be invited. Thursday night at 11:10pm Katie texted to say her water broke and that Clay was in New Mexico. That was the beginning of an anxious night! We were so grateful to hear of little Tori’s birth and that her daddy made it back in time to be there. It was fun to Facetime on Friday and see her brand new, holding her would have been even better. We are grateful she is here!
Friday- Starting to plan for Transfer Day. We decided to renew our Sam’s Club membership. There are so many things the Costco doesn’t have here.
Saturday- Made treats for the baptism, knocked doors. The Baptism was great! Elder Hardman gave the best talk on Baptism. Brian flew F-15s fighter jets. Elder Hardman related that to the trust Heavenly Father puts in us. It was a happy day that at last had come!
Sunday- Brian’s confirmation was also a happy day. We had the “Why I believe” fireside tonight. We now feel a connection to so many people as we are asked to go teach with the missionaries. We feel so happy to see them at things like this. I kind of wanted to stand up and say how much I didn’t like being dumped, so they all need to be baptized!
We will do our first Transfer Day with two meals this Tuesday! I will probably need a week to recover. If you have a chance to hug little Tori, hold her a minute longer, just for me!
The gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
Monday, February 13, 2017
Letter #44
It’s going to be short and sweet this week. We left for church this morning at 8am and just arrived home at 9pm. It’s been a full day. It was our week to take our blind friend and we fed the Elders dinner. I like busy days the best but I think today wins. They had a fun fireside in Sparks where President Abraham Lincoln and Willard Richards were portrayed. It was well done with beautiful music but we were pretty tired of sitting after 6 hours of church.
We had a busy week too. We cleaned the temple two nights, fed the multitude for MLC and sorted blankets and wrapped them for the homeless at Catholic Charities. We had a great group of Elders come for two days (six each day) to fulfill a last minute Just Serve assignment. We have learned that we don’t like being on the texting list when these assignments are passed down. There are many frantic texts back and forth. The missionaries are the minute-men to cover these requests. We had to tell the people in charge that they couldn’t use the missionaries this Tuesday to pass out the coats and even tonight they are frantically trying to get members to fill the assignment. I’m glad that’s not my responsibility. Our Elders were great, they worked fast and efficiently and had fun doing it. They tried on purple and pink coats and any other weird coat and posed for pictures. They were asked to pack the blankets a little tighter in the box so they all jumped into the box to accomplish this task. They are fun to be with and all sorts of goofy. One Elder was SO excited when he was allowed to run the compacting machine. They are willing to help in any way they can.
Our friend Brian (that came to our apartment on Christmas Eve) is being baptized this Saturday. This has been a long time coming. We hope he is able to stay healthy this week so that it can happen. He has asked Elder Bell to do the baptism. Elder Bell is healing well but he has a gnarly incision and it looks like Frankenstein with the stitches. It will be interesting to see if he is able to perform the baptism.
We are doing well, the weather has been beautiful for most of the week and it’s getting lighter in the evenings.
You are all our Valentine’s! We love you and miss you and hope you have a fun busy week!
The gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
We had a busy week too. We cleaned the temple two nights, fed the multitude for MLC and sorted blankets and wrapped them for the homeless at Catholic Charities. We had a great group of Elders come for two days (six each day) to fulfill a last minute Just Serve assignment. We have learned that we don’t like being on the texting list when these assignments are passed down. There are many frantic texts back and forth. The missionaries are the minute-men to cover these requests. We had to tell the people in charge that they couldn’t use the missionaries this Tuesday to pass out the coats and even tonight they are frantically trying to get members to fill the assignment. I’m glad that’s not my responsibility. Our Elders were great, they worked fast and efficiently and had fun doing it. They tried on purple and pink coats and any other weird coat and posed for pictures. They were asked to pack the blankets a little tighter in the box so they all jumped into the box to accomplish this task. They are fun to be with and all sorts of goofy. One Elder was SO excited when he was allowed to run the compacting machine. They are willing to help in any way they can.
Our friend Brian (that came to our apartment on Christmas Eve) is being baptized this Saturday. This has been a long time coming. We hope he is able to stay healthy this week so that it can happen. He has asked Elder Bell to do the baptism. Elder Bell is healing well but he has a gnarly incision and it looks like Frankenstein with the stitches. It will be interesting to see if he is able to perform the baptism.
We are doing well, the weather has been beautiful for most of the week and it’s getting lighter in the evenings.
You are all our Valentine’s! We love you and miss you and hope you have a fun busy week!
The gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
Monday, February 6, 2017
Letter #43
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
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
Monday, January 30, 2017
Letter #42
Three big things this week
#1. The Worldwide Missionary Broadcast. We met with the Quincy zone at the King’s Row building and enjoyed the broadcast. It is fun to think about the same message going out to all the missionaries throughout the entire world. They said that there are 422 missions and 7,854 missionaries around the world. They talked about the new changes in the schedule but what I enjoyed was how they showed that the new schedule would accommodate cultural differences in missions. They showed how Latin American would arise at 7am and go to bed at 11pm but in Africa they will arise at 6am and be back in their homes by 6pm. Mission Presidents will decide how to adapt their schedule to their mission. Our mission is still figuring a few things out. Instead of having 9 key indicators that the missionaries report they will only have 4. We have been asked to meet with any new zone leaders and give them a quick training on “Just Serve” and their part in it. We took a new Zone leader, and his fairly new companion, to lunch this week to “train” them. Their first question is, “How do we report this now?” Our answer, “We don’t know”. We all have a lot to learn.
#2. We set a new record! We went with three different sets of missionaries to three different lessons, all on the same day! Apparently the Keystone Elders reported in District meeting on how awesome we are. (They spent a lot of time with us last week!) I guess that helped the zone remember that we are here and we reaped the benefits. Two of the lessons were a last minute panic because they couldn’t get someone else and then remembered us but we don’t care how we get invited, we just love to go. We enjoyed all three lessons. The hardest question asked was the 8 year old that asked how Adam and Eve got here without being born, ha ha. It is great to watch the missionaries answer questions.
#3. We went to a Tongan baptism. The Tongan ward is a coveted assignment. All of the missionaries know they will be treated well and fed constantly in the Tongan ward. They also know that it is hard to baptize in that ward. They have been so excited that they were having a baptism. Even though the Tongan Ward meets in Sparks, the Sisters are in our Zone so we went to support our missionaries. We knew the Tongan Ward would support the lady being baptized. We looked at the program and the hymn books and I said to Sister Murdock, “I take it that we aren’t going to understand what’s going on tonight”, she laughed and said, “That’s how I feel every Sunday”. We may not speak Tongan but the Spirit spoke loud and clear. They don’t play the piano, the chorister sings about three words and everyone joins her, singing their own harmony. It was beautiful. They had four musical numbers and four talks, some were in English, some in Tongan. The chorister’s grandchildren were there from Australia, 9 of them. They sang so amazing. It is like a chant but they had two little boys that stole the show. They were not afraid to sing out! Our hearts were deeply touched by the spirit in that meeting. We asked the Sisters what the background was of the lady that was baptized. She is diabetic, a single mom and has had her toes amputated. A member of the bishopric has taken she and her son into their home to care for them. (kinda makes you feel like a slob doesn’t it?) At the end of the baptism they insisted we take food home. They had packaged at least 100 meals (meals, not cookies!) for the people attending the baptism. I think I am a fan of rolls sitting in coconut milk, they were delicious. The Vaiavakas are a huge part of the Tongan ward. Elder Vaiavaka performed the baptism. Sister Vaiavaka was working in the kitchen. We felt honored to attend this special baptism.
Our favorite Mormon Baptist preacher spoke in church today. Maybe it reminds me of my childhood in the south, but I always enjoy when Brother Baker speaks. They were talking about the Book of Mormon and Brother Baker told a cute story about inviting their neighbors for dinner and putting on the “Living Scriptures” DVD to entertain their two-year old but Brother Baker found himself caught up in the story of Nephi and wondered if he “would go and do”. He admitted that he isn’t as familiar with the Book of Mormon stories. Then he told about taking on the whole armour of God. (Ephesians 6) You gird your loins with truth, you have the breastplate of righteousness, your feet are shod with the gospel of peace, you have the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. You are set to defend yourself, but you are missing something very important. You can’t attack, you can’t fight without the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. We are told many times in the Doctrine and Covenants that the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword (isn’t that a Claymore?). The Book of Mormon is our sword. Are you familiar with it? Do you know how to use it? Do you even know where yours is? We know that the Book of Mormon changes lives. We are blessed to see and hear of the miracles that come because of this book.
The gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
#1. The Worldwide Missionary Broadcast. We met with the Quincy zone at the King’s Row building and enjoyed the broadcast. It is fun to think about the same message going out to all the missionaries throughout the entire world. They said that there are 422 missions and 7,854 missionaries around the world. They talked about the new changes in the schedule but what I enjoyed was how they showed that the new schedule would accommodate cultural differences in missions. They showed how Latin American would arise at 7am and go to bed at 11pm but in Africa they will arise at 6am and be back in their homes by 6pm. Mission Presidents will decide how to adapt their schedule to their mission. Our mission is still figuring a few things out. Instead of having 9 key indicators that the missionaries report they will only have 4. We have been asked to meet with any new zone leaders and give them a quick training on “Just Serve” and their part in it. We took a new Zone leader, and his fairly new companion, to lunch this week to “train” them. Their first question is, “How do we report this now?” Our answer, “We don’t know”. We all have a lot to learn.
#2. We set a new record! We went with three different sets of missionaries to three different lessons, all on the same day! Apparently the Keystone Elders reported in District meeting on how awesome we are. (They spent a lot of time with us last week!) I guess that helped the zone remember that we are here and we reaped the benefits. Two of the lessons were a last minute panic because they couldn’t get someone else and then remembered us but we don’t care how we get invited, we just love to go. We enjoyed all three lessons. The hardest question asked was the 8 year old that asked how Adam and Eve got here without being born, ha ha. It is great to watch the missionaries answer questions.
#3. We went to a Tongan baptism. The Tongan ward is a coveted assignment. All of the missionaries know they will be treated well and fed constantly in the Tongan ward. They also know that it is hard to baptize in that ward. They have been so excited that they were having a baptism. Even though the Tongan Ward meets in Sparks, the Sisters are in our Zone so we went to support our missionaries. We knew the Tongan Ward would support the lady being baptized. We looked at the program and the hymn books and I said to Sister Murdock, “I take it that we aren’t going to understand what’s going on tonight”, she laughed and said, “That’s how I feel every Sunday”. We may not speak Tongan but the Spirit spoke loud and clear. They don’t play the piano, the chorister sings about three words and everyone joins her, singing their own harmony. It was beautiful. They had four musical numbers and four talks, some were in English, some in Tongan. The chorister’s grandchildren were there from Australia, 9 of them. They sang so amazing. It is like a chant but they had two little boys that stole the show. They were not afraid to sing out! Our hearts were deeply touched by the spirit in that meeting. We asked the Sisters what the background was of the lady that was baptized. She is diabetic, a single mom and has had her toes amputated. A member of the bishopric has taken she and her son into their home to care for them. (kinda makes you feel like a slob doesn’t it?) At the end of the baptism they insisted we take food home. They had packaged at least 100 meals (meals, not cookies!) for the people attending the baptism. I think I am a fan of rolls sitting in coconut milk, they were delicious. The Vaiavakas are a huge part of the Tongan ward. Elder Vaiavaka performed the baptism. Sister Vaiavaka was working in the kitchen. We felt honored to attend this special baptism.
Our favorite Mormon Baptist preacher spoke in church today. Maybe it reminds me of my childhood in the south, but I always enjoy when Brother Baker speaks. They were talking about the Book of Mormon and Brother Baker told a cute story about inviting their neighbors for dinner and putting on the “Living Scriptures” DVD to entertain their two-year old but Brother Baker found himself caught up in the story of Nephi and wondered if he “would go and do”. He admitted that he isn’t as familiar with the Book of Mormon stories. Then he told about taking on the whole armour of God. (Ephesians 6) You gird your loins with truth, you have the breastplate of righteousness, your feet are shod with the gospel of peace, you have the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. You are set to defend yourself, but you are missing something very important. You can’t attack, you can’t fight without the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. We are told many times in the Doctrine and Covenants that the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword (isn’t that a Claymore?). The Book of Mormon is our sword. Are you familiar with it? Do you know how to use it? Do you even know where yours is? We know that the Book of Mormon changes lives. We are blessed to see and hear of the miracles that come because of this book.
The gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
Monday, January 23, 2017
Letter #41
Well, we have been in the mission field long enough to have the program completely change!
We went to District meeting this week and they handed out a new schedule for the missionaries. They no longer have to follow the hour by hour guidelines that are in Preach My Gospel. They are responsible to prayfully decide when they study, plan, exercise, and give service. They have found that return missionaries struggle when they no longer have a set schedule during the day to accomplishment the things they need to. They now have the opportunity to decide how to manage their time and to depend on the Spirit in making these decisions. They still have to get up at 6:29 am and they still have to fit everything expected into their day. President Chesnut still gave them an outline of a few things he wanted them to plan for on certain days and times. The schedule change doesn’t really affect us, we already plan our days our way but it greatly affected the Just Serve times that we have already committed to. We were confused and frustrated but President Chesnut met with us Tuesday afternoon and clarified the program for us. I think we have it all figured out again. The north valley missionaries help every week at a Catholic church for 3 hours right at the time the President told them they should be doing weekly planning. He asked us to go check it out because the missionaries told him if the missionaries didn’t go help they wouldn’t be able to have that food pantry function. We went to help on Thursday and they are right, it is sponsored by the Catholic Church but runs on the backs of our missionaries. They come early and move all the food from the storehouse to another room, they clean and sort and set out all of the food and then they pass it out and help the elderly that come get the supplies to their car, then they put everything away. They work hard for three hours! There are 3 people from the Catholic Church in charge and 10 missionaries doing the work. They had an Elder say the opening prayer. We reported back to the President after going and working and talking with the missionaries that we thought they should continue with this service. We heard yesterday that he approved their schedule change. It will take a while for the missionaries to quit asking “when” they should be doing things. They also get a 30 minute lunch (used to be an hour) and they have to be out of their apartments by 10am and it’s suggested they take their lunches with them. They are finding out that missionaries that spend less time in their apartments are less stressed and depressed. I agree with that, the busier we are and the less time we spend in the apartment the better I feel about everything. It will be fun to be a part of this new program.
The rest of the week we spent as the designated driver. Our Elders went over a speed bump and tore their entire exhaust system off of their car. It is still in the shop. They needed a ride to everything for most of the week. It meant that we were able to go to more lessons and we went on splits with them. That was fun for us. We did start to feel like there were things we needed to get done though. Friday we spent the morning taking them to the Doctor. Elder Bell messed up his pinky finger a long time ago but finally had an appointment with the Doctor. They had put Elder Johnson (concussion) with him for the day. Elder Bell has his pinky in a device to stretch the tendon and will have physical therapy. Elder Johnson has been told to stay down and not do anything, even read. He is still struggling. We have decided that they need to get rid of “morning program”, that is where these two accidents occurred. We thought we might have to drive Elders around all weekend but they gave them a different car to use for a while. We had a beautiful weather day yesterday for knocking doors. We accomplished a lot. I guess Heavenly Father knew we were doing our best and needed a good day to work on our responsibilities. Today we came out of church to a blizzard so we are happy that it was good on Saturday. There is a weather pattern here. Snow, wind, rain, flood, repeat…..
The Sienna Vista ward had a missionary Sunday today. The Elders spoke and the Ward mission leader. They asked Elder Hardman to give his testimony. My kind of meeting! It was nice. I am impressed with the willingness of the members to be involved in missionary work. They feed the missionaries every night, they go on splits with them and they help with lessons. I know we can all do more but these members are very supportive. They haven’t figured out what we are doing here though. I had a member ask me today when we would be transferred. Oh well.
We hope you have a great week and drive carefully, be very careful going over speed bumps! The gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
We went to District meeting this week and they handed out a new schedule for the missionaries. They no longer have to follow the hour by hour guidelines that are in Preach My Gospel. They are responsible to prayfully decide when they study, plan, exercise, and give service. They have found that return missionaries struggle when they no longer have a set schedule during the day to accomplishment the things they need to. They now have the opportunity to decide how to manage their time and to depend on the Spirit in making these decisions. They still have to get up at 6:29 am and they still have to fit everything expected into their day. President Chesnut still gave them an outline of a few things he wanted them to plan for on certain days and times. The schedule change doesn’t really affect us, we already plan our days our way but it greatly affected the Just Serve times that we have already committed to. We were confused and frustrated but President Chesnut met with us Tuesday afternoon and clarified the program for us. I think we have it all figured out again. The north valley missionaries help every week at a Catholic church for 3 hours right at the time the President told them they should be doing weekly planning. He asked us to go check it out because the missionaries told him if the missionaries didn’t go help they wouldn’t be able to have that food pantry function. We went to help on Thursday and they are right, it is sponsored by the Catholic Church but runs on the backs of our missionaries. They come early and move all the food from the storehouse to another room, they clean and sort and set out all of the food and then they pass it out and help the elderly that come get the supplies to their car, then they put everything away. They work hard for three hours! There are 3 people from the Catholic Church in charge and 10 missionaries doing the work. They had an Elder say the opening prayer. We reported back to the President after going and working and talking with the missionaries that we thought they should continue with this service. We heard yesterday that he approved their schedule change. It will take a while for the missionaries to quit asking “when” they should be doing things. They also get a 30 minute lunch (used to be an hour) and they have to be out of their apartments by 10am and it’s suggested they take their lunches with them. They are finding out that missionaries that spend less time in their apartments are less stressed and depressed. I agree with that, the busier we are and the less time we spend in the apartment the better I feel about everything. It will be fun to be a part of this new program.
The rest of the week we spent as the designated driver. Our Elders went over a speed bump and tore their entire exhaust system off of their car. It is still in the shop. They needed a ride to everything for most of the week. It meant that we were able to go to more lessons and we went on splits with them. That was fun for us. We did start to feel like there were things we needed to get done though. Friday we spent the morning taking them to the Doctor. Elder Bell messed up his pinky finger a long time ago but finally had an appointment with the Doctor. They had put Elder Johnson (concussion) with him for the day. Elder Bell has his pinky in a device to stretch the tendon and will have physical therapy. Elder Johnson has been told to stay down and not do anything, even read. He is still struggling. We have decided that they need to get rid of “morning program”, that is where these two accidents occurred. We thought we might have to drive Elders around all weekend but they gave them a different car to use for a while. We had a beautiful weather day yesterday for knocking doors. We accomplished a lot. I guess Heavenly Father knew we were doing our best and needed a good day to work on our responsibilities. Today we came out of church to a blizzard so we are happy that it was good on Saturday. There is a weather pattern here. Snow, wind, rain, flood, repeat…..
The Sienna Vista ward had a missionary Sunday today. The Elders spoke and the Ward mission leader. They asked Elder Hardman to give his testimony. My kind of meeting! It was nice. I am impressed with the willingness of the members to be involved in missionary work. They feed the missionaries every night, they go on splits with them and they help with lessons. I know we can all do more but these members are very supportive. They haven’t figured out what we are doing here though. I had a member ask me today when we would be transferred. Oh well.
We hope you have a great week and drive carefully, be very careful going over speed bumps! The gospel’s true and we love you!
Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman
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