Monday, June 16, 2014

The Sunday of 70's.

Mom!
I am loving the pictures you sent me of Camden! What. A. Ham!
He is too funny!
I'm sorry there has been so much drama back home:( And I'm a little bit glad to hear you miss me! Hahaha
YES! We got your packages right after dinner on Monday night. I LOVED it! It was very thoughtful! Thank you so much mom! My companions and I ate lunch at Subway today to celebrate!(:
PLEASE tell Camden HAPPY BIRTHDAY for me!! And give him a big hug and kiss! XOXO
Whoa Elder Call! That is NUTZ! haha we had a 70 come to our mission this week too! But we knew he was coming for like months before! haha it was such a great conference! I LOVED it! It was so so so good! I learned a ton! 
My week was wonderful. My teaching pool is growing every day. We are literally seeing so many miracles!!! Our area is about to explode! We have 2 baptismal dates right now- Miguel y Chato-, this week we are planning to set another one with our awesome investigator Daniel too! President Alba wrote my companions and I an email this week saying he is really impressed with the work we are doing in this area(: So that was awesome.
How was Father's Day? Did Dad get my card?
I miss you and love you too.
I know you can find comfort in the scriptures and through prayer.
Can you believe one year ago I got called to teach Primary and I was still waiting for my mission call?
One year from Today, I'll be home! 
Time is flying by wayyy too fast! I am loving it!
Take good care of Elder Eric... he is loving it though!
I love you so much mom!
Love
Hermana Hardy

Birthday!! 20 Years old!

Ok my birthday!
It all started at 6:30am when we went out for our jog. We usually go
to this track and there are usually 4 elders there, the Novato Elders
(Elder Sacco, Elder Randall, Elder Little, and Elder Meiners) but only
two of them showed up. We asked where the other Elders were and Elder
Little said "They ran a different track this morning". Then we headed
back to our apartment and We waved to Elder Sacco and Elder Randall.
Then we got back and they had Decked Out our door! It was covered in a
plastic princess thing, there were streamers and balloons and a Happy
Birthday sign! And a stuffed animal dog haha
So then we went inside and my companions insisted that I shower first.
So I did and they made me breakfast while I was in the shower. They
made a fried egg, some toast, a smoothie, and a BUNCH of
strawberries!(:Then we got ready for the day and did our studies.
I opened my package from Wendy during Language study hahah that was
exciting! Hermana Kaiser has my camera and was trying to take
pictures.. But she took of videos and didn't know how to turn the
video off haha but I LOVED the package! It was so sweet! My companions
thought it was funny I got so many socks(: hahha
Then it was lunch time, I walked in the bathroom to fix my hair and my
companions attacked me and blindfolded me!They said. "What all do you
need for today?" They made me brush my teeth blinded folded! Hahaha
they handed me my socks and shoes and my purse and we headed out the
door.They put me in the backseat. I had no idea where we were going...
We ended up at a Pizza place. They made me go in with them. They
ordered pizza. I sat there chatting with a guy from Guatemala in
Spanish, blindfolded mind you. On the way out I ran into a bunch of
cars. Then we made it to the car again and drove for a while.
 I figured we were going to the church, but I really didn't know for
sure. Made it in the church and I could hear people running. And then
I heard the Elders talking. Then they walked me in circles for a while
and finally stopped me.
They unblindfolded me. I was standing in the middle of circle on the
gym floor. both Elder Phillips and Elder Sabin stood across from me
armed with POKEMON!!All of that for a Pokemon battle???I wish I could
have gotten a picture of their faces. They were very serious. Elder
Phillips said, "Welcome to the Water Pokemon gym. I am Misty, the gym
leader of this gym. And I challenge YOU to a Pokemon battle!"So I
pulled my Pokemon out of my purse (yes, I had 2, and they are ALWAYS
in my purse) and I won! Woohoo!
Then Hermana Gonzalez came in.Elder Phillips said "Oh! Sisters. what
are you doing here in this place at this time?"Hermana Gonzalez put a
crown on my head and then had to ask me a question. While I was
looking at her I got blindfolded again.
I got dragged all over the church. Hermana Sommer forgot to tell me
there were stairs so I totally biffed it and face planted hahaha
Then I finally got unblindfolded again.I was in the kitchen and all
Spanish branch missionaries were there! They sang "Feliz CumpleaƱos a
ti!" And then I blew out the candles.The Elders made a cake for me! It
was chocolate. The bottom layer was just flat and they frosted it
blue. Then the top layer was a circle frosted like a pokeball! The
letters were yellow and it was Happy Birthday, H. hardy like a POKEMON
CARD!!
Yes, mom. For my 20th birthday, on my mission, I had Pokemon Pizza Party
.So it's a Mexican tradition that the birthday person takes the first
bite with their face. I went in for a lick and Elder Teran smashed the
cake in my face hahahha Oh yeah and Elder Teran made flan! It was a
great lunch!
Then we all went out separate ways and did our weekly planning.For
dinner we went to our Less Active (Vicki) house. She had gotten us
Little Ceasars Pizza and a DELICIOUS chocolate cake! And she got me a
little present. So nice. A cute little necklace.Then we went out and
did some missionary work!
We met a bunch a new people and saw miracles! We finally got a hold of
this guy Edgar, who we haven't seen for weeks! Then We taught a lesson
to this guy Nicolas and at the end of the lesson we asked "Who do you
know that needs a message about Jesucristo (I mean Jesus Christ hahaha
#spanglish) in their lives right now?"And without hesitating he said
my neighbors in number 9!And we were like "Ok!" So we walked over to
number nine. We were in a trailer park. And there was a guy living
UNDER a trailer in spot number nine. His name was Francisco. He was
pretty drunk, but he was really friendly. We asked if we could come
back another time and he said "Dejame" which means like, "wait one
sec"He went into his little room under the trailer and came out
holding one of our pamphlets!He said this book is very important to
him and he knows everything inside of it is true. On the back it said
Hermana Harris and Hermana Brighton. Which means they met him WEEKS
ago and we just found him again!So we left him with a Book of Mormon
and asked him if he would prepare to be baptized in August and he said
yes! I'm really excited about him! I know we will see miracles, and I
know Francisco can be baptized this August!So that was exciting.
We missed a call from our other Less Active Manuel, we listened to the
message and he sang happy birthday to me! Sooo sweet. We had an
appointment that night with him, so we called him back but he had to
cancel he was at the hospital because a friend of his just had a baby!
On my birthday(: So then we pulled over the decide what to do. I was
driving at this point. I looked around to try to figure out where to
go next and I got blindfolded again. I was like "are you kidding me?"
Hahha
So I climbed in the backseat and Hermana Kaiser drove. I really had no
idea where we were going this time. Then I heard "Welcome to
McDonalds, can I get your order?"Hahahha
We got ice cream cones and my companions ordered me a Pokemon toy haha
she asked what color, and we all said Red! (Yes, by now all the
missionaries in the branch know which Pokemon is in which colored
ball.... This really kind of got out of hand hahaha) so I got a
Pikachu(:
Then we drove home and finished weekly planning. We texted the Novato
Elders and asked if they wanted some birthday cake (since we had 2 at
this point and 2 let over pizzas) so Elder Sacco and Elder Randall
came over. They handed us two tubs of ice cream! Hahahha they asked us
like 2 weeks ago what our favorite types of ice cream are and they
remembered! Hahah we made them take one of the cakes home though haha
They are so sweet.So that was my day! We ended with a really good comp
inventory.I LOVE my companions and my zone! It was a really REALLY
good day! I had so much fun! I was feeling really loved!!
And yes, for the 20th birthday entering into adulthood, I had a
Pokemon Pizza Party(: hahahaI'll never forget it.(:By the way, when we
got home we got a slip that said the UPS guy came, he has 3 packages
for me. But we missed him! So we are gonna try to get a hold of the
packages later today. Sorry!

That was my birthday. the rest of the week was good too!
I was SO SO SO happy to see that picture of my primary class! I miss them so much! I still talk about them allllllll the time. Every week we help out in Primary and I miss them. The Sunbeams LOVE us though. There is this one little boy named Max that is soooo cute. I can't handle him. 
And a little boy named Camden (:

Monday, June 2, 2014

New Companion!

Ok. So. Wednesday was Transfers. we got our new companion Hermana Kaiser! She is awesome! Thursday I went to Santa Rosa for Leadership training all day. It was really fun to see all my Santa Rosa friends! I rode there with Hermana Tracy and Hermana Wise (two other STLs) but they live in Rhonert Park which is like 30 minutes away from our house, but on the way. So My companions drove me there and then they drove me the rest of the way. On the way home we got permission from President Alba for the Zone Leaders to take me home. So I was alone in a car with two Elders. That was different. hahha But it wasn't too awkward. They were really sweet and offered to take me out to dinner and every thing (Because I missed dinner because the meeting and my companions were at dinner while we were driving home) so anyway.
I love being an STL! so far it has been super fun! And all the meetings we go to my companions come too. (: Mostly I just work really closely with the Zone Leaders and District Leaders so that they know EXACTLY what is going on with the Sisters in our Zone. (It is hard for them because a lot of them don't know how to talk to Sisters hahah its really funny)
anyway, so far there are no bad parts.
I am so pumped for this transfer!
My new companion is awesome and really our whole Zone Is!
But to answer your question. Yes I am here in Novato to stay. I'll be here on Friday.(:
And I thought of something else! If you wanted to send me a new memory card or two, it think it is about time to send this one home. It is super full! haha
Yes I have inherited a few skirts from companions and other sisters in the Zone(:
Yes we have had A LOT of missionaries go home. Mostly for health reasons.
Good luck with the cowgirls and reindeer handling drama! Sounds like fun!
That would be awesome if Aaron Nelson would ride Duchess!
Hhaaha
Oh yeah, also this weekend on Sunday we had a stake missionary fireside thingy. So all the missionaries in the stake met together (Which is my Zone and another Zone!) So i got to see more of my friends there! The Novato English Elders had a baptism last saturday that we got to go to! It was beautiful! Brother Radcliffe had been investigating the church for 17 years! He goes to church every sunday with his wife and kids and just randomly decided to get baptized! It was awesome!!!! It was a really really good week.
I got to see lots of friends and had a really good time(:
Today we are planning to go to have a BBQ at the beach!
I can't believe it is already JUNE! I have been out almost 6 months!!!!
But yeah we can pretty much do whatever we want on Pday within mission rules. No horse riding:( or fourwheelers or rock climbing. The Elders go mountain biking a lot. One Zone went and did Laser Tag! Last week was mini golf. Really we are pretty free to try whatever we want.
Anyway I'm gonna try to send you pictures now!
Love you so much mom! I hope your week was good too!
All my love,
Hermana Hardy
P.S. So i tried to not tell anyone it was my birthday, but naturally they all found out. One of our Less Actives, Vicky, is gonna feed us dinner that night(: And the Elders are planning something. Both the Zone Leaders (Elder Sacco and Elder Randall) and my District Leader (Elder Phillips) asked what my favorite type of cake is. Another Member (Mama P) is having us over for a birthday dinner on Wednesday too. So don't worry. I'll be taken care of haha
 
 
This is our District. Looking classy in Purple!
From Left to Right
Hermana Kaiser, Hermana Sommerfeld, Hermana Hardy, Elder Phillips, Elder Sabin, Elder Teron, and Elder Jeske!

The green sweater is her new companion.

 
Yeah huh?? The Elders eat McDonald's like every day for lunch to try to "catch 'em all" and then we all fight each other in the hallways. Its pretty stinkin funny.
It all started because I bought a Happy Meal with the intention of sending my brother's the Pokemon. But now this happened. I have to have a pokemon on me at all times. Just in case Elder Jeske and Elder Phillips start shooting pokemon at us during District Meeting some time hahahahaha 
It's so funny!