Monday, November 17, 2014

God gave us Families!

"To help us become what he wants us to be! This is how he shares his love, for the family is of God."
Wow! That is so deep! God gave us families to help us become like him, to help us reach our divine potential.
Yesterday was the primary program. I wanted to cry! When the children sang this song at the top of their lungs. The little kids from the spanish branch have such hard home lives right now. There are part member families, abusive families, inactive families, but those kids love their families. It was super powerful for me to see...
I am so grateful for the knowledge we have that families are gifts from God. It took me 20 years to figure that out! I had to go on a mission! But now that I've shared that knowledge with so many other families, I love and miss my family that much more.
So thanks mom and dad for raising me in this gospel(:
Sorry that was kind of a random way to start haha I've had that song stuck in my head all morning! 
Yesterday was the Primary program, so our spanish branch was combined with the english ward. Elder Perry and I translated the whole thing, I translated for the girls and he translated for the boys. Luckily their vocabulary was really simple and all related to the gospel haha
It was super fun! I have never translated INTO spanish before, so I was super nervous. But it turned out pretty good. And it was really really fun! I wish I got to do that more! It was my first time attending sacrament meeting in english in almost an entire calendar year(:
I told Elder Perry "this time last year, I was a Primary teacher!"
He was like "No way!"
I was like "Yeah! Those kids were my LIFE!"
I LOVE them! I was missing them bunches yesterday! And by the time I get home they will all be baptized! Ahhh thats so cool!
Anyway, back up to the beginning of the week.
Tuesday, transfer day! I got to see some friends I haven't seen in a long time!
Like Elder Teran!
Then we had a lot of training. That night we got to go proselyte! In Santa Rosa! I got to see the Fonseca family!!
My family that got baptized in September! The girls, Lizbeth and Natalie answered the door. We were walking up to their apartment and I was like "Lizbeth! Don't you recognize me?"
And she read my name tag... "Hardy? ... HARDY!"
She jumped into my arms and hugged me! Hhahaha then we walked into the apartment. Carolina, the mom, saw me and she ran over to give me a hug and she started crying...
Aidan, the 9 year old boy, was super excited to see me too!
It was super cool cuz the last time i was in that house, I didn't speak or understand spanish! This time we had a super nice chat. 
Hermana Vianney showed up (from the branch) she gave up a huge hug. She was so excited that I was back in the branch. I had to tell her I was only visiting and she was super sad.
Then I got to see Jonathon, the 14 year old. He has grown up so much! His voice was wayyy deeper haha
And Carolina had a new baby! She is beautiful!!! She was a week old when i met her!!
They told me their door is always open to me. So I'll have to take you back to meet them some time.
Then Wednesday morning we got assigned our new greenies!!!
My new companion is named Hermana Bowler! She is from St. George, Utah. She actually went to high school with Hermana Hunt! She totally knows her! Crazy!
Heavenly Father has some high expectations for Hermana Bowler. She is amazing. Her spanish is wayyy better than mine when I started. She is fearless. She totally does whatever I ask of her. I'm like "Hey go contact that guy." and she does it!
Or "do you want to bear your testimony?" and then she does!
Wednesday night, our first night as a companionship, we had this super awesome spiritual experience. She gave the sweetest prayer, it was so sincere and so heartfelt and so powerful. We were both crying at the end of it. 
Her first day she was like "I could get used to this..."
She loves the missionary life already! She adjusted very quickly! 
When President Alba interviewed her she said "What can I do for you President?"
He said "I want you to be a leader. I want you to be a missionary I can trust with a struggling companion."
So she is always asking me for advice haha plus I am the STL so I'm kind of training her on that too, cuz she is a future STL and trainer. Oh man, she is just awesome mom. I love her so much.
She is so dang funny. 
This week there is this guy coming up that is like the president of the MTC language learning program. And of allllll the missions in the world, he picked this one. And of alllll the zones in the mission, he picked Napa. And of alllllllllllll the companionships and greenies in Napa, he picked us. So he is going to be shadowing us all day. Observing our interactions and how we proselyte and stuff. Its gonna be awesome. It is essentially a test for me, to see how I am doing as a trainer hhaha
My email to president last week was something like "I am super excited to train president, thank you!"
and he wrote me back this week... "be the best trainer in this mission, and in turn the best trainer in the world."
wow.
no pressure.
So we are doing great! Hermana Bowler is a baller! She is suuuuper awesome and we are having too much fun! 
Every day is so exciting because we do something new!
Her first door, her first pasole, her first pday, its all so exciting!
Yeah, one year next month.
Bibi and Aaron are engaged? I thought they broke up? Great for them!
Ohhh Delilah:(
Is Blitzen still kicking?
Crazy time! Yeah this time last year I was running around with you and it was freezing outside! And I was a primary teacher hahaha So funny...
Everything has changed so much.
Well, love you!
Hope you have a wonderful week!
Love
Hermana Hardy

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