Week 6: The Black Plague is cured!

Майка ми! Здраве на тебе! (и семейството!),

      Happy Birthday Mom! I will tell my story at the end.

Thanks for the update about home--it is so good to hear the news! Paige, glad to hear you are thriving! Keep on smiling--whenever I get a Peter Pan song stuck in my head, I think of you (then I replace it with a hymn!). How is Jazz Choir doing? Are you meshing? Are you making beautiful music? Ron-Dog, you are a super stud! (I sound like баща ми...). Glad to hear you are rocking the field! Keep it up! Lizzie, sounds like you handled a rough bunch of characters! Glad you came out on top, and walked away! I love you so much! And cookies for dinner is always good! 

     I had a hearty chuckle about the sprinkler situation--I can see the scene even now in my mind's eye! Three guys and some power-tools: when has that ever ended without a good story?

    Tell Dylan I hope he gets better, and will pray for him--give him and Rebecca and Tyree my love as well. Tell Jeff we did all the initiatories (spelling?), and will try to do as many of the endowments as possible. Tell him thank you so much for the names and the letter! I don't have Grandma B's email, but will you tell her thank you for her letter? I really appreciated it!

     In terms of needs, I am doing very well--as departure comes closer, needs may crystallize, but for now I am doing just hunky-dory. I can get pretty much whatever I need hygiene-wise in the bookstore, but I will let you know. Thank you so much though!

     Now, the week. It was a crazy one! I'll hit the highlights:

1) All but one of the guys in my district got into the choir that will be singing in Priesthood Session in a week or two--so excited! I am a first tenor--don't know where I'll be in the standing order, but hopefully you'll be able to see me. I will sing my heart out for all of you!

2) Another Apostle came this week--also crazy cool! It was M. Russell Ballard; his address was "off the cuff" (AKA by the Spirit), and was so good. He taught us to remember, cherish, and use to the fullest every opportunity to learn and grow and serve on our missions. I am so excited to go!

3) New people in our zone yesterday, so we are no longer the youngest! Weird...   

4) We SKYPE-ed with an actual Bulgarian yesterday--he was the Branch President in Burgas (on the Black Sea). At first, Elder Taylor and I were the only two to have our volunteer drop out, but then, with just enough time left, he came on and we had a great discussion. What a blessing! It was encouraging (we legitimately communicated and shared a message with an actual Bulgarian!) and frightening (the speed, the speed!). It made us even more pumped to go.

5) As a district, we have finally eradicated the Black Death from our midst--the coughing is minimal at this point. Yee-haw! I feel a lot better.

     Now, Mom. What can I say? There is too much! So many (basically all) of the blessings and good things in my life I can attribute to what I learned from you (and Dad as well). From music, to organization, to manners, to testimony, I cannot adequately thank you for all that you have done for me, Mom. My experience is one that I probably have shared before, but will share again because it is so dear to me--I think about it often, and apply the principle I learned, even here in the MTC. It was a lesson back in Ohio, in primary--I don't remember much, but I remember Mom standing up and teaching us about our "testimony garden"--if we wanted our garden to grow, we had to perk up, and listen intently to other people's testimonies, so we could feel and learn what they had to share. Then, we had to share our beautiful garden with those around us, so that they could learn, and our garden could grow as well. It may have been many years ago, but to this day, I subconsciously (and then hopefully consciously) "perk-up" when I hear another person bearing their soul. I attribute so much of the testimony that I have, to that lesson I learned so long ago from my beautiful Mother in a primary lesson. I love you so much. Thank you for always keeping your covenants, so that I could learn their importance, and hopefully keep them as you have kept them in my life, so that I may enjoy the many blessings you have enjoyed. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

С любов и радост,

Старейшина Харди

 Elder Lanterman and I had it the worst!

Elder Taylor at his finest!

Week 5--Keep on Swimming!

Семейството ми!

   Страхотно! Хбаво! Paige is Peter Pan! That is awesome! Exciting! Wonderful! She's going to rock it, I just know it. Tell her to give it her all, to enjoy every second of it, to bring down the house every night! Also, tell her thank you for her letters--they crack me up. 

     Tell the Ron-Dog I hope that he stays in the glorious tenor range, but I guess I would still love him if he ended up singing bass. Tell him that Tight-End is a glorious position, once occupied by the one and only Steven Soth, to the attainance of much laud and many touchdowns. Tell him I Iove him!

     Tell Lizzie that I love her, and I think she is the coolest--I am so excited to see her star for Team USA soccer in 10 years! Tell her I think she is beautiful, and to always remember where our gifts come from--the Lord. (She knows that).

     Tell Dad, Grandpa and Uncle Russel that by the end of my mission, I hope to be as good of a fisher of men as they are of anglers of Риби (fish). Tell them I love them, and to save a few swimming around in the Little Spokane for me!

     Tell Grandma's Seminary class thank you for the letters of support and encouragement! Tell her to tell all of them to study up and to memorize scripture mastery--they'll need them for their missions!

     Thank you so much for the package--Mom, I love reading your notes and eating your cookies--they are always delicious! Also, thank you for sending the vial--I had a fun fiasco getting it to my room  (I put it down (the package), left it, then got called up to the front desk mysteriously. Elder Taylor nearly had a heart attack). About the call packet--I don't have it with me, I believe (I checked pretty thoroughly)--I thought I left it in the tub with all my knick-knacks and journals in it. It should be in there! Sorry for the miscommunication. 

      Thank you for all the love and support--please give all my love to the family, the ward...and just everyone. I am so glad to be out on a mission!

      This week was a good week, if an interesting one. It all stared on Sunday, when I caught Elder Rigby's cold, which then morphed into a pretty wicked sore throat and stuffed nose by Tuesday--the good news is that I have progressed from the sore throat to only the Bubonic Plague-like cough and stuffed nose stage, so I should be well soon. My voice is pretty much a pitiful squeak at this point (except during class--almost like the Lord is helping me out or something), so I have been the source of much good-natured hilarity for my district this week. (Don't worry Mom, I bought some Day-Quil, and there are more than enough available drugs in the zone if I need anything). In other news, my Bulgarian has progressed to the level of a disoriented three year-old, so the progress is good--I am beginning to love this language--it is the language of my people! 

     The big-news is that Elder Scott came and spoke to us, and we got to sit on the second row, which was way, way sweet--he spoke to us about prayer, and his remarks were great. One thing that he said, that is worth sharing, is about how we look for answers to our prayers; one, are we really trusting that the Lord will answer? Even if we don't get a huge spiritual confirmation (which we often wont), the Lord is still answering us! He is just putting a little more trust in us, trying our faith, seeing if we will seek the answer he is sending to us. Whether it be in the scriptures, an experience we have, or the words of a friend, He will ALWAYS send us an answer, because he loves us that deeply, cares for our welfare that intently, wants us to return to him that desperately. He just sometimes wants us to grow a little bit by searching! Свидетелствам сигурно за това. 

I love you all so much, I know this Church is true, I love this work! 

Може ли винаги имаме вяра във Исус Христос,

Старейшина Харди

I hope you enjoy the pictures--I tried to send more! (Life just isn't very varied at the MTC)

 TEMPLE

My Zone with their flags--we are on the right! (the Sun Flag is Macedonia)

My District and some departing Elders (Bosnia / Serbia / Croatia)

Glam shots on P-day. Photo tribute to Elder Williams (These are for you Mom!)

Harry Potter Day meets District A...

Rug-burns and Repentance

Семейството ми!

 Здрайвате за МТСто! Week four and still breathing! (And loving it!) That encounter with Sister Abram's mother was quite interesting, and a crazy coincidence--what made it even stranger was that she was riding shot-gun in the Sheriff's car at the time of our encounter. I was more than a little confused, but it was cool. It's a small world!

      Will you please tell Grandma she is hilarious and I love her--I busted up laughing when I read about her calling, much to the confusion of my companions, simply because I was so happy and just...I don't know. It was just an enjoyable experience. She must be mighty in prayer!

     Tell Paige to sing her heart out for me this weekend--I will send boy-ish thoughts her way. Tell Ronnie I am proud of him, and to always remember to put the Lord first, no matter what other priorities arise. Tell Lizzie I am proud of her and that I have to restrain myself from bragging about her Lexile (because bragging is not missionary-like; it is a struggle). I love you guys!

     Сега, ще отговоря въпросите ти:

1) My favorite food here are the gyros--they are pretty killer. They make several kinds.

2) I play lots of volleyball (inside and out), and the most intense non-competitive four-square on the planet. Our zone loves it.

3) ALL the speakers are great--our last one was a member of the First Quorum of the 70 from Kenya. He had some great, simple, practical advice to offer.

4) I have seen Sister Ferris several times (though she just left for the field this Tuesday), and I saw Sister Brim earlier this morning.

5) I got the camera--here's hoping that it will work! (I haven't tried connecting it yet).

6) I can understand our teachers fairly decently (far from perfectly); as for native speakers? Not so much. Знам че Бог ще ни благослови със Дара на Езици!

     All in all, life is good at the MTC--we hosted again (so we are beginning to feel quite old, even though we aren't even technically half-way done yet). Our investigators are coming along well, though one has been sick and we haven't been able to meet with him, and another doesn't like restrictive religions like the Arabs, so the Word of Wisdom didn't go over to hot. Other than that, they're doing great. Also, we now have a less-active we are working with (our teacher), whose name is Светослав, literally "Holy Glory." Bulgarians have interesting names. 

      Now, to explain the title; I learned something the other night due to my own stupidity (or maybe lack of foresight rather), that I found amusing and enlightening. I hope you all will benefit:

    Some guys were sort of wrestling around after class, right before bed--a slight breach of rules, if not a ground-breaking one. I was walking to brush my teeth, and they were showing some moves, so I (absentmindedly) sort of drifted over there. Before I knew it, I was wrestling around mostly jovially with  guy that, as I came to find out, is a national high school champion wrestler. Long story short, I have some pretty sweet rug-burns (from our lovely plush MTC carpeting) on my elbow, foot, forehead and temple, along with a wickedly sore neck to remind me to ALWAYS be exactly obedient, no matter how small it may seem. I was grateful to the Lord for reminding me of that lesson so clearly and so...painfully. There really is no rule to small, or no breach too innocent. (Don't worry, I have since sincerely repented). I plan on remembering the lesson for a long time.

     I know the Lord has called us, every one of us, set apart missionary or not, to be on this earth on the last days for the purpose of helping others to come to know the Savior. I love you all so much! (Also, read Alma 13:20--always remember to read your scriptures!)

     Please thank the Alleys for me--they sent me some delicious cinnamon bread!

     Also, I sent the camera back--should be there pretty soon. And thanks for all the letters and love.(shout out to Kallie Garn and Aunt Nadeen for letters this week!)

Аз знам че това е инстинска Църквата на земята днес. Аз и Обичам! Аз те Обичам!

Старейшина Харди 

My Tag... (STAR-RAY-SHE-NAH)

Bat Мъж! A birthday present that will live on in zone infamy.

The best flag in the MTC. Also the hardest to keep up on one's wall with only duct tape.

The view outside our residence...

Week Three: Строхотно!

Семейството ми!

     Thanks for the letter! I always enjoy reading about the escapades of the Hardy clan--it sounds and looks like you guys were having a quality time in Glacier. That made me happy! I'm glad nobody died of long hikes, large rocks, deep waters or loose planning. 

     No worries about the camera--we'll get it all figured out. That plan sounds fine and dandy--I will email you back mine. If you are sending me one with an SD card, it might be wise to send a few that I can take with me to Bulgaria (in case I take a million pictures!). No rush on that though--I've got time.

     Tell Paige to love every moment of Humanities--it is one of my most quality high school memories. She will thrive! Tell Ronnie to have fun in middle school, watch out for girls, and to study hard (and also not to die), and tell Lizzie I think she is awesome, and to keep singing! 

    Thank you so much for the letters this week--tell the Miamaids I appreciated their packet of letters, and all the bright colors. I don't have time to write back, but I do appreciate it! Tell Grandma thank you for the letter as well--tell her I still understood the French (barely...), though it was weird to see a foreign language in the Latin alphabet. Give my love and support to Christian, and tell him to catch a wave for me!

     I didn't find the consecrated oil--the ones they have here are good, but if I really do like just the plain gold one (like Dad's)--if you happen to run into an extra, that would be awesome, but if not, I could just get one here, no big deal. No rush either--I have oil if I need it, just not in a nifty container.

     This week was a little crazy, but very good. The devotional on Tuesday was superb, all about making sure that your converts come to stay, not for the short term, and about reactivating the less active. We can do it! We will bless so many more than just those we bring back if we just can bring them back. On Wednesday, we got to host, which was fun (I thought of Rees). It was a little bit of a wake-up as to how long we'll be here though--of all the people I hosted, all but one are leaving before me, and he is leaving the same day as me (assuming we get our visas on time). The Old Bulgarians (as they have come to be known) got their travel plans suddenly today, because their visas came out of the blue, so they are pretty stoked. After doing a solid 11 and a half weeks, they are more than ready to go (they were on the verge of being temporarily reassigned). There will be much rejoicing in the zone tonight, because it has been hard to watch them wait and wait and wait, never knowing what the next day would bring. I hope that is not us, but you never know.

     The Bulgarian is coming--our district is progressing, and we are beginning to build a base that we can work off of, which is encouraging. That being said however, fluency seems about as near as the sixth moon of Jupiter, but that's ok--I know it will come, for the Lord giveth no commandment save he shall prepare a way that we may accomplish that which he hath commanded. And the Lord has called us to speak Bulgarian, and Bulgarian we will speak. I have no doubt of that. In the meantime however, I may or may not have told one of our investigators that we all need to eat covenants to return to live with our Heavenly Father. That's ok--things like that happen I guess. I am only sad that I did not have the presence of mind to relate it quickly to the sacrament (which would have been very smooth). Next time.

     Thank you so much for the oatmeal cookies--nobody here understands the glory of those cookies, which is actually a good thing--I have them all to myself!

     Аз знам че Исус Христос е нашата спасител, е че чрез него е единението му, можим да станам като Бог. 

Обичам те много!

Старейшина Харди

My district! Going from the left is: Elder Raizor, Elder Taylor (my companion, Sister Thatcher, Ме, and Elder Rigby (going to Macedonia, thus the sweet flag making me look like I have a halo).