Elder Tanner Hardy: 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)