Elder Tanner Hardy: эдрайвайте! What a week!

Family Mine!

Thank you so much for that wonderful wonderful letter--it is so great to hear from you guys again--two weeks feels like a long time! I am sad that the cookies had to get sent home, but I am glad that I made here as well--the more and more I hear about it, the more I realize that it is a blessing that we made it. From what I heard, the church was on the last legs to get our visas--we had backed up the system so much, they were on the verge of permanantly reassigning us (as to give room to the missionaries behind us) when our visas came through. What a blessing it is to be here. Once again, it's the Lord's plan, not ours.

Sounds like you all had quite a wonderful vacation, and had a blast. It has been extremely cold here in Bulgaria as well (below freezing, all day, every day, and windy), which I didn't realize was such a problem until we started working and I realized that we walk everywhere, and are out in it pretty much from 1100 until 2100. I got a nice warm coat in Sofia, and some very warm gloves however, so I am doing great. Don't worry!

Mom, that is a great story--I love the example that you set by saying a prayer of gratitdue AFTER the miracle. Not only does that show the Lord that we recognize His hand in that blessing, but it also makes the experiecne more sweet and memorable for us. I love you lots Mother! (P.S. Whenever I show Bulgarian people family pictures, they think you're my sister because you look so young. They think you are beautiful. I agree!)

Dad, sounds like you're hard at work as always--in Group Gospel Discussions in English (basically, we teach the Gospel in a nonthreatening (ish) way in English for people that want to work on their English) we were talking about Fathers, and how God is our father, and one of the discussion questions was about what our earthly fathers had taught us. Dad, you have taught me a lot of important things. Thank you so much for that. I love you!

Paige! I still have your "Be Happy" cards with me in my pocket--everytime I pull out my planner out of that same pocket, and they fall out, I smile and think of you. You are a beautiful daughter of God!

Ronnie, there is a member family here (well, basically the only member family) who has a whole bunch of sons--you would have a blast with them. They are obsessed with arm-wrestling. I love you, strengthen your testimony now! You're great. Also, have fun in middle school sports--they are a blast!

Lizzie, you are so great--whenever I think about your smile, it gives me a little burst of energy. Keep being wonderful!

If I were to put my expereience here in Bulgaria so far into one word, it would have to be...different. In every way. From the food (a lot of bread and meat--almost nothing has preservatives, so it is VERY fresh all the time) to the style of living (everything is very close-- from the spread of Colorado to the density of Europe) to the work (people just walking on the street actually want to talk about spiritual things!)...it is crazy. I am serving in the city of шумен (shoo-men), and my companion is Elder Kingsly, and he is wonderful. Very fun loving (I promise, despite his demeanor in the picture), and very committed to obedience. Great guy. He wants to be an actor of some sort when he returns, and he acts like it. I love it. He speaks good Bulgarian, which is very helpful (he's been out about 7 months). We don't have a branch here in шумен, just a group, so that is very different as well. Yesterday at church, the number of members attending to number of missionaries attending (4 in the city) were perilously close, but we have a great group leader who is very converted, so we don't have to worry about that aspect of it. We definitely have work to do though. There is a lot more than that, I'm sure, but I just don't know how quite to put it into words. There are so many wonderful things here, and a lot of different ones as well. Exciting!

An experience and a testimony. So here in Bulgaria, as of yet, I have learned that although I have retained a fairly good ability to speak and to teach in Bulgaraian (maybe mediocre or sufficient would be better words), I pretty much cannot understand what anyone is saying back to me. Along with being a little disconcerting, it makes it very difficult to answer people's concerns and questions, because all I can do is shake my head and say "Da, Da" and then look to Elder Kinglsy for a translation. It will come, but right now, it is tough. In any case, we were in a lesson, and it had been going great--we came to the point in the lesson where it was my turn to speak, and I began to speak and testify. After I had finished, I saw the fellow we were teaching begin to respond, and to my alarm and great surprise...I understood what he said! It was a short simple response, it was probably only 3 or 4 words, and it was nothing more than just agreeing with what I had said, but I actually picked out the words that he had used. I was dumbfounded. My testimony is that, without a doubt, the Lord cares for us individually. It was a small tender mercy, but it gave me hope that I WILL be able to keep up with the rapidity of speech one day, that I will be able to communicate with them, that it is not just a distant hope, but an approaching reality. I know that blessing was from the Lord, and with his help, I can become an effective tool to build the Church here in this wonderful country, that when it comes down to it, the reason I came here was not to learn Bulgarian, but to help others to know Christ, to live in his way, and to be eternally happy. The Bulgaraian is simply a side-note to that end. I love this work, I know that the Lord is in it. I love you all as well!

I will be obedient, I will stay safe, I promise Mom.

With all my love,

старейшина Харди