"You're Living IN the miracle!"

My dearest Family,

     Wow, what a crazy, good week! It still is strange to me to think about Rees being home. He looks great, and it sounds like you have been keeping him pretty busy, so that is good to hear. Let him know that I love him! This week has been a pretty special one--we had the amazing opportunity this weekend to have Elder Russel M. Nelson of the Quorm of the 12 visit our mission, in correlation with the 25th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Country of Bulgaria for the preaching of the Gospel (which Elder Nelson did, 25 years ago). For that, there was a big conference in Sofia, to which all of the Members of the Church from all parts of Bulgaria were invited to come to Sofia to hear him speak. It was an incredible blessing to see an Apostle of the Lord, and to hear his voice and council. But more on that later. All in all, it was a great week. The weather has been great (warm, but with a few days of rain to cool it down), and the work goes ahead. We didn't do any exchanges this week due to the Conference, but all the missionaries in the whole mission were in Sofia on Friday and Saturday, so it was neat to see them all. 

       Mother; I am good on short-sleeved shirts (we packed well!), and everything is in order in that respect. It sounds like things have been busy as usual. Thank you for always teaching us to be organized, dearest Mother. It is a blessing in my life nearly every day--I can only aspire to be as organized as you one day. I love you so much.

        Father, did you ever think the day would come that you would sit and listen to one of your sons report to the High Council? I hope it doesn't make you feel too old. Elder Nelson was accompanied by one of the Quorum of the 70, Elder Randal K. Bennet--he reminded me of you, except that all of his hair is still dark! Thank you for being such a good Father--this week we had the opportunity to meet briefly with a woman in the branch who moved here from the Philippines a year or two ago, and is a member of the Church, but whose husband is just now allowing her to come to church meetings, and to have people over to visit her. Thank you for always supporting my Mother in everything she does, and in being an example of righteous living. I love you!

       Paige, you look as though you play the role of the step-sister with...gusto! Pink suits you well. I hope you have enjoyed humanities this year--it has been strange but neat to actually meet people who live and practice those very world religions that we studied. You look great, know that I am proud of you--stick it out to the finish! I love you.

       Ronnie--are you taller than your oldest brother? That is strange but wonderful. You look pretty great as a tree as well. Keep it up, keep being a good example to those around you. Have you had any opportunities to share the Gospel recently? If so, please, let me know about them. I love you!

     Lizzie, it looks like you have a good group of friends there! Keep being good, know that I love you so much. Truth. 

      The Conference with Elder Nelson was wonderful and incredible for many reasons, but of all the advice and council that he gave, one sentence that he said has stuck with me, and has sort of changed my attitude about our work here in some ways. We were doing a question and answer session during the meeting that Elder Nelson had with just the missionaries, and a question was asked, something to the effect of how can we balance between expecting miracles in our work, and not getting our hopes so high to be dashed. Elder Nelson paused for a second, then replied, something to the effect of, "You don't realize it, but you are living IN the miracle! They are happening, it is just a matter of whether you see them or not!". Throughout the next day, as he told about his experiences in first coming to Bulgaria and other areas of Eastern Europe, trying somehow to get missionaries into the countries, and trying to get the Church to be recognized, it really struck me how he must see us--we see ourselves as 60-odd pretty clueless young adults trying desperately to tell people about the most important thing in our lives. He sees a massive miracle, years and years in the making. How often do we get caught up looking for the next thing for us in this life, wallowing in what we aren't, what we can't do, what we haven't accomplished, without realizing the miracle around us. It was a great lesson.

       I love you all so much, I will try to put more details into my next letter. I know that this Gospel is true, and that he Book of Mormon is the word of God, that if we come unto Christ, we WILL be happier, we will be more free, we will be a changed people (for the better). Have a great week!

With love,

(The only) Elder Hardy