Elder Tanner Hardy: Shake, Rattle and Roll!

Family Mine!

Wow, sounds like a very exciting week! I am so proud of all of you, and all that you do. I love you so much, and am grateful for your example and for your protection!

This week was a little bit...busy. We were in Sofia on Tuesday for passport work and interviews with President, Wednesday we were in Plovdiv for Zone Conference (so great!), and then we had to go down to Sliven to do get audited. The audit was actually a really neat experience, and really again built my testimony of not only the spiritual purposes of the Church, but also of the hard work that falls to the Branch Clerk. I have a lot more respect for Ray Davis and all the other clerks now! In other news, we learned that due to some other needs (again!), Elder Hazelhofer is being shifted to Pazardjik tomorrow, and my new companion will be good ol' Elder Raisor! We were companions almost a year ago in Shumen, only a few transfers from being in the MTC together. It should be a good experience, and I am excited to again serve with him. He is a great man.

This week we really have seen so many wonderful miracles...the Lord was taking special care to show Elder Hazelhofer that his hard work in this area has not been in vain. The Lord has truly opened so many doors to us that have been closed not only for the last six weeks, but for months and years on end--for example, with the recent convert woman, who was baptized, confirmed the next day and since then never set foot in the church, we have been able to have wonderful spiritual lessons in her home, and yesterday, for the first time in a long time, came to church! And not only did she come, but she came, stayed for both hours, and LOVED it! She was just glowing at the end of the meeting, the happiest I have ever seen her. It was a great testimony to me that, as missionaries, we don't really do anything other than doing our best to be worthy, and to be in the right place at the right time. We hardly did anything, but the Lord did much. What a miracle! Then, just last night, we left our member Fireside, and were going out to visit a less-active member who we have tried many many times to get in contact with. The Lord blessed not only with an open entrance to his block, but then an answer at his door, and then a slightly silly reason (by small and simple means!) to enter his house, and then an over-energetic and lively 7 year-old daughter to give a reason to sing songs from the Children's Hymnbook, which brought the Spirit, which allowed us to pray, and left this man, long years inactive, to say "you know, while we were singing and praying, I felt so warm and calm inside...I haven't felt that in a long time!". He has many barriers to hurdle, a long path of repentance to tread, but I know that with the Lord's help, it can happen! No person can convince me that the Lord is not in this work!

Yesterday, our second hour discussion about the Eastern Europe area goals was positively...miraculous. As we discussed how to apply these goals, so many members bore their testimonies, and the Spirit was so thick, one could have cut it with a knife. I know that these goals are inspired of the Lord, and that as we apply them, they will bring us great blessings!

All in all...life is great!

Mother; thank you so much for your hard work about getting the housing thing all lined up--that 4 with 4 plan sounds PERFECT! I hope that it all works out like we want, but if it doesn't, it just means that it worked out the way that it needed to! I am confident that the prayer and pondering that has gone into getting things lined up has not been in vain, and whatever happens, will be for good. Thank you for living worthy to go the Temple--I sure am looking forward to having the chance to go again! It really is such an unexplainanbly wonderful blessing to live so close to the Temple. Thank you for your protection! I love you so much.

Father; I love that picture! You look so confused to be by the pool! It gave me a good laugh. I am glad to hear that you got a little chance to catch your breath. When you were talking about sharing that pass-along card, it was another good reminder that we do not have to wear a badge to be missionaries! We talk to taxi drivers about the Gospel all the time here, but it doesn't have to end when the badge comes off! I love you so much Father, thank you for your good example.

PAIGE! Wow! You got a 94% on that AP Language Final! I am so proud of you--I remember how hard that test was, and how much stress it brought everyone in the class. I know how much studying it requires to get that good of a grade...I cannot express how happy and proud I am of you! I promise you that those habits of study will bless you your WHOLE life, not only temporally, but spiritually as well. He (or she) who can study effectively can gain knowledge, and knowledge is POWER, again, temporal and spiritual. Without it, we cannot be saved, even. I love you so much. About the cars, I am grateful. I know that the little bang-ups and bumper-ripping-off and so-on that I did taught me the true caution that is needed in driving. I would MUCH rather hear about you learning it that way--with cars, there are much worse ways to learn caution. I am so grateful that you are safe. I love you!

Ronnie; sick! In Bulgaria, that is considered the worst thing that can happen to a person--health is considered one of the most important, if not THE most important things a person can have. Good job on your finals as well (100%!), know that I love you, and ти пожелавам да оздравееш много бързо! However, if being sick means that I can grow 2 inches...

Lizzie: That little girl that I talked about a little while ago reminds me a lot of you when you were 7--very intelligent, very energetic! The only difference is that she cracks wit in a cute little Bulgarian voice, not an English one! I am so proud of you, and know that you are going to do great in your play! I love you little Sister.

So many thoughts. Last night as we were singing with this man, it again was driven so deep into my soul the power of righteous music. The change was so stark in both of their countenances after we had finished singing as opposed to the beginning. The music that we listens to not only has an effect on what we think about and ponder on, but has direct effects on our emotional state, and our spiritual sensitivity. The Hymns are gifts to us, to be used to remind us in the purest way, where we are from, and what we are doing here. We need to know them, love them, sing them, delight in them. Making the choice about what music we listen to may seem like such a small thing, but I promise you that if you will evaluate what you listen to, and decide to make a more conscious choice to listen only to that which lifts you up, you will notice a difference. In that I am sure. Music is such a gift!

I love you all so much, have a wonderful week!

Sent while humming (not crazily, Grandma!),

Elder Hardy

A Great Quote!

This quote was shared with us at Zone Conference, and I thought it was worth passing on:

“No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be GOOD. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what TEMPTATION means. This is an obvious LIE. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is; after all, you find out the strength of the German Army by fighting against it, and not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by walking against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after 5 minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an HOUR later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They’ve always lived a sheltered life by always GIVING IN. We never find the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it, and CHRIST, because He was the only man who NEVER yielded to temptations, is also the only man who knows in full what temptation really means.”

- C.S Lewis

Let us be firm in resisting temptation!

Elder Hardy