Elder Tanner Hardy: Twenty Years

Family Mine!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful notes! I cannot tell you how much it means to me to be your Brother and Son and Friend. It knocks me to my knees in desperate gratitude to my Heavenly Father every time that I think about the many blessing with which he has given me, most of all His Son, Jesus Christ, for the knowledge of His Gospel and his atonement, and for the exquisite blessing of having such a wonderful Family. Words just don't cut it, no matter how eloquent or free flowing or well-crafted. I love each one of you so much.

This week was a great week--we had the chance to be on exchanges with the Elders from Blagoevgrad, then we had a quick Skype-Mission council, and a GREAT weekend of teaching (we had a chance to meet with some very accepting and open-hearted people this weekend. So neat!) This Sunday we (Elder Howard and I with Elder Wilson (my trainee!) and Sister Ausen) sang "Savior Redeemer of My Soul as a quartet (I sang alto, felt like Blake Lynd), and it was a lot of fun. They are all great singers. Also, I turned 20.

I had some wonderful missionary Birthday Presents on Saturday (lessons with progressing investigators!). When you are not a missionary, your earthly parents give you presents (and on the mission as well), but as a missionary you get birthday gifts from your Heavenly Father! I know it sounds funny, but it does feel strange to be 20. I still feel as if I have the knowledge of a 16 year old and the maturity of a 11 year old, but I am eternally grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission, because otherwise I am sure they would both be hovering somewhere around 8. I am grateful for every experience, the tough ones and the wonderful ones, that I have had so far as a missionary, and the many (of both kind!) that yet await me. Reflection back on ones life is very helpful, and I actually am very grateful for Birthdays, because they drive some of us more slow-off-the-jump sort of people to really think back, evaluate, reflect, resolve and commit. I am ready and excited to see what the next 20 years of life bring.

Father; The work is progressing well, and the Lord has been blessing us greatly of late with people to teach. We use the progress record every week in a meeting with the Branch Missionary Coordinator, Sasho (the only one in Bulgaria as far as I know!). The Branch is by far the largest in Bulgaria, we get just under 100 usually every week. There are 3 American Families that live here with quite a few kids, and there are some absolutely wonderful members here, with burning testimonies of the Restored Gospel. During every Zone Training we (the Zone Leaders) lead about an hour of the training, and I have given lots of talks in the smaller branches in which I have served, but not yet in Sofia. We travel a lot with buses and Tramvais (trolley-like street cars?) and on the Metro, so we contact a lot in those places as we are traveling from place to place, and we still get a good amount of time a week to street contact or tract. Did I get it all? Father, thank you so much for your service and your love! I love you.

Mother; thank you so much for your thoughts--I love you, Mother. Quick story--we were visiting an elderly sister in the branch, and she unexpectedly had fried us two HUGE plates of greasy potato wedges, and this visit was right after we had eaten dinner at home. It was the ultimate test of Missionary etiquette because not only did I have to finish my own plate, but also my companions, who was already feeling significantly sick to the stomach before coming to the appointment. I have NO idea how I ate all those potatoes, but I did it, and all I could think about the whole time was my young mother holding a big steaming plate of crepes! Thank you for all that you teach us and have taught us, Mom. Love you!

Paige! I love you so much thank you so much for your thoughtful words! Plenty of people sang to me on my Birthday, so don't worry! The funny thing is that even the people who know NO other English know the birthday song in English, no matter how old they are, so it was sort of...strangely homey. Weird, but wonderful. I love you so much!

Ronnie; that is an awesome list! I would put it up somewhere where you can see it frequently, and that way you will be constantly reminded of it. It may just be me, but I seem to forget even the most well-intentioned and sincere goals if I don't put them in a place where I can remind myself. Keep that elbow square! I love you little brother.

Lizzie; thank you so much for your love and your thoughts! I promise you that diligence is more important than ability in almost every case, and the two together are an unbeatable combo--you have a lot of talent, little Sister, and diligence is the only one of the two we really have much control over, so go after it! I love you so much!

I love the scriptures, and know that they are true. 15 minutes a day can change us from floundering fish in the Gospel to strong swimmers, and the more sincere the study, the quicker the acceleration. The glory of God is intelligence. Think about it. I love you all so much!

Your OLD younger and older Brother and son,

Elder Hardy