Letter from Elder TJ

January 7, 2013

Hello! Another week and another transfer down - still trying to wrap my head around it's already another transfer! That was probably the fastest 6 weeks of my life. I am sad, but happy to see Elder Waite head to Mexico to serve the people that have been prepared especially for him. He'll do real well down there. He is a little nervous about the language but with studies and being emerged into it. It was fun to train him for sure. Between him and Elder Adam I don't know who my favorite companion is. That's definitely a toss-up. The week has been pretty crazy since Elder Waite got his Visa. You'll find out more when you read about Wednesday and Thursday! :) Stay tuned..

My week went a lil something' like this!

Tuesday (1st)-- Can't Remember hahahaha sorry!

Wednesday (2nd)-- Today we got up and did the usual morning schedule. Once we got ready and all that jazz, we decided that we needed to deep clean our room, take down the Christmas tree, and just get rid of things. I went through my suit cases after all was said and done and filled up 3 or 4 boxes of DI items. Again, I was amazed how many things a missionary can and does accumulate. Little too much. But all is well in Zion ;) I have a lot more space and I also filled up a box of things that need to go home and I am going to store it at the Nawahine's house - I talked to them and they said bring anything over till you go home. I will do so! Cleaning and junking our stuff took a long time - we also did some laundry that day. After we cleaned and did some appointment it was 5pm and dinner picks us up and we go eat. After that we got dropped off at the Samoan Families house the Tuiolasega's and had an excellent visit with them. They are a Part Member Family and the member is less-active with 3 kids and his wife. The kids are ready to be baptized we are going to set a date with them this upcoming week. The mom/wife is a little slower and is a harder "nut to crack." But....nothing the Spirit can't take care of. :) For the lesson we shared and based it off of James 1:5 about receiving an answer to our questions in life and about the Church. They are going to continue to read and pray especially the wife. As we were leaving Elder Waite and I really wanted a Lava Lava. They gave us both a Lava Lava it was great! Mine is red and Waite's is brown. The time is now about 7:45 and we have a lesson at 8 so we had to jet out of there and walk pretty fast to our next appointment with Bill Kirk. On the way it was really cold and started walking and a guy picks us up and takes us to our appointment! Score! At Bill's house he was the only one that sat in on the lesson; we read 2 Nephi 2 talking about the purpose of this life. It was a good lesson. I really enjoyed it. 

Thursday (3rd)-- 17 MONTH MARK! Where is the time going? Honestly, I can't believe it! So since we received the call that Elder Waite we had some things to get done! Last night I called the Nawahine's to see if they could take us around to run some errands and get some things accomplished. They said that they could no problem. Today at 10am they picked us up and we went to: DI as I told you I went through my suit cases the other day and junked a lot of stuff (4 boxes worth) so that will definitely lighten the load and weight and I'll have more room to work with! :) From the DI we went to Wal-Mart because Elder Waite wanted to get a few more American things to take down to Mexico with him like: Shampoo, Deodorant, and a few other things. He thinks it’s bitter-sweet about leaving the Idaho Boise Mission because he had a great time and the members have been so good to him and not to mention he had a GREAT trainer ;) ha-ha just kidding... :) I also got some items as well and I'll tell you what those Christmas gift cards from the family sure came in handy. Thanks again for them and I will send thank you’s to my aunts, uncles and cousins who donated! Great idea. While we were waiting for the Nawahine's next to the registers some members came up to us and gave us a $10 in store credit for Wal-Mart so Elder Waite was in need of some new socks so with that I said, "Hey, go get yourself some new socks!" So he got some new socks. As we were walking out of Wal-Mart about 3 or 4 people stopped us and just wanted to chat with us. Great members of the Meridian Area. Got to love it! :) After Wal-Mart we went over to Star because Elder Waite left his journal at the Hofman's so we met up with Coleson and got his journal back because he needs that of course! Then we went to WML Clark he's a dentist and gives us toothpaste for free! We then went to Dick's Sporting Goods so I could exchange my Jazz Jersey that Casey bought for me. It was a medium and needed a small so we got that taken care of and my jersey will be here sometime this next week! :) I am so excited to get it! They even gave me $11 back so I'll find a way to spend that money so you don't need to worry about that ha-ha ;). After Dick's we ran across the street to the Post Office so Elder Waite could send some items home that he didn't need and I sent a potential investigator in North Dakota a Book of Mormon and Bible - cost me $11 ouch... It's a kid of a Part Member Family in my area - his parents got divorced (Bill Kirk) and Noah (kid) lives with his mom out there. Mom doesn't really want him to pursue - but he really does so I thought this could be a start. He is only 11 so he may have to wait some time unless his mom's heart is softened which is 100% possible! I'm hopeful! The Nawahine's took us to lunch after then dropped us off at the church with the Family History Center so Elder Waite could talk to his family one last time - We both thought that would be a great way to send him off. Got picked up then went over to the Rice's in the Stake since I know them well and Elder Waite got close to them in the 6 weeks he was here. We had a lot of Chick Fillet coupons so we took them )the Rice family) out to eat there and then went back to the Zone Leaders so we could take Elder Waite to the mission office to drop him off  That was really hard on us both because we became really close and best buds. He'll do great in Mexico. No tears were shed but we both got super close ha-ha :) Good kid. "That's my mission son!"

Friday to Sunday -- I don't know names or places, etc... so I can't explain what we did. Sum it up: Taught some investigators, Part Member Families, went to church, taught Sr. Primary Sharing Time about how God loves us, and taught 14-15 Sunday school on Learning from the Holy Ghost. Had some great lessons, there was one lady named Mary she is so prepared to be baptized. We went in and taught her about the BOM and she accepted it right away and she committed to be baptized if she came to know it was true. Got transfer calls on Saturday Morning: I am staying in my area and becoming the District Leader and training another brand new missionary. Called a DLT no... not a BLT ha-ha ;) At the end of this transfer I will be there 7.5 months! That's a very long time! Usually doesn't happen - must be doing something right ha-ha :) I predict I will only do a 6 week train and then transfer and be the district leader in another area and possibility my last area of my mission. We went to the Priest Quorum planning activity because they are having a MTC night. All it is just giving them an MTC experience. I think I might take that back to my area for the Young Men and Young Women even and maybe the Slickrock Ward might like that and do that as they have in the past.

I'm excited to go back to my area after being with the Zone Leaders for the past few days. Being away from it felt so weird because I know nothing is getting done because no one is there. Until we get our new missionaries there will be probably 3 missionaries that come with me to my area so we can work it till Wednesday morning. That will sure feel good. I've been setting things up for this week so we have things to do when my new comp aka son gets here! It's going to be great!

I am excited to become the District Leader of this Meridian South District. I will have 8 district members and the Zone Leaders. I will be training them every Friday at 10:30. I have a good district I'm excited and looking forward to looking after them and being a leader and example to each of them as they will be to me.

I am excited to train this new missionary that comes in and help him grow in the Gospel of Christ and help others to do the same as we work together. No one is higher than the other. We are 2 missionaries with the same goal: and that is to invite people to come unto Christ in every way possible. I was a little upset and didn't want to train when I got the transfer call but as I changed my mindset that if it's not Elder Waite it's not going to be as cool, etc... I will love my new missionary just as much as Elder Waite and we will have a great and fun time with great success! I'm positive and optimistic.

Have a great week! I love you so much! Miss you tons! Under 7 months is just blowing my mind! I hope and pray that each one of us can have a better week than last as well as a better year! I hope we can all come unto Christ more. The sky is the Limit in the Gospel. :)

-Elder Hardy

A plea from Elder TJ for all to read the talk from Elder Holland and the importance of serving a mission

Elder Jeffery R. Holland talk "We Are All Enlisted"
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/we-are-all-enlisted?lang=eng

Please read quote from President Spencer W. Kimball

Every Young Man Should Serve a Mission

“The question is frequently asked: Should every young man fill a mission? And the answer has been given by the Lord. It is ‘Yes.’ Every young man should fill a mission. …

What are some common excuses for not going on a mission?

Elder William R. Bradford of the Seventy addressed this subject

“Some of you say in your minds, ‘Oh well, you just don’t understand my case. My situation is different. I plan to be a great lawyer, or doctor, or athlete, or some other great person. Surely neither you nor the Lord would expect me to leave my studies at such an important time. A mission would interfere with my future plans.’

“Others are thinking, ‘Yes, I know about missions, but if you had a girlfriend like mine, you’d never leave her. What will happen to her while I’m gone?’

“Yet others of you are thinking, ‘Missions cost so much. I just got this job. I just purchased a car and a stereo. It’s just the time of life when I’m starting to get things together for myself. I can’t drop all that now. I just can’t afford it.’

“Then there are also those who are thinking, ‘My situation disqualifies me. I have fallen into transgression and am not participating in the Church. I had always planned on being a missionary, but I slipped and now I don’t live the standards required of a missionary’ ”

If I could speak separately to each of you young men, … I would say with all the power of speech I could generate, ‘Just who do you think you are? What right do you have to match your wisdom with that of God, who through His prophets has issued a firm decree, a solemn mandate, that the restored gospel must be declared to all the world by the voice of His disciples? This means you!’ (in Conference Report, Oct. 1981, p. 71; orEnsign, Nov. 1981, p. 50).

This weeks letter from Elder TJ Hardy

Hey! What's up my family? Hope your past week was awesome and productive! Thanks for the e-mails and update on you guys! I really enjoyed it. As you know I got my HUGE Care Package this past Monday and loved it! Elder Sondrup really enjoyed his and was surprised. Thanks again for doing that for him. Best Parents in the World! No doubt.

I want you to know how much I love my mission and my Savior Jesus Christ. We are all disciples of Him. I am so grateful and in debt to Him and my Father in Heaven for giving me this opportunity to serve them. I hope I can do a job well done. The people of Idaho are truly blessing my life. I am so honored to serve them. Every morning when I put on my name tag it take a whole new meaning especially since time is going soooo fast. There is nothing else I'd rather be doing at this point in my life. I am so grateful for the experiences I am able to have. The power of the the Priesthood, prayer, and the Atonement are real! I have come to know the truth’s  of this Gospel. I thought I knew I knew what the Gospel was before I left but I feel that I have gained sooo much more knowledge. A mission is the best thing a young man can do. We are all missionaries. Share the Gospel with anyone and everyone. I know this Gospel is true and is our Savior’s Gospel. How awesome it is that we have a modern day prophet to lead and guide us in these days. (Amos 3:7) there will always be a prophet. I know it. As we come upon a new week I hope that we can all improve on the things we need to and come that much closer with the Savior and feel of His love for each of us. Remember you are never alone. (Footprints in the Sand) Onward and Upward. Always remember that YOU can have YOUR OWN Sacred Grove Experience. Never forget the love that Heavenly Father has for you.

My week went a little something like......

Tuesday (25th)-- Temple Tuesday! As you know the Boise Temple is getting ready to be dedicated and on Temple Tuesday to invite members, investigators to invite to the open house. We knock every door we come in contact with and 1) to share the Gospel and 2) to win the competition in our zone to see who is able to teach the most temple lessons. So we thought we'd get a little more clever and make our numbers impossible to compete with so we called two young men from two of the wards and had them come out with us! Smart huh? No rules say we can't haha :) I went with a kid named Stephen Hurd - he's 18 and preparing  for his mission in about a year. I had him do a few doors to get him in the swing of missionary life - I made sure I knew the family of course. He did a good job. Last week we got 13 lessons. This week we got....25 and shooting for 35 next Tuesday. We kicked some tail! Had some really awesome lessons with families and most of them are doing really well about inviting there friends to the Temple and going to take them! Makes our job that much easier. The members here are good and missionary minded for the most part. That all our day consisted of is knocking lots of doors and sharing a message about the Temple and the success that can come out of it and the Spirit will do the rest. In the evening we went to the Hunter Ward Bishops house and asked if we could do anything for him, the ward and if he'd like us to visit anyone - he had a few people for us so we will be contacting those people this week. The Open House of the Boise Temple is going to be such a neat opportunity for the people to come and see. When the Twin Falls Temple had there open house they had over 800 referrals! If you think about it Twin is about 50,000 people {maybe} and Boise being about 250,000 people (ish) just think of what can happen! Success is going to come left and right! I'm pumped. We get to take our investigators to it so that will be even cooler! Hopefully this will be a "kick in the butt" our investigators need to get them into the Waters of Baptism. Praying for that.

Wednesday (26th)-- Today plans got changed this morning. Life as a missionary - always got to be ready for change! So I got up today and grabbed the phone then headed downstairs to eat and then headed up and got ready. When I got out of the shower there was missed call from Sister Phonasa - we are teaching her nonmember husband. I called her back seeing what she needed and she was wondering if we could come do some service for her (pull weeds) so i was like heck yeah we can do that! So after studies and lunch we headed over and as Elder Sondrup was pulling weeds I talked to her about what we can do to get her husband progressing and have him receive a testimony of our Saviors Gospel. She was a great help. We know he has felt the spirit a few lessons ago with him (back w/ Elder Bennett) he mentioned he has some reservations and wouldn't tell us what they were. I asked Sister Phonasa to find out what those reservations are and let us know so we can pray/fast about what we can to do for him. She was less-active for many year but this past year or so she got active and recently went to the temple. And now she is going to be a host at the Boise Temple Open House. 

Once we finished pulling weeds there youngest son who is 3 (Braylen) is way into Super Hero's so I played Super Hero's with him for a little bit and he had a great time! He was spiderman and I was superman haha. Cute kid he's super funny! After service and super heros with Braylen we went home and showered and then HIT THE PAVEMENT to find some people to teach! No luck since everyone was just getting home from school but after dinner we'll get 'em! :) We went and taught an investigator about repentance, and baptism. After Kaleb's lesson I went and got a haircut and then went over to Bill Kirk's house he has recently became activated and his wife is not a member. We watched the Testaments with them. Jenna (wife) was sick so she didn't sit in but his son did. They both really enjoyed the movie and had never seen it before. The Spirit was there for sure! I know they felt it. Bill is a rockstar. Cameron his son is going to ask Jesus what is favorite Football team is. Hahaha! How that came about was Cameron asked if we will get to meet Jesus and Heavenly Father.

Thursday (27th)-- Got up and did the usual morning stuff. Had studies and lunch then headed to the church to do a missionary survey and track our progress and weekly plan. We do the Missionary Survey's only when an authority is coming to tour the mission. We are having an authority coming October 25th and 26th. Who you ask?? To that I would say Good Question. Haha I'm not sure yet. :) I'll let you know! After we did the Survey we did some weekly planning for the upcoming week and talked about the area and people we are working with and discussed how we can better help them. It was probably the longest weekly planning session we've had ever in this transfer haha it was a good one though. We are hoping for big things this week. When we finished with the planning stuff we rode our bikes down to the Maverick by our house and I got a F'real shake and jerky  just like the good ole days of St. G. Then we got picked up for dinner and then headed to the Sundance Ward's Ward Mission Correlation. Had a good talk with them. We did that for the evening. We got a few referrals from them also.

Friday (28th)-- Had the weekly District Meeting and lunch. Today our training was on tracting. It was a good training and learned some helpful tips! We'll be tracting this upcoming week to put these tips to the test. For lunch the district went to Los Betos but I really don't like it and I think it tastes like garbage so Iwent across the parking lot and got some real Mexican Food I got Del Taco! Once we got back from Lunch we headed over to see the Chiropractor as we do most Friday's and he give us free adjustments. I have gotten really close with him over the past 2 months. I hope I serve in his area. We went to dinner and then had Hunter Ward Splits and Brother Pettersson came out with us and we went to Aaron and Angela Sandoval's. We talked and taught about the importance of church attendance and committed them to come to church. They were iffy about it so on the spot I said these exact words, "I want a commitment tonight before I leave and now would be great." They accepted right away. (See Sunday to see if the came through or not) The lesson went really well. There is a missionary farewell for one of the people in their ward boundaries that they know well so that is going to be a good reason for them to go.

Saturday (29th)-- Today we got up and did some service for Ella our elderly lady friend. We mowed and trimmed her lawn and got it looking nice then headed around our area to see what the yard sales had this week since last week I got a Titlists Golf Set for 3 bucks ha ha! We headed home and got cleaned up after the yard work and rode our bikes over to the church to do our weekly progress reports for each of the wards we cover. After that we found a young man to take us around to deliver them to the auxiliaries and then went to dinner and after dinner went and contacted the referrals we received this week and had some visits with them. Most of them were nice but not too interested. Said we're welcome to come over anytime but also let us know that they weren't interested in pursuing the missionary lessons. Those are the rejections I like haha nice rejections make it all better. On the way home tonight I had my first bike wipeout of the mission.  I thought I'd try riding the curbs all the way home and I was doing good but on one of the curbs I lost my balance and down I went aka *kaboom* haha. I slid and rolled onto some grass. Luckily nothing got torn or ripped and the only thing I had was grass stains - a lot of them but nothing was damaged. :) That's all that matter right? ;) not going to lie it was super funny. It was dark so no one could see me so which made the situation better haha.

Sunday (30th)-- Today we spent our time at the Hunter Ward (9am) then Meridian 2nd (11am) and Sundance (1pm). The Homecoming was in the Hunter Ward for Austin Staley. He helped us out quite a bit. He'll be a stellar missionary. He's going to the West Indies Dutch Speaking! Made me reflect and look at how great Idaho and English speaking sounds. He did a great job speaking about he Atonement. Guess what?..... The Sandoval's were..... not at home! They came to church. :) Man it was the first time in over a year that we all finally got them to church and wait there's more! They stayed for the whole 3 hours! Members were so good to them too. They said they had a great time. It was so great to see them and keep their commitments. The ward members were like praising us. It was funny. I was like it's not us it was the Spirit working within them. We didn't do anything. 

Had splits w/ the Meridian 2nd Ward and I took a priest out with me and we taught a lesson about the importance of building a foundation and why we need to. We taught a member family (Nawahini's) and talked to them about their investigator friend named AJ. We're meeting with him Tuesday @ 7pm. I taught him once about the Restoration w/ the Nawahini's. I'll probably send Elder Sondrup over to teach AJ this time since I went last time. I think I have enough faith in him ;) haha just kidding he'll do well. After we did that we all went to dinner (all = me, the Priest, and Elder Sondrup). After that Taylor Paskett (Priest kid) dropped us off and we got on our bikes and went over to say bye to Austin or Elder Staley I should say. They invited us in and we had some food with them like snack food. I was super full already and then to have that but I ate it anyway and I thought I was going to burst! We then said bye to Elder Austin Staley as he heads to the MTC. Then we went to see a potential investigator that Elder Bennett found while he was with his previous companion. His name is Paul. We knock and this guy answers so I ask if he was Paul he wasn't and then went and got him. So Paul come to the door and he is HUGE! Like Paul Bunyon and the Ox huge haha. He asked us a question of "Who was the first woman on the earth?" We responded "Eve" He was like "no!" I then said "What? Who was?" He said "I don't know I want to know because no one knows and there is different records of a woman before Eve." We told him we'd check into it and get back to him. So now this brings me to a question for you... "Who was the first lady?" Apparently it's not Eve haha.

Monday (1st)-- Another month down 14 down 10 to go! Where is the time going?! Today we played frisbee, then football, then lunch, then we went to a nearby church and played basketball. After basketball we headed to a place called JumpTime and some missionaries jumped on the tramps I opted not to it's $8 an hour to jump on a tramp - to me that's a waste. I've been before but it's not worth $8. The Elders that jumped had fun though so that's cool for them. Me and some others Elders just chilled for an hour on there soft couches and talked. After JumpTime we went home and showered up and then I called Mama and Papa Nawahini and asked them if we could come over and e-mail home and they said "you don't have to ask Elder Hardy just come" Haha they are so so so so AWESOME!!! I love them so much! They are going to feed us too. It's now 9 pm haha and i am wrapping my e-mail up and then going to go eat. Mama Nawahini just came in and AJ (investigator) just walked through the door and AJ was talking to Elder Soudrup and she came and asked me if only I would come tomorrow on splits to teach him. Haha so I was like sure I can do that. She said AJ feel more comfortable with me then my comp. I think it's awesome! Because at first it was just the Nawahini's now it's just them and me. Progression is being made! AJ is such a cool guy!! He's in the military and way down to earth.

I hope you enjoyed this e-mail

Have a great week! I love you and miss you tons!

-Elder T. Hardy

** 3 Nephi 5:13 **

Latest letter from Elder TJ

Latest letter frome Elder TJ

Hello hello my awesome family it's yours truly Elder Tyler Jack Hardy writing you a letter on my P-day and also the day of transfers. Another month and transfer has come to a close and we're moving on! Let's get down to business and defeat Satan! The 6 weeks with Elder Bennett were good- he’s a great missionary. He was pretty (way) sick about leaving and not excited but he'll do well up in Twin Falls and he's in a car area so I'm jealous about that! Haha oh well..... anyways. Hope your week went well and I also hope you guys enjoy this e-mail.

Tuesday (28th)-- We were doing service last night for some members and we got a phone call asking if Elder Guzman's companion could come with us since they had a meeting and Elder Guzman is back in St. G so we said sure so this morning they dropped him off his name is Elder Streeter he's from North Carolina but not a fan of the Tar Heels ( poor kid ) he like Clemson Tigers. So to start of the day we headed to our appointment at Preacher Greg's he's a Jehovah Witness and is a real fire ball. We were there for 3 hours just talking and he was arguing for a little bit. Didn't get us anywhere but I'll tell you what.... those guys have some really really different thoughts and beliefs. He believes when we die that's all of our memories are lost so I asked him this question: "So when we die all of our knowledge is lost right?" "He says, "Yes." I said, "So all of our knowledge of the Gospel, God, and the Bible is gone? Well, honestly that doesn't make any sense." He brushed it off and changed subjects. He also thought that we count our Baptisms for the Dead as our congregation members! We were like um no... Definitely don't count the dead people as "active" members. He also stated that they pass our more magazines than anyone else so we said well that seems a little prideful. Great job for passing them out but let's not be prideful about it. I felt like saying and how many of those magazines could you find in the garbage LOL. I have learned know matter other peoples beliefs I need to be respectful and love them for who they are as children of our Father in Heaven.

So after the 3 hour appointment with Preacher Greg we went home and ate some lunch then went to Dr. Moorehouse who is a Chiropractor who gives us free adjustments whenever we need/want them - he's super chill. After we got adjusted we had a lesson cancel on us so we did some contacting around the area for the afternoon and then went to dinner with the Jones Family. He’s the 1st counselor in the Bishopric for the Hunter Ward. Has a cute daughter - just sayin... :) Haha. While we were there they brought out there dog shock collar because if you hold hands around the table and two people touch each tip of the collar everyone can feel it until someone breaks the chain, it was way cool and fun. I did it on my arm and it felt way weird. After dinner we shared a message about Christ and how he continues blessed our lives as we live the gospel. The Jones have their niece living with them because her dad is overseas and she really wants to get baptized. We're just waiting for the dad to say go ahead and take the lessons. So once they get a hold of him we'll teach and baptize her. After the message we went and did weekly splits with the Hunter Ward and I went with Brother Petterrson and we went and contacted a new move in and it was so awkward! It was way bad. We tried teaching her but in the background there were 2 people making out and playing basketball with some hard core rap going on too. The spirit was not there. We tried but she talked so quiet we just couldn't hear anything. Her name is Michelle Warmouth - from Idaho Falls, she just got kicked out of her house and has been a member her whole life (18years old) but doesn't know if it's for her anymore so she's living with some of her friends of different faiths and exploring all the different religions to see what ones she likes. She said her parents weren't good example of the Mormon religion. Hopefully we can get her in a members house and start sharing our message to bring her back in the fold. After talking to her it reminded me how grateful I am for the knowledge I have of the Restoration and how it has blessed my life and how easy to understand and pray and ask and we will all get an answer (James 1:5). 

Wednesday (29th)-- Got up and had District Meeting and Interview with President Cannon. I sure love our mission president, he is such a stud. We then had the meeting over at a Senior Couple's house (McMullin's) their house is huge gotta be at least 7,000 sq. feet. At District Meeting we learned about the importance of working through members and ward and stake leaders. While we were getting trained we each got pulled out by President Cannon to get our individual interview (PPI’s)  done. I had a great interview with pres. Caught up on the work and talked about the area. He told me to be ready for additional leadership responsibilities really soon so idk what that means - we'll see! That went until about 3pm. Once we got back to our house to drop off things we didn't need we went to do some contacting and contacted an investigator named Kaleb Rich - he's 9 years old and really wants to be baptized soon so we set an appointment up for Sept. 10th. Went and tried to visit some more people but had no luck. Went to dinner with the Chrystlers - he's the Elder Quorum President we were there for a long time just talking about life and the work it was a great visit.  Once we wrapped dinner and the lesson up we headed to the Kirk's and if you remember the Kirk's are a Part Member Family he's the member she's not. Sometimes she sits in on the lesson and sometimes she doesn't this time she did so we talked about the Restoration and Book of Mormon. She is really opening up. She mentioned that "Religion scares me." Brother McMullin (Ward Mission Leader) did a great job explaining how to not be afraid. The lesson went well. We all bore our testimonies about the Restoration and how it has helped us in our lives.

Thursday (30th)-- Another Meeting......... This one is Zone....Meeting. Zone Meeting. It's similar to Zone Conference but this is where the Zone Leaders get up and train us for 3 hours and there is no President Cannon. After the zone meeting Elder Bailey and myself exchanged and President Cannon let me go to Marcus' Littlewoods game since he was in town playing Boise. Marcus was able to get us 4 free tickets which was great. I took lots of pictures so you can see them when I send the SD Card home. I wasn't able to talk to Marcus because we had to get going so that was a big time bummer but at least I got to watch him play for a while. I took video of the game as well when Marcus was up to bat.  The next morning with Elder Bailey was pretty sure he was leaving the area this transfer so we went around and said goodbye to some of his close friends he has made in Meridian

Friday (31st)-- This morning we got up and hung out for a while then at 12:30 we went to Costa Vida ( which I hear they have in St. George now?? Is the correct? Where? ) Went and ate some lunch then the 4 of us hopped on our bikes and headed out to work for the day and then we went to dinner at Brother Petterrson's house - no one signed up because today is...the...1st....Boise....State....Game..... Go figure no one signed up everyone is going to be watching it and so after dinner and our short little message so we didn't take their whole night and they could watch the BSU game we headed to the church to do some area book planning and organizing it a little bit better while we were there we got transfer calls and found out that Elder Bennett with take his talents to Twin Falls South and I would my new companion is Elder Soundrup from Arizona and has been out around 10 months. When Elder Bennett got the transfer phone call from the AP’s he was not happy he stormed out of the church and walked around for a little bit then he was ok after a bit and we went home. I got tons of calls from other missionaries wondering what's happening to me and I did the same by calling people including letting people know what happened in our area. You never know who is getting transferred from your district or zone so we call our buddies to see if their staying or going.

Saturday (1st)-- Elder Bennett is still frustrated and sad about the transfer news, I think he really liked this area and we enjoyed each other as companions. I kind of felt bad but it's how missionary life goes. So today we went and mowed our weekly lawn for Ella. I edged as usual. I like edging a lot as long as I don't get hit with it..... hahaha! Good ole walk down memory lane from dad taking out my back with the weed eater and G&G Hardy’s. After we mowed her lawn we ate some lunch I made myself some mac and cheese and then hopped in the shower and got smelling nice and looking as fresh as I could. Then off to Star (my first area which is about 15 miles away) for Ryan, Whitney and Abby Sorensen's BAPTISM!!! Woo Hoo! It finally happened. It was going to happen in time but if you remember their grandparents and other family/friends live super far away so they decided to wait till Abby turned 8 and do them all at once. I was asked to talk on Baptism and I thought it went well. They all got confirmed that same day also. The baptism was simply amazing! Brought back many memories of teaching them about the Restored Gospel and how interested and curious they were and we as missionaries having knowledge and testimonies to be able to help them understand. What a neat neat neat family!!! Love them! Also, at the baptism I saw many familiar faces from my first area and that was a ton of fun! One of my good missionary friends Elder Dudley talked on the Holy Ghost - he did a great job! He's a stud. been out for 18 almost 19 months. After their baptism I had to run over to Caldwell to Cassie Vitale and Katie Dixon's baptism! I was late... opps. They forgave me. So the baptisms were great. Cassie is living with her uncle that is the Young Men's president and he had his son getting baptized too so we had 3 baptisms in Caldwell. So in 1 day we had 4 convert baptisms and 2 member of record baptism. Katie asked me to baptize her which was pretty special to me. Once I got in the water to baptize Katie - my mind went completely BLANK! I forgot how to hold her and dunk her haha it was pretty embarrassing so the Bishop walked me through it. Idk what happened it was strange! But I got it down and baptized her and it was a neat experience for me. My first person that I actually baptized all of my other baptisms were done by family or ward members. When we got done with that we were getting ready to walk out to the other Elder’s car to get some items and I noticed a family that we got super close to while in Star and they were having there reception so we got excited and ran over and said hi and they were like stick around! So we stuck around for an hour or so and had a great time. They have both been married but ended up in a bad situation - not their fault it was their ex-spouses. After that visit we headed back and the 4 of us Elders went to Chili's and ate some dinner and had someone come to our table and paid for our meal :) yahoo! Elder VanZlinge and I are going to go backto Caldwell this next  p-day and visit and hang out in Caldwell for the day and live it up again! I miss Caldwell a ton! Brother Hawkes the people we lived while in Caldwell was just made the Ward Mission Leader and he will be great. 

Sunday (2nd)-- Headed to the Hunter Ward Correlation meeting for the missionary work in the ward and no one showed up besides us and the WML Brother Pettersson. So we just talked about a few people and split. After correlation we went to the Hunter Ward and then went to Meridian 2nd ward correlation and talked more about their area and how it's not doing too well and we're in the rebuilding stage of things but hopefully we should get rolling soon with all the work were doing. After that we got a ride over to the Stake Center and went to the Settler's Bridge Ward and then went back to the other church building and attended the Sundance ward then headed to an early dinner at the Vails at 2:30pm. After dinner we went back to the house dropped our suits off and got our bikes and started the good-byes to the families that Elder Bennett got close to and ended the night doing that. When we got home Elder Bennett thought he could pack in 10 minutes I said heck no you can’t! So we e a deal and I said I bet you can't get ready before 12 - you'll be up after midnight and he said no way I bet I'm done by 11pm - the time is 10:16 so he went and started while I called in our weekly numbers and talked to Elder Bailey for a while since he is getting transferred - needless to say it was 12:30 and I said alright man I'm going to bed. He said okay maybe I didn't think I'd take this long hahaha! I won:) 

Monday(3rd)-- Well today is p-day but most importantly it's my 13 MONTH MARK!!!!! This morning Elder Bennett finished packing while I got nice and smelling fresh and moved the room around to my liking. Dropped Elder Bennett him off at the mission office at 9:30 and then came back to Elder Bailey and Elder Miles' house and chilled with them until my new comp Elder Sundrop got here at 3:30 pm. Tonight for our dinner appointment we went to a Ward/Culdasac get together and then went out and did some work until 9:0 pm and now it’s time to start getting to know another missionary.

Well my week has been good. Should have some baptisms coming up if people will keep the commitments we leave with them. The work will now pick up more since summer is over during the weekdays but will now slow down on the weekends due to BSU starting their football season. I am loving my mission so much! I am having the times of my life for sure. Preach My Gospel page 121 (Elder Ballard Quote) Sums it all up. I love meeting new and old people and sharing what I know to be true about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the Gospel and am so happy I have this opportunity to share it with the people in Idaho. I love you so much and miss you guys so much and hope you have a great week and enjoy your day off from work today since it’s Labor Day. 

Have a great week! Love you!

Never forget we can ALL have our OWN Sacred Grove Experiences. 

Love you tons,

Elder T. Hardy :) 

Elder Bennett comp from St. George and Elder TJ (Meridian 2nd)

Elder VanZalinge and Elder TJ (comps in Caldwell Idaho)

Teaching the Alpaca's, We live with Bro & Sis Hawkes and they raise Alpaca's