NEW AREA IS AWESOME!!

Well hello dear family!

How is everybody doing? It sounds like everybody is doing great,
except for poor little Drake and Raegan. I hope that all is going
well with everybody though.

So my new area is awesome. Yesterday Elder Moultrie and I had a
baptism. His name is Willy. He's a great young kid. His Mom was
baptized about a month ago. We went to go and see him last night
after his baptism and everything, and he was just glowing and said
that he felt good. He's a very shy kid, but he came out of it a lot
yesterday and it was fun to see. I'll send some pictures.
It's been kind of hot this past week, except for yesterday and today,
and I love being back out on my bike. I really do love riding my
bike. Elder Moultrie and I have fun on them. We live a nice town
home right now. Do I feel like I'm in the country? Uh... I wouldn't
necesarily say that but I do feel like we're way more out in the open.
About midway this month we are going to be heading down to Key Largo.
It's going to be really fun I'm excited. Speaking of if I feel like
I live in the country, last Monday on Preparation Day we went to a
Western Ware store, and holy cow it was awesome. I was looking at the
boots and cowboy hats and belt buckles, and just going crazy in that
store. I thought, "I'm home!" It was an awesome time.

The ward here is doing pretty good. It's kind of fun but interesting
having both Spanish and English. It's kind of hard to explain how
it's done, but there are headset translators that everybody that
doesn't know both languages wear. It's fun being able to know both
languages. Our investigators still love church. The Spirit still
touches them, and I love it that that happens.

Well family I don't have much time. Just know that I love you all so
very much, and that I am doing great. I love you. Take care, have a
great week, and be careful in all things. Lucky! Snow! That's
awesome that you finally got a big storm. Have fun in and with it,
but please be careful driving in it.

Love,
Your Son, Brother, and Uncle
Elder Hardman

Baptism of Willy

Where in Flordia is ELDER??

Hello my dear family!

How is everything going? It sounds like everybody is doing good,
except for maybe Big D recovering from Strep. But, I'm really happy
to hear that a new precious little baby boy is going to be born into
our family. What a blessing! That reminds me of something that
happened yesterday. We were out knocking doors and we knocked into
this family that let us in. It was a couple with their two little
twin granddaughters. The Grandma was sitting on the floor feeding
these little girls that were almost 1 year old. When we looked at
these two little girls, one of them just looked up at us and just
smiled and it was so precious. A little while later they both looked
at us and just smiled. It was so cute I loved it. It made me feel so
good.

Ok, so where am I? I am in the second farthest South, next to Key West

area in the whole mission. I'm in Homestead West. It's a fun
little area. I feel like I am in the "Idaho" of Florida. There's a
lot of Strawberry and Corn fields. It's so fun down here. I know
that I'm supposed to be down here. We are on bike down here in this
area too. We teach both English and Spanish down here. Our ward is a
bilingual ward. They have translator head sets and one guy who
translates. We sing in Spanish and in English, and the speakers every
week are either Spanish or English. It's quite interesting, but it's
good. Our investigator loved church this week. The Spirit is still
there even though translation is done and people have head sets on. I
love it. It's a lot of fun down here. The weather has been kind of
hot but kind of nice too, so bike riding has been pretty good. Key
Largo is part of our area as well. We're going to be going down there
about mid March to go see some people. We'll either get a ride down
there from a member, or take the bus. We'll see. To get here to this
area we had to take a little bus ride from our Zone Leaders' area
which is just a little farther North, down to here and then the other
Elders that we live with picked us up. We live with Elder Edwards and
Elder Rugg. They're great and fun Elders.
My companion is Elder Moultrie from West Point, Utah. He's an awesome
Elder, and we have some baptisms lined up and ready to go this coming
week and for the week after. The people for the week after are some
people that Elder Moultrie and I found our very first day together.
It was so fun.

However, having said that I love it so much down here, I still miss my
last area. I think about the people if not everyday I think. But, I
know that they're an eternal part of me and I will see them again. I
am keeping things in my journal, not every day, but I am doing my best
now to keep things in my journal so that I can remember them.

My health is doing just fine. I can't really think of anything that I
need you to send me. I just need somebody to send me a letter this
week because I need to renew my library card now that I'm in a
different county, and I need to show some kind of proof of address.
So I'm looking forward to a letter this week.

Mother, Aunt Sharon be careful going down to St. George. Give the
little girl a big hug for me. The baby not Kaitlin lol. But, you can
give Kaitlin and Jordan a big hug from me.

Don't worry about sending these letters to my MTC teacher for now
because I don't have his address on me. I'll try to remember to bring
his address so that you can, but don't worry about it too much.

Well family, that catches you up for this week on the life of Elder
Hardman right now. He's doing good, don't worry. But I love you all
so very much and ask for your safety everyday. Take care, and have a
great week.
I love you!

Love,
Your Son, Brother, and Uncle
Elder Hardman

another Transfer & Elder is leaving?!?!

Hola Querida Familia!

How is everybody doing? It sounds that everyone is doing great and I'm
happy about that. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA! I love you! Thank you for
everything that you do for me!

Well, like you said Mother, change is good. I'm leaving. I'm getting
transferred. I'm super sad about it. I called a recent convert last night
to tell her and she said something sad. She said, "But you're the only one
that I can talk to." I love this area and the people, but I know that I
have to go. It's the Lord's will. I'm super sad to leave Elder Kata, we
get along and work together so great, and the entire District, but all is
going to be good. I don't know where I am going yet or who I am going to
be with, but I will for sure let you know in next weeks E-mail. Transfer
meeting is tomorrow morning and there I will find out. All is well.

The weather down here has been pretty nice as of lately. Last week when we
went off road biking, which was a blast by the way, it was nice and fresh
and cool with a nice breeze coming through. I'll send a picture or two of
the biking adventure. We all had so much fun. We fell and laughed and had
a great time. It didn't even matter that we fell, we were just having a
good time. It was a good stress reliever too. There was one time where I
was riding along and the track took me between a couple of rocks and my
tire slipped and my bike did too and so I was going down. I caught myself
and as I was going to stop to get my balance, my foot hit my bike seat and
sent me more unbalanced but lucky I fully caught myself because if I
hadn't, I would have went right into the drink. I was right along side the
lake that was there and definitely would have went in. It was a blast and
we all had a great time. Don't worry Mother I'll be careful.

I can't believe that Jacob got married! I couldn't believe it when I heard
it! Who did he get married to? That's so crazy!

It sounds like Landon is ready to get off and working hard on the mission.
He is going to love it. I'm super excited for him. He's going to be a
great missionary and the people of Alabama and his companions are going to
love him so much.

Hey I have a question. How is Andrew Elmer doing? Also, do you still send
my e-mails to Brother McCord, one of my MTC teachers?

That's an awesome experience that you had meeting that gal Mother. We must
always remember that we all knew each other before this life and when we
meet in such a sacred place or a sacred setting, it's easier for us to
realize that and recognize each other. It's a great experience. I feel
that way every time I get to a new area and meet the members and
investigators that are already there, and also when we start teaching
people and sometimes meet them for the first time.

Well family I need to go. I love you all so much! Take care during this
week and have a good week. Be careful and good in all things that you do
and stay away from temptation. I love you all so much and take care. Be
careful in all things.

Love,
Your Son, Brother, and Uncle
Elder Hardman

The District

Teeter Totter on my bike!

The UP'S and DOWN'S of a mission

Hello Family!

How is everybody doing? It sounds like all are doing well and that
everything is going pretty good. I'm happy to hear that. All is well for
me too. This week has been a pretty good week. The weather here has been
really nice. It has been a little chilly for the past few days, but it
has been nice and I haven't complained one little bit. That's crazy that
Emily was here in Ft. Lauderdale. I'm not too far from Ft. Lauderdale
right now.

This week was a little bit harder of a week for Elder Kata and I as far as
finding spanish people. For some reason, we just couldn't find the
neighborhoods and places where they live for a couple of days. But, we
have now found a couple of places to go and our investigator pool is
growing a lot. This last week we went to go and teach one of the families
that we blessed the week before. We taught her about the Sacrament and the
Atonement of Jesus Christ and invited them to church. They were so excited
to come to church. They didn't come though because one works on Sundays,
but she is asking her boss if she can get it off, and the others I'm not
sure why. Maybe no ride or something I don't know, but we're going to find
out. Every time that we see them though, they are so excited to see us,
especially one of them in particular. After the blessing we asked her how
she felt, she said that she felt happy with a big smile on her face. When
we taught her of the Sacrament and the Atonement, we asked her if those are
feelings, the ones that she felt from the blessing, are something that she
would like to have always. She said that would be amazing. We testified
that as she witnessed the *ordinance* of the Sacrament, she would feel
those feelings. Next time we meet with her we are going to invite her and
all of them to be baptized. A very sweet family.

To answer your question Mother of how people react when we ask if we can
come in and bless their home, it really varies from person to person. Some
are so excited and let us in without hesitation and the Spirit is really
strong, others let us in because it's something from God, but it's not too
important for them that we're there(I don't know if that makes sense),
others say no because they already have their religion and various other
reasons. But right off the bat we invite the Spirit by testifying of who
we are representing and why we are there. You can feel the difference in
homes as you go.

Go and rescue The Gilmore Family. They need spiritual nourishment. Go and
give it to them.

Today for Preparation Day we are going to a park to do some off road
biking. It's going to be a lot of fun, and supposedly there's a lot of
wild life there so we'll see. It's going to be a lot of fun though. We've
been having some fun Preparation Days lately playing volleyball and
things. Speaking of Preparation Day, if you can hardly believe it, next
week are transfers again so I won't be e-mailing until Tuesday. This
transfer has gone by fast, and I hope so much to stay in this area.

Well family just know that I am doing well. I love you all so much and I
thank you all so much for your prayers on my behalf. Know that I pray for
you. Take care and have a good week and be careful in all things that you
do.

Love,
Your Son, Brother, and Uncle
Elder Hardman

I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK

Hello my dear family!

How is everybody doing? It sounds like everybody is doing fine. HAPPY
BIRTHDAY GRANDPA! HAPPY FUTURE BIRTHDAY GRANDMA! I love you!
Me, I am doing great. It has been such a good week, and a lot has been
accomplished this week. This week as a District and with the Zone Leaders
we set a goal to give 50 blessings. We all worked so hard to reach this
goal. One of the areas in the District got the highest number of blessings
ever given in that area since we started blessing people's homes. These
Elders worked so hard and they deserve so much. We came out at the end of
the week with 49 blessings! That is huge! Everybody worked so hard! My
area as well I think experienced one of, if not the higest number of
blessings given. The Lord really blessed us this week in helping us find
these people to bless them. I felt a sense of excitement come over myself
and come over the District. It was something indescribable, but I could
not be prouder of the missionaries who are in my District. I love them all
so much. Kind of an indirect blessing that I have seen from working
towards this goal as well is how the relationships between the missionaries
in each companionship has grown, and how our relationship as a District as
a whole has grown so much too. This was such a good week and I love
missionary work.

I'm glad and happy to hear that you got my package. I'm so happy to hear
that you enjoyed it. First off, explanation on everything. Those CD's
that I sent home: we moved out of our old apartment and into a new one,
and as we were cleaning things out and moving, I came across a box that had
been there since I got there. It was filled with these CDs and more. So I
picked a few out and sent them home because I can't listen to them here.
The sand I got at Christmas time as part of a white elephant that we were
doing. A Sister who was in my District before Christmas, but got
transferred, I guess picked that sand and did that. It was pretty cool.
The pennies that I sent home, that were in my shoe, were one a really old
penny which I just thought it was cool how old it was, and the other like a
Canadian penny or something. I just thought that it was cool.

That is a choice experience being able to meet that lady that Sister Tyson
and Sister Briggs found and taught. That is so special. It sounds like
you had a very spiritual week as well this week Mother. I know that what
you were feeling about how The Lord was preparing you for something that
day was true. Remember how in the Scriptures He says, "I will go before
thy face." He always goes before our face. That's something that is a
huge reality that I have seen on the mission. The Lord goes before our
faces.
Thank you so much as well for sharing me about Drake's prayer. That really
touched my heart, and I too agree that all of these kids' parents are
raising them up so good and teaching them such great things.

I'm so happy to hear that Kaitlin and Jordan had their little girl. That's
so precious. She sounds like a big little girl though lol.

So funny story this week. As we were knocking doors the other day looking
for people who will let us bless them, we were walking from one house to
the next and I was looking at the ground while walking. We were at a
trailer park and a lot of these trailers have a little metal awning that
covers some of the windows on these trailers. And as I was walking and
looking down, BAM! I smacked the old noggin right on one of those things.
Haha just absolutely plastered my head on that thing. It gave me like an
instant goose egg and that part of my head, basically right at my hairline
on my forehead, went purple and you could see the lines of that metal
awning. "A lot of pain nothing to worry about." (Movie quote). No but it
went down quick and everything, nothing to worry about. My companion and I
were laughing so hard. My companion thought that somebody stuck their hand
out the window and hit me haha. It was a good time. That's what I get for
looking at the ground while walking.

Well family, that basically does it for this week. Thank you all so much
for your prayers, and your love on my behalf. I feel of it everyday. I
love you all so much, and take care this week. Be careful in all things
that you do and while driving. Take care.

Love,
Your Son, Brother, and Uncle
Elder Hardman

Moved apartments...lower level!!

Dear Family,

What a great week it has been. It has kind of been an eventful week, but in a good way. This week we moved apartments. We moved in the same complex just into a different apartment on the bottom floor instead of the 3rd floor. It's sweet having a bottom apartment! We started moving on Tuesday. Tuesday in the morning we had our District Training. After the District Training we had lunch together as a District. It was really nice to be able to do that. But after we got done eating, my stomach turned for the worst. I got a pretty bad little bug in my stomach. It went away Thursday morning though. It wasn't too bad that it kept me down, but it kept me from eating, which probably isn't too bad of a thing for me. So I'm over that and all is well. I feel good and am ready to go. I have been doing really good this week.

So the weather has been kind of warm here. Not too extreme, but enough where it bugs me a little bit. Not too bad though can't complain. As of right now I am still in car.

I will get that package out today. As we were moving I found a few other things that I am going to send home. Just some clothes and things like that. So I'll get that out today since it's Preparation day. so hopefully you will get it soon. Preparation Days are nice. We usually go and play a sport of something. Last week and today we are playing volleyball on a sand court that's close to our apartment. It's a lot of fun. Elder Kata and I and our District, which consists of a companionship of Elders and one of Sisters, and the Zone leaders, whom we live with, go and play. It's a lot of fun and we all have a good time together. We write letters after and do things that we need to do so that we can focus during the week wholey upon the work of The Lord. Then at 5:45 we are out the door working again. It's nice.

It's really fun being a District Leader. I have an awesome District. We are working hard on setting and achieving goals as a District. This week we were so close to achieving the goals that we had this week to bless 36 homes and set 6 new Baptismal dates as a District. We were so close, but we'll achieve it. I love it because every week I prepare a training for the District. I love these trainings they help me, and all of us grow and learn how to invite others to come unto Christ.

I'm so happy to hear that Uncle Kit is doing so good and that he is up and running and exercising. Tell him to be careful. That makes me so happy to know how he is doing. I'm greatful for the protection that has been put over him.

Elder Kata and I had such a great experience yesterday. Two Saturdays ago, a day after that leadership training, we went to a less-actives house and taught her about the ordinance of the Sacrament. She came the next day to church. This week she also came to church for Stake Conference, and about the Conference got over she came up to us and said, "You'll never believe it. You remember how you told us about the blessings for coming to church. Well, this week we received a great blessing. After church last Sunday we went home and that afternoon we got a call." She then went on to tell us of the great blessing that her Grandson, who lives with her, received which was such a blessing to both of them. She was so happy and just had a great change of countenance in her. It was a great blessing and miracle for Elder Kata and I to receive.

So Mother I got your letter and I'm so happy about that experience that you had. I've been thinking, I think that I want to go to that Branch when I get back. That was a beautiful experience that you had Mother, and yes, that is what I do. That is what we do as missionaries. Now I think you can see how rewarding it is for us, even though we face a lot of rejection, it is so beautiful and sweet to see these people coming unto the fold of God, and makes everything so worth it especially when you can tell that these people know. It's a beautiful blessing to see in the eyes of others.

Well family, take care. Know that I am doing great. Take care in all things and be careful in all things. I love you all so much.

Love,
Your Son, Brother, and Uncle
Elder Hardman

DISTRICT LEADER

Well hello my family!

Well I'm glad that we're on the same page this week knowing when I was going to e-mail and everything lol. Yeah sorry about that last week I really thought that we were going to be e-mailing on Tuesday instead of Monday because of the holiday, but President Anderson didn't want it that way so we changed. No worries, it's all good. Thank you so much for relaying that message to Sister Martinez. She called me without wasting any time and told me. Thank you for that, and I too am glad and greatful that she did that for us and that blessing.

Happy late Birthday Garett! Happy Birthday Kenley! Wow, I can't believe that she is 3 already. I was just holding her.

Sorry Mother I have not gotten your letter in the mail yet, but I'll keep a look out for it and respond to it when I can. I'm glad that you've been able to attend other ward conferences. That's a great blessing.

Wow what a huge blessing that it about that check from Kroger! I'm so happy about that! Thank you for taking care of that! I have not sent the package yet because I don't have any money in my account in order to do so. If you could put that in today that would be great so that I can get that sent out today or at least soon. Thank you!

That's cool that you saw Coral Springs on TV, and that Sister Kinikini watches Law and Order. Haha that's awesome. The ward here is doing really good. I love this ward so much. I'm just sticking on Spanish now, now that I don't work in Portugese anymore. I'm thinking about trying to learn Tongan, but we'll have to see about that. Elder Kata is awesome.

So this last Friday we had a leadership training in the mission where a couple of leaders from the missionary department came. By the way I'm District Leader so that's why I was able to go. This training changed my life. The urgency for baptism is real and is nothing to be put off. The Sacrament has become more sacred to me because I now recognize the importance of it. One of the leaders said, "It's not the knowledge that's important, it's the recognition of the importance." (Something along those lines I don't have my notes with me to tell you the direct quote). It has changed my life and my mission. As I sat in Sacrament meeting yesterday I was really pondering on the things of the Sacrament. What a great blessing it is! We remember the sacrifice that Jesus Christ has made for us during this time. Remember, "no unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of God." So what's the relation between that scripture and the sacrament?

Well family just know that all is going well for me and I am doing great. It has been a great week, and things are getting a lot better and I am feeling better. Take care during this week and I'll talk to you soon. Be careful driving in the snow. I love you all so much!

Love,
Your Son, Brother, and Uncle
Elder Hardman