This week has been great, but it didn't start out that way. I was pretty nervous about going to a new area--I was freaking out. I was so nervous that I actually got sick five minutes after meeting my new missionary. Yep. I got sick. I was so embarrassed! Luckily, I made it to the bathroom. But it actually comical thinking about it now. I have no idea why I was so scared!
We got settled into our place. We live with a single woman, Sister Kumar, and she is awesome! She has two cute dogs, Jackson and Bella. She is a nurse and her home is full of Indian art and such! We have a brass Vishnu in the basement along with pictures made from tree trunks. How neat is that?! I also have a pretty awesome mattress, so no sleep deprivation here.
We met with a lot of families this week to try and get to know people. We met this one woman in her eighties, Geraldine, who is a mix between Sophia Petrillo (from Golden Girls) and ________. She is hilarious and she sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir when she was younger! How cool is that?! She about keeled over when she heard I was from New York...well, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but she was excited.
There are also so many converts in our ward! We met this sister in the ward, Heidi, who joined the church seven years ago and is just an amazing missionary! She shares her beliefs with everyone she meets and she just loves everyone she knows! She told us about how she prayed everyday for two years to meet a righteous priesthood holder and she did! I mean, she didn't give up! Then we met a young woman, Katie, who lives with her, who joined the church a year ago. Katie has been through a lot. The church that she attended as a child preached against our church and when her parents found out she was looking into the church, they threatened to kick her out. Then when she got baptized she ended up moving into some one else's house. How strong she is to have gone through all of that and still remained faithful. She truly is an example to me!
So many families that we have met with have told us that they have a tender spot for sister missionaries for so many reasons. One sister in the church told us that it was sister missionaries found her. Another sister told us that is was sister missionaries that helped her husband come to know the truth, and then another sister told us sisters taught her before she got baptized. We are well taken care of in this ward. A brother in our ward told us that it was an honor to have the opportunity to feed us. He also said that we are on the Lord's errand and that it was an honor to have the Lord's servants in his home. We are so humbled to be able to serve in such a wonderful area.
We met Don this week--a Book of Mormon basher. Oh yes. That was interesting. He said some choice things, but I appreciated his concern for our salvation. We asked him if he prayed about the Book of Mormon and he said he didn't need to pray about it. That was sad more than anything. The hardest part about the mission isn't that we work all day, or that we have to know all of these things, or that all we do is find, teach, and baptize. No. The hardest part is knowing that I have happiness in my hands, eternal happiness, and watching people turn away from it. That is the hardest part about being out here. However, this time I have here is worth so much. Elder Ballard said this weekend in his talk, "It is impossible to fail when we do our best and when we are on the Lord's errand." We are doing our best.
I love this Gospel. I have been able to find true happiness because of the message that I share everyday. I can promise each of you that you can find true happiness, too. Know that god loves you and is watching out for you.
I love you all!
Sister Hardy
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