The Thornton ward now has two sets of missionaries. Sister Holladay and myself and Elders Rampton and Hansen. They are both from California and Sister Holladay is from Oregon, so this winter will be interesting for them in the snow. Well, I guess it will be interesting for all of us. However! The work is hastening here in the Thornton ward. Slowly, but surely. I'm interested to see how the work is in 6 weeks.
This past Monday, we went and visited a family and they let us HELP them. It was awesome. We were able to wash their dishes and it was fun. Love it. Advice from Sister Hardy: let the missionaries serve you.
We had a Zone conference this week and it was incredible. Around sixty missionaries came together to be trained by our mission president, his wife, and the assistants to the president. At the beginning of the meeting, I had two questions that I wanted answers to. And then I had two other questions that I needed answers to. ALL FOUR OF MY QUESTIONS were answered. It was wonderful to have my testimony of prayer strengthened. God really does love us and he wants us to be happy. It continues to amaze me how aware God is of our desires.
Then later in the week, Gavino was baptized. That was phenomenal. The baptismal service was all in Spanish, but the Spirit was definitely there. Gavino bore his testimony at the end of the service and Hermana Giron (a spanish speaking sister) translated for me and Sister Knowlton. It was wonderful. Gavino talked about his angels--the first two were me and Sister Knowlton, then Hermanas Trujillo and Espinosa, then Hermana Giron. His five angels. He finally entered the waters of baptism and it meant so much to me that after 5 months of the missionaries teaching him, I finally got to see him in white. And yes, I cried like a baby. When the Bishop stood up and welcomed Gavino into the ward, I had Hermana Giron again translate for me. The bishop said, I am excited for the day when you will be in white once more entering the temple. And I cried even more at that part.
On Saturday, there was a stake activity days workshop for the older girls in primary. President Toombs wanted the sisters in the area to teach the classes and that was so much fun. Sister Holladay and I had the privilege of teaching about service. We talked about how serving others is serving God. So many of the girls talked about how their families had been served and how they, too, served others in their community. It was awesome. At the very end of the day, we asked the girls, "How many of you want to serve missions?" and without a second thought, ALL of the girls in the room raised their hands. Holy cow. That meant so much to me. We were able to do service for their friends. We put trail mix into cute little baggies so that they could give away. It was cute.
Well, then Monique got baptized on Sunday and it was incredible. Monique was so prepared for the Gospel. I had the opportunity of giving a talk on baptism and Sister Knowlton sang "Savior, Redeemer of my soul." The Spirit was in that meeting. Unfortunately, the font only filled like two feet high. So Elder McGrath (the Elder that baptized her) had to baptize her on his knees, while Monique was on her knees. Nevertheless, she was still baptized and it was wonderful! When, she bore her testimony at the end of the service, she told us about how she had been searching for the truth for 19 years and how she wouldn't have been able to find it if we hadn't stopped and talked to her. Sister Knowlton and I didn't do anything. The Spirit did. We need to open our mouths so that those who have ears to hear can hear the message that we share!
Then on Sunday, we met with this woman Jen and her twelve year old daughter, Ashley. We shared the message of the Restoration and we asked Jen how she felt about what we taught and she said, "I believe it. Everything else that I was told doesn't make sense, but this does." Wowza. Talk about amazing. We have an appointment with them on Sunday and I am so stoked. Yes, stoked.
I want you all to know that Jesus loves you and that you can conquer all through leaning on His arm.
God speed.
Love,
Sister Hardy
Baptisms! and more baptisms! And yes, Gavino hugged me.
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