Week 22: The weather outside is frightful.

Remember when I used to say that winter was my favorite season? Well, I have had a change of heart. This past week we have gotten a fair amount of snow--like a snowfall we get back home--but no one plows the roads!! The main roads are decent now, but the side streets are still covered in snow and ice. Oh, and Mom, remember how you wouldn't let me drive in the snow? and how I never really learned how to drive in the snow? Well, I had to take a "crash course" (maybe that was a bad choice of words) this week. It was eye opening.

Our furnace also broke, too, so that was interesting. Luckily, our bishop and his wife let us use their space heaters. Those were lifesavers! It was so cold in our house and the house has mostly hardwood floors and we have to go up two floors to get to our shower, so it was brutal in the morning. But the furnace is working now and we are nice and toasty!

Sister Holladay and I had to get some fleece lined tights and I am not disappointed.

On Tuesday, we were wrapping trees for service to protect the trees. Essentially what we were told is that the sun shines on the snow and the snow reflects the light on the trees and the water moves to where the sun reflects and the water freezes, which kills the tree. Well, so we were wrapping the trees and I was wearing jeans and a hoodie (we can wear jeans for service). I thought I was going to be warm in my sweater, well I was wrong. The temperature dropped thirty degrees in two hours! From 11 to 1. That's when we were doing service outside. We were so cold and so the people that we serve warmed up their truck and let us take turns in the warm truck. They tried to send us home, but we protested and so they let us finish.

Linda, an investigator, came with us to the ward Relief Society Christmas party and it was good for her. She met so many people from the ward and then a woman, Sister E., invited her to come to dinner with us on Thursday. That was SO kind of her. Linda appreciated it so much that she gave us a copy of the book that she wrote to give to Sister E. It was a good experience for all of us.

We also met with Glenn again and he is just such a cute old man. He continues to repeat his stories, but it's so funny. Lee wasn't there, but Glenn told us that Lee wants to get baptized! How wonderful is that?! We didn't get a chance to see him this week, but we are going to try this week.

We met with Lisa and Richard--Richard is a less active man who is a butcher. We invited them to church and had an amazing lesson with them Friday night. Lisa was so engrossed in the lesson-it was wonderful! And she really asked so many questions so that she could understand! It was wonderful! We talked about the tree of life with her and so that was confusing, but she really wanted to understand. It's incredible to see people grow while meeting with them! They weren't at church, unfortunately, but hopefully we will be able to find out why they didn't come.

Sister Holladay and I were contacting some referrals on Friday and we met Steve and Sharla. They are devout Catholics and incredibly wonderful people. They let us in to share a message with them about Christmas and it was great. We talked about families and about how in this world, Satan is really attacking the family. So what did we do? We gave them "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." I am interested to see how they like it!

Well, I miss you all and am so thankful for all the emails and letters and packages that you have sent to me! Thank you! Remember what Christ has done for you and remember why he was born--to save all men and women from sin.

Love,

Sister Hardy