I Have a New Sister!

Hola mis queridos amigos!! Another great week here in Pamplona!! The work is so blessed here and there is just so much joy in serving the Lord and bring more people to Him!!

Highlights / Fun facts:

- As you might have guessed from the title, my brother got married this week!! It was honestly pretty tough not being able to be there with my family but I am so incredibly happy for him and my new sista Sarah!! I am sending all my love to them this week and even though it's sometimes hard to be so far from my family, I know I am exactly where the Lord needs me to be and He is blessing my family for my service 😍

- We went to the beach in Bilbao for Zone Pday on Monday and it was sooo fun!! I got to be reunited with some of my besties from the zone and we had a great day with great weather on the beach which was such a miracle because it normally rains all day in Bilbao!!

- We had some super spiritual lessons with our friend Alejandro this week and he just never ceases to amaze me! As we taught about tithing he just testified of the importance of giving sacrifices to the Lord and 10 percent really isn't that much compared to what others have had to give including the Savior who gave his life! He has been so prepared by the Lord and I am so excited for him!

- We went out to a pueblo a little farther out of Pamplona with the Gilberts to visit the Castro family in our ward and they are amazing!! They just sent their son on a mission to Chile and they have so much faith! It is kind of fun to see them as parents of a missionary while I'm a missionary right now which reminded me a lot of my parents 😀

- We had exchanges this Thursday and I got to spend the day with my bestie Hermana Barrott for the day!! It was soo fun to be reunited here in Pamplona and teach together again! She is an absolute angel and I love her dearly!

- We taught our friend Rita about the restoration and we taught it in English which was surprisingly hard after doing it in Spanish for so long, but it went super well and she is so faithful! I love her 😍

- We taught our friend Ines who brought her cousin Victoria and her mom Regina to the lesson and they are so cute!! Ines and Victoria also came to church on Sunday and loved it!

- We had our first lesson with our recent converts friend Ana and she is the cutest!! I love her desire to learn and grow and we are super excited to keep teaching her!!

- We met with the cutest girl named Luciana who was baptized in Peru, but hasn't really been to church since moving here to Spain. We also met her two cute kids April and Santiago and now we are teaching them! Miracles!!

- On Sunday we met with a less active family and the woman's husband is not a believer and isn't very supportive of the church. When we walked into the house everything felt a little bit off. We kept talking to them and we ended up sharing a message about Jesus Christ and as we were leaving we realized the overwhelming Spirit of peace that was in their home! It made me so happy because it reminded me of the power we have as missionaries to bring the Spirit to peoples homes and lived and the joy that comes from being able to serve as an instrument in His hands 💛

Miracle:

We were doing some calls on a bench in the Plaza before we were going to head to the pueblo with the Gilberts and it was super cold so we decided to head to their house early before we left which wasn't our original plan. But, as we were on our way our recent converts mom Perla walked out of a building right as we walked up with all of her friends after finishing a course she's taking and we were able to chat with her and see how she's doing! Things like this where we "happen to" run into friends on the street happens all the time here and Pamplona is pretty big which is always a reminder to me that God us aware of all His children and He is guiding us to where we need to be 😊

Spiritual Thought:

This week I listened to Elder Holland's talk, "Lifted up upon the cross" and it is incredible! I invite you to all go listen to it! He shared a scripture from 2 Samuel 23:23 which really stood out to me!

It says, "I will not offer unto the Lord my God that which does cost me nothing."

This made me realize that choosing to take up my cross every day and follow Christ is not easy, but I don't think I would want to do it if it was! What Christ went through certainly wasn't easy and as His disciple we are asked to bear our own crosses that to us sometimes seem too heavy to bear, but I promise you IT IS WORTH IT!! Following Jesus Christ brings more eternal joy and peace than you can find anywhere else and through His atonement and His grace and our own sacrifice to follow Him, He will make us into more than we can ever imagine! I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and yours! He gave His life so that we can be forgiven of our sins and HE LIVES!

I love you all so dearly and please feel free to reach out any time!

Hermana Hardy 💗

ehardy@missionary.org

Pictures:

- district pulling up to the beach 🏖

- the cutest hermanas ever 😍

- haslam 😎

- alejandro and franco 😊

- the Castro family 💕

- Rita and Hermana Barrott!!

- Nieves and Laura 💗💗

- Ines, Victoria, and Regina 💛