9 Months of JOY!!

Hola mis queridos amigos!! 

Another great week here in Pamplona full of ups and downs but I am just so grateful to be here doing the work of the Lord through the hard times and the best times! I completed 9 months as a missionary today and I am just filled with gratitude as I think about my time here in Spain serving the Lord. I am grateful for the wonderful people I have been able to meet that have changed my life, the lessons I've taught and learned, and most of all the relationship I have built with my Savior! It definitely has not always been easy, but looking back, I just see growth and JOY!! I am so excited for all the miracles and experiences God has planned for me these next 9 months 

Highlights/ Fun facts:

- We had a lesson with our recent convert Alejandro and he just never ceases to amaze me!! He is preparing to go the the temple in June and I am so excited for him!! He is so ready and excited to bring his brother's name to the temple which was so sweet to hear him talk about! He's so amazing!! 

- We had zone conference this week in Bilbao and it was awesome!! We had great trainings and it was super fun to see some old friends that I love!!

- A few weeks we were walking home and when we were almost to our door, I saw a lady carrying big boxes and I felt impressed to ask her if we could help her. Surprisingly she said yes and we helped her carry her boxes all the way to her apartment! Her name is norma and she told us she had had the missionaries over in Nicaragua and would like to have us over! Then finally this week she asked for work off on Saturday to have us over!! We had a great lesson, just sadly she told us shes just too busy with work and studies to meet regularly. BUT the woman she lives with named Yolanda came home during the lesson and asked us if we could come over next Saturday to teach her more!! So cool!!

- We have a friend named Jessenia who I contacted on the street a couple weeks ago and she has been trying to come to church the past couple weeks but just hasn't come. So I called her on Saturday and just asked her if I could help her and it turns out she just needed help finding it! We sent her pictures of the bus route and she came on Sunday!! However, when she was close, she called to get help finding the church from the stop and her phone died during the call  I was standing outside trying to find her and just said a prayer that she would be able to find it and almost right after she walked around the corner!! She loved church and we're meeting this week!

- On Friday we went to visit our friend Vivian and her family and when we got there she was doing her daughter's braids. We ended up having a blast helping her do the braids and talking about Jesus! It was so fun to be able to serve and have fun with her! And we learned the importance of "finishing the journey" with the braids and in life 

- On Saturday we were supposed to meet with our friend Saray, but she just kept pushing back the time and eventually tried to cancel. I just had the strongest feeling that there was a reason she was cancelling and we needed to offer to come to her house! She ended up letting us come and we had an awesome lesson! She just told us she was so grateful for our persistence and and not giving up on her and she really needed the spirit that came into her home! I love her 

Miracle: 

We had some amazing miracles this week, but I wanted to highlight a miracle this week that maybe wouldn't seem as significant, but that was an amazing reminder to me that God truly knows me individually! On Friday I was having a tougher day and just missing my family a bit, and on the way to the church I had an impression to talk to a girl sitting on a bench. I decided to go over and just compliment her bag, and we started to talking! She wasn't super interested, but she was super sweet AND she was from Bulgaria (where my brother Tanner served his mission!!) She is the first person I've met here from Bulgaria and I was able to share about my brother and the experiences he had there and she was so kind! I left that conversation feeling so loved by my Heavenly Father for putting someone in my path who helped me feel connected to my family and feel loved! It was a small miracle but it meant a lot to me!

Spiritual Thought:

I think one of the biggest lessons I have been learning the past couple months is that the Lord gives us trials, they are opportunities to recognize our need for His grace to overcome our weaknesses and grow! I read this scripture again this week and it just really hit me!

Jacob 4:7,

"Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."

I have learned (and am still learning) that God shows us our weaknesses so that we remember that it is only through His power that we are able to do His work and if we humble ourselves and turn to Him, we can change and grow and do anything He asks us to do 

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

Hermana Hardy  

ehardy@missionary.org 

Pictures: 

- Ana 

- our district plus Burgos hermanas 

- the district at zone conference!!

- Norma and Yolanda and Dylan 

- Vivian and fam 

- District with the Bilbao puppy 

- Pamplona Hermanas