Some days are diamonds, Some days are stones!

Hola mis queridos amigos!! 

This has definitely been week of ups and downs, but I have been so grateful for the sustaining power of Christ's atonement and His ability to work miracles when we give everything we have!

Highlights/ Fun facts:

- We met with our friend Ana twice this week and she is just absolutely amazing! She asks super great questions and truly wants to understand and it has been amazing to watch her open up to believe and grow in the gospel!

- We met with Saray on Wednesday and she is so awesome! We were able to help her get started reading the Book of Mormon and learning more by meeting with us! She is super excited and said she's going to bring a notebook with notes for the rest of our lessons 

- On Thursday we met with our recent convert Nieves and her friend who came to her baptism! We had a great lesson and I just loved watching Nieves testify of her experiences learning about the church and discovering it was true which was so beautiful to watch!

- We went to visit Vivian and her family on Friday and then we invited her to come with her kids to the valentines party at the church and we all walked there together!! She and the kids loved it and it was so fun to see her dancing and smiling and so happy with all of the members

- We had another great lesson with Rita this week and she is just so faithful! She has such a desire to understand what we teach and as we taught about the Plan of Salvation, she asked great questions and even though it was all pretty new, she was willing to believe. We also taught her about baptism and she is praying about a date!

- This weekend was a holiday here in Spain called Carnival  where everyone dresses up and has parades and music in the streets! It was super cool 

Miracle: On Wednesday we went out to visit one of our new friends Maritza at her house, but when we got to the door a lady answered who did not look like her at all. Her name is Isabel and it turns out she is one of Maritza's good friends here in Spain! They had been sitting on a bench chatting earlier that day and Maritza had invited her to come meet with us as well and she came!! It took a bit for Maritza to get home from picking up her son from school so we were actually able to have a super awesome conversation with Isabel where she opened up about some hard things that had happened in her life, and we were able to give her some comfort! In the end we had a great lesson with them both, but we just felt like God had sent us there for her specifically and I love being able to be His instrument in making His children feel loved and seen 

Spiritual Thought: I have grown up singing "I am a Child of God" , I have spent my whole life knowing God loves me, I have felt God's love for His individual children so strongly since being on my mission, but this week it really hit mean what God's love means! I have a Heavenly Father who loves me with a perfect love! It never falters and it is unconditional!! I was reading a talk by Elder Holland called, "A Broken Vessel" (super amazing talk that I totally recommend) and he shared a quote from President Monson about God's love that just really struck me.

"That love never changes... It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God's love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve [it]. It us simply always there."

I know God loves me and each of you individually and unconditionally 

I love you all so much and I love hearing from you!!

Hermana Hardy  

ehardy@missionary.org 

Pictures:

- Ana and Laura 

- Perla and Brittany 

- Maritza and Isabel 

- Saray 

- Ines and Victoria and fam 

- Leire, Franco, Jennifer, and Blue 

- Crepes for pday