Miracles and Tikka Masala

Hola mis queridos amigos!! 

Another week here in Logroño and it was great! We are starting to get to know the area pretty well and we were able to find a lot of new friends to teach this week! We also have the most amazing members that always invite us over! I love them 

Highlights:

- We went to visit a recent convert named Marlen this week who came to church on Sunday because she's visiting her family here in Logroño. Although her family didn't end up being interested, we soon realized that the one we had truly come to serve was Marlen! She opened up to us about all of the struggles she has been dealing with recently and how she has felt distant from God, but the gospel is the only thing keeping her going. We were able share a message with her and by the end we were both crying! I felt so much love for her and I am amazed by her faith in the midst of her trials

- We taught our friend Luis 3 times this week and he has been telling us that he has been praying as he reads the Book of Mormon to know if this is the true church! This week during one of our lessons, he told us that as he was reading he just felt in his heart the Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is the true church on the Earth! We both just kind of sat there in shock and it was so amazing!! Then during principles of the gospel class on Sunday, he turns to me as the class starts and he says, "I can't believe the class is about prophets today when I just got my answer about Joseph Smith!" Then he stood up and shared his testimony with the class that he knew this was the true church 

- On Thursday we met with our bestie Nelly, who is on date for October, in the park and we had a great lesson! Then afterwards we were chatting and she invited us to go to an Indian restaurant with her!! She got us some delicious chicken Tikka masala and we had a great time! It was so good because she sometimes struggles to open up, but we were able chat and laugh and become her friend! I love Nelly 

- This Friday I got to go on exchanges with my dear Hermana Bailey!! They came to Logroño and we had the best day walking for hours (literally) to get to all our citas, catching up, eating crepes, and teaching together! I love Hermana Bailey so much and it was so fun and healing to run it back with her for a day 

- On Saturday we had the craziest day running to all our lessons and it was so fun! On our last lesson of the day after english class we got to teach our besties Fai, Thomas, and Thomas' cousin Brigitte!! We had taught Brigitte and Thomas the 5 steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ with their grandma on Wednesday, but Fai wasn't able to be there. So, after answering her questions about the Book of Mormon, we had Thomas help us teach her the 5 steps and he did amazing!! He is only 11 years old and he was teaching all about the gospel and I just caught a glimpse of him as a missionary one day  

Miracle: On Thursday we had a bunch of finding time because a few of our lessons had fallen through and after a few rejections I was feeling a bit discouraged. So, I said a little prayer and just asked God to put someone in our path that would listen to us and be interested. A minute later I felt like I should stop this lady and even though she was in a hurry she stopped to talk to us! She turned out to be the cutest lady ever!! Her name is Olga and she said she would have the missionaries over all the time back in Honduras! She was so excited to meet us and invited us over to her house! She told us that she told her whole family about how she met us and it was soo cute! I know God answers prayers as we seek His guidance and are willing to act!

Spiritual Thought: This week during one of my personal studies I was studying about the Atonement (highly recommend) and I read something that I really loved. I was reading a talk by Elder Scott called "Personal Strength through the Atonement and he said, 

"the Lord sees weaknesses differently than He does rebellion. Whereas the Lord warns that unrepented rebellion will bring punishment, when the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy." 

It is important to understand the difference between rebellion and weakness. Sometimes I think that Christ's atonement only works to repent for big sins of rebellion, but I realized that it is also meant to strengthen us in our weaknesses! The Lord looks on our weaknesses with so much patience and mercy, and He will help us overcome them as we turn to Him 

I love you all! Please feel free to reach out any time!!

Hermana Hardy 

ehardy@missionary.org 

Pictures:

- the district! 

- Luis and Gladys 

- Nelly 

- Gladys  

- running it back with my fav Hna Bailey 

- my cute comp