hAvE i DoNe aNy GoOd ToDaY?

have i done any good today?  

this year at the elementary school that i work at we had a new family move into our boundaries.  we met them at registration.  they came in with their mom who was there to register them for school.  there are 4 children that range from kindergarten through sixth grade.  they are these curly headed mop top kids that always have a little bit of mischief in their eyes. at registration they ran wild through the gym while their mom filled out all of the paperwork. to be honest i thought to myself wow these kids are going to be a handful. i have been proven wrong! i work with two of the four children in my reading interventions.  today started out as any other monday would.  i asked my group what they had done over the weekend.  i got the usual answers from most of the children...video games...tv...laser tag...and then the boy with a  head of curls said..."i went to a new church"  this was not the usual answer that i was used to so i asked, "oh really which one?"  i was expecting his reply to be...the one on the corner or the white one by the park.  this is the answer i got..."THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS".  henry then told me he went with his friends.  i asked who his friends were and he replied..."my friends the ELDERS."  we then got started with class.  i do not know the names of these "friends" of henry's but i do know that somewhere the moms of these two ELDERS should be very proud of their sons who are helping henry's family learn about CHRIST and his church. they truly did do something good with their day. tomorrow i think i will tell henry that my son tate is one of those ELDERS too.

hey guys!! nothing like another week going by already....it is insane...during the days it seems like it will never end but as i look back upon a week i cant remember anything haha it goes by so fast...i only have two weeks left in the mtc then i will be out to chile. the wierd part is they keep telling all of us here at the mtc that we will be trainers within 6 weeks!! hollay...hahah just because of the new missionary age! 

haha anyways to start the week we had Larry Echohawk come and speak to us. that was pretty cool considering he mentioned pocatello a few times and a few people whose names i do not remember but seemed familiar at the time! he told us his conversion story. it is weird for all of us to think about what conversion would feel like because most of us never had to go through it. we need to look at others how Heavenly Father sees them which is looking at them in a way of what they COULD become with the gospel if only we would share it with them. that is definitely one thing i have learned. i hope all of you are serving others even if it is just a small act of kindness or a smile or a hello here or there.

 i watched a mormon message (thats the best thing i get to do around here, its like my tv) it was called have i done any good today? such an amazing thing to remember if we only thought that every single day. anyways the spanish is coming along amazing and i already feel like a champ at it......that is until i get to chile and cant understand a single thing! haha but it is coming along well...i have found that when i share personal experiences in my life and share my testimony, those are some of the two things i love doing most. we had an awesome experience the other day in a thing called TRC. this is where we teach members from around the provo area. they just volunteer, be themselves, and then we teach them. it is my favorite thing we do down here. besides soccer hahah...btw we are 10-0 against another zone and i score at least once every game haha...but yeah back to the story. i shared a couple things in my life that i knew could maybe help him...mostly how i didn't go to church a lot my senior fall because of baseball...and i could honestly tell the difference in everything...i just didn't have a good feeling about not going to church every single sunday...but once i started going again it came back...i bore testimony of how important sunday was in my life and how it is a time where our family can hang out with each other and just have family time as well.

some days are really harder to be away from home and people...i get homesick every once in a while...mostly when i have time to just sit around and think about stuff...which is ALL the time in the mtc because we just have study times all day. so i cant wait to get to chile where i will be busy all the time haha hoooray
well i miss you all and hope you are all striving to do things better in your lives! i love you and miss you more than you know but i know that i will be blessed for serving faithfully!!! love you guys! 

Love, 
Elder Harding! 

we can do HARD thINGs...

we can do HARD thINGs...  from the time tate was little i have always told him that he can accomplish anything he put his minds to...with a little hard work.  there were many times that tate would come home from a practice discouraged and tired.  he sometimes would question himself or his teammates and their willingness to give it their all.  my answer would always be the same...work harder...prove to yourself that you can do it...be a leader...be an example.  before tate left on his mission i had asked him what "saying"  or "quote" he wanted by his missionary picture sitting on the table while he was gone.  his older brother tyson's missionary "quote" by his picture was...RETURN WITH HONOR.  tate could not come up with a specific one before he left.  in his letter home today he told us that he had figured out that his last name was in the saying "WE CAN DO HARD THINGS".  this is the saying that will be by his missionary picture while he serves the people of chile...and yes tate i know with out a doubt that you can do hard things!

okay so this week flew by even faster! hollay i am on my 7th week and after this week we will be the oldest district in our zone....its nuts....oh before i forget the new district that came in this last wednesday is all going to guadalajara so that was fun to talk to them about that a little bit...i really get a long great with one of them...he is older then me hahaha which is nothing new because i am still the youngest one in our zone yet i am one of the oldest districts....hahah kinda cool! but anyways me and my district are growing closer and it makes it way more fun. i was made district leader this week so i will be fulfilling that calling the last three weeks we are here. crazy stuff.

 okay anyways i came up with a cool idea from the quote mom always tells me "you can do hard things" i kinda changed the capitilization up and it could be a cool sign or something to put by my missionary picture or something. it goes like this "you can do HARD thINGs." the capital letters together make up our last name and i liked it a lot haha. so i figured mom could put something creative together like that.

.

haha umm one thing that did happen is our branch president got released...i cried....im a cryer now...haha he was like my best friend. he played baseball at byu and he would always give me crap about how i was lucky i didnt have to face him on that mound or else i would have taken one to the chin hahahah he was awesome! i will miss him more than anyone here at the MTC.

tate has this missionary telling every one his name is IAN Filliaga hahaha

 sooo about the grateful journal...i think it is an awesome dea! i would love to give them something. i think its a good idea. tell koda i miss her too! give raegan and taigen a hug for me as well.

i miss you guys more and more every day...but at the same time i grow every single day so it balances out...i cannot wait to get to chile even tho i know i wont be able to understand a single word. its literally killing me to be in the MTC right now hahah...its getting old...but these last 3 weeks will fly by....tell nick and derek to tell me what time and when they will be coming in so i can meet them at the door hahah! oh and tyson i looked you up on the MTC inquiry and you are still on there! we stay in the same residence as you but different floor! how funny is that!? it still has all your information and everything...i will send you a pic later....thank you for the package as well...my DI ties were AWESOME.!! well thats about it for this week...hopefully that is long enought:) love you guys. stay strong for me and be obedient. obedience is everything...also is anyone doing the paperback book of mormon challenge that i mentioned??? i hope so... i know for a fact we would grow closer as a family if everyone did it...anyways...love you guys...
.stay strong! love you guys! Elder Harding.

obedience in all things...

obedience in all things...tate would always tell me "don't worry mom it will all be okay".  he loved a little mischief maybe too much.  he would always wait a couple of days to tell me of the adventures he would have with his friends which was probably a good thing.  he thought he was funny as he would wrap his arms around me and reassure me that it was all okay.  from the time he was little mischief seemed to follow tate...or he seemed to follow it...not anything too serious but just enough for his mom to need to breathe deeply!  I can see a change in tate already in his letters.  he is learning the law of obedience. i love that in this letter he challenges us to be more obedient...this makes me giggle... coming from him...

i miss everyone but i am doing amazing y mi espanol is mejor que el fue antes de mi mision. haha its better than it was before my mission. and i learn something new every day. i am sorry to say i dont have a lot that goes on during the weeks at the mtc....ITS SO REPETATIVE and we just teach fake investigators and stuff so nothing too exciting or real quite yet. i still cant wait til derek and nick get here!

                                                          Tate's scriptures...

 i want to be in chile so bad right now...most of my friends from the older districts left this week so now its just me and Elder Matagi who are best friends ha...Elder Beeston and Elder Baltazar are leaving too...it sucks but it will be good for me to make new friends. so i guess to start off the week we had Elder Bednar come and talk to us.....NOTHIN... IT WAS the coolest thing i have ever done. hahah anyways he issued a challenge that i kinda want to issue you guys and whoever else wants to...the challenge was to go buy a paperback book of mormon...the cheapest one you can find or get it for free...then write a question on the front page that you think can help you in your life...then read it all the way through, marking, highlighting, and writing in it pertaining to things that stand out to you about that question...when you are done he promised us that our question will be answered adn that we will want to do it again. he told us by the time we get to be his age, we will have like 200 book of mormons on our shelves with different questions to help us for our life. anyways just thought that was way cool. another thing that i really enjoy is watching the Mormon Messages. i encourage you to all watch one every once in a while. i promise it will help you guys in your lives. yeah but when Elder Bednar showed up EVERYONE in the chapel shot straight up and was standing before he even took two steps...it was an amazing experience.

                                                           Grandpa and Grandma Harding


 Tell both sets of grandparents that i love them very much and that i will be forever grateful for the things which i was taught in my early years from them as well as their support and things they continue to teach me...i love them more than they know. 


          Grandpa and Grandma Kunz

Before i leave, i know i already challenged you to do some things but i just challenge you to do anything you can to be more obedient. i know some things may seem little in your lives and you think oh this little thing wont hurt me and stuff but i know that by being obedient in ALL things. we will be even more blessed. so maybe you could set some goals personally on things you think you could improve on. that is one thing i am constantly doing. i set goals all day every day...ugh hahah jk but i do. and yes it is hard but i know that i will be blessed.

I love you guys and cant wait to call you guys on november 12th or 13th...it will be so fun haha...

love, Elder Tate John Harding

shiny rocks...

shiny rocks...when tate was a little boy he would collect rocks.  he loved to go to yellowstone and buy shiny rocks in the gift stores.  this past weekend greg and i went to yellowstone and as we looked around in the gift shop i saw the display of shiny rocks and thought of tate.  as tate was getting ready for his mission he found his plastic container full of rocks he had kept and saved over the years.  in tates letter home today he talks about a "blessing journal" that he plans on starting.  this reminded me of his shiny rock collection.  someday he will look back through his "blessing journal" collection and see the shine.  here is his letter:

okay so here goes for week four! hollay crazy how fast this is already going! haha its nuts! before i start i want you to tell karson kaden and hunter something for me.... i challenge them to go listen to first President Monson's announcement of the age of missionaries. then i challenge them to go listen to Elder Hollands talk and listen to what he says at the end of his message. this is an amazing blessing that they have the opportunity to use! Think how much easier things would have been if this would have been the case with me. i know i still would have played legion but i would have tried to leave earlier that's for sure. tell them to do EVERYTHING they can to get out as soon as possible. such an amazing experience. don't waste your time or the lords time. get out as soon as you can! this is an amazing thing we are doing here and it has already changed the way i want to live the rest of my life as well as how i want to run a family! anyways 

so good to know that i have not lost any weight or gained any!!! haha woo! i do push ups and abs every night just to kinda stay strong but other then that still playing soccer twice a week and basketball the others. hey mom do i wash my slacks or dry clean them?? i know i dry clean my suits but what about slacks? anyways i love the mtc. i cannot wait to leave it as well tho. its the weirdest feeling....i love everyone here and what goes on but i cant wait to get to chile. i talked to a RM from chile and he told me that i will get mail every 6 weeks when i go to zone conferences in chile. there my district leader will pass stuff out. so thats when i would get your packages and stuff i think. but i will be able to email. oh and i am pretty sure i leave the 12th. not sure exactly what time but yes. 

some cool things that i have learned this week are gratitude. i hope we all see how much we have been givin in our lives and that we can always stay grateful. one cool thing i heard about it called a blessing book...its just a book where you go through and write down the things you are grateful for during your whole lifetime. i thought that was awesome. we just recently had a devotional givin by chad lewis the eagles tight end. and that's what his family did. i liked the idea. another cool thing is trusting in the lord and being obedient. i know sometimes the little rules or anything here on the mission seem little or harmless...but i know that if we do obey them we will be blessed so much. that goes for life too! some things might seem harmless but they really are there to help and bless us! use obedience to our advantage and gain those blessings by being obedient. another thing i learned from conference was service. i kinda wanted to challenge everyone who reads this email and also the blog to turn OUTWARD. as much as you can think about the other people in this world and how you can help them. this will onnly help you more in your life. thats a challenge and i hope to hear stories of how that has been accomplished:)


anyways not much has happened this week! general conference was like having 3 pdays in a row cuz we just sat around, ate, and watched conference. i loved it haha crazy stuff. some kid tried to hop the fence at night and go to the byu football game haha so that was funny! a couple kids in my district caught him. 

i cant stress enough how i love this work and i know that this is where i am supposed to be. i hope you know i still have things i need to work on and i hope you can recognize the things you need to work on to better you life. i am constantly using the atonement in my life to better myself and i hope you guys are as well...

haha i really am changing...i'm still tate...i think i just finally realized what is important!

This mission really is shaping my life and i cant imagine what i would be regretting if i didn't come. i have learned so much and still am learning and want you guys to know how much i love you and how much you guys help me in my life and support me! i wouldn't be here without you guys! so thank you and god be with you til next week when we talk again. love you 


love elder harding!!!

times a flyin...

times a flyin...i think this mission thing is just what tate needed.  he loves to stay busy...doesn't like a lot of down time...wants to always be doin something...always thinkin about what is goin to be happenin next!  For many years tate went from football season to basketball season to baseball season and then started all over again.  this summer after baseball got over he seemed to have more time on his hands then he knew what to do with.  he only had one month before he would leave on his mission so he really did not have much time to get a job.  he spent his last month doing odd jobs, hanging with his friends, boating and spending time with family.  i could tell he was ready to get busy again and was itching to get going.  he is busy again and that is what he does best!

mom! dad! and everyone else ha  this week has been awesome! a lot has gone happened. it  has gone by so fast it seems like.the food is gross/good. haha depends on the day and what you get. but for the most part it is ok...i just eat cuz by the time its the next meal i am starving. so its whatever hahah. my classes are going amazing. here is what a typical day for me is like. wake up at 630. personal or companion study. breakfast. class. lunch language study. Computer language study. then class again. then dinner. then personal or companion study.....so yeah...but then on sunday and tuesday nights there are devotionals so those are always fun haha. i sleep amazing as usual. no problems there. and yes mom i have done my wash ha its not like im that deprived of knowing how to work a little :). my companion and i get along good for the most part. he just does things at such a slow pace it kills me sometimes...but it was meant to make me learn patience i think so its ok  one of the districts is leaving this week along with some of my district who are going to guatemala. i will miss them. i have only had three weeks but the ones that were in the other district. who were older then us at the mtc. i got along amazing with a few of them. its sad but i just want to get out to chile ha. these three weeks have flown by its crazy ummmmmmm it is nothing what i expected! at all. which is good. it makes some things more exciting!

 so onto some cool things i learned this week. we had a workshop and i heard some awesome quotes. here are a couple. 

Poem about Miracles of Christ ( christ talking to us about coming to the edge of a cliff) 

"come to the edge of the cliff the savior said, 
no we will fall off. 

Come to the edge of the cliff he said, 
No we will fall!! 

Come to the edge!!! 
so we went to the edge and he pushed us......and we flew. 

This kinda hit me pretty hard. i think it is amazing what we can do throught christ. obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles....that is one thing i am trying to do is be exactly obedient. 

i have 24 months to serve, and i lifetime to think about how i served. 

another thing i leared would to be not to judge....we dont know what people have been through nor do we have the ability to judge because we have not experienced the things that they have been going through or will go through. 

 awesome...hey did you know i love you and that im doing fine k? :)

 

i have grown up a lot hahah but dont worry im still immature tate

                                Look at his organized closet...so funny!

 all is well i really am doing amazing mom....i can teach full lessons in spanish already and pray and bear testimony...its so simple hahah crazy.

                                     This is Chad VanOrden...Tate played baseball with him.

 haha im fine.... i like miss you guys and miss my freiends and stuff but its not like im sick to my stomach 

                                  Look!  it's the Kelsey blanket at the MTC!

                                 Tate and Austin Boyd...they visit each night

thats about it haha... i will try to write a handwritten letter as well just to give you more info but i gotta go...missionary work is busy haha. ill talk to you soon! love you guys a lot! miss ya 

elder harding