Monday, November 26, 2012

bE tHou HuMbLe...

bE tHou HuMbLe... as our family cooked thanksgiving dinner and served around 80 or so people at the salvation army one word seemed to describe our experience...humbling.  as tate continues to write home from chile this word is used to express  his thoughts and and his mission.  our family has always been blessed to know that our needs would be met. tate always has had the comfort of knowing if there was something he needed for school or sports we would find a way that that need was met.  he is now living in a very small and humble apartment and is experiencing a new way of life.  he often writes to his family that he hopes we know how truly blessed we are...

holy week three down!! insane! haha it goes by so fast i don't even know where to start! i love it down here tho!  love you guys...thats all i got this week! laters............................... hahah jk jk! okay so first i will talk about whats going on in the mission. then random things. then what i would like haha...umm so our investigators are being really difficult right now and not really showing up to appointmets or they are never home so it sucks. definitely a humbling week! we had no luck with contacting either but all is well! i 'm hanging in there....some pretty sad stuff happens down here...a lot of teenage pregnancies and one guy in our ward had his wife just get up and leave with his kids...sad stuff...but we should be having a baptism here in a week! it is a girl named andrea.  she is way cool just is always busy but i think she will get baptized this saturday! i am really stoked. it looks like the serving dinner thing went amazing. i am glad you guys did that! that is amazing...i see people that could use that every single day down here but everyone seems to be that poor! so humbling. one thing i wanted to challenge you  to do is go to the temple more. and do family history work. i never really saw the importance of it until now. but it truly is important. so maybe make some goals to go like once a month or something! it would be worth it i promise! love you guys oh i also had my first earthquake! woo!!! haha weirdest thing ever! the ground just rolls like water! anyways. we run out of money fast so sometimes i need to use my own to pay for rides cuz our area is HUGE. so if it looks like i'm taking money out. its to help us get around and find people but other than that i am good to go! love you guys and know i am working hard and thinking about you! love you. look for my package... i will try to label things to who they are for! 

love elder harding

Monday, November 19, 2012

tHaNkFuL hEaRt...

ThAnKfUl hEaRt...


today at school as i began my third grade group i asked the question what it means to be thankful.  the group discussed what it meant and then we moved on to what they were thankful for.  two boys in the group both stated that they were thankful for a grandma who "lets" them live with her.  it seems both of these boys have fathers in jail and mothers who for what ever reason have abandoned their children.  these grandmas are doing the best that they can with the limited skills and resources that they have.  i too am thankful that these boys have grandmas who give them a home.

this year for thanksgiving my parents and brothers and sister and all of our children are cooking and serving dinner at the local salvation army.  we have been told to expect around 60 people.  this thanksgiving has a new meaning...as tate writes in his letter "these people think LIFE.... is their greatest blessing.... amazing."
                                          
                                              best hot dog ever!!!

hola! como estan la familia Harding. haha holy freaking crap i love this country. i have already learned more in the past week than i think i ever would have back home! okay so first off my companino and i get along amazing. he is from california and has an amazing story. he used to live in sweden. then his family moved to california. then they found out that his dad had a secret family that no one knew about. after that obviously his parents got divorced and stuff but both got remarried. he is pretty old i think but it doesn't really matter because we are both out for the same purpose. so he came on a mission and about two months ago his mom got diagnosed with a disease and gave her 8 months to live. he stayed out here. 

                                                                          tate's companion


amazing huh. talk about sacrifice. that was definitely a lesson i needed to learn. he literally will be one of my best friends. he gets to call his mom once a week but still. way hard. anyways. this country humbles me daily. i see people who have absolutely nothing but would give you the shirt off of their back if you asked for it. even if they don't know you. i hope all of you know how blessed we are in the states because these people think LIFE. is their greatest blessing. amazing. haha so very funny down here because everyone thinks i am really pretty. just because i have blue eyes and blonde hair. they all just smile at me like i am an alien haha. crazy... but i don't mind. they also think i look like the hulk, superman, johnny bravo, or the dad off of the incredibles movie hahaha. killin me.

                                                                               pretty boy????

 oh so i finally met david archuletta haha he is in my zone so that is cool. he is the most shy and humble kid i have ever met. hah its quite funny! really cool to see him tho that is for sure! so how about i am huge down here. nothing is meant for someone of my size. the shower is small. the toilet is small. EVERYTHING IS SMALL!  hah oh well! so i found out also that i will be able to skype on christmas and mothers day i think. so that is cool!

                                                 tate's desk

also i have been forced to drink pop for two years. because that is all they serve down here. and if you don't accept it they get mad. they don't even have bottled water down here. all the water bottles even have carbonation! haha its so weird! it will be ok tho. so mom i will have to take pics but a member family in my sector makes things with wood by hand and i KNOW you would love stuff...so i will take some pics and see if you want anything. its insane workmanship. coolest stuff ever. dad one of the elders i live with is from bolivia and makes food all the time...ILOVEIT!
                                                                             just some art work
umm the food is amazing! i am loving every single thing about it down here. the hardest thing and the most tiring thing i have ever done but i am always happy. it is so weird. oh and don't worry i have like 3 moms down here. the moms in the ward take care of us like its there own son so don't worry mom! haha other than that our investigators are doing well and i have already had a couple new fechas or in other words i have invited people to be baptized. i love it. i truly do and it is going by so fast i can't even explain.


and that is about it!   

i am doing well and love you all! 

don't worry about me! 

love, 

Elder Harding! 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

ThE pLaNe HaS lAnDeD...

tHe PlAnE hAs LaNdEd

Hello family! i am in chile safe and sound and i freaking love it...my trainer is the coolest. i will get a pic of him later but for now i just have pics of my house so far! haha its so small...this is the most humbling thing i have ever done...my trainer told me that everyone will just stare at me and stuff because i have pretty hair and pretty eyes to them cuz all they ever see is brown brown brown. but i am doing well...besides the plane rides i loved it. i was sick the whole ride andd couldn't sleep so i am really tired but i  am so excited to get to work. my mission president was really awesome as well! he is a psychiatrist and told me that within ten minutes he can tell how a missionary will be haha sooo he told me he can see i will work hard.  i have my first meeting at 8 tonight! hahaha i cannot understand a single thing these people are saying...they don't pronounce there s´s or their d´s haha so ask ty to try and speak like that...they mumble everything but it will be fun to learn again! my trainer is from california and he is coming up on his year mark...he has told me that we are in one of the best parts...my sector as it is called is called Rango...so if you wanna try and look that up...i will probably be here for 3 months haha. so woo! i love it. 

Love, 
Elder Harding


Sunday, November 11, 2012

jUsT a PaIr oF ShOes...

juSt a PaIr Of ShoEs...

tate flies out monday morning to rancagua chile... the next email we receive will be from chile...I was cleaning out a drawer and came upon this talk given by tate when his older brother reported on his mission...

my brother tyson has this walk in closet with about 30 pair of neatly organized shoes.  when he left on his mission he told me that if i grew into them that i could wear any of them that i wanted as long as i took care of them.  at the time i think we both thought it would never happen.  well i grew 7 inches while he was gone and recently those 30 pair of shoes fir just right.  i know that even though i now wear the same size shoes, my brother has given me some pretty big shoes to fill by the example he has set for me.

today my talk is on how the aaronic priesthood prepares me for going on a mission  i will be using a talk given by robert d. hales on this topic.  while training to be a jet fighter pilot, he prepared to make such vital decisions in a flight simulator.  for example, he practiced deciding when to bail out of and airplane if the fire warning light came on and he began to spin out of control.  he remembers one dear friend who didn't make these preparations.  his friend would find a way out of simulator training and them go to play golf or swim.  his friend never learned his emergency procedures!  a few months later, fire erupted in his plane, and it spun toward the ground in flames.  noting the fire warning light, his younger companion, having developed a preconditioned response, knew when to bail out or the plane and parachuted to safety.  but his friend who had not prepared to make that decision stayed with the plane and died in the crash.

In the decade ahead, our time for preparation will be limited.  as we are aaronic priesthood bearers, it is important that we prepare now.  we must develop  our own preconditioned responses for the important decisions we will make in the next decade of our life.  we must know what to do and when to do it when each decision presents itself.  remember that making no decision at all could be just as deadly as making the wrong decision.  many of the decisions we make or don't make will have eternal consequences.

now is the time to organize and prepare ourselves to have the holy ghost as our constant companion.  this means doing waht our parents and leaders have taught us to do-study the scriptures; pray morning and night; keep a neat, well groomed appearance; follow a schedule; set and achieve goals; be honest in our dealings; keep commitments; and be worthy of the preisthood we bear.  always always live the standards, revealed by prophets, in the booklet for the strength of the youth.

as young men, we are the vital strength of the Lord's army, the stripng warriors of these latter days.  in alma 53 it says "whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap."

there is one pair of shoes that now sits in tyson's closet that i hope to have a similar pair of one day.  they aren't the latest basketball shoe of the most expensive ones.  they are a worn out pair of missionary shoes, with a beaten down sole, and dust from the streets of guadalajara that he wore every day on his mission.  i am thankful for my brother tyson's example and for the mission he served.





Monday, November 5, 2012

YOU've got a FRIEND in ME...

YOU've got a FRIEND in ME

this is tate's elmo...his very first friend.  he would carry elmo everywhere with him.  when elmo started to lose his eye sight  tate would bring elmo to me and i would color in elmo's eyes.  elmo and tate did a lot together.  one of tate's favorite movies is "TOY STORY"  he loved how andy had such loyalty to his "friends".  he loved the song 'you've got a friend in me".   friends have always been important to tate.  once you are tate's friend you are one for life.  his first partner in crime was another little blonde haired boy who lived just down the street.  these two got into plenty of mischief before they even entered kindergarten. ironically this young man is also serving a mission in chile.   tate has a special friend who he met at preschool.  these two have always been there for each other...helping one another through good and bad times.  he met one of his friends while playing little league baseball and continued to be best of friends whether playing on the same team or against one another.  he has a special friend who he writes to weekly and always asks me if i have seen her :) he has too many friends to list or name one by one but  this last year as tate and his friends were contemplating going on missions and then preparing he was as excited for him self as he was for his friends and their decisions to serve.  he has attended many farewells of friends and have seen them leave to serve.  this last week as two of tate's friends entered the mtc... tate was waiting inside to greet them and give them a big hug.  he loves to hear about the many other friends who are just receiving their calls or preparing to go.  if you are lucky enough to be a friend of tate's...you know he will always be your biggest fan and that "youv'e got a friend in him".

hollay i am so freaking excited to get to chile....this week better go by fast. haha this last week flew by and i cant even remember what i did. its the same old same old here in the mtc so other than soccer and devotionals nothing cool happens. best part of my week was seeing nick and derek. i wasn't allowed to go to the curbside but i still waited for them right after they actually got into the mtc and gave them both big hugs..

one theme i have felt this week is when things get hard you just have to work harder. this was an awesome comparison that one of my friends made. He said "are we better than christ? NO. so then why should the things in my life and the trials in my life be easier than his." i hope you all take a second to think about that. He probably had one of the hardest lives out of all of us and yet he never complained once. be grateful for how easy our life is and how many blessings we have been given. i also have wanted to study the saviors life more in depth. who better to study than the savior himself.

and remember when your life gets hard or seems tough, think how much harder the saviors was. love ya! 

Elder Harding