aNd hE iS mY bRotHeR...

aNd hE iS mY bRotHeR.. when tate was born tyson was 6yrs. old.  we lived in a small house with just three bedrooms and so that meant that tyson and tate had to share a room.  they shared that room until tyson was a senior and we moved to our current home.  when tyson left on his mission tate was a scrawny almost seventh grader with curly blonde hair.  when tyson returned tate was a tall skinny freshman with longer blonder curlier hair.  i remember the talk that tate gave at church when tyson got home from his mission. he talked about how excited he was to finally be able to wear tyson's shoes.  he went on to say that there were still some pretty big shoes left to fill and those were the shoes of being a missionary.  now tate is on a mission and has stepped into the shoes of being a missionary.  the rolls are reversed and now tyson is wearing tate's shoes from his closet...

 
this week i want to wish my brother a happy birthday....i want to say thanks for the example he always was for me in my life....when we were younger we shared a room. i don't know if he realized it but i watched every move he made. we had a huge age difference but he truly was an example to me. if i was scared in the night he would always wake up and tell me that he was there and it was okay, i always wanted to be around him and his friends and he always had patience with me and let me watch him and his friends play halo all night. when he left on his mission i bawled like a baby at the mtc. when he got back he was one of my biggest fans and best friends to this day, i want to say thank you for the person you are in my life. the perfect example of how to be a good brother, son, friend, and father. you truly do mean the world to me and i want to wish you a happy birthday. you're getting old dude!!!  but that's okay because so am i!! love you man

me and the sister missionaries as well as a member in our ward..

OKAY SO this week went by really fast....it was a really good week and a good week with all our investigators....we are teaching a family of five and i will try and get a picture of them for next week! so stay tuned....every time they pray i literally want to cry....they say the most humbling things in their prayers about us and how they hope we never stop coming because they love that their family can be together and listen about Christ....its literally so humbling...this family truly will get blessings through the gospel... also this week we ate lasagna! and it reminded me of home  so much!!! it was pretty good...not as good as moms.

                      us walking in chile eating wild blackberries!!  livin the life 

well here is the excerpt from the message we got from president.... On top of that, President MacArthur writes, “A new mission will be created in Chile. It will be called the Chile Santiago South Mission and will be formed from parts of the Santiago West, Rancagua, Chile Concepción, and Chile Concepción South Missions…they have not told us more than that. I recommend that we keep working every moment for Brother Gomez and this Saturday they are going to tell us more about the changes in the limits of every mission. These changes will not be made until the new President comes. Everything will go well and I will let you know the very minute that I know something more. I love you a lot. President MacArthur

me and elder canche doing our thing

this is the message we got from president and this is all we know of as of now....lets just say in four months i might not be in the same mission or i could be in the same mission  a lot of things could happen....but for now this is all i know....it will be crazy....i literally could have a new mission totally....or maybe stay in the same one.... we will just see what happens....i'm hoping to stay in the same one... more farmland in the one i am in now and i like that... but yeah  its pretty crazy how the lord is hastening his work....so stay tuned for that as well...  i'm kinda nervous!  we literally walk dirt roads and eat blackberries that grow wild on the road all day. its amazing out here.... but one thing i have been noticing a lot lately in my mission is that god works miracles in my life daily....maybe little....maybe small...but sometimes we take these miracles for granted and give ourselves the credit when really it was our Heavenly Father....i would challenge all of us to look at every detail in our lives and think about whether we made it happen....or whether god made it happen.... i guarantee that god gives us a lot more than we give him credit....i heard a quote once.... the details of our life....are the molecules of eternity....we should always remember that god truly does give us miracles daily in our lives and to always thank him for those..

i love you guys and have a good week   elder harding! 

trials can make us stronger

trials can make us stronger...we all have trials...some big...some small.  it is what we take from these trials and learn from them that makes us the person that we are today.  bad things happen to good people that leads us to question...to wonder why? it is not our place to question but to go on with faith.  when we rise above our trials we are better stronger and wiser.

 this is tate's message on trials...

  huge lesson i learned this week is that COMPARED TO GOD WE ARE NOTHING....BUT FOR GOD WE ARE EVERYTHING. I learned that we need to be willing to live by his will. give thanks to him for our blessings. thank him for our trials that make us stronger. everything is from god and everything is for a reason. i am grateful for the things that have happened in my life that make me even stronger today! those trials and challenges in my life are  what made me who i am today...and i owe it all to god and his plan for us 

Hey family!! and friends!! this week flown by again and it kinda makes me sad....oh and before i forget tyson you can wear my shoes i don't have a problem with it...as long as dad plans on reimbursing me :) this week started off kinda frustrating....but a cool thing that we did this week is that we did divisions with the zone leaders...which if you remember my zone leader is my trainer haha so i got to work with him for a day again....that was way fun....i miss that kid! one of my best friends ...but we had a really good week.

 we have seven people with a baptismal date for march 16th. 5 of them are a family who lost their dad a few years back and have been struggling ever since...amazing to be able to teach them that through the plan of salvation they can live with their dad again and forever! we showed up at their house and the girl came out and said WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU GUYS!! haha i got chills.

 all five of them were sitting their listening and loving every second of the lesson. i am grateful for god for preparing them to hear our message...amazing experience for me. also this week we had my first two baptisms!!! woo!!! haha coolest feeling ever to be down in the water with them and help them make this covenant with god!  get better mom and tell everyone hi and i love them! i am doing fine!! 

love you guys!! elder harding

tate's dad

tate's dad...

                                                      

being tate's dad came easy...for greg it is a pleasure.  being a dad for greg meant setting boundaries...high expectations...high goals...holding tate accountable...and following rules. he focused on the positives. there were not many of the following... you are grounded...spankings...sent to your rooms or privileges being taking away. although there may have been a few...what did your mother say? situations.  greg was a night owl and so this allowed for him to be up when the tate got home late.  he would take this opportunity to visit...give advice...hear the gossip...and listen.  greg enjoyed having tate's friends around... he called them by their names...ferd, tan the main, big, watt, the wolf pack, and any others he could slip in.  he would throw in a song lyric just to be cool when he got  the chance. because really he is cool.  greg loved watching tate play ball and loved to share a story about tate to who ever would listen.  tate's senior year he got to travel with tate as he played baseball on a travel team.  this was one of his most treasured memories.  one day i told tate and greg that i felt bad that i was not able to go with them...they both chuckled and told me that it was okay because really i wasn't invited...it was just a guy thing. the following are tate's thoughts on his dad...

   i just kinda wanted to kinda say thanks to dad as it is close to his birthday! i'm sure we are all grateful for dad and the sacrifices he makes for our family. we all know he would be willing to do whatever it takes to make our family happy. maybe it would take a little talking him into it or a little bribing or a little of moms help behind the curtains but for some reason he always comes through. i am thankful for a dad who was the perfect example of how to work hard all of your life, who was the most honest man i have ever met, who supported us more than any other person in every single event in our lives and loved to tell other people about his kids. dad i hope you have the best birthday every because i know without you...we would all not be the same people we are today! i know i look back and always remember you being there for me every step of the way! pushing me to do my best and to be the best i could because you saw what i could become. lets just say we have the best dad in the world family. because it is 100% true. no doubt in my mind that heavenly father is happy with the work you have done in your house with your family. i love you dad and i am pretty sure on behalf of everyone WE LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW! have a good birthday! 

OKAY so this week started off really fun just because i got elder canche my new comp and i was kinda showing him around and all that stuff so it was a really fun week but very stressfull as well just cuz we are both district leaders and it is a lot of work and responsibility. he is a really funny kid and we will be working really hard together. i have been hearing that i could be training this next change so i guess we will see...missionaries always talk tho so i guess we will see. so this week an elder in my zone arrived who is a cousin of the ferros in pocatello. not sure which ferros but he went to rocky mountain high school and he knows all those kids from boise that i played with so that was fun

Soo some cool things we did this week was make jam with my investigator! haha so that reminded me of grandma judy!! haha ....but other than that it was just a regular week! went by so freaking fast and i cant believe it! i love you all and hope you are well!! talk to you next week!  

Elder harding 

what a mom knows....

what a mom knows.... as my kids were growing up and once they reached a certain age i soon came to the conclusion that i could not protect them or shelter them from every little thing.  as a mom i want to think that my children were and are perfect but logically i know this is not the case.

                       tate and elder page in santiago

  i am sure there are many things that they did when they were with friends that i don't know about.  i always told them as they left to ...REMEMBER WHO THEY WERE AND TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT and if they got in trouble or put in jail for some mischief to not call me :).  as for tyson...   i am not sure what i thought was happening maybe a good game of  kick the can?    taryn was so worried about getting in trouble i am not sure there are any crazy stories about her.  she did text me one night around 2:00 in the morning and told me that she and her friends were sneaking out.  i responded back that technically this did not count as sneaking out because she was telling me before hand.  what a silly girl!

                                                      tate, elder page and elder
                                    flores getting a ride in the 
                                     back of a meat truck

on the other hand mischief  seemed to find tate or maybe it was tate seemed to find mischief.  i am sure there are many events that he is saving to tell me about after his mission.  i think the one incident that stands out in my mind the most is...POOP IN A BAG ON FIRE incident. although this episode with seven of his friends now has some humor in it i am sure that at the time i did not find any!   this brings me to this saturday....  greg and i attended the baptism of one of tate's friends (one of the poop gang).  as i sat in the chapel and looked around at  the many people that were there to support bradford.  i was happy to see  almost all of the parents who's boys were involved in the POOP IN A BAG ON FIRE incident.  out of eight boys that were involved 5 are on missions...1 has his call and is waiting to leave...1 is preparing to go...and 1 had just gotten baptized.  the ELITE EIGHT as they became known...not bad boys not bad at all!

                           
                                                        Bradford's at his baptism

this is tate's message to bradford...message for... bradford! FERD!!! dude i want you to know that i am so proud of you...i love you man and am so glad you made the decision to get baptized...it truly is an amazing blessing for us to have this knowledge in our lives that the church of Jesus Christ is on the earth today! i love you man and can't wait to see you when i get back. i hope you know you will always be one of my best friends man! you are my brother and am so happy for you. oh and light some poop on fire for me please in honor of the elite 8. love you man.

                                       a family home evening to
                                       say good bye to elder florez


okay so this week my investigator that will get baptized finally quit smoking!!! Heavenly Father blessed me on this one ...and she also told me that she wants her daughter to get baptized with her!! how cool is that! so on the 16th of feb i will have my first two baptisms....i'm excited! but she is amazing and the funny part about it is that I LEARN SOMETHING FROM HER every time i teach her. which sounds weird but its so true! i learn more from her daily...she is an awesome example to me! . but this week was just another really hard week being in the trio.....but i have some really cool news about me and elder canche... i am really excited to be able to teach other missionaries because i know in the end i will end up learning more about myself! everyone keeps telling me i will be training by next change and i hope so...i think it wouldl be so freaking fun.  i finally got some christmas cards from grandma kunz, and from the bickleys! tell them both thanks and that i miss them and love them all! also we ran out of gas for our hot water in the house so we took cold showers all this week hahahaha no one wanted to pay for a new gas tank so we just suffered for a while hahahahah its actually not too bad! ty can explain the gas tank thing cuz he had to do it in mexico too! ....but this next change should be way good. we should  have some really good success  and elder canche and i have already become amazing friends. he is such a little ball of chunk hahahah wait til you see a picture!! hahahahha i love it! 

 i am really starting to get a hold of the language and i am doing amazing....i love you and thank you for your prayers...i can feel them helping me every single day! love you guys....

tate's new address:

Eduardo Melero 883
Region Lib. Bernardo O' higgins
Rancagua Chile
Casilla 2-c