sUcCeSs...

sUcCeSs...I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. MIchael Jordan

success comes from getting up after disappointment or failure and trying again and again.  we often get discouraged after many failed attempts but think of the unknown successes that would come from trying just one more time? or this little gem of advice :)  ..."if at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you!

tate's message on success...

 one thing i have been thinking about a lot lately is the word success.... but what is success? is success something the world defines? or something god defines? it was on my mind a lot lately and i came to the conclusion that no matter what....all the success that the world can give you doesn't mean anything....but the success in gods eyes means everything. a lot of the time we look for worldly success...which isn't always a bad thing...but a lot of the time we need to look for godly success and see if we are doing the things that will truly matter to us in the end. we always need to have an ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE. so my invitation is to sit back and think about putting the things of god first in your life and being successful to him, before you think about being successful in the world. both are fine. but one is definitely more important and will help us more in the end.... 

WELL as usual this week flew by my face and we are already starting a new change.  elder dixon and i will stay together for another change here as zone leaders but it was pretty sad to hear that elder page is going to leave. we wanted him to stay... but everything happens for a reason! i am really happy to be staying with elder dixon for one more change and it looks like we are going to have a really good change! at least we are hoping so!

 some cool things that happened this week were we found a miracle family.... we were walking down a road looking for a totally different person when all of the sudden we see a lady hanging out her window. so we waved and just thought nothing of it.... a few seconds later i thought i heard someone say elders!.... so i turned to my comp and said we are going to go talk to this lady....right as we turned around she was already looking at us and told us to wait and before we knew it we were talking to her at her gate....we asked if we could come in and she let us in. we then came to find out that her husband is a member but they are separated now and that they have had the missionaries before and that they are looking for something more in their life. !!

 amazing what god does when we do our part. also one of the teenage girls i found back in buin got baptized the other day so that was amazing to hear that she finally got into the water. nothing better then to hear that someone you found finally got baptized and made a covenant with god... i have come to find out that i seem to do that a lot in my sectors....i"m not the one who reaps the numbers or who gets all the glory...but every time i have left a sector someone i found has got baptized...and that makes it worth it.

that is my week family! i love you all 

love you guys! 

 

chao!!! elder harding 

mY bRoThEr...nIcK...

mY bRoThEr...nIcK...tate always talked about a coach SORRELL. 

                                                     nick and tate senior year

 he liked him...he looked up to him...he considered him a friend...and now tate has him as a brother.  nick joined our family a little over a year ago after dating taryn for two years.  he joined this big mormon family...not really knowing what to expect.  he has jumped right in at family reunions...family dinners...family get togethers.  he usually has at least one or two kids hanging on him at any given time.

                             gramma kunz and her grandsons
                                 nick and tate on the right

  he is my favorite son in law.  i love him for who who he is and what he stands for.  he is hard working and honest and a great example to our family.  the kids he coaches and teaches look up to him and consider him a role model.  his classroom is full every lunch period with kids that just need a place to be.  they feel safe there and nick makes sure of that.  i love that he is a good husband to taryn.  they fit together perfect.  we feel pretty blessed to have nick as part of our big crazy family.  this is what tate has to say about nick...

                                                 andy nick and tate at graduation

i want to shout out to one of my best friends also....happy birthday SORLLLLLLLLL.... thanks for the example you are to me in everything you do. you have had a huge influence in my life... probably more than you know.... as my freshman football coach... freshman baseball coach....jv football coach.... jv baseball coach....varstiy footall coach....and varsity baseball coach.... i know that the things i learned from playing under you have helped me out here and will continue to help me for my whole life... thank you for being an example to me... love you man! have a good one...OH AND YOURE GETTING OLD... 

                              
                      nick and tate and taryn with

                               tates mission call

SOOO some things that happened this last week ummm lets see :) we are teaching this lady who has cancer and we had a lesson with her this last tuesday. she has always wanted to get baptized but she wanted to wait until her husband got to chile from ecuador. but we know that he might not even come. we talked about the importance of baptism and why it is necessary. she accepted a date to be baptized at the end of september and she told us ¨"im just gonna tell my husband if he doesnt get here by that date...its not my fault hahah" she is amazing and is way funny. one of the strongest people i have ever seen. one thing she always says is I JUST KNOW THE NEXT TIME I GO IN FOR TESTS...I'M GONNA LEAVE THAT OFFICE WITH NO CANCER AT ALL.

 that really made me think for a second about the way our attitudes are a lot of the time. think about yourself in that position....doing chemo therapy and knowing that you have cancer and that its going to take a hard fight...but you keep telling yourself i know that i will just come out of the next time perfectly healthy.....

                                         
                               tates normal face



made me think for a little bit about my life and the attitude that i have towards my challenges...do we look at them as a chance to overcome something and grow....or do we look at them with an attitude of THIS ISN'T FAIR....god gives us trials to help us learn....and without learning...we cannot live with him again.

 therefore trials HELP us get to our goal. they HELP us live with our families forever...  challenges are blessings... and if we look at them with the attitude that i will come out of this better than i was before...we will truly learn and become a better person.

 me and elder dixon are finally getting used to being zone leaders and are just always really tired... but its part of the job...so other than that i am doing well...LOVE YOU 

ELDER HARDING! 

LoOkInG fOr My FrIeNd...

LoOkInG fOr My FrIeNd...When tate sent me his email today he asked me to share this in his blog...he wanted everyone to know that he is happy and loving his mission and that  he loves and misses everyone back here...the following is a story that tate has read and that touched him and he wanted to share...

"Brothers and Sisters, as you know, the last 2 weeks, I've been waiting for my mission call. During the time I was waiting i had a dream. I knew it was not a common dream. I dreamed I was in the pre-existence and was waiting for my call to come to earth. I was filled with the same anticipation and encouragement I had before I got my mission call. In my dream I was talking to a friend. I felt a special closeness to him, even though I have never met him in this life. While we were talking, a messenger came and gave me a letter. I knew it was my calling to go to earth. Excitedly my friend and I read the letter. I gave it and asked him to read aloud. It read:

"You have been called to earth in a special time and a special place. You will be born in the true church and the priesthood of God will be in your home. You will be born in a land of plenty, a land of freedom. You will be born in the United States of America. "

 

My friend and I rejoiced to read my calling. While we were rejoicing, the messenger returned. This time he had a letter for my friend. We knew it was his call to earth. My friend gave me the letter to read aloud; His letter said:

 

"You have been called to go to the earth in circumstances of poverty and strife. You will not be raised in the true church. Many difficult times will be a part of your life. The land where you will go is full of political and social difficulties, which impede the work of the Lord. You will be born in Chile. "

 

My friend and I cried while reading his calling. My friend looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "When we are on earth, you in your choice land of the United States of America and me in Chile, my friend, please come and find me."

 

Afterwards, this young missionary, with tears in his eyes said, "Brothers and sisters, I received my mission call ... I'm going to Chile.

 

There is a second part of the story. About a year after the sacrament meeting the bishop received a letter from a missionary in Chile. The letter had a sheet of paper, and on that sheet was written in capital letters four words:

 

 "I FOUND MY FRIEND"

 

I will pass through this world but once. If there is any kindness I can show or any good thing I can say, the time is now. Do not reject it, do not deny it, because we will travel this road again."

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO family this week went by really freaking fast! not going to lie it was a pretty boring week. not too successful but also we had a a lot of fun.  it rained quite a bit this week and actually we were caught in the rain one day without umbrellas doing contacts for like 3 hours....WE WERE SOAKED...but it was also pretty fun ... i really do enjoy the rain down here.  elder dixon and i  are getting used to being zone leaders together and are finally figuring out how it should be done and how we will have success together. so i am grateful for him and he is becoming a really good friend. we also had interviews this week with president and it went really well. i can tell he is an amazingly spiritual man and knows what he is doing. 

 i cant believe in a year from now i will be home. i feel like i have been here for such a short time yet i feel like i haven't seen you guys in like 10 years.  i know you are all doing well. one thing i noticed this week was how much my family means to me!  i noticed that my family truly is blessed and we have an amazing bond that not a lot of people have. keep it that way. not many people in this world have functioning families like we do with good standards and the blessings of the gospel.

 i am really proud to be able to represent our family out here and serve for two years. i know i wouldn't be here without all you guys!  i am doing really well! the time just keeps flying by and sometimes i don't even remember what we did yesterday!...good thing i write in my journal every day... chao love you!!! 

bonus blog...all about trav

this is tate's mission blog that he has asked me to keep for him.  when he returns from his mission i will print this blog and make a book for him so that he has his letters and my thoughts throughout his mission will be in a book form.  my little gift to him.  i have come to realize that this blog has helped me express my feelings or thoughts along the way while tate is on a mission.  i have decided today to include an entry about tate's uncle travis today.  I know that tate won't mind and i hope that when tate reads this it will bring a smile to him...

bonus blog...all about trav...  travis has been on my mind quite a bit lately.  we just recently attended a memorial golf tournament held in his honor.  his two good friends, rick ockey and troy bell organized and put this tournament together.  the money raised will go to abbie, kannon, laynie bo and madden for their college funds.it was well attended and overwhelming to see the friends and family that came to support travis.  they were all there to pay tribute to a man who had an impact on their lives in some way.  i know that he was watching and was humbled at the outpouring of love.

the following day we held a family reunion while everyone was in town.  we didn't do anything BIG...just being together was enough.  all of the kids participated in the highland gauntlet where they did skills in football, soccer, track, baseball, volleyball, and  basketball.  we then had a pancake breakfast, went to the fun zone, had a barbeque and then watched a movie.  this family loves to be together which was one of travis's favorite things to do.  we laughed, cried, told stories and laughed again...just how travis would have wanted it.

all of us wore t-shirts that had the quote printed on them...WIN THE DAY.  it was quite a sight to see over 30 family members with their matching t-shirts on.  this was in tribute to the BIG guy (travis) who couldn't make it to our reunion.  and yes we even had a shirt for tate made so that he could be part of the day.

 this was a quote that travis said often.  i had heard him say it...had seen him sign a card or letter with this quote but never really knew what the meaning was.  i decided that i needed to understand the meaning of WIN THE DAY  so that i could fully understand why it was of importance to my brother.

the oregon ducks football team hired a new coach that took this quote and made it his team's motto.  he wanted them to come to practice each day and work hard.  he wanted them to win every push up, every sprint, every drill, every pass, every tackle, every block and scrimmage.  he then expected them to come back the next day and do it all over again only this time push themselves harder than they had done the day before.  he expected them to WIN THE DAY each and every day.  he expected them to do this 6 days of week so that when it was game day they were prepared to WIN THE DAY and win the game.

now i understood... this is how my brother led his life...he wanted to WIN THE DAY...each and every day.  he expected his family, friends, teammates, and those he coached to do the same.  he was BIG and everything he did was BIG.  he didn't do things halfway or rush into decisions.  he thought things through and explored every option and its outcome before making any decisions.  this is something i admire about him most.  he was thoughtful of ALL THINGS.

he loved shelby and the kids with all of his BIG heart.  everything he did was for them.  they were the first thing he thought about in the morning and the last thing he thought about at night.  they are his everything...

i am thankful for his example not only to myself but to my children, my grandchildren, my nieces and nephews, my brother and sister and to my mom and dad.  he lived his life the way we all should by seeing the BIG picture and helping others to see it too.

i hope that this past weekend was something he would have been proud of.  he loved his mom and dad and family with all of his heart...his BIG heart.  we love him and will always remember him each and every day for the rest of our lives.  i love my little BIG brother and will continue to WIN THE DAY in his honor.

little miracles...

little miracles...what exactly is a miracle?  it can be defined as: A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is considered to be divine.  sometimes these little miracles come quietly in our lives and if we are not paying attention we might miss them.  there are little miracles that happen everyday.  it can be a baby being born...a friend calling at just the right time...an encouraging word from someone when you need it most...two people falling in love...or just the simple beauty of one more day of life.  tate is seeing miracles happen in his life as he serves a mission in chile.

 he is living his life and is closer to his heavenly father at this time than any other time.  he is serving his heavenly father by serving the people of chile and teaching them about the gospel.  what a blessing to our family this has been and we are so thankful for all that we learn from tate's experiences. 

What is a miracle

Love is a miracle

Every time that you care

Miracles happen somewhere

So many miracles

Even small little miracles

Just take one look about

It's not hard to figure out

Cause it might be today

Anything can change

Nothing stays the same

And maybe today

What's tomorrow for

No one knows for sure

Through it all come what may

Little miracles happen everyday

Little miracles happen everyday

 this is our own little miracle that we get to be a part of through tate.

tate's message...

 this week we had a pretty cool experience... two little girls of the other elders we live with were going to get baptized and so we went to do the interviews.....and the mom was there.... so i started talking to her about how she felt about them getting baptized and all this stuff and after that i know god literally  put his words in my mouth....we ended up having a really spiritual lesson and she ended up crying and deciding to get baptized the next day.... i can tell you that there is no other feeling greater than being an instrument in gods hands. sometimes we don't really realize god is guiding us or that it is a spiritual impression but when we look back we realize that the glory is never ours....he is moving the chess pieces in our lives daily! and all we have to do is give him thanks, do what HE wants, and keep receiving guidance. he is with us every step of the way. we also saw some other miracles...one of our investigators decided to finally quiet smoking and it has been over a three month battle. god wants to give us miracles in our lives....we just have to show him we are willing to accept them and live according to what he gives us... 

alright so this week was one of the craziest week ever.....wednesday we got special changes.....after only being in this sector for two weeks and a zone leader for two weeks they took my comp away and have me training a new zone leader.  little stressful but i know god wouldn't call me to do something i cant do...so this week you will get pics of me and my old comp elder robbins...big blonde....and of me and my new comp....elder dixon....elder dixon is LEGIT. we get along amazingly and are going to have a ton of success....i don't know what i did but i have been blessed with some amazing comps in my mission....all i am gonna say is.........GOD LOVES US :) AND........ I LOVE you guys...

 family i love you...i am doing amazing. just remember the miracles in our lives every day and i promise mroe are coming...HE WANTS TO GIVE THEM TO US!!! 

love elder harding...