cHeNz gAnG...

cHeNz gAnG...when i started working at the elementary school that i currently work at i wanted to save every child that i came in contact with.  i wanted to take them all home with me.  soon i learned that i realistically could not do that.  i then decided that i would along with teaching them to be better readers that i would make sure that they knew i cared about them and wanted them to succeed.  i decided that quite possibly my words of encouragement during the day may be the only positive words that they would hear for that day.  i wanted them to at least know that mrs. harding cared for them and believed in them.

  

coach vinny was one of those positive people in tate's life.  when tate left on a mission i wrote coach vinny a letter.  here is part of that letter:

You have prepared tate for a misison by coaching him in baseball in a manner that has made him an outstanding young man.  he has learned to be a leader, to be mentally strong in tough situations, to do things that he didn't think were possible, to perform under pressure, to believe in himself and to pick himself up and perform the next day after defeat.  all of these traits will make him a great missionary.  
as a parent one only hopes for those heroes that come into a child's life to make them a better person.  thank you for being a hero in tate's life.
good luck to you in the future and as a family we will always be "coach vinny fans"!



i want to say happy birthday to coach vinny....i hope you know how much of an impact you had on my life the two summers that i played for you. i would not be the man i am today or have the work ethic or have the determination to do hard things if it weren't for you and the lessons you taught us as a team. you are one of the best men i have ever known and also one of my best friends! CHENZ GANG OR DIE! shout out to willie cleary, andy villapando, coach swallow and kash heeb as well. love you guys.

SOOOOOOOOOO this week was really interesting.  on monday i did divisions  with the zone leaders and then tuesday morning the grant couple came and picked me up and we pretty much took a day trip to santiago....and as you can see from the photos....yes i did get pushed around in a wheelchair like a VIP boss! i was king of that hospital...joking! it was actually funny....i probably could have walked to the car but they don't let you! and the grants wouldn't let me either! 

we then picked up my new comp and from there it was just chilling in the house for 3 straight days of hell hahahh i wanted to leave that house so bad after like the first 2 hours....it kills me to just sit in there....i feel like i'm in a box....one reason is because i'm not used to just sitting there and two because it literally is a box...hahaha..but for reals.... 

my comp is awesome and i cant believe i am already training! nuts... he is a funny kid and likes sports and stuff so we get a long great! we will do amazing work here together in this sector so i am excited!
 one thing that was a thought i had this week was something i think we always need to have on our minds at all times! am i closer to Christ today then i was yesterday, or am i a better person today then i was yesterday......we can ALWAYS...be better....always....do the little things to always be able to look back and say i am better this week then last week.

love tate

tAtE's BiG tOe...

tAtE's BiG tOe...  tate's mom  is very thankful for a couple missionary serving in chile.  tate's mom is grateful for the love and caring and compassion that they have shown to tate during his mission.  tate's mom has never met this couple but has a love and appreciation for their service as missionaries but also for their love for tate.  words cannot express her love for this couple.  she knows that heavenly father puts people in our lives for a reason and she knows without a doubt he put this sweet couple in tate's life when he needed them most.

 tate writes...  i  have surgery tomorrow on my big toe and so what we are going to do is elder and sister grant  are going to take me to lunch and to santiago to have surgery.  this week will be a boring one for me because i will be in the house for a long time.

so family this week started off with the most insane rain i have ever seen in my life...i was literally like wading through the snake river over here in chile hahaha  I loved it! it was so fun! my comp didn't have boots so he kinda had a rough time but i enjoyed it!

  this week i met an even crazier cat lady who has 56 cats.......gross....and while we were there one of her puppies died and she cried and held a dead puppy in my face and asked me why it had to die...  wierdest day of my mission that is for sure....

  i am spoiled by the grants!!  they love me! also attached will be a letter that elder grant sent me...it is amazing! 

the following is an excerpt from the letter that elder grant wrote.  the grant's son served with tate's uncle troy on his mission.  when travis died they became aware of who tate was and have since then taken very good care of tate in chile.  the letter is entitled why do bad things happen to good people?  the letter was written following the death of travis...

God has guaranteed us with Eternal Life if we do our part. He knows us, he knows our names, our hearts and our minds. He provided us with a Savior, with living instructions or commandments to show us what we need to do to come back to him, he gave us two great gifts to help us in our journey, the gifts of the priesthood and the Holy Ghost. He gave us hope and faith, the light of Christ, the ability to repent of our sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Most importantly, he gave us our free agency so that we can grow and learn and progress in this life so that we will be forever strong.

What he did not give us was a guarantee that we will live another minute in our earthly lives. If we understand that, then we will understand that each minute is precious and should be used wisely. We will understand that life is so precious that we will always serve the Lord, our families, our friends, our neighbors, and those that may not be our friends. We will be humble and kind and be able servants to others.

I want you  to know that I have a testimony of my Father in Heaven and of his Son and my Savior and Brother Jesus Christ. I know that they live through the feelings of the Holy Ghost. I know that the gospel has been restored and that we have a living Prophet who guides and directs the church in these last days. I know that with the Priesthood, we can help our families and others and most importantly, I know that because of the plan of salvation and because of our special gift of free agency, we can grow and progress in this life and be able to return to live with our Father in Heaven as a family.

I say this in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen

have peace and believe...

hAvE pEaCe AnD BeLiEvE...this weekend greg and i took a last minute trip to yellowstone park.  our family as well as extended family have a long tradition of visiting the park.  we have many memories of family trips spent looking for wildlife and enjoying the scenery.  many of the family went to the cemetery in bern to visit travis's grave, but we chose to go north to a place that travis loved and hopefully see some bear in his honor.  there is a peace that our family feels when we are in yellowstone.  the same peace that we feel when we remember travis.  tate has mentioned many times that he feels his presence with him on his mission...helping him and guiding him.  we recently have had an experience as a family that is a tender mercy.  we know that travis is near and can feel the peace that that brings us. 

                                                        

                                                              tate teaching a lesson

 tate shares the following...

first of all mom...i bawled like a baby when i read that story about travis....that is incredible and i know i have felt his presence here with me as well....i think about him a lot.

                                                                           elder harding teaching

my ingrown toenail came back so looks like tomorrow i will have surgery!! haha woo!! road trip to santiago!! haha kinda sucks but gotta do it because it hurts like crazy!!

                                                                             tate at a district meeting

 so some funny things that happened this week is we started teaching a little old lady who is like 90 who doesn't understand a single thing but still wants to listen and learn more!! also she is a crazy cat lady and has a thousand cats and puppies...my comp sat in one of the chairs where one of the puppies and cats had peed in hahahahhahah he had a big old puddle of pee on his pants....i couldn't stop laughing when we left!! 

                                                                         

                                                                                   tate the missionary

one thing that i learned this week from hermana grant in our district meeting is WE NEED TO BELIEVE CHRIST....NOT JUST BELIEVE IN HIM. i hope we can all think of what that actually means in our lives and apply it...sometimes we think it is enough just to believe in him...but do we actually believe him....believe his words....believe his teachings....believe that his atonement is eternal and works in our lives daily....that hit me like a bus and i couldn't stop thinking about it! i hope you can all learn something from that!

                                     

                             teaching the gospel

 i am doing really well tho and i cant believe how fast the time goes. me and the elders i live with are getting along amazing and always have a good time!  i'm pretty sure i will be staying here this change and that my comp will leave in a week. so that will be  interesting. i hope all is good... hope everyone is well! love you guys! 

hard things...

Bonus Blog

                              hArD ThIngs...
                             When Tate was at the MTC

he noticed that within the saying

“We can do hard things” that the letters

to his last name stood out. This is a

picture of him, a blonde boy from

Pocatello Idaho walking down a dirt

road. This blonde boy is serving

the people of Chile.  He is far away

from home and his family. As you look

at this picture I hope you can relate it to your

journey thru life.  We all have our own road to

navigate and with that comes happiness, excitement

and discovery.  With every life also comes sadness,

disappointment and hurt.  With every step it is important

to remember that WE CAN DO HARD THINGS. Our

family has had some tragedy and challenges with the

death of my brother.  As a family we have rallied

together and decided to try a little harder to be a little

better.  I hope that as you look at this picture

whether your frame it, put on your fridge or put it in your

drawer that you will be reminded that you too can do hard things.

Love Tammy

iT's RaInIng iT's PouRinG...

iT's RaInIng iT's PouRinG...this past weekend we headed to boise to support the highland rams at state baseball.  there was a little rain...a little wind...a little sunshine and a lot of baseball. 

                                     tate doing what he loves

 now one might ask why we would travel to boise to watch when tate no longer plays for the rams?...well seriously what else would we do during state baseball weekend?  the other excuse we can use is that our son in law nick is the assistant coach for the rams.

                                     
                                              tate and coach sorrell (nick)

  i have to admit it has been different watching the games when tate has not been playing and someone else is wearing the number 2 jersey on his back.  there are many guys on the team that tate played with and were his teammates...so we cheer for them and for ram baseball.

                                                             
  tate and travis in a rainstorm changing a tire in yellowstone park

this week it started raining....FREAKING HARD!! hah i love it. i just walk around without an umbrella and people think i am crazy but idk why i love the rain so much here....its amazing...good thing i have botos!

                                  
                                 a sign on tate's wall


so this week was a really hard one actually! we had like every single lesson fall in the first part of our week so we were pretty frustrated...but we then had interviews with president...my last one with this president... and it really helped me out a lot. he really trusts  me and isn't worried about me at all so that is good. i love that man and will be sad when he leaves but also excited to see the new pres and what he is like.

one thing i know i keep stressing on you guys like every week is SPENDING MORE TIME TOGETHER...i know i say it a lot but it is one thing that i cannot even start to explain how much i miss...so i'm serious just spend time together. do your family home evenings, pick a night during the week to do date night, eat together once a week...do whatever you can to be together more in your lives....i promise you that everything will seem so much better and you will really notice how blessed we are in our lives....

 some funny stuff that happened this week was my comp likes to eat baby food...................................i threw up in my mouth..........also he just likes to eat sweetened condensed milk  like yogurt hahahha THIS KID IS SOOOOO FETCHING WEIRD....but i love him and we have fun together....

we played basketball today and i tore it up....then again i am playing a bunch of latins...haha jk but it was good to play again and cant wait to play a little when i get back!

               tate will play here when he gets back

love you guys!! the time is going by faster and faster every day for me haha ....miss you! 

elder harding! 

mOtHeRs DaY...

mOtHeR's DaY...tate has always been a kid with a smile on his face.  when he was little he was such a good natured little guy.  he was always happy and seemed so content.  he always sees the positive in things and can find a bright spot on a rainy day. he was and is  a happy go lucky kid. my daughter in law was describing him this weekend and she used the words...kind...genuine...caring and loving.  tyson and taryn always tease me that because he is the baby that he is the favorite...which is not true!  if the truth be told i think he is both his older brother, tyson and his older sister, taryn's favorite little brother.  

we gathered around the t.v. screen waiting  to see his face and hear his voice...and that smile.  we laughed and listened and talked and just looked at him.  i didn't want it to end.  i loved the fact that tyson and dani and hazyl and hattie were there.  i loved the fact that nick and taryn were there.  i loved the fact that his dad and i were there...all together as a family...just as it should be. 

i want to think that his smile was mostly because he got to see his mom on mother's day but...it might have been the cute girl who came over to say hello...i am really not sure :)

since the death of my brother i have gained a new perspective on brothers and sisters and family.  i am so grateful that that my little family loves each other and that we support one another.  we seem to fit together like a puzzle and for that i am so thankful.  

one of the questions that we asked tate was what he misses the most...his answer...all of you.  i love that happy go lucky missionary with all of my heart and don't mind sharing him with the people of chile for a while more. he sent a short email today that simply said...thanks for being my mom.  that is is something that will never get old to hear.

fAmILy TiMe...

fAmILy TiMe...it does not need to be planned or invitations sent out. all it takes is one of us to be involved in something and the rest of the family is willing and excited to support them.  most of our treasured memories with the kids do not involve a big planned out vacation but rather sitting around laughing and teasing one another or hanging out at a game supporting one another.  no one really seems to get our jokes or our inside funny stories better than one another...we just love.  as the kids get older and grow up it makes this mom appreciate and treasure those family times that much more...

soo one thing that i wanted to talk to you guys about is spending more time together...and i mean everyone...like the WHOLE family....do whatever it takes to spend as much time together as you can. start some traditions or something...just do little get togethers every week or something...that is one of the things that i miss most. just being with everyone. even if it is just to eat on sunday or something. i miss you guys a lot and wish i could be there so spend more time with you guys but don't worry...the time will go by way fast haha i promise!!

we are still trying to find a lot of investigators and find some families but the work is going really well!... so something that happened was there  was an earthquake... not a huge one but just big enough to rock our house a little bit!  i was a little scared...but all is well...supposedly it wasn't that big...haha....also it has started to rain quite a bit around here. so that is fun . i really enjoy the rain down here so i'm excited for winter! also we had an amazing mexican fiesta activity in the church with our ward so that was really fun and a good opportunity to unite the ward. 

 i am doing really well tho. me and my comp are getting along really amazing and he is one of my best friends...we have a good time working together. we are teaching one family that is golden and loves to learn more so hopefully we can find them today because their mom got in a wreck and is in the hospital...hopefully they will be okay. i am way excited to talk to you guys this next sunday and hope you are too!!! haha pumped! 

love you guys!!! miss you and we will talk sunday!!! cant wait!!

 

love you