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

love everyone...

love everyone...as far as i can remember tate has had many friends from every walk of life.  he seemed to make friends easily and was always open to meeting someone new.  his friends for the most part knew where he stood on things...what was important to him...and never really tried to get him to do things that tate didn't agree with.this does not mean by any means that tate was not up for some good mischief...we all know the paper bag on the porch story...  he spoke in his farewell talk how he met a homeless man recently and talked to him for quite a long time.  tate spoke of how this conversation affected him and how his testimony grew of the Savior's love for everyone.  here is a paragraph from tate's letter home...

 the devotionals are amazing down here and when you get two thousand missionaries singing called to serve in one building, i get chills every time hah its the most insane thing i have ever witnessed. one thing i have learned over the past little bit is to love everyone. you may not know there background info or what there story is but everyone in this world chose to come to it and recieve the gospel, some just havent had the opportunity yet. that has changed my opinion of a lot of people here as well as home. everyone is just as deserving as the other one. god loves us equally. so that has been really cool. i have also realized that i dont care how many baptisms i have on my mission, i want people to find out for themselves why this gospel is so great! its not my job to force them into it....im just trying to make their relationship with god better! 

this is sweet hattie j. with her uncle tate....oh how he loves this little one!

                              this big "LITTLE" girl has stolen uncle tate's heart!


tate misses his friends and speaks often of them in his letters and how excited for them to go on their missions.  he has met new friends and looks forward to seeing his pocatello buddies in the mtc.


my companion continues to sleep talk EVERY NIGHT. thats pretty hilarious.

here is a key of the people i will probably talk about and who they remind me of. 

Elder Matagi (Samoan) is like my best friend here....he reminds me of ean and we laugh all the time...
Elder Grammer (huge kid from arkansas, on track team for Naval Academy) is hilarious and reminds me of Nick Bickley 
Elder Beeston (my baseball brother) haha we talk about baseball a lot and have a lot in common... you will get pictures of all these guys at some point...

 i love you guys and miss you guys but we got some advice from a member of the 70 yesterday.....HANG IN THERE... so thats what i am doing...i love it and cant wait to get to chile even if i struggle with the language and stuff! love you guys! 

first letter is here!

here is his first email home

hey everyone! my pday is monday so tahts when i wil be emailing everyone. im not going to worry about capitalizing and all that stuff because it takes too much time. mom can fix it if she wants. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM I LOVE YOU LOTS! eat some cake for me! k so here we go im gonna try and tell you as much as i can in thirty minutes.

 

my companions name is elder frost. he is from american fork and was a swimmer in highschool. he is a little socaially awkward and gets on my nerves a little bit but who wouldnt when you have to be with them 24/7. haha he is ok. i really just want to get to chile. but the mtc is awesome. actually, the first night, elder frost had a bad dream and woke up screaming and jumped off the top bunk and ate crap...scared me so bad...i yelled shit at the top of my lungs hahahahahah good way to start. anyways. my roomates are cool. i get along with one of them really well. his name is elder sperry. he looks like chris farley no joke. funny kid. very funny. he puts dads farts to shame. haha. ummm lets see...

 

my teacher is hermano snyder and i couldnt have asked for a better one. he makes spanish so fun and easy. they do not speak english to you at all so they pretty much force you to pick up the language quick. i can already testify, pray, and teach full lessons in spanish. its crazy what you can do with the spirit helping you.

 

my zone is the best zone here. i have elder jensen (blake) so thats good to know someone. but other then him i have a polynesian elder in my zone who reminds me of ean...he is probably one of my best friends at the time....we laugh everytime we talk...he is awesome...i will send pictures of him soon as well as others. there is also another kid who loves baseball and i get along with him really well...our zone leaders are cool as well. Elder nielsen is going to go play basketball at southern utah university when he is done....btw i tore it up in basketball the other day...haha didnt miss. there is also some very cool other elders that i will send pics of.

 

another cool thing is austin boyd lives two floors up in the same building. i talk to him every night and it makes me not so homesick haha. i love that kid to death. my branch president is a THUG. haha he has some major swag and looks like he is about 90. but its cool. he will interview me this next week so i will let you know how that goes.

 

at night, me and some of the elders play "corbata". its like horse but you spell corbata which is tie in spanish. the loser has to give up a tie to the winner. its hilarious.dani. i saw the hatch family eating there lunch and it made my day a lot easier...tell them thank you for talking to me ha. anytime i get letters or get to talk to people i know from home or something it helps me a lot. calms me down and stuff so taht was cool.

 

the food here at the CCM (tyson). thats mtc in spanish. is decent haha im just always hungry so everthign sounds good. hopefully i dont get fat...oh well...the chocolate milk is amazing. haha i do push ups and sit ups every night tho so i shoudl be good. i get really tired haha like mentally, spiritually, and physically. just because im not used to the schedule yet tho...so yeahhh...

 

oh by the way, i started reading the book of mormon again and i love it. i cannot get enough of it. it is amazing how i never really got into it before haha. crazy stuff that i actually read huh mom? i miss everyone so mom send pictures of family, friends, adn anything else.

 

during gym time we usually play basektball....or soccer...hahah i never thought soccer would be this fun but my zone is freaking hilarious and they kill me. its seriously like im with all my best friends again jsut not as crude:) i could compare so many people to all my friends...i like to people watch too! its fun.

 

TELL EVERYONE TO WRITE MORE. IF THEY SEND A LETTER ON DEARELDER.COM BEFORE 12. IT GETS TO ME THAT NIGHT. SO TELL EVERYONE EVEN IF IT IS JUST A PARAGRAPH:) PLEASE.but again happy birthday....dont worry about me...the lord is on my side and i am doing amazing...i cant believe ive been here almost a week...things are flying by!   TELL EVERYONE TO WRITE DANGET:):):)

and send pictures...of family and friends....i know i told you that a lot but i really want that. 

 

I LOVE YOU ALL AND CANT WAIT TO HEAR FROM YOU! LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD. YOUR BABY BOY IS DOING FINE AND I PRETTY MUCH RUN THE MTC NOW HAH....LOVE YOU BYE

 

ELDER TATE JOHN HARDING

goodbyes

goodbyes...are always hard no matter how you look at it.  tate had many goodbyes to say over the past few days.  they started on sunday for those who came to his farewell.  he said goodbye to coaches, teammates, friends and family members. tuesday was a full day and night of saying goodbyes...

                                 goodbye to laynie bo

                        goodbye to travis shelby abbie kannon
                                     laynie and madden

                          goodbye to troy tawna hunter 
                                  karson and jensyn

                                          the boys

                                         miss taigen

                                miss raegan

                                      tanner

tuesday night he was set apart as a full time missionary.  tate then said goodbye to both set of grandparents and his bishop.  

                                  bishop farnsworth

Wednesday morning came and tate was very emotional as it came time to leave.  this house that he had always called home had always been a safe haven for him no matter what was happening in his world was soon to become a memory.  he struggled leaving his room for the last time not knowing if it would ever be the same. i promised not to touch it!

                                         tate's room

then it was time for his dad to give him a father's blessing before we left.  his dad gave him a wonderful and peaceful blessing that all would be well for him.  during the blessing without coaxing or prompting his dog koda went over and jumped into tate's lap and buried her face in his lap.

                                    koda-tate's dog

                                                               

on the way to the mtc we were met by tyson dani and the girls...he sure loves this little family and those two little girls have his heart.  after tears and hugs and more tears and a final goodbye we set off again.  of course i sat in the back with my sunglasses on trying to be a big girl...tate decided or maybe it was greg that tate needed one more donut before he left so we pulled over to get one. we then headed further down the road to get some lunch.  we ate at zuppas which i am sure was delicious but none of had much of an appetite...all of our stomachs were rumbling

 the next stop was the provo temple to take a few pictures.

 it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our last few moments together... it was time to take him to the mtc.  I am not sure what i was expecting because it has changed from the time i dropped off tyson.  i remember trying to be so brave as we went in with tyson and watched the movie and sang the songs.  i felt like i was doing an amazing job until tyson reached over during the last song and grabbed my hand...i held that hand... the same one that used to fit into mine and was now being swallowed by my grown son...oh how i didn't want to let go.  this time with tate the new procedure is to drop the new missionaries off at the curb where they are met by other missionaries.  we pulled up and my heart was beating out of my chest and the tears were falling down my face.  tate hugged his dad and then gave me my last hug from him for two years.  instead of me comforting him he whispered to me...mom i am okay i will be fine...i couldn't even talk other then to say that i loved him...and goodbye...

elder harding...my little boy was on his way...till we meet again tate...goodbye...your mom loves you and is so very proud of who you are and what you are doing!

***from now on updates will be taken from tate's letters home***