pray for the missionaries...if i see bradford i will cry!

pray for the missionaries...

as a missionary mom when i see missionaries on the side of the road walking i feel this little tug at my heart.  i know that their moms are missing them as much as i miss my missionary.  i always have a prayer in my heart for the many missionaries through out the world.  they are amazing and such an example to all of us.  we too can be missionaries by our example, by our willingness to share the truths that we know, by inviting the missionaries into our home to teach others.

tate's message...

 bradford gets to chile this week so i am excited for him! i love that kid. if i were to see him i think i would cry haha!! 


 friday  night we had a broadcast for our area from elder ballard....it was such a good meeting. one thing that he really talked to us about was prayer... he said there is so many ways to work miracles and be good missionaries in this world... with technology its incredible...but he said there is definitely a more powerful way....prayer....if we would get on our knees and plead with our heavenly father for miracles and missionary experiences in our lives....THEY WILL HAPPEN. don't just pray for the missionaries to have success and to help people... pray to have your own personal experiences. pray to have opportunities to share. that is a true disciple of christ. that really touched me and made me want to make my prayers more meaningful and focused on others instead of just me.

sunday was another good day. just a chill day in the office planning some stuff as well as a meeting with president. that man inspires me ha... it is really actually pretty cool to have tons of meetings with him and to see how he takes care of stuff!

monday came around. we went to another city in the mission to do divisions with some zone leaders and it went really well..we had a really cool lesson. we were walking down the street and we noticed a man getting out of his car as he had just arrived at his home from work so we decided to talk to him. we started the conversation and then we asked him if we could offer a prayer inside his house for him. as he let us into his house he started opening up quite a bit to us and started telling us more and more about himself. and then at one point he told us "you know what, every time god tries to teach me something or give me something i need, he always gives me a feeling during the day. and earlier today i just had a feeling something was going to happen or i was going to find something new". we then explained a little bit of our message and testified that god had sent us to help him find that NEW thing. it was way cool! 

tuesday came around and it was also another day in the office. not much went down...

 wednesday was an awesome day...i did divisions with elder nelson, the kid i trained in buin, and we were in one of my old sectors...i got to see a ton of people from the branch there and it was way fun ha... so pretty cool and lucky day for me! we had a lot of success and a lot of fun. always fun to be able to go to an old sector with an old companion.

 thursday came around and we had another meeting with president to finish up the plans for a capacitation the next day and we also tried making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies but turns out chile doesn't have pumpkin in a can.......so we failed...

 friday started bright and early at the mission home where we taught like a group of 20 sister missionaries..... it was pretty fun but we were the only elders so definitely felt out of place. but the hermana made some mean lunch....so i was happy about that....we ate cheesecake! which normally doesn't exist down here 

 saturday, today, was a fun day to start....we headed up to a place called coya! that place with the golf course and stuff up in the mountains. but we went even further and almost got to argentina haha... it was way cool.  on the way home we got a flat tire...so i guess that time we had to change one in yellowstone with trav and tyson and greg helped me out after all...good experience to have!

this next week should be a busy one! and then the next one an  area 70 comes so we are really excited.

but that is it for this week!! love you guys

you have to LOOK for it

you have to LOOK for it... 

i get busy in my everyday life.  work...running errands...washing...ironing...cleaning bathrooms...church callings...being a wife...being a mom...being gramma.  i need to take the time daily to slow down and breathe.  i need to take the time daily to just be.  i need to take the time daily to look for the moments in which i can feel the spirit.  yes...i need to look for it.

tate's message...

 the lesson i learned was about following the spirit....it has definitely been weird being here in the office because we practically don't ever teach or work in the sector...so all those spiritual experiences i used to have  spending all my time teaching the gospel seem like they went away...but i was thinking that that is how the real world is... and i was thinking about before when i was dedicating all my time to teaching, and how it was so easy to find the spirit. instead of waiting for the spiritual experiences to come to me i was looking for them. so i realized that WE HAVE TO LOOK FOR THE SPIRIT. it is not always going to come looking for us. we have to look diligently for opportunities to feel it and follow it. or it will be a hundred times harder to have those experiences. this last week i hadn't necessarily been looking for it a lot...but i now know that it is necessary that we look for it. so do it. god isn't going to just give us everything...we have to go and get it. just like everything else in this life. i challenge you to be always looking for the spirit and to be willing to follow the spirit as you look. you will see miracles. 

soooooooooooooooooo this week went by really fast ha! sunday was my first sunday in my new ward and it went really well...we also had a huge bbq for lunch. talk about a warm welcome. we then spent the rest of the day in the office doing a bunch of busy work...

 monday was an interesting day. we had the final interviews for the kids that were going home and it was sad to see elder page there and say bye to him for one last time. he was one of my best friends. but he is going to visit in like two weeks and said he would take us out for lunch so that will be fun. then we had to go home early because we had to wake  up at 2 o clock and take a latin missionary that was going home to the airport... we got to the airport at like 330...and made sure he got through security and then we headed home....got lost in the pintana...and then finally got home at like 530... 

haha then tuesday in the morning we woke up bright and early two hours later and had to be at the mission office to train the new missionaries. it was cool to see them all on their first day of the mission. but after teaching them about how we do things here in the mission for three hours straight. my energy finally hit rock bottom and we had to go the the house to sleep...we slept from 530 til 1030....then woke up for an hour....and then slept from 1130 til the next morning...i felt like a champ that next day. 

wednesday we had to help with some special changes so we had to switch a couple missionaries sectors around... those are always sad because they don't get a lot of time to say bye to the people. but the missionaries were humble to do as the lord asked. so that was good. we spend a ton of time in two places as assistants.... the car....and the office. that is practically our house. but its fun. i feel like im with all of my friends again. we have a pretty good time. i live with three other gringos...so its definitely a good time.

 thursday we were practically in the office the whole day updating some information for president...

and then friday we practically did the same thing...one of the other elders i live with gave us all a rose for valentines day so that was thoughtful of him. i hope you guys all had a good day. 

i love you guys more than you know!

behind the scenes...

FYI  tate has been called to be an assistant to the mission president  and most likely will finish his mission serving at the mission home.

behind the scenes...

my favorite commercial lately is the one that depicts the olympic athletes as young children.  the moms and dads wake them up early to get them to practice.  they sacrifice things so that their child can train.  they watch them struggle...fail...succeed...fail  again and get back up to go hard the next day.  all of this so that the athlete can live his or her dream to be an olympian.  we as viewers  get to see the outcome of all of the preparations.  it is the behind the scenes things that we don't always think about.

tate's message...

one thing i did learn this week is that in the mission there is always someone behind the scenes planning everything that goes on. and i was thinking it is just like that in life. god is always there with his plan, directing the scenes and hoping that we remember our part and fulfill our roles here on earth. obviously it is up to us if we want to do our part and fill our role, or if we want to do the opposite. but god never changes. his role is always the same. his plan is always the same. we should never expect god to change according to our plan, rather we should be constantly changing to live according to his plan. that is when we will find true happiness in this life. ...

so we decided to do internet early this week to be able to go to an all meat buffet that is  two hours away  but that is the perks of having a car now!  monday started normal with a pday and then i spent practically the whole day saying by to the people in the branch. also we ended the night with one last soccer game. i sent a pic home of me and a bunch of locals. so that was my saying goodbye game. they are a good group of kids and i hope some of them end up in the church because of their experiences.

  tuesday we had a meeting in the mission home like the usual once a month trip.

  wednesday we had to teach the zone exactly what we learned tuesday. so that is always a good time. after that is when the assistants picked me up and we headed straight to rancagua and had a couple meetings, dropped my stuff off at the house, and ended the night.

  thursday was my training day practically and we just went straight to the office and i was trained on how to use all the computer programs and stuff. it wasn't too hard so that didn't take too long and then we just had a lot of busy work to do. it looks like that is what i will be doing a lot of the time now haha..

 friday was a really cool day. we practically did the same thing in the morning but then at night we had a two hour meeting with president and finalized some things for this next coming week. changes, the new missionaries, problems in the mission. that kind of stuff.

the other elders i live with are really cool. me and elder dougher will be really good friends and so will me and elder mcgee (the new secretary). we will be living together for a long time it looks like. we also live with another elder from canada. so its going to be a fun time here in the office.

 i am sorry that my emails will be   boring but this next week we are going to start doing divisions twice a week with the zone leaders. so i hopefully will have some cool experiences from that.

 i love you guys and hope you have a good week!!  i love you guys. and just so you know...if you want me to be able to read your emails it would probably be better to write me friday nights.  i never know at what time saturday we will do internet. love ya

elder harding! 

read THE book

read THE book

Missionaries are handing out copies of the Book of Mormon all over the world, even as you read this. So what is this book? If it’s given out for free, why do so many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints count their Book of Mormon as one of their most valuable possessions? What kind of book can cause so many readers to change their lives, their minds and their hearts? What kind of book can answer life's seemingly unanswerable questions?

The Book of Mormon is the word of God, like the Bible. It is Holy Scripture, with form and content similar to that of the Bible. Both books contain God's guidance as revealed to prophets as well as religious histories of different civilizations. While the Bible is written by and about the people in the land of Israel and surrounding areas, and takes place from the creation of the world until shortly after the death of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon contains the history and God’s dealings with the people who lived in the Americas between approximately 600 BC and 400 AD. The prophets in the Book of Mormon recorded God's dealings with His people, which were compiled by a prophet named Mormon onto gold plates.

Before these faithful Christians perished, their record was safely hidden away. Joseph Smith obtained these ancient records in 1827, and with the gift and power of God Joseph was able to translate the ancient writings into what we have today. The Book of Mormon, along with the Bible, testifies that Jesus Christ is our divine Redeemer and that by living according to His gospel we can find peace in this life and eternal happiness in the life to come.

tate's message...

as we visited the four Maria's we had one of my favorite experiences yet. We started talking about if she got an answer from god that our message was true and she told us she felt something different but didn't believe that god called a prophet again. We immediately started talking about the Book of Mormon. But she put up a wall and said that she wasn't going to read it. We told her to at least let us explain what it is before she says no. We then took our Books of Mormon and read every single word of the introduction. Of how it is nothing but the communication between god and the people here the the Americas. And how it is another testament of Christ. And how one of the most important parts in the book is when Christ visits the people here. I was grateful to be able to testify that the book ONLY talks about Christ. By the end of the introduction we could see that she already realized that it was book that would bless her life and not anything weird or out of the ordinary. 

The Book of Mormon is a book that has changed my life. And it can change anyone else's as well. All you have to do is read it. We invited her to read it and she said "now I want to read that book". It had been a long time since I had had a spiritual lesson like that. A lot if people don't accept things because they don't know really what it is exactly. So take the time and help them understand exactly what it is!!! I know that it is the most important book we can read. So read it. It doesn't matter if you read a verse a day or a chapter a day. But read something at least. I promise blessings and more blessings to those who read the book. Sunday was a weird day. I gave my last testimony in church. And we had a meeting with some leaders from the church and then we planned and then said bye to some people and visited some investigators. This weeks message. READ THE BOOK. It's true.

 So Monday was a weird day. It was like Pday and not at the same time. But me and my comp started working at 330 just like a regular day but didn't get much done as the comisarios called us and dropped off materials for the whole zone so that took a while. But then I did divisions with elder almeida. He is from Brazil. We had a good day and I learned a lot from him. He is a hard worker and inspires me ha. It's crazy to think I was once in his position just starting my mission. It goes by too fast. But just gotta keep working. Nothing else we can do. We had some good lessons and I met some really good people. I was grateful to have another day to teach and stuff. I know I won't have a lot of time to do that after this week. But it was a good day.

 Tuesday was a good day. We started by doing some contacts in the morning and we ended up finding a family of less active members as well as a kid who let us teach him for like 15 minutes. So successful morning. Then we are lunch and headed straight to divisions. I went with elder dowling from lone peak. We had a good day. We taught Alicia our convert, Found some nice people to teach and then had a really long meeting in the church. We ended the divisions and just went home. I was tired after a hard days work but also grateful for the people we met and 

taught.

 Wednesday was a weird day. We started with district meeting as usual. It went well. And then we met Hermana Nancy and her family in town for lunch. I got pastel de choclo. Mom look that recipe up and try it. It's really good. I love that family and will miss them a lot. After lunch we headed straight to rancagua to the mission office because my comp had to take an English test. I just say and hung out with one of my old comps elder hart who is the secretary. We had a good chat about old times. Then it was time to go to buin to sleep for the night. I only got to see like 2 people from one of my old sectors but it was still really cool. I love buin. It was also fun to stay the night with elder Powell from rexburg and talk about the high school days when we played each other. He is a good kid.

 Thursday we did divisions and my comp went to the temple and I stayed in buin and had our Pday. We did do some service in the morning and then just went to write our families and stuff. Like I said in not sure when my Pday will change but if I don't write Monday then I will write next saturday. Then we just went to the house and rested for a long time. We  went out to work a little and it was good to teach some people. This week has been hectic. We took a bus pretty late back to San Fernando. I was really worn out so it was nice to get back to my bed.

 Friday I did divisions with elder Valenzuela and it was way fun. He is a cool kid and will definitely be a good friend. We found some decent people to talk to and teach and it was fun to learn from someone else. We ended the night just like every Friday night. Under the church lights playing soccer ha. I actually had a couple goals so I was proud of that.

 Saturday in the morning we met back up with our comps. And then me and elder arnez found some lunch and ate in the church watching church videos.  Have a good week. Love you all. 

Elder Harding. 

the HOUSE that built ME...

the HOUSE that built ME...  the little blue house.  it was the house that we built our first swingset...the house with the back yard for playing baseball...the drive way for playing a game of basketball...the street where tyson taryn and tate learned to ride bikes on.  the little blue house that seemed so big when we moved in and yet so small when we moved out.  the place that we started being a family...all together...the house where so many memories were made.  the house where tate threw apricots at the neighbor's house...the house where taryn got her first kiss...the house where tyson's girlfriend hit our van.  the house that was our first home...the house that built us....

tate's message... I feel like just yesterday we lived at 1840 ardella street and we were all so little. But it's crazy how time has flown by and now were all grown up. But I'm grateful for the journey and I'm grateful for you guys being there every step of the way. We had a good time. And will continue having good times. So I am grateful for that lesson and for you guys who make my life good. "Life's good". 

Monday started well with Pday and we played some good old soccer and volleyball at the church. Good to have some time to relax and play something else. Then we all went to eat together and then it was time to do our own thing so we went and bought groceries and then went and did internet. It was good to talk to all you guys. We had a decent day in the sector. Samuel came with us and we talked to one of his friends from work named Pedro. He is a good guy and I want to help him out. All the other lessons fell through but we ended with a family home evening with some converts and members. We talked about our families. We watched a video about families and how everyone has there role to fill and it made me remember a lot of things

Tuesday was a rough day to start for me. Not sure why but I couldn't focus or anything. Ha but it got better as the day went on. We had to do some computer stuff in the morning and then we had lunch with Samuel and his family. We had lentejas. It was actually really good. I think I will miss those. After lunch we had a lesson with the three young kids we are helping. We talked to them about repenting and how important it is. Then we spent the rest of the day talking to people. We actually spent all day looking for a lady named Maria. We asked everyone if they knew Maria. (The funny part is we just made it up to talk to people). But wait it gets better. After all day of looking for Maria and asking every person we met if they knew her. Right before heading home, we found a house with FOUR Marias. (Maria Jesus, Maria loreto, Maria katalina, and Maria eliana) Hahahahah I think god was teaching us a lesson that "ask and ye shall receive" :). Good stuff. That's how we ended Tuesday. 

Wednesday was a good day. We started with district meeting and it went pretty well. Then we had the best lunch. With Hermana Nancy. Her family is the bomb. Reminds me of home to its always nice to go there and eat and relax for a little. After we went straight to work. We were looking for less active members and stumbled upon a man named Antonio. He was a member who had fallen away and had passed through some pretty hard times but all he wants is to be a good father to his kids that he sees once a week. And help them to be good people. At this point I had a lot of memories go through my head of good old Gregory. And immediately came to my mind how grateful I was for my father and the example he was to me. We then shared alma 36 with him, about when alma is bearing testimony to his son. I was so grateful for a father who taught through his example in all things. Greg. You did a great job. And what I learned from you allowed me to help this man see that through his example in keeping the commandments of god, he can help his kids more than he could imagine. Thank you!!! We then had a lesson with Pedro. He told us he got an answer from god and that he wanted to follow the answer he got. I'm excited to help him. Then we had a really cool lesson with the Maria's again. It was a battle that's for sure but we had a really spiritual experience and they said they felt something weird that they had never felt before. Aka the spirit. Oh and yes we found the fourth Maria. She was there but then left. But yes there really is four Marias living in one house. That's how we ended the night. Good day.

Thursday was an interesting day to say the least. We started bright and early with interviews with president. Mine went really well. A few surprises towards the end but I will tell you guys about that in a different email haha. We practically had to stay there the whole day to watch over the zone and make sure they all got there and stuff. But for lunch and a little after we did divisions. I went with elder Valenzuela and we had a bomb lunch. Pastel de choclo. Carbonada. And homemade corn tortillas. (Elder Valenzuela is from Mexico). It was really good. Then we just went back to the chapel and finished up the interviews and met back up with our comps that went to go do a baptismal interview. The day just got kinda hard after that. We walked for like 3 hours straight. A lot of lessons fell through but in the process we talked to some really good people. Diligence brings blessings in some way or another. That's how we ended the day and I was grateful for it.

Friday was fun. It started with heading to centro to eat. And then we had a little bit of time after lunch to relax before heading to work. It was a good time ha. But then we had a decent day in the sector. A lot of the times we spend tons of time walking and doing contacts so it makes you feel like your not doing much but I know that I'm planting seeds so that's always a good thing to remember. Hopefully I am preparing these people for someone!! We ended the night with the usual Friday night soccer. Always a good two hours to hang out with some jovenes and talk to their friends about the gospel. On the way home a guy stopped us and just wanted to fight about doctrine. So we talked to him for a while but a lot of people just talk to fight so it's not worth it. But the night ended with a fresh watermelon and peaches in the house. Good day. 

Holy Saturday was a hard day. In the morning we did some service at Hermana Nancy's house and we helped her son put up some trimming in his bedroom and then they invited us to stay for lunch. So of course we did. Ha. They are a really good family and in grateful for them. But after lunch is when the day just got hard. We had one lesson the whole day that didn't fall through. With our convert Alicia. I really hope she starts getting back on the right track. After that ever single other lesson we had planned fell. We were literally in the street for like 5 hours trying to find someone to teach ha. I think that's one of the hardest things as a missionary. Giving it your all but not seeing very many results. But I know god is teaching us something so the only thing to do is just keep working hard.

We ended the week on a really good note. We went to church. Ate a really good lunch. And then had our weekly planning session. Then it was time to hit the sector and we immediately found someone to teach. His name is Mauricio and really wants our help to stop smoking. I know we can help him. Then we had a really touching lesson. We passed by a lady who lives alone and started talking to her. Her name is Marta. She at first came out and told us she didn't want anything to so with us. But we saw that she was doing some gardening and started talking her about it. She surprisingly let us in to see her greenhouse. She spent the next 20 mins explaining how she finds her happiness through tending her plants. As we thanked her for her time and told her that we were grateful for her teaching us, she broke down in tears. I'm sure she hadn't had someone interested in her life in a long time. amazing what effect it can have on people when we just show interest in the things they like. It doesn't even matter if we don't have interests in that same thing. We can show our love by showing interest in them and there hobbies. It was pretty cool. We had a good rest of the night and then went to a little ward celebration for a members bday. I'm grateful for the experiences I had this week. It was a hard week but a good week to learn diligence.

 I love you guys. Have a good week.
Elder Harding