Thursday, July 30, 2015

7/29
I'm so excited to get to Suriname, one of my teachers went there on his mission and was telling us about his time there. We have to learn a dialect there called Sranan Tongo or Taki Taki, but we can just learn that in the field! We learned some of it during class a couple days ago and it's a mixture of Dutch language, English language and the Jamaican accent! It's fun to say but it's still hard to learn!

Also, I learned about the VanDeventer, it literally means (in Dutch) “From Deventer”, It's pronounced FanDayFenTur with a bit of an Irish accent. One of the branch presidencies heard us talking about family history and I told him about how your name comes from the Nederland and he told me about it. Now if only we could track the history!

This week was an interesting but fun one, the swelling in my face has finally stopped and I am finally back to my old facial structure again! Most of my zone (the other missionaries in my area) are flying out soon, they leave on Monday and my zone leaves the Monday after them. I wish that I could leave the same time as them, partly because we got here at the same time...but regardless I might as well make the most of my time here. The food here is interesting, I never thought I'd say this, but I miss healthy food, the better choices they have here aren't very good and the fruit here is next to plant in taste! I'm excited to get out of here because I feel trapped! My only relief from this place has been when I had to go to the doctor's office about 10 miles away but on the bright side I got to read a newspaper! I never thought I would be so excited or even really want to read a newspaper until I was old and had a rocking chair just for that occasion. Today is P-Day, which will be celebrated with a traditional "Not" Tie Draft, the reason "Not" is in the name is because the previous members of our zone were too rambunctious and the branch presidency decided to stop it. We adapted and now we whisper chant during the drawings! I've managed to avoid most of the bad ties but the worst one I've gotten so far was "the rattlesnake" the worst part about the tie was the fact how it began to shed on me! This weak my tie wasn't bad, it was dubbed, "The Dirty Mexican" because of an Elder who previously had the tie. Attached is my first "Not Tie Draft".






On The Bright Side!

7/23

Update: Cam is doing great! The drain was removed Tuesday and the swelling is all gone and zero pain. This photo was taken before surgery. If you know Cam, one of his famous lines was "On the bright side", so this is totally his bright side of this painful event, getting his photo with her. Haha This cute missionary, Sister Conde, was having issues with her wisdom teeth too. Thank you to those of you who wrote him he said he certainly got a laugh and is feeling much better.

Zone Soccer


7/23- 
Funny story that happened today. Today we played zone soccer and at one point it became less about the game and more about having fun! Elder Gardner picked up the ball and started running towards the goal with it! I was a defender on the other team so I turned around, picked up the goal, and started running away from Gardner! The Zusters and Elder Ziegler were sitting on the sidelines watching our game. Ziegler saw me running with the goal and started laughing and cheering me on. Ziegler later told me that it was the funniest thing he's seen in a while! 


Sunday, July 19, 2015

Doctor, Oral Surgeon, and Ties Oh My!


Hello Family,
This week has been tough, I have a doctor's appointment for later today because of some unusual swelling and pain on the right side of my face. Nothing too bad but just curious as to the reason behind it! The language has been becoming easier but still pretty challenging! We're starting to have English Fasts! Last night had a spirit journey it was fun and I was able to do it with the Danes, the Sweeds and Elder Lewis. I found out that my spirit animal is a monkey (not to surprising since I've told an increasing amount of puns here). Starting to wish I could party with the family but for the time being, I have my zone full of Elders to keep me occupied!

Part II
Regarding the phone call you got earlier today, I have an appointment with an oral surgeon tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM and I got some pain meds about 10 minutes ago.The doctor did an xray and found I have an abscess where one of my wisdom teeth were pulled. I'm alright but my face hurts, it doesn't look that bad but it makes me look like I did back in middle school but only on one cheek when you look at me from the side. When I heard the phone call when the doctor was talking with you guys, part of me wanted to yell, "Hey parental units!" and desperately wanted to just talk to you, but I refrained. I'm good! I love and miss you tons but everything should be good! The appointment tomorrow will make sure of that!

Sometimes we workout in the hall if I am not too tired. Don't get a whole lot of sleep around here.



We do something called the "Not Tie Draft" we take ugly ties and put them and our name tags in separate bags. When your name tag is pulled, you grab from the bag and you have to wear whatever tie you get the day after!We're doing one later tonight, I will tell you about it until next week, love you both!
-Elder Hardy

P.S.
If you have any funny missionary stories, I'll be glad to read them!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Write Elder Hardy

Hello Family & Friends,

Cameron loves getting letters and emails. If you write him via Dear Elder the letters you send will be printed to him nightly. *Just a tip, if you write the letter before 12noon the day of he will receive it that evening. It's super easy!

Use this link: http://www.dearelder.com/index/inc_name/mission_selection

His info:

Elder Cameron James Hardy
Unit #96
Mission Code: TRN-PTS
Departure Date: AUG 10

I know he would love to hear from you!

Mission Boundaries

Today we received a map of Elder Hardy's mission boundaries. Wonder where he'll be going first?

Wednesday is a Special Day

This week in the MTC was interesting, we got locked out of our room again (we have a backup key now) and I got several packages in one day (most of them were from my mother- thanks mom! ) and Aunt Nikki and Nana. Inside were cookies, more cookies and very colorful tasty popcorn: rainbow, watermelon and green apple and other fun stuff! My dad sent me a yo-yo but alas...it was a trick yo-yo and I am not very yo-yo inclined yet so trying my best to use it (and failing). 
Yesterday my companions and I did a split with one of the Elders from another Dutch district who hadn't left yet, (his Visa hadn't come through yet, so he flew to Las Vegas this morning first to serve until his Visa comes through). Elder Christensen and I taught Onderzooker (investigator) by ourselves, it felt kinda weird but we made it through. Teaching in Dutch is a bit frustrating, I know what I want to say but don't know necessarily how to say it YET. I ended up having our Onderzooker read the wrong scripture at first so I said "Het Spijt Mij" which literally translates to "It pains me" but means Sorry. All in time! 
Did some tie trading this week. The American Flag one, I got from Elder Perry in my zone. I got a few other fun ones too, like a Harry Potter Gryffindor tie. haha
P.S. I like the Dear Elder letters since I get them physically delivered to me and an email so I can respond to them on my P-Day. Love and miss you a lot.
Time for me to go, Tot Ziens Mother Dear!

-Elder Hardy
Elder Hardy

Playing homemade croquet to pass some time (We study 10hrs a day)

Receiving packages feels like Christmas morning


Picture collage of Cam's zone, he's near the top right


4th of July with his Missionary Trio

Dutchie group leaving for their missions


Elder Hardy & Elder Norton (Dutch teacher, he served in Suriname 5yrs ago)
Doing some juggling to pass the time

District meeting

Elder Hardy's study area



Sunday, July 5, 2015

We Got Mail! (an actual physical card and an email)


Hi mom! My first day at the MTC was pretty interesting, the language is difficult but getting locked out of your room is worse! I'm not sure if my letter has gotten to you yet (I sent it Saturday) but I have two companions so I'm in a trinity haha I've taken pictures of my time here, I sent you a few. My teachers are pretty cool, vershickalick icka means despicable me and ch and g are pronounced in a guttural fashion. In my district there are my two companions, two sisters and I. In the zone, we have two district of Dutchies that are going to the Netherlands/Belgium mission along with a couple of Danish elders and the Swedish and Norwegian have quite a lot on both sides of them. The Dutchies and our district become pretty quick friends, we recognized each others quotes (mostly monty python and hot rod) so it was pretty funny whenever we talk about it. We've been learning a large amount but you can only hold so much water in your hands, so we've been forgetting quite a lot but we relearn it and go through it quite a bit. The food here is pretty good, for my first couple of days we had to eat in the gym because the 1st presidency was training new mission leaders, our district got to meet ours and he talked about opening up Aruba and Curacao since they're main language is Dutch. Also, can you send me some doterra stuff? I've been sick since I've got here and it's getting quite annoying (coughing, runny nose, congested, sneezing) Tell the boys that when they go to the MTC don't eat the hot dogs, they taste pretty funky. Tell dad that I'm starting to wish that I had asked him about his mission journal. Hard to believe it's only been a week, it's taken forever but it's also felt pretty quick, choir was interesting as I only got to go to one rehearsal before a performance (my companions didn't like it very much) well I'm doing a bunch of laundry and I hope my whites stay that way. I miss you all more than I thought I would but even with all of my doubts and homesickness I know that I'm better off here!
Love and miss you all!

-Elder Hardy
Elder Hardy Study Materials

Elder Lewis

Flag of Suriname

Elder Christiansen

Our First Letter from Elder Hardy

Elder Hardy taking a selfie at the Provo Temple