This was quite a busy week!
We had quite a lot of fun helping our neighbor, we were out
trying to find people to talk with when we saw our neighbor digging for gold by
the looks of it. Turns out he was trying to find this tiny little poles that
had been covered by dirt that marked where his property was. We asked if we
could help and he consented but he was surprised when I motioned for the
shovel! We broke a lot of dirt trying to find it. The next day he rented a
metal detector and we found it right where we had stopped digging!
As we were biking by the boardwalk to our next appointment,
we passed a group of Americans who were surprised to see us. One of them said,
"Wait, are you Mormons? They have Mormons on this island?" I felt
kind of funny as I replied, "Yes!" as we continued biking.
We were able to sit with some people this week. One of my
spiritual experiences this week was when we taught Marco. We sat down with
Marco at this empty restaurant and he asked us quite a few questions. I felt
that we answered him well, he asked about things like, "Why do babies
drown in the ocean?" and "If a terrorist were to kill your family,
how would that make you feel?" it was very interesting. We explained that
in God's plan, everyone has different tests and trials but that death is only a
natural part of it. We all have our agency and we have to use it wisely. He was
a Catholic but had some Buddhist views. In the end, he felt like we weren't
able to answer his questions but we left him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and
he said we could call him in a few weeks. As Elder Burr and I walked away, I
remarked to him that 2 years ago I wouldn't have been able to share a testimony
like that or even answer any of those questions. I'm really thankful for the
knowledge I have of that plan.
My favorite moment this week though was when we went over to
the De Palm's for dinner. As we sat down and ate, Martin came outside again! He
asked if he could sit with us and of course we let him! We started to talk and
he mostly just started asking us questions about why we went on missions,
mostly if we were here because we wanted to or if we we're here for our
parents. I talked more about how it had always been a desire of mine but ever
since coming here, it's taken away every possible doubt I could have that this
wasn't were I was supposed to be. I went on by stating that I knew the message
we shared with people is very important. He talked about his school experience
and it was interesting getting to learn more about it. We spoke more about it
and he asked us about what we wanted to do after the mission and then he asked
me, "What is the most important thing in this life?" I looked him in
the eye and said, "To learn more about our relationship with our Heavenly
Father" and I went on by explaining: that we are His spirit children
inside these bodies of flesh and bone, how God loves us more than we can even
imagine and I told him that knowing these things helps me know that everything
we experience in life, good or bad, is for our benefit to help us to grow and
become more like our Heavenly Father. I told him that I knew that God existed
and was there for us. We looked each other in the eye a bit, it seemed as if he
were waiting to see if I was sincere or not and then he asked Elder Burr what
he thought. Elder Burr replied that he agreed completely. Martin asked,
"Really?" "Mmhmm." He gave
a high-five to Elder Burr and then he talked about how he believes in
angels and shared an experience about when we felt that he was protected by a
"beschermengel" or guardian angel. It was an awesome night.
Well, that was my week and I hope you're having a fabulous
one yourself!
Take it easy.
Lobi,
Elder Hardy
Title Translation:
Good afternoon, everyone!
Attached: Elder Burr and I when we took a wrong fork in the
road and I decided to commemorate it with this cactus
