Trial of your faith


HAPPY EASTER! how incredibly grateful I am for my Savior! Because of His we will live again, because of Him we can live with our heavenly father again, because of His we can live today and tomorrow and everyday of our lives in peace and love and joy, knowing that we are redeemed by Jesus Christ and as we draw near to Him, the miracle of his sacrifice and triumph will become ever more real, precious, and beautiful to us. I loved having the chance to celebrate Him, we should celebrate him every day, but there was a special spirit in the air as everyone took the day to remember He who gave us all. 

Anyone remember the verse in Ether 12, "you recieve no witness until after the trial of your faith." This is a true statement! There were some trials this week, and then God gave us a witness!
First things first, anyone want to hear about the Wednesday we had? The day starts off pretty normal. We study and plan and then head out for the day. We reach the bottom of the stairs and are out the door of the prédio (the closest translation is apartment building, but really it is a just a section of a building with a ton of apartment units with several apartments each. Do we have a word for this type of apartment situation? I don't know, doesn't really matter and isn't relevant to the story.) anyway, we leave the apartment and suddenly I remember something, stop and look at sister chagas and ask... "do you have the keys?" I knew the answer and I bet all of you do to. We forgot the keys! They were in the door, just on the wrong side! We decided to go to our appointment and figure out what to do about the apartment after. The appointment ended up falling through and we headed back to face the possibility that if we didn't figure this out we may be sleeping on the streets that night. We tried all the tricks, credit card, plastic bottle. We called the missionary couple with the extra key, they don't live very far away, but they had driven some sisters down to the very very southern most tip of Portugal after zone conference was canceled and couldn't come back because there was a gasoline strike in Portugal and then didn't have enough gas for the return journey. We called the bombeiros (the guys who open doors I guess?) and it would cost 50€, uh no thanks. And we called almost every member in the branch to see it they knew anyone who knew how to open doors. No one. We called the owner of our apartment several times and she didn't answer. We called upon God, a lot. Finally we called the bombeiros. They came with the police, which is protocol, but the police wouldn't let them open our door unless we had proof that we lived in our apartment. We didn't (I didn't even have identification on me!). Our neighbors showed up and vouched for us but they refused to sign anything. So the bombeiros left and we were still stuck out side. We were feeling pretty upset when suddenly, the phone rings, and it's the owner of the apartment! She is in Porto for the holidays, but her sister is on her way with the extra key and will arrive in an hour! I don't know why her sister had the keys, she showed up with one of those side table jars full of keys and knickknacks and asks us to find our key lol, but I don't care how it happened, why she didn't answer our call until 6:30 pm (we found out at 10:30 am) but I know God was behind it and I am so grateful! It was just one of those days though that you can't help but look back on and laugh. It was raining off and on, I had a cold, none of our appointments worked out and we were locked out of our house. I can tell you we never close our door unless the keys are in our hands!

Anyway, there was the trial of our faith part, now the witness part! On Sunday a less active couple was in church. The ward members all knew them and were really welcoming and kind and we introduced ourselves and set up a time to go visit them that night! She seemed really uncomfortable with the idea of us coming over so we decided not to plan on teaching anything or even inviting them to do much, just get to know them, and learn their story. It ended up being an incredible visit! We befriended them and learned their conversion story and why they had moved away from the church. We talked and laughed and then she brought out a notebook and said she had a question for us about the plan of salvation. We were able to answer it and it seemed that she had simply forgotten the simple truths she had learned at the beginning of her conversion and was instead distracted about the things she didn't like about the church. We suggested that we could start coming back regularly and reteach the missionary lessons and she said she thought that was a good idea. They are an incredible family, they just need to be reminded of the testimony they already have in Christ and His restored church. The week could have been a million times worse and ended with this visit and I would be just as happy as I am now. God never gives us trials more than we can bear and trials make our joys that much sweeter.

I am sorry about the news of uncle Frank. I wish i was there with you all. I have so many wonderful memories of him and his kindness. He was a truly wonderful man. How grateful I am for the plan of salvation, to know this life is not all, only a part. A hard part. A good part. But just a part. 

I am so so so happy to be here in Portugal, the most amazing place in the world, the lighthouse of Europe, doing the best and most important work in the world, the Lord's work! I know my SAVIOR LIVES! He loves us, He loves me, He loves you! I love Him!

All my love and a little bit more
Sister Hardy

-Easter eggs from flavi!
-an awesome family
-Priscilla! I love her so much
-philippe, everyones favorite (if you look close you will see the mark on his cheek where one of the older women in the branch gave him a kiss!) 






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