BANISHED


Well, I don't know what I did wrong but I am being banished for the last few months of my mission. I am being sent off to an island to die. Lol! But to be honest I am PUMPED! I am being transferred to the island of São Miguel in the Açores Islands! We are going to be replacing a set of Elders so we are heading up a whitewash. I will be serving with the Sister my current companion trained! I've heard a lot about her and she sounds really cool and hard working, so it's going to be awesome! I fly over tomorrow. I thought I wasn't going to get on a plane until I was going home, but now I am getting on a plane and going only halfway home 😂

Anyway, in other news. This week was great! We had our last district council on Wednesday and we decided to eat lunch together, so we bought some pizzas and lasagna (is that how you spell it?) from a grocery store but discovered soon after that the oven at the chapel wasn't working. We figured out how to get it going but not before we had microwaved one of the lasagnas and successfully made Italian soup. 😂 It was fun and we all signed each other's tchau tchau livros (bye bye books). Fun transfer with a fun district. 

On Friday we had dinner with some members! She is a recent convert and they just moved here from Brazil. They have an adorable son and the dad served his mission in Japan so he speaks Portuguese, Japanese, and English (with a pretty solid American accent to boot!). They made us some yummy japonês food and showed us pictures of Brazil. 

The next day we ate lunch with another family! The wife and son are less active and so we all ate and had a good time and then the mom started really opening up and ended up telling us why she wasn't coming to church. She was very brave to tell us about her experiences and we were so grateful because now we understand better and will be better able to help her. It really breaks my heart how almost all of the less active members I have met are not less active because they don't believe, but because of something another member did to hurt or offend them. People are not perfect. I will say it again. PEOPLE ARE NOT PERFECT! they can be petty and mean and thoughtless sometimes. Or maybe they just don't fully understand your situation. But Christ is perfect. And this is His church. You can avoid going to church to avoid the people there, but as you do that, remember you are avoiding the sacrament, the renewal of covenants and the Holy Ghost as well. 

That same night after lunch we went to our wards family night! There was a better turn out this time (one of our friends came!) and we had a really nice message and had a blast playing triple play! I can't tell you how many words I learned trying to play charades in Portuguese 😂 and had some yummy food at the end. The only bummer is that our friend Rafa, is leaving! (maybe) but he has been reading the Book of Mormon, so hopefully, he continues to progress wherever he goes. 

Sunday I had to say goodbye to everyone. It was sad. Especially saying goodbye to Denzel. He is doing really well though. I am so proud of him. 

OK. To wrap up I will share my testimony that I know this church is true. It is lead by Christ. It is HIS church. He loves us, and I love Him! 

See you soon!

Sister Hardy

















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