Sister Missionary with a companion dog, Tracting, Airshow, and the Italian White Snail

This week I would like to focus the spotlight on a few inspirational stories, the first of which is a young sister missionary in our ward who was extended a mission call without submitting an application & has a missionary companion who is a dog!!  Yes, Sister Taylor Talbot in our YSA Ward was called as a service Missionary last November with a special Missionary assignment to help bring others to Christ through her example & public speaking.  She is nearly totally blind yet is training in the Chula Vista, California Olympic training center as a Paralympian sprinter.  Her blind service dog, Fargo, is her companion & trains & travels with her on the speaking engagements.  She is also a hopeful Paralympian for the Paris games in Paris, France scheduled for 2024.  She had been torn about continuing her Olympic training or going on a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints & wrote a letter to the Church thanking the leaders for the messages they gave when they had come to southern California.  Her letter was forwarded to her Stake President who called her in to visit with her.  He then spoke to the Church leaders who issued her a special, unique Mission call so she could continue her training, but also serve a service Mission.

We have witnessed the fruits of her labors as the missionaries have been teaching a number of athletes training at the Olympic training center where she trains - she shares & invites all around her to consider the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Despite her blindness & adversity, she sees it as a blessing from the Lord when she says, “I am so grateful for that challenge God gave me that I am losing my sight so that I can help others see Christ and come unto Him."  “I have been able to reach more people and teach them about the gospel than I ever could have if I was fully sighted,” she said. “It’s opened my eyes to a lot of good things in the world. I have a completely different perspective on trials because of it. I’ve been able to be more grateful and become more aware of the miracles and tender mercies that God has put into my life. It’s just so much easier to see God’s hand when I can’t see physically.”

What an amazing attitude!!

For a complete story, click on this link:

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/legally-blind-paralympian-sprinters-unique-mission-in-california

The young Missionaries out here in San Diego are doing an amazing work in sharing the gospel;  Recently a pair of Sister Missionaries were tracting and found a family of 11 to teach.  They knocked on their door & when the door opened, they introduced themselves & asked if they could come in and have a prayer with their family.  The family said ok, so they went in to have a prayer & suddenly, grandma, grandpa, Mom, Dad, and a bunch of kids all came out!!  So one of the sisters gave a sincere prayer & gave thanks for their many blessings, including the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Following the prayer, she explained to the family what she meant when she gave thanks about the restoration of the gospel proceeding to tell them about the restoration!  On their next lesson a few days later, they had a spirit felt discussion after which they asked the family if they would like to feel that spirit more often?  With an affirmative response, they put them on date for baptism and are now teaching them how they can have the gift of the Holy Ghost with them as they have faith, repent, get baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands!!

Recently, one of the Spanish Sister Missionaries completed her mission & was scheduled to go home, when she got covid, which delayed her departure.  After she could travel again, she got scheduled for a fight that got delayed, so she ended up on a different flight.  When she finally got on her flight, she sat next to a lady who was a refugee from Colombia relocating with her family to North Carolina, so this Missionary was able to talk to her in Spanish.  During the discussion, the Sister Missionary asked her if she was Christian to which she responded, "no, but I have been meaning to research how I can become Christian & be baptized."  The Sister Missionary explained that we have missionaries in North Carolina that can help her with that!!  After the flight, she forwarded her contact information to the Missionaries in North Carolina who are now teaching this lady!!  

The Lord will put people in our path when we have the faith to act & follow his promptings.  This Missionary was in tune with the Spirit & was able to help a family that the Lord was very aware of!!

On Friday, a number of the Senior Missionaries went to the airshow put on by the Marines at the base in Miramar, California.  We were fortunate to go and spend the afternoon seeing the Osprey vertical take off and landing planes, the F-22's and the f-35 5th generations aircraft doing some of there amazing maneuvers in the air.  The main event was the precision flying of the Blue Angels - always an enjoyable event!

On Saturday, we were able to join the younger Missionaries for a local "clean up" service project in one of the canyons, clearing out weeds & picking up trash. The Missionaries know how to have a good time giving service!  

I learned the lesson of the  "Italian White Snail" that is an invasive species in Chula Vista.  Apparently they must have ended up here from a ship and they have infested the area learning to adapt to the local surroundings by crawling up the stem of weeds & plants to get away from the dry heat on the ground & sealing themselves up until the rain comes when they crawl back down and enjoy the cooler moisture!! Perhaps we can learn a lesson from this snail to make sure we move away from Satan's territory & seal ourselves up & away from Satan's enticements - making sure we focus on the  nourishing moisture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ & His goodness.

We love you all!

Elder & Sister Hardy

 Women's Meetings, Mending, More Cookies, Space X, and Newport Beach Temple

About a week ago, our mission held a conference for all the sister missionaries.  We were asked to read President Nelson's talk "A Plea to My Sisters" from October Gen. Conf. 2015.  I highly recommend it.  He quoted from a talk given by President Kimball in 1979 saying, "Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world... will be drawn to the Church in large numbers.  This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different - in happy ways - from the women of the world." Then Pres. Nelson went on to say, "My dear sisters, you who are our vital associates during this winding-up scene....  You are the women he foresaw!  Your virtue, light, love, knowledge, courage, character, faith, and righteous lives will draw good women of the world, along with their families, to the Church in unprecedented numbers."

President Merritt talked about the difference between the "Devil's Discouragement", which stops us from progressing, and "Divine Discontent", which propels us forward to want to do and be better.  

Sister Merritt quoted Ernest Hemmingway "There is nothing in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility comes in being superior to your former self."  She counseled us to be noble - become better than my current self.  

I enjoyed being with the sisters and noble women, young and mature, in our mission.  It was an inspiring and motivating meeting.

This weekend we had the privilege of hearing from three women from the General RS, YW, and Primary organizations.  Friday evening was a Relief Society Devotional.  We heard from Sister Porter, the General Primary President, Sister Runia, a YW Counselor, and Sister Yee a Relief Society Counselor.  I felt like the main theme was "You are Known, You are Loved, and You are Needed."  Sister Runia said that life is like a Mystery Quilt; you don't know what's coming next.  But then she quoted D&C 122:7 ...all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

Today we attended a Regional YSA Sacrament Meeting.  We heard from the same three sisters, who shared hopeful messages for the young adults.  Sister Porter told us to remember this question from a Primary song "Heavenly Father are you really there?"  She encouraged us to "pray always", and as we pray, focus on faith in Jesus Christ, instead of the outcome that we desire.  Our Savior knows better what we need than we do; trust in Him.  A nice Taco Bar dinner was provided after the meeting.  You know, these YSA's have it figured out - they eat after every meeting!

We were able to give a ride to our friend, Ellie, for the YSA Sacrament Meeting.  The Elder's have been teaching her.  She's reading the Book of Mormon, and likes it.  She has a pretty good background with the Bible, and seems to enjoy reading from the scriptures.  

Monday night FHE was a volleyball night.  Elder Hardy sure gets excited about playing with the kids.  (I think he thinks he's one of them :)

I've been trying to put the word out that I have my sewing machine and am happy to help the missionaries with their mending.  I haven't had too much, yet.  I repaired hems on a couple of dresses this week.  I enjoy helping out the missionaries by  mending their clothes.  I'm thankful that my Mom took the time to teach me how to sew and to love sewing.  

My Mom also taught me how to cook and be comfortable in the kitchen.  Since this week was transfers, we decided to provide lunch for the missionaries in our District.  We had fun visiting with them while we were eating.  It was a great way to just "chill" and have fun with them.

 

I have to tell you about this picture.  It's my first ".5" photo.  When I was at the Women's Missionary Conference, when it was time to take group photos, the young missionaries kept hollering out to take a ".5" shot.  So I had to ask what that was.  Then it dawned on me that on my camera, one of the choices is a ".5".  So this is my first ".5" photo!  What do you think?  (I think I need some more practice.)

At Institute on Tuesday evening we continued our discussed of "Christ's Forgiveness"  There was a quote in this week's chapter from C.S. Lewis that I found very interesting.  "Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.... you find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down.  A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.  That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness - they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.  We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it:  and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full extent what temptation means."  

I made cookies again this week.  We decided that it would be a nice gesture to take cookies to the YSA's on their birthday or during the month of their birthday.  I made up a nice little birthday card and put the cookies in a cute bag.  Out of the four on our list, two of them didn't live at the address anymore, one wasn't home (so we talked to the Ring doorbell and left them on the doorstep), and one was temporarily living with his grandma (so we left the cookies for his Mom to give to him; we saw him at Church today and he loved the cookies, his Mom and sister each took one, too, and loved them).  We sure don't seem to have very good luck catching them home.  When I text them to see if we can visit, either I don't hear back or they aren't going to be home.  We will persist!  We realize this age group is very busy and very mobile.

On the way home we saw an amazing scene in the sky.  At first we couldn't figure out what it was.  It looked like the contrail of a plane, only much thicker and brighter,  As we watched the plane (soon to realize it was a rocket) soar higher, all of a sudden we saw what kind of looked like an explosion, and then it kept going.  I quickly Googled it, and found out it was a Space X launch.  I can just imagine how amazing it would have looked if we had been on the beach instead of in the car driving down the road.  Here is a picture of what it looked like that I pulled off a news website.

Yesterday we drove an hour and 45 minutes to the Newport Beach Temple.  It is a long drive, but so worth being able to go to the temple again.  I felt rejuvenated after our session.  I wish we were closer.  I keep thinking about when we return to St. George that our temple will be open and only 10 minutes away!

Why I Believe, Camp Wildwood, getting ghosted, and more!

Greetings to family & friends!!

This week started out similar to other weeks with a "P" (preparation) day to clean our apartment, do laundry, get supplies from Costco & other grocery stores, etc; at the end, we also had a family home evening with the other Senior Missionaries up at the Church's camp called camp Wildwood.  It is about 40 miles Northeast of us in a small mountain range with some great amenities - a 100 yard zip line, climbing wall, sand volleyball court, archery range, hatchet throwing venue, kitchen, pool, etc.  We had enough time to do the archery, hatchet throw, and zip line.  Debbie boasted a bullseye in the archery, an "almost" in the hatchet throwing, and FIRST down the zip line!  It was fun to get to know some of the other senior Missionaries - what a pleasure it was to get to know the Phippin's, who are 86 & now serving their 6th Senior Mission!!! Wow!

One of the hardest things for me is to try to remember all of the NAMES of the YSA's - it seems to help when I can associate their name with something like "Baja Breanna", and "Athena the warrior".  I am gradually getting better!  We supplied the Institute class with dinner doing a "Tortilla Dump Dinner", salad, & ice-cream bars for dessert on Tuesday.  Brother McKay, the institute instructor is doing a magnificent job teaching the class using Elder Neil L Andersen's book entitled "The Divine Gift of Forgiveness"  We talked about the gift of repentance this past week with one of his memorable quotes:  "Repentance is not our backup plan: it is the only plan"!!  Without our efforts to repent, or the Saviors merciful atonement for us, we would remain unclean & unable to live with God & His Son, Jesus Christ again.

As we gradually introduce Pickleball to the Young Missionaries, they seem to have a great time playing the game!!

Wednesday & Thursday were our Young Missionary apartment inspections.  We started to call ourselves their apartment MENTORS.  Inspectors sounded a little harsh.  We found apartment cleanliness to run across a broad spectrum - some were sparkling with cleanliness & delightful, while others were...... well... not so good!  We had to play "Good cop & bad cop"  I got to be the good cop, while Debbie tried to get them to "toe the line"!  We still gave them treats & make it good experience for them😄😄😄

On Thursday, we had an inspiring experience with the younger Missionaries. They invited us on a Zoom teaching appointment with a hearing impaired "friend" or investigator.  They had an ASL (American Sign Language) Missionary also on the call to help interpret what we & the other Missionaries were teaching her.  She really appreciated having the ASL Missionary signing what was being taught & how modern day inventions (like the internet & zoom) have facilitated the preaching of the gospel to the world!!

Now for a little humor - We had found a "family" last week while searching for some "lost" YSA's on the records - and set up an appointment with "Keyshawn" and his family for Thursday night - needless to say, Debbie & I were excited to teach him & possibly his family - so I had texted him on Wednesday night asking him if we could come over Thursday night at 7PM to share a message about Jesus Christ & eternal families.  He texted back, "Yes, you can come visit tomorrow" - so, we were excited.  In fact, I had trouble sleeping Wednesday night and as I lay in bed trying to go to sleep & in a state of semi consciousness, I started to dream of us going to the appointment, having keyshawn & his family SO excited about our message, that they would be overpowered by the spirit (like King Lamoni & Ammon in the Book of Mormon), fall to the ground, be enlightened by the Spirit, wake up in joyous excitement & convert the whole apartment complex - yes a new branch overnight!!  Well, needless to say, we had high expectations going into this appointment.  Now for what really happened - We arrived there about ten minutes early & waited in the parking lot, when a lady with a car full of kids drove up & got out of the car.  I asked her if she knew Keyshawn to which she replied, " Yes, he is going to marry my sister, but he is not home and is at work tonight"  As it turns out, he isn't yet married, & the young boy (Caleb) was not his son, but his future sister in laws son!!  It looked like we just got "ghosted" as the young Missionaries would say.  When Keyshawn texted that we could come Thursday night, he "forgot" to tell us that he wouldn't be there!  So now we have gained a little experience with what the younger Missionaries go through on a regular basis!! 😢😢😢  Well, we have decided to give Keyshawn one more chance.

Saturday was a day of service in honor of those who we lost on 9/11, so we had an opportunity to pack lunches for the homeless, write messages of gratitude to our servicemen, and tie quilts for the needy - it felt good to do something to help others!

On Friday night, we say the "Inspire" night at the Mormon Battalion monument site that featured Missionaries performing & speaking messages of hope & inspiration.  It turned out to be a delightful evening.

During a YSA family home evening, we were able to participate with the YSA's in a "Minute to Win it" game.  The YSA's are great fun & quite creative on a budget!

Probably our highlight of the week was the "Why I Believe" fireside on Sunday night.  The participants had been preparing for weeks for this 1 1/2 hour musical & spoken word feast.  They had string instruments made up of Young Missionaries performing along with a choir made up of at least 75 people including local LDS singers & many Missionaries from our Mission.  The songs were sacred renditions of faith promoting genre music that were nicely done.  Speakers included a recently converted member, a returning member, & Mission Leaders recently returning from the Michigan Mission.  The spirit was so strong & the messages were highlighting God's love for us & the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Have an awesome week!

 Mt. Soledad, Beach Bonfire, Bike Ride, Baptism and Visiting YSA

Monday is our P-day.  After we finished doing the laundry and cleaning our apartment (which is way quicker than cleaning a whole house), we decided to drive up to La Jolla Beach.  We were planning on going to a Regional YSA Beach Bonfire/Volleyball Tournament that evening, so we thought we would go exploring before meeting up with the YSA.  Our friends, the Allen's from St. George (who had served a mission in San Diego), had told us to visit Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial.  So we drove up the windy road to the top of the hill.  There is a big white cross at the top, along with a unique Memorial that honors veterans, living or deceased, from the Revolutionary War to the current war on terror.  Each plaque has a picture and a brief story of their accomplishment during their term.  

The view is incredible from this vantage point.  We could see downtown San Diego, Mexico to the South, and even had a pretty nice view of the San Diego Temple.  

After enjoying the view, we drove back down the hill, found a parking space at the beach, enjoyed a nice walk along the beach, picked up some great seafood tacos for dinner, and then met up with the YSA's.  

This activity was billed as a Beach Bonfire/Volleyball tournament.  Our ward had practiced the week before and were prepared to compete in the tournament.  People were arriving, along with wood for the bonfire.  We soon noticed a young lady walking from group to group asking if anyone had brought a volleyball net.  Well, it soon became apparent that someone had dropped the ball - no one had been assigned to bring a net.  In the meantime, the sun is getting lower and lower in the sky.  Then, we are assured that someone is going to purchase a net!  

Probably a half hour or more after the sun set, a net arrives and volleyball in the dark begins.  By this time, there were just a handful of people who were still interested in playing, considering it was hard to see the ball!  But, the YSA are adaptable, and everyone had fun listening to good music, making Smores, and just mingling with each other.

Tuesday evening for Institute, we enjoyed grilled hamburgers by Elder Hardy.  Once again, the YSA's enjoyed Sister Hardy's Sand Lake Inn cookies.  One of these times I will remember to take pictures at Institute!

We had another great lesson from Elder Anderson's book, "The Divine Gift of Forgiveness".  I highly recommend it.  We learned why it is so hard to change. It is necessary to have the desire to change, and without Jesus Christ, it is pretty tough.  Alma 24:8-10 tells us that His Spirit helps "to soften our hearts" and forgives us of our sins and takes the guilt from our hearts through Jesus Christ. The fastest way to change is to read His words - spend time in the scriptures - they will heal you.  

Wednesday morning at pickleball, we each had an opportunity to have a conversation about the gospel.  Stan has a friend named Loy.  He's a Filipino, and was raised Catholic.  As a young man, he was an alter boy and doesn't have a high regard for Priests.  Stan visited with him and was able to get his phone number.  He's still working on setting up a meeting with him.  This Holiday weekend has slowed things down.  I visited with my friend Terri.  She attended our Church for a short time with her Mom and sister when she was young.  She had a good experience.  I've invited her to attend our Church, but she says she's going to go to her sister's Church.  I enjoy talking with her about the things she remembers, and try to add a few more principles in our conversation.  

Our KIA needed a service done, so we took our bikes with us when we took it in for service so we didn't have to wait for hours.  After dropping off the car, we took off and road a few miles to the Silver Strand, a strip of land that connects the mainland with Coronado Island.  We enjoyed a beautiful ride, but were a bit saddle sore when we returned, just in time to pick up our car.  

    We attended our first Stake Young Single Adult Committee meeting with a member of the Stake Presidency, two YSA's who are the committee chairmen, and ideally one or two representatives from each ward.  Both of the committee chairmen were from our ward, so we know them.  I was so impressed with their leadership strength and how they conducted the meeting, took input from all in attendance, gave out assignments and made a plan of action.  The goal isn't to get all the YSA's in all the family wards to come to our ward, but to help them to "feel the love of Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ and follow Them".  We want to help all YSA's to know about our activities and Institute and what we have to offer, and know that they are invited and welcome.  

When we came out of the church, we could see the Super Blue Moon in the sky.  Earlier in the day I looked up to see where the best spot to view the moon in Chula Vista, so we drove to a park and took some pictures.  

We decided we should invite the Elder's for dinner, since they don't get dinner appointments with the YSA members.  We really enjoyed our visit with them.  It's nice to have a few moments to get to know them better.  One of the Elder's has a challenging family situation.  His parents are divorced, and sounds like his Mom has sacrificed to help him get on his mission.  These young missionaries are examples of a tremendous desire to follow their Savior, Jesus Christ.  They've sacrificed much to be serving our Lord.  I love being in their presence.  This is one of the great blessings of serving as a Senior Missionary, to get to rub shoulders and serve with these young people. 

On Friday we spent some time developing a handout that we could give out to the YSA's when we go visiting.  We put a picture on the front, a quote, and all our meeting and activity times and locations on the back.  We bought some chocolates at Costco and put them in a bag with the handout attached.  We will give these out when we go visiting.

On Saturday a set of sister missionaries had a baptism down in Imperial Beach.  We received a call from some Elders and asked us if we could give one of their Friends a ride to the baptism (the young missionaries aren't allowed to take other people in their cars).  So we picked up Michael, an army veteran from North Carolina.  We had a nice visit with him and learned a little bit about him. A baptism is a wonderful experience for people interested in the Church.  The spirit is strong, and testimonies are born of the Gospel and of the Holy Ghost.  I'm glad were were asked to take Michael so we could attend the baptism as well.  

After we dropped Michael off at his apartment, we began our adventure of driving around the area looking for  the addresses of the YSA's that the Bishop asked us to check on.  We went to probably about 6 addresses, talked to two Mom's, an Aunt, a man that said Andrea didn't live there, a couple addresses that it was impossible to know which apartment or door to knock on (or when we knocked no one answered).  But we did have one interesting contact.  We went to an address to find a young woman named Genesis.  When we arrived at the address, it was an obviously low income one story apartment complex.  There was a man playing with a boy in the courtyard, so we asked him if he new Genesis.  He did not, and waved the landlord over, who was outside as well, and he didn't know her either.  So we turned to leave and as we were walking away, I told Stan that we should go back and give our handout and bag of chocolates to the man we talked to.  So we turned around and went back.  I told him we felt like we should give bag to him, and opened the handout and read the quote to him, and shared a few thoughts.  When I showed him (on the back of the handout) the time for Church, he said he needs to come back to church.  We found out he's married and has kids, so we told him the family ward meeting time, and showed him the address on the handout.  Stan got his phone # so we could text him with a reminder.  He sounded like he would be interested in coming.  As we walked away, I heard him mutter "10 a.m.", the meeting time.  His name is Keyshawn.

So, this morning, we got ready and went to church in time for the 10 a.m. meeting, but no Keyshawn and family arrived.  We figured as such, but were still a little disappointed.  We will go with the Sister Missionaries that work with the family ward and visit him this week and see what we find out.  I'm grateful for the experience, and I know we were supposed to turn and go back to invite him.

We're feeling blessed to be able to serve in San Diego with the YSA's.  We still can't believe this is where the Lord sent us!  We're loving it!  We hope and pray that we will be able to make a difference.