Transfers!

Headed to MARATHON

“Here's this so you can kinda see what it looks like lol. Every section with a name is a district, so I'm literally in a district with 3 other elders lol, it's tinyyyy”

Hour and a half to Walmart! Wow! lol

"Desirable Above All"

My sweet family and friends, oh how long it's been, however I am still alive surprisingly...

HAPPY NEW YEARS... and CHRISTMAS...... It's been awhile so we got a lot to catch up on. 

Hilda

First off, I gotta talk to you about our recent Convert friend Fernando. He is the coolest guy ever, he was baptized a few months ago and he is the secretary to the missionary work leader of the ward (Idk what it is in English), and his WIFE finally got here from Nicaragua, and we have been teaching them both. His wife Hilda is not a member and we have been teaching her with Fernando as an MPL every week. Fernando has told us to take it slow because he doesn't want church or the gospel to ruin their relationship. So we have been taking it super slow and have taught about everything to this point. She has come to church quite a few times, and we feel as though she is ready for a baptismal date. However we are just waiting for the go to from Fernando and we can get her baptised!!!! We are super hyped for her and just been trying our best to help them along the path together. The thing is that Fernando is a SRAIGHT Cuban, and if you haven't talked with a Cuban before, just know they are generally extremely hard to understand. They talk super fast with a  thick accent, so it's been a  struggle for me to understand him but I'm getting better and better!! So I'll keep you all updated on Hilda and Fernando so watch out for them.

Transfers

So transfers happened and I'm still DL and trainer. Funny thing is that I have almost the exact same district. Almost all the APs STLTs and STLs stayed which is pretty hype because we are getting super close and it's been super fun to spend time with them every week. We also have next transfer hitting next Friday so I'm excited to see what's going to happen!!!

Familia Lux Sutuj

Sad update for this family, they have currently stopped responding to us. And the Hermana that they live with has be MIA for some reason. We ended up getting the number of the daughter Sofia, but she ended up stop responding to us so that's a bummer. The only time they seem to respond is when we talk about soccer or something of course, lol. We reached out to a few other members to try a couple things this week so we will see.

Kathia

Kathia, the inactive member we have been working with a ton is progressing a TONNNNN!!!! We have been focusing so much on the temple and answering any and all questions she has. She told us she wants to meet up with Obispo this week to get a recommend so she can go soon!! We talked with obispo and he said he's super down and to just let her know. She has been reading the book of Mormon a ton, when we show up every week, she pulls out a paper full of notes and it makes us so happy every time and then she always asked questions about what she read and it's just the best. Unfortunately though, she ended up moving....... CLOSER TO THE CHURCH.  But she also got a job that makes it hard to go to church on Sunday :( But she's still progressing and is asking tons of great questions and learning a lot!!

Sports

The ward has been SUPER CLUTCH lately with activities. We have started playing Volleyball every Friday night and Soccer every Saturday morning, and it has been the absolute best for our friends to meet members and to just make more friends. There's always a massive turnout everytime, we get games going of 6v6 and more every week for volleyball, and soccer we played like 12v12. It's also just been fun to play and as well to grow connections and friendships within the ward. Overall it's just been a great experience for everyone, and of course I just love sports so much as well.

Christmas

Yooo it was the best Christmas ever!! My family sent me a bunch of Christmas decorations that are just the absolute best and actually kinda made it feel like Christmas on the mission and as well in Florida when you still go outside and it's 80 degrees plus lol. I'll throw a pic or two down below so yall can see but it seriously made Christmas time so much better. They are definitely never coming down btw. My family got me some of the best presents too, one of is a little pocket Libro De Mormón that I didn't even know existed, so I'm super hyped about that!!! I got to call my entire family and open gifts with them together in the morning and it was so fun!! The members have also been the best, inviting us to like 3 dinners in one day, lol. They are really trying to make me put on some pounds. They are the best though, I've made some really good friends in this ward and they make some dang good food as well.

New Years!!

Oh man, New Years was so fun!! We had to be in our apartment for the night at 6 o'clock pm. That wasn't very fun but we could see a good amount of fireworks outside the windows, and for working we basically called everyone and their dog just to set up lessons with, but it turns out that everyone gets drunk for new years.... Who knew?? So we had some interesting conversations with some slightly conscious people, lol. Once again though, even though we had to be indoors super early we still had 2 dinners, BEST MEMBERS EVER!!

Random Fun Things

I finally got to play pickleball again!!! It has been a pretty fat chunk of time without playing, however I still got it, lol. Played a couple games with Elder Wade (AP) who is super athletic, and we played some old guys who of course played basically every single day lol, and we had some good battles in there. 

Fernando ended up getting a car!!! He originally had his electric scooter which was super funny to watch him ride. But when we went over there for a lesson we ended up helping figure out the bluetooth because everything was in English and he didn't understand anything. But he ended up blasting some songs after which was really funny to watch him sing and sound nothing like the song.

All 4 elders in my apartment including me now have a rubiks cube, I taught my comp Elder Jimenez how to solve it, then we all taught Elder Curtis (who's actually from PG as well), and we race every once in a while at the house and it's the funniest thing ever while we are all screaming trying to go as fast as we can.

An elder who I live with, Elder Louis, plays basketball a ton and he ended up buying a mini hoop to go into the apartment so we are all excited to start dunking on each other soon lol.

Spiritual Thought:

1 Nephi 8:12

12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.

This is a big reason for me being on a mission. As I reflect on my life and see the happiness and blessings that come as I follow the Lord and His commandments, although it may be difficult or something I would rather not do, as I have stuck too it and tried the very best that I can, I have seen the Lord's hand in every single aspect of my life, and not only that of those around me. Reminds me of my fav scripture Mosiah 2:41, talking about the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments. That is one of the biggest reasons I am here, I have partaken of the fruit and gotten a taste of it, and want to share that amazing, eternal fruit with all those who I come in contact with. I truly know we have a loving Heavenly Father who watches us and looks over us. He has been and will always be in the works for our good as we follow him and choose him over the horrible, addictive, and harming things the world has to offer sometimes.  I love you all, please stick to the path, I promise you it's better than leaving, and if you have any doubts or questions, ask the Lord prayerfully and honestly, keeping and open mind and heart. I promise you that he will answer them. He has for me, he does for me, and he will for you. He loves you, and knows you, please never forget that.

Until next week,

Elder Harby