Guess Who Got to Meet an Apostle?

This is going to be short. Think of it more as a bullet-point list rather than a letter.

This week was really good. Elder Souza and I are getting along great and absolutely loving Hartford. We weren’t able to contact Raynor or Malicia this week despite lots of phone calls and stop-by’s, but things are still good.

Alyjah is getting baptized this Saturday and I will be the one performing the baptism. I am really excited about that and honored to do it for her. So far, everything is coming together nicely for the service and I can’t wait to tell you how it goes!

Frankie and Chrissy had some bad news this week. Just to remind you, Chrissy is a member and Frankie is her fiancé who is investigating. They found out that when they get married, they’ll love their state assistance and won’t be able to get by financially. They are currently living together and know that’s wrong. Chrissy told us, “either we can do what we know is right and our family will suffer or we can keep living the way we are until we can make it work financially which isn’t a good situation either”. Luckily, they have the bishop working with them to see how he can help them out. Also, I think they may have gotten an “answer” during church yesterday.

We were so blessed yesterday to have a special conference for the Hartford stake at which Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostle presided and spoke. It was such a wonderful experience to hear his words and get to shake his hand afterward. At the end of his talk, he blessed the congregation that, among other things, if they live righteously, they will have enough food for their families; even a surplus. I hope Chrissy and Frankie got out of that what I did. I hope they’ll be able to take the leap of faith and do what the Lord wants them to.

That’s all for now. I love you all! Have a great week!!

The Latest and GREATEST!

Why can't all weeks be this good? I'm not sure how to say everything that happened so I'm just going to jump into it.

Last week, the Spanish Elders told us that they had run into Malicia. Our investigator of old. For those of you that don't remember, we lost contact with her when we called to confirm an appointment and her dad told us she would be unavailable for a couple weeks. Anyway, the other Elders saw her and they talked for a minute and she said she wanted to get back in contact with us. We went over to her house the next day and had a visit with her. She told us that she is going through lots of drama with her family and all her loved ones have turned their backs on her. It was way said. We set up a time to come back next week. On Saturday, she called and said, "Elder Jardine, I know it is short notice but could you try to find me a ride to church?" and I was like, "Um....YES!" So it turned out Malicia was able to come to church for my first time here and i think she might be ready to make a change in her life.

That was part of what made Sunday such a great day. We also had Alyjah (our 11 year old investigator) at church and she really liked it. She is right on track to get baptized March 5th!! Sunday was just such an amazing day. It was so cool to have our investigators at church and to actually have to worry about if they were getting all the attention and information they needed.

The crowning event that made this week as wonderful as it was was transfer calls. The assistants called and told me I'd be staying in Hartford and I'd be getting Elder Souza as my companion. I had to ask the Elder that called if he was serious. I served around Elder Souza when I was in Trumbull and he became one of my best friends. I'm VERY excited about this upcoming transfer!

This picture should be all the evidence you need to know we get along great...

This was a great week and I think the next 6 will be also. I hope you all are doing well! Much love!!

Crazy Weather and Great Numbers

What a week! Despite being snowed-in for a couple of days, we were still able to get a lot of work done and reach the highest numbers of my mission so far! We had a couple really good days and turned three of those potential investigators from last week into real investigators! Our new investigators are: (1) Franky. He is engaged to a member and wants to convert. He likes the church a lot and believes much of the doctrine, he's just having issues believing he can receive true forgiveness without having to suffer for his wrongs. We are really excited about him though. (2) Millie. She was an old investigator that we called up to see if she wanted to meet again and she said sure. We went over and met her and had a short lesson on the restoration and I really think she's got potential. (3) Lillian. She was a referral from the missionaries at the Kirtland Visitor's Center. She found their number and called them up to ask for a Bible. We took one to her along with a copy of the Book of Mormon and she said, "Do you want to come back next week so we can talk about these together?" And we were like, "um....YES!"

So all in all I'd say things are going well in Hartford. We've expanded our teaching pool and the time passes much faster when we're busy. We've also been doing lots of service this week as far as snow/ice removal for people and that has been hard but really rewarding. We chopped down a five-foot iceburg in the freezing rain for the Donat's (the people we raked leaves for when we first got here) that was blocking their driveway. Understand that when I say 'freezing rain' I don't mean rain that is cold. It falls like rain then turns to ice the instant it touches anything. It is the wierdest thing and really dangerous on the roads but after it falls and everything is crystalized, it looks really cool.

I know this was boring and I'm sorry. I do better thinking with a pen and paper so if anyone wants more details, go ahead and send me a letter and my response will be better. I promise. I love you all and hope you are doing well. Have a great week!