Elder Jack Harding: February 2016

Saturday, February 27, 2016

"I will die trying if I have to"

Elder Jesus baptism

Pabla's baptism

Me with Elder Jesus

February 15, 2016

Hola!

This week was super good! We were locked up in the house for 3 days and it was nice to rest but it got boring real fast after the first day! Haha, but it was alright, I'm just happy to go work again!!

In my branch we had 2 baptisms this Saturday. The hermanas had one and we had one! Elder Jesus was baptized!! It was such a super spiritual experience. After we preformed the baptism he started crying and thanked us for everything and for helping him find his new changed life!

Now the baptism of the hermanas is a funny but scary story haha... So they baptized Pabla who is 83 years old! Elder Olson our district leader was going to perform the baptism. He gets in the water and Pabla took a while to finally get all the way in. She physically couldn’t bend her knees so we went to look for a chair. Poor lady can barely walk...so we were looking for a chair to use and everyone come looking for me and said Elder Harding! You have to go change into your baptism clothes!! I just so happened to have mine with me because our baptism was a couple hours later so I got changed and Elder Olson and I both had to try to baptize her at the same time in the chair.. so the first attempt failed... and she gets super tired fast so we had to wait until she rested a good while. Then she tells us "Elders you have to do it fast my heart can’t take it... but I will be baptized!” “I will die trying if I have too, I know the Lord will help me!" So Elder Olson and I were telling her, “no no hermana you’re going to get baptized and you’re going to live, just rest and calm down... haha Then, the second time we just lifted up the chair and tilted it back and dunked her in real fast!! And it worked!!! She was super happy after and was smiling the whole rest of the day! And Sunday too!! After we had to carry her out of the fount in the chair up and down the stairs! Haha, we were worn out after and for Elder Jesus’s baptism, I was already wet.. haha! It was a fun experience.

This Sunday we aren't leaving to work again. We have to stay in the house because the people are voting to see if their president can run again.

But not to worry, everything is going super good here in Trinidad Bolivia!

Elder Harding

Saturday, February 13, 2016

"He is ready to be baptized!"

February 6, 2016

Hola everyone!

So, these past couple of weeks have been super good weeks. We have been working really hard teaching Elder Jesus. He is ready to be baptized! We will be baptizing him Saturday the 13th of February!! He’s super excited for his baptism!

We don't have much progress with the divorcement for familia Suarez, but they are still super active and come to church every week! Our branch president wants to give them a little assignment so they will feel like they are apart of the church which will be super good for them!

And with Jose Luis a menos activo who is a return missionary, we have him coming back to church and we are almost done teaching the lessons and we will have another rescate (rescue) which is when a less active becomes active. I don't know if they call it rescue in English or not. He is super cool, we just need to give him a calling to help him out a bit.

So I've started teaching English classes this week and it was successful! Haha! We had pretty much every youth in my branch show up! And some from other wards! It was a lot of fun too. Those kids are so funny! We also do a noche de obra misional. this is where people bring friends and we watch a small video and then play games and have fun. The purpose is for the non members to get to know people in the branch and for the branch to strengthen.

This week we went to santa cruz to have the leadership council and it was a lot of fun. The house we slept in had like 14 elders there. Haha! At this meeting the president talked a lot and very strictly about obedience in the mission and how its not only about what you do and what you shouldn't do, It’s about the person you are and can be.

Elder Harding

"Museo"

February 1, 2016

"Everyone bonded super well"

After destroying a house

My first time in President's house. It was so cool!!

January 11, 2016

Hola familia y amigos!!

So this week has been a super good week!! We went to Santa Cruz for a leadership meeting and it was super fast. Haha! We had to fly out literally right after the meeting! It was a super good meeting and we mostly talked about making sure we are teaching the people and not just the lessons. We talked quite a bit about teaching clearly about true repentance and how if we teach this repentance, the people will feel the change in their hearts and baptism will be a result and not to worry about numbers. The numbers aren't just numbers, they are people we need to be focused on.

In my area we have a new investigator who has been coming to church with a friend. His name is Elder Jesus. Haha! Yes, his first name is Elder, last name Jesus. He is looking for a way to completely change his life because he said he has felt a lot of pain in his life. He expressed how coming to church has already started to make him feel and see this change happening in his life. He has been prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel and he is feeling so much happier now! And he has a friend in the church!

So we had a hot dog party with the priesthood because the branch has been super weak with the priesthood holders. This activity was super cool! Everyone that came had their guitars and were playing and singing and eating hot dogs, haha! Everyone bonded super well. After, they sang hymns and shared a message! Now they want to do more activities every month! Next, they will be doing a sport activity! We were so happy we finally got an activity going! We have been pushing it for so long and finally everyone got excited and helped out!

Things are going really well here in Trinidad. I think this year is the year this branch will change into a ward!!

-Elder Harding