Letter to Mom

Everyone is curious about your living arrangements if you want to share that with us.So I have a video tour I did of my apartment that I will send in a while stuff takes forever to upload here, but it is small haha. Also it is on the top floor so it gets super hot.

How are you and elder Lowder getting along? Sometimes a week isn't really enough to say. Maybe two weeks is a better picture of how it's really going to be.We get along great on everything but food and budgeting haha.. Those are kind of big things to not get along on. But oh well it all works out. He is a good missionary though and knows a lot more than me so it is good to have someone to teach me and that I can learn from.

Let's hear about the Dutch. Is it getting better now that you are emerged in it?I know that I am improving and that it is getting better. But some days I feel like I know nothing and am not leanring or progressing at all. But I have noticed that I understand people waaaaaay more now that I did before
Did you meet any of the other investigators this week? Tell me about them. Should we be praying for any of them?So I met Richard, he is like almost 70 and has a baptism date. He only started coming to church because he had a crush on this mormon lady from Mongolia that lives down the hall from him. But now he is actually intersted and wants to be baptised. Then there is This guyNamed Miguel who´s "wife" is a member but he isn´t and she is illegal here so they can´t get married and they live together. Soooo otherwise he would get baptized but they need to be married first. Also his house is like sinking into the ground so he got giant rachet straps and tightened them up in his crawlspace to hold it up haha. I dont know how well that will work. Also there is Abel, he just became an investigator this week. He is from some country by Ethiopia and has had a crazy life as a refugee. And then we have been meeting with Qira a lot because we have a lot more lessons she needs to get before she gets baptized on the 15th. 

How are you doing spiritually?  I feel like I came off this big spiritual high after girls camp and it feels like a lot of work to keep the spirit with me now. I need to step up my game a little. I wondered if that happened to you after leaving the MTC and entering back into the real world.

Pretty good I think haha. It has helped my testimony a lot to see god answering my prayers so much. Everytime I have prayed to find someone or that an appointment will work out or just something I get some form of an answer. So that has been really cool. It is hard though when we knock 30 or so doors in a row and maybe 5 people talk to us more than to just say not interested and out of those five all of them have their own religion or are atheist. But ya things are good here. 

Let's hear a spiritual experience from the week and just another crazy story too.So Spiritual experience, We found Abel last week and then followed up on him this week. He is a refugee and told us this story about how he was in an underground prison for 2 years with no sun ever and he tried to cross the meddteranian sea 2 times in a rubber boat but it got a hole in it and he thought he was gpoing to die so he prayed and someone saved them and thenthe third time he made it over. But we gave him the restoration message and explained joseph smith and the book of mormon. He seemed super interested and I know he could feel the spirit super strong because I for sure could haha. 

Do you need anything? I figured out the amazon thing and can ship you things. A pillow? Toiletries? Food? What would you like?Ummm no I am pretty good on things I think I can only get packages at zone conferences once every six weeks so that is kind of a bummer but we have one on wednesday so I will get my b-day package then. If you want to send me more cokes that would be super awesome. Or like chips and stuff.

I'm sad your package didn't make it for your birthday. I hope you had a good day. What did you do on your birthday? I also hope you get it soon and enjoy your gift.

Ehh haha My birthday was kind of lame actually. We didn´t do anything cool just shopping and cleaned the apartment and emails so ya... That actually sucked but oh well. I did get a cake at district meeting the next day that one of the sisters made so that was nice. But wednesday I should get your package and that will be super nice. Did you ever get the other camera and stuff I send home?

The weather has been hot. Also Humid. I have been dying of heat actually. The past few days have been better though. It rained one day when we were knocking and that was super nice.Some lady did tell us to take a break and go get some beers though haha. I guess I can legally do that here, So that was funny. 

I am missing being able to do good workouts and long runs and swimming a ton. I wish I could go do a triatholon or a marathon again. It is cool to see your guys acomplishments. Also to hear about everything that has been happening I Love to hear about it. Also that is way nice about cliff. Hopefully he is on the better end of it now. 

I Guess I'm a Real Missionary Now

So week two here has been much better. I feel like I am settling in more to missionary life. We have been teaching lots of people andwe even found a new Investigator. He is from some country by Ethiopia and came across the medditeranian in a rubber raft and for sure has had a crazier life than anyone else I know. Also it finally cooled down a little bit this weekend. It had been super hot here. Also our 3 people with a baptismal daate have been progressing well. It is just a busy life as a missionary. But ya Till next week,

Elder Harding

Well I'm Here (Email's from June 19, 2017)

So I made it here.  the flight was a little long and a tad boring but I am in the Netherlands now!  I am in the city Rotterdam.  It is a bit of a poorer city but it for sure has nicer parts as well.  My companion is Elder Lowder from Morgan Utah, he has been out for three months and actually just barely finished getting trained haha.  Together we speak some Dutch.  He speaks way more than me.  But when we need it, it is definitely there so the gift of tongues is real. We have a super good area here. There are about 13 or so investigators we have that are all promising and four of them actually have baptism dates for july 15! it is super exciting. They all seem really excited for it and  like super cool people. We have met so many different people from just about any country you can think of. Lots of them speak dutch, lots of them dont haha. It is a very humbling experience and I am so greatful to be here. It seems like everytime I pray for help with finding  people something happens that lifts my spirits just enough to want to keep going. It is super cool. Anyways I hope all is good.

Peace, Elder Harding

Elder Harding's Letter to his mom. I basically ask a ton of questions in hopes of getting more than two lines from him.  He copy's and pastes my letter and answers the questions.

So I am here haha. It is quite an interesting experience. Definiently harder than I thought it would be, but it is good still. It´ll probably get better as time goes haha. But I actually didn´t get your package so It sounds like I will get it at zone conference in like 2 weeks or so.

How is your new companion? Tell me all about him. He looks like a nice guy. So My companion is super nice, He is from Morgan Utah and he actually just barely finished getting trained himself haha, he has been here three months so our language skills are interesting to say the least. But he is good, We get a long well and work hard together so that is way nice.

How is your area? Looks like a big city. Is it hard to get around? Do you feel lost? Is it pretty? So our area is actually huge, We mostly take the metro to get around and go to places so I haven´t actually biked yet. I do feel pretty lost most of the time but not so much anymore, I am getting better at knowing where we are and stuff. No way I could get around without a companion that knows the area though. 

Do you have any investigators? So funny story, We actually have tons of investigators, like 13 good investigators and maybe 7 or so are progressing and then 4 have a baptismal date! So That is way sick. If all goes well we could have four baptisms on the 15 of july. 
If so tell me all about them. I haven´t met with all of them yet but I have with some so:

Hawa, She is from africa on some little Island and she was baptised into some other christian church about 20 years ago, she is probably 50 or so. She believes that Joseph smith is a prophet and the book of mormon is true but doesn´t know why she needs to be rebaptised. We tried to explain it to her last time but she didn´t quite get it (which is probably our fault) but we will work on that next lesson, Also she doesn´t speak dutch so the lesson is in ]English haha. Kind of lame but nice because I can contribute more.

Quira, She is about 30 or so maybe younger and is a single mom with a 14 year old boy and a 3 year old boy. She is from Cabo Verde and is on baptism date spo that is awesome. She is our best investigator really she comes to church every sunday and follows up on all of the commitments and stuff. She does speak dutch so it´s cool to have that haha ummm Oh also her 14 year old son may be baptised as well which would be sick. We have tons more but I dont have tons of time

What kinds of things are you doing to find investigators? Not chasing people down in a park I hope. We have Done bell ups which is where you ring the doorbell and they answer on a little speaker thing on the  bottom of the apartment, It honestly is not effective at all, But then we knock doors which is better and have had some good conversations with people from that. Other people just shut the door haha. Then we do street contacting where you just stop people as they walk by and ask them about their life and tie it into church somehow, I like this the most but It is the scariest to do.

How is the Dutch? I want the details here.
Dutch is coming, I am very limited in what I can say,especially on non gospel related stuff but oh well. I can understand most of what is said to me usually. I have had some lessons where I understand everything and then some where I get nothing. It really depends on the accent of the people. Some of them I can barely understand in englaish. But it is coming along ever so surely
How are your living arrangements?

How is the food? The food is amazing. Everything even just store bought stuff tastes so much better than in america and is so much fresher. I havent tried Harring yet but I probably will today or something. But ya the food here is good.

What about money? Is your card working ok? Do we need to set anything up? Grandma Deb and Fran both said they were going to send money for your birthday.  Through your account. I think it works I actually haven´t even bought anything yet. I will after this though we have to go do some shopping and get bike helmets and locks and stuff, But that is ver6y nice of them

How was the mission president and his wife? They are super cool, way better than our MTC branch president. President bunnel and his wife are super nice and caring people. It is cool to seethat they have just such a genuine care for the missionaries

Oh my heart is full of pride and joy as I think about you over there!!

Tell me at least one spiritual experience from the week
In gospel principles we had 3 investigators there and they were all asking reallly good questions and stuff and the spirit was there super strong
Tell me anything else that was interesting from your week.

Uhhh well there is a lot haha,  yesterday we went to check on one of our investigators and he opens the door in just a towel haha, turns out we interuppted him and his gf having sex... so ya haha. Also I had some crazy guy on the Metro (its like a subway) just stare at me for like five minutes and I just stared back at him. It was weird, then he showed us his drug phone that was taped to his leg so the cops wouldn´t find it and then he showed us an ID he stole from some muslim person. So ya. Oh also we were doing contacting at these apartments and this couple was screaming at each other and slapping each other and stuff. It was really sad actually. Plus tons of other stuff that happens like that every day. 

I am glad to hear everything was ok with girls camp and that dad and abbie are doing good, It is good she had such a good experience at EFY It seems to have helped her a lot. 

Love you guys, Elder Harding

Letter from his Mission President  

Dear Parents of Elder Harding,

We are very delighted to receive your son in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission!
He arrived safely on Tuesday the 13th of June with a smile, excitement, eagerness, and a little jet lagged.
Thanks for preparing him to serve the Lord as he will perform a great work while serving the wonderful people here. We will do all we can to love him as our own as he fulfills the call to be a valiant servant.
His companion is Elder Lowder from Utah.  They will be serving in the city of Rotterdam (north), Netherlands.
I am sending some pictures of the first two days in the land. Enjoy!

Hoe Gat Met Jullie?

Wow, that was probably the fastest almost 6 weeks of my life.  Next time you all hear from me I will be across the world.  I am so stoked to get over there and be ablate understand almost nothing.  It will be hard for sure but I am so excited.  This week had been good though.  Out 'investigators" here have both committed to baptism this week so that was cool.  ( I know it is going to be probably 20x harder in the field but oh well)  Also the new buildings opened here at the MCT and so those have been fun to go explore and walk around in.  They have some of the coolest wall murals I have ever seen.  Plus they have these under rooms with some quiet music and some cool outdoorsy picture.  They are an amazing place to study.  The Dutch is coming along.  I know the gift of tongues is real and has helped me so much.  That is the only way I am going to be able to understand anything when I get there.  I know the MTC is a very helpful place but I am ready to leave haha.  anyways that is about all I can think of for now.
till next week,
Elder Harding

Chandola

So this week was pretty good.  I still have a hard time believing how fast the time goes here I have been out almost a month it it crazy.  I can't wait until I am out in the field, I only have two weeks left here and I could not be more excited!

The new MTC buildings open this week and I can't wait to go explore them.  They are giant and the inside is super nice from what I can see.  We have been doing tons of studying and stuff over on the grounds of the new buildings and it is awesome because we can actually see more than just the same gray brick walls all the time.
So my email is titled Chandola because in Hindi that means bald.  One of our Teachers got engaged this week and so she showed us a picture  and he was a but chubby and bald.  We had to tease her about it a bit.  Haha.  I did a terrible job telling that story but it was just funny that he was bald and chubby because she is fairly cute.  He must have a great personality or something. haha.
Our Tuesday night devotional was amazing.  I felt like he spoke right to me.  It was Elder De Few of the 70 and he spoke about his mission in Rome, Italy.  He said that as long as we remember to represent Christ at all times and always be Christlike we will have success.  No matter where we are serving.  It was good for me to hear that.  Anyways I can't wait until I am in the Netherlands, until next week!
Love,
Elder Harding

A Handshake and A Giant Bed

So that is week three, Crazy how time goes so fast here.  I feel like I just barely got here still.  The biggest highlight of this week was for sure Tuesday nights devotional.  We had Elder Runland fro the quorum of the 12 come and speak to us and his talk was awesome as well,  but the coolest part was after all of the missionaries at the MTC got to go shake his hand.  They said stuff like that only happened once every 3 or 4 years so it was way cool to get to be a part of that and meet a real life prophet of God.  It was a really cool experience.  Also the dutch is coming along as normal, we learned past tense this week so now I can say things that have happened and had happened haha.  Also we found out that you can push the bunk beds together and make one giant bed!  So we now have two giant beds in our room.  This week had been fairly similar to the other two in all other aspects though.  Our 'investigators" have been progressing at about the same rate we have.  The more I am here the easier it becomes to teach in Dutch and convey my thoughts to the people we are teaching.  The gift of tongues is definitely real and I can feel the spirit working through me.  I read a talk by Boyd K Packer about strengthening the less active members that I thought was really good if you want to check it out.  (you should it was cool) Also sorry about the pictures from last week I will try and figure them out better this week.

Elder Harding

I few words to his mother:

(Disclaimer he is mostly responding directly to each sentence in my letter to him)

Hello there Mother,

About time we got a chicken run haha that's cool you and dad got that all set up it will sure make the yard a lot cleaner.  And yes I remember the water cycle haha.  I will have to send Easton a card for his birthday.  But ehh I don't feel like I am missing out on too much by not graduating with my class. But ya that is way weird Abbie will be just right here, and I mean we aren't really suppose to meet people at the Temple but I'm there around 1:30 or so on Thursday's and like 3-5 on Sundays...Sooo theres that information do with it what you will.  

My companions are good we all get along pretty well.  I usually have to be the one that keeps us focused during study time and such so that has been a bit not my fav but it's all good here in prison.  Oops I mean the MTC not prison.  I converted Elder Nus baum to watches and he bought two in a day haha.  And for Elder Schwinger he said that I made him realize he is not great at ping pong (we ended up with a little stretch across net and some paddles from people who left the MTC so that has been fun)  Also we still are focused we really just play a little at nights when we have an hour just to chill and relax.  The dutch is good we learned past tense and I am learning more every day.  I love learning it.  Honestly it's my favorite part.  Spiritual experience was definitely shaking hands with an apostle, I felt like I could feel the spiritual power oozing off him.  And my investigators are the same still making baby steps haha.  

Here is our picture from Austin's graduation with our fake Austin.  It's really his best friend Jason, but it was fun to pretend like I had a son around graduating that day.  Even if he didn't feel like he was missing out on much, I still did.