Letter from 1/29/2014

Anyway... things are good here! I found out that we will be moving before the end of this transfer to an even BETTER house than the elders!!! Woohooo!!! Suckers! Just kidding, the elders here are actually really great. :) We played soccer today and let me just say that what I have gained in endurance and muscle, I have lost in sprinting. It was ugly. Bahaha. Yesterday there was no water in the house, which we discovered after cleaning the elder´s old house. We definitely went out proselyting as our dirty selves. Wasn´t as bad as I thought it would be, but I will not be electing to skip showers in the near future. Haha.
Speaking of showers, I destroyed one of the towels I brought! I didn´t want to, but a mouse got into my suitcase a few weeks ago and I don´t know if you know this, but towels make bomb mouse nests. Haha. There were SO many holes. I cleaned it with detergent and a little bleach, as well as the inside of my suitcase. I always make sure it is zipped now. But the towel in parts makes for excellent miscellaneous use, so I´m not too sad. For example, we had no kitchen towels... and now we do. Haha. I am definitely looking forward to moving. We will live on the second level, so hopefully there will be less furry-crawly friend problems. I heard a rumor about a water heater as well, but I refuse to get my hopes up. I want to surprise myself. :0)

BY THE WAY. Those mint melt things are SOOO good. Where are they from??

I´m looking forward to hearing a recording or two from the NTCC performance if there are any! I am so proud of my musical family. Josh included!! He told me he´s singing with Vocal Majority. You guys are total rock stars. :)) In the way of music-- remember that cd that I got from an AP? It is SO good! The group is called The Lowlights and they sing all kinds of folk versions of hymns. There´s a banjo rendition of If You Could Hie To Kolob and a really pretty celtic-y song. Check them out!!! I think the whole family will love them.

Things are going well here. We are having a lot more progress with less actives in the ward, although progress with investigators is slow. Remember the woman we read the Book of Mormon with? Well, we had some sad news the other day from the elders that she has been smoking. There had been some suspicion before, and we even talked about the word of wisdom, which she understands perfectly. It was pretty confusing, I have to admit. But here´s the thing- she came to church this Sunday!!! For the first time since I have been here! I don´t know exactly what´s going on with the smoking, but I am so happy that she is coming back! She made comments in Relief Society and everything. I just love her. We see her son a lot in the mission. He is assigned to the mission office right now and is helping us with the new house situation. He was serving in Mexico, but fell from a third story and had memory loss. He had surgery and recovered then was reassigned to Santiago. He is a really cool person. A really good missionary.

One of our partially active families is starting to prepare to go to the temple to be sealed in April!!! I am so happy for them!! Their daughters are just so sweet. One is a teenager, and the other is about the twins´ age. They have another daughter who is older, but doesn´t live at home. We had a family home evening with them last night. I really hope they make it to the temple. I will totally ask for permission to attend if I´m not still here in Mao!

Man, it´s hard to  believe my second transfer is almost over already. I don´t know what will change with this transfer yet, and it´s a little nerve wracking. Haha. Just two weeks! Anyway, it´s time to go. I love you all so much!!! Say your prayers and serve one another!

Hermana Harden xoxoxo