Flying out on Monday!               
April 9, 2015    

Amanda’s Haitian Creole nametag with her companion’s French nametag so you can compare the languages

The companion and I

The sun was really bright so don’t make fun of our closed eyes, but I have grown to love these sisters soo much in the short time I’ve known them.

We may look and sound serious in most of the pictures and emails, but we sure have a bunch of fun together and I will miss all the wonderful sisters!

This is Hermana Zambito and I a few pdays ago. She is the only other missionary here going to New York New York South and she is learning Spanish. She is the cutest, sweetest and most fun sister. We have the same schedule so I see her everyday at gym and meals.

I have been pushed forward two weeks because I’m doing really well with the language, so I will be leaving for New York on this Monday the 13th!


Since the first week my teachers have been, what I thought was joking, about sending me out early because I was getting it really fast. On Wednesday last week I found out they were serious and they talked to their boss and boss’ boss that night. My mission president was then contacted and we got confirmation yesterday. 
I’m nervous but so excited!
 
Last week at the temple I had a great experience. My health had been really frustrating me, and I had been praying for help and strength. My companion was reading the scriptures and I looked over to see where/what she was reading, and my eye caught a scripture. Alma 34:41. “But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions”. It was exactly what I needed to hear right then. My companion had been getting the impression to read that chapter over and over at the temple and had been on that page for quite a while. I’m so grateful she was listening to the spirit and acting on, because it was an answer to my prayers. Another important scripture to me this week was Alma 37:14. It was Thursday and I was thinking a lot about the real possibility of leaving early and it was freaking me out. I understood why my teachers though it would be good, but it was making me scared. Then I found this scripture while studying the Book of Mormon. “And now remember, my [daughter], that God has entrusted you with these things, which are sacred”. God trusts me enough to send me here to the MTC alone to learn Haitian Creole, and trusts me enough to send me out to New York two weeks early. Even if I don’t trust myself, he knows exactly what he’s doing and what I’m capable of. We truly can receive answers and help through other people and scriptures.
 
The church is building a temple in Port-au-Prince Haiti!!! I freaked out, I am so excited for them! It amazes me the love I have for these people that I don’t even know that well. They will in the next few years have the wonderful opportunity to attend the temple for themselves in their own country, in their own language.
 
Wednesday afternoon I taught at TRC, where volunteers come in and they are themselves while a share with them a message/lesson in Kreyol Ayisyen. I taught 2 returned missionaries that went to Haiti at the same time. One of them was the last sister to learn Haitian before they cut the program and just now opened it back up! She served 1990-91. I also met a sister whose brother was in the last group of non-native missionaries to be sent to Haiti. That was 10 years ago. Maybe with the temple coming in Haiti we will be able to send more missionaries there again. Who knows, but they are such faithful people. 
 
General Conference as a missionary was an amazing experience. I was able to pay better attention and get so much more out of it than ever before. Elder Bednar’s talk was probably my favorite It was about how to overcome fear.
1. Look to Christ
2. Build Foundation on Christ
3. Press Forward with Faith. and also about how Godly love & fear (aka correct knowledge, understanding, and awe of God’s eternal plan for us) dispels mortal fear.
A big question I had going into conference was about how to overcome my fears of a missionary and especially of leaving early. There was soo much throughout conference that calmed my heart and will continue to help me. Some other’s I really enjoyed include: Wilford Anderson on Sat afternoon. Gerald Causee and Elder Holland on Sunday morning. And then Elder Anderson’s on Sunday afternoon because he talked about Ayisyen yo. There was beautiful spring weather in between sessions on Saturday and we took a “nature walk” around the MTC campus as a zone. I was so happy and excited to see Lissa in the choir for the General Women’s session that I watched on Saturday! After I found her I started to recognize so many other people that I know from both the home and YSA stake in the choir. It made me happy to see so many great people
 
I love you all!!
 
Sè Hardman
 
“I’m no saint. Unless you think a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying.” -Nelson Mandela
“Fear not…Courage, for the Lord is on thy side. If we do what’s right we have no need to fear” -Let Us All Press On