Feliz Navidad

So this week was pretty jazzy. We finished up the Zárate zone choir with our last concert in Lima. It has been so fun to sing these little villancicos in our zone. Afterwards we went to the church because the zone leader had bought us empanadas and pizza, but the delivery guy came pretttttttty late, so we had to eat quickly and get out. And then the next morning I had to get up early because we had our mission Christmas activity, and there were EIGHT of us staying in the apartment of the Zárate elders (Living far away with crazy bus schedule problems really inconveniences us and San Pedro. But I love it) 

AND I needed a haircut (In Argentina hair cutting places don't open on Mondays (o say, Pday)... don't ask me why.), so Elder Rumualdo cut my hair (I had to help a bit), and my companion's hair, but he sort of messed up and cut the sides to small, and well, as he says, it looks like an hongo. And he's going home like in two days so it's fine, jaja=). 

Sunday was FUN! We had church at 11:20 so we stayed in and I got to do some of my studies, and we wrapped some Libros de Mormón in wrapping paper to give away later. Well, it was POURING rain. just about the whole day.  So I was kind of scared I wouldn't be able to hand out my Christmas present, but then after church before our Skype call we found someone who wanted to learn more, So I got to hand out my book! It's probably one of the best Christmas presents I've ever given.  =)

Obviously, I loved talking to my family! I was so nice to be able to be all together and being, well, HARDCASTLES. It's weird to think that now I only have one more Skype with them. Oof. I'm getting old. 

Well now let's talk about The whole reason we have Christmas, Christ, for a bit. So our mission President has asked us to read Jesus The Christ every day as part of our personal studies, and So I am reading it about 30 minutes every day, and I love it. I am learning so much more about my Savior. I just finished the part where it talks about his adolescence. It amazes me. HE amazes me. Go and read chapters 9 and 10. I am so grateful for me perfect Savior. 

That's all for this week! I love you guys. See you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle

fotos:

1 I GOT MY HAT

2 and 3 Christmas with the Luquez family. They are the best.

Mosíah 15:15 y 16

Mosíah 15:15 y 16
15:   And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet!
16:   And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace!

That is my missionary joke for the week. I'm pretty sure my feet have never looked less beautiful.  I've got some pretty beautiful blisters, I guess. But anywho... 

¡¡¡¡Feliz Navidad!!!! I really think it needs to be cold to be Christmas, but it's whatever. This week was insane! I don't think I've ever worked this much! We saw lot's of miracles as well. This week we had divisiones again, but this time Elder Rumualdo came to Baradero! For two days! There were lots of lessons learned. When Elder Rumualdo got here, we had the mindset of just talking to everyone, and we did it! He is such a great example to me, probably one of my favorite zone leaders of all time, even if he kept complaining for all the walking he had to do on the top-quality Baradero streets, haha. In those two days we gave out 14 Books of Mormon. It was miracle after miracle, seven books each day! I was so happy, and I thought, ''We can share 30 Books of Mormon this week.'' So I tried to keep up the fire with Elder Martínez and Saturday night we handed out the thirtieth book! And then Sunday was filled with miracles in church. One of our investigators came who said she wouldn't this week, and then Hermano Salas (We think he is part of the Bs As Temple Presidency) brought a FAMILY to church! We were so happy. And the ward did a really good job fellowshipping them. They don't have their schedule quite figured out yet, but we will be meeting with them either Friday or Saturday. Pray for the best!

Once again, I learned that God loves us, that He blesses us when we really try, and it's usually not in the way we were planning. Usually, what we do never turns out the way we want, but our Heavenly Father with His extensive love goes forth and brings us miracles. I love Him. I love Jesus Christ as well. 

Go and read this https://www.lds.org/liahona/2016/12/the-divine-power-of-grace?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_MO_12-12-2016_dPFD_fLHNA_xLIDyL2-4_ and then Moroni 10:33 and 34. Heavenly Father And Jesus Christ love us. As we move nearer to them, they will fill us with Their grace. 

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. See you all soon enough (less than six months wow)! 
Atte:
Elder Hardcastle =)

The cibercafe is closed AGAIN

...So we are writing direct from the capilla (oops I mean church...)

But yeah, so this week:

This week was A LAS CORRIDAS. That means busy. Is it already el 12 de Diciembre? My mind tells me no, the heat tells me SIIIIIIIIIII. Today is especially toasty. We spent just about half the week in Zárate. 

Monday afternoon during proselyting time the zone leaders called us and were like ''hey we want to do divisiones with you guys tomorrow, come over,'' so we were like ''okay cool.''  We grabbed our things and went to the bus terminal to make the hour long trek to Zárate! Then Tuesday I was with my good new friend Elder Rumualdo, from Mexico. We are both kind of bummed because we pretty much got to know each other this last transfer, and he's going home at the end of this transfer. But he is a SUPER missionary. I learned a lot from him. He helped me work on being even more bold and talking with more people. So we talked to a lot of people and shared seven Libros de Mormón with follow-up visits! And then the next day my companion had a leadership capacitación in San Fernando, so I was left to work with Elder Coltrin from Idaho, while our companion's went to the meeting. And we were filled with fire, and we shared ANOTHER seven Libros de Mormón with follow-up visits! Woot! By this point I was filled with even more fire, So Wednesday when we went back to Baradero to work for the day before going back to Zárate that night and I was SO ready to talk! And so I really pushed myself to talk to a ton a people. I am pretty sure I have never tried talking to so many people in my mission before in one day. And we gave away zero Libros de Mormón with follow-up visits. Woooot! jaja it was a bit of a bummer, but I finished the day feeling bastante pleased with my efforts, thank you very much. 

It's actually been kind of my focus of the week. I have been thinking quite a bit about Ether 12:27

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

If we are humble and do what Christ wants us to do, rather than what we want to do (which is NOT easy all the time), he will help us to be able to overcome our weaknesses. Sometimes we may be a little bit stubborn and it may take us a while, BUT WE HAVE GOT TO DO IT! It's the only way one we can improve! It's the most important thing we can do! So be humble. 

Also, the senior couple, the Anderson's to put up curtains in our house. You guys need to meet them, they are buena gente. I took pictures with them. And they are how I want to be when I am older. 

Okay, well got to go for now. Be safe. Be humble. and I'll see you all soon enough!

Bye.

Elder Hardcastle=)

1. Rule Breakers 

(it's like 10:30 and we're waiting to go home)

2. Elder Rumualdo and I

3. Elder Juzga and I

4. It's getting hot outside and the cats are getting risky

5. Apparently this little guy can burn you.

New curtains with the Anderson's

El ciber está cerrado...

So the only cibercafe was closed so we are writing from the church, which has one computer. So I'll just send pictures today! 

But just a fun fact: this week we were fasting so that our investigators would come to church. Well, those who we specifically prayed for didn't come (JUST COME TO CHURCH), but a former investigator came! with his less-active girlfriend. So yay! Not at all what we were expecting, but we'll take it!

Have fun everyone! See you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle

A friend of mine in San Pedro took us out last pday. It was glorious. Also, enjoy my missionary tan. =)

We Moved

Howdy ya'll

So this week perhaps wasn't the most missionary-work heavy, because we had to spend more than two days moving all of our stuff over to the new house (NOT apartment, haha), and then Saturday was loco crazy with a huge storm in the morning and there was pretty much nobody in the street in the afternoon getting wet. menos nosotros. But now everything is settled and we are ready to have a great week this week! 

We had a good experience with Abrir la Boca (open your mouth) Friday. We got a message from the zone leaders that one of the companionships of hermanas had given away seven Libros de Mormón the day before by simply opening their mouth with everyone. At first I was like ''wow that's a lot'' and then I got thinking, ''we can do that.'' Contacting is probably one of my biggest challenges in the mission that I am working through because I really, really, hate it when people don't want to read a book about our Savior, or when they're comfortable where they are, etc. and I start to lose faith in finding people. But I decided I would put forth my best effort and try to contact all the people that replied to me nicely when I said hello.  My companion caught on as well and the Lord blessed us with a TON of people willing to accept this other testament of Jesus Christ! It showed me that if we try our best to act on the impressions of the Spirit, he will not fail us, we just need to open our mouths! 

Just some fun news: 

It hailed on Saturday. And it was huge!! I'll show you in the pictures.

There are toads by our new pensión. I like them.

Sunday I caught a toad at a members house=) it was some good clean fun.

This morning there was a swarm of dragonflies outside the pensión. Not a very dense swarm, but a swarm nonetheless. 

This week we have been testing our culinary expertise and made blueberry and peach syrups. 

That's it for this week. Espero que todos tengan una semana buenísima y que puedan pensar un poco más en nuestro Salvador, ya que estamos llegando a la época navideña=) See you all soon enough!

Atentamente,

Elder Hardcastle

Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings from Baradero!

First off, this place is sooooo beautiful. I love it But there are no buses in the city, so we are walking EVERYWHERE. I love the zone, too. There are a lot of good missionaries here and I really admire the leaders here in Zárate. We did divisiones with the Zone leaders Tuesday and it was really good. Elder Zambrano doesn't leave a single stone unturned. We were talking the whole day to people! and Right before the day ended we were able to give out the last of our six Books of Mormon. I wasn't sure if we would do it! but we did. 

I am thoroughly enjoying my time here with elder Martinez. HE IS KELSEY HALL BUT LATINO. We are very similar and are constantly cracking up. I think what differences we do have are very complementary and together we are seeing some great things. 

The work is work, as always. I'm going to try and be extra jolly when I say hello to the people. Like they say, give a little to get a little! We did have a really good experience this week that I would like to share with you. We were out proselyting and there was a lady outside her house watering the outside of her house, and I decided to go and talk to her. After the first few moments she told us that she was part of another religion and yada yada yada, so I told her, ''Great! because we want to share the word of Christ with you!'' to which she kept on trying to give us the hint that she was not interested. Well, we had come from a day that had been less than eventful, and I wasn't quite ready to give in yet, thank you very much. So I told her, ''Look, we're not here to bug you. We are here because we know that this book is true and will be a blessing in your life.''

The lady then replied, ''Well, I'm not maleducada (sorry , don't know the translation... impolite/rude?). You want me to read the book?'' and we said ''YESSSSS! And then we'll meet with you again.''
...And she accepted! By the time she finished talking to us, she had warmed up quite a bit, enough to try and kiss us (Don't worry guys, we didn't let her)! She said it was a big coincidence that we were even there talking to her, because if she had been in her house, she would have just told us to leave (which we had done previously to my companion). It helped me with my testimony that I need to be bold. This week I am going to try and find way to better answer the common excuses, to see if I can find a spark of interest to feed on. 

That's about it for now. I love you guys! Have a great Thanksgiving! I am grateful for this Gospel. It has been so great to see my testimony and conversion strengthening and changing these last 17 months. Sometimes I'm like. ''Am I saying that?'' This is truly the true church with the fullness of the everlasting Gospel. 

See you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle

The cat in the neighbor's yard that was looking at me.  

Isn't it lovely?

Taking bus/airplane to Zarate.

The siesta is REAL.

Plaza Mitre

Good Morning Ba...radero!

The eagle has flown. That's right, Eldersito Hardcastle has left his loving Villa Soldati and has headed to the other side of the mission. But we'll get to that later.

So, ¿Cómo están? This week was super great. Like SUPER great. POR FIN we had interviews and capacitación from Presidente Smith an the other leaders in the mission. It was pretty good. We talked a lot about our goal of sharing 30 Libros de Mormón every week and what is holding us back from doing it and how we can do it better. What I got out of it is that I needed to be more bold by talking to more people and being more direct when talking. And then the next day we did multidivisiones in the Zone, where all the elders do a division with another group of elders from a different area. And guess where I went? Barrio Rivadavia, which happens to be the most dangerous in the mission. So that was jazzy. I was there with Elder Castro from El Salvador, and we put in some serious work. The assistants told us we need to double our efforts in this work, and so the zone leaders told us that instead of trying to give away four LDM that day, they wanted us to give out eight. ¿¿Quééééé?? I've never done that. Luckily that Lord blessed us, and we were able to give away not only eight, but ten books! And then again on Sunday we busted our daily goal and gave out seven! And it helped me strengthen my testimony that when we are more bold and direct, the people will be more touched.

One of the things we were encouraged to try is help the people see how the Book of Mormon answers the questions of our soul. So in my primer contact I've started asking the people what problems or question they have in their lives, and I will find a part in the Book of Mormon to answer it. I'm pretty sure if someone told me to open up like that- in the street, encima- I wouldn't. But guys, you would not believe how many people DO! It's really one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my mission. After talking to a person for a few minutes, these people open up to the very core, telling us how they are angry at God because He allowed their children to die, or how some people don't want to try to be good anymore because when they do everything seems to go worse, etc. And then the best part is that we get to testify that they are children of a Heavenly Father who loves them and knows what they are going through, and then we find a scripture based on their need. It makes me feel like I am really fulfilling my purpose!

So yeah Sunday was a day of miracles in Soldati. We left that day with the desire to find a family of four. Well it was about six in the afternoon and we still hadn't found one. So we decided to pray. We were on our way to a member family's house so I pretty much said, ''Heavenly Father, we really want to find a family of four today preferably before we make it to the Olmedo's house. Please help us to find them and be bold enough to contact them.'' We serious just turned the corner and BOOM. There was a family of four! And they accepted the Book of Mormon! and then a few minutes later BOOM! Another family. God really does answer our prayers when they are in line with His will. And then later on in the day we met with a lady we had given a LDM to the day before, and it was amazing. She had told us she was getting tired of trying to be good because everything was going downhill even through all her efforts. We Shared Alma 38 with her and than talked about how it is that we have the Libro de Mormón and the Restoration of the Gospel. She and two of her kids are sooo ready.

And then yesterday we got transfer calls, and me tocó ser trasladado. I am now in LA GRAN ZONA ZARATE! In the area Baradero. And I love it so far. And I am here with a ton of my friends! I basically went from one side of the mission to the other. And it's pretty much the castaway zona, because it is close to nothing, just a looooooooot of fields. It reminds me of a mixture of Arizona and Idaho, without the mountains. My companion is Elder Martinez from California, who I will be killing this transfer. I have been wanting to come to Zarate since pretty much the beginning of my mission, so I am as happy as I could be! Stay tuned for some great adventures here!

That's about all I got for you all this week, folks. Keep on keeping on, AND PRAY. It works. I relearned that this week. He WILL answer your prayers!

See you all sooon enough!

Elder Hardcastle

Fotos: 

1. Elder Martinez and I

2. Outside our apartment. ¡QUÉ TRANQUILO!

camarero desencamaronamelo

(Enjoy that tragalenguas that has been floating around the ward this week.)

... And hello from a steamy Buenos Aires, Wowzers was it hot Saturday and Sunday!

So this week we did service! And all on martes ... I mean Tuesday. oops. We started off the day carry a refridgerator down the stairs of an apartment building and then carrying it up another side, because the elevator doesn't work... so yeah. My companion´s shirt got SUPER  dirty, so we went to a member´s house to go and borrow another. Just to let you know, latinos are not the biggest of persons. My companions is built kind of like and ox, and while he fit into the shirts, his unusually large neck was not close to letting him do up the top button. So I had to wear this member´s shirt which barely tucked in and then wear a jacket over it because it was a little too tight... yep. and I wore that to our next service! which was helping a lady in our ward with English homework. And that took us a long while. But It gave us opportunities to serve, and it was good to help the ward out a little bit.

Sunday was a good day. Out of nowhere an former investigator came to church! He told us that he just felt like going, and so he did! We are going to go and visit him this week to see if now he is more ready to learn and keep committments! And then later that afternoon we decided to go and visit a family that we have been working with that has run into a couple of problems. So remember when I went and knocked that door of the less active and found a house FULL of people? yeah, them. Well, a less active has gone rougue and she is causing a couple of problems for the ward. She is loca crazy, to put it shortly. But she happens to be a friend of this family and told them a whole bunch of lies (like that we worship Jospeh Smith, etc.) and this family got a little bit confused from what she told them and what others had said. Anywho, I knew we had to have a sit down with them and talk it all out. So I we prayed with them and actually ended up having a really good lesson! I reminded them that when we want to make an important spiritual decision, Satan is going to try attacking us so that we don't follow through. I was like LOOK WHAT IS HAPPENNING TO YOU GUYS! HE IS ATTACKING YOU. And then they were like Yeah, but why won't God just tell us that this is the right church? So I explained to them... again... that he won't answer us unless we have faith. It's like wanting to eat a cake, but not being willing to make it. I asked them how they had been doing with their reading from the Book of Mormon and praying, and they admitted they hadn't been putting forth a very good effort. So this week they are going to work on it! So please pray from them! And then to finish off the day we waited for the bus for like ever and got home after 9:45... oops.

So yeah that was my week! It's going by a little slow, but I am glad for the oppoutunities I have to share the Gospel and to help others, and I am growing so much personally! I hope you all have a great week, and I'll see you all soon enough!

Love,

Elder Hardcastle

A Halloween Miracle!

Hello my friends! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We were blessed this last week with the baptism of Marta (the sassy golden investigator from a few weeks ago) and her two kids! It all seemed to go by pretty quick, but I am happy and they were ready. Her kids have been coming to church now for about a month, and Marta came twice with us and had attended before, and so it was a quick miracle that's come to us, and I'm really thankful. The bishop is also pretty dang happy (Marta is his sister) and keeps saying that this baptism was truly a miracle. He also told me that he thinks that that was the reason I stayed here, and that now I will go to another area, haha. It has been five and a half months since I've had a baptism in this area, and even though four baptisms are not very many 'fruits' for what will almost be nine months in this area, I am happy because these are some of the best people I have ever met, and I am so confident in them and know there are great things in store for them. 

This was actually a pretty good week for Barrio Villa Soldati, because the other elders in the ward also baptized a family Saturday. Both of the families are killer, have good connections with the members, and have both made us asado, so you could say that the work is definitely progressing in this part of the vineyard=) 

Also, yesterday in the asado with the other elders, I tried intestine and liver. Intestine tastes better than liver grilled, if you were curious. 

On another note, I have started reading Elder J. Devin Cornish's talk from this last conference, and it has become one of my all time favorites! Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all the stuff we have to do as missionaries and as members of the Church. The talk helps me remember that we can only do our best effort and as long as we really try and repent often, it will all be okay. AND IT'S TRUE. I know I am far from being the perfect missionary (or a perfect human for that matter), but if I look back from when I first started my mission to now, I can easily say that I have improved and have become a more dedicated follower of Christ. I wan't 'bad' before I left on my mission. In fact, I really tried to be 'good'. But in these last 16 months or so God has really blessed me and strengthened me as I've gone through this path harder by far than all the other ones I've taken. It's hard, and I'm not perfect, but it is so good. 

That's what I've got for right now folk. Have fun begging for candy tonight, and I'll see you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle=)

¡¡¡BAUTISMO!!!

 The bishop doing his thing

 Me almost being burned on the rear end

ASADO

We got on the roof and snapped some photos. The building in the back is an abandoned hospital (actually tons of people live there, but as far as being a hospital, it's abandoned)

Families are the best thing.

Hello everyone! How are you doing?

So these last two weeks have been a little bit weird, but really good. We are working with an investigator pool of mostly families, which is the greatest, and the families are the ones that help us see the most results, so yay! And we are working with the members, and I just want to reiterate, OTRA VEZ, that members are the key to the work. It is hard, and even though it replaces house street contacting and stuff like that, the results are there and it gives us the opportunity to help those who are struggling within the Church. 

In an effort to help my companion see how we can work through the members to find the blessings waiting for us around them, I stopped us in a moment of doing street contacting and took him to the house of a less active lady. While my companion talked with her outside and shared a spiritual thought, I went over to knock on her neighbor's door, praying to God that this opportunity could be used to show my companion how important this type of work is for us. A young mother answered the door, who had met with the elders a while ago, and accepted my Book of Mormon with a return visit! Fast forward a few visits, and now we are working with her, her partner, her mom, her sister and her partner and one of their kids! AND THE TWO COUPLES WANT TO GET MARRIED. That is pretty much better than gold to hear, so we are pretty excited to start helping them. They are a fun bunch that ask a lot of questions and I have pretty much never worked with people like them before, but I am really excited about being able to work with them and to learn how to better teach them=) But it strengthened my testimony that God answers our righteous desires, and that This is the way we are supposed to work.

This week we did a noche de hogar (family home evening) with the bishop's family, and it was really great. They invited their neighbors (a family of four) over and we watched the the short film of Joseph Smith's first vision, and it was really good, and the dad seemed to be really touched. They accepted Books of Mormon, and even though the return visit we planned with them fell through, the bishop it going to keep working with them so that they can grow in the Gospel!

Also this week as we were walking in the street we came across a more-or-less active in the street and was with a friend so we went and invited her to learn more, and the friend came to church with us yesterday! She is the first Chilean that I have met in my area, and probably one of the smartest people there as well. We talked about genetics in agriculture and the blessing of knowledge that God has given us to improve our state of living in the world while we were waiting for the bus! Buuuut, she really wasn't a fan of church (she thought it was too long), and so she probably won't come again, but hey! We gave her a chance.

We were super happy yesterday because the bishop's sister and her two kids came to church! yay! Unlike the other investigator, they really liked it, and are doing well and want to be baptized. The bishop's family and his sister's family made us an asado (Argentine barbeque) yesterday for lunch, so you could say that we have gained their confidence.  =) The sister did tell me that she is not sure if she is prepared yet to be baptized because she wants to know more, so I left her Mosiah 18 to read. We'll see if she is hesitant because she isn't ready or if she simply doesn't think she is. I just know she is going to be baptized, but it will be in her time and not ours. Maybe it will be this next Sunday, or next week. But I am pretty sure it will be soon! So I am excited for them! 

Also, on a less spiritual thought, this last week we found a bus that takes us to our area in pretty much half the time than the other one we were taking. Who knew it took only eight months to find that out! 

Also, I completed eight months in Soldati this last week. So ¡vamos Elder Hardcastle!

That is pretty much all the excitement from this week! Now I want you all to go and read the Book of Mormon this week, because it is the base of our testimony of the Savior and it is truly one of the biggest blessings we have as members of the church. I love you all and hope you have a great week! See you all soon enough! 

Hasta Luego, 

Elder Hardcastle=)

...and just in case anyone wanted to know,  this week while we were doing 12 Semanas (the training for new missionaries), and watching and a segment from the District 2, when Sisters Voyles and Zaldivar teach about tithing (which they do REALLY WELL and in like 5 minutes), I totally noticed that THEY SWITCHED NAME TAGS. Que truchas.

Anyways, that's all. Carry on with your lives.

Fat and Feliz

Well hello there!

Well we were in a little bit of a slump at the beginning of the week, and then Sunday came, and everything got better! I feel like that happens a lot in the mission, like we are working so hard with not very many results and then we get to the last day and we see small miracles! We see the fruits of our labors after the trail of our faith!

So let's talk about the stuff that happened yesterday.

Felicia has a church calling! Whooooot!  I have been waiting for this for a long time, and she is now the ward Liahona magazine coordinator. I don't really know what that means, but it is cool.  =)

The second things is that WE FOUND A FAMILY. yesssss. Oh my goodness, I was so happy yesterday because we basically struck gold. I have actually known this lady since my first transfer here in Soldati (if I remember correctly... so much time...), and I think now is her moment. She is a bishop's sister, and last transfer her husband died, leaving her with her two sons. SHE IS SO GREAT. When I first met her she told us that she was pretty into her religion, but now she admits that there are some things in it that don't correlate with the doctrine of the Bible. She also likes the doctrine of our Church because it answers her questions (duhh, it's teaches the RESTORED GOSPEL). Anywho, we went to her house yesterday and watched the Joseph Smith video with her and her kids and the bishop, and her kids and the bishop had to tell her to stop and sit down because she was too busy mom-ing us, preparing us food and making chipa and talking about how she bought cheese for really cheap, haha. But eventually she sat down and we had a good lesson. They are so loving and have desires to learn more and to act (¡aceptaron fecha!), and we see great things for them in the future! 

Now the third miracle was with this lady we met Saturday. We were walking (welcome to missionary life) and we decided to talk with this lady outside her house. She is super porteña grandma (¿viste?) but really sweet, and we began to talk with her about the Book of Mormon and she showed some interest! She also told us that she has been in her church for many years, but we continued talking with her and she accepted the book but said she would schedule another visit some other day, which usually means never. But Sunday night we saw her again as we passed her house, and after saying hi her to her she told us, ''yeah, I think I am going to go to your Church. Mine keeps asking me for too much money. I believe in tithing and offerings, but this is too much!'' SCORE. She also said she had been reading and so far had like it. So we scheduled a follow-up visit. Hope for the best!

So yeah. Those are the miracles of the week! I love being a servant of the Lord and sharing the Book of Mormon with the people in Soldati. I didn't know how much I loved the Book of Mormon or the Gospel until I saw how sad life is without it! They truly have to be the key to our happiness, not just the happiness of right now but for forever. So READ THE BOOK! And GO TO CHURCH! And SAY YOUR PRAYERS!

See you all soon enough!

¡Les Quiero!

Elder Hardcastle

E iba guiado por el Espíritu...

Good afternoon mis queridos! ¿Cómo andan?

So this week was pretty special. Transfers came, transers left, and it looks like I'll be staying in Soldati yet another transfer! But I'm not even complaining right now because I love the members here and get to finish Elder Justice's training. The other missionaries call me 'Eterno Hardcastle' y bueno, soy capo. The best thing was that I think one family thought I was going and they made us a small mountain of churros FILLED with dulce de leche and COVERED in chocolate. Mhmm. I hope we see a repeat at the end of this next transfer. =)

So Let's talk about our good friend, el Espíritu Santo for a little bit. He is going to be the main focus of my week because I truly felt like I was blessed a ton with knowing where to go and what to do. And that is a great feeling, and an assurance to me that I am doing what God wants me to do.

So my companion is great. He has been having a bit of a health problem and it has left him pretty beat. The other day we were out in the calle and were thinking that it was probably time for him to head back to the apartment because he was pretty whooped, but he is a trooper wanted to hand out Libros de Mormón first. So as we were wrapping up and walking to the bus stop, I felt to stop by the house of an old lady who was outside drinking mate with her son. This lady made it pretty apparent that she was well invested in her religion, but I decided to let her say her piece so I could share a bit as well and maybe talk to her son who seems a little more open. But then a less active lady came over that I have been trying to communicate with since forever, and we were able to talk to her! And it was definitely the needed moment, and I am pretty sure that is the reason why the impression to talk! We were then able to share with her a few promised from the Libro de Mormon on how to build up happiness. Now she just has to act and will be able to see the miracles that the restored Gospel makes in our lives!

And then Spirit was poured out in General Conference! I hope you all prepared your questions before it started, because it was really just a fiesta espiritual. Like really. Especially the Saturday morning sesión! I really loved Sister McConkie's talk about calling upon God through prayer, and aligning our will with His. Also Elder Cornish really outdid himself with his talk about putting forth our best work and even though it will never be enough, WE CAN MAKE IT! They are both definitely print-worthy. I just love conference. I received so many answers to my questions, and understood more about how to receive and recognize revelation.

And then... yesterday! So in correlation with our 12 semanas training (an extra hour of study for new missionaries) and the visión of our mission, we spent some time yesterday studying and talking about the Libro de Mormón, and how reading it and asking our Heavenly Father if it is true can answer any doubt or objection that a person has about it. Later on in the day, we were able to put that knowledge into action! We decided to contact almost every single door in the pasillo (don't know that Word in English... alley?) of a few members (the ones that made us churros). As we were nearing to the end, a was talking with a man who said he was Christian. As I was testifying about the Libro de Mormón, he interrupted me and was like 'this is all great but only the Bible is the word of God'. He was being a bit persistent, and I was not willing to give in, thank you very much, and so I told him that only if he read it and asked God if it was true would he know of the truthfulness. But I said it a lot cooler and in Castellano and my companion and I both agreed that it was a righteous spiritual 'whopping'. All in all, he didn't want a copy, but I sure left that door feeling pretty spiritually pumped up!

So that was the week I had! I hope you all know that the Gospel is so true, and all we need to is experiment with it to see the wonderously miraculous results that WILL come. ''...si es que guardáis mis mandamientos, seréis conducidos hacia la tierra prometida, y sabréis que yo soy el que os conduce'' (1 Nefi 17:13). I love the Gospel, and I love being a missionary! I love enjoying the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost in my life, and I invite YOU ALL to pay more attention to His voice this week. His words of those of the Lord!

Have a safe week you guys. See you all soon enough!

Con amor,

Elder Hardcastle =)

Picures,

1 ''Truth is the fragrance of the soul''

2 and 3 Worldwide Day of Service!

 GENERAL CONFERENCE IN ENLGISH FOR 'LOS YANKEES'

Also, Megan Weston please note that Elder Duffin and I are in the same district!

Okay bye