...did you miss me?

¡Hola mis amigos!

Well, I made it to Argentina! But first, some background to my last days at the MTC:

Leaving the MTC was rough. That place was so good to me! I recommend going there. But in all seriousness, I loved it, it is a dedicated place and you recognize that AFTER you leave. The world is a bit of a scary place!

Last Monday was travel day. The missionaries leaving for Argentina all left at 8:30 ish in the morning, so no complaints there. I got to call my parents and sister while in SLC, and it was so nice to here from them! I just wish I could go boating with them! Familes are great. Especially mine=)

We had a layover in Atlanta, and I had this really cool experience. We were in the food court, and this older black woman (not to be racist, but you have to understand her in order to get the full feeling of the story) comes up to me and Elder Holtry and is like ''Are you from the ministry?'' I say we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that we were leaving for our missions. She asked us where we were going and we said Argentina, and she said ''That's what you all should be doing, going and spending some time for the Lord'' (loose quoting) BUT IT WAS SO NEAT! It's great that people of different faiths see us missionaries as ambassadors of the Lord. I love it!

Then we had the 11ish hour airplane ride. Yum. haha Actually, it wasn't too bad.

One thing I did enjoy on my flights was reading from Nehemiah in the Bible. Have you read it recently? If not, do it. He is a stud. A great example of diligence in our work.

AND THEN I MADE IT TO ARGENTINA! President and Sister Ayres met us in the airport, and after took us to some sights in BA. They are a classy duo. Then we went to the mission home and ate empanadas. YUM FOR REALS. After we had some training and an interview with President Ayres. Our mission is not a finding mission; most of our work is done through and with members, which is cool. We search for the 'Eligidos' (Elect) and have specific filters (couples must be married, WoW, etc) on who we teach and have a three week plan to prepare them for baptism.

And THEN we went to the church and got our new Compañeros and our area assignments. Mi nuevo compañero es Elder Carrasco de Chile. He is awesome! seriously. We get along pretty well, and only have lapses in communication every so often, but he does know quite a bit of English so all is good. I am currently serving in the city of Pilar. Its been kind of tough, I won't lie, but almost solely the language barrier. Every one talks SO FAST but I can usually understand what is being said, I just have a hard time if there are background noises or if they are talking too fast . Elder Carrasco thinks I'm going to be made a leader in the mission soon haha. TEACH FROM THE HEART AND KNOW YOUR STUFF. That really is the key. I'm so glad to be here! It looks like a fun 22 months!

Chau for now and see you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle

Last Pic in the USA