Fotos

No words this week, just pictures.

Fotos
1. Conozca a los mormones with Rodrigo

 2. Hno y Hna Pineda

 3. Bye bye Eldersito McBride

The Call

[in the voice of Dumbledor] ''Another transfer, gone.''

What a time Elder Juzga and I had together, and will contintue having because we are both staying in our area. It has probably been my most productive transfer so far in the mission. Elder Juzga and I get along super well! It is SO AMAZING what you can do with a companion who is so dedicated to the work and wants to work in every moment. We worked hard, we were obedient, and even I have thought a lot about this transfer in regards of investigators and baptisms, I feel like we did a lot of good work in the Villa, and saw a lot of personal progress. We have definitely started working better with the ward, and I keep loving Soldati.

Some good news from this week.

So once upon a time I wrote you guys about our basically golden investigator, whose only obstacle between her and baptism was her working Sundays. We have worked a lot with her because she is just so great, and this week she has finally found someone to switch work schedules with! YESSSSS so she will be able to be baptized up here soon, and we are oh so happy. 

This week  we had lunch with the Cornejo family and they are now like my favorite little family here in the ward. They are a young couple with a little girl. They both were born into member families, which is so uncommon here in Argentina. Anyways they fed us and I was talking with Hno Cornejo and he told us he works in a chocolate factory! What!!! He then pulled out chocaolate and we get to test it out. I told the family then that I am pretty much chocolate's number one fan, AND HE GAVE ME A BAG OF OF CHOCOLATE. I was so happy and I just couldn't stop smiling. THESE ARE MY TYPE OF PEOPLE.

And now time to explain the subject line, an occurance that happened yesterday that was probably one of the happiest moments ever. Yesterday we were walking in the rain (newsflash it is raining gatos y perros down here) and we got a phone call. Elder Juzga answered it and it was the Elders in Pilar 2, my first area. He passed me the phone and then the elders on the other side passed it to another guy. It was the Aguirre Family, who I baptized in Pilar! I got to talk to the husband and wife and their oldest daughter who was confirmed my first week in the mission. President Ayres gave them permission to call me. Friends and family, What joy it brings to talk to this family that I grew to love as they grew to love the gospel. I was so, so happy. They are like my family here in Argentina, they even call me their son! I really did so little for them, being such a youngster in the mission and not being able to do hardly anything, but I love them with all my heart. It was such a great experience. 

That's about all this week. Stay safe, and I'll see you all soon enough (like in 14 months because I completed 10 this last week!)

Chau,

Elder Hardcastle 

I was going to send pictures but it's not working.  =(

The (almost) Dengue Days are (not) Over

Howdy Everyone!

So don't freak out just yet. I am LOTS better now. But this last week Eldersito Hardcastle took a little tumble once again in the illness boat. Let me explain a bit.

This last week we were eating with some members and I there was a piece of meat. As I was eating it, I realized that it was not cooked 100% through in one area. More like maybe 30%. I ate around it to avoid it, but when it was all that was left I just looked at it and told myself 'You cannot eat this'. Luckily I am learning about all my talents here in the mission, and I guess I am pretty good at hiding food too (I have only had to do it twice so far. but so far, so good), so I snuck it away into my fanny pack (it is a miracle bag). But I think the parts that I did eat did some damage and the next day I had nausea and after our zone meeting I threw up in the premetro/subway station. Don't worry, I was outside. After that I called Sister Ayres again and she told me to take a rest. We were going to go back to work after a couple of hours but I felt bad again and so we took another sick day. Two in two weeks! Through all of this my immune system was beat and I'm pretty sure I had bronchitis for a couple days after, but hey. I'm back to the grind and happy to be there!

Elder Juzga and I have been talking about how we can improve our work here in Soldati, and we decided that we were going to start working with a greater sense of urgency. And we did it! We had a fun experience yesterday when we went with a member to contact the reference she had. We went to the house and they told us that this man didn't live there. But we got talking to her and she was so great! I invited her to be baptized and she told us that if it fills her, then yes! We were like YEAH IT IS GOING TO FILL YOU! It was so great! It is always great when you find elegidos!

Bus prices went up this week, and there was a sort of protest, we think. At first I thought there was an accident because there was a bit of smoke and police, but then some teenagers ran around banging stuff and saying some bad words, at least that's what the Latino elders in the apartment told me. Either way it was pretty lame and not quite as exciting as I was thinking. 

We have a fun new past time in the apartment- JENGA!  I don't exactly know where the jenga set came from, but now we play it every so often before we go to bed. I have sadly lost a bit of my touch, but my companion is playing surprisingly good! We have even created a new verb- jengar. ¿Podemos jengar hoy? Sí, jengaremos esta noche. ¡Nos gusta jengar! Just some example on how one might use this new verb.  =)

That's it for this week! Sorry my emails seem to be so short! But I hope you all enjoy them nonetheless. This week, I hope you all share a spiritual thought with a friend. Fill them with the Spirit and your testimony!

See you all soon enough!

Con Amor,

Elder Hardcastle

1 and 2: Cats of Argentina

3. Elder Juzga REALLY likes his empanadas.

So basically I had dengue

Hello people! It is raining over here and there is a cat sitting right next to me in the cyber and I am basically on cloud 9 because of that. 

Oh, you don't care about the cat and just want to hear about my burst of basically dengue? Fine. I see how it is. Cat haters.

Dengue

So a little over a week ago I started having stomach problems and a headache. After P-day last week, my temperature started rising and I was hurting a lot in my neck. I know that when your neck starts to hurt that never means anything good, so I figured that it was time to call Hna Ayre (We are basically pretty use to talking to each other now because I have been calling her quite a bit recently because of some issues that my companion is having, and she now recognizes my voice when I call. I am special=)) and we thought there was a possibility that I had meningitis. She figured it wasn't worth risking, so at like 10pm we went on my second night adventure to the hospital! This time, we went to Hospital Britanico, so that was exhilarating (but don't be fooled, it was all very Argentine. But there were signs in English and Chinese!). So after quite a bit of waiting and some pretty light testing, the medic told me I had a viral infection. He told me to spend three days in bed and to drink lot's of water and avoid fruits and vegetables (umm... what?) and take some ibuprofen. So then we went back to the apartment and I slept a lot the next day and was able to read a lot of the Book of Mormon, which was so great because we had a goal as a mission to finish it before conference and I was very, very much behind. I am not the type of person that reads fast! But yeah the next day I started working again, but Hna Ayre told me to start on a antibiotic because we didn't really think the diagnosis was 100% amazing, and I was still having gastrointestinal distress. And fast forward a few days, and I am pretty much okay! I just have a cough now, but I am all great now! We still don't know exactly what I had, but I did have some of the symptoms of dengue so I'll just keep that going around=) I think it was actually a bit of a blessing so I could get some more sleep (I was sooooooo tired) and catch up on the Book of Mormon. Miracles come in crazy ways!

The Work and the Glory

Missionary work keeps on keeping on here in Soldati! It is a little bit hard here but I really love the ward. They were baptizing a lot in this area last year but basically none of the people are still active. So we are trying to find some hardy, gospel-ready people which is a little tough in the villa. Right now we don't have any investigators that are progressing but I know that if I do my part, it will all be just fine! 

General Conference

So I am sure the majority of you watched Conference this last week, and it was so good! I loved it. I got a lot of good notes and answers to questions. We had a pleasant surprise during the Saturday evening session, because we got to watch it with Presidente and Hermana Ayre and two of their kids! He had a baptismal interview or something and didn't leave in time, they were stuck watching it with us. =) The English room was featured on the Misión Bs As Norte facebook page, and I am seen sporting a carton of orange juice. I got to keep it fun with those conference snacks!

But in all seriousness, it was probably one of the best conferences ever. I especially loved the talks by Sister Oscarson, Elder Gong, and the General Authority who talked on humility. The general vibe I was getting this conference was that we need to put our doctrine into action, and help other people! What have I been telling you guys! ¡Tenemos que actuar ya! I love the Spirit that was felt as I was able to listen to those inspired men and women that guide our Church. 

I hope you all have a week de diez. Do some good in the world today! See you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle=)

Just your average trip to the hospital at almost 1 o'clock in the morning.

 Spot my fanny pack facha.

Some of the great families of Soldati.

La Semana Santa and President Obama

Hey Everyone!

I wore a sweater this week one day, just so you are aware.

Well, It was a week! Haha not to much to report. Sorry to have been a little off the radar, I have been wanting to answer back some of the personal emails I have been getting from other people. Lot's of things are happening in the world! Speaking of the world, us folk in Argentina received a visit from the one and only President Obama! I think they like him here. I thought it was a little paradoxical, because I was closer to him this week here in a foreign country than I ever was in the USA. Isn't that fancy?

This week was a bit of a downer. Elder Juzga and I have decided to work with finding elegidos, which means elect. They are people that pass the filters (married, don't work Sundays, have desires to learn more) and accept a baptismal date in the first contact. Woah, that is a lot, right? And this week it was tough and we didn't find anyone who fit this idea. But we did have the chance to get to know some good people, and I think we planted some good seeds for future missionaries.

Fun fact: Holy week is a biggish deal here, and some members got confused about the differences between catholism and, we had to clear up that no, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, It is not a commandment that you have to eat fish like Friday or something. =) 

I am running out of time (like ALWAYS), But I hope this satisfies you until next week. 

See you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle =)

No photos because no.

A Man of Many Nations

Greeting greetings, one and all!

Would you like a little explanation of the title of this email? Well, being an extranjero (that means foreigner) and not having the perfect porteño accent (one day...), I get asked a lot, ''¿De dónde sos?'' Well I got bored of just saying ''Yo soy de los Estados Unidos'' and, since I am not the type-A super white Yankee and have been told I that I done have a very yankee accent, I have decided to throw the question right back at them and ask, ''¿De dónde piensa?'' I have received French, British, Chilean, and Mexican within the last two weeks, so you can say I am pretty dang fancy, if I say so myself. 

Nothing to extraordinary happened this last week. Jokes, something did We have one investigator that is progressing quite well, AND HE WENT TO CHURCH! Which is a requirement here for investigators to progress, and it is SOOOO HAAAARD sometimes. He is around 35 years old and is separated from his wife and they have two kids. But anyways we invited him to church and he said yes and we asked if we could stop by his house before church to make sure he got there okay. He was like ''No, I want to go by myself'' which lot's of people say, and means that 'No, I do not want to go to church thank you very much.'' But we did what we could. Sunday came around and he didn't show up for the first class. But while we were in Gospel Principles he came! And it was a really good lesson on the Restoration and the teacher bore strong testimony about his conversion. So all is well in Soldati. I'll just testify once again about the importance of members. I am so glad I got called to this mission! We try to do everything with the members. Finding with members, finding through members, appointments with members. And if plans fall through with members, we find other members! Some days it is less than easy, we may not always have a ton of investigators through this method of finding and teaching, but it is the direction of our mission and helps us to find the people that are more likely to progress and be baptized, more likely to flourish in the gospel. It's so great!

Speaking of members, this last week we had a lesson with a less active family. The mom started telling us about how they don't go to the church any more because they don't know what church is true. Okayyyyy. We spent quite a bit of time with this woman and her daughters about the importance of the Book of Mormon in our conversion to the Gospel, but they kept coming up with silly excuses for leaving and staying away from the church, so we left them with an invitation to return to the church and to start reading the Book of Mormon again, and we testified with power.  I don't know if they felt the Spirit because they were so set on their points of view, but I did. I have such a testimony that we don't get a testimony by sitting down and complaining about it. We need to act. 

Also I forgot to say this last week, but two Sundays ago we were walking to church with a family in our ward and as we were walking in the street there was this doll thing made from woven grass. I thought it was pretty cool, so I investigated it for a second. The others noticed and told me it was a doll thing from a macumba, which is like a ritual or something like that from satan worshippers. So that's neat.

Also I am the official mom of the pension. I cook, I clean the bidet (I LOVE BIDETS), I cut Elder McBride's hair. So yeah. I just keep finding all sorts of fun things to do!. (Jokes they do have their limits, in soccer, I am still one of the worst players for all of you who were concerned)

Well, that's all, folks! Love you all and see you soon enough!

Sincerely, 

Elder Hardcastle

Pics--- later. we are having issues here

Two weeks in, six weeks more

Buenos días from Buenos Aires (third time using this is the charm)!

Hey so guess what. I totally spaced it this last week and didn't even tell you that Elder Bednar came to visit us this last week. He came to give a televised conference to the whole South America South Area and it was transmitted from the Chapel in Caballito, in Buenos Aires North Mission boundaries! So it was doubly cool because I saw Elder Bednar in person and we didn't even have to travel that far! All the missions in Buenos Aires came over for the occasion, and I even saw someone from school that's in Bs.As. Este and I totally didn't even recognize him! I had to play the whole act-excited-until-you-see-the-nametag game. haha oops. But hey! It's all good. Elder Bednar asked us to read three of his talks before the broadcast to prepare, and they were about faith and conversion, and also about being agents that act rather then being acted upon, and they were sooooo good, the talks and the conference. I love the whole ''go and do'' motto of the church. JUST GO AND DO PEOPLE HAVE FAITH IN GOD AND FORGET THE REST.

And now, back to this week. I kept a pretty current journal this week (my struggle of a lifetime) because we had quite a few pleasant occurrences throughout the week. Let me explain. 

So Tuesday we were talking with a less active at her kiosco (it's like a little store people make in their houses to sell food or general commodities) and as we were talking, another woman came up to us and started talking! Neither I nor my companion knew who she was, but she told us she was a less active! So we talked with her and she basically thought that we were the cream cheese, and she was holding a bag which had muffins and cupcakes and she like gave us a few cupcakes and a TON of muffins in this little Winnie the Pooh plastic bag. They tasted pretty good, but I didn't want to carry the bag or the muffins the whole day, so we ate some and gave the rest out to members=) 

Wednesday was a sad day. So last Monday I took my laundry to the lavandería to get washed. Well we went to go reclaim our clothes the next day but I didn't need anything from the bag so I just sort of put it on a desk and left it there. I opened it up the next day and LIKE ALL MY WHITES HAD BLACK STAINS. Little black and yellow marks. I'm not sure exactly how it happened , but I think it had something to do with a pair of pants I have that had a pen explode in the pocket (just so you all know, that it is the second time pens have destroyed  my pants here and I am not amused). I separated the white clothes from the colored ones before we went but I think the lady must have just thrown everything in together. Ughhh. I could not concentrate at all that day during my personal study time. But I am all okay now=)

Saturday we had a member accompanying us for visits that is super funny. She reminds me of Sister VANessa Pixton, so just a quick shout out for that. But we were going around looking for people, and there was a small army of Jehovah's Witnesses taking their turns around the area. Like literally they lined the whole street! So we started talking about them with our member and she told us that she doesn't have a problem when they come past her house, that we have the same God and the only difference is that they don't have all the truth. This wasn't anything new I had heard but it struck me. I am so happy to be in the fullness of the Gospel, and I am also glad that other people act with what truth they might have to try and make the world a better place. Now we just have to help everyone have an opportunity to experience the whole truth and we'd just be perfect!

That's about all from this side of the world. Hope your week is fun and spiritually uplifting! Now go use your agency to ACT!

See you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle

Oops I never explained the topic line. This transfer is weird, the church changed this transfer to eight weeks instead of six. So yeah.