¡EPA!

Hello people.

This weeks was a pretty fun week. Tuesday we had a ward activity presented by the missionary department; brain-child of the hermanas that we share the ward with. It was a trip through the life of Jesus, but solely through listening and touch. Things were passed around while I read a condensed version of the life of Christ found in the scriptures (for example, a baby doll for His birth, a backpack of hymn books for the atonement, and fabric for the folded linen in an empty tomb, etc.). It was really cool and the members that came really enjoyed it! 

Also, this week I got to explore more of the zone because we went to Benavidez for divisiones (exchanges). Elder Cortaza’s great and a really humble leader. We went and talked with a less active lady who wants to return to the Gospel after living many years practicing a different religion. She was with a friend who was a bit elderly but quite entertaining, even though she wasn't too interested in our message. As we were finishing up the visit I gave her one of our Easter pass-along cards which has the face of our Savior on it. Upon receiving it and observing it for a moment, she let out a joyous ''¡EPA!'', which is the Argentine equivalent of Uncle Karl's ''Yeah, buddy!''.  Jesus makes us happy, what can I say? =)

Also, the highlight was that President Nelson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and talked to us today. We had to wake up a bit early, but it was worth it. One of the things I love about being in this mission is that we cover the headquarters of the South America south area, so we have neat opportunities to meet some of the leaders in the Church. President Nelson wanted to shake all of our hands and so that makes two apostles of the Lord that I've shaken hands with! Haha and when I went up to shake his hand he and his wife read my nametag and Sister Nelson told me, ''Great last name!'' yep. I like it too =) It was a really neat devotional; all the area presidency (Elder Texeira, Elder Packer, and Elder Bragg) and their wives spoke to us and the Bs As west mission. Sister Nelson gave a really good talk about how the mission will prepare us for life, because it if full of great moment and less- great moments. My favorite quote from her was, ''The adversary is just so boring. He's so predictable!'' haha. And President Nelson talk a lot about our lineage being from the house of Israel and how we were foreordained to be missionaries and to bring the world his truth. And then after, since it was like the first time in a year since all the mission has been all together, we took some time to take pictures. Just some good fun for a missionary =)

That's about it for now! I hope you all have a great week! Read your scriptures! See you all soon enough!

Atentamente, Elder Hardcastle =)

A few more things that I forgot!

One of my favorite experiences from this week was Saturday morning. We went to go and contact and visit old investigators in the street France. While there I felt inspired to go talk to a couple who was selling chocolate Easter eggs. It turns out that the husband is an old investigator from about seven or eight years ago! and they want to learn more. And he makes a great chocolate egg =)

Also we taught a great family Saturday afternoon. It's a mother and her son (she's separated) and she is VERY evangelica, but we were able to have a very spiritual lesson with her, and is going to read the Book of Mormon. I'm really excited to work with her and her 19 year old son, they are very religious and are willing to change if they feel like this is the true path! I love things like this.

Okay that's it. Bye.

¡Feliz Pascua!

How y'all doing? 

Another week has come and gone here in the great Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission. It started out quite strange, to be honest. After finishing up Pday we were walking and we ran across two señores who we had never met that were less actives. And they wanted to talk so we decided to go over to the church and talk there since we were close by. My companion thought they looked a bit shady but it all turned out good! And then later in the day we passsed a member in the street and were able to invite her friend to learn more! And then that day as we were walking back to the apartment another young adult came and talked to us! So, it was probably some of the three most eventful hours of my mission! haha

But let's talk more about the young guy for a second. We'll call him Miguel. He is really great! Miguel came to church yesterday and is really eager to start coming to Christ. He was an antiguo invesitgador so I looked up his record, and he met the missionaries like six years ago and lots tried but with little success. But, it just goes to show you, it's not on our time, but in God's time. 

We also had a small miracle on the same note! A couple of weeks ago we met a 16 year old who showed interest in learning more, but then afterwards we never found him at home. Then this last Friday we found him in the street and taught him a little bit about the Book of Mormon, and he accepted a baptismal date. Obviously, we can't go around teaching minors and we went to talk to his dad. Sadly, the dad said that he was not going to allow that we teach his son, that he was already teaching him ''in his own way.'' I was kind of sad at the end but thought that all will be okay, in a little bit more than a year he will be 18 and be able to have more liberty in making choices. 

This week I was able to finish the challenge that our mission president gave a us few months ago of reading Jesus the Christ. THAT IS A BIG BOOK. But it has helped me understand more about my Savior and has strengthened my testimony that He really is the Christ and this is His church. 

I hope you all have a great Easter, but don't forget the reason for the season! I love the Savior. Read about his life, watch the videos that the Church made 

(The Prince of Peace: watch it here) And think about all he has done for us. Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

Also, my trunky papers came today. So... See you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle

Conference Weekend is the Best Weekend

Hi (I can't think of anything more original to say)

So how are you all? This week we had lots of things going on like zone conference, a baptismal interview, a baptism, and GENERAL CONFERENCE which left us with pretty much just two full days of work. But it's all good because Conference was full of inspiration and revelation, and this week will be great. 

This week I learned that there is no such thing as an easy baptism. We have been working with this wonderful little grandma named Ester. She is the mother of a lady that got baptized about 21 years ago and is such a dear lady. I got to El Talar and the Elders had already been teaching her and she was so ready I thought, “This will be the easiest baptism ever!”  WRONG. Trying to get everything done in the Lord's way was hard, and even though there was quite a bit of opposition and stress in the process, we held to our integrity and Ester was able to be baptized before the Saturday Conference with a last minute surprise visit from Presidente Smith to support her!

Also I saw my very first Latino rap battle in the park the other day. That was pretty neat. 

And GENERAL CONFERENCE. I love listening to the leaders of this Church. They are truly inspired by our Father in Heaven. I especially enjoyed the continued theme of the Godhead and listening and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost THE FIRST TIME THEY COME. I know I am guilty of letting the little thoughts go by justifying them and putting up excuses, but Conference gave me a little nudge telling me that I need to work on acting first and asking questions later. And of course, L. Whitney Clayton gave one of my favorite talks, speaking about being obedient to the small things to see solutions to the big problems in our life. So, I ask you guys: Are you studying the scriptures daily? Are you keeping the Sabbath day holy or just going to church? Are you praying every day? If you are lacking in these things, I'd like to invite you to starting doing them=) I know that by doing these things we come can nearer to our Savior! I know I have found lots of strength and peace and joy as I have tried my best to do this.

I hope you all have a great week! See you all soon enough!

Atentamente,

Elder Hardcastle

The cutest little 84 year old Argentine grandma there is.

Huevos de Pascua

To the Suburbs!

Hello family and friends. 

I'm sweating again :( so that's a little bit of a downer, but that's something of little importance because lots of great things happened this week!

I was transferred! I am now in El Talar, with Elder Oyola from Perú. We get along really well so far and I really enjoy the area.  I have had the chance to meet with some of the members and feel their desires to advance the missionary work in the area. I felt a lot of the missionary spirit in Church, I think in every hour there was some comment about how we need to share the Gospel with others! I love that! I have had some ideas and the counselor in the bishopric who is our mission leader shows lots of promise. I am really excited!

 And we also have a baptism this Saturday! Even though it is an older lady who will be attending in a different ward after with her daughter, I hope it will be another boost to their ánimo (how do you say that in English?).

This week we spent lots of time in the street trying not to get too lost and also spent some extra time cleaning. You can't feel the Spirit so strong in a dirty apartment! also the toilet was broken and water would get all over the floor, but it has been fixed, and after many trips to the garbage and a few bottles of bleach later, it's starting to look pretty good! 

Also, today we played fútbol for the first time in ages (I was dreading this moment). The good news is that I've gotten better! the bad news is that I'm still the worst. It's a good thing we aren't here to share soccer to the world, or I'd be a goner. 

Also, I hope you are all as excited for GENERAL CONFERENCE as I am! I looooooove reading the conference talks, our leaders are truly inspired by God! So preparense bien and write down a few of your questions, because it's going to be good.

Love you all and will see you all soon enough!

Elder Hardcastle

Where Can I Turn for Peace?

Greetings!

This letter will act as my summary for this week and last week, because I forgot to carry my journal and forgot to write about some of the excitement. 

Okay so first we will start out with the Great Mosquito Massacre, Last week a big storm passed through Baradero in the middle of the night, and our air conditioning stopped working and just started beeping. I got up and tried turning it off, but the remote couldn't turn it off, so I had to climb up a chair and turn off the thing (air conditioning is weird here, I'll explain another day if you have interest). But, in an effort to still have cool air circulating through the room, I opened the window and let some of the cool stormy breeze in. Later that night I heard buzzing around my head. and then again. and again. And I knew- it was mosquitos. I ran downstairs and grabbed the mosquito killer spray we had and started spraying it around the room. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as hoped, or perhaps it was too late and the damage was already done, because when I woke up I had mosquito bites all over my arms and head and neck. It was horrible. I had like 74 bites. And the little nasties were hiding all over the room, so I kept the killer spray on hand (it worked really good for direct kills) and during our morning studies I would stop every so often to kill the filthy creatures. They were FILLED with blood. I have photo proof. The good news is that my companion didn't wake up and had few bites, if any;  I don't have dengue (yet); and I killed all the mosquitos. 

These two weeks we have tried just about everything possible, I called almost every person in the Area book, we called the people in our future investigator sheets, we contacted around the church, 

and we walked. Oh, did we walk. I want to see how much I have walked here in Baradero. But Thursday was an eventful day. For starters, we had six dogs follow us, and at one point five of them at the same time! And then I found a hidden alley I hadn't even seen before so we decided to enter and contact. I contacted a house and the man that answered played the ''Look over there!'' game with us. Well, he got me to look and closed the door when we weren't looking=) It was really classy. 

Then later in the day we knocked on a door and a lady came out. Our conversation went as follow:

Elder Hardcastle: ''Hi we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...'' 

Lady: ''Okay, but I'm ''[other religion].''

Elder Hardcastle: ''So wouldn't you like to learn more about Jesus?''

Lady: ''No, I'm going to Church right now, that's how I'll learn.''

I had to hand it to her for answering well. I like to throw in the ''Wouldn't you like to learn about Jesus?'' question every so often, and you'd be surprised by how many people say no! It makes me sad. 

We also had a lesson with a man who couldn't accept that the Book of Mormon could have the same value as  the Bible. Even though we shared many things and testified, he kept talking in circles bringing up the same excuses, Oh well. I had prepared WELL for the lesson, so if nothing more I came out with a stronger testimony of the necessity of the Book of Mormon. Go read 2 Nephi 29 if you have any questions. 

Friday we had another nice testimony of the importance of our studies. We met with a less active family from Bolivia that stopped coming to church for a few problems in the branch. Just that afternoon in companionship study we had discussed the importance of going to church, so it was perfect. The Hermana also told us that she likes singing and music, so I asked if I could sing for them  Dónde hallo el solaz? (Where Can I Turn for Peace?) which we had sung that day as well! It was a nice visit and I hope they start coming to church because they are really great!

That is a wrap for this week. I love being a missionary! It is the greatest thing I have ever done. 

See you all soon enough,

Elder Hardcastle

Pictures1 and 2- Mosquito Massacre 

3- Amores family

4- Hugo and Daniela and Co.

From Puddle to Popsicle

Well well well, Happy Monday! 

I hope you are all well! this week went by super duper fast. I forgot to bring my journal to the cyber so I am trying to remember all that has happened, hold up a second....

So Iet's start with Tuesday. Tuesay we did divisiones (exchanges) with the District. I was with my good friend Elder Valbuena. He is still just an acorn in his training, but he is super great. Also, he comes from the Canary Islands, so that's pretty exotic. Haha I love him a ton and he considers himself one of my children in the mission, so that makes him another one of my adopted elders here haha. Also he told me I can go visit him over there when he gets back so that's pretty much a done deal. 

ALSO! So do you all remember that I was working with a family that needed to get married but needed to start the husband´s divorce first? yeah, well they finished their papers and turned them in! So now they just have to wait! The wife has received her answer and they went to church again this week, and their kids were the most reverent ones in the meeting! haha. I probably won't be here for the wedding or the baptism of the wife, but I am just so happy with their progress I am so sure that everything will turn out great!

Also this last week I had to do some baptismal interviews in San Pedro and while I was there I forgot my planner somewhere, so it's been hard trying to remember the meetings that we were supposed to have. Oops! I think I am the person most prone to losing things on the planet... oh well. 

AND THEN! yesterday I had to put on a sweater because it was cold. This country has the strangest weather (hence the subject line). 

That's about it for this week! I can't believe how fast the time is flying! Read your scriptures and take a nap for me, but remember that I'll see you all soon enough! (13 weeks ayyy qué loco)

Chau!

Elder Hardcastle =)

Running Around

Howdy y'all!

Well, these last two weeks have been filled with running all around the mission! We had a mission tour with Elder Levrino from the Seventy, baptismal interviews, interviews with President Smith, and another meeting in San Isidro, But we kept a good attitude through it all and This last week we were able to find quite the quantity of investigators! OPEN YOUR MOUTH haha. 

So this Mission Tour was pretty cool. Elder Levrino and his wife spoke to us A LOT about obedience and repentance. Like a lot. Much was said about the difference between the mission rules and some mission 'traditions' that aren't in line with the rules. Many misunderstandings were cleared up. Pte Smith is really doing his best to make sure we are doing all that we can so that we receive lots and lots of blessings! Personally, my favorite part of the conference was when Hna Levrino gave an object lesson about repentance. She brought cake and I got to eat some of it served to me by a missionary tied up! Interesting and satisfying. 

Also, just so you know, last Monday it rained, and I saw a DOUBLE RAINBOW ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE SKY. Too bad I didn't have my camera!

We also had a wonderful miracle this week. Two weeks ago when I went to do a baptismal interview in Zárate, I managed to obtain a referral! So this last week we went to go looking for the man (it wasn't the most specific address... complete with a quick drawing in my planner haha). We managed to find the house, but the man that answered us said that the person we were looking for wasn't home. He was nice though so we decided to take advantage to the situation to invite him to learn more, but he wasn't to interested, and we left. Well fast forward to Friday. We were headed to the bus terminal which is like thirty blocks away from our house so we called a remis (taxi), and guess who was our driver? The same guy who talked to us at the door! When we got to the terminal he asked me for the book I has showed him (el Libro de Mormón, obvio), so we arranged to visit him. Now fast forward to the next day. We get to the house and the man really opens up to us. He admits that he is really the man we were looking for in the first place, and tells us that after he first met us, he saw us like the next day or so in town, and then again when we got in his car. He decided that it could not be a coincidence and wanted to figure out what we trying to teach him. HE told us as well that he lost his wife about 16 years ago and since then has felt like a part of him was empty, we testified that he will be able to see his wife again and gave him Alma 41 to read! We are going to pass by his house again this week, pray for the best!

...So that is some of the fun from the week! Thank you all for your prayers and support! I love you! Keep on the straight and narrow, and I'll see you all soon enough!

Atte,

Élder Hardcastle