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!