Toronto, eh?: Greetings From Woodstock!

Dear Family and Friends,

Good luck to Tanner headin out into the field this week! So exciting! I love you Tan my Man!

Cassandra and her beautiful daughters got baptized yesterday in Ajax. I'm sad I missed it - but I am forever grateful for the time that I had to share with that beautiful family. I can't wait for the day that I get to see them again! :)

Man, what a week. New area, new companion, new investigators, new experiences, NEW EVERYTHING. I love it. I have possibly the story of the century to share with all of you. It is the creepiest/scariest/most exciting thing to ever happen to me.. you all should be on the edge of your seats... But first...

My companion is Sister Anderson. She is from Orem, Utah and we came out into the field together:) She has been here in Woodstock her whole mission, so she's showing me the ropes. She is amazing and I can't wait for the miracles that we will share together!

A little bit about Woodstock - It is SO different than Ajax. It's just a small town of about 38,000 people or so. So it's a step down from Ajax. The people here all know each other, and you see the same people over and over again, haha but it's great. The Branch is quite small - but not for long! Apparently the church building just barely got a chapel about 2 months ago. There are no benches, just chairs. Lots of changes that I'm not used to! But i'm so excited to be here, and work with the members here and see miracles! Oh, did I mention that Woodstock was Sister Stats first area? We traded places! hahah

Here is my new address - Until at least the end of September -

Sister Corinne Hardcastle

Canada Toronto Mission

600 Chiefton St #805

Woodstock, ON

N4T 1S1

Canada

I got a gnarly cold this past week. I just can't seem to catch a break! But it's alright - modern medicine is amazing!

We are teaching lots of people. We have been blessed to find lots of new investigators. :) We're really going to focus on part-member families and less-actives because there is A LOT of potential for success in those areas here. There is this particular family that I have to tell you all about. Levingston is less active, and his wife, Andrea, is not a member. We had some time on Saturday night, so we dropped by them. Andrea is quite possibly the GREATEST person I have ever met. She is so down to earth, and so funny. She honestly thought that us as missionaries could never get married, and that we were forced into doing this. We talked to her for about an hour and cleared things up. We are going to start teaching her, and the whole family is working towards coming to church. When we told her that we were from Bountiful and Orem Utah she got so excited. She went and looked them up on a map because she thought they were the cutest names. Needless to say, I'm going to LOVE Woodstock. I already have the street names memorized because it's such a small town.

Alright, here is the story of the century. I am going to try to explain it in such a way that it won't freak all of you out. I don't know how well ya'll keep up with the news here in Woodstock.. but maybe you've heard about this. It all starts out on Wednesday.. We had a referral for a man named Steven that we needed to contact. We went to his home, and we found him just sitting on his porch. He was very kind to us, and told us that he would love for us to come back and share more with him. So we set up an appointment for Saturday afternoon, and we went on our way. We didn't think anything of it. Just down the street from his home, we noticed lots of cop cars and caution tape outside this home. It was definitely a crime scene, but we didn't know anything about it. We were informed by some members that there was a murder of an 85 year old lady in that home. Apparently it has been all over the news, even in the states. We went back for the appointment with Steven on Saturday afternoon, and we noticed there were a few people hanging out in front of his home. The conversation went something like this -

Me - "Hey! Is Steven home?"

One of the girls - "You didn't hear? He's in jail for 1st degree murder."

HEART DROPPED. That girl turned out to be his daughter, Jessica. They told us that he had been arrested for the murder and would be in prison for the rest of his life. So Steven was the one to murder that sweet old lady. I talked to a murderer. But wait, it gets worse. The murder took place on Wednesday, so we talked to him the day it happened. We just barely found out last night that it took place at 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday, soooo we talked to himafter he had performed the act. I've actually had a sick stomach about it all ever since Saturday. We could have very well gone into his home and taught him, without even knowing. This is definitely something that I will never forget. I know that the Lord is looking out for his missionaries though, and that I have no need to fear. :) I know that all of you who just read that story have your hearts pounding, hahah but it seriously is so scary!

How many of you gave away a Book of Mormon??

It's been an exciting first week here in Woodstock. I can't wait to fall more and more in love with this place. I do miss Ajax, but Woodstock is where God wants me to be right now. I am in the right place at the right time. I am so confident that God is aware of all of us. He is in the details of our lives, and he is working on our prayers. he knows what is best for us, and He knows what will make us the happiest. We all need to strive to make God our #1 priority. Everything else will fall into place.

I love you all! Make it a great week.

Sister Hardcastle

"Have Faith, Have Hope, Live Like His Son, Help Others On Their Way"