Toronto, eh?: Kitchener-Waterloo!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, what a week!! I have so much to tell you and update you on. First of all, Happy Birthday to the one and only Elder Cottam on Friday. I hope you got my letter bud, love ya!

So my greenie is Sister Kayla Womack, and she is from LA, California! We had a trainers' meeting on Tuesday morning, and then they brought all the new missionaries in and we were assigned. Afterwards, they had lunch for all of us, and then we made our way to KW! This area is SO much bigger than Napanee. It's overwhelming. Haha, it was a shock to see public transportation and actually see people on the street! So rejuvenating, and I am thrilled for the miracles that will occur here.

So on Wednesday, our first day here, we decided to give ourselves a church tour so that we would know where things were for when we gave others tours. Well, our Ward Mission Leader had asked us to make a copy for the Bishop, so we opened the Library, but didn't realize that you need a security code....so to make a long story short - we set off the entire alarm system for the whole building. It was hilarious. We both didn't know what to do, but eventually the alarms stopped and the chapel phone rang, and it was the security system. We explained everything, and all is well. Such an adventure!

We went to visit this amazing LA couple - The Ince's. They are both elderly and SO great! They are British and so hilarious. Brother Ince gets super offended when people say that they are "Mormon" instead of "a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." So he gave us a nice speech on that for about 30 minutes.

We went to fill up on gas, and when we went to pay inside the cash lady started asking us so many questions. We set up an appointment with her, got her number, address, etc. and went on our way. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Super cool. We met some other awesome peole this week as well.

The teaching pool desperately needs to be built. We do have a few investigators on date - one is Greg and he is preparing for September 28th. He's a nice guy, but he still hasn't come to church. He believes that the Book of Mormon is 97% true. So he's still waiting for the other 3% to click in I guess....Funny people.

So for training, every week we go to the library to do Mormon.org, just to let Sister Womack get more familiar with the website. Well, we were walking back to our car and there was a man fixing his trailer in his driveway. I went up to talk to him and turns out he's a member! He let us right in, and we met his wife and then they fed us dinner! Talk about a tender mercy. They are both RM's and bore their testimonies of their missions. I couldn't help but tear up because the Spirit was sooo strong. I think it was exactly what Sister Womack needed because she was having a hard day. God is so good!

My GPS has decided to stop charging (but do not fear - I will fix it). As a result, we have been driving around like chickens with their heads cut off. Last night we got solo lost, and it was a crazy thunderstorm. Sister Womack and I decided that if our companionship can make it through that, we can make it through anything. Big cities....an adjustment to the one downtown street in Napanee.

We had dinner last night with Brother and Sister Evans. Brother Evans just recently got baptized in May and is so much like you Dad! He is hilarious. Well, as a result of us getting super lost and being super late, we had the most amazing missionary moment! They live right next to Waterloo University, or something like that. So the students were going door to door and playing a game that goes something like this - They have some object and try to exchange it for something better, then whoever has the best item at the end wins. So they showed up at the Evans' when we were there, and we had JUST given the Evans a BOM to give away. You see where this is going....The item that the students had to trade in was a coffee maker - how ironic. So we all stood in the doorway, bore our testimonies of the BOM, gave it to them, and told them to keep their coffee maker because it wouldn't be used here. :) The students gladly received it. It was incredible! So then we gave the Evans another BOM to give away because the first one was so easy, haha. Being a missionary rocks.

There are some super solid recent converts in the ward, and the members are great! They all send us home with food because they are worried we are going to starve....but little do they know, we have plenty. Haha, we've got more peaches and plums than we know what to do with.

I know that there is more I could tell you, but such is life. Feel free to write me -

Sister Hardcastle
11 Secord Ave #3
Kitchener, Ontario
N2B 2L3
Canada

Thank you for the constant support. Jesus Christ is our Savior, and I know He lives.

Love,

Sister Hardcastle

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