Toronto, eh?: Happy Valentine's Day

Dear Family and Friends,

HAPPY VALENTINES THIS WEEK! This year, you are all my Valentines. :) Love you all SO MUCH!

Happy Birthday this week to Eric and Nyk!! Love you both! :)

So yes, I have been on my mission for 9 months, but the actual halfway mark is February 13th I believe. Unless I did my math wrong. Either way, time is just flying by.

This week was a rough week. It seems as though almost everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. But hey, that just means an amazing week is right around the corner, right?!

Let's start off with our car - It's not working very well right now. It all started on Friday night when we got semi-stuck in some snow backing out of a driveway. Some warning sign came on that our engine power had been reduced and the car was shaking like crazy. We decided to laugh instead of cry. We made a few phone calls, and we set up a time to take our car in. We may be without a car for awhile. :( Which is perfect because that leads us to the next problem...Sister Woolf went to the doctor last week for her knee. It's been hurting her ever since she fell on it in November. So we went to get it checked out, she got some x-rays, and tomorrow she is getting an ultrasound on her knees. So it hurts for her to walk. Perfect timing, eh?? At least sometimes our car works. It got us to church yesterday. :) But barely got us home. Such is life.

Next, we had a rough lesson with Mary and Michael this week. Mary told us that she doesn't like our church and doesn't want to come anymore. But that she was still okay with Michael going. It absolutely broke our hearts. We called her on Saturday night just to confirm Michael coming to church and to invite her one last time. Well are you ready for a miracle this week?? She totally came to church with Michael!! When we saw her walking through the doors it was pretty amazing. She had a big grin on her face...so we'll see what happens with her. :)

Lots of investigators dropped us this week. Well, I guess that means more time to find the elect.

We had such a sweet lesson with Iain this week! He is getting interviewed this Friday and baptized on Sunday. :) We taught him about the Armour of God and even drew him and dressed him up (see picture). It was so awesome! Iain was so fascinated about the wars in the Book of Mormon so we taught him about the converted Lamanites and how they buried their weapons of war. Then we got him all dressed up for modern day war.

It snowed a lot this week. Nough said.

We had a Zone Training Meeting this week. It was awesome. Sister Dyer is in the Hamilton Zone!! It was so good to see my MTC Companion again. :) I was able to bear my testimony at the end, which is always a fun thing to do. I love being a missionary.

Did I ever tell you all about the time that Sister Woolf and I got kicked out of another church?? Funny story....we had been informed by a member about this church that needed volunteers to make sandwiches for the homeless. Well, we went by a few weeks ago to help them out. They weren't making sandwiches at the time, but we helped them sort some things. We had been in contact via text with one of the ladies there. She asked if we could come back when they were making sandwiches. Long story short, we went back and we were told that the Pastor wouldn't let us come in unless we took our tags off. Well, since that wasn't an option, they told us we had to leave. Isn't that interesting?? It made me realize yet again how much I love my name tag. I don't ever want to take it off.

We saw some amazing less-actives this week. Always fun to work with them and help them feel the Spirit.

Oh, I almost forgot. Sister Woolf and I taught Relief Society yesterday. It was pretty nerve racking, considering we had basically no time to prepare. Thank goodness for the Spirit! We taught about the Plan of Salvation. It was so powerful. We have the most amazing knowledge of God's plan for us and WAY TOO MANY people don't know about this plan. It was a huge testimony builder to me of this plan. I know that it is true.

Well, family, since this week is Valentine's day, I thought I'd share a thought about LOVE. :)

1 John 4:16 - And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

I love you all so very much. I know that the Savior and Heavenly Father have perfect love. I know They love every single one of you. I know that we need to share what we love with those around us.

Have an amazing week.

Love,

Sister Hardcastle

"Have Faith, Have Hope, Live Like His Son, Help Other's On Their Way"