Canadian Thanksgiving :)

Dear Family and Friends, 

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday! It was a beautiful day full of tiny miracles and tender mercies along the way. :) I will add more later on. 

Good Luck to Elder Elder tomorrow as he enters the MTC! You will do great things Russy. Love you lots. 

Jaclyn pointed this one out - we are now down to 5 weeks, which means it can be counted on ONE hand! 

Just in case Lincoln is born this week - Welcome to the family Lincoln! I love you already. :)

So I was asked to speak in Sacrament on Sunday which went really well. This was the main gist of my talk - 

G - The Gospel of Jesus Christ

R - Restoration of the Gospel

A - Atonement

T - Trials

I - Individual Revelation

T - Temples

U - Unity

D - Discipleship

E - Eternal Families

I went through each point and talked about how we can show our gratitude for those things. The one that I got choked up on was unity for some reason. I was talking about how the church is the same all over the world and from the second I arrived in Canada I felt united with the members here. I have met some of the most amazing and inspiring people in this wonderful land that have truly touched my life. 

Greg was confirmed yesterday!! He will be ordained this coming week and is working on going to the temple for baptisms for the dead! So proud of him. He even got a suit and wore it to church. 

An investigator couple came to church yesterday with one of the members. They are SO solid. We are super excited to start working with them closely. Miracles all around.

We had dinner with the members that are from Londrina, Brazil again! Brother DaSilva doesn't speak much English, so it's always a challenge to communicate with each other, but it works out. :) He wrote a letter for Landon that I will get in the mail very shortly.

We walked out of that dinner appointment to a flat tire. :( We ran over a nail. Ughh, perfect timing. We had appointments all night. We made sure it was okay to drive and called the Emergency Roadside Assistance people the next morning. Let's just say, we now have two new tires and a lot of new friends at the car shop! Always an adventure. 

So I'll get back to Thanksgiving - 

We started out the morning teaching Greg one of the new member lessons with Sister Muir - coolest member ever. Then we went to lunch with Crystal-Lynn Smith from Hamilton!!! She goes to school at the University of Waterloo. As we were about to leave the place we had lunch at, we got a text from the couple that was feeding us dinner. The text went something like this - "Sisters! Can you come for dinner at 4 instead of 6? We put the turkey in earlier than we should have." Meanwhile, we had just finished lunch and it was 2:30. Sister Womack and I looked at each other in terror. We texted back a hesitant - "Sure!" Hahaha, what were we thinking. So we went there at 4 and ate a HUGE turkey dinner. It was with the Contreras, which are just like Dallin and Jess, so it was lots of fun. :) Lots of food and laughs. I've seldom been so full. Worth it though!! Oh I can't forget, we had a huge Thanksgiving on Sunday night, too. :) Turkey overload!

I love Thanksgiving.....but in reality, we should be living in thanksgiving daily. We all have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful that I get two Thanksgivings this year! How exciting it that. I am thankful for this time I've had in Canada. I am thankful for all of the companions that I've had, investigators that I've taught, members that I've connected with. I am thankful for the Spirit that guides and directs Heavenly Father's work. I am thankful that I was raised in a loving home where true principles were taught and practiced. I am thankful for goodly parents and loving siblings. I am grateful for a loving Savior that died for each and every one of us and a Father in Heaven who shows so much mercy to His imperfect children. I am thankful for the scriptures and words of the modern prophets and for all of their counsel. I am thankful most especially for the knowledge that I have of the Plan of Salvation. I am so blessed!

"To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven." - President Monson

Thank you so much to everyone who wrote little comments in that canister that Bishop Pockett brought back! It has been so fun to read a few of them each day. :) I always paste them in my journal so that I will never forget them.

Heavenly Father is blessing us here in this area so much. In every lesson that we have the Spirit is just burning, and it's the greatest feeling. I love testifying of the Savior and helping others feel His love. It is because of Him that I am out here away from my family, and I've never felt forsaken. I love you all dearly. And I'll see you soon. 

Love, 

Sister Corinne Hardcastle

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

My Italian Sista :)

Helping the Contreras paint!

17 MONTHS

I love Sister Allred!!!

Yummmy frozen trout!

I <3 you

Gobble Gobble!

We literally saw this wild turkey on Thanksgiving....so funny!

Lunch with Crystal!

Hahah, Happy Thanksgiving!

Matching Canadian Scarves!