3-28-16, Season 6 episode 4

This was a really good week. This week went by so fast.  They seem to do that.

Monday-

We had a pretty solid P-day. We were really busy this night. We taught a

recent convert and had a good lesson with them.

Tuesday-

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I left and went to the zone

leader’s area. It was a boony area. We had a good day full of work.  We had a good exchange.

Wednesday-

We had a district meeting. It was good afternoon.  We taught a couple of lessons and stayed busy. The afternoon was great. We kept busy and then the evening came. It was a longer day for sure. We worked hard and gutted it out.

Thursday-

It was the same as Wednesday. We had 5 appointments fall through. But that didn't keep us down. We just felt like we should go by and visit this guy, who came to our minds.  We didn't remember who he was. So we went to his house. We had a good lesson there. If we had our appointments then we wouldn't have been able teach this guy. He is home bound with a wheelchair. It was cool.

Friday-

I ate this sandwich called a Mousa. What it is, it’s basically a Philly with pastrami. It is so good. We went to a little place called the Fried Onion. Man it was good! I would place it like top 10 things I have ever eaten.

Saturday-

This was a crazy day. We started doing work at 7:30 because we had some service going on. We degreased a floor. We scrubbed it and got rid of all of the grease. Then we moved somebody. It wasn't too bad because half the Ward showed up. Then I got invited to go to a baptism that was in the Alameda ward, my last area. It was awesome. We were teaching her and she was so ready  when she just got cold feet. After the baptism we had a lesson with some really solid investigators. We put them on date. They were some of the hardest people to get to commit. We were able to have them commit to the date. Then we had a good rest of the night. It was a good long day.

Sunday-

We had our fast Sunday. They didn't have an Easter program which was weird.

Today we went to a hike a water fall. It was sweet.

Season 6 Episode 3, March 21, 2016

We had a busy week. Very very busy. We have put in the time and now we are seeing the Ward working well with us. 

Monday-

We had a very busy P-day. We played some basketball and had a good

time. Then we taught this less active guy. He is a lazy member. That is why he is less active. He doesn't want to get up and go to church.

Tuesday-

 I got to go to Tonga. Just kidding. Our district leader is in the Rose City Ward. That is a Tongan ward. And man that was fun! We had to keep busy in the morning because the only way they find is through the members. We went and did some street contacting in my old ward, the Alameda Ward. We found out the world championship of track is here in Portland. Which was really cool! We talked to somebody from security for the event. He said it was the first time we have had the championship in the USA. We saw some athletes but nobody we could recognize. I had just an overall, fun day.

Wednesday-

We taught a lady who has never had the missionaries over and she was a

member. So she was so happy. We taught about the atonement. She was so

happy to have us there.  We had an experience that was probably one of the funniest things ever. We ran out of dish washer soap in our apartment, so we all thought it would be ok if we put dish soap in it. We are all dumb. We came in the apartment to see a mess. We found the kitchen covered with bubbles. Haha! We were cleaning it up and decided to get a fan going. And when we did that, the bubbles went everywhere! It was like snow!  Haha! Man that was funny!   We learned a good lesson to but we had a blast. (Mom note: At least the floor got cleaned for sure last week!  Boys!)

Look closely, there are TONS of bubbles!

Thursday-

We had our zone conference. It was good to hear from President Taylor. He is so happy to be back. We were taught some good stuff. It was a really good meeting. It went a little long though. Haha they usually do.

Zone conference lunch - St. Patrick's Day- Notice the green tie!  No pinching for Alex!

Friday-

We taught a recent convert. She was 10 so it was a good practice to teach her. We did well at helping her understand the gospel.

Saturday-

We had a busy day teaching a bunch. Nothing too exciting.

Sunday-

Nothing too crazy happened. A good day though.

Elder Astle 

He looks like a ghostbuster!

Season 6, Episode 2 - March 14, 2016

We had a very good week. As for my address I think it is 9943 NE Prescott, Portland, Oregon apt #17. Send letters and packages to the mission office just to be safe. I wouldn't send it straight to the apartment.

Monday-

We did a bunch of finding. We have been working a bunch this week and the fruits will come next week. It was a building week for next week.

Tuesday-

We actually had a big miracle. We taught this guy who usually doesn't get taught. He is part of a part member family. He just likes us visiting. I heard from Elder Johnson he doesn't let the missionaries teach lessons usually. But we did, and it was a good lesson.

Wednesday-

We taught a lady who gave us a call and she said her daughter is in the hospital. Her daughter is currently on date to be baptized. She was freaking out but we were able to comfort her with the spirit. Then we stopped by a couple of less active members, and they were home.  It was a great blessing.

Thursday-

We meet a couple of cool guys on the street. They were kinda hard looking. And they said thanks for talking to them because nobody usually would, because they might get intimidated. So we taught them and it was a good lesson. They definitely felt the spirit. Then we taught another guy walking down the road a little later, and it turns out he was part of their crew. We headed back and we passed all the guys again and they were totally chatting it up about the Book of Mormon.

Friday-

We moved a lady. Guess what it was another hoarder. Why are the hoarders the ones that need help? Haha! Then we were busy the whole day. It was nice. We had a bunch of appointments.

Saturday-

We had a good planning session to get our week filled up. Then we had a stake conference. President Taylor (the mission president) talked. It was a great meeting. He looks really good. He says he feels better than ever. He has lost a

couple of pounds too. It was nice to see him.

Sunday-

We had another stake conference meeting and then a couple of lessons after.  It wasn't too exciting.

✌Elder Astle 👊

My zone

A massive puddle we found in the road

 It was so big I got 6 skips.

Season 6, Episode 1, March 7, 2016

MOM NOTE:  One of Alex’s best friends, Jordan, got his mission call to Alex’s mission, I have been waiting for 2 weeks for him to say something...After I asked him if he had heard from Jordan, I finally got this response:

Yeah it was awesome!! Same mission! I am stoked!!  Finally! I think he doesn’t answer me on purpose, to make me crazy! Notice that I still don’t have a real address....Hmmm.....

My new comp is Elder Johnson. He is a good guy. We get along so far. I am not sure of the address but is about 102 NE Prescott. It is a little apartment complex. We share it with another set of missionaries, which means it is a blast. There is another Elder, that I get along with well there and we give each other a bad time all the time. After a while I get him wound up which leads to us wrestle. So far there has already been a few wrestling matches. Haha, all in good fun he almost wins some and I win some.

Monday-

We had a great day. We had a service project planned but we couldn’t help him move because it was out of the zone. So we could help with the initial move. Then we had my last lesson with the Ragonese family. It was a bitter sweet  moment. I taught them from the beginning, now I have to leave.

Tuesday-

We visited a couple of the members later say goodbye, so it wasn't a very  exciting day.

Wednesday-

We had he transfers this day so it was a very slow day. We did a lot of planning.

Thursday-

We did more planning. The area book is really unorganized and we fixed that. It was bad, I couldn’t find anything. So we had to organize it.

Friday-

Lots more planning. It wasn't too bad because we taught a few people so it made the day go by better.

Saturday-

It was a full day of finding. But we went by a bunch of people we got from the elders quorum president. We found a few of them, but not everyone was home.

Sunday-

This is actually when it got really good. We were trying by this less active’s house and then we just talked to a few people going up to the apartment. Then we got a time to come back later. We then had church.  It was good, still a very weird Ward. The Ward is a very old Ward. Most people there were in the late 60s and 70s. (sorry Grandparents)  Then we had a blessing to give. After that we went by the less actives house and there was another person in the parking lot. So we started talking to them. One of them was asking some really dumb questions to us, he asked what color we thought God was? And why God created weed? While he was asking those questions, we just bore our testimonies. His friend was softened by the spirit. So we switched focus to him and it was sweet.

That is about all this week so next week will be better.

Love,

✌Elder Astle 👊

Season 5, Episode 6 2-29-16

Dear family and friends,

Found out transfers, I am going to be in the Rocky Butte Ward. That is literally one Ward away from where I am at now. I get to move just one over. I am kinda sad. I love this Ward. But, I am really excited to go. It is basically the same kinda people. It is in the same building as the Alameda Ward.

We had a bomb week.

Monday-

We started the week off good. We had a cool p-day. Then we taught a bunch of lessons. We had lessons at 6,7, and 8. We taught this recent convert family from Syria. They feed us probably the nastiest thing ever. It was this spicy stuff wrapped in a leaf. I didn’t want to be rude, so I just kinda bit, swallowed it. Then I tried to finish the ones on my plate. After I ate a few this way, he said,  “Make sure you chew the leaves, or you will get indigestion.” I wish he told me earlier, because I got indigestion. Haha that's what I get for choking down this nasty food!

Tuesday-

We had a sweet lesson with this man named Stanley. He was such a bro. He was this old guy who, was a way cool guy. We were hoping to teach him more. We had a great lesson. 

We gutted Wednesday-

We had a good day of finding. It was a long day not too much success. But I was a good one.

Thursday-

We were on exchanges with the Spanish Elders. It was a good one. I did what I could to help out as best I could.. We taught some cool people. We found a sweet miracle.

Friday-

We were planning for week and we were able to put a guy on date. What a relief we worked so hard for it. We got one right at the end. It was an awesome experience.

Saturday-

We taught a bunch of cool lessons. It has been a blast to serve here. We taught a bunch of good people.

Sunday-

We had a dinner with the Spanish elders. I ate like 14 tacos. It was so good.

Love, 

Elder Astle