Season 10, Episode 1 - August 29, 2016

Happy Birthday Mom!

This has been a crazy week. I have learned a bunch.

I am going to write some of the things I have learned this week. I

have actually, for the first time out here, been discouraged for a

little bit. We have been putting the grind on.  We have a bunch of

people that we could teach, but, nobody is home. It has been really tough

stuff. Everyone has been gone. There have been some down days. It didn’t get

easier day after day. Is has been a little bit where it feels like nothing was happening. It was a low week for sure.  I read this verse of scripture.

Mosiah 4:27 " 27 And see that all these things are done in wisdom and

order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he

has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent,

that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be

done in order."  God doesn't expect us to sprint to the finish. We all

have our own bars to reach. It doesn't matter what anyone else's bar is. We

just have to run where we have strength. Later on in the week, we

saw some success. It was a great lesson to learn. It has been tough

but it has been tough for a reason. And I have finally learned. I know

it is a small email, but it is a really powerful  week with a really good lesson

Elder Astle

Season 9 Episode 6 - August 22, 2016

So as far as transfers go,I am staying here. And I am in the Vancouver East stake. So that is the zone. But  it seems like everyone in the zone is getting moved out. It is kinda weird. But I am going to serve by Jordan (his great friend from home).  It is way cool.

We had a really good week. Last week for Pday we played tennis. It was a cool day to play since it was only like 100 degrees.
Tuesday-
We had a pretty good day. We have been roasting. It has been hot! We taught a less active about baptism. He is 8 and is getting baptized but he really doesn't know a whole lot because his parents don't come very much. So we go and teach them by teaching him. We then had a meeting with the bishop. That was a good transfer in the making. He was a busy guy.
Wednesday-
We had a district meeting. It actually was one of the best. As I was going through the preparation for it, I felt really strongly that the whole district needed to work on patience. That was really good to get that impression. I actually trained the district on making our studies more effective. It went really well. Then we went on an exchange. I went to the zone leaders area. It went really well. We got there to the area and I needed a drink so I open their fridge and it is either drink skim milk or this Pepsi I found. It turns out that that was a twenty year old Pepsi haha!! It tasted about the same as normal. So pretty much it is gross in general. (Alex didn’t like soda before his mission.)

Thursday-
We had some early morning miracles. The member we had going to accompany us to a lesson replied like 5 minutes before we were supposed to go to the lesson. We are teaching a less active lady that wants to come back in the gospel but she doesn't want to push her non member husband away. So we went over to her house.  She is so nice - you can tell she has a testimony. She said she wants to be back but doesn't know how. We just invited her to read scriptures and pray everyday. She so far has, and it has been awesome. Then the rest of the day we were just trying to find some people. We went out with a member but nobody was home.
Friday-
We had a good day. We planned and then went out working and taught this lady right before we had to head in. It was a little miracle at the end of the day.
Saturday-
This was a day of shut doors - not in our face but literally no one was home. We then went and tried to make some phone calls to people to see if we could reach them.
Sunday-
We got a text from a returned missionary and he wanted to go out with us so we were
able to clean up the records of some of the people there.  We made contact with
some of the people we haven't been able to see. I really enjoyed this week. Just really figuring out the work here. During church I had a thought that said, “Who do you want a baptism for?” So I thought about that, and my mindset was wrong. I was kinda doing it
for me, rather then the Lord or the ward. So that was a humbling experience but a great one. It should be another stellar week.

Season 9 Episode 5, August 16, 2016

Before I post Alex's last email, I had to share a text I got  from Bishop Killen, from the Prune Hill ward. This made me a little teary. I love hearing how well Alex is doing!

Hello. I am bishop Killen for the Prune Hill ward in Camas Washington. I was able to be with both of your sons this morning. We had a good breakfast together and were able to talk about all the work that they did this week for our ward. I want to let you know how much I appreciate your sons and what fine elders they are. They are a blessing to have in our area.

Last week we went on a cool hike so  you might get some more pictures of that. Wow what a week! It has been a great one. We have been busy as ever trying to find people. So last week this lady came up to us and wanted us to come by. She has been less active for a while. She wants her kid to be baptized. So we sent her to the bishop and they talked it out. She wanted us to teach her son. So we went over there to teach "him" , but we were really going to teach her. Her son is a bonus. We had a good lesson with them and the husband who isn't against the church but is uncomfortable being at church was present and opened up. That is a miracle!! We had a zone meeting and it was good. The rest of the day we spent visiting people.
Wednesday-
We got a couple of referrals to go by. It was really sweet. That never happens. We then went on splits and it was a good couple of hours of people not being home. But the priest we were with wanted to knock on some doors. Right before we had to leave we talked to a lady.
Thursday-
It was hot and, did I mention hot?! It was like 98 at least, with high humidity. But we had a good lesson with a guy who we have been trying to teach. Then we went on splits with the Ward mission leader. It was a good night but nothing really happened.
Friday-
We planned for the week. Then had another lesson. We actually had teaching appointments. That is awesome usually we don't have anything set.
Saturday-
We were on an exchange. I stayed with Elder Miner. We went through the day with it being blazing hot and all. We tried by a bunch of people and talked to everyone we could. We went by  to talk with the previous bishop in one of the wards. We were sweating buckets and asked for some water. He pulled us in and gave us referrals. It was way cool. That never happens. Then we went by his referrals and tried to get in contact there. Nobody was home, but it was all good. Then after dinner we had a plan but we diverted from it. We stopped by a less active’s house. She wasn't t there.
Then we went by this guy we have tried by a hundred times. He has never been home. It turns out that this guy has lived there for like 9 years. We just have really bad records. But it was awesome!  We taught him about the Book of Mormon. He just opened right up to us. We then talked to a few people and ended the night.
Sunday-
So I don't know if I have laid out an exact schedule for us on Sunday. We woke up at 6 because we had a meeting at 7. It was PEC and Ward council was after.  So we were in a meeting from 7-8:45. For breakfast we had some quick toast to get out the door. Then at 9 church starts. We are pretty normal until 11:30 in which we have another meeting, so we dip out and go to Ward council. Then that lasts about an hour. So like 12:45 ish we come out. We have to have a member bring us some sandwiches because it is impossible to go home and eat. And if they forget, we basically fast. Then we go through the rest of the block. And we leave the building about four thirty. We were there for nine
hours. Haha it is the weirdest thing.

Season 9 Episode 4 - August 8, 2016

Last week I got a picture and a text from another mission mom in Camas.  This is what the text said: “They are both awesome! Elder Astle is a seasoned missionary and elder Brown is newer, but they are so enthusiastic about being missionaries and you can tell they love it! They both taught our Gospel Principles class Sunday, with two minutes notice! They walked into the room and there was no teacher, so they taught. They did great!!” We hadn’t heard about Alex teaching Sunday school so this was fun to hear.

Today’s letter:
So this was a really good week. We had a really hard working week then got super humbled by the spirit. But training is going amazing and Elder Brown and I get along well.

We will start with Monday. We had a really fun Pday. We went bowling at a place down here. It was a different place. We went there because we are trying to get people more involved. They complain that they don't have any fun on Pday so we have been doing a bunch of different stuff.

Tuesday - we worked so hard this day. We really haven't seen anything come of it. But we received a few referrals to try by, so we did. Nobody's home or has been home. So we just go and go. We have lessons scheduled with people, and then they cancel.

Wednesday we had a really good district meeting. I trained on conversion. It was really good. Or at least I think so. Then I went on an exchange. I went to the other area. We had a really busy day. We just got shut down by some people. It was a completely different area. They have apartments and people all over so we talked to so many
people. It was a good time. We finally had some success later in the day where we taught this Muslim guy, and we found a cool less active. We busted out this tough day of a lot of rejection. But with Elder Brown taking over our area we saw some miracles. It was cool  since they met a guy we haven't been able to visit  for a very long time.

On Thursday we had what we call a wake up call. We were out and stopped by a few investigators. We chatted with them for little bit and they told us that they did not want to continue meeting with us. It was a really low blow. I was here when we found those gators.  It was the only time out here on the mission that I've been kind of down. It also
stung a bit because we don't have very many to teach and half of them dropped us. But we took it and looked back and decided that maybe we needed to change. We are not focusing on the less actives enough since they are a gold mine. So we got humbled
by the Lord  - big time.

Friday we planned and then went out and found a part member family. It was way cool. They are down to meet with us.

Saturday we hit it hard as well. We were able to get to see some of the people we needed to visit, and they were at home. And, we had a good visit with them.

Sunday was a good long day of church.

We went hiking today, it was a good stuff.

Season 9 Episode 3 - August 1, 2016

This was a really good week for us. We have been busy and  are seeing some miracles.

Monday-

We have had a rebounding week. We kinda got hit with some opposition last week. We worked hard last week but we have been recently humbled and had to work differently. We are trying to use the members a lot better. We felt prompted to go to this lady's house. We taught her the plan of Salvation on her doorstep. It was awesome. We felt good.

Tuesday

We did just about everything we could do this day to get something to happen. This was kinda when we evaluated our work. We have been trying to do missionary work ourselves. We have been just going to our plan and working

hard. But then the Lord helped us remember that we really don't do anything. This is His work.

Wednesday-

My first district meeting. It went really well. I trained on inviting. It was a really good meeting. It went really well. Then we tried by a few people in the afternoon. Not a lot of people are home. It is frustrating sometimes. They are all on vacation from like July to August and then another vacation until school starts. It has been a good day.

Thursday-

We had a really exciting day. We just went from place to place. We seamed to be in the right place at the right time. We got a call from this guy who needed some help. So we helped him and talked to the people working with him. Then we went out with a member. and we were able to teach a lesson to another guy. We got a return appointment for the next day. Then he wasn't there.

Friday-

We did some service for an investigator. He needed some help sanding his doors. So we did it- it was a good project. Afterward, we were able to teach him about faith. He has no faith in anything. It was a really cool lesson. Just being there, we may have helped his faith grow!  That was probably the highlight.

Saturday-

We did stuff all day. We helped someone move in. We helped this other guy outside do some random work. It was way busy.

Sunday-

 We had a cool church experience. People just randomly came to church.  We had a couple of less actives come. Then people said that they want us to help them help their neighbor. We also taught a lesson, about missionary work.

Elder Astle