Season 11, episode 4 - October 31, 2016

We had a really bomb week. We are really excited today about Pday. We have an all day Pday. So we are doing a pizza party with glow in the dark volleyball. It is way cool. The president is awesome. Last week we had our Pday and it was really fun. Then for our family home evening we carved some pumpkins. 

Tuesday- 

We had a normal day. It wasn't too crazy. We just had a district meeting, it was a good one. 

Wednesday we were on an exchange. It actually was a great day. I was with someone who was struggling a little bit. I was on an exchange with him just a couple of weeks ago. It was a great day. We shredded it. We taught a bunch of people. He has changed, which is way cool.  

Thursday we had a crazy cool day. We taught this guy and we had a super spiritual lesson with him. He is a really spiritual guy. So we have put him almost on date for baptism. He just has to know for himself. He is an awesome guy. Then we helped a less active move. 

Friday we had an awesome Ward party. We played minute to win it games with the ward. It was really fun and we had a lot of people that showed up. The YSA is so much fun because we have a bunch of activities all the time for our investigators. So it gives them lots of opportunities to get fellowship into the ward. 

Saturday we were on another exchange. I was with Elder Jones. He is the cousin of Carlie. It was really fun and we had a crazy night. We were teaching a less active and as we were coming back out we taught this guy. He didn't know who God was. It was a cool experience and we shared a Book of Mormon with him. Then after that we gave a quick street lesson. It was great day. Then we went by to see this referral at 8:30. He told us a crazy story about how he had his bible signed by a band member. Then he left the Bible in the woods and when he was in prison he found it again. It was awesome. This guy looked like Aragon from the Lord of the Rings. He is way cool. He isn't YSA but he was a stellar contact!

Elder Astle

Season 11, Episode 3 10-24-16

This was a really good week it was crazy busy. This week started by going by some referrals. We do that so much out here. We get a bunch. We made contact with some really good people.
Tuesday we had a good day. We had a district meeting. Then we had a good meeting with some of our recent converts. Then we headed to the institute. That is an awesome class. We have so many people that go.
Wednesday we had an exchange. We were walking up some crazy huge hills. Then we found a path down because the road got really narrow so we didn't want to walk down. But it was a bunch of stairs. These stairs went down like a mile. But they had a rails on the way down. So we slid down the hill on the rails. Man, it was fun! It was a great day. Really tough, but  a good day.
Thursday we went to our service at the DI. We get to help go through some clothes. We then went to teach a lesson to a recent convert. It went well.
Friday-
We had a good day. We planned for the day and after we headed up to St. Johns. It is a really long drive to get to up there. Not in distance wise, but it is long in drive time. We don't have too many people clear up there. But, we felt like we should go up and go by a referral. On the way, we tried by a investigator up there. He wasn't home but there was a lady from the Tongan Ward and she was there. She wants us to teach her sister in the YSA. So it was a good thing we went up there.
Saturday
We were on exchanges with the assistants. We started the day with some moves. We moved a lady out of this little tiny apartment. We busted it out in an hour. The we went to this mansion that had four stories and a bunch of really heavy furniture. So that was a brutal move. Then I went with Elder Iler. He is a cool guy from Chicago. We went by a guy who was recently returning back from inactivity. He is a chill guy. Then we went and tried to find some people. We had a fun time in the afternoon. Talked to a bunch of people. Then later that day we went on more exchanges. I was with Elder King. He is a great guy and always enjoy his exchange. We felt like we should go to the Tiptons. This is a house where two brothers  live. One is YSA  and one is in his 30s. We went and talked to the older one. He was really having some problems but we shared a message of the atonement. He told us that he is also having health problems. It was a good thing to go by to visit him.
Sunday was also way good. We had some members bring their friends and they were interested. It is so awesome!
Elder Astle

Season 11, Episode 2, October 17, 2016

This week was a great one. So much stuff happened.  We have a couple people who were on date for this Saturday. So we met with one of them on Monday. It was good. We just went over a couple things. She is so solid. They only taught her like once before I came and we just finishing up teaching her this week.
Tuesday was a pretty tough day. We went by a bunch of referrals but nothing happened. It was a really fun day we went on exchanges that day.
Wednesday we were preparing for our zone meeting. And then later we took Gen to the temple. Gen is from the Philippines and she referred herself to us. She has a dad that is a member. She is one of the ones getting baptized on Saturday. The temple was really cool. They do a good job there. The spirit is really strong. That was a solid day. Gen told us after she wants to get baptized and then get married there.
Thursday the crazy stuff started happening. So zone meeting is little different on the other side of the spectrum. It went really good. It takes a bunch of preparation and planning to try to make everyone  feel like it was a good meeting. But it beats preparing one every week. The meeting went good. We taught them about being genuine with people. Then we did some service at the DI. We sorted some clothes. While we were heading back, we got a call that said one of the missionaries in the zone got hit by a car. By the way - he is fine and recovering very fast and nothing too serious happened, just some bumps and bruises. So we hauled to go to his companion. So he was with us for a couple of days. Friday we had appointments all day so it was nuts. We were just running to all the appointments. Saturday we had a few baptisms.
So we were actually supposed to have a mission  conference with Elder Neil L. Andersen and Elder Christiansen from the 70. So we were all stoked. But then there was some, sort of typhoon that was supposed to hit. So they cancelled the conference. Which was really frustrating at first. But the weather actually wasn't bad. We got a call Saturday morning that we need to stay in but then it never hit. So we were able to get a good weekend in.
The week has been good. Never thought I would get so many calls from the president though. We have been on the phone a bunch. But it was good week.

Season 11 Episode 1, October 10, 2016

This week is crazy. We finished up in the Prune Hill and Grass Valley Wards.

This  new area is popping. There are people wanting to get baptized everywhere, which is a dramatic change from the last area. The whole week we have been running around like crazy. Not much happened Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday we had our transfers. So we spent most of the day making sure everybody was settled in and ready to go. Then the rest of the day we had appointments.
Thursday, we had our mission leadership meeting. It was a good meeting. I loved the talks. They were great.

Then we had a sports night and had our gators come.
Friday we did our stake reports. So, that basically means five hours of paper work. We just busted it out and they were brutal. So much paper work!!!!
Saturday, we got a way crazy phone call. It was for a lady who had a friend who she wanted to take to the temple. We had no idea what was going to happen. We met him there and talked to him and this guy is solid. He is solid. We put him on date as well. It was a miracle because we have been trying to get all the business stuff ready. So the Lord was blessing us.
It is a short one today but it was a great week.
See you later.
Elder Astle

Season 10 Episode 6

We had a very very good week. To start off, we are being transferred. Elder Brown is staying in Prune Hill and I am going to the Springwater YSA ward. This is where it gets weird, I am getting as my new companion… Elder Johansen. The same one I was companions with before. This transfer call brings a little more responsibility than what I am at right now. They called me as a zone leader.  But how crazy is that we are companions again?! I'm going to live in the same tiny apartment that I lived in when I was in Rocky Butte ward. So back to Portland I come.
As far as missionary work goes, this was kinda a crazy one. Monday after our Pday we went to the church for just a second to make a few phone calls. Then this less active shows up and they were looking for their kid’s car. It was perfect timing on our part to be there. Then we help their kid look for the car for a second and no luck. But I think we made a good impression on the less active. Shortly after that we felt like we should go and visit this potential investigator. She basically asked us for a Book of Mormon!  It was really cool. She just has a lot of things going on right now and the gospel just rings true. We were able to find two new investigators Monday night. That is a miracle in and of itself in the area that we are in.
Wednesday was a really great day as well. We were working hard and felt like we should go by the African family that we have been teaching. Turns out he was outside trying to put in a palm tree. He asked us questions about what we do all day and what happens when people turn us away. We were able to teach him about our purpose as missionaries. And what is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the first time that we both felt that we should invite him to be baptized. I think we established why we go over there now so hopefully in the future he knows that we don't just come to share a quick message but really our end goal is to share about Jesus Christ.
Friday was a pretty good day.  One of the elders that we live with is going home and we had to take him out to the mission office. So we did our planning out at the mission office. Then we both felt like we should go down to the river. Going down to the river takes a long time so when you go down it has to be for something really important. We don't make it down there very much. It doesn't have any direct roads to get down there as the only direct road is closed off. So we take a couple other winding roads that go down. The crazy roads add on about 10 minutes to get down there. We actually were able to make contact with some of the hardest people to make contact with. We went by this one guy named James and he was actually just thinking about us. He said he was really wanting to come to church so we were able to tell him where the church was and give them more information. He's a really faithful guy and just wanted to check us out. Which we will definitely take, because getting people to church is extremely hard and when they're willing to come it makes it so much easier.
Conference Saturday was great. We texted a few members and asked if we could come over and watch it with them and then they asked if we could eat breakfast with their family. And guess what?  They maaaaaadddddee... pull-a-parts!!!! It was heaven.

Alex got spoiled for both conference morning sessions...pull aparts at each one!  He adores pull aparts!

But the sessions of conference  were really really good. Definitely felt the spirit the whole time and especially the Saturday sessions just set a tone for the rest of the meetings. As far as the in between hours, not much happens on the in between hours. We went to the stake center to watch priesthood session. Basically conference took up most of Saturday. There were a couple hours in between that we did what we could in that time.  But for the most part, it was watching general conference. Same goes with Sunday. The sessions were really great as well and there were some very good speakers. We were a little bit bummed because we are supposed to watch it with an investigator but she flaked on us. I don't know if I have a favorite talk right now. There are a few of them that I liked a lot. One of which was Dallon H. Oaks talk about missionary work. He hit on some really big points that we've been trying to do to help get the members to do missionary work. The talk about service was awesome as well. We also found some really good news! We are having apostles come to the mission. We are having Elder Neal A. Andersen, and Elder Craig C. Christensen from the 70 and another presiding bishopric member.

Elder Astle

Fall

At the m