29 May 2013

Hey mom, Thanks for the Scriptures. The John 14 reference has always been one of my favorites.

 

On Memorial Day the libraries were all closed, so we went down to do some sight seeing with a couple other elders. After that we did a little bit of shopping and then went and got eady for the P-day activity. . . Softball. I was the pitcher for like 4 of the eight innings that we played and I hated it cause I couldn't throw overhand. The other missinaries told me I wasn't allowed. But it was still fun playing. I just hope that next time I do any pitching, I can throw overhand instead of underhand.

 

About the cookies you sent, they were deliscious. Elder Lund and I both enjoyed them. 

 

Anyway, I hope all remains well in "Zion". May God be with you all.

Love,

 

Elder Jastal

2013 may 20th

It has been amazing for me to see my testimony grow, and to be able to feel the enabling power of the Atonement working in my life, helping me feel Heavenly Father's love for me.  I never would be able to do the things I do or be who I am today without Christ and the enabling power he gives us all through His Atonement.  It is one of the best feelings in the world, however, to see the Atonement work in the lives of others and see there testimonies grow and know that they feel the love of the Savior. Through the wisdom and mercy of Him who is mighty to save, we can learn and grow in knowledge so that we may have wisdom to share.

The hardest thing has been to see people with so much potential begin to halt in their progression, to see the adversary working against us all. To know that despite all we can do for them as servants of the Lord they use their agency in such a way that a cessation is brought about in their spiritual progression and they then refuse to allow us to help.
 

That is pretty cool that grandma is able to go on the cruise, the Bucks as well.

I hope Brinya makes a full recovery soon.  Can you let her know that I am keeping her in my prayers?

I send my congratulations to the Brackens and wish them happiness on this exciting new journey.

I hope Zach can be able to really enjoy his schooling. I never really could understand what joy there is in learning until after I stopped going to school. I will keep you all in my prayers and hope that all remains well.

 

May you find peace and joy. Love,

Love,

Elder Jastal

2013 Mar 18 - sorry posted so late - Mondays are Emailing Days

I don't typically get to email more than once a week, but that was able to happen last week because there were things I needed to get done and it involved contacting you guys at home so that is what that was all about. From now on, unless it is a special case, I will only be able to do Mondays.
As far as everything else is going, we met our first investigator Saturday, and he agreed to meet with us. The ward here is really nice too. the bishop is great and is really interested in seeing how we do. The ward mission leader is Brother Walker and we'll be working with him a lot to get on more solid ground here.
I have been doing a lot of biking by the way. I think I have done more biking here than I have done ever. As far as anything else goes, I am doing pretty good. I have this awesome trainer who is showing me some great things about the work. We have been trying to meet more of the members so that we can be able to better work with them. So far we have only met with a couple of them and one of them was a dinner appointment. We are both just hoping that we can do what the Lord needs us to do. Aside from that, we are just doing what we can. Also, as soon as you can, can you have people start mailing me?
I am loving it out here, but I still want to be able to talk to people out there. Have Zach tell me how Martial Arts is going and if he's been able to use my sword at all. he tells me that Sensei said he would be allowed to use it while I am gone. How are things going at work for dad? What about photography? How is the ward? Do any of them miss me? hahaha. I am hoping that I will only ever have good stories to share with everyone at home.
By the way, the food out here is really great, but the prices are mind-blowing. Things are so much more expensive out here than they are back home. If ever you want to send me something other than a letter, and this goes for anybody, I wouldn't mind some things that would allow me to spend less money to survive.

Anyway, if there is anything you want to hear about that I haven't talked about so far, email me back and you will probably get an answer. 

Love you all And may God be with you,

Elder Jastal

6 May 2013

I do have to say that things are going great. It just rained out here last night and into the morning so the ground is somewhat wet.

I wish i could have heard all of that. Did Elder Hales and President Uchtdorf just get quoted, or were they actually there? I think that would have been amazing to actually see them. They are both fantastic.

 

 The work is great. It was a little slow this week, but I am sure that that kind of thing will happen throughout my mission. My spirit is getting stronger and stronger. Which is going great as well. 

 

Amazingly, cleaning the apartment it is kind of relaxing. Laundry is pretty easy too when we have a washer and dryer on the patio to our apartment. 

 

Other than that, I am hoping I will be able to skype with you guys on Mother's Day. I just don't remember what my skype info is so I will have to use a member's account. That will be cool. If Skype doesn't work out, I will end up having to call on the home phone cause the phone service that the missionaries have out here is sprint. But, I am hoping that we will be able to skype. If we are, I will probably be getting on sometime between 7 and 9 local time and we are 3 hours behind you guys. so it would probably be 10-12 Toledo time. Also, before I forget, if you are periodically updating info on facebook and you see a request from someone, he is a really cool guy that we met out here and he tried to request me as a friend so if you could accept that, that would be sweet. I love you all so much.

Love,

Elder Jastal

23 April 2013

I thought coming out that I was really prepared, only to find out that I had had little preparation at all. I don't think there is enough time in one year for me to be out with the missionaries enough to prepare for what it is like to actually be one.

I wish I had spent more time reading the scriptures and studying them, than I had reading all those novels. There is no greater book I could have been engrossed in, than the Book of Mormon. I also wish that I had learned how to study better. I can't tell you how much that would have helped. But, I can say that I have gotten a few helpful tips from my Trainer.

Believe it or not, I actually do miss 40 degree weather. There is plenty of wind out here, being that is only like 2-3 miles from the beach to our apartment.

If you don't mind, can you let everyone at the dojo know that I said hi. That would be awesome. And let Mason and Chase know that I really miss seeing them work hard, and that they were both great.

I am grateful for the words of encouragement and will strive to my utmost to seve with Honor.

My week was wonderful. We were able to teach this really cool guy that used to be a surfer.

Yes. We do get to go to the temple Quarterly. my companion said every other transfer so that's pretty much every 3 months.

I get some emails from Elder Tribbett every so often and he is so excited about it. He is full of love and encouragment and is always sending Godspeed and Hoorah!

I am eagerly awaiting the letter and photo album and also have one special request that if at all possible, could you send me some of the strudel and other snacks? If not that's okay, but that would be awesome.

Oh! By the way, before I forget, sorry I wasn't able to email yesterday. It was transfer day and so we didn't have a ride to get to the places we were gonna go, cause everyone that was in a car had to go to meetings.

How has it been at home?

May God be with you

Love,

Elder Jastal

These photos were emailed to us last week . . .