2013 November

November 4th - (to dad)
The members have been doing great about feeding us so we are pretty happy missionaries most of the time.

When we don't have the car, we usually tend to walk. I haven't been on a bike for a whole transfer and a half almost.  There are more hills in this area than there were in my last area and I am not certain how much I would like to try biking up and down all of the hills. When we don't have the car, we tend to have more appointments filed in with members and other closer activities, so we usually get rides from one place to another from whatever member we just happen to have met with before the next appointment. Or we ask them to come pick us up if we are too far away to get there on time walking and they are usually able to work it out for us.

 

It sounds like Sensei is pushing the kids pretty hard for nationals, including Grant.  I think Grant can handle it. He seemed to be pretty adept at getting things down when I left, and that is something that only gets easier to do with time. With an MMA fight to prepare for on top of Nationals, it might be a stretch, but I still think he will do well with all of it.

 I am going to need to find a way to start up being able to practice my stuff again. Usually we are fairly busy so I don't know how I will be able to pull it off. I am sure I can think of something.

Everybody out here was getting sick for some reason. I didn't but everyone else did. My companion had a few days a couple of weeks ago where he got hit pretty hard with some sort of monstrous cold. 
 

As far as singing in sacrament meeting, no one has asked me to yet and I am not sure if they actually will. Unless I have already told you all about the Missionary Choir that our mission started, and that is what you are referring to. If so, the idea of duets has been postulated and the works are in progress to get some things underway, but at the present time, we are still just practicing for any future events that may be done. We will be able to have the opportunity to do more than just sacraments and ward programs as well. the idea is for us to be able to do public venues of some sort to inspire the hearts of the people of California with the Spirit through the hymns that we will sing.

 I hope that you are able to have a great week and that work is going well. I love you.

 Love,

Elder Jastal

(to mom)

Hello mom,

Just to let you know, this week has gone by fairly smoothly and all is going well. The only downside I might throw in there is the fact that I came to a slight probalem with my right shoe and cannot find my shoe goo to fix it.  I would be delighted to hear if you had been able to order from missionary mall for me. I am not certain how much longer this pair of shoes has left to live, but I ope they can last long enough.

It was great to be able to read about Vara and the Zoo, and also to hear about everything else that has been happening at home. My big question is has anything new or exciting transpired between last week and this week that I was unable to hear about?

Not too much exciting has been happening over on my end, other than the fact that the missionary choir keeps getting more songs to be able to practice for any scheduled upcoming events. Every week has new and exciting events with the choir simply because Brother Huntington (Rigoletto, played the character Hans) is the person that they have asked to help with the vocal instructions and he is a very fun and energetic and inspiring person.

Aside from the missionary choir, I have been working with my companion to help the work in our area pick up, and I think that either one of us might be missing something or the people here are opposed to hearing us out. I would prefer to think that it is the latter, but nobody is perfect, not even missionaries.

Anyway, I hope that the week has gone well at home and that everyone has been having fun. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Jastal

12th

Hey Mom, the shoes did arrive and I should be getting them (from the Mission Home) on Wednesday at the latest.

This past week has gone well. My companion and I have been keeping very busy with all the work that we have been finding for ourselves and also the work that our wards have asked us to help with.

We had something super exciting happen this past Sunday. Our Choir Had Its First Performance! We were able to help out with a Stake Youth Fireside down in San Clemente. It was the most fantastic thing ever.

Outside of politics, what else has been going on at home? Dad is still teaching in Elder's quorum I presume. what else is happening? How are Grant and Tyler doing? If I remember correctly, Josh and Sammi are getting ready to go through the temple this month. Are you all planning on heading out there for that?

I love you al and hope that you all can have a wonderful week. Tell everyone I said hi.

Love,

Elder Jastal

18th -

To update you on the week, things have been fantastic. I am learning so much about this gospel and myself that I feel very much as though no one will know me anymore when I get home.

As for spiritual thoughts or experiences, I have been learning more and more what I feel when the Spirit is present. That is something that I have been somewhat unsure about for a long time, and I am finally learning how the Spirit works through me. We recently had a training in our mission on a new way of finding people to teach called "Opening the Windows of Heaven", or just "Windows of Heaven" for short. This past Saturday my companion and I had the opportunity to apply this training in a significant way. The experience was such that it strengthened both of our testimonies about following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We were put in a situation where we could do nothing but rely on the Spirit to guide us. It ended up leading us to a man who actually lives outside of our proselyting area but who we are absolutely certain Heavenly Father wanted to be taught. We were able to get in his house for just a few short moments. We asked a couple questions to learn a little bit about him, and then we wrote down his name and address and gave it to the missionaries who cover the area he lives in.

I love you all and hope that you all are able to have a great week.

Love,

Elder Jastal

25th -

It sounds  like everything at home is going fairly well.

I hope that brinya is able to stay strong. By this time she has probably already begun the treatment, but hopefully she is able to hold up well while going through it. It is really sad that she has to go through this all, but I know that through our prayers and faith, she will be able to come out on top.

As for Grant and his tournament participation, I am not surprised that he won 1st place but it is still really good to hear about. He has a lot of talent for martial arts and I am positive that this is merely going to be the beginning of a long career of successful martial arts activities.

I hope that everything is able to go very well for everyone this week. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Jastal