I'm having a little trouble getting the pix to load correctly on here, I will do the best I can. Only Elder Garcia cooperated on this post!!
Sept 14, 2012
Heya mum,
So i forgot my journal again... haha. Thank you so much for the package and everything in it! I loved looking at both of the photo albums (I loved the pictures from yours and dad's hiking trip, really i loved it and i loved seeing and hearing about dad, i miss dad a ton, and i miss you a ton too mum) and the hug from sadie and eloise with help from kimmy. I haven't chowed down on the snacks.. yet. It's hard because everyone else is getting dulces (sweets in spanish) and sharing them and I try to keep from eating those too much as it is haha. Thanks for all the shirts too, they're the perfect ones, just what I wanted to be honest. Unfortunately i'm down to one pair of gym shorts because the draw string on one of my pairs broke so I just wear those to bed, but don't worry about sending any other shorts, honestly i think my luggage is going to be over weight and over stuffed as it is but thank you because I know you would send them. I can't believe I have already been here a month, longer than most missionaries are in the MTC already, and i still have another month left in the MTC haha but at the same time i feel like i have been gone forever, i miss everyone a ton and i miss joking around and playing games with everyone like train game with our family and train game with Nicole's family... because i always won hahaha im kidding. I'm love hearing about everything that's going on at home. I just like to feel like i'm still part of life back there i dunno i guess that's kind of weird haha. I dont want to be forgotten haha. but seriously D: .... ANYWAY haha Things are going great here, thanks a bunch for the dear elders for me and the elders in my district, they all loved them and they said they might just write you back haha but really they told me to say thank you, it meant a lot to them. The elders with copies didnt mind at all. Unfortunately the dear elders you send to me online don't always make it straight to me, there are other elder astle's here i guess so sometimes my mail gets directed to them, and then a few days later it gets redirected to me. But I still do get them so thank you so much! The Spanish here is going well. It's tough because there are like periods of learning followed by periods of plateau where you don't feel like you're learning anything, those parts are pretty tough. Tomorrow Elder Kitchen and I are going to do an English fast and speak only Spanish for the whole day, that'll be fun. We teach investigators... completely in Spanish about 5 times a week, it's pretty tough but it's getting easier. We had a zone fireside yesterday about being a disciple of Christ and "being caught in the act of Discipleship" It was super good and I felt the Spirit so strong especially when I was able to say to myself "Yes, I'm am trying my very best to be like Christ and be the best me that i can be." My motto used to be the song "I'm trying to be like Jesus" and the fireside really brought that motto back to me. I love feeling the Spirit so much, i have learned so much here it's crazy, I know it's only by the power of God. Our teacher says "God is invested in you, because of that He is going to help you prepare." Everyday for the rest of my life i'm going to strive to feel the Spirit in some way, I never want these feelings to go away. I know the Church is true. And also I'm starving and it's time for lunch :P talk to you soon,
Love you all so much,
Elder Branden Carl Astle
pic 1 - the laundry room we type our emails in
pic 2 - awesome picture of an acorn that i took
pic 3 - our group for the musical auditions for performing in front of the entire MTC
pic 4 - Elder Garcia - nuff said
pic 5 - my name tag, The mexican falg on bottom means "Habla Su Idioma" meaning "speak your language" in spanish, The dot on my name tag is the dot everyone wears on their first day and then they take it off to show that they aren't new anymore.... I put it back on because I feel like i'll be new for the next 6 months
Elder Garcia
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