On The Lord's Errand, A Journal of Elder Branden Astle's Two Years in Puebla, Mexico

Aye Mum,

I love you and miss you and everyone at home so much. Mom I need you to forgive me. This week I'm all out of time. I'll be better next week. I'm going to respond to the letters from the last two weeks. First, I did get my anniversary present and it was amazing!!!!! I loved it so much. The photo book made me cry and filled me up with love. I was sick with a stomach infection 3 weeks ago. You told me that Scott is the Elder's quorum president!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! He's the greatest right? Also you told me you saw Debbie Clark. Tell her I said "hi :) I'm living in Mexico." I'm not too excited for my birthday to be honest. You told me you saw the Wrights and that you miss them a lot. I miss them too. I will never forget the day when I jokingly asked brother Wright for his tie because I liked it a lot and right there he took it off and gave it to me.

In the email from last week you talked about the wedding date being changed, I hope it was changed to December..... of 2014!!! :P That'd be good. Thank you for the pictures of Travis, I love him. You told me my face looks more muscular and the secret is that I'm getting better and molding fat to look like muscle. You told me about how you saw Ty plowing forward with people trying to hold him back. I literally said "THAT'S MY NEPHEW!!" out loud. I used to do that in football games with my friends too. Thank you for loving me so much mom. I started reading the letters from the photo book like 1 or 2 a day and just decided to start at the beginning to end. I just had an idea! I'm going to take a photo of the page i wrote to respond to the cards and send that. If you don't understand something or can't read something tell me in a short email next week.

a few points

- President Reeves's wife called me organized the other day because I said i missed a shirt that was missing. I told her that that was nothing haha.

- I'm getting better at basketball, but I still stink.

- My district gave me the nickname John Cena because they say that i look like him after i work out and take off my shirt in the morning... I don't understand how my face changes though ;P

- I ate spinach soup the other day and loved it so much and asked for seconds.

- Sometimes I think maybe it would be better not to wash behind my ears anymore so that potatoes will grow and i will have something to eat. :P haha but really there's only a few hungry days so don't worry :)

I love you so much mom! Thank you for being my perfect mom :)

Elder Branden Carl Astle