October 20

Hello Everyone!

This week was a great one for us! The work is picking up again and we really saw some great miracles this week! We had a trade-off with the Sister Training Coordinators. I was with Sister Petramalo. She and I were in the same MTC group. I love her so much! She is a very powerful missionary. We were able to have some really great lessons. One of which was a powerful lesson with a part member family. The husband seems to be more open than he has in the past and we talked with him about baptism and the Book of Mormon. 

During our golden hours this week we found some really great potential investigators. One of them we found had actually talked to the missionaries about a year ago. We even knew the missionaries! He is young and seems like he could be interested in learning more again. We also found a potential family! We talked to the wife and she was SO nice and friendly! That night we also had a lesson with one of our investigators. We had a member with us and it was a really neat lesson about the Holy Ghost. This investigator seems to really have a desire to know the truth. She just seems pretty worried that she won't be able to recognize the spirit. Also this week we made some cookies and took them to some members. It was so fun! Sister missionaries can get away with a lot more than elders can and the members loved it! 

A miracle that we had Saturday evening happened when we were biking. We were biking through a particular neighborhood and saw a man sweeping his driveway and there were pinecones all over his yard. We stopped and offered to help him out. He was a little hesitant and Sister Herrera said, "Can we PLEASE help you pick up your pinecones?" He said that we could and so we did! It was wonderful! He told us that he was born and raised a Jehovah's Witness. He didn't actually live there but it was his sister's house. So after we finished up, he offered us some water. We told him that would be great and he left to get us some water. When he came back he handed us each some water and then told us that he was so impressed by our offering to help him and that he wanted to come to our church. He invited himself to church! Hah! It was wonderful! He really seems interested and wants to learn more! We have an appointment with him tonight.

Another miracle that happened is that we visited an investigator who hasn't really shown much commitment but we went to see her on Saturday. We just invited her to church and helped her to feel comfortable. We gave her a wake up knock in the morning and she came! She brought three of her grandchildren too! It was great. Sunday evening was a devotional and President Tilton, the Orlando Temple President came and spoke. He did a really great job. I really enjoyed the devotional. He talked about the temple and family history work. It really is so important that we not only go to the temple to do temple names, but that we do family history and take our own ancestors. He also talked about how those we do their work for will greet us in the next life and "fall to your feet and hug your knees in appreciation and love." He talked about how the temple is worth every sacrifice in the world and that there is no reason to not go to the temple. He told some really neat experiences that he has had in the temple. I love the temple so much! We went to the devotional with a less-active member of our ward who really wants to work towards going to the temple. She has a really long way to go but she is determined to get there. The devotional was perfect for her.

Well that is about all that I have to report this week. I am grateful for the hard and the wonderful moments of a mission. And for that matter, life. It really wouldn't do us any good just to have the good ones. The trick is to be grateful, humble, teachable, and faithful throughout them all: good and bad.

Keep smiling. Y'all are amazing.

October 13

Hello everyone!

This week was a busy and good one. I went on two trade offs with two
incredible missionaries. I think the lord gave me his calling so I
could get to know and learn from so many wonderful disciples of Jesus
Christ. When I was with Sister Cline we were biking...a lot. All of a
sudden we ride by a blue powerade. We look at each other and had the
same thought. So we turned around and picked up the bottle. Still
sealed. It was even cool. God loves us so much and sent us a little
piece of blue manna to sustain us through the evening and remind us
that he is there.

Is week were able to find some new investigators, even some potential
families! The work is slowly starting to pick up again. We also had
the opportunity to participate in Brianna's baptism. She is 8 years
old and is the daughter of a me,her so it isn't a convert baptism but
we had the wonderful opportunity to teach her all the lessons and halo
put her baptism together. It was beautiful. She and her grandma were
10 minutes late but besides that, it went perfectly! The spirit was
very strong. It's amazing how that happens at baptism. But it is not
at all surprising. Baptism and confirmation are saving ordinances. I
wish I could remember more from my own baptism and confirmation.

On a trade off in Waycross I was reminded again of my personal
standard of cleanliness. We did some service for a lady. It was not
pretty.

Our sacrament meeting yesterday was wonderful. One of the sister
missionaries in our ward spoke. She did amazingly. She is such a great
public speaker! She talked about how gods ways are nothing our ways
and how his are usually counter-intuitive. Like how to the world it
seems crazy that we give 10% of our money to the Lord and he promises
that he will take care of us. She gave some other wonderful examples
and I cannot even begin to do it justice. Another ward member talked
about sacrifice and how no matter what decision we are making we have
to sacrifice something. There is always an opportunity cost. We must
choose what we sacrifice. The last speaker was our new stake president
who talked more about opportunity cost and how our spirituality
depends on the steps that we make, those steps are called "today".
Through Christ we can become perfect. Yes we can, because He can do
all things.

Always,
Sister Kasteler

October 6

Good Afternoon Y'all!

This week was a great one! It seemed busy and we worked hard. We are so blessed to be taught that we must repent and make changes in our lives in order to align our will with Heavenly Father's and to one day return to live with Him and our families again. Sister Herrera have been making small changes to the way we are doing the work as inspired by the spirit, President Craig, and other leaders. We are excited to see miracles and watch this area grow!

Tuesday we had Zone Meeting and got to watch MEET THE MORMONS. Wow. It was incredible. One minute you're laughing and the next you're crying. It is really going to be amazing to watch what happens as a result of this movie coming out. We are trying to get our members to request the movie so that it will play here in Brunswick! What a great way to introduce the church to your friends! It really was a wonderful movie. The people they focused on were so different and so incredible. There really are so many different kinds of people in the Church. The gospel is for everyone!

I was on a trade-off with Sister Mann, a brand new missionary. We were knocking on some doors and we started talking to this lady who was so nice and so friendly! She talked a lot about God's hand in her life and then we brought up the Book of Mormon. Here is the conversation that happened:

Us: We love reading the Bible and we also love to read the Book of Mormon.

Her: I have a copy of the Book of Mormon.

Us: That is great! Where did you get it?

Her: A friend gave it to me.

Us: Wow, have you ever had a chance to read any of it?

Her: Yeah, I've read the whole thing.

Us: Really? That is incredible. Have you ever prayed to ask God if it is true?

Her: Yes, I pray about everything. I know it is true. But I'm Baptist. 

Wow! I was somewhat in shock. That definitely doesn't happen very often! In fact, it has never happened to me. We are pretty sure she has never met with the missionaries before so we are planning on helping her understand that because the Book of Mormon is true, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church restored on the earth. Isn't that incredible?

What a beautiful conference weekend! We have been so blessed by the wonderful messages from the apostles and prophets. I loved the focus on being truly converted by following the example of Jesus Christ and not the example of the world. I also felt like there was a lot of focus about using our agency and involving God in our decision making. There was also a focus on follow the prophet and other inspired leaders. The talks that really stood out to me was Lynn G. Robbins, Jorg Klebingat's, Elder Oaks, President Monson, Elder Scott, and Elder Bednar. As you can see, I can really pick favorites. Did you notice that the world just felt different Saturday and Sunday? The gospel is amazing and general conference was glorious.

Have a blessed week,

Sister Kasteler

September 29

Hello!

This week was great! Zone Conference with Elder Golden from the seventy was absolutely inspiring. There was a beautiful focus on obedience and being obedient because of your love for the Lord and not just because of the sense of duty that you feel. I also appreciate the love and trust that Elder Golden showed in us. He said some pretty incredible things about our mission. We have a lot that we can improve on but it was nice to hear from a general authority that we are doing well. Another thing that I was impressed with at Zone Conference was the emphasis on goals and planning. I know that I need to work on setting more inspired rather than logical goals. The world sets goals that are logical, based on what they have already achieved. Setting inspired goals takes a lot of prayer and paying attention to the spirit. Those goals are not always logical and might even seem crazy to the rest of the world. But Heavenly Father knows what we can accomplish. The other thing that really impressed me at Zone Meeting was the Holy Ghost: being worthy of the Holy Ghost and acting on the promptings that come. This was something that I had never really thought about before. Elder Golden talked about how when we are living righteously and a thought pops into our head, it is probably from the Holy Ghost! It is the second thought that you should distrust. For example, say you are waiting for the bus, minding your own business, a thought pops into your head to text a friend. The next thought that comes into your head that says "no, she is fine, I talked to her last night." The first one was from God the second one was from Satan. WOW. MIND BLOWN. I always struggle knowing what is revelation and what is my own thoughts. Elder Golden talked about how our thoughts aren't our thoughts as much as we think they are. Isn't that absolutely amazing? I'm sure that a lot more of our thoughts are from the Holy Ghost than we realize. And it all depends on our personal worthiness. If we are doing our best to keep the commandments, we should always act on our FIRST thought. That is why President Monson is so incredible, because he "Never postpones a prompting". Zone conference was amazing and I learned so much. I was also able to see 3 of my past companions! Sister Earl, Sister DeSpain, and Sister Joseph! It was wonderful.

Wow, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a Sister Training Leader because of the wonderful sisters that I get to know and love. Both Sister Parmer and Sister Heckel were once my Sister Training Leaders and so it is humbling to think about the way the church is organized. You are called to a calling to lift, love, and bless. When they were my Sister Training Leaders I looked to them for guidance and correction, and now as their Sister Training Leader it feels natural to lift, love, and bless them. That doesn't make any sense in the world's eyes, but it makes perfect sense in the Lord's eyes. And it is also obvious that the Lord does not call the qualified, he qualifies whom he calls.

The work in our area is really interesting right now. Our teaching pool has dropped down to almost nothing. We have tried really hard to focus on finding this week and have run into an interesting problem. Something that I have never run into before on such a consistent basis. We teach someone on the street or on their porch about the Book of Mormon or the restoration and they show interest but then won't set up a return appointment. They either tell us that they will give us a call or that we can stop by any time. It is pretty incredible though because most of them are families. We will keep trying to see them. We will continue forward. Patience and humility are being learned, that is for sure. 

I am really grateful for my wonderful companion. She has a really positive attitude and she is always working hard. She truly wants to be her best self and is always looking for ways to improve. And she is SO great at giving compliments, to everyone, all the time. She is truly amazing. Although we have had some setbacks, we have seem some true miracles with less active members. We have had two less active members come out of the wood works! One of them just showed up to church and then we had a beautiful lesson with her. The other one let us into her home for the first time since I've been here in Brunswick. 

Women's conference...That was amazing! Again, there was an emphasis on making and keeping covenants. I loved that the emphasis was on the temple. We must always be looking towards the temple. If we haven't made it to the temple, we should prepare. If we have been to the temple, we must continue to be worthy and keep the covenants that we have made. We all must be obedient to the commandments of our Heavenly Father, all of which bring us closer to Him. No sacrifice is too great to go to the temple. When we are obedient, we will be able to feel and see the blessings that Heavenly Father is Waiting to pour out upon us. We must also share the light that we have with others! As we study and learn truth and add light to our life, we can share that light and help guide others to the temple. Discipleship is sweet. We can have light, power, and joy. And of course, He loves us just the way we are, imperfections and all. Oh how blessed we are!

Have a blessed day!

Sister Kasteler

Sep 16

Good morning!

This week was a good one! It seemed like a weird one but I don't know exactly why! We had lunch with two of our investigators and had a great talk with them. They have so many questions. Unfortunately one of them likes to look things  up on the internet and so we had to clear up a lot of things. But I am so grateful that she was willing to talk to us and let us explain what is truth and what is not. Wow, the internet can be so GOOD but it can also be so BAD. Speaking of the internet....Elder Bednar gave a wonderful talk at education week called "To sweep the Earth as with a flood". It is all about social media and the internet and how we can use it to #sharegoodness! It is so wonderful and I highly recommend that you read it. Part of Heavenly Father's hastening of the work is online and we are so blessed to be a part of it!

I spent a day in Jacksonville on a trade-off. It was fun! I was with Sister Petramalo who came out with me. She is incredible and is a wonderful sister training coordinator. Also, this week we did some service and had a couple power trade-offs with some sisters. There are so many wonderful sister missionaries in the Kingsland zone and I am so BLESSED to know them. This week we have also had some things happen and our teaching pool is dwindling. And almost every single appointment we had this week fell through. I guess the Lord is trying to teach us something. And it is just in time for transfers! Sister Earl is leaving to Palatka to be Sister DeSpain's companion. Hah! I am so happy that they are going to be companions! They are two of my favorite sisters! My new companion is Sister Herrera. She is so sweet! I have met her and talked with her a little bit and am so excited to get to work with her and know her better! The work will continue to move forward. And I am so excited and blessed to be a missionary!

Sorry that was short. Have a blessed week!

Always,

Sister Kasteler