November 26, 2012

Family,

What a simple, but wonderful word huh?

Sounds like it was a wonderful "picture perfect Thanksgiving" at the Ranch house. I am so glad that you all enjoyed it and it sounds like many good memories were made and testimonies strengthened!  That is wonderful that the missionaries were able to come over also. Did you give them referrals? :)
I loved reading your letters and it sounded like a really fun Thanksgiving. I am really happy for that. Sounds like you did lots of fun activities. Thank you for your prayers. Please know that I am doing the same for all of you.

This week was a great week. Monday thru Wednesday I was in Mar Del Plata observing district meetings and  then we still had to buy some things for some houses still. Mostly fans because it is getting so hot here. I think we are finally done with that now. My favorite part was seeing the Beloqui Family again.

They live next door to the missionaries in Mar Del Plata and so I got to talk to them. They are just so wonderful and they do so much for the missionaries. They actually used to live in the barrio where I serve now and so they know a whole bunch of my ward members. We talked about the branch in Miramar. They are doing really well. The Gonzalez family is still really active, have callings, and the priesthood. I love that place... also I had a really neat experience with a Elder who is struggling a lot right now and wants to go home. We talked a lot on Tuesday, he wanted to talk to President and we caught a bus that left at 11 at night to get to Bahia in the morning and he talked to President. I helped translate for another appointment that day. Praying for the best! Thursday, we helped to the legalization of some missionaries and did office work and got a good day in the area.  Friday, we took my Trainer Elder Perez, who is my zone leader right now to the airport to go Buenos Aires because they lost his passport and are having to do the whole thing over again, and he finishes his mission in two weeks.

The best part of this whole week was with Martha and Miguel Angel. They are AWESOME! They went to the baptisms of another ward and they were a hoot. Elder Bledsoe (who I met in BYU and we played on the same intermural basketball team) and his Comp Elder Ruyan - from Merdian High School are teaching a family and the 13 year old daughter was baptized, that parents are coming to church but are not married. Martha started talking with the father of the girl who was getting baptized and asked him when was his turn, he said he was not sure and then Martha starting laughing, asked him if he was afraid of the water. She told her sweet simple testimony, it was really a neat experience for Elder Costanzi and I. We made the announcement in Church yesterday of her baptism, gave out invitations, and they had a interview with Bishop. I hope that lots of people come to the baptism this Saturday. It is so huge for the converts. I am trusting in the members and we will do all that we can to invite them.   We are making plans for the Christmas Conference and that will dominate my time for the next month. We have transfers the 16th of December right before, so this will be a really crazy month. I am pretty sure that my comp will be transferd this transfer and that will be a big adjusment for me. I have depended a lot on him, he knows so much about Argentina and the mission and it has helped me. But I have learned in the mission that change is something that can help us never allow mediocrcay in our lives and I am grateful for that lesson form Pres. Def. The Moran Family and doing ok. Sister Moran is a angel, but her kids and husband are a little more farther in thier conversion. We will see what happens. I love Brother Moran and it would be my dream to see that man under water, and then in the temple. Agency is more important though.
I hope that you all remember to write three goals for before July that you want to accomplish. It is seriously all I want for Christmas.
I am glad that Julie and girls arrived safe and that everything is ok!!! Scary about hitting a deer!! And tell AJ congrats!

Dad.- I am super excited to read your talk. I am happy for you. Glad you got to do the Turkey trott also. I am sure it was wonderful to have all the family together and I am glad that you enjoyed the activities. What did Uncle Richard Bowl? If Mikesell bowled a 138, he must have been smoking it. I laughed out-loud reading your letter. I could hear you saying exactly that. What good times....I love you Dad. Thanks for all that you do.Thanks for your wonderful example. Have a great week and enjoy your gym time. Love you Dad.

Mom- Sounds like you also had such a great time with family.  I loved that you were able to knit with Katie. That will be a treasure to her for ever and ever.What a very sweet thing to do. This week will back to the routine for you. Christmas is coming up quickly. I must say, I do not feel it at all. But maybe here in a couple of weeks I will. I sure love you Mom. Thanks for being the angel of all the angels. Have a wonderful week and thank you for your prayers. I miss you too...but we will just keep pluggin on doing our best!!! It will be so much sweeter when I get home. Love you Mom.

Mikesell- Hey baby girl,
I am sure that you just loved being home for Thanksgiving. Be sure and Tell Ash and Hailey Clegg congrats on their calls. That is so awesome. Sounds like you had a great week and I am glad!! Good luck with your meet in Boise this week  That will be a great experience for you. Finals should be coming in quickly also. That is neat. You will rock it. Stay strong and focused in school. I always started out the sememster better than I finished and that is something that I want to change. I love you Sis. You are the most incredible person ever. Keep happy. Tell the cousins that I love them!

Brennen - I am glad that you had such a fun time this week. That is wonderful. I hope that you are enjoying ball and that it is a good experince for you. Thanks for being such a wonderful kid. I love you Brother and I  look up to you. Hey how tall are you now? Keep being a stud Brennen.  I hope that you enjoy you new trimester...What classed do you have? Have a great week!

Alex- Hey buddy!- Did you enjoy the break? Sounds like you all had a blast. Did you like Muldoon? I love Muldoon so much. How were your grades last trimester? I love you buddy. Keep being awesome. I miss you. Keep reading your scriptures and doing to basics. Is there anyone if your Deacons group who isn't coming every Sunday who you could go visit and help out with Dad and Brennen or your leaders in the ward? That would be a good Christmas thing to do!

Harrison- Hey buddy ! Has Elfy started showing up yet? How are you friends doing? What movie have you been watching lately?I love you Harrison and I hope that you are doing well.

McCall- Hey Sweetie! Did you eat lots of turkey?  Are you gettting taller? How was Bowling and your time with the Cox´s and Putnams? They are just the best! I  sure love you McCall. I love you alot. Have a great week!! BIG KISS

Well I love you all so much. I hope that you have a wonderful week this week.I am sure that it will be a super busy one. This week I really learned the importance of diligence. Steadly striving for something better daily is how we grow.It is daily effort in the same direction. That is how we become better.

Some Scriptures:
Gal: 5 :
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

As we approach Christmas I hope that you can all focus on the " Spirit" of Christmas and what it is really about. It is blurred so much my all the lusts of the "flesh".  I love you all so much.
Have the best week ever!

Elder Austin

November 19, 2012

Hello Awesome Family,

It was so wonderful to recieve all of your letters. You all sound so happy and I am glad to hear that the dedication of the temple was a spiritual experience for all.

I am glad that Papa had a wonderful day yesterday on his birthday!! I sent him a email. It will be great to have everyone together for Thanksgiving up there at the ranch.

Grandpa and Grandma Clegg- Thanks for sharing your experience of the temple dedication. Thank you for all of your love and support. I love you both so much and I am so grateful for all that you do. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and know that I am thankful for you.

This week has been a great week. The highlight has defiantly been the progress of Miguel and Martha. They are just loving everything. They are really excited, just excited about the Gospel. I love it. We have changed the baptism date to the 1st of December. Our Bishop wanted to be sure that they had three church attendances, which is fine. The Bishops here have a general fear of people never coming back after their baptisms. That is hard and it is something that we are really trying to change in the mission to have and experience real growth. It is so sad to see when that happens. Tragic.  Martha and Miguel are some of the most prepared people I have seen. They are reading the Book of Mormon everyday and tonight we have a FHE with them and a great family in our ward.  Today I am going to Mar Del Plata with Elder Gravelle to do division with the Zone Leaders in Mar Del Plata.  I want to be back here as soon as possible to teach Martha and Miguel Angel. Today my companion will be with a member. It has rained every other day this week. But is is hot humid type of rain. It is a lot hotter here in Bahia then in Miramar last summer. We had a couple of meetings with President this week planning Christmas in the mission. The mission has improved a lot in the last two weeks in the amount of investigators that we have found and so we are hoping for a high convert month in the month of Christ (December).

I wanted to share a cool experience with you all. On Saturday we left the house the morning after studies to work in our area. We have to walk about 11 blocks to get to our area. We were two blocks from the house when the cell phone of Elder Costanzi rang - it was President and about 15 seconds into the call he looked at me and moved his head like we have to go back to the house. So we turned around... I will admit... I might have been murmuring a little in my head because we had so much to do.  We needed to find a lot of investigators that day and we had a full day to work. After we had turned around and we were heading back to the house a man came up to me and started talking to me. Elder Costanzi was still on the phone and so I started to talk to him and Elder Costanzi realized I wasn't at his side and stopped. The man asked me if we were missionaries, I told him that we sure were! I could tell he was a little shaky and wasn't sure if maybe he had been drinking or not. He then explained to me that he had seen us walk by the first time from the other block and wanted to call us. He explained how he had just barely left his church because he got in a fight with his Pastora and was really upset. He talked about how she was cheating the people to go to church and had a another motives and how he was sad because his girlfriend was in the church still. Basically he was really upset because he had argued with the pastora. He was really upset...shaking. He told us how he got out of jail five years ago and was starting to find the light with this church and then he realized that the Pastora did not have pure intentions. We were able to share the message of the Restoration with him and gave him a Book of Mormon and set an appointment with other Elders in his area. It was a neat experience. I need to talk to the other Elders to see if they were able to talk to him. It was a testimony of how God sometimes just puts you in the right place at the right time.

I bet that you are all excited for this week. I am sure that Mikesell is really pumped to be coming home and spending time with the family. It is crazy how quick time is going I can not believe that it is Thanksgiving already. I hope you know how grateful I am for each of you and all of my blessings.

Dad- I hope that you enjoy this week. I am glad that you get to speak in church this Sunday. I am sure the dedication of the temple was wonderful.  I sure love you Dad. Thanks for all that you do.

Mom- I am super grateful for you. Thank you for your letter and your kind words. I hope that you have have a wonderful week. Enjoy the wonderful time with the family. I love you so much Mom.

Mikesell- Enjoy your time at home this week.  Give everyone a hug and kiss for me. I love you Mikesell so much and I hope that you have a great week. Drive safe. I am so grateful for you.

Brennen- I hope that ball is going well. Say hi to Coach Sharp for me.  I hope that your can enjoy your time with the family this week. I love you Brother. Keep being a stud. Love you!!

Alex- Thanks for writing brother. I am glad that you are enjoying your time with Mrs. Otto. She is wonderful and I love her. Have a great week and keeping being great in life and on the court.

Harrison- I sure love you little man. I hope that you have a wonderful week. Enjoy the cousins!! Eat lots of Turkey. I love you buddy so much.  Big hug...

McCall- I love you sweetie. Enjoy your Thanksgiving.  How many blessing do you have?

I love you all so much. I read the talk  "Of regrets and resolutions" by President  Uchtdorf.

If we:
Follow the Savior
Work with Diligence
Listen to and obey the spirit
= Reveal things to us we never knew... illuminate the path ahead, open our eyes to see unknown, and perhaps unimagined talents.

I also loved the scripture in Romans 13:9-10

I love you all so much.
Have a wonderful week and know that I am grateful for each and everyone of you.

All my love.

Elder Austin

November 13, 2012

Hello Family,

Dad- Thanks so much for your handwritten wonderful letter. I loved it and thanks so much for taking the time to write. It meant a lot to me.

This week as far as a missionary life goes, has been one of the best weeks of my  mission. From a world perspective, it may be one of the gloomiest.

Monday and Tuesday were excellent days. The leadership conference was amazing. It is amazing for me to see the way that 20 year kids can make something happen like we do as missionaries.  The Lord works miracles. We really have some wonderful missionaries here in the mission. Tuesday I left with the new elder in charge of the finances and we found 5 people in very little time. It was a miracle. The office has taught me how to put God first in my life in everything and I am learning a ton.We found Martha and Miguel Angel. They are brother and sister and are living together because they are widowed and divorced. They are really great people. Miguel Angel lost his leg a couple of years ago and he was a taxi driver. He is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy. Martha is an angel. She lives to serve her brother who she loves. They have a date for the 24th of November and I feel pretty confident about it. We also started teaching the granddaughter of Hermano Moran. Her Dad is less active and her Mom is not a member. She is coming to church and tonight we have a FHE with all of the family. I am really excited for them. She has a  baptismal date for the 1st and it is also golden. We purchased supplies to make a cake and gave the supplies to a member and she baked a cake to give to her because she came to church even though it was her birthday.  We gave the cake to her afterwords and it was great. Her Grandmother Hermana Moran is the sweetest lady. She went to the temple this week all by herself . She told us how in her Patriarchal Blessing it talked about how her family would all be baptized. We are doing all within our power to help that promise come true.

Leaving after Leadership Conference for an afternoon of  knocking doors!! Such a great day!!!

It rained so hard here on Thursday. We were soaked. There was a tornado warning for a little and so we had to go insided the church and we took some pictures of being soaking wet. It really was not even a tornado, there has ner been one here. Friday and Saturday were great work days and yesterday we had 4 investigators in church and it was a great blessing. I really love this ward here and am super grateful to be here.  I cannot believe that it is November. The weather has been nice other than the huge rain storm. It is really pretty. Yesterday a recent convert gave a talk in the ward and she did excellent. It was so great. I love this work!!!

  LET IT RAIN!!!

I read in Romans 8: this week and I really enjoyed that chapter especially vs 7, 28,37, and 38. There is nothing like studying the scriptures.

Lots of people have said things about the elections here. I am sure all are very dissapointed. I dont feel it as much being here because of the blessing of being a missionary, or I have not felt angry, just felt, "the people chose it and now we are going to pay for it".  When I found out in the morning I honestly just thought well, we need to baptize more people, that is all I can do. Hermana Parreño told me right of in the morning, she looked at me and said. "Elder Clegg I feel like I need to tell you that President Obama will be the president for the next four years" She was a little sad also. I love President and Hermana. It is all part of the plan and I am excited because it is certain the the Gospel will play a huge part in it. So, keep moving forward and doing great things we have much work to do!

Dad- Thanks so much for you letter.  I loved it. I want you to do something for me, if you could look up the song by a band called "Lower Lights"  called " Be Thou My Vision".  Are you getting excited for your favorite holiday?? Will you all be in Jerome? I hope that you all enjoyed your time in Jerome on Sunday. Lots of basketball coming up for you. Hows Jerome and BYU looking this year? I love you Dad. Thanks for being a warrior. Have a great week!

Mom- How is your new calling doing in Young Womens? You were put there for a reason no doubt! Are you getting back into a schedule? I love you so much Mom. You are such an Angel. I hope that you have a great week and that all is going well. Please tell Ben and Lani how much I love them. Thank you for your emails and journal entries...I love them so much. Thank you so much for the package....thank you for thinking of me. I love you Mom. You are the best! Have a great week.

      This one is for you Mom...your initials....too bad it didn't say 513 or it would have been  your birthday!

Mikesell- Sounds like you are just having the time of your life . I am so happy for you. I hope that you are really enjoying it. Mikesell I love you and I am excited to to a ton of great fun things with you. I hope that you have a wonderful week. Keep being strong and doing everying the to the best of your abilites. While teaching Martha and Miguel Angel and thought about how grateful I am to have a sister that is my best friend. I love you and keep being strong.

Brennen- Hey buddy I want you to read in 2 Nephi 2:14.   I was thinking about one of the ways we grow from childhood to manhood is starting to learn how to act upon the situations in our lives and not be acted upon. Stuff doesnt happen to you, you happen to stuff. I encourage you this year in school, basketball, and all the things that you embark in to never let anyone set your standard for you. You are Brennen Clegg and you only do the best. You are instopable man. I love you Brennen with all my heart. Keep being a outstanding young man. Soak up Seminary!

Alex- So you drained a buzzer huh? Atta aboy!! Sounds like some great games!! Hey man, I want a email from you with the following things.
What are your classes?
Who are your friends?
What are you liking about school?
If there is not a email in my Inbox next week.... you are going to get it. :) I love you Alex. Keep being a good kid. I know you are busy and that it is hard to remember your big old brother who you never see anymore... but I would love to hear from you. I love you Alex... Love you a ton. Enjoy ball.

Harrison- Hey little man, I love you so much. You are a incredible kid. I hope that you are learning a ton. I sure miss you and hope that you are doing well. I love you Harrison. That is part of the reason why I am here. Keep praying and being happy. You are great Harrison.

McCall- I love you so much little sweetie. I am glad that you have such good friends. I sure appreicate you. I hope that you are liking school and that you are happy as can be. Keep remembering that you are princess. I love you Cally.

This week was wonderful.I am growing,  I know I am no where near perfect, thankful that God has helped me to have desires to share the Gospel, and that he has helped me reach those desires. I just love the mission. I cant tell you all how happy I am when I loose myself and give it all to the work. I also know I have a lot more to give.

Please each of you know that I pray for you with all energy. The greatest blessing that I could ever ask for is to have each of you strong and progressing in the Gospel. I am thankful for Parents, Grandparents, and all of my family that have vision, love Heavenly Father and have been outstanding examples to me. I am learning about sacrafrice.

May Heavens richest blessing be yours this wonderful week.

All my love,
Elder Austin

Nov 6, 2012

Hello there wonderful family!

I am so sorry that I was not able to write yesterday. We had a leadership conference with all the district leaders and all of the zone leaders. It was wonderful. The conference was really great and the spirit was really strong. It was what the mission needed. I loved it.

It was a good week. We recieved a great group of new missionaries and I am super grateful for that. I met a Elder who was serving in Colorado who knew Elder Clegg. That was fun.  After that we had a good week in our area. We had to prepare for the leadership conference today... it was a two day conference. We had it set up so everyone could leave and work in the afternoon on Monday and we found 92 contacts in 5 or 6 hours with about 30 compionships. That was great!! I hope that everyone left with a lot more energy and that it will give a boost to the mission. We found a great lady named Martha who is super prepared. We found her working with a member and I am excited for her. Lately we keep finding all these great people and then they move, or we cant find them again. We don't have all the time in the world to search for them and so we are doing the best we can. I am super excited for this transfer. It will be my first time being with a compainon for three transfers, we get along great and I really love Elder Costanzi. He is a outstanding missionary. One of the greatest blessings in my  mission has been my companions. This week was filled with some really neat spirtual experiences and I was reminded how much that this work roll onward because it is the Lords work. You just can not stop it.

Halloween doesn't really exist here. I didn't remember it was halloween until like 6 oclock in the afternoon. I am glad that you all enjoyed it and I loved all the pictures.

Last night we had about 30 Elders in our house. We said a prayer as a house and it was a great spirtual experience.

                                           My past companion Elder Yargar - love that man!
Well.... Today is the day. We are all excited to hear of the news down here. What a big, big day. I am praying that it will all work out like it is supposed to.

Dad- I hope that you can  get settled in soon and all the transisitions. I have learned that I love routines in life.  I feel like you can progress better with a routine, but maybe it is just a choice of style. I sure love you Dad. Thanks for being the greatest father in the world. I hope you enjoy your day. Send up a smoke signal when you know who wins. Have a great week Dad.

Mom- Thanks for your wonderful letter and thank you for the package. The camera works great and I will be sending that photo soon. Thank so much. I am glad that you had a great week. I am glad that you enjoyed your time with Mikesell there so much. I am excited for you and your new calling in young womens.  I know that you will do so great!! I sure love you Mom.

Mikesell- I am just so happy that you are doing so great in school. What a great thing!!  I sure love you. I hope that you can prepare good for finals and just kick it. I hope you are doing well with health. I am super excited for Ash. What a wonderful place to go on a mission and she will do so great there. Another Clegg in the field. Austrailia! That is wonderful.  I love you Mikesell. You are the best .. I mean it.

Brennen- I am super excited for your bball season and glad that you are going to be able to get involved in Young Mens now in the ward. You will do a excellent job. I love you Brennen. Keep being awesome.

Alex- I love you little bro. I hope that you have a great week. Bust it out there in the court and keep doing great. But more importantly bust it in life. Keep being a outstanding Aaronic Priesthood holder. Remember your ability to lead and to bless others.

Harrison- What a great spiderman that you are. I hope that you have a great week. I love you buddy. Keep being wonderful.

McCall- I love you so much. You are a cute redhead there sweetheart. I love you. Have a great week.

D&C 88:40

Romans 5:3-5

I love you all and I love the Gospel so much. I love the power of the Atonement in our lives. I love repentance and encourage all of you to do it everyday. That is the way to be happy.

Have a wonderful week. I pray for you individually and your needs and goals. Keep being the best you can everyday.

All my love!

I will be praying for Romney!!
.....have been for 16 months. :)

Elder Austin