November 27, 2011

Letters received from:

Bishop Prince- Thank you so much!!  Your letters always inspire me. I love you Bishop. You are the man. You are in my prayers and I hope that all is well. Thank you for writing!

Mikesell- Thank you so much....loved it so much!

Papa-  Thank you so much for the Dear Elder. As always I learn so much from your letters. I loved reading your journal entry on your birthday. I love you Papa and Grandma. Thank you for taking the time to write. I cherish your letters.

The Packages!  Thank you so very much!!  Everything made it great and I have just loved listening to music in the house. Thank you for the card, the pictures... everything. It was very thoughtful like always.  

Emails:

Dad, Mom, Mikesell, Brennen, Alex, McCall

Grandma Clegg- So sweet to hear about Thanksgiving and the investigator in your ward. I loved it! I love you both very much.

Bryan Harper- Thank you so much for the email man!   It meant so much to me. It was so great to hear from you. I am glad to hear you are staying busy and working hard with school. Keep at it brother. I hope that all of your family is doing really well. You are the Man!!

 Thank you all so much for your support, prayers, and love.

It was another great week. We had a lot in success in finding this week. We found 21 new investigators. (There is a story behind this…. Austin sent Jeff an email saying there was a break in / murder of a young boy when he was home alone and the burglars stole a computer. The town is in an uproar about it all and are seeking peace and answers. Thus they are anxious to talk to missionaries this week. When Austin was in the MTC they told the missionaries “tell your Dad the freak out things…not your Mom”…haha… I believe it… but am doing fine.  This was 10 blocks away from him. I found this newsclip of it. Where each of us all live isn’t much better!?  However,  the news clip kinda freaked me out a little I will admit it.)    http://www.ntn24.com/news/videos/angry-mob-riots-miramar-argentina-over-local-murder-case-7765

I sure hope that at least some of those will come to church and we can progress a little. I would think that at least some of them would. I would prefer quality over quantity.  Jose did not come to church this week and we have not been able to get hold of him as of today. Hopefully we will tonight. I know he has felt it, he knows what is right, and now it is in his court. It is really hard. We will pray and work for the best. Trinidad story is even sadder. She is now moving and does not want to be baptized basically  for fear of not be able to keep the commandments. She comes from a really sad home. We had a lesson with our Branch President with her and  afterward the meeting he told us to pretty much “drop it and let it go”. That was hard. We know that baptism is the thing for her. We are going to try and send the missionaries in Buenos Aires to her house when she moves there. Possibly a miracle will occur and she will have a change of heart.  Amidst all that it was a refining week. I have had the goal  for the last several weeks to really try and open my mouth more, at least five time a day. Even when my first thought I don’t want to talk to them or I can not talk to them. It has been amazing what has happened. Heavenly Father really blesses you when you get out of your comfort zone. There was a baptisim in our Branch of a little girl whom they had lost her baptism records. So she was baptized again. We were in charge of organizing it and it went well. It was a good time. Our branch doesn’t have many activities which is a problem… so it was good to have it. Dad - you asked how are members are in helping.  Quite frankly there is not a single completely active family in our branch so it is hard to have the church feel like a happy loving place. It really is another hurdle to go. But we are working on reactivating families and all that. The Branch Presidents wife has not come to church since I got here. It would be nice to get some more families. I know we would have more baptisms if the members lived what we teach in lessons. But I can not worry about them. We just do our best. I try and take accountability for it and not use it as an excuse.  

One fun story that happened this week is that we were walking this dirt road and I turned to my comp and asked him if he wanted to find two new investigators. He of course said “yes” so I said lets knock on this house. Turns out we found a kid named “Franco” who is ten years old who was baptized in Buenos Aires a year ago and then his family moved. His family has hard hearts but we were able to teach them and it really was miracle that we were able to find them.  I testify that Heavenly Father answers your prayers every time, in His time. Some other good news is that with transfers this last week my roommate from the MTC is now in my district. Elder Patterson is his name. I am so happy and it really is a tender mercy .He was one of my best friends in the MTC. I am really excited for that. He is from St George. 

This week I learned a lot about charity. I keep thinking how in order to be better missionary I need to have a more love for people and really let that be my motive for everything. I have been reading about Captain Moronia and I realized what it means to really put your whole mind and strength into a cause. I want to get there as a missionary and just loose it for this work and change. I am just a normal person and I need to become more to represent the tag that I have on my chest.   It is all about overcoming your fears and weaknesses and it is not easy and it takes work.  D&C 12: 8 and   D&C 19: 18 are my scriptures for this week. 

The pictures:

1.)  Of our church. 

 2.) Trinidad and our Branch President.

 3.)  A rather funny bag of chips at the baptism 

4.) One of the Hermanas who gives us lunch every Wednesday.

    

Yeah as you said Mom - Thanksgiving does not exist here in the slightest. I was going to send you a picture of our Thanksgiving but I didn’t want to make you all cry. Ha-ha just kidding!  We had pasta, just like every day. Thank you for those cooking ideas Mom!   

Dad- Sounds like you had a great week. Thank you for your letter. I loved what you said about gratitude and prayers and I will do it.   I can’t  believe you found your keys. What a crazy story! That is my Dad. I love it. Sounds like Redfish has a lot of snow already up there. That is great. I hope that you have a great week Dad. Thank you for all that you do. Know you are in my prayers. Your the Man!!

Mom- Thank you for the pictures and everything in the package. I really enjoyed it.   I will look forward to reading your letter. Oh yeah, I was wondering what time would be good for me to call on the 25^th?  I think with the time change I am either 4 or 5 hours ahead of you. So I think if I called like at 1 that would be at 8 your time. We have church until 12:30 here. But let me know what is good for you.  Are you hoping to go to Muldoon? Thank you so much for the package. I have loved having music, pillow, and vitamins. Little things that don’t matter but it actually has been nice. Thank you for your thoughtfulness. I love you so much Mom. I miss you and hope that all is well. Look forward to reading your entire letter. You are in my prayers.  Thank you so much.

Mikesell- Sounds like it is raining men for you!  ha-ha.  You will know what to do as far as college things go. Don’t worry.  I will keep praying for you. Virgina is far... we will see what happens! huh. I am with Mom on this one. I want my sister close. Don’t worry too much about it. You will know what to do and do what you feel is right, talk with Mom and Dad. Good work on your Physics! Are you doing the second trimester of it too?  Nordy is a hard nose with the 79% or 89% grades. It is good…it is like college. I love you Mikesell. Keep it up! You are my hero. Keep enjoying your days!! Love you Sis.

  

Brennen- Hey Stud...  Big game day on Wednesday! I love the Buhl first game. You are always the most nervous and it is just fun.  Play hard, be loose and just put into practice what you have learned. Thank you so much of your emails. I sure love you. Keep being awesome. Do you have Seminary now? You will love it! Mom says you are working on a really awesome song on the piano for the Stanley Christmas program. You got the gift!

Alex- Hey pretty cool calling my man! I am sure they have talked about the importance of that particular calling. You will learn a lot. Take is seriously and do your best. What a blessing. You are a stud man. Good work on your team. Keep it up. Thank you for writing. It meant a lot.  The church is true! I love you. Keep up the great work! How were your grades last trimester?

 Harrison - I loved the picture you sent in the package Harrison!! It was so great. I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving. I miss you!!  Are you going to have a Christmas chain this year? When does “Elfy” come out? That is such a fun part of December to see where he is at each morning.   I love you Harrison!

McCall- Thank you so much for your email. You looked so cute in your dress in the picture Mom sent. What a princess. Mom said you got your haircut!  I hope that all is well. I love you McCall. I am excited than you are learning to read and am enjoying school. Practicing our handshake!? Don’t forget how to do it! I love you.

Well all. Sorry for the mountain of typos - this key board is a little frustrating.  It keeps sticking. I love you all so much.  Thank you for your prayers. I can do so much better, but am very grateful for everyday for the opportunity to be a missionary. It is a very growing time. 

I love you all.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love your brother and son,

Elder Austin