Jan 16, 2012

My New Companion from the MTC, Me, The Elder that trained me when I got to Argentina

Letters from:

The Lloyd Family- Thank you so very much for your thoughtfulness. You are so thoughtful. The candy was much appreciated. I love you all and thank you for your example and kindness.

Bishop Brett Thompson- Thank you so much for your letter!!  I appreciated it so very much!  Be looking in the mail for a return. I hope all is well. Love you all!!

Sister Norma Bartholomew- Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and I enjoyed remembering those times at Jefferson. Thank you for being such a wonderful example to me.

Emails from-

Lindsay Hayes- Thank you very much for your email Lindsay. I look forward to reading it. I am glad you got the letter. I hope that school is going really well. Thank you for your example and I will write soon. Have a great week. You are great. Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to tell you that I met and am friends with an Elder Oldham here who went to Madison and knows you.

Crystal Cox- You are like the best cousin ever! Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to write me. I loved hearing about your testimony building experiences and the wonderful time Dani had at the temple. That is so neat. What a wonderful experience.

Happy Birthdays this week to Dani- the newly wed, Grandpa Clegg, and Sharee!!

Grandpa Clegg- I hope that you have a wonderful day and are able to feel how loved you are and the influence for good you have had on so many. I love you and you will continue to be in my every prayer! Happy Birthday!

  

It was an awesome week this week. It was really fun to travel to Bahia Blanca (5 hours + away)  and see some of the country side of Argentina and meet some new Elders. We got back on Thursday and we had a successful week since then. So my new companions name is Elder Joshua Yarger. He is from Casper, Wyoming. He has roots in Grace, Idaho on his Moms side, their names are Don and Julie Reno. I figured I would try my luck!? He is awesome and we have a lot in common, things like we both can´t speak Spanish and we are both white... haha! no just kidding!  Actually this week has been awesome!!  I have gained a lot more confidence with my Spanish. I will ask a question and then I will get an answer right bacl. I was quite shocked the first time. So things are getting better! I still mess up a ton but I am so grateful of this opportunity. Elder Yargers family are big cattle ranchers and it has been really fun to get to know him. He has some big desires to work and so we will do awesome!

This week Yeal, the son of a less active progressed a lot. He will be baptized the 28th of January. We are working with his Grandma’s boyfriend to get him to quit smoking. He keeps coming to church so he just needs to get the desire. Right now I don’t know if he is doing this because he wants to change or wants to get married. Prayers work though.

So I was humbled this week in more than one way. When we got back from Bahia Blanca it was 1 or 2am. We grabbed our stuff and then headed for another hour bus ride to Miramar and got here at like 3:30 in the morning. We woke up and at 8 when I went to start my personal study I opened my backpack and saw that my scriptures were gone. I panicky checked my other bag and then remembered that they were on the bus in Mar Del when we arrived. But my old companion had loaned our phone to other elders to call a taxi and they had left with our phone…. so their was no way to call the terminal. Two days later my companion’s luggage came here to Miramar. (the poor guy was in the same clothes for four days) and the finally the phone. We then called the terminal and the zone leaders and they cannot find it. Today I called 75 percent of their terminals between here and Bahia Blanca and no one has it. My guess is it is still on the bus or someone now has the Book of Mormon… which is a good thing. But these scriptures were special for a couple reasons. One I had a photo of you all taped inside and I also had a leather case made for the outside. Really pretty. And I have every single scripture marked in Lesson Three from Preach my Gospel, so it was my life line.... I prayed a ton and now I would like to tell you how Heavenly Father answered those prayers.

First off, I was able to remember the famous “Box Story” from Grandma Crouch when she was on her mission in Washington DC... that helped me a lot... Second off, two days ago I was making room for the luggage that we have. Our house is so full now with four Elders here and I found a box. As I looked through the box I found a old scripture bag just like the one that my scriptures were in. As I searched through it I found a sheet of paper with all of the exact same scripture references on it that I had in my scriptures. It was just a little tender mercy of Heavenly Father saying... you might not get your scriptures back, but you can still go to work. I am still hoping some how I find those bad boys some how. I don’t quite have the same luck that I had in BYU - there when if I left my scriptures someone would call me within a day telling me they had them!! I guess I wore out my luck then..!?  And we also found a member with a cousin who is a realitor who probably has a house for us. We just won’t be able to move in until March, but we will take it and we are still looking.  It was a really neat week. I really loved the conference and with the new Elders it was just excellent and I really learned a lot.

I know that as a missionary if you forget yourself, the Lord remembers you.

I am so glad to hear that you all had a great time at Dani´s wedding! The picture looked great and I am very happy for the Putnams. What a great day! Thank you Mom and Dad for your wonderful emails and I am very excited to read them. I actually wrote Payson a letter today....I hope they find out what is wrong and can help him quickly! I will pray very hard for him. I hope that all goes well, tell the Lotts that I love them and they are in my prayers also!!

Dad- It sounds like you had a great but busy week. What you said was perfect --thank you so much. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to grow. I am glad you had a good time at the wedding! Sounds like Mr. Romney could be the next candidate..... wow, I honestly didn’t believe that. That is great and I hope that he is qualified to stand up for what is right. Dad, I also prayed for you fervently this week like always. I wake up and go running and then just crave my time to pray for each one of you. I thought about the scripture in 2 Nephi 32:9 that talks about praying before you do something. I think that counsel is to help you get a vision of what you want of your day. My Mission President always talks about the word "vision" and I will forever remember him for that. I believe in the power of having a vision of your life and then going for it. God gives us what we want, if our desires our just. I love you Dad, Go make it happen Captain!

Mom-  I feel good! :) Yesterday I had a little head cold and couldn’t stop sneezing, but to day I am totally better. Don’t worry about anything. I hope that you get snow on Wednesday!  Sounds like all the kids are doing well in basketball and progressing well. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your letters and in the words of Dad your “books” to me every week. It is so nice to be able to feel what is going on at home and it is a great blessing and strength to me. I will remember it forever. I am glad you could help to the Putnam family with the wedding reception. I know they really appreciated it. I hope that you can have a really wonderful week this week. I love you beyond words. Thank you so much for all you do!!  I have just decided that gratitude is the way that I honor my family. It is quite motivating. I thought about the scripture in Helaman 5: 6-7 and also Mosiah 18: 8-10. I love you Mom. Have a great week. Keep me posted on Payson.

McCall- Hey! Thank you so much for you email. I will send you a picture of the facturas (pastries) next week... I sure love you McCall!! Your birthday is coming up soon. I hope that you had fun with the cousins at the wedding and have fun at the birthday party this week! I love you.

Harrison- Hey stud. How is life?  Thank you for your email! I just loved it. I hope that you have an awesome week buddy!! I love you so much. You are a very good kid. Keep it up!

Alex- Hey man, I hope life is well for you bro. Thanks for your email! I hope that you do well on your games this week. I love you so much Bro! Go get em. Be the man off and on the court!!

Brennen -100 percent from the three that is pretty impressive! I wish I could have seen that. Good work. I hope that your team can pull out some big wins this week and you can keep up the success. I love you so much buddy. Thank you for your example keeps being the stud you are! Have a good one.

Mikesell- Hey sugar! It sounds like a fun week you had! That is a funny story about that kid. Ha-ha. 4 months early to prom is good…? Very well prepared young man!? Mom is a wise woman to give that advise. I love you so much Mikesell. I just looked at your goals today and I will read them this week. I missed them the first week. I love you so much. You are such an Angel. I miss you. You are always in my prayers. Keep up the faith!

Well you all I love you so much. I am excited to read the emails tonight and hope that you all have a wonderful week. I love each of you so much. I miss you but am happy trying to become more Christlike in the land of Argentina. Christ lives and through him we become happy and find the peace that we need.

Heavenly Father loves all of his children!!!

Oh and Brennen and Alex your homework for the week is to read the talk by Bishop McMullan in the Priesthood conference again. I think it is called ¨The Power or the Aaronic Priesthood¨

God Speed!

Love Elder Austin

January 9, 2012

Letters From:

Bryan Harper- Thanks brother!! I am glad to hear life is going well for you. It was so great to hear from you!! Keep up the good work. You the man! Great times together!!

Coach Messick- Coach!! It was so great to hear from you!  Thank you so much for the uplifting words. It is strange to think that those great times were a more than two seasons ago. I will cherish them forever. Thank you for all you have taught me. I am glad to hear that you are having success this year in basketball it sounds like. Keep it up and tell the team to go for it big!  You don’t get a second chance at it!!  Thank you Coach for influencing the lives of so many for good. It is people as you that make that real difference in others lives. Tell the team I love them and to bust it out there!  Send my love to Mrs. Messick and Mackenzie for me. Have a great rest of the season!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write!!

Cousin Cass- Oh wow is was so good to get your letter!  Thank you so much! I will write you.  Would you mind sending me the address of your dorm? I wrote a letter to your whole family… it should get there in a weekish but I would love to write you and Ash! Thank you for writing – it was so good to hear from you.

Oveson Family- I so loved the pictures! Thank you so much!  Tell everyone I love them. You are so good to me.  It is around 95 here and very hot. I am not sure if I like your weather or mine better…? Thank you!

Karen Call- SO good to hear from you Karen!  I am glad to hear of your service and thank you for the lesson you taught. You are a very gifted person and thank you so much for your example. Have a great January! Thank you for writing to me!

Sharee Jeffs- Oh so good to hear from you! Thank you for your advice. It is all so true. I am in the south part of Argentina. I hear those waterfalls are pretty sweet though. Maybe I’ll catch them in on the plane ride home…!?  Love you Sharee, thanks for reminding me to bust it!

Grandma Clegg- Your emails are so sweet. Your messages always lift me up. Thank you so much! I hope that your calling is going well. I love you and sent my love to Grandpa and Uncle Alan.

Emails from the faithful Dad, Mom, Mikesell, Brennen, Alex, McCall

Well thank you all for your emails and kind words. My Mondays are days of rededication.

This was a great week. On Friday we got the transfer call. It turns out I will be training here in Miramar. Elder Ochsinbien, my companion will be also. So we are going to have four elders now here in Miramar!! We have been the only two elders here thus far.  I am very excited about this!!  We now need to divide our investigators and bust it out. However, we have a big problem with our house because it is extremely small. I spent a big chunk of this afternoon trying to figure out how we can fit four beds upstairs and it is going to be a treat let me tell you. I am praying we can find another house to rent but as of now, everyone we says it is impossible because of all the tourists here now for the summer. But I know if we work hard and trust we can find one if it is Heavenly Fathers will. If not, then I am going to learn a lot of patience!! We go to Bahia Blanca tomorrow to pick up the brand new missionaries. I am praying I get a native Spanish speaker, but if not, well even more patience. I am grateful our Mission President has the trust in me and it really is an answer to my prayers because I want to grow, but at the same time I did not much care to leave Miramar. We had a really spiritual day yesterday in church. Guisermo is an investigator who is 75 years old. On one street we contacted his daughter and son and then we found him and it has been a miracle. He says the most sincere prayers about The Book of Mormon. He had a stroke within the last year and is just starting to get the mombility in his left side of his body. But his mind is totally there. His family is very nice and treat us kindly. He had a very good experience yesterday. He was very emotional. After the testimony meeting a sweet widowed lady, who is the rock of this branch, came up to him and bore the most straight-forward and sweet testimony to him. It was really a neat experience. And also we have been working with a less active lady who has a boyfriend and grandson who are investagators. She bore her testimony and that was really great. Good stuff!

The sad stuff is literally two families in our branch split up this week. On Tuesday we got a call from a sister who wanted to talk to us. Turns out she had a problem with her husband and left... long story... so we gave her a blessing and she is with her three girls... We can’t do much because it is the Branch Presidency stewardship. Really sad. And then another couple is having big problems who is in the leadership here in the branch.  Neither of them are coming to church and they wont see us....Then the call came that we were going to have four elders here... President is inspired. So it has been a roller coaster of a week, but so it is… we must press on!

Now I get to talk about you all!!  My favorite. Sounds like it was a busy but great week. All I could ever ask for as far as blessings from my mission is to continue to hear about how all of you are growing and doing so well and helping other people. It is the greatest blessing to me. It is amazing to me how I can be so far away and still ¨feel¨ like you are just a city away. I feel your prayers more than ever.

Dad- I am guessing you will be taking a trip to Redfish to check on things soon. I hope that you had a wonderful week. Thank you so much for sharing that First Presidency message. We get the Ensigns about two months after they come out. Sounds like you have a busy week ahead of you. I cannot bless the Sacrament without thinking of blessing of it with you in Stanley. I get emotional every time. Yesterday I blessed with our ward mission leader form Mar del Plata and it was a little close to home. Thank you for being my best friend as well as my Father. Enjoy the time in Utah for the wedding! I love you.

Mom- Hello you Angel. Sounds like you had another great week serving others. You need a tag!  I was able to read a little in the scripture book you sent for Christmas and was interested because a lot of some of my favorite scriptures are in there! I am very interested in it. I know that it is real. What we put out in life we get back. This week will be a very memorable week for the Putnam’s and I am very glad you get to help out with the reception. Please tell Richard, Robin, Crystal and Josh and kids, Drew and Emily, Dani and Lis  - that I love them. What a great week for their family!! I also have been thinking about Blair and Anneli - I hope that they are all doing well. Please send them my love. I am looking at my little book I keep in my pocket to write things down to tell the fam every week and I wrote down a couple scriptures to share. Proverbs 29:8, Mark 11;22-24  and 2 Nephi 9:39. I love you so much Mom! I loved the picture of you and your college roommate at the reception. Crazy how Nanny Kim knows her!  Thank you for your prayers. Have a wonderful week. You are an angel.

Mikesell- Hey sis ! Today is a  full moon! I have been monitoring it al week. ha ha. Sounds like you had a really fun week. I am so happy you are giving it like you are. You are so amazing. I love you very much. Thank you for being the ever faithful letter writer. Have a fun week. ¨ Popcorn and Lemonade¨¨

Brennen- Hey buddy! Sounds like you had a great week of bball and everything. I remember those feelings of feeling like you “did not play well”. Just keep your head up and do your best. When you step out there on the court, that thing is yours. You are the boss, so go attack somebody. I love you man. Keep close to the important things. Have a wonderful week!

Alex- Hey man, so you sent me an email on your iPod? cool. Sounds like you are doing well. I sure love you  buddy and pray for you every day. Keep doing good things and follow the example of Brennen. I love you buddy. I am going to kick your trash in bball in a little while. no jk  - take care bud. Have a great week.

Harrison- Hey little man! I hope you are doing well. Are you excited to go to Utah? How was church yesterday? Has bball started yet? I love you buddy. I bet you are getting so big. Have a great week. Thanks man.

McCall- you get to see another pretty girl in a pretty dress this week at the wedding! Do you get to miss school? I bet you are so excited. I am very excited for you! I love you Cally.Thank you for your joke. I have my favorite for you!  Ask someone in the fam “what time is it?” They will tell you the rest of the joke. Hey - by the way I hope it is ok if I taught a ten year old boy here “our hand shake”…? He wants to be baptized so I figured it was ok. But don’t worry I won’t do it again. I love you Cally.

Well... Another week!  A quarter of my mission has passed. Crazy. I want you all to know that I know that Christ lives and that the closer we come to him the happier we are in this life. Life is wonderful, even through the hard times, temptations; all trials make us what our eternal destiny should be. May we all grow closer to Him and accept His role in our lives is my desire. Do all you can to protect our family from Satan. I have seen enough things here that destroy families that I get very ... I guess “angry” when I see families fall. STAND UP FOR THE FAMILY. Church member or not - help others have stronger families. That is when the world will change!! May Heavens richest blessings be yours. I love you all with all my heart.

Go get em!!!

Love,

Elder Austin 

January 2, 2012

Welcome to 2012 my friends...

Emails from-

The Oveson Family- I love your emails so much. I am glad that you had a great Christmas!! What a great experience. I hope that the snow storm ended up hitting the valley. Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement. I pray for you all often and think about the principles that I have learned from you often. I love you all and have a great week. Happy New Year!!

Grandma Clegg- Grandma-  thank you so much for your sweet email. I am so extremely grateful for your letters. Your testimony and legacy shines through in every word. It was great to hear about the events of the week. I love you very much. Have a wonderful week. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Please send my great love for Uncle Alan and Grandpa. I love you!

Papa Arlen- Thank you so much for that creed from George Albert Smith. I am excited to read it a little more deeply! I love you and I hope that you have a great week. Happy New Year!  Please send my deep love for Grandma. Thank you so much Papa. I love you.

Emails from- Dad, Mom, Mikesell, and Brennen... Thank you so much!!


Happy New Year!

I just feel like someone pushed the “fast forward” button and they are not letting go. It was a great week here in Miramar!! There are people from so many different places here now and the temperature has raised a lot! For example while we went to the bank this week to pull out our money for the week while my companion was in the ATM, I was outside talking to people. The amazing thing was that I literally talked to three people in a row who knew English because they were tourists from Buenos Aires.  Most of them were people who were here on business and had studied English. One of them said in English ¨I know who you are. My daughter lives in Salt Lake City and I am not very happy about it.¨ He was a nice man though and we talked a little and that was that. I think a lot about the words ¨planting seeds¨ a lot. I firmly believe in being very bold about the truthfulness and hugeness of the message I have to share. But I have learned that you have to love the people first. People listen if they feel loved. I love the holidays -  I have never said "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" more in my life because it is a automatic ¨same ground¨¨ with the people. This week I really tried to open my mouth as much as possible. It is so huge!! It was a good week though we were away in Mar Del Plata for two days for two meetings. It was really great. New Years was great.  Miramar is a huge tourist’s destination and so there was a ton of people and so many people who live here were at the beach working. The local Miramar attendance has dropped down and the tourist member attendance has gone up. This week my companion and I blessed the sacrament, gave talks, and I lead the music.  It has been really neat though! Jose was the first person in the church and a local family was in the church so that was really nice to see that improvement!  We found some rather solid investigators this week. The family that we are working with “to get married” is progressing. We made them sign a piece of paper to go set a date in the government building and then the next day we framed it and gave it to them.  It was a good week!!

This week I thought a lot about the New Year and what I want from this year. This is my only full year as a missionary. I have been thinking about goals and I am still working on getting them in writing.  The thought occurred to me this week about the importance of ¨today”.  I decided that the way to be who I want to be is to do all I can with ¨today¨.  I have woke up this week several days and said, ¨Ok Heavenly Father, this is your day, I am going to give you my best for every single part of this day!¨ As a missionary there is so much to take in. You just have to break it up and promise to do your best with the little parts of every day. I talked about goals in church, and the importance of the Book of Mormon. It has been fun to see how in everyone’s letters they have said how much they are looking forward to studying the Book of Mormon in Sunday school.

On the 31st I took some time during my personal study to write in my journal. I started out at the first of the year and went all the through the big events and milestones up until now.  It was very great experience. What a blessing it is to live life!! I am so grateful for the blessing that comes from gospel living. What wonderful memores I have with all of you - at Redfish and all of life experiences. I can not think of those two days before I entered the MTC without getting tears in my eyes. I will never forget that beautiful summer day in President Tatioka´s home when he set me apart as a missionary.

This week we were visiting less actives in Miramar and we came across a man who had been to the temple, got divorced, and now lives with his girlfriend at his 80 year old Mothers home- who is an angel. As we talked to him I thought about the scripture that Papa shared with me about ¨Bridling your Passions” and all that falls into that great line. He is a man with great doctrinal knowledge and said a very kind prayer to start the lesson, but somewhere in his heart he lacks the discipline to change for real. Maybe its because of the hurt he has had in his life or something that went wrong. Regardless, it was sad to see. I don’t much care to think about the huge amount of `people like him in Mirimar and in the world. It is so important to keep your eye on the prize.

Dad- Thank you so much for your wonderful email. I look forward to reading it more thoroughly tonight. It sounds like the fluorescent lights of the school gyms basketball court are becoming very close to you again!  It’s that time of year! It is a very beautiful thing!  I thought about your favorite song this Sunday and I am going to try and find that in Spanish. I have come to share that love for that song. I love this time of year to “go for it” again. How is the weather up there?  I sure love you Dad. Have an excellent week. Transfers are next week so I will let you know next Monday. I am expecting to be here for the next transfer…? I really hope so, there are hundreds of people I have not baptized yet... let alone talked to. (ha ha) Dad, thank you….Thank you for your legacy. I was thinking for some reason last night about the experience we had with Melissa Rojas and the storage unit robbery a few years back and how well you and Mom handled that experience. It was a powerful teaching moment for each of us. That really was a special memory for me. Youre the man! Good luck with all your goals. Go listen to some Coldplay for me...(ha ha) I love you Dad!

Mom the Marvelous- I loved, loved your email today! The story with Mikesell wiped me out. I could not read her email to me with out crying like a baby here in the cyber. Prayers are so real. "Ask and Ye Shall Receive". (Mormon 9: 21). Yes, I have read a little of that book you sent for Christmas on scriptures. I have loved it so far. I went full bore to finish the Book of Mormon in Spanish before the end of the year. I finished on the 31st at 10:00. New Year’s here was like the 4th of July in the states. Lots of fireworks everyone goes to the beach... Beer, meat, and all that stuff. I slept through most of the fireworks or at least tried to.  I think I must have told you transfers were today, but we find out on Friday or Saturday for the following Monday. A lady came up to me in church and told me that she felt like I was leaving. I love the people here and I honestly think it is going to be really hard when I leave, but I all go where I am called! I am seriously freaked out with how “in tune” you are with what goes on here. Today I bought Bleach to wash my shirts in... the list goes on and on….unbelievable! Are you sure you don’t have a camera on me or something? (Haha) Between that and the Mikesell experience this week…I am in ahhh.  One thing if you wouldn’t mind whenever the next package could you drop the John Bytheway book called, “How to be an Extra-Ordinary Missionary”? I often think about some of the things I read in there but wouldn’t mind a refresher. I don’t care if it is next Christmas when I get it. If I remember right you told me to bring but I said I didn’t want to. It sounds like you are very busy. I hope the lady you visit teach is getting better. You have been busy with her. I love you very much and am so grateful for you Mom. Have the best week of you life. Thank you for all you do. I love you!

Mikesell- Hey Babe, I loved your email so much! It was so great. What an experience. God has his eye on you and whatever happens will be for the best because you put Him first in your life. I looked at the moon this week. We are going to go on a sweet night hike or something one day. I hope that you have a great first day back in the saddle at school tomorrow.  I love you so much. Keep fighting. You da best!

Brennen- Hey man!! Let me teach you something, you don’t kiss a girl even on the cheek until you at least have a name or number! Haha I laughed so hard when I heard that...I think I want to call you a stud… but I am not sure if I can with the tag on my chest... haha! Ahhh the good ol’ New Years Dance!  It sounds like you are playing well in life and on the court. Good luck with all your games this week and back in school. I love you Bro. Keep on keeping on. Thanks for your example.

Alex- Hey by the end of the year you better be dunking. None of this ¨touch the middle of the net crap¨. What would Jimmer do? How is he doing anyway? How is your reading in  the Bof M?  I hope you have an awesome week. Enjoy basketball! Make sure you lift people on and off the court. Everyone knows you and what you stand for.  Keep that focus. I love you little man. Keep up the good work. I miss your laugh. Have a great week! I love you.

Harrison- Hey buddy... How are you? Did you have a fun week? I think you did! Are you ready for school again tomorrow?  Are you excited for basketball? I sure love you Harrison. What was your favorite part about the week?  What are some of your goals? Keep being awesome Harrison. Keep working on bettering the ¨Harry Way¨. You are probably going to start a very successful business with that name some day by the way.

McCall- Hey you little angel! I bet you loved seeing Nanny Kim this week!! Are you ready for school tomorrow? I love you Cally. Keep being a wonderful girl. I miss you very much. Did you give the “fake me” a kiss this week?  I love you.

Well my dear ones... Our future is as bright as our faith! I never have had more comfort in those words... I can control my faith and therefore my future.

This week I thought of Scott Hall - How is he doing? He has got be get home this April I think..? Tell him I love him. Please tell the Thompsons, The Holyoaks, The Lott’s, The Williams, The Princes, and all of those wonderful people that I love them and pray for them! Mom when you say people ask about me…please tell them that I love them and that I am living the dream!! J

Christ lives. He is the reason that we feel the way that we do.  I testify of the reality of the Atonement and the power to become more like Him. Heavenly Father is our greatest friend and wants what we want in our lives. The teachings of the Church are the way to be happy in this life and forever.

Go make it happen!

Love
Elder Austin

Christmas Day Phone Call - December 2011

Christmas Day 2011

Missionary Christmas Party - December 2011

 

December 26, 2011

Hello there Family!

Letters from:

Bishop Prince- Thanks so much for the card. I sure miss you and hoped you had a great Christmas!

Package from Crystal and Family- I cannot believe how thoughtful you are!!  Thank you so much! The candy was very much appreciated by me and other Elders!! The CD is beautiful as well and is going to be awesome!  The sweet notes and pictures – just can’t thank you enough! Thank you so much for your example and I hope that everyone is feeling well in your family. I love you! Happy New Year!

Emails from:

Ethan Lopez: Thank you so much for your email!! It was so great to hear from you!! I keep thinking we will have to do our Christmas Jigsaw puzzle in a couple years. My family says they have one up and haven’t gotten very far on it! I love you man and I hope that life is going really well for you. Have a great Christmas break!  We have good times together!! Your’e the man.

Grandpa and Grandma Crouch: Thank you so very much! I haven’t been able to read everything yet but I very much look forward to doing so! I can tell it’s going to be a good one!! Sounds like you had  a great Christmas. I sure love you both and am so grateful for you! Papa, I hope that you are able to get your temple goal in by the end of the year. I am cranking out a goal as well for me too. Finishing the Book of Mormon in Spanish by the end of the year! 20 pages a day!  Happy New Year! I love you!!

Grandma and Grandpa Clegg- It sounds like you had a great time in California. I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas. I love you both very much and I hope that you have a great New Year. Thank you for your testimonies and examples.

Uncle Richard- I am so excited to read your letter!! Thank you so very much. I hope that the family is doing well!! I bet that Dani is very excited. What a busy time for your family!! Please send my love to everyone. Thank you so much Uncle Richard for your example. Thank you so much for writing.  I love you.

And the steady and firm emails form Dad, Mom, Mikesell, Brennen, Alex, Harrison, and McCall!

Thank you so very much!!

Well, yesterdays phone call home was all I could have ever asked for!! It really felt like I haven´t been gone for long. That is the great thing about family is that you can pick up so easily where you left off. I hope that you had a great day with Papa and Grandma with Christmas dinner and that you were all able to travel back home safely. What a fun time up at Muldoon!! I was very glad that I was able to call back and pray with all of you. It was a little rushed but better than the first time the when the call dropped! It sounds like everyone is doing so well and it just made me so happy. I am still on cloud nine. It is great motivation for me to go for it and leave it all out here. I was also thinking that this is my only full year as a missionary in 2012 so I have to make it the best!!

(A little background) When Austin called he told us he had 2 – 50 minute calling cards. We did a “highlight” on him like we do in FHE each week where we each say something nice about a person each week. Then we all talked for about 40 minutes as a group. He called back after the first card was done and then we all talked to him individually. Well, time just flew!! The only request Austin had right from the get-go was that we have family prayer together. Well after everyone had talked we gathered individually we gathered around for prayer and then he said “I am getting a beep sound … I think I am going to cut out…then… I love”   AHHHH!!! NOOOO!! Well we had family prayer without him …and I was just sick to my stomach!! I tried and tried to wrap my arms around the whole thought that we just had two hours with him….yet the only request he had was to pray together and we didn't get to have it! I kept saying out loud, “You always pray first, and that is just what we should have done with the phone call as well! PRAY FIRST!” Jeff kept telling me “Be grateful for what we had” but I couldn’t find peace in it. I got busy with the details of Christmas dinner and was pretty much unsettled to say the least….even though he sounded about as good as I EVER could have imagined. I just wanted that prayer!!  About 15 minutes later the phone rang and it was Austin!!! He had found a calling card and had 9 minutes on it. Jeff asked Austin to say the prayer and it was exactly what this Mom needed... It was the sweetest, most loving prayer I have heard in quite awhile. He went through each of the family and prayed for each of us… our loved ones, and the day to day lives we lead. I will carry that feeling with me for a very long time. There just are no words. We got to say “goodbye” without getting cut off and needless to say it was a perfect day!!! I couldn’t not have asked for a better Christmas gift!!! He sounded so happy and so genuinly concerned for each and every one of us. His voice sounded like he was next door and there was no delay in speech at all!! He said that our next phone call on Mothers Day which is on my Birthday!! YAHOOO!!  -Audra

(cont)
Today has been a really nice and chill day. We got here on the bus safe and our pday with the Elders here is going great. (He talked to us how he travels each week on the bus for district meetings. He is there now til Wednesday.) I have been able to read a lot and it has been really hot and pretty.

I am trying to think of anything else that happened during the week! We had a great couple of lessons with some less actives and I really am feeling a lot closer to those who come in the Branch. We fasted for a Sisters family one day this week and that was a great experience. The members here generally have a great love for the Elders because they remember the Elders who changed their lives.

Thank you all so much for all the fun things in the packages. It was so special. I loved each of your testimonies and the thoughtful words from each of you. It was very touching and I am very grateful.

Dad- It was so great to talk to you. You sounded so good. I hope that you have a great week filled with all of the things you love most about this time of the year! Thank you so much for the email. I appreciate your example more than you will ever know. Enjoy the bowl games this week!!  Have an awesome week and a happy New Year. I share your love for the time to start fresh and I loved the ideas about breaking up your goals. (Jerome goals and Redfish goals)  Happy New Year!

Mom- What an awesome day yesterday was!! I loved talking to you so much!! I agree - it did fly by but it was perfect! I hope that you have an excellent week and that you are able to rest and reap the rewards of all the things that you were able to accomplish in the past couple of weeks. Thank you so much Mom. You are so amazing! I hope that the week is a productive one for you! I keep thinking about that story with Alex and how that says about who you are. I love you. Have a great week.

Mikesell- Wow - so so awesome to talk to you. I forgot that I was going to tell you a funny story but I will tell you in a email or letter soon. I am running low on time here today. Enjoy your break!!  You will do so great in all the decisions ahead of you! I am so very excited for you. Thank you for being my best friend and your example. "I’ll be looking at the moon, but I’ll be seeing you" have you heard that song? Love ya babe! Have a great week.

Brennen- Dude, you are a man! I couldn’t believe your voice!!  That was awesome. It sounds like you are growing both physically and spiritually and I am so proud of who you are. You are increasing in your confidence and ability to lead and starting to see the potential you have. Stay humble and close the Heavenly Father through prayer and scripture study. Keep it up man. Have you thought much about when you want to get your Patriarchal Blessing? I love you buddy.

Alex- Hey buddy, man oh man you sounded so good. I so appreciate your energy and realness. It was so great! I am glad to hear that you are doing well and dominating life. Keep doing the important little things and you will take on the world. Keep going strong in Bball and spiritually.  I love you bud.

Harrison- Hey my little man. You are so awesome. I loved talking to you yesterday! You will have to tell me about all of your basketball games. You will learn a lot with Dad as your coach! Sounds like you have wanted that for a long time. Ask him to have you do ladders, monkey jumps, and walls sits. Those are the best:) Have a great week I love you man! I hope you can go bowling over break!

McCall- Hey miss “YEP”!! I sure loved talking to you. Thank you for your highlight. You are very sweet and you sounded so big and smart on the phone. I love you so much. Keep being the great flower you are. I sure love and miss you. Give the cardbaord “me” a kiss for me ok? I love you. Have a great week. Keep thinking of games we can play in a year in a half.

Well family I love you all to death. Dad- I so appreciated your testimony. I find that much of my testimony also is rooted on the Gospel Network and the wonderful people that I am associated with.

This week I was reminded of not ¨sitting with your time¨ We have to stand up and get somewhere. There should never be a time in our lives when we don’t have a cement goal that we are working towards. That is how we grow eternally and are able to become something bigger than what we are. I want you all to know that Christ lives. The evidence is in you, and in everyday, the scriptures, a prophet, and prayer. It is undeniable the evidence of a Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Never forget that!! 

Go attack life my dear ones. :)

Love

Elder Austin

December 19, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the emails from:

The Oveson Family-Thank you so much for your kind words and the pictures of the great gingerbread house!  That was awesome! I love you all and Merry Christmas! My family loved seeing you at the Christmas Program on Sunday.

Amy Ellsworth- Thank you for the email! It was great to hear from you.  I hope that you have a great Christmas with the fam and that finals went very well!! Merry Christmas!

And of course the faithful, Mom, Dad, Mikesell, and Brennen.

Thank you each for your emails.  I loved the pictures Mom. Loved the one of “Elfy” on my cardboard shoulder (gotta see that thing one day)  and especially the hookie bobbing at Redfish. I thought of you all and knew exactly what you were doing Sunday. The Christmas program sounded great as usual! That is one of my favorite things about Christmas. Awesome!  

It was a really good week, every week is always humbling but we just keep plugging on. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had divisions and I was with Elder Patterson - my roommate from the MTC!! It was really fun. It was neat because we are “here” now and doing the real deal. It was good to talk to him and we had stories to share about our missions and really was a tender mercy. I love him and he is a great Elder. He is from St. George and I think he will be making a trip to Redfish one day. I have talked a lot of missionaries into doing that so hopefully one day all of you will be able to meet these awesome Elders and their wonderful examples.

Ahhh... I have so much gratitude and love for all of you and the power of the Atonement. This week I have thought a lot about Christ life and the simplicity, but at the same time never-ending power of his mission. Some times we loose the point of his mission and I love Christmas because it puts things back into perspective. We also had our Branch Christmas party this week.  We were asked to give a little spiritual thought and so we did the “gift to Jesus” idea, we handed out little cards that we made with red and green. It was a great program. I wish our District had more activities. It is key to unity I think. Other than that it was a good, but simple week. We didn’t have lots of success but worked hard and will keep on keeping on. We are now waiting on our next investigators to get married and then hopefully we can progress from there.

To answer some of your questions Mom - Yes, you are right. This place has like tripled in people, it is nuts!  Today when we were walking around in town doing shopping and laundry it was just nuts. The smells remind me of Sun Valley and Stanley. It is very touristy. It helps me to feel a little more like home because I am pretty comfortable in tourist situations. haha! It has not been too hot so that it good. Christmas, to be honest doesn’t feel like Christmas here at all. About one in every 60 houses have lights and I always insist that we knock them. (haha)  I say Feliz Navidad all the time and I think I am the only one who does here. I don’t care. It is more of a party here... lots of barbeques and beer to be honest. They buy a ton of fireworks and they light them on the 24th and on New Years…. so picture a 4th of July atmosphere!?  Everyone has little small fake trees in their house though.

I probably say this every week, but I just can’t say how much I have come to appreciate the importance of “families”. So much depends on the family. I hope each of you know that I count you as my highest blessings. I will do anything to make my family stronger and grow closer to Christ. I am so grateful for the happiness that comes from keeping the commandments. I am also grateful for trials and their relationship to our eternal progress.

Please tell everyone in our family Merry Christmas for me and that I love them and am very grateful for their prayers.

Dad- I loved that analogy with Lehi’s dream. I actually thought the same thing. What a great insight to share - thank you! It sounds like you had a great week and that all the basketball, Christmas programs, and others went really well. Thank you so much for your prayers and example. They are greatly needed and appreciated! I hope that you have a great Christmas. I am very excited to hear your voice and talk to you. I can’t believe 2011 is coming to a close. What in the world just happened? Haha! I love you Dad. Have a great week. Moroni 7:41 Merry Christmas!

Mom -Thank you so much for your email. It was great to hear from you about the experience yesterday and about the week. It sounds like Christmas is busy and in full swing. I hope that you can relax at Muldoon once you get there and have a great time. That will be a lot easier if there is no snow for you and Dad…? Not have to haul everything in on snowmobile.  Drive up and good to go. I am excited to read your email in its entirety tonight. You are such an angel for me and so many. Sunday will like the best day ever. I am very excited to talk to you and hear your voice. Thank you for that awesome story of Alex. That really hit me hard. I loved that. Well, I will talk to you this week. I hope that calling at eleven works out ok. Have a great week Mom. I love you!

(This is the story of Alex that he is talking about from my letter to Austin)

One  story from the week: So Parent Teacher Conferences last trimester the teachers didn’t have much good to say about Alex though he had good grades.  (he was standing right beside me at pt conferences) I chatted with him on the way home about what the teachers were saying as well on the way home. That night he must have scribbled angry scribbles on Brennens’ board - bottom of Brennens bed. (their beds are bunk beds now) Alex is on the bottom bunk. A few days later I saw the angry scribbles and the words "Be Respectful" written in hard, angry writing. So for weeks I have been wanting to take those angry scribbles off. On Monday I bought a whole pack of very rough sandpaper and spent an hour sanding down the "ceiling" (bottom of Brennen’s bed) above Alex’s head. I left the words of "Be Respectful" but I added the following... "You were born to do great things in life"  "Great things happen to those who read the Book of Mormon" "Don’t forget to Pray" and "I love you very, very much" ....written all above his head. Well he came down that night and saw the sandpaper by my bed…asking what it was...I was tired and said..."If you get to bed you will find out" he didn't believe me and I said  again, “If you GET to BED you will find out!”  Well, he went up stairs and then came back down and thanked me. About 5 minutes later he came down AGAIN and said, "Mom can you do another one tomorrow?" I said, “Another what?”   He said, “Write something again tomorrow!?”  I said "Yes" and then he asked... "Can you write something every day?" It actually has been really neat in the days following- every day since he asked  me if I have written something.  He wants the whole board to have "sayings" that I want him to know on it.  I am enjoying it a lot.... He melted my heart - I see he gets it. He just loves a good time.

Mikesell-- FULL RIDE scholarship?! (UVU) Wow that is not to shabby my friend. That is a lot of decisions you are having to make right now. You are in my prayers. I am glad you got my email / text! Haha! That was funny and crazy how it came across on your phone. Keep me posted on everything. I am so so excited to talk to you about it all on Sunday. Thank you for your emails!  I cherish them. You are so faithful.  I am glad that you had a good week. I loved the pictures of all of you hookie bobbing behind the burb. (Suburban)  I am glad you are having great experiences going to the temple each Wednesday. It is crazy how fast time is going as a Senior huh!?  I remember when I was in your shoes like yesterday. That was two years ago though! Well have a great fun week. Enjoy your movies in school this week…killing time til Christmas break.  I will talk to you Sunday. I love you so much. Hey you should try and read the “Christmas Sweater” by Glenn Beck over Christmas break. You can do anything you want Mikesell. Keep it in your prayers and read the scriptures a lot  -  you will make the right decision.

Brennen-Sounds like you won all your games this week!  That is so awesome! One point in Minicio! My favorite basketball memories are in that Minico gym. Every locker room you go to remember that I probably was there at one point too! Crazy huh!  Sounds like you have a good varsity team too. That is really fun. I bet you are excited for a little break during Christmas. That will be nice and well needed. I am so excited to talk to you on the phone. Thanks for the Grinch Quotes. That was funny!! I love you man. You are my hero and such a great example to me. Keep the faith and keep making good decisons this week. I love you!

Alex- Hey Stud. Sounds like you also had a great time in Boise with your tournament. Are you excited for Christmas? I love you so much! Have a great week. You and Brennen have to be a good help with all the Muldoon things! It’s a lot of work to pack up Christmas and go somewhere. I love you bro. I loved the story of your bed that Mom told me about.  That is an inspiring story and I am so glad hear it. You are a good kid with so much potential. Your Heavenly Father loves you so much. Have a great week bro.

Harrsion- Hey little man! Are you so excited for Christmas!? I sure am excited to talk to you on the phone on Christmas day! I love you very much. Enjoy all the Christmas shows and the fun things that surround this time of year. Have a great week at school!

McCall- You are amazing. I love the one liners that Mom sends me from you. Some of them really make me laugh hard.  Haha - very funny. I hope that you have a fun week. You are amazing keep being the best you! I will talk to you this Sunday! Merry Christmas!!!

I love you all so much. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Austin!!!

Oh and you all have to listen to the Andrea Bochelli’s song called “Heaven on Earth” or something. It is really pretty.

You are all the best!

December 12, 2011

Hello the ones that I love the most! Merry Christmas!

Mail-

Postcard from Sister Hernandez- Thank you so much for the picker-upper!!

Letter and pictures from Amy Ellsworth- I loved your letter so much and thank you for the pictures!

Wedding Announcement from Rachelle- What an awesome picture and great couple!!

I got the Christmas packages Mom!  Don’t know why it was so much shorter this time. I opened the one that was labeled “Open before Christmas” and have just loved it. It doesn’t feel like Christmas at all but the little things helped, especially the music. Christmas for me is about giving thanks for our Savior, serving others, and FAMILY. So I have all the pieces except you all. Thank you so much!!

Emails from:

Grandma Clegg- Thank you so much! I hope you all have a wonderful time in CA!! Send my love to all. Merry Christmas!!

The Cox Family- Thank you so much! You are all very thoughtful and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas! I love you all!

Chase Wright- My Man! So thrilled to hear from you, what an awesome mission call (they all are) oh man I am so pumped for you! I will send you a letter with some thoughts on preparation and things. I love you Chase. You are such a stud. I will write you soon my friend! Congratulations!

Clegg family- Thank you so much for the email. I am so excited to read it and saw your address so I will be sure and write soon. I love you all so much. I still remember driving away from Redfish and waving to all of you on the front lawn. You are all the best!! Merry Christmas!!

I very much appreciate and feel the love and support of all of the wonderful people that I have been blessed to know in my life. Missions give you such perspective on what is the most important.

This week was a week of prayers answered, things learned, and just all about AWESOME things!

I will start at the beginning and tell the story of the week. So on Tuesday I had the privilege of working with Elder Calarco, who is one of my best friends here and Zone Leader, he is from Argentina. He is a very hard worker and understands the power and authority that comes with the calling. I loved working with him. He is very in your face bold, but with love. We found an 18 year old investigator and as we started teaching him he began to smoke. Elder Calarco asked him how old he was and then asked ¨Can I see your cigarette? I don’t know what he was thinking but the investigator gave it to him and the he proceeded to put it out on the concrete floor. He then told him that smoking does two things in life, it takes away your money and your life. He gave him back the cigarette and told him to rip it up. We then took every cig in the house and put it in his scripture bag and we proceeded to have a lesson that was incredible. I got to work with him for two days in Miramar and then one day in his area because there was a meeting for all the district leaders and zone leaders in Mar del Plata. He has a great sense of energy that I want to have.

Now I want to talk about the good part of the week!! We had a lesson with Jose, with a high councilman from Mar del Plata. It was a great lesson. So great that we had the baptism interview, set a date, and yes... Jose was baptized yesterday!! It was such a special day!! The first thing he said when he got out of the water was how he wanted this for his wife and kids. It was a very spiritual time and he is very happy and ready. I think we would be a great Branch President but we will see. It is great to get some more Priesthood Leadership in our branch because they are struggling right now. Our one “active family” has not been to church for two weeks and are in big fight with the Branch President. Hopefully the Christmas spirit can blow things over soon. If this family goes then the branch is in trouble.  It will all be alright though. 

The pictures are:

                                                      The baptism of Jose

                                                              The cigs

 

It was a really great week. I learned so much about prayer. I seriously feel the power of your prayers and I hope you feel mine. I have made a goal to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish before the end of the year and it is helping my Spanish. If anything can help me learn this language it is the promise with that book. I have to read 18 pages a day to get it. But I will make it!!

It sounds like you all had a really great week! I am so glad everything went well with the Christmas program. That picture was amazing! I am sure it was spectacular. Wonderful.

         (I posted this so you could see what he was talking about...Way to go Jeff!)

Thank you for the pictures of the house and everything it was great to see. You will all have to listen to the song on the Christmas playlist by Sarah McGlaughlin that starts out ¨ “The lake is frozen solid, trees white with snow... all around are memories of you...” it is really pretty and reminds me of you.  I sent you the Christmas package hopefully you get it before Christmas!  You can’t open it until Christmas Eve though. I am glad you will all be in Muldoon. I think that I will call after church so that is like 1 or 2pm.  I am not sure what my companion wants because his familywants him to call at a certain time so I will let you know when. We bought calling cards today and that is what I am planning on using. It should work well; we will call from the church.

Dad- Thank you so much for your email! I just skimmed it and I look forward to reading it all tonight. It sounds like you had a great week and that the Christmas program went really well. I am very excited to talk to you. Please give my very best to  Coach Messick …. I think about him very often and the things I learned from him. I have “Attitude and Effort” written in big letters on my study journal. I loved what you said about being blessed with all the great people that we get to associate with. It truly is a great blessing. I love you Dad. Your example means the world to me. I hope that you have a great week. You are the man. I love you.

Mom- You are such an angel. I hope that you had a good week.  Keep being “you” and praying. Life sounds complicated a bit. You are such an angel and this is such a very busy time of year for you. Thanks for the dog biting tricks!  Another one that I use a lot is to bend down and act like you pick up a rock they run away, or just face them, they always try from the behind us.  A lot of Elders here have big stitches on their pants from dog bites, they just rip their pants a lot when they bite. I am excited for you to get the package I sent!  I think you will like one of the things. It is kind of different but fun. Mom, you are so great, you touch so many peoples lives for so much good. I miss you and am very excited to talk to you. I think one more pday to get everything organized and then it is Christmas!? The weeks sure go by fast for me. I don’t know what it is like there…!?

Mikesell- I loved your picture of the moon. I literally have a matching one on my camera that I took in Mar del Plata. I thought the same thing! It sounds like you are really busy and working hard. I am praying that you will be able to be at peace with whatever decision you make with school and that you will be able to make the decision that will have the most potential. You are so wonderful Mikesell! I really feel close to you in sprit. I miss you terribly and love you so much. I am very excited to talk to you. I hope that you have a great week. That is awesome work with Kolby giving her a Book of  Mormon. She seems like a very great person.  Just like Cam S.  I sure love their family.  Just love her, be a good example and friend, and talk openly about the thoughts you have had about her,  and your testimony. What a stud you are!  I love you sis. Keep on keeping on.

Brennen- Dude you are so awesome - I just got to tell you that!  Great game this week huh? That is good. Sounds like shooting baskets was tough for all…but some games are like that.  I noticed when I was reading about Captain Moroni this week that he worried about the defense of the city before the offence. Haha!  We read a lot of scriptures during our missions and there is a scripture for everything. How is seminary? I loved what you said about “thoughts”. That is really important. You will run into a ton of kids who talk about not so good things in the locker room, halls, and wherever during high school. Don’t be afraid to say something, but sometimes it is best just to leave. You will know. I sure love you man. Hey today I bought a Frisbee, it is kind of lame but the best I could find. We have a super P-day coming up and I wanted to throw some discs with some Elders. I love you man. You are awesome! Keep making good decisions. You are at a key point in your high school experience. Be the example. Love you bro.

Alex-. Thanks for the letter man!! I love hearing from you. You have a tourney this week huh? How is your calling? Are you excited for 7^th grade tryouts? That is a fun time. We practiced in the old Central gym. That was a memorable experience. I love you Alex. You are such a stud. You are bound for greatness! I am very excited to talk to you. I sure miss you. Your siblings are your best friends. I miss playing ball with you. You are going to smoke me. I love you man. Keep doing the important things. I will talk to you later. Have a great week!!!! You the man!

Harrison!  How are you man? Did you find elfy yet? I am glad you got to play with the Williams dog yesterday -  I bet that was fun.  I sure love you buddy. I know you are way excited for Christmas huh! That is so fun. Keep being a great kid! How are all the Christmas shows? I am excited to talk to you. Have a great week little man! I love you so much!

McCall- Hey sweetie! How is your Christmas going? Are your reading lots of fun Christmas stories in school? I bet Grandma is reading you all of those fun stories too. She was my favorite person to read to me when I was little. She has the voice of an angel! I hope you have a great week. I love you so much. I am so excited to hear your voice. Keep it up Cally! You are the best!

Well everyone! I love you all. Another week in the books. I know that this is the church of JESUS CHRIST. I know that The Book of Mormon is true and changes lives each day; I know that we have a Prophet today that leads and guides this church. I love you all and have a great week!!

Love

Elder Austin

December 5, 2011

Hello Family!  Another Monday is here!

Emails from:

Grandpa and Grandma Daw- Thank you so much!! I am glad you got my letter and it was great to hear that you had a good time with my family. They love to go over on Sundays so much. I love you both very much and am very grateful for your legacy. You are special to me!

Papa Arlen and Grandma Del-   The email meant the world to me and was great to hear how things are going. I really appreciated your thoughts and words. Thank you for taking the time to write. I love your letters.  I love you both! Merry Christmas!

Grandma and Grandpa Clegg- Thank you so much your sweet email! I am so extremely happy for the women in your ward who is choosing to be baptized. Tell her she is making the best decision of her life as she continues to honor the covenant she is about to make. I love you both and hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Tricia Cox- Ha-ha I love you emails so much! I appreciate so much hearing how life is going for you and of your experiences. I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas Tricia!! You are Terrific Tricia!!!

The Oveson Family! - Thank you so much for the wonderful email. It was so great to hear how everyone is doing and of all the adventures in your lives. I miss you all very much. You are all the best! Have a very Merry Christmas! All my love.

And the faithful family emails as well. Thank you so much!!

Picture of my view out the bus window to Mar del Plata, twice a week. Tough life huh?

Greetings from Argentina! It sounds like all is well at home and that is was another wonderful week for you all. I love to hear about everything.  Please send my love to Rachelle and Scott. I am very happy for them and glad that you were all able to have a good time in Utah for their wedding! Also very glad Brennen was able to ball it up!!  Mikesell, sounds like everything went really well at your college trip. Danielle is engaged huh! Wow that is awesome!! What a lucky guy! That will be great.

Well, it was another great week here. No baptisms, so it can only be so “good”, but it was as good as it can be other wise.  We found a couple who is golden. But like 95% of Argentina  - they are not married so we are going to be working with them to be able to baptize before the end of the year. Jose is so close. We had some great lessons with him this week AND he went to church. He just needs to pray for his own sure knowledge and up he goes.   His wife is great but doesn’t want anything to do with the church as to now but I know she will with time. Jose will be the leader. He is such a stud; he offered to take the couple home in his car after church. He just is struggling to do the prayer part... it is going to happen and if not it is his agency.  He had a crazy lesson with this member, she doesn’t believe in about half of the doctrine and it got a little heated. As we were leaving my companion talked about how it is better that one person go inactive then a whole branch to perish. With the reference to Laban and Nephi.  That made me laugh a little.       

I had a good week of studies this week. Some scriptures that stood out were Alma 58:37.  I thought about personal accountability. It was great. Other than that I feel like I became a real missionary this week because I got bit by my first dog, got  my first rocks thrown at me by little angel 10 year olds, and learned my first couple of swear words. When I can’t understand a single word in the conversation that usually means there is a rare use of vocabulary that is being used and that was interesting! haha I truly love everyday as a missionary!  Tomorrow I will send your Christmas letters and some little things. Hopefully they get their in time. 

So real quick  I want to talk about something that I learned in my study this morning. I decided to call it 

" The six steps of complacency according to Captain Moroni"

1. Alma 60;14 " Slothfulness and neglect towards others"  Msh 4:16-23

2. Alma 60;19 "Surronded by security"  Msh 4:6,7,27

3. Alma 60:20 "Have ye Forgotten"   Msh 4:11-12 Msh 3:34

4 Alma 60:21  "While we sit...do not make use of means" xc Msh 2:11,23

5. Alma 60:22 "Surronded by idleness" Msh 2:24-26

6. Alma 60:12  "Because of their wickedness" Msh :5:5-8

I wish I could explain more but I want to write to you each of you individually as well. But I cross referenced every attribute of compliancy with the teachings from King Benjamin.  

Whoever has family home evening lesson tonight…you got your lesson!  You are welcome! haha.

Dad - What a neat tender mercy you and Mikesell had at BYU on Friday!  UVU sounded great too!! This week I have done your challenge on “only gratitude” in my morning prayers and I have really enjoyed it. Thank you for that insight. How is all the preparation for the ward party going? This Friday huh!? I am sure it is busy and good. It will be awesome and I am really excited to hear about it. No snow huh!? I guess the Redfish storms missed everywhere else. I don’t have any snow here either. Ha-ha. Actually there were some pretty crazy rain and wind storms this week. We didn’t have power for 5 hours one night, but luckily we have gas stoves and all that so was not a big deal. I love you Dad!  I hope that you have an awesome week! Thank you so much for your example and prayers. I feel them. I am working hard to conquer this language so I can help other find the peace and joy they are missing! You the man.  !Siga Adelante!

Mom- Thank you so much for your email! They are always so great! I am glad to hear that you had a great week. Sounds like it is the “busy normal”. You are such an angel. This is a busy time of year for you because you serve so much. Pretty much like all the other times in the year but...I am glad to hear your still at your spinning class and daily exercise. How is your knee? I am so sorry I forgot to answer your questions about the money last week. I really am so sorry but I don’t remember anything... like nothing. I wish I cold pull something. Vanished in thin air it sounds like. Don’t worry about money for the calling card. I will figure it all out just give me the number of Muldoon. I remember your cell as a back up number if the phones don’t work so that is all good. I am excited for that! By the way every time I show a picture of the family here they always compliment about how pretty you are and how young you and Dad look.  I love you so much Mom! Have a great week. You are in my every thought and prayer and I feel close to all of you in spirit!

Mikesell- I so loved your email this week and what you said about agency. What you said how Heavenly Father expects us to make our own decisions is so true. Ask Papa if he has a copy of the talk that he gave up at Stanley a couple of years ago.  I think he would have titled it “It mattered not to me".  Agency is so important. Remember you have the ability to receive revelation for these things though, some scriptures to help are D&C 8; 2- 3 and Moses 6: 61. You will make the right decision. I will be praying for you and I know that it will be awesome.    I am looking forward to hear about everything .You are such a stud and I am so proud that you are able to have this trial about who to run for in college.   Not many have that question…so be grateful. I love you so much! I can’t believe you talked about the moon. I seriously looked at it and thought that a ton this week! haha.We are close in Spirit Sis. I love you so much.   Live the Dream! You are in my every prayer beautiful. Love ya!

Brennen the B-baller:

Sounds like you did great in all your games! I am so proud of you!  I am glad you enjoy it and that is most important. Keep working to get out of your comfort zone and having fun. Attitude and effort. I love you man. Keep being a stud. I hope that you are enjoying seminary. Have a great week and have fun against Kimberly on Tuesday! I love you.

Alex Hey man!

How was your week? How is ball going?  How do you like your calling?  Are you enjoying Christmas time? So the Cougs got the ducks - that is great! I love you man.  Keep being awesome. Have a great week. Keep being a leader! God speed bro.

Harrison!

Thank you for letter. I just loved it.  I am excited that you get to  play some ball! Dad is the best coach ever. You will learn so much. Go out there and win!  I love you Harrison. That is really funny about Elfly.  He is  a sillly man! I love you bro. Have a great week!

McCall! I love you so much! Thank you for your email. That is great about Boots. Is he is puppy?  I am glad you have such a good friend in school.  Have a great time during this Christmas season. I love you so much. Have a great week sis! 

 I am  excited to hear your voice on Christmas day!

 Well everyone I love you all so much!  Have a great week. We will keep on keeping on! You are all the best! I am so grateful for your continued protection and success. You are all incredible. Tell everyone hello and that I love them!

Love,