"It is amazing the joy that you can receive from watching someone change their lives through the gospel."

Hello everyone!

So this week has been awesome!!  First off we are finally starting to know the whole area, all of the members, and we're getting the ball rolling with member lessons.  The week started off really slow with zone training and mission president interviews.  Our numbers were really low.  But Monday night I did as you told me Mom, and I prayed for a miracle- still hoping that we could get something going.  So for Tuesday, we had a new member lesson with Mackenzie set up, which was great, because it would be only my second or third time to teach a discussion.  Her parents weren't home, so we decided to go sit under this pavilion in this park by her house.  As we started to teach the lesson, all of these kids with their bikes and scooters started riding through the pavilion like crazy.  We finally decided to go back to the garage and have the lesson there.  When we began again to teach the lesson, her sister, Kailee, asked her sister to ask a question to us that she had earlier.  We then turned to her sister and started talking and answering a couple of questions she had for us.  She had a question about Joseph Smith, and I sad "Well the lesson we are about to teach really explains it if you want to listen in",  so she sat down and we started to teach the lesson again.  We ended up being over there for about two hours  - answering questions she had about the church and the word of wisdom.  We talked about how we don't smoke or drink and she said "well I guess I was going to have to quit smoking once in a while."  The lesson went great!!!  and at our next appointment on Friday with her she accepted the invitation to be baptized!!  She was also at church on Sunday, and she really enjoyed that as well.  Never be afraid to pray for something, even if you feel like it may be too much.  During  our gospel principles class at church, I handed her my triple combination so she could read along on a verse we were reading, she ended up reading  during the entire class and at the end I didn't want to take my scriptures from her!!  It is amazing the joy that you can receive from watching someone change their lives through the gospel.  I hope to feel that way for the rest of my mission as I try to help all people come closer to Jesus Christ.  Our schedule for this week is finally filled up, and I can't wait to see what will happen next!

I was also able to go on splits with the Spanish Elders.  I went with Elder Hovorka, and even though I didn't understand much of it ,it was still a lot of fun.  We were going around trying to contact potential investigators, but to no avail haha.  We got done with all of our names at 4 o'clock haha.  it was still great getting to know Elder Hovorka, and we get along really well.  Miss you guys and I'll see ya soon!!

Love,

Elder Austin

"No one can change without the gift of the atonement in their lives... Through the atonement, we can all become closer to our Heavenly Father and improve in ways we couldn't imagine." Elder Austin

So this week went by really fast lets see if I can remember it all.  So for P-day last week we went and played some volleyball at this mansion that some other Elders live at.  It was HUGE! haha.  It had a pool table, a huge living area, and a basketball/volleyball court in their basement where they live-  with a whole back porch for them haha.  So we played a little bit of pool, and then we played volleyball for the rest of the time which was pretty intense.  The net was a couple of inches shorter than our normal one at church back at home so I was able to slam it hahaha. It was fun. 

         So after that we went back to the house and a member who couldn't have us over for dinner brought by two large pizzas and a 2 liter of root beer for the both of us hahahaha.  We still haven't finished either of them.  And right as we were just finishing eating and getting ready to tone down, I realized  "Wait!  Don't we have an appointment with Mackenzie?" haha  So we scrambled to throw our clothes back on, and we biked as fast as we could over there.  We were 30 min late haha.  But the lesson still went really well.  She is having trouble integrating into the ward and hasn't come to church lately, but definitely wants to.  We are going to be teaching her the new member lessons starting this week, so that will be good.  On Tuesday it was our regularly scheduled day of going and visiting members we haven't met yet and talking to people in the streets on the way to each house.  That is basically what every day is comprised of for us.  On Wednesday we got to meet the new mission president! His name is President Rehm, and he has great expectations for the future.  We will actually be getting iPads!!!  But it might not be for a year, but we aren't sure.  He is changing a lot, and it looks like the strictness of the President before us is getting toned down a bit and is being replaced with trust from the new president, so expectations are high!!!  We will see what changes are made in the next coming weeks.  So this week we are going to try and start doing some assist the member lessons which is just teaching members the discussions and asking for referrals or a nonmember to sit in on the lessons or something like that.  Another big problem we have is that it is summer, haha, so no one is really home, especially in this rich neighborhood where everyone has long vacations or is out all the time, so getting into houses or at least having someone answer is a challenge haha.  We got to talk to a lot of people though, and they are really nice, but once we bring up the church the conversation shuts down haha.  So we are trying to get referrals more from the members here.  I was also able to give a priesthood blessing to Brother Yearsley, a member that we had brunch with this past week.  It was so cool to be able to just stop my thoughts and let the spirit guide me in what I was to say.  When you just put your mind aside the inspirations just flow and it was really cool to be able to be the Lord's mouthpiece in that.

  On Sunday we taught a lesson on repentance in Gospel Principles which was really cool.  It is getting easier and easier to teach and talk to people, but I still have to work hard to improve.  No one can change by themselves without the gift of the atonement in their lives.  It is such a great tool, and I would suggest to use it to your advantage.  Through the atonement, we can all become closer to our Heavenly Father and improve in ways we couldn't imagine. I know that without it I wouldn't have even made it this far.  I love you guys and hope to hear from you soon!!


Elder Austin

I actually read the entire book of Helamen and 3rd and 4th Nephi yesterday!! I haven't felt the spirit so strong in my entire life.

Hello everyone -

So far, this week it feels like the week went by like so fast haha.  Everyday is comprised of going around our area talking to people on the street and visiting the member homes in the area.  We get to talk to alot of people but not many people are interested, and since it is summer a lot of people are not home, so it is hard to use up our time out here since we don't have any investigators yet.  The elders before us didn't leave us much information and we are still trying to pick up where they left off.  All the members here are great. Almost all are young families and have moved here recently, so it is a really young ward.  This week we tried to meet with this lady that we had a really good discussion with on the street, but we always would show up at the worst times.  Hopefully, we will be able to talk to her this week and go from there.  We were walking down the street meeting members at their homes when this guy yells at us to come over.  He was on his porch dead drunk with a cigarette and a beer in his hand haha.  He really wanted to talk with us though, so we sat down with him in his garage.  Turns out he is a member of the church and has been inactive for over 20 years.  He had actually went on a mission when he was young and knew almost everything about the church.  We talked to the Ward mission leader, and he said that they haven't been able to contact him in years.  So we were the first to break through that barrier.  We will be going over to his house on Thursday for ribs haha.  That will be great and maybe we can find out more.  We also got to talk to this other inactive guy who hasn't been coming to church because of work.  He also went on a mission and is a great guy as well, hopefully we can figure something out for them.  I also slipped in while talking to him that we would like to come by some time and maybe have a lesson, so that will be good.  We ate at Chipotle this week with a member family for dinner and it was really good.  I couldn't finish the whole thing though  haha.  We are still working hard, but Im not sure if the work will pick up anytime soon.  We are just going to try and work with the members as much as we can. That's about all we can do at this point.  Miss you guys a ton but I'm in the right place right now.  I actually read the entire book of Helamen and 3rd and 4th Nephi yesterday!!  I haven't felt the spirit so strong in my entire life.  I know I am in the right place and that the spirit is guiding me in all that I do.  I hope as I am gone that y'all will increase in faith and continue to study the scriptures and pray.  Acting and being diligent is so important in increasing your faith.  I promise that you can do the same.  Love you guys and see you soon.

-Elder Austin