"...Friday morning it actually snowed!! - in September!!

Week of September 15th update:  

So this week was transfers, me and Elder Shepherd are still together for a third transfer which is pretty crazy!  We have two new elders in our district so it has been fun.  Since Elder Shepherd is District Leader now, we will be going on exchanges a lot, so I have the opportunity a lot to be senior companion in our area.  Oh, and Friday morning it actually snowed!!  - in September!!  Apparently this winter is going to be brutal, so I'm in for it haha. Anyways, this week has been going pretty well but still no investigators, but we will keep praying for them.  I went on exchanges with Elder Rodriguez this week.  He is a visa waiter and a Spanish missionary who is 7 months out, and while we were on exchanges he got a call that he got his visa!  So that was pretty cool.  He leaves to Brazil at the end of the transfer.  On exchanges we went around our area and tried to set up some appointments with less actives in our ward.  No one ended up being home, but while I was pointing out the one massive house at the end of our neighborhood, we decided to go knock it.  It has its own road and a whole gate that we hopped over haha.  We knocked the door and the lady wasn't interested, but she asked how we got through the gate, and I just told her straight up we hopped it, hahaha.  She informed us it was private property, but that was all that really happened, but it was something to remember.  We went around our area a lot and me and Elder Shepherd are going to try and continue to do the same.  Love you guys and hope you are doing well. I love my area and am glad to be here!! Talk to you soon!

Love,
Elder Austin

"Its amazing how much of yourself you find when you aren't worried about yourself."

So this past week has been kinda everywhere, but it still was a good week.  So to start off for transfers me and Elder Shepherd are staying here in the Foothills ward for a third transfer! Which is really rare, but it will be fun.  We have basically lost all contact with K... now, we are not completely sure what happened or what was going on, because now she won't respond to us so we don't know.  We still continue to pray for her, but thats all we can do right now.  We got to me with this family this week where the Mom is a less active member and her kids, ages 9 and 11, are not.  But they said they are going to start coming to church on Sundays, and then we will start the lessons with them.  The kids with the support of their mom are going to work towards baptism, so that is pretty exciting.  We also got to meet with a Part Member, Recent Convert, Less Active family haha lot of stuff.  The daughter B... was baptized last year, the Mother and the Son are not members and the father is a less active member.  We have been trying to get a hold of them since we got here, but they are never home.  Recently B... who is active, invited her parents to do the Book of Mormon challenge with her and they accepted! And the ward has really been working hard with them and they set up a dinner for us there.  They are a really great family, and you wouldn't even know the mom isn't a member.  After dinner we shared a thought on the first vision and the Spirit was so strong, both the father and the mother were in tears, so we are excited to continue to work with them over the transfer.  I love it here in Castle Rock and will do my best to help all the people here. Its amazing how much of yourself you find when you aren't worried about yourself.  I miss you guys and ill talk to you soon!

Love,
Elder Austin

"It's great to realize that teaching comes really easy to me now and that I can really help the people I am teaching."

We were able to meet with a good amount of families (members) this week and teach them in their homes.  It's great to realize that teaching comes really easy to me now, and that I can really help the people I am teaching.  We were able to meet with the family with the two nonmember boys who want to get baptized.  We taught them about the plan of salvation, and they were really excited about everything. They have been taught by the missionaries for a while now, but their mother won't give the consent for them to be baptized, so they can't.  Their dad was less active for years, but since last year has been active and working to receive the Melchizedek priesthood.  We went over to K..  a lot last week and she was really committed to go through with her baptism on Saturday. But at 10 am on Sunday morning we got a text from her saying that ...  her parents said if she goes to church any more that she has to live somewhere else, so we are in a really tough situation right now at the moment.  She needs all of your prayers.  We are going to try to help her through this, but we have to figure out what is going on first.  She really wants to go through with this, but I don't know how she can if her parents are threatening her this way.  We are going to pray and fast for her and do what we can, so we will see what happens.  I love you guys and I am happy you are all doing well hope to hear from you and talk to you soon!

Love,
Elder Austin