"...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

The Book of Mormon brings power in teaching and in spirituality overall.

Hey everyone - 

I'm not going to be able to write much this week, but I'll try to cover most of it.  To start off we had an appointment with K... this week on Tuesday, but we went over and she ended up not being home, so we texted her later that day and had to reschedule for Saturday. We went over and she ended up not being present again, but Mackenzie called her and said she would be there in about and hour, so we ended up waiting until she arrived.  The lesson overall went really well, but as always her two year old son Liam took it over a lot of the time, by pulling on his mom's scriptures and identify each part of my face by poking it  haha.  She said she was going to try to make it to church which is good but it has been a while.  I felt impressed to fast Sunday morning and pray that she would make it to church.  We were worried as always at church, because she has missed about 5 weeks in a row - but she made it!  She really enjoyed church and said she will definitely be there next week, so her baptism is scheduled for the 31st.  The power of fasting is real, and I am so thankful that I decided to do that.  It's funny that Jo also had great blessings come from fasting this week.  I can't wait to here from you guys and I'll talk to you soon!

Love,
Elder Austin  8/25/2014

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A letter received from Elder Austin on Tuesday:    8/20/2014:

Dear Family,

How is it going everyone??  Any exciting things happening lately or coming up soon?  So for us, we have been setting up lessons with families to help them invite friends to church for talks/baptisms or other things so our afternoons are starting to get filled here.  I really love all the members here and enjoy visiting with all of them.  Over half the members in the ward moved here in the past year, so it is a very young ward.  Our work with K... is still going well, but she can't get baptized until she starts coming to church.  We are going to do our best to help her feel the Spirit as we teach and help her understand to recognize it as well.  Her determination amazes me and continues to as well.  We are going to do a lot more finding next week to try and get some potentials ourselves, so we will see how it goes.  So how is Seminary Jake??  How is driving coming along?!  When I get home we are definitely going to jet ski and parasail.  So what is everyone up to on a daily basis?  Still 'shimming' Jake??  Sunny still working out? So I still absolutely hate working out in the morning, so I end up doing it after we get home.  No hurricanes coming in this year?  I know my car is getting fixed soon.  Have fun with it before Jo steals it from you Jake haha.  It's weird to think that Jo will be home early next year.  It's still pretty far, but not really.  When I first got here, I started the Book of Mormon at Helaman and finished it, and about last week I finished it again all the way through, so I will definitely start reading it again.  The Book of Mormon brings power in teaching and in spirituality overall.  If you want to have a good day, start it off with some meaningful Book of Mormon study! The blessings that come from just reading a bit a day are incredible, and it will allow you to be guided by the Spirit for the rest of your day.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Colorado and even though I miss you guys a lot, I know where I am supposed to be and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I miss you all so much and hope to hear from you either through email or letters.  Keep doing what you're doing and I'll see you soon!!

Elder Austin, III

(He's the third Elder Austin out as a missionary!)  

"..we are working a ton better with the ward so things are going well here!"

For this week we have been trying to work more with our investigator.  We've met with her a couple of times and we read the Book of Mormon with her and encourage her to pray and strive to continue to progress.  We met with her Sunday morning (since church is at 1pm) and we talked and reminded her of church.  She ended up not being able to come, and while we were texting her at church, she expressed that she truly believes and wants to do her best to be baptized, so she can raise her two year old son in the church.  She also said she has prayed and has felt the Spirit and still has a desire to come, but it is hard for her, especially because her sister has just recently stopped coming as well.  She has such great faith and has taught me so much more than what I have taught her.  She really needs your prayers, and we are going to fast and pray for her this week. because she really needs it.  We have also been working a lot more with the ward, which includes meeting with the members who give a talk the coming week and inviting them to invite people to come to their talk and listen to it.  We also are going to start meeting with children in the ward who are about to get baptized and teaching them a little and inviting them to invite others to their baptism as well, so we are going to be full with appointments this week.  So far as finding goes, it gets really difficult sometimes, but we are going to try and go to the park here and talk to people. because a lot of people are there all the time.  Last p-day we went to Castlewood Canyon, which is this really cool rock canyon and we hiked in and on top of it which was fun. I don't know what we are doing today, but I am going to get some envelopes so I can actually start writing you guys! If you want me to send you a written letter, send me an email of your address!!

Love,
Elder Austin

We have been working really hard... here in the Foothills Ward.

Hows it going everyone!! Well there isn't much to report on this week, but I'll try to remember everything.  We played baseball for p-day again and it started pouring, so we went back to the church and played volleyball.  We were going to go to Devil's Head for p-day but the A.P.'s bailed, so now no one really has a ride - so not sure what we are going to do today.  We met with K...  a couple of times last week and she seemed committed, but she wasn't at church on Sunday.  We are going to visit her sometime this week and have to see if she is truly interested.  We have been working really hard with her and talking to her sister who is a recent convert.  She wants to be baptized, but hasn't been to church in a while so that is where we stand.  As far as finding other people to teach we haven't had anyone else yet.  We talk to a lot of people on the street, but it is hard to get investigators without the help of the members.  We are doing great here and hopefully we will find someone else to teach this week or in the weeks to come.

8/4/2014

Blessing others is so much better than thinking about yourself and the happiness you receive is worth it all.

Hows it going everyone?? hows life been treatin' ya? So for me this week has gone by really fast, and also it has been pretty slow haha.  We got to meet with K... this week, and she is trying really hard to quit smoking, but it is still difficult.  Her family is against everything so it is really hard for her to commit to things.  She couldn't make it to church on Sunday, so we have to move her date back again to the 10th.  She really wants to do this and knows that it will help her, but it is really hard for her to change so much.

Transfers are next week, but I'm not going anywhere because of training and actually our whole district is staying the same so that's awesome. I really love my district, and its exciting to know they are all staying here as well.  We woke up early to play tennis this morning.  We were all really excited at first, but we were all about to drop dead while we were playing. haha  so that's not happening again. this coming week is transfers, so it will be a little slow, but we are going to try and do a lot of finding, because it would be nice to have more people to teach.  I always love reading the Book of Mormon.  I started it again on the 10th and I am on Alma chapter 24!!   It is awesome to see how much more you can understand when you are truly looking for it.  I always feel the spirit stronger every day the more I read so I end up reading about 8 chapters at a time haha.  The work is slow, but it has helped me to be patient with the Lords purposes here for me in Colorado,  and I am so grateful for that.  Blessing others is so much better than thinking about yourself and the happiness you receive is worth it all.  I have no clue what we are doing for p day today, but we will see.  I'll see you guys soon!!

Love,

Elder Austin

Samuel Austin	Aug 4 (8 days ago)
to Elder, Emiliano, Jace, Jake, Jon, Jon, Joshua, Kevin, Kim, Mark, Maustin109, me, Nathan, Nick, Sam, Sara

Hows it going everyone!! Well there isn't much to report on this week but I'll try to remember everything.  We played baseball for p-day again and it started pouring so we went back to the church and played volleyball.  We were going to go to Devil's Head for p-day but the A.P.'s bailed so now no one really has a ride so not sure what we are going to do today.  We met with Kailee a couple of times last week and she seemed committed but she wasn't at church on Sunday.  We are going to visit her sometime this week and have to see if she is truly interested.  We have been working really hard with her and talking to her sister who is a recent convert.  She wants to be baptized but hasn't been to church in a while so that is where we stand.  As far as finding other people to teach we haven't had anyone else yet.  We talk to a lot of people on the street but it is hard to get investigators without the help of the members.  We are doing great here and hopefully we will find someone else to teach this week or in the weeks to come.

Samuel Austin	Aug 11 (1 day ago)
to Elder, Emiliano, Jace, Jake, Jon, Jon, Joshua, Kevin, Kim, Mark, Maustin109, me, Nathan, Nick, Sam, Sara

So this past week went pretty well, I can't believe I have been here over two months already!  For Monday we went to Castle Rock which was the first thing we have actually done out here besides sports on p-day.  It was an awesome hike and a ton of fun.  Today we are actually going to Castle Wood Canyon today in Parker so that should be fun too.  We have been reading a lot with Kailee recently and she seems really committed but she couldn't make it to church on Sunday because she was sick.  We also were able to go on exchanges this week which was a lot of fun, we have be doing a lot of finding but it isn't the most effective thing in our area.  She is still improving with smoking and still wants to work hard so we will continue to help and strengthen her.  At Ward Council yesterday we had the Area 70 and the Steak President and the Mission President and they really stressed about getting us appointments in the ward so we are probably going to be busy next week.  We are also working with a guy and his two sons, he is divorced and was less active for years until last year, he has been coming back to church for almost a year now and is working to get the Melchizedek priesthood.  His sons also want to get baptized but their mother is against it so that is whats stopping them.  Remember them in your prayers because they need it!  I love having the spirit guide me through teaching, their is no other way we would be able to help others know for themselves without the spirit and I am so thankful that I can feel it everyday through my prayers and scripture study.  I miss you guys and hope you are doing great!!