28 Mar 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

Well it is heartbreaking that BYU didn't make it. It will also be heartbreaking to tell my kids that I didn't see one single second of the best season that BYU ever had (yes ever ;) ) Oh well :) I'll connect somehow the fact that I went to BYU-Idaho was just like being there rooting for the team. I agree if Jimmer doesn't win [player of the year], he should go play basketball in Mexico or something. They will appreciate him there, and we will lots of tamales!

I don't have much time to write, because everyone decided to write sermons to me today. [I'm not sure I fathomed the full depth of your poetic revelation, but what you're doing certainly qualifies you for a bigger mansion.] The poetic revelations was obvious. The more you work on your mission the greater your mansion is. Obviously fat people will need a bigger mansion so they can roll/wiggle around too. [I told him about the group date Michael, Lauren, and Amanda went on.] Lauren told me about the date, she said she went so Michael would get out of the house. [You might want to pass up that dirt water you mentioned though and stick with reasonably pure soda. It may rot your teeth, but at least it won't test your intestines.] I drink sooo much soda here, and I never want to drink it again. They have those huge water tanks we use to get that you flip upside down. Most houses have that, most don't. They are clever though because they put juice mix in to take the edge off of the dirt flavor so you don't even notice. Maybe my stay at the Marriott this Saturday was because of that (Marriott is what we called the outhouses at Philmont, maybe it's widely popular who knows.) It probably was :) but it's all in the memories. My companion almost died too as we helped some investigators move furniture. They had a huge cabinet/entertainment center and four 20ish year old people were in charge of moving it....so we tied it up and lifted it up on a pulley. Then at the top it broke in half and the bottom part all fell and broke from the 2nd story apartment. It was funny. Nobody was under it though. I have to write my other adoring fans, so this will have to suffice until next time.

28 Mar 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

[I fully expected that Michael, being in Thailand, would see more poverty because I associated Thailand with India. But you are by far experiencing the poverty thing more.] I don't know what poverty Michael experienced, but I have seen some legit poverty :) Oddly downtown is worse than the countryside. I have seen houses smaller than your master bathroom, but they smell like pee and dead animals. All the sewage is open here and it just runs down the street. When it rains, it just goes everywhere. The "middle class" here is deep south ghetto poor in the US. It's cool though, it's easier to teach people though because they all live in the same small house. I can't even explain the poverty of some people, but there are a lot of houses (just made out of bricks) that are nice and decent. It just depends on where you go. [I was wondering what Heavenly Father has in mind. It may be that you will be salary challenged in your life.] I'm glad that you think that this means I will be doomed to poverty for the rest of my life :) My patriarchal (I don't remember how to spell it in English) blessing says that I will have enough to give generously. Who knows, I don't know that's for sure. [Speaking of money, how come you run out of your allowance?] I run out of allowance the same reason you have a tight paycheck and the same reason everyone else does :) I don't even remember what exactly you are talking about. I probably didn't actually run out 100% but I just couldn't spend as much. [Are you giving your companions/ investigators some?] Heck no, I need my money, I wouldn't give it to my investigators! Besides we aren't supposed to do that. ;) I get money every 2 weeks so I was probably exaggerating. I know I have a debit card, but I'm not going to spend my own hard earned money to buy bread and cookies on my mission! [I love you, and am so happy that you are soaking up all the experience that you can.] I hope I soak it up, I hope I never forget :) I try hard but sometimes my mind isn't 100% in the work. I am working harder than I ever have in my life right now, honestly 16 hours a day. Maybe not because of me, but because of my companion but I'll get there someday. I don't like to think about the end because I want to change so much, but it's hard to know if I am really changing. But I'll keep chugging along.

21 Mar 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

This week was a week of exploration. We had lunch in the depths of our area, in the wilderness of Ceará. It's a green wilderness for now until the winter comes and the rain stops. It was just a bunch of underbrush and palm trees. I got to see some mountains though. The chapel is a 2-story chapel, so I got a good view of the mountains and took a picture. It's a refreshing site seeing mountains without snow, and full of palm trees I suppose. One day for lunch we got off waaaay too early so we had to walk for a long time through the wilderness. As the famous saying goes, every man must walk miles on a road running through the middle of the wilderness in Ceará, in the BLAZING sun, at least once in his life. By golly I did it and now I'm a man. To pass the time, and keep my hopes up, (your attitude is what keeps you alive when you are trapped on an island, mountain, long road) I was thinking and pondering. Then all of the sudden I was hit with poetic revelation. This is what I came up...."The sweatier missionary walked farther, worked harder...or he's just fat; either way his mansion in heaven needs be larger." Feel free to send that to Church Headquarters to print in the Missionary Planners. Man I'm a stud. There may be some of you that don't get it, but that's because it's divine poetry. Anyway, it wasn't really that bad. All the walking made the food and dirt water taste better anyways. The Lord has blessed us a lot this week. we have been having a hard time getting people to come to church, but this week, after more hard work, we were able to get 13 people at church. That's 4 times more than we had last week. One of the families was an accident. We walked up to a door, gate really, and realized it was the wrong house. It was too late though because we had already clapped (that's how you "knock" a gate door) and the people were already staring at the two mormons madly flipping through their planners for the right address. They caught us... so using my wit and charm I pretended like this was just the house we were looking for. They weren't fooled though, so we just talked to them and they invited us in. The message went well. The miraculous part was that they actually went to church and the people we were looking for wanted nothing. It may not seem like a miracle to ya'll, but we have been working hard 16 hours a day for 3 weeks just to get 3 people at church every week. So one more family is always good. It may also seem like we just knocked the wrong door and got lucky. I don't think so though, the Lord helps us in mysterious ways!!

21 Mar 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

[On Tuesday the Elders came for dinner. On Thursday the Hansons came for dinner and games. On Saturday we spent the night with the Andersens.] It's good here, the time is flying by. The 16 hour work days are starting to take affect after 9 months, but I'll make it. Sometimes I miss the sleep though. Those lucky American missionaries getting good American meals ;) Is the dinner and games a regular thing now? Is it one of Austin's Duty to God to help 2 old people cope with life ;) My bad I'm sorry. Soak up the wonderful college sports for me Mom. I'll be back someday, and I'll be watching them someday :) Do Michael and Lauren see each other at school or anything? [The lesson in RS was on charity. People always associate charity with service, but charity is a state of mind, and when you feel charity, the pure love of Christ, then you will feel the desire to serve. I think there is more to charity than service.] Well if you have charity you have to do so much more than help people. After all, the definition of charity is the pure love of Christ. Not the hard work and service of Christ. Well that's my 2 centavos.

I will be needing some BBQ sunflower seeds for my birthday ;) My companions think that I am weird for eating seeds but whatever. It would be nice if you sent deodorant too, Old Spice pure sport. The deodorant is spray here, so it just makes you smell good but it doesn't do much to the sweat. TE AMO

14 Mar 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

[Mom taught a lesson on the Word of Wisdom on Sunday, discussing how it applies to both physical and spiritual health.] I didn't think much about the Word of Wisdom until I got here. You are exactly right. In the MTC I was just teaching that it gives us physical blessings and I was speaking of the 5 things we shouldn't ingest (coffee, cigarretes, alcohol, black tea, and drugs) but here in the mission we usually read 1 Corint 3:16 that tells that our bodies are gifts of God and that is where the spirit dwells. That is why we need to keep the Word of Wisdom, because if we break it the spirit will leave and we won't have it. People always ask why we need to follow this stuff. People say because it's bad, it will kill you, etc. However, we should follow it because God said we should, it doesn't really matter why. I remember the Word of Wisdom lesson we had when I was in Preston with Dad to receive the priesthood. They were talking about how we can't eat any food that is processed because it is radiated and random stuff like that. Ask Dad about it. There are some crazy people out there.

 

This is going to be a tough week for me, my mind will be occupied but I hope I can focus on the Lord. In fact, I know I will!

10 Mar 2011 - Pedras Area (Mom)

Funny story, I was writing you an email and all was going well. [Mom didn't get an email last week.] Then I kicked the plug and the computer turned off, and then it wouldn't work blah blah. I sent you what I had written last week. This P-Day I wasn't able to write because it was Carnaval, a holiday here, and no LAN houses were open. So Pres. let us come and write today. Next week it will be back to normal. [Mom asked if he needed anything sent.] I don't need any garments or anything. My shirts are still white and I noticed a few holes in my garments but oh well. My pants are sun bleached though, so now I have American Eagle designer slacks, with natural bleaching. I just need to rip a few holes in them :)

 

[Our RS lesson was about the organization of the RS since this month is RS's birthday.] I read about the Relief society in the Liahona :) My companion is funny because he is suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper, how can we say, he's super Mormon. He follows everything by the letter of the law. So for companionship study you are supposed to tell about what you learned, just a gist of what you learned. Share your testimony etc. He tells me everything that he studied, practically word for word. Yesterday he told me he studied pornography, which sounded funny, but he studied it in True to the Faith. Anyways, he told me all about the Relief Society blah blah. I don't know if we need to be studying about Pornography and Relief Society stuff but oh well :) He's good. I am convinced Heavenly Father is trying to beat patience into my stubborn head. The last few companions that I have had are trying my patience a lot. Constant complaining, always telling me bigger better stories than mine, always saying that they already know, they have already done "x" many times. It's hard putting two stubborn people together, but maybe I'll change someday :)

 

Yesterday was a tough day for me, I was just thinking. Sometimes I don't know if I am listening to the Spirit, and sometimes I don't know if the Spirit is telling me anything. I had a hard time with the language yesterday which has never really happened to me, so that bummed me out even more. I try though, I study every morning and I pray a lot for help, but yesterday I begged :) Today is better though, just the ups and downs of the mission.

10 Mar 2011 - Pedras Area (Dad)

My new area is 4 cities, but I haven't gotten close to visiting my whole area. Our Bishop/Stake President (they are the same person as of now) has told us to work near the chapel. So we only go to other parts for lunch or references. It's on the fringes of Fortaleza so we get to see more mountains and open....desert. It has been raining a ton since we got here and with my luck this area has a big hill. During the downpours it turns into a missionary flume. We have figured out that our house isn't so water tight either, but that's what you get for just lying curved tiles over more curved tiles (the roof). My companion is Elder Costa from São Paulo. He has 2 sisters and an older brother that served a mission in Curtiba. I try to tell people that Michael served in Thailand, but they don't have a clue where it is. Sometimes they don't have a clue were the US is too but whatever at least they all remember Texas. Dang I kicked the plug and the computer turned off like last week.... Anyways. This house at least has a pull up bar, so I can feel useful and maybe get some more muscles. You hear that ladies? Just kidding. I can't think of anything else, I'll tell ya'll some spiritual in a few days.