11-22-10
Happy Thanksgiving! And Brock! Happy Birthday!!
This week was pretty awesome. To start, Im gonna answer some of your guys questions. Transfers are on December 22nd, so I have no idea how calling will work. I will talk to the Zone Leaders when I get the chance. I doubt skype will be possible. Word on the street is that we will be celebrating Thanksgiving as a zone, so that should be fun!
And Dad, I get the Liahona in English. The Liahona had a special edition on temples too and I absolutely loved it. There was some cool stuff in there. I use the pictures in some of our lessons. I loved that poem about habits, its so true. And its so easy to develop bad habits so quickly. Its a constant fight. ANd that picture with the turkey leg is epic. You should frame that one haha!
Haley, your stories are so great! They bring back so many memories, I love it!
So on Tuesday we met the other two elders in our zone. One of them is new, and he helicoptered his first three nights in the field (helicoptering is when you poo and vomit at the same time). He lost a lot of weight, I feel so bad for him. On the way to meeting them, a guy who had peed himself came up to me and my companion and asked us for money. We told him we had none. He started quoting scriptures and he was making really creepy and distorted faces and noises. And he tried to tell us we were evil for not loving our neighbor. We explained that we are here to help people spiritually, and he started quoting scripture again. I think he was possessed. It was weird.
Later that day we chopped some firewood for some members. Ive got some nice big blisters from that. But they were all impressed that a gringo knew how to use an axe. They were also surprised that I could work more than five minutes. Haha its ironic how some of these people are really lazy and they look at Americans like they're sloths. Haha Im glad I can set them straight. Wednesday we were walking to an appointment and saw a lady pushing her motorcycle. we offered to help her out. THe bike wouldnt start, so we helped her push it to the body shop or whatever its called. Elder Herrera sat on the bike and steared while I pushed from the back haha! It was about 350 degrees and I had my backpack on. The lady got in a tuktuk (taxi) to lead us where to go. So I was trying to keep up with the taxi and it was so hard. It felt like running a 400 with weights on my back. As we turned a corner, two dogs started chasing us. I was dead tired and I just tried to book it as fast as I could. One of the dogs grabbed onto my shoe, so I kicked him in the face pretty good. But the other bit Elder Herreras leg... and drew blood. I was trying to kick it, but I couldnt because I was running and pushing at the same time. We eventually got away and found out the dogs were vaccinated (thank goodness). I was a sweaty mess by the time we got to our destination.
Speaking of my companion, we have made some amazing progress! Ive been knocking out one bad habit at a time, one or two a week. I found a strategy. I find where it talks about the thing we struggle with, or the thing we dont do correctly, in Preach My Gospel. And then I tell my companion that I want to study that section during companionship study. We do so, and Elder Herrera will read something and say, "Thats a really good idea, I think we should try that." And then I just smile and say, I agree, lets do it. Haha its almost too perfect! And I dont tell you this to brag that Im changing my companion. Im just so happy that I figured out how to help him realize that we can be better. And it has been so great to see him change himself! Preach My Gospel is so awesome.
On Thursday, we got a call from a lady in the ward, Eugenia, and her baby needed a blessing. We said we would stop by after our appointment (It wasnt urgent). But we had a problem. I lost my vial of oil three or four weeks ago. And my companions fell off his belt loop two weeks ago. So I knelt down and prayed that I would be able to find mine. Keep in mind, I hadnt been able to find it for three weeks. I stood up, looked around my desk, then stopped. I walked straight to my room, and picked up my suitcase and reached down to pick up the vial of oil. It was like I knew it was there. It was a miracle.
Most people here arent comfortable looking me in the eye, especially girls. But I met a 14 year old girl this week who was not afraid to look me in the eye. I found out she has a baby of two months, and her husband was killed four months ago. And she is 14 years old. That helped me realize that I dont realize how blessed I really am.
Last thing. Last night we were walking to the church to meet a family who was going to accompany us to an appointment. It had just stormed, and we could see the storm in the distance. There was a full moon on the other side of the sky. As I looked up at the huge clouds, I saw a rainbow! A rainbow in the dark! And there was lightning flashing in the distance, it was the gnarliest night sky I had ever seen. And despite the full moon, the stars were still bright. It was nuts. So cool.
I hope you all have an awesome week. Im trying to write you all letters and I hope I can get them to you by Christmas. I love you guys! And remember, if you want to get good at something, practice it! If you want to master something, keep practicing. Practice is the key to learning.
Love you!
Elder Austin Tyler
