Hey! You guys!
On Mon, Nov 28, 2011
Did any of my friends go to church? And Haley, I'll read your talk a bit later, I'll print it out. It sounds like this week was awesome! Don't worry, it didn't make me trunky hearing about all that, but I do miss you guys a lot. Dad, that's funny you fell asleep on the floor before the Settlers game. Haha just an excuse to not risk losing.
The radio went fairly well, we talked about the Plan of Salvation. We should be talking again next week, but I'm not sure how we're going to coordinate that with the First Presidency Christmas devotional.
There were transfers, but very few. I will be here yet another change and it should be a good six weeks. I feel like after that I'll be out of here. And I don't think we can do skype. But that would be so awesome.
So I'm writing a little early today, so I may send this before I get Mom, Brock, and Aubrey's emails, but I love you guys so much! Mom, you would be proud of my cooking this week. And you guys all look great in the pictures!
So this week was wonderful. First of all, on Wednesday we had an appointment scheduled for Jose and his kids. We had a really long day leading up to it, but we met up with our bishop and headed over to their house, a little exhausted. We had planned to teach tithing. Jose was happy to see us. We started the lesson and the bishop taught powerfully about the blessings of tithing. It all went great. As soon as the bishop finished, I felt prompted to challenge Jose (again) to be baptized on Friday with his kids. he responded, 'Of course I will! How can I not? Ever since you guys came to visit me I've felt different, I've noticed a change in my kids, and I just feel better. This is what I need to do. Yes I will do it.' I was stunned. It took us a few moments and I realized that he was sincerely wanting to get baptized! haha thank you soo much for your prayers! It was such a miracle. I am so thankful for the power of the Spirit. The baptism went beautifully! Everyone was so happy. On top of that, Dridmi, a nonmember who has attended church for two years with her RM husband, finally made the decision to get baptized. She got baptized on Saturday! We have been so tremendously blessed. I marvel at the Lord's tender mercies. He is so patient with us and ever ready to reach out and help us with the things we can't do alone. I feel so humbled as I think about all He's done for us.
So those were the biggest highlights. On top of that, we had Thanksgiving. And don't know how, but everything turned out perfectly. We didn't have much to season the turkey, so I rubbed butter and salt all over it and stuck it in a big cake pan and put it in the oven. It only took four hours (13 pound turkey) and it was so tasty. We couldn't find gravy stuff, so we bought beef soup, then we poured the turkey broth in it, and put in some flour to thicken it. It worked perfectly. Then we heated up some canned corn. We bought instant mashed potatoes and Elder Ramos started making those. Haha he poured cold water in and started mixing, poor guy. All the gringos started freaking out. But it was fine, we put it on the stove and heated it up, mixing it the entire time. Then we put a cake in the oven. We bought some bread that kind of resembled rolls. We only lacked stuffing, pie, and sparkling cider. It was sooooooo good and it all turned out so well! Truly a miracle. We were eleven (three elders came into the zone to open an area), and we were afraid that there wouldn't be enough food. But everyone left stuffed to the brim.
I put up some pictures. There are some from way back, of Elder Cartagena. Then Elder Ramos. One of Jose and his three kids. A few from Thanksgiving. A few from the temple open house. One from the radio. One of a boil on my neck (don't worry, it's gone). And a couple of me with Delmis, a recent convert. She's a little princess and wanted a photo shoot. Haha
So that's about it. I love you guys so much! Have an awesome week. I was thinking about you guys a lot of Thanksgiving and I'm glad to hear things are going well. Christmas is so soon!
Lots of love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Monday, December 12, 2011
A new temple in Quetzaltenango!
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 10:59 AM
Hey guys!
So it’s been a pretty crazy week, lots of cool stuff, but lots of challenges.
I wont respond to everything for sake of time, but holy cow TROY COMES HOME THIS WEEK! I remember at the beginning of the mission thinking about how far away that seemed and here it is! John comes home soon too. So crazy, I’m so excited for them. Mom, thank you for sending my companion some of that stuff. I found out today that we don’t have transfers, so I’ll be here through Christmas. I’m happy about that. President is doing well, but he’s stressed, not too happy with the mission right now. With the temple and all we are hoping for a lot of success, but I feel like there are a lot of missionaries just chilling right now. There’s a foul stench of pride that is sitting over a lot of zones and it just doesn’t feel right. President’s wife is doing well too. I never see her because we’re in the outskirts of the mission, but she seems to be great! We have an investigator that is kind of struggling right now with whether or not he should be baptized. He’s receiving opposition from his family, but he is the most positive future Priesthood holder that we’ve taught here in Ayutla. It would be so powerful to see him set the example for his kids. His name is Jose. If you could please keep him in your prayers that would be wonderful.
We were on air last night and it went smoother than the first time. We talked about the restoration and don’t worry, we’ll be on again next Sunday at 6. It’s fun doing that, it’s a big radio station. The only feedback we’ve gotten was a phone call to the radio station from somebody that just yelled “Put the music back on!” Hahaha at least we know people hear us?
Haley! Your car! That’s unfortunate, but at least it wasn’t your fault! That sounds like a fun date idea. And I love to hear about all the stuff you’re doing in Stuco. I’m writing you a letter and I’ll get that to you ASAP.
Dad, “¡Que fuerza!” means “What strength!” haha. And I love what you shared about faith and character. There’s a talk from by Elder Scott from the October 2010 conference about the same thing and I think it’s my favorite talk of all time. It hit home at a really crucial time and it always gets me motivated to press forward.
I’m so sorry I forgot my camera! We had a change of plans today haha. We woke up at 5 to escort a bus to Ocos, the area of the district that’s right on the beach, so that we could pick up all the people there that are going to the temple open house today. And then we came to Malacatan to buy stuff for the thanksgiving feast on Thursday. The Turkey was 250 quetzales, that’s how much I spend on two weeks of food. It’s 13 pounds. But yeah, we weren’t expecting to do internet until later on and I was going to grab my camera. Next week! I have some good picshers.
The temple was so amazing! First of all, Quetzaltenango is outside of the mission boundaries, so we had permission to go only once. And what a beautiful city! Everything was so well organized. We went in a convoy of three buses, all full of members and nonmembers from our ward. I didn’t have a seat on the whole way through the mountains, but as we drove through Quetzaltenango, I crouched down to get a view of the temple as we approached. It’s set up on a hill and you can see it from all directions. The moment I saw it I got so excited, so happy. It looks so stoic and beautiful. It was a little chilly, kind of a foreign feeling, and very sunny. The temple was shining. As we pulled up we got off the bus and just stared for a few moments. Then we hiked up the hill to enter the temple grounds. It’s the most beautiful building I’ve seen in this country.
Being inside was such an amazing experience. There are so many details that are unique to Guatemala. It had almost a Mayan feel to it, it was so cool! I only wish we could have had more time inside. Even though it hasn’t yet been dedicated, the Spirit was present. We talked to a lot of the nonmembers afterwards and several of them said they felt something really special inside, a happy peaceful feeling.
When asked what they could feel inside, some people would reply, “nothing.” Others would say, oh well I’m a Christian. Or I’m Evangelico. “Yes, but Sister, what could you feel inside the Lord’s house?” I’m evangelica. It was very very frustrating. We’ve heard so much good and so much bad about the temple, it’s been very interesting. Lots of people explain to their friends that the “7 beasts below the baptismal font represent the 7 demons” and “The puppet on top of the temple is a representation of the devil.” But there was nobody protesting at the actual temple. But then the people who go explain that it was breathtaking and so much more impressive than they had expected. Many didn’t know how to explain it. It’s been such a special thing to be a part of.
Yesterday we had a stake conference, all of the stakes in Guatemala did. President Uchtdorf, Elder Holland, Sister Cook, and Elder Clarke addressed us all via satellite. It was way cool! They touched every principle that members here struggle with. Finances and economic difficulty, reading scriptures and daily prayer, the law of chastity, and humility. It was a powerful conference. Elder Holland started his talk in Spanish, he doesn’t speak Spanish very well and he admitted to it. It was really funny. So he then started to speak in English with an interpreter translating. At the end, the translator stopped and Elder Holland began again in Spanish. Despite his American accent, his Spanish was nearly flawless, his testimony was so powerful, and the Spirit was present, testifying of the gift of tongues. It truly was incredible.
I have a lot to do, a lot to improve on and it’s a wonder to me that God entrusts me with His work and glory. I feel humbled to know that I’m in His service, the service of a most loving Heavenly Father. How patient He must be to watch our mistakes and continue to let us struggle and grow as we attempt to help others find Him. I feel so weak, but so fully supported by His eternal love. It’s an indescribable feeling to be able to pray and ask if He’s really there, listening to me, one of His many, many children. And I know He is. Every time. What a blessing!
Thank you guys for everything. I’ll be thinking of you all during this Thanksgiving week. I miss you guys a lot and I’m so very thankful for everything you do for me. You guys really are the best. Brock, have a very happy birthday and have fun at home! Aubrey, you too! I love you guys a ton.
Hasta pronto, hasta ver,
Elder Austin Tyler
P.S. Tell Troy I am expecting a ten page long letter stat. :D
Hey guys!
So it’s been a pretty crazy week, lots of cool stuff, but lots of challenges.
I wont respond to everything for sake of time, but holy cow TROY COMES HOME THIS WEEK! I remember at the beginning of the mission thinking about how far away that seemed and here it is! John comes home soon too. So crazy, I’m so excited for them. Mom, thank you for sending my companion some of that stuff. I found out today that we don’t have transfers, so I’ll be here through Christmas. I’m happy about that. President is doing well, but he’s stressed, not too happy with the mission right now. With the temple and all we are hoping for a lot of success, but I feel like there are a lot of missionaries just chilling right now. There’s a foul stench of pride that is sitting over a lot of zones and it just doesn’t feel right. President’s wife is doing well too. I never see her because we’re in the outskirts of the mission, but she seems to be great! We have an investigator that is kind of struggling right now with whether or not he should be baptized. He’s receiving opposition from his family, but he is the most positive future Priesthood holder that we’ve taught here in Ayutla. It would be so powerful to see him set the example for his kids. His name is Jose. If you could please keep him in your prayers that would be wonderful.
We were on air last night and it went smoother than the first time. We talked about the restoration and don’t worry, we’ll be on again next Sunday at 6. It’s fun doing that, it’s a big radio station. The only feedback we’ve gotten was a phone call to the radio station from somebody that just yelled “Put the music back on!” Hahaha at least we know people hear us?
Haley! Your car! That’s unfortunate, but at least it wasn’t your fault! That sounds like a fun date idea. And I love to hear about all the stuff you’re doing in Stuco. I’m writing you a letter and I’ll get that to you ASAP.
Dad, “¡Que fuerza!” means “What strength!” haha. And I love what you shared about faith and character. There’s a talk from by Elder Scott from the October 2010 conference about the same thing and I think it’s my favorite talk of all time. It hit home at a really crucial time and it always gets me motivated to press forward.
I’m so sorry I forgot my camera! We had a change of plans today haha. We woke up at 5 to escort a bus to Ocos, the area of the district that’s right on the beach, so that we could pick up all the people there that are going to the temple open house today. And then we came to Malacatan to buy stuff for the thanksgiving feast on Thursday. The Turkey was 250 quetzales, that’s how much I spend on two weeks of food. It’s 13 pounds. But yeah, we weren’t expecting to do internet until later on and I was going to grab my camera. Next week! I have some good picshers.
The temple was so amazing! First of all, Quetzaltenango is outside of the mission boundaries, so we had permission to go only once. And what a beautiful city! Everything was so well organized. We went in a convoy of three buses, all full of members and nonmembers from our ward. I didn’t have a seat on the whole way through the mountains, but as we drove through Quetzaltenango, I crouched down to get a view of the temple as we approached. It’s set up on a hill and you can see it from all directions. The moment I saw it I got so excited, so happy. It looks so stoic and beautiful. It was a little chilly, kind of a foreign feeling, and very sunny. The temple was shining. As we pulled up we got off the bus and just stared for a few moments. Then we hiked up the hill to enter the temple grounds. It’s the most beautiful building I’ve seen in this country.
Being inside was such an amazing experience. There are so many details that are unique to Guatemala. It had almost a Mayan feel to it, it was so cool! I only wish we could have had more time inside. Even though it hasn’t yet been dedicated, the Spirit was present. We talked to a lot of the nonmembers afterwards and several of them said they felt something really special inside, a happy peaceful feeling.
When asked what they could feel inside, some people would reply, “nothing.” Others would say, oh well I’m a Christian. Or I’m Evangelico. “Yes, but Sister, what could you feel inside the Lord’s house?” I’m evangelica. It was very very frustrating. We’ve heard so much good and so much bad about the temple, it’s been very interesting. Lots of people explain to their friends that the “7 beasts below the baptismal font represent the 7 demons” and “The puppet on top of the temple is a representation of the devil.” But there was nobody protesting at the actual temple. But then the people who go explain that it was breathtaking and so much more impressive than they had expected. Many didn’t know how to explain it. It’s been such a special thing to be a part of.
Yesterday we had a stake conference, all of the stakes in Guatemala did. President Uchtdorf, Elder Holland, Sister Cook, and Elder Clarke addressed us all via satellite. It was way cool! They touched every principle that members here struggle with. Finances and economic difficulty, reading scriptures and daily prayer, the law of chastity, and humility. It was a powerful conference. Elder Holland started his talk in Spanish, he doesn’t speak Spanish very well and he admitted to it. It was really funny. So he then started to speak in English with an interpreter translating. At the end, the translator stopped and Elder Holland began again in Spanish. Despite his American accent, his Spanish was nearly flawless, his testimony was so powerful, and the Spirit was present, testifying of the gift of tongues. It truly was incredible.
I have a lot to do, a lot to improve on and it’s a wonder to me that God entrusts me with His work and glory. I feel humbled to know that I’m in His service, the service of a most loving Heavenly Father. How patient He must be to watch our mistakes and continue to let us struggle and grow as we attempt to help others find Him. I feel so weak, but so fully supported by His eternal love. It’s an indescribable feeling to be able to pray and ask if He’s really there, listening to me, one of His many, many children. And I know He is. Every time. What a blessing!
Thank you guys for everything. I’ll be thinking of you all during this Thanksgiving week. I miss you guys a lot and I’m so very thankful for everything you do for me. You guys really are the best. Brock, have a very happy birthday and have fun at home! Aubrey, you too! I love you guys a ton.
Hasta pronto, hasta ver,
Elder Austin Tyler
P.S. Tell Troy I am expecting a ten page long letter stat. :D
Doing missionary work via the local radio station
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 12:31 PM
Hola Familia,
Lots of stuff to tell! But I'll start by answering questions and
stuff. Mom, for Christmas, I think I could use some new socks. And
Elder Ramos doesn't hear much from his family, maybe some things for
him? Even letters, he understands a lot of English. I dunno,
something for him. And that was interesting what you said about
gratitude. There's a quote by President Monson that I love. It's
something like... To express gratitude is generous, to enact gratitude
is noble, and to live with gratitude forever in our hearts is to touch
heaven. I love that, but it's a hard thing to get the hang of.
Living here has helped me to be more grateful, but I just don't think
we'll ever be able to thank the Lord for all He's done. I think the
best way to show gratitude to God is to love Him. That will be fun to
have Brock and Aubrey visit! How long will they be out there?
Haley, Day of the Dead was pretty low key. We had a leadership
meeting in Reu, so I wasn't around to see much of it. But everyone
painted graves and decorated them with fancy flowers and stuff. The
cemetery (Or Necropolis as it's painted on the front gate haha) looks
cool now. I don't remember where I found that sheet music. Yes I am
still memorizing every day, but I don't do a different scripture every
day. I was doing that up until about two months ago and realized that
I could memorize a scripture really fast, but then I'd forget it by
the afternoon, so I'm trying to get things to stick better. So I'll
work on a scripture for about three days. It's hard.
I will certainly write you a letter. I get what you mean, you want to
do a lot, but your time and opportunities are passing by so quickly.
Keep in mind you have senior year still and you'll probably be able to
find some more time to focus on other things like music and art. But
keep in mind you don't have to learn piano and guitar in high school.
There is life after high school. I hope to take up the piano a little
more seriously after the mission. Although I wish I had stuck with it
more in high school, I didn't have time back then, but maybe I'll be
able to find time after. haha if not, I'll make time.
Dad, I think we'll be having a Thanksgiving celebration with another
zone. There's so much drama going on with that zone though it'll be
interesting. The mission gets really silly sometimes. I stay out of
it, but it's just annoying to hear comments about me made by mission
buddies that I hear through the grapevine.
Haha but Thanksgiving should be great, we got a turkey last year. I
think it falls on the day after transfers. Speaking of which, I think
I'll be staying here.
From what you said, it does sounds like 2012 will be the Year of the
Haley. Something I didn't really understand my senior year is that
after BYU accepted me, I didn't have to keep pushing myself so much.
I loved being involved and stuff, but senior year got a little tough.
I think it would have been more worthwhile to take a step back and
enjoy life a little more. That doesn't mean I should have been more
of a slacker, but rather more sleep and more time to breathe.
Brock, I wrote you a birthday letter and tried to send it this past
week, but the post office was closed every time I tried to send it.
So it probably won't get to you in time. But I'll try again today.
Hope all is well. I love you guys!
Okay, so last night we talked on the radio! It was awesome! It's a
big radio station that goes to parts of Mexico and it covers three or
four zones of the mission. We announced the temple open house, which
I will be attending tomorrow! We also talked about what the temple is
and explained a little bit about the restoration. You can listen to
me next Sunday at 6 p.m. on www.stereolaser967.com! It'll be in
Spanish, but we will be sharing a 20 minute message about the
restoration. Haha fun stuff!
So yeah, tomorrow is the temple open house, we're hoping to get about
50 referrals out of it. Should be an intense couple of months
starting this week.
Things are very intense in the mission. This was supposed to be the
month to reach our goal of 250, but we are very short right now.
President isn't to happy about that. Our district is really
struggling. Dumb stuff too, like contention in companionships and
laziness. Sure, we're an obedient bunch when it comes to rules, but
it needs to be backed up with hard work and love. It's hard to have
to motivate a district when the zone leaders are discouraged. It
makes for a gloomy and desperate attitude as the end of the month
approaches.
President came to do interviews on Tuesday. It was so great! It's
hard to live up to his expectations, but he loves us missionaries like
his own sons. I expressed feelings of inadequacy and he told me that
I wasn't sent here to change the world. He said he understands those
feelings, but we should never feel inadequate when we are called of
God. If we trust Him and do our best, there is no inadequacy. The
church is built one block at a time, and each missionary lives his
block on the area. He said I just need to make sure to place my block
in the right spot and make sure it's a steady block. At the end of
the interview he told me I am a great man and he's impressed by my
obedience, diligence, and humility (those are the things I feel like I
always need to improve). I am always striving to live up to his
expectations. And that's been a blessing that's helped me progress a
lot.
We did service again this week. We saw that our neighbors had a bunch
of wood dumped next to their house, ready to be chopped. We knocked
on their door. The daughter answered and we asked if they would like
us to come chop the wood the next day. She said, ummmm, one sec. She
went to get her mom. The mom saw us at the door and gave her daughter
a look like, What are you thinking, why did you answer the door to the
Mormons?!? We told the mom that we wanted to chop their firewood and
she sounded surprised, but she said sure. So we went the next
morning. We borrowed an axe from some lady. It was kind of funny,
people were coming out to watch us, kind of amazed that the
missionaries could do that kind of work. Then I broke the axe handle.
It was an awkward moment. The neighbors just kind of laughed and
muttered, dumb gringo. The kids were wide eyed and the teenage girls
just stared and whispered '¡Que fuerza!' haha. We repaired the axe
and got it back to the lady. I always break things here haha it's
kind of a thing I'm known for. I broke Elder Colindres' bed, I broke
a chair (and that chair fell back and broke a glass furniture piece),
a plunger, a plate, and now an axe. The other elders always remind me
of my clumsiness. hahaha oh gorsh.
Well that's all I have time for. Troy comes home soon!!! WHOA!
Thank you guys for everything, I love you all so much. Tell errbody I say hi!
Lots of love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Hola Familia,
Lots of stuff to tell! But I'll start by answering questions and
stuff. Mom, for Christmas, I think I could use some new socks. And
Elder Ramos doesn't hear much from his family, maybe some things for
him? Even letters, he understands a lot of English. I dunno,
something for him. And that was interesting what you said about
gratitude. There's a quote by President Monson that I love. It's
something like... To express gratitude is generous, to enact gratitude
is noble, and to live with gratitude forever in our hearts is to touch
heaven. I love that, but it's a hard thing to get the hang of.
Living here has helped me to be more grateful, but I just don't think
we'll ever be able to thank the Lord for all He's done. I think the
best way to show gratitude to God is to love Him. That will be fun to
have Brock and Aubrey visit! How long will they be out there?
Haley, Day of the Dead was pretty low key. We had a leadership
meeting in Reu, so I wasn't around to see much of it. But everyone
painted graves and decorated them with fancy flowers and stuff. The
cemetery (Or Necropolis as it's painted on the front gate haha) looks
cool now. I don't remember where I found that sheet music. Yes I am
still memorizing every day, but I don't do a different scripture every
day. I was doing that up until about two months ago and realized that
I could memorize a scripture really fast, but then I'd forget it by
the afternoon, so I'm trying to get things to stick better. So I'll
work on a scripture for about three days. It's hard.
I will certainly write you a letter. I get what you mean, you want to
do a lot, but your time and opportunities are passing by so quickly.
Keep in mind you have senior year still and you'll probably be able to
find some more time to focus on other things like music and art. But
keep in mind you don't have to learn piano and guitar in high school.
There is life after high school. I hope to take up the piano a little
more seriously after the mission. Although I wish I had stuck with it
more in high school, I didn't have time back then, but maybe I'll be
able to find time after. haha if not, I'll make time.
Dad, I think we'll be having a Thanksgiving celebration with another
zone. There's so much drama going on with that zone though it'll be
interesting. The mission gets really silly sometimes. I stay out of
it, but it's just annoying to hear comments about me made by mission
buddies that I hear through the grapevine.
Haha but Thanksgiving should be great, we got a turkey last year. I
think it falls on the day after transfers. Speaking of which, I think
I'll be staying here.
From what you said, it does sounds like 2012 will be the Year of the
Haley. Something I didn't really understand my senior year is that
after BYU accepted me, I didn't have to keep pushing myself so much.
I loved being involved and stuff, but senior year got a little tough.
I think it would have been more worthwhile to take a step back and
enjoy life a little more. That doesn't mean I should have been more
of a slacker, but rather more sleep and more time to breathe.
Brock, I wrote you a birthday letter and tried to send it this past
week, but the post office was closed every time I tried to send it.
So it probably won't get to you in time. But I'll try again today.
Hope all is well. I love you guys!
Okay, so last night we talked on the radio! It was awesome! It's a
big radio station that goes to parts of Mexico and it covers three or
four zones of the mission. We announced the temple open house, which
I will be attending tomorrow! We also talked about what the temple is
and explained a little bit about the restoration. You can listen to
me next Sunday at 6 p.m. on www.stereolaser967.com! It'll be in
Spanish, but we will be sharing a 20 minute message about the
restoration. Haha fun stuff!
So yeah, tomorrow is the temple open house, we're hoping to get about
50 referrals out of it. Should be an intense couple of months
starting this week.
Things are very intense in the mission. This was supposed to be the
month to reach our goal of 250, but we are very short right now.
President isn't to happy about that. Our district is really
struggling. Dumb stuff too, like contention in companionships and
laziness. Sure, we're an obedient bunch when it comes to rules, but
it needs to be backed up with hard work and love. It's hard to have
to motivate a district when the zone leaders are discouraged. It
makes for a gloomy and desperate attitude as the end of the month
approaches.
President came to do interviews on Tuesday. It was so great! It's
hard to live up to his expectations, but he loves us missionaries like
his own sons. I expressed feelings of inadequacy and he told me that
I wasn't sent here to change the world. He said he understands those
feelings, but we should never feel inadequate when we are called of
God. If we trust Him and do our best, there is no inadequacy. The
church is built one block at a time, and each missionary lives his
block on the area. He said I just need to make sure to place my block
in the right spot and make sure it's a steady block. At the end of
the interview he told me I am a great man and he's impressed by my
obedience, diligence, and humility (those are the things I feel like I
always need to improve). I am always striving to live up to his
expectations. And that's been a blessing that's helped me progress a
lot.
We did service again this week. We saw that our neighbors had a bunch
of wood dumped next to their house, ready to be chopped. We knocked
on their door. The daughter answered and we asked if they would like
us to come chop the wood the next day. She said, ummmm, one sec. She
went to get her mom. The mom saw us at the door and gave her daughter
a look like, What are you thinking, why did you answer the door to the
Mormons?!? We told the mom that we wanted to chop their firewood and
she sounded surprised, but she said sure. So we went the next
morning. We borrowed an axe from some lady. It was kind of funny,
people were coming out to watch us, kind of amazed that the
missionaries could do that kind of work. Then I broke the axe handle.
It was an awkward moment. The neighbors just kind of laughed and
muttered, dumb gringo. The kids were wide eyed and the teenage girls
just stared and whispered '¡Que fuerza!' haha. We repaired the axe
and got it back to the lady. I always break things here haha it's
kind of a thing I'm known for. I broke Elder Colindres' bed, I broke
a chair (and that chair fell back and broke a glass furniture piece),
a plunger, a plate, and now an axe. The other elders always remind me
of my clumsiness. hahaha oh gorsh.
Well that's all I have time for. Troy comes home soon!!! WHOA!
Thank you guys for everything, I love you all so much. Tell errbody I say hi!
Lots of love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Serving is such a wonderful thing
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 12:04 PM
Hey guys!
Dang, I have very little time to write. I'll try to get it all in.
There's a new rule that we can't write anyone outside of family and
President, just so people know. I got the Halloween box! Thank you
so much! The journal and notebooks are perfect and the treats were so
good! As far as Christmas, anything would be amazing. I think some
more deoderant, a thing of gold bond powder, disposable razors, and a
tie would be great. Mom, muffins or cake could be cooked in the
church I think, but they're tearing the church down this month to
rebuild it :/ so I dunno if that would work. Peanut butter would be
awesome!
Aubrey, thanks for the pictures and the comics! Those are great! And
I love the Halloween costumes and the wreath! So legit.
Haley, are you feeling better? Sounds like a lucky two days off with
no make up work. I'm proud of your political results haha! And swing
dancing, sounds like a crazy time! Everyone always told me that swing
dancing at the rio was way hard. We always stuck with salsa because
it was a little easier. You told me to check out Enos chapter 2, but
it only has one chapter hehehe
Dad, sounds like an interesting trip to Asia! The presidential suite
sounds sweet baha. I like your idea of switching out the photos with
your own haha! Interesting stuff about the whole word of wisdom deal
out there. Thanks for never hesitating on that front.
That was a very interesting article on Mitt Romney. Inspiring guy.
Good future president! As far as music, I can only listen to church
inspired music. That means Motab, EFY music, etc.
Brock, hang in there man. I love you and I know all of this stuff
will pass. Do whatever you can to stay safe. Please.
So this week was a little crazy. President held a multi zone
conference and it was quite a powerful one. He wasn't too pleased
with some things and really hammered down hard on it all. I'm
grateful for it too. Even though I'm not a disobedient missionary, he
covered so many things that I need to improve on. I felt like all of
my errors were exposed and hit hard. I realized how far I really am
from who and where I want to be. 2 Nephi 4 came to mind, 'Oh wretched
man that I am!'. I wonder how Nephi could have thought that about
himself. But as I was thinking about all my weaknesses and
transgressions I started to study and think about the Atonement and
the sacrament. What a blessing to be able to repent.
On Friday I went to Catarina on exchanges and we had some powerful
lessons. We showed up to one family's house and the husband was
drinking. So we put an appointment for 6:30 the next morning (we
really wanted to talk to him). We showed up and taught and testified
clearly and simply. We saw some progress in that family. It will be
so great when they baptize a family there! I know they can do it!
After that lesson we went to do some service for a single mother. She
lives in some foothills and we chopped firewood. I was with Elder
McMasters, a greenie, and he learned how to do it. We worked as hard
as we could for about an hour. The lady was so grateful. It breaks
my heart to see single moms like that who have to chop their own wood
and stuff. It's makes it easy to sacrifice for them. Elder
McMasters' hands were bleeding when we started to walk back. He's a
cool guy. Service is such a divine thing, I wish people would let us
serve more here. It's almost part of the culture to reject offers to
help. But we keep offering.
My times up, sorry I wasn't very efficient in using my internet time.
There's so much noise in the street. The presidential elections were
held yesterday and people are marching, honking, and throwing
fireworks in the street. So much noise! I feel like the grinch haha!
Well I love you guys and pray for you daily. Thank you for everything you do!
so much love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Hey guys!
Dang, I have very little time to write. I'll try to get it all in.
There's a new rule that we can't write anyone outside of family and
President, just so people know. I got the Halloween box! Thank you
so much! The journal and notebooks are perfect and the treats were so
good! As far as Christmas, anything would be amazing. I think some
more deoderant, a thing of gold bond powder, disposable razors, and a
tie would be great. Mom, muffins or cake could be cooked in the
church I think, but they're tearing the church down this month to
rebuild it :/ so I dunno if that would work. Peanut butter would be
awesome!
Aubrey, thanks for the pictures and the comics! Those are great! And
I love the Halloween costumes and the wreath! So legit.
Haley, are you feeling better? Sounds like a lucky two days off with
no make up work. I'm proud of your political results haha! And swing
dancing, sounds like a crazy time! Everyone always told me that swing
dancing at the rio was way hard. We always stuck with salsa because
it was a little easier. You told me to check out Enos chapter 2, but
it only has one chapter hehehe
Dad, sounds like an interesting trip to Asia! The presidential suite
sounds sweet baha. I like your idea of switching out the photos with
your own haha! Interesting stuff about the whole word of wisdom deal
out there. Thanks for never hesitating on that front.
That was a very interesting article on Mitt Romney. Inspiring guy.
Good future president! As far as music, I can only listen to church
inspired music. That means Motab, EFY music, etc.
Brock, hang in there man. I love you and I know all of this stuff
will pass. Do whatever you can to stay safe. Please.
So this week was a little crazy. President held a multi zone
conference and it was quite a powerful one. He wasn't too pleased
with some things and really hammered down hard on it all. I'm
grateful for it too. Even though I'm not a disobedient missionary, he
covered so many things that I need to improve on. I felt like all of
my errors were exposed and hit hard. I realized how far I really am
from who and where I want to be. 2 Nephi 4 came to mind, 'Oh wretched
man that I am!'. I wonder how Nephi could have thought that about
himself. But as I was thinking about all my weaknesses and
transgressions I started to study and think about the Atonement and
the sacrament. What a blessing to be able to repent.
On Friday I went to Catarina on exchanges and we had some powerful
lessons. We showed up to one family's house and the husband was
drinking. So we put an appointment for 6:30 the next morning (we
really wanted to talk to him). We showed up and taught and testified
clearly and simply. We saw some progress in that family. It will be
so great when they baptize a family there! I know they can do it!
After that lesson we went to do some service for a single mother. She
lives in some foothills and we chopped firewood. I was with Elder
McMasters, a greenie, and he learned how to do it. We worked as hard
as we could for about an hour. The lady was so grateful. It breaks
my heart to see single moms like that who have to chop their own wood
and stuff. It's makes it easy to sacrifice for them. Elder
McMasters' hands were bleeding when we started to walk back. He's a
cool guy. Service is such a divine thing, I wish people would let us
serve more here. It's almost part of the culture to reject offers to
help. But we keep offering.
My times up, sorry I wasn't very efficient in using my internet time.
There's so much noise in the street. The presidential elections were
held yesterday and people are marching, honking, and throwing
fireworks in the street. So much noise! I feel like the grinch haha!
Well I love you guys and pray for you daily. Thank you for everything you do!
so much love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Studying more earnestly the Atonement of Jesus Christ
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 11:32 AM
Hey guys!
So there's a beauty salon on the street we walk down every day that
just installed a giant poster on their front door of Taylor Swift.
Haha Tecun Uman hates me. Nah, but I'm still loving it.
Snow!! Holy cow! That's so weird that summer went so quickly! I
mean here it's just an endless summer and it's weird to think that the
seasons are passing away over there. I hit fifteen months this week?
Weird. So weird.
Mom, sounds like it was a good trip to Provo, I hope Brock's doing
alright. Sounds like they're doing okay. How's Aubrey these days?
She wrote me a couple weeks ago, but how are they doing? Any nephews
(or nieces) in the making yet?
Mom, what you said regarding the highs and lows of the mission and all
that is always so relevant in the mission. There's something Alma
says about it. 'And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to
labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason
of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and
destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto
life.' I love to remind myself of that. Whenever I get down I think
a little more about the Atonement. I used to have leaders that would
really get on my back for little things. And then there's always such
an intense pressure in this mission to baptize, for example, that
Assistant a few months ago. But President always assures me that
numbers don't entail success. There's a new missionary in the
district, straight out of the MTC. His name is Elder McMasters. His
MTC district got a personal note from President Monson (after they
sent him a video of something cool they did) and he told them that
numbers do not entail success, but rather the dedication and desire of
the missionary. Something like that.
Dad, sounds like Korea is an interesting place, and that firework show
sounds pretty amazing! You ate a grub! That's probably as gnarly as
pig nerves bahaha! What you said about humor was interesting. I try
to be funny, but it doesn't really work in Spanish. I'm still getting
the hang of it, but it's just different. I can be kinda funny with
the gringo elders, but with investigators and members it's kind of
hard. But I'm always happy around them. Don't worry, I don't think
I'm losing who I am. I mean, I'm certainly different than I used to
be (how could one not change during such an experience?), but I think
I'm doin alright. I will be determined to stay away from certain
things that I was into before, but I won't be a weirdo. Haley and
Brock and Aubrey, you guys may need to teach me to have fun again
haha!
Haley! How's Elizabeth doing? And how are the Clark's doing!?
Sounds like you've already had your fare share of challenges this
year, but it seems like you're dealing very well with all of it. Keep
that up. Brock and Aubrey, you guys are awesome... even though you dont write
me alll the time ;)
So this week was good, we ended the month reaching our goals! What a
blessing! Here in Ayutla (that's the name of my area) we had the
privilege of baptizing Marta Chumil Tuj, a lady that came from the
mountains to work for a member family. She speaks Quet-Chiquel, a
native dialect (she also speaks Spanish), and she dresses like the
natives with vibrant colored skirts and stuff. She's such a nice lady
and she loves the church and the missionaries! She can't read or
write, but she's going to try and learn. Yesterday at church she
wanted to pay her tithing, so I went and grabbed a tithing envelope
and slip for her. I started to fill it out for her and she had to go,
so she just gave me this wad of money and left haha. I gave it to the
ward secretary and he finished filling out the slip. She loves how in
the church the leaders don't receive any money and how it's all
private donations and stuff. It was cool to see her so excited to
contribute.
I've been trying lately to improve my study time. I decided that I
don't study the Atonement enough, so now I'm studying it three times a
week. What a difference it has made! I sometimes feel like I'm not
going to get a lot out of studying the basics of the Gospel, but au
contrare. Meditating on the role of the Savior is always such an
enriching experience and I learned so much this week. Thinking about
how the elements of the earth revolted (is that the word) at the sight
of seeing the Christ, the most loved intelligence in existence,
suffering so heavily and thinking about the eternal consequences of
that sacrifice just leave me in awe. Thinking about how the Savior
was completely obedient, perfectly humble. Thinking about the climax
of His suffering on the cross, quoting Psalms 22, He cried out as the
Father left Him. And then it was finished. What relief and triumph
He must have felt entering the spirit world. But there he kept
working! I feel like He didn't rest, even though He had every right
to do so. Instead, He continued organizing the Father's work beyond
the veil. So many things to think about and meditate on.
Well I ran out of time, but I hope you're all doing great. I love you
guys a ton! Thank you so much for writing me. Tell everyone I say
hi!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Ha I forgot! And Happy Day of the Dead tomorrow
haha should be an interesting day.
Love you all so much,
Elder Austin Tyler
P.S. It's still hot ;)
Hey guys!
So there's a beauty salon on the street we walk down every day that
just installed a giant poster on their front door of Taylor Swift.
Haha Tecun Uman hates me. Nah, but I'm still loving it.
Snow!! Holy cow! That's so weird that summer went so quickly! I
mean here it's just an endless summer and it's weird to think that the
seasons are passing away over there. I hit fifteen months this week?
Weird. So weird.
Mom, sounds like it was a good trip to Provo, I hope Brock's doing
alright. Sounds like they're doing okay. How's Aubrey these days?
She wrote me a couple weeks ago, but how are they doing? Any nephews
(or nieces) in the making yet?
Mom, what you said regarding the highs and lows of the mission and all
that is always so relevant in the mission. There's something Alma
says about it. 'And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to
labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason
of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and
destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto
life.' I love to remind myself of that. Whenever I get down I think
a little more about the Atonement. I used to have leaders that would
really get on my back for little things. And then there's always such
an intense pressure in this mission to baptize, for example, that
Assistant a few months ago. But President always assures me that
numbers don't entail success. There's a new missionary in the
district, straight out of the MTC. His name is Elder McMasters. His
MTC district got a personal note from President Monson (after they
sent him a video of something cool they did) and he told them that
numbers do not entail success, but rather the dedication and desire of
the missionary. Something like that.
Dad, sounds like Korea is an interesting place, and that firework show
sounds pretty amazing! You ate a grub! That's probably as gnarly as
pig nerves bahaha! What you said about humor was interesting. I try
to be funny, but it doesn't really work in Spanish. I'm still getting
the hang of it, but it's just different. I can be kinda funny with
the gringo elders, but with investigators and members it's kind of
hard. But I'm always happy around them. Don't worry, I don't think
I'm losing who I am. I mean, I'm certainly different than I used to
be (how could one not change during such an experience?), but I think
I'm doin alright. I will be determined to stay away from certain
things that I was into before, but I won't be a weirdo. Haley and
Brock and Aubrey, you guys may need to teach me to have fun again
haha!
Haley! How's Elizabeth doing? And how are the Clark's doing!?
Sounds like you've already had your fare share of challenges this
year, but it seems like you're dealing very well with all of it. Keep
that up. Brock and Aubrey, you guys are awesome... even though you dont write
me alll the time ;)
So this week was good, we ended the month reaching our goals! What a
blessing! Here in Ayutla (that's the name of my area) we had the
privilege of baptizing Marta Chumil Tuj, a lady that came from the
mountains to work for a member family. She speaks Quet-Chiquel, a
native dialect (she also speaks Spanish), and she dresses like the
natives with vibrant colored skirts and stuff. She's such a nice lady
and she loves the church and the missionaries! She can't read or
write, but she's going to try and learn. Yesterday at church she
wanted to pay her tithing, so I went and grabbed a tithing envelope
and slip for her. I started to fill it out for her and she had to go,
so she just gave me this wad of money and left haha. I gave it to the
ward secretary and he finished filling out the slip. She loves how in
the church the leaders don't receive any money and how it's all
private donations and stuff. It was cool to see her so excited to
contribute.
I've been trying lately to improve my study time. I decided that I
don't study the Atonement enough, so now I'm studying it three times a
week. What a difference it has made! I sometimes feel like I'm not
going to get a lot out of studying the basics of the Gospel, but au
contrare. Meditating on the role of the Savior is always such an
enriching experience and I learned so much this week. Thinking about
how the elements of the earth revolted (is that the word) at the sight
of seeing the Christ, the most loved intelligence in existence,
suffering so heavily and thinking about the eternal consequences of
that sacrifice just leave me in awe. Thinking about how the Savior
was completely obedient, perfectly humble. Thinking about the climax
of His suffering on the cross, quoting Psalms 22, He cried out as the
Father left Him. And then it was finished. What relief and triumph
He must have felt entering the spirit world. But there he kept
working! I feel like He didn't rest, even though He had every right
to do so. Instead, He continued organizing the Father's work beyond
the veil. So many things to think about and meditate on.
Well I ran out of time, but I hope you're all doing great. I love you
guys a ton! Thank you so much for writing me. Tell everyone I say
hi!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Ha I forgot! And Happy Day of the Dead tomorrow
haha should be an interesting day.
Love you all so much,
Elder Austin Tyler
P.S. It's still hot ;)
Tropical Storm hits
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011
Family!
I got an email from Aunt Margaret informing me that they have a lot of
surgeries coming up. I'm sure you got a similar email, but just to
make sure because nobody mentioned it (it probably came after you guys
emailed me), sounds like they're having a rough time.
Dad, Elder Tacam is a zone leader up in the mountains (San Pedro), so
no not in my zone. Elder Ramos is a good guy. He had surgery right
before the mission and it's a source of discomfort (he can't walk too
fast) and that's a little frustrating, but we're doing great! He's
from El Salvador and he's completing 19 months in the mission today.
His father is a member of the church, his mother died several years
ago and shortly after he joined the church. He's a very smart guy,
studied to be an aviation mechanic, and he enjoys video games. He
came into the mission weighing 280 pounds or something crazy like
that. Now he's down to 200. He's tall for a latino, almost 6 foot.
Thank you for that story about prayer, that's a very simple lesson
taught and I often forget it. Here in the mission we always have
these goals we want to reach and we have faith that we can reach them.
We know we can reach them, but there are always new obstacles.
Sometimes I need to just stop and think about what is holding us back,
say a prayer to figure out what we need to do, and ask Heavenly Father
specifically to help us execute that task. I rarely take the time to
sit and think about it though. But I think that's what we need to do.
Dad be safe in China (haha whenever Asia is
mentioned here people assume it's China).
And Mom, I loved the quote by Joseph F. Smith. Thank you for sharing
that. And good to hear that the Clark family is doing well. I find
it funny that Jonathan doesn't want to come home, but I'm sure he will
need to come back for ski season? Mom, have an awesome trip to Provo
and please send Brock and Aubrey my love. I'm gonna write them a
quick note real quick, but give em a hug for me.
Haley, look at you! Just think about who you were four years ago and
look at where you are. You amaze me and I'm so proud of you. I love
to think about how each of us three siblings made the most of that
high school. We all had tough times, but I feel like we can all
relate with it all. Brock blazed the trail and showed us how it was
done, and I got an extra year than he did to do what he showed us, and
you turned into dynamite and growing up so fast and being so cool.
Good to hear that the stress paid off. I wish I could see you in
action with it all. I remember seeing Brock at all the activities and
stuff and thought it was so cool. And then I got into it and always
wished he were there helping out. And now I wish I could see you
having all this fun and leading and what not.
Just a bit of advice, not to preach, but as your bruder I feel a
responsibility to help you be your best... don't let up on scripture
study and personal prayer! Never miss a day! :D I'm sure you're
doing great in that, but I let up on that a little my senior year and
regretted it deeply.
This week was pretty good! There's one experience that was really special.
There's an area in the district named Ocos. It's right on the beach,
like Champerico, but it's more rural than Champe and not as crazy.
They haven't baptized a family there in two or three years. Elder
Langi (Hawaiian ultimate fighter) and Elder Burkhardt (Oklahoman that
looks like Elder Calhoon in The Best Two Years) found two families and
baptized them this week! I had the privilege of interviewing the
families on Tuesday night. The first family, Rigoberto and Chila,
live close to the beach under a big palm leaf roofed hut. After
having two tropical storms hit in a row, the road to their house
turned into a river. It was still raining Tuesday night. We borrowed
bicycles from some members and headed toward the beach. They live a
ways off, fairly close to the lighthouse, and the bikes we were on
were very small. We were soaked through in about two minutes. We got
to the turn off to go to their house. I saw the river up ahead and
thought it was maybe six inches deep. It ended up being waste deep.
Plugging through that on a small bike was tough and it was really
sketchy. I wasn't sure if there were alligators or snakes and I
couldn't see beneath me. The river we crossed was about 50 feet wide.
We got to the house, the wind was blowing and the cows and dogs were
all shivering. Rigo and Chila are an elderly couple and they were
huddled in their hammocks and bundled up in towels. I interviewed
them and Rigo was so happy. He started crying afterwards and gave me
a hug and asked if I could baptize them. I felt kind of weird about
that, but the elders told me to do it, so on Saturday I got to baptize
them! When I got to the church for the baptism, Rigoberto saw me and
gave me a big hug. Haha it made me so happy to see them happy. And
now the curse over Ocos is gone! They baptized not just one family,
but two! What blessings!
The Lord is blessing us a lot, but we need to take advantage of those
blessings by being obedient and working hard, especially when it's
really hot. I feel like the more time I have in the mission, the more
weaknesses I find in myself. The Lord's work requires perfection and
I'm so far from perfect. Frustrating sometimes, but Mom, I like your
gospel definition of perfect. That's so true.
Thank you guys for everything. October is almost over! Halloween
comes soon! So crazy.
Have an awesome week, I love you all so much! Thank you for everything.
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Family!
I got an email from Aunt Margaret informing me that they have a lot of
surgeries coming up. I'm sure you got a similar email, but just to
make sure because nobody mentioned it (it probably came after you guys
emailed me), sounds like they're having a rough time.
Dad, Elder Tacam is a zone leader up in the mountains (San Pedro), so
no not in my zone. Elder Ramos is a good guy. He had surgery right
before the mission and it's a source of discomfort (he can't walk too
fast) and that's a little frustrating, but we're doing great! He's
from El Salvador and he's completing 19 months in the mission today.
His father is a member of the church, his mother died several years
ago and shortly after he joined the church. He's a very smart guy,
studied to be an aviation mechanic, and he enjoys video games. He
came into the mission weighing 280 pounds or something crazy like
that. Now he's down to 200. He's tall for a latino, almost 6 foot.
Thank you for that story about prayer, that's a very simple lesson
taught and I often forget it. Here in the mission we always have
these goals we want to reach and we have faith that we can reach them.
We know we can reach them, but there are always new obstacles.
Sometimes I need to just stop and think about what is holding us back,
say a prayer to figure out what we need to do, and ask Heavenly Father
specifically to help us execute that task. I rarely take the time to
sit and think about it though. But I think that's what we need to do.
Dad be safe in China (haha whenever Asia is
mentioned here people assume it's China).
And Mom, I loved the quote by Joseph F. Smith. Thank you for sharing
that. And good to hear that the Clark family is doing well. I find
it funny that Jonathan doesn't want to come home, but I'm sure he will
need to come back for ski season? Mom, have an awesome trip to Provo
and please send Brock and Aubrey my love. I'm gonna write them a
quick note real quick, but give em a hug for me.
Haley, look at you! Just think about who you were four years ago and
look at where you are. You amaze me and I'm so proud of you. I love
to think about how each of us three siblings made the most of that
high school. We all had tough times, but I feel like we can all
relate with it all. Brock blazed the trail and showed us how it was
done, and I got an extra year than he did to do what he showed us, and
you turned into dynamite and growing up so fast and being so cool.
Good to hear that the stress paid off. I wish I could see you in
action with it all. I remember seeing Brock at all the activities and
stuff and thought it was so cool. And then I got into it and always
wished he were there helping out. And now I wish I could see you
having all this fun and leading and what not.
Just a bit of advice, not to preach, but as your bruder I feel a
responsibility to help you be your best... don't let up on scripture
study and personal prayer! Never miss a day! :D I'm sure you're
doing great in that, but I let up on that a little my senior year and
regretted it deeply.
This week was pretty good! There's one experience that was really special.
There's an area in the district named Ocos. It's right on the beach,
like Champerico, but it's more rural than Champe and not as crazy.
They haven't baptized a family there in two or three years. Elder
Langi (Hawaiian ultimate fighter) and Elder Burkhardt (Oklahoman that
looks like Elder Calhoon in The Best Two Years) found two families and
baptized them this week! I had the privilege of interviewing the
families on Tuesday night. The first family, Rigoberto and Chila,
live close to the beach under a big palm leaf roofed hut. After
having two tropical storms hit in a row, the road to their house
turned into a river. It was still raining Tuesday night. We borrowed
bicycles from some members and headed toward the beach. They live a
ways off, fairly close to the lighthouse, and the bikes we were on
were very small. We were soaked through in about two minutes. We got
to the turn off to go to their house. I saw the river up ahead and
thought it was maybe six inches deep. It ended up being waste deep.
Plugging through that on a small bike was tough and it was really
sketchy. I wasn't sure if there were alligators or snakes and I
couldn't see beneath me. The river we crossed was about 50 feet wide.
We got to the house, the wind was blowing and the cows and dogs were
all shivering. Rigo and Chila are an elderly couple and they were
huddled in their hammocks and bundled up in towels. I interviewed
them and Rigo was so happy. He started crying afterwards and gave me
a hug and asked if I could baptize them. I felt kind of weird about
that, but the elders told me to do it, so on Saturday I got to baptize
them! When I got to the church for the baptism, Rigoberto saw me and
gave me a big hug. Haha it made me so happy to see them happy. And
now the curse over Ocos is gone! They baptized not just one family,
but two! What blessings!
The Lord is blessing us a lot, but we need to take advantage of those
blessings by being obedient and working hard, especially when it's
really hot. I feel like the more time I have in the mission, the more
weaknesses I find in myself. The Lord's work requires perfection and
I'm so far from perfect. Frustrating sometimes, but Mom, I like your
gospel definition of perfect. That's so true.
Thank you guys for everything. October is almost over! Halloween
comes soon! So crazy.
Have an awesome week, I love you all so much! Thank you for everything.
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
A new companion
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011
Hey! You guys all sounds way happy! Haha I accidentally tacked on an
extra s on that sound. I'm going to leave it there. Dad! I hope you
got my letter in time for your birthday? But if not, Happy Birthday!
You sound way happy and I wish I could have been there. I hope you
realize how much I love you and appreciate everything you do. That
could sound cliche and all, and on top of that expressing emotion and
love in an email is kind of tough; but I say that in all honesty and
with my heart. You always talk about the amazing examples that we've
had the privilege of knowing, and although that is certainly true,
Brock and I have often talked about how you and Mom are such
incredible people and how lucky and blessed we are to have you as our
parents.
The house sounds absolutely awesome. Not much progress on the radio
front. We're waiting for the bishopric to approve it. And because of
some recent events, we feel like the Bishop doesn't really trust us a
whole lot. I won't go into detail, but I'm tired of being
misinterpreted and reproved by people for doing what I know is right.
It sometimes makes me question what is right and wrong, which is not a
fun thing to go through. But it's just frustrating. As far as
animals, that lizard is a smaller species than the iguanas, and it's
faster. I've only seen one snake here. Spiders aren't a big problem
here, Elder Pickett and I torched a pretty big one a few weeks ago
though. It was a little smaller than my hand. We caught a bat.
Aside from that there are just a lot of iguanas and chickens and geese
(the geese are the worst, so annoying). And the chicken, what an
animal. I swear the chicken was created to make man appreciate the
fact that he is not a chicken, if not the Lord would've designed
chicken meat to grow on trees. Such stupid animals haha. But they
taste good. As far as Christmas, I'm not too sure yet. There are
some cool things I would like to buy, but perhaps I should wait until
my last month or something?
Mom, the weather has been a lot better! Two tropical storms hit this
week and we've had tons of rain. People kind of hate it here, but I'm
loving it. I wake up cold in the mornings! Then I realize that my
thermometer reads 79 degrees haha!
I did get the yellow envelope! I thought I mentioned that, the one
with the birthday cards and quotes and stuff! Thank you for that, I
loved it!!! I got it about three weeks ago I think. And it's good to
hear that you're doing better this week as far as sleeping and stuff.
I feel ya with the whole work out thing. I feel it too, because I
haven't been so diligent this week. But sometimes I'm just soooo
tired!
Aubrey! Good to hear from you! Good to hear you're doing so great!
Sounds like you're busy, but it's a good busy! The pictures I sent
are on shutterfly. And you mentioned sending some pictures, but they
didn't come through.
Haley, the pictures are awesome!!! And your Homecoming pictures are
awesome, you're dress is gorgeous! So are you! As far as the thing
in Africa, go big or go home. Seriously, do it. I look forward to
your big email. From what I hear, it sounds like you're doing a great
job as a leader. Good work and keep it up! You are meant to do great
things. Random thought... do you ever practice piano?
Brock, thank you for your email. I miss you man! I mean I miss
everyone, but you know. The whole brother thing is just different.
Keep on keepin on in school!
The Lord has blessed the district tremendously. We have had a
powerful couple of weeks and look forward to this second half of
October. Changes were interesting. Elder Cartagena left for the
mountains and I received Elder Ramos. This is the first time I have
received an elder having been in the area beforehand. I like it, I
know what's going on and I get to show him how we want to do things.
The
Lord has blessed me so much and I feel like I am more fully developing
the attribute of charity. I write something that I appreciate about
him every night and that helps so much. People try and point out
flaws, but if I'm focused on the positive, there's no room for the
negative. I recently read Elder Wirthlin's talked ¨Come what may and
love it¨ and learned a lot. That's a good talk.
I have a lot to look forward to right now. Challenges as always, but
lots of good to focus on. We have some very obedient missionaries in
the district right now. It will be a good time. Elder Tacam was just
assigned as a zone leader! He will be great. Elder Molina was just
assigned as assistant to the president! That made me so happy. He
will be amazing. Dad, you mentioned something about all my friends
being assigned to leadership positions and to not get anxious about
it. I feel like I have plenty to learn in my current assignment and
although thoughts like that have come, I feel like the Lord has
something else in store. My patriarchal blessing mentions a lot about
leadership and I feel like it doesn't really matter when that comes.
The Lord won't ask how many positions I held.
Thank you all for everything, all the advice and support. I love you
all so much (I say that every week because it's true). Have an
awesome week!!!
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Hey! You guys all sounds way happy! Haha I accidentally tacked on an
extra s on that sound. I'm going to leave it there. Dad! I hope you
got my letter in time for your birthday? But if not, Happy Birthday!
You sound way happy and I wish I could have been there. I hope you
realize how much I love you and appreciate everything you do. That
could sound cliche and all, and on top of that expressing emotion and
love in an email is kind of tough; but I say that in all honesty and
with my heart. You always talk about the amazing examples that we've
had the privilege of knowing, and although that is certainly true,
Brock and I have often talked about how you and Mom are such
incredible people and how lucky and blessed we are to have you as our
parents.
The house sounds absolutely awesome. Not much progress on the radio
front. We're waiting for the bishopric to approve it. And because of
some recent events, we feel like the Bishop doesn't really trust us a
whole lot. I won't go into detail, but I'm tired of being
misinterpreted and reproved by people for doing what I know is right.
It sometimes makes me question what is right and wrong, which is not a
fun thing to go through. But it's just frustrating. As far as
animals, that lizard is a smaller species than the iguanas, and it's
faster. I've only seen one snake here. Spiders aren't a big problem
here, Elder Pickett and I torched a pretty big one a few weeks ago
though. It was a little smaller than my hand. We caught a bat.
Aside from that there are just a lot of iguanas and chickens and geese
(the geese are the worst, so annoying). And the chicken, what an
animal. I swear the chicken was created to make man appreciate the
fact that he is not a chicken, if not the Lord would've designed
chicken meat to grow on trees. Such stupid animals haha. But they
taste good. As far as Christmas, I'm not too sure yet. There are
some cool things I would like to buy, but perhaps I should wait until
my last month or something?
Mom, the weather has been a lot better! Two tropical storms hit this
week and we've had tons of rain. People kind of hate it here, but I'm
loving it. I wake up cold in the mornings! Then I realize that my
thermometer reads 79 degrees haha!
I did get the yellow envelope! I thought I mentioned that, the one
with the birthday cards and quotes and stuff! Thank you for that, I
loved it!!! I got it about three weeks ago I think. And it's good to
hear that you're doing better this week as far as sleeping and stuff.
I feel ya with the whole work out thing. I feel it too, because I
haven't been so diligent this week. But sometimes I'm just soooo
tired!
Aubrey! Good to hear from you! Good to hear you're doing so great!
Sounds like you're busy, but it's a good busy! The pictures I sent
are on shutterfly. And you mentioned sending some pictures, but they
didn't come through.
Haley, the pictures are awesome!!! And your Homecoming pictures are
awesome, you're dress is gorgeous! So are you! As far as the thing
in Africa, go big or go home. Seriously, do it. I look forward to
your big email. From what I hear, it sounds like you're doing a great
job as a leader. Good work and keep it up! You are meant to do great
things. Random thought... do you ever practice piano?
Brock, thank you for your email. I miss you man! I mean I miss
everyone, but you know. The whole brother thing is just different.
Keep on keepin on in school!
The Lord has blessed the district tremendously. We have had a
powerful couple of weeks and look forward to this second half of
October. Changes were interesting. Elder Cartagena left for the
mountains and I received Elder Ramos. This is the first time I have
received an elder having been in the area beforehand. I like it, I
know what's going on and I get to show him how we want to do things.
The
Lord has blessed me so much and I feel like I am more fully developing
the attribute of charity. I write something that I appreciate about
him every night and that helps so much. People try and point out
flaws, but if I'm focused on the positive, there's no room for the
negative. I recently read Elder Wirthlin's talked ¨Come what may and
love it¨ and learned a lot. That's a good talk.
I have a lot to look forward to right now. Challenges as always, but
lots of good to focus on. We have some very obedient missionaries in
the district right now. It will be a good time. Elder Tacam was just
assigned as a zone leader! He will be great. Elder Molina was just
assigned as assistant to the president! That made me so happy. He
will be amazing. Dad, you mentioned something about all my friends
being assigned to leadership positions and to not get anxious about
it. I feel like I have plenty to learn in my current assignment and
although thoughts like that have come, I feel like the Lord has
something else in store. My patriarchal blessing mentions a lot about
leadership and I feel like it doesn't really matter when that comes.
The Lord won't ask how many positions I held.
Thank you all for everything, all the advice and support. I love you
all so much (I say that every week because it's true). Have an
awesome week!!!
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Austin's Mailing Address
Elder Austin Michael Tyler
Guatemala Retalhuleu Mission
Barrio Concepion, Boulevard Centenario
Salida a Coatepeque, Zona 2
Retalhuleu
GUATEMALA
Guatemala Retalhuleu Mission
Barrio Concepion, Boulevard Centenario
Salida a Coatepeque, Zona 2
Retalhuleu
GUATEMALA
Precious truths of the Gospel
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 11:59 AM
So to start, this week was great and I'll answer some of your questions.
Mom, the border right now is pretty safe here in Tecun. It's run by narcos, which means violence could be possible, but not likely. It's so much safer than any other area I've been in because the narcos run it. Oh, and narcos is the word for drug lord here. The drug lords ironically do a lot of good when they initially show up. When they clash with each other, that's when the nastiness hits. But for example, Tecun used to be a dump full of gangs. people wouldn't walk around at night and there was a lot of violence. But the gangs are no match for the narcos. When narcos show up, they send out their 'pumas' (guys trained to kill gangsters). They have nice cars and big weapons and the gangsters don't really have a chance. So that's what happened here five years ago. All the gangs were wiped out and now it's really safe. Kids play in the street until midnight. Haha that's so rare in Guatemala. The downside is corruption. It's safe, but corrupt. And nobody can really do anything about it. Interesting stuff. Really kinda sad.
Mom, a package! Haha thank you! I haven't thought about anything I need. The Old Spice you sent last time was a blessing, but I still have a full stick and a half left. I don't know what to do about my big acne. It hurts, but I think I'll just have to wait it out till after I don't have to wear a collared shirt in the heat. Maybe proactiv will help? Aside from that, I could really use a journal and a somewhat nice notebook for taking notes in conferences. That's what I need more than anything. But don't sweat it. And don't lose sleep over it haha.
Homecoming pictures! Awesome! Haley, I wanna hear from you about it, you look beautiful!!!
That's so awesome that Alex is going to Ireland/Scotland!!! If I wasn't in Book of Mormon lands I would be so jealous haha.
Dad, the house looks awesome. Don't worry about venting last week, it's good to know that you have ups and downs too. As far as what I'm eating, whatever they give me. But it's more Mexican food here, and it's good. We don't have a cook lady anymore, we usually eat pasta for lunch. Food has been good lately. And I'm healthy.
Elder Pickett goes home on Wednesday, that's kind of weird. He's really baggy at this point, but he's dealing with it pretty well. He always asks me about home and tells me his plans. It's a little annoying, but if it helps him plan things out I guess that's okay. Haha he has to take 'the bomb', a set of three pills that cleans out the system. I guess all the elders take it when they go home. Let's just say I'll have to stick close to home (at least a toilet) for a few days when I get back. I think I'm going to be very excited to chill at home and rest. It's a long way off, but just saying, the house looks sweet and I'm excited to hang out and sleep there haha.
Brock, thank you for your email. It's a relief to know that you're doing better. Sounds like school is rough, but just learn to love it. Even though the mission was rough, you learned so many lifelong skills that will help with school. That's how I feel. i never really learned how to be diligent and intelligent in school. I've been blessed with a lot of things and I wasted a lot of those things simply because I wasn't diligent. That's interesting what you said about rebuking Satan. How exactly is that done? I've never flat out done that before. But I realize that I should.
I put pictures up! Some are from Xetulul, the amusement park we went to. Others are from when I was in Champerico and we went as a zone to the forest with buried ruins. Others are of me and my companion, Elder Cartagena. Theres one of a bat we captured, s few awesome sunrises and sunsets, and one with me, Elder Caragena, Elder Colindres, and Elder Picket. And one from my birthday!
Real quick, the Liahona is awesome. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown tremendously in the past year. I testify of its truthfulness. I feel like so many people abandon the basics of rhetoric and logic when they see or talk about that book. All common sense is abandoned for the sake of destroying truth. If one really wants to know if it's true, they will find out. So many people don't want to know the truth though! One lady I talked to this week realized that what we were saying was all true and legitimate. She said, well I never imagined I would even consider being a Mormon. She laughed and then said she didn't want to accept it after admitting that everything we said made complete sense and she felt like it was true!!!!
We taught another lady about the restoration. She then explained to us that we are just like every other church, it's just that we have a prophet and the other churches have pastors. I felt like explaining it would be so much easier if we could put President Monson in a room with one of the local pastors and let people see and feel the difference. President Maravilla alone brings such a huge spirit that makes people cower and shrink in his presence. The sister we taught eventually realized what we were saying and how the true church is different and unique. But she was afraid to change. Afraid to tell her husband. So sad!
But I rejoice in the fact that I know the precious truth of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to share it with all my friends and I tremble at the fact that I didn't do so more fully before. This knowledge is everything! The truth holds its own, without propaganda and amid lies and critics. Yet the truth grows. I love this Gospel. It's hard to face the adversity, it's so hard sometimes, but it's worth it.
I love you guys. Thank you for your emails. Is Aubrey okay? I haven't heard from her in a long while. Thank you all for everything. Haley I love you and hope you have an awesome week. You too Aubrey!
Take care!!!
Elder Austin Tyler
So to start, this week was great and I'll answer some of your questions.
Mom, the border right now is pretty safe here in Tecun. It's run by narcos, which means violence could be possible, but not likely. It's so much safer than any other area I've been in because the narcos run it. Oh, and narcos is the word for drug lord here. The drug lords ironically do a lot of good when they initially show up. When they clash with each other, that's when the nastiness hits. But for example, Tecun used to be a dump full of gangs. people wouldn't walk around at night and there was a lot of violence. But the gangs are no match for the narcos. When narcos show up, they send out their 'pumas' (guys trained to kill gangsters). They have nice cars and big weapons and the gangsters don't really have a chance. So that's what happened here five years ago. All the gangs were wiped out and now it's really safe. Kids play in the street until midnight. Haha that's so rare in Guatemala. The downside is corruption. It's safe, but corrupt. And nobody can really do anything about it. Interesting stuff. Really kinda sad.
Mom, a package! Haha thank you! I haven't thought about anything I need. The Old Spice you sent last time was a blessing, but I still have a full stick and a half left. I don't know what to do about my big acne. It hurts, but I think I'll just have to wait it out till after I don't have to wear a collared shirt in the heat. Maybe proactiv will help? Aside from that, I could really use a journal and a somewhat nice notebook for taking notes in conferences. That's what I need more than anything. But don't sweat it. And don't lose sleep over it haha.
Homecoming pictures! Awesome! Haley, I wanna hear from you about it, you look beautiful!!!
That's so awesome that Alex is going to Ireland/Scotland!!! If I wasn't in Book of Mormon lands I would be so jealous haha.
Dad, the house looks awesome. Don't worry about venting last week, it's good to know that you have ups and downs too. As far as what I'm eating, whatever they give me. But it's more Mexican food here, and it's good. We don't have a cook lady anymore, we usually eat pasta for lunch. Food has been good lately. And I'm healthy.
Elder Pickett goes home on Wednesday, that's kind of weird. He's really baggy at this point, but he's dealing with it pretty well. He always asks me about home and tells me his plans. It's a little annoying, but if it helps him plan things out I guess that's okay. Haha he has to take 'the bomb', a set of three pills that cleans out the system. I guess all the elders take it when they go home. Let's just say I'll have to stick close to home (at least a toilet) for a few days when I get back. I think I'm going to be very excited to chill at home and rest. It's a long way off, but just saying, the house looks sweet and I'm excited to hang out and sleep there haha.
Brock, thank you for your email. It's a relief to know that you're doing better. Sounds like school is rough, but just learn to love it. Even though the mission was rough, you learned so many lifelong skills that will help with school. That's how I feel. i never really learned how to be diligent and intelligent in school. I've been blessed with a lot of things and I wasted a lot of those things simply because I wasn't diligent. That's interesting what you said about rebuking Satan. How exactly is that done? I've never flat out done that before. But I realize that I should.
I put pictures up! Some are from Xetulul, the amusement park we went to. Others are from when I was in Champerico and we went as a zone to the forest with buried ruins. Others are of me and my companion, Elder Cartagena. Theres one of a bat we captured, s few awesome sunrises and sunsets, and one with me, Elder Caragena, Elder Colindres, and Elder Picket. And one from my birthday!
Real quick, the Liahona is awesome. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown tremendously in the past year. I testify of its truthfulness. I feel like so many people abandon the basics of rhetoric and logic when they see or talk about that book. All common sense is abandoned for the sake of destroying truth. If one really wants to know if it's true, they will find out. So many people don't want to know the truth though! One lady I talked to this week realized that what we were saying was all true and legitimate. She said, well I never imagined I would even consider being a Mormon. She laughed and then said she didn't want to accept it after admitting that everything we said made complete sense and she felt like it was true!!!!
We taught another lady about the restoration. She then explained to us that we are just like every other church, it's just that we have a prophet and the other churches have pastors. I felt like explaining it would be so much easier if we could put President Monson in a room with one of the local pastors and let people see and feel the difference. President Maravilla alone brings such a huge spirit that makes people cower and shrink in his presence. The sister we taught eventually realized what we were saying and how the true church is different and unique. But she was afraid to change. Afraid to tell her husband. So sad!
But I rejoice in the fact that I know the precious truth of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to share it with all my friends and I tremble at the fact that I didn't do so more fully before. This knowledge is everything! The truth holds its own, without propaganda and amid lies and critics. Yet the truth grows. I love this Gospel. It's hard to face the adversity, it's so hard sometimes, but it's worth it.
I love you guys. Thank you for your emails. Is Aubrey okay? I haven't heard from her in a long while. Thank you all for everything. Haley I love you and hope you have an awesome week. You too Aubrey!
Take care!!!
Elder Austin Tyler
Come what may and love it!
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 11:21 AM
Family!
You guys are the greatest! I know I say stuff like that all the time,
but seriously. I'm going to try and post pictures, I don't know if
itll work though.
I'm so excited for conference and for this month to end! I don't
know, but this area hasn't been easy and it's been so hard to stay
motivated. So hard! But I set some new goals this week and things
should go better now. I just really don't like the fluctuations in
spirituality, success, temptation, and other missionaries. So
ridiculous sometimes.
I believe (and hope, for the sake of air conditioning) that we will be
watching conference in the stake center over in Malacatan. I am so
ready.
We play soccer every week (we took a break today), and I love playing.
I will certainly write Andrew and Caleb.
Thank you for the encouragement Mom! I miss you!
Haley, have fun with those herbal pills. I hope they help you breathe better. And
new ski boots!!!?? Awesome! You better use them A LOT! Sounds like
you're working really hard in cross country. Keep it up! Never
settle for anything but your very best! And thanks for the pictures!
You look great! What the first picture you sent of? It's the one of
the group' in front of the school.
Brock, being sick sounds relaxing, but lame at the same time. And
Kung Pow and Family Guy? Reeeeeeeeeaaaalllllllllly? Whenever I see a
cow's utter I think of that moovie. Haha. There are a lot of cows
here.
And hang in there at school! You are a good student, you just don't
know it. Just don't be lazy and have fun with it. And don't fight
life's battles alone.
Dad, President joined the church about 18 years ago. Two missionaries
knocked on his door. He read the Book of Mormon 1 and 1/2 times
before getting baptized. He didn't really believe Joseph Smith was a
prophet until after he got baptized, but he had a powerful testimony
of the Book of Mormon (kind of ironic) and that Brigham Young was a
prophet. Interesting stuff.
Regarding spiritual gifts, yeah I read my patriarchal blessing and
spent some time meditating over the matter this week. My blessing is
very clear about certain gifts that I have, but I feel like there are
a few more that I've been given. I read my blessing about once a week
and it's such a boost! I've been tremendously blessed, maybe even
spoiled haha.
My weight is dropping too! I decided that I'm tired of not being in
good shape, I'm not fat, but I feel gross. I made some goals to keep
myself regular and stuff.
Glad to hear your face is feeling better. WIll you have to do that
again in the future? Sounds painful.
Thank you for always motivating me to go big. I actually brought up
the radio idea to my zone leaders, they like it. We're going to try
and find some time to look for a radio station this week. There will
probably be a lot of opposition from the evangelical radio stations,
so that will be interesting. But I want to go big. With the soccer
ball idea, I can't ask anyone to donate stuff, but if they offer, I
can do it. Do you ever see Robb Ball? If so, could you give him my
email? That would be awesome.
Thank you guys for everything.
We did have one baptism. Angelica, a 20 year old
who was introduced to the church by her RM boyfriend. She got
baptized and confirmed despite opposition from her family and
boyfriend (superstar RM). It was a great experience and I'm so
thankful that the Lord has blessed us in this area. Now we need to
find a family!
Thank you guys so much. I love you all and hope you're doing great!
Please participate in this missionary work!
Come what may and love it!
Thank you and love you more than you know,
Elder Austin Tyler
Family!
You guys are the greatest! I know I say stuff like that all the time,
but seriously. I'm going to try and post pictures, I don't know if
itll work though.
I'm so excited for conference and for this month to end! I don't
know, but this area hasn't been easy and it's been so hard to stay
motivated. So hard! But I set some new goals this week and things
should go better now. I just really don't like the fluctuations in
spirituality, success, temptation, and other missionaries. So
ridiculous sometimes.
I believe (and hope, for the sake of air conditioning) that we will be
watching conference in the stake center over in Malacatan. I am so
ready.
We play soccer every week (we took a break today), and I love playing.
I will certainly write Andrew and Caleb.
Thank you for the encouragement Mom! I miss you!
Haley, have fun with those herbal pills. I hope they help you breathe better. And
new ski boots!!!?? Awesome! You better use them A LOT! Sounds like
you're working really hard in cross country. Keep it up! Never
settle for anything but your very best! And thanks for the pictures!
You look great! What the first picture you sent of? It's the one of
the group' in front of the school.
Brock, being sick sounds relaxing, but lame at the same time. And
Kung Pow and Family Guy? Reeeeeeeeeaaaalllllllllly? Whenever I see a
cow's utter I think of that moovie. Haha. There are a lot of cows
here.
And hang in there at school! You are a good student, you just don't
know it. Just don't be lazy and have fun with it. And don't fight
life's battles alone.
Dad, President joined the church about 18 years ago. Two missionaries
knocked on his door. He read the Book of Mormon 1 and 1/2 times
before getting baptized. He didn't really believe Joseph Smith was a
prophet until after he got baptized, but he had a powerful testimony
of the Book of Mormon (kind of ironic) and that Brigham Young was a
prophet. Interesting stuff.
Regarding spiritual gifts, yeah I read my patriarchal blessing and
spent some time meditating over the matter this week. My blessing is
very clear about certain gifts that I have, but I feel like there are
a few more that I've been given. I read my blessing about once a week
and it's such a boost! I've been tremendously blessed, maybe even
spoiled haha.
My weight is dropping too! I decided that I'm tired of not being in
good shape, I'm not fat, but I feel gross. I made some goals to keep
myself regular and stuff.
Glad to hear your face is feeling better. WIll you have to do that
again in the future? Sounds painful.
Thank you for always motivating me to go big. I actually brought up
the radio idea to my zone leaders, they like it. We're going to try
and find some time to look for a radio station this week. There will
probably be a lot of opposition from the evangelical radio stations,
so that will be interesting. But I want to go big. With the soccer
ball idea, I can't ask anyone to donate stuff, but if they offer, I
can do it. Do you ever see Robb Ball? If so, could you give him my
email? That would be awesome.
Thank you guys for everything.
We did have one baptism. Angelica, a 20 year old
who was introduced to the church by her RM boyfriend. She got
baptized and confirmed despite opposition from her family and
boyfriend (superstar RM). It was a great experience and I'm so
thankful that the Lord has blessed us in this area. Now we need to
find a family!
Thank you guys so much. I love you all and hope you're doing great!
Please participate in this missionary work!
Come what may and love it!
Thank you and love you more than you know,
Elder Austin Tyler
The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2011 12:48 PM
Hey!
The house looks sooo cool!!! And Dad! Elder Colindres just asked me
why you painted your face! That looks so painful! Almost as painful
as the BYU game. I'm so excited about that house and the temple and
everything! All this combined with talking to Elder Pickett about his
plans for when he gets home next month are making for a nice trunky
feast hahaha! Nah it just makes me excited for the future.
Speaking of the ads from the church... they are sooo cool! I've
watched a few of them and they are soo well done! I feel like the
church has so much money! Kind of cool that they can roll out a huge
thing like this.
Mom, to answer your questions, the children here are so rambunctions
due to culture. There is a lack of emphasis on parenting the way it
is emphasized in the States. For example, yesterday in Priesthood
Meeting there was a baby throwing a gatorade bottle on the floor (loud
noise on a tile floor). He would throw it and his dad would go grab
it and give it back to him. I guess the father thought that loud
noises was better than crying (so true), but the thing is, people
don't take babies out when they cry. A crying baby is like a good
plan. It should be carried out immediately. Not the case here.
Parenting skills here make me cringe. And no I haven't gotten the
manilla envelope yet.
Haley, hang in there! Drama is lame, as you know. Rise above it all
and learn everything you can, even if it means you make a fool of
yourself. I mean, avoid making a fool of yourself, but don't worry
about it if you end up doing it. After it all, none of high school
matters aside from the good memories and the lessons learned. It's an
important time and it can be so much fun, but keep doing what you're
doing and don't get caught up in drama. Learn a lot and be cool.
Be yourself. You're so cute! In all the pictures I get all the
missionaries say you're a babe. Just so you know. Elder Colindrez
says hi, by the way. He jokes about marrying my sister all the time.
Dad, sorry I haven't posted pictures. I don't have my camera with me
again, I really am terrible about that. That's great that the temple
made it through round one! And I included the house sale in my fast
on Saturday. Things will work out.
Brock and Aubrey, I hope you keep on getting time outdoors. And I
hope all is well in school and work and what not.
So we had a meeting with President on Tuesday night, just the
leadership from our zone and the Malacatan zone. It was a great
meeting. I learn so much when I'm around him. He told us to imagine
what it was like for Ammon, a tall, white foreignor to walk into the
King Lamoni's city. He asked us to think about where we are. The
people here, as much as we love them, are lazy, short, delight in
violence and bloodshed, and are in general, very hard hearted. They
eat so much meat. And they have a lot of children. That is, of
course, a generalization and I'm not being racist, I'm just comparing
with the Book of Mormon. It came from President and he admitted to
being one of them, but the Gospel changed his life. He told us we
need to be like Ammon and focus on leadership. Ammon served the king
with all he had and looked at obstacles as opportunities to show forth
his love and power. He said we need to work more with the Bishop of
our ward.
Afterwards we were all hanging out while we waited for the Stake
President to show up for his meeting with the zone leaders. President
was just talking about us, the mission, his family, and things he's
been blessed with. Once the meeting with the stake president started,
I just got to sit and chill with Elder Maurer and Elder Dennis and
chat. I asked what was the coolest thing they know about President.
Elder Maurer told me that there's a hill in Nicaragua named after
President Maravilla. He said that when he was in the military (before
he was a member, he got baptized 18 years ago), he and a group of four
defended that hill against some ridiculous number of enemy soldiers.
Apparently they just fought like Spartans and held the hill. Before
he got fat, he was a warrior. Haha he's my modern Book of Mormon
hero.
Elder Maurer also told me that his uncle is an Area Seventy in Africa.
He wrote Elder Maurer not too long ago and explained that he had an
interview with a sister that only spoke a local dialect and a bit of
French. They had an interpreter that helped in the interview, but
wasn't able to keep up. He said that his uncle simply started to talk
in English and the sister understood and responded in English. After
the interview she asked him where he learned the local dialect and why
they didn't just start speaking like that at the beginning. Confused,
he asked what? You were speaking English! And then he realized they
were communicating through the Spirit. Cool stuff. I don't know
anything else about President's interview with President Uchtdorf.
Question... My patriarchal blessing mentions some of the spiritual
gifts that I've been given, but I'm trying to figure out what else
I've been given. Any tips for how I can recognize spiritual gifts and
talents? President told me I have the gift of obedience. I had never
thought of that as a gift, so I thought that was interesting. I feel
like the mission exposes every weakness, and it does it bluntly. I
want to find my strengths and use those to better my faults.
Thank you guys for everything. Thank you for being diligent in
writing. I love you all so much! Have an awesome week! General
Conference is almost here already! Whoa.
Love you so much,
Elder Austin Tyler
Hey!
The house looks sooo cool!!! And Dad! Elder Colindres just asked me
why you painted your face! That looks so painful! Almost as painful
as the BYU game. I'm so excited about that house and the temple and
everything! All this combined with talking to Elder Pickett about his
plans for when he gets home next month are making for a nice trunky
feast hahaha! Nah it just makes me excited for the future.
Speaking of the ads from the church... they are sooo cool! I've
watched a few of them and they are soo well done! I feel like the
church has so much money! Kind of cool that they can roll out a huge
thing like this.
Mom, to answer your questions, the children here are so rambunctions
due to culture. There is a lack of emphasis on parenting the way it
is emphasized in the States. For example, yesterday in Priesthood
Meeting there was a baby throwing a gatorade bottle on the floor (loud
noise on a tile floor). He would throw it and his dad would go grab
it and give it back to him. I guess the father thought that loud
noises was better than crying (so true), but the thing is, people
don't take babies out when they cry. A crying baby is like a good
plan. It should be carried out immediately. Not the case here.
Parenting skills here make me cringe. And no I haven't gotten the
manilla envelope yet.
Haley, hang in there! Drama is lame, as you know. Rise above it all
and learn everything you can, even if it means you make a fool of
yourself. I mean, avoid making a fool of yourself, but don't worry
about it if you end up doing it. After it all, none of high school
matters aside from the good memories and the lessons learned. It's an
important time and it can be so much fun, but keep doing what you're
doing and don't get caught up in drama. Learn a lot and be cool.
Be yourself. You're so cute! In all the pictures I get all the
missionaries say you're a babe. Just so you know. Elder Colindrez
says hi, by the way. He jokes about marrying my sister all the time.
Dad, sorry I haven't posted pictures. I don't have my camera with me
again, I really am terrible about that. That's great that the temple
made it through round one! And I included the house sale in my fast
on Saturday. Things will work out.
Brock and Aubrey, I hope you keep on getting time outdoors. And I
hope all is well in school and work and what not.
So we had a meeting with President on Tuesday night, just the
leadership from our zone and the Malacatan zone. It was a great
meeting. I learn so much when I'm around him. He told us to imagine
what it was like for Ammon, a tall, white foreignor to walk into the
King Lamoni's city. He asked us to think about where we are. The
people here, as much as we love them, are lazy, short, delight in
violence and bloodshed, and are in general, very hard hearted. They
eat so much meat. And they have a lot of children. That is, of
course, a generalization and I'm not being racist, I'm just comparing
with the Book of Mormon. It came from President and he admitted to
being one of them, but the Gospel changed his life. He told us we
need to be like Ammon and focus on leadership. Ammon served the king
with all he had and looked at obstacles as opportunities to show forth
his love and power. He said we need to work more with the Bishop of
our ward.
Afterwards we were all hanging out while we waited for the Stake
President to show up for his meeting with the zone leaders. President
was just talking about us, the mission, his family, and things he's
been blessed with. Once the meeting with the stake president started,
I just got to sit and chill with Elder Maurer and Elder Dennis and
chat. I asked what was the coolest thing they know about President.
Elder Maurer told me that there's a hill in Nicaragua named after
President Maravilla. He said that when he was in the military (before
he was a member, he got baptized 18 years ago), he and a group of four
defended that hill against some ridiculous number of enemy soldiers.
Apparently they just fought like Spartans and held the hill. Before
he got fat, he was a warrior. Haha he's my modern Book of Mormon
hero.
Elder Maurer also told me that his uncle is an Area Seventy in Africa.
He wrote Elder Maurer not too long ago and explained that he had an
interview with a sister that only spoke a local dialect and a bit of
French. They had an interpreter that helped in the interview, but
wasn't able to keep up. He said that his uncle simply started to talk
in English and the sister understood and responded in English. After
the interview she asked him where he learned the local dialect and why
they didn't just start speaking like that at the beginning. Confused,
he asked what? You were speaking English! And then he realized they
were communicating through the Spirit. Cool stuff. I don't know
anything else about President's interview with President Uchtdorf.
Question... My patriarchal blessing mentions some of the spiritual
gifts that I've been given, but I'm trying to figure out what else
I've been given. Any tips for how I can recognize spiritual gifts and
talents? President told me I have the gift of obedience. I had never
thought of that as a gift, so I thought that was interesting. I feel
like the mission exposes every weakness, and it does it bluntly. I
want to find my strengths and use those to better my faults.
Thank you guys for everything. Thank you for being diligent in
writing. I love you all so much! Have an awesome week! General
Conference is almost here already! Whoa.
Love you so much,
Elder Austin Tyler
Finish Strong
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2011 2:23 PM
Hey!
Thank you so much for writing me every week. I love hearing from you
guys! It's been an interesting week with transfers and everything,
but I'm excited for this month. We got two new zone leaders :D and
one new elder in the district. The zone leaders are great and it's
such a relief to have them here. Elder Colindrez and Elder Pickett.
Elder Pickett is on his last transfer and is fighting (and succeeding)
at staying focused. He's a cool guy. They are both struggling with
the heat (muahahaha). It's been rather different because they moved
into our house on Thursday. Our former mansion now feels a little
cramped. But I'm glad to be there with more than just my companion.
Don't get me wrong, I love my comp, but it's nice to have variety in
the people you live with.
I gotta confess that I was looking forward to transfers and actually
expecting to get transferred. It didn't happen and I was kind of
upset about it. I gave myself a kick in the rear and I'm starting to
feel better about things now. There's a lot to do in the area and
there are a lot of possibilities to be realized.
Mom, I love that part of Elder Nelson's talk! I feel like hard times
are definitely ahead, but in spite of that feeling, I'm so excited for
the future! I don't know what they're trying to do filling all the
Liahonas with a bunch of stuff about marriage (it just kills us
missionaries sometimes haha), but I enjoyed Elder Hales' message in
this month's Liahona. He mentioned something about asking his wife if
she was willing to accompany him in his travels around the world and
she said yes. I feel like the Lord is going to ask me to do hard
things and I thought, 'well that's kind of a downer for my future
wife', but there's a purpose to everything. I'm excited to continue
to learn and grow.
Mom, you have very powerful faith. If you think about it, Satan has
more tools and more power than he has ever had before, yet you are a
faithful latter-day saint fighting valiantly. You accepted a very
difficult calling and accepted it with enthusiasm to study and prepare
yourself. Your oldest son served an honorable mission and is married
in the temple. Your daughter is an inspiration to hundreds of people
and is following in your footsteps of faithfulness. Your middle child
is a bit of a weirdo, but he loves you and recognizes your love for
the Savior. As your son, I see so much faith in you. And I thank you
for it.
Brother VanTassel is in Guatemala?? What place is he in? I feel like
he's in the Quetzaltenango mission. That's cool to think.
And the Crane baby! That's so exciting! What's his name?
Dad, sounds like things with the houses (weird to say that plural
haha) are pretty stressful, but I'm sure everything will work out
fine. Kind of interesting that our neighbors put their house up for
sale. I didn't hear about the lion photographer, but that's kinda
crazy. I got bit by a parrot yesterday, but it wasn't hard. It tried
to rip off my finger nail, but then realized it didn't taste too good.
No blood was drawn. But I do have a rash on my fingers... allergic
to parrots?
I like that idea in the finish strong attitude. Sometimes at night
when we have nothing to do with 15 minutes remaining before 9 o'clock
hits everything yells at me to go to the house. It's such a
temptation. When I give in, I feel so weak. But when I tell my
companion that I want to get one more contact in, I feel so much
satisfaction talking to one or two more people, even if they don't
accept our message. I mean, it's way better when they accept, but
knowing that I did my best to the end is so worth the effort.
Haley, good work at school!!! Keep that up! I would love to have our
rooms connected. And that's so cool that you responded 'President
Monson' in that retreat activity. You're such a boss. My favorite
scripture... I don't really know to be honest. There are so many! I
love 2 Nephi chapter 4. I love Mosiah 2:41. I love Ether 12 and
Moroni 7. Proverbs 3:5-6. And 3 Nephi 19:30. There are too many.
So Haley, I have a lot of things I want to tell you. I think it would
be easier to write a letter. But just realize that sometimes (not all
the time) leadership can be very lonely. My senior year was so
incredibly difficult. The thing that would have made it better was
simple: daily and meaningful prayer and scripture study. Those things
would not have solved my problems and challenges, but they would have
been a tremendous help. Never let those things slip.
You can't force a person to like you, and sometimes there are things
you simply can't control. Do your very best. Act and do not be acted
upon. Smile even when it's tough. You are an incredible girl and you
have so many admirable attributes and qualities. You don't have all
of them, and people are always going to try to tear you down for the
few small things you lack, but do your best with what you've got and
everything will work out beautifully (but maybe not how you expect).
Be a light, even if something isn't fun, have fun with it and make
people think you're having fun. Laugh often. Smile always. Be
happy!
It gets hard. Senior year, I felt like everyone was falling apart. I
was SO sad to see them fall! But I failed to realize that there were
plenty of reasons to be happy. I learned so much that senior year and
you're going to learn a lot this year. You'll love it if you want to.
But don't ever get bitter or discouraged. Don't ever be pessimistic.
Think about how many people love you and look up to you! You're a
choice spirit, one of the choicest I believe. God's angels are ever
on call to help you and pick you up. Think about how awesome that is.
Use their help! Accept their help! I love you so much and I know
you're an amazing girl. Thank you for your example.
I learned some cool stuff lately. Our goal in life is to try to
become like Christ. Our purpose is to inherit eternal life and be
celestial beings. The greatest quality of a celestial being is
charity, that's why charity never faileth, because it's the source of
happiness in a celestial being. It's God's reason for doing what he
does. We are all trying to become like him, so we need to develop
charity. It's the key to true joy!
Dang, time goes so quickly these days. Thank you all for everything.
I love you all so much. Tell Brock and Aubrey I love them. Have an
amazing week!
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Hey!
Thank you so much for writing me every week. I love hearing from you
guys! It's been an interesting week with transfers and everything,
but I'm excited for this month. We got two new zone leaders :D and
one new elder in the district. The zone leaders are great and it's
such a relief to have them here. Elder Colindrez and Elder Pickett.
Elder Pickett is on his last transfer and is fighting (and succeeding)
at staying focused. He's a cool guy. They are both struggling with
the heat (muahahaha). It's been rather different because they moved
into our house on Thursday. Our former mansion now feels a little
cramped. But I'm glad to be there with more than just my companion.
Don't get me wrong, I love my comp, but it's nice to have variety in
the people you live with.
I gotta confess that I was looking forward to transfers and actually
expecting to get transferred. It didn't happen and I was kind of
upset about it. I gave myself a kick in the rear and I'm starting to
feel better about things now. There's a lot to do in the area and
there are a lot of possibilities to be realized.
Mom, I love that part of Elder Nelson's talk! I feel like hard times
are definitely ahead, but in spite of that feeling, I'm so excited for
the future! I don't know what they're trying to do filling all the
Liahonas with a bunch of stuff about marriage (it just kills us
missionaries sometimes haha), but I enjoyed Elder Hales' message in
this month's Liahona. He mentioned something about asking his wife if
she was willing to accompany him in his travels around the world and
she said yes. I feel like the Lord is going to ask me to do hard
things and I thought, 'well that's kind of a downer for my future
wife', but there's a purpose to everything. I'm excited to continue
to learn and grow.
Mom, you have very powerful faith. If you think about it, Satan has
more tools and more power than he has ever had before, yet you are a
faithful latter-day saint fighting valiantly. You accepted a very
difficult calling and accepted it with enthusiasm to study and prepare
yourself. Your oldest son served an honorable mission and is married
in the temple. Your daughter is an inspiration to hundreds of people
and is following in your footsteps of faithfulness. Your middle child
is a bit of a weirdo, but he loves you and recognizes your love for
the Savior. As your son, I see so much faith in you. And I thank you
for it.
Brother VanTassel is in Guatemala?? What place is he in? I feel like
he's in the Quetzaltenango mission. That's cool to think.
And the Crane baby! That's so exciting! What's his name?
Dad, sounds like things with the houses (weird to say that plural
haha) are pretty stressful, but I'm sure everything will work out
fine. Kind of interesting that our neighbors put their house up for
sale. I didn't hear about the lion photographer, but that's kinda
crazy. I got bit by a parrot yesterday, but it wasn't hard. It tried
to rip off my finger nail, but then realized it didn't taste too good.
No blood was drawn. But I do have a rash on my fingers... allergic
to parrots?
I like that idea in the finish strong attitude. Sometimes at night
when we have nothing to do with 15 minutes remaining before 9 o'clock
hits everything yells at me to go to the house. It's such a
temptation. When I give in, I feel so weak. But when I tell my
companion that I want to get one more contact in, I feel so much
satisfaction talking to one or two more people, even if they don't
accept our message. I mean, it's way better when they accept, but
knowing that I did my best to the end is so worth the effort.
Haley, good work at school!!! Keep that up! I would love to have our
rooms connected. And that's so cool that you responded 'President
Monson' in that retreat activity. You're such a boss. My favorite
scripture... I don't really know to be honest. There are so many! I
love 2 Nephi chapter 4. I love Mosiah 2:41. I love Ether 12 and
Moroni 7. Proverbs 3:5-6. And 3 Nephi 19:30. There are too many.
So Haley, I have a lot of things I want to tell you. I think it would
be easier to write a letter. But just realize that sometimes (not all
the time) leadership can be very lonely. My senior year was so
incredibly difficult. The thing that would have made it better was
simple: daily and meaningful prayer and scripture study. Those things
would not have solved my problems and challenges, but they would have
been a tremendous help. Never let those things slip.
You can't force a person to like you, and sometimes there are things
you simply can't control. Do your very best. Act and do not be acted
upon. Smile even when it's tough. You are an incredible girl and you
have so many admirable attributes and qualities. You don't have all
of them, and people are always going to try to tear you down for the
few small things you lack, but do your best with what you've got and
everything will work out beautifully (but maybe not how you expect).
Be a light, even if something isn't fun, have fun with it and make
people think you're having fun. Laugh often. Smile always. Be
happy!
It gets hard. Senior year, I felt like everyone was falling apart. I
was SO sad to see them fall! But I failed to realize that there were
plenty of reasons to be happy. I learned so much that senior year and
you're going to learn a lot this year. You'll love it if you want to.
But don't ever get bitter or discouraged. Don't ever be pessimistic.
Think about how many people love you and look up to you! You're a
choice spirit, one of the choicest I believe. God's angels are ever
on call to help you and pick you up. Think about how awesome that is.
Use their help! Accept their help! I love you so much and I know
you're an amazing girl. Thank you for your example.
I learned some cool stuff lately. Our goal in life is to try to
become like Christ. Our purpose is to inherit eternal life and be
celestial beings. The greatest quality of a celestial being is
charity, that's why charity never faileth, because it's the source of
happiness in a celestial being. It's God's reason for doing what he
does. We are all trying to become like him, so we need to develop
charity. It's the key to true joy!
Dang, time goes so quickly these days. Thank you all for everything.
I love you all so much. Tell Brock and Aubrey I love them. Have an
amazing week!
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Staying the course
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 1:13 PM
Hey family!
I got the package!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you soooo much!
In addition, I got a package from Brother Teeples and it had a huge
thing of peanut butter and a really nice note! Please tell him thank
you so much and I will be writing them soon.
So, one question. What's EZ Putty? It says on the can: Does it all!
But I don't know what it's for haha. The shoes are perfect!
Everyone's been complaining about the heat this week, but it's felt a
bit cooler because I'm not wearing my big heavy boots all day! Haha
so amazing!
I ate all the candy already :D
The pictures were so great, I'm so excited for that house! I mean,
when I think of the house back home I just imagine laying on carpet
and simple stuff like that, but I don't know, there's so much cool
stuff to look forward to! Ahhh carpet... and Ginger. Haha
Everyone looks happy in the pictures!
And Dad, I can't thank you enough for your letter. I've read it three
times. Thank you so much for the stories, the advice, and the
encouragement. It was like a wake-up call combined with a big hug all
in one. Thank you.
Mom, you mentioned a big envelope aside from the package, I haven't
gotten that yet.
Oh and Mom, the watch is great.
You also asked how the area is doing. It's alright. We have changes
this week and I feel like I'll probably stay here. There is still
plenty of food (though we didn't have much time to eat dinner or lunch
for a couple days this week) and the weather is still very hot. The
rainy season started a few months ago, but here we typically get
little rainstorms here and there. Yes, I still feel safe here. The
zone leaders are probably going to move into our mansion this week
because they live in a dangerous area, but our house was built by a
drug lord years ago with the intention to make it safe. He never
lived in it, so there's no risk of anyone thinking he lives there, and
he died years ago.
Sounds like Haley drives like every other teenage girl out there.
Haha Haley, be careful and smart.
And Mom, it sounds like you're really enjoying seminary already!
That's great! It's going to be a great year for you I know it.
Haley, looks like you've already got some challenges in the leadership
group. Be bold and loving. It's going to be tough to get the respect
of everyone since you're a junior, but keep in mind that there's a
reason you were elected. Be a light in there and don't ever stop
being happy! Mom and Dad are better sources of advice when it comes
to leadership than you may realize.
Dad, that's really annoying about all the opposition against the
temple. There's been opposition here with the temple in
Quetzaltenango, but it always works out in the end. I'm so excited
for both temples! The prophet is coming to dedicate the temple here
in December! I can't wait.
Regarding the confrontation with the AP... he's from El Salvador and
he goes home on Wednesday. President basically told me I was in the
right and he explained why Elder Guevara reacted like he did. He said
that as leaders, we always focus on the need to baptize. That is why
we are here, is to find, testify, and teach so that people will get
baptized and enter the way toward eternal life. Leaders always focus
on that, because if we have the mentality that we are going to
baptize, we get excited and motivated and we work hard. I feel like
he didn't want to talk bad about his own assistant, and he told me I
was right. I felt a lot better after talking with him. I was proud
of myself for how I handled it. I almost walked out of the room, but
I figured that would have caused more problems. I realized that he
goes home soon and proving my point didn't seem worth the effort of
arguing back. It would have heightened the contention.
And Dad, thank you for that quote. It's deep I'm going to print it out here.
So this week was kind of crazy. There are weird elders in my
district. It's a struggle sometimes, but at least they aren't my
companions. We've had a lot of struggles lately, but I've somehow
stayed pretty happy and upbeat through it all. Thank you so much for
your prayers. My companion gets annoyed with me sometimes because he
hates contacting, and I enjoy it. He also doesn't like teaching
certain people and gets all grumpy during lessons! So difficult to be
united like that. But he's learning and he's grown up a lot in the
last 7 weeks.
We've been teaching a family for several weeks and the parents can't
get baptized because they aren't married and don't have their papers.
So we baptized their kids and that was great. The thing is, I want to
baptize families. Kids often don't stay active in the church for more
than a few months. A select few stay active for life, but that's as
special as it is rare. A family united in the Gospel is so powerful.
We need to find more families. I hate to see kids go inactive after
getting baptized.
This place is such a spiritual battleground. I think it's because it
hasn't really been conquered by either side. The missionaries
continue to have success even though Satan continues to strengthen his
grip on the majority of people here. There is so much good and so
much evil.
On Friday we got a treat! We got a surprise invitation by President
to go to a place called Xetulul. It's an amusement park! Haha we
woke up at four in the morning and went to Reu and went to hang out
and ride some rides. It was right in the middle of the most stressful
part of the week and we were able to just let go of everything for a
few hours and ride some bumper cars and stuff. It's a small park and
President said we couldn't ride the only roller coaster there, but it
was still so fun. We got home and all the stress came back, but we
were all a little happier and excited about things.
Overall, it was a great week and things are going well. We just need
to find families who have papers and are ready to accept the Gospel.
Thank you guys so much for everything. I love you all!
Tell people I say hi. Haley, did Amy Austin ever get my letter?
I've been waiting for a lot of letters that haven't come. Just curious.
Have an awesome week and be great!
lots of love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Hey family!
I got the package!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you soooo much!
In addition, I got a package from Brother Teeples and it had a huge
thing of peanut butter and a really nice note! Please tell him thank
you so much and I will be writing them soon.
So, one question. What's EZ Putty? It says on the can: Does it all!
But I don't know what it's for haha. The shoes are perfect!
Everyone's been complaining about the heat this week, but it's felt a
bit cooler because I'm not wearing my big heavy boots all day! Haha
so amazing!
I ate all the candy already :D
The pictures were so great, I'm so excited for that house! I mean,
when I think of the house back home I just imagine laying on carpet
and simple stuff like that, but I don't know, there's so much cool
stuff to look forward to! Ahhh carpet... and Ginger. Haha
Everyone looks happy in the pictures!
And Dad, I can't thank you enough for your letter. I've read it three
times. Thank you so much for the stories, the advice, and the
encouragement. It was like a wake-up call combined with a big hug all
in one. Thank you.
Mom, you mentioned a big envelope aside from the package, I haven't
gotten that yet.
Oh and Mom, the watch is great.
You also asked how the area is doing. It's alright. We have changes
this week and I feel like I'll probably stay here. There is still
plenty of food (though we didn't have much time to eat dinner or lunch
for a couple days this week) and the weather is still very hot. The
rainy season started a few months ago, but here we typically get
little rainstorms here and there. Yes, I still feel safe here. The
zone leaders are probably going to move into our mansion this week
because they live in a dangerous area, but our house was built by a
drug lord years ago with the intention to make it safe. He never
lived in it, so there's no risk of anyone thinking he lives there, and
he died years ago.
Sounds like Haley drives like every other teenage girl out there.
Haha Haley, be careful and smart.
And Mom, it sounds like you're really enjoying seminary already!
That's great! It's going to be a great year for you I know it.
Haley, looks like you've already got some challenges in the leadership
group. Be bold and loving. It's going to be tough to get the respect
of everyone since you're a junior, but keep in mind that there's a
reason you were elected. Be a light in there and don't ever stop
being happy! Mom and Dad are better sources of advice when it comes
to leadership than you may realize.
Dad, that's really annoying about all the opposition against the
temple. There's been opposition here with the temple in
Quetzaltenango, but it always works out in the end. I'm so excited
for both temples! The prophet is coming to dedicate the temple here
in December! I can't wait.
Regarding the confrontation with the AP... he's from El Salvador and
he goes home on Wednesday. President basically told me I was in the
right and he explained why Elder Guevara reacted like he did. He said
that as leaders, we always focus on the need to baptize. That is why
we are here, is to find, testify, and teach so that people will get
baptized and enter the way toward eternal life. Leaders always focus
on that, because if we have the mentality that we are going to
baptize, we get excited and motivated and we work hard. I feel like
he didn't want to talk bad about his own assistant, and he told me I
was right. I felt a lot better after talking with him. I was proud
of myself for how I handled it. I almost walked out of the room, but
I figured that would have caused more problems. I realized that he
goes home soon and proving my point didn't seem worth the effort of
arguing back. It would have heightened the contention.
And Dad, thank you for that quote. It's deep I'm going to print it out here.
So this week was kind of crazy. There are weird elders in my
district. It's a struggle sometimes, but at least they aren't my
companions. We've had a lot of struggles lately, but I've somehow
stayed pretty happy and upbeat through it all. Thank you so much for
your prayers. My companion gets annoyed with me sometimes because he
hates contacting, and I enjoy it. He also doesn't like teaching
certain people and gets all grumpy during lessons! So difficult to be
united like that. But he's learning and he's grown up a lot in the
last 7 weeks.
We've been teaching a family for several weeks and the parents can't
get baptized because they aren't married and don't have their papers.
So we baptized their kids and that was great. The thing is, I want to
baptize families. Kids often don't stay active in the church for more
than a few months. A select few stay active for life, but that's as
special as it is rare. A family united in the Gospel is so powerful.
We need to find more families. I hate to see kids go inactive after
getting baptized.
This place is such a spiritual battleground. I think it's because it
hasn't really been conquered by either side. The missionaries
continue to have success even though Satan continues to strengthen his
grip on the majority of people here. There is so much good and so
much evil.
On Friday we got a treat! We got a surprise invitation by President
to go to a place called Xetulul. It's an amusement park! Haha we
woke up at four in the morning and went to Reu and went to hang out
and ride some rides. It was right in the middle of the most stressful
part of the week and we were able to just let go of everything for a
few hours and ride some bumper cars and stuff. It's a small park and
President said we couldn't ride the only roller coaster there, but it
was still so fun. We got home and all the stress came back, but we
were all a little happier and excited about things.
Overall, it was a great week and things are going well. We just need
to find families who have papers and are ready to accept the Gospel.
Thank you guys so much for everything. I love you all!
Tell people I say hi. Haley, did Amy Austin ever get my letter?
I've been waiting for a lot of letters that haven't come. Just curious.
Have an awesome week and be great!
lots of love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Great to hear from home!
August 22, 2011
Hey!
This computer is soooo slow. Haha and there is some girl next to me that is staring at me, like awkwardly haha. Gross.
Thank you all for your emails! And what in the world??? School is already starting again?? That's so weird to me. I always enjoyed the beginning of the year, because I got to have a fresh start after having grown so much in such a short time through EFY and camps and stuff. I'm sure Haley's gonna rock this year.
Brock, that's kind of crazy about your sleep depravation thing. I hope you can get that worked out as school starts. Haha and I love you emails. We should probably go backpacking/camping/skiing every weekend. Bring a few friends once in awhile. Oh and I'm not going to marry a girl if she doesn't ski or board, so there's dating time right there. Nais. Flaming gorge would be sick. The teenagers here are a lot different than teenagers in the states. When we contact them they do stuff like peek around us to stare and whistle at inappropriately dressed girls. Haha theyre a hoot. The mission is focused on families. That's the priority. Families and more families. But they are so hard to find! I just want to find a family that's prepared. I know they're out there, but they're hiding from us. I regret not being more of a missionary in high school. I could have been so much better and done so much more.
Aubrey, sounds like work is really stressful! But it seems like you and Brock find a lot of ways to have fun. And you colored your hair!!! It looks good! Living poor as college students doesn't sound fun, but i think it can be. Haha money can't buy happiness, but you can do so many fun things when you have money! But in college we found lots of fun things without money, thanks to Austin and Jordan and the BYU police force DELTA code red squadron. Chanchos.
Dad! The pictures were awesome! And it's great to hear that strat plan came through successfully. The house sounds soo cool! It's weird to see a house that isn't made of cement haha. Cool. I love that story from Gospel Doctrine. I was with the young men and young women yesterday at church and one of the young men had the assignment to explain that story. Thank you for sending it to me, he left out some key details yesterday. The gifts of the spirit are so special and powerful. I think I'm living below my privileges, but I'm trying so hard to rise above mediocrity and comformity so I can be led by the Spirit. But that can only be done with unity in the companionship, and I can't force unity! But I can be better about charity and patience.
I've been studying faith and hope and I spent some time this week meditating on what is my faith and what is my hope. I really felt the Spirit as I contemplated the principle of hope and thought about what I hope for. It's a good way to really reflect on why I do what I do. It's also a great motivator to do more.
Mom, thank you so much for everything you do. Really, I can't thank you enough. I felt an increase in faith this week and thank you for your prayers. My birthday was great! I didn't get to buy the things I need yet. Other things came up and I had to help with some expenditures. But I did get to go out to lunch with my companion. It was a good day!
I'm struggling with patience around the missionaries. Some of them really get under my skin and I'm trying so hard. Charity will be my focus this week. I despise laziness and hypocracy, but I'm sure they would appreciate more love and patience. It's embarrassing how a missionary is the most inconsiderate and angry individual on the soccer field when we're playing with young men and non members. Grosses me out.
This week we had interviews with president. So great! I love you guys so much! Good luck with work, school, seminary, and everything else! Share the gospel! It's fun I promise! I love contacting and teaching so much! It's tough, but so is anything worth doing.
Have an awesome week.
With so much love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Hey!
This computer is soooo slow. Haha and there is some girl next to me that is staring at me, like awkwardly haha. Gross.
Thank you all for your emails! And what in the world??? School is already starting again?? That's so weird to me. I always enjoyed the beginning of the year, because I got to have a fresh start after having grown so much in such a short time through EFY and camps and stuff. I'm sure Haley's gonna rock this year.
Brock, that's kind of crazy about your sleep depravation thing. I hope you can get that worked out as school starts. Haha and I love you emails. We should probably go backpacking/camping/skiing every weekend. Bring a few friends once in awhile. Oh and I'm not going to marry a girl if she doesn't ski or board, so there's dating time right there. Nais. Flaming gorge would be sick. The teenagers here are a lot different than teenagers in the states. When we contact them they do stuff like peek around us to stare and whistle at inappropriately dressed girls. Haha theyre a hoot. The mission is focused on families. That's the priority. Families and more families. But they are so hard to find! I just want to find a family that's prepared. I know they're out there, but they're hiding from us. I regret not being more of a missionary in high school. I could have been so much better and done so much more.
Aubrey, sounds like work is really stressful! But it seems like you and Brock find a lot of ways to have fun. And you colored your hair!!! It looks good! Living poor as college students doesn't sound fun, but i think it can be. Haha money can't buy happiness, but you can do so many fun things when you have money! But in college we found lots of fun things without money, thanks to Austin and Jordan and the BYU police force DELTA code red squadron. Chanchos.
Dad! The pictures were awesome! And it's great to hear that strat plan came through successfully. The house sounds soo cool! It's weird to see a house that isn't made of cement haha. Cool. I love that story from Gospel Doctrine. I was with the young men and young women yesterday at church and one of the young men had the assignment to explain that story. Thank you for sending it to me, he left out some key details yesterday. The gifts of the spirit are so special and powerful. I think I'm living below my privileges, but I'm trying so hard to rise above mediocrity and comformity so I can be led by the Spirit. But that can only be done with unity in the companionship, and I can't force unity! But I can be better about charity and patience.
I've been studying faith and hope and I spent some time this week meditating on what is my faith and what is my hope. I really felt the Spirit as I contemplated the principle of hope and thought about what I hope for. It's a good way to really reflect on why I do what I do. It's also a great motivator to do more.
Mom, thank you so much for everything you do. Really, I can't thank you enough. I felt an increase in faith this week and thank you for your prayers. My birthday was great! I didn't get to buy the things I need yet. Other things came up and I had to help with some expenditures. But I did get to go out to lunch with my companion. It was a good day!
I'm struggling with patience around the missionaries. Some of them really get under my skin and I'm trying so hard. Charity will be my focus this week. I despise laziness and hypocracy, but I'm sure they would appreciate more love and patience. It's embarrassing how a missionary is the most inconsiderate and angry individual on the soccer field when we're playing with young men and non members. Grosses me out.
This week we had interviews with president. So great! I love you guys so much! Good luck with work, school, seminary, and everything else! Share the gospel! It's fun I promise! I love contacting and teaching so much! It's tough, but so is anything worth doing.
Have an awesome week.
With so much love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Charity
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 1:45 PM
Family!
You guys are the best! Thank you for all your support. This week has
been a bit better. I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm and excitement up
despite the lack of success. I found the problem. It is in our
companionship. We are not united in purpose and desire, which has
been an obstacle in everything. We work hard, we go through the
motions, we're nice to each other, and we are using the help of the
members. But that isn't enough. It's always emphasized that charity
must first be applied in the home before being applied outside of the
home. That applies perfectly to a companionship. Dad, your advice
was priceless. Thank you. I've been thinking about Doctrine and
Covenants 121 where it emphasizes the need for increased love after
reproving somebody. I haven't cultivated the gift of charity. I feel
motivated to find a family that's ready for the Gospel. I feel like
I'm more focused than I used to be, but my companion is still new and
learning. I need to help motivate him to change some things. I need
to be more charitable toward him before I can motivate him (and that
goes for all the missionaries in my district). My companion has a lot
of little struggles, but all of them combined turn into a big one. I
have to help him. I say that recognizing my own faults, but I'm the
one with more experience and understanding. That will be my focus
this week.
Thank you guys for your letters and your prayers.
Aubrey, sounds like work is stressful, but a huge blessing! And those
pictures of the fish are awesome! You guys are so cool! I went to
Midway once, but it was at 10 oclock at night to visit the hotsprings
haha! It was sketchy. Alex Leonard was there! Good times. I
haven't posted any pictures in awhile, I'll get on that next week!
And thank you for your support and for telling me your proud of me.
Sometimes that's a good thing to hear.
Haley! Sounds like the race was awesome! What was your finishing
time? Sounds like this coming year is going to be great! You've got
a good schedule. You're still gonna be crazy busy and stressed, I
recommend coming up with a plan for when that comes. Remember
facebook is a waste of time haha! Oh btw, did Amy Austin get my
letter while she was in Bolivia?
Dad, thats such a huge bummer getting the ticket and the whole food
poisoning thing! Thank you for all those quotes and
advice. And it's true, the Spirit is the most important thing. I
bought a watch, it was 150 quetzales (20 dollars I believe). But my
soccer ball popped today and I lost my bath towels (I only have one
left). So I think 50 or 60 would be so great to include a dinner or
something for my birthday. That's so much money! I'm sorry, I'll pay
you back when I get home and start working. But thank you so much!
Mom, they told me my package is waiting in the mission office, I
should get it next week. Thank you so much for that. And how long
ago did you send the other shoe? Thank you for everything you do.
Seminary is going to be so great! I think you'll learn to love it. I
love you!
Not a whole lot happened this week. One thing that I am so grateful
for is the attendance level at church. It's up to 135! The members
have been visiting each other and it's helped so much with the unity
in the ward. The only problem is the chapel is too small for so many
people. They have plans to build a new one within the year, but the
attendance is going to continue to grow during that time ha! Should
get pretty interesting.
Yesterday we were visiting investigators before church, helping them
get ready to attend and all. A man stopped me in the street and
explained that he was from El Salvador and on his way to the States.
He was speaking English and explained that his family is over there in
the States and he's just trying to get back to them. He asked me for
money. I explained that we don't carry money on Sundays, so
unfortunately we couldn't help him. He got angry and explained that
God would help him because he has faith. I told him take care and we
left. We went to visit a family and started to head back. I said a
quick prayer in my heart that the guy we had just met would be safe
and all. Then suddenly he was coming toward us. He showed me that he
had gotten about 7 quetzales (enough to cross the border into Mexico).
He said, 'See!? I have faith, and God helped me. You didn't help
me, you aren't of God. You're a liar!!!!' He said it with hatred in
his eyes. I could have said a lot of things. He started to walk away
and I yelled to him, hey I prayed for you man! Haha but I think I
contributed involuntarily to the stereotype that all gringos are rich,
stuck up, and racist. I felt sad about that. The guy probably hates
Mormons now too. I want Christ to come and fix everything in the
world. I've never wanted that as badly as I want it now. How great
will be that day!
Well that's kind of a sad story to end on, but this week went better
overall! Thank you guys for everything. Thank you for the birthday
wishes and your prayers, I can feel them! I love you guys so much.
More than you know. You're the best.
Elder Austin Tyler
Family!
You guys are the best! Thank you for all your support. This week has
been a bit better. I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm and excitement up
despite the lack of success. I found the problem. It is in our
companionship. We are not united in purpose and desire, which has
been an obstacle in everything. We work hard, we go through the
motions, we're nice to each other, and we are using the help of the
members. But that isn't enough. It's always emphasized that charity
must first be applied in the home before being applied outside of the
home. That applies perfectly to a companionship. Dad, your advice
was priceless. Thank you. I've been thinking about Doctrine and
Covenants 121 where it emphasizes the need for increased love after
reproving somebody. I haven't cultivated the gift of charity. I feel
motivated to find a family that's ready for the Gospel. I feel like
I'm more focused than I used to be, but my companion is still new and
learning. I need to help motivate him to change some things. I need
to be more charitable toward him before I can motivate him (and that
goes for all the missionaries in my district). My companion has a lot
of little struggles, but all of them combined turn into a big one. I
have to help him. I say that recognizing my own faults, but I'm the
one with more experience and understanding. That will be my focus
this week.
Thank you guys for your letters and your prayers.
Aubrey, sounds like work is stressful, but a huge blessing! And those
pictures of the fish are awesome! You guys are so cool! I went to
Midway once, but it was at 10 oclock at night to visit the hotsprings
haha! It was sketchy. Alex Leonard was there! Good times. I
haven't posted any pictures in awhile, I'll get on that next week!
And thank you for your support and for telling me your proud of me.
Sometimes that's a good thing to hear.
Haley! Sounds like the race was awesome! What was your finishing
time? Sounds like this coming year is going to be great! You've got
a good schedule. You're still gonna be crazy busy and stressed, I
recommend coming up with a plan for when that comes. Remember
facebook is a waste of time haha! Oh btw, did Amy Austin get my
letter while she was in Bolivia?
Dad, thats such a huge bummer getting the ticket and the whole food
poisoning thing! Thank you for all those quotes and
advice. And it's true, the Spirit is the most important thing. I
bought a watch, it was 150 quetzales (20 dollars I believe). But my
soccer ball popped today and I lost my bath towels (I only have one
left). So I think 50 or 60 would be so great to include a dinner or
something for my birthday. That's so much money! I'm sorry, I'll pay
you back when I get home and start working. But thank you so much!
Mom, they told me my package is waiting in the mission office, I
should get it next week. Thank you so much for that. And how long
ago did you send the other shoe? Thank you for everything you do.
Seminary is going to be so great! I think you'll learn to love it. I
love you!
Not a whole lot happened this week. One thing that I am so grateful
for is the attendance level at church. It's up to 135! The members
have been visiting each other and it's helped so much with the unity
in the ward. The only problem is the chapel is too small for so many
people. They have plans to build a new one within the year, but the
attendance is going to continue to grow during that time ha! Should
get pretty interesting.
Yesterday we were visiting investigators before church, helping them
get ready to attend and all. A man stopped me in the street and
explained that he was from El Salvador and on his way to the States.
He was speaking English and explained that his family is over there in
the States and he's just trying to get back to them. He asked me for
money. I explained that we don't carry money on Sundays, so
unfortunately we couldn't help him. He got angry and explained that
God would help him because he has faith. I told him take care and we
left. We went to visit a family and started to head back. I said a
quick prayer in my heart that the guy we had just met would be safe
and all. Then suddenly he was coming toward us. He showed me that he
had gotten about 7 quetzales (enough to cross the border into Mexico).
He said, 'See!? I have faith, and God helped me. You didn't help
me, you aren't of God. You're a liar!!!!' He said it with hatred in
his eyes. I could have said a lot of things. He started to walk away
and I yelled to him, hey I prayed for you man! Haha but I think I
contributed involuntarily to the stereotype that all gringos are rich,
stuck up, and racist. I felt sad about that. The guy probably hates
Mormons now too. I want Christ to come and fix everything in the
world. I've never wanted that as badly as I want it now. How great
will be that day!
Well that's kind of a sad story to end on, but this week went better
overall! Thank you guys for everything. Thank you for the birthday
wishes and your prayers, I can feel them! I love you guys so much.
More than you know. You're the best.
Elder Austin Tyler
A lesson learned
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 12:32 PM
Hey err'body!
Sounds like Utah was fast, but fun! Summer is almost over! I feel
like your guys' lives go faster than mine does. That's weird.
So Alex Leonard told me that Troy is an AP. I totally called that.
Is it true? How in the world is he doing?? I haven't heard from him
in forever! Haha I miss him and I can't wait to see him.
Sounds like a lot of big stuff is coming up. Haley with school and
your half marathon (make sure you definitely change your schedule.
SpeightHausse might be a good one to keep. She's easy and that would
be a nice break during the tough schedule you've got. Just a
suggestion). Brock with the new semester. Mom with seminary. Dad
with strap plan. And then me coming home haha! Yes, time is flying
that fast.
Sounds like fishing was fun! In which canyon did you guys go fishing?
Haley, good luck with your half marathon!
Mom, it sounds like you're studying up a storm. Don't you love it the
more you do it? At least that's how I am sometimes. Good luck with
all of that, it'll be great! YOU will be great! I know it!
Well this week was kinda crazy. I got to see all my buddies from the
MTC group. They're in our neighbor zone. It was so great to see
them. We had a conference on Wednesday. President got everyone
really fired up about using the temple open house and dedication as a
way to get the work moving along. Just some statistical information:
when President Maravilla came, the mission baptized 60 in the month of
August. When he came in he put a goal to baptize 250 every month.
Everyone thought he was nuts. In May and June of this year we
baptized about 150. July: 171. Haha it truly is phenomenal what he's
done to help this place. I feel so blessed to be working with him.
During the conference, we got a quick break and I went to talk to the
APs about the stuff that happened last week. They told me to talk to
President. So I went and explained everything that happened. I
explained that the kids that got baptized were not ready, and I knew
that. But then I explained that my zone leaders told me that we
should baptize them to reach the goal because that's what he
(President) wanted us to do. They then told me that he (President)
told them specifically that we should baptize the kids. He looked at
me and said, 'even if I had said that, you knew they weren't ready and
should have held your character in doing what you knew was right. I
didn't give them permission. You are a leader. You've learned a
powerful lesson.' Then he smiled and clapped me on the shoulder haha.
I felt relieved to know that what I had been feeling was right, but
then I felt foolish for not being more steadfast in what I knew was
right. I'm not happy with my zone leaders.
Luckily, the kids are still excited about the gospel, and we're still
working with the parents.
This week was incredibly difficult. I kept thinking, all of this is
just opposition, something good is on the way! But it just kept
getting more difficult. I was trying to coordinate a blood donation
for an investigator's dying mother and nothing was working out. I
kept making phone calls while trying to take care of district
responsibilities. It was all going downhill and the district wasn't
doing well. After all the phonecalls stopped, I just sat there dazed.
My comp had long gone to bed. It was all just too much. I'm treated
like a zone leader, but I have to take care of my fledgling companion
and look out for the other elders in my district, some of which aren't
too motivated right now. It was just too much. After sitting there
for a bit I went to my bed to pray. I went one by one with each
problem and just prayed it all out. I closed the prayer and waited to
listen. That moment of listening made it all better. Heavenly Father
listens to our prayers and I love Him. He knows everything.
Everything.
The day after that was better, I think it was just my attitude and
realizing that I can't change the world. I can't obligate people to
work. I can't force a baptism. But there is a lot I can be doing to
guide people and help motivate them.
Speaking of which, how do you motivate someone who knows what they
should be doing, knows the blessings involved (as well as
consequences), and simply lacks desire? How can that desire be
sparked or ignited? I need some help there.
We got the confidence of our bishop back! Haha we bought a watermelon
and I carried it a mile or so to their house (that thing weighed more
than my backpack). We showed up at their house and I told them I
brought our fast offering for the month haha! The bishop's wife
looked confused. I set the watermelon on their table and explained it
was a gift. They started laughing and said thank you so much elders!
And then we shared a message with them. It was cool and it's a relief
to have their confidence again.
Well, I gotta write President. It was a tough week, but things are
getting better! The Lord is with me and I've learned so much in such
a short amount of time. I love you guys so much!
Oh, I came up with birthday ideas haha. My watch is starting to fall
apart, I can buy one here, but I feel like I don't have any money. I
hate asking for money, but I guess it's my birthday. I just feel bad
because Mom already sent a package.
Mom, I love you and I want to write you a letter. I'm going to start
that soon. Dad, Brock, Aubrey, and Haley, I love you too. So much!
Have an awesome week and good luck with everything!
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Monday, August 1, 2011
A Hard Week
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: Here Comes August...
Hey!
Brock and Aubrey! You won a 40" TV! Haha that's so awesome! And
Aubrey, that's weird to hear about cute ducks. I see a lot of ducks
here. They all have leprosy. And I watched one eat a dead rat
yesterday. No joke. Don't buy a duck haha. And thanks for the
update on Aubrey Evans, I need to write her! The picture was
funny, does she know you're stalking her facebook? Creeeepers haha
Brock, do you work out regularly? That's something that always helps
me fix my sleeping patterns. And you are too a missionary! Your
calling never ends. You're no longer a full-time missionary, but your
are a representative of Christ at all times! Now that you don't have
the stress of being a full-time missionary in Germany, I feel like
missionary work could be more fun and carefree, but still important.
The year mark was weird. Haha no, I didn't burn socks, but we did eat
cake. You and Aubrey sound really blessed. It seems like there are
always challenges, but you guys have a lot going for you. I'm always
happy for you guys. You've overcome a lot of stuff. And I look
forward to watching moovies on your new TV :D
Haley, you and your friends are soo cool! You guys always seem to do
something fun. And your new kicks are sickk. I approve. Haha and
your poem was deep, but I liked it. You should check out my Mormon
facebook thingy. I made one a few months ago. They want all the
missionaries to have one. I made it really fast when I was in Champe,
so I don't even remember what I wrote. Tell me what you think.
Mom, what you said about the word 'remember' hit me. I'll
explain more in a minute, but basically, I forgot a lot of things this
week. Thank you so much for the package you're sending. I feel so
spoiled.
That's weird about the smoke alarms and stuff going off the other
night. I don't like nighttime like I used to, weird things happen. I
hope you guys have fun in Utah. Tell everyone I say hi!
Dad, even though nothing particularly eventful happened, your letters
are never boring. The year mark is a weird time. I still feel
new.
Tecun Uman is very flat. There are mountains in the distance, but
they're usually covered by clouds. There's a lot of things that have
changed in the last couple years, thanks to the drug lord mayor
pumping a bunch of money into renovation projects. Ironic to think
about. The train doesn't come through anymore. The biggest thing is
the crossing into Mexico. Lots of people work there and make a lot of
money. The other people who have a lot of money earn it illegally. I
meet a lot of immigrants. It's weird. Some love me, some don't.
My comp, the area, the zone, the ward. Ohh what to say haha...
My companion, Elder Cartagena, is from Honduras. He grew up in the
church, but his father left home a long time ago. He and his mom have
been through a lot together. He has three siblings who are all
married. He's from the Ceiba, in the northern coast of Honduras.
He's struggling. He was trained by a guy that doesn't work well.
They developed a lot of interesting habits. His trainer left
mid-training to serve in the mission office. I still don't understand
that. Elder Cartagena is great with people and is really good at
soccer. Lots of people think he's a gringo because he's black. Haha
he thinks it's funny. He's a fun guy, but he knows the area and the
members better than I do. That combined with being trained by a goof
off does not help me in my position. He doesn't like to work. I'm
trying to help him. I'm tired of being the only one to contact, the
only one to clean, fill out the area book, etc. Those are such little
things, but I get to bed so late, and wake up early to get it all in.
That's how it's been almost the entire mission. I'm tired.
Haha this week was so hard. I had some really dark dreams and woke up
in the middle of the night scared to death feeling like people were
watching me sleep. Satan is real and he hates me. Haha that has been
established. On top of that, our zone leaders have been acting so
childish. When I came here, President told me specifically help the
zone leaders. I feel like the zone, even though it's so small, just
doesn't have much direction. So I'm giving some. I softly rebuked
everyone (in a loving, motivational way) for not doing what they're
supposed to do. Thankfully the Spirit was present and we're all still
good friends. But I don't like doing that. I hate doing that.
Having to be direct and bold with people is so hard for me. And I've
had to do it a lot lately. I shy away from it and then I feel weak.
I feel like there's such a thin line between boldness and
overbearance. I don't feel prideful, but others are so quick to judge
leadership. It's tough ha.
On the bright side, we had a baptism this week! We're teaching the
rest of the family now, and it should lead to more great stuff this
coming month. But it all felt so rushed, so pressured by our zone
leaders. Our bishop (who I absolutely respect and look up to) got
upset with us. I failed to remember to do some things that I should
have done way ahead of time. We had baptismal clothes and my comp
told me we had everything. We got to the baptism and he informs me
that we didn't get shirts. I didn't know what to say. Luckily, we
got some fairly quickly. It was a baptismal service combined with the
zone leaders' ward, and they showed up 45 minutes late. The bishop
pulled me aside and asked me what in the world was going on. I didn't
know what to say. But I just told him the truth and he reprehended me
a bit. Later on my comp gave the bishop some attitude. I wanted to
smack my companion. Haha I didn't. But I corrected him.
Bah! Thank you for letting me vent to you guys. Really, it was just
a hard week and I'm excited for August. It'll be an awesome month.
We're teaching a lot of families. They all just need to get married
(and most of them don't have papers, which are required to get
married). And the ones that are married aren't progressing! Haha so
frustrating. But at least we're teaching and finding! I feel so
blessed in that respect. Thank you guys for everything. I love you
each so much. Brock, I love you. Aubrey, I love you. Haley, I love
you. Dad, I love you. Mom, I love you. Thank you for writing me.
It's always such a boost to start the new week. Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Subject: Re: Here Comes August...
Hey!
Brock and Aubrey! You won a 40" TV! Haha that's so awesome! And
Aubrey, that's weird to hear about cute ducks. I see a lot of ducks
here. They all have leprosy. And I watched one eat a dead rat
yesterday. No joke. Don't buy a duck haha. And thanks for the
update on Aubrey Evans, I need to write her! The picture was
funny, does she know you're stalking her facebook? Creeeepers haha
Brock, do you work out regularly? That's something that always helps
me fix my sleeping patterns. And you are too a missionary! Your
calling never ends. You're no longer a full-time missionary, but your
are a representative of Christ at all times! Now that you don't have
the stress of being a full-time missionary in Germany, I feel like
missionary work could be more fun and carefree, but still important.
The year mark was weird. Haha no, I didn't burn socks, but we did eat
cake. You and Aubrey sound really blessed. It seems like there are
always challenges, but you guys have a lot going for you. I'm always
happy for you guys. You've overcome a lot of stuff. And I look
forward to watching moovies on your new TV :D
Haley, you and your friends are soo cool! You guys always seem to do
something fun. And your new kicks are sickk. I approve. Haha and
your poem was deep, but I liked it. You should check out my Mormon
facebook thingy. I made one a few months ago. They want all the
missionaries to have one. I made it really fast when I was in Champe,
so I don't even remember what I wrote. Tell me what you think.
Mom, what you said about the word 'remember' hit me. I'll
explain more in a minute, but basically, I forgot a lot of things this
week. Thank you so much for the package you're sending. I feel so
spoiled.
That's weird about the smoke alarms and stuff going off the other
night. I don't like nighttime like I used to, weird things happen. I
hope you guys have fun in Utah. Tell everyone I say hi!
Dad, even though nothing particularly eventful happened, your letters
are never boring. The year mark is a weird time. I still feel
new.
Tecun Uman is very flat. There are mountains in the distance, but
they're usually covered by clouds. There's a lot of things that have
changed in the last couple years, thanks to the drug lord mayor
pumping a bunch of money into renovation projects. Ironic to think
about. The train doesn't come through anymore. The biggest thing is
the crossing into Mexico. Lots of people work there and make a lot of
money. The other people who have a lot of money earn it illegally. I
meet a lot of immigrants. It's weird. Some love me, some don't.
My comp, the area, the zone, the ward. Ohh what to say haha...
My companion, Elder Cartagena, is from Honduras. He grew up in the
church, but his father left home a long time ago. He and his mom have
been through a lot together. He has three siblings who are all
married. He's from the Ceiba, in the northern coast of Honduras.
He's struggling. He was trained by a guy that doesn't work well.
They developed a lot of interesting habits. His trainer left
mid-training to serve in the mission office. I still don't understand
that. Elder Cartagena is great with people and is really good at
soccer. Lots of people think he's a gringo because he's black. Haha
he thinks it's funny. He's a fun guy, but he knows the area and the
members better than I do. That combined with being trained by a goof
off does not help me in my position. He doesn't like to work. I'm
trying to help him. I'm tired of being the only one to contact, the
only one to clean, fill out the area book, etc. Those are such little
things, but I get to bed so late, and wake up early to get it all in.
That's how it's been almost the entire mission. I'm tired.
Haha this week was so hard. I had some really dark dreams and woke up
in the middle of the night scared to death feeling like people were
watching me sleep. Satan is real and he hates me. Haha that has been
established. On top of that, our zone leaders have been acting so
childish. When I came here, President told me specifically help the
zone leaders. I feel like the zone, even though it's so small, just
doesn't have much direction. So I'm giving some. I softly rebuked
everyone (in a loving, motivational way) for not doing what they're
supposed to do. Thankfully the Spirit was present and we're all still
good friends. But I don't like doing that. I hate doing that.
Having to be direct and bold with people is so hard for me. And I've
had to do it a lot lately. I shy away from it and then I feel weak.
I feel like there's such a thin line between boldness and
overbearance. I don't feel prideful, but others are so quick to judge
leadership. It's tough ha.
On the bright side, we had a baptism this week! We're teaching the
rest of the family now, and it should lead to more great stuff this
coming month. But it all felt so rushed, so pressured by our zone
leaders. Our bishop (who I absolutely respect and look up to) got
upset with us. I failed to remember to do some things that I should
have done way ahead of time. We had baptismal clothes and my comp
told me we had everything. We got to the baptism and he informs me
that we didn't get shirts. I didn't know what to say. Luckily, we
got some fairly quickly. It was a baptismal service combined with the
zone leaders' ward, and they showed up 45 minutes late. The bishop
pulled me aside and asked me what in the world was going on. I didn't
know what to say. But I just told him the truth and he reprehended me
a bit. Later on my comp gave the bishop some attitude. I wanted to
smack my companion. Haha I didn't. But I corrected him.
Bah! Thank you for letting me vent to you guys. Really, it was just
a hard week and I'm excited for August. It'll be an awesome month.
We're teaching a lot of families. They all just need to get married
(and most of them don't have papers, which are required to get
married). And the ones that are married aren't progressing! Haha so
frustrating. But at least we're teaching and finding! I feel so
blessed in that respect. Thank you guys for everything. I love you
each so much. Brock, I love you. Aubrey, I love you. Haley, I love
you. Dad, I love you. Mom, I love you. Thank you for writing me.
It's always such a boost to start the new week. Have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler
Monday, July 25, 2011
A couple of letters out of order
Just an FYI, I posted the last two letters (with correct dates on them) out of order.
M.T.
M.T.
Wide array of perceptions about America
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
America! Haha my home! As I think about the states, I think about
all the perceptions people have here. I mean, I of course remember it
for myself and all of it's greatness and also its flaws, but people
here all look at America with a wide array of perceptions. It's
interesting. This week we talked to a man that tried to explain to us
that America is the beast that is destroying the world. Another asked
us if it's true that all the food is full of vitamins and that's why
everyone is so strong and healthy and beautiful. Others have told us
their experiences from when they worked there (many in Colorado) and
how they absolutely loved it. They tell how they had to work hard,
but they truly enjoyed the time they had there. Some were there
legally, but most were there illegally. One guy was there legally and
messed up. He got a DUI and had to come back. It's so interesting to
think about the impact that America has on the rest of the world. I,
in my prideful and experienced point of view, can see the blessings
that have come to this place as a result of my homeland. Sometimes
I'm hated for being a 'gringo' and other times I'm loved for it.
Regardless, I feel tremendously blessed for having lived my life in
the states and also for having seen a contrast outside.
Today we watched 'Rio', an animated movie, and afterwards played the
National Anthem. Tonight, we're having a BBQ at our zone leaders'
house. Elder Lillywhite made fudge for the occasion haha. It should
be a good time.
Aubrey, I loved the pictures. Thank you for sending them. And if
you're ever having a rough time with all that goes on, give 'Swim' by
Jack's Mannequin a listen. That one always picks me up. Know that
you are included in my daily prayers along with the entire family. I
love you too!
Brock, your emails are always so epic. They make me so excited for
the future. It's very random and ironic that you mentioned chess. I
was sitting on a 2-hour bus ride this week thinking and started
thinking about chess. I asked myself what kind of a chess piece I
would be if I could be a chess piece (weird thought, I know, don't
judge me). I then thought about how I would totally be a rook. The
rook just sits and watches for awhile and isn't used right off the bat
(typically). Whenever I use it early, I lose it. But if I wait to
use it, I can usually use it very effectively. I felt like in life, I
usually wait and watch. Then I come into play and get these random
and big opportunities to participate and make a difference. Whenever
I play chess, I wait to use the rook and it's usually one of the most
effective finishing pieces. But sometimes it's never used, like a
back up. But I can apply that to school, student council, sports, the
mission, BYU, and all sorts of things in my life. I dunno, random
thought. Haha I'm weird.
Your gun sounds sick btw. I want to go shooting. And camping. Shoomping.
Haley, your poem is off the heezy. I loved it. Sounds like you're
staying way busy. I love your spiritual thoughts and I love how you
went ahead and used the names that you received from Jan. Where is
Jordan Packham going? Oh and Homecoming sounds like it has the
potential to be pretty siiickkkk.
Dad, sounds like life is kinda crazy still. Lot's of interesting
stuff at work and with the whole house(s) situation. And I'm with
you, it's crazy that a year ago we were just kickin it at Margaret and
Bert's and up at Sundance. I loved that vacation! Tell Grandad and
Uncles Craig and Bruce I say hello! Also, all the hopes and plans
about getting a home in the mountains... If you think about it, ten
years ago we were in Indiana. As much as I loved Indiana, I am so
happy and grateful that we moved to Colorado. The fact that we live
there and have the mountains so close is the coolest thing in the
world. Fort Collins is the bomb. And I'm way excited for the new
house and everything! I hope all goes well with it.
Mom, I do feel the prayers. Thank you so much. And thank you for
getting that box together and everything! And I loved what you shared
about the baseball game and your childhood. I love hearing/reading
things like that!
So this past week was a little nuts. Elder Maurer called us on Monday
afternoon and informed us we would be receiving a new elder in
Champerico. We asked him when. He laughed and said they were on
their way! Haha gosh. We rearranged the whole house and cleaned it.
Our house was small for two people. Now we're a trio! It's been fun,
but kind of crazy. Elder Haws is a cool guy. He's from Mesa,
Arizona. Even though he grew up in the heat, he sweats as much as I
do haha. Even he thinks it's hot here.
Being in a trio is interesting, I would explain more if I had more time.
Last week we had another conference with President! It was the best
one thus far. He introduced the new focus of the mission. Finding,
teaching, and baptizing with members. That's been the focus all
along, but now he wants us to get the members to do all of that
without us. He told us to ask the branch president and the priesthood
holders of our areas how long it's been since they've baptized last.
He said many of them have never baptized (which is true). He
explained that most priesthood holders rarely use the precious keys of
baptism outside of their missions. That needs to change. It was cool
to hear him speak as always.
This week was tough! Having Elder Haws come was a cool change, but I
feel bad that his first week in the field was so difficult. We only
had three new investigators and we were so down about it. Then our
zone leaders congratulated us for having the most new investigators in
the whole zone! Sounds like it was a tough week for the entire
mission. Satan is working hard. But I know that the Lord has huge
plans in store for the coming month(s). I love the work! The coolest
thing that happened is yesterday we broke the attendance record since
being here in Champerico. 52 were at church! Still only five
priesthood holders though. That's gonna change though.
I love you guys and hope all is well! Have an awesome week, you're
the best. Thank you so much for your emails. Love you!
Elder Austin Tyler
Subject: Re: Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
America! Haha my home! As I think about the states, I think about
all the perceptions people have here. I mean, I of course remember it
for myself and all of it's greatness and also its flaws, but people
here all look at America with a wide array of perceptions. It's
interesting. This week we talked to a man that tried to explain to us
that America is the beast that is destroying the world. Another asked
us if it's true that all the food is full of vitamins and that's why
everyone is so strong and healthy and beautiful. Others have told us
their experiences from when they worked there (many in Colorado) and
how they absolutely loved it. They tell how they had to work hard,
but they truly enjoyed the time they had there. Some were there
legally, but most were there illegally. One guy was there legally and
messed up. He got a DUI and had to come back. It's so interesting to
think about the impact that America has on the rest of the world. I,
in my prideful and experienced point of view, can see the blessings
that have come to this place as a result of my homeland. Sometimes
I'm hated for being a 'gringo' and other times I'm loved for it.
Regardless, I feel tremendously blessed for having lived my life in
the states and also for having seen a contrast outside.
Today we watched 'Rio', an animated movie, and afterwards played the
National Anthem. Tonight, we're having a BBQ at our zone leaders'
house. Elder Lillywhite made fudge for the occasion haha. It should
be a good time.
Aubrey, I loved the pictures. Thank you for sending them. And if
you're ever having a rough time with all that goes on, give 'Swim' by
Jack's Mannequin a listen. That one always picks me up. Know that
you are included in my daily prayers along with the entire family. I
love you too!
Brock, your emails are always so epic. They make me so excited for
the future. It's very random and ironic that you mentioned chess. I
was sitting on a 2-hour bus ride this week thinking and started
thinking about chess. I asked myself what kind of a chess piece I
would be if I could be a chess piece (weird thought, I know, don't
judge me). I then thought about how I would totally be a rook. The
rook just sits and watches for awhile and isn't used right off the bat
(typically). Whenever I use it early, I lose it. But if I wait to
use it, I can usually use it very effectively. I felt like in life, I
usually wait and watch. Then I come into play and get these random
and big opportunities to participate and make a difference. Whenever
I play chess, I wait to use the rook and it's usually one of the most
effective finishing pieces. But sometimes it's never used, like a
back up. But I can apply that to school, student council, sports, the
mission, BYU, and all sorts of things in my life. I dunno, random
thought. Haha I'm weird.
Your gun sounds sick btw. I want to go shooting. And camping. Shoomping.
Haley, your poem is off the heezy. I loved it. Sounds like you're
staying way busy. I love your spiritual thoughts and I love how you
went ahead and used the names that you received from Jan. Where is
Jordan Packham going? Oh and Homecoming sounds like it has the
potential to be pretty siiickkkk.
Dad, sounds like life is kinda crazy still. Lot's of interesting
stuff at work and with the whole house(s) situation. And I'm with
you, it's crazy that a year ago we were just kickin it at Margaret and
Bert's and up at Sundance. I loved that vacation! Tell Grandad and
Uncles Craig and Bruce I say hello! Also, all the hopes and plans
about getting a home in the mountains... If you think about it, ten
years ago we were in Indiana. As much as I loved Indiana, I am so
happy and grateful that we moved to Colorado. The fact that we live
there and have the mountains so close is the coolest thing in the
world. Fort Collins is the bomb. And I'm way excited for the new
house and everything! I hope all goes well with it.
Mom, I do feel the prayers. Thank you so much. And thank you for
getting that box together and everything! And I loved what you shared
about the baseball game and your childhood. I love hearing/reading
things like that!
So this past week was a little nuts. Elder Maurer called us on Monday
afternoon and informed us we would be receiving a new elder in
Champerico. We asked him when. He laughed and said they were on
their way! Haha gosh. We rearranged the whole house and cleaned it.
Our house was small for two people. Now we're a trio! It's been fun,
but kind of crazy. Elder Haws is a cool guy. He's from Mesa,
Arizona. Even though he grew up in the heat, he sweats as much as I
do haha. Even he thinks it's hot here.
Being in a trio is interesting, I would explain more if I had more time.
Last week we had another conference with President! It was the best
one thus far. He introduced the new focus of the mission. Finding,
teaching, and baptizing with members. That's been the focus all
along, but now he wants us to get the members to do all of that
without us. He told us to ask the branch president and the priesthood
holders of our areas how long it's been since they've baptized last.
He said many of them have never baptized (which is true). He
explained that most priesthood holders rarely use the precious keys of
baptism outside of their missions. That needs to change. It was cool
to hear him speak as always.
This week was tough! Having Elder Haws come was a cool change, but I
feel bad that his first week in the field was so difficult. We only
had three new investigators and we were so down about it. Then our
zone leaders congratulated us for having the most new investigators in
the whole zone! Sounds like it was a tough week for the entire
mission. Satan is working hard. But I know that the Lord has huge
plans in store for the coming month(s). I love the work! The coolest
thing that happened is yesterday we broke the attendance record since
being here in Champerico. 52 were at church! Still only five
priesthood holders though. That's gonna change though.
I love you guys and hope all is well! Have an awesome week, you're
the best. Thank you so much for your emails. Love you!
Elder Austin Tyler
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