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
