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
