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
