Short on time

Hey!
I got so many emails today! Ahhh I love it but I don't have much time
to write. This week was great. A lot of good breakthroughs were made
and I see some good things on the horizon. Mom, Marwin Palea could
use some help. You mentioned putting my name on the temple prayer
roll. Thank you. Could you also put his name in? He's having a
rough time. Thank you for the advice you gave me. Those quotes from
Elder Oaks were very insightful. Thank you. Dad, thank you for your
advice. The experiences from your mission are so helpful. And tell
Virginia I say hello! I'm sad about BYU, but it sounds like it was
such a fun season! Oh, Dad, the open house for the new chapel is such
a good idea, hopefully they can get it done on time. Shoot. I don't
have time to send pictures. I'm sorry! And Haley, thanks for sending
your pictures, looks like some really fun stuff! Thank you, Haley,
for your suggestions as well.
So. This week. Elder Tacam was made District Leader, such a relief.
The District was falling apart and he's doing a good job of figuring
out what needs to be done to fix it. Tuesday we had a conference with
President. I got to see Elder Christian Molina, my buddy from BYU.
He's in my first area! Haha he's loving it and doing really well
there. During the conference we watched Bruce R. McConkie's final
General Conference address before he passed away. It was one of the
most spiritually moving things I've seen. Very powerful. I recommend
watching it. Speaking of which, I am soooo excited for General
Conference! We'll be watching it in the Mazatenango stake center.
All of us gringos will get to watch it in English in our own private
room. I'm so excited. I can't even tell you haha!
Okay, crazy thing happened this week. During a couple of lessons we
had, I felt a little awkward because of how bold Elder Tacam was
toward our investigators. I felt as if he was trying to force them to
keep commitments and stuff. Wednesday night I was praying to know how
to talk to him about it. I felt like I should study a bit about the
topic and then bring it up in companionship inventory. Thursday
morning I studied the concept of being bold without being overbearing.
Then during our companionship inventory that morning, I brought it
up. After Elder Tacam pointed out the things I should work on, I
explained to him how I admire his ability to be bold and direct. But
then I explained that sometimes I feel like we take it overboard. The
fruit of the spirit is love, joy, faith, kindness, patience, etc. I
pointed out a few specific examples of where I felt we were
overbearing. And then I asked him if he thought we were taking it too
far. He told me no, that's how we should be and he will not change.
I did not like his response at all. It made me angry and it hurt my
pride. As soon as I recognized that, however, I began to realize that
maybe I had been too soft in my approach in teaching. Later on that
day I felt the Spirit confirm to me that although Elder Tacam may be a
little bit too bold at times, I had not been bold enough. The reason
the Spirit prompted me to talk to Elder Tacam about it was to help me
realize my own error. Don't get the wrong impression from this that
my companion and I don't get along. This is just one experience that
was a bit different. But I find it interesting how my own pride kept
me from seeing my own error. And I am thankful for that experience.
Although we shouldn't force people to accept our message, we should
not fear to make comfortable lessons. I have more to say, but no
time. Dang! Haha oh well. It was a cool, but tough experience.
I love you guys and it sounds like you're all doing great. Mom, I
haven't gotten your letter yet, but I eagerly look forward to
receiving it this week haha!
Love,
Elder Austin Tyler

Still in Cuyotenango!

Monday, March 21, 2011 11:45 AM

Hey! I didn't have transfers! And neither did my companion! We're
both still here in Cuyotenango.
Haley, I loved your email so much haha! I like the music video in
Denver idea. That would be way fun to do with Austin Eckel! And that
skittle bowling idea is awesome. Haha and yes, dating will probably
be kinda weird until college. But have fun with it and just do
creative stuff with your friends.
Mom, you sound busy, but you sound very happy. And you look so great
in the pictures that Dad sent! I mean, you all look great, but
especially Momma. And I, too, look forward to the Savior's coming.
The world is sooo messed up. As I've struggled with other people not
progressing or accepting our message, I've found joy in the fact that
I have the truth and so does my family. That future is bright and
there is so much to look forward to even though the world is falling
apart.
Dad, you totally should've gone to the second game in Denver. I mean,
you already know that, but I woulda gone haha! That's so exciting
they're in the sweet 16! Ahhhh but they're a year late (or two years
too early haha).
Brock and Aubrey. I love you guys a lot, but I would love you even
more if you wrote me more :D And Aubrey, I still need to get a letter
back to you! I hope you guys are doing great!
Oh! New car! Haha dibs on that when I get home? Nah just kidding... ;)
I'm gonna find a sweet job that pays like 20 bucks an hour and buy a
cool truck. That's my plan anyway. Hahaha right.
This week we put on an activity in a neighborhood where they've had
some of the paranormal activity that's been going on. The assistants
came down with a bunch of equipment to show a couple movies about the
Savior on a big projector. It was awesome that they came down to help
us. We invited 100 families or so. Not many showed up, but we had
about 35 or 40 people in attendance. More than half were
investigators (not members), so that was great. We were hoping for
more, but we got some references and I would say it was somewhat
succesful.
Okay, this next part I need to be careful. Haha or maybe I'll just
tell Mom starting out that I am fine and that trials are an essential
part to the mission and I'm not depressed. The truth is that it's
been a really really hard month and I need suggestions. We've been
able to find a lot of people to teach, but they always end up not
progressing. Our leaders are being really weird about our lack of
success trying to figure out what we're doing wrong and all.
Honestly, we're working hard and doing things right. We're changing
things that we need to improve and we work with the Spirit. I feel
like the Lord would be blessing us for our hard work and our desires
to improve and work by the Spirit. Obviously, there's still a lot
that I need to improve, but I'm working on those things. I talked to
Elder Peugnet (one of the APs) on Friday during the activity we had
and he gave me some good advice. I asked him if the Lord is just
trying our faith and patience still. He said that it could be that,
but he thinks the Lord already knows we have faith and patience. He
explained how we can apply the story of the brother of Jared to our
area. The Lord told the brother of Jared how to construct the barges,
but left it up to him to figure out how to make light. The Lord may
be waiting for us to come up with a plan to put into practice in order
to find His elect. Elder Peugnet told me to be creative, keep doing
what we should be doing, work with members, and present a plan to the
Lord. So this week Elder Tacam and I are trying to come up with new
stuff to apply to the area. We need to be creative. And I would
appreciate your suggestions. Dad, Mom, Brock, Aubrey, and Haley, how
can we be creative in following the Spirit in order to find the Lord's
elect, the one's who will progress and get baptized? What do you guys
think?
It's been hard. And I'm still excited to work every day and get to
it, but I feel like we need to start seeing results. We invited over
20 investigators and less actives to church this week and not a single
one showed up yesterday. It was discouraging. We had a goal to
baptize two families this month and I still have faith that we can
reach that goal, but maybe the Lord wants us to learn something or do
something before we find success. Thank you for your prayers.
There's a reason why I'm still in a good mood and excited to work
despite our lack of results. I can feel your support.
I got a note from Aunt Jan! They're heading our to New Zealand soon,
that's so great!
Well, take care this week and keep having fun with everything. Haley,
I suggest that you cut out one of the clubs you're involved in. You
don't want to get overloaded when Stuco is your responsibility. You
don't want other stuff to drown your focus on that group. As
president of that group, you need to make that your priority. Just a
bit of advice that I learned the hard way. How's track?
Love you guys so much!
Elder Austin Tyler

A great interview with the Mission President

Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 1:48 PM

Family!!!! Thanks for all the awesome news. First of all, Momma, I
didn't get your email last week. But I had the treat of reading two
from you today :)
So transfers are on Wednesday and I don't find out what's going to
happen until tonight. I'm ready for anything I feel like. It'll be
good.
Today we played soccer and volleyball with the whole zone, including
the sisters. It was a good time. It got a little intense and that
was fun, but a bit dangerous haha.
Mom, to answer some of your questions... Studying is still my
favorite time of the day (personal study). I need to work on making
companionship study more enjoyable and effective. Sometimes it feels
like an interview and I don't learn a whole lot. But I'm working on
improving that.
Members are doing well. It's hard not having a chapel in Cuyo. The
attendance fluctuates a lot and the members have a hard time making
visits because the area is so big. A lot of the responsibility falls
on us missionaries. It's tough, but it's good to get to know all of
the members. Last night we visited Luis, the recent convert, and his
family. They're having some really tough trials and I was glad to be
there to help them out. It was really weird though, I felt
spiritually exhausted after that appointment. It was unlike anything
I've ever felt. I felt really stressed for them, but also like there
was hope and all that. It was a heavy appointment, but I feel like we
helped them out.
And Mom, I'm glad you were able to go to the temple. It sounds like
that was a huge boost. Thank you so much for your love and prayers.
I can feel it. And I love you so much. I pray for you daily. I hope
you have a good week :)
Dad, thank you for the banking FYI. I'll keep that in mind, ha I had no idea.
We heard about the earthquake, but I wasn't aware that it was so
devastating. We had tsunami alerts here, but nothing happened.
People were freaking out here in Cuyo even though we are up high and
like 40 miles from the coast.
My buddy, Elder Palea, told me to tell you, Dad, thank you for the
quotes you send. He said, 'Tell your Dad the Hawaiian kid says thanks
for the quotes.' I shared a couple with him and they helped him
a lot this week. Thank you for those.
What you said about ignorance is so true Dad. When there is a lack of
education, it is devastating. A lady tried to explain to me a few
weeks ago that stars are actually giant worms in space. She said she
heard it somewhere and was convinced that I had no idea what I was
talking about when I explained that stars are balls of gas and fire.
And sometimes when we teach people, we ask them if they want to
know if it's all true (leading into the explanation that they can pray
to ask God if it's true). And they tell us that they already know
it's true because we used a couple of verses from the Bible. So then
they aren't willing to keep commitments because they aren't willing to
ask the Lord for a spiritual witness to obtain a testimony. It's
frustrating. And I constantly have to think of how to make lessons
more simple to help appeal to the people we teach who haven't been
taught to think very complexly. It's tough. Sometimes I love them
for it though. Other times I get frustrated. But it makes me
thankful for my education. So thankful.
This week we had interviews with President and it was sooo good.
Hermana Maravilla (the mission mom) reviewed our planners and talked
with us indivudually. She's a really cool lady. The interview was
powerful. President asked me what my most positive attribute is. I
told him it is my desire to always improve. Then he asked my biggest
weakness. I told him patience, oftentimes with myself. He chuckled
haha. Then he told me he wants me to focus on following the spirit.
He said to study and practice it. Then he asked me what attribute I
want to work on. I told him charity because that's what I fasted for
this month. He told me to study it and practice it. He said the
study part is essential in order to understand what I ought to put
into practice. Then he said we learn through practice and that
applies to everything in the gospel as well.
At the end of the interview he congratulated me for my progress with
Spanish and then told me to tell you guys something. He said to tell
you that he is extremely grateful to have me in the mission and he is
very proud of my work. That made me feel good haha.
Haley keep going strong in everything. Seek Heavenly Father's
help in every aspect of your life and he'll help you. Be happy and
have fun!
Brock, you sound like you're doing well. Take it to em at school.
You're a stud. Thanks for making me laugh haha!
I love you guys! Have an awesome week. The Lord loves us more than
we can understand. I have a strong testimony of that. Thanks for
your love and prayers.
Oh snap! I got a letter from Elder Eckel this week! So awesome!
He's doing well. He's safe haha. Ah what a stud.
Love you!
Elder Austin Tyler