January 23, 2017

Hi all!

This email is gonna be really sparse because that is this area .. sparse. Literally all we do is tract all day, everyday. So not much to write about it. It's so slow and no one wants to listen, they are all rich white people who are either Catholic, nondenominational, or don't want church. Plus the area gets tracted out every 6 months so they know who the missionaries are. I feel my mission going by so fast and I feel an urgency to do everything I can and it's tough when I feel like not much is going on here.  So it's been a really rough week, its been hard. But the Mission has been promised by Elder Ballard that if we talk to 20 people a day we will see our teaching pool increase. So we just work hard, be obedient and rely on the promised blessings. 

Okay enough pity party- I'm actually super excited for my birthday, we have a worldwide mission broadcast that day and the mission is watching it at the Visitor Center! So it's like a whole mission party! So I'm gonna go get lunch with all the buds after it! Then the Joyce's are having us for dinner that night! I'm pretty stoked. The Joyce's are great, and the ward really is full of awesome members, so we get taken good care of. The Joyce's have two sons age 17 & 15 and I just hit it off with them! The 17 year old had been in a kinda grumpy teen phase and we clicked and she was just amazed how much he talks with me. I told her I'd get him out in a split with us before I leave the area. Plus this week we have Zone Conference which is combined with SS Zone, so I'll get to see some old friends from there!

Thanks for the birthday stuff in advance and thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Things are hard, but that's how we learn. I was frustrated early this week that I haven't had a "fun" transfer for a while, but I realized that's not how I'll learn plus not really what the mission is all about. So we will hit the pavement this week and hope to see some miracles.

Love you all so much!

Austin 

 So Daisy is 19 and graduated the same year as me. She was dating a member who left on his mission. She's basically known the church is true for like 2 years and get this... she went to BYU Idaho last year! She's taking online classes through there right now. She's trying to get it all on good terms with her parents cause they don't want her to get baptized. But we have seen progress and I think she will get baptized really soon. 

Me and Elder Gregson