Sept. 9, 2013
This week has been a pretty hard week to be honest. Nobody was home from our investigators. There were those who told us to call to schedule an appointment but then never kept the appointment. It doesn't help when you feel like the weight of the whole area rests on your shoulders alone. I do have a companion of course, but he is new as I said and is still learning exactly what is going on and trying to remember everyone. I have had some great experiences these past few days though in receiving inspiration on how to better myself in the work and how to work with the members, during Stake Conference! We also had two miracles happen in receiving two referrals and one of them already wants to come to church! We have yet to contact the other because we received it late last night.
I'm hanging in there alright, I have been praying and seeking the Lord's comfort a whole lot as a trainer of only 5 months. This is definitely something new for me and a challenge. I continually see why we have challenges in our lives. If nothing was a challenge, we would never learn and grow. That is part of God's plan! I'll admit it can be frustrating sometimes, because you really just want to take the easy way out and move on. With this transfer I'm definitely evaluating myself a lot more and seeing how I can better myself without running faster than I can walk. I can be hard on myself a lot and that can be good at times, but I think I can let it get too far too. I definitely hit a breaking down point this past weekend where I just felt it all and was on the verge of tears. Sunday before Conference though I decided to watch Reflections of Christ. I realized I had not been remembering my Savior and all that He's done for me through His infinite Atonement. As soon as I did that and sincerely refocused on Him and prayed to our Father in Heaven, I had the Spirit comfort me as I watched the documentary and slideshow, the DVD contains. God always is watching out for us and will always comfort and reassure us if we just turn to Him and the Savior.
Elder Bowen is a great guy! I'll admit he can get on my nerves at times, but I easily put that aside and refocus on the good about him, well, I do my best, ha ha! We get along though very well and are enjoying our time together. I just want him to talk more with those we see and meet lol. He'll get used to it soon. He's funny and spiritual and serious. I make him laugh more than he makes me laugh so, I'm glad I can do that for him and make his day, ha ha!! When we roleplay, I definitely see the spiritual side of him come out and the spirit is there. I'm having him roleplay a lot because I want to break that social barrier so he's more comfortable talking with others. It's fun, ha ha!
Pdays, we're usually out of the King George area and hang out with the Elders in Fredericksburg. We're never in King George on a PDay because there's nothing to do. We play Gatorball and Bang!We play board games, Yes, mom, I admitted to board games being fun and not boring! Crazy huh? We share food and it's working out well so far, ha ha! Elder Bowen can be kind of picky about what there is to eat and says we need more food but I'm like, we got chicken, rice, stir fry, peas, canned fish, spaghetti, eggs, oatmeal, sandwich stuff, and lots of pasta. Yeah, so I love not having to buy food if we don't need to. He still has time to figure that out because if you do that and don't budget your money it goes bye, bye, bye, ha ha! This is all part of the training right? Elder Bowen and I tease each other a lot and it's well humored tease always. Oh, I'm glad you reminded me with what I have been making to eat, I have learned to make some pretty awesome oatmeal! And most importantly, I have learned or self taught myself how to make a tasty omelet!!!! I used some of the stir fry too, to add in the omelet! So, I DO know there is stuff to eat in the house even though it looks like there isn't because you have to prepare it.
So, another care package? I didn't even think about that! It would be cool to get some more music. Any thing that invites the Spirit! Oh, it would also be cool to get a photo album of some recent family photos of us all over the years and a picture of Kate and Bacon from the fair, well, everyone from the fair! Also, where does our family name come from?
Thank you for the weekly quotes and comfort you send me! They are a great way to start off a new week!!! I love you all!!!!
Love, Elder Austin Mounts
Monday, September 16, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
9/3/13
Well, I will try to write down all of my thoughts with the time I'm given. I sure learned a lot from the Zone Leaders and I'm no longer with them, but I am back in King George with my new companion, Elder Bowen. Guess what? he's fresh from the MTC! Yes, you got it, I'm training! I don't know what the Lord is thinking, but He knows that I'll grow and hopefully Elder Bowen will learn and grow from these weeks we have together. I just don't want to ruin the guy, ha ha. The MTC is the Mom and now I (the trainer) am the Dad. Time to really break this guy in, ha ha. I have to push him sometimes when I say, "Hey let's roleplay!" He's like uhh, I don't want to, but I'll do it when it really happens. Ha Ha, he's not backing out of this one mwahaha! He's a cool Elder!
So, from your email, Alex's and Luke's, it sounds like this Labor Day weekend really was SUPER awesome! BTW, the song Alex says they played that y'all loved, is called "Two Princes" not go ahead now, ha ha! I'm a missionary and I still know things! So, how was Kate's birthday? I'm getting her a card when I can. Everything was closed yesterday:/ but it was still Pday.
So, guess where I took Elder Bowen yesterday? Well, before I start, he's from Orange County, California! Woo!!! I'm still going with not having one Utah companion so far! Not that it matters, it's just kinda cool when half the mission is from Utah! He long boards and is going to be 20 in December! So, I'm his mission Dad but I'm younger, weird right? Anyways, back to where I took Elder Bowen yesterday. I took him to...the ER! He had been coughing up blood with his mucus for two days and it turns out it's bronchitis. The humidity can get so severe to cause the coughing up blood with it. It's not too bad, the doctors said and Elder Bowen is doing great. He's on some antibiotics now though and so far he's still pretty well and a little better.
Thanks for the quotes and the testimonies on well, obedience and staying faithful. It has been a little hard being a trainer. Especially when all of our appointments have fallen through this past week, and when nobody wants to talk to you, and when the weight of being relied on 24/7 to know the area and what's going on gets to you, it's stressful. I keep doing what I believe is the best thing we can do for the day. I just don't want Elder Bowen to be discouraged. This definitely is a learning experience! I'll continue to let you all know how it goes! I love you all! Tell Kate, Happy Birthday for me!!!!
-Elder Austin Mounts
P.S. I met an Elder Nelson, a senior missionary serving in Washington D.C. North Mission. He's from Rexburg, Idaho and came from Idaho Falls. He knows Uncle Glenn!!!! He told me to say hi for him ha ha, small world! Nobody knows a Mounts! Btw, where did our name come from?
Here is a quote:
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this...I can take the next thing that comes along." You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Well, I will try to write down all of my thoughts with the time I'm given. I sure learned a lot from the Zone Leaders and I'm no longer with them, but I am back in King George with my new companion, Elder Bowen. Guess what? he's fresh from the MTC! Yes, you got it, I'm training! I don't know what the Lord is thinking, but He knows that I'll grow and hopefully Elder Bowen will learn and grow from these weeks we have together. I just don't want to ruin the guy, ha ha. The MTC is the Mom and now I (the trainer) am the Dad. Time to really break this guy in, ha ha. I have to push him sometimes when I say, "Hey let's roleplay!" He's like uhh, I don't want to, but I'll do it when it really happens. Ha Ha, he's not backing out of this one mwahaha! He's a cool Elder!
So, from your email, Alex's and Luke's, it sounds like this Labor Day weekend really was SUPER awesome! BTW, the song Alex says they played that y'all loved, is called "Two Princes" not go ahead now, ha ha! I'm a missionary and I still know things! So, how was Kate's birthday? I'm getting her a card when I can. Everything was closed yesterday:/ but it was still Pday.
So, guess where I took Elder Bowen yesterday? Well, before I start, he's from Orange County, California! Woo!!! I'm still going with not having one Utah companion so far! Not that it matters, it's just kinda cool when half the mission is from Utah! He long boards and is going to be 20 in December! So, I'm his mission Dad but I'm younger, weird right? Anyways, back to where I took Elder Bowen yesterday. I took him to...the ER! He had been coughing up blood with his mucus for two days and it turns out it's bronchitis. The humidity can get so severe to cause the coughing up blood with it. It's not too bad, the doctors said and Elder Bowen is doing great. He's on some antibiotics now though and so far he's still pretty well and a little better.
Thanks for the quotes and the testimonies on well, obedience and staying faithful. It has been a little hard being a trainer. Especially when all of our appointments have fallen through this past week, and when nobody wants to talk to you, and when the weight of being relied on 24/7 to know the area and what's going on gets to you, it's stressful. I keep doing what I believe is the best thing we can do for the day. I just don't want Elder Bowen to be discouraged. This definitely is a learning experience! I'll continue to let you all know how it goes! I love you all! Tell Kate, Happy Birthday for me!!!!
-Elder Austin Mounts
P.S. I met an Elder Nelson, a senior missionary serving in Washington D.C. North Mission. He's from Rexburg, Idaho and came from Idaho Falls. He knows Uncle Glenn!!!! He told me to say hi for him ha ha, small world! Nobody knows a Mounts! Btw, where did our name come from?
Here is a quote:
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this...I can take the next thing that comes along." You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt
8/26/13
I'll get straight to the missionary stuff that's been happening this week. I have learned a lot from Elder Braithwaite and Elder Felt! How to begin teaching is one thing that has definitely been emphasized with them and I've been working on. We have only been in King George two days last week, but we were able to have success! We found some potentials on the last door in this neighborhood we were tracting the last hour of the day. They let us in and were super open to hearing what we have to share! We scheduled an appointment for today, because it was late and we didn't have much time. Then on Sunday, yesterday we were able to go on splits, it was Elder Felt and myself. Elder Felt said to me when we started, "There's someone on this street that the Lord has prepared for us. Now it's our job to find them and trust and rely on the spirit and have the faith we need." Well, we did that and we were able to street contact one guy that we kept coming into contact with and he knew who we were and has a Book of Mormon copy! He's open to us stopping by and seems interested in what we have to say. (You can tell when they have no interest.) We also tracted into one family who let us in and it was interesting. We were there for about an hour and a half. They have a hard time when it comes to the Restoration of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. They also aren't too big into denominations. We did share our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. We continued to invite them to pray and read the Book of Mormon, but they were content with where they were at. We walked away however knowing that, that was just a step in preparing them to receive the fullness of the Gospel. Their son also was super interested in what we had to say, so Elder Braithwaite and Felt will be making contact with them again later on.
I get my new companion this week as you said Dad. I could be training. There will be 144 trainers this next transfer, because we had 37 new missionaries last transfer and 35 this coming transfer. It's something like that. I'm excited and nervous if I do train because I'm still learning the area and my last companion was easy to get along with, but he was getting a little trunky. So, I will be learning the area still when this new companion of mine gets here. Well, today we will be playing BANG! with some other Elders in our Zone and I'm so excited! I will keep you posted on this next week too!!! Miracles are happening everyday!
I wish Luke would email me about Choir Retreat too! How are Kate and Ellie doing?
Oh, the funniest thing about being with the Zone Leaders is observing how they get along and work as companions and it is HILARIOUS to watch sometimes as we plan XD. The weather has been miserably hot! I hate humidity, I miss the west side and the mountains!!! Trees are good, but that's all I see! I like trees AND mountains! Btw, where does our last name come from? I will have to send you a postcard sometime I guess, I don't know what to look for. Like a homemade one? (Ha, Ha)
Tell Shaini (Candland) congratulations for me! I had no idea she was going on a mission, as well as Dayna! Tell them both congrats! Thanks for the quote Dad, I love that movie! My goals for this week, I guess every week is to memorize a quote so I could include that! Grandma Mounts sends me monthly quotes in her letters and I love them, they're fantastic! I'm working on memorizing them! Don't forget to send me those email addresses I asked for please and thank you! Also Kate and her pig Bacon!
Love all of you guys!
Elder Austin Mounts
I'll get straight to the missionary stuff that's been happening this week. I have learned a lot from Elder Braithwaite and Elder Felt! How to begin teaching is one thing that has definitely been emphasized with them and I've been working on. We have only been in King George two days last week, but we were able to have success! We found some potentials on the last door in this neighborhood we were tracting the last hour of the day. They let us in and were super open to hearing what we have to share! We scheduled an appointment for today, because it was late and we didn't have much time. Then on Sunday, yesterday we were able to go on splits, it was Elder Felt and myself. Elder Felt said to me when we started, "There's someone on this street that the Lord has prepared for us. Now it's our job to find them and trust and rely on the spirit and have the faith we need." Well, we did that and we were able to street contact one guy that we kept coming into contact with and he knew who we were and has a Book of Mormon copy! He's open to us stopping by and seems interested in what we have to say. (You can tell when they have no interest.) We also tracted into one family who let us in and it was interesting. We were there for about an hour and a half. They have a hard time when it comes to the Restoration of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. They also aren't too big into denominations. We did share our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. We continued to invite them to pray and read the Book of Mormon, but they were content with where they were at. We walked away however knowing that, that was just a step in preparing them to receive the fullness of the Gospel. Their son also was super interested in what we had to say, so Elder Braithwaite and Felt will be making contact with them again later on.
I get my new companion this week as you said Dad. I could be training. There will be 144 trainers this next transfer, because we had 37 new missionaries last transfer and 35 this coming transfer. It's something like that. I'm excited and nervous if I do train because I'm still learning the area and my last companion was easy to get along with, but he was getting a little trunky. So, I will be learning the area still when this new companion of mine gets here. Well, today we will be playing BANG! with some other Elders in our Zone and I'm so excited! I will keep you posted on this next week too!!! Miracles are happening everyday!
I wish Luke would email me about Choir Retreat too! How are Kate and Ellie doing?
Oh, the funniest thing about being with the Zone Leaders is observing how they get along and work as companions and it is HILARIOUS to watch sometimes as we plan XD. The weather has been miserably hot! I hate humidity, I miss the west side and the mountains!!! Trees are good, but that's all I see! I like trees AND mountains! Btw, where does our last name come from? I will have to send you a postcard sometime I guess, I don't know what to look for. Like a homemade one? (Ha, Ha)
Tell Shaini (Candland) congratulations for me! I had no idea she was going on a mission, as well as Dayna! Tell them both congrats! Thanks for the quote Dad, I love that movie! My goals for this week, I guess every week is to memorize a quote so I could include that! Grandma Mounts sends me monthly quotes in her letters and I love them, they're fantastic! I'm working on memorizing them! Don't forget to send me those email addresses I asked for please and thank you! Also Kate and her pig Bacon!
Love all of you guys!
Elder Austin Mounts
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