Austin's Missionary Journal

  Hey, Everybody! So, first off, wow that sounded like one heck  of  a trip, Mom! The view looks cool and all, but I think I'm gonna have to agree with Robin on the fact that I like camping  in  the cold climate better. No scorpians, no sheer cliffs, and no human-baking temperatures. But I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves and that nobody got hurt. And haha, yeah, I get the joke, but I don't think I'll ever get a Toyota Tacoma. I'm not a big truck fan. But I am a fan  of  that blue hair, Krista!  It may be just cause I'm an anime fan and they have a wide assortment  of  hair colors there, but I think it looks cool. The funny thing though is that not too long ago, I was contemplating dying my hair  in  time for Halloween next year after I'm home  from  the mission. I think I'd go with a dark, crimson red color. What do you think? Would that look good on me? Oh! and speaking  of  home, I'm excited to see Finding D...

  Hey, everyone! So, the busy week is over and I have a ton  of  pictures I want to share, as well as memories to accompany all  of  them. I'm not sure if I'll be able to touch on everything. Heck, I even made a list  in  my planner, just so I wouldn't forget to tell about anything. That's how eventful this week was. First  of  all, Zion's Camp. It's basically like a daycamp the Tacoma Mission gets to use once a year for mission-wide zone conferences. Its intended purpose is a young women's camp, but hey, it was still fun with a bunch  of  goober missionaries!  Anyways, there were a few fun activities we did while we were there, just a few challenges here and there. One  of  them was the trust fall, where which somebody gets up on a tall stump, tells the others below him that he's falling, and then they fall backwards and have everyone else catch him. Another event was The Great Wall, a 10 ft wooden wall that we had t...

 Hey Everybody! It's great to see so many emails  in  my inbox today. I got to hear a lot about what's going on back home! Honestly, it's nice to hear even the small things, like Kyler playing on drums, or how the kids are watching Avatar (which is one  of  the best t.v. shows EVAR!!!) It also reminds me how much everything will be changed by the time I return home  in  2017. It's mind-boggling! Dude, Eric, I like your apartment! It looks great! And hey, shout-out to Benni. I'll be sure to keep you on my list I email to. But yeah, this week was pretty average. Talk to some people over here, hand out a Book  of  Mormon over there. Actually, it turns out  in  my area there's and intersection with three roads called Thisa Way, Thata Way, and Nowhere Ln. Elder Jensen and I plan on stopping by there soon and seeing if we can take a picture at the roadsign there. XD This week is actually going to be a super busy one. Tonight we're going t...

  Ugh.... Hot weather sucks!! This has been the hotest weather I've ever felt  in  my life... maybe. It might have to do something with the fact that I'm out knocking doors and not just kicking it  in  an air conditioned home. Speaking  of  which, our apartment, like most buildings  in  older parts  of  Washington, doesn't have AC, including our apartment! Yesterday was the worst! It got up to 100 degrees, maybe 105 during the worst part  of  the day. The week beforehand had been a consistant 80-90 range, but yesterday just took the cake. Even with all the windows on and fans blowing, I didn't get to sleep 'till about Midnight last night because I was sweating too much. But I'm not going to complain too much, mostly because I heard it was even worse down south  in  Arizona. However, I will say I miss dry heat.  In  Utah, the shade is all you need to beat the heat. Out here, the humidity follows you into...

  HEEEEEy EEverYYbOOOdy... On that note, it's great to hear the cruise was a blast and everyone had fun, even if it seemed Dad got the short stick a few times. It still looked fun, and I kind  of  miss being able to swim or be on the water. Oh, well. At this rate, the time I have left will be gone before I know it. Today marks the start  of  a new transfer for me. But I'll be staying here  in  Mountain View for another six weeks with Elder Jensen. Neither  of  us are going anywhere, so that's great. Since my trainer, Elder Hansen, is flying home tomorrow (ohmygosh,where' dthepastsevenmonthsgo!Idon' tevenknow!), that leaves Jensen as my favorite companion still  in  the mission. So,  Yay ! Anyways, I'm excited to be out here for longer than my past areas, both because I love the people and the area out here, but also because I don't have nearly enough pictures  of  this place yet... So you know how I mentioned last wee...

  Letter home, number thirty... out   of   104... strange. So yeah, went to the temple this last week, up at the Seattle Temple (Bellevue, Washington ). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Ben while I was there, but I saw all  of  Seattle Mission's cars parked around the temple parking lot. Apparently, since our bus ran late  in  traffic, Seattle went into a session already, and they got out while we went  in  for ours... but oh well, there's always next year! This week sounds like it's going to be fun. Have fun on your vaction, everyone! (It's basically for everyone, Brandon @ Hayden's, little kids at friends' house, everyone else on cruise, etc.) As for me, this coming week is going to be very busy. We have a few scheduled appointments with two  of  our investigators, and we've got plans to do service for three different members throughout the week, so it should be fun. Not to mention it's the last week  of  the transfer...

Everything going on back home sounds super exciting! There was a lot to read about this week, which I'm super thankful for. I got emails  from  Mom, Dad, Krista, Robin, and Ben, and I've found it's so much more fun when you get to see a big picture surrounding everybody else's lives. Glad to see your first week has gone well, Ben! Though I'm surprised that Seattle has as much green up there as we do down here. I guess I just figured your mission was mostly city, seeing as your mission boudaries are so small. Seriously, I looked up your area's size and it's smaller than any  of  my past areas! The one I'm  in  now is about ten times as big! But the most exciting part about this week is the fact that the Mission Temple Trip is tommorrow, and I'll be heading up to Seattle Temple tomorrow morning. But the absolute best part, I think personally, is that Ben says he's heading to the temple tomorrow as well. I'm gonna be keeping an eye out for him, ...