Video Email

9-28-15

Hey everyone! I was just going to send a video for my email today but my mom guilt tripped me into doing more.

M- It's been a good week. A little stressful without a car for a second week, and without investigators but I'm holding up alright. 

I- We had a couple set appointments this week with potential investigators but they all fell through. One of the more promising ones was Dustin Shultz. He reset the appointment for today at seven, so pray it goes through and goes well!

R- Working with members is so important! Despite the fact that we haven't been able to teach any investigators we've had a couple really good conversations with members and have a couple good leads to work with.

A- well... We talked to a whole lot of people. Our key indicators were straight zeros though. Nowhere to go but up! 

C- Elder Timmreck is doing well. He's a really good companion. He's a little shy in lessons but considering he's only been out for a week, he’s had a lot of really good insights. 

L- We will be studying the message of the restoration for twelve weeks. The extra time to study and prepare helps both of us feel more comfortable for when we get to find someone to teach. 

E- We finally get a car this week! Two weeks on foot makes for some sore legs! Ha, now I just wish we could keep the car a little bit longer, but hey, a week is better than nothing. I love you all! Hope you have a great week and I hope you all love General Conference! 

Love Elder Cluster 

Transfers, Training, & Baptism... Oh My!

M- I'm doing great! A little stressed but doing alright! They took my car, all my investigators, and my old companion last Thursday, so it’s back to square one, but we'll get the ball rolling again. Oh! I forgot! I need to tell you all how transfers went! So.. I am staying in Redbridge and Training Elder Timmreck, and Elder Marsden moved into another member’s house in the Stanly ward, and he's training a new missionary over there. There’s been a lot more work in the Stanly Ward over the past six weeks, so elder Marsden and I worked almost only with people from Stanly. Turns out that if you don’t do any work at all in an area for six weeks, there’s not too much there when they split the area, not to mention, they moved two new sets of Elders into the Zone, but didn’t give us any more cars so everyone is down to one week on one week off. Things are picking up though! Like I said, it'll take a second but we'll get things rolling again. 

Good Bye Elder Marsden

Welcome Elder Timmreck

I- All of the Investigators that I have mentioned over the past six weeks have been from Stanly, so I don’t have too much of an update on them. I know Elder Marsden has been able to meet with them though, and they're in good hands with him. In Other news Elder Bylund and I got to go down to Allen England’s baptism together! It was so great! I am so happy for him! It was so perfect. Allen looked happier than ever. 

R- Missionaries always need to talk with EVERYONE they come across! I feel like there’s so many times that I’ve passed people on the street without trying to share the gospel with them. Just four months ago Allen was just a stranger sitting on his front porch. He was a stranger that my companion and I almost went right past. Because we decided to stop and talk, his whole life and eternities to follow have been changed forever. 

A- Back to trying to find new investigators. It'll go well though. We have two appointments with potentials lined up already this week. The Lord will bless us with new people to teach. 

C- Elder Timmreck! What a great companion! He's from Stansbury Utah, He's been out for four days and he's ready to go! He was pretty sick for his first couple days in the field, but he's feeling better by now. 

L- Starting over with the twelve week training program again. I guess I just didn’t get it right the first time because President Vest just keeps making me redo it. It’s great though. You learn something new every time. 

E- Umm, I think that just about covers everything… Thanks for reading! I Hope you all have a great week! Please keep prayin for us! We need it!

Love, Elder Cluster

I'm going to be a Grandpa!

Alrighty everyone! It's been a great week. 

M- I'm doing super well! It's been a great week! Guess what??  Elder Marsden and I both got training calls! My son is having a son straight out of training! I'm going to be a grandpa! My posterity is growing! I am so excited. The only downside is that that means that I won’t be with Elder Marsden anymore. L

I- Our investigators are doing so great! I feel so blessed. First I'll talk about Kym. We had a really good appointment with her on Thursday at the Dyches home. Later that week we had an appointment with her and the Dyches  at the visitor center. Apparently it went pretty well. Ha, we weren't actually there for most of it though. Elder Marsden and I had to go the Trainers Meeting at the same time, so we just let the sister missionaries at the VC take care of them. I think the highlight of the week though was going to the Betty Davies’ baptism. It made me so glad to see John Davies wife join him as a member of the church. On top of that I found out that Allen England is getting baptized this Saturday! It's so great to see the fruits of my labors in past areas finally being harvested. 

R- Time in the field has nothing to do with how good of a missionary you are. It doesn’t matter whether you've been out for two months, or two years! You have the exact same authority, and the exact same right to the guidance of the Holy Ghost. 

A- Our area has been picking up quite a bit in the past couple weeks. It's a good thing too! Elder Marsden and I are thinking that they're leave us both here and one will keep Redbridge and one of us will take Stanly. 

C- Elder Marsden is great as always. He's going to be a great trainer! He's a little nervous but really excited! Man.. I'm going to miss him! Ha, if one of us stays in Stanly we'll still see plenty of each other…. Every Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday. 

L- There is power in inviting. I think I might have talked about this last week, but we've had a big focus on inviting people to be baptized, and it’s brought a lot of miracles. We've invited five people to be baptized. We've had one yes, one no, and three maybes! 

E- Keep praying for us! We need it!

Love, Elder Cluster 

A Mighty Change of Heart

Hey everyone! It’s been a great week! I love you all! Thanks for all the prayers, emails, letters and what nots. You’re the best

M- I've had a great week as always. I went on exchanges with Elder Michealson. I really look up to him. He is a great missionary. My favorite thing about him is that he is ALWAYS smiling. Like one hundred percent of the time. It was a great exchange. It’s hard to be sad around happy people.

I-Kym is doing well. We taught her the Word of Wisdom this week and set her on baptismal date for October 10th. She is super great! Now we just need to help her make it to church more often!

R- Kind of along the same lines, I received awesome revelation on keeping the Sabbath Day Holy this week. We were talking to our ward mission leader in Stanley and told him that the work has been on a steady decline across the whole mission and even the whole country, and we've been trying to figure out what we need to do to help things pick back up. Without even thinking about it he said, “Well what we need to do is help people learn to keep the Sabbath Day Holy because that’s the counsel that the brethren have given to the whole world, so that’s what we should be focusing on right now." His faith in following the guidance of our inspired leaders was a great example to all of us. Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to find out an answer, and the prophet has set it all out in front of us already.

A- I feel like the work has picked up a little this week. We found a good potential investigator in Redbridge which is really good because like literally all of our work right now has been in the Stanley ward.

C- Elder Marsden is the best. It’s crazy to think that the transfer is almost over. If they put one of us in Stanley and leave one of us in Redbridge we will only have like a week and a half left together! He's doing really well though. I'm glad to have such a great friend for a companion.

L- Lately I've been studying what it means to have a mighty change of heart. In Mosiah chapter five it talks about how the people had a change of heart to where they had no more disposition to do evil, and well I thought that sounded pretty good so I wanted to figure out how I could better apply that in my life. After studying further into King Benjamin’s Sermon, which got them to this point, I found that this mighty change comes from first keeping the commandments. So many people think that they would keep the commandments, if God helped change their hearts. When that is never how God has worked. God expects us to follow him, not be pulled along by him. Only after we start walking the path, will the path become easy. We cannot expect the change of heart to come before we give our heart to Him. 

E- I love you all! Thank you for all your prayers! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Austin Cluster