Pictures from the MTC

Merry Christmas from Austin at the MTC is the first picture....Second picture is a picture of Austin's district. 3rd Picture is a picture of Elder Jake Tolman and Austin.  Jake is Austin's good friend from High School.  Fouth picture is a picture of Austin's buffness...and 5th picture is a picture of all the Elder's going to Chili that are in the MTC.

Austin will not be calling on Christmas because their are so many more missionaries at the MTC than there are phones.  The language is coming easy for him.  He says he is 1/24th done with his mission and it's going to fast!!! 

Love to all and Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the MTC!!!

Well heeeeello! How is everyone doing? so i only have 15 min to type because i had to use my internet time helping my new elders in my zone get their email addresses done. being ZL is so freakin fun. i am really busy but that makes it so much better. So ya ok this new group of missionarys are so awesome. we got two new districts of fluent spanish speakers. so like 22 elders i think. and 3 hermanas. we all have so much fun. like at lunch and dinner my and Elder Tobias my comp go and sit with them all and we only speak spanish. im learning so much from them. There is this one elder from puerto rico who speaks so stinkin fast its ridiculous. I used to speak english to them when we needed to talk but they got mad and said hey! your going spanish speaking and we're going spanish speaking. so you only speak spanish to us. it was pretty funny but totally worked. my spanish is doing awesome. we are teaching the 1 lesson in spanish and i can actually do it. im so stoked to be able to be fluent. when i get home from my mission i totally want to learn 1 or 2 more languages. im serious its so fun. We're teaching so much here its awesome. im actually teaching a lesson in 9 min actually right after my time is up.

So how is everyone doing? i got my packages from Grandman and Grandpa Elder and also i got one from aaron and laura. So thank you so much! is everyone excited for Christmas? i think i am. ha im not going to lie im not even excited its just going to be another day. i mean dont get me wrong i am way glad and happy to celebrate the real christmas especially here but christmas morning will be totally different here. im glad though. I've had this awesome count down thing for christmas thats been helping me keep track of days and stay motivated (thanks em) :) and a lot of other really nice gifts. so thank you all so much.

i Love you all so much but my time is up. merry christmas everyone and i will write next week!

Love Elder Austin Elder, Zone Leader and official Light switch monitor!

A letter to my friends and family!

Well how is everyone? Thats great. Im doing swell here! This week has been pretty crazy. Me and my comp became the new zone leaders so we have a ton a responsibilities that no one else can handle. Like turning the lights off at night and such as that. You know, hard stuff. Other than that im just learning how not to say im hot and learning how to perfect my teaching skills for the chilenos!

 I'm sorry that katie is so freakin sick! its probably just like mono or something. i mean we all know she is 16 now.......................................................................................... but! i do hope you feel better:) Rainy, thank you for writing such a nice letter with the help of debbie. I bet it was an awesome experience to be in that play. I love the story of Christ's birth so much. I'm not supposed to tell my family when i go to the temple cuz we're not supposed to meet and stuff. but, i dont go wednesday through monday, and i dont go in the after noon or night! so thats ok i think? i dont know. just dont plan on seeing me;) Emily ryan and Debbie! hey little girls! are you excited to make me tons and tons of treats for Christmas all by myself!?!! Well i hope you are! Yes you guys can send treats here and stuff in the mail or through dearelder.com. They don't want you to leave anything for me at the front desk.

Chris and Dasha, how is your house looking? that is so awesome you guys moved in i want to see it freakin bad. How fat is new one? I hope all is well for you all. Thank you chris for that letter that meant a lot.

Ok so yes cash would be very nice to have because then i can buy stuff in chile that i can use because i dont have any room to pack anymore stuff really. I actually could use one SD memory card for my camara. Like a 2G one. oh and candy. I've gained 19 pounds here and my goal is 36. So keep stuff comin! The thing is i still look ridiculously chizzled so i dont know where all that weight is going.....

I hope you are all excited for Christmas. It really is my favorite time of the year. The true story of Christmas is so amazing. i would even recomend reading Christs appearance to the americas for christmas as well. 3 Nefi Capitulo 11 para uds que no sabieron. (for those that dont know) but lets get serious, Dad raised us so we better freakin know.

 Dad i will send a picture of my gloves to you as soon as i can so we can get some new ones. Just for the record, The missionary Mall has a lot of really nice employees but their merchandice isn't the best.......just fyi.

 So Benjamin the guy i talked to is getting baptised because i challenged him to! just kidding. that would be really awesome though! i need to call him tomorrow to see if the missionaries stopped by his house.
So my spanish is definately improving. I can understand anything anyone tells me as long as it is way freakin slow and has no accent whatsoever. Ok fine i can understand more than that. Except yesterday my teacher brought in one of his friends that is from Chili and they spoke Chilean spanish to eachother.....ya. I pray for the gift of tongues every prayer now. Their sentances were like one big fat lady. No pauses anywhere or nothin. but i do know a lot more spanish than my teacher did so i guess we're good. He just said to expect not to understand really much until im like 4 months into the mission. That brightened my spirit right up!

I hope you all like the cold and snow! I am freakin mad that my friends get to go boarding whenever they want. so you guys better take every chance you get this season and send me pics. But just remember that ya you guys get to board but ima missionary. Well and jake is too. so my point exactly. So Brady, tell Emily what ever her last name is from skyview that her future step brother Keenan Price is in my class. At least im pretty sure that we were talking about the same person. When we described her we both thought we were talking about her butt we counldn't remember her last name. How you guys all doing? you have the family portrate up? Chris, Ryan, Nate and all you guys still in school, sucks for you. haha im just kidding i love you guys. Me and Jake see eachother all the time in the cafeteria and eat together sometimes. Im so glad we're in here together.

Adam happy birthday last week man! sorry i missed it. im just really busy being holy and all that stuff you know....oh and momma Rena too!

i am actually pretty spiritual here so dont just think i mess around the whole time. and dont think i dont have fun either:) Alright well my time is up. Thank you all so much for everything.

 Merry Christmas to everyone!

love

Elder Elder

Special note from Austin's dad:  I just bought Austin a 4GB Memory Card that he was asking for. 

Find out the answer to the Question from my Last letter...

Well, ok here's what happened...I am not going to Concepcion anymore, I am going to Santiago West Misson! Cool huh! I am a liar, I am actually the Zone Leader along with my companion!!!  For like 60 missionaries! I am so excited to serve and to learn!  When my mission President told me I threw up. No I didn't, but I was very surprised.  Remember I met a guy while I was working at the call center??? Well, guess what???  I talked to him again.  His name is Benjamin.  He asks so many questions and right when I am about to say something he says exactly what I was thinking of saying.  It was awesome!  I am trying to get the missionaries in his area to get to him ASAP.  I setna note to them to hurry up.  This guy is seriouly so strong already!  Everything he says is what we believe.  He was a bible class teacher so he knows a ton of the bible.  I surprised myself with how much I know the bible so well.  (Thanks mom for all those scripture readings in the morning). My companion congradulated me on how well I did the call when we were done.  Let's see...what else did we talk about...he is really open to the fact that there is Christ's restored church on the eaerth, he said, "There would have to be! Because after Christ and the apostles died, everthing got mixed up."  So that was cool.  He wants to read the Book of Mormon.  I explained how much it blessed my life and he said he really wants that.  He said he is already interested in becoming part of this church.  This guy is way cool too, extremely generous.  I think he's like one of those not as attractivee looking people from deep in Alabama.  But he's awesome!  Ok, sorry I just had to tell you all about that.  Thanks for everything.  Oh ya....My candy drawer is not running a little short...If any of you have any sudden urges to send something before it takes two weeks for me to get mail in Chile...my might want to contact dearelder.com!!! hahahah.  Welp, see ya later.  Elder 2

December 8th, 2009

Alright another week! this past week went by so stinkin fast! I'll try to type fast cuz i have a lot to say. On sat i was in the thing called the RC (refera center) its where people can call in with questions and you call people following up with stuff and also you can chat online with people about there questions. well, this guy named Benjamin called asking for a free video about christ so i got it all ready for him and i started to talk to him about what it was about. some how we got talking about the bible...i cant remember how haha. but he was saying that it has been changed over time and that parts have been even taken out. and i was like i know right?! i told him the article of faith for it(yay for primary!) and he's the one that said that when it got translated from greek and hebrew that there aren't some words in english that there are in those languages so it changes the meaning a little. it was really cool that he understood that already. this next part is ridiculous. he said wouldn't it be cool if we could go to the same church that christ made? i told him well guess what? you can brother! well not like that butt you get the drift. there were so many things we talked about it was awesome. i told him about the resoration and JS and the B.of M. and he liked it. so i sent the missionaries to his house and they will be there in like a week or so i think. and i also set up a follow up call with him for this afternoon. im very excite. oh ya.........................so one of the following is happening to me. you have to guess which one it is and ill mail the answer of it in a letter today dad and so you'll all get it in a couple days. A. I'm getting sent home. B My companion is gay. C I broke my Femer. D i got food poisoning. E The food here is amazing (hahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahah not.....) F Im becoming Zone Leader and G Ive been assigned a different mission. So cousin Chase Halcomb.........your giving me a very prett new cousin. good job. I'm proud. I wont tell her stories of our past fun and necassary times. AKA the little remote control car we drove across the street. Thank you so much for the Halcomb christmas card. It inspired me and my roomates to make one. so we are working on it.....:) Oh ya! last week we had two apostels come talk to us. so no big deal you know? i just forgot to mention it last time. A couple days before thanksgiving Elder Oaks came and it was amazing. i sang come thou fount for him. yes, by myself. ok just kidding 594 other missionaries. but he heard me. Then for thankgiving Elder Holland came and talked to us. both were amazing talks and i got some great notes! but i lost my freakin notebook...so im working on that. I am learning so much here. I am finally starting to understand stupid direct and indirect object pronouns in spanish. I am speaking pretty good i must say. Oh and just so you know...if you want so im hot as in temperature say tengo calor. not estoy caliente. i said that and my little petite mexican teacher looked at me disgusted when i told her.........it doens't mean im hot.......it meant that your, well you know......horny. ya VERY embarrasing but a pretty funny laugh afterward. Well other than that im having tons of spiritual experiences! it finally snowed here too! oh an dad, my gloves i bought have holes. ill try to send you a pic of them. Love you all!! Hope all is well.






Love, Elder Elder

A few pictures from Austin at the MTC

The Famous "Elder Elder" name tag!

Elder Elder and his companion, Elder Tobias. Doesn't he look just like little Kaden Bundy (age 4), Austin's nephew??!!!  Same smile, same hair...just 15 years older!

The "Goodman" missionary cousins...all serving at the same time at the MTC! Sister Kempton, Elder Elder, and Elder Goodman

Elder Elder Meets Elder Elder at the MTC!!!

December 1st Letter from Elder Elder!!!

hello!ok so i just lost the first part of my letter somehow so i only have 15 min to write instead of 30...but this week has been another great one as well. today i went to the temple and then ate some refurbished food and now im writing you! how are you all doing? sounds like thanksgiving was a blast! thanks dad aaron and laura for sending me packages! ive gotten your letters now. from g-ma e, aunt linda, porter caradine, emily, mom and dad, and the russ family. thank you all for you support. so last week on mon and wed i memorized d and c section 4. in spanish! we're supposed to have that done by the time we leave here. i also got a letter from my mission pres in the field yesterday! it said they were excited for me to come and a bunch of really cool stuff that they say to all the incoming missionaries haha. but it was really cool to get it. dad, so five min after i put my letters in the mail drop i got your letter. and yours em. so...sorry! Im glad that kevin was able to get a mp3 player! you can use my speakers man. if you can get them to work. just mess with the cord because there it a short in the wire. thanks also for sending the pictures of thanksgiving time! i wish i could see you murder the turkey and eat it haha. Tell Dasha's mom hello for me. I wish i could have met her. but its ok maybe i will be able to sometime. and that is awesome she is there for 4 months! As far as christmas goes....i hear people are asking what to get for me. i know you all probably wont like this but the best thing i could get is cash. its too hard to explain what i can use here. and i also dont have any more room to pack stuff. in chile i will be able to get stuff that i could use. that would really be so nice. so is the kitchen done yet? it looks so freakin good. well it did for the week i saw it..............hahaha it was a lot of fun working on it though. ok well i am doing really well here. little challenging working with a companion all the time. and it gets kinda boring having the same schedule and eating three times a day every 5 hours! im not even hungry when i walk in the cafeteria but somehow i still eat a ton.




love you all so much!



-Elder Elder

Mission Pictures

2nd Letter from Elder Elder!!! November 24th, 2009

Well the first week has been great here! I'm learning so much and my district is awesome. Like i told you my companion is Elder Tobias, and he's a way cool Elder. There was three of us but Elder Mendoza went up to the advanced class so its just us two now. The other Elders in my district are Elder Cummings who is pretty much just like me so thats very nice, he's from farmington. His companion is Elder Anaya from provo area. All four of us are roomates. Also there is Elder Price from Ogden, he's a convert to the church and has a little trouble letting his companion talk but he's cool. His companion is Elder Braithwaite from southern California. First impression of him is he's kinda a weirdo but he is actually so dang funny. Pretty much a complete nerd but what missionary isn't. So I was hoping I would have some letters by now! haha but its ok. Email me though go to dearelder.com and write an email there and then what they do is they print it off at their head quarters place and mail it to me for free. But once I'm in the field its Ithink the price of postage. I think you put my name where it asks and maybe my address I gave you last week. I'm not totally sure but just play around with it. You can hand write letters and mail them to me obviously too. Oh, and packages wouldn't hurt :) Ok so yesterday I had a way awesome experience! I was in the RC (referal center) which is like a call center where you talk to people who go to mormon.org and you can instant message each other or you call them and check if they got a dvd or not or a book of mormon or bible they asked for etc, you get the picture. anyway I was calling people in english but we ran out of numbers to call so I started doing it in spanish. I read a prompt so it wasn't too hard but it kind of is because they respond back so Ihave to figure out what they say. Well it turned out that I asked him to go to church that sunday and I didn't know that I did because I was so focused on pernouncing the words instead of worrying about what I was saying!  haha. But he said yes!! But I forgot to tell him where the church was....haha I'm an idiot. I was pretty stoked though. My spanish is coming along a lot now. I can pray and say everything is spanish, which I do during every prayer so like 500 times a day. I can recite the purpose of a missionary in spanish better than I can in English. I can say both baptismal prayers. It's really cool. I also practice reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish but it's kinda hard for me to pronounce everything. So I see Sister Amber Kempton all the time and I talk to her a lot! It was funny Isaw her right when I got here and was all excited and giddy because of the fact I was here finally that I kept calling her Sister Goodman. I was getting mad when she woulndn't turn around! So I ran up to her and touched her shoulder and said Sister Goodman how are ya?! And then I remembered its Sister Kempton. Ya I felt stupid. I only got to see Elder Tanner Goodman like three times here. I saw him the first day which was awesome, then I didn't see him till Sunday at lunch. and he left Monday! But his plane actually got cancelled so he surprised me and went to my class and was sitting in my seat when I got in there. haha it completely surprised me. but ya he is on his way to Argentina right now as of 6:45 tuesday morning! Today is my p-day for the record as well. Well I love all you guys so much. Hope to hear from you soon...haha. I love it here so much. I like it a lot:) I cant wait to see ya Jake t. and I am so stoked to hear where Josh and Brady and all you guys are going! Have a good day!

Love, Elder Elder

1st Letter from the MTC!

Querida Famalia!!!  (Dear Family)

Well, I am here!!!  Crazy Huh!!!  First day was absolutely awesome!  I actually have two companions!  Elder Tobias who is from Idaho Falls.  He plays violin and does Karate.  He is way chill.  Also Elder Menoza who is from Riverside California.  He was  lead cuitarist in a heavy metal band.  So as you see our trio has a lot diversity, but both of them are awesome missionaries and carry the spirit with them very strongly.  Already I am tired!  But I better get used to it.  I only have 728 mas dias left! Sorry, if that is depressing.  Well today I learned how to pray in Spanish.  Met my branch president.  Found out I am the senior companion for us three.  But that doesn't mean anything.  They just picked me because my name came first....but I'm still excited about it. 

Here is my address: 

Elder Austin Lee Elder

MTC Mailbox #209

Chi-Cons 0118

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT   84604-1793

You can write me through http://www.dearelder.com/ and it will get to me faster and it will not cost you anything while I am in the MTC.  You can even send me treats!!!  Click on "Write a Letter", then Click on "Write a missionary". 

Choose the Provo MTC drop down box while I am in Provo.  Then write a letter!!!

Oh, and my scheduled departure date is January 18th!

I met Elzabeth Smart here.  She is very nice and has a strong testimony of the church.  I sat next to her the first day.  She is going to Paris which I think would be way awesome!  I admire the crap out of her for coming.  Especially since all the news about everthing she went through. 

Farewell till later!!!

Love Elder2

Last night before leaving for the mission home!

Austin and his good friends the night before he leaves on his mision.

Elder Austin Elder leaves for his mission on November 18th! Stay tune for pictures!!!

Once we get Austin's address and he starts sending letters and pictures, we will post them here for friends and family to look at!

This is a "before" picture! Soon we will post "after" pictures with his mission mug shots!