Week 7

Hey yall!

Hope you all had a good week. Thank you for all of your emails and your uplifting words. As you know things have been tough but I have decided to stay out another transfer to give it a chance. It will not be easy but with your support I can do anything. Update on my health...I am working with missionary medical and my mission presidents to get the help I need to succeed. I have a doctors appointment coming up soon to be prescribed some medication to help with my anxiety and depression. I am now signed up for counseling so I will be doing that as well to help me through the whole process. Anyways....

Last week! 

So we saw this investigator and his name is Robert. Funny thing about Robert is he doesn't remember his birthday or if he has ever been baptized so we are trying to work with that haha. Hes hilarious. People here use the word "critters" and he always says "I gotta go feed the critters." Since this is all very new to me I can't help but be a little immature and laugh. The ice is starting to melt so it's so muddy everywhere. If I had my car here I would be off roading like crazy. Our car looks like we've been mudding so basically people are going to think the sisters missionaries off road and mess around haha. I guess you can say we are pretty hardcore. Since the ice is starting to melt it's super slippery so of course I have almost ate it a million times. I fear for my tailbone every time I slip because I'm like oh no this is the end. My tailbone finally healed so I don't have to say "Ow my tailbone" every 2 seconds (Inside joke). Last week we visited one of our investigators Glenda, and honestly I was like get me out of here. So she let's her farm animals roam around and this goat and pig were literally chasing after me and I was about to scream. The goat was trying to eat my clothes and everyone was laughing because I'm such a city girl. This is all brand new to me. I haven't gotten to milk a cow yet but when I do there will be pictures. We went to another farm to visit a man named carol. He is a less active we have been working with. He's a sheep herder so we went over there to see if he needed any help but he ended up being finished with his chores that day so we plan to go back. We did get to see the new baby lambs and they were cute to look at but I was like I ain't picking that thing up. I don't know how people stand the smell here. It smells everywhere we go but sadly I'm starting to be immune to it. Oh my goodness..so we went to visit this investigator Mike and his house is about a mile out from the road. There was no way our car was going to make it down his driveway because it was snowed in. So we decided we would walk. We trekked in 3 foot snow drifts for a mile and at this point we are sweating and dying. It took us 2 and a half hours to get there and back. Yes...2 miles took us almost 3 hours but we were literally trekking through the snow! We finally made it to his doorstep and he wasn't even home..we are like dead at this point and I'm just standing there saying whyyy. Haha we were extremely sore the next day. We ended up calling him and talked with him for about 20 minutes and we are planning to see him soon! Two nights ago we were dropping off treats to a bunch of families and of course we go to brother wright's house. Every time we go there he has a new story for us. This time his story was about his kidney stones and me and my companion are just dying inside trying to hold in our laughter. He is the most interesting person I have ever met in my life haha. Saturday night I got a little sick so we came in early and watched the Restoration movie and Thomas S Monson's documentary and it's awesome. Watch them both!

We think we have mold growing in our apartment so we are a literally concerned about that. This Sunday I'm singing in one of the sacraments so I've been practicing with one of the youth whose playing the piano for me. Her name is Maddie :) this Saturday I was asked to speak at a baptism and I'm actually really excited because one of the girls that is getting baptized I adore so much. Here name is Jaycee. In church we sang "Families can be together forever" and of course I cried because I miss you all so much. Last night we went to see Scottie and taught a great lesson. Scottie has some problems with the word of wisdom but he is so willing to give up everything. He gave up smoking as of yesterday and we are so proud of him. He wants to change. His baptismal date needed to be pushed back a little so I'm hoping I'm here for that. Last night I also realized that I am starting to become an awkward missionary. Scottie shook my hand but then went in for a hug and hugged me and I was freaking out inside haha. It was the most awkward thing and made me cringe. It was so funny too because my companion saw my face and in my head I was like I haven't hugged a boy in 2 months this is so uncomfortable haha. Well I can't think of everything. This week was kind of slow so not too much to report on....

Now...if you haven't gone to church yet this month you're lucky that another Sunday is coming up for this month! I challenge you to go to church this Sunday and all you have to do is stay for sacrament. Take of the sacrament and I want you to really think of what the sacrament means to you. Without the Atonement we wouldn't have access to repent and a way we repent is taking of the sacrament every Sunday. Will you do that? Don't do this for me...do this for you and for Christ. How has every one's scripture study and prayers been going? Each week I will be following up to see if you are keeping commitments! That is the only way we can change. If you don't pray, don't read the scriptures, go to church, you can't expect to see things change in your life. I challenge you sometime within the next 2 months to have missionaries in your home to have dinner with you and teach you a lesson. Give it a chance. Missionaries love doing service as well so maybe contact them and ask for their help! I want you all the downloaded the gospel library app and watch some Mormon messages or read some conference talks. A goal I have set is for each day to read a conference talk and write my thoughts down. If you feel confident enough hand out a Book of Mormon and write your testimony in it. Keep some book of Mormons in your car. You never know when the opportunity will arise for you to share a message. If you are struggling with negative thoughts throughout the day I challenge you each night to write down three things good that happened that day. Three things you are grateful for. It can be anything! For those that do temple work I challenge you to go to the temple as often as you can and bring your own names. Get involved with family history! There are people on the other side waiting for you to do their work. Make it a goal. For all you coffee drinkers, there are two things that you can try..post em and paro I believe is how you spell them. Apparently it tastes just like coffee and a lot of lds members drink it and can still follow the word of wisdom. These challenges don't need to all be mastered in one month. Each month maybe try something new. First month read your scriptures and pray. The next do family history work on top of praying and reading your scriptures. I'm not asking for you to be perfect at anything, I'm asking you to try. Will you do that? These invitations are meant for everyone! So no one is off the hook! I love you all so much and I leave you with my testimony that this is the most true church on the earth. Heavenly Father does hear you and listens to your prayers. Don't ever give up. Your prayers may take weeks to be answered, be patient. Cry your heart out to him. I know that the book of Mormon is true. Read it with you families. It will change your life and your faith will grow I promise you that. Check my missionary Facebook for inspirational quotes and talks. You are all in my prayers and I love you very much. Have a good week! Stay tuned for another email with more pictures! ​

Sister Austin Miles

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Love the mud. NOT!!!

"For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." -Deuteronomy 20:4