February 27

Hello dear family, lol it's hard to reply to multiple people......

glad to hear about the stake president, all the changes are hard, and
it's weird to hear about them from such a removed situation, but glad
to hear everything is going well in the stake, should be cool to hear
all that he says about mexico, it's a great place. :)

Rachel..... i am glad to hear she is okay, too bad to hear about the
car though, that's going to be a pretty big mess. hope it goes well,
i'll keep you all in the prayers. i say a million a day. lol, but
yeah, if she's okay and nothing's serious, it'll all turn out fine.

yeah, i workout plenty here, only twenty minutes in the morning, but i
have plenty of moving place to place to burn the calories i'm bringing
in. Elder templin has burned off sixty pounds since he got here, so,
lol i hope to just tone down, lol if i work enough and just keep the
muscle i'll just lose the layer of softer stuff lol :)

lol all the family happenings sounds great :) gustavsons and tashara both :)

lol conference is great :) i got a few liahona's in english and i read
them like they're the best novel i've ever touched, it's so relaxing
to just sit and read in english lol, learn some cool stuff and such :)
lol love the stories about president hinkley :)

All answered, lol now to power through telling you some fun stuff. :)


one, an elder in southeast mission, elder gantt was in my percussion
class in willowcreek and was my comp's district leader :)

two, angry birds is huge down here, lol it's pretty funny, makes me
miss my ipod lol. which i actually could have loaded up with church
movies and music and brought, lol elder templin has his.. lol and
that's one things you can send though, is some more church music on a
flash drive, if you send a package soon or whenever. packages are
good, they get checked and sometimes looted, so nothing too expensive,
and plenty of american candy ;)

speedbumps are every where here, it's ridiculous.... and the
taxi/buses here make me sick lol cause they're so bumpy.... blah lol

the weather here makes me sweat every minute, lol not dripping, but
i'm not really that dry. i'd love to just wear shorts everywhere

spicy spicy spicy, lol i had a bowl of some egg and veggie mix,
drenched in sauce, took on bite and i was crying for almost thirty
minutes straight, that, i wasn't proud of, but i finished the whole
thing, and that took some effort. lol there's only one things i just
couldn't finish, it was like a yam, but way slimey and yeah, had a
funky sauce that i couldn't have downed or it would come back up.

lol everybody, well almost has scooters lol it's crazy and they put
three or four people on one scooter! it's nuts! and when you see three
guys on a little scooter all with the same haircuts, you begin to ask
questions... lol ;)

i heard through the fire and flames, and reptilia during last weeks
weekly planning, pretty awesome lol. :)

the sisters here are like mexican sister hadfields, lol everybody
loves to cook and talk to everyone and are just so sweet, lol it
really makes me want to be able to talk and understand them more.
they're so so happy here, and they know they're blessed, and they're
grateful for everything. always willing to share :) it's amazing. :)

new experience, lol apple yogurt, and i like it lol :)

also whenever you can send a package, send a for the strength of youth
one of the new ones. :) and i got told packages get here pretty quick,
so, yeah don't stress too much sending stuff, it's kinda expensive
though, research that. :P

lol crazy stuff, lol there's a lot of saints here, and i realized
pretty quick, that the virgin mary is pretty much bigger than jesus
here, it's ridiculous, not to put her down at all, but they have
little sanctuaries everywhere, i'll try to get some pictures of some
this week, but pictures are a bit harder than in the mtc. lol only on
p day and don't look like a tourist. anyway, yeah the big ones is
virgin mary, and the crazy one, they pretty much worship the grim
reaper here, not everyone, but the ones that really do wear the reaper
like catholics wear the cross, and they have san muerte statues and
all that good stuff, it's kinda weird, hard to teach somebody like
that too... oh well, all the more fun to have lol :)

yeah, it's pretty crazy here, lots of work, and yet so many that don't
even want to listen. i was kinda hoping to hope right into the work
and be baptizing every week, but not one of the investigators that are
close has come to church for the whole time i've been here, and we
dropped a family last night because they just wouldn't progress.. :P
it's tough, and sometimes we just have nothing we can do, nobody wants
to listen, and we knock doors for hours, talking to people in the
street whenever we can, but still, it's not quite what i expected. lol
:) it's all good though, always plenty of room for us to improve and
be more ready for those miracles. :)

Lol, the whole mission thing is just chugging along, hopefully i make
it through these next few months, get to where i can understand the
language, get to where i can teach a bit better and follow the spirit
everywhere.  :) get to the halfway point where elder templin is and
things should just fly by :) i'll teach better have a bit more success
that i can say i helped with lol once i can understand all the spanish
and their needs, my mind will stop wandering during lessons lol, and
yeah, it'll be great. :) lol i'm excited for this whole mission thing,
kinda excited to get to come home eventually, lol but right now,
definitely focused on the here and now :D it's a blast.

lol just kinda rambling now, i guess i could end, but not really a
huge point to not talking more, i'm waiting for pictures to load onto
the computer, and yeah, that's about it. :) btw, that's pizza, real
american style pizza being heated up, lol our new reorganized room,
with not really designed to be used as such bunk beds, my wonderful
father lol term for trainer here :) spider man i bought today, cost me
ten pesos :P i was hoping for wolverine or captain america, bleh, lol
spiderman works. and a random street on the way to the computers :D
kinda the norm for a not too busy street, :) and that's it for this
week :)

send some pics of you all too :) need to see some new stuff, and i
only have a few pics here, since i sent the others all home :) friends
family and everybody lol :)

Lol well dearest family and friends, i miss you all dearly, a bit more
than i'd like sometimes,
but, there's other times there's nothing i can do but focus on the
work so it's all good. :)

I hope the best for you all, pray for you and my investigators day and
night, and i can't wait
to get to see you again, lol even though when it comes time, i won't
want to leave ;)

Best wishes to you all,
Elder Andrew Austin

hugs and kisses to the family  I love you guys
differently than everybody else :D
Hope life will be good to you especially :)