Dear Family at Home~
I am glad to hear everything is going well back home. I've discovered some interesting things about myself as I have scanned over some of my emails at about this same time last year...I was a lot more positive and motivating in the words I wrote. Time to change :) Time to be more positive and grateful for all that I have. I am in awe that it is so easy to slip into sadness and misery, and the adversary is so brilliant at helping us to quietly fall into his deep despair. Reviewing the past few weeks, perhaps months, I can see where he has tried to take advantage of me and twist my thoughts and perceptions and lead them down a path that only leads to unhappiness. Life is so much greater when we are upbeat!! Ugh... Seriously. There is absolutely no point in allowing myself to be sad, unless of course I want to allow myself to slide down a slippery slope to nowhere land. Maybe the darkest abyss sounds like a fun plan, but I don't know how I feel about it. I think I'd rather be on top of the mountain rather than at the bottom, or inside, or even below the mountain. Wow!! It is funny, we get to choose whether or not we are going to be happy! Isn't that so peculiar? WE GET TO DECIDE!!! Why not then choose to be happy? Who is stopping us? Probably ourselves. Actually, it is ourselves. How odd it is then, that we choose to allow ourselves to be unhappy.
Missionary work in the Palatka area is moving rather slowly, however, I think that I am going to put Elder Lucas and I to a much more rigorous and exciting finding program. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who would love to listen to us and to hear our message--we just need to go and find them. For a time I found myself beginning to think and to care about what others perceived of me, and because of unhappiness I didn't want to risk speaking with them. But now, I don't care. It really doesn't matter how I feel, what matters is that I'm out working hard each and every day despite each and every pain or problem I have! Injuries, sicknesses, annoyances, etc... they come and go--but if my attitude is always positive and my heart is always strong and willing to press forward, those minor things won't matter so much anymore. To "act" is much better than to be "acted upon". And to "act" out of love brings the greatest rewards. So don't be surprised when over the next few weeks you start hearing that the work in Palatka is no longer slow, but speeding up and moving and progressing forward! It is all in the attitude. :)
I did receive the clothes that you sent me and the package you sent me the other day. The clothes all fit perfectly! ...I also have some more good news, recently I have been receiving several new suits from missionaries who have gone home or otherwise aren't going to wear these certain suits any longer. I guess some of them came from the DI, but they are still very nice quality. I know that a couple of them definitely were not from the DI, however. Most of them are brown, but they vary in pattern and tone. One of them is blue, which is a nice change. The cool thing about all of these different suits is that they all fit me, just about perfectly, some even better than the ones that were tailored to fit me!
When it comes to Christmas presents, the biggest thing I am worried about--which has been impressed upon me by other missionaries who are on the downhill side of their missions--is the need to prepare and send out college applications. I really don't know where I want to go or what I want to do! Some options that I am willing to accept as of this moment--BYU, UVU, BYU-I (because of Elder McFarland, Elder Murray, and Elder Pelo haha), Utah State (because of Robbie)--I don't know how I feel about the U of U. I honestly don't know. I would like to stay close because I don't feel the need to leave the state to go to college. Wherever you and Dad feel you should have me apply, I am willing to apply. When it comes to making a final decision, then I will decide. I just need help because I have no idea what to do about it all. And the final Christmas thing I need--Christmas Eve pajamas. :) If I can think of anything else, I'll let you know as soon as I figure it all our.
As far as missionaries and their hair cuts, President Barry wants us to get a haircut once a month and it has to be long enough that we can hold a part in our hair. I guess just barely long enough is good enough. :) I did get my hair cut a little shorter this time, but I don't know that it has anything to do with the mission rules changing. A member asked me, after asking the other Elders, if I wanted a haircut, and I said yes. So I went and got it cut and told her to cut it the way she thought it would look best and so she did! It was very nice of her to do that because I didn't dare let the other missionaries do it! Nor did I dare do it myself, haha!
Oh, I did wear the purple sweats along with the McDonald's shirt the second I realized what they were. I remembered also the picture of Aaron wearing those sweats too! Tell Aaron thanks for the pictures and Billy and Kendall thanks for their letters. I will write back before the end of next week. I love each of you and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving, even if it is at some restaurant that I've never heard of!
Love~
Austin
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