Massive Action

Orange Park, FL
(Fleming Island area)

Dear Family~

I'm glad to hear from you this week. Things are going good here in Fleming Island. This place is definitely a more affluent area than my last few. It reminds me slightly of Draper, Utah. I have seen some big houses and some very wealthy people. One thing I have learned, in order to communicate with the people here, we need to be direct, clear, and powerful; otherwise, we get shrugged off quickly.

A neat concept coming from Gerald N. Lund is that in order to have faith that is productive and powerful, it is requisite that we live our faith commensurate with the degree of our hope! If we have high hopes, and yet we do not exercise our faith so as to attain our dreams, our faith is dead and our hopes go to waste. It is similar to knowing your purpose and potential in life and failing to do all within your power to live up to it. Heartbreak and regret is what happens.

I have learned to love making goals and setting powerful, effective, and efficient plans to achieve my goals. Goals give life and purpose to hopes and dreams. Plans make the seemingly unachievable achievable. The work to achieve the dream lights a burning fire within making joy and happiness your countenance. I heard a quote the other day, and it has to do with missionaries--but is says, "Work as though you cannot fail." Sounds fun to me!

Obviously you have to make realistic and achievable goals; nevertheless, they should make you stretch and push beyond what you initially thought you were capable of doing. "Hard work reveals capacity. Smart work reveals potential."

When it comes to school, I have zero plans--yet. The idea of BYU Hawaii sounded fun, but I refuse to make any decisions until the time for me to decide is come. That time isn't yet.

I'm glad to hear your lesson worked out, Mom, despite all the stumbling blocks leading up to it! I think I am plagued with that same problem. Things tend to appear at the last moment, unexpected, unplanned, and they always seem to get in the way and make it almost impossible to do what I had hoped to do. This is why I was always late for school. This is why it is hard for me to get to bed on time. This is always the reason for me being late to anything. I think the Lord is trying to teach us the valuable lesson of being prepared. President Barry sent a letter to us today and said that the Lord has commanded us to be exceptional planners. Our focus this month is on setting goals and making plans to achieve them. He shared a story of how he planned on qualifying for the Boston Marathon in his fifties, but as the race drew near the end, he wasn't able to complete the race in time. He was an hour behind. He failed fully to prepare: i.e. when running a marathon you need proper nutrition throughout the race to succeed--he forgot about all that as he was running. So the next time, with greater fervor than before, he planned and prepared, and qualified for the Boston Marathon. This time he taped to his arm all the nutrition he would need along the race so he would be able to finish in time. Needless to say, he finished with ten minutes to go left on the clock.

The lesson I learned from that personal experience is that all of us are capable of great things, but our success depends upon our personal preparation! It is a difficult and often painful lesson to learn. But I am beginning to discover that if you start now and don't wait to make the goal and create the plan, you can go forward with faith that you can accomplish ANYTHING!

We have an extremely capable family, now it is down to setting the right goals and establishing the right plans to achieve our goals--then to take "MASSIVE ACTION" (mission motto, apparently) to transform our goals into accomplishments. I think we have the best family ever. :) I can't wait to see what we can do when we are all on the same page pursuing the same goal! Watch out! So Dad, Mom, Aaron, Billy, Kendall, let's set a meaningful, powerful goal, make effective and equally powerful plans, then take MASSIVE ACTION and achieve it! Are you excited? I am! :)

At the center of everything is the gift of charity. Love is the binding force that keeps us together and it never fails. Charity breaks down any barrier, climbs the tallest mountain, descends below the deepest valley, and overcomes all things. The power of the Atonement springs from the invincible and infinite depth of God's love for us, His children. The Savior's love for us burns brighter than the noon-day sun. The Holy Ghost matches this matchless love and is ever and always willing to be our guide along the way. I know the scriptures are true and these blessings are real. I feel the power of it growing within me daily. As I read the scriptures, I feel the Spirit. The Spirit makes me feel like I can do anything! "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philipians 4:13).

I am companions with Elder Chadwick. He graduated from Cyprus High School. This is his second transfer. He has a kind and forgiving heart. I know we will do much good together. On Friday last week we helped two of our investigators to accept baptismal dates. They were extremely prepared to receive this invitation. The Elders (Chadwick and Huntsman) did a wonderful job of helping them to be ready for our lesson that day. The Spirit brought the truth to John (the dad) and Michael (the 11 year-old son), and both were willing and committed to act on what they felt. Michael bore his testimony in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I was amazed at what a strong witness he has of the truth, and yet he isn't even a member. Brooke is a recently returning member and is the mother and wife of the family. Jason is their three year-old son. I can't wait to see how this will bless them. It is a special thing to watch an entire family receive the gospel and to be blessed by it. How grateful I am to be a missionary because I would have never known had I not chosen to serve.

Love you~

Austin

ps. Yes, it it weird to be in this area again. Slightly different than where I was before, but extremely similar.

pps. I love each of you, and if I could I would give each of you a hug right now, but I can't yet. Everything is going to be okay :)