Spring

It was good to hear from you both this week. Life's going great. Not much has changed since my note a few days ago. The work is moving along rapidly. Haha, i keep finding myself frustrated with not having people to teach, then i pause to reflect and realize that 15+ investigators with 9 on date is a lot better than nearly any other point of my mission.

The zone's doing well. We've really started cracking down on things since Elder Evans came last week. We'll see how it goes.

We've had a few week so far. Lots of random things have happened. Dad asked if i'm keeping a journal. The truth is i repent frequently and try to do better at it, but i'm a horrible journal keeper. I'm trying though. I'm working on taking more pictures too. I snapped some photos of the salsa Elder Rowley made this week. He put a half dozen habeneros in. You're lucky i didn't take pictures of the aftermath.

I've realized that one of my biggest life changes as a result of my mission is my desire for education. I used to do "just enough" as mom can well atest to. (like back in elementary school in Mrs. Sewell's gifted class, when i did just enough with my current events.) Now my desire is to gain as much education as possible (both temporal and spiritual) and to exceed at it. Joseph Smith was such a great example to me of the desire for education. He learned all sorts of language and truth simply because he understood that "the glory of God is intelligence" and "if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." D&C 93&130. Search, Ponder, and Pray applies to everything because that pattern helps us to gain education and understanding the way the Lord sees it, no matter the subject matter.

Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Austin

Working Wonders

Life is good this week. Transfers, i believe, are the thursday following general conference. I have interviews with president this week, so i may be able to give you some insight into what's happening in my next note. The other upcoming calendar item is the Mission Tour. It's where a general authority comes to visit the mission. This one will be David F. Evans of the 1st quorum of the seventy. I'm conducting the meeting, and for the first time in a while... i'm scared to death. haha.

We still teaching the Bowmans and they're doing fantastic. They aren't ready for a baptismal date yet, but we're going to try again tonite.

We're working with a few other great families, the biggest hurtle right now is that the majority need to quit smoking.

Wow, it's surprising to hear that they talked about the patriarchal chain in stake conference. It's very interesting. I've spent a bit of the last 2 weeks studying the patriarchal order of the priesthood. It's what Abraham was searching for in the book of Abraham. It's why the Moses, Elijah, and Elias appeared in the Kirtland temple. Each to restore the keys of their repective priesthoods. But i don't need to get to deep into that.

My favorite scripture for the week is the first line of Ether 2:16

"And the Lord said: Go to work" Something i've learned as a missionary is the need to work. When Elder Nelson was here he said. "You should wear out two different articles of clothing while you're hear. First, your shoes, from walking so much in the search for the elect. Second, your pants, not on the seat from sitting around! but on the knees from frequent prayer. Learn to pray as if everything depends on the Lord, and work as if it all depends on you." That is how we begin to invoke the powers of heaven.

The process of bringing the powers of heaven into our lives begins with learning to cousel with the Lord. "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." Alma 37:37

As we do this we become driven by the fire of the covenant by the intense power of hope we recieve from an abiding trust that God will keep His promises. We must have hope the celestial glory is truly possible. (Ether 12:32) That hope will provide the anchor for us to act in faith according to the commandments of God. (Ether 12:4)

We must trust Him. We must know who He is. We must have a love of God and of all men.

If we learn to pray and to trust we receive the power from on high that through covenant we have become entitled to. Whether through the Gift of the Holy Ghost or the higher reception of the endowment. But it all begins with sincer prayer and sincere work.

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7: 7-11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." BD Prayer.

We must pray frequently, openly, and sincerely.

Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Austin

"Remember"

Haha, my spiritual thoughts are simply not the same caliber because of the repetitive nature of our studies. It goes like this: Pray, Mark References to Christ in the Book of Mormon, Pray Again. Here's one cool insight i did find this week. I was reading through Ether and found it very random that the Brother of Jared decided to use stones. So i went searching and found a very interesting insight. I looked into the other boat builders of the scriptures and found this: Gen. 6: 16 a window shalt thou make to the ark. The cool thing is the cross-reference of the word window. HEB tsohar; some rabbis believed it was a precious stone that shone in the ark. Pretty cool eh? Brother of Jared wasn't that creative after all.

The work is going well. We started teaching another cool family this week, the Bowman's. It's a divorced mother and her two sons. Fantastic family. Referred by their neighbors who invited them over to have dinner with us. The older boy, Andy (16), has been coming to chruch and seminary for the last few weeks and Matt (14) played church ball. Wonderful family. Very humbling to see their desire for spiritual nourishment.

Cory and TJ are both doing well. TJ comes tracting with us at least once a week. Haha, he went off at an old minister the other day that tried to bash with us.

Elder Rowley and i are doing very well. He's much more subtle than me so we accent each other's strengths very well.

Tracting is gradually gaining momentum. People are nicer as it gets warmer.

My spiritual thoughts today are centered around the verb "remember". I think if we can properly understand how to remember Christ we can master this life, becuase that's how we can gain the constant companionship of the spirit. (Moroni 4&5) The more i've come to understand my need to remember Him the more i've come to know that we perform our required labors (Alma 34:32) in the name of Christ. When we act in His name we remember Him. "All things must be done in the name of Christ, whatsoever you do in the Spirit" (D&C 40:31)

"Believe and repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, even as our fathers, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost, that ye may have all things made manifest; and if ye do not this, the floods will come in upon you; nevertheless they hearkened not." (Moses 8: 24)

As you preform your labors in His name, "unto you it is give to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God." (Luke 8:10) Those labors are everything from Baptism to Temple Ordinances to Scripture Study to Church Basketball. The reason we always start and end with a prayer is so that they are done in his name and so that we remember Him.

Remembering Him is learning to maintain and act in faith when it's hard, repenting when it's hard, praying when it's hard, reading when it's hard, going to chruch when it's hard, being kind when it's hard, being patient, long-suffering, gentle, meek, lowly of heart, unwearingly obedient, and exercising charity. Remembering Him is learning to become like Him and putting on His countenance.

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." (Moroni 7:48)

We have to remember Him.

Well I miss you and love you and hope you all are doing well. Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Austin

World Responses

This week's gone pretty good so far. We didn't find any new people like we were hoping, but the teaching was very smooth. I'm still in Huber Heights. I'm excited to announce that my new companion is..... none other than.... ELDER ROWLEY. haha. I'm training my MTC companion as a new zone leader. Pretty cool.

We had dinner with our investigator, Brad's, family this week. I've never been so scared in my life. Strong catholic family. Our job was to tell them why Brad should be Mormon. It went really well considering the pressure. We're hoping the let him get baptized soon.

We've spent a lot of time tracting the last few days and have seen some decent success from it. It was tough to see Elder Evans go, but the work goes on.

The zone is doing pretty good. A lot of finding to be done. A lot of changes. All but one area recieved at least one new missionary. One area was doubled-in.

Studies are going great. We're pouring over the Book of Mormon. This week we're teaching a zone meeting on using the scriptures to teach the restoration. The preparation has been a very cool "back-to-the-basics" experience.

I find it very interesting the way the world responds to the gospel. There's typically 3 types of repsonses. 1. No Gracias. 2. They are willing to listen but have no desire to act. 3. They're prepared to act in faith. These repsonses apply to everything: Finding, Teaching, Studying, Member Work. The biggest challenge in the world is figuring out how to put off the natural man and become a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and become as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. But when we figure out how to do that the world opens up.

Well that's it for today. Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Austin

To Omaha....

Sorry, with the snow and President's Day there was no way to email yesterday. Life is good though. We had an awesome baptism on Friday night for Melonie. I performed the ordinance. The only rough spot was the pilot light in the water heater was out. I had to hold a game face as i climbed into the 45 degree water. Melonie could barely breathe it was so cold. haha. One of those moments you thrive on as a missionary while everyone else thinks you're nuts.

Transfer calls come tonite, so if you have a chance to get those shirts and stuff sent off make sure they go to the PO Box. There's a good possibility i'm leaving Huber Heights.

The best experiences we've had recently have been from shoveling snow. My back aches and my arms feel like their on fire, but we've had some fantastic experieces. We've got just over a foot piled up right now with more falling at the moment. People are much more humble when they see us laboring in their behalf.

We had a great zone conference this week. Elder Evans and i taught about the characteristics of a "true and living church." We had a blast. The zone is gradually improving. We've seen a dramatic increase in the diligence of the missionaries over that last few weeks.

We're still plowing through the book of mormon and learning a lot. One thing i've gained a surprisingly increased reverence for is the sacrament. When we partake of the emblems of Christ's suffering the renewal is unmatched by anything of this world. We are pure and clean and rekindled as long as we partake repentant and faithful. I'd challenge us all to choose to have a more reverent and renewing experience during the partaking of the sacrament this week.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Love,

Austin

Chatting

The work went well this week. Had a great exchange on Friday. Elder Evan almost got trapped in Bellefontaine for the weekend because of the snow storm. Church was cancelled yesterday. Of course missionary work was not. Note to all future missionaries: Tracting up to the kick off of the super bowl is not such a good idea.

We've done a lot of shoveling the last few days. We ended up with about 4-5 inches. Not too bad. The difference between this and Colorado is the amount of ice. Driving is a nightmare right now.

Our investigators are doing well. We've got another baptism on friday evening for Melanie Kraus. We're also having dinner this week with the family of a teenage investigator. Brad's 18, and he's having a hard time convincing his family to support him in his decision to be baptized. We get to go fix that.

Mom, i have no idea what you're work email is. You'll have to let me know. Have you had a chance to send that package of yet?

My doctrinal notes are not as elaborate this week. We're continuing to cite the Savior in the Book of Mormon. The most interesting things i've noticed are the shifts in the language and descriptions of Him when the name of "Christ" is introduced and when they learn that he will be born of Mary.

Well, i hope all is well. I have to get a survey done online for an upcoming zone conference, so i should be on a little longer. Hopefully you can get a note off, but if not have a great week.

Love,

Austin

Let's Chat!

Life is good. The baptism was fantastic. One of the best i've been to by far. It was very different baptizing Cory compared to Louanne. Partly because Cory weighs barely a hundred lbs and Louanne is more than double that and also because Cory's desire for spiritual nourishment is out of this world. Last night, after her confirmation, we had her first new membler lesson to which she invited as many of her friends as possible. Some of them will be at church next week.

Tj's best friend Brad is set to get baptized in 2 weeks, and Louanne's friend Melanie is also set for that weekend. More to come.

Haha, mother, optism is an interesting thing in the mission field. We're were laying in bed last night and all the sudden Elder Evans said "Elder Montgomery, I'm chronically negative. I need to fix that." I couldn't help but laugh a bit. I find great joy in the work. If i'm not diligent and doing something i get down, but for the most part i'm very satisfied. Counting my blessings has turned into a measurement of my faith. Our trust in God only goes as far as our gratitude for the things we've already been given.

I'm working on the Sunlight thing mom, it just scares me to death. Too many wicked sunburns in my life.

I'm not sure if you thought of this already, mom and dad, but if you happen to be online the same time as me you can chat with me a little bit. Haha, Elder Evans parents get to cheat, though both just email him with their blackberrys, but if you're near a computer between 10:30 and 12:00 ohio time, you can shoot me back a note when i send one. My best bet may to to email dad since he's got outlook which should automatically tell him when he's got a new email.

Anyway, work's moving forward. Meetings all week. Faith is high and energy is low. Gotta run.

Love,
Austin