Happy Thanksgiving to You!

Life is good. We're working hard. Elder Evans and i are getting along great. We picked up some great new investigators this week. One is a mom with three kids. Her name is Patricia. She just went through a divorce, but her ex-husband sneaks in sometimes and beats her up. Not a good situation... But she's got a baptismal date for Jan 2. A great lady, very sincere and committed.

Thanksgiving was great. Very filling. We had 3 dinners. haha. One of those days you wish you could spread the meals over the next week.

Haha. Mom, by this point in your mission you were getting ready to go home. haha.

This work over all is great. Sorry i haven't filled you in one everything. We've been extremely busy. Elder Evan crashed last night and said, "if i'd know being a zone leader would be this hard and stressfull i probably wouldn't have said yes." haha. Leadership is a wake up call. Our zone covers the whole east side of Dayton. The areas are: Bellefontaine, Springfield, Piqua, Sidney, Huber Heights, Xenia, Beaver Creek, and Fairborn. We also cover the Dayton singles branch. It's a much small zone than columbus, but there's a lot of great wards.

Thanks for taking care of the ticket for me, and for the debit card. Before you have a panic attack, mom, there's not much left in my account. I bought some winter stuff, then found it cheaper somewhere else. I returned the first purchase today. So my money's in my dresser, and not my account. Sorry, just wanted to save you from a heart attack.

Oh, Southlands during the holidays. Reminds me of working with Hannah at Banana Republic. I wish i had the people skills i have now back then. I would've sold a whole lot more.

We picked up a christmas tree at goodwill this week for a couple of dollars. We had decorations in the apartment, just no tree. Needless to say, we are now properly festive.

Oh, i just remembered. I had a favor to ask. Mom, do you remember those cuff links we got for prom my senior year? If you happen to know where they are i would love for you to send them out. Elder Tanner left me with a nice french cuff shirt, and i would love to be able to wear it. Thanks.

Well, our more comedic note for the week came the other night while we were tracting. We knocked on a door and a guy answered and with a few words mormons can't say he told us he wasn't interested. As we walked away a woman came to the door and told us we could come back. She let us in. We started to talk and immediately realized she was a tad bit intoxicated. She told us she really respected what we did and asked if she could give us a hug. We said no. She continued to talk about her religious background, then all of the sudden she said, "give me a hug!" and lunged at Elder Evans. He stiff-armed her. We set up a return appointment and got out of there. I was laughing so hard i was crying as i walked to the car. My companion got raped by a crazy drunk woman.

On a more spiritual note...
I've been studying recently about what it means to "take upon us the name of Christ." It means that we're are going to do all in our power to become like Savior and progress to be like our Heavenly Father. It means we will constantly see for spritual nourishment. We will consistently learn true doctrine and apply it. Nephi was the master of this. As he would learn new truth from the Lord he would immediately look at his life and figure out how it would change his character and choices. Our choices define us, and the most important decision we make is to exercise faith in the Savior.

I miss you. I hope you had a wonderful Turkey Day!

-Austin