Week of February 21

Dear Mom,

Elder Cortez and I are doing really well, we are getting a lot of success together and Elder Cortez said that I have changed his life forever. (That was wishful thinking) It has been more on the lines of "Can you please get off me, I am trying to Read here... or "I guess for the sake of you going to sleep, I love you" or the classic "Now seriously, what are you doing?" Him and I have a special relationship that consists of the touchy me and the introvert him. 

Brandon has been doing better because we found the key with him! READING! Turns out that he likes to read the scriptures, so we are making slow progress with him. Also GUESS WHAT! The Carlsbad wards have split so now I cover 2 wards, the Pecos River and the Loving's Bend wards, this is the first time this has happened to me! The work is progressing fast here in New Mexico. Ciara is ok for now, she is checking up on her and the baby's safety and we haven't talked to them since then. We are going to check up on them tomorrow. I actually went to high school with Ciara and she knew a lot of the same people as I did. She even knew Marley Kieth. So she is already a member, her husband. Leviticus Funk (we call him Levi) is a catholic, but he is really fun to be around and he listens sincerely! We get fed like no other here. For the entire months of January and February, we didn't make ourselves dinner once! I want a picture of this so called BRITTANY! Nobody gets a legitimate girlfriend before I DO! Tell every one of the kids that I love them a ton. 

My favorite scripture is Galatians Chapter 5 that says "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" It shows that even the littlest things can effect us in the long run and that is why we should be exactly obedient.

I love you guys and I hope that this was enough writing for you :) Have a great week!

Love,

Austin

I am really excited to take on Bryn and Brie in a soccer match. My Mexicanized powers have re-emerged and I am ready to destroy them. I ate Elder Cortez' soul so now I have double the power! It tasted a little like Taco Seasoning but I think that was just the after-taste. HAHA I just wrote all of that because my companion is watching my screen :) 

Don't get too hard on Luna, she is just the most intelligent dog on the planet. I mean, what do you expect from the most intelligent owner on the planet. They don't write heritage books about just anyone you know. The weather here has been so HOT! 80 degree weather in the middle of Winter! It is not normal at all! So how is everything going with Lori? Well, I am sure that you will change your mind if we go to Guatemala for vacation. 

Week of February 14th

Dear Mom,

This past week has been great! Elder Cortez and I have been getting along so well. I am glad to stay in Carlsbad, we are still working on them though. 

So what happened this week, We taught a recent convert Brandon about setting goals and it is so hard to work with him. he has no desire to progress because he is very anti-social. But we have other recent-converts who are eager to go to the temple these upcoming months. We have been doing a lot of service at the senior citizens center, I really enjoy that. We found a really cool little wind up radio in the apartment that runs on solar energy, so we use it to find out the weather, really neat! We also are speaking a lot more Spanish. yesterday we had 2 dinners with 2 different families. 1 was steak, the other was Hawaiian haystacks. We had a lesson with Levi and Ciara and Ciara had a small seizure so she went to bed and we taught Levi and he really listened about the Gospel of Christ. 

Keep a watch on Luna, she will get there, she is still a puppy. I am proud of the girls and it frustrates me when people don't know how to work at all at the restaurant. But I love you guys so much and I love the advice you give me, I will work harder to have more stuff to talk about next week!

Love you

Week of February 7th - Birthday Week!

Dear Mom,

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I really appreciated them! I really liked the package! Except for the fact that it was fast sunday when I got to open it :) I got Hyrum, Hayden, and James to email me so that is good. That is good to hear about Mesquite. So my week was good, I am staying in Carlsbad with Elder Cortez, Elder Whitesides is leaving, we had a lot of lessons and we brought a lot of people to church. I lost a chess game to our Ward mission leader and we have eaten at a lot of places. Members made me a cake which was delicious.

 We went to the caverns, but I don't have the pictures right now! Sorry my bad, but they were really nice! Elder Cortez and I ran up the caverns which is 72 stories in 4 miles so that was a great incline! I met a woman from the Philippines at the Visitor Center and we talked about you and your time in the Philippines and how I want to go there as well. We are having a problem with investigators not being married which is a big hurdle but we can get over it. I taught seminary which was great and I also tried to play charades where I was proposing and my companions literally thought that I was being Knighted, I don't know what to do with these guys. So Thanks for the birthday wishes. The best thing I ate was Asada Tacos, best tacos ever! I love you guys so much and I hope you guys have the greatest week ever! Love you

Week of February 1st

Dear Mom,

My week has been good thanks! I am sorry for the passing of Great Grandpa evans! It must have been a little hard. Not the first thing I wanted to hear over text from you :) But yeah, things are going to be really different coming back, not the way I exactly expected but it should still be good. How did the funeral go? Who attended? How many? How long was it? Who gave the eulogy? Tell Jake shaw that I said hi! I really do like Carlsbad a lot! I just went to the Caverns today and it was amazing! But I don't have much to say anymore but I really hope that you have a great week! I love you guys and hope for the best! 

Love,

Austin Farley

Week of Jan 27th

Dear Mom,

The battle fares well, we have had so much success. We had 6 less active members come to church yesterday and they said that they enjoyed it a lot! Liliana and Gil are that family, they are doing good, they still have some questions but we will answer them this week. Transfers are in 3 weeks from now. I would of liked an Ipad but that can't happen haha, I would really like a hand-written letter from Hyrum maybe. I would also appreciate a GPS in case of Elder Whitesides leaving. Brie and Bryn seem to do really well in Soccer! How often do they practice? Brie is a really tough girl and I am proud of her, is Bryn having fun still? Is Caden good at rugby? Tell Bryson that serving a mission would give him purpose in life ;) 

Why is it that so many tournaments are held in Mesquite?! Elder Cortez tells me that it is just a small town between St. George and Las Vegas... Anyway, that sounds like a good plan. Do I have to work at all 3 or can I choose which one I would like to work at? Winter sounds like a dream right now, it is always so warm here and then I forget to wear a sweater and then the desert night sets in and I am miserable haha. 

That is a good article and I just read it, that is so true how we need to be disciples in the fullest and not give excuses. We have a motto in our companionship. "BE EXCEPTIONAL WITHOUT EXCEPTION" And it has been a pretty good motto to live by lately. I love you guys so much and I am going to the Caverns next week so I can send pictures for my birthday :) Is there anything that you guys want me to tell you? Just let me know! Love you guys bunches!

Your son,

Austin Farley