Pictures of the Caves and Stuff

This past week we just did a bunch of service. Not much teaching. We helped out at the soup kitchen feeding the homeless, unloaded a truck at the food bank, helped 3 people move and probably more haha just can't remember! We had a funeral  for this new member's dad. He was a pretty sweet dude! He's been in like 3 car accidents, a chainsaw to the back of the head and stomach, got stabbed in the hood of Philadelphia and more! I've been reading the new testament and it's pretty sweet! I finished Matthew yesterday and I'm halfway through Mark. My talk in church was just trying to get the members to help us out more with missionary work! So we just spit fire at them during the meeting :) It was great!

Caves

Hey! I'm loving life! No bike yet though.. I gave a talk yesterday in church about qualities of disciples of Christ. It was pretty sweet, we threw down on the members to step up their game. :) I hope your talk goes well though! I did get both letters!! Thank you so much for them and the picture of Jesus! We just got done going through this cave! It was so awesome!! There's these little tiny mouse holes we had to go through and then it opened up to these huge rooms! It was so much fun!!

Dexter's going to Taiwan!? That's so sweet! I have no idea where that is on a map though!! I barley even know where I am on a map... :)

 This week was kinda just a service week. We did a ton of service!! We helped out at the soup kitchen feeding the homeless twice, unloaded a truck at the food bank, helped 3 people move, ummmm what else. I don't remember but yeah! I think the coolest thing this week was seeing Matt walk into Sacrament meeting. He's one of our investigators, the only one on date and hasn't been to church for a couple weeks so that was awesome! We also gave talks yesterday! That was pretty awesome as well! We're really trying to get the members to step it up a notch because we need some serious help! I just finished reading Matthew! It is so good like whoa! Elder Richards and I are working on reading the new testament. We actually have zone conference starting this Wednesday night and then Thursday morning. I've been doing pretty well with writing in my journal. I miss a day or so when we get home late but for the most part it's going great!

(And on a side note from TJ, Kyle's cousin serving in Florida:)

TJ:   I got to meet a bunch of cool people, and I told everyone in ward

council that I have cool eyebrows.  I am endearing myself to them, my
fellow humans.

Clover:  TJ you are a nut. I enjoyed the picture of your closet and can tell that meant a great deal to you. Hidden prizes are the best! But now I need a picture of your eyebrows so I can tell for myself if they are really cool or not. 

TJ: 

Clover: You Win

First Week in South Dakota, I mean Wyoming

Hey!

Did you get the picture of my working in the Bishops yard? The bishop's wife sent it to your phone so idk. I'm not positive what address you're supposed to send me stuff with so I'll send you a letter when I find out and let you know. But yeah, so I'm in Sheridan, Wyoming actually. It's real north almost to Montana. I love it here! We live in a pink building above a jewelry shop and next to a liquor shop downtown. We have the biggest apartment which is sweet but it's the oldest. I think I took some pictures of it actually! I'll look and stick them on here if so. We don't have a dishwasher though... haha. My companion is amazing! We're exactly alike, have the same humor, same background, pretty sweet! Except he's from Utah. :) All the members love that I'm from Texas and not from Utah! It's pretty funny actually! I gave a pretty awesome testimony yesterday and I think it pumped everyone up and got them to trust me. We've been teaching about 2-3 lessons a day since I got here on Wednesday. The wards not too big and there's not many investigators at all. We're working mostly with less-actives. But we have one investigator who is just amazing! He's name is Matt and he basically does our job for us! We give him the pamphlets and he reads them then commits himself to pray about them and to help with what he's going through. He's been extremely blessed because of it! It's insane!! 

The lady in the picture is Barbra from the MTC who bought your books!

Then that's some of my district from the MTC in the mission home!

We have a car! Don't really need a bike out here. I'm getting one from the mission office soon to go mountain biking though! and no it's just us 2 in the apartment.

Were at the church on their computers checking our emails.

My companion is Elder Richards! He's so cool! His dad went to England too!

I've made salsa the past 2 nights! He loves it so much!

Gangsta! Y'all should send me a lot of letters! Letters are awesome! :D

I love you too!!

Son :)  (Because I ended mine with "Mom")

(Written to Pat)

Well, I'm actually in Sheridan, Wyoming! My companion and I have our own apartment right in the middle of downtown. I love it! We don't have a dishwasher though.. I made salsa the past two days and Elder Richards and I have been devouring it every night. We live above a jewelry shop which is cool I guess and next down to a liquor shop BUT there's a DQ next door to that!! Elder Richards and I are exactly alike, it's kinda crazy. We have the same background and like the same stuff and have the same type of humor. He plays guitar which is awesome! We jammed last night with one of our investigators Matt. We share a car with the other Elders out here. We get it Sunday-Tuesday. That's crazy that Tate's already shooting up. It's not even been a month since I've been gone!? I got socks and a cord for my camera so I'll get some pictures for yall. Our ward is kinda small and they don't sing which really bums me out but it's okay! They're all about missionary work so it's a good trade off!

Mission President Anderson and Sister Anderson

First Gators

We've been teaching about 3 investigators a day average now. I was talking to one of my investigators, Barbara, about how you're an author and she totally went and bought all your books on her kindle! She's so sweet! She's been reading the Book of Mormon and she finally prayed with us!! :) She's also going to church with her neighbor Linda tomorrow! It's sad that it's our last time teaching today but I'm so glad I got to meet her and Theo. Theo's a really chill guy! He DJ's in Las Vegas but stays here in Provo to take care of his Grandma. He also started reading the Book of Mormon and finally prayed with us as well! We also had a chance to teach our teachers today which was so cool! Like normally they act and pretend to be someone they met on their missions but this time we just taught our teacher as themselves. I loved that so much because I already loved them sooo much! Elder Oaks came and talked to us this Tuesday so I can now say I've seen 2 apostles in the time frame of 3 days. Pretty legit!

The Book of Mormon is like my favorite book ever now. It's so powerful! Like holy smokes!!! We've had 5 just amazing lessons with our investigators back to back! The spirit is so important and helps out so much! I'm so glad I've been able to experience what I have so far with these investigators here! I can't wait for the next 2 years to come!! 

I've been craving a home cooked meal like all week. I mean I like the food an all but it's just not nice on the body...

I just got your letter today! Thanks for sending it! I was so excited when I saw my name taking it out of the mailbox!! That's pretty sweet you found those people on Dad's side!

I miss you guys! I love you so much and pray for you every night!!

Elder Autrey :)

Pics are my companions in the MTC Elder Hunt and Elder Johnson; and my district in the MTC.

Follow up

Oh there's this thing called "Dear Elder" which is basically writing an email but they print it out and put it in my mailbox immediately. So if theres ever anything urgent for this week, that would be the way to go. Or if you just want to say hi! It's just us 3 Elders and 4 Sisters. We're all going to SD except Elder Johnson who is going to Vancouver, Canada! Our Branch President and his wife served in London, England and were excited to hear Dad did as well. Their last name is Briscoe. So idk. I believe we can call home at the airport so if you get a call around 9am on Monday it's probably me.

And that's awesome about the blog! I'll try and figure out the picture situation soon. I look adorable ;)

Talk to you next week! Love you all so much!

Elder Autrey

Oh and my companions and I are totally about to teach our first lesson with an investigator we found ourself that isn't a teacher acting or anything. She is apart of the TRC program so she may still be acting or possible a recent convert or could possibly be an actual investigator. But it's just cool that we found her ourselves and set up our own appointment to meet with her and it's just so exciting!!

Elder Autrey

First few days in the MTC

The MTC is amazing!! The first 2 days here I was absolutely loving it! The third day was a little rough for just about my whole district just with fatigue and exhaustion but that night my companions and I talked about everything about what's going on and we all felt so relived afterwords. Such a bro bonding moment. My companions are the best! I'm in a threesome companionship because Elder Hunt's companion never showed up like, at all.

I've learned so much and realized I know A LOT more than I realized I did. Like my brain feels like it's about to explode sometimes but everything that's getting shoved into it is so amazing and so true. I can feel the spirit pretty much all the time which is just fabulous! The MTC grounds are really sacred grounds just like the temple. Speaking of the Temple, we just got back from going with our district. It was so relaxing and such an awesome way to just unwind from all the learning in classes. 

Sucks for Sam about his foot. Hope he doesn't get tetanus. (Note: Sam stepped on a nail. His tetanus shot is up to date however.)

The food is actually pretty good. It doesn't bother me much except it gives me and Elder Johnson really bad gas so we're just farting all day long. No be deal though, we enjoy it. :) I play volleyball everyday with my district which is sooooooo much fun!

President Uchtdorf came yesterday for Easter and gave a devotional. Seeing him enter the room was incredible. It's indescribable being in the same room as an apostle. After he spoke he walked around and shook hands with a lot of missionaries. He shook hands with the Sister right in front of me. SO CLOSE! hahaha. 

I'm the district leader for my district as of thursday (day 2). Once again, my district is the best! We all get along and joke around and have fun but we all follow the rules and really have a strong desire to learn all we can about this gospel. 

I leave for S.D. next monday 6am. We have to leave campus at 2:30am which I'm not looking forward too. OH so remember how I was always tired just for no reason at home?? Well I wish I could go back to that because I am now ALWAYS tired. It's unreal how exhausted we all are. But it's so admirable to see everyone fight through the exhaustion to learn as much as they can while they are here. 

Tell everyone I love them and miss you all a lot! I think about you guys every night and pray for you. Thank you for everything you have taught me and for keeping me in the church. I love you!

Elder Autrey