December 8th, 2014

To the best mom in the world,
Man, email communication is so not as good as in person :p Yes,
President said no to the dropbox stuff. I am trying to ask him if
there is another way to accomplish the same thing.
I DID get the green box! It made me laugh! I share everything with
everyone in the apartment, so everyone says thank you! Thank you for
sending it, mom! I love you. Thank you for the letters too; It was
great to get something from Brian and Kait as well.
Now that I think about it, I think those were from Dads house, but I
can't remember. Anyways, tell them I love them and that I am so proud
of them and how well they are doing in basketball! Hopefully things
aren't toooo crazy with basketball taking over. Have you been making
sure to take time for things like family home evening? Do you and
Andrew still study scriptures together? Do you have family scripture
study? I know that when we make time to do those things that the Lord
will bless us, as families especially.
So with the iPads, we are only supposed to use them strictly for
missionary purpose. However, I did discover that I can connect my SD
card from the camera into the computer and send photos that way (which
I did today). I will send more next week. Also, with Facebook, I still
have hours of work to do cleaning it up, but I am making progress. By
the time I am done, you will for sure be able to able to see what I
post (for now I can't post anything though). I think everyone is still
restricted on my friends list, huh? How does that affect you, out of
curiosity?
Quick answers to questions you asked:
    #1 yes, Azmar is the guy I gave the tie to when he said he liked it.
    # 2 Brodey is indeed the only member in his family. His younger
brother Noah will be baptized      on the 10th of January. Because the
only thing that is holding back Doug and Charlene Shaffer (the
parents) is things related to the word of wisdom and tithing, and the
kids don't have that problem, they are leading the family in a way. I
feel like the parents will be baptized eventually, but it has been a
process. They come to baptisms all the time, come to church almost
every week, and stuff like that. We call Charlene "Sister Shaffer"
already :p and pretend to give her hugs when we shake her hand. We hug
Doug all the time :p He is big and buff x)
Also, I am sending you an envelope with 3 pictures of the Phoenix
Temple to you. Do you think that you could give one to Emily and have
the kids give one to Dad (and keep one for yo and the family there).
They won't have frames when I send them, but I have seen the Bishop
give away some that were framed and they looked beautiful. And the
frames were from the dollar store! :O haha, honestly the frames that
he got from the dollar store seemed to match it better than any other
frame ever could. It is such a beautiful picture.
Did I miss anything? So hard to keep track! :p
I love you and I miss you!
Love,
Your missionary and son:
Elder Austin Shaffer



I realized that I have not really shared any experiences with you from
my past week, so here is one or two:
Friday night to Saturday night was exchanges with the Zone leaders. I
went with Elder Miller to the YSA stake area (their apartment is in
the same complex as ours, but hey drive a truck!) and Elder Stulen
came to be with Elder Nicholson. I really really like Elder Miller- he
is a great leader who is good at recognizing people's strengths and
has great communication skills. He is great at giving constructive
criticism, which was especially easy because we just seemed to connect
really well. He is from Seattle and is leaving to go back on the 30th!
I think he said Snohomish specifically.
We talked a lot about how to make our lessons in the Glen Lakes are
convert into baptisms through more powerful, shorter, more frequent
lessons. We also discussed the importance of key indicators and how to
use them in our weekly and daily planning. He predicts that I will be
training in just a few months, which is the earliest I ever could
because I am being trained for the first two transfers and a transfer
is a month and a half. I shared with him how great of a leader I honk
he is and he complimented me again saying that I have the perfect
balance of humility and confidence. He said that that is very rare for
missionaries (especially for brand new ones) and asked what I did to
get that or if I was always like that. I told him that for the most
part, I have always been like that. I talked about how everything we
have -what makes us us (our personalities and whatnot) are gifts from
God and shared about how I learned that.
I wish I could write more but I am officially out of time! I love you
all! We have a great, busy area, and I serve with all my heart, might,
mind, and strength!
Love,
Elder Shaffer

December 1st

Austin's letters came in different pieces this week and included several pictures!  He first talks about a video he made last week that I was able to see.

Hi Mama!!

I thought you would like it! Do you know if Emily got to see it as well? I will email President Griffin today to ask him about it. I saw the photos you uploaded for me- thank you, they are wonderful :)

I cannot look at the blog I guess. Thank you for making sure everyone can get updates from me on my mission.

On thanksgiving we ate at two homes: Nikki's and the Schafers. We ate at the Schafers first; they are a great family and very friendly. Their oldest son Brodey (who is 10) is baptized but nobody else is yet. Their other son Noah will be baptized in a month or so when he turns 8, which should help Sister and Brother Schafer be motivated to do what they need to in order to be baptized. They are really a great family. I especially enjoy seeing Noah because he always hugs us and prays for us. Whenever I see him, I pick him up and give him a big bear hug, often times spinning him around. He's such a great kid. Although I don't connect with Brodey as much, he is very smart and plans on being some sort of scientist. Everyone in that family is great!

Nikki's house was also great. She is a professional chef and has 10 kids. She is a single mom and is such a good person. She should be baptized either this or next Saturday. Her oldest sons name is Azmar (he is about 19) and he is baptized. I think I talked about him in the video. We call him Meme. He recently received the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

You're doing great in school, mom. It always amazes me more and more how hard you work. Be sure to take good healthy breaks and reward yourself when you have good accomplishments!

Its always sad when people aren't interested, but it helps to know that we gave them the chance. We just need to be sure that we allow the Spirit to be with us when we share, and if they don't want to listen, there is nothing we can do at that point. But, it is true that we never know who will be interested and who will not, so we have to share the wonderful gospel with everyone! :)

BROTHER SHIELDS IS THE NEW BISHOP!? Holy cow!! Man all those changes are such big changes! That is exciting! Tell The old Bishopric thank you for their service and the new one as well!

Did you get to see the video that I uploaded last night?

I love you so so so so so much! Thank you for all you do for me. Thank you for your prayers in my behalf. Things are going so great here.

Love, Elder Shaffer

PS- I will try to find out if I have Brian and Kait's email because I think you sent them to me, but will you let Brian know that I plan on mailing him a hand-written letter today for his birthday and that I will probably include a small present in a Christmas package later in the month that I send? Thanks!

Additionally he sent this: 

I just wanted to make it clear what my Facebook accessibility is. I
don't know all the rules right now but I do know that I need to finish
"cleaning up" my Facebook before I can do anything. I have spent hours
-and will continue to spend hours- hiding anything from my timeline
that isn't missionary related (which includes pictures). It takes
forevvverrrrr :/ Once I am done, I know that I won't be able to talk
to you guys for fun or whatever, but I can see everything you post and
can post certain missionary related posts.
Also, I bought a knife last p-day and wanted to show it to you all! It
was $15 and since I didn't have one, really liked it, and figured it
would be something I could keep forever, I bought it.

And this:

I think this is the only last thing that I forgot! :p I don't know if
I talked about the baptism from Saturday.  Aldo, the 18 year old
Hispanic young man who was just about ready for baptism when I got
here, was baptized on Saturday!! It was such a special experience to
see someone enter the waters of baptism and covenant with God to
follow Jesus Christ forever. I took the time to safe with him how
clean I felt when I came out of the water when I was baptized. Also,
we found out later that day from the person who baptized him (Brother
Brewster, who he lives with) that he wants to serve a mission! Just a
few days before the baptism I was telling elder Nicholson how cool it

would be if he wanted to serve a mission. 

Pictures of Aldo's baptism:

November 24, 2014
First Letter from Arizona!

Apparently I have just a little bit more time than I thought. The video takes forever to load, so it will probably be like another half hour or hour I think.. Let me know if you can login though. My first area is Glendale! Apparently it is one of the busiest areas! My companions name is Elder Nicholson and he loves to work, so we get lots done! The standard of excellence for the mission for total lessons per week is 20 and we get average 25, which is awesome! Most areas have a hard time reaching the standard of excellence. We are very blessed in our area. We have lots of wonderful ward members who not only love to feed us, but who help with the work. Our ward is the Glen Lakes Ward and the Bishops last name is Simon. 

When it comes to wonderful ward members, the first that comes to mind is the Brewster family. They treat us like family. They remind me of moms house and how often we like to have the missionaries over there. Mom would always say "make yourselves at home" and really meant it too. The Brewster family is the same way. They do a lot for us to help us with our work too. Our investigator Aldo who is getting baptized this Saturday lives with them. He doesn't live with his family because they have had some issues. The Brewsters treat him like family. They have a son named Riley who is about the same age who will probably baptize him as long as the Bishop finds him worthy. That would be so cool! Riley wants to go on a mission but has to get his act together a bit, so this should be good for him. I can't wait to see Also be baptized! It has been such a privelage to be able to help teach hi, the last few principles he needs to know and practice the baptismal interview questions. He passed his real interview Saturday. I love serving a mission. I love "inviting others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." I know it is a blessing to be able to serve. 

I'll just share one more experience. Nikki is another investigator who will be baptized soon. She is black and in her mid 40s and has like 10 kids. She is possibly the coolest person I have ever met. She is so integritable and courageous. Her oldest son is named Azmar and he was baptized recently. He was trying to find a "loophole" in the law of chastity, so we made sure he knew how detrimental that would be, especially now that he has been baptized. He didn't receive it all completely, but at the end of the lesson he was saying he liked my tie, so I pulled it off my neck and gave it to him saying "let it be a reminder of your covenants." It was the blue and black one that sister Nielsen bought for me before the MTC. I hope it helps him. He is a really friendly guy.

Please pray for our all the people we invite to come unto Christ. Not only the investigators, but also the members (and those who we have not met yet). We meet lots of members who have trouble with the word of wisdom and whatnot. Pray for the people in the Glen Lakes area. I love you so much, and I pray for you every day! 

Elder Shaffer


(Side note:  Emily and I (mom) sent him a package that included some silly dino hats from the dollar store.  Austin was under orders to send back pictures with them on.)   :)

November 15, 2014

Mom, did I include everyone that you asked me to?
Hello all! It's absolutely crazy trying to write everyone in the hour
time I have once a week to do it. I hope you all know that I love you
and appreciate all of your letters and emails even if I don't reply. I
can read hand written letters the night I get them but not respond
till Saturday. I can only read emails and respond to them on Saturday.
The MTC has been great, but I am so so very excited to arrive in
Arizona in 3 days! I love to serve the Lord, and I know that every
second of the next two years is His time. I love my Savior Jesus
Christ and I have loved learning how to better invite others to come
unto Him. If I had to choose one thing to share, it would be that one
of our actor investigators here at the MTC who we teach every day has
committed to be baptized and start coming to church! He prayed to know
that Book of Mormon is true during the lesson with us and felt the
Holy Ghost testify of its truth. It was so wonderful to learn to love
him as a child of God and know that he is starting his journey of
following Christ starting with baptism. I was the one to ask him if he
would be baptized, and when he said yes, joy rushed through my body.
He - Lome- has had to grow up on his own so he didn't see the need for
God or Jesus Christ. We helped him learn why we all need the gospel of
Jesus Christ by focusing on the atonement, the gift of the Holy Ghost,
and the plan of salvation. I wish I could write more detailed, but
just know that it has been so wonderful. After the lesson, elder
Bradley and I were so ecstatic all day. There is no joy like bringing
others unto Christ. Always remember that we are should be focusing on
helping people come unto *Christ* -not the church, not the programs of
the church, not a friend, not the missionaries, not mutual, not
anything other than Christ. That will be a true and lasting
conversion.
I love you all!
Elder Shaffer

PS-mom will you please thank Oma for the apples?

November 8, 2014

First P-day letter!

Hello all!!

First of all, I am so grateful to have this opportunity to serve a mission. I know that it is where i am meant to be, so I am going to choose to be here. I will give all my heart, might, mind, and strength as I prepare to serve and then serve in the field. 

The days are long and tiring here, but I have always been good at "keep on truckin'" :p (For example, yesterday, we spent about 10 hours in the classroom total). The food is pretty good, and other than in between meals sometimes, I never go hungry! I look forward to each meal time so much! I am so excited to get into the field- we leave early Tuesday morning for Phoenix!! 

Just so you all know, I don't have to much time to write when I do get the chance. Also, p-day is Saturday for me while I am here. I can receive mail all week but cannot open it till then, and I can receive emails all week but cannot open them until then. 

Also, my companion's name is elder Bradley and we have been assigned as Zone leaders. He will also be the travel leader when we go to Arizona. 

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and I know that the Lord is helping me to prepare to teach those who need it. In fact, we are already teaching some real investigators here at the MTC.

Love you all,

Elder Shaffer

PS- that picture is my companion x)