Elder Austin J Frazier (Rudy) Missionary Journey

Pictures from Elder Frazier 03-18-13

Email 03-18-13

Wow there's a lot of stuff here. I got all the forwards. I'm going to have to print them out to save time and I'll get back with you guys next week on any questions that you guys had. Sounds like a great time for you guys at home. Some big wrestling stuff. I'm definitely loving all that of course. This last week was a very great week. Elder Townsend and I had a great last week together and we ended his last transfer baptizing. What a great week.

Alright first I'll start off with the bad news from this week. Yes there is bad news. Mom don't freak out. Dad you can't freak out either. So on Friday morning, I always get up and light the boiler so we can have warm water to shower with in the morning. So I go to light the pilot light and it lights up and then I do everything else normal. Well when I hit the ignition button, the pilot light went out. I thought that was weird, but not unusual. It sometimes happens. So I put the lighter in to light the pilot light again and all of a sudden I hear a woooosh. I closed my eyes turned my head and jumped to the side. Unfortunately it was a little too late. The woosh was a backfire and a huge flame came out burning my eyelashes, my right eyebrow, and right side of my hair. However, I wish I could say those were the only things that got burnt. My right hand received first degree burns and the flame actually went up my sweatershirt arm and gave me slight burns all the way up to my tricep. Pretty crazy morning. I'm just fine. Everything is healing perfectly like it should be. I'm in perfect health otherwise.

This last Saturday, Elder Townsend and I had a baptism. Her name is Laura, she's 27, and is now officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She asked me to perfom the baptism. That was pretty cool seeing as how I haven't baptized in about 5 months. The members were making jokes at me saying I wouldn't be able to baptize her. Well I showed them lol. Like I've said before, I'm not short, I'm compact. She was also confirmed yesterday. It was a great way to end Elder Townsend's mission. He was super excited. He asked me at the beginning of the transfer if we were going to have a baptism this transfer. I told him yes. I told him I didn't know who, but that we would have a baptism his last Saturday in the mission and the Lord helped us do that with Laura. What a fantastic transfer.

Alright so you guys know, Elder Townsend will be looking you guys up and maybe even calling you guys here within the next couple of weeks. So if you see a call from Utah or a facebook invitation from Joshua Lincoln Townsend, it's him. Him and I have gotten really close. He's way awesome. I did also receive the book you guys sent me. Thank you very much for the birthday package. I'm way excited for my birthday. I'll be working a little less than I thought though on my birthday...

Well because Elder Townsend is ending his mission that means that I have transfers again and boy oh boy do we have some news. I was told last night that I would be training in my area, as .......... District Leader. I've been assigned to be a District Leader here in the mission now. That is way crazy. I'm the only one in my generation that is training. Elder Chronister also will be a District Leader in a different Zone. Him and I feel the same way about this lol. I have no idea if I'll be training an American or if I'll be training a Hispanic. It'll be very interesting. we should be receiving about 30 missionaries this transfer. That's insane. I'm really excited for the District that I have. They are way cool and are ready to work. I think. We'll see after one week.

I love you all so much. Have a great week you guys. You're all very awesome.

Elder Frazier

Pictures from Elder Frazier 03-10-13

Email 03-10-13

Howdy howdy family.

First thank you so much for writing me this week. It's been a month since I've heard from you guys. I've been extremely worried. Things here are doing okay. We're still working really hard and having a lot of fun.

Today we went to Zocálo again. That was way fun!! We bought some Lucha Libre masks, like the ones from Nacho Libre. I also bought a pretty awesome sweater. It will be perfect for the cold mornings that we have. It's way cool seeing all the stuff here. I had a lot of fun going to see the Cathedral again. What a blast. We definitely saw a lot more Americans this time. Probably because it's Spring Break.

Elder Townsend and I are doing great. We're really working hard and trying to do the best we can with the Bishop and Leaders of the Church. Yesterday was a toughy in church with the Priests not being very reverent in the Sacrament and the First Counselor, my favorite person in the world, thinking he's all that and screws up the order of the Sacrament meeting. Little tough. Elder Townsend wasn't too happy. He's way excited to be going home. We talk a lot about what he's going home too. We talk about our exs and everything so he knows what to do with his ex when he gets home. He's awesome. Him and I have been working so hard in fact, we are planning on a baptism this week. We're way excited. We still need to teach her some stuff, but she's ready. It'll be nice for Elder Townsend to baptize his last Saturday in the mission. With that being said, yes that means we have transfers again. I'll find out Sunday who will be coming to the ward. That's pretty cool.

I'm excited to hear about Riley and Leslie. That's way awesome they are loving Rugby. Can't wait to play it. That'll be a lot of fun for them and help them stay out of trouble. So I have absolutely no idea what happened with Regionals or State or Delta or Nationals. What happened in those tournaments. That's cool to hear that Nettie wants to go see you guys. I got a letter from her like five weeks ago. It's was interesting lol. No haven't been receiving any letters or anything. Been interesting these last couple of weeks. Really quiet. Well I love you guys so much. Thank you a lot for everything. My birthday I will be going to church and then working the rest of the night. That'll be way fun. I'm really excited. Can't believe that I'm going to be 20. That's crazy. Love you all. Take care.

Elder Frazier

(We had been emailing, every monday, every week. He hadn't been getting them for some reason. We were able to fix the situation and so far he is recieving our emails again.)

Email 03-06-13

Howdy howdy my family.

This week was way awesome. We had a great week. This last week was a lot of walking around. We did a lot of looking for less active members. We're also trying to find some more investigators so that we can have more people to teach. I also got into a fight with the Bishop this week as well because of certain things, but that's okay. We're doing really good here and trying our hardest to help our Recient Converts stay active and get them the Priesthood and a Calling. I'm also trying to help Jose y Miriam fix their marriage with the help of the Bishop, but everytime he sets an appointment he doesn't show up. This is causing some trouble for, not only them, but also with other members. We're trying to help the Bishop realize what he should do as a bishop and help him have more active members.

This Sunday was a very special Sunday for me. I was asked by José and Miriam to present their little girl Vania to give her a name and blessing. That was a wonderful opportunity for me. I felt extremely honored to do that for them and they were way excited for that as well. They are doing really good. Just going over some rocky roads right now with José and how he disciplines the girls. I think I've heard that before somewhere. They are going to be an excelent marriage and family. They are going to be way awesome. Right now their focus, as well as the focus of Rafael and Elizeth is the temple in one year. That'll be way exciting to go to their sealing session.

Speaking of temples, today Elder Townsend and I went to the temple to do a session. It was my first session in Spanish and I'm extremely blessed with my ability to understand and to speak Spanish. The session was way cool and fun. I also was able to speak the right words at the end of the session to go to the Celestial Room. That was a huge blessing. I love going to the temple. Always have and always will. Says so in my Patriarchal Blessing as well. I also saw someone in our session that I was not expecting to see. I saw my last companion Elder Canche, well now Hermano Canche. He's doing really good. We didn't talk too much because we had a lot of stuff to do today. It was pretty cool seeing him and he was so excited to see me. He gave me a big hug and I gave him a big hug too. Pretty cool stuff.

Well I hope everyone is doing good. Know that I love you guys. I did get Leslie's letter from the 15th of January this week, and to answer her question, I don't remember. I'll think harder about that question. I love you all so much. Have a great week.

Elder Frazier