Pictures of Elder Austin from Stranraer, Scotland

Scotty will do anything for an investigator to be baptized!

Puppy that reminds Scott of Maggie Mae

Scotty in British Phone in Papa John's phone booth pose

Scott and Elder Niedeck (He is from Germany)

Missionary Companions wearing the Scottish Crest

The Stranraer Branch (but not all of them)

Elder Scott Austin's Journal Letters from April 21st through April 27, 2014

Monday, April 21, 2014

P-day today wasn't that good. On Easter Monday, everything shut down, including the library. So we had to use the McLean's ipad to email. The post office was closed too so I couldn't get my letters out either. It was a pretty lazy day. One of our return appointments fell through tonight so we had to tract. Elder Neideck wasn't feeling good emotionally. We had to stop because finding without faith and enthusiasm is absolutely useless. So I came up with the idea to contact potentials and formers for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, we were not as successful as we hoped it to be. Tomorrow is always another day.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Well this Tuesday started off like usual with a district meeting. Afterwards, we ate at this place called "The Chicken Shack". I got chicken strips with ranch! It's been so long since I've had that. The Ayr elders came down to Stranraer for exchanges. I was with ELder Whitehead who has been out for 5 days. He was really struggling and wanted to go home, but I think we had fun together. Unfortunately, we didn't find anybody, just a lot of crazy people, like usual. We did get a referral out of someone, so it wasn't too bad. The elders stayed the night and they will leave in the morning. It was a fun night for all of us.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Today was a really weird day to say the least. We tracted into a lady who needed some service, so today we cleaned up her backyard. It was weird because she knew a lot about our church. When we were done, we had a snack with her and tried to teach her. We found out she was a member of the REORGANIZED Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She also said she was an anti-mormon and she wanted to convert us. Immediately we felt uncomfortable and left. Her church was a branch off of ours. Their line of prophets stops at Brigham Young. She was crazy! AHH Weird day! I got an invitation from Taylor today. Are you going to go? I wish I could.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

This morning we startred off by doing service for Brother McLean. He needed to cut some wood, so I held them as he cut. Another crazy thing happened today!! We had the feeling to go to a street called "Hazel Grove". It only had like three houses on it. The last house we knocked on was a lady who as JUST about to be baptized into the Jehovah's Witnesses. She invited us in and we taught her the Restoration. She said she would read and pray about the Book of Mormon! Ohh, the Jehovah's are not going to be happy when they hear about this. The JW's in this area do NOT like us at all. But if this lady gains a testimony of the Book of Mormon, then this will be a miracle story! We saved her from the Jehovah's!!

Friday, April 25, 2014

Well, the morning was normal as usual, but then we went to have lunch with Sister McGillvery at a really posh (fancy) restaurant. She wanted to thank us for the service that we did for her. I had a seared salmon, it was amazing! And don't even mention what was for dessert. It was a chocolate mousse cake, delicious! We had a good lesson with a less-active named Jim MacDonald. He told us he is coming to church this week! It's been years since he last came. We finished the night off with dinner at the Corrigans. It was turkey, potatoes, and vegetables, Yum! It was definitely a good food day! Oh and by the way, happy 9 month mark!

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Today is our usual out-of-towners day and that was just fine. The big part of the day was the reach-out nigth we did. Our branch president came down with a high counselor and we went on splits. Our main objective was to visit all the part-member families so we could find someone else to teach. There are a few angry less-actives so we got a couple doors slammed in our faces. We did get a few potentials out of it so it was successful. I don't know if you know about Angela Campbell's recent surgery. She's in a lot of pain so we went over and gave her a blessing. She said that she felt a calm feeling overtake her. It was a good night.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Well it was a very interesting Sunday to say the least. Sometimes there can be some tension in the priesthood class, and that was the case this week. We had a member of the Stake Presidency speak and he was very good. He's originally from Las Vegas, but he came here on a mission and found his wife. Hey, you never know what could happen with me. (haha)Just kidding. We had a nice dinner with the McLeans. Nancy made beef and chili enchiladas. It was very good!

Love you!

Elder Scott Austin's Journal Letters from April 14th to April 20, 2014

Monday, April 14, 2014

So since it's moves week, P-day is moved to Wednesday.  We still get to email today though.  We knocked on doors for most of the day after that and gained very little.  Tonight we tried by a potential named Steven, he's a military guy.  He told me he was even based at Luke Air Force Base!!He's a really good guy and a good young father who is open to religion.  His military service had a big impact on his belief in God.  We taught him and told him to read in the Book of Mormon about the stripling warriors.  I have high hopes for Steven.  We're seeing him next week!

Tuesday, April 15, 2015

Oh my goodness!  Today was a jam-packed day of service.  First, we helped brother McLean wash his car inside and out.  Nancy made us bacon and egg sandwiches  after that.  They were delicious!  We had another service project right after that at Brother Wall's house.  Guess what I did there!?  I shoveled manure for his garden.  It was a dirty job but someone had to do it.  Let's just say I washed my hands very good at the end of it.  The Obasuyi's fed us tonight.  I love their African food!  It's starting to be my favorite.  We have to take a missionary from Ayr down to the Ferry tomorrow so we stayed the night with the Elders.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

It was an early start this morning!  We woke up at 5 am to take the Elders to the train station.  Then we drove a sister missionary to the Ferry because she was going to Ireland.  When we got back to the flat and since it was p-day, I took a nap!  It was so nice.  It wasn't an exciting p-day but it was relaxing.  We actually ate lunch outside because it was so nice.  Summer is coming!  After p-day we did service for a member at the train station he works for.  It was just some gardening work, nothing too special.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

The day started off with us doing service for the Obasuyi's.  They're redoing their living room, so we painted it.  The wife Tessy, came in and leaned on the wall and got paint all over her, it was funny.  The Corrigan's fed us fish and potatoes tonight, so that was pretty good.  We found a few good people while tracking tonight.  Hopefully these people can start a big marathon of success!   We can only hope and pray.

Friday, April 18, 2014

It was a sunny day and a successful day!  Since it was so nice outside, we walked from street to street.  I didn't even need to wear a jacket.  We found a few really good people.  This one lady we met told us that she had followed the Mormon Facebook page!  She was definitely prepared by the Lord.  We went over to Sister McGillvrey's house because we're really focusing on reactivating her.  We gave her an Easter message and she told us that she has a deep spiritual connection with us and that she can see a light at the end of the tunnel with us.  How awesome is that!!  We saw one of our new investigators on the street, and we set a return appointment and guess what!!!??  He invited his family to listen to us!!  Oh, this is wonderful, I was happy.  We had a nice meeting at the Campbell's to end the night.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

The morning started off with us doing service for Sister McGillvery.  She replaced her grass with gravel, so we got rid of the grass for her.  We then headed out of town to see all the members far away. Of course, my favorite is still Peter.  He's Cornish so every time I see him he says "Hello my handsome".  He's such a nice old man and his faith is still there.  Our plans kinda fell through for the rest of the day so we hit the streets for some good 'ol tracting.  We might have found another potential family.  He is a young father who just had a newborn , Perfect!!  Those people are always golden.  He said he will ask his wife and call us when he's ready to listen.  We're having a lot of success this week.  We've found 10 potentials already!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter!!  Unfortunately, like Christmas, you don't feel the holiday spirit like usual.  We did have a nice service at church though.  We taught the priesthood lesson about the church and Kingdom of God.  The speakers in sacrament meeting were good too.  Not too many people were receptive today when we were tracting, but I don't blame them.  They just wanted to be with their families.  There was an unusual amount of teenagers partying and getting drunk today.  Oh well, that's Scotland for you.  We had a nice ham at the McLean's for dinner.  So you don't have to worry, you're baby boy got fed on Easter!!

Love you!!

Elder Scott Austin's Journal Letter from April 7 - April 13, 2014

Monday, April 7, 2014

Alright, we're back to the normal routine of journal letters.  P-day wasn't that exciting today.  I got to download a lot of talks from General Conference, so that was good.  You emailed me about Erin and Ashley, I hope you found my advice helpful.  Keep being that example to them!  Tonight we had dinner at a less-active family named the McGillvery's.  Sister McGillvery was the victim of anti-mormon stuff, remember?  Her Husband made curry and it was VERY SPICY.  Let's just say when I got home, it burned ….. A LOT!  Enough said ….

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

As usual, our Tuesday started off with appointment with a guy named Eric that we were very excited for, but he dropped us when we got there.  He's an athiest, so I can see where he's coming from, but it just kinda stinks.  While tracking today, I got told by this old man that I wouldn't live past age 76.  Crazy old people!  The day ended on a really good note though.  We went by a potential and he let us in to teach him.  He's a father of two, so we talked to him about how reading and praying could impact his family.  He said he would talk to them about having us teach them as a family.  Ahh that would be so cool if we could baptize them all together!  So today was a good day.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

So today, we hit the streets and the houses hard!  When the day as over, we counted 7 hours of solid finding.  Our efforts were successful as we got 4 potential investigators.  Al of them set a return appointment for tomorrow.  So there's a chance that we can get 4 new investigators tomorrow!  How great would that be?  I'm so excited to teach them all tomorrow!

Thursday, April 10, 2014

We scheduled to have 4 lessons with 4 new investigators today but all of them fell through…. Absolutely no one came to the door out of the 4 of them.  So that didn't make me happy.  Since they all cancelled, we were forced to knock on more doors.  We ran into some of the weirdest people.  We talked to this guy who said that Adam and Eve were Irish … Crazy right?  Then we ran into this lady that called us false prophets.  She basically told us that we're going to hell for what we're doing.  She said she was "Christian", but she showed no Christlike love whatsoever.  Oh well, just another normal day in Stranraer.

Friday, April 11, 2014

This morning we got to roll up our sleeves and do some physical work.  A less-active family was taking off the dry wall and concrete around their fireplace, so we did it for them.  We had to chisel away all of the stuff.  It was hard work!!  I enjoyed getting down and dirty though.  Tonight we had dinner at the Corrigans.  They have a brand new black lab puppy named Bentley.  He's so cute!!  He's still in the stage of biting everything so I have a few scars.  After that, we had a good lesson with the Campbell's.  We're trying to get Bethany's older sister interested.  We gave her a challenge to read and pray about the Book of Mormon every night.  We're hoping and praying for a miracle.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

So the day started off with some good 'ole tracting in the rain.  There was one woman who felt bad for us, so she let us in and gave us a glass of water.  She as really nice, but when we tried to teach, she kinda wanted us out.  We then had lunch at a small restaurant with Sister McGillvery.  Even tough she's less-active, she loves us so she loves to feed us.  Of course, my favorite was Peter at his rest home.  Have you ever heard of a book called "Tuesday's with Mory"?  I think I"m gonna write a book called "Saturday's with Peter".  We went back to Stranraer and started knocking on more doors.  It was like the whole housing estate hated us.  They laughed, made fun and shooed us away.  It didn't feel good at all.  The phrase from "Missionary work and the Atonement" keeps sticking in my head.  "Why would we ever think it would be easy for us when it was never easy for him."  I got your package today!  Thank you so much.  I love it!!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Church was very good this morning.  We got to teach the priesthood lesson about Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  Testimony meeting was good as always.  The McLean's fed us to end our fasting and it was great!!  She made steak pie with steamed vegetables.

So I got a call tonight saying that I am staying in Stranraer for another six weeks.  I have no idea why the Lord is keeping me here for so long, but I know there is a reason.  All I'm focusing on now is enduring faithfully with a smile.

Love You!!