Thanks for the emails and packages!! If you could email me on dearelder.com that would be so much easier so i could read the emails without using up my computer time. But things are getting better and time is going by pretty quick. My P day is on Thursday.
I will send you pictures in about two days of the people in my district. Everyone is pretty good and way cool,we all get along really well. We've already taught four lessons in Spanish and we're only going to start teaching more. Its crazy how much Spanish I already know then when I first got here. I've been doing my best to stay healthy and I have discovered that I really like salad now, weird huh? I hope everyone is doing great. I'm super excited for my experience on Sunday when I get to pass the sacrament. Elder Chugg and i are super lucky. We know that Elder Holland and Anderson will be there for sure and then a member of the first presidency. I'll let you know how it goes! once again thanks so much for the packages and letters and everything, its always super exciting to get packages and mail no matter who its from.

June 18, 2011

Well how are you guys doing? Things are pretty good here in the MTC, we are always super busy though! This is really the first break from learning and studying we've had since we arrived! Apparently if I make it to Sunday things will get a lot easier and seem to fly by, I can't wait for that feeling! There is a saying that here in the MTC "the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days" i'm still waiting for that... Anyways, things are great here, the language is coming along slowly but surely. I've already taught an entire lesson in spanish with my companion, Elder Chugg. We actually didn't do too bad! Still a lot of improvement though! I think I told you this in the letter I sent but Elder Chugg is from Ogden, Utah and is going to be serving in Atlanta, Georgia. We get along pretty well and its going to be a fun 9 weeks! The other two missionaries in my room are also going to Atlanta, their names are Elder Spear and Elder Clark. They are pretty cool kids too. So this week elder Chugg and I were called down to the Mission presidents office, we were kind of scared and sort of confused at first! But once we got there President Brown was really nice and offered us a great opportunity! He asked us if we would like to pass the sacrament at a special sacrament meeting next sunday. Apparently all of the mission presidents will be there along with many General Authorities, some apostles and a member of the first presidency! Only 36 missionaries were asked to this so its a great priviledge and Elder Chugg and I are super pumped! I've seen pretty much all of my good friends and I continue to see new people I know everyday! Everyone is doing great for the most part except for Elder Kodra (tucky), he messed up his knee and he has to wait 2 weeks to find out if he can leave for Russia or not, let's hope the best for him! On every sunday each missionary in our zone is required to have a talk prepared and ready to go, and yes it has to be in spanish. But that isn't too bad since our teacher only teaches in spanish anyway and were asked to speak spanish as much as possible, which is pretty difficult when you dont know very much! So i'm definitely staying busy here in the MTC dont even worry about that! I feel like i've been here forever and its only day 4 so hopefully time starts picking up the pace! That would make things a little better! I'm working hard to stay positive and keep my head up it's just difficult sometimes! Oh and sorry it doesnt looke like i'll be able to get out too many hand written letters because there is just not enought time to get everything done but I will do my best! But how are you guys doing? What have you been up too? Make sure you tell me all about it! Oh and you can email me whenever, they just print off my emails and give them to me the day they are sent but the only time I get to be on the computer is Thursday (my P-day) today is sort of a mini P-day since we didnt get one on Thursday! I'm not really sure how to get the pictures off my camera onto here so i'll have to find that out some other time and send you them on Thursday!

Te amo!

Hasta Luego!

Love

Austin

First Letter Home/June 16, 2011

The MTC is great, I've seen a lot of my friends and have made a ton of new friends. Everyone here is super positive and just motivated to do the work. We had a little fireside with the MTC Presidency yesterday and they told us to write home today, but I will normally be emailing you. Well my companions name is Elder Chugg, he is from Ogden, UT and he seems like he is a pretty sweet kid. He is going to Atlanta, Georgia. I'm actually the only one in my district that is going to DC, but there are people in my zone that are going to the same mission as me. The other two in my room are Elders Spear and Clark. They are both going to Atlanta as well. Elder Spear is from Mesa, AZ and Elder Clark is from SanJose, CA. I've seen Jahde and he is doing great. There are so many missionaries here! I noticed that at dinner, I'm hoping my stomach continues to hold up! It still is a weird concept that I won't be going home anytime soon, but I'm actually so busy here it doesn't really give me a whole lot of time to think of home. I'm really excited for this opportunity that I have and I can't wait to start learning more!
I love you all,
Love Elder Gleed

June 15, 2011

Today Austin left to the MTC to start his mission. It was a very sad but exciting day for us all! We took the family to Goodwood for lunch and then to the Provo temple for pictures. It was a beautiful day. We dropped him off at the MTC at 1:00 pm. We know he will be an awesome missionary, but we will greatly miss him while he is gone!