Tuesday, April 30, 2013

April 29, 2013

Hey!! Another week down! How? I don't know... But I have kind of just stopped asking questions at this point. =)

So, we shall start with the big news! Transfer calls! I Have been called to serve in............. Monta Rey! The Spanish ward on the Island of Montreal!!! I am kind of freaking out! My Spanish is WAY not good enough for this yet! OK, no, that isn't true, I'm staying here. But Elder Garcia IS going to Monta Rey. I'm going to miss the big Lug! So I am staying here in Longueuil, and I am going to be receiving Elder Loscial! You might not be excited about this new, but I am freaking out about it!!! Elder Loscial is coming from the far away town of... ALMA!!! Elder Loscial was trained by Elder Beaumont, who I trained!!! I am getting my "Grandson"!! We are going to have so much fun together it isn't even funny. We are going to tear Longueil apart so bad that it isn't even going to know what happened to it! Elder Loscial also will be able to bring me down to Red Champagne, the pop that they make only in Alma, that I haven't had since I left... Ahh..... I want it right now! 
Other than that, our life has been really "chilax" this week! We have just been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, teaching lessons, knocking doors, giving service, and meeting with the members and the bishop to set up some super awesome church activities for the community!  We are planning to do a Cultural night in July for the community and for the three wards in our area and all their friends! Wait, have I told you about this already? I Have no idea... sorry...

We recently were taking a member out with us for a lesson and we drove past a set of duplex/strip houses. And this member used to manage apartment complexes, so he knows a little bit about apartments and jazz like that, but he pointed out that these apartments/houses were government housing and either had people on social help or immigrants living in them. So we thought to ourselves "JACKPOT!!" And we went and started knocking them. We weren't even able to finish knocking them because there were so many awesome people who wanted to talk to us in them! Our next week is full of lessons with potential investigators. We are so excited!! 

Oh, in our apartment, one of the other missionaries got transferred out, Elder Lopez, and the elder replacing him is Elder Laguan. He was my zone leader in Quebec city, and he is literally like, my favorite missionary alive at this moment. I told him that (this is his last transfer before he goes home) that he had to come and be my companion. But that didn't happen, so he came to be my roommate instead!! 8)

Anyways, my companion has to go pack... I shall talk to you in a week!

Elder Oviatt!

p.s. I will try and have a picture of Elder Oviatt, Elder Garcia Elder Lopez and Elder Botello together for next week (the missionaries in the apartment right now), and one of Elder Oviatt, Elder Loscial, Elder Laguan and Elder Botello (the new missionaries for the apartment) also!

Last week we had our zone activity. The whole zone got together and we had a scavenger hunt/orienteering/minute to win it day. This is my team (Minus me) GO JUNIOR COMPANIONS!!

 We had to pick up rotini noodles using spaghetti noodles. It was ridiculous. 

We had to use our knees to maneuver a ping pong ball to the middle square on the tennis racket. That was so ridiculously hard!!

April 22, 2012


Things have been going well! We had a dang bad week though. We didn't find a single new investigator, so that was brutal. And we hardly taught any lessons, so that sucked. And we don't have anyone committed with a baptismal date, so that sucks, but we have people who are close, who are just trying to quite smoking. Soeur Dumaïs and Jessica and Gaetan and Francine are all like, |-| that close to getting baptized  And we have a few people that are just doing awesome, Luz, the columbian who is living the Word of wisdom, which is super impressive that she quit smoking, because columbians are just known for their coffee addictions. =P And we have other friends who we meet every day, and some that we haven't seen in a long time. Mario. Darn Mario! He was supposed to come to conference, and he was committed with a baptismal date, but we haven't seen him in like 3 weeks!! It's killing us! He lives about 30 seconds from our house too, so we stop by all the time just to see if he is home, but he never is. There is a lot of work here. It's great! We talked to our bishop yesterday about trying to do a huge "Cultural Night" in the ward because there are people from over 15 different countries here, and if we combine up with the three other wards in the area, than it can be huge! And our bishop was super enthusiastic, and even said that that was an Idea he had been working on for over a year, but everyone he approached about doing it said they didn't want to be in charge. So, because we brought up the idea, Elder Garcia and I were made heads of the activities committee for the cultural night. Which is cool, but kind of a pain in the butt. We didn't want to have to be in charge! Well, I didn't, but my companion REALLY did. =) Power. It does crazy things to us all. I'll try and send some pictures too this week! Oh. Another crazy thing. A sister that is in my district who came to Quebec with me, but started one transfer before me, hit her 1 year mark last week. Which is super cool, but it's terrifying because that means that in 6 weeks, I'm going to hit my 1 year mark!! WAHHH!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!! I don't think I'm ever going to come home. Sorry guys! 

Transfer calls are this saturday. I have no idea what is going to happen. I could possibly go district leader for a district of 6 teams. That is huge. Before the anouncemnt, districts were never bigger than 3 or 4 teams. Tops. Our district is over half the size of our zone! Or, I could stay Jr. Companion. Or I could get transfered out, Or... the possibilities are endless... Or, not endless, but the list is really long. 

I love y'all!!

Elder Austen Oviatt

We didn't have a dryer in our apartment for a long time. This was how I did my drying. that is 2 weeks worth of socks. But we got a dryer this week. No worries!


we did a caban a sucre. A sugar shack! we had the syrop that you pour on the snow and it is delicious! And I ate like 14 because the members made me... I felt so sick after! =P

April 15, 2013


Hey!!!
Sorry, I don`t have tons of time, Our P-Day has been mega busy thus far, and it is going to be busy after this too.
This week was really awesome!! I forgot to tell you all that this last week we were "Parked". that means that we couldn't drive our car. So we rode the bikes everywhere! It was awesome!! Actually though, I loved every second of it!! And Friday there was a huge snow storm, we got a solid 7 or 8 cm. riding bikes was craziness  We almost died about a bazillion times. Elder Garcia didn't enjoy Friday as much as I did. but we have the car back though, so it`s OK!!!
We are working hard though! things are going good, we have 3 people who are just soooooo close to being baptized  They just have to do a few more things to do to prepare. And we are meeting people every day! I love being a missionary so much!!
Sorry this is so short!! =(

Elder Oviatt

Monday, April 8, 2013

April 8, 2013

Hey hey hey!!

How was conference weekend?!? I hope it was awesome!! Goodness, I love conference! So great! As a missionary, it's probably better than christmas because it happens twice a year, and you don't get all trunky from talking to you family after, and you don't get all excited because you get a present, and then all sad because your a missionary and the most exciting thing you can get in a present is a new tie or a sweater or something. =) I'm just joking. Kind of.

This week was relativly uneventful. We had lots of lessons with new investigators and old investigators, and we had fun with our new room mates from the Spanish ward. Last week I was in the shower and they snuck in and threw flour all over me. It was actually really funny though, I'll be honest. 

We did however have probably our last interviews with the mission president. He interviews us every three months, and he will be gone before the next time roles around! =( So sad. President Cannon is the bomb diggity! But we are all very excited for President Patrcik too. 

We had 3 people come to watch conference too! What a great experiance, to be able to sit and to hear the words of the prophets directly from their mouths. The spirit is always so strong, and it's impossible not to gain a testimony. I especially liked the talk by... OK, I don't remember who it was by, but where they were talking about even just having a desire to believe, is enough to gain an unshakable testimony. increadible. Also, I don't know how many people noticed how focused they were on member missionary work! Get out there and help the missionaries out! You have more friends than you would think, and we never know who will be ready! A simple invitation can never hurt!  Another thing that I liked about conference was that at least three times, they quoted Paul in First peter 3:15 when he said "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you"  What a great scripture, and what a great oppertunity for us as members of the church to comfterbly bring up a gosple conversation and also to invite our friends, our aquaintences, and even strangers to talk with two really good looking young men (or young women! Can't forget them anymore, can we?) Who would love to explain about familys/happiness/our purpose in life/the health code called the word of wisdom/the book of mormon/Jesus Christ and about a billion and one other topics that interest anyone and everyone. Literally. This gospel is a gospel for everyone. It is perfect, and everyone, no matter who, can find true happiness, but only in and through Baptism by immersion by someone who holds THE authority and has the permission of God to act in his name.

due to new rules, I only have one hour, strict, on the computer, so I have to go now. I have to write to my mission president! I love you all!! Be happy!

Elder Austen Oviatt

April 1, 2013

So, Before I start my email, I have to show you a picture of a guy lots of you may know... (Go look at the first picture)

Do you recognize this guy? Bishop Appleton!! No way, right?!! The person at whos house we are staying right now is the mother of a member, and she has been housing the missionaries for years and years and years. "Elder" Appleton was one of  the first to stay here, and now, I'm here! How the world is small, hey?!

This week was good though. We offically moved in on THursday to the '4' man. It is so much fun! I love having 3 companions! Our apartment is a little bleak right now, we dont have a whole ton of stuff, but we have the necessities. Ping Pong table, mayan Calender, a guitar and 2 ukuleles, I mean, what else do you need, right? No, but in all seriousness, we have a ping pong table. its a little portable kit, that has an extendable net and padddles and 2 balls, so we set it up on our table and play at night sometimes to relax a bit before bed. But we have no blinds so it is really bright in our room, and I'm having troubles sleeping. So I've been a little grouchy this last week... sorry companion =P

Man, I went on splits with Elder Lopez, he is in the '4' man. And it was increadibly fun! Mostly because we had to ride our bikes home. So, before we were in the 4 man we did this split. Elder Lopez and I took our bikes to their apartment and we did some knocking, and we passed by a less actyive in thier ward. They talked in Spanish the whole time, and I spoke to her too! She had a huge bull dog, named pooka, and so I told her "tengo un amigo qui tiennes un perro qui se llamo pooka!" For those of you who actually speak Spanish, I apologize for the terrible spelling and grammar, but for those who don't know spanish, I said "I have a friend who has a dog named pooka!" thus far, that is the highest, most impressive moment of my spoken spanish. Anyways, we had to ride our bikes back to our apartment (The 4 man, we were going to go help move it in. But we were riding on the highway, and there was an overpass that didn't have a bike lane, so we took a side road to avoid dying on the highway, so anyways, the road didn;t really take us where we needed to go, and we had to take a bike path that goes over the highway, but it was closed. Till April 15th. But we had to get to our apartment, because it was starting to get late, so we tossed our bikes over the fence and rode to the other side. Then we hit a little... road block... There was a big spiral to get down to the ground, and halfway down the spiral, there was a huge gate that we couldn't get around. So we had to drop our bikes about 12 feet then climb down to the next level of the spiral. =) it was so much fun. I love elder Lopez, dang, we teach well together too! =) it's great! 

We had a dinner yesterday of Easter... Ugh... They had roast beef, but they didn't cook it long enough. So the outside inch of the meat was nice and cooked and tender. Delicious. But then, the inside inch and a half, 2 inches, were basically totally raw. it was naaaaaasty. But everyone else in the house just ate it, so... Cut it up, take a bite of Potatoes, and MMmmmmmmm... you eat that Roast Beast! 

Our commiteds are doing well. We have 3 solid commiteds. Jessica, From Haiti, Soeur Dumais, from here, and Luz, from Colombia! They are doing very well, and we can't wait to see them in their white baptismal clothes! =)

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Love, Elder Austen Oviatt

Elder Appleton! 

Nutella Batman Mask


My sweet mid air heel kick

The big gate. No way around it.

Our bikes....oops!


Our ping pong table. Best. Apartment. Ever.


My sweet bike and gear