Austin on P-Day with Oregon missionaries.
Guess what everyone. It’s 2015. It finally came. I didn’t spend a single day of 2014 outside of Oregon. I had no annual vacation, no formal schooling, no parades, no fireworks, no rollercoaster’s, and no concerts. It may be one of the only years of my life that I miss all of those in a year. But the interesting thing about all of it is that I’m kind of alright with it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I would much rather have those things in my life than not, but there’s something kind of liberating in knowing that I don’t need any of those things in order to be happy. No, all it takes to have guaranteed, secure happiness is a faith in Jesus Christ! I had always suspected that was the case, but now I have proof—a full year of proof, too. That reassurance when combined with all the things that used to bring me a lot of joy will be priceless when I return.
Since I’ve now reached the final stretch of my mission, the question is flying already, “Are you ‘trunky’ yet?” It always makes me smile, and I say to that question that there has not been a minute that has passed on my mission where I haven’t been trunky! In fact, I’d be worried if I ever felt I didn’t want to return home! I absolutely want to, and that’s always been part of the plan. But the important thing to remember is that I’m here in this situation right now, and although it’s not my ideal, I trust in the God who placed me here, and I’m willing to stick it out for Him. Then He’ll send me home when it’s time. 
Elder Kelsey and I, despite the New Year, worked our butts off this week. I just about cashed out early most nights, except that I had my district leader calls to make! There were also a ton of new situations I was put in at the head of this week. For starters, we had to hold onto a missionary waiting for his trainee until Wednesday when we dropped him off, so we worked as a tripanionship for those few days. Then on Tuesday while I was still familiarizing everyone with the area, our Mission President called and asked to come sit in our planning that night. Since it was only Elder Kelsey’s second day in the area, it was basically President Russell watching me tell him what was happening the next day. I was super uncomfortable as he just sat and watched and took notes, but everything seemed fine as he was leaving. It was an experience not to be forgotten…
New Years day was great! We got together as a Zone and played some four-square. Some random guy walked into the building off the street and wanted to play too, which was super awkward, but we let him join in until he got bored and left. It reminded me of elementary school at recess! Anyways, after we did that we had a pizza party and watched How to Train Your Dragon 2. It all made for a great night.
Over the next few days we did a ton of contacting. It’s strange, I used to hate it at the beginning of my mission, maybe just because I was so bad at it, but I really hated it! But I must be doing something correctly now because it was a piece of cake and I handed out a bunch of pass-along cards. Things just work when you don’t try to force them
Our mission president also came to our sacrament meeting yesterday. It was the first Sunday in awhile we had NOBODY we work with actually come, but it was whatever. He disappeared right after the services so I never got a chance to talk to him, but hopefully he enjoyed it. I know I always love fast&testimony meeting.
Alright people, I hope you all are having a wonderful new year and are keeping to your resolutions as best as you can. President Uchtdorf counseled last year that we should acknowledge that we almost certainly will fail to meet our goals in the short-term, but that we should let the knowledge that we will eventually meet them drive us forward. So don’t be surprised if you stumble a bit, but remember that you will make it!
Much love, Elder Rushton – Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
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