About Auzzy

My Missionary has Cancer. You've heard the saying, " If you don't have anything nice to say. Don't say anything?" Well, that could be the reason I have a hard time writing on this blog about this. When we first found out it was cancer swear words consumed my mind…..and I don't swear…well maybe one slips out periodically.
However, Our Stake is having a special fast for Austin and other people who need help this weekend and I feel the need to share a bit about his  and our experiences. Our ward will be meeting at 3 p.m. at the 9th and 31st ward building to start the fast on Saturday. Then we will end it after the block on Sunday at Noon in the Chapel.
We feel a bit silly to be singled out, there are so many people in need. But so grateful at the same time. Austin will be undergoing a difficult, long surgery to remove his tumor next week. (If his cell counts are up from chemo treatments.)
I'll start our journey with a letter he wrote just before he found out about the tumor. He had been sick for the whole Month of July 2014. He'd walk 2 blocks, then have to rest. Then he'd get up and walk again. He kept getting antibiotics from the mission doc over the phone. Auz normally never complains so he could have been sick longer we'll never know…..

Auzzy with hair….haha

7/28/2014

Well I thought I was getting better but all the sudden my lung started hurting a ton. The last few days and I wasn’t breathing too well and sweating a lot, so I´m going to talk to the mission presidents wife right now so I´ll probably go to the hospital. Hopefully not because we have a lot of really important appointments today with new investigators and our investigator that hopefully will be baptized this week. So we have a lot of work to do and I need to get this sickness better so we can get everything done. But still this last week was pretty sweet.

Like I said I started to feel a lot better so it wasn´t too hard to work, I went on divisions twice with two different Americans. One that´s in my district named Elder Neddo, and also with Elder Miller, who is my zone leader that is from Vegas, and has been in the mission for about 10 months and he was also in our zone when I was in Acambaro, so we´ve been together his whole mission. So I know both of these guys really good, and they´re some of my best friends from the mission so it was really sweet to work with them.

My first week here we found a couple and taught them and gave them a book of Mormon, but then they told us that they were leaving for 2 months, and in this time I was really good with the area book, filling it out really good everyday, so I wrote in it about them, and then the other day, I was looking through the area, book to see who we could visit, I had forgotten all about them!  So we went and the girl was there, but now doesn’t live with her boyfriend which was another blessing because they cant get baptized like that, so we get there, teach her, and she had already read a ton in the book of Mormon, and had a lot of really good questions. She also promised to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

Then with Elder Miller we worked really hard as well, He´s been a zone leader for about 4 months now so he went up as one with like 6 months in the mission. I loved how he had so much determination to find new investigators. We visited so many houses. A lot of people were home they just said that they were busy, so we have a lot of appointments with them this week.

 A 7 year old kid invited us to his birthday party, on August 26th so we were joking how 

he´s going to be turning 8 so we were just gonna baptize him and all his little friends at the birthday party, we just have to tell them we´re going swimming. jaja, But his dad was good, he´ll be a solid investigator. But then the day came to an end and we hadn´t found anyone, so with 10 minutes left, we took a taxi, gave a lesson to this guy in a taxi and he excepted a baptismal date!

Love you guys keep having a good week don´t worry about me I´ll be fine they take good care of us here. I am so grateful for my mission and it´s really not a sacrifice because the Lord has given me so much back in return. Love you guys so much the church is true!

Love Auzzy

7/30/14

Austin’s letter was sent soon before he went into the Hospital in Guadalajara. He will be home Wed August 6^th.  What we know now is that he has a Tumor in his chest that is pressing on his lungs and the major vessels of his heart. The tumor has benign features according to the CT and X-rays. The problem with the Tumor is the location. It most likely was the cause of his pneumonia and requires a cardiothoracic surgeon.

 He will stay in the Hospital in Mexico until he is well enough to travel home. He was really enjoying his mission, but our Stake President said they would release him so he could focus on his health. If he gets better quickly he could be sent out again most likely states side and be set apart again. But because he is close to the end of his mission, it will depend on if the Tumor is benign or not and how long recovery will take.

Mom Seljaas