November 2, 2009
Week 63
-----Original Message-----
From: "Danny & Diane Waller"
To: "'Austin Waller'"
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 09:48:44 -0500
Subject: Week 63
Hi Elder Waller,
We received your package, but the Christmas ornament was in bits and pieces in the gifts, books and scriptures. I hope it was not expensive. It looked like sand and a few sea shells. I am sure it was the weight of the books that crushed it. But you got a real bargain on the shipping price. Who are the scriptures for? There was no name imprinted on them. The glass flower gifts came through nicely. They are really pretty. Thank you.
Racheal died on Friday. She spent her last few days at Onslow Memorial. The cancer had spread to her lungs and overpowered her ability to breathe. Danny and I visited with the family in the Hobgood home on Saturday evening. It was a nice long sit around and talk type of visit. The Mills twins, Brooke and Brittany were there and say hi to you. Joelle and Jessica were not there. Homer and Sylvia, Linda and Leamon and Celeste say hello also.
During the last few months of Racheal's illness, there were no more treatments that could help. Racheal and her family turned to holistic medicine. Very excited about sharing this newly gained knowledge, Leamon squeezed the fluids from wheatgrass, that he had grown and gave to Danny and I to drink. We did, (Dad a little more reluctantly) with a gasp and trying very hard not to make the yuk, yuk, yukky face. Leamon feels if they had known about it 4 months earlier, Racheal would still be alive. I am sure there are some great benefits to some of these foods but the taste of wheatgrass juice will linger in our memory for a while. I'll need to get sicker to embrace it.
Racheal's family are aware of my cancer and were very supportive. It felt good to be around them. Even after the wheatgrass experience. Leamon did warn us that it tasted like grass, but not having the experience of eating much grass, we were not prepared.
Seems like we have had the most dreary days. There is no sun again today.
Uncle Jonathan, Karen, Alex and Cameron came over for a visit last night. I showed them some of the videos you sent. They were cracking up. Alex was amazed you could do stuff like that on your mission. We explained that you do get a "little" time off. They were all impressed with the work you guys did.
Hope to get some good news about your knee. Have you had your dental cleaning yet?
Love you lots,mom
Hey,
Wish I had some good news about my knee. One of the Stake Presidency is a physical therapist and took a look at my knee yesterday. He said I probably did to this knee as I did to my other knee. The knee-cap slipped out of place and came back. A mild dislocation. Yeah...fun. Not really but, it feels as if a horse has kicked me. It is gradually getting better, just like last time.
Hi to Brooke, Brittany, Homer, Sylvia, Linda, Leamon, and Celeste. Also hi to Joelle and Jessica. That is a lot of hi's.
The ornament broke? Man...it was a good one. Oh well...I got it for free! Yay! It had sand and shells in it. It was supposed to remind those who looked at it about how Christ walked on the shores of Galilee. Yeah. I am going to be sending another package today. The scriptures were the orignial ones I brought on my mission. They were just taking up space. The package I am sending today also has some stuff that was taking up space.
I am glad that you liked the flower things. I felt like both of you would appreciate the Snapdragon, since it is the flower that you and dad chose for your anniversary, if I am correct. The Lily-of-the-Valley kinda was my pick for what I am gaining here as a missionary. The other one was obviously for you. Forgot the name.
They liked the movies huh? That is good. We could have done much better, but this is what happens when you are a missionary. Not very good quality. Meh. We could be doing some more here soon. Maybe. Just need to find the time.
Hey, I am reading in the New Testament and am finding quite a lot of tings that I have never known before. I know the Book of Mormon almost like th back of my hand, but now I am getting the NT in. WOO! It is really exciting. Something else that is cool? I am beginning to understand Isaiah! Whoa! YEAH! Cool! Duuuude.
Saw some movies on Halloween that you should see if you haven't yet. Monsters VS Aliens and Ice Age 3. Watch them in that order. It is quite funny. Especially when you understand all the background. HA!
You are dreary because you don't see the sun? I am otherwise! I don't want to see it! Mainly because our living room is white and it blinds us. It snowed last week. Stayed a couple of days. Not much else. Meh. One of our investigators is getting baptized this Saturday. She is really neat and completely ready for it before we even taught her. WHOA!
Not much else to say. Still getting really hard just to get teeth cleaned. Rather a bummer. Yeah.
Love to all,
Elder Austin Waller
--------------------------------------------------------------
November 9, 2009
Week 64
-----Original Message-----
From: "Danny & Diane Waller"
To: "'Austin Waller'"
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 16:11:01 -0500
Subject: Week 64
Hey Elder Waller,
You'll never guess what dad found in the back of his sock drawer yesterday.
Can you guess? Okay, I'll tell you. It was four toys packaged in a folded, clear plastic sandwich bag. The toys were a Swiss Bubble Blower (it is designed like a swiss knife, only instead of blades you can pull out bubble blowing shapes), a rock, a tiny toy car and a flattened penny with an
alligator on one side. It also had a note which reads "To: Santa From:
Austin Waller P.S. Open when ready . Stocking on cabinet behind you." Do
you remember hiding this? Your dad and I laughed and laughed. We can't quite figure out the time frame, probably elementary school. On the paper it has "My Research Notes" cartoon character, but the paper is torn but we can make out that it has something to do with pillbugs! Anyway back in the drawer.. it will good stuff to show future Gran Kids.
What else is going on. hmmm. well Mom and I are cooking brownies this afternoon. Seems like a good thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Grandma and Granddad Harper are coming over to visit this evening.
Week 63
-----Original Message-----
From: "Danny & Diane Waller"
To: "'Austin Waller'"
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 09:48:44 -0500
Subject: Week 63
Hi Elder Waller,
We received your package, but the Christmas ornament was in bits and pieces in the gifts, books and scriptures. I hope it was not expensive. It looked like sand and a few sea shells. I am sure it was the weight of the books that crushed it. But you got a real bargain on the shipping price. Who are the scriptures for? There was no name imprinted on them. The glass flower gifts came through nicely. They are really pretty. Thank you.
Racheal died on Friday. She spent her last few days at Onslow Memorial. The cancer had spread to her lungs and overpowered her ability to breathe. Danny and I visited with the family in the Hobgood home on Saturday evening. It was a nice long sit around and talk type of visit. The Mills twins, Brooke and Brittany were there and say hi to you. Joelle and Jessica were not there. Homer and Sylvia, Linda and Leamon and Celeste say hello also.
During the last few months of Racheal's illness, there were no more treatments that could help. Racheal and her family turned to holistic medicine. Very excited about sharing this newly gained knowledge, Leamon squeezed the fluids from wheatgrass, that he had grown and gave to Danny and I to drink. We did, (Dad a little more reluctantly) with a gasp and trying very hard not to make the yuk, yuk, yukky face. Leamon feels if they had known about it 4 months earlier, Racheal would still be alive. I am sure there are some great benefits to some of these foods but the taste of wheatgrass juice will linger in our memory for a while. I'll need to get sicker to embrace it.
Racheal's family are aware of my cancer and were very supportive. It felt good to be around them. Even after the wheatgrass experience. Leamon did warn us that it tasted like grass, but not having the experience of eating much grass, we were not prepared.
Seems like we have had the most dreary days. There is no sun again today.
Uncle Jonathan, Karen, Alex and Cameron came over for a visit last night. I showed them some of the videos you sent. They were cracking up. Alex was amazed you could do stuff like that on your mission. We explained that you do get a "little" time off. They were all impressed with the work you guys did.
Hope to get some good news about your knee. Have you had your dental cleaning yet?
Love you lots,mom
Hey,
Wish I had some good news about my knee. One of the Stake Presidency is a physical therapist and took a look at my knee yesterday. He said I probably did to this knee as I did to my other knee. The knee-cap slipped out of place and came back. A mild dislocation. Yeah...fun. Not really but, it feels as if a horse has kicked me. It is gradually getting better, just like last time.
Hi to Brooke, Brittany, Homer, Sylvia, Linda, Leamon, and Celeste. Also hi to Joelle and Jessica. That is a lot of hi's.
The ornament broke? Man...it was a good one. Oh well...I got it for free! Yay! It had sand and shells in it. It was supposed to remind those who looked at it about how Christ walked on the shores of Galilee. Yeah. I am going to be sending another package today. The scriptures were the orignial ones I brought on my mission. They were just taking up space. The package I am sending today also has some stuff that was taking up space.
I am glad that you liked the flower things. I felt like both of you would appreciate the Snapdragon, since it is the flower that you and dad chose for your anniversary, if I am correct. The Lily-of-the-Valley kinda was my pick for what I am gaining here as a missionary. The other one was obviously for you. Forgot the name.
They liked the movies huh? That is good. We could have done much better, but this is what happens when you are a missionary. Not very good quality. Meh. We could be doing some more here soon. Maybe. Just need to find the time.
Hey, I am reading in the New Testament and am finding quite a lot of tings that I have never known before. I know the Book of Mormon almost like th back of my hand, but now I am getting the NT in. WOO! It is really exciting. Something else that is cool? I am beginning to understand Isaiah! Whoa! YEAH! Cool! Duuuude.
Saw some movies on Halloween that you should see if you haven't yet. Monsters VS Aliens and Ice Age 3. Watch them in that order. It is quite funny. Especially when you understand all the background. HA!
You are dreary because you don't see the sun? I am otherwise! I don't want to see it! Mainly because our living room is white and it blinds us. It snowed last week. Stayed a couple of days. Not much else. Meh. One of our investigators is getting baptized this Saturday. She is really neat and completely ready for it before we even taught her. WHOA!
Not much else to say. Still getting really hard just to get teeth cleaned. Rather a bummer. Yeah.
Love to all,
Elder Austin Waller
--------------------------------------------------------------
November 9, 2009
Week 64
-----Original Message-----
From: "Danny & Diane Waller"
To: "'Austin Waller'"
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 16:11:01 -0500
Subject: Week 64
Hey Elder Waller,
You'll never guess what dad found in the back of his sock drawer yesterday.
Can you guess? Okay, I'll tell you. It was four toys packaged in a folded, clear plastic sandwich bag. The toys were a Swiss Bubble Blower (it is designed like a swiss knife, only instead of blades you can pull out bubble blowing shapes), a rock, a tiny toy car and a flattened penny with an
alligator on one side. It also had a note which reads "To: Santa From:
Austin Waller P.S. Open when ready . Stocking on cabinet behind you." Do
you remember hiding this? Your dad and I laughed and laughed. We can't quite figure out the time frame, probably elementary school. On the paper it has "My Research Notes" cartoon character, but the paper is torn but we can make out that it has something to do with pillbugs! Anyway back in the drawer.. it will good stuff to show future Gran Kids.
What else is going on. hmmm. well Mom and I are cooking brownies this afternoon. Seems like a good thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Grandma and Granddad Harper are coming over to visit this evening.
Yesterday Larry and I played golf with two young Marine studs out at Rock Creek. These guys really swing hard! They played from the White Tees, Bro Jorgensen and I played the yellow. There is not that much of an advantage from playing from the yellow, anyway we told them they could not play the yellow's that they were reserved for old guy's! What made them try even harder was when our drives equaled there's. Hurt their ego and they swung even harder, and of course went further into the woods. The truth is the woods are full of golf balls from long hitters. For Brother Jorgensen and myself we played from the fairways in the short grass. Actually I was playing pretty well except I could not buy a putt. The final score I lost to Larry by 3 strokes. But we had lots of laughs along the way.
Not too much else going on here! Mom goes back to see Dr Patselas on Thursday to look at the last surgical site and it's healing. They will then schedule to put in another Power Port (Port-a-cath) later in the month. Mom needs that to receive her Chemo Therapy drugs. That means we may not get started with Chemo until December. So there is a really good chance Mom may still be on Chemo when you come home or will have just completed that part of the treatment. We will still be looking at 6 - 7 weeks of radiation therapy, at this rate our new Oncology Center should be opening. At least we won't have to travel to New Bern everyday for 7 weeks.
Ace has been very frisky lately, I think he really likes this cooler weather.
Hey, mom wants to know what you need, she wants to send you a box. How about some brownies or cookies? Socks?? Anything?
We did receive you last box, why are you buying all those old books? Even the library doesn't want them.
Mom and dad wrote different paragraphs, you'll have to figure out which.
Lots of Love from mom and dad
Hey,
I got those books from the DI. They were really cheap and I want to read when I get home. That is the reason. I appreciate books a lot more than I used to. The only thing I really want right now is music. That is it.
Mom will be getting off Chemo when I come home? Are you coming out here to pick me up? By the sound of it, it is a no. Great.
We had a baptism Saturday. One of the most thankful people I have seen. She has waited for a long time and has gone through a lot. It confirms the saying to whoso much is forgiven, the same loveth him more. It was really neat.
My mind is going blank. I don't know why. I will be sending another packge. It will have the first two journals. I am just sending them to lighten my load. I am sending a whole bunch of packages so I can get around the rest of my mission with little to carry. I had to get new shoes. Yay.
For some reason, I don't feel normal today. I seem to be getting very irritable. Something small that I normally don't get frustrated at, I am. Oh well, Satan just keeps putting these things in my path. I am getting better at the piano. With the right hand (melody). Left hand isnt progressing at all.
The gift thing? Uhh....I don't remember hiding it. I remember what you are describing, especailly the flattened penny.
Wish I had more that I can say. For some reason my mind isn't working like it should.
Love,
Elder Austin Waller
-------------------------------------------------------------
November 16, 2009
Week 65
Well, acidentally deleted the e-mail you sent me. So I have no idea what is going on or what to respond to! ARGH!
News here? Uhh....my knee is getting worse everyday...that's news. I should be going back in to see Dr. West on Dec. 21. We were also given a car...for 8 days. Murmur.
It is snowing a bit up here. Apparently the snow in this part regularly gets up to 4 feet. Fun.....
Hope you got the package I sent with my two journals in there. If you didn't....I will be more than mad.
Everything is going very slow here. Mainly because I can barely get 50 feet away from the house. People are actually calling in to President Laney and saying we are doing nothing. They are not seeing the entire picture. There is absolutely no incentive for a missionary to do nothing. Yay...we can lay around and sleep all day! WOO! WRONG! There is nothing you can do except for read the scriptures, eat, and sleep. Imagine doing that for about 6 weeks. Yeah...cabin fever. Basically this means that something is wrong, not that they are lazy. I am just getting fed up with people assuming. Really fed up.
Our landlord agreed to do our dental. We just need to set an appointment. Hopefully it will be soon.
I really wish I didn't accidentally deleted that e-mail. I would have been able to say more.
Love,
Elder Austin Waller
-------------------------------------------------------------
November 23, 2009
Week 66
News here? Uhh....my knee is getting worse everyday...that's news. I should be going back in to see Dr. West on Dec. 21. We were also given a car...for 8 days. Murmur.
It is snowing a bit up here. Apparently the snow in this part regularly gets up to 4 feet. Fun.....
Hope you got the package I sent with my two journals in there. If you didn't....I will be more than mad.
Everything is going very slow here. Mainly because I can barely get 50 feet away from the house. People are actually calling in to President Laney and saying we are doing nothing. They are not seeing the entire picture. There is absolutely no incentive for a missionary to do nothing. Yay...we can lay around and sleep all day! WOO! WRONG! There is nothing you can do except for read the scriptures, eat, and sleep. Imagine doing that for about 6 weeks. Yeah...cabin fever. Basically this means that something is wrong, not that they are lazy. I am just getting fed up with people assuming. Really fed up.
Our landlord agreed to do our dental. We just need to set an appointment. Hopefully it will be soon.
I really wish I didn't accidentally deleted that e-mail. I would have been able to say more.
Love,
Elder Austin Waller
-------------------------------------------------------------
November 23, 2009
Week 66
-----Original Message-----
From: "Danny & Diane Waller"
To: "'Austin Waller'"
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:58:01 -0500
Subject: Week 66
Hello Elder Waller,
Okay. You know a missionary is having a bad day when he deletes the letter from his mom. Accidentally of course. I missed your plea message to send the email again by seconds. I was in the sent file re-sending the letter when your "gotta go" message was received.
A lot of the week 65 letter is old news now. Our projected plan of coming to get you has more hope than it did last week. If I can stay on the 3 week schedule, I will be completely finished with chemo and radiation by the beginning of July. If, I get radiation before reconstruction and July does not include reconstruction. Uncle Mike wants me to pick my surgeon before radiation. Depending on the type of reconstruction I choose, some surgeons want to get the surgery done before radiation since radiation can destroy the skin enough to prevent reconstruction. Aye Yi Yi! We have got to have a big celebration party for when this is over.
You will realize after reading week 65 letter that I was in surgery as you woke up. We report to the hospital at 5:30am and surgery will be around 7-7:30. I will be completely asleep for the procedure, but not for very long. I will probably be home when you e-mail, but I don't know how awake I'll be. It is a busy day for Dad. My surgery in the morning and big board meeting that afternoon and evening.
We finally got Elders in our ward. Brother McLean is the Ward Mission Leader and he told dad we have to keep them busy or they will be pulled out again.
Dad decided to use the tractor to mow the leaves in the yard. But he got a little ambitious, forgetting about all the rain we had last week and this week. He got stuck in the area just behind the grow boxes. He came inside and solicited me for help. I sat on the tractor and waited for him to say go while he pushed. But the tractor just spun and spun in the slippery gooey mud. And no I can't tell you a story of dad falling in the mud, but, there was a few times this event had great potential for such a spectacular narrative.
Dad watched part of a football game in SLC so he could see if it was snowing. Do you still have a car? We pray every day that your knees will be well enough to do your missionary work. But a car would work too. In looking up knee pain we have found an association with low thyroid and treatment with Synthroid. It is a common problem and the medicine can be adjusted to alleviate the pain. I hope this is helpful in diagnosing your problem.
What can we get you for Christmas?
We love you very much and hope you will be soon be free from pain. Love, mom
Hey,
In answer to Dad's Matrix questions, it is a modern version of the Bible. There is your explanation. Don't forget that I have all 3 in my room, no commercials! Once you start thinking about it like the Bible, it will become a little easier to understand. That is why they have names as Zion, Nebuchadnezzar, Trinity, and Seraph (seraphim).
You do not know how Mad I was after I deleted that e-mail. Oh I was furious! Bad week for Elder Waller. Speaking of bad, our car just got taken away at 8 this morning, we are moving out of our house for a week, and my knees keep getting worse. I am getting very tired of this. I keep praying about what I should do and the answer is, "Be patient." Patience is not in vast supply right now since this has been happening for 8-9 weeks now. Not the happiest camper here. An explanation of the pain is this, pick up a knife the slam it into your knee. Yeah...painful.
So President Cottrell got the Elders in there? Good. What needs to happen is...hmm. I will send you a chart that L. Tom Perry made for us. Give it to Bro. McLean. Elder Perry is over missionary work. This plan should help get the work going. It works over here!
Snow? You really want to know? It snowed last night so much that the fleet (cars) had to be grounded. Up here we commonly get 4' drifts, sometimes up to 12'. Yeah. This will be an interesting winter.
If you really want to read my journals, go ahead. I will just warn you about those couple weeks. You know what I am talking about. Read them at your own emotional health. And those pictures are actually baptismal programs. Keep them where they are at. You can scan them if you wish, but keep the original there.
For Christmas...uhh. How about we just wait till I get back. Other than the normal dragon (just choose one similar to what I have), I don't know what I want. I have been out for 15 months now and have almost no idea what is happening. So just keep a note that I need to choose a couple things when I get back. I'm not 21 yet! MWAHAHAHAHA!
Love ya lots!
Elder Austin Waller
PS: I met a second cousing out here. Bro. Woodworth lives in the 1st ward.
November 30, 2009
Week 67
-----Original Message-----
From: "Danny & Diane Waller"
To: "'Austin Waller'"
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:16:53 -0500
Subject: Week 67
Hi Elder Waller,
Your description of the pain in your knees was awful. I want you to get a car back since you cannot get adequate help. I’ll be going through my first chemo tomorrow. I am not looking forward to it. I’ll probably be complaining a lot. But at least we will have one treatment done with, and I think, with
7 to go. My treatment is at 10am and its duration is about 1 ½ hours. So I could possibly be back by the time your email comes. Dad is taking me to the first treatment.
It happened. We had to put Ace down on Friday. Within a couple of days he was miserable. He could hardly stand up, much less walk, shake his head or the other things he did. He had a head tilt and at one point I saw his eyes rapidly moving back and forth. I looked up the symptoms on Google and it was stroke symptoms. We took Ace in with the intention of having him put down and Dr Padget confirmed our suspicions. There was nothing anyone could do to make him better. Dad and I cried before, during and after he died. We were with him as Dr Padget quickly gave him a shot which worked in seconds. We loved that dog and miss him sorely. But we are so happy we saw the show of that lady’s near death experience where she saw the dogs and cats happily bounding up the steps into heaven and eagerly jump into the bright ball of light. Her near-death had nothing to do with animals, she had just had a baby and a complication is what nearly killed her. I felt our animals would be with us but had not spent a lot getting a testimony of it.
We decided to pick up a Christmas tree after leaving Ace, hoping it would make us feel better. But it didn’t help much. I had to write my check through tears explaining the situation. But we worked through it and put up the tree Friday and Saturday, which you know, is no easy task. We finished decorating the house and cleaning up today. The house is much quieter but pretty.
Brother Tom has asked me and Danny to give talks on the 20th, the Sunday before Christmas. I said yes but I am rethinking it. I will have lost my hair and I am already way over the top emotional. I’ll do some studying and determine what to do, that is between nausea and vomiting. The challenges never stop.
We spent Thanksgiving at Grandma & Granddad Harper’s. Aunt Cindy & Uncle Rickey and all their children but Travis was there. Travis wanted to come very badly but he had a fever of 103. See you later Travis, keep those germs at home. Uncle Mark and Aunt Sheryl, Emily and Avery were there. Aunt Judy and Charlie came over for a visit. We had a lot of good food to eat and had a lot of fun talking. The boys went down to the pond and shot their guns for a while. I took my camera and had aunt Sheryl take some pictures of Danny and I. I wanted to get some made before I lost my hair and eyebrows, etc. A couple came out really good.
We love you and I’ll be able to tell you more about these ‘chemo treatments’ next week.
Big hugs, mom
Hey!
Sorry this is a little late. Ok a lot late. We had a lot of appointments to make. Our dental schedule had to cancel, the hygenist was having pregnacy complications. Ask Larry what that is because I have no idea. Maybe the assistant? Hmm.
More news on the knee. They want to do an MRI. There are too many questions to ask. If there were fewer, they would probably just scope it. But it has gotten pretty bad. I am having to walk with a cane now. It helps a lot. People say that I look like President Hinckley. I raise the cane when they say that. HAH!
It was about time for Ace to go. He made it a long way.
About the talk on Christmas, do it. There are more reasons than one for you to give talks. Not just because they want you to do it, but because they go by the Spirit when asking. We just learned that here when we found out someone had spoken several times during the year.
Hey family! Keep spending time with each other because that is one of the only things I can think about out here. Makes me happy each and every time. Don't forget that families can be together for all eternity. Hope I can see you soon. Hey! I am in the single digits...not that I am counting or anything. We just have to tell people how long we have been out everyday, so I know it pretty well. It is not like I am going to lie.
Anyways! It took me about a week to find out what I wanted for Christmas. Honestly, it took me off guard. I determined that what I want is a PSP. Don't worry, I'll show you when I get back. A rain-check for that too.
Anything going on here? Uhh...I have a cane? Thanksgiving was alright. The work wasn't the best because everyone wasn't home. Black Friday was a pain in the tail. Uhh.....yeah that's about it. It is amazing how just small, simple things can make a place so much more like home. We walked into our room and found a lamp. It was cool. Anyways...yeah. Nothing else. Tell everyone "Hi" for me.
With vast amounts of LOVE,
Elder Austin Waller
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