Hello Hola Aloha
My dearest family:
This week was a very good week. We had two (dos) [2] Baptisms.
¡¡¡¡¡amazing!!!! It was wonderful to experience the thrill of Baptism. And the Excitement of Repentance.
The rest to follow after an intense futbol game.
Love, Elder Ostler
Dear Family:
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| Baptism of Maria Eugenia |
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| Baptism of Maria Santos |
That was taken during the refreshers time.
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| President Jugando a la Pelota! |
The 2 baptisms were wonderful. We had a great showing and support from the Ward. Maria Eugenia was so wonderful and really understood the covenant she made. It is a faith booster that the field is white, the elect are there. God IS preparing people. She is Miracle. And on Sunday I placed my hands on her head (along with Elder Packer - who doesn´t speak a lick of spanish - and Elder Boisi) and confirmed her Miembro de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias. Wonderful.
The Baptism of Maria Santos was a bit more difficult (family problems), but the Lord blessed us and saw it through. She is the sweetest woman ever. tan dulce. And there was an actual change in her. More smiley, more happy, more energy. An amazing lady.
Maria Eugenia brought 2 friends from colegio and her mother and a sister and husband to the ordinance. Great!
Then that night, as you can see, cenamos con los Packers.
Dinner with the Packers on Saturday. It was such such so so good food. American Style. It was really funny when we got home to the pench and Elder Menocal sayd the prayer, and Elder Falcon, who was not with us, comments afterwards . . didn’t I hear something about eating with the Packers? Hey! And we respond . . they’re in our ward!! Aren´t you allowed to eat with the members? It was a fun.
What was better than the food was talking with the Packers, and listening to their stories! I wanted to stay all night! Elder Packer taught us about not judging others, ever. Because we don´t know their circumstances. We do not know what kind of home they come from. Or their culture. We don`t know if a chemical is out of balance in their body and that is why they are doing what they do. En Fin. It was a wonderful wonderful dinner, that left us fuller than . . .and what I didn´t eat I wrapped up and Elder Falcon ate it after that prayer.
Mom * it was very interesting to read about how you were sick. So sick. Because I was too! On Tuesday I got out of bed to shower, and then got right back in. Slept till 10. Then walked to the offices with Elder Burr. He woke up bad too. There are 4 beds in the offices, and so we each took a bottom bunk and called it a day. And literally Slept ALL DAY! I have never been on my back for so long in my life! When the nurse Hermana Packer checked on us we both had the exact same temp for a fever. It was not so fun. But at 9 we woke up and then walked to the pench to go to bed. That was the first tylenol PM I’ve swallowed in over a year! And it helped so much. I actually started fasting Monday in the afternoon, and it worked great because I had no ganas to eat anything! Easiest fast of my life. Wednesday was one of those days you have after being sick. You’re not sick, but you don't want to do anything.
But as far as office tasks, I had a good week, and a miracle day on Friday. Everything went my way. Slipping in the bank with the help of a nice security guard after hours, paying in part for 33 police records (which took preparation!) and just finding parking and everything was in our favor. I love that. Then President gave us Permision to go in his car to Subway for lunch! O America.
Finally Argentine Elections are over. I am rather tired of all of the advertising. We come home to 5 different flyers under our door. And it is just everywhere. They don't do speeches here, or at least not for the public to see. I guess it’s just whoever makes the biggest and most posters and pounds their name in the heads of the mostly clueless Argentines wins.
I got to tell you a funny thing. Before the Baptism I was in the offices and saw our ward directory. I was SO EXCITED for the Baptism the following day. I grabbed my phone and just started calling every member listed with a phone number. Here are the statistics. About of the 45 members I called, 22 answered. And let me tell you, in that 90 minutes I spent doing that, I had a great time! I talked to people mostly in GC, but also in other provinces. I talked to members and non members alike, and made little notes if not everyone in the family is member. I have some really good leads! And the Miracle was that I talked to a wife of member and she was Great! And at the end of the conversation, I asked her if she wanted to be baptized, and she said YES! But Saturday morning when we went trekking way in the heck out to her house, she wasn’t there. But I’m so excited for her! Virginia.
On the fone I was teaching and testifying and just having the best conversations. So people really seem like they’ll come back. And out of the 22 I probably talked to like 3 active members. Fun and very different experience. There’s always a different Tactic to do missionary work. But I must focus myself on doing it in the Lords Way.
A side note, in sacrament meeting, we maybe reached 65. And on the list there are 250 different households. 18 pages of members.
The Monday night miracle (I’m not talking about whats about to happen with the Family Rojas, because a cause de nuestra actividad, una jovencita invitó una de sus amigas a escucharnos! And we have a noche de hogar with them tonight.) What I’m talking about is what happened last Monday. We were with the Familia Carrion, they were less active but the mother and daughter came to church 3 weeks ago. So we continue to help them and at the same time we were on a search for Miracles. And write in the middle of a wonderful talk with them, a sister in law walks in and sits down, and Elder Boisi unfolds the most beautiful lesson Ever! It was a restoration lesson and so powerful. And the family helped us so much.
Miracles happen because it is Jesus´work. This woman, Dominga, listened and loved it. She has obviously had contact with the church and has even read the liahonas before. We came out of that house walking on air. Walking on sunshine. We were pumped. Nothing could stop us. It was one of those moments as a Missionary where I feel INVINCIBLE! Nothing can stop me. I cherish those.
I have been thinking a lot lately about The Present. I could be on this for ever, but basically I have come to the conclusion How Important the Present Is. The past is great for some and not so great for others. But it doesn't matter what you did, or what you didn’t do back then or yesterday, what really matters is what you are doing now! In person I could unfold it to you much better. I can kind of understand what the prophets mean when they say the Lord has made them mighty in speech, but in writing they are weak. I wish I could explain more.
The last thing I want to explain is the lio of today, and at the same time the miracle end result. And then I have one more surprise.
So today Elder Burr and Falcon accompanied by the wise and legal Elder Boisi went to get our lisances. But it was a mess, as they send us from government building to government building and in fin, I had to talk my way into a woman making Elder Burr and I an illegal cédula (Elder Burr and I got Mendoza Identifications the other week, took forever, bad system, but what we had to do today was convince a lady to extend the fecha de vencimiento to one year. And not the day we go home. So now we are legal to drive in the country after the visa expires).
Then we went back to the driving place and did a line, waited some more. Got eyes checked. Took a written drive test (I got a 90! So to all you who didn’t pass the drive test the first time, I just did it in Spanish!) then after waiting a lot more, we did the drive. It was a course, nice and small and simple. I nailed the parallel parking the First Time! The other 2 took all 3 tries. Then the rest was easy. But the cop originally told me I failed! My heart sank. He said you can’t hug the passenger seat when you back up and that you don’t look over your shoulder. He was just trying to be scary, and a minute later signed it and passed me. Chabón. So I passed! When I went to go get my picture taken for the license I sat in the chair and asked the lady if I could smile. She said yes, so you can imagine what I did. I opened the mouth and let all the happiness I have show. She stared laughing and said No tanto! And it was so so funny and the whole room of people and even more the 3 missionaries were laughing. . . a very fun experience!
So I now have a Mendoza Drivers License! It’s sweet! I’m Legal! But it took ALL MORNIG and sucked our P day. We stared at 6:30 and finished at 1:30. That’s Argentina for you. And it was so rainy last night and this morning and at one point Elder Burr and I had to get to the other side of the city without the car because Elder Falcon had to use it to take the test so in bus and taxi we went. The streets were literally rivers of water. We were getting sprayed by big busses as they passed, and we could not find a taxi! They were all full! It was ridiculous and we were soaked. Fun Argentine experiences. And the other fun part is we had to use Sister Avilas Grand Caravan, a Huge car that none of us have ever driven before. Because it was the only one with the right papers.
The surprise is that Elder Aidukaitis is coming . . today. Tomorrow I have 7 hours of conference with him. 30 minutes as office staff. A couple hours as leadership and the rest as regular Zone Conference. It should be wonderful. So much learning is going down tomorrow.
But that’s not the surprise. The surprise is that Doctor Hollingsworth arrived and I am the chauffeur and translator for him, his wife and Hermana Packer as we go tour the mission starting tomorrow to check missionaries and hospitals. We are going to San Rafeal, San Luis and San Juan. Elder Boisados is coming with us. It should be such a different experience. I’m so excited to conocer un poco mas de la misión. It will be a wonderful and fresh experience. I put Jesus the Christ down for tonight and study medical terms! And update my area book! Dr Hollingsworth is the mission or church doctor for the area, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. I know he is a retired surgeon from the states on a mission. And is HQd in Buenos. Aries.
So that’s my week in an email. We are working good with the ward and the Bishop loves us. I love what I’m doing, and hope to always keep the high vision of this, His Sacred Work.
Love Elder Ostler
Wow I am super satisfied with this email.
If you have an immediate question, I know I’m going to be here for a second as we prepare the details of the crazyiness of Tomorrow.
O YES MOM a box is fine! I almost forgot again!
Go BYU I
GO RENSLER
Go homecoming. Loved that story. Go BENSON AND WILSON AND AHMED
Hey I’m here. I’m setting up for the big GA tomorrow. And Elder Boisados is getting back in half hour then we are going to the noche de hogar. So if you have something to tell me, tell it to me.
with love
Mom: I have lots to tell you. First of all, THAT IS THE COOLEST THING ABOUT THE GA and about the doctor dude! An experience like no other. Take that camera and all of those sd cards. Fill em up! Did you like the picture of cameron, harrison and michael? So, is Aidukaitis talking to the whole mission?
So what's the difference in licenses? And I thought it was a pain to get a license here. Evidentially it's more difficult in Argentina. Hey, how about Cristian going to Casey's mission. He emailed me. I'll forward what he wrote cause I can't read it. Maybe you could give me a five sentence translation.
Elder Ostler: Yes, just like Dr Hollingsworth, Aidukaitis will be traveling the mission giving 6 different zone conferences. He will be with President and his wife and the assistants. I will be in a different car hitting all the different cities on a different day than them. You have lots to tell me. I’m interested.
That’s SO SWEET about C Funes. He’s Such A GOOD GUY. I bet Casey will see him a time or two. They are not 2 licenses. The green one allowed me to get the license. It is just an ID card. That’s what I got renewed. The blue is the real deal.
Isn’t there a chat feature?
Mom: I meant I have lots to tell you, like I could talk to you all day. Not that I have fantastic news or anything. And we've got our tickets to Hawaii for thanksgiving. She's happy we're coming, I think. Oh, and Duke will be playing basketball at the maui invitational, so I'll be hitting a few games!!!!!
There was a 7.2 earthquake in turkey 2 days ago. Not good. Death toll rising. You guys had a couple of quakes too. They were up in the salta mission so you probably didn't feel them.
How in the heck did you get the nod to be the driver and translator for the doctor? I'm so excited for you. You can impress him with your medical knowledge you learned during the intern. Harrison gets to do ER on Saturday night. Should be busy since it's almost halloween!
Oh, the missionaries were helping dad today. We're expanding the dog pen and he's putting in sprinklers, so they were out there shoveling and helping him out.
A chat feature, you're hysterically funny! Do you think in spanish, or both? Where will you guys stay while you tour the mission? With missionaries or with the doctor and his wife in a hotel? Can't wait for next week now, to hear all of the details, all the towns you visited, all the smiles you brought to missionaries who need you!
Just got a pkg from Sister Harvey! Wonder what’s in it!!! I’m so excited.
Love you, Mom
