This MTC is hopping with Prophets!

Letter dated June 25, 2010
Family:  How are you?!

I hope you are mowing hard and practicing the piano hard and training hard for that race.  I heard that it really helps to just down the chocolate milk a few hours before the race.  I felt so rushed at the end of that email - if you couldn't tell.  After we emailed we went to lunch and then to get mail (because my comp is DL).  I made bank!!  I got the drawings from Benson & Wilnut which was GREAT!  Wilson, I love all the colors in yours and Benson, yours is just something else!  Thanks for the banana clip explanation.  I was happy to see all that mail for me!

Elder Huntington and Elder Allen loved their binders.  Thank you so much.  They are awesome!  The best part of my day so far (it's 2PM and we are outside on a bench waiting for laundry) was reading that you loved my photo card.  You got it!!  I was so worried when I didn't get any dearelders from you.  But you got it!  Yeah!!  You don't need to send me a photo book of those - I know what the pictures are of - I lived it!

Kenny Millard - never heard of him.  I'll find him.  You can't really look people up but I can find him.  One of my Argentina Uncles is in the Army.  You know, Uncle Dale, so I'm pretty good at tracking.  Have fun with my $100.  Spend it on Diet Code Red Mountain Dew!  Please.

The Lord's food is not so good anymore.  Pineapple and platanos for me everyday if you know what I mean!

I guess that's good alot of people get shot in Chicago.  Amanda can teach some of them about the Restoration and then the Plan of Salvation and they will be more ready to hear.  Yeah, sorry about the encampment paragraph.

My companions name is Justin Allen.  I'm telling him about the blog right now.  They loved the package and you don't have to send anymore girl scout cookies, but I do like Reece's, (hint).  Elder Bagley is gone FYI.  He's from Star Valley, Wyoming though if you want to find his mom.

Wednesdays - it's not the greatest for the missionary.  Most Elders hate their Wednesday experience.  It was OK for me at best, not great.  The host is with you for 45ish minutes.  Takes you to the bookstore to get your Spanish books, etc.  Then to the dorm to drop everything off, then he takes you to the classroom.  (Actually, first you do the name tag thing).  It's easy to be a host missionary.  You have to be here for longer than 6 weeks and then you just sign up.  I'll do that in 2 weeks.  It will be sweet.

Usually the TRC is Friday night, but this week we did it Thursday morning because we have a surprise devo tonight!!  We are excited for it.  We all know there will be Apostles there, we are probably getting in line a little before 5.  It is going to be Awesome.

Anyways, the TRC yesterday was OK.  We talked to an investigator for 10 minutes in Spanish and mostly followed up on commitments and we got to know him.  Then we taught him for 30 minutes.  It was our first day as a triple and teaching was definitely strange.

There was no temple this morning - obviously - instead we just have MDT.  This morning we outlined lesson 2 and that was really good.  But it really stinks not having a temple to go to each Friday morning.

I think I already said this. . . but I'm pumped to listen to an Apostle of God speak to us tonight!!!  I hope it is Neil L. Anderson.

Both of my comps have serious girlfriends and it is fun to watch them read and write letters to them.  Both girls are supportive of their missionaries and it's fun to sit and watch them sit, stew and worry over their girls.  Elder Huntington gets voice recorded tapes and when he records back to her he tries to not let us hear so he usually goes to an empty room to do it.  But sometimes he lets us say something to her real quick.  I don't think that it is bad to have a girly friend while on a mission, but it certainly seems easier without one!  Some nights we stay up until 11PM talking.  Their girlfriends always come up and then they talk about home etc. . . la la la.  And I just lay in bed and smile.  I'm so glad I haven't been the type to have a girlfriend.

.......So right now I am in line for the Apostle Devotional.  It's 5, we are 2 hours early and there are probably 200 Elders in front of us.  This is crazy.  So I am sitting on some grass right now listening to the continual and constant babble of what is actually like 300 Elders and a handful of Sisters.  As to be able to get in line earlier we went to dinner 20 minutes early.  The cafeteria is in 1M, the main building, which is off limits to us.  Obviously we are allowed in the cafeteria and as we walk in and out of it we can look down 2 hallways of 1M.  So as we were exiting the cafeteria, we saw Elder Oaks!  He was probably 7 feet away.  He had his wife with him and had just come out of a classroom.  I was with maybe 2 other Elders.  Elder Oaks and I held eye contact for 2 or 3 seconds and then he turned and walked down the hall.  I just smiled at him.  It was so cool!  Elders I am sitting next to said they saw Elder Nelson and shook his hand.  And other missionaries said they saw President Eyring get out of his Buick.  This MTC is hopping with Prophets!  This is Awesome!  I'll write more tonight.  Maybe Oaks will speak to us!!

(Later)  Yup, Oaks spoke.  His talk was Preach My Gospel lessons 1 &2.  He talked about how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth.  He spoke alot of doctrine.  It was good.  But there was no upfront application to missionary work - besides the doctrine of course.  The coolest part of it was that there were 8 Apostles on the stand and we were in the 14th row.  Oaks, Holland, Scott, Andersen, Christofferson, Bednar, Cook, Nelson.  It was incredible.

Well sweet, that's about all I got right now. Maybe more tonight . . . . . . . . .

June 26 - so it's Saturday morning and I'm sending this off.  God be with you til we meet again.

Love,

Elder Ostler