Dear Family:
Miracle Moments:
We taught O** twice this week (18, bald, really mellow, very receptive). The first time we dropped the palabra de sabiduria on him. His younger brother smiled and laughed as we revealed each one. O 2 for 0. 3 for 0! Ohh, 4 for 0. And you can’t drink tea . . 5 for 0!!! I’m not sure if you understand that, but it was super funny.
The next day we returned and he (who smokes a cigarette every hour) llevaba 6 horas sin fumar! It was so wonderful to hear! Someone repenting because of what I am doing. He committed to go to church, and on Sunday we went to buscarlo, but he didn’t wake up. And he is super hard to find and teach, it doesn't help that he doesn't have a cell fone.
That is a problem with many of our investigators, they are hard to contact and teach.
We received a reference from Chimbas. We taught her in the church with our ward mission leader, Lucas, and she is wonderful and ready. She describes 123:12 perfectly. She is honestly looking for the truth.
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| Me with Lucas Lara, our lider misional |
R** R**! I’m gong to have the best birthday present ever. She is getting baptize on the 24th of March! We put the fecha with her and her x daughterinlaw and granddaughter were there. They both shared their testimonies, it was wonderful! R** has always been against the church, but ever since her grandson left for the mission (the week I arrived to SJ) her heart started to change. She has come to church 3 times now, and when I asked her yesterday if she knew the church was true, she said yes. How Wonderful!! Yesterday she was the only person to come to church.
Remember Y**? She lives just outside of our area and is a reference from members. Well, we passed her to the other elders this week,and yesterday she went to Chimbas stake conference, and Loved It! President Avila met her, and apparently it was wonderful.
The Grueling and Greatness of yesterday.
Church was hardly a spiritual experience for me. Out of 4 solidly people committed to church, only R** came. And then my comp and I were not on the same page. We arrived 5 minutes before it started, without O**. I wanted to go in with the members and say hi and talk and sit by R** and thank members for this thing, or washing our clothes, or a lunch, or a reference they gave us etc. Eventually I said something. O boy. It was grueling for me! I did like the talks though.
But that night (o sea, ayer) we went to visit an active family (husband recently activated).
After sharing pictures and laughing with them, we studied one of the questions in the back of folleto numero 1, la restaracion. We talked about spiritual things for a while and it was wonderful! I started to ask and plant the idea to invite friends to General Conference and then the Sister O** spoke to me. Through tears she told me how special I am. I am so thankful God gave me that boost. It was like getting a thumbs up from God.
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| Tacos with Elder Frost |
Our ward mission leader as of 3 weeks ago is amazing. He’s 19 and about to go on a mission. He magnifies his calling and loves working with us. We have done many divisions and me and him have a good bond. He’s Sampson. Just this week he accompanied us 4 times!
An achievement that Elder Frost and I have: Intercambios and Divisiones.
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| Exchanges with Elder Sarasua |
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| Exchanges with Elder Bennett In foto he looks a lot like Elder Ward, but in real life he just looks like Elder Bennett |
We did intercambios with every companionship in our zone. We put that goal on day 1 together. I have worked in many of the areas and know the elders really well. We also have put lots of enfasis on going out with the youth in the ward. I kept track of the times we went out with them. Just so you have an idea, in 5 weeks (I didn’t get to SJ till Friday the first week) we went out with the youth 19 different times. And total exchanges: 25. That’s either someone from the barrio acompañándonos, going out with 2 different jovenes and doing splits, or doing exchanges with the elders. Pretty sweet huh?
Intercambios (and especially planning them out before hand!) is a focus President Avila has. So we did good there.
Also this morning I verified with the assistants. After I gave them the numbers (this week I did what Amanda said. I focused on Charity and not on numbers) thy gave me transfers.
Elder Frost and I are staying together. We both knew it. I’m fine with it, accept it, and will continue with an attitude of optimism.
My personal growth. I will continue to work with everything, and start smiling more! :)
There are 2 scriptures very similar. D&C 64:33 and Alma 37:34. no os canseies de hacer lo bueno. That helped me a lot this week. Because many a time I feel like giving up. But I won’t.
Thank your for everything family. My love and appreciation for you is infinite!
Love, Elder Ostler
