The Baptismal Clothes

FAMILIA!!!!!!!!!!! ¿Como están todos? Parece que la familia finalmente ha logrado un poquito descanso. Cada quien está un su propio lugar y todo es tranquilo. me encanta de escuchar que Lilly y Amanda y José  están buenos y listos para vivir solo y que la navidad está empezando! Harrison!! Felizzzzzzzz Cumpleaño mi hermano. espero que tu cumpleaño ayer fue algo super chivo para ti y que las chicas están listas para casarse. comimos ayer un cupcake y pusimos una candela encima y lo comimos!

Anyways family. You are all doing well it sounds like! I got letters from Harrison and Saydi, thank you both sooo much. Your words help and your stories are the best!!

I will be able to skype, I just have to confirm with the members that everything is good so it is all going to be good for the 25th. I am stoked but not baggy! This week was great. I am so tired right now and my fingers are not doing the greatest with typing but I will push through so you can have some of my stories! It was a fun week. I can’t really remember a whole ton of what we did this week because I didn’t really plan that much of what I was gonna write and also this week I wasn’t that on top of writing in my journal. I need to get better at that! But lets start with Tuesday.

So Tuesday we had a lesson with our investigators. They are three sisters and their mom was baptized the week before I got to the field. Their uncle goes to another church and hates us mormons so they all have a struggle with that but have progressed past that desafio in their progression right now. They allllllllll came to church this week which has never happened before. The oldest has 15 years and then 13 years and 12 years. The oldest has gone 6 or 7 times to the iglesia and is progressing and is the most positive out of all of them. The other 2 are less positive and have more challenges, soooooo we talked with them on Tuesday. Well it just worked out that they were there and their mom was in another room as well as the 15 year old, so we talked with them and really had a great lesson. We asked them if this was what they wanted, was to know if what we taught was true and to know if this church has been restored. Remember their uncle has a huge influence on them which creates fear. So that was how the lesson was and then their mom came and shared her part with them, not forcing them to believe but inviting them as a mother would to her children to ensure their happiness and well future salvation. But the spirit was very strong and we again invited them to pray to know. It all starts with a desire.

My zone at the temple. There are a lot of gringos in my zone compared to others

Wednesday we went to the temple and did a session. It was the mission temple trip. sooo legit-. Our session started at 11:30 so it got over and we left at like 3 from the temple. It was sooooo awesome. Spanish too! I could understand it all but it surprised me when it was in the vosotros form but then it was like oh duh.  I remember sitting in the celestial room and just pondering. I was one of the first ones through and I just sat there for the longest time. The El Salvador temple is soooooooo beautiful inside. It is incredible the peace you find in the temple especially in such a crazy country man. It was tangible. The baptismal font is sooooooooooooooo chivo man, it is so legit! Oh Saydi, my zl Elder T is from Peru and he says bacán! It is sweet! But the temple was great. I was the last one out of the celestial room. I love the temple!

Then we went to Wendy´s afterward! Holy fast food what? I had a frosty and that was like super great. I talked with Elder M on the way home on the bus and we got back to our area at like 7 at night and could only make a couple visits that night but our investigator JC papers for marriage are progressing! He will probably get baptized the first or second week of January but we will see how that goes!

I can’t remember what happened Thursday other than our zone meeting in Sonsonate! It was soooooooo awesome. We talked about la fama. It means fame. What is your individual fame in the mission o sea how do people see you by the things you do. If you don’t have a good fame then you can change it right now and begin to be better. It was awesome. Our zls are sooo great and my zone is probably the best zone in the mission! For reals. We have a goal of 21 baptisms this months of December. My comp and I have 7 fechas and are working with others but we are going to baptize more!

Friday I went on exchanges in the zls area with Elder T it was sooooo great! We had a reto.  A challenge. We have the new navidad targetas to hand out and their is a link to the new Christmas video. So we each had to hand out 20 of them to people. And if we didn’t we had to write. soy gaya dn Le amo a and then the elders name on the white board in the house that night but I got all my 20 out and so did Elder T. It was sweet.

We had lunch and I had a a noodle salad thingy. It was soooo good and we had pupusas and also another dinner with a member. I ate sooo much food! It was crazy crazy crazy!

 We went with eh las delicias elders who are Elder To and Elder M to do a baptismal interview. We split off and so I went with Elder M to find people and do contacts. LPE. We tried for 30 to 40 minutes without a single success. so we prayer. At 8 o’clock on the corner of a street we prayed to be lead to someone who is ready to receive the gospel. We ended the prayer and walked up the street and 5 seconds later I saw a door with the light on inside and the door was open. I just felt my feet carry me that way. There was no specific voice inside my heart or distinct feeling inside my heart to go to that house but I felt a little nudge. So we went. It was a family of 6. The familia sonsa. The youngest child was 15 years old. Our initial approach was awkward and awful, but they let us in. I couldn’t believe it! We had found a family and they were open! We shared a powerful lesson with the spirit and taught them about prophets and the apostasy and Joseph Smith and the church and how it has all been restored for families so we can be happy and have peace and salvation. We left a book of mormon and it was great and incredible. I was so filled with joy and so happy that our prayer was answered. Elder M and Elder To are going to verify with the family.


That night I accidentally again took the fone of the elders and so they had to come and get it and sleep over at the zls house. Then in the morning Elder T went on a run and did some abs rippers in the park in Sonsonate on some monkey bars. It was incredible and I am still sore but it feels so good to be sore form like working out again! So that was awesome.

Saturday I went back with Elder Sanchez and we had to fill up the pila to be able to baptize RN that night. We called like half the ward to find keys for the chapel. Finally we got some and left to fill the pila. We got there and the pila wasn’t the cleanest so I got a mop from the church closet and then I cleaned it! It was sooooooo windy that Saturday. Like a strong tri cities wind. October and December are the windy months. It hasn’t rained recently but it is still super hot. It gets the hottest in May and April. But I will be in belice then.

The baptism. RN wanted our zl Elder Rodriguez to baptize her so that was sweet. We are on the same team so it doesn’t matter who scores the basket. Just like Richland ball. I hear they lost btw. Ouch. The defense is non existent I bet. Anyways, we got there at like 7:15 and then the jumper for RN didn’t fit her that the zls had brought so Elder Sanchez and I had to sprint to the closest members house and ask them if we could borrow some white clothes for her. It was crazy!!!!!!! My comp is really bad with his spine which causes problems with his knees and ankles. But the baptism was great! Her whole family came. Her parents have problems with something and they don’t want to tell us. Her mom is a member but less active so we are going to keep working with her and everything it will all work out.

The members of the ward here like to tell us missionaries what to do and how to do the work so it is hard and requires a lot of patience. It is tough to just close your mouth when someone tells you that there is a ton of work to do and you aren't doing all you can and that you are lazy. It was super hard when that happened right before the baptism. So yeah challenges of the mission.

Yesterday we had 10 people to church. A didn't come though. He is struggling so we are preparing him for the 25th of December to be baptized. This morning I found a new super good way to wash my garments. There is a five gallon bucket at my house so I fill it with water and put my clothes in and get soap and use my hand to swish it around and basically it was a human washing machine. This morning I went on a run with Elder T because they slept at our house last night. I am not sure why but we went on a run this morning up a steep steep road to be able to see the awesome view of my area. We saw all the volcanoes in the distance, but they are actually pretty close. And my area bellow and the sun it was awesome but I haven’t worked out that hard in a long time!!!

Last night we took a guy from the street that we randomly found to the devocional Christmas thing at the Sonsonate stake center. I loved Elder Claytons talk and the music and also Elder Benard. I understood practically everything in Spanish, it was sooo cool.

This week I had a rekindled desire to increase my language abilities and to continue studying and learning and growing. I want to get the most out of my mission. In the devocional last night as I watched I felt the spirit testify to me again of Christ. The necessity that all of us have for a Christ to save us. The importance of his birth and everything. It was awesome and it helped me remember my purpose here on the mission. I still feel like a new missionary but I am approaching six months. Isn’t that crazy? But I still am learning how to do the work.

Elder Sanchez is great. He loves to work hard. His knees and spine hurt so I am trying to do all I can to help him. He is a little crazy but knows when to be reserved and respectful. We walk to the moon and back everyday.  This week I am going to get the waffle maker that is in the zls house and bake some delicious breakfasts this week. Waffles, french toast, eggs and all. I am stoked. I am only a little bit homesick this week from all the Christmas stuff. It doesn’t feel like Christmas still and probs never will till the week of. I am stoked! KK gotta go! I love you all and hope that everyone continues well! LesAMO!!!
Elder Ostler

Trabajando Con Todos Los Poderes

That´s a week family. But I heard that you had a fantastic week all together again enjoying the cold weather at home in the tricities, all together. That is so legit - love those times. I love how mom and dad always say in their email how much they miss me and then right after say that they wouldn’t want me home. It is funny and I understand what you mean. At times I have wanted to be home, but not anymore, El Salvador is just too great and I will miss it when I go to Belice in a couple changes or something like that.

Okay so about my comp. He is great and interesting and awesome and helpful. His name is Elder S. He is 22 years old. He has been a member his whole life. He wants to be a pilot and is thinking about going to study in BYU after the mission. He is a bit crazy but he is really great. He is the oldest and has two younger siblings. He is a hard worker, his teaching is simple, clear and powerful. He is a great commitment maker helping the people understand what they need to do and why they need to do it. And that is something I struggle with. As missionaries we represent Christ and Christ holds a perfect tolerance and balance of justice and mercy. As missionaries we have to be able to discern people and have justice and mercy with them to help them come unto Christ.

But this week was not all clouds and flowers. jjjaja What does that even mean? Anyways it means that it wasn’t all crazy easy. Lets start with Monday. It was a sweet pday. Played futbol at the stake center and my sweet nikes have a hole in the sole of them so I will see if I can get that fixed but I might need to buy new shoes so I will see about that.

Anyways I got my hair cut and they actually did a pretty good job and then we had an awesome night of teaching. First we went to visit RN.  She is getting baptized Saturday!!! The day b4 harry ladies birthday and we talked with her whole family!! We had a sweet lesson on families and the importance of families. Elder S really is a good teacher. Super simple. Her dad is not a member so we are going to see how that all works out because they have some problems and stuff so yeah.

Then we had a blazing lesson with another family. They are three brothers each with their respective wife and are all not married and have each like a kid. They used to be Elder Hallmans investigators. They live in the same house as their mom and she is a member. But we had a sweet lesson with them that night and talked about the gospel and families and what we need to do in order to be eternal and how we need to make sacrifices sometimes to attain the blessings of God. They committed to church and we put 5 baptismal dates wit them. They have the barrier of marriage so we are really working hard with them and that specific need.

Then we were running super late and had been invited at 8 o’clock to have dinner with the bishop! So we got out of the lesson at 8:30 and started sprinting. Literally. I got the phone out and called the bishop as we ran. He was super chill about it. We were down in the valley of our area and the bishops house was wayyyyyy super high up in our area so we deserve a gold medal! After being on a bike in Belice my comp was dead. And we got there and guess what they fed us? PUPUSAS! IT was awesome! And their neighbor was over and she was super sick and is a member but her husband isn’t and she wanted a blessing so we were able to give her a blessing. It was awesome. The spirit was strong and she began to cry after my comp gave her a blessing. Then we were a little disobedient and got home at like 9:50. But I repented.

Tuesday we had exchanges and Elder Hallman came with me back in Castano. It was sweet. We visited the guy who we baptized last week and talked with him about the holy ghost and it was awesome. And then that night we were walking down in a pasaje in the colonia residenciqales and I saw a door opened and the light was on and there were people and in my mind I thought, oh a family, let’s talk to them. We went to that house and there was a lady sitting facing the opposite of us and she was looking the other way. It was a little awkward at first and a lot of people got up and left when we arrived but the lady that couldn’t see us who was facing the other way and couldn’t see us stood up and without looking at us told us to come in and she got chairs for us to sit in. She was baptized 13 years ago and got a job and so she couldn’t come to church. Recently she quit her job and is going to come back to church. She cried in the lesson and the spirit was one of the strongest I have felt. It was absolutely incredible. We shared a little message and then left. It was awesome. Her life is tough, she told us to come in the house without even looking at us!! It was crazy cool.

Wednesday was regular. We walked a ton because we had to go super arriba in my area and then bajar to the other area like twice. This week we are going to have a day arriba and a day abajo.in castaño 2 to be better with our time. Thursday we had a district meeting. It was awesome. Elder S is the dl and he taught an awesome lesson to us and used the scriptures and excited us and reminded us of Christ and why we are out here, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of our brothers and sisters here in El Salvador, to make use of Christs atonement in their lives and our lives to become better and achieve happiness. It was awesome.

We ordered pizza afterwards and they brought it to the chapel where we were and we ate pizza and coke, but that was a mistake for me, because my stomach did not agree with something I had eaten recently. So that day was like wishy washy for my health. Friday morning we had to go and pay for the electricity bill of Elder Andrade and Elder Hallmans house because the electricity had been cut off so we went to sonsonate and paid at the office place here and it took a lot of time. Riding the bus is crazy when there are a lot of gente traveling. You are packed in the isle standing up and when someone wants to get off they squeezed their way all the way back to the door in the back and people have living chickens, bags of veggies and everything. It is awesome.

But then Friday our ward mission leader came out with us. We had rock solid lessons with people in our new part of our area and set some baptismal dates so that was super cool. With Poca I didn’t learn how to teach so I feel still like a new missionary learning how to teach PEOPLE not PAMPHLETS.

Saturday we moved. From the house I have been living in this whole time to the house of Elder Andrade and Elder Hallman. It is way better.

 We packed our suitcases and called a taxi to take us the little trip. Their house doesn’t have a table and only one clothes rack so we went back to haul that stuff from our old house. I carried the clothes rack all by myself and that was a workout. It was heavy and very awkward to carry but it was fun and we looked like freaks. That day my stomach started to hurt and I felt like I wanted to throw up and I didn’t stay home because I felt guilty if i would have plus we had to remind people bout church and visit our investigators. So we worked. I felt exhausted. My throat and stomach killed so bad. But then I got better. My comp however was dead tired because of the change of pace in his work. From bikes to walking in the mountains makes you tired.

We had a lesson with D again and in that lesson my comp was out. Like he was asleep practically the whole 25 minutes we were there. In and out, he was trying so hard to stay awake but he couldn’t. So I taught about Nephi and his experience with the spirit when he went to get back to the bronze plates. It was great, super funny too. On Sunday we had 10 investigators at church. A couldn’t come, but he is the guy that asked us for a bible and is 2 weeks without drinking and is planned to be baptized on the 19th of December. Another investigator and a less active came to church. We have been visiting them and are planning to be married and baptized the 26th of December. Miracles do happen. I had wondered when because all my first two transfers I had not seen much fruit of my labor, but now the blessings are coming. I am learning soooo much and loving it.

Yesterday we set up a Christmas tree with the familia E. Christmas will come fast and I think we’ll be able to skype, I just have to find members to help us out with that. The mission is real. I had worried that I am not going to be able to learn a ton and grow and the mission will slip by me without me progressing but I only have 4 months. I have much to do and much to serve. The desire to get better and grow is in me and I want to learn everything. 2 less actives came back to church as well yesterday. I am trying so hard to be humble and learn and always recognize Gods hand.

My favorite part of every week is taking the sacrament. Sitting there and pondering about Christ and the mission and service and progress and everything. It is edifying. I love you all so very much. It doesn’t feel like Christmas or the holidays. Everybody loves when I sing because they are all tone deaf here. But they love it when I sing the Christmas songs in english!  I love you! Saluuuuu!
Elder Ostler

It's like a different mission

How are you family??? I hope everybody is doing awesome. Les extraño muchisimo. Esta semana pasada ha sido bien loco y duro. Yo recibi un nuevo compañero. No estoy entrenando, pero esta bien porque yo he visto en mi mismo que todavia yo tengo bastante a aprender. pensé que yo sabía todo y que yo podría entrenar pero me equivoque. Estoy listo para aprender de mi nuevo compañero elder sanchez.

Okay so I will start from Monday and go from there. Mom you might want somebody to translate that but whatevs. So Monday. On Monday,we played basketball and my team crushed. It was so much fun but sadly we couldn't play full court. It was still super fun and the sun is absolutely killer here- from 11 to 3 it is just blistering hot.

 Then we were going to go home right and I needed to go get food from the store, so we walk to the direction of the store but the bus stop is right next to the store. My comp walked right past the store and on to the bus stop, but I needed food to eat. I didn't want to starve. I yell out to him and say I need to go to the store. He tells me that we can’t go and I was like what? why not? Then he tells me we don’t have time. We had an hour and 15 minutes till 6 o’clock. We discussed this point for 3 minutes and I stayed firm. He told me I had only 10 minutes to buy food. He got out his watch and literally followed me around the store staring at his watch hand timing me. Guess how long it took? 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I wanted to tell him see look it only took four minutes, but I didn’t because that wouldn’t be nice so I thanked him for letting me go in the store and buy stuff. He was so mad at me I could tell because he didn’t allow me a chance to talk in the lessons the rest of that night. It was intense.

I got the package for my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much. Everything made it perfectly sound and awesome and I love the oreos! Harrison and Saydi I got your letters! You guys are rocking it. Keep workin hard! Your words of encouragement helped so much! I also got the letters from Benson and Wilson. I got all these things on Tuesday when we went to El Salvador for a multizone that day. It took like all day. We left at 6 and got there at 8 and had breakfast. I saw Elder Abilez and Harris and practically everyone! They have some crazy stories that is for sure! Especially the ones in the city. But the multizone was awesome.

President Hintze is great. But this mission has a problem with obedience. The latino central america culture is laid back like crazy and a lot of the missionaries think of their mission as a paid vacation. A ton of them are way disobedient and they take punishment as a joke and just laugh. So yeah it is hard. But on the bus ride home I sat in the back with Elder McFarland and we talked the whole like 2 hours. It was soooooooo awesome. So incredible. We talked about anything and everything. It was super cool. It smelled like one of those airport buses so that brought a lot of memories back to me form Hawaii and Mexico. But we talked about life. Being missionaries, teaching people, investigators, peach my gospel, hiking and everything. I felt so good after that ride.

 Wednesday I literally can’t remember what happened except my comp macheted me during our comp inventory and I told him how he should respect others thoughts and ideas more, but I did it in a nice way. He didn’t care though. Tough little man. And I never got a call to notify me that I was training so I was really really bummed about that because I really wanted to train.

Thursday, the day of the transfer call. All day my mind was racing and asking and wondering if I would get a call, if I would be changed. I had waited for the 20th of November more than for my birthday. But first that day we visited people and had the normal stuff happen. Then we went and visited a family who are members and are neighbors with another family and wait, I’m sending, one sec

sorry I had to send that because my other tabs went weird and I didn’t want to lose what I had wrote. Anyways we went to visit the familia who gave us a reference to their neighbors. We went to visit the familia and the kids of their neighbors were in their house. We talk a little but then my comp starts to teach the kids. uhhh that is not good. You have to talk to the parents before you can teach the kids. I felt that I should tell my comp to stop talking especially because we were in a members house. It was not a good situation. I could see in the eyes of Brother C that it was not good. Like he was full on teaching these kids about the restoration and everything without permission.



Finally my comp stopped talking and then I jumped in and asked the kids about their parents and stuff and what times they are usually home so we can visit them. Then Sister C started talking and began to machette us. She told us that we couldn’t do that and teach these kids and that we need to be on time. She looked at my comp the whole time and machetted him. But I was dragged in to it to as his comp. I thought back and saw that I should have told him to stop.

Brother C grabbed a chair and brought it close to us and sat right in front of us. I knew something was gonna go down. He started to tell us from experience. He served a mission and was ap and all that stuff so he told us that what we did was out of order. He was 100 percent right. I was on the edge of my seat listening intently and being respectful to him. He talked for like 5 minutes out of concern for us not in anger. He told us he had seen us walking and that we need to walk together and not one of us way behind, which is me. He told us that there was no spirit in our companionship and that that was not good. He nailed it on the head. He then looked at my comp directly and told him this was directed toward him. He talk and identified the exact problems within our companionship. . . . . . .

I was hoping for change but the little doubt was always there. That night when the call didn’t come until 10 I was freaking out causing myself unnecessary pain and frustration. Then the call came and I could not sleep. I could not fall asleep. I was sooooo happy. I did a little dance outside and ate some oreos. It was sooooooo great. I knew I was staying in my area but didn’t know my comp.

Friday we went to versailless to the exchange meeting. We sat there in the chapel and the president talked, Hermana Hintze talked and the slide show by president to find out comps and areas. I knew my area had been combined with Elder Hallmans that I was in charge of both areas now. Suupppeeerrrr huge. I wanted a gringo comp so bad. It was turn for our zone. It showed the zone leaders first then it showed Castano. My picture was up there with my name with a blank space to the right. President clicked the button and a picture of a latino popped up with the name Elder Sanchez. Booommm baby! I got a new companion!!!!!

As we sat together he didn’t stop talking to his other latino buddies. My heart sank. I became discouraged and wanted to sink through the floor. I became worried and nervous for the mystery of a new comp and how everything would work out. I wanted to quit and be done and to disappear, to go home and not have to work anymore. It was a tough couple of hours. On the bus ride home Elder Richard and Hallman who crazilly is still in my district and zone!!! gave me good advice and picked me up from my fallen state. Mentally I was roasted. Fried. No one knows how hard Elder P was. I don’t even realize how hard it was. I can’t believe I did it.

Elder Sanchez and Me

But Elder Sanchez is a boss. He served in three different missions. El Salvador East, Lima Peru sur and this one. Loonngg story. He got sick in Peru, went home and now is here in this mission. He is from Santa Ana El Salvador! He has 6 months left. He is sooo good as a missionary. The first thing he told me is that we need to have unity because when there is unity we have the spirit. We set a goal to baptize two families this transfer.  He is obedient for the most part. He is exciting and happy and likes to have fun. He was in Belice for 3 months and knows some english so we talk sometimes. We had 10 peeps in church yesterday. Tons of work to do. I wanted to train but I realize my sin in my wish. I am sooo far from being ready to train. I have so much to learn. Elder Sanchez is such a good teacher.

Yesterday we had a baptism!!!! We reactivated his less active family and I was able to baptize him. MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!! SUUPPER AWESOME- The mission is real. I also cut this ladies grass on Saturday with a machette and got a sweet blister on my thumb. Ostler lawn and garden now serves in El Salvador and soon to offer in Belice! I love you all, this week will go super fast!
Love you,
Elder Ostler

I want to break free

 The subject line sums it up perfectly. I am ready. I am so ready to be able to take control of my missionary life. I am so ready to not to feel like I am being looked down upon and be able to develop better teaching finding and contacting skills on my own. I want to train so bad and I will find out sometime this week!

But the subject line also refers to a song I heard while walking on the street. You know that song? I want to break free? It just fits so perfectly. These past 11 weeks have been killer. When you are in the midst of a trial you grow, you rely on the Lord, you really do give it your all. I am trying to see my weaknesses so I can be healed faster, because the more I perfect myself the better I am able to serve others and bring them unto Christ. As I look back on my training, I can see a change in myself. If I am honest I can really take a transcendent view of where I used to be a year ago and where I am now and I can see a difference.

Because it was my bday people have asked if I feel older and usually when it is your birthday you don’t really feel much older because life is a slow progression of growth. But I feel older. I feel more self reliant. I feel more mature. I can feel it and it is cool. I am excited. I love leadership and being able to have responsibility and have something to do and keep my focus, I haven’t been able to do that at all. I haven’t been able to have a say in many things at all. I haven’t and now I will be able to. I am going to treat my new comp like a king. I am going to do what he wants to do for a change. And we are going to TALK! So many of the problems in companionship's could be solved with communication. SOOOOOOOO many problems could be throw out the window if there was communication. It has gotten better since the beginning. estoy listo

I love hearing about the family and all that is going on.  I did hear about the France thing from a member on Friday. They told me it was a bomb and that is all I heard so a lot of it is new about isis and stuff. World war 3 how crazy!

This week. Here it is. Just the highlights. This internet is slow....
Monday was my birthday and we went to the beach which was awesome! I loved it so much! I had fish too! We got special permission from president to be able to eat fish at this restaurant since it was fresh. I talked with Elder McFarland the whole time practically. Our whole zone and the other neighboring zone all went so there were alot of us. It was fun. The beach itself was not huge, pretty small but way fun. SOOOO beautiful. We were there in a little fishing town so not a tourist place. But it reminded me of when we went to Mexico. That whole beachside scene but the beach was not as big!

I got a huge pupusa that night too. My comp wasn’t gonna go and when I told him that the ladies were going to make one for me he said that he forgot! haha super awesome! Tuesday we had a good lesson with our investigator who is preparing for this next Sunday to be baptized! Finally. Our lessons are good but could be so much better. She is prepared though. And that night I had my fifth dinner with a family other than on Sunday!!! It was great. They feed you beans with bread and eggs, or sautéed veggies with hot dog slices. The beans and bread are soooo good. Then you have coke or either juice. So delicious. It really tastes good!

Wednesday was great too. We had our weekly planning and at the end of weekly planning you have  a comp inventory but we usually have never done that but this time we did. My comp told me things that I was doing good and he told me that I was a really good missionary and was happy to be my comp. That made me feel like I was on top of the world. First it was weird then I saw that he really meant it. I said thanks. I did the same and told him his strengths and my advice to him was to talk more. He has started to talk more. It was great. But that day just set the tone for the rest of the week! I never looked at him bad. Anyways it was a good day. The communication only got a little tiny bit better but hey I got better!! He is just soooo quiet. Just the most silent person I know. It is crazy.

That day it rained soooo hard. We used an umbrella to keep us from mojandonos. I held it and we walked under the same umbrella so that was good comp bonding time!! The streets are literal rivers. It is insane how much water can fall from the sky!!

Thursday our 17 year old ward mission leader came out with us all day, he is rock solid and will be a reallllyy good missionary. He needs a little bit more of a backbone though but he is incredible!!!!!!!!!! Our lessons that day were so fun! I loved walking and talking with him and being able to learn stuff about the language and El Salvador. We went to a special ward council that night with a stake leader there who talked about numbers and attendance of the ward. Apparently the ward is going to split soon! Sweet huh? So yeah it was a cool meeting!

Friday we had lunch with a member in the zls area with other missionaries to celebrate one of their birthdays and we had some awesome rice and chicken again but it was way better than the stuff I usually eat! So delicious. We had to wait for a little bit before the food was ready though so we played uno and I lost super bad everytime. It was awful. But they had a bball so I dribbled for a little bit and that was awesome too! All the girls here play bball so they are the good ones and the boys play futbol. Pretty cool.

We met with the familia H who are solid members in the ward and they were watching soccer. Brassila and Argentina tied. And El Salvador got roasted by Mexico. He was the one who told me about the bombing in France. He told me 118 dead so yea being a missionary you really are out of the loop.

Saturday it rained again but harder than ever. My shoes got so wet at like 3 pm so they were drenched all day long. Not too fun! We were out in the jungle when it started to rain and so the trails were the rivers so we had to walk on the side of the trails in the brush and that meant that we got even more wet. Incredible.

On Sunday we had a lot of less actives back to church. It is awesome to see them come! We are preparing two baptisms for this weekend on next Sunday. So if I am still here I will probably be able to baptize them.  I also gave a talk in church. The ward mission leader asked me to talk and so I prepared a little on Friday and Thursday but then I totally forgot Saturday and Sunday morning until I was sitting in the chapel singing the first hymn. I quickly got my planner out and wrote down what I remember I had planned  and some more things. I spoke on the plan of salvation and the need to make these things known to the world. After a lot of people told me that my Spanish was fluent and that it was really good. That made me feel good.

That night we had a lesson with a menos activo who has work on Sunday so she can’t come but she has a little son. We were there for a little and my comp shared a little thought and then the baby who is like 2 years old just started to scream its head off. And that is never pleasant, but my comp just kept talking and teaching and then the grandma had stuff to say and when the old people talk they never stop. I sat for 30 minutes just waiting to get out of there as my comp kept teaching. The baby screaming. The grandma talking. That was tough. I prayed and prayed to just keep calm and be patient.


At the end of the day yesterday I was about to be done. I could feel your prayers give me strength in that moment. I have felt your strength this week. I really have- this morning I did a ton of laundry. I am really a pro at washing by hand 36 articles of clothing including bedsheets. In an hour and 15 minutes. Beat that. Your hands get sore from wringing out clothes. kk I gotta go and I will send some pics and they probs won’t have captions. I love you all family!! Rock on. I am sooo stoked for changes and ready to conquer the world. Oh yeah, I also want to mention that I have seen everything. Central America has much to offer. Much of it is disturbing and gross. Really my eyes have been opened to the reality of the world. It is truly incredible. I love you all!!!!
Elder Ostler

Happy Birthday Elder Ostler!

What up Family? Holy a week. I could never make it without Christ's Atonement. First off, Benson when I read you email I just wept. Benson just know how much of an example you are and need to be to all those younger than you. Know that. I miss you dude. I remember when Harrison left I would think about him all the time too. I love you bud. Rock on.

A birthday selfie

Also thank you everybody for you birthday wishes and love and laughs. Today I got up early to make my birthday special, and I did laundry for an hour and a half all by hand and made some wickedly awesome and kind of bland oatmeal and did all the dishes! My comp has yet to wish me a happy birthday but I have learned as you self pity, you get less happy. In my 'training' I have learned soooooooooo much. I will make a list one day and send it to you of all the things I have learned. I look back and see it. Wowzers. And Amanda, I would love to make alfredo for you. Saydi you are the bomb. Wilson keep eating bananas and get radiation poisoning, dad show those boys how to work and Mom, Thank You. I love you Alll!!!

Monday we got home after our pday. We had played soccer and I sweat like a ton. But when we got home I realized I had two cell phones and was like crap, whose cell phone did I take?? Turns out I took the zls cell phone with me and ours. So we had to go back to the city of sonsonate, a 10 min bus ride and find them and give it back to them. My comp was soooooo mad with me, even though he said nothing, I could just tell, but I learn to just let it go. Don’t need to worry about things that aren't requiring worry.

Saydi your letter came and I read it in the photo printing shop and I just wept. You promised at the end that one day I would run, that I wouldn't have to be carried by Christ. Everyday I look back and see that I am being carried by Christ and there are only one set of footprints in the sand, and right now I am being carried, but at the prospect of me running one day was and has been far beyond even my thoughts. I pondered on those words of your letter again and while at a less active members house, relief was found in that letter. Thank you so much. I have read it so many times. One day I will run, and will not need to be carried.

Complete exhaustion

Tuesday during study I felt that I needed to fast, because my comp didn’t fast on last fast Sunday and so I didn’t, but Tuesday I took control of myself and so I fasted lunch and dinner. My prayer for my fast was incredible. When you let the spirit guide your words and thoughts you really are edified. I prayed for faith and strength for the future so I can be a light and beacon to others and that I can do all I can to help others. It was one of the if not the best fast I have ever had. Working all day with no food except for bfast is tough. And that night my comp went to buy pupusas! ahhh! I got some and ate them the next morning.

On Wednesday during comp study I had a 20 minute discussion with my comp about the way and method of teaching. So it started because evidently I did something wrong. . . . . . I then talked with patience and did not raise my voice, but I firmly stated my point of view and told him how I thought we could teach but with the language barrier and everything it was difficult. At the end he told me this. Elder I have experience in the mission and I have time that I have learned these things and you don’t have time in the mission so you have a lot to learn. I am trying.

On Thursday we had cake at zone conference for Elder B's birthday and that night we had a futbol game against the young men of the sonsonate ward. We got permission to go play soccer at the estaca that night at 7. It was legit. So fun. You know how much I love sports. Any sport. I loved it. It was incredible. I had sweated so much that I literally wrang my shirt out about a cup or more of sweat, I am not even kidding. It drenched through my absorbent garments tool. It was insane. I was drenched. But so fun. Then we couldn’t catch a bus home because they had stopped coming so we had to walk the streets of el salvador home at 9:00 at night from the stake center in the city and walked for 30 mins to get home. That I will never forget!

Exchanges with Elder Hallman in our Mosquito Nets

Friday I had exchanges again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Hallman came to my area and we rocked it. 9 invitations to baptism all with a date. It was soooo much fun. We had the most spiritual lesson with a less active 25 year old and with her mom. We talked about the purpose, covenant and blessings of baptism then about the sacrament and invited them to come back to church. I saw the light in their eyes as they said yes.

So far on the mission I have eaten 162 pupusas!

Saturday was tough just getting slammed back with my companion. It was a robot of a day. Our numbers were super high, but that is because they were treated like numbers, not people. High numbers doesn't mean success if they are only numbers. It felt like such a long day that day.

Sunday we had 7 investigators at church. Another family kinda just showed up. We have two families who are in the process of being married but are really poor so it takes a long time. R came to church again and her little brother! She accepted a baptismal date for the 22 of November so that is exciting!!!!!!! I got a sponge cake last night from the people who we eat dinner with every other week. Like a big cake, but it is cinnamon and just the best thing ever so I will eat a lot of it tonight with my comp! And the pupusa ladies that we always buy from are going to make me a giant pupusa if we go, but last night I told my comp that I wanted to go and he said that I have to remind him to go, soooo I will drag him with me tonight at 8 o'clock to actually sit down for once and use our designated hour for dinner!!

Everytime I take a shower I do a cockroach and spider check before! There are ants everywhere!!!  The streets are a literal garbage can, because men come and rake the garbage out of the gutter the next morning. It is tempting and hard to not just throw your trash there, but I always keep it! And Saydi, they have bon o bon!!!!!! It is hot hot hot and their are supposed to be November winds here so we’ll see about that.

This is my last full week with the comp! For some reason God needs me here. I don’t know why and I have goals to do at least 2 things of service for my comp everyday. I don’t expect my comp to say happy birthday but that is okay. The mission is not for me anyways. You really come to understand your blessings. Those times when you are overflowed with joy and gratitude towards God for blessing you so much even while in the midst of trial. My Spanish is better and I can talk and understand pretty much everybody. The mission is not what I expected it to be.

My joints in my hands and wrist still hurt from chickengunya but ya know, life is never meant to be easy!! I love you all! Hastal luego till next week. Your letters are appreciated and your prayers are felt. I feel angels everyday bearing me up. I am wearing the green and black tie that Harry and Jack had on their missions. I get to play the uke every pday because our zl has one. He is awesome. I can’t wait for the day that I can run on my own. 10 more days. Lets do this.

Your Little brother, older brother, uncle, cousin nephew and son,
Elder Jwizzle Tipizzle Ostler

God answers prayers

Hoooyyyyy! ¿Familia! Como le va? Espero que todo esté bien en sus vidas y que todos sean felices!! I am doing better. My comp is still the same. Nothing has changed. However I have changed even more. I say that not to applaud myself but to inform you how it is better. Last week with the email I felt frustrated and sooooo burdened and beating myself up for what I have done wrong and that the trouble in the companionship is my fault. I felt weighted down by everything. I didn’t know what more I could do to make it better. That day, Monday, we were walking down the hill back into the valley of ourarea and I had been thinking and pondering on my feelings and praying and trying to have the spirit more and be at peace, but I couldn't for some reason. It was dark and I had got a sunburn that day on my face. We were walking and I prayed to know what to do. THE THOUGHT CAME INTO my mind that I needed to ask for forgiveness for him. As I get frustrated with him I tend to not follow him well, am less than a good comp to him, so I asked for forgiveness and told him I was sorry as we walked that night. Right as I said those words I felt my worry care and frustration be swept away with the non existent wind. It was relieving. I then prayed for rain because my burnt face and my burnt out body needed to be cooled and guess what. 10 minutes later it started to dump rain. God answers prayers.

On pday last week we played soccer here at the stake center in sonsonate. Super fun!! None of the other gringos like to play except like one so it was me and him with all the latinos and some kids that came off the street. It was super fun. But I got a nice burn on my face.  It is no fun so I don’t know what I could do for that.

Elder T, our new zl who is standing next to me in a pic I will send is the coolest most awesome person that will ever walk the face of the earth except for probably Christ you guys and my future wife and family, and maybe santa clause. Anyways he is just awesome. But that was last Monday and we found an investigator named WL who is a jw and she wanted to learn about the gospel. I think I already told you about her last week. She was back and forth and didn't know what to think about us mormons. I’ll talk later in the email about her.

On Tuesday, studies were hard in the morning as always. . .  but I try everyday to be humble and learn from him what I can. Last week I told you that I was feeling the chikengunya return, but evidently it was seekay. That is how you pronounce it not how you spell it. It is first pain in the body and then a huge rash and sometimes a fever and a lack of energy.  I got the pain, the rash and a lack of energy but it was mild except for the rash, the rash was bad on Monday and Tuesday. But Tuesday morning I had like no energy and so I drank some of the zip fizz that was in my package and got some advil that you sent me as well! Those things were inspired for you to send me. I felt great the rest of the day and seguired mejor despeus.

There is a familia who are recent converts and the father used to drink. Last Sunday we saw him drinking on the side of the road and talked to him. We met with the family on Tuesday night and he wasn’t there so we taught the rest of the fam about the plan of salvation. We had just finished the lesson when the dad walked in. They are an awesome family. He sat down and looked at us and told us he wanted to learn more about the gospel that he had a desire to learn and read the scriptures. It was sweet, but as I looked into his eyes I could tell what was up. He knew he was falling back into his drinking habits and wasn’t being a good example to his family or daughters. I felt in my heart and knew in my mind from the spirit that he needed help to guard from falling back into drinking and so without his family knowing he asked us to help him in that subtle manner, but only through the spirit did I discern what was the real problem. I thought of in the scriptures when it says, and they did discern his thoughts or whatever. That was me! It was cool.

The sunset that night was absolutely the most beautiful thing ever. The clouds are so awesome here and the colors of the sky are sweet. The light bounced off of the clouds and lit everything up. Extremely cool!! Wednesday I was really homesick and missing school Richland bombers basketball and boating and hiking and trampoline ball and my buddies and Wilson and Benson and Lilly and the food from home and my bed and everything so I looked at the fotos that I have and decided I needed a good cry, I just left it all out.

That night we got Pupusas again. I don’t have my other planner from the first transfer and so I don’t know the exact count because I have it tallied but I have eaten around 140 pupusas so far. That is average amount. I eat 8 to 10 pupusas every time. We go to these ladies when we buy them and they are sooo fun! They are Catholic and they laugh all the time. One is really old and the others are like 30 to 40 years old. There are 3 of them and a joven named leonel! They are a party.

Thursday we found a part member less active family with a daughter  and father who are not members and a mom and son who are. We took them to church on Sunday. It was sweet!!! Teaching them we start outside their house and we were with 3 turkeys, 3 dogs, 3 cats, 8 kittens, 4 parrots and like 10 chickens. Thats how a lot of the lessons are. Turkeys are huge by the way and the sound they make is really loud! jajaja.

That day we had a lesson with WL and we had been teaching her about the book of mormon but during that lesson she had so many doubts and told us she couldn't believe it was true and it was tough. Super sad! She had read and prayed and I could see in her eyes that she had felt the spirit. But she rejected it. Super devastating. AWWWHHHHH!! Why are people not willing to believe! GAH. But that is okay.  She dropped us this week.

Friday I had exchanges with Elder Hallman in his AREA!! Soooo great. I got to really see how good my Spanish has become. His Spanish is still getting there so I carried the lesson and stuff. It was sooo fun!! Super fun and helping people come to Christ was great. Inviting to baptism and everything. Exchanges are my favorite part of the week! Saturday is a blur. My comp in a lesson handed the talking and teaching over to me so I had got five words out before he cut me off and taught something that I evidently wasn’t going to teach. It was so hard to open my mouth after that and teach, he just sometimes doesn't understand that he really just puts a knife through me sometimes. So that day was a trial to not be frustrated.

Patience is the ability to endure suffering and trial or delay without frustration, anger, anxiety or evil thoughts. I tried to quitar the frustration form my life this week. Sunday was tough too. There were so many times. . . .  it's hard to not just be frustrated. Actions speak louder than words. I became frustrated with him that day during church and was soooo over him and wanted to quit and be done. I knew I had to do something. We went home afterward and I went into our room and prayed. Poured out my heart to God and out all my care frustration and everything on Christ. He knows me and had to deal with the pharisees and sadducees when he was a perfect teacher and being, and I not a perfect teacher or human am here with my comp, who is not nearly as bad as the pharisees or sadducees I’m pretty sure. I just dumped everything on Christ in that prayer and felt him take it. I felt the burden made light on my shoulders. Incredible.

Last night we had carne asada and sausage and a baked potato filled with cheese with the familia C and it was the best meal of my life. Sooo fun! This morning we played futbol with the elder and priests in the ward. We got up at 5:45 and went to the capilla to play. So great! I love you all and am trying to still be good but the transfer ends on Nov 20th and then I’ll probably train!! Crazzyy stuff!!! Love you all and keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Elder Ostler

Dressed up like a Nephite Warrior for Halloween

La Montaña Rusa

Translation to the subject line is roller coaster. But first off, how is the family?? I love hearing from you all and what is going down at the home!! Benson before I forget, Tons of people have motorcycles here just as their vehicle to use to get places and I always think of you and smile because you are just the best. Get good grades in school and do the hard stuff because it will prepare you for your future so you can better lead others to do hard things. Dad you are awesome. I am rejoicing over the news with Amanda. God answers prayers. There has probably only been two days that have passed that I haven’t asked for Amanda to be blessed with means to get through it.

This is part of our super jungle area

We played futbol with the zone sonzacate at their chapel which was way fun. Only like 2 other gringos played with me with all of the other Latinos. It was sweet but my legs got eaten by mosquitoes. It was great to run and escape for like a couple hours.

Tuesday we had interviews with president and I have a lot to tell you about that. So of course my comp again told me 10 minutes before we had to leave at 8:30. The normal. First I went with Hermana Hintze and we talked about faith and about being new to the mission. As we talked she told me that a ton of the good missionaries that they would have train are over in Belize. All the new missionaries are trained in El Salvador to learn Spanish and then after their training they can go to Belize for about a year. You go their usually only once for on average like a year. Then you’ll finish there or come back. She said that strong missionaries that come to the mission regardless of their trainer will stay strong.

President Hintze then told me that the new group that is coming in November is a big one and that a lot of my group who is finishing their training this transfer will be senior comps and training next transfer. He told me it is guaranteed I will leave Elder P. How about that? Pretty crazy huh? I am willing and ready to do whatever the Lord asks me to do. 

Wednesday was normal but we had a lesson with a lady named W and she is a jw but not a super dedicated one. In the lesson she directly told us she had question regarding where we come from and what is the whole deal with Adam and Eve. In my mind I was like, lets teach the plan of salvation but my comp tells her we have to start form the beginning. I could not believe it. . . . In the pmg it says countless times, follow the NEEDS of the investigator and the SPIRIT to know what to teach. . . .

On Thursday I had exchanges with the zl Elder F. He is such a good missionary. We set 5 baptismal dates in their area. We were walking down the road and this family was stacking a huge pile of wood so we stopped and helped them. The wood was wet and covered with dirt so that means as sweaty as I was as I worked the dirt stuck to me all over and that was awesome. I loved it. Service, unplanned and fun. We talked with the uncle and two teenagers afterwards and had coke.  I GOT TO TALK AND NOT WORRY ABOUT WHAT I SAID!! With Elder F that day I went for it.

Anyways we invited theses three people to baptism and said that they would prepare. It is awesome. Super legit. It was so hot that day too. Later we set a couple more dates with his investigators for the 7th and 14th of November. The spirit was strong when we shared messages and contacted and it was incredible. I got a glimpse of what missionary work can be and really is. I was excited to work and wanted to work like that. Enjoying the work, not dreading it. And that night Elder F’s comp has a uke and it was in the house so I got to play it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome to play the ukulele. It has been like 3 months since I have played it. I am really rusty though jajaja.

We helped someone else that night push their car that was broken down and walking back to the house at 9:30 that night we walked through the park and it was sketchy. Almost every bench in the park was occupied  by one man. Super sketchy, so we got out of there fast jajaj. Stuff like that happens here. It keeps you on your toes! Oh and that day too this bolo, or drunk, wouldn’t leave us alone and got super close while walking towards us so we had to kinda yell at him to leave because he was out of it. It was fun!

Friday was a day as well. We invited 16 people with a baptismal date in our area. That day I enjoyed the work in my area with my comp and thought everything was getting better. He let me contact people on the street so I was filled that day as well, but Saturday it was less fun because my comp had opportunities to tell people they were not following Christ and that they need to repent and he always puts the guilt and culpa on people when they don’t accept the message of the restoration. Saturday was almost exactly opposite of Friday.

Now to answer your questions. NO it never gets cold, when it rains it gets cooler but not cold enough for a jacket. One ap is foreign and one is American. They are awesome. I am two hours in a bus away form the temple and mission office. Gunshots.............yes and you hear about murders and see tons of gangsters at night.  They celebrate dia de los muertos. Look it up. I also got the package this week!!!!!!!!!! TTOOOONNNSSSS of candy and goodies and ties. Love it so much. And I don’t know what I will do with the brownie mix because I don’t want to make brownie pancakes again hahah. Oreos would be nice! If you can send frosting and gram crackers but they will probably break. One of those little hand sanitizer things you hook to a backpack. A notebook with tearable pages. Thank you for the q tips and pens too! I forgot my list at my house but whatever you send will be great!! Send a little thing of cinnamon so I can make more french toast. It is way expensive here. Thank you for all you do. I love you all and am getting through. #thehardesthtingihaveeverdoneinmylife.
Sincerely you homesice,

Elder Ostler