RAIN, SICKNESS and GROWTH

Guatemala MTC

What a week. First I need to address the 16 year old. Happy birthday Benson. I was thinking about you all yesterday. What a cool day it was huh? To be a 16 year old and a freaking priest! Next you know I’ll be coming home and you’ll be a senior in high school. I did not forget about you. Look in the dresser to the right of your bed. Open the top drawer and run your hand on the roof of the inside of the drawer. You will find a surprise and happy birthday!!!! My district sang happy birthday to you!! Love you broski.

So the scripture for my plaque is in alma 5 verse 48. start from where it says´that i know....´ and end at the end. That is for the plaque and if you could do that that would be much appreciated. My companion is the best. He is so hilarious. He is so funny. Just the phrases he uses and the facial expressions he has are just indescribable. I love him sooo much. He says stuff like this, ‘that just grates my cheese. aw man now that grinds my gears. what unholy devil possessed you to..... and also he says, you uncultured swine.’ He is like Benson. Quick witted, not trying super hard to be funny but it is just awesome.

In our lessons we really work good together and are able to have a lot of unity in our teaching and the spirit is always present and we flow with each other like a stream flows into a river and we both can see where the other is taking the lesson and are prepared with scriptures and testimony for our investigators. Our teachers are soooo awesome as well. I don’t want to leave them but Hermano B wants to trade my light blue paisley tie for one of his so I will. He talks about my ties and how he wants them. He has the best nacho libre accent when he talks in English it is hilarious.

So this week the manger of the international mtcs is here. His name is Lane Steingel. I think that is how you spell it. So he is here just checking up on the ccm and making sure teachers are good, mission pres is great and all else is well. He was twice a mission president and knows four languages and was involved in the process of writing the preach my gospel. So he knows a lot and he is such a source of knowledge for missionary work. He gave a devotional to us on Sunday night. Us meaning all the north americans and he taught of the pmg and how to be powerful teachers, or more like how we can learn to become powerful teachers on our own, to never ever ever settle for mediocracy.

I felt good when he said that frase a bunch. Never settle. Because I have never settled in my life. I have always tried to succeed and never settle. That is the only reason I excelled in school and made the varsity ball team. I don’t know where that instinct comes from. I am considering that where it came from and I have thought of dad and mom and the hard work they have instilled in me and also that I have come to a knowledge of what I can become. I must have just got lucky or been blessed with that gift in the pre earth life but I am grateful I have that quality. And I recognize not all people have that so I am immensely grateful.

So yeah brother Steingel is here and at lunch one day some elders and I went and picked his brain a little. He is such an enthusiastic teacher and taught us some good techniques that he said are very effective in teaching. So Elder A and I are trying to work on those things because they do help with the teaching and directing your lesson first to the commitments and then the rest of the lesson fills in the why question of why we need to be baptized or read the book of mormon or why we need to pray. The lesson is an answer to the why for the investigator.

Oh I did not start a record this year for mowing on excel I don't believe. Sorry. That is on me. And in that picture of the stake day, do I see Jacob Rowe? Tell him I said hi and that the mission is great. He will love his foreign ccm.

So this ccm is the best in all the world. Even Elder Steingel said that. We were up in the area where the rooms are at the end of the hall in the second floor where the rooms for investigators are and I was out there studying with Elder A and he was talking and saying that he thought this ccm is the best because of the layout and the food and the weather and the teacher and President Cox and I totally believe him. This ccm is the best for sure. It is small so you literally recognize everyones face. You know most names and get to know the ccm president and wife really well. The food is great but breakfast always is a trial. It is just soggy fake eggs on tortillas with some weird sauce and it is weird. Some days it is fantastic but others it is just mediocre. Either way the food is great. And there is always a little desert to go with the meal. And we can get SECONDS!!!

So yesterday we had a lesson with our investigator, America. It was the 5th lesson and we taught on family and commandments but guess who was sitting in on the lesson???? Brother Steingel and another interview ccm dude. That was cool and that lesson went soooo well. We taught fluidly with the help of the spirit and were able to really connect with our investigator. And yes I know she is just the teacher but sometimes it feels really real. I love teaching. The commitments fit well throughout the lesson and also our Spanish was rocking and I just love it.

I cannot wait to go into the field. I am trying right now to understand how I will best be able to conquer nervousness and fear to contact with courage in my first couple of weeks and months. I’m stoked. So we have deportes every day and are able to play bball or volleyball or work out but everyday this week it has rained a tooon. Rain I have never seen before. It comes down, but not as much as in Manaus. But we were drench while playing ball and it would rain everyday like that and I just love it so much, though my socks are still wet from yesterday, I love it! haha. I hung them up and they are still fairly wet but the rain here is sweet. Always lots of lightning and thunder. Very cool stuff.

Elder Garry left this morning. He had to wake up at 2 am. Yes 2 am. The flight was at 3 and they had to get a lot of missionaries to the airport that are flying to Honduras. But I saw him last night and traded ties with him and talked and bid goodbye for two years. He’s gonna be a great missionary and has a lot of excitement for the work. Tell his family he said hi and that all is well. His Spanish has increased a ton and he was excited and nervous to leave. He looks better than ever.

I got the letters you all sent last Wednesday which were soooooooo sick!!! Me and this kid named Elder G are the only ones to receive mail, though his came through another missionary. So I am the only one in my district that has received true mail. And I love all the stories. Wilson way to go with the swimming. I encourage you to stick to it all the way through high school. It will make you stronger in every aspect of your life. Be strong and stick to the end.

I came down Sunday night with a super sore throat. It killed and I had some trouble sleeping and yesterday it got better but I was really achy and tired all day. I took Advil and it was good but yeah, I though I’d let you know.

This week I have begun to read Jesus the Christ and take every free moment to read. In 6 days I am on page 269. I skip some of the notes at the end of the chapter but still I love it. I have grown sooo much in the knowledge and a surety of Jesus Christ. I love it. This plan is soooo perfect for us. My mind has been so enlightened by the shear perfectness and quality and love and reality of Jesus Christ and the plan that has been made for us. We are sooo blessed to have such a loving brother and father who loves us unconditionally. I understand now the unfathomable depth and breadth of the plan and Christ’s suffering. I love it.

One night this week I was come down with weakness and I was having a hard time with me not being adequate for my calling but that is normal because inadequacy is good because that means I at least have some knowledge and understanding of my calling. I know with all my soul that Jesus is our Savior and He did come and He WILL come again. Some of us might even be alive to see His manifestation and coming among the children of men. That scripture in Alma five, that is my testimony. He lives!
I love you all!!

Elder Jefferson Ostler