Miracles Are For Real

6:07 AM
Que tal? So I am sending you this because we are going to hike the volcano right now and the zls said that we could get on and send a quick message to the fam to let them know we will be writing them later. So I will be back on later today but I have no idea what time. This week was incredible. In all aspects of the word. Health problems, companion problems, and other missionary life struggles. Probably one of the most difficult weeks in my life for sure. I love you all. I will send many more details later but I am doing well. I had a disease called Chikengunya. Look it up. jajaja. Tell Benson and Wilson that I miss them and love them like no other and just wish I had like five minutes to spend with them! They are so cool. I want to be more like them! jaja. Okay I will write the big email later. I have a lot to say about this week! Like I said, it was incredible.
Love you all,
Elder Ostler

The hike today

Hola Familia!!! This week ranks up with most likely the hardest week of my life. It was quite something. Last pday when we got back I cleaned my floors. Even after I mopped them they still looked pretty gross so I mopped them again! They still looked gross. I don’t even know how to describe our mop. It looks like dreadlocks made out of an absorbent material that has no handle. It is hard to mop and clean our house because we have no supplies so there are some old pants that are just sitting in my apartment which I took and cut up to make rags out of and to clean with. I was only able to clean the floors last Monday.

On Tuesday night I noticed some weird rash developing on my arm but at first I thought that it was just a bunch of small little bug bites. On Wednesday when we were out in the road teaching and having lessons I noticed that my body developed the symptoms of a fever and I felt exhausted. I immediately started to pray for strength and health and took some Advil and drank a lot of water the rest of the day and thankfully I had the strength to continue in the labor of missionary work. The rash kept worsening and that night it was really bad.

We had a meeting with the ward mission leader and with Elder Hallman and his comp Elder Andrade. When Elder Hallman saw my face he asked me, are you okay? I said no and then asked for a blessing. I was dying. Lots of pain and no energy. But I knew that God was helping me and strengthening me. I could feel it. It was really cool. I was trying to be so faithful to the hope of Christ and His power to heal me. I knew that He had healed so many others through His power and mercy, why not me?

I needed help because I was really sick and not feeling well. Elder Hallman gave me a blessing and the power of the priesthood was so strong in that room with us missionaries and the ward mission leader. He blessed me with strength to rise the next morning and also a quick recovery as this would be a hard trial along with all the things I would face and have to face.

The next morning I arose with strength. I went to San Salvador for immigration and visa stuff. I was able to see only a few of my ccm buddies that were in my district and other close elders that weren't. Our group from the ccm is so tight. It is so great. I saw Elder H! He’s legit. That afternoon my body was destroyed. We got back to our area and started working at 3 o’clock. I felt awful. Achy body. Killing joints. It hurt to walk, my head was pounding and my body I could feel burning from a fever, but I was scared to tell my comp because...I will explain it later in the email.

In San Salvador by the statue, San Salvador del mundo

We worked for two hours and I was so miserable. I eventually told my comp I needed to go and rest and call the nurse. I did and took my temp when we got home. 104 degree temperature. That is so high. The walk home was sooooo painful and slow but my companion just walked right on ahead of me in the street not really even recognizing how bad of condition I was in. He was easily like 15 yards to 20 yards ahead of me on the street as we walked home. I was dying. The entire way home I prayed. I didn’t want to think bad of my companion, and I wanted to have the strength. That was such a hard walk home on the streets of San Antonio.

We got back and I took a cold shower which was sooo nice. My body was inflamed and burning up. I drank water and tried to eat a cracker and laid in my bed listening to conference talks until sleep came over me. It was rough. It is hard to sleep with a 104 degree fever and achy bones. They call this disease dolor de cuerpo. Translation is pain of body. And it was painfully.

The next day was Friday and I felt wayyy better from my sickness, but my comp came down with something and we couldn't go out to work really in the afternoon because he slept. So I washed his clothes and did a clean sweep on the kitchen that day while we were stuck in the house. I took the microwave, hot plate, toaster and table out of our kitchen, mopped scrubbed and cleaned like an Ostler knows best. It was awesome. There were a lot of spiders under the table. I moved the fridge and mopped underneath it too. The table when I scrubbed it you could tell a difference between what I had cleaned, which was white and what I hadn't which was a more brown tone. It was great!

Cleaning on Friday

Saturday was normal and Sunday as well. Teaching and preaching, but now I am going to explain a little regarding my companion. I really didn’t do that much last week and it is tough. I will try to explain this very clearly. First off, he is a son of God just like me and came on a mission and deserves the best. I am trying to love him and serve him but that proves to be a hard task at times. I feel as though that he doesn't even realize I am there.

We are on the street and finish a contact and . . . . . . . 

So I have lived with missionaries and know how missionaries function and what they do and what missionary work is supposed to be like because of my studly siblings, and because of this I see that there needs to be communication and support and teaching within a successful companionship. However. . . . . it is not that he is doing anything disobedient wise just that we stay at lessons for 2 hours and he only bible bashes our potential investigator about Christ’s resurrection and what the real sabbath day is or why the bible has been translated so many times.

All of Elder P's lessons are the same. A rote presentation. He doesn't let me talk and I am sacred to even then! If I don’t teach the way that he teaches then when I finish teaching, my companion will recover and teach the exact same points and doctrines I just taught so my teaching is not my own.

I want to teach so the people are excited and feel the spirit and want to learn more and teach to the specific needs of the investigators. It is hard. I find myself not want to teach because I know my comp will just reteach what I teach. This doesn't happen in every lesson but in most. . . . . 

So I am dealing everyday and trying to love him. I am trying in prayer and service to really be able to loose myself in the work.

We taught himnos in English on Sunday to the ward members that showed up that night. It was cool! I play the piano too, but not in sacrament, I am going to ask the bishop about it. Anyways I must leave now. It is tough but with faith miracles happen. God is real and he loves us all. Let us be strong and seguir adelante. Miracles are real. 
I love you all! 

Elder Ostler

Mission Life Here In The Jungle

Que Chivo!! The mission is sweet. It is sweet, hard, frustrating, a climb, painful, a blessing, once in a lifetime experience. I will first tell you some things we did and how life is here in El Salvador and then express some difficulties of this week!

So last Monday I was able to clean our fridge!! It was pretty groddy and there are spider webs everywhere in our house though most of the spider webs have nothing in them so that was great to kind of be able to settle in more this week and make it feel a little bit more like home! I got food and had a good breakfast everyday and was able to become more acclimated to the mission life here in the jungle of El Salvador, because quite literally it is a jungle!! There are so many trees and steep hills and mountains and there is a cool bolano about 10 miles from my house! Actually there are three right next to each other.

There is the view after the huge rain storm yesterday evening

aNYWASY AFTER I WAS DONE CLEANING THE FRIDGE I JUST FELT LIKE I SHOULD SAY A PRAYER. i DONT KNOW WHY I JUST FELT LIKE I SHOULD. MY COMP WAS IN THE BANO SO I KNELT woops -  down in the kitchen and started to pray and then the waterfall happened. I had the most gratitude filled prayer I have ever spoken in my life. I prayed for everything and how grateful I was and I realized as I prayed how different it is here and how much less I have and how much less these people here have. They have nothing. I thanked our Father in Heaven for all of my blessings and I was pretty much weeping. The tears were just an accumulation of everything and boy it felt good to just weep. It was a mix of joy and sadness and gratitude and humility.

So that was last week and this week was way faster than last week let me tell you! I have a hard time remembering specific days and what happened on those specific days! Its sweet. On Tuesday night I just went to bed as normal expecting to wake up and do regular stuff on Wednesday. My comps alarm went off at 5:00 am and I was wondering why so I just went back to bed and was gonna wake up at 6:30. But he comes in at 5:50 and tells me to wake up because we have to leave. I sit up in my bed rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and ask why? He says we have a conference for district leaders in the capital, San Salvador that day. He was showered dressed and had eaten and everything and we were supposed to leave at 6:00 am! He didn't tell me that he has a meeting!!! hahaha Isn’t that crazy?? He knew and just didn’t tell me.

That happens a lot though with everything. We will just be walking down the street to an appointment and I’ll keep walking down the street while he stops and buys something and then I realize he stopped and he never says a word. That is just how everything is everyday. I don’t know if he expects me to know, doesn't want to tell me or what but I have become somewhat used to it. It is still really hard and I get frustrated with him sometimes and that makes it hard to really love him. I am trying to see the good though.

That Wednesday we went to the estaca by the temple in San Salvador which is an hour and a half bus ride to the city. I got to see a bunch of my ccm buddies there whose companions are also district leaders!!!!! My companion Elder A from the ccm wasn't there so I was bummed because he is probably the coolest person alive. So while the dls met, all of the other companions and stuff got to talk for an hour so that was a huge blessing to be able to talk with a bunch of elders from my district from the ccm and see how they are doing and get support and be able to actually talk to someone!

Dinner at a members house. A weird soup and chicken and rice

On Friday we were on the other side of our area on the other side of the hill or mountain doing contacts on the street and we come to a house that has a fence around it with kind of spike looking things on the top. This lady comes out about 50 years old and we contact her. We talk about the restoration and we stop talking and she just goes off. The Book of Mormon is not true. How could it be written by prophets and on and on. I was surprised that I understood practically everything that she said, and her daughter too was standing there inside the fence by the gate. We were on the outside. The discussion lasted about fifty minutes. At one point my companion was talking to the daughter and I was solely talking to the mom, who you could see it in her eyes was not having any of it. These are a bible people. Some of them are strictly only bible and will not believe in anything else. So that was this lady.

I was able to listen to her and she asked a pointed question. What do you promise in your preaching and everything you do, what do you promise? I paused for a little had no idea what to say but opened my mouth and it was filled. The words that came out were these. Felicidad. La promesa que verdaderamente podemos hallar paz y solaz en esta vida para que podamos vivir en un estado de felicidad con nuestro padre celestial y su hijo juscristo. Translation is happiness and peace. The promise that we can find happiness and peace in this life so that we can live in a state of happiness with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That was all I said and all I needed to say. It was a cool experience. The lady was still very stubborn and said something about the bible and how I was wrong.

I also got told I was going to the inferno by another lady. But the thing I want to say most about this is that these people were trapped. They were the ones standing inside there black fence, like a jail cell with big weeds and bushes growing around them to trap them even further. I felt for their state of confinement in a spiritual sense. It was sad. We usually meet people like that once every day. But we found a guy on Saturday. He is soooo open and wants to learn so we are going back on Wednesday to talk with him. I am really excited, but it is rough with our lessons because my companion teaches in the exact same form every time. It is always the exact some structure and lesson every time. The teaching isn’t exciting or anything so when I try to teach I try to be excited and ask a lot of questions and stuff, but if I ever miss a point or a little sentence my comp will always reteach the point I just taught and if I don’t teach how he teaches he reteaches the same point that I just taught so sometimes I don’t even want to teach, and the hardest part is that after the lesson he never says anything. Never teaches me how to be better or gives advice, just starts off ahead of me and walks to the next lesson without saying anything. But I’ve become used to that occurrence and am trying to ask him to get him to help me and talk to me.

Another investigator named G came to church!!! He is gonna be baptized on the 26 and is a big dude. Kinda tall and really has a belly! He is scared of baptisms so we are working with him and he is scared of prayer which is weird.

Some of the food that we have is a lot of tortillas. These tortillas are corn but cooked on the stove top and super thick. But there are things called pupusas. They are the same tortilla but stuffed with frijoles and queso.. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO delicious. But everyone has them and all the ladys have a little tienda or they make tortillas or they make pupusas. Old old men walk around with their little ice cream dollys ringing bells. Middle aged guys carry huge baskets of bread, like rolls. They walk with their horns, like the super annoying squeeze horns. I’ll have to get a picture with one of them. There are dogs everywhere and garbage everywhere. I wrote you a letter and am sending a letter today.

We did service on Saturday and built a house for a lady! Was crazy poverty but it was sweet. A huge cockroach jumped on my leg when we were moving a big pile of wood metal and garbage. I saw a 4 foot long iguana but couldn't get a picture of it and probably a 4 to 5 inch long scorpion. There are little lizards everywhere and they will just chill inside you house at night or whatever. It is fun! hahah

The service project where we built a house. Super Hot!

Central America is great and I am trying to love it! I hope this email was good. Love you all and I think about you a lot! Straight a"s Benson and Wilson you too. Work hard and you will never regret it!! I will email you in a week! It might be later in the afternoon cuz we might hike the volcano, not sure. Love you and know I am hanging in there and growing more than ever before! 

Love Elder Ostler

The Field

My comp Elder Abilez and I at the airport in El Salvador

The day actually came. I am a missionary in the field. That is a weird feeling!! So we left on the bus on Tuesday last week for El Salvador but couldn't cross the border because of protests and so we turned around and had a 2 hour bus ride back to the capital of Guatemala where the amazing church travel headquarter dude guy hooked 25 seats on a plane for us missionaries in the same day! A real and true miracle. So we flew and were on a bus for 4 hours, airport for 6 and then a plane for 1 so that was a long day!! We ate that night at the church building next to the temple and headed to the assistants filthy house where I shared two twin mattresses with 4 missionaries on the floor while 26 missionaries shared beds and the like.

Part of my area. It is really mountainous here and really steep.

Outside doing laundry. That is the shower and the bano in the back left hand corner.

There is a little river on the left side of the picture down a ways but u can't see it.

That is the outside of our house

Got my comp the next day at the exchange meeting and went to my are. Sonsonate is the zone. Castño 1 is the area. In a town or municipo that is called San Antonio del Monte. The last week at the ccm was normal and boy do I miss that place. Mostly just the food hahahaha. Yeah so I have like no food. My comp, it is weird. I don’t know if he just doesn't realize it or what but I have had only one breakfast in the past week and that was this morning. I don’t know how the whole food thing was gonna work cuz I was new and there was like no food in my house and I just was confused and I try to ask and get information but his answers are short and I don’t really understand him all that well so I have just kind of found things out myself and I need to be more independent in asking to stop to eat something because I went like 3 days in a row with a meal at lunch time each day and nothing else. So that was one challenge.

The mornings are hard especially because he doesn’t talk and I try to but it doesn't work cuz the conversation just dies and I am stuck and I don’t know. Sorry I am being super confusing. I just feel lonely. Like no one is there but then that is when I pray and cry. And plead with Heavenly Father that I can have strength to see and understand or not even understand but that I can just be able to overcome and be strong. Also in alllll of our lessons it is always sooo long. Like over an hour long and this one time we were there for two and a half hours in this guys store talking to him about the restoration. I don’t think that is how it is supposed to be as missionaries so that is hard.

My comp explains every little detail about every lesson to every person we talk to. Like the little folleteos or pamphlets of the lessons we teach only like the first two pages or even only one page in the entirety of an hour. It is not the way we should be teaching. Teaching should be animated, spoken so the people understand, learn and gain the knowledge, not every little sentence and word in the folleto needs to be explained. It is hard.

He is really good though. He can explain any doctrine principle to anyone and he knows the bible like dad knows teeth. He is a hard worker and we visit a lot of people and talk to everyone, or mostly everyone. I don’t want to sound like everything is bad because it isn’t.

We teach and invite literally every person we talk to, to be baptized. It is really cool actually. We say something like this. If you were to know these things are true and receive from God that this is what you need to do, will you be baptized....? And it is always with a date. It is really cool. We have a goal for 10 LPEs every day. That is like open the mouth but it is like short lessons kind of. Hard to explain.

Yesterday was awesome though. We didn't have any of our real investigators come to church. Out of the four progressing, none came sadly. I was bummed but the other companionship Elder Hallman, who was with me in the ccm and his comp Elder Andrade, that are in the same ward with me had a baptism last night and afterward there was leftover ice cream. Oh my goodness that was a blessing.

When Elder Hallman and I met after sacrament meeting he came and sat by me and we talked. It is hard. His comp and him stay at peoples houses for a looong time too, but longer. They were at a lady’s house for 4 hours. Crazy! It is just the culture or the missionaries don’t really want to work or something but I definitely will never spend that much time at an investigators house.

I am sorry if this email is like a really downer one, because the field has been goood, it has been hard. I am trying to look for the good in everything and in myself to keep me going in everything I do. Every time we talk to someone I just try to think if I am doing everything I can to serve with all my heart might mind and strength to fulfill my calling as a missionary. I don’t want to have regrets ever in my mission. I want to make sure I am just really trying my hardest and doing all I can every second of every day. To be perfectly obedient and to hold myself up to the stand of what God expects, which is everything. He expects everything of me.

The managing stress book that all missionaries have has really helped me a lot. I do some of the relaxing exercises in there and it helps me to be better focused on my purpose. As the language goes I can understand probably like 50 percent at the start of the week but now I understand like 65 percent would be my gauge. I feel like I will be able to fully understand everything in like a month or two so I am really excited for that! I am getting better at speaking and I have already grown and I can see it!

Their pronunciation and accent is weird and different. These people pronounce some of their s sounds in some words as h sounds. ñ Only in certain words and places though. Very unique.

To follow the metaphor of the tree Saydi introduced a few yeas ago. Mine is growing. I planted the seed in the ccm and it has sprouted. The wind of the field has definitely been testing and trying at times and I can feel the waters of the gospel, of Christs grace and divine aid being caught by my roots of faith and patience and effort to be able to see the blessings of God in my life so that I can better be a more effective deliverer of the fruit of my branches here to the people I teach and meet on the street so they like Lehi and his family embark on the path to the tree of Life, to partake of the fruit of Christ and his atonement so that they may also be planted in the soil of Gods love and grow ever more to partake of eternal life. I can everyday see tender mercies of God in my life to be able to press on and try my hardest.

My companion is a great young man. He has 25 years and was converted at 20 years of age into the church. He is really small but has a huge heart full of love and he can be patient with the people we teach to make sure they really do understand what they are being taught so that they can be prepared for baptism and eventually go into the temple.

It is also super hot here. I sweat soooo much and am so grateful for the little sweat towelettes things that I have!! So we were talking to this catholic lady yesterday and she was not moving in her stance because she said she had already received of Christ in her life and is on the right path. She was not letting us in at all. My companion was doing most of the talking. She was pretty much told us we were going to go to hell, or the inferno. It was pretty crazy! I bore my testimony and along with Elder P, I could feel the power. It was cool. We have an investigator named E and she is progressing so good but we haven't been able to see her the last two days because she has been not ever home! So sad. I hope she comes to church this Sunday!

Kk my time is up, but nobody else is stopping......sooooo yeah. But I will, even though I want to stay on. KK gotta go! Know I am doing good and working hard to try to learn and love and serve and teach the best of my ability. I love you sooo much!!! I will try hard not to miss you hahah:) BYE

Love, Elder Ostler

Ready To Go To The Field

Hey Family!! I am going to shred this keyboard because I don’t have much time to write today but that is okay because mom you will just have to translate Egyptian. This week was a different one spiritually speaking at least. I felt a lot of friction and temptation and growth. It was weird. My spiritual growth this week really came from temptation and thoughts and I don’t know how to explain it. Like last night I was in bed at 10:30 and the lights just shut off and I heard elders across the hall talking and out of bed so I was troubled in my spirit if I should go over there and tell them to more like invite them to go to bed. So I was constrained by the spirit to go and I was a little nervous and didn’t know what to say. I open their door and there are four latinos out of bed. I invite them to get in bed and one of them tells me that I am the one that should be in bed. I was like what? But in my head I said that. They pretty much said that I was the sinner. This is in Spanish and it was mostly just one of them doing the talking. He used the command form of Spanish and wasn’t nice. So I felt courageous and left them and walked back in my room and fell to the floor and prayed. I learned alot. That is how a lot of my week went. Confusion and figuring it out. I loved it and learned much!!

Soooo really bad news for you as I laughed and read about all of the info for how to call you from the airport. We are busing to El Salvador. 6 hours on a bus or 6 hours total of fly travel time is the same plus busing 19 elders to El Salvador is a loooottt cheaper. So I’m sorry to burst your bubble! We’ll just wait till Christmas and that will be an even better reunion. By that time I’ll be fluent in the language mostly and that will be fun!

So I have known for three weeks that Elder Nelson of the quorum of the 12 was coming today to our mission but I could not tell you that we were going to go and meet him and see him. Soooo we were all looking for forward to that and yesterday Presidente Cox comes in while we are eating lunch and tells us that he has bad news. We all freeze. He begins to tell us that the vice president of Guatemala has been arrested and the president is in hiding and there are a lot of things going on in the country that would be dangerous for an apostle of the Lord to be in. So he proceeds to let us know that there will be no President Nelson coming to Guatemala and we will no longer have the opportunity to meet him and shake his hand. We were devastated!!! I was going to shake the most senior apostles hand!!! That would have been sooo sick. We were going to go to a devo this morning at some stake center here in the Guatemala but nope not anymore. I was sad but I am over it now. I mean that would have been cool but its all good!

My Jesus the Christ reading is going good! I was not able to read a ton ton this week so I’m really gonna have to fly to finish this week. I am on page like 470 or something. It is an incredible book. I love it sooo much. Christ was and is amazing!!

So as DL I had the responsibility of directing our district meetings, we had one every Sunday night and one on Tuesday. One we set goals and talk about district stuff and I shared a little lesson each time but on Tuesday we discuss the devotional of that night. It was really awesome the two weeks I was DL and I could feel the extra responsibility. They switch the dls of the districts every two weeks. So I was released or whatever on Sunday and replaced.

I am seeing myself being more courageous and it is soooo evident that some of the elders just don’t understand how important the rules are and whatnot. I have exhorted them to always be wearing shirts and shorts in the hallway some of them will not. And it is annoying but I have to understand that I cannot control them. So it is a process of learning how to be a leader!!

I am sooo overly excited to be leaving here in a week. I feel ready to go to field and know I will have hard times and everything but I am soo ready to teach and share to real investigators and people on the street the things I know to be true, to share the truth. Because that is basically it. It is just the truth. Some will hear and others won’t but we have agency and I have been called to find the chosen and prepared. God has prepared many to hear the word, after all the field is white is it not?

This week our schedule was changed to have sports at the night time so like 4 districts have sports at night during the time I do and it is sooo much better because the sun is not killing you and we go into the dorms at like 8:30 and have an extra hour every night to chill, so I have spent that time writing allllll of you letters!!! I have a letter for everyone so be expecting them in a week!!

Everybody is amazed at how much I have written home. I am a family guy, what can I say. They always ask me how I have time to write and read Jesus the Christ and I tell them I just make time and that just confuses them. There is sooooo much time during everyday to find and use for something productive. I love being able to teach others how to use time better and how to really push yourself. I love challenges soo much and am excited for the field to even push me beyond what I even know I can do, because our Father in Heaven knows us better than we know ourselves.

The new elders got here this week which has been fun being able to see what we were like but this batch of 40....btw that is an absolute ton, is not that excited like I remember my group was. They just are not really wanting to be here and that is evident. I mean of course some are but the overall vibe is like they don’t really want to be here, so that is lame and I am trying to talk with them and get them stoked for the mission because it is awesome.

I cannot believe school starts this week and Jackson and Katie are there. That is sooo fun!!! I remember school. Good days of life. Love it Benson and Wilsdog. It is fun!! Even if you hate it, it is still fun in the end. Make good friends and get rid of the crappy ones. Seriously. Don’t let anyone drag you down. It is not worth the trouble. This week has just been the same old same old stuff in the class. More investigators teaching and stuff, language study and all. Oh a funny experience. Elder A and I were outside ....crap I don’t have time. Anyways it was how I told pres one of my new words and that he just got pumped. kk gotta go love you all!!!!!!!
Your brother and son and brother in law and uncle.

Elder Jefferson Ostler

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

I MISS CEREAL & REAL MILK

Thank you Dad. That is exactly what I have been trying to do all the time that I have been in the mtc. Just being patient with others in their progress and knowing that they are trying at their own pace. I’m learning a lot and I love it. The elders name is something that I don’t know. He looks soooooooooo familiar and I just cannot put a name to him. But whatevs. Very cool indeed.

So what is this about Benson’s eagle project with a tree trunk? And since when does that kid ever want to make a couch out of wood? I mean where did that come from. But that does sound legitness to my ears!!

My week was so fast. I don’t even know where it went. Sitting in class gets boring sometimes, but only when we are talking about all of the grammar that I have known for like 46 years, but that is okay it just gives me an opportunity to master it even better. I love role play teaching one on one for 20 minutes. We go with two other districts and are making our own investigator profile. I based mine off of a friend. But we are just alone teaching another elder all in Spanish for 20 minutes. We have to find the need (como comenzar a ensenar), and then we teach to that need whatever lesson we feel directed to teach. I was paired with a kid who has put no effort in his Spanish abilities so it was rough. I taught the restoration. My Spanish has improved so much. Just having the basic concepts (for you Saydi) of the language down and verbs and such helps so much because now I just need a lot of gospel vocab and then I’m set.

I love trying to teach from my heart not my head. Meaning that I need to not think of my Spanish before I speak. Focus on the investigator and then just speak it. It is so cool when the Spanish just comes. The new recruits get here every other week so they got here on Wednesday early because they didn’t have a dying person on their flight and it wasn't delayed so they got here pretty early. We lost about 16 missionaries and got 26. There are a total of 196 latinos and nortes combined. EVERY single bed is occupied. So there are a lot of people here and it is packed at meal time. Breakfast is the worst because the new people´s schedule is mixed up so they eat with my three districts and there are soooo many people because some of the latinos eat with us too. But it is all good. I MISS CEREAL AND REAL MILK. But that is really the only thing I truly miss. Just a bowl of capn crunch would sooth my soul. jajajaja jk jk.

I got your letter two weeks ago. It took one week and a half to get here and it was awesome but that one is the only one I got so I will expect them or watch for the others to come!! Last Tuesday we watched a live broadcast from the Provo mtc of Elder Bednar. It was awesome. I kept wondering how many of the elders and hermanas I saw were in his or Ben’s district at the ccm. And also how many of their hairs Katherine has cut. It was fun! And some of those elders need their hair cut bad!!!! It was crazy how long some of them are because the haircut dude comes here like every two weeks and is always calling people out but our hair is sooooo short. It is crazy, but it is whateves. No biggy.

On Wednesday night President Cox, who we see all the time and he knows a lot of us by name, invite only my district up to his apartment on the third floor for popcorn and lemonade. This was a very exclusive thing all the way. Just the 12 elders in my district went up to his super cool apartment on the third floor which is parallel to the temple to have popcorn. We were there and it has the BEST view of the temple and the mountains behind it. He started talking to us telling his farming stories and an elder who is a farmer from Idaho would tell some but then President starts talking about missionary work and how to be the best and most successful missionaries. He taught us for like 50 minutes no joke. WAY WAY WAY awesome. I filled up a page of my planner of notes. The stuff he was saying was so motivating and exciting and so true I just had to write it down so I did. It was awesome. There are twins that came with my group and are in different districts. But they are here at the same time. TWINS!!! It is crazy! And they are identical so it is hard to tell them apart especially because both of their names are elder. jaja jk.

So on Sunday they call your name out to give a talk right before you go up to give a talk right? So guess who got to speak?? Yours truly. Yes I spoke but my topic was the same as the first elders so I had to change it or more like I wanted to change it to something else. I decided in the 4 minutes I had to talk, IN SPANISH, on the holy ghost. I found two scriptures really fast. 3 nephi 27, 20 or 21, and 1 nephi 4. 6. It was cool to just speak in Spanish for 5 minutes and give a quick talk on the HG. Way cool. When I sat back down in the front row, President Cox leaned over to better see me and gave me a wink. It was cool.

Oh I almost forgot. I was called as district leader on Friday. They rotate them every 2 weeks. So yeah. It has been really cool to try and work my hardest and really pray to my father in heaven to feel of Christ’s love for every individual in my district to love each of them. It is hard like you said dad. As humans we naturally judge unrighteously rather than doing what Samuel directs. Samuel 1:16 I have strived to look on their hearts these past couple of days. I have been successful as I have been able to feel love for the elders who have more faults and are harder for me to love. But I have felt that love and I know it is possible and I am trying to do that.

I had the best comp inventory with Elder A yesterday. We were very genuine with each other when we talked about the awesome things about each other. His advice to me was - guess it. Confidence in my leadership. The past couple of days he had noticed I had faltered when challenged in my leadership. It was very sincere and he helps me so much to have fun rather than be all serious all the time, it is awesome. I love him.

kk sorry it was a little shorter this week. I love you all and am excited to leave for the field. Next time I write you I will be part of the oldest group in the ccm. Love you all!!! I played accompanied Elder Mcfarland in Be Still My Soul on Sunday. I am glad I brought my English book. We changed the arrangement up a little and I played for him for all of the norte missionaries on Sunday. He is incredible. And I didn’t mess up!! The president asked Elder Mcfarland if he could sing and Elder McFarland asked if I could play so we practiced and made up an arrangement. It was sweet!!
Love,

Elder Jefferson Ostler

I'm Soooo Ready To Just Hit The Road Running

The week was good. On Thursday after the lunch like 10 elders and hermanas went down with what looked and seemed to be food poisoning. It was quite unpleasant. As the day went on about another 10 went down with the same symptoms. Just living next to the bathroom. When they all started to get sick I was a little worried because some thought it was the flu but there was no fever associated with the sickness so I knew it wasn't but there were like 3 elders from my district that were bed ridden on Thursday and part of Friday. It was quite something I was comforted as I remembered my setting apart blessing where I was blessed with strength and health as I kept the rules accordingly. It was very cool because I never got sick but I felt so bad for all the other elders and hermanas that got sick. It looked no bueno.

We finished teaching our last and 5th lesson to our investigator Pablop. It was awesome to teach and see my Spanish improve just in like one week. One lesson in specific Elder A and I showed up to teach but pablo had a green bottle in his hand to imply that it was cervesa - beer. Our lesson plan had to immediately shift from the plan of salvation to the word of wisdom and the commandments. The spirit was soo strong and lead Elder A and I in our words in Spanish. A very cool experience. It is awesome to me that as Elder A and I have tried to really think that pablo is a real investigator that we have been able to really kind of trick ourselves into thinking that he is a real investigator which just makes it such a more meaningful practice. A and I are such a great teaching team. We switch teaching so smoothly and can both follow each other so well.

On Monday we got America and Max Lopez as two new investigators to role play but it seems quite real. On the second floor of the mtc at the end of a hallway there are 8 rooms set up with two nice living room esque chairs and then a couch where the investigator sits but it is always so cold in the rooms. Those rooms are decorated or set up as the investigators house. And our lesson with America on Monday yesterday was super legit. We just taught about the libor de mormon and it was powerful.

I’m soooo ready to just hit the road running when I get to the field. There are a lot of elders here that don’t take it too seriously which is kinda hard for me and gets me kind of frustrated but I know that they are trying and it is at their own pace. That is the hard part for me about trying to develop charity is the patience aspect in being able to know that the other missionaries are indeed trying to become the best they can and I am working very hard to make that behavior a part of me.

I have definitely seen improvement. Especially this last week. It has been really cool to see what I have accomplished. During one of the lessons with Max on Monday I was testifying that God is there and loves us all and will help us if we search and pray and call on His name. The Spanish just came. There was no translation. No nothing and I didn’t have to think before hand what I wanted to say, it just came. I didn't quite realize it until after the lesson was over that it had happened. It was super cool. I’m so pumped to keep learning and be able to be even more fluent in a couple of weeks.

So there is a teacher here whose name is Hermano C. We were eating our snack at 8 one night in cafe and he walks up to talk to us. I asked him what his name was and where he was from but then I asked where he served. He said Colombia and I thought of Courtney McCentire. I told him that my brothers friend served in that mission. He flipped when I told him Courtney’s name. THEY WERE COMPANION FOR LIKE 3 TRANSFERS. The world is so small. So yeah it is pretty crazy. He asked me to get Courtney’s email. Tiny world. And that whole conversation was in Spanish so yeah.

I love speaking in Spanish and try to speak in Spanish all day long. Sadly today the Latinos that got here with us two weeks ago and the elders and hermanas that got here 6 weeks ago left this morning. Some flew and woke up at 3. Others were out in the lobby at 6 with me while I was leaving for the temple. But the Latinos that left are soooo awesome. There is an elder from Chile and one from Peru and he said he loves cuicui. That is guinea pig. It was awesome alllllwwaayysss sitting with them at lunch and talking and learning some Spanish and practicing and joking and loving the mission. But they left so that was really sad because I will probably never see them again. So yah.

Today we had pizza hut and ROOT BEER for lunch. The best. There are riots here so a couple districts were supposed to go to the city to the plaza just cuz but they couldn't because of the riots so they bought one pizza for every companionship. There are only like 72 missionaries here so like 35 companionships because of the elders leaving and we haven't got the new ones yet. Everyone had pday on the same day because we usually split it but we had to write later today because the computers weren't working this morning at 10 when we were supposed to write. So yeah, you get what I mean. It’s all good in the hood. It is sooo awesome to have a small mtc. It is like the difference of the Provo efy and the Tacoma efy. Just so much better because you get to know so many more people and everyone you recognize and know a lot of other districts names and stuff so that is awesome.

It was sooooo coool to see you all went camping!!!!!!! I llooooovvveee camping soo much and that must have been a blast. This week was a lot easier when thinking about home. idk you guys just don’t seem that important anymore......waaiiittt I’m just kidding. But you get what I mean. My focus has focused more on just the mission and sometimes the days go slow because I already know the concepts (Saydi’s word:)) of the Spanish that they are teaching. But other than that it is great.

Today and yesterday have floowwwnnn by and the last week was ripping fast as well as today. I can’t believe in two weeks we will be the next group to leave. So today was a combined pday like I already told you and we had a volleyball tournament with districts as our teams. My district won the first but lost the next two. It was sooooooooo fun to have all the district out there. There are only six districts here today and everyone is gringo. Super great. When you play competitive sports you can really see the true other side of some missionaries. It is scary for some and just awesome for others. But I have no room to talk. In ball today there was a time where I got a little to intense for a missionary. My mind kinda was just in the blood thirsty mode. I’ve repented. And publicly apologized. hahaha.

I forgot to bring my picture thing to the computer lab and can’t waste precious time to go back and get it from my room. But I have pic I will forward of my district around the temple. The one right by me is Elder A. He is actually like 5’ 10” and only a buck 20 pounds. A twig. He reminds me a lot of Jacob Rowe. He is awesome. We’ve really grown closer together. In the companion ship I am kind of the go getter - lets get this done and be on time and make sure we are focused and he helps with so much insight into our planning and lesson study and has so much life experience and I love hearing his stories from his two years at college. Some of them are funny.

When we arrived at the mtc they gave us a page with the baptismal invitation, the first vision, D&C 4 and D&C 20:37. We are supposed to be memorizing them over our stay here. But I’ve already memorized them all.........yes in Spanish. I’m working on other scripture mastery scriptures now and stuff. But Elder Mcfarland is right behind in the memorizing of the scriptures. It is great, that is defs one of my strengths. It really helps with the language too. Just memorization and memory of stuff. It is sweet. I guess that is just cuz my teachers are just the best and hold my district accountable to everything and push us hard. It is sweet.

So probably my favorite part of the week is walking back from the temple. Especially today. It is literally a block or less away next to a really busy street with big buildings on the other side but also a ton of treeeeess. But we just walked back today after the best session ever and it was super cool to be outside of the ccm with just me and my comp and they had just mowed the grass next to the street and it was sunny and 9:30 in the morning. Just super bien. It reminded me of when Jackson said the walk of babylon in the Provo mtc. But hey I gotta boogy soon.

Keep loving life and playing games and rockin on. Elder Garry says hi!! It is cool to know those two elders here. Very cool indeed. bytheway my district was picked by the hand of God. Our district meeting was incredible on Sunday. Some elders have really opened up and it is so cool and some need a testimony of the gospel and others are rock solid. But we are soo tight and I am so happy. Anyway, love you all soo much. Next time I email you I’ll be halfway done with the ccm, the best training center in the world!!!

Elder Ostler