So the skype session was awesome! But way too short! I just wish I had an hour to talk to all of you individually! I would have loved to talk to Harrison about his mission, and Jackson about his future wedding, and chubs about his crazy busy life, and Benson about his lawn mowing experience, and Wilson about well . .. just whatever Wilson would want to talk about for an hour. Jaja, I'm super happy you got the "flowers." Tell Jackie thank you! Also, is Jackie moving? You mentioned awhile back that the Creers sold their house.
And that's super sad about the Elder not getting ahold of his mom. I just can't even imagine! I thank the Lord ever day for my rock solid family, cause I know that I would not have been as strong as that elder to go on a mission without a family to support me. He´s better than me . . . tell him that!
So what you said about me just seeming happy and better, well that's true. I've been feeling so much better lately, and it's not because anything changed. The mission is hard. The mission will always be hard. There will never be a day when I wake up and say "wow this is easy." But it is possible to enjoy hard things. You just have to make the decision to stop waiting.
I think a lot of people wait. They wait for life to get better, they wait for the mission to get easy, they wait until they have a boyfriend, a job, money, and they tell themselves that when they have those things that then they will be happy. But what happens is that they get so used to waiting that when what they were waiting for finally arrives, it's never good enough and they have to find something else to wait for. They learn to grudgingly endure the hard times, and just wait for the good times, but when the good times come they are too busy waiting to realize it. So I realized that I had been waiting for my mission to get better. I had been waiting to find the golden investigator. I had been waiting for the Spanish to come, or for the perfect companions instead of just enjoying where I was at. The truth is that the mission only gets better when you decide to make it better. So on Wednesday morning I woke up and just decided, I'm going to stop waiting and start making.
So basically I think the hardest is behind me, cause I'm done waiting.
To answer your questions, I know that picture exists because it is in the temple here, but I don't know what it is called, or who it is by. I think that the church probably owns it and so they don't sell it. Bummer!! Also, I don't know anyone going home who could take my card. But I have all the pictures backed up already.
Okay, about the shoes. My companion also needs knew shoes, and she talked to her mom. But her mom says the selection is about the same in Peru as it is here. So Hermana Leyva asked me if I could ask you if you could buy her some shoes and mail them to us for her. She is a size 9 US. She lived in the states for 3 years and said that she always bought 9s. She is not picky. She just wants a good walking shoe that will last in black. She says that she will pay for them too. But not those ballet flats that I have. We want straps on our shoes or laces that hold our feet in place! Also if you go with Merrill's get me an 8, cause the 7 and a half is a little tight on my right foot with all the stockings that I wear.
Also, as long as we´re talking about sending things, I would love the recipe to no bake cookies and cinnamon rolls. Also if it is possible a good sturdy backpack. I bought one here but it is already falling apart and it has only been 7 weeks! They just don't have good quality of anything here except soccer shoes and jerseys, and if they do it is way over priced. But if that is asking too much I can just try to patch up the backpack I have.
Okay, so our relationship with the bishop has improved. He basically loves us now. I think a huge part of the problem is gone now. Plus, I always make him treats! And he has a sweet tooth! Also things are good again with the Hermana M**. Hermana Levya basically explained what happened, and Hermanana M** believes her. I guess (she) told Hermana M** that we were telling lies about her.
So P**, is still progressing. I don't know if I've ever mentioned her. Yeah, I have. Basically the last lesson we taught her she said she knew she needed to get baptized in our church. We usually leave her a chapter to read after every visit in the libro do mormon and she always reads the chapter and then like 3 or 5 more! She is golden! We tried to teach her husband, but he just doesn't want anything to do with the church. He just believes that all the churches are true. But we hope that someday in the future he will accept the message of the restored gospel! P**´s son, D**, is great too! He has 15 and Paula really wants him to go to mutual. She loves the youth of the church and says she wants her son to have friends like them. He is great! He has lots of questions about the restoration and jose smith. He kinda reminds me of chubs, except shorter and Chilean. jajaja.
Oh, we found this investigator, R**. What happened, is the day before Hermana Hernandez left, we were out trying to find an antiguo investigator, and the address was 3882, but it was dark, and we passed the house 3982, and I thought it said 3882, so I knocked on the door. Well, R** answered and we explained to him that we had the wrong house number, but that we were missionaries and gave him a pass along card.
Well, he asked us what our names were, and when we wouldn't tell him our first names he got frustrated and said that if he trusted us with his first name we should trust him with ours. It was getting ugly so we tried to end the conversation and slip away. But he has a very powerful personality. Then his wife came out, M**, and she asked what was going on. When R** told her that we wouldn't tell him our first names she rolled her eyes and basically told him to give it a rest, and just respect the fact that we went by our last names. R** calmed down after that, and we shared with them a short message. That's how we met R**, and now we are teaching him and his family. They are all so great! And he is so funny! Like he basically reminds me of Kevin and Randy! We can't teach them in their house cause it is actually the house of the mother of R**, and she doesn't like people in her hose. So we just teach them on the doorstep. Whenever a friend passes, R** always introduces us, and he always changes where we are from. First he said I was from Columbia, and now he has setting on Venezuela. It's so funny cause his friends always believe him and I got tired of correcting them, so I just pretend I'm form Venezuela. We have a lot of hope they will get baptized, but they don't really see the need to be baptized again because they were already baptized in the catholic. But in our last visit we brought members and they bore powerful testimonies of the church and accounted their conversion stories. We left behind a Book of Mormon and I know that if R** reads it with a true intent to know, then the power of that book will lead him to the waters of baptism.
We are still teaching MT** and C**. We still hope they will progress, but they just don't want to get baptized. Also, mom, you are not a terrible mother for yelling at us. MT** screams at her kids and hits them with a stick. So don't regret yelling at us. I've realized that living a life without regrets doesn't mean that you never make mistakes it means that you don't desire to go back and change the mistakes you made. Instead you accept them as part of the learning process, and that you understand through the Atonement of Christ you can be forgiven and change.
So that's my life right now. Hermana Leyva and I are focusing on finding new investigators cause a lot of the investigators we had with Hermana Hernandez were just numbers to her, or another lesson, and they were never people who where going to progress. So we need to find people who are prepared, and not just cual que persona!
Also, today I complete 3 months in the mission! Yeah!! Like dad said, I really think the hardest is behind me. So now I'm just going to go to work, cause I am starting to feel the time pick up.
I love you all! And just don't have words to express how grateful I am for your support. I know that every missionary doesn't have what I have. In fact, I am probably among the few. So thank you! Tangan una buen semana!!
Con Amor,
Hermana Ostler
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