Dear Familia,
First of all, Jefferson is a rock star! Like honestly, who does that? You know like play for varsity and stuff? Second of all, my week was okay. Hna Peralta and I worked our butts off. We found so many new investigators . . it was insane! We got insynch again and are now teaching really well together. I’m not sure what will happen with the changes this week, the only thing I know is that I don’t want to leave vivaceta. Though it is one of the more difficult sectors of my mission, I just love the people here.
The other day we contacted this man reading a book just outside his work, and I had never seen him before, but I just loved him! I wanted so badly for him to hear the gospel, for him to change his life. But . . sadly, like many other cases he wouldn't open his heart to the possibility of the restoration of the gospel. But that happens all the time. The further I get into my mission, the more I love these people.
This week, I was also dead tired! I’ve never been so tired in my life. It’s like there is a war going on inside me, cause my body is screaming for me to slow down, to take a break, but my heart whispers to me to go talk to that woman sitting on the bench, to go knock one more door, because maybe behind that door is your golden family.
After completing one year in the mission, I was reading through chapter 1 of PME about what it means to be a misionero de exito. I thought back to my first day in the mission and my first 3 changes, and how I always felt so inadequate, and like I really wasn’t completing my call of being a missionary. A lot of times I felt like I wasn’t doing any good here in Chile. But, after reading through that section again in PME, I realized I have come a long way. I won’t say that I have achieved what PME illustrates as a successful missionary, but I have made progress, and the good news is that I still have six months to work on it.
Also, I thought that after 1 year in the mission I might feel different. True, I have more experience today than I had yesterday, but, in the end, I am still waking up at 7:30 every day, studying for 3 hours, preaching in the streets, in the doorways, and in the houses, returning to the apartment at 10, planning, going to bed at 11:30, and then waking up the next day and doing it all over again. Maybe in six months when my schedule changes I will feel different, but for now I am just going to keep doing the same thing, and as always, try to improve.
So, the whole Sy* thing is still breaking my heart. And I think we are going to have to drop her indefinitely. But, I guess it is better to find the people who are really going to progress. Its just hard for me to give up on someone. Being in the mission and seeing so many miracles has planted in me the firm belief that people can and do change when they come in contact with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, there is still hope for this change, because Ja* might get baptized this Sunday. She has quit smoking, and now her only obstacle is not feeling ready for baptism. She is so ready! Like she is already planning on serving a mission in a year and getting married in the temple. She has planned FHE with her family, signed up to receive the Liahona every month, and she feels guilt when she misses church. So we are praying that she will recognize God's answer when it comes.
Also, we visited DM, the Chinese woman, a few times this week. We even got her a BOM in Chinese. Wow, she is an amazing woman. This week I had the opportunity to teach her parts of the plan of salvation in English. I was practicing all week, cause it is so so so hard to teach in english. Well, as we started teaching her, I quickly realized that she really has no idea who God is. So, I changed the direction of the lesson, and I was able to testify to her that there is a God, and that He loves her and desires her happiness. My words seemed very simple as I spoke them in English, but I felt the spirit as I said them, and it was a very special opportunity for me to testify to someone of Gods love in my native language. I know that someday she will hear the gospel in her own tongue, because that is a prophesy of God, but for now, I am relying on the spirit to carry the message to her heart even if she doesn’t understand perfectly every word.
Question for dad: How do you teach people who don’t have a Christian background? Like where do you start? With Joseph Smith?
The bishops daughter who always accompanies us to lessons, got her mission call this week, and she played a nasty trick on us. Friday afternoon she called us and said that she needed us to come to her house at 9 that night because she had news for us. Then she said, well, actually its because my dad, the bishop needs to talk to you. WHAT? We were freaking out all day. Like what could the bishop possibly have to say to us? Did we do something wrong? But, in the end, she just wanted us to be there for when she opened her call . . . jajaja. Funny .. NOT! She got called to Buenos Aries Argentina North. Is that where Kraymer served? If so, could you ask him what it was like, and other random info about the mission that a mother would like to know. She will be the first missionary in the family, and her mom is very worried.
But, yay, that was basically my week. It felt really long for some reason. We also had a special stake conference where the area presidency spoke to us via broadcast. Like Elder cook and Elder Corbridge. It was sweet, but because it was in the stake center, we didn’t have anyone in church . .but there is always the next week to try again. My theme song lately has been "The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow." In the mission there are so many ups and downs, and sometimes when you are stuck in a day that is gray and lonely, you just have to stick out your chin and grin and say, that the sun'll come out tomorrow.
I love you all!
Thanks for all the support
Con amor,
Hna Ostler
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