I'm having a blast!

2nd handwritten letter received from Elder Ostler


Dear Familia,

It is personal exercise time right now so I thought I would write you a quick note/letter. Don't worry, my district and I (elders) just ran a 1.5 mile run with push-ups, sit-ups and v-ups after about every 300 meters (one lap around the MTC).

I absolutely love it here, I'm having a blast! So don't sorry about me. Everyday is seriously a roller coaster. All the sisters in our district are going to Natal Brazil (6 of them) and all of the Elders (7) are going to Manaus. We are most definitely the coolest district in the whole MTC. So a little more about my companions. Elder M is a mom! I love him so much. Like I said he converted at age 16 and is the only member of his family.

Elder D is Mexican so he comes from a different background than me.

. . . . first of all you have to understand that 3 days after we arrived we taught a lesson to an investigator . . . in Portuguese! So crazy. It's not actually an investigator, it's a teacher at the MTC. Jackson does it. So we had what we were going to say and the direction we wanted to take the lesson. Then 30 seconds before we go in Elder D says to me and Elder M, "let me start the lesson" which is not what was planned. We asked him what he was going to say but he wouldn't tell us. In the lesson I don't even remember what he said. There was lots of tension after that. The rest of the day Elder D was really down and didn't talk at all. We eventually worked it out.

Elder M is extremely good at Portuguese. A lot of elders and sisters in my district got an app on their phone (before their missions) called Duo Lingo and started learning Portuguese. Elder M also took AP Spanish in High School. But Spanish messes you up a little to because some of the words are totally different than Spanish. In our 3 lessons so far with our investigator they have carried us. . . well me.

In yesterdays lesson I did way better. I told her how when Christ left Jerusalem he came to the Americas and taught the people of the Book of Mormon the gospel. I challenged her to read 3 Nefi Capitulo 11. But I was just so surprised that we started teaching on Friday, not even 48 hours at the MTC and we taught in Portuguese.

Being in a 3some is kind of hard. Making sure you know where both of them are. Elder D doesn't really like to include himself alot so he will just walk behind us. But don't worry mom, we always wait for him and walk WITH him.

So get this, 3 sisters left this morning for Brazil in our district! 2 got their visas on Friday and the other got it yesterday morning! Then an elder in our district got his visa today and is leaving tomorrow@ 2 of them I know submitted their visa in May, but it's because they are working through other consulates. The elder leaving is from Texas so he said the Texas visas come in about 4 weeks. So crazy!

Elder Ostler's District at the MTC in Provo, Utah

But honestly, I really don't want to leave the MTC here. Don't get me wrong, I love that you're working on my visa and I still want you to, it's just so awesome here. I'm just glad all the elders are going to Manaus with me. I guess I'm just a little nervous about going because I'm getting comfortable here. But I'm still excited to go to Brazil!

So Jefferson, do you know a guy named Spencer P? He was at EFY with you last year and he had a massive crush on Kara. Well, he's in my district and is awesome. I just love these elders so much and I'm so glad we are all serving in Manaus.

The language is coming.

Gotta go - sorry.
I couldn't finish.


I love my mission yeah!
I love teaching, yeah!
I love chick mail, yeah!
I love my mission, YEAH!

Love, Elder Ostler

pday is Friday and ask me some questions on your email to direct my email. Also, how often does a suit need to be dry cleaned?