Família!
Where to even start!
So I guess I will just start with President H. Moroni Klein. So this week my zone had interviews and in the interview everything that Pres Pulsipher said was true. . . . So things are good between me and him:) The interview was great:)
Jefferson, ...... I don´t even know what to say to you.. that is just heartbreaking. So heartbreaking. Just remember that you always have next year. And don´t be down! You got 2nd place! That is so amazing! You are so great Jefferson and don´t ever forget that:) Keep living with HIGH standards, don´t ever let them down, not for any reason. One of my favorite talks is by President Monson a few years ago. It is called stand alone. Or dare to stand alone or something like that. Also, did you ever get my letter I sent you. I sent it about a month ago. It is a good one and I hope you get it soon. Keep up the good work and get ready to mow some lawns:)
So mom, about the camera, I wasn´t able to get it fixed. You can just send the same kind I had. It is the Panasonic lumix one. I think you got it from costco, unless you already bought one. Also, I would love some ties, just like goodwill ties that don´t cost much. I want them to give to the men and YM that we baptize.
So right now we are working with some great investigators! I already told you about Amanda. Her baptism is marked for the 22nd of Março I´m pretty excited about that:) She is so great and always has great questions. We have another investigator named D*, Elder Pothier started teaching him in November when he was here! Crazy. He is the son of a less active father and a nonmember mom. The mom could never get baptized because they aren´t married. This week we marked his baptismo date for this Friday! He has such a strong testimony. He knows the BOM is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet.
He was able to strengthen his testimony even more at encampment. During the week of Carnival (last weekend) all of the youth go to an encampment. His testimony was strengthened so much and when he bore his testimony at the end of encampment, he said he had a goal to serve a mission... and to serve a mission what do you have to do.... BE BAPTIZED!! He is so ready for this Friday. It was announced in church yesterday and our branch president even made little invitees. His dad, (membro) and his mom came to church too. She has already had all of the lessons but can´t get baptized because of the marriage issue. Irmão P* just doesn´t want to get married for some reason, I haven´t really talked to him about it yet.
After church, Irmão P* came up to us and asked if we would come and visit them on Tuesday. HE SAID HE WANTS TO GET MARRIED SO THAT DI* (his wife) CAN GET BAPTIZED!!!! It was so amazing! The Lord truly touched his heart that day at church. Church was loaded with people. So many people. I think that alot of the less actives are coming back. It is just great. I still just can´t get over Irmão P* saying that he wants to get baptized.
We are teaching another rapaz named Jo. We found him a weekish ago. His mom took some of the lessons but didn´t want anything from it. We taught him the first one Tuesday and gave him a book of mormon and gave him a compromisso to read the introduction and pray about it. When we went back on Saturday and asked if he read he said he did. He went and grabbed his BOM and showed us what he read. (he is 14) He read the title page, the introduction, the testimony of the 3 and 8 witnesses and 1 Néfi 1 & 2...... and on top of that he already started a study journal! He had stapled some papers together and had written about the introduction and the first and second chapters!! This kid is on fire! Then we asked him if he prayed. He said yes. When we asked him how he felt when he prayed he said he felt a warm burning inside his chest! (that is how I had explained the Holy Ghost to him.) We asked him if he thought the BOM is true he said yes. Then we tied the Book of Mormon in with Joseph Smith being a prophet and the church being true. Then we asked him this..."What does it mean to you that the Book of Mormon is true?" His answer was something like this. "It means that the Church is the only true church today....... so can I still be baptized on the 21 of march?" I had no idea what he was talking about when he said the 21 of march. We had never marked his baptism date! HE MARKED HIS OWN DATE!
Jo is just amazing. He is going to be an amazing missionary someday. He is just crazy awesome. The problem is that he can´t be baptized on that date because he missed church on Sunday. He couldn´t leave when we went to pick him up. They have like a little store in their house where they sell food and stuff. His mom had left so he couldn´t leave. He had to stay there and hold down the fort. It was a really bummer but he is still way awesome!
My testimony had grown this week of working with members. We took Irmão Jesus with us to visit one of out investigators, Ka*, he is 28. Irmão Jesus is the elders Q pres. Ka* wasn´t able to make it to church on Sunday but in elders quorum, Irmão Jesus told all of the elders about him and told them to pray for him. Then after church Irmão Jesus told us that when we go to visit Ka* again to call him. Ka* is a great man. He just separated from his wife/girlfriend. He is a strong believer in the bible. He said it will take awhile of him to change his mind and start believing in the BOM. He is a Presbyterian but he is inactive but he still believes in what they teach.
I want to talk about our lunch yesterday. We ate with Irmão Jackson e Irmã Claudia (I´ve already met an Amanda, Jackson, Saydi, Jefferson, and Benson here in Brazil!) Lunch was super good but my favorite part was talking to them afterwards. They have 3 younger kids. They showed us a picture book of all of the beautiful places in Brazil. Jackson is super funny! His humor sometimes reminds me of Dad´s humor. When ever he would say something stupid and I would laugh, his wife would just role her eyes! It was so funny and it kind of reminded my of you Mom and Dad. After I shared the story of nephi and lehi in the prison (Helamã 5) Jackson started talking about how they read the BOM every night as a family. Then he said something that I didn´t catch and then started to cry, the spirit got real strong. After a couple of minutes of silence, Irmã Claudi said that sometimes it is just hard to be a member of the church but that it is always worth it. They then told us their conversion story. It was just a great lunch! One of the best I´ve had, and not because of the food, but because of the people:)
I´m doing well here in Brazil. I´m not mad at you guys, and no I´m not going to stop telling you stuff that is happening, don´t worry:) I love you guys! I´m doing fine. Me and Elder Walbrecht are great comps and we are really working hard. We had 3 days this week where we got home at 9:30 because we were still teaching. We got home, planned, took a shower and then went to bed because we were just so beat! Oh yeah and it rained everyday this week! Like hard everyday! On sexta noite, it even flooded the streets a little:) I love you guys and sorry no pics again, these computers don´t like my reader thing. Love you all!
Elder Ostler
Living the Dream
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