We had a baptism!

Família!!

Well It sounds like it was a good week.  Great News about the chubbs..  He´ll do great down here in Brasil!  And Wilson..... you haven´t won the title of favorite uncle yet... She still hasn´t met me..... kakakakak.  So about you plans... they sound great... só que I think that you will actually get to be with me on Monday.... but other than that it sounds great...  that phrase "Your feet touch Pasco Airport concrete on July 3" doesn´t sound trunky at all..... kakakakaka  and I got my debit card.. thanks a TON!!!!!

So I got some big news for you guys!!.... well it is really just big news for me but I´ll tell you anyways.... Elder Quentin L. Cook is coming to our mission on Feb 24! Along with Elder Aidukaitis!  Tu è doido!  And the even crazier part is this:  The whole mission will be reunited!! The last time that happened was.... I don´t even know.. at least 3 or 4 years ago.  There are 90 missionaries serving outside the city of Manaus that will have to come on Monday or Sunday.  So we have to find housing for 90 bodies.. that is a lot. I think we are going to have to get a couple of hotel rooms.. não tem outro jeito. .  It will be a ton of work to get it all organized but totally worth it.  I have a feeling they will introduce the new missionary program that James Olsen´s mission is doing right now.  They piloted it last year.... or they might just be coming to burn the crap out of us.... which ever it is I´m stoked!!! 

This week as far as our work in the area goes was great!!!  We had a baptism. Her name is Ya*. She is the sobrinho of João, the rapaz that we baptized last week.  The sisters have been teaching them for a while now. João´s Mom and Ya*´s Grandma (same person) is a less active (she is the lady in the picture).  

We invited her to come back to church and she accepted!!!! It was seriously a miracle. We hardly did anything.  We were reaping what the sisters had planted. Ya* didn´t want to get baptized at first.  The sisters had already taught her and João everything but she was still really timid.... She was going to the assembléia de Deus with her aunt and she was afraid to leave her aunt to go to the true church, even though she already knew it was the true church. We invited her to say a prayer with us during the lesson. She was really timid about it.  João had told her that he had said a prayer asking if he should be baptized and he felt good about it. So she wanted to do the same.

All 5 of us (me elder thompson, ya*, joão, and their cousin) knelt to pray. All of us said a pray.  In our prayers we all pleaded with Heavenly Father to give her an answer.  It was so cute when João said "Por favor, Abençoe a Ya* que ela possa receber uma resposta."  It was great. Cousin did the same. After she prayed we got up and kept teaching her.  As we went on she started warming up and invited her to be baptized on Saturday and she accepted!!!  It was great. But I knew that her aunt would try to make her change her mind so we really encouraged her to keep her mind firm in her decision.

Her aunt was unsuccessful in the convincing and she was baptized on Saturday night... Her baptism falls into my top two baptisms on the mission..... Absolutely amazing. It was only me and my comp, João, Ya*, the cousin, the less active mom, our ward mission leader, his wife and his two little boys.  Another young couple showed up after the ordinance had taken place.

Antonio (our ward mission leader) is the best.  He had invited a bunch of people and we had told a couple people as well but nobody showed up... but it really didn´t matter.... the spirit was So so strong.. I can´t even describe it!  I was beaming the whole time.  Which means smiling.  It was such a joyous moment.  Ya* was also really excited to be being baptized.  Words just can´t describe the feelings at the baptism. It was amazing to see the mom there coming back to church. She came to church the next day as well. Both the baptisms of João and Ya* were miracles.... Complete hand of the Lord.  Amazing.  

We also found a GOLDEN FAMILY this week!!! I mean Pure GOLD!  We were going to visit some rapazes that we were teaching. They were in front of their house on the road playing with um papagaio (kite).  Their friend was there as well... he had gone to church one time I think and also plays futbol at the church on tuesday and thursday night.  Elder Thompson asked him if his parents were at home. He took us too his house and we met his Mom and his Aunt. He is 13 and named K*.  We talked with his mom a little and asked if K* could come to church with us.  She said yes. Then we invited her to church.  She gave us an extremely soft Yes.  She said she had a husband but they aren´t married (this is happening on saturday afternoon).  About 5 mins into our visit her husband shows up.  A strong solid guy who gave us a VERY firm handshake. Fr* is his name. We asked his permission to take K* to church with us and after a couple three four seconds of thinking he said we could.  Then we invited HIM!  His was taking on the role of "I´m a tough guy and a man and what I say goes."  He asked us what church.  Then he asked what time? -   - "8:30, We can pass by a little before 8 to pick you guys up"  - - "Yeah we will go" He said... we talked a little more about our purpose as missionaries and such.  We left.

I called them on Sunday morning at about 7:30 and said we would pass by in 10 mins.  He said ok.  I have to be honest.... I was seriously doubting that they would come with us... we get that a ton.. everybody always says they will come and then when we show up to pick them up they come up with the lamest excuse EVER! Super annoying.  So we show up at their house and Guess who is all ready to go with their Sunday Best!?! Fr*, the mom, K*, and their 4 year old son!  I was dumbfounded!!! they were actually going to come to church with us!!!  I should not have judged them and trusted in God More.... 

I could tell they were really confused during the meetings.  The meetings of the church are completely different than here in Brasil.  The other church’s usually have a screaming preacher and ask for tithing from the time it starts to stops.  I think they enjoyed it. We are going back to ensinar tomorrow night. The mom works all day and only gets back at 8:00.  I´m excited to teach them and hopefully marry and baptize them.  They would make Great members! 

Like I said our ward mission leader, Antonio, is Amazing! We had our meeting with him last night and he is full of energy!  We planned some great activities for the word to animar.   He is on the same page as us as far as baptisms and excitement.  He says that whenever we have a baptism to let him know and he will be there... to mater the hora ou dia!  Of course we will try to put all of our baptisms for Saturday night so that the members can go.... but even when we did that... nobody went.... But just having him in the ward is amazing! He reminds me a lot of Jackson... just more humble ;)

This transfer has been a week of firsts for me....  When we stayed at the mission home last week I took a shower bare foot!!! I felt like I was sinning!   But it felt soo goood!  First time in about a year and a half.....  Today when we went on a major shopping trip I found Body wash... like actual liquid Axe body wash......  first time since the MTC.

We spent R$140 on groceries today. That is roughly 80 bucks. But we made tacos with it as you can see in the picture, and drank tereré.

The other pic was at the conselho de Liderança. Elder Hammer, Elder Brown, And Elder Klumker.  They are great Guys and Hilarious!

Well that was the week! Hope this week goes great for you guys and thanks for all of the letters! I got three envelopes this week!  Still doing great and loving what I’m doing!  Falou!

Love, Elder Ostler

This was the mission council…. I'm not in the picture because I took it….
with my super sweet camera….everybody always tells me how cool it is…. It is pretty sweet :)

When we ate at President's house - Yum

Never forget that feeling

Sorry I didn´t email you yesterday. Today was conselho da missão so all yesterday we planned and prepped for it all day (along with going to a brasialan grill where they bring the meat around on a spit!)  So I really had no time to email you guys.....sorry.  But the week was great!  We had the new missionaries arrive and yes sister p gave me the "stuff."  It was great!  Then we were with presidente all week doing all the interviews... we left early in the morning and got back at night so we just stayed at the mission home!!!! It was great!  We had a feast every night that we got home! Just that it was at like midnight and I always ate way tooo much!  

us at presidents house eating a mid night snack….
just that it was a meal!!!  

WOW!!!!! I JUST WATCHED THE SPRING BREAK VIDEO!!!! THAT WAS AMAZING!  YOU GUYS LOOK LIKE YOU HAD A TON OF FUN..... LIKE A TON!  AND GREAT JOB ON THE EDITING jETHRO.......

Seriously though... that was pretty cool........ That go-pro is awesome!  pretty legit.. not going to lie.  

Anyways back to my week.  And no I still haven´t got my debit card.

So we went with the pres to do interviews and we always ate lunch in a sweet place... one time he spent R$!150 on lunch for us 4! What!?!?!

Today was the training of the zone leaders and sister trainers.... like I said, we planned it all yesterday so it was kinda at the last second but it was still good!  Me and Elder Thompson gave our training on what the leaders can do to help the mission baptize more. Right now we are on a drought for baptisms. Our numbers aren´t the highest... or I should say, they aren´t as high as they should be. I´m not just looking at the numbers but the numbers show what the missionaries are doing. So we talked about accompanying the missionaries, Training the missionaries and then being an example.. we talked a lot about obedience and I loved it!!!  There is an apostate thought in this mission that obedience is not important if you are baptizing. So we tried to correct that... some of the missionaries still tried to fight it but it was good.

Another awesome part about the counsel was we did contacts!!!!!!!  We left for the road and we found 58 families.....!!!! in half an hour!!!!! it was so much fun and so much energy, 52 missionaries. It was so much fun.

The pick is of me and Elder Thompson doing a contact. Pretty fun stuff.  Pres Castro is putting a HUGE emphasis on finding familias!  He has this target that he always uses with families in the center then homens, mulheres, jovens, and then crianças..... as you move farther out so we are only focussing on families....... and today he brought a dart board to emphasis the fact!

This week we only had one day to work,,,, saturday because of the conferences... the sisters had been working with a young man who had a date but then it fell so we went to his house and remarked it.. his mom and sister are members but less active.  When we go to church he said he didn´t want to get baptized but then after he first reunião we said he did... so we did it!  He said as we were changing afterwards that he felt soooo happppy!  I told him never to forget that feeling, especially when he has a hard time in his life…. 

Well that was a very small portion of the week but I don´t have that much time. The toe is still the same thing so I will find some time to go get the part they forgot taken out.

Love You Guys!!!!!! SOOOO MUCH!! watching that video made me love you guys even more!!!!!  ANd Jefferson it sounds like you are totally killing it on the court!! wahoooo!!! You know how it is done!! I´m doing great and loving the mission!  It is all going great!

Elder Ostler

WE HAD NO IDEA SHE WAS COMING

12:51PM

Hey so I won´t give my whole week report right now just a quick email.. we are waiting in the mission office for the next group of missionaries to head to the airport.... everybody else is already gone....... MOM and JACKSON you two are live savers!!! We had no idea that Sister P was coming.. two weeks ago são paulo called and said that she wasn´t coming... I just got off the phone with the provo MTC and then the emergency missionary line (because it is apparently a holiday or something and everything is closed) and they confirmed what you found out.... We had no idea! So now we got to mix up the sisters and create a new area.... well more like just open an area that just closed :) wow you two are life savers to the max!!!!  That would have been really funny if we would have gotten to the airport tomorrow and there were two missionaries there and we were only expecting one:) kakaka

And I soaked my toe all week with no results.  I wasn´t able to go to the hospital to get the antibiotic so it is a good thing that sister p is coming tomorrow:)

So Elder Maia is no longer my companion.  He is leaving tomorrow night to a little town called Cruzeiro do Sul which is an hour plane ride then a 12 hour bus ride.... kakakak  My new comp is Elder Thompson.... another americano!!!! 

3:39 PM

I don´t know when the last time that this happened, two americans as APs.. very extremely rare.. at least in this mission.  I have two more transfers than he does on the mission. The sisters in our area left so now it is just me and elder thompson as the missionaries in the ward alvorada. I´m pretty excited to get back to working again.   As a normal missionary. Kinda. We are going to do a bunch of divisions with the Zone Leaders.

Jefferson... sounds like you are rocking it hard core!!!! I was smiling ear to ear as I read the part that mom put about you!  Sounds great that you are doing sooooooo gooooood!!! parabéns!  The snow campout sounds pretty fun too.  I´m imagining that jefferson didn´t go because of the basketball games...

So it is good to know that you two both want to come... when you said that last week it made me question it if you really wanted to come....  it would be fun to have the traditional homecoming with everybody in the airport but I think it would be a whole lot funner to have you guys come and get me:)..... and I would like to return home on like Thursday or Friday.  There are definitely a couple of people that I want to go visit. And I want to be in the country for the national holiday:) if you know what I´m saying. 

Mom:  Picture of Jefferson & Kendall

Elder Ostler:  kakakakakaka  They are MASSIVE!  And that is funny seeing that they are friends and all . . . . 

Mom: It was fun for Jefferson to shut him down. 

Here's dad & Wilson today. Hopefully you can handle it. And not get homesick. I always think about that when I send picture

Elder Ostler: Mom..... I never get homesick when you send a picture.... I just get happy:)  here are some of the pictures from the week.

We went to the mission house and reorganized president´s transfer board.
We remade all of the little papers with the picture
of each missionary and put it on with a magnet.

Me finally making the cookies you sent me….
 I watched you enough to know what I was doing.
The first time I did it the dough kind of stuck to the table
because when I rolled it out it just pushed all the flour out
from under it and I forgot to lift the dough up and shove
flour under it like you always do.

The finished product... not bad if I say so myself.... :)

So here is a question... does sister p have my medicine?

ps.. I loved the photos!!! did benson go up as well? or just the fath and the dub?

Mom: As far as I know she has it. So is your toe worse? Or exactly the same?

Elder Ostler: The toe is a little better.. just a little still the same thing but not hurting at all.  The pills will work magic:)  The Lord works in mysterious ways to let the mission know that there is another sister coming .. kakaka an ingrown toenail...….kakakkkakakakakakakakk.

Well I´m out of here!  até o próximo!  falou!

Elder Ostler

I woke up this morning and felt like I was in Hawaii

Família!

Well I just got on real quick before we go to lunch.  Thanks for the pictures dad, Elder Maia will love them.  Speaking of you Dad, we went to the orthodontist today!  It was just like it was in the states.  Just that he didn´t have any helper bees like you do.  We talked while he was adjusting elder maias braces.  I told him about your practice and how you have helpers who prepare everything for you and then you come in and do the hard stuff.  I said you have 8 chairs in your office (I think, maybe less) he said that there is no way that you can do that many people at once. He said that your helpers have to be doing some of it and not all you.  But it was still fun to be there and think of you. 0 PS when I come back in 200 days we are having a "take your RM to work day".  

So the toe..... it isn´t getting better.  I´m still with an infection but I´m not using shoes.. only flip flops.  I don´t know why it is infected still because there is no toenail ingrown on it.  I think I will go to the hospital today just to get it checked out.  BUT I`M FINE and no I don´t need sandals.  Once I get rid of the infection it will all be great.    

And that is awesome that those 4 all have the same class together. What class is it?  "how to get a life"? kakak I crack myself up sometimes...well I´ll be back in..... sometime later.  bye

Elder Ostler  

This is a panorama that I took this morning from our balcony….
as you can see we got hit with a massive rain storm this morning….

this is seconds before it started to pour....I mean POUR!

Mom: You know it's coming. The mommie in me just takes over. You need an oral antibiotic. And you need to soak your foot in Epsom salt. Daily. The infection will not go away without an oral antibiotic. Please please please talk to the mission medical person and see what they can do. I can mail one to you Monday but it will take awhile to get there. 

And you don't need to tell me not to worry. I'm not worried. I'm just mothering! Trying to take care of you even though you're on another continent.

Elder Ostler: I was taking an oral biotic and nothing happened.... but then I ran out. ugh.  I would go to the hospital this second but I don´t want to make my comp suffer.... again.   And the mission medical person is Sister Castro, the wife of the presidente

Mom: I'm mailing you a RX on Monday. But you really need a better, stronger oral antibiotic if it's ever going to get better. I could tell you the name of one but I'm sure they are different in Brazil. So is it possible to make an appointment with a doctor? So you're not sitting in a hospital waiting?

Elder Ostler: What is the name of it.  It is almost always the same in Portuguese... just add an accent mark here or there and you are good :)  there is a pharmacy right next to the church where I could probably get it.  

The hospital here isn´t that bad.. you get out in about about an hour.  The problem is getting there on a stinking bus.  

Mom: Dad called VanGorkum. He said to get Augmentin 875mg and take it twice a day. He also said if you could get amerigel - that's an ointment for wounds. That will help. He doubts they will have that.

He also said to soak your foot for 20 minutes, 2 times a day in HOT H20, (water), as hot as you can stand, and to add salt to the water. He didn't say how much.

Will you promise me that you'll soak your foot twice a day as described above?

Will you promise me that you will make a massive effort to get your hands on an antibiotic this week?

What is the name of the antibiotic you took?

Elder Ostler: Cephalexina.... or something like that.   

I, Elder Ostler, herby promise to soak my foot twice a day as detailed above.  I also vow that i will do everything in my power to "get my hands on an antibiotic this week."

                                                     Elder Harrison Kyle Ostler

Mom: Sweet. I knew that commitment thing would get a great response from you. Doctor called in the RX. We're picking it up today and mailing it Monday. But I've got Jackson checking on if anyone from the MTC is headed to Manaus. Cause we'd send it with them. But hey, you work in the office - you should know that information. Is there anyone in the next couple of weeks scheduled to head to Manaus? What kind of information do you have available to you about that kind of stuff?

Make sure you buy salt today. You're going to need a bunch.

Elder Ostler:   Wait a second.. Are you going to send me this augmentin......? 

Mom: Yes, we're going to mail it on Monday. But I just texted Jackson and he's at the MTC and I asked him to see if anyone was heading to Manaus and he just answered and said he thinks he found someone, he's confirming it right now. If we have a person who can bring it this week, or even next week, then I'll let you out of your commitment to get your hands on an antibiotic. But if I have to mail it, you still have to search for the antibiotic in Manaus, cause as we know, it might never arrive at your door.

So do you have access to that information? Like what missionaries are coming to Manaus and where they're coming from? The office has to find out sometime, otherwise how else do you know when to go to the airport????

Elder Ostler: There is one sister to come next Monday but she got reassigned to a different mission because she didn´t get her VISA.

But I think that this is not a good plan. By the time you send it and it gets here, I won't have a toe anymore (if this is a serious infection).

Mom: Dang - so you don't know of anyone else?

It's a prescription. That's why I made you promise to do everything you can to get it this week. I'm mailing it as a backup plan.

Elder Ostler: There is nobody else.  I can just take a trip to the hospital and get an antibiotic there.  You really don´t have to go through this hassle.. and I think it will take WAY to long.. like 3 weeks or so.

Mom: Jackson says a girl in the MTC is coming on January 19 or 20. I wonder if its the same girl that you said didn't get her visa, and whoever he is talking to just doesn't know that she's been reassigned? But anyway, try to get the antibiotic. I'm mailing one, just in case, and it's not a hassle.

Elder Ostler: Her name is sister p and she did not get her visas.  The secretaries found out yesterday.  

I will go to the hospital and get a prescription..... no big deal.

Mom: Jackson said he talked to the girl personally and she's leaving a week from Monday. He's going to check with the office people to see if she has a ticket bought. Maybe she just doesn't know yet that she's been reassigned. Do you know her name?

Elder Ostler: Elder Wilson talked with somebody in são paulo that said that she still hasn´t gotten it yet.  She might this week

So a little about the week. Well nothing really happened this week.  We didn´t go out to work at all.  We were in the escritorio da missão doing stuff.  But I made a new year resolution to study the book of mormon todo dia and to read preach my gospel todo dia as well.  So far I´m going strong.  In my spare time here I read the liahona of the book of mormon. The liahona is great! I never read it before my mission but it is awesome. I guess the biggest thing that happened this week was yesterday. We moved houses.  The sisters are living in the secretaries house which is on the top story (4th floor) of a nice appt complex (if you can call it that).  We are living in the AP´s house with the 2 secretaries.  It is really crammed.  The transfer to come, the secretaries will be training 2 new secretaries so we will have 6 missionaries in one house.  The house we were in won´t do it so we traded houses with the sisters... it was raining and we were lugging luggage up and down flights of stairs. Man I need to get in shape again.  Our new house is legit!!!  4th floor allows us to see a good part of Manaus.  We can see the stadium and the bridge that crosses the amazon river. I´ll take a picture and send it to ya.  Our house is the most expensive house in the whole mission... last night I felt like I was in Hawaii just because how nice it is.  We have a sweet view.. it is humid and hot.. the house looks like a hotel.. the only thing falting is the beach........... so I woke up this morning and felt like I was in Hawaii:)

On New Years Eve, I made that same oath.

Feliz Ano Novo!  Feliz Año Nuevo! Happy New Year!

What is happening my family!!!  It seems like for ever since we have talk......   Jefferson!!! I´m soooo happppy foooooor yoououououuu!!! That is absolutely amazing!  And keep your head up during the senioritis.... I don´t remember me getting senioritis. Benson, I hope you are improving your skiing skills and can do a 360 now. No fear just do it.

I´m holding up a 15 (not a six) for 2015. 

WELL I think that my news year eve was a little more upbeat than your guy´s.  The elders quorum pres from the ward Êxodo invited me and Elder Maia to pass the night at his house.  Êxodo was Elder Maia´s first area and it was one of my favorites. Y*, if you remember is kinda a crazy guy but awesome! He has about 2 years of church now.  Elder Maia taught a family that eventually got baptized when he got transferred. When I went to the area to serve I helped reactivate this family.  They stayed firm while I was there.  Then they fell away little by little when I left.  So when we got to the area we went over to Y*´s and he drove us down to their house.

Y* gave us the low down on them. We went over and just started with small talk. Then Y* started talking to them and counseling them. The atmosphere in the house changed from calm to disastrous (how was that for a sentence my english major sister?)  . . . raising voices . . . accusing.  Y* got ahold of the talking stick and gave them a sermon. . .  Then Elder Maia gave the training that we gave at the Christmas conference on companionship... it was pretty awesome.

I thought of what I could say to help them.  I thought of the marriage triangle.  The husband and spouse are at the bottom two corners and Christ is at the top.  The closer that they individually get to Christ, the closer they become one to the other... I was looking for the right opportunity to say it.   raising voices . . . accusing.... it was at one of these times that the prompting came.

It was at this moment that the thought came to my mind.

"Stand up!"

Usually when we talk about the ways the spirit talks to us we talk about it as a still small voice... this was no still small voice.  It was a thought.. not a voice, But it was as strong as ever...

"Stand up!"

"Stand up!"

I knew it was the spirit.

Well... I didn´t act quick enough.... My heart sank. I hadn´t follow the prompting of the spirit.  As we were saying goodbye and shaking their hand I said "I have one more thing to say....... " and then I said it. Then Elder Maia asked if we could end with a pray. We knelt and My Companion offered a beautiful pray.  We then left.

As we were driving back to Y* house for a churrasco I remembered the story of Pres Monson when he was a bishop I believe. He was in a stake meeting and the stake pres was speaking.  He got a prompting that he needed to leave that instant and go directly to the hospital. But right during the stake presidents talk? he thought. "I´ll just wait till the end and then leave." When the stake pres finally finished his talk, Pres Monson bolted out the door and to the hospital.  When he arrived he ran up the stair and saw a hospital room with commotion in it.  The nurse outside the hospital room door asked him

"Are you Thomas Monson?"

"Yes I am."

"The patient was calling your name right before he passed away 5 mins ago." She responded

In that moment, President Monson made an oath that he would never again ignore the promptings from the spirit or even delay to accomplish them.   On New Years Eve, I made that same oath.

The party was pretty good. We staed from the midnight part of it.  Here they don´t have a countdown and then go wild.. they just kinda go wild at 11:55 till 12:10 with fireworks.  Y* had bought a couple of bottle rockets and blackcats on roids! They just make a massive "BANG!"  Here the tradition is a big meal at midnight... so after the commotion we ate. It was churrasco, pork, lasanha, rice, and farofa, with chocolate cake for dessert.  Mom and Dad, when you guys come down.. we are definitely passing by that house.. he is a great man! 

On the 2nd we did a division with some Zone leaders.  I stayed in our area with Elder Marina and Elder Maia went to their area with his comp. It was a pretty good day. I got in my first bible bash!;;  It wasn´t even that heated. They came to the lesson with the bible in hand.  Right from the start they were saying this or that "I could never go to your church because you have dances and listen to worldly music, in the bible it says we should only listen in louvores (praising hymns)" or "the bible says that you have to be baptized in running waters like Jesus." or "the bible doesn´t say that you have to be married before the baptism if you are living with someone."  Yeah but it does say that fornication is a sin and that you can´t be baptized in sin!  Yes, 1+1=2.  We didn´t really respond to these concerns because they didn´t give us a chance. They just went on to another topic.

At one point I interjected and said "have you guys ever heard of the Book of Mormon?"  We explained what the Book of Mormon is and how it came to be.  I focused on the part about Jesus appearing unto them in 3nefi11. The whole time I was talking they were flipping through their bibles trying to find something that disproved what I was saying.  The man said "I can´t find the scripture but Jesus said that he wouldn´t appear to anybody until his second coming, so how could he have then appeared to these people?" We gave him examples of Saul and Stephen both seeing the Lord. Well Saul didn´t see him but he heard his voice and saw his light and was blinded because of it.  Then he said that the bible doesn´t say anything about the BOM so we showed him one of the many examples in João 10:16 and 3 Nefí 15:21.  We sealed the lesson with our testimony and the invite to read 3 Nefí 11

On Saturday the sisters in our ward had a baptism so they asked me to baptize her.  She has been going to church now for quite a while.  It was the first time I’ve been in the water since August. That is a long time.  But it felt good.

Well have fun going back to school everyone!!! Love you all and have a great week!!! Elder Ostler

I'm on a gurney!

Família!!!

What a great week..... The favorite part was definitely Christmas day talking to you guys!  Wow, that was the best session out of the 3.   Everybody was together... minus Chris.. but still.. absolutely awesome!

So the best day of the week after Christmas was definitely today... the pictures should explain:)  Me and Elder maia went to the hospital at about 1 in the afternoon but this time I went with the determination to get it out.  I was not going to walk out of that hospital with an ingrown toenail. And the doctor took it out!!!  He was awesome and so was the nurse.  The first picture is just of me................"I´m on a gerny!"  The last one is of after he numbed it (which hurt so bad) and used a shovel thingy to whip the ingrown part out. It is massive!!!! I was so surprised that that was in my toe.   Pretty crazy stuff.  Hope that Jefferson can handle it.  :)  

That sucks about the Christmas day break down of the car... our car sempre seems to break down on really important days like when the day that Amanda got home from the mission.   And nobody ever told me that Elder Garland got home..... when did that happen? recently?

So the Christmas package got here today... at least I think it is the Christmas package, it has a stocking on the top.  I still haven´t dove into it but I´m positive it is good!!!  And don´t know what happened with the birthday package but it is whatever.  It gets here when it gets here.  But thank you sooooooooooooooo much for all of the stuff that you send!!

This week we have the meeting with all of the zone leaders... well tomorrow it is.  Then we will be working in our area and doing a split with one of the other zone leaders.

I´ll be back later but that is all for now. Love you guys!! 

Best part . . . just being with all of the missionaries

The view from my front door.
That is where the US played Portugal

A Família

So since we have the mission office I can really do it at any time.... But I´m thinking at about 4pm or 5pm here.... so like noon or 1pm where you guys live in that freezing waste land. Wow I´m super stoked.. especially now knowing that all of you are together!  I´m just so happy right now to be able to talk to you guys all...I was thinking a little bit about what we would talk about…. Presidente Castro said that we should plan our calls and aproveitar os 40 minutos que temos. Thats right it is still only 40 mins but I´m fine with that.   It is plenty of time to talk it up. But I do want to ask you guys to share this one thing with me... For the year 2014, What is your most favorite experience?  Does that make sense... Think of the one thing that happened during the year that left you most happy. A experiência mais agradável.  I want everyone to pick one thing and be ready to share with me... and with everyone. Since I haven´t really been a direct part of your lifes this year.. I want to know what is going on:)  Got it.. don´t forget. Also, think of questions you have for me NOW so that you don´t have to think them up on the spot. I think that just about covers it for the Christmas call. :)  excited out of my mind! 

So on to the week.  This week was one very unique week of the mission. We left on Sunday night for Porto Velho.... we took an hour plane ride and we went to sleep at the Zls house.  It was Elder Robinson and Elder Batemon.... funny right.  Elder Robinson is one of my favorite missionaries on the whole mission. Before I got to my first área, he was there being trained. All of the members loved him to death!  I haven´t been able to talk to him a ton because I´ve never been in his zone. But I´ve always loved him.. anyways... the conference was with only 2 zones.. the 2 from Rondônia.  The training went a lot better I felt.  I had already done it once and knew what I was doing.  It still wasn´t perfect though.

That night (monday) was the birthday of one of Elder Robinsons recent converts so we went over to the bishops house and we made tacos and salsa!  The brasilians loved it.. especially the salsa... I was pretty good if i say so myself... When we went back to Elder Robinson´s house me and him had an amazing talk.. we talked about our first area.

That night we caught our flight with President and Sister Castro at 2am.  We landed in Rio Branco, Acre at 3:30am.  There was a one hour difference; in our heads it was 4:30.  Boa Sorte.  We went to the Zones leaders house and I had the privilege of sleeping on the floor, it was great.

The next day (Tuesday) me and elder Maia did a division with the Zone leaders there. Their area is out on the outskirts of the town. Lots of forest and dirt roads and wood houses.. pretty cool... That night (see picture) we had Tereré.  Man that stuff is good. And as you can see Elder Pothier was at the house as well!! He was my comp last year at Christmas time.

The next day (wed) was the conference. It was the best out of the 3. I felt like me and Elder maia finally nailed the training!  We did good. And the talent show was legit!  The missionaries sang Feliz Navidad and got Pres and Sister Castro to dance! And it is on film. So funny.

That night we flew back home at 3:45am.  Caught a flight to porto velho and then to manaus. We landed at 8am. Talk about a sleep less night. We had to go right to the mission office because the arriving Americans had to do visa stuff. Finally at 2pm we were able to go home and sleep; we were DEAD!!! We were out till 8pm and then didn´t have any problems getting to sleep at 10;30.  So that was just a quick run by of the conferences.  Overall awesome... The best part was just being with all of the missionaries... sleeping in their houses and just conversing with them. Elder Maia is telling me the importance of gaining their trust. I think I´m doing pretty ok with that.

So on Saturday we were able to work in our area! It was incredible. Sometimes it is hard to leave your house after lunch to work in the hot sun. But on Saturday we were both so excited to get out on the streets and work!  The bishop gave us a list of members to visit... more to just see if they still lived there... none of them did so we were able to make some good contacts with the people (the other 3 elders in the office with me see the size of the email that I send to you guys and just can´t believe that I write that much.  Elder Wilson just asked me what I´m going to tell you guys on natal because I’m writing you soo much right now).  Next week we will start doing division s with the ZLs.  It should be pretty fun.  To go work in other areas.

That is about it for the week.. Eu espero que saibam que eu amo vocês demais! Estou muito animado para falar com vocês na Quinta-feira.  Vai ser bom demais! 4pm to 5pm Manaus time... don´t forget. (not like you could). That will still give you time to go to Hermiston if you desire....  Até quinta!!!!!

Elder Ostler!

FELIZ NATAL!

Played Nertz this moring with some sisters…
They just got here by bus so they stopped by the escritoire
and happened to have a couple decks of cards.