Família!
Manaus is great! I´m really starting to enjoy it. I love the food here but I will get to that later. You are probably dying to know what happened last week... Well mom you where almost right. I was sitting there chatting you and my comp was slowly working on his email to Pres. I was sitting there and I had the email page open to email president Klein. Then.... our computers shut off, JUST OURS!!! There are 9 computers in this little lan house and ours are the only two that shut off. I think that somehow they both got unplugged. Well we got them turned back on and got on the internet but it wouldn´t let me access the missionary stuff like my email and the site I use to email president. So I couldn´t talk to you or president. While Elder O e-mailed president I read conference talks. It was great. I love Elder Dubes talk. So I wasn´t able to email president last week. But I just emailed him.
So about the talk with my companion.... it wasn´t like a sit down and talk for 20 mins, it more happened over the course of the week. I will explain. So on Tuesday night as before we planned I asked him "do you think it is important to wake up at 6:30?" He kind of laughed and said "you are trying to get into my head." When ever I bring it up or just keeping the rules in general he just tries to avoid the question and push it off because he knows he isn´t keeping the rules. I told him he needed to wake up at 6:30. He said he would but if he didn´t not to wake him up..... how does that make sense. So pretty much he told me that he wasn´t going to wake up.
Wednesday Morning. He didn´t wake up at 6:30. Guess what time his feet hit the floor....... 11:39! Yeah, we missed our appointment. It was pretty bad.
That night before I went to bed I got serious with him and said, "Elder, you need to wake up at 6:30." He walked into the kitchen and around the corner where I couldn't see him. He was trying to ignore me. I just waited there in silence. He looked around the corner to see if I had left yet. He was trying to be funny and joke around but I wasn´t going to take that. I said "when you don´t wake up, you don´t do personal study and we don´t do comp study. Will you wake up at 6:30?" He told me that he would but he asked me not to try to wake him up. We didn´t do comp study once. On Friday we missed another appointment in the morning. I tried to wake him up.
Another thing that I´ve been trying to deal with is his Pride. I love Elder O and we have so much fun together and we love each other but sometimes.... Like at night during planning we will be thinking of people we can go see. I will say "Let´s go see Maria at 5." He says no because she is not going to be there. Then about 2 minutes later he says "Put Maria down for 5:00" What?!?! You just shot that idea down. I used to get really annoyed. Stuff like this happens all day. My opinion doesn´t really matter to him. Like during the day he will change our plans like go see someone that we don´t have marked till later which is totally fine, but when I suggest we change plans he just looks at me like I´m crazy. And it is not just him saying no it is him asking me why I would even think that. Just treating me like I´m an idiot.
. . . . . there was a point where he said something and I just stopped talking. I was just done with him. He asked what was wrong. I said nothing. He asked again. I figured it would be best just to tell him. I said "the way you talk to me is so.........." I didn´t know the word for demeaning in Portuguese. After a little he said "rude?" (it is the same in English and Portuguese) I said yes, rude. He said sorry and then we talked for an hour. It was a much needed talk. It wasn´t all about how rude and selfish he is it was just us talking. It was good. That night I realized something. When I think that he is selfish and prideful, I´m actually the one being prideful. I´m seeing the bad in him and thinking that I am right and he is wrong. I´ve been praying for the gift of selflessness. I´ve been trying so hard not to think of all the bad.
OK there you go. There is my Elder O rant for the transfer.
So remember the family we baptized last week? Well we went over there a lot this week and talked to them. Like I said their grandma is always there. I love her so much. She loves us too! Whenever we go over she always says "Oh Glory to God! Welcome my hearts!" (yes she calls us her hearts) then she gives us a hug and kisses our chests. I love her. This week we wanted to challenge her to be baptized. So we did. What she said just touched my heart. Elder O asked if she would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. She said, "Preciso falar com papai do ceu sobre isso" = "I need to talk with my Father in Heaven (the literal translation is 'daddy in heaven') about this." It was so amazing to hear her say that. She was serious too. She was not going to bet baptized till "Papai do Ceu" told her too. Unfortunately when we came back two days later she told us that she had already been baptized. She is old and forgets alot because she also told us that she would get baptized. So we will still work on her but as of right now it is looking like a no go for her.
One thing that I have been so blessed with is the gift of tongues. That was the ONE thing that I was most worried about going into the mission. Remember the night before I entered the MTC and how nervous I was to learn Portuguese. I remember just being so nervous to learn and afraid that I would´t be able to speak it. But the Lord has blessed me so much with the language! When Elder Scott came and spoke to us in the MTC he blessed all of the missionaries that were learning a different language with the gift of tongues.... TWICE!!! I have felt it so much.
I´m able to talk with Elder O with little difficulty. And I´m also overcoming my fear of talking with adults. Talking with jovens doesn´t bother me but when I talk with adults I just like freeze up and can´t remember anything. It is horrible. But I´m getting better at it. It is great! Also last Tuesday we taught a 13 year old girl who was a reference from the bishops daughter. I taught about prophets the first vision and the Book of Mormon. My Portuguese was so good! I used verb tenses that I hardly even know or use!! I didn´t have to sit there and try to translate words in my head, they just came! It was such a testimony builder to me that I am being blessed with o dom de linguás. I am so blessed in that aspect of the work. Thank you for your prays I really feel them.
Ok so now I will answer some of your questions:)
Yeah we get the liahona every month and we can get it in English too which is nice. I realize now how amazing the liahona and Ensign are. Living prophets writing to us! Why wouldn´t you read that?!? Why didn´t I read that?!? Wish I would have.
Jefferson that is sweet you got asked to the dance! And about . . . . . don´t let it get to you. If you every get down because of it just think of your family!!! Our family is AWESOME!!! Just go play with the W or Benson or give Jackson or Amanda a call. Our family is so cool. That is one thing I am realizing out here.
Last night we were at the bishops house to leave them and another family a message and I shared Mosiah 2:5. I talked about the importance of families. It was great because the whole time I was just thinking about how awesome MY FAMILY is!!! (after the message we had açaí...... nectar from the Gods!! You know those chocolate covered things you get form Costco with pomegranate and açaí? Well it is nothing like that. It is a drink... like a smoothy. I love it so much! The bishop always has some at his house. The only place they drink it is here in the amazon.) So just remember that. And also good luck with Basketball! I´ve been praying so hard that you will make the team! And I know you will. You´re Jefferson Ostler for crying in a bucket.
I won´t open the letters till Christmas. I know. That is horrible about the Philippines and about Sister M. I saw her almost every day in the MTC. Our schedules where very similar. That is horrible. I think about that a lot. About how accepted we are here and about how no body gives us a bad time. I need to be more grateful for that. Also could you send me Christian´s mission home address.
I´m so glad you got the letters. I´ve been worried about that for a while. I gave them to our ZLs a while ago to send. I´m glad you got them. It does seem like a long time ago. I think back on my first transfer and it seems like it was a long time ago. I don´t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing or just a neutral thing.
Let´s see.... anything else. I think that is about it. Oh yeah,,, FOOD!!! I love the food here! We ate at the bishops house this week and it was so good. I love farofa! And that is funny what you said about how Americans eat it plain and don´t like it because I love it plain! It is so good! I think it is second right behind açaí :)
I love you all! till next week
Tudo Bem
Elder Ostler
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