Família,
What is this myetey whiteness falling from the sky? I love the pictures and yes that is the weirdest thing to think that it is snowing there. It´s funny because Saturday was the hottest day on the mission thus far I think. I got burnt. The sun was so strong and it was just so HOT! Or so it felt like it. So you never did say why Church got cancelled. I´m guessing it is because of the snow. But just a little snow to cancel church? That is so sweet that it snowed though:)
So this week was lightening fast for me too.. seriously so fast. It felt like yesterday I was emailing you. No joke. So I´ll just get right to the knitty gritty. This week we had zone conference in porto velho so we went to sleep at Elder H house the night before. That was our 3rd time sleeping at this house. Super fun. Conferencia was SUPER GOOD! I have no doubt in my mind that Presidente Klein is called of God and he is doing exactly what God is telling him to do.
My favorite part was when we watched a short video called the atonement and missionary work. It is with Eyering and Holland and Jesus Christ and missionary work. It is amazing. You should look it up. The spirit was so strong I can´t even describe it. It talks about how we as missionaries have to suffer a little bit because we are the representative of Jesus Christ and he had to suffer beyond belief. We also watched a video of Hinckley talking about the requirements for baptism and I got thinking, that is not happening in this mission. There are elders baptizing people before they are doing all of these things that Pres Hinckley is saying. Like not just elders, like ZLs and APs. So today in my email to Pres I asked him. I wrote pres Klein a killer email this week and because of it I don´t have much time to email you guys but I really needed to email him. So conference was good.
BUT>>> We went by on wed night and we passed the house. I saw the dad in the back yard doing something. We passed and said ok, lets do this. We went back and clapped. The mom came out and said she was making dinner. We asked if we could schedule a time to come by again. She said no because the dad was out of town and wouldn´t come back for 15 days. So pretty much she just lied to our faces because I had just seen him 30 seconds earlier! I was super sad that they dropped us. I hope that someday they will accept the missionaries and the gospel. And sorry what I said about An* ast week. We had a different An* in my other area and I forgot about the one here. They are going to a different church which is a bummer. We are going to their house tonight though to make bread!!!! Like I said they own a bakery. I´m super excited because their bread is heavenly!
Yesterday we had our first Conselho do Ramo! It was great! All of the adults in our ward were there because all of them have a calling of leadership. Presidente do Ramo, presidente do Elders, RS Pres and her 2 counselors and primary pres and her counselor, and us. It was such an awesome meeting! During the meeting I just had this thought. I am here in Candeias to help the tiny branch. I´m here to strengthen this branch. It was really cool. I can´t really explain it but I´m so happy to be serving here is Candeias! I love this branch and never want to leave this area. I also love my comp and we are working great together. (as you can tell by the picture)
Then last night happened. Elder H (DL) called to get our numbers. Our numbers this week sucked... hard core. 0 baptisms, 0 confirmations, 0 Dates marked, and 1 lesson with member. But we worked. We worked. But our numbers don´t show it. Those 17 investigators we found the first week and turning out that they don´t want it and are avoiding us. So our numbers sucked. We tried to get lessons with members. We went to the branch presidents house and asked him to leave with us but he couldn´t. Elder H asked me what we did that week. He must be thinking that we didn´t work at all because our numbers suck. He was very stern but I know he was doing it out of love. I know him very well and he is a very cool elder. Very cool. He said he is coming here to Candeias to do a division with me this Tuesday and boy I´m excited!
LIKE I´VE said before, I don´t really know what I´m doing. I don´t know how to baptize people in missão brasil manaus and I think it has something to do with my comps. My first comp didn´t have a drive to work or baptize. My second comp baptized anybody who could stand in the font, my third comp had the same time on the mission as me and had the same American mind set and now I´m with Elder O who was 3 transfers in the mission. So I realized that I´m missing something and I´m excited to learn what it is.
I realized that learning how to be a better missionary/person is a form of repenting. If you want to change and are changing then you are repenting. You are throwing away your old lazy self and become a "saint through the atonement of Jesus Christ..." But that change/repentance takes humility.. a lot of it. You have to realize that you were in some form wrong.
I took a massive humility pill when I was talking with Elder H. I had a ton of excuses as to why our numbers aren´t high/as high as his. Our branch is tiny, the members won´t leave with us, when I got here we had 0 investigators...... I could have sat there and told him that he can´t tell me that I´m not working because I am. But I didn´t. I took it. I took it all. I swallowed that humility pill and it hurt going down. Realizing that I need to be better, that I can work harder, that I can baptize people. And I know that I will be taking another humility pill when he comes on Tuesday, but I´m ready for it.
I´m trying to humble myself because I want to change. Humility is the key to change. It is the key to repentance. You have to realize that you were wrong and then you have to want to be better and then do it. I was wrong. I could have work harder. I´m not saying that we did nothing, we worked, but we could have worked harder. You can always work harder. So I´m excited to learn what I´m missing in order to baptize because I want to baptize because that is how this branch will get stronger is through CONVERT baptisms. They have to be converted or they will just be another less active that a missionary in 6 months has to deal with.
Sorry for such a short email. I really just didn´t have time and I´m trying to be obedient. Like on Saturday night, Irmã deusa invited us to dinner at her house but we eat lunch at the houses of members and not dinner and it is a rule not to eat dinner at members houses. WE DIDN`T GO! I´m so proud of us for not going . It would have been so easy to go and eat and laugh and have a good time but instead we worked! I´m seriously so proud of myself for that. The whole time though satan was on my shoulder saying "go to Irmâ Deusa´s House, No one will know." So that is my personal victory of the week. I also eat cereal this week! WHAT!?? haha but I had it brazilian style with yogurt:)
Do you like our new ride:) This is seriously how everybody gets around here :) but this is just a members bike, not ours:( But it was fun.
I love you all and hope this week is a winter wonderland for you while I´m dying of heat here. Jefferson that is sweet that you are on VARSITY now! What the what? That is so awesome! Amo vocês!
Elder Ostler
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