Everyone and anyone can know it is true

Família!

So I was reading your email about the family reunion. I just thought everyone was skipping school but then I remembered that it is memorial day weekend, that is pretty sweet that you guys are having so much fun!! And Jefferson.... YOU ARE MASSIVE!! You have really put on some muscles dang son.   And mom you look great in that picture! 

So I got the second package!!!! And I got a package from grammie too!! Wow I am loved.  Two packages in one week! We had zone training and I got them both at that.... I get more mail than any other missionary in the mission, hands down!!!! Thank you so much for the packages, I love them so much!! and yes I think it would be a good idea to send the battery.... but isn´t that breaking the law?

So this week was a pretty regular week.. except last night.  Me and Elder G went to another area to do a baptismal interview for the missionaries there.  When we got there,,, the water wasn´t working... that happens alot where the water just turns off for x amount of time.  So we got some buckets and went out behind the church where there is this well.  There is a pump in the well that pumps the water out for the church.  For some reason, it wasn´t working,  so one of the YM got down in the well.

That is the YM down in the "well" getting water in the bucket.
Then I would pull it out and pour the water into another buck and the others
would hawl it over to the church window and dump it through to fill the font.

We tied a rope to a bucket and started haling up water.  Then we hauled it to the font to fill the font up.  I was in charge of pulling the bucket up. I got some gnarly blisters. It was pretty cool and fun:)  I hope I explained that well enough. Hopefully the pictures will help:)

I was the rope puller. We had a pretty good system.

So about the companion the argentino.  Brasil and argentina don´t like each other.  The members always joke around with him and stuff and he always says that argentina will win the world cup:) Like I said, he loves to joke around and it really makes life a lot funner when you are constantly laughing:)

I usually clean up after us but I don´t mind it, I´ve been doing it for most of the mission. When I first met him he told me that he has never had a bad day on the mission. He is always happy... except when he is tired.. then he just doesn´t talk.  But he is always happy.  One thing I love about him is that he has no fear to talk to people... no fear at all so we talk to a lot of people and it is helping me get rid of the fear I have to talk to people.

One thing that he doesn´t like to do is wake up.  But I usually am able to get him up at 7.  Well we woke up a few times last week at 6 to go running!  It was great! Hopefully we will do more of that this week:)

He is from northern argentina.  He has 2 older brothers (RMs) one is married, and one little brother.  4 boys.  All members.  He gets family support yes but I don´t think as much as me...... I don´t think anybody does...

The ward I´m in now is smaller than the branch I just came from......  there is about 120-100 people usually.  But again, about 400 members. I´m not really sure how many M priesthood holders there are.  There are about 20 youth.  In my other wards we would leave with the ym to go teach but here we leave more with the Young women to go teach... when we are going to teach women.  And some of the YW have crushes on Elder G... kakakaka

We have ward conference in 2 weeks and the bishop has a goal of 300 people at the conference.  We invite EVERYBODY! Our bishop has been bishop for 7 years so he should be getting released sometime soon.  He is also really old but a good bishop.  There are bishops here that hate baptism and don´t let the missionaries baptize while other bishops expect the missionaries to baptized every week.

In this ward we have a lunch calendar that we get at the beginning of the month that is already filled out.  We got Junes yesterday.  Then we just call the night before to confirm.  Everybody here asks us if we like fish.... I always say yes because I love the fish here.  There is this fish called tambaqui that is amazing! The fish here is a lot denser and super good:)  The members here are awesome and are always giving us food!  If we stop by anytime they will always feed us.  That is one of the reason I want to run is because we eat so much food!

Elder G has 2 main focuses when he teaches.  He loves to talk about family, like how the gospel blesses families and he loves to talk about prayer.  He ALWAYS invites EVERYONE to pray and ask God if what we teach is true, even if we just do like a 30 second street contact and give them a pamphlet.  It is great that he does that.  That is one thing that is so awesome about our message.. it is TRUE!! So if the people pray with real intent they WILL get an answer!  That is one amazing thing about the gospel, everyone and anyone can know it is true:)

So H*´s mom didn´t let her got baptized this week but we are going back to teach the family this week so hopefully we will get somewhere with them.  We are teaching a 20 year old boy named Is.  We haven´t taught him that much because he is never home when we pass and we don´t have credit on our phone so we can´t call him.  He has a date marked for this Saturday.

This week was good.  We are working really hard and having fun. I can´t believe that school is almost out and summer is just around the corner.  I hope you guys are always having fun and aproveitando cada segundo.  I love you all!  Have an awesome week!!!  And a fun family reunion!

Love

Elder Ostler

This is the first time I've seen hometeaching done in BrazilThis is m

Família!

That  is super sweet what you guys did last night with the water balloons, you guys are crazy...

So about the world cup.  There is lot of talk about it here too.  Don´t know if you heard but on... I think Friday there was a massive protest in São paulo in the streets.  The people don´t want the cup because the government is taking money from the hospitals and schools to do it. There are a bunch of stories of people dying in hospitals because there isn´t enough money/people to treat them.  And there is talk about the country not being ready.  The buses are not up to where they need to be.  They are still fixing up a bunch of platforms that aren't done.  So we will see what happens. This place is CRAZY for Futebol... I love it.. I just wish I could play it.

Today this recent convert came over.  He is 25 and JACKED!  I´m teaching him english.  He isn´t from our ward but he likes us and leaves with us when he has time.  Today we played golf.... with cards.  It is a game my old DL taught me.  The crawfords know how to play. He beat me by one point...  but we don´t usually play games other than occasionally on p day.

So I got the package and thank you so much!!! It is so awesome!!! I love everything in it so much! It is awesome!!!! And the camera... well..... well...... então, the battery that I have is not the right size of battery for it.  Blah....  so now I have 3 cameras....:)   2 that don´t work.   But DON`T WORRY!!! I WILL FIGURE IT OUT!! There are a lot of stores here that sell random electronic stuff and they might have the battery for the camera so I will procurar that.  And next week I think that we are going to go to the centro and I will see if I can get my camera fixed there.  The one with the shattered screen.  So all is well.  I still have a working camera.

So lets talk.  First lets stat with my comp.  He is from Tucumum ARG.  He tells everybody that and they always laugh because here tucumá is a fruit.  To describe what he is like, I can use two words.......................................................... Christian Burrup! 

I´m not even kidding, sometimes I legitimately feel like my comp is Elder Burrup.  It is crazy. It is just like the stuff he does.  Like he makes a lot of noises with his mouth like whistling and he touches my face all the time.  Just little things like that that Christian would always do to me.  When ever I´m on the phone he tries to make me laugh.  He loves to brincar, which means play or joke.  Two things he always says "Nossa!" and "Estou Brincando." He just loves to have fun and he loves to talk.  He has no fear.

One night we were just walking to an appt and he stopped and said "lets knock on this door." So we just went and knocked that door.  I just love him so much.  He reminds me so much of Elder Burrup.   He speaks 0 english and his Portuguese is coming along.  I understand 95 por cento of what he says but the people here sometimes have a harder time.  Also I speak a tiny bit of Spanish with him.  Boy have I forgotten that language.... well I guess I could say that if I ever knew it in the first place.  He is just awesome.

So he is really awesome.  He also is a really good worker and our work isn´t really work,,, it is more like fun.  All of the members here love him!  He just loves to talk to people.  It is the youth that especially like him.

In this ward we are doing a lot bigger impact on retentions.  In my last area we had like 20 investigators, we didn´t have time to go see them all.  When I got here we had 4..... but 2 of them are a couple.  They are young and not married but we are going to marry them... as soon as she gets a desire to marry.

Like I said about the retentions.  Last night the elders quorum had a meeting and we were invited.  The pres said they were going to do home teaching.  He set up companionships and they listed out all of the inactive families in the ward and then assign duplas to each family.  This is the first time I’ve ever seen Home teaching done in brasil and it is sweet!!!

Yesterday at church we were talking to some youth and one said that another youth wasn't a member.  Her name is H*. My comp already knew here but just thought she was a member because she has been going to church.  One of her friends gave her a livro de mormon and she is reading it.

We went to her house after church and taught.  After the lesson we asked her to say a pray to ask if the things we taught are true and if she should be baptized.  I have never done that before where I just ask them to pray in the hour.  I did it because she is already reading the Bom and she said that all there is left to do is ask.   So we just knelt down and she said a very simple prayer just asking to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if she should baptize.  After the prayer we just sat there on the ground for about 5 mins.  She started to cry.  The spirit was strong.  After a  little while we ask her what she was feeling.  She said peace and tranquility.  It was great.  She said she knew it was the spirit telling her it was true.  She said she wanted to be baptized but she said she didn’t know if her mom would let her.  So we said another pray to bless her mom to say yes. We are going back tomorrow to talk with them both.  It is going to be great!

Jefferson sure has one packed schedule, holy crap. Is he going to EFY in Tacoma?  That is sweet you got the pool up and going too.  Oh swimming.....

The mission is going good.  I´m enjoying myself and working hard. I love you guys a ton and hope that everything is going well.  Boys summer is almost here!!!! Like 3 weeks of school or something like that.  Enjoy this summer, make it fun:)  Happy anniversary to those two love birds like in Utah, Jackson and Katie.  I love you all!!  Have a sweet week! Thanks for the package!

Elder Ostler

"The best part about life is having someone to share it with."

-Elder Ostler

I´m sure that has already been said by someone but I just thought of it while I was cleaning this morning and thinking about you guys, my family.

Eu amo vocês

This is my imitation of Jackson eating that monster burger!

They have testimonies

Família!

Wow skypíng yesterday was awesome!  It went way to fast.  When elder w and I were walking in the street afterwards it just seemed like a dream and that it didn´t actually happen.  It was just a weird feeling.   But I know it happened now because you talked about it:)

That is sooooo good to hear that prom was a massive hit.  It sounded so much fun.  And jefferson that is so sweet that you are buying a uke today that has electricity. That will be awesome!  Are you still practicing and learning new songs?  I tell all my comps how I play but then I say that you are way better than me.  And that is crazy about the 52 lawns!  Holy Reais!!! 

So mother...... I can say this only because I´m not home but you are wrong....  I´m the one that got transferred:( :)  I did not see it coming at all. I was convinced that either elder wal was going or we were staying but not that I was going.  I was super sad at first because of all of the people I had gotten to know and the friendships I made.  But I wasn't devastated.  Whenever Saydi talks about getting transferred it always sounds like she is super sad.  I was sad for a little then I just got excited.  I feel like I did a good job in cidade do leste strengthening the ramo and just doing the work of the Lord.  Now I just get to do it all again!

I´m really excited to be working here. I´m still in manaus.  Not really sure the bairro. I think it might be called Êxodo because that is the name of our ward.  But I´m very close to my old area, I think I’m just north of it in Cidade Nova.  And my companion is..... an Argentine!!  That is right Jackson, from the country of the smiling sun.  He lives in tucuman. He also said that he heard of you?  Not really sure but he said he heard of an elder ostler in Argentina.  He is way sweet and only has 5 weeks on the mission.  He is just a great guy. He is 7 days younger than me.  He is really relaxed.  Today we did a cleaning of the house.  Mission houses sometimes are just filthy.  But the first thing I always do is clean them.  We still aren´t done yet.  I just don´t see how elders can let the house get that dirty.  Hadn´t been swept in about a month.  Dirt just lining the walls on the ground.

So I  got transferred...  last night I called up A & J (the family that we baptized) and gave a bye.  They were sad that I was leaving so quick.  But I told them I´d be back to see them again.... hopefully for their selamento here in a year.  They are just so special to me.  We worked so hard to get them baptized.  And I know that they are going to stay because they have testimonies.

The biggest challenge was A e café.  She just couldn´t give it up.  She would always accept the invite to stop but then when the headache came she would fall.  So on Wednesday morning we went over and took her coffee!!

We went to her house and stole her coffee.
Well we actually did a trade.
We gave her cervada. It is just like coffee but is made from barley.

It was great.....but she bought more and drank it.  grrrrr satan.  Then on Thursday we went and saw them at night and she said she had drunken some that day.  The next morning Friday we went over and had breakfast with them.  She said that she wouldn´t drink it but she wouldn´t let us take it.  We knew that if it was in the house she would drink it.  She asked if she could take it to her aunts house just so that we didn´t have to throw it away.  We agreed and walked down the street with her to give it her aunt and then told her aunt not to let her drink it!  She didn´t drink any more and she was baptized on Saturday night with her family!!!! What a glorious day.

Like I said, it started to rain at about 5:30.  The baptism was to start at 6 but it got adiado até 7:30.  During that crazy storm we were calling people to go get our investigators in cars and I actually went with one of the men in the ward to go get J.    The picture is of all of us.  The 6 baptisms.

Bom de mais!  It was such a good baptism.  The best part was in the hallway right before they got baptized and we were showing them how it would be in the water.  They were just all so excited!  We were just all in the hallway all in white.  They were about to start a new life with a clean slate.  They were entering the waters of baptism. J & A looked so awesome in their macacões.  The baptism was just awesome!!!

After the baptism reunion we had a mothers day activity. We had a ton of investigators there!!!!! It was crazy.  We didn´t get home till like 10 that night..... And then we had to prepare our talks for Sunday..... we had them mostly done just putting the finishing touches on. I talked about the tree of life vision by lehi and how he tasted of the fruit and wanted to give it to his FAMILY!! I talked about how there are members of our families who don´t have the fruit and we are to give it to them.  It went pretty well. I prepared a 15 min talk and gave it in about 7 mins because of all of the confirmations.  But hey, I´m not complaining.

So I got the package today!!!!!!!! But still haven´t opened it.... first thing I´m doing when I get home.  And I also got the letter in the brownish envelope.  So I have just been thinking about things I would like.  One is pictures... like pictures are always good.... but I would like some of me before the mission.  Like playing lax or with my friends and the family.  So I can show my comps what I did before the mission.. and what lax is. And also some more handkerchiefs, sometimes they fall out of my pocket and I loose them.

You guys do so much for me you have no idea.  There are elders out here who NEVER get letters or packages.  And on pday the only person they email is their girlfriend.  So thank you so much for everything you guys do for me.  Especially your prayers.   Thank you so much.. always know that I love you guys and pray for you guys to. 

Boys break the wrist and walk away.  I´ve learned this with comps when you try to argue something it never works out.  Just stop and have the spirit of Christ!   It all works out:)

Well I love you guys a ton but I´m thinking about you less and less because I like to think about missionary work instead.... sorry but it is the truth:) kakakak  have a great week! And have fun in iceberg mom!

Tudo Bem

Elder Ostler

Missionary work is fun!

I`M ALIVE!!!!

haha I really liked the top ten reasons for me not emailing but they were all wrong....  I didn’t email last week because at the lan house there weren´t enough computers for us to use.  I wrote it to you in a letter that you will get in probably a year.  But yeah that is what happened.  So skyping this week is going to be so great.   I can do it in the afternoon here from like 3 to 5ish or even later but earlier would be better like 4 because next week are transfers and we might have to pack at night.  So like 3 would be best.  But I still got to see with my comp what time he is doing it.

So about these two weeks.. where to even start... I guess I will just start with our baptismo on saturday night!  We were supposed to baptized 2 men, O & M but M backed out at the last second.  It is a massive complicated story that would take way to long to type.  But he just had a lot of people talking to him telling him not to do it.  And every time we passed by last week he was never home.  But we are going back on Wednesday to save him. O is the fiance of our neighbors daughter.  Our neighbor is a less active member.  He told us his daughter was getting married to a boy who wasn´t baptized and that before they got married he needed to be baptized.  So we taught him and baptized him.  He really wanted to. It was a great baptism with a good amount of members.  The picture is of him and his fiance. It is really easy to teach him because he is our neighbor.  So that was a sweet baptism but this weeks baptisms are going to be THE BEST…..

So before I tell you about our baptisms this week I need to tell you a crazyish story...  on our way to the lan house this morning we were walking along the road and we say this…..

JACARÈ

. . . . which for you white people means alligator.  It is just a little baby but it was crazy!

So we are teach a family right now, J, A, e P*.  Like my second week here we were walking down the street and a guy leaned out his front door and said "hello my friends"  in english so we stopped and talked to him for a quick second. It was J.  Oh yeah! remember that week that we fasted and found a bunch of new investigators... well J & An were two of them! Anyways we have been teaching them for the past 2 months and it has been going well.  She is giving up coffee right now.  When we first taught the WOW like a month ago she said there was no way she was going to give up coffee but now she is really trying and wants to.  Last night when we went to see them she had a headache from not drinking coffee.  Today she has a goal of going until 8 tonight without coffee.

All of the members just love them. They love playing volleyball and soccer and are animals at sports.  We always teach them with members with us.  Tonight we are going to teach them the law of Dizimo and o dia do senhor.  They also said they would make us tapioca so I´m excited for that too:)  Yesterday in church I think their baptism was announced over 6 times, no joke.  Usually baptism here and just real quick fast things that not alot of people know about but this baptism is going to be a party!!  Yesterday we had ward council and after we were done talking about all of out investigators Presidente Freitas said, "alright, now let´s plan the baptism.."   kakaka it was sweet.  We are going to have two cakes there and it is going to be loaded with people!  And afterwards there is a dance!! (it has been planned for like a couple weeks and it just so happens it is on the same day as the baptism)  We also have 2 other dates marked for this Saturday, G* who is the guy we found sitting on the road thinking about his life that we taught the plan of salvation too and junior who is a ym we are teaching.  He is firm but j* is a little mole so we will see.  I´m just really our family getting baptized and G*:) We will be seeing the family and G* every single day this week:)  missionary work is so fun! 

So my relationship with my leaders is melhorando a lot which is good.  I did a division with elder sobarzo which is the ZL who chewed me out that one night on the phone.  It was a good division and I learned alot.  So I´m doing much better with my leaders now :)  You know some times I feel like mormon who can´t even write a hundredth of the things that happen.  It is just so true.  Missionary work is just so corrido that it is impossible to wright everything.

That is so cool that HOCHBOL was a massive hit this year and that Jefferson and Kenzie were the cutest couple there.  I mean just look at that picture.  I don’t even have to see the other people to know that they aren´t as good looking.  And I feel honored that our names were put on the stars:)  Thank you.  That makes us feel really good.  I cannot believe that school is out in a month!! Where is the time going? It felt like you guys just started school like last month when I was in Adrianópolis!  Has anybody gotten their mission calls yet?

Well that is all for this week family, sorry I didn’t write more.  I love you all more than words can tell.  Some days on the mission are just killer hard and I want nothing more than to just be home with you guys but I know that I´m here for a reason and I need to serve with a willing heart and a willing mind.  I love you all.

Elder Ostler