October 5, 2012
My Dearest Family,
I love getting your letters. They usually come in on Thursday (the hand written ones)
which is perfect because then I get to reply the next day!
Dad: Oh man!
that sounds like the most awesome trip to Provo ever! It would have been so fun to join up for a bit...especially
for the bahoonky kicking of Hawaii and the hike up the "Y"! Every other day we get to have
afternoon gym time. And when we
have afternoon gym time we go outside to the fields over by the Provo Temple. And every single time I look over at Y Mountain and think about the last time we climbed it as a family
with the extended family tambien.
That was so fun. And then I
like to ask myself if I would still be able to carry my little cousin (who
isn't so little at all anymore) all the way up. I wish we could hike the Y on Pdays. But alas, it is not a permitted
activity.
Mom: I do get
to be a host that day [Oct 17th].
Or at least as of right now our district is scheduled to host on the
17th. So I hope I can find out
what time Jacob enters the MTC so I can host him.
The entire District wants me to thank you for the package
you sent us. They especially loved
those pens you sent us with the matching mechanical pencils. Those are the best pens ever. When I first opened the package I was
like "Sweet! That's three for
me and three for my companion of each of these! But then I realized that while that math did work out, what
you were probably trying to do was send one for each of us in the District (also
math that worked out). Yea, you
raised a smart son. I loved the
cookies. Actually, the whole zone
did. But my personal favorite was
the box of Apples! Yum Yum
Yum! Thanks Mom!
Kara: ...
Nathan: ...
Daniel: ...
Well, I have some stories I want to tell you all so
hopefully I have the time.
This past week Elder M and I were teaching a lesson on
keeping the word of wisdom. Our
volunteer investigator was having a hard time understanding why it was
important that he not have things like alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, etc. Obviously our ability to communicate in
Spanish isn't exactly stellar. So
we were doing our best to explain that it was a commandment of God and that by
obeying the commandment we qualify ourselves for blessings of both a physical
and spiritual nature. Physical
because we will be healthier, and spiritual because as a we keep the
commandments, we invite the Holy Ghost to be with us and guide us. He wants to be baptized so I also tried
to explain that we must demonstrate our faithfulness in keeping the
commandments, even the ones we don't understand, in order to be baptized. He seemed to understand a little bit,
but he didn't like the idea of having to change so much. He started asking Elder M if it was ok
to only drink with his friends at parties or if just a coffee in the morning
was acceptable. He said he wasn't
an addict, he just liked having fun with his friends and being able to wake up
in the morning with coffee. So,
Elder M answered his question by saying something to the effect of, "Nope,
never. God doesn't want us to ever
have alcohol or coffee.
This made our investigator very sad. And suddenly it dawned on me,
"Duh, we are telling him everything he can't do! Of course that is going to sound like something he doesn't
want to commit to!" So, I
opened up my mouth and asked, "¿Usted le gusta verduras y granos y pan?"
[Mom's interpretation: "What do you like
vegetables and whole grains and bread?"] Only after I
finished my question did I realize how utterly stupid it sounded.
The investigator tried to stifle a laugh and
replied hesitantly, "Si."
Then, I trying to cover up for my complete stupidity replied,
"Bien! Yo tambien! La Palabra de sabiduria permite estes
cosas!" [Mom's interpretation: " Well! I
too! The word of wisdom allows these things!"]
I failed epically in my attempt at
"fixing the situation."
In fact, I failed so completely that for the next minute or so we just
sat there laughing with our investigator.
It was pretty embarrassingly hilariously wonderful.
After we got control of ourselves, we did end
up being able to commit him to live the word of wisdom. But aye yie yie, that was an
interesting and funny way to be reminded that I still have so so so long to go
in order to achieve fluency. Not that
I have been feeling overly confident by any means. It's quite the opposite. But it was pretty funny. I'm just glad my lack of knowledge, which resulted in all
that laughter, didn't mess up the whole lesson. I'd like to think that maybe he really needed to know he
could still eat vegetables and bread (the first words that popped into my mind
that I knew how to say). But it's
more likely he probably just felt sorry for the missionary who made a complete
fool out of himself and decided to commit to living the word of wisdom just to
help that poor little missionary feel better.
Ok, so I'm gonna have to tell this next one
way quicker. Basically, after I
got the family pictures in the package, I put my favorite ones on my desk in
the room. That night while I was
brushing my teeth, some elders from the zone came in to talk to us. But they got distracted I guess because
when I came back from brushing my teeth they were checking out the pictures. Well, before this experience, nobody
ouside our district knew that I was adopted. Everyone was curious to know who the cute girl was that was
in our family's pictures. I told
them, "Well, I'll give you two guesses." And their first was, "Girlfriend?" When I replied, "Nope," one
Elder asked, "That's your sister?" "Yep!" I replied, and then I told them to look
closer so they could see the resemblance.
But after looking back and forth between me and Kara they said that they
couldn't see the resemblance at all.
So I then explained we were adopted. It was pretty fun.
But then, after they left the room I heard them talking to the Elders
next door, "Hey, did you know Elder Ostler has a super cute
sister?" And sure enough, a
minute or so later, one Elder from next door came casually into the room to
"talk" to me and then "wandered" straight over to the desk
where my pictures were. Three or
four other Elders, including the Zone Leaders, also came to "see how I and
my companion were doing" or just to "talk." It was so funny.
Well, that is the story of how the Zone
learned I was adopted. Pretty good
one huh?
And that is the end of my time. Love you all. Oh, I'm pretty excited for General Conference too. I hear GC in the MTC is the best. By the time you get this letter though GC
will be all done.
Adios for now mi familia,
Elder Ostler
