Oh Boy! I wonder How freaked out my Mom was when
she Didn't hear from me on PDAY?!?!?!
OK so yesterday the Library was closed. This
means that we had to work email into our Tuesday schedule. I wrote a
short letter home yesterday which contained some suggestions for
Christmas. But enough about that. I have a little less time than
usual today so I'm just going to jump straight to the good stuff.
Something pretty awesome, actually my proudest
achievement of the week is this: I have learned how to play the newbie card to
my advantage. Now let me explain. We have investigators who have
hard times keeping their commitments (reading, praying, attending
church). So sometimes, when we get a weak commitment, and I can tell it's
a weak commitment, I will get "confused" and say, "Si
yo intiendo corectamente, nos dijo que esta asistiendo iglesia con nosotros
esta domingo?" [If I understand correctly, you told us that you will be
attending church with us this Sunday?] They will then say "Oh si! Claro
que si!" [Oh, yes! Of course!] And then, after receiving this far
more sure commitment, I become very excited that I had understood correctly and
that I will get to see them at church or that they will be reading (whatever
the commitment is that we were trying to get) This is what I call playing
the new card. I don't know how long I'll get to use it, but hopefully I
get to use it for a while.
Elder Ingram and I are working with a less active
family in the ward. They have a friend who lives with them. She was
baptized about a year ago. But currently, both the friend and the family
are inactive. But this is changing! And it is so exciting!
The friend came to church with us this past week. From the sounds of it,
the missionaries that taught the friend before her baptism were absolutely
horrible. They didn't teach her at all (according to the family).
They just came and sat around at the house for 3 and 4 hours at a time watching
TV. This friend really wanted to learn about the gospel. So, the
family would do their best to teach what the missionaries were not
teaching. So, in all actuality, this person never received the lessons
from the missionaries. So, you may ask, how did she become a
member? Well, the missionaries did a "practice"
baptismal interview with her right before the real deal and during this
"practice" they told her all the "right answers" if there
are even such things as "right answers" for an interview.
Then she went to the real interview and passed.
This is just horrible to me that the missionaries
would act in such a way. In my opinion we are lucky that this family and
the friend for that matter are even willing to talk with the missionaries
anymore. But lucky for us, this family didn't let the actions of
these two missionaries dictate their opinions on all missionaries. We
have a really good relationship with them. And this family is so so
awesome! They obviously know that I am still learning
Spanish. And they are willing to help me in this learning of
Spanish. So they are going to let us practice teaching the lessons
with them (and by us, I will have-to/get-to do most of the talking)!
Sweet huh? I get to better my teaching skills with people who are already
members! This is way less pressure.
On a completely different note: Everyone
needs the gospel. My job as a missionary is to find the people who are
ready to realize their need for the gospel.
Well, no more time.
Elder Ingram and I realized this week that we are
the Youngest Companionship in the Entire Mission! Sweet Huh? He is
currently the only trainer who just finished his training. So, there are
two ways to look at it. One, people could cut us slack since we are
OBVIOUSLY lacking in experience. Or, the way we hope people look at it:
"Wow they have the least experience in the mission? I would have
never guessed!"
Love you my family.
Elder Ostler
