Well, it happened. They took my trustee trainer Elder Ingram away from me. He went to an area about 20 min away. I have my new companion. His name is Elder Rauckhorst. And he got moved here to my area (Arroyo) for his last transfer of the mission. Speaking of this transfer, it is only going to be a 5 week transfer instead of the normal 6 week transfer. This is because of the major influx in missionaries. Somehow shortening a transfer by a week helped things work better with all the incoming missionaries. But back to Elder Rauckhorst, I feel a little bit bad for him. 5 weeks isn't a ton of time to get to know the area and the ward, but it will have to be enough I guess. Cuz whether it's enough or not, it's all he has left. He did mention to me that he was disappointed at first when he learned that he wouldn't get to finish his mission with a ward that knows him really well, but he seems to be handling it really well. He tells me though that he is excited to get to finish in an area where he will actually get to use his Spanish a lot (apparently his last area didn't have a high population of Spanish speakers). He is an Elder with a ton of experience here in the mission. I'm super excited to learn from him. And I only got 5 weeks to do it.
Since we received our transfer calls, I have been hearing horror stories from other missionaries who were trying to offer me their advice on how to deal with trunky missionaries. So, I was a little worried that this would be the case (due to how many people started encouraging me to "hang in there" and "make sure to keep him busy") but as soon as I met Elder Rauckhorst, all of these worries got put to rest. He is great. And this is going to be an awesome transfer.
The only thing I'm sad about is losing Elder Ingram. He has been here for so long. He has so many awesome relationships with the members and people here in the area. It was and has been a struggling area as far as missionary work goes but it is on the verge of becoming one of the most successful areas in the mission. Elder Ingram has done so much here and I'm just sad he won't be here to experience all of the success I feel like we are on the brink of receiving. But on the bright side, it's gonna be an awesome way to send Elder Rauckhorst home.
Also, yes, I could see the picture. That was fun. I also got a letter from Jackson this past week! Thanks for the update Jackson! That was super fun to read!
I only have a bit more time so I'm gonna try to make this really quick. Yesterday was a tough one for Elder Ingram and I. It was tough for Elder Ingram because he didn't like saying goodbye to everyone. And it was tough for me to watch Elder Ingram say goodbye to everyone. It made me realize how hard it is gonna be to say goodbye when it's my turn to leave. And I'm so glad it wasn't my turn this time. We visited lots of people, and many of them told us how we were and are the favorite missionary companionship they have ever had. And that obviously was so nice to hear. It was even tough realizing that we would probably never visit people again together. But even harder than all the goodbyes I had to watch, the hardest thing I did was read a text that one of our investigators wrote to us. It was a long one. A very very long one. But a very very good one. She told us how much we mean to her, how she wishes Elder Ingram good luck in his next area, how we are angels in her life, how she has so much respect for us as missionaries, how she will miss having the two of us teaching her family, how we should be congratulated for being the first people in the world to ever get her to walk into a church, and then, to cap it all off, she said: "I just want you Elders to know that I have made my decision. I am getting baptized!"
Oh it was so wonderful. So amazing to get that. It was just bitter sweet because Elder Ingram is leaving and won't be here for the entire process. We cried, but they were happy tears. We are fairly certain that he will be able to come back when they get baptized.
Elder Rauckhorst and I have a lesson with them tonight.
Well, Adios my wonderful family!
Elder Ostler
