Helo Family!
First of all, I'm doing excellently. I'm sure by now you received the letter I wrote last Monday. Well anyway, because Elder Rauckhorst's bike got screwed up in the accident, and it's not worth replacing it when he only has 3 more weeks in the mission, we have received a car for the rest of the transfer! Woot Woot! So that's pretty fun.
Regarding the guy that hit Elder Rauckhorst, we are still working on figuring out a time when we can meet with him. He is a pretty busy guy so we have not been able to work anything out yet. But he seems sincere about wanting to meet with us. He says he has been thinking about what church he needs to go to for a long time now. And for some reason, hitting Elder Rauckhorst made him think about it even more. So he wants to visit with us and then go to an English congregation sometime. We will be allowed to teach him until we introduce him to the English Elders who cover the congregation that he would be attending. So hopefully we see some progress with this.
I don't remember if I told you this or not yet, but the baptism that we were going to have yesterday, the 27th, didn't work out. We have known for about 2 weeks now that it wasn't going to work on the 27th but like I said, I don't remember if I told you. Her husband would like her to wait until after they baptize their son in the Catholic church. This is supposed to happen in Feb. So we are now working towards a March baptism with her. Our ultimate goal would be to visit with her husband as well. But as of yet, he has done his best to avoid talking to us for anything more than just a "Buenos Tardes" type of conversation as he passes through the living room where we are visiting with his wife. We have been close to getting him to join us a few times, but he is always too busy. We have even had appointments with both him and his wife. But every time, there is always something else that comes up. But hopefully that changes shortly.
Also, Elder Rauckhorst and I had a really amazingly cool experience of perfect timing this week. Divine timing. I shall do my best to explain this experience with the time I have left.
We have a teaching record for a family that was taught over a year ago by the missionaries. Somehow this teaching record ended up in the Zone Leaders records. So we didn't have it for a long time. Anyway, while Elder Ingram and I were still together, the Zone Leaders found this teaching record, realized it was for a family that lives in our area, and gave it to us. They live in a very securely locked down apartment complex. On several occasions, Elder Ingram and I would go to the apartment complex, try calling the family through the phone buzzer thing on the outside of the gates, and then when that didn't work out, we would walk around the perimeter of the complex and check all the gates just to see if by any chance one had been left unlatched. There were a few times where we even talked to people who were on their way in. But every time, they would always tell us, "Sorry, I'm not allowed to let you in. Just call them on the phone and they can let you in." (or something to that effect)
Anyway, this past week, I took Elder Rauckhorst to the apartment complex to try and see if we could catch them at home by any chance and have the opportunity to get in the gates and meet them.
As we were walking up to the complex, there was a car that was waiting on the electric gate opener to work so they go in. When I saw this, I thought, "Sweet! Look at that! We are just gonna waltz in behind the car before the gate shuts behind it! Perfect!"
But then, they rolled down their window and motioned us over to the car. I was sure they were gonna ask us if we were planning on going in, and then "kindly inform us" that we can't do that. But, even though I was sure we were gonna get told once again the same thing we had heard before from other people, I decided to slap a big old confident grin on my face and approach my sure rejection with all the confidence in the World. And that is what I did.
When they asked us if we were trying to go in and I responded with a "Si, esta bien?" They then asked who we were looking for. For a moment, the thought crossed my mind, "Wait, this might be who we are looking for..." But when I told them the name of the family we were here to visit with, a very confused look passed over their faces. And in that moment I wondered if this family was expecting us to be looking for them. But I didn't get much time to think on how I could capitalize on that possibility because they shrugged off their confusion and told us something to the effect of, "Well good luck. Go ahead and walk on in. We will follow after you guys."
So in we walked. And I was believing that this was the extent of our divine and fortunate timing. After all, we had never before made it inside the gates! But oh, there was so much more to it than that. And we almost passed it up when I didn't capitalize on the possibility that this family in the car may have been expecting us to be looking for them.
Once inside the complex, Elder Rauckhorst and I had a hard time locating the apartment we were looking for. It took us a little longer than it should have. But in taking a while finding the apartment, we ended up crossing paths with the family who had let us in the complex again. And as I saw that we were going to cross paths with them again, (a perfect opportunity to talk with them) I started thinking how I could smoothly start a conversation with them and find out who they are and if they really had been expecting us to be looking for them.
But as it turned out, I didn't need to do any of this thinking after all. They started the conversation with us. In our short conversation, we learned that when they saw us outside the gates, they had indeed expected us to be looking for them. They are members of the church who have been less active for more than 10 years. And their daughter, 8 yrs old, has been begging them to go back to church so she could learn about God. They asked us if we would stop by their house/apartment for a visit as soon as we were done visiting the other family we were there to see, so we could begin answering some of their daughters questions.
The other family ended up not being home. So we immediately returned to this family we had just met. We learned that along with begging her parents to take her to church, their daughter has been praying every day that her family would go to church so she can learn about God. It became very obvious that the timing of this encounter was divine. For me, it can not be denied that the Lord, our Heavenly Father loves each of us. We are indeed his children. This eight year old is indeed a daughter of her loving Heavenly Father. And Heavenly Father sent two missionaries at the right time, divinely perfect timing, to help her achieve her righteous desires. How amazingly blessed I am to be a servant of the Lord, a literal tool in his hands to aid him in fulfilling his purposes: Answering the prayers of his children. I am truly a part of something much bigger than myself. And it is indeed amazing.
There is so much more I could say. But in short, this young girl plans to get baptized in three weeks by her father. And this young girl brought her parents and older brother to church this week. It was wonderful to watch her beaming face, her excitement, her absolute joy, as she finally got to sit in a chapel, just like she imagined, with her family.
Well my family, I love you all so much.
We are truly blessed to be a family in the gospel. This has become even more apparent to me this week especially.
Your son and brother,
Elder Ostler
