So it seemed like from the email I got from you mom that you may have thought I just didn't get around to emailing yesterday? Hmm who knows what was going through your head. I hope you weren't too disappointed. But anyways, Surprise! [Note from Mom: We didn't get a letter on the normal pday this week so we thought there would be none. The nice surprise was the email came in late the next day.]
Apparently some famous California dude had a birthday yesterday. Libraries were closed.
Due to emailing on a non-pday though, my time is not unlimited. I got missionary work to do. So hopefully I can give you enough information crammed in this short email time to keep things tided over 'til next week. It made me laugh when I read your comments about how much you enjoy reading Saydi's emails to her family. Obviously I'm not for sure on this, but I thought it might have been a tactful encouragement to get me to write more. So I will do my best.
Well, what can I say about this week? Hmm I could say it's been just another missionary week, which would be true...but at the same time, it wouldn't be true. I have learned so much this week. I'm always learning as a missionary. I love it.
I think one of the most profound things I have learned this week is that it's all in the Attitude. Hmmm...to type that out makes it seem a lot like what Mom used to tell us. Hmmm interesting. So maybe it isn't new knowledge after all, maybe it just feels like new knowledge because I have been taking the steps to truly internalize it. ;) And how have I been internalizing it? In short, I have been serving a mission. But a little better explained, I have adopted Elder Ingram's fake it 'til you make it policy. It's inspired. I love it. It brings me joy. There are still so many times where I find myself in a situation that I have no idea what to say or do. So what do I do? I open my mouth and "fake it" with the expectations to "make it." It's all in the attitude. If I expect to make it. I will. Yea, it might be a little bit rocky sometimes, pero no importa. Vamos a hacerlo.
Why do I say that this type of knowledge/attitude is inspired? Because I have come to realize that it is a principle of Faith. We can have faith we will "make it" all we want. But until we match that faith/hope with action (at times even the action of faking it) nothing will be achieved. Well enough of that. It probably doesn't interest my family as much as it does me.
Hmm exciting things that have happened this week. Well, we tactfully avoided 2 big time Bible bashing situations. One occurred while I was with my companion Elder P. And the other occurred while I was on exchanges with Elder C. Both were really fun situations for me. One was with a Jewish man who contacted us with the intent to confound us in our foolishness (it was in English). Elder P, a very non-confrontational guy, kinda just stood there quietly and let me do the talking. My approach I decided to take was find every possible doctrine that we agreed on. So as this man was telling us how stupid we are for believing in a dead man, Christ. I was using my thinker to establish points of common ground. It was great. The only problem was, he was so focused on finding things that we didn't agree on, that we weren't getting anywhere (as fun as it was for me). It was ridiculous. So, I "politely" (not sure if it was really all that polite, but I was trying to be) interrupted him and asked, "Excuse me sir, but would you remind me why it was that you wanted to talk with us?" He got super flustered and muttered something about he just thought we were friends and wanted to talk to us. So I replied, "Oh! Ok, that makes sense. Yea, that's what I thought at first too. But the past couple minutes of our conversation were making me begin to question that. I'm all in for continuing this conversation. But if we choose to continue, I think we need to do better at treating each other like friends... Sound Good?" He replied with something else that definitely wasn't friendly. And so to that, I smiled, offered him my hand, and said, "Sorry, I still didn't feel like that was something I would say to a friend. But it was nice to meet you. Have a great day." And with that we parted ways.
The other story was way funnier (the dude I met with Elder C). We met him in the bike shop. I had to get a bike repair. In short (because i only have a minute) he was some sort of mix between Jewish and Christian. He carried a cane. And had lots of songs (which were more like yelled chants than anything else) which were meant to call us to Repentance and drive us to become perfect like God (Mathew 5:48). This guy was way more reasonable though. Even though he was way louder, and drew a bit of an audience with his songs and the cane he swung around and jabbed at the air for emphasis, we were actually able to establish some common ground with him. I'm just glad the audience he drew in was a very controlled one (only the 3 other people in the bike shop). I'm sure it wouldn't have been terribly great for us to have met that guy out in the street where everyone walking the street could have stopped and gawked. But he was so funny.
Well,
Adios.
Love you my wonderful family!
Elder Ostler
