September 17, 2013 Email

I have not read this email that I received from you.  There is no time.  So I have no idea if you had questions or anything like that.  But like I said, there is no time.  So hopefully what I give ya is interesting enough to tide ya over till next week.  My missionary life has been crazy since last Thursday.

Thursday night I received a phone call from President's Assistants.  "Elder Ostler, after much prayer and consideration, president has decided that you will be training this coming transfer." 

They didn't tell me at that moment if I would be staying or leaving Azusa.  But they told me that I would find out more in the next couple days.

So I waited...would I be training in a completely new area or staying here in Azusa?!?! 

I was excited for both options. Both looked super fun for me.

To keep it short, due to the lack of time, I'm still here in Azusa.  Woot Woot!

Yesterday, Pday, was the most insane Pday I have ever had on the mission.  We woke up at 5:30 and were going all day.

We got Elder B ready to move out and leave with his transportation to his new area (which was the easiest of it all).

Then I met up with the other two missionaries in the area, took one of them to his new area, and Elder R and I stayed here in Azusa to go through the craziest Pday of our lives. 

Due to losing the cars, we are changing apartments to make it easier for the other Elders to get to their area.  We both live in my area.  But where I used to live is closer to their area.  So Elder R and I switched apartments yesterday.  Which was quite the job.  Elder R by the way will also be training this coming transfer. 

So he and I were stuck with two cars yesterday which we had to clean up to selling condition and get over to the office before the end of Pday!  So that was crazy! 

Due to the craziness of it all, there was no time for Pday emailing.  In fact, We even had to cancel our appointments last night due to there not being enough time to get it all done.  We still are not completely done getting ready for our new companions whom we will pick up in a couple hours from the office.  So I'm going to end it now so we can get back to work.

Funny thought for my family to think about.....

President doesn't want his new missionaries to know that we used to have cars.  He wants them to know that this is a bus/bike/walk mission.  So your Elder Ostler is going to be living by the "fake it till you makes it" approach with his new trainee.  And I currently only have a slight idea of how bus lines work.  I thought I knew more, but after getting ourselves lost yesterday, I learned that I don't know much at all.  I have realized that the only knowledge I have for certain is that you ride them to get places.

Honestly, yesterday I had my expectations absolutely blown into a thousand pieces when it comes to bus routes.  I thought that buses just traveled in straight lines and that you just had to ride them like you would trace a grid.....well, I was wrong. 

I've got some studying to do. 

This is going to be so fun.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder Ostler