I love you all so much. I don't know if I mention that love enough. I am constantly reminded of and edified, re-reminded and re-edified by the millions of experiences I had at home with my family. And to think, it was all guided by my parents. I love that. It's an excellent example of what our Heavenly Father does for each and every one of his children (myself included). I'm just a very extremely blessed person.
Well, this is the last week with the cars. Almost ALL cars are being taken. Only Zone Leaders and a very few select sister trainers will have cars starting next week. But even they will only be allowed to used cars on very rare/emergency type occasions. It's walking, biking, and buses for us now. And this is going to be awesome for finding.
We went on a walk with a recent convert last week to go eat and it turned into a finding fest. I loved it. It was awesome. Normally we just drive him when we are with him. But the only time we are allowed to take someone in the car is when traveling to and from lessons. So him taking us to eat meant we were walking. I will admit that I was nervous about how losing the cars was going to effect the work... because in truth, they are a huge blessing to us in our area. But after our experience with him of walking less than a mile, I am very excited for the change. Yes, it is definitely going to make it harder... much harder to get to our lessons, yes it will most surely make nightly planning/scheduling even more difficult, but it has its perks as well. We are going to be finding like crazy! And doing it with a member is even greater! If I'm here next transfer, I will be scheduling appointments with this member just to go walking around his neighborhood with him.
I so hope I get to stay here and do some more walks with this new member. It was legit! We were walking through his neighborhood, somebody he knew would walk by, and he would just start talking to them! I loved it! He wasn't embarrassed at all about the fact he was with us! He made no explanations about who we are and why he is with us. He simply provided a super friendly talking environment and then allowed us to introduce ourselves at the right moments. It rocked. And it was definitely the most effective method of contacting I have ever been a part of. I learned that even finding/contacting is better with a member! Every aspect of missionary work is better with members. I'm sure situations like this will arise even more in the coming weeks as we lose the cars and are forced to be out walking the streets. And I'm so excited for this.
HOLY SNAP! Kara is gone! That is a crazy thought. Nathan in Seminary and High School! And Daniel with only one more year to enjoy sleeping in! (Daniel, don't be sad that you can't go to seminary yet, just make sure you give your big brother a hard time about how you get to sleep in still...that should be fun enough to make your year wait until you finally get to enjoy seminary worth it)
Well, everything is great. I love life. Love my mission. Our district is going to enjoy our last PDAY with cars and drive to the top of the mountain that borders our area and mission boundaries. We are gonna have a picnic up there. It will be great.
LOVE YOU ALL!
Yours Truly,
Elder Ostler
