Well hey there!
This is probably going to be pretty short because I just talked to you all yesterday. It will give me some time to catch up on some other notes and letters to recent converts and a few investigators that need to hear from me too. So thanks for understanding! Love you guys!
So this last week was a bit disappointing. We had a TON of failed appointments, and we even almost got dropped by our only investigator who can really be considered an investigator at this time. But through the disappointments, we had some finding miracles! I love finding. I have loved it ever since I learned to love it way back in my first area when I prayed for the ability to find. Do you remember that story? I know it was a long time ago that I shared that experience, but it was such a turning point in my mission for me that I truly feel it just happened only a couple weeks ago. It was after my companion asked me to teach him how to find. Well whether you remember it or not, I actually think of finding new people to teach as be-friending (it is pronounced be-fryne-ding). I think that idea has helped me out in my finding efforts.
Anyways, several weeks ago (my first week as an English missionary) we were walking here in Pomona and I started a conversation with this lady. She was uncommonly nice (there aren't as many pleasant contacts each day in English work) which explained itself a couple min into the conversation when we found out that she was a member who hasn't gone to church for years. We learned she had a family and so we invited ourselves over to visit with her and her entire family (non-member boyfriend and her children) Perfect right? Well, we thought so too until she told us something to the effect of "yea...maybe...I'll give you a call sometime. I don't think my boyfriend will really like that very much. He is very catholic." The "maybe I'll call you sometime" was the only thing we could commit her to. So honestly I assumed we wouldn't ever hear back from her again. But surprise! This week she called us and asked if we wanted to come by to see her and her sister with her sister's children as well. As it turns out neither she nor her sister were in our ward records! Of course we wanted to go visit them! She told us that everyone was either baptized or too young to be baptized but that they hadn't been to church for years. she and her sister wanted us to come by to help the children learn the basics that they never got the chance to learn due to years of inactivity. Cool eh? But wait. It gets better.
So we go over for our visit and in the beginning we did the whole get to know ya thing. In the middle of the sister of our street contact life's story, right when she started talking about getting baptized in the church, her 11 year old son leans over and and whispers, "Mom, what's baptized?" Mom was embarrassed but that was ok. Her sister pipes up with, "so you mean you haven't gotten him baptized yet? I thought you did that when he turned eight!" She then turned to us to confirm that it was eight years old when a child can be baptized. We just nodded our heads. But before anyone could say anything else, the 11 year old pipes in again with, "mom, what's baptized!?!?"
Probably needless to say, we got to start from square one. It was so much fun. I love the gospel in its simplest form. Cool miracle huh? Because of this 11 year old, two whole families will get to begin learning the simplicities of the gospel. Even the boyfriend came into the room to give his input throughout the visit. It was great! We are hopeful that this will quickly lead to complete activity in the church by both families. We have an excited 11 year old and his excited family willing to help him prepare to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized.
We also befriended two other people this week. One of them is a lady who waved us down and asked us to come back sometime. When we went back for a quick visit, she told us she has done her research and is excited for new beginnings with her family. My favorite quote from her, "Just know I don't think I would be doing any of this if I didn't know you guys use the Holy Bible." Well, like I said, this was going to be shortish. Till next week!
Love you all!
Hasta luego!
Elder Ostler
