May 5,
2014
Well hey there!
So I'm going to start out with what
is probably your question of the week so I don't forget about it…Mother's Day
plans. I believe that the majority of
missionaries in the mission are going to do Skype. I think it is
everyone's easy option with the iPads. We already have a place to Skype
at (two places actually) but I have never had very consistent luck with the Internet
connection on these iPads. It is always going in and out. So for
me, I would rather call. But I'm not sure if you would rather Skype mom?
But You tell me what you would rather do. It's your day. I'm
going to figure out if I can use a phone at one of our Skype locations so I can
have the best of both worlds. I expect to call probably about 7 or 8 o’clock.
I will finalize that with a quick email mid-week after we figure out
who's house we are going to and if I can call from their phone or not.
So, on a different note, I started a
birthday letter for Dad during my language studies this past week. I
didn't finish it in time to send it to him on his birthday. Actually, I still haven't had the chance to
finish it up yet. Happy late birthday Dad! Your letter will be on
its way probably tomorrow after my language study (I'm writing it in Spanish).
I love you so much Dad!
On the birthday topic, HAPPY BIRTHDAY
NATHAN! Wow man! You are gettin up there in years! Speaking of
getting up there, from the few pictures I have seen of you, it looks like you
have gotten up there in height too! You should probably skip the personal
birthday wishes this year and just ask for some nice Nike hyperdunk basketball
shoes that your brother can have when he gets home from the mission.
Sound crazy? Let me explain... That way when you creme me in
basketball the day after I get home I don't have any excuses. ;). Eh?
What you think? Let me know ;). Love you too Nathan!
And don't worry you will also have a birthday letter on its way here
pretty soon.
Speaking of coming home, I guess it
was not a surprise to learn that mom says she's counting down til the day I
arrive. That was pretty funny to read about. But no mom, I'm not
thinking at all about that stuff...or at least I'm trying not to. I'll think
about that stuff when I get home. Pretty much once I finished up with all
the college decisions that I had to make; I have been trying to forget about
how much time I have left. Nowadays I tell everyone who asks that I have
been out for almost a year and a half.... Kind of misleading, but I it helps (or
at least I think it helps) me stay focused. Actually, I think it might
help everyone else around me more than it actually helps me. I guess I'm
far enough out in the mission that other missionaries are starting to think and
say things like, "oh wow... You only have to suffer (*insert whatever
missionary responsibility/activity they don't like) for "x" amount of
time longer". So it's mostly pretty funny, but obviously that type of
attitude has its side effects.
*Interesting note...not sure how to
say this super nicely, but I have noticed that a greater part of English
missionaries seem to be enduring through the mission time rather than living it
up to its fullest. It’s kind of a constant countdown for a lot of these guys.
Constant countdown ‘til p-day, constant countdown ‘til transfers,
constant countdown ‘til it's time to head in for the day, constant countdown
‘til a missionary leaves a ward he has been assigned to.... there are all sorts
of countdowns. It's pretty sad to me. I miss the joy and happiness
I enjoyed talking with my Spanish elders and hermanas about the mission life
rather than post-mission and pre-mission life.
So we did something way fun this
morning for p-day. I think it might become a regular thing. We did
it last week too. We woke up early so we could do our studies early
enough to go on a biking/running adventure. We went with the district and
a member of the ward to the Claremont Mountains. We got permission to
change our study schedule on p-days so we could beat the mid-day heat on this
hike thingy that the missionaries like doing in this ward.
Last week I ran with another member
of the district who likes to work out a lot because I thought that I was still
in somewhat good shape (the rest of the district was on bike). I didn't realize
how out of shape I could actually get by not consistently running/playing
sports and all that good stuff. Had I known how horribly out of shape I was, I
would never have chosen to run. But I didn't know in the moment and so I
ended up running myself into the ground. For a couple hours afterwards,
whenever I laughed or breathed slightly hard, I had what sounded like a smokers
cough. That was weird. But it all cleared up before the end of the day.
But even though that odd side effect went away, I could still feel the effects
of my run. I don't think I have hurt so bad after a run since back when I
killed myself in football conditioning workouts. My body hurt for days.
All the horror stories of missionaries who had gone on missions and
returned home without ever being able to regain their previous conditioned
state haunted me. I was beginning to worry I would become another one of
those sad statistics.
When I was deciding this morning if I
would run or bike, I was hopeful that maybe by some miracle, my body would be
able to hop back into the swing of heavy exercise like it always had done in
the past at the beginning of sports seasons. I thought back to how much
more quickly my body was able to build endurance and get into a conditioned running
state than most people. It's a gift I have been blessed with. I
never trained/conditioned before the soccer season started and would usually be
one of the better conditioned players on the team by the end of the first 3 or
4 days. One memory especially inspired me. We had to run the 7ish mile
version of Shady Lane loop on the first day of soccer tryouts. We all
knew it would be expected of us and in an effort to prepare many of us made
plans to run it a couple times before tryouts began. I had meant to train
with my soccer buddies, but for whatever reason, I never got around to it.
I finished 2nd and would have probably tied for first but I got a late
start because coach held me back for a few min to ask me why I wouldn't be able
to go to the team bonding/movie night.
I realized it was INSANE and
definitely some wishful thinking on my part to imagine that I would be able to
pull the same stunt now on my mission. After all, even though I hadn't
trained for that soccer run, I was always playing basketball with the elders
quorum or ultimate Frisbee with the HS buddies. But, regardless, I chose
to run it. And miracle of all miracles, I felt amazing! I still feel
amazing too! It was as if I was back in my high school soccer days with seemingly
limitless stamina. It rocked.
Anyways, on a more missionary note,
that awesome investigator I told you guys about last week hasn't progressed
much at all since last week. In fact we think he is considering dropping
us. It seems he likes hanging out with his drinking buddies more than he
likes visiting with us. We have shown up a couple times for appointments
and he sends us off because his drinking buddies are over.
Our other investigator is still
golden though! She is amazing! And she is on date for the end of
May as of right now. She is working on getting over a coffee addiction,
but she mentioned to us that she knows it's bad and doesn't want to drink it
anymore even before we ever taught her anything about it.
I'd write a little more about the
missionary work but I kinda ran out of time talking about the less important
stuff this week. Whoops. I'll do better next week. I have to
go right now to get ready for an exchange. I actually don't have Internet
right now so I will send this off as soon as I can hook up to some Internet... Probably
that will be sometime tomorrow during my exchange. Sorry mom... I’m sure
that isn't the funnest idea for you... but the good news is that it's better
late than never!
Love you all!
Yours truly,
Elder Ostler
