Hey guys,
So lots of questions you asked me. I've never gotten an email from Jackson. FYI. But I'll send him one today.
About my back. It's getting better. And I don't really want to take the time out of my pday to go get a massage. Plus Kristi Bair (my MT at home) said that it usually takes 6 times to do PR for it to really start working--and have a lasting effect. Which is true. When at home I had it done 6 times, and the pain didn't come back for about 1 1/2 months, which was a record. But the pain isn't as bad as before. Oh, and I tried that one thing that Brother Anderson said to do. It hurt my back, and it was weird.
Tracting is getting better. We're finally seeing the fruits of our labors! I'll tell later. But when they open the door we smile and say, "Hi, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. And we have a very important but simple message about the family, or about how Christ's gospel is here on the earth (or something else, depends on what we feel like saying) do you maybe have just 15 minutes we could share this message with you?"
Then their responses vary.
"No thank you, not today."
"I'm busy right now" which we will respond, "Is there another time we can come back?" "No, not really." So we leave.
"I'm not interested, but thank you."
"I'm already a Christian." "So you believe in Christ?" "Yes." "We do too. Have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon?" "Um..a little." "It's another testament of Jesus Christ...." yadayadayayda.
My favorite one is "I have my one church, and I"m happy with it." But your church is like the main course. After the main course what do you have? DESSERT!!!! Our gospel is sweet, as it says in the scriptures :) Sister Chen and I made that one up ;)
Actually one lady was like, "I'm not trying to convert you, so don't try to convert me." Okay then, we'll leave.
Sister Chen is nice. She's good with the paper work aspect of the mission. I'm terrible at it. I remember being RS pres, and I just focused on what the girls needed, not what the stake RS pres needed. Bad, I know, because His house is a house of order. But I just hate paperwork stuff. She's the oldest of two. She has a younger sister. She's the only one in her family who is LDS. Her mom actually wouldn't speak to her for a year at one point...I think when she served a mini-mission. She's been preparing to go on a mission since President Hinckley gave that Book of Mormon challenge in 2005. So that's cool. And no, we haven't done splits. I'm hoping that the sisters in our zone stay the same, because I really want to work with Sister Ika. Oh man, she's so cool! She's going home in December. And she is an AWESOME missionary! She knows her stuff! And she's so sweet! Us four, Me, Sister Chen, Ika, and Leahman, are the only sisters in our district. There's another spanish sisters in our zone.
And for the Darling recipe. Look her up on the BYUI website in student directories. Rachael Darling.
We can go once every other month. We got special permission last month :)
And yes, Kortneigh being engaged is really cool! It's weird to think that she is engaged though. I remember when we were kids, like 13, and we thought we were going to marry Paul Crawford. Yeah, I guess that didn't work out too well. But I'm excited for her. Tell her she has to write me, and tell all about him, the proposal...just everything! AND IF I DON'T GET AN ANNOUNCEMENT THEN I MIGHT DIE!!!!
The wind storm? Didn't really notice it. I'VE LIVED IN REXBURG AND TC MY WHOLE LIFE I'M USED TO THE WIND!!! I don't notice things like the weather too much, unless it's really cold or hot. Then I notice it.
But if you were to only send me one thing for the rest of my mission, I would absolutely love the blessing that President Pulsipher gave me, and the one dad did before I went into the MTC. Like honestly. I really want those.
So yes, mom, you were right. This week wasn't the best. The end of the weeks are always hard for me. I'm going to tell you something surprising. I HATE SATURDAYS!!!! We don't have any appointments, so we have to go tracting ALL DAY LONG! It's tiring. When we get home I just want to sleep! And the end of the week, I have no idea why it's hard, but it just is.
But Monday was pretty cool. We stopped by Angel, an investigator who wasn't home. So we walked to her neighbors who is a potential investigator. Along the way we met a women and started sharing our message with her. She said, "I'm already a member, I just haven't been to church in a long time." We never got her name. But I think when she means a long time, she means A LONG TIME! So Sister Chen shared a simple message about prayer with her, and gave her our info. She said, "That message was exactly what I needed to hear." So that was cool.
Then on Saturday, I think, we were tracking in this place in Warrenville. We went there last Sunday to tract and both of us had a good feeling about that place. So we went back. Our second door was a girl named Lulu. She was a mother of three. She said to come back on Tuesday at four. Usually when people say that, they're gone when we come back, or it's a bad time. But we do it anyways.
So we went back yesterday, and there were kids EVERYWHERE! But she let us in, and we asked her some questions. She basically told us that she had had her first child alone, without a husband or anything. Then she got a BF, and had her second child. Then when she was pregnant with Sophie, her baby of 6 mo. her BF left her. After the two children she had alone she became angry, and wondered why God would put her through this. So now she's just looking for God. She was raised a church going Catholic. But she's never read the bible before. She has no idea who Abraham, Noah, Moses are. What the? What do they teach in the Catholic church? Ask Wilson if he knows who those people are. I bet he could tell you. But she's been going to different Churches. She didn't like a church in Wheaton, and she didn't like the Jehovah's Witnesses. YAY! "I just want someone to explain the scriptures to me...to teach me, " she said. So we taught her the first lesson. And she was hanging on every word. It was so awesome. I asked her if she came to find out the Book of Mormon was true what would she do. And she pretty much said join our church. It was awesome! So she's going to read and pray, and we have an appt with her tomorrow! She's pretty much awesome!
We got two new investigators yesterday. Lulu and Jill. Jill is Debra's tenant. Debra is someone who should be baptized BUT SHE WON'T COME TO CHURCH! So we've been teaching Jill too. We had already given her the commitment to read and pray. Yesterday when we went to visit Debra only Jill was home, so we talked to her (shes 28 next week). At first I could tell Jill didn't want to talk to us. But she had some questions like what's with some guy appearing to Joseph Smith and he was resurrected. So we explained who Moroni was, and we ended up teaching her the POS (Plan of Salvation). By the time we left she said, "I always have a good feeling when I talk to you girls." Could it be the Spirit? We're having a "party" next Wednesday to celebrate her birthday. We really gained her trust yesterday, and so she's more willing to learn. She was born and raised Lutheran, and kind of accused me of not really knowing the BOM was true because I was born and raised Mormon, so it was the only thing I knew. So I had to explain to her that I wasn't riding on the coat tails of my parents testimony. I"ll actually get that sometimes. There have been a few people that ask us if we were born a Mormon. And every time I say "yes," they give a certain look. But I know that I'm not out here just because of you guys. I'm out here because I know that this gospel is true and can truly bless everyone.
Oh, and the Book of Mormon is AMAZING. I love reading it. It brings me so much peace and comfort. Oh, and does anyone know who wrote the introduction? Was it Bruce R. McConkie? I know it wasn't Moroni. He wrote the title page. Learned that in Seminary ;)
But I think now that more and more members are starting to trust us. They're seeing that we're hard working missionaries. So that's good.
And Dad, you should "work on" Liz. She has a BOM, I gave one to her. This gospel can truly bless her life so much! She's such a good person.
Oh, and Mom, instead of getting pumpkins for all the missionaries, I'm sure that they would like referrals even better. Referrals from members are the key.
Oh Kelsey finally contacted us!!! yaya! She'd been super busy. So we met her in a little coffee house (we had Hot chocolate). And she's read the Book of Mormon a lot, prayed, got no answer. And she admitted that she was the reason she was getting what she called static. She said, "I don't know if I want to know that it's true. Because then if it's true then everything I was raised to be goes down the drain. And if I become a Mormon my family will disown me." She's Catholic. (Didn't I tell you everyone was Catholic over here?) But she said that she would keep trying. Yeah, she even teaches a bunch of 4th graders at a Catholic school, or something like that. But when she called us and told us she still wanted to meet with us, I could honestly see her in the temple, taking her endowments out, and getting married to this awesome, good-looking RM in the temple, and me and Sister Chen just bawling our eyes out, because we knew what sacrifices she had to make, and also that she had finally come to realize the truth. Oh man, come on Kelsey! We know you can do it!
Oh, I got in an "argument" with this black preach who was obsessed over race about who God was. He was another one that thinks the Godhead is one in person. He couldn't even explain himself when we again showed him the example of Christ being baptized. Then he told me that I couldn't testify the Book of Mormon was true, because I didn't see Joseph Smith "write" it. Um, yes actually that's what I was called to do. So sorry. But that made me mad. His mom was cool. She took a copy of the Book of Mormon, and told me to hang on to what I believe. She as 86ish years old. Cool lady.
Okay, time to go!
Love you!
Love Sister Ostler
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