We Need To Act

Guess what mom?

I left your letter at home...sorry.  So I forgot what questions you asked.

I'm glad to hear the elders are enjoying our house.  And that's cool that Saydi is quilting, or tying, or doing something with fabric.  How is school going for everyone?  What grade is everyone in again?  I know everyone's grade actually, except Wilson’s.  Sorry little guy.  Well this is going to be a short email...sorry.

I’m kind of out of it too.

This has really been one of the hardest weeks EVER!!!

Thursday we went up to Burlington to help Sister Burnette with cutting blankets so the RS could tie them tomorrow for a women's pregnancy center.  The LDS here are so service orientated...well most of them.  I loved cutting the fringes on the blankets...it took me back to when I used to sew.  I have this great desire now to improve that talent.  Well the rest of that day was pretty unproductive.  No one really wanted to listen to us, and one of our investigators dropped us.  Super nice lady, just doesn't believe in someone about our religion.

The pictures were taken that day...on my one year mark!  The one of me walking was random...Sister Wallace took it without me knowing....but I thought it was cool!

Friday everyone in Rochelle canceled on us it seemed like except for J who's getting baptized in a few weeks!  I'm so excited.  I feel so GOOD about her getting baptized.  She's been learning from missionaries since 2008 off and on and now we’re ready to get her wet!  She's excited too.  And we almost have everything ready.  Elder Vicars is going to do her interview on Friday.  If he doesn't pass her, well I might have to have a talk with him...no, I know he had the authority.

Our recent baptism is doing awesome!  She's glowing now and she can name the blessings that have come to her since being baptized by water and the spirit.

Saturday was Leda's birthday!  Happy birthday girl!!!

That day we also got anti stuff that was just dumb.  I hate Satan.  And no one wanted to listen.  But one person asked me what I would say to God at the judgment day.  Have you ever thought of that?  What would you say to Him to let you into Heaven?  He said I answered wrong because I mixed works and grace.  Whatever.  But that was actually really cool contemplating what I would say to God at the judgment day.  What would you say?

Oh yeah, and this whole time my sinus infection is getting worse.  Not too bad, but there are times when I just want to give up and go take a nap...plus training on top of that!  I'm letting her do more of the talking and encouraging her more so she will talk.  One thing I wish Sister Chen would have done is tell me when I did a good job, because I never knew if I did or not.  So that's what I'm trying to do with Sister Wallace.

Monday we contacted a HQ referral.  GOLDEN!  Went to SL, felt the spirit, wants to learn more AND was so excited that we gave her a BOM!  J and T...I have hope in them.  And they know the Binghams!!!!  Awesome lesson that went everywhere.

Tuesday was the worst day of my ENTIRE mission--no joke.

Hated it..almost every minute of it.  Didn't start out good when this one lady who we had so much hope in bashed us for, oh about 2.5 hours.  She was going to invite us back if we left early, so I just wanted to get it over with, and was pretty clear that we weren't coming back.  She ripped the BOM apart...and it was hard.  I prayed a lot after that seeking for an answer but the thing that keeps coming to my mind is "My ways are not your ways" from Isaiah.  Some of the stuff she said was bogus.  And that was our first appointment.

Then J ended up in the hospital cuz her baby wasn't moving, but she's good now.  And then another HQ referral ended up not being as promising.  We think he wants to know for the wrong reasons.  But maybe he'll gain a testimony.  His body language told us that he wasn't too interested in what we have to share, but in what he has to say.

Then today the NP only gave me stuff for my infection that would last 5 days.  I'm getting a blessing on Friday or Tuesday...prolly Friday.  The priesthood is real!!!!

Oh, tell Devey I said Happy Birthday!  I forgot what day her birthday is, but I know it's this month!

Okay well I love you all! 

Thanks for all you do for me.

Love, Sister Ostler

So I’ve decided that each week I’m going to have a thought of the week.  You can forward it to whoever else you want, family members, friends...whoever wants it.  But it's basically just something that I've come across in my studies or have been thinking about.

Note from Delene (Amanda's Mom).  If you would like this thought of the week email to come directly to you, send me your email and I'll put you on the list. delenelouise@gmail.com It will also be posted here, on this blog.

Strengthen Your Testimony

I forgot my Ensign, but in last GCmormons aren't Christians, why the BOM is false, etc.

So what can we do?

In Sister Ostler’s opinion we need to strengthen our testimonies.  Elder Nelson advises us to strengthen our faith, which you could say is the same thing.

How do we do that?  Well faith is a verb, so we need to act.  We need to pray to have our testimony strengthened, we need to have DAILY AND CONSISTENT scripture study, and we need to JOYFULLY and WILLFULLY attend all our church meetings.  I think one of the most important things is to study the scriptures.  I have found that keeping a study journal is very helpful.  I organized mine according to topic and it's helped me remember what I’ve already learned.

Scripture study can truly strengthen your testimony and increase your faith in Christ and His restored gospel.

My commitment to you is: "Will you study the scriptures everyday individually?"  "I promise that as you do you're testimony will be strengthened so when the "devil will send forth mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built..." (Helaman 5:12).

I love you all!  Have a wonderful day.  Hopefully it's not raining wherever you're at.

Love Sister Ostler