Well well well. This has been a very fun week, as you can tell by the pictures!
Last pray we went up to Byron to play with the Elders. We played the capture the flag, except it was capture the snow shovel. It was great. Elder Runner was like a little kid. His team won every time. Then we had hot chocolate and played a dictionary game. Great district!
Then one day we were sick of tracting. We had tracted almost the whole dayish. So we took a break in the car. It was much needed. I was in a much better mood by the end of it. From the pictures you can see we had so much fun. Sister De Leon and I were getting along just fine. I was really focused on just having fun, walking at her pace, being patient and loving to investigators that didn't want to keep commitment, and relying on Heavenly Father EVERY SINGLE DAY for my daily bread.
We had an awesome appointment with L who had an amazing experience with reading the Book of Mormon. She says she knows it's true (she has Wilson's Book of Mormon by the way) and we asked her if she wanted to be baptized (3rd appt) and she said yes, she's ready. We tried setting a date, she said she wants to do it with her three youngest daughters! Sweet! When can we come and teach them? So amazingly awesome! We're so excited for her.
We also found a family who's looking for something else. They believe in God, but they're looking. We taught them a little bit about church before we had to dash, and committed them to come. No one, of course showed up for church. Who knows. I don't like Satan. Whatever. We'll try harder this week. A** has fallen off the face of the planet. Won't set up a time for us to come over, she's too busy. So I'm just exercising ALOT of patience. Who knows about S**. C*** is doing good! She read! She was tired last night, so it was a quick L2.
V** and her daughter are doing good too! V** is looking for something more in her life. "When I see it I'll know," she says, talking about the right church. Her daughter is 12. I gave her Jefferson's Book of Mormon. I gave Patrick, Harrisons. So I still have Bensons, Moms and Dads. She really likes learning from us and loves the Book of Mormon. We'll teach them the restoration next time.
So yeah, we had a great week. Our numbers were low, but we still had a ton of fun together. We would laugh, talk, work on getting her to talk to people and to teach.
Then at 9:40 Saturday night I heard the phone vibrate in my coat pocket as I was preparing stuff for Sunday's mormon.org presentation that we gave in both wards. I went up and looked at it. We had a missed call from President Doll at 9, and then now again. It's never good when President calls you at 9 at night. We called back and he asked to be put on speaker phone. So we did. Then he asked us if we could do him a favor. What are you going to say, "No, President, we're not going to do you a favor?" He said that a spanish sister was leaving the mission, for whatever reason, in Blue Island (by the city) and so they were going to put Hermana Moffett who was in Rockford there. They were going to move Sister De Leon up to Rockford and since there was a trio of english sisters in Wheaton, Sister Fossett was going to be my new companion. We agreed that that's what we would do. What else could we say?
When I first heard this news I was super bummed. I thought that I had messed up with training, even though I knew that I hadn't. I knew that this was what needed to take place. But losing my daughter after 3.5 weeks! Ouch! And we were just finally starting to really get a long! Even though I was dead tired all the time. But that night I prayed for understanding. And I got it. There are so many good things going to come out of this.
1) Sister De Leon is now in the branch with the family that referred P**. She can talk to them about him, since they're not returning our calls.
2) Sister De Leon is so much more comfortable when she's around spanish people. She'll really soar now that she doesn't have to worry about the language. She'll just be an awesome missionary. Plus her new trainer, Sister Noyes is just awesome! So happy all the time and just a great missionary.
3) Sister Fossett was trained well. I found out that from the beginning she had to take charge cuz her companion was sick for 2 weeks. She loves this work, and it really does not seem like she's been out for only 4 months. She'll so train after she kills me!
I just felt that Sister Fossett would be so good for this area, and would really help me die in style! I wouldn't be dragging her a long, but we would sprint on together. She would help me on those days that I didn't feel like working. And it's funny, cuz even just being with her for a couple hours I feel like it's not the end of my mission. I feel like I'm not going to go home. It's a great feeling, and I'm so excited for these next transfers and a half.
I loved Sister De leon, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to train. I'm super excited. It's been 5 months since I've had a seasoned companion, and I'm super excited!
Well not much more tell. Sorry it's so short.
Oh, and Sister Fossett is border line diabetic, so we're not having deserts at people's houses anymore! Oh joy!!!!! I'm soooooooo excited! Oh, that last picture was the night we found out and I was writing my note cards for the presentation and I was preoccupied that I wrote transfers, instead of the word I was supposed to write. That's my mad face :)
Love,
Sister Ostler
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