ANOTHER FANTASTIC WEEK!

Oh man, this week has been so great! yeah i probably start out all my letters this way but i don't even care because its true :) haha

So sundays are always super great cause its one of the days we have devotionals which are fantastic and we get to watch church movies and talks or whatever after so yeah. but so last week we watched the movie "legacy" and let me tell you it was so bad. every kiss or romance part with the main character become a huge deal. haha missionaries are so immature hahahah like the movie Its basically the chick flick of the mtc. but then this past sunday (almost a week ago) sister janice kapp perry (who wrote all the best primary songs like childs prayer, im trying to be like jesus, love is spoken here, etc) came and was giving a devo on sunday. so her husband spoke first and hes not in the best health but super cute old guy and they are the CUTEST OLD COUPLE EVER. like real life carl and ellie. so she gets up and is giving her talk and started talking about her life story and was talking about how they met and she was like we were in a clarinet class at byu and were sitting waiting for our final where we had to perform a piece to pass off a requirement. so shes like "i was sucking on the reed to get it soft to play well then he taps me on the shoulder and i turned and snapped 'what?' and he said 'those lips look like they should be doing something better than that' and then he tried to KISS ME!" the MTC errupted meanwhile her husband jumps out of his seat on the stand and walks as fast as he could over to her and gives her a kiss (all moving way faster than he probably should, ive never seen an old guy move that fast) this all made the missionaries go wild. it was hilarious. in the words of an elder in our zone "well we basically just saw him make out with his wife on stage in the middle of her talk." but besides that it was probably one of the best devo's so far here. because she wrote all this AMAZING songs we as an mtc sang an arrangement of a bunch of them. but the best was that at the end we had our closing song but she wrote army of helaman and sisters in zion so essentially the efy medley BUT after the age change she rewrote the lyrics to sisters in zion for the missionaries (for example it starts: the sisters in zion are called to gods labor; and the third verse is: we go forth enlisted in helamans army) so we sang this new and improved version of the efy medley basically the missionary medley it should be and it was so powerful then all the missionaries stood up it was sooooo powerful. 

Also this week we got to take this language assessment where we record us answering questions in spanish and stuff so at the beginning it has us recite a scripture in english from memory and one of the elders in our district was at this part and his companion was watching him and he turns to his companion who replies "well say something!" cause it was recording and he turns back to the computer and says "Jesus wept" we all about died. (for those of you who don't know thats the shortest scripture in all of the scriptures. 

so fun things about spanish. so there are a lot of really similar words especially words that have to do with fish and gospel terms that are close to that. for example in a lesson i was saying that if you pray you will feel peace and the word for that in spanish is paz but i accidently said pez which means fish... i said it then remembered the difference and fixed it but it was still really funny also pecado means sin and pescado means fish that you eat... also bad if you mix it up. but i am getting better and remembering which is which on the fly which is good. other than that my spanish is coming along really well. 

also were all "following" the world cup (perks of being spanish speaking) cause all our teachers are watching it and tell us what happened VIVA ARGENTINA! they also post scores on the white board outside the mess hall haha

and last but not least so the investigators that we came in to contact with and were like 95% sure that theyre real actual investigators. they get so emotional during our lessons and they can TOTALLY feel the spirit! they tell us this like every time we meet and theyre like we love that you guys teach us cause you guys have the spirit so strong and it doesnt seem like just a lesson and you guys really care about us! (this was coming out of that we met with them and they told us how they were so concerned about their daughter and we came back the next visit with a scripture for them to help them and they loved it and were surprised that we were thinking about them and their problems) it is so great teaching them even if they arent real investigators (some are and some arent) also its super crazy cause we ususally teach them on thursdays but this week we had something every day in the trc (teaching resource center) and we go in every day and teach a "progressing investigator" and guess what? we got her! coincidence? I THINK NOT! also since we have one less companionship than they had investigators her husband had no one teaching him so we got to teach him too! oh man so cool.

anyways thats pretty much my week!

love you all!

HERMANA OSTLER

Email de Hermana Ostler

MAN I LOVE THE MTC. Like honestly. missions are sooooooo great. 

So first thing, last week on p-day by chance my comp and i were walking to check out some music for a musical number and we were in pday clothes and this couple with gold nametags (gold nametags are "investigators" that you can set up an apt with and practice teaching outside the class and may or maynot be members of the church) were like "Hey! are you guys missionaries?" and were like yeah! whats up!? and long story short 4 other sister missionaries were supposed to come and give them a tour around the church building on west campus. so we were like oh we can show you! but apparently we arent allowed to give tours and stuff cause there are other classes going on during that time so we ended up just talking outside about the church and answering questions. then they were like oh can we meet with you again? and after freaking out in our minds we were like yeah of course! and we met with them again today. were 95% sure theyre actually non members cause when they were asking questions about their life and we were giving answers they got really really emotional. and today even though we had an actual lesson planned ended up just answering questions again (which was probably good cause they probably get all the lessons at least 3 times a week) but after they were like thanks so much we love talking to you, youre so relateable and you answer truthfully and from your heart and youre not trying to act like your selling us anything and we can really feel the spirit when were with you. it was so awesome! Its so amazing how much happiness the gospel can bring into people's lives. they also asked at the beginning why we were missionaries and how we felt about our missions and i was like oh man i am so happy! its just such a happy message and i am so happy that i could share it with others its amazing. Its something that has changed my life and made it better and i want everyone i meet to feel the same way i do.

Next, so we have this thing called the TRC and its basically where you go every once in a while and share a spiritual message with someone (this time around it was a member of the church) and it was such an amazing experience! The first person we met with was so cool and she was so sweet. I had read a scripture earlier and though that i should keep it marked and ended up sharing it with her. even though i felt like i didnt know what i was really saying about it, she really felt the spirit and we had a great spiritual meeting with her. the spirit was so strong!

ALSO, I love devotionals. then again i have since i was at BYUI but these are so great here. This week on sunday we had Sister Sheri Dew come and she was amazing. On tuesday an apostle strikes the mtc again! ELder M Russell Ballard came and his message was beyond unbelievable. Its a must look up. it might be online i don't know but it was broadcast to the other mtcs in the world. AND i know for a fact that i was on camera with my companion in the choir. The choral number was so great and beautiful as well. so yeah look it up. it was a great program. Also, for the record I called it before anyone even thought it was going on because before they made all the announcements about devotional changes for next tuesday I called it that the prophet is coming to speak next week. just throwing it out there. Super stoked. we don't know for sure but im pretty sure. i said it first. just sayin. also I will be looking for president and sister mortensen starting on the 21st! ive already seen their picture floating around as one of the new mission presidents (might have weirded out the sister at the front desk a little because of it but oh well) but im super stoked to see more familiar faces :) 

another thing i learned this week just within happenings around the mtc and things is that its never too late to repent. heavenly father is loving and will forgive you, you just need to take the steps to do it. the atonement is there for you because heavenly father and jesus christ KNOW that you will make mistakes but still love you. It is the greatest part of his plan that you can be made clean again through him. 

anyways.... thats all for now! I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

te quiero mucho
hermana ostler

Pictures from Week 2 at the MTC

 1. it poured on tuesday. it was fantastic. getting ready for argentina!

 2. on the way to the temple today

 3. the temple +my nametag (actually the one that carrie sent me)

 4. me and my comp in class

 5. my district

 6. the hermanas in my district wanted to tie a bow with my ponytail

fun story of the week. so last friday our zone leader was like oh btw we are going to be doing the cereal challenge on sunday. basically we all eat a whole coloumns worth of cereal at breakfast. it was a lot but we did it. these are the pictures :P

Mailing Address

Ok so this is my mailing address for the mtc in case you guys wanted it. also Dear Elder (www.dearelder.com) is great because if you type up a letter and send it it gets to me the same day and i can snail mail a letter back on any day not just pday (today) you just need the information in the mailing address and it would be the provo mtc "mission"

Sister Susan Elizabeth Ostler
JUL 14 ARG-BAN
2023 N 900 E Unit 815
Provo UT 84602

Love you all! Hope to hear from you soon! 

Love 
Hermana Ostler

Pictures

 my companion

my drawing of our district

 me with jelly beans from sister kupferer during break when i was STARVING

 friends from college. WERE MISSIONARIES!

instead of say cheese its "say queso!" (i thought of that)

Hola! (Part 2)

Ok so more stuff yay! so one of the people in my district reminds me of bobby from college. its so funny. except he isn't a die hard broncos fan. haha but it was funny cause he knows zero spanish and is trying really hard and one day in class he asked for a conjugation chart for a word so i wrote it on the board and then he was like thanks for the conjutives! it was hilarious. 

the food here is great. its basically byu cannon center food. oh its also super great cause im at west campus and it is all spanish speakers/learners so we can all just talk to eachother in spanish but when we go to main campus for devotional and whatnot its super awkward cause were all thinking and speaking in spanish and then theres a bunch of people who arent spanish up there so were like hola! que tal? and theyre like uh what? and its super weird seeing people with non spanish nametags haha 

Its also super weird cause i don't feel overwhelmed or scared or nervous or terribly in competent. its super weird. i feel like im doing something wrong cause im just like yeah im chillin while everyone is like oh my gosh this is insane so much to learn. it may be just cause im like it will come when it does as long as i work hard. there are so many amazing people here and everyone works so hard and is so happy. I got to go to the temple today and it was so great. its amazing how much you feel the spirit there. Its also super weird cause like everyone here is super good friends and you just want to give everyone a hug cause theyre a great person or high five them when something good happens but all we can do is shake hands... but oh well. its probably a good thing. so whenever were playing a game during gym and we do something good we shake hands haha its great. anyways i think thats all for now! ill write it all down next week so i actually know what i want to say next week. thanks guys!

love 

hermana ostler

Hermana Ostler's First Email (Part 1)

Hola a mi familia y mi amigos!

HOLY COW A MISSION IS LIKE THE BEST THING EVER!!! Like i don't think you all understand. I seriously wanted to email after the first night just to tell you how great it is! 

First off: the language. So basically spanish is the BEST. It is so crazy how much the spirit brings back to your remembrance. Like i remember so much from those 3 years of spanish that i would have thought i never would have remembered. Also, the gift of tongues is REAL. Honestly, best thing ever. Like i constantly think in spanish or spanglish and it is SUPER trippy. and when we teach lessons it is so weird cause like if you don't know how to say exactly what you want to in spanish you can ususally find simpler words to say instead. It is so insane. 

My district: MY DISTRICT IS THE BEST. We call ourselves "that district" cause were pretty sure everyone hates us cause were always loud and laughing and making each other laugh. But then we can all get super spiritual and its so ahmazing. But yeah its great because we all spend 14+ hours together just in the classroom. haha we have basically broken down every barrier that there is. we talk about EVERYTHING. My companion is so great. Her name is Hermana Medina and shes from Napa and is going to texas. we get along amazingly and have so much fun together along with the other hermanas. The other 2 hermanas in my district are great. hermana cannon is from Connecticut and is going to the WASHINGTON KENNEWICK MISSION. Like what the heck. kinda jealous. hahaha but its ok im excited for Argentina. maybe a bit too excited. haha. speaking of. 3 of the 4 elders in my district are going to the same mission! and i have met no hermanas going there... oh well. ANyways.... oh yeah. and then the rest of our district is like oh my gosh your companionship knows so much spanish and were like uhhh. then when we talk to other people like in intermediate and advanced classes they think were advanced cause we understand everything and speak really good spanish. LOL then theyre like wut? youre in beginning and only a first week? ITs great. but probably not for my pride haha. then also its super weird cause everyone is like your gospel insights are so great and you kknow like all the scripture references so whenever they have a question they come to me and im like uhhh then find it. YAY FOR SEMINARY. Like its crazy to realize how much i have learned in the youth program that is applicable here. Its fantastic. Like i am so grateful for my seminary teachers and everything cause i learned so much and now apparently im a walking bible dictionary. not really. but yeah. 

Another great thing is we have devotionals on sundays and tuesdays and this tuesday elder cook came and spoke! IT was great! so inspiring. 

Anyways i should go now! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Ostler :D

Aaand... She's Off!

Susan has officially been set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Tomorrow she reports to the MTC in Provo for 6 weeks! Hasta luego Hermana!