What God Requires

Ahhhhh well another relatively uneventful week. Working working working. But something that we are working on is a specific of what i mentioned last week. working better with the members. The area presidency down here came out with a new "rule" i guess you could call it, that is every week we have to be in contact with a member of the presidency of every organization in the ward. Basically we now run around visiting a lot of leaders, coordinating our efforts, trying to strengthen the ward, which brings me to my story of the week. 

So we went to visit a couple this week who are the elders quorum president and primary president to coordinate. We started to talk about how we have a lot of "active families," which normally would be good. 

We began to talk about the ward, when the primary president said something that hit me and has had me thinking for the last few days. She said "Its actually really easy to be an ´active´ member of the church, you just have to come to church once or twice a month and people will think youre active" to which her husband commented "we want to help everyone realize that you should come to church ALWAYS." 

This got me to thinking. There are a lot of members who are "active" and who "hold" a calling. But God requires a lot more, which is why the scriptures constantly talk about the "slothful and not wise servant."

We shouldnt be servants, rather disciples of christ. We should follow him of our own will, not wait around until he tells us what to do. This includes going to church everyweek, not just holding calling but doing you very best to fulfil it, sharing the gospel with others, giving the lord 100%. Its something that i have been more than guilty of not doing. The lord doesnt want us living in our comfort zone, he demands improvement, change, pushing for better. It only comes with with an effort on our part. 

So thats my thought of the week. Hope everything is going well back in the homeland!

love

hermana ostler

Hermana Ostler is doing Disney in Argentina

 puerto madero (like the Columbia Sailing Ship)

real life tower of terror elevator in the chile consulate

 tramites for my comp! (She probably had to wait in line!)

Catch the Wave

Whelllllllll. THis week. Hmmmm not to much that i have to say about this week. It was pretty great minus the rain one day and is deathly hot the next but hey what are you going to do? Ill tell you what. Wade through a street that was ankle deep to get to a meeting. haha

Basically just a lot of working with progressing investigators. Dropping ones who arent progressing. Something that our mission is trying to improve a lot is working well with the members. Because the members are everything. This includes helping people get excited about missionary work. Which brings me to my next point. MISSIONARY WORK. The point of the lords church since the beginning of time. Trying to help the people who dont believe to have hope in a god who loves us and lives! The best way you can serve someone you love is to help them see the big picture. "this is my work and my glory: to bring about the immorality and ETERNAL LIFE of man" it only comes through this gospel. The work is ever hastening. Catch the wave. Get excited! This isnt the theme of the youth this year for nothing. 

Yours truly

hermana ostler

Sunburns and Blisters and Bruises, OH MY!

Welp i am surprised i havent died this week. Or that Im still walking haha.

So it basically started with monday. Well first off its flipping hot down here. So on monday as a zone we decided to play us some good ol fútbol! And apparently im not half bad. But anyways so the "field" is in the back of the church and is concrete so was basically on fire. Anyways, due to my being a very competative person to the surprise of the elders in the zone i scored some pretty awesome goals (if i do say so myself), the first of which (the one that was the most awesome) was against an argentine elder who is really good. So about 20 minutes later im fighting him for the ball, which i obvously loose and he starts running away but in the meantime trips me and i fall on all fours. The whole zone freaks out and i didnt think it was that bad, just my knees hurt a little bit and move on with my life. Then that night when i cleaned my wounds there were huge bruises and scabs on my knees and i also found out it was hard to kneel. I guess he was just mad that i scored on him hahaha 

Then the next morning i woke up with a blister the size of a quarter on the ball of my foot because of the heat and the running and yeahh. That made it hard to work this week. THEN like 3 days ago i forgot to put on sunscreen and sunburned my neck and shoulders where my shirt doesnt cover. My comp thought that that was hilarious. I guess i just need to get a concussion today to complete the head, shoulders, knees, and toes hahaha

BUT despite my uncomfortable knees, feet, and shoulders we had 2 baptisms this week! Ah man are they awesome. Theyre a mother and daugther who the mom was inactive and got baptized 35 years ago in brazil but her records cant be found so she had to get baptized again! go figure! But theyre seriously awesome. It was such a miracle, even the baptism itself! The daughter recently suffered a medical problem in her brain and has to sleep propped up because if she closes her eyes and lays down, when she gets up she sees all black for a few minutes. She was able to get baptized still saying it was ok with her to see black to get baptized, but when she came up out of the water, nothing happened! What a tender mercy of the lord. She was so happy and so surprised! She said its the first time in 9 months where that hasnt happened. It was such a great experience. I know that the lord blesses those who keep his commandments!

Love

Hermana Ostler

From Palatial to Ghetto to Delicacy

 part of the institute building... its dang awesome. it was made out of a house from the 1800s

 #imcoolwithmyghettocup 

asado!!!!!

Whodunnit?

The Line Up

              what happens to you when you score on an argentine and then he trips you

It's a Mother/Daughter Thing!

 DIVISIONS WITH MY MOM!!!! :D

  mother and daughter

baptism! with the member who reintroduced them to the church 

Are You Ready For Some Fútbol?!?!

fútbol for pday! :D

new years

some other hermanas in our zone

Stress Management

This week has been awesome! The first week in the transfer can sometimes be nerve wracking especially when leading an area because everything depends on you, but this week has gone great! My companion, Hermana Pardo, is from Concepcion, Chile! My first latina companion! and finally someone to fix my greengo accent. Although sometimes her chilean accent throughs me off. (side note:speaking of greengo before Hermana Christensen left a member told her, "yeah youre going home! back to greengolandia!" it was funny) She has such a love for the people!

New Years Eve was a blast. We had to be in the apartment at 8:30 for safety reasons and yes went to bed on time. ONLY TO BE WOKEN UP AT 12 BY ALL THE FIREWORKS. Holy cow. Basically everyone just shoots off whatever in capital and it makes a bunch of noise. We had fire works from the horizon up until a block away. Crazy. 

So now on to the title before everyone freaks out and thinks that im super stressed out cause im not. haha This is something that I was thinking about a few weeks ago but just now have time to write it out:

Missionary work is not stressful, by the worlds standards. We are 18, 19, 20 year old kids running around foreign countries, inviting people to come unto christ. Then how do we, as missionaries get so stressed out all the time about having baptisms, investigators coming to church, less actives who have a wavering testimony, and so on? Because a. we love the people and b. because we love the people, we are sad when they dont see the importance of this great message, or the big picture.

So if missionaries get so stressed out about this, how do you think our all knowing heavenly father feels when we choose to watch that movie, of say hurtful things, or do something we know we shouldnt? Or choose to not read our scriptures, or to not pray, or help someone along the path? Id get stressed out too, because he sees that were forgetting the big picture. He sent us here to earth to learn, wanting all of us to return to him, but knowing that some wouldnt, so everytime we choose wrong, yeah i bet he does get stressed out, because he sees that were getting further and further away from him. But luckily theres more to it. A sort of stress reliever. ITS REPENTANCE! If we repent, we CAN MAKE IT BACK! It depends on us. WE have to decide to change. We have to decide to want to come back. 

Yes god is perfect. Doesnt mean he cant get stressed. Its always the things that you cant control that give you stress. If he wanted to, he could probably control us, but because he loves us he gives us our agency, and repentance. Use them wisely. 

Well that was kinda long. But i liked the thought. Oh the things that you think about when youre a missionary :) Happy NEW YEAR! 

Love Hermana OStler

Pictures from Last Year

sleepover! it was hot so we moved our mattresses

we went to a japanese garden last pday