Hello Family Dearest,
We started up another week and everything, though it is pretty similar to what it was before in the work, is really different. President Weidmann has been in contact with us and been talking a lot about getting missionary work going on here in Shkoder on a more public front. That is something that I feel like he is a huge fan of. It is a really great idea, and a fairly terrifying reality. I was talking to him on the phone yesterday and he requested that we go and set up a meeting with the mayor of Shkoder as well as with as many important people here in Shkoder as we can. That is not exactly something I am super familiar with doing (I am much more comfortable stopping random people in the street and starting a conversation from scratch. This whole idea about knowing someone's name before meeting with them is just alien.). So, though we have no idea what we are doing, we are going to try to make this 4-member church get known by the head honchos of Shkoder.
Well, other than that, we have been doing a lot of that other, more spontaneous, work which is street contacting and tracting. It is pretty crazy, I have never had so much success in tracting as we have had in the past week and a half in Shkoder. We have gotten into several houses and shared a message about the Savior...but none of them have led to any real success (with one possible exception...we'll see what happens). However, in general, I feel like the work here is pretty similar to the work in Tirana or Fier. Some people listen, a lot of people don't, some girls look at you and see a passport, some boys look at you and say things that make their friends laugh. Same old paradise of missionary work. It is just baffling how a place that seems so similar in the most part to other places has had such little success in the past. This city was opened at the same time as Vlore, a city in the south that has an average church attendance of over 70 or 80. I think that a huge thing is the attitude of missionaries. I feel like, as a general rule, the Lord will not bring miracles to pass to those who are not preparing themselves to receive them. We need to be prepared to receive those miracles by being in the right places with the right Spirit and a willingness to open up your mouth as did Peter (Acts 10:34).
I love the example that Alma the Younger gives to us (when he probably isn't quite so young) after he talks to his son Corianton. He tells Corianton at the end of Chapter 42 that he has been called again by the Lord on a mission. At the beginning of 43 we see this father send his sons out on missions, and then it says that "Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth."(verse 1) Alma had just sent out some incredible missionaries and as a father had done his work, especially as he was the High Priest and I am sure had his hands full in that capacity, but regardless of the current medals of service that he wore around his neck, he could not rest. He could not sit and fulfill just part of his calling and potential as a member of the Church/lifelong missionary, but continually was a witness of Christ. Pretty cool. Somewhat daunting when relating that to our calling as representatives of Jesus Christ. In an MTC talk entitled "Feed My Sheep" which preceded a talk of similar message given in General Conference, Elder Holland stated it this way:
Right here, face-to-face, again from the honesty of his heart he {Peter} said, “I do love you, more than anything.”
And to that, the Savior of the world said, “Then feed my sheep! I have asked you before to leave your nets. And I’m asking you again, and I don’t want to ask you a third time. When I said, ‘Leave your nets,’ it was forever. When I asked you to follow me, it was forever. When I asked you to be an apostle, it was forever. When I asked you to be a Missionary, it was forever. When I asked you to see this through to the end, it was because it’s not over ’til it’s over. Now forget your nets, and forget the fish, and jettison your boat, and throw those oars away for the second time, and feed my sheep. We’re in this ’til the end.”
This past week we had Zone Training. Our Zone Leaders let us know of the new mission goal that President Weidmann set with the Lord. It is for each companionship to have 4 baptisms per 3 month transfer. What an incredible goal! The effectiveness of our mission will go up and so many people will be able to come closer to their Savior. So, it you are doing some kind of praying for the people of Albania, I guess my suggestion would be to focus it on this new mission focus.
So, my companion is great. He is pretty young in the mission (but I remember how much I despised people expecting less of me simply because I was a younger missionary, so I won't focus on that). He really wants to do what is expected of him by the Lord and the mission president. He isn't the most naturally extroverted of people, but there has been a huge change over the last week and a half. He is becoming more extroverted in missionary ways meaning that he is so much more open to talking to strangers and overcoming the fear of others. That is such a hard thing to do for just about everyone, and he is taking massive strides. Bravo i qofte!
Well hey family, you guys are great. Brigham and Grant, Dad sent me some of your recent swim times and pictures and you guys are ripping it up in the water there! Bej te fala Elder Sponseller (give him my regards), I can't believe that he is coming home already! Absolutely ridiculous.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
Monday, January 12, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
#77
Happy Monday!
It is good to be able to say hello and think a little bit about what has happened in the last couple of days (it has not been long since the last installment).
Church here was awesome! We had seventeen people come which was awesome (6 missionaries, 3 Shkoder members, 1 visiting member, and 6 non-members), That is the most that have come to church in quite a long time and it was a fantastic way to start off this transfer. Church here lasts about 1.5 hours. The Sacrament Meeting is about 60 minutes and then Sunday school runs about as long as it takes to read through the lesson in Gospel Principles (we'll see what we can do to improve that).
One really big blessing that has happened in the last couple days came in the form of a recent convert from Tirana 1st ward named Franc. Franc is Shkodran (meaning a guy from Shkoder) and he came up for the weekend. While he was here he brought a friend to Church, brought another to be taught, introduced us to another guy, and gave us the phone number to a fourth guy and told us to call him and say we were Franc's friend. I don't know if I have ever seen as much member-missionary work fire in somebody before. It definitely made me want to be a better missionary in every aspect. I was recently reading a talk that Elder Bednar gave in the MTC in 2011 called Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary (you can actually find it on lds.org) and one of the parts that I really liked had to do with our eternal calling as missionaries. He said that when our release date comes and our tag taken off that we aren't released as missionaries, we just change our role from full-time missionaries to lifelong missionaries. Franc obviously knows that it was something good that he found and his natural reaction is to share it. I want to be the same.
Another cool thing that has happened started while we were searching for the house of a previous investigator. We asked a couple people and finally a lady in this coffee bar (if I haven't sad this there are a crazy huge amounts of coffee bars here) if they knew the person. She said no, but we asked if she would like to learn about the message that we were sharing because we had some cool missionary friends that were girls that would love to come over and talk to here. So, on Sunday night we took the Sisters over there to meet this lady. Her house is actually connected to the bar and she was there with her husband and 2 kids. We were gong to just leave the Sisters to have a lesson, but they were pretty sketched out by the surrounding area (it was pretty dark) and so we stayed and were able to be in the lesson with them. It was a good lesson and it was just a wonderful testimony builder on inviting everyone to learn.
Family, I love being a missionary. I am not very good at it, but I see the Lord throw me bones know and then when I need it. One thing that I have been trying really hard to implement into the work more in the recent past is testifying. I love the word testify. In Albanian the word is dëshmoj. It expresses just about exactly what I want it to. I think about a lot of the stuff that we teach, and in many instances I don't know if I could say that I totally know that it is true, but I have faith that it is, it makes a lot of sense that it is, and my conviction of it grows everyday. So maybe I can't always say that I know. But I can say that I testify because I have truly been a witness of the life-changing blessings that the gospel brings to those that embrace it. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior. He is the Son of a living and loving God that cares for us and knows what is best for us. The Gospel and fullness of Plan of Salvation have been revealed to chosen children of God and is taught to us in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and through the mouth of modern-day and living prophets. Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can be perfected bit by bit and become like that loving Father and His perfected Son. I testify of those things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
It is good to be able to say hello and think a little bit about what has happened in the last couple of days (it has not been long since the last installment).
Church here was awesome! We had seventeen people come which was awesome (6 missionaries, 3 Shkoder members, 1 visiting member, and 6 non-members), That is the most that have come to church in quite a long time and it was a fantastic way to start off this transfer. Church here lasts about 1.5 hours. The Sacrament Meeting is about 60 minutes and then Sunday school runs about as long as it takes to read through the lesson in Gospel Principles (we'll see what we can do to improve that).
One really big blessing that has happened in the last couple days came in the form of a recent convert from Tirana 1st ward named Franc. Franc is Shkodran (meaning a guy from Shkoder) and he came up for the weekend. While he was here he brought a friend to Church, brought another to be taught, introduced us to another guy, and gave us the phone number to a fourth guy and told us to call him and say we were Franc's friend. I don't know if I have ever seen as much member-missionary work fire in somebody before. It definitely made me want to be a better missionary in every aspect. I was recently reading a talk that Elder Bednar gave in the MTC in 2011 called Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary (you can actually find it on lds.org) and one of the parts that I really liked had to do with our eternal calling as missionaries. He said that when our release date comes and our tag taken off that we aren't released as missionaries, we just change our role from full-time missionaries to lifelong missionaries. Franc obviously knows that it was something good that he found and his natural reaction is to share it. I want to be the same.
Another cool thing that has happened started while we were searching for the house of a previous investigator. We asked a couple people and finally a lady in this coffee bar (if I haven't sad this there are a crazy huge amounts of coffee bars here) if they knew the person. She said no, but we asked if she would like to learn about the message that we were sharing because we had some cool missionary friends that were girls that would love to come over and talk to here. So, on Sunday night we took the Sisters over there to meet this lady. Her house is actually connected to the bar and she was there with her husband and 2 kids. We were gong to just leave the Sisters to have a lesson, but they were pretty sketched out by the surrounding area (it was pretty dark) and so we stayed and were able to be in the lesson with them. It was a good lesson and it was just a wonderful testimony builder on inviting everyone to learn.
Family, I love being a missionary. I am not very good at it, but I see the Lord throw me bones know and then when I need it. One thing that I have been trying really hard to implement into the work more in the recent past is testifying. I love the word testify. In Albanian the word is dëshmoj. It expresses just about exactly what I want it to. I think about a lot of the stuff that we teach, and in many instances I don't know if I could say that I totally know that it is true, but I have faith that it is, it makes a lot of sense that it is, and my conviction of it grows everyday. So maybe I can't always say that I know. But I can say that I testify because I have truly been a witness of the life-changing blessings that the gospel brings to those that embrace it. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior. He is the Son of a living and loving God that cares for us and knows what is best for us. The Gospel and fullness of Plan of Salvation have been revealed to chosen children of God and is taught to us in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and through the mouth of modern-day and living prophets. Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can be perfected bit by bit and become like that loving Father and His perfected Son. I testify of those things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
Thursday, January 1, 2015
#76 A Change of Scene
Hey Everybody,
Happy New Year! I don't think that I had gotten used to writing 2014 yet, change really throws me off. Well, that is not the only thing that is changing, we got our calls from President Weidmann on Sunday night and I am now chillin' (pretty literally as well as figuratively) in the streets of Shkoder. I am stoked, more than just about any other place in the mission Shkoder needs some serious help. It needs some awesome missionary work, so please pray for us so that we can rip this place to shreds as we plan to!
Shkoder is the most northern city in Albania opened to missionaries. It is probably very similar in size to Fier (I think a bit bigger) and it is a pretty city. There is snow on the mountains, but we haven't seen anything yet by means of frozen precipitation here. It's possible though.
I am now serving with Elder Szabo. He just finished being trained up here in Shkoder and is a good kid. He is actually still 18-years-old, crazy. He is from American Fork and was a lacrosse player there. It is going to be a good transfer. I have definitely been blessed ever since the beginning with incredible companions.
Our house here is in a 3 story villa that is owned by some of the few members here in Shkoder (there are 4 active members: The branch president President Kraja who has been a member for about 14 months, Arsen, a 24-year-old baptized 13 months ago who will be leaving on a mission in a month and a half, and Mimoza and Pal Pali, a middle-aged couple (50's) who were baptized 4-6 months ago). So the Pali's are our landlords which should be fun because they are awesome. As you can probably tell from the member list, there is a lot of good work that can happen in this area. It is so exciting!
I don't really have a whole lot else, oh, yeah, my camera got jacked on a bus my last day in Tirana which is really too bad, whaddya do? I am going to see if I can get that old one to work out. Oh, and here in Shkoder, in order to catch as much sunlight as possible, we have switched the schedule forward an hour so that we wake up at 5:30 and go to bed at 9:30. That also means that our P-days end at 5, so just so that you are aware.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
P.S. Hey Mom, you asked about the interview being archived. Here is the link to it, but we actually got a dvd of it as well that I will keep.
http://webtv.albanianscreen.tv/pages/videot/target_25_dhjetor_2014/ALB
I have not quite yet gotten the package, Dad, but I am not worried about it yet. Elder Rawlings was sent up to Kosovo anyway, so he won't be getting that bolo for a while anyway.
Happy New Year! I don't think that I had gotten used to writing 2014 yet, change really throws me off. Well, that is not the only thing that is changing, we got our calls from President Weidmann on Sunday night and I am now chillin' (pretty literally as well as figuratively) in the streets of Shkoder. I am stoked, more than just about any other place in the mission Shkoder needs some serious help. It needs some awesome missionary work, so please pray for us so that we can rip this place to shreds as we plan to!
Shkoder is the most northern city in Albania opened to missionaries. It is probably very similar in size to Fier (I think a bit bigger) and it is a pretty city. There is snow on the mountains, but we haven't seen anything yet by means of frozen precipitation here. It's possible though.
I am now serving with Elder Szabo. He just finished being trained up here in Shkoder and is a good kid. He is actually still 18-years-old, crazy. He is from American Fork and was a lacrosse player there. It is going to be a good transfer. I have definitely been blessed ever since the beginning with incredible companions.
Our house here is in a 3 story villa that is owned by some of the few members here in Shkoder (there are 4 active members: The branch president President Kraja who has been a member for about 14 months, Arsen, a 24-year-old baptized 13 months ago who will be leaving on a mission in a month and a half, and Mimoza and Pal Pali, a middle-aged couple (50's) who were baptized 4-6 months ago). So the Pali's are our landlords which should be fun because they are awesome. As you can probably tell from the member list, there is a lot of good work that can happen in this area. It is so exciting!
I don't really have a whole lot else, oh, yeah, my camera got jacked on a bus my last day in Tirana which is really too bad, whaddya do? I am going to see if I can get that old one to work out. Oh, and here in Shkoder, in order to catch as much sunlight as possible, we have switched the schedule forward an hour so that we wake up at 5:30 and go to bed at 9:30. That also means that our P-days end at 5, so just so that you are aware.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
P.S. Hey Mom, you asked about the interview being archived. Here is the link to it, but we actually got a dvd of it as well that I will keep.
http://webtv.albanianscreen.tv/pages/videot/target_25_dhjetor_2014/ALB
I have not quite yet gotten the package, Dad, but I am not worried about it yet. Elder Rawlings was sent up to Kosovo anyway, so he won't be getting that bolo for a while anyway.
#75 Christmas Day 2014
Dear family,
This week has been a good week, one of the crazier things was actually when we got a call from a less active member in our ward who is a tv news anchor and he asked to interview us about the He is the Gift initiative We, along with some other sisters her in Tirana went and had a total of about 25 minutes to talk about our church on tv which was super cool and rather terrifying. I would not have thought that it would be that scary to give an interview on tv even with the added barrier that it isn't in my mother tongue, but it definitely was sufficiently frightening. It's all good though, two of the points of good television that Harbi (the anchor) told us were to have a strong message (and what's stronger than the gospel?) and to be visually appealing, or in other words beautiful people. So we destroyed those two points (jokes).
Right now we don't really have a ton of investigators that are moving forward. It is too bad to not see that progression because that is really where the best parts of the mission are. I once said (and thought that it was very lovely so I quote myself often) that the best parts of my mission have not been standing in water. Actually baptizing people is cool, but really the greatest moments have been while watching people find Gospel truths and applying them in their lives. So right now we are just working to help people get to that point.
I am so grateful for Christmas and for the blessings that are available because of the birth of Christ that we celebrate at this time. Thank you so much for your faith and the strength that you show to others especially to me.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
This week has been a good week, one of the crazier things was actually when we got a call from a less active member in our ward who is a tv news anchor and he asked to interview us about the He is the Gift initiative We, along with some other sisters her in Tirana went and had a total of about 25 minutes to talk about our church on tv which was super cool and rather terrifying. I would not have thought that it would be that scary to give an interview on tv even with the added barrier that it isn't in my mother tongue, but it definitely was sufficiently frightening. It's all good though, two of the points of good television that Harbi (the anchor) told us were to have a strong message (and what's stronger than the gospel?) and to be visually appealing, or in other words beautiful people. So we destroyed those two points (jokes).
Right now we don't really have a ton of investigators that are moving forward. It is too bad to not see that progression because that is really where the best parts of the mission are. I once said (and thought that it was very lovely so I quote myself often) that the best parts of my mission have not been standing in water. Actually baptizing people is cool, but really the greatest moments have been while watching people find Gospel truths and applying them in their lives. So right now we are just working to help people get to that point.
I am so grateful for Christmas and for the blessings that are available because of the birth of Christ that we celebrate at this time. Thank you so much for your faith and the strength that you show to others especially to me.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
Monday, December 15, 2014
#74
Salutations dearest people,
I sure hope that you have an incredible day today and have had a incredible week!
This past week has had a few rough points as we have been really trying to help a few people be ready to enter in at the gate of baptism before the end of the year, and all of them fell off. So that has been a bit difficult, but, we are going to cut it to shreds this week and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everybody! It is interesting how the Lord places in front of you different tests just at points where you think you are getting the hang of certain things and you realize that you don't really know how to do everything. It definitely helps you recognize your need for growth and continual help.
Gerti, the 19-year-old kid with the mohawk that was baptized earlier this transfer, finally got the Priesthood yesterday. He also just left this morning for Germany and will be living there for several months it sounds like. Crazy. I have worked with Gerti for a longer time than any investigator/previous investigator on my mission as I found him the very first day that we got into 2nd ward with Elder Lee. After 5 and a half months he finally holds the Priesthood of God. Cool stuff.
I am so sorry for the shortness of this note, but I am not exactly sure what all to saw about this week. Stuff happened I think, but it is all kind of jumbled. I love you so much and am excited to talk to you in a bit!
Love you so much family and I know that the Lord does too!
Elder Ostergaard
Today's P-day activity, went to Lezhi. This is Skenderbeu's grave the national hero of Albania. You all probably haven't heard of him because he is Albania's national hero, but here he's a big deal.
This is from when we drove up to Kosovo, we are probably a little dangerous at the wheel while taking pictures, but it looks good.
This is at this big round about called Zogu i Zi (The black bird) in Tirana. It is a really busy place in Tirana and the mission rented out a time segment on the jumbotron there. Every 3 minutes a 20 second ad for He is the GIft is shown with a picture of missionaries on the side (Elders Davis and LInderman, they are the Assistants to the President). It is super cool!
I sure hope that you have an incredible day today and have had a incredible week!
This past week has had a few rough points as we have been really trying to help a few people be ready to enter in at the gate of baptism before the end of the year, and all of them fell off. So that has been a bit difficult, but, we are going to cut it to shreds this week and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everybody! It is interesting how the Lord places in front of you different tests just at points where you think you are getting the hang of certain things and you realize that you don't really know how to do everything. It definitely helps you recognize your need for growth and continual help.
Gerti, the 19-year-old kid with the mohawk that was baptized earlier this transfer, finally got the Priesthood yesterday. He also just left this morning for Germany and will be living there for several months it sounds like. Crazy. I have worked with Gerti for a longer time than any investigator/previous investigator on my mission as I found him the very first day that we got into 2nd ward with Elder Lee. After 5 and a half months he finally holds the Priesthood of God. Cool stuff.
I am so sorry for the shortness of this note, but I am not exactly sure what all to saw about this week. Stuff happened I think, but it is all kind of jumbled. I love you so much and am excited to talk to you in a bit!
Love you so much family and I know that the Lord does too!
Elder Ostergaard
Today's P-day activity, went to Lezhi. This is Skenderbeu's grave the national hero of Albania. You all probably haven't heard of him because he is Albania's national hero, but here he's a big deal.
This is from when we drove up to Kosovo, we are probably a little dangerous at the wheel while taking pictures, but it looks good.
This is at this big round about called Zogu i Zi (The black bird) in Tirana. It is a really busy place in Tirana and the mission rented out a time segment on the jumbotron there. Every 3 minutes a 20 second ad for He is the GIft is shown with a picture of missionaries on the side (Elders Davis and LInderman, they are the Assistants to the President). It is super cool!
Monday, December 8, 2014
#73 Vermont must be lovely this time of year, all that snow.
Dear Family,
I am having a hard time deciding how to write this letter to you. There is a strange mix of emotions, a key component of which is stres (that is Albanian for stress) and just working to have the necessary faith for the will of the Lord to be fulfilled.
I actually do have my package! In fact it came in on Thanksgiving. It was crazy fast, and so it is sitting in our apartment right now waiting until Christmas.
So Dad, you need to make sure that you are keeping me updated on how Brigham and Grant are doing in swim. Brigham, you can totally destroy 23 seconds this year, like, no problem. Grant, you need to get into breaststroke and get into body-builder condition (it really helped me in my breaststroke to have the muscle definition of an Arabian stallion, so work on that).
During MLC we were asked by President Weidmann to limit our family talking time to 40 minutes, so just a heads-up on that. I am excited to talk to you guys! That week we will be having Preparation Day on Thursday as well as the week after, so don't expect a letter on the 22nd or the 29th.
So in our work right now we are still working with this fire under us that lets us know that goals were set with the Lord and the final hours of those goals are drawing near. We are trying to do everything we can in order to help our zone be the best that they can so that more and more people are helped by the message, especially in this exciting Christmas season. Sometimes it feels like we are spinning our wheels and especially those who do not have the vision that we do are very difficult to nudge forward. However, something that has been incredible to see are those missionaries that just let that fire kindle inside them and have seen miracles happen in their work because of it. If we let the Lord guide our lives and our work we will see that miracles happen.
We were able to fast with this 15-year-old boy named Ermal who is the son of a member in the ward to help him decide if he should be baptized and we had a lesson with him yesterday to see what he was thinking. He ended up deciding to start it a day late and so he is probably just finishing up his fast right around now. He has his own questions and actually just expressed to us yesterday for the first time that he is not sure about his faith in Christ. So we are praying that he will listen closely to the Spirit and what the Lord is trying to tell him right now.
It always feels like there are things falling through the cracks, but I can say that we are certainly trying to do the Lord's will and so I hope and have faith that He will make up the rest.
Hey, I love you everybody and hope that you are doing just great! I am grateful for this wonderful period that I have to be a missionary. Last night I had this very real-life dream where I was back home after my mission and Marshall had a mustache (I should have probably taken that to be a sign that it was a dream and not reality). I am so grateful to be here and to try and serve my Savior with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
I am having a hard time deciding how to write this letter to you. There is a strange mix of emotions, a key component of which is stres (that is Albanian for stress) and just working to have the necessary faith for the will of the Lord to be fulfilled.
I actually do have my package! In fact it came in on Thanksgiving. It was crazy fast, and so it is sitting in our apartment right now waiting until Christmas.
So Dad, you need to make sure that you are keeping me updated on how Brigham and Grant are doing in swim. Brigham, you can totally destroy 23 seconds this year, like, no problem. Grant, you need to get into breaststroke and get into body-builder condition (it really helped me in my breaststroke to have the muscle definition of an Arabian stallion, so work on that).
During MLC we were asked by President Weidmann to limit our family talking time to 40 minutes, so just a heads-up on that. I am excited to talk to you guys! That week we will be having Preparation Day on Thursday as well as the week after, so don't expect a letter on the 22nd or the 29th.
So in our work right now we are still working with this fire under us that lets us know that goals were set with the Lord and the final hours of those goals are drawing near. We are trying to do everything we can in order to help our zone be the best that they can so that more and more people are helped by the message, especially in this exciting Christmas season. Sometimes it feels like we are spinning our wheels and especially those who do not have the vision that we do are very difficult to nudge forward. However, something that has been incredible to see are those missionaries that just let that fire kindle inside them and have seen miracles happen in their work because of it. If we let the Lord guide our lives and our work we will see that miracles happen.
We were able to fast with this 15-year-old boy named Ermal who is the son of a member in the ward to help him decide if he should be baptized and we had a lesson with him yesterday to see what he was thinking. He ended up deciding to start it a day late and so he is probably just finishing up his fast right around now. He has his own questions and actually just expressed to us yesterday for the first time that he is not sure about his faith in Christ. So we are praying that he will listen closely to the Spirit and what the Lord is trying to tell him right now.
It always feels like there are things falling through the cracks, but I can say that we are certainly trying to do the Lord's will and so I hope and have faith that He will make up the rest.
Hey, I love you everybody and hope that you are doing just great! I am grateful for this wonderful period that I have to be a missionary. Last night I had this very real-life dream where I was back home after my mission and Marshall had a mustache (I should have probably taken that to be a sign that it was a dream and not reality). I am so grateful to be here and to try and serve my Savior with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
Monday, December 1, 2014
#72 "He Is the Gift"
Have you guys seen the new video yet that the Church came out with? We had a training about it and the program that is going along with it this past week. He is the Gift is an incredible missionary movement that the Church has set up to go through the end of the year. It is a beautiful video and can be found online in 20 languages. None of those 20 are Albanian, but a good amount of people here have learned either Italian or English and we have actually gotten permission to translate it into Albanian and have that around with us. It is really cool. Apparently they are expecting 220 million people to see this video or the 30 second short version of it. So, you should go check it out, it is totally worth 2 minutes and 43 seconds of your day. Then you should share it, way worth that time as well!
As we have used this as our main source for finding people we have seen some wonderful things. I was talking to these two girls about it and especially about the love of God for all of his children. While doing that I had the thought to pull out the picture of my family that I carry around everywhere. I was able to testify of the love that I knew that He had for my sister and how if He loved her that much that He must love them too, and how that love was shown through His son Jesus Christ. I don't know if they felt anything, but that experience definitely strengthened my faith in my Savior.
This past week we have been able to think a lot about our zone. About the missionaries here and the work that is going on. As we were praying about some goals that we had set for our zone to round off the year and to work to have the faith to fulfill goals that we have as a mission we were really looking for a confirmation on those things that we had set. As we sought for that we had the impression that we, as well as each companionship in the zone, really needed to focus on their areas. It kind of seems like a "duh" moment, but truly, when President Uchtdorf counseled us to lift where we stand, it truly is an important and necessary thing. It we take full responsibility for those things that are in our power and trust those that are not to do the same thing in their sphere, how much better would everything work?
So Mom, my clothes are doing mostly really well. That Goodwill suit is wearing down quite a bit. I have actually had it patched up before, but it is having a hard time against the test of time I guess. My socks are definitely not quite the same color that they used to be (black socks, they never get dirty, the longer you wear 'em the stronger they get...that's actually not quite true, I have had to retire some of mine) but those missionary mall ones are way good. The Nike basketball ones are good too, but the missionary mall ones are better. Haha, and those shoes that I got patched up during my second transfer are now worse than they have ever been before. Whaddya do? One thing that President really focused on with us in a training last week was dress and grooming and I felt the call to repentance to take better care of my shoes so that they are pretty and black more often (I am really bad at maintaining it though, if there is any kind of water on the ground they are just destroyed).
Oh, I almost forgot, we celebrated Thanksgiving this pastThursday as a mission and it was great. There was a big feast, a training from President Weidmann, and a talent show. We have some funny missionaries here in the Adriatic South Mission!
Well, I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful day and week. Do faith-filled things and share the gift of the Savior!
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
Thanksgiving Specialized Training meeting with District:
As we have used this as our main source for finding people we have seen some wonderful things. I was talking to these two girls about it and especially about the love of God for all of his children. While doing that I had the thought to pull out the picture of my family that I carry around everywhere. I was able to testify of the love that I knew that He had for my sister and how if He loved her that much that He must love them too, and how that love was shown through His son Jesus Christ. I don't know if they felt anything, but that experience definitely strengthened my faith in my Savior.
This past week we have been able to think a lot about our zone. About the missionaries here and the work that is going on. As we were praying about some goals that we had set for our zone to round off the year and to work to have the faith to fulfill goals that we have as a mission we were really looking for a confirmation on those things that we had set. As we sought for that we had the impression that we, as well as each companionship in the zone, really needed to focus on their areas. It kind of seems like a "duh" moment, but truly, when President Uchtdorf counseled us to lift where we stand, it truly is an important and necessary thing. It we take full responsibility for those things that are in our power and trust those that are not to do the same thing in their sphere, how much better would everything work?
So Mom, my clothes are doing mostly really well. That Goodwill suit is wearing down quite a bit. I have actually had it patched up before, but it is having a hard time against the test of time I guess. My socks are definitely not quite the same color that they used to be (black socks, they never get dirty, the longer you wear 'em the stronger they get...that's actually not quite true, I have had to retire some of mine) but those missionary mall ones are way good. The Nike basketball ones are good too, but the missionary mall ones are better. Haha, and those shoes that I got patched up during my second transfer are now worse than they have ever been before. Whaddya do? One thing that President really focused on with us in a training last week was dress and grooming and I felt the call to repentance to take better care of my shoes so that they are pretty and black more often (I am really bad at maintaining it though, if there is any kind of water on the ground they are just destroyed).
Oh, I almost forgot, we celebrated Thanksgiving this pastThursday as a mission and it was great. There was a big feast, a training from President Weidmann, and a talent show. We have some funny missionaries here in the Adriatic South Mission!
Well, I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful day and week. Do faith-filled things and share the gift of the Savior!
Love,
Elder Ostergaard
Thanksgiving Specialized Training meeting with District:
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