January 28, 2009

Hello chewi,
That's some Dominican creole speak for you. Chewi means darling. I've been picking up phrases here and there. Mostly I ask people to teach me, and that's what I learn.
O man, Yesterday I was sweating bullets. It was Birdies Baptismal date. We set up the time 3 P.M. Not too early right. She was worried about it being too cold. Anyways, at 2:20 ish the Bruners went down to her house to pick her up. Her house looked abandoned. So Elder Haag calls Birdie up on her cell phone, and she had just gone to the hospital to pick up some medication for her neighbor and was reaching her work right at that moment. She feeds the dogs and does house cleaning in Mourne Julas. At the end of the call she says, "It's too cold." And then the phone broke up, and she wasn't answering when we tried calling back. Sweating Bullets, Right? The Bruners continued to wait until 4!!! Still no sign. So we asked them to drive up by Mourne Julas and see if they couldnt spot her. And that's where things started brightening up. They saw her on the road walking back down towards her house. She told them it was too cold, but the Bruners weren't going to take that excuse. They had towels and all kinds of things to keep her warm. So she loaded up in the car. Most of the members we had invited had left already, so it was just us missionaries, the Bruners, Birdie, and Pres. Roy. The service was simple but powerful. I hate to admit it but I had to do the baptism twice. You would think after two years of this I would have it down. Nope. As I was saying the prayer all was well, but Birdie, being so familiar with scriptures and stuff began saying and of the son and of the holy spirit, before I ever got that far. So I somehow just followed exactly how she said it, "Holy Spirit" instead of Holy ghost. I'm not sure still if that mistake would have made the baptism unvalid, but the witnesses wanted it done over. So there's no question about it. Birdie was BAPTIZED!!! I can see know that God heard and answered your prayers as well as mine.
Next week I'll have email on Monday, so that will be the last one. Its funny, the last two months basically the only emails I have received were from you. Grandma Lois sent me two, and Tyler sent me one, other than that the rest of the family has been silent. I'll see them soon though to put them in their places. ;)
See you soon,
Elder Osterloh
PS I still don't know the topic for my discourse so if you could tell me before Monday, that could help me a little bit.

January 21, 2009

Well, as always the end of the game is always the most exciting. (The game=the mission) While President and Sister Dewsnup were here we had a little zone conference with just our Dominica District and them. So no traveling this month. It's been nice. I tell you what though, President Dewsnup is no dummy. I loved what he shared with us. Have you ever heard of a paradign. Well, I never had. Anyways, it basically taught us that we should avoid getting into a rut of doing the same things over and over because that is what we were taught to do. Lately the whole mission has been focused on thinking of new ways to find people to teach. Such as activities, display tables, and all kinds of things. I think a lot of missionaries just get stuck doing the same things that don't bring any results.

Now I said things were exciting so I will explain why. We have a new branch president. He is President Roy. Ex Air Force Fighter Pilot. And he is awesome. We have a meeting with him tonight which hasnt really happened here. Whenever we met with the branch president before we really had to work hard to get it to go through. And he scheduled this meeting.

Birdie still hasnt touched coffee. Two weeks tomorrow. She has commited to be baptized this weekend. All I know is that we have to be at the top of our game or she might fall again. We have two other investigators, Benoit (Bensen's friend) and Edlyn who are preparing for Baptism. If we could get them prepared by next week it would be incredible. Like I said, it's always the most exciting at the end of the game.

Bensen is still awesome. He will be interviewed to recieve the Aaronic preisthood this weekend, now that we have a branch president.

Whoever wants to be at the Airport is welcome. Don't go to overboard though. Just a simple hello will do. I don't know when I will actually touch ground, being as they send you my flight plans and not me, but a nice Americanized dinner would be nice.

Love you more than anyone!*

Mo

Ps *I copied your line.

January 14, 2009

Yes, the island is still warm. I've become aclimated though. I'm a baby when it comes to the cold. I'll probably die when I get to SL. For example, Last week we were going to play basketball with the locals for pday. They usually play just before the sun goes down. And there was a breeze that came from the mountain, and it made me shiver. It was like 70 degrees outside, and I shivered. I feel ashamed. Oh well, maybe I can aclimate back to freezing quickly.

Well, Friday through Sunday President Dewsnup and his wife will be here visiting the Island. They need to find us a new Branch President. Right now all that is here is our second councelor, Brother Francois. So basically us the missionaries have been running things. Its been interesting.

I've been told by Sis. Dewsnup that I will most likely just finish my mission out here now that we know all that we know with the dentist lady. I'm pretty happy about that. It would have been really wierd going to a new place knowing that I would be leaving almost instantly.

Ryan and Jake may be undefeated now, but they still haven't played anybody from Dominica.

Bensen's friend, Binoit, who we've been teaching the past couple weeks told us that he wants to be baptized. We're not quite sure when though. He hasn's shown any doubts or any problems with commandments so far, he just says that he doesnt feel ready right now. But who knows what the future holds in store.

Birdy has gone five days right now without coffee. I tell you what, if I leave Dominica and she is still not baptized, that would be sad.

Good luck with the snow!!!

Elder Osterloh

January 7. 2009

Bensen is doing awesome. He is almost squared away to get the aaronic priesthood. The church is pushing for all worthy converts to recieve the priesthood as quickly as possible. I've heard a statistic that if a convert doesnt recieve the preisthood within the first three weeks after their baptism, the likelyhood is that they won't recieve it is their lifetime. I love Bensen though, he is already helping spread the gospel. He has visited 3 people with us already.
I should be going to Puerto Rico sometime before I come home. The Dewsnups have the phone number of my dentist their so they are supposed to be making an appointment.
Its nice being in a threesome. There's never a quiet moment. Especially with Elder Haag still around. He's always trying to debate some topic. My new companion is Elder Barker. He is from North Carolina. He was in the Naval Academy just before he left on his mission. This is only his second transfer in the mission field.
Well, we will be off to play basketball with the locals pretty soon. They play almost every night at 5 p.m. Its fun playing with them. Fouls dont really exist though. It stays cleaner then church ball though, amazingly.
All the new students just arrived for the next semester at Ross. We have already met a couple of the new members and I dont think it will be as empty in the branch as originally thought.
Love
Elder Osterloh

January 1, 2009

Wow!!! Christmas is a time of miracles.
On Sunday we had a very nice turnout of our investigators. Four of them made it. Bensen enjoyed church thouroughly. We went to visit him later on in the day and we shared with him a message about baptism. And we asked him what he thought about his baptism. His response was, "what time is it?" And he decided to be baptized right then and there. We called Elder Bruner, set up his interview, planned a short service, and that was it. I have to say, it was one of the most special baptisms for me since we have been working with him for so long. The spirit testified to me that this was the right time for him.
We have also started teaching Miki's husband. Miki is the lady from Santo Domingo who has two kids. Our visits with them have been excellant lately. Her children participate more then ever. Diorifer, one of her kids, used to say that the church was a church of white people. Because of all the students. But now he comes and participates and listens. Sometimes he will even help translate for his mom so that she understands more. I am really excited for Justin though, when we would visit them before, he wanted nothing to do with religion. And last night he surprised us by coming to the Branch new years activity. It was great.
Love
Elder Osterloh

December 24, 2008

Well I believe that a call around 10 Am would be possible. That means I'll call you around 1 PM Dominica Time. I dont have much to say, plus I dont want to spoil tomorrow.
I'll be staying here for sure. We are going to have a three-some here in Portsmouth, so a new Elder will fly in on Friday.
We moved apartments today in order to accomodate for him.
Currently we have no Branch president, just Bro. Francois as second councelor. So I sit on the stand with him for right now. Nothing exciting, I just have to make sure the branch runs well.
Love
Elder Osterloh
Ps. Talk to you tomorrow!!!!

December 18, 2008

Zone conference was nice. We ate lots of food. It was good. Pres. Dewsnup shared a chain of scriptures out of the Book of Mormon. It was all really good. He basically made a map of where the people were and when. I probably should have copied it down, because I already forgot most of it. I'll tell you of a really funny experience I had last week. Well, actually just ask me about the catholic mass we went to during our call. It was great. That way I'll have something to talk about.
I'm getting attacked by mosquitos right now. We are in the Internet place and seriously they are swarming around us. I've killed four so far. It's so bad the lady that works here put a fan on us to blow them away. My companion cant take it much longer. He's angry at them.
LOVE
ELDER OSTERLOH