Sister Shelby Ostler's mission to Poland: Week 2 in the MTC

April 30, 2012

Hey Friends and Fam!!!

       How is life? I am so happy :) I have had the most exciting week and I am just excited to start another one! I just got your package, Mom, that's why I'm responding so late. Oh by the way, you can now send me long emails because I can print them off and read them and then email you back :) Thank you so much for all of the goodies and the awesome quotes. Also for your letter, I sure love to hear from you :) :) :) So today is P-Day and we went to the temple this morning. We did initiatory like last week, only because we got up there and realized we forgot our recommends..... funny experience, but anyway, it was a beautiful morning. The view from the Provo temple is so beautiful. I love it!
       So this week has really flown by! We have been so busy with Polish and grammar and verbs and discussions and reading and memorizing and all the above! It's been so fun. We really have fun learning this language and I can really feel the Lord's hand in this work. We'd be lost in this language without His help. So we did our laundry a little bit ago and I was putting it away and I pulled out my pajama pants and thought they looked a little small..... they shrunk a whole FOOT! :-D I had to laugh, it was pretty funny. But really, I look ridiculous in them haha :-) Oh well! So this week I have experienced a few of those "Aha!" moments, and they have been very beneficial to me! I'd like to share some :)
      So one of them was kind of a smack in the face when I came to myself and realized my own nothingness. You know those moments? Yeah, well it was kind of hard for a minute and then I felt so good! I felt like I grew closer to Christ because I allowed myself to forget about me and think about more important things, you know? It was neat. Another light bulb (more of a light hearted one) came when I was in my freezing cold shower a few days ago. For some reason, the shower I always use is really cold! Everyone else's is warm, so I was like what in the world? And then I laughed to myself when I thought maybe this is somehow one of those odd tender mercies from the Lord because He knows I take way too long to get ready in the mornings, so He gave me a cold shower to help me hurry along. It was kind of funny, and it sort of changed my thinking, because what if all of our little random complains actually came from a little blessing in disguise? I decided to never complain about cold water again :) :)
      So yesterday I was sitting in Church and I just sighed real deep and I thought for a minute. Sundays are like the little water breaks on the side of the trail during a marathon. We need them so much!!! It's like you can receive a little extra strength to make it until the next water break! I loved that analogy because we can also help others along the way, and show them the beauty of a water break!!! That's the gospel for ya :) That was for you Dad. Good luck getting back to running! I know you will do great! :) I was kneeling down the other day with my companions. We were praying for some of the elders in our district, and afterward I kept thinking of prayer. It's such a basic principle of the gospel and yet it is one of the most powerful ones we could implement in our lives. I thought about you, dad, and how you used to always come into my room and ask how I was doing and we'd talk for a while and I'd let everything out. It's hard to not have that convenience with you anymore, but I can't thank you enough for teaching me the importance of turning to your father. I am so thankful that I can go to my knees and ask for help, or for comfort, or for a little better attitude, or just for some love. I have felt it stronger than I ever have in my life. Thank you Daddy.
      So one of the firesides we had, the man quoted "Don't Worry, Be happy." I have heard it so much and it never had as much meaning to me until he emphasized the part where it says, If you worry, your troubles will double, or something like that. I loved that, and I have really noticed the importance of not worrying about demands that you can't change. Polish WILL come. It might be in 16 or 17 months, it might be in 4 to 6 months, I don't know. But if I spend all of my time stressed about learning it, then I am certainly not going to learn it any faster. Life just seems to work like that. I thought it was a simple, yet profound little lesson for me.
      So I am trying to read the bible and the book of Mormon and darn! It is just not working out for me. I have a lot of goals and I think I need to be more realistic. But I sure wish I would've taken advantage of the 21 YEARS I had to prepare before now. I wish so bad I would've learned more about the bible and kept studying all of the scripture mastery. I need it!!!!!! Now I need it in Polish even more! I finally memorized a few of the articles of faith in Polish, which was nice for my lesson the other day! :)
      Well I'm running out of time, but I learned one other important thing. No matter what you are involved with or whatever you are doing, the testimony of it will not be what you say; it will be WHO you are and WHAT you are. If we can turn outward and focus on blessing the lives of others, we will be converted to this gospel, line upon line. Well, I love you all so much! I can't tell you how happy I am. There's fun, and there's great days to be had, but I testify that the greatest joy you will have in this life is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Be happy! We have the greatest gift on earth :) :) :) Have a great week! I can't wait to share more with you in a week! :)
     Oh a funny thing that happened last week. for breakfast I ate a doughnut, piece of bacon, and a glass of milk. Then I went a played basketball. I scored
14----3 pointers. Go figure. I should have eaten like that in highschool

Love you SOOOOOOOOOOOO much :) :) :)
Shelbo