New Mission President

Hey everyone

This week is the last week for President Ostler and his family! As a result we had lots going on but many amazing experiences. The highlight this week was our last zone conference with them so I’ll start off with a little I learned there!

President Ostler’s opening remarks mainly talked about sustaining leaders and why priesthood keys are important. I actually read recently a talk by Elder Holland where he said when we sustain our leaders we uphold them and will support them at all times. Not only do we “uphold” them but we also “hold them up” just like we hold up our hands when we sustain them as our leaders. President Ostler reminded us that comparison never blesses anybody and told us not to compare the old President with the new one. Their son caleb and Sister Ostler then both gave great talks. Caleb talked about being a 100%er, giving your best even in the hardest times. Sister Ostler talked about how we sometimes feel we are stuck in a dark hole and can’t get out. Jesus Christ, however, is willing to come all the way down to where we are and offer a helping hand. He reaches out as intensely as a drowning person grasping for air. How we don’t truly understand this until we ourselves truly labor unceasingly and try to help other be saved by the rescuer. I’m super thankful to know this truth!

President Ostler then closed the conference talking about life after the mission and gave some really awesome advice. He focused on how the Lord sees all that we do. He knows our desires and our good works. He blesses us more than ever when we choose right with nobody watching. That is one of the biggest things I’ve learned on my mission. More than anything I want to be someone full of integrity. Someone who does good because they love their Heavenly Father, not because they seek honor and praise from men. He said “When you save face with men, you lose face with God.” We then watched a portion of Elder Holland’s talk a few years ago. After the atonement of Jesus Christ had taken place, Peter and some other disciples returned to their old lives catching fish. Holland describes Christ probably asking Peter something like this, “do you love me more than you love all this?” If we love Him, we won’t love small things in the world but will always be in marvel of Christ’s life and God’s amazing plan. How priesthood authority has been restored to the earth and families can be sealed for time and all eternity. God needs disciples and he needs them forever. He challenged us not to slow down in our missions and definitely not after our missions. I’m so thankful for the Ostlers and the many things I learned from how they live their lives.

The reason I’m emailing today is because of how busy it was yesterday getting a new mission President! The Fermanis family is super super nice. Elder Webster and I were actually the first missionaries to meet them! President Fermanis had an “All Blacks” tie on and is fun to be around. My companion and I had a secret mission to take Caleb Ostler, William (16) & Jared (14) Fermanis, and some of the English ward youth to play laser tag!! Haha definitely lucky on that- it’s super not allowed most of the time haha. President told us Jared is super competitive and to "clip his knees" if he gets out of hand haha! We had a short P day on Saturday so we could help out with that. Elder Webster and I had to stay by each other throughout the games but it built some nice comp unity haha. My skills have dropped though I must say. We then returned to the mission home and drove the Ostlers to the airport! It was really lucky we were able to do that. It was sad dropping them off but they were just real positive throughout it all!

We kept getting out of the office on time to head to the area then kept getting called back to do an assignment haha. We still got a good amount of work in though and met lots of nice people. Still doing our best to find. The area is growing and improving even if it's in small increments. We’ve really seen God’s hand in the work and I couldn’t be more thankful for my mission. Til next week!

Elder Reber

Here is the horse from the Folk. Not sure what else there is to say :)

Apparently the horse likes California Pizza Kitchen