Tuesday, July 28, 2015

It's all good! - Week 13

Hey everyone!

I don't have time to write an email this week really. But I'm doing awesome, things are great. I love the people here and I love how willing they are to help us and serve us. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have. I'm so grateful for my family and my ward and the bishop. :) I'm so grateful for the youth here. They strengthen my testimony in their own way. Please, be an example wherever you are! You have more effect than you realize. :)

Love,

Sister Osman












Monday, July 13, 2015

I did not part the Red Sea, but... - week 12

Hello everyone! My sweet Utahns/Germans/Lovely Family in the States/everyone else who gets these letters,

Man, this week was amazing. I mean...I don't have great numbers to show for it...and I didn't part the red sea...but I felt myself make a difference in the lives of other people this week. Most of the time we don't get to see the difference that we make, but this week I got to see it a little bit. :)

D* is such a sweet old man. He literally has nothing...but whenever we teach him he gives us some fresh raspberries. I love raspberries. They remind me of the open markets in Europe where we always bought fresh fruits and berries and jams as a family. I have my mom and dad to thank for that memory.... I want to take my kids traveling one day. That would be fun. :) We are going to travel everywhere.

Hmmmm we are getting to know the ward a lot better now. I'm starting to feel like I know these people, I'm starting to understand how all of the different people have impacted each other in the ward. It's easier to love people when you understand them. So, I love it! It feels like I have friends. Can I just say, I am so grateful for friends. All of mine have been such an important part of my life. Especially a few close ones. I hope they know who they are. :)

Anyway, I just hope I can be an important part of the people's lives here. I hope I can help them. I hope the change that we are seeing in our ward, and the people around us isn't just temporary. I want to leave this place better than I found it.

Well, this week I gained a greater testimony of the Book of Mormon. I feel myself becoming closer to Christ and it's super fun. Christ is a fun guy to be around. He's really nice. He's really kind. And Him and Heavenly Father sure have a sense of humor...they love to mess with us. That's one fun thing about being a missionary........it's just so awkward. Everything that happens is just like....what is happening right now???? It's so weird. I don't even know how to explain it....

You know what's weird about Canada? Everyone has these ridiculous garden statues and dog statues and obnoxious signs on their doors about their pet cat or dog. It's so funny. I mean...if any of you have those in your lawn, I am very sorry and I hope I didn't offend...but I just really....I think they are weird. And what else is weird about Canada is that everyone smokes weed VERY openly. They just smoke it out on their front porches and in their garages and when we come knocking at their door they get all...sheepish...and tell us that they are sinning. It's like they know it's wrong...and don't care. Hahahah oh man. I love people. They are so weird.

Okay, anyway, have a lovely week everyone. I really appreciate all of your prayers and emails and letters. So keep them coming. :)

Love,

Sister Osman

P.S.
Shout out to Elder Bradshaw this week who will have his year mark! And shout out to my companion Sister Jolie who has her 9 months mark this week. Man. I can't wait to have important marks....


Wrote an arrangement of Amazing Grace and Lead Kindly Light. :)
Sister Jolie and I sang it as a duet. #iheartmusic

Mikki with her thrift store guitar!

The Relief Society had a Hawaiian night complete with Hawaiian and Tahitian dancing. 

A 10 pm XXL pizza order!


One of the sweet ladies in our ward!

D*. We think he is the best!


Just the mini and the giant :)




I got to teach a lesson by the lake!

Oh Canada!




Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Happier than a Bird with a French Fry! - Week 11

Hey everyone!

This week was awesome. But also scary. But also super fun. But also super exhausting. But also super rewarding. 

Hmmmm there are so many things to share that I don't even know where to start! Well this week I have been focusing really hard on trying to listen to and UNDERSTAND the Spirit. And, it has been working. I have felt so much guidance and direction and it has resulted in so much success! It's awesome! Our Heavenly Father is so aware.

This week we taught D* again, and we have already made it to the 3rd lesson! We stopped by his little apartment building on 'Murica Day and brought hot dogs because one of his friends in the apartment next door has a grill. We had so much fun and taught them about Heavenly Father and how much he loves us and how he has a plan for us. It was so cool to see D* think that one through. He was like...wait...God has a plan for me??? He literally said, "Why did it take me this long to listen to you guys?? Missionaries have come before but I would never listen to them! Thank you so much for being so persistent." Haha, we were very persistent...we went to his house 3 times before he would listen to us. :) But it worked! All because of the Spirit. Anyway, when we told him that God knows him and loves him and has prepared him to hear the message NOW, you could just see this look of wonder on his face. He has had such a hard life and it had never occurred to him before that he could possibly be important to anyone. Man, I love D*. He's just so awesome. I love the gospel. :) It changes people so much.

Also, this week we were knocking this neighborhood of a bunch of old people. Every door was one cranky old man or another. One guy even threatened to call the police on us. He was very scary and gave me butterflies. But we came to this door, with this quiet old man, who had this familiar old accent. We told him we were sharing a message about Jesus Christ and he immediately said he was not interested but we engaged him in conversation a little longer and I soon found out he had come to Canada from Germany and had seen children murdered in the war. His question was, "how could there possibly be a God?" His voice cracked and his hands shook and that familiar German accent totally hit home for me. I felt so sorry for this old man who wouldn't accept the help of the atonement. But in his little driveway by his shed while we talked with him I felt this overwhelming feeling of love for this little man. I'll never forget that. Heavenly Father loves us so much. :)

Also, this week at church a recent convert was trying to explain how he was converted by the gospel. He said, "at first I just liked meeting with the missionaries. And I prayed and read. And it was slow, I didn't really receive much of an answer other than a thought that it could possibly be true or right....but when it came time to be baptized I thought about the missionaries and all the had taught me and I realized that I didn't ever want to live without the things that I knew again. It had been such a gradual process that I didn't realize it. But the thought of not having the gospel in my life anymore was scary. So I got baptized." 

Okay well I love you all! Keep emailing and writing! Sorry if I didn't get to you this week. I will next week if I didn't. :)

Love,

Sister Osman  

P.S. And a note from Sister Jolie:

Funny story: Two weeks ago we saw this guy with a bird on his shoulder driving a car. He saw us and said he owned the food truck on the corner and we should come and the bird would take our order. We laughed and decided we would go there one day.
Well we were walking past it on Canada Day and saw it was open so we went over. He was just packing up to go home but he said because we came back he would give us free fries. So ended up giving him a Book of Mormon, which he was excited to read. But then we were stuck with this huge thing of fries so we decided to detour our path to drop off the fries at home. And on our way we saw V* who we chat with often. We offered her fries and she said she was just thinking about how hungry she was. Next thing I know she's giving us a tour of her yard and then her home and told her story about how she had lost the love of her life. We were able to offer her the comfort of the Plan of Salvation and she pulled out the Book of Mormon some missionaries gave her 20 years ago when she was living in Calgary! And all of this tells me that God knows his children. Every. Single. One.


We also had a really neat experience. We were walking around on Sunday in an area we haven't been to much and there was a young girl playing in her ward. She sees us and gets excited and calls to her mom, "I know them!" We tried to place the girl in our memory and she told us she met us outside her grandpa's house (who lives down the street from us). We were shocked that this young girl remembered us after seeing us once or twice, in a completely different area of town and wearing different clothes. But it wasn't just that she recognized us, she knew us. The Spirit was so strong around this little girl. It was amazing. Her mom was unable to talk with us but one day this girl will welcome other missionaries into her home. We know it.


Today, I am happier than a bird with a french fry!


We had red pancakes for Canada Day. Courtesy of Sister Jolie. :)


The proverbial starving missionary :)



Loads of fries!

Oh Canada!

Cute Sister Jolie - Trainer extraordinaire!

Gorgeous scenery everywhere!

Almost done with the first 12 weeks!

We had crepes on the 4th of July. That's a tradition my mommy gave me.
And I made them. I'm such a bosssss!!!!!!!!!!!!

How we feel on fast Sunday after tracting in the hot sun all afternoon.

The LaFrance family with their friends the Ks. We had a great dinner with them and shared a lesson about the Resoration.

It's my 2 months mark in the mission field!