12-20-2010

Hello Family!

I'm so glad to hear all is going well and that you are all having a great Christmas season! I'm so excited for Joe and Megan and how far they are along! Marian should be getting pretty close too, right?! On a mission you lose all sense of time and what happens at home and it is terrible! I promise i read your emails and love every last bit of them:) So, as far as traditions go, here in Ukraine, the New Year celebration is the big holiday of the season and takes precedence over Christmas. The people really drink a lot and that night is supposedly not a very sober night for the people here so the mission heads home a little earlier that day to avoid it. The branches in the area though have invited all of the teenage members in Ukraine over  to our city for a Ball that goes through out the night until 7am. I guess they do service, dance, and all sorts of fun stuff as an alternative to what the rest of the country does. Its really a great idea and they usually have a good turn out, about 300 last time. We of course, are not allowed to go to it but our branch is having a Christmas party this Saturday which i was informed i would be playing at which should be great fun. This last Sunday i had the opportunity to play for sacrament meeting, Sunday school, and then Primary. It was pretty fun to be able to do that. I guess there is a shortage of pianists here or something so they would come and ask me. This evening we have a Christmas fireside in Donetsk with president Fry and then tomorrow we have all the missionaries in the Donetsk area come for a Christmas celebration for the missionaries which will also be fun I'm sure. This is a great time of year for remembering Christ and his birth and what was to come. President talked to the branch yesterday about sharing the gift we have been given and that is to share our testimonies of the restored gospel with others. That is one thing i would encourage you all to do and that i will do too, to find at least one person not of our faith and share your testimony. I know that no matter how simple it may sound, as long as it is sincere, the lord will carry to the hearts of those who are ready. This church is true and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the way to true happiness. I know this with all my heart. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas! I miss you and i am grateful for you all and what you have done for me and taught me. I love you and look forward to talking to you soon! have a (soon to be) MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)

With Love,

Elder Ostler

12-13-2010

Well Family,


I am now in a new area that was just opened up a transfer ago in a mining town called Mikevka. We dropped by our apartment on the way to internet and it looks like there may be some 'remont' ing to do.Thats what they call it when people remodel there homes or fix them up every couple years. Its a huge apartment but its definitely old! Right now we have a bath tub to drop buckets of warm water on our heads with. Someone duck taped the windows to try to keep the warm air in. I think this is going to be quite an interesting transfer:) My companion is now Elder Brady who goes home this next October so he's been out for a while. He's a great guy so it should be a good winter working with him. So far they have two pretty good investigators to work with who will probably get baptized soon. We have some serious street contacting and dome tracting to do though to get this area moving. Im excited to see the growth that can come from this area. It is much different than any place i have yet seen here in Ukraine. There are many old, seemingly abandoned factories here with huge pieces of old rusted machinery laying around. I'll have to take some pictures when i get a chance so i can show you all. Well, thanks for all the support. I know that your prayers are helping me and that i need to just keep pushing forward. During some of these hard times, it is nice to know that i have my family and even more importantly, the Lord that i can rely on. I love you and i pray for you too. I hope all is going well that you have a great week ahead of you.\



With love,

Elder Ostler

12-11-2010

Hello Family!


Its been a pretty good week here at the office in Donetsk. My days basically consist of studies and random office tasks like shredding manuals for hours on end. Its pretty exciting!!:) I did have the chance to organize the storage closet for the whole mission which was pretty unorganized and needed it badly. It felt good to do that and help the office out a little bit. Other than that not much has changed. We work here in the office from about 9am-5pm and then have lessons with members and investigators and go on splits with the AP's. It's been interesting to meet some of the people here and see how strong they are. I've also been able to go to some of the church building in the area and there are some very nice ones. It was exciting to see them and see what a strong base we have here in Donetsk. I just found out im going to be playing the music for the primary program tomorrow here in one of the branches which should be fun!:) I hope that goes well. In the office elder's apartment there is an upright piano that a wealth missionary bought for it when he stayed there. Its pretty awesome and is really nice to practice on and sing with. While here in Donetsk I've had the chance to go around with President a little bit and help with shopping and moving furniture. We went to this place called Metro which is the equivalent of Cosco back at home. It was so weird be back in such a huge, nice, clean shopping center! Most of the ones we go too are fairly small with all sorts of interesting fish and eggs and what not. That was fun to go and do. Oh, and i will try and let you know soon what number and when is good for me to call on Christmas once i get to my new area. I really don't know quite yet so i will let you know as soon as i get it figured out. Well, my times up but i love you and i hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season. Have a great week!

~Elder Ostler

November 29, 2010

Hello Family!!

Well we had our first snow here in Sumy!! The temperature outside is at about 2 Celsius so its getting pretty chilly! Earlier this we my companion and I went and got some clothing to keep us warm. I got a pretty good coat thats been keeping me warm. I also wear a beany and gloves to keep my ears and hands from freezing. SO, this week has been AWESOME!! On Wednesday we went out to a city about two hours by train called лебедин were we visited a very faithful member of the church, a deaf man in his 40's. He actually  had a wife and daughter but since he lost his hearing from swimming in cold water and infection, his wife left him. He is a great guy though and takes the 2 hour ride to Sumy each sunday for church. He's great!! On thursday we went out in theh same direction by train to the branch presidents farm about an hour from Sumy. It was Thanksgiving so we had mashed potatoes and chicken and compote ( homemade juice that is pretty good).  We also went to the tiny log shed in the yard and chopped some wood for their fire which was great fun as we all took our turns chopping these frozen logs. It always amazed me how self sufficient our branch president was. He has a huge farm and does pretty much all the work himself! He's a great man. After that, we went home and cooked some more pies and potatoes for district meeting where the senior couple made the chicken and we had another HUGE meal!! it was great:) This week with our investigator we also made some great progress! We started teaching a Nigerian man named Ken here studying finances at the university. It has really amazed me thus far at how open the african people we meet here are about religion and just love everything we have to tell them. It is really a nice break to be able to teach them because there hearts are open to the truth and have been taught from their childhood to believe Christ. He is making great progress and just this sunday, our second meeting, he was saying that this is probably the reason why he is here in Ukraine and not somewhere else, to hear the gospel!! He is doing great!! Just last night we had a lesson with a great family where the mother was an English teacher and the father was a translator at the local banking academy. It really has been a tender mercy of the lord to have so many people to teach in english. Its helped release alot of the stress i feel from trying to get this language. Anyways, this is also our second meeting with them and the father Con (Constantine) and wife Ena are golden! Con told us he felt like we were messengers from God and that we just glowed. He said there was so much darkness here in ukraine but for the first time he could see the light that radiated from us. When he said this i knew we needed to extend the commitment to be baptized. I looked him square in the eye and asked him that when he received the answer he had been looking for, would he be baptized. He staired at me for some time and i could tell he was thinking very hard about what i had just asked him. After about 15 seconds of us staring at eachother, he slowly started nodding and said yes!! At that moment was probably the happiest moment of my life!! Our prayers have been full of thanks to God for blessing us with his spirit and guiding us to that family. This work is so wonderful and i am so glad that God has allowed me to be a part of it!

It sounds like you all are having so much fun at home having sing alongs and going to the cabin and making forts!! I'd love to see some pictures of all of those fun things you've been doing. You all must be very busy! Keep up the good work their at home. I know that the Lord blesses the pure in heart and those who exhaust themselves in His service. From the looks of it, i think you are all doing really well:) thanks for sharing those inspiring stories about those pioneers Mom. It really is amazing how much they sacrificed and its helped me realized that this work is relatively easy compared to what they had to do. I've definitely been counting my blessings this past week! Well, i love you all and i hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you. Oh, I got the two packages you sent!! Thankyou SOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!! Its so nice to have those spices and treats here to cook with. Its hard because the money they give us monthly really isnt enough to eat all that healthily. They've kept our funds the same for the last couple years but since then prices have inflated nearly to 4 times what they had been on some products just a year ago. I'm trying to budget my money now so i dont end up having to using my own. Thanks again for all of that food! My companions also say great job!:)

~Elder Ostler

November 22, 2010

Hello Family!!

Things are going pretty well up here in Ukraine! We had a really great sacrament meeting where some of our less active families came with there children. It was amazing how much more friendly of an environment there was during all three hours of church as a result of all of these younger children with boundless love for everyone. The scriptures really came alive to me where it talks about how we need to become more like children if we want to be the best disciples of Christ. It was a great blessing to have them all there. We also had another great experience just a few days ago with a new family we found a couple weeks back but didnt have a chance to meet with yet. The wife is an English teacher and the husband is a translator at the Banking University just right across from our church. They have a little daughter who is really shy but reminds me a little bit of Nicole and how tall she is for her age. It was amazing to talk to them about the gospel. Their countenances were different than all of the people i have seen here. They agreed with pretty much everything we said and it was amazing to see the insight of the father and how he could see how much good the gospel could do in peoples lives. They kept telling us how great we were and that we were doing the right thing by coming out here and helping people find light and happiness in their lives. It was such a great lesson and he even prayed at the end, even with no previous experience with prayer. His heart was sincere and willing and i really hope that they will come around to feel and know this gospel is true and find safety in Jesus Christ. He could easily be our next branch president he is so great! Anyways, to answer a few questions that you had Mom, things are getting colder here and soon it should be snowing, perhaps this week. We have a few winter coats but i still need to find one that will work well enough since the ones we have are fairly old. As far as food goes, we make all sorts of interesting stuff. For the last couple weeks we have been  eating this stuff called Gretchka, which supposedly is the equivalent of chicken feed in America. Its pretty cheap but probably not all that good when it comes to vitamins and minerals. Missionaries buy it because its cheap and not all that terrible if you cook other stuff into it but it didnt take to long for me to switch over to cereal and fruit in the mornings. So far i have only eaten once at a members house which was pretty good. We also have been eating at the mother of a member's house who cooks this soup-like stuff called Borshe that is really good!! we've been there a few times and every time are amazed by how good it is. We also love to go buy this things called Bleenok which is basically a crape with whatever kinds of meats or fruits you want in it. Its pretty good! There are also Sharma stands where they have those big rotating things of mystery meet that they will slice pieces off and put it with a ton of mayo and cabbage inside a tortilla. Its ok but its basically a heart attack just waiting to happen so im not the biggest fan. Well, my time is about up but thanks again for all of the emails family. I really do appreciate hearing from you and seeing pictures from what you are doing. I love you all and i cant wait to hear more from you!

Love,

~Elder Ostler

November 2010 Mission Pictures

November 15, 2010

Hello Family!

It was so good to hear about all that is going on in in your lives! I really do appreciate the time that you spend to write me and let my know how you are doing. Things are going well here in Sumy. After getting back from Kharkov late Tuesday night after a 5 hour train ride, we were pretty exhausted. We were able to make up for some of the lost sleep with president's permission which was really good. It has been kinda of strange this week as we have had a good about of time to think about the progress that has been made here in Sumy over the last 10 years. As we studied over the member records we realized that there was alot to be done in updating records or adding to them which had never been written. Because Sumy is a "satellite city" in the mission, the Elders that were here before didn't always do what they were supposed to and stay up to date with their investigator and member records. We found as we went to find less active members, the people who lived in the apartments would tell us the people we were looking for had moved away, even up to 5 years ago and know one ever new or recorded it. Some apartments we looked for had wrong Apt numbers written and some we couldn't even find. So, this week we spent alot of time typing up records and searching for less actives. We have had a hard time getting in contact with any of them, but with the few we have, we have had some good experiences. We have also had some great experiences with our investigators! Just last night we had a talk with the man who had addiction problems. I think he has finally gotten to the point where he is humble enough to accept that he is nothing by himself and that is only through submitting to God's will that he can overcome his serious problem. It was amazing to watch his eagerness to listen to our words. He wrote them down as fast as he could and was so open to what we had to say, it amazed us. After i said the closing prayer we all looked up at each other. We all knew that we had been feeling the spirit and the man was even crying a little bit. The Atonement is such an amazing blessing. I am so grateful that Jesus Christ did that for us and suffered for each of us and our individual sins. Even as i write this i get a little choked up...man..the Spirit is so amazing and we would be so ineffective here without it. That is one thing that sets us apart here and people can see that. I am so grateful for the God's plan and this gospel and how it has changed my life and my heart for the best. We also had the chance to meet with a younger man who we have been teaching for a little while and he has finally started to really open up to us. He is coming to church each Sunday now and we can see how it is opening his eyes. Just yesterday though he told us he had to leave right after sacrament because his parents were angry that he was there. If you have the time, we would really appreciate it prayers on his behalf, that his parents hearts will be softened. Our other strong investigator has also been struggling with coming to church. He didn't answer he phone all yesterday and we are not exactly sure what is going on so we are praying for him too. There are so many great people here who are all so close to receiving the promised blessings for them. Satan is working hard on them though which means we need to step it up and help them make it all the way through there hard times. Well, time is about up but i wanted to thank you mom and dad for your emails and just let you know how much they have helped me. I really do appreciate the those spiritual experiences you share with me. Well, i love you all and i hope that you have a wonderful week ahead of you! cant wait to hear from you!

~Elder Ostler

Daniel's First Companion- Elder Koefed

Daniel with President and Sister Fry in Ukraine

This picture was just taken yesterday!!!

November 8, 2010

Dear Family,

Wow! You all have so much going on back at home! sounds like your staying busy which is great! Keep up the good work! So, this week i've spent about 20 hours on trains going to and from Sumy to Harkov! This week we had training and we are just about to have zone meeting tomorrow. Training was awesome with President Fry where he taught us all about planning effectively. It was really great and we are are trying to include his counseling into our planning sessions. Its amazing how much more effective planning can be when you have focus. That is something we struggled with since there was always one more investigator to talk about. Now we make sure to end on time so we can get to work as soon as possible. We got 3 of our investigators to church on sunday which was so great! We also got the man we have been praying for for the last while to come and he really liked it. I think he will get baptized soon because he really is doing great and understands and likes what we have taught him thus far. With the little time we had this week we were able to find a family with the parents who speak english!! they are really great and told us that they want to hear more and were really excited. I cant wait to teach them this upcoming week! Things are going well here. Thanks for all of the encouraging emails. I love you all and i'll cant to wait to hear from you!

~Elder Ostler

November 1, 2010

Hello Familly!


Sounds like you are all having so much fun back at home with halloween, school, and friends. I really enjoyed the pictures you sent. I need to figure out how to send pictures from here. I think i may just do it through our Senior couple who has a labtop so if you get a random email like that, that may be the pictures. Things are going great here! We have had so many great experiences i'll just try to list a few in the time we have. The man named Nikoly came to us and said he wants to serve in the church and that by doing that he will gain the answer he needs to get baptized. It was so neat to see the light in his eyes and the real change that had come over him since the last time we had seen him. He didnt make it to church which was a little dissapointing but we think he will come this next time if we help him get there. We met a few others this week and are helping a man get over some of the addictions he has. He is such a good man but has struggled with this addiction for a long time now. We showed him the great talk from conference about addictions by Elder Ballard and he really liked that. We are getting him on the churchs program for addiction recovery and we are excited to see the great progress he will make. We were also able to meet with a young man from Iraq and teach him a little about the gospel and book of Mormon. He told us all about what was going on back in his home town and how horrible it is there. It was amazing to hear about just how blessed we are to live in such a safe place. It trully is such a great blessing. We also just met with a to other young men from Nigeria who just got here and wanted to worship with us. We showed them around our church and they thought it was very interesting. They seem like to great guys with great potential.

Alright, so to answer a few questions you had about our living conditions and what not, we live in good size apartments that are pretty old but work just fine. It overlooks the river right next door and has a great view from its windows when fireworks from weddings across the river light up the sky at night. Its beautiful! In general, the buildings here are not terribly beautiful but the people here are really great. Its getting colder and colder here and the tree's have all lost there leaves. We take little buses every where we go and the roads in general are ok but a little bumping in less traveled routes. My companion is a great guy from Utah from some tiny town. He played a bunch of sports in high school and is pretty athletic. He really wants to work hard and help the branch here so its been great learning from him. I'll try to get some pictures of us together soon. The branch has slowly been getting back to its regular size after a little lull in attendance. The door to the building is extremely hard to find the outside of the building doesnt look so good but we cant upgrade until we have better attendance of at least 60 each sunday. Its been really hard but we are slowly making progress towards that goal. Went from about 36 to 44 this last sunday which was great! We had 4 of our investigators show up to sacrament meeting and less actives are slowly but surely coming back. Prayers for our little branch would be greatly appreciated. Thats about it for this week but thanks for everything you are doing at home that is helping this work along. The Lord trully blesses us when we put forth that extra effort to just find that one in our lives who needs the gospel more than anything in there lives. Love you all and i cant wait to hear from you!

Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler's Mission Office Address

During Daniel's mission, for any letters or packages, please send them to:
                                           Elder Daniel Ostler
                                           Prospekt Bogdana Khmelnitskogo 67A
                                           Donetsk 83087
                                           Ukraine

He's 9 hours away from the mission office, so he will only get mail about once every 3 weeks or so.  But they ask us to send it to the mission office because that is the most likely way that the missionaries will actually receive it.

Thanks!

October 25, 2010

Hello Family!


Its been a great week here in Ukraine! I am absolutely exausted but i love it and would have it any other way. It becomes more clearer each and every day how much God love his children. There are really soo many good people here. So far it seems like many of the older generation are clinging to the first very well established church here callled the Provislavnic Church but only do so because they have never been questioned about why they do what they do and believe what they believe. Its just how they have been brought up so they dont feel any need to change. The younger generation, however, is much more receptive to the message we have to share because many of them have open minds still and are willing to get an answer for themselves. Its been really interesting! I really think in the upcoming years the church will just explode in growth here as this next generation grows up. Its exciting to be here for the start of it all. So one fun story from our travelling experience coming here happened at the very beginning when the bus from the MTC dropped us all off at the airport and left. They had us going to a few kiosks and when i got to the counter the man working there asked what was my final destination. Since this was Delta and we would be switching over to Austrian Airlines, I assumed the New York was our final destination with Delta. They took my bags and sent them off. When my companion came to the counter the man asked the same question but it somehow came up that he wanted our final, final destination in donestk. That presented a big problem since that would mean that my luggage would come out at the baggage claim and the JFK airport instead of to my next plane. The airport at JFK is crazy and i knew that i didnt want to have to go through security all over again since it might make me late to our next connection that gave us only 2 hours layover. Luckily some lady helping the lines move along saw that i had a problem and asked me how she could help. She ended up going back where all the luggage was moving through to grab mine before they got too far. She helped me check them in again and i was all set. It was a really great blessing to have her there and it just showed how much we can bless peoples lives when we go a little out of our way, perhaps a little further than we have been asked, to help someone. Im so grateful for people like that in this world. They are the ones that really make a difference in peoples lives. Well, that was my exciting travelling experience so i hope you all enjoyed. I am so grateful the Lord's hand is in this work and i am so grateful for the ways that he blesses us when we strive to do what he wants. We would really appreciate it if you could keep Nikoly, Nelli and Serg in your prayers as each of them are close to baptism. We can see satan really working on them right now when they are so close to being the most happy they have ever been. Nikoly didnt make it to church yesterday which was really too bad since he really didnt have anything to keep him from come. I know that our prayers on his behalf will really help him feel God's love and know that this is the right thing to do. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers! They are greatly appreciated here. I love you all and i hope all is going well! Im glad to hear your Mexico trip went well. It sounds like it was a really great and humbling experience. I'll talk to ya next week!

~Elder Ostler

Mom's note:  Daniel has no idea what went through my head when he wrote "I'll talk to ya next week"!  :)  I'm sure he was just saying he'd email us next week.  I can wait till Christmas...I can wait till Christmas...I can...

Daniel's First Real Letter From Ukraine

Hello family!!


It has been an absolutely awesome, exausting experience thus far here in Ukraine. About 90 percent of the time i have no idea what is going on and its even crazier to try and talk back in my limited knowlege in this Russian language. I absolutly love it here though! The people are amazing here and mostly pretty kind to us. My trainer Elder Kofoed is a great guy and is really good at connecting with the people here. I think we will get along pretty well since both of us have a strong desire to follow the rules so we can have the spirit with us 24/7. So, my first transfer i am going to be serving here in суми(soomy), a smaller city in the mission that took about 9 hours by bus and train to reach coming from the mission office in donetsk. It is the most northern city in the mission and has more ukrainian speakers in it than any in the mission which is still a very small percentage. We have a branch of about 20 members here with 4 missionaries with a senior couple on their way here. I guess the branch here is struggling so the senior couple was coming up to add to its strength and give it some more priesthood authourity since there is literally none in the branch besides the missionaries. THey had me lead the music, pass the sacrament, and bear my testimony all in that first meeting there. It is amazing to see how much work needs to be done here and it is exciting that i get to be part of it in its youngest stages. I hope that i can work hard enough and really be a tool in the Lords hands here in this beautiful land and help bring this beautiful people to a knowlege of truth and be able to feel God's love. We already had a miracle last night while contacting on the street. One investigator Elder Kofoed had taught at least once before found us while we were walking down the street which was so strange since we hadnt planned on seeing him any time soon. We took him to the church building where Elder Kofoed taught him the plan of salvation while i testified. The man has such a strong desire to know the truth and has a very good heart. He said what he saw in us was what he wanted and that he knew that we had good hearts and that is what made him want to continue to meet with us. He promised to pray about everything we had taught him and i know he will receive an answer. He is having some struggles in his life right now with family so prayers on his behalf would be greatly appreciated. Anyways, things are going great, our apartment is pretty big so i'll have to show some you all some pictures once i get a chance to take some. The Mission president, his wife, and the APs met us at the airport to help us with our luggage. They took us all to the office. We were able to hand out some fliers here and there as we went from place to place and then to where we stayed the night. We did this each day until we had our transfer meeting and were shipped off to our fields of service were i am now. I am so glad to be here in Ukraine! the Lord blesses us so much when we try to do things his way which is always the best way. I love this gospel and I know that it is true. It becomes clearer and clearer each day and i am so gratefull to have a knowledge of it. I love you all and would love to hear from you when you have a chance!

Monday is now our preparation day just so you know since it used to be tuesday.

~Elder Ostler

Daniel Made it to Ukraine!

So i am now in Ukraine!! We had all sorts of adventures getting here that I'll have to tell you all about it when i have a chance. For now i just wanted you all to know that i made it safely here. I love you family!

~Elder Ostler

Pictures From the MTC- October 2010

                                     

Edward Stevenson Residence Hall where Daniel is staying

                                            Last trip to the temple for two years - with Zone 9

(Left to right: CT Reynolds, Young, Bounous, Scovil, Ostler, Bybee, Roberts, Tucker)

                                                  District 9A - Dressed to "save the world" :)

(Bybee, Bounous, Young, Roberts, Scovil, Ostler)

Daniel's New Missionary Tag

One Last Week in the MTC

Hello family!


How's it going? We just got back from what was probably our last day at the temple for the next two years. The temple is such a wonderful place and i will miss going each week and feeling the Spirit and God's love there. So, this week we got our travel plans!! It was funny because my companion and I went and picked up the mail and saw the travels plans that we were all expecting and anticipating. We went back to our room to pick up a little christmas tree we had and some streamers and took them to our class and decorated it before the others in our district got there. We all had a little celebration and it felt just like christmas morning as we gathered around the 12 in christmas tree. :) I think i will have the chance to call you once we get to the airport or sometime that morning one last time before i take off so just to let you know. Our scheduled departure is still the 12th of October, this next tuesday were we will fly Delta to New York and Austrian airlines to Vienna and on to Ukraine. It so crazy how time has flown here and we all are ready to start testifying once we get to that airport:) How did you all like conference? I thought it was all soo great! I really liked President Monsons talk about being grateful for everything in life and always seeing the good in life's experience's, whether a trial or not. Thats something that I really appreciated hearing. Its amazing to see just how much happier one can be when they face all adversity with a courageous heart and a firm trust in God, having a positive attitude that things will always work out and that it is all just part of God's wonderful plan for us. I love this gospel and guidance we can receive from our living prophet! It is such a wonderful blessing to actually have someone who is God's mouth piece and on whom we can really to counsel and give us guidance as we go through out life. That is one thing i hope i will never take for granted. Im excited to read over these talks again to gain further guidance. Conference was also great since we got to go sing in priesthood!! That was such an amazing experience! The choir sounded so good with the accoustics of that room. The organ was a whole different matter as it felt like we were being backed up heaven's angels as the power and spirit of each song touched each of us. When we were warming up, our director was talking about the how incredible the organ was and the brother who was playing the organ played its lowest foot pedal and it literally shook the ground where we were. It was so cool! It was also great to see the apostles and prophet of the church walk in one by one. It was neat to see them so close and see the spirit and wisdom each one had. Im so grateful that we are led by real men of God who our sincere in what they say and how they feel. I cant imagine being a part of some other church whose leaders may not have the God's will and people as their first priority. This trully is a marvelous work! Well, my times up but I hope you all had a great weekend and i hope you have a great week ahead of you! Love ya!

~Elder Ostler

September 28, 2010

Hello Family!


It's been another great week at the MTC! Classes are starting to slow down a little bit to give us more chances to teach the different lessons we have been learning and to get accustomed to the different parts of grammar we are trying to perfect. It has been such a great experience here at the MTC coming to understand how i learn best and being patient with myself when i may not understand a principle of the Russian language as fast as another. Its really exciting to think we have only a few weeks left here before we leave. They are already talking to us a little about packing and a few other items of business concerning our departure. Oh, and another thing that was neat was when we had a few of the native Russians come in and speak to us and i could almost understand every word! Understanding the sentence as a whole was a completely different story as your brain has to work at a million miles per/hour, sorting through the files of your brain to find that word that you know is in there somewhere but are just not sure where. It was a really neat experience and it really helped our district see what it will really be like in the field. We also had the chance to teach the natives a principle their language which was super helpful because of the corrections they can make in what you say as you speak. Its been hard teaching for the most part here because you never quite know if what you're saying is completely grammatically correct so it was very helpful to do that. Also, we've been singing each day in preparation for conference and those of us who are going are very excited to be able to go and sing praises to God while having such a great experience. Dis morning my companion and i had the chance to do some temple work and we got talking to one of the temple workers there and he told us just about everything he knew about the mission experience and it was pretty interesting. It was neat to hear it from his perspective having served a mission so long ago and being married for many years. He told us about how going to places you've never been before, and being with people you didn't choose to be with changes your life and can help you be a more patient, humble, and understanding person as you try to see them as God see's them and love them as God loves them. Luckily my companion Elder Scovil and I get along really well. Every other companionship in our district except for ours has had a few incidents as they've struggle to accept each other for who they are and try to help each other. Its amazing to see and feel the difference when both focus on the good of the other and seek to be understanding of the others differences. It seems to make all the difference between whether we are happy or not. I'm so grateful for the great companion i have! hopefully we have the chance to serve with each other again once we enter Ukraine. Well, my times about up so i just want you all to know that this church is true and that i love you all! Have a great week!

~Elder Ostler

One more month...

Hey Family!


It was great to hear from you! Sounds like each and everyweek you all have such amazing experiences. I wish i could have been there for Elder Cook's teaching. He sounds like such a humble and christlike man. I'm excited to hear from both him and the other apostles and prophet at this upcoming General Conference. So it has been confirmed that a group of us Elders are going to conference to sing at Priesthood Session! I am so excited and so grateful for this oppurtunity to sing. Sounds like everyone is all grown up now. I can't believe Nicole is already reading and that there are so many babies on the way!! Its always so great to see pictures of everyone and see how much the kids have grown. Things have been pretty good here at the MTC. Its crazy to think we have just about 3-4 more weeks here. Time has just been flying by and most of us have been really determined to get this language down so we can really make a difference right off the bat when we go back out into the world. The Lord is so good to us here. Each and every day i feel that love that he has for us and for all of his children and i am so grateful for that and the strength it gives me.

Just yesterday we got our new name tags that spell our last names in the way they would be said in Russian. We were all pretty excited about this because this means the end is coming near here at the MTC and then its off to Ukraine! It will be so great to be there and serve those people with all my heart. This is such a wonderful work we are all involved in. This week we are going to be going 100% Russian which will be an interesting experience full of lots of learning. We all have basic conversation skills but there is still much to be learned and I am excited for the growth that will come. Thanks for keeping us up to date on the church news about the Kiev Temple Mom. All of the missionaries really appreciate it because we know nothing about what is going on over there currently so it was great to hear about all the great events that have taken place. Thanks again for sending that care package! We really aren't all that picky about what is sent to us here so if you ever feel like sending another, im sure it will be appreciated by all of us here.:) Well, i hope everything is going well at home and that you continue to have these amazing spiritual experiences!

Love,

Elder Ostler

September 14, 2010

Hello Family!


Well, its been another great week here at the MTC! We continue to learn soo much each day and i think im just now starting to understand this language a little. Its amazing what the Lord can do when the do things his way, even if we dont understand how things could work out or we feel like we cant reach certain goals. The Lord has truly blessed us and i cant wait to see the progress we will make in these next couple weeks here at the MTC. We had a good size group of new missionaries come in this last week and it was a lot of fun getting to show them how things work around here and help them with the language. Joe Kashiwagi is in our zone now speaking Ukrainian since he is going to Kyiv. Its been fun to see him and talk to him a few times. We also found out this last week that a group of missionaries from the MTC will be going to conference to sing during priesthood session! I've been wanting to sing there all my life so hopefully i am one of the ones that gets chosen to go and sing. That would be such an amazing experience! Something interesting i learned this week while studying some old conference talks had to do with having the Spirit with us as we go about our lives. The quote stated,"Selfishness Suffocates Spiritual Senses." I've been thinking about that alot lately and how i could apply that to myself. I came to realize that over the past couple weeks we've been focusing mostly on our studies and sometimes its hard to think of anyone but ourselves. When i read this, it really just rang clear to me and i knew that that was something i could improve on while going throughout each day. As i've made that change, focusing on other's needs has helped me feel those good feelings of the spirit and has helped me keep that spirit with me as i study, teach, and serve each day. I know that following that principle of changing my focus to others needs has blessed me with a clearer mind and a better ability to learn and grow in this language and knowledge of the gospel. I know that it will continue to help as long i continue to follow Christ's example in living a life of service to the best of my ability. Well, my time is about up but i hope everthing is going well at home! thanks for sending that salsa and chips! Those care/food packages are greatly appreciated by us here so thanks so much! Hope you all have a great week!



~Elder Ostler

September 7, 2010

Hello Family!


This week has been another great week! We are still learning so much and the language is slowly coming along. Its really interesting to see how you are given all of this information at one moment and are all stressed out about it but then during study time, your mind slowly catches up and it eventually becomes knowledge. That's something that i've learned while i've been here, that patience is definitely the key when you have such high expectations put upon you. It is so great to know that the Lord is on our side and that we can trust in him to help pick us up after a long, difficult day. So, thus far in language study, we've learned to give the first discussion, say our prayers, recite the first vision from memory, commit someone to read the Book of Mormon, pray and be baptized, and to hold general conversation all in Russian. I still have lots of work to do before i can really feel comfortable with any of these but we're to the point where we can say those basic things and still get by. Its amazing to see how far I've come with this language. I know that this is God's work and that he will bless those who sincerely humble themselves and then go to work, doing it God's way and not their own. I am so grateful for those promises he has given us. Tomorrow we are expecting 14 new elders in our zone which is great! It will be fun to see them and help them along. I think Joe Kashawagi in coming in with this group so that will be fun to see him! Someone said he got his call to Kiev, Ukraine which is great. I also got to see Josh yesterday here, where he works at the MTC. It was good to get to talk with him for a little bit before we got back to our studying. Sounds like everything is going great at home! Dad was telling me about all sorts of cool critters he and Caleb caught at the river. Josh was also saying something about some huge cage you all were planning on building in the backyard for the flock of birds you have now. Sounds exciting! oh, and good luck to Benjamin on asking that girl to Homecoming! im sure she will say yes! how could any girl resist going to a dance with such a great guy!?:) Well, thanks again for the letters you have sent me family. Im sorry if i cant respond to each detail but i will certainly try when time permits. Hope you all have a great week and i cant wait to hear from you all!

~Elder Ostler

Mom's note:  Josh called us right after he got to see Daniel at the MTC.  I guess Daniel and his companion had a break from studying and they had heard where Josh worked, so they dropped by to say hi.  Josh was so surprised to see them walk it.  Josh said Daniel is looking great, has a positive attitude and still has his sense of humor.  His companion has had 1 1/2 years of Russian already.  So it sounds like he has a lot of people around him who have learned a lot already, but he is not letting that discourage him.  His example of faith is an inspiration to me.

Daniel's District

Daniel identified the other missionaries as: (left to right)
Front Row: Cectpa Matos, Muelhstein, Schwab, Elder Scovil
Back Row:  Elder Bybee, Bounous, Ostler, Young, Roberts

August 31, 2010

Dear Family,

Its been another great week at the MTC. I love the spirit i can feel each day here. As much as i wish i could just get to Ukraine and start teaching the people, i know im going to miss all the great things that I have been taught here and all the good memories we've had between the Russian speaking elders. Our whole zone is leaving tomorrow which leaves only our district back here at the MTC. Its been neat to see the comradory between the elders as many of them are about to leave. Just last night we gathered the elders of our zone into a room and sang hymns before heading to bed. It was powerful and the spirit that each of us felt as the final prayer between us was said was so great. Its amazing how when everyone has the spirit with them, people get along so much better and are so much more patient and understanding towards eachother. This is something that i have been praying for in our district, that we can have that spirit with us constantly. Not just in the classroom or during meetings, but also in our dorms or where ever we may be. I hope that this spirit can stay with our district so that they will be able to feel that difference and never want the spirit to leave, sacrificing those things that they may want to do or say that could drive the spirit away. I know that making that constant effort to keep the spirit as our companion can make all of the difference. I've heard it so many times here that we can do nothing without the spirit. We must make that our first priority if we want these people we teach to trully be converted by what we say. I love this gospel and am so grateful for the oppurtuninty that i have to teach it to the people in Ukraine. What i've also learned here is that when you are feeling sorry for yourself when things aren't going the way you thought they would or quite the way you would want, it really helps to just step back and look at the big picture and consider all that heavenly father has blessed us with already and how merciful he is to us. After doing that, those concerns that you had seem to not be quite so daunting. Its an amazing thing to feel the difference when you focus on being grateful. Having a positive attitude can make all the difference when going through different learning experiences. Well, i hope all is going well at home! I love you guys and i hope you have a great week.

~Elder Ostler

First Pictures From the MTC!

We finally received pictures of Daniel in the MTC. Here, he is pointing to Ukraine where he will be serving in 2 1/2 months.

This is a picture of Daniel and his missionary friends relaxing at the temple on a Sunday afternoon. From left to right: Elder Ostler, Elder Scovil, Elder Bounous, Elder Bybee, Elder Young and Elder Roberts.

                                    What a blessing it is to have a temple so close nearby!

Here's Daniel's letter from today.  His Russian must be getting better because he's starting to forget English! :)

8-24-2010

Hey Family!

Sounds like everything is going well back at home! Thanks for sending me that news about the Ukraine, Kiev temple Mom. Everyone in my district thought it was really interesting. Also, thanks to everyone who have sent me care packages and goodies! It is soo nice to get those here after a long day of learning! So, this week has been really great! We've had so many great experiences. The temple dismorning was absolutely beautiful as usual! We just found out that we will be having our devotionals and firesides all together now since for the last few weeks, the missionaries have had to split up because of construction on some new bleachers. I think they finished today so im excited to be there tonight for our devotional. Yesterday we just found out that one of our original teachers we've had since the beginning is having to leave because of a difficult schedule this next semester. We are going to miss him and the spirit he brought to our class. He showed us a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland and we watched it during our class time. It was an amazing talk he gave here at the MTC a while back. Im not sure what it was titled but he spent most of the time telling the missionaries to be men and women of God. He said that this time we spend here struggling to learn and grow is really nothing compared to what the Saviour has done for us and that what we go through here in our missions will ultimately bless us beyond measure. He kept saying over and over again,"My mission meant everything too me" with such passion that it was hard not to feel what he felt. Another statement that he made which i also thought was great was "Salvation is not cheap". We cant expect the path to eternal life and salvation to be easy and without struggle. The Lord will bless us as we strive to follow his commandments and steadily work towards that ultimate goal of living with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ again. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have of this restored gospel and the reassurance and guidance God gives us through his prophets and apostles. Thanks Mom and Dad for being such righteous examples and for teaching us by the Spirit. That has made such a difference in my life. Well, i've got to go but i love you all and i hope you are all doing well! I'm going to go try to write all the rest of you back right now so dont worry:)

~Elder Ostler

Oh, and just to let you know, i got to see Lance here at the MTC a couple times and at the temple dismorning!! He looks like he's doing great and is anxious to get to Spain! He should be leaving soon.

Third Week in the MTC 8-17-2010

Thanks for all of those cool pictures!! Looks like you guys had a great time at the beach! Thanks for all of the mail you have been sending too! Things have been going well here. We continue to learn new stuff non-stop, both gospel oriented and language. I've decided Russian is a difficult language! Its been really interesting learning it so i really enjoy it but at times it can be just a little overwhelming. It's hard to explain but its a really good, exhausted feeling at the end of each day when we head back to our residences. I know that the Lord blesses us if we are putting forth our best effort and i feel like I am doing that. This Sunday we had a fireside where a few music composers came and talked to all the missionaries about the songs they arranged in the hymn book. It was a really neat experience to hear what went into each one of these songs. I guess i never thought about the significance of each note, even in the hymn book. It added a whole different aspect to the hymns for me which was really cool. My district leader and I have actually been preparing a song that we are hoping to audition for one of the upcoming devotionals. He's got some good musical background so it been really nice to sing hymns and other church music with him when we've had free time on Sundays. This week we are supposed to give the second lesson in complete Russian to an investigator here at the MTC. The investigators are members but have volunteered to come in and help us practice and are pretty authentic. I guess we'll see how it goes! Its pretty exciting and terrifying at the same time but i know it will be a great learning experience from which we can build. Today we made it to the early morning session at the temple and it was a great session. We really enjoy going there earlier in the morning when the sun hasn't quite come up over the mountain and then coming out when we are through to the view of all of the flowers and fountains being lit up by the brightness of the sun. It really is so beautiful and sometimes i feel like it is that tender mercy of the Lord that gives me the strength to make through each week. Well, not much else has been going on here. Just lots of studying and praying!:) Im hoping to get some pictures printed and sent to you here pretty soon. I hope everything is going well back at home! Love you guys!




~Elder Ostler

August 10, 2010

Hey Everyone!


It's been another great week here at the MTC! I've really felt Heavenly Father blessing my life as I've tried to do what he wants me to do and just try my best. The language is just barely starting to make a little more sense to me since we are now pretty comfortable with the alphabet and are learning about different cases and conjugations. Its been a very humbling experience to try to learn all of this in such a short time but i have definitely felt like Heavenly Father has been helping me each step of the way. Sounds like everything is going pretty well at home. I'm sad that i missed out on helping you guys clean up the basement. Maybe I'll have the chance in two years:) Oh, and i wanted to thank the DelBianco's for those beautiful pictures they sent me and Aunt Janet for sending those cupcakes! Everyone in my residence loved them! I think Mom said something about giving the lay out for a normal day here at the MTC so this is how it is almost every day.

• At 6:30 we get up to get ready and go to breakfast.

• 8:00-8:20 we have gym

• from 8:30-11:30 we have class instruction where we are taught about the different lessons we will be teaching and study the Russian language.

• From 11:30-12:00 we have lunch

• from 12:00 4:30 we have study time where we usually spend half of the time on language and a fourth on personal and a fourth on companion study

• 4:30-5:00 dinner

• 5:15-9:00 Classroom instruction

• 9:00-9:30 planning for the next day

• 9:30-10:30 journal writing, personal study

• 10:30 lights out

So, its a pretty busy schedule to say the least. Our schedule is pretty different each day depending on when our teachers come in to teach but this is a good example of what we would do in one day.

In one of our recent classroom instruction sessions, we had the chance to watch a devotional from about a year ago that Elder Bednar gave while he was here. It was really a great talk he gave. He talked about the spirit and how instead of constantly worrying about whether the spirit is guiding our every action, he simply stated that we should just be "good boys and good girls", keeping the commandments and do everything that our Father in Heaven has asked of us. He said that by doing that, we will have that spirit with us and we wont even have to really question our every step. The Lord will guide us if we will just let him take control and trust in him.

I love you all and i hope everything is going well back at home!

~Elder Ostler


ps. I've received a couple letters with no return address and I'd love to write people back but i don't have your address so PLEASE include that somewhere in your letters so i can write you back! thanks!

First Week at the MTC

8-3-2010

Hey everyone!


Its been so nice to hear from so many of you already! Thanks for sending those letters! Its been really great here at the MTC these last few days! Its been amazing to see and feel the spirit working in my life and others lives. My first companion here on my mission is Elder Scovil and we get along really well. He actually just came from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs so thats been fun to hear about. The first few days leading up to Sunday were some of the hardest days I've ever had in my life. We began classes and the information just started flowing. The first day I remember feeling overwhelmed and sometimes felt like there wasn't any way I could take in so much information and advice and actually retain it. I felt like we were trying to learn the language way too quickly. I'm pretty sure I've been taught more about this language already than I did in a year of Spanish back in high school. After working through those first two days, I had a chance to read about hope and faith in Preach My Gospel. I found that no matter what trials we may be having or struggles we may be going through, as long as we are doing our best to do what the Lord has asked us to do and are willing to submit to Him and His will for us, spending every bit of energy we have, He will bless us in ways that we didnt know He could. For me, I can already see how the Lord is opening my mind and allowing me to retain the information I am being given. Even the language is coming easier to me which has really boosted my spirit as I've been able to feel the love of God and witnessed His tender mercies. I know you will all be jealous but at times I even catch myself speaking in a pretty cool Russian accent! :) The Lord has also blessed me in so many other little ways. Since this last Sunday was fast Sunday, we were able to hear the testimonies of some of the Elders that have been here for a while already. It was very encourageing to hear some of their stories of how they struggled with the language at the beginning but were able to pull through when they trusted the Lord and continued to endure in faith. I feel like this is such a great lesson for all of us to learn and I know that our Heavenly Father will bless us with all that He has if we will press forward, knowing that with God we can do anything. Well, I've got to go but I hope all is going well! I'd love to hear from you all! Love ya!


Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler's Address

The way friends and extended family are asked to communicate with Daniel is through letters addressed to:

Elder Daniel Davies Ostler
MTC Mailbox #183
UKR-DON 1013
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Thanks

Daniel's First Day

Today was the day Daniel has been waiting for, for the last 19 years!  Dad and I dropped Benjamin and Caleb off at the Treuhafts and flew with Daniel to Utah.

We had a fun time trying to fit all his luggage into the rental car.  It was amazing what he was able to fit in three suitcases and a backpack.

We arrived that night and spent an enjoyable evening with Grandma and Grandpa Davies.  There was a beautiful sunset.  The next morning, Daniel was up and ready to go almost before we got out of the shower.  He was so anxious to get to the MTC he could hardly stand it!  But he was patient with all our visiting, etc.

We enjoyed a wonderful endowment session in the Jordan River Temple Wednesday morning.  Then drove down to Provo to have lunch with family members.

Greg, Janet, Josh, Jen, Linda, Lillie, Grandma and Grandpa Ostler were there to enjoy  a Cafe' Rio lunch and send Daniel off. 

The MTC was just "buzzing" with excitement!  The sidewalks swarmed with missionaries and their families...and their suitcases!

We had to wait our turn to take a picture by the sign, but we got one!

Then, it was last hugs...

                                  ...and the welcome crew was ready to take him into the MTC.

Off he went...with one last wave and a smile.  I don't think there has ever been a missionary more anxious to go than Daniel was.

Personal Note:  It was hard to see him go, but we feel so very, very grateful to have been in his family for the past 19 years.  He has an incredible adventure ahead of him.  Knowing the Lord will bless him with all he needs to succeed in the work as long as he is humble and faithful, gives us the peace of heart to let him go.  We were thrilled to come home and find an email from him waiting for us!

Hello Family!

It's been a great day starting out here at the MTC! I'm now moved into to my little apartment here and looks like its going to be nice and cozy. We've been learning so much and we are already having great spiritual experiences. We had a bunch of new missionary orientation had a chance to meet the president of the MTC. We had dinner then headed to some classes where we had investigators come and talk to pairs of missionaries while we observed and took notes. It was a really neat experience to watch a discussion like this from this point of view. There was a clear difference between the elders who focused on the spirit in the room and those who focused on just teaching the lesson. Those who focused on the spirit made much more progress with the investigators. Well, i need to go but i cant wait to hear from you all. The Church is true!!

~Elder Ostler

Set Apart From the World

Last night, Daniel was set apart as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He was set apart by Dad and Bishop Kerr.  It was a precious, sacred moment.  In his blessing, he was given all the gifts he will need to succeed marvelously on his mission.  With God, all things are possible.  What a great blessing it is to know He is there, and that He will qualify us as we do our best to serve Him.

Daniel, Dad and I will fly this afternoon to Utah, spend the night at Grandma & Grandpa Davies' home, then attend a session in the Salt Lake Temple tomorrow morning.  After having lunch with family members, we will drop Daniel off at the MTC and wish him well for the next two years.  (Why does two years seem so long right now? :))

A sincere thank you to everyone who has prepared, encouraged and supported Daniel so that he can be prepared and worthy for this moment.