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