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...
