Hello Family!!!
Another week has blown by and im still not quite sure what happened to our last week! Time is going way too fast! Being a zone leader is great because of the close contact we get to have with the mission president but is sometimes difficult because of the travelling we have to do which takes away from our time we can spend in our own area hear in Gorlovka. This week we took the train to Lugansk to hold a district meeting to present the information and counsel we recieved during our Zone leaders council. It went well and we returned to gorlovka later that night. The next morning we held another district meeting in our own area and the elders their excepted it well too. We had a lesson later that evening with an investigator named Yana who originally had a date 1st but has been taken off because she hasnt attended church for the last little while. Its been really unfortunate because she was doing so well but has been tempted by satan and given a raise in her job because of her work on Sunday which is the most productive day on the market where she sells meat. We are trying to help her work with her boss or just find a different job altogether see she can make time for God in her life. She also is struggling with reading the book of Mormon at the moment which is really inhibiting her from recieving any answer. She has righteous desire for her family but really struggles to put that desire into action. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated on her behalf. Thanks! SO, after our meeting with her the next day was zone conference. Another great experience, covering what we talked about in Zone leaders council. That night we got dogged on our lesson which was unfortunate but we returned and did some work in the area book, contacting a few former investigators but without success. We then had our second day of zone conference where me and another elder McCarther put together a quick musical number accappella to Abide with Me. It went well and i really enjoyed it. Both of us have nearly the same voices so it blended very well and a few elders made the comment that they couldnt tell who was singing which part. The conference's focus was on understanding the Atonement so we can help our investigators apply it in their own lives. One of our seventies said that if a investigator will truly repent, he will be baptized, and that our church is the only church that has the full understanding and authority to make such repentance valid. It is our job as members to share our knowledge with those who do not know because without this repentance, they cant be saved. Antoher investigator we have worked with and just passed to another set of elders name is Pavel. He is a great guy and also coming right along and is really looking for an answer. As far as we know his is looking sincerely and all set to recieve it but just needs time, reading, and prayer. We just moved his date and want him to reset it soon. Including him in your prayers would also be greatly appreciated. This week has been great as we have been searching more dilligently for referrals. This next week we have our goals set high to recieve more refferals that either of us have our whole missions. We cant wait to see the great success that will come from our new focus. President Compero has also encouraged us to send refferals home to the missionaries at home, to help build zion both here and at home. He allowed to log on to facebook to get what information we could about our nonmember friends and to write each one that we feel might be ready our testimony. I am very excited about this and have no idea why i hadnt ever thought of doing that before. Im excited to get involved in the work here and back at home!
Well family, i love you all so much and am grateful for all that you do for me! thankyou for your prayers and support! i know that with out the power of all of our faith combined, life would really be much harder to cope with. I am grateful that the Lord gives us this oppurtunity to show this faith and is always waiting to bless us with all that he has. We all trully have been blessed and i know the lord is pleased with us when we share these blessing with others. Hope to hear from you all soon!
With Love,
Elder Ostler
Also, we have a problem right now in that somewhere the records of baptism for kolya, our first baptism got lost. We hope that they will be found by the branch president who should have them but the search is still continuing. im not sure what will happen if they cant find them, if those who participated will just to fill out another form or if all of the ordinaces will have to be performed again but we will see. Keeping this in your prayers would also be greatly appreciated. Do you know anything about how that all works dad? well thanks soo much!!
