10-31-2011

Hey Family!!!
That made me way excited when i heard about Dad's missionary experience. I find that more and more in the work here. That when we are out serving and working our hardest or just being the best examples we can be, the Lord places people in our paths when we least expect it. They almost seem really random sometimes, just as it must have been for Dad in the middle of that meeting. That is so great and i hope all goes well with that new investigator. This week we have seen many blessings once again seemingly come out of the wood-works. This week we worked constantly, trying to do our best to always open our mouths on the streets and wherever we were. We didnt recieve any new investigators but the Lord blessed us and helped us find two investigators that hadnt been contacted for 9 years both in one night. They both seem to have changed and have great potential. We are excited for them. We also, for the first time, got into the home of our past, inactive branch president. He was thrilled to have us there and it was great for his family. Missionaries havent been able to get into them for a long time so this was certainly a blessing. We also just happened to stumble upon a less active babushka(grandma) we've been looking for this whole transfer and finally found her sweeping outside a bus we just happened to be getting out of. I know the Lord is blessing us for our efforts! We also had our young investigator girl Dasha come to church with her grandmother and she had a great time. She is doing great and will be baptized as soon as she gets her parents permission which has been holding her back. I had the chance to go play in the primary after gospel principles which was so great! its so much fun to go and play and listen to them sing. They were learning the song "What child is This", a favorite here in ukraine. It was really funny because when we had finished and i got up to leave, a teacher knew that i had recieved a transfer call and will be leaving this thursday and said that they would remember me when they all sing in the upcoming months. That was very nice of here to say and i thanked for it and then turned to the children to hear one of the sons of the old branch president say that he was sad because I was his best friend. To this all of the other children that i've met with started to protest saying, "im his best friend!" the primary was in an uproar and it was really cute. Needless to say i got out of there pretty quick!:) It was really touching to here them all say that and it taught me a good lesson about how children show their love is a good example of how we can show ours. They are so honest and innocent and you know they mean it by the way they say it. Though its far down the road, it made me just that much more excited to be back with all of you and then on to starting my own family. I really enjoyed the conference talk either is this last conference or the one before about being as children. Their is alot of truth to that and i'm thankful for so many that are examples to us all. Well, thats it for now. I recieved a transfer call which means i will be leaving my area this thursday so next time i write i will be in a new place. Its always exciting but a little nerve racking so please include me in your prayers!:) Love you all! Have a great week!!

With Love,
Elder Ostler

10-10-2011

My Dear Family,


Another week has passed by and we have all been saved by "baba leta"- grandma summer. The cold weather came rolling in like it was here to stay but luckily the predictions were right and the warm weather returned and with it rain. This week we had another chance to go to donetsk for some counseling among the Zone Leaders. IT was another great experience and we then went from there to Lugansk to share the newly acquired statistics and ideas with our elders there. We returned after two days of splits to gorlovka where we held another district meeting. We concluded that day with planning and taking some banana bread to a less active who lives in our flat. He is a return missionary who was sent home a little early. He had his feelings hurt and has since researched all sorts of anti-mormon literature and has had his foundation and testimony pretty well destroyed. It was so sad to hear him speak of what he once had and knew what he had was good, and then throw it away because of his taking offense. We plan on meeting with him soon again to help him piece together what he knows to be true and help dismiss some of his skewed views and doubts about God's reality. Prayers on his behalf would be greatly appreciated. It is a tender subject for him and it will not be easy to help him where he is at. We really need the Spirit to be with us every step of the way if we ever want him to be active again. His name is Sasha. Our investigator, Yana, had a chance to come to the General Relief Society Meeting after a day at the Reenok, the market. We began to watch it with four other sisters in the branch when the power splitter they had been using started to smoke and shut the power off. Because it had been cold in the room, the sisters had plugged in two large battery heaters, computer tower, and Projector all to the same power splitter which resulted in over heating. SO.. we then moved it to the geneology computer where we finished it with two other sisters and our investigator. She said she really enjoyed the talk by president Uchtdorf. She is a very hard one to read. She is a nice person but seems to enjoy our friendship more than what we are teaching her. We are planning on having a deciding lesson this week, whether we need to just give her some time without us meeting with her, or continue to try to push along at the snail like pace we have been going. Please pray for Yana. Please also include us in your prayers as we try to find some new investigators this week. It has been a struggle this transfer to find new investigators and this may be the only week we have free to really do some searching and finding.

I absolutly loved the sessions of conference this time around. My companion and i were talking about how it was hard for us to imagine missing the saturday session when so many do. It is such a great blessing and such a small sacrifice on our part to sit and watch and feel what God has in store. We just wanted to make copies of all conference and hand them out on the street!!:) I am so grateful for latter day prophets and apostles. I really liked Elder Christopherson's talk on the atonement. It helped me realize more of what i need to be doing to trully repent and really use the atonement in my life rather than seeing it as a list of points to be checked off. The Gospel just makes so much sense and i am so grateful for the simplicity of it all. The Lord loves us all so much. Just hearing about Kandi makes me soo happy that she is truly choosing to follow the Savior in being baptized by water. THis may seem like a sacrifice to her right now but the blessings and happiness that will come as a result of this righteous choice will far out weigh anything that may have seemed difficult or hard to leave in her life before baptism. I know that as we all take small steps of faith, the Lord will strengthen us and build our character and testimony to last through those hard times of trouble which will come to each of us. I hope all is going well at the DelBianco's and that you are all having such a great time together! Family is so great and is something i want to never take for granted again in my life!! :) Thankyou for all that you do for me. Have a great time at the Joe and Megan Ostler's home. I cant wait to see pictures!!!:)



WIth Love,

Elder Ostler

10-17-2011

Hello Family,


Sounds like a GREAT holiday back at home!! From catching gigantic fish to a wonderful BAPTISM, talk about a roller coaster of emotions!!:) I still cant get over the fact that we had 2 convert baptisms in the Northridge Ward! I dont think I can remember the last one we had there in our neighborhood. Thats as many as I've seen here my whole mission! You all looked so great in white and kandi, stan and luis and have never looked so happy! not to mention how happy benjamin and and john looked too!:) That sounds like such a great experience. I couldnt help but feel the spirit as you shared that experiece. Its times when you hear such stories that your heart just yearns for the people here to accept our message. I dont know what its like after the mission but here expecially, in the field, i guess i've felt something a little like what some of the missionaries and prophets from the Book of Mormon described, that longing for everyone to except the message and find that happiness that we have. I've learned that there is also a whole other aspect to turning that longing into action. It is not an easy thing, when you feel such feelings of love for the people to have it be disregarded or even yelled at. Again and again it has been kind of like be pushed down to the grown, going down again and again. I've learned that it takes a real christlike love to endure such blows. It is something i continue to work at but i have noticed such a difference when im just loving the people because i know i should, and when i love them because i know that they are my spirit brothers and sister, sons and daughters of God. Im so grateful for the example our Savior gave to each of us, that even when the majority of the people did not believe him and were hostile towards him, spitting on him and beating him, He didnt even flinch. His love was perfect. He didnt think one bad thought, not one mean word. He was perfect. I still stand all amazed at the Saviors example. It makes me wonder sometimes why it is so hard for me to love when i am tried. I find myself so far from the mark sometimes that it is hard not to let Satan step in and discourage me. But i know that our purpose here on earth is really in the end, to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, and that God would not give such commandment unless they were actually achievable. We met some guys on the train coming back from Lugansk who were really friendly, funny people. It was just a funny reminder of the good people that are out there that just need to be found. I'll include a few pictures of that memorable train ride. :) please excuse the picture of the shirtless man. I forget if thats appropriate or not, its just somthing that every man here does when on trains or in hot places. Dont worry though, we didnt join them.:) Also included is a picture of Zone Leaders Council, and a teaching practice during a district meeting we had, and watching general conference a week later as a district at the church building. Well, thats it for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead of you!



With Love,

Elder Ostler

10-3-2011

Hello family!!


I am so glad to hear that Kandi is making soo much great progress!! It is honestly so exciting to hear about people accepting the gospel no matter where they are in the world! The happiness that awaits these people is impossible to describe. Thats something that is so important, letting that light shine that we all have within us and that happiness that God has blessed us with. To say honestly it is not easy sometimes for the fear of being ridiculed or disregarded when what we have is so precious to us. But, i know that we are blessed and that such experiences will only strengthen our own conviction and testimonies if we will hold to what we know is true, what we have always known to be true in our hearts. This week was a bit of a struggle.. we had 6 lessons fall through. Not the easiest thing when that is more than half of what we would normally get. The ones we did have though went well and we were able to present 4 papers where people could write down refferals for us to find and contact. We look forward to seeing their results in our next meetings with them. Each week I gain a stronger understanding and a greater apprectiation and love for the members here in Ukraine and for all the small branches around the world. Sometimes i see the struggles they go through, troubles with family, health, or even within the branch, and i question why they hold so strong? why do they continue to come even during such trials? Time and time again i have thought about this and i could see it especially as they testified this last sunday that they have testimonies of christ's atonement for them. It is amazing how much pain and suffering, both physical and spiritual, the atonement covers. Christ truly understands what we have all been through. He sees our struggles and knows exactly what we need to do to endure well. He is there to help us when we ask and will always be there to soothe the pain. I've been starting to read Jesus the Christ and have been coming to understand just how perfect God's plan is for us. To know that we have a loving father in heaven who also knows everything is such a comfort. We have shared messages about hope and atonement of Jesus christ from the past conference and each time we testify, the truthfulness of it all seems to resound in my mind and heart, sounding stronger and stronger until it is something that any person could not deny. The mission is such a great experience and i am so grateful for it, no matter the challenges i face and trials i am called upon to endure. The joys far outweigh the struggle. God loves you all so much and i know that he loves me and is so happy with us when we simply choose what is right. I am so glad to hear that conference went so well. We will have the chance to watch it with our branch this next friday and saturday which should be great! Thanks mom for those highlights from conference. I cant wait to see them! :) Those pictures were also great of the temple and those at the conference center. Those grounds bring back so many great spiritual memories. Im so grateful that i was raised by such great parents that helped me realize that while i was young. Though i may not have seemed to pick up everthing the speakers said, somthing about the atmosphere of the spirit that could be felt there was something that will never leave me. I know exactly what i will be doing with my children when the time comes!:) Thanks for all that you do! Our investigator Yana is still struggling and hasnt changed much. We invited her to begin to read and we hope and pray that she will. Please pray for her. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week and i look forward to hearing from you!



With Love,

Elder Ostler