Release Date Change 8-9-2012

Sister Ostler,

We have changed the release date for your son to the 9^th of August.  The schedule for his release and departure will be just as you described with his interview with the president on the 8^th.  Unless you let us know differently, we will assume that you are planning on meeting your son in Kiev on the 10^th.  We will send you a copy of the hotel reservation as the time gets closer and those arrangements are made by our local travel office.  Elder Hatch and I will be release August 14^th so I do hope to meet you while you are here.  Last week we visited all of the Donetsk District missionaries in their homes to check their apartment upkeep.  I gave Elder Ostler a hug from his Mom (Senior sisters can do that!)  Thank you for the wonderful music you sent through him.  We feel doubly, blessed, first because this is a lovely and “not so easy to come by” piece of music, and most importantly, we felt the love and support your son receives from home stretch out to envelop us also.  Thank you, thank you.

Perhaps we will see you in August.

With love,

Sister Hatch

Secretary

Ukraine Donetsk Mission

1-30-2012

Hello Family!!

This is Elder Ostler emailing from the city of Gorlovka! It came as quite a surprise this week when my name was anounced to be serving in Gorlovka for a second time. I was just here about 3 months ago! Crazy huh?! Well, it was great seeing all of the members again and reestablishing contact with people i hadnt seen in what seemed like a very long time. The branch also seems to be doing alot better than i remember as far as happiness level goes which was great to see, especially with our branch president. Since i now live in his area, which is called the Kvartal, it will be much easier to help him out and serve him. He is a great man. They are still looking for someone who could be our correlator but i feel like that will be a continueing problem until some of our priesthood holders get themselves worthy to hold callings. It will be great though since we have a return short-term missionary who served in two area's that we were over while i was zone leader and she has great desires to refer her friends and anyone she can find. She came to church yesterday with a contact for us which she had made while doing a little of her own contacting on her free time. If only we could get all of our members to do that!:)

Right now my new companion is Elder Ether Mendoza, a great elder just one transfer ahead of me. I think it willl be a great transfer as we have kicked it off pretty well, working really hard. As of right now we have no investigators but we are just getting a hang of this new area and look forward to seeing the fruits of our efforts. It is FREEZING here! Just last night it was about 0 degrees but with added wind chill which is really what makes the difference! I dont think my face has got so cold in my life. SO i've made up my mind that when i get married and raise my kids, i'll either be living in Arizona or California, wherever is warmer!:) But its a great learning experience, fighting all that your body is telling you when you are getting ready to go out the door, "NO! dont go out there! You will freeze to death! are you crazy!?" and over come it with what you know what is right and say "hmm, well... Yes, i very well just might freeze to death, but its okay because there's alot of people out there we need to find!" Thank goodness this is all in the lords hands:)

So, as for the young man in the internet club last week who wanted a book, I gave him a call and tried to set up before i had to leave that thursday  but it didnt work out to meet that soon. He said he would try to make it to church this last sunday so i hope things all worked out! He seemed like a great man.

It was great to hear about those other missionaries returning home having changed so much. Its a very interesting topic to think about to be honest because most of the time, you dont see the change in yourself and it makes you wonder if you really are. What i've learned that when you are putting forth your best effort to do what is right, you can trust that God will help you make the neccessary changes in your lives to become what he want you to become, but your own effort and dilligence in seeking out this change is so very vital. I am so grateful that God places us in the situations that are best for us and that will best help us in the long run. He truly is all-knowing and all powerful.

I love you all so much and i hope this letter finds you doing well!

With love,

Elder Ostler

1-23-2012

Hello Family!!
Wow this week blew by!! We had exchanges with two sets of missionaries in two cities in our Zone. I really enjoyed going back to the old summer stomping grounds back in Marioupul. There i went on a split with Elder Kleestrup whose a awesome Danish elder who is district leader down there. We also went to obedenyoni and did an exchange with some elders there. They are so great, even in the face of being discouraged and somewhat depressed, they call in each night to us ready for a laugh, with great attitudes. I am personally so grateful for elders that continue to work without many complaints, focusing on the positive. That has been such a great help to me when it would be soo easy to make myself the victim of a trial instead of the victor. It really does come down to a personal decision within ourselves to refrain from complaining and even going beyond that and speaking of positive things. We really have great missionaries in this mission. Besides these splits, there was not much that really changed besides having Sasha and Hatasha whom i talked of last week tell us that they do not want to meet again. The husband is being stubborn. I even asked for his wife but he just said that they were not interested, feeling they knew enough. The Elders in this area will continue to work with them im sure. Unfortunatly this is my last few days here in petrovsky since i recently recieved a transfer call. I leave this thursday. 

To give you an idea of an ideal sunday, this last one will be perfect. After a long week of inviting as many as possible to come to church, sunday is gameday, to see if those people who promised they would come actually came. This sunday we had a young man named Sasha come whom we have had a hard time meeting with. We recently found out we need permission from his parents to teach him so we are working on that. It wont be easy. Anyways, he came and a recent convert/less active Lena came after i sent her a text a little earlier than our sacrament meeting. It was great to have them there. SO, all of the members show up just about 10 minutes befor church starts at 10:00. We have that first sacrament meeting hour, and then proceed to gospel principles for our group of investigators and recent converts which is taught by a member. The final hour is our priesthood meeting where it always seems to be quite a riot, our priestood holders being a bunch of jokers. It pretty funny but definitly difficult to have a serious lesson. After the third hour, we meet with investigators if they have time and then hold a missionary correlation meeting with a member assigned from the branch. Our Correlator is a great member whom everyone loves. Its always a great blessing. After that we go home to eat and spend the rest of the sunday either teaching lessons our out on the streets finding. Always a great day!:)

 Just had a great miracle happen while paying for our computers. There was a young man who just asked me if i had some scriptures to give him. I said that we could meet later and give him some and he agreed. We exchanged numbers and i left him with a pamphlet. Wow! a tender mercy when you are least expecting it! Hope it all works out! Well I love you family! thanks for all your love! Cant wait to hear from you all next week!

With Love,

~Elder Ostler   

1-16-2012

Hello Family!

This has been a great week! We had a many lessons cancel on us but the Lord still blessed us when we turned to him in prayer. It is honestly a very hard thing to go confidently into a day with 3 or 4 lessons and have one after the other. It was interesting to me how it was almost a struggle to want to pray after having planned out each lesson meticulusly, discussing each individual and their needs and adapting the lessons to what would best suit them. The natural man works hard within each of us to try and get us to sucumb to what we think is best for us or others. Though struggling with these feelings, Elder Loveridge and I would stop and pray on the street to recieve further guidance as to where and how we should seek out the elect. In two of these instances, miracles occured that we were privledged to see. The first was a night when our lessons had cancelled and we found ourselves out in a blizzard on the streets of Ukraine late at night, not exactly the ideal situation. :) We stopped and prayed, both of us feeling that we needed some guidance since we realized that God must have had some other of his children in mind for us to speak to. We decided to go and tract some apartment complexes by our own. We rang the DOM-O-PHONE, a phone at the bottom of each enclosed stairwell on which you can call the person you need who will then open the door for you. As we tried to convince the people we chose randomly to call to let us in, A man opened the door and asked for our documents. At first it was a little frightening, not exactly what we had been expecting but we soon realized he was a little drunk. So we fairly quickly convinced him to open the door for us and we slipped into the apartment complex. We usually start at the top of each stairwell and work our way down so we took the elevator up to the 9th floor. Door after door opened and closed, no one very interested in what we had to say. After three floors of this, a door opened to an older man. He turned out to be "athiest" but his avid interest in finding truth quickly made it clear that he was searching for something. After talking to him of what we had to offer, his sweet wife somehow convinced him to let us come by and talk more about the Book of Mormon. Miracle! we stopped by later this week and talked with both of them. He had written out 4 pages of questions and information he had gathered from  what he had read. He still has a long way to go, as he still enjoys the atmosphere of argueing, but if he shows God his faith by turning to him in prayer and really making that change, he could recieve a testimony within minutes. He has been SOOO prepared. His name is Sasha and his wife is Tatyana. Great couple! 

Our second experience with prayer this week was when a member cancelled on us even though we had travelled 30 min and were there waiting at thier door. It was rather disappointing but decided to brush it off, saying a prayer, and headed to a nearby complex to tract. Again, door after door shut before us, without anything being shared. We were soon out of time and headed out of the stair well. We literally almost ran into the young 8 year old son of the member we had been trying to meet with. He was all alone and pretty lonely,just waiting for his mom to come home. We sat down and had a talk with him, talking a little about the Holy Ghost, trying to help him gain some desire to be baptized. I pulled out the scorpion that you had sent with the pictures and we proceeded to teach him a quick little spiritual thought. We could tell it really made his night. Soon his mom arrived and we had a chance to set up for the next day. From these two experiences it is clear that God loves all of his children, young and old, no matter where they are or what concerns they have. I know it wasnt by chance that we found that elderly couple and that Yaraslav, the young child, just happened to waiting outside of that apartment complex late at night. This work is the Lord's work and he is in control. It is a comfort to know that, even after all of our own efforts seem to have failed. Well family, my times up but I love you all soo much! thanks for your words of inspiration and for all that you are doing back at home to help push this great work forward. 

With Love,

Elder Ostler

1-9-2012

Hello Family!!

This week has been one of dilligence in this work! Monday was spent in Donetsk in our zone leaders council that lasted nearly 9 hours from beginning to end. As you can imagine, we had much to discuss. Our mission is moving towards making our mission capable of seeing the windows of heaven open. President Compero discussed in our council the need for complete obediance in all that we do, something that is hard to understand for many. Some feel that they can get along with following most rules but not all and still see the windows of heaven open. Though there are blessings that come from any effort that we put forth to be obedient, Heavenly Fathers greatest blessings still await the time when we all seek to obey and align our standards with his in exactness. President Compero also had decided that we would present our new early morning schedule in our zone conference the next day. Tuesday went well, with many good questions. We spoke of the topics which i mentioned but also had a focus on a clarification of the standards in the Missionary Handbook and what we will be expected to do. That was hard for some to except because many had began to get used to the loosness with which we interpreted the standards before. We are all feeling the affects of this call to sacrifice which i know will bring even greater blessings. It is so comforting to have someone called  of God at the head of this mission in whom we can trust. I also know that no matter what he may ask of us personally to change or follow, we can always expect the Lord's blessings to come, even when we may not understand the purpose for the changes.  That is something i am so greatful Mom and Dad taught me at a young age. Though i have never been perfect in my adherence to rules, i always had that principle engrained in me and have tried my best and that is what has helped me endure through this test of everything i have on this mission. This is the best training ground anyone could ask for!

It strengthens my testimony to hear all the good you have been doing back at home. I can see how the Lord has truly been blessing you all with such great experiences because of your faithfulness. I love you all and i hope you all have a great week. I'm already out of time but i hope to fill you in on the rest of my week next time!

With Love,

Elder Ostler   

1-2-2012

Well Family, I already feel like i havent seen you in an eternity! Last week already seems too far away!:) haha This week we have been adjusting to a new schedule put out by our mission president, Having us leave to gather Israel at 7 in the morning, searching for priesthood holders out there on the streets.  We then disperse our studies throughout the day which has already worked out to be a great idea. We are meeting all sorts of people who probably havent ever seen missionaries because they go to work so early in the morning and return so late. We havent yet found a person willing to meet but we will soon. Our investigator Valentina is struggling to come to church. She seems to just dissappear on sundays and we cant do anything about it. We plan on making the trip over to her place to pick her up so she feels some responsibility to come each sunday. In our last meeting we discussed some of the questions she had from the internet  which seemed to be helpful to her. We just keep praying that her heart will continue to be open to what we teach so she can feel the spirit. This week with New Year's, we were asked to come in at 4 and 6 on saturday and sunday to avoid the fireworks and drunks found everywhere. It was fun watching the seen from our windows on the seventh floor. Some how i managed to sleep the whole night without waking up once from all the explosions and our neighbors partying. :) Thankyou for all that you do for me family! your support is seriously so helpful to me. I love you all and i hope you have a great week. I hope to have some more miracles to tell you about this upcoming week!:)

With Love,

Elder Ostler

Here are some pictures:

          

 This is a big apartment structure being built in my new area that was abandoned.

This is our Zone!

 

This was our thanksgiving feast. A senior couple provided the main course and we made the pies!

Elder Bangerter and I eating that wonderful Mexican food you sent!

 

This is Elder Loveridge's and mine version of Noah and the Ark, Christmas style!:)

 

This was our branch's christmas party.

Christmas dinner as a district.

 

Cinnamon rolls!!

This is the view from our apartment window

Common mode of transport for children. Little tobagon sleds.

Family home evening with the Korshe family and President and Sister Campero (Mission president and wife).

Elder Bangerter and I

 Cooking christmas dinner in our small kitchen! :)

Elder Loveridge and I in the Snow

Warming up at the eternal flame monument!

Another monument photo

Classic snow on head after contacting picture:)

12-26-2011

From Daniel:

Hello!! It was great talking to you! Thanks for taking the time to fill me in on life!! It was so great to see all of your faces! I love you all! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years!!

Elder Ostler

From Mom & Dad:

What a wonderful blessing it was for us to skype Daniel the day after Christmas!  Daniel is looking great.  He said he is about the same weight and is doing well.  He is very tired all the time.  Other missionaries say they felt the same way during their missions.  He is trying to buy fruit and other good food so he can be healthy.  He had been throwing up the night before because his companion from when he was in the MTC made some eggnog and Daniel trusted him that it would be ok.  I guess it wasn't.  Daniel seemed to take in in stride.  He said he has problems with the food now and then.  It is just to be expected.  It's really cold there.  He is now wearing a fur hat that has sides that cover his ears and go under his neck.  He put it on for us....it was fun to see him look so authentic.  Apparently many of the other locals wear the same kind of hat.  We're glad he is keeping warm. 

His clothes are in pretty good shape, so he didn't ask for anything.  He would appreciate any of us sending him our testimonies, pictures or anything he can use for sharing the gospel there. 

He said that many of the men there are in the streets, drunk.  He said that at least the women stay in their homes when they are drunk.  Alcohol is a HUGE problem there.  He said they even put alcohol in the babies' bottles in the orphanages.  How sad!  While we were talking with him, he kept looking warily to his left.  He told us later that the guy next to him had been drinking alcohol the whole time he'd been taking with us.  He wasn't sure what the guy was going to do.  You can see why it is so hard to reach and teach people.

Valentina, the grandma lady he'd been excited about, had gotten on the internet and read anti-Mormon material, so she was off date.  They are hoping she would let them talk with her again.  Keep her in your prayers.  He said he saw something that surprised him being sold there.  It was a dollar bill with Brigham Young's head on it, and it said something about polygamy.  Daniel bought one to show us.  Apparently the people accepted the gospel at first because it was new.  Then, many of them have become inactive.  Daniel spends a lot of time working with inactives....trying to build the wards and branches.

He LOVED seeing Ryan and Addie, Josh and Jen, and Megan and Joe.  They each got to talk with him for a couple minutes, but they were kind enough to let Mom and Dad  have most of the time.  We took him on a "tour" of the yard and house.  We showed him Dad's new fish tank, our winter garden that is doing well because of the netting shelter he built around it, the yard and pool.  As we walked out the door to show him the things outside, he said, "Wow!  Blue sky!"  He said we could just stay out there for the rest of the conversation!  It must have been a long time since he's seen blue sky.  As we walked through the house past the stairway and Christmas tree,  you could his his sense of amazement.  It is such a different world where he is.  Truly our home must seem like a palace.  As we walked out the front door, he literally gasped at how beautiful everything was and how bright the sun was shining.  I have to admit, it made me realize how much we take for granted living here.

When it was time to say goodbye...he was really good about keeping it to the time limit of 30-40 minutes...we all got in the picture so we could wave goodbye.  He put his hands to his eyes like we was going to cry for a second, then he waved and said goodbye.  It was SOOOOOOO hard to say goodbye!!!!  I couldn't have pressed the disconnect button.  Dad said we should let him, so we kept waving and saying goodbye till he went offline.  Then we all just sat there like.....WOW!  He's gone.  We savored every moment we had to talk with him and feel his spirit.  Daniel doesn't know what a unique and wonderful spirit he has.  Just to hear his voice brought amazing feelings into our hearts.  I hope he knows how much we love him and are so proud of the way he is serving without complaining day after day in a land where the land and hearts of the people are cold.  How grateful we are that he is there to do all he can to light a spark in the hearts of the people and land of Ukraine so that their land of "winter" can have a gospel "spring"!  It WILL happen, and Elder Daniel Davies Ostler will be a part of it.  We love you, Daniel!