4-22-2012

On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 9:33 PM, Daniel Ostler <ostler.daniel@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Dear Family!!

I don't have much time tonight to write because its getting pretty late and we won't have time in Kharkov to write but i just wanted you all to know that this week we had a transfer and I am now with Elder Solin! He's a great Russian elder that loves this work and a great missionary. I am excited to serve with him because of the great man he is and his speaking in 'real' russian, not missionary russian, will really help me out!:) Just being around him when he speaks helps improve my grammar and expands my vocabulary. We also had a great experience welcoming the new missionaries to donetsk. There were two sisters and two elders who came in about 2 oclock on tuesday. We took them all to president's house and had a great meal and chance to talk with each other while interviews were held. Afterwards, I went on a split with Sisters Armkneckt and Erekson, both great sisters with strong testimonies who you can tell know that this gospel is true. We three hit the streets and had a great night talking to many really kind people who listened intently while i led the conversation into the importance of the Book of Mormon and they testified. They know russian sooo well, its amazing how prepared the missionaries seem to be when they come out. The elders and sisters in our mission at this point and time are so great. Later that night one of the elders was having some intense pain in his leg so we called all the doctors we knew. Our area doctor told us to go to a hospital right then so the new elder and i took an ambulance to the hospital and waited until about 12 at night, doing different tests and xrays. We returned home after not finding any immediate problems later that night and went to bed. It was quite the first night for this missionary. We still are waiting for results to make sure everything is alright. 

   I was sad to hear about Greg Forbush. (Greg was going to be one of Daniel's roommates this fall, and he died last week...no known cause.  His parents were on a mission in Portugal and had to come home.  So sad.) I have been keeping his family in my prayers. He was my neighbor in college and a great young man. I am sure he is in a better place now. This is one of the first experiences i feel i have had with someone i knew pretty well passing away. It really made me reflect a little on the miracle it is to have a knowledge of the plan of salvation. I am so grateful that even in these times when people are taken so suddenly from us, we can still face the trial with feelings of hope and joy for that individual. The gospel has never been so real to me. I love it so much and i wish with all my heart that these people could know what I know. I look forward to the day when the gospel message will be sounded in every ear and the people will humble themselves and accept such a marvelous gift that our Father is waiting to give us. I love you all very much and i wish you all a wonderful week. I cant wait to hear from you all!

With Love,

 Elder Ostler 

4-16-2012

Hello Family,

It was great to hear how well you are all doing. Sounds like you are all very busy! We are also staying pretty busy over here. We had another Zone conference for our 3 zones in Donetsk and invited all of the senior couples to come and share what they had shared with us in Kharkov. Once again, a great spirit was felt as they shared thoughts about self-correction, gaining revelation, and obedience. We have such wonderful senior couples. I can't wait for Mom and Dad to serve together on a mission. They could do a lot of good for any mission and any people. Just hearing those experiences from home confirms that. This week end we were able to set up a few member lessons and received a few referrals which we have been praying for to see success with. Our members are just underneath the surface of breaking through to something great but seem to keep shying away from it since it is a step into the dark. Some courageous members are starting to refer their friends and family and i truly feel that if we as missionaries will do our best to follow up with them  and help them and pray for them, the Lord will bless us as promised. I see no other reason for him not to want these people's souls saved. I think it is a matter of us as missionaries and as their's as members doing each of our parts. One without the other will most likely not have the lasting effect we desire for those who are baptized. Both the missionaries and the members are coming to a realization of this. All we need now is a greater faith in the promised blessings, greater faith in each other, and a greater desire to serve God full time, whether member or missionary. Their really shouldn't be much of a difference between the two. Both are full-time representatives of Jesus Christ and our father in heaven. Both have been called to the work, and both will be held accountable to what they choose to do about it.

Another interesting statistic we received this week was a graph of our indicators from the past year. We saw how the mission numbers improved dramatically within the first six months of President Campero's arrival but then dropped dramatically after we had a member of the area seventy come and share a few of his thoughts of how we could be better missionaries. Many took this counsel to be hard but agreed to follow the new schedule for finding investigators. When we first looked at the graph, i thought to myself, "that's too bad he was so harsh on the missionaries, maybe they lost their desire to work." But then i remembered the comments of the missionaries and how all of the missionaries who were following the early morning schedule had seen great success in themselves as health and studies go. We began to realize that maybe we had just swung our work out of balance and that President's Campero's push for member work at the beginning should be reemphasized. If we were to keep such an invigorating morning schedule while still working with members like we did from the start, our indicators would skyrocket! So many people would be saved! Its amazing to see how the Lord works. We had no idea what was happening to us when we agreed to start finding in the morning but we trusted that God would provide a way and help us achieve what we had come here to do. Just now are we realizing just what exactly he was trying to teach us and we look forward to seeing this mission bloom once more. This mission is led by the Holy Spirit and just as Nephi, our President has led us, "not knowing beforehand" the things we would have to sacrifice and the things that we would learn. What a great blessing to have such an inspired man at the head of our mission. 

I love you all and i wish you a great week!

With love,

Elder Ostler       

4-9-2012

Hello family!!

Happy Easter!!! This week we spent Easter away from Donetsk in the second half of our mission called Kharkov. Easter sacrament meeting was so great with focus on the happiness that comes from Christ's resurrection. All in that room were absolutely edified. Its amazing how quickly you can fall in love with branches you have never been too. It didn't take long before we were best friends with these members I had never seen before. The church is wonderful in that way, no matter where you are, the gospel is the same, and the people who believe in it are all pressing forth toward the same goal of salvation. We had two zone conferences this week which both went well, the second being a very edifying and inspirational. You can tell the difference when Elder's and Sister's prepare for our conferences and come prepared to be spiritually fed, to find solutions to our inadequacies, and determine what we must do to find the kind of success our Father in heaven expects. I love this work. Something we had never done before was allow time for the senior couples to share spiritual thoughts for a good amount of the time. It was amazing to see the insight our senior couples have and it was truly a blessing to our mission to hear from them because they answered many questions we have discussed for hours with President.

General Conference was also heaven sent. Their were many times when a speaker would say something in direct answer to what we had discussed and we would all just kind of look at each each other with a smile and nod and quickly write down this revelation. Such a tender mercy! I love this gospel with all of my heart. I cant imagine life any other way. This week we also had the fun experience of going on exchanges with elders in our district so Elder Errington and I had a chance to try something our mission president suggested. We just recieved the new translation of the russian book of mormon which has major changes in nearly every verse(much easier to understand and read) so we have many old books we have been asked to distribute as soon as possible. SO, we used the idea of taking a box of leftover books and setting it on a stool on a busy sidewalk and put a small paper on it which said "free book with a promise". Of course, many people were curious as to what in the world we were giving away and would try to get a glance at the books in the box while pretending not to be interested. It was really funny. Soon one person's curiosity got the better of them and stepped forward to see what we had to offer. We were able to give him a short explanaiton as to what it was and then he left with a book. Soon after another came, and then another, and then they came in crowds of 6 or 7 people all talking at once trying to figure out what was for free and who we were. We emptied the box of books in less than 45 minutes, which was about 15 books. We had honestly not thought that people would be so curious but this little experiment proved to be a success, proving that people really are interested in who we are and what we have to give them, we just have to find out in what way is most comfortable for them to start off their first contact with us, whether on the street or in the home. Attached is a picture of our little creation. Yes, my Russian hand writing in block letters may look like a 3rd graders hand writing but that's ok. To this day i stand by my hand writing as being key to our experience!:) it might have proved to attract more people, who knows?:) just kidding, we just didn't have time to type it up but next time we will! 

So, to answer your question about a normal day for us i honestly couldnt think of one but i guess in general this would be our ideal lay-out for a day.

6:30 -7:00 get ready

7:00-8:30 finding on the street

8:30-10:00 Work out, eat, get ready 

10:00-12:00 Personal and companionship study

12:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30-1:00 travel to office

1:00-4:00 Meetings with president, working on following meetings like zone conference and specialized trainings and general mission events, completeing projects and putting new finding ideas into action. (every 2 or 3 days, this time fame is used for finding activities)

4:00-5:00 Language study

5:00-6:00 Dinner

6:00-9:00 Lessons with investigators and members, or finding on the streets and in apartment complexes.

So that's our normal schedule for right now, a little difference than many other missions since we have been trying to focus on finding men coming too and from work, thus in the morning and the evening and mid-day when they are on lunch.

Well family, my times about up to i will upload some pictures really quick but i love you all so much, Have a great week!!

With love,

Elder Ostler

ps. I think that would be great to room with Benjamin. When i heard that i just felt great about the idea so if he would like to, i'm all for it! 

4-2-2012

Hello Family!!

Things are getting sunny and warm here in the Donboss! Summer is on its way! I am so glad to hear that conference went so well. We were in the office late Saturday night working on a few projects that we needed to present to president the next day, so we turned on a live broadcast of conference and were able to hear President Eyring's closing remarks about enduring trials. It was so great!! It also came at a perfect time when we had much to do and alot on our shoulders. The Lord is truly mindful of all of his children. It looks like Caleb and Dad had a great trip to conference! I miss those trips alot! That is definitely a tradition that i would like to do with my children. What a perfect time to talk to your children about things that matter most and then have a spiritual feast to go along with it. Conference truly is such a sacred time and such a great blessing. Here, we receive the conference ensign about a 2 or 3 months after it shows live and we usually watch conference the week after the live sessions. We are trying to help members also feel its importance so they will take the time to watch it. It truly is hard when the translators don't show any of the emotions of the actual speaker but the spirit can be felt if they listen close enough. 

This week we had Zone Leaders Council and discussed some of the needs of our mission. We talked about the temple and the covenants each of us has made and how we can use that to influence ourselves to do good continually. We also talked about making our teaching more effective and making sure that our language study  is really helping us. We are working with some new language learning materials that i think will really help. The new materials that we are receiving have tests and checklists that will help any missionary better gage there progress. 

We also talked about a few new programs that are coming out such as an English Book of Mormon Class follow up by an hour long English conversation Club. Members and Senior couples will teach this class and missionaries with guide the conversations focused on spiritual topics. We also have a family history couple who are working very hard on getting those resources out to the public. I think it will go very well. We also are finishing up some sign boards that will soon be used all over Donetsk by missionaries to help gain more attention of those on the street, focusing on addiction recovery and spiritual life questions. Many great new tools!

This weekend we had a Day of Open Doors, one night being for all teachers and business owners who were invited, and the next day for the general public. It was run very well but there was probably a total of 50 that came over the 2 day span. They were expecting much much more but we hope that we can make the right changes to make it more successful next time. 

This Sunday we met with two young investigators brothers whose brother is a member. They were alot of fun and have quite the characters. One takes things more seriously and has been coming pretty often and seems like he will be baptized soon, he is just still looking for an answer. The other is struggling with desire to read and pray. He doesn't really see the need for all of this in his life quite yet. We talked about setting goals in life and pursuing them and it was interesting to see how they struggled to come up with spiritual goals. It was something they had never really thought about before. I think they are starting to grasp the concept and will do great. They just need time. 

Well family, I love you all so much and thank you Alyssa for sending those pictures! your kids look like they are doing great! I hope you all have a wonderful week and i look forward to hearing from you.

With love,

Elder Ostler

PS. Benjamin, How did it go at skywalker studios?! Isn't that that place awesome!?