Roostam

So no i wasn't able to watch Conference this weekend, however i believe we will be able to watch it this next week in Russian. So i guess we will find out how much i understand or if my head just wants to explode. If you have any favorite talks let me know and then i can't print them off and read some of them, just in case i don't understand everything being said.

So this last little bit has started to get back to normal. The elder who has been feeling pains in his chest is still in Dnepropetrovsk, however his companion returned with a different compaion so now they are serving here and things are a little more normal.

We had an awesome meeting yesterday. We met this guy through English and he asked me a bit ago if we had meetings at our building. I asked if he meant like a church service and he said, "yeah!"

So the next sunday he came,but he forgot to change his clock for daylight savings time, but he was able to be there for the last little bit and he really enjoyed it. After this we tried really hard to meet with him, however it never worked out, then yesterday we were able to meet with him.

So before out meeting he said that he has been reading parts of the Book of Mormon and he talked about the Isaiah passages! Sweet! So we met with Roostam and talked to him about our heavenly father, prophets etc. He Told us how we wasn't always a believer but that when he was in prison, and then he showed us his tatoo on his arm, that he become a believer and changed his life around. I guess he even lead some of the Church meetings at the Prison. Anyways, this guy is awesome! He loves the savior and was so excited to hear our message. At first he said that the apostasy where there were a lot of churches was just part of God's plan for everyone to have a path to God, and then i felt like i should share the analogy of the clay pot that Dad taught me a while ago. And i showed how the apostasy is like a broken pot and each church got certain pieces and some pieces were lost, however no church received the Fullness of the Gospel. This made sense to him and so we carried on and talked about Joseph smith and it was awesome because earlier in our meeting he talked about how he has been trying to find the True Church and that each one he has gone to so far has this flaw or this flaw and is all about "business" and not people. And he said that so far he hasn't found any flaw and that he feels great when he comes to our building!

After we talked about joseph smith and bore our testimonies to him he told us that he would pray about the Book of Mormon and then he asked why all of the other Churches don't know about this(meaning the restoration)?

At the end of the meeting we found out where he lives and so we get to pass another investigator to the other Elders. I guess the Lord doesn't care who teaches his elect just as long as they are taught. So i am grateful for another wonderful opportunity to meet and bring another soul to the knowledge of the Restoration. Infact we have a meeting with him today because we wants to meet with us, and then the other Elders will be meeting with him.

Isn't that such a cool story? it kind of reminds me of Jean Val Jean from Les Mis. He is just trying to turn his life around and do what is right. Well hope all is well, love ya all.

Love, Elder Ostler
"I testify that our teacher, our shepherd is Christ, our best friend, who clears up all our doubts. He heals our wounds and turns our pain into sweet experiences."
- Elder Horacio A.

Daniel got his investigator back!!

4-1-09
Dear Family,
I am so glad you had the opportunity to meet some of the Members of the Church from Russia and Ukraine. They really are all incredible people. Yeah it's the same here. We don't have a stake, but i hope that we will soon. Yes, we're lucky to have 50 people at Church. However, those that come are incredibly strong and delightful to talk with. I count myself very blessed to serve here in Ukraine. It's amazing to see how the church is growing and the hand of the Lord in our work.

So a lot has happened since i last wrote home. Over a week ago the other elders had to leave to Dnepropetrovsk because one of the Elders has terrible pains in his Chest and they had to go to Dnepropetrovsk in order to meet with more experienced doctors, and now we just learned that he might be going to America. As a result we were asked to take over our old investigator again, and then on saturday President Abraham asked us to continue teaching him permanently because it's not fair to keep passing him around. I'm not going to lie, i was overly joyed but sad at the same time because that means the other Elder won't be returning anytime soon.

Also we had zone conference on monday, that's why i didn't write home on monday. So this last week has been pretty crazy, we taught all three English classes combined on one of the days! because the other sisters were gone while one was renewing her visa and then the elders were in Dnepropetrovsk. luckily most of the students left, however quite a few stayed and we had to find a way to teach 60 plus students! We played a game with all of them and luckily somehow everything worked out.

We have met with Viktor a couple more times and he loves the gospel! Last week we went with our ward mission leader, Bro. Vatali, to meet with him and Bro. Vatali helped to fix his lights and so now Viktor has lights in his bathroom and kitchen!

Also, we were able to get to know his two sons a little bit better. One is 13 and the other is 16. They haven't expressed much interest in the gospel yet, but we're just giving them some time.

We committed Viktor to baptize at our last meeting with him and he said that he wants to be baptize,however he doesn't feel like he is ready because he wants to get a job in order to pay tithing and he doesn't want to be a burden. And also he told us that he prayed about it and that he needs to find a job first.

WEll i'm sorry, I want to write more but this keyboard won't let me type. Please Tell grandpa happy birthday and both of them hi and thanks for their message. Love you all, hope all is well!

"Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people." Mosiah 18:20

Love, Elder Ostler

Oh, really quick, I found an old paper in our apartment and it had another Elder Ostler written on it. Tell Corey that i'm living in the exact same apartment he lived in. haha, how funny is that!