Dear Friends and Family, 

      It has been a learning week for me.  I don't know where to start or what to talk about because there's so much and I don't have it all organized in my head.  I'll start with yesterday.  Church was sure neat.  Our branch President was gone and his counselor and the usual people to bless and pass the sacrament, so we were a little worried about how everything would work out.  What a blessing it was! We had a lot of investigators and members in church and Elder Myler presided and Sister Bezdjian spoke, members passed the sacrament and I taught the Gospel Principles lesson.  It was a great day at church and one of our investigators came for the first time, Bozena, and she really liked it! We are excited for here and her husband.  I also had a great experience as I got to prepare to teach a lesson.  I sure felt blessed because it was in Polish and it was on the Atonement and I really wanted it to come together for the people there, and I know the Lord helped me to teach.  It was a neat experience for me.

     So the other day, we had just eaten dinner on the go at a little wietnamese place and it was so good! :) But we had some left overs and there's always this man that we see at the train station without a home or food. So we gave our leftovers to him and in english he said, "Well how can I pay you back" and we said "No, no, it's free!" and then he said, "Oh I know!" and he started singing "I see trees of green, red roses too.... " and he sang "What a wonderful World!" It was soooooo good! He is just a neat guy.  :) So then we were on the bus, and this man came in with a really bloody face.  I was sitting next to him and had no tissues or any way of helping.  I looked over and two or three fancily dressed women were ferverently searching their bags for tissues.  One found some and gave them to him.  It was really neat for me to see their example and the love and kindness.  I invited him to church and promised him everything would be okay.  His name is Lukasz, he is really cool. 

     So we had Zone Conference for the first time since I've been here.  It was great. It was in a city called Bydgoszcz.  I saw an elder who was in the MTC with me, elder raines, so that was cool! :) It was really uplifting and I really needed it.  Our mission president is so inspired.  He really amazes me.  I feel so blessed to have him as our mission president.  So the other day, there was this cute little boy, like 10 or so who came up and asked if he could help us hand out ulotki (flyers) and we said, Sure! So he went around to people giving out pass a long cards :) He then found out that we do it for free and said, oh. Never mind. Hehe, cute kid. BUT he said we could meet his parents and talk with them about the gospel, so that was cool.  :) 

      So , there are many attributes I am trying to work on and focus on right now in my life as a missionary, and as a person in general.  I have learned that I just can't do it without help.  As much as I give, the Lord will always make up the other half.  Sometimes we may feel like we are not enough.  Like we aren't good enough because we can't do it by ourselves.  But that's what it's all about- learning how to be independent and strong, and yet, completely dependent on the Lord.  It's a huge part of what we are here to experience and go through.  Some days are just.... hard.  Whether on a mission, on a 2 week vacation, in the middle of mid-terms, at the end of a long week, or in any circumstance at all.  We'll have them our whole lives.  Sometimes it is tempting to say, "Oh it'd be so much better IF...." and then fill it in with something in the future or something that we wish we had.  But really, if we remember the WHY of the gospel, like President Uchtdorf teaches, we wont' need to fill in that blank, because we'll feel the hope and reassurance that all will be okay.  That is why I love the gospel.  

     Well, I don't have any more time.  So I just want to testify that I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is here for us to benefit from and to share.  The church is a wonderful way to teach about, learn from and experience the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Book of Mormon is our handbook and can be a great comforter.  Prayer is our communication with the One who knows us best.  I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  

I love you all, have a great week

Love Shelby

Sister Ostler is blonde again....she must have found a hair salon in Poland

Hey Friends and Fam

Gdansk Missionaries

Wowie, what a great week.  Where to begin where to begin? I don't know where the time goes, it just flies! This week was full of a lot of miracles.  First I want to talk about some of our investigators.  They are so cool! One is about 50.  She is trying so hard to learn English. She's intrigued by the pioneers and mapped out a bunch of stuff in the Book of Mormon. Pretty much, she wants to be baptized.  She just gets it, ya know? Her name is Janina and she is so cool!  Her husband is living in England for a while and we will teach him when he gets back.  We have so much hope for her! :) So another one is named Aleksandra.  She's just this spunky lady around 65.  We met with her for the second time on friday and she invited a friend to listen in.  We gave a lesson on the restoration and Aleksandra was just excited about it, she couldn't stop telling her friend more and more.  They love how we pray in our own words and how we can repent.  They are so fancy and elegant, they just make us smile.  Then her other friend comes over! We taught all 3 of them and are meeting with them again in a while because they wanted more time to read the Book of Mormon. Sooo cool! :) So yeah, we love them.  There's lots more, but that's all for now.

      So one really neat experience this week was in our previous english class which is now our book of Mormon reading class.  We had 4 people and a member in on the lesson.  We had them act-out chapter 4 of 1st Nephi and then we talked about it.  It was really interesting to see the different responses.  One of them (who has SSSSOOOOO much potential) had a really hard time with Nephi being commanded to kill Laban.  It can be a tough subject to talk about, but it really opened the door for her to start thinking more about it.  We talked about the nature of God, and how much He really loves us.  And then, one of the other girls, Mili, joined in and started talking about God in the Old Testament and it was so cool to see them help turn this story into real life.  The Book of Mormon is so great! She will come to know this truth and she will be so strong, you can just see it! :) I love it.  

      Okay, so pretty much, I love the first 4 or 5 hours of the day.  We go running, get ready, have personal study, have companionship study, and then 12-week program (Which is awesome).  Personal study is so great!!! For an hour we just get to read and study from the Book of Mormon, Preach my Gospel and church magazines.  It is so uplifting! Then we get to talk about it comp study.  This week I studied compassion a lot, and that was sure powerful to me.  Compassion sure goes a long way. It means so much to me when someone shows compassion or empathy, so I tried to study how we can implement more love and compassion everyday to those around us.  Christ is just the perfect example.  So I've noticed that when we sing in our lessons, the spirit is always stronger.  We've been doing that as much as possible.  It's really neat. 

     Okay, so a few things I've learned and my challenge for you.  First of all, I learned that if all else fails, and nothing else is working out in life, no matter what it may be- Hard work will bring you comfort and confidence.  That is something we can control.  Second-  By our willingness to be consistent, we are blessed consistently, and when we are not committed and are wavering, our lives too, will be unconsistent and will waver from time to time.  So, here's my challenge.  Pick one thing in your life and be consistent in it.  Maybe it will be praying mornings and nights, maybe it'll be reading 20 minutes a day, maybe it'll be changing every little complaint into something you're grateful for, and maybe it's just consistently trying to share your love for others around you.  I have chosen the complaining one.  I know it sure helps me to be consistently happy here on this mission.  I testify that being consistent in this gospel will bring blessings.  :) :) 

Haha. I knew it was just a matter of time until Shelby
found a hair salon.
Now I think they are teaching the hair dresser :)
Cute dress Shelby.....
and cute hair Sister Ostler and Sister Bez

Love It!!!!!!!

These great Sisters earned the Standard of Excellence.....
They love to talk to people.....and people love them

A lesson on the beach.....

Beautiful Poland

Baltic Sea in the baskground

      Okay, I am trying to think of what else to say.  My mind always goes blank under pressure! :) Well, I have a fantastic trainer. I really feel like I couldn't be more blessed.  She is so solid! Every day I learn something new from her, whether it's gospel related, teaching related or polish related.  I hope we get to serve together longer.  We've become great friends. :) So the other day we walked into this old house/apartment and it was pretty sketchy....... spider webs all over and then on the old stairs there was this huge cat with a tumor on it's face and it was breathing heavily and staring really creepily at us.  I had to laugh because it was like this old scene in a movie and were right in the middle of it.  So funny :) Well, life is great.  I love the mission.  It's hard work.  I'm pooped about 98% of the time, but it feels so good! How do you explain that??? I'm not sure, but it's a good feeling.  Life is great.  I hope you're all doing great at home.  Remember I love you all :) Enjoy the journey! :)

      Love, Sister Ostler

Miracles in the extra miles......

Hi Family and Friends
Shelby has a different address where she can get packages and mail within about 5-7 days..
She would love to hear from you.  She loves snail mail.....


Sister Shelby Ostler
Brzozowa 9c/1
Gdansk  80243
Poland

Finding time to cook.  Always a must for Shelby

Hey Friends and Family! 

     How are you all? I hope life is great over there in America.  One thing I am SOOOOOOOOOOO grateful for this week is that the gospel is the same everywhere you go.  I mean it.  What a blessing!!! Prayer is so handy.  You don't have to pay for long distance calls, or worry about getting good service.  It just works every where you go! :) This past week was truly one of miracles every day, around every corner, and in every extra mile we went.  Lesson #1 (and my challenge for all of you) = There are always miracles found in the extra mile.  Whatever it is you are doing in your life, find something and go a little further, push yourself a little harder, stand a little taller, and I promise you will find miracles in that extra mile.  I am trying to apply this every day. Some days are easier than others, some days are just plain TOUGH to give any more.  But it's worth it.  :) Let me know how it goes :) My mom has my address ;) ;) 

        So, one of the miracles I want to talk about was from one of our investigators, Agnieszka.  So on Monday, we met we her after FHE at the church.  We had been praying that she would feel the desire to be baptized because we knew that she knew this church is true.  So we had a great meeting, and we talked about all of the fruits of repentance, which then leads to baptism.  The spirit was so strong, she closed her book of mormon, looked up at us and paused for a second before saying, "September 22nd.  I want to be baptized."  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! It was so great.  I got teary-eyed I was so excited and happy for her.  She got teary eyed and said she knows it's all true.  It was the most powerful meeting and experience I've had here.  But that's not all.  The miracle comes after the trial of your faith, right? So the next day, Agnieszka was at the store to buy their food for the rest of the week (tuesday to sunday!) with 13 zlots... about 4 dollars or so.  She didn't know how she was going to get by, but then all of a sudden, this man she kind of knows came up to her and said, "do you believe in God?" and she said, "Of course!" and he gave her a bunch of food and groceries that could last her about a month! Then she went and gave half of it to her friend in need.  She called us to tell us about that awesome miracle and she knew it was a blessing from the Lord.  Watching this investigator grow has been one of the most testimony-strengthening experiences for me.  She has so much faith.  From day 1, she knelt with us and experimented a new kind of prayer for her.  She asked sincerely to know if this message is true, and she felt goosebumps when she was finished.  She signed up to clean the chapel, she is making the dinner for our FHE tonight at the chapel.  She is already such an example to so many! So yeah, what more can I say? She's teaching us so much.  And people say missionaries do the teaching.  The spirit is so amazing.  

       So I have been so blessed with a wonderful companion.  She wants to work hard, be obedient 100%, and she just gets things done.  I have learned SOOO much from her.  I really feel blessed, and I feel like the Lord knows us all so well.  How does He get it so perfect every time? No matter what it is, it seems to be just what I need. So yeah, Sister Bezdjian is fantastic, and I hope we get to work together for a while longer.

Shelby and her awesome Trainer Sister Bez

Are these guys on a mission?!!!!
Looks like a pretty fancy place

  

      A mission is really an amazing thing.  I've heard this said many times, but now I really believe it: A mission is like a mini life packed into 18 months or 2 years.  I feel like that, except I feel like sometimes it's all packed into one week or even one day! We had the most crazy day on friday.  We met with an inactive member who told us she doesn't believe in God any more.  We cried with her.  My heart was broken. She was sooooo strong. She brought her friend to baptism, and was so set.  We left just distraught.  Then a few hours later, we had an amazing lesson with Agnieszka and her 3 kids came in, and we all talked together, and we all prayed together at the end.  It was the most opposite of feelings I have ever experienced! We left her house asking ourselves, "What greater joy could there be"?  The gospel has everything GOOD to offer.  We just have to trust, and try.  The next day we ran from one appointment to the next in the pouring rain.  We laughed and sang because we just loved that moment.  It was so ... surreal! I love the mission. 

    I'm sorry I don't have a lot of time to write much more.  One more random thing.  Don't forget to live in the precious present moment.  My insititute teacher taught me that, Brother Rau.  I am loving that principle every day.  Sometimes it's hard.  Sometimes you can't wait for the next thing- what ever it may be.  But how precious is each and every moment.  Especially as members with the knowledge that we have- this life is so short.  Okay, well I gotta go! I love you all.  I hope you're all doing great.  You are amazing.  Keep spreading the good news :) Love you :)

Love, Sister Ostler

Beautiful Poland

A lesson on the beach....such a cute family