What a great week. Started in Hel and ended in Heaven

 Well Hey there Family and Friends!!!!

Agnieszka, Tomek, and Kasia and Irena What a special day.  With Brother Harker

 I don't know where to begin! Sorry about last week.  Hel was really fun! It's beautiful up there.  The ocean was really cool and the beach was so nice.  This week was amazing.  Started in Hel and ended in Heaven ;) ;) I'll start with Saturday.  There were 4 baptisms; Agnieszka, Tomek, Kasia, and Irena.  Wow, it was so powerful! Brother Harker baptized them and they were so happy.  I can't explain it.  When agnieszka got out, she threw her arms around her kids and said, I love you so much! I felt the love of the Lord there with us and with them.  What a neat experience.  Then on Sunday, they were all confirmed.  that too was a wonderful experience.  I wish there were words to describe it. I am just so filled with love for them and for the gospel.  Their lives have changed soooooo much.  You can literally just see the spirit working in their lives.  It's wonderful.  

     So yesterday after church, we had the wonderful opportunity of having our Mission president and his wife over for dinner.  They sat in our study couches and we ate our our study table hehe :) I made a roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy and carrots and jello and juice :) I was in heaven being able to cook and have them over and just talk and get to know them more.  What a great experience! Our mission president is so inspired and so humble.  They work so hard and always make sure everyone is taken care of.  It sure means a lot to us.

  

     So aside from those wonderful experiences, there were many throughout the week.  A bunch of little tender mercies.  One day we were sprinting so hard to catch the bus to be on time to our next lesson and I just wanted to stop and walk sooooo bad! But I knew we could still catch it.  So we kept running and running and finally, we made it right as it was pulling away and we got on and made our 30 minute trip.  So cool! :) Then one night we went on a wild referral chase :-) It was clear out in the hills and we took one tram, then another, then a bus, then walked, then another bus, which happened to be wrong, and then we walked forever.  Well, we were just going to call it a night when we got the building and realized we didn't have the apartment number.  BUT we tried the first 2 and ended up finding the person we were looking for!!!! Soooo coooooooool! That was awesome :) That night I celebrated by eating a couple Oreos in milk :) ( and I thought of you daddy!) :) 

      So we try to always invite our investigators (on the first visit) to be baptized when they know this message is true and the God answers their prayers.  Sometimes it's a little scary, cuz we don't know what they'll say. But yesterday this awesome girl named Agata, when we asked her, she said, "If I get to that point, for sure!" We were so excited.  It so good that they know why we're there.  She is cool! So there were so many stories throughout the week, I wish I could share them all.  I am learning so much.  I would also like to apologize to anyone and everyone reading for being selfish and over confident.  I am learning a lot about myself, and I know that I have a long way to go.  But I hope that you can forgive me for not always being the best listener or the best person to turn to.  I hope the Lord can make the turn in me throughout this short time in my life. 

     Well, I have to go.  I wish I could stay and write forever.  I love you all. Thank you all for taking care of my family.  I miss them and I miss all of you.  This gospel is worth it all.  Have a great week.  Till next week! :) Love, Sister Shelby Ostler

Wonderful Baptism

Irena with her husband who is already a member

At the beach in Hel

The sisters with sister Harker

With the elders at the beach

After the baptism with Agnieszka and Irena

     

The Church is true everywhere!

Shelby looks right at home!

                                   

 

 

Hey Friends and Fam,  

Well I don't have much time this week.  I am in a city called Olsztyn which is a few hours away from Gdansk.  We took a train early this morning to come here for a funeral of a man in our branch here.  Amazing story really.  He was baptized in June this year. He is 80 or so and he and his wife would ride for 3 hours every sunday morning to get to church.  Last week she came and was having some troubles and they had to leave right when they got to church.  Then at the train station she went missing.  She has alzheimers (?) and they couldn't find her all day.  They finally found her and called him and when he found out that she was okay, he passed away.  We don't know how or of what, but what an amazing man! He was so strong and so wise.  So we went to the funeral just now and it was good.  Very different, but I sure learned a wonderful lesson.  It doesn't matter what religion anyone is or what language you speak, the spirit is the same and every single person is a child of our Heavenly Father.  It was a good lesson as we all sang Nearer my God to Thee in Polish together.  

      
 So this week, well, what to say? It was good.  But I can't lie, it was just..... hard.  I can say that I am learning a lot, and I am growing closer to my Savior.  It has been a blessing.  When we pray to be humble, or to be stronger, Heavenly Father really blesses us with opportunities to be humbled and strengthened.  He is so merciful. 
      But other than that.  There were miracles everywhere, like there always are when the gospel is around.  At the end of last week, we had 9 investigators in church!! We felt so blessed and so full of love for all of them.  What a blessing.  Sorry this email is jumping around, but in personal study, I did something kind of fun.  I read all of the chapter headings in Acts and tried to figure out why it is called the book of ACTS. It was really cool.  How does that relate to the spirit?? I will let you all make your own conclusions.  But I learned a lot, and it was really cool.   
     I'm sorry I only have a few minutes on this computer.  But Sister Lewis here in Gdansk shared something great with me today on the train.  She quoted Ralph Parlett and said, "Strength and struggle go together.  The supreme reward of struggle is strength.  Life is a battle and the greatest joy is to overcome.  Following the path of least resisitance is what makes men and rivers crooked."  I loved that.  I know that everything we experience in our lives is for a purpose greater than we may be able to comprehend.  I know that we can find beauty in every situation.  My mission president reminded me to stop and smell the roses.  I think I'll do that a little more.  Have a great week.  I love you all.  Next week's email will be more full of miracles and stories.  I love the gospel and I'm so grateful to be here.  Thank you all so much.  Love you!

 Shelby's 3 favorite things: Sharing the Gospel, playing with children and Making yummy FOOD!!!

     Love, Sister Shelby Ostler :)