Elder Ostler's Last Missionary Email!

Dear Family, Oct 19,09
I guess 2 years is almost up or so they tell me. Thanks for the letters you sent me paper letters and emails my mission. I also want to thank you for the rootbeer Bro. Clutter Loved it. I will miss all the people here that I have been able to love and know. I have been able to see a lot of neat things and it has been worth it every second. Sometimes it was tough but it was worth it. You have all been a great support to me here and in different areas. I know that the things I have learned can't be learned anywhere else . I haven't ever been so focused in my life than on my mission and I want to continue to stay on the path. It is weird you get those mixed feelings that you never thought I would get. It seems like yesturday I was at the MTC.
Things are going great. Sam is still planning to get Baptized on the 7th. Also It was neat we were able to give some blessings this week. One to a family who is LA in Sesser they had a fever it was neat. Then to a guy who the Bishop was friends with who had a heart attack. After the blessing I touched his hand and I told him to get feeling better and he opened his eyes for a few seconds. Then we gave Elder Crapo a blessing for his cold that was getter worse. We also gave a part members family (the husband who is not a member) a blessing after church. We all got sick at some time this week. Me first with the flu last p-day then Elder Hobbs with a cold and Elder Crapo with a cold. It has been crazy but it has worked out. I guess I will see you in a few days. With Love, Elder Ostler

From Val: Thanks to all who have been a support to Ben.
We are picking him up tomorrow and we can hardly wait!

Elder Ostler is almost home!

Dear Family, Oct 13,09
Things continue to go well for me here in Mt. Vernon. Carol got baptized Sat. and it was neat the water was burning hot so we cooled it down with a bag of ice and was still pretty warm. Then Sun I had the priveledge of confirming her a member of the church. Also another girl in a family got baptized that day and it was packed full of people for the baptism we barely had a place to sit. Then Sam is still doing really great and is still planning to get baptized on the 7th of Nov. Then we taught Josh again and had a great lesson and answered ?'s he had and he is almost done reading the Book Of Mormon. Then we saw Howard again who is doing really well and helping better understand about the church. We also had a neat sacrament meeting and there was a new Bishop called Bishop Wilcox and Bro. Clutter 1st counsler and Bro. Mezo 2nd counsler. Bishop harper is moving in a few days to Tulsa Ok. It is going to be sweet we are going to go to the temple this week with Bro. Clutter. It continues to be fun with 3 comps we are quite a deal around town we you see 3 on bikes at once. I also made homaemade pizza for district meeting which turned out great. We still have been making good meals and cheap with three people.
with love, Elder Ostler

Mom's note:
Ben is coming home on October 22nd! A week from tomorrow! We are excited to see him. He will speak in church on November 15th at 9:30 for those who want to come. This is a different date than I told some of you as we found out we have Stake Conf. the previous week. All are invited and more details will come later. Thanks to all for your support of Ben on his mission.

Elder Ostler's Last Month

Dear family, Sep 21,09
It is really going great here this week we were able to set another baptim date with a PM family it is a kid named Joey. It was also fun helping a LA family with some service we got to help them bail some hay about 280 bails it was some good hard work we also got to know them really good and had fun. Then we also baked Josh a cake for his birthday it was a fishing cake with a guy and made a pond and got sweedish fish and it was neat he said he has never had a party. Then we also made Sam a cake for her birthday it was a pinapple she loves that stuff. It was tons of fun all these out of scratch cake and frosting. It was so neat at church on Sunday Carol who we have a date with said that after watching together forever she wants to be baptised as soon as she can. She said hearing the plan of Salvation completed what she needed. Then at church on Sunday tons of people showed up it was packed, what a great place to be full. These are the people who came Josh, Carol, Sam, Paul and 4 part member familys husbands and 2 of our ward mission leaders relatives. I also found out that I am getting 2 new comps Elder Hoggs and Elder Crapo. And Elder Leffler is going to weldin springs Mo. Something new is going to happen, it is always good even when you will miss your old comp.
with love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler update

Dear Family, Aug 10,09

This week was really busy it was cool to contact people from the members. The Webbs friend Sam is very sincere and we answered her questions and talk to her about the Book of Mormon. She has a great family to help her along that are great examples. Also we have been working with Josh a lot and he is coming along well he wore a suit to church it was neat to see a member gave him a tie tac. Also a part member family all came that was neat. Also on Sat. we are going to go to the Temple with the Matuszavichs I can't wait. Then we had a great time in Sesser and Christopher. In Sessor I bought a huge watermelon outside of town and hauled it 8 miles on my bike. This one guy in Christopher said he never met a missionary with a watermelon on his bike before. There is also a member who served his mission in Alaska and I said we have family up there. He said he had dinner at the Grose's. His name is Noah Webb. We just keep getting more and more busy and it is great. When you think things are going so great they just keep getting better.
With love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler update

Dear Family, Jun 1,09


What a week in Anna and it is about the size of Ephraim. I guess that I am coming home if they sent the return date to you guys. (They sent us his return date of Sept. 24th) It has been sweet tracting we found 4 new people to teach and it was really neat. Then one former investigator Bill noble in Jonesboro who we lost contact with we talked to him and he is almost done reading the Book
of Mormon. We were so happy to see him doing so well. We also had a good visit with the Whittingtons and Ben said the closing prayer he did very well. Then we had a very sweet appt. with the Bailey family in Murphysboro and they and doing better and better. It has been great to see the people here and to get to know them all better. It was really funny the other day walking down the sidewalk talking to people. Also fishing again on p-day it was fun to meet a members friend.
with love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler moved

Dear Family May 27,09

We are livng it up in Anna. It is about 40 minutes from the church. We also live out in the country with the Matuszewich family. It is going good and we tracted the other day for a few hours and found a lady named Kristen and we also found some other potentials. It is great to be serving with Elder Hooton he is from West valley City Ut. We have been biking
a lot and it has been nice to get seen so much. The members down here are loving it and are excited to have missionarys down here. this is the new address.
with love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler
503 Sharp Rd.
Anna Il,62906

Elder Ostler

Dear family, May 18, 09

This is getting really crazy it is the 4th time trying to write you this letter. It will be a little shorter than the last 3 because I don't want it to close. Well more service this week and on Sat May 16th Sheila got baptized. It was very strong with the spirit and couldn't have done it without the members help. She has been the best fellowshipped investigator I have seen on my mission. Then On Sun I got to confirm her a member of the church which was a neat experience. Also for transfers I am staying and going to be getting Elder Hooten and Elder Bowen is going home for a while with his medical problems. It is crazy but it will be good. Also this week or next we are going to be moving in with the Matuszuvich family in Anna it is going to be great.

with love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler update

April 20, 2009

Dear Family,
This week went too fast but it was a really sweet one. On Tuesday we set a date with a lady we are teaching named Ester and had an great first lesson with her. She cried the whole time. We also earlier that day had a fish fry. We caught and fried and battered 13 blue gill, it was good eatin. I know dad would have been in hog heaven. It was also nice to have a LA family at church that hadn't been for 3 years and she was in tears as she left and had a great time. We also had a fellowship party at Sheila's home with some members it was a great time and good fellowshipping. Me and Elder Bowen are getting along fine. As for the work, it has been nice to see lots of people progressing and people who fell away coming back.
With love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler

Dear Family, feb 23,09

This week it was nice to find a new lady named Puala to teach and we found
out that we both didn't get transfered. It has been some nice weather and Also Sheilah is doing good and getting really close and Also Bill in Jonesboro is awesome and we are planing to go fishing with him one of these p-days. Also a less active member named Rosie we told him about having a calling and he was really happy. I haven't ever seen him happier. We also had a fish fry sunday and cooked a blue gill and a bass and had made potatoes and carrots. It turned out really good, and it was Elder Bowens first time eating Bass and Blue gill he liked it a lot. We helped the Keosters out in Anna tear up tile and carpet in their new office it was tons of fun. I also talked to Terry Janes and he is doing well in St. Louis and he said he has read the Book of Mormon

4 times through now.
With Love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler loves bad weather

Dear Family, Feb 2,09
This week we got some snow and ice that was great because it gave us lotsof service to help out people around us and to soften hearts. I always have liked snow and rain and bad weather. It gives us a chance to talk to people that would reject us. It always amazes me the power service can have on peoples hearts in there view of mormons. It is a great tool for missionary work so next time you have an opportunity to serve take it don't let that window of opportunity pass you up. This week all and all has been good we found 2 new people to teach and one was a member referral. The members are doing some really great work here. Also today is zone p-day and we are going to Cape Gireado where we are all meeting up. Elder Bowen is doing great things and keeps learning quick I am really happy for him and his future as a missionary.
With love, Elder Ostler




Dear Family, Feb 18,09
That is cool that you talked from pmg on Sunday. Also we have moved Sheilah's date back to march because she is not ready for the commitment yet but she is really close. Also maybe her family will all get baptized the same day that would be really neat. It was a crazy week as usual just running around everywhere. Thanks for the package I really enjoyed it and Elder Bowen says thanks for the gift card. We also are teaching a new guy in Jonesboro named Bill who was a media referral. Then we tracted a little bit in Anna again and found a new lady name Ali. It has been neat to be working with the members lots and this week all of are appointments we have lined up to go with members so it will be cool. We also went fishing again on p-day and didn't catch anything but had lots of fun. Maybe because we could see are breath and it was too cold.

With love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler

Dear famiy, Jan 26,09
It has been a sweet week. We had a great appt. with Shela and had dinner with her and her son and husband. The family built a stronger friendship than before with shela and we taught her about baptism and the holy ghost. It was also good to go to Du quoin and find and a new investigator tracting named Pauline and go tract down some L.A. members. We also went down to Cobden and did some tracting and found another new guy to teach named Brian. We have had another successful week. But the highlight was to teach shela and after we did the overwhelming joy of missionary work that we felt. It makes the mission the best part. We slept good that night, that was for sure. Me and Elder Bowen have been having good unity and it has been helping us teach better and to teach with more power. I have been learning tons of things with my new comp and it is pretty tiresome but I do enjoy getting tired. There is also a good ice storm that is suppose to be coming in tonight.
with love, Elder Ostler

Dear Family, Jan 21, 09

My new comps name is Elder Bowen and and he is from West Jordon Ut. He is a country boy so we get along well and have been teaching good too. He is really learning things quick and learning the ways of the mission. He is going to to be a super missionary and I hope to help him become even better than me. We have been working the area really good and finding people in a town called Cobden and Jonesboro. The members are getting real excited that we are working those small towns. I guess missionaries have never really done much work down there. We did some tracting and found some new people down there. One guy was a media referral named Edy who is looking for a church and is really into cars and working on a 1970 Nova. He is in Cobden. Also in Jonesboro we had a referral for a really sweet lady named Betty who is very religious. Shela is doing well and we are going to talk to her about baptism and the holy ghost at a members house for dinner with them. The members have been so good to help us with rides and teamups or splits. It is cooling down in the 20's with the windchill which can make it colder.

With Love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler

Dear Family, Jan 12, 09
We got transfer calls the other day and well Elder Harmon is going home and they called me to be a trainer for a new greenie coming out. I don't know anything about who it is yet because you don't find out until transfers. It will be fun I can't wait to meet him. Elder harmon will be missed but change is for the better. It will be fun to teach someone how to do things that hasn't been in the field before. This week has been great though we had a very neat ant tender appt. with Shela. We talked to her about coming to church and bore strong testimony about it. There was a lot of tears in the house and with the member we were with. She told us she had prayed more that day than any other time in her whole life. She had had a ruff couple days and it was an answer to her prayers that we came that day. She told us how she needed to change and she needed to be at church. She came sunday with her son and her husband it was so neat to see them even happier. Also a LA member the Metasavich family has been coming back to church for a few weeks now who we have visited. They are wanting to go back to the temple and get active again. They also stayed for the whole 3 hours and not just sacrament. We also found a new lady named Vanessa who is really nice and wants to read the Bom. It has been great this last week we got 3 new referals to work with. It has been neat to work with all these great people in this area things are really taking off.
with love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler

Dear family, Dec 8th and 15th 2008

This new place is great and there is lots to be done. We have had an excellent week we found 9 new people to teach altogether. There is a lot of little towns to cover so we have a car but we bike almost every day too. Elder Harmon is from Twin falls ID. We get along well and have been working good and having fun at the same time. I am in southern IL and it is right by Southern IL University. We have the best ward mission leader that I have ever had, he helps us out so much and is really cool. The ward is great and there is a lot of cool places near by.

The member we live with is Sister Linda Schack who is a little older and is a really nice lady. We got to help set up her Christmas tree and decorate it. She is not too much of a talker but a very sweet lady. It has been a little icy and a bigger storm is coming tonight. I can't wait for it to come. Could you send me stamps and envelopes.

With love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler Address Correction

Dear Family,

Ben mistakingly gave us the wrong zipcode on his new address. He wrote yesterday and corrected it so I wanted to pass it on to you all. Thanks for your support of him. Here is the address with the correct zipcode.
Love, Val

Elder Ben Ostler
1320 Maple St.
Murphysboro, IL 62966

Elder Ostler moved

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008

Dear family,


The snow has made it to Fulton, just a tiny bit but it has been great winter is here. The other day I found out that I will be getting transferred. I have been in Fulton for 6 months. The place and new adventure will be in Murphysboro IL. I will miss the area of Fulton and the people here but am excited to see more country. It will be great for a change because then I will be able to grow even more and to face different trials. I am excited to meet my new comp Elder Harmon there. I don't know what is in store but it will be fun I can let you know that. This is a great area and it was a privilege to be here and to help Heavenly father out over in Fulton. Here is my new address


Elder Ben Ostler
1320 Maple St.
Murphysboro IL, 62926


with love, Elder Ostler

Elder O's Thanksgiving

Dear family, Nov 24, 08 The

Thanksgiving Holiday is just around the corner. I almost can’t believe it. Before you know it we will be stuffed plump and be about ready to explode. But I want to let you all know how much I love you and am thankful for you to be my family. I always tell people how great you are and how lucky I am to be apart of the family. I haven't done a list to be thankful for on my mission, but this year I am going to make one.

My week was too fast, it didn't even seem like a whole day. We found a new investigator named Justin and one named Jose that was a member referral. Also we got to visit someone in the county jail which I liked too. I have so much to be thankful for I could go on for hours. This year we are going to the White family’s house, which will be really fun. Then we are going to work in the soup kitchen and serve others and help them have a good Thanksgiving. I am very excited to help out giving others Thanksgiving and can't wait to get messy and have fun and meet new people.

With love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler is staying warm in the cold

Mon. 10 Nov 2008

Dear Family,

It has gotten colder here but it is nice. People are wearing big coats and beanies. We had a lot of good appointments this week and some with newer investigators.

It was also Zone conference and the mission President asked me to read this story about Joseph smith and when he was in liberty jail. When I started to read it is was great, but the story that I read I couldn't finish. I started to tear up and my jaw started to close because it meant so much to me and how it related. I have never had an experience like that one and it was really great.

Sometimes when reading the scriptures it will strike me and I will read the verse over and over because of the power it has and the spirit that is felt. It is pretty neat how the spirit works and I learn about it every day more and more. The longer I have been out on my mission it seems as if the spirit gets stronger.

Sometimes I wonder why more people don't join the church. It will make people happier than they ever thought it was possible. I am glad for the previous members of the church and all of the things that they have done and things we can learn from them. The power of the Book of Mormon, (that it has) is incredible. Sometimes when I study I just think of how great the knowledge is that we do have.

With love, Elder Ostler

Elder Ostler

Dear Family, Nov.3, 08
That is great that there is a new member of the family named Mary Jade Ostler. I am glad everything went well with the baby and that is funny what Mitch said about that. That is crazy to be an uncle, wow.
The new place is really nice and is a great location to be in because it is in the middle of town, and Fulton is a stretched out town. It has been a change to move to an apt for a little while.
This week has been great and we found some of our investigators we couldn't get a hold of before, it was great. Also there was a guy we were teaching named Thomas who we found coming home the other night.
Halloween was fun we went to the ward trunk or treat and my companion wore an old suit that was a 3 piece, and I wore overalls with a shell oil shirt we found and I was a gas station attendant in a little town in our area that I had a hat from. The one investigator was cool when we found him I had a thought to go and stop by-- so we did and found him home. Also we gave a Recent convert (Rebecca) who got baptized in July a blessing and her family and the mom that was a non member. We also gave a blessing from a referral we had from St. Louis to her non member mom in a nursing home. It was a really neat day. We gave more blessings that day then that any other day in my life. I was also reading my patriarchal blessing and seeing that get fulfilled.With love,
Elder Ostler

(He is still in Fulton but moved into an apt.) Here is his new address:

Elder Ben Ostler
609 Jefferson St. Apt. B
Fulton. MO 65251

Elder Ostler

Dear Family, Oct.20, 08


This week when Darin got baptized it was great to see him do that and to
get conformed. It was a very special day for all who could attend. It was
really great because we had the members doing about all of the stuff for
the baptism.

It has been great to find six more people to teach about the church.
It has still been really busy going from one appointment to the next.

It was a real neat time to see Elder Glen L. Pace speak to us. I learned a lot from him
and that he is a funny guy and loves the missionaries. It was fun on the trip over
a bunch of missionaries from our zone piled in a members bus and got to ride over.
It was a few hour ride and it was great to have good time to study. I was in the back
with no light but I brought that book light and it was really nice to use.

I have found that you can never pass people up to talk to them about the church because
you never know when they will be interested. It is a great idea to carry pass along cards
to give them out because most times you don't have a lot of time to talk.

with love, Elder Ostler