More Dec 17th Correspondence

Elder Johnson being funny

the second one is brother **** he is the greatest member ever and he has the coolest accent ever and has no teeth :) so fun to talk to him and eat at his house

the third picture is for Jon there's these huge concrete balls out in front of the Owensboro library and we decided to plank on them :) kinda reminds me of devils playground

December 17th

The first is one of the zone leaders he is from canada and his name is elder anderson

the second is my dream come true what did i want from kentucky.....well duh a banjo and a santa hat

the third is elder murphy the other zone leader and also the son of dale murphy that played major league baseball

More Dec 10th Updates

mom

thank you for the letter through dear elder ...i really have a great trainer he gets on my nerves but i love him and he is teaching me so much and his family has already sent me a stocking  :) hint hint :) just kidding dad said that work has been pretty go and go with the mine and all but i hope that you have been having fun without me :) i have not felt home sick yet because of the funny circumstances that befell us when i was going into the mtc i just remember that and its all good and the good bye at the mtc was awesome because all of us were smiling... my suits are getting loose on me and they are extremely more comfortable than i thought they were going to be and i look stinkin awesome in them s you may know well got  to email the prez so i will email ya later

love

ELDER DURSTELER

the first picture is our gingerbread churros that elder manzano helped us make

Blog Update for month of DECEMBER!

From: Andrew Dursteler [mailto:andrew.dursteler@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 10:36 AM
To: Eric Dursteler
Subject: Re: letter to Elder D

dad

hey the work is treating me extremely well the food is amazing theres almost too much of it i have learned to burn it off fast its amazing that here they have winter and i have never been in a warmer winter and more humid place it rains constantly and when it is not raining your still wet from the humidity its funny though the rain comes in waves its drizzles and the you start hearing it and then you run for cover its kinda like the primary song the rains came down and the floods came up i never new how true that song was until i got here. on sundays we go and eat at the fuquas and the fedors both have amazing food and its funny the fuquas have cheese, crackers, summer sausage and sweet jalipenos that is the appitizer and then its the four crock pots full of roast, potatos, bean and ham soup, and of course the apple and cherry gumbo and the plates are as big as the platters that the roast is served on in our house and if theres any room on it left over you get harassed to all ends and they both feed us on sunday so we leave there then we go over to the fedors and it like they think we are from etheopia and that we need to be shoveled food into it is really amazingthe kinds of food here and then theres the different drinks if you can try to find yoohoo its a choclate drink that comes in a can and it is amazing also L8 it is a ginger ale made specially here in kentucky and there is nothing i could compare it to othere than its better than the victor ginger ale...all in all the food here is amazing and it is so much fun its really funny though that we only have a branch in owensboro KY the fourth largest city in kentucky but we have a goal to make it a ward by the time i am done training it willl be awesome we also have like five baptisimal dates set up and we are going to have a few more here in the next few days boy is it fun to not have to worry about the world it is amazing that if you just keep your mind and actions toward the gospel being homesick really is insignificant compared to anything else it is so great because "i get to leave my family for two years so that others can be with theres for eternity" ....i am extremely happy that your work is going well i have realized how lucky we were in logan and all the places we have lived that we have been able to get jobs here the economy is so bad they have soup kitchens all over and we teach like five familys whose fathers only income is from menial labor and three of them got layed off....the best part of people here is that everyone talks about god and jesus christ and that they all love him so much it is amazing faith these people have and the love they show one another it is the greatest thing ever

love ELDER DURSTELER

p.s. not even the mission president can say our last name so its grand that i am used to that :)

His first "Study Desk", will you look at the breakfast bag!

 Looks like Elder Anderson is relaxing after the Thanksgiving dinner they had!

First Day in Kentucky!!

There he is! Ready to take Kentucky on!  He just has the glow of a missionary (I will sooo get into trouble with him when he reads this!)  HA!

 

 Greenies ready for planting and growing!!!

President and Sister Woodbury

Here he is with his trainer...Elder Anderson!  Doesn't he look great!!

Andrews Destination--Kentucky Louisville Mission!

Dear Brother and Sister Dursteler,

Thanks so much for your letters about Elder Dursteler. It was wonderful to hear from both of you. He arrived here safe and sound last Monday, virtually beaming from ear to ear.

After leaving the airport we drove a short distance to the Mission Home where he had his interview with the President and I did Orientation. A home -cooked dinner followed and a wonderful Testimony Meeting.

After a hot breakfast the next morning, the missionaries had Companionship Study conducted by the Assistants to the President and an orientation regarding mission finances. Moving on to the Church next to the Mission Office about ten minutes away, we had Transfer Meeting where the departing Elders and Sisters give their "Words of Wisdom" and the new missionaries meet their Trainers. Afterward a meeting was directed by President Woodbury with the Trainers and new arrivals, we had lunch there at the church, and pictures in front of the Mission Office next door. After handling a few matters at the office it was time to go off to their first areas as real missionaries!

I'm attaching four pictures of Elder Dursteler's first twenty hours or so in the GKLM, the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission. The first is the shot that will be on the picture boards at the Mission Office and Mission Home for the duration of the mission. The second is with President Woodbury and I, the third, a group shot in front of the Mission Home, and the fourth, a shot with us again and his Trainer, Elder Anderson, in front of the Mission Office. I hope you enjoy them.

P-day is on Monday in our mission so you can expect to get an e-mail that day. When Monday is a holiday, libraries are generally closed, so it will come the next day.

We already love your son and are looking forward to great things from him.

Yours truly,
Sister Becky Woodbury

Kentucky here he comes!

Well, I have to add my thoughts this morning, we woke up to the phone ringing with non other than our very own Elder Dursteler!  It was so great hearing from him!!!  He sounds wonderful and we couldn't get in enough talk time with him!  His flight leaves at 7:20 this morning and will arrive in Kentucky in 9 HOURS!!!  He loved the MTC (not like you couldn't tell from his letters!), we all talked so fast that I can't remember much of what was said!  His mission president has given them permission to view their blog, so if any of you who would like to comment, he will be able to view it! We are so excited for him, and very, very proud too.  He will rock the socks off of Kentucky!

More MTC Pictures!

Here is the beautiful Provo Temple!

This is one of the guys from Kuna, Idaho, Shane.  He was in choir with Andrew in High School.  Andrew said he got to see elders and sisters from every where we have lived! How awesome is that!!! 

 Here is one of his teachers looking like the kid from Home Alone!  Leave it to Andrew to get that shot!

Here is the good ole MTC basement laundry room! It hasn't changed much since Eric and I were there....only now they have computers! Technology, you gotta love it!!

Another MTC letter...so awesome!!

Now that's a nice view!

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!

 Hey! This is where Kentucky is!!!

 My district is the best!

 Me and my awesome companion!! 

Great minds think alike!

 Elder from England that Andrew has gotten to know...more later on this one.

This is Elder Wilson from Tonga, I play volleyball with him!

 Study time, ya gotta love it!

 One of the lovely ladies who happens to be one of my teachers!

The lovely magnetic name tag, ready to serve the good people of the Kentucky Louisville Mission!

Letter from MTC -- LOV'IN LIFE STILL!

MTC Departure Date!

For all of you who want to keep in touch with Elder Andrew Dursteler.....he will be flying out to Louisville, Kentucky next Monday, the 19th of November...On his parents wedding ANNIVERSARY!!!! 

Couldn't have a better gift! 

Remember before then, use the dearelder.com site to shoot him a letter, he would love it!!!

Andrews first day at the MTC!

 

What a wonderful time he is having!  We all enjoyed these letters very much!  I think he has written more in this past week than I have ever seen.  I just want to say thank you to all of you out there who had a part in Andrews life.  Always remember he loves you!

On Our Way to the MTC--Halloween Day!

The drive down and the nerves are setting in!

As we came up to the Provo Temple parking lot to take some family picts, a gentleman decides to pull a u-turn right as we are almost past him, he didn't even see us till the crunch happened...Eric (Andrews father), said Andrews mother was saying over and over...NO NO NO NO NO!  I actually thought it was all in my head! (this is Andrews mother speaking), yes, we still laugh about it.

Well, here is our lovely picture which was supposed to have the temple in the background!  Ahhh, the memories though!

This is Andrews type of memory making!!!  You know what a blessing.  No one was hurt, we were within walking distance from the MTC, so if we hadn't been able to drive the suburban  we could have walked him over...can you see the MTC in the background!  Now that's a story worth pictures!!

Poor ole thing!

Did the officer really think he would get a serious report from any of these goofballs?

The whole wonderful Family!

The wreck DID give cousin Meagan, her husband Tyler and little Ty, time to come see us and  say good- bye to Andrew!

The Officer and Andrew hit it off greatly!!!

This is the closest we got to the temple....do you see the spire with Moroni on it?  Thank you Jake for the photo bomb!

I JUST WANNA GO TO THE MTC!!!