March 27, 2006

Mom,
Wow, sounds like things are pretty crazay! what ever happend to my Jury summons thing? lol. am i going to be arrested? lol, thatd be more funny than bad imo.
It is starting to turn spring here. you can tell because everybody starts to reapair their roofs lol. the plants ahve started to bud, and the weather is getting warmER... i stress the -ER part, because it still doesnt qualify as warm... i think its like high 40's.
Wow, test drive a mini? how was that? i hear those things handle pretty well. manual or auto?
How are Nick and Jamie? they sent me an epic package the other day, i was so excited to get it. there was music, talks, candy, and a sweeeet singing duck! they are truely the most awesome ones. How was dinner with them? yah, Natalie and Chelsea should move in together, thatd be a good thing. A person who WANTS to be motivated, cannot do so if living with someone who isnt nor wants to be motivated. i see that alot here in N.Adams. we call it the North Adams Effect. I had Elder Johnson from Pittsfield e-mail chelsea. hes TOTALY her type, and they are the same age. tell her to check her email.
It sounds like the house is going to be completely different by the time i get back! the whole thing geeze. send me pictures of everything that is new.
Yah, Ben and I write pretty much every week. hes been a great source of inspiration and advice. hows everybody else back home in the ward? good things i hope.
Thanks for the package Mom, i really enjoyed (and am still enjoying) the snacks. Elder Fletcher and I are the only ones in the apartment.
So the past few weeks ahve been pretty crazy! When we went into Boston the other day we were able to go the the Temple! the temple in Boston is sooo nice, and it has the same kinda "didnt see that comming" effect as the San Diego temple does. it looks like a Citadel or somthing lol. While we were there in Belmont we got a typewriter from the mission. that was sweet, because all of my hand written letters practicaly resemble ancient chaldean charecters lol. Elder Fletcher and I are going to be writing a book as part of our companionship study plan. its going to be about Truth and Religion. along the same lines as Pratt's "the key to the science of tehology", btw, did you find that in my book box?
Here is an exciting event that happend while we were there. We went to visit Elder Fletchers old area, and we stoped by a members house. His name is Dennis Villa, and hes been baptized for like 20 years, but only been really converted and active for the past 5. he was baptized because his wife, but i dont know the specifics. Anyway, the really exciting and intriguing part is this... Dennis was on the commitee called the Theologate (dad, have you heard of that?). He was essentialy trained from birth by the Catholic church to do this. only 12 people in the entire world can be holding this calling at one time, so the Catholics have to wait till Dennis dies to even assign a new one. their job is to essentialy create and dictate the doctrine of the Catholic church. they describe HOW to interpret scripture, and create explinations for doctrinal incositancies. his job is so high up the totem pole that he would only answer to the Pope. hes pretty close friends with the guy who wrote "De Vinci Code", and says they both make fun of that non-sense. He was all talking about how he called the Pope last week and how they are all telling him how disapointed they are that he left the Catholic church. all he would say is how he finaly found the truth. he could literaly trace the Catholic church's creed in reverse order to the point where he could chart out the entire apostasy. he said its remarkable how the LDS church is completely in-line with the oldest pure christian teachings they have. Hes the guy who let out all the information about the Priest's sexual abuse scandals and such. Pretty much hes the smartest person ive ever met. he has like 4 PhDs. a very cool guy, and its interesting to have met him. we taught another minister this last week, a Methodist female Pastor. she told us that our knowledge of the cahtolic church was off and we should talk to a priest to learn more... we were .5 seconds away form telling her that we are friends with the one who WRITES what the catholic church believes, and hes now Mormon lol. i think its ironic, eh? he said that if every catholic took the time to learn what their church believed, they would learn that it was pagan and un-true. kinda harsh, but thats the kind of guy he is.
anyway, another lady we are teaching is Linaya... all i can say about here is that shes been investigating for 35 years and wont joing until women can have the priesthood. she seems to think our church prevents women from getting careers and such... she asked me if my mom was just a mere-house wife and i about fell on my head. i told her about your Job, your schooling, and how you still manage and make family your top priority. she was without words lol. oh well, shes a nice but interesting lady.
Oh yah, during basketball last week i bent my glasses way out of whack lol, but i got them fixed the next morning at a glasses place in town.
Well, thats pretty much it. pretty exciting past few weeks. love you all, and i hope all is well. miss ya tons, and let me know if there is anything i can do for you. i pray for you all every night and day. Prayer is a miracle working tool we have been given. In Ether it talks about how the B.o Jared no longer had faith, because he had a knowledge of God. i feel like i have that kind of position with Prayer. the reality of it is so evident and undeniable, it really has ceased to require 'faith' to pray... i KNOW God will hear and answer the prayers 'if i ask not amiss'. )just finished memorizing Nephi's Psalm, had to quote that lol). pray always that you may come of conquerer (D&C 10). its true. take care, much love.
Elder Onken

March 20, 2006

Well hey there,
sorry that didnt write really last week, things have been crazy. ive been sick the past few days, but im feeling better today. Ive gotten a letter from Chelsea and a bunch of other people, and thats always good. thats funny that you mentioned elder Rasmussen in your letter, because my new DL (elder saurey) knows him from back home, and i think one of the new elders might even be related lol. Sounds like work and school have you pretty busy mom, how about dad? gastrointestinal studies is my favorite ya know, so if you need any help on your pojects let me know... . Im sorry to hear about Sister Nevers, that is too bad. im going to send pictures by CD from now on, its just cheaper that way. ill still try to post em myself, but if not maybe you can do it if worst comes to worst. Havnt heard from Nick or the Jaimster either, they must be super busy with everything. hows Natalie? havnt heard from her either, but im guessing no news is good news, right? We got that newspaper article because we work at the Elder Services, and all the old people collect newspapers, so we just get those extras. there were a TON of emails written about that, i think the writer was rebuked severly.
Things have been pretty slow in N.Adams. Transfers are past, and im here for another x-fer. i cant believe ive been out for over 2 months, its crazy! Flo's baptisim is comming up soon, and her referals have been comming along well also. we have 5 investigators at church on sunday, and that was cool. other than that, nothing really interesting excpet its becomming spring!!! yah!!! well, i gotta run, but it was good to read emails. take care, love ya!
Elder Onken
P.S music? you can send me soundtracks for like Sons of Provo, Best two years, the RM , and such. also, TALKS, those are good listening.

March 13, 2006

[Looks like Skyler's email is still down, so we'll have to be patient. But, these photos make it worth the wait:]


MyLDSmail is down again. ive uploaded pictures. ill write letters another time.

http://www.missionpics.com/elderonken/

March 6, 2006

hey there!

sounds like things are going well back hope, although busy!

hows Nick and Jamie? havnt heard from them lately, im sure they are busy.

Hows Chelsea's new apartment? im glad its not in hollywood anymore. is she getting any use out of the taser i gave her? i wrote her a letter, i hope she got it. i sent it to the house. Chelsea, i was looking through mom's web page and some of the Elders saw your picture. is it okay if they write you emails? lol.

Mom, im excited for your school ending. yah, and its no fair that you get so many breaks!!! did you quilt up a storm while you were there? get anything interesting done?

i was so psyched when i heard that Mark got his mission call!! he wrote me a letter, and im literaly shouted for joy! my comp was like "what the freak?"

How is Dave doing? i need to write to mobilsense and tell them "whats up!". ill do that once i get back on myldsmail.

I miss everybody back home. i want to write letters to the singles ward, but i dont have the Bishops email or anything. every fast sunday im like "man, right now they are eating epic food, and jell-o"... so them im forced to make some jell-o and microwave me a burrito or something lol.

This week has been interesting. we recieved a media referral for a man who is so dependant on alcohol that he goes into seisures if he doesnt have it in my body. My experience in N.Adams has given me the "umph" to want to work hard at life... everybody here is on some fort of wellfare, and when they get free money they have no incentive to start working or even improve their life!! they are bound by the iniquites of fornication, alcohol, and tobacco! its sad. even the doctors dont help people. they will simply give out a diagnosis of "fibromyalgia" and say that the person can never work again... its terrible but true. these people need the gospel (of hope) more than anybody.

Also this week, we decided to try somthing new: we were walking down main street, and decided to walk into the Baptist Church. so we did, and the pastor met us with some bit of apprehension, but then we told him that "we wanted to learn about his church, since we think its rude to try and teach people about ours without knowing about theirs!". honestly we do, but we knew how things would go. he had us come back on friday (after Zone meeting), and we started asking him questions. its remarkable how similar their beliefs are, except that they are missing the authority and the other covenants of exaltation! eventualy (and expecadly), he started asking us questions! we spent 2 hours going of the restoration, and the plan of salvation! he asked us to come back on tuesday, and go with him to a bible study on wednsday!! hes the most receptive person in the town to the gospel lol.

We also did our first 'rebuking'.... it was pretty weird... we were teaching a Less Active family who had been promising, yet breaking promises over and over. we went in to teach them, and we just felt like we needed to be pretty bold and blunt... we felt bad, but we also felt that it was an inspired necessity... interesting. we will see if they come to church... am i a bad person for this?

Also, Sue (Flo's son's g-friend) came to church and said "i think this is the path that God is directing me"... can you say 'wow'? it was amazing! Flo's daughter Missy has also been trying to "kick against the pricks", but she eats up the gospel whenever we teach Flo. she even asked us how to pray (trying to be all subtle and such). good souls, Brother Grover [deceased] is truely helping on the other side of the veil.

its a blistering 31 degrees today, i dont even need a jacket!!! psh... lol.

we gave our first healing blessing yesterday! that was pretty cool.

hrmm... i think thats all the cool news i guess... the mission has been amazing so far.. its flying by. someone pointed out to me that im already 1/12 done with my mission... the learning ive been experiencing is remarkable! not just knowledge wise (although aramaic and hebrew has been intersesting), but just understanding and the perception of God has grown emensely! i have learned that since we are Gods "work and glory", that he should be ours. a working relationship is one where each person has the proper priority for the other, and therefore we can recieve blessings beyond comprehension if we make God our number one priority. my personality hasnt changed necessarily, but who i am (if that makes sense), and how i view life has changed remarkably already. im in awe at the spirit of God. his power and presence is near if we but allow it to be. im learned the necessity of obeying the commandments. especially keeping the sabbath day holy, following the word of wisdom, the prophets, the importance of having a family, the necessity of daily scripture study, and most of all the emmense power of prayer and personal revelation! Prayer is like a super power. seriously, if you ask, ye shall recieve. i have just finished memorizing Nephi's Psalm (2 Nephi 4:16-35), and the two coolest parts are when he says. "behold, he hath heard my crys by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the nightime. by day have i waxed bold in mighty prayer unto him; yea, my voice have i sent upon high. and angels came down and ministered unto me. yea, upon the wings of his spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains. and mine eyes have beheld great things. yea even too great for men"... and, "yea, God will give liberaly to him that asketh, yea my God will give me if i ask not amiss. therefore i will raise my voice unto thee, yea i will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteouness. behold, my voice will forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen"... so powerful. words cannot describe. Love you all, take care!!

Elder Onken

P.S im trying to get pictures out to you, but its tough since the library computers wont let me plug in my camera!! also, if you havnt sent that stuff i asked for yet, will you also include "A Voice of Warning; Key to the Science of Theology" by Pratt? its in my box of books.