April 19, 2006
Mom,
Easter rocks! woot!
let me first say, i dont think ive been getting all of my emails! maybe its some myldsmail.net filter thing. i respond to EVERY email i get, so if you havnt gotten a response from me, it means that i didnt get your email!
Also, who has heard of patriots day? that was a holiday on monday, thus i couldnt write emails then.
Jamie: please send some of your chocolate layered cake... j/k, im sure it was good though, and thats why i said that.
Mother's day is comming up soon, and itll be good to call home! Everybody asks why we cant call home on Father's day, and we tell em to write Salt Lake on our behalf lol. not really, but thatd be funny.
I totaly forgot taht Greg is getting married!! its just too unreal! have you met her yet? i forgot.
Mark told me how he got set apart. he is so excited for the work and im so proud of him for everythign hes doing!! Its reassuring to know that back home there are missionaries i know and trust that are trying to spread the gospel there.
So E. Johnson wrote to Chelsea again? hes like the coolest guy ever. we are going to start a band when we get off our missions. itll be wholesome punk rock we have decided lol. He is totaly Chelsea's type. white, tall, and skinny lol. I miss Chels and Nat, im going to try and write them soon. things have been pretty hectic these past few weeks though. im sorry for slacking :/
wait... the guy is Nick's ward (McClaskey?) the same guy who wrote the mission song, baptized THE John Grover? i dont expect you all to understand, but hes like LEGEND here. EVERYBODY knows him. thats amazing!! i didnt get an email from him, but id love too! we are going to Flo's tonight to teach Larry, Sue, and Missy, and ill ask her about it.
Flo's baptism was amazing!! There were so many missionaries there because of the countless ammounts that she has gone through. for some reason it reminded me of Dad's baptism story. how many missionaries did he go through before going through the ordinance?
the spirit was so strong. Sue essentialy said that she would get baptized if she were worthy, and Larry's eyes were filled with tears as he ASKED to take the lessons. Even on sunday at Church he was asking us when we were going over so he could make sure to get off of work to be there. Missy is also comming along in the gospel. she has a testimony, but shes just so shy about it. i wouldnt be suprised if she asked to be baptized any day now. I had the opportunity to confirm Flo a member of the church, and bestow the gift of the holy ghost upon her. that was amazing... it was one of those really weird experiences where i literaly became a mouth piece for the Lord. If i can try to illistrate what its like, just imagine this. its like your thoughts and mind becomes like a blank white board... nothing there, but then words just start appearing, clear, simple and precise, and then once youve said them, they disapear, until more words come. it was an amazing experience.
You can feel the momentum of the church's growth here in the Northeast. Even after just 3 months i can already see a different attitude in the people, a different understanding of the gospel. people are more open, and such. We were taught by our Area Seventy how to do a special study method for the gospel. Elder Christenson (hes a professsor at Harvard Business School) told us to 1) pray 2) read 3) write answers to your questions 4) pray for assurance 5)re-read 6)revise answers 7) pray in thanks. its an amazing process, and i recommend you all try it. we were asked to use that method in conjuction with some scriptures, and answer the question of "how the Lord is preparing people to hear the gospel, and how we can find them". even since doing that, i was astonished to clearly see how what i felt prompted to write was actually going on. Its amazing. We have 2 more baptisms scheduled for the 29th, and we hope those go through. Other than that, i gave a training at Zone Development Meeting about Consecration and such. Elder Farr and Lyman (the ZLs) are such great missionaries, and i was so honored to be given such an opporunity by them.
Overall thigns are going well. thigns have been busy, and thats always good. im so honored to be here serving the Lord. i heard a really great thing last week from Sister Greenalgh, the primary president. She said how although the little kids might not know exactly what baptism is, and the extent of its application (who ever really does, right?), she said they do understand, and feel the spirit confirm to them the necessity and importance of making the commitment. I was thinking about this alot actually, and i was always reminded of the Prophet's words where he said that 'one could study the first 4 principals and ordinacnes of the gospel [faith, repentance, baptism, GotHG] their whole life, and still not understand it completely'. its so true. it really hit me even harder when i was giving my testimony at ZDM. there really are no words to explain or do justice to the ammount of gratitude and humility needed to express one's love for Christ and his atonement. i found it ironic that what seemed to be the best way to describe such is exactly what small children say when they given their testimonies in Church. I know this Church is the true church of Christ. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that Gordon B Hinkley is the prophet today. i know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and i know that Jesus Christ is the savior and redeemer of the world. and those things i know.
Love you all, miss you much, and hope all is well.
Elder Onken
P.S Transfers in a week.
Easter rocks! woot!
let me first say, i dont think ive been getting all of my emails! maybe its some myldsmail.net filter thing. i respond to EVERY email i get, so if you havnt gotten a response from me, it means that i didnt get your email!
Also, who has heard of patriots day? that was a holiday on monday, thus i couldnt write emails then.
Jamie: please send some of your chocolate layered cake... j/k, im sure it was good though, and thats why i said that.
Mother's day is comming up soon, and itll be good to call home! Everybody asks why we cant call home on Father's day, and we tell em to write Salt Lake on our behalf lol. not really, but thatd be funny.
I totaly forgot taht Greg is getting married!! its just too unreal! have you met her yet? i forgot.
Mark told me how he got set apart. he is so excited for the work and im so proud of him for everythign hes doing!! Its reassuring to know that back home there are missionaries i know and trust that are trying to spread the gospel there.
So E. Johnson wrote to Chelsea again? hes like the coolest guy ever. we are going to start a band when we get off our missions. itll be wholesome punk rock we have decided lol. He is totaly Chelsea's type. white, tall, and skinny lol. I miss Chels and Nat, im going to try and write them soon. things have been pretty hectic these past few weeks though. im sorry for slacking :/
wait... the guy is Nick's ward (McClaskey?) the same guy who wrote the mission song, baptized THE John Grover? i dont expect you all to understand, but hes like LEGEND here. EVERYBODY knows him. thats amazing!! i didnt get an email from him, but id love too! we are going to Flo's tonight to teach Larry, Sue, and Missy, and ill ask her about it.
Flo's baptism was amazing!! There were so many missionaries there because of the countless ammounts that she has gone through. for some reason it reminded me of Dad's baptism story. how many missionaries did he go through before going through the ordinance?
the spirit was so strong. Sue essentialy said that she would get baptized if she were worthy, and Larry's eyes were filled with tears as he ASKED to take the lessons. Even on sunday at Church he was asking us when we were going over so he could make sure to get off of work to be there. Missy is also comming along in the gospel. she has a testimony, but shes just so shy about it. i wouldnt be suprised if she asked to be baptized any day now. I had the opportunity to confirm Flo a member of the church, and bestow the gift of the holy ghost upon her. that was amazing... it was one of those really weird experiences where i literaly became a mouth piece for the Lord. If i can try to illistrate what its like, just imagine this. its like your thoughts and mind becomes like a blank white board... nothing there, but then words just start appearing, clear, simple and precise, and then once youve said them, they disapear, until more words come. it was an amazing experience.
You can feel the momentum of the church's growth here in the Northeast. Even after just 3 months i can already see a different attitude in the people, a different understanding of the gospel. people are more open, and such. We were taught by our Area Seventy how to do a special study method for the gospel. Elder Christenson (hes a professsor at Harvard Business School) told us to 1) pray 2) read 3) write answers to your questions 4) pray for assurance 5)re-read 6)revise answers 7) pray in thanks. its an amazing process, and i recommend you all try it. we were asked to use that method in conjuction with some scriptures, and answer the question of "how the Lord is preparing people to hear the gospel, and how we can find them". even since doing that, i was astonished to clearly see how what i felt prompted to write was actually going on. Its amazing. We have 2 more baptisms scheduled for the 29th, and we hope those go through. Other than that, i gave a training at Zone Development Meeting about Consecration and such. Elder Farr and Lyman (the ZLs) are such great missionaries, and i was so honored to be given such an opporunity by them.
Overall thigns are going well. thigns have been busy, and thats always good. im so honored to be here serving the Lord. i heard a really great thing last week from Sister Greenalgh, the primary president. She said how although the little kids might not know exactly what baptism is, and the extent of its application (who ever really does, right?), she said they do understand, and feel the spirit confirm to them the necessity and importance of making the commitment. I was thinking about this alot actually, and i was always reminded of the Prophet's words where he said that 'one could study the first 4 principals and ordinacnes of the gospel [faith, repentance, baptism, GotHG] their whole life, and still not understand it completely'. its so true. it really hit me even harder when i was giving my testimony at ZDM. there really are no words to explain or do justice to the ammount of gratitude and humility needed to express one's love for Christ and his atonement. i found it ironic that what seemed to be the best way to describe such is exactly what small children say when they given their testimonies in Church. I know this Church is the true church of Christ. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that Gordon B Hinkley is the prophet today. i know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and i know that Jesus Christ is the savior and redeemer of the world. and those things i know.
Love you all, miss you much, and hope all is well.
Elder Onken
P.S Transfers in a week.
posted by Queen Bee at 5:49 PM
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