October 30, 2006

Mom,


I knew you would pass your test. I wasnt even worried about it. You always make sure your prepared and you study hard. When i was at BYU-H i always asked myself "what would Mom do", and the answer was always "make sure your prepared as much as you can".


Brady has the Melchezidek Priesthood now? sheesh! I never really understood the scope of the priesthood until i had literaly witnessed miracles. Some i was able to be a part in. Its remarkable, it really is. I have done a lot of study on the Temple, and the Priesthoods, its so deep, and so enlightening!


They are having a conference in Newport on Halloween? who was the brilliant person to plan that? (just ignore that if its anybody i know lol).


Its getting really cold here. My hands freeze, and the rain drenches my feet. I need to go get some boots, but nobody sells size 13s yet. Well, Filenes does, but their selection stunk this week. Ill go get some this week i think. I guess its not cold enough to wear my winter stuff, but cold enough to be uncomofrtable. contacting in the wind is the worst part i guess... the wind is the worst part period!!


Christmas? lets see... Socks, I was thinking an electrical razor might be nice, since straight blades take a long time and the blades are expensive. Hugh Nibley's institute classes (BoM, D&C, PofGP) on DVD would be cool. Maybe some FAIR talks? or FARMS talks? they have a bunch free on the FARMS web site that you can burn and send me. i can give you my FARMS member number if you need (its also good for 15% discount on all FARMS products). Other than that, i cant really think of anything i need or want...


Who is John Pennington? What ward? I thought both the LaFevers went to BYU? Haha Bro LaFever is so rad. I remember he was on the stake youth committee when i first came into the stake. He is rad. He is a great institute teacher also. A real man of God.


Sean Sterling got engaged? Thats cool! to whom? There is this guy in the ward here who looks just like Sean, but his name is Joe Geisting. Its funny because i always wnat to call him Sean. Tell him grats for me!! Hahaha Maren is the queen of that ward. How is Elder Van Ormen doing? havnt heard from him because i dont have his email. I should get it.


ahh, the peacegiver is a good one. The apartment favorites is Truman G Madsen's Joseph Smith lectures. We can quote it well. I have been listening to Elder Murray's books on CD. The latest are New Testament Witnesses of Christ, and The Plan of Salvation. Good stuff!
Yes, the story of David and Abigail... Everything is a type of Christ in the old testament. For instance, i ran across a cool subtlety in Isaish this last Week:
Isaiah 12 -


2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.


Notice the use of the word salvation. this is called a leitwort. meaning Theme word. In hebrew, they sometimes repeat a certain word a lot to get the point across. I.E Jonah's story its the word 'down', in Heleman 5, its 'remember', its all over the scriptures, and a lot in the Book of Mormon (which is quite interesting as a proof of its divinity and authenticity). Howoever, here is the cool part: the word salvation in hebrew, is the name Joshua. In greek however, the word Joshua is translated Jesus. so plug in 'Jesus Christ' for every time the word 'Salvation' is used in Isaiah. Pretty cool, eh? 'In THAT day ye shall call upon his name'. its a prophecy of his comming!


Yah, Jonah's story is totaly all about the condescension of Christ. Its actually even more in depth a Temple story if you really pull it apart. I dont have time for that right now however, remind me to explain it too you later. I love little subtleties in the scriptures! like for Instance: tower of Babel.
Bab = assyrian for Gate
El = Hebrew for God


So, youve got Bab-El, Gate to God, which is what they were trying to do. build a "temple" to get to God, so they woudlnt be flooded or whatever. However, how did the Lord punish them? he confounded their language! Its ironic then that we get the towers name Bab-El from 2 different languages, being that prior to the tower all spoke the pure adamic tongue. So the tower's name itself comes to mean 'confusion of language'. haha cool stuff. the scriptures are fun.


this week was kinda rough. We had a good lesson with Stefan (miracle contact from last week), and hes going to get baptized i think. Nothing yet from Jonathan, we will see. Had stake conference. Was cool. Had 2 GAs here, Elder Christenson (area seventy), and Elder Tingey (presidency of the 1st quorem of the seventy). It was rad. Had an investigator come!! Had some Catholics try and bash us, then got mad when i told them we wouldnt debate because we believe contention only comes from the devil, and we wernt gonna make him happy. Was that bad to say? they just condemned us to hell in spite of James 4:11-12, and Hewbrews 13:1. Just hearing them drives the spirit away, and leaves me with a nasty taste for days. When i bore testimony he simply interupted and said "you dont know!!". its funny how people cant comprehend that we actually KNOW with a firm knowledge in the truthfulness of the gospel. its not just a passive belief that we fortify we facts, and scripture. Its a knowledge we gain completely absent from textual facts, or evidences, but a testimony that comes straight from God, through the holy spirit. Its fullfilment of scripture, the day wen people would "deny the utterance of the holy spirit", and cling to the "vain philosophies of men", and "vain traditions of their fathers". They dont KNOW for sure, so they assume we cant either. I enjoy being disillusioned about my beliefs, because no matter what is thrown at me, i know the "foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of man". I know what I know, and God knows what i know. Dont tell me revelation has ceased, because it would take revelation to know that it has. The Church is true, and i can say that completly independant of "proofs", or evidences. It simply is because the spirit told me.


well, love ya, miss ya, ttyl!! take care!!


Elder Onken



elderonken.blogspot.com

Photos

Skyler sent a bunch of photos and we uploaded a bunch of them. http://www.missionpics.com/elderonken/More-Fotos-from-the-Field

October 24, 2006

Mom,

Headthrow Moi? thatd be interesting. A bunch of missionaries wanted to wrestle yesterday, so i kicked their butts. Some of them with one hand.

Im so stoked for Zak! He is going to have such a great time in the MTC. Im glad that this farewell went well! I remember going to dinner with him and Mark shortly before i left. We had a pretty long discussion about missions and school and stuff. I think its important for people to really be converted, and want to serve before they go on their mission. I have seen many a missionary who seem to be just "doing their time".

Im sure you will do well on your certification. You always pass everything, and you arnt the type to not prepare at all; especially for somthing like that.

I like that article you sent. Faith is an interesting topic. It is remarkably simple, yet infinitely complex because of its application. I have narrowed faith down to this: It is really trusting that the Lord's desires will be done. There is a lot to say about faith, but the most important thing is just to remember that it is the power by which the worlds were created.

Im glad that you got to email with Sis Greenhalgh. That family is so cool. They were such a great help and inspiration to me. Bro Greenhalgh and I would always talk about doctrine and stuff. Their eBay business is way cool. its a great idea, and a lot of people are using such a service.

I cant believe your trainer's name is Troy. That is so cliche. Does he have a german accent? now that would be funny.

The ZL/DL thing has been killing me. So much to worry about and SOO much paper work to do. I have to worry about the zone in general, and now also my district even more so. Its intense, but i see the benefit of having it as such. im kinda the test case for this, since it only worked out perfect where i was in the only zone and district where the timing was perfect for me to replace the old DL (Elder Farr, who went home).

This past week was quite amazing. in fact, miraculous. you read about those miracles that happen to missionaries, well we had two. But before that, ill talk about Elder Anderson. he is from Las Vegas, and he is way cool. He has been out for about 15 months, has been serving in Marlborough, and he is senior comp (to my relief). We ahve a lot of fun, and work really hard. He is a good worker, and just a funny guy.

This past week we had laid out the Zone Plan. We were challenged by 3 general authorities (Tingey, Mickelson, Nash) to double our baptisms in 6 months. So in order to achieve that, we were given a set of goals we need to be meeting. in order to reach those goals, we had devised a multi-phased zone plan, broken up into six week increments. Each phase builds upon the prvious phase. the first phase emphasis is about getting the missionary into a HARD work cycle, and habit. I dont want to say that the MBM (our mission) is a laid back mission, but there is definetly room for improvment. The phase after the first one is aimed at building a large investigator pool. The third fase on teaching effectively and commiting, and the fourth in maintaining our level of achievement. So we commited ourselves and the zone to this plan. We had a spiritual meeting in which to explain the plan, adn get everybody excited. All but on missionary really caught the vision, but thats a whole different story. So anyway, that was friday, and so we started right away working EXTRA hard to show everybody that it could be done. Ironicaly, it was the big Rowing competition on the charles going on (i got to see the West Point team row against Navy) so we were contacting in that general area. Literaly ALL day we were contacting. the last 2 hours it was raining, with heavy rains, and very dark. We had scheduled a week in advance what is called a "window of heaven" where you tell God where you will be and he sends people there for you to contact. Although it was miserable weather ,we made a game out of it. We were running up and down the Week's footbridge (crosses the Charles river from Harvard Business School to Cambridge), not letting a single person go by without talking to them. It was kinda funny. We worked right up until 8:00, which is when we have to head back home (we live far away from our area). Nothing pretty much that whole time, but we had hope that our efforst would not go unrewarded. The next day we headed out to Boston University for another "window". On the way there, we each taught a wonderful lesson and 2 potential investigators. We thoguth that was cool. Elder Scott and I had been doing so much teaching/contacting last x-fer with no results, it was nice to just get a potential investigator! After about 30 minutes of stiff rejection in front of BU, a member comes up and gives us money for dinner! score free meal! that was rad of course. So we contacted for another hour with absolutely no success. We were taking a break, and all of the sudden this dud walking by us just stops, turns towards us, walks up and shakes our hands. He asks where we are from and we tell him, then we ask him what ward he is in. He responds "whats a ward?". we totaly thought he was a member. Then he said "I alwasy wondered what you guys believe". Then he gave us his info, told us to call him, and walked away. I was floored. It was remarkable. I was literaly in awe. I could not believe that it was just that easy. IT was like he just fell out of the sky. He contacted us!! that NEVER happens! I didnt think it oculd get any better. Literaly 5 minutes later we were contacting this guy crossing the street. We thought he would just walk right by us, and we would try to teach him while we walked with him. instead he stoped, but down his drink ,crosed his arms, and asked "What is the difference between the Roman Catholic Church and your church?". We taught him for 45 minutes. he was asking questions, and was really sincere. We taught him a ton. He kept on saying "that makes sense", and stuff like that. At the end, he pretty much asked us to teach him more. We took his info, and when we were about to say farewell, he asked for a book of mormon and was reading it while he walked about. Miracles do happen!

Love ya, miss ya! ttyl!

Elder Onken
elderonken.blogspot.com

October 16, 2006

Hey Mom!

Im glad to hear that you had fun at your quilting getaway! I sent all of my pics home, so i hope that were able to identify who is who etc. if you have any Q's, ill probably be able to distinguish them for you via email. Thats cool that the Greenalghs sent you a note! they are the coolest family in the world! Definetly one of my favorites!

Yes, the trainer... i have heard that you started that. Ive been keeping up on the working out routine, but its been tough this past week. im a bit sick, so i havnt been working out in order to help myself get better.

Dont worry about your exam, youll do great as long as you study and ask teh spirit for assistance!

Jimmy probably records it, then just attatches the messages to the email. i dont have a place where i can do that, and id actually rather write, because thats just easier for me lol.

Im affraid that i may have given you the wrong ZIP code for my address!! it is 02144, in case i gave you 01244... you can also send anything to the mission office and ill get it (385 Concord Ave suite 100
Belmont MA, 02478).

Transfers this last week, and my new comp Elder Anderson is awesome! ive been very lucky to have great companions, and the luck is still going! we have a lot of fun, and work very hard. We are looking forward to having a ton of baptisms and investigators!!

This week has been just busy busy busy with all the Zone stuff we have to take care of at eh beginning of the x-fer. we are working hard to implement our mission vision and be te example zone for the entire mission. In addition to a ZL, they have also called me to be the DL for my district, so that i can create an example district for hte other DLs to see. at every level of communication, the mission goal, or vision is changed or watered down, so having a ZL/DL makes the district just one step away from the Mission Pres, rather than two. its a lot of work!!

well, i gotta run! love ya, miss ya, ttyl!

Elder Onken

P.S - Mission council tomorrow, so i wont be able to email at service.

October 10, 2006

Hey Mom!

Acupuncture? thats kinda cool... i guess... alternative treatments are cool. Elder Scott takes like 13054985307 herbal pills a day because of a disease he has, but he is symptom free because of it. Word of Wisdom rocks. Tell Chelsea to email me about it. i wanna hear what it was like lol. was it an ancient old chinese man? hahah

I heard about Bonnie's dad from Jimmy. death is such a different thing when you know what we do about the plan of salvation.

I thought Ben was deployed last November, are they redploying him, or was he just home for his wedding? I need to write him soon. havnt talked to him for a few months.

Personal trainer eh? thats nuts! ive been working out, and its tough to keep yourself doing it though. and running a mile is virtually non-existant as a missionary unless your comp likes to run.

We had a cool p-day yesterday. it was Elder Scott's and Elder Farr's last one, so we played a huge game of football, from whcih i am very sore, and then went to dinner. It was fun.

X-fers on thursday, we hear about who is getting x-fered tonight. will be pretty cool i guess.

not a whole lot of exciting work news going on, just the same ol. we are working with a few Member Referals and doign a lot of contacting. its all good.

well, 9 month mark is on wednsday! thats pretty cool! it goes soooo fast, sheesh. this month is going quickly also, its amazing how fast it goes.

thats all for now. ill talk to you later!

Elder Onken
elderonken.blogspot.com

October 2, 2006

Mom,

How epic was GenCon!!! Afterwards we were walking around the streets of Cambridge, and just wanted to shake people and tell them "dont you know what you just missed?!?!? The Prophet of the Lord and his Apostles just spoke to us!!!!". i guess thats like the work everyday though... ::shrug::. I think every person in the church should listen to the talk that was about discipleship, and trusting the atonement. Also, the talk by Elder Holland was truely inspiring, and spiritual. Its remarkable. I never appreciated GenCon until i came on my mission. Its a guarenteed place to recieve personal answers. its remarkable.

hahaha, G-ma wanted to camp in the RV parkinglot? thats kinda lame. did they scare her? that would be funny. Kolin and I would have freaked them out hard core if we did that lol. right on, good times, good times. did we every tell you about that time we pulled the prank on the theatre kids at Jen Sanetts house on halloween? that was funny.

ah, yes administrative stuff. Sunday nights we have the call-in-summary reports, and we have to wait for the District Leaders to send them to us, and some times we are up until 11:30 compiling it all together. man, i feel sorry for the APs who have to wake up early, and stay up late doing all that stuff. I know you will pass your certification, you always do well at that kind of stuff.

Yah, the sickness is starting to get around to missionaries too. i always get that virus every year about this time, and i think i got it again. i better go get some anti-biotics or whatever it is that makes it better lol.

yah, Steven should be home soon. Sheesh, thats crazy. i remember the last time i saw him i was going to a homecomming dance with Rachel lol. Geeze, and Dave is due back in 6 months i think. oh man. im comming up on my 9 month mark, and its remarkable how quickly it goes. i cant believe how many has happened in such a short span of time. man... its insane. btw, when does Zak report?

So whats with people getting married?!and some of them so young!!! I feel SOOOO old. there are guys who i knew on the mission who are already married, now THATS scary. I think mormons are the only group in the world who think 25 and unmarried is old. everybody in my ward is over 25, and are like freaking out about not being married. i guess if i go to USMA ill end up being like that, 25 and unmarried. Coach says "you should have all the kids your going to have by the time your 30", so i guess if you want a ton, you better start young.

This week has been pretty good. We are teaching a few people. one guy Aby had to cancel a meeting with the Minister of Defense of India to meet with us... thats humbling. The work is really picking up, and we are excited to baptize!! transfers next week. i cant believe how quickly the transfer went! Ill be here for a while. Pres told me ill proly be here for 8 months. ill end up have 3 areas in my mission lol. thats cool though! alrighy, not much other news i guess. oh, btw, did you see Elder Nash in Gen Con? yah, i sat next to him like 2 weeks ago. we chatted. it was cool. thats my GA claim to fame.

Well, i cant htink of anything else to say. i guess im just boring. miss ya, love ya, talk to you later!!

Elder Onken
elderonken.blogspot.com