April 30, 2007

Wow, tough life! facials and such... hahah jk. cool!


Yah, Dad was going to send me a packet of stuff, but i never got it. He never slows down. i think its bad. He also needs to eat better, because i know he doesnt. I actaully made some indonessian food a while ago. Bumbu Rujak! it was good! I also made Debi Dip with the second jar of sauce youo sent. Its a favorite. I think im pretty good at making it!!


Yah, the FAIR website is good. i did read some of the responses. I tried to sign up, but i dont have the time needed (obviously), but there were a few points that wernt brougth up in some of thsoe responses that should have been. Brother Bokovoy is going to be at the FAIR conference in August, so i wonder if hes doing anythign in realtion to the DVD. Ill have to ask him.


Did youo hear bad thigns about the PBS thing? Thats kinda scary. We will find out tonight. We have already had much anti stuff get around to our investigators and thigns. Not good news. however, "no unhallowed hand will stop the work from progressing".


I didnt see Lora, but Ginger did stop by! i forgot to mention that last week! sorry! Thank you soon much! it was good to see someone who at least resembled a familiar face!! they just didnt have enough time with their flight and everything. Thanks so much though!


This week has been great. We have experience many miracles. A family the Larsens had a son die at 18 only a few months ago. They ahve been hoping that his memoryu would somehow bring others into the gospel. They had this blood drive last week, and we got a few referals to visit as a result. When visitng the referals we found a new investigator, and the referal themselves were excited to have us return and answer questions.


Also, while eating pizza for dinner with a member the other night, a man started a conversation with us. we talked for one hour about the restoration. The member (a convert from baptist) bore testimony and it was so powerful. He had so many questions, and the spirit was strong. We have his info, and are going to meet with him this week. He gave us hugs when we stood up to leave.


Angel came to church! she had a great time! it was a powerful lesson on the book of mormon, and everything was great!!


my other roomates are Elder Householder and Elder Schilling. Their moms arnt on the list though.


Pray for Miracles and call down angels. The Lord has already said he will send them.


I love you and miss you. Ill talk to youo soon!! literaly, mothers day is soon! 2 weeks, right? thats crazy! ive already been out for almost 16 months!! geeze!


Love ya!


Elder Onken

April 23, 2007

Well, this week has been up-and-down.


We had investigators at church, but so much has been going on. We hope to set a baptismal date this week, but you never know


im pretty sure Nick comes home May or June. i dont think July. i think he left in May or June. Any day now, however.


Things are great here. its getting warm, and i love that! we didnt float away, but a few missionaries in the zone got flooded.


I hear from Elder McCandless (one of my roomates) that you talked to his mom on the missionary mom's site? thats so cool! he is the greatest missionary!


Im sorry I dont have anythign amazing to report. did i mention that brazilian family of 5 that walked into the church 2 weeks ago? well, they got anti'd, but want to talk about the problems. The other Elders want me to go over there and answer some of their questions. I think that would be great. I love resolving those types of concerns so that people once again feel comfrotable approaching the gospel spiritualy, without many doubts.


Sorry i dont have much to say. I love ya, and miss ya!
ill talk to you soon!


Elder Onken

April 17, 2007

Mom,


The missionary apartment in Nashua is equiped with a life raft and flotation devices. We used it to get to the library today... jk. but practicaly. Our apartment is right on the river, so its probably going to flood. we are on the 2nd level fortunately. Peterborough elders are already flooded. hahahaha leave it to Nick to give some comment like that. but seriously though.


Oh yah, Nick told me of that show. Hes and ex-SAS guy who does all this survival. sounds cool. my kinda thing. Did you go willingly to Geocache, or did he somehow trick you into it? lol.


yah, itll probably be later the better. there are 4 of us here in the apartment, and im the furthest time zone. Ali and the Dubrows are excited to talk also, so keep them informed.


Yah, if you want to come to Boston lets do it in July before i enter the academy. A week before and such. the seasons are tough to catch, and are becomming increasingly unpredictable. I just dont want to be here when Boston floods We were going to go to the Lexington and Concord reenactment this morning (its Patriots Day. yah, youve probably never heard of it before), but it was canceled because of the weather. i was totaly bummed, because i want to see it soooo bad. its the morning thingy for the boston marathon. They start with the ride of Paul Revere, and then do the battle. The battle starts at 5:30 am usually, and Pres. England gave us permission to go, rain or shine, but it was canceled


Hawai'i? i guess so. mom, are you trunky? gosh. i still have a looong time. generaly english missionaries in the Boston mission serve for 2 years and 7 days. So my return date will probably be January 19th i think. its a friday i believe (or should be since trasnfers are on thursdays). Whatever.


Wow mom, your getting strong!! i use 45 lbs for flies when i do it (there is a gym in the appartment). I got a new bar, but there is no place to put it up in the new apartment!! its got me bummed! im going to figure somthing out. Im jus trying to get better at my PT scores as much as possible.


Well, we had to refer the family. There have been tons of miracles happening here, and the zone is great! we have zone conference this week, and im excited to be training. We commited 2 people to baptims this week, but no dates. they didnt show up at church probably because of the snow, but we are going to see whats us. Ive learned that you cant stress out about them and their agency, you just have to be crushed that they dont understand why its so important.


We had the chance to teach the Priests Quorem this week in church. It was sweeet. Very powerful. i was thinking of "what would i NEED said to me when i was a priest to help me decide to serve a mission". It was good. There are some really good young men in the ward.


We had some great lessons obviously, with some really prepared people. plenty of miracles, and many angles have been present. Things are great.


Well, i love you and miss you all. Tell everybody hi for me. Im glad that the snow is gone, and now its rain. I like rain more.


Oh yah, a family of 5 brazilians walked into church on friday, and asked to be taught. It was cool. the other elders are teaching them even though they are in our ward. we dont even really care as long as they are taught. Miracles are happening because we are praying and being obedient. The Work can go so great if you simply exercise your agency unto faith, and work to the best of your ability.


love ya and miss ya.


Elder Onken

April 10, 2006

Thanks for the letter you sent mom, it made me feel special!


This ward is amazing. We had a passover dinner past tuesday, and i did an extensive study of the Christology of the passover ritual. Very interesting stuff. If youd like to hear about it, i can share a bit of it. This family the Larsens are amazing. Their 18 year old son passed away from cancer about 3 months ago, and it is inspirational to see how much strength and hope they draw from the gospel. It softens my heart and makes me want to be better when i hear the stories of faith from their family and their son. We had Easter dinner at the Phillips' home (EQP), with the McFaddens (2nd councilor in Bishopric), the Racliffes, and the Blanchettes. 4 AMAZING families. They are so cool, and are so fired up for the missionary work. We did have an investigator at Sacrament, but not as many as we were planning on.


Okay. Ask Dad if he has sent the letter of recommendation information to Dan Maher again/yet (i dont know if it ever went through). Also, did he ever get one from President England? I forget. Also, did he finish the extra-curriculars write-up and send it to Maj Houston? gosh, im a worry wort.


hahah we play raquetball every p-day. ive been getting better, but Elder Householder is amazing, and so are the other missionaries. Tell him to hit the ball low, but upwards and flick the wrist.


I know Elder Seegmiller. he was here in Nashua (the other ward though) just a few months ago. hes a cool kid.


The area isnt too big. It covers Nashua, Hollis and Brookline NH. Kinda rural expect for Nashua, which is about the size of Westlake id say. Not as run-down as north adams, but some places are older. a lot of spanish speakers, so i get to practice a bit. Shotgunning is where both elders are transfered, and 2 new ones go in. so elder Householder and I are both new to the area. Its been exciting. The Lord has shown us many miracles daily. Getting to know the zone has been the hardest, but they are AMAZING. I love the missionaries here, and things are already picking up. We have gone from 2 baptismal dates in the zone to 4 in just a week. We are looking at probably 10 for this month, which is good for the North East.


Gosh, already talking about be comming home? i still have 9 months (Wednsday the 11th is my 15 month mark), so i may be transfered one more time, im not sure. I guess you could come pick me up, but January is not very good for sight seeing. Most of the tourist stuff is closed then, but we could go visit my areas i guess. Id recommend that if you want to tour around and stuff, we would do it prior to me entering the academy in July. We could spend the 4th in Boston. that would be cool. Whatever you want. we have PLENTY of time to think about that.


Things are going great. This week we were tracking down a family who had bapstimal dates set, but when they were kicked out of their home, they lost contact with the Elders and they just fell through the cracks months ago when the transfers came. So we were looking for the daughters old place of employment, and actually found it. Remarkably, she didnt work there, but happend to call the store for some random reason while we were there. The clerk handed me the phone and we got her new info. She was very excited and said "i had been asking my mother if she had heard from you guys lately". we are excited to work with them.


Well Mom, things are going great. love ya and miss ya. i miss the city, but Nashua rocks. Ill talk to you soon. (mothers day is comming up!).


Elder Onken

April 2, 2007

Hey Everybody!!


Sorry i didnt get an email from ya this week. Hope everything is going great.


Alas, i have been transfered. I miss the city and the people we have been working with. The ward is great, and the people we have been teaching are prime children of God; truely.


I have been sent to Nashua NH, with Elder Householder. He is from Thatcher, AZ. We are shotgunning the area, meaning they transfered both the ZLs there, and put us in. Elder Householder is a new ZL, but he is a very fast learner, so its been a very smooth transition for the both of us. We have were able to contact and meet most of the ward council, even with Gen Con. Its been great; we are really excited to be working here, and we have already seen so many miracles. We have been teaching a few ladies and one of them has accepted a soft baptismal commitment. She doesnt want to set a date yet, because she wants to wait for her husband and daughter to come around.


Its weird teaching anybody now. im so used to focusing on 25-35 single males, that its strage to have to worry about the shaperone rule and such. Its cool though, because there are so many more potential people for us to teach, that we wont have to refer.


The apartment we live in is really nice, and it has raquetball courts. We played that today, and man is it fun.


I was bummed to leave cambridge however. Scott Carey, the innactive guy that i told you we have been working with for so long, has finaly started to dedicate himself. I love that guy, and i wish that i could have been a part of teaching him, but i know that he is in good hands, and that we will stay in touch. We really bonded, and it was sad to leave. Unfortunately, like you know mom, really working and keeping old ties is somthing that cuases me a lot of anxiety. i dont know why. im so wierd. lol we all know that. geeze.


Well, how great was Gen Con?! we had such a powerful lesson in between sessions, and then had some investigators attend, and you there is no doubt that they didnt have questions of their soul answered.


Well, i love ya and miss ya. I like the pics of the dog. its like a piece of candy. i thought it was fake at first. hahaha. well, ill ttyl!


Elder Onken