Evite!

Trying to get a headcount for the open house. If you are planning on being there, let me know:

http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/ADHIEEJDDXDSGEVWRAKF/skyler

Thanks!

Christmas 2007

Had a great telephone conversation today with our Elder! He'll be home in three weeks and we are all very excited about it. As he told us last week, the mission is going "no email" which means no more email for me to share. I told him that since he was going to be home so soon, he didn't need to worry about sending snail mail. This is the last post on From the Field barring any big changes in homecoming plans.

The family he had Christmas dinner with posted photos to the Elder Onken Fan Club site: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5401644543

We hope to see as many of you as can make it to the open house on the 19th. I imagine you'll be seeing Skyler on his MySpace or a Facebook account by this time next month.

Merry Christmas!

Debi

Note From the Editor! (aka Mom)

Not, that I've actually done any editing, as you may have noticed over the past almost two years.

Elder Onken is getting home on January 18th (28 days from now!) He has an appointment with the Stake President at 6:30 p.m. that evening at which time he will be released as a missionary. This will be a very bittersweet moment for all of us, but especially for Skyler.

The following evening, Saturday January 19th we will be hosting an open house beginning at 4:00 p.m. If you don't know the address, give me a call or email me at debonken@gmail.com. All are welcome. Skyler's Oma is planning on providing a lot of great food and that alone is reason to come! I will provide Debi Dip of course.

On Sunday, January 20th, Skyler will be reporting to the Agoura 1st Ward. That starts at 9:00 a.m. in the Oak Park Building at 6100 Doubletree, Oak Park. If you can't make that meeting, he will be reporting on Sunday, January 27th at 1:00 p.m. to the singles ward (Westlake 2nd) located at 32165 Watergate Rd., Westlake Village.

Nothing would please Skyler more than to have all his friends and loved ones attend any or all of these events and particularly one of his Sunday homecoming talks. Don't hesitate to call me at 818-880-5551 or 818-300-5404 for directions or additional information.

December 17, 2007 (ONE MONTH!)

Mom,

Computer problems. Ick. Speaking of computer problems. We are not going to be emailing anymore in the Massachusetts Boston Mission. Starting the week after christmas. So, itll be a few weeks of old snail mail letters. i guess i need a few of those under my belt.

The Holiday season is upon us and is busy here too. Lots of work to do,but everybody is too busy to meet with us these next two weeks. Hopfully, we will be able to still see people at church, etc.

This week i toured the zone leaders. I was with Elder Pratt, Elder Mallory, Elder Arnold, Elder Anderson, and Elder Amburn. It was fun and we were able to do a lot of good work. Total, we got 15 new investigators this week, which is really good. Standard is about 3. A lot of miracles that Lord blessed us with. I learned a lot, and hopefuly was able to help other learn some too.

Im glad Clayton was over the othe rnight. I love that guy. im kinda bummed that he wont be there for my homecomming. Im not sure when the phonecall will be specificaly, but probably after 7:00 our time. We have to use the cell phones (we dont have land lines anymore in the mission), and we arnt sure on the rules. So itll probably be during our free hours. i usually try to go last in the apartment, but both Elder Moss and I have phones, so whenver is best for you.

So Chelsea and Trenton will be living next door? thats pretty cool. I will be able to go over and bother them frequently. wonderful.

Im so stoked that Nick is coming out here!! Sister Colton will be able to help out with any planning arrangments that are needing to be made. We will be able to talk on christmas and iron out any details too.

This week we had some bad weather. Church was canceled due to a Noreaster (bad snow storm), and a few days earlier we had another storm that was pretty bad. We stayed off of the roads.

Well, time is short here. gotta run. i love you and miss you. ill talk to you soon!

love,
Elder Onken

December 10, 2007 (39 days!)

Mom,

Sounds like the holiday season is getting into gear for everybody back home. How comforting.

I think the pabsts were going on a cruise. That might be why they havnt gotten your email.

Im glad the Dubrows will come over on x-mas to talk on the phone. I always look forward to having a lot of people there. This phone call will be weird though. Itll be like right before i see you all in person.

I dont know who would like to be at the airport. i guess it doesnt really matter to me. for me it wont be weird to not be able to hug people, but for them it might be tough hehe. let anybody who wants to be there i guess. whatever you want. There will be a farewell testimony meeting the night before departures. We invite converts and members who we ahve worked with from all over the mission to come to that. I know you arnt planning on coming out here because winter bites for new england tours lol. im not sure what the flight prices are like, but i know Nick will be out of school by then, and if its not too expensive itd be nice to have someone come and meet those people who have been family for the past 2 years. I couldnt be released to Nick, but we could coordinate return flights. But that is jsut a thought/dream. i know its not a whole lot realistic. so no worrys.

What party? We have zone con on the 18th, and all the packages will be handed out by then.

We had a transfer last week, and its been crazy, but president is also allowing others who came out with me to go home on the 21st to be home for school etc. So we have another transfer to work on next week. itll be intense. That is why Elder R. Johnson will be going hom eon that day although we came out with me. the Lord just transfered him to Boston for the last few week sof his mission. Im sure he is going to love that.

Elder Pike is a great missionary. He just get sent to the City. He is originaly called as a cambodian speaking elder, but we have too many of those, so we let him experience cambridge ;) He is doing really well.

This week has been nuts! transfers and all. This upcomming week im going to be on tours all week. literaly, all day every day. from one side of the mission to the other. itll prove to be exciting, fun, and tiring :)

The week after that we have zone con and another transfer/departures. Its weird to think that people who i came out with are already home. weiird.

well. i love you and miss you. ill ttyl!

Elder Onken

December 3, 2007 ( ed. note: only 46 days!)

mom, why did you send me a picture of that monster!!! AHHH!!! lol

Woh, i didnt know Matt was getting married. thats cool!

havnt heard from clayton in a few weeks. I hope he is doing well.

oh yes, the first snow that is sticking happend last night, right when we got in the car after tracting. tender mercy. 43 degrees is a warm day. Its average of 24 in the daytime. i dont want to know how cold it gets in the middle of the night.

The food poisoning wasnt too bad. it was just me. really nasty though. But im all better.

roger that on the medical.

This week has been good. We have been doing a lot of touring of other missionaries. Was able to go back up to Nashua and see some of the ward members up there. It was soo good to see them. They all want me to come back and visit when im done and to bring y'all. What a blessed place Nashua is!!!

Transfers this week. We are finishign them tonight. Im not going anywhere, but its going to be a BIG transfer. President is allowing some people to go home on the 21st of December instead of January, so we are having two transfers and have to plan them all at once. Crazy!!

We are trying to tour each zone leader companionship twice this transfer, and have zone conferences for each zone seperately. Itll be a busy last transfer to say the least!!!

well, things are good. loving every bit of it. the work is moving forward. Love ya and miss ya!! ttyl!!

Elder Onken

November 26, 2007

Mom,

This week was exciting. Yours sounded pretty relaxing.

Monday i got food poisoning. enough said lol.

Thanksgiving was great. We went to the Tardiff's home and had the Grujoskis over. They also brought one of their non-member friends over. We are going to try and start teaching him.

We posponed the baptism. Odette's family and friends wernt able to come, so we decided to have it a week or two later. We will see for sure on tuesday.

I saw the Langerands. They say hi. Also, Elder Fletcher (who is now home and ENGAGED) said that his fiancee was roomates with Jamie Lang. So thats all the small world stories for this week.

This week we are working on Transfers. Itll be busy this week, and the next 3 weeks. We have two transfers next month, so till be CRAZY!!!

Things are good. loving it. I got the christmas stuff. Thanks for sending that. the time is flying by, i can hardly believe it.

gotta run, busy day, much love! ttyl!

Elder Onken