Moving on...

Family,

PICTURES-(1-A member's home (Siharath) with the Zone Leaders. 2-The last district meeting of the transfer; combination of two districts. 3-My companion and I at the same member's home.)

Transfer calls came in and I'm leaving Norman. Its been an awesome area! Six months in one area is a long time though. I'll miss it, but I'm sure no matter where I'm at, I'll enjoy the time I spend there. I'm going to Edmond 3rd ward. My Birthday is the day after I leave Norman! That's weird. Its supposedly the richest area in the entire mission...Norman 2nd being the second richest. I'm just a high roller, I guess. Oh, and I'll also be senior companion now. I'm excited to help progress the area. I will also be in the same District as one of the missionaries that came out with me. That should be fun. This last week we had one of those experiences, where the person has been waiting and prepared for us. We were riding our bikes and saw someone so, like a good missionary would do, we went to talk to her and she, Suhmayyah, said "why don't you fallow me to the house, its hot out here. You can tell me your whole shpeel there." So we did and ended up teaching her the Restoration of the gospel. She later told us that she had been praying to know where to go or what church to attend because every church she had been to "just wasn't for her and didn't seem right." She was thinking of that question just before we had come to her. We assured her that God answers prayers and he sends his prepared servants. We actually got pretty BOLD with her. She said she had already been baptized and we pretty much told her that her baptism wasn't done by the authority of God...and she accepted the explanation we gave her with ease. I hope this area continues to improve. Thanks for all your support and all the Love! I always love your mail...well my mail, from you. Keep me posted:) p.s. let me know if they are going to allow martial arts in the Olympics in August.

Love, Elder Osness

Mail!

My Dearest Family,

Wow! Thanks for all the e-mails! It took like a half hour to go through it all. Its really great to hear AND see all the fun you are having. Sorry to say, I don't have any new pictures this time. I promise I'll get back on it and take some cool pictures. We've just been so on the go this last transfer that I just haven't thought of pulling out my camera.With the last week Oklahoma has had some really cool storms. I can't get enough of the storms here! The clouds are super thick and lightning infested. Its way rad! This morning It rained a heavy rain and flooded every street in Norman, so we didn't get our P-day started tell later. We couldn't go anywhere without getting completely soaked...and I don't mean just really really wet, I've been really really wet here, but soaked like I'm walking underwater soaked...I should have taken pictures, but I'm sure Oklahoma isn't done showing me the weather. At about 1:30p.m. the clouds dispersed and all the water dried up. Its crazy! One minute its just cloudy, the next the city is under water, then a few hours go by and its all dried up with sunshine all over town!Missionary work wise, its all the same. Talk to some people, teach some people, people telling us to go away, ext.. There was one girl that was funny. I was talking to her and all the sudden she says, "you can stop talking now. I'm an Athiest." (She's probably agnostic, not many people are truely athiest). So then I offered her a pass-along card for a DVD called Finding Faith in Christ and she said, "it wouldn't do you any good, I'll probably just burn it." cRaZY! But its okay. I talked to another girl a little later and the first thing she said was, "I like your tie." hahaha! She said we could come back another day. There are so many funny people! I love being a missionary! Thanks Roger and Natalie for all the pictures and mail! Its always a light on my day to hear and see how life is with my family. Thanks for sending me an e-mail from Nick too. I don't have much time to write anyone else so we don't here from eachother very often. Oh, that reminds me. There is a guy in the ward here that one a gold medal in the Olympics in the late 90's I think. His name is Sharopov. He's from Russia, Ukraine area somewhere. He's way cool...and a convert. Which reminds me of another thing. The OLYMPICS are soon! Man! That's a bumber, I don't get to see it. They're going to be in China too. That's cool. All well. Let me know if they are going to allow them to put Kung fu/Wushu/Martial Arts in the runnings this year. I know it was a discussion of topic before I left.Anyways, I may be getting transfered to a new area in a couple of weeks. I've been here for 6 months! Wow! I like Norman though. Its a great college town...just like St. George!

So the best way to send a package to me is through the mission office which is
Elder Glenn Osness
416 SW 79th St. Ste 210
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73139-8121
(i-pod, cable, car adapter)
Thanks a bunch! I LOVE MY FAMILY!

Love, Elder Osness

Oh Yeah, a baptism

Yo Fam Dizzle,

So, I finally took a couple pictures. I've been so busy and time goes by so fast that I can't keep anything straight or even think half of the time. One is of our Zone Leaders and my companion and I going to the driving rang on a P-Day and the other is of a baptism we had last week that I totally spaced on telling you...oops:) Like I said, we've been really busy and I can't think straight. The baptism went great! Brother Joe Steadman, a convert of a year and a half, baptized his children on 7 June 2008. Craig (10), Conner (10), and Summer (12) have been taught by us for a couple of months with the desire to be baptized. Here is a little background on the situation. Brother Steadman was married, had some kids, then was divorced and met a member of the church, was later baptized and married. Over time, he convinced his ex to allow their children to be baptized. She saw the improvement it made in his life and finally thought it would be okay for her children to join the church, so we entered the picture and taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now the kids are baptized and Brother and Sister Steadman will be sealed to eachother this weekend and we will be able to attend. Yeah, its pretty much just awesome!Besides that, its the same old same old. We have some really good investigators that will probably be baptized next transfer, so I probably won't be a part of it. I've been here for a quarter of my mission! When you're in a good area for so long it really grows on you. It will be way cool to come back in a couple years and see all the people in my Greenie area.So, the family sounds like it's holding together just fine. That blog about the tomatoes was super funny. I can totally picture Cassy and her expression in not liking tomatoes. It made me think of when you got the leftover cake at some church thing and she yelled, "We get the cake? Yay, we get the cake!" Oh yeah, We were talking to this girl on OU campus and she was from India, but she had the funniest voice. She was the voice of Minnie Mouse. It was the funniest thing, I was talking to someone while my companion was talking to her, so when I finished I went over to where he was and stood there while he was talking, then I heard her voice and man! it was hard not to laugh. That was a strange shock.Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Oompah Loompah's in the Temple, eh? haha! I think that's a really good idea to have the members take turns cleaning the Temple. Its a good experience for people and it helps people gain a greater respect for the building as they are a part of the cleaning. That's actually how the Temple here is cleaned too.I really liked Roger and Hillary's pictures by the Painted Ladies. San FranCisco has so many beautiful scenes. And it sounds like Sarah's doing well at the Gubler's. I hope your new office turns out great Randy. Thanks for all the e-mails and pictures!I love you all! Can't wait to hear back next week.

Love, Elder Osness

Oh, the experiences missionaries have

Hey Fam,

How's it? I've been doing really well. My new companion and I are still tearin it up! I love the work! Its experiences like these when I know I'm here to help. I met the coolest kid EVER! last week. He grew up in Pennsylvania in a large mansion, but his family was extremely poor. They were living with some other people who owned the mansion. Sounds pretty nice, but it was a really bad situation. His parents (mother and step-father) were very much into illigal drugs and over time it caught up to them. The mansion was raided by the police and they were all taken to jail, except for Tony, the guy I was talking to. He was young and was naive of the entire situation. Once his parents were released, his mom ended her life and his step-father turned to God. The influence of his step-father helped him come to the reality of God. To make this long story short. Tony put his life in the hands of God and put all his efforts into bettering himself. He sought out his biological father and asked his advise on what to do with his life. His father really wanted him to go to college so he went to a community college, it was a struggle, but he put his trust in God. While there he joined the track team and to his suprise he was a high quality runner. He broke a couple records there and got a scholarship to the Oklahoma University, where he ran into us and the gospel has been brought into his life. Because of his desire to allow God to bless him, he has become very blessed and is going to work towards running in the Olympics in four years. And there is so much more to his story. He's very inspiring, how he can come from such a down life and have more hope than most anyone else.There are so many horrible things to feel bad about, but as we have hope in our lives and heed to the council of God, we cannot fail. What a glorious thing the gospel is! Well, sounds like home is great! Natalie gets to experience some of the annoyances I'm going through with allergies and the buzzing June bugs.And Sarah sounds like she's taking after Roger on the food subject.Oh, and way to go with Spencer's date to prom! We need more girls to take stand like that. I hope the night was still fun even though you didn't dance at the dance. Thanks for the the e-mails and pictures! Love you all and can't wait to hear from you again!Love, Elder Osness Oh, question. I'm curious about the update on my iPod. The reason I ask is I would just like to know when it gets sent so I know its not lost somewhere or if you still have it. Thanks for all you do!

Love ya!