Ice and cold ice and cold‏

Hello hello hello,

So, another week in Guthrie. Its been rather cold lately. There is a large pond by our appartment and its frozen over. Just an idea of how cold it is plus piercing wind. eek! Its been going well though. We've been teaching a recent convert's son and he has accepted to be baptized next month. Yay! Viola, the recent convert, is pretty cool. When I was in Edmond I interviewed her for baptism...now I'm teaching her and her son. Hopefully we can find some new investigators here because we only have a couple and one is getting baptized soon, so we've got some finding ahead of us. The ward here is good. They're all like a little family. Guthrie is a small town like Manti, so that gives you an idea of what its like here. Its probably a little smaller and on a more humble standard than Manti is. I went from the richest area to one of the less wealthy areas. The contrast equals out to about the same success rate of any other place. In wealthy areas, we don't teach as often, but when we do, they are commitment keepers. In less wealthy places, we can teach a lot of people, but they don't progress very fast. It just goes to show, you just have to find those who are prepared. Work work work until the Lord blesses you with someone.Well, I love you all and can't wait to talk to you Thursday evening!


-Elder Glenn Osness

In Guthrie‏

My Dearest family,

As you know I've been transfered to Guthrie, Oklahoma...which is the border of my last area, so I saw my old ward at church on Sunday. That was cool. So far being a Zone Leader means being on the phone...a lot and getting to know the missionaries in the Zone. The ward here is pretty good. Guthrie itself is a pretty humble place, unlike Norman and especially Edmond. Most of the people here have always lived here and are related in some way. Everyone knows everyone. Elder Webster is my companion. He's great...and from Las Vegas, so just down the road from home. Its weird because he's been my zone leader ever since I came to Edmond and now I'm his companion. It will be a fun transfer. Lots of room to grow now. We have some very interesting people to teach.Christmas time is here...just next week. So I plan on calling around 3pm here, which is 2pm in St. George, I believe...I'm not sure though. A couple notes about e-mailing here...I only have 30 minutes, so its like the mtc...really short to get everything done and apparently I can't connect my camera to the computer, so I don't know how often I'll be able to send pictures, but I'll see what I can do. Love ya! Can't wait to hear from you on Christmas!-Elder Osness

6 Months here, 6 Months there‏

Mymymymy Family,

Today is freezing! Its been pretty nice the last few days, but then the wind blew in the chill...a high chance of snow even. Cool, huh.So, This transfer went way fast! Just as I thought it would. As you can see we had a great district and some good things happened this last transfer.One of which, you've already seen...the baptism of Yao Yu...and now Frankie's baptism. He'll be getting the priesthood next week, which is awesome!...too bad I won't be there for it.I'm getting transfered, but only a short step away. I'm headed about 20 minutes North to Guthrie...as a Zone Leader. One other elder in the district is becoming a Zone Leader as well, so that's cool. There is one exciting point about being a Zone leader...and that is not being a District Leader. I don't have to plan District Meeting anymore! I feel my strength as a missionary isn't in meetings at all, but on a one-on-one basis. As a Zone Leader, I'll be doing that a lot more.Things are great and I feel like I've made somewhat of an impact for good in both the areas I've served in. Six months in Norman...and now cutting out of Edmond at six months. Just before Christmas too. Its nice to be in a familiar place for Christmas, but it will still be a great holiday. We'll see what happens next, as I experience more and more of the diferent aspects of missionary work.Thanks for the e-mails! Its great to hear how everyone is doing and how the holidays have been. Good luck out there in the real world!

Love Ya! -Elder Osness

Christmas Time is Coming‏

Hello Family,

Well, its December...that's exciting! So, my pictures are of the moon and a couple of stars. It was cool, so I took a picture of it. The other two are of our awesome Christmas tree that a member gave to us yesterday. Just thought I'd start off the month with the seasonal feeling.The Thanksgiving week was pretty good. The Parry family fed us for Thanksgiving and they are also the family that gave us the Christmas tree. They moved into the ward just a few weeks after I had gotten transfered here, so I've gotten to know them pretty well. They're a very missionary minded family, so they're always making sure we're taken care of. Frankie is still good for his baptism this Saturday and it looks like his wife has started to come around. Maybe all she needs to get her going a little faster is Frankie's baptism. Its exciting! Hopefully the rest of the family will get baptized next transfer...and hopefully I'll get to be here for it, but we'll see. I got transfered here just before my birthday, so if I get transfered next week, it will be a couple weeks before Christmas. It would be nice to be in a familiar place for the holidays.This past weekend I got sick, so the effectivness of missionary work over Thanksgiving weekend didn't go very far, but still a good week. The bishop called me Sunday morning and mentioned that a speaker had fallen through, so I'm thinking he's going to ask if I would speak, but he didn't. Instead he aked me to bear my testimony for the ward because I had been there so long and a transfer is coming up. He's a really good bishop. I've been blessed with great people in my life and on my mission...great members and companions. Life's been great!I love hearing from you!...and love you too!:)