Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Just one more holiday...
Hey family, It seems like everyday I'm reminded by someone that I'm going home soon. Its really strange to think. Its coming but doesn't seem tangible, which is good. I'm hoping I can see these people I'm teaching make greater commitment to God before I leave. Things are looking great for most, but some are struggling to really take hold and let their testimony grow. We are teaching one whose probably the most spiritual person I've met on my mission. She's from West Africa and is just flourishing with her testimony. She hasn't missed church since she's been and studies and will be sharing this with her friends and family. I'll be gone before I get to see much of that, but its definately a great experience to be a part of the conversion process of not only my own, but others as well. This week we ran into some members of the Restoration Church...interesting. They are a great family and you can tell they live their life the best they can to follow the teachings of Jesus and the Prophets. The Restoration church came from The RLDS church after a revelation on the priesthood that many dissagreed with. After talking with them I've come to know even more that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's true church on the earth in its fulness with our Father in heaven himself leading it. Hopefully with their future experiences with us and the church here their testimony of the living Prophets and Apostles will develope.I love you all and I'll see you...:) I'm off to my last holiday. I've never experienced such a wide variety of turkey. Love Ya! -Elder Osness
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Got Details? (from the pres)
Dear Parents and Families,
The season has come to toss any ideas out the window that a mission is a piece of cake. We are in a COLD, cold front and it is time to put on the coats, neck scarves, hats, and gloves. It is dark by around 5:30 and that makes missionary work more challenging. I have great admiration for these missionaries who put personal comfort on the back burner and go out to save the world.
President Gee, the assistants, and I welcomed nine new missionaries last Tuesday and said good-bye to eight returning missionaries. We had a great last day together on Wednesday as we attended the temple and then met with the new temple president, President Southward. After dinner we had a meeting where each missionary shared some memorable mission experience and his/her testimony. You know it can't be described in words but you would recognize an intensely wonderful feeling. On Thursday morning there was a little experience that could symbolize the good every missionary is doing here.
As we arrived at the airport, there was a mother and daughter who had been baptized by Elder Fogleberg, They had been planning for weeks to surprise him at the airport to say good-bye. They were as excited as kids at Christmas. When Elder Fogleberg saw them he had a smile as big as all outdoors. While they chatted I thought about what had really happened. Elder Fogelberg, among other missionaries, was blessed to find a family to teach. The father and brother in the family were also baptized. What a payoff for leaving the world behind to bring unspeakable joy to people the missionary had never met. Now there is an eternal bond. They will never forget one another. In two months that family will be sealed in the temple and Elder Fogelberg will return to be there with them. His parents will be there also. That is a missionary's dream. Not everyone gets to see a family sealed, but every missionary contributes to the process of conversion and in the end they are all promised "how great shall be your joy with them in the Kingdom of Heaven." I got to see a glimpse of that on Thursday morning.
Once in a while a missionary will mention that you parents have told them about my e-mails. I have to smile when they say you have reminded them to do something more diligently, like not spend all their money eating out. I want to assure you that there is a feeling of wanting to please you. You still have a great influence on them. I think it strengthens them when you give them counsel. Many times parents have responded with something like, "I don't get many details from my son." I can understand that from the letters they write to President Gee. While I never read the letters, I do file them so I know that some do well to write two sentences and some write two pages. If you are having trouble getting enough information out of your son, I suggest you might ask them to answer some questions. (The sisters don't seem to have trouble writing a lot.) What do you do to exercise? What do you study during personal study time? How do you and your companion practice teaching? What insight did you get from your study this morning? Is it hard to get up by 6:30 in the morning? Have you had any miracles in finding people to teach? Are the members helping you with the work? What does the ward mission leader do to help you? Are you sleeping well? When is the last time you had a good laugh?
Hopefully questions will help trigger things they could share with you. It won't be long until the much awaited Christmas call. Then you can all catch up. I hope this gives you a few ideas. I think I will remind them when I talk to them how much the details mean to their families.
Well, have a wonderful week. We pray for you and certainly appreciate your prayers for your missionary and for the work of the mission. President Gee sends his greetings! The missionaries are still working hard.
Love, Sister Gee
The season has come to toss any ideas out the window that a mission is a piece of cake. We are in a COLD, cold front and it is time to put on the coats, neck scarves, hats, and gloves. It is dark by around 5:30 and that makes missionary work more challenging. I have great admiration for these missionaries who put personal comfort on the back burner and go out to save the world.
President Gee, the assistants, and I welcomed nine new missionaries last Tuesday and said good-bye to eight returning missionaries. We had a great last day together on Wednesday as we attended the temple and then met with the new temple president, President Southward. After dinner we had a meeting where each missionary shared some memorable mission experience and his/her testimony. You know it can't be described in words but you would recognize an intensely wonderful feeling. On Thursday morning there was a little experience that could symbolize the good every missionary is doing here.
As we arrived at the airport, there was a mother and daughter who had been baptized by Elder Fogleberg, They had been planning for weeks to surprise him at the airport to say good-bye. They were as excited as kids at Christmas. When Elder Fogleberg saw them he had a smile as big as all outdoors. While they chatted I thought about what had really happened. Elder Fogelberg, among other missionaries, was blessed to find a family to teach. The father and brother in the family were also baptized. What a payoff for leaving the world behind to bring unspeakable joy to people the missionary had never met. Now there is an eternal bond. They will never forget one another. In two months that family will be sealed in the temple and Elder Fogelberg will return to be there with them. His parents will be there also. That is a missionary's dream. Not everyone gets to see a family sealed, but every missionary contributes to the process of conversion and in the end they are all promised "how great shall be your joy with them in the Kingdom of Heaven." I got to see a glimpse of that on Thursday morning.
Once in a while a missionary will mention that you parents have told them about my e-mails. I have to smile when they say you have reminded them to do something more diligently, like not spend all their money eating out. I want to assure you that there is a feeling of wanting to please you. You still have a great influence on them. I think it strengthens them when you give them counsel. Many times parents have responded with something like, "I don't get many details from my son." I can understand that from the letters they write to President Gee. While I never read the letters, I do file them so I know that some do well to write two sentences and some write two pages. If you are having trouble getting enough information out of your son, I suggest you might ask them to answer some questions. (The sisters don't seem to have trouble writing a lot.) What do you do to exercise? What do you study during personal study time? How do you and your companion practice teaching? What insight did you get from your study this morning? Is it hard to get up by 6:30 in the morning? Have you had any miracles in finding people to teach? Are the members helping you with the work? What does the ward mission leader do to help you? Are you sleeping well? When is the last time you had a good laugh?
Hopefully questions will help trigger things they could share with you. It won't be long until the much awaited Christmas call. Then you can all catch up. I hope this gives you a few ideas. I think I will remind them when I talk to them how much the details mean to their families.
Well, have a wonderful week. We pray for you and certainly appreciate your prayers for your missionary and for the work of the mission. President Gee sends his greetings! The missionaries are still working hard.
Love, Sister Gee
sparking testimonies
Dear Family, Pictures: The first is at Transfers. I haven't been in a while and I got to see some good buddies there. The other is of Elder Cannon and I...today because I realized I haven't taken one of us, so there it is.The work is going great! Elder Cannon walked into a flow of success! Four of the people we are teaching have baptismal dates that they are working towards and its amazing to see how rapidly their testimonies grow when that commitment is made. We have so much good going on and the days are flying by! Ahhh! I really can't even keep track at all. Its just sleep and wake up, sleep and wake up. Its really exciting to see so much fall into place. Hard work pays off. Well, I've got to use the rest of my computer time to write my "trunky papers" so until next time.Love you!-Elder Osness
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
too much month (from the pres)
Dear Parents and Families,
We hope you are enjoying your November as much as we are. The temperatures were in the 70's today so we can't complain about anything. The first time I wrote to parents I explained about tornados. So many new missionaries have come since then that I just want to make sure those parents know we are not in the tornado season right now, so don't even think about it.
Today I will explain a little about the finances of the missionaries. (That is why this is titled "Too Much Month.") We all know that story. Your $400 dollars goes to Salt Lake. Each mission has a budget to cover expenses and we have an account to pay rent and utilities for the missionaries. Our wonderful office missionaries keep everything running well. Each missionary has an MSF card. (Missionary Support Fund) He/she uses that card to pay for food, sundries, postage, dry cleaning, washing the car, cleaning supplies, etc. The missionaries get $135 dollars at the beginning of each month. It isn't much but if they are careful it is enough. In most of the areas members feed them often and take good care of them. Learning to live on a limited budget is another great learning experience of the mission. (It will prepare them for marriage!") We have varying degrees of success in making the money last. Some manage to have money left at the end of the month. Others go right out and spend the money and end up with nothing for two weeks. One of the things they do is eat out at restaurants. President Gee isn't real excited about that but they think it is fun to eat together after District Meeting and sometimes other days as well. A while ago I tried a little survey and found about half of the missionaries are successful at living on their budget. The rest dig into their personal funds, or maybe even ask you for more money. President Gee and I are concerned if they create a hardship for you by doing this. You may think they will starve if they don't get more money. You can handle this as you see fit, but from our point of view, it would be better for them to learn to make do. There are occasions when they do need some personal funds. If they need to see a doctor or get medicine they pay a ten dollar co-pay for each of these. Sometimes there are bicycle repairs to take care of as well. We hate to think they are depleting their savings accounts to eat out or buy excess keepsakes, etc. However, sometimes they are a bit too frugal and let their clothes get looking pretty shabby. With that little bit of information from us, hopefully you will know what your missionary should be doing. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Things are going pretty well for the mission. The outlook for baptisms for November is good. The missionaries are still working hard and we appreciate all they do. Last evening President Gee and I had a good experience. The Edmond 2nd ward Bishop invited us to meet with the ward council and talk through exactly how they should go about taking charge of the missionary work in the ward and coordinating with the missionaries. Elder Salisbury and Elder Hawker were there as well. There was a great feeling of willingness to work together and try to reach out to less active and part-member families. It was fun to watch them catch the vision. We know that if every ward would really make the ward council function as outlined there would be an explosion of success. The way to do it is laid out by prophets, seers, and revelators. It just takes time to get everyone on board. The nature of missionary work would certainly change because they would be teaching more and resorting to tracting less. We hope members continue to start to "get it" and we become effective at working together.
Eight missionaries will be leaving us this week. We know there are eight very happy families. We will miss them. We will be welcoming nine new missionaries and look forward to working with them. Have a good week. Keep those prayers coming. We are working to "Go Forward and Not Backward. On, On To The Victory!"
Love, Sister Gee (and President Gee)
We hope you are enjoying your November as much as we are. The temperatures were in the 70's today so we can't complain about anything. The first time I wrote to parents I explained about tornados. So many new missionaries have come since then that I just want to make sure those parents know we are not in the tornado season right now, so don't even think about it.
Today I will explain a little about the finances of the missionaries. (That is why this is titled "Too Much Month.") We all know that story. Your $400 dollars goes to Salt Lake. Each mission has a budget to cover expenses and we have an account to pay rent and utilities for the missionaries. Our wonderful office missionaries keep everything running well. Each missionary has an MSF card. (Missionary Support Fund) He/she uses that card to pay for food, sundries, postage, dry cleaning, washing the car, cleaning supplies, etc. The missionaries get $135 dollars at the beginning of each month. It isn't much but if they are careful it is enough. In most of the areas members feed them often and take good care of them. Learning to live on a limited budget is another great learning experience of the mission. (It will prepare them for marriage!") We have varying degrees of success in making the money last. Some manage to have money left at the end of the month. Others go right out and spend the money and end up with nothing for two weeks. One of the things they do is eat out at restaurants. President Gee isn't real excited about that but they think it is fun to eat together after District Meeting and sometimes other days as well. A while ago I tried a little survey and found about half of the missionaries are successful at living on their budget. The rest dig into their personal funds, or maybe even ask you for more money. President Gee and I are concerned if they create a hardship for you by doing this. You may think they will starve if they don't get more money. You can handle this as you see fit, but from our point of view, it would be better for them to learn to make do. There are occasions when they do need some personal funds. If they need to see a doctor or get medicine they pay a ten dollar co-pay for each of these. Sometimes there are bicycle repairs to take care of as well. We hate to think they are depleting their savings accounts to eat out or buy excess keepsakes, etc. However, sometimes they are a bit too frugal and let their clothes get looking pretty shabby. With that little bit of information from us, hopefully you will know what your missionary should be doing. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Things are going pretty well for the mission. The outlook for baptisms for November is good. The missionaries are still working hard and we appreciate all they do. Last evening President Gee and I had a good experience. The Edmond 2nd ward Bishop invited us to meet with the ward council and talk through exactly how they should go about taking charge of the missionary work in the ward and coordinating with the missionaries. Elder Salisbury and Elder Hawker were there as well. There was a great feeling of willingness to work together and try to reach out to less active and part-member families. It was fun to watch them catch the vision. We know that if every ward would really make the ward council function as outlined there would be an explosion of success. The way to do it is laid out by prophets, seers, and revelators. It just takes time to get everyone on board. The nature of missionary work would certainly change because they would be teaching more and resorting to tracting less. We hope members continue to start to "get it" and we become effective at working together.
Eight missionaries will be leaving us this week. We know there are eight very happy families. We will miss them. We will be welcoming nine new missionaries and look forward to working with them. Have a good week. Keep those prayers coming. We are working to "Go Forward and Not Backward. On, On To The Victory!"
Love, Sister Gee (and President Gee)
Running into my last transfer
Dear Family, Pictures: District picture, a bunch of the missionaries after district meeting, and me waiting on the stairs on exchanges for our ride to an appointment. Another good week in the mission! We committed four people to be baptized in the past week, three of which before my time runs dry. Its been so great to find all these people to teach and we may end up before I finish getting a few more people baptism dates to prepare for. The field is ready to harvest! We got transfer calls yesterday and Elder Madsen is already headed out. It was a quick transfer! He's not going too far though, just the next area over. And I'll be training again, for the fourth time. Elder Cannon from Idaho will be my new companion.So, last night we were visiting a member who has recently began making steps back into activity in the church and its been a struggle to be consistent. We had a really good lesson and its one of those moments that help you know why you are where you are and that your calling is really from God. The way things work out the way they do is because God has a plan and his ways will be fulfilled. If we follow his guidance and heed the council of the spirit we can be assured we are being led by our Father in Heaven even if we don't know why things are the way they are, but will if we remain faithful we will achieve the blessing....not all blessings are temporal, but many are spiritual.Things are great! I love you all and will see you in a few short weeks! -Elder Osness
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
What Could Possibly Go Wrong (from the pres)
Dear Parents and Families,
President Gee and I hope all is well with "Ya'll." We appreciate your prayers and support in behalf of the mission and your missionary. The weather is absolutely wonderful this week. The temperature was in the seventies and the skies are blue. It is perfect weather for missionaries and we think we get a few more days just like what we have had. Most of the missionaries are healthy and doing well.
Today I would like to pass on a few experiences about baptisms. Baptisms bring joy! However, there are times when we find out the answer to the question, "What could possibly go wrong?" I hope your sense of humor is awake. In the past Elders have been told how long it takes to fill the font. Not wanting to waste time, they plan on starting the water and leaving for a while to do other missionary things. You know the answer to the question, don't you? Recently the Elders returned to find the font had overflowed and the church was flooded. They spent several hours with a shop vac trying to repair the damage. It has happened more than once.
One unforgettable experience happened several months ago. We were hosting Elder Richardson who was our Area Seventy. We decided to attend a scheduled baptism during one evening. When we arrived the Elders weren't really thrilled to see us because somehow the person who was supposed to pick up the sister to be baptized forgot to get her. It would take an hour to make the round trip to get her to the church. That ward mission leader had decided to ride his motorcycle rather than drive his car. He was having so much fun he forgot what he was doing. We waited and waited. I finally looked at Elder Richardson and said, "This is how we do things in Oklahoma." He smiled and said something about the interesting report he would have for the brethren.
The sister finally arrived and got ready for the baptism. When the witnesses tried to open the doors in front of the font they were locked. The motorcycle mission leader had left the keys home with his car keys. We tried breaking in. A former CIA agent thought he could unlock the door but to no avail. I don't even remember how we finally solved the problem. The poor sister finally got into the water and had to be baptized three times before it was done correctly.
Another time a lovely sister named Maria was scheduled to be baptized. All day long things kept coming up to stop her from attending her baptism. There were issues with the Immigration Department and car troubles, among other things. She did show up at the scheduled time. Just as we were under way the tornado siren went off. I remember thinking, "We are NOT going to stop this baptism for any tornado!!" We just went ahead and she was baptized and fortunately the tornado went somewhere else. Another time we waited and waited for a young boy to show up for his baptism. Finally we disbanded and the police and his family and the missionaries started a searth for a missing person. They found him the next day at a friends house. He had forgotten about his baptism. Needless to say, more teaching was in order. He was finally baptized several weeks later and is still doing okay.
Well, these experiences make us smile, but there really is opposition in all things and we are relieved when baptisms go as scheduled. I was able to attend a baptism on Saturday morning for a young woman named April. This one was perfect. The room was so crowded with ward members and family that they had to carry in more chairs. There was a wonderful spirit of love and testimony there. The talks were good. I love to hear the testimonies of people who often start with "I remember the day I was baptized! It was _______years ago." I realized as I listened on Saturday that knowing people who are accepting the gospel allows those of us who were born into the church to kind of go through the conversion process vicariously. These experiences help all of us to build our testimonies as well. Every time we attend a baptism it feels like a reverent celebration. There are always so many smiles. (However, I do remember one where the mother of the girl being baptized sobbed all the way through the program. She was heart broken that her daughter was abandoning her upbringing and joining another church.) I saw an artists depiction of the baptism of the Savior where he and John the Baptist were embracing and both had huge smiles on their faces. I loved that concept because baptism is so important and joyful. Thank you for your son or daughter or family member and supporting them in this greatest of causes to bring souls to Christ through baptism. May you all be blessed. We pray for you. Love, President and Sister Gee
President Gee and I hope all is well with "Ya'll." We appreciate your prayers and support in behalf of the mission and your missionary. The weather is absolutely wonderful this week. The temperature was in the seventies and the skies are blue. It is perfect weather for missionaries and we think we get a few more days just like what we have had. Most of the missionaries are healthy and doing well.
Today I would like to pass on a few experiences about baptisms. Baptisms bring joy! However, there are times when we find out the answer to the question, "What could possibly go wrong?" I hope your sense of humor is awake. In the past Elders have been told how long it takes to fill the font. Not wanting to waste time, they plan on starting the water and leaving for a while to do other missionary things. You know the answer to the question, don't you? Recently the Elders returned to find the font had overflowed and the church was flooded. They spent several hours with a shop vac trying to repair the damage. It has happened more than once.
One unforgettable experience happened several months ago. We were hosting Elder Richardson who was our Area Seventy. We decided to attend a scheduled baptism during one evening. When we arrived the Elders weren't really thrilled to see us because somehow the person who was supposed to pick up the sister to be baptized forgot to get her. It would take an hour to make the round trip to get her to the church. That ward mission leader had decided to ride his motorcycle rather than drive his car. He was having so much fun he forgot what he was doing. We waited and waited. I finally looked at Elder Richardson and said, "This is how we do things in Oklahoma." He smiled and said something about the interesting report he would have for the brethren.
The sister finally arrived and got ready for the baptism. When the witnesses tried to open the doors in front of the font they were locked. The motorcycle mission leader had left the keys home with his car keys. We tried breaking in. A former CIA agent thought he could unlock the door but to no avail. I don't even remember how we finally solved the problem. The poor sister finally got into the water and had to be baptized three times before it was done correctly.
Another time a lovely sister named Maria was scheduled to be baptized. All day long things kept coming up to stop her from attending her baptism. There were issues with the Immigration Department and car troubles, among other things. She did show up at the scheduled time. Just as we were under way the tornado siren went off. I remember thinking, "We are NOT going to stop this baptism for any tornado!!" We just went ahead and she was baptized and fortunately the tornado went somewhere else. Another time we waited and waited for a young boy to show up for his baptism. Finally we disbanded and the police and his family and the missionaries started a searth for a missing person. They found him the next day at a friends house. He had forgotten about his baptism. Needless to say, more teaching was in order. He was finally baptized several weeks later and is still doing okay.
Well, these experiences make us smile, but there really is opposition in all things and we are relieved when baptisms go as scheduled. I was able to attend a baptism on Saturday morning for a young woman named April. This one was perfect. The room was so crowded with ward members and family that they had to carry in more chairs. There was a wonderful spirit of love and testimony there. The talks were good. I love to hear the testimonies of people who often start with "I remember the day I was baptized! It was _______years ago." I realized as I listened on Saturday that knowing people who are accepting the gospel allows those of us who were born into the church to kind of go through the conversion process vicariously. These experiences help all of us to build our testimonies as well. Every time we attend a baptism it feels like a reverent celebration. There are always so many smiles. (However, I do remember one where the mother of the girl being baptized sobbed all the way through the program. She was heart broken that her daughter was abandoning her upbringing and joining another church.) I saw an artists depiction of the baptism of the Savior where he and John the Baptist were embracing and both had huge smiles on their faces. I loved that concept because baptism is so important and joyful. Thank you for your son or daughter or family member and supporting them in this greatest of causes to bring souls to Christ through baptism. May you all be blessed. We pray for you. Love, President and Sister Gee
5 Minutes Late!
Dear Family, Pictures: Obviously I was forgeting to pull out my camera and it was hard to stop and get a good picture, so these will have to be good enough to see the Family Fun Zone in action with missionaries trying to get people to come and enjoy some good company and food. We get a few regulars that make a pit stop on their way to the OU game. I'm a slacker and just cook hotdogs and wait for people to come to the grill so I can talk to them, but my companion, Elder Madsen is doing great! Him and another new missionary join up and walk all over talking to people and they got to teach a lesson during all the activity and passed out two copies of the Book of Mormon. Elder Lewis and I did happen to have some good contacts and committed a few college students to come to church at the institute the following day. Hopefully they followed through.Last week we taught a great lesson to a woman from West Africa and she, during the lesson, asked what she would need to do to join the church. That was a surprise and I found myself struggling to answer such a simple question, but it finally came out. She then went on to explain her previous experiences with missionaries and finding copies of the Book of Mormon and conversations with others who had typical anti opinions about the church...she corrected them. We have a lot of good going on.So, to the highlight and subject of my e-mail. President Eyring made a special visit to his daughter's baby blessing in the Noble ward. I missed my chance to meet him. We, the Norman 4th ward, meet at the same building as Noble and we have church right after them and our morning meetings start just after their sacrament meeting. Our ward mission leader picked us up as usual, around 10am to go to our corrilation meeting at the church. As we pulled up to church and walked to the door, something had caught our ward mission leader's attention. When he caught up to us he said, "that looked like President Eyring in that SUV!" Elder Madsen and I were thinking ya, sure. Well, to our suprise we walk in to the building to hear everyone chattering about the visit President Eyring made to their ward...ough! Just five minutes earlier and I would have been able to meet President Eyring. I happened to learn from it though. It wouldn't make much sense to you, but it was an experience God gave me to teach me something. Its been really interesting on my mission to see how often God is teaching us if we are open to it. Overall it has to do with the feeling of knowing I could have experienced better, but didn't quite make it. Kind of like at some point in time we will all have an understanding of what it would be like to "dwell with God" and how disappointing will it be if we have to settle for less and depart from something so wonderful. There was a lot of connection and learning that came to me beyond that. Much like the experience Elder Scott related in General Conference about personal revelation and prayer; "is there more that I should know."Things sound good at home. Hope all continues well and I love you all!-Elder Osness
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