August 28, 2008

This is all we got for this week–

Sorry I didn’t really have much time to write today we had a lot to do.

Everything has been going smoothly the past week. I was down for a couple days the end of last week. The doctor said I pulled my hamstring but I’m doing better and I’m walking. SO everything is going good.

We’re speaking in church . I’m pretty excited.Alright. Have a great week.

I love you.

Mike

August 21, 2008

This transfer has seemed to fly by. Elder Olsen and I are doing very well together and the area is producing some great people. One woman we are working with is Beulah. She has come to church and loves it! We have been focusing really hard on taking members to every single lesson with her. She has committed herself to baptism on the first Sunday of Sept. That is going to be pretty exciting.

Tomorrow is Zone Conference which is in Reading. That will be really nice. We found a deal on Pork ribs so Elder Olsen and I went in and bought 10 pounds of ribs that we have been soaking and are cooking tonight! I’m pretty excited. The sisters in our district, who live in Kutztown, are bringing Cheesecake. I can’t wait for the party.

We got a really good recipe from one of the members of our ward. I’ll let you know how it is. Other than the exciting lunch, I’m pretty excited for the day of training. My favorite part of a transfer is our Interviews with President Murray. We always have a good time talking and I learn so much from him.

We have just been asked to give a talk in church for the 5th Sunday. Its going to be on Elder Ballards 1984 and 1986 General Conference talks on Missionary work and setting a date. This ward LOVES doing missionary work so it is going to be a fun talk. If you have any suggestions or ideas (quotes etc.) I would appreciate them. That is the last day of the transfer so it could be Elder Olsens farewell talk. He has been in this area for four transfers but its not uncommon to stay more. President is trying to leave people the same for as long as possible.

This Sunday our ward is having “Meet The Mormons.” We’re hoping for a pretty good turn out. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ok that is all for now. Elder Olsen locked his house keys in our apartment so we have to go back and break in.

Love you have a good week.

Elder Oakford

August 14, 2008

Good Afternoon!

It has just been another week that has flown by way too fast. Elder Olsen and I have been working hard and have been successful at getting some wonderful people to church.  The work is definitely not the same as it is in the city. People are so much easier to come into contact with when they are everywhere! I never thought I would tract walking from house to house. It has been a fun challenge though.

Last week we had our Zone conference in Broomall. It was nice to see some missionaries that I haven’t seen in quite awhile. We had great instruction about how to work more effectively with ward leadership. I am very lucky and am in a very strong and proactive ward, which makes everything so much easier. Our ward mission leader is top notch! Brother Gardner is so helpful and is talked about at all these meetings that we go to. He really has stepped up the expectations of a WML.

Elder Olsen has been sick the past couple days, so our lessons are unfortunately going to be pretty low this week, but we are really going to close the week strong. We are getting along great and starting to change our focus more and more. This area has SO much potential. The  past couple months they have just been focusing on strengthening the ward and reactivating LAs to prepare them for the potential baptisms so they will stick around!!

Everything else is going really well. My shoes  are getting really worn out.   So if you could send me a new pair of the same ones soon that would help a ton!

Alright, well that’s all for now. I hope everything is going well back at home.
I love you!

Elder Oakford

August 6, 2008

I love my area more and more all the time. It is big and we have been trying to walk as much as possible to conserve miles. I think I told you we are allotted 1300 a month. Our members are very spread out but they have been so nice to us and are offering to come to Pottstown and pick us up a lot of the time. That has helped us to save about 100 miles already. The members in this ward are also very proactive and are great at helping us out. They volunteer to come teaching and have us over to teach in their homes as well. We are also getting fed a couple times a week! Something I am not used to at all. I think my stomach has shrunk while I was in the city because it’s hard for me to pack away a decent sized meal! It’s a good thing though because when people sign up to feed us, they also sign themselves up for a lesson and a commitment to do missionary work THEN have us over again for a follow up!

Friday is our Zone Conference in Broomall. Then Zone Training is going to be the 22nd of this month I think. If you need to get anything to me, you can then. If you have any nice CDs with classical or church or bagpipe music I’d appreciate some. We do lots of driving and with the few CDs that we have we are getting pretty bored.

Ok thats all for now. I love you!

Mike