Happy Thanksgiving–November 27, 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

This past week has been so much fun!
Today we went and played football at the Ward’s Turkey Bowl. Their was a great turn out and it wasn’t too cold so we had a blast. I love this ward so much we have so many great families and I think there are more that are moving in soon.

On a sad note though, Brother Gardner, our beloved Ward Mission Leader was released last Sunday. One of our Ward missionaries, Kris Spring, was called as our new Ward Mission Leader. He’s a great guy and we love him a lot so it will be fun to work with him now.

On Sunday, I got a call from one of our Assistants to the President. He told me that I would be the new District Leader in Pottstown.  Fun! Our first District Meeting was yesterday in Reading. It was lots of fun. I was nervous getting it together so fast though. District Meeting goes from 10:30 to 12:00 on Mondays. You have a role play, that last the majority of the time, and then for the last half hour, you give a talk.  Our role play was focused on asking thought provoking questions and bearing your testimony. Then I taught about becoming instruments in the hands of God. I passed out the Christlike Attribute evaluation that is in Preach My Gospel and had everyone in our district set goals to improve themselves. I guess it went really well. The Zone Leaders chose our District Meeting to come to, so they were there as well. I think it went really well.  I got some compliments that really surprised me. The one thing that I was glad about was people could tell that I put a lot of time and effort into it, so I was happy.

We have a great District too. It consists of the Elders in Reading, Elder McNaughton from Canada that has been out about 2 months and his companion Elder Andrus who has been out a year. And the Sisters in Kutztown, Sister Vance from all over but currently claiming Cedar City, UT who has been out about a year And her companion Sister Olson also from all over but who claims Salt Lake City, UT.  An Amazing group!

Today we were invited to one of the Ward get-togethers. It should be fun.  Right after though, we have to go, since you can’t really knock on people’s doors on Thanksgiving.

We’ll be sticking around in our apartment at least for a couple weeks. So you can keep sending stuff to the King St. Apartment.

It sounds like you have a fun Thanksgiving planned. Tell Grandma and Stacy I said Hi.

I’ll talk to you all on Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love you,
Elder Michael Oakford

November 20, 2008

It’s snowing!!!! The past couple day’s the temperature has really dropped. The first day I wasn’t prepared at all and was on an exchange in Reading with our Zone Leaders. It was brutal but we had a great time. Then Tuesday night I went into Reading again to go on exchanges with another set of missionaries and found out that they had been sleeping with no heat in there apartment for the past couple weeks, and hadn’t done anything about it.. So we got that fixed and while I was there it dropped into the 20s during the day. Way too cold for me! But it’s ok, I haven’t put on my thermals or any other layers yet. I figure I’ll save them for when it’s really cold.

I’m glad that Sister Woodman was able to get a hold of you. I felt really bad that I forgot to tell you I got your package and I was very grateful for everything inside. Sister Woodman is awesome–she is always there for us if we need anything and sometimes calls to check on us.

I got to here from Elder Stewart this week. He sounded great. He is happy and doing well at home. I was glad he wrote because I was thinking about him a lot since he left.

Elder Esplin and I have been doing great. The area is really starting to heat up. The ward is behind us in all that we do and really wants to help out. I love proactive ward members, they make missionary work so much easier.

Have the Andersons heard from Austen. He wrote me today but didn’t say how his baptism went. How about Justin and Chris? Please tell Brother Newberry and Harper I said hi and that I love them. I miss them all very much.

I’ve got to run for now. We are headed up to Reading AGAIN! Third time this week, but I’ll try to think of anything I forgot to say and then write you when we get home.

I love you.

Elder Michael Oakford

November 13, 2008

Dear Mom and Dad,

Pottstown is doing wonderfully. The weather is getting a little gloomy but that’s not deadening the spirits or the work at all. This past week has been amazing. Sunday was Stake Conference, and it was probably the best Stake Conference I have ever been to. It was held in a High School gym because of the amount of people in the huge stake. The speakers were a Recent Convert of about 6 months, a young single adult woman who floored everyone with an amazing talk, Sister Murray was asked to share her testimony, President Murray gave an incredible talk on the simplicity of the gospel, a member of the temple presidency spoke on of course the temple, the stake president and then an area seventy Elder David Cook. The intensity of the Spirit was commented on by many of the people there. It was a very good meeting.

Monday after district meeting, I went on exchages with the Zone leaders. I went into Reading with Elder Richardson from Arizona. He knows how much I loved working in the city, so since their area is split into half city and half suburb he planned for us to teach and tract in the city the day I was up there. That was so much fun, I am so comfortable knocking on row homes for hours at a time, I love it! We found some great people and taught a couple lessons to a few interested people. I came back home on Monday evening and had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader and then went to visit a new ward missionary and an investigator we’ve been working with.

Yesterday we had Zone Training Meeting in Reading. It was one of the best and most spiritual meetings I have been to since I’ve been on my mission. A lot of personal preparation went into the training that day by the leaders and by us, the missionaries. There were great talks given and we had very interesting and fun role plays. The highlight however was my interview with President Murray. I have never had a more personal more spiritual interview with him. He and I have been getting very close lately and I love him more and more everyday. I think that  I was sent here to this mission just to be near him and learn from him.  He and Sister Murray are so loving and are so interested in the lives of each one of their missionaries. I was the last person to have interviews which I loved, because then there is nobody banging on the door telling you time is up. Usually you get cycled through in five minute intervals. But yesterday we had time to talk and I learned so much.

The people we are teaching are doing well.  Beulah basically disappeared earlier in the month and couldn’t get interviewed for baptism. But we recently found her and she is doing really well. We nailed her biggest concern as her sister. She was filling her with untruths when we were not there. LAME. Oh well. She has been doing really well the past week or so and still is planning on being baptized but has a fear of backsliding that we were able to talk about. She has so much love and support from the ward, I don’t think there will really be a problem.  Ceire is a 13 year old girl who has been coming to church for a year or so and she is doing awesome as well. She is such an intelligent girl I was so surprised when we started teaching her. It wow’d me. Her mother is very smart as well and I think sometimes that could be a problem, but she is down for ceire to be baptized, but wants her to take her time… We have a couple others that are looking great for the near future but I’m out of time.

I love you. I hope all is well at home. Tell Grandma and Julie and Stacy I said hi and that I love them.

Elder Michael Oakford

Mike and his last companion, Elder Stewart

November 6, 2008

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am excited that my warm clothes are on the way. It is starting to get chilly and they will be much needed very soon.  My new companion and I are doing well.  He was able to make a great transition from area to area.  Something I was worried about was bringing in someone new who was not going to be attached to the goals set at the beginning of the transfer. But he came in ready to get to work, which I really appreciated.  We have been doing a lot more tracting than I have done in months.  But I am glad because I know it works. We have been finding some great people who are interested in learning more and coming to church.

Our first week in the new church was wonderful.  The church we are using fits us nicely. We were worried we would have a tough first week but everything went smoothly. It was great. There was a very nice spirit in the church that everyone felt. The pastor got up at the beginning and gave a very nice welcome. They are so accommodating and very friendly.  This next Sunday is stake conference. They are holding it in a high school auditorium up past Reading. This is a  really big stake geographically so I was surprised when they didn’t split it into two different meetings like they do in Philadelphia.  I received a letter from Elder Karl Stewart, who is back at home in Arizona now. He seems to be happy and doing ok. I miss him a lot though. He was a great companion and I wish we could have been together a little longer. I hope we will be able to keep in contact and remain good friends. Even in the short time he was here in Pottstown he made a big impact on some people here who miss him dearly.

All is going well. We have to get going because we are meeting some missionaries to switch out our car. We are trading in our 2004 Mazda 3 for a 2009 Chevy Malibu. Not a bad exchange if you ask me!

I love you. I hope all is going well at home.

Elder Michael Oakford

And a quick note from Mike.

Things are picking up here in Pottstown but it is very very difficult. We could use all the prayer we can get. It is a completely different mission out here than compared to the city. Stick me in front of a black person and let me go! Put me in a situation where a family needs change and it is no problem. But tracting in places where there are three nice new cars in the driveway and it takes two minutes just to walk from door to door and they are content with the life that they are living and feel no inclination to change…. Well that’s a different story! The only plus is that when you do find someone, it’s usually a family and they will most likely stick around forever.  I’m adapting though. Working hard. That’s all I can do, and I learned from watching you.

I love you!

Mike