June 18, 2009

I guess you all get pictures instead of a letter this week. It took awhile to download them all.
Hope you enjoy.

Mike

Mike's District

Rolling Hills near Rising Sun, MD

Cheaspeake Bay

Elders Peck and Oakford

Rising Sun Apartment and Car

Oakford Avenue in Oakford, PA

June 10, 2009

Dear Familia,

Everything here in Rising Sun is rockin’! We are building momentum and seeing lots of progress in the area.  We have a handful of less actives who hadn’t been to church in a long while who we have been teaching and they all showed up to church on Sunday! What a blessing. We are really working on finding more people to give baptismal dates too. They are here, we are just trying to find them.

The weather has been pretty good except for one day that we got dumped on by a passing storm. Yesterday, Mother Nature put on a beautiful lightning and thunder show. There was constant thunder for almost 2 hours! The lightning lasted from about 3pm to 7pm. I was waiting for it to get dark before I took some pictures but by the time it gets dark now, we are home and the lightning had stopped anyway.

We had our Zone Training Meeting in Dover, DE on Monday this week and then we have interviews with President Murray tomorrow morning in Wilmington, DE.  It’s already putting a crunch on our miles–we get 1350 per month.  President Murray came to our district meeting a couple weeks ago and taught us about the skills of communication. Lots of missionaries before coming out on their missions have limited contact with other people that they are trying to communicate with. The youth get so distracted by media and electronics that they would rather sit at home and play video games than go outside and interact with their friends. I think this leads to a HUGE shock once these people are sent out into the world to TALK TO and MAKE FRIENDS WITH everyone that they see. In his most recent Sickle Thruster, he wrote about how missionaries can learn to communicate with everyone especially their companions a lot better. I loved having him there. It’s always a treat to be with and hear and learn from President and Sister Murray. I’m really looking forward to my interview tomorrow.

Transfers are coming up quick! Only about one more week until my last transfer here in the mission field! Elder Willes has been here for a couple transfers now so he might get transferred,  but you never know. If he does, I hope they take Elder Moorhead out of Service and send him down here to Rising Sun to be my last companion!! Very unlikely, but I’ll pray for it!!

I got everyone’s letters on the same day this week. Yes, it is very OK to send things to my apartment. I live in the second story of a big house that has been converted into a hair salon on the bottom level and two apartments up stairs. The only thing that I would worry about is having the squirrels or deer run away with whatever you send.

Alright that’s all for now.  My time is up.  I love you.

-Mike

June 4, 2009

Dear Mom and Dad,

Everything is going great here in Maryland. We have some great people that we are working with and they are all progressing really quickly. The weather has been all over the place. We have had some really beautiful days and then some days like today that are overcast and rainy.

My talk in sacrament meeting went great. There wasn’t much time so I had only about 15 minutes to fill. Brother Kubesh and I were the only speakers but they released the Relief Society President and so she and the new one both gave there testimonies.  It was a nice meeting. Tonja, our investigator that has a date for June 28, was there with her two kids and she really enjoyed church as well which was great! Her kids on the other hand are not used to it yet and had a hard time in their classes. She is doing really well and we are all really excited to Rising Sun’s first baptism in a couple years.

Last week I was on exchanges with Elder Clark in Smyrna, Delaware. We had a really good time. I have served around Elder Clark for the past couple months when I was in Morrisville. We had a great two days of work. On Friday I think we taught more lessons than we had people tell us No!! That was incredible. The people in Delaware and Maryland are a lot different from those in the city. Elder Clark goes home at the end of this transfer and then will be at BYU next semester. He is a great friend but it going to be nice to still see a lot of these missionaries after my mission.

So the word on the street is that as of July 1st our mission will be taking over the Scranton, PA stake.  It is the stake that is just North of the Reading Stake. That will give us 8 more units and a lot more Spanish speaking missionaries. I think that that stake was part of Austen’s mission.

Nothing else is really happening at this time.  We have Zone training meeting on Monday down in Dover and then interviews with President Murray on Thursday, so P-Day will be on Wednesday again.

Alright, that’s all for now.

Love you,

Elder Michael Oakford

May 27, 2009

Hey there,
Everything is going great here in Rising Sun.  I’ve decided I really like that name, if I was going to name a unit that’s probably what I’d call it.

It stayed nice and cool today so we were able to go out with Brother Kubesh and hit balls at the driving range, it was a blast. We were expecting a lot of rain but it has stayed away, at least so far.
We are teaching a small group of wonderful people. Tonja is a young mother of two who they found tracting right before I got here. She is progressing really nicely and has a great spirit about her. She is reading and studying and really loving everything she hears. We had a Memorial Day picnic and she came and was able to meet a lot of the other young mothers which was a nice comfortable opportunity to do that outside of church.  She and her husband Steve and their two kids (7 and 8 years) will be coming to church for the first time this weekend. I’m really excited for them to come and meet the wonderful branch family.

We are also teaching a couple college age kids who live right next to the church in North East. Vince, his sister Heather and her boyfriend Ron all sat in on a really great lesson where we were able to answer a lot of their wonderful questions about God and the basics of religion. Vince is the most interested out of all of them. We have had a couple really great lessons with him and Brother Kubesh and he is keeping all the commitments we leave him. He has prayed and received a wonderful witness that what we are teaching is true and he knows The Book of Mormon is true and is really enjoying reading it.

We are having a great time building our teaching pool and progressing those we find. I’m sure we can see some great success in this branch before the time I go home.

Tomorrow we have Zone Conference up in Broomall. The focus for this Transfer is on Chapter 1, Chapter 3 Lesson 1, Chapter 3 Lesson 5 and Chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel.  Only one Zone Conference after this one so I’m excited to make the most of it!

Alright we are going back to work. Not much else to report. We were at the driving range and out past the end there was an Amish farmer working on his field with his big team of mules. Pretty fun to see!

Have a great week!

Love you,
Elder Michael Oakford

May 20, 2009

I’m not feeling very well today, my allergies have been acting up like crazy!  So I might not write much. I’d rather just go get everything done and then take a nap.

In the Wilmington Zone they change P-days around about half the time. This time was kind of a surprise, we found out on Sunday or Monday that we have a Summer Fun Day with President Murray in Dover tommorrow starting at 9am. So they moved our PDay and cut it short so we can take time out tomorrow to do that. President Murray is probably traveling around the mission today tomorrow and Friday, so he moved P-Day up for Wilmington. We also have Wednesday P-days next week because of Zone Conference and it seems two weeks later because of interviews. I’ll let you know when it pops up.

I really love the Rising Sun branch. It’s a great area and a great branch.  For church on Sunday we had a really neat treat again. We had a Satellite Broadcast from the Conference center. President Eyring spoke with Elder Hales, Sister Cook and Elder Porter. I loved it! It was a lot better than the one they showed in the Philadelphia Stake I thought.

I’m glad to hear that Brother Kubesh got a hold of you. He is a great Branch Mission Leader. He has lots of fire and confidence in what he is doing. He is working really hard to help grow the branch.

I wish I had more energy but with the flu and allergies hitting me like it did I’m pretty tired. I was going to tell you the whole story of this miracle that we had this last week. We have found some incredible people who are progressing really quickly. The leadership in the branch was excited to hear about that since that have not had a Baptism in a very long time and the attendance of investigators is very low.

Alright I love you.

-Mike

May 14, 2009

Hello from the Rising Sun, Maryland Branch in the Wilmington, Delaware Stake.

Well, Rising Sun would have been the last place that I would have expected to end up. But I’m here and loving it!  My new address is 15 Maple Heights Ln. Apt#2  Rising Sun, MD 21911. My new companion (fifth in five transfers) is Elder Cade Willes from McGill, NV. He was trained by Elder Atkinson right after we were transferred from Frankford

The area covers some ground, we go from about Oxford,PA in the North to Turkey Point in the Chesapeake Bay in the South, Elkton,MD in the East and the Susquehanna River on the West.

We have a nice stage two building in North East, MD. The branch has about 110 active members and has not had a convert baptism since missionaries have been here. When you look at the area on a map, you will be able to tell that it is very different from any I have served in before. It is very rural and flat, tons of farm land and houses very spread apart.
Yesterday on the way back home from district meeting in Newark, DE saw horse drawn carriages tied up in front of our grocery store!  Elder Willes says that there are quite a few Amish farms in the area, right after he said that we drove past two more carriages with Amish families inside. That was fun to see.

I am really excited to be working here in this branch. There is so much great work to do and I feel that Elder Willes and I are just right for what needs to happen.  I have met some really nice people so far and we’ve already been able to see miracles that have added to the size of our once non-existent teaching pool. Elder Willes has only been here for six weeks but knows the area very well.

It was really hard to leave Morrisville behind. I  am going to really miss that ward and the people in it. I was able to say goodbye to mostly everyone there. I went to seminary Tuesday morning and took pictures with most of the youth. It is always nice to know that you are leaving an area better than you found it, and right now Morrisville is at the top of their game. We had built up a large teaching pool which will really help Elder Chatterton and the new missionary he is with.

Lots of good work to do and I’m excited to get started.

I love you and hope to hear from you soon.

Happy Mothers Day again.

Elder Michael Oakford

May 7, 2009

I don’t remember what I wrote to you last week  so I’m not sure if anything I say will be repetitive.

In our interviews with President and Sister Murray we were told that the Church Medical Department called Sister Murray and told her that the missionaries are not supposed to shake hands anymore, due to the flu that is going around. When I remember I’m doing me best but I usually forget and find myself shaking hands with lots of people anyways. Elder Chatterton and I have been carrying hand sanitizer and using that every once in awhile. Lots of people that we have talked to have been making such a big deal about it. I can’t tell you how many people we’ve talked to who sware that they have swine flu! It’s ridiculous.  But anyway, I hope the hype will fade out sooner than later.

We have been fortunte to find some amazing families that past week, a couple that have been to our services before. Two families in particular that I really have connected with. Another man that we found on Sunday or Monday we have already committed him to be baptized when he finds out this is true. I have found on my mission that doing this works so much in your benefit. From the start the people who you are teaching know that your purpose is to invite them to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. There are no surprises there and I’ve seen our visits go from being viewed as enlightening “bible studies” to purposeful meetings where commitments are extended and followed up on so we are working towards the goal of finding out that this is true and then when you do accept the invitation to be baptized. Our time spent with someone that is not going to progress and keep commitments is cut down significantly.

Eric Wheelin is going to be confirmed in church on Mother’s Day. He and his family are doing fantastic. Our past bishop, President Schwab was asked to confirm him. This is week Six so it could be my last week in Morrisville, although I would do anything to stick around longer even until the end of my mission!

Not much else happening other than that. Lots of Spring cleaning going on. Lots of people emerging from their homes since it’s warming up and it not winter anymore.

I’ll talk to you on Sunday.

Love you.
Elder Michael Oakford

April 30, 2009

Dear Family,

Last week concluded with an exciting day. Eric Wheelin was baptized right after church! His whole family was there to support him and there was a huge turn out from the rest of the ward family. It was a very spiritual and sweet baptismal service. Eric’s little sister, Emily, said the opening prayer and Eric was brave enough to stand up in front of everyone and say the closing prayer. One of the sweetest parts of the day was during Fast and Testimony Meeting.  Abby Hludzinski (who was just baptized a month or two ago) got up and bore her testimony about baptism and how proud she was of Eric that he was getting baptized. She said that when she was baptized she felt so clean because her sins were all washed away and she hoped Eric would feel that way too and never forget how it felt. That put a smile on everyones face’s. On Monday we had Zone Training Meeting at the Broad and Wyoming Building in North Philadelphia. Our zone leaders did an incredible job at preparing to bring the spirit into that meeting. The layout was very simple and we had some great role plays. At the end of the meeting the spirit was very strong and we talked about very important things that we need to do as missionaries to help build the church in the Philadelphia Stake. We all left with a new vision and commitment, the bar has been raised and will continue to be raised. We are having a temple built in Philadelphia, we have to make sure we have the strength to deserve it!

On Tuesday, we had Car Detailing and our interviews with President and Sister Murray. Since we were doing the cars I got to see Elder Moorhead for a little while which was an extra treat. It was a really hot day of tracting so washing cars wasn’t that bad. Interviews went really well. I’ll tell you more about what we talked about in our other EMail. I really love President Murray. I’m glad I get to talk to him and seek guidance from him in everything that I do. He always is able to point out things that I can do better to increase my effectiveness as a missionary. That is needed very much.

That makes me happy to hear that you received a phone call from Rose Fife. I have been trying to stay in contact with as many people that I can especially converts. But unfortunately I have lost touch with a few who have moved and phone numbers here in Philly don’t last for long so those are very unreliable!

We are looking forward to another great week. The work must keep moving forward! I am really excited to see what is going to happen here in the Morrisville Ward. The missionary spirit is bright and many people are being invited to learn more about hte restored gospel. I have a feeling that things are getting ready to take off. I could either be here for two more weeks or maybe until the end of my mission. I’m hoping I can be here until I go home. I love this ward and it would be really sad to leave.

Have a great week. I’ll try to send pictures of the baptism later.

Love,

Mike

April 23, 2009

Bishop Ross and Family

To answer dad’s question first. In the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission, there are currently 58 companionships in 47 units covering 4 stakes. Our number of companionships has always seemed to hover around 60.  The stakes we cover are,  from North to South,  Reading,  Philadelphia, Valley Forge and Wilmington (Delaware and a good chunk of Maryland).
When I first came into the field we had most of our missionaries in the city areas, which means 4-8 companionships in some wards! Recently we were able to have missionaries in every unit in our mission which took a lot of the missionaries out of the city and into the more suburban wards. That has been a nice switch for many reasons. We are now able to work more with the members and the members and missionaries get to know and trust one another on a new level. The retention has also increased dramatically probably from an focused placed on fellowshipping  the new converts and the type of people being baptized.

We are excited this week to have the baptism of Eric Wheelin. He and his family have been working really hard getting him ready for Sunday. They are such a great family and will be very happy to see Eric baptized. Bryce Kruman was asked to baptize him, which is also really exciting since Bryce is getting ready to go on his mission to China in just a few weeks!

Our ward has a new Bishopric which was sustained Sunday. Bishop Ross was formerly the Young Mens President. He and his family are wonderful. They all have their own copies of Preach My Gospel and study them. His counselors are Brother Topham (formerly 2nd counselor) and Brother Asay (formerly the Elders Quorum President). They are going to be a great team and I know they will have a wonderful view and focus on missionary work in the ward.

The transfer seems to be flying by– it’s already half way through week 4. I was reminded how long I have left and I cannot believe it! Only three transfers left? 18 weeks is way too short a time to do what I need to do.  I guess I better put the pedal to the metal!  I was able to see Elder Moorhead yesterday when he came by to do apartment inspections. He called ahead and we met him at our house. He says he is really liking being a Service missionary for now. I think Elder Moorhead would love anything he is asked to do though.  He has a great attitude and is a real hard worker. Sister Lee (one of my favorites) found us Pocket sized Preach My Gospel and had them ordered for us when he was here. So I got that to him yesterday as well.
Everything else is going great! This ward is great and I hope I can stay here for another couple months. Our teaching pool is growing and we are watching some amazing people progress and accept the gospel!

I love you.

I hope you have a great week.
Elder Michael Oakford

April 16, 2009

Happy Easter!

I hope you had a great Easter Sunday and had a great Sacrament meeting full of wonderful talks. We sure did. The talks that were given were focused on the Atonement. Both of the speakers did a fantastic job, the spirit was very strong throughout the whole meeting. The talks really made me remember Elder Holland’s amazing talk that he gave in General Conference. He always gives such powerful and touching talks that teach wonderful lessons.

On Monday we had a Family Home Evening planned with the Carr family.  Everyone that was invited didn’t show up which was kind of a bust but we still had a really nice time. We watched Elder Holland’s talk again and had a great time talking with the Carrs. They are one of the greatest families that I have met on my mission. They are both hilarious too, so we enjoyed the evening. We also ended the night there with brownies and ice cream, an especially nice treat on my birthday.

We have also been having some great lessons with a few investigators that are doing so well. We are having a baptism on th 26th for a young boy named Eric. His mother and older sister are members, so we are teaching him now. The Peruvian family that I’ve told you about is also doing fantastic. They are grasping everything that we teach them. They are really in search of answers to questions that will help their family. They have been able to find a lot of answers to the questions they’ve had as they have read the Book of Mormon and Bible and continued to meet with us. We would have lost them a long time ago though if we didn’t have a member of the ward come with us. Alberto has been such a great help in teaching them. I’ve been studying the lessons in Spanish so I can pitch in every once in awhile but having him there so he can translate when things get confusing is priceless. They are planning on coming to church this week with their family, so we are very excited.
We are also teaching a young man named Brian. He is 26 and has been living at home and working until recently. He’s had some troubles come up in his life that he was really struggling with and created some problems. It is always really nice to meet with him because he is looking for something to change so he can just be happy. He has come to church about 6-7 times and is doing great. We set a baptismal date with him for the 3rd of May, but we will probably have to move it since that is stake conference. But everything is still looking really positive.

We had a really nice Zone Conference at the Broad St. Chapel yesterday. The Philadelphia and Reading stakes were the only ones there, so it was rather small but nice. There were a couple break out sessions that were very useful. It was also nice because when they split us up into three groups to do the break out sessions they split it up by how long you had been out. So I was with the 17 month + group. I have a couple really good friends who I hadn’t seen in a long time who I was able to talk to and learn from. In the last rotation we had a break out on asking good questions taught by our zone leaders. We ended extra early and President Murray happened to be watching our group that time so he took over the rest of the time and spoke to all us older missionaries. It ended up being a very spiritual and inspirational meeting. We talked and were able to ask questions and get advice that normally we wouldn’t. President Murray is such a kind and loving leader, it is always nice to have time to talk with him and feel his love.

Elder Chatterton and I are still pluggin along. Everything else is going great and we are looking forward to another wonderful week. I received the birthday packages from you and from Stacy. Thank you. I was really grateful to get a couple new short sleeve shirts. I am running low on nice shirts since I’ve beaten up the ones that I have pretty bad.

I love you. I hope you had a great week!

-Elder Michael Oakford