December 12, 2011

Dear family,

Man, I feel so jolly today!! It's a dark and cloudy day and it's chilly outside (my favorite weather by the way) and Christmas is in the air. I never thought it would feel like winter/Christmas in Oklahoma, but it surely does. I guess I'm just getting used to things out here. Can you believe I've been out over 5 months?? Not like I'm counting or anything, but I just can't believe that 2012 is right around the corner.

So how are y'all doing? It's so fun to hear from you each week. I'm doing more than fine, Mom. In fact, I absolutely love Owasso to pieces already. Elm Creek is such an awesome ward, and everyone's all ready to help us out with the work. You should see our meetings with the Ward Mission Leader. He's a convert of 3 years, and he's ready to burst with his testimony. Nothing against Springdale, but I feel like this ward is more ready/willing/capable of helping us out. Right now we're planning for the 2012 ward mission plan and organizing events to help bring the missionary spirit to this area. We're going to get the youth involved and we're even planning on having President Merkley either talk in church or talk in a fireside. Owasso's about to light on fire!!! I'm not trying to brag or anything (I'm serious), but I think the ward really likes me. There have been lazy/trunky missionaries in the past here, and they're all really excited about me coming in. Elder Jensen and I are pumped and ready to go.

Speaking of Elder Jensen - We're already the best of friends. It's only been a week and a half and I would already give an arm and a leg for the guy. I feel like I've known him forever! I have to admit that we might joke around a little too much, but that's what makes things great. We have such a good time haha :) I feel like I can tell him anything/everything and we trust each other big time. Think of this: We actually are excited to have companionship study and to weekly plan for 4 hours. What. The. Flip. I could go on talking forever, but just know that I have a new favorite companion (don't tell my past companions).

So about the health clinic visit. To make a long story short, I had a big ol' nasty in-grown toenail. Yes, I'm sorry I didn't take care of it before the mission. I thought that maybe it would heal, but it didn't. It's just been getting worse and worse until I couldn't handle it anymore. But one day I saw Elder Jensen's big toe and how half his nail was missing. I was like, "woah, did you have an in-grown toenail in the same exact place that I currently do?" And he was like, "why yes, dear companion, we are going to get yours taken care of this Wednesday whether you like it or not." And I was like, "Oh my heck I'm scared to death, but okay." And that was that. On Wednesday we went in and they stabbed me with a bunch of needles to numb it up (yes, I freaked out a little bit. I'm a baby) and then this really nice lady dug it out and cleaned it all up. It actually wasn't too bad. But we had to take a couple of days off to let it heal. It hurt worse than I thought it would afterward, and I had to elevate it all the time. But don't worry, it's getting better! And you don't have to worry about me breaking a limb or anything haha.

But even lamer was the fact that both Elder Jensen and I got sick on Friday. Yeah I know - sick again! We don't know where it came from, but we both were puking our guts out. I was the first to puke. We were actually in the car and so we had to stop on the side of the road so I could open the door and heave. Ugh, it was nasty. We had to stop twice. Elder Jensen puked like 10 times the next morning. The result of all of this was horrible colds for both of us. We both have tons of phlegm and we've been coughing like crazy. It's been getting better, but we had to take a couple of days off for that too. Talk about an unproductive week. But hey, Tuesday was a good day! We saw Jim (the family history buff) and we shared some of our family history with him. I brought the "William Atkin Journal" and shared the story about their little family crossing the river and not wetting the axle tree of the cart. Jim was literally on the edge of his seat. I offered to let him borrow it and read the whole thing on his own time and he about peed his pants in excitement. This guy will do anything for stories about peoples' ancestors. Jim has been taught for years, and he just can't let go of his Baptist beliefs, even though he believes that Mormonism is the closest to the truth. So we've been trying to provide anything to give him that extra push - that really spiritual experience. Who knows - maybe William Atkin's conversion and testimony will touch Jim's heart. If you have any other sweet stories about our ancestors that you think would be good, let me know. I also told Jim about Atkinville and such and he thought that was super cool too. Hmmm... We'll see what happens in the future.

Besides Jim, there aren't really any solid investigators. Sure, there are some people that have been investigating for years, but nobody really willing to change. Elder Jensen and I have been studying in the scriptures and PMG to try and receive inspiration on what to teach these various people. Golly, I wish everyone would just accept the message of the Restoration! It's not always perfect though. We're planning on tracting/finding this coming week, even though Owasso's been tracted out in the past. We've knocked on plenty of doors already (before my toe and sickness) where the people were kind of bugged and told us that the missionaries knock on their door like 3 times a year. At least most people are nice about it. Most everyone out here is Baptist. There's a baptist church on every corner. There's a Baptist church that's a movie theater and the congregation watches the latest movies together. Weird, huh?! But overall, Owasso is a pretty nice area. It's cool to see the high rises of Tulsa in the distance. I just love the city feel. Today we're going to go on a Tulsa trip to visit a member and do some fun stuff. Cool cool.

Man, I'm so stoked for this area! There's just so much potential with the members and such. Elder Jensen and I have clicked big time, so that certainly helps. I thought we'd get sick of each other because we were stuck in our room for most of last week, but it was quite the bonding experience. We've set goals to read Doctrine and Coventants all the way through together this transfer and to memorize a scripture together each week. We've also decided to recite 3 Nephi 5:13 each morning in epic voices. Because we're that epic. And it's epic being Christ's disciples. Ooooohhhhh yeeeeaaahhhh!!!!

So life is good. The other day I received a package from the Wilkes family. They sent me a nice card and the MOTAB/David Archuletta CD you were talking about. Isn't that so nice of them?? You'll have to call them up and thank them for me. And isn't the CD so good? I love it!

I'm glad you finally got the Christmas tree up. I'm so happy that the Stapleys have an awesome Christmas tree. It wouldn't be Christmas without one.

As far as what I want for Christmas, I really can't think of too much. But I do want a nice dark sweater (good for a missionary). My red one's nice, but I want something a little more conservative. Either gray or black. And I also want a CD case. You know, one that can fit a bunch of CD's or DVD's. It would also be great if you could send some great music. Hey, surprise me! Piano or guitar (soft of course) would be nice music to listen to. We have a CD player. I also could use another tie or two. Once again, surprise me. Y'all have great taste anyways. And lastly, if you can't think of anything else to send me, money always works. Haha :)

Thanks for letting me know about Sacrament Meeting on Christmas. I'm still not sure on when I'll call y'all but I'll figure that out for next week, okay? It'll probably be in the afternoon.

Thanks so much for everything! I've ran out of time so I'll talk to y'all next week.

Have a wonderful week! I love you so, so, so much!

Love, love, love, Elder Atkin

Elder Jensen and Elder Atkin