The Area Book

Hello All,

It's been a pretty good week here in Agua Fria. We're working to keep busy, although it's been a rough run for the last few weeks. But, it's all about having faith, and the best will come. We did have some great moments this week. Our most exciting was meeting a fellow named Alex. For about a month I'd been feeling like we needed to go through the area book, because there was a baptism waiting in there. We'd set it as a back up plan for a while, and then finally we managed to go through and look for people to teach. (The Area Book, is a binder of records of all those who have been taught in the area. The records can date back years in some, although in this Area Book there are only a few that are that old.) I stopped at an older teaching record, and decided to pull it out. Often the turn over with Hispanics is pretty high, so if a record is over two or three years old the person no longer lives at the same address or has the same number. This record was one from 2007. We called, and the number worked! Alex said he would be happy to have us come by and share a little more with him, we set an appointment for the next day (Friday) and planned to go by and meet him. When we showed up he was so excited to see us. He told us he's been going through a hard time but has been reading the Book of Mormon. He then proceeded to walk us through all of his favorite chapters and the things that he had learned. After that he proceeded on to do the same with some of the things he had read from the Doctrine and Covenants. The best was when he got to Section 89 (The Word of Wisdom). He opened to that one and proudly told us that he stopped drinking two months ago, and that he hadn't smoked in over a year. We set a date with him for September, and we're really excited to work with him. He has teenage kids who seem pretty interested, so it'll be interesting to work with them some too. It was sooooo cool to get to teach him. I'm excited to keep working with him over the next month.

We've been out on bike a little more lately. The weather has started cooling down and so it's actually pretty nice. It's also become important as 6 months of being in Agua Fria has not done good things for the way my wardrobe fits. I'm half considering telling President he needs to transfer me to a ward that doesn't feed the missionaries so much because otherwise I may need to go shopping. So we're biking more. I actually prefer being out on bike. It's so much fun! When we're just in the car it feels like we're trapped in this little box. As we're out on bikes we get to talk to people, and it's fun to be out and about. By mid September we're hoping to be out on bikes a lot of the time. I've gotten pretty good on the bike, after feeling like I could never keep up with my companions at the beginning of my mission, I've been out long enough and biked enough that now I'm the speedy companion. Although I still don't think I could keep up with Hna Hoof. She was super speedy.

I got multiple comments about that locust in the car, so I thought I would clarify, It was about as long as my thumb and a little bit wider around. I've not really worried about seeing too many other bugs, although we see lots of lizards. I'm just grateful that I've not seen any snakes. Yuck!

We're still working with a few other main investigators, but most of our time right now is being focused towards finding. I like the finding process. It's fun getting out and meeting lots of people. This week is the meetings week of the transfer, which is not my favorite. I like being out working and I've determined that I don't sit still very well as a missionary. It'll be fun though to get to see what things are in store. This week is our first Zone Conference with President Taylor, and so I'm excited to see what he has planned. I've already seen quite a few changes in just the month and a half that he's been here, and I assume there are more coming.

I think that's all for this week. I love you all lots! Thanks for the letters and support, they've been a great help!

Love,

Hermana Okeson

p.s. (This is Effie) I received a letter from Nicole's new mission President and the invited everyone to view their blog. It is azphxmission.blogspot.com.

Also a reminder to those of you who might want to send Nicole a Birthday wish, her birthday is this coming Sunday.