Mission Tour

Hi All,

This week was a pretty busy one. We've been running pretty hard, and I'm quite excited for my nap today. P-day naps are easily one of my favorite parts of p-day. We spent most of our week running from one thing to the next. One of the interesting things about being dropped into an area is that you quickly find out who was committed to the missionaries and who was committed to the message. It can be a little discouraging at times, but we've been really blessed as we've worked on finding people to teach. We're finally starting to see results, and I'm excited to see what happens over this week.

The big event of the week was our mission tour. Elder Kevin R. Duncan of the Quorum of the 70 came to visit and work with us. He was fantastic. I really enjoyed his thoughts and the things I learned from him. As an interesting side note, he used to travel to Midland a lot... apparently during the time when our family lived there, and he says he would often go to church on Sunday's there... so who knows, our paths may have crossed before. I didn't remember or really recognize him, but you never know.

One of the things Elder Duncan focused heavily on was love, and how all of our actions should be motivated by love. That really hit me. I think I've been a pretty good missionary. I'm obedient, and I do what I'm supposed to when I'm supposed to. I go out and work during the day, and I try to get as much work done as I can... but I realized that I need to do a better job really focusing on why I am doing these things. I need to remember that I do these things because I love the people I am called to serve, and that I want the best for them. It's not too hard to remember in lessons, or at church... but when someone yells at you on the street or says all sorts of awful things, it's pretty hard to remember. So I'm working on that. It's given me lots to think about, and I'm trying to really tighten things up and really work on my focus being 100% towards those I am serving.

There's really not too much else to report. We're keeping busy, riding bikes all the time, talking to lots of cool people on the street, and eating Mexican food. This week we have a Sisters Conference. I'm pretty excited. It'll be fun to see all the other sisters. I got to see almost all of the other Spanish sisters at the mission tour. We all crammed onto one table for lunch together. There is a lot of over lap as most of us have served together, gone on exchanges together, or served in each others areas. So there was lots to talk about. There are now sisters in my first area, Aguila, and I had a good time asking them about all of the people I remember from serving there. It's always fun to hear how they are doing.

Okay, I think that's all for this week. Sorry it was short.

Love you all!

Hermana Okeson