MUSKEGO LAKES

Tuesday-- 5/19/09
I came at the perfect time of the year! It's green, cool, not too humid - gorgeous area. The Muskego Lakes ward is the ward that the mission presidency is in. We are right down the street from the Mission home and office. I am very fortunate to be in this area to start my mission. We drive probably the nicest car in the mission, a dark grey '09 Malibu (from the picture that Sister Kier sent you), and our apartment is really nice too. We might be moving in with some members soon though, the Du Charmes. Brother Du Charme is the new ward mission leader, and the family is really cool. Their house has plenty of room for us too, I think we'll have our own part of the house to ourselves.

Oh and I haven't even talked about my companion. His name is Elder Vance, from Boise Idaho. He was a convert to the church at 18 years old, so that is cool to have that story when teaching. He is 22 now. He's really good at skateboarding, snowboarding, guitar, singing, rapping, and beat boxing, and I'm sure other stuff I don't know about yet. He was in two different bands back in Idaho that were pretty good, one Indy/rock band and one hip hop group. We work well together, and get along well.

Well, this first week went really well. I really liked meeting the members of the ward, and we were able to teach and invite alot of people. Everyone here is so nice. I don't think I've talked to any mean people yet. Everyone here seems is really religious too, mostly Catholic or Lutheran. Right now, we are teaching a little 9 year-old named LJ, a yound couple - Steve and Shelley, another young couple, William and Ashley, and a guy named Nate. And all these people have baptism dates within the next month, and we set them all since I've been here so that's really cool. Steve and Shelley, and Nate have all been meeting with missionaries for years and never committed, so it's crazy that I am here when that happens. We've met with a lot of other really nice people too, who we hope we can continue teaching. It's easy to teach when we have this fail-proof method to know if something is true: prayer. Most people really like it when they realize that we don't just want them to take our word for it, that we encourage them to sincerely pray and promise them that they will know for themselves if the things we teach are true or not. We aren't salesman, we are mailmen - delivering a message.

That blog looks really cool Mom, I like it! And just like Elder Caldwell said, I got to meet him last Thursday at transfer point! It was really cool to meet him, and we aren't too far away from each other so we might meet up on P-Day one of these weeks. Alright, well I hope you guys are doing well! Keep me up-to-date on how everything is going! Love you Elder Taylor Vogan

ELDER VOGAN MEETS HIS COUSIN

Milwaukee- May, 18, 2009--ELDER BRADY CALDWELL
‏Well everyone, I got transfered!! I have been in Racine for 6 months now. It was kinda sad to leave but I am kinda glad too. But guess where I got transfered to. Thats right, one of the coolest areas in the Mission. Milwaukee baby!!lol I am now covering 2 wards, the Brookfield ward and the Milwaukee ward. My comp is Elder Roberts and he has been out the same amount of time i have. He was also in my first district in the mission. So he is way cool. he is from Utah.

But my area covers Brookfield, part of New Berlin, part of Milwaukee, and some other small areas, and we live in and cover Wauwatosa! So we live next to the Wisconsin Medial College. So the Milwaukee ward is huge and is full of professional medical people and tons of young couples going to Medical school! They are hilarious, most of them are from Utah and have attended BYU. The Brookfield Ward is the ward that is full of Lawyers and stuff, it is the ritzy part of Milwaukee. It is pretty big too. We have a 2009 Malibu to ourselves, we have a bus pass so that we can go anywhere in Milwaukee county for free, and we have a dinner appointment every night! No exaggeration. lol There is tons of trees in this area, it is beautiful. We can see Downtown Milwaukee in the distance. We also have 8 hours of church on sunday because we got to all of each wards meetings. It was pretty crazy! lol It was pretty tiring. lol

oh oh, I met Elder Taylor Vogan at transfers! I got a photo with him, gave him a hug, and gave him one of my totes. lol He is in Milwaukee area also, in Muskego Lakes ward that covers Franklin Wisconsin and that area. He's way cool. I was telling everyone that he is my cousin (2nd) and they were like, no way. lol Love elder brady Caldwell

A MISSIONARY MOM IN WISCONSIN

Sun 5/17/09 6:06 PM
Hi Bro and Sis Vogan,
Your son and Elder Vance just left our house after dinner. I'm writing to tell you what a pleasure it is to have him here in Wisconsin! I can tell already...he is and will be a great missionary! And, since he is starting out with Elder Vance, I know he is well on his way to great missionary work.

I've attached a few pictures. Elder Vogan suggested we take it in front of the car so you could see it. Looking at the pictures now, I realized I didn't get much of the car. Guess I'm thinking like a missionary mom. I thought it would be better to focus on him so you could be assured he is well.
It is particularly excited to have Elder Vogan here because our son is serving in the Mesa mission. Apparently your son saw a picture of our son on my mom's refrigerator the other day and recognized him. He served most of his mission in Mesa and Apache Junction. This transfer he is in Paradise Valley. The people of AZ have been so good to our son (Zak). I sure hope we will do the same for Elder Vogan. I will see to it as long as he is in our ward:) Zak comes home at the end of August, so I hope they will have a chance to meet.

Thank you for raising such a wonderful and faithful son and for sharing him with us here in Wisconsin.

Love,
Leslie Keir