Monday, January 31, 2011

ELDER VOGAN-ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT!

Mon 1/31/11 9:14 AM
So, I told you I was going to be transferred. President Jones called me on Wednesday and asked if I would serve as one of his assistants! What an opportunity to serve, and what a growing experience that will be for me. I was sure Elder Lester would have been the one called. So Elder Lyons and Elder Cottle drove out to Wausau and spent the night with us there Saturday night, and we drove back to Milwaukee yesterday morning for their meetings. The first people I saw were all the people from the Muskego Lakes ward! The DuCharmes seemed pretty surprised to see me, and we were invited to eat breakfast with them today. We have tons of trainings lined up for this month; the schedule looks pretty intense. We will have another 4 day long training in a couple weeks, which Elder Cottle and I will have a huge part in - we'll pretty much run it. Tomorrow, the new missionaries come in, and we'll be picking them up from the airport and taking them out contacting. We will also be interviewing them, assigning trainers, training the trainers, and sending them off. It's cool to be a part of everything, and it's very humbling to now be one of the "model missionaries". The singles ward we are over is incredible! I couldn't believe how great the meetings were. Everyone who had assignments to speak or teach was very prepared and inspired, and everyone is so nice and so great at fellowshipping. We had a guy who is the son of a member from another ward just show up for church. He loved it and says he wants to prepare to be baptized, so we set a date for that to happen (2/26) right there in the chapel after the combined priesthood and relief society meeting got out. We have a set appointment with him today at 2:00. During the Sunday services, a new member was confirmed, and one from two weeks before received the priesthood. It was awesome to be there, and I'm excited to help keep it going! It really is a model ward and a model area; if only every ward was like that. If family wards worked like that, there wouldn't just be individuals coming to the church, but families.

Well, we have a lot on the agenda, so I need to get going. But just so you know, while I'm in the office, I will be able to receive emails on Sunday nights. I won't be replying till about this time on Mondays though. Well I hope everything keeps going well at home! It was awesome to hear from Hannah and Jordan this week!

Love,
Elder Vogan

A GUIDED AND SPIRITUAL LESSON

Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:33:38 :
Family,

Thank you Mom for the letter! This on't be a long letter at all because I used all my online time with my BYU application. But it was a good week. I'm glad to hear things are going well, and that Dad's business is going good too. We had another exchange this week, this time I went to Marshfield for two days with Elder Trusty. That went well, but they don't have the teaching pool we do in Wausau, so we worked alot on building that up. Only so much you can do in two days though. The highlight of the week for me was Gloria again. She didn't come to church because of her anxieties and some obstacles she hit. But she did call us right at the end of our meetings, and she asked us to visit her. We scrambled to find someone who was willing to miss some of the Packers game to come with us, but Brother Yang was willing. Right when we got there, after opening with a prayer, I got the strongest feeling to be really bold with her reminding her of the spiritual experiences she had experienced answering her prayers and helping her know that what we have taught and invited her to do was of the Lord. As my love for her and the Spirit filled me, I said things that were not prepared but that she needed. She was actually planning to drop us right when we got there; to tell us she no longer wanted us to come over. She chose to pray to ask what she should do, and she was told she could not dismiss us. It was intense. The whole lesson was very guided and spiritual.

Well, that's all I have time for. Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,
Elder Vogan