Mon 9/14/09 10:16 AM
Hi,
Wow, Mom, I almost didn’t get your email this week. When I first logged in, Hannah’s was the only email from home in my inbox, and then myldsmail started getting really bogged down, and we were just about to take off. But we tried it one more time, luckily.
Nope, no baptisms since Rich’s. I’ll be sure to let you know when we have them coming up. We set dates with Doug and Steve a little bit ago, but those were never that solid. We just wanted them to have a goal to work toward. I feel like I don’t need to send photos anymore, since you get so many from facebook now, haha.
However you send me the other Elders’ emails is up to you. Either way is fine.
I’m looking foreword to hearing about and seeing pictures of Dad’s elk when he gets one!
Jordan’s ankle issue doesn’t sound to fun to deal with, but I’m glad to hear he is still working out even with that.
Yes, I would love it if you sent me some of your jam! And if you want to send bread too, that would be awesome.
The work this week went pretty well. We taught more lessons than ever in a week, but we didn’t get any new investigators, which is something we need and are looking foreword to. We got word that Elder Stevens and I will both be staying in the area next transfer, as expected. I’m glad too; I would stay here for my whole mission if I could choose to do that. Transfer day is Friday this week, and we are getting a new sister missionary in the area. Sister Warner will be training her. I can’t think of anything worth writing about from this past week other than that.
Well I love you, and I will write again next week!
Elder Vogan
Monday, September 14, 2009
THE PERFECT SETTING: GET-TOGETHERS--MEET AND EAT
Tue 9/08/09 11:20 AM
Hi,
Since it was the holiday yesterday, we had to wait till today to write home when the libraries are open. That’s good that you are able to see pictures of what I’m up to from other sources, since I don’t take pictures very often, and I don’t get around to sending pictures home very often. The Littles are an awesome family! We are actually going to their house for dinner tomorrow night. I’m glad to hear that you had a good time in Oregon! That is really scary about Megan; hopefully they can correct whatever is causing that problem. Man, I miss that little girl. Congratulations on your new calling, Mom! That sounds like it will be fun for you.
This past week went pretty well. We have really been working to get in sync with the sisters who serve in the ward with us, Sis. Warner and Sis. Earl, so that we can see more progress and success in this area. Sis. Earl is here while she waits for her visa to go to Madagascar French speaking, but Sis. Warner will be here for a while. They are both really good, so we are lucky to have them.
Saturday was really cool. We got invited to a family/friend get-together with a lady from our ward who is the only member of the church in her entire family. We were able to meet and talk to and even teach many of the people who were there in a more casual setting. It was the perfect setting; if only all the members did something like that and invited us. That’s what our goal is though, for us to be involved in tons of things like that to give us more effective opportunities. We even got invited by a group of the lady’s family members to go to a fair with them on Monday morning, and we all went.
Sunday night we went over to the Keir’s house, and we had a great time talking to “Elder Keir” and Sister Keir. Zack was an awesome missionary, and he was able to really help us in our work. I went from being pretty overwhelmed and less confident about training, to being very confident after a couple great weeks, and now recently, almost back to feeling overwhelmed and less confident again. So, the things Elder Keir talked to us about really helped. We are going over there for dinner tonight.
Yesterday was the big day for our zone. The Milwaukee North Zone challenged us to a game of football. So we made some sweet uniforms with spray paint, and we were decked out ready to play. But we lost.
Well I will talk to you next week!
Love, Elder Vogan
Hi,
Since it was the holiday yesterday, we had to wait till today to write home when the libraries are open. That’s good that you are able to see pictures of what I’m up to from other sources, since I don’t take pictures very often, and I don’t get around to sending pictures home very often. The Littles are an awesome family! We are actually going to their house for dinner tomorrow night. I’m glad to hear that you had a good time in Oregon! That is really scary about Megan; hopefully they can correct whatever is causing that problem. Man, I miss that little girl. Congratulations on your new calling, Mom! That sounds like it will be fun for you.
This past week went pretty well. We have really been working to get in sync with the sisters who serve in the ward with us, Sis. Warner and Sis. Earl, so that we can see more progress and success in this area. Sis. Earl is here while she waits for her visa to go to Madagascar French speaking, but Sis. Warner will be here for a while. They are both really good, so we are lucky to have them.
Saturday was really cool. We got invited to a family/friend get-together with a lady from our ward who is the only member of the church in her entire family. We were able to meet and talk to and even teach many of the people who were there in a more casual setting. It was the perfect setting; if only all the members did something like that and invited us. That’s what our goal is though, for us to be involved in tons of things like that to give us more effective opportunities. We even got invited by a group of the lady’s family members to go to a fair with them on Monday morning, and we all went.
Sunday night we went over to the Keir’s house, and we had a great time talking to “Elder Keir” and Sister Keir. Zack was an awesome missionary, and he was able to really help us in our work. I went from being pretty overwhelmed and less confident about training, to being very confident after a couple great weeks, and now recently, almost back to feeling overwhelmed and less confident again. So, the things Elder Keir talked to us about really helped. We are going over there for dinner tonight.
Yesterday was the big day for our zone. The Milwaukee North Zone challenged us to a game of football. So we made some sweet uniforms with spray paint, and we were decked out ready to play. But we lost.
Well I will talk to you next week!
Love, Elder Vogan
P-DAY: VOLLEYBALL AND BBQ WITH 60 MISSIONARIES
Mon. 8/31/09 12:33 PM
Hey, It’s always good to read your emails! Elder Stevens is adjusting well to the missionary life. He said he expected to be a little home sick, but since we are always doing stuff, he doesn’t even have time to think about that. So that’s good. But yeah, we are having some great experiences together. I am less of a fitness trainer for him than I have been for other Elders because he is very happy with how he is right now, and he isn’t looking to improve anything, but we do exercise together every morning doing push ups, sit ups, and pull ups, and then we play some intense basketball for a little bit. I am up to 93 push ups in a row, even though I should be at 131.. I guess you do hit a wall after awhile. Elder Stevens is doing it to, and he is at 48.
I got to meet Elder Keir briefly yesterday after his homecoming talk. Man, I hope my talk will be half that good when I get home. I am sure he did a lot of good work in Mesa, AZ. I’ll ask him if he knew “Elder Hoyt” if I get the chance. You are making me jealous talking about how nice the pool is, it sounds like it would definitely be fun though. That is really sad about the Skidmore’s baby; I am sorry to hear about that. No, I don’t have contact with Brock yet, but that would be really cool if I could. I am also interested in hearing how Dad’s mine thing goes.
This week was pretty good; not quite as good as last week though. The difference between having a dinner set up for us and not having one is huge. We had dinners almost every day during that really good week we just had, so we can plan for who we would visit in the certain areas we knew we would be in. This past week, we only had one or two dinners planned, so it was tougher planning for most of those days. We had a lot of lessons with Steve and Doug again. Doug came to church again, like usual, but Steve hasn’t come yet. Both Rich and Nate received the priesthood yesterday, and we were able to help with both of those. Today, we have a fun Preparation Day planned, straight from here we are going to President Orne’s house to play volleyball and have a BBQ with our whole zone and some missionaries from other zones. I heard there should be about 60 missionaries there. Lucky for us, President Orne is in our ward, and not too far from where we are now, so we don’t have to worry about car pooling or using too many miles or anything.
I hope you guys have fun in Oregon, and good luck, Dad, with the hunt! I wish I could go! The only thing I might need, Mom, is for you to have Dad check my bank account to make sure I’m doing alright. I’m sure I am, but that is the account that I used to purchase my GPS, so just in case. But I’m not stopping you from sending random packages or letters…
Love you, Elder Vogan
Hey, It’s always good to read your emails! Elder Stevens is adjusting well to the missionary life. He said he expected to be a little home sick, but since we are always doing stuff, he doesn’t even have time to think about that. So that’s good. But yeah, we are having some great experiences together. I am less of a fitness trainer for him than I have been for other Elders because he is very happy with how he is right now, and he isn’t looking to improve anything, but we do exercise together every morning doing push ups, sit ups, and pull ups, and then we play some intense basketball for a little bit. I am up to 93 push ups in a row, even though I should be at 131.. I guess you do hit a wall after awhile. Elder Stevens is doing it to, and he is at 48.
I got to meet Elder Keir briefly yesterday after his homecoming talk. Man, I hope my talk will be half that good when I get home. I am sure he did a lot of good work in Mesa, AZ. I’ll ask him if he knew “Elder Hoyt” if I get the chance. You are making me jealous talking about how nice the pool is, it sounds like it would definitely be fun though. That is really sad about the Skidmore’s baby; I am sorry to hear about that. No, I don’t have contact with Brock yet, but that would be really cool if I could. I am also interested in hearing how Dad’s mine thing goes.
This week was pretty good; not quite as good as last week though. The difference between having a dinner set up for us and not having one is huge. We had dinners almost every day during that really good week we just had, so we can plan for who we would visit in the certain areas we knew we would be in. This past week, we only had one or two dinners planned, so it was tougher planning for most of those days. We had a lot of lessons with Steve and Doug again. Doug came to church again, like usual, but Steve hasn’t come yet. Both Rich and Nate received the priesthood yesterday, and we were able to help with both of those. Today, we have a fun Preparation Day planned, straight from here we are going to President Orne’s house to play volleyball and have a BBQ with our whole zone and some missionaries from other zones. I heard there should be about 60 missionaries there. Lucky for us, President Orne is in our ward, and not too far from where we are now, so we don’t have to worry about car pooling or using too many miles or anything.
I hope you guys have fun in Oregon, and good luck, Dad, with the hunt! I wish I could go! The only thing I might need, Mom, is for you to have Dad check my bank account to make sure I’m doing alright. I’m sure I am, but that is the account that I used to purchase my GPS, so just in case. But I’m not stopping you from sending random packages or letters…
Love you, Elder Vogan
Monday, August 24, 2009
AN INVESTIGATOR HELPS SHARE 'THE WORD'
Mon 8/24/09 9:41 AM
Congrats on the buck, Dad! Too bad I can’t help you eat any of it. I asked Elder Stevens if he knew any of those people that you asked me about, but he doesn’t think he knows them. He lives pretty close to there, though, at 40th S and 48th W. Man, Jordan’s done with football? Guess he’ll need to get a job then to keep him out of trouble. I’m anxious to hear about the results from the ortho. Haha, that means Doctor Hrasky will have the opportunity to have worked with our whole family now. It sounds like you guys had a fun anniversary! 75 pounds of meat is a lot of protein. Let me know how that goes with the welcome home party!
This last week was awesome – 21 lessons, 11 referrals received from members and non-members, and we set a baptism date with Steve. Since I started training, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed knowing that I didn’t want to start Elder Stevens off on the wrong foot, and I felt like there was more we could have been doing. We have tried not to spend too much time tracting, but we decided that we would commit to knocking on at least 3 to 5 doors or inviting people in the street around each of the places we go, unless we have somewhere we need to get to. And since Thursday, when we committed to that, our lessons per day shot up, and I am feeling much more confident and happy as a trainer.
So, we were able to start teaching Steve again, and he even spent the day with us on Saturday. Whenever we taught him, he would always say, “Aw man, that’s so great that you guys devote so much time to going out and helping people and sharing uplifting messages with everyone. I need to do more things like that.” And since then he started working at a soup kitchen in Milwaukee a few times a week, and we also told him that he should come out with us on Saturday and spend the day with us doing service and sharing “the word” with people. He had a really good time with us, and he said we wants to keep doing that every week. Haha, I’ve never heard of missionaries doing that with their investigators before, but we are. It’s cool too because as we are teaching other people, members and non-members, he is taught indirectly, and sometimes he’ll jump in and help teach and teach himself as he understands more.
Well that’s it for this week. It’s always fun to write home about this, and it’s fun to hear about everything back home!
Love, Elder Vogan
Congrats on the buck, Dad! Too bad I can’t help you eat any of it. I asked Elder Stevens if he knew any of those people that you asked me about, but he doesn’t think he knows them. He lives pretty close to there, though, at 40th S and 48th W. Man, Jordan’s done with football? Guess he’ll need to get a job then to keep him out of trouble. I’m anxious to hear about the results from the ortho. Haha, that means Doctor Hrasky will have the opportunity to have worked with our whole family now. It sounds like you guys had a fun anniversary! 75 pounds of meat is a lot of protein. Let me know how that goes with the welcome home party!
This last week was awesome – 21 lessons, 11 referrals received from members and non-members, and we set a baptism date with Steve. Since I started training, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed knowing that I didn’t want to start Elder Stevens off on the wrong foot, and I felt like there was more we could have been doing. We have tried not to spend too much time tracting, but we decided that we would commit to knocking on at least 3 to 5 doors or inviting people in the street around each of the places we go, unless we have somewhere we need to get to. And since Thursday, when we committed to that, our lessons per day shot up, and I am feeling much more confident and happy as a trainer.
So, we were able to start teaching Steve again, and he even spent the day with us on Saturday. Whenever we taught him, he would always say, “Aw man, that’s so great that you guys devote so much time to going out and helping people and sharing uplifting messages with everyone. I need to do more things like that.” And since then he started working at a soup kitchen in Milwaukee a few times a week, and we also told him that he should come out with us on Saturday and spend the day with us doing service and sharing “the word” with people. He had a really good time with us, and he said we wants to keep doing that every week. Haha, I’ve never heard of missionaries doing that with their investigators before, but we are. It’s cool too because as we are teaching other people, members and non-members, he is taught indirectly, and sometimes he’ll jump in and help teach and teach himself as he understands more.
Well that’s it for this week. It’s always fun to write home about this, and it’s fun to hear about everything back home!
Love, Elder Vogan
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
"And please bless that everyone in the world can be baptized like Grandpa..."
Mon 8/17/09 10:23 AM
Wow, thank you all for emailing this week! I love to get mail/emails, I just wish I had enough time to reply to all of them. Mom, if you mailed me the other missionaries' emails, that would be really cool. Man, I'm sorry to hear about Jordan's leg! I know how that feels.. Hopefully it doesn't turn out to be too bad. It's good to hear you are officially settling in now with your record in the Princess Park ward. I hope that is going well for you. So, is Hannah still at Fremont then, or Shepherd? It's crazy that school is already starting again. Out here, I think they have at least a couple more weeks.
This week was Rich Kabitzke’s baptism, and that went very well! Every thing worked out perfectly as planned, and maybe a little better. There were several non-members in attendance as well, which was really cool to see. The Spirit was very strong during the baptism meeting, especially from the time after the baptism to the end. During the reverent time, we sang “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”, and right afterward showed the testimonies of a few of the Apostles from Special Witnesses of Christ. Alyssa (Rich’s step daughter) gave her talk after that, and she was emotional through the whole thing. To finish it off, Alyssa’s 5 year-old son, Kohl, said the closing prayer. In that he prayed, “And please bless that everyone in the world can be baptized like grandpa…” That was the best closing prayer I’ve ever heard at a baptism. After the baptism, the Kabitzkes invited everyone to go to their house for some refreshments and socializing. That was a good opportunity for us to talk to some of the friends and family who came, and it was a more casual setting where they felt comfortable asking us questions about the baptism and the church. Hopefully something more comes of that.
Well I think that's really the only thing I can think to write about. So, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. And let me know if Dad gets anything hunting!
Love You Elder Vogan
Wow, thank you all for emailing this week! I love to get mail/emails, I just wish I had enough time to reply to all of them. Mom, if you mailed me the other missionaries' emails, that would be really cool. Man, I'm sorry to hear about Jordan's leg! I know how that feels.. Hopefully it doesn't turn out to be too bad. It's good to hear you are officially settling in now with your record in the Princess Park ward. I hope that is going well for you. So, is Hannah still at Fremont then, or Shepherd? It's crazy that school is already starting again. Out here, I think they have at least a couple more weeks.
This week was Rich Kabitzke’s baptism, and that went very well! Every thing worked out perfectly as planned, and maybe a little better. There were several non-members in attendance as well, which was really cool to see. The Spirit was very strong during the baptism meeting, especially from the time after the baptism to the end. During the reverent time, we sang “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”, and right afterward showed the testimonies of a few of the Apostles from Special Witnesses of Christ. Alyssa (Rich’s step daughter) gave her talk after that, and she was emotional through the whole thing. To finish it off, Alyssa’s 5 year-old son, Kohl, said the closing prayer. In that he prayed, “And please bless that everyone in the world can be baptized like grandpa…” That was the best closing prayer I’ve ever heard at a baptism. After the baptism, the Kabitzkes invited everyone to go to their house for some refreshments and socializing. That was a good opportunity for us to talk to some of the friends and family who came, and it was a more casual setting where they felt comfortable asking us questions about the baptism and the church. Hopefully something more comes of that.
Well I think that's really the only thing I can think to write about. So, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. And let me know if Dad gets anything hunting!
Love You Elder Vogan
Saturday, August 15, 2009
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