Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:20:50 -
Family,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY, MOM! I'm glad that you had a good birthday!
I did have a good week! It's good to hear that things are going well there! 80's now huh? We are happy with the high 30's and 40's that we've been getting.. haha. That's great to hear about the missionary success that you are able to see with the Tibbetts' friend and Dad's former assistant. The Gospel is true, and the blessing affixed to helping others to find it is a joy and satisfaction that comes from nothing else. I am so happy and humbled to be serving a mission, and words can't describe how grateful I am that I am able to be here right now.
I did get the apartment contract sent in on Saturday. The fax machine here in the office said that it was failing to send, so I scanned it to the computer and emailed it to MaryAnn. It would be great if you, Mom, can verify that it was received. Thank you! You don't need to worry about my knee; I'm doing great. I can even jog and do leg workouts. I still may get another MRI before I come home just to be sure though. Tucker's gone.. can't say I'm surprised in the least bit.. haha. (If you look at my past email when you were first considering it.) It's great to hear about Hannah and Jordan and there volleyball success! I do hope that I get to see some footage of them playing. That's funny to hear about Jordan's fan club; I bet that was awesome for him.
Things were good this week. Elder Lester is down in the office with us today. He's my new companion! Again! Three times the charm, I guess. But I'm really excited! Out of 130 missionaries, it's amazing that I could serve with someone more than once or twice. But he would be my choice of my companions to be with multiple times. It was awesome serving with Elder Cottle. I learned a lot from him, and I will miss him. He'll be heading to Wausau to replace Elder Lester on Wednesday. When we went to pick up Elder Lester, they had an appointment with Gloria set up. The same day that Elder Lester found out that he'd be transferring down, before he ever tried to contact her to say "good bye", she called and asked for the missionaries to come teach her again. She said that since she dismissed the missionaries, they had been weighing heavily on her heart, and she had felt very depressed and sad about every aspect of her life. So, we had five missionaries and a member with us in her home on Saturday. It was a wonderful experience with the Spirit with discernment and inspiration. I knew, through the Spirit, that behind all her little hold-ups and road blocks that keep her from progressing and being baptized, the only real thing keeping her from it, is her fear of what her family and other people will think of her if she joined the Church. It's amazing how debilitating this type of pride is, and how much it can keep people from progressing. I think most of us need to battle and get past that fear in our lives.
Other than that experience, we had a pretty busy week. We had a leadership training on Friday, and we participated in the singles ward talent show doing a skit. It was really funny. We have really been promoting the new mormon.org site to members, so I'll encourage all of you at home to check it out and create a profile as well. I'll be working on my own hopefully today. This week will be busy too, with transfers and all the new and departing missionary meetings. I like busy weeks though. It will be crazy with Elder Cottle leaving so soon, so now I'll be responsible for everything going on and to help Elder Lester learn the ropes.
Thank you for your love and support! Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Monday, March 14, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
TWO PEOPLE PREPARING FOR BAPTISM
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2011
Mom,
I did get the oranges, and they do taste delicious! That was the right amount that you sent too; none will go bad. You can go ahead and sign me up for the room with Brady. Even if I do need surgery again, recovery for meniscus surgery is only a few weeks, so I'll still be good to go in September. I'll be released July 21st.
It's good to hear things are going well! (Aside from the usual trouble-makers) I hope things get figured out with Megan and Tucker. It's good to hear about Jordan's volleyballin'; please keep updating me on how that is going! And I love to hear about Hannah too!
This past week was good. We have two people preparing for baptism, but neither will be before April. Akilah is a new investigator, and we had a great lesson with her last Monday. We brought Matt with us, who was confirmed in church the day before. He was able to look her in the eyes and testify of the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. He told her, "I know this is true because I know how I felt yesterday before my confirmation, and I know how I've felt since." Matt is an example of how to "receive the Holy Ghost". During and after the lesson, he talked about how he felt like he was teaching himself - Akilah was responding and feeling the same way he did as he was just starting to be taught. We taught her about the Restoration of the Priesthood, and we ended up giving her a priesthood blessing, which we don't usually do during a first lesson. No two lessons are ever the same because everyone's needs are so different. So, at the end of the lesson, despite her fears and anxieties of praying aloud, we knelt and she offered a sweet, sincere prayer. It was answered as the Spirit filled the room, and she felt a peace that she had never felt before and wished she could always feel. She knew it was right and she needed to be baptized.
We also had two trainings this week, one for the Hmong elders and one for the zone leaders. They went well. During our zone leader council, we put our personal training skills to use and did a fun role play for them. We also had two exchanges with both Milwaukee zone leaders.
Thank you for your love and prayers of support. I love you!
Elder Vogan
Mom,
I did get the oranges, and they do taste delicious! That was the right amount that you sent too; none will go bad. You can go ahead and sign me up for the room with Brady. Even if I do need surgery again, recovery for meniscus surgery is only a few weeks, so I'll still be good to go in September. I'll be released July 21st.
It's good to hear things are going well! (Aside from the usual trouble-makers) I hope things get figured out with Megan and Tucker. It's good to hear about Jordan's volleyballin'; please keep updating me on how that is going! And I love to hear about Hannah too!
This past week was good. We have two people preparing for baptism, but neither will be before April. Akilah is a new investigator, and we had a great lesson with her last Monday. We brought Matt with us, who was confirmed in church the day before. He was able to look her in the eyes and testify of the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. He told her, "I know this is true because I know how I felt yesterday before my confirmation, and I know how I've felt since." Matt is an example of how to "receive the Holy Ghost". During and after the lesson, he talked about how he felt like he was teaching himself - Akilah was responding and feeling the same way he did as he was just starting to be taught. We taught her about the Restoration of the Priesthood, and we ended up giving her a priesthood blessing, which we don't usually do during a first lesson. No two lessons are ever the same because everyone's needs are so different. So, at the end of the lesson, despite her fears and anxieties of praying aloud, we knelt and she offered a sweet, sincere prayer. It was answered as the Spirit filled the room, and she felt a peace that she had never felt before and wished she could always feel. She knew it was right and she needed to be baptized.
We also had two trainings this week, one for the Hmong elders and one for the zone leaders. They went well. During our zone leader council, we put our personal training skills to use and did a fun role play for them. We also had two exchanges with both Milwaukee zone leaders.
Thank you for your love and prayers of support. I love you!
Elder Vogan
MATT WILKE'S BAPTISM--AMAZING!!
Mon. 28 Feb, 2011
Family,
I hope everyone had a good week! So to answer you questions about where I live; no one lives in the office. The mission office is just a nice unit located above a bank. We live a 6 or 7 minute drive away in a shared apartment with two other missionaries. Elder Carter and Elder Jones are awesome! I took Elder Jones out contacting on his first day four weeks ago or so. President and Sister Jones live in the mission home, which is also a few blocks away. We don't always have to be in the office. We come when we have things to do, but the only time we are required to come is Sunday night. We do stop in probably 4 or 5 times a week and work on things, just when we decide we need to. That's great to hear that Megan is kinda potty trained. I hope that can be completely true soon!
Matt Wilke was baptized on Saturday and confirmed Sunday in church. I was an amazing experience with a huge turn out. He was more blown away by anyone at how many people had come to support him. It was such a spiritual meeting, definitely up there with the most spiritual baptisms of my mission. I know that is because of his complete trust in the Lord (humility) and his sincerity. He wasn't doing it for anyone but his Heavenly Father. From the first time we taught him, we could tell he was taking the seriously - as it should be. Sometimes, I don't think people realize the magnitude that a baptism has, but Matt did. He had questions, but no road blocks. As we taught him and invited him to keep commitments and commandments, he thoughtfully and sincerely committed himself and stuck to it. He experienced the power of the Atonement through true repentance, and he was excited to show the fruit of that that on Saturday by being baptized.
Gloria felt like she was starting to get too attached to the missionaries, so she decided that she wanted to take a break. She didn't want her relationship with them to influence her decisions. She will be praying a lot about everything during her time without them and seek God's will for what she should do. I was initially sad to hear about it, but I feel good about that now, as the missionaries there feel. She's been so high and so low, back and forth, she needs to be able to make a firm decision.
It was good to work with Elder Cottle without any trainings or exchanges this week. We were supposed to have a zone leader council on Friday, but President Jones had to go to the hospital for intense kidney stone pain. He has six in each kidney, so he is still dealing with that now. But even with that, he rescheduled the meeting for this Thursday. This week, we do have meetings and exchanges, but our major goal will be to get back into contact with former investigators and find new people to teach. We want to keep helping all these people that we know are willing to accept the Gospel, and we've already seen many of those people this year.
Thank you for your love and support! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Family,
I hope everyone had a good week! So to answer you questions about where I live; no one lives in the office. The mission office is just a nice unit located above a bank. We live a 6 or 7 minute drive away in a shared apartment with two other missionaries. Elder Carter and Elder Jones are awesome! I took Elder Jones out contacting on his first day four weeks ago or so. President and Sister Jones live in the mission home, which is also a few blocks away. We don't always have to be in the office. We come when we have things to do, but the only time we are required to come is Sunday night. We do stop in probably 4 or 5 times a week and work on things, just when we decide we need to. That's great to hear that Megan is kinda potty trained. I hope that can be completely true soon!
Matt Wilke was baptized on Saturday and confirmed Sunday in church. I was an amazing experience with a huge turn out. He was more blown away by anyone at how many people had come to support him. It was such a spiritual meeting, definitely up there with the most spiritual baptisms of my mission. I know that is because of his complete trust in the Lord (humility) and his sincerity. He wasn't doing it for anyone but his Heavenly Father. From the first time we taught him, we could tell he was taking the seriously - as it should be. Sometimes, I don't think people realize the magnitude that a baptism has, but Matt did. He had questions, but no road blocks. As we taught him and invited him to keep commitments and commandments, he thoughtfully and sincerely committed himself and stuck to it. He experienced the power of the Atonement through true repentance, and he was excited to show the fruit of that that on Saturday by being baptized.
Gloria felt like she was starting to get too attached to the missionaries, so she decided that she wanted to take a break. She didn't want her relationship with them to influence her decisions. She will be praying a lot about everything during her time without them and seek God's will for what she should do. I was initially sad to hear about it, but I feel good about that now, as the missionaries there feel. She's been so high and so low, back and forth, she needs to be able to make a firm decision.
It was good to work with Elder Cottle without any trainings or exchanges this week. We were supposed to have a zone leader council on Friday, but President Jones had to go to the hospital for intense kidney stone pain. He has six in each kidney, so he is still dealing with that now. But even with that, he rescheduled the meeting for this Thursday. This week, we do have meetings and exchanges, but our major goal will be to get back into contact with former investigators and find new people to teach. We want to keep helping all these people that we know are willing to accept the Gospel, and we've already seen many of those people this year.
Thank you for your love and support! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Monday, February 21, 2011
BAPTISMS, TESTIMONIES & TRAININGS
Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:46:31
Dad,
I didn't get a message from Mom yet, so I'll reply my "weekly email" to you instead of her this week. It's really exciting to hear all the cool things going on at home: you going to girls camp, haha, your spring vacation, Jordan's dominating volleyball skills, Hannah's playing time and improvements in volleyball as well (it will be awesome after I'm home and my knee's well enough to play with them), and your busy week with appointments. Randy will be in my prayers. That's pretty scary, but I'm glad he's in good spirits. I hope everything else went well for the family!
My week was awesome! It ended on a great note with our investigator Erik getting baptized and confirmed this weekend! He was one that was slowly progressing for several months. He'd come to church pretty much every week; you'd see him sitting in the back with his girlfriend with his baseball hat on. (That's something that is being addressed.) But he was finally ready to make the commitment, and he knew it was true, so he was baptized. His mom came down from where she lived in Fon Du Lac, a couple hours away, and she enjoyed being there for the ordinance.
Matt Wilke is still going as strong as ever! His baptism is set for this weekend, and he has everything set up for it - his program, baptism record, people coming. It was announced in Sacrament meeting yesterday as well, so even more people will be there. On the second day of our 3-day mission leadership training this week, he was helping the ward with preparing lunch for us, and we were surprised to see him there. Even he wasn't planning on being there beforehand. Elder Cottle and I were assigned to do a training about the Book of Mormon's role in conversion, and so we asked Matt if he'd be comfortable sharing his testimony with the group about how the Book of Mormon had helped him in preparing for his baptism. That was inspired. He bore a wonderful, sincere testimony to the group, and the Spirit filled the room. He was a little nervous at first, being in front of so many missionaries, but he told us later that everything he said just came to him as he was speaking. What a cool experience! All the missionaries were blown away by how prepared he is after only investigating for 3 weeks. Fortunately, our trainings had little more than a vague direction of where we wanted to go with each topic, so we were able to adapt to that opportunity. All the trainings were awesome though. We just "treasured up" in our minds the doctrines and principles of the topics, and then we let the Spirit guide as we asked questions that opened up discussion and participation from the leaders. We directed two trainings on each of the 3 days and were responsible for conducting the meetings.
So yeah, those trainings took up a lot of time, energy, and attention this week. We were still able to see several people in the evenings. Colleen will most likely be the next person baptized here after Matt. She just needs to change her living situation. She has a strong testimony, and she loves church, so after she gets that taken care of she can finally make that sacred covenant with her Heavenly Father and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which she is really looking forward to.
I was able to talk with Elder Lester last night as he was reporting numbers, and he told me about Gloria's progress. She is still one of the people most dear to my heart, so I am always anxious to hear about her. So Saturday and Sunday, her progress stopped as she was taught about the true nature of God. Her walls went back up, and she didn't want to remember the answers she had received. Elder Lester's reaction to her response to the lesson would usually be a quick and wise combat, but he had the feeling he just needed to love her. So he didn't rebuttal her response at all, just expressed love. While they were here in Milwaukee for the 3-day training, she started having a really bad day. Her son was being really mean to her, and she was feeling really overwhelmed. The Spirit directly told her, "If you read from the Book of Mormon, you will have comfort." She struggled with that prompting for a bit, but finally submitted. She was guided to read Ether 12, which was amazing in bringing her comfort. After that, she was impressed that she needed to read chapter 3 as well, which speaks of Christ appearing. It helped her understand Christ had a spirit body before coming to Earth, and that our Heavenly Father has a body of flesh and bone. Before, she completely rejected that concept, but with the Spirit's guiding comfort, she knows that it is true now, and it is no longer a concern. She told the missionaries at the next appointment, "before I was just too prideful and rebellious to listen to Elder Lester, so God had to tell me through His scriptures." She is still preparing for her baptism! After all these experiences, she, and all those who are there to teach her, will have powerful and unshakable testimonies. I know mine has been strengthened through her experiences.
I hope everyone has another great week! I love you!
Elder Vogan
Dad,
I didn't get a message from Mom yet, so I'll reply my "weekly email" to you instead of her this week. It's really exciting to hear all the cool things going on at home: you going to girls camp, haha, your spring vacation, Jordan's dominating volleyball skills, Hannah's playing time and improvements in volleyball as well (it will be awesome after I'm home and my knee's well enough to play with them), and your busy week with appointments. Randy will be in my prayers. That's pretty scary, but I'm glad he's in good spirits. I hope everything else went well for the family!
My week was awesome! It ended on a great note with our investigator Erik getting baptized and confirmed this weekend! He was one that was slowly progressing for several months. He'd come to church pretty much every week; you'd see him sitting in the back with his girlfriend with his baseball hat on. (That's something that is being addressed.) But he was finally ready to make the commitment, and he knew it was true, so he was baptized. His mom came down from where she lived in Fon Du Lac, a couple hours away, and she enjoyed being there for the ordinance.
Matt Wilke is still going as strong as ever! His baptism is set for this weekend, and he has everything set up for it - his program, baptism record, people coming. It was announced in Sacrament meeting yesterday as well, so even more people will be there. On the second day of our 3-day mission leadership training this week, he was helping the ward with preparing lunch for us, and we were surprised to see him there. Even he wasn't planning on being there beforehand. Elder Cottle and I were assigned to do a training about the Book of Mormon's role in conversion, and so we asked Matt if he'd be comfortable sharing his testimony with the group about how the Book of Mormon had helped him in preparing for his baptism. That was inspired. He bore a wonderful, sincere testimony to the group, and the Spirit filled the room. He was a little nervous at first, being in front of so many missionaries, but he told us later that everything he said just came to him as he was speaking. What a cool experience! All the missionaries were blown away by how prepared he is after only investigating for 3 weeks. Fortunately, our trainings had little more than a vague direction of where we wanted to go with each topic, so we were able to adapt to that opportunity. All the trainings were awesome though. We just "treasured up" in our minds the doctrines and principles of the topics, and then we let the Spirit guide as we asked questions that opened up discussion and participation from the leaders. We directed two trainings on each of the 3 days and were responsible for conducting the meetings.
So yeah, those trainings took up a lot of time, energy, and attention this week. We were still able to see several people in the evenings. Colleen will most likely be the next person baptized here after Matt. She just needs to change her living situation. She has a strong testimony, and she loves church, so after she gets that taken care of she can finally make that sacred covenant with her Heavenly Father and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which she is really looking forward to.
I was able to talk with Elder Lester last night as he was reporting numbers, and he told me about Gloria's progress. She is still one of the people most dear to my heart, so I am always anxious to hear about her. So Saturday and Sunday, her progress stopped as she was taught about the true nature of God. Her walls went back up, and she didn't want to remember the answers she had received. Elder Lester's reaction to her response to the lesson would usually be a quick and wise combat, but he had the feeling he just needed to love her. So he didn't rebuttal her response at all, just expressed love. While they were here in Milwaukee for the 3-day training, she started having a really bad day. Her son was being really mean to her, and she was feeling really overwhelmed. The Spirit directly told her, "If you read from the Book of Mormon, you will have comfort." She struggled with that prompting for a bit, but finally submitted. She was guided to read Ether 12, which was amazing in bringing her comfort. After that, she was impressed that she needed to read chapter 3 as well, which speaks of Christ appearing. It helped her understand Christ had a spirit body before coming to Earth, and that our Heavenly Father has a body of flesh and bone. Before, she completely rejected that concept, but with the Spirit's guiding comfort, she knows that it is true now, and it is no longer a concern. She told the missionaries at the next appointment, "before I was just too prideful and rebellious to listen to Elder Lester, so God had to tell me through His scriptures." She is still preparing for her baptism! After all these experiences, she, and all those who are there to teach her, will have powerful and unshakable testimonies. I know mine has been strengthened through her experiences.
I hope everyone has another great week! I love you!
Elder Vogan
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Mon, 14 Feb 2011
Mom,
I feel bad that you didn't get your email from me last week! Hopefully it sends today right away. I'm really exciting about Jared receiving his Patriarchal blessing; I'm sure that was an awesome experience for him! I hope the Tucker situation gets figured out and Megan settles down. I'll be looking for the oranges! Thank you so much for the nice Valentine with the Subway card! That will help greatly with my intention to be healthy.
I'm still getting adjusted to the new area and responsibilities, and this past week didn't really help that effort. I was on exchanges with zone leaders from the Appleton and Wausau zones, and I was in their areas. So, I was away from Milwaukee from Tuesday through Saturday. It was nice to be back in Wausau so soon and be able to teach Gloria especially. While I was there, she received a direct answer to her prayer about whether the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. It was an awesome experience. She had "walls" preventing her from being open enough to receive an answer that direct before. The office work comes really naturally to me though - dealing with calls, numbers, emails, and spreadsheets. Reminds me a bit of my job before the mission. My companion will be leaving after this transfer, so I need to be on top of everything else before then. Our greatest focus will be for me to really know the area here in Milwaukee and all those we teach, since our first priority is to maintain a "model area" for the rest of the mission. Today, our focus will be on the 3-day leadership training this week, Tuesday through Thursday.
Our area here is doing well. We have baptisms scheduled during the next two weekends: Erik and Matt. I still haven't been able to teach Erik at all, but he is doing well and will be baptized this Saturday! He gave his girlfriend the boot this past week to move out, and we will be helping her move some things today. Matt is awesome! I have never met anyone so humble, teachable and prepared. After teaching about prophets and the commandments on Saturday, Elder Cottle said, "Well Matt, we've now taught you everything you need to learn in preparing for your baptism" And he replied, "Yeah, everything except for tithing." Haha, Elder Cottle completely forgot that we hadn't taught that yet, but Matt was on top of it. He even had a tithing slip and envelope that he pulled out as he reminded us. He really could be baptized this Saturday, but he's already told everyone from all over the state that it will be the 26th. He's such a great example.
Speaking of Elder Cottle, I never really told you about him. He is from Brigham City, UT. He is the oldest of 3 siblings, very organized - almost OCD, very diligent and obedient, excellent teaching, high expectations of himself and the work, loves to give trainings (very administrative). He was a bodybuilder back home - took second place in a competition for his weight class in all the northwestern states. He is very spiritual and sensitive to the Spirit. He'll be going home in June, and he's planning on attending UVU and getting married really quick. He'll be very successful and have very high callings in the Church. It's definitely a privilege to serve with him.
And speaking of school, I don't know when or how I'll find out if I am accepted to BYU. I would love to room with Brady and those guys, but I'm not sure when I'll know.
Well Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Mom,
I feel bad that you didn't get your email from me last week! Hopefully it sends today right away. I'm really exciting about Jared receiving his Patriarchal blessing; I'm sure that was an awesome experience for him! I hope the Tucker situation gets figured out and Megan settles down. I'll be looking for the oranges! Thank you so much for the nice Valentine with the Subway card! That will help greatly with my intention to be healthy.
I'm still getting adjusted to the new area and responsibilities, and this past week didn't really help that effort. I was on exchanges with zone leaders from the Appleton and Wausau zones, and I was in their areas. So, I was away from Milwaukee from Tuesday through Saturday. It was nice to be back in Wausau so soon and be able to teach Gloria especially. While I was there, she received a direct answer to her prayer about whether the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. It was an awesome experience. She had "walls" preventing her from being open enough to receive an answer that direct before. The office work comes really naturally to me though - dealing with calls, numbers, emails, and spreadsheets. Reminds me a bit of my job before the mission. My companion will be leaving after this transfer, so I need to be on top of everything else before then. Our greatest focus will be for me to really know the area here in Milwaukee and all those we teach, since our first priority is to maintain a "model area" for the rest of the mission. Today, our focus will be on the 3-day leadership training this week, Tuesday through Thursday.
Our area here is doing well. We have baptisms scheduled during the next two weekends: Erik and Matt. I still haven't been able to teach Erik at all, but he is doing well and will be baptized this Saturday! He gave his girlfriend the boot this past week to move out, and we will be helping her move some things today. Matt is awesome! I have never met anyone so humble, teachable and prepared. After teaching about prophets and the commandments on Saturday, Elder Cottle said, "Well Matt, we've now taught you everything you need to learn in preparing for your baptism" And he replied, "Yeah, everything except for tithing." Haha, Elder Cottle completely forgot that we hadn't taught that yet, but Matt was on top of it. He even had a tithing slip and envelope that he pulled out as he reminded us. He really could be baptized this Saturday, but he's already told everyone from all over the state that it will be the 26th. He's such a great example.
Speaking of Elder Cottle, I never really told you about him. He is from Brigham City, UT. He is the oldest of 3 siblings, very organized - almost OCD, very diligent and obedient, excellent teaching, high expectations of himself and the work, loves to give trainings (very administrative). He was a bodybuilder back home - took second place in a competition for his weight class in all the northwestern states. He is very spiritual and sensitive to the Spirit. He'll be going home in June, and he's planning on attending UVU and getting married really quick. He'll be very successful and have very high callings in the Church. It's definitely a privilege to serve with him.
And speaking of school, I don't know when or how I'll find out if I am accepted to BYU. I would love to room with Brady and those guys, but I'm not sure when I'll know.
Well Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
GO PACK GO! PACKERS WIN SUPER BOWL!
Sun 2/13/11 9:24 PM
It's good to get your emails this week! I am glad everyone is doing well.. except for Tucker.. I'll answer your questions first: I do pretty well at writing in my journal I think, but I can improve. A lot of missionaries out here love their separated scriptures, so I think Jordan would do fine with those. The smaller size ones are nice if you are considering exchanging them. If Jordan and Jared want to study, have them study from Preach My Gospel and do the activities that they are able to do. Also, it's strongly encouraged that missionaries have read The Book of Mormon at least once before coming out, and it would be great for them to read D&C, Pearl of Great Price, and the New Testament through as well, if they can. It would be great for you to send more oranges! Maybe half the amount as last time would be awesome. Just send them right to the mission office: 5651 Broad St. Ste 1 Greendale, WI 53129. I don't know when I'll know of my acceptance to BYU, but I'm looking forward to finding out. I'm way excited for Jared to get his Patriarchal Blessing! That will be an awesome experience for him. That's very sad to hear about Pam. Wow.
This week has gone really fast. Go Pack Go! The Packers winning the Super Bowl should be a positive thing for our proselyting efforts. Everyone will be so happy, they'll all invite us in! We weren't really exposed to the Super Bowl hype at all. We actually weren't even permitted as missionaries to be out at all from 4:00 PM on yesterday. We had to come to the office, so that was our exception. But anyway, this past week was very eventful. Monday, we had about a half hour of P-day, and that will probably be how it will be today. We had to prepare for the new missionaries that came in on Tuesday. We had two great lessons that day with Matt Wilke (the one we set the baptism date with at church last week) and Colleen. Matt is doing awesome! I haven't seen someone so prepared in humility and faith. He is willing to do whatever we ask him, and even more. He committed himself to read 2-3 chapters a day from the Book of Mormon (the first time we met with him), and he has actually been reading even more than that. He heard about institute on Thursday, and he attended even though we weren't able to make it. He feels the Spirit's confirming comfort when he prays to know if the things we are teaching him are true. He was there in the chapel a half hour before church even started yesterday. We can't really expect anything more. Every answer he gives to our questions just blows us away because of his understanding. Colleen on the other hand has been taught by the missionaries here for a few months now, and her pride is causing her to stumble. She is proud of her stubbornness. It's a big road block that she is working to overcome. She must be able to rely on another person, or she will never truly be able to accept the grace provided by Jesus Christ through His Gospel.
So, those are two of the major investigators we are working with right now. Tuesday went well with the new missionaries. We got to take a couple of them out contacting on the university campus in Milwaukee, and everyone was very open and nice, so it was a great experience for them. One of them, Elder Jones, is a BYU offensive lineman, and he lives with us and his trainer in our apartment. It was cool to be able to interview each of them and be a part of the process of pairing them with their trainers. Tuesday night, the biggest blizzard of the year hit. It was intense! Most of the mission didn't get hit like we did, so we went ahead with transfers. It was a very stressful day worrying about training the new missionaries and trainers and sending them off, and then figuring out how everything else would work in the storm. It took a tole on me, so I was really excited to get to sleep that night, but I couldn't! I had chills/fever, headache, and sore throat all night. I tried to start out the day like a hero, but could hardly stand for very long. I found out that night, after deciding to go in, that I had a pretty bad case of strep throat. They gave me prescriptions, and my symptoms settled down pretty quick, but I wasn't able to go to the leadership meeting on Friday because I was contagious. My companion had to do all the trainings on his own. But now I'm better! I've never went from so bad to so good so fast.
So there is my week! I hope everything goes well for the family this week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
It's good to get your emails this week! I am glad everyone is doing well.. except for Tucker.. I'll answer your questions first: I do pretty well at writing in my journal I think, but I can improve. A lot of missionaries out here love their separated scriptures, so I think Jordan would do fine with those. The smaller size ones are nice if you are considering exchanging them. If Jordan and Jared want to study, have them study from Preach My Gospel and do the activities that they are able to do. Also, it's strongly encouraged that missionaries have read The Book of Mormon at least once before coming out, and it would be great for them to read D&C, Pearl of Great Price, and the New Testament through as well, if they can. It would be great for you to send more oranges! Maybe half the amount as last time would be awesome. Just send them right to the mission office: 5651 Broad St. Ste 1 Greendale, WI 53129. I don't know when I'll know of my acceptance to BYU, but I'm looking forward to finding out. I'm way excited for Jared to get his Patriarchal Blessing! That will be an awesome experience for him. That's very sad to hear about Pam. Wow.
This week has gone really fast. Go Pack Go! The Packers winning the Super Bowl should be a positive thing for our proselyting efforts. Everyone will be so happy, they'll all invite us in! We weren't really exposed to the Super Bowl hype at all. We actually weren't even permitted as missionaries to be out at all from 4:00 PM on yesterday. We had to come to the office, so that was our exception. But anyway, this past week was very eventful. Monday, we had about a half hour of P-day, and that will probably be how it will be today. We had to prepare for the new missionaries that came in on Tuesday. We had two great lessons that day with Matt Wilke (the one we set the baptism date with at church last week) and Colleen. Matt is doing awesome! I haven't seen someone so prepared in humility and faith. He is willing to do whatever we ask him, and even more. He committed himself to read 2-3 chapters a day from the Book of Mormon (the first time we met with him), and he has actually been reading even more than that. He heard about institute on Thursday, and he attended even though we weren't able to make it. He feels the Spirit's confirming comfort when he prays to know if the things we are teaching him are true. He was there in the chapel a half hour before church even started yesterday. We can't really expect anything more. Every answer he gives to our questions just blows us away because of his understanding. Colleen on the other hand has been taught by the missionaries here for a few months now, and her pride is causing her to stumble. She is proud of her stubbornness. It's a big road block that she is working to overcome. She must be able to rely on another person, or she will never truly be able to accept the grace provided by Jesus Christ through His Gospel.
So, those are two of the major investigators we are working with right now. Tuesday went well with the new missionaries. We got to take a couple of them out contacting on the university campus in Milwaukee, and everyone was very open and nice, so it was a great experience for them. One of them, Elder Jones, is a BYU offensive lineman, and he lives with us and his trainer in our apartment. It was cool to be able to interview each of them and be a part of the process of pairing them with their trainers. Tuesday night, the biggest blizzard of the year hit. It was intense! Most of the mission didn't get hit like we did, so we went ahead with transfers. It was a very stressful day worrying about training the new missionaries and trainers and sending them off, and then figuring out how everything else would work in the storm. It took a tole on me, so I was really excited to get to sleep that night, but I couldn't! I had chills/fever, headache, and sore throat all night. I tried to start out the day like a hero, but could hardly stand for very long. I found out that night, after deciding to go in, that I had a pretty bad case of strep throat. They gave me prescriptions, and my symptoms settled down pretty quick, but I wasn't able to go to the leadership meeting on Friday because I was contagious. My companion had to do all the trainings on his own. But now I'm better! I've never went from so bad to so good so fast.
So there is my week! I hope everything goes well for the family this week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
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
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
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