Mon. June 13, 2011
Mom,
Hope you had a great week in Mexico, and hopefully nothing crazy happened at home when you were away! I still have not got the pictures from graduation, but I assume that might be because you were gone this last week and haven't sent them yet. I had a couple questions this week: What is the recipe for making chicken pot pie? There is a family here who has a tradition for each missionary leaving the area to make them dinner. They provide the ingredients. When they found out I'd be leaving in July they are already anticipating what I'll make for them. Also, the bike Dad sent out to me to use is still at the Du Charmes home in Milwaukee.. I have used it only once or twice very early on in my mission. I am planning on calling them and figuring out something. Would you like me to box it up and send it back home? Would you like me to try and sell it? If so, what's the minimum offer? I know it was an expensive bike. Maybe I can leave it a little longer and take a road trip out here with Jordan and pick it up? (If that's okay with the Du Charmes) It costs quite a bit to ship, especially if we will just be turning around and sending it to Jordan's mission. Besides, Britney Sigman, a girl I taught and was baptized shortly after I left Rapids will be going through the temple in late July and she asked if I'd be able to come for that. So yeah, just something I've thought about.
But anyway, getting away from the "trunky" thoughts, we had a really good week this week. Elder Wonnacott and I have been working hard and are starting to see good things. There is a fresh feeling here now, with Elder Wonnacott brand new and me only here six weeks, we have new vision and fire. We have been stopping by and getting to know the members better, and between Saturday and Sunday, we received eight referrals - it was awesome! Many of which came without our solicitation. I rekindled my testimony of tracting yesterday as well. I have been much more of one to have a place to go and then just talking to everyone we pass by or see outside. I have everyone added in my gps from our area book, every member and anyone who has ever been recorded to have shown interest in the gospel. So, usually with time when we don't have appointments we would go to one of those people and then contact around where they live, giving us a reason to be in the neighborhood. Of course when we were walking somewhere we'd follow promptings to knock random doors, but I haven't been one to pick a neighborhood and straight up tract it. But, one of our referrals we received was from members who didn't want us to say they sent them. They told us they were really nice and lived the Word of Wisdom already, but the members didn't want them to feel like they "sicked" us on them. So we ended up tracting for a little while where that referral lived, and it went well! We ended up teaching the father of that family, he took a pamphlet and said he'd be interested in us coming back! The family who referred us was way happy to hear that. I came to the conclusion that even though it is shown to be one of the least effective ways for us to work, it should still be included often in the plans. It keeps the spirits up and makes you feel like a missionary. (And almost all the cool mission stories come from tracting). In the 45 minutes we were in the area, 4 people openned the door and 3 out of the 4 allowed us to teach them. 2 said we could come back. I lost interest in tracting before because although we can teach alot of lessons doing it, the people we found didn't usually progress too far. When a member refers the missionary or it's a part-member family, it's crazy how much more and faster the people progress. So, do missionary work! Hopefully this member family will jump in and invite them over for some lessons with us as they continue to learn.
Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Hope you all have a wonderful week! And hopefully I at least receive one email from someone before I get off the computer today..
Love,
Elder Vogan
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
A NEW COMP--ELDER WANNACOTT
Mon. June 6, 2011
Hello family,
Mazatlan huh? I bet that will be a fun week for you! And hopefully things are well at home with Megan during that time! Jordan will definitely be working for his money this week. So, yeah, this week is transfers - my companion is shipping back home and going right back to heavy labor working asphalt with his dad until Fall, then he'll be at Snow College. He'll leave to Milwaukee Wednesday and flight out Thursday morning. It's been alot of fun serving with Elder Peckham; he and I will keep in touch for sure! My new companion will be Elder Wannacott. He's awesome! It's interesting, I've been his zone leader for at least a little while in every area he's served in, and now I get to train him up! He is from bountiful, UT, but he has also lived in Germany for many years because his dad is a military doctor on the base in Ramstein. He actually knew Elder Turney who was also from that base in Germany. Pretty crazy!
That's awesome to hear about your missionary efforts at home; keep it up! This week went well for us. It seemed to fly by pretty quick. We had a nice family, the Le Clouxs, come to church yesterday, and hopefully they felt the Spirit and will continue progressing. I think the mom came more to be respectful to Elder Peckham, it being his last Sunday. But the kids loved church. I'm loving the ward here more and more. We always have those families in each of the areas that really support and love us missionaries, and I have enjoyed the relationships I have out here. One family, the Robertsons, jumped right on that family missionary plan, and they will been spending alot of time with us today. They will be hanging out with us during our P-Day activities and then tonight they are puting together a bon fire activity and inviting all of their non-member friends to come and ask questions about the church. The two oldest daughters have said they'd like to serve missions, so hopefully these experiences keep encouraging that! Today will be fun though. The four or five sets of missionaries here in Green Bay will all be eating at this awesome restaurant called the Pancake Place for lunch and then playing a game called speedball or crazyball at the church(I will have to teach the youth down there when I get home, it's alot of fun).
I am not excited for Elder Peckham to leave, but I am excited for freshness and change. It's always a good time to re-evaluate and recommit our efforts and set good goals. I will let you know how it's going next week! Have fun!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Hello family,
Mazatlan huh? I bet that will be a fun week for you! And hopefully things are well at home with Megan during that time! Jordan will definitely be working for his money this week. So, yeah, this week is transfers - my companion is shipping back home and going right back to heavy labor working asphalt with his dad until Fall, then he'll be at Snow College. He'll leave to Milwaukee Wednesday and flight out Thursday morning. It's been alot of fun serving with Elder Peckham; he and I will keep in touch for sure! My new companion will be Elder Wannacott. He's awesome! It's interesting, I've been his zone leader for at least a little while in every area he's served in, and now I get to train him up! He is from bountiful, UT, but he has also lived in Germany for many years because his dad is a military doctor on the base in Ramstein. He actually knew Elder Turney who was also from that base in Germany. Pretty crazy!
That's awesome to hear about your missionary efforts at home; keep it up! This week went well for us. It seemed to fly by pretty quick. We had a nice family, the Le Clouxs, come to church yesterday, and hopefully they felt the Spirit and will continue progressing. I think the mom came more to be respectful to Elder Peckham, it being his last Sunday. But the kids loved church. I'm loving the ward here more and more. We always have those families in each of the areas that really support and love us missionaries, and I have enjoyed the relationships I have out here. One family, the Robertsons, jumped right on that family missionary plan, and they will been spending alot of time with us today. They will be hanging out with us during our P-Day activities and then tonight they are puting together a bon fire activity and inviting all of their non-member friends to come and ask questions about the church. The two oldest daughters have said they'd like to serve missions, so hopefully these experiences keep encouraging that! Today will be fun though. The four or five sets of missionaries here in Green Bay will all be eating at this awesome restaurant called the Pancake Place for lunch and then playing a game called speedball or crazyball at the church(I will have to teach the youth down there when I get home, it's alot of fun).
I am not excited for Elder Peckham to leave, but I am excited for freshness and change. It's always a good time to re-evaluate and recommit our efforts and set good goals. I will let you know how it's going next week! Have fun!
Love,
Elder Vogan
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