Mon 2/15/10 9:09 AM
Thank you for the nice Valentine's Day card! I didn't think I would get anything. I loved hearing about Dad's assistant; that is really awesome! I hope everyone's week went well!
This week went pretty well for us. We had a lot of non-members/investigators at church yesterday - 6 people came. And we were able to involve the members of Manitowoc and Chilton in our teaching alot more this week as well. Throughout my mission, coordinating lessons with members hasn't ever really been a strong point for me, but I know if we do it, we will be more successful. I hope Jordan is taking opportunities to go out with the missionaries! I know I regret not going out with them before my mission. Elder Lester talks about going out with them all the time, and everyone can tell because he is so much more prepared and such a great teacher - especially for only being out 4 months.
It's kinda sad thinking that we would have had three baptisms on Saturday and confirmations yesterday, if only the three sisters could get to church. We feel like they are ready, but it is their mom who isn't ready for them to be baptized. I think she, like alot of people, feels like her daughters need to know and understand every little thing about the gospel before they can be baptized. And we do our best to help our investigators be prepared to make that covenant of being baptized. The real learning comes after the baptism though.
Well, love you! Have a great week!
Elder vogan
Monday, February 15, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
WINTER ISN'T SO BAD
Mon 2/08/10 9:08 AM
Well, I actually didn't get anything from Mom yet this week, but maybe by the time I'm done writing this email I'll get something like other times when that has happened. Haha, yeah that was an icicle from off the roof of the church building. And it was even bigger before part of it broke off! This winter hasn't been too bad at all. And people were trying to make me worried about it... Maybe next winter will bring more of the winter I was expecting.
Haha, Elder Caldwell is funny! We got a couple calls from other Elders in other areas telling us that President had used our messages at zone conference too. Now there is some expectation from those missionaries expecting to hear about more baptisms from our area. (Which is good for me. Whatever adds motivation) That Hmong family that had the three girls commiting to be baptized was not the same family that gave me the Hmong name, but they are really cool. An issue did arise with them yesterday when they didn't come to church. Their mom, who is a member, decided to take them to Sheboygan for a birthday party Saturday night, and they decided not to come home for church. We told the girls that in order to be baptized on the 13th they would have to show their commitment by coming to church, so we are pretty sure we will be pushing the date until we can see that they do actually desire to be baptized. They are old enough to make that choice, and we are disappointed that their mom wasn't more helpful because she knew they should have been at church. But who knows, maybe we will be surprised to hear that they went to church in Sheboygan.
Good luck with the hunting draw, and congratulations to Jordan! Who's the lucky girl? I hope you guys have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Well, I actually didn't get anything from Mom yet this week, but maybe by the time I'm done writing this email I'll get something like other times when that has happened. Haha, yeah that was an icicle from off the roof of the church building. And it was even bigger before part of it broke off! This winter hasn't been too bad at all. And people were trying to make me worried about it... Maybe next winter will bring more of the winter I was expecting.
Haha, Elder Caldwell is funny! We got a couple calls from other Elders in other areas telling us that President had used our messages at zone conference too. Now there is some expectation from those missionaries expecting to hear about more baptisms from our area. (Which is good for me. Whatever adds motivation) That Hmong family that had the three girls commiting to be baptized was not the same family that gave me the Hmong name, but they are really cool. An issue did arise with them yesterday when they didn't come to church. Their mom, who is a member, decided to take them to Sheboygan for a birthday party Saturday night, and they decided not to come home for church. We told the girls that in order to be baptized on the 13th they would have to show their commitment by coming to church, so we are pretty sure we will be pushing the date until we can see that they do actually desire to be baptized. They are old enough to make that choice, and we are disappointed that their mom wasn't more helpful because she knew they should have been at church. But who knows, maybe we will be surprised to hear that they went to church in Sheboygan.
Good luck with the hunting draw, and congratulations to Jordan! Who's the lucky girl? I hope you guys have an awesome week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
MORE BAPTISM DATES SET
Mon 2/01/10 4:58 PM
It is always good to hear from you guys! The oranges are doing great for us. We still have at least 3/4 box left, so you won't have to worry about sending any more out anytime soon. I found that Donny Osmond jacket at the Senior Center where we do service on Wednesdays. I told the lady there that you were in love with him, and she told me I should take it for you, Mom.
Well this week went very well for us! We had a really motivating and encouraging zone conference on Tuesday, and right afterward, we came home and set a baptism date with this hispanic guy named John. He is a very sincere and nice guy, around 18 years old, but he is really hard to stay in touch with. Hopefully we can see him more this week, so that he can make his date. The next day, we visited the part-member Laotion/Hmong family I have written about before, and two of the girls (Nicole and Angel) commited to be baptized as well on the 13th! They are really excited to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Their older sister, Hope, told us that she also wanted to be baptized with them when we were over two days later! And their father, Sang Thong, said that after he sees his girls be baptized and as he learns more, he will also do the same.
So, we are really excited about the work here! Please continue to pray for our success and that we will continue to have faith that all will go work out well. And pray for Cole, Angel, Nicole, Hope, and John. Thank you so much!Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Vogan
Ps. Today for P-day we are going up to Green Bay to tour Lambeau Stadium with everyone in our zone! It should be a lot of fun.
It is always good to hear from you guys! The oranges are doing great for us. We still have at least 3/4 box left, so you won't have to worry about sending any more out anytime soon. I found that Donny Osmond jacket at the Senior Center where we do service on Wednesdays. I told the lady there that you were in love with him, and she told me I should take it for you, Mom.
Well this week went very well for us! We had a really motivating and encouraging zone conference on Tuesday, and right afterward, we came home and set a baptism date with this hispanic guy named John. He is a very sincere and nice guy, around 18 years old, but he is really hard to stay in touch with. Hopefully we can see him more this week, so that he can make his date. The next day, we visited the part-member Laotion/Hmong family I have written about before, and two of the girls (Nicole and Angel) commited to be baptized as well on the 13th! They are really excited to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Their older sister, Hope, told us that she also wanted to be baptized with them when we were over two days later! And their father, Sang Thong, said that after he sees his girls be baptized and as he learns more, he will also do the same.
So, we are really excited about the work here! Please continue to pray for our success and that we will continue to have faith that all will go work out well. And pray for Cole, Angel, Nicole, Hope, and John. Thank you so much!Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Vogan
Ps. Today for P-day we are going up to Green Bay to tour Lambeau Stadium with everyone in our zone! It should be a lot of fun.
Monday, January 25, 2010
NEW COMP-ELDER LESTER, NEW MEMBER-SISTER SMOTHERMAN
Mon 1/25/10 12:46 PM
It was good to get a couple more emails this week than usual! Thanks Hannah and Whitney! Those pictures of pretty lady Megan were really cute!
Congrats on the success with the diet, Mom and Dad! I am glad to hear that it worked well for you. The oranges are perfect and delicious! Thank you! And I am glad to hear Dad's seminars are going better as well!
My new companion, Elder Lester, is a stud missionary! He definitely lives up to the hype, haha. I have already learned so much from him, and we get along really well. He grew up in South Carolina in a part-member family. He and his mom are the only active members. He has only been out for 3 months, but he seems like he could be ready to go home. I am excited to see how much success we will have together!
That's good that you got Sister Wilson's email. The Wilsons are awesome! So the story of our "secret" baptism... (It probably won't have the same impact it had for us, since you guys thought she would be baptized the whole time, but it's still cool) : So, Tuesday afternoon, we had Sister Smotherman's interview, and she was solid and ready to go until the very end when she denied to her daughter that she was getting baptized on Saturday. We were really confused and thought she might just not have wanted to have her daughter there or something. So, that night and the next day we tried to call and get that straight that it was going to be on Saturday (because that is why our district leader came all the way down from Green Bay to interview her that week). They didn't answer, so I was getting pretty anxious about it. Finally, Brother Smotherman called and said that because of his recent knee surgery, the doctor didn't want him to get his knee wet or put any weight on it, so they chose to push the date. And they decided that Feb. 20th would be good. I said, "Wow, a whole month out?" And it was their choice, so that was the decision.
So we went throughout the rest of the week, until Sunday afternoon at 4:30, thinking that she was not going to be baptized until (at least) the 20th of February. We had lunch after church with Bishop Jones and his family and talked a little bit about what was going on with Sister Smotherman, and Bishop said he wanted to come with us to our next visit with her. When he drove us back to our car, which was at the church, I asked him if he wanted to go visit them only with us, or if he would go without us first. And he said, "Ya know, maybe I'll just stop by right now." So, two hours later we got a message from him that said, "Call me back as soon as possible... Meet me at the church at 7:30 tonight. Sister Smotherman is going to be baptized tonight... Don't tell anyone this is happening. I repeat, don't tell anyone... until then just pray that everything works out smoothly. And afterwards you can go back to your apartment and shout for joy." So we got that message and were like, "Holy man, I can't believe it". But we couldn't say anything around our dinner hosts, so we just kept it inside till we got in the car to leave. We found out from Bishop that the real reason for postponing the date was anxiety and not wanting to be the center of attention or in front of large groups. (we kinda knew that already though) So, it happened! with us, Bishop and Sister Jones and their youngest daughter, and the Smothermans with their son, Dillon. And we went to the Wilson's to celebrate. (Bishop told us that it wasn't as big of a deal about telling people after the babtism).
So, I hope you felt some of the rollercoaster we felt from this story. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love, Elder Vogan
It was good to get a couple more emails this week than usual! Thanks Hannah and Whitney! Those pictures of pretty lady Megan were really cute!
Congrats on the success with the diet, Mom and Dad! I am glad to hear that it worked well for you. The oranges are perfect and delicious! Thank you! And I am glad to hear Dad's seminars are going better as well!
My new companion, Elder Lester, is a stud missionary! He definitely lives up to the hype, haha. I have already learned so much from him, and we get along really well. He grew up in South Carolina in a part-member family. He and his mom are the only active members. He has only been out for 3 months, but he seems like he could be ready to go home. I am excited to see how much success we will have together!
That's good that you got Sister Wilson's email. The Wilsons are awesome! So the story of our "secret" baptism... (It probably won't have the same impact it had for us, since you guys thought she would be baptized the whole time, but it's still cool) : So, Tuesday afternoon, we had Sister Smotherman's interview, and she was solid and ready to go until the very end when she denied to her daughter that she was getting baptized on Saturday. We were really confused and thought she might just not have wanted to have her daughter there or something. So, that night and the next day we tried to call and get that straight that it was going to be on Saturday (because that is why our district leader came all the way down from Green Bay to interview her that week). They didn't answer, so I was getting pretty anxious about it. Finally, Brother Smotherman called and said that because of his recent knee surgery, the doctor didn't want him to get his knee wet or put any weight on it, so they chose to push the date. And they decided that Feb. 20th would be good. I said, "Wow, a whole month out?" And it was their choice, so that was the decision.
So we went throughout the rest of the week, until Sunday afternoon at 4:30, thinking that she was not going to be baptized until (at least) the 20th of February. We had lunch after church with Bishop Jones and his family and talked a little bit about what was going on with Sister Smotherman, and Bishop said he wanted to come with us to our next visit with her. When he drove us back to our car, which was at the church, I asked him if he wanted to go visit them only with us, or if he would go without us first. And he said, "Ya know, maybe I'll just stop by right now." So, two hours later we got a message from him that said, "Call me back as soon as possible... Meet me at the church at 7:30 tonight. Sister Smotherman is going to be baptized tonight... Don't tell anyone this is happening. I repeat, don't tell anyone... until then just pray that everything works out smoothly. And afterwards you can go back to your apartment and shout for joy." So we got that message and were like, "Holy man, I can't believe it". But we couldn't say anything around our dinner hosts, so we just kept it inside till we got in the car to leave. We found out from Bishop that the real reason for postponing the date was anxiety and not wanting to be the center of attention or in front of large groups. (we kinda knew that already though) So, it happened! with us, Bishop and Sister Jones and their youngest daughter, and the Smothermans with their son, Dillon. And we went to the Wilson's to celebrate. (Bishop told us that it wasn't as big of a deal about telling people after the babtism).
So, I hope you felt some of the rollercoaster we felt from this story. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love, Elder Vogan
Monday, January 18, 2010
BAPTISM SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY
Mon 1/18/10 12:13 PM
Hey family! Another pretty good week has past fast. Yes, I am for sure staying in Two Rivers, Manitowoc, and Chilton for at least one more transfer. Elder Roberts will be leaving on Thursday, and from a sneak-peak email from President Barrett, he found out that he gets to go to Madison - which is where he has been wanting to serve his entire mission. I would love to serve there as well. So yeah, you can send the package directly to Two Rivers. Thank you!
Other than transfers, our biggest excitement is Sister Smotherman's baptism this Saturday! She doesn't want it to be big at all; she isn't comfortable in front of crowds. But nevertheless, it will be awesome! We will have her program put together really soon, and our district leader, Elder Eastman, will be coming down tomorrow to interview her! Thank you for your prayers, and please continue those!
Nate hasn't made any progress at all since before I spoke to you on Christmas. In fact, we actually haven't seen him since at a week and a half ago... I thought I'd update you on that though, since I know you knew about him.
Other than that, all that I can think that is worth sharing is that we have a few more 'future new members' that we are trying diligently to work with: Cole, Jessica, and Sister Li's family - Sang Thong, Nicole, Hope, and Angel. If President is right with what he told me in my email today, my new campanion and I will work together well and be able to help these people and others to progress well and help them make that choice to be baptized and have all the joy that comes from that.
Love you! Have a great week! Hope your voice gets better, Dad!
Elder Vogan
Hey family! Another pretty good week has past fast. Yes, I am for sure staying in Two Rivers, Manitowoc, and Chilton for at least one more transfer. Elder Roberts will be leaving on Thursday, and from a sneak-peak email from President Barrett, he found out that he gets to go to Madison - which is where he has been wanting to serve his entire mission. I would love to serve there as well. So yeah, you can send the package directly to Two Rivers. Thank you!
Other than transfers, our biggest excitement is Sister Smotherman's baptism this Saturday! She doesn't want it to be big at all; she isn't comfortable in front of crowds. But nevertheless, it will be awesome! We will have her program put together really soon, and our district leader, Elder Eastman, will be coming down tomorrow to interview her! Thank you for your prayers, and please continue those!
Nate hasn't made any progress at all since before I spoke to you on Christmas. In fact, we actually haven't seen him since at a week and a half ago... I thought I'd update you on that though, since I know you knew about him.
Other than that, all that I can think that is worth sharing is that we have a few more 'future new members' that we are trying diligently to work with: Cole, Jessica, and Sister Li's family - Sang Thong, Nicole, Hope, and Angel. If President is right with what he told me in my email today, my new campanion and I will work together well and be able to help these people and others to progress well and help them make that choice to be baptized and have all the joy that comes from that.
Love you! Have a great week! Hope your voice gets better, Dad!
Elder Vogan
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
OFF TO A GREAT START IN 2010
Mon 1/11/10 9:54 AM
Hello! Yeah, when I heard about the Cardinals and Packers playing, I had to represent the Cardinals. It was actually a good topic starter, so that I could tell them I was from AZ and here on a mission. Luckily, no one that we went to had the game on yesterday or I might have been tempted to watch some of it! Yeah, it is crazy to hear that Elder Kent will been home so soon! I bet his family is really excited, huh?
Our Ward mission leader actually told us that he is giving us his home gym on Wednesday night! It is a legit home gym with everything I could need, and we are helping him bring it over in a couple days - i am way excited! I guess they decided to buy a Bowflex, so they don't need the other one anymore.
Well this past week was really really good: 36 lessons taught, found 8 new investigators, and set one more baptism date with a girl named Jessica! Grandma told me that more success would flow after the holidays, and that was definitely true! Sister Louise Smotherman is still on track for baptism on the 23rd, but please keep her in your prayers. This will be the first baptism in more than a year for both of our areas here.
Thank you for your love and prayers. I miss you!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Hello! Yeah, when I heard about the Cardinals and Packers playing, I had to represent the Cardinals. It was actually a good topic starter, so that I could tell them I was from AZ and here on a mission. Luckily, no one that we went to had the game on yesterday or I might have been tempted to watch some of it! Yeah, it is crazy to hear that Elder Kent will been home so soon! I bet his family is really excited, huh?
Our Ward mission leader actually told us that he is giving us his home gym on Wednesday night! It is a legit home gym with everything I could need, and we are helping him bring it over in a couple days - i am way excited! I guess they decided to buy a Bowflex, so they don't need the other one anymore.
Well this past week was really really good: 36 lessons taught, found 8 new investigators, and set one more baptism date with a girl named Jessica! Grandma told me that more success would flow after the holidays, and that was definitely true! Sister Louise Smotherman is still on track for baptism on the 23rd, but please keep her in your prayers. This will be the first baptism in more than a year for both of our areas here.
Thank you for your love and prayers. I miss you!
Love,
Elder Vogan
EXTREME MISSIONARY RESOLUTIONS
Mon 1/04/10 10:17 AM
Thank you for your email this week! I really liked hearing about the updates from my friends back home. It sounds like things will be completely different when I come home, hearing about how much things have already changed in the little time I’ve been out. If you get a chance, tell Breann and Andrea “Congratulations!” from me. And yeah, I am really excited to be an uncle too! It will be awesome to come home and meet my new little 9 month old niece or nephew! Good luck with the new diet! I am really interested in hearing about how that goes for you guys. And I am excited for the oranges to come as well!
So the most exciting thing for me that we did this past week was set some awesome, extreme missionary resolutions. I’ve always liked setting goals, and these are even better than goals. We are treating it almost like a covenant, so that we “have to” do it. We basically did what missionaries are supposed to do with setting weekly goals for lessons that we will teach, people that we will set baptism dates with, etc., but on top of that, we set “minimums” for what we have to do each day or week in order to push us to always be working well and effectively. And things like baptisms and baptism dates are not under our control for the most part, but the things we do have control over, we have committed to improve. This will be awesome to see things pick up out here after our increased efforts.
We did set another baptism date on Saturday with this 11 year-old kid named Cole. He is part of a less-active family, but they are really encouraging him to make the choice to be baptized. The only thing is with him, though, is that we aren’t going to baptize someone into inactivity. The whole family would need to commit to come back to church and be active, or else Cole would need to commit to coming and have some other members pick him up and bring him to church.
Nate is still where he was when I last talked to you about him. We have been able to go over and teach him, but no progress has been made yet. Louise Smotherman is still on track to be baptized on January 23rd, and we will be meeting with her this evening to make sure everything is still going well and encourage her.
So that is pretty much the main news for this week. The holidays were fun, but I’m glad they are over, so now we can get back to doing effective missionary work, and I can lose the weight I have put on. (I have actually already lost 4.5 lbs since Friday, so that’s great.) I love you very much, and I hope you have a happy and successful week!
Elder Vogan
Thank you for your email this week! I really liked hearing about the updates from my friends back home. It sounds like things will be completely different when I come home, hearing about how much things have already changed in the little time I’ve been out. If you get a chance, tell Breann and Andrea “Congratulations!” from me. And yeah, I am really excited to be an uncle too! It will be awesome to come home and meet my new little 9 month old niece or nephew! Good luck with the new diet! I am really interested in hearing about how that goes for you guys. And I am excited for the oranges to come as well!
So the most exciting thing for me that we did this past week was set some awesome, extreme missionary resolutions. I’ve always liked setting goals, and these are even better than goals. We are treating it almost like a covenant, so that we “have to” do it. We basically did what missionaries are supposed to do with setting weekly goals for lessons that we will teach, people that we will set baptism dates with, etc., but on top of that, we set “minimums” for what we have to do each day or week in order to push us to always be working well and effectively. And things like baptisms and baptism dates are not under our control for the most part, but the things we do have control over, we have committed to improve. This will be awesome to see things pick up out here after our increased efforts.
We did set another baptism date on Saturday with this 11 year-old kid named Cole. He is part of a less-active family, but they are really encouraging him to make the choice to be baptized. The only thing is with him, though, is that we aren’t going to baptize someone into inactivity. The whole family would need to commit to come back to church and be active, or else Cole would need to commit to coming and have some other members pick him up and bring him to church.
Nate is still where he was when I last talked to you about him. We have been able to go over and teach him, but no progress has been made yet. Louise Smotherman is still on track to be baptized on January 23rd, and we will be meeting with her this evening to make sure everything is still going well and encourage her.
So that is pretty much the main news for this week. The holidays were fun, but I’m glad they are over, so now we can get back to doing effective missionary work, and I can lose the weight I have put on. (I have actually already lost 4.5 lbs since Friday, so that’s great.) I love you very much, and I hope you have a happy and successful week!
Elder Vogan
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