Mon 7/12/10 9:43 AM
Still no baby?! Dang, well I will be anxiously awaiting my next week's emails. That is so sad to hear about Porter Dixon and Sister Miller. Those families will definitely be in my prayers.
I'm glad to hear that Jordan did well on his talk and that last week's story fit right in! I think the maggot detail makes it more interesting too. Well I didn't have anything new like that to talk about this week. But this past week has been really crazy. On Friday, we had zone leader council with our new mission president, and we learned a lot about the new things he will be implementing. There will definitely be a lot of change. Instead of having zone conferences and interviews with President every transfer, it will now only be 4 times a year. But now, we will have 3 zone leader councils each transfer instead of 1. So, it seems like a lot more responsibility falls on our shoulders for the success of the missionaries in our zones. President Jones also told us that he is planning to hold a 4 day mission leadership training in August to teach the leaders and trainers about our new way of doing things. So that's going to be pretty crazy.
Something cool that we did this week was on Thursday evening, we ran a 5k race with one of our investigators and a member. It started right at dusk, and we ran in downtown Milwaukee. It was awesome! The city blocked off the streets that our route was on, and we ran with a couple thousand people. We went in our white shirts, ties, and name tags and then our gym shorts and running shoes so that people could recognize us as missionaries, and many people did. I can't tell you how many people cheered for us as we ran by saying, "Yay, go tie guys!" and stuff like that. It was funny too, going along with Milwaukee tradition, next to the water stands sitting there for us while we were running, there were also beer stands. So, some the runners would run right past the waters and buy a beer to drink while they kept running. It was pretty funny to us. And right at the end of the race, by the finish line, the streets were filled with all the people that ran, and also tons of people who didn't run, and there was a party in the streets. We didn't stay too long, but it was cool having members from different wards around Milwaukee stop us and say hi to us. And our investigator, Patti, and the member, Sister Tyson, thought it was way cool that we came. We hope to keep doing stuff like that.
Well, that's all the interesting news for this week. I will look forward to seeing pictures of little Charli next week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Monday, July 12, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
"WE HELPED SAVE A GUY'S LIFE"
Wed 7/07/10 2:55 PM
Happy Fourth of July and Happy Birthday, Whitney! I was really anxious this week to hear if Whitney had her baby yet, but I guess I'll get to be anxious for another week. Since the Fourth was Sunday, holiday schedule rolled over to Monday, so none of the libraries were open. And yesterday was just really busy, so today we get to email! Thank you so much for the nice birthday card! And thank you Dad for the birthday money - I was able to stock up pretty good on my protein and vitamins and we had a fun couple of times going out to eat. We haven't gone to Chili's yet, but next time we don't have a dinner appointment, we might do that.
Our week has been pretty crazy. Last Monday, later after we emailed, we helped save a guy's life. So, we decided to go out with the missionaries serving in downtown Milwaukee, and we went to a not so well-known beach to play football and hang out. After being there for a bit, we decided to venture through some brush and trees up the beach towards a more public beach. On the way, we were walking through people's private beaches who had their backyards up against Lake Michigan. As we were walking towards a big, concrete, look-out structure covered with graffiti, we saw a guy laying half in and half out of the water. Elder Radle is the one who saw him while a couple of other missionaries walked right past without seeing him laying there. We immediately called 911 and led the fireman and EMT's to the scene when they got to the house who's backyard we were in. It looked like the guy had fallen off the top of the rock structure onto the rocky beach, and he had been laying there for probably 2 days, in shock, hypothermia, with broken bones, and with maggetts eating his skin. He was still conscious though when we found him, so that was good. Since it was a private beach, we are almost positive he would have died soon if we had not decided to walk that way. After he was loaded up and taken up to the street where he was life-flighted, there were news crews there to interview us. We all just let Elder Radle do it, since he was the one who found the guy. So that's another cool mission story to remember. I'm glad we were able to be led to that guy before it was too late.
It is interesting to have President Barrett gone and to have a new mission president - President Jones. I'm not sure what to think yet, but I'm confident he'll do well. Fourth of July for us was sweet! (actually celebrated on the 3rd here) We went to the beach with a semi-recent-convert, part-member family and had a fun BBQ. We set up some beach chairs in the sand and watch the fireworks. Sunday went well too. Angela (lady we found at the bus stop) was at church and loved it, and we also had Patti there. She has been to church several times, but she is just hard to set up times to teach.
But yeah, everything else is going well here! Thank you for your prayers, and I'll be praying for you guys - especially Whitney!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Happy Fourth of July and Happy Birthday, Whitney! I was really anxious this week to hear if Whitney had her baby yet, but I guess I'll get to be anxious for another week. Since the Fourth was Sunday, holiday schedule rolled over to Monday, so none of the libraries were open. And yesterday was just really busy, so today we get to email! Thank you so much for the nice birthday card! And thank you Dad for the birthday money - I was able to stock up pretty good on my protein and vitamins and we had a fun couple of times going out to eat. We haven't gone to Chili's yet, but next time we don't have a dinner appointment, we might do that.
Our week has been pretty crazy. Last Monday, later after we emailed, we helped save a guy's life. So, we decided to go out with the missionaries serving in downtown Milwaukee, and we went to a not so well-known beach to play football and hang out. After being there for a bit, we decided to venture through some brush and trees up the beach towards a more public beach. On the way, we were walking through people's private beaches who had their backyards up against Lake Michigan. As we were walking towards a big, concrete, look-out structure covered with graffiti, we saw a guy laying half in and half out of the water. Elder Radle is the one who saw him while a couple of other missionaries walked right past without seeing him laying there. We immediately called 911 and led the fireman and EMT's to the scene when they got to the house who's backyard we were in. It looked like the guy had fallen off the top of the rock structure onto the rocky beach, and he had been laying there for probably 2 days, in shock, hypothermia, with broken bones, and with maggetts eating his skin. He was still conscious though when we found him, so that was good. Since it was a private beach, we are almost positive he would have died soon if we had not decided to walk that way. After he was loaded up and taken up to the street where he was life-flighted, there were news crews there to interview us. We all just let Elder Radle do it, since he was the one who found the guy. So that's another cool mission story to remember. I'm glad we were able to be led to that guy before it was too late.
It is interesting to have President Barrett gone and to have a new mission president - President Jones. I'm not sure what to think yet, but I'm confident he'll do well. Fourth of July for us was sweet! (actually celebrated on the 3rd here) We went to the beach with a semi-recent-convert, part-member family and had a fun BBQ. We set up some beach chairs in the sand and watch the fireworks. Sunday went well too. Angela (lady we found at the bus stop) was at church and loved it, and we also had Patti there. She has been to church several times, but she is just hard to set up times to teach.
But yeah, everything else is going well here! Thank you for your prayers, and I'll be praying for you guys - especially Whitney!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
BIRTHDAY WISHES FOR A 21 YEAR OLD
Mon 6/28/10 9:18 AM
Hey,
Thank you for the birthday wishes! And for the money, Dad! I will be looking for the card too! That's awesome to hear about Jordan's leadership skills and studliness - no surprise at all! I hope Whitney keeps doing well and that EFY goes well for Hannah!
This last week was pretty crazy for us. We were really low on miles, so we've been living with the city elders on the lake front - really cool area. It's been a little cramped though living in a studio apartment with four of us. We have our car parked and we have just been busing to the people on the east side of our area. There are hardly any buses that run on the west side, and most of the people that we see live on the east side. We were able to spend a lot more time working in our area this week. We actually found a new investigator and set a date with her during our first lesson with her this week. Her name is Angela, and we met her at a bus stop. So that was cool. Also, since we were already living with other missionaries, we had plenty of time to do exchanges with them and the two other sets of missionaries in the downtown city area. Also, preparing for President Barrett to leave and mission tour with our new mission president is crazy. President and Sister Jones fly in to Wisconsin tomorrow evening and President and Sister Barrett leave Wednesday morning. We will get to meet President Jones on Wednesday at mission tour!
Mom, you asked if I like being zone leader more than district leader. It's alot different. Zone leader is definitely a bigger responsibility, and so far we have had to deal with some 'drama' from some missionaries in this area that i never had to as district leader. The area where I was district leader - Rapids - was a nice area, and the district didn't have many problems at all. This zone that we are in is known to always have problems with disobedience of missionaries and companion struggles. President is counting on Elder Radle and I to clean it up. I can see why there are problems here. There are so many distractions in the city, and there are so many ways to be disobedient, so many ways to lose focus on what we are here to do. So to answer your question, it does depend on the area where we serve, but i like being zone leader because it forces me to grow and improve even more so i can be an example and help the missionaries in my stewardship. It's not something i aspire to though.
But thank you again for the emails! I'm glad Father's Day went well last week, Dad! (I hope you got my card). I'm excited to go eat some cheesecake factory for my birthday! And then go to GNC and buy some protein!
I love you!
Elder Vogan
Hey,
Thank you for the birthday wishes! And for the money, Dad! I will be looking for the card too! That's awesome to hear about Jordan's leadership skills and studliness - no surprise at all! I hope Whitney keeps doing well and that EFY goes well for Hannah!
This last week was pretty crazy for us. We were really low on miles, so we've been living with the city elders on the lake front - really cool area. It's been a little cramped though living in a studio apartment with four of us. We have our car parked and we have just been busing to the people on the east side of our area. There are hardly any buses that run on the west side, and most of the people that we see live on the east side. We were able to spend a lot more time working in our area this week. We actually found a new investigator and set a date with her during our first lesson with her this week. Her name is Angela, and we met her at a bus stop. So that was cool. Also, since we were already living with other missionaries, we had plenty of time to do exchanges with them and the two other sets of missionaries in the downtown city area. Also, preparing for President Barrett to leave and mission tour with our new mission president is crazy. President and Sister Jones fly in to Wisconsin tomorrow evening and President and Sister Barrett leave Wednesday morning. We will get to meet President Jones on Wednesday at mission tour!
Mom, you asked if I like being zone leader more than district leader. It's alot different. Zone leader is definitely a bigger responsibility, and so far we have had to deal with some 'drama' from some missionaries in this area that i never had to as district leader. The area where I was district leader - Rapids - was a nice area, and the district didn't have many problems at all. This zone that we are in is known to always have problems with disobedience of missionaries and companion struggles. President is counting on Elder Radle and I to clean it up. I can see why there are problems here. There are so many distractions in the city, and there are so many ways to be disobedient, so many ways to lose focus on what we are here to do. So to answer your question, it does depend on the area where we serve, but i like being zone leader because it forces me to grow and improve even more so i can be an example and help the missionaries in my stewardship. It's not something i aspire to though.
But thank you again for the emails! I'm glad Father's Day went well last week, Dad! (I hope you got my card). I'm excited to go eat some cheesecake factory for my birthday! And then go to GNC and buy some protein!
I love you!
Elder Vogan
Monday, June 21, 2010
CIRCUIT TRAINING THE RELIEF SOCIETY SISTERS
Mon 6/21/10 9:36 AM
Family,
Everything is going great here in Milwaukee! We had a lot going on last week with exchanges and leadership meeting on Friday. We are doing well with helping other missionaries on exchanges, but we feel like we are lacking a bit in our own area. So, our goal now is to find that balance of giving diligent and effective help to the other areas and still spending time in our area finding and teaching. We are also focusing on building stronger relationships with the ward members, especially auxiliary leaders. The relief society activity that we helped out with on Tuesday was great for building our relationships. That was the activity that they had me teach and train everyone on exercising with things at home. We went in the cultural hall and had a circuit for all the women and some of the young women who came too. A lot more people were there than expected too - probably 35 or 40. It was a lot of fun!
I am excited to hear about Whitney! I'm sure everyone is getting ready for the new addition. That's cool to hear about Breann and Ben's wedding and everyone going to it. I hope everyone is doing well. I heard from Preston, and that was really good. I'll be sure to write Chantell either today or tomorrow. For my birthday, you don't need to send anything. I might use my home account to buy some new shirts and socks.
Thank you for everything! I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Family,
Everything is going great here in Milwaukee! We had a lot going on last week with exchanges and leadership meeting on Friday. We are doing well with helping other missionaries on exchanges, but we feel like we are lacking a bit in our own area. So, our goal now is to find that balance of giving diligent and effective help to the other areas and still spending time in our area finding and teaching. We are also focusing on building stronger relationships with the ward members, especially auxiliary leaders. The relief society activity that we helped out with on Tuesday was great for building our relationships. That was the activity that they had me teach and train everyone on exercising with things at home. We went in the cultural hall and had a circuit for all the women and some of the young women who came too. A lot more people were there than expected too - probably 35 or 40. It was a lot of fun!
I am excited to hear about Whitney! I'm sure everyone is getting ready for the new addition. That's cool to hear about Breann and Ben's wedding and everyone going to it. I hope everyone is doing well. I heard from Preston, and that was really good. I'll be sure to write Chantell either today or tomorrow. For my birthday, you don't need to send anything. I might use my home account to buy some new shirts and socks.
Thank you for everything! I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Monday, June 14, 2010
"WHO ARE THOSE GUYS? WHY DOES SHE WANT A PICTURE WITH THEM?"
Mon 6/14/10 11:25 AM
Mom,
I am glad things are well and that you enjoyed Girls Camp! It's also awesome to hear about Jordan's friend, Pete. That will be a great experience for Jordan to be a missionary to him. He mentioned his name once in his last letter to me, but he didn't tell me anything about him. I'm glad Megan has a good routine for the summer that let's you relax a little. (hopefully)
This past week went pretty okay. Nothing really too new to talk about. We were able to get to know alot of the members this week, and we are working with them to have appointments at their houses and take them on splits and stuff. We had a pretty fun exchange this weekend again in the city. The Blue Angels were having a three-day air show on the waterfront on Lake Michigan, and there were thousands of people there from all over. We were able to talk to alot of people. On Saturday, the fog was too thick for the jets to fly, but most of the people still hung around by the beach. We took a break to skip some rocks (which we found out was a great 'finding' activity). While we were doing that, this really cute girl came up and asked to get her picture taken with us. She was a recent convert from North Carolina, and she was just down for the day, and she loves missionaries. So she got a picture with us on her camera, and then I got a picture with my camera too. haha. It was great though because then the hundreds of people who saw that are thinkin', "What, who are those guys? Why did she want a picture with them?"
Another cool thing, I found out yesterday that all went well in Wisconsin Rapids with Britney and Joe! They were both baptized and had great support from the ward! That was so good to hear. I'm going to send them a card.
Well, I really can't think of much else to write. So, have a great week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
Mom,
I am glad things are well and that you enjoyed Girls Camp! It's also awesome to hear about Jordan's friend, Pete. That will be a great experience for Jordan to be a missionary to him. He mentioned his name once in his last letter to me, but he didn't tell me anything about him. I'm glad Megan has a good routine for the summer that let's you relax a little. (hopefully)
This past week went pretty okay. Nothing really too new to talk about. We were able to get to know alot of the members this week, and we are working with them to have appointments at their houses and take them on splits and stuff. We had a pretty fun exchange this weekend again in the city. The Blue Angels were having a three-day air show on the waterfront on Lake Michigan, and there were thousands of people there from all over. We were able to talk to alot of people. On Saturday, the fog was too thick for the jets to fly, but most of the people still hung around by the beach. We took a break to skip some rocks (which we found out was a great 'finding' activity). While we were doing that, this really cute girl came up and asked to get her picture taken with us. She was a recent convert from North Carolina, and she was just down for the day, and she loves missionaries. So she got a picture with us on her camera, and then I got a picture with my camera too. haha. It was great though because then the hundreds of people who saw that are thinkin', "What, who are those guys? Why did she want a picture with them?"
Another cool thing, I found out yesterday that all went well in Wisconsin Rapids with Britney and Joe! They were both baptized and had great support from the ward! That was so good to hear. I'm going to send them a card.
Well, I really can't think of much else to write. So, have a great week!
Love,
Elder Vogan
THE CITY IS SWEET!
Mon 6/07/10 9:35 AM
Hello family,
So, I didn't hear from anyone this week on my email, so hopefully all is well! I did get the awesome package you sent. Thank you so much for the good music! I'm eating the candy slowly but surely. I have to be more hardcore than ever on my diet now to support Elder Radle with his weight loss goals. He started his mission at 310 lbs. and now he is down to 276 lbs. I told him that he'll have a six-pack before we are done together, so hopefully we will stay together more than 6 weeks or he'll be losing a lot of weight really fast. Just with me, so far, he's lost about 15 lbs. And so now, because someone from the Relief Society found out I used to do a little bit of personal training, they are going to have me teach a workout class for the Relief Society activity next Tuesday. Haha, that will be fun.
The City is sweet! I feel like this area is a big reason why I was called to this mission. It is really fun, and almost too easy to find people to teach and come to church here. The ward is awesome too. Most of the ward is filled with young couples and families from out west here to work for Kohl's at headquarters or at medical school at UWM. So, most of the men in the ward are young return missionaries still excited about missionary work. At church this week, we had two awesome guys come: Khalid and Kartone. They are both in their early 20's. We actually set a baptism date with Khalid last week, and Kartone may end up being baptized the same day: July 3rd. Kartone was planning to just stay for sacrament meeting, but he loved it so much that he cancelled his plans and stayed for "one more". And then after the second class, which he liked even better, he chose to stay for the whole thing. They both felt the Spirit as strong as I know anyone has felt it. During the last hour, Elder Radle and I chose just to teach them in the foyer and we realized even more how much they enjoyed it. They have both grown up in the roughest part of Milwaukee. Khalid's brother even got shot a few years back to protect his sister. He got shot in the throught, so he is paralized now. But during our meeting with them, they were talking about how baptism is a really serious thing, and if they do that they can't go back to their old way of life. If you can imagine Ludacris (Kartone) bearing testimony about following Christ, that's exactly how it seemed. It was the coolest thing ever! Because Kartone knows how serious a covenant is with God, he didn't want to say for sure that he will be baptized yet, but as he continues to be exposed to that Spirit of our message, I know he will be. He even said a really great, sincere prayer after our gospel principles class that blew Khalid's mind. We were all surprised that he even came to church.
But yeah, I think that's it for this week, because the other elders are waiting on me. But I love you, and I hope you have a wonderful week!
Elder Vogan
Hello family,
So, I didn't hear from anyone this week on my email, so hopefully all is well! I did get the awesome package you sent. Thank you so much for the good music! I'm eating the candy slowly but surely. I have to be more hardcore than ever on my diet now to support Elder Radle with his weight loss goals. He started his mission at 310 lbs. and now he is down to 276 lbs. I told him that he'll have a six-pack before we are done together, so hopefully we will stay together more than 6 weeks or he'll be losing a lot of weight really fast. Just with me, so far, he's lost about 15 lbs. And so now, because someone from the Relief Society found out I used to do a little bit of personal training, they are going to have me teach a workout class for the Relief Society activity next Tuesday. Haha, that will be fun.
The City is sweet! I feel like this area is a big reason why I was called to this mission. It is really fun, and almost too easy to find people to teach and come to church here. The ward is awesome too. Most of the ward is filled with young couples and families from out west here to work for Kohl's at headquarters or at medical school at UWM. So, most of the men in the ward are young return missionaries still excited about missionary work. At church this week, we had two awesome guys come: Khalid and Kartone. They are both in their early 20's. We actually set a baptism date with Khalid last week, and Kartone may end up being baptized the same day: July 3rd. Kartone was planning to just stay for sacrament meeting, but he loved it so much that he cancelled his plans and stayed for "one more". And then after the second class, which he liked even better, he chose to stay for the whole thing. They both felt the Spirit as strong as I know anyone has felt it. During the last hour, Elder Radle and I chose just to teach them in the foyer and we realized even more how much they enjoyed it. They have both grown up in the roughest part of Milwaukee. Khalid's brother even got shot a few years back to protect his sister. He got shot in the throught, so he is paralized now. But during our meeting with them, they were talking about how baptism is a really serious thing, and if they do that they can't go back to their old way of life. If you can imagine Ludacris (Kartone) bearing testimony about following Christ, that's exactly how it seemed. It was the coolest thing ever! Because Kartone knows how serious a covenant is with God, he didn't want to say for sure that he will be baptized yet, but as he continues to be exposed to that Spirit of our message, I know he will be. He even said a really great, sincere prayer after our gospel principles class that blew Khalid's mind. We were all surprised that he even came to church.
But yeah, I think that's it for this week, because the other elders are waiting on me. But I love you, and I hope you have a wonderful week!
Elder Vogan
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