Mon 6/22/09 11:59 AM
I'm glad to hear the Father's Day went well for you, Dad! Yeah, my talk in church went pretty well, except midway through my throat was getting dry, so I was coughing alot. But I will be sending home a couple letters today, one with my talk in it. Jordan, I don't care what you add to the ipod, just don't delete anything. That's crazy that you just barely got that letter from that I wrote a month and a half ago, I wonder why it took so long? Yeah, having the gym down stairs at the Du Charme's has been good, and they even hook me up with a bunch of vitamins and supplements from when their son and daughter worked at a local health food store. It's really nice. And the transfer ends this Wednesday, but as expected, both Elder Vance and I are staying in the Muskego Lakes ward. So that's cool. Oh, and I keep forgetting to say that Brother and Sister Du Charme both do financial planning, and I think they work with the same annuities and investment companies dad does. And another thing that was cool was on Sunday when I met a guy named Mike Moore from the high council in our stake, and he asked me if I was by chance related to any Vogans out in Placerville, CA. And I told him my dad was Jeff Vogan and he grew up there, and he couldn't believe it. He told me to ask my dad if he remembers the guy who used to sit outside the front of the school and read the Book of Mormon, and that was him. I guess he worked with Jim and Laura when they first got married and stuff too. Really small world huh?
Well the highlight of this week was LJ's baptism on Saturday and confirmation yesterday at church! That was cool to see that happen. Elder Vance was asked to baptize him, and his dad confirmed him. I'm sending home a picture that Sister Little took of us at the baptism too. And Nate told us he would be sitting down with his family and picking a baptism date with them last night, so we will be looking foreword to when we hear when that is. We went over to Will and Ashley's apartment last night for dinner, and we had an awesome lesson with them. Alot of the things Will was doubting or not sure about were cleared up, and we could see in his expressions that he was really excited. Ashley has always been the more believing of the two, and I think she might have been doing more of the teaching than Elder Vance or me. Well, when we woke up this morning, we had a text from the member who referred us to them, or them to us, and he had foreworded a text from Will. It was like 8 text pages long saying things like, "I thank God so much that I met you and your family, that you could send the missionaries to us and we could learn how our family can be happy like yours. After the missionaries came over tonight, I really believe that if any church is true, it's Mormon church. It makes so much more sense now." It was a lot longer than that, but that was pretty much what it was saying.
I am having a good time out here; the mission is awesome! I now know what humidity is, it's pretty much like a steam room. Alright well be looking for my letters in the next week or so. Love you! Elder Vogan
Monday, June 22, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
THE CHICAGO TEMPLE & A PRIESTHOOD BLESSING
Mon 6/15/09 8:42 AM
Thank you for all the emails this week, I really enjoyed them! I'm sorry that I won't be able to reply to them though because I have really limited time today. So, I will just say, I'm sorry you were sick for awhile, Mom, and I really hope you are doing better! It's awesome to hear about Hannah's successful, little business too! And it was a lot of fun reading about Jordan's experience with the superactivity, haha. Pretty crazy though too! And I'm glad Dad is still doing alright with business. And I am glad to hear Megan's foot is healing properly, and that she still remembers me! I am so glad I have that cute video of her on my camera from the drive up when she was really happy. Yeah, I heard about that swine flu situation in the MTC. So I guess it was necessary to have the "no handshake" policy when I was there. The whole time I thought it was pretty ridiculous too. But yeah, I love both, emails and letters. Sometimes I won't be able to reply to emails, but so far I've gotten around to replying to the letters I've gotten.
Well there are alot of cool things from this week. Wednesday, Elder Vance went out to his leadership meeting, since he's the district leader; and there, they had men from the missionary department in Salt Lake who came and taught the leaders cool things about effective teaching and obedience, and they promised it would "quadruple the success of our mission". So that was exciting to hear. I learned this week that the Wisconsin Milwaukee mission has the record of being the "hardest" stateside mission, or the one with the least baptisms. At one point the missionaries here were so bad that they almost closed the mission, only a few years ago. But now, with President Barrett, I think we will begin to see a boom here, and this mission will become one of the best. I am really excited to be here at this time.
Our ward, the Muskego Lakes ward, is catching the spirit of missionary work very well. Many people are starting to bring friends to church, and give ideas of how our ward will be better with that. Last night, our ward mission leader, Brother Du Charme, said that the ward is becoming zion-ized through the efforts too. It's awesome! Elder Vance and I actually just moved into the Du Charme's house on Saturday night, and we are living there now. It's been really nice so far! I woke up early this morning, and went down to the basement where they have a nice home gym with a lot of machines and equipment, and worked out. I know we will save a lot of money living there, since they tell us everything is provided, and they don't want us to buy our own food anymore.
Another cool thing we did was go down to the Chicago temple on Saturday. It was awesome! (haha i feel like i have said that too many times in this email) We were invited to go down with a newly activated family we have been teaching, the Littles. Brother Little was receiving his endowment, so all of his family drove out from Snowflake, AZ to be there. I could tell the family was so happy to see their brother and son come back to the church - they were all in tears actually.
And then last night, Sunday night, I had the opportunity to give a blessing for the first time. It was pretty random how it happened. Elder Caldwell actually called me at around 7 and said there was a guy who's girlfriend was really sick, and they wanted her to receive a blessing as soon as possible. Elder Caldwell and his companion still don't have a car, so they asked us to do it, and they were actually in our area anyway. So we went to the house and met Forest and Myra, who had actually just moved in here from Texas and Idaho, both were inactive members of the church. So yeah, I was a bit nervous, not knowing what to say and everything, but the Spirit was very strong in that room, and I guess the words the words that were said gave her alot of comfort, and were similar to the feelings she had felt before the blessing. They didn't want us to leave after that, so we stayed and shared a message with them.
So that is the email for this week - alot of cool and awesome stuff going on! I hope I don't hear anything about Jordan wrecking the truck! I love you! Be good, and do your best to be good missionaries there at home. I really wish I would have done more of that before I came out here. If you could only see how the families of this ward are being strengthened, and the joy that they are experiencing from it. Okay, well I will write again next week! -Elder Vogan
Thank you for all the emails this week, I really enjoyed them! I'm sorry that I won't be able to reply to them though because I have really limited time today. So, I will just say, I'm sorry you were sick for awhile, Mom, and I really hope you are doing better! It's awesome to hear about Hannah's successful, little business too! And it was a lot of fun reading about Jordan's experience with the superactivity, haha. Pretty crazy though too! And I'm glad Dad is still doing alright with business. And I am glad to hear Megan's foot is healing properly, and that she still remembers me! I am so glad I have that cute video of her on my camera from the drive up when she was really happy. Yeah, I heard about that swine flu situation in the MTC. So I guess it was necessary to have the "no handshake" policy when I was there. The whole time I thought it was pretty ridiculous too. But yeah, I love both, emails and letters. Sometimes I won't be able to reply to emails, but so far I've gotten around to replying to the letters I've gotten.
Well there are alot of cool things from this week. Wednesday, Elder Vance went out to his leadership meeting, since he's the district leader; and there, they had men from the missionary department in Salt Lake who came and taught the leaders cool things about effective teaching and obedience, and they promised it would "quadruple the success of our mission". So that was exciting to hear. I learned this week that the Wisconsin Milwaukee mission has the record of being the "hardest" stateside mission, or the one with the least baptisms. At one point the missionaries here were so bad that they almost closed the mission, only a few years ago. But now, with President Barrett, I think we will begin to see a boom here, and this mission will become one of the best. I am really excited to be here at this time.
Our ward, the Muskego Lakes ward, is catching the spirit of missionary work very well. Many people are starting to bring friends to church, and give ideas of how our ward will be better with that. Last night, our ward mission leader, Brother Du Charme, said that the ward is becoming zion-ized through the efforts too. It's awesome! Elder Vance and I actually just moved into the Du Charme's house on Saturday night, and we are living there now. It's been really nice so far! I woke up early this morning, and went down to the basement where they have a nice home gym with a lot of machines and equipment, and worked out. I know we will save a lot of money living there, since they tell us everything is provided, and they don't want us to buy our own food anymore.
Another cool thing we did was go down to the Chicago temple on Saturday. It was awesome! (haha i feel like i have said that too many times in this email) We were invited to go down with a newly activated family we have been teaching, the Littles. Brother Little was receiving his endowment, so all of his family drove out from Snowflake, AZ to be there. I could tell the family was so happy to see their brother and son come back to the church - they were all in tears actually.
And then last night, Sunday night, I had the opportunity to give a blessing for the first time. It was pretty random how it happened. Elder Caldwell actually called me at around 7 and said there was a guy who's girlfriend was really sick, and they wanted her to receive a blessing as soon as possible. Elder Caldwell and his companion still don't have a car, so they asked us to do it, and they were actually in our area anyway. So we went to the house and met Forest and Myra, who had actually just moved in here from Texas and Idaho, both were inactive members of the church. So yeah, I was a bit nervous, not knowing what to say and everything, but the Spirit was very strong in that room, and I guess the words the words that were said gave her alot of comfort, and were similar to the feelings she had felt before the blessing. They didn't want us to leave after that, so we stayed and shared a message with them.
So that is the email for this week - alot of cool and awesome stuff going on! I hope I don't hear anything about Jordan wrecking the truck! I love you! Be good, and do your best to be good missionaries there at home. I really wish I would have done more of that before I came out here. If you could only see how the families of this ward are being strengthened, and the joy that they are experiencing from it. Okay, well I will write again next week! -Elder Vogan
Sunday, June 14, 2009
SAY 'QUESO'!!!
6/14/09Hi Amy,
We took the Elders out for a Mexican meal Friday night and I remembered to bring my camera. So, attached is another picture - actually, I just viewed it and accidently took a video. I'm not sure how I did that but will try to do it next time so that he can say "hi" to you all. I'm afraid the meal wasn't as good as it usually is, but it was nice to eat outside on a beautiful day. We had tostadas civeche (sp?) for an appetizer. It is my favorite. Elder Vogan told us that his father makes it when you are in Mexico. I am so jealous...I would love that recipe. Surprisingly we have quite a large Hispanic population out here, particularly in Waukesha where we had dinner.
The Elders just moved in with a family yesterday. I'm sure he will tell you the details in his own e-mail. Our son is living with a couple. He is still in Paradise Valley with his companion for another transfer, but has been transferred to another ward. He's pretty sure he will remain in that area for the duration. Sounds like he's already making plans for a trip back to AZ to introduce my husband and I to the lovely people out there.
Rest assured, Elder Vogan is well! They have been so helpful to us. The other day they helped us shovel and spread mulch in our garden. Friday they did the same as part of a community project. They are very hard workers! Even my mom commented on their work ethic and she's a pretty tough one since she was raised on a farm. You can be proud:)
Love,
Leslie
We took the Elders out for a Mexican meal Friday night and I remembered to bring my camera. So, attached is another picture - actually, I just viewed it and accidently took a video. I'm not sure how I did that but will try to do it next time so that he can say "hi" to you all. I'm afraid the meal wasn't as good as it usually is, but it was nice to eat outside on a beautiful day. We had tostadas civeche (sp?) for an appetizer. It is my favorite. Elder Vogan told us that his father makes it when you are in Mexico. I am so jealous...I would love that recipe. Surprisingly we have quite a large Hispanic population out here, particularly in Waukesha where we had dinner.
The Elders just moved in with a family yesterday. I'm sure he will tell you the details in his own e-mail. Our son is living with a couple. He is still in Paradise Valley with his companion for another transfer, but has been transferred to another ward. He's pretty sure he will remain in that area for the duration. Sounds like he's already making plans for a trip back to AZ to introduce my husband and I to the lovely people out there.
Rest assured, Elder Vogan is well! They have been so helpful to us. The other day they helped us shovel and spread mulch in our garden. Friday they did the same as part of a community project. They are very hard workers! Even my mom commented on their work ethic and she's a pretty tough one since she was raised on a farm. You can be proud:)
Love,
Leslie
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
A NOTE & PHOTO FROM SISTER MAXWELL
Tue 6/09/09 2:49 PM
HI Amy,
It was exciting to finally get our boy's missionary plaques up last Sunday...hooray! I wanted to tell you that Austin sent home a photo of him and Taylor in front of the Provo temple. It has been so fun to keep up with Taylor on your blog!
Love, Lisa Maxwell
HI Amy,
It was exciting to finally get our boy's missionary plaques up last Sunday...hooray! I wanted to tell you that Austin sent home a photo of him and Taylor in front of the Provo temple. It has been so fun to keep up with Taylor on your blog!
Love, Lisa Maxwell
Monday, June 8, 2009
B-BALL AND DO-RAGS
Mon 6/08/09 11:57 AM
Hey, Thank you, Dad, for checking my debit account for me and adding more in that, im glad it wasn't overdrafting. I will try hard not to use any of it, but its good in case of emergencies. I still haven't gotten Mark's package yet, but I'm still looking for it. I bought a pretty nice used keyboard last Monday for $20, so it's fun to have that to play on at night. If you guys want to send me a package some day, it would be nice to that that Suzanne Ciani piano book I bought awhile back.
Well this week went by really fast. On Monday afternoon we played some basketball with some black guys with do-rags from North Milaukee. It was alot of fun; they were really funny. When it was my turn to sit, a guy named Big D and another guy (forgot his name) also sat for that game, and i got to talk with them about our church. It was funny because they totally knew everything that they did that was wrong, and told me they could be missionaries if they didn't do this and this and this and this. Haha. They all were sure not to swear around us and apologized if they slipped something. But anyway, they were interested in being more religious, and i offered to give them some pass along cards and a Book of Mormon, "but only if they would read it", and they were really interested in reading it, so I gave it to them.
That's really cool that Sister Keir is keeping in touch with you now; she is such a nice lady. We did end up going back over there for dinner on Wednesday and ate the best pizza I have ever had - chicken bacon ranch stuffed pizza. And thank you for telling her i like peanut butter! Now she makes us these awesome peanut butter cookies, and just gave us some more yesterday.
Yesterday was an awesome church day. It seemed that there was twice as many people as normal that came, and several non-members and less active members. It was fast and testimony meeting, so it was perfect for them to feel the power of the testimonies that were borne. There are some guys living out here from Salt Lake City, who are selling security systems, and they are awesome missionaries. They have brought probably 8 to 10 people to church, and we are teaching alot of them. Well, I hope to hear from you guys soon! Hope everything is going well there! I havent taken many pictures since being out here, but I'll start doing that and send some home. Love you! Elder Vogan
Hey, Thank you, Dad, for checking my debit account for me and adding more in that, im glad it wasn't overdrafting. I will try hard not to use any of it, but its good in case of emergencies. I still haven't gotten Mark's package yet, but I'm still looking for it. I bought a pretty nice used keyboard last Monday for $20, so it's fun to have that to play on at night. If you guys want to send me a package some day, it would be nice to that that Suzanne Ciani piano book I bought awhile back.
Well this week went by really fast. On Monday afternoon we played some basketball with some black guys with do-rags from North Milaukee. It was alot of fun; they were really funny. When it was my turn to sit, a guy named Big D and another guy (forgot his name) also sat for that game, and i got to talk with them about our church. It was funny because they totally knew everything that they did that was wrong, and told me they could be missionaries if they didn't do this and this and this and this. Haha. They all were sure not to swear around us and apologized if they slipped something. But anyway, they were interested in being more religious, and i offered to give them some pass along cards and a Book of Mormon, "but only if they would read it", and they were really interested in reading it, so I gave it to them.
That's really cool that Sister Keir is keeping in touch with you now; she is such a nice lady. We did end up going back over there for dinner on Wednesday and ate the best pizza I have ever had - chicken bacon ranch stuffed pizza. And thank you for telling her i like peanut butter! Now she makes us these awesome peanut butter cookies, and just gave us some more yesterday.
Yesterday was an awesome church day. It seemed that there was twice as many people as normal that came, and several non-members and less active members. It was fast and testimony meeting, so it was perfect for them to feel the power of the testimonies that were borne. There are some guys living out here from Salt Lake City, who are selling security systems, and they are awesome missionaries. They have brought probably 8 to 10 people to church, and we are teaching alot of them. Well, I hope to hear from you guys soon! Hope everything is going well there! I havent taken many pictures since being out here, but I'll start doing that and send some home. Love you! Elder Vogan
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
"TEACHING" SISTER KEIR'S DOG
Mon 6/01/09 4:49 PM
Hi Amy,
Just wanted to send a few more pictures of the Elders trying to teach our dog some tricks. The Elders were over on Friday evening. We found out that since it was the end of the month they were out of food, money and mileage. They were full of faith that the Lord would provide...or they would fast:) No worries, they left well fed with t-bones and fresh baked peanut butter cookies. Sent a few frozen pizzas along with them too...just in case.
I'm happy to report that Elder Vogan's black eye is all healed. He related all his mishaps over dinner. Elder Vance was amazed and decided it is a good thing he is the driver:) Sounds like he's going to keep an extra eye on Elder Vogan's safety:)
Anyway, we may see them again on Wednesday. I called them today to make sure they had meals for the week and commented that I didn't see the missionary dinner sign up sheet at church yesterday. They told me the Mission Pres did away with the calendars and someone has been assigned to call members to set up appts for them. In the meantime, they didn't have any appts for this week. Again, they were not concerned and are certainly practicing the commandment to, "Take ye no thought what tomorrow will bring..." They are such faithful servants. I told them to come over tonight if nothing turned up. Well, they ended up with an appt. In the meantime I had called and told my mom and she will have them tomorrow night and us on Wed if no schedule is made.
Rest assured, we will see to it that they are well-nourished.
I hope all is well with you and your family.
Take care!
Leslie
Just wanted to send a few more pictures of the Elders trying to teach our dog some tricks. The Elders were over on Friday evening. We found out that since it was the end of the month they were out of food, money and mileage. They were full of faith that the Lord would provide...or they would fast:) No worries, they left well fed with t-bones and fresh baked peanut butter cookies. Sent a few frozen pizzas along with them too...just in case.
I'm happy to report that Elder Vogan's black eye is all healed. He related all his mishaps over dinner. Elder Vance was amazed and decided it is a good thing he is the driver:) Sounds like he's going to keep an extra eye on Elder Vogan's safety:)
Anyway, we may see them again on Wednesday. I called them today to make sure they had meals for the week and commented that I didn't see the missionary dinner sign up sheet at church yesterday. They told me the Mission Pres did away with the calendars and someone has been assigned to call members to set up appts for them. In the meantime, they didn't have any appts for this week. Again, they were not concerned and are certainly practicing the commandment to, "Take ye no thought what tomorrow will bring..." They are such faithful servants. I told them to come over tonight if nothing turned up. Well, they ended up with an appt. In the meantime I had called and told my mom and she will have them tomorrow night and us on Wed if no schedule is made.
Rest assured, we will see to it that they are well-nourished.
I hope all is well with you and your family.
Take care!
Leslie
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