News from the New Digs

Sept 30, 2013
Hey family!!!!

Well hello from (my new area)! Okay I feel like there's soooo much to talk about. But I'll try to remember everything.

First of all...our area is a little west of my old area. It's probably a 15 min drive I think? But we can still go downtown on P-days if we get permission so that's cool. But here it is more residential. We live in a basement apartment in the middle of a neighborhood. So it's really weird for me. No sirens blazing all night. No apartment buildings. It's fun though. And we are still in a bus area. It's sometimes challenging getting around everywhere. But I LOVE BUS CONTACTING. So I'm glad that I still get to do that. It's still very mutli cultural...thank goodness! But I see a lot more people from Africa, and Jamaica,

New comp is from Washington. She went to BYU before her mish. She's awesome! She is THE SWEETEST GIRL. :) She just finished training. She was in this area beforehand with one of my roommates at the MTC.  It's weird because we don't have the extra hour of study for training. I've never done that before because I've either been in training or I've been training someone else. So it's different but good. I felt bad though because I got here and I HAD NO IDEA WHERE I WAS GOING. And so a lot of responsibility lay on her shoulders in showing me where to go and telling me about the investigators. But now I am getting more and more familiar with the area. Going to a new area, you learn patience. It takes time to get to know the area and the ward. But I'm so excited to be here...and each day I love it more and more!

Investigators. Well I'm still trying to get to know them too. But we are teaching this older man who hopefully will be baptized soon. He's awesome. He calls us every day and he lives in this old folks home. He keeps going back & forth, but he's been taught everything and he is reading and praying every day. He's come to church a couple times. So we'll see what happens.

We have a lot of investigators. There are a lot of people here that are willing to listen to our message but then they get busy or preoccupied and disappear. So we just need to make our investigators more consistent. But we taught a man from Africa last week and he agreed to baptism. We also taught a woman from Africa who was awesome. A 9 yr old girl who has a sister who is a member came to church yesterday. Then we had two other investigators come to church. They've been investigating for quite some time. We had a really good lesson last week on how you don't see signs/ a witness until AFTER a trial of your faith. We think they are expecting something big to happen or something. But I hope that lesson helped. A lot of people we are teaching come from very humble backgrounds. It makes me grateful for all the things that we have been blessed with. It's quite amazing.

Anyways YES I GOT THE PACKAGE. THANK YOOOOOOOOOU! That seriously was like Christmas to me. I love the clothes!!!!!! So thanks Mom! 

Saturday was a spiritually packed day. I got to go to the temple again!!!!!! The Brampton temple is beautiful and I'm so lucky that I've been able to go two times for my mission. If you live more than an hour outside the temple you can't go. So I'm lucky. Loved the new presentation! The temple has such power in it. It was so great to be reminded of the covenants that I've made and to remember my identity as a daughter of God. It was also a great time to sit in the celestial room and think of Grandma Hazel and Grandma Judy. And it was great to put your name on the prayer roll...so hah! Then later that night I got to see the Relief Society Broadcast which was a great blessing. I loved the talks...especially on turning to the Lord. It was such a treat to hear from our prophet. I am SO STOKED for conference! SO STOKED.

I had a sweet experience on transfer day. I got out of the car at the stake center where I was waiting for my ride. All of a sudden I hear..." SISTER OGDEN!!!" I turned around and saw my first comp. I haven't seen her for months. You have no idea how happy I was to see her. She was so happy. Both of us have grown so much since we were together. And how happy I was to share experiences and hear about hers. And get this...my comp's old comp is HER new companion!!!!! Small world. But yeah it was a great moment.

Anyways I better go. Have a great week! I know that this church is true...the longer I've been out the more I come to know that it is. Each day I love it here. And I'm so glad I can serve my brothers and sisters here. Can't wait to tell you more about our investigators and the area! 

Know that I'll be at the funeral in spirit. Send my love to family.