5/20/14
Hello!
Hope you all had an amazing, terrific, uplifting, exciting week! I'm excited to
write to you today!
So
as you know yesterday was Victoria Day...a holiday to celebrate Queen Victoria
Yesterday
was a Day of Service for us. Lately we've been serving a lot of people..We've
been especially helping a less active family with their yard, as well as a few
members’yards who aren't physically well. We've been seeing good things from
service here and it makes me happy!
Like...the
one less active family we've been serving has become really close to us. It's a
part member family, and the wife is a member.
It was awesome because a few weeks before, her
husband's parents were there and they were asking
questions about our church. We gave them a Book of Mormon (actually Annie it
was one that had YOUR testimony on it) and the dad accepted. We thought we
wouldn't see them again. WRONG! Last week we saw them AGAIN. And we felt really
strongly impressed to watch The
Restoration Video....so we asked and they said we could and we watched it! It
was really good! You COULD NOT DENY the Spirit. Both of them said
they liked it. And they want another movie night this week. So we'll
see....Seeds are being planted!
THEN...yesterday we were serving a member who has fibromyalgia
(can’t sp?) and so we were helping her out and her brother-in-law was there.
He wanted to "talk religion" with us. He was
pretty brutal with this member when she first joined the church. He was pretty respectful to us. But we had a good talk. He
mentioned a few things but we were able to be led to know what to say. You
know, I don't know EVERYTHING in the world...but I'm so grateful God
gave us the Book of Mormon to be that witness that His Gospel is restored.
Everything we believe about the Restoration lies on the Book of Mormon; it's true or it isn't. And
many, including myself have come to know that it is TRUE. And we can't deny it!
It's amazing how any concern can be resolved through that book.(And that guy hasn't
read it yet) I'm so grateful for it. I hope that he remembers our conversation
and he takes it to heart one day.
Updates on people!
So on a sad note...(investigator) is struggling. Didn't come to church
without even telling us! Yesterday we had a really intense lesson because he
just isn't progressing...he told us some struggles he's
having. So that's
good he is being honest with us now. But we reset some expectations and we're
going to try to help him out. We'll see what happens. It's breaking our hearts
though...I'm mean my comp has known him since January and so it's really
hard.
But...moving on to better things...we are teaching someone new! He was found downtown. We had a first lesson with him last
weekend. It was probably one of the weirdest lessons ever. We were teaching him
in this kitchen that he shares with other tenants. And all of a sudden there's
this guy that comes in who has a long beard...is tall....and he's white but he
sounds Jamaican. In the middle of our lesson he was like, "Are you
spiritual?" Then he started mumbling about "women power" and then
he starts SINGING! We just sit there for like five min so awkwardly and didn't
know what to do. Then he left...then he came back like two more times and then
he did the same thing. Oh man. But anyways...it was an interesting lesson. haha.
BUT despite the weird lesson he came to church! This guy has made a
bunch of changes in his life. He used to be pretty wild...got in a lot of
trouble...but a car accident really changed everything. He said that the last
ten years he's been getting his life back in order. He's a sweet guy. He
read from the Book of Mormon a little which we were so happy about! So we'll
see what happens.
My favorite part with him was in church. After sacrament
meeting we were talking to him outside in the hall and all of a sudden a branch member comes up. "Hey there! How are you?"
"I'm Good..."
"Do You remember me?"
"hmmmm....no?"
"I'm a police officer"
Then our investigator's face changed. "Oh. Oh oh yeah...." he
starts getting all embarrassed.
Apparently he had gotten in trouble with the member in the past.
Small world. It was pretty ironic....and it was just really funny. But the member was nice to him and said it was good that he was there. So yeah...
Anyways last thing I'll share is we were on our way walking to
the hospital to see (investigator). There was this woman gardening...and we are supposed
to talk to EVERYONE. We offer service to people but they usually reject us.
Well...I was just like, "I'll just ask and then we'll be on our
way..." I wasn't expecting anything. But when we did she said, "How
much do you pay?" And we said FREE! So we ended up gardening for this poor
woman who just found out her husband has three months to live. She's not in
good health either...she got in a car wreck that has left her with a really bad
back. So we were so happy to help! It was one of those moments I felt that God
had placed us in a path of someone who needed us. We helped her out big time
and her neighbors came and talked to us. Afterwards we wanted to invite her to learn about the gospel. But before we
could do that she told us she wasn't religious at all....we felt we needed to
not push it on her. I hope that in the future months missionaries can
help her and come back and try again though. But
hopefully our service has softened her heart a little more.
Well I best be going but I love you all. I'm so grateful to be
here. And although there are stressful moments, there are moments that I
wouldn't give up for the world here! I love the little miracles that happen
every day. I am so grateful for prayer...and I felt like a lot of my prayers
have been answered as of recent. Lately it's been hitting me how indebted I am
to my God for all that He's given me. I'm trying to finish the Book of Mormon again
before I end my mission and I'm in Mosiah now and I love King Benjamin's words
about gratitude. Even if we were righteous all of our lives....we still couldn't
repay God for all that He has given and done for us. What are we doing to show
that appreciation?
Anyways have a good week!
With love,
Sister Ogden
 |
Viva Las Hermanas! |
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