The Gospel Changes Lives. It's Changing Me.

7/28/14

How is it going? It's going ​great over here! Seems like summer is just whizzing by. So weird.  Missions are the best! 

Things are AWESOME! We are always so busy I don't even know where to start. I love the city… there​ are so many people from everywhere...And most of them are very nice. I love the ward and it's just really nice to know a lot of people already...And it means a lot to me to that most of the members remembered me. 

We have A LOT of people we are working with, including people from Jamaica (multiple people), Pakistan, Brazil, Russia, Grenada, and Italy, as well as other places. I love the diversity of the city. 

First of all...unfortunately we went to go see (name) one day and a woman there said that he was at the hospital. So we ran over to the hospital and visited him. He's doing a lot better now....but I guess he's just not very healthy physically or emotionally. He was REALLY happy to see us...he keeps calling us and telling us how much it meant to him that we went and visited him. I've realized I've spent a lot of time on my mission in the hospital. But I'm glad we could brighten his day.  

We are working with a family​ right now...The mother and one of the daughters is baptized. So we are teaching their 19 yr old and their 14 year old. They are doing so well! The girl is telling all her young women​ leaders that she is going to be baptized! She told us the other day that she feels ready for this. YAAAAYYYY!!!! She's so cute. She has a lot of youth friends and leader friends in the ward so it's going well. The young man is a little hesitant. But we're trying to work with him. I love their family. They are very very nice. 

I met (name) for the first time last week. He's been meeting with the missionaries and he's super funny. (He said that the elders look like secret agents and he identified them as people who "dressed really really nice") He is very curious about the church. He feels that the Book of Mormon is a true book​, which is really neat. He is in a wheelchair and so he can't move around a lot due to his disability. But he is so positive! He's a really cool guy! I'm excited to get to know him more.My comp said that he wants to be baptized but due to his circumstances we'd have to get a hold of this one member who has a swimming pool and see if he could be baptized in that. Pretty crazy! 

(name) has been investigating for a long time, she's been taught everything, etc. So it's time that we try to see what she is expecting to do right now....

The last investigator I want to talk about is (name). She is so amazing. ​​She has had a really hard and upsetting past....she is one of those people ​who is so innocent, yet horrible things have happened to her. But the gospel is changing her. We talked to her about baptism...and she accepted a baptism date! YAY! She's been reading the Book of Mormon and has been LOVING it. I love her sharing her experiences and what she's learned from it. A great miracle we had with her is that we brought a member with us last minute to her lesson. But ​she and the member just started talking...and then she opened up and just told this member her life story...and the member understood because SHE experienced similar experiences. Experiences I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT BEFORE.  It was amazing to see how similar the member was to her, and the member testified of the church and how it helped her and just started opening up on what she could to do to move on. The member could help her with personal matters that we could not. It was amazing. I know that God places people in our paths for a reason. I know that members play an important role in one's conversion. The spirit was SO strong that night. I just remember sitting there and I just felt so much love for her....SO MUCH love. I hurt from what had happened to her but I just knew that God had placed us in her path to help her. I know it. And I just could see her not ​as who she was at the moment​, but how different and ​how much happier she would be as she continued down this path. It was amazing. She came to church despite the fact that she went to bed at 5am. She was so friendly with the ward members and they were friendly with her. She participated in all our classes and it was just so cool. In sacrament meeting the choir  (+ missionaries) sang "Be Still My Soul" to the congregation. I just remember looking up and saw her and she just broke down. I almost wanted to break down with her. I LOVE THAT SONG! I know that God really is on our side and that no matter what we go through it will be worth it in the end. 

So...my comp is awesome. The end.  But really. So I forgot to tell you that first of all...she played soccer in college. (Go us for college sports!) Maybe I did tell you that but I can't remember. BUT...guess where she played? In IOWA!!!! haha. So there you go Morg I can get all the details on what happens in Iowa for you! She loves it there! Coincidence?​? She was excited when I told her that I had a brother going on a mission there. But we have ​so much fun together....it's awesome because we work hard....(so hard we hit the pillow almost dead every night) But then we have fun too! Love her to death! 

So unlike my other areas, in this ward there are three sets of missionaries. There are elders from two different areas, plus us. THEN there is a spanish ward​,​ so there is one set of sisters and one set of elders that speak spanish. I forgot to mention that we also are teaching ESL here. It's fun! I haven't taught ESL​ in forever so I'm pretty rusty but I like it....I'm defin​itely brushing up on my spanish skills. haha. But yeah there are a lot of missionaries around here. ​It's great.​

Anyways, I better go but have a great week! I love you all! I'm so grateful for my mission. This morning I was cleaning and organizing some stuff and I found a copy of my call letter. I read over it and I just felt so GRATEFUL to be here and I just remember how I felt when I first received it. I know that I'm here for a reason and I just love it here. I really do. The gospel is REAL. It changes lives. It's changing me. I know that God really does love and know His children. And I know that the work is moving forward. Great things are happening here! 

Love you all!

Sister Ogden 

Pioneer Pizza Planning Party!

To Celebrate Pioneer Day, We Had a Picture Perfect Pepperoni Pizza Pioneer Planning Party!

Pics - Happy Canada Day!

New Area, New Adventures!

7/21/14

Heeelllooooo from my new area! Man this week has been crazy but good. I don't even know where to start! 

Well first of all...we are a few bus rides from my old area of last year. And they just changed it so we don't have any boundaries really...except for our ward boundaries​, whereas before you had specific boundaries in the ward where you had to stay within. So if we find time I can go to my old area and visit people. I really like it because it's very similar to my earlier area...but most of the time we are in a different part of the city so it's new at the same time. At first I was pretty rusty at bus contacting...but I'm getting in the groove of it again. Man it's crazy when you go from farmland to city Toronto where there's a bizillion people everywhere. But I love it! It's really weird to be in the same ward again. hahaha. Yesterday at church it was the best because some members looked at me and said, "Do I know you?" And then other members that I grew close to I got to see and that was super duper fun! I feel like I just time warped back to a year ago. (But I don't mind :)  ) 

My new companion is AMAAZING! This is her third transfer here in the mission and she just finished training. She's 19 years old. She played soccer at a college and so we go running together every morning and it's awesome! She is such a sweetheart and it's pretty weird how similar we are....she reminds me of myself a lot. ​ She's out here for the right reasons I can tell you that.   I just have to say this...but Morg....I know you are going on a mission and all that...but I kinda wanna give her your email. haha. :) Just to warn you! 

So we are teaching a LOT of people....It's super weird because a few weeks ago my comp and her previous companion picked up (name)...THE SAME guy that I taught when I was here before. It was fun to see him. But at the same time it was a little hard actually because you can tell that he is going downhill...his voice is more shaky and he's more weak than he was and it's only been a few months. So that didn't make me happy. But he still wants to come to church and he agreed to be baptized. So let's hope all goes well! 

We are also teaching another investigator I taught. ​We are at a loss of how to help her...I really don't know what to do. She's been taught everything. And she almost got baptized in April...but then she due to a commandment issue she didn't do it. But she got SO CLOSE. So now we are trying to get her another date. Wish us luck! 

There's a family we are working with as well. The mother got baptized several months ago and her daughter did as well. We are now working with her other children. The daughter has a date but she's not sure of it because she hasn't received an answer yet that she should. But they go to church and are solid. We are teaching them at a FHE tonight...I'm so excited to get to know them better because I really don't know them very well. 

There are so many good things happening​, I don't know where to start. We've just been super busy. We randomly invited someone on the street to come to church...AND HE DID! (But we were running around so I'm not sure if he liked it or not but he agreed next Sunday we could share more of our message with him) We saw a lady who​m we taught and baptized last December and she's doing very very well! She goes to sacrament meeting EVERY WEEK. But we went over and talked to her about baptisms for the dead and she said that she'd like to go next time. :) YAY! The elders can't see her as much because she's a single female so I think she appreciated the visit. It's awesome to see those you know progress and do well! She's a cutie!

Unfortunately​, (names) weren't there. But don't worry...we are going to make sure we get them back! They all know I'm here so hopefully we can get good things to happen. Oh and since the elders struggle with teaching females, we are going to be visiting (names)!!!! So excited to see them again...(name) is awesome.

I forgot to mention we went on exchanges last Saturday. Yeah the Sister Training Leaders called us and said that we're going on exchanges...and so we were the first companionship to exchange with them. So I went on my last exchange to Missisauga North. Because it was my last exchange I wanted it to be good. And it was.

 It was just really fun to get to work with Sister (name) and learn from her. We saw some miracles...we taught this man from Poland. He got in an accident which took away his career, his health, everything. He told us he didn't know if God loved him. And we testified that He did. I know that God loves him. I could feel it. By the end...he mentioned that we had helped. It was a tender experience that I'll always remember. That is something I love on my mission....to feel love for people you don't even know. But you love them anyways.

The STL and I had cool experience because she's going home a transfer after me. We were able to open up about how we felt about the whole thing. In the end...we were able to give insights that the other needed. I felt like I needed to share a sacred experience that I had  had on my mission with her...at first I hesitated because I haven't told many people about it but then eventually I told it to her...Afterwards she thanked me for that and told me she needed to hear that. Man...it was cool...so many miracles and experiences you treasure on your mission. gotta love it! :) 

How To Lessons from the Book of Mormon

7/14/14

Hey everybody!!!!

Wow... I don't know even what to say other than I can't believe that I am being transferred and I'm going back to the Toronto area my last 6 weeks of my mission. I feel so many mixed feelings. I LOVE this town and it was so sad because yesterday we were teaching the sunday school lesson and I just thought to myself, "I wouldn't mind being here this next transfer. I just love everyone..." I just love everyone here from the members to the investigators to my amazing companion who has taught me SO MUCH.  BUT...then another part of me is so excited to see everyone again in (city) and I just love that ward and area and I'm so excited to work with my new companion. So I'm just a roller coaster over here. And there's SO MUCH to do...we have to clean and pack and say goodbyes and it is just INSANE!  And we have to leave here TONIGHT to drive to Brampton. YIKES! So we have about six hours to get everything done....wish us luck! Adventures! 

I can't believe you were across the Lake/border from me. Sooooo weird. But yeah Lake Ontario is HUGE. I love it because it reminds me of the ocean. It's so pretty here. 

So this week was pretty good...We were trying really hard to rebuild the area because as you know we don't have a lot of people to teach. We found some potentials...but it's a little bit of a struggle. 

We had a good lesson with (names). We just set expectations and asked some inspired questions to see their concerns for baptism. (Name) testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon...how it lifts his soul and how he KNOWS its truth...(That's probably ONE of my favorite things to witness on my mission is people gaining that testimony of the Book of Mormon) Still he feels that his baptism was good enough for God and he is comfortable on the way HE worships....but he told us he'd pray to see if our Church is True. We talked about the different ways that answers come. I really hope he gets an answer. But I know it's according to God's timing and not mine. (Name) said that he'd pray and ask God if he should be baptized. So I guess the sisters will see what will come of that. 

We also got to see (name) this last week. We taught her the restoration. She's already read 13 pg of the book of mormon on her own...It's AWESOME!!!! It's actually really cool because the other day the elders ran into her immediate family and they are actually teaching her step dad right now. So we are just praying that if we work with the Elders....hopefully hearts will soften and she will be able to be baptized. I hope it works out she is a sweetheart! 

(Name) is doing very well. She set a date for baptisms for the dead this September so we'll see how that goes. BUT she hasn't been to church for the last two weeks now because she's been sick and I guess I'm worried that she'll fall off the map. I'm really hoping that isn't the case. I hope the sisters will watch over her. I love her and she's come soooooo far. So so far. So I hope God can continue to watch over her and help her. 

Anyways I probably should go. Sorry my mind is going a million miles a minute. BUT...I guess I'll end saying that I know that this is God's work. I'm SO grateful for the Book of Mormon. I don't think I'll ever be able to count the numberless ways that God has communicated to me through that book. It's cool because I remember in my first few months of my mission I read about Alma and Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah and they taught me so much what it means to be a humble, obedient, and powerful servant of the Lord. But it's even COOLER to read about them near the end of my mission and learn completely different lessons and views on what it means to be called of God. I feel like I understand them better. It has been so powerful to read about these men and how they completely lost themselves serving their fellowmen. I know that they weren't made great men because they were naturally gifted...but they were great because God made them great not for just their welfare but the welfare of thousands of lives. It's been powerful to read of their hard tr​ials and experiences and how they had to persevere and keep going....they had "hard areas"....The harsh and argumentative language that was spoken to them sounds very familiar to what gets said to me now and again....And they have people that they meet and influence that they love dearly and will never ever forget....I'm so grateful for my mission to be here. I hope that although I'm not Aaron or Omner or Himni...I hope that I can be an instrument to bring people to joy and light and truth. 

On to new adventures!

Sister Ogden

Happy Birthday, America and Canada!

7/6/14

I LOVE MY FAMILY! Brother, Sister, Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins! Looks beautiful at the cabin and in the mountains. 

Canada Day was really fun! We visited some less actives and shared a Canada Day Message with them (see D&C 100) and then we went to a branch activity. (Names) came which was good. We played a little bit of softball and ate some food. At night after we planned we saw fireworks out our window and get this we ​also ​saw FIREFLIES!!!! Happy Canada Day! 

For my July 4^th we sang the national anthem in the car as we drove to Kingston to meet our new mission president for the first time. President and Sister C are both very very nice. The meeting that we had with them was very spiritual and I'm really grateful for the special spirit that was there. President briefly interviewed/met with all the missionaries in our zone. When he met with me, it was a very short visit. But...I had a really really really cool experience with him. All I can say is that in the few minutes we had, he said some things that I NEEDED to hear...and that Heavenly Father wanted me to hear. It's so weird because he didn't even really know me...he didn't know what had happened on my mission or my personality or anything like that. The only thing I told him was how long I've been out and a spiritual experience I recently had. That was it. Yet he spoke to me as if he already did know everything. I know that he is called to be our mission president....and the spirit is already working through him! God works in marvelous ways!

So the week was good. As always (I don't know how many time I say this) hi​gh​s and lows. So I'll just start with the really bad news and then I'll say all the good things that happened. 

(Name) dropped us yesterday. Yup. I feel especially bad for my comp because she's taught him since January. Long story short he decided to trust in the anti material that he found about the church as well as other churches. Told us he doesn't believe in religion period. It's really heartbreaking but we have to respect his decision. It brought ​back ​feelings I felt when (name) decided to do the same thing. We've done a lot for that guy. And it's sad to see how just a few weeks ago he was happy and so thrilled at the baptism and told us how he knew the spirit was there. But we have to respect his decision and just hope for the best. I'll never forget him and I'll always have a place in my heart for him.

Soooo Good news! 

We are still in finding mode but we have been finding! We taught a man yesterday and he has a baptism date! He's an older gentleman. But it was really cool because we were talking about baptism. He told us he's already been baptized as a baby and we explained how we are inviting him to be baptized with a different authority and for a new life...so that HE could be cleansed of all the sins he made in his life. He really liked that aspect and told us how he knew that when he was a baby he was innocent and wasn't really cleansed of any sin... and it made me so grateful for the cleansing power that takes place when we are baptized. It was cool! 

In addition, here's the miracle of the week. So we have been trying to visit this one street for a LOOOOONG time. We were trying to find and contact a referral that a member gave us. And finally we were able to visit it. We were tracting and we couldn't find the referral...BUT of the doors this woman answered. She quickly explained that she had a conference call in 2 min...and we quickly explained our purpose and that we had a unique message to share. Even in those two minutes her eyes lit up and told us to come back in a week. And then her conference call came and she actually answered and told them to hold for a few seconds and confirmed the time with us! The lady wants to hear us! I'm super excited! :) And to think if we had showed up even 2 min later than we did...she wouldn't have answered and she would have been on her call. 

We are working with a guy who is very very solid. Although he works A LOT when we did a follow-up visit with him he read the book of mormon. He had questions....and you could just see him getting so excited to learn more. We had a very awesome lesson with him last Friday. He told us, "next time you come I'm going to bring more questions!" Man, I hope we can figure out his schedule/situation so we can see if he can be baptized and progress. But he's awesome, mon! 

(Newly baptized member) is doing awesome! YAY! We saw her and she had still been praying and reading. I love that woman so much. She got sick so she couldn't come to church. But she went to the Canada Day Picnic and enjoyed it. We are going to be starting the new member lessons with her this week. Can't wait to start preparing her for the temple and other things that she can look forward too! The more I'm out on my mission the more I realize how baptism is so essential...but it sure isn't the end of everything. Conversion is so​ very important...and it lasts far more than just baptism. God's purpose is to bring to pass eternal life...eternal families. Can't wait to continue to help her find her way back to Heavenly Father's presence.

Anyways I'm going to close. I'm very grateful for this gospel. Lately many people have been anti-ing us/arguing with us/bashing us and it hurts to see something that means so much to me get thrown back into my face like garbage. But I know that there's someone out there that needs to hear it. I know that this is the Lord's work and He's helping us. The more we stand firm and fight for truth and righteousness the more we will be strengthened and lifted. The Lord's work will not fail. 

Love always,

Sister Ogden 

Goodbyes and Hellos, and Getting to Know the Lord

Beach Bumming Canadian Style!

Baptism Day!

June 30, 2014

Our newest member (investigator’s name) got CONFIRMED YESTERDAY! YAYYY! A brother in the branch gave the confirmation and it was a beautiful blessing. The spirit was really strong and it was just really really good. During the confirmation I just felt so much love for her. I know Heavenly Father is very proud of her and the decisions she is making in her life right now. She is going to be bringing her family to a Canada Day activity at our branch tomorrow so that should be good. 

Speaking of which HAPPY CANADA DAY TOMORROW! You should all get together and sing a verse of "O Canada" for me. And you should put the Canada Flag out! Like I said our branch is holding an activity where they are going to play softball and have a barbecue. Obviously we can't stay ALL DAY at it so we will be popping in here and there.

We saw (names) for the last time Saturday. They are officially moved. Sniff...sniff...Man I just love them so much! After we left I just felt so grateful to God for putting them in my life. Although I wasn't able to see her be baptized, it was amazing to see how the gospel changed her and IS changing her. She loves it. And good news is they are getting married in October! YaY!  They both are going to go places and I know that they will make such a great difference and influence on those around them. Awww I just can't believe they are gone! 

Zone Conference was good as always. I loved it because my mission president talked about Light and Dark. And how both influence us. It reminded me of how dark the world that we live in is...but how we don't have to feel that influence as we put more light in our lives. There were some really deep insights and I loved it. It was the smallest zone conference I've ever been to...there were only two zones in it. It was also really emotional because it was my last zone conference....and I had to bear my testimony along with the other missionaries who are going home before or with me. We also said goodbye to Pres and Sister Scott. I didn't realize how sad I would be to see them go. They've done great work here and I'm just grateful for all the love that they showed to each of us individually. They've helped me through a lot and I'll always be grateful for that. 

But...I'm excited to meet the new mission president and his wife. They are meeting with all the missionaries this week. We are doing interviews with them this Friday in Kingston with our zone so it should be good. I'm really anxious to meet them! They sound amazing! 

ummm....I don't know quite what to say about our exchange last week. The STL came on trios with us. I'm grateful for the exchange because I learned A LOT. I regret the exchange because I was just not myself...I was nervous/anxious/on edge/ and just off my game. But by the end of the next day it was better and we still were able to do work and see miracles. I'm just trying to learn from the experience and move on and not dwell too much on the disappointing side of it. 

So if you haven't noticed it's just been a little bit of an emotionally run down week and I'm just getting a little worn out and overwhelmed with everything going on. I don't even know if I can explain it.  But I know that we have experiences and weeks like this to grow. And it's been really cool because the ​past few days I've really felt the influence of "grace." I've really turned to God...sometimes I've asked him why things are going the way they are. But the other day I was praying and I just felt Him say something along the lines of, "This is a time where you are getting to know me." And it's so true. It's times like these where I've been really turning to the Lord for guidance and it's amazing how it's been changing me. If we always had good experiences on the mission​, we wouldn't rely on the Lord as much as we should. I know He's with me...and I know it's going to be okay. :) 

(name) is doing ok...obviously not the best. I love her so much....and I can't imagine how hard it is for her now... Anyways we went to her husband’s ​Celebration of Life and it was very very good. There was a simple ​beautiful service done by a catholic deacon and a pastor who were friends of hers, and we were able to talk to her family and some friends. I think she felt our support and love for her and I think that's what she needs. It's sad to say goodbye to him but I, as well as many of his friends agree, that he isn't in pain anymore which is really comforting. He's had physical problems for a long time, so it's reassuring to think that he's free of all of them. But I really really really hope he learns and accepts the gospel in the spirit world. I really hope that's why we met him before he passed. 

So...our bikes came back from the shop last week...and we tried riding them again yesterday. It was actually really fun and I loved it! We dropped by some less actives and rode to a dinner appointment. And then it rained.Actually, it POURED on us. We were riding them back to the member's home where we got them from and it was just raining and raining and raining on us. Like I felt that I was in Hawaii again. Crazy. We got there and we were so drenched. But it was pretty fun! Gotta love the luck that we have on the bikes! haha. Biking in the rain...can't get better than that! :)

New investigators! Well we had a pretty crazy experience last week. We were going to drop by a less active in an apartment building but there ​were some people unloading groceries and we decided to talk to them and offer service. After we helped them we invited them to learn more about our message and one of them accepted. So we went to his apartment (I forgot to mention we were on exchanges with the STL) and we started to teach him about the Book of Mormon. THEN...his friend came along....Then after 10 min another friend came and sat....THEN another friend came and sat. So by the end we were teaching five guys! They are all from Jamaica and they work on a mushroom farm here but they have a strong faith and they appreciated us coming and sharing with them. So we are teaching them again tonight. It was pretty crazy! 

We also visited this woman from India. We knocked on her door and we talked to her a little bit. She's a sweetheart. She wonders if God exists especially because so many bad things have happened in her life and she doesn't understand why. She's a cutie so we'll see how it goes with her. 

But we are still trying to Find here. Hopefully God will continue to lead us to the elect. 

Anyways I love you all so much. I pray for you guys every night and I hope you know that I'm so grateful for all you do and all that you are. Have a good week! :) 

Sister Ogden