February 26th, 2018

Hola!

Elder Ogden and his super fun Zone in Independence, Missouri before transfers last week



This last week was my first "transfers" week. Elder Richins, my trainer and who had been here for over 7 months, was transferred to a new area. My new companion's name is Elder Holden. He's from Lakeside, Arizona. We are crazy busy today, so I don't have a lot of time. I feel like I'm needed for something now. I love it here though. Although I don't get to use my Spanish a lot, I still feel like I'm fulfilling my purpose. It's chill. 

I love you!
Elder Ogden

February 19th, 2018

Sup y'all how's it been!

This week was crazy. Transfers are next week, so I thought I should probably get an email out so my bad with that. Here's what happened. 

We went to a nursing home and chilled with the old folks and helped them celebrate Mardi Grais. It was crazy. There was punch and chips and dip. Off the chain.

We also got to meet with a couple of our investigators. They're awesome. They have seen so many blessings in their lives as they have strived to live the gospel. One of them is already baptized, and her husband is next, then his friend. They are so humble. They all went from being homeless to now having a little cabin thing, jobs, and even a car. It's truly humbling to see them and their daughter, who is around 1 and a half, give their all to this gospel and act in Faith. The guy who is up next for baptism, Miguel, is trying to stop smoking. He went from 3 packs a day to just 2 cigarettes a day. They are AMAZING and show forth such great Faith. Our lessons are awesome with them.

We got a Spanish lesson set up for this Tuesday and I'm pretty pumped these guys are awesome. We got to meet with them and talk with them a little about what they've read in the Book of Mormon and how their prayers are going. LEGIT 

As the weather is warmin up, people are startign to cook up some world famous KANSAS CITY BBQ and I tell you what, that's some of the best stuff I've ever had. We had some homemade ribs on Sunday and some Wabash, a little bbq joint here, on Tuesday. I about died I ate so much; it was so good.

Amazing week and I want to share with y'all somethin I hope I'm starting to learn. The power of prayer. It's such a simple, yet tremendous act of faith and if we do it sincerely, we will be answered. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much and wants to hear us. We need Him. He will let us know what we desire through the Holy Ghost, as it says in Moroni 10:5, "And by the power of the Holy Ghost he may know the truth of all things."

Also I think I've gained about 10 pounds. 

"A man is what he thinks about all day." 

Love ya,
Elder Ogden

P.S. Got a sweet Russian fur hat from Uncle Jason. LEGIT

February 8th, 2018

This week has been wicked cold! It's crazy.

This morning I am going to have biscuits and gravy at my boy Mark Overfelt's house and then go to the temple. Here, EVERYONE works at the temple; it's crazy.

I love my Savior and his mercy. Out here we do a lot of service and give a lot of blessings. It is one of my favorite things because of the revelation that comes. Also, I am coming to LOVE my scripture study each morning. I do half an hour in English and half an hour in Spanish. We get to volunteer at a nursing home and the food pantry.  I love it here though.

This week we have been trying to promote member missionary work President Hinckley once said "So many of us look upon missionary work as simply tracting. Everyone who is familiar with this work knows there is a better way. That way is through the members of the Church. Whenever there is a member who introduces an investigator, there is an immediate support system." 

Missionaries need you to find people. Share this Gospel with everyone you can. They need it  Alma 13:24 (I think) talks about angels preparing men to receive the word. We don't know who is prepared, so we need to share with everyone.

Another scripture I really like is Phillipians 4:6-7. Make sure you read those and look at the first couple footnotes. 

Elder Richins is awesome with sheep...he did this growing up! We have been serving with people's lambs and chicks a lot.

I wish I could talk to you forever, but please know I love you and I'm having a great time and pray for y'all each day. I love you.

Elder Ogden 

January 29th, 2018

This week has been all gravy. The food is good and getting better as the weather warms up, but then the weather drops and it's really weird. Yesterday or 2 days ago (the days are all blending together) it was 65 degrees and we walked outside this morning and it was 18 and snowing.

We taught a couple we met last week on Monday and they have 6 kids. We taught the Restoration and they seemed to like it. They said they would pray about it and call us. They haven't called yet though. We also met a young boy named Preston. He's 14 and super nice and really bright. We gave him a pamphlet and told us to text us when he reads it. I think he'll text us soon. We have an appointment on Tuesday at 4:30 with 3 Spanish speaking guys and I'm super pumped!

A thing I'm starting to learn is it's about the people, not the lessons. The lessons aren't going to do anything unless you have charity towards the people you are trying to teach. We give a lot of blessings to the people and I feel like that helps bring the love in. We also meet some pretty cool people. 

Elder Ogden 

P.S. tried to fit in with the locals and bought me some overalls 

January 22nd, 2018

As ya know,( being assigned to an English area), I was kinda struggling not getting to use my Spanish, I was just being selfish, but I have been praying and praying and praying for an opportunity to use it... I stopped focusing so much on it and just decided to try to serve my best and that is when the Lord answered my prayers directly. I have no doubt that that this was solely in answer to my prayers. 

Elder Richins and I went to a guy named Miguel Mendozas to try to contact him, but he is always working so it never works. Him and a bunch of other guys who have families back in Mexico or somewhere else live together in an apartment. As we were checking on him, we started talking to another guy and then I saw this man walking down this little hill thing towards the apartment and then Elder Richins said, "Hola"...then this guy started speaking Spanish! I probably looked like a total idiot, sitting there smiling so big... and I began to talk with him. My Spanish was a little rough, but still actually wasn't bad. Then we went into his apartment and started teaching him The Restoration! That's when I really felt the gift of tongues take over. It was amazing and I made sure to tell my Heavenly Father how grateful I was.

I've had some pretty humbling experiences this past week. We got to go to Lake Arrowhead and see some people up there. Seeing how some people lived was jaw dropping. It's just a trailer or just a little tiny cabin that they built. A lot of time they don't even have electricity or running water and trash is EVERYWHERE. There's dirty diapers in the road and mounds of trash everywhere you look. We got to go up there because a recent convert was fighting with her husband who is taking the lessons. These people were practically homeless before coming here and since they have taken the discussions and one has been baptized there has been so many blessings coming their way. Jobs, they practically got a car for free, and more. They have an adorable little daughter named Penelope.   

It's a really rough place. Independence (called Spindependence) was at one point pretty much the meth capital of the world. It's very sad because tons of people out here are trapped into that life. Cigarettes are also the cheapest here and so we are trying to get tons of people to stop smoking so they can come back. Anyways, it was so humbling to see these people who have turned their lives around but still have it very rough. I always knew I have been blessed with what I have, but I was blind or ignorant to how blessed I really was. In this same trailer park sort of thing, there is a guy named Brother Horner. I don't believe he is active, but his only source of heat/cooking etc is firewood, so on Saturday we got to go to Adam Ondi Ohmn and get tons of firewood. I don't even think his trailer is insulated or isn't insulated well so he goes through that wood like nothin'. 

The towns where I'm serving are called Excelsior, Kearney, and Holt. It's a fairly small area. Holt is a town with less than 500 people. The stake covers a huge area. The stake center is about an hour or more away and I believe that's the center of the stake boundary. There aren't a lot of members out here. 

I'm slowly getting tight with people in the ward. They are super cool and very nice and very missionary minded which is awesome. Also there is a place here called JJ's Diner like parks and Rec. These are some cool little towns with some great people. 

I love ya!

Elder Ogden