Monday, February 11th, 2019

This week has been pretty good though. It has been wicked cold. Although we haven't had snow, we have a TON of ice. One day there was about 2 inches of solid ice on the roads. It was super sketchy. We weren't allowed to drive for more than half the week, so we walked a lot. 

On Wednesday my companion had to go to the chiropractor, and so I got to chill in the lobby. There was this Australian Shepard named Ginger. It didn't even stink. I just pet it and then listened to the crappy music they had playing. And ate some granola bars. 

For dinner that night I got to eat at this place called BDs Mongolian Grill. It was pretty sweet. It works in a weird way though. You grab this little bowl and then you go to this buffet of just raw ingredients and pick out what you want. Then you bring it to this giant circle thing where these guys cook it with their long silver stick things. It's super good. But for dessert they bought us deep fried oreos. Now, I know what you're thinking, that sounds like diabetes, and it is, but it was so good. One of the best things I've ever had. 

We got to teach our boy Barraca, the guy from Africa. He is super cool and a really nice guy and we are going to be teaching him tonight. 

With all the ice, it was actually super fun. I just slid everywhere. My companion just falls all the time. There was one house that the stairs had turned into an ice mountain. Elder Ellis got to the top of it and then slipped. He fell from their little porch to the lawn onto straight ice, straight onto his butt. It was so funny but probably hurt way bad. I was laughing so hard. He also fell one time when we were playing a good ole game of kick the can in the street. He played soccer, and so he tried to do this fancy backward kick, and just eats it, straight onto his butt. It was so funny. 

We are teaching this Brasilian couple and they are super sweet. He is even reading in the Book of Mormon! They know a ton of members in Brasil. It's kinda cool, sometimes, when they speak, I can understand a little bit of what they are saying. Kinda cool. 

On Saturday we had quite a few lessons in the night time. One was with Israel and Maria with Hermano Beltran. That guy is a G. He got them to accept that their baptism as a baby wasn't valid. It was ridiculous; the guy is a real homie. I don't know how he did it, but what a man. 

We also got to teach Silvestre. We read the Book of Mormon with him and he loved it and was applying it to himself. It was awesome. 

Israel came to ward conference yesterday and he loved it. He has come twice and he will hopefully have a baptismal date by the end of the week. 

Elder Ogden 

Monday, February 4th, 2019

This week was a pretty good one with a lot of success and I loved it. It got really really cold on Wednesday. Our weather app said it felt like -18 degrees and our mission president had everyone park the cars and stay inside, because you can apparently get frostbite in 10 minutes... but we had a meeting at the mission president's home, so everyone who didn't go to that meeting had to stay inside. It was really cold. I did not enjoy it. It gave me some fat headaches. 

We have started teaching a family named Ramirez. They are super kind. They are less active and the mom's boyfriend is not a member. They are from Juarez Mexico and we think they really like us. They have this like 11 or 12 year old daughter and she is an absolute savage it is so funny. 

We also found another household (don't know if they are all related) and they are from Guatemala. They have some real potential, one of them even came to church yesterday, which was kind of a surprise to be honest. It was awesome! 

Another family is from Veracruz, Mexico. Down here the majority of the people seem to be from Mexico, which is a little different than Santa Fe. They are all super kind. I really like it here. The ward seems to be pretty cool, the group seems to be cool, most of the doors we knock seem to be Spanish, even when we aren't trying, it's pretty sweet. 

There are also a lot of Africans. They are everywhere in the Kansas City area. We started teaching a man from Tanzania and he is pretty cool. The KC area is super diverse. In Independence there are tons of Polynesians, quite a few Hispanics, people from Pompeii, and a ton of other ethnicities and immigrants, which is super cool. I ask a lot of people why they came to KC or Kansas or Missouri from their country and they always have 2 answers. 1st is that they have friends here. The other is that it is the cheapest place and that it has the most jobs here. You can literally get a house in KC for 10 grand. And the houses are huge. Granted, it's a piece of crap, but hey, it is what it is. 

I got to go back to Paola this week for a district council. It was pretty cool. That place truly is in the middle of nowhere, holy smokes. But it was cool to be back. I get to go on exchanges there once or twice this transfer and I'm excited for that. 

We had a lot of lessons this week, which is always the best. We seem to just teach and teach. We also got to eat out twice this week. Once at Bonito Michoacan and another time at Tropicana, both were really really good and fresh. 

My companion's name is Elder Ellis. The dood is a goof, I love em. We get along well. He is a really hard worker and one of the most obedient companions I have had. He cracks me up. 

Elder Ogden 

I'm in the back of the pic with Sister Love...tippy toes only work sometimes. ;)

Monday, January 28th, 2019

Sadly, I did get transfered, but I am now in Olathe 1st. My new companion is Elder Ellis and he is so flippin' funny. Olathe 1st is the Spanish area where I would go on exchanges when I was in Paola. There isn't a branch, just a small group in Spanish, because there isn't enough Priesthood, but it is a sweet group so far. So, it is an English ward, but the Spanish has its own sacrament and 2nd hour... Kinda weird but cool. Our area is a very wealthy place. Like crazy rich. It is the 3rd richest county in America. There are Porsches and Audis and Mercedes and just way nice cars and homes everywhere. 

We also teach English as well, but there really aren't that many in class, just because there are so many Hispanics that are willing to listen. There are a ton, and I mean A TON of apartment complexes in our area, and that's where we knock. I love it here though and I feel so blessed to still be in a Spanish area. 

This week was a wild one and I felt a lot of love from the Santa Fe Branch when I found out I was leaving, it felt really good. I didn't get to go see anyone, because we had some lessons that night, but I texted and called a couple. I feel really blessed to be here in Olathe, I really like this place. It's pretty calm, but a lot of Hispanics and that is my favorite part. 

Honestly I have no idea what happened this week, it was all just a blur. My new companion is named Elder Ellis, like I said, and he reminds me a lot of Trent Preuniger, just in the way that he is a giant goofball, but he is a workhorse. He's so funny though; he has cracked me up, but the kid has his head on straight and he works a ton. I was also really sad to leave Elder Harmon, I think that kid will be one of my best friends, probably for the rest of my life. If he makes it out of Ecuador alive. (In some areas, you have to wipe with your hand...) His new companion is a native speaker. Elder Sickler stayed in Riverview, but Elder Bischoff went to Liberty, another really wealthy area. 

Wednesday night, in Santa Fe, we didn't have a dinner, but we did have a lesson scheduled with this 19 year old kid who just got here from Colombia. He is like a nephew or somethin of a member family. When we got there, they sat us down and ate dinner with us! And it was like 7:45 or somethin, and Hispanics usually don't eat early at all, so it was a huge blessing and I was super grateful. They were super nice and then we had a pretty good little lesson with him. I'm gonna miss that place. But I'm super happy to be here. 

Elder Ogden 

Monday, January 21st, 2019

This week was so cold. We went to KC and, you guessed it, it was cold. We found a lady from Nicaragua and she was super nice. It got so cold that our mouths stopped moving. Good day. BUT we did get to go to the movie theater. The Stake rented out a theater for a couple of nights and all of the missionaries serving in the Independence Stake got to go as well. We went and saw the movie "Jane and Emma". It was about Jane Manning and Emma Smith. It was a little weird, but I think that's just because it was not what I expected. It was weird being in a movie theater, but it was cool. After the movie we started exchanges and I went with Elder Christensen. 

Thursday was a good day. We had district council, which went pretty well. It was the last one of the transfer and so we did a little testimony meeting towards the end. After that, we tried some people and then had a lesson with Oscar at the Visitor Center. Elder Christensen is English called, and so it was some good homie time with Oscar. I love that guy. After all that, we went to Pigwich. It is literally the best place in the world and they just moved to a new location that isn't in the industrial dumps of KC, it is in the River Market, which is a really nice part. Super hípster and stuff but sooooo good. I wanna take Dad there some day. Elder Christensen and I got ice cream...we went and walked around in like 10 degree weather with ice cream cones. 

This weekend the fleet got grounded due to the ice and bad drivers, so we used our time very wisely to become professional hacky-sackers. Kidding. We then tried some people at home, but then were told to go home and not drive anymore, due to the storms. It was a fun, but really slow day. 

Sunday was church. We were allowed to drive and tired of being stuck inside all day so we knocked doors quite a bit. The only problem was that our mouths didn't work after a while because of the cold, but it was fun. We had dinner with this really cool Dominican family who just moved here about a year and a half ago. Way good stuff. 

Transfers are this week, on Thursday, and I'm not sure what will happen. It looks like Elder Harmon will either go to Ecuador or I will go somewhere else. He had to sign quite a few papers this week and so it looks like his Visa is getting close, but I don't know if it will be here before transfers. Well see.

A while ago, our branch presidents wife gave us these ties, so we rocked them to church together on Sunday. Pictured above.

I had a really cool study on Priesthood this week. I read from the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Joseph Smith. Page 156, I think. Read it. It'll blow your mind...but I learned about how the Priesthood allows us to have commandments. I did some pondering and realized that THAT is why the Pharisees and Saducces lived the Law of Moses so wrong: because they didn't have the revelation of the Priesthood. I can't describe what I'm trying to say in words, but it makes sense in my head. Anyways, it was really cool what happened. Pondering helps a ton, but I'm terrible at doing that as often as I should. 

I love you!

Elder Ogden