Monday, May 13th, 2019

We had zone conference this week, which was pretty awesome. The stake president of the Olathe Stake taught about the Doctrine of Christ. It blew my mind and everytime that man teaches I learn something so profound and simple. I can't explain it through writing. 

We got to go to Seminary this week. It starts at 5:45. It was so early. But Elder Fenton and I went to a place called KC doughnuts afterwards, so it was worth it. 

We had a lesson with the Chavez family. Afterwards, we had the lesson on the porch, Juan and I were looking at clouds and stuff. It was so fun I love that kid haha. 

I got to translate a baptism (into Spanish) and it was so fun. This is the seocond time I've translated and I get to wear the headset with the mic and everything. It is so fun I love doing it. I felt like I did really well. 

Something we have been doing is that we are pulling over to talk to people in neighborhoods and stuff. Most of the time we just do it from the car with the window rolled down, and it has actually been a pretty good way to talk to people. It's been pretty fun as we've stopped caring about looking funny and just talk to everyone. Honestly, everyone already thinks we're weird, so we just gotta embrace it. 

We got to eat Mole this week, which is this chicken stuff with chocolate sauce. It sounds weird but it is really good. The lady who made it is the sweetest lady in the world. She is from Veracruz and just an absolute stud of a member. 

We went on a team up with one of the youth. He got his mission call to Brasil, just like everyone else here. It was pretty fun and he's a good kid. 

That's about it for this week, it's been a slower one, but a good one. I love you so much.

Elder Ogden 

Monday, May 6th, 2019

The baptism of the Chavez was awesome! It was just a little Spanish group and it was so fun. I loved it. When I baptized Juan, I felt pure joy. I couldn't think of a time that I had been happier. It was so awesome I probably looked like a dork just chillin' in the font, smiling my face off. 

At the baptism I also forgot my towel (classic) so I dried off with paper towels. Fun time. 

This week was a pretty good one, even though I don't remember anything. As usual. We talked to a lot of people, which always gets me hyped up. Idk if this is "bad", but I just get pumped when I do something I'm kind of afraid of, so it has been fun and we have found some interesting ways to talk to people. But, if you do it without having faith, you can come off as seeming like a salesman who hates his job and life. I've learned if I just act like I know what I'm doing, it usually turns out ok! But there are the occasional failures. Those are fun. 

We met this guy named Edgar who is AWESOME. He is from Mexico and worked in the city of Carmen! (Playa del Carmen, where we were in 2017). He told us a story of when he was working there as a security guard for a boat on the dock. It was crazy. Apparently, these doods drugged his beer and shrimp and so he was knocked out, then they stole a motor boat off the side of the big boat. When his boss found out about it, he threatened to shoot him right there and then, but instead they kneeled him down and pushed him out the window from about the 3rd or 4th floor of the boat. He should've died, cause he landed like a belly or back flop on the water and ended up swimming away. They told him they were gonna kill him, and so he was trynna get out of Carmen. There is one exit out of that town. So, he went there, where they were waiting for him at the bus stop. He convinced the lady selling tickets to sell him one, even though he was all bloody and stuff, and told him to go hide in the suitcases. He eventually made it out of the city. ISN'T THAT NUTS?? He told us that because we asked him if he had ever felt God close to him before. México is crazy. 

On Friday we had a goal to find a family of 4. We worked and worked all day, without dinner, trying to find this family we felt like we were supposed to find. Around 8:30, we parked the car on a street and saw Wreck it Ralph on TV. I didn't even think about it, but Elder Fenton said something like "That means there's probably kids there." SO we shot up and went and knocked on the door and a hispanic lady with her 2 daughters opened up. She said that her husband wasn't home but he would be at 9 o' clock. We ran and got Mcdonalds really fast and were back there at 9 pm on the dot and went up and knocked on the door. The husband answered, who was not interested at all and one of the cockiest guys I've ever met haha. And it turns out they have 4 kids. BUT if we wouldn't have set that goal, we probably wouldn't have had the motivation we did to knock the door and give that family the chance to hear the gospel fo Christ. Even though we didn't baptize them and it was a family of 6 and not 4, I still felt the spirit tell me that that was the family we were supposed to find that day. We did the best we could. 

We got to drive out to Gardner this week to teach a sort of less active and his mom, who is not a member. She slammed on us. I was with an English elder, and so I asked her if she had ever read it or anything like that but she was not having it haha. It was the longest appointment of my life. We got hot chocolate and cookies after though so we good. 

Mother's Day is coming up and I get to call home! 

Elder Ogden

Monday, April 29th, 2019

 Elder Ogden and Elder Roberts

Elders Ogden and Fenton

Sadly, the Chavez family did not get baptized, but they are getting baptized this Saturday! It should be awesome and they passed their interview and everything. 

This week was a pretty cool one, I loved it actually. I have been working on doing something more bold and new everyday. Just doing something that scares me, and it has been so fun. As I do and see the miracles come, my faith to find people who are prepared increases so much! But yeah, sometimes it can be a little sketch, but it's fun. 

We got to go on a couple exchanges this week, which was really nice. The first one I went with Elder Burnham, who is pretty new to the mission field, but a good guy. I love em and we get along pretty well. The second one was my personal favorite though. I got to go with Elder Roberts. He is awesome. He is the perfect example of a changed missionary. He has always been funny and we've always gotten along, but he went through this process to where now he is just a machine and truly loves the work. I love the kid, we talked to SOOOO many people. It was fun. Like I said earlier, we have that initiative to show the He Lives video. So, on Thurs morning, Elder Roberts and I went to a grocery store parking lot. We just kinda went around knocking on car windows, but the challenge was that we had to just hit play on the video rather than asking them if they could watch it. The farthest we got was 13 seconds into the video, but still, we tried something new (Just playing the video). We saw so many miracles from just talking to everyone that day. I love the guy. 

As I have been trying to do more to have the faith to find, I have noticed a lot of miracles. As I teach and when I testify, I feel the spirit confirm to me, yet again, that what I am teaching is true. It's cool because a lot of the times when I feel the Spirit, it is just an inner feeling. But when I feel it strongly, I get the chills and I feel like I'm being lifted by my shoulders. Kinda weird, but that's how it is. That's how I felt during my patriarchal blessing, and stuff like that. But as I am testifying, I feel the strong lifting and chills Spirit more and more. It is awesome!

We got our carpets cleaned this week. The complex said they would do it for free bc of what happened with the dog stuff, and so Elder Roberts and I got to fit everything we own into the bathroom and kitchen. And some stuff on the porch, but it was pretty impressive honestly. It was fun. 

Saturday was like the busiest day of my life. We had the Chavez interview in the morning, then right after interviews with President, and then about 90 lessons. It was awesome. Most of them fell thorugh, but still, it was awesome. We also go to go to a activity for the Spanish group and it was so fun. We played a super fun game of soccer with a bunch of the group and it was some of the most fun I've had in my life. I just love the group, they are the best.

I loved the mail from Norway and Sweden [from my mom]! Thank you so much!

We started this new game that we do after we are done for the day (usually around 9:30). Because we are children, we play this weird version of a nerf war where we each have 1 bullet and thats all we get, but it's pitch black. So we try to sneak around and stuff and it's pretty fun. Just to let you know I'm still a child. 

That's about it for the week. I love you so much and thank you for everything!!!!

Elder Ogden 

Monday, April 22nd, 2019

Last night we contacted into a TON of French speakers! Tell Avery! I wish I could've spoke to them, but they were so kind! They were all from Algeria, North Africa, and were so willing to talk to us with the little English they knew. Some of them knew quite a bit and it was really fun. We showed them the video in French. 

We also had the chance to do a lot of finding. It was nice to get to talk to everyone. We talked to a lot of hispanics, which is the best. We are trying to find new methods of finding. So we pretty much just talk to everyone. It is kinda interesting to see how people react. It's a good time. 

We went to 2 district councils this week, one in Paola and one in Olathe. 

I loved the chocolate [my mom sent from Sweden and Norway]. I took some of it to P-day and shared some of it. It is so good. It was amazing holy smokes. And the sweater [from Norway] is sweet!

We walked a whole ton this week. It was super fun and we got to talk to a lot of people. 

I have found a new love for bagels. I love them. Except for the Walmart here is terrible at having blueberry bagels. But hey, a bagel is a bagel. 

We have been really really busy, which is good. Elder Fenton and I are getting along. I love the mission mom, it is the best. I am so happy. It is the best. 

I got the chance to read all the accounts of Christ's Resurrection in the Bible yesterday, and one thing I noticed is that, in almost all of them, Mary, and the 1st witnesses, ran quickly to report it with such joy. I think that's cool, but we can also do the same thing. I loved that.

I love you, 

Elder Ogden 

Monday, April 15th, 2019

 Elders Ellis and Ogden got their Easter baskets!

This week was a pretty decent one. We had transfers last week and I am companions with Elder Fenton again, which is pretty interesting. 3rd times a charm haha. It's pretty fun so far. 

Someone paid for our Tacos on Tuesday! Hallelujah.

This week we helped move a hoarder. It was disgusting. She lives in this giant big house that apparently is her parents or something. But it was gross. At one point she picked up a bunch of dog poop with her bare hands off her carpet. I had to hide behind Elder Ellis and 2 other Elders to not be seen gagging. It was bad haha. 

We got to do a lot of street contacting this week because it has been pretty nice and warm. Actually, not really. It has varied from like 75ish degrees to feeling like 30. It was terrible. But it was super fun street contacting, I love it. It is my favorite. 

We found a pig on a leash in someone's front yard. That was cool. 

With the new transfer, we had to do a ton of administrative stuff. It was ridiculous, but good to do. 

We had Pizza Hut two days in a row. Pizza Hut is huge down here, but it still makes me sick afterwards haha. 

We got to meet this awesome Puerto Rican family on Saturday. I felt like we were led so much by the Spirit, it was awesome. We were delivering thank you notes and we just saw these people unloading groceries and then they let us help them and we got to teach them a little bit. 

We had a ton of meetings on Sunday and it was pretty fun. Because Elder Fenton is newer, I had to prep this presentation thing for a new tool we are using with the LDS tools. At the meeting, someone went over and I had to give the presentation in like 15 seconds. It went well. 

I love you so much, 

Elder Ogden 

Monday, April 8th, 2019

Hi! I have some bad news... 

Im still bald. {Zack got a haircut from his companion...it didn't turn out so good LOL!)

Talking to Owen was actually super fun. I missed that kid. I realized that that kid is probably my best friend and always will be. I love that kid so much. And President just asked if he was gonna go on a mission! The funniest part was that Owen wasn't wearing pants, but he was sitting at the desk and so Pres couldn't see. Hallelujah. [Owen got to video chat with Elder Ogden last week just the two of them. While doing so, President Love, the mission president, came in and got to talk to Owen as well! It was a pretty neat experience!]

[From General Conference] I loved how Elder Bednar talked about how we need to talk about the temple more, but with reverence and respect. I love President Eyring, too! Personally, I've realized that I don't cry or tear up when I feel the spirit, but I love it when he cries just because you can tell he can just feel so much of what he is teaching. I love that man. 

So, this week, after district council, we went ot Costa Vida and GUESS WHO I SAW THERE? Do you remember Kyle Mcllelan, the guy we were teaching in Paola? I saw his mom! She is a member. It was good to talk to her and catch up on everything. Kyle seems to be doing well and is getting married sometime soonish. Elder Hamby and I are going to try to fly back and go to it after the mish maybe!

We also had exchanges with the APs this week. I went with Elder Diderickson, who is like 6'6" or something, so I looked like his little kid haha. It was a lot of fun and we got to talk to a lot of people. 

We just watched General Conference at the church, so it was fun. It kinda made me miss Ableskivers or however you spell them haha. 

We got sick and had a slow 2 days, but it's all good I think we are over it now. 

It was a slower week, but I good one. We got to go street contacting in a park yesterday and there was a lady with a BYU jacket on and she rejected us pretty hard, so that was kinda weird. Not used to that haha. 

That's the week I guess. Transfers are this week on Thursday so we'll see how that goes. I love you!!! I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Ogden

Monday, April 1st, 2019

This week was pretty much just a bunch of meetings. BUT theres some pretty good stuff happening. 

On Monday we got to do some service at this farm/petting zoo place. yee-haw. It was pretty fun. We also got to teach the Chavez family that night, which is a family we have been trying to get in contact with for a while now. The lesson was awesome and they plan on being baptized on April 27th. They loved what we taught and they were pretty engaged. They even came to church yesterday. 

Then there was just a bunch of meetings. On Tuesday we had interviews with the mission president, which mostly just consists of him calling me or my ties ugly. (I think it's out of love) Then on Wednesday we had a meeting at the mission presidents house and that took all day. Then on Thursday we had district council, which isn't that long, and then a meeting with the stake president. But that night we also got to teach the Piña family. They are awesome and we brought a member with us. The member served his mission in Colombia. We ended up teaching more in depth on the Book of Mormon and how it came about and it was so cool to see this family's eyes just light up when talking about it. They weren't able to make it to church yesterday, but we are hoping to see some good progress there. 

We decided to walk around on Friday and that was an expericence holy smokes. After dinner, we had a couple lessons on the other side of town, and so we were headed over there. It was raining a little bit, but not that bad. The appointment fell through, so we knocked some doors around there and ended up teaching a man named Pedro, who is a stud. After we were done there, we walked out of his apartment and it was just POURING rain. On our walk to the other appointment, the street was like a river it was nuts. We got to the other appointment, which fell through, so we got to knock around there as well and ended up teaching a really awesome family from Guatemala, but mostly the son, Eddy. It happens 50 times a day, but it still blows my mind to see how we can be lead to do something, even when what we originally intended to do falls through. Both of those lessons were a huge blessing for us. When we got back to the apartment, we were absolutely soaked and my shoes just dried last night. 

That's pretty much the interesting stuff from the week, but thanks for reading this far if you did. Love ya all!

Elder Ogden 

Monday, March 25th, 2019

 Elder Ogden and Elder Ellis, his companion

 Elder Ogden and his good friend on the mission, Elder Bailey

Elder Ogden and Elder Ellis studying in their apartment

This week was a pretty weird one, but it was a fun one. It has been in the 50-60s, so more people are outside. I love street contacting, it is my favorite. Just because people can't hide from you behind their doors...haha. 

I had a pretty cool experience this week as well! I have always kind of looked at the work with a certain amount of love, but sometimes it's hard, ya know? Well, I think it was Thursday of this week, I realized something. The more I just testify and use every opportunity to teach people what I know to be true, the more joy I have!! I found real joy in this work!! I'm mad it took me this long, but I'm glad I eventually figured it out. I love it so much. It's fun!! I don't know how to explain what happened, but I just love this work!!! It's been a pretty good week since that moment.

We had zone conference this week. That was fun. It was long, but very fun. 

We got to eat with some cool people this week and we had quite a few member lessons. We had one with a family and at first, their oldest son their was super grumpy and stuff, but by the end we couldn't get their kids to stop talking and participating in the lesson, it was awesome. We had some good object lessons and all that. Our bishop is a teacher and has shown us some really cool demonstrations we do in lessons. It's sweet. 

The Piña family is fantastic. We didn't get that much time with them this week, but the little appointment we did have went great! They are reading the Book of Mormon and they are the best. I love that family. 

Elder Ogden 

Monday, March 18th, 2019

We haven't seen any flooding in our area, but we have heard some warnings from President in his emails. Thank you for praying for our people. Israel dropped us, but Felipe and Blanca are doing ok. They are so busy and it is so hard to meet with them, BUT WE GOT OUR MAIN BOYS The Piña family. They are the best. We have met with them a couple times. The dad read the whole entire Restoration pamphlet. We were teaching them the other day and we were talking about prophets, and he says (in Spanish), "how can we know if someone is a true Prophet?" AHA WE KNOW THAT ONE. So we told him and he was pretty excited. We have a return appointment with him and his family. They are the best and said they would be baptized when they know it is true and I'M SO EXCITED. 

This week we had a meeting with the stake president and one of his counselors. He really likes to just teach, and so we were taught. He asked for a pretty extensive report on ward mission correlation, which we got, but then he didn't even ask for it because we were being taught haha. But we learned some really valuable stuff and so it was a really good experience. Something interesting was that he talked about having clean hands coming to the sacrament table. It was weird because I remembered Bishop Smith always saying that. I have a terrible memory, but for some reason I remembered him saying that.

With the Piña family we were talking about the Book of Mormon and I was bearing my testimony on it. All of a sudden, I remembered a scripture. Mosiah 16:8. I remember one time, [my mom] was in the back yard, struggling with the loss of [her brother] Mikey, and I found this scripture. It's about how Christ takes the sting out of death, and I got to share that experience. The Spirit was super strong. 

That's about all that happened this week. I have pictures on my camera, but I forgot it at the apartment. Sorry.

I love you. 

Elder Ogden 

Monday, March 4th, 2019

Howdy!

Well kick this one off by acknowledging that this is the second [group email] in a row. Please save your applause for the end. 

This week was full of exchanges with other missionaries and a good amount of meetings. The first exchange was with Elder Verdoorn, from California. He is a super good guy and we had a pretty fun time. We had dinner with this family who gave us some ridiculously good barbacoa. We also got to teach Pat, who is working on reading the book of mormon with his family. 

On Wednesday we had a meeting at the mission presidents house and that took up most of the day. We had some real nice pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. Afterwards, we had the most interesting contact of all time and it only strengthened my desire to never get drunk. Then, that night, we started exchanges with the Olathe 2nd elders. I got to go with my old companion, Elder Kuhre. We went to a District Council in Paola, which went really well. Then we went to Taco Bell, which did not go so well. There is an elder in the Paola district named Elder Memea, and that man can eat. As we were all getting our food, this lady casually hands him a box of 12 tacos. 12 tacos. We sit down and all that stuff, and next thing you know there was a time limit set on how fast he can eat all those things. 5 minutes. Accepting the challenge, he opens every single one of them and then just dumps hot sauce on those bad boys. I'll just have the video do the explaining. 

That night we had a lesson with Felipe from Veracruz. It went really well. We read the Book of Mormon a little bit and talked about the important steps we need to take to come closer to Christ and he loved it. He talked about how he is struggling with some things right now, and he wants to study the Book of Mormon to see if it is his answer from God. We felt the spirit so strong and we hope it sticks with him. We have an appointment for Tuesday with them. 

Earlier this week, we street contacted into the Piña family. They are awesome. We had a lesson with them on Friday and it went really well. At the end, their son came out and told his parents about how he wanted to learn more about what we believe and everything like that. 

That night, we also got to read the book of Mormon with Juan, a returning member. The guy is awesome. We read 2 Nephi 4. He shared with us some experiences he had with some of the scriptures and it was so cool to see how well he applied to those scriptures to himself. And he taught us some piropos. Very useful stuff. 

Mistake of the week: Getting the Oreo waffle cone at Sonic for dinner. Holy smokes it was so delicious, but Elder Ellis and I have never felt more sick than after we had eaten that giant mass of sugar. Tasted good though. 

Church got canceled due to the snow and cold yesterday, so hopefully it knocks that off because it's freezing and not a lot of people want to open their doors. Also, I wanna give a shout-out to Elder Harmon. MY BOYS GOIN TO ECUADOR!

Love you all! 

Elder Ogden 

Monday, February 25th, 2019

On Tuesday we had a bunch of meetings and accountabilities, where we call the district leaders and see their plans to improve certain aspects of the work in their district, and also with the APs. 

We had interviews with President Love on Wednesday, but these ones were a little different because he didn't want to risk making the drive down [due to the snow and ice], so he just Face-timed them. It was fun. 

We went to a couple of District Councils this week and they went well. After one of the district councils, we got to go to the stake president's house. Holy smokes I was enlightened. The spirit I felt in that guy's house was crazy. It was like the temple. We had a meeting and then he just taught us. Holy Schnikeys. 

We went to Burger King after a District Council in Paola. Elder Memea, Elder Weights companion, who is in Paola, is from Hawaii and that boy can EAT. 

On Friday we had a sweet lesson with a member. Well, not really a lesson, but we read the Book of Mormon in English with him. He doesn't speak English, but he already has read the Book of Mormon in English. He is a super humble guy and growing through some real trials right now. Such a nice guy and gave us some good referrals. 

Love you!!!

Elder Ogden 

Monday, February 18th, 2019

The Church announces that missionaries can now call/text/contact home every week. Elder Ogden got to video chat with us over Facebook and it felt like Christmas Day! It was heavenly!