Hi family!!
Well, let me start out by saying this week was AWESOME!! We had Quynh
and Zeadrick's baptism on Saturday and it was perfect! President and Sister
Wall even came (which of course did stress me out at all!) and we had so much
support from the ward! I was freaking out most of the day leading up to the
baptism because every kept telling me that something always happens to press up
against the baptism, to prevent it from happening. I kept waiting for something
to go wrong and as it kept getting closer to the baptism, I kept getting more
stressed and nervous because nothing had happened yet! And guess what??...
Nothing bad happened!! The only real problem we had was that we didn't have
enough chairs for everyone in attendance! I say that's an ok problem to have
:) We got to go into the side part of the font while they were baptized and it
was the most wonderful experience and definitely the highlight of my mission so
far! That moment when Quynh was completely immersed in the water I could
instantly feel of our Heavenly Father's love and I knew this was the path back
to him. We had been sitting in front of President and Sister Wall too, and when
we came back out to listen to the music while Quynh and Zeadrick changed, Sister
Wall grabbed my hand and asked if I was ok because my face was very flushed and
my hands were clammy. I just giggled because I knew it was from the all the
stress and it wasn't over yet because I still had to give a talk with her and
President Wall listening.... No pressure!!! It all went perfectly though and
the Spirit was so strong the whole time! After the service Quynh and Zeadrick
couldn't help but smile and they were the biggest smiles I have ever seen!
Quynh kept telling us her cheeks hurt from smiling so much :) Another awesome
thing was we had a couple of our less actives there and it was the first time
they had been to a baptism in a long time. Daniel was one of them and he was
beaming the whole time and kept talking to Quynh. It was such a wonderful
experience to be a part of and to see the change that took place in so many of
my friends here! It was absolutely AMAZING!! The ward has been amazing too and
they have already set up new member lessons and home/visiting teachers for
them! I am so lucky to be in this ward!
Now, onto other news! The weather this week has been CrAzY!! Tuesday
and Wednesday we weren't allowed to be in cars at all and actually President
asked us not to go outside at all on Wednesday because the roads were so bad.
They were almost completely deserted on Tuesday and the first half of Wednesday
because of the ice. It "snowed" almost all day Tuesday and when I say snow I
don't mean the snow y'all are used to. I'm talking about Louisiana snow which
is actually pure ice falling from the sky. It doesn't feel so great when it's
hitting your face :) Those hand warmers y'all sent me for Christmas were a
lifesavor though!! I had them in my pockets and they kept my hands nice and
toasty all day!! It's crazy to hear about the drought back home in California
too because we have had so much rain here! I'm more than happy to send y'all
some if Heavenly Father would let me!!!
As for other news with the ward/work and missionary life! We are all
getting ready for the Mardi Gras Mambo in a couple weeks and it is really
exciting to see how pumped the ward is getting for it! We have over half the
ward that is excited to be running in it with us and it is cool to see how much
support we are getting! We are making the t-shirts this week and I'm stoked to
see how they turn out! The runs not for a couple more weeks but I will
definitely send y'all pictures when we have it! We are also planning a
bonfireside in couple weeks at bishop's house. He has a bonfire pit and we are
going to roast marshmallows and have a speaker come and talk to the ward about
missionary work and then we are going to issue a missionary challenge to them.
I'm grateful that after almost eight months serving in an area I'm finally
starting to come up with ideas for how to get the ward excited about missionary
work :) I think Quyhn and Zeadrick's baptism has been a huge part of it all
because you can see the difference in the ward after welcoming these two
members! Also... the biggest highlight of my week (besides the baptisms) Quynh
got up and bore her testimony yesterday at church and it was honestly the most
beautiful and heartfelt testimony I have ever heard! She had over half the ward
with teary eyes and the Spirit was so strong! We were with her last night and
she told me she could feel the Holy Ghost with her and her heart fills full! I
feel so blessed to have been part of this journey with her!! I was reflecting
on that first day when I met her and we had our first lesson with her. She told
us that she didn't feel like God loved her and she wanted to feel his love. She
also got super excited when we told her there was a prophet on the earth again
and wanted to know everything about him :) I never imagined that my experiences
with this girl would change me so much and that her testimony would influence me
in all the ways it has! Sometimes missionaries are placed in the lives of
others but I know Quynh was placed in my life to change me!
Well... I can't think of a whole lot more to write about for this
week! I had my interview with President on Thursday and that was really good!
I absolutely love President Wall and he has taught me so much! You can feel the
love he has for his missionaries and this mission every time you're around him!
It's going to be hard to say goodbye to him in a few months! I also got to go
on exchanges with Sister Stephens, one of our sister training leaders, this past
week and that was really fun! We found out we had the same group of friends at
BYU-Idaho, we were just on different tracks, so we had fun talking about that!
I want y'all to know how much I love this Gospel and I know it's
true! I love the Book of Mormon and I love seeing how it changes people's
lives! Our Heavenly Father loves us and he knows each of us personally! It's
definitely not easy being a missionary but I always think of Christ and his life
and his life wasn't easy either. He was the son of God, yet people ignored,
mocked and crucified him. The troubles you face as a missionary are nothing
when compared to that :) It's also nice to know that he is with us in all that
we do and go through! We're pretty lucky to have a big brother like that :) I
love y'all and I hope y'all have the most wonderful week!!!!
Love,
Sister Emily Ogden
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