Sister Ogden, Sister Green (Bishop's Wife - they house the sisters), Sister Lindstrom

There Really Are Gators in Louisiana!

Hi family!!!!

  Thank you for the emails this week and for all the birthday wishes!  It sounds like everyone is doing well and able to breath now that tax season is over and another school year is coming to its end!  Things are going good here in Alexandria, as always!  We had Tracy's baptism that week and that was wonderful!!  Her husband has been waiting years for this and it was wonderful to see him just beaming the entire time at the baptism, at church on Sunday, and then at the Green's last night!  He's counting down the days until he can take her to the temple!! It was a wonderful baptism though and everything went smoothly!  Sister Green spoke on the Holy Ghost and it was a beautiful talk and the Spirit was so strong!  I am so grateful to have been a part of it all!

  That was definitely the high light of our week!  Second highlight of the week... I got to see an ALLIGATOR!!! And not just an alligator at the zoo but a real WILD ALLIGATOR!!! It was awesome!!!  I was on exchanges so I had a sister from the Vidalia area as my companion and we went to go visit a less active couple here in Alexandria.  We were talking with them out on their back porch and they were telling us that they had seen some alligators just a couple days earlier.  I made comment that I had really wanted to see a wild alligator while on the mission and they got excited and told us that they would take us to go see some.  It was the same time of the night that they had seen them and the lake was just down the road!  So we followed them out there and had our lesson out by the lake while we watched for the alligators to come up.  We weren't seeing any but we did get to have an AMAZING lesson with them about God and his creations and the Spirit was so strong as we took time, together, to admire the beauty around us.  We told them that we needed to go and they were bummed that we didn't get to see any, but we were ok about it all because of the lesson we were able to have.  Then as we were following them out they quickly stopped the car and started pointing like crazy.  We jumped out of the car and I guess as soon as we got to where they were the alligator went back under but we waited a few minutes for him to come back up and as we waited a few other alligators popped up and we got to see them swimming around!  It was awesome!!  I took some pictures so I even have proof!!  I can officially say that I saw real wild alligators while in Louisiana!  And mom, don't worry!  I was up on a bridge so I was safely away from them :) 

In other news! We've been working hard to build relationships with the ward members since we are both kind of new to the area.  Even though I've been here a whole transfer, I still feel brand new :)  It's been great though to meet the members and build my own relationship with them!  Sister Lindstrom had been there for 7 months and knew everyone and it was hard to build my own relationship with them, so that's what I get to do now!  We have a few investigators that we are working with but none of them are progressing right now.  We have two of them that we are hoping to meet with this week and really get the ball rolling with setting a baptismal date and getting them to follow through with their commitments! I'll definitely keep y'all posted on their progress!

   We had a great activity at Bishop's house last night!  One of our converts hit his year mark yesterday so we had a big bon fire at Bishop's and a lot of people from the ward came!  It was a lot of fun to gather together to celebrate Karl's one year mark!  It was a surprise and he just knew we were having a shindig at the Green's but he didn't know it was for him until we announced it!  He was completely thrown off and you could tell he was really touched by all the support he had from the ward!  I love it when I get to see ward members supporting those who are baptized!  We really don't realize the impact we have, as members, to converts of the church and we can help them so much as they begin this journey!  I really do think that ward members have been a huge influence in helping Karl get to where he is now!  It's a truly wonderful thing to witness and be a part of!

   I can't really think of what else to write about from the week.  Besides Tracy's baptism and seeing an alligator, it really hasn't been too exciting of week :)  Hopefully some fun stories will come out of this next week that I can share with y'all!  Thank you again for your love and your prayers!!  I love you all and I hope you have the most wonderful week that is filled with opportunities to share the gospel :)  I love you!!!

Love,

  Sister Emily Ogden

Sister Lindstrom Transferred

Hey family!!!
    Sounds like it's been a great past couple weeks for everyone and that everyone is grateful for tax season to be over!  I'm glad y'all liked the video too!  I thought that might be a fun way to wish you a happy end of tax season :)

  Things are going good here in Alexandria.  We had transfers this last week and Sister Lindstrom got transferred down to Baton Rouge.  She is actually in the ward that I served in for a few weeks so that was fun to talk to her about the people and she's living in my old apartment.  My new companion has been out for over a year now and has served all over the mission.  It's definitely an adjustment because I loved working with Sister Lindstrom and we got along great!  We were pretty mad when we got the call she was getting transferred.  President had told us a few weeks before that he had no reason to transfer either one of us so we weren't worrying about transfers at all!  She was pretty devastated when she got the call too.  She was here in Alexandria for just as long as I was at LSU and when I got transferred I at least knew it was coming, but she was completely blindsided by it!  We went down to Baton Rouge on Saturday though because Bishop's son was getting sealed to his children and Sister Lindstrom got to meet us there since she is serving in that area!  So that was really fun!  We also have our investigator getting baptized this Saturday and Sister Lindstrom has been working with her since she first got here, so we're hoping President will give her permission to come up for the baptism!

    The work has been going great here though!  Sister Lindstrom and I had an awesome last week together and it was our best week yet!  We met our goal for lessons and past out 15 copies of the Book of Mormon.  We also got to have a lesson with a girl we tracted into and that was really exciting!!  We are hoping to meet with her again this next week!  Easter was fun too!  We went to a member's house right after church and then we went to Bishop's house and had another dinner with them there!  They had all their kids that live around here come and it was fun to be with them and their family! It was a wonderful, Christ centered Easter! 

     I'm trying to think of what else I can tell y'all about!  Our investigator that's getting baptized this week is married to a member of the bishopric.  She has been coming to church for a while and is actually our ward pianist!  She has been investigating the church since last summer and finally decided that she is ready to get baptized.  Before she was wanting to finish the Book of Mormon first, but then she realized that she knows it's true and she's ready to get baptized!  It all happened really quick and I still can't believe her baptism is this week!  Luckily  she had already been taught the first three lessons many times so we didn't have to worry teaching those again and this week we are focusing on the commandment lessons!  It's also very lucky that she is already living the Word of Wisdom and all that so we don't have anything to worry about, it's just a matter of teaching everything :)  I'll definitely keep y'all posted on how the baptism  goes!

    The weather is started to warm up!  We went fishing this afternoon and it was super hot!  and No, I didn't catch anything or see any gators :/  Hopefully next time!

   Thank y'all for all the emails this week!  It was great to hear how everyone is doing and I'm glad y'all survived tax season! I love y'all and I hope you have the most wonderful week!!!

 

Love,

  Sister Emily Ogden

Goals Met! Busy Week!

Hi family! 

     I hope y'all enjoyed conference this weekend because it was AMAZING; as if I should expect anything less! We got to watch all four sessions at the church and yesterday the wards had a potluck between sessions and that was fun! I loved all the talks and it was cool to hear how much they talked about missionary work! I especially liked the reminder that Preach My Gospel is for everyone and everyone should be studying it. So with that being said, how's y'all's study of PMG going??!!! I'll be anxious to hear what y'all learn!! 

     This week has been busy and amazing! We have a mission goal to teach at least 20 lessons per week and Sister Lindstrom and I decided that we could and will meet that goal, and therefore we did! We met our goal of 20 lessons, we successfully handed out 11 copies of the Book of Mormon and we had to spend almost all day Wednesday traveling to Baton Rouge and back and then on Friday we had to go to Natchez, MS. We met our goals though and it felt so good! We also started teaching a new girl and have her committed to baptism. We haven't set a date yet but we're hoping to in the next couple weeks. We also have an appointment set up with a girl we gave a copy of the Book of Mormon to last week! 

      After President Perkins came to our mission last January we started focusing on three goals he gave us: 1. Having the faith to find 2. Being bold in commitments 3. Having a sense of urgency/focusing on the missionary purpose. It's been really cool this week as we focused on the 20 lessons goal and our goal to pass out 10 copies of the Book of Mormon we had to have faith to find people, we had to be urgent and it was easier to be bold in our commitments. It was a great feeling at the end of the week to know we can accomplish these goals set for us and as we do, the work will move forward as a result! Yesterday I was completely exhausted, however, and was wondering how I would have the energy to continue meeting these goals every week. It was as I had this thought that Elder Bednar stood up and reminded us about the strengthening power of the atonement. I was grateful for that reminder that through Christ all things are possible and he can give the strength to continue meeting these goals every week! 

     As I mentioned earlier we had to travel down to Baton Rouge again this week. We had another missionary leadership council on Wednesday but this time it was just with president and Sister Wall.  We talked a lot about the mission goals and how we can accomplish them in each of our zones. We also talked a lot about the little "drifts" that are taking place in the mission and how we can fix them. It's obvious the President is preparing everyone for our new mission president. I still can't believe he will be leaving us in just a few months!! It was a good meeting though and it was fun to be part of the discussion on how we can further strengthen the missionaries in our mission. 

     Then on Friday we went to Mississippi again. The missionaries there perform music at the Grand a Hotel every Weekend. It was president Wall's idea and he really wanted us to go watch them perform. It was really fun to go listen to them and support them! One of the sisters is actually an opera performance major at BYU and she has the most beautiful voice. She had the attention of everyone in that hotel when she sang!! 

     So as you can see it's been a busy, but wonderful week! I love staying busy in the Lord's work and having that sense of urgency in sharing His message!! Now I'm just praying for the strength to do it again :) I love y'all and I hope you have an amazing week!! Only about a week left of tax season, right??! YAY!!!!  Good luck!!

Love,

      Sister Emily Ogden

Hi family!

    Well it's been another crazy busy week here in Alexandria and Pineville! It's crazy busy working two wards and planning exchanges with all the sisters!! President and Sister Wall came to our district meeting on Wednesday and that was a lot of fun! We got to share with them our district's goal of handing out 40 copies of the Book of Mormon each week and it was really fun to share our stories with them and talk about the success we've been experiencing in meeting our goals! He told us that he can see the difference it's making in how happy we all are! I absolutely love working with the Walls and it's going to be really hard to say goodbye to them the end of June! I'm grateful for this opportunity I have had to work more closely with them this transfer! 

     I got to go on exchanges with the Natchitoches (pronounced nak-u-dish. And don't worry, I don't understand how either). It was really fun and everyone there is very southern! They also have alligators there but I didn't get to see any during my brief stay :/ it was really fun to visit the area and get to know the sister I was with. It's interesting to see how different missionary work is each area too! The town was beautiful though! It's actually the town where the movie Steal Magnolia was filmed and we got to drive by the house that was filmed in! 

     We had a crazy storm on Friday night! We were across the river in Pineville and heading home when the lightning started and the rain started as soon as we got into Alexandria. When we got home the wind picked up and it was CRAZY!!! When we got inside bishop noticed that Miss Robin's flag was about to fly away so he went outside to take it down. As soon he stepped outside the power went out. Immediately bishop just stops and says, "well I guess there's nothing left to do but sit on the porch and watch the storm" and he immediately just turned around, sat in his rocking chair, and proceeded to watch the storm. He hadn't even finished taking down the flag :) I was laughing so hard and afterward we changed into our pajamas we got to go down stairs and watch the storm with them and it was amazing!! The lightning was crazy and the thunder was rolling. I'm definitely going to miss these southern thunderstorms when I have to leave! What's even crazier was the next day was absolutely beautiful and besides the new ponds created by the rain everywhere, you couldn't tell there had been such a huge storm the night before. It was an absolutely beautiful clear day!!

     Now onto other news! We set a baptismal date with one of our investigators this week and that was really exciting! We started teaching her just a couple of weeks ago. Her boyfriend is a member though and she has been coming to church with him for a few months now! We are really excited and we are hoping we can work with her boyfriend so he can be worthy to baptize her because that would be amazing!! We have another investigator that we pretty much have a baptism date with too but we haven't been able to meet with her because our schedules just won't match up. It's really frustrating having to plan so much time each week to travel for exchanges and then this week we're fix'in to go to Baton Rouge again for another leadership mtg and then we are teaching our zone at our zone meeting on Friday so that all takes up a lot of our time. When we go to Baton Rouge it's basically an all day trip because of travel time :/ we are really hoping to meet with all our investigators this week though!   That's really our lost exciting news for the week! One of the girls in the YSA who I was close to, is actually from Pineville and she was home for the weekend and we had dinner with her and her family last night. It was really fun to talk with her and hear how everyone is doing back at LSU! She said Quynh is doing great and is actually her new vt companion and I was really excited about that! It was really fun to see her though and she had messages from the ward a members to give to me. I thought that was really sweet of everyone!

     All in all it's been a crazy busy but exciting week! I just wish we could have more hours in each day to accomplish everything we need to! Every day just goes by waaaaay to fast for my liking!!! So maybe in your prayers this week you can ask Heavenly Father to give Sister Lindstrom and I more time :) I'm continuing to love it here in the wards though and I love the south more and more everyday. I love when you go to find a less active and you accidentally go to the wrong trailer and the people are always so nice to tell you where you need to go. They are always very polite when rejecting you and your message :) 

     Thank you for your emails and for keeping me in your prayers!! I love y'all and I hope it's a great week!!!!!

I love y'all!!

Sister Emily Ogden

Hi family!

     Thank you for the e-mails this week!  I loved the stories about dad the other night and mom panicking about her own phone call :)  I could picture all of it so clearly in my mind!! Thank you to Mom, grandma and grandpa for the letters this week too!  It was exciting to get letters in the mail!!  Well things are wonderful here in Alexandria and Pineville!  We had a crazy week filled with a lot of hours in the car but it was still great!  We have a new goal that we have set as a district and it's to pass out 40 copies of the Book of Mormon each week and evens out to ten copies per companionship.  It was really difficult at first but now I love it!  There has been a huge push on finding in the mission since Elder Perkins came and visited and this new goal has really forced us to focus more on finding and I am really starting to enjoy finding and it has definitely helped me to become more confident in tracting because we do so much of it now!  We had a really cool experience on Tuesday because of it!  Two weeks ago was when we first set this goal and the first week of it was really hard for Sister Lindstrom and I.  Because we work two areas we constantly have less actives to visit and we had a really busy week.  We tried to set aside time for tracting and we were able to hand out four copies of the Book of Mormon that week, making us six copies short of our goal :/  When we got to district meeting we found out we were the only ones in the district that did not meet the goal.  To put it lightly, we were humiliated!!!  Therefore, we promised ourselves that no matter what we would hand out at least 10 copies that week!  So after district meeting we were preparing to head out to our appointment when we received a text and our less active canceled on us.  We were pretty bummed but decided to go try some other people on our list for the day.  We met with one of our investigators and then went to visit a member that just finished up chemo. We were sitting outside her house talking in the car, when we saw her car pull out of the drive way and her leave... haha... She didn't see us at first but when she did she stopped and told us she had to go do her visiting teaching.  So we sat in the car and talked about who to see next.  We had a part member family on our list and our plan was to go visit them, but Sister Lindstrom felt really uneasy about it.  We decided to say a prayer and afterwards she felt as though we should go try this other less active.  So we drove to her house and we got there and knocked, and.... she wasn't home.  I stood there in front of the door thinking to myself, "obviously this was a prompting to come here, but she's not home, so obviously there's someone we need to see here, which means we need to go tracting, but I really don't like tracting, and tracting really scares me, but obviously we need to go tracting".  I stood for a while and kept waiting for Sister Lindstrom to say something and when she didn't I vocalized my thoughts that obviously we need to tract this neighborhood.  She agreed and we started knocking doors.  After knocking on a few doors and talking to one man we started heading back down the street when we saw a man getting out of his truck and locking it.  We both felt impressed that we should talk to him so we walked up to him and we said hi, he turned around and said "I'm 70 years old, I can't hear".  I just laughed and spoke louder to introduce ourselves.  As soon as he heard the church's name he got really excited and yelled, "THE MORMONS, I LOVE THE MORMONS".  He went on to tell us that a long time ago he was suppose to have his leg amputated because of an infection he had received.  His neighbor was LDS and called the missionaries to give him a blessing.  They came and gave him a blessing the day before his surgery.  When he went in for his surgery the next day they told him his leg didn't need to be amputated.  He told us that he knows it was because of those missionaries and their prayer was answered and he told us that he knows we have the true religion.  The best part was that while he was telling us this whole story we kept nodding and agreeing and he kept saying "no, you don't understand" and we just kept thinking, "but we do!  We know exactly what your talking about.  The priesthood is real!".   He was excited to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon and to go and read it and we received his contract info so we're excited to contact him and meet with him this week!  The crazy part was how perfectly everything worked out and we were able to be exactly where the Lord needed us to be at that exact second!  It was definitely a miracle experience!  And just so you know, we met our goal for ten copies this past week!  Sister Lindstrom handed out seven copies while on exchanges and had some cool miracle experiences during that too!  It was wonderful how putting that focus on finding God's children whom he has prepared really motivates you in the work and strengthens you as missionaries!

     As for the rest of our week, Wednesday we went to the temple with two older ladies from our ward.  That was fun and they were hilarious!  One of them is this little Mexican lady and she has a Mexican/southern accent, it's really fun to listen to her speak!  I also thought I was going to die a couple times because of their driving and wanted so badly to offer to drive but we couldn't!  It was fun to be there though!  Thursday we drove to Vidalia for exchanges and I got to spend the next 24 hours there with Sister Hoskins!  It was really fun!  Vidalia is the southern town you see in the movies with the little restaurant that everyone goes to and everyone knows everyone!  It was the first time where I REALLY felt like I was in the south and everyone had an accent!  We went to the restaurant for lunch and I loved it!  We got to do a lot of tracting during my exchange there and we passed out a lot of copies and talked to a lot of people there.  Sister Hoskins is on her third transfer and it was really fun to spend time with her and to work with her.  It was also fun to see how different things were for them there in Vidalia because it's such a small town!  After exchanges we all went to Natchez, Mississippi!  It's still part of their area and our mission and it's crazy how different Mississippi is from Louisiaina.  Natchez is just across the river from Vidalia but it's completely different!  It's 200 feet above Louisiana and there are hills!!!!!!!!!!  There are zero hills in Louisiana and it was weird to be able to look down across the river and across that part of Louisiana.  We went to an old cemetery though and that was really cool!  There were a lot of graves there for confederate soldiers and we also saw a few catacombs!  It was really cool!  There was this one tomb stone and that was a huge pyramid. Turns out the man wanted to by buried in his rocking chair so inside that stone pyramid is a dead guy sitting in his rocking chair!- Welcome to the south!

    One of the highlights of the week was Saturday!  We spent almost the entire day in the car and in Baton Rouge because we had mission leadership council.  Sister Green drove us and the zone leaders down and we got to spend two and half hours with Elder Kopischke!  It was AMAZING!  It was just the leadership from the mission that met with him and the whole meeting was focused on his one question- Why does the Lord put two strong missionaries together as leaders? He told us that we need to be setting the example for the rest of our missionaries and showing them that it is possible to accomplish the goals set for our mission. His words, "You cannot ask anything of your missionaries that you are not doing yourself".  That was a huge wake up call to me and I realized how a lot more is expected of us because we are leaders in this zone.  He also told us to bind ourselves to what we learned that day and stick with it!  It was an amazing meeting and Sister Lindstrom and I are stoked to really work harder and improve this area to show the zone that we can do hard things and we can be those missionaries that move this work along.  I realized after the meeting that prophesies have been made about the work progressing in the South and there is no reason why we can't be those missionaries that get the ball rolling on making this prophesy happen!

    As you can see it has been a crazy week and I loved it all!  There was so much that I learned and experienced this week that I know will carry with me for the rest of my mission!  I love being here and I love the South and these people more and more every day!  There are some crazy people here and I love it :)  UI love y'all and I can't thank you enough for your e-mails every week!  I hope y'all have a wonderful week!!!

 

Love,

  Sister Emily Ogden