Snow Day

Annie didn't have time to write an email this week, 

but she did send some cute pics!

Snake was Fake

Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to email. We found two new people this week, Oscar and Sandy! It was pretty incredible. So a few weeks ago we stopped by a former investigators home. They had just moved so they asked us to come back another time. Well we went back yesterday and they invited us in, and we had a lesson with them about the Restoration. Seriously the Restoration is so powerful and amazing!!! They kept asking such incredible questions throughout the lesson. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon and we set up a time to go back!! Right before we had our lesson I was super frustrated that we hadn't found anyone in a few weeks. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and his hand in my life.

We had a lesson with Alex S. and it was amazing! Sister Bloxham and I decided to let the scriptures teach and not to mention anything about baptism because we had focused too much on it. We had a member come with us and the spirit was so strong in the lesson. We read 3 Nephi 17 (one of my favorite chapters) and oh my goodness the scriptures are incredible and can teach us so much!

Also update from last weeks story about the snake...it was fake!! Yesterday we stopped by again and the snake was there still and it was totally fake! Sister Bloxham and I felt pretty dumb about it and could not stop laughing!

One last thing...the Book of Mormon is amazing! I was reading in 2 Nephi 9 and oh my goodness gracious I am so grateful for the plan of salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Love and miss y'all

Sister Ogden

Caught in a rain storm

Fun Dip

Sunny 70 degree weather!

Washing our very dirty car

Dog, Snake & Tornado

I love being a missionary, it's seriously the best but hardest thing ever!  Being able to share the most AMAZING message everyday brings me so much HAPPINESS!!

So I had my first dog attack on my mission. Monday night when we arrived to teach our lesson their dog ran outside. During our lesson they let the dog back inside and he darted right for me and jumped on top of me and started licking me to death, ha ha.

Tuesday night we were going to a less active members house for a lesson. It was dark outside so it was hard to see. When we were walking up to the door I stepped in dog poop. While we were waiting for them to open the door, all I could smell was the poop on my shoe. I kept thinking about how I was going to explain that I couldn't walk into their house without taking my shoes off first. Well no one answered the door. I grabbed my phone for the flash light to see the damage. Instead of seeing dog poop, Sister Bloxham and I see a snake!!  If you know me - I am freaked out by snakes. I start screaming and running for the car, leaving Sister Bloxham in the dark with the snake. She did make it safely to the car and we're pretty sure we gave the family a good show on their doorbell camera.

We had zone council on Wednesday! We role played by sharing a short message and asking questions, but instead of pretending to be someone else we were ourselves. Teaching missionaries to missionaries was so incredible, the spirit was so strong. It helped me remember my purpose as a missionary and why I came on a mission.

Thursday we were under tornado watch so we had to stay inside all day & night. All the members kept calling us during the day to make sure we were okay, it was super sweet of everyone!

Friday we went on exchanges with the STL's (Sister Trainer Leaders) in Fayetteville. I went to visit some members who live on the military base. While I lived in Fayetteville I never got to visit the base, so I was excited to go inside. It was interesting seeing the security clearance I had to go through to enter the base. It was so fun to see and visit with the members who live there.

Love and miss y'all
Sister Ogden

Tornado watch!

Zone Council with Sister Bishop

Book of Mormon  - The Best Book Ever!

Cold nights in Sanford

6 Months!

I've come to the conclusion that Sanford could seriously be a place where they film Hallmark movies. And for those of you who know me, I seriously love Hallmark movies!!

We had a few lesson with Alex S. this week which went really well. He said he needs more time before he commits to baptism. Apparently, he said we were being too pushy, ha ha.

Alex G. is getting baptized!!! Friday night we had dinner with his family, followed by a lesson. Our lesson was on the blessings of baptism. We had his wife and kids share how they felt when they were baptized. The spirit was so strong as everyone shared about their baptism. Then basically his family asked Alex if he would be baptized? We then asked if he would commit to being baptized and he said YES!!

All week we had been trying to get in contact with Jerica so we could have a lesson. We had texted her, but had no response. We decided to just wait a few days before reaching out to her again. Three days later we were driving out of our apartment complex and we see Jerica drive up to us. She rolled down her window and asked if we could come over that night for a lesson. Sister Bloxham and I could not believe it,  Heavenly Father is amazing and is always helping! Our lesson that night with Jerica and DeAndre was awesome, they were asking lots of questions and had great comments!

I hit 6 months this week! Wow mission time is weird. These have been the longest but fastest months ever! Also the best but hardest months. I have learned so much and my testimony has grown tremendously. I've never had to rely so much on my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have seen so many miracles in these short 6 months. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to share what brings so much joy and happiness to me!

Love and miss y'all so much

Sister Ogden

Darling Downtown Sanford

 Celebrating Sister Bloxham's mission half-way mark with Sonic & Croc pin! 

Golden Contact & Crocs

Hey y'all

So last P-day Sister Bloxham and I went shopping and there was a shoe store so we decided to just poke our head in. The whole store was buy one pair and get the other pair half off. Plus, they had some awesome crocs so of course that caught our attention. The adult crocs were pretty pricey so we decided to look in the kids section because they were cheaper. We found our size and decided we had to get them. We also found a "croc shoe" pin, so we had to get it! So we walked in not intending to buy anything, but we walked out with matching yellow crocs!

We had zone conference on Tuesday and it was amazing! President Holland seriously knows how to motivate and help us be the best missionaries we can be. Plus zone conference was in Fayetteville so I got to drive through my last area for a little bit which was amazing!

This week we stopped by a former investigators and tracted quite a bit. Not going to lie, I was getting a little frustrated because we hadn't found anyone new to teach in a while. But Heavenly Father works in amazing ways because we found ONE NEW PERSON!! We decided to tract the apartment complex were we had been visiting and this teenager answered one of the doors.

His name is Daniel and he was super interested in learning more about the gospel and was totally listening to us. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read the intro and we set up an appointment for the next day. We had a lesson the next day and taught him about the restoration. The Restoration is so amazing! He kept asking questions and it was amazing! He is seriously so prepared. When we asked him if when he came to know for himself if what we are teaching is true - would he be baptized...he said YES!!

Also Jerica and Alex came to church yesterday! Which was so unexpected because we have been inviting Jerica for a while, and she has always turned us down saying she needed to attend her own church.  Also Alex (different Alex than last week) came with his family to church - which was a great surprise and made me so happy.

I have definitely had some amazing miracles this week and I am so grateful for Heavenly Fathers hand in my life. I hope y'all have an amazing week!

Love and miss y'all Sister Ogden


    Matching Yellow Crocs!

Freezing Cold

Someone we do service with gave us these cute bags

Mini MTC

A few of our lessons fell through this week, which is super sad. But we did have one lesson on Tuesday where we taught the Plan of Salvation. Seriously one of my favorite lessons to teach! Every time I teach it, it helps me remember why I came on a mission. It explains how much our Heavenly Father loves us! The knowledge that we will be with our families forever brings so much happiness to my life; I want others to have that as well.

Saturday we stopped by a less active to introduce ourselves and share a short message. Well the short message turned into a two hour discussion! They wanted to talk about a lot of different things, some gospel related and some not. We kept trying to go, but it was super hard to leave because they kept talking to us. When they started giving us tips on what kind of husband we needed to look for, we ended the conversation and were able to leave, lol.

On Wednesday night we did a Mini MTC for the youth in our area to get them excited about missionary work. We had three rotations: a day in the life a missionary, writing their testimony in a Book of Mormons and role playing. It was so much fun! We asked the youth to write their testimony in a Book of Mormon and then give it to a friend or someone they think might want to hear about the gospel. One of the boys asked for  9 Book of Mormons, he wanted to give them to all of his basketball teammates!

Super exciting thing that happened...Alex came to church! Alex has been taught by missionaries for a while and it's been super hard getting him to church, but he finally came! When I saw him at church I couldn't believe it and I was so happy.

So, one more super cool thing happened...my Uncle Corey came to visit me!!  He had business in Fayetteville, and drove an hour up to Sanford to take me & Sister Bloxham to ice cream. It was so nice of him to take time out to come see me!

Anyways, I hope y'all have an amazing week!
Love and miss y'all Sister Ogden

Temples are the best!

         Youth Activity: Mini MTC

Dr. Pepper to the rescue!

            Surprise visit from Uncle Corey

Memory Loss

If I could sum up this week it would be warm weather, biking, rain, and tracting!

We finally had a lesson with an investigator we are teaching, Alex. We kept going over throughout the last few weeks and he hasn't been there or he's been busy but we were able to finally have a lesson which was super exciting!

I found out that I have the worst memory ever...yesterday we were tracting and we realized there was recent convert who lived close by where we were; so we decided to knock on his door. When he opened the door he looked super familiar. We introduced ourselves and he mentioned that he had just received the Melchizedek Priesthood. Right then I realized that we had just met him either that day or last Sunday at church. We tried to cover up the fact that we had already met him, but not too sure how well we did. I'm pretty sure we all realized that we had met before, lol.

Anyways, this week I was reading the first few chapters of 1 Nephi and oh my goodness gracious! Everything single time I read those chapters I marvel at how much faith Nephi had. It's amazing and such an example to have faith even when it gets tough! I'm so so grateful for the Book of Mormon and how much we can learn from it just by reading a few verses!

 Love and miss y'all
 Sister Ogden

It's Bike Week!