IT'S A GIRL!

IT'S A GIRL!

So I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the June Harvest! Last week we were standing at 52 baptisms and this last week in June we got........ 26 baptisms for a total of 78 baptisms in June!!!!! What What! The whole mission is just SO excited! How blessed we have been by the Lord! 

This is the district band pose hahahahah

I cannot believe my big sister is getting married in 4 days...... ah! This is SO weird! I'm sad I wont be there but I am SO excited for you Jill n' Tyson!  Be good and have fun! (Sound advice! -J)

I think now is also a good time to give you a quick update on some of the investigators that people have taken an interest in:

The Gypsies: So we have stopped by them a couple times, but the mother and Marco are never home.... We don't have their number and they live in Mississauga so its hard to get out to see them

Carlos: We found out that Carlos is not in our area so we had to hand him off to other missionaries

Sharon: Sharon has expressed the desire to take it very slow. She doesnt want to be baptized for at least a year and just wants to visit with us missionaries.

District bowling!

Big news! My street approach has improved! So my dad asked me to keep him updated on the successes I have in my mission as well as my funny moments (specifically with my street contacting) so here goes my success story!

We are walking on the street and we see a guy working on his lawn so we stop to talk with him. We find out that he is Catholic and we continue to talk with him then he said something profound, he said, "The Catholic church is corrupt, but I would never leave it. All religion is corrupt, thats just the way it is." 

That struck me as very interesting so I asked him, "Don't you believe that God would have one true church that teaches His children how to return to live with him again?"

He stopped to ponder and I jumped on the opportunity 

"We share a unique message about the restoration of the gospel. See, when Jesus Christ and His apostles were killed, there was no one left with the authority from God to lead His church. As a result man was left to interpret the gospel by his own means, and precious truths were lost. However, God loves his children and He wants them to be able to return to live with Him again, so out of love He called another prophet in this day to restore the church  that Jesus Christ established and teach God's children what they must do to qualify to live with Him. I know that this message is true, that God has indeed called a prophet today to lead his children and I know that if you meet with us you can find out for yourself if this is true." 

John: looks at Sister Ogden and says, "This girl is a good preacher!"

Hahaha! He told us that we could come by anytime and talk with him more about this prophet so we are looking forward to meeting with him again.

We had another pretty cool experience this week with a new investigator named Neil. Neil is the husband to an active member of the church and she has pretty much forced him into taking the missionary discussions. Go sister Gould! Unfortunately, its hard to teach when someone is not sure why the message would be important to them.... We decided that we would talk about the plan of salvation, you know the whole spiel on families are forever... we thought it would tug at his heart strings maybe. So we ask him if he believes there is a God and he says that he isnt too sure, so we start talking to him about the character of God. We talk about this for 10 min and we arent getting very far with him and I can tell he is not very interested. Then I look him straight in the eye and say this:

"Neil you are the literal son of a Heavenly Father. He knows you inside and out and He loves you SO much. In fact He loves you so much He has blessed you with a beautiful wife and 3 healthy daughters. He wants what's best for you and more than anything He wants you to be able to return to live with him one day as a family, and what we are teaching you is the path that He has set out for you to be able to do that." 

Oh my gosh the spirit was SO strong and you could tell he felt it. The rest of the lesson went on and nothing really stuck out, but I could tell he felt the spirit, I could see it begin to work within him.

So I have some big news. Jill may be the first one to get married, but I am the first one to have a kid.... thats right, this transfer I have unknowingly been pregnant and just yesterday I gave birth to a 110lb baby girl! hahaha in other words we got transfer calls on Sunday and I am staying in Oakville annnd I'm training.... BAH! "The Lord qualifies those he calls, the Lord qualifies those He calls..." I have had to repeat these sentences for the last few days in anticipation to picking Sister Rogers up. I cannot believe God called me to train a brand new missionary!  Thankfully Sister Rogers came pre-trained. The first thing she said to me was that she was excited to be on a mission because she likes a challenge and she cant wait to go tracking and such..... I swear the clouds of Heaven opened up when she said that and I could hear the angels singing. I am SO grateful and blessed to have her! She couldnt wait to go out and talk to people on the streets. Yesterday I went to the trainers meeting and found out Sister Ormond (my MTC companion) is also training, which was sweet! Then we took our new missionaries out and started to work. It was a solid day. I took sister Rogers to meet the bishop, dropped by less actives and talked with people on the street. All in all it was a good first day! 

Oh also, Sister Rogers knows Elizabeth! She spent time with her in India... small world!!!!!

My new baby! Sister Rogers, Sister Williams (Grandma) and me

Welllllllllllllll thats all for now folks. Sorry this is a little shorter, but there is much work to do out here! I love you all and thank you all for the support! Keep smiling!

Line of the Week: 

Sister Ogden street contacting after a long day

Ogden: "What do you think happens when we die?"

Lady: "No idea but it would be nice to know"

Ogden: "Ya i wish i knew..."

me in a whisper: "You do know...."

Ogden: without missing a beat  "but I do know and I can help you find out too..."

ahahahahahahahah so funny! we about died laughing after the lady walked away 

Scripture of the week: Alma 44: 4 

"Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith." 

A Haiku for You: 

Comforter

speaker of all truth

still small voice

Sister Hall

Elder Burgason and Elder Roberts :D