21 April 2014

Dear mom,

This has been the craziest week. Easter Sunday was amazing, the ward
had a suprise baptism of a young woman who has been coming to church
for over a year who was only kept from joining because her parents
wouldn't give her the permission to be baptized. But since they gave
her permission to join the millitary she was able to then join the
church of her own free will without her parents being able to stop it.
MIRACLE!!!

With all the excitement for Easter, bishop Maughan made some special
picture invitations for church for us to pass out to our investigators
and less active members that we go visit. It has a picture of Christ
knocking on the door and a message about Christ on the back. They were
pretty cool. We passed out a ton of them. In all the efforts we had 1
investigator come and join us this Sunday. So he got an extra special
Sunday to attend because he saw the confirmation of marissa, and got
to hear both the bishop and the stake president speak in church on
eater of all Sundays to attend. Services were amazing.

We also ate dinner with Joseph smith for Easter dinner. Joseph smith
is our elders quorum president. He is the funniest EQ president that
I've meet. That's where the picture of me holding two giant teddy
bears comes from.

We had a district blitz on Saturday where we all split up with members
to go invite as many less active members and their neighbors as we
could find to come to church using the invitations that bishop made
for us to pass out. In total we had 20 companionships going out to
contact people it was pretty intense and fun.

We have had so much fun going around this week. It has been stormy and
raining every day for the last week straight. We've found seemingly
elect people and those who only wish to cause us harm. So it's been
exciting. I went on my trade off with elder Clark and people just
plain hated on us all night long. we spent the night just laughing
because we realized that people were just fulfilling the prophecies
about the true followers of Jesus Christ being persecuted for what we
try and share. We talked about it in gospel principles how Christ
didn't bring peace but a sword ( of truth ). people don't like to be
told that they are wrong so they revile us when we bring them exactly
what they need.

It sound to me like you are going to have a fun summer. A busy summer
too. Have fun. I know we are going to have fun here.

Our ward mission leader is awesome, he is also a smith, but not
related to Joseph smith EQ President. I have noticed that in almost
every ward I've been in there have been some interesting family
relationships. Our ward mission leader here is pretty cool. And he is
of top of everything. Seeing as how we just switched leaders things
are moving along nicely.

They say pictures are worth a thousand words. So here are 5 pictures
so there's another 5000 words for you to read. Love y'all

Sincerely,
Elder Ogilvie

1 April 2014

Dear mom,

First of all this week is transfers. And they are kicking me out of
Gainesville :(. Now I am going to the beach, Jax beaches to be exact.
So now I am attempting to pack up all of my stuff which is
surprisingly a lot.

So this week has been really crazy. We found an investigator that has
had some pretty interesting experiences with god. We also were
teaching a lesson out on the front porch of this investigator when a
member looking to move into the area came up to us in the middle of
the lesson, and stuffed $100 bill in the front pocket of elder
Mellor's white shirt and walked away before we could properly reject
it. The crazy part is that the next day we were working online at the
front office of our apartment complex, when this member came up to us
& introduced himself.

This has also been one of the hardest for getting anything done, or
feeling like we accomplished anything. All of our investigators have
gone done disappeared. Where they went I do not know. People and their
agency, it's making us look bad :).

This was our fast Sunday so there wasn't really any specific topics
that got discussed. We did do a lesson on prayer for gospel principles
though. It has happened many times since I've been out here where
prayers were answered in ways I never expected. So think about a time
when you got an answer to prayer  that came in a completely different
way than you ever thought it would come.

President Craig gave us the challenge to read the Book of Mormon again
in 90 days. This just after I finished reading it and had moved on to
studying conference talks. So here we go again.

I'm looking forward to going to general conference in the new area.
Hopefully I will be able to get to know the new ward fairly quickly.
I'm sure it will be fun seeing as how I've not actually served in
Jacksonville yet.

You can expect a box to come your way this week, I'm sending home some
books and things I don't need and or want to carry around any more. I
just dropped it off at the post office so it should arrive on
Thursday.

I'm glad to know that everyone is well back home. Enjoy general conference.

Sincerely,
Elder Ogilvie

Love y'all

24 March 2014

Dear Mom,

It's been an interesting week, we had president interviews, so I got
the opportunity to talk with him about things that are going on in
this area, interviews with president Craig are a lot quicker than when
president Barry was here.

We have still been biking all around the area trying to find people to
teach, and we have been meeting with different members helping them to
identify 12 of their friends who are either, not members or who are
completely inactive, then prayerfully invite 1 of them each week to
come to church or meet with us ( the missionaries ). So far it is
working, we have just barely started.

This has not been a happy few days for elder mellor, his bike has
started falling apart in some fairly normal ways, but it's been
ruining his week, And creating some tension that does not need to
exist. We got most of it fixed today. So it shouldn't be a problem
now.

For as hard as things are here in Gainesville, this is the one set of
ward leaders that I have so far seen that, has effectively and
efficiently handled every trouble that has come this way, also it's
the only ward that has put any kind of focus on working with the
missionaries in the ward. So I really like the ward leaders here.

We did both of our exchanges this week, so I wasn't in my pun area for
what felt like half of the week. When I went with our district leader
elder tuft, we put my stuff in their apartment before we went out to
work, and elder tuft forgot the key to the apartment, so when the
maintenance man came to fix their ac he locked the door behind him, so
when we returned that night we were locked out of the apartment, we
almost had to spend the night in the apartment of the other 3rd ward
elders down stairs, fortunately for us the front office happened to be
open till late that evening so after a few phone calls and a miracle
from Heavenly Father the maintenance man cam and unlocked the door for
us. That particular day was full of prayers being answered, as it
turns out elder tuft and his companion elder pili's bikes are both
broken, so when we went Tracting that day and we Tracted into a man
who had two extra bikes that he just gave them. So there is a miracle
or two to consider this week.

As for the family that we Tracted into on Super Bowl Sunday, we had to
drop them. They refused to believe that the Holy Ghost would bear
witness of the message, they only wanted historical proof of the Book
of Mormon and restoration of the gospel. Some times that's the way it
goes, the people we often expect to be the ones who will receive the
message, are often the ones that don't, and the people that we don't
think will, quite often do.

It seems like every conference has brought out some new catch phrase
from a current apostle. I can't wait to hear what amazing messages we
will hear in two weeks.

Now my letter is getting long too. So I hope y'all. Have a wonderful week.

Sincerely,
Elder Ogilvie

Love y'all

17 March 2014

Dear mom,

I love you! It dound like y'all are having a great week. It's been
interesting and hard week for us here. That's so funny that carter got
a call from someone looking to hire me.  Imguess that means that there
are places for me to go work when I return.

Things are going kinda well, it could still be better, but it's good
enough for now. Presidents interviews are this next week, so I'm
looking forward to that.

For fun today we are going to go visit "the  Swamp" I will try and
send a picture.

Cool missionary experiences are to be found everywhere. Some times for
us when it seems like everything is going wrong, the cool moment is
when we find the one person who actually invites us back. That
happened last night. I also think I've found some one that I can begin
to teach online, through facebook. Somehow doing it that way is way
harder than it sounds, and it doesn't sound easy at all. We tend to
think everyone is online all the time, which is partially true, but
when we get online at the appointed time people aren't on facebook. So
when I do find someone it is a miracle. I suppose the same could be
said for normal missionary work.

It will be fun for y'all to have family around for general conference,
is grandma having a big Easter party that Sunday? Or are the parties
pretty much done? It's weird to think that this general conference has
come again so fast, I wonder what inspired council will be given this
year. Also what the total count of full time missionaries is at, I
know last I heard it was over 90,000. The church has grown a lot in
the last five years. ( I've been looking at the statistical reports
from each of the conferences)

You should follow Logan's advice to pray for missionary experiences
EVERY DAY! The Lord wants to give them to you. That goes for the whole
family. He is waiting for you to do your part so he can bless the
people around you and you too.

This last week we had a former investigator call us and ask us to come
back, he told us that he got a an answer that god really does exist,
he said he didn't believe me, but when he did what we asked him to do
he got an answer to the questions that he asked, now he is a more
solid investigator. God answers prayers, it may take weeks... It may
take months, but with real intent and a humble heart god will answer
prayers.

Now my letter is getting long so I hope y'all have a wonderful week,love y'all
Sincerely,
Elder Ogilvie


Love y'all

10 March 2014

Dear Mom,

It has been a hard week. We haven't been able to visit with a lot of
the promising potentials that we found. Neither has this been the most
loving companionship that I have been in either. There seems to be a
lot of over reacting going on, in the part of my companion. He really
doesn't like it here. No matter what I try and do or say it hasn't
helped. Companionship inventory helped for a time but it seems to wear
off fairly quickly.

Brightyn is almost a year old? That was a fast year. That is so cool.
She really is growing up fast. It's amazing. Who else's birthday is
coming up? I know Logan is at the end of the month hen general
conference is the beginning of next.

It's crazy that general conference is next month. It doesn't seem like
it was all that long ago that we had the October general conference. I
wonder what amazing things will be brought up this time?

Wen have been involved in a big service project as we helped the stake
relief society put together an activity. We did most of the set up and
clean up, and were there to help get people to the right place at the
right time. It was fun to because I got to see some of the people who
I haven't had an opportunity to interact with since I left Williston a
year and a half ago.

Our bishop here went to a conference at which one of the apostles
spoke. He talked about how soon the return of The Lord is and then
proceeded to give tons of instruction for the wards regarding the need
to focus on missionary work. I think we sat and listened to bishop
talk about it for ten minutes during sacrament meeting.

It's been a long time since I sent scriptures home. I can send you
some more if you would like. I have enough space in my current
journals to last for the next 6 moths, probably longer.

Utah and Idaho pray for rain and it rains here. Congratulations your
prayers have been answered. Now next time pray more specifically that
it will rain in your specific state. Now don't get me wrong we still
need rain too but more specific prayer invite more specific answers.

We talked about this scripture last night and how it describes missionaries.
Alma 13:27-29

Love and miss y'all

Sincerely
Elder Ogilvie

Love y'al

4 Mar 2014

Dear mom,

Things here have been slow for the most part, we ended up dropping
most if not all of our investigators, and started over. It's been a
little harder but we have managed to find some new people to talk with
so things have been working out good for us. We went and Tracted a new
neighborhood that hasn't seen missionaries in a long time so we had
quite a bit of success and a couple of return appointments for
Tuesday. At least one of them actually seems promising.

Does Sydney respond better to Sydney or shadow, which ever she
responds to better should be her name. I suppose champ is still being
lazy. Is he still super protective of Sydney?

Nothing to exciting happened this week. We did a lot more tracking
than we really wanted to and at first it worked well. Which is how we
found everyone we did.

Elder mellor is from Murray Utah. Different part of Murray from where
we lived. It's been another adventure in getting to know him a little
bit better, we have two completely different ways of doing anything.
Teaching, finding, p-day activities, grocery shopping... Everything.

As far as missionary business cards go we already have all kinds of
pass along cards to give out. We usually just write our names and
phone numbers on the back of the cards. So there is no need or use for
even more types of cards.

Nursery must have been a fun experience. So you don't get to play
grandma every Sunday? Oh well. A lot of the members here in
Gainesville related their testimony to the topic of missionary work.
Either that or that is all I heard because that's what I was listening
for. Either way it was cool.

I have found it a lot easier to write letters home while roaming
around on p-day. Now that we don't have to spend 2 solid hours sitting
at computers. I can sit and write it when I have the time to do it. I
can just sit down and write it anywhere then the letter will send when
I find some wifi

Sounds to me like everything is going well back home. I hope things
continue to go well for y'all. Love y'all

Sincerely,
Elder Ogilvie

24 Feb 2014

Dear Mom,

I finally made it back into my own area, I've missed being here. I've
spent the last week and a half sleeping on the couch. Working with all
four of the elders in third ward. I would float between both of the
companionships. But now I'm with my own companion so I don't have to
be as brother Lowry says "the lone man in the garden of Eden"

We've been trying to get a hold of all the investigators that I was
working with before elder Camarena left, so far... No success. It
pretty well time to simply start over and go tract some new roads.

Elder mellor is pretty cool. He is like a mix of all the other
companions I've had so far. Some of it is good and some of it... I
wish I could get rid of. But it is what it is. We have two more elders
serving here in the Gainesville 2nd ward. Elders maxfield & Capel.
Which has made things much easier for p-day since we are no longer
limited by having to share the car with the sisters who live in the
same complex as us. Elder maxfield is a goof. He is pretty funny to be
around and elder Capel is just plain cool. He is about as green as
missionaries can be. Bishop made him get up I front of the whole ward
on Sunday and talk for about five minutes. A good way to welcome him
into the ward.

Because of the new elders who are working in this ward now we have had
to further subdivide the ward so we aren't double covering areas.
Which has resulted in us losing half of our investigators to one of
the other sister companionships. Though we are vote ting some of their
work to so its a bit of a fair trade. If things work out the way I
think they will we will be biking even further every day and we
already bike between 10 - 15 miles throughout the day. Which usually
eats up about an hour each day to get anywhere and back. A lot of
times we have to bike to the far edge of the area and ward boundaries
to find areas that haven't been worked in for a while. We will be
doing this more often now.

We have a mailbox at the front of our apartment complex so when we get
boxes they are put into a lockbox and they put e key in our locked ail
box so we can pick them up when we come in at night. We have also
become pretty good friends with the mail lady who brings the mail. So
we know really quick when boxes are arriving for us. Yes I did get the
box.

That relief society project sounds really good. I'm guessing that
y'all get a lot of missionaries that come from warmer climates. A lot
of the missionaries that come here tend to forget that Florida and
Georgia still get pretty chilly during the winter even if it only
lasts about two weeks, maybe three. Then it gets warmer again. Then
the cycle repeats two or three time before "winter is technically
over.

It pretty hard for me to believe that carter is older than I was when
he was born. So the idea that he is going to be 13 is pretty crazy.
Who gave him permission to grow up so fast?

You got called to the nursery huh? How is that going? I guess that
since you have all kinds of time to devote to your grandchildren The
Lord figured he could give you more children to look after. I'm sure
you will have all kinds of fun with your new calling.

I'm having fun here, so I hope y'all have fun back home.

Sincerely,
Elder Ogilvie