23 Dec 2013

Dear mom,

so i will likely be calling at around 1 pm your time, if everything goes the way we believe it will. thats about the best i can do.

yeah we had a christmas centered theme for our sacrament meeting out here to. we had a couple of special musical numbers and bishop got up and said a few words. it was good.

seeing as how saturday was the first day of winter it was more like the middle of july, very hot and and humid. but thats alright considering that most of the time it gets terribly cold when the sun goes down around here.

i got the picture of lila and susanna, and jack? that little boy looks to big to be jack. anyway the picture was good.

this last week has been absolutely the slowest week for getting anything done. the more we tried to do the more opposition got placed in our way. we did however finally get interviews from president. which took all day long. we were suppose to have ours at around 2:30 and be done by 3:30 but they got way behind and we weren't done until almost 6:00. and between meetings and all the other stuff we have to do.we haven't had much time to do much of anything. not accounting for the half hour it takes to go anywhere and another half hour back.

you may find it amusing that we found a new gator. who has the same first name as the savior. but he is from puerto rico so it is pronounced differently.

yes i did get the christmas box with everything in it. it made my christmas a lot better and it was already good. i hope you all have a merry christmas and a happy new year. talk with ya'll on wednesday.

Sincerely,

Elder Ogilvie

16 Dec 2013

Dear Mom,

christmas is almost here and you probably can't wait to hear my voice. this christmas has been coming remarkably fast. i didn't think it would come so fast. at a computer ready to Skype. (sometime after 11:30) thats the best i can do right now. i will be calling dads account unless you give me different instructions :) if all else fails though, who's phone do you want me to call?

we have had two christmas parties this last week and the ward party for 2nd ward and the mission party, thank you to everyone who sent letters and cards they made christmas that much happier. i had a lot of fun trying to track down former companions and friends at the mission party and enjoyed the christmas musical devotional that came with it. the ward party was a night in bethleham, so everyone dressed up in time period clothes and the cultural hall was decorated like the market place. everyone was summoned by order of agustus Caesar to come to pay their "taxes" (food for the food drive) and add their name to the census. we were the roman centurions there taking the census as everyone came in. it was fun.

i did talk about an activity that we had last week that sound like basically the same thing.

i wish i was still in darien, i really liked it there. but the lord needs me here and so here i will be. the ward here is wonderful. and so are the people. i do remember why i like singles ward and older wards. trying to get something out of sacrament meeting is so much harder when there are little children left and right that are screaming for attention. being in church is a noisy experience at best on a normal day. the quietest day was by far when the primary was doing their program. it was great.

as far as Facebook rules are concerned, i can friend immediate family members and friends back home, but i can't chat over Facebook. however if i am teaching someone through chat i can invite family and friends in to chat to help the person we are teaching online. thats pretty much it. if you do message me don't expect me to reply over Facebook.

last night we were out working around a less active member of the ward and someone we talked with called the cops on us. not that the cops can do anything to us. ( we are not soliciting ). so it was really more amusing than anything else for us. i've never had anyone actually call the cops on us before. apparently there has been a series of break ins over there, at least thats what the cops said. i don't think we are headed back that way after dark anymore. we will go back during the day.

we don't ever have time to decorate our own apartment, but we are going caroling several times during this next week. we already did it once as a district, and we are going as a ward mission this next saturday. we do have one appointment for christmas.

i hope you have a:

Merry Christmas, and a Happy new year,

Sincerely,

Elder Ogilvie,

9 Dec 2013

Dear Mom,

im glad im in florida right now. i would probably be freezing up there right now. the weather here has actually been getting warmer, as it was pretty cold for a little while.

this week hasn't been to crazy but we have defiantly been more busy than we were 2 weeks ago. we were able to go and find some new people to go teach who are keeping their appointments. we keep finding people who won't so finding someone who will keep one is for us a little miracle.

i guess if your neighbor had to come home early for medical he probably won't be able to go out and finish it will he? i know there are a lot more missionaries that go home early than any one might think. i know both president craig and president barry won't/wouldn't send any missionary home for any reason except it be absolutely necessary. which is a good thing more often than not.

we had at least one day that worked out fantastic for finding people to teach and bring to church. although non of them kept with their commitment to attend. this next week will be our mission christmas conference. so we look forward to that

don't be surprised when you get a Facebook friend request from me in the next couple of days. i was called to work online starting this next week. elder Camarena and i will still be together till the end of this transfer at least. they won't send him to brazil until transfers are up and decided. he has already been waiting for 5 months. speaking of waiting for the lord and his timing... everyone who came out in his group already had their visas by time they left the MTC. so apparently the lord needs him here in gainesville for a transfer or two. i know a missionary who was waiting for his visa for 7 and a half months before being shipped out at the end of this last transfer. when this companionship ends is entirely in the lords hands. so far the lord hasn't seen for to leave me anywhere more than 4 and a half months. president says we are suppose to stay in one place from 6-9 months at a time. i think some one missed the memo.

the gainesville stake did a nativity display where members in the wards got together their nativity sets and put them up in the cultural hall for all to see. there were some really pretty nativities. this was followed by the first presidencies christmas devotional. it was a wonderful event that everyone was welcome to. i really liked the peanuts christmas nativity. it was spiritual yet funny.

i really like teaching the plan of salvation. it clearly defines why we are here, where we came from and where we are going, and it can be related to just about everyone in one way or another. my favorite part of the day changes everyday. it just depends on weather people keep their commitments and appointments. when they do, being in appointments is by far my favorite time of the day.

i did get the box you sent me for my birthday and we had some members take us out to get ice-cream when they found out. we also biked 13 miles in a big loop around our area in order to get to every appointment that we had set. so it wen't very good.

i hope you enjoy this next week. tell everyone merry christmas for me. love Ya'll

Sincerely,

Elder Ogilvie

Dec 2, 2013

dear mom,

here has come another week of fun adventures, transfers were on wednesday, and i got my new companion. Elder Camarena. he is waiting on his visa to go to Sao paulo Brazil. seeing as how we are in a bike area and he didn't have a bike. we have been stuck walking for a couple of days. that being said we found an extra bike that a member is willing to lend us for now. we also got a break in that the mission office is now has us in a car share with the sisters that live in our same apartment complex. they still get the car most of the time since the way the ward is divided they have to go 12 miles out of town to Newberry just about every single day. president told us that the mission only gets 102 cars for the now 135 companionships of missionaries

as far as any work was concerned we weren't able to to do much between transfers and thanksgiving, and all the extra studies that come with training a portuguese missionary. this next week should produce more for us to go and do.

thanksgiving was good. we had a lunch and a dinner appointment. all of it was amazing. poor Elder Andersen got transferred the day before his birthday which also happens to be thanksgiving day. our ward missionaries who fed us is a professional chef and he cooked a habenero turkey. it was delicious. it was a new twist on an old favorite. we were by no means on our own for thanksgiving day.

Tresa must be doing very good. that is super good to hear. it has been a long time since i've heard anything about her working anywhere. if i ever have before. is Tresa liking working for the energy solutions center? keep showing her love and support. overcoming the things that she is, is by no means easy.

i will be looking for the box to be headed my way. you know i will be rooting for RSL to beat KC.

i've already been through what was suppose to be a big tropical storm, but by time it reached us it was just a big storm. it didn't even deserve the tropical storm status. back when i was in darien we had a big one that knocked over a couple of large trees. though it only lasted about 30 minutes before it had completely passed through town, but we did have to go find shelter for that little bit of time. it was funny because we got the storm warning 5 minutes after we were being blown over and pounded in to the ground by the rain. i like the rain for the most part but when it rains for 4 and 5 days in a row and can't stay dry to save our lives then i get sick of it really fast. thats about how things were about 2 weeks ago.

your life back home seems to be as crazy or more than mine has been this last week. I'm glad to hear that everything is working out for ya'll. take care and i will write again next week.

Sincerely

Elder Ogilvie

25 Nov 2013

Dear Mom,

last Monday night at 7:30 while way out in the middle of nowhere. we got a call from president Craig... he told me that i will be training a new missionary... transfers are tomorrow. if you wondered why this email didn't come yesterday that is why.

i only have CD's and they don't do me much good at this point since we don't have a car though here we have a stereo system, so we can have music at night. if however i m going to be able to listen to music though the rest of the mission it will need to be on an Ipod.

so the reason i wanted to know how i relate to glen is that one of the members here is the grandson of Glen Ogilvies' best friend during WW II and who's wife is now spending quite a bit of time with Glen. that's what I've heard from the member here.

that is exciting that RSL is on their way to winning another title. i will be cheering for them from gator country.

president Craig wants us to have 2-3 places to go and visit with members for thanksgiving. ( that's what he said on the transfer calls last night ). right now we have 2 appointments for thanks giving dinner. we are hoping that both will go through. ( maybe you could invite the missionaries to thanksgiving dinner if they don't have other plans already?)

we mostly go and help members to do their missionary work. we help them learn how to invite their friends and neighbors and even people they have never met to hear the restored gospel. and then help them to set goals for the number of invites that they can extend in the next two weeks. then two weeks later we get to hear their stories of how things went. for example we have a member who has a goal to invite 1 person every day. and another who has a goal to give missionaries a referral everyday. the idea isn't so much about inviting only those we think are ready but instead inviting everyone that we can, regardless of weather or not those we invite accept the invitation. its starting to work too.

thank you for all of your love and support. i will let you have your Tuesday morning back now. i hope ya'll have a wonderful thanksgiving and Christmas season. Love Ya'll.

Sincerely,

Elder Ogilvie

18 Nov 2013

Dear Mom,

yes i did finally get the letter you sent me. and i thought i did send that check to you. though it might be in one of the boxes that i sen't home. one of them was full of the letters that i received while I've been out. and i just don't have the space to keep carrying around with me and other extra stuff. i would suggest checking there. it might be in there. other than that i am pretty sure i don't have but i will check anyway.

the last week here was another zone conference. this time it was just us missionaries. nothing to exciting. oh and it did rain here for at least 4 days straight. which is unusual considering that it will rain for 5 minutes and quit for 5 days and start all over the next day. i'm just happy its not snowing down here though it was most certainly very cold. this last week. if anything there was one day it was not far from freezing out side.

no they haven't told us anything about leaving the chapels open with missionaries in side quite yet. of the changes they have told us about is the giving of iPad to missionaries who are ready to receive them. rumor says they are coming the beginning of next year but we will see. i suspect that it will be longer than that.

this week was almost nothing but service. we helped at least 3 families move across the ward. none of them left the ward but they moved from one ward boundary to the other. which has meant moving some big and heavy pieces of furniture. it was easy though because the whole of the elders quorum showed up for one of the moves. us and the 3rd ward elders helped with the other big move. groups of 6 or more people move things very quickly.

i don't have any special requests for my birthday. music would be appreciated though. i can't really think of anything that i need at the moment. i just had to order new scriptures because the binding on my quad busted. everything is going good here. i hope everything is still OK at home.

Sincerely,

Elder Ogilvie,

11 Nov 2013

dear mom,

its been a week that's for sure. i got the picture of champ, i miss that dog. i thought the picture was funny. the principle of opposition in all things is certainly true. for as many things that have gone wrong there are equally as many that have gone right more actually. we have investigators who are actually beginning to progress.

we have another zone conference that is coming up this week even after having one just last week with elder zwick of the seventy. don't ask me why. there is definatly a focus on doing missionary work now. the surge of missionaries can be seen as "the end soon coming" the goal is to save as as many as we can "while the sun still shines". the ward here is really focusing on the work. we have been going around to every members home helping them to set up and put in to effect their family mission plans. so we have been very busy trying to get to every family in the ward. at least in our area to work in which is the city part of the ward boundaries.

there isn't much that i have to leave a report on this week. i hope ya'll are doing well back home.

Sincerely,
Elder Ogilvie