Letters from the ward for Valentines Day

because I asked him for a picture.

chillin' at the church on P-day

Watch the videos to see Matt aka Elder Vogel opening his valentines cards from the ward. He loved them!!

March 7th - 14th

Monday - P- day was nice, quiet and relaxing. We needed it after a busy
week haha. Later that night we went to sister Whitney's for FHE and she
shared about how there is no way someone can say that there isn't a
God. There's so much around us, all this life, beauty and the
universe. That's not natural, someone made that, some being with
incredible power. Amazing. Just let that sink in, truly worth it.

Tuesday - We went to the food pantry and had a celebration because I
guess the last "Original worker" is now retiring from volunteering at
the pantry. She was one of the first when it opened 30 years ago..
She's always done the fruit snacks and one of the ladies was like
"those fruit snacks you started 30 years ago fed a kid, now that kids
married and had kids of their own and you're still feeding them!" Lol
kinda funny. After that we went and saw Vinnie. He wasn't doing so
good so he asked for a blessing. He's already doing much better.
He's such and awesome dude. Then that night we had a dinner at the
Gogans, we talked about scriptures and we talked and learned about the
spiritual part of science!? Which sounds odd, but it's cooler when
you're actually talking to sister Gogan about it haha.

Wednesday - We had a great district meeting that really helped me out
because in my role play I completely goofed!! Haha I was like, oh shoot,
right out of the starting gate, which is okay, just means I have to
study that a little more. After district meeting we went and saw
Robert, who isn't doing much progression but we are still trying.
After that we went to a less actives house named Rowe. This dude
had a sweet looking Stingray! One of the new ones!! But.. He
spoiled it because when we asked if we could talk to him for a second he
slammed the door and locked it... So his car didn't look cool anymore
haha, and when he drove by, he floored it and ironically it sounded
like a Honda hahaha so that was funny. After we saw him we went and
saw sister Allen for a few minutes. She so awesome and her son
Remington is adorable and he's a big goofball! Haha Bro. Allen gets
back this weekend hopefully and we will be over for dinner a couple
times before transfers. After that we went and saw Bora for a few
minutes and set up a time to see him and then we cleaned out our car
because it's was a mess.. but that's okay, we got it cleaned haha then
we where inside for the night because Elder Peterson wasn't feeling
well.

Thursday - What an awesome day!!! We taught Mark!! He's super awesome!
He is building awesome faith and is progressing so much!! After Mark
we saw David S. and that was another awesome lesson. We are
treating him like an investigator because he's stuck on many churches
and we figured, basics again and he will get it. We saw Shelly today
and introduced her to the LDS Family ARP (adiction recovery plan)
which is helping her so so much!! She's building loads of faith and doing great!!
We saw Vinnie and shared a video about the little things that make such a difference
to some people and we don't even know it. We had dinner at the
Franzens and they loved us haha. They loved talking and hanging out.
After, we went to Gogans with the sisters and talked about the progress
of the Portsmouth area. The sisters where on something because sister
Evans started laughing super hard, she started making some odd noises
and sister Pankratz started laughing super hard and in the middle of
her laugh you can pick out the words "I'm gonna PEE!!" Lol Brother
Gogan, Elder Peterson and I lost it, we all died laughing for a solid
15-20 minutes haha sister Pankratz shot up from the couch, jumped over
the table and ran to the bathroom haha all the while, sister Evans,
casually and still laughing super hard, slowly melted away into her
own world.. Those sisters are ready to go home haha they are trying
super hard to stay focused and keep working, which is awesome and
inspiring, but they are ready to leave haha but ya gotta love them!
They are awesome and really keep the work here going. Much better
missionaries than we are haha.

Friday - today was a long day of planing, not a lot of craziness
happened until we went to the Verrils for dinner haha loved it!! Loud,
crazy, awesome and full of love! After that we went to Chris S.
and he gave us Challenge coins from the Coast Gaurd! What an awesome
dude. Elder Peterson and I both carry one, my dad gave me one before I
left and Elder Petersons ex girlfriends dad gave him one, so nice of
Chris to do that for us. That's about all that happened for us today
haha

Saturday -  We had a very filling day! We started our morning
with Robert, we only had a little bit because he got called into work
and we talked about tithing and temples. After that, we spent a couple
hours hunting down less actives! Never had so much fun doing that in
the sunny day haha almost all of them where like (we are on a walk) so
we walked in about a mile radius and purposely crossed paths haha felt
so cool kinda stalking the prey haha after that, we had a lunch with
Vinnie at the Longhorn Steakhouse haha it was awesome! I had a 18 oz
rib-eye, it was way good! The music playing, the decorations made me
feel like I was in a tack store at home. Saddles, pictures of horses,
steer wrestlers, you name it. I loved it! I think a little part of me
is sitting nice and happy in the country life! And I'm perfectly
okay haha. I'll be that country dude with its of land, horses, barn
smell and a lot of horse power ;) haha. After that, we got to withVinnie home
and someone broke into his house so we where greeted by 2 Portsmouth
Police and we had to take statements, how we know him, where we were from
all that fancy fancy stuff. It was kinda intense haha. One was not happy
and the other was kinda having a ball with everything and joking
around and laughing haha funny stuff. After that we went and knocked
on a couple other doors and called it a day.

Sunday - Today in church, it was very awesome to hear the talks and
feel the spirit that was there. I loved Sunday school and priesthood.
Everyone's so open and so helping and we all are so comfortable with
each other. It was great, after church we went to choir and then we
saw Larry. After that we did some studies and went to Brother Jesse
S. for dinner. I love them! They are so funny and so full of
spirit!! We shared the new Easter video which is called Hallelujah!!
It's awesome, I recommend everyone watching it and do family history,
I know that for the short time my mom and I would do it, I learned so
much about my family and where they came from and how much they
sacrificed!! Go see what your family did! You never know!!

Awesome week, such love and such experience gained. Transfers are
coming up! I might stay here in Portsmouth for another 6 weeks! Or I
might move! Never know, but I do know that whatever the lord has
planned, it's where I will grow the most and stretch beyond my
capabilities to help more people down the road, I'm pretty stoked!!
Have a great week!!

Elder Vogel