May 23rd - May 30th 

Monday - So last night, at about 11 o'clock, after we couldn't sleep elder Peterson hears me try and get comfy and he says "Hey, you still awake?" Out of pure habit I said "Who me?" He says "yes you" I said "nope" we both lost it and he was like "Who else would I be talking to!?" I almost peed myself haha after that bombshell, we woke up and we did studies and started e mailing. After we went to Walmart and then Toys R Us... It looked like Christmas raids went through and they haven't restocked yet, so that was a complete waste of time... then after that we went to the Gish's to do laundry and chat for a bit then we went to the Wilsons for dinner. We ate roadkill!! Haha there was this bird that their son jack had hit with his dad driving to institute and brother Wilson cooked it and gave it to us for an after dinner taste. It tasted like a gamy chicken haha it was so unusual tho, but good! Hopefully I don't die haha afterwords we finished our laundry at the Gish's and went home. We got a voicemail from our zone leader Elder Jenkins, he's unfortunately going home. He hasn't been able to retain food for about 10 days... Poor thing, he's leaving in the morning, it's so sad because he's such an awesome elder. We will miss him and we will keep contact as he's going home. 

Tuesday - We went to Walmart and to see a less active member who wasn't home sadly. Afterwords, elder Peterson wasn't feeling very well so he went to bed the rest of the day pretty much. His stomach was feeling very upset. We did get a e mail that 2 other elders have been sent home due to like disease. The ticks out here are terrible, I have not gotten one yet and I really don't plan too. So pray I will be protected and able to withstand until next winter! Haha 

Wednesday - At district meeting today we where very spoiled and had the opportunity to be with President Stoker!! We talked about accountability and shared thoughts and experiences and had a great time. President Stoker brought us all food after for lunch which was very amazingly good!! Later after saying goodbye, we headed to go see Rory Smith, a less active who is a really cool dude! We caught him and we where leaving his house and we where able to talk with him for a few, to get to know him and we said a prayer and left. We went to Wally World, elder Peterson had to get a few things and we stayed down in Seabrook for a bit. Later we went to the Pierson's sons baseball game which was pretty cool. We where able to talk to him, get in on the changes in the Ward and even talk to couple people. It was awesome! Later we came home and did some studies. 

Thursday - We had a mandatory sprinkler check and that took forever because we had to wait and we had to stay and watch and ugh.. We had a dinner with the Samuelson's afterward! It was way cool! They have so many kids and people at there house all the time!! Man oh man haha there was someome sitting next to me who's kinda in outfield and he was talking with his mouth open, spitting all over my food and my arm, I must have wiped my arm on my leg about 15 times before I got up, threw away the food I had and got fresh and said I'll stand because my legs are hurting haha joys of the mission. There was a little boy who's name was David. He was probably about 5 and he sat me down and taught me how to play the Pokémon game! Haha the card game, which was pretty cool! Haha anywho, the rest of the day we tried to see people with no luck. 

Friday - Today we had service at Zions camp again! As always, it was way fun! We got to be with the Derry Elders again and we hauled more wood, cut it and drove a golf cart around the camp! Got sideways with 4 missionaries on it ;) anywho, Elder Peterson and I were with one of the senior missionaries who brought a wood chipper. I was terrified because this old man, who's got pneumonia and is literally dying, is on top of this running wood chipper, adjusting and moving and climbing all over this thing.... Crazy old man.... I was feeding it a tree I had pulled out about 2 weeks ago, which was heavy, close to about 100lbs and the wood chipper threw it like it was a toothpick, right on my shins and since I didn't move, it vibrated really past with about a 3 inch space each hit.... My shins are bruised and hurt so very bad, they went completely numb and I had thought I broke or fractured something.. But I didn't, I'm all okay, just gotta be careful. After that, we raced to the food pantry, already exhausted and super tired, we carried heavy loads of food to people's cars, it wasn't very busy but it sure was heavy. We came home and showered and while Elder Peterson was in, I laid my head down, put on a song, A SONG, and I remember the Intro and that was it. After I was done, Elder Peterson came out and saw I was out like a light and he crawled into his bed and we slept for about an hour or so. When I woke up, clearly more awake then before, we went to the Idells for dinner. It was awesome to see them! We had bbq pulled pork and their son Sawyer completely said "I don't like pork Lions" we died laughing haha he said lions instead of loins haha so we talked about goofing words, then we took a personality test type thing and then we shared Ether 12:6 which talks about faith, which is awesome. We shared a great testimony and great spirit with them. Afterwords we came home and studied. 

What a crazy day.. You don't come by these to often, I'm sleeping great tonight! 

Saturday - we got up and headed over to the Idells again to help with their yard! It was way fun and way hot! We ate some pizza from papa johns, then we got to work. About an hour and a half Into it, we had to leave because I got heat exhaustion... Bad deal. We came home and I laid on my bed with water for about an hour or so. Elder Peterson said I looked terrible, and I felt like it. After resting I got up and had the worst headache I've ever endured.. It was terrible!! But I soon got through it at about 8:30pm... So there goes the Saturday, but that's okay because every few hours the Idells would call to check up on me. Which was nice, love them. Hopefully tomorrow will be cooler and I'll have more energy! I felt bad for being a wreck for the day. So after about an hour of being in a limbo in my own thoughts, I made some chicken Alfredo, which was the bomb. Almost as good as moms, but not quite as much love! Haha but it was good and now I don't have to go to sleep on a water bed of a stomach haha and it felt good to get some food in my system. 

Sunday - So today in church, I gave a talk! It was on the blessings of obedience, which didn't really come into play. It was more of my life choosing to serve a mission. It was weird, I completely forgot about it haha but I was able to use some quotes from president Monson and help some youth choose to serve. It was great, second hour we learned about repentance and Alma's teachings. Third hour was on accountability with everyone. It was cool, afterwords, we got swarmed with people wanting to feed us! It was awesome!! There's no need for shopping this week! Haha later, we had a dinner with the York's! It's nice to see them again! I love their family! They have just been so busy with stuff that they couldn't find an open time for us until now. But it was well worth the wait! They are once again, the funnies people I think I've met haha I couldn't go 10 min without brother York saying something super funny like My dad use to tell me that he would shove his foot so far up my backside I'd have another set of teeth from his toe nails" - Bro York or even "There are 12 dead horses out in the yard and you keep beatin em all" - Bro York  hahah I almost peed I laughed so hard! Haha 

I love this Ward! I fear that I'll leave this transfer in 2 weeks and I'll have to leave behind again, another Ward I've come to really love. It's never easy but I only go upwards! The lord may keep me here, who knows. But I'm grateful for the time I've spend and still have here in Exeter! 

Con amor de

Elder Vogel

Matt's entire mission with Elder Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Matthew is the 8th one in on the back row on the right side Pres. and Sister stoker are seated
middle right. Sis. Stoker has a white skirt blue top. Elder Rasband is next to Pres. Stoker

So excited to meet an Apostle of God

Elder Palmer- in the same district in the MTC and roomies at the mission home when they first arrived in Manchester

Elder Palmer and Elder Lorhey (he was Matt's MTC companion) and Elder Vogel

A great group waiting to meet Elder Rasband!

                                     

Elder Vogel and Elder Pace. Elder Pace was Matt's trainer

With Elder Pace and Elder Millett. they were His first companions in a trio in Bangor Maine

with Elder Millett

goofing around

May 16-23rd

Monday -Today we hung out with Chase all day! We went to his house and finished e mailing, then we left for a Chinese food buffet. When we got there, we had just missed the buffet by maybe a min. So Chase asked if we could eat from there and they said no so we left, as we where almost in our car, they called us back and fed us for a cheap price haha score! Later, we went to Sports Cuts and Elder Peterson got a slick hair cut. I called him Marty McFly haha. We then went to a comic book store and looked around at some sweet action figures, and Pokemon and all that nerd stuff with Chase and Elder Peterson haha anywho, We played some games and hung out more at his house, then had dinner with his family. After that, we spent about 20 min doing movie quotes haha super funny! That was pretty much our day! It was awesome!


Tuesday - Tuesday we didn't do much due to our lack of sleep last night. We did go to the store to get a few things, but that was it. Today during my dinner hour I realized that I am stupid lazy... Lol.. Also, I'm way to impatient to cook... Just a note to my future wife, somewhere, I will cook.. But, once  in a blue moon, if you're not feeling well. or you make me haha other then that, I will gladly gladly eat... I'm just a rock when it comes to cooking, I don't have the attention span to comprehend it haha cuz I'm a guy... Sadly.. Good thing I have a year and a half to keep trying!


Wednesday - today was a prep day to meet Elder Rasband so we watched the missionary broadcast from December or January about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. That took a couple hours to take notes, write insights and to spiritually be lifted. We pretty much planned the rest of the day and made calls, nothing big.


Thursday - We where finally able to get out and go to Zions Camp! Love it! Today we worked with wood! We split and stacked and cut and it was awesome!! The Derry Elders where there! Elder Pace and Vanway where loving it!! We got a very very good work out! We had a great lunch all together also and after words, we went home and showered. After that, we went to Chase's for coordination meeting and we talked about structure and what we expect from each other. It was great, lots was discussed, after that we went home for the night and did some studies. While we where trying to sleep, we thought it would be a great idea to play jokes and giggle... For a long time, I went to the baña (bathroom) and I came back with our reclining chair on top of my bed.... I got him back haha and the rest of the night I was paranoid... I am now scared of the dark.. Again.. I just got use to it now haha and Elder Peterson ruined it... Geez  (see picture and video)




Friday - Today we got up bright and early and went to the Johnson's.. To help them move.. There was a lot of stuff and we where the only ones there... Which kinda sucked, we scrubbed floors.. So future wife, if you're taking notes, I scrub floors.. Bathroom.. Floors... Afterwords we went to the food pantry and helped people there for a while. After that we cleaned the car, which was crazy because the vacuum machine at the gas station didn't work, I slammed the machine like a million times and got our money back a few times, which was ghetto.. So after we managed to do that we went back to the apartment to clean it up and get it ready for the elders tonight coming over. Elder Young, Bradley, Braley and Hardman. This is gonna be a party!!! Can't wait!! Hopefully we don't get kicked from out apartment! Hahaha afterwords we went to do a couple things at the church then wait for Chase to bring over the last mattress. (we had Elders from other areas sleeping over in prep of the conference with Elder Rasband)


Saturday - Bright and early at the Concord church building, we got to meet Elder Rasband!!! We got there and we set up for taking a mission picture, which was awesome! We where all ready and getting instruction and out of the car pulls up Elder Rasband and he squeezes right in for a picture! It was awesome! Afterwords, we went into the chapel and sat down and we each, one by one, shook the hands of Elder Rasband, Elder Brag, President and Sister Stoker and we then sat down and started our meeting.

We first started talking with sister Stoker, how our little actions and efforts are not wasted and how we can all keep trying super duper hard and even if we don't see the results, they always come. Always.

Next was President Stoker about Gods love for us. He kept repeating that the gospel is for families. It's for individuals to have happy families and have that love forever and ever. Our job is to unite those families together. Elder Chase, (his grandfather is Elder Rasband of the twelve) and President Stoker bore a emotional testimony on the Savior and Heavenly Father's love when he said he took Elder Chase to the airport to see his grandfather, how much love just radiated from both of them. It was so powerful we all shed a little tears. He then continued to commit us to always look at what God has given us. No matter what it is, he thought of every little detail, and more.

Elder Brag, who is just funny, talked about the word "Literally". He went on to say that we are literally doing the Lords work in Moses 1:39. He went on to say that if we are worthy, we Literally work side by side with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in fulfilling the immortality and eternal life of man. Talk about a WOA!! He then went on to address all of us Elders, to respect the sisters!! Which, I have no problem with haha. He then went to say and bare testimony of how important sisters are in doing this work. They carry such a special and unique spirit with them that "Literally" puts elders to shame haha with the spirit we all carry. We commit with people to help them progress to our Heavenly Father. He then gave a lot of encouragement on planting that seed is just as important as baptism. Without the seed, the baptism doesn't matter.

Elder Rasband is probably the funniest guy I've met at the pulpit haha he was laughing and joking and acting like a normal human being. Amazing. He first addressed all of our concerns and feelings with the Stokers leaving and the Blaires coming. He leaned forward and said, piercing over 200 souls and said that we all have enough room for 2 sets of mission presidents. He said that when the Blaires come, and the Stokers leave, we are to love them as much as we do the Stokers. He said to always pray, always look for those chances to serve and love them.

He then addressed 2 simple sentences that the Prophet would have said to us. Before he did that he stood at the pulpit and raised his hand and said that last Saturday he shook hands with the prophet. And we shook his hand, he then with a huge grin on his face said that we all were 1 handshake away from the prophet haha

He then said the first words President Monson would say is "I love you."

He expressed the Prophet's love for us, how much he prays for us, how much he always has missionaries on his mind and ones who are beginning the process of becoming ones.

He then went to the second point "Thank You"

He expressed the Prophet's gratitude to all of us for making that choice to do this work, to bring souls to Christ and to use this amount of faith. He then went to express his love and gratitude for us, which was tear jerking.

He then talked a little bit about his talk "The Devine Call of a Missionary" which is fantastic, if you haven't had a chance to read that on LDS.org, do it. It's short and simple and powerful.

He then answered some questions that we asked him about the talk which was great, he gave awesome answers, but also shut us all down. He said that he was the apostle training area 70s (an area 70 is a general authority that is over a certain area of a country) and there was a time where he was training and he asked the newly called area 70 if he read his talk and he replied with yes and Elder Rasband got a huge smile and said well Elder, scoot your chair closer to the screen because you're gonna assign some!!!! Lol He said we all where asking great questions, but he said they where all primary level answers.... Killed... He then gave us a diagram of how we receive our call. He said to think of a funnel. At the top is the prophet, he exercises all priesthood keys. Then about halfway down is the Apostle that assigned you. Then down at the bottom is our mission president.

It's the funnel of authority. It's amazing to see that our mission president holds them, but it nearer as much as we all thought, but it's truly amazing. At the end of the funnel, where it's all coming out is us. We have all been called 3 different times to the place where we are at. We have been prayed and sent here by revelation. It's crazy.

He then again, leaned over the pulpit into our eyes and said "Stop Whining Elders and Sisters"

I guess some people have been complaining about their comps and areas, he said pretty much to shut up and figure out why we are there. The Lord has sent us there by revelation for a simple reason and we are being to stubborn to find out. So it's our job to find out. He then went to complement us and say that we are a very obedient mission and he was very proud of that. He then gave us pointers and he gave us tips on finding and things he did as a mission president to help find people.

He then gave us a complete talk to do. That we are our 1st convert and if we aren't, then we are to stop what we are doing and to convert.

Then he bore his special witness and humbling testimony of the Savior, which completely brought us to tears. In his testimony, he shared a experience about a missionary he assigned his last transfer to a Spanish branch in Connecticut, he said that all he did was pass out book of Mormons on the street corner and when he gave his testimony at his homecoming, he said his mission was amazing, accept for the Spanish branch of his last transfer. When he said that, Elder Rasband cried for a min. then said, a year later, some missionaries in that Spanish branch got a call from a lady that was going through such a hard time and saw the Book of Mormon and called the number. She and. Her family of 5 got baptized. He hen gave a humble testimony and said he wants to find that elder, grab him by his shoulders and with tears streaming down his face, he wants to hug him tight and share with him, that family that got baptized.


What an amazing and spiritual experience with Elder Rasband. I've never had that chance to meet an Apostle of the Lord, there's so much more he talked about, and the spirit that was there was something else, if I never thought that they where called by God, I do now know without a doubt. There's no way a simple man can become such an inspiration. The thing he taught me is to be myself. Express who I am, which is a son of God and my job is to bring families together forever. I can't even put this all into words it was so awesome.


The rest of the day, we went to the church to transfer stuff on our flash drives and then we went to take a nap because we where exhausted and we ended up sleeping the rest of the night... Oops haha




Sunday - so today was a great day at church. The speakers talked about eternal life, Greta Edwards gave her first talk which was awesome, Sunday school we talked about missionary work and Elders Quorum we talked about goals. It was an awesomely productive Sunday! We came home and ate some lunch, and did some studies. Later, we went to a Eagle Court of honor!! Boy that was way cool!! I think I surprised everyone when they called the eagles nest and I got up and sat in it haha everyone looked and was like "he's an Eagle Scout too!?" Hahaha awesome, didn't think I'd have that privilege on my mission, it was exciting! So got the memories flowing haha all the blood sweat and tears for those citizenship badges haha so much hard work for the project all down to the special event almost 8 years ago.. Dang... I'm old haha anyway, it was a great sabbath today, I felt happy, I was somewhat awake haha and I definitely got what I needed to learn!




This week has been a roller coaster! From Chinese buffets to absolutely no sleep to meeting an apostle to an eagle court of honor! So much fun! I can say without a doubt that Christ lives, he's real, he loves us, he's watching out for us and so are the missionaries (I hope) at least I am for my friends, family and also the Exeter area. I love it in New England and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else!

Love you all and I hope you're week was as eventful as mine! Haha



Con amor deElder Vogel

May 9th - May 14th
pavement monsters, flying Book of Mormons and ward mission leaders

Monday - So today for P-Day, we went with Chase to Five Guys in Seabrook and after, we went "car shopping" we went to the Hampton Porsche dealership and there was a Nissan GTR R36 and it was amazing. We drove around and saw all the different cars haha later, we drove around to a little "memory lane" with him and he was telling stories from his mission and from before we left and mission advice and all that fun stuff. Later, we went with the Smarts to help a lady move. After, we went home for the night.

Tuesday - We want to Walmart. Elder Peterson had a terrible migraine so we stayed inside all day. I was able to practico mucho español. Mucho. So much I got a headache too haha hopefully mañana will be better!
Wednesday - Today in district meeting we talked about planning. It was awesome to see Elder Pace again and to serve with him! It's kinda strange, but I'm sure I'll get over it soon haha. Afterwords, we went and hunted down some less actives and tried to set appointments. On our way to McDonald's, a Hellcat SRT Challenger and a Porsche 911 Carrera S raced on the highway. As the sound of the European V8 and the American muscle of the 6.8l V8 bellowed down the street, the Challenger pulled through and ate the Porsche for breakfast. Let me tell you all something, 3rd gear is monsterous and rude. It's a bad deal, but worth it. After McDonald's, there was a teenage boy driving a 90s jaguar. He looked about 17ish, he asked me if he could have some of my chocolate shake and I said naa, but you can have this and I tossed a Book of Mormon to him after he said "alright!" And was reaching, with both hands, to try and get it from me. I gave out a copy of the Book of Mormon from the passenger seat of our car. Our day was absolutely made. Fantastic!!! Good spirits all day!!! We went to the apartment to prepare for a meeting with the Elders of the Derry Ward and they canceled the meeting without telling us on accident haha so we where hanging out with Isaac and Gage for a while and talked and told stories. That's about our day.


Thursday - So my lack attendance and focus in high school made me unaware of the definition of deity...(mom says it was the lack of attention at church) When I asked Elder Peterson what it meant, he stared at me for a solid minute with the look on his face that clearly showed that I was a half wit... After his menacing stare, he shouted "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!? IT JUST MEANS GOD!! Jeez.." And continued to stare at me and gave me the definition of half wit... After a couple more min, while I was writing scriptures in my Spanish Preach my Gospel, I heard him say "I know what I'm getting you for your birthday.." The rest of the hour studying, he asked me what each word I said meant... Today is his Dentist appointment, I hope they hop him up on drugs so his IQ is still above mine, but almost equal.. We'll see what happens! It was a long long wait.. I was starting to go crazy in the office alone.. I tried studying more Spanish, but after an hour and a half, I was done and couldn't do anymore. His face is pretty numb which is funny haha we then got a text from the Gish's and they invited us over for dinner, when we got there, Chase and Bro Gish where not there so we played with Ryker haha I've never seen a Great Dane get so energetic. He's 3 so he still is a puppy but he was running around having a grand ol time. Dylan was with Chase! Awesome, we had a wonderful dinner and we where able to talk and connect better. Kaylee wanted me to unplug her battery in her car so I did to restart the computers. Hope it worked haha she left early for the night and the boys where all hanging together. It was awesome, afterwords we went home for the night. Pretty good day!


Friday - All day of service! We started at 9 sharp at zions camp! We got a great workout in tossing and moving big cement blocks! Way fun! Brother Westwood says President Stoker is getting waves of people saying how much they love us and said he could get us another 6 weeks here. We told them that's the last one if it is because we would then be together for 6 months, which is a long time. So at the end of this transfer, we will see what happens! A lot of change is coming in the next couple of months! Afterwards, we rushed home to give a member some soda cans, which we had a lot of, then we went to Saint Vincent de Paul food pantry to help out for about an hour. After that, my allergies hit me upside the noggin and I wasn't feeling good at all. I took a couple things to try and help, but we ended up staying inside and planning and studying the rest of the day.


Saturday - We did service again all day! We went to the Saint Vincent de Paul again to help with unloading food, later, we went to the Gish's to help with some home repairs. We ate some Taco Bell and we cut wood, pressure washed, had a great time! After we had dinner with Brother Ward and his daughter Emma. It was funny, loved seeing them and getting to know his story and the spirit was way strong as we shared the flecks of gold video. Super awesome.


Sunday -So today we had a new Ward mission leader called. It's CHASE GISH!!! The returned missionary from New Zealand! So stoked!! My mind was completely blown away!! We are going to have so much fun! The Ward pretty much changed almost all the branches of leadership in the Ward, it was big changes. Something is setting up for something good! I can't wait to see what happens! After church we talked with people for a while and headed home to do some studies. Later, we went to the Soucy's and we were with the BYC (bishops youth Committee) and then stayed for Chase to talk about his mission with everyone! Way cool! After that, we talked with people, got to meet some new faces and we where able to have a little fun too haha all around great day !




The lord works in many ways. Ways we won't ever know, but it's all out of love and the benefit of our salvation to live with Him again, otherwise, God wouldn't have kept trying to bring the gospel on the earth, He loves us so much that He always continues to help us, even when we don't think so.

As I remember a talk from Elder Holland titled "None where with Him" a point stuck to me when he talked about Christ's suffering all the way to death. He said that the Father couldn't have been more closer to him, His son Jesus Christ, then when He was enduring that hardship for us.

I look at that with my own life, Christ doesn't get more love than us. At our worst struggles is when Heavenly Father is the closest to us. That's when He is there on His knees pleading for us to allow Him to help. We need to use it, everyday. I know it's there, I know there's a special power when I use it, and I never look back.


Talk to you all again next week!!

Con amor deElder Vogel

Elder Peterson's Birthday and my 6 month anniversary on my mission

May 2nd - May 9th

What a fun filled week!! It flew!! Let me tell ya the deets!!!

Monday - We e-mailed and had a blast sleeping all day haha. We then had a dinner and ice cream with president Cavarretta and Brother Larsen at Taco Bell and Memory's which has been around for decades, probably the best ice cream I've had. Tastes like frozen custard, amazeballs.


Tuesday - We went to Walmart and ran into Sister Fox, nice lady. She's 22 with a 3 year old kid it looks like. She's the sweetest thing ever. Super nice meeting her! Later tonight we then went to their house to give her husband Jon a blessing. Saturday night Jon's neighbor was really drunk and came and assaulted him in front of Sister Fox and their 3 year old daughter. Jon has a ruptured disk, borderline broken wrist and is very sore. They area a young, young family and are in a tough spot as a family. Very nice people, just need some love, so I'm giving them my deep blue doterra rub which is supposed to help relax his muscles and help him recover faster. My injury isn't doing any harm to me now, and as a missionary, I felt like I should give it to them. They need it at this time more than I do. Sister fox was telling us the things and stress and emotional stress she is personally dealing with, my heart melted. I felt so so bad, she went into tears and I almost did also. We shared Helaman 5:12 and told them as long as their foundation is all in the lord, he will help, and they have seen His hand in their trials. What a blessing to run into someone who desperately needed us, amazing how we slept all Monday and had to go to Walmart today and we happen to run into her.I know that was an answered prayer, I was an answer to someone's prayer for help, and I was there to help. Amazing.


Wednesday - I got an email this morning that gave me one of my favorite bands, Memphis May Fire's tour map this year.. They will be in Portland Maine (2 hours from me) at the end of the month and in another few months they will be in Bangor Maine (a little far out there).... Pretty sad for me since I can't go see them, haha, but anyways!! Today in district meeting we talked about planning.. Again.. Afterwords, we went home and I did some studies and language planning and some vocab exercises. Later, we went to sister Scott Halls and got some food, after that we came home and resumed our studies then left to go to a dinner with the Crapos. They are way cool, sister Crapo collects frogs. She has over 200 frogs doing different things and she also collects snowmen, way cool. Today it was very rainy and gross and there is a monstrosity of construction going on so all of the sidewalks are blocked off.. So we can't street contact, pretty dumb. So we study more and we planned and called people.


Thursday - We woke up and went to do service at Zions camp for a good chunk of the day! It was way fun! We got to drive the trucks and pull out trees and clean up some stuff! We where pulling trim off the side of one of the garages and it broke and a nail stabbed my foot... Nothing bad, I have to watch for tetanus for a while, but it's okay. Now I have a little limp and I'm very sore haha but that's work! We dropped off my lotion to the Foxes, hopefully that will help brother Fox out.We went home and showered. Later, we had a lesson with Sally again! We showed her the video "Flecks of Gold" and she showed us what she's doing for school! She's studying graphic illustration, so she has amazing drawings she's done on a computer! Afterwords we left home. We have stomach aches and we are gonna take it easy.

Friday - Today is Elder Petersons Birthday!! He's so happy, our alarm was "22" by Taylor swift.. It's gonna be a long day haha we went to Walmart to get a few things then we went to the food pantry and had a wonderful time. haha I love being with those people, so kind and so funny!! Later, we went home and prepared to go to the Idells. We got there and it was a chatting, celebration for Jay and Elder Peterson, it was awesome getting to talk with everyone, enjoy some cake, pie and a wonderful Navaho taco dinner! It was a pretty chill day today !


Saturday - Today is transfer calls!!! But that's not until tonight so, we didn't do a lot today, pretty I guess laid back. We planned and I did some extra studies to understand some other things and practice saying sentences in Spanish. I feel huge with all of this food I've eaten this week... Or in my mission in general, 30min early morning workouts are not easy.. At all, but that's joy of it I guess haha. We went to the church and helped take stuff down from the stake women's conference. It was way cool, we where able to talk to a lot of women, old, young, it was awesome and see a lot of people from Portsmouth!! Later, we went and had dinner and ice cream at Memory's with the Gish's, it was awesome! I love seeing them!!

We also got our transfer calls and we both are staying here in Exeter!! It was fantastic!! I'm so happy we get to stay here!! We also found out that Elder Pace will be our district leader in Derry!! How awesome!! I get to serve with him again!! So stoked!! This transfer will be awesome!!


Sunday - Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers out there!! Relax, tell the husband and kids to do stuff, it's your day to chill and point the fingers!! Haha Today at church was all about our mothers, the role of women, the blessings of mothers and it was a amazing time to reflect. In 2nd hour, I was asked about my mom. As I was sharing my testimony about how strong, loving, caring and funny she is, a fellow investigator shared his testimony and really thanked me for sharing what I did. He said "I am jealous that you have that relationship with your mom. I didn't think that was left in the world, I didn't have that and it's very comforting to know that there is still traditional love in this world." HOW CRAZY IS THAT!?! I was borderline gonna cry! I didn't think my family would bring a strong testimony to someone like that! Amazing. The spirit was so strong as everyone else proceeded to talk about their moms. 3rd hour, we talked about missionary work and how we can be better missionaries in our home, to our family. Building that together as a gospel centered home.

We went to the Gish's and Skyped home!! I loved seeing my family!! After some wifi errors, we had here, we were able to fix it and we had a blast! I loved hearing them, I loved being able to talk to them about my mission!! It was an awesome day! Afterwords, we had dinner and we played some games with the Gish's and Huies. It was really really fun!


Thursday was my 6 month mark as a missionary out in the field,  I often ponder my life in some ways, but I had a wonderful time pondering these last 6 months. I've come such a  long way from where I was back home. I've been in 3 areas and have had 5 companions, all whom I love dearly and have all taught me unique traits to develop and to master over my mission.

They say the first 6 months are the slowest, I don't believe them haha 6 months of smiles, fun, learning and testimony building is amazing. I don't even remember the MTC haha my only remembrance of it is from my journal entries, which by the way, suck haha I can clearly see how much more mature I've gotten over 6 months.. Kinda wish I could rewrite those days, but oh well!!

6 months down, 18 more to go!! I'm gonna make it the best I can! I love it in New England, lots of change continues to happen, but we are in the lords hands and I'm ready for more challenges and opportunities to be the best missionary I can be for people!!


Con amor de

Elder Vogel

contemplating sleep

hear no evil- speak no evil- see no evil

Silly missionaries

a great group.

April 25th - May 2nd




Monday - We hung out most of p day and we went shopping. Nothing really crazy, we where walking around craft stores to find material for ties and we kept getting distracted with other things so we where in there for a good 2 hours in each store haha later we went to the Soucys. When we got there, sister Gish, Gage Gish, and the Idells where all there! It was an absolute party! I loved it!! Later, the Derry Elders were stopping by to give me my bag and President Soucy saw them and invited them in for dinner, they came in and stayed for a little bit and then left so they could get to Portsmouth! Awesome!! So much love, so much energy, and as always, a very spiritual message at a fabulous family home evening. I loved sharing stories, I loved bringing the spirit and being able to share how important missionary work is! A fabulous P-Day! Can't wait for the next time we get to see the Soucy's!!

Tuesday - Elder Peterson woke up sick and we didn't do anything all day. We did go to the store and get some things for medicine, and it was raining/hailing. Nothing today really.

Wednesday - We had a pretty good district meeting on using our time wisely. We discussed what we could do better as missionaries and in planning. I role played the restoration with sister Pierce, which was awesome, and after we went home. After we went home we headed to someone's house in Hampton and the whole car ride there, Elder Peterson wasn't feeling much better so after that house, we camped out at home for the rest of the night.


Thursday - Today we decided to finally wax the car haha. We got In some p day clothes and headed to a car wash and got it done, it was pretty fun! Nice and sunny!! Afterwords we came home and did some studies and I was able to set up a Spanish plan and practice a little more and learn some more core stuff, pretty awesome! After that we did some cleaning. Later we took a trip to Hampton and Hampton beach to try and find some less actives. We where able to find a few, but not very positive effects, bummer. Later we came home and got ready for volleyball!! But unfortunately, there was none due to spring break this week. Oh well, we came home and I had some breakfast burritos and studied a little more Spanish and tried memorizing some missionary terms and scriptures. That's about all we did today. Elder Peterson still isn't feeling 100* temp yet, so we are choosing our battles carefully before he kills over haha hopefully that won't be the case!


Friday - We went and helped out at the food pantry and the owner of the place gave us a ton of food... Holy smokes haha later we went to help someone move, who didn't really have anything ready to go. Only like 3 boxes and a bunch of loose stuff everywhere so we kinda cleaned and then moved haha. They took us to dinner at New England Pizza, which wasn't to bad. That was about our day, we stayed home because our throats are killing us. Mine hurts so bad, we may be coming down with something fierce.... Oh boy, anywho I was able to study a lot of Spanish in my free time while Elder Peterson was coughing out his life haha keep us in your prayers!


Saturday - First thing in the morning we went to help a ward member move, which was awesome, fun, everything was packed and it went awesome! I got to call Manchester and Bedford to coordinate the move with them and get people to help, whole 9 yards! Afterwords we went to help another person move, who didn't really have anything packed... So it took really long and unfortunately, Elder Peterson and I left in the middle because our service hours where up. We then went to walmart and then stayed home the rest of the day and planned and did studies. I was practicing some street contacting approaches in English and Spanish and I realized that I'm jumping the gun so I went to the basics again haha I thought I knew them all, but I guess not because I'm learning the vosotros form of the Spanish verbs, which I wasn't taught in high school because "you'll never use it" but el libro de mormón is full of them! So back to square 1 to get that under my belt.. Pray for me!


Sunday - Today we had a great day!! We had fast and testimony meeting again today and it was amazing! I felt the spirit so strongly and I loved it. 2nd hour, we sat in and talked about repentance and it was also a great lesson! 3rd hour we had a great discussion on how we can strengthen our priesthood power. Pretty awesome, I loved that, Brother Sargent had great input, great testimony and great inspiration. After church we talked with a couple ward members and then we had coordination meeting with brother Larsen. Awesome, it was only supposed to take about 20 min, but we stayed for about 2 hours, he tested me on cars haha he asked what I like, who I like, cars I've driven and we told stores about different things back home haha it was awesome. After that we went to sister Scott-Halls with Brother Ward and shared a great lesson about choices, after that we went to the Wolcots. I love them! They are awesome, super funny and we all talked for about 2.5 hours haha we told stories, made jokes, reflected on school and then shared a great spiritual message with them. We had an amazing pasta dinner also. They have an exchange student from Ukraine for the next few weeks and she was telling us about Easter traditions there and different things there and how it differs. Way cool! Later, we came home and did studies, pretty fun filled day!!


This week, a scripture came to my mind. Alma 36:3 "... For I do know, that whosoever shall put there trust in God shall be supported in their trials and their troubles, and their afflictions and shall be lifted up at the last day"

His words are my testimony. I can look back on my life and see how much support not only me, but my family has also had. I can't not believe someone is helping me along the way. I know that God loves us all, I know he gave his life and suffered. I know he came to Joseph smith in 1820.

As I was reflecting I was talking to President Stoker and he asked "Elder, when you where home, if Joseph Smith came to you and said he saw God, and Jesus Christ, and he wants you to join his church, would you believe him ?"

My reply was no.. A regretful no.

His reply "you have grown and changed, there's no doubt about that Elder Vogel. My challenge to you for your mission. Get to that point where you would say yes without hesitation."

That's my challenge to all of you, if you don't know for sure, if you don't know at all, get to that point and find out for yourself. If you are a LDS member, if you can't say that you would believe and follow Joseph right after he said that to you, get to it. It's hard yes, is it worth it? Absolutely. I don't regret leaving and coming to New England, not one second. I love the people, I love the area, I love everything.

This is my testimony.



Con amor deElder Vogel