competition between the Hanover Elders and the Lebanon Elders. 

Vermont countryside

more of Vermont

saying goodbye to the people of Exeter, New Hampshire

Bromance right there

With his new Companion Elder Timothy

June 20th - June 27th



Monday - Today was the day that I packed.. So we didn't do much. We did go to the dentist because elder Peterson had an appointment at 2. After that we came back home and cleaned, then we went to the Piersons for dinner with the ward. It was awesome and we took some pictures before we left, I will miss them. On the way back, we went to the Gish's and there where a lot of people celebrating brother Cavaretta's achievement in getting a job! How awesome! I took pictures and mingled with people the rest of the night. It's hard, I'm really gonna miss the people of Exeter.


Exeter has taught me much. It taught me the true meaning of missionary work, it's the love. I love them, I will miss them all and I hope they keep contact with me. It was pretty emotional because I never thought how much I was able to impact the people there, I still feel so small in the Lords work. It really comes to show that the pay off in the end is worth it. Exeter is in my prayers. Love you all and I'll see you again someday!


Tuesday - Transfer day! We where gone to the Manchester chapel by 10:30am. We mingled with some people and we where able to get some lunch and say our last goodbye to the Stokers. We then packed our stuff in our car and said goodbye to our old comps and Elder Liljenquist and I hit the road to Lebanon New Hampshire. Long, fun ride. We then arrived at the Lebanon elders apartment and I met elder Timothy, my new companion. Awesome guy! Love him, he's full of drive and we are pretty alike in some ways, awesome. We went and saw a guy named Chris who has PTSD and isn't clicking all the way anymore, we read the Book of Mormon with him and talked to him for a while. Elder Timothy told me to hug him instead of shake his hand because he doesn't buy toilet paper.. Haha awesome, then we went to find a lady, but the apartment complex was destroyed.. So we moved on. We stopped home to grab a few things then we went to a dinner with a member family. It was awesome! Zemnick family is wild and crazy and a lot of fun haha we shared a short message about the restoration and had a blast doing it. It was a tough day, but we did it and we are now gonna tackle tomorrow!



Wednesday -Today was an awesome day!! We had a great district meeting, we talked about the how to begin etching points haha later, we had a lesson with a lady named Shannon! It was awesome!! We killed it! The spirit was so strong, we where in sync, we did everything right and she accepted baptism!! We now have 4 with dates all in July!! After Shannon was Alijia. She was a little shattered. The member ran his mouth about random tangents and threw the lesson for a spin, but we got it and she accepted  baptism, awesome sauce!! After we had a dinner at a bar with a member in Hanover. Hanover is very distracting, so elder Timothy and I made a comp goal to highly abstain from going there unless we absolutely have to.. We got hit on by a couple of really attractive girls.. Elder Timothy had a really attractive girl wink at him and I looked and him and said "Jealous!" Haha he felt so uncomfortable it floored me haha oh also, Mission goggles don't help worth squat.. Anyway, afterwords we drove home and completed our day with an obedience walk. It was  a filled day and loads of fun!



Thursday - Today we started off with some really unproductive service at the Historical Museum typing numbers to things older than me.. Which really isn't a lot, but it was a great chance to exercise charity. Afterwords we went and had lunch, then stopped by sister Baltch. She's a hoot! She has a little farm and we talked about her turkeys and her cows and her life ad then introduced the temple and had a great chat outside with her. After that we went to try and see a couple other people, but no luck there. After that we went and contacted a family named the Sonhalters. Debbie is a less active and is understanding things about the church a little differently, but that's okay. We had a great conversation with her, he son Matt races NASCAR, which is awesome! Him and his dad built their car and are racing the next few weeks, awesome sauce! After that we went to the Mahns who, are dry Mormons. They believe it all and know a lot and act like it, other than Brother Mahns chewing and her anxiety. So we are friends and we are trying to help him get to baptism because if he goes, she will go. Awesome, after that we had dinner and we where able to do some more studies. Good day today!



Friday - Today was a great day! We started our day In Thetford at Brother Brigham and sister Tyler's. They are old, brother and sister haha they are awesome and unfortunately less active because of brother Brigham's surgeries. His eyesight is terrible to the point where he is legally blind, can't drive but he's getting them fixed pretty soon. After that we went to try and find a couple people, didn't find them, but we had a lesson with a man named Kent. He is really awesome, really reading the Book of Mormon. This is our 3rd time with him and he already read the first full book of Nephi!!! He had great questions and insights, he thought he was gonna stump us, but they where primary questions haha not to bad. After that, we went to Denny's with the Lebanon Elders. So, funny! We kept drinking water every time our waiter was gone and she would come back and be shocked haha we each drank about 6 cups of water before she brought out the pitcher for us haha. She called me Dory because I usually drank it the fastest haha we had a great time! She was laughing and it made it awesome. We then, finished the full pitcher of water and lefted her a note and gave her a good tip because she earned it haha. Afterwords we went to the Mahns for a dinner... Which was bad because we where already full haha but it was Alfredo chicken and it was good to have a couple plates of that. After that we had a lesson and we went home. Full day!



Saturday - So today we went and saw a man named Peter in a nursing home. He can't hardly talk at all but we shared a short message each and then sang to him. Then we went to help some ward members move. The Barlows. Young family, well in the gospel. We then had a great lesson with Shannon again! She accepted baptism for July 16th!! 3 weeks!! Way awesome! She will be my first convert! Super stoked! After her lesson we went back to the Barlows to help clean up a bit more and we where able to get the upstairs spic and span! Later, we came home to try and do some more weekly planning, but we just did iPad audits. We finished with a dinner and coordination meeting at the Kings. Energetic and fast family, they all talk fast, all are moving quick but I love them! Not a full full day, but still a load of fun!



Sunday - Today was a weird day at church haha there wasn't hardly anyone there!! Holy smokes!! Maybe about 100 or so people. Crazy, we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also talked about being examples. Sweet and I got to introduce myself in front of the Ward. We then went and taught Dakota and then the chaos erupted. We went to the Mohns and we decided to have dinner with Dakotas mom. So we did and eventually it exploded, cussing, swearing, throwing, all kinds of craziness and the Mohns left.. So feeling bad, we finished Dakotas lesson and then went back to the Mohns for more, cussing, swearing, pointing fingers, bad nastiness and unfortunately, sister Mohn is filing divorce papers.. Terrible. We were in complete shock and kinda put the rest of our day in a downer.. So we went home and planned for the rest of the night.



Con amor deElder Vogel

June 13th - June 20th
Monday - today we had Zone P Day out in Eliot Maine! We played basketball while we waited for all the other elders and sisters to come, then after the elders where pretty well wore out we all went and played soccer down in the field which was awesome! We had a great time! Afterwords, we had a dinner with the Soucy's. We had Mac and cheese with pulled pork and fruit salad! It was awesome! We shared funny stories of back home and on the mission, we got to hear some of President Soucy's stories about a comp he had from Montana! It was way funny! After that, we went to Walmart to do a little shopping. We really just went for chocolate milk for elder Peterson haha then we came home for the night.
    Today was also the birthday of my scoutmaster brother Aurich. (who passed away last year) It was definitely a spiritual day to reflect on the memories and personal times I had with him. It was truly an honor to be able to have a relationship with him and learn so much from him. We have a saying as missionaries, that says, the greatest leader is the best follower. Brother Aurich was definitely one of the greatest followers of Jesus Christ that helped me make the choice to come one a mission. I miss him so so much, but I know deep in my heart that he's helping me and I know that one day, I will see him again. Love ya Brother Aurich. You're family is in my prayers.

Tuesday - today we had the opportunity to do service for a lady named Margarete. We helped her weed and lay mulch and trim her bushes which brought me right back to the days I was with grandpa doing the same thing! Nice trip down memory lane, she then made us lunch and introduced us to her daughter who was in the comparative religions class and was there when we where the guest speakers. It was cool, she's getting ready to graduate this weekend. Anyway, after she left, we all talked about the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father. She has been through luck, pits, falls and still managed to make it to the top. It was great to hear her story. We then went to the Idells afterwords and had a wonderful lasagna. We then talked about prayer, all today my allergies have been killing me, it was painful. I had a prayer in my heart and Heavenly Father pulled through. When I got into the apartment at about 9, I went to bed. I was exhausted.


Wednesday - today in district meeting we talked about teaching when you find people. It was pretty cool, we role played different situations and Elder Miskin and I got to speak Spanish and throw off Elder Pace haha it was fun, very spiritual thoughts for talking to new people and increasing our joy as missionaries. After district meeting we went and pulled more weeds for Margarete. She bought me some allergy medication from Walmart, how nice! I was so happy she got that! I didn't even think to ask, she came up to me and said "these are for you!" I almost cried! It was amazing! Later we came home and cleaned and studied.


Thursday - today we had some studies then we went to Zions camp to paint. It was awesome to paint for a while, it was also nice to get alone time at the craft barn, afterwords we had a dinner with the Yorks. It was awesome, today was their last day of school so they where tired. That pretty much it today. I was also able to watch the 5000 day project on LDS.org about the Nelson family. How their oldest son Sam served a mission and it went all the way to his youngest brother starting sophomore year. It was way cool and really made me open my eyes a little bit.

Friday - today we tried to see John Eastman but we couldn't. He canceled. We then did some more planning and then we went to the food pantry. After the food pantry we went to see a kid who wanted to be baptized, his name is drew. He's 8 years old. He wasn't home. Sad. After that we came back and got dressed and ready for the rest of the night at Stratham hill park with some members to celebrate school getting out, it rained and some boys and a couple girls played football in the soggy rain, it was pretty awesome! That wraps up today!

Saturday - today we went and cleaned the church with brother Edwards. Cool dude, we talked about how him and his wife met, him growing up, conversion, it was awesome. After that we went down to Hampton beach because we heard there was some sand sculptures there. We went, the horrible traffic and the many, many distractions of girls was a terribly bad idea... Graduation was last night, today it's 80 degrees and missionaries shouldn't go to a popular beach... Oops, the sculptures where not even very cool, but we got some pictures. Of the last few years! And they where pretty cool!! After that, we went home.


Transfers!!!! I am being transferred to Hanover New Hampshire with Elder Braley!! My area is half in Vermont and half in New Hampshire! I'm way excited!! Wish me luck!!


Sunday - today in church was hard.. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone, I won't be seeing them for a while :( we had great talks about fathers in sacrament meeting and in second hour, we had a great discussion about Heavenly Father. Which was awesome, we then had a great lesson on being a priesthood holder in 3rd hour. After church we had coordination meeting with Chase then we went to the Wolcots. We taught them the restoration, which, it was kinda... Sloppy haha we haven't taught that in a while, but we still had great discussions and the spirit was strong! Loved it. Afterwords we went to the Larsens for one last visit before I leave. It was nice, Tom Sawyer was there also, we told mission stories and talked about different books we've read, which wasn't many for me hahahaha, but it was awesome! We helped them gain faith in doing this mission vision! It was a full day, but also emotional. I don't wanna leave, but I have to.




This week, I was not expecting to leave, but I guess I have done my job in Exeter for now. Whatever it was, I'll find out in the future, a ward member thanked me for being a great example for his kids! Which took me by complete surprise!

The thing I've learned this transfer is to always be yourself. Never lose who you are. I'm Elder Vogel, I am from Seattle (Puyallup) Washington. I love what I love, I do what I do because it's my passion. I love the Savior and I'm not afraid to share that, at home, you wouldn't ever hear me say that, but now, I have a relationship with Him that I've wanted and I'm proud of that. I hope, leaving Exeter, that I have made a great impression and life long friends. Love them and I'll miss them.

If anyone has anything to send me, please send it to the mission office new address. This has to change on my LDS tools account, you will not be sending it to Bedford anymore. The new address is 

105 Windsong Avenue

Manchester, new Hampshire 03104

They will officially be moved out on the 24th, so if you send anything to Bedford after that, I will not get it! My new apartment address will be available next week! 

Love you all!! 

Con amor de

Elder Vogel 

Con amor deElder Vogel

Elder Vogel, Elder Liljenquist, Elder Peterson

Parting picture with Pres. and Sis. Stoker

Elders Liljenquist and Vogel being goofy

June 6th - 13th


Monday - We went to Walmart and did some shopping and pretty much stayed home all day, craziness with planning exchanges this weekend got us a little upset, but that's okay. Just exchanges I guess.

Tuesday - We went to Walmart to get a couple things. Chase canceled coordination and I studied Spanish to the point I had a headache haha. We later planned to go see Rory Smith with brother Jons. He didn't show up and Rory wasn't home so we went to John Eastmans and he was home! We have been trying to contact that guy the past 12 weeks!! Awesome! We have a appointment Thursday! After that we went to the Yorks for dinner again and as always, a riot! Haha we has sloppy joes and we talked and shared stories and had a great spiritual thought. Awesome day.


Wednesday - This morning I made some waffles! #Bomb!! Anywho, we did our laundry because we slacked the last few days haha but afterwords we went out to go and do boot camp with some ward members! Holy crap was it hard!! I'm so tired I almost threw up! I never was good at pacing myself unless I was borderline dead haha afterwords, we got Mcdonalds..... We're terrible haha but hey! I felt like I lost a tone of weight doing those! They are called high intensity interval training workouts. They're I guess better than p90X and we are said to lose 10lbs every 2 weeks!! Deal!!! Awesomeness!!


Thursday - Today was Zone Conference. Gonna be honest, I've been feeling down lately, but today and speaking with my family, the talks where super inspired and I needed to hear them. It was amazing, Sister Hawks takes about not giving up, she gave wonderful scripture and testimony that got me engaged and with hope in my heart to press forward. President Hawks talked about the tree of life and he is a children's book illustrator, he painted probably the best picture of the tree of life I have ever seen. It was Awsome, glowing tree with millions of people and animals all gathered around it, with mossy, slippery rocks around it with the river flowing and around the rest was darkness. I realize that my description is never going to match it, but it was worth a shot. Sister Stoker spoke on work, how important it is to stay engaged and get out and do. So there I am, with hopes of moving on and not giving up, now there is my course of action, to go do. From that I learned that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. I know he is watching and helping, along with the other wonderful angels around me. President Stoker spoke on scriptures, talks, anything that has helped me along the way as a missionary. I will expand more in my weekly summery at the bottom. After lunch we split up into zones and we talked about planning, goals and the Book of Mormon. After that, we all went back and got a training on lesson plans. Then, President and Sister Stoker gave emotional testimonies of the Savior, missionary work and us. How much we have changed them, how much they will miss us. They go home in two weeks. We all had the chance to hug both of them and say goodbye. It was so, so, so hard to do that. But I know great things are to come to pass at the end of this month.

After that, we went to try and see John Eastman and he wasn't home so we are gonna try again later tonight. The foxes also cancelled so instead, we cried a little more, studied a little more then went to volleyball!!! Holy smokes was that fun! We got there and set up, then gave a ward member a blessing, then we played! So heated, so energetic!! Brother Idell and I where getting into it!! Boy I really needed that after some hard few days! Awesome! Going to bed with a smile on my face!!



Friday - We had a breakfast with brother Cavarretta!! It was awesome! It was nice to sit down and talk with him and be a blessing to his family. He's getting ready for a test to take so he can get a job, so it was nice for him to get some time and relax with us. Afterwords we came home and did some studies and then moved over to the food pantry. After that we went to Zions camp and helped paint a shed, brought back memories of my eagle project! It was fun, people are getting ready for the father and sons camp out, miss those. After that we high tailed it to Derry for exchange



Saturday - Exchanges were awesome! We did a weird one haha since it's so late in the transfer, we switched halfway through the day. I was with Elder VanWay and we went and saw brother Lowe and we taught a new investigator that accepted baptism!! His name is David, awesome dude, he has some mental illness, but that's okay because he felt something when we where teaching which was great! Later, I was with Elder Pace and we went to go find people! We tracted and where able to talk with a few people. It was awesome, we also chatted about different things. Just like old times, it was great! We then made the journey home. When we got home we recieved the news of one of my favorite singers, Christina Grimmie, had been shot last night and died this morning in the Orlando hospital. She was 22 and I'm very sad because I loved her music and her as a person, right when I saw her in the voice couple years ago

:( #SadFan. Anyway, they rest of the day was good.

Sunday - Today we had a good day at church, the talks today where pretty good, nothing to special. Second hour, we talked about the roles of people in the family, then third hour, we talked about... Well.. Something, ha ha  the person who taught was kinda all over the place. After church, we went to the Wolcots for lunch, which was awesome! We had grilled cheese with tomato soup! Which was bomb!!!! Loved it! Then afterwards we came home for the night, we had to do studies and finish up some planning and all of that fancy jazz, we took a nap after dinner that went... A little longer than normal... So tonight will be fun haha

This week was interesting! A lot of different emotions. The lord is probably testing me on patients, which is good because I need it. Someone today gave a great analogy about our agency, which was funny because I think he told the story for glory.. Anywho, when he was younger, he was riding a bike and when he got really dehydrated he jumped in a lake to cool off then before he got home, he got heat exhaustion because he had drank no water. Long story short, we can be consumed in spiritual things to our neck, but still choose not to partake of it. All the stuff around us doesn't matter unless we open our hearts.

Elder Pace and I went for a run Saturday and I told him I'm kinda frustrated for not being able to use and grow my leadership qualities and he told me the greatest leader is the best follower. So I need to be even more consumed in the gospel then I already am. I feel stagnate, because I feel like I have no use being s junior companion, but I actually have a little more than I think and I need to be able to be that example for people.

The mission always teaches me something new even when I don't think I can learn more. It's pretty cool, it's harder of course, but it's so worth it. I need to remember my purpose. Elder Peterson and I are gonna start tracting again, which we haven't done since we first where companions in Portsmouth..... So we will be having fun with that!

I know that when I exercise different things that I think I may be okay with, like talking to people, a miracle will happen. I don't know what, I don't know when, but someone needs to hear our voices and be uplifted about the gospel. I can't wait to see that again!




Love you all, hope to hear from you!!



Con amor deElder Vogel

Crocheted ties for mama. I crocheted them ties as a joke but they love them. lol

Hair cut day... its about time

May 30th - June 6th 

Monday - We got up bright and early for Memorial Day and we went to the Brentwood Cemetery to have a celebration for our veterans. It was awesome, we helped set up breakfast and we where in the pouring rain remembering the memories and stories of the wars and people fighting for our freedom. They got the guns out and did a black powder "praise the dead" and it was cool. We got to watch cub scouts get the flag ready and do the ceremony, a musical piece on the bag pipes and we talked with a guy about family history! Way awesome! Afterwords, we went to the Gish's and did our laundry. Which took the rest of PDay petty much, when we got there they where home for a bit then they took Meghan, Sam Gish's new fiancé, out to lunch before she goes home for the summer. So they left and we where there the whole day. After that, we went to the Shorelands for a Ward bbq, which was awesome! We talked with the Cavarettas, Sister Idell, Gishs, Wilsons, everyone! It was awesome to see people in a friendly and relaxed environment, we talked missions, the Ward, activities and shared funny stories and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores, it was a great night! 

Tuesday - Today we had coordination meeting with Chase that went very well and we where able to have a starting point with some less actives, get some names going and people to meet with. Later, we went to help chase get a few things and have lunch, which was bomb, afterwords we went to the Wolcots, for about 15 min, inside, ate, shared a message, prayed, left. They had baseball to go to, which was alright, we still had a great time and were able to share a couple things and bring the spirit. We came home and continued planning and studying. Quick day, also, it was 80 degrees and the girls from this prep school down the street here decide not to wear anything, coming out, we see a lot of skimpy outfits that make missionary work distracting, but we can do it! We just can't be in downtown haha 

Wednesday - Today in district meeting we talked about families. We discussed the family proclamation and we even got to share pictures of our family, share some stories and bare testimony of temples and sealing. It was awesome! I loved it, we are so focused on families I wanna go find a family to teach! Afterwords, we went and did some PDay shopping cuz we got money, not that we really needed anything but I needed some contact stuff and some nose spray. Other than that, that was it and we headed home to do some studies. Later we went to the Fox's and she made us some home made, from scratch ribs! Wow where they good! She home made everything, the rub, seasoning, bbq sauce, amazeballs!! The Mac and Cheese was fabulous, the fries where awesome, they are awesome and we talked and shared experiences about us as missionaries and the temple and being sealed as a family forever and they seemed way interested, so they are gonna start to work on getting sealed together forever! Amazing! I can't wait for that!! It was an awesome day, loved it!!


Thursday - So this morning we had to go to the dentist for another stage of elder Petersons crown which didn't take very long, afterwords we went and did planning and some shopping for a few things and also we had a dinner with the Jon family! They are from Jamaica and they are awesome! Older couple but still young in spirit! They loved having us over and the cool thing was that our talks we gave in church last Sunday really inspired brother Jon, he's on the high council and he has a talk to prepare for and he really loved both our talks and is going to use stuff from them! It was awesome! He said that because he liked our talks so much he invited us over! What a honor! I love that family! Hopefully we can get in and see them more often!!


Friday - Today was a busy day!! Holy smokes!! So here's how it started, we got up and I didn't feel great at all, so I prayed to feel better and I did through the day! We started with service at Zions camp, where, we met the new senior couple who's staying there for a while (Forgot there names) they are from Vermont, I think.. Or Maine... Anywho! We got to drive the Polaris buggies!! Those are super awesome! We moved fridges, stoves and towards the end, we went back and brother Westwood said I could ride the quad!!! SO I DID!!! It was so much fun being on that!! I may have gotten a little crazy, but no crashes or anything! It was so much fun flying through the dirt on it! Man I could do that forever! After service, we went straight to the food pantry and helped them, we are so loved by them, they gave us some food and since it was a easy day, they gave us some extra goodies, after that, we went home and showered because the quad made me dirty!! Worth it, I was so sore that I fell asleep for about an hour, then I get woken up by elder Peterson screaming "WE WHERE SUPPOSED TO BE AT SISTER SCOTT HALLS AN HOUR AGO YOU GOON!!" I was like when where we ? "AT 3, ITS NOW 4!!" So we rushed over there and bless her heart, she was sitting outside with some food for us, I love her haha she's awesome, after that we high tailed it back home and got dressed again and went to Stratham Hills Park, where we celebrated brother Cavarrettas birthday, we played whiffle ball, we had chili dogs, cake, about 60 or so people came, it was wild! In the distance, in Epping, two towns away we where listening to the Mellow Yellow NHRA Drag Races!! Everyone's coming to me and saying "you wanna go watch Elder Vogel?" And I'm like "HECK YES!!!!!" Kaylee showed me a video of a 6 second run, boy that was awesome! I felt like a school girl getting a text from her crush, I was super excited and really wanted to go! They are here this weekend and maybe, maybe, a member will take us, I'll pray but that wraps up our day! Fun filled, energetic, I felt great and I'm Having a blast here in Exeter!


Saturday - we had a wonderful dinner with the Sargeants! They are a funny couple! We got there and we where talking about less actives and stories about them and how we can better help them, then brother Sargeant spills the beans with Captain America!!! There's a new, dark, original comic book stuff revealed about him on BBC and how he's been a spy for hydra the whole time!! AWESOME!!! I didn't really like him anyway, Elder Peterson wast like "NOOOOOO!!!!" Because that his favorite super hero haha afterwords, we had awesome, homemade cafe rio and then we shared a spiritual thought then told more stories about home and bees and bugs and nastiness haha then we headed home! Awesome night!


Sunday - today was a good day. It was a spiritual fast and testimony meeting and we where also able to have a wonderful message on obedience. We also had a dinner at the Idells with the Lyles, and it was awesome! We had chili and We all shared stories, had a great time talking about our families and being able to share our experiences! It rained super hard, like big thunder storm deal, so we didn't do much, it was wet wet, like weather I would pull over in, and I'm a crazy driver so that gives a clue on how nasty it was outside haha but overall, good day!


Con amor de Elder Vogel