July 24th - July 31st

This week was busy!
I started this week out with exchanges in Newport with elder Palmer! Way awesome! We went and stopped by some investigators, taught the restoration and had a awesome member meal. We talked with lots of people and we were reminiscing the good days of when we where in the MTC and in the mission home 2 years ago haha
We went and saw Naomi and we took Benny Peck with us! It was pretty awesome haha we talked about the restoration and the Book of Mormon, and she was a little inappropriate with us, and it embarrassed Benny haha good times.
We also had a lesson with the Goforths. We talked about prayer and about reaching out with love. It was a great discussion, they said they would be at church.
We also went and saw Dale Bickford. Twice this week.
After exchanges we went over there and he was getting weaned off of his meds and he was extremely sick and sleeping a lot and really weak. So we went over and we talked with his mom and she said he wasn't doing so well, so we offered to give him a blessing. We saw him just cold and.. yea, so we gave him one and we went back over to check on him a few days later and he was outside, didn't know his condition because Dale is a beast.
So we went over there and he was doing so much better! He was getting chores done, he was happier and he was playing with his son Dante. Priesthood power.
After we got talking, dale taught me how to use a sword.. I'm deadly. Watch out 👊
Haha so another embarrassing thing happened this week. (Mom don't kill me)
But we where driving into Madison because we felt prompted to go see a member who wasn't doing so well, and I was entering into the parking lot and BOOM! I saw the dreaded blue police lights... oh crap.. I pulled in and she came behind me, at this point, I'm thinking that I'm dreaming, cuz I dreaded the day I'd get pulled over.  She came out and did the same routine, "license and registration" and took it back and I was panting and freaking the freak out and she came back and said "you wearing contacts?" "... yea..." and SHE CHECKED MY EYES! WHO THE FREAK!


Well it was whatever. I shouldn't have broken the law haha but that's my week! luckly, no ticket!


Love you all, thanks for all you do!
Con amor de Elder Vogel

district fun

Elder Vogel's district

July 17th - July 24th

We had a awesome zone Conference this week! It was super fun to see.. well, pretty much my zone haha

We had a zone P-Day and our zones combined into the Bangor zone, which goes from Farmington to machias. Big zone, so that was fun

We had a lesson with Dale Bickford again, we talked about the spirit and about our examples. Because he has a son that copies everything he does haha

We also went to the Goforth family, and had a great time spending dinner with them. We talked about Satan, temptation and building our faith.

We also did more service at the Deer farm, we cleaned out a barn because Beth and Norman where out haying. So we did that as a kind gesture, then we went and talked to them for about 30 min, awesome day.

We saw David this week briefly. Only for about 20 min, but we managed to share a spiritual insight. He's got girl #3 now. Her name is crystal, also with major health problems...

While we where getting our new car, we went to get it safety inspected and we sat down and where talking and this lady comes over by us and her little daughter is all goofy and smiling and playing around us. So we decided to contact her in VIP.

Her name is Catherine and we had a little discussion about our beliefs. It was awesome, we set a return appointment for Tuesday and she said her fiancé would love to hear it also. Super excited!

Other than that, unfortunately is was a slower week. Not much happened, we gave out many copies of the Book of Mormon, but nothing big came of it yet.


Con amor de Elder Vogel

zone conference fun

chillin' on p-day

love these guys

fun zone conference

more fun

and more...

July 17th - July 24th

We had a awesome zone Conference this week! It was super fun to see.. well, pretty much my zone haha

We had a zone PDay and our zones combined into the Bangor zone, which goes from Farmington to machias. Big zone, so that was fun

We had a lesson with Dale Bickford again, we talked about the spirit and about our examples. Because he has a son that copies everything he does haha

We also went to the Goforth family, and had a great time spending dinner with them. We talked about Satan, temptation and building our faith.

We also did more service at the Deer farm, we cleaned out a barn because Beth and Norman where out haying. So we did that as a kind gesture, then we went and talked to them for about 30 min, awesome day.

We saw David this week briefly. Only for about 20 min, but we managed to share a spiritual insight. He's got girl #3 now. Her name is crystal, also with major health problems...

While we where getting our new car, we went to get it safety inspected and we sat down and where talking and this lady comes over by us and her little daughter is all goofy and smiling and playing around us. So we decided to contact her in VIP.

Her name is Catherine and we had a little discussion about our beliefs. It was awesome, we set a return appointment for Tuesday and she said her fiancé would love to hear it also. Super excited!


Other than that, unfortunately is was a slower week. Not much happened, we gave out many copies of the Book of Mormon, but nothing big came of it yet.


Con amor de Elder Vogel

Mission leadership conference

Always have to have a goofy picture

Buds

Hey Elders, Smile for my mama

#budsforlife...silly boys

so cute

Zone P-day fun

being goofy

...and more

July 10 - July 17th


Ugh.. lots of meetings this week.. This week was full of tons of meetings. Let me tell ya about em!


So Monday night, we drove to Brewer and dropped off Elder Lundell and we headed to Bedford elders apartment.

The next morning we drove to the Manchester chapel and we sat in hard, aluminum chairs for 8 hours.. ouch, but it was an awesome meeting!

The meeting was called MLT (Mission Leadership Training) where all the Zone and District Leaders get together and talk about the mission and things we need to change, improve or help other missionaries with.

We talked about teaching, finding and the concept of juggling. Awesome, I saw elders Morgan, Ferrell, Jacobsen, Miller, Palmer, Sobisky and a few others, love em!

Wednesday we went up to the Goforths and we had dinner with them! It was awesome, they love us.

We also went and saw Dale Bickford, we worked hard at his forge again, we played with his son Dante, we met his mom and we had a load of fun!


We also had another successful day at the deer farm! While we where working, Norman says "so I have a question about that book you gave me" and we taught the first vision and the Book of Mormon and he was like "I've read about 16 chapters of it so far"          Awesome! So excited!

We had interviews with President Blair, lots to talk about. I pretty much know my last 2 transfers of what's happening. It's gonna be awesome.


Sorry for the short e mail. Literally didn't do much. To many meetings
Love you all!
Elder Vogel

missionaries are still just boys. lol

July 3rd - July 10th

This week was fast! We started our week by hanging out with Dale Bickford again! He's a way awesome guy, he taught us some stuff from the marine corp, we talked with his family and we helped him make a sword! Way cool!

We then had a lesson with David. We haven't been able to see David recently, but we called him up and we were talking with him and he said "naw guys, I can't today. I'm to busy" so we asked if we can come help him, and with some elder Vogel smooth talkin, we got him and we went out and helped him mow his lawn, which was a couple acres big. Like 4, and we got it all done under an hour! He was super excited. We then sat down and had a really strong heart to heart with him. He opened up and we taught him about the church, how it's a hospital and it's a place to escape the garbage from the world, it was quite the experience.

We again worked at the deer farm, I got pictures this time. see above.

When we got there, and Norman wasn't there, so we went over and fed the deer, we grabbed handfuls of grass and fed them through the fence, they are also all wild deer. We eventually got to the point where we could pet them! ''Twas an experience, never touched a live deer before! 🦌

When Norman got back, we went out and we got some gas, then we started haying. Pretty fun, he also took us through the Hunt farm, where hunters can come and camp out and shoot some pigs, buffalo, or deer. Just a head count, I felt like I was in Jurassic park haha there are 40 red deer Stags, 20 buffalo bulls, 4 Russian bores, 2 pot bellies, 6 other black looking pigs and 5 Fallow deer stags. Good thing they where not in rut haha.

During our little tour, he took us to one of the camps. The cabin was super nice! Like really nice! And he showed us some spots to hold guns and some look out spots. He said "if you ever wanna stay, you're more then welcome!" Sweet!

After we came back home to have some lunch and just started talking and I said "Norman, have we given you a Book of Mormon yet?" And he said "nope you haven't" and I said "would you like one?" And he said "of course! I thought you'd never ask!" So we gave him one and he said he'd read it! SWEET!

We also went out to the Goforths, it was a super humid day and we went out and helped him work on his truck and 3 wheeler. I played soccer with the kids and we all sat down and had a nice discussion, it was a great way to end the day out.

We also had a... interesting discussion with sister Paradis.. that I won't get in much detail with cuz it just got me fired up and.. dang, haha, I feel what my parents went through when I was a jerky teenager and arguing with them after that discussion.


Church was pretty nice. We had a returned sister missionary from Costa Rica come and give a little talk to us, she's got a thick Spanish accent, which is awesome haha and she's way nice, she asked us about our missions and shared a couple stories from hers. Awesome.

We then met up with our ward mission leader Bro Chapman FINALLY! And we sat down and had a little planning meeting with him. Aside from stake leaders driving me nuts, everything was good 👍


We also had a lesson with Naomi, she's so awesome. We went over and she was expressing concerns about her next step, so we are trying to help her see that coming to church is her next step. It's always kinda a venting session with Naomi, but we are helping her stay more on task.

 To end the week, we went and saw Dale Bickford again. He invited us to his brothers place out in the woods, which was super awesome! And we where already dirty and gross, so it made for a great night. We went over, we played a few games, talked with a few people. They have a car out in their yard, just to break and beat up on. So I had some fun with a crowbar haha I want one now! After that, we shot some sling shots and we all gathered around a campfire for some s'mores, where we shared the first vision. Powerful powerful lesson. We are the only missionaries to meet dales whole family, and they where all there with us.


A testimony I have gained this week is about service. Service can soften any heart and the gospel always has a way of getting in there.

We where in our service clothes a lot this week, but that's okay because we still where able to get a few new investigators and also strengthen relationships with others. I love Skowhegan, it's changing my heart on everything. I love helping people see that Christ is our Savior and he always will be and how Heavenly Father's love is always unceasing.

Love you all, thanks for all you do!

Con mucho amor deElder Vogel

                         

                                     

June 26th - July 3rd

So, just to eliminate confusion. Elder Slaugh and I are staying here in Skowhegan for another transfer! The mission wanted us to take P-Day on Saturday cuz Presidant Blair wanted missionaries to be in their areas for the 4th, but since we where staying here and we where already teaching at the deer farm, sorry mom, no pics yet! But soon! We decided to take it as a normal day and have P-Day on Monday. #Reblels

We had a fun week! We went down to Waterville for a zone meeting, which wasn't really anything big or cool. It was okay I guess, but elder Slaugh and I got good work done anyway.

We went to go see Naomi, she's progressing, but really slow. But at least she is. We where telling her that we could be transferred so we said goodbyes and we showed up on Sunday and she's like "what the freak! I thought you where gone city boy! (Me)" haha so that was a nice surprise! We taught her about trials and being an example.

We went to the Goforths and had a great discussion for a few min, then they asked if we could fix their car, so we tried for a while and they have a bad distributor, so we couldn't do to much more after that. We walked in a thunder storm, probably wasn't the best decision, but hey, it was fun! We got soaked.

We went and saw Aaron Rollins. We had a RM (returned missionary) come visit the ward and she was able to get in a lot of homes with a ton of people so we just slid right in under the radar like a mouse and we got talking with Aaron.

Aaron is a cool guy, we talked about his new guns and his life a bit, then we shared a message and found concerns that probably where bigger than we could handle. #Oops so we told bishop instead and he's got it now. Haha

On Saturday, we got a call from a less active member that said her husband was dying, so we decided to go out and see her and boy do I hate the GPS sometimes..

We where driving and me, not really caring or paying attention, we find ourselves on a quad trail.. oops 😂 so we drove it. Mud, rocks, you name it. We even saw deer down the trail. It was pretty bad. At the end of our little trek, there was this big mid hole, and I was driving over it and the car started to slide, and elder Slaugh was like "don't stop, we'll get stuck!" So I floored it and we slid on this rock with some hits and bangs and bumps and we come out to see these two guys just staring at us and funny old me, I just waved at them and they waved back with the look of "did they just drive through that crap?" And we kept movin. It was quite funny and an adventure well worth it. #Maine

We have been working a lot with members, like a lot a lot. We have potential to really change this ward around, and we are working closely with bishop to set up a training for the ward, that we will lead out. It's gonna be awesome! We have about 3 or 4 families that are ready to be active again, so that's our focus. It's gonna be awesome! We are gonna see so much success!

My testimony this week is a quote from Pres. Monson, our Prophet. He says, "true love can change human lives"

That statement is so true. This Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and a member got up and told her experience about our lesson we had with her this last week, she expressed a quote at the end of the Mormon message called "Staying Spiritually Fit" and at the end the kid says, "at the end of the day, when I can go back to God's kingdom, which I hope I can, I want to look Him in the eyes and say I gave you everything I had. Just like you gave me everything you had"

That is my purpose as a missionary. Since my mission hasn't been at all what I wanted, it's always been what's best, and I want to stand before my Savior and tell Him that I gave it all I had. That I worked hard, that I loved these people enough to do everything I could for them. As I reflect on my mission, there are times I wish I would have done more, but that's in the past, I can only improve and do better today, and that's what Elder Slaugh and I are doing. We are giving our all because we want to one day look back and say that we did it. That our hard work payed off. When you accept someone, you'll do minor, little things. But when you love someone as Christ loves them, you'll do everything you can to help them. That's when you because a true follower of Christ. That's what a consecrated missionary is. That's how Christ is.

That's my testimony about love.

Love you all, hope you had a wonderful week!
Con mucho amor deElder Vogel